I'm not going to be an Spirit! (Translate)

This was an absolutely foolish plan. 

It wasn't just Sumire Muroto who thought so. Anyone with even a basic understanding of the world would likely feel the same after hearing it. 

Sumire Muroto was already being polite by not laughing out loud. 

"I know this sounds ridiculous," Nia Honjo added calmly, "but what if I told you I already have the formula for the erosion rate blocker?" 

Hearing this, Sumire Muroto was stunned. 

If that were true, it would be an entirely different matter. 

She had assumed Nia Honjo came to her hoping she could discover the formula for the blocker and then produce it. 

Unexpectedly, the formula had already been found, and all that was needed was to manufacture the blocker according to it. 

But was this even possible? 

Sumire Muroto found it absurd. 

Elite scholars from around the world had come together but failed to find a way to stop the Gastrea virus from invading the human body. The goal was to solve the problem at its root. 

Yet, to this day, scientists had not discovered an effective method to eliminate the virus. 

Even Sumire Muroto and the other Four Sages, after racking their brains, had only managed to create a mitigating agent that slowed the rate at which the virus eroded human DNA. 

And this mitigator had no effect on Gastrea creatures themselves it could only delay the transformation of humans who hadn't yet turned into Gastrea. 

As one of the Four Sages, Sumire Muroto's insights into the Gastrea virus were among the best in the world. 

It was precisely because of this that she knew how invincible this devilish virus more formidable than cancer cells was. She had given up her research on the virus and turned to overcoming its rejection by the human body to create mechanized soldiers. 

And now, a woman who had appeared out of nowhere claimed she had developed the formula for an erosion rate blocker? 

"I don't believe it," Sumire Muroto said bluntly. 

Although she trusted Rentaro Satomi deeply, it didn't mean she would blindly believe everything he brought to her. 

Even if Nia Honjo was a friend he trusted, Sumire Muroto wouldn't take her word at face value. 

Moreover, Rentaro Satomi had almost no knowledge of the Gastrea virus and was no different from most ordinary people in this regard, making him easy to deceive. 

If Nia Honjo provided the so called blocker formula, Sumire Muroto could determine its validity with a single glance. 

Was this woman a silver tongued liar or a genius whose wisdom and abilities surpassed even the Four Sages? 

Sumire Muroto instinctively leaned toward the former. 

The Gastrea virus wasn't something the general public could access. There couldn't be any so called "folk geniuses" or "hidden masters." Even studying the virus required instruments and equipment far beyond what ordinary people could afford. 

In this world, only institutions with sufficient funding and regimes with enough power could provide the basic equipment needed to study the virus. 

But if Nia Honjo belonged to one of these groups, there would be no need for her to come to Sumire Muroto for cooperation. 

When Sumire Muroto heard that Nia Honjo had the formula for the erosion rate blocker, her first instinct was to kick her out. 

To a scientist, such a claim was as ridiculous as someone saying, "I am Qin Shi Huang. If you send me 50 yuan, I'll revive my army. Once I conquer the world, I'll make you a founding general." 

The only reason she didn't immediately throw Nia Honjo out was out of respect for Rentaro Satomi. 

"Don't be so quick to judge. At least take a look first." 

Under Sumire Muroto's skeptical gaze, Nia Honjo summoned the Proclamation Volume. After writing [Erosion Rate Blocker Formula] on the search page, densely packed text appeared. 

"It's a bit long. Take your time reading it. We're not in a hurry." 

Handing the volume to Sumire Muroto, Nia Honjo looked completely confident. 

Sumire Muroto first examined the Proclamation Volume, as if trying to figure out how such a large book had materialized. 

But after scrutinizing it from every angle, she still couldn't find any mechanism, so she turned her attention to the text on the page. 

At first, she only intended to skim through it casually. 

But after reading a few lines, she noticed that the formula contained many ingredients familiar to her from erosion rate mitigators, so she couldn't help but take it seriously. 

