Chapter 615: The Secret of the Aquarius (Part Two)

"This thing… can it be trusted?"

Hearing the blob's words, Li Ang couldn't help but ponder briefly, then turned his head and gave Senior Jerry a questioning look.

"If we don't stop 【Fortune-Stealing Art】, is it possible it could escape?"

"Impossible. Only anomalous objects with a Fate attribute can pass through the concealment of the Threads of Fate, but it's best not to take too long, otherwise even if we don't steal the thing out, we'll still alert the Aquarius Director."

Then let's ask some more!

Acting on the belief that the enemy of one's enemy is a friend, or at the very least a potential partner for cooperation and exchange, Li Ang seized the moment and immediately began to ask:

"What exactly are you? Why have you been imprisoned by the Aquarius Director's lineage for two thousand years?"

"I'm not a thing, I'm a god! The God of Enlightenment!"

Speaking of its past, the thing calling itself the God of Enlightenment said through gritted teeth:

"That damned Aquarius Director, coveting my power to bestow enlightenment, actually found a way to lure me into descending, then imprisoned me, extracting my flesh and true spirit to make anomalous seeds, stuffing them into the souls of you insects, relying on my power to help you activate your own anomalies!"

?!!!

The flesh and true spirit of a true god? So the Aquarius Director's anomalous seeds were actually made this way!

After learning this rather shocking truth, Li Ang and Jerry immediately understood why what 【Fortune-Stealing Art】 had fished out was not the Door of the Other Side, but this imprisoned God of Enlightenment.

Although the Door of the Other Side had an enormous influence on middle-aged Watching Watching Qiaoshuya's fate, the God of Enlightenment who provided the anomalous seed also had no small influence on his fate, with the weight roughly split fifty-fifty, so either one could appear.

Additionally, although the name didn't sound like some evil god, judging from its way of addressing humans, and the madness and hatred practically overflowing from its words, after two thousand years of prolonged torment, this God of Enlightenment's mental state was likely even more extreme than that of an ordinary evil god.

……

"Lord God of Enlightenment."

After secretly admonishing himself that the mad god's words could only serve as reference and absolutely could not be fully trusted, Li Ang cautiously spoke:

"Someone inside our Cleansing Bureau has discovered the Aquarius Director's anomaly and is now initiating an inquiry against him. How much do you know about this generation's Aquarius Director?"

"Hm? Those idiots in your Cleansing Bureau finally noticed something off about him?"

Hearing that someone was preparing to initiate an inquiry against the Aquarius Director, the God of Enlightenment couldn't help but let out a wild laugh, then said with half joy, half mockery:

"Not bad. I thought you'd only notice something was wrong after his plan completely succeeded and he replaced Taurus to ascend the Watchtower Palace. I didn't expect there were still some smart people in your Cleansing Bureau."

Watchtower Palace?!!!!!!!!!!!

Hearing this, Li Ang couldn't help but shudder violently all over, and Jerry's eyes went wide as he said in utter disbelief:

"You… what did you say?"

"I just said that your Cleansing Bureau's Aquarius Director wants to replace Taurus and take the Watchtower Palace for himself!"

After repeating what he had just said, the God of Enlightenment said with a cold laugh:

"This generation's Aquarius has been distracted by too many things, and his level in direct combat is the weakest in two thousand years, but I have to admit that in terms of mastery of the Aquarius lineage's 'Anomaly Genesis' secret art, he is the most profound among the fifteen generations of Aquarius.

Even after I've been drained for two thousand years, with less than a tenth of my power remaining, he can still use my flesh to create large quantities of top-tier anomalous objects with near-divine standing. This talent is not much inferior to that of the first-generation Aquarius."

After giving his enemy a fairly positive evaluation, the God of Enlightenment chuckled:

"The Aquarius lineage's 'Anomaly Genesis' and the Taurus lineage's 'Anomaly Forging' are the most complementary pair among the thirteen secret arts of the Cleansing Bureau.

The former can create anomalies, while the latter can, through forging, fix many anomalies that would otherwise be difficult to manifest, and craft them into stable anomalous objects that can be used. The effects can be considered mutually complementary.

