The Greatest Masterpiece!

The woman looked at Karen, and Karen met her gaze just as calmly. This grave-robbing operation, initiated by Captain Neo, had by now drifted God knew how far off its original course. The initiative over how events unfolded had in reality been lost; the only stroke of luck was that Karen could still try to seize hold of something to keep the situation from collapsing entirely. One could only say that the missions the captain took on truly bore a striking family resemblance. "Do you realize what you're saying?" The woman's fingertips stroked gently against Karen's neck. "You are profaning an Order believer's devotion to the God of Order." "Our devotion is pledged to Order, not to the God of Order." The woman tilted her head back slightly and asked, "It seems that to survive, and to win a chance at life for your subordinates, you truly care about nothing. You dare utter any kind of nonsense." "Please believe me, Madame. At this moment, at least, I am being completely frank with you." "Heh, I'm not that easily fooled, nor can I afford the price of being deceived a second time. Most importantly, even if you aren't lying to me, what difference does it make? "Even if someone truly were an apostate just like me, should I spare you just for the sake of our shared status? "I see no need for that. "In fact, I might even consider leaving this place for an apostate to reside in as a gift bestowed upon me by Order." "Madame, do you really believe you can leave safely? Aren't you curious how we discovered this place? We are merely bait; someone behind the scenes wants to use us to fish. "Believe me, even if you trap me here, slaughter half my subordinates, and drive the rest mad, when you 'lodge' yourself in one of them and walk out, what awaits you won't be the freedom you imagined, but a fishing net cast over you. "Right now, I strongly suspect their goal behind the scenes was to bait you—you are their prize." "I cannot believe your words. And I'll say what I said before: I have no other choice." "You do have a choice." "I don't have the luxury to risk a mistake." "Very well. If the shared identity of being apostates cannot earn me a genuine concession from you, could you at least grant me the right to speak and explain myself?" The woman hesitated for a moment, then nodded. She turned away, and the crystal vines binding Karen retracted. Karen dropped to the ground and rubbed the red marks on his neck. He then unzipped his backpack and retrieved two thermos flasks. One was filled with ice cubes, and the other held citric acid soda. "Would you like a cup, Madame?" "Sure." Using the thermos lid, Karen poured a cup of soda over ice and handed it to her, then took two generous gulps from his own. The woman reminded him, "Aren't you worried about your subordinates?" Karen shook his head. "I instructed them to walk slowly. Right now, they should still be inching through the passageway at a snail's pace, nowhere near the platform where Madame intends to strike." The woman sat down on the ground and reached out. A thick crystal flew into her hand. With a crisp snap, one end of the crystal was severed, and red wine flowed out. The woman opened her mouth and caught it. She swallowed a large mouthful, looked at Karen, and asked, "Want some?" "I don't care for alcohol; this suits me fine." "You should get down to business," the woman urged, taking another drink. "Hurry it up." "We actually have plenty of time. Certainly enough for a chat." Karen set down his thermos. "I have two very good friends in York City, a brother and sister. This ring of mine was crafted by him, and his younger sister is a very lovely girl." "I don't doubt it. Faced with your looks and bearing, it'd be hard for any young girl not to be lovely." "Thank you for the compliment. I imagine that if they knew an ancestor of the Voss family was slumbering here, they would be thrilled." "The Voss lineage scattered long ago; there's nothing to be thrilled about." The woman gave a faint smile. "Besides, I'm not from Wien, and I had no children. My branch ended with me. So, apart from sharing my surname, they have no real connection to me. You don't need to try persuading me with appeals to warmth and sentimentality; it won't work." "I only thought that opening a formal conversation with a touch of warmth might make things feel less stiff. My name is Karen. And yours, Madame?" "My married name is Gandiro." "Very well, Madame Gandiro. Forgive me, but I have no other knowledge of your husband." "That's only natural. My husband was merely an ordinary believer of Order. Moreover, after we got together, the two of us were assigned to a classified research division. It would be abnormal if you had heard of Gandiro." "Shouldn't Madame also ask for my surname?" "Heh. Fine. What is your surname?" "Inmerais." "I must apologize as well. Perhaps because certain Temple Elders are too enigmatic, I have never heard of this surname." "It's an Inquisitor family—a very famous one," Karen introduced his family name with great pride. "A very famous... Inquisitor family?" "Yes, Madame. Inmerais is an Inquisitor family from a small city in Ruilan. Of course, it's perfectly normal that you wouldn't know it." "Words always seem to tumble from your mouth that make me feel I'm being trifled with." "Sometimes, the gap between an Inquisitor and a Temple Elder isn't that vast. My grandfather was an apostate—one worthy of being written into the annals of the Church." "Oh?" "You mentioned earlier that my squad members