After No. 03 finished speaking, her beautiful eyes quietly looked at Ferro.
Ferro was momentarily speechless.
It wasn’t that he was enchanted by No. 03, but he suddenly realized that he might have acted too impulsively just now, inadvertently exposing some of their situation.
"I..." Ferro looked somewhat embarrassedly at Angel and Nis.
Nis waved his hand, too lazy to speak. Angel didn’t say anything either. Although Ferro had exposed some information, which was a bit of a misstep, upon careful consideration, it might not necessarily be a bad thing.
This group of people suddenly showing up would raise suspicion in anyone.
It’s not that they necessarily had to explain their intentions to No. 03, but by letting No. 03 fill in the blanks herself, she might have some inkling.
With some understanding, communication would have more room than before.
With this in mind, Angel spoke: "Do you think we came here just for a simple apology and compensation?"
The questioning from ’Sanders’ made No. 03 frown. At first, she didn’t understand Sanders’ meaning, but looking at the three people standing across from her, she seemed to have realized something... Sanders even came personally, possibly indicating that what they discovered was more than what she imagined, not just the altar, nor solely involving Ferro. Otherwise, there was no need for both Sanders and Nis to come together.
What else did they discover? Something that warranted Sanders, a figure standing at the top of the Southern Domain Wizard World, to come?
Remembering that Ferro had previously mentioned that the base’s combat personnel had gone to "The Nest"... Could it be that they discovered the ultimate goal of the base?
While No. 03 was again lost in her thoughts, Sanders spoke again: "We can discuss other things later. Let’s continue talking about the organ transplantation and soul study you mentioned, and the purpose of building this laboratory in the Southern Domain."
No. 03 looked up at Sanders, sensing that his questions might be hinting at something... Perhaps they really had discovered the ultimate goal.
"What exactly does Illusion Demon want to know?"
"Everything." Angel paused, then continued: "Including the sacrifices you conducted in the Southern Domain, the people you persecuted, your research, what’s hidden in the soul, and... The Nest."
After Angel finished speaking, his tone deliberately carried a hint of incompleteness.
On the surface, No. 03 showed nothing, but inwardly she sighed deeply. Based on Sanders’ words, she already felt her guess was correct; they indeed had a lot of intelligence on the base.
No wonder even Sanders came. Because once what he mentioned was exposed, it would cause a storm in the Southern Domain.
And from Sanders’ tone, it seemed they grasped even more.
After a moment of silence, No. 03 finally spoke: "I can only disclose content not restricted by the oath."
"That’s fine." Angel’s eyes held a trace of mockery, his face displaying an expression of ’go ahead and perform.’
No. 03’s throat choked up, but she didn’t dare to act rashly. After calming herself down, she said: "What Illusion Demon wants to know, much of it stems from our research. So, I’ll start with the research. ’Organ Transplantation and Soul Compatibility’ is not a project of the Lacey Association but a collaborative research with forces from the Quest World..."
As No. 03 recounted, a corner of the secrets of the base was revealed.
This research of ’Organ Transplantation and Soul Compatibility’ was actually a collaborative project obtained by Lacey Association from a certain soul force in the Quest World through a certain event.
The Lacey Association provided researchers, the laboratory base, and various materials for the research, while that soul force, through the feedback of live sacrifices, handed over the core original liquid of this research topic to the base laboratory.
The specific name of the original liquid involved soul language, so No. 03 couldn’t directly tell Angel.
For convenience of communication, let’s call it — the Soul Arms Original Liquid.
To obtain the Soul Arms original liquid, specific ceremony live sacrifices were necessary. If such sacrifices were discovered in the Origin World, the entire Lacey Association would face consequences, so the research project was delegated to the base laboratory in the Four Realms of Wizards.
"In order to obtain the original liquid and continue the research of the Soul Arms, live sacrifices must be conducted." No. 03 calmly accepted the term Soul Arms, even feeling it quite fitting: "The live sacrifice ceremony is so simple that it does not require the involvement of official wizards, so we let others perform it."
"However, it was never our intention to disturb the Southern Domain Wizard World, so even in live sacrifices, we targeted no civilians but purchased slaves through transactions."
Nis sneered: "So to you, slaves are not human lives?"
"...At the very least, we didn’t wantonly break the rules."
Nis: "As long as it involves live sacrifices, it’s breaking the rules."
No. 03 shrugged: "If that’s what you believe, there’s nothing I can do."
Nis wanted to say more, but Angel interrupted their exchange: "You can argue later; continue, Giselle."
No. 03: "That’s all I know about the live sacrifices."
Angel: "How many ceremonies have been held in total? Where were they located?"
No. 03 shook her head: "That’s the operation of the subordinates, I haven’t looked into it, but every time the sacrifice yields enough Soul Arms original liquid for us to research for one to two years. We’ve been researching this topic for over forty years."
In other words, at least twenty sacrifices were held.
Each time involved the live sacrifice of more than a hundred people. Even if they were all slaves, this meant over two thousand lives were lost.
Although spread over forty years, the number doesn’t seem large, especially in this era of cruelty; nevertheless, it’s ultimately a heinous event.
Angel took a deep breath, suppressing the disgust in his eyes: "Continue."
No. 03: "With the original liquid, the next step is to inject it into the corresponding organs to study compatibility."
Before No. 03 could finish speaking, Nis couldn’t help but interrupt: "The soul is in the Land of the Soul and isn’t much connected to the physical body. How do the biological organs relate to the soul?"
No. 03: "This falls under the secrets protected by the oath, so I cannot divulge it. However, I can give an analogy: you can think of the organs as the vessels that carry the Soul Arms original liquid. Once the corresponding organ is transplanted, and the bloodline is connected, the Soul Arms can naturally resonate with the Land of the Soul."
"But, this is just the superficial effect; I cannot disclose any deeper research."
Even though No. 03’s explanation wasn’t very deep, the conclusion alone overturned everyone’s beliefs. Naturally, the one most impacted was Nis.
Nonetheless, this research that subverted previous concepts also provided Nis with significant inspiration.
He was now somewhat grateful that he heeded Dororo’s advice to come here.