A cold voice echoed in the darkness:
When did you first arrive in the Sand Capital of the Skeleton Alliance?
Suolaer's exhausted reply came:
"About... about two years ago..."
The two recorders immediately began writing furiously; before this moment, they had no idea how the scene before them would unfold.
Suolaer Aoermo, who presented himself as a tough guy, was completely subdued by a seed in just ten minutes, turning him into a complete spineless coward.
All of this stemmed from that madman named [ Aluode ], whose methods of manipulating plants were not only unheard of, but also sent chills down one's spine just by looking at them.
At that moment, that cold voice came again:
"The exact time!"
Suolaer for a few moments before speaking:
"One year, ten months ago, on November 6th, 907 in the Royal Calendar, my small boat, guided by turbulent ocean currents, arrived at a harbor. That place was... that place was, Sand Capital."
"Are you all alone?"
"Yes, it was just me. We entered an unknown sea area, and according to procedure, we were required to send out a single-person boat to explore the surrounding area. But I was very unlucky and eventually drifted to the Sand Capital."
"Continue, what did you see, hear, and experience in Sand Capital?"
"I saw the skeletons over there. They captured me and questioned me about my origins using a special form of communication that allowed information to appear directly in my mind."
"Continue, or plant roots will just appear in your brain."
"Yes... they captured me and interrogated me. The pain was unbearable. I... I told them everything I knew about the Graycast Corridor."
How does it compare to the suffering you're experiencing now?
After a moment of silence, Suolaer said:
"They're evenly matched."
"Then what?"
"Then, the Skeleton Alliance wanted me to become their informant, to record all information about the Graycast Corridor within my capabilities."
"You agree?"
"I... can't refuse."
Suolaer gasped for breath after every few words, and his voice sounded very strange, as the plant roots had blocked his nasal cavity and were Spread towards his trachea.
"They made a small cut on my shoulder with a crystal cluster knife, and new crystal clusters quickly grew there, gradually Spread outwards, and never healed."
"Is this how they control you?"
"Yes, to slow the spread of the crystal clusters, we need to use potions from the Skeleton Alliance. Those potions are from my superior, Keen Risos. My mission also comes from him; only by completing the mission can I obtain the potions to slow the illness. That's why I betrayed them..."
"Stop making excuses and keep going. What happened during the voyage this spring? How exactly did your first mate die?"
Upon hearing this, Suolaer lowered his head even further, but perhaps realizing the situation had come to this, he ultimately chose to tell the truth:
"Our voyages are usually three times a year, following ocean currents and monsoons. Each voyage makes the nautical charts more complete, but the more complete the charts are, the easier it is to sail out of the Floating Corpse Sea."
"I don't want the ships to reach the Sand Capital, but everyone knows the shape of the continent, so while sailing south, we must also turn west to increase the chances of finding the coast."
"This spring, we finally completed the last piece of the nautical chart and successfully sailed out of the Floating Corpse Sea, arriving near the coast, which is the Sand Capital."
"I didn't tell anyone that I had ever been to Sand Capital, as that would expose my identity and would not match my previous statements about the voyage."
"When they saw that a whole ship of people had arrived, the skeletons were very excited. We were soon personally received by Councilors [ Whale Tail ] and [ Divine Wings ], who expressed their need to establish good relations and trade routes with the Graycast Corridor."
Everyone was delighted because it meant we were about to achieve unprecedented success.
"And I am even happier, because as captain, this move allows me to firmly secure my position as the Grand Foundry Master."
Upon hearing this, the two people responsible for taking notes were already sweating profusely, their hands were trembling, and the words they wrote were extremely illegible.
This seemingly sure-fire candidate for the Grand Foundry Master turned out to be a spy bribed by the Skeleton Alliance!
Fortunately, Gray Gris appeared out of nowhere; otherwise, they might have already been sold off for money by the Grand Foundry Master they had personally chosen.
"Go on."
[ Aluode ] said coldly.
He could roughly guess what would happen next; as a top spy and a professional traitor, he actually despised such behavior deep down.
In a sense, gaming behavior is also a projection of one's personality. It is precisely because one would not do such things in reality that in the game, [ Aluode ] would often choose to infiltrate the enemy camp and then defect, in order to reach the threshold of inner satisfaction without actually being condemned by everyone.
After all, he couldn't bring himself to betray humanity or the Soul Returner; he was quite clear-headed when it came to matters of principle.
Sure enough, under [ Aluode's ] persistent questioning, Suolaer Aoermo revealed the secret buried deep within his heart:
"We received very high-class hospitality in Sand Capital. Everyone felt that although the Skeleton Alliance was a bunch of skeletons, they were only affected by the Demonic Tide and were essentially good people."
That night, the councilor [ Whale Tail ] personally approached me and told me that the Skeleton Alliance would mobilize all its forces to fully support me in winning the election for the Grand Foundry Master.
"At the time, I didn't care about it, because in terms of the magnitude of the achievement, I would have succeeded even without them."
"Although I had become a spy at the time, I had not actually betrayed any important information, nor had I harmed anyone, so I didn't think there was anything wrong with it."
"[ Whale Tail ] saw this and warned me, 'If they wanted, even a pig could become Grand Foundry Master.' They used this method to blackmail me and said that I could never get rid of my identity as a spy, even if I became Grand Foundry Master."
"But my first mate Cooper had some chart issues he wanted to discuss with me, so he chose to visit me in the middle of the night, and inadvertently overheard our conversation."
"[ Whale Tail ] is a genuine High Tier, it's impossible that it didn't hear Cooper's footsteps, but it still said those things, just to expose my secret."
"Then [ Whale Tail ] captured the first mate and demanded that I kill him on the spot to prove my loyalty. I simply couldn't bring myself to do it, so telling them that the first mate was dead would only make me more suspicious."
"My original intention was just to delay and explain things to Cooper on the way back, but [ Whale Tail ] took my suggestion and used some means with other senators to manipulate First Officer Cooper and make him stop resisting."
"I originally thought this was just a way to silence him, but I never expected that on the return voyage, Cooper would suddenly gather a group of people to try to kill me and gain control of the ship."
"I know, that was because [ Whale Tail ] deliberately canceled its control effect midway; it wanted me to kill Cooper with my own hands..."
[ Aluode ] stared intently at the person in front of him:
And you did just that.
"Yes..."
Suolaer seemed to have let go of all his burdens and spoke very fluently:
"I knew there was no turning back. If my identity as a spy were exposed, I would surely die. So I rallied the remaining crew, framed the first mate for trying to take all the credit, and started a shootout. In the end..."
"I won."
Suolaer said blankly:
"I killed all the people who knew the truth, fabricated a plausible story, and forced all the surviving crew members to memorize it."
"So everyone was convinced that First Mate Cooper had instigated the mutiny before we reached the shore, otherwise some questions would be inexplicable, such as why so many people would cooperate with him in launching a rebellion when everyone knew I was the captain and the one in charge of everything."
"But even so, there are still some unclear aspects to the whole matter, so I have been using my psychological trauma as an excuse, along with my status as a popular candidate for the Grand Foundry Master, to refuse to cooperate with the Corridor Guard's investigation and refuse to let my ship be born with Machine Spirit."
"Otherwise, everything will be over."
At this point, Suolaer smiled helplessly:
"Of course, it's over now."