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Chapter 269 - 268: Primordial Deities

By using the Dream Maker ability to "create" Demons inside dreams for interrogation, the advantages were obvious.

Chen Xuan could construct the interrogation environment however he wished, whereas places like that were hard to find in reality; all those so‑called modern interrogation tools were just for show, empty diagrams meant only to increase the psychological pressure on the subject.

Secondly, he didn’t have to worry about a Demon dying because his methods were too heavy‑handed; no matter how he tormented the Demon, it was only a phantom in the dream, and would vanish without a trace the moment he woke up.

This also gave Chen Xuan a new understanding of Lin Qing’s warning.

No wonder so many people in the future would become addicted to super‑dreams.

A world where you could do whatever you wanted without taking responsibility for the aftermath really did possess an unparalleled allure.

Fortunately, his usual life as a store manager was thrilling and dangerous enough, which helped him build a certain degree of psychological resistance.

And the greatest advantage of dream interrogation lay in the fact that each round of interrogation was not completely isolated.

The Demon’s projection would read the original body’s memories, and the miserable experiences suffered in the "nightmare" would in turn be fed back to the body; even if the Demon never actually entered the dream from beginning to end, it could still remember the pain brought on by the electric pulses, as well as its deepening awe of Lin Qing.

The accumulation of this sensation would gradually crush their mental defenses, and in the dream this manifested as the projection becoming more and more inclined to cooperate.

Sixth round—

"I know I was wrong! Please spare me!" Vandiff begged, tears streaming down his old face. "I can sign a contract with you and become your servant!"

"So you also know who’s in charge of contacting you on the Dimensional Limit Mechanism’s side?" Lin Qing mercifully released the switch.

"I’ve never seen him in person, but I attended a conference call and he was there at the time!"

"Name?"

"Xiao something... Right, Canong, his name is Xiao Canong!"

This was the second time Lin Qing had extracted that name in an interrogation, after Moni. With two testimonies corroborating each other, it was basically certain that it was Xiao Canong.

As expected, it was the handiwork of the Jiang City branch.

As the branch’s overall commander, he had personally sold off his former teammates to the Demons.

However, some questions still remained. For example, Xiao Canong should also have been one of the main forces entering the Otherworld for exploration at the time, so how was he still able to remember Elorie’s disappearance and get in touch with the Demons’ side?

Unfortunately, Vandiff’s sphere of influence was over in France, and he didn’t know much about what was going on in Jiang City. According to the inside story he described, the Mechanism had already been in contact with the Demons for a period of time back then, but their cooperation hadn’t gone deep. It wasn’t until the other side provided intelligence on Angels that the Mechanism won the Demons’ trust.

"They wouldn’t hand over a piece of intel for free, would they? What did you use as bargaining chips in the transaction?" Lin Qing continued to ask.

"A strange object, designation N43, outwardly it’s a compass!" Vandiff replied between ragged breaths.

"A compass? For geomancy?"

"It can measure many things... the amplitude of gravitational waves, the curvature of gravitational fields, and so on... Data that’s hard to detect with the naked eye and with conventional instruments, it can quantitatively point out; there are also many things on it we can’t make sense of, even the research institute couldn’t figure it out... that’s all I know!"

Lin Qing’s heart gave an involuntary jolt.

The Dimensional Limit Mechanism’s research into the world’s erosion had undergone a drastic change over the past century; could the catalyst have been this strange object?

"They specifically asked for N43?"

"I don’t know how they negotiated it... the compass itself is also a strange object managed by the Asian District." Vandiff shook his head repeatedly, indicating that this matter had nothing to do with him.

"You’re willing to trade away strange objects, things like that as well?"

"As long as the price is right! If the chips on the table are high enough, there’s nothing we can’t trade!" He forced an obsequious smile. "If you’re willing to spare my life, I also have many treasured strange objects you can play with!"

"Your treasures? You mean the things you swallowed up after the Angel Alliance collapsed." Lin Qing directly punctured his lie.

"You misunderstand! The Yeyue Group had been providing financial services to the Angel Alliance a long time ago... I count as one of their backers from behind the scenes; every transaction has a traceable origin!"

Now the Demon was the one talking about the law.

Lin Qing couldn’t be bothered with him. "Proof? I need evidence I can actually hold in my hands."

"What kind of evidence?"

"Proof of your transactions with the Dimensional Limit Mechanism... something that shows the chip they offered you was Elorie."

"This..." Vandiff hesitated. "Conference calls can’t leave records! Why don’t you ask the Demons over in Jiang City? I can give you their contact information."

"So you can plant a trail and let them come rescue you?" Lin Qing sneered, raising the switch in her hand. "I suggest you think a little harder."

"I’m begging you! I really don’t know!"

The switch was pressed down, and Vandiff’s voice cut off abruptly.

Eighth round—

"Miss Lin, we’re both women, why force me like this... If I talk, my kin will never forgive me!" Moni pleaded.

Lin Qing said nothing, only kept pressing the switch.

Ten seconds later, the female Demon, her clothes soaked through with sweat, finally changed her tune. "I really can’t produce any transactional evidence, but I know the time of their next deal!"

"Oh?" Lin Qing raised her brows. "When?"

"On the first of next month. I heard they’re going to discuss deeper cooperation; all the big names will be going to Jiang City to attend the meeting, and even if they can’t go, they can participate online." Moni’s teeth were chattering. "As long as you use my account to log in, you can see what’s happening on site! That man surnamed Xiao will definitely show up then!"

This piece of news did have some value; Lin Qing quietly committed it to memory. "Do you know what the Dimensional Limit Mechanism and the Demons are planning to discuss?"

"It should be something in the realm of ability trading. I don’t really understand that; you can ask my secretary!"

"Ability trading?" Her expression changed abruptly.

"We need abilities, they need technology... it’s perfectly suited for each side to get what they want!"

"How do you transfer abilities?"

"Contracts! As long as a contract is signed, we have ways to collect abilities!" Moni said, her expression twisted in pain.

Clearly this was one of the Demons’ secrets, but she no longer dared conceal anything.

Hearing that it had nothing to do with the Ability Store, Lin Qing let out a breath of relief. "Let’s talk about the Primordial Worm next. Tell me everything you know."

Eleventh round—

"So you believe the Primordial Worm is a being from another dimension, more High‑Level than the Flesh Mother, and that by using the power it grants, you can achieve ascension. Am I right?"

Chen Xuan stood in front of Police Superintendent Andor, speaking calmly.

The latter’s eyes suddenly bulged, as if questioning, "How do you know?" But soon his gaze turned dull and lifeless, and his body slid down weakly. "They told you everything?"

"More or less. You held out the longest."

"Idiots," he muttered.

"You mean revealing secrets just to stay alive? I always thought Demons cared most about their own interests, that in the face of personal gain and loss, everything else could be discarded." Chen Xuan deliberately mocked him.

"That’s why they’re idiots. This matter is so important that no benefit is worth trading it for... Kill me."

"No matter how important it is, you still have to be alive to enjoy it, don’t you think?" Lin Qing said indifferently.

"You have no idea what ascension means—it lets us transcend everything, even life and death! Reversing time, bringing the dead back to life would be as easy as moving a finger!" Andor shook his head, his tone turning agitated. "Now look... they’ve lost this chance, it’s sheer, utter stupidity!"

His reaction was somewhat abnormal; his resistance had returned to what it was at the beginning, a bit like a Dying Glow.

At the same time, discordant noise began to appear in the room.

Lin Qing glanced at Chen Xuan and whispered, "Can’t hold on?"

"Yeah... he’s close to his limit."

Decomposition and Re-Fusion didn’t in itself kill a person, but the exposed muscles and blood vessels were constantly being infected by the environment. The massive influx of bacteria was gradually destroying the Demon’s organ functions; his death had long since been a foregone conclusion.

"You’re so certain your power comes from the Primordial Worm? Couldn’t it be like other Ability Users, an awakening born from coincidence and opportunity?" Lin Qing seized the time to ask.

"Heh..." Andor let out a cold laugh, his gaze drifting toward Chen Xuan, his voice turning faint and unreal. "What’s so hard about confirming that? Ask him... doesn’t he often hear the whispers of a god?"

"And this business about ascension, that was also something the Primordial Worm told you?"

He lifted his head, lips slowly parting, but what came out was no longer a language the two of them could understand.

The Demon stared at the ceiling, as if praying to the god in his heart.

A dozen seconds later, he completely stopped breathing.