Chapter 62: Ambers of the Long Night (18)
“You guys…?”
Emmanuel’s heart skipped a beat — had Tang Mobai and the others already been discovered?
“Speak!” Nahem yanked Emmanuel by the collar, his tone icy. “Where’s that crazy woman?”
Emmanuel quickly realized who he meant and answered calmly, “I parted ways with her a long time ago. How should I know where she is now?”
“Parted ways? What kind of play are you putting on?” Nahem sneered. “You think I’ll believe that? Believe you finally gave up on that foolish delusion?”
“I know you won’t believe me — not unless I cut out my brain and hand it over for analysis,” Emmanuel said, gripping Nahem’s wrist. “But I won’t do anything inhumane. No matter what, I won’t. You should know that. I can’t walk the same path as them.”
“Then tell me everything you know about the Blue Sky Society! You should know what that crazy woman is trying to do!”
The Blue Sky Society — that was the organization Emmanuel once… no, the one he and the current leader, Tu Xiao, had co-founded.
Blue Sky… the “Blue Sky.” At the beginning, all they wanted was to see the real sky — one not hidden or distorted by anything, to see it as it truly was.
But now, the Blue Sky Society had become the most active terrorist organization in society, carrying out multiple assassination attempts on the Queen and other high-ranking officials. Their reputation had fallen to rock bottom — everyone wanted them dead.
Perhaps seeing an old acquaintance brought back memories Emmanuel had long buried. He gave a bitter smile. “Sorry.”
Nahem punched him hard in the face. He didn’t hold back. His well-trained arm muscles flexed as his fist landed, sending Emmanuel’s nose bleeding instantly. The impact made his vision blur and his head spin.
“You’re still as spineless as ever.” Nahem released him, letting Emmanuel collapse to his knees. “Even now, you’re clinging to old feelings. Tu Xiao didn’t hold back when she hunted you — so why are you still protecting her?”
“Maybe because… we were friends.”
“Friends? From the moment you ran away, that ended.” Nahem crouched, grabbed Emmanuel’s golden hair, and forced him to look up. “What a pity. You were the best of us — the fastest to level up. That position should’ve been yours.”
“…Opatra.”
“What?”
Emmanuel’s handsome face twisted in pain. Blood dripped from his nose, and his vision was so blurred he could barely keep his eyes open. It was rare to see him so disheveled. Once, Nahem would never have been his match, but two years without leveling or training had dulled his reflexes.
“Opatra… does she still smile?”
“……”
Even though his vision was a blur of colors, Emmanuel didn’t need to see Nahem’s expression to know the answer.
“The wise monarchs of every generation rarely made mistakes. They were perfect — brilliant, selfless, so rational they never even started families. The system worked to its fullest… But is she even human anymore? Her hyper-cognition is malfunctioning — you people closest to her should know that better than anyone!”
“You dare mention her?” Nahem gave a sharp, angry laugh. “You and Tu Xiao are the same as ever — one a coward, one a selfish maniac. You’ve never once thought about who has to pay for your actions!”
“If we don’t uncover the truth, and our world really is on the brink of destruction, then by the time we realize it, it’ll be too late!”
“And did it never occur to you that you might be wrong? You want to overthrow this society? Do you even know what would happen if we suddenly lost the Super Intelligent Brain? Do you think everyone else should die for your doubts?!”
Emmanuel didn’t answer. He was deliberately provoking Nahem, trying to stall for time. His hands were hidden behind his back, fingers fumbling to press a spot on his palm — but no familiar vibration came.
“Give it up,” Nahem said coldly. “I know exactly what you’re trying to do. The moment I recognized you, I used my authority to seal the network in this area. Everyone’s levels are frozen for twenty-four hours.”
“I know you were once close to the Superintelligent Brain — its heir, even. But now you’re just a pitiful level zero.”
Nahem looked down at him with contempt. “Even if I give up control of this car, with your level, you couldn’t even open the door. That’s its punishment for cowards who run away. You chose the wrong path — and you’re destined to smash your head against it.”
*
“What the hell…?”
Deville stared wide-eyed at his Paradise Watch. He had only just noticed that Tang Mobai had pulled him into the group chat. Normally, since they were almost always together, the group wasn’t used much — and Deville never said anything in it.
But this time, a photo had popped up that grabbed his full attention.
It was a picture of Emmanuel and Dodge — feeding each other.
What the hell happened in the three days he was gone?!
“What are you doing?” Jealousy immediately noticed the violent spike in Gluttony’s emotions and grew alert when he saw him stand up. “Don’t do anything stupid! Didn’t you see how many Purifiers are outside?”
Although Deville had the same chip implanted by Emmanuel, his situation was… special. Even with the chip, Purifiers still hunted him relentlessly — like wolves catching a scent of meat. Because of that, he couldn’t reveal his identity to the others and stayed behind when Tang Mobai’s group left the ship.
“It’s been three days already,” Jealousy said. “They’ll be back soon. Can’t you just wait?”
“The number of Purifiers outside has dropped,” Deville said. “Don’t you think that’s strange? Something must’ve happened inside.”
Envy had noticed too, but without knowing what, he’d chosen to keep watching silently.
“So what? That’s no reason to go out there.”
“Yes, there is,” Gluttony said. “I’ve been gone for three days. Judging from the photos, they’ve all gotten closer — friendlier. That means it’s even harder for me to fit in now, and my chance of getting near the Superintelligent Brain is dropping fast.
“My only shot is to tell them about this strange situation and go help. If it proves useful later, I can make up for being gone these three days.”
Envy froze. “…You know, that actually makes a weird kind of sense.”
This guy… suddenly gets clever now of all times.
