Chapter 30
Themis said, "You knew the information about the criminal, so why did you pretend not to know it just now?"
Arthur, who had been keeping an eye on the situation, heard what Themis said and walked over. "Looks like there's something fishy going on. Come with us."
"But her previous questions have already ruled me out as a criminal. I do know something, because that man is a member of the Redemption Society. That's all I know. If you don't believe me, you can ask her again." Lucian showed no fear in the face of Arthur's dominance. He gestured to Themis, who then inquired, "Is that all you know about him being a member of the Redemption Society?"
"Yes." Lucian looked Themis in the eye. After a few seconds, Themis spoke. "He's not lying. That's all he knows."
Arthur tutted, his attitude still unfriendly. He looked Lucian over from head to toe. The staff member next to him pulled up Lucian's profile and glanced at it. "North District D-3 Base?" How small a base would that be? What irked him was Lucian's attitude. To put it nicely, it was neither humble nor arrogant. To put it bluntly, it was just pretentious.
You know, even the person in charge of the A-1 base in the North District has to nod and smile when he sees them. What right does he have to be so arrogant?
"But we can't let you go. We still have to meet the person in charge of your base." Arthur said.
Themis advised, "Don't take your anger out on others." She lowered her eyes and said to Lucian, "You can go back now."
Lucian didn't leave. He asked the question everyone else was wondering: "Will the tryouts be held again?"
"We can't be sure about this kind of thing." Compared to the aggressive Arthur, Themis was more gentle and friendly, although her answer didn't have much effect.
As the selection competition was forced to be suspended, the remaining contestants had to return to their bases first. Each base sent a vehicle to pick up the contestants from its base. For a while, the yellow sand was covered with vehicles coming and going, and it was very noisy.
Arthur took in the entire scene from his perch. He wasn't happy with Themis's approach, even his words were veiled in sarcasm. "Good intentions can sometimes lead to disaster."
"Really? I don't think so." Themis didn't even look at Arthur. "I just feel that the current Sky City has deviated from its original purpose."
At this point, Arthur fell silent. What had been the original purpose of building Sky City? As time passed, he had almost forgotten his memories of the founder. That person... was the most gentle person he had ever met. She once said to him, "How can this world be saved? Instead of resenting the wars of the past, why not think about what will be best for the future?"
"What I want is to build a city, take in the survivors, and then work together to make the world a better place little by little."
Ah, he remembered. That person's original intention was to take in all the survivors, but why... did it become like this? The residents of Sky City lived a life of drunkenness and debauchery, while the residents of the Underground City struggled to survive, some even risking their lives and killing each other for the chance to become Sky City residents.
"Yeah, why did it turn out like this?" Arthur turned his head away, not looking at the situation on the ground. "It's all because she abandoned us first, so her wish can't be realized. It's all her fault." Yes, blaming others can alleviate one's guilt. It's that simple. After all, carrying guilt is a painful thing.
Themis shook his head. "Arthur, you always say one thing and mean another. You're the one who's most reluctant to let her go, aren't you?"
Arthur pursed his lips. There was no way he could lie in front of Themis. She would see through all his lies. He was so angry that he said, "I'm too lazy to talk to you! I want to go back! The air down there is so bad. I'm so uncomfortable!"
*
After returning to the base, Lucian first went to see the person in charge, Coin. Jiang Fei did not go with Anna to pick him up, but the two still met in the conference room. She smiled at Lucian and asked, "How does it feel to have escaped death?"
"It's hard to describe the feeling, but one thing I know for sure is that I don't want to experience it again." Lucian forced a smile. "Watching the livestream must have scared you all, right?"
She wasn't actually terrified, because Jiang Fei had a bad feeling from the beginning, and the forced cancellation of the trials was within her expectations. However, she certainly wouldn't tell Lucian this. Coin arrived at the meeting room at that moment. "Welcome back, Lucian. How are you?"
"It's okay, but according to the information I gathered, the trials will probably be held again." Everyone chose a seat. Anna sat on Jiang Fei's left, Lucian on her right, and the noisy Gru sat across from her. Lucian's reaction to his return was the most exaggerated. The nearly 5'9" tall man cried for a long time, tears and snot streaming down his face. Jiang Fei was so scared that she didn't know what to do. Anna patted her shoulder calmly and said, "Don't worry, he'll calm down after a while."
By the time the meeting started, Gru's eyes were still red, but his mood had calmed down considerably. He said indignantly, "Isn't it just for that noble young master's birthday?! Is there any need to mobilize so many people?"
In fact, this was really necessary. Lucian continued to talk about the situation of Alice and Unica. They were completely unaware of the criminals, so they did not reveal their identities when being interrogated by Themis, and now they have returned to the base safely.
