Chapter 177: It Will Return to Silence.
Chapter 177: It Will Return to Silence.
Chapter 177 It Will Return to Silence
"The research institute is in trouble. Truth Key himself suddenly went mad and destroyed nearly all our precious achievements over the years with his own hands. All the experimental subjects and researchers have vanished without a trace... What do you think?"
In the blood-red meeting room, only two high-ranking members—Shadow of the Mind and King of Metal and Stone—sat quaking in their chairs. The leader, whose humanoid form remained unseen, spoke in a heavy tone, as if a storm were brewing within the room.
His frail body curled deep into his chair, King of Metal and Stone shivered uncontrollably as he summoned his nerve to speak:
"The... the only information I can provide you is the footage you just saw."
"The surveillance showed that Truth Key had been staying normally in his office these past few days. Then, at around 8:02 today, he suddenly walked out, appeared deeply disturbed, and then... just unleashed his Ability without warning, destroying the entire research institute—including the surveillance equipment I sponsored..."
"Given the circumstances, it's unlikely the experimental subjects in the sealed chambers survived. As for the researchers who could move freely—at that time, most of them were still in the living quarters. Unfortunately, there were fewer surveillance devices in that zone, so it's hard to track their movements..."
Pausing, King of Metal and Stone left some room for doubt, tactfully adding, "Of course, if they were lucky enough, reacted quickly enough, and had sufficient tools on hand, a very small number of them might... uh, have a remote possibility of escaping alive."
His voice grew quieter until it faded entirely.
The implication was clear—he held little hope for the survival rate of the researchers, though he couldn't rule out the possibility of a miracle.
As if he could feel the leader's unseen scrutiny pressing heavily upon him, the old man swallowed hard, drawing his head down as he tried to explain his weak words:
"Please understand, no matter how advanced or expensive the equipment was, nothing could withstand a Rank 8's 'Torrent of Filthy Knowledge'!"
After a long silence, the leader asked, "What about the other instruments? Were there any anomalies?"
"For example—were there any energy fluctuations detected beyond the Truth Domain?"
King of Metal and Stone immediately realized the leader suspected that behind Truth Key's sudden madness, there might have been instigation or control from another entity.
As the chief benefactor of Longinus, King of Metal and Stone supplied nearly 60% of the organization's funds, including the resources for building the research institute. Thus, he held the authority to investigate the surveillance devices scattered throughout the institute.
Not daring to delay, he ordered his subordinates via communication devices to check the last monitoring signals from all instruments. Soon, he received a precise response.
"No, there was only Truth Key's own energy fluctuation..."
The meeting room fell into tomb-like silence once more.
With the only other colleague present being a corpse, King of Metal and Stone could only hear his own shallow, quickened breaths. Unconsciously, he clenched his fingers, growing even more nervous.
After a while, the leader finally shifted his focus. The eyes emerging from the center of the wall turned toward Shadow of the Mind: "What do you think? Earlier, I asked you to monitor Ill Fate Witch's mental world. Do you think it's likely she acted in secret?"
From the leader's perspective, not only did this catastrophe coincidentally occur right after Ill Fate Witch joined the organization, but she had also had some friction with Truth Key—making it hard not to suspect her.
Under the leader's gaze, Shadow of the Mind quickly became agitated.
The edges of her burial shroud continuously shrank inward, like a sensitive plant curling up in response to external threats. If she were still alive, her heart rate would have surely spiked past 120 beats per minute.
"I... I did as you instructed," she said truthfully, drawing herself up slightly to bolster her confidence. "She has no intention of betraying the organization!"
She was a poor liar, but fortunately, King of Metal and Stone was just as nervous and hesitant, making her seem more credible by comparison.
King of Metal and Stone bowed his head, pondering, before suddenly proposing a theory: "Before the incident, Truth Key was conducting research as usual. Then, at some point, he suddenly became deranged and erratic..."
"Doesn't that behavior resemble someone whose mind was corrupted by high-level knowledge?"
"Are you suggesting that, before going mad, Truth Key might have uncovered some proscribed knowledge?"
The leader murmured pensively, "But he carries the bloodline of Fallen Knowledge. For a race born from corruption to be driven mad—what kind of terrifying, taboo knowledge could that be?"
Knowledge of such a high level made the leader think only of Truth Key's long-standing ambition—
Theogenesis.
Had he truly uncovered the core of god-making, the primordial mystery of the world?
"Perhaps... I should personally visit the ruins of the research institute to investigate..."
The moment this thought surfaced, the leader froze.
Thinking back carefully, it seemed he hadn't taken human form in many, many years.
Due to his inherent trait of being eternally forgotten, coupled with considerations of secrecy, the leader had never been keen on interacting with the outside world. Instead, he had remained in the form of a biomorphic edifice, drifting along the desolate boundaries of dimensions.
Only during meetings would a few high-ranking members enter his body through liminal gateways to converse with him...
But why was this the case?
Could the simple excuse of "disinterest" really justify abandoning the convenience of a human form for such a long time?
It was as if an unseen compulsion had erased the very notion of "going outside" from his mind. He had personally created this crimson chamber, only to become its prisoner, trapped here endlessly...
But today, that invisible force seemed to weaken, allowing the leader to remember once more that he did possess the freedom and ability to leave—rather than relying on these unreliable subordinates' reports, he should trust his own eyes!
After a moment of contemplation, the leader gradually recalled more anomalies from his memory. However, lacking sufficient information, he couldn't connect them to the influence of Fate Black Goat and could only set aside these sudden suspicions for now.
If some force was indeed preventing him from leaving, then all the more reason he wanted to go out and see for himself.
Gathering his myriad thoughts, the leader's tone grew firmer as he repeated:
"I will personally visit the ruins of the research institute."
