Endless Debt

In that irregular, writhing unknown form, several humans surrounded him, kneeling to him as if worshiping him as some kind of deity.

By this point, the answer had become clear.

"After the extraterrestrial being descended into the Material Realm, before dying, he made a pact with the first humans he encountered."

Hill’s voice sank low, a wave of fury filling his mind, making him clutch his fists tightly, almost wanting to smash the Devil’s beautiful face with a punch right now.

"He shared his power with these people, and they became the original devils."

Hill stared directly into the Devil’s eyes, enunciating word by word, "Am I right?"

The Devil merely smiled, neither confirming nor denying.

"A pact is equivalent, gaining something inevitably means losing something," Hill continued to press the Devil, "You gained power, so what did you lose?"

A terrible conjecture brewed in Hill’s mind, leading him to ask.

"Did the extraterrestrial being truly die?"

The Devil still did not answer; he distanced himself from the slab and sat on a nearby chair, occasionally fiddling with his cane, sometimes gazing at Hill, his thoughts unknown.

The eerie silence persisted for a long time, until the Devil actively broke it.

"Truthfully, we don’t know much about the extraterrestrial being either. Regarding his origin, I’ve had many conjectures, and eventually, I came to this conclusion."

"What conclusion?"

"He is a debtor, though I’m not quite sure what debt he incurred."

The Devil revealed a repugnant smile, then continued, "Don’t you feel the Material Realm we’re in is like a cage? A barren land devoid of any Extraordinary Power."

Hill realized that the Devil had acknowledged Ether was an alien energy.

"The extraterrestrial being is like a sinner, exiled from his original world to here; gravely wounded, he was about to die in this desolate place."

Suddenly, Hill understood many things; yet this time, he was not delighted at unraveling the mystery but rather despaired at the increasingly dark future.

Hill had foreseen dark futures before, but each time he would muster his spirits, believing that humanity still had odds in its favor, that the dawn still existed.

But this time, Hill started to doubt himself; his self-confidence shattered, no longer believing humanity could survive the catastrophe.

"Haha, Hill, I appreciate your reaction. Watching humanity fall into despair is truly a beautiful feeling."

The Devil crossed his legs, his hands resting on his knees, as if leisurely enjoying a pleasant afternoon.

Hill muttered, "You too are pathetic slaves, debtors burdened with debt."

He awoke.

"Is this the reason you’ve been plundering souls all along?"

The Devil’s laughter grew even more piercing, like a thousand souls haunting, his figure writhing violently, white skin cracked all over. The next moment he collapsed onto the chair, dissolving into wisps of black smoke and disappearing.

Under the silent world, only Hill and the heavy stone slab faced each other.

"What... what should I do?"

Hill sighed powerlessly, clutching his hair, nearly prying open his skull to scoop out the soft brain tissue.

Countless thoughts collided in Hill’s mind, hypotheses formed only to be overthrown, plans were continuously optimized and corrected, yet a perfect result remained elusive.

Exhausted, eyes bloodshot, on the brink of collapse, Hill quickly approached the stone slab.

Hill didn’t know who had left the slab, but since it witnessed that sinful history, the recorder must have been one of the original people to deal with the extraterrestrial being.

Why did he leave this record, to inform the successors?

So... who is he, which devil?

Hill grew anxious; if his identity could be determined, it suggested among the devils, there might be one willing to cooperate with humans.

He examined the slab closely but found no clues until, in an inadvertent glance, he saw the kneeling people around the extraterrestrial being... one did not kneel.

As if someone wanted to deliberately conceal his presence, without Hill’s careful research, no one could recognize this faint silhouette.

Hill murmured, "Could it be you?"

Then Hill noticed another issue; gaining enough information from the Devil allowed Hill to decode the content above using current knowledge, and he discovered this silhouette was additional.

There were seven kneeling, representing seven devils disturbing the mortal world, while the deliberately hidden one was the eighth.

It wasn’t just seven people who made a pact with the devil; there was an eighth.

Who is he?

Tranquility descended again; at the extreme of silence, Hill crashed heavily onto the ground, spreading his limbs as though rolling in snow.

Hill inexplicably burst into laughter, laughing so loudly it seemed he would vomit out his internal organs.

"I know who he is."

Hill was ecstatic, terror mixed with tranquility occupying his entire heart, and he asked again, "Did you figure it out?"

"Mm... I thought of it too."

Within the void, Bologue gradually appeared.

Bologue knew everything before his eyes was Hill’s memory, events that had already occurred, but for reasons unknown, at this moment Bologue seemed to transcend time and space, forming a connection to some extent with Hill.