Chapter 23: Ninth Fortress 23

At that moment, An He had just finished a day’s training and pulled away from Asta’s side.

Lola finally found a chance to be alone with An He. The two of them stepped into the night, weaving through the construction sites in the Ninth Fortress’s West District, casually chatting about Nestsouls.

Lola said the third batch of test subjects had failed.

“Third batch of test subjects.” An He perked up at the words, realizing this meant the First Fortress was conducting experiments.

In fact, the first time she heard Heidi explain the awakening mechanism of Embedded Spirit Bodies, An He had felt a fleeting alertness.

The temptation to awaken a Nestsoul was too great—it could resist Bone Erosion Disease and grant superhuman combat prowess. It was impossible not to ignite humanity’s innate greed.

The moment a high-risk, high-reward mechanism emerged, it was destined that someone would study it, seek to master it, surpass it, and even create new mechanisms in its place—no matter the dangers.

Humanity advanced because of this, but also fell because of it.

Extreme weapons, stock investments, machine intelligence—they all followed the same trajectory. An He recalled Gu Xianqing’s mention of “raising Radiated Creatures”; it was the same.

When Heidi said “people wouldn’t try to create Embedded Spirit Bodies,” An He had let go of that alertness.

But now, with her deeper understanding of the world, An He realized that conclusion was just Heidi’s—or the Ninth Fortress’s—and it didn’t represent all survivors’ views.

“The Ninth Fortress is too primitively pure…”

An He thought of Gu Xianqing’s words again. When she laid eyes on the First Fortress, she had unhesitatingly concluded they were absolutely running some kind of trials.

The technology preserved from the Mother City was a precious resource; the people of the First Fortress couldn’t possibly resist using it for exploration and research.

Test subjects. Third batch.

How many more? What were they testing?

An He calculated: Lola had left the First Fortress at least four or five years ago. If she hadn’t communicated with her colleagues since, then the third batch had already failed before she left.

Four or five years ago…

An He caught another term Lola used: “human Nestsoul.”

It was a strange combination. Nestsouls were humanity’s helpers; naturally, the stronger their combat power, the better. But human…

Compared to lionesses and gray wolves, humans lacked sharp teeth, explosive limbs and muscles, or protective shells. In battle, they were undoubtedly at a disadvantage.

What was the benefit of cultivating human Nestsouls? Just because of a useful brain?

No matter how useful a Nestsoul’s brain was, An He’s was in chaos right now.

Countless thoughts raced through her mind at high speed. She had to confront an even more bizarre guess—one that had been screaming for attention all along.

If—if Nestsouls could take human form, then what the hell was Gu Xianqing?!

An He’s heart pounded like a drum. She pretended to think, keeping her head down and her pace steady, but her mind was a storm-tossed sea—after she wounded Gu Xianqing, stabbing down viciously with that blade, Gu Xianqing had told her that Nestsouls could be injured.

Nestsouls could be injured! Blood—crimson blood—had smeared across her face and jaw. In a daze, An He smelled the metallic tang again.

“You know nothing about Nestsouls, An He. You know nothing about me.” Gu Xianqing’s words slithered into her mind like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.

An He thought back: Gu Xianqing had an Innate Talent, so she was definitely an Embedded Spirit Body. But when An He attacked, Gu Xianqing never summoned her Nestsoul to fight back.

Gu Xianqing came and went like a ghost in the Wasteland. What did she eat? Drink? She even “gifted” vegetables and salt to the Ninth Fortress…

A Nestsoul?

Then what was Gu Xianqing’s true body? Could a Nestsoul survive detached from its host?

Was she connected to the First Fortress’s experiments?

No, unlikely—Gu Xianqing said she’d only been there for three days.

So what was she?

An He snapped her head up in realization, noticing she’d been gripping her military knife’s hilt the whole time, her palm slick with cold sweat.

Lola’s voice drifted in and out, like it was muffled by a thin membrane. An He came back to herself and clearly heard Lola asking, “Judging by your reaction, you’ve really seen one?”

An He masked her expression. “I’m just suspicious about it.”

“Unlikely.” Lola’s tone was calm. “Though the experiment was confidential, the security level wasn’t high. It even caused a stir in Lower City D District. In the end, all the test subjects failed.”

An He carefully mulled over Lola’s words. Something that caused a stir was probably tied to the public. She deployed her play-dumb tactic: “It must have had quite an impact back then.”

“Yeah.” A flicker of pain crossed Lola’s eyes. “Everyone thought it could give Bone Erosion Disease patients a second life. So many people waited in hope… but it didn’t work.”

An He latched onto the key phrase: second life. Lightning flashed in her mind! So the goal of human Nestsoul research wasn’t boosting combat power, but letting the terminally ill live on once more as humans?!

A massive sense of absurdity gripped An He, yet beneath it, she felt it was perfectly in character for humanity.

Fear of death was innate; to extend their lives, humans would do anything absurd.

But this clashed completely with Asta and Ide’s ideals. An He said, “If the Embedded Spirit Body is already frail and near death, the Nestsoul couldn’t be strong and healthy either.”

“That’s the insurmountable hurdle.” Lola shrugged. “So we failed completely.”

“Strange—why did the higher-ups want to run this experiment in the first place?” An He probed carefully, fishing boldly for info.

“Not entirely sure. Research Institute projects are always weird.” Lola thought for a moment. “I heard it was because they’d seen a successful example.”

An He gripped her knife hilt again.

A success case—Gu Xianqing?

She kept her composure, feigning complaint. “In the end, the project was useless to us anyway.”

“Mm.” Lola agreed, glancing at An He. “For the Heroic Spirits Society, loyal warriors are what matter.”

