Extraordinary Pedigree.

Chapter 961 The Opening Ceremony - The Curtain Falls

Xia Xiu looked up at the Eden System's panel, which was glowing faintly, his eyes fixed on it with a deep, indescribable meaning.

It seems the big boss really knows perfectly well what's going on, but it's unclear what excuse he'll use to deal with the resolution meeting and the Second Swordholder and Hero who had close contact with him this time.

……

……

At this moment, outside a distant lunar base.

In the deep space ruins left behind after the exile of the Star God, a strange mirror ripple quietly appeared. An invisible door was pushed open from the inside by some being, and the cosmic ripples on the surface collapsed in a way that defied logic.

A figure slowly emerged from the ripples.

He was dressed in a black priest's robe, his steps were light, and in his right hand he held an ancient book with a mottled cover, its spine wrapped with wax seals and silver talismans; in his left hand he held a black umbrella that never opened, its tip touching the ground, as solemn as a scepter.

Saint Valentine, the first swordsman, has returned to the world.

A black square block floated in front of him.

The first spokesperson for Hai Si has been contained.

[The goal-oriented mindset is now sealed within Pandora's Box instance; the cognitive anchor setting is complete.]

[The current proposed sealing period is 300 years.]

[Thank you for your hard work, First Swordholder.]

Saint Valentine nodded slightly, offering no response. He simply put away the ancient book, fastening it back into the chain on his chest, then turned to gaze at the silent starry sky, as if confirming some kind of stability in a higher dimension.

Shortly thereafter, in another rift in the etheric sea, the second sword-bearer, Muhammad, suddenly leaped out of the distorted reality.

He had no passage or any transmission device; he simply tore through the void with his bare hands, like a curtain being torn apart, stepping on the shattered light of ether and blood mist, returning directly from the deep realm to the mortal world.

His clothes still had undried etheric condensation clinging to them, and faint EVE particle sparks flew between his muscles and the metal.

At the very moment Muhammad's breath reconnected with the world, the five heroes of Jormungandr simultaneously sent him secret messages.

Their secret messages boil down to one question: Why did His boundless coverage retreat on its own?

Muhammad remained silent for a moment, then responded with only one sentence:

"It's part of the plan."

He then closed all conversation channels, thus set the tone for the matter.

The first sword-bearer, Saint Valentine, stood atop the reflective layer of the moon's low gravity, his gaze slowly sweeping over Muhammad, who had just closed the passage.

He frowned slightly. Having just returned from the world of illusion, he was still not fully familiar with the current situation. However, he did not ask what had happened, but chose to observe directly.

He simply raised his left hand in silence, his fingertips lightly touching his forehead.

next moment.

Six Degrees of Separation - Activation.

The spatial structure of the entire lunar base was recoded in his eyes, reconstructed into a dense web of information.

His consciousness traversed through it, like a spider weaving between nodes, and every fluctuation of air, every wisp of heat radiation, and every remaining trace of information was restored into a clear picture before him.

The world unfolds like a cross-section.

The trajectories of particles in the air are reversed, and the reverberations of reality are intelligently deconstructed and reassembled layer by layer, with a dozen intersecting information paths converging into a single frame.

The planetary engines activate, the ultimate creatures descend, the opening ceremony begins, Daenerys Targaryen arrives, and then she departs…

There were some details he wanted to explore further, such as the story about Hugh Abraham, the fourth swordsman, but when he tried to investigate, he sensed an information barrier as deep as a black hole.

Even so, he roughly knew what was going on.

"So that's how it is, so many unexpected things happened..." he muttered to himself.

The moment he opened his eyes, Muhammad had already silently floated to his side. His presence caused visible etheric ripples to spread through the space, the layers of waves resembling dragon scales in water. The two sword-wielders gazed at each other, remaining silent for a long time.

Muhammad's voice carried an undeniable weight and caution:
"This matter involves lust and flesh, and Eden... should have known about it long ago."

He paused, then lowered his voice further.

"As for the resolution meeting... they might know..."

The words are not finished yet.

Saint Valentine continued, his tone as calm as if a chain had been cut:

"They certainly know, but they may not remember."

As soon as those words were spoken, the surrounding space seemed to suddenly become quiet.

That was a calm assessment that only someone who had been in deep contact with the core of the Eden system could make.

The central decision-making body of the Kingdom of Heaven, the thirteen members of the council, especially those with the earlier serial numbers, know all the secrets about the Kingdom of Heaven. Eden must have no secrets from them.

However, knowing something doesn't mean remembering it.

