Apocalypse Forecast

Chapter 687: Chapter 566 Afterimage of the Past_2

After completing the process, he realized that he’d been too preoccupied with throwing punches.

Where was I just now?

Across the table, Michel crossed his arms and coldly watched the man who dared to daydream during his lecture, his displeasure growing.

It had been many years since he’d seen such a peculiar specimen with such an astonishing bone structure, and moreover, a captive with no self-awareness whatsoever. This incited in him an urge to strike someone that he hadn’t felt in a long time.

No, it’s not right. I can’t fall into that bastard Mikhail’s way of thinking...

He suppressed his anger, retracted his gaze, stood up, and walked to the rear of the bridge. With a wave of his hand, he commanded the massive outer wall to slowly lower, revealing the busy laboratory behind it.

He waved at Huai Shi, signaling him to follow.

The vast laboratory was a hub of activity. At the center of all research and testing were, undoubtedly, the two sub-control cores suspended in mid-air.

One was a dismantled Wind Lamp, and the other a misshapen octo-limbed Puppet.

The Puppet’s visage was solemn and austere, almost godlike.

Yet beneath its shell was a hollow emptiness, just a lifeless husk.

It resembled the discarded exuviae left behind by a God of the past.

”[Growth].”

He suddenly heard Michel say this.

”According to the historical materials excavated from Hell here, that sub-control center’s Forger is referred to as such. It is one of the thirteen revered Celestial Saints named alongside the Variator.

Unlike the Variator’s refined designs and unpredictable style, The Grower specialized in large-scale casting and was the best at proliferating creations. Our research even suggests that it had managed to allow its creations to achieve replication and evolution in the manner of Von Neumann Machines. The uncontrolled mechanical city we see today is the result of its creations left behind before their destruction.”

Without turning back, Michel said, ”If I’m not mistaken, what you guys unearthed from the refinery should be the [Metamorphosis], and the one inside the Temple should be the [Constant], right?”

”I only knew of the Variator.”

Huai Shi shrugged, ”I wasn’t directly involved in the research on the Iron Crystal Throne and didn’t get a chance to look at the summary report before being brought over here.

Before that, I knew nothing about this place.”

He carefully scrutinized the research center before him, marveling like someone who hadn’t seen anything like it before, clicking his tongue in wonder.

Michel asked casually as he walked ahead with his hands clasped behind his back, ”What about Hell then, how much do you understand about it?”

Huai Shi replied truthfully, ”Aside from being the remnants of a bygone era and the vestiges of a past world, I don’t know much.”

”Then, the reason for Hell’s formation?”

After pondering for a while, Huai Shi answered seriously, ”The decline of the world and the deepening of the Abyss.”

When the world begins to decline and can no longer maintain its depth, it descends towards the Abyss, and under the influence of the Abyss, Hell is formed.

It’s like an ancient grave, where everything is buried in the earth and disappears into the darkness.

”It doesn’t sound like you know nothing.”

Michel paused for a moment, turned back to glance at Huai Shi, looking rather surprised that he knew about it.

”Apart from classical music, I am, after all, an Abyss Ecology Assistant Lecturer from the Ivory Tower, so don’t treat me like I’m illiterate, okay?”

Michel nodded in agreement upon hearing this, ”An assistant lecturer is certainly a step up from being illiterate.”

You should probably just keep quiet.

Huai Shi rolled his eyes, feeling a bit like hitting someone.

”What you just said isn’t wrong; sometimes Hell is born from the decay of the world, but a world that has reached its natural end usually doesn’t leave much behind...”

Michel paused again, a mocking smile on his face. ”The Hells we see today are largely man-made.”

”What do you mean?” Huai Shi frowned.

”Just as it sounds—no one willingly accepts death, Huai Shi. Before the end arrives, there is usually resistance to some extent.

What we see now is the result of their resistance.”

Michel spoke calmly, ”When the deepening began, the people here must have been quite desperate... You can tell they tried many things, but none were effective in the end.

Fear brings madness, and hubris invites destruction.

Ultimately, their choice was to recreate their own Paradise upon a dying world. They sought to recreate the earth, all living things, day and night, everything. They even created the ’Eternal Frozen Heart,’ akin to a Perpetual Motion Machine, and the ’Eternal Life Machine,’ which grants immortality.

In the end, with astonishing skill and technology, they reclaimed everything, but all was still irrevocably changed. The moment they accepted the Hell Workshop Master’s gift, their fate was sealed.”

In Michel’s detached, merciless voice, he proclaimed the outcome, ”They faced their ultimate demise, incurring a fate a million times worse than extinction.

The result was the creation of this Town of Dusk, frozen at the brink of death.”

As Michel advanced, the doors before him sequentially opened, and before they knew it, they had entered the core of the Airship, the wheelhouse filled with countless pieces of equipment.

In the heated air, staff bustled about as if urgently preparing for some task, amid the noise and commotion.

Yet Huai Shi felt a chill and dizziness.

Nearly unable to stand.