Chapter 467: 84. Michael
“What’s wrong with my head?”
After a brief silence, Mikhail did not struggle to sit up; he merely glanced at the various tubes connected to him, then redirected his attention to what was in his line of sight. At this moment, he had only his left eye remaining, which flickered like an unstable camera, continuously streaming incomprehensible signals and wobbles.
He laboriously raised his right hand and touched the eye socket that had been struck by the Duke of Peach. The mini-computer that had originally been inserted there had been removed by Michael, while the surrounding ripped skin had all been sutured up. Even the peach blossom branches that had grown there had been meticulously cleaned up. However, he felt that the skin on his face had an unusual texture compared to before.
“I replaced the damaged parts in your head, including circuits and regenerative bones. But I couldn’t restore the damaged skin, so I used cultivated flesh to patch it up. I couldn’t be bothered to cultivate human life factors; I used those from other subhuman races.”
From a distance, Michael’s calm voice reached him. It was only then that Mikhail realized he seemed to be lying in Michael’s forging workshop, surrounded by the holy objects he had forged before.
Mikhail had witnessed his experiments with various holy objects. He felt that the weapon designs from New Siberia appeared more like toys in the eyes of the archangel, as the technology he brought was quickly comprehended by Michael. This time, even Mikhail’s most complex brain implant circuits were easily repaired by him.
“Thank you.”
Mikhail thanked him while lying there, but Michael did not respond, and the atmosphere in the workshop fell silent once more.
Perhaps recalling the awkwardness from when he had just been dazed, Mikhail felt increasingly awkward. His left eye flicked around, and in the silence, he looked at the pile of tubes connected to him and asked, “By the way, what are these tubes for?”
“Noisy.”
Michael’s calm voice came, and upon hearing it, Mikhail immediately closed his mouth, lying stiffly and not speaking further.
At that moment, he wished he had not woken up, so he would not have to endure this torment.
But a second or two later, Michael’s voice came again.
“When I checked earlier, I found many unreasonable parts implanted in you. There’s too much redundancy. These redundancies were eroding your fragile human nerves and sanity. I also modified them a bit. Those tubes are suppressants; you mentioned their effects before, so I tried to replicate them to test on you.”
Far away, Michael, sitting cross-legged on his throne and resting his eyes, finally opened one eye slightly. He scanned Mikhail’s current state, then snorted lightly and said, “It seems the experiment was successful; you haven’t broken down.”
Mikhail stretched the hand connected to the tubes and felt as though the parts of his nerves that had been corroded by the prosthetics had become sensitive once more. To his surprise, he had only mentioned the effects of the suppressants in passing, and Michael had managed to replicate that substance.
He opened his mouth in astonishment, deeply admiring the serious-minded archangel, “That’s impressive. If that Japanese girl were here, she would definitely say you’re like Doraemon.”
Upon hearing Mikhail’s praise, Michael closed his eyes as if unperturbed, but after hearing his following comment, he suddenly opened his eyes and tilted his head, questioning him, “Doraemon? What is that?”
“Um, it’s a round, chubby robotic cat, probably an anime character from that era. We had its image back then; it’s very cute.”
“Are you looking for death?”
“…”
Mikhail fell silent again, hurriedly closing his eyes and pretending to be dead, wishing he could swallow back the words he had just spoken, hoping they had never escaped his lips.
Michael propped his chin on his hand, observing him feigning death, the expression on his face dropping several degrees. However, there was no room for feigning death in Michael’s eyes. He thumped his cheek and asked, “You’ll tell me everything about what happened on the Tree Continent, how you got hurt, and what you gained.”
Mikhail, who was pretending to be dead, sighed. He glanced at the unyielding Michael and ultimately told him everything, including how he got injured.
As Michael listened, he started to chuckle coldly, looking toward the outside, taunting, “Shaliyah, I know what she wants the tears of the World Tree for. As a divine messenger, she needs to convey divine revelations, and meeting the divine means she will see deities alongside the divine. However, except for demigods, anyone else meeting true deities and knowing their secrets will be cursed at lightest or utterly obliterated at worst. She has been cursed; she has lost her ability to see, and any holy objects made from any gospel cannot lift this curse and restore her sight.”
