Chapter 769: A Hellish Joke from the Tower of Logic |
This was unquestionably a hellish joke courtesy of Truth's followers. It wasn't funny — but it was definitely hellish.
Cheng Shi's ears were ringing. He'd thought the Creation Alchemy Department had already taken "being inhuman" to its limit, but apparently the Life Extension Department had dark horses of its own?
'This near-genocidal... no, this faith-genocidal slaughter — didn't it provoke resistance from the Nature Alliance?'
Wang Mou was perceptive. He clearly read Cheng Shi's confusion. But his answer made this already-unfunny hellish joke considerably more hellish.
"Resistance?
There was certainly resistance. But only Prosperity's followers fought back in earnest.
Birth's followers were imprisoned, yes, but under the Tower of Logic's catalytic methods, their reproductive rate far surpassed anything they'd achieved naturally. Before long, a new generation of Birth followers emerged — ones forged under Truth's oppression. They came to believe that this oppression wasn't necessarily a bad thing; at the very least, it was hastening their path toward their Benefactor. So these people gradually chose acceptance.
Of course, you could also understand it as them becoming more devout under 'persecution.'
Death's followers... go without saying. Thanks to their own cooperation, those congregations vanished from Tower of Logic territory in short order.
Their one stroke of luck was that once the Tower chose Birth followers as experimental material, they spared the remaining uncaptured Prosperity believers. Those survivors seized the breathing room, migrating en masse to the southwest, far from the Tower, where they merged with the local rainforest tribes and avoided the subsequent series of calamities.
So sometimes resistance is futile. Only by leaping clear of the crisis-ridden environment can one earn a sliver of respite. Wouldn't you agree, Fate Weaver?"
Cheng Shi arched a brow. 'This Wang Mou does love his metaphors. Perhaps that's why he wanted to leave that other world?'
'Is the 0221 of that world even more radical than this one?'
But compared to some intangible parallel-world 0221, Cheng Shi was far more interested in this experiment's outcome. Mortals could not create a god. Even if they could, they certainly couldn't create one sanctioned by Origin.
After all, no matter how convoluted the timeline, no matter how many slices the universe held, Origin was unquestionably the ultimate. It was He who bestowed Authority and divine names, giving rise to the current sixteen true gods.
So the experiment had definitely failed. But if this ancient Life Extension experiment was doomed from the start, why was 0221 replicating it?
Cheng Shi was baffled. He could only try linking the reason to whatever else had caused the historical experiment to fail. So he asked again:
"How did the experiment fail?"
Wang Mou was a scholar who never hoarded knowledge. As he put it, he had always practiced true Truth doctrine: knowledge should circulate.
"You're sharp, Fate Weaver — jumping straight to the crux. But I haven't been able to find his logic for replicating this experiment in those reasons either.
Because this faith-massacre experiment wasn't halted by internal disagreement. It was forcibly terminated by external pressure.
Yes — you've probably guessed it. The Grand Tribunal.
As the largest power in the Land of Hope at the time, the Grand Tribunal had long wanted to reclaim the 'lost territory' where Truth's faith had taken root. But constrained by so-called 'faith equity,' they hadn't found an opening — until this experiment began. With the Nature Alliance's accusations and support, the Iron Law Knights rode straight through the Tower of Logic's borders.
Under Order's encirclement and pressure, the Erudition Presidium — feeble as it was — had no choice but to abandon the experiment and hand over the lead researcher as the sole 'criminal.'
This chapter of history is deeply buried. Very few know it. Both the Tower of Logic's records and the Grand Tribunal's archives blurred the deal that was struck. Had I not personally lived through that era, I wouldn't know any of this, nor would this experiment have left such a profound impression on me.
His knowledge of this experiment most likely came from me, as well.
You understand what I mean — every prior version of me had to surrender our memories."
Wang Mou showed no bitterness over his past treatment. He recounted it all in a flat, matter-of-fact tone.
"So I can't figure out why he's replicating this experiment. Perhaps we're overlooking something."
'Overlooking something?'
Cheng Shi furrowed his brow too, racking his brain alongside the doctor for the answer — convinced that it was the key to understanding the current experiment. But Hu Wei clearly had other priorities. He stopped in his tracks, his expression severe:
"Enough. We've learned plenty. We're not here to study experiment types or history lessons. We're here for the divinity-assembly method.
Doctor — you know this place best. Where do you think we'll find leads?"
Wang Mou shook his head earnestly:
"This experiment contains no divinity-assembly component. What it has is merely physical amalgamation of faith vessels. So we've been misled — his inspiration didn't come from this experiment.
What I still can't figure out is why he captured such a massive number of players for this. He turned what could have been a covert operation into something this conspicuous.
He only needed to quietly abduct a batch of players, and they could have bred endlessly — completing the experiment right under everyone's noses, assuming it could ever produce results...
And from what we've seen, he's clearly using these near-mindless Birth newborns to stitch together the deity he wants to create. That does improve efficiency — these almost purely faithful newborns would never think to abandon their faith, letting the stitched aggregate become more cohesive.
But... everything has pros and cons. The Tower scholars rejected this approach precisely because they feared the resulting 'deity' would be uncontrollable. These newborn-like lifeforms have virtually no intelligence to speak of.
Case in point: the mother-tree now charging our way is a product of faith mutation. It doesn't deserve the title 'deity.' It can't even pass for a wild god. It's nothing more than an abomination — a contorted aggregate of Birth's will. It resembles the kind of monstrosity described in the ancient records of the Life Era: something akin to Go Lis, the Life servant-god, before her initial ascension."
"!!!"
'Who?!'
...