My health recovery is incredibly fast.

Xia Zuo glanced at Kadum, whose face was full of expectation, and felt a little uneasy, but when he thought that he had been judged innocent by the Sinister Thorns, he forcibly suppressed this last bit of unease.

Selena checked the situation inside the culture tank, then sent a secret message using her communication ring.

Two minutes later, a death row inmate bound by magical chains was escorted in by a squad of temple guards.

The condemned man's mind has been erased by the Tower scholars using mind magic, making him essentially a tool that can breathe, digest food, and make sounds.

The temple guards bound the condemned prisoner to a chair. An alchemist nearby took out an energy fiber tube and inserted it into the alchemical slot at the back of the prisoner's neck, connecting it to the prisoner's central nervous system.

The other end of the energy fiber tube is immersed in the nutrient solution in the culture tank, adhering closely to the brain tissue to collect Nukalofa's spiritual energy.

In the time that followed, everything the death row inmate said and did was in accordance with Nukalofa's will, not the inmate's own wishes.

The alchemists, who had no right to know the top-secret matters, left the open-air alchemy room. Rexor and the others retreated to sit against the wall, leaving the open space in the room to Kadum.

Kadum took a large number of items out of his alchemy pouch and placed them on the condemned prisoner in a specific order.

First came hoods, leg irons, handcuffs, and chains, then neck collars with barbs, instruments of torture to pry open fingernails, and so on.

"Everyone, please don't say anything later, leave everything to me."

Kadum said:

"Reso said that Nukalofa has amnesia, so I'm going to brainwash him and give him a new identity so that it will be easier for me to extract information from him."

Kadum summoned a curtain of silver sand to block out the sunlight overhead, making the light very dim.

He gave the hood one last check to make sure the condemned man couldn't see his surroundings at all, then gave Selena a "begin" look.

Selena understood, and she pressed a button on the control panel of the culture tank from a distance with her silver sand palm.

A weak electric current flowed from the base of the culture vessel, stimulating Nukalofa's brain to awaken.

Wait quietly for half a minute.

The condemned prisoner began to convulse, his chained body twisting and turning, emitting muffled whimpers.

Chapter 99 Hints

The range and frequency of the death row inmate's twisting movements became more regular.

Nukalofa's consciousness is adapting to the death row inmate's body, gradually becoming familiar with the inmate's breathing rate, muscle strength, spatial awareness, and other bodily information related to behavior.

In general, brain tissue that is only one-quarter of its original volume has essentially lost all brain functions.

But this applies to normal human beings.

Nukalofa, who had undergone transformation by the Church of the Otherworld, is not included in this category.

According to alchemical analysis, his remaining brain tissue contained most of its normal functions.

Note that this does not mean he has control over the bodies of death row inmates.

The mental energy transmitted through the energy fiber tube is transformed into nerve signals by the alchemical slot in the back of the condemned prisoner's neck. This process can be stopped by severing the connection between the fiber tube and the slot.

Kadum circled the death row inmate a few times.

He deliberately stomped his feet heavily, carrying a clanging iron chain that scraped against the ground. He paused with each step, the chain sliding back and forth, creating a sinister atmosphere.

Kadum took out a small bottle of medicine.

A foul-smelling, yellowish-brown gas was evenly distributed around the condemned prisoner. It was a dark, damp odor unique to places where the sun never shines, and it could linger in the air for a considerable time, completely covering the entire torture process.

Kadum appeared behind the condemned prisoner and wove a spell to summon a pool of dripping water. The dripping sound, at a specific frequency, instilled fear in the prisoner.

The atmosphere is perfect.

Kadum approached the condemned prisoner.

He stared expressionlessly at the condemned prisoner, his neck slightly bulging, and using some kind of demonic organ, he emitted a cold, gruff voice from within his neck:

"Tassidov, the Kingdom's Papacy has granted me the sacred power of judgment."

"In accordance with Article 137, Section 22 of the Royal Papacy's Law on the Punishment of Serious Offenders, I will give you an opportunity to repent before I pronounce your final sentence."

"Now, confess your crimes, show me the pain and tears of remorse, and I will decide whether to replace the long punishment of being hacked to chop off your head quickly. Everything depends on your performance."

The condemned prisoner convulsed, then began to writhe violently, shouting hoarsely, "I'm not a criminal! I'm not a criminal! I'm not Tashidorf! I'm...I'm..."

The death row inmate was lost in confusion, muttering to himself, "Who am I...who am I..."

“Oh, amnesia.” Kadum scoffed. “A foolish trick! Your sins are clear. The Royal Papacy’s inquisition has read out all your charges on the spot. Street robbery, murder, arson, treason—any one of these would subject you to immediate torture. Be grateful for the Royal Papacy’s reforms; the great king has granted you the right to repent.”

“Repent...no...I'm innocent...no, no…” The death row inmate trembled. “Oh, oh, I see. You're here to arrest criminals, right? You've arrested the wrong person. I'm innocent. One of those criminals is bald, and the other has his face covered with a cloak and mask…”

Xia Zuo suppressed a laugh and glanced at Rexor, whose lips were twitching.

People with amnesia or unstable mental states will search for answers that they believe to be logical within their limited memory and cognition.

Before Nukalofa's head was chopped off, the last two people he saw were Rexor and Aksut, the bald man and masked man he referred to.

His current act of framing Rexall and Rexall for the crime is a typical manifestation of post-amnesia stress.

Kadum already knew the whole story and all the details from Rexor.

He was fully prepared.