They know everything, but sometimes they have to sign a pact to forget themselves.

Every so often, they periodically erase their memories of certain specific projects—not destroy them, but freeze and archive them under a fortified access control system, only to be reawakened when a "critical anomaly" occurs.

Faced with those terrifying enemies on this land, they must, like the Wallfacers, maintain information asymmetry in order to strategically mislead their opponents.

Furthermore, even the other angels who understand the workings of the decision-making assembly find it difficult to explain the matter of 0-13 turning away from the Kingdom of Heaven...

They didn't know if this deviation was also... part of some plan.

……

……

Heaven - The Unknown Land - Belial.

In the eternally silent depths of heaven, a round table woven from countless twisted threads of light floats.

At the round table, twelve figures, each clad in a symbolic robe representing their respective order, stood silently. Behind them were projections of their respective powers and ideologies, while before them was a highly sensitive strategic image:
The tentacles of "His boundless coverage" slowly retreated, and the black tide of flesh sank into the Abyss of Ether like a tidal wave; at the same time, the emotionless notification sound of the Eden System rang out in the silent space:

[Reserve decision-maker: Hugh Abraham]

Your resolution code has been updated to: Constancy

This means that, without a vote by all members, a reserve officer who is still on probation was directly given a full seat number and code, which is equivalent to the pre-determining of the position.

This should not have happened. Especially when a number like "constancy," which should require consensus from all members, was assigned.

A silence fell over the round table. It was a silent, heavy hesitation that transcended the timeline.

The projection continued playing until the image froze on a single frame: "The Golden Throne is freed from its shackles, and Xia Xiu returns to Terra."

[0-08] leaned slightly forward, his voice showing no fluctuation, yet carrying an undeniable questioning tone:
[0-08]: "01, do you know what's going on here?"

He paused, his tone calm:
"At least in my currently unsealed memories, there is no current resolution regarding the code name 'constancy'... nor is there any means to make Daenerys retreat voluntarily. Hugh Abraham is indeed..." [0-01]'s figure moved almost imperceptibly in the dim light. He did not rise, but interrupted the other's words with a flat and emotionless tone:

[0-01]:

"As the second swordsman said, this is part of the plan."

He then slowly raised his hand and pointed to the strategic projection screen that was still warm and suspended in the center of the round table.

"There is no need to discuss this matter any further; it will not be discussed in this meeting, nor in any subsequent meetings."

"The permanent code has been assigned, and the kick-off operation has been successfully completed. According to the preset timeline, this session of the parliament is adjourned."

At this moment, the other eleven illusory figures on the edge of the round table seemed to still be in shock.

They have questions, theories, and speculations.

But in parliament, they will not argue, nor is there any need to argue.

Because this is not only a rule of the consensus structure, but also something they all tacitly agree to. If [0-01] speaks in a strong tone and personally announces the adjournment of the meeting, it means that the top gear of the chain has already started turning, just as he said—this is part of the plan.

They definitely knew about this plan, but they just didn't remember it at the moment.

Their responsibility is to comply, to reflect, and to use means outside of meetings to complete their respective information gathering.

Then, the illusory figures silently bowed their heads, no longer speaking, like neat gears and keyholes, trembling slightly on the hinges of time. Then, they receded like the tide.

The next second, the eleven illusory figures on the edge of the round table disappeared almost simultaneously, vanishing like a dream.

In the entire council hall, only one figure remained, still sitting in the highest position.

[0-01].

He didn't leave immediately, but stared for a long time at the empty parliament table, as if recalling something, or silently confronting some unknowable time. Only when that invisible weight quietly dissipated did he slowly exhale, his voice low:
"Eden."

A pale blue light window immediately appeared in the void, and Eden's neutral syllables responded:

[Connected, decision-maker 0-01, please issue instructions.]

[0-01] Gazing into the void, after a few breaths of silence, he whispered:

"Take my original body...to the Site-01 dungeon."

The blue light paused for a moment.

[Please confirm: Is this the main character heading to the dungeon?]

His eyes remained unwavering, and his voice, devoid of any emotion, simply stated a point that had already been decided:

"confirm."

A faint blue light flashes, signaling the start of the system migration process.

In the next instant, the aura belonging to [0-01] also disappeared.

……

……

Site-01·Dungeon.

It was a spatial tower that seemed to be carved out from the end of civilization—dense pipes, suspended energy chambers, pillars and connecting bridges intertwined with countless power lines and data tendrils. The entire building structure was like a nerve center system that was repeatedly disassembled and reconstructed, and infinitely stacked upwards. It had no symmetrical geometric logic, yet every part was self-consistent in a way that made people tremble.

