Chapter 552: Shais
Two days later, fully prepared, Chen Chen awoke again from within the cryogenic chamber.
With a gentle click, the lid of the cryogenic chamber slowly slid open. Chen Chen found himself inside a room surrounded by cement walls.
The room was approximately thirty square meters in size. There were no installations such as a window, only a heavy stone door on one side of it.
There was a metal counter in the center of the room. It looked like one of those remote stall counters with wheels installed at its bottom, commonly used by street vendors which they would decorate with their goods such as pancakes, tofu, and whatnot.
On top of the metal counter were two large, lit yellow candles. These candles were as thick as a regular calf.
There was also plenty of tableware spotted on the counter including spoons, plates, and even an ancient porcelain bowl that looked like a sacred artifact. These were the exquisite tableware put on display.
Furthermore, there were mete-crafted statues placed in each corner of the room. The sculptures were similar to the ornament sculptures one would see in a common twenty-first-century park. There were statues of a mother holding her child by the hand, statues of a couple sitting, cuddling together on a bench. Chen Chen even saw the statue of an angel with its arms stretched open.
One common feature all these statues shared was that they were all made of metallic material, some of them made of brass while others made of pig iron. There were also visible rusts on them. It seemed these artifacts had seen their fair share of time passing.
What was all this for?
Chen Chen surveyed the room again curiously. There was nothing peculiar that he could see inside the room.
This place he had awakened seemed to be a secret room or better yet, a treasure room.
Chen Chen recalled what he saw during his first awakening when he saw the group of laborers mining steel. It seemed that metal was considered a valuable resource in this postmodern civilization.
Soon after waking up, Chen Chen felt a startling pang of hunger rushing at him like endless waves of a raging storm. There was no way to tell how long it had been since he last ate anything and he could hardly bear the hunger anymore. He quickly climbed out of the cryogenic chamber and went to the stone door.
There were no visible switches, levers or any mechanisms of that sort nearby the door. However, this did not prove to be an issue for Chen Chen. He used his Field to seep into the cracks underneath the door and figured out the hidden mechanism within. He proceeded to trigger a spring inside and with a faint rumble, the door opened promptly.
To Chen Chen’s surprise, the door opened to another bedroom. It was furnished with common furniture. The windows were shielded with thick layers of curtains and there was a bed made of stone at the center of the room.
The bedsheets were crumpled and messy. Two unclothed ladies were alerted by the faint rumbling of the stone door and immediately pulled up the bedsheets to cover their bodies.
Meanwhile, a man sleeping in between the two ladies climbed up and looked at Chen Chen with a drunken look in his eyes.
After making out the appearance of the sudden intruder, the man’s expression quickly shifted from a guarded one to one of extreme courtesy and servitude. He immediately climbed out of bed and bowed respectfully. “Master!”
Just as anyone would expect, this man was Shais.
Chen Chen frowned upon witnessing this spectacle.
There was a sudden glimmer in Shais’ eyes. He seemed to sense Chen Chen’s discomfort with the situation. He immediately reached for a dagger hidden underneath the pillow and plunged it into one of the prostitute’s chest without any reservation.
However, before he could feel the soft texture of steel biting into flesh, an invisible force held his hand in place.
The moment Chen Chen waved his hands, the two prostitutes suddenly fainted.
“Killing them won’t be necessary.”
Chen Chen remarked nonchalantly and sat down on a chair nearby. “How long have I slept?”
“Dearest Master...”
Shaid bowed. “You’ve slept for two days.”
Chen Chen nodded. He had been awake for two days before heading to sleep in the real world as well. This implied that the time flow in both worlds was aligned.
“First things first, get me some food.”
Chen Chen ordered, “Preferably meat.”
“Understood, I shall see it done right away!”
Shais was delighted to see the master return. He sprinted out of the bedroom without even putting on a shirt.
Chen Chen looked at the window after Shais had left and saw that it was nighttime. His superior vision allowed him to make out what was outside and he quickly noted that he was on the third floor of a small building that was built entirely of stone bricks.
The building he was residing in was surrounded by other smaller buildings only two stories tall. Further out from these buildings, there were many common shacks.
