Forge a path to success.

Chapter 328 Hiding in Seclusion (The End)

“Please wait a moment while I complete my routine check,” Banningtik said. “The corruption of evil often happens silently, so we must be vigilant.”

He conjured a handheld detector and scanned the three of them from head to toe, like going through security, making sure to pull Vande out for a second check. After doing all this, he said solemnly, "The external contamination clearly exceeds the critical threshold..."

"It's really contaminated?!" Lico exclaimed in shock.

“However, these are all recorded reactions, and the contamination from the chaos can be ruled out for the time being.” Banningtik put away the detector. “I’m sorry to have put you all in danger. This is undoubtedly a dereliction of duty on our part as the first team. But please allow me to defend my subordinates. They took action immediately, but they were no match for the power of the chaos. I was in a confidential meeting earlier and failed to receive the news in time, which was truly inappropriate.”

He bowed to the crowd in apology, while Van Der said irritably, "Seriously, this is just too ridiculous! This is Mansa Star Castle! The heart of Thorn Sha! How could that old bastard sneak into the Grand Archives right under everyone's noses?!"

Banningtik reached out: "I have nothing to say, but this is not without precedent."

"This kind of ridiculous thing has actually happened several times..." Ji Huaisu was surprised.

“This matter involves an extremely high level of secrecy, but since you have all experienced it firsthand, I can briefly explain it, but please be sure not to leak any information.” Banningtik pushed up his glasses. “The Chaos Demon has been lurking within the city-state of Thorns for a long time, and its existence can be described as the tragedy of Thorns.”

"How long ago?" Chu Hengkong suddenly asked, "After that assassination attempt?"

Banningtik gave a surprised "Oh," adjusting his scarf. "It seems you know something about the past. The timeline matches your thinking; after that, chaos often lurked on the back of the thorny path of history."

This isn't the first time in history that its fragments have been erased in this way. However, this won't truly harm the Great Demon's main body, so please don't let your guard down.

“We can’t blame the Divine Guards for this…” Ji Huaisu scratched his head. “That thing is on the same level as the Thorn Sacred Tree. Unless Thorn Sa himself takes action, I’m afraid there’s no way to really deal with it.”

"You really expect a tree to fight a demon?" Vande rolled his eyes. "Why don't you let Finger take on the Immortal Machine alone?"

Lico protested loudly, "You stinky one-eyed bastard, are you looking down on our Senluo pantheon?! Let me tell you, even with a 7-point mass, our Divine Tree is quite formidable! Right, Mr. Banningtik?!"

"..."

Prosecutor Banningtik fell into an eerie silence. He coughed twice and said, "Gentlemen, I am currently still in direct contact with the Divine Tree through divine power, so some of my remarks... are not appropriate."

"Feeling guilty! The captain is feeling guilty! Could it be that even when the Divine Tree reaches a high-quality point, it relies on its subordinates to fight?"

"There must be other ways, right? Spirit splitting? There will be spirit splitting, right?!"

"Enough, let's end this topic quickly! I'm really afraid the Divine Tree will be angry!"

Chu Hengkong swiftly stuffed Fan De into his pocket, stopping the latter from further rant. This guy had clearly gone mad with rage after regaining his composure; he was even capable of provoking the Divine Tree in front of the Captain-General.

Banningtik coughed a few times: "Although there's no relevant legislation, discussing deities is still disrespectful... This incident still needs further investigation. Afterwards, I will escort you all back to the Third Lineage. According to Lord Jing Sha's instructions, the data behind door Z-2978 can be kept by the original owner. However..."

He reached out to Li Ke: "Please return any materials that are not within the scope of this transfer to the Grand Archives."

Lico clutched the documents she had secretly hidden behind her back and said with an awkward smile, "Mr. Banningtik, you see, my father and you are old acquaintances, so this is, to some extent, a private matter for my family..."

"Personal feelings cannot be used as a prerequisite for handling official business." Banningtik was meticulous.

"Please! I'll only lend it out for one day!" Lico said with a forced smile. "This is really important to me!"

Li Ke's hands, which were behind her back, swayed wildly. Ji Huaisu took advantage of the chaos to glance at the documents and happened to see the title of a certain page in the file.

March 28, 2019, record of the Supreme Court trial of Jing Sha.

The defendant, Just Trek, commander of the First Guards of the Thorns.

(Back then, Old Cui was... the commander-in-chief? And he even faced a military court?!)

“You know what an important position your father held back then,” Banningtik emphasized. “Strictly managing the information related to him according to regulations is the only way to respect his work.”

"—Never mind, Mr. Banningtik. Consider this document our apology for causing such a big commotion."

Banningtik silently withdrew his attack. Lico's attempt had succeeded, but she showed no joy. She turned around, and there stood the masked man at the entrance of the Great Archives, nodding and smiling at her.

"From a personal perspective, and from the standpoint of an elder, I also hope that Miss Lico can view the past more comprehensively and grow from it."

Lico scoffed, "What, are you trying to curry favor with me to avoid trouble? Too bad, I won't stop searching for the truth. I'll keep trying to peel off your hypocritical mask, starting with this record!"

Parriman nodded and looked down at her; the silver mask that blocked his view resembled a smiling steel eagle under the light.

“I wrote this trial record,” Parriman said.

