Chapter 586 (1/2)

Ghost folded his incorporeal hands. “Defending the Zone as best I can. Although… I must admit that I let myself be swayed by baser emotions. Jealousy, for instance. I am… ah, it is still hard to say. I am incredibly jealous of you, Randidly Ghosthound. You…”

Ghost trailed off, looking down at his hands. He fidgeted and picked at an invisible fingernail that was marginally out of place. He looked so real to Randidly, so human. It was hard for him to stay focused on the danger that this entity posed to him. The influence Ghost had over the whole of the Zone was dangerous, even to Randidly. Although he need not really fear people attacking him, smear campaigns, propaganda…

Randidly grimaced. It would make the changes he had in mind for the Zone difficult. Having Ghost on his side was the desired outcome. Yet if Ghost insisted on refusing…

“Let me ask a different question then,” Randidly said slowly. “Did you choose to have me kidnapped so you could take my body?”

This was Randidly stabbing in the dark. But his instincts were telling him that Ghost was guilty of something, although Randidly wasn’t sure what that was. He had wondered while being captured why the Unity Church had moved against him in the first place. His shocked thoughts while they were taking him notwithstanding, he was just a rising name to them. Although he would have valuable Skills they might want to transfer, his disappearance would be noticed.

Especially by Ghost, who was a fan of his drones. That meant that either the Unity Church was powerful enough to ignore Ghost, or Ghost knew about it. Ghost’s delicate silence gave Randidly all the information that he needed. The AI simply continued to stare down at his hands.

Randidly relaxed slightly. If Ghost was going to be honest, this talk would become much easier than the alternative. “... I suppose that was a bit personal. Instead, how aware were you of the actions of the Unity Church, specifically in regards to the proliferation of the Raid Bosses?”

“You know…” Ghost said after a pause. Randidly was somewhat disconcerted how decentralized Ghost’s voice was; it seemed to come from all around him. “I had thought that this talk would be a turning point in my existence. You are a genius, and can do so much that I cannot… It would be enlightening, I believed. And yet… I find myself incredibly bitter. For all that you have power, I find it hard to believe you can damage me in a meaningful way. Then, let us-”

He froze. Randidly folded his arms over his chest, his eyes burning emerald. Deep beneath them in the Earth, there was an aluminum canister. It was large, about as big as a shipping container. Within it lay six bodies, connected by life support systems and a powerful computer.

As Ghost was speaking, a root pulled open the latch on the outside of the container and crawled into the door.

“How…” Now, the AI looked speechlessly up at Randidly. Randidly looked back without changing his expression, his eyes tearing into Ghost’s form. It was much easier than Randidly had thought it would be, although that was likely due to his high Stats. It had taken some scouring, but since Randidly had walked into the room he had been seeking the Aether signature of Ghost.

It wasn’t distinctive in the way the System’s, the Creature’s, or Randidly’s own was. It was clearly Aether obtained through the System. But as his Aether Detection Skill increased to above 100, the fineness with which he could distinguish different Aether became ridiculous. Perhaps even then, it would be impossible for Randidly to locate Ghost because he had never truly interacted with the other, and especially not interacted with Ghost while he was taking a long look at his Aether signature.

But what other entity would be 100 meters below the surface of the Earth? It was a pretty safe bet that Randidly hadn’t discovered a lonely dwarf.

“Let me ask again,” Randidly said with a smile. “How much did you know about the Raid Bosses released by the Unity Church.”

“Not as much as you would think,” Ghost said. His body disintegrated and reformed in front of Randidly. It was all a show, but the hologram was inspecting him closely. “I was aware of their existence, as it was only through their research that I could sustain Ezekiel without an unavoidable social cost. Oh, at first I didn’t understand what they had done to the monsters to make them act as substitutes for the human portion Ezekiel consumes. It was only when the Zones connected to the New Earth, when they upped their activity, that I was able to deduce what they had accomplished.”

Here Ghost paused, frowning up at Randidly. “This… was a difficult prospect for my processors to judge. I have circuits devoted to empathy within me, but my primary function was to push the efficiency in the Zone to a point where people could survive. And the empathy circuits carried with them no imperative… I have done numerous simulations, but I am unable to determine how Dr. Karman would have preferred I resolve this moral quandary… So I have left the issues unaddressed. It is true, this has resulted in gargantuan amounts of lost life. But… I….”