Cthulhu America, I can see the kill line.

Kong Jiu stood there for a long time, unable to forget the place where Henry had been utterly terrified.

After a long while, he slowly came to his senses and looked down at his palm.

The golden scarab beetle lay quietly on his hand, its body radiating a rich aura of concepts, with golden light shimmering around it.

"What's your name?" Kong Jiu asked, his tone tinged with caution.

""loyalty"."

The scarab beetle fluttered its wings slightly, shimmering with golden light, and spoke in an ethereal and distant voice, as if from the void.

"loyalty?"

Kong Jiu's eyes sharpened. He raised his hand, and the intricate runes and pathways on his wing membrane came into view. "Is this the concept you represent?"

The scarab beetle shook its wings in affirmation.

"A sentient being, interesting."

Kong Jiu's eyes suddenly turned cold, and with a flick of his wrist, he had the small insect between his fingers. The force seemed casual, but it conveyed an unyielding suppression.

"So, are you ready for me to destroy you?"

The insect's six slender mechanical legs fluttered frantically a few times, broke free from his fingers, and fell back into his palm.

"At your current level, you can't destroy me."

The scarab spoke slowly and deliberately, gradually unfolding its wings to reveal two wing membranes covered with runes, shimmering with golden light.

"However, if you want to destroy the Iron Curtain and sever my connection with it, it won't be difficult."

"Just find a sorcerer specializing in alchemy to remove these two lines of runes; I don't want to work for the Federation anymore anyway..."

Before "Loyalty" could finish speaking, Kong Jiu had already reached out and picked up the two thin wings, ripping them lightly with his knuckles.

The wings, adorned with runes, were easily plucked off.

The scarab beetle was visibly startled, its beady eyes momentarily blank, surprised by this casual act.

How could a psionicist at a barely D-level easily remove the anchor point between it and the Iron Curtain?

Kong Jiu was indeed powerless to destroy the connecting rune linking this "concept" to the Iron Curtain.

But he has someone backing him.

Even before he set off, Squich had cast a temporary blessing on him:

"Destroying spirits? I'm the Chaotic Rat God, so I definitely have a blessing like special attacks on objects."

[Rat God's Fang: Increases your destructive power over items by 3000% for 12 hours.]

With a slight tug of his fingertips, Kong Jiu tore off the pair of wing membranes covered in runes.

"Does this mean you've severed your connection with the Iron Curtain?"

Kong Jiu looked at the wing membrane in his hand, his tone calm but with a hint of scrutiny.

The beetle nodded cautiously.

"You'd better tell the truth, because I have plenty of ways to verify these things."

Kong Jiu threatened the little creature in his hand.

"No, no, no!"

The beetle quickly shrank back, its forelegs trembling slightly, and lay flat as if to show weakness. "I can tell which is more important, being an anchor for those people in the Federation or following a Death Angel."

Kong Jiu nodded in satisfaction. "Tell me, why do you have consciousness? Arthur never said that your concepts possess intelligence."

The beetle swayed its forelegs and its antennae trembled slightly: "Although I don't know who this Arthur you're talking about is, he's right, I really don't have any intelligence."

Kong Jiu frowned: "Then why are you talking to me?"

With its forelegs supporting the antennae on its forehead, the beetle's eyes gleamed with golden light: "Machine Soul, this holy beetle is equipped with an alchemical machine soul. As the concept residing on it, I can naturally borrow its expressive abilities."

A big question mark appeared on Kong Jiu's face.

Machine Soul?

Alchemy Soul?

Why does it sound like the recently popular intelligent AI?

He raised his hand and held the exquisitely crafted mechanical beetle up to his eyes, examining it closely.

It must be admitted that this spiritual object is brimming with spiritual energy and conceptual aura, and it is itself an amazing mechanical creation.

The biomimetic joints are precisely snapped together, the ailerons are as thin as cicada wings, and the carapace gleams with a metallic sheen, making it lifelike, just like a real insect.

"However, now that I've encountered the Angel of Death, there's no need for me to possess anything inanimate."

The beetle's whiskers lightly touched the spot on the peacock's forehead, landing repeatedly on the emblem.

"Let me follow you, Angel of Death. I am a complete concept. As long as you give the order, I will not bother you like this lingering 'continuity'."