As she read further, her brows furrowed. She began searching through long unopened files on her computer, analyzing the feasibility of the formula's components. 

Nia Honjo watched her verification quietly, unperturbed. 

She had no doubt about the formula provided by the Rasiel. 

As an omniscient and omnipotent angel, and one of the few S rank angels Zafkiel, the Rasiel capabilities were undoubtedly top tier. 

Perhaps there were some questions it couldn't answer, but as long as it provided an answer, it was never wrong. 

Holding the formula, Sumire Muroto seemed to forget about her two guests, fully absorbed in her verification, her mind working at a speed she hadn't experienced in years. 

It wasn't until more than two hours had passed that she finally looked up from the volume. 

"I can't say this formula is fake, but I can't confirm it's real either. It's 50% real and 50% fake," Sumire Muroto said carefully. "Some of the steps in creating the blocker are only theoretically feasible. Current research equipment can't achieve the ideal results. And some of the ingredients in the formula are things I've never heard of." 

"That's fine. Write down the research equipment, and I'll find ways to improve it," Nia Honjo said confidently. "The same goes for the unknown ingredients. I can find them too." 

"If you're not lying, then the possibility of this formula being effective increases to 80%." 

"Is 80% enough?" Rentaro Satomi, who had been waiting for over an hour, asked anxiously. "Doctor, do you have the confidence to produce the erosion rate blocker?" 

"If there's sufficient funding, yes," Sumire Muroto nodded. But her next words shocked both of them: "But I won't help you." 

"Why?" Rentaro Satomi asked, confused. "Isn't the probability as high as 80%? Why won't you help us, Doctor?" 

"This isn't about probability. It's about what you plan to do with this blocker." 

Sumire Muroto took a sip of coffee, ignoring Rentaro Satomi's emotions, and asked calmly, "If you just want to use the blocker on Enju, I wouldn't hesitate to help. But your goal is to make it available to all cursed children, right?" 

"Isn't that what we should aim for?" Nia Honjo said. "My goal is to give cursed children human rights and stop treating them as monsters. This is the first step toward achieving that." 

"That's exactly why I won't help you." 

Sumire Muroto slowly closed the Proclamation Volume and said in a cold tone, "You're committing suicide." 

She had locked herself in this dark laboratory to avoid contact with the twisted world outside. 

In a sense, she and Nia Honjo were similar. 

Nia Honjo had been disappointed by the inability to form genuine bonds between humans, so she immersed herself in the two dimensional world and avoided close friendships. 

Sumire Muroto's situation was even more severe. 

If Nia Honjo was disappointed with humanity after learning too much, Sumire Muroto had become utterly despondent about humanity and the world after knowing too much. 

Deep down, she no longer held any expectations for this world. 

If someone told her the world would end tomorrow, she would simply continue her seclusion here and watch coldly. 

As one of the Four Sages, who had once stood at the pinnacle of this world, she had seen its true nature. 

The moment the containment of the Gastrea virus failed, human civilization was destroyed. 

What remained was nothing more than a cannibalistic society, disguised as a civilized one, that had become unscrupulous in its pursuit of survival. 

When Sumire Muroto had sent the twelve year old Rentaro Satomi to the operating table, transforming a child into a mechanized soldier, she realized that even she couldn't resist the world's corruption and had descended into madness. 

So, she hid in this hospital under an assumed name, abandoned her past, and cut off contact with everyone. 

Even though the New Human Creation Plan had been halted, as one of the Four Sages, she would still be respected and sought after wherever she went. Yet, she chose to live in this narrow, dark room so that her wisdom would no longer be exploited by the world. 

She would no longer aid or abet its evils. 

Her inaction was her resistance to the world's corruption. 

That was as far as she could go. 

What Nia Honjo wanted to do now was fundamentally change the world to ensure cursed children were no longer treated as tools or monsters but recognized as human beings. 

But the world wouldn't allow it. 

