Chapter 74: Ambers of the Long Night (30)
“Planning something? I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” Nahem said calmly.
Ge Guang leaned back in his chair, spreading his hands. “Fine then, let’s leave it at that.”
He gave up on his original plan. After sending the situation to You Le, he found they were facing something similar too.
Alright then—now it was certain. These NPCs were definitely scheming something. He just didn’t yet know what.
Ten minutes passed. Then twenty.
Nahem let out a deep sigh, stood up, and left the interrogation room.
Ge Guang blinked in confusion—then his chip suddenly displayed a message:
[Election condition update detected. Current ‘Virtue’ weight reduced. New weights added: ‘Potential’ increased; ‘Labor’ (social contribution) increased. Please take note.]
A moment later, loud laughter burst from the interrogation room.
Nahem stood outside, silent for a long time. His hand gripped a pen tightly. When he finally stepped forward, his foot faltered.
At the end of the hallway, several investigators in uniform were chatting and laughing as they walked toward him. When they saw Nahem, they froze, then quickly straightened and saluted.
“G–Government Officer, sir!”
But Nahem—usually strict about etiquette—ignored them completely. His steps were unsteady, his fingers trembling so badly he almost dropped the pen. When he bumped into someone in the corridor, the pen slipped from his hand—
—and was caught mid-air by Emmanuel.
That snapped Nahem back to his senses. When he saw Emmanuel’s face, his expression changed, and he reached out to snatch it back. “Give it to me!”
“What are you planning?” Emmanuel didn’t return it. Instead, he examined the pen—and his face suddenly changed. He twisted off the cap, revealing a red button inside.
“…”
Seeing he’d been found out, Nahem exhaled shakily, as if a part of him finally gave up.
“What is this? A detonator? For what?” Emmanuel turned the pen in his hand, voice calm. “You were going to blow up the entire Investigation Bureau? With all these people still inside?”
“It’s the only chance,” Nahem said quietly. “If we miss today, the election ceremony starts tomorrow. We don’t even know what powers they have. We won’t get another opportunity.”
The plan to detain them under a murder pretext had failed; there was no legal reason left to stop them from entering the election. This—right now—was the only time they were all gathered here. If he wanted to wipe them out in one blow, it had to be today.
Before coming, Nahem had already ordered energy bombs installed throughout the Bureau. They were high-power explosives triggered by electricity—capable of leveling the entire building in an instant.
It was a backup plan. If he succeeded, he alone would die. But if he failed… at least there would be one final insurance policy.
Yet—he hadn’t pressed it.
He stood silently, like a condemned man awaiting judgment. “If Xu Xiao were the one standing here,” he murmured, “she wouldn’t hesitate.”
Emmanuel pocketed the pen. “This is confiscated.”
“But—”
“How can you be sure they haven’t already noticed? What if they’re just waiting for you to act?” Emmanuel said softly. “You’re level 93—you have election eligibility too. Don’t forget, you’re one of the candidates they’d most like to remove.”
In fact, Nahem was arguably the biggest threat among all NPCs. But since he’d always stayed close to the Queen, the demons had never found an opening to strike.
“Leave it to me.” Emmanuel sighed, patting Nahem’s shoulder as he walked past. “There’s still a chance.”
After all, those with potential to become Wise Kings weren’t limited to the demons alone.
*
“You all look like you’re having a lively chat.”
Tang Mobai and the others turned toward the voice. Yan Wuzhen was leaning against the doorway.
“What, found some big clue?” Tang Mobai asked.
“Pretty much. But I’ve got something too—come take a look first.” Yan Wuzhen beckoned.
The group followed him and saw that he wasn’t joking. He’d found a laboratory—different from the one they’d explored before. While Tang Mobai’s team had uncovered theories, this one clearly dealt with hardware: equipment development and maintenance.
Seth was already poring over the devices. Tang Mobai started to open a livestream to consult the experts—but noticed Yan Wuzhen give him a subtle signal.
Tang Mobai paused, glanced around. Seth was focused on his work, Deville curiously watching behind him—no one paying attention here.
So Tang Mobai stepped outside with Yan Wuzhen.
“What’s up?”
“I found something.” Yan Wuzhen handed over a thin, translucent sheet. Tang Mobai immediately recognized it—a digital lab log. His fingers brushed across the surface, activating it. Familiar text appeared—except this time, the author’s name wasn’t Emmanuel.