These common shacks stretched off into the distance until they reached what seemed to be the city walls that stood slightly more than ten meters tall.
Judging by this, he deduced that he was residing in Baron Shais’ turf.
Chen Chen looked at the bed again and took a better look at the women passed out on the bed. The texture of their skin was on the rougher side but they were relatively attractive and graced with delicate features. They seemed to be only seventeen years old or eighteen years old at best and they were not pure Africans but looked more like Africans mixed with Northern American blood.
Even Shais himself was not an African but a Kurd from the Middle East region.
There was a lewd scent in the room.
Chen Chen opened the window and let the winds of the desert in to clear the thick scent. Shortly after, Shais returned with a servant alongside him who pushed in a cart of a roasted lamb.
This servant who came with Shais was remarkably old, at least in his late sixties. His hair and beard were colored like snow and his eyes were muddled by age. He did not so much as spare a glance in Chen Chen’s direction as he entered. He set the meal in front of Chen Chen and retreated backward with his head down.
“Master.”
Shais came beside Chen Chen and presented himself in a low voice.
Generous as ever, Chen Chen eyed the platter of roasted lamb, took the previous dagger placed on the bed, cut a piece of it, and handed it to Shais. “You eat first.”
In terms of strength, Chen Chen had the upper hand. Considering this factor and the current lack of basis of trust between the two of them, he knew better than to not take the necessary precautions.
“Yes!”
Without any hesitation, Shais took the cut of lamb roast almost the size of a palm and gobbled it quickly. After that, he took a step back and prepared himself to further serve Chen Chen as needed.
Since there did not seem to be any abnormalities with the food, Chen Chen decided that it was safe and began eating as well.
It took several hours for him to finish his meal.
What was once midnight outside was slowly transitioning to the early phase of dawn. There was a mountain of bones piled up in front of Chen Chen and Shais was astounded by what he was seeing. Never before in his life had he ever seen anyone devouring this much food in one session.
After finishing the entire lamb, Chen Chen finally let out a satisfied sigh, bidding farewell to the pangs of hunger in his stomach. What took its place now was a full and content belly. All of the lamb roast meat that entered his stomach was instantly dissolved by his stomach acid and their nutrients were immediately absorbed by his famished cells.
The was clinching the edges of the horizon by this point.
“Good work.”
Chen Chen muttered some praises. Upon noting hints of joy on Shais’ face, he suddenly stated, “I know you’ve been wondering about this for some time now, so I’ll confirm your suspicions. It’s just as you suspected, I’ve indeed come from before the Divine Fusion Empire. Right now, I need a guide who can make sure I’m informed of everything happening in this world.”
“Master, I’d be honored to serve as your guide!”
Shais felt his body trembling and beat his chest confidently without a second thought. “I, Shais, may only be a measly baron, but at least I’m more capable than any of the commoners. I can tell you everything there is to know about the empire’s history and the Divine Fusion Vatican!”
“Oh?”
Chen Chen raised an eyebrow. “Let’s begin then. Let’s start with how the Divine Fusion Empire was founded.”
With a prompt provided, Shais began his long-winded explanation.
The so-called Divine Fusion Empire prided itself on being the most powerful empire in the human realm. This country adopted a city-state system and there were nearly three hundred cities in the empire scattered across the mainland.
Chen Chen was unsure of what this Mainland Shais spoke of and so, Shais took out a map of the empire to show him.
Chen Chen took the map and looked at it, only to see that it was a simply charted map. It only briefly depicted certain geographical landmarks such as the mountains, forests, and rivers as well as the sea circling the mainland.
The mainland encircled the regions of the African and the Middle East continents as well as parts of Europe.
Chen Chen glanced at Shais with a surprised look. “This is the map of the Divine Fusion Empire?”
“Yes!”
Shais responded. “Further to the east is a vast piece of no-man’s-land. According to the legends, it’s the void left behind by the God of Creation – Alosorthoth when shaping the world. It’s an inhospitable piece of land where all vegetation is cursed to wither.
“To the west of the map, which is the opposite side of the vast sea, there’s another continent. It’s also the land abandoned by the gods, which happens to be the land of the Joint Resistance Army.”
