487: Chapter 487: Brilliance Shines (Extra Long Chapter, Seeking Monthly Pass) 487: Chapter 487: Brilliance Shines (Extra Long Chapter, Seeking Monthly Pass) “Fog?
How could fog get in here?”
Nock glanced at the mist in the night sky and reached out to close the archive room’s window, which was only slightly ajar, but felt an overwhelming weakness as if an invisible force was draining his energy.
It was the mist!
He used all his strength to close the window, but the feeling of energy loss didn’t slow down.
“A supernatural phenonon…”
In that instant, he realized he was enveloped in a wide-ranging, active Transcendent phenonon.
He no longer had ti to contemplate how this phenonon had originated and staggered toward the door.
The archive room was located at the innermost part of the building, and to prevent leaks, it was tightly sealed.
The window he had just closed was the only vent in the archive room and it didn’t lead directly outside the building.
He was the only one on duty in the archive room that night, but there were still many employees working overti in the outside office area.
As he stumbled into the hall, intending to warn everyone, he discovered that a faint mist had already filled the entire office space.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation agents who had been working outside were all either sprawled or lying down, asleep in the mist.
“Director!”
His heart sank as he struggled toward the elevator and pressed the button for the upper floors.
As the elevator light highlighted the changing floors, he felt an overwhelming sense of exhaustion sweep over him.
His energy was completely dissipated, leaving only the weariness of working sleepless for several days.
He wanted to lie down right there, to fall into an eternal slumber.
He began to slide down, leaning against the elevator doors.
And at that mont, a thought suddenly struck him.
‘If Ande were here, what would he do?’
A strength from sowhere unknown surged into his arms, and he clumsily clung to the smooth elevator doors, propping himself up.
At the sa mont, the elevator opened, and he fell inside.
This ti, he didn’t fall but leaned against the wall and pressed the button for the floor where the Director’s office was located.
The elevator ascended, floor by floor.
He leaned in a corner of the elevator, using friction to ease the pressure on his legs.
During this waking process, he felt as though his life was slipping away with the changing digits of the elevator floor indicator.
He grew more and more tired, more and more exhausted, his legs as if bound with thousands of pounds of iron, unable to move in the slightest.
The archive room was not far from the Director’s office floor, and Nock kept his eyes wide open, forcing himself not to fall asleep.
At that mont, every second of passing ti felt as long as a year.
Finally, the elevator doors opened slowly, and with all his might, he pressed against the inner wall of the elevator to push himself out, tumbling and crawling out of the elevator.
This elevator was not far from the Director’s office, and his colleagues lay all around on the ground, a dense fog filling the space.
The door to the Director’s office was open, which was not good news.
Normally, the Director did not like his work to be disturbed by others.
Nock walked slowly and unsteadily through the doorway.
What t his eyes was a dense mist, so thick he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face.
The perpetrator of this phenonon clearly knew the Director’s location and had targeted the Director first.
As he stepped into the office, he felt the speed of his life’s ebbing suddenly increase multiple tis.
The sense of foreboding in his heart grew stronger and stronger.
He struggled to move in the direction of the director’s desk, and then he faintly saw a figure lying on the ground through the fog, and in front of this figure, there was sothing flashing with a red glow.
The top intern, Nock, quickly realized what it was.
‘Ergency refuge button’
This button is usually installed in the Mayor’s office and the City Defense Army commander’s office.
When faced with an insurmountable crisis, pressing this button will notify the entire city to enter ergency refuge and attempt to send a distress signal to the outside world.
And since Lin City is a directly governed city of the Federal Central, the Federal Bureau of Investigation holds a significant status, hence there is also such a button in the FBI office.
Nock understood what the director had intended to do last.
He struggled toward that direction but stumbled and fell to the ground.
He felt as if his body was no longer his own, and all his senses to the outside world beca dull.
The alien force here was too strong; it wasn’t sothing an ordinary person like him could withstand.
Moreover, it seed that the closer he got to the director’s location, the stronger it beca.
