Dimensional Hotel
Chapter 331 Interrogation

Chapter 331: Chapter 331 Interrogation

To be honest, when a cultist with a mind full of twisted thoughts suddenly speaks in such a firm tone, as if devoted to a path, and says something particularly alarming, it makes quite an impression. Yet, compared to this cultist’s sense of "conviction" at that moment, Yu Sheng is more curious about something else.

"How did this world become terminally ill?" He frowned, looking puzzled. "Sure, there’s some weird stuff in this world, but isn’t there always some kind of natural or man-made disaster? We handle them as they come, right? But now we’re talking about the world being terminally ill and needing to find a way to ’use poison to cure poison’ through the Dark Angel?"

Baili Qing directly relayed Yu Sheng’s words to the staff in the interrogation room.

Conversations from the interrogation room came through the speakers—

"What standards are you using to determine that this world is ’terminally ill’?"

The cultist sitting in the chair moved slightly but was immediately pulled back to the starting position by the restraining device.

"You can’t see it, most people can’t," the pale-faced man smirked, with a hint of pity in his voice. "Listen closely, hear the stars’ lamentation. The astrologers in Algerde claim they can listen to the stars, but they never dare to face the true darkness—

"The entire world is shrouded in the haze of disintegration, and within those distant starlights hide surging thoughts. At every moment, countless apocalyptic possibilities burst forth from the edge of the observable universe, briefly resisted by the stars. Has the Astrology Association warned you? No, because they are flawed themselves. They can only observe the most superficial parts of the starlight.

"And those who claim to be prophets, those Bamosa people, calling themselves disciples of the ’Great Prophet,’ play with future predictions with the Wooden Gold Man. But does anyone mention the whispers at the edge of the observable universe? Does anyone speak of the veil at the end of the starlight, discuss the limits of the material universe, the collisions and cracks beyond the edge of order... No!

"They know nothing of the true future. Be it the Bamosa people or the Wooden Gold Man, their so-called prophecies and calculations are only tricks for catching illusions in the fleeting ripples of time flow. Their methods of observing and interpreting the stars are crude. Only the Supreme Saint has glimpsed the truth of the world on the verge of collapse at the end of the starlight, a voice, a voice whispering to him..."

The interrogation staff in the shadows gently tapped the table. The tapping wasn’t loud, yet it seemed to make the entire room tremble slightly.

The spiritual energy tremor that pierced the soul made the cultist suddenly open his eyes wide, like a stranglehold around his throat, struggling to lift his upper body, gasping painfully.

After six seconds of repetitive trembling, the tapping quieted down, and the cultist in the chair was soaked in sweat, breathing heavily.

"I’m asking you to answer the question, not to preach—I’ve heard countless versions of your theories already."

"I... I understand."

"Good, I now fully understand your perception of the world being ’terminally ill.’ So, the next question: How exactly do you plan to use the ’Angel Catalyst’ to puncture the ’lesion’? Or more straightforwardly... how do you intend to use these ’materials’ to destroy the so-called ’universal disease areas,’ including the Exotic Realm and the Boundary Land?"

"The specific technology is still under research... I’m telling the truth! Our research on the Angel Catalyst is still in its early stages," the cultist said hastily, "there’s a lot that’s still theoretical, existing only as fragments of knowledge seen by the Supreme Saint in meditation. It’s a long process to organize and transform these into applicable technology..."

"And how long has this ’early stage’ been going on?"

The cultist visibly hesitated, but after a moment of biting his lip, he finally said, "According to standard Terran Time, about seventeen years."

The interrogation room suddenly fell silent.

"In other words, seventeen years ago, you began your research on the ’Angel Catalyst’—and the essence of the Angel Catalyst is the remnants left after a Dark Angel falls," nearly ten seconds passed before the interrogator’s voice resounded again in the interrogation room, "but the Dark Angel Anka Aela only fell recently, and we have ample evidence to prove that this is the first ’fall’ of an angel in history—how could your research on the angel remnants have started over a decade ago?! Could this research have begun out of thin air, and you speculated the characteristics of angel remnants just from some illusions seen in the so-called Supreme Saint’s meditation?"

The Cultist once again tried to slightly adjust his sitting position, his lips trembling, and after a while, he seemed to squeeze out a smile as he opened his mouth: "That’s right, Anka Aela is indeed the first angel to ’fall,’ but have you ever thought that maybe she isn’t the first angel to die?"

