Clown Game
Chapter 399 - 377 "Nothing

Chapter 399: Chapter 377 "Nothing

So, although the Polar Research Area contained some of the world’s most dangerous items, it was actually quite uneventful inside because of the presence of the Ascetic. Many of the detection instruments were not even needed, as those items were practically non-existent apart from being visible and tangible; they could hardly be detected.

However, these past few days, the Polar Research Area had been unusually busy. In a place where new items were seldom introduced even over several years, two "humanoid containment entities" had been delivered in less than half a month.

The previous one was a woman with wings, and this time, it was a man.

Dos was not placed in a containment pod, but was transported inside a spherical barrier made from a small sky-screen, though "small" was relative because the barrier was still enormously huge. It required six transport machines working together to lift it. If there were people in this area, all they had to do was look up to see the giant sphere in the sky at 10,000 meters. Hence, the research area had to open up the entire mountain’s deck layers to allow this thing to enter the base.

Fortunately, what Antarctica lacked least was space.

A few hours later, "half" of this sphere was implanted deep underground, while the remaining part hung overhead like an inverted pot. Through the gaps of each semicircle device, one could see Dos standing quietly in the center, some residual aberrant beings greedily swirling around him, some even burrowing into his body and emerging from another spot, creating a grotesquely terrifying sight.

At this moment, several members of Omega Squad stood silently outside the canopy device, watching their former teammate... However, since Dos had been encircled by the iron pillars capable of isolating the Dark Realm, he had stopped speaking altogether. No matter how others tried to persuade him, he just closed his eyes and stood there, motionless.

"He finally came," suddenly, an old man’s voice came from behind everyone.

Everyone turned around...

"Senator!" Nolr, uncharacteristically, showed a hint of respect and nodded politely.

The old man returned the gesture, but his gaze did not linger on the people in front of him for even a second; instead, it remained fixed on Dos within the steel frame.

"Senator, he is a member of Omega Squad..." Nolr stepped forward, seeing no response from him, and emphasized cautiously. However, the old man still did not react and simply walked past him, entering the canopy device.

Nolr’s expression was unchanging, but his hands had subconsciously clenched: "Please give us some time!" he struggled to shout at the end.

But... still, there was no response.

By then, the old man had entered the canopy, stepping on the rocks still radiating deadly cold air as he approached Dos, stopping about 5 meters away from him.

"I hope you would return," he said abruptly, inexplicably.

Dos slowly opened his eyes and glanced at the old man in front of him, showing no emotion, then closed them again... The disgusting aberrations stretched out their limbs as if to protect him.

The old man was silent, while the people in the distance watched him tensely, praying and fearing at the same time. Finally, after a long few seconds, he brought his hands together and placed them on his chest.

Ishihara Chiyuki seemed suddenly furious: "Bastard!" She swore unabashedly and was already preparing to rush into the canopy.

"Chiyuki!" Bluebird yelled anxiously, but in the moment was unsure what to do, while Abraham’s large hand had already grabbed his arm.

"What? You’re just going to watch?" she shouted. "He once saved your life!"

"Just watch," Nolr said calmly; it was clear that he had more to say, but he remained silent.

A subtle disturbance, too faint to feel, caused the snow on the ground to scatter slightly outward. The old man lowered his hands, and Dos, still with his eyes closed, seemed to have entered a completely static state, like a statue forgotten by the world... and would never be remembered again.

Yes, this state of "non-existence" was irreversible, a one-way ticket, meaning Dos could never return. At this point, one might ask, if the old man was so powerful that he could completely exclude an object from being, why didn’t he just contain all the "Dimensional Materialization" products initially?

If you asked that, it only showed you were still thinking of the "materialized products" as human, monsters, or life forms.

No, they were not those things; they were a forcefully altered concept from something that existed without a physical form into a form we could understand, unrelated to behavior, volume, thought, or time. Or, you might say they existed on the same plane—fundamentally incapable of restricting each other. So, confining Dos now was merely confining a carrier of the "life" concept...

Soon, the old man emerged, appearing no different from before he entered. He naturally passed by the crowd as if nothing had happened.

Suddenly.

"Why can you act as if nothing happened?" Chiyuki whispered as the old man passed her.

She had tried her best to sound polite, but clearly, it was fruitless.

The old man did not turn around but still responded, "Humans are insignificant. To protect this group, some things must be sacrificed."

"What did you sacrifice?" Chiyuki looked up, her eyes slightly red. "You merely killed a man who had no connection to you; no, worse than killing him. He too fought for this world as you did, his contributions no less than yours. You know this, and yet you do such things and can still speak so casually..."

"To protect humanity, would you be willing to sacrifice yourself?" the old man suddenly interrupted her, asking indifferently.

"Of course!" Chiyuki responded in a way true to her character, straightforward, without a hint of doubt.

"Then, for humanity, would you be willing to sacrifice others?" the old man continued.

...

Silence

...

Chiyuki’s mouth fell open in surprise, at a loss for words.

The old man continued to walk forward, his figure as gaunt as ever, like the pitiful monk on the dam years ago.

"This... is what I’ve sacrificed..."

He spoke softly, his voice faint, fading into Chiyuki’s ears... buzzing.