Endless Debt

Chapter 1267 - 78: Dream

Thought processes have inertia, just like in the diary, where she initially thought the Cultivation Room was unconscious, Bologue was also misled by Furya’s appearance, combined with her demeanor and self-description, leading him to believe she was a trapped intern.The truth was far from that.

Xilin’s invasion caused the collapse and fragmentation of the Cultivation Room, and the completely isolated part evolved into the Ruins District, no longer governed by the Cultivation Room’s will. Seizing the opportunity, she uploaded herself to the Ruins District, becoming its will.

Bologue doubted whether one person’s consciousness could truly control such a complex and vast Void Realm. This might be the reason why the Ruins District continues to evolve towards chaos; even though Furya uploaded herself, she had no power to control the Ruins District, just like Bologue suffering from curse backlash, aware of his actions but unable to stop them.

"Excellent acting," Bologue sighed, realizing he had been deceived, "Once consciousness separates from the body, it is no longer constrained by form, you can be young, old, or even shapeless."

From the diary, Furya was a scholar of the same era as Mamo, by now, like Mamo, she should be old and withered, yet Furya appeared so young, and her nearly perfect performance left Bologue feeling inferior.

"No, I don’t know what you’re talking about."

Furya raised her head fearfully, trying to avoid resentment piercing her throat, "I just want you to help me, Bologue."

She said as she raised her arm, the dissipating Ether was slowly returning, filling the gaps in her wounds.

"What’s happening to me?"

Bologue’s figure began to distort, the next moment he appeared before Furya with a whirl of wind, Bologue grabbed her head, his fingers forcefully peeled open her eyelids, exposing her terrified and bloodshot eyes to the air. She tried to evade, but ultimately locked eyes with Bologue.

Overthinking caused Bologue to deduce a series of events from minimal information, but specific decisions still required rational judgment. However, rationality wasn’t always reliable, and when logic failed, Bologue habitually resorted to instinct.

If Furya bore malintent, she had no reason to bring him here; without her help, he could never have found the secret laboratory.

Moreover, Furya’s "disguise" was too perfect. In the sanctuary, there were traces of solitary survival, from daily life records to various details, entirely complete. Under such circumstances, Bologue could only come to two conclusions: Either Furya was a highly formidable adversary, or Freya genuinely knew nothing, struggling for survival.

"Bologue, am I also one of those monsters?"

Furya cried, she was easily moved to tears, looking at her now fully healed arm, thinking of another possibility identical to the employees’ phenomenon.

"Is it cognitive distortion?" She continued asking, "Was I originally a monster, but imagined myself as someone named ’Furya’? Am I mimicking her personality, mimicking her life..."

Bologue remained silent for a long while before softly cursing. Bologue loathed suspicion and choice and despised all schemes and intrigues. More than these, he preferred finding a target of flesh and blood to battle.

"Recite your life, Furya, quickly!"

Bologue decided to give Furya a chance, vigilant of the peculiarities, while curiosity sprouted in Bologue’s heart. He wanted to know what happened after the fall of the Ruins District.

Furya spoke fluently, "I... I was on holiday, came to intern at the Sublimation Furnace Core, then encountered the so-called Xilin invasion, and got lost in the Ruins District."

"Before your internship, what happened?"

Bologue continued to question her, "Where are you from? Who are your family? How was your childhood?"

No one appears out of thin air; everyone has origins and a destination.

"I, I was on holiday, came to intern at the Sublimation Furnace Core..."

Furya replied fluently again but paused halfway, her expression filled with confusion and trance.

"Just like a dream," Bologue said sadly, "You have no continuous memories because you were essentially born out of nothing."

Bologue glanced back at the corpse sitting at the apex of the tower, "Her name was also Furya. In her final moments, she uploaded herself to the Ruins District; her actions were too imprudent, as one consciousness alone cannot command such a vast Void Realm."

Thus, the multitude was not only the will of the Decision Room but also of the Cultivation Room; the collective will formed the foundation of the Cultivation Room.

"An error occurred during upload, your consciousness fragmented, leaving only a segment."

Bologue couldn’t help but sigh, "But you did survive, Furya."

