Then let the witch offer her loyalty

A female researcher stood up, seemingly nervous, and pushed up her thick, high-flying glasses, saying, "Chief Engineer... although we've conducted precise experiments and ruled out any substantial risks... does this mean we have to proceed directly to human trials...?"

"According to the procedures, shouldn't we first submit an application to the court and wait for their approval?"

"What kind of application is this? Does the court even know anything about technology? They don't know anything, so why should these laymen tell us what to do?" Future said impatiently.

"No one understands the cube better than me. We will make the Empire great again!"

"Quickly, quick, we've found volunteers, let her into the cubicle."

The researchers looked at each other, not daring to say anything more, and picked up the phone to contact the back office.

A short while later, a woman walked shakily into the experimental cubicle on the other side of the glass curtain wall.

Many scientific studies inevitably involve human experimentation, but due to confidentiality regulations, volunteers for human experiments involving cubes can only be selected from internal personnel.

The woman was an assistant in the technical department, and she was reportedly promised a month of paid leave after completing this volunteer work.

After the female assistant took her place, Future gave the order: "The Mad Contamination Experiment is initiated; prepare to create Dead Apostles."

Inside the cubicle, on the other side, a robotic arm dragged the Calamity weapon seized from the members of the Demon Alliance and aimed it at the composite metal wall behind the female assistant.

Yang Jie was shocked: "Hey! What are you doing?!"

Future glanced at him: "Didn't you ask me what that stone was for? I'll show you."

Before the hunters could react, he pressed the control button.

"Boom—" The calamity weapon fired, and a massive torrent of energy left a molten hole several meters deep in the composite metal wall.

At the same time, the side effects of the Calamity Weapon became increasingly apparent.

Although the female assistant and the calamity weapon were separated by a metal wall, the rampant pollution was penetrating and spread directly to the location of the female assistant.

The female assistant clutched her head in her hands, howling in pain. As thorny black marks appeared at the corners of her eyes, her howls gradually turned into a ferocious laugh and heavy, animalistic breathing.

"Thump!" She slammed into the glass curtain wall, staring menacingly at everyone, muttering vulgarities such as "Handsome guys, come and have sex with me" and "I'm going to fuck you all."

In the future, a Dead Apostle was created in the heart of the Bureau without warning, which made the witch hunters very nervous, and they all kept a close eye on the female assistant who had become a Dead Apostle.

The instigator, Future, remained calm, seemingly unconcerned about the mess she had made, and casually stated, "Deploy the 'Key Stone' to purify the experimental area."

As the robotic arm swung in the compartment, the blue crystal, created using cube technology, was placed into the experimental chamber.

At that moment, the energy flow particles inside the crystal suddenly brightened, and a black, misty substance began to appear at its center, undulating like ink dripping into water.

At the same time, a miracle happened.

As the black substance inside the crystal became denser, the thorny black marks at the corners of the female assistant's eyes faded at a visible speed, and her manic laughter and curses subsided.

Finally, when the black substance inside the crystal stopped growing, the thorny black marks on the female assistant's face completely disappeared, and she collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted.

When the female assistant came to her senses again, she appeared completely sober!

She seemed to remember what had happened before, and covered her mouth in horror, saying, "Oh my god... what did I just say..."

In the future, he lazily waved to his female assistant: "Madness will amplify the desires in people's hearts to an extreme. Everyone's desires are different, so the outward manifestations of different Dead Apostles are also different."

“Some Dead Apostles are crazy about killing, while others… well… just like you just now… there’s nothing shameful about it, it’s a normal phenomenon.”

In front of so many hunters, uttering such vulgar language left the female assistant blushing furiously, too ashamed to lift her head. She cried out in a tearful voice, "I want to go home and take a vacation right now!!!"

The future waves goodbye: "See you in a month."

After the female assistant left, Mirai turned to the stunned hunters and smiled, "You saw what happened just now, right? This blue crystal, created using cube technology, we'll name it 'Key Stone.'"

"We all know that madness is an invisible pollution on the spiritual level, usually originating from dead zones formed by witches or aberrations. The Demon Alliance's calamity weapons can also cause a certain degree of madness pollution."

"And the function of the keystone is to absorb the pollution of madness."

"Using the Keystone, we can quickly restore corrupted Dead Apostles to normal, and even..."

"Weaken or even eliminate the dead zone!"

The hunters were as disappointed as they had been when they first saw the "stone" as they were now overjoyed by this result.

It's important to understand that, for a long time, fantasies have been an unsolvable problem.

