I really only stop

Unlike humans who are always looking forward and backward, the control centers of Sky City will never question the judgments they have made.After not sensing any abnormality, the woman simply took back the balance in her hand:

"...Confirmed to be a false alarm by the system, the alarm has been cleared."

Afterwards, the figure of the woman disappeared without a trace, and the silence of the past returned to the huge room.

There seemed to be an eternity of silence.

----------

"……have they gone?"

Carefully coming out from behind a figure of the Holy Light, Oedipus slumped on the ground exhausted, breathing heavily for air.

Because of his childhood experience, Oedipus has always trusted his intuition.When he heard the term [Longinus System], a deep chill instantly surged from his spine to his brain.

Almost subconsciously, he clung to the back of a figure of Holy Light, and turned on [Pure Demonic Joy] with all his strength.

For some reason, the power of [Joy] was perfectly integrated with the current room, which not only greatly enhanced the effect, but also allowed Oedipus to completely hide from the deadly detection of the center.

Undoubtedly, in that flash of effort, he escaped a fatal crisis.

"...Miss Wafer, what exactly happened just now?"

Looking at the direction where the Libra woman was just now with lingering fear, Oedipus asked the chip on his neck:

"Looking at the way she floats and disappears, she must not be human?"

[Answer: That is the control center of No. [-] Sky City Themis, which is responsible for handling all problems arising from the operation of the entire Sky City. 】

The terminal responded quickly:

[As an existence that can control the entire sky city, the control center is far superior to my latest generation personal terminal for civilian use, both in terms of data processing capacity and storage capacity.On the premise of ensuring safety, asking her about the operation code Tinder can definitely get a perfect answer. 】

"You have seen her attitude yourself. As the supervisor here, she absolutely wants to obliterate my [abnormality] wholeheartedly. If I dare to appear directly in front of her, it is estimated that the only one who is called [Longinus] ]’s stuff ruthlessly blasted this fate to death—tsk, that gentle face was blinded in vain.”

Even though he knew that the civilian version of the terminal in his hand could not have emotions like the 'Themis' just now, but after making complaints about it, Oedipus suddenly praised it inexplicably:

"...Compared to Miss Wafer, you are better, the knowledge stored in it is enough."

[This is a wrong inference. The control center of Sky City can completely crush the functions of civilian terminals in any aspect, please be aware of this. 】

"..."

Oedipus was dumbfounded.

...Miss Wafer, you really don't have the slightest emotional function.

--------------

The appearance of the control center Themis just now seems to be related to the abnormal activation of the experimental tower and the energy fluctuations when Oedipus just transmitted. After judging that this was a [system false alarm], Themis was no longer in Yipus. Appeared in front of Dips.

Thanks to this, Oedipus had plenty of time to explore the interior of the egg-shaped building, and was even very lucky to witness a scene where the [Enjoyer] and the [Victim] exchanged positions.

And now, he is sitting in the initial [Between the Joy], sorting out the information he got in this sky city.

[Enjoyers], [Sufferers]—let’s just call the two groups of people that.

The number of people in each of the two groups is unified to six. It is not difficult to see from the observation that the center here is providing an absolutely comfortable holy light environment for the other group by extracting energy from one group.

The [Operation Code Tinder] obtained by Ms. Wafer is not comprehensive. In addition to recording the specific location of the operation, the information only vaguely mentions that the purpose of Tinder is to explore a new [social model].

...Could it be that this is the one in front of you?

Poking the figure of the Holy Light in front of him with his hands, Oedipus, who holds the [Magic Seal Joy], only felt a burst of pure joy.

Now he understands that it is precisely because of the unadulterated joy of the figures that he, who holds the mark of joy, can perfectly blend into the environment and escape Themis' inspection.

Pleasure...suffering...rotations, and the scales of Themis...

--【fair】?

Having easily come up with this answer, Oedipus looked sideways at the figure of the Holy Light beside him.And the latter didn't respond at all, obviously completely immersed in endless joy.

