119. Death Match in the Cage (Part 2)
Strictly speaking, the [Eerie] type is the most talent-dependent profession. Those who can awaken "psychic powers" are seen as freaks in the secular world.
[Domination] type does not rely on talent. If you can't shoot, can't fight, and your math skills are insufficient, but you want cool effects to show off—Li Aozi suggests you can grind hard to join the [Starfall Master] path.
If an [Eerie] type aligns with a deity incompatible with them, they're done for. The only saving method is to delete the character and start over.
Void Orphans are a special kind of psychic. Most of them, from birth, possess such strong inherent psychic powers that they kill their own parents. Hence, they are called "Children of the Void," "Void Orphans." Most of them, due to lack of parental companionship, develop twisted minds and turn to crime, leading a tragic and lonely life.
In the past life, many NPCs were Void Orphans, with backstories so sad they made people cry.
Snow was very similar to this situation: an orphan, adopted, and then read many memories of criminals and the dead, enduring much mental and physical pain and torment. Although her young mind did not darken, she could not become a normal person even in the Abyss Humanitarian Relief Organization.
At least she still had the feeling of wanting to protect those she loved—this could be seen from the two times she helped Li Aozi.
However, strangely, after reaching the second floor, he no longer felt Snow's help.
The Calamity infected were missing.
Snow also stopped speaking.
All appliances and communications short-circuited and collapsed.
Darkness covered their path forward, with various eerie signs like an inescapable shadow, making it hard to calm down.
Li Aozi glanced at the task settlement conditions of "Remember It":
A. "Do not overlook small evils" slaughter all remaining members of the Abyss Humanitarian Relief Organization, progress has reached (108/109)
Reward: Title [Murderer/Butcher/Trampler/Catastrophe]
[This task is basically completed, only the "Professor" remains.]
Unfortunately, title tasks do not grant stage rewards; they must be fully completed to get them. Otherwise, he could be more confident.
B. "Grant Them Destruction": requires completely killing the "Abyss Professor."
Reward: For each biochem clone destroyed, one perfect mutation option reset (will definitely refresh rare or higher-grade mutation items)
[I have destroyed two biochem clones and received two perfect resets of mutation options.]
Li Aozi looked at the accumulated experience—due to teaming up with Du Zexin, a level 40 [Mechanic], the human race talent of 150% experience gain, and bearing an 80% experience penalty, it turned into 120%. So, the experience accumulated from the vigorous and decayed was only 1.27 million.
Including the biochemical soldiers killed along the way...it accumulated to 1.6 million.
Unfortunately, the task was not triggered. If he got another 400,000 experience, he could push [Mutant] to level 30.
As for C. "Uproot Completely," requiring the eradication of all sponsors and project parties of the Abyss Humanitarian Relief Organization and making their actions public—this is not something that can be completed in the short term, and he didn't think about it.
Overall, Li Aozi found a problem.
"These tasks did not point out the final boss, nor did they have hidden branches."
S-rank tasks, especially ary-level tasks with special characters, did not prompt these.