He should leave this place, return to where the alien force was weaker outside and try to extend his lifespan a little longer.
Perhaps he might survive until the rescue arrived.
He glanced back at the open door of the office, struggled to arch his body, and pressed his elbows to the ground, inching toward the direction of the red glow.
Pete’s final parting words echoed in his ears.
‘When the mont cos, you will make your own choice.’
His vision blurred more and more, and his perception of the outside world grew weaker and weaker.
In the last mont when his strength was about to run out, he finally felt he touched sothing—it seed to be the director’s shoulder, and the button should be nearby.
He could no longer see anything, only fumbling with his body, relying on mory to grope around.
His arm moved slower and slower until finally, he touched an open button cover.
The director had opened this cover but ultimately had no chance to press it.
Nock, groping around, pressed the button.
Nock knew he was not more capable than the director, who suffered from a far more significant intrusion than he could ever imagine.
The piercing sound of the ergency alarm resonated throughout the city.
But Nock couldn’t hear it anymore.
He lay on the ground, motionless.
…
After an unknown amount of ti, a cleaning robot entered the office.
—-
Stars Pharma Building
Upon hearing He Ao’s words, Janos’s expression shifted slightly.
The Senator looked at He Ao with serious eyes for the first ti, then he laughed, “Go on.”
“I know you’re curious as to why I know the na ‘Fountain of Youth’,” He Ao keenly captured the change in his expression, “after all, you’ve never ntioned this term to anyone, nor have you ever used it in any reports.
Even your subordinates only know it as ‘the source of life’.”
His voice was hoarse, “But you are not the only one in this world who knows about the existence of the Fountain of Youth.”
“It seems I made a mistake in leaving the Andavi family to Reid to handle, he did not do a good job.”
Janos looked at He Ao, his gaze filled with interest, “This is a crucial clue, but I think you still can’t use it to deduce my father’s affairs.”
“Of course,” He Ao gave a painful smile, noncommittal to Janos’s statent,
“The things you’ve done, the data from the Research Institute, and those ‘monsters’ you’ve nurtured, naturally led to associate them with the Fountain of Youth, because only such a legendary thing rumored to grant eternal life could possess such powerful life force.
“And it also fits with the legend that ‘not all who gain immortality are human’ after drinking from the Fountain of Youth.
“Most importantly, nine hundred years ago, when the Fountain of Youth last appeared in historical records, it was located in Lin City.”
He Ao gazed at Jeno’s cheek, “After my research, I believe that the site of the Fountain of Youth nine hundred years ago should be where Stars Supre Hospital is now, and forty years ago, Stars Supre Hospital was just an abandoned park.”
He paused, “Forty years ago, a ‘mysterious rchant’ bought the park and tried to transform it into a hospital, and coincidentally, the ‘temple’ for the ritual of the Fountain of Youth was in the shape of the hospital.
“Of course, the current Stars Supre Hospital is in the style of the temple of the Fountain of Youth, but it was built twenty years ago.
“From this, I can draw a conclusion that the Fountain of Youth has indeed appeared in this world, otherwise there wouldn’t be a temple-like hospital existing, and the timing of its ergence is very likely to be forty years ago.
“At that ti, the ‘lucky’ individual who encountered the spring’s eye bought the land of the Stars Supre Hospital, intending to build a temple here, but he experienced so sort of ‘accident’ due to certain reasons,”
He Ao glanced at Jeno, “Thus, the land lay fallow for nearly twenty years.”
Then he continued, “But regardless, this mysterious rchant is very likely to be the one who first discovered the Fountain of Youth.
However, I did not prioritize investigating this mysterious rchant.
Instead, I delved into Stars Supre Hospital to reach this once location of the Fountain of Youth.”
“For a long ti, I thought the Fountain of Youth would be hidden sowhere underground in this hospital,”
He Ao shook his head, “But aside from a rather strong life force, there was nothing else in the hospital, and my investigation reached a deadlock.
So, I had to pick up the trail of this ‘mysterious rchant’ again.
