Witch, Fireball and the Evil God of Steam-Chapter 734 - 106: The Final Experiment

Merlin revealed the fate of the starship.

It was sucked into the black hole, and after several days of struggle, Duli's grandfather made a final call to his family in a manner that defied common sense. If Duli wasn't rambling drunkenly, Merlin could vaguely deduce the situation on the starship—on the first day of being sucked into the black hole, most of the soldiers on the bridge had died or been injured due to accidental discharges, leaving only the captain and crew who had hidden in the main control room in time.

In the following days, they were gradually transformed by the "creatures in the dark," with Duli's grandfather becoming the last one.

"Judging from Duli's attitude towards you, he believed that the eradication of the people on the bridge was somehow related to you."

Regrettably, with Duli's death, this became an eternal mystery.

They had no way of knowing what further interactions Duli's parents had with the committee or what hidden truths were left for him in the chip after his mother's death.

"So, the destruction of the starship is the most critical time point."

Ethan detected the deeper meaning in Merlin's words; it propelled the destruction of the City of Truth.

In this light, the starship dispatched by the Democratic Assembly was more like a desperate gamble; they seemingly knew precisely when their city would fall. Moreover, Merlin mentioned another intriguing clue—one of the committee members bore the same appearance as a member of the Democratic Assembly.

This means they had lived for at least hundreds of years—something that current sanctuary technology could not achieve.

After Merlin helped him eliminate one false choice, only the final moment of the puzzle seemed left.

During their conversation, the starport rose from the ground in the south of the City of Truth, with a starship carrying humanity's last hope docking at the starport.

Next, he just needed to board the starship to witness the scenes in the black hole and uncover the secret of the City of Truth's destruction.

"By the way, Zhuang Xiao, the manager of the Human Resources Department at Pioneer Technology, is one of us. She had a chance meeting with you on the other side."

Before parting, Merlin said, "She's a member of the guild, 'Scarlet'—that's her title. If tomorrow you find I haven't appeared in the office, you can get a boarding pass for the starship from her."

To Merlin, there was another matter he needed to confirm.

It was related both to Duli's death and himself; clearly, it wasn't a suicide case. Such a coincidental death point only proved one thing—Duli had leaked information, which led to his silencing. The only question was whether it was the committee that silenced Duli or the existence that vaguely loomed over the committee.

After communicating with Ethan, Merlin became increasingly convinced of his theory.

The Democratic Assembly and the committee were two sides of the same coin, and they had always had dealings with the culprit behind the world's destruction. This explained why they knew of the City of Truth's destruction in advance and had prepared shelters. He also knew that the surface threats had not ended, and for a hundred years, they had been avoiding threats from the surface above.

Tonight, an assassin might appear in his apartment, intending to make his murder scene look like a suicide case.

Therefore, he had one last arrangement to complete.

For instance, installing an inconspicuous camera in the secret compartment of his apartment bedroom to capture the assassin's appearance. After the incident, Zhuang Xiao would enter his apartment to retrieve the video and learn the truth of the "night of suicide."

By then, she might have the chance to explain the reason for Ethan's death.

His mission would conclude at that point.

"After that, it's in your hands, Mr. Ethan."

Merlin was prepared to face destiny alone. In his view, death was no different from an extended vacation, and the only unbearable thing was perpetual ignorance. "If, after everything ends, Zhuang Xiao miraculously survives, please commission her to write everything that happened later on a piece of parchment and place it in my shrine in the North District of the sanctuary—I've ordered a shrine for myself."

"In that case, why not conduct one last experiment?"

Ethan stopped Merlin, who was about to leave.

"Experiment?"

"I've heard of your deeds from across the way; they all say you're an excellent Elemental Shaper, possibly one of the greatest in human history."

Ethan said, "So, you should still remember the basic theory of Elemental Magic."

"Well, I've completed my ideals, at least experienced the sensation of being a mage."

Merlin said, "However, that power isn't applicable where we are—remember the ethnology difference I mentioned before? It's still a mystery."

"I can find some true experts to discuss this matter."

Ethan referred to Lao Ba, Lao An, and Lao Kai; they were the origin, the initiators of both path and faith, from whom early humans sought strength that surpassed the ordinary and natural.

He didn't intend to belittle the sanctuary researchers, but as the saying goes, specialization leads to expertise.

"But before that, perhaps we can try another simple experiment."

"What experiment?"

