The Demon King is unfathomable

Chapter 385: Reunion
Just as Sarah left the Potions classroom, on the second floor of the Corinthian Tower, in the newly opened Virtual Realm Experiment Zone No. 178, an experiment on exploring the Virtual Realm was being prepared in full swing.

The migration to the virtual realm is finally complete.

Merck stood nervously and awkwardly in a corner of the hall, feeling out of place with the atmosphere around him, but he still stood there with a straight face.

He was ordered by Professor Alistair to come here to observe Colin's experimental process and to learn and record every detail of His Highness's interference with the virtual realm.

However, deep down, Merck felt a slight sense of shame and apology for Colin's generosity in allowing a "loser" like him to come and watch.

Perhaps His Highness Colin knew that his motives were not pure, but he still generously and kindly accepted him.

Is this the magnanimity of an imperial prince...?

Merck muttered to himself.

In stark contrast to Merck's tension, Miller and his group of teaching assistants were immersed in the excitement of exploring the unknown world.

A dozen or so teaching assistants dressed in mage robes were moving methodically between the huge magic circles, each performing their assigned tasks.

The entire lobby on the second floor of the Collin Tower has been transformed into a highly efficient and sophisticated "command center".

Unlike the researchers under Merck, these equally young teaching assistants showed no signs of tension or fear, but rather radiated a positive and upbeat attitude.

It was as if they were about to sail not into unfamiliar waters, but into a new world teeming with gold, where endless treasures awaited them.

Incredibly, even though they had never been there, they seemed to have already foreseen the outcome of this "expedition."

“Mr. Miller,” a teaching assistant in charge of energy supply announced loudly, “the magic output of node seven has been calibrated, and the volatility is below three per thousand, meeting the activation criteria!”

"Very good!" Miller responded loudly from the main caster's position, quickly jotting down parameters on his notepad while giving an order to another group without looking up, "Rune circuit inspection team, double-check to ensure there's no risk of energy overflow!"

"Circuit check complete! Everything is normal!"

The voices that exchanged messages were brief and professional, and full of enthusiasm for exploration.

Merck watched from the sidelines, his heart filled with mixed emotions.

He could sense that these people truly believed in their mentor and that Prince Colin could lead them to success.

Far from feeling any fear of the unknown, they were filled with anticipation for the exploration to come...like devout believers looking forward to witnessing the next "miracle".

This positive and uplifting atmosphere made Merck feel a pang of genuine jealousy.

He couldn't quite put his finger on whether he was jealous of Prince Colin having such a motivated assistant, or regretful that he didn't belong here.

"Mentor Merck, what's the situation with Void Realm 178 now?" Luo Yan, whose gaze had been fixed on the magic circle, suddenly looked away and turned to Mentor Merck, who was standing to the side.

Upon hearing this sudden question, Merck was slightly taken aback, then a bitter smile appeared on his face as he sighed and spoke.

“It’s terrible, Your Highness. The entire Void Passage is like a fleeting, wandering soul, which could be lost in the boundless void at any moment. All we can do is keep an eye on things and… pray that this moment of parting will come later.”

Merk had expected the prince to have a serious expression on his face, and was even prepared to be ridiculed or mocked by the latter.

To his surprise, the prince did not blame him after hearing this; instead, he smiled and said...

"Isn't that good? We can still receive information from behind the virtual realm, which means the situation isn't the worst yet."

Merk paused, looking at the young prince with confusion, completely baffled by the question: "...Could things get any worse than this?"

"of course."

Luo Yan replied without hesitation.

"And it was at the time when you bestowed the divine authority upon that Grey man named Kyle."

Merck's breath hitched slightly, and it took him a long time to squeeze out a difficult sentence.

"I don't understand, what exactly went wrong—"

"Of course, the problem started from the very beginning."

Seeing the thirst for truth behind those eyes, Luo Yan didn't give him any face and spoke bluntly.

"You placed a mouse on the king's throne; the fate of that piece was sealed from the start."

This incisive criticism made Merck's face turn pale and then red. He opened his mouth, but found that he could not find any words to refute it.

Kyle was indeed a rat, and he had personally picked it up from the garbage dump... but the problem is, he didn't have a choice, did he?

They were the only Greys who could hear their voices at that time.

Of course, he didn't deny that perhaps the prince was right...

Merck took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his resentment, and forced a stiff smile as he abruptly changed the subject.

"So... what should we do now?"

Luo Yan smiled and said, "It's very simple. Since the virtual passage hasn't completely collapsed, it means that in their timeline, they still harbor a sliver of 'longing' for us."

"Aspiration?"

Merck frowned in confusion and said in a low voice.

"This is impossible! Their faith in us is already very weak. They have nailed us to the pillar of historical shame, calling us a calamity from the void, an evil spirit from beyond the realm, and they are even purging those who have awakened supernatural powers."

He paused, then continued in a strained tone.

