Chapter 181.2: “I know that you know…”
Those who wanted to continue carrying out their predecessors’ original plan were secretly eliminated by various means.
At first, the people behind it all operated from the shadows, sneaking around like rats hiding in the sewers.
But as more and more people who insisted on the original plan died, their faction gradually became the majority within the apocalyptic project.
And then the purges became open and aboveboard.
What followed was a war.
The situation at the time was extremely chaotic. Initiating a planetary apocalypse had originally been a secret project, and amid the chaos, no one knew which side the others were on.
Moreover, those people had no intention of sharing the Safe Cities with anyone else.
As a result, the massive battle continued for a long time.
The status of scientific researchers plummeted, but they had once possessed extremely high levels of authority. Amid the chaos, Old Tagu’s mother and her colleagues managed to escape together.
By then, Moon Silk Star had already fallen under the control of that faction, leaving them with no choice but to hide and move from place to place.
And then, [Heaven’s Punishment] appeared.
Immediately afterward, the government withdrew from the stage of history.
The [Companies] took control of everything.
All scientific equipment and every kind of energy ore fell into the hands of the [Companies].
The entire Moon Silk Star was covered in bionic surveillance systems. Whenever the black researchers who had escaped showed even the slightest sign of themselves, they would immediately be captured. Their brains would be removed and placed in glass tanks, and pain would be used to force them to continue working.
“My mother told me that this brain-extraction technology was originally developed centuries ago by a black researcher who wanted to extend human lifespans.”
The human body would inevitably deteriorate, and cells would eventually die. But human thought only required the brain. If human brain tissue could be preserved, could that achieve another form of immortality—or at least longevity?
But after developing the technology, the black researcher discovered that once a human brain was removed from the body, it would remain in a state of chaos. It could no longer form its own thoughts. Only intense pain could stimulate it enough to keep it conscious.
So he terminated the project and sealed it away permanently.
Yet several hundred years later, technology that had originally been developed in the hope of creating a better future for all of humanity was dug up and turned into a tool for the [Companies] to control scientific researchers.
“It’s all so ironic, isn’t it?”
Old Tagu’s eyes reddened.
“My mother and her colleagues could only keep hiding. The original plan was for the black researchers to work together to develop a large number of weapons and overthrow the [Companies]. But no one could have imagined that the [Companies] would be so utterly ruthless.”
[Heaven’s Punishment] wasn’t merely intended to bring about the apocalypse. There was another very important reason for it: the [Companies] were carrying out a campaign of total extermination.
When [Heaven’s Punishment] appeared, countless black researchers who had escaped were killed on the spot.
Those who survived also suffered drastically shortened lifespans because of the radiation, or contracted radiation sickness and were left bedridden, lingering on the verge of death.
Given enough time, those black researchers would certainly have been able to turn the tables through their scientific abilities.
But the [Companies] had no intention of giving them that time.
When Moon Silk Star was engulfed in a period of global radiation, the surviving black researchers chose to drag their sick and weakened bodies across different parts of the planet, waiting for an opportunity to bring down the [Companies].
Of course, they never got that chance.
That generation of black researchers, their bodies ravaged by radiation, gradually lost their lives during the [Companies]’ long period of cryogenic suspension.
“But their children survived.”
The muscles on Old Tagu’s face twitched a few times despite himself.
“You don’t understand what black researchers represented.”
“Under those circumstances, with supplies and energy in extremely short supply and my mother and the others constantly being hunted down, they still managed to create radiation-proof cryogenic pods.”
Cheng Qisheng had been inwardly lamenting the entire time she listened.
Of course she could imagine how formidable black researchers were.
A white researcher like Colleen alone had been capable of transforming Blue Sea’s entire energy ecosystem. If black researchers were…
Blue Sea would have given anything for black researchers, yet the [Companies] had killed them off by every means imaginable. If she could, Cheng Qisheng genuinely wanted to blow up the Three Great Companies right now just to vent her anger.
Old Tagu had no idea that someone was currently fuming on behalf of his mother and the others. He continued:
“Because resources were limited, the radiation-proof pods could only be made large enough to accommodate children.”
The cleric understood.
“You were placed inside one of those pods.”
“Yes.” Old Tagu spoke slowly. “Any children of black researchers who met the requirements were placed inside those pods.”
“We didn’t know one another. We didn’t know where the others were. We weren’t researchers, but we all had the knowledge our parents had taught us stored in our minds. My mother told me that when I felt the time was right, I should release these formulas to the world.”
According to the original plan, the night beasts were supposed to appear on Moon Silk Star at the same time that the formula for Green Grass Juice was made public.
That way, the people of Moon Silk would once again have their apocalyptic disaster, while also being able to guarantee their own safety.
