Chapter 265: Honor and Conviction Trampled Mercilessly

West bank of the lake.

In front of the Metal Relic embedded in the rock wall, a group led by Sui Bian gathered, along with a band of elites guarded by the garrison and warriors.

Laura walked toward the right side of the Relic, preparing to operate a device resembling a terminal.

Having experience with Meisi Ruiyin, Laura moved confidently to the terminal, extended her right hand toward it, and approached slowly.

The sensor area detected a human right hand approaching, causing the lifeless terminal to suddenly manifest a blue light sphere the size of a soccer ball.

The sphere was generated by an alternative, more advanced holographic technology.

When Laura's right hand rested on the sphere's surface, her five fingers showed slight stutters, and the pads became flattened.

The tangible tactile feedback indicated that the light sphere produced by the Relic's terminal was not a fleeting simulated image but had substance.

Immediately, the Relic changed due to her operation.

Boom—…Rumble———!

The gaps between the metal gates widened, expanding outward on both sides, and the vibrations caused the rock wall to shed a massive amount of rubble and dust.

In no time, the tunnel entrance leading into the Relic's interior appeared before everyone's eyes.

Sui Bian and Umbrella's personnel were already accustomed to such scenes and were not particularly surprised or excited by the successful opening of a Relic gate.

The elites, however, were not so composed.

The Star Alliance, when attempting to open a Forerunners' Relic, usually requires engineers to help crack it, sometimes resorting to forceful measures; it is far from the ease humans enjoy.

…

Watching Laura retract her right hand, Mu Er and several senior veteran elites noticed that humans seemed to possess higher access permissions.

Realizing this, more and more elites began to contemplate.

Standing nearby, Sui Bian silently enveloped the entire Harvest Star with Spiritual Energy, continuously boosting tens of millions of residents' resistance to the alien dimension while subtly "hinting" to the elites to seek answers.

His "hint" resembled the whispers of alien demons and evil gods, both capable of amplifying a creature's inner emotion.

But the fundamental difference between Sui Bian and those alien specters is that his own pure Spiritual Energy will not cause a "Blessing" mutation in a creature's body.

Unless he intervenes actively.

At this moment, under Sui Bian's "hint," the long‑buried questions and doubts in the elites' minds were magnified infinitely in an instant.

While perceiving this, Sui Bian continued to focus most of his attention on the ongoing Relic exploration.

Meanwhile, Laura, away from the terminal, commanded several ready archaeology team members to release numerous sparrow‑sized flying probes that entered the tunnel and swiftly traversed the entire Relic.

After waiting a moment.

Laura stepped before Sui Bian and reported, "Chairman, the interior of the Relic is fine; no anomalies detected."

"Good, then lead the way, Director Kelaofu," Sui Bian said with a light laugh.

"Yes."

From then on, Laura and her archaeology team were responsible for guiding everyone deep into the Relic's central area beneath the surface.

Without Mu Er's explicit orders or the Terminators' urging, a group of elites voluntarily followed the party, ready to resolve the doubts troubling their minds.

They entered the tunnel lined with glowing fissures.

Observing the interior closely, Sui Bian found the Relic's architecture almost identical to the Forerunners' style he recalled, though its metal hue leaned toward deep gray, nearly black.

On the elite side, most were murmuring devoutly, uttering phrases like "praise my god" or "for the holy light."

The tunnel overall formed a straight 20° downward slope with no branches, unlike tomb‑like Relics that feature intricate mazes.

After marching for several minutes.

The group emerged from the tunnel into a vast underground chamber.

The rock walls and the space above were covered with large sheet‑like metal structures, bathed in surrounding cyan‑blue light, making the place resemble a metallic "Crystal Palace."

Above the platform at the far end of everyone's view stood an inverted small pyramid, its apex device connected to the platform's metal floor, appearing to be the Relic's core.

A bottomless cliff loomed before them, bisecting the underground space and blocking further unobstructed progress.

But Laura, who had emerged first, paid no mind to the cliff; she hurried toward another terminal built at the cliff's edge.