"As you can see right now... the passage to the virtual realm is already very weak, and that is the most direct proof."

This situation was entirely his doing.

That's why, when he said those words, Merck felt his face burning and wished he could disappear into the ground.

However, Luo Yan didn't take it to heart; in fact, his gaze towards him held a hint of approval. This guy might not be the brightest, but he certainly knew his place.

At least he can see his own problems clearly.

"The problem lies here: the Greys behind the No. 178 virtual realm do not have a proper understanding of us, nor do they properly examine themselves. On the contrary, they are trying to distort or even erase their past."

“Merck, I ask you, did we just appear out of thin air? Don’t forget the premise for the existence of the virtual portal: only the resonance of souls can allow people from two different universes to have their souls intersect.”

Merk stared blankly at the prince before him, unable to answer for a moment.

really--

The resonance of souls is the prerequisite for the existence of the virtual realm.

Although the collapse of the passage seems inevitable, at least in their respective timelines, they still have a trace of "reluctance" for each other.

"It's true that Kyle was the rat you personally chose, and you personally placed him on the throne, but he didn't appear out of thin air. Including his followers and the wasteland that twisted their souls... they are all part of the Greys, no matter how much their brethren resist."

Luo Yan's smile became meaningful, causing Merck to involuntarily hold his breath.

"Love and hate are two sides of the same coin, as are fear and courage. When we reach the extreme on a path, we will inevitably come to the other side of the coin... And now, what we need to do is to toss their coin again."

The worst thing the Greys could have done was kill Kyle at the moment of victory.

Although they gained temporary satisfaction, they also lost the opportunity to rectify their mistakes, burying the danger in the dark curtain of history.

A living Kyle is just a sinner covered in mud, or a clown, but a dead Kyle will become an immortal "prophet".

They'd better never make a mistake.

Otherwise, even a small mistake could make those disgruntled Greys yearn again for that ruthless messenger.

No matter how evil he may have done.

"...During Kyle's brief life, those pragmatic materialists were haunting ghosts hovering over the ancient god 'Merck.' Now, they have become gods on earth, and the memories they tried to bury have become the ghosts haunting them."

"This is why the connection between the two worlds has not been completely severed."

"Because they are still trapped in the cycle of the past and have never truly broken free."

These words struck Merck like a hammer blow, jolting him awake from his daze of confusion.

"Flip the coin again..."

Merck pondered those words repeatedly, and for the first time, a glimmer of light, like the sun breaking through the clouds, appeared in his cloudy pupils. He looked at Colin, his eyes filled with shock and awe, as if he had gained a new understanding of the prince's theory.

Just then, Miller, who had finally finished preparing to cast the spell, left his position and respectfully reported to Prince Colin.

"Your Highness, everything is ready and we can start at any time!"

His eyes were filled with admiration and eager anticipation for the great undertaking that was about to begin.

Luo Yan looked away from Merck's face and nodded to Miller.

"let's start!"

"Yes!"

Miller nodded excitedly.

At His Highness Colin's command, the entire research team sprang into action like wind-up gears!
They infused the magic array with surging power, urging the source energy to accelerate time behind the virtual realm, dragging the heavy and stagnant progress bar of the era backward.

Time flies, the sun and moon revolve, and countless years have passed.

Perhaps it's ten years, or perhaps it's a century; the hazy images flash by like a revolving lantern, rapidly flipping back in time.

The narrowing of the passage seemed to dilute the sense of time's passage for people in both worlds.

Merck's heart was racing, and he silently prayed that the fragile passage wouldn't suddenly break down at this moment.

He wanted to see what Colin called "another possibility for history," and this was his last and only chance to understand the Grey world.

Just as the thin, silk-like passage was weakening and about to be severed by the scissors of time, a sudden change occurred!

Suddenly, a blurry figure appeared in the hazy light and shadow, and the image gradually became clearer.

It was a dark and cramped room, perhaps in a basement, perhaps in a garbage dump, not much better than Kyle's house.

A hunched gray figure stood beside a dirty bed, with circles painted with blood-red paint below its withered ankles.

He somehow acquired a pile of "ancient books" and found the ancient god "Merck" hidden in fragments of history, along with His murmurs.

In the materialistic Grey Federation, delving into the origins of history is a taboo subject, especially exploring the mysteries of the ancient god Merck and the "Ark of Salvation" cult.

But having been driven to the brink, he no longer cared.

His company terminated his employment contract the moment he was diagnosed with "rust disease," leaving him without money for treatment or to replace his malfunctioning prosthetic body. While he was worrying about his medical expenses and finding another job, a bank loan payment bill arrived at his home.

A rope always breaks at its thinnest point, and misfortune always finds its way to the pitiful.

The federal parliament always seemed to treat him as harshly as a father, but when it came to issues with banks and companies, they would turn a blind eye.

