Chapter 1732: with translation of chapter title

NO. 346: Strange discoveries are increasing.

Indeed, those captured monster tamers are not only a team, but they also cooperate to help one of them break through the blockade and escape; even if they are not deeply affectionate, at least they are like grasshoppers on the same rope, and they should hardly betray their Duìyou.

But the modern police department's interrogation marvels pay no heed to those.

Source energy and technology develop together at a high efficiency, competing with each other; their frequent interplay not only yields many more stable and user‑friendly magitech products, but also pushes each other's extreme technologies further.

Applied to interrogation, this is undoubtedly a confrontation between personality examination and soul‑searching.

Such civilian illegal technology breakthroughs are naturally used in criminal investigation.

Moreover, interrogation devices and source‑energy puppets that further reduce officers' burden have arisen.

They not only lower the threshold for source‑energy basics and operational knowledge, but can also directly generate reports and source documents.

Yes, the file over 15G that Shi Huaiya sent to Aomo came about exactly this way.

Accordingly, criminals also spare no effort to develop countermeasures to avoid exposing their crimes and to protect certain privacies more important than life, but those things are obviously not widespread, let alone steadily updated.

On the contrary, the police R&D department can secure bonuses each year with new versions.

So no matter what you shout about love and courage, clinging to that conservative secret is meaningless.

Only those who come from the "large organization of united criminals" that, although hard to twist, does indeed exist, might have the risk of errors in interrogation content, after all, there are never a shortage of geniuses among criminals.

Occasionally, one can also find in there pseudo‑Shōwa carrot cartoon and tokusatsu‑style godly scientists, who conjure astonishing and cruel inventions, like a device to turn the world's nutritious vegetable dishes into fried chicken…… Indeed, these are enemies that Huluobo Xia has dealt with.

Such oppressive individuals are not few in Heaven's Gate City, and they rarely operate alone; basically they work within some organizations.

The Beast Sect that can remain at large despite long‑term pursuit by the Holy Terra Federation in another universe obviously also has researchers in this regard; otherwise there would be no need for Aomo to investigate—if any member of their sect had unclean hands and failed to tidy up loose ends, got caught and investigated, then the information obtained synchronously should be directly transmitted throughout the federation's law‑enforcement system.

Yes, directly transmitted throughout.

A sect wielding monster power, at the very least, should be estimated as a monster legion, deserving at least an A‑class wanted notice, worthy of such treatment.

But now don't even talk about an A‑class wanted notice; the concrete evidence of crime is merely pointed to by the testimony and scant evidence from the Chasers Club, and the wanted level barely scrapes a C.

It can't be higher, because the Chasers Club's testimony also can't claim a higher manifestation; all we know is that the bishop can summon monsters, and the most dangerous high priest—the Moon‑Chase Symbol of the previous term—has just been taken down by Aomo.

This is rather embarrassing, but conversely, if the police do not intervene heavily, we have a chance to swallow them one by one like a greedy snake eating beans.

And the question of where to start comes back to the present.

——Hei'an region.

One of the most dangerous and forbidden regions of the digital world, its essence is the digital world's 'negative data aggregate', corresponding to the human religious concept of 'hell', but its formation causes, aside from the 'negative data residue' left by normal digital beasts' deaths, also include the system's active isolation of 'irreparable procedures', namely virus cores and paradox code.

And also the 'data pollution sources' left over from ancient wars.

For example, the remains of the Apocalypse Beast.

Of course, although the Hei'an region sounds terribly frightening, as a reversed space overlapping the main continent of the digital world, it is actually not that easy to enter.

The blood‑red vortex at the bottom of the Infinite Mountains on the Main Continent, and the center of the 'Sinful Desert' on Shaba Continent count as fixed entrances; besides, children subjected to constant selection can, when their inner negative energy exceeds the threshold, automatically trigger that privilege to generate a temporary entrance.

