Chapter 883 – Meteorite
Seong-il frowns as he feels goosebumps and disgust hitting his heart at the same time after listening to Ilax’s explanation.
‘Certainly… They treat other races as livestock… But there’s no guarantee that they don’t treat the lower class like slaves.’
However, she felt uncomfortable for a moment. In any case, the fact that the aliens who converted to the Transcendental Church were stabbed in the back was, in a way, self-indulgent, so Seong-il thinks that their ending may be a punishment.
“But… Is there any guarantee that a creature created with a body swapped out is really not a human? Genetically, the second generation is a human anyway.”
『That’s an excellent point. However, the Transcendence Church has already thought about this problem, so it has already been resolved for a long time.』
“… How?”
『It’s simple. If you know the plans of our Guardians of Reason and the Transcendent Church, you would already know about the ‘Red Thread’, right?』
“…!!”
As expected, when Seong-il seemed to know about the red thread’s genetic manipulation, Illax calmly continued his explanation with an expression that seemed to indicate that he did.
『The red thread remodels the genes so that the human body produces the genetic material of our kin… That is, our ‘Ys’.』
Illax tells you that the red thread will twist human genes, twisting human bodies into something different from before from the second generation onwards.
『Perhaps the basic human organs will remain the same. The organs that form the mind, such as the spine and the cerebrum, will be newly formed according to the red thread engraved in the genes, creating a body suitable for our species.』
Illax even says that during the process, the expression of psionic energy will become more natural, and self-awareness as ‘Ys’ will become even clearer.
『Whew… Honestly, no matter how much I think about it, I can’t understand that act.』
Illax bitterly mutters that he is sick of the Transcendence Church’s atrocities and wishes he would never get involved with them again.
『Can you help me in that sense?』
“How?”
『Although our ultimate goals are different, I don’t think there is any need for hostility because of that. That’s why we want you to help us destroy the barrier.』
Illax tells us that if the barrier is destroyed, a huge causality wave will occur, making it difficult for the Transcendent Church’s evil plan to succeed, and there is even a possibility of defeat by AI attacks.
“… If that AI descends on our world, won’t our humanity also be destroyed?”
『Maybe so. But you said it yourself a moment ago. Not only is he confident of migrating all of humanity to another ‘dimension’, but he is also confident of stopping the Transcendence Church’s pursuit. If you are truly confident in your abilities, you and your species can be saved.』
“Hmm…”
Illax said that in order to gain Seongil’s trust. He says that he will help rescue humanity currently living on Earth using the powerful organizational power and holy relics of the Guardians of Reason.
“Instead of helping with the human rescue operation. Help us break down the barrier?”
“Exactly. I think there is a high possibility that it will be mutually beneficial.』
“Hmm…”
Instead of quickly answering, Seongil begins to analyze the information Illax gave him by feeding it into his head.
‘Not bad.’
Since it is now obvious that it will no longer be difficult to unilaterally beat down the Transcendent Church using time stop like before, Seong-il thinks it would be a good idea to form a temporary alliance with the Ark forces here.
‘No matter how many of the Transcendental Church members have fallen into dimensional hibernation… If they raise their alert, it will definitely be difficult to eat raw food like before. Moreover, it is obvious that these crazy fanatics will wake up the sleeping people in the name of ‘martyrdom’ and use them as combat troops.’
Although there was a fatal weakness in that if the subject was forcibly awakened from dimensional hibernation, the subject would have to live a life-limited life, it was clear that people with such a sophisticated ideology as the Transcendence Church would not take the side effects seriously.
“Hmm… What about the rescue of humanity… We can take care of it… But…”
Seong-il tells Illax that there is no need to go out of his way to save humanity. Ilax was taken aback by his firm words, but in fact, it was a kind of illusion that he did not know about Eden’s overwhelming power to stop time.
‘There’s no need for me to correct you.’
As Eden’s organization became vast. It was obvious that secrets would come out from the lips of our allies who might one day be taken prisoner. However, he did not intend to give it away by telling him one of his best secrets and weapons, so Seong-il tells Illax to get his attention.