She extended her right hand, repeated the same procedure, and then…

"Bzz—--!"

A fifty‑meter‑wide, teal translucent light bridge materialized in less than the blink of an eye, spanning the cliff and allowing the group to proceed.

…

Shirley, who walked with the group to the cliff edge, felt a slight worry upon seeing the light bridge.

When she and the others stepped onto the bridge, her gaze couldn't help but glance down, seeing herself seemingly "floating" between the cliffs, which intensified her concern.

She had an uneasy feeling that the bridge might vanish suddenly.

Nevertheless, as a veteran intelligence officer, Shirley quickly steadied herself, repeatedly urging herself to ignore the scenery beneath her feet, and briskly crossed the bridge to the platform housing the core.

Thereafter, Shirley followed Sui Bian, Lai Ang, and the others to the side of the inverted pyramid.

They observed up close.

Shirley could clearly see within the apex's core device a soccer‑ball‑sized, matte sphere floating there.

"Chairman," Laura, standing nearby, said to Sui Bian, analyzing:

"This Relic's scale far exceeds that of Meisi Ruiyin. Comparing the two, Meisi Ruiyin appears to be a building of formal purpose, perhaps a beacon or a communications relay station.

Whereas this structure incorporates aesthetic designs appreciable to us humans, suggesting it functions as a backend database or library."

After hearing Laura's analysis, Sui Bian stared at the apex core for a few seconds, then said to John, "John, you will unveil this Relic."

"Yes, father."

John, receiving the cue, stepped out of the crowd, unhesitatingly approached the apex edge, mimicking Laura's procedure, extended his right hand, and grasped the sphere with his massive palm.

!

That grip seemed to activate the core device, emitting a blinding cyan light that burst outward through the gaps between John's fingers.

At the same time, the outer wall of the pyramid emitted a blue glow, and in an instant it illuminated the entire underground space.

After the illumination.

The core, being all those present, displayed a three‑dimensional star map encircling the platform above, immersing everyone directly in the sea of stars.

Seeing the star map unfold, everyone's reaction was different.

Sui Bian and his sons showed no trace of emotion on their faces, while Shirley and several accompanying technicians were moved by the breathtaking scene.

Lao La Kelaofu and the archaeological team, after expressing their awe, hurriedly used their portable instruments to continue recording everything that was happening.

The elite who regarded the Forerunners as deities, the four‑lipped mouths gaped wide, some even performed a single‑knee kneel before the pyramid, "Aooo" chanting prayers about their god.

The most unsettled of all were they.

The two artificial intelligences did not operate with ordinary biological logic; the moment the star map unfolded, they began comparative analysis with their database.

Very quickly, they exchanged a glance, completing a wordless communication.

Sui Bian, noticing their subtle actions, saw Hong Hou approach and immediately asked, "Got results?"

"Yes." Hong Hou nodded lightly and reported to her superior, "Chairman, the star map displayed by the relic core is centered on Harvest Star, covering a region with a radius of about six hundred light‑years."

Among them, the star system containing the Meisi Ruiyin colony bears a special marker; from this, Bai Hou and I performed reverse detection and identified another marked stellar system.

At the same time, Bai Hou and I also found that the Meisi Ruiyin marker indicates the relic was opened once twenty Harvest Star days ago.

This coincides with the time Lao La Kelaofu's archaeological team formally began investigating the relic.

So, Chairman, the enemy may have detected our presence through the relic's activation and dispatched a scouting fleet into the border of Harvest Star to test our strength.

When Hong Hou finished speaking, Sui Bian lightly raised his left hand and said, "We'll discuss further after we return to the bridge."

"Understood." Hong Hou replied.

Immediately thereafter.

Sui Bian tilted his head slightly, as if admiring the star map, then turned and stared directly at the still‑excited four‑lipped mouths, and using Spiritual Energy on Muer as well as on all the elites, he said:

"Captain Lin Mi Er, there is no doubt that this was built by the deity you worship, as you can see its grandeur, magnificence, and mystery, yet…"

Changing his tone, Sui Bian retorted, "Humans possess access rights; does that make us the so‑called gods?"

