Chapter 159: A Crucial Diary

Chapter 159: A Crucial Diary

Above the grayish-white fog, where not the slightest ripple stirred, Klein sat quietly at the head of the mottled long table, like a stone statue that had existed there for centuries—perhaps millennia.

The discovery he had just made filled him with a terror born from the depths of his heart. A chill seemed to surge from the back of his head and spread through his whole body, bringing with it a faint but undeniable shudder.

It was like watching a familiar friend become strange in a very short period of time—acting abnormally, as though someone else had taken his place.

Of course, there was an even clearer, more direct comparison: Leonard Mitchell visiting Klein to discuss Pallez Zoroast, only to suddenly take out a monocle and put it on.

Could it be that after the Emperor ascended to the crimson moon, he was unknowingly contaminated without realizing it himself, behaving normally at all other times, and only showing certain faint and unremarkable signs when he used his diary to recall the past, analyze his own heart, and converse with himself? Or was this Adam’s hypnosis? But at that time, Roselle was at least Sequence 1… Klein could not help lowering his head and examining himself, imagining that inside his body existed another self he knew nothing about—something utterly unknown, something he was not even sure could be called a “person.”

This truly is terror pushed to the extreme… Klein slowly inhaled, forcing his attention back onto Emperor Roselle’s diary pages.

Very soon, he discovered another passage worthy of careful reading:

“July 28th. I attended another gathering of that ancient and secret organization.

“From the members’ casual conversations, I noticed a problem.

“Is it because I advanced too quickly, leaving my experiences relatively shallow, that there are still so many things I haven’t even heard of?

“For example, today was the first time I learned that contamination from the starry sky and from underground exists!

“Heh. I wonder how many among them are ‘Him.’ Aside from a very small number of members, most dislike letting others know what level they currently stand at.

“While others were conversing, I quietly asked Old Mister Hermes beside me, hoping to learn more about the contamination from the starry sky and underground.

“Hermes told me that this was not knowledge I could come into contact with at my current level. Merely understanding it would subject me to contamination!

“It’s actually that terrifying? What could it be? I’m even more curious now.

“That old gentleman later told me that contamination from underground can be left alone, because it will naturally fade with the passage of time. In the very distant past, during the age when the ancient gods were active, powerful creatures tried to thoroughly resolve this problem, only to make the situation far more troublesome and suffer tremendous losses. Later, they gave up on directly influencing it and instead chose sealing and guarding.

“From that point on, although accidents still occasionally occurred, the overall situation stabilized. By today, even without seals or guards, as long as no one approaches, tries to explore deeper, or interferes, contamination will not occur.

“That really surprised me a little. It looks like this problem doesn’t need me, the protagonist of this era, to solve it.

“Old Mister Hermes then mentioned the starry sky, saying the situation there is more complicated than I imagined, more interesting, and also more dangerous. He said that even Sequence 2 and Sequence 1 angels do not truly possess sufficient understanding of the starry sky. They only have a rough grasp of it. They do not know that beyond the dangers, there are many, many other things there. If not for once knowing an existence skilled at wandering the starry sky and learning quite a few things from that person, he would not have been able to say what he said today.

“I was very curious, though I didn’t hold much expectation, and asked who that existence skilled at roaming the starry sky was.

“Old Mister Hermes did not hide it. He said it was Mr. Door, Bethel Abraham.

“Mr. Door… I pretended to know nothing and casually asked about that person’s status.

“Hermes did not answer directly. He only said that in the Fourth Epoch, even angels and demigods would usually be addressed by their names in private. Those who made everyone habitually use titles, aside from gods such as Evernight, Storm, and Earth, were limited to Mr. Door and a few others.

“So that’s how it is… Mr. Door’s level truly isn’t low.”

Contamination from underground will naturally fade with the passage of time? The magic mirror Arrodes said the gray fog gives it a feeling very similar to things underground… It hoped I would wait until I returned to the divine throne before exploring underground, while Luca Brewster stated with certainty that the higher one’s Sequence, the greater the danger brought by underground things… Klein lightly tapped the edge of the mottled long table with his finger, growing more and more perplexed about what exactly was going on underground.

Fortunately, Hermes’s description, the state of the abandoned castle, and the Evernight Goddess’s attitude all seemed to indicate that contamination from underground would indeed fade naturally. Leaving it alone was the best way to handle it.

Whew. Then I can set aside my worries about the underground for now… Hermes’s words and the bronze door deep within the City of Miracles, Liveseyd, can be considered mutual confirmation. The Dragon of Imagination, Ankewelt, really did try to solve the problem underground, only to leave behind fear and shadow… From the looks of it, the apocalypse is most likely to come from the starry sky, while at my current Sequence, I’m not even qualified to understand it… Amid a flurry of thoughts, Klein continued flipping through the diary with a touch of ruefulness.