An He caught the sigh in her tone. Heroic Spirits Society warriors? Her and Lola? An He curved her lips toward Lola. Ha! Neither of them seemed all that loyal.

Lola spotted the blatant sarcasm and circled back. “But if the project had succeeded, the Saint Lord would have gained another tool to lead the masses.”

“You mean, a way out for Bone Erosion patients?” An He was puzzled—the First Fortress running such a humane experiment?

“It’s a means to control the citizenry. The Saint Lord never does anything pointless.” Lola stated it plainly, without mincing words. “You know, in the Church she promotes and controls, Nestsouls are revered as the God‘s grace. Of course, the Church decides who receives that grace.”

As Lola’s words fell, they passed through the empty construction site, crossed the street, and stopped once more in front of Helitanskia’s window.

Lights glowed inside the room. Helitanskia still sat at the dining table, hands clasped in devout prayer.

This time, Lola led An He through the door into the room.

“Lady Heli.” Lola used the short form. “I’ve brought a member from Thorn Lamp to see you.”

Lola lifted the basket in her hand, filled with precious pears.

Heli nodded slightly, gesturing with one hand for them to sit on the wooden sofa nearby, then clasped her hands again and resumed her prayer.

Lola sat with An He as if it were routine, whispering, “We need to wait for her to finish a chapter. Prayers can’t be interrupted halfway.”

An He nodded. Her peripheral vision swept over the room bathed in warm light, brimming with the essence of daily life—Lady Heli had likely just finished dinner. A damp cutting board dripped near the sink, dishes and utensils laid out to air-dry before storage. Half a black loaf of bread sat covered for later.

An He hadn’t seen such an everyday scene in ages. These were the marks of long-term living.

She quietly took it all in. Near the kitchen stood three shelves of varying heights, worn with age: one held tableware, another daily goods. The one closest to the window held rows of earthenware jars fired from clay.

An He first thought the jars were for fermenting food, until her gaze drifted up to see dried branches stuck inside, colorful mineral stones dangling from twigs on hemp ropes—like handmade floral arrangements.

She remembered: Lady Heli worked the Mines. She’d collected many small, vibrant rocks.

On the table before Lady Heli sat a similar tiny jar. The surface was neatly covered with floral-patterned hemp cloth, a open Scripture weighing it down.

An He’s gaze naturally settled on Lady Heli herself.

This was a middle-aged woman in her fifties, marked clearly by labor: rough, powerful hands; broad knuckles; a face etched with gullies from sun and sweat, proclaiming her once an excellent worker in the mines.

But now, the lady no longer went out.

Red rashes crept from under her collar at her neck. Red veins threaded her eye corners. On her finger joints, two or three obvious blisters were wrapped in old gauze—but they’d burst, pus seeping through.

Patients in the second stage of Bone Erosion Disease suffered severe pain, yet Lady Heli showed none. She gently lowered her eyes and began to chant.

An He listened carefully to the content of her recitation.

“God from the bountiful lands, please bestow your grace and protect your innocent children…

“We pray devoutly, beseeching you to dispel the boundless sickness and darkness from this land. [Garbled text omitted]

“Those who have fallen shall receive baptism; the sinful shall repent with sincerity. Please grant your grace so that our lives may continue…

“We shall become your most devout followers, pursuing your Apostles in the mortal world, sustaining you, serving you.”

An He frowned slightly.

It started off somewhat normal, but as she listened, it grew increasingly strange.

Lady Heli continued her prayer: “Holy Mother, I sincerely repent for my greed and ignorance—thank you for sending divine punishment to devour the filth within my body and purify my soul. I shall mend my ways with true sincerity until you withdraw the divine punishment and bestow the God’s grace.”

Hm? An He caught on.

She had heard Heidi and Ide mention the Church before, but only now, upon truly encountering one of its members, did An He understand how they viewed Bone Erosion Disease.

Lady Heli believed it was divine punishment from God upon the sinful. When the spreading fungus gnawed at the human body, it was the divine punishment consuming the filth, while the patient underwent baptism.

Only those who endured divine punishment were worthy of receiving God’s grace—the awakening of a Nestsoul.

And indeed, it was so.

This was a flawless, self-consistent doctrine. No matter which Embedded Spirit Body it was, they could deem it a gift from God.

No wonder Heidi got such a headache whenever she brought up the Church, and explained it so proficiently.

An He speculated that such a Church must have existed for a long time. Likely, right after Bone Erosion Disease emerged, it had spawned a complete faith system. Thus, wherever humans gathered, such Churches existed.

The Saint Lord of the First Fortress used the Church to control the populace.

While the Ninth Fortress coexisted with it and conducted popular science outreach.

An He still lacked enough information to decide how to regard such a Church—until she heard Lady Heli recite the final prayer.

“Merciful God, please take control of my soul and grant me endless power.

“Red-Clothed Apostle who wanders in dreams, I wish to follow you to pay homage to God.”

An He’s expression changed bizarrely.

Red-Clothed Apostle? Wait—this is the ‘hallucinations and auditory illusions’ Ide mentioned?!

An He drew in a sharp breath. She saw that Lady Heli, having finished her prayer, had turned around. A pair of red eyes threaded with blood vessels stared unblinkingly at her.

At that moment, the voltage flickered unstably again, and the overhead light suddenly popped and went out.

Darkness engulfed her vision. An He instinctively gripped the knife at her waist.

Her muscles ached sorely, but the training effects were evident. An He now knew better than ever how to mobilize her entire body. She saw Lady Heli approaching her in the darkness. Thus, An He’s thumb pressed against the hilt, pushing.

Shing. The cold iron slid out of its sheath by two centimeters, the friction sound piercing in the silence.

Soon, Lady Heli backed away a distance and came to stand right in front of An He.