In a place beyond his sight, a jet-black goat horn covered in esoteric sigils trembled and hummed, as if sighing in lament.
The goat horn possessed no true consciousness, only the innate, powerful instincts of the Fate Domain. And now, those instincts told it:
A certain decline had become unstoppable.
It will return to silence.
......
Elsewhere.
Like a maiden tallying her cherished pearls in a jewelry box, the witch carefully inspected her ebony box.
Inside, the box was divided into two layers.
The lower layer floated with countless illusory scarlet infinity signs, undulating like an ominous sea of blood.
People drifted along the waves of this bloody ocean, trapped within these tiny symbols—and even more so, trapped within the nightmares built from their own malice.
After a long examination, the witch gently closed this layer.
As the lid shut with a faint click—
All the wailing, despairing, screaming voices;
All the calamities, chaos, malice, and misfortune...
Everything had been sealed inside the box.
The once glossy black surface of the wooden box now bore a sinister crimson tint, as if stained with an ill-omened blood patina—whether it was merely reflecting the falling crimson locks of Elius or had truly drunk its fill of blood remained unclear.
In the second layer of the box lay a mirror as bright as the moon.
Its surface shimmered faintly, revealing the peaceful visages of the dreaming.
The moment Truth Key destroyed the research institute, every reflective surface—including the glass of the sealed chambers—became mirrors under Elius’s control. The reflections within reached their hands through the glass, like legendary water sprites, embracing their counterparts beyond the mirror and drawing them into its depths, where they now rested in endless slumber.
By the time they awoke, perhaps all of Longinus would have ceased to exist.
As if sensing the receding tide of anguish, ghostly smiles touched the mouths of many unfamiliar faces.
Elius tilted her head, observing them for a while before closing this layer as well, entombing all hope, life, and the future within the box.
Only a single layer separated the two compartments.
Yet one was an abyss of endless despair, while the other was a still haven of salvation.
This stark contrast mirrored the duality within living beings—the divide between good and evil, the opposing facets of fate—hinging on but a single thought.
An ephemeral understanding drifted through Elius’s mind, and she suddenly sensed her power growing.
Her repeated acts of unleashing plagues and steering others’ fates toward misfortune had aligned with, embodied, and tamed the negative aspects of fate, further consolidating her mastery over the concept of "fate" as a whole.
Meanwhile, within Yi Fengchu’s chest, the seven-chambered heart formed from serpent’s molt underwent a transformation.
The outermost layer, a silvery-white, gradually turned transparent, like thin ice exposed to the spring sun, silently melting and dissolving into Yi Fengchu’s body.
In an instant, the river's whisper echoed in Yi Fengchu’s consciousness.
Within the depths of his void-dark eyes, the vast River of Fate was reflected.
This time, he not only saw the slow, rhythmic waves upon its surface but also glimpsed, with newfound clarity, the discordant and hidden whirlpools beneath—and heard the cacophonous chords of shifting fate.
Under the first principle of order, Yi Fengchu further embraced and mastered the unavoidable whims of fate, sealing the most terrifying chaos within the box.
Only the most sinful and wicked souls would be swallowed by its maw, plunging into the depths of misfortune and calamity.
By the River of Fate.
Priest Kurt sat amidst scattered quills and parchment, drawing music from a lyre in harmony with the river’s whispers, composing the next volume of the sacred texts to the crystalline notes.
Suddenly, a shattering discord rang out as a string snapped beneath his fingers.
Unfazed, Kurt’s emerald orbs gazed vacantly at the river, his expression distant, as if beholding some hidden revelation.
Before long, twin streams of blood trickled from beneath those emerald orbs.
"Priest Kurt!"
Nearby clansmen cried out in alarm, their serpentine tails slithering urgently to his side.
Yet Kurt remained as still as a statue, his gaze fixed in one direction, uncaring even as his eyes burned as if scorched by flames.
Allowing the blood to dry upon his face, he suddenly broke into an ecstatic rictus and proclaimed to his people:
"I have received a revelation!... A revelation of fate!"
"Henceforth, the world may honor Him as the Lord of Fate, the Outer Ouroboros, the King of the Silver White Snakes; or as the Lord of Chaos, the Keeper of the Misfortune’s Box, the Chord-Striking God of Fate’s Dissonance..."
"I see—He shall deliver due punishment to the wicked! Hahaha... He shall be fate’s eternal master! Eternal!!"
This revelation, too profound for mortal comprehension, stirred a maelstrom in Kurt’s psyche, scouring away his sanity. Staggering to his feet, he wandered along the riverbank in a daze, laughing wildly as he spread the inexorable glory of his Lord across distant dimensions.
At that moment, countless Ability users of the Fate Domain dimly perceived Kurt’s laughter and, compelled by instinct, joined him in intoning the litany:
"Lord of Chaos, Keeper of the Misfortune’s Box, Chord-Striking God of Fate’s Dissonance..."
"The Lord shall be eternal..."
Meanwhile, in the astrolabes observed by countless astrologers, the light of the primary star grew ever more intense, its pressure surging, so searingly luminous it threatened to dispel all lingering shadows within the astrolabe—forcing them to shut their eyes against its overwhelming brilliance.
Among them, the era’s strongest astrologer—Asteroiz of the Astral Domain, Rank 7—could perceive the most.
Blood gushed from her eyes as her body thrashed and coiled upon the ground, her voice a threadbare utterance mingled with incoherent cries of pain.
Even she could not be certain of what she uttered, her lips moving mechanically as her mortal form became conduit for cosmic secrets:
"The latent blight shall perish... Ahhh... The hour of ascension draws near..."
"And the hour of annihilation—has come!"