Chapter 88: Unknown Lands (5) Truth in Nonsense

Outside the dungeon, inside the Grand Municipal Hall of Royal City, several thousand men and women watched the projection conjured by light magic with grave expressions.

A few unfortunate mothers fainted from crying and had to be carried out.

How could they have known that the children who had been devoured would not actually die? In truth, even the spell development team at the Second Institute was unclear on this point; the practical variables were simply too many.

In the front row of the hall, the division chief—a blond man—sat with a haggard expression, pressing his temples and closing his eyes for a moment’s rest as he watched the vicious struggle between monsters on the screen.

“Chief Carter, how’s the progress over at the Third Institute?” A man took the seat beside him. He was one of the victims, but also an A-rank hero, privy to many internal secrets—including the fact that the Third Institute was under quarantine and investigation.

“Do you know who’s leading the investigation this time?” Chief Carter asked with a wry smile.

“I don’t,” the man replied, shaking his head.

“The Old Ghost,” Carter answered, smiling. “So, until there’s a result, I have no need to intervene or be briefed. Besides, you all trust him more, don’t you?”

The man nodded, his gaze turning dark as he looked at the massive display ahead.

“Why does my child have to die first?! Why not theirs?! You damn officials! Useless heroes!” A man in the back rows stood up, shouting through his tears. “Wait! Wait! Wait for what? What on earth can’t be handed over?! Why must my child die?!”

His outburst immediately sparked chaos throughout the hall. The commoners, filled with indignation, surged forward to question the association staff, and some of the bereaved parents even seemed ready to use force.

“What should we do, Chief Carter?” an association staff member hurried over to ask.

“What should we do? Shift the blame? Hmm, forget it. Pushing it onto headquarters would only make things worse.” Carter curled his lips into a bitter smile. “Either way, with so many deaths, there’s no way I can keep my position as division chief. Notify the Second Institute—within ten minutes, I want them to come up with a highly convincing but utterly impenetrable technical explanation to pacify this mob.”

“Deceive them?” The staff member was stunned. “But what about afterward—”

“I’ll take responsibility later,” Carter replied with a bitter wave of his hand. “Whatever, at most I’ll do a few years in prison. Sigh… Why did something like this have to happen during my tenure? We’ve had peace for over a thousand years…”

“It’s precisely because it’s been too peaceful that fools like these can make trouble…” the man beside him remarked with a blank expression. “If a calamity of monsters struck, everyone would realize how precious these peaceful days are.”

“Don’t. I know you’re suffering, but this is the one thing we cannot give in to,” Chief Carter said sternly. “Hang in there! The Old Ghost is on it, and the Benevolent King will soon arrive. The children will be saved! As for the item they’re demanding—it absolutely cannot be handed over.”

The Heart of the Rainbow—this thing was a top-tier secret, so classified that even if it were mentioned, fewer than a hundred people in the entire Holy Council Federation would know what it was or what it was for.

It was also a crucial lead in the investigation, and all those involved were under intense scrutiny. The problem was, those involved held such high positions—deans of hero academies, S+ heroes, kings, members of the Holy Council—it was nearly impossible to investigate, let alone interrogate them!

At least one thing was certain: it definitely wasn’t something that could be used to summon a wife for Zhao Tianhe with some explosive talisman.

Zhao Tianhe’s situation was odd. If he had reported the term “Heart of the Rainbow” back then, his potential wouldn’t have been assessed as merely S+—he’d have been recalled to the Hero Academy and dissected.

The conflict in the hall only grew fiercer, and the battle on the screen became ever more brutal.

Panic, fury, confusion, and suspicion filled the air—emotions as volatile as a powder keg, ready to explode at the slightest spark.

Just then, another projection of light magic appeared.

“Greetings, everyone. I am Meibosen, Director of the Second Research Institute of the Sky Palace.” A kindly-looking bald elder appeared on the screen, his expression grave. “Many of you will have seen me in the Hall of Magical Progress during the annual Robert Festival.”

“At the invitation of Division Chief Carter of the Capital’s Dungeon Association, I am here to clarify certain rumors.” Straightening, the elder spoke in an unusually stern tone. “It is not the case that monster fusion will cause the collapse of the core—that is, the child’s soul. This is due to the foundational principles of the technique, stemming from the findings of the 232nd experiment: the O’Ryan Core Array…”

Just as Carter requested, the Second Institute had sent in a figure of authority to fabricate an explanation and halt the situation’s deterioration.

As an expert, Meibosen needed less than two minutes to concoct a plausible hypothesis that no layperson could refute; even he himself was a little impressed by his own ingenuity.

“For peace, and to prevent things from getting worse, I have to say this. Anyway, Carter takes the blame, and at most I lose some reputation,” Meibosen thought as he conjured dazzlingly complex arrays before him, leaving the audience completely bewildered.

But they grasped the gist: the villain lacked the ability, and his fusion method hadn’t surpassed the framework set by the Second Institute’s experts—he absolutely could not kill the children!

And, in fact, that was precisely the truth—though even Meibosen didn’t know his hypothesis was correct.

“Wait, what’s that?” Suddenly, a man pointed at the live feed of the dungeon, astonished. “Am I seeing things? Is that a person on that monster?!”

The audience, previously absorbed by Meibosen’s technical jargon, snapped to attention and looked over.

On the chaotic battlefield inside the dungeon, a gigantic monster—dozens of meters tall, shrouded in black mist and surrounded by hundreds of dark cubes—suddenly crashed into the fray, pinning a three-headed hellhound to the ground!

At the same time, a torrent of pots, pans, and dishes shot out from one of the black cubes, knocking down another monster—a humanoid figure covered in mouths.

This monster was formidable, but the real shock was that a person stood on its shoulder!

“That’s… Zhao Tianhe?!” Chief Carter stared at the figure, springing to his feet, overcome with joy and loss for words.

Meanwhile, in the dungeon, Zhao Tianhe nervously guided Eliza.

He suddenly remembered a villain from a comic in his past life—a hundred-meter-tall muscle-bound brute who accidentally slapped his own brother to death, a situation not unlike his current predicament.

If Eliza lost focus or went mad for even a moment and squeezed him, his protective spells would be useless—his fate would be to end up as a puddle of flesh.

“Oh, the fight’s getting more intense! A real powerhouse has joined! Hahaha! Take a good look, everyone! Watch closely how your children die!”

A taunting voice rang out. Zhao Tianhe turned to see a vaguely familiar humanoid shadow of black mist, holding a crystal orb in the distance.

“That… is that Zhuoke?” Zhao Tianhe stared at the shadow, then suddenly realized—wasn’t this the final boss of the simulated dungeon?

Judging by those wings and horns, it was even a mutated version.

“So this is the dungeon boss—the mastermind behind it all. That strange voice I heard before wasn’t a mistake.” Veins bulged on Zhao Tianhe’s forehead, but he couldn’t fly, so there was only one way to take out his adversary.

“Eliza!” Zhao Tianhe leapt up to her ear and shouted, “There’s a treat for you!”