It was Xu Xiao.
“You actually found Xu Xiao’s lab log?” Tang Mobai exclaimed in disbelief.
“Mm. The first part’s similar to what you’ve seen, but there’s one more page at the end.” Yan Wuzhen flipped to it.
[July 10 — I don’t understand why they insist on completing the Super Intelligence. I know this may be our only way—the only path for us data-bound souls to gain a future—but they trust that man too much. It makes me uneasy. After all, he came from the same place as those demons.]
[July 30 — Be careful of Deville. (crossed out)]
That was the final page.
…Deville?!
Tang Mobai froze.
Wait—why would Deville’s name be here?!
“Could just be the same alias,” Yan Wuzhen said, pretending to comfort him. “Deville’s a pretty common handle in Lost Paradise. Might just be coincidence.”
No, Tang Mobai thought. Maybe the name was coincidence—but the log mentioned ‘those demons’ and ‘the same place’. That pointed straight at Lost Paradise.
Hold on.
A spark flashed in his mind.
Lost Paradise… had they once sent demons into this world—not the virtual world, but the real one?
The real world had faced a cosmic tsunami—that fit the end-times pattern perfectly.
But why hadn’t any demons in the stream chat mentioned it? Had the virtual world rewritten their memories? Then what about the Lost City—a place that clearly mirrored reality? When players saw it, no one reacted as if it was familiar.
Wait—this felt familiar.
Just like last time, after leaving the Revival Match, Yan Wuzhen and the others had completely forgotten Deville existed.
Yan Wuzhen had been watching Tang Mobai’s shifting expression. “What? Did you realize something?”
Tang Mobai stayed silent a moment, then shook his head.
Tch. A contract? Or just something he can’t say? Yan Wuzhen frowned, irritation flashing. His dislike toward Deville was reaching a peak.
“Suit yourself,” he muttered.
If it were the old Tang Mobai, he might’ve noticed Yan Wuzhen’s tone—but right now his mind was consumed by the revelation about Deville. Distracted, he simply nodded.
The two returned to the lab. Deville was waiting at the door. As soon as he saw Tang Mobai, the child ran up and threw himself into his arms—something Tang Mobai usually allowed. But today, Tang Mobai stopped him with an arm.
“Brother?” Deville blinked, confused. Tang Mobai didn’t answer—his gaze shifted briefly. “Ah, I’m going to discuss something with Seth.”
Deville blinked again. Tang Mobai was acting strange—but he let go obediently, watching him leave.
“Heh.”
Yan Wuzhen walked past Deville, lowering his eyes with a smirk. “You play the innocent act very well.”
His voice was quiet as a whisper, but Deville heard it. The child’s blank expression cracked—jealousy and malice flickered beneath the surface—before twisting into a perfect, practiced smile.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Keep pretending. He’s naïve…” Yan Wuzhen glanced toward Tang Mobai’s back and said softly, “…but he’s not stupid.”
Playing innocent might work for now—but if that log was real, Deville wasn’t some harmless kid. This B-rank dungeon had once clearly been high-level—only major demons from Lost Paradise could appear here.
Whatever reason Deville had for disguising himself as a child beside Tang Mobai, Yan Wuzhen wasn’t about to ignore the potential threat.
Deville lifted his head, his false innocence vanishing, replaced by a cold, piercing stare. But Yan Wuzhen didn’t flinch—he sneered right back.
“You don’t understand anything,” Deville said quietly. “I’ve never hidden anything from him.”
More precisely—Tang Mobai had known from the start that he wasn’t a child at all.
“Then why are you so nervous?” Yan Wuzhen tossed back lightly, following Tang Mobai into the lab.
Behind him, Deville’s eyes darkened as he glared at his retreating back.
Tang Mobai had only wanted to find a place to sort through the day’s flood of new intel. But seeing Seth working at the console, he suppressed his thoughts and stepped over. “How’s it going?”
“Getting there,” Seth replied, lifting his head. Dust clung to his hair and face, but his expression was calm. Seeing Tang Mobai, he nodded slightly. “This lab’s researching spatial folding. The platform you see in the center—it’s a prototype.”
The platform looked like an open glassless pod, linked to pipes and cables—a clear work-in-progress.
