“Alright, where to?” Dee3 asked, ready to move her dungeon beneath Ace’s estate.

But Ace shook his head and replied, “That’ll have to wait. My work here isn’t done. If I don’t take care of this, my family will never be able to return to our old lives.”

“What are you talking about?” Dee3 asked, alarmed. She feared that Ace hadn’t broken into Base Wulfric just to steal curse gadgets—but to get revenge.

She could overlook him taking a few curse gadgets to defend himself and his family. But if he intended to massacre the researchers, staff, agents, and soldiers of Base Wulfric, she couldn’t let that happen—even if it meant exposing her location to the authorities and risking being captured by the government to be enslaved into making curse gadgets again.

“Finding the reason why the country’s curse community abandoned my family and me—and end it—so we can finally live normal lives. It’s in this base, some in the lower floors, and you can help me find it,” Ace said, locking eyes with Dee3. After a brief pause, he added, “Will you help me?”

Dee3’s racing heart finally settled when she realized Ace didn’t plan to go on a killing spree. Most of Base Wulfric was operated by defenseless researchers and staff. Judging by the slow response time of the base’s special squad, Ace could’ve slaughtered one section of the base and moved to the other before their arrival, i.e., if she doesn’t intervene.

“Sure, I’ll help. As long as it doesn’t involve killing, I’m in,” Dee3 agreed, not just out of the newfound friendship between them, but to keep a close eye on him. After all, he had broken into the base without anyone noticing—she couldn’t afford to underestimate him.

Having designed and built the base, she understood the challenge of getting in and moving through it unnoticed. Not to mention, snacking on billion-dollar state-of-the-art curse gadgets. Dee3 knew the kid before her was more capable than the C.I.B.’s file on him.

Confirming Dee3 was ready to help him, Ace revealed, “My target is the last descendant of the Overlords.”

“Wait, by Overlords, you mean the tyrannical rulers of the colonies before our founders established the greatest democracy of all time?” Dee3 asked in shock, finding it hard to believe that someone from that bloodline was still walking these lands. “I thought every last one of them was killed to prevent future insurrections.”

“You and everyone else thought the same—until they found one recently. Operation Samsara Slayer was one of the concurrent missions launched to capture him. Even though they have him now, they have no plans to end the Operation Samsara Slayer until they secure the Overlords’ treasure,” Ace explained, revealing what Dame Wasp had managed to uncover by blatantly hacking into secure government networks.

Prince’s plan here was clear as day: he wanted to continue keeping the other forces busy with Operation Samsara Slayer and other concurrent operations while he and the government secured the Overlord’s treasure. Once they had the treasure in their possession, they would not have to worry about the other forces or give them an explanation. It was not their fault if they were too dumb to realize what was happening.

“I see. But how will finding the descendant of the Overlords help solve your family’s problems? Unless you plan to kill him—” Dee3 began, the only scenario she could imagine that would force the authorities to shut down Operation Samsara Slayer.

But Ace cut her off before she could finish. “I plan to use my upgraded mind-reading apparatus on him to help them get the information they’re looking for. Fast-tracking their treasure hunt. The sooner they secure the Overlords’ treasure, the sooner my family can return to their old lives.”

“Oh, right—your curse tool. I forgot about it,” Dee3 exclaimed in relief, and in her embarrassment, she revealed, “Did you know that the mind-reading apparatus is actually an unfinished curse gadget? It wasn’t even designed to be used on humans. It was originally created to read the minds of curselings.

The idea was that if we could understand what they were thinking, maybe we could find common ground—or at least a way to avoid the tragedies they cause. That’s why it doesn’t work on mortals and can only be used on curse users. Not to mention, it only displays the target’s real-time thoughts in the form of a wave graph, which needs to be interpreted by a specialist afterward.”

“No way. So, what do curselings actually think about?” Ace asked, intrigued by Dee3’s facts about the mind-reading apparatus.

“Their thoughts are buried deep within layers of interwoven thoughts, originating from the emotions that created them and the emotions they’ve fed on,” Dee3 explained. “We tried to isolate their original thoughts by using multiple wave graphs to record each thought in the cluster in real time.

But what we found was disappointing—curselings’ original thoughts usually just mimic the emotions they were born from or consumed. It’s like they’re stuck in a memory loop, reliving those emotions over and over. Doing so helps stimulate their curse core for energy recovery. That’s why they always behave aggressively or follow the same patterns.

In the end, we spent a huge fortune only to confirm what we already suspected about curselings. The entire research project was a major failure.

Realizing this, the higher-ups ceased the research, and the apparatus was stored away—forgotten—until a few drunk researchers accidentally discovered that it worked reasonably well on curse users. The higher-ups wanted to restart the research with new objectives, but none of the original researchers participated, as the new goals didn’t align with their ideals—especially considering the numerous human rights violations required to achieve them.

Fortunately, those who came after barely managed to replicate the original success, but they were never able to build upon it. So, they mass-produced the unfinished version of the mind-reading apparatus and began using it across the country to interrogate curse criminals. On its own, the apparatus was less accurate and efficient, but when combined with lie detectors, truth serums, and other tools, it worked wonders,” Dee3 explained.

She ended up narrating the brief history of how the mind-reading apparatus evolved into a common tool for advanced interrogation. From the excitement in her tone, Ace guessed she had been one of the original researchers who contributed to its creation.

So, he couldn’t help but ask, “Dee3, do you have the complete version of the mind-reading apparatus?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep