Chapter 382 - Extreme Desire

Entering the Order Bureau, passing through the Courtyard of Twisting Paths, arriving at the Pillar Courtyard, taking the elevator all the way forward, until the gate opens, the blazing Sublimation Furnace Core is finally revealed before the eyes.Along the way, Bologue didn’t encounter any anomalies, which made sense, as even if there were any anomalies, they certainly wouldn’t happen within the Cultivation Room. This place was the stronghold of the Order Bureau, the safest place in all of Opus.

The restless heart gradually calmed down, and Bologue told himself he was just too tense, overthinking it, everything was completely normal.

He arrived too early, far from the designated working hours, and there weren’t many people in the Sublimation Furnace Core, only one familiar figure still busy working.

Having interacted for a long time, Bologue had learned how to recognize the other person through the heavy protective clothing. Everyone had their own characteristics, some behavioral languages, like written notes, similar, yet there were recognizable differences.

"Good morning, Balder."

Bologue called out in greeting, Balder was pushing a trolley full of various alchemical armaments, Bologue glanced at them and recognized several items he had encountered before in battle, namely the Fire-Calling Staff.

"You look a bit rough, did you have a nightmare?"

Balder sized up Bologue, whose tense mood led him to run all the way here, sweat covering his forehead.

"Sort of, but I’m much better now."

Bologue wiped off the sweat with his sleeve; no need to care so much at this moment, "Nothing unusual happened here, right?"

"Anomaly? No, the Cultivation Room has a complete security mechanism, as long as we’re inside, it will protect us."

Balder looked up at this silent and magnificent building.

"That’s good..."

Bologue breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he should get used to the frequent hallucinations caused by the close connection with the Devil.

"Where’s Aimou?" Bologue asked afterward.

"It’s not working hours yet, she should be coming with Belli." Balder said.

Hearing this, Bologue felt more at ease, rubbed his eyes, took a deep breath, and turned to look at the items on the trolley.

"What are you doing?"

"Identifying these alchemy weapons. You should know about these, they’re circulating within the Wandering Forks, crafted by the Dreamer..., "Balder paused, "created by the teacher."

"I’ve been researching these things lately."

"What’s there to research?" Bologue reached out to fiddle with them, not understanding their significance in being studied.

"There’s indeed not much to research," these are inferior alchemy weapons and ought to be collectively destroyed, "but I still feel that there’s more to it."

"What do you mean?"

"According to the Field Operations Department’s report, these alchemy armaments were crafted by the teacher, but as his student, I don’t think it’s the teacher’s work."

Mid-sentence, Balder brought up something else, "You’ve heard of the term ’traces’, right? Just like different handwriting, an alchemist also has their unique traces when constructing an alchemy matrix."

"The traces within these alchemy armaments don’t match with the teacher’s traces. It could be understood that the teacher deliberately used an alternate method to construct the alchemy matrix to hide his identity... like changing from writing with the right hand to the left hand.

Traces can change, but the teacher’s construction thought process won’t. Even when producing inferior armaments, he always pursued stability."

Balder picked up the Fire-Calling Staff to illustrate, "For instance, this alchemy armament, if the teacher crafted it, even if it was a degraded armament, when it goes out of control, it should just stop functioning normally. But in reality, it causes a violent explosion, extremely unstable."

"From the thought process, this doesn’t seem like something the teacher would do."

Balder was deeply puzzled.

This statement struck a chord within Bologue; he suddenly recalled Serey’s reminder. Bologue didn’t want to think in that dire direction, nor did he want to suspect his friends, but the layers of unease forced him to make such a decision.

"Then what do you think is going on?" Bologue asked.

Balder shook his head and replied, "You won’t like this answer."

"You think there’s another Delusional person, don’t you?"

Bologue knew what Balder intended to say, the silver serpent crawled out of the sleeve, immediately fracturing into large drops of condensed water, landing onto the trolley.

"Perhaps from the beginning, the Dreamer wasn’t just one person."

Bologue’s voice turned cold, "This Deceitful Snake Scale Liquid is Aimou’s creation; how long do you need to conduct the comparison."

This decisive action from Bologue surprised Balder, knowing Belli and Bologue’s stance towards Aimou, he initially planned to secretly investigate while Aimou was in the Sublimation Furnace Core.

"It’s just a comparison. It can be done very quickly."

Balder said and was about to push the trolley, but the next moment, the extending group of serpents firmly grabbed the trolley, lifting it up.

"You lead the way."

Bologue controlled the serpents, the silver liquid seeping from his back, flowing as if a humanoid shell hid another silver monster beneath.

"Is this what experts are like? Like hunters, never letting go once they smell traces."

