Nightless Sky Yong Lian: I'm sad about sacrificing my brothers and sisters too (sobbing)
Looking at Nightless Sky Yong Lian before him, Lin Yu couldn't help but sigh.
From the very beginning, Lin Yu never ruled out the possibility that "all of this might be the work of Yonglian from Nightless Sky Yong Lian".
After all, as he said...
Nightless Sky Yong Lian had already used him in this way once before.
Lin Yu wasn't foolish enough to think that Nightless Sky Yong Lian would be completely honest with him from now on, ever since he was exposed last time.
This woman was the most ruthless and profit-driven person he had ever met in the Ten Realms.
She was like an ancient Emperor, a born political machine—admittedly, Nightless Sky Yong Lian was not without emotions, but she would never allow emotions to interfere with her judgments and decisions regarding interests.
But...
Lin Yu had to admit that he had underestimated Nightless Sky Yong Lian.
Even if he remained skeptical at the beginning, he only felt that Nightless Sky Yong Lian had at most pushed forward one or two things.
But when Lin Yu truly put together the data on "Order," Fu Luo's inferences, the testimonies of Nightless Sky Yong Shang and Omia Bosen, and added the information he himself possessed, he realized...
Almost everything that happened to him during his trip to the Barren Realm was orchestrated by Nightless Sky Yong Lian.
"Supreme Evolution" returned to the forefront of most of the City That Never Sleeps' attention because of her; President Paris was framed because of her; she was responsible for delivering the data on Supreme Evolution to "Order"...
Even the establishment of "Supreme Evolution" itself was orchestrated by her.
So...
Even though Lin Yu already knew most of what Nightless Sky Yong Lian had done, he was still full of doubts.
"Why?"
Lin Yu looked at Nightless Sky Yong Lian and asked again.
Nightless Sky Yong Lian looked at Lin Yu and laughed, "'Why'... which matter's 'why' are you asking about?"
"For each one, I can guess part of your motives, but I'm not sure about most of them," Lin Yu said, then paused, "For example... why did you keep it from everyone else but not from me?"
Nightless Sky Yong Lian supported herself on the table with both hands and spun the swivel chair beneath her around once.
"This is a relatively important question, so I'll answer it a little later—the order in which information is revealed is very important."
"You probably have other questions you want to ask—take them one at a time, starting with the less important ones."
Lin Yu thought for a moment and asked, "Why would you frame President Paris?"
"I know why you killed Tennyson and Aide Rainbowlight... because these fanatical followers of 'Supreme Evolution,' and the spies infiltrating various companies, were your own private forces monitoring City That Never Sleeps and doing some 'dirty work.'"
"But... now you no longer need them, and you can't pass this intelligence network, built on the 'Creator's' private relationships, to Nightless Sky Huo Le, so they can only die."
Nightless Sky Yong Lian laughed, "In your parlance, it's called 'When the birds are all gone, the good bow is put away; when the cunning rabbit is dead, the hunting dog is cooked'... I really like this saying."
"I can tell, because I've heard that from Huo Le as well," Lin Yu paused for a moment, "So... that's why I'm curious, why frame Paris? His usefulness is far from over, isn't it? Are you worried that Nightless Sky Huo Le won't be able to control her after you leave?"
Nightless Sky Yong Lian shook her head. "How could that be... I never intended to truly put that guy Paris in Desperate Plight —what I needed was to make him have an almost fanatical loyalty to Huo Le as well."
"Although this guy is ambitious and sometimes seems reckless, as if he's very daring, I knew from the first moment I saw him that he wasn't actually that daring to the point of being Without Taboos," said Nightless Sky Yong Lian, chuckling softly. "That's why I promoted him from a junior employee back then... naturally, he's grateful to me and extremely loyal."
"This is something Huo Le hasn't received before—under these circumstances, Paris might not betray us, but he certainly wouldn't be so unreserved."
"What I need is to create an opportunity for Huo Le to show his kindness, an opportunity to save him from despair... Sigh, Huo Le is a good kid in every way, but he's just not suited for this kind of thing."
"However, it's perfectly normal for parents to do things that their children aren't good at."
Nightless Sky Yong Lian spoke, Lin Yu nodded.
"So that's how it is... The late emperor first demoted powerful ministers, and then the new emperor pardoned them. Such things have happened in our history before."
"People in these positions tend to think in pretty much the same way," Nightless Sky Yong Lian waved her hand. "Next question."
Lin Yu looked at Nightless Sky Yong Lian and said seriously, "Then... my second question."
"You... you really didn't have any Alchemy Talent back then, right?"
Nightless Sky Yong Lian readily nodded. "Clever, Arthur. My Birth Mother had extremely low Alchemy Talent; she was a maid sold to the Nightless Sky Family from Commoner family in the Outer City..."
