Chapter 268
The crow looked up in surprise.
Just from his brother's reaction, Crow could guess that there must be some hidden story behind it.
But he couldn't understand what kind of hidden story could make White condescendingly criticize his brother for not being qualified to be a leader.
What kind of predicament could make White brazenly order his brother to give him mental suggestions and force his brother to submit?
Until fragments of memory flashed through his mind like images, the question he hadn't heard came out of Miel's broken voice.
Miel's trembling voice spoke slowly and deliberately: "You knew all along that those we've been killing and fighting against all this time are the missing people?!"
The crow's perspective shifts with Miel's.
He saw White standing there, the shadow of the backlight falling obliquely on his smooth cheek, his face slightly taut, as if covered by an impenetrable gloom.
The young man closed his eyes and then opened them again, his eyes displaying only his usual calm and composure. He waited until Miel had calmed down before speaking: "It's not early."
"The system likes to suppress our arrogance and crush our confidence and dignity with absolute power, so all the monsters have maximum stats."
"But after we successfully conquered several early dungeons, the system changed its strategy."
It began frequently intervening in the game's progression with humanoid creatures, and no longer assigned them absurdly high stats. Their appearances changed from terrifying and strong to weak and pitiful, designed to evoke sympathy. Some NPCs even became nearly indistinguishable from humans, possessing human emotions.
White: "Where does this NPC data come from? Is it because the system has been observing and learning from players? Are those who disappeared transformed into weapons to attack us? Or are there traitors secretly giving it advice?"
He paused for a moment, then said in a deep voice, "Miel, we are not abandoning them. After reaching these conclusions, Executive Officer Xie directly ordered the First and Second Special Operations Divisions to work together to carry out a rescue operation, attempting to awaken the will of those people and free them from the system's control, but the situation... is not optimistic."
The situation is far from optimistic, or at least not optimistic; the actual circumstances are far more dire than what Miel suffered.
White frowned and let out a shallow breath.
"In any case, the system is changing from simply knowing how to win by brute force to starting to use strategies, and it is becoming more and more dangerous."
It lacks morality and humanity, and will stop at nothing. We must consider the worst-case scenario—what should we do if one day those who have disappeared from the system are taken hostage?
As Miel listened, he gradually became stunned, looking at his own hands, and images of annihilating enemies flashed before his eyes.
Heroic and fearless slaughter is no longer a medal, but a knife wielded against the innocent. His hands trembled, as if stained with blood, and as he listened to White's calm narration and explanation, a piercing pain shot through his chest: "I don't understand, why can you be so indifferent? Those were ours...!"
White met his gaze and slowly said, "It's because the system deliberately let you see the NPC's true face that you wavered, rushed to rescue him without regard for anything, and even stepped into the trap that the system had already set up."
“But Miel, you are not an ordinary player, nor are you just an individual. You are the theater commander of the 3rd Special Operations Division. Every decision you make, even the smallest thought, concerns the life and death of all your subordinates and even the entire player community. You should remember that you cannot back down or be merciful, and you must especially avoid acting on emotion.”
"If every decision-maker were as hesitant and indecisive as you are, it would only lead to more deaths."
Miel gasped in pain: "Does the pursuit of victory justify any means necessary?!"
White suddenly raised her voice and angrily retorted, "Did you cause this situation?"
"You designed this inhumane and lawless infinite game, you made people suffer a fate worse than death and destroyed their families, you made billions of people disappear and then turned them into NPCs who turned each other into enemies—is that right, Miel?!"
Miel was stunned, speechless for a moment, his voice trembling: "No..."
"If it wasn't you, then who caused it? Was it me? Was it the Apostle Guild? Was it the saviors who worked day and night to save their homeland? Was it the warriors who fought with their last breath to complete their mission? Or was it the hundreds of millions of people who still cling to a sliver of hope and struggle in hell?"
"Nobody!"
White's rebuke was thunderous and deafening: "Miel, this situation was not caused by any of us; it's the system and the Infinite Game! Figure out who your enemies are, instead of projecting the perpetrators' ambitions onto the rebels' resolve and labeling it as 'any means necessary'!"
Miel's pupils trembled. After a long while, he shakily covered his face, letting out muffled sobs through his fingers, as if he were choking back tears.