Excluding the first two stable entrances, the third option obviously reveals an unusual significance.

Strong power can break conventions—this truth, practiced countless times in reality, also holds in the digital world, leading to countless possibilities such as fourth, fifth, sixth, etc., for the gate of the Hei'an region.

Among these, the most common is a stable, long‑term entrance established with the joint help of powerful digital beasts in the Hei'an region and some cyber‑hackers assisting humans.

The login hall of the digital bar at Mirror Surface Market No. 313 is exactly such an entrance.

Here, just like many internet cafés of the last century, each private booth is equipped with numerous lightweight devices resembling deep‑entry gear and massage sofas; activating them directly digitizes consciousness, pulling the user into that world like a possessor of the spirit of a Dark Fighter.

But the customers here are neither here to fight nor to play; they seek a truly secret space.

——Under the Holy Terra Federation's regime, where official surveillance is dense and electronic and informational penetration is too deep, only places like the Hei'an region of the digital world count as a 'safe zone' in these customers' eyes.

The federal government's reach cannot extend here; nothing that happens here leaks onto the net, and moreover this place is a jungle of the strong devouring the weak—it is practically an ideal base for a criminal gang, isn't it?

It's just that the environment is a bit poor.

The surface mire of karmic debt is entirely a swamp formed from Hei'an data streams and undecomposed digital beast remains; if a summoning‑type Hei'an digital beast passes by and casts a summoning spell, one can even see those remains instantly transformed into zombie digital beasts.

The middle layer's Eternal Sin Corridor is a maze formed from countless mirrors, imprisoning and active with a heap of demon beasts, female demon beasts, and such fallen‑angel‑type digital beasts; likewise it is not well suited for establishing a base.

The deep layer is much better, but another name for this place is the Demon King's Hall.

The Seven Great Demon Kings have divided this land, establishing blood‑red thrones, Babel towers, and other separate domains; the possibilities for establishing a base here are only two.

Submission, serving as a stepping stone for their interference in the human world;

Coexistence, mutually wary while coexisting on a basis of comparable strength;

As for conquering them instead—first, the Seven Great Demon Kings usually have a self‑respect that refuses to submit; second, their thrones possess eternal uniqueness, so each death will soon be filled by a newly promoted evolver summoned by the whole Hei'an region; finally……

Insisting on opening war here would likely provoke a joint counter‑strike from the Seven Great Demon Kings.

Thus the third kind of relation has always been hard to establish, while the first and second are not uncommon.

After all, the Seven Great Demon Kings have always been enthusiastic about human world resources, while a minority of law‑breaking dangerous humans also have a demand for the unique positioning of the Hei'an domain.

Both sides are no pushovers, and they hit it off completely, but radical actions often provoke a joint crackdown by net police, net detectives, and some mercenaries from online channels. The death of the infamous Apocalypse Beast in that circle a few years ago was indeed a bloody, profound lesson.

In the end, those who fare best are actually places like this Hei'an region login hall—although they cooperate with the Seven Great Demon Kings, they are merely running a local bar.

Various flavored data‑based drinks; vampire demon beast bartenders, demon beast singers, female demon beast waitstaff as digital beast employees; numerous sound‑proof booths built from hardened, specialized digital metal that is hard to dismantle;

——Each such bar has its own number, its underlying data directly linked to the login portal; ordinary digital beasts and people wandering the Hei'an domain cannot even reach that building itself, which is as insubstantial and twisted as thin smoke.

This is both why Aomo did not directly have his partner digital beast drag him into the Hei'an domain, and proof that he has obtained the patronage of the local demon king.

However, this does not prevent his partner from running from the terminal into this device and coming along together.

But at the moment she flew out of that entrance resembling a black‑version Heaven's Gate, Xiao Aomo, upon a second review of his memory, was certain it was not an illusion.

All the digital beasts in the bar wearing work uniforms, at the instant they appeared, uniformly cast their gazes over.

(End of chapter)