Chapter 328: Hiding in hiding (End)
"Please wait a moment while I complete my routine inspection," Benintic said. "Demon contamination is often silent, so we must be on guard."
He conjured a handheld detector and scanned the three of them like they were going through security, not forgetting to pull out Vander for a second check. After all this, he said solemnly, "The contamination from the outside world has clearly exceeded the critical value..."
"Is it really contaminated?!" Li Ke was shocked.
"These are all documented reactions, and they will temporarily eliminate the Chaos contamination." Benintic put away the detector. "I apologize for putting you all in danger. This is undoubtedly a failure on the part of Team One. But please allow me to defend my subordinates. They took immediate action, but were overwhelmed by the Chaos. I was in a confidential meeting and was not immediately informed. I failed miserably."
He bowed and apologized to everyone. Vander said angrily, "Seriously, this is too much! This is Mansa Star Fort! The heart of the Thorns! How did that old guy get into the library right under everyone's noses?!"
Benintic reached out his hand. "I'm speechless, but this is not without precedent."
"This kind of crappy thing has happened several times..." Ji Huaisu was surprised.
"This matter is highly confidential, but since you've all experienced it firsthand, I can explain it briefly. Please be careful not to leak any information." Benintic pushed his glasses. "The Chaos Demon has been lurking within the city-state of Thorns for a long time. Its existence is truly the bane of Thorns."
"How long?" Chu Hengkong suddenly asked, "After the assassination?"
Benintic gave a surprised "Oh" and adjusted his scarf. "It seems you know something about the past. The timeline is consistent with what you expected. After that, chaos often flourished on the back of Jingsha's history.
This is not the first time in history that its spirit has been wiped out. However, this will not truly harm the Great Demon's true form, so please do not let your guard down."
"You can't blame the Divine Guards for this..." Ji Huaisu scratched his head. "That thing is on the same level as the Jingsha Divine Tree. Unless Jingsha himself takes action, I'm afraid there's no way to truly deal with it."
"Do you really expect a tree to fight a demon?" Finder rolled his eyes. "Why don't you let Fen Ya fight the Immortal Machine alone?"
Li Ke protested loudly: "You stinky one-eyed man, are you looking down on us Senluo gods? I tell you, even with Sephiroth 7, our Lord Shenshu is also very capable! Isn't that right, Mr. Banningtik?"
“…”
Prosecutor Benintic fell into an eerie silence. He coughed twice and said, "Everyone, I am still directly connected to the Lord of the Divine Tree through divine power. Some of my remarks...are not appropriate to make."
"Guilty! Captain, you're guilty! Could it be that even at a high point, the Divine Tree relies on its subordinates to fight?"
"There must be another way, right? Splitting the spirit? There will be a split spirit, right?!"
"Enough, let's end this topic quickly. I'm really afraid that Master Shenshu will be angry!"
Chu Hengkong quickly stuffed Fander into his pocket, stopping him from venting further. After recovering from his shock, the guy was clearly furious, even going so far as to challenge the Divine Tree in front of the captain.
Benintic coughed several times. "Although there's no relevant law, discussing gods is disrespectful... This incident still requires further investigation. After that, I will escort you all back to the Third Meridian. According to the instructions conveyed by Master Jingsha, the information behind door Z-2978 will be kept by the original owner. However..."
He extended his hand to Li Ke: "Please return the materials that are not within the scope of this transfer to the library management."
Li Ke clutched the documents she had hidden behind her back and said with a wry smile, "Mr. Benintic, you see, my father and you are old acquaintances. To some extent, this is also a private matter of our family..."
"Personal feelings cannot be used as a prerequisite for handling official business." Benningtick was meticulous.
"Please! I'll only lend it to you for one day!" Li Ke smiled apologetically. "This is really important to me!"
Li Ke's hands were waving behind her back, and Ji Huaisu took advantage of the chaos to take a few glances and happened to see the title of a page in the file.
March 28, 2981, trial record of the Jingsha Supreme Court.
The defendant, Commander-in-Chief of the First Thorns Defense Force, Jas Trick.
(Lao Cui was… the commander-in-chief back then? He was even court-martialed?!)
"You know how important a position your father held back then," Benningtick emphasized. "Strictly managing the information related to him according to the regulations is a sign of respect for his work."
"—Forget it, Mr. Benintic. After causing such a big incident, let this document serve as our apology."
Benintic withdrew his hand without a word. Rico's attempt had succeeded, but her face showed no joy. She turned around and saw the masked man standing at the door of the library, nodding at her with a smile.
"From a personal perspective, as an elder, I also hope that Ms. Riko can look at the past more comprehensively and grow from it."
Li Ke sneered, "Why, are you selling it to me just to save yourself the trouble? Too bad, I won't stop searching for the truth. I'll keep trying to peel off your hypocritical mask, starting with this record!"
Parriman nodded and looked down at her. The silver mask that blocked her view looked like a smiling steel eagle under the light.
"I wrote this trial record," said Parriman.
Li Ke's face was as pale as paper. She clenched the file tightly, as if she was holding a pile of worthless garbage.
