Chapter 22: Intelligence on the Extraterrestrial Demons

Within the Second Legion, rumors have long circulated like urban legends. It is said that deep within the western side of the legion’s base, there lies a special, pitch-black interrogation room that never sees the light of day. It is helmed by the finest interrogation experts of the Great Han Empire. No matter how iron-willed a tough guy may be, once thrown inside, they eventually spill everything they know—down to the very date they first wet the bed as a child—without reservation.

This legend has existed since the inception of the Second Legion. Every so often, the names of the experts within the legend change, but the core details remain, ensuring that this interrogation room, capable of "absolute questioning," endures.

Li Qingwan expressionlessly tossed the unconscious Haydn into this manifestation of legend. The cold iron door closed behind her, sealing off the world inside.

Less than fifteen minutes passed. The heavy, pitch-black door of the interrogation room creaked open once more. The officer in charge of the questioning stepped out quickly, presenting a stack of confessions and a portrait. Li Qingwan reached out to take them, her gaze sweeping over the documents and the drawing before shifting coldly toward the standing officer.

No words were needed; the officer understood immediately. Without a moment’s hesitation, he drew a sharp, gleaming dagger from his waist, flipped the blade, and—without a flicker of doubt—slashed it fiercely across his own open palm!

*Sshhh—*

Flesh parted instantly, a gash deep enough to reveal bone blooming across his hand. Bright red, viscous blood gushed out, racing to drip onto the cold terrazzo floor, blooming into jarring, dark red flowers. The wound lay exposed to the air, showing not the slightest sign of muscle twitching to heal.

Li Qingwan’s gaze lingered on the unchanged wound for a moment before she gave a slight nod. "For the next half month, you are not to leave this courtyard; you will be under twenty-four-hour surveillance. After half a month, slice your palm again to verify the wound, just to ensure there is no risk of infection."

"As you command, Legion Commander!" the interrogation officer bowed. In his heart, he felt the Commander was being overly cautious—his interrogation abilities relied on the "rules" inherent to the room itself, making it impossible for him to be corrupted by the Demon Seed. Yet, he would never dream of questioning her orders.

Li Qingwan said no more and turned to leave the isolated courtyard. She passed through the heavily guarded base and finally stopped before an oak "Anywhere Door." She pushed the door open, and the scene on the other side came into view.

Warm sunlight poured through floor-to-ceiling windows, generously bathing the room and turning the expensive cashmere carpet into a field of gold. Outside, the meticulously manicured royal gardens were lush and vibrant with life. Li Qingwan stepped through the door, her soft soles landing silently on the thick carpet of the Imperial Study. Her instincts immediately compelled her to bow.

Bai Yujing waved a hand casually. "No need for formalities. Bring me what you have."

"Yes."

Li Qingwan responded respectfully. She stepped forward and presented the confession and the portrait to the Sage’s desk. "This is a portrait of the person who bestowed the Demon Seed upon Haydn. He calls himself 'The Prophet,' and his true identity has yet to be uncovered."

Bai Yujing took the portrait, his gaze falling upon the paper. The person in the drawing had smooth, golden hair that nearly covered his ears, with fine bangs neatly obscuring his brow. His features were delicate, possessing a somewhat androgynous beauty, yet he held a pair of exceptionally strange eyes. The whites of his eyes were a pure, sky blue, and within that blue, there were no pupils—only concentric rings of silver-white, distinct, cold, and spreading from the inside out. A contradictory sense of holiness intertwined with the uncanny hit the viewer at once.

"Is this a Demon Eye?" Bai Yujing tilted his head slightly, casting his gaze toward Nangong Lin at his side.

She stepped forward, her eyes also falling upon the strange concentric irises. "Its form is different from the Demon Eye I have seen. It must be a different manifestation of it."

"I see." Bai Yujing set down the portrait and picked up the interrogation report.

