Staring at the black ink in his hand, Ian seemed to see the blue city spilling everywhere, condensing blackened blood.

Those ordinary people who died for no reason.

Those who are high up and big, for their schemes, their plots, their strategies, their hatred...... Something that disappears easily.

- What's the difference between here and hell?

It is overflowing with unwillingness, regret, remorse, despair and pain. The desire to destroy everything is condensed here.

It was a question that came to Ian's mind.

But then, he sighed.

- There is no difference in the first place.

"Man is a creature destined to die."

Gazing at the mass of ink, Ian's hair trembled slightly, causing them to coalesce into the shape of a pen tip, and on the paper next to him was written a report about the apparition: "Many people have lived less than a hundred years, and they die in a variety of strange ways, whether because they have fallen, because the back of their heads have touched a cabinet when they sneez, or they may have died suddenly for no reason." ”

"I know all of them, I've even seen them. Uncle Ishara, who lived diagonally across the street from my house, was warned not to drink, but he did, and then he drowned in the washbasin. ”

"The fishermen of Harrison Harbor, the men who could swim to the fishing area with their eyes closed and back again, drowned in their basins...... He didn't deserve to die like that. ”

At this point, the boy paused abruptly.

Then, Ian stood up.

He looked out the window at the streets of Azure City, at the corpses and wreckage, and said from the bottom of his heart, "Yes." That's what people do. That's what this world is. ”

He lowered his eyes and looked at the imprisoned phantom woman in front of him, revealing a smile that made Hua Di feel worried: "This is a fact. ”

Ian said lightly, "But I don't think people should die like this." ”

"My thoughts collide with reality, so I'm angry. But I know it's useless to be angry, so I look calm......"

"When I'm not really angry at all."

Ian thought so, and he didn't say what he thought.

- When you can really stay calm all the time, look at it all the time sensibly and without anger.

Perhaps, it was when he stood at the 'top of the mountain'.

But he won't just stay at the top of the mountain.

He will transform the highest point of this world.

Transform this world that makes itself angry.

After taking a few deep breaths, Ian had completely calmed down.

"There's a very peculiar trick in this apparition. Well, the Grand Duke actually mastered the catalytic technique of temporary souls, so that ordinary people can also temporarily have souls, and then produce projections! And they use their souls to remotely control the projection...... In other words, that group of people may have the souls of these apparitional primordials in their hands? At least one control privilege. ”

"So, maybe the original intention of the Phantom Army was not to make an 'undead army', but to create souls? But this technique is very unstable, and if the human will is not up to par, it is impossible to have souls that can only be possessed by psionics and second energy levels, and they will not be able to use them. ”

He analyzed softly: "In particular, the process of condensing the temporary soul can lead to a kind of madness - this kind of madness is no different from ordinary people going crazy, and looking back on the memories of a person's life in an instant, it will definitely go crazy. ”

Then, Ian pondered in his heart: "But the problem is that this kind of thing is over in ten seconds, but because of the 'Abyss of Silence' and the mutation of the Void, this madness is amplified, spread, and enlarged, which in turn leads to extreme lesions. ”

"Well, is it the spread of Sheo's resentment?"

"It's not like ah, no matter how resentful and unwilling Theo was at the beginning, he ...... Now it's her, she can't run out and hang around a long time ago, happy to death, like a big husky or a big cat......"

Thinking of this, Ian felt that something was not quite right: "The cause of the change is the beginning of this disaster...... Someone deliberately caused this disaster! ”

"But the question is, what is the purpose?"

I can't think of this question clearly.

Some memories are missing, and some clues are missing.

- I've got to find it.

Ian thought so, there should be some clues on this phantom woman, the other party is an ordinary person in the true sense, but the virtual realm projection is powerful enough to kill the first level of the sublimator.

This means that her temporary soul is quite resilient, and even after all this time, it has not dissipated.

This was inconsistent with the information Ian had received from the other apparitions—as long as they weren't successful apparitions with a sense of consciousness like Viscount Avak, the other failed apparitions had a duration.

He turned his head sideways to look at the phantom woman who was still imprisoned by the Sealed Spirit.

Ian narrowed his eyes.

This apparition does not last.

This represents...... This woman, this mother's 'temporary' soul...... It can actually last.

No, if it can last for a long time, then it means that this is no longer a 'temporary' soul - rather, after death, even a second-level sublimator cannot continue to live for a long time, and only the third-level psychic body can last, or even condense into a psionic prop like 'Ephemeral Skull'.

This mother's soul is special.

Spirits and flesh are interconnected, especially such ordinary people, and the reason why their souls are special can only be the flesh.

or in a 'special environment',

- I need to find her body...... If the location in memory is correct, her body is located in the ...... The entrance and exit to the southeast.

There was a plan in his mind, but on the surface, Ian just said to Birch, "This phantom is special. I saw a lot of things in it...... I think I've figured out where the hidden members of the research institute are hiding in the Azure City. ”

"Huh?"

Hearing this, Birch put aside her worries about Ian for a moment, and she asked with interest, "Where is it?" ”

"Underground."

Ian recalled the details he had seen in his memory, seeing where the original beasts and crazy people had appeared—in the underground tunnels of northern Terecity.

There is apparently a biological laboratory there.

"Underground waterways." Ian said this, and said the truth with peace of mind: "This is the trace of my spiritual vision, which extends into the underground waterways. If not the headquarters, at least a branch. ”

"But before I can do that, I have to look around me first."

And rightfully so.

At this time, the Bird of Light also appeared in front of Ian.

He'd been listening to Ian's conversation with Birch.

The Phantom Army was not originally designed for the military. Very interesting conjecture. 】

Regarding Ian's conjecture, Mikael also thought about it: [It is true that there are too many problems for this technology to be used for weaponization and combat, but if it is regarded as some kind of protection plan similar to Fairy Township, it makes sense]

He frankly admitted his shortcomings: [As people like us, it is inevitable that we want to weaponize technology in the first place]

[If we can get the inheritance back, maybe we have to change the direction of research]

"Your Highness."

Ian agrees with Mikael, but there is one thing he still has to say.

Looking at the bird of light, Ian asked earnestly, "...... What exactly are you going to do? I'm still hoping to know what you think about coming to Avak Territory and now that I'm close to the lab, so it's easier for me to decide what to do next. ”

"If you'll tell me." He said softly.

(End of chapter)