There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 342 - 334. Through Another’s Eyes

Chapter 342: Chapter 334. Through Another’s Eyes

"What...do you mean?" Varion reflexively stood up and stepped back in alert. "Are you...are you doing to use mind reading skill?!"

"Mallarc!" this time, Darleon couldn’t help but glare at Radia too.

Mind reading skill, after all, was something morally condemned, even in a criminal interrogation. It breached an individual’s right to privacy for their own mind. It was frowned upon especially because a mishap during the process would easily lead to brain damage.

While in some cases this method was still enacted, it usually needed ministry-level permission and was only done to a death-row inmate deemed unsalvagable.

Had Radia Mallarc stooped so low to use that kind of method?

"Ah, don’t misunderstand," Radia smiled nonchalantly. "I did say we have to see your memory, but I’m not going to read your mind."

Radia shook his head. Reading someone’s mind was a complicated concept, because it involved unreliable aspects like a person’s thoughts, perceptions, and intent of things. Things like they wanted to harm someone, or that they wanted to achieve certain goals; it woven deeply with someone’s soul which made such inquiry harmful to the target of the skill.

"I told you we have to see your memory," Radia tapped his temple, right beside his eyes. "What I want is the vision your eyes see during the time you have a blackout."

Darleon narrowed his eyes dubiously. "R-really?"

"Mind reading relied on the target’s cognitive, so there’s no use in using it if that person couldn’t remember it," Radia shrugged. "The memory reading I propose is merely to see what your eyes were seeing. There will be no probing into your thought or intent--right it’s like seeing a recording, and the camera is your retina."

"Ho-how could I believe that?"

"Tsk--it’s not like he’s in any position to protest," Han Shin clicked his tongue. Even a healer like him had limited compassion toward someone harming his best friend.

Radia chuckled in response. "Even criminals have human rights, Shin."

The father and son flinched at the phrase. The crimson eyes that looked at them sharply despite the lighthearted voice reminded the two about the nature of Varion’s status. Indeed, the Celestia Guildmaster had breached a lot of laws in his pursuit of self-greed--ones which could be brought to the Federation’s House Council’s trial.

Darleon looked at his son, who was trembling slightly. His righteous heart was clashing with the love he had for a father. Between the instinct to do the right thing and the desire to protect his son, he stepped forward. "In that case, I will see it myself if your method is harmless," he took a deep breath and looked at Radia solemnly. "Do it to me first."

"Father!"

"Very well," Radia smiled and snapped his fingers. Immediately, a figure materialized from the thin air; a woman with pale, almost colorless eyes and a blank look on her face. "What I want is the lost memory between yesterday morning and today, so let’s do the same with you."

Darleon nodded and walked toward the woman, who he presumed was the one with the memory reading skill--or rather, the visual reading skill. Once he stood in front of her, he could see that she was blind--perhaps the visual reading ability was a compromising skill of some sort.

"Tir, look at what he saw after lunchtime yesterday, until the moment I picked them up," Radia commanded.

"Yes, Master."

The woman raised her arm and, after pausing in front of Darleon’s face for a bit, touched the space between his eyes. instantly, he felt a stinging sensation in his eyes, as if they were inflicted by some kind of pressure. Darleon instinctively closed his eyes, the vein around his eyes started to throb as if he had been looking at a screen for far too long without any rest. Aside from that, however, there was no other effect he could feel.

"A boat, a sea," the woman said. "A car ride home, a tea house on a quiet hill, chamomile tea, a call...ah, it’s your number, Master."

Darleon’s eyes twitched, not from the pressure, but from the accuracy of the steps he took after Radia left him in the fishing pond. But still, that kind of thing could be found out if Radia asked someone to tail him home. Then, everything depends on what comes after.

"I shan’t replay the call, Master." She continued. "This is after the call; the vision led to a basement, it seems to be a panic room. Activating barriers. Opening some files stored in a chip. Shall I read the documents?"

"Belthera?" Radia asked the old man, as if to show that he would still respect the concept of consent despite the nature of the investigation.

"Sure, it doesn’t matter."

With his permission, the woman started to tell them the gist of the files he read yesterday; articles about Zein, articles about Varion’s activity, and most importantly, Celestia’s interim reports for the past four years.

"He did not sleep last night, Master. Morning, calling a number...’Son’...no replies. Driving out. A mansion. Messy room. A mumbling man," she continued. "Calling your number again. Taking the man to a hotel. Ah, you appeared, Master."

"Alright, that’s enough, Tir."

She retracted her fingers from Darleon’s face, and stood still again. The old man stepped back with a slight wobble, blinking his tired eyes.

