Chapter 38
The atmosphere in the room was tense and dangerous; N was certain that if he wasn't careful, he would fall into a place of utter despair.
"Wait, I really don't know"—the subconscious denial brought intense pain, and N screamed reflexively.
Oda Sakunosuke smoothly moved the gun away from N's thigh and kept it pressed against the other's forehead.
He remained silent throughout, not uttering a single word, yet the terror he instilled in N was unparalleled.
This boy with dark red hair was far more indifferent to life than I was, as if he were merely an obedient puppet.
Large patches of blood had spread across the blanket. N was in so much pain that he was sweating profusely, but he dared not utter a sound saying that he didn't know anything.
People like that, if they say they'll shoot him, they really mean they'll shoot him!
"The soundproofing in this room is excellent; there's no need to expect anyone to notice."
—The other devil, sitting in his office chair, spoke up with a smile, “But I don’t intend to attract too much attention. So, I wonder if you’ve ever tried boneless chicken feet?”
Oda Sakunosuke pulled a dagger from the tactical bandage on his thigh.
N: "…………"
He swallowed nervously, understanding the implication in the other person's words.
Even when those dark red eyes looked at him gently and calmly, the deep malice they contained was so intense it was almost purple, sending chills down his spine.
In the next instant of his adrenaline surge, he seemed to suddenly understand.
Could this person be someone sent by the British research institute specifically to demand that intelligence from him? Is he the [Clock Tower Attendant]? His research findings have been exposed!
Only this could explain why he knew the layout of the research institute so well—if it was the UK's strongest supernatural intelligence agency, the Clock Tower Attendants, he wouldn't be surprised that he was caught so quickly and easily, and that their methods were so ruthless and efficient.
"If I... if I tell you, you'll forgive me, right?"
N breathed heavily, trying his best to suppress the pain in a steady voice.
He lacked the confidence to confront an entire national agency. From the moment they sought this intelligence, he knew that the terror of being targeted by such a behemoth would continue until they succeeded.
Before that, even if he could rely on the fact that only he had this information and think that the other party wouldn't dare to kill him, he would definitely experience countless times the abyss of despair that was worse than death. If that was the case, it would be better to tell everything from the beginning so that he could suffer less...!
He didn't expect his country's authorities to save him at all; faced with the overwhelming power of the [Clock Tower Attendants], those little quails didn't even have a chance to make a sound.
Upon hearing this, the other person lowered their chin slightly, and a subtle glint appeared in their eyes.
"That depends on your attitude."
N, almost dejected, revealed all the information.
After discarding the tedious explanations that Ye Yihe wasn't interested in but had still memorized, he finally got to the point—his voice gradually became more excited.
"Can you imagine? When we gain control of the Singularity, we also gain control of the very source of this world—a primordial beast slumbering within Verlaine!"
N, who was eager to confide in Ye Yihe, could hardly contain the emotions welling up inside him, but when he saw Ye Yihe's expressionless gaze, he subconsciously lowered his voice.
"That's not something any random imitation can compare to. Even I don't know why only the earliest artificial singularities possess it. Perhaps it's because I took a shortcut, but there's nothing I can do about it. I can't create a perfect experimental subject like Pan, so I can only..."
"The important point, Mr. N."
Ye Yihe stopped his unstoppable, feverish curiosity, "You know that's not what I want to hear."
"...The document described at the end how to control that monster,"
The gun barrel, pointed directly at his brow, remained unwavering. N dared not disobey the demon's command. "Artificial superpowers, in their normal state, only manifest as the manipulation of gravity on objects they come into contact with—but this is merely a manifestation of a singularity, a result of the entanglement and interplay of contradictory superpowers."
"Because the singularity itself is uncontrollable, we need to compile and create a false personality to bring it under control. Simply put, it is a personality program that can think for itself in a normal state, which is installed in a cultivated body along with the singularity."
"With a personality program, there will naturally be corresponding instructions to release personality control. In this way, the singularity can be released again—but this is only a first-stage release instruction, which only makes the singularity show a vague shape."
"What truly allowed that primordial beast to reveal itself was the execution of the second-stage liberation command after the first-stage liberation."
At this point, N took a deep breath, raised his hand and swore, "The data says that this liberation order also requires a special kind of supernatural metal powder, but I haven't obtained it yet, and I don't know what it looks like or how to make it... It's true, I just know that this is needed!"
“That’s all,” he said finally.
"All of them?" Ye Yihe's gaze fell on the piece of white bone. "May I ask, what about your research findings?"
N had obtained this information years ago; would he really give up after only creating a few skeletons? He didn't believe it.
"...It was taken from me. From my hands."
Faced with the demon's questioning, N had no choice. He knew that the [Clock Tower Attendant] must have obtained accurate information to have gone to such lengths to contact him: "The explosion that happened three years ago was actually caused by intruders trying to steal the complete form of Araha-toku."
