Silent Crown

Chapter 428 Forbidden Technology

The Silent Authority. This secret violent institution was created by the various countries and the Church. It was formed by elite musicians from every field to protect the stability of human society. It was organized by the three kings. They were protected by the countries and could go anywhere. They were basically a spy organization—and the most troublesome one at that.

They were responsible for maintaining the world's stability and peace, eradicate cults, capture dark musicians, and even arrest musicians who broke the rules. All registered musicians must cooperate with them fully when needed or even make sacrifices at times.

Most of the time, they would not appear in public for secrecy. Even in the Sacred City, they just rented a storefront and have three secretaries visible. Most members were secret and had double identities or more. People would not know their true roles until death.

However, from what Ye Qingxuan knew, the first musician that he had met—Wolf Flute—was one of them. His position was not low either.

"Charles' matter is a long story…" Wolf Flute sat down, his expression troubled. Before he could speak, a server came over and poured a cup of coffee for him. Seeing it, his face turned green and he pushed it away.

"Sorry, I've been staying up for too many nights. Now I want to throw up when I smell coffee…" He paused and looked around. "Want to go drink with me? I know a good place around here. It's clean, quiet, and has good wine."

"Okay." Ye Qingxuan nodded without hesitation.

Wolf Flute nodded. "Someone will come pick you up later."

-

After Wolf Flute left, Ye Qingxuan calmed down and realized he made the most fatal mistake. He had somehow gotten the courage to yell at Bai Xi! He begged and pleaded but Bai Xi still ignored him. Helpless, Ye Qingxuan looked toward Abraham. Professor, help.

"How come other teachers only need to teach but I have to take care of children?" Shaking his head, Abraham reached out and helped Bai Xi wipe her tears. Then he waved at Ye Qingxuan to leave. Saved, Ye Qingxuan scurried out.

As soon as he left, the pitiful Bai Xi raised her head. Her complexion looked bad. "Why did that b*stard leave? I'm so pissed!" She angrily took Ye Qingxuan's plate and hacked at the steak and lobster. "He dared to yell at me! Yell! At me! I cried and he still ran! So I can't call him 'cousin'? So what? I don't care!"

Abraham looked up to the sky and sighed. These kids used to be so nice and cute but after they grew up, they all became so troublesome. This world was too hard to understand…

-

Ten minutes later, Ye Qingxuan got off a carriage. Under the cold and wet fog, he pushed open a door and saw Wolf Flute. And his expression grew strange. "This is the place you said is good?"

Wolf Flute cocked his head. "Is it not good?"

A dim light was lit in the empty and old warehouse. Wolf Flute sat on a ragged sofa, clutching a box of snacks. There were many bottles of beer beside him. Clothes were strewn on the ground and there was a weird smell. This was basically the home of a street urchin.

Ye Qingxuan sighed. "How can you describe it as clean, quiet, and with good wine?!"

"Sh!" While munching on snacks, Wolf Flute put a finger to his lips and hushed Ye Qingxuan. "If you don't like this place, people will be unhappy."

Ye Qingxuan felt an eerie breeze behind him. Getting goosebumps, he spun around but could only see a fleeting shadow. Under the dim light, there were various shadows projected onto the wall. He could sense faint breaths in the air.

They were wolves. Somehow…he had fallen into a pack of wolves.

"This is my home." Wolf Flute gestured for Ye Qingxuan to sit anywhere.

"You're a Scepter already, right? Even if you're not a saint, you're still a powerful man. Why must you live in a place like this?"

Wolf Flute sighed. "It's hard to find a place in the Sacred City where I can let them out. Don't be so picky. Just get some beer and I'll eat something first."

Chuckling dryly, Ye Qingxuan picked up a dusty glass. He glanced at the dirty bucket of beer in the distance and put his glass down.

After a bit, Wolf Flute had finally finished eating. He drank half a glass of beer in one breath. Sighing, he sprawled onto the sofa. "I can finally rest now. I was so busy these past two days that I couldn't even go to your first trial. Didn't think you'd come out so quickly. Should I call your Marquess now?"

