Guan Tong didn't rush to read the private message itself. Instead, he checked the sender's account first.
With Administrator privileges, he could see every piece of data in the backend: the account used the default nickname, had never posted, had only sent this single private message, and was registered just a few days ago.
"It seems this person's sole purpose in registering the account was to send me this private message."
Guan Tong returned to the private message interface and examined the message details.
It was a long private message, several pages in length.
"My name is Gill. I am an Ascendant affiliated with the Suroma government, and my ability is Frequency Perception.
By consuming Mind Power, I can sense the unique frequencies of all things, including special energies such as Mind Power.
A few days ago, on the day the Bright Moon appeared, I and other reconnaissance-type Ascendants were assigned as observers, placed in submarines across different sea areas. Our mission was to find the Bright Moon's location as quickly as possible.
I was assigned to the submarine Goddess of Fortune. Fortunately, the Bright Moon was born in a trench several thousand meters directly beneath our submarine. Unluckily, the submarine dove too deep, entered a gravity vortex, and was captured by the Bright Moon's gravity, unable to escape."
When Guan Tong read this part, a flash of surprise crossed his eyes. Could the "Goddess of Fortune" submarine mentioned in the message be the same sub he had lifted?
He continued reading.
"But more luckily, just as we on that submarine were about to lose hope, a force from below lifted the submarine, buying us precious time to escape, and we survived.
Through my ability I sensed that frequency was of Mind Power and recorded it. Although I didn't know its source at the time, that Mind Power unquestionably saved the lives of the dozens aboard the submarine.
Afterward, I continued serving as an observer, and because my submarine was the first to discover the Bright Moon, I was promoted to the rank of special observer and became one of the members providing observation for the array action."
An observer from the array action?
Guan Tong thought to himself as he read this, if this were true then that person should have been on the giant Suroma transport aircraft that carried Ascendants. If so, it wouldn't be surprising they knew the truth.
He read on.
"Before the array action began, I met Andrew. He presented himself as an observer at the time, but in fact he was the Carrier Array's item holder and one of the operation's core people.
Before the operation started, the Bright Moon suffered a major attack and its mass noticeably decreased. We observers discovered that a portion of Mind Power had directly appeared inside the Bright Moon's core region, causing that damage.
At that time only I noticed that the frequency of that Mind Power matched the frequency I sensed when saving the Goddess of Fortune. From then on I knew the person who helped that submarine and the person who damaged the Bright Moon were the same individual."
If Guan Tong had had any lingering doubts about the message's authenticity, he believed it now after reading this.
Many people knew who had damaged the Bright Moon, but aside from himself, only Uenoshi knew who had saved that submarine.
The Countermeasures Research Office didn't know about that matter, so an internal leak was impossible.
Now this reconnaissance Ascendant calling himself "Gill" could provide such crucial information, which meant the message was credible.
This made Guan Tong even more eager to learn the rest of the truth Gill described.
"On the day of the array action you boarded a tiny transport that carried a large number of Ascendants. After arriving above the target sea area, your observers' task was to precisely lock onto the Bright Moon's core position and provide firing coordinates for the Carrier Array.
But strangely, before receiving a phone call, Andrew ordered you to change the mission to search the waters around the Bright Moon for Ascendants, claiming it was a direct command from King Bruce.
You searched but found nothing. Then Andrew told you to track a distant flow of Mind Power from the Bright Moon, and by following it you found the user's position.
The reason Andrew gave us was that he believed hostile forces would sabotage the operation. I questioned him, but he suppressed me with the phrase 'obey orders.'
Then Joiessen left, presumably to find Andrew. After a while, we observed a flow of Flowable Mind Power around and inside the Bright Moon, and in the next second I received two pieces of information simultaneously.
First, the frequency of that Mind Power matched the two earlier perceptions and belonged to the same person. Second, a prompt appeared in my mind indicating the Bright Moon had 'stopped rising.'
At that moment I realized something was wrong, but the other observers still followed orders. By tracing the Mind Power's flow, they pinpointed the user's exact coordinates and notified Andrew."
Guan Tong's fists clenched tightly as he read this.
He hadn't forgotten Shi Jingyi's advice to "control his emotions," so he forced himself to restrain his anger, though he couldn't stop himself from feeling furious.
"After that, the array device was activated and the high-energy laser was fired. I immediately suspected the laser was not aimed at the Bright Moon that had already stopped rising, but at the Ascendant who had completed the Rules challenge—the person who saved our lives.
When we returned to Suroma, Joiessen ordered all of us observers to keep silent about what happened on the transport. In return, we were promised better benefits and a large reward.
I'm not claiming to be a saint, but I couldn't accept this in good conscience. Thinking that the person who saved us was deliberately murdered, and remembering the thousands of Ascendants who died innocently while seeking glory in the array, made me turn and toss in pain and unable to sleep.
This matter left me deeply disappointed in Andrew, in King Bruce who lied in public speeches, and even in the entire Suroma government.
After the Beixing government released a statement saying the Shadow was the one who stopped the Bright Moon's ascent, I was convinced that was the truth.
That revelation hurt me even more—so the person was the Shadow! He is the legendary Ascendant who repeatedly helped others pass the Doomsday Rules. To think such a person died under a vile conspiracy and betrayal left me utterly despondent.
Tomorrow Suroma will hold a hero's memorial at the National Cemetery, and all participants in the operation will attend. I will find Andrew and persuade him to leave Suroma with me, go to Beixing or the Xisiya Empire, and expose the truth so the world knows who the real hero was.
Andrew might refuse—after all, he controlled the array device yet activated it even after hearing the prompt. If the truth comes out, he may lose his heroic reputation, his privileges, and even face accountability.
He might also agree, because from my conversations with him he doesn't seem as morally bankrupt as Andrew is.
But regardless of whether he agrees, I will leave Suroma personally and go to a safe place to reveal the truth.
There is one more possibility: if we operation participants are secretly under surveillance, I might be unable to leave and could be arrested the moment I try.
In that case, I would send this prewritten exposé.
I considered sending it to Beixing or the Xisiya Empire officials, but I couldn't be sure they were trustworthy. Suroma's spies are everywhere and might already have infiltrated those nations.
After pondering many options, one person came to mind as absolutely trustworthy.
That person is you, the Administrator of the Ascendant Home.
People have always believed you had a close relationship with the Shadow, and your site has never been breached or leaked.
If you see this exposé, it means my fears have come true and I may have been captured or secretly executed.
But you, serving as Ascendant Home's Administrator, can use the facts beyond this letter to seek justice for the Shadow and the thousands of Ascendants who died.
May the lower deity forgive the sins of my soul. — Gill"