Yilan City
Sunlight from the sky illuminated the outside of the gate, spreading golden rays.
The dense City Defense Army blocked the narrow door corridor, surrounding a gentle-looking man with fair skin in his forties.
Outside the gate, a vaguely visible crowd was bustling.
Bang—
He Ao observed the pollution detection device exploding once again in his view, and a question mark gradually appeared over his head.
"Uh, Mr. Pete," the captain in protective clothing nonchalantly stuffed the detector back into his pocket and said with a smile, "Welco to Yilan City."
"What is this—?" He Ao glanced at the half-destroyed detector, "I rember the last ti I ca, it should have been you? We should... know each other?"
"Uh," the captain coughed again, "Hasn’t it been a year since you ca? You also didn’t bring any identification, so we had to verify your identity, follow the protocol, so I can report up."
He looked down at He Ao, "Are you looking for General Corvey again this ti?"
"No," He Ao shook his head, glancing at the exploded detector in the captain’s hand, "Just take to the rest room, the person I want to et has already been inford by you, and will co soon."
"Really?" The captain was slightly stunned, scratching his head, looking at He Ao’s gentle and natural face, and didn’t ask more, "Then follow ."
Saying this, he turned around, opened a small door on one side of the gate, and led He Ao through it.
The warriors of the City Defense Army blocking the entire gate also gradually retreated, dispersing.
The walls of this corridor were tiled with clean ceramics, reflecting the shadows of pedestrians.
He Ao slowly moved forward, taking a glance at the reflection on the tiles.
At this mont, his appearance was exactly like [Saint] Pete.
Last night, he exchanged for the [Saint] character card and rushed overnight from Lin City to Yilan City.
The good news was, the coat he made earlier wasn’t destroyed because ’Pete’ returned to the Life Goddess’s white space, avoiding the fate of once again descending ’bare-skinned’.
Moreover, after the last ti, this ti the Life Goddess didn’t test him further, allowing him to descend smoothly.
Of course, the descent location reset to near Lin City, so he had to travel overnight again, and was stopped by the City Defense Army in Yilan City again.
He Ao withdrew his gaze from his reflection, followed the captain into the elevator, and arrived at the rest room.
This rest room was much more luxurious than last ti, which was more like so sort of ’interrogation’ room, and this ti it had a sofa, blankets, and even a bar beside it.
The room was also quite tall, and He Ao could see the distant skyscrapers through the windows.
The captain brought He Ao to the sofa by the window and was about to leave.
At that mont, standing by the window, He Ao gently spoke, "Is there a parade below?"
Below, on the slender street, there was a procession of crowds quickly walking along the street, puzzling He Ao who glanced at the captain beside him, "Is the City Governnt of Yilan City no longer popular with the public?"
"That’s impossible," the captain shook his head, "The current city policies are all set by Mr. Linen, and the Yilan people would never oppose Mr. Linen."
He stood beside He Ao, gazing down, seemingly contemplating the origin of the parade.
After a while, he suddenly rembered sothing and spoke softly, "I rember now, this is a welco parade for Kemingda,"
He looked at He Ao, explaining, "This is the current presidential candidate, Kemingda, elections are imminent, his reputation in the Federation is high, especially in Yilan City, today he’s here in Yilan City campaigning, this is likely organized by his election team."
"Is that so?" He Ao nodded slightly, observing the cheering parade below, "It seems like he is quite popular indeed."
"Many of his policies directly adopt Mr. Linen’s, hence the Yilan people quite like him," the captain smiled, "Mr. Pete, if you wish to vote, you might consider voting for him."
"If I have the chance, I might consider it." He Ao nodded with a smile.
"I’ll be going then." The captain waved and left the rest room.
He Ao turned around, sitting down on the sofa.
He gazed at the empty small sofa opposite, curiously and said, "Why don’t you show up this ti?"
"Since early this morning, I’ve felt a strange sense of anxiety," lines of green light appeared before He Ao, quickly outlining a slightly worried figure with white hair, looking at He Ao, "It seems fate has sent a warning, your being here likely isn’t a trivial matter, and the person you seek isn’t a City Governnt official, it’s ."