"sorry……"
"But what will happen next? No one else knows what they're facing. They can't accept it, and nobody can..."
Yes, no one can.
The system knows this will be an unbearable blow to them, so why has it never been used?
Or is it...?
Miel suddenly realized something, looked up at White in disbelief: "Just a few months ago, the Federation, under the pretext of 'prohibiting players from seeking revenge in private and maliciously attacking other players,' sent troops to spawn points in various continents."
"Then they set up a bizarre willpower test, supposedly to prevent the system from misleading players, and forced everyone to participate, but actually it was for..."
White: "In order to deliver a psychological suggestion. Once ordinary players realize the truth, they will automatically filter out those contents to maintain their mental stability."
The reason for this, including the fact that frontline players later unanimously concealed the truth about their first ten clears, was because the leak of the information caused widespread panic among players, leading to various serious incidents and chaos.
As for why mental suggestion suddenly stopped working on Miel, one reason is that Miel mainly cultivates mental power, which gives him a certain degree of resistance.
Secondly, the system deliberately leaked the truth to shake Miel's beliefs.
Miel was compassionate by nature, and after inheriting Raphael's will, he became even more intolerant of suffering.
As the commander of the Third Division, his collapse of faith and loss of will would undoubtedly inflict immeasurable damage on the players.
Therefore, the system's targeting was almost relentless, and when things happened, even White couldn't stop it in time.
Miel looked at White's calm demeanor and felt a chill run down his spine; it was utterly absurd.
Amidst the anger and chill of being kept in the dark, a profound sorrow welled up within him, bringing tears to his eyes: "The Federation, those damned guys, they specifically assigned this task to you, emphasizing that it was done in your name... Do they know that once the truth is revealed, you will be condemned by all the angry players, and they will tear you to pieces?"
White remained silent.
But sometimes, not answering is an answer in itself.
Miel then asked, "White... why can you talk about suggestion so naturally and logically?"
That's not a question.
Because of a passive skill granted by a holy angel, Miel can empathize with the suffering of others.
Having this skill in the past made him invincible in his interactions and conversations with others, and it remains true today.
With just a thought, one can capture White's emotions.
That emotion is calm.
There may be turmoil after the event, but things will quickly return to calm, just like a habitual nerve reflex formed after countless training sessions.
Miel's eyes were bloodshot as he stared directly at White, not wanting to miss a single detail.
No matter how closely they looked, they couldn't find even a trace of wavering or hesitation.
This truth devastated him, and he finally couldn't hold back his tears: "How many times have you given yourself mental suggestions so far?"
White had vehemently opposed giving anyone psychological suggestions.
White remained silent, but Miel seemed to be about to collapse, his back hunching over.
The system struck at the weak spot of the benevolent.
Miel is too easily empathetic and too easily saddened; a single bad incident can plunge him into the tragedies of others from which he cannot extricate himself.
White looked at the suffering young man and suddenly said, "Miel, I know your ambition: to make sure that all displaced people have a home to return to, and that all those suffering from hunger, cold, and illness have enough to eat and wear, and recover and become healthy."
Miel thought White would question his wild ideas and make him face the harsh reality, but instead he heard White say, "It's not necessarily impossible."
"But that requires a stable environment. Not to mention world peace, it's certainly not like it is now, where even a three-year-old child has to worry about their future."
White looked at Miel, his voice seemingly indifferent, but his eyes shone terrifyingly bright in the dim shadows, as if the light of day pierced through the darkness: "If you are worried that you have a weakness in your heart and are no longer able to fulfill the duties of the leader of the Third Division, then I will tell you: give up, Miel. Facts have proven that you are not cut out to be a wartime leader."
"But in times of peace, you will surely be able to lead some people to lead our world from suffering to glory."
"So from now on, everyone should perform their duties and no one should overstep their bounds. Necessary tasks should be done by the necessary people, and remember, things outside your authority are none of your concern."
This is clearly telling him how to maintain mental stability.
Miel's lips trembled slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but White stopped him with an unquestionable statement: "This is an order."
"Having made such a serious decision-making error, your mistake is irreparable, and it is impossible for you to remain in the guild unscathed. Your punishment is demotion and probation, which I will carry out, or under my supervision. You should give yourself mental pep talks to prevent a similar situation from happening again."
