"Aisha, my daughter has applied to become a volunteer... My God, why would she do such a thing? Even though so many people are flocking to this experiment, didn’t I tell her there’s no conclusive evidence that the experiment has achieved complete success? She’s not doing this for immortality at all; it’s merely for so-called love. It’s because that boy Ansel is already inside the Blood Crystal."
"I confronted Mr. Lefebvre. He told me he has no other choice now. Although the rebel faction known as the right-wing brought us the critical Magic Power pools, those pools are now depleting. This is no longer an era where we can gain support from Angels or Demons. The remaining Magic Power and resources we have are insufficient to sustain further experiments. Now we’re left with only two options: either grow old and die in the refuge, or become volunteers and participate in the experiment. He will not allow anyone to step outside the refuge because, if the experiments being conducted here were discovered by Heaven or Hell, everything would come to an end. So, we don’t even have the choice to step out into the sunlight and live above ground."
"I have to admit, I can only support him. Because I know what the consequences would be if we fail. We have no choice, and isn’t that true for humanity as a whole?"
"I watched Aisha enter the Blood Crystal with my own eyes. As a father, I don’t even know how to describe what I felt at that moment. Perhaps even death would be better than living forever in this place of endless darkness. I applied to become a volunteer as well, but I was rejected. The tests showed there was absolutely no chance I could survive the ’Danger Phase.’ Damned ’Danger Phase,’ a term I only recently learned. Even if the experiments succeed, it doesn’t mean that everyone who participates will survive."
"The last group of volunteers has been sent away. Mr. Lefebvre ensured that they’ve all been relocated to a secure place. This refuge has been documented extensively in the archives of Krimasha, so Heaven and Hell must also be aware of it. Thus, as residents here, we aren’t permitted to know their exact destination. To demonstrate fairness, Mr. Lefebvre and Mrs. Lefebvre have chosen to stay with us in the refuge and live alongside us..."
"I accidentally overheard some bad news: Ansel’s experiment has gone wrong... He was the first volunteer for the new experiment. Does that mean every participant’s experiment will go awry? What about my Aisha..."
"A group of Mages was dispatched to their secret placement site. Mr. Lefebvre told me it’s just a minor issue. They will recalibrate the potion being used, and the problem can be resolved—it won’t affect the others the way it did Ansel. I don’t know whether I should believe him... but right now, it seems I have no other choice but to trust him."
"Mr. Lefebvre used the last remnants of Magic Power to create a new space within the refuge. In this space, time flows incredibly slowly. We can live inside and pretend we’ve returned to life above ground. Here, fifty years will pass equivalent to five thousand years outside. But even so, five thousand years isn’t enough, is it? Compared to ten thousand years, I still have no chance of seeing my Aisha again." Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝘯𝘦𝘵
"Most of the young people have become volunteers, while those who remain are mostly the elderly. I can imagine that many years from now, if by some miracle, our children reopen this refuge, what they’ll find will be nothing but piles of skeletons—there won’t be a single living soul among us."