OBS Chapter 3466 A Story of the Times
Chapter 3466 A Story of the Times
Chapter 3466 A Story of the Times
Iluna's expression grew even more complex. Although the eighteen-year-old girl had seen it all, she was still young. In contrast, the doctor, who had resolved to bear the demon's burden, was truly calm; what he was about to do was far more dangerous and terrifying than what these people were doing.
The man sitting on the flatbed cart sighed to the five people:
"The pseudo-humans are really good. I know they are monsters, but the low-level pseudo-humans have truly inherited all the ways of life of the original humans. They don't know how to love their families, but they know how to love their families, and that's enough."
Although some of the money came from selling off fixed assets, in the four months from autumn to now, everyone here has earned more for their families than they could have in decades. It feels so good to work for yourself instead of being paid. I even felt joy and a sense of accomplishment, and it is this ever-increasing positive emotion that has kept me from being completely assimilated by that pseudo-human body.
I originally thought we could at least work until spring, but I didn't expect you to arrive so quickly. But it's for the best; after all, I didn't want Tobesk to truly become a city of demons. When they left, I promised to help them protect their families. Everyone knows this situation can't last long, but at least I've fulfilled all my promises.”
The five people standing there remained silent for a moment, because the situation here was even more unbelievable than that of the House of Resurrection.
Everyone thought the House of Resurrection's proposed solution of replacing ordinary people was quite ingenious, but they never expected that they had even obtained the consent of those who were about to be replaced.
For a fleeting moment—yes, just a moment—the outsider felt that he himself was the villain, the one about to destroy everything here.
"The House of False Men, don't you know your true intentions?"
It took Xia De a long time to hear a sound like fireworks exploding in the distance outside the window before he asked. The man laughed and said:
"Of course it knows, but it doesn't care. Because it has already gained the most precious thing in Tobesk, it even tried a second time and succeeded—after me, it gave another person with a strong desire half a pseudo-human body, and then let him see his wife who had been dead for many years. So that person also volunteered to help the [Pseudo-Human House] expand. I met that person, but unfortunately his desire was not as strong as mine. Three weeks after seeing his 'wife,' after walking with his 'wife' along the path where they used to date when they were young, he lost himself."
But I know he wasn't truly at peace; rather, he realized he had only gained the outward appearance, and his soul would never return.
The man asked the ring sorcerers another question:
"But that's not important. What's important is, do you know what the [House of Pseudo-Humans] got from me?"
This time, it was Luvia who provided the answer:
"It has acquired an unusual means of expansion. Instead of breeding covertly like cockroaches, it uses human love, human emotions, and human desires to make humans actively pursue becoming pseudo-humans. The pseudo-humans now know that they must relinquish the initiative to humans."
The man nodded:
"Yes, so the House of the Pseudo-Humans doesn't care what I do next; it has already received enough in return. From now on, as long as there is love in human civilization, as long as there are oppressed people, and as long as there are people who yearn for something, the House of the Pseudo-Humans will no longer be afraid of not being able to expand rapidly."
Love, hate, passion, death, separation—fortunately, they are still merely imitating human emotions; they know how to exploit them but still don't understand them. However, once these pseudo-humans truly understand these emotions, I think they will no longer be monsters, but a new race.
He sighed again, silently glancing at the factory workers still working behind him, and finally took a notebook from the large pocket of his overalls:
"I don't want to judge my actions, nor do I regret what I did, but I know how much danger it will bring to future generations."
So, in the end, I did what I should do as a human being. Take this; it contains all my knowledge of the "House of the False Humans," and its internal workings. However, I have never been exposed to the occult, so I can only record what I have seen and heard.
He tossed the notebook to Shad, realizing that Shad was the leader:
"In addition, the fourth-order pseudo-people are already aware that they have gone too far in Tobesk this time. Both this factory and the [House of Resurrection] have exposed too many traces. After all, it is easy to find out about this issue when investigating taxes."
Therefore, the fakes preemptively split the main body of the "House of Fakes." What's being destroyed there now is only one-third of its original form; the remaining two-thirds of the "House of Fakes" has been taken away from Topsk by a powerful fourth-stage fake. Having mastered their methods, they intend to test their gains in a relatively remote city.
Tobesk has been effectively abandoned; it's now only used to create more dummy humans to distract humanity. I'm sorry, I don't know where the original House of Dummy humans went; they're keeping it from me, but I know it went far to the south.
So Shad also learned that the original entity had most likely been taken to Fatummst Island by the delegation. The delegation's departure was after the year-end holidays, so the timing was perfect.