“During the investigation of this mysterious rchant, I discovered that your Senator family may have taken over the abandoned park project from those years ago.”
“So you had that agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation bring you to visit to try to locate the old files?”
Jeno asked with a smile.
“You haven’t kept any effective files, all the detailed information regarding the incident back then must have been dealt with by you.
Of course, so files must still be mixed with information from back then, so in order to prevent us from retrieving information, you also do not allow us to use computers.”
He Ao also looked at Jeno with a smile, tilting his head,
“But my mory happens to be ‘a little better’ than normal people’s.
“I noted all the relevant key contents, then I discovered sothing interesting.
Among all outgoing communications about the project from those years, there were emails from the old Senator arranging the project, but there were no emails between the old Senator and that ‘mysterious rchant’.
“Of course, it is possible that the emails related to the mysterious rchant were also ‘missing.’ However, there is another possibility,” He Ao paused, looking at Jeno,
“The old Senator is that ‘mysterious rchant’.
“The reason why the ‘mysterious rchant’ did not leave any clues is because he never existed; he was just an identity made up by the old Senator.
“Most of Lin City’s building projects are handled by the Senator family, so it makes sense for this construction project to be assigned to the Senator family too.
“This way, the old Senator led the project but ‘dissociated himself’ from it.
“And there is another evidence supporting this thought; the park project ca to a halt after the old Senator was ‘assassinated’ forty years ago.
If there really were a ‘mysterious rchant,’ he could have simply chosen another contractor to continue the project.
“At this point, I had already guessed that the old Senator might be the first person to have found the Fountain of Youth.
But a new question arose: the old Senator had died, so who is this new person who controls so many projects involving the Fountain of Youth now?”
“So you had continue with you to the scene of the incident from those years ago?”
Jeno turned completely, slowly approaching He Ao, with the vines swaying in the evening breeze behind him.
“Yes, only by thoroughly investigating the ‘assassination’ from those years can I find out who the ‘second owner’ of the Fountain of Youth is,”
He Ao said calmly, “You handled the entire scene very well, and nearly all clues from forty years ago were completely erased, so I managed to find the old files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Jeno was not surprised by this, as it was quite apparent that He Ao had so relationship with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
“Then I discovered sothing interesting,”
He Ao said softly, “The surface classification for that incident by the Federal Bureau of Investigation back then was ‘assassination,’ but it’s quite clear that the old Senator conducted so kind of ‘ritual’ in the underground garden.
“In fact, the Federal Bureau of Investigation also believed that the old Senator himself was involved in the worship of an Evil God, but they didn’t make it public to save face for the Federal Assembly.”
At this point, He Ao’s tone shifted,
“But what the old Senator conducted back then was not ‘worship,’ but rather a type of ‘high stakes sacrifice’ used by Wizards during the Era of the Great Cataclysm, to strengthen the connection between the sacrificer and a high-order Transcendent object through the sacrifice of sothing dearly cherished.
“The more cherished and deeply associated with oneself the sacrificed item is, the better the effect achieved.
Based on previous deductions, I have reason to believe that the Fountain of Youth was the object of the sacrifice, and the Sacrifices…”
He Ao’s voice faltered, his gaze fixed on Jeno, “You had a very close relationship with your father, the yearning in your eyes back then was genuine.”
“Yes,” Jeno showed a smile tinged with a trace of reminiscence, for the first ti revealing a face filled with true emotion, “He loved very much.”
He Ao had no doubts about the father-son relationship.
He continued, “After the ‘assassination’ incident, the Federal Bureau of Investigation monitored all individuals related to the Senator’s villa but discovered no further incidents regarding ritualistic activities.
“During the course of their surveillance, the Mars project related to the Fountain of Youth was also successfully advanced, and I trust the FBI’s prudence in such matters, so there should have been no one overlooked at that ti.”
“So, you’re guessing that the ritual actually succeeded back then.”
Janos picked up where He Ao left off, his gaze fixed on He Ao as he silently waited for the rest of the statent.