“When Themis asked me questions, she realized I was lying,” Lucian said. “But strangely, she didn’t keep me here. Instead, she asked me to return to the base.”
"Wait, why are you lying?" Anna caught the key words in his words and asked quickly.
"For some special reasons." Only Coin knew that he and Jiang Fei had gone to the ghost market. Coin seemed to realize something and she comforted Anna, "Anna, don't be so excited. Lucian must have his reasons for doing this."
"But doing this will not only make you suspicious, but it will also likely implicate the entire base. Don't you understand this?" Anna frowned, her tone a little sharp.
"Yeah, I know, but they probably already have a hypothesis about who's behind this, and that's the Redemption Society."
Anna pondered for a moment. "The Redemption Society... is it the organization that once tried to overthrow Sky City? I remember that organization was liquidated many years ago. Wait, are you saying it still exists now? That's impossible..."
"Yet it happened, and I'm certain it was the Redemption Society." Lucian looked at Jiang Fei, who frowned, and continued, "And I reasonably suspect the death of the D-1 base leader was also caused by this organization."
This was undoubtedly like dropping a bomb into a calm lake, and the water exploded instantly. Anna didn't know much about the person in charge of the D-1 base, because the people in charge at the time were Jiang Fei and Jason, so the center of the topic turned to Jiang Fei and Jason. Since Jason was not present, their words were directed at Jiang Fei who was present.
"Can you tell me how it's related?" Anna asked.
"When we went to the D-1 base, we also went to see the body of the person in charge, and then we found a mark on the body. Later, after investigation, we found out that it was the mark of the Redemption Society. In addition, the person in charge's health suddenly deteriorated after attending that meeting, so I suspected that it was the Redemption Society's doing. And it was with this mark that Lucian recognized that the criminal was a member of the Redemption Society." Jiang Fei briefly sorted out the whole story, without going into details, mainly because she blurred the parts involving her personal privacy.
"So... it's very possible." Anna looked at Coin, wanting to get a definite answer from her. The latter nodded, "It's just as Jiang Fei said. All we can do is to distance ourselves from the Redemption Society."
Jiang Fei didn't quite agree with the second half of Coin's words in her heart. If possible, she really wanted to directly rely on the power of the Redemption Society. After all, according to her current progress, it would take a long time just to unify the entire North District, not to mention overthrowing Sky City. That was really an unattainable goal.
After the meeting, Jiang Fei was about to return to her room when she ran into Jason, who had also returned to his room. He asked, "Did you go to the meeting?"
"Yeah." Jiang Fei guessed that Jason also knew that the Redemption Society was causing trouble, so she simply asked, "Do you think the Redemption Society is good or bad?"
Jason leaned against the doorframe and shook his head slightly. "Not everything can be judged as good or bad. Perhaps it's more accurate to say that pure good or pure evil are rare in this world. The Redemption Society certainly has its significance. It provides spiritual sustenance for countless people who want to rebel against Sky City, and it encourages them to continue their struggle."
Jiang Fei narrowed her eyes slightly, "You speak as if you have joined this organization before."
Jason's expression became a little subtle. "Is that so? Or maybe it's because I have more life experience than you, so that gives you this illusion?"
That's what she said, but whether Jiang Fei believed it or not was another matter. Personally, she was half-believing and half-doubting.
However, she has more important things to deal with at the moment, which is to get in touch with Allen first, but she can't let him find out that she is Jiang Fei who ran away from the A-1 base.
It's really complicated. It's hard to hide it from him by just disguising herself. She also has to cooperate with the mind control of the human-faced moth. Thanks to the fact that she has used the human-faced moth frequently in recent times, its skills have also been upgraded, especially the mind control skill, which comes in handy now.
However, how to meet him became another problem. He was unlikely to leave the base now, which meant she would have to wait for a while.
Of course, things weren't entirely peaceful in Sky City during this time. The Redemption Society, previously liquidated, had made a comeback. This news alone had a huge impact on the top brass, and they practically called an emergency meeting overnight. However, the newly appointed governor arrived some time after the meeting had begun, wearing a perfunctory smile. "I'm so sorry I was delayed on the way, but I guess you haven't gotten to the point yet, have you?"
The Archon's youthful face stood out among the middle-aged and elderly faces of the other senior executives, and was also particularly eye-catching. He sat in his designated seat, chin resting on one hand. His assistant handed him a document, and he lazily glanced through it before suddenly smiling. "It's just a small organization. Look how scared you are! Is it really necessary to call a meeting in such a hurry? You've interrupted my literary salon."
