"……"

The shadow fell into an unusual silence.

Merka's inquiries were thrown out forcefully, but they seemed to fall on deaf ears as far as the shadow was concerned.

Puzzled, Merka glanced at the seemingly stunned shadow, his expression gradually growing more serious.

He didn't think the question would be that difficult to answer.

If the shadow truly was a fragment of Kagtua, a millennia-old bearer of truth, the sole deity of Acadia—then it couldn't possibly not know what Oedipus was up to, or else it wouldn't have sought Turing's and Merka's help.

Oedipus was certainly planning something that posed a threat to the shadow…

"You guessed right…"

The shadow seemed to read Merka's mind, knowing what was on his mind.

"But it's not me that Oedipus is threatening, it's the entirety of Acadia under my jurisdiction."

"...Do you know what Acadia means?"

"In Old English, it means paradise."

"But at certain moments, it can also be found in poems, used to convey irony."

"Irony toward those complacent rural dwellers content with their fertile land."

The shadow's response was evasive, his voice mesmerizing, effortlessly leading the listener's thoughts astray. He deftly guided the flow of conversation.

Merka often found himself unwittingly lost in the maze of the shadow's words.

After a brief pause, the shadow continued.

"I've been a negligent caretaker."

"Forcibly keeping you all in this cradle of Acadia, not allowing you to explore new worlds…"

"But in my heart, you are no longer just Eve and Adam and their children..."

"You are also my and Eve's children."

"I can't let Oedipus ruin everything."

"Now, Pandora's box rests in the hands of Oedipus, she has obtained the pass to doomsday."

"Don't think that when I speak of doomsday, it's metaphorical, exaggerated, or any rhetorical flourish."

"She truly has the power to wipe out everyone in Acadia."

"The Pandora's box is still sealed for now."

"Turing is the key to the lock."

The shadow's reflection danced in the moonlight, Merka furrowing his brow deeply, unsure of what to say.

Having spoken so much with the shadow, he felt he had gotten some answers.

But the questions remained.

Why Turing? Why specifically Turing?

Why his lover, his fiancée Turing?

They didn't ask for much, did they?

Yet human relations can be as cold as moonlight.

The two of them were caught in the deceitful ripples stirred by the moonlight, adrift without anchor.

Merka actually wanted to continue asking.

To inquire further about what role Turing could possibly play.

What exactly Oedipus's Pandora's box referred to.

But the shadow had no intention of speaking.

It gazed at the tranquil lake, like a mottled wooden sculpture.

"……"

Actually, the shadow knew what Oedipus was going to do.

He just couldn't tell Merka.

The core of Codechecker, the divine tree of Lachésis.

Typically, pilots would board there to pilot the divine beings.

But now, after Kagtua had self-upgraded for thousands of years, Codechecker had become a behemoth.

To transmit the pilot's biological information throughout the angel-filled Acadia, Codechecker must crush the pilot into smithereens, extract the hormones and body fluids from the pilot, and utilize all the pheromones that could represent the pilot's physical condition.

So, in a way.

Every "woman married to the gods" holding the bouquet is a pilot of Kagtua.

Therefore, the bouquet holder must be female.

If the bouquet holder becomes male...

Kagtua will shift from defensive to offensive, and the entire Acadia will collapse, all the angels will be forcibly recalled, Acadia's soil and livestock will rapidly wither, losing vitality.

Then, as an independent server, Oedipus could cut off the connection with Kagtua.

The curse that limits Oedipus's lifespan will also disappear.

Kagtua will no longer be able to retrieve the angels that lost their owner.

This is Oedipus's ultimate goal.

Although Turing is now a girl.

But she can fool others, but not herself.

As long as she was once a man, Codechecker has ten thousand ways to identify her true gender.

That's why the shadow couldn't tell Merka Oedipus's real purpose.

It would be equivalent to telling Merka directly that Turing was once a man.

Caught in a dilemma, the shadow could only fall into silence.

And silence, to some extent, is also a lie.

The price of hope is lies.

Whether lying to oneself, being lied to by others, or being lied to by God.

If a person does not deceive themselves, they may not even have the courage to continue living.

"Everything will be alright." "The suffering will end."

Although happiness may never come, people can only deceive themselves in this way.

Even in the season of barrenness, hope will quietly take root and sprout in the fertile soil of lies.

The shadow has been deceiving the people of Acadia for thousands of years.

And it will continue to do so in the future.

"The decryption game ends here, Merka."

"I can only tell you this much."

"If you want to know more about the secrets of Acadia..."

"I will assign you a few tasks, and if you complete them well, I will tell you."