Chapter 928: Chapter 928: Sober Up!!
The things Taville does are always a bit crazy. Like every Imperial Scientist, she habitually pushes all potentially useful but absolutely unsafe plans to the forefront. This Glasses Sister’s life motto is:
Whatever, just try it first!
The only comfort is that at least she has the basic limits of a scientist, which is that the theories she puts forward generally don’t pose a lethal danger, with at most a few minor side effects, just like now, with this Fallen Apostle I’ve "treated."
According to Taville’s mathematical model, I adjusted my Void Power to the best of my ability, reducing its eroding and destructive properties to the minimum, then used it to shock the prisoner’s soul to turn the Abyss Power he was infected with into an inactive state. Honestly, based on my intuition, I think this experiment is successful. After a heavy punch hit the opponent and the Void Power was released, I really felt like I had shattered something in his spirit world, and the disgusting sensation that followed without a doubt belonged to the Abyss. Although I still can’t grasp what exactly happened in that moment, Taville’s mathematical model is evidently very correct. It’s just that this quick-fix treatment seems unable to compare with the subtle influences like Visca and the others.
"How do you feel now?"
I glanced at the Fallen Apostle suspended in the air, still bound by chains. The clarity had returned to his eyes, though I’m not sure which side his soul belongs to at this moment.
"Very clear-headed, but who knows what might happen in a while," he grinned at me. "Your Majesty, according to what you just said, you’ve already mastered the secret of that wreck and even know one of the big plans of the Fallen Apostles — which even I don’t know. So, it seems I’m useless now, you’re not planning to silence me, are you?"
"Silence your sister," I glared at him and then pinched Sandora’s paw. "You see, the people around me are half-Abyss Apostles. In fact, we don’t mind having someone with Abyss Power in our ranks as long as they can be controlled."
"That’s not too difficult," he laughed, "as long as this state can..."
I raised an eyebrow, and sure enough, the next second his expression changed, looking resolute and determined: "Your power is weird, but it doesn’t matter. For the great cause, I will never stand on your side!"
"What kind of ridiculous situation is this?" I had reverted from my Void Form and began tugging at my hair, frustrated. "This guy is erratic, changing sides by the minute, so whose side is he actually on?!"
Sandora had the same speechless expression on her face. She mindlessly poked the Fallen Apostle in front of her with her big claw, saying absentmindedly, "This is probably temporary. Compared to before, his lucid time has clearly increased."
"I’m very clear-headed now, and I know there is no chance of this strange experiment being successful," the Fallen Apostle prisoner said unequivocally, followed by an even more decisive statement, "Uh, Your Majesty, I apologize for what I just said..."
I continued to tug at my hair: "You don’t even need a cooldown period now?"
This is the frustrating situation we are facing. Taville’s mathematical model was correct. Her estimation of the use of special powers by Void Creatures was also accurate. The only problem is that the Abyss Infected reversed by this treatment seems somewhat unstable. Prisoner A started acting crazy after I knocked him out with a punch. He’s now switching back and forth between the Fallen Apostle state and normal Angel Envoy state, with no regular pattern, and sometimes the two personalities even argue, which manifests as insulting himself every five minutes...
"He was a paranoid before the treatment, and schizophrenic after," Sandora was idly wrapping her hair around her claw and letting go, like a little girl waiting to go home. "There’s no precedent for Xyrin Apostles being troubled by mental disorders; I really have no experience in this area... How about we call Lilina here? Didn’t she say she’s a psychologist?"
"If that girl comes over to fool around, this unlucky kid won’t need treatment at all." I quickly waved my hand. Are you kidding? Letting Lilina come over to save and heal? That girl is as crafty as a quilt! Not long ago, she was even planning to practice the Ten Tortures of the Qing Dynasty on this prisoner we have here. I’m really worried about letting Lilina near this unfortunate fallen Apostle; he might end up with a whole Brotherhood’s worth of personalities.
"Don’t worry about me," Prisoner A spoke up. Well, since he temporarily still has a Fallen Apostle side, we’ll continue calling him Prisoner A for now. "Though mental abnormalities are a test, I will conquer them."
I rolled my eyes at him: "Who was worried about you? I’m worried about letting you out and you hurting others! With your erratic behavior, what if you bite someone?"
"Wise choice. Even a second is enough for me to self-destruct. Then you would have to bear the consequences of your stupidity... Your Majesty, please accept my sincere apologies; the first half of the previous statement was an accident."
What the hell, when will this ever end?!
