Chapter 257

"Those things?"

"It's like... going to bed or something..."

Kanade stammered, but her work continued uninterrupted.

"Sexual intercourse is a necessary prerequisite, not an equivalent step to the outcome. As I just mentioned, there is only one known case of a surrogate pregnancy and childbirth. Because the average lifespan of a surrogate is only two years, this means that many surrogates will die on the battlefield without the opportunity to develop a relationship and have children. Conversely, even if they had the time and opportunity, they might have been defeated and died long before they could even conceive."

Nishizaki Yuki explained expressionlessly, "Not to mention that the number of agents is extremely small—often a medium-sized city only has a dozen or so agents. Before Anilas and the others arrived, our Xijing City only had a maximum of eighteen agents."

"I see..." Kanade opened the cryogenic freezer and extracted the sample needed for Nishiki's experiment. A blast of cold air hit her face.

Nishizaki Yuki continued, "However, this is only a secondary factor. The primary reason is that the agents themselves have a very low conception rate, and there are too few agents, which limits the possibility of conception. They have become a life structure different from ordinary people. Their egg cells are no longer incomplete sets of genetic information, but complete individuals waiting to develop. However, this individual cannot be conceived by the agents alone. When the agents' Order Force intertwine and merge, this wonderful synchronous vibration will give energy to the inactive egg cells. When this stimulation reaches a threshold, the egg cells will begin to grow."

Kanade was completely bewildered, but Nishizaki Yuki continued with great interest, "Isn't it amazing? The reproductive methods of the agents have moved beyond primitive mating and gene exchange and fusion. In other words, theoretically, they can conceive each other even without sexual relations, simply through the exchange of the Order Force."

"How unbelievable... Did the Order Force bring about this change in them?"

Yes and no.

Nishizaki Yuki pondered for a moment, "The reason lies in the Order Force. But simply coming into contact with the Order Force will not change a person. Even if a suitable Eligible has the aptitude, she cannot become an agent if she does not come into contact with the Beacon and Synchronization. When an agent First Synchronization, it will trigger a high-energy vector wave of extremely high intensity, and then she will gain great power from it."

The key lies in what happens within that brief minute of the First Synchronization, from the Eligible to the agent. Even now, we don't understand what these agents' bodies go through; our instruments are ineffective at that time. The only known fact is that agents see strange visions upon entering Synchronization, and the First Synchronization is particularly long.

Yukina saw the butterfly during their First Synchronization, and Kanade Kotone knew about it.

"When evolution reaches a certain level, the limitations of the physical body become finite, and the spirit and soul become the new pursuit. The Agent illustrates this trend. In fact, the Trace left by those Ruins seem to tell us that their technology had already touched upon the essence of the soul. Beacon technology is a prime example. In fact, there has always been a theory in academia that the Corruption Energy, which is opposed to the Order Force, should also possess properties similar to the Order Force. In fact, after seeing the Apostle and Angel, I finally became convinced of the truth of this theory. However, research in this area has made no progress, but Efnir showed me a possibility. By the way, take a look at this—"

Place the experimental samples you just received into the instrument, and pull Kanade to the computer next to you.

Looking at the strings of data on the computer screen and the images under the electron microscope, she seemed very interested. "Number 1039 is a tissue section sample taken from the Dregs. And look at this one, this is the Mutation tissue removed from a body part Mutationist sent from the operating room. Don't you feel there's no difference between these two?"

They are all tissues that have mutated due to the Corruption Energy, so of course there is no difference.

But Kanade Kotone stared at the computer screen and didn't answer immediately; she sensed that Nishiki's words had a hidden meaning.

Nishiki smiled, "Actually, the one in the back was taken from Efnir."

"Ms. Yanase??"

"Her somatic cells have fully accepted and absorbed this abnormal energy that invaded her body, thus creating a unique energy field that resembles an electromagnetic field."

"Devour?"

"Or rather, coexisting in some kind of balance. What I've never figured out is how the threshold is determined, and what the limiting valve is. But what is certain is that Efnir has been able to use this power for her own purposes and has developed an energy template that is different from that of the agent."

Kanade Kotone saw Nishizaki Yuki drop a drop of a transparent solution of unknown composition onto the side of a thin glass slice, and then slowly bring two thin metal needles close to the sample. The instrument immediately showed a faint reaction, and she even saw a flash of electricity.

"How lively. As I just said, the Order Force is the root cause of the agent's transformation. So, what about the Corruption Energy, which is similar in nature to the Order Force but exists in the opposite form? Could it also bring about the evolution of the Eligible, or could it be controlled through some kind of technology, just like the Order Force?"

"Doesn't that mean..."

"If successful, the Corruption Energy will no longer threaten humanity; instead, it will become Stairway for us to cross into a new era—a new kind of energy."

Nishizaki Yuki looked at the dumbfounded Kanade Kotone and sighed again, "But what I'm more worried about is whether this unstable limiting valve within Efnir's body will be broken one day. What will happen to Efnir if the Corruption Energy is no longer under control...?"

