Chapter 323: You Sought The Truth, Didn’t You?
"I'm falling! Sh*t!" Compass Carburettor screamed as another thought resounded in his mind, 'I'm…falling? Isn't that only possible due to gravity? Is that even here?'
As the thought sank into his mind, he noticed he had stopped falling. Moreover, in response to him, everything that he was aware of, whether it be the Beast Form System, the carcasses of the countless beasts it had turned into during their battle, the bullet shells that his Earth had shot forth and the three planets in his control.
All had fallen alongside him, with their relative speed being zero.
As for the Beast Form System, it calmly stared at him, like a human that gazed at dirt while bored. But, it didn't even express the emotion of boredom and just…stared.
"Do you wish to know the truth?"
'Just what the heck is up with this place?' Compass Carburettor scowled as he continued to tremble in fear, 'Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!'
Slowly, a group of shadows began to creep towards him as soon after, thanks to the light emanated by the Darble World, their figures were highlighted.
"You…you guys. H-How are you still here?" His eyes widened as one figure after another began to appear, "Night Ranger, Reality Marble, Young Master…"
Every single System that he had killed slowly arrived, beaten and battered, missing a majority of their bodies. But here they were, emotionless like pillars of rock.
"Look who found us!" Suddenly, a familiar voice resounded as he turned around immediately, watching a familiar bipedal creature resembling a coin appear, slowly revealing its bloody grin.
"How…the heck are you here?" Compass Carburettor stared at it, shouting, "Money-Making System!"
"You sought the truth, didn't you?" It grinned when suddenly, countless figures materialised behind it, surrounding Compass Carburettor on all sides.
The moment he gazed at them, the illusion of a book flipping flashed past his mind, followed by the scene of a thumb scrolling through a phone. His emotions were slowly being stretched taut as Compass Carburettor gazed at them, muttering their names that magically appeared in his mind, "Gene System, Goldfinger, Zombie System, Mecha System…what the heck? Why are you here? You're not even real…"
"You're just from the novels I've read!"
…
"Aaah!" His eyes shot open as he screamed, gasping for air as he noticed his skin felt too dry, like he had been basking under the sun in the middle of the desert.
"Compass, are you alright?" Grisha rushed to his help, noticing his skin turning dry rapidly as she quickly splashed a bucket of water on him, observing his condition ease up a bit. She then used a wet cloth to rub on his skin and prevent it from cracking due to whatever was happening to him.
"You mysteriously appeared here and then sat on the ground. And now, you're shouting all of a sudden!"
"I…" Compass Carburettor frowned, sensing information related to the Beast Form System gush into his mind, making him recall that he had killed it by the end of his rambling session.
'Then, what was that after that?' His breathing grew laboured as blood leaked out of his nose, causing him to rapidly lose strength as he slumped to the ground, causing Grisha to shout at him in hurry.
"Compass!" Summoning her wand, Grisha healed him as her body too trembled from time to time as mysterious memories gushed into her mind, alarming her. Not only did these memories make no sense, but they somewhat terrified her.
After all, she could feel something form in her body, like a seed sprouting after having taken root. She not only felt her body growing stronger, but her mind too was changing, experiencing growth, changing into something beyond and beneath a human.
It terrified her, despite her experiences of so many loops.
"What the heck happened there?" She frowned, worried as her heart thumped at increasing intensities, causing her to recall the times when Compass Carburettor said things that made no sense or meant otherwise.
She had already been worrying about what he had expressed during a couple of occasions before. And now, the changes flustered her.
"I'm…fine." Compass Carburettor wheezed as he noticed all the changes in his body die down and vanish, watching the healing effect heal him completely, including the injuries he had sustained before.
He slowly closed his eyes, recalling the scene where hundreds of Systems stared at him, causing him to tremble in response, "Those were just stories. But, what relation does that have with my current state? Have those stories planted something in my mind? Is that it? Like a sleeper cell of some sort?"
"No, even if they have any substance of reality, why appear now? What was the reason? Did I stumble upon a catalyst?" As he spoke, his eyes widened, recalling the Dragon of System. After obtaining its ability, this had been triggered in him.
'Do you know anything?' He contacted it immediately.
'N-no, what's up with these memories? It makes no sense! Are these yours?' The Dragon of System said in panic, obviously feeling fear, as it seemed to have also experienced what he had seen due to sharing authority in Secret Society.
'I've no idea.' Compass Carburettor closed his eyes, 'No, thinking about this would only turn me mad. A short few minutes had already turned me half-insane. I'll only focus on my objective and ignore everything else. There's no point in stressing myself out so much.'
"How long had I been like this?" He asked Grisha.
Until now, she had been hearing everything he uttered, wholly confused, worried that he had lost his mind. Now, upon seeing him gradually regain his bearings, she spoke, "It has been seventeen days since your arrival."
"Seventeen days?" Compass Carburettor got up with a start, "You're just joking, right?"
"Look around you and recall the state of things when you arrived. That's the best indicator of the passage of time." Grisha said, pointing at a row of cylinders in one corner.
When Compass Carburettor had arrived, there were only five cylinders there. But now, there were more than a dozen there. Based on their appearance, all of them were the External Item of Fortress.
And considering the material requirement for them and the design cost, plus time, it wasn't easy to create them. So, it was apparent that enough time had indeed passed by.
"So, I was in there for seventeen days?" Compass Carburettor clutched his face, trembling as he stared at the ground.
