Today, they too are going to their deaths.

"The dean was killed in the bombing?"

Grie Dalem stared in a daze at Gottlieb Dalem's body.

She knew that as the Ice Age approached, everyone became increasingly anxious, and the level of attention to safety within the Royal Academy of Sciences dropped sharply. But she never imagined that one day the Dean would also have problems, or even die.

Nearby, Cui Xun, who was using magic learned from "The Tempest" to purify the toxic gas in the room and deal with the remnants of the explosion, denied it: "The Dean was not killed by the explosion. He was cut into pieces that looked like human figures but would fall apart at the slightest touch. Then, when we arrived, the pieces of flesh were blown away by the explosion, creating the illusion that he died from the explosion."

Tessa reasoned, "In other words, this is a locked-room murder. The killer not only had access to the Dean's private research area and the ability to cut people into human pieces, but also influenced the Dean's research, transforming it into a trigger-activated explosive trap."

Alice added, "My intuition tells me that the dean may have been influenced by a ritual, but the actual examination revealed that there were no traces of external spirituality on him; on the contrary, his own spirituality was as fresh as if he had just died."

"I'm not sure if the murderer hasn't gone far yet, or if the other party used some means to bind the dean's spirit within his body until the explosion, at which point the means would self-destruct."

"However, I can try to use the power of the oath to get some information from the Dean's spirit."

Tessa, who was still pondering how to solve the problem using orthodox reasoning, was stunned and exclaimed in shock, "Letting the dead speak? That's too much of a cheat!"

Alice did not respond to Tessa. In silence, she cast a spell that would ensure the subjects of the Kingdom of Albion would continue to pledge allegiance to the kingdom after death, according to their oaths.

The scattered dean trembled continuously, and the remaining spiritual energy within him gradually coalesced into a dean spirit body.

Alice asked the spirit, "Tell me, who killed you?"

The dean's spirit replied, "Relying on my own strength, I failed to take precautions when refining fuel using alchemy, and was accidentally blown up by my own explosion."

Ge Li, standing nearby, pressed, "Fuel? What fuel!"

"I wanted to synthesize a 'Blue Flame,' but a problem arose during the 'Yellowing' process." The dean's spirit paused, then added as if the wisdom from his previous life had reappeared after death, "It should be that the elemental balance went out of control, triggering the spiritual energy left over from when I was blending beast blood, forming a spell with tearing properties that shattered me into a thousand pieces and scattered me."

"To prevent the spread of toxic gas and explosion, please wear full protective gas equipment, seal off the current area, and then spray the explosion site with No. 3 fire extinguishing agent until the fire subsides, no more sparking objects remain at the explosion site, and all black substances turn brown and white."

Ge Li clenched her hands tightly, staring silently at the spirit of the greatest researcher of our time.

After Cui Xun finished cleaning up the explosion debris, he patted Ge Li on the shoulder and comforted her, "Please accept my condolences. The dead cannot be brought back to life..."

"No! The Dean has only been dead for a short time, and his remaining spirit is quite well preserved. As long as we use the panacea to nourish his body, we can piece him back together, and then use my personality upload device to put his spirit back in..." Ge Li instinctively retorted, but when she thought that there was no precedent for this, her momentum weakened, and she said weakly, "Even if he cannot be resurrected, at least we can leave behind a living retrieval device."

After weighing the pros and cons, Cui Xun decided to accept Ge Li's suggestion: "Okay, then please bring the things over."

"No need for that trouble, everything is here."

Ge Li waved to the door, and the robot walked in, lowering a device large enough to accommodate a human body from its back. Ge Li then walked to the medicine storage area in the Dean's private research area and took a box of panaceas.

"I've always wanted test subjects, but personality uploading is currently one-way. I'm not confident I can put people back into their original bodies, so I carry this device with me, ready to make a last-ditch effort when someone can't be saved, and at the same time conduct an experiment."

"I just never imagined that the first test subject I would encounter would be my father."

Ge Li put down the panacea and said with a wry smile, "On the surface, I am the dean's relative, but in reality, I am his illegitimate daughter. However, I am not very close to him. If he hadn't told me himself that he was my father and given me his surname, I would never have imagined that he would be related to me."