“Spatial folding?” Tang Mobai echoed. “Like the one in the game room when we first arrived…”
He remembered setting off that bomb then—if the room hadn’t been fitted with folding tech, the explosion would’ve wiped them all out.
“Spatial expansion is just a primitive use of folding tech,” Seth explained. “You probably noticed—there are no elevators or vehicles in the Lost City.”
Tang Mobai nodded.
“That means they’d mastered the technology completely. They no longer needed transportation—they could reach any point on the planet instantly.”
The concept of physical distance had vanished from that civilization’s history. Like ants on a sheet of paper—fold the paper, and the ants move instantly from point A to point B.
“Luckily, since this is a laboratory test model, its energy source is independent. I might be able to try starting it up.”
“Huh?… Wait—” Tang Mobai suddenly realized something. “Start it up… and then…”
Seth replied, “We might be able to return to the surface.”
Right! Space-folding could be used for travel—so returning from the Lost City in the sky back to the surface wasn’t impossible after all!
“You’re amazing, Seth!”
“Mm.” Seth’s lips twitched into a faint smile, but he quickly dropped it. “But it might not work yet. Let me check again.”
Tang Mobai turned on his livestream camera. “Mm, can I watch you while you work?”
“Sure. Though it might be boring.”
“That’s fine.” The experts watching from reality were probably just as curious about this technology anyway.
[The streamer’s finally back to work!]
[Where the hell did he go? Another lab? Did he find some new clue?]
[Streamer, what are you doing?]
[The world collapse rate’s already at 95%! It’s almost over—are they gonna stay trapped in the Lost City forever? ?]
[Yeah! It’s driving me crazy—he was the closest to the Super AI, and now he’s falling behind! No matter how strong his rank, if he can’t get back to the surface, the Lost City’s just a bug zone—completely useless!]
[The surface is already hell—Crisis-class demons are tearing things apart. Even if they go back, what can they do? Are they trying to steal food from a tiger’s mouth?! Do they have a death wish?]
[Honestly, being trapped might be a good thing—at least they’re safe. With his level, he’d be a guaranteed assassination target otherwise!]
[Oh, I believe that. But LOL, speaking of assassinations—remember Red Duke and his crew?]
[LMAO true. Say what you want, the streamer’s got some serious anti-ambush skills.]
[Wake up! Those are Crisis-class demons. Even the weakest one isn’t someone Red Duke’s crew can mess with!]
[Some of you act like Crisis-class demons are a big deal—Red Duke could’ve ranked up ages ago, he just refused to!]
[Here we go, a million reasons why Crisis-class demons “just don’t feel like ranking up.” ?]
[Not enough profit, too risky, yeah yeah—we’re not unqualified, we just don’t want to! ?]
[So sassy. But am I the only one who actually wants to see the streamer fight a Crisis-class demon? I wanna see a counterkill!]
Meanwhile, the experts on the other side of the screen were watching Seth’s operations closely. Most of them didn’t understand the details, but they still docuMentd as much as they could. At the same time, Tang Mobai took out a sheet of paper and began passing encrypted notes to the experts, updating them on what he had just learned about Deville.
“Deville… that mysterious archdemon,” Gong Wen murmured, rubbing her temples. “We always suspected he had ulterior motives for coming to this world, but I didn’t expect him to be linked to this civilization.”
Deville’s goal was to obtain the Super AI. Tang Mobai already knew that. But he had always wondered—why would a high-level demon like Deville need it? Had he lost his reset tool and was trying to rebuild it?
But now, after seeing Tu Xiao’s log, things weren’t that simple. Deville seemed to be connected to the true civilization behind the virtual world.
So the question was—was Deville an ally or an enemy?
Even the expert panel was divided. Gong Wen believed that from the log’s content, Deville might have cooperated with the people of the original world—Emmanuel and the others seemed to trust him. But there was a problem: Emmanuel’s log never mentioned Deville, and Tu Xiao himself clearly didn’t trust him.
Then there was the Super AI. Deville seemed to have been involved in its creation, yet now he was also trying to steal it. That raised suspicion—had he deliberately guided the original world’s people to finish the Super AI, only to reap the benefits later?
There were too few clues to draw conclusions. The expert team continued to argue without reaching consensus.
