There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 371 - 363. Lost Generation

Chapter 371: Chapter 363. Lost Generation

"What are you talking about?" the heir of House Kamui frowned at the answer that begot more answer. "What do you mean by the power of miasma?"

"It means, Mr. Kamui, whoever built this building used the core of a creature from the Deathzone to kill the sons and daughters of our country," the President said solemnly.

"What?!"

The reaction this time was bigger, simply by mentioning Deathzone. Some even stood up from their seat in shock and anger, including the heir of House Kamui. Zein already knew about all of this, but even he couldn’t hold back a frown. The more senior representatives, however, keep their calm and merely look at the President for more deliberation.

"Surely you’re not saying everything without basis?" Caishen Patriarch, Zhou Caishen, raised a question. "This is not merely a conjecture, right? It’s not that weird to see something containing miasma in a dungeon."

"Of course not, Patriarch. If you will," the staff pointed to the screen again, where new images had been generated. "This is the blueprint of the building that we found in the rubble, and if you’d like to read the other one, it contains the instructions and manual for the maintenance of the ’fuel’," the staff explained, giving a few moments for the representatives to peruse the content briefly. "If you would move forward to page five--yes, there’s a detail about this source of power."

Senan stepped forward and helped Zein operate the screen to flip the digital book--just as the other assistants and bodyguards of the representatives did. Zein knew about this wretched device already, but he hadn’t heard much about the details because Radia had been flying around too much to explain properly.

There, in that section, was a clear chart of the black sphere. There was a detailed manual on how to detect anomalies in the miasma level, how to prevent it from leaking, and so on. Detailed instructions about what to do in case of the core running wild took up two whole pages--including who to call in case of such an emergency.

"We are in the middle of tracking these account numbers that were provided for this emergency," the President added as some eyes looked at him inquisitively.

After giving the representatives more time to peruse the file, the staff continued. "Regarding this sphere, The Trinity guild had provided us with a study about this source of power--a Specter core, as the people in the borderland unit called it," she shifted her gaze toward Zein, leading the other’s attention to him. "Would you confirm it, Sir Ishtera? I believe no one had seen this creature more than you."

Immediately, Zein felt all eyes were on him; skeptical ones, intrigued ones, suspicious ones. Thankfully, he had gotten used to this kind of attention and interest after joining Trinity, so he no longer let out a threatening aura when he was confronted with such gazes. "Yes, unfortunately," he replied calmly with crossed arms, looking to the front, where Torodeo Horin was. "It matches the one I found in the Deathzone, as well as the black gate anomaly. I think we have provided the record of that to the government and association."

"Yes, that recording!" suddenly, the representative of House Arok exclaimed, nodding his head fast. "I see it now."

"This is the recording, for those who haven’t seen it," the staff in charge of operating the screen swiftly pulled out the recording that Trinity had sent a few months ago.

Of course, it was a little bit different than what Zein remembered. The recording had been edited slightly to emphasize the second half of the raid, which allegedly happened in the Deathzone and showed the Specter.

It took out most of Zein’s actions, including the part where he guided most of the espers so the fight could go on in shift. There was also a huge cut in the end, which should show the shard of Setnath after the Specter was defeated.

But the most important thing was still being captured; the Specter, and the black sphere that was visible in the end.

And unless they were blind, they would be able to see the uncanny similarity.

"Oh, my," Ludya remarked softly. "Seems like it’s true."

In the meeting room that had grown quiet, her soft voice could be heard clearly, and it stirred the room like nothing before.

"That is wicked! Using the power we are trying to fight?!" the heir of House Kamui slammed his fist to the table.

It was only the bodyguard’s hand on his shoulder that prevented him from standing up furiously. His reaction was understandable, however, because it was also what the other representatives had been thinking. Moreover, House Kamui was known to be a clan that upheld righteousness and lived with a high moral code.

Zein wondered if that was why the man was seated there, next to Horin.

"Not necessarily so," amid the rising voices of disgust, Zhou Caishen made a calm remark. The room turned quiet again to listen to his words. "Using a tool that could benefit us, in itself, is not a crime. Morally questionable, yes, but not really false."