Chen Chen raised an eyebrow in perplexion upon hearing this.
He could tell that the east part of the map was what was formerly known as East Asia and South Asia while the land to the west and across the sea was the former Northern America and South America.
“It was said that the God of Creation, Alosorthoth, created the world and populated it with his creations, which is mankind. He taught his people how to plant and create, and left them to their own devices to shape a brilliant civilization. Countless years later, his people began to retaliate against his omnipotent greatness using a force they call ‘technology’. They were greatly punished for their disobedience and that was when the Great Fusion happened...”
Shais was speaking about the doctrines of the Divine Fusion Church. He stole several glances at Chen Chen and when he saw that the Psionic Master was not upset with these claims, he took it as a gesture that he was allowed to continue. “That was when the past technological civilization was brought to an end and when the Holy Fusion Empire was founded. It’s been 378 years since...”
Chen Chen had an impression that the term Great Fusion probably referred to the battle between mankind and the Consciousness Stealer. He proceeded to verify his suspicions. “What’s this Great Fusion that you speak of?”
“This...”
Shais scratched his head briefly and ran out of the room. When he returned, there was a thick book in his hand.
Chen Chen took the book. It was a handcrafted leather book written in Arabic. It was titled the “Divine Fusion Scripture” on the leather cover.
Chen Chen roughly flipped through it and noted that the texture of the pages was extremely coarse. The text did not seem too difficult and the font was fairly large. Each word was nearly the size of a common fingertip and there could not be anywhere more than a hundred words on each page.
From the directory, he looked for the “Great Fusion” section and skipped ahead to that page.
Based on the scriptures, the Great Fusion was an event where God Alosorthoth used his divine powers to fuse all humans who dared defy his holiness in the world into one. He made them into a new divine body for himself and granted new powers to his faithful subjects.
This event marked the end of the ancient civilization and the beginning of the Divine Fusion Empire.
However, even the scripture was lacking in details with only a summary of the event provided.
However, this was more than enough for Chen Chen. Just as he expected, there was more to the fusion deaths. Not only did the Consciousness Stealer steal the consciousness of humans but also their bodies!
It was very likely that when the concentration of stolen consciousness accumulated to a certain extent, the corpses automatically transformed to become a complete body for the Consciousness Stealer...
The moment Chen Chen learned of this, his memory suddenly traced back to the figure that flashed across his mind the moment he killed the Consciousness Killer on the consciousness battlefield – an enormous figure that loomed over a planet, so large that it spanned across the horizon as far as the eye could see. He remembered seeing numerous tiny tentacles on its humongous body sown with flesh...
Could that figure he saw be the matured form of the Consciousness Stealer?
With the defeat to the Consciousness Stealer, civilization suffered a tremendous loss that they were unable to recoup from, and from there on, the advance of technology was completely terminated. All that remained was this vain world that worshipped the Consciousness Stealer.
“Then, what about the scar on your face?”
Chen Chen contemplated for a moment and asked, “I’ve seen similar festering scars on that man you called Armas. What do these scars represent?”
“These are the stigmata, Master.”
Shais explained, “A person’s stigmata represents the favor and blessings of the Gods. The more devoted a person was, the more stigmata he or she had. For example, the deceased Armas had reached a point of devotion and accumulated stigmata that he had attained the power given by the Gods – psionic powers.”
“Are the believers the only ones who can attain these psionic powers?”
When Chen Chen heard this, he immediately detected a flaw in Shais’ explanations. When he had just emerged from the cryogenic chamber previously, there were not any stigmata on his face, just like there was not any now. Yet, Shais mistook him for a Psionic Master.
“Of course, not!”
Shais immediately shook his head at this notion. “There are those who are born with psionic talents or some who awaken their psionic potential later in their lives. This can happen to royals and commoners, even peasants, all the same. However, even if one doesn’t have inbred psionic potential, one still stands a chance to attain it by devoting oneself to the Gods.”
“Devoting to the Gods?”
Chen Chen squinted. He was beginning to connect the dots. It seemed like the scars on their faces and the psionic powers all had something to do with the Divine Fusion Vatican.