“Unless that holy object has its own consciousness and is regarded by the world as a unique individual, it can bypass the curse and help her see everything. For this, she has resorted to using the desires she saw in you as bait, making you assist her in searching for the tears of the World Tree behind my back.”
Michael’s cold gaze suddenly fixated on Mikhail, standing up, his smile gradually retracting, and his tone becoming harsher as he asked Mikhail, “What about you? What desire did she promise you?”
Mikhail defensively exclaimed his innocence, his remaining eye looking at Michael, whining, “What does it have to do with me when she was discussing trades with others? Even if there was, she only told me how to return home. But you told me before that you didn’t know how to let me go back, so I naturally don’t trust her much. I only didn’t mention it because that Japanese girl is very young and homesick.”
Watching Mikhail’s innocent explanation in front of him, trying to clarify his relationship with Shaliyah, did not calm Michael down either. He kept his gaze locked on Mikhail and asked, “Then why did you run off with them?”
“…” Mikhail opened his mouth and then his mature, weathered face turned even more innocent. He softly said, “You said I was free, right?”
“You are certainly free. By that logic, I should respect your freedom and stop your treatment.”
Michael’s smile became more dangerous. He lifted his hand as if to pull out the tubes connected to Mikhail.
“Okay, okay, I just thought that even if hope is slim, I still wanted to find a way back, so I have nothing to do with Archangel Shaliyah. Honestly, I feel a bit lost. This world is unfamiliar to me; besides your Fifth Day, I don’t know where else to go.”
Michael’s face remained cold, but his raised hand gradually retreated, and as such, the restless tubes connected to Mikhail quieted down.
“Don’t think about it. You can’t go back; just wait here to die.”
Michael sat back down on his throne, maintaining a cold face, unrefined and without a comforting tone, saying this, leaving the lying Mikhail in a daze as he stared at the ceiling. After a long while, he said, “If there’s really no way, then it can only be like this. Now, the tears of the World Tree…”
“Just now, Shaliyah notified us with divine revelation to ensure that all angels do not interfere with the matters of the lower world, the Dragon Continent, and the elves. Although Shaliyah is detestable, she wouldn’t dare to spread the divine revelation recklessly; this is the will of the divine. If disobeyed, there may be risks.”
Michael naturally wanted the tears of the World Tree, and he knew that Shaliyah outwardly obeyed the divine revelation but would certainly not stop privately. Her thirst for sight was just like Gabriel’s thirst for children. But the problem is, while Shaliyah dared to risk everything for light, did Michael need to take risks for the tears of the World Tree?
When risks and rewards are nearly balanced, decision-making becomes the most torturous moment.
Seeing how Mikhail was in turmoil, he glanced at Michael and asked, “So, what do you want the tears of the World Tree for? Is it also for conscious holy objects?”
“Yes and no. I’m more curious about its operating principles and my desire to master this technique. Logically speaking, the tears of the World Tree are by-products generated during the intertwining of the Loom of Fate and the World Tree, but why merging them into holy objects can produce consciousness is something I have no clue about.”
“Hmm, if that’s the case, I seem to know a technique that might help you study the key to consciousness generation.”
“You?”
The red-haired beauty sitting on the throne raised an eyebrow, looking at Mikhail on the bed. He nodded and said, “In my world, the Candle Dragon Company in the East has a brand new artificial intelligence technology. I exchanged ideas with my company, and I happened to be responsible for it for a while.”
“Get to the point.”
Mikhail pursed his lips, and being interrupted by Michael was something he was very familiar with. In fact, when discussing work and principles earnestly, he and Michael were quite aligned, not fond of elaborating on unrelated matters. But perhaps because he felt a bit embarrassed in front of Michael or maybe because this angel was from another world, he worried that the other party might not understand some concepts, which made him intentionally elaborate.
In total, Mikhail spoke more in front of Michael.
“Basically, I can use a computer to simulate a consciousness entity. I had this idea earlier, but never got around to implementing it—one is that my brain couldn’t handle it; the other is lack of time. If you’re interested, I can share the method with you, and we can research it together.”