… Muer and the other elites fell silent.

Some elites wore oddly strange expressions; even without using Spiritual Perception, one could see they seemed to be saying, "Isn't that so?"

After all, Sui Bian's displayed "supernatural" ability, combined with the hint of Spiritual Energy, had already shaken many elites' faith.

Faintly, some even regarded Sui Bian as a god‑like being.

Seeing this, Sui Bian continued to stress the "godless" viewpoint.

He said, "The deity you worship is, like you and us, a sentient race with flesh and blood; only its technology and civilization have reached unimaginable levels.

Yet even such an advanced race suffered an unknown enemy's invasion, a catastrophic extinction, and thereafter…

"Not extinction! It's a path to the divine realm!" a young elite retorted.

"They said that themselves? No, because from start to finish it has always been the Prophet clan portraying their extinction as an ascent to a higher level.

Let's look at it from another angle.

Why does the Prophet clan welcome you and other races to join the Covenant Empire, yet refuse us, who hold access rights to the relics?

If humans were allowed to join, wouldn't the Covenant Empire's so‑called pilgrimage proceed more smoothly?

But the result was an indiscriminate extermination order.

So what exactly caused the Prophet, who first proposed the pilgrimage, to issue a command that hinders its smooth progress?

Sui Bian's words hung in the air.

The elites ceased their agitation and fell silent once more.

Being reminded by Sui Bian in this way, even with low emotional intelligence and laziness to think, they realized it was the Prophet who, to consolidate power and status,

combined with the already existing confusion in their hearts amplified by the "hint", and linked to Sui Bian's earlier words,

the Prophet would rather annihilate humanity than allow a smooth pilgrimage; this indicates that the so‑called higher realm or divine domain is entirely a lie!

Just thinking of the "My God" belief indoctrinated since childhood, and the "Covenant True Canon" they swore to defend, all stem from these liars…

"Aooo!"

The elites, unable to contain their fury, looked up and roared to vent their raging anger.

Valuing glory above life, they charge recklessly into every battle, willingly at the front line, just to enable themselves and their juniors to complete the pilgrimage sooner.

In hindsight, their previous deeds were meaningless; even glory and belief were exploited and trampled by the Prophet.

After a long while.

Muer raised his right hand to signal his subordinates to stay quiet, then voiced his final doubt to Sui Bian:

"I want to know, my god… no, the race I once believed in—what disaster befell them? Why do you humans have access rights?"

Hearing this,

Sui Bian gave no affirmative answer, replying, "It may have been some plague, or perhaps a flood that devoured everything; the specifics still require further investigation, including the link between us humans and them."

"Is that so…"

Muer hummed thoughtfully, no longer dwelling on the former "My God" and the access rights, then his eyes showed unmasked anger as he made a request to Sui Bian:

"Esteemed Chairman, thank you for clarifying matters for me and my people, and making us fully realize that the Covenant Empire is no longer the pure entity it once was.

Although my request may seem presumptuous, I still hope you can grant us freedom and the use of a warship, so that we may confront the 'trash' (the Prophet) on the spot and awaken more of our kin."

"We can let you go, but only halfway, and our engineers must first strip the warship of all armaments before handing it over to you."

Sui Bian stated his conditions.

"Thank you for understanding. If we succeed in awakening our people, you will be a benefactor of the Sangheli clan, and should the need arise, I, Muer Lin Mi Er, will die a thousand deaths…"

Before Muer could finish, Sui Bian interrupted his very respectful words, saying, "First, awaken your people, Captain Lin Mi Er."

"Understood." Muer nodded.

Next, Sui Bian ordered a detachment of the Imperial Guard to escort the elite back to the surface first.

Watching the hunched, four‑beaked backs of that group, Leon couldn't help but sigh to his brother, "They really are a strange bunch."

"Hmm, indeed," John nodded in agreement.

(End of Chapter)