don't know my true identity because I've been advancing within the Church under a false surname." "Why would the descendant of an apostate seek to advance within the Church?" "Madame, as an apostate yourself, why did you praise Order right in front of us?" "We are not the same." "No, we are the same. We both acknowledge Order and are devoted to Order, yet we deny and criticize the existence and purpose of a god. Because above rules and faith, no god should exist." "Did your Inquisitor grandfather teach you these words?" "Do you no longer think I'm simply spouting any nonsense just to save my skin?" "Some things can't be said even if one tries to make them up." "Most of it is my own thinking." Karen pointed forward at the audience. "Is the way you control them through 'Awakening'?" "Heh. Awakening over a thousand people at once—do you think that's possible?" "I don't know." Karen shrugged. "But I suspect it definitely has to do with these crystals. The embedding of these crystals provided a brand-new mechanism for the Awakening technique. Is this the fruit of the research conducted by you and your husband?" "It was his research," Madame Gandiro said. "My husband was a genius. A true genius." "Yes, I can see that." "I don't believe those blasphemous words earlier came from your own mind, and I certainly don't believe you can truly understand my husband's ingenious design." "I can try explaining my understanding, and you may judge whether I'm right or wrong. Not to brag, but my greatest specialty happens to be the Awakening technique." That was an ability I mastered even before becoming a God's Servant. "You are very skilled at conversation," Madame Gandiro observed. "You keep luring me into your rhythm. You possess a remarkably deep, scheming mind." "I believe conversational skill is simply courtesy—a life skill that makes interactions comfortable for everyone. I've never liked mistaking social ineptitude for forthrightness." "You may speak on what you see here," Madame Gandiro said. "If you're wrong, I will consider it a desecration of my husband's achievement, and I will seal you inside the coffin at once." "Very well, Madame." Karen stood up and looked around the surroundings. "Your age must be far older than I imagined. So, was this tomb remodeled jointly by your husband and the ancestors of the Congers family?" "Yes. My husband reached an agreement with the Congers family, and together they remodeled this place." "The Congers family provided the remains of their kin to aid your husband's research, and once results were achieved, he would lift the Congers family curse in the name of the Church of Order?" "Indeed. Churches capable of dispelling a curse from the Moon Goddess are few and far between in this world." "These crystals, this environment..." Karen pointed at the floor. "This is the true core of the entire tomb. No, this must be an experimental testing ground. Beneath my feet lies an array remodeled from a thick layer of crystal." Madame Gandiro said nothing and continued listening. "An array that imitates Order Awakening; an array that imitates the chains of Order." At the words "chains of Order," Madame Gandiro's eyes flickered. She asked, "You guessed correctly. The operation here relies entirely on the massive crystal array below drawing energy from the crystals to sustain itself." "No, no, no, you're trying to mislead me. The function of this crystal array isn't to supply energy—though in fact it did produce that effect, allowing this ancient tomb to function across all these years. But your husband's primary purpose in designing this crystal array wasn't energy supply, but... conversion!" Madame Gandiro rose abruptly to her feet, staring at Karen. Karen continued, "The most difficult layer of the Awakening technique is conversion: continuously channeling matching spiritual power into the awakened subject's body, enabling them to sustain their existence over an extended period. Not as muddle-headed living corpses, but as a continuous 'blood supply' that preserves complete consciousness. "Your husband was a magnificent genius, Madame. I truly never expected that someone in this world could reach such a stage. Although it is still embryonic and severely restricted, it is more than enough to leave me astounded. "These spectators, these members of the Congers family, are not sacrificial offerings. The reason the remains of the Congers family were gathered here was not to wring power from them. "Because these spectators are actually assistants in this research. Your husband wanted to utilize their family's faith system to provide more possibilities and directions for his work. "The crystals embedded in them make it convenient for you to control them, but in truth, the goal was to use intermittent pseudo-Awakenings so that they would imbue the crystals with new enchantments. "Just as their ancestors enchanted Goddess's Pity with the transparent effect, sometimes a mere spark of opportunity, a tiny probability, is enough to provide the breakthrough for a monumental study! "Your husband succeeded. An Awakening technique typically lasts only three days, yet you have remained 'awakened' to this very day." Madame Gandiro looked at Karen. "You truly understood it." "As I said, the Awakening technique is my specialty." "So keeping you here to continue my husband's research is the right thing to do, isn't it?" "We can set that aside for now. I have a question: where is your husband now?" "He is dead." "My condolences." "You don't need to apologize. Neither