Lico's face was ashen. She clutched the file tightly, as if it were a pile of worthless trash. Parriman, unperturbed by her distress, said calmly, "At that time, a year had passed since the handover of the front lines. I was interning as a clerk at the Supreme Court, which gave me the opportunity to personally record the trial proceedings. If you don't believe me, you can turn to the second page of the record; there should be the clerk's initials there: Z.F. Parriman."

He turned his head slightly, seemingly looking at the paper in Lico's hand: "What's wrong, Miss Lico? This is a valuable document that records the facts of the verdict. Why do you not value it at all?"

Chu Hengkong placed a hand on Li Ke's shoulder to prevent the enraged girl from lunging forward. Li Ke gritted her teeth: "You know perfectly well what I'm asking—!"

“I think you’re questioning the authenticity of this document.” Parriman raised his right hand, and specks of green light gathered into a crystal in his palm. “Here is another document, an audio recording of the entire trial, automatically recorded by divine power, without any transcription by a third party. If you are unsure about the written document, I can also give you this recording.”

"I don't want to!" Lico roared.

“I think so too, you will refuse.” Parryman nodded. “Why would that be? Because you don’t trust me at all. In your view, even information that passes through my hands must have been personally modified by me, so all information related to me is unreliable.”

"Then, from what sources can the information be trusted to be true? Should I entrust Mr. Banningtik to deliver it to you? And if Mr. Banningtik guarantees the objectivity of this information, would you really believe him?"

Parriman stepped forward and placed the crystal in Lico's hand. He chuckled softly, "I'm afraid it still won't, because this is still not the 'truth' you're looking for!"

"Let's be frank, what exactly is the definition of 'truth'? I think the so-called 'truth' is a part of the facts that everyone subjectively wants to believe, which has happened. The recorder of these facts doesn't necessarily have to be impartial; it would be better if they were considerate and righteous. In this way, even if the development of events is not as expected, we can use the fragments of the past to interpret them and thus obtain an explanation that is favorable to ourselves."

He gently tapped the mask on his face and chuckled, "Does this sound familiar? Like the game of sitting in a chair. That's right, the essence of 'reality' is the fact that an individual wants to believe. With a 'goal' to believe and a 'conclusion' to reject, the 'process' can be pieced together no matter what."

But no matter what truth is ultimately chosen, the past events cannot be changed. In this light, perhaps burying the truth in a vast archive might actually reduce trouble, like a final judgment.

He bowed to the crowd and turned to leave. Lico clutched the two precious pieces of evidence, but couldn't utter a single word.

Chu Hengkong stepped outside and saw that the long queue had dispersed. The few citizens who remained in front of the Great Library seemed quite relaxed. He casually stopped one of them and shouted, "Hey! The Great Library was almost destroyed, what's there to be happy about!"

“It would be better if it were completely destroyed,” the citizen replied cheerfully. “If all those old, trivial matters disappeared, no one would take the opportunity to cause trouble, and everyone could focus their energy on the present…”

Van der said coldly, "Then what about the person involved?"

The citizen didn't hesitate at all, still cheerfully saying, "Look at what you're saying, I wasn't even involved!"

They said nothing more and stood silently in front of the Great Archives. It was nearly dusk, and the pale golden sunlight spilled onto the street, casting a sacred glow on Parriman's white robes.

He walked into the crowd in the distance, and people cheered at his arrival.

·
That night, the usually carefree Vande couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned in his sleeping bag until Chu Hengkong picked him up and asked what was bothering him.

"I remembered a lot of vague things, but I couldn't sort them out."

Chu Hengkong thought this was nonsense, so he tossed it back and went back to sleep.

“Dude, I’m serious,” Van der said blankly. “Should we not have come here?”

"Are you planning to become an ostrich in the middle of the night?"

"We acquired an invisibility spell, but gained an enemy like Frudan." Vande shook his head. "A god wants to kill me, and even a delusional-level archdeacon wants what's mine. I'm definitely not some lousy undergraduate... I'm really not here on a trip!"

"You don't need to say nonsense at one o'clock in the morning."

Van der said urgently, “You don’t understand what I mean! I used to think it was all your bad luck, that you and Ji Huaisu were jinxes, and I suffered because of you. But now it seems I’m the unluckiest one! Who knows how many people came after me before!”

Chu Hengkong tried to fall asleep: "Whether you know it or not, life is the same."

“That’s different,” Vande muttered. “Now that I know all this, how can I still be a carefree bum? I can’t live like Gulibo anymore!”

It stared blankly at the ceiling: "I really regret going to the Great Archives. This morning I thought Parrimanism was a bunch of idiots, but now I really... I think not knowing might not be a bad thing."

"Now I know so much weird stuff, but what can I do about it?"

Half-asleep, Chu Heng vaguely recalled the guardian spirit from the novel and the goofy deliveryman. They could no longer live carefree lives like before. The guardian spirit said it was because they realized the world wasn't solid ground, but a fragile, solitary boat.

He rolled over and said, "That's up to you."

"How to say."

"If you want to live entirely on the backs of others, then close your eyes and be a carefree fool," Chu Hengkong said. "If you want to take control of your own life, then you have to open your eyes and figure out how to live and how to live on your own."

(End of this chapter)