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The investigation team ultimately failed to stop Nakai Hayato and the Ninth Guardian.

Although the Self-Defense Force arrived in time and entered the fray, once the Ninth Guardian—controlled by Shiraishi Wataru—lifted an armored vehicle and hurled it into the crowd like a Steel Body, the army's morale effectively collapsed. That they didn't break and run was already enough to justify their salaries and allowances.

A mere half-hour later, the detailed situation of this battle was reported to the higher-ups overnight.

Everyone was horrified by that terrifying destructive power and defensive capability, and they all scrambled to add more guards and heavy firepower to their own security details.

On the surface, they all swore to wipe out the Holy Infant Society; however, behind the scenes, they had obtained information regarding the Holy Son Pill and demanded that their loyal personnel acquire it at any cost. They wanted to start experiments as soon as possible to see if mass production was feasible, or at the very least, to glean some useful research from it.

Beyond that, the biggest news was the confirmation of the Holy Infant's advent vessel, which triggered a tug-of-war negotiation between the American and Japanese sides.

In the end, it was decided that the advent vessel would be housed at the Yokohama US-Japan Joint Experimental Center for safekeeping and research, with all information or resources obtained shared between the two nations.

For the investigation team, however, this could only be described as a crushing defeat.

But to the higher-ups, it seemed like an acceptable trade-off.

A few days later, further details regarding the efficacy of the Holy Son Pill leaked out. The true masters of this country—the major conglomerates—could no longer restrain themselves. They began to act, each planning to show their own prowess and carve out a piece of the pie.

However, these matters had little to do with Shiraishi Wataru for the time being. While his society members weren't exactly safe, they were barely holding on. He did have the intention of finding a conglomerate to act as a financial backer for the Holy Infant Society to continue expanding his experiments, but he hadn't decided on a target yet.

Right now, he was operating the "Holy Infant," enjoying a high-spec, luxurious dinner.

"Compared to before, the food today is indeed much more delicious." Shiraishi Wataru set down his utensils and looked calmly at Major William before him.

He found it rather interesting; this man had hidden his own abilities from the military and, after spending a few days, was actually able to slightly manipulate the intensity of his Steel Body. He looked like a good experimental subject with decent subjective initiative.

"Being able to satisfy you is our greatest honor." Major William's affinity was legendary; otherwise, he wouldn't have been temporarily transferred to handle communication with the Holy Infant. In terms of priority, showing goodwill was currently more important than negotiation.

"Actually, this place cannot trap me, you know?" Shiraishi Wataru stood up, touched the surrounding steel, and glanced at the surveillance camera overhead.

Shiraishi Wataru was lying. The super-alloy materials here were likely too tough to break through, and they had gone insane and added three meters of thickness, seemingly pieced together from some experimental materials. Even if he spent all day punching through it, his "cool factor" would have long since evaporated.

But that didn't stop him from bluffing.

"We certainly believe you. The construction here is merely for the peace of mind of certain individuals. We in America have always regarded Lord Holy Infant as a friend; we only hope that Lord Holy Infant can understand the irresistible fear we ordinary mortals feel when faced with such great power." William's words made Lieutenant General Ricky, watching from behind the monitors, nod in satisfaction.

Shiraishi Wataru didn't say anything more. His persona for the Holy Infant was someone who didn't smile, so he sat back down and looked at William.

"What do you want?"

The smile on William's face stiffened. He could hear the subtext in Shiraishi Wataru's words.

He wasn't asking what you (plural) wanted, but what you (singular) wanted.

He hadn't expected to be able to feign ignorance in front of this Lord Holy Infant after having consumed the Holy Son Pill, but the fact that the other party didn't seem to intend to expose him made him breathe a huge sigh of relief.

"Listening to your words, Lord Holy Infant, it seems you have descended into this world before?" After carefully organizing his words for a long moment, William slowly asked his first question.

He knew that countless big shots had their eyes on him right now, and the questions he posed had been screened and discussed by experts. However, the actual execution depended on how he, the interviewer, chose to ask them.

The Holy Infant's answers, expressions, and movements would be faithfully recorded word for word. No, strictly speaking, ever since he entered, his every action and even every breath were being studied by others. If any valuable intelligence was discovered, it would be fed back to William, the communicator, in real-time.

"That was not a pleasant experience. The spiritual energy in your world is still too thin; the time I can remain descended is limited. You may ask more valuable questions." Shiraishi Wataru refused to answer the question, a trace of displeasure appearing on his face.

William naturally wouldn't force the issue, instead naturally shifting the question following his response: "Is the spiritual energy you speak of what we commonly refer to as magic, qi, or energy elements?"

"You could say that. Spiritual energy is the key to the survival of life in a high-energy plane. You have a term for it, don't you? Parallel universes?"

"Are you saying that you come from a parallel universe?"

"We do not recognize parallel universes. We believe the universe only ranges from infinitely low energy to infinitely high energy. And you, compared to the world I reside in, are at a much lower energy level."

"Why are you able to descend into our world?"

"Energy-level worlds are constantly being created and destroyed, while simultaneously orbiting one another. It is not difficult to understand that after certain conditions are met, an overlap between two different energy-level worlds occurs." Shiraishi Wataru spouted nonsense with a straight face.

After digesting Shiraishi Wataru's words, William asked again: "What do you... want?"

"What I want lies in the future." After leaving behind this sentence, Shiraishi Wataru slowly lowered his head, his entire body going limp as if he had lost consciousness.

William called out a few more times, and after confirming that the Holy Infant had indeed departed, he nodded at the surveillance camera.

The research personnel waiting outside entered, collected all the tableware Shiraishi Wataru had used, and then several researchers in protective suits carefully lifted him onto a newly built refrigerated sarcophagus.

The fact that the Holy Infant's advent vessel preferred refrigeration was something they had heard from the captured society members.

Experts proposed the idea that perhaps low temperatures could facilitate faster absorption of spiritual energy by this advent vessel.

Others felt that the production of the Holy Son Pill required low temperatures.

Although, in reality, it was only because Nakai Hayato had felt that a corpse should be paired with a freezer when he bought it.

Regardless, this was their first positive, feedback-oriented interaction with a known transcendent power. All of the Holy Infant's answers would be classified as top secret, provided to experts or AI for research and analysis, and used to deduce various possibilities to provide guidance for their future contacts.

They naturally wouldn't take the Holy Infant's words at face value; the authenticity of this information still required time to verify, but that didn't stop them from assuming it was true for now.