"Our biggest interaction usually is that he sometimes asks me to handle odds and ends to earn some points so that I won't be kicked out because my points are too low."

"As a result, I am much more familiar with his exclusive research area than with him."

Cui Xun interrupted, "Let's not talk about family matters. Now, should we pour the medicine into the device and then stuff the person in piece by piece, or should we put the person in first and then pour in the medicine? I feel his spirit won't last long."

After a moment's thought, Ge Li decisively said, "The former."

As soon as she finished speaking, Alice laid the device flat, then went to Ge Li's side and quickly poured the panacea into the device. Meanwhile, Cui Xun gathered the scattered pieces of flesh and, relying on his experience in human anatomy, tried his best to piece them together into a human shape.

Under Tessa's numb gaze, a human body grew and took shape inside the container.

"Wow, it really can be pieced back together? This panacea is amazing! What's the working principle behind it?!"

Ge Li recalled, "The dean told me that the principle of the panacea is based on the concept of the 'perfect person,' which involves the collective subconscious of humanity. It can repair the human body to the most perfect form in theory, and even extend lifespan. Even the dead can return to a normal state if the right amount of panacea is poured in."

"But for this reason, normal panaceas can only cure humans."

Cui Xun asked curiously, "Could there be some abnormal panacea?"

"Yes," Ge Li said solemnly. "The Dean once collaborated with the Serpent Cult to produce a batch of panaceas for machinery. They can repair machines as if they were living things, and even give them the vitality of life."

"I should have kept this a secret, but I think it might be related to his death. If we want to thoroughly investigate the cause of his death, we can't hide anything."

"Besides that, he has many secret collaborations with various forces, and I know about some of them."

Alice frowned. "Do you think the reason for the death just now was insufficient? Which part of the spirit's answer do you suspect was wrong? The purpose, the process, the cause, or do you suspect it's related to the beast blood he mentioned?"

"All of them!" Greta said without hesitation.

Her eyes widened, her petite body trembled, and a fierce fire brewed within her heart, enough to burn herself and her father's killer to death.

Alice understood the anger; she often saw it in the relatives of the deceased, but she didn't understand why Greta dared to say that everything was wrong.

Spirituality is not easily deceived or altered. The fresh spirituality within a corpse transforms into a spirit identical to the deceased, almost indistinguishable from the original person. Moreover, this spirit can respond to the power of the oath, engaging in post-mortem dialogue as a citizen and royal agent.

Is this just Greta talking nonsense because she's angry?

Cui Xun disagreed.

He had heard about Dean Gottlieb Dalem’s true identity from Doreen.

The Dean was a bishop who had completed the molting ceremony. Of all the people Doreen had ever met, he possessed the most immense spirituality. In fact, throughout the entire kingdom, the Dean's spirituality was probably unparalleled.

Now, Gottlieb's remaining spirituality is indeed enormous, even far exceeding that of Andrew before the Summoning Legion, but for Cui Xun, who witnessed the Flawless Knight's final stand, this spirituality is far less than he imagined.

Of course, Cui Xun did not deny that this might be because his estimation of the spiritual limit of a super strong person was inaccurate after witnessing the full power of the Flawless Knight.

The spirituality within Gottlieb's corpse was so immense that it almost exceeded the limits of the personality uploading device for Grie.

"How is that possible? I clearly left so much redundancy." Ge Li stared at the device readings, racking her brains to find a way to deal with the current situation, but before she could even take action, the spiritual transmission suddenly became stable.

The dean's corpse opened its eyes.

He scanned his surroundings with a slightly dazed gaze, like a newborn child, but soon the experience and wisdom remaining in the kingdom's finest minds overcame the dullness of his spirit, allowing him to regain his intelligence.

The living being within the elixir of life silently controlled the spirit to enter the body until the personality uploading device completely ceased operation.

He left the device and uttered his first words, shattering Greer's illusions: "I am not Gottlieb Dalemins; I am a new life born from the infusion of spirit and personality into this body. Greer, you have failed."

"Of course, if you consider it from the perspective of reusing the deceased, this technology is quite useful."

"In order to continue Gottlieb Dalem’s unfinished work, to avoid a chain reaction caused by his death, and also to make it easier for me to use the resources and connections he accumulated, I will now use his name and identity."

