Chapter 1327: Mist of Truth 1

In a sudden silence, it seemed only the three of their heartbeats remained.

The three locked eyes, Chu An stayed silent for a long while, then slowly spoke:

"I know what you're worried about, Lin An.."

"I'll prove it to you."

When his words fell, Chu An gently raised his glasses frame, slightly turning his head to look at Mo Ling:

"However, I hope this conversation is only between the two of us."

One minute later.

"Cough cough.."

In the eerie blue spiritual energy lab, only two people remained at this moment.

After Mo Ling left, Lin An silently watched Chu An pour himself a cup of water, unable to stop his coughing.

They sat opposite each other.

He didn't know whether Chu An was feigning weakness or truly suffering an injury he couldn't conceal; all he wanted now was the answer.

If Chu An were an alien species, his goal would be to subtly turn him into a monster and then use him to take over the world—in that case, he might as well just surrender to the alien species.

He had never thought about saving human civilization, nor about saving how many people.

But Lin An was very clear.

If humanity were all gone, or even domesticated, what's the difference from destruction? At that point he would be like rootless water, sooner or later forgetting his true identity.

Yes, Chu An doesn't even need to harm him; just making him accept that he too is a monster would suffice.

In that case, what difference would there be between him, Lin An, and being dead?

Clinging to human identity is foolish; perhaps in this apocalypse one should abandon everything just to survive.

But the meaning behind the word 'human' represents Lin An's former life.

He is a person, a living, breathing person.

"The story is long, but I will prove I am not an alien species."

Under the dim spiritual light, Chu An, seated in the shadows, spoke softly; his hand trembled as he set down his teacup, as if he had long anticipated this moment.

"First, information about the alien species."

"Cough... cough.."

"The movements of the alien species are actually simple; one can infer their progress of occupation from military personnel deployments."

"Including ammunition consumption, food consumption, the speed at which satellite imagery shows the corpse horde diminishing... piecing the information together, estimating the aliens' true numbers is not difficult."

"Of course, as a former participant in the underground city project, I also left some backups."

He softly explained the past, paused a moment as if to add something, then continued speaking.

"The Fire Seed Project is indeed false."

"In fact, just as you guessed, I am indeed helping you because of your Perfect One status."

"But, Lin An. I know you will become a Perfect One, or rather that you might become one, and that is not because I am an alien species."

Neither affirming nor denying.

Lin An did not respond to Chu An's explanation, merely silently gazing at Chu An before him, gesturing for him to continue.

If Chu An is not an alien species, then there is only one possible reason he could know you would become a Perfect One.

Chu An is also a reincarnator.

But this logic doesn't hold.

Without Chu An's guidance, Lin An clearly knows how far he would go.

In his past life, he wasn't even an Awakened One; so even if Chu An is a reincarnator, it would be impossible for him to know Lin An would become a Perfect One.

This is a dead loop, a refutation.

As expected, the next second Chu An hesitated a moment and gave new information.

"Lin An, in fact I haven't concealed anything from you."

"I know you will become a Perfect One, and there are actually two reasons."

"One is because your body has been replaced, or rather fused with a part of the alien species. That 'material' essentially is a former Perfect One of the alien species."

"Of course, I didn't know this at the time; I only guessed it later."

"It's very complicated, really complicated."

"The beings behind the door we dealt with initially tried to use human civilization to incubate a new Perfect One."

"I have no information to prove this; I can only speculate."

Rarely, Chu An for the first time struggled to express the logic accurately; it's as if the complexity of this matter spans two worlds.

"Alien species once also gave birth to Perfect Ones."

"But their Perfect Ones died due to unknown factors..."

"Perhaps it was internal strife, or perhaps other reasons; in any case, the beings behind the door we dealt with and the current one are likely not of the same faction."

"So, having your body replaced means you essentially possess the traits of a Perfect One, or you could be considered a half‑alien Perfect One."

His gaze narrowed.

Listening to Chu An's information, Lin An's pupils suddenly contracted.

He knew his body had been replaced in the Long'an Project.

Although Chu An's words sounded hard to grasp, with his mental capacity he instantly understood what they meant.

"Alien species have two factions!? One side is trying to revive the Perfect Ones, and I am their test subject!?"

"You didn't know back then; to ensure the Long'an Project went smoothly, you fused that remains into my body!?"

"Afterward you realized this, so you judged I would become a Perfect One! Because this is that faction's alien species plan!?"

No, if the Alien Species had secretly set up this trap earlier, how could they possibly let the military let me go!?

How could I possibly leave the military as a defective product!?

It's a very simple logic.

Even if the military didn't know the Alien Species' deployment at the time, after the Alien Species set up this trap, they would somehow try to keep him in the military for easier control.

Moreover, according to Chu An's description, after he fused with the remains of a perfect Alien Species, he was actually already considered the most successful test subject.

In this situation, even if the military were however afraid of his performance in the tests, they could not possibly let him leave.

Just like the most dangerous weapon, strengthening supervision is already too late; how could they possibly allow him to roam free outside?

Moreover, Lin An has always wondered who was secretly helping him back then, but after sealing his memory, they simply let him 'retire'.

Given the military's style, if they deem him somewhat threatening, the outcome can only be one of two things.

First, outright elimination! Second, lifelong imprisonment!

That he could leave the military and thus return to normal life is in itself unimaginable!

Faced with Lin An's instantaneous doubt, Chu An fell silent for a moment before slowly speaking:

"So, this is the second reason."

"Actually, the person who let you go back then was me."

Taking off his glasses, without waiting for Lin An's expression to change, Chu An, sitting opposite him, gave a wry smile that sounded almost human:

"The capital actually already knew the Apocalypse would break out."

"And this point was also something I discovered."

"Lin An, actually I entered the Secret Realm world before the Apocalypse."