The rumbling vibration interrupted Bologue and Furya’s conversation, security personnel detected their intrusion, the front wall cracked open, and a hazy light poured in like the rising sun.

Security personnel rushed in first, greeted by a dense shower of arrows split by Deceitful Snake Scale Liquid, intermingled with scorching Red Mercury.

Sparks flickered, and a rain of arrows exploded into fire.

The cold rain of arrows, like cannonballs striking, triggered a series of explosions, momentarily suppressing the advance of the security personnel. Bologue frowned, unsure of how to handle Freya.

After the consciousness upload, Freya’s mind was diluted by the vast Ruins District, leaving only fragments of her consciousness, which self-repaired and placed herself in the role of an "intern."

Having figured this out, what about the security personnel who resembled Freya, and the ambiguous light controlling everything?

Bologue discovered a new problem. Given the situation, what were these monsters maintaining the fake operations of the Ruins District?

The track of radiance tore through the scorching waves of flame, and the furious oncoming Ether left Bologue no time to ponder these questions.

The vines entwining Freya swiftly retreated, and the Rhombus Shield circled around her, preventing further harm. Bologue was wary of Freya, but he had no choice but to move with her. She was like a key, the essential piece to unravel these mysteries.

Suddenly, the light surged. Several luminescent tendrils extended from the hazy light behind the security personnel, writhing like snakes and approaching with a searing aura.

The tendrils, both soft and resilient, woven from pure light, whipped through the air, slashing beams of radiance, striking the ground with tremendous force, causing the earth to tremble as if shaken by endless power.

They lashed like whips with immense impact, frenziedly striking nearby objects, shattering jars and vessels into powder, scattering debris into the air.

The loosened vines entwined Freya again, allowing Bologue to command and evade the deadly lashes, but the thick tendrils soon split into numerous slender light bands, coiling around anything they touched.

Bologue failed to dodge in time, being lightly touched by a tendril, and the searing heat carried by the band left burns and a series of blisters on his body.

"Freya, I trust you!"

Bologue suddenly shouted, "If you are her consciousness after the upload, you must remember something. Think quickly!"

"You’ve survived in the Ruins District for so many years; it can’t just be a coincidence!"

The destructive rumbling continued, and as the tendrils ravaged, countless light bands erupted, slicing through everything like blades of a meat grinder, sweeping around indiscriminately, tearing apart every corner of the buildings. Walls shattered into fragments, and towers swayed precariously, with everything once existing gone, reduced to rubble.

Bologue struggled to dodge. This was a dead end, and he had nowhere to escape.

The light bands flickered with blazing light, each as sharp as a knife, swiftly piercing and slashing, forming sinister beams of light.

The tower lost its balance, emitted a somber collapse sound, layer upon layer crumbling, shattering with a deafening crash, echoing through the air like a portent of the apocalypse.

In Freya’s mind, alarm bells rang, screams overlapping, almost tearing her head apart.

Explosions, Bologue’s shouts, the footsteps of looming death.

"Intruder!"

The echo brimming with anger sounded from the dim light. The massive light orb, under the pull of countless tendrils, crept into the main laboratory. At this moment, it no longer existed in various spaces but descended, appearing before Bologue.

It intended to personally resolve this troublesome adversary, Bologue.

In an instant, the light bands attacked at a speed beyond Bologue’s comprehension, forcing him to rally all the Rhombus Shield Protection in front of him.

Then the light bands intertwined, piercing through Freya’s body like a long spear.

Freya’s pupils widened slightly, and as Bologue looked at the pierced body, he froze.

Bologue murmured, "Its target was you..."

The spear withdrew, and Freya’s body shattered like porcelain, microglow spilling from the cracks. Bologue, driven by a strange impulse, used Deceitful Snake Scale Liquid, embedding it into Freya’s broken fissures, attempting to solidify her body and prevent her from completely shattering.

Meanwhile, a sudden smile appeared on Freya’s face, as if her value had been recognized. She laboriously raised her hand, pointing behind Bologue.

"I found it."

Under the Secret Energy’s warning, through countless dark futures, Freya found a glimmer of hope.

In the continually collapsing main laboratory, a nearly shattered wall illuminated with clear green light, then a hidden passage opened towards Bologue.