Life Game In Other World
Chapter 455: The Creatures Cultivated by the Research Institute (Big - for Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 455: 455: The Creatures Cultivated by the Research Institute (Big Chapter for Monthly Tickets)

"Is Mr. Reid a core member of the Mar Project?"

He Ao stirred his coffee, suddenly speaking out.

"Of course, he is the only core member from the Limen City Research Institute."

Kors sipped on his milk, speaking slowly.

"Are there Research Institutes in other cities?"

He Ao’s coffee stirring paused briefly.

"At present, there are over a dozen Research Institutes throughout the Federation, located in various major cities," Kors fell into brief contemplation, "The places where the Group sets up Research Institutes are usually densely populated metropolises, and Limen City is one of the few exceptions. In fact, I also don’t know why the Group decided to establish a Research Institute in Limen City."

"Hmm,"

He Ao continued to stir his coffee. Limen City being ’chosen’ was probably due to the existence of the Fountain of Youth.

To speculate even more boldly, perhaps the earliest ’research’ started in Limen City.

However, He Ao did not delve further into this topic but asked as if it were an offhand remark, "What does Mr. Kors think of Reid as a person?"

"He’s very smart, but not really cut out for research. However, he’s quite lucky."

Kors brought the milk to his lips, speaking evenly, his tone carrying a slight rising inflection—a hint of disdain.

This ’Doctor’ felt he was better than Reid.

The so-called ’good luck’ probably refers to the fact that Reid joined the project early and happened to get into the core of the project.

"And if Reid were to encounter some trouble or commit some major mistake..."

He Ao’s stirring of the coffee slowed, the swirling coffee striking the delicately halted spoon, creating faint, translucent froth.

Kors looked up in surprise at these words, gazing blankly at He Ao.

In his eyes, He Ao saw a fleeting look of anticipation.

Then he turned his head away, shaking it, "I’m already at such an age, and although I’ve been with the Group for so many years, it’s very difficult for me to advance any further. You don’t need to stir up trouble between me and Reid."

"I was just saying,"

He Ao smiled.

Everyone cherishes what is important to them—money-lovers care about wealth, pleasure-seekers about their desires, and perhaps Kors had always been curious about the core secrets of the Mar Project, a curiosity that, over the years, had developed into something of an obsession.

Once the seed of obsession takes root, a person can no longer be controlled by reason.

He Ao knew he could now probe deeper; in a sense, he and Kors shared a ’common interest.’

He put down the coffee spoon in his hand and gazed out the window at the grand hospital building in the night, "About when did the Mar Project begin?"

"The Mar Project has a long history,"

Kors replied in a calmed voice, it wasn’t a complex core issue. "It is said that similar plans existed within the Stars Group from the very beginning, but these plans had never achieved significant success until about twenty-two years ago, when the project finally showed some promise and gradually organized a new research team."

"Were you working at this hospital back then?"

He Ao asked.

"No," Kors shook his head, "that hospital didn’t exist yet. I was working at another private hospital owned by the Stars Group. Stars Supreme Hospital was developed and built by the group later on. After I joined the plan, I was transferred here."

Stars Supreme Hospital was constructed approximately twenty years ago. Its most central area was originally a park, which was bought by a businessman about forty years ago for demolition and reconstruction.

According to the information collected by Eve, there were rumors that the businessman who bought the core area initially wanted to build a hospital there.

But for reasons unknown, whether due to a break in the funding chain or something else, no new buildings were constructed on the site after the park was demolished.

The entire plot of land lay fallow for nearly twenty years until Stars Group purchased it through certain means. The group ambitiously bought up all the surrounding plots of land, demolished the existing buildings, and constructed the current Stars Supreme Hospital.

From Kors’s words, it seemed that all of this happened after significant progress had been made in the "Mars Project" in pursuit of eternal life.

It looked as though someone had brought the Fountain of Youth to the attention of Stars Group almost twenty-plus years ago and used it to advance the Mars Project.

"So when Reid introduced you to the Mars Project, it was for your..."He Ao turned to look at Kors.

"For my surgical skills."

