Chapter 416: The Man Imprisoned on the Moon
In this area, no more than five ters in diater at the bottom of the crater, the invisible barrier seed to not only alter gravity but also conjure air out of nothing.
What was even more eerie was that Vanel, in such a place, was without the protection of a spacesuit, essentially exposed to outer space. Space is not harmless. All kinds of cosmic rays, as well as the low temperatures in the extre vacuum of outer space, are enough to pose a lethal threat to humans.
However, Vanel looked lively and active.
The astronaut was clearly terrified; the scene before him was nothing short of magical.
It contravened all the scientific theories this elite NASA astronaut had learned from childhood!
Just as he was about to completely break down, a figure appeared before him, standing right between the poor astronaut and Vanel.
Seed nonchalantly patted the astronaut and said lightly, "Nothing happened. You didn’t see anything. Everything is normal."
At the sa ti, his companions inside the spacecraft heard the sa words through their communication equipnt.
A few seconds later, the astronaut turned around with a calm expression, left the crater area, and calmly returned.
Seed sighed, then turned to look at Vanel.
"Do you think I should find another place to lock you up?"
Vanel’s eyes widened, and he fiercely gave Seed the middle finger.
"Right," Seed continued, "actually, your friends have been looking for you. A woman... and that guy Chen Nuo."
Vanel fell silent. After a mont, he finally spoke, "Leave them alone. Don’t hurt my friends."
"...I’m not planning to do that."
Vanel breathed a sigh of relief, then shook his head. "How long do you plan to keep locked up here?"
"I don’t know," Seed replied softly. He then looked up to gaze into the depths of the void of space, a complex expression in his eyes. After a while, he smiled. "Why don’t you ask why I captured you and locked you up here?"
"I’ve asked at least a hundred tis! If you were willing to tell , you would’ve done so long ago."
Vanel shook his head.
Despite his fierce disposition, Vanel was no fool. He was a mber of Noah’s Ark and had once served as the head of the Octopus Monster’s field operations group. He was actually an extrely shrewd person.
However, facing the boy before him, it seed no amount of cunning was useful. The disparity in power between them was simply too vast.
"It can’t be because back in the tropical rainforest, I led people into your Relic World and opposed you, can it?" Vanel grumbled, seemingly exasperated. "If you’re holding a grudge over that, you could have just killed ."
As he said this, Vanel shook his head. "When you found , I was almost dead... You actually saved my life; I am well aware of that.
"What I don’t understand is... what value could soone as weak as have to you."
Yes, weak.
That was Vanel’s clear understanding of himself—in front of this little boy, Vanel felt his abilities were so inadequate that he couldn’t even be considered an adversary, let alone possess any value that could be exploited.
But... why?
For Noah’s Ark? Or to uncover the secrets of the Octopus Monster?
Over the past year, Vanel had considered many possibilities, but no matter how he pondered, Seed never said a word to him about it.
Just like that, he had been confined here for a year!
"Ah, right, this is your dinner for tonight."
Suddenly rembering sothing, Seed waved his hand casually, and an object landed in Vanel’s grasp.
It was a foil-wrapped packet.
Vanel tore it open. Inside was a large piece of roasted at and so bread, clearly freshly made.
"Hmm, the at is a bit charred. I was watching TV while cooking, so I overdid it a bit," Seed remarked casually. "There’s also water. There should be plenty left, right?"
Vanel turned to look behind him. Underneath a rock lay a case of drinking water. He sighed in resignation. "Half of it is left, enough for two or three more days."
"Hmm, then I’ll co see you in another couple of days."
Vanel nodded, saying nothing more.
Speaking was useless.
He had been confined in this godforsaken place for a year.
This mysterious little boy would appear every two to three days, bringing him food and drink.
When Vanel first discovered he was actually imprisoned on the Moon, he was on the verge of a breakdown! The ability to create such an incredible place on the Moon—one that could isolate its occupant from the ultra-low temperatures and vacuum of space, allowing a person to survive inside—was astounding.
