Chapter 237: Chapter 235: Interrogation
A gift?
Mo Ling couldn’t quite make sense of the situation.
But he knew that Bai Zhou was in immense pain.
He slowly shuffled over to Bai Zhou, ignoring the Fishmen’s warning glares, and tried to support the injured man.
But to Mo Ling’s surprise, Bai Zhou refused his help.
He pushed Mo Ling away with a weak arm and continued to stand, swaying, his entire body trembling uncontrollably from the pain.
His linen clothes were soaked with sweat, and he was gasping for breath. Bai Zhou didn’t spare a glance for Mo Ling, who had tried to help him; instead, he stared intently at the Fishmen before them.
The Fishmen looked on with amusement, as if watching a play.
Just then, Jeff spoke again:
"Heal him."
A flash of disappointment crossed the nearby Fishman’s face, but it was gone in an instant. With another wave of his hand, the runic component on the back of Bai Zhou’s neck erupted in light. Color visibly returned to Bai Zhou’s face.
Soon, under the component’s influence, Bai Zhou’s body made a full recovery. Only the device embedded in the nape of his neck looked jarringly out of place.
Watching this, Mo Ling felt a phantom pain of his own.
"Thank you, Sir."
The moment he recovered, Bai Zhou hurriedly thanked the Fishman before him.
However, his hands silently clenched into fists before quickly relaxing.
The Fishman ignored him, instead manipulating another component to fly into the air, preparing to drive it toward Mo Ling.
But Jeff quickly stopped him. "The one who can speak our language won’t be needing that."
"Yes, General." The Fishman nodded reverently and retreated in silence.
"The rest of you, leave. I’ll question him alone," Jeff said calmly.
"But..." The Fishman started to speak, but Jeff cut him off with a raised hand.
The Fishmen exchanged a look before leaving the cell. They retreated to the other end of the corridor, but their eyes kept darting back toward the cell.
Once his subordinates were at a distance, Jeff spoke again, his tone no longer as formal as it had been.
"Have I seen you somewhere before?" Jeff looked at Bai Zhou, his voice tinged with curiosity.
But Jeff’s words made Bai Zhou’s fists clench again.
Still, he answered calmly, "Perhaps you saw me when you came to our island, General."
Jeff paused. "No, it wasn’t then."
He thought for a moment but couldn’t seem to place it, so he just shook his head.
"Never mind. Let’s get down to business."
He looked at Bai Zhou and asked seriously, "The ones who interrogated you before said you know a way for the Fishman Race to break its limitations?"
"I do!" Bai Zhou replied eagerly.
"And what way is that?" Bai Zhou’s eagerness piqued Jeff’s interest.
"Immortality!"
Jeff’s expression flickered at the word. He seemed to grasp Bai Zhou’s angle and gestured for him to continue.
"This so-called limitation is nothing more than a bottleneck you can’t break through due to a lack of time. That’s precisely the situation the Fishman Race faces now."
"When a single Fishman can’t solve a problem in their entire lifetime, it naturally leads to stagnation."
"Strength is temporary. Not only will future generations fail to continue the explorations of their ancestors, but they might also grow more indolent. This only deepens the limitation."
"It could even lead to regression!"
"General, wouldn’t you say the Fishman Race is in this exact situation?"
Jeff mulled it over for a moment, then nodded. "So what’s needed is immortality, to make that strength last forever."
"Exactly!" Bai Zhou clapped his hands once in excitement.
Listening to their conversation, Mo Ling began to understand.
’The Fishman Race has hit some kind of developmental bottleneck?’
The ’limitation’ they were talking about didn’t seem to be some force of nature.
’A technological limit?’
Mo Ling looked at the whirring runic components and felt increasingly certain he was right.
These components were probably the Fishman’s version of technology.
But as he listened to Bai Zhou, Mo Ling couldn’t shake a sense of déjà vu.
’Isn’t this just the kind of nonsense Alchemists use to fool emperors?’
With immortality, the empire could remain strong forever. There’d be no need to worry about unworthy heirs or fear that some incompetent descendant would squander the legacy built by generations of ancestors.
Immortality meant you could personally enact your will forever, continuously advancing your unfinished plans without worrying about successors or whether your descendants would carry on the spirit of exploration.
A perfect, permanent solution.
It was a highly idealistic vision, one that presumed personal will could override the laws of history.
’I am the true foundation of the empire’s strength.’
Many emperors possessed this sort of superhuman ’confidence,’ which was the root of their obsession with immortality.
’But Bai Zhou was actually trying to con the Fishman Race with this story?’
’And it looked like Jeff was actually buying it?’
However, Jeff wasn’t as naive as Mo Ling thought. After a moment, he began to question the utility of immortality:
"This whole premise is based on a lack of faith in the next generation. But I believe the descendants of the Fishman Race will find a way to break these limitations."
"Our inability to find a solution now is only temporary. I don’t believe our descendants will stagnate or regress because of it."
"The Fishman Race... will always be strong."
Jeff’s words were filled with conviction—an absolute confidence in his people.
Such confidence left Bai Zhou stunned. His prepared speech was suddenly useless, and he was at a loss for words.
But then, Jeff changed his tune.
"Immortality is, however, a path worth exploring."
"A lack of time is certainly a problem we face. A Fishman’s lifespan is not long; in the Abyss, it is but a fleeting moment. Even if we cannot achieve true immortality, extending our lives would still make the Fishman Race stronger."
He looked at Bai Zhou and asked, "Since you’re the one proposing it, you must have a way to achieve it, right?"
"How can immortality be achieved?"
Jeff’s gaze was probing, a piercing look that seemed to see right through Bai Zhou, scrutinizing his very core.
It seemed as though no lie could hide from Jeff’s stare.
Mo Ling now realized with stark clarity that the Jeff before him was not the same gullible Fishman who’d been tricked by the captain at the docks into eating expired seaweed.
The air in the room seemed to freeze.
Bai Zhou grew flustered under that scrutinizing gaze, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead once more.
"General, you should know that we humans have always been searching for immortality, right?"
"I know."
"In fact, we’ve already found it. But our own capabilities are limited, so we can’t achieve it. With the strength of the Fishman Race, however, it should be easy."
Jeff fell silent at Bai Zhou’s words, his scrutinizing gaze unwavering. After a long moment, he finally spoke.
"Tell me everything. Don’t hide a single detail."
"Of course."
Bai Zhou discreetly wiped the sweat from his brow, took a deep breath, and began to speak...