Kors coughed, "More than a decade ago, I had a modest reputation in the surgical circles of Limen City. It was around that time that I received an invitation from Reid. In fact, he didn’t just invite me; he invited all the well-known surgeons of Limen City at the time,

"Eventually, five surgeons accepted the invitation to join the project. In the beginning, we weren’t assigned to any research but rather a large amount of human body dissections. In the end, the other four doctors left the project for various reasons, leaving only me, who was the least renowned at the time."

"After the other doctors left, the group didn’t give me any new tasks but just had me continue with the dissections.

"Bodies for dissection are precious, and almost each one needed to be cherished, but the corpses provided by Reid were never-ending. However, these deceased all had various diseases or signs of accidents on their bodies.

"During that time, I deepened my understanding of human anatomy every day, which laid the foundation for my future surgical operations."

"Did those bodies come from Stars Supreme Hospital?"

He Ao glanced out the window at the hospital and asked quietly.

Kors was silent for a moment, neither confirming nor denying.

He Ao understood the answer. He didn’t continue to press the issue but changed the subject, "So after that, you kept dissecting bodies?"

"About three months later," Kors appeared to be lost in recollection, "Reid came to find me. He gave me a silver metal box, hoping I could figure out how to ’implant’ this metal box into a living person’s body."

He Ao remembered the operating room where Pete had been ’operated’ on, with the silver metal box containing the mini kidney.

"It seems you were successful."

He Ao sipped his coffee, continuing the conversation softly.

There was a moment of awkwardness in the air.

After all, there was a time when He Ao himself lay on the operating table, waiting for Kors’s surgery.

However, the awkward atmosphere lasted only briefly, as Kors quickly continued,

"The space inside the human body is limited, and it’s hard to implant something completely without it seeming out of place. Additionally, suddenly introducing a foreign object would certainly elicit a strong immune response."

"So how did you solve this problem?"

He Ao asked with interest.

"The method isn’t difficult, and any surgeon could think of it.

"Certain organs in the human body have strong regenerative capabilities. For example, after removing a part of the liver, its functions are not particularly affected, and it can regenerate to a certain extent," Kors explained slowly,

"And some organs, even when partially removed, do not greatly affect the body’s normal functions. For example, living with one kidney does not significantly impact normal life, and even if you remove part of the stomach, it doesn’t greatly affect digestion."

He Ao’s hand, which was holding a coffee cup, stiffened.

"Of course, these methods are beneath me," Kors seemed to notice his movement and quickly added,

"Years of dissection experience have allowed me to develop many methods to ’squeeze out space’ within the human body. I have summarized this set of methods into an experience. However, these methods may cause abnormal protrusions on the skin to a greater or lesser extent, which could put pressure on the box. Reid doesn’t like this plan, but I have always been the one implementing it."

He Ao slowly sipped his coffee without saying a word.

The implication of Kors’s words was clear, he would not harm the ’patient’s’ original organs, but that did not mean that other ’doctors’ at the Research Institute would do the same.

He Ao casually asked, "So, does the Research Institute have any criteria for selecting doctors?"

"The doctors at the Research Institute are all chosen by Reid. I am not clear about the specific process, but from my observation, most of them are underground doctors who haven’t had formal education."

Kors replied softly.

"Then why you..."

He Ao lifted his coffee cup slightly, with an implied question.

He meant to ask why Kors was operating at the Research Institute, just like those underground doctors.

In fact, he already had some guesses in his mind, but he was still waiting for Kors’s answer.

"For deeper secrets," Kors leaned back on the sofa,

"I possess a large part of the outer information on the Mars Project, but with just these pieces of information, I could not gain any deeper intelligence. So I told Reid that I wanted to get on the operating table, hoping to gain more information from those ’patients’ who had undergone ’surgery.’

"Reid outwardly welcomed my initiative and gave me access to most areas of the Research Institute, but he never showed me the core tracking data of the ’patients.’ Moreover, he would only assign me to ’surgeries’ that his doctors could not complete,"

Kors paused for a moment, "Like you, for instance. Your physical examination showed that you are in very poor health, exceptionally weak. Reid’s doctors lacked the confidence that they could perform the ’surgery’ on you without causing harm, so Reid had me take over... cough..."

He took out a handkerchief, covered his mouth, and coughed once, watching He Ao.

He seemed very interested in why He Ao was so frail yet so strong.

However, He Ao had no intention of explaining to Kors.

He Ao placed the coffee cup on the table, a gust of wind outside shook the leaves off the landscape trees. He opened his mouth and asked that key question,

"So what exactly is the Research Institute doing?"

"To be precise, I don’t know what the Research Institute is actually for. The tasks I have been involved in at the Research Institute involve implanting key items from the Mars Project into the ’patients,’ then retrieving the items after some time."

Kors answered.

He was referring to that silver box as the key item.

He kept referring to those who signed agreements and inexplicably ended up on the operating table as ’patients.’

After saying this, he paused for a moment as if hesitating whether to divulge some more ’information.’

Throughout the entire conversation, He Ao had maintained silence, knowing that Kors would make the right choice because he had a ’common interest’ with him, a seed He Ao had planted in Kors’s mind at the beginning of their dialogue.

The evening breeze blew more fallen leaves, and as a leaf landed in front of the transparent window, then slowly slid to the ground, Kors finally raised his head and continued,

"However, I think that the Research Institute might be attempting to ’cultivate’ something."

He Ao looked up at him, indicating for him to continue.

"The process the Research Institute has for ’patients’ goes like this,"

"First, they open up the patient’s body, insert a silver box into the patient, and then connect some blood vessels to certain interfaces of the box, before sewing up the wound.

"Patients usually recover in a day or two and can get up. In those initial days, their energy levels become incredibly high. During this process, the Research Institute dispenses some medications for them, instructing them to take them at scheduled times every day.

"The duration for taking the medication depends on the type of box inserted. Each box requires different lengths of time inside the ’patient,’ usually ranging from one to three months.

"I’ve studied the drugs provided by those Research Institutes. There are drugs that suppress the immune system, intended to prevent it from attacking the ’foreign object’ in the body.

"In addition, there are drugs that forcibly catalyze bodily functions, and most of the time, these drugs are used to create stimulants.

"Generally speaking, immunosuppressive drugs can cause considerable damage to the body, but stimulative drugs can forcibly revitalize the ’patients.’

"Besides these two types of drugs, there are components in those medications I can’t identify. However, I believe these components may be addictive.

"The Research Institute’s dosage control is very precise, usually by the time ’storage’ is over and the box inside is removed, many ’patients’ don’t realize there’s something wrong with their bodies.

"They’ll notice the scars, but driven by the desire for a substantial ’subsidy,’ they’ll choose to accept the Research Institute’s actions.

"After being ’stored’ once, most ’patients’ are told to rest at home for a while. That’s when the damage to their bodies starts to show, and they begin to feel severe discomfort and fatigue,"

Kors paused here and spoke slowly with a grave tone, "However, this doesn’t prevent the vast majority of ’patients’ from repeatedly participating in ’storage.’ They don’t know what the Research Institute has done to them, but perhaps due to the addictive components in those drugs, they flock to it like moths to a flame, continuously taking part in ’storage.’"

As Kors spoke these words, his expression became somewhat ferocious, his veins on his hands bulging, his face flickering with an abnormal hue.

He covered his mouth with a handkerchief and coughed once.

He Ao noticed that when he first mentioned the ’addictive components’ in the drugs, he seemed to already have a hint of that expression.

"Sorry."

Kors paused, took a small pillbox from his clothes, poured out a white pill, and tossed it into his mouth. Then he took a sip of milk and swallowed the pill.

"I have some health issues... where were we?"

His expression returned to calm, "Right, those ’patients’ keep participating in the Research Institute’s ’storage,’ and eventually their lives become weaker and weaker, some even dying on the operating table. I’ve come across many such incidents."

"Doctor, I have a question."

He Ao suddenly asked, "Why do you keep referring to those who participate in the Research Institute’s experiments as ’patients’?"

"A patient is a patient," Kors glared with eyes that filled with bloodshot threads, "Aren’t they patients in that condition?"

He Ao instantly activated Super Memory, staring intently at Kors’ figure.

The old doctor’s soul clung closely to him, his ethereal shadow filled with white spots, out of which thin tentacles stretched, inserting into his throat.

This ’doctor’... perhaps... had gone mad long ago.

He Ao deactivated Super Memory, his facial expression unchanged, "So, what exactly is inside that box?"

"It is an organ,"

Kors leaned back on the sofa, his voice hoarse. He seemed unaware of his recent abnormality,

"An ’organ’ not of natural human development, but one that has been cultivated."