From his tone it seemed that the so-called literary salon was more important. Finally, someone couldn't stand it anymore. There were already people in the upper echelons who were dissatisfied with the newly appointed consul. Basically, when politics was involved, various factional disputes would be involved. Some people supported the new consul, while others opposed it.
The opposing party then questioned, "As the governor of Sky City, how could you still have the energy to hold a literary salon after something like this happened?!"
The Archon asked, bewildered, "So what? What should I do? Should I get so nervous I lose my appetite and sit in the meeting with the rest of you, discussing various countermeasures?"
The intensity of the sarcasm was so strong that no one else in the room dared to speak. The person who had started the argument fell silent as well. After a few seconds, someone else spoke up again. "We just hope you can take Sky City's affairs to heart. A few years ago, the Redemption Society threatened Sky City, and we spent a lot of effort to eliminate them. Now that they've resurfaced, we must nip this tendency in the bud."
Hearing this lengthy speech, the Archon yawned unabashedly. "Well, I can see you're nervous. So why don't you tell me what you plan to do?"
"First, thoroughly investigate all types of illegal markets, then strengthen surveillance of each base, and issue an announcement that anyone who can provide information about the Redemption Society will receive a generous reward once verified." Another person read out the measures that had been prepared long ago, one by one.
"And then—"
"Wait a moment, I can do as you say, but do you think this will solve the problem completely?" He swept his eyes over everyone present and sighed, "Honestly speaking, I don't think there is any need for dungeons to exist, otherwise we should just liquidate all those bases." He said such terrifying words so lightly. Even the previous consuls would have thought twice about the issue of dungeons instead of being so careless as him, as if they were playing house.
"Huh? What's wrong? Why is everyone silent now? If you don't say anything, I'll take it as your consent to my actions." His tone rose, and you could tell he was in a good mood.
"Of course not! What if we arouse public anger and they unite to oppose Sky City? It wouldn't be difficult to deal with just the Redemption Society, but if we're facing dozens of bases, even Sky City won't stand a chance of winning!" The man spoke very excitedly, his face flushed red.
The Archon waved his hand. "Okay, I understand what you mean. Don't get so excited. I'm afraid I'll send you to the hospital."
He said this, but his expression was still so nonchalant that it really made people doubt the credibility of his words.
"In addition, the trials that were forced to be canceled must be rescheduled," a representative of the conservative faction said. "Although this incident has caused some losses to Sky City, canceling the trials will only allow the other party to achieve their goals and weaken Sky City's authority. If this incident is not properly resolved, it will give people the wrong impression that Sky City is not so invincible. If people harbor resentment towards us in the future, they may choose to rebel."
What they envisioned was not only to crush the dungeon in terms of material levels such as technology, but more of a spiritual deterrent. After all, the spokesperson had been a senior executive for decades, and his words were gradual and not as excited as the man at the beginning.
The Archon adjusted his sitting position, leaning back in his chair as if shrinking into his seat. He said, "I quite agree with this. You've already figured out a plan. You're just asking me to attend just to go through the motions, right?" He was well aware of the others' ulterior motives and made no secret of them. He pointed out directly, "Whatever you want to do, whether it's finding a scapegoat or actually uncovering the mastermind, it doesn't really have anything to do with me anyway."
As the Archon of Sky City, he lacked much sense of responsibility for its affairs, which seemed odd to others. As soon as the higher-ups had finalized what was to be done, the young Archon swiftly left the meeting room, his assistant following him. As they walked down the corridor, he suddenly stopped without turning back, as if mumbling to himself, "What on earth was that person thinking when she founded Sky City? Could she have imagined that her utopia would become like this?"
If only he could meet her in person, then he would get the answer to this kind of thing. It might be a fantasy to want to travel across time and space to find the answer to someone from the past, but it is possible in this world with people with superpowers. Moreover, his ability really involves time and space travel, but now he can only travel within a small range. If the range is too large, the original time and space will not be able to withstand the changes and will collapse.
He was able to become the consul because he was recommended by the other four pillars. As for why they recommended him, they all knew the reason, because both he and the other four hoped to see the founder of Sky City again.
"Hmm... Let's take it slow," he muttered to himself. Suddenly, he turned around and said to his assistant, "The literary salon shouldn't be over yet, right?"
The assistant replied nervously, "Ah, well! Of course it's not over yet. Do you want to come over now?"
"Then let's go and take a look."
There weren't actually that many people attending the so-called literary salon. There were only Arthur, Themis, Yan, Ivan, and a few other maids. The huge room seemed a bit empty.
As soon as Arthur saw the Archon return, he closed the book he was holding, which was a picture book, and asked, "I thought you wouldn't be attending that meeting."
