Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 722: Section 500: Truth (3)

Chapter 722: Section 500: Truth (3)

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The elevator to the bottom of the underground didn’t get stuck halfway down as in the movies, nor did its cable snap, plummeting to the bottom. Although Miss Dar complained and screamed continuously, she eventually opened the elevator door, welcoming Malin and his party into her control room.

Mr. Big Toe and Mr. Mison were dumbfounded by the forest of cell storage tanks outside the control room. People of this era call those from before the Great Destruction Era the ancients, but they couldn’t truly understand them.

They couldn’t grasp what sacrifices the ancients had made to survive, to preserve life, and to maintain civilization.

"Welcome to my control room. Having Jason as your servant must mean you are an extraordinary gentleman, but looking at your appearance, you do not seem like a descendant of the nobility I’m familiar with." Miss Val had a shell of a fully bionic person, resembling a standard Francais girl... of course, certainly not one from the Zero-Cost Purchase Era, more like a Francais girl from the Sophie Marso era.

"He has a soul from the 21st century, from before the Great Destruction, even before the Union," Jason said proudly. "He can even catch the interest of the Lord of Justice, that outer deity."

"Jason, I’ve told you not to refer to the Lord of Justice as an outer deity. He was summoned by the remnants of the Great Destruction Era at the cost of their own lives."

Malin was somewhat surprised by Val’s words: "The Lord of Justice... was summoned by the remnants of the Great Destruction Era?"

"Yes, Mr. Malin, I’ve noticed your situation. When Jason referred to you in that way, you didn’t show any anomalous reaction, which indicates that you must indeed be from that era. As such, I believe it’s inappropriate for only Jason, an AI, to instill in you his AI-biased views. Therefore, I will also become your companion." With that said, she showed Malin her body: "You see, my body is so realistic, almost like that of a real person. Having me by your side will certainly be more fitting than Jason."

"Shut your damn mouth, I also have a body of my own." Jason appeared to be in a rage of impotence.

And Val’s next words confirmed his predicament: "Your body, are you referring to that little boy who still lies with the Jeanne d’Arc at the bottom of the Western Pacific, or to that adult bionic body that got sucked into the void by crustal and unknown subspace fluctuations?"

"Enough, I’m here today to find out what exactly happened, not to listen to gossip stories I’m unaware of," Malin interrupted the two malfunctioning artificial intelligences before they could drag the conversation into the depths of a prime-time soap opera, and steered them back on track.

Obviously, only Val could explain the situation. From her narrative, Malin understood what had really happened here.

Before the Great Destruction, this place was already the only and largest biodiversity conservation center in the Francais zone. After the Great Destruction, some soldiers protected civilians retreating from the city and brought them here, establishing the initial form of a shelter.

After that, the center sustained two more devastations, until the energy core malfunctioned. The shelter supervisor at the time sent out seven squads of young people, including his own son, to scour the ruins for an energy core. Everyone knew it was a suicide mission, but the youth of the time volunteered eagerly.

However, out of those young individuals, only one returned. He came to the door, deeply mutated, placed the energy core at the entrance, and then, with the last shred of sanity, committed suicide with his gun.

The shelter was saved, but the terrified shelter residents failed to realize that the distortion had already taken root in their hearts. Eventually, a coup-like attack turned the shelter into what it was today, filled with Chaos-twisted cannibals, while the mentally fortified residents, vastly outnumbered, perished in battle.

"Supervisor Huang was an incredible East Asian, he and his family led generation after generation of shelter residents in the post-Great Destruction Era world to survive. In the end, he was killed because the residents were contaminated... I failed to notice the condition of those twisted ones." Malin could feel Val’s guilt as he patted her head.

"They didn’t breach this place?"

"No, to prevent them from finding the way down here due to hunger, I have been dropping cloned human limbs for them to eat, those monstrous creatures." Val’s words brought some relief to Malin—the cannibals hadn’t broken in here: "Does this mean the fertilized eggs are still safe?"

"They’re not safe. I’ve already shut down many of the tanks. Look." As Val spoke, a mechanical arm grabbed one of the tanks and moved it in front of Malin. Through the glass, everyone could see the distorted flesh within the translucent tank: "Every week, I incinerate in the core furnace those that spontaneously develop into distorted flesh. This conservation center has lost 30% of its fertilized eggs, but almost 25% of the loss occurred before the Lord of Justice manifested."

"Don’t mention him!" Jason said angrily. "It’s true, just like you said, he was a deity summoned by the remnants of our Great Destruction Era, but that doesn’t mean he is our deity! Unlike those fortunate mortals who became deities, he, like the Evil Gods from the Chaos Subspace, is a deity from an outer plane!"

