Endless Debt

Chapter 1318 - 98: Over the High Wall (Part 3)

Within the Ruins District, Bologue discovered that there was still some distortion in the visible space. The neatly smooth cubes were haphazardly arranged, shelves and chairs floated mid-air, and staircases spiraled upwards only to end in a dead end... Similar distortions were everywhere. At least this time, those faceless employees were nowhere to be seen and were replaced by the bustling Furyas.Countless Furyas were busy here, industrious as worker ants, repairing the Ruins District. To Bologue, their method of repair seemed simple, like construction workers smashing deformed areas, mixing cement, plastering, and so on.

"Haha!"

Laughter echoed in his mind, and Bologue responded without changing his expression, "Did you hear that?"

"What do you think?"

Bologue pursed his lips helplessly as Aimou continued, "You’d better not let them find out."

"I know, I know."

Bologue spoke simply, but the work of the Furyas was much more complicated than that,

"The safe zones are gradually expanding," Furya explained as if she were a guide. "In a while, the Forge Furnace Volcano should be back under control."

"Safe zones? So there are still unsafe ones?" Bologue asked.

"How to put it..."

Furya fell silent for a moment. Having previously experienced the Ruins District together, she realized that from the perspective of the Scholars’ knowledge, Bologue was practically illiterate.

Furya needed to explain everything in a way that Bologue could understand.

"The will to control the Ruins District has never changed; all of it is under ’Furya’s control."

Furya’s words came slowly and deliberately; she put in a lot of effort to ensure Bologue could understand. "With your help, I became the will here, but the relationship between her and me is not one of elimination but optimization and replacement."

Old Furya passed away, and young Furya took office. Bologue roughly understood what she meant.

"The previous old Furya fell into a contradiction with herself and, due to her obsession, generated a lot of redundancy, affecting her computation and control abilities. In an emergency, you, as a backup, became her next iteration," Bologue said.

"More or less," Furya replied. "But replicating a consciousness takes time, and it also takes time for the consciousness to completely replace all permissions and reclaim lost ground."

"Are there still many previous consciousnesses resisting?" Bologue asked.

"Not consciousnesses, just aberrations resulting from degraded consciousnesses. Plus, after the containment breach, many troublesome things escaped," Furya continued, "Upon inspection, the impact of the Extraordinary Disaster: Inverted World has already disappeared, which is a good thing."

"There must be bad news too, right?" Bologue guessed.

"In the containment area, many living entities were either accidentally killed during the collapse of the Ruins District or stubbornly survived. According to my inspection, some are hiding in dangerous areas, but don’t worry, I have gradually started sealing off suspicious areas. Recapturing them is just a matter of time,"

"What about the others?"

"That’s where the problem lies. I suspect that another group of living entities, to avoid danger, used secret passages to reach the Holy City."

Furya’s words startled Bologue, immediately leading to skepticism. "Are you sure?"

"It’s just speculation, but not impossible," Furya said. "A few days ago, we successfully advanced to the secret passage in the containment area, but the door there has been destroyed, seemingly self-disintegrated after prolonged spatial distortion... Presumably, even the Scholars who designed it didn’t anticipate that this place would one day fall."

Furya, without lingering on this somewhat sad subject, continued, "In front of the destroyed door, many traces remained. According to Crow’s Nest’s assessment, it is speculated that living entities have passed through the door."

"Good news, the Holy City... or rather, the danger of Raymond Gaudent far exceeds the Ruins District. Those living entities might have been scorched to ashes by the light," Furya tried to console Bologue.

"But the bad news is, if they have found their footing there, it adds another layer of danger to your mission this time."

As Furya spoke, she observed Bologue’s expression. Bologue sighed deeply, though knitted his brows, from his demeanor this seemed still within the range of acceptance.

"I’m not worried about those living entities," Bologue said, "I’m worried about Raymond Gaudent’s legacy, King Solomon’s legacy. A single inadvertent action on their part might destroy a great technology capable of changing the world."

Thinking of this, Bologue felt vexed. "What is the Decision Room’s take on those living entities?"

Mentioning the Decision Room made Bologue’s feelings even more complicated.

The relationship between the first Director Albert and Leviathan involved some sort of transaction, and he himself might be a part of their deal. Yet, that wasn’t the worst part; the worst part was that in a certain sense, Albert was not dead.

From a biological standpoint, Albert’s body had long since decayed into dust, but a copy of his consciousness still existed among the masses, pulling all the strings from behind the scenes.

"Love people and love humanity."

Bologue couldn’t help but repeat this line to himself. From this perspective, Albert must have loved all of humanity so much that he cared nothing about his own existence, advancing solely for some yet-to-be-understood purpose.