The Broken Cycle 5

The world fell silent once more.

The black-robed man remained kneeling where he was, utterly motionless, as though he had become another statue. All his strength, all his emotions, seemed to have been drained away along with the vanishing feather. All that remained in his heart was an empty bewilderment and a faint hope that even he did not dare dwell on.

"Beep beep beep beep~"

Just then, a silver communication badge engraved with the emblem of the Department of Mysteries, clipped to the gear at his waist, suddenly began to tremble faintly and emit a soft white glow.

Then a calm, rational male voice devoid of emotion sounded directly in his mind through an encrypted mental transmission.

"Cleanup mission code 'Abyss Echo' has exceeded its time limit. Perimeter monitoring indicates that the high-energy reaction within the target area has subsided. Please confirm your status and mission completion. I repeat, please confirm your status and mission completion. According to protocol, upon confirming mission completion, you must immediately report to the Purification Chamber. Please respond."

It was the Department of Mysteries' logistics and monitoring personnel.

They had clearly been keeping an eye on the energy fluctuations here. Saruman's death marked the end of the high-energy reaction. He just did not know whether these people had noticed Saruman's intentions.

Of course.

Even if they had noticed, it did not matter.

After all.

They were all people who had benefited from Saruman's kindness.

"Do I need to go to the Purification Chamber?" The black-robed man knew that place all too well. It was the final destination of all "cleaners" who had carried out cleanup missions in deeply contaminated areas.

It was not a direct execution, of course.

It was a thorough "purification."

Well.

In truth, the result was about the same as execution.