Chapter 428: The Origin of Different Species_1

Chapter 428: Chapter 428: The Origin of Different Species_1

Rose Iron Prison, Aiden’s office.

"...This matter is my responsibility, and I am willing to accept the punishment," Veronica said with her head lowered, standing in front of the office desk.

"No, this isn’t your responsibility, nor does any superior have the right to blame a subordinate for not achieving the impossible. Objectively speaking, no one could have guarded against that situation. Strictly speaking, not foreseeing Halo’s transformation might be my responsibility, you’ve already done very well," Aiden consoled.

"Chief, what exactly happened to Halo all of a sudden?" Veronica raised her face, "It seemed like she suddenly returned to normal?"

"To put it bluntly, her body was essentially taken over," Aiden thought for a moment and gave a brief answer.

"What do you mean?"

"You know she used to be a priestess serving the Evil God, and her abilities came from that Evil God. In the past, she sacrificed herself to her worshipped deity, asking it to descend upon her, but the ritual went awry and failed. Although she retained the divine power bestowed upon her, she went insane. But the Evil God didn’t die, a remnant of its spirit lingered within Halo, and for some reason, this deity awoke and replaced Halo’s consciousness," Aiden explained.

"A god?" Veronica gasped, "In our prison?"

"Don’t worry, I temporarily sealed her abilities with this book. For a while, I’ll keep this thing in the prison," Aiden said, "She has now lost most of her divine power, only a tiny bit of force remains, nothing exaggerated, but it’s a bit tricky."

Veronica furrowed her brow as she listened, hesitated for a long while, and then cautiously spoke up, "Chief, it sounds like... you are quite knowledgeable about ’gods’?"

"Considering what I used to do, I’ve come across many secrets," Aiden casually replied, "In this world, gods truly exist."

"Then those ’spells’ you use, and that divine artifact..." Veronica realized something.

"They are of the same origin, all belonging to divine power but to different categories — the so-called power of the gods, there are many kinds," Aiden said, "I’m sorry for only being this specific with you now..."

At this point, Veronica had been involved in enough incidents, and he had even allowed Veronica to use the Wordless Code. There was no need to conceal the information about divine speech from her, as long as he didn’t tell her details about Melifilia for the time being.

"Then, Chief, are any of these divine powers related to the origins of werewolves?"

Veronica suddenly asked a question that took Aiden by surprise.

"I have researched many specific materials in the past," Veronica said softly, "I saw in some texts that the curse of werewolves actually originates from an ancient deity, Chief, could this be..."

"It’s very likely," Aiden nodded, "As far as I know, dragonkin and the blood race are also humans mutated by the influence of divine authority, and I guess that most of the other races in this world came to be this way."

Since the blood race mutated from humans due to the derivative power of "Death" authority, and dragonkin are the offspring of humans and dragons produced by forcibly mixing blood through "Reproduction" and "Evolution," it stands to reason that other races could have emerged likewise. The academic community has never been able to trace the source of otherworldly demons, which are most likely byproducts of authority power; otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense that human language-formed black magic can summon these creatures lurking in dimensional gaps.

Aiden speculated that lycanthropy disorders like werewolves and tiger-men were probably related to the "Life" or "Reproduction" authority, both of which are capable of combining humans with other biological entities. Ancient legends spoke of the Great Druids who worshipped the god of life, claiming they had the power to transform into animals — presumably, this too was a blessing from a deity.

But in this era, the Druid religion had long since vanished, leaving behind only some afflicted with beastial condition, some by contamination, and others like Veronica, carrying it in their bloodline.

Could this have something to do with the contamination of the "life" dominion that Abigail mentioned?

"Chief, you seem so certain, do you... know something?" A glimmer of hope sparked in Veronica’s eyes.

"It’s just a speculation," Aiden dared not assert his guess recklessly, "Veronica, do you... want to become a normal person again?"

Because of her werewolf heritage, Veronica had suffered. Her research into werewolves obviously wasn’t driven by mere curiosity.

No wonder she had suddenly asked such an unexpected question—thinking about it, it made complete sense.

If Veronica was contemplating this, Aiden felt he could try asking Abigail for advice. Perhaps, there really was a way to reverse the beastial condition.

"That, if you had asked me before, I would have dreamed of it. But now, now, I think it’s okay," Veronica said, somewhat embarrassed as she scratched her face, "Working in this unit, being a werewolf isn’t inconvenient, and there are many benefits. I’m more useful to you as a chief, right...?"

"How a person lives their life always comes down to their own will. Even if you weren’t a werewolf, you would still be an excellent prison guard. Have you ever really considered reversing your beastial condition?" Aiden probed further.

"Well, to be honest, I really don’t mind my werewolf identity anymore," Veronica said, lowering her eyes, "But as you know, the Pureblood Werewolf trait is quite likely to be inherited. I often imagine, just in case our—"

Veronica stopped abruptly mid-sentence, her eyes widening.

After an awkward two seconds, she stumbled through her continuation: "I mean... if I have children in the future, I would try my best not to have them go through what I’ve been through... I mean, if it’s possible... just, just thinking about it."

"I know, I know..." Aiden watched as Veronica, her face flushed, uneasily fidgeted with her fingers, and couldn’t help feeling a bit embarrassed himself, "I know a scholar in this field; she might know something... Of course, it’s just a might, but I can ask for you."

Aiden could guess what Veronica had been about to say.

"I’d appreciate that, I... for now..." Veronica carefully raised her face but dared not meet Aiden’s gaze fully, "May I return to my post?"

Right now, she wished she could find a crack to crawl into; how dare she linger here any longer?

"Go ahead, go ahead," Aiden said with a resigned smile.

Veronica made a reserved bow and promptly exited the office, quickly disappearing without a trace.

Aiden gazed at the empty corridor outside the door and remained silent.

This girl, she forgot to close the door.