After reading several more pages, his eyes suddenly lit up, fixing upon one entry.

“December 31st. The end of the year. This is the most suitable day to make a decision and begin a new story.

“I have already decided where eight of the secret mausoleums should be built. Only the final one still lacks direction.

“It must be even more hidden than the previous eight, otherwise it loses its meaning.

“After a long period of thought, I finally remembered a place: that nameless island where Green was buried.

“Of course, the Abyss is also an option. Unfortunately, in the region I can currently enter, I cannot find a single living demon. That means I have no way to tame them, turn them into my subjects, and make them build the mausoleum for me. Ordinary humans cannot survive there at all, and even powerful Beyonders would find it extremely difficult to resist the corrosion contained within the Abyss itself.

“In any case, the survival environment on that nameless island seems fairly good for now.

“Heh. The Fourth Epoch Princes of Abolition understood the concept of subjects far too narrowly. An ‘Emperor’ rules not merely over humans and humanoid creatures. All living beings should be my subjects!

“And that nameless island has many unintelligent transcendent creatures. They have already been worshiping me and following me for some time. I can absolutely drive them to build the secret mausoleum.

“Writing this, I suddenly remembered that experience. Because I dreamed of Green, I brought Edwards, Benjamin, and the others back to that nameless island. There, we discovered those transcendent creatures living together in harmony, gathering to hold a ritual, while the dead Green was among them.

“At the time, I was truly startled. I felt fear I had not experienced in a long while. Everything seemed extraordinarily eerie.

“That time, William died. Polly died. Only Edwards and Benjamin survived. If I had not already become powerful and taken control of a Grade 0 sealed artifact, everyone would have been buried there.

“The power influencing the transcendent creatures on that nameless island actually came from the starry sky. Those who died because of that contamination would return to the source after death.

“Thankfully, the power from the starry sky can only project a tiny portion into the real world. In the end, I resolved the problem and made that nameless island my secret base.

“Now, it is time for it to play its role!”

After finishing this diary entry, Klein did not feel joy over having correctly guessed where Emperor Roselle’s final mausoleum was. Instead, his brows furrowed slightly.

On one hand, contamination from the starry sky had truly appeared “before” him. On the other, that nameless island was not as hidden as it seemed. Aside from the Emperor, at least the two survivors Edwards and Benjamin clearly knew about it as well. That did not meet Roselle’s requirements.

Had Edwards and Benjamin already died normal deaths before this and therefore could not leak the secret? Or did Roselle plan, after the mausoleum was successfully built, to leave those two subordinates on the island forever and deal with the problem of spirit channeling afterward? Of course, if Roselle had a corresponding sealed artifact or Beyonder power, he could also make Edwards and Benjamin completely lose that memory… Klein remained silent for a while, then flipped through the diary again, searching for the coordinates of that nameless island.

Yet even when he reached the final page, he found no such content. Instead, one diary entry vaguely explained some of Roselle’s thoughts in his final years:

“December 27th. Recently, I have been constantly restless, because I have absolutely no certainty about what comes next.

“I no longer long for help. I would already be satisfied if they could remain neutral.

“I have placed myself in the most dangerous of situations. This is both an active choice and a choice made because there was no other choice.

“Sometimes I am confused. Why have I walked step by step to this point?

“Was I too extreme, or was there simply no other way?

“No. Now that I have reached this point, I cannot allow myself any more confusion. It has no meaning aside from affecting my mental state and making my already slim hopes even slimmer.

“Since I have already come this far, I can only keep walking. If I succeed, the sun will naturally shine brilliantly.

“Heh heh. All of my hope rests on one sentence:

“Place oneself in death to find life!”

From the looks of it, the Emperor truly chose the method of dying first and resurrecting afterward to escape madness and corruption… This is simply insane, like playing Russian roulette with six bullets loaded and pinning all hope on one misfire… Someone who didn’t love extremes and excel at sudden flights of fancy would never even consider the feasibility of such a thing… Perhaps precisely because his enemies could not guess it, the Emperor gained that tiny sliver of life… Klein leaned back in his chair and sat silently within the ancient palace for quite some time.

Only after his scattered thoughts slowly returned did he begin considering how to find that nameless island.

“I remember that the Benjamin who went to the nameless island seemed to be a member of the Abraham family. I can ask Miss Magician about this… Mm, I’m going to meet her soon anyway, so there’s no need to specially have The Fool relay it…

“As for Edwards, William, Polly, and the descendants of the others, I’ll have the Queen of Mysteries ask. That’s more appropriate…”

With a definite plan in mind, Klein looked around, sighed, and vanished from above the gray fog.