Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 378 Assembled Objects
Prejudice in people's hearts is like a mountain.

You see, I'm not always the one who does bad things.

As darkness completely enveloped the cabin, Ethan heard Little Dark's voice, sometimes near, sometimes far, as if it had merged entirely with the darkness.

When the people trapped in the darkness realized their predicament, the first wave of chaos erupted in the cabin. His common sense could not explain the anomaly before him—the restaurant lights were on, yet they could not dispel the darkness around them. When they looked up, they could only see the blurry traces of the chandelier, and in less than a minute, that last glimmer of light was swallowed up by the darkness.

All the information the shelter has about the Pioneer's demise comes from Dua's last phone call. He told his family about the terrifying days after the starship was swallowed by the black hole. He once thought that what swallowed them was not a black hole, but some kind of living creature, so large that it exceeded human common sense and imagination. It was definitely not the black hole they knew.

However, considering Duya's mental state and tone during the phone call, the committee concluded that the living darkness stemmed from his delusions.

After that, they did not want Duya's children to spread the word.

Duya's daughter was then sent to a mental health center for long-term treatment. The center corrected her thinking and convinced her, in a "scientific" way, that her father had died on the day the Pioneer went missing, and that the subsequent phone call was entirely a figment of her imagination in her extreme grief.

But Duya's daughter was an anomaly.

She outwardly yielded to the mental health center and the committee, but secretly recorded her thoughts on an inconspicuous chip. This chip would be handed to Doolittle one day after he grew up, at which point he could choose to continue the investigation or seal the secret away forever.

Judging from the results, Du Li chose the latter.

Now, Ethan understands why the committee is so desperate to cover up the incident.

The Pioneer was not caught in the black hole; they had plenty of time to avoid the disaster. However, at the most critical moment, their carefully selected captain gave the wrong order—he asked the crew to steer the Pioneer into the unknown darkness.

Ethan is not yet able to determine whether this is a decision made by the Democratic Parliament or some higher-level influence that Merlin perceives.

As for the captain's personal will?
Xiao An said that these people have empty minds, their words and actions are very pure, they have been stripped of their personal thoughts so that they can follow orders in major decisions, even at the cost of their lives.

"Let's go take a look at the central control room."

After standing in the darkness for a long time, Zhuang Xiao made a suggestion.

Her feelings were somewhat complicated. No one survived on this starship; they died in fear and despair. Logically, she should have felt the same fear as the others on the ship, stemming from the deep-seated fear of darkness and the unknown in every human being. However, considering that the suspect was only a few steps away from her at that moment, Zhuang Xiao suddenly felt less afraid.

This seems to have become a new way to dispel fear.

In the pitch-black space, the murderer wanders through the cabin, his footsteps tolling a death knell for everyone on board.

In such a desperate situation, as long as you send a team invitation to the murderer, you will no longer have to worry about him stabbing you in the face.

This is Zhuang Xiao's feeling right now. Not only is she not afraid at all, but she feels incredibly safe.

"I'll go with you."

Fueled by alcohol, Duya also extended a team invitation to Ethan, saying, "I know the ship's structure; I can find the central control room even in the dark."

Of course, not everyone was as optimistic as Zhuang Xiao and Du Ya. The moment the cabin went dark, Lin Dong fearfully clung to Ethan's arm, trembling as she said, "Don't stray too far from me, I'm afraid of the dark."

Just hours ago, the white-haired girl had used her steely arms to firmly hold the "darkness" to her chest, but now she was the one most afraid of the dark. This made Ethan take a deep breath and hesitate to speak.

My nose is now filled with the scents of cherry blossoms and winter shampoo.

Teacher, whatever makes you happy.

This hastily assembled team embarked on an adventure to the central control room, but Ethan insisted that the team's formation was seriously flawed, like the product of a novice who had never played a game before, even worse than AI. He walked at the front of the team, with Winter holding his right arm and resting her head on his shoulder, Black Cat clinging to his neck with its paws and hanging on his back, while Zhuang Xiao simply hid further back. Duya, who had offered to lead the way, found a pipe wrench somewhere and walked alongside Zhuang Xiao.

As the group walked down the empty ship's corridor, Ethan felt like a shield; if anyone attacked them along the way, he would be the one to take the full brunt of the damage.

