"I am a D-level investigator of the Stonemasons, newly promoted..." The throbbing pain took away the last bit of strength from Rayleigh. He writhed on the ground, every nerve resisting fiercely, and the little consciousness he had left kept him from doing anything.
He moaned without even fainting.
"Sir, sir...I am of no importance to you."
Reilly forced out a smile with a flattering look on his face: "I'm just a little investigator. What do you want? I'm happy to help."
“What is Masonry?”
"???" Rayleigh was stunned for a moment, and then the pain intensified in his body. He smiled bitterly at the cold gaze of the man in the wheelchair. Various thoughts were tumbling in his mind, and he struggled, but in the end he lowered his head.
"The Masons are a group that split off from the Foundation. Like other splinter organizations, usually... Sir, we are the mortal enemies of the Foundation."
The tonic clonus subsided slightly.
After a brief silence that was negligible, Rayleigh wiped the blood stains from his cheek and then spoke——
…
A long, long time ago, the original universe was physical.
Simplicity, symmetry, exquisiteness and perfection.
Whether it is biology, information, force, molecules, electromagnetism or astronomy, they all follow certain precise and cold physical rules. It was the best of times. In the dark forest, life exploded like weeds in various river systems.
Philosophy, science, morality, thinking, rationality... civilization is as bright as the stars.
The best of times is so short that only a few words remain in the history of the oldest race.
Like the hand of God disturbing the scales, the universe was suddenly injected with some strange parameters.
Stones that do not follow the conservation of mass, cats that defy physics, alchemy, aberration plagues, infinitely growing toes, magic, spiral doors, creation gnomes, or powerful creatures who call themselves gods or demons.
As a result, the civilizations in the stars dimmed one after another, and the mystery failed in the face of a higher mystery. At that time, the planet under human feet was still a hot ball composed of hot liquid material, with a surface covered with magma oceans and even solid rock layers.
None of them exist, and there is very little free ammonia, methane, and water vapor in the atmosphere.
Almost no living thing can survive in this molten and hot hell, and no living thing is willing to come to this newborn planet.
When terror and mystery were raging across the stars, countless civilizations were extinguished, and this newborn planet had no idea of the horror of the universe.
Until the first nucleic acids and proteins appeared in primitive lakes, oxygen entered the atmosphere to form ozone, chordates appeared for the first time, fish were formed, and mammals followed.
When the first upright ape raised its head and looked up at the sky——
What greeted it was not only the warm sunlight, but also the space aircraft carrier that had crashed into the atmosphere and covered half of the land.
Monsters with human heads and bird bodies, floods, snake-men, stones falling from the sky, and then gods and demons came.
Powerful, mysterious, sacrificial, fearful.
The first civilization on the planet was born driven by slavery before it even sprouted...
——
"No one knows the origin of the Foundation or what kind of people they are. My current authority does not support access... In history, it was they who repelled the alien visitors, expelled the monsters and astronauts from the sun, and drove them to the outer layer.
Space and different dimensions..."
Rayleigh covered his nose and his voice was a little unclear:
"Some records say that they provoked civil strife among the astronauts; some say that they used an unimaginable cosmic weapon; some say that the group of people sacrificed a powerful god and a supernatural being with infinite wisdom.
Creatures, they used the wisdom of gods to finally defeat the monsters that enslaved the ancient apes and humans, and expelled the astronauts to the stars again."
"Members of the Foundation..." Baizhu in the wheelchair knocked on the armrest: "Are they humans, or in other words, are they still humans evolved from ancient apes?"
"Uh...yes."
"Interesting, the slaves defeated the slave masters from among the stars. It was truly a heroic epic."
Bai Zhu looked at Lei Li who was covering his nose: "What about you? The Masons split from the Foundation. What was the reason for the great split in the Foundation?"
"Sir... my permission is only level D, which does not allow access to these..."
Lei Li showed a flattering smile and wanted to add a few more words, but was interrupted by Bai Shu raising his hand.
"In addition to the Masons, what other organizations have splintered from the Foundation?"
"The Scarlet Hand, the Great Annihilator, the Silent Monks, the Sons of Cruelty, the Oathbreakers, the One-Eyed Society, the Black Goat..."
Reilly said honestly: "These are the same status as the Masons. In addition to these, there are also the higher-level Silver Mysticism, the Forest of Oak, the Knights of Braganza, the Braganza... and they have become extinct several times.
During the battle, they will directly compete with the people from the Foundation."
"What is the reason for your hostility to the Foundation?"
"..."
"Have you ever heard of the Fermor Protoss?"
"???"
"Druit?"
"..."
"...You can't be cannon fodder, right?"
"..."
"Damn, I'm so convinced!" Baizhu patted the wheelchair: "Mutual eating ceremony? You know this, right?"
"I know!" Rayleigh's expression perked up instantly: "This is a sacrificial ceremony for the unification of our split sect, I've heard of it!"
A rite to sever a sect?
Bai Shu asked: "Who are you offering sacrifices to?"
Reilly "..."
Lei Li felt that this person in a wheelchair was really a bastard. Damn, you can know this shit if you have ears. Wouldn't you check it yourself... Don't you have the ability to hack the gateway? Check it yourself!
Baizhu felt that the bastard holding his nose must be cursing in his heart. If there wasn't magic in this world, the things sealed in the gateway might really crawl over along the network cable... Do I still need you???
There was no sound in the dark and damp warehouse.
Only the little frog watch on Bai Zhu's wrist was shining with fluorescence, and the hands gently crossed the turntable, making a rustling clicking sound between the tables.
"Rayleigh Mausolus, D-class investigator of the Masonic Order."
In the darkness, the man in the wheelchair suddenly spoke softly:
"Are you curious, why can I easily enslave you even though I can't move my lower body? I can enslave you, a semi-transformer of Olawn's bloodline?"
An inexplicable throbbing surged into his heart, and Rayleigh subconsciously wanted to run away, but was suppressed in place by the rhythm deep in his blood. The blood as hot as lava burned him from the inside of his body, and white smoke erupted from his body surface.
"Come."
"This is the last resort."
The light from the ground window high up on the wall faintly casts light, falling like water on the black ground. Bai Shu sat in the darkness, his hands quietly folded on his stiff knees. Through the dim light, he could vaguely see countless tiny dust particles surrounding him.
He floats, he seems to be smiling, his body and shadow are connected together, like an ancient and mysterious stone sculpture.
"Raise your head."
The deafening sound echoed in Lei Li's mind, like the roar of thunder dropped by God in the sky. The fierce sound ignited the sea and resounded through the sea of clouds.
Rayleigh wailed in pain and wanted to cover his scalding head, but his body disobeyed the demands of his consciousness and stretched his neck straight, facing forward.
What met Rayleigh's gaze was a pair of cold and indifferent pupils.