Let everyone pay the same price, and at the same time let everyone get the same return-for the purpose of [exploring new social forms], Themis did achieve this in a very weird way.

But [is it really so]?

Beating his head one after another, Oedipus forced himself to think in the form of self-questioning.

As the existence who read the news reports first before the data was cleared by [Operation Code Addition], I may be the only person in this world who knows what happened ten thousand years ago.

[Calamity] is not like a black dragon that destroys the world as the legend says, it is more like a [concept] - to inform the intellect to "condense point" and realize the concept of "condensate point" in a certain way in the later stage.

A single [Operation Code Root] may not be enough to be called a disaster, but if the disease temporarily named [Bliss] is included, the situation is quite terrifying.

Calamity declares that the end of intellect is [all the pleasures that the brain can perceive], and bliss is the means to achieve it.

Brutally filling the perception with joy, has reached the absolute freezing point of [no more changes].

Even with the brilliance of thousands of years ago, it is impossible to analyze this [Bliss] state. There is no doubt that it is the culprit that led to the downfall of the glorious era.

That being the case, is it possible to think about the weird situation of the 'sufferer' and 'pleasure' in [the second point of view]?

Staring closely at the figure of the Holy Light with a frighteningly joyful expression on his face, Oedipus murmured:

"For example, it's not for everyone to achieve happiness, but for everyone to taste [pain]?"

Chapter - 20 Saints of 3/50

There are twelve people in total, divided into two groups, one group endures the pain that can tear the soul, and the energy extracted by it provides the other group with absolute joy.Fair alternation, endless cycle.

Seeing this scene, anyone who tries to put themselves in will think this way:

People in it exchange half of the [pain] for the [pleasure] of the other half.

This is a very reasonable inference.Paying for labor and exhaustion in exchange for our own rest and enjoyment-we all do this in our daily life.

However, what if the truth is [quite the opposite]?

In the world ten thousand years ago, disasters and [Bliss] brought people full coverage and the greatest degree of joy.This kind of acquisition does not require any effort at all, no labor, no pain, as long as you accept the arrival of the [condensation point], you can achieve eternity in another sense.

And [action code name Tinder] is undoubtedly the refutation of bliss by intellectual life, and the meaning of its existence is to deny everything about disasters and disasters, and preserve unknown fire seeds for the future defined by disasters.

Now that this is clear, let's look back at Themis' current situation.

Calamity provides [complete pleasure], while the social model in Themis is [half pleasure, half pain. 】

He wanted them to freeze peacefully, but they boiled persistently.

Looking back at the figure of the Holy Light with a happy expression beside him, Oedipus couldn't help feeling a little dazed:

——Perhaps [pain] is the 'reward' that these researchers who turned into holy light lifeforms really want to get?

--------------

Although he seems to have guessed the truth behind this so-called [equivalent exchange], the real purpose of Oedipus's coming here - to investigate the truth ten thousand years ago, still has nothing to gain.

The researchers who had completely turned into figures of the Holy Light lost their consciousness a long time ago. No matter how Oedipus patted, poked, punched, or even pressed the mark of joy on it, there was no response.Obviously, it is completely unrealistic to find answers from them.

Convinced that he had investigated everything except the two death traps of Themis and Longinus, Oedipus was silent for a while, then suddenly made a somewhat bold move.

【Magic imprint · joy】.

The mark of joy that had helped him escape under the eyes of Themis was activated again, allowing him to perfectly blend into the overall atmosphere of [Between Pleasure].

And then……

[Fayin·Structure Analysis]!

The emerald green imprint took shape instantly with Oedipus's sketching. This detection-type imprint, which will definitely be judged as cheating when playing Kongming lock and maze, swept across the entire room like water waves, bringing him back more observations with the naked eye. Information that may not be noticed.

Why is there an extra pipe?

First carefully confirming that Themis didn't notice the abnormality and jumped out to kill him, Oedipus, who was relieved, looked up at the ceiling of the pleasure room.

I understand the black pipe connecting the pleasure room and the suffering room next door, which is used to transmit energy.

