Russell closed his eyes and was silent for a long time.

When he opened his eyes again, the slightly moist eyes that contained mixed emotions made Lycaon tremble inside.

- He had never seen Russell look like that.

Russell's emerald green pupils are always clean, as if they can reflect all the colors of heaven and earth, and can reflect everyone's heart.

But today's Russell seems to have the lives of a thousand people flowing in his eyes.

He looked like he wanted to cry, but he felt relieved and peaceful; It seems to feel joyful, but full of despair; He hated something, and felt happy again. That's similar but different from Andrew's fusion with Lucaon...... Another way to carry the lives of others.

"I've seen a lot of people cry in front of me."

Russell's voice was slightly hoarse: "They may be powerless, they may be in pain, they may be weak. They may have gone the wrong way, or they may have died without anyone remembering their names. They don't have talent and they can't choose their own lives. They are pushed by fate, like children drowning in the river.

"But I think they're all heroes. No one remembers them, but I remember them; No one saw them as valuable, and they became an irreplaceable part of me.

"—Heroes don't need a tombstone. I am their epitaph.

"Because there is only one kind of heroism in this world: to look at the truth of the world – and to love the world.

"Live earnestly, die cleanly. Remember what should be remembered, regret what should be regretted. Laugh when you're happy and cry when you're sad. Boast about yourself when you do good deeds, honestly admit your mistakes when you take the wrong path, and don't attach any superfluous value to your life and death.

"That's why I hate His Excellency the Pope, and that man.

"That's why I'm still willing to sit down with you, Lycaon. I told the Pope many secrets, but he eventually set his sights on the 'Eggs of Twilight'. It's as if out of all this, only the twilight egg is valuable...... Nothing needs to be valued except for my uniqueness.

"But you are not exactly our powerful and wise Pope, who is hungry for self-sacrifice, unattainable, and wants to save the world...... You're also my friend Lycaon.

"If it was Lycaon, he wouldn't be here to deceive me. Because he will know that he has done something wrong."

The golden cat stared at the wolf who was a little embarrassed, a little decadent, and a little confused.

Just as they were in the past.

Just as they are classmates and friends. Sitting in the bright sun, drinking tea and chatting.

After a long silence, Lycaon slowly lowered his head.

「… I'll say it."

Lucaon whispered in a hoarse voice.

And the Pope's "ascension" did not take control of the body.

He just watched everything quietly on the other side, or rather, he also fell into his own thoughts.

As Lucaon narrates, Russell finally understands everything.

Lycaon was approached by the Pope, and he was willing to sacrifice himself – he volunteered to be a test subject to upload his thoughts.

In fact, by the time Lycaon entered the church for the last time, he was already "dead."

At that time, he removed his head and uploaded it, replacing it with a "righteous head" - the only prosthetic body that could not exist, a righteous head without a brain.

When he left the church, his head was fake.

After that, he remotely controlled his exorcism through the cloud network by controlling the righteous head...

"—it's like 'Promotion,'"

Russell sighed.

Andrew hid his will in the Pope's aura, and used the brainwashing technology of the Divine Descent Device to manipulate a new body every time he transmitted the aura.

He did not wash away the memories of the other party, nor did he rewrite the personality of the other party. He simply rewrote the other person's subconscious and made the other person act according to his will. At the time of taking off the halo and stepping down

, the other party will regain their original personality.

He is a will, a mind, a ghost. With power comes the passing.

But the Pope must wear a halo before he can take over mortal authority. He was downloaded in that small aura, and his body was stored on the "Holy Text" server.

So, is there another way... You don't need to wear a halo to influence the will of others?

Of course, there may be some ethical problems with this.

But Andrew's technique is to let each person control their "original" body.

Storing your life and mind in the cloud, and then controlling your body remotely through the network is like a role-playing game.

This is eternal life in the truest sense of the word.

「… Is Cyber Eternal already complete?"

Russell muttered.

Lycaon shook his head and replied honestly, "It's not really done yet.

"Because we still can't download the uploaded consciousness again without loss—once the consciousness is uploaded and digitized, some part of it is permanently destroyed. Even if you download it back, it's just a parody of the 'original me.' Every upload and download will cause irreversible loss.

"We're just playing tricks at the moment...... Since there is no way to download losslessly, then don't download it. Manipulate the body directly from the network, and use the 'righteous head' to control the body. In the same way, as the prosthetic head of a mechanical object, it can also perfectly accept the signal of digitization.

"From the neck down, there is real flesh and blood; And above the neck, there is just a signal receiver and information processing device.

"I walked out of church, and I was still moving. At that time, the experiment was successful – we had completed a more advanced technology than the monkey-faced eagle."

「… I see."

Russell suddenly realized.

Those who disappeared into thin air, and then came back with a change of mindset and completely became a "new werewolf"-

They must have been secretly robbed by the church and replaced with righteous heads. Their position changed abruptly...... Because in this way they have attained eternal life, completing the "self-backup". That's a huge benefit.

"Wait, in that case..."

Russell suddenly reacted, "Then you shouldn't be dead.

"You don't have to 'die,' Because you can come again at any time......

As he said this, he suddenly paused.

Russell was silent for a moment, then suddenly realized something.

He opened his mouth and said, word for word, "But your soul is stored in the 'Holy Text, server, and you shouldn't be able to become a cyber ghost and send messages to others on the Sky Island server.

"But, Ridlam is so eloquent... You messaged him. Or use the banned account to send him a message. You shouldn't be able to do that."

[—Renee, do you believe that there is a 'soul, such a thing?' 】

[——There must be a soul in this world.] 】

Russell looked at Lycaon and was silent for a moment.

"You have fused with His Excellency the Pope and learned some prehistoric secrets. Then you should also know some of the meanings of ancient languages......

"Ridram,' 'red liqueur,...... The code name of Big Stupid is quite inconsistent with him.

"But if you turn Redru around, it's Murder — murder.

"Mirror image of murder - you're trying to say that you killed Big Stupid, right?"

「… No, I didn't, I didn't kill it. That's all there is to it..."

Lycaon was weak and muttered in a low voice, "He was dead before...... He was the captain of a small company's security guard who died more than a month ago in a mess caused by a werewolf.

"But... I hope he at least survives. Because you're good friends with him, too, and you're coming back. I don't want you to see him die with me; I don't want you to investigate the cause of our death, but it ended up on me.

"So, I used the prosthetic head to manipulate his body and play on him. Finally, you're back... I wanted to use his identity to mislead you into the direction of your investigation.

"But at that point, I suddenly felt... This behavior is disgusting. It was as if I had murdered him, and had taken his identity and brought him back to life; But I did preserve his body and ensure the continuation of his social relations, but I will leave him one day... At that point, he will still be 'dead.'

「…… Murder is an ongoing act in which the other person dies after it is completed. And I did it after the other person died, I carried out another kind of murder and brought the other person back to life in the middle of this act...... It's like a mirror image of murder.

"So, I changed his code name...... I hope someone will find out what I'm doing and say I'm not doing it right."

Some of the haggard werewolves smiled reluctantly, "I'm glad, Susu. You're aware of everything...

"But I'm still sorry...... I've let you down in every sense of the word."