Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 71 - 058. Humanitarianism (Part 2)

Chapter 71: 058. Humanitarianism (Part 2)

"This mission has been underway for 40 years, and if you have paid attention to the internal structure of Mingji Humanity, you would find that it consists of three levels."

Chen Siqi spread out a blueprint and explained to Li Aozi and the others:

"The first level is a normal containment treatment center, meant for external display. The patients housed here are indeed Ersha Infected Individuals, although the professor’s purpose in sheltering them was also for experimentation, but without the professor... they would probably have died long ago."

As she spoke, she curiously looked at Li Aozi, "Since you have been inside and even awakened Arcane Energy, did they give you a rating? You look like a Level Four."

"Level Five."

"Then you are truly badass," Chen Siqi shot him a glance and continued, "The theory of Ersha Infection Levels doesn’t hold water, Head Nurse Nodley and Assistant Doctor Anna have always been skeptical about it, but no one stepped forward to challenge it because the Professor’s personal charm is too compelling. You being a Level 5 Infected inside... makes me suspect that the Professor did this intentionally."

The professor’s intelligence is very high, and she is skillful, which made Chen Siqi’s statement not surprising.

"The ZX-102’s ward is on the first level," Li Aozi said. "And my ward was even deeper than that of ZX-102. But no one mentioned ZX-102’s issue."

"Because that’s a scandal, or to put it more bluntly, it was the starting point of the internal split within Mingji Humanity."

Chen Siqi’s tone grew heavy:

"Xeno has been given special attention by Frost Plated from the beginning, in the professor’s view, this child’s innate infection level had reached Level 4, and if she does not take gene medication periodically in the future, the severe implications brought on by her Arcane Energy would claim her life before she reaches the age of eight. For this reason, Nodley and Anna took very careful and cautious care of her."

"I think there’s more to it," Li Aozi’s fingers tapped the table. "To capture Frost Plated’s attention, she must like me, possess high-rank Arcane Energy."

"You guessed right."

Chen Siqi looked at him approvingly and said:

"Xeno’s Arcane Energy is a powerful form of spiritual power, capable of reading the thoughts, ideas, and brainwave changes within a certain range, and can also transfer them to one another—this amounts to an extensive mind reading technique and mental communication network, if used in the military, it would be a more convenient and stronger warfare network than quantum communication!"

"This sounds off, like... spiritual perception."

Li Aozi frowned, mumbling to himself.

This isn’t Arcane Energy; based on the description, it’s a sign of awakening spiritual power.

The spirit medium system on Azure Star is underdeveloped; extreme materialists who are isolated and backward, easily confuse the Dominator System and Mysterious Series Transcendents.

"Originally, Xeno’s research was supposed to last 18 years, continuously training, practicing, and testing from different age stages to observe and study this special Arcane Energy. However, Frost Plated kept pushing for faster results, even threatening to stop providing resources, forcing the professor to start the research earlier than planned."

"Although Head Nurse Nodley and Assistant Doctor Anna operated very cautiously, taking out a baby’s brain—"

Bang!

Chen Siqi was startled, she looked ahead, Li Aozi had slammed his fist on the table, and his grey eyes instantly filled with numerous blood vessels.

"What did you say?" Li Aozi’s voice was icy and penetrating, "They took out a baby’s brain?"

"...Frost Plated is eager to quickly study the mechanism of this Arcane Energy, so the physicians of Mingji Humanity, took Xeno’s brain out of her body, placed it in a life support can, and used electrodes to emit signals for comprehensive research. For instance..."

"For instance what?"

"Reading the thoughts of political prisoners sent by Frost Plated, transferring the memories from Rose Army soldiers who had been abused to someone else, using brainwaves to control drones... these things eventually transformed into Frost Plated’s actual combat strength."

Chen Siqi’s tone also grew more cautious:

"As you can imagine, for Xeno who was still a baby, she was releasing too much Arcane Energy daily, processing too much information. She soon became unable to release Arcane Energy, so someone suggested transplanting the brain back into her original body, letting Xeno grow for a while, and resuming the project when she was seven or eight years old."

"Frost Plated agreed, but the transplantation surgery went wrong... Xeno’s brain, having released too much Arcane Energy, perhaps due to mutations in brain cells or genes... in any case, her body could no longer be compatible with it."

She paused, then said:

"Two months later, she died from massive bleeding due to rejection."

Li Aozi slumped back into his chair, his fingers unconsciously clenched into fists, and the anger on his face took a long time to subside.

Qiu Ran leaned against the door, faintly hearing some noise coming from outside.

Seeing that Li Aozi had calmed down a bit, Chen Siqi continued:

"The second level is outwardly claimed to be an advanced machinery workshop for the production of various medical supplies, but in reality, it contains unspeakable secrets..."

"That’s exactly the secret I want."

Li Aozi was upset, but he still suppressed it and started negotiating with Doctor Chen.

"I can’t tell you... what happened there..."

"What exactly happened there?"

Curious, Qiu Ran pressed her ear against the door, listening to the news from outside.