Such abilities... Vanel was not a fool. He knew full well that not even Controllers could achieve this.
Forget creating such a space; were there any Controllers on Earth who could physically travel to the Moon?
Not one!
So Controllers could fly, but none had ever been heard of flying into outer space.
"Oh, right, there’s one more thing for you to consider."
Seed appeared ready to leave, but just before he did, he seed to recall sothing and said with a smile, "I have an idea for you to think about. You can tell your decision next ti I co."
"...Go ahead."
"I want to et your leader."
Vanel: "???"
"That is, your Noah’s Ark Organization. Your leader, he’s called Captain, right? I want to et this person."
Vanel was silent, quickly pondering and weighing his options.
"You don’t need to answer now. And we’ve agreed, even if you refuse, I won’t kill you.
"However, this matter shouldn’t be harmful to you; it might even be of so benefit.
"Anyway, you can think about it."
But Vanel shook his head. "I don’t need to think. I can tell you now."
Seed smiled.
Vanel said, "I’ve actually never seen the Captain’s true face. Our organization exists as a secret society. Contact up and down the hierarchy is strictly one-to-one. I can only contact the person above ; beyond that, I’ve never t anyone...
"As for the Captain, I can’t arrange for you to et him."
"You an..."
"If you’re willing to let contact the outside world, I can pass on your request. But whether it will be granted or not, I can’t guarantee."
Seed smiled. "Good."
Vanel’s heart stirred... He agreed so easily? To let contact the outside world?
"How do you need to contact them? Email? A phone call? Or perhaps a satellite phone? What equipnt do you need?"
Vanel was stunned. He looked around and gulped. "Here... even if you give a phone... can it get a signal?"
This is the Moon!
Seed looked at Vanel with a smile, saying nothing.
In an instant, a flash of insight crossed Vanel’s mind!
He suddenly widened his eyes at Seed. "This... this isn’t the Moon, is it!"
"Of course, it’s the Moon."
"No, what I an is, the surroundings are the Moon! But this little space under our feet, it’s actually not the Moon!
"You used so kind of special ability to cut a piece of space from Earth and move it here?!
"So, even though I’m standing here, the space within five ters under my feet is effectively still on Earth!"
Space slicing and pasting?
Vanel imdiately understood.
"Not too stupid."
Seed sighed. "But the others figured it out faster than you."
Vanel frowned. "Others?"
"Yeah, the other two I brought back were quicker on the uptake than you."
Vanel’s eyes widened. "You’ve captured others?"
Suddenly, his expression changed drastically. "You haven’t captured Chen Nuo..."
"It’s not him."
"Then who is it..." Vanel suddenly changed the subject. "Are the others also locked up here?"
Seed smiled. "They are here too. Look straight ahead, about a hundred kiloters away. There’s another crater, on the far side of the mountain."
Vanel thought for a mont and decided not to ask further. "I need a device that can send emails. A phone with internet access will do, or a computer."
"No problem. I’ll bring it to you next ti I co."
After Seed finished speaking, he vanished on the spot.
Vanel watched the little boy disappear, his expression gradually becoming cold and stern.
He stared straight ahead...
A hundred kiloters away, another crater?
And two more people imprisoned?
Soone capable of imprisoning people on the Moon...
No, that’s not right!
Suddenly, Vanel thought of an even more critical issue.
Why imprison people on the Moon at all?
With his abilities, I couldn’t escape no matter where he confined .
So why bring people to the Moon?
Unless...
He’s afraid of being discovered?
Then, what kind of existence would make such a terrifying individual wary?
「A hundred kiloters away.」
By a rock at the base of a crater.
Within a ten-ter radius, if there were a thermoter, one would find the temperature maintained at around twenty degrees Celsius.
The oxygen content in the air was essentially no different from that on Earth.
Furthermore, an invisible barrier blocked all harmful cosmic rays from outer space.