Balder broke into a jog, with Bologue carrying the items for him, their movement speed had increased considerably.

"I’m just trying to avoid mistakes as much as possible." Bologue’s tone was completely cold.

Balder said, "Opus, I thought you would protect Aimou, just like Belli did, so I haven’t told anyone about this affair."

"You should have told me," Bologue murmured.

"At least it’s not too late now," Balder said. "Belli understands Aimou’s importance. Without her guidance, Aimou cannot leave the Cultivation Room, rest assured about that."

Bologue took a deep breath and replied calmly.

"I hope so."

The two soon arrived at the lab for comparison. Balder took out some Deceitful Snake Scale Liquid, placed it in a container, and set the Fire-Calling Staff beside it.

While Balder was busy, Bologue stood anxiously to the side, berating himself, "Why didn’t I think of this?"

Bologue felt it was his responsibility.

"From the beginning, in our understanding, Aimou’s interests conflicted with the teacher’s. The teacher needed Alice’s Philosopher’s Stone, and giving it to Aimou would undoubtedly cause irreversible damage... namely death."

The Ether’s glow flickered as Balder spoke and began his operations. Unlike Belli, his Secret Energy wasn’t from the Secret Initiation School, so for operating the Alchemy Matrix, he needed instruments, which undoubtedly slowed him down.

"With this, we all feel that Aimou is one of us, not aligned with the teacher.

But now, maybe they are together; Aimou has been assisting Teda, even under the Delusional identity."

Balder’s words accelerated the growth of doubt.

All of Aimou’s suspicious actions replayed before Bologue’s eyes, including the insinuating words from last night.

He couldn’t understand why he made such a mistake.

Balder noticed Bologue’s conflicted expression and consoled, "It’s okay, everyone experiences something that blinds their eyes."

"Like the teacher, driven by the desire to revive Alice, completely ignoring the ominous risks, which is the same case for you.

It’s the same for Belli too; you both focused too much on the immediate, ignoring other things."

"You’re saying I was deceived by Aimou?" Bologue asked.

"Not exactly deceived," Balder surprisingly laughed at this moment, "Bologue, have you ever had a girlfriend?"

Balder’s question left Bologue speechless. Thinking back on his short yet long life, besides a relatively smooth childhood, the rest was all about fighting or heading towards fighting.

"You mean?"

Bologue wasn’t foolish; he understood Balder’s implication. Thinking about that result left Bologue’s mind blank for a second.

"That’s right, Bologue, congratulations, after all these years, your blood is still hot, your heart beats strongly, it’s a good thing, at least showing your mindset is youthful!"

Balder, amidst his busy work, didn’t forget to give Bologue a thumbs up, "You didn’t do anything wrong, she probably didn’t deceive you... perhaps you were just overwhelmed by emotions. Even experts can’t avoid this, as you are a human of flesh and blood, not a cold machine."

"But that’s where the trouble lies, what will you do next?" Balder mumbled to himself.

The Ether’s glow flickered continuously; Bologue couldn’t understand Balder’s operation and could only wait on the side.

The machine beside started printing, producing two pages. Balder stacked them together under a strong light.

"What’s the result?" Bologue asked.

Balder didn’t speak but raised the pages high; Bologue approached to see the intricate arrays inscribed, most of them overlapping one by one.

The result was obvious.

Bologue’s heart turned cold, murmuring, "Why did she do this? Does she not know Teda’s intention?"

When the hypothesis turned into reality, the momentary impact left Bologue somewhat dazed.

"Maybe this is exactly what Aimou wants?" Balder tossed the pages into the shredder, watching them turn into shreds.

"What she wants?"

"Life is indeed precious, but there are always things that make you risk everything," Balder continued, "Everyone has an intense desire for something; as long as this wish can be fulfilled, even dying doesn’t matter, just like the relationship between alchemists and Secret Sources."

Throughout, Balder was the witness acting as an observer; he saw cold, serious experts also smile and a neurotic minister actually have a gentle side.

"You are the person who knows Aimou best, you should be able to guess."

Balder leaned against the side, contemplating how to wrap it up: leave it to Bologue to deal with everything or broadcast first to arrest Aimou.

Fortunately, everything was handled promptly, curbing the disaster before it erupted.

Bologue slowly lowered his head, remembering the earliest times spent with Aimou, comprehending what Aimou wanted.

In this context, her wish seemed really small.

The sudden sound of the door opening interrupted Bologue’s thoughts; at the doorway, Belli appeared in sleepwear, panting heavily, looking at him in horror.

Without speaking, Bologue understood the worst had happened.

Belli shouted.

"Aimou is missing!"