“If you can just attract the attention of the Transcendental Church led by the bishop, I and my organization will be confident that we can rescue as many people as possible. So let’s skip that…”
『I hope your confidence is not arrogance.』
Ilax had a lot of things he wanted to say. He was not so affectionate towards humanity as to kick away the help of a thousand gold against the powerful human emotions in front of him. In the end, what was important to him was saving ‘Ys’ from fanaticism and rebuilding civilization.
“I have a few more questions.”
『What is it?』
“What exactly is the mechanism of the dimensional barrier? And where is it located?”
『It’s a mechanism…』
In response to Seongil’s question, Illax pauses for a moment and appears to be thinking about something. But that lasts for a while. He sighs as if he has finally made a decision and then answers Seong-il.
『The source of the powerful device that makes up the dimensional barrier is in the North Pole.』
“Hmm… Is it like the psionic device installed in the North Pole? Or like the holy relic you are talking about?”
『… Actually, the core of the dimensional barrier is not a holy relic. Rather, it is a cursed object. Really terrible.』
“…?”
When the subject, who is making good use of things, suddenly tells him that the core of the barrier is cursed, Seongil is taken aback by Illax’s explanation.
『Originally… I didn’t want to tell this story to any outsiders… But now that it seems like the end is really coming, I’ll tell it to you.』
Regardless of whether the end was hell or heaven, Illax was convinced that this dimensional shift was the end of his race. Previously, we had wandered in search of a ‘new world’, so paradoxically there was a hopeless ‘future’, but now we have already found the vessel called ‘humanity’.
In such a situation, since Illax had betrayed his race after a long period of patience, he was convinced that if he missed this opportunity to escape, he and the guardians of reason would truly be killed by the AI or the Transcendent Church. Even if they survive, they will change into a machine race and be reborn as a new race, so there is a high possibility that they will break with the past.
『Do you… Know how we can escape from ‘things’?』
“… You don’t know?”
『Ha… Then the story might be a bit long.』
‘… Feeling?’
Seongil could feel through his emotions that what Illax was trying to say would be very important to him. Therefore, Seong-il temporarily abandons the arrogant and arrogant attitude he has shown so far and shows a calm attitude of listening to Illax’s explanation.
『Before I talk about ‘it’ in the North Pole, let me tell you one thing first. There is a sacred object of great dimension in ‘Antarctica’ that has saved our species so far.』
‘… That?’
If the alien race, commonly called ‘Ys’, was reluctant to mention it directly, it almost meant that it was related to AI, so Seong-il was able to instinctively realize that the core that made up the dimensional barrier was related to AI.
『We… Have suffered for too long. What really scared us the most was not the power that ‘they’ showed, but the fact that we desperately crossed the multiverse, erasing our traces and escaping. ‘It’ followed us like a ghost. It felt like they were playing with us.』
As we talk about the past, I feel a tremor from Illax’s psionic waves. As Seong-il listened to the waves, he was able to naturally guess how painful Illax’s past life must have been.
『Actually… There is a separate reason why the prophet of the Transcendent Church was able to spread his influence. It was because of the ‘miracles’ he showed to our species one after another.』
“… Miracle?”
“Exactly. He used to go around saying that he had received a revelation from the Great Will about an ancient ‘relic’ and that he could use that relic to escape his people from their terrible reality.』
Illax tells us that the prophet of the Transcendental Church went around shouting that he would teach his compatriots the true use of an ‘item’ that they had been carrying around without knowing its true identity since the past when civilization was intact.
『At first, I believed most of it was nonsense. No matter how difficult our lives are becoming… What kind of idiot would want to take refuge in fanaticism? That’s nonsense with poor logic?』
Therefore, as always, the leadership tried to isolate the so-called ‘prophet’ by reprimanding him for causing trouble. However, rather than bending to them, the prophet confidently urges them to check their ‘holy relics’ for themselves.