But the question is, why is there a pipe that looks exactly the same in terms of material and also connects between enjoyment?

Since this pipe is well hidden, it is difficult to find it among the huge energy transmission facilities on the ceiling without the help of the French seal.

Cursing secretly for his carelessness, Oedipus no longer hesitated, and walked out of the room of pleasure along the inexplicable pipe.

With seven turns and eight turns, the more you go, the more you go.

Finally, Oedipus stopped in front of a dilapidated wooden door.

Compared with the splendor of pleasure and the weird scene of suffering, this old wooden door looks so ordinary. For example, it is like a small stairwell that no one will notice in the Demon King's City.

But inexplicably, when facing this dilapidated wooden door, Oedipus felt a suffocating sense of oppression.

Different from the sense of oppression that is purely caused by the environment between pleasures, the sense of oppression emanating from the wooden door has its own [soul].Like a traveler walking alone in the wilderness, and like a bright light that has been watching silently for thousands of years and still shining.

Behind this door, the [truth] that I want must be hidden.

After taking a deep breath and observing the surrounding situation, Oedipus' eyes sank, and he quickly stepped into the wooden door.

--------------

The hidden space in the wooden door was deeper than expected, but at the speed that Oedipus could almost call [running], he soon saw a glimmer of light ahead.

Soon, the truth!

A bright smiling face flashed in his mind, Oedipus clenched his fists, and accelerated his pace again, until he rushed into the burst of light——

"—?!"

——Then, everything in the light made him freeze in place.

This is a small room with no light in itself, only about ten square meters.In the middle of the room stood a chilling bush of black iron thorns.

Like black roses in full bloom, the thorns made of black iron stretched wantonly in the room, obviously standing still, but giving people a ferocious feeling that they would come alive to prey on visitors at any time.

Although the presence of thorns is so strong, the most striking thing is that it illuminates the existence of this small space.

An extremely familiar face, when I tried to sneak in here, I looked up at her smile from below several times——

"The first, first generation saint, Hiyera?!?!"

——Recognized at a glance who the woman who was impaled on the thornbush was, even with the heart of Oedipus, she couldn't help but scream.

Before arriving here, Oedipus had thought countless times about what was hidden behind the wooden door, but no matter how much he tried to break his head, he never imagined that the first saint who created the clergy system would actually use this This gesture is imprisoned here.

Take a closer look, Hiyera's current situation is enough to be called [cruel].

At this moment, she was fixed in the air with her arms outstretched and pierced by thorns.The black iron thorns deeply entangled and pierced into every inch of her body, and the bloodstains that had dried up and turned black seemed to silently tell the pain she had suffered.

Why was this truly great person imprisoned in this posture in the sky city that has been locked up under the sanctuary for thousands of years?

Although the doubts in his heart were almost exploding, it was a pity that Oedipus did not have the ability to stop thinking all the time, and he didn't even have the opportunity to hide his astonishment.

As early as when he stepped into this room, he was extremely keenly aware of his presence. When he heard the visitor's exclamation, the brows of the original saintess slowly frowned.

呲.

As if to stop the saintess' movements, the thorns that originally penetrated all parts of her were tightly rolled up, intending to fix her in the air like before.

However, this does nothing.

Ignoring the crushing pain in her body, the restrained saint just calmly opened her eyes and looked directly into the eyes of Oedipus who was frozen in place:

"【do you know】?"

——With an unimaginably clear voice, she asked him like this.

Chapter - 21 Riddles of 3/50 (plus)

I... know?

Stared at by the pair of clear and deep eyes of the first saintess, Oedipus, who has always shown a cynical image, unexpectedly felt an unprecedented sense of tension.

What is she asking?What should I [know]?

Ben wanted to subconsciously answer 'Which aspect are you referring to? ', but when he was about to speak, Oedipus choked back the words abruptly.

I don't know why, but I have an inexplicable hunch.

If you don’t answer [know] here, you will probably miss the truth!

Believing the unreasonable premonition in his heart, Oedipus nodded subconsciously:

"Ok, I know."

"..."