"You can control these fake people, right? That's why they didn't go to support the battlefield over there, nor did they go to the city to create chaos."
Luvia asked again, and the man nodded slightly:
"Most of them were created using parts of my body. As a higher-level pseudo-human, I can control them to a certain extent. Moreover, everyone here shares a common desire, which greatly enhances my mental control. Incidentally, I also broke through your illusion just now using fluctuations in my mental power."
He stood up:
"But don't worry, I know how to deal with them. The income from half a fall and the entire winter is more than enough to save all the lives here. Even if they find out, they'll understand it's to protect everyone's families—I planted bombs in the factory beforehand. The gray-gloved agent who sold me the bombs thought I was a B/A, O.D.O.G. agent."
I will blow this place up, ending this story I started. But please clean up the traces with fire afterward, as the pseudo-humans have strong regenerative abilities. Also, you should have already obtained the factory worker register from the factory owner; remember to check everyone's families afterwards. Don't hold back.”
He turned and smashed the wall behind him with a single punch, revealing the bomb and detonator buried inside. Aside from not expecting the "Dummy House" to be discovered so quickly, he had truly planned everything.
The discovery of the true nature of the "House of the Imposters" ultimately stemmed from the events on Fatummister Island. It's a story of fate; it's not his fault.
Shad looked down at the notebook in his hand, still pondering the man's words. The source of the Tobesk saga seemed to be subsiding tonight, but the man's words would likely influence the outsiders for many years to come.
The man sees the fake man as a tool, and the fake man sees him as a tool in return. The fake men are certainly monsters, but those who force people to become fake men can also be considered monsters. Dorothy didn't come in, otherwise she would surely have come up with some profound conclusions. The outsider, however, was only thinking about the story of his homeland, and then about the story of this world.
This is a story of our times; regardless of whether they possess supernatural powers, humanity is remarkably similar.
Seeing that they were standing still, the man asked:
You don't believe me, do you?
"No, I believe you."
Shad said:
"I don't want to comment on what you did, it's not my business. But I think the world will be a better place after the apocalypse, I promise."
The man smiled and shook his head, whether out of disbelief or indifference was unclear.
"The detonation device is right here, and my body should also have some research value. If you don't need it, just destroy it. If you do need it, just dispose of it however you like."
Shad asked one last question:
"Excuse me, what's your name?"
The man looked over Shad's shoulder at the people behind him who were still working with their heads down:
"It doesn't matter. I don't need to leave my name. I'm the same as them."
Shad nodded, and half a minute later, an astonishing explosion sent the entire factory into the air, but thanks to the spell cast by Shad and others, the explosion only shattered the windows of nearby buildings.
The raging inferno engulfed everything, and the corpse, two-thirds fused with the pseudo-human, was temporarily sealed by Shad inside the [Coffin of the Underworld]. Iluna would hand it over to the Church, as the Church of the True God needed it to study the "evolved" [House of the Pseudo-Human].
"Young man, you're quite moved, aren't you?"
On the rooftop of a three-story building a street away from the exploded and burning Murray Textile Mill, Shad stood at the forefront, watching the inferno and the people around him trying to put it out. Old John, standing behind Shad, was asking the question; both their faces were flushed red by the distant, raging flames.
[Present World, Sixth Era, Winter of 1855 in the Universal Calendar, the Month of First Birth. The flames of civilization illuminate your face—flames both noble and sinful. In the firelight, you see people burdened with hardship, you see the present and the "future," you see the abyss and the brilliance of humanity. The flames intertwine into a spiral, an upward arc. Life is less important than money, but protecting family is still more important than protecting oneself. At this moment, you see the most real and terrifying scene of this world and this era—Outsider, do you understand this world?]
"You've seen the brilliance and fragility of humanity, as well as the darkness and indifference of the times. How do you feel now?"
Her voice rang out almost simultaneously with Old John's. Shad watched as the sparks from the fire rose into the night sky, as if they were about to become stars in a sea of stars:
"I don't feel anything, it's just part of the story. Dad, it's not that I'm unfamiliar with this era, but the way you're talking, it sounds like you're worried I'll be disappointed in humanity?"
Old John was one of the few people, besides the girls and friends close to Shad, who knew that Shad had only truly become a ring sorcerer in the summer of 1853, and the old man also guessed Shad's connection to the summoner. This was why he worried that the young man might be driven to extremes by witnessing unpleasant events.
(End of this chapter)