Tang Mobai bit his lip, barely listening to Seth’s technical explanation. His gaze drifted, following Deville’s movements. Finally, he made up his mind. After saying a quick word to the experts, he turned—just as Seth stopped working, frowning deeply at some unsolvable problem. Tang Mobai didn’t disturb him. His eyes swept the lab, and then—without hesitation—he walked straight toward Deville.
But Deville suddenly jumped up, eyes nervous. “I—I need to use the bathroom.”
It was an impeccable excuse.
Tang Mobai followed calmly. “Sure, I’ll come too.”
“Uh… actually, I don’t need to anymore.” Deville quickly changed his excuse. “The air here’s kind of stuffy. I’ll go for a walk instead.”
“Then I’ll come with you.”
“I want to be alone!” Deville’s voice rose nervously. He didn’t even know what exactly he was afraid of—maybe it was that once he told the truth, the fragile balance between them would shatter, and there would be no going back.
Yan Wuzhen was right—he was panicking. Not because Tang Mobai might learn his identity, but because he feared the inevitable parting. He feared losing Tang Mobai’s gentle tolerance. Because by now, he knew very well—they weren’t the same kind of people.
During their time in the Lost City, he and Tang Mobai had silently agreed not to expose each other. But now, there was no avoiding it.
“But I want to go with you.” Tang Mobai crouched down so their eyes were level. In the past, Deville had loved when he did that—how it showed equality and respect. But now, that same gesture only made him feel cornered under those calm, searching eyes.
“Let’s talk properly, Deville.”
Fate had rarely favored him—and when it did, it always took the light back too soon. So the creature of the night had no choice but to retreat into the dark once more.
Deville silently followed Tang Mobai to a secluded corner.
“Deville, do you remember what I told you the night you came to see me?”
Silence.
“That deception won’t earn trust. If you really want to cooperate with me, you have to start with basic honesty.”
Deville lifted his head, voice hoarse. Jealousy had taken over after Gluttony quieted down.
“Not a single word of that was wrong…” Tang Mobai murmured, a little surprised, then nodded. “Exactly. And since you’re one of our team now, I need to confirm something important with you first.”
“If stealing the Super AI means destroying this world, we won’t do it. Once we learned how crucial it is to this place, our mission changed—we’ll help the people of the original world stop Lost Paradise. What about you? Will you still insist on taking the Super AI?”
Of course…
Even though he already knew Tang Mobai’s ideals, hearing him say them out loud still made Deville’s heart twist painfully.
He loved how Tang Mobai had once reached out his hand to him—and hated how that hand was never meant for him alone.
Deville’s eyes reddened. Jealousy gnawed at his heart until it hurt to breathe. He wanted to kill Yan Wuzhen, to kill Seth, even Emmanuel—and maybe everyone in this world while he was at it.
He could’ve just lied here. He’d observed enough to know Tang Mobai couldn’t see through lies, and he wasn’t Gluttony—if he acted well enough, he could bluff his way through. The instance was almost over anyway—the collapse rate was 95%. Once Seth figured out how to get them back to the surface, he’d have his chance to seize the Super AI.
But still…
“I’m… part of this team too?” Deville’s voice trembled faintly.
Tang Mobai nodded matter-of-factly. “Of course! You’re our important ‘security captain’—our professional anti-hospital-riot specialist! …Though yeah, that’s kind of hard right now.”
He looked at Deville’s current childlike form—hardly intimidating at all. Still powerful, yes, but not exactly field-ready.
“Oh, I know!” Tang Mobai’s eyes lit up with mischief. He crouched and ruffled Deville’s hair. “If someone does start trouble, just hug their leg and say—‘We’ve got old parents and little kids at home! If you beat us to death, we’ll all be out begging on the street!’ How about that? You’re so cute, they’ll totally let us go!”
Deville: “I refuse!”
“Eh—?”
“If they hit you, I’ll tell them I’ll remember their faces. When I grow up, when they’re old and bedridden, I’ll go back and beat them all—then beat their kids too, and make them beg on the streets.”
“You little brat!” Tang Mobai burst out laughing. “So much for respect and compassion—you’ve got zero moral restraint!”
“But… I will take the Super AI.” Deville said firmly. “I only have fragments of my original memory—I don’t remember why I must do this… but even if this world is destroyed, I’ll still do it.”
Thank you for reading 🙂 I hope you all liked my translations. If you enjoyed my work, please consider buying me a Ko-Fi 😉