To be precise, it seed less like a barrier and more like a spatial dislocation that isolated everything.
The renowned Controller, known by the nickna "Diamond," Ms. Lillian, slowly opened her eyes and surveyed her surroundings with resignation.
She had been imprisoned here for so long that counting ti seed to have lost its aning.
Yet Lillian ticulously kept track of ti in her mind, never forgetting for an instant.
"Any progress?"
A familiar voice ca from nearby.
Lillian turned to look at her fellow prisoner, the equally renowned Wizard, then she shook her head. "It’s difficult; there’s hardly any progress. No matter what I try, any power I try to inject into this spatial barrier is instantly absorbed and vanishes without a trace. I lose control in an instant, let alone discern any of its principles. I can’t even maintain my influence for an extra second."
The Wizard nodded. "Good, then it’s my turn. Use this ti to recover your ntal energy."
Lillian looked at the Wizard with a complex expression and nodded.
After a year of imprisonnt in this place, even as a superpowered being with imnse spiritual power and an iron will, Lillian’s ntal state had deteriorated significantly.
But to her surprise, the Wizard before her consistently maintained an almost cold-blooded composure.
It’s worth noting that when they first woke up, the Wizard had been on the verge of a ntal breakdown.
Back then, the Wizard had been furious, frantic, and consud by a wild grief.
However, not long after calming down, he seed to no longer exhibit any emotional fluctuations.
His gaze, however, had grown increasingly cold and detached.
When the little boy who had imprisoned them first appeared, the Wizard had unhesitatingly launched a full-force attack.
The outco was clear: the Wizard and she, attacking simultaneously, were utterly defeated.
The mysterious little boy effortlessly neutralized the two Controllers’ all-out attacks, using an unimaginable thod that rendered all their attacks completely futile.
Then, after leaving behind so food and water, he disappeared.
Afterward, the two Controllers quickly ford an alliance. Both stood near the apex of the human pyramid of power. After joining forces, they devised many strategies.
The little boy would appear once every two or three days...
In their initial encounters, the Wizard and Lillian never gave up resisting, although each attempt ended in utter defeat.
But after several tries, both of them despaired completely.
Forget resisting; they couldn’t even comprehend the kind of power the little boy was using.
Finally, the little boy, who called himself Seed, made a promise to them.
"As long as you can decipher the spatial barrier of this place, you can leave on your own. I won’t do anything to stop you."
Fighting was useless.
After receiving this promise, the two Controllers quickly began cooperating on another level.
The two top-tier human Controllers began using their respective abilities to examine and study this space.
The results of their research quickly plunged them into complete shock.
Firstly, they confird that the surrounding environnt was indeed on the Moon, in outer space.
Secondly, the area they occupied, no more than ten ters in radius, was an entirely different space from the outside world.
Their final conclusion was that this ability was sothing they couldn’t even begin to comprehend how to achieve.
Cutting out a section of space and then moving it elsewhere.
Trapped in a hopeless situation, the Wizard and Lillian quickly agreed to put aside all their differences and cooperate fully.
They unreservedly shared all their research and insights into the spatial barrier.
Both were top figures among humans; it could be said that their mastery of power placed them at the very pinnacle of humanity.
After working together, in the first month, they nearly exhausted all their strength, imagination, and their half-lifetis’ worth of understanding regarding power.
In the end, they reached a frustrating conclusion: a month of intense research by the two powerhouses seed to yield... nothing. It was as if they were rely treading water!
As the Wizard put it, "This is a racetrack with no visible finish line. We’ve spent a month, yet it feels as if we’re just marching in place at the starting line.
"That’s not even the scariest part.
"The scariest part is, we can’t even see where the finish line is."
Lillian had actually been on the brink of collapse much earlier.
This collapse wasn’t due to being imprisoned.
As a top-tier Controller, Lillian’s spiritual fortitude was far superior to soone of Vanel’s level.
If even Vanel could endure, a Controller like Lillian certainly wouldn’t crumble rely from imprisonnt.