Guys, I'm a mage.

What genius would put a mage with maximum damage output in the first position to absorb damage?

This adventurous team, protecting their chicks, continued all the way to the door of the central control room. When they entered, Zhuang Xiao even pretended to let out a long sigh of relief.

The atmosphere inside the room was, unsurprisingly, in stark contrast to the relaxed and harmonious atmosphere of the team. When the group arrived, the captain had already fallen into a deep coma. The crew mentioned the captain's unusual behavior when he gave the orders; his eyes had emitted a white light, as bright as if he had swallowed a flashlight.

"This is normal. The shadow element has collided with the energy remaining in his body. He will wake up soon."

Ethan heard Dark's voice again in the darkness; the voice was far away, yet seemed to be everywhere.

He was quite certain that the black cat perched on his neck hadn't spoken.

This suddenly reminded him of the famous grandfather paradox.

If we measure it from the perspective of time, they have intruded into the past. The starship crashed hundreds of years ago. So, in the same spacetime, could there be two Xiao An, or even... two He?

In works that involve spacetime theory, when two versions of oneself from different timelines meet, some terrible things often happen. "You said that someone hit you on the head, causing you to forget many things."

This time, the voice came very close to Ethan, from behind him. The black cat tightened its grip slightly and finally climbed onto Ethan's shoulder. Her beautiful heterochromatic eyes scrutinized everything that was happening in the captain's cabin. "Well then, let's start from here."

The black cat and the whispers in the darkness gradually became one.

"If you were here at that time, what would you have done?"

The white glow mentioned by the crew.

And that fatal and wrong decision.

The answer almost immediately came to Ethan's mind.

"It seems you've never changed on this matter."

The cat's voice became very soft. She leaped forward lightly and disappeared into the darkness. She slowly walked to the unconscious captain, raised her paw, and placed it on the captain's forehead.

That's their method.

Skip the complex reasoning process and get straight to the result.

In an instant, countless images flashed through Ethan's mind, narrating the captain's life.

Only through persistent effort and hard work can a captain be entrusted with important responsibilities by the democratic parliament and have the people of the City of Truth place their hopes on him.

It was a memory that was both strange and familiar. He viewed the city from the perspective of a captain, witnessing its rise from its founding to its prosperity. He witnessed the rise of the "Consensus Monument," the establishment of the Democratic Parliament, and the confusion and despair that came with the "world's end" theory spreading quietly in the city.

Their world will eventually be destroyed, and before that, they need to find a new home.

Countless thoughts are intertwined, and it does not exist independently.

A ray of light shone into Ethan's heart, allowing him to see many dark corners.

Long-buried memories begin to resurface.

In these memories, he became a captain, a detective, an engineer, and a lawyer. Different lives, different experiences, and different perspectives meticulously filled the City of Truth with details. In these memories, every street became real, no longer a vague outline.

But he had never experienced those aspects of life.

He knew all this simply because these intruders had piqued his interest.

Whether they like it or not, he can open their minds and enter their thoughts, where they have nowhere to hide and no lies to tell.

This is why he can so meticulously construct a city using "dreams"—these fragments, stored in his subconscious, come into play when he needs them.

As for the state of those memory owners when their memories were spied on, they could hardly remember anymore.

It wasn't that he forgot, but rather that he had never paid attention to their emotions and mental state.

These resurrected memories gradually converged into a lake like streams. Ethan stood by the lake, looking down at the reflections flashing on the surface, each representing a complete life.

Gradually, the shadows hidden deeper in the lake also began to emerge.

That's the story of what happened before the captain became a captain, or more accurately, before he became "human".

Every life reflected in these images comes from the same starting point.

There was a white sphere of light suspended in mid-air, with a mechanical, synthesized voice and a tone as cold and ruthless as a machine.

"You have flesh and blood, you have bones, and all the human tissues you need. Now, put them together."

The white orb of light is conversing with a figure kneeling before it.

Those "humans" also witnessed this scene.

It is not a complete human being, but rather an eyeball and brain stored in a vessel.

"One thing is still missing."

The figure kneeling before the white orb humbly pleaded, "Soul."

"No, they don't need souls."

(End of this chapter)