"But he truly is our deity, the deity from our novels and picture books before the Great Destruction Era. The great remnant summoned him with his Transcendent abilities; he comes from the novels written by the people of our civilization, and of course, he is our deity." Val’s words finally made Malin realize a truth.

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So that’s how it is. The Lord of Justice has always been protecting this world. Why does he view it with such compassion? As this thought came to him, Malin spoke, "The Lord of Justice can indeed be considered our god. Although he is an entity from a story written by the author of our civilization, who can say that this isn’t a wonderful coincidence? Enough, let’s not argue anymore. At least he isn’t like the Evil God, twisting our minds. At least he still loves this world. That’s good enough, isn’t it, Jason?"

"Mr. Malin, we don’t believe in deities," Jason said.

"Right, I don’t believe in deities either. In my era, the deities didn’t show themselves. I don’t know why. Perhaps that was because we hadn’t come into contact with subspace, nor were there waves of Spiritual Energy. Our dimension couldn’t connect with deities... Or perhaps, as you all say, our deities are merely very powerful beings. Believing or not, they are a reality. What we need to do is distinguish the good from the bad and then unite with the good to defeat the bad."

"Can we really defeat the Evil God?" This time, both Jason and Val asked simultaneously.

"Yes, believe me, we humans have never surrendered to fate. Because of that, we have developed our civilization to break free of gravity’s chains... Trust me, we will find a way. Since there is already a survivor who summoned a deity to help us, there will surely be a way to defeat, or seal away, subspace."

"You are the most optimistic person I’ve ever met, Mr. Malin," Val said, bowing her head and placing a hand over her chest.

"Because I firmly believe that humans can conquer the heavens. If we can’t win, it’s either because there aren’t enough people who believe in this, or the tallest one among them isn’t strong enough," Malin said as he pointed towards the containers. "I hope one day these children can live alongside the children on the surface in our era... Of course, I know this is unlikely. They haven’t been washed over by the tide of Spiritual Energy, they can’t adapt to this new era. But at least we can strive to prevent them from being twisted and deformed by Chaos. This is the dream I’m pursuing, and I hope to be the one to see it fulfilled."

"Do all East Asians from your era have such unrealistic dreams?" Jason looked at Malin. Since he wasn’t a humanoid android, Malin couldn’t confirm his expression the way he could with Miss Val, but Malin thought that Mr. Jason must be in a state of shock right now.

"Yes, because we believe in the saying ’Great sacrifice engenders a strong will; one dares to make the sun and moon shine anew.’ It’s a saying that people from our era believed in more readily than making wishes to deities." Upon finishing, Malin saw that Miss Val had knelt on one knee before him.

"I pledge my loyalty to you. The words you’ve spoken, they remind me of the first supervisor. He said the same... Such beautiful memories. Please accept my loyalty. I thought the old era that could warrant such dedication had been completely destroyed."

"...Thank you, Val. All of the man-eaters, their souls and bodies have been purified. I will leave you to handle the remains underground. After that, seal off the shelter. I will use a Spell Formation to cover the gateway. You only need to seal off the elevators and all the corridors on the first floor. I will establish a transport passage on the second floor. This place will be transformed into a hydroponics center. In the coming era, when the Tide of the Dead arrives, we will need a great deal of food to feed every mortal who does not wish to submit to Chaos," Malin said.

"As you wish, sir," Val said, bowing her head.

......

Dealing with the gate was simple. Malin used Spiritual Energy to cover the refuge entrance located in the ravine with a large amount of soil, then used Spiritual Energy to promote the growth of grass and shrubs. The Punishers were trustworthy, of course, but for the sake of keeping secrets, they would have this part of their memory erased upon their return.

The Punishers were agreeable with this — they were used to dancing on the knife’s edge, already prepared to face death. But to prevent secrets from leaking through soul-searching, these measures were necessary.

Having arranged all of this, Malin raised his hand with a thought and caught the messenger leaping out of the void. It was Old Ferrero’s messenger.

A fairy-like spirit creature.

"Old Gaiate has learned of Sophia’s situation, return swiftly." The messenger conveyed its message and then turned and leaped back into the void.

"Let’s leave here quickly," Malin said, tossing an Acorn into the soil.

The transportation channel could not be opened here at the moment. Malin could only plant the seed of the World Tree, hoping that in the near future, they could move here swiftly through the shallow subspace.

The current goal was to get home fast and find his own father.

Don’t let anything happen, old man.