“Yes, but my initial thought was whether there was a third party ‘reaping the benefits,’ but then I quickly realized a problem: this type of sacrificial ritual usually can’t change the sacrifices midway.
If the ritual succeeded back then, the sacrifice must have been sothing crucial to both the old Senator and the third party.
“It’s difficult for two people to simultaneously cherish soone or sothing that also has a soul connection with both of them.
The old Senator’s wife had passed away early, and I combed through all the surveillance archives of the FBI but found no one who might share so resonance with the old Senator.
“So I tried to switch my approach: what if there was no third party involved?
What if it was just you and your father present at the event; you were that third party ‘reaping the benefits.’
“But at the ti, you were only eight years old.
A child’s perspective is different from an adult’s.
It was almost impossible for there to be sothing that both you and the old Senator cherished equally, and for that sothing to also have a soul connection with both of you.
This is where my train of thought hit a dead end.”
He Ao looked at Janos, “And at that mont, I looked at my own daughter.”
His tone grew low as he voiced his final inference, “You and the old Senator were each other’s ‘beloved.'”
“My father’s ancient texts were not complete,” said Janos calmly, showing no sign of sorrow or joy, “This sacrificial ritual theoretically requires killing the loved one first because the sacrifice would establish a connection with the transcendent object, gaining transcendent powers which could backlash against the sacrificer at the critical mont and turn the sacrifice back onto the sacrificer.”
“Or perhaps,” He Ao touched his coat pocket and added another possibility, “he couldn’t bear it.”
Janos lapsed into silence.
Vines stretched out in the air, and he stepped closer to He Ao, “I’m grateful you beca the only ‘inford party’ in this story, but your delay tactics need to end now.”
A terrifying pressure pressed on He Ao once again, causing his back to bend slightly, but this ti he didn’t end up being pressed to the ground; instead, he stood up straighter.
“From the beginning, at the villa, you tried to instill the idea that you are a Federal Bureau of Investigation agent with a ‘sense of justice.’ You were leading to believe that you were a ‘good person.'”
Janos smiled, “Under this influence, I naturally ca to the conclusion that you were displeased with the behavior of the Research Institute, thus trying to antagonize Stars Pharma.
After reaching this conclusion, I naturally wouldn’t take you seriously; I would just see you as a hot-headed brute that could be killed at any mont, giving you the chance to delay.”
His smiling face turned cold, and nurous vines shot out from in front of him, “But from your recent narrative, your knowledge of the Fountain of Youth far exceeds that of soone who should just be concerned about the Mars project.”
His expression turned icy cold, “Your target is not Stars Pharma, nor the Mars project, but the Fountain of Youth.
Since you’re so well-inford about the Fountain of Youth, you undoubtedly are aware of its power, so you must have prepared a contingency plan to counteract it.
You’re delaying to let this plan take shape.”
“And the fact that you’re still stalling with proves that your plan isn’t ready yet.”
Erald vines flew towards He Ao.
He Ao drew his sword to block them, and his figure vanished in an instant.
“It’s useless; everything here is under the watchful eye of the Fountain of Youth.”
Janos raised his hand.
A new vine suddenly sprouted from the flowerbed, piercing a nearby shadow.
Crimson blood spilled from He Ao’s already wounded left shoulder, and with a flash of silver sword light, he cut the vine that had penetrated his shoulder and erged from the shadows.
Imdiately, countless vines rose from the flowerbed, attacking He Ao one after another.
He Ao wanted to escape into the shadows but found that every nearby shadow was locked down by the vines.
Janos wasn’t willing to allow him any more ti to delay; he aid to finish him off in one fell swoop.
At the sa ti, the piercing sound of the ergency alert echoed throughout the city.
Janos’ attention was briefly drawn away by the alarm.
“Let emphasize,”
He Ao, sowhat surprised, glanced in the direction of the FBI and laughed lightly, “I truly am a law-abiding good person.”
“Secondly, how do you know,”
A brilliant light suddenly burst from the middle of the building,
“that my contingency plan isn’t ready?”
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