Perriman paid no attention to her loss of composure and spoke gently, "It had been a year since I took over at the front line. I was interning as a clerk at the Supreme Court, which gave me the opportunity to personally record the trial proceedings. If you don't believe me, you can turn to page two. There should be the clerk's initials on it: Z.F. Perriman."
He turned his head slightly, seemingly looking at the paper in Li Ke's hand. "What's wrong, Ms. Li Ke? This is precious information that records the facts of the verdict. Why don't you cherish it so much?"
Chu Hengkong put a hand on Li Ke's shoulder to prevent the enraged girl from rushing out. Li Ke gritted her teeth and said, "You ask even though you know the answer—!"
"I imagine you're doubting the authenticity of this information." Perriman raised his right hand, and tiny dots of green light gathered into a crystal in his palm. "Here's another piece of information. It's a recording of the entire trial, automatically recorded by divine power. It hasn't been transcribed by any third party. If you're unsure about the paper material, I can give you this recording as well."
"I don't want it!" Li Ke roared.
"I think so. You'll refuse." Pariman nodded. "Why? Because you don't trust me from the bottom of your heart. In your opinion, even information I pass on must have been personally revised, and therefore any information related to me cannot be trusted."
"So, what sources of information are truly trustworthy? Should I entrust Mr. Benintic to give it to you? And if Mr. Benintic vouches for the objectivity of this information, would you really believe it?"
Pariman stepped forward and placed the crystal in Rico's hands. He chuckled softly, "I'm afraid it still won't, because this still isn't the 'truth' you're looking for!"
"Let's be frank. What exactly is the definition of 'truth'? I believe that 'truth' is a portion of what happened that we subjectively want to believe. The recorder of this fact doesn't have to be impartial; it's better if they are considerate and just. That way, even if events don't develop as expected, we can use these fragments of the past to interpret them in a way that's favorable to us."
He tapped the mask on his face gently and smiled. "Does it sound familiar? It's like the game of chairs. That's right, the essence of 'reality' is the facts that an individual wants to believe. With a 'goal' to believe in and a 'conclusion' to reject, the 'process' can be pieced together in any way.
But no matter which truth one chooses, what has happened cannot be changed. So, burying the truth in a vast library might actually help alleviate some of the worry, like putting a final seal on the past.
He saluted everyone and turned to leave. Li Ke clutched the two precious pieces of evidence, but couldn't say a word.
Chu Hengkong walked out and saw that the long line had dispersed. The few citizens who remained in front of the Great Library seemed relieved. He stopped someone and shouted, "Hey! The Great Library is almost destroyed. What's there to be happy about?"
"It would be better if it were completely destroyed," the citizen replied happily. "If all those trivial matters were gone, no one would take advantage of them to cause trouble, and everyone could focus on the things at hand..."
Vander said coldly: "What about the person involved?"
The citizen did not hesitate at all and continued cheerfully: "Look at what you said, I'm not involved in it!"
They said nothing more, standing quietly in front of the Great Library. It was almost dusk, and pale golden sunlight splashed onto the street, casting a sacred glow on Perriman's white robe.
He walked into the crowd in the distance, and people cheered for his arrival.
·
That night, the usually carefree Fander couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned in his sleeping bag until Chu Hengkong picked him up and asked what was wrong.
"I remember a lot of vague things, but I can't make them out clearly."
Chu Hengkong thought it was nonsense, so he threw it back and continued to sleep.
"Dude, I'm serious." Vander said blankly, "Shouldn't we have come here?"
"Are you planning to turn into an ostrich in the middle of the night?"
"We've gained an invisibility spell, but now we have an enemy like Fulidan." Finder shook his head. "There are gods who want to kill me, and even delusional demons want my things. I'm definitely not a crappy undergraduate... I'm really not out here traveling!"
"You don't have to pick the middle of the night to talk nonsense."
Fander said anxiously, "You don't understand what I mean! I used to think it was you who was unlucky. You and Ji Huaisu were the scourge, and I suffered along with you. Now it seems that I'm the one who's the most unlucky! God knows how many people were targeting me before!"
Chu Hengkong began to try to fall asleep: "You know it's all the same."
"That's different." Vander muttered, "Now that I know all this, how can I still be a carefree idiot? I can't live as heartless as Gulibo anymore!!"
It stared at the ceiling in confusion. "I really regret going to the Great Library. This morning I thought the Parrimanists were a bunch of idiots, but now I really... I think not knowing might not be such a bad thing."
"I know all this shit now, but what can I do?"
Half asleep, half awake, Chu Hengkong thought of the guardian spirit in the novel and the silly delivery man. They could no longer live the carefree life they once did. The guardian spirit said it was because they realized the world was not a solid earth, but a fragile boat.
He turned over and said, "It depends on you."
"How do you say it?"
"If you want to rely entirely on others to survive, then close your eyes and be a happy fool." Chu Hengkong said, "If you want to hold your life in your own hands, you have to open your eyes and figure out how to live your life yourself."
(End of this chapter)
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