Michael tilted his head, frowning, and asked Mikhail, “You have such technology; why didn’t you mention it in the scroll you left behind? Are you trying to deceive me?”
“How dare I! I just felt astonished that the tears of the World Tree could produce consciousness, so I didn’t dare to tell you about such a low-profile technique. Wait, didn’t you say you didn’t read my scroll and even threw it away?”
Mikhail’s whole body remained still, and he struggled to lift his head to look at Michael.
“…”
The workshop suddenly fell into silence. After several seconds, Michael spoke up, “Are you looking for death?”
“…”
Mikhail, who had just raised his head, weakly lay back down as if he were a corpse, becoming completely still.
And out of Mikhail’s sight, Michael’s fingers naturally dropped from his cheek to the edge of the throne, as if supporting himself.
Of course, Mikhail had not entirely turned into a corpse; he merely sighed with relief and said, “This way, you won’t have to take the risk of defying the divine revelation to find the tears of the World Tree, right?”
Michael paused for a moment and leaned back against the backrest, allowing his red hair to bloom like a sea of flowers due to the pressure from his body.
“Damn it, let’s see if you can demonstrate it once you recover. I’ll consider the feasibility.”
“Uh, can’t I just write another scroll or something, and you can study it by yourself? Wait until Angel Hela is better.”
“Do you still want to enter the mundane world?”
“Ah, well, I still want to give it a try. Even if hope is slender, if there’s a way back…”
Michael leaned expressionlessly against his throne, his gaze flickering twice. Just as he was about to say something through gritted teeth, he seemed to feel something. Though his expression remained unsightly, he stopped speaking.
The room suddenly fell silent, but Mikhail didn’t dare to speak up anymore or look up at the expression of the archangel at this moment; he merely blinked his single eye and lay on the bed.
After a long time, when Mikhail could no longer help but look up at Michael’s expression, footsteps suddenly came from outside the door. He looked up to see the workshop’s large door gradually opening, exposing Fisher, Gouwen, and Tang Zeming Asuka outside.
“Mr. Mikhail, are you alright? Earlier, your head—”
“Ah, I’m fine. Thanks to Archangel Michael, I’m almost better.”
Fisher entered the room simultaneously, and he wasn’t sure if it was his illusion, but he felt that the atmosphere in the room seemed rather strange, leading him to glance again at the red-haired archangel sitting on the throne with a not-so-friendly expression.
“Archangel Michael.”
Gouwen and Fisher politely greeted Michael, who seemed disinterested, while Tang Zeming Asuka belatedly followed suit, but Michael appeared to lack interest, seemingly indifferent to them.
Then, the entire room fell silent again.
Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Fisher and Gouwen seemed to realize something was off and did not speak recklessly. Even Tang Zeming Asuka, who was holding a ring made from forging and was about to show it off, fell silent in front of Michael.
After all, this archangel was responsible for the most important affairs of forging and war in the Holy Realm. If he saw the dismal results of their efforts, they surely would be criticized to the point of questioning their life choices, right?
Tang Zeming Asuka bit her lip and, like a small transparent figure, lowered her head and slightly shuffled behind Fisher until her figure gradually disappeared behind him.
Amid the silence, Michael did not look in any particular direction but kept tapping his cheek.
It was not until several seconds later that his tapping motion slowly ceased, and his gaze refocused, the unconscious pressure he had emanated gradually retracting back into his body.
Then, he slowly stood up, somewhat lifting the heavy atmosphere in the room. He rubbed his wrist and walked toward the workshop exit while saying to Mikhail, “Once the suppressants are injected, you’ll heal. Until then, lie still and don’t move.”
After lying still for a long time, Mikhail finally dared to move his head slightly. He turned to glance at Fisher and the others standing by the bed and then fixed his gaze on the departing Michael, “Thank you very much, Archangel Michael.”
Hearing his gratitude, Michael shifted his gaze slightly toward him. Their eyes met, and after a moment of pause, he let out a cold hum and walked outside.
His footsteps grew more distant, but his voice remained clear as he said to Mikhail, “Shaliyah’s movements are swift; you won’t stay here for long. You must leave by tomorrow at the latest, or else change may occur. I mean, prepare the scroll you promised before tomorrow.”
“I will.”
