The Only Player in ‘Child of Stardust’
Chapter 123 - 98: Mere Steel, How Can It Compare to a Well-Trained Body

Chapter 123: Chapter 98: Mere Steel, How Can It Compare to a Well-Trained Body

With nerves of steel, West confidently pushed open the doors of the mansion.

The sight that greeted them was a spacious and luxurious reception hall. It was in an American classical style, with dark cherry wood furniture that exuded a sense of steady elegance and classical charm.

The sideboards were adorned with exquisite enamel porcelain, the walls covered in vintage textures, and hanging from them were pretentiously fine oil paintings and intricately sculpted plaster decorations. Wall sconces provided illumination at intervals.

A soft red carpet covered the floor, and a splendid crystal chandelier on the ceiling was lit. Broad spiral staircases on either side of the hall led to the second floor.

"No danger, let’s go in," West said as she took the lead into the mansion.

Zhou Yuan and the others followed closely behind her. At the moment he stepped into the building, a notification sounded in his ear.

[Stage One Task Completed]

[Stage Two Task Objective: Enter the hidden biochemical laboratory inside the mansion]

[Stage Two Task Time Limit: 2 hours]

Zhou Yuan followed their footsteps further into the hall, observing as he went and asked, "Who owns this mansion?"

Kevin, who was closely examining an oil painting, answered, "Jeffrey Raphael, 71 years old, a financial magnate in America, and a world-class billionaire. He built this mansion ten years ago, claiming it to be his private vacation retreat.

In the past decade, he’s often invited various celebrities here—famous stars, top singers, politicians, scholars...even federal senators. He’s got quite the network.

As for what those people did here...heh."

"What did they do here?" Zhou Yuan asked curiously.

"Have you heard of Lolita Island?"

"Yes."

Zhou Yuan frowned, "This place isn’t..."

"That’s right, it’s similar to Lolita Island. But aside from the debauchery, I suspect there were more clandestine activities here, like body modification, organ transplants, blood renewal...

After all, this place is deep within the Amazon Rainforest. If it were just for debauchery, there’s no need to pick such a remote location."

"It must be related to that strange fungus," Hong Fangqi interjected, "After entering the experimental area, I conducted some tests. I found that organisms parasitized and polluted by the purplish-red fungus all had extraordinary regenerative abilities and could regenerate severed limbs. A very small number of animals did not lose their sanity after being contaminated, and their appearances didn’t change much either.

Given that the fungus leaked from the laboratory and considering its abilities, it’s not hard to deduce that the ultimate goal of this experiment was to develop the fungus into a life-extending drug for the elderly and dying elites, potentially altering their life forms to become fungus people.

But as it stands now, the experiment seems to have failed miserably."

Upon reaching the center of the hall, Kevin stopped, pulled a large blueprint from his Storage Ring, and spread it on the carpet.

It was the blueprint of the mansion’s construction.

"You even got this?" Hong Fangqi was a bit surprised.

"In this age, nothing is unreachable for us in the Hacker Empire if we decide to look for it, unless everything is entirely off-network and paper-based." Kevin said proudly.

"Do you have the blueprint of the laboratory?" Zhou Yuan asked.

"No," Kevin replied helplessly, "The lab was secretly built, and I suspect they used all paper documents."

The four of them then gathered around to study the blueprint.

"This mansion is quite large; it would require at least 30 servants to maintain cleanliness and proper meals. But because the shady dealings here couldn’t see the light, the servants here were all essentially...slaves.

According to my investigation, typically there are 34 servants here. If Raphael invited dignitaries, the number could increase unpredictably. Raphael was still at his company this morning, which means there are currently only 34 servants here. But that’s just the number in the mansion; the number in the laboratory is unknown for now.

If we want to find out what happened here, perhaps we can ask them, provided they’re still alive."

"I tried hacking into the surveillance system earlier, but it seems the system has been shut down, so we can only look around on foot," Kevin pointed to a spot on the blueprint, "Here’s the dormitory. I suggest we check it out first."

"I think it’s better to check the dining hall and kitchen first," West suddenly said.

"Makes sense," Hong Fangqi nodded.

Zhou Yuan immediately understood why they suggested that—by checking the food supplies in the dining hall and kitchen, they could quickly gauge the status of any survivors in the mansion.

The four of them headed to the dining hall, where the tables held no food, then continued straight to the kitchen.

The kitchen was tidily maintained, with no sign of recent activity, indicating that whatever happened did not occur during mealtime, and no one had been here since.

Zhou Yuan opened the refrigerator; it was fully stocked with food.

"The food hasn’t been touched. The people here must be all dead," he said, raising an eyebrow as he realized something was off, "The fungus can’t get inside the mansion, so what killed everyone here?"

"Let’s check the dormitory. Maybe they aren’t dead, just hiding," Kevin suggested.

The group quickly moved to the dormitory.

[The door was locked, and the room was filled with toxic fog, but it posed no threat to them.]