"There..."

Chen Siqi paused, as if recalling something disgusting, she firmly shook her head and said:

"There’s nothing good to say about that part, it won’t help you either. If you really want to solve your own lifespan issues, I suggest you don’t think too much and just head straight down to the third level."

Li Aozi was dissatisfied, but he said nothing.

If even his current "Charm" couldn’t get the answers, it meant that this part had brought particularly heavy damage to Chen Siqi.

He glanced at Qiu Ran—the latter had her ear pressed against the door, mumbling a few words: "Find one by one... Big boss... Baby... Take everything away."

Li Aozi grew suspicious, his hand unconsciously closed around the chains he held, his years of instincts alerting him to the danger approaching.

But the progress of "Not to be Remembered" had reached 41%, and after communicating with Doctor Chen Siqi, the progress surged rapidly.

Li Aozi didn’t want to pass up this opportunity.

If he could push the entire task’s progress to one hundred percent, he could directly advance to level 30 and additionally obtain a very powerful specialty.

With his second mutation approaching, Li Aozi hoped to gain more experience and brush out several important mutation entries early on. This was crucial for him.

Thus, without a second thought, he continued to ask Doctor Chen:

"What’s on the third floor?"

"I don’t know. But I know what will come out of the third floor."

Chen Siqi stared at Li Aozi and said:

"Commercial-grade artificial Arcane Users, officially named by Frost Plated: Ersha Armament."

[Current Progress: 44.9%]

"Commercial?"

Li Aozi was stunned:

"They, treat living people as weapons?"

[Current Progress: 45.8%]

"Li Aozi!" Qiu Ran suddenly whispered, "Outside, there seem to be gunshots—and screams."

"Yes," nodded Chen Siqi.

[Current Progress: 46.1%]

"Li Aozi, it seems, footsteps are approaching this way."

Qiu Ran shrank slightly.

Chen Siqi, unaware of the changes outside, still spoke lightly:

"In the Outer World, you will see various Arcane Users who have lost their self-awareness, only knowing to obey their master’s commands. You could try defeating them, and then tear open the skin on the left side of the neck, and you’d be able to see the words ’HA Product’, meaning—"

Bang!

The next moment, the clinic’s door was instantly blown away as a pitch-black shadow transformed into a raging beast and charged inside.

"—Mingji product."

The moment Chen Siqi finished speaking, Li Aozi instantly sprang up, his gray eyes glowing with golden circles, and in an instant, gravity reversed. The dark shadow slightly hesitated but still pounced towards him.

[Current Progress: 50%]

Whoosh!

Chains sweeping out, Li Aozi immediately switched tactics. The chains wrapped around the neck of the shadow beast. He skillfully adjusted his own gravity, whirled around, kicked off the wall, and incredibly changed direction mid-air, landing behind the shadow. The chain passed over his shoulder, combined with gravitational deflection and pressure, executed a clean over-the-shoulder throw, hurling the shadow entirely into the corridor of the sunken ship.

Boom—

The shadow hit the ground and instantly split into three, heading back toward the end of the corridor.

"Stay indoors and don’t move."

Li Aozi’s figure steadied, and he shook his neck, stepping out of the room, lifting his head, a pair of lifeless, hollow eyes then entered his vision.

At the end of the corridor, a very emaciated girl stood dumbly. Her large clothing concealed her single arm, and the stench of decay emanating from her body was unbearable for Li Aozi, even from tens of meters away.

"[Shadow Assault], Mu Grade Arcane Energy. (μ, the 12th Greek letter)"

Although the level was not high and the maximum was average, the ability to attack by releasing and controlling shadow creatures born from one’s own life was still troublesome.

Shadow creatures are composed of neutrinos, only influenced by weak interaction force and gravity; theoretically, Li Aozi had the advantage.

However, the level of gravity he mastered currently was not yet enough to directly tear the opponent apart.

The recent strike had not even entered combat status, indicating that pure physical attacks had no way of causing damage.

"Dealing with shadows, fire, radiation and gravity can be effective... but I haven’t mastered any relevant knowledge yet, pure gravitational pressure is not very effective."

This Arcane Energy has a very nasty feature: even if the shadows are killed hundreds of times, as long as the original body survives, they can continue to revive. And even if the original body dies hundreds of times, as long as the shadows exist, they can still live on in the form of ’living dead.’

Li Aozi’s gaze grew darker.

’In the Outer World, you will see various Arcane Users who have lost their self-awareness, only knowing to obey their master’s commands...’

Doctor Chen Siqi’s words earlier echoed in his ears.

The empty gaze of the girl and her sudden attack without any warning made him suspicious.

Clink—

Chains drooped down, Li Aozi shook his neck, his eyes gleaming with golden circles:

"Let’s slaughter first."

The one-armed girl raised her hand, the wounds on her body split open again, the shadows re-emerging and converging into a ferocious beast. Like a heavyweight truck, it bore down with tremendous momentum and high speed, rushing towards Li Aozi in an instant!