Chapter 584.1: Holy Shit! He's An Old Popsicle Too!

Above the clouds, the Heart of Steel hovered. A distant Viper transport plane cut its plasma plume and landed steadily on the iron-plated deck.

Four gray-robed men were escorted out of the cabin by four players clad in exoskeletons.

One had taken a bullet to the left leg, bound crudely with a bandage, hobbling with each step. The other three bore no gunshot wounds, but their dirt-streaked faces showed they had suffered plenty.

Here, none would pity them.

They were Apostles of the Torch Church.

Or rather, war criminals.

In only a few hours, at least 10,000 survivors had directly or indirectly perished to the interference of the Spirit Interference Device’s Frequency Band 03.

Countless others had collapsed mentally.

Some 20 Guard Corps soldiers had been waiting by the landing pad.

Seeing their armed figures, Yore, the one in the middle, turned pale.

He was the head of Pinecone Ranch’s parish, and also the lead researcher of Frequency Band 03. If captured, the Judgment Panel would never leave him.

But seeing the airship, and the men before him, he doubted whether the Judgment Panel had the power to extract him at all.

"Anti-gravity drive... You’ve already recovered anti-gravity technology?!" he muttered to himself, but was ignored by all.

To prevent any tracking or bugs, a soldier stepped forward and fitted a metal collar with a jammer around his neck and those of the other three.

One Apostle resisted, until a rifle butt made him comply.

Approaching Night Ten, Lu Bei raised his fist to his chest plate in a crisp salute. "Good work."

"Don’t mention it. Give my regards to the administrator. The rest is yours now," Night Ten replied with a grin, returning the salute.

Lu Bei nodded, watching him return to the plane before leading the four battered men toward the elevator.

They walked in silence until Yore broke it. "Where... are you taking us?"

Lu Bei gave no answer, stopping before a door. He knocked, then pushed it open.

Yore’s pupils shrank at the sight inside, Zhao Tiangan’s body lying face-up on the floor. His face grew ashen, his throat bobbing nervously.

The man in azure exoframe glanced at him, then at the soldier beside him.

"Take them one at a time. Lock the rest away."

"Yes, sir!" The soldier saluted, waved, and had the others taken off.

Soon, only Yore remained.

Standing alone at the door, he met the man’s gaze by accident, and a chill ran through him.

Those eyes were like black holes.

In that instant of eye contact, he felt his soul stripped bare, every secret exposed and burned beneath sunlight.

He didn’t even believe in souls. He certainly didn’t believe anyone could read them through a glance.

Yet he still looked away, shivering.

The man spoke eventually. "What is your name?"

"Yore." He blurted it out before he realized, angered at his own slip.

Chu Guang’s stare did not falter. "Do you understand what you’ve done?"

Yore raised his chin stiffly. "I do..."

He expected further questioning, his reasons, his purpose. Instead, the man simply nodded. "Good."

That man’s tone stunned him.

He hadn’t confessed anything. How could this man act as if he knew it all?

Did he really have mind-reading powers?

Fear flickered in Yore’s eyes, quickly replaced by shame for such a foolish thought, then by anger.

No such mystical nonsense can exist!

This man is bluffing!

If he thought Yore would break so easily and confess everything, then he didn’t know him.

If sacrifice was necessary, then he would be the sacrifice!

Yore lifted his head high, feigning defiance. "Heh, I won’t say a single..."

Before he could finish, a pair of glasses were set on his nose.

His vision darkened behind black lenses and Yore froze.

No...

He realized instantly, his face draining of color.

A memory extractor.

How can they even have such a thing?!

"Wait, I...!"

But before he could finish, a hum of current filled his ears, and his mind went dark, like a computer forcibly shut down.

"Up you go." Frost grabbed him from behind and dragged him to sit in a corner.

Staring at Yore’s unconscious body, Chu Guang showed no pity.

The device was a trophy taken from the Enlightenment Society. It worked by weaving nightmares from fragments of the subject’s deepest fears, sealing the memory, forcing it to bleed out bit by bit until nothing was left.

The more the subject tried to resist, the more pain they would feel.

Theoretically, it could even retrieve memories long forgotten.

Because it placed such a burden on the mind, Chu Guang rarely used it for interrogation.

However, Yore had admitted he was fully aware of his deeds.

Thus, the punishment was fitting. Compared to the survivors of Pinecone Ranch, he was being merciful.

Chu Guang glanced at the figurine perched on his shoulder. "Little Seven, how long will the retrieval take?"

With eyes shut, already linked to the extractor, Little Seven thought for a moment.

"

Hmm...

an hour or two, maybe?"

Then its eyes snapped open, surprise flashing. "... He’s got a bionics chip in his head?"

Chu Guang frowned. "Is that a problem?"

Little Seven looked at Eclipse nearby and whispered, "Eclipse, can you handle the security protocols? I’ll send it to you."

Eclipse’s eyes glimmered blue. "No problem."

Relieved, Little Seven turned back proudly to Chu Guang. "

Hmm...

No problem, Master! Leave it to me!"

Chu Guang raised his eyebrow. "..."

What do you mean leave it to you? You just pawned your job off?

Fine. At least there were results.

...

The retrieval finished quickly.

Normally, it would take much longer, but Little Seven had run the process on the Shelter’s servers.

The Shelter’s computing power dwarfed any portable device. It was like comparing a rocket to a bicycle.

Little Seven basically strapping a rocket engine to its bicycle and let it run.

An hour inside the dreamscape equaled barely half a minute outside.

If not for the limits of brain processing, it could have been even faster.

Even so, the Apostle’s mind endured heavy strain.

Though conscious, he was little more than a vegetable. In fact, he seemed a little worse.

Mouth muttering nonsense, Yore staggered endlessly against a wall.

Chu Guang eyed him with a strange expression.

"So... is he awake or not?"

Little Seven’s expression twisted. "

Uh...

sort of awake, but not fully."

"What does that mean?"

"Simply put, he’s still seeing the dreamscape woven from his memories. But his body’s back under control. So to us he’s pacing into a wall, but in his eyes, maybe he just walked from the living room to the kitchen."

Like a high-ping gamer...

Chu Guang thought to himself.

It was like walking into walls on others’ screens while thinking they had crossed the map.

"Like sleepwalking?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Then Little Seven added softly, "I suggest restraining him... otherwise he might mistake something strange for breakfast and eat it. Like... a shoe."

Chu Guang nodded, ordering soldiers to confine him and tie him to a bed for two days.

A few passing players spotted him walking endlessly into the wall and erupted in excitement.

"NPC stuck in the wall?"

"A bug! It’s a bug!"

"Holy shit, this game really has bugs!"