Endless Debt-Chapter 936 - 47: Necessary Sacrifice

When Bologue slowly awakened, what met his eyes wasn’t a metallic dome, nor the familiar hospital ceiling, but a murky, untouchable darkness.

Bologue didn’t get up immediately. Confused and mixed memories were like a swarm of agitated serpents writhing fiercely in his mind, intertwining, biting, gnawing at him from the inside out.

The sensation was terrible, accompanied by a pressure that almost induced a physical reaction in Bologue, as if a large hand gripped his organs, pulling hard, with foreign objects squeezing and crawling in his throat, scrambling to escape Bologue’s body.

Bologue half-lay on the cold ground, coughing painfully like a drowning man.

For a moment, Bologue realized that he surprisingly had thoughts of escape.

Indeed, he always felt he was just a soldier who needed only to follow orders, but now he had become a decision-maker, and the heavy responsibility nearly crushed his sanity.

"How long are you going to lie there?"

A cold voice echoed, and Bologue looked towards the direction of the sound, catching sight of a familiar figure.

Seeing the familiar face, Bologue’s restless heart calmed significantly.

"Deputy... Deputy Director?"

Bologue didn’t expect the first person he’d see after his promotion ceremony would be Nesanel, which meant that the place he was in...

Looking around, the inescapable darkness enveloped the entire space like fog.

Bologue was quite surprised, "Inverted Hall?"

He didn’t expect to return here so soon and meet those sacred yet cruel entities.

Nesanel offered no further explanation, and at this moment, Bologue noticed something unusual about the Deputy Director. He usually wore a nonchalant smile as if life were a game, but now his face was grim, with eyes filled with an indissoluble bitterness.

Only a few days had passed, and whatever Nesanel had gone through, he seemed to have aged considerably, his spirit withered, no longer exuding that scorching aura, but rather filled with a chilling coldness.

And his gaze.

Bologue clearly sensed that there was a trace of subtle malice in Nesanel’s eyes when he looked at him. This malice flashed briefly but existed nonetheless.

This could cause Bologue a stabbing pain akin to being pricked by needles, being resented by a Seeker of Glory is not a favorable situation, especially when he is also his superior.

But what puzzled Bologue even more was what could have happened to cause such a drastic change in Nesanel’s attitude toward him, for he remembered the high expectations Nesanel had for him.

"Bologue Lazarus, employee." 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

A woman’s voice broke the darkness, interrupting Bologue’s wandering thoughts.

Bologue looked ahead, and a dignified lady had somehow appeared before him. He remembered this silhouette; she was Maria, the second Director of the Order Bureau, known for her tenacity like iron trees and steel branches.

Maria was dead, Bologue knew that, and what presented itself before him was merely an illusory facade; the true entity conversing with Bologue was that massive collective presence.

"The Collective..."

Bologue stood straight and nodded slightly at Maria, a sign of respect.

"Begin your report," Maria said, "on the first exploration of the Ethereal Realm."

Bologue couldn’t help but ask, "Am I reporting directly to the Decision Room?"

"What do you think?"

Bologue asked no further questions, volunteering all his observations, experiences, and speculations from within the Ethereal Realm, recounting everything to Maria.

Saying these things out loud, Bologue felt the pressure on his heart lighten somewhat; he no longer bore these dreadful secrets alone but shared them with the great Collective, a giant entity amalgamating all the wisdom from the Order Bureau’s inception, uniting everyone into a flesh-and-blood computer.

Bologue realized that the Collective could compute all optimal solutions to find the most accurate answers in an ever-changing future.

Should he speak?

Bologue’s mouth opened slightly, becoming hesitant.

Concerning the Astronaut’s conspiracy, the Gate of Origin plan...

Just as Bologue was wavering, he felt a breeze, and when he turned his head, Nesanel was already gone, nowhere to be found.

Seeing this, Bologue temporarily shelved his inner thoughts and asked about something else, "What happened to the Deputy Director?"

Anyone could tell that something was off with Nesanel at that moment; he seemed awful, like a wounded lion with festering wounds emitting a foul stench.

This change was too great; nobody knew what had happened to Nesanel.

Maria said, "Nothing, he’s always been like this."

"Always?" Bologue shook his head, "The Deputy Director in my memory wasn’t like that."

"I can only say he hid it well," Maria’s eyes became sharp, "After all, he turned out this way because of you."

"Because of me?"

"Did the Devil who signed a Blood Contract with you ever tell you that Xilin, like you, is also his Debtor, bearing his Protection?"

Bologue froze, like misaligned train tracks realigning, as the train thundered past.

Long ago, Bologue had suspected a connection between himself and Xilin, but the only similarity between them was having the same set of Alchemy Matrix.

Now, with Maria’s and the Collective’s words, like the pronouncement of a verdict, confirming the link between the two, the Devil’s bond.