But the black researchers didn’t believe the [Companies] would still be willing to make the formulas public.
To prevent the [Companies] from continuing to deploy the night beasts, they had their children memorize the formulas and instructed them to reveal them when the time was right.
At the same time, they repeatedly warned their children about how terrifying the [Companies] were, telling them to protect themselves as much as possible now that they knew the truth.
But Tagu never waited for the right moment.
He spent eighty years in a radiation-proof cryogenic pod, then lived on Moon Silk Star for another seventy. The residual radiation he was exposed to during those seventy years still damaged his body, but because he hadn’t endured the continuous radiation of those first eighty years, he ultimately lived longer than the New Humans.
By the time he had grown old and frail, the [Companies] finally emerged from their shelters.
Once they emerged, the [Companies] immediately took control of Moon Silk Star.
And then came the deployment of the night beasts.
“Before you took control of the Broken River Wasteland, if I’d dared to release the formula for Green Grass Juice today, the Company would have been able to send people here within three days. They would have killed me and silenced every other person in Broken River who knew the formula.”
The cleric nodded in agreement.
Before this, she probably would have said, ‘How could anyone possibly be that outrageous?’
But after spending so long on Moon Silk Star, the residents of Blue Sea had more or less figured out what kind of creatures the [Companies] were.
Without Blue Sea, what Tagu described would have happened one hundred percent.
There was just one thing the cleric still didn’t quite understand.
“Why are you telling us all this? I don’t think you actually trust us.”
“That’s right. I don’t trust you.” Tagu tugged at the corner of his mouth. “You’re not a [Company], but that doesn’t mean you have anything to do with me either.”
“I’m telling you all this because you’re about to go to war.”
He stared at the cleric, then suddenly grinned.
His deeply wrinkled face seemed to tell the entire story of a child who had spent his life carrying a heavy mission.
“You’re going to fight the [Companies], aren’t you?”
The cleric hesitated for a second before, under the guidance of the Divine Oracle, nodding.
“Yes. We’re going after [Zephyr].”
“HAHAHAHAHAHA! I knew it! Of course that’s it! And it makes sense. Given the strength you’ve demonstrated, the only thing that could make you prepare for battle this seriously is the [Company]. It could only be the [Company]!”
“Seventy years!! Hahahahahahaha! Seventy years! Seventy years!!!”
Old Tagu laughed like a madman. Even the cleric couldn’t help shifting backward in her seat, putting as much distance between herself and him as possible.
Perhaps realizing that he’d frightened her, Old Tagu suddenly stopped laughing.
The cleric: “…”
‘He looks even more unhinged like this!’
Old Tagu spoke slowly.
“I’m going to die.”
The cleric: “…Yes. I know.”
Old Tagu stared straight at her.
“But before I die, I want to see the [Company] die with me.”
“Any [Company] will do. As long as it’s a [Company].”
“I want to see them die!!!”
Cheng Qisheng found it difficult to describe the expression on Old Tagu’s face.
How could a person simultaneously have resentment, fury, and extreme excitement written across his face, while his eyes were filled with such fervent fanaticism?
Even Cheng Qisheng, who had seen just about everything, was startled by it.
Honestly, if someone told her right now that she was watching a horror movie, it wouldn’t feel out of place in the slightest.
Cheng Qisheng could sense that the cleric sitting opposite Old Tagu was already sounding every alarm bell internally. Every hair on her body was standing on end, and her muscles were tense.
—If she hadn’t still possessed her reason, the cleric would have already thrown a punch and knocked Old Tagu unconscious.
After all, for someone like Old Eighth, when faced with a threatening presence that had frightened them, their first instinct would definitely be to fight.
The Great Creator God of Blue Sea began furiously patting the cleric on the head through Her divine blessing, rapidly calming her down.
The cleric blinked.
Under the soothing presence of her God, her tense body slowly relaxed. Once her emotions had settled, she even felt a trace of sympathy for Old Tagu.
For this solitary old man, the [Company] had destroyed everything he had. From childhood to the twilight of his life, his entire existence had been spent waiting for the day the [Company] would fall.
That kind of extreme hatred was entirely understandable.
So she silently decided that she would join this war as well—fight more battles and annihilate as many enemies as possible. It would be her way of responding to that small measure of sympathy she felt for him.
But for now, the cleric still had to carry out her duties.
“I’ll record your request.”
She picked up the notebook beside her and began writing.
“You’ve given us the formula for Green Grass Juice. If that’s what you want, then no problem. After we eliminate the [Company], we can record the entire process and send the footage back for you to watch.”
After writing that down, the cleric asked, “Do you have any other requests? We’ll do our best to fulfill them.”
Immersed in his emotions, Old Tagu was slowly soothed by the cleric’s calm voice.
