Meteor Fall Master in the 'Starry Abyss'
Chapter 88 - 071. Newborn

Chapter 88: 071. Newborn

Li Aozi sneered, "What about the Infant Eater?"

"This body’s code name is the Infant Eater."

The Professor spread her hands:

"Don’t you think it’s cool? As a woman in science and engineering, this is truly amazing, perfectly conforming to my imagination of a future interwoven with flesh and mechanical modifications beyond this world."

"Just a small price to pay for a body that surpasses the physical form honed by decades of practicing the Martial Way."

"Technology, yet with a touch of curiosity."

Li Aozi coldly mocked:

"And the price is those children?"

"There must always be someone who sacrifices for science. Compared to adults who need compulsory education and consume a lot of resources and time, using infants is clearly more cost-effective."

The Professor spoke confidently:

"Without the chains of morality and law, time moves swiftly—and in the Outer World, there is neither law nor morality."

"Fuck your mother’s fucking ways! Your research is entirely built on the countless corpses of infants! And yet, its results are being used on the people of the Four Nations!"

Li Aozi clenched his fists and cursed:

"Fuck you for being born! The people of the Outer World have already suffered immense hardships, they have nothing left, yet you even take away their children—the continuation and hope of their lives! What kind of humanity is this fucked up shit?"

The Professor looked at him unexpectedly.

"How strange," she said, "when I first saw you, I thought you were just like me."

"What?"

"I can see the same shadow in you that I see in myself."

The Professor said slowly:

"We worship power, rationality, science. We both respect the principle of profit above all, both pursue our desires by any means necessary, both disregard our own lives, both have a spirit ready to sacrifice for our ideals ..."

She spread her arms wide, her mouth splitting into a grotesque maw filled with sharp, knife-like teeth, the terrifying sight accompanied by a gentle and smooth confession:

"Do you know, Mr. Leoz, I actually quite like this side of you."

She caressed her claws nostalgically, a hint of reminiscence about her past life appearing in her four eyes:

"When I was young, I too hoped to use my knowledge and strength to do something for the country, for humanity."

"I kept learning, earning one degree after another, wrote hundreds of papers, but soon, I discovered something."

"The drugs I developed became tools for pharmaceutical companies to get rich, inaccessible to countless patients who went bankrupt."

"I realized—no matter what technology I developed, it would eventually be used in warfare."

"How sad it is, no matter how much I wanted to benefit society, I ended up making tools for government bureaucrats to kill people."

Li Aozi’s face was expressionless.

Yawen and Nimotin felt somewhat ashamed upon hearing this.

—After all, they represented the government the Professor was talking about.

It seemed that it was precisely because of the government’s issues that a passionate scientist had become a cold, ruthless, and conscienceless monster.

The Professor paused, then laughed lightly:

"So, I decided to directly research military weapons."

"—Huh?"

Li Aozi nearly didn’t catch on.

"This really saved me decades of going in circles."

The Professor sighed endlessly:

"With more and more orders from the military, my funding also increased. I finally didn’t have to worry about being choked off and could freely pursue my hobbies."

"Once you taste this kind of freedom, I just don’t want to let it go—that’s why I came to the Outer World and established Mingji Humanity."

"Li Aozi, you understand, right? Unrestricted, free to soar, no legal or moral constraints to worry about, able to mercilessly gather material for research, squeezing out all value—just like that, my abilities unknowingly reached Beta Rank."

"Bastard..."

Li Aozi cursed.

"You’re worse than an animal, you bottomless thing!"

"Are standards any use?"

The Professor reacted unfazed:

"Over the long years, I’ve come to realize one thing: history only fails to remember two kinds of people—losers and mediocrities."

"Even if I experiment mercilessly, the results of my scientific technologies are here, precisely because I have no bottom line, I have guided the progress and innovation of science!"

"Instead of calling me a beast, why don’t you call me the dawn of a new beginning?"

With no guilt, no shame, no pressure.

Such natural words from the Professor lodged in Li Aozi’s heart, completely igniting his rage.

The professor’s endless chatter gradually blurred as his mind, stricken with high fever, found itself repeatedly stranded between clarity and chaos.

Visions continuously flashed before Li Aozi’s eyes.

Clang!

A sword, reeking of the smell of money, seemed to stab at him, making the hairs on his body stand on end.

He took a careful look, and the Outer World was still that same Outer World.

Only he faintly caught sight of a dimly shining sword coming apart and eventually fading away.

—For a moment, his brain buzzed, as if it had slipped into a fragment of time.

An irresistible force knocked him down, the blade pointing straight at his throat.

Someone had snatched something from his arms.

Thud... Thud...

Furious rage came from a distance, as if a storm was brewing within it.

"Oh look, the creator is not kind today."

The professor was timing it, "It should be enough for Zhu Baiya, that idiot, to transfer the infants."

"Looks like a storm is coming, let’s say goodbye then."

She glanced at Li Aozi, her eyes filled with deep emotion, and said:

"Li Aozi, you need to become even better; otherwise, how can you prove the superiority of a Level 5 Infected."

"You have to be better than my previous test subjects."

"So, goodbye then~"

[A storm is coming, the Infant Eater has lost the will to fight.]

[Sudden Event: "Infant Eater" has been completed.]

[Rewards Settlement:]

[You have gained 60,000 Experience.]

[You have gained the Specialty — Desperate Counterattack: When Health Points are below 10%, your attack speed, damage output, and tenacity will increase by 80%.]

[Mutant Exclusive: In your next mutation, a high-level rare option will definitely appear.]

The task had ended.

All settlement requirements were met, and the rewards were very generous.

But when Li Aozi touched his chest, looking at the back of the Infant Eater walking away unpunished, he felt not a trace of excitement.

[I should feel happy, feel satisfied... Players have always been a group that places interests above all, adhering to pragmatism.]

[Zhu Baiya has been severely injured by me, the White Fang Guild has been annihilated, Nimotin is no longer a threat.]

[It should be enough, no need to continue fighting, it’s not the time to confront the Professor, I do not possess the power to kill her now, even a follow-up attack carries great risk—should go back and level up first.]

[But—]

Li Aozi’s pupils dilated.

[How dare she?! Why does someone who did these things deserve to live?!]

The Infant Eater turned around, swaggering about to leave.

"Stop."

Li Aozi’s fists clenched continuously.

"Hmm?" The professor turned her head, not even bothering to look back.

Whoosh—

A supersonic rock smashed at her feet in an instant, kicking up a cloud of dust.

As the dust rolled, the professor unconsciously stopped, she turned her head, her four eyes showing confusion.

"You’re someone I spared a life; I rarely pity others... you’re an exception. Li Aozi, are you sure you don’t want to treasure until the next time? Maybe then, you’ll have a chance to kill me."

"Fuck next time."

Li Aozi picked up the chains from the ground, his reddish black eyes filled with determination. His lips cracked into a smile, blood streaming down his cheek:

"I don’t want your pity, I want your life!"