Endless Debt Chapter 993 - 78: Eye of the Chronicler

Ivan Clarks belonged to the Intelligence Department’s Crow’s Nest. Before Palmer was kicked out, he worked under Ivan, as did Church naturally.

Moreover, Ivan and Palmer shared another connection; they were blood relatives, both bearing the Clarks family name. In terms of their relationship, Palmer was Ivan’s nephew.

The two rarely came together due to past issues and personality conflicts, let alone communicated. Now, they were brought together by Church.

"Is he still alive?" Ivan asked, "I mean, is there a chance for him to be resuscitated?"

"That’s not a problem. Although his injuries are severe, we’ve stabilized his vital signs. As long as he receives follow-up treatment, he’ll be fine."

The doctor assured, patting his chest, but then his voice turned hesitant, "But we’ve encountered a strange problem."

"What problem?"

Palmer’s voice rose. He rarely got this nervous.

"Logically, his consciousness should have awakened by now. Even if he couldn’t think independently, he should at least respond to external stimuli, but now..." The doctor didn’t finish.

Ivan continued, "But now it’s like he’s a living corpse?"

The doctor silently nodded.

"I think I know what’s going on," Ivan said, glancing at Palmer before turning to Bologue, questioning in a stern tone, "What happened?"

Bologue didn’t know what to say. Like Ivan, he had no idea what had transpired. Bologue thought he did well enough—when he destroyed the Stone Hall and attracted everyone’s attention, his team members should have been able to retreat safely.

"Initially, he was within our Whistle communication range, but no matter how we called, he never responded... Later Shelley found him. Shelley is good at locating people; identifying Church’s Ether reaction wasn’t difficult."

A steady voice sounded, and Hart walked in.

"We found him on Opus’s street, in an alley, collapsed beside a dumpster like he was dead."

Hart recalled the odd situation at the scene, "He had a bouquet in his arms. We don’t know who gave it to him; it might have been placed by someone pitying this poor guy."

"We were conducting a penetration operation, targeting the Fog Abyss Fortress."

At this point, Bologue continued Hart’s words, roughly informing Ivan about the temporary task force’s actions.

As Bologue, Hart, and Palmer recounted, the chaotic operation gradually became clear, with Ivan’s brows furrowing tighter until it ended in a deathly silence.

One piece of the operation’s story was still missing... without Church’s account, no one knew what he truly experienced.

"You must know something, right?"

Palmer moved closer to Ivan, becoming unusually assertive, his eyes bloodshot.

This wasn’t the first time Church had collapsed in front of Palmer. Since then, Palmer thought such an incident would not repeat, yet it did.

"Stop trying to hide it; I know!"

Palmer glared at Ivan, "What’s going on with Church? Why do we inexplicably forget about him, and why do we know nothing about him except for that cursed name?"

Palmer’s unexpected demeanor seemed to surprise everyone, as if they all thought of him as a fool, but in reality, Palmer knew everything; he just didn’t bother.

Ivan said, "It’s for your own good."

Palmer retorted, "Consider what?"

"The more you know, the more easily you’ll forget him!"

Ivan shouted angrily, his temper flared up instantly but dissipated just as quickly. He took deep breaths repeatedly and sat on a nearby chair.

All eyes fell on Ivan, knowing that he could no longer keep this matter hidden. He gestured a bit.

"Everyone else leaves; you two stay."

Hart nodded, and even the doctor quietly withdrew, leaving only the three of them in the room.

Ivan asked, "Palmer, Bologue, do you remember the surname Bordon?"

Bologue said, "Church’s surname."

"Anything else?"

"Is there anything else?"

Ivan sighed deeply at this. He knew that people had completely forgotten about them, but it was unavoidable.

"Bordon... The Bordon family is one of the founding families of the Order Bureau. Among the chain and sword, there is a sword belonging to them."

Hearing this, Bologue and Palmer were taken aback. As the Order Bureau developed, the influence of the founding families waned, and the Decision Room controlled everyone’s power.

People were forgetting these families, but due to some active members, there were still families like the Clarks that couldn’t be completely forgotten.

Ivan recounted the hidden story, "Due to what the Bordon family researched, very few remember them, even in the official records of the Order Bureau. So much so that even members of the Bordon family have forgotten they are part of it."

"What were they researching?"

Palmer asked, then looked at Church lying on the hospital bed. His former partner was always so mysterious. Palmer thought he knew something about him, but it was just an illusion.

The Faceless.

Palmer suddenly felt a sense of absurdity. Did he truly understand Church? Did he really think of him as a friend?

"Blessing, the Debtor’s Blessing."

Ivan didn’t hide it, "The Bordon family had been eyeing the power of this Blessing for a long time, attempting to replicate this Devil’s Power."

"The greater the power, the sharper the double-edged sword. To gain something, you must lose something... You two should know this well."

Bologue and Palmer nodded in agreement. They were all too familiar with this, especially Bologue, who even felt that calling the Blessing a double-edged sword was somewhat inadequate. In Bologue’s view, the true double-edged sword should be the Devil’s Protection.

"The Bordon family developed such an Alchemy Matrix, with very unique and powerful effects. But correspondingly, using such an Alchemy Matrix inevitably backlashes, and this is the unique Secret Energy of the Bordon family that Church bears."

Ivan revealed the name of the Alchemy Matrix that led to the Bordon family’s downfall.

"Walking in the Narrow Space."

Palmer was silent for a moment, his voice flat, "I knew Church lied to me; his Secret Energy wasn’t the Faceless at all."

Was it expected?

"The effect of Walking in the Narrow Space is straightforward: reduce one’s presence, even distort how the outside world perceives oneself, turning into a true ghost capable of evading everyone’s sight. But the cost is highly significant.

People truly forget him, not only the enemies but the friends as well. When pushed to the limit, he might even forget himself."

Bologue spoke, "So... Church forgot himself?"

"It seems so, forgetting who he is, even losing self-awareness, becoming a literal walking dead."

Ivan continued, "This is why he can’t wake up... I don’t know if he’ll ever wake up."

"The power of Walking in the Narrow Space is so strong. Generation after generation of the Bordon family implanted and mastered this power. They became intoxicated by it, with more and more forgetting the family business and even who they were. Thus, an ancient family internally collapsed."

Ivan’s eyes showed a hint of pity, "The Bordon family is not extinct; their lineage still exists in this world, but no one remembers them... not even themselves."

"Church must have encountered something," Bologue analyzed, "He encountered an extremely important matter, willing to risk everything for it."

Ivan said, "But now no one knows what happened."

"No... someone does."

Palmer walked over to the hospital bed, looking down at Church, speaking to himself, "So that’s what you meant at the time, Church?"

Long ago, Church and Palmer had a conversation. At the time, Palmer found it puzzling, but now it seemed Church foresaw his own fate.

Even if not now, in some future, he would be lying on a hospital bed like this, as lifeless as a corpse.

Palmer reached out, peeling open Church’s closed eyelids, and forcefully removed Church’s false eye.

"Eye of the Chronicler, an Alchemy Armament without any offensive capabilities; its effect is like movie film, able to record the last two hours of scenes."

Palmer tossed the Eye of the Chronicler to Ivan, "Decipher it, and we’ll know what Church went through."

Ivan caught the Eye of the Chronicler. What should have been light became heavy in his hands. He looked at Palmer, who calmly said.

"We are professionals, doing professional work."

Words usually somewhat humorous now seemed extremely grave.