To survive, humans had to kill other lives to continue their own existence. 

Even if it was an ugly continuation. 

The world's survival was built on the corpses of others. Without sacrifice, there would only be destruction. 

It didn't matter whether the sacrifice was voluntary or forced. 

At first, it was soldiers sacrificing their lives for their country. 

Then came mechanized soldiers. 

Finally, humans discovered the cursed children more cost effective, safer, and more obedient. Humanity's moral底线 crumbled bit by bit, leading to the current state of affairs. 

"Ms. Honjo, you must hate humans, don't you?" Sumire Muroto asked, though her tone suggested she was stating a fact. 

"I wouldn't say I hate them… I'm just disappointed," Nia Honjo replied, confused. "Why do you ask?" 

"Because from start to finish, you've never considered the problem from a human perspective," Sumire Muroto said lightly. "You want cursed children to have human rights, but will humans agree? Or do you truly believe that the reason humans hate cursed children is simply because they're potential threats who could turn into Gastrea at any moment?" 

Faced with Sumire Muroto's questioning, Nia Honjo heart skipped a beat, and she felt a growing sense of unease. 

She realized she had overlooked something crucial, something she had instinctively ignored from the very beginning. 

Something that would fundamentally undermine her plan. 

"Isn't that the case?" Rentaro Satomi frowned and asked. "Everyone thinks so, even Kikunojou Tendo." 

"Oh, yes, Kikunojou Tendo does think that way," Sumire Muroto said noncommittally.

"But he's an old lunatic. He went mad after his wife and daughter were killed by Gastrea. However, this world isn't just full of lunatics. There are more people who use the guise of madness to seek benefits for themselves." 

"What are you trying to say?" 

"It's simple, Rentaro," Sumire Muroto smiled. "Cursed children are weapons humans use to fight Gastrea. But you want to give these weapons human rights so they can live without fighting. Have you ever considered the consequences?" 

At that moment, Nia Honjo finally saw what she had been ignoring. 

She had thought the cursed children plight was solely due to the fact that once their erosion rate exceeded 50%, they would turn into Gastrea, leading to humanity's hostility toward them. 

But that was only part of the reason and not even the most important one. 

The real reason for the cursed children's suffering was that humans needed them as expendable tools on the battlefield. 

While ordinary soldiers were plentiful, many had to be sacrificed to deal with a single Gastrea. Mechanized soldiers were powerful one could handle hundreds of Gastrea but the cost of creating them was prohibitively high. 

Cursed children were the perfect substitute. 

They were ordinary girls infected with the Gastrea virus. If humans wanted, they could produce such children in large numbers. 

Their combat effectiveness was strong one could match dozens of ordinary soldiers. Though not as powerful as mechanized soldiers, they were far more cost effective. 

They wouldn't resist because they were still children. Even with their powers, they instinctively feared adult authority. No matter how they were treated, they couldn't start a revolution. 

But they were still human. They couldn't be used as expendable tools without restraint. 

So, humanity stripped them of their human rights. 

The egoists of this world quietly manipulated people's hatred of Gastrea, extending it to the cursed children. 

These human children were labeled as Gastrea. 

Thus, they could be openly used as weapons. 

This was why the cursed children's status was so low. 

It wasn't because humans didn't need them. 

It was precisely because humans needed them needed them to sacrifice for humanity that they were treated as animals, devoid of human rights, to better exploit their power. 

This was the world as Sumire Muroto saw it. 

A world built on the sacrifice of cursed children a world that fed on their suffering. 

"What you want to do won't make the world a better place. It will make you an enemy of the entire world," Sumire Muroto said mercilessly. "So, Ms. Honjo, if you truly hate humans as much as I do, then doing nothing is the best choice." 

Her tone was cold, like a sage who had seen through the world's true nature. Her lifeless dark purple eyes seemed to reflect a future destined for destruction. 

"Because one day, humanity will reap what it has sown."