With his mouth sealed by a cloth strip and his hands cuffed behind his back, Lorenz was sent off to a shack wrapped in iron sheets.
A squad leader in a black windbreaker, his eyes glowing with dark crimson rings and silver-ringed emerald irises, diffused a slow, heavy Stellar Yuan energy across the room without any expression on his face, intimidating the several people who were also detained there.
The detainees of varying heights all stood with their hands behind their backs or crouched along the opposite wall of the iron-clad room.
Seeing another person enter, a slight commotion arose on the opposite side, because this man was still wearing the military uniform of the Hevvenzic Air Force.
“This person started spreading rumors the moment he entered the second checkpoint.“
The squad leader nodded in acknowledgment.
“Go to the opposite side yourself.“
“Team Three will return before breakfast tomorrow to interrogate this batch.“
“Good work.“
“See you later.“
Major Lorenz, his head still groggy from the heavy blow, forcefully shook his head a few times.
After watching the two soldiers from the Army leave, the black-clad patrol captain turned his head and frowned as he looked at the Air Force major, who had not walked towards the opposite side as instructed, but instead was straightening his posture with effort to approach him.
The patrol captain’s hand, clad in leather gloves, drew his pistol from the wide leather belt at his waist.
But at that moment, the major turned around. In the eyes of everyone present, his bound wrists moved slightly. He was pressing the tips of his thumbs against the tips of his index fingers on both hands, while the remaining three fingers on each hand curled to the same degree as the index fingers.
The few people by the wall all looked at the two hands shaped like tubes.
“What does that mean?“
“Binoculars?“
The man in black looked at the two restless-looking men by the wall. Under his gaze, they lowered their heads and dared not move again.
Then the patrol captain turned to look at the major who had turned around. The major met the captain’s gaze and glanced at the captain’s ear.
“Hey, chief, this guy here just spread some fake news. How about tying him up with just one hand, like me?” said a gaunt, dirty-skinned man who was squatting by the side.
The man beside him let out a few snickers.
“I’m warning you and the rest of you—stay quiet, or I’ll rip off this guy’s coat and stuff it into your mouths.“
He had just turned his head to say this when, abruptly, he whipped back around, bolted out the door on swift feet, and, in the moment Major Lorenz’s back was turned to him, chose the two men who had shown the earlier signs, lunging forward instantly to kick them.
Long years of Warrior training had made his muscular explosiveness no lower than the physical abilities of any ordinary Demon-Blood Warrior; what he lacked was merely the anomaly of the Demon Blood.
In the cramped space of the iron room, that split-second burst of power allowed Lorenz to reach in one second one of the men who had been watching him earlier—the one who seemed better built and taller.
Facing the charging airman, this arrested man, who had earlier scanned the sky with a telescope, looked blankly at the man’s face as the Warrior rushed in from behind, extending his hand, drawing closer.
The sturdy man didn’t react at first, but the sudden abnormal situation, targeting him specifically, made this merchant by the wall, after making a choice, decide to believe that President Yangliner would be able to save the world.
With his hands bound, he opened his mouth wide, revealing his large, white, broad teeth. Seeing this, his companion nearby widened his eyes, shouted, “Ah! ” and rushed between Lorenz and the patrol leader.
Crack!
The strong Luca from the Octagon Chamber of Commerce bit down on the white cloth strip at the corner of Lorenz’s mouth. As the silver ring in the Major’s bright eyes trembled, he struggled to twist his head. Meanwhile, Luca’s own silver ring blazed brightly, blood bursting from his mouth as he suddenly tilted and jerked his neck.
Riiip!
The cloth strip beside his face tore open with a gap.
The young man who charged out to block the black-clothed figure was sent flying by a knee strike to the chest. “A hero cannot be declared dead! ” the patrol captain yelled, gripping his gun handle and smashing his fist fiercely toward the Major.
“Even a great foe can return! “
Boom! With a thud, Lorenz, who had taken a heavy punch to the back, felt the explosion force and searing pain press his chest against the ground, as bones shattered and caved in instantly.
“The dead man is Yangliner. “
Behind him, the restrained man ripping the torn cloth with his hands froze in place, his gaze dull and motionless at the shout.
Sensing an unusually abundant vitality, Lorenz listened to the throbbing pulse in the blood vessels of his scalp, turned his mud-streaked face, and stared at the standing figure overlooking him from behind.
“I’ll give you one chance to prove your identity with your words. “
……
Two black-clad Harris Consultan Army soldiers, who had pushed through the heavy door to rush to reinforce, had barely gotten a few dozen meters away when they suddenly heard frantic, chaotic shouts erupting from behind.
“What’s going on? “
“Sounds like someone’s gone mad! “
Pounding footsteps, the two soldiers sprinted back toward the container-style sheet metal building against the wind.
……
World Ark Headquarters
In the darkness before the protective barrier, several soldiers escorted Lorenz, who wore a bucket-shaped face hood over his head, stepping through a translucent energy field into a sealed-off area to one side.
“What is the demonic blood ability you have harbored? Any answer that is not the correct one will confirm you as an intruder and trigger the wartime order of immediate execution. “
“I have not harbored any demonic blood. “
“How dare you! “
Lorenz felt himself being pushed around by a strong hand.
“It should have been me who was cursed, not you. “
Beside the stern interrogator in a black suit, the middle-aged man with a calm, heavy breath raised his hand. Seeing the crown prince do this, the interrogator lightly gestured to the bound man who was looking over.
Lorenz felt his body being straightened again.
“How did you manage to drive three people crazy at the same time? “
“It is the power of the demon of the era. “
The man bound in chains replied without humility or arrogance, “The madmen only made me more convinced of this. “
The interrogator’s aura shifted, and he immediately turned sideways to lean toward the Crown Prince, moving two steps aside to yield the leather chair directly facing Lorenz.
Crown Prince Hazel walked forward to Lorenz’s side, amidst the buzzing murmurs behind him where clusters of people discussed the Mist State heroes who had defeated the enemy through death, and talked about how Chairman Yang had shattered the ring, granting everyone the ability to amplify their own radiance of life manifold.
He asked in a deep voice,
“What is the top-secret intelligence that made you seek every means to see me, choosing death over lying even temporarily to compromise? “
“Your Highness? “
As the people around looked on with solemnity tinged with curiosity, the captured Major Lorenz, wearing a black hood, fell silent for a few breaths before speaking in a low voice:
“I heard the elders say that when there is a cat inside a sealed box, before that box is opened, no one can determine with any certainty whether the cat inside is dead or alive. “
“So what does that have to do with anything? “
“Only at the moment it is observed is the cat’s state of life or death determined. “
The lips of several nearby individuals twitched slightly.
Sarazen San, after a moment of deliberation, glanced at the people around him.
“Continue. ” The Prince said, observing the states of those around him.
A measured voice began slowly:
“I have heard that Mr. Yang Bucheng once faced a peril. It came from an observation experiment guarded by the scientific Secret Box, one passed down from antiquity known as the Light Wave and the Light Particle. “
“Experiment? ” Sarazen San muttered to himself, then suddenly turned his gaze to a few Demon-Blood Warriors among the nearly ten assembled figures, “Wait— “
“Because of the presence of an observer making the observation, light collapses from a fluctuating waveform to a singular particle state. “
The warriors, who recalled their experiences with President Yangliner, felt a sudden wave of terror grip them.
They instinctively grabbed their heads, and, in shock, witnessed the sudden appearance of terrifying, phantasmal visions coming to life before them.
One warrior, clad in a steel helmet, recoiling in despair while pointing an empty hand through the air, shouted, “There really are demons here! “
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