Chapter 69: Alhaitham Joins the Party

Recovering from the stiffness and composing himself, Alhaitham summarized the following pieces of information from the memories he had just experienced:

—First, the young man before him had indeed once been a forest ranger in the Gandha Hill region. The Tighnari in his memories was entirely indistinguishable from the exceptionally well-connected genius of the Kshahrewar that he knew, meaning there was a high probability the youth was not lying to him.

—Second, the purpose of his journey was to eradicate the "roots" of all Withering Zones across this land. The initial power had seemingly been provided by the successor of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata—Lesser Lord Kusanali, which aligned with the dendro and dream-related abilities the youth had displayed.

—Finally, recent reports indeed showed no new Withering Zones emerging. The Akademiya attributed this to the improving state of Irminsul, but the underlying reason had never been definitively concluded. The appearance of these memories neatly filled in all the logical gaps.

In Sumeru, where knowledge was equivalent to currency, the value of that recent memory was incalculable. Such "sincerity" was indeed, as the other party had claimed at the outset, a request for his "help."

"Whew, I have truly felt your sincerity, Your Excellency. Now, as someone who traveled to eradicate the Withering Zones and has already achieved that goal, why would you take action against the sages of the Akademiya?"

The question of identity was resolved. Even though the youth's current strength was clearly far greater than it had been in the memories, Alhaitham remained most concerned with his original question.

Lin Feng did not offer a long-winded explanation. Instead, he pushed another glass sphere forward.

"I am certain you will find the answer to this question after experiencing this next memory as well."

Alhaitham: "..."

Could you give me a break?

Hesitating slightly, Alhaitham took the entirely green crystal and chose to use it.

As Alhaitham once again fell into a state of rigidity, Lin Feng opposite him began to closely monitor his mental state.

—For no other reason than the fact that this particular memory carried quite a "punch."

This was a fragment of intelligence that Lin Feng had purposely organized and extracted from the Lesser Lord.

Nothing much, really—it merely faithfully recorded the fact that successive generations of sages had imprisoned a deity over the past five hundred years, along with the ugly faces of the sages tampering with the Akasha, arbitrarily commandeering the dreams of citizens, and using the lives of ordinary residents to threaten Nahida. It was a preservation of raw, unadulterated facts.

Yet only the truth hurts the most. Considering Alhaitham's almost paranoid pursuit of "rules" and "order," Lin Feng believed that only such pure facts, untainted by subjective factors, would serve as the most persuasive proof.

"..."

"..."

A moment later, Alhaitham opened his eyes once more. His expression was slightly weary, but his gaze was brighter than ever before.

—He now understood what kind of place the sanctuary beneath his feet truly was.

—He no longer felt any confusion as to why Lin Feng had chosen to strike against the sages.

After a moment of silence, Alhaitham raised his head, gazed at the young man before him, and said:

"I have no particular interest in gods. To me, a deity is merely a higher form of life. Call them an animal, if you will."

"However, imprisoning a newly succeeded deity as a tool, using the citizens under one's rule as bargaining chips, wantonly abusing divine creations, and even treating human beings as disposable consumables..."

"If one must rely on such methods to achieve so-called 'academic progress'—"

"—then the Akademiya might as well just shut its doors."

Alhaitham's tone remained calm, but judging by his tensed posture, his true thoughts were clearly far from as untroubled as his exterior suggested.

"I accept your invitation and can provide you with whatever 'help' lies within my power."

"The actions of the sages have violated my understanding of 'rules.'"

"Things like this are like typos in a book; they need to be 'corrected.'"

Alhaitham dropped his previous wariness and distrust.

—As the Scribe, one of the officials in the entire Akademiya privy to the most information, he had already discovered numerous clues. The contents of these two memories undoubtedly served as the cord that strung all the fragments together. Naturally capable of discerning the truth of the intelligence, he felt a profound dissatisfaction with the current sages.

"I am glad you agree with my perspective. Now, please listen to my specific plan and the reward afterward—"

Lin Feng was not particularly surprised that Alhaitham had agreed to his proposal.

Yet what he wanted was not the lukewarm transfer of power seen in the original trajectory of events, but a far more intense, thoroughgoing "revolution."

"..."

"..."

Adding some pastries and fruit platters to the table, Lin Feng and Alhaitham engaged in a detailed discussion that lasted through the night.

Early the next morning.

Waking up in the inn, Lin Feng recalled the addition of Alhaitham, this predestined worker, and could not help but feel his mood brighten.

—As someone who was both the easiest and the hardest person to persuade, Alhaitham trusted only his own judgment.

Therefore, rather than resorting to lengthy probes, it was far more efficient to present information all at once and let the man deduce and organize it himself.

As the Scribe, holding one of the positions with the greatest access to information within the Akademiya, Alhaitham's joining would undoubtedly provide tremendous assistance in carrying out Lin Feng's plan.

According to the intelligence provided by Alhaitham, several mad scholars near Aaru Village in the desert had gone missing one after another over the previous period. Because such matters rarely drew attention, he had simply filed the reports away cursorily and closed the matter.

Yet such seemingly inconspicuous intelligence was precisely what Lin Feng had specifically inquired about.

His purpose was to determine whether the Akademiya's "Deicide Project" had already begun.

He had not forgotten that there was still a high probability that "The Dottore" was currently hiding somewhere in the Sumeru region.

If the Akademiya's deity-creation project had only been initiated after Scaramouche obtained the Gnosis, and Dottore had brought it to Sumeru to begin research and nearly completed it within a short span of time—

How could such scientific research capabilities be reconciled with the fact that Dottore himself admitted in the story that, for a full five hundred years since the departure of Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, there had been no major breakthroughs?

As expected, the Akademiya's deity-creation project had actually begun long ago; it might even have been the supreme aspiration passed down by word of mouth among successive Grand Sages.

At this thought, Lin Feng informed Alhaitham of the "uses" and "outcomes" of the missing scholars.

Upon learning that the Akademiya was actually utilizing human beings as consumables for extracting capsule knowledge, Alhaitham's face betrayed a rare flash of "displeasure."

Scornful of the so-called "Deicide Project," Alhaitham expressed his willingness to help Lin Feng vet and investigate the roster of personnel involved in it during their subsequent work.

Beyond that, he would also use the information available to him to unearth capable scholars, keeping them temporarily on record so that they could quickly fill the vacancies in the Akademiya's ranks following the grand purge.

Although Alhaitham, upon confirming his participation, did not even mention the matter of compensation, stating that he was acting entirely out of his own will and required no payment from Lin Feng,

Considering the immense help the Scribe had provided—effectively clearing away the greatest obstacles to Lin Feng's purge of the Akademiya—

He still handed the "salary" he had prepared beforehand to the bewildered Alhaitham.

—That was the third knowledge capsule, left unviewed within the dreamscape.

This was a special item crafted by Lin Feng by combining two authorities, containing a tiny fragment of divine authority within it—a secret treasure that allowed a mortal to temporarily observe the world from the perspective of a god.