Sitting behind the observation window, Yu Sheng’s eyebrows instantly furrowed, and beside him, Baili Qing directly pressed the intercom button on the console: "What do you mean by that?"

The Cultist in the interrogation room seemed startled, subconsciously looking up at a corner of the ceiling, then heard the interrogator nearby speaking in an indisputable tone: "Answer."

The Cultist shivered slightly and finally continued: "Dark Angels, besides the common trait of ’invasion,’ each has its own distinctive characteristics, so it’s not surprising what kind of Dark Angel appears—some Dark Angels are in a ’death’ state the moment they enter the real universe, which is quite reasonable, isn’t it?"

This time, even the interrogator in the room couldn’t suppress the astonishment in his tone: "You’ve found a naturally deceased Dark Angel!?"

"We call it the ’Shadowless Skeleton,’ or simply ’Skeleton,’" the Cultist said in a low voice, "It was buried in a massive pit referred to as the ’Adar Giant Pit’—the huge pit is clearly visible from space, and the bottom of the pit is shrouded with numerous eerie and nameless shadows, while the ’Skeleton’ is located in the central area surrounded by the shadows, an area also known as the ’Shadowless Zone’...

"The form of the ’Skeleton’ itself is a huge humanoid skeleton with broken wing bones at the back, curled up in a posture of hugging its knees in a fragmented crystal base, and if it stood up, the height of the skeleton might exceed six hundred meters—clearly not a creature that could be born under normal conditions. Scattered around that skeleton are bone fragments and crystal shards, and both the skeleton itself and the surrounding fragments possess extremely high physical strength and continuously emit a vague whisper around them.

"It took us a long time to confirm what the ’Shadowless Skeleton’ was until the Supreme Saint received enlightenment in meditation, telling us it was a Dark Angel that had died upon entering the real universe, and its ’remnant’ was its characteristic."

Baili Qing pressed the intercom button again: "How did you determine that the Dark Angel was in a death state?"

Her question sounded a bit odd at first, after all, a pile of bones buried at the bottom of a pit does not sound like a living thing. But for those who understand Dark Angels, this question holds no doubt, given that these "invaders" are incredibly peculiar—a tree, a statue, or even a planet could possibly be an "angel" invading the real universe, just judging their life or death by their appearance is certainly not enough.

"It is in a ’deathly silence’ state," the Cultist on the chair hesitated for a moment, then answered honestly, "without any sign of activation, not moving, apart from the constant whispering, there’s no energy release that indicates ’activity,’ and more importantly...as long as proper protection is in place, ordinary humans can come into contact with it and even collect its samples and remain unaffected afterward."

The last reason given by the Cultist was simple and straightforward, yet very persuasive.

After all, there is a generally accepted idea—that ordinary people can’t possibly have close contact with a Dark Angel and still be alive and kicking, let alone close contact; in some instances, just looking at that thing from a distance of over ten kilometers on a battlefield carries a thirty percent chance of death.

And those reclusive sect followers could even scrape bone powder off the ’Shadowless Skeleton’ in the Adar Giant Pit for research purposes.

A typical case of "You touched a Dark Angel and didn’t die, so it must be because the Dark Angel is dead."

"So, you discovered a Dark Angel in a death state over a decade ago and thus began your research on the ’Angel Catalyst’?" the interrogator in the room continued to ask, "What happened afterward?"

"...We found that the ’Angel Catalyst’ collected around the ’Shadowless Skeleton’ was not active enough," perhaps due to having answered many questions continuously, the Cultist seemed to cooperate more readily as he continued to answer, "those are the small bone fragments and crystal shards scattered around the giant skeleton, though they do indeed display certain ’erosion’ characteristics as the Supreme Saint mentioned, their power is far from enough to have a ’puncture’ effect on the Exotic Realm, it’s like...something is missing. We suspect that it’s because the ’Shadowless Skeleton’ has been dead for so long, its power has declined."

"So, you set your sights on those still alive Dark Angels..." the interrogator’s voice lowered, "Based on the analysis of the samples collected on the ground around your ship, you infiltrated ’Mist City’ at least ten years ago, which means...since that time, you knew about Anka Aela’s existence?"

"...Yes."