“Tassdorf,” Kadum said coldly. “The two men you mentioned are the two sharp swords of the Royal Court, the guardians of order who strictly adhere to discipline and follow orders. I wouldn’t mind adding another charge of slandering members of the Royal Court to your latest list.”

The death row inmate paused for a moment, muttering to himself, repeatedly asking himself who he was.

“Let’s not waste any more time.” Kadum opened the book beside him with his silvery palm; he was about to get down to business.

He fabricated a flawless backstory for the amnesiac Nukalofa.

In this story, Nukalofa is a royal rebel spy named Tasidov, who has a partner named Sodike. Before Tasidov is arrested, Sodike escapes in the chaos.

Qadum plans to subtly probe and awaken a part of Nukalofa's deepest memories, using the investigation of the rebel spy Sodik as a starting point to force him to reveal the whereabouts of Sodik Black Flag.

Nukalofa first recalled memories of Sodike Black Flag, but very few, so few that he knew nothing except that the other person's name.

At this point, Kadum would use an intoxication potion to put Nukalofa into a semi-conscious state. Under the intoxicating effect of the potion, he would further delve into Nukalofa's memories, revealing information that contained a lot of conjecture, but also implied the truth.

If all goes well, we should know Sodike Black Flag's exact whereabouts within the next couple of days.

Xia Zuo knew this process wouldn't go smoothly.

Because the duration of the negative effect "Mental Loss" is only about 21 hours.

Doesn't this mean that after 21 hours, the consciousness inside the death row inmate will become Nukalofa, who has regained his memories?

If they fail to extract the desired information before the negative effects wear off, and if Kadum and the others fail to notice the changes in the death row inmates' consciousness, they might not be led by the nose by the cunning Nukalofa.

Xia Zuo rubbed his temples, feeling he needed to remind the bald man to keep track of the time.

He activated his bloodline connection and asked Rexor, "Master, will Nuk'alofa regain all his memories?"

"Are you worried that he has regained his memory and is now pretending to cooperate with Kadum's interrogation to buy time?" Rexol retorted.

'right.'

"Don't worry about that." Rexor raised his chin slightly and pointed to Selena, who was sitting in front of the two of them.

Selena held an alchemical instrument with a dial in her hands. The pointer on the dial was moving within the green area, indicating that the energy reading was within the normal range.

"That's an alchemical instrument for detecting psychic energy," Rexor explained. "When Nuk'alofa's memories awaken, his psychic energy will inevitably fluctuate, and it won't escape the instrument's detection."

"That's good..." Xia Zuo nodded slowly, "Then I'm relieved."

Kadum interrogated the death row inmates again and again, a process that allowed him no room for error, but Shazor soon found it somewhat boring.

He simply entered a shallow meditative state, listening in while activating his elemental body.

The boundary of the starry sky above the western continent.

Xiazuo's tower, in the form of a floating ecosphere, has been suspended in the thin air high above for a long time.

Within a radius of approximately three kilometers, a large number of energy bombs are evenly distributed, a result of the past year.

Xia Zuo originally intended to spread his energy bombs across the entire western continent.

That won't work now.

The western and eastern continents are separated by an extreme storm.

The best way for the Church of the Otherworld to launch a large-scale invasion of this place is through teleportation from the Dark Chamber dimension.

The energy sub-plane project on the western continent has been completed, and every area of ​​the continent is filled with the signals of the energy sub-plane, leaving no room for the dark chamber plane and greatly compressing the operational space of the Church of the Otherworldly Demons.

The temple held several meetings and concluded that although the Western Continent was safe enough, there were simply too many humans, especially ordinary people, on the Western Continent. Therefore, it was necessary to set up another line of defense to prevent the invasion of the Church of the Otherworld.

Thus, Xia Zuo's elemental body gained a new neighbor.

It was an alchemical satellite with a spherical metal shell, suspended high in the sky by an internal anti-gravity array, and powered by energy provided by a group of high-level elemental minions.

The alchemical satellite's base houses an observation pod equipped with over a dozen ultra-high-magnification telephoto lenses, monitoring the movements on the western continent's surface in real time. If any alien demons are detected, the alchemical satellite will notify the Temple army and Starry Night Academy. With the intercontinental teleportation hall in place, mobilizing an army to deal with the alien invasion is relatively simple.

Around Xia Zuo's star base, four or five alchemical satellites were hovering in the sky, their orbits completely surrounding Xia Zuo's star base.

This wasn't the temple targeting him.

These alchemical satellites were placed in locations that were originally planned as other star-space outposts. When new Eternal Mages appear in the future, they will be sent to the Western Continent to guard the star-space boundary in place of the alchemical satellites.

Xia Zuo adjusted his plan to deploy energy bombs, instead increasing the bomb density by five times within the area of ​​his base.

Now, whenever he has free time and can slack off, he manipulates his elemental body to conjure bombs.

More than 20 hours were spent making bombs.

Xia Zuo calculated the exact time when the "mental breakdown" would end, ended the shallow meditation early, and focused his attention on the death row inmate.

After enduring intense interrogation, the death row inmate, under duress from Qadum, recalled some things related to Sodick.

One of the important pieces of information was something the temple had never obtained before!

Sodike Black Flag, as a fully evolved variant, contains a large number of organisms, including many bloodline awakeners with rare bloodlines.

The Temple originally planned to use alchemy and magic to separate the organisms inside Sodike Blackflame after capturing him, and then make good use of them.

It now appears that this plan may not be feasible.

Sodike Blackflag encloses the organisms within its body in individual cysts—cysts themselves are round, dormant bodies that organisms form to combat dehydration.

Sodike Black Flag's cysts preserve every organism for a long time, protecting them from the constraints of lifespan and the environment.