"Should I give him another treatment?" Seeing Prisoner A had returned to being a Fallen Apostle again after a few normal minutes, I was so frustrated that I was itching for action. Sandora glanced at me and pouted, "One more treatment and he won’t even need resuscitation: Didn’t you notice two-thirds of his internal components are still crushed?"
Alright, I really didn’t think Void Power was this domineering. Obviously, I only intended to sweep through the other’s soul, yet it still leaked quite a bit onto the Main Material Plane. This poor kid isn’t even recovered yet.
"You’ll see, if you’re still like this in twenty-four hours, I don’t mind letting my sister continue drawing circles on you," a few minutes later, after being harshly criticized by the Fallen Apostle personality again, I pointed at his nose impatiently, "Don’t forget that half-hour of black capture!"
When Big Sister’s curse is unleashed, who’s going to stand against it? Even the stubborn and fearless Fallen Apostle shuddered involuntarily: The circles Big Sister drew are probably an indelible shadow in this guy’s life.
Just as Sandora and I were deciding to wait and see when this prisoner’s condition might stabilize, the surrounding space suddenly trembled as someone activated spatial transmission into the Dimension Cage.
Appearing before us was a tall, long-haired beautiful glasses lady in a white researcher’s uniform: Taville—her Mass Projection.
I seem to have not seen the true form of this coffin enthusiast for quite some time now, really. In a few more days, she might as well belong to the same series as Gaia and Anwina, the legendary Translucent Glowing Tribe!
"Your Majesty, you summoned me?" Taville saluted me and Sandora and then addressed me.
I gestured towards the Fallen Apostle experiencing erratic behavior: "Take a look at this unlucky guy. I treated him according to your method, and now he’s a bit schizophrenic. When his symptoms are severe he ends up slapping himself."
Sandora and I roughly explained the Fallen Apostle’s condition after being subject to the Void Shock, and Taville nodded in understanding. She then took out some strange devices from her Personal Space and assembled them in mid-air. Then she extended her hand, transformed into a probe, and unhesitatingly stabbed it into the clavicle area of Prisoner A.
"His thinking core and intelligence processor are in this location."
While reading the data, Taville turned her head and explained a sentence to me, and I was a bit stunned.
"So... is his brain actually below the collarbone?" I found this quite incredible.
Sandora and Taville nodded very naturally, and I was silent. Well, it seems I still have a habit of confusing the body structure of Xyrin Apostles with humans. I almost forgot about the various magical structures inside them—like Sandora, who looks like a soft girl on the outside, and even feels like one, but when she enters combat mode, or the Soul Taker state, she’s a mass of light with no physical form... Wait, I seem to have a very interesting idea.
"Girl, where is your thought core?" I nudged Sandora’s arm and asked in a low voice.
This question sounds a bit curious, seemingly incredible to be asked between lovers, but for a couple who have overcome such barriers, this kind of topic is just a light-hearted flirtation. Anyway, I find it fun to discuss these academic issues with Sandora; it gives a sense of achievement that transcends racial barriers.
"Thought core?" Sandora thought for a moment, "In human form, it’s like Earthlings, in the head, but in combat form..."
Here, Sandora rubbed her stomach, "It’s roughly in this position, the most heavily guarded place."
Me: "...Stomach?"
"Close enough, right next to it." Sandora said honestly.
I was dumbfounded, do you believe it?
At this time, Taville stood up, lightly coughed to awaken me from the fact that Sandora’s thought core was actually on her stomach. During her check, Prisoner A was firmly locked in various restraint devices, and now he finally regained the ability to move. He immediately looked nervously at his body, as if he was afraid that a certain dangerous-looking researcher in a white robe would violate him. Well, I can understand that; if it were me being poked by a woman for half a day, I’d also feel uncomfortable, no matter how pretty she is—especially if the way she poked was so peculiar.
"Inspection complete," Taville sighed with relief, "The Abyss reaction inside is steadily declining, but the Abyss concentration remains unchanged, perfectly matching the previous assumption: Your Majesty’s power doesn’t make the Abyss disappear but changes its nature, turning it into a harmless ordinary energy body in the material world. This test subject is gradually recovering from the Abyss influence, his thought core and information processing systems are slowly readjusting themselves. It’s just that the reversal of the Abyss isn’t in place due to the short impact time, causing the current repetition, but there’s no need to worry. In a short while, he will completely stabilize, at which point the restraint chains on him will also automatically release. You can use this as a judgment, because theoretically, the Ghost Energy within Xyrin Apostles can actively suppress the Abyss once it reaches normal concentration."
"How long do you think that will take?" I asked, a bit anxious.
"No more than an hour," Taville said decisively.
