Chapter 332: Strung-Together Intelligence

The interrogation in the next room was still ongoing, and more and more shocking truths were gradually surfacing with the passage of time.

A timeline was slowly becoming clear before Yu Sheng and Bai Liqing's eyes.

The theory that "the world is terminally ill" was a concept the Holy Order of the Hidden had held from the very beginning, and their subsequent actions and research regarding the Dark Angel all started seventeen years ago with the mysterious "Adar Crater" and the angelic remains "Shadowless Bones" discovered at the bottom of the crater; during their research, they believed that fragments of the Dark Angel, namely the "Angel Catalyst," could be used to "cure" this world, and since the activity of the Angel Catalyst found in the Adar Crater had already faded, they turned their attention to Ankaela...

And that was already ten years ago; to obtain Ankaela's "Angel Catalyst," they had been lying in wait in the Borderland for a full ten years.

"Where did you learn of the existence of 'Ankaela'?"

From the shadows, the interrogator's voice rose calmly; this voice contained powerful spiritual might that constantly eroded the mental strength of the Hidden Order cultist, making it difficult for him to rebuild his psychological defenses once he started answering.

"... The intelligence came from Angel Cultists, during an exchange a long time ago."

"You reached a cooperation with the Angel Sect?" The interrogator leaned forward slightly. "You wanted the 'remains' of the Dark Angel; this is an unacceptable act of blasphemy to the Angel Sect. Would they be willing to tell you the secrets of the 'Lord'?"

"We did have differences, but that doesn't mean we couldn't use each other," the cultist in the chair lowered his head and spoke slowly. "Besides, they didn't know the truth about the 'Angel Catalyst'—we explained it as some kind of 'gift' left by the Dark Angel, and the Hidden Order hoped to receive this gift; we revealed no other details. They mistakenly thought the Hidden Order also intended to convert, so they happily cooperated."

"Oh, so you also deceived your own 'partners'?"

Hearing this, a faint smile actually appeared on the pale-faced man in the chair. He shook his head, his tone mocking: "Deceive? The Voice of the Angel long ago burned away the sanity of those Angel Cultists; they were flawed mortals to begin with, and now even their souls have developed festering sores. Our deception of them is actually a form of redemption... Yes, that wasn't deception; that was pulling them back from the wrong path. And did we really deceive them? Why can't the remains left after the Dark Angel's death be considered their 'gift'? In the end... it was a gift, only the giver was not willing."

"Alright, we won't discuss those details," the interrogator shook his head, clearly having no interest in judging the scams between the two cult groups. "Then the next question—Ankaela was still alive at that time, merely in a sealed state. How did you determine you could obtain his 'Angel Catalyst'? You must know that before this incident, no one could have imagined a situation like an 'Angel Fall' would occur."

This time, the cultist in the chair suddenly fell silent. After two or three seconds, he slowly spoke in a somewhat strange tone: "We didn't expect an 'Angel Fall' to occur."

"Hmm?"

"We targeted Ankaela only because he might be the weakest known Dark Angel, and the only one in a sealed state unable to move, so he could serve as a research subject—even though for a very long time, we didn't even know exactly where he was sealed," the cultist said slowly. "In our best-case scenario, we only expected the Angel Cultists to release Ankaela, and the Borderland would fight to the death for this. With the Borderland's strength, even if they couldn't fight Ankaela, you should at least be able to injure him, just like the battle when the Algredeans tried to kill the 'Goddess of Beauty' in the border regions back then... And in this process, perhaps some 'Angel Catalyst' would be produced..."

Standing behind the observation window, Bai Liqing pressed the button again: "So, you originally just wanted to wait for a chance to fish in troubled waters, wanting to collect some fragments falling off the Dark Angel when the Borderland and Ankaela had both suffered heavy losses?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Erin, who had been quiet beside Yu Sheng for a while, muttered: "Well, it went from fishing in troubled waters to fishing for Yu... Let them grope blindly!"

Yu Sheng poked the little doll on the head with his finger: "You're using all your intelligence on puns, aren't you?"

And in the interrogation room next door, the cultist in the chair did not hear the voices of Yu Sheng and Erin; he only revealed a complex, bitter smile and slowly nodded: "Yes, that was our original plan. Therefore, when the 'Angel Fall' suddenly occurred, many plans were thrown into disarray, which indirectly led to... our exposure later on."

Interrogator: "Indirectly led to your exposure?"

