058. Humanitarianism (Part 2)
"This mission has been going on for 40 years. If you've noticed the internal structure of the Abyss Humanitarian Relief Organization, you'll find it has three levels."
Chen Siqi spread out a structural diagram and introduced it to Li Aozhi and the others:
"The first level is a normal containment and treatment center used for external display. The patients in this section are indeed infected by the apocalypse. Although the professor shelters them for experimental purposes, without the professor... they would have died long ago."
As she spoke, she looked curiously at Li Aozhi: "Since you've been in there and awakened your Arcane abilities, did they give you a rating? Judging by your appearance, you should be level four."
"Level five."
"Then you're really impressive." Chen Siqi rolled her eyes at him. "The theory of apocalypse infection levels doesn't hold water. Nurse Nordley and Assistant Physician Anna always had doubts about it, but no one questioned it due to the professor's great charisma. You being a level five infected inside... makes me suspect the professor did it on purpose."
The professor's high intelligence and strong tactics made Chen Siqi's statement unsurprising.
"The ZX-102 ward is on the first level," Li Aozhi said. "My ward was even deeper than ZX-102. But no one mentioned ZX-102."
"Because it's a scandal, or more bluntly, it's the starting point of internal division within the Abyss Humanitarian Relief Organization."
Chen Siqi's tone was heavy:
"From the beginning, 'Snow' received special attention from Frost-Plated. In the professor's view, this child's innate infection level was four. Without regular genetic medication, the heavy resonance brought by her Arcane abilities would kill her before she turned eight. Based on this, both Nordley and Anna were very careful in taking care of her."
"I think it's more than that," Li Aozhi tapped his finger on the table. "To gain Frost-Plated's attention, she must have had high-level Arcane abilities like me."
"You guessed right."
Chen Siqi looked at him approvingly and said:
"Snow's Arcane ability was a powerful mental force that could read and transmit thoughts, ideas, and brainwave changes within a certain range—equivalent to large-scale telepathy and a psychic communication network. In the military, it would be a more convenient and powerful war network than quantum communication!"
"This doesn't sound right, it seems like... psychic perception."
Li Aozhi frowned, muttering to himself.
This wasn't Arcane power; it sounded like a sign of psychic awakening.
The psychic media system on Blue Star wasn't well-developed. Extreme materialists often confused dominator and bizarre superhumans.
"Originally, Snow's research was supposed to last 18 years, continuously cultivating, practicing, and testing at various age stages for observation. But Frost-Plated kept urging, even threatening to stop resource support. The professor, under pressure, had to start the research early."
"Although Nurse Nordley and Assistant Physician Anna operated very cautiously, extracting a baby's brain—"
Bang!
Chen Siqi was startled. She looked ahead and saw Li Aozhi punch the table, his gray eyes filled with blood vessels.
"What did you say?" Li Aozhi's voice was icy cold. "They extracted a baby's brain?"
"...Frost-Plated wanted to quickly understand the mechanism of this Arcane ability, so the physicians of the Abyss Humanitarian Relief Organization removed Snow's brain from her body, placed it in a preservation tank, and studied it comprehensively using electrodes to emit signals. For example..."
"For example, what?"
"Reading the thoughts of political prisoners sent by Frost-Plated, transferring memories from abused Rose Army soldiers to others, controlling drones with brainwaves... these things eventually turned into Frost-Plated's actual combat power."
Chen Siqi's tone became cautious:
"You can imagine that for an infant like Snow, she released too much Arcane energy daily and received too much information. She soon couldn't release Arcane energy anymore, so someone suggested transplanting the brain back into her body, allowing Snow to grow for a while, and resuming the project at seven or eight years old."
"Frost-Plated agreed, but the transplant surgery had an accident... Snow's brain had released too much Arcane energy, possibly causing mutations in brain cells or genes... In short, her body could no longer be compatible."
She paused and said:
"Two months later, she died of a massive hemorrhage due to rejection."
Li Aozhi slumped back in his chair, his fingers unconsciously clenching into fists, his face filled with lingering anger.
Qiu Ran leaned against the door, faintly hearing some noise outside.
Seeing Li Aozhi calm down a bit, Chen Siqi continued:
"The second level, outwardly claimed to be an intelligent machine processing workshop for producing various medicinal supplies, actually contains unspeakable secrets..."
"I want those secrets."
Li Aozhi, despite his bad mood, pressed on and negotiated with Dr. Chen.
"I can't tell you... what happened there..."
"What exactly happened there?"
Qiu Ran curiously pressed her ear to the door, listening to the outside noise.
"There..."