It was during his impoverished and destitute period that he heard about the ancient god "Merck" from people who shared a similar fate.

The Federation's textbooks only say that the guy was not a good person, and that his followers were even more wicked, but they are very vague about how these wicked guys came to be. They also don't mention a word about what the Federation's predecessor, the Wastelanders Alliance, did during the period of the tribes before it became an alliance.

Kyle treated the survivors as slaves, but didn't those tribes also treat the survivors as slaves?

No one told him the difference between the two, and perhaps there was no difference to begin with, just as he had become a slave to debt, and was being ridden on the head by a group of slave owners called shareholders and creditors.

He could only interpret it in the worst possible light—that the so-called "evil" was merely an excuse used by despicable wastelanders to kill the savior.

It's all a scam!

It's likely that the Federal Council confiscated their supernatural powers because they feared that those who awakened supernatural powers would recall their past memories!
He gambled his only hope on that one in a billion chance, drawing the magic circle he had seen repeatedly in his dreams on the cold concrete floor.

Although he did not possess supernatural powers, it is said that Kyle did not at first either, and that for the ancient gods in the void, piety was more meaningful than talent.

As long as they can establish a connection, He will naturally infuse Him with all the mysteries that cannot be explained by physics!

Fortunately, he actually did it!

For two hundred years, countless people have called upon the name of the ancient god, but he is the only one who has made the magic circle emit purple mist.

He was taken aback, and in his ecstasy, he knelt down and, with all his might, continued to call out the name "Merck" into the void.

He not only called out names, but also offered devout prayers and repentance, and tearfully denounced the heinous crimes of the Grey Federation.

This includes a lack of social security and the persecution of those with extraordinary abilities.

However, since the continent of Os does not possess these things, the voices transmitted through spiritual resonance are not always understood by Merk and the others on the other side of the virtual realm.

Even so, that burning passion was indeed conveyed.

Everyone standing in the hall of the mage tower felt the negative emotions emanating from that gray man!

The blurry lens is becoming clearer.

Merck, standing at the edge of the magic circle, was dumbfounded.

He never expected that Prince Colin would do nothing but drag the progress bar that he dared not move forward to the end, and the shaky virtual passage would actually stabilize on its own.

That is to say...

If he and Professor Aristotle just hold on a little longer, the 178th virtual realm will recover on its own; at most, the specialty "Wraith Charcoal" will be gone!
Realizing what a stupid thing he had done, Merck felt utterly remorseful.

This 178th Void Realm cultivator was given away for nothing!

and--

Professor Alistair will definitely try to shift the blame onto himself!

However, Luo Yan didn't think the guy had anything to regret. After all, without his guidance, the result would have been the same if he had tried again.

But next time, I might not be so lucky.

Time continued to flow behind the illusory realm, and the voices of the gray people crawling in the magic circle were filled with resentment, their accusations and accusations becoming increasingly radical.

"...Equality has not been achieved, and it is becoming increasingly distant!"

"If sacrificing us could bring them their promise and a world without oppression, that would be fine! But what has happened? Our sacrifice has not brought about great prosperity; instead, it has driven us all from one old cage into another, a more greedy one! They want not only to sacrifice our flesh and blood, but also our spirit!"

He lifted the sluggish metal prosthetic limb upwards, and through the deep purple mist, he could vaguely see a pair of dark purple eyes.

The ancient god is gazing at him!
He is listening!

A fanatical glint appeared on his face, and he poured all the passion of his broken body into that desperate cry.

"I implore you to open your eyes and fight one more round with your loyal people! We are not afraid of sacrifice, for mortal bodies will eventually die, and we have nothing left to lose!"

"We only wish to burn our useless flesh and blood for your will one last time before our souls return to your divine kingdom!"

"We will take our revenge! To those Greys who have fooled us! I will make them taste the fear of living in the abyss!"

Merck stared at him in a daze, feeling that the will emanating from this Grey was in no way inferior to that of the Grey hero who resisted Kyle's tyranny back then.

Furthermore, his perseverance and dedication were imbued with a fervor and devotion that the hero of yesteryear lacked.

He's like a combination of Kyle and that guy!
Hearing this heart-wrenching prayer, Miller's face showed anticipation and excitement. He turned to look at Colin, waiting for his instructions.

Merck was the same; his complex expression was half expectation and half curiosity.

Putting aside his enthusiasm and devotion, this guy, like Kyle, was just a little mouse living at the very bottom of society.

He was curious about what Colin would do.

What else can we do but put this little mouse on the throne?

Are we just going to watch this guy die?
Luo Yan quietly gazed at the desperate yet vengeful soul reflected in the lens, savoring its anger and madness.

A moment later, in a voice devoid of any emotion, he gave Miller and the other teaching assistants who were eagerly waiting his first instruction to the 178th virtual realm.

“Tell him that the ancient gods are dead.”

"Call me Colin."

(End of this chapter)