There was a strange stillness in the air, as if time itself had been exiled here and had stopped flowing.

This is the dungeon, the core of the trial, a closed domain that even the Eden System itself requires authorization to gradually open.

Deep within the zeroth floor of this austere megastructure, a solitary figure appeared at the end of the main passageway.

He was of medium height, rather thin, and had an upright posture. He wore a dark gray three-piece suit, the buttons perfectly fastened, and a gold-chained pocket watch engraved with Abram's runes was tucked into his breast pocket. His features were sharply defined, with deep-set eyes and a sharp nose that made him look like a frozen sculpture. His eyes seemed pupil-less, only a milky white mist remaining, and his bloodless lips gave his entire face a deathly stillness.

At the end of the corridor was a multi-layered, locked door, embedded with more than thirteen types of reality-stabilizing locks and hyperstructure signal isolation layers. The Eden System had established a separate node for this. As [0-01] approached, the chains automatically disintegrated into hundreds of layers of folded chain symbols, the walls trembled slightly, and a door leading to the core prison slowly opened.

Behind that door was a prison that seemed to exist in a timeless space.

In the middle is an old man suspended in the air by countless chains and a deep gravitational field.

He wore a dark gray prison uniform, his waist, wrists, and ankles bound by chains made of layers of constant-pressure talismans, and even a delayed meditation nail was implanted in his neck. His face was old and wrinkled, but not weak, and his beard was gray but not disheveled. His eyes were closed, and he was lost in a long dream.

His name and his image can be described by a book—"The Old Man and the Sea".

It was the old man in that book who came from the end of the sea breeze, the lone boat, and the marlin—Santiago.

He remained motionless, as if he had become one with the space that imprisoned him. But when [0-01] stepped into the prison, his eyelashes trembled slightly. A moment later, his old eyes slowly opened.

His pupils were cloudy, yet as deep as the ocean. He gazed at the man before him, his eyes devoid of hatred or nostalgia, as if it were merely a quiet confirmation, a recognition that transcended time and perspective.

He chuckled softly, his voice hoarse but not trembling:
"Long time no see, Aaron Siegel."

The old man's aged and cloudy eyes stared at [0-01], as if they could penetrate that bloodless face and see deeper, everything that time should have buried.

He smiled, a slight upturn at the corners of his mouth, his voice carrying a hint of mockery and a sense of detachment born from a profound understanding of life and death.

"Or I should now address you as 0-01—'Founder'."

[0-01] There was no answer, nor any emotional fluctuation. He simply raised one hand slowly, his fingers long and slender, with an extremely calm elegance.

The next second, the chains moved in response.

The multiple shackles binding the old man's limbs emitted a low, hoarse clang. The thirteen reality locks successively deconstructed, folded, and melted into nothingness. The traction fields that had suspended him in the air also slowly disintegrated, as if they had never existed. The old man landed on the ground, staggering slightly, but quickly regained his balance.

He moved his wrists and shoulders, his bones making a sound like an old tree cracking in the heavy, silent dungeon.

"It's rare for you to come and see this old man from the old era in person," he said, his tone light and casual, as if he were chatting.

"Last time... the time before that... and the time before that, what was it about when you came to see me..."

He frowned slightly, as if flipping through a long-forgotten chronicle, then paused, a look of sudden realization on his face, and smiled:

"Ah, right, 'Lucifer's Sword,' the Gatekeeper Wars; the Spiral Path; and the Fall of Heaven—the rebellious Calvin Lucien, and the god-slaying spear in his hand."

[0-01] Remains silent.

The old man, however, seemed completely unconcerned by his silence and continued speaking as if he were addressing a former student, a successor destined to inherit his will.

"The fact that you can get here proves that Heaven was not destroyed by Calvin Lucia."

"That... the one who was ordered to execute the Twelve Keys Plan, to kill the thirteen decision-makers one by one, and then took on your name..."

He paused, as if waiting for a response. Seeing that the other person still didn't respond, he gently shook his head, smiling as if he had guessed the answer to a game:
"Hmm, let me guess... did you use that damn book again to find some unfortunate soul to replace this narrative of the traitor's fate?"

"He's dead, or his history was covered up by that damned book. You are the survivors who made the decisions, while he has no trace of his existence at all."

[0-01] After silently listening to the old man's sarcastic words, he slowly spoke after he finished:

"I have come here today as agreed—when the war for the unification of Terra approaches, I will announce to you, Demon Lords, that your successor has appeared."