Discovered

"..."

An eerie silence suddenly descended over Chen Fan's room.

Gao Yuan's face flushed red. "Y-you, what did you say?!"

"Didn't you say there were no books in the library that recorded history from before Varrela Year One?"

"You lied to me?!"

Seeing the disbelief in Gao Yuan's eyes, Chen Fan raised a hand to his forehead and gently rubbed his throbbing temples. "That thing wasn't a history book at all!"

"And that information wasn't openly written in the book, either."

Gao Yuan froze. "Huh?"

"I don't know how to explain it to you." Chen Fan shook his head helplessly. "Anyway, that sentence was recorded inside a hidden layer between the pages. The church hadn't noticed anything unusual about the book before."

"That was precisely why it could remain in the library."

"Do you understand now?"

Gao Yuan nodded, then quickly shook his head.

A flash of pure, vacant stupidity appeared in his bloodshot eyes, reddened from staying up all night.

He looked just like the college students Chen Fan had seen in his previous life.

In barely a dozen hours, he had taken in far too much information.

His brain, already damaged by the fragrance in the library, had become even more sluggish at that moment.

Like an outdated computer forcibly running some benchmark program, the fact that it had not crashed on the spot was already an exceptional performance.

Gao Yuan raised a hand and vigorously scratched the back of his head. "Then... what was recorded in that book?"

"It was humanity's Prosperity Era. Sadly, prosperity was no more."

"Huh?"

"That was the only sentence."

Chen Fan waved a hand impatiently. "Otherwise, why would I have asked you about what happened before Varrela Year One?"

Gao Yuan nodded thoughtfully, but deep terror soon flashed across his face.

"I get it!"

"No wonder the Archbishop said something like that!!"

Chen Fan's heart skipped a beat.

"The Archbishop?!"

How had the Archbishop gotten involved out of nowhere?!

Things seemed to be developing beyond his expectations.

"Yes." Gao Yuan's expression turned grave. "Near dawn, the Archbishop suddenly entered the library."

"He asked me some questions, mostly about the books I read that afternoon."

"He also asked why I was reading a history book like the Varrela Chronicle."

Chen Fan's mind buzzed.

This was bad.

With questions that pointed so directly at it, the other side had definitely discovered something!

"You..."

Chen Fan swallowed. "You didn't say anything stupid, did you?"

"Of course not!"

"So many strange things happened last night. I definitely wasn't going to talk nonsense!"

"I told the Archbishop that I only wanted to review the church's history."

Seeing Chen Fan's tightly furrowed brow, Gao Yuan added, "Don't worry. I didn't mention you."

Hearing that, Chen Fan let out a long breath.

Wasn't this exactly why Gao Yuan was such a good brother, the kind who would take a knife for him? When something happened, he really stepped up!

"Then what?"

"What else did the Archbishop say?"

Gao Yuan thought carefully. "He said..."

"The church had found some errors in the records of the Varrela Chronicle and other books, and they had already been taken away for revision."

"The Archbishop also told me to leave the cathedral as soon as possible."

Gao Yuan's face went a little pale. "Chen Fan, do you think the Archbishop has already discovered the problem with that book?"

Did he even need to ask?

The answer was already obvious.

The church had definitely discovered the anomaly in Simple Mechanical Principles.

Chen Fan silently nodded.

Gao Yuan's face grew even uglier. "Then... how will the Archbishop deal with that book?"

"Most likely, he'll destroy it."

Chen Fan answered without hesitation. "If I'm not mistaken, the church will destroy any books that record the history of the Prosperity Era."

"H-how could this happen..."

Gao Yuan found the truth hard to accept. "The church... how could the church do something like this?"

"This... this is deception!"

"The Lord... no, the church..."

Perhaps because the information had shocked him too deeply, Gao Yuan's words began to lose all coherence.

The situation had become quite clear.

After Chen Fan and Gao Yuan left the library, the church's clergy had gathered all the books they had looked through and conducted a second inspection.

For the church, this was probably a routine measure to ensure that knowledge did not leak out.

But it was precisely this routine procedure that exposed Simple Mechanical Principles, which should have remained buried in a corner of the library!

After discovering the information about the Prosperity Era hidden in the layer between the pages, the clergy realized there was a problem.

At the same time, to ensure that the information would not spread, the Archbishop used some method to erase part of the memories of the priests guarding the library.

That was probably the truth behind the strange events Gao Yuan had encountered last night.

After briefly sorting through the information he currently knew, Chen Fan's heart sank: the Archbishop's attention had probably already turned toward him!

There were a large number of surveillance devices disguised as statues of the Goddess in the library. The Archbishop could clearly see the entire process of him taking that book from the shelf.

As for Gao Yuan...

After last night's questioning, he had probably been cleared.

If the other side was perceptive enough, they could even pinpoint Chen Fan directly from Gao Yuan's words—under normal circumstances, Gao Yuan would never search through the library's books in the middle of the night unless someone had told him something!

What are you going to do next?

Knowing the severity of the situation, Yi became serious as well: This unit recommends finding an opportunity to escape Varrela City in advance.

Escape?

Easier said than done!

Not to mention the numerous clergy and believers, the statues of the Goddess spread throughout every household alone were enough to give him a headache!

Let's not talk about that yet. Have you detected the signal from that Research Ship after two whole days?

Chen Fan asked Yi inwardly.

If he could find the Dangerous Technology Administration's lost Research Ship before the divine descent ceremony or the God Chosen Ceremony, he could use the signal amplification device aboard it to contact the Dangerous Technology Administration.

That way, he would have a chance of survival—he refused to believe that some Electronic Gods pretending to be divine could stand against a Level 9 Civilization whose territory spanned countless universes!

Two days ago, Yi had begun searching at full capacity for the so-called Black Box Signal, but...

TE913 Research Ship Black Box Signal has not yet been detected. Unable to determine the Research Ship's coordinates at present.

It was exactly the same answer as before.

Looking at the red warning symbol floating in the Holographic Projection before him, Chen Fan shook his head helplessly.

He took a deep breath and pulled himself together. I still can't run. Running now would be no different from exposing my identity. The situation hasn't reached its worst point yet!

To avoid being observed by the surveillance devices, and also to "protect cultural relics," he had not opened the hidden layer on the final page of that book.

In other words, the church should not yet have solid evidence that he, a God Chosen, harbored disloyal intentions.

At that thought, a sharp glint flickered in Chen Fan's eyes.

He still had room to maneuver!