8. Flowing Corruption Energy

The morning passed quickly. Majian, Efnir, and Jin entered from the east side of the town, went all the way to the north side, and then circled back along the outer edge, but found nothing.

There wasn't even a trace of Dregs or Erosion Entity, let alone the reason why it could dispel such a large area of white fog.

Majian strode along the street, but looking around, there was nothing of interest, only scattered and collapsed wreckage.

Violet seemed afraid of Efnir and hid beside Majian, but she was much taller than Majian and couldn't hide at all. Every now and then, she would curiously glance at Efnir, and when Efnir looked at her, she would immediately look away.

"How strange... Was this place always this quiet?"

Majian muttered to herself in surprise, "It wasn't like this last time I was here..."

Hezhe Town is only a few kilometers away from Hamikawa City's satellite town. During missions Beyond the Boundary, the agent would occasionally rest Beyond the Boundary briefly, so she was familiar with the situation. How could a place like this, a town that was once inhabited in the old century, be completely devoid of any Dregs or Erosion Entity?

Little did they know that the Dregs in Hezhe Town had already been cleared away by Efnir, who had arrived earlier, leaving only a handful.

As for the Erosion Entity, Efnir had never seen them before. When she arrived, she had the same question as Majian: she couldn't determine how long ago this situation had started. Her only guess was that the anomalies here might be related to the Apostle.

"We received the report about fifty minutes ago. According to the surveillance footage we reviewed, the anomalies here started to take shape last night."

Majian analyzed the data carefully and even played the surveillance footage for Efnir to see.

Efnir was nowhere to be seen on the surveillance footage, even though she had arrived in the town more than thirty hours earlier—avoiding surveillance cameras set up several kilometers away was not difficult.

Efnir glanced at it briefly before looking away, casually asking, "It seems you've been here before. When was that? Was it a long time ago?"

"A month ago, or to be precise, thirty-three days ago, I received the mission to conduct an investigation and intelligence gathering Beyond the Boundary."

Majian replied without hesitation, saying that she remembered every single one of her missions very clearly.

She looked at Efnir.

"By the way, I was just about to ask, why are you here alone, Efnir? What are you doing here? Where are your teammates?"

"I can act alone," Efnir said without elaborating. "I saw the dispersing white mist as I passed by and, out of curiosity, decided to investigate. But it's rather disappointing not to see Apostle."

After saying that, Efnir gave a sly smile. Majian was puzzled and thought Efnir was joking, so he didn't take it seriously.

"So you believe this situation was caused by the Apostle..."

"Only Apostle would do these things."

Until yesterday when Efnir arrived, from Hamikawa City's perspective, no one had ever been to this town. However, in the past thirty-three days, the town's Erosion Entity had completely disappeared, and the Dregs had become much sparser. This was clearly not something that could have been formed naturally.

"That means this place was normal thirty-three days ago."

"Um..."

Majian nodded. "The Human Federation has been sending us communications every few days recently."

She looked at Efnir, about to say something, when she suddenly blinked strangely.

Under the warm sunlight after the rain, Efnir's right eye shone with a brilliant, starry purple. Majian's gaze didn't waver, but instead gleamed with curiosity. "Speaking of which... Efnir, why do your eyes look a little different? Is it because that's the 'character design' for a 'magical girl'?"

Efnir is the idol agent magical girl of Xijing City. Majian knew this when she saw Efnir's badge, but she couldn't quite connect the black-haired girl in front of her with the dazzling silver-haired girl on stage.

Her knowledge of Efnir was limited to videos of "magical girls" and brief introductions from the organization. Since there was no civilian communication network between cities, she didn't know what had happened to Efnir. All she knew was that several incidents related to the Apostle had occurred in Xijing City over the past month.

"I've heard that a lot of girls wear colored contact lenses... you mean those kinds of things?"

As she spoke, she made a ring with her fingers and gestured a few times, clearly mistaking Efnir's heterochromatic eyes for the effect of colored contact lenses—after all, the Dregsification tissue should have an ash-like color, making it easy to identify, rather than purple.

"You mean my eyes?" Efnir raised her hand to touch her right eye, a tingling sensation spreading from her fingertips.

"These are the wounds left by the 'Angel'," she said truthfully, looking at Majian.

"Angel?! You mean that one from the Apostle Organization...?"

"That's right, it was them. The one I fought back then was Angel named Qinglan," Efnir glanced back, "In our city, Qinglan and Flying Swallow were my two seniors, but the Apostle killed all the other agents in their group, captured them, and transformed them into Angel to use as weapons to attack our city."

Majian was taken aback.

This was the first time she had heard these things from someone who had experienced the Apostle Incident firsthand. Unlike the intelligence issued by the Human Federation, Efnir told her in detail about the events in Xijing City and the Apostle Incident, as well as the true identities of the two Angel who appeared in Xijing City, selectively omitting the details about the Maesakagawa area and the Codename J.

After listening to Efnir's account, Majian's expression became extremely solemn, while Violet's face had already changed color.

"The Apostle are... so scary..."

Majian, on the other hand, cast an admiring glance at him.