Leaving aside the various chain reactions, dealing with the Dead Apostles alone is extremely troublesome.

You can't fight back, and you can't not fight back either.

If we don't fight back, the perpetrators will commit various atrocities under the influence of their extreme desires, endangering public safety.

If you fight, the other party is not a monster in essence, but an ordinary person who has been corrupted. If you really kill them, their family members will come to cause trouble, and you will also face social pressure.

The only solution is to try to control the Dead Apostle and wait for the rampant madness within his body to slowly dissipate.

However, this approach is time-consuming and laborious. Controlling a Dead Apostle without causing permanent damage is more difficult than capturing a raging beast.

Now, with the Keystone, this problem is easily solved.

Yang Jie's face was full of joy, and he hurriedly asked, "Does that mean that the witch's problem of madness has been completely solved?"

The head with electrodes inserted in the future swayed from side to side: "We can't be so happy yet. The Keystone still has two limitations."

"The first issue is production volume. Keystone is a consumable and cannot be reused. Its core material can only be manufactured using molecular construction methods, which is expensive and has a very limited production volume. At present, it can only be used in critical missions."

"Secondly, there's the function. We've done experiments, and the keystone can only suppress the madness within the Dead Apostles; it's ineffective against witches. If a witch overuses her psionic energy, she'll still explode."

"However, the presence of the keystone can indeed provide a certain degree of isolation and reduce the impact of the dead zone."

In the future, he started toying with the key stone again, and slowly said, "So, based on my current understanding, there are roughly three ways to use the key stone."

"First, absorb the erosion, allowing the Dead Apostles to quickly return to normal."

Second, eliminate the regional pollution caused by the madness.

"Third, when a person carries the keystone with them, it is like a talisman, which can temporarily protect them from the effects of the madness until its energy is exhausted."

Although the Keystone still has some limitations and shortcomings in the future, hunters still feel that this product from cube technology has epoch-making significance.

The three methods summarized in the future, regardless of which one, will be of immeasurable help in the strategic planning to counter the madness.

Seeing the hunters' excitement, Future's smile vanished for some reason, and his expression gradually turned serious: "You all look so happy. Do you really think the advent of the Keystone is a good thing?"

The hunters looked at each other, not understanding what this meant.

Yang Jie tentatively asked, "Chief Engineer, does the Keystone have any side effects you haven't mentioned yet?"

Future shook his head: "I have already explained the characteristics of the keystone itself. Apart from its high cost and the waste of resources, it has no side effects."

"As for the cost issue, it's really not a problem. With the advancement of materials science, the cost will definitely be reduced, and mass production of keystone is only a matter of time."

Yang Jie asked, puzzled, "If that's the case, why did you say that the emergence of the Keystone isn't a good thing?"

Looking into Yang Jie's eyes, Wei Lai said slowly, "Because of politics."

“As everyone knows, the Empire implements a policy of psychic control. Our Bureau, including you hunters, are products of this policy.”

"Why does the Empire have such a policy? Because we experienced the tragic FD-000 incident 60 years ago and are well aware of the dangers of fanaticism."

"But in fact, there is a deeper reason—arbitrary speculation is unsolvable."

"From the first year of the Long Night to the present 60 years of the Long Night, we can fight against madness, we can prevent madness, but we can never solve madness."

"This unsolvable problem forced the empire, as a national machine, to operate at full capacity and tightly seal away its madness."

"But now, the Mad Illusion is no longer absolutely unsolvable."

“Now that we have the Keystone and the means to combat madness, people will find that many of the previous policies no longer seem necessary.”

Yang Jie replied without hesitation, "This is a good thing. Policies should evolve with the times. If we can really solve the problems caused by the rampant speculation, then the control policies will certainly not need to be as strict as they are now."

Future gave a brief laugh: "You're oversimplifying things. The Keystone can only mitigate the effects of Madness to a certain extent. Even if it could completely eliminate the effects of Madness, so what?"

"What is psychic power? What is madness? What is their nature? We still know nothing."

These words silenced everyone, and they realized the deeper meaning behind what the future was trying to convey.

Looking up at the ceiling, as if gazing through it at the endless, vast universe, he murmured, "Even now, with the Keystone, we still don't know the nature of psionic energy and madness."

"It's like when people in ancient times had a fever due to a bacterial infection. They might have been able to reduce the fever by applying ice or inducing sweating, but they were completely unaware of the presence of bacteria."

