Life Game In Other World
Chapter 588: The Purpose of the Mysterious Person (Super-sized - , Requesting Monthly Passes)

Chapter 588: Chapter 588: The Purpose of the Mysterious Person (Super-sized Chapter, Requesting Monthly Passes)

The vehicles roared past, kicking up dust from the ground before disappearing into the distance.

He Ao didn’t leave immediately. He leaned against the edge of the street outside the alley of the Second Laboratory alone, activating his wristband and flipping through the data from the Second Laboratory that Eve had organized for him.

This information was his most significant gain. Before Hoon descended underground, he had already searched the warehouse of the Second Laboratory, which had been empty.

The researchers said that most of the Gene Potions they produced were taken away every morning, and the rest were used by the man in military uniform to block He Ao’s path.

However, He Ao’s goal in searching the Second Laboratory wasn’t for these Gene Potions; it was just something he checked along the way.

He flipped through the documents in his hand, focusing primarily on reports and data regarding the Mysterious Person.

Vianne also had these materials, but the main copying work was done by Eve. Vianne only had some simple records concerning ’Jess’ and the ’Mysterious Person,’ without any data on Gene Potions. These records were what she cared about.

At this moment, she was also monitoring these materials and occasionally commented through the earpiece to He Ao.

He Ao listened to her complaints while carefully reading most of the material.

The Second Laboratory established by the Mysterious Person wasn’t set up after a fallout with Jess. In fact, this laboratory was almost established at the same time as Jess’s First Laboratory.

Whenever Jess made a periodic breakthrough in his research, the Second Laboratory would try to replicate that stage of achievement, keeping pace with Jess’s experimental progress.

But the Second Laboratory didn’t have those experiment devices that Jess had manually cobbled together before.

The inspiration for these devices mostly came when Jess was in an abnormal mental state, experiencing a surge of ideas, which greatly accelerated certain steps.

Because of their crudeness, many core structures were connected by some mysterious and essential pivot.

In Vianne’s words, "Uncle Jess, these things you’ve made are like attaching a bird’s wings to its butt and its feet to where the wings should be, and yet, it twists its feet and takes off like a helicopter, and it flies damn fast at that."

Vianne also understood machinery, having once manually created foldable Exoskeleton Armor.

Vianne didn’t understand the machines that Jess created, but she was profoundly shocked by them.

In fact, even Jess himself couldn’t replicate these machines, so the Second Laboratory couldn’t mass-produce them either.

While Jess pushed the experiment forward, most of the Second Laboratory’s projects were focused on how to bypass Jess’s machines and recreate Jess’s results with standard equipment.

They made some progress, but it was marginal. The processes they researched were usually ten times more complicated than those using the machines and yielded only a fraction, sometimes as little as a tenth, of Jess’s output.

So after the Mysterious Person had a falling out with Jess and began to pursue him with intent to kill, they simply emptied the First Laboratory and moved Jess’s machines here to start mass production of the Gene Potions.

Of course, even though the original production processes of the Second Laboratory weren’t as fast as Jess’s.

But after a long period of exploration, they still had stockpiled a large amount of ’raw materials.’ So, when the devices made by Jess were brought to the Second Laboratory, they could rapidly begin mass production of the Gene Potions.

And this was why the researchers of the Second Laboratory worshipped ’Jess’ so much. What they struggled to make, Jess achieved effortlessly. Seeing the efficiency of Jess’s machinery, their amazement was beyond words.

An awe and even adoration of Jess naturally evolved amongst them.

However, the Second Laboratory’s primary purpose actually wasn’t to manufacture Gene Potions. Although Gene Potions played a significant part in the laboratory’s workflow, upon reviewing the recorded data, it was evident that the Mysterious Person was more concerned with something else,

The development of B-level Gene Potions.

The Second Laboratory created Gene Potions capable of granting higher Transcendent powers by modifying some of Jess’s formulas and adding artificially manufactured ’costs.’

But these Gene Potion concoctions required the blood of those with appropriate Talent Sequences. The highest-level Transcendents the Mysterious Person could control were only C-level.

The blood needed for making Gene Potions wasn’t insignificant, and there was a high failure rate. None of the D-levels who provided blood for the Gene Potions survived; almost all died after being completely drained of blood.