The real reason for Lillian’s collapse was: she couldn’t fathom the true extent of the chasm in their abilities!
She had once believed herself to be at the apex of this world’s understanding of power, rely a hair’s breadth from the ultimate ceiling...
Now, however, that ceiling seed so distant it was beyond her sight...ŸŸŸ
For ordinary people, this realization might not seem like much.
But for Controllers, for those whose greatest pursuit in life is to touch that ceiling, it was a trendous blow!
At her most desperate, Lillian even considered death.
Then, during a mont of willpower collapse, Lillian allowed her consciousness space to fall into disarray without trying to stop it. This behavior, tantamount to suicide for a Controller, was ultimately stopped by the Wizard.
To save Lillian, the Wizard even risked serious damage to his vital energy, pulling Lillian back from the brink of her consciousness space collapsing.
The Wizard, however, seed to grow more extre in his ntal state amidst his despair.
He seed to harbor an obsession.
Then he revealed a secret to Lillian.
"In the Antarctica operation, my assistant who accompanied , Luke, do you rember him?"
Of course, Lillian rembered.
As high-ranking Controllers, during the Antarctica operation, figures like them always had assistants accompanying them.
She herself had brought a Black woman.
The Captain had an assistant nad Anderson.
However, in her mory, the Wizard had been very good to his assistant nad Luke, always keeping Luke by his side for protection when danger arose.
But... tragically, Luke had ultimately died.
"That Luke was my son, my only child."
As the Wizard revealed this secret, a fire seed to burn in his eyes. "So, no matter what, I have to go back!! I want to figure out what the hell that place is all about! My son died there! Regardless of who or what is behind that place, controlling those monsters, I will destroy it!!
"Even if it ans mutual destruction, I will destroy it!"
Her spiritual power depleted, Lillian rose to drink so water, then quietly observed the Wizard.
The Wizard showed no sign of discouragent. He sat motionless, releasing his spiritual power, repeatedly touching the spatial barrier here, probing bit by bit.
Neither of them knew how many tis they had made such attempts.
Although it was all in vain, the Wizard seed completely unconcerned with the outco.
Lillian walked over and sat beside the Wizard. She slowly said, "Actually, I’m starting to feel that this place is sowhat familiar."
"Hmm," the Wizard nodded.
"It’s very much like... the Red Circle," Lillian sighed. "The vast difference between the inner and outer environnt, the isolating spatial barrier, the imnse temperature disparity... This is the Moon. Outside, the temperature can exceed a hundred degrees Celsius during the day and plumt to minus one hundred eighty degrees at night... But this space we’re in is..."
"Everything strongly resembles the Red Circle at the Antarctica base," the Wizard interjected quickly. "I’ve already considered everything you’ve ntioned.
"So, you an to say?"
"Don’t you think creating such a dislocated space... this thod, isn’t it very similar to the Red Circle? I an, the power possessed by the one who imprisoned us... perhaps it’s the sa type of power that created the Red Circle."
The Wizard said coolly, "Or is it possible that... not only is the power the sa type, but the person is also the sa?"
"What do you think?"
"The power seems very similar, but the person behind it is definitely not the sa," the Wizard shook his head.
He opened his eyes, stopped releasing spiritual power to probe the spatial barrier, and looked seriously at Lillian. "Have you ever considered why the one who imprisoned us is allowing us to study this space, to research this spatial power?
"I don’t believe this is so sort of cat-and-mouse ga.
"Perhaps... he hopes we can discover sothing."
"He wants us to research his power? What significance would that hold for him?"
"Perhaps he has mastered this power, yet doesn’t fully understand it himself," the Wizard mused, shaking his head. "So, he’s hoping we can figure sothing out?"
"But he’s far more powerful than we are."
The Wizard’s tone grew even more peculiar. "Perhaps... it’s precisely because he’s too powerful that he needs others to research it.
"Sotis, when you stand too high, many things beco obscured from view."
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