"Simply put, due to the 'impact' of the Angel Fall on the space structure itself, combined with our insufficient understanding of the Angel Catalyst and errors in the contact and containment procedures... a series of reasons caused an overflow of Catalyst power in an experiment, briefly piercing through space, which is how you discovered the existence of the 'Deep Realm City'—that is, what you call the 'City in the Fog'."

Behind the observation window, Yu Sheng and Bai Liqing instinctively exchanged a glance upon hearing this.

Yu Sheng instantly thought of how that "Dense Fog Otherworld" had suddenly appeared—without warning, but before its entrance opened for the first time, a series of frequent and short "tremors" had appeared near the opening point, completely unlike the characteristics of a normal Otherworld opening, more like some kind of artificial "interference"...

And that was something that happened shortly after the Angel Fall.

"So that's how it was?" he murmured softly to himself.

In that case, the series of short "tremors" when the "City in the Fog" first opened were likely not attempts to open an Otherworld, but rather Hidden Order cultists who had failed in their experiments trying futilely to close the Otherworld? They just clearly underestimated the "piercing" power of the "Angel Catalyst"; after over a hundred confrontations between leaks and blockades, the City in the Fog still opened and dragged a person inside...

The unlucky great-nephew deserves full credit for this.

A brief sympathy for Zheng Zhi rose in his heart, but Yu Sheng's attention was immediately drawn again by the voice coming from the speaker.

In the interrogation room next door, the interrogator's low voice rang out again: "Regarding the 'City in the Fog', or as you call it, the 'Deep Realm City', what do you know? How was this Otherworld generated?"

"I, I'm not very clear... really!" the cultist said, seemingly trying to make his words sound more credible. "I just followed orders and boarded the 'Pillar of Order', but that place already existed before we arrived. Only the Sages or those of a higher rank might know what's going on with that Otherworld... I only know that the Otherworld's range is very large, even seemingly as big as the entire Borderland. Yes, within the boundless dense fog, there is another entire 'Borderland', right 'underneath' the Borderland in reality..."

Behind the observation window, Yu Sheng and the others looked at each other in silence.

"Oh my..." Erin scratched her cheek. "It really is that outrageous? It's not even just a Realm City; the area outside the Realm City exists too?"

"The degree of talent and resources in the Borderland has increased again," Yu Sheng looked at Bai Liqing and spread his hands. "So your place was originally the 'second floor'?"

Bai Liqing said nothing, her expression subtly shifting from clear to cloudy.

A secret right under the Special Bureau's nose, a situation the people of the Borderland themselves didn't know about, turned out to be spoken by a Hidden Order cultist... This obviously made her, who was usually clear and indifferent, feel very displeased.

Seeing Director Sister Bai Liqing who had turned into "Bai Many-Clouds", Yu Sheng wisely decided not to continue joking with her.

Then, after two seconds, Bai Many-Clouds seemed to sort out her mood slightly, her face finally returning to normal, and she pressed the button once more: "So, you originally used the 'City in the Fog', this 'channel' hidden beneath the real world, to steal the 'Angel Catalyst' from under the noses of our recovery team?"

What she referred to was the Ankaela Crystal that had mysteriously disappeared in the suburbs after the Angel Fall incident occurred earlier.

However, the cultist in the interrogation room shook his head.

"Strictly speaking, we didn't 'steal' it; it actively fell in," he said slowly. "That crystal directly smashed through the barrier between the real world and the Deep Realm City, briefly forming a piercing point... As I said, the Angel Catalyst has very powerful 'piercing' characteristics; even without deliberate activation, it has a probability of releasing this power."

"We actually didn't intend to take any action at that time because the Angel Fall threw all plans into disarray, and the Special Bureau's reaction was faster than we expected—the anticipated chaos didn't happen, all eyes were fixed on the Angel Fall, and there were still your outposts and monitoring points everywhere on the wilderness outside the Realm City; we had absolutely no chance to recover the Angel Catalyst that fell outside... But no one expected a crystal to fall directly into the dense fog..."

"And then you just picked it up and took it back?"

Bai Liqing spoke into the microphone, then turned back to look at Yu Sheng with a somewhat strange gaze.

She was obviously recalling a sentence Yu Sheng had said back then—

"It's not impossible to see something shiny in a roadside ditch while passing by and just shove it in your pocket..."

What could Yu Sheng say? He also recalled his own offhand remark back then, so at this moment he could only awkwardly scratch his head: "The situation is still a bit different from what I said back then; that crystal was so big, they probably couldn't shove it in their pockets..."

Bai Liqing: "..."

(End of Chapter)