The heir of House Kamui scrunched his face in disgust. For them, using a tool of evil was still evil, whatever the end goal was.

Ludya Mallarc smiled at the young man’s reaction--which, at least in this heartbreaking situation, gave her a little hope about the future. Because her grandson, no matter how great he was, wouldn’t be able to do everything alone. He would need a good ally in his generation.

Generation. There should be a lot more--great people in her son’s and grandson’s generations--if it wasn’t for this operation. "What wicked is if it’s used for horrible things," she said solemnly, with a layer of grim and disappointment in her soft voice.

"Wait--" another representative frowned slightly as they looked at the President. "Didn’t you say it was used for...killing? Please elaborate on that."

The President did not reply immediately. He swept his gaze across the table with a solemn gaze that made the table grow quiet. Quieter than before. It was only when all the representatives and the bodyguards stayed still and gave him all of their attention that he started to open the folder in front of him.

"Minato Kamui, year 462; died in a mysterious dungeon accident," the President started, eyes on the folder instead of the widened eyes of Seiji Kamui. With a flat voice that one usually used when they read a report, he continued. "Dima Arok, year 473; died from a bite of a loose venomous bug. Ilya Olaif, year 475; found dead during a hike in Aruda trail."

The representatives looked at each other. The names that the President mentioned were those deemed to die in an accident or due to illness. But the fact that Li Caishen said those names as a response to what it meant by a device used for killing...

Ignoring the chill and tension in the air at the representative’s sudden realization, the President continued reading the list in front of him.

"Lorelei Mallarc, year 492; died from a curse after raiding a dungeon."

Zein glanced at Ludya, whose face remained calm amidst everything. But the glint inside those red eyes was the cold, silent fury that he sometimes saw in Radia.

"Mikail Apsoro, year 517; car plunged into a ravine," the President paused for a few seconds, pressing his lips tightly before continuing. "Xiu Caishen...521; died...in a dungeon training event."

He paused again, and they could see the hands gripping the folder were tightening. Beside him, Zhou Caishen widened his eyes slightly--he was there to support his younger cousin, yes, but...he had never thought that Li Caishen’s sister was one of the victims.

It wasn’t the end of the list of names the President announced. And as he read the names of fathers, mothers, uncles, aunts, brothers, sisters, and cousins of those representatives, the anger was no longer silent. Except for two or three names, the other deaths had always been considered as an accident--or even if there was something suspicious, it became a cold case in the end due to the lack of evidence.

But if Li Caishen was connecting these deaths to the device, then...

"Are you...are you telling me that my son--my son!" the old patriarch from House Olaif said with a trembling voice. "Are you telling me that my son died because...because of this?!" he slammed the table with his shaking fist, eyes glaring wildly. "Not an accident but this?!"

The old man’s outburst opened the gate to a series of shocked exclaims and frustrated yelling. Before any of them could regain composure, a new file was sent to their screens, and there, they could see the list of victims in the last century.

The names of the Houses had been highlighted, and in their dread, they saw a string of highlights for the last three years, containing a single name; Radia Mallarc. The bold words failed and the more sinister success attached to their family members put them in a more chaos filled with greater rage.

But when they heard a reprimand in a soft voice, they quieted down immediately. "Let’s calm down."

They looked at Ludya Mallarc, who should be more furious than anyone else today. Her grandson, her successor, had become a target for not one, not two, but a staggering twenty-three attempts on assassination. But she merely took a deep breath and closed her eyes in an attempt to calm herself, and the others couldn’t help but feel ashamed for their outburst.

When they finally started to calm down and go back to their seat, someone suddenly spoke. "That’s right, this is still an investigation. We can’t say for sure that this is not someone’s trick," Todoreo Horin said in an amiable voice that seemed so jarring to his expressionless gaze. "There’s still a possibility that this is a fabricated evidence to create chaos and--"

"How weird," the acting Patriarch of Apsoro tilted his head, staring straight at Torodeo. "I’m alright with Madam Mallarc telling us to calm down, because her own grandson had been a target for so many times, but...Sir Horin," with narrowed eyes and curled lips, he asked the old man while tapping on the screen. "I can’t see any of your family members here."