he nor I are among the living, so I don't consider death an offense, whether toward me or him." "Madame, let me ask you another question: are you still carrying on the research here?" Madame Gandiro fell silent. "Or rather, you want to continue the research, but have no way to do so?" "I cannot keep up with my husband's genius mind." "Yes, exactly. So after your husband left, you have merely been watching over this place, haven't you?" "Yes. I merely watch over this laboratory." "You are waiting for his return, aren't you?" "I am waiting for his retur—" Madame Gandiro glared at Karen. "You're tricking me into talking." "There's nothing here that cannot be spoken of. Even if you want me to stay here and watch the house for you, or continue your husband's research, you would still have to tell me these things. "Did your husband truly die, or did he leave?" "He left." "Did he deceive you?" Rage flared in Madame Gandiro's eyes. Karen quickly explained, "You told me earlier that you couldn't bear the price of being deceived a second time. At first, I thought you meant Piston Congers. Now, I've begun to wonder: when Piston Congers left over a century ago, was he still Piston Congers himself?" Karen pointed to his own head and continued, "Did your husband also extract a crystal from here and plunge it into Piston's head? Did he tell you he was going out to find more Congers descendants to continue this research, only to never return? "Your purpose in wanting to leave this place is to go find him, isn't it? You want to confront him and demand why he deceived you back then, leaving you all alone here to endure more than a century of solitude." Madame Gandiro said, "Now I rather want to kill you." "If you kill me now, you will definitely regret it. Flying into a rage from embarrassment is the cheapest, most worthless emotion." Karen walked over to the crystal coffin. The coffin was massive, containing pillows, bedding, books, and notes, with dense arrays carved along all four interior sides. "Madame, may I lie inside to get a feel for it?" "Lie in it, then. Once you're inside, I'll close the lid over you." Karen hesitated over whether to take off his shoes, then decided it felt more appropriate to keep them on, so he climbed into the coffin and lay down. The interior was spacious, rather like a large balcony; it could fit a single bed and still have room for a desk. Lying inside, looking at the arrays carved into the surrounding walls and sensing the enigmatic aura continuously flowing through the coffin, Karen understood. Buzz! The coffin lid levitated, hovering right above Karen. If she wished, she could completely seal Karen inside at this very moment. "Madame, were you awakened by your husband?" Karen sat up. Madame Gandiro stood by the edge of the crystal coffin, watching him coldly. Karen made no move to climb out, but continued, "In truth, you are not an apostate. Your husband was. You were merely exposed to his thoughts." "Why say that?" "Because if I were to meet your husband, I would be thrilled, and if he were to meet me, he would be thrilled as well. But you are far too calm." Karen climbed out of the coffin, and the hovering lid drifted silently back onto the ground to one side. "You died long ago, didn't you?" Karen pointed at the crystal coffin. "Originally, this coffin was meant to preserve your corpse and keep the residual spiritual power within it from dissipating." A coffin of the same model and function—I have one at home too. "Yes. I died long ago. I was awakened by my husband." "That explains why you don't truly hate him even though he deceived you. Forgive me, I've digressed; this isn't the right moment to dwell on emotional tangents. "Let me summarize: your husband was conducting research here. One day, he awakened you from death. You kept him company here and continued the research for several years. "Until one day, over a century ago, a man named Piston Congers entered. He informed you and your husband that the Congers family outside had fallen into ruin and could no longer supply the remains of their kin. "Under the pretext of needing more 'research assistants,' your husband possessed Piston's body and left this tomb. "From that moment on, he never returned, and you waited here for him for over a hundred years. Is that right?" Madame Gandiro nodded. "Yes." Karen let out a long breath and patted the edge of the crystal coffin behind him. "Your husband never abandoned you. All the research he conducted here was likely for your sake—including his final departure." "What do you mean by that?" "You told me earlier that both you and your husband were dead. But in truth, when he awakened you, he was most likely not dead yet. He was still alive. He chose to possess Piston and leave because he knew his own death was near—his soul was inevitably fading away." "Would I not be able to sense whether he was dead or alive?" "He might have used some special method, prolonging his lifespan at the cost of enduring extreme agony. By that point, a living person would hardly resemble one anymore, so it's only natural you couldn't sense that he was still alive." "Heh. Even so, after dying, he could easily have remained here with me instead of abandoning me all alone in this place." "However, this special environment can only permit one person to remain continuously in the 'awakened' state. He gave the chance to 'live on' to you." Madame Gandiro: "..." Karen let out a soft sigh and murmured with feeling, "You were the greatest masterpiece of his life."