"I'm lucky today; it's just a common bacterial infection. I can just apply a damp towel and tough it out. But what if the bacteria mutate? What if one day I get infected with the Black Death bacteria?"

"At most, we have discovered a means to combat madness, but we still know nothing about its nature."

Yang Jie pursed his lips and said in a deep voice, "At least in the current social environment, the existence of the Keystone is definitely a good thing."

Future sneered, as if mocking Yang Jie's ignorance: "Your premise is wrong. What makes you think that the emergence of the Keystone itself won't have a reverse impact on the social environment?"

"With the emergence of something that can suppress wild ideas, what do you think the pro-Western democrats in the Upper House will think? What do you think the liberals who advocate abolishing regulations will think?"

"What would those human rights advocates who constantly talk about freedom and advocate for the release of witches think?"

"Things are different now. Sixty years have passed since the beginning of the Long Night. The tragic FD-000 is just a distant history in the eyes of many people."

"In addition, as the impact of the Madness Disaster gradually diminishes, the liberals who advocate abolishing psionic control have evolved into a force to be reckoned with in the Upper House, and are even able to confront the traditional control faction."

"The emergence of the Keystone will become a powerful cornerstone for these liberals to assert their political views. They will spare no effort to attack current policies and even manipulate public opinion to force the giant ship of the empire to change course."

"If that day ever comes and drastic changes occur, what will become of the Witch Administration Bureau, the Tribunal, and you witch hunters, all of which were created based on the policy of psychic control?"

Chapter 175 Life hangs on a thread

The thought of the future made the hunters present fall into deep thought, and they all realized the problem.

The destructive power of psychic powers has been decreasing year by year, which has given some people an opening to call for loosening the control of psychic powers.

Now that the Keystone has been discovered, it's like having a "miracle cure," and people's resistance to psionic control will only increase.

The problem is that humanity still doesn't understand the nature of psychic powers and delusions.

No one knows where they came from, what their principles are, or what they will become in the future.

In theory, one should take a cautious approach to them until they are fully understood.

Keystones should serve as a ballast for psionic control, acting as a safety net in extreme situations.

Instead of relaxing or even abandoning regulations because of its existence.

The logic is as described, but humans are not absolutely rational.

When faced with a choice, most people will tend to favor what is beneficial to themselves rather than what is beneficial to the group.

In this situation, could keystones, which seem to be entirely beneficial, be exploited by malicious individuals and cause some incalculable harm?

To be honest, no one can say for sure.

Moreover, witch hunters don't even have a choice about this.

Witch hunters are duty-bound to obey orders; they do exactly what their superiors say.

Even the most powerful witch hunters are still human at heart, with their own independent thoughts.

They embarked on such a dangerous career because their thoughts resonated with the will of the nation, and their mutual efforts ultimately led to mutual success.

But what if one day the will of the nation changes? What if it becomes different from what they thought and believed? Where should they go from here?

Her words about the future have not been proven true in the present, and could even be considered merely her one-sided conjecture, but they have left everyone with much to ponder.

...

At noon, Chen Moxin had lunch with Zhou Yan as usual. When she returned to the office, she saw Alexander lying on the table like a salted fish.

He went up and poked Alexander in the back: "Why aren't you eating? What are you doing lying here?"

“Brother Chen.” Alexander turned over and sighed, “I’m contemplating life. What the future chief engineer said really resonated with me.”

Chen Moxin said with great interest, "Oh? Then tell me, what have you figured out?"

Alexander stroked his chin and said seriously, "First of all, I think we must look at the issue dialectically."

"If one day we fully understand the nature of psychic energy and madness, and we are truly able to completely control it, and psychic energy control policies lose their necessity, then I think abolishing them is fine."

"At that time, even if the Witch Administration Bureau and the Tribunal, which are derived from the psychic energy control policy, are abolished, and all of us hunters lose our jobs, it will only be an inevitable trend. We should support it."

At this point, Alexander abruptly changed the subject, saying emphatically, "But! If we haven't yet mastered the ability to completely solve the problem, and a bunch of bastards are already clamoring to change the status quo, then I think they all deserve to die!"

"These people completely prioritize their personal opinions over national interests. They should all be dealt with. How can an empire be managed with these scoundrels around?"

Chen Moxin burst into laughter after hearing this: "You can be really funny sometimes."

Just as the two were talking, Yang Jie walked in and called out, "Chen Moxin, I have something for you."

"The intelligence department has identified a member of the Demon Alliance, who is a witch in disguise and is currently hiding in an inn in the east of the city."