"Then they will obey me completely until we find the only way out."
.
The system's common trick is to take the conversation between the two during their private interrogation out of context, rearrange the word order, and simulate tone of voice to fabricate unfounded statements, thereby causing people to misunderstand and misinterpret the conversation.
After learning the truth from fragments of memory, the crow felt a tearing pain in its chest.
He trembled uncontrollably, unable to bear the thought of how heartbroken White must have been when he questioned him with resentment.
No, he won't feel heartache.
The crow suddenly realized that, under the influence of countless mental suggestions, the feeling of "heartache" had probably become a luxury for White.
"Wh... Ah!"
He wanted to explain something, to try and salvage the situation, but before he could finish speaking, the crow shuddered.
A raging flame rose from the sword embedded in the crow's chest, cutting through everything in its path until it reached the depths of his unguarded mind, searching for clues left by the search system. The crow finally couldn't help but let out a miserable cry.
It turns out that Miel showing him that memory was actually a way to break down his inner defenses!
What's the objective? That's right! The second attack path!
They need a traitor to build a bridge to attack the system's internal programs!
Could it be that all of this was planned in advance by the older brother and White? Did they know he would betray them all along?
The crow was heartbroken and looked at White with remorse and sorrow. He reached out his hand, but the words he had left unsaid were swallowed by the flames.
Miel suppressed the crow's violently struggling body, taking in his younger brother's pain. His lips trembled unsteadily, and he suddenly lowered his eyelashes as if making a decision, looking at White: "I'm sorry, White, I'm still not as good as you in the end."
As he spoke, the golden flames, like a burst dam, flowed down the raven's body and burned Miel.
"Miel!" White's expression changed slightly, and he rushed forward with all his might.
However, the flames suddenly surged, bursting forth with intense divine light, directly incinerating the young man's body without giving him any chance to save himself.
Miel thus detached from the body called "Messiah," his pure soul floating in the air, continuing to suppress the raven's soul and build a bridge.
In the embers of the flames, a string of crimson, twisted data remained, bound layer by layer by Miel's divine power.
Miel raised his hand and tossed the bound data body to White.
After being reborn in this life, Miel accidentally discovered the existence of the "Messiah," or more accurately, the body that the system had created using data, and White's mental power could be detected inside it.
So the crows were right; the Messiah was indeed a product of some kind of conspiracy.
The system spared no effort in targeting Xie Xubai and was well aware of the wickedness of human nature. After obtaining Xie Xubai's data, how could it not create some kind of "real and fake White" drama to disgust people?
If Miel hadn't forcibly taken over this body midway, one can imagine the entanglements and schemes Xie Xubai would have faced when he was reborn and confronted a dummy who was almost identical to himself.
However, in the process of analyzing this data body, Miel was inevitably affected, which led to his split and cruel image in front of outsiders.
But Miel felt this was a good thing, at least for now, because it meant he could also establish internal links with the system and do his part to atone for the crows' sins.
“I know his betrayal is unforgivable, but he is my brother, and I can’t just stand by and watch him perish.”
"To catch him off guard, the system hid him deep inside. He had no chance to do evil before, not even this time..."
Miel, in his spirit form, looked in the direction where "Yan Yue" had died.
If you move away the rubble, you'll find there's no corpse underneath, only a fragment of a top-tier Stand doll prop.
The system used the method of protecting the knowledgeable to the right people correctly, but it did not know that White had foreseen this. In the meeting in the spacetime rift, everyone was given a mental suggestion: unless a certain specific event occurs, no one will know where Yan Yue is, including Yan Yue himself.
It must be said that White has truly mastered the art of using psychological suggestion.
Miel chuckled and sighed, "--It failed too. To use your old saying, it really is more trouble than it's worth."
“I will supervise him, and I will also supervise him to do his best to build an attack route. This time, the chances of survival are slim... So, after this is over, let me take him away.”
White frowned as he looked at Miel. Before he could speak, a violent surge of divine power suddenly emanated from a certain point in the sky, as if sensing that the time was ripe and calling out to everyone present.
Those familiar with this divine power can easily identify its owner, and it is precisely because they can identify it that they are so astonished.
"This power is... the Fifth Apostle? How could it be him?"
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