You may continue to call me Dean.

Cui Xun bluntly asked, "Do you have any thoughts on the cause of your predecessor's death?"

The dean replied coldly, like a machine: "No. The memories remaining in my mind are seamless, logically sound, and without any loopholes that could lead to speculation. At least with my intelligence, I cannot find any errors. Of course, all of this is on the premise that the information in my mind is completely consistent with reality."

"I have a suggestion: I will quickly review the remaining content in my spiritual record, and then you can start investigating the areas not mentioned in my spiritual record to look for potential problems."

"Of course, if you want to close the case here, that should be possible."

"The person who killed the former dean has probably achieved their goal and is no longer your enemy. Because they acted so meticulously, they will likely assume that the living dean is just a stand-in and ignore it, out of confidence."

Cui Xun turned around and glanced at the others.

Ge Li crouched down, clutching her head, her mental state appearing quite dire. She had likely lost a significant amount of sanity due to the triple blows of creating a bizarre simulated life form, her research going astray, and the sudden death of a loved one.

Alice fell into deep thought, and Cui Xun guessed that she was trying to deduce the mastermind's purpose from the current situation. Meanwhile, Tessa, who had experienced the shock of the supernatural phenomenon, had lost confidence in her reasoning and was completely numb, seemingly trying to reboot her worldview.

It seems they don't have any ideas; the investigation is entirely under his control.

Cui Xun turned to look directly at the dean and asked, "I want to know about Ge Li's origins."

The dean said coldly, "My research on life has stalled, so I decided to seek inspiration through prostitution. But I didn't deliberately hide my identity, and as a result, a prostitute secretly gave birth to my child, intending to use it as leverage to blackmail me."

"I disposed of the prostitute, then examined the child to confirm that her intelligence was up to standard, and then brainwashed her so that she could study and conduct research at the Royal Academy of Sciences without worry."

"As it turns out, this decision was quite correct."

Ge Li, who was already mentally traumatized, felt as if she had returned to a familiar realm after hearing the dean's words. Her mental state improved considerably, and she even corroborated, "The dean values ​​intelligence highly and is an unconventional person. It is entirely possible for him to do such a thing."

"Compared to his own offspring, I am probably closer to the apprentices he favors than to his own children."

The dean nodded and added, "After having Geli, I also submitted a breeding proposal to the Queen, hoping to spread my wisdom, but unfortunately the Queen rejected the proposal."

Cui Xun found it difficult to describe this relationship.

If Wang Yu were here, he would probably complain that his family met through a "card draw" (a game where people draw cards to get to know each other).

However, there seems to be a breakthrough point here.

"You brainwashed Gree, is it possible that this memory is completely fabricated? I mean, Gree's memory was altered by the real director, and the alteration you know about was fabricated by the inmate?"

The dean pondered for a moment, then calmly said, "It's possible, but only possible. This conjecture lacks basis and evidence. In the current situation, it's like the idea that 'the world was only born a second ago, and everything I know is just background information.'"

"Hmm, that does seem to me?"

Just then, Cui Xun suddenly heard an unusually dense sound of footsteps and metal clanging outside the room, as if a large number of people were gathering outside.

He immediately went outside and saw a luxurious mechanized force, along with a man in front of the force whose expression was extremely tense.

Upon seeing Cui Xun, the man swallowed hard and then shouted in a weak voice, "The instruments show that the dean is dead. Please put down your weapons and cooperate with our investigation."

"The investigation won't take up too much of your time. You can still move freely within the Royal Academy of Sciences until the real culprit is found, but you are not allowed to leave the Royal Academy of Sciences."

As soon as he finished speaking, the dean walked out of the private research area, calmly glanced at the man, and corrected him, "Security department, that was a false alarm. I'm not dead."

The man was utterly shocked, but he didn't immediately back away. Instead, he continued, "I'm sorry, Dean. You told me that the instrument you created was absolutely correct, and that the Royal Academy of Sciences would be sealed off immediately upon receiving a report of your death."

"I'm not sure if you've been manipulated by magic. Please wait patiently for the relevant personnel to investigate."

The dean suggested to Cui Xun, "It seems you'll have to wait a while longer. Would you be interested in using this time to learn more about the Royal Academy of Sciences?"