The report recorded the time and place Haydn encountered the "Prophet," the specific process of receiving the Demon Seed, and the orders the Prophet had issued: to secretly develop Demon-men in District 21. The method was to use the Demon Seed within Haydn as a source of pollution, eroding the spirits of others to plant new seeds within their mental cores. The ultimate goal was to welcome the so-called "True God" to descend upon Blue Star.

"Converted into a Demon-man in early March, then tasked with spreading the Demon Seed..." Bai Yujing’s slender fingers tapped the desk thoughtfully. "Why would the Heavenly Demons from beyond not distort the more distant past, allowing the Demon-man faction to infiltrate and grow sooner?"

"There must be some kind of limitation," Nangong Lin mused, explaining, "Perhaps it is related to the Heavenly Dao of Blue Star."

"The Heavenly Dao?"

"To use a modern analogy," Nangong Lin’s voice was soft, "the Heavenly Dao is a massive system with perfect functions and strict rules. The Heavenly Demons from beyond are malicious viruses attempting to invade, tamper with, and distort this system."

At this, Li Qingwan spoke up, "In that case, Miss Nangong, you must also be a virus. You descended upon Blue Star; why are you not restricted by the Heavenly Dao?" Her beautiful eyes stared at Nangong Lin, lacking the submissiveness shown to Bai Yujing, and full of suspicious hostility. She disliked Nangong Lin. To have arrived so recently and yet be inseparable from the Sage made her jealous enough to grind her teeth.

"Our natures are different," Nangong Lin said, indifferent to Li Qingwan’s hostility. "I am more akin to a small program within the system. I enter the system only to gain permissions, not to destroy its core rules or logical operations, and certainly not to cause the system to crash."

She paused, then continued, "The Heavenly Demons from beyond are different. They want to completely distort and alienate the system, as if tampering with antivirus software meant to protect the system into a malicious program that spreads viruses. Such fundamental tampering and intrusion will inevitably trigger the system’s deepest self-defense mechanisms, creating a formidable Heavenly Punishment."

Thinking further, Nangong Lin’s face showed contemplation. "If my guess is correct, the point at which the Heavenly Demons actually began to descend upon Blue Star is likely much earlier than I first estimated. It should be related to Blue Star’s highly developed information network."

She had figured it out. The spread of information on Blue Star was far beyond that of the Divine Province world she hailed from. This undoubtedly provided a hotbed for the early infiltration of the Heavenly Demons. It was inevitable that they would arrive on Blue Star before the Divine Province.

Hearing this, Bai Yujing picked up the portrait of the Prophet and tapped it against an embedded sensor on his desk. The image was instantly scanned and uploaded to the Great Han internal administration system. The AI began cross-referencing it against the national database. A moment later, the results appeared.

A perfectly matching facial record appeared in the surveillance footage from a public camera in Wance City, Seventh Administrative District. Bai Yujing tapped his fingertip, packaging all relevant clues, timestamps, and location coordinates, and sent them directly to Li Qingwan’s exclusive Legion Commander account via the military’s encrypted channel.

"Follow the leads I have provided and conduct a secret investigation in the target area. If you encounter difficulties, request support at any time." Bai Yujing stared at Li Qingwan, his voice deep, "Do not push yourself beyond your limits."

"Yes! Please rest assured, Sage!" Li Qingwan bowed deeply, accepting the command respectfully.

She turned and walked into the Anywhere Door. *Hum.* As the door closed, the spatial portal vanished entirely.

Nangong Lin looked at Bai Yujing. "No matter what actions you take, the descent of the Heavenly Demons cannot be avoided."

"One cannot abandon all efforts in the present simply because death is inevitable."

"Hearing an immortal say such things feels somewhat ironic."

"Haha." Bai Yujing laughed. "That is an incredibly precise observation."

The laughter faded, and he shifted the topic, asking in a relaxed tone, "Tomorrow is the day the academy opens. Have you decided what techniques those students will be practicing?"

"Yes." Nangong Lin nodded. She did not have much interest in the matter itself, but with her abilities, even without interest, she was more than capable of arranging everything perfectly.