After listening to Jietisikoki's impassioned speech, Ye Chen held his cigar between his fingers and remained silent for a long while before finally responding:
"So, all these stories you told were revealed to you by the Divine Artifact?"
Jietisikoki calmed himself slightly, then slowly nodded and corrected him:
"To be precise, a small portion came from my own enlightenment, while most of it came from the knowledge provided by this Divine Artifact. Thanks to it, I have been able to come closer to that ancient truth than the vast majority of people in this world."
Ye Chen exhaled a loose cloud of smoke, then spoke in a calm tone:
"I see. Then I'll assume these stories are all true."
"But what significance do knowing these things have for me?"
"What happened in the past is over. The old humans have already perished, and all I care about is the world and humanity as they are now. So I don't think your ancient tale can be of much use to me."
Jietisikoki gave a mocking chuckle and shook his head.
"No. Not only for you—even for the entire Holy Light Pure Land, the story I've told is of extraordinary significance."
"Because human society has been following in the old humans' footsteps from ancient times until now."
"Especially in the field of technological production."
"A great part of the Holy Light Pure Land's social development to date must be credited to the scattered scientific relics collected by the Hunter Corps over thousands of years, mustn't it?"
"Ye Chen, how do you think those scientific relics came to be?"
At those words, Ye Chen's expression abruptly changed. In an instant, he grasped some crucial piece of information.
"Could they... have been left behind by the old humans?"
Jietisikoki nodded without changing expression.
"That's