Chen Siqi hesitated, recalling some disgusting things. She shook her head firmly and said:
"This part has nothing to do with you and won't help. If you want to truly solve your lifespan problem, I suggest you not think too much and go directly to the third level."
Li Aozhi was dissatisfied but said nothing more.
If even his current [Charisma] couldn't get answers, it meant this part brought particularly severe harm to Chen Siqi.
He glanced at Qiu Ran—she was pressing her ear to the door, muttering a few words: "Search one by one... boss... take all the babies."
Li Aozhi grew suspicious, instinctively grasping the chain in his hand, sensing danger approaching from years of experience.
But the progress of "Unremembered" had reached 41%, and his conversation with Dr. Chen Siqi was making rapid progress.
Li Aozhi didn't want to miss this opportunity.
If he could push the task progress to 100%, he could jump to level 30 and gain an exceptionally strong specialty.
With his second mutation approaching, Li Aozhi hoped to gain more experience and unlock important mutation entries early. This was crucial for him.
So, without hesitation, he continued to ask Dr. Chen:
"What's on the third level?"
"I don't know. But I know what comes out of the third level."
Chen Siqi stared at Li Aozhi and said:
"Commercial-grade artificial Arcane users, officially named by Frost-Plated: Calamity Armament."
[Current Progress: 44.9%]
"Commercial?"
Li Aozhi was stunned:
"They treat living people as weapons?"
[Current Progress: 45.8%]
"Li Aozhi!" Qiu Ran suddenly whispered, "Outside, there seems to be gunfire—and screams."
"Yes." Chen Siqi nodded.
[Current Progress: 46.1%]
"Li Aozhi, it seems the footsteps are coming this way."
Qiu Ran shrank back.
Chen Siqi didn't notice the changes outside and continued nonchalantly:
"In the outer world, you'll see various Arcane users who have lost their self-awareness and only know how to obey their masters. You can try to defeat them and tear off the skin on the left side of their necks, where you'll see 'HAProduct,' meaning—"
Bang!
The next moment, the clinic door was violently flung open, a dark shadow rushing in like a ferocious beast.
"—Abyss Product."
As Chen Siqi finished speaking, Li Aozhi sprang up, his gray eyes glowing with golden rings. Instantly, gravity reversed, and the dark shadow paused slightly but continued to pounce on him.
[Current Progress: 50%]
Swish!
Li Aozhi swept out the chain, immediately switching tactics. The chain wrapped around the shadow beast's neck, and he skillfully adjusted his gravity, turning and maneuvering, kicking off the wall to change direction in mid-air. Landing behind the shadow, he threw it over his shoulder with the help of gravity, flinging it into the corridor outside the sunken ship.
Boom—
The shadow hit the ground, splitting into three parts and returning to the corridor's end.
"Stay inside, don't move."
Li Aozhi steadied himself, shook his neck, and stepped out of the clinic. He looked up and saw a pair of empty, hollow eyes staring back at him.
At the end of the corridor stood a very thin girl, her oversized clothes covering her one arm. The stench of rot emanating from her body was unbearable for Li Aozhi even from ten meters away.
"[Shadow Assault], Mu-level Arcane ability. (m, the 12th Greek letter)"
Although the level isn't high, and the upper limit is average, the ability to release and control shadow creatures born from one's life is still very tricky.
Shadow creatures are composed of neutrinos, affected only by weak interaction forces and gravity. Theoretically, Li Aozhi had the advantage.
However, at his current level of gravity manipulation, he couldn't directly tear the opponent apart.
The previous strike didn't even engage in combat, indicating that pure physical attacks couldn't cause damage.
"To deal with shadows, fire, radiation, and gravity can be effective... but I haven't mastered any related knowledge yet. Pure gravity pressure isn't very effective."
This Arcane ability had a nasty trait: even if the shadow was killed hundreds of times, as long as the main body wasn't dead, it could continue to resurrect. Even if the main body died hundreds of times, as long as the shadow wasn't destroyed, it could still live on as a 'zombie.'
Li Aozhi's expression turned grim.
"In the outer world, you'll see various Arcane users who have lost their self-awareness and only obey their master's commands..."
Dr. Chen Siqi's words echoed in his ears.
The girl's empty eyes and sudden attack made him suspicious.
Clang—
The chain dropped, and Li Aozhi shook his neck, his eyes flashing with golden rings:
"Kill first, talk later."
The one-armed girl raised her hand, her wounds splitting open again, releasing shadows that gathered into a ferocious beast. Like a heavy truck, it charged at Li Aozhi with immense momentum and speed!
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