And your Cleansing Bureau's Watchtower Palace is the greatest masterpiece created jointly by the first-generation Aquarius and the first-generation Taurus, combining both secret arts."

After briefly explaining the origins of the Watchtower Palace, the God of Enlightenment continued:

"Although this generation's Aquarius is exceptionally talented, under the protection of the Watchtower Palace true gods find it hard to descend, and after a full two thousand years of consumption, the number of high-grade 'materials' is unusually scarce. Combined with his own strength being too poor, he will never reach the level of the first-generation Aquarius. If I'm not mistaken, after figuring out the ceiling of his own ability, he, obsessed with the Genesis secret art, was unwilling to keep making do like this, so he set his sights on the Watchtower Palace, probably hoping to glimpse something of a higher level from this greatest masterpiece of the Genesis secret art.

However, the Watchtower Palace is your Cleansing Bureau's most important trump card, and you protect it far too tightly. Even a Director cannot approach it. The only way to get close to the Watchtower Palace is to become the Palace Ascender who presides over it.

So starting from about thirty years ago, he planned to create a set of combined anomalous objects, hoping to rely on this set of anomalous objects to replace the identity of the next Palace Ascender, thereby gaining access to the Watchtower Palace."

Wait! Replace an identity?

Hearing this, Li Ang's breath hitched slightly, and he suddenly recalled the photograph in the small mirror, as well as the six-needle wristwatch that, after being tossed in, had clung desperately to the photograph like a stray kitten that had caught the scent of fish.

Isn't this exactly Anna's 【What If】?!

No wonder he had his eye on this thing, and even went to such lengths to frame Senior Auntie Auntie Ai Ma, and gave middle-aged Watching Watching Qiaoshuya a wristwatch that could find 【What If】. So this thing could let him… mm… no, that's not right!

Thinking this far, as if he had discovered something he had been overlooking all along, Li Ang's pupils contracted sharply!

Something's off! Senior Auntie Auntie Ai Ma's enemy didn't just die!

Calculating the timing, it was likely that when Aquarius learned he was about to face an inquiry, he had already finalized the plot to frame her, and arranged for middle-aged Watching Watching Qiaoshuya, who possessed 【Door of the Other Side】, to come to the Bureau to steal the photograph.

A person about to face an internal inquiry, whose own safety was barely guaranteed, should consider his own safety first. Even if he had the mind to arrange something like this, it wouldn't be done so quickly—unless he had some trump card in hand, certain that he would most likely pass the inquiry!

Not good! The inquiry on the Director's side is likely to hit a snag!

……

"Senior Jerry!"

Sensing that something seemed off, Li Ang immediately turned to look at the short man beside him and said with a solemn expression:

"Facing an inquiry and still having the mind to consider all this, the Aquarius Director may have prepared other contingencies!

I don't think what the Director and the others have prepared will necessarily pin him down completely. We must contact Headquarters immediately and send this information along with Watching Watching Qiaoshuya!"

"Huh?"

Reminded by Li Ang, Jerry also vaguely sensed something amiss, and immediately nodded with a grave expression:

"You're right. We must contact Headquarters immediately!"

"……"

"……"

(o_o)?

After waiting a while with nothing further, Li Ang couldn't help but urge:

"Senior! Contact Headquarters quickly, what are you waiting for?"

"Huh? You mean you don't know how to contact Headquarters?"

"I just started a month ago, and I'm still the lowest-level, Grade-3 Incident Handler—where would I get the Head Office's contact info?"

"I'm only Grade-2 too. You don't have it, and neither do I…"

After staring at Hearing Li Ang wide-eyed for a while, Jerry asked with his last shred of hope:

"Before the Bureau Chief left, didn't she leave you some kind of contact info?"

"No… but she said if anything came up, look for Senior Auntie Auntie Ai Ma—Senior Auntie Auntie Ai Ma can reach her…"

"Auntie Auntie Ai Ma was taken away by the Head Office people just yesterday…"

"……"

"……"

Watching the two idiots outside who had been chattering away for ages without even having a single contact number, the God of Enlightenment, who had thought he could finally get his revenge, couldn't help but feel deeply disappointed. He spat fiercely toward the outside and, with eyes full of disdain, commented:

"Two idiots!"

(End of this chapter)