"At that time, the First Research Institute, along with everything within a one-kilometer radius, was completely destroyed by the released Wild Beast. Including my years of hard work, everything disappeared without a trace. In order not to expose the military's secret research on artificial singularities, the government forcibly suppressed and buried the accident."
N looked extremely dejected, clearly unwilling to become a failure again. "That's all I can say."
Ye Yihe made no comment, simply gazing calmly at N.
Oda Sakunosuke's hand holding the gun remained steady, his posture never wavering. He stood there quietly, like a sculpture solely responsible for presenting "death."
N received no response and dared not urge them, so they could only wait anxiously as time ticked by, their minds filled with all sorts of wild thoughts.
—Ten minutes later, he finally heard the demon speak, giving him an instruction.
“Repeat everything you just said, from the end to the beginning.”
"...!!"
N looked up in surprise, meeting slightly narrowed, dark red eyes that seemed to say, "If there's any inconsistency in your account, you're lying."
People like Fyodor, who possess photographic memory, are ultimately a very small minority.
There are no reports explaining how the N in front of us is a researcher with a "genius mind"—he is not even comparable to Mary Shelley.
Not to mention that despicable humanity.
After N, whose eyes were filled with despair, repeated the information three times in reverse order, Ye Yihe finally stood up after confirming that there were no problems with the data.
"I had a very pleasant evening, Mr. N."
As he said this, he took off the felt hat that he had been wearing on his head and held it in his hand.
Just as a look of relief appeared on N's face, Ye Yihe spoke again, "By the way, which side do you support: procedural justice or substantive justice?"
"What……?"
“To be honest, I don’t care about you at all, so let me reveal my answer.” Ye Yihe turned his gaze to him. “As an observer, I don’t care which side I’m on. But if I have to choose one when it comes down to it, I choose justice in the outcome.”
Outcome justice focuses only on the justice of the outcome of an event, without regard to the process or means of achieving it—even if it is not entirely legal.
In contrast, procedural justice emphasizes ensuring the fairness of decision-making through transparent, legal, and rigorous procedures, prioritizing law and order above all else, even if the outcome is not entirely satisfactory.
Due to his past experiences, he does not actually possess a strong sense of justice or moral standards.
Therefore, he could become close friends with Oda Saku, who was an assassin, without any reservations, and he did not find the identity of this body as an outlaw abductor intolerable.
“That piece of bone wasn’t preserved in formalin, Mr. N.”
—Ye Yihe pointed his index finger at the section of radius bone lying on the bed, his tone indifferent, “You created this experimental subject using unethical methods, but due to genetic design flaws, it is irreversibly heading towards disintegration.”
"This was his assassination commission before his death, and the reward is what you see here now."
Oda Sakunosuke's index finger slowly tightened.
"It's goodbye forever, Mr. N."
…………
Leaving the oppressive research institute, Ye Yihe slowly exhaled, trying to relax.
This underground facility is located on a mountain outside Yokohama. It is still late at night, and looking up, one can see the starry sky through the leaves and the scattered lights in the distance.
“You’re very much like,” Oda Sakunosuke thought for a moment, “another personality.”
"Really?" Ye Yihe turned to look at him, her voice much more relaxed as she laughed. "I was deliberately imitating him. It's very similar, isn't it?"
After listening to the audio recordings played by the system, he was able to roughly reconstruct some of Fyodor's own style of doing things.
Ye Yihe had to admit that even just by listening to the other person's speech, he could still sense that Fyodor had a unique and distinctive temperament—a temperament that did not show strong aggression or malice, but rather exuded elegance and humility—yet at certain moments it naturally revealed a silent and subtle, corrupting darkness.
Like a beautiful, brightly colored, plump fruit decorated with gold and jewels, a gentle poke will release a wisp of fragrant juice... even if it is actually poison, it will taste sweet.
Despite his poor health, he still managed to make so many important figures extremely cautious and wary. High-IQ geniuses can truly excel anywhere.
"Yes, Plan B was a success. What's the next step?"
Oda nodded, surprised to hear so much classified government information—although it was filled with technical terms and jargon that he barely understood.
"Let's go to Leibo Street, the place you mentioned, first."
Ye Yihe pondered for a moment, "When you saw that test subject, you said you had seen someone who looked similar somewhere before?"
N cultivated far more than just one or two cloned experimental subjects. Some floated aimlessly in the culture tank, while others were imprisoned on the operating table, on the verge of death—the abnormal way they were born caused their flesh and blood to rapidly dissolve and decompose after death, until they turned into bones.
Faced with those identical faces, Oda Sakunosuke hesitated and said that he seemed to have seen the same ones outside.
"Then let's go and confirm it with our own eyes."
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