Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 373 The Final Experiment
Merlin revealed the fate of the starship.

It was sucked into the black hole. After struggling for several days, Doolittle's grandfather made a last phone call to his family in a way that defied common sense. If Doolittle hadn't been talking nonsense while drunk, Merlin could have vaguely figured out the situation on the starship—on the first day it was sucked into the black hole, most of the soldiers on the bridge were killed or wounded due to accidental discharges, leaving only the captain and crew who had taken refuge in the control room at the first opportunity.

In the following days, they were gradually transformed by the "creatures of the dark," with Doolittle's grandfather being the last.

"Judging from Duli's attitude towards you, he believes that you are the one who wiped out the entire fleet."

Unfortunately, with Doolittle's death, this became an eternal mystery.

They had no way of knowing what kind of negotiations Du Li's parents had with the committee afterward, nor did they know what kind of truth was hidden in the chip his mother left him after her death.

"Therefore, the destruction of the starship is the most important time point."

Ethan understood the deeper meaning in Merlin's words, which propelled the destruction of the City of Truth.

In this light, the starships sent by the Democratic Council seem to be a desperate gamble. They appear to know exactly when their city will be destroyed. Merlin also mentions another interesting clue: one of the committee members bears the same appearance as a member of the Democratic Council.

This means they have lived for at least several hundred years—something that the current technology in the shelters could not achieve.

After Merlin helped him eliminate a wrong option, the puzzle seemed to be down to its final moment.

As the two were talking, a starport rose up in the southern part of the City of Truth, and a starship carrying humanity's last hope docked at the starport.

Next, all he needs to do is board the starship, witness the scene inside the black hole, and uncover the secret behind the destruction of the City of Truth.

"By the way, Zhuang Xiao, the HR manager at Pioneer Technology, is also one of our people. You met her there once."

Before parting, Merlin said, "She is a member of the guild, 'Crimson,' that's her title. If you find that I am not in the office tomorrow, you can get a ticket to board the starship through her."

For Merlin, there was another thing he needed to confirm.

That concerns both Du Li's death and himself. It is clear that it was not a suicide. Such a coincidental timing of death can only prove one thing—Du Li leaked information, so he was silenced. The only question is whether it was the committee that silenced Du Li, or the entity they vaguely sensed that was above the committee.

After speaking with Ethan, Merlin became increasingly convinced of his own ideas.

The Democratic Parliament and the Committee are the same group of people who have been in contact with the culprits who destroyed the world. This explains why they knew in advance when the City of Truth would be destroyed and built a shelter ahead of time. They also knew that the threats on the surface were not over and that they had been hiding from threats from above for centuries.

A killer might appear in his apartment late tonight, murder him, and then stage the scene as a suicide.

Therefore, he still has final arrangements to complete.

For example, he could install an inconspicuous camera in a hidden compartment in the bedroom of the apartment to film the killer's face. After the incident, Zhuang Xiao would enter the apartment, retrieve the video footage, and learn the truth about the "night of suicide."

By then, she might still have a chance to explain to Ethan the cause of his death.

Thus, his mission came to an end.

"The rest is up to you, Mr. Ethan."

Merlin was prepared to face his fate alone. In his view, death was no different from a long vacation. The only thing he could not tolerate was ignorance. "If Zhuang Xiao miraculously survives after everything is over, please ask her to write down everything that happened afterward on a piece of parchment and put it in my shrine in the North Quarter of the Sanctuary. I have ordered a shrine for myself."

"In that case, why don't we conduct one last experiment?"

Ethan called out to Merlin, who was about to leave.

"experiment?"

“I’ve heard about your deeds on the other side. They all say you are an excellent elemental econometrician, and possibly one of the greatest elemental econometricians in human history.”

Ethan said, "So, you should still remember the basic theory of elemental magic."

"Yes, I have achieved my dream, at least I have experienced what it is like to be a magician."

Merlin said, "However, that power doesn't apply to us—remember the theory of racial differences I mentioned earlier? That remains a mystery to this day."

“I can find some real experts to discuss this matter.”

Ethan refers to Laoba, Laoan, and Laokai. They are not practitioners of the path and faith, but the source of everything. The first humans would believe in them in exchange for power that transcends reason and nature.

He didn't mean to look down on the shelter researchers, but as the saying goes, everyone has their own expertise.

"But before that, we can perhaps conduct another simple experiment."

"What experiment?"

Merlin paused, taken aback.

"Give me your faith."