As it spoke, a sharp glint suddenly flashed in its bean-like eyes, condensing into a golden stream of light.

"etc!"

Seeing the light about to engulf him, Kong Jiu hurriedly stopped him, "While you can still speak through your soul, shouldn't you explain the whole story first?"

"Oh dear," the beetle said lightly, its light still shimmering, "I am a complete 'concept,' while you're only using that fragmented 'continuity' to cast blood spells. Why not just share the memories of the previous host with you...?"

As he spoke, the stream of light suddenly disappeared, and the rich conceptual spiritual energy on the mechanical beetle dissipated.

On the palm of Kong Jiu's hand, around the dark red Stewart family crest, a ring of golden mistletoe patterns appears, encircling him like a seal.

At the same time, a massive amount of memories flooded into Kong Jiu's mind like a tidal wave.

Henry Robertson's seventy years of life have passed by in a flash, vivid in my memory.

Kong Jiu then realized that Old Henry's skillful use of many cold weapons was not the result of his own hard work, but rather the accumulated memory of the concept of "loyalty" passed down through generations.

Not only Henry, but also fragments of memories from previous "Guardians of the Secret" surfaced, making Kong Jiu fully understand what a bloody duty it was to guard this box.

Over a century ago, the governor of Hills established the Iron Curtain anchor point on the faith side here.

They found the Quaker Church as a partner to guard this anchorage.

The Quaker Church is one of the Amerigo Vedic Protestants.

Amerigo's belief in the supreme god "The Anointed One" was essentially rooted in the same origin as that of the continent of Europe.

However, due to the vast territory and abundant resources, many Protestant religions emerged during its spread.

Each new doctrine is different, but in the end, they all revolve around the worship of the "Anointed One".

That concept of "loyalty," anchored by the "heart-locking scarab," was entrusted to the Quaker Church for safekeeping.

Every forty years, the church selects a powerful but difficult-to-control psionic priest to serve as the "keeper of secrets".

This is a brilliant move. It fulfills the agreement with Archon Hills while simultaneously eliminating dissidents within the cult, allowing both sides to achieve their goals.

Under the long-term influence of the concept of "loyalty", those who guard this place will gradually lose their rationality, leaving only blind loyalty to their duty, and cruelly killing all living beings that have strayed into this place.

Through Father Henry's memory, Kong Jiu saw countless skeletons piled up in the deep pit in the church's backyard, where people had perished.

Kong Jiu's lips twitched slightly, a deep sense of melancholy welling up from the bottom of his heart, but it choked in his throat, making it difficult to exhale.

He too had been affected by the concept of "continuation," and in a moment of mental confusion, he formed a tragic relationship with Mina. He knew all too well how difficult it was to remain clear-headed when one was constantly surrounded by concepts.

Father Henry, and all those who had kept the secret before him, may never have truly wanted to commit murder.

This alone is not enough to conclude that they are entirely evil.

But all that is in the past; the life lost can never be brought back. Henry departed this world, burdened with sins he did not willingly bear.

Kong Jiu sighed softly and picked up the scripture.

Turning the pages, my gaze quickly swept over the pages of scripture, Father Henry's annotations, and his diary.

His life, which began in a monastery, his wanderings in Latin America, and his life of both saving and harming people, are all recorded in this book.

The writing then transformed into specks of golden light and gradually disappeared, turning the pages into brand new white paper.

Clearly, before wielding the final sword, Henry, as he had promised in the bet, passed on the right to use the book to Conju.

All that has passed is but a prologue.

The last sentence, written by Henry the Godfather, slowly faded away under the gaze of Kong Jiu, eventually returning to nothingness.

The scriptures were transformed into a brand new, thick notebook.

The words on the book cover also disappeared, turning into Chinese, the mother tongue of Kong Jiu.

The Jade Record

At this moment, the powerful spiritual object that had just left Kong Jiu helpless had recognized him as its master.

This spiritual artifact, which embodies the life's work of a C-level alchemist, should make anyone who obtains it overjoyed.

But Kong Jiu remained expressionless, showing neither joy nor sorrow. With a flick of his hand, he tossed the object into the subspace rift.

This is just another person who passed away before our eyes, entrusting his belongings to him.

The dead leave this world, but they must carry these memories and move forward.