Even C-levels with their highly resilient recovery abilities couldn’t withstand such bloodletting.

The few C-levels controlled by the Mysterious Person, including the original possessors of Talent Sequences like ’warrior,’ ’Flame Master,’ and ’Honor Knight,’ all neared death after being drained of blood.

Even the C-levels’ strong recovery abilities couldn’t support the extent of the bloodletting, yet their powerful Life Force kept them alive even without blood.

The data Eve copied from the Second Laboratory also recorded the eventual fate of these few C-levels. After being drained of blood, they were killed by the Mysterious Person, their Talent Sequences extracted and turned into Secret Medicine.

These records did not mention the subsequent arrangements for these Secret Medicines, but based on He Ao’s years of experience dealing with the Mysterious Person and his recent encounters, he could roughly guess the Mysterious Person’s subsequent plans.

Find those D-levels who possess the prerequisite Talent Sequences corresponding to those of the C-levels, elevate them, and then turn them into the new ’blood bags.’

Humans may die, but Talent Sequences exist forever.

In fact, the Mysterious Person had already arranged for the next candidates to become ’blood bags’ as ’C-levels’—the trio He Ao encountered in the emergency corridor.

The Mysterious Person promised them that after killing ’Jess’, they would receive subsequent Talent Sequences Secret Medicine.

Of course, they excitedly came to surround and attack He Ao without realizing what this truly meant.

If controlled well during the ritual, it is relatively easy for C-level Talent Sequences to advance.

There is a high likelihood they will not fall into madness during advancement, so this method of ’recycling and reuse’ can be effective—and the Mysterious Person could maintain good control over C-levels, making them his ’blood bags’.

But it’s different with B-levels.

Setting aside the issue of whether B-levels can be well controlled for ’recycling and reuse’, given their combat power, it’s not just the Mysterious Person who would struggle— even the Welme Medical Consortium can’t be sure they could make a B-level risk potential death to become a ’blood bag’ for this experiment.

Therefore, B-level Gene Potion cannot use the blood of B-level Transcendents anymore; something else must be used in its place.

The entire research on B-level Gene Potion is about finding that something which can replace the blood of B-levels.

The logic is sound, and this reasoning is not deduced by He Ao, but stated in a ’Necessary Report on the Research of B-level Gene Potion’.

It’s evident that this document is an internal report, likely a report the Mysterious Person gave to the board of a consortium.

The report does not mention the name of the consortium, but the Welme Medical Consortium is most likely it.

From the content of this report, it is primarily aimed at convincing the board of the Welme Medical Consortium to fund his research on the B-level Gene Potion.

Besides addressing the difficulty of dealing with B-level blood and its inability to be ’recycled and reused’, the Mysterious Person also spends a lot of space discussing the advantages of the B-level Gene Potion.

The report is dated last year when Jess had not yet completed the research on Gene Potion, but the Mysterious Person was already seeking new funding.

And indeed, the report was successful. According to materials from the Second Laboratory, it wasn’t long before the lab received a large amount of research funding.

The Mysterious Person convinced the Welme Medical Consortium’s board.

The logic he used for persuasion was also very sound—research on the B-level Gene Potion was something that Welme Medical Consortium would inevitably choose, and ultimately it seems the Second Laboratory made significant progress in this area of research.

All of it seems reasonable and justified.

Just like how the trio believed that after attacking He Ao, they might receive the Talent Sequences Secret Medicine they desired and then smoothly advance, never realizing until the Mysterious Person controlled them and turned them into blood bags, they may think the development is reasonable and in their favor.

The Mysterious Person is skilled at manipulating people.

Jess is acutely aware of this fact.

He would place his requests after others’ goals, making them ’willing’ to work for him.

However, his mentality is not without flaws.

When it comes to researching the B-level Gene Potion, he shows much more enthusiasm than for mass-producing other Gene Potions.

In the materials from the Second Laboratory, it is clear that the Welme Medical Consortium is more eager to see Gene Potions for D-level and C-level complete mass production; they want to announce these results quickly to secure orders and recoup the initial investment.

The B-level Gene Potion is good, but it is a matter for the future; it’s more important to make money now.