“Then I’m going!” Gluttony said cheerfully. Seeing Jealousy didn’t stop him, he sent a message to the small group chat, then happily slung on his little backpack and headed for the ship’s exit.
Along the way, Deville confirmed again — the Purifiers had indeed thinned out. It made sneaking into the conference venue easier… but also meant it’d be just as easy for others to infiltrate.
Tang Mobai sat in a wheelchair, a blanket over his knees and a scarf over his shoulders. His outfit stood out awkwardly among the crowd, drawing quiet whispers everywhere he passed.
“That’s him, right?”
“Seems like it. There’s no one else it could be.”
“My advisor mentioned him in the group chat today — said Dr. Fletcher practically worships the guy.”
“Really? How come I’ve never heard of him before?”
“Didn’t you see the wheelchair? Maybe his health’s bad.”
At the back, Yan Wuzhen and Seth exchanged glances. Wow… he’s actually famous now.
Dodge pushed the wheelchair from behind — though it was fully electric and didn’t need pushing. Still, Dodge did it anyway, glaring down any scholar who tried to approach.
Even Tang Mobai’s extra layers of clothing were Dodge’s doing. Though Seth and the others had prepared outfits too, they knew Tang Mobai didn’t really need them, so they’d picked light fabrics. But Dodge had overridden them and bundled Tang Mobai up like a rice dumpling.
This guy’s serious…
As the wheelchair rolled into the venue, Tang Mobai’s emotions were complicated. He’d realized Dodge was the type who’d literally pull all-nighters at his bedside just to discuss academic theories with him longer.
He didn’t know that Tang Mobai’s “daily ten bullet comments” limit meant their “extra study time” didn’t actually change anything — the output stayed exactly the same.
And besides, once the ceremony ended, they’d be leaving immediately. They wouldn’t see each other again.
“Dodge,” Tang Mobai took a deep breath, “can you tell me what exactly you discovered while researching aerospace?”
At that, both Yan Wuzhen and Seth looked at him, while Dodge frowned deeply. “I told you, that question—”
“I know it’s sensitive, and you don’t want to talk about it,” Tang Mobai interrupted. “But I want to know. In exchange… hmm, I’ll stay and study with you every day from now on.”
(Though the one really studying would, of course, still be the scientists on Earth.)
Yan Wuzhen and Seth froze — then turned to stare at Tang Mobai.
Tang Mobai actually felt a little guilty—he hadn’t yet discussed with Emmanuel whether or not to take Dodge away. But he thought that someone like Dodge, who was already quite close to uncovering the truth, probably wouldn’t reject Emmanuel’s plan.
Scholars had a kind of madness in their bones—they would never stop until they got to the bottom of things. In Tang Mobai’s view, Dodge had already crossed the line. If he could trade for the information in Dodge’s hands, it would be worth it.
Dodge’s eyes lit up, and he agreed without hesitation. “Alright!”
Then, as if afraid Tang Mobai would change his mind, he immediately added, “You know that in the field of aerospace, we’ve made countless attempts to explore space—manned spacecraft, unmanned probes, satellites… But almost none of the artificial celestial bodies have been able to ascend beyond 13 kilometers before they crash.”
Tang Mobai froze, thoughtful. “Even satellites? And they never found out why they crash?”
Dodge hesitated for a moment. “The cause of the crashes… is usually due to some kind of internal system error. However…”
“However what?”
“One satellite managed to transmit a photo right before it went down,” Dodge leaned closer to Tang Mobai’s ear, lowering his voice. “In the photo—there was nothing outside the atmosphere.”
After saying that, Dodge straightened up and casually continued pushing Tang Mobai forward, completely ignoring the storm raging in the listener’s mind.
Nothing outside the atmosphere? What did that mean?
The team of experts in the real world collectively drew in a sharp breath. The strangeness of this world had already been discussed in detail during earlier meetings. Similar to what Yan Wuzhen and the others had suspected, the expert team had proposed several theories. Especially considering that Tang Mobai and his group had once been inside a “game room” created by an advanced civilization, the “brain-in-a-vat” hypothesis had been prominently highlighted.
Now, this new clue seemed to further support that idea.
If the sky itself was fake—then what kind of world were they truly in? Was it like that game room, where all five senses were being controlled while their bodies still existed in reality?
Or was it that only their consciousness had been extracted into a computer world?
And their bodies—had they been digitized into the “Lost Paradise” system?
Or were they lying somewhere in the real world?
What role did the superintelligent fluid play in all this?
What was really happening outside?
And what was the Lost City?
“That photo…”
“Of course, no one believed it,” Dodge said flatly. “Everyone assumed it was just a satellite malfunction. But one organization… bought the photo from us.”
“Who?”
“Uh…” Dodge hesitated, clearly reluctant to say the name. Their reputation wasn’t good, but without their funding, his project wouldn’t have lasted this long.
“Fine. You’ve probably heard of them—they’re called Blue Sky Society.”
…Never heard of them, thought the residents of Lost Paradise silently.
They arrived at the venue just as the lecture was about to begin. The hall was packed with people—turning one’s head too quickly could practically knock over several academic heavyweights.
At that moment, Yan Wuzhen suddenly looked around.
“What’s wrong?” Seth asked.
“Don’t you think…” Yan Wuzhen frowned, “there are a lot more security personnel near all the exits?”
“Maybe it’s because it’s the closing ceremony,” Seth reasoned. “More people in the venue means they need more staff to maintain order.”
“Maybe…” Yan Wuzhen replied, but he kept his eyes on those unfamiliar faces. Although they wore the same uniforms as before, something about them felt different—sharper, more disciplined, more professional.
Just then, a message popped up in their small group chat. Yan Wuzhen glanced at his watch—it was from Deville.
“The number of Purifiers outside… has decreased.”
Thank you for reading 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