..............................

What a busy day.

It was nearly ten o'clock when Ethan got home, and it was completely dark outside. The moment he stepped inside, Winter came up to him. She first put her nose against Ethan's clothes and sniffed them carefully, which made her frown. As if that wasn't enough, with a "thump," a small white ragdoll cat climbed onto Ethan's shoulder, almost burying its head into his clothes.

The black cat sat solemnly on the shoe cabinet, staring intently at him.

"What are you doing?" Ethan felt increasingly pressured.

"Surprise inspection!"

Xiao An was full of confidence, saying, "The video says that the man uses overtime as an excuse to deliberately come home late, but he may actually be out fooling around!"

She had ample theoretical basis, and in front of Ethan, she opened the video software on her tablet. On it was a short video of just over a minute, in which a "top-notch emotional consultant" was earnestly giving an emotional lecture to the audience outside the video.

The moment Ethan saw this emotional counselor, he instantly sensed that she was a powerful being who could shatter the void, and that she was very likely a space-type superpower user.

As she explained, the space behind her, including the clothes rack and the door frame, was distorted by a mysterious force.

"Watch less of these kinds of videos in the future!"

Ethan immediately felt a crisis comparable to the end of the world. You see, Winter and Darkness, who had never been exposed to the internet, were like two blank sheets of paper... well, to be precise, one a blank sheet of paper and the other a black sheet of paper. The water here is too deep, and they are easily corrupted. You know, even artificial intelligence cannot escape the disaster.

He was truly afraid that one day in the future, after working overtime, he would come home to find himself greeted by cheesy, upbeat music filling the entire living room, "human-like laughter" emanating from his tablet, and Winter dressed in bizarre attire.

"Delete this software."

"Oh, why?!"

Upon seeing the tablet computer confiscated, the black cat immediately grabbed Ethan's arm, hanging its entire body on his arm as if determined to live or die with the tablet.

She recently discovered that tablets are absolutely amazing, far more magical than the cursed artifacts of their world.

It can steal people's time. Whenever she comfortably lies in her bed and opens a video app, she doesn't realize it's already late at night.

Several hours of her life vanished without a trace!

No one can take the tablet away from her until she figures out how it works!
"The inspection is complete."

A small white Ragdoll cat peeked out, its red eyes revealing a stern expression.

"Teacher, you know me well. How could I possibly go out and fool around?"

As the saying goes, "A straight body casts a straight shadow," and today he is working overtime to uphold justice and promote positive energy.

"You smell of smoke. Have you been secretly smoking outside behind our backs?"

Cats have a very sensitive sense of smell. Winter doesn't like the smell of smoke. Although she looked disgusted, she still rubbed the fur on her head against Ethan's neck. This way, the scent of cherries could cover up the smell of smoke and bring "Smoky Ethan" back to normal.

Merlin!

Ethan's vision went black.

He learned one of the downsides of time stopping in a magical way: while he was talking to Merlin, the latter never stopped smoking, but because of the time stop, the smoke stopped in mid-air and accumulated together. In the instant that time resumed its flow, the smoke formed a high-concentration bomb, which instantly marinated him.

"First of all, I don't smoke or drink, and I've never had any of these bad habits."

Ethan explained, "But that's work. It's inevitable that some people will smoke in the workplace."

"Who? What's his name?"

The two cats perked up their ears at the same time, instantly entering hunting mode.

This is not a good sign.

If things continue like this, Mr. Merlin probably won't even make it home; he'll be killed by the two cats before he even leaves the dream world.

"Cat killing" refers to being killed by a cat while smoking in a public place, which Ethan thinks should definitely be included in "The Complete Book of Mysterious Human Deaths".

"Don't worry about him, because I'm being transferred out of this department tomorrow."

Ethan cleared his throat, trying his best to project the dignity of the head of the household, and said, "Actually, I have something important to discuss with you tonight."

He held the white Ragdoll cat that kept rubbing against his neck in his arms, and then put the black cat on the coffee table.

Significant career changes should be explained to family members.

"I might be transferred to work on an alien planet soon."

Ethan said, "The new position allows family members to accompany the employee, so I'm planning to ask for your opinions."

"go together."

"I'll pack my bags now, but you have to give me back my tablet first!"

The two cats immediately agreed without a moment's hesitation.

The family meeting ended much faster than Ethan had expected. He hadn't even had time to list out the pros and cons before the vote was settled at 3-0.

(End of this chapter)