"Wow, you actually managed to repel such a powerful Apostle... No wonder you're an agent of a mid-level city."

"Perhaps... it's not something to boast about."

At that time, Xijing City was indeed on the verge of destruction. The Apostle's attacks were not fierce, but bad news kept coming.

Without the later addition of Anilas and others, Xijing City at that time would not have had the resources to send troops to Maesakagawa.

Efnir pursed her lips.

She is now acting alone, in order to find the Apostle, or rather... hunt Apostle.

Investigate the Apostle's intelligence and take revenge on Apostle.

If Codename H and Codename J were here now, Efnir would be very confident that they would never return.

Since gaining that mysterious power during her first Apostle Form a month ago, Efnir has become increasingly adept at wielding it. Now, with the Exploration Shard as her trump card, no Apostle can withstand more than a few moves from her.

It's important to understand that Apostle, like Agents, also need the Order Force as their energy source. The existence of the Shard will completely drain the Order Force from their bodies. Within the range of the Fragment Radiation, Agents and Apostle who cannot use their powers are simply sitting ducks.

Thinking this, Efnir glanced at Majian and Violet beside her.

Under the "dust's" vision, Violet was surrounded by a faint, dim light. Although her movements were stiff and she looked like a complete novice, she was, after all, an active agent who had undergone basic training. She maintained basic vigilance and was ready to enter Exile Form at any time.

Majian, on the other hand, looked much more relaxed.

But this was only an appearance. The movement of the "dust" could not fool Efnir. There were always faint but active Trace of energy flow around the Majian. Once it encountered danger, it would immediately enter Synchronization. But strangely, as Efnir observed along the way, she confirmed a very subtle but familiar energy fluctuation in the Majian's subtle energy fluctuations.

--Corruption Energy.

Efnir, who had fought and experienced firsthand the Maesakagawa's Apostle Squad, and was also a master of Apostle Form, was very familiar with this form of energy.

She narrowed her eyes and looked away.

"If I were to encounter Apostle here, I would personally plunge my spear into her chest."

Efnir's gaze drifted to the distant horizon, and she suddenly spoke out of the blue, drawing the attention of Majian and Sumire.

9. Suspicion

The afternoon sun dried the ground, and the humid air permeated the town. Efnir stopped and glanced at Majian almost imperceptibly.

She suddenly said, "Searching aimlessly like this isn't a solution. Let's split up."

Efnir was wary of Majian and intentionally tested him. If Majian was connected to the Apostle Organization, regardless of whether Majian was problematic or not, it would be best to get everyone out of the way for the time being.

Efnir, whether Evnir chooses to ambush Majian and forcefully extract information, or to continue her investigation alone, it would be better than the current delicate stalemate.

"Eh? Is this alright? But..."

Efnir didn't give Majian a chance to ask, "Are there any abandoned subways or shelters around here? I think if there really were anything in the town, it wouldn't be placed where we can easily find it."

Subways generally only exist in large cities, or even if they do, they are often closed or shut down due to safety concerns.

Underground tunnels are somewhat more common. At the end of the last century, many cities tried to avoid Erosion Disaster in this way, but obviously, they all failed and became ruins.

With the aid of her right eye's Dust Vision, Efnir could hardly miss any suspicious energy flows, but the search and investigation had been going on for more than thirty hours without any results. Efnir couldn't help but wonder if the key point had been buried deep underground, which was why she hadn't noticed it at all.

But Majian's words refuted her.

"I think so too... but I doubt we'll be able to dig out an unknown tunnel."

Majian maintained that innocent and carefree smile, revealing nothing. "Although I rarely take charge of missions Beyond the Boundary, I know that this place was just an ordinary town in the old century. It was abandoned by its residents in the early stages of the disaster, and there are no underground tunnels or anything like that buried here. At least, no one has been found in Hamikawa City in the last ten years or so."

"..."

Efnir pondered for a moment, gazing at Majian. "You rarely take charge of missions Beyond the Boundary? No wonder... Majian, you should know Crow, right?"

Majian patted his chest. "Of course I know the vice-captain of the Forest Warden Squad."

"But I'm curious, I remember she was in charge of coordinating the missions Beyond the Boundary, so why did your Knight Squad take over this time?"

"Because Crow and the others happened to have other missions to attend to and couldn't spare the time, so..."

"I see."

Efnir didn't let Majian continue.

"Not enough manpower?" That's certainly a very suitable excuse.

However, no matter how short-handed they are, they shouldn't send newcomers to the Beyond the Boundary Region—it's different from the cities protected by the Boundary Stele. The Erosion Entity in the Beyond the Boundary Region are more powerful than ever under the influence of Corruption Energy. After all, not all new agents are born with a huge Order Force Yukina. Ordinary newcomers would only be in danger if they encountered them, which cannot be called training.

Efnir's gaze passed over Majian, took a deep look at Violet behind Majian, and then looked away.

"I'd like to explore the west side of town. Do you wish to continue your investigation along this road?"

Only Efnir hasn't personally investigated that side yet, so she might have overlooked something.

As for the area currently in question, Efnir had already surveyed it before last night, but found nothing of value.