"It can't be helped. I still have to go through the motions. After all, I'm the newly appointed governor of Sky City." He shrugged nonchalantly. "But that meeting was really boring. I almost dozed off during it."
Themis' voice rang out, "They've actually already figured out what to do. Your role is, at best, just a mascot."
"Themis, it's really hurtful for you to say that." The Archon frowned.
"I'm only speaking the truth, and you're not particularly sad, are you?" Themis said calmly, "You know your true role, and please don't forget why we elected you in the first place."
"How could I forget? Isn't it just that I think my special ability may be able to connect time and space so that you can meet the founder? To be honest, is she really that good? Is it worth it for you to do that?" The Archon crossed his arms across his chest. Ivan sighed silently. He looked at Arthur. As expected, although he would always have a dark face when the topic of the founder was mentioned, he would get angry if others said something that questioned the founder.
Ivan counted down in his mind.
Three, two, one—
"Take back what you just said. Don't really think you're the governor of Sky City. We can get you to this position, and we can get you down from here." Arthur's cheeks flushed with anger. He raised his voice and repeated, "Now, apologize to me quickly!"
"Relax a little, don't act like a mad dog. I was just saying it casually, why take it so seriously?" He raised his hands. "Okay, then I'll take it back. Just pretend I never said anything, okay?"
Arthur still wasn't satisfied with his attitude, but Ivan stood up and pulled Arthur aside. "That's enough. He's already apologized, and we'll need his help later. You don't want to make things too awkward, do you?"
Arthur, who was furious, glared at Ivan fiercely, but the latter's expression did not change. Seeing that Arthur's emotions had calmed down, Ivan said to the Archon, "So, what is the current level of your supernatural power?"
"It can only achieve a small range of time and space retracing within three days."
Yan suddenly said, "Then you can also avoid the accident in this selection by going back in time." The implication was to question why he didn't do that.
The consul's eyes passed over Arthur, "Maybe it's because Mr. Arthur and I don't get along? And you know, I don't have any sense of belonging to Sky City. Maybe I'm destined not to be a competent consul." People like him do everything out of interest. Compared to responsibility, he values whether things can bring a sense of fun.
Themis knew very well that what the Archon said was true. She shook her head at the other three. They were just partners and she couldn't completely command him. He himself was an uncontrollable factor and one day his abilities might get out of control and cause the collapse of the entire space and time.
It was impossible to make him a good and obedient tool, and everyone present realized this.
*
Jiang Fei spent a few days in the base in an orderly manner. During this period, the human-faced hawk moth she released collected different information every day. After a long wait, she finally got the opportunity to meet Allen. The Redemption Society held meetings from time to time, and she knew that Allen would definitely attend.
It was not an easy task to find Allen's trace. Many of the human-faced hawk moths she sent out died for various reasons. Several of them had already flown near the gathering, but were disconnected by some unknown force. When she wanted to restore contact, she sensed that those split bodies were already dead.
It seemed that they were trying to prevent anyone from breaking into the gathering. Jiang Fei frowned. This was troublesome. She could only calculate the vague location of their gathering, but it would take some time to find the exact location.
Time waits for no one. She slipped out of the base almost as soon as she determined the rough location. The authority Coin had given her had not been taken back yet, so she had unimpeded access to the base. She set out lightly, driving a small motorcycle. She didn't carry that much stuff with her, mostly weapons.
The meeting was held at night. The black cat sent a message from the front, saying that it sensed the presence of humans. Jiang Fei guessed that it was probably a member of the Redemption Society, and ordered it to follow. At the same time, she also kept a distance from the front to avoid being discovered. Half an hour later, the black cat told her that the other party had stopped.
She also stopped the motorcycle. Strangely, she didn't see any lights when she looked around. It was still pitch black. However, it was impossible for such a gathering to be held on the ground. It was obvious that Jiang Fei followed the other party's whereabouts and came to that place.
The other person's footprints on the yellow sand were quickly blown away by the night wind. She turned around in place, and suddenly she felt a strange feeling on the soles of her feet, a somewhat hard touch. She immediately squatted down, touched the ground with her hand, and pushed away the layer of yellow sand. She obviously touched a barrier. She saw the translucent barrier with the dim light of the computer, but what was under the barrier?
She pursed her lips, thinking in her mind how to open this barrier. At this moment, a voice suddenly sounded in her ears, "Are you the one who has been following me?"
As soon as the words fell, the sound of a pistol being loaded rang out. Jiang Fei didn't look back. She half-lowered her eyes. The black cat lurking in the darkness came silently behind the man and bit his arm. The pistol fell from his hand and was picked up by Jiang Fei. She smiled and said, "I was still wondering how to get in, but I didn't expect the 'ticket' to appear by itself."
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