“How unexpected.”
The words came out of nowhere.
The cleric looked puzzled.
“What do you mean?”
Old Tagu said, “You only received a formula for Green Grass Juice from me, yet you’re willing to fulfill my request. That’s unexpected.”
He had lived alone on Moon Silk Star for seventy years. It wasn’t as though he had never encountered other factions.
But Tagu had known since childhood that human nature was evil.
Perhaps those factions weren’t the [Company]. Perhaps they even had their own grudges against the [Company].
But as soon as he revealed a single formula, those people would only want to obtain more formulas from him.
It didn’t matter if Tagu refused. First would come inducements, followed by threats. He had become intimately familiar with that routine by the time he was twenty.
Back then, he was still young and strong, strong enough that even after making a mistake, he could still use his own strength to make up for it.
But [Ota]—or rather, the faction pretending to be [Ota]—didn’t seem interested in obtaining any more formulas from him.
Was this a ploy to draw them out?
Or was he planning to play the long game?
Those cloudy old eyes belonging to Old Tagu watched the cleric’s expression, trying to determine what she was thinking—or rather, what this faction was really planning.
The cleric had just received a blessing from her God, and her demeanor was completely relaxed.
A voice came through her earpiece from the Blue Sea surveillance team:
“Answer normally. Don’t ask him about any other formulas he might know. Judging from his expressions, Tagu has experienced something similar before, so he’s sensitive about this. If he doesn’t offer anything, don’t ask for it. And don’t agitate him.”
The cleric’s expression didn’t change.
“That’s how it is. Even if you hadn’t given us the Green Grass Juice formula, we would still be fighting the [Company]. So for us, fulfilling your request is simply something we’re doing along the way.”
“From here on, because of your contribution of the Green Grass Juice formula, we’ll arrange a place for you to live, provide you with ample food and medical care. If you have any additional needs, just let me know.”
Old Tagu fell silent.
He waited for a while.
The cleric waited as well.
After a little longer, the cleric was actually still perfectly willing to wait. She could wait for a day and a night if necessary.
But then the surveillance team spoke through her earpiece and told her that she could leave.
The cleric could only stand up with an expression that conveyed the profound disappointment of someone who ‘actually had plenty of patience and ability, but because of work requirements, had no choice but to make herself look as though she lacked patience.’
“Is there anything else you need? If not, I’ll take my leave for now. Please get some rest, and call us if you need anything.”
She picked up the notebook and prepared to leave.
Old Tagu: “…”
“Wait.”
He called the cleric back.
“I’m going to die.”
The cleric turned around with a polite, understanding smile.
It wasn’t difficult.
All she had to do was tell herself to treat the Old Tagu standing before her like any other Blue Sea resident.
Her attitude naturally became as warm and approachable as possible.
“Yes, I know. Please don’t lose heart. We’ll give you a comprehensive medical examination and develop a treatment plan for you, doing everything we can to extend your lifespan. If you’d like to return to Deer River Town to spend your remaining years there, that’s fine too. We may just need to have our personnel accompany you.”
Old Tagu was stunned for a moment by that answer.
Then the sharpness that had characterized his expression all this time softened slightly.
“No. There’s no need. I’m simply old. I’ve reached the end of my years.”
“I only wanted to say that I’m going to die. So before I do, there are some things I need to put to use.”
His lips trembled slightly, opening and closing a few times as though he couldn’t quite determine whether he had made the right decision.
Could he trust the fake [Ota]?
He couldn’t.
But with death approaching, he had no other choice.
At this moment, across the entire Moon Silk Star, this fake [Ota] was the only faction willing to fight the [Company].
In the end, Old Tagu finally said those words:
“There are no other formulas. But I know of a huge… underground weapons depot.”
The cleric’s pupils contracted slightly.
Cheng Qisheng abruptly raised her head.
Old Tagu continued slowly.
“Inside is a research facility from the peak of Moon Silk’s civilization, along with reserve weapons that were stored there four hundred years ago. It was a contingency measure. They planned to use those weapons in case Moon Silk Star’s apocalypse arrived unexpectedly without being deliberately initiated.”
“Back then, my mother and the others wanted to open that underground weapons depot. But [Heaven’s Punishment] turned the area into a radiation zone. Neither humans nor machines could approach it. Only now has the radiation in that area gradually begun to dissipate.”
“Perhaps that’s fate.”
“I know the password and how to open it. You can go there directly and retrieve the weapons.”
After listening to the entire exchange, Cheng Qisheng shot to her feet.
So Blue Sea was about to acquire a…
A massive weapons depot prepared by Moon Silk Star’s Institute of Science and Technology at the height of its civilization, stocked with weapons capable of dealing with an entire planet’s apocalypse?!