Initially, in the underground parking lot of Welme Medical Building, when the Welme Medical Consortium sent someone with a Gene Potion to attack Heish, it was to practically verify the Gene Potion, although this verification ultimately failed.

Compared to the Consortium’s urgency, the Mysterious Person continuously resisted their pressure, pushing the Second Laboratory to research the B-level Gene Potion.

Clearly, the B-level Gene Potion is very important to him, and from Jess’s experience, the Mysterious Person is not someone who pursues the truth of scientific research. His enthusiastic pursuit of the B-level Gene Potion must have an ulterior motive.

He Ao reached out to touch the wooden box behind him.

Encased in this wooden box is energy that, in some way, is also a B-level item, albeit in an unformed state that will explode instantly upon opening the box.

Yet even so, the Mysterious Person had managed to create these energies.

If he could gain complete knowledge of the Ritual Array created by Jess’s father, he might be able to solidify these energies into some sort of B-level item.

From this perspective, the Mysterious Person’s investment in Jess’s father and aid in Jess’s research on Ritual Arrays could be an attempt to create a special B-level item.

However, in the end, Jess’s father and he had a serious disagreement, which ultimately prevented him from obtaining the complete Ritual Array.

But judging by that event and the Mysterious Person’s keen interest in the B-level Gene Potion, the ultimate goal of the Mysterious Person’s genetic research might be to create this B-level Gene Potion.

He sought out Jess’s father, Jess, and the Welme Medical Consortium all for the purpose of using the secret knowledge within that ritual to create a special B-level "item".

Moreover, the current B-level Gene Potion research in the Second Laboratory wasn’t started from scratch.

Although the B-level Gene Potion project was established with funding from the Welme Medical Consortium, the progress had been slow and almost nonexistent, and the Mysterious Person didn’t seem to care much about it.

It wasn’t until Jess produced a complete Gene Potion that the Mysterious Person directly introduced a special purple liquid, instructing the researchers of the Second Laboratory to use it as a substitute for the blood of Transcendents to conduct the B-level Gene Potion research.

And he forcefully stipulated that only this liquid could be used for the research.

This indicates that the Mysterious Person’s aim isn’t simply to create a B-level Gene Potion but to create a specific B-level Gene Potion that would replace the blood of Transcendents with that "purple liquid".

When generating energy in the wooden box, the Mysterious Person synchronized the thoughts of the patients who were used as "sacrifices", allowing them to fall under the control of that illusory, hidden existence.

Comparing the two, the purple liquid mentioned in these documents might also originate from that illusory, hidden existence.

Regrettably, although He Ao had taken early interest in the item used to manufacture the B-level Gene Potion, and Eve had found the data regarding the purple liquid during the reconnection of the internet cable, reminding him to look for it,

He Ao searched every floor of the Second Laboratory with his Super Memory but failed to find any experimental residue of the purple liquid.

He Ao’s ability to search for things was quite strong, so it’s highly likely that the Second Laboratory no longer had any of the purple liquid.

Otherwise, he could have used Super Memory to see if there were any tendrils from that hidden existence within this purple liquid.

He Ao pondered for a moment, then had Eve filter out detailed information about these purple liquids.

According to the information, the purple liquid provided by the Mysterious Person was always just enough in quantity, and yesterday was the last day it was supplied; today the Second Laboratory did not receive any new purple liquid.

Seeing this, He Ao’s eyebrows slightly furrowed, wondering why there was none today.

"Eve, search for all the research data on the B-level Gene Potion."

"Searching for you now, most of that category of data has been destroyed, presenting the partially recovered data from the storage devices for you, forcibly restored data might appear partially garbled, processing valid information for you."

Eve’s voice echoed in He Ao’s ears.

Pages of data unfolded before He Ao’s eyes.

"We interrupt with a breaking news bulletin, we have just received an anonymous tip-off,"

The variety show playing in the shop next to He Ao was suddenly paused, replaced by another voice; He Ao turned his head and, through the open doorway of the shop, saw the television screen inside.

A young-looking presenter was standing in the center of the screen, speaking rapidly and with some trembling, "The tipper claims that he has clear evidence of current Senator Ned’s engagement in bribery, abuse of power, violation of underage girls, and indecent acts with boys during his term."

