Chapter 299: Singing Record

As the circuits failed, Aurora Base was plunged into darkness once more. Fortunately, having experienced it once before, they weren't in complete chaos this time. Successive footsteps and murmurs echoed from a distance, as if they were on guard against an enemy.

Tan Xin returned to the fourth-floor corridor, his face etched with exhaustion. A red-haired figure was already waiting for him in silence.

“Did you kill him?”

“...Yes.”

Hong Xiu glanced towards the fourth floor. “Killing the leader shouldn't be that simple,” she said.

“I know,” Tan Xin nodded. “But it should buy us some time... and I got this.”

Tan Xin pulled a thumb-sized bottle from his pocket. Inside was a strangely shaped miniature tongue... resembling some kind of sacrificial artifact.

“For over three hundred years, all records of Aurora Base's tests on the Aurora Lord, along with research processes and experimental results, have been stored in this artifact. It replicates every detail of the Aurora Lord, representing the culmination of everyone's efforts over these years. Although it ultimately wasn't successful, it can at least provide some reference for other realms.”

Tan Xin solemnly handed the item to Hong Xiu.

“In short, if anything goes wrong with it, these three hundred years of the Aurora Realm will have been for naught,” he said. “Now it's in your hands.”

“You want me to deliver it to other realms?”

“Yes,” Tan Xin smiled. “You are the combat ceiling of our Aurora City, the foremost Asura in the world. There are few people on this planet who could take something from you; even if the Realm Train explodes, you could still get it out unharmed... I trust you with this more than anyone.”

Hong Xiu solemnly put away the bottle. “You're really not leaving?”

“No, I'm not leaving. I've given my ticket away.” Tan Xin paused for a moment. “You don't need to persuade me. From the moment I ordered the abandonment of the seven major districts, I was prepared for this day. Someone has to take responsibility for all of this, don't they?”

Hong Xiu looked deeply at Tan Xin, then nodded calmly without further persuasion. “I understand,” she said.

“...I should leave the base now.”

Tan Xin extended a hand, holding it suspended in the air. He looked at Hong Xiu and smiled slightly. “It was a pleasure working with you, Officer Hong Xiu.”

Hong Xiu also extended her hand and clasped his, answering earnestly, “The pleasure was mine.”

Tan Xin withdrew his hand and walked towards the upper levels of the base without looking back. As his trench coat disappeared into the darkness, Hong Xiu sighed resignedly...

“Have you ever listened to a record?”

Han Meng leaned against the car in the biting cold wind, looking up at the faint, almost invisible aurora. Tan Xin's words echoed in his ears once again.

“When a stylus glides over the fine grooves on a record's surface, the vibrations transform the pre-engraved song into an electrical signal. That song might be from years or decades ago, preserving the joys and sorrows of a past time forever, until someone places it on a record player, and that past is brought back into the world.”

“I want to engrave Aurora City onto a record.”

“We've been studying the Aurora Lord for over three hundred years. While we haven't made significant breakthroughs, we have observed some phenomena: the magnetic field around the Aurora Lord can accommodate human souls after death, which implies that human souls are, in essence, just a type of special magnetic field—at least, that's how it is within the Aurora Lord's domain.”

“Theoretically, by amplifying the Aurora Lord's magnetic field, we could process human souls and engrave them onto the sky at a specific frequency, just like a song.”

“Using souls instead of sound, the sky instead of a record, and the Aurora Lord's unique magnetic field instead of a stylus... Even if Aurora City is physically destroyed, we would replicate everything in the sky, preserving it for at least three hundred years.”

“If, within these three hundred years, someone deciphers the secret of the Crimson Meteor or becomes the second Aurora Lord, they could re-read this 'record'.”

“At that time, Aurora City would reappear, and its three million inhabitants would have a chance at salvation.”

“I know this sounds absurd, but it's truly the last method Dr. Yi and I could conceive, and its success rate is a full 60%. Given humanity's current inability to save Aurora City, we can only place our hope in the future. Perhaps one day, Aurora City will find salvation.”

“This plan... is called 'Hand of Salvation'.”

Han Meng let out a long sigh.

When Han Meng learned about the 'Hand of Salvation' plan, he felt a profound shock from the depths of his being for the first time. Turning Aurora City into a 'record' was a possibility he had never imagined, but upon careful thought... it might be Aurora City's only way out.

Even if the Aurora Realm vanished, humanity would still have seven other realms. Perhaps those seven realms could eventually achieve a breakthrough? In any case, this probability was far higher than the 'Reappearance' plan's 0.001%.

While Han Meng was still immersed in the shock Tan Xin had imparted to him, a figure slowly ascended from the elevator.

Unbeknownst to Han Meng, Tan Xin had a black box strapped to his back. He walked directly to Han Meng; at this close distance, Han Meng could even make out the faint bloodstains on his cheek...

Did Tan Xin go down to kill someone? Who did he kill?

“Han Meng, you still have one last chance to reconsider,” Tan Xin said, looking at him calmly. “Tell me your choice.”

Han Meng was silent for a moment. “I approve of your plan.”

Receiving this answer, Tan Xin's lips curved slightly upward. “Very well. Now, listen carefully to everything I tell you next... because from now on, our opponent is the entire law enforcement system.”

“Tell me,” Han Meng replied without much reaction. He had never been close to the law enforcement system from the start.

Tan Xin's lips parted as he fully laid out his entire plan. Han Meng pondered for a long time, then nodded slightly.

“I understand.”

“Good... Now, go do what you need to do.”

“What about you?”

Tan Xin brushed the falling snow from the hem of his trench coat. With the black box on his back, he walked alone into the heart of the biting wind.

“I'm going to find the Aurora Lord... and then, kill him.”

“Using magnetic fields to engrave soul records?” A look of astonishment appeared in Chen Ling's eyes as he finished reading the description of the 'Hand of Salvation' plan.

“Surprising, isn't it? I had the same reaction when I first heard it,” Wen Shilun sighed. “Tan Xin began preparing this plan a long time ago, even having Aurora Base secretly build a magnetic pole amplification controller... but whether it's effective is still hard to say.”

“Regardless of its effectiveness, it would still rely on the Aurora Lord's own magnetic field, wouldn't it?”

“Exactly. And the Aurora Lord's magnetic field is, in essence... his soul.”