Merlin was taken aback.

"Entrust your faith to me."

............... 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

What a busy day it had been.

By the time Ethan arrived home, it was nearly ten o'clock, and the sky outside was completely dark. The moment he stepped inside, Lindong hurried over. She first pressed her nose against Ethan's clothes and sniffed carefully, causing her to frown. This seemed insufficient for her, as with a "bang," a small white rag doll cat climbed onto Ethan's shoulder, almost trying to burrow its head into his clothes.

The black cat, meanwhile, was sitting on the shoe cabinet with a serious expression, staring intently at him.

"What are you all doing?"

Ethan felt the pressure increasing.

"Surprise inspection!"

Little Dark exclaimed with confidence, "The video says that men use overtime as an excuse to deliberately come home late, but they might actually be messing around outside!"

She had ample theoretical backing, and she opened a video app on her tablet right in front of Ethan. It showed a short video of just over a minute, where a "gold-ranking emotional speaker" was earnestly explaining emotional issues to the off-screen audience.

The moment Ethan saw this emotional speaker, he instantly sensed that she was a powerful being capable of shattering voids, likely a spatial superpower user.

Because as she was explaining, the space around the coat rack and door frame behind her was twisted by some mysterious force.

"Watch less of these videos from now on!"

Ethan immediately sensed a crisis comparable to the end of the world. It's important to know that Lindong and Little Dark, who had never been exposed to the internet, were like two blank...um, to be precise, a blank page and a black page. The depth of these waters could easily pollute them, even artificial intelligences aren't immune.

He was really worried that one day in the future, when he got home late from work, he'd be greeted by deafening pop music in the living room, an occasional "anthropomorphic laugh" coming from the tablet, and Lindong wearing bizarre outfits.

"Delete this app."

"Hey, why!"

Seeing the tablet confiscated, the black cat immediately clung to Ethan's arm, hanging her whole body off his arm with a look determined to live and die with the tablet.

Recently, she discovered that the tablet was absolutely a good thing, more magical than the cursed objects from their world.

It could steal people's time; whenever she comfortably lay in her nest and opened the video app, she'd lose track of time and suddenly it'd be late night.

A few hours of her life vanished without a trace!

Until she figured out its principles, no one could take the tablet away from her!

"Inspection is over."

The white ragdoll cat poked her head out, revealing strictness in her red pupils.

"Teacher, you know me. How could I be out there fooling around?"

As they say, if you're upright you don't fear shadows, today he was working overtime to defend justice and promote positive energy.

"You smell like smoke, were you secretly smoking behind our backs?"

Cats have a very keen sense of smell. Lindong didn't like the smell of smoke, but although she was full of disdain, she still rubbed the fur on her head against Ethan's neck. This way, the cherry scent could cover the smoke smell, restoring "Smoky Ethan" to his usual state.

Merlin!

Ethan's vision darkened.

He realized in a magical way one downside of time stopping: while he was talking with Merlin, the cigarette in Merlin's hand never stopped, but due to the time stop, the smoke froze mid-air, accumulating together, and the moment time resumed, the smoke formed a high-concentration bomb that instantly marinated him with its flavor.

"First of all, I don't smoke or drink, I've never had those bad habits."

Ethan explained, "But this is just work. In the workplace, it's inevitable someone will smoke, it can't be helped."

"Who? What's his name?"

Both cats perked up their ears at the same time, immediately entering hunting mode.

This wasn't a good sign.

If this continued, Mr. Merlin might not even make it home, and could be killed by the two cats before exiting the dream.

"Cat slaughter," referring to being killed by cats for smoking in public, definitely seemed like it could be featured in "The Bizarre Deaths of Humans" anthology.

"No need to worry about him, because tomorrow I'll be transferring out of this department."

Ethan cleared his throat, trying to exude an air of authority as the head of the household, and said, "Actually, tonight, I have something important to discuss with you."

He picked up the white ragdoll cat that was rubbing against his neck and placed the black cat on the coffee table.

Major career changes need to be discussed with family.

"Soon, I might be transferred to work on another planet."

Ethan said, "The new position allows family accompaniment, so I want to get your opinions."

"Let's go together."

"I'll go pack right now, but you must give me back the tablet first!"

The two cats immediately expressed their stance without a moment's hesitation.

This family meeting concluded much faster than Ethan expected, he hadn't even had time to list out the pros and cons before the vote was unanimously settled at 3:0.