It’s only an hour, so Sandora and I didn’t really have anything else to do anyway, might as well wait here. Taville went back, she had countless research topics to pursue, even one mass projection is incredibly valuable. And the Fallen Apostle was still having spasms, switching personalities faster and faster, sometimes splitting a sentence into two, using the first half to curse me and the second half to apologize to me. I’m exhausted for him. Sandora finally had her fill of fun and retracted her claws, while I had to awkwardly deal with this girl suddenly getting interested: she began pestering me about when I plan to have a child. Some topic just now might have sparked the interest of this joyful silly queen.
But heaven knows, how many kids do we have at home already? Every day I carry Mercury Lamp on my shoulders, Little Baobao in my arms, and Little Qijing bouncing around in my head doing backflips and sprints, while I walk through the living room, with a yogurt bottle in one hand and a lollipop in the other, telling the little ancestors the story of Sun Wukong battling Mrs. Happy Chicken Essence. I feel like my parental energy is leaking, horizontally and vertically!
We discussed for a whole hour about when to have a child. At first, Sandora blushed due to a girl’s shyness discussing this, but after a few minutes, she happily started researching whether Xyrin Apostles need to temporarily sleep apart from their lovers after having children. I have no idea what this adorable girl’s mind is thinking—having a child uses an external incubation chamber, does that have anything to do with you?
"I have no experience," Sandora said, swaying with joy, completely immersed in some strange world, "Hey, Ah Jun, I really never paid attention to this kind of thing before, and aren’t our circumstances a bit special? Hehe, maybe I’ll ask around to see who has the experience..."
At this point, I was already dizzy, all I could do was chuckle helplessly while pinching Sandora’s nose, "Girl, you are getting more and more like an Earthling—by the way, what suddenly sparked your interest in having a child?"
"I think little kids could be fun," Sandora said honestly.
I thought of a certain doll that insists on hitting its dad with a box every morning, and another little girl who needs the Royal Guard to search the entire city at least every three days. In fact, for them, it’s the dad that’s quite fun.
"If you really find kids fun, why not go fiddle with Mercury Lamp and Little Baobao at home," I teased Sandora’s nose, "Of course, Little Qijing is okay too, but that child is a bit quiet."
"Ahem, to interrupt, how long do you two plan to discuss this topic?"
Just when Sandora and I were venturing further into the topic of having kids, another voice suddenly came from the side.
I turned my head and saw that Prisoner A, at some point, had recovered from his chaotic self-dialogue.
Beside him, the restraint device had already entered standby mode: according to Taville’s settings, only when the Abyss reaction inside the prisoner enters a harmless state, would these restraints be disengaged. This means, the other party had now become a normal Xyrin Apostle.
Taville’s theory was correct, and my operation was on point—I feel like I might have been a wingless Bethune in my past life, treating all kinds of difficult cases. Qianqian said it well, the philosophical fist must save... Ahem, let’s set aside Qianqian’s off-topic thoughts for now and see how this former Fallen Apostle is doing.
"Now you shouldn’t revert to a chaotic state again," Sandora, with almost no delay, switched to her cold and proud queen form, giving the other party a light glance with a leader’s calm demeanor, "What’s your name?"
The former Fallen Apostle, now free, was momentarily stunned by Sandora’s instant shift in demeanor, but quickly responded: "Carter Callo, middle-level commander, affiliated with..."
Unlike the numerous times before, this time, the other party finally straightforwardly provided his unit number, his name, and his level of authority within the Fallen Apostles’ ranks. Although these details don’t hold much value now, it’s a good sign, at least indicating one less enemy, and the Imperial Army gains an old soldier who served in the Fallen Apostle Army for years, understanding the enemy’s approach in combat.
"I’m curious, Carter," after confirming that he had completely returned to normal, I looked at this former Fallen Apostle with curiosity, trying to find traces of the madness and obsession from a while ago, "Of course, I have no doubts about my power, but you seem to have no fundamental changes. I can feel that your Abyss reaction hasn’t decreased at all, and you appear to have no memory loss—so how do you envision yourself now, having the same memories and mentality as before, yet repositioning yourself as a Xyrin Apostle instead of a Fallen Apostle?"
This question isn’t just my curiosity; even Sandora was quite concerned, because it’s still an unsolved mystery: Fallen Apostles, those once Empire comrades affected by Abyss Power, they retain all their past memories, they have a clear mind; the only difference is a massive shift in worldview. What kind of nature change can produce entirely different judgments with the same mind and memories? Perhaps this recently awakened Fallen Apostle who completed the transition while conscious knows some of the inside story. (To be continued. If you like this work, feel free to visit Qidian () to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)