Ye Qingxuan rolled his eyes. "Can we get to the point?"

"Fine." Wolf Flute straightened. He sat for a bit as if organizing his thoughts. Then he let it drop, "Newton disappeared."

"Huh?!" Ye Qingxuan froze. "Newton? The one from the Anglo Royal Research Institute?"

"Would I care about any Newtons other than him?" Wolf Flute sighed. "Even more troublesome, before he disappeared, people reported him for being involved in forbidden research."

"Forbidden research? He's not a dark musician. Would he be researching on human bodies?"

"…Why do you think that only dark musicians do forbidden research?" Wolf Flute rolled his eyes. "Have you forgotten about the steam crisis a century ago?"

Ye Qingxuan fell silent. A century ago, when Anglo's queen was still Victoria, the arts had developed rapidly. Technology had made great innovations as well. The steam engine was seen as the technology that represented the future's hope. Because of it, coal had become a hot item.

But when thousands of steam engines operated at the same time, it led to disruptions in the aether and created horrible consequences. That was when humanity realized that it was a dead end.

The losses that resulted could not be calculated. The aether eruptions in the borders due to the steam engines had become a terrifying legend. The machine led to Hell. The Grim Reaper would climb out of the engine along with the steam according to the various myths.

The steam engine was still a painful sore for all mechanics and engineers. As someone who had studied mechanics before, Ye Qingxuan understood this. Forbidden technologies always had temporary benefits but would definitely bring terrible consequences.

For example, decades ago, Choir musicians mutated some bacteria from the Dark World and invented a cure for people to regenerate limbs. However, they did not expect that there would be strong side effects and sudden changes. After it combined with rabies, it became a new mutation. Within a night, the entire city became wild zombies.

The Silent Authority burned the entire city down and killed all those who were infected. More than ten cities were involved, including one-hundred thousand people, and it took half a year. They poured thousands of tons of sulfur onto the land and even now, nothing could grow there.

Another example was when a Modifications scholar created an elemental separation impact channel dozens of kilometers long for superheavy elements. A fortune was spent, but the end result was a giant bomb that destroyed half of the mountain outside the school. After three years, the poisonous dust still hovered above, polluting the water. Six cities were evacuated. Countless people became infected with a strange disease and were tormented to death.

All forbidden technology was dangerous and untouchable. However, from what Ye Qingxuan knew about those fervent researchers, once it was related to their goal, they would not care if it was legal or not. Otherwise, why would there be so many dark musicians?

After pondering, Ye Qingxuan asked, "Did Mr. Newton study the legendary intelligent machinery that goes against humanity?"

"You're overthinking." Wolf Flute glanced at him. "But the thing he did isn't any better. All these years, he scammed Anglo of all this money to secretly research man-made musicians."

"That's impossible." Ye Qingxuan shook his head resolutely. "Anglo's research in the human body is only average and Newton is a grandmaster in mechanics. Crossover research like this is difficult and not worth it."

Wolf Flute chuckled dryly. He drank half a bottle of beer and sighed. "Who told you that the musician must be human?"

Ye Qingxuan froze.

"Get it now?" Wolf Flute found a moldy pack of tobacco from under the sofa. He tore it apart and lit it. Inhaling deeply, he rasped out, "He wanted to create machines that can replace musicians. According to the clues we received, he almost succeeded.

"This is good. There's nothing bad about it. Man-made musicians are musicians too. Machines can become even better… However, this will completely destroy the structure of human society.

"A total shuffling of the cards? With the looming threat of natural catastrophes, no one can bear it. Can you imagine how many wars will happen because of this? How much blood will be shed?

"Newton knew that no one would allow him to continue researching so he did it secretly. When we discovered it, it was already too late. He just suddenly, mysteriously…" Wolf Flute inhaled and blew the smoke away. "He just disappeared."

It suddenly dawned on Ye Qingxuan. "Charles was involved because of this?"

"…You think too lowly of your senior." Wolf Flute's expression grew strange as if he had just woken up and realized he had f*cked up. "Ye Qingxuan, he's the main designer."

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