This was Levi, the Angel guarding Yilan City.
He Ao learned last ti that the pollution detectors in Yilan City all bore Levi’s mark, and if one exploded, Levi would know first.
"The situation is quite complicated right now," He Ao shrugged helplessly, "As of now, you’re the only Angel familiar with the Federation I could find, so I naturally ca to you."
Since he had sowhat ’proven’ his relationship with ’K’ last ti and established basic trust with Levi, he could speak more directly this ti.
"Looks like you have so questions unanswered?" Levi looked at He Ao, raising his brow slightly, "Aren’t you a follower of the Life Goddess?"
"I don’t have that strong a connection with the Life Goddess, I explained that last ti," He Ao shook his head slightly, smiling, "Moreover, this ti it’s Federation matters."
He opened his mouth slightly, ready to inquire, but suddenly it was stuck in his throat.
What was he about to ask?
"Forgotten?" Levi’s eyes suddenly widened, gazing at He Ao.
In that instant, the entire space fell silent.
What kind of power could cause a follower of Life, the Life Goddess’s Saint, to forget the key information he intended to inquire about?
······
What did I want to ask?
He Ao withdrew his gaze, is there a place that might hint at it? He glanced at the task panel.
[Investigate the cause of ’Abnormal’ activity]
What does ’Abnormal’ an?
In his mory, there seems to be related mories, but he cannot access them, and his cognition is a blank slate.
His figure montarily beca illusory.
In the next mont, two conflicting streams of consciousness converged in his mind.
Two completely vague cognitions clashed within his body.
Along with it, his pale skin began to uncontrollably writhe fiercely.
At that instant, streaks of green light outlined themselves in the void, swiftly constructing a complex array that enveloped the entire lounge.
Quickly, He Ao cald his writhing flesh, letting the ’cognition’ of this body be concealed beneath.
In that fleeting mont, he exchanged roles for dual usage, now simultaneously controlling the roles of ’Loren’ and ’Pete’.
However, the ’cognition’ of these two roles is different.
Even though He Ao, as the sole soul, controls these two roles and possesses the sa mory, it’s akin to having one half subrged underwater and the other half above; the perception of the sa body towards the world is completely different, even conflicting.
’Pete’ is totally unable to comprehend the existence of ’abnormality’, while ’Loren’ considers the existence of anomalies to be a natural assumption.
He Ao clearly understands that this may be so kind of genuine ’cognition barrier’, isolating the cognition of his two bodies.
He can only temporarily forcefully ignore Pete’s side of the cognition, primarily focusing on Loren’s cognition; otherwise, under the intense conflict of cognition, he would rapidly descend into madness.
Once the flesh beneath the pale skin had completely cald, He Ao raised his head to look at Levi in front of him.
At this mont, Levi was also gazing at him, erald light flickering in his pupils, conveying ’curiosity’.
As an angel capable of delving into mysticism deep enough to be tainted by the Mysterious Shadow, He Ao’s recent situation had clearly and thoroughly piqued his research interest.
At this mont, He Ao leaned his body slightly forward and quietly asked, "Do you know of ’abnormality’?"
"’Abnormality’?" Levi faintly paused, then squinted his eyes, "I don’t know, or rather, I ’can’t rember’. Can you tell where you learned about such a thing?"
"Northeastern Federation," He Ao calmly stated, "In City 26 of the Northeast, there appears a special type of rules-related urban legend phenonon···"
He paused slightly, relaying the entire knowledge of the abnormality to Levi.
Levi listened quietly as He Ao spoke, until He Ao finished, then he looked at He Ao and softly said, "I once went to the Northeastern Federation, about over three hundred years ago,"
His tone paused slightly, "I was searching for a rare piece of Extraordinary Material there."
"But you have no ’mory’ of the abnormality?" He Ao slowly asked.
"There should be," Levi paused slightly, seemingly recalling, "but all my ’cognition’ related to the abnormality has been erased, so even if I have such mories, I can’t access them, let alone articulate them, or even understand that segnt of my mory."
"It’s like recalling a dream that you have no impression of?" He Ao softly stated, "Clearly rembering having such a dream, but unable to recall it regardless."
"It seems you are also influenced," Levi looked at He Ao with interest, "This should be an exceptionally powerful cognition barrier. How did you bypass its influence?"
"I must have so special powers, indeed," He Ao responded ambiguously.
Levi glanced at He Ao’s pale skin, sensing the tremors of the deep world, "Related to a Divine Being? Interesting,"
He lowered his head and contemplated, "It seems the Federation’s secrets are more than I imagined, a cognition barrier effective on angels, right under our noses, existing since the Federation began, yet unnoticed."
"Do the other angels of the Federation not know?" He Ao asked quietly.
"Perhaps so do," Levi pondered, "Each angel has different abilities, perhaps so can detect this cognition barrier but haven’t shared it. But since I haven’t noticed, those who have probably count to only one or two."
After all, he was soone capable of researching mysticism to the point of being polluted by a Divine Being.
He Ao trusted Levi’s words and raised his head, looking at Levi, "So, what do you think this ’abnormality’ actually is?"
"This needs to be looked at separately," Levi shook his head, "First, we need to find out whether this cognition barrier is generated by the anomaly itself or by other external forces."
The words instantly awakened He Ao, and he looked at Levi, "You an, this cognition barrier wasn’t created by the abnormality itself?"
"In my mory," Levi softly replied, "During the advent of the Great Storm, there was a fierce battle in the Northeastern Federation region, and even the area’s geography was affected by that battle."
"Do you know ’Estella’?" He Ao quickly asked.
"Estella was the leader of that battle," Levi looked at He Ao, seemingly deciphering sothing in his mind, "She is now the person in charge of the Northeastern Federation, a guardian. I beca an angel in the early days after the storm and don’t have much information from that era,"
He paused slightly, speaking with a keen interest, "And that cognition barrier continues to affect my cognition, preventing from recalling and understanding the related details; I can’t even understand who told these things."
He looked at He Ao, raising his hand slightly, "Please wait."
Streaks of green light continuously flashed from his body, passing through his husks, delineating another white-haired figure beside him, after which this figure shattered abruptly, turning into a dispersing green light that rged into his body.
"I rember now," Levi raised his head to look at He Ao, "It was Estella."
Under He Ao’s slightly surprised gaze, he slowly said, "When I visited the Northeastern Federation, I visited her, and she briefly discussed the past events of the region with ,
"According to her, during the advent of the Great Storm, she and other angels of the Original Federation discovered a twisted entity descending upon the northeast region. In the end, they made great sacrifices, sealing this twisted entity at the cost of all their companions."
"I originally planned to consult so elder angels about their views on this after leaving the Northeastern region, but after leaving, I ’forgot’ about it."
Levi raised his hand, as lines of green erged before him, quickly outlining an almost life-like map of the Federal Northeastern region. He looked at the map, speaking gently,
"Strictly speaking, the Northeastern Federation indeed resembles a sealed structure, with mountains to the west and south, the northern ice plains, the eastern Storm Sea, and the middle being a relatively stable, unreasonably flat plain,"
He gently moved his palm across the map, "But realistically, the flow of mountains and rivers makes the formation of such a plain practically impossible."
"If intense battles with an abnormal Higher Being occurred, forming such a plain terrain would be reasonable," He Ao softly remarked.
Saying this, He Ao raised his head to look at Levi, suddenly asking, "If an angel wants to seal part of their mory, what does that usually imply?"
Given Levi’s narrative, at least 400 years ago, Estella’s mory was relatively complete, as opposed to what she claims now, having fully sealed them.
Assuming she wasn’t lying, it indicates that during these 400 years, she experienced so event that forced her to seal mories.
And upon hearing He Ao’s inquiry, Levi rely raised his head to pointedly remark, "It implies that her ntal state might not be very well."
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