Chapter 587 - 556: Battlefield of the Strong (3/3)

Chapter 587: Chapter 556: Battlefield of the Strong (3/3)

[In fact, it’s quite simple]

Michael’s Heart Light Body, which looked somewhat like a phoenix yet shone even more brilliantly, cocked its head and glanced at Ian: "You also know that the Duke of Solin possesses my grandfather’s Legacy related to Spirit Energy Techniques, that is, Inega II’s."

"He was once my grandfather’s student, a Chosen One—even though the old Duke died by my grandfather’s hand, he still respected him and inherited a part of my grandfather’s Legacy."

"And all my grandfather’s Legacies are interconnected; if one wants to restore the splendor of the Golden Age or even surpass it, my grandfather’s Legacy is essential."

He looked up at the sky above Azure City, dim and tinged with blood, and spoke softly, "But for the vast majority of the people in this world, for most of the powerful Sublimators—this world does not need a second Yinaiga, does not need such an impatient Black Tyrant."

"The current Terra, though imperfect, is quite good enough for them. Slow transformation is better; there’s no need to rush."

"They will not allow my grandfather’s Legacy to come together. I can’t get it, the Duke of Solin can’t, nor can any other heirs of the Legacy who are still hiding their identities."

"Similarly, I have my own selfish reasons. I cannot let others attain my grandfather’s Legacy, it’s as simple as that."

"Moreover,"

Ian squinted his eyes, the expression he habitually wore when he had uncovered a secret or detected a hidden message in someone else’s words.

The youth spoke softly, "You wish for me to act as a guide. A hidden guide."

"Your Highness, later on, you will make an open and honorable appearance, confronting the foreign powers that will appear head-on—you will vie for the Former Emperor’s Legacy, those technical materials in Duke Solin’s laboratory."

"But you will slip up in the end. You won’t obtain the Legacy."

"But I am here. You want me to cooperate at that time, to receive the Legacy."

"That’s why you wished for me to come here."

[It’s very dangerous, and one could easily get caught up in the battlefield of the strong—but will you refuse?] Michael’s voice was light, tinged with laughter: [I knew from the beginning that you would come here, not a single heir to the Legacy would pass up this opportunity.]

[Ian, I have read your Efficacy Potion paper; it’s very good. You took my advice and managed to produce such results so quickly—in just two months, you completely changed your research direction. With your intelligence, you naturally wouldn’t turn down the chance to obtain more of the Legacy.]

Ian didn’t speak, his silence at that moment was the best response.

Therefore, the Second Prince was quite satisfied: [Rest assured, as long as you cooperate well and without any accidents... there will absolutely be no danger.]

[In this matter, we are not superiors and subordinates, not a prince and a lord... but partners.]

—Yeah right.

That’s what Ian thought to himself; it’s not that he believed the Second Prince would harm him—the other was a blatantly friendly green unit.

But, ’without any accidents’ was virtually impossible.

No matter how well Michael planned things, when the time came, it was definitely still a ’play it by ear’ situation.

And Michael actually didn’t hold much hope for success; he simply made plans on the off chance of success, ensuring that if the opportunity arose, he wouldn’t be unprepared—Ian was the essential factor he had prepared for success.

It was actually a good habit, and Ian took note of this practice in his ’memorandum.’

Since he had already reported to Michael, the true big boss, Tres certainly wouldn’t have any objections.

He was in a state of mind utterly smooth, with no intention of doing any thinking.

Once confirmed there was no danger, Ian, accompanied by Frost Butterfly and Hua’an, arrived at the place where he remembered his ’mother’s’ body had died.

He found the original body of the Phantasm woman.

It was inside a shop; a young-looking woman with strands of white in her hair had died from massive bleeding at the neck. She died with a smile on her face, and combining with his memories, it was clear she had willingly accepted her death.

Wrapped around the woman’s body were several cloth strips—evidently, her son Miles had done this to prevent his mother’s corpse from being mutated by fungi. On the strips, a simple name was written in blood.

[Ruishe]

In urgent situations, even Miles couldn’t choose a fitting resting place for his mother. He could only leave her at the inner side of a roadside clothing shop, to avoid disturbance from other corpses and beasts.

"Please forgive me, I am only trying to find out the truth."

In a low murmur, Ian reached out his hand, a silver-cyan halo lighting up in his eyes, and then he placed it on the woman’s head: "I need to know what happened to you..."

In an instant, Foresight View was activated.

Ian saw many fragmented memories.

These were about a woman named Ruishe living in an apartment building, about a kind-hearted Aunt Lydia who helped her, and about the hardships she endured raising her son to adulthood and proudly watching him become a man.

However, what used to be a warm apartment building turned into a human purgatory, and Aunt Lydia’s family, who took care of the mother and son, were almost entirely killed in a madman’s attack.

Only Cynthia, the little granddaughter, and the daughter’s family who had gone on a trip, survived.

Ian was reading these memories, still silent, still composed.

He just sighed in his heart and then picked out the most important few doubts.

"Right here."

The aqua halos in his eyes extinguished, and Ian straightened up, standing in front of Ruishe’s corpse, he murmured to himself: "A ’plague’ that mirrors ’temporary soul formation,’ or what one could call ’spiritual disturbance,’ had already surfaced, the result of an experiment, which is why people from the Ducal Mansion quickly came up with a ’potion’ to cure it."

"And this condition of the plague... why does it seem a bit like Flash Mosquito Disease?"

"Then there’s the efficacy potion. In reality, that is a special kind of Spiritual Essence Base Fluid, which while indeed can treat the soul, is essentially just a prerequisite designed to better allow individuals to condense their souls!"

"Some people adapt, and some do not. Those who adapt, like Ruishe, can form a true soul even under the current overlap between Domain of Void and reality, while those who do not adapt will have their temporary souls linger longer."

"Duke of Solin actually concocted a potion that could assist ’temporary souls’... had it not been for an accident in the laboratory, he might have managed to create a group of ’ordinary people’ with souls using money!"

—What an incredible invention.

As he thought so, Ian suddenly spotted another doubt.

"Wait a minute."

He frowned slightly, squatting down, and looked earnestly at Ruishe’s corpse—not actually gazing into the eyes of the body but rather clairvoyantly examining the inside of the corpse, specifically the brain.

Ruishe had been dead for quite some time now, and her brain was already decayed... Regrettably, but in truth, it had turned into mush, too muddled to discern anything.

Previously, Ian didn’t scrutinize too closely because of this, but after sensing the presence of the ’temporary soul,’ he decided to take a more careful look.

And that was when he discovered the point of suspicion.

Ian was silent for a while, he hesitated for a moment but eventually made up his mind.

"I am very sorry."

He took a deep breath, and with solemnity said to the body before him: "But I do need to do this to proceed with some things."

After speaking, Ian extended his hand, and the flowing water entered the corpse’s ear, breaking through the decayed body structure, and directly into the mushy brain.

There, he grasped something.

Then, he pulled it out.

Snap. Ian positioned Ruishe’s body straight again, then fixed his gaze on the foreign object he found in her brain.

It was... a small bug.

A bug that Ian was all too familiar with, but also slightly different from those he knew.

"Brain-Eating Parasite..."

Ian whispered in a cold tone that made both the Frost Butterfly and An shiver beside him... but in fact, Ian was very clear that this was not a true Brain-Eating Parasite.

This was an ’Attached Brain’.

Primitive and degenerated, it was nowhere near the era of the Former Empire, nor as ferociously retrogressive as the ’Redwood Attached Brain’!