174: So-called people favored by the gods

At the crash site of the Shuttle, inside a makeshift interrogation room, Xi Hai watched the footage through a screen and speakers.

The guy on the screen was covered in burns, revealing several mechanical structures—perhaps because he had replaced even his skin and internal organs with cybernetics, he had somehow survived such a violent explosion and fire.

"Name?"

"Muldra."

"Age?"

"1,112 years old."

Hearing this number made Xi Hai, who was conducting the questioning, pause—what did it mean to be over a thousand years old?

"You've lived that long?"

Hadn't the data night lamp provided him suggested four or five hundred years?

Could the old thing really live that long?

night lamp suddenly popped up at this moment, reminding him, "To be precise, 450 years is the average. The Human Federation's modification technology allows the human maximum lifespan to reach around 1,500 years, excluding replaced parts."

Xi Hai: ...

At this moment, Muldra, sitting on the other side of the screen, slowly said, "That is why I replaced a large number of failing organs with cybernetics."

"That is also why you can still see me alive here."

Xi Hai didn't reply, merely accepting the explanation.

"Your identity?"

Muldra, however, sneered, "Hypocritical Imperial people, don't you already know everything—"

"Oh?"

"After turning us into beasts with your own hands, you want to put on a show of hunting just to flaunt your own justice?"

Xi Hai was not surprised by this statement; he had long suspected that the Saints had a connection to the Empire, and now this suspicion was merely confirmed.

"Do not answer my questions with rhetorical questions and metaphors."

"I will ask one more time: what is your identity?"

But Xi Hai merely repeated his previous question coldly.

He did not sympathize with these people, at least not those who had already joined the Saints.

It was obvious from this guy's words that they had their hardships and secrets—but so what?

There were too many people with hardships. He, Xi Hai, was merely an ordinary person with slightly better luck; he had neither the ability nor the desire to understand or resolve these hardships one by one.

Moreover, didn't the people who died in the Saints' attacks have their own hardships? Weren't they innocent?

The Order Seat V01.01 energy tower incident, the Ursa Major V12.22 void explosion incident... Countless people had lost their lives in those catastrophes—did those people deserve to die?

There is no absolute good or evil in the world, merely different perspectives. But when a small group stands upon its own position to harm the collective as a whole, the existence of that small group becomes a wrong for the collective.

From the perspective of the most primitive fairness, devoid of emotion, there is neither forgiveness nor understanding.

Xi Hai did not know what had transpired between them and the Empire, nor did he have any interest in knowing, because once the Saints turned their blades upon innocent people, they became just as unforgivable as that decaying Empire.

If not for the innocent people living on this planet, this guy named Muldra would not even have had the chance to speak with him.

The guy in the interrogation room laughed maniacally, "Hehe, I guessed your little act long ago—"

"But let me tell you something!"

"I am different from you rats who don't even dare to show your real faces while communicating!"

"In this universe, I can at least stand in a patch of sunlight that belongs to me and proudly state my identity—"

"I am the First Apostle of the Saints, the leader of the Twelve Apostles! The Favored of God! The savior of Megastract!"

Faced with this man's agitation, Xi Hai remained unmoved, but the clerk beside him instantly turned red with rage.

Turning his head, Xi Hai saw the clerk's teeth-gnashing expression, so he nodded to him, signaling that he could speak.

Immediately, the guy stood up and roared into the microphone, "How do you have the nerve!!!"

"How many people have died in your damn attacks!"

"You! You executioner with blood-stained hands, how can you feel proud of your identity?"

"The only time in your life you will dare to stand in the sunlight will probably be the day you are put on trial!"

"You're the damn rat!"

Stung by the insult, the man on the other side clearly became agitated— "Who the hell is the executioner? Don't you have any self-awareness!"

"Those incidents! Every single one of them! They were all carried out under your orders!"

"Want to wipe your hands clean now? In your dreams!"

"I've seen through you Empire now; it's nothing more than a play of wolves backstabbing hyenas."

"Boring! I'm not playing along with your act!"

"You Empire, it's all just for the sake of a so-called righteous stance."

"If you want it, go do it yourself! Go ahead and change everything I've said yourself!"

"I damn well know that the blame for this is going to be pinned on me today! And I also damn well know that you never intended to let the people on Megastract keep living!"

"So—I can't be bothered to take the fall for you anymore!"

"Get out!"

Once he finished his rant, Xi Hai took the microphone, coughed twice to signal Muldra to quiet down, and then said,

"First of all, I need to clarify something with you: I am not an Imperial. At least, I am not here today representing the Empire's stance."

"So there is no need for you to be so indignant at me. It's unnecessary."

This caused Muldra to pause. Xi Hai continued his interrogation, "Order Seat V01.02, over sixty billion people; nearly 1.2 billion of whom were students and professors."

"The Cloud Consortium, the Ursa Major V77.92 fifth era heritage excavation site, over twenty million people, and a pre-era library."

"And the most recent one, Ursa Major V12.22, an entire galaxy, hundreds of billions of people."

"Just with these three, I ask you: are you innocent? Are the Saints innocent?"

Faced with Xi Hai's interrogation, Muldra merely stiffened his neck and shouted, "You don't understand... when a body is covered in festering sores,"

"The correct course of action is to excise those sores so that there is a chance for healing!"

Xi Hai sneered, "Are you trying to say that you are the knife that excises those sores?"

"Don't you yourselves know what humanity's greatest tumor is?"

"You know of the Empire's decay, you know of its darkness, yet you still choose to collude with them—"

"And then turn your blades upon the innocent and the weak?"

"Do you even believe your own justifications?"

The expression on Muldra's burned face finally broke, "Enough!"

"What do you people even know!"

"We had no choice back then—"

"Just like right now!"

"So what if you aren't Imperial? You're merely trying to judge me from a position of righteousness,"

"And then, under the guise of rooting out evil, you'll slaughter everyone living on Megastract—our home!"

"Just like those innocent people in the square!"

"Seen this way, what difference is there between you and us?"

Hearing this, Xi Hai leaned forward slightly and adjusted the microphone, "You may have misunderstood something,"

"I have no intention of slaughtering your home."

"And another thing,"

"Stop answering one question with a long-winded speech. I'll give you five minutes to briefly summarize the story of this planet."

"Let me, the person you claim 'knows nothing,' hear what exactly happened to you to make you become so twisted."

"Don't even think about using your words to absolve yourself—the interrogation room you are currently in is equipped with twelve lie detectors, all with different angles and operating principles."

"Now, begin."