"How is it?" Radia smiled like a salesperson asking about the satisfaction level of his product. "She only sees what the target’s eyes saw and nothing more. There shouldn’t be any strenuous effect too."

"Yes, I have confirmed it," Darleon closed his eyes to relieve the leftover pressure, before turning to his son. "Just do it, Rion. Don’t you want to know what happened to you and who caused it?"

Varion pressed his lips in contemplation. He still felt apprehensive about having people inside his head--or even just his eyes. But...he was already their capture, so what would stop them from forcing him to do it anyway? They probably only acted politely because his father was there.

He took a deep breath and finally nodded. Better agreed to it while they only decided to see a bit. They might decide to dissect his whole brain if he angered them even more. It didn’t seem past Radia Mallarc to do just that.

Still, when the woman stood before him, Varion felt a slight dread. It was probably those blank, void-like eyes. But he had no leeway to think about anything more as a slender finger touched the space between his brows. Just like his father, Varion winced and closed his eyes from the throbbing sensation.

"A mansion," the woman started. "An old building made of resistant timbers. A hall with a single chair on a dais, like a throne. An adjacent room, similar to your family’s archive, Master."

"Continue."

"An old man, two younger ones. The old man looked angry. A door behind the archive. It led to an underground corridor. The corridor is quite long, Master, there are several doors. The vision is darkening the further he goes."

"No night vision?"

"Night vision did not work," the woman replied.

Surprisingly, Varion chimed in. "This is where I stop remembering things."

Should they use mind reading or a truth serum, they wouldn’t be able to get anything because technically, Varion’s cognition did not recognize it.

"A darkness that couldn’t be seen clearly by night vision," Radia tapped on his smiling lips, crimson eyes gleaming coldly. "It’s a miasma, isn’t it?"

"Mm," Zein crossed his arms and exhaled.

"Continue, Tir."

"There’s a big door at the end of the corridor; it’s blurry, but the door is several times bigger than the rest of the door. It’s like..." she paused, seemingly looking for the right comparison. "Ah, like a door inside a ruin-type dungeon, Master."

Radia raised his brow. "You mean, like the door of a boss room?"

"Yes, Master."

"Did they bring him to that room?"

"No," she said, frowning a little bit. It seemed like looking through blurry vision strained her mind. "It’s a door on the left side of the corridor, two doors before the last one. The room is empty, not very big. There’s a chair and table in the middle of the room."

At this point, all they could think about was an interrogation room. Just from the description, they could guess that whatever caused the distortion in Varion’s mind was done in this room.

"The old man is gone with one of the younger ones. Ah, they come back after a while, the young one brings something covered with a cloth and puts it on the table."

That one piece of information stirred the room immediately. Bassena and Han Shin stood up, standing protectively around Zein in reflex even though they knew it was nothing more than a vision. The tension among Trinity members made Darleon stiffen too, looking at his son keenly with worry.

"The old man says something briefly, before stepping back," she continued.

"Can you read his lips?" Radia asked.

Unfortunately, one couldn’t hear with eyes, so they wouldn’t be able to know exactly what they were saying, or if they were saying anything during the journey through the corridor. But she at least knew how to read lips to some extent, providing that person spoke with a standard accent.

"I could only capture ’initiation’ and ’you may enter’--it’s hard because the old man had a long beard and mustache, Master. Forgive me."

"It’s fine. What happened afterward?"

"The young one opened the cloth. It’s a small pedestal, supporting a black orb--ah, the vision...getting even more blurry."

Zein clenched his jaw--even though he had guessed it, having a confirmation like this still shook his heart.

"He put his arm forward. He touched the sphere and--ugh!" Tir, who had been speaking flatly all this time, abruptly snatched her hand away from Varion, who similarly groaned and clutched his head as if he was attacked by a vicious migraine.

Radia swiftly caught his summon, who toppled backward, and told Han Shin to heal Varion’s headache with both physical and mental healing.

"Are you alright?" Darleon stroked his son’s back, whose pale face gradually regaining color with the healing.

"Forgive me, Master. The energy from the sphere prevented me from looking further," the woman spoke with a slightly heavy breath. "I don’t think I would be able to heed your call for a while."

"It’s fine, you did a good job," Radia patted the woman’s white hair. "Have plenty of rest in the garden for now."

"Thank you, Master."

The woman bowed and disappeared with a wave of Radia’s hand. The crimson eyes looked at the father and son pair, who still slightly trembling for the revelation. "It seems like we established the cause now. That black sphere most likely is the Specter’s core."

Radia exhaled heavily, for the confirmation did not give him any delight. Far from it. To think that another Old House had a Specter core, and not only that, using it for something sinister...

"Humanity is truly...a confusing bunch."

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