"Although the Previous Generation Family Head was highly talented, unfortunately, I inherited my mother's low Alchemy Affinity —which is one of the reasons why the Previous Generation Family Head disliked me."
Lin Yu began, "Then how did you change that...? According to Nightless Sky Yong Shang, the 'Hand of Alchemy' couldn't do that."
"Even the Nightless Sky Huo Ming has completed this Forbidden Alchemy ritual... but her Alchemy Talent hasn't improved much."
Nightless Sky Yong Lian chuckled, "Hmph... Forbidden Alchemy? Those things are not my choice... You should know about the Abyss Demons of the Night Valley Realm, shouldn't you?"
Lin Yu sighed, "They actually have influence over Alchemy?"
"They naturally cannot do it, but... the Authority of 'Contract' plus the Authority of 'transaction' leveraged by this Authority will suffice— 'Equivalent Exchange' is the Law of Alchemy. As long as you submit the 'transaction' to the alchemical system, it will naturally respond to you."
"Nightless Sky Yong Lian said casually."
Lin Yu looked at Nightless Sky Yong Lian: "So, what was the price you paid?"
"Soul."
"Nightless Sky Yong Lian said softly."
Lin Yu raised an eyebrow. "Soul... but your soul seems quite intact."
Nightless Sky Yong Lian laughed loudly, "Who said it was my soul? What I sacrificed was of course the souls of my blood relatives... my most beloved brothers and sisters, my Bloodline- related kin—what I exchanged in exchange was, of course, their souls."
Upon hearing this, Lin Yu couldn't help but sigh.
Is this really the price you're paying?
Nightless Sky Yong Lian shrugged. "Anyway, the 'Abyssal Lord' and the Pillar-level Demon have given their approval... They have no objection to my actions."
"My Alchemy Talent also comes from those brothers and sisters; it was directly extracted from them."
Nightless Sky Yong Lian spoke calmly, her tone even carrying a hint of nostalgia and reminiscence.
Lin Yu looked at Nightless Sky Yong Lian's appearance and said, "So, this is also why Nightless Sky Huo Ming doesn't have any talent either, right?"
"Because she was also unlucky, she just happened to inherit your talent."
Upon hearing Lin Yu's words, Nightless Sky Yong Lian shook her head. "You've got it wrong. My talent is hereditary; it rewrites my 'innate' nature... Otherwise, the after-sales service for this deal would be far too poor!"
"Huo Ming is special, not because she inherited my alchemical insufficiency, but because... although she is of my Bloodline, my child, she is actually the most special one."
"She... was created by me using 'Artificial Life' technology."
Nightless Sky Yong Lian spoke, Lin Yu was shocked once again.
"What?"
"Phew, that's a pretty good reaction. So you haven't seen through everything after all."
"Nightless Sky Yong Lian chuckled softly."
Lin Yu nodded slowly. "This matter... was indeed beyond my expectations."
He truly hadn't expected that Nightless Sky Huo Ming's background was so extraordinary.
Nightless Sky Yong Lian continued to explain, "My initial intention in doing this was to obtain a chosen successor, a child born to inherit the ' Chosen of Wisdom 'Chosen of God... But unfortunately, Artificial Life technology is far more complex than I imagined."
"I originally thought that exploring 'Supreme Evolution' was enough, but after actually getting started, I realized... I'm still far from it."
"Fortunately, I am also lucky—although Huo Ming cannot inherit the Chosen of Wisdom and even has no Alchemy Affinity at all, she is surprisingly well-suited for pioneering in the Great Wilderness... Hmm, she has even completed the Alchemy Hand Ritual, which I really didn't expect."
"Moreover... the Nightless Sky Fire Apricot also gave me a great surprise—it's truly amazing! The artificial offspring I painstakingly created has no Alchemy Talent, but the one I gave birth to is Alchemy Genius."
Hearing the slightly regretful and wistful words of Nightless Sky Yong Lian, Lin Yu pondered for a moment and then spoke.
"So, you're saying Supreme Evolution besides giving yourself a record that allowed you to secure your position as 'Family Head,' you also used your status as the 'Creator' to conduct research that you needed?"
"Of course, the identity of 'Creator' is quite convenient," said Nightless Sky Yong Lian. "Although the Truth Company and the Nightless Sky Family have abundant resources, back then I was constrained by my family and couldn't just carry out any research at will."
"Furthermore, I also want to conceal my talents and skills... so using the identity of 'Creator' does indeed make me less conspicuous."
"However, I must correct you on one point—you seem to have always felt that the identity of 'Creator' is one that I created in collaboration with others, is that right?"
"That underestimates me a bit... Back in the day, I could single-handedly play both Nightless Sky Yong Lian and the Creator!"