He Ao turned back, looking around, as the large screens that had been playing ads for Ned’s campaign until just moments ago were now showing a news broadcast similar to the one inside the shop.

All of these news bulletins were reporting one thing: the scandal of the current Vitland Senator, and the person with the highest support rate in the next Vitland Senator election, "Senator Ned".

These big screens were not simply free news broadcast televisions but were "advertising spaces" that required payment for broadcasting.

Stars Pharma was making their move.

...

He Ao lowered his head to look at the content on his wristband.

Most of the core research data for the B-level Gene Potion had been destroyed. According to Eve’s analysis, it was likely destroyed last night, and only a very small portion of the data could be recovered.

Most of these data were incomprehensible numbers, with only some parts documenting the progress of the B-level Gene Potion research and certain researchers’ manuscripts.

Among these electronic manuscripts, there was a fragmented record that read,

[...we are almost successful... just a little more, just a little more... great ****, we will merge with you...]

The last modification time of the manuscript was last night at twenty hundred hours.

"Eve, is it possible to find out who left this manuscript?"

He Ao asked in a low voice.

He remembered that during his inquiry process with other researchers from the Second Laboratory, they all said that they did not participate in the core research of the B-level gene potion. The core research was conducted on the fourth basement level in the control room, and they did not know who else was involved in the research inside.

But the control room was the first place He Ao visited, and it was empty.

"Accessing editor information,"

Eve’s voice rang in He Ao’s ear, "Access complete. The researcher is designated as number 07, and their data was removed from the laboratory archives yesterday at 23:00. The reason for removal, ’unknown’."

Hearing this statement, He Ao remained silent for a moment, then asked softly, "How many researchers’ data were removed last night?"

"A total of 19. They were numbered 03 to 04, 06 to 08, 10 to 13, 15 to 18, 20 to 24, and 26. The reason for removal: unknown,"

Eve answered promptly, "Additionally, the data for researchers 05, 09, 14, 19, and 25 were removed at different times at least a month prior, with the reason for removal: death."

The Mysterious Person’s number was 01, Jess’s number was 02, and the other people from the First Laboratory were all numbered starting from 27. Jess had previously been curious about where those numbered from 03 to 26 had gone.

Now, it seemed that these people were the core of the Second Laboratory.

The first five whose data were removed likely lost their lives due to some accident that occurred during the experiments.

As for the 19 who survived and had their data removed for ’unknown’ reasons, their condition was probably not much better than death.

Judging from these manuscripts, their mental state was already highly concerning.

Considering the manuscripts and the B-level gene potion used by the man in the military uniform, the research on the B-level gene potion must have been nearing completion.

However, on the eve of this success, the Mysterious Person seemed to have taken all the main researchers away and halted the Second Laboratory’s research on the B-level gene potion, which was not a reasonable action in itself.

Theoretically, only the equipment in this laboratory could produce the raw materials necessary for creating gene potions.

Unless, to complete the B-level gene potion, traditional ’raw materials’ were no longer necessary.

He Ao thought of those confined to the mental institution who had lost their will.

The Mysterious Person was meticulous; if he marked someone as dead, then that person should truly be dead. If he marked ’unknown’, then those researchers shouldn’t need to die yet.

Considering how decisively the Mysterious Person had killed Jess and Jess’s father, he would certainly not leave alive those who knew his core secrets, even if they were already half-mad.

Dealing with a group of living people is definitely more troublesome than with the dead, unless there is a temporary reason they cannot die.

In thought, He Ao lifted his head and looked ahead.

Several vehicles bearing the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s logo slowly drove into the alley ahead.

He Ao pressed his earpiece, "Vianne, could you do me a favor?"

"Hm?"

Vianne’s puzzled voice came through.

"Help me look into the ’Phoenix’ system."

He Ao spoke calmly.

He strode across the street to where Ryan’s car was parked, opened the door, and sat inside.

"Okay, I’ll see what I can find,"

Vianne’s voice came back in response.

Looking at He Ao through the rearview mirror, Ryan, seated in the driver’s seat, asked, "Mr. Jess, are we heading back?"

"No,"

He Ao turned off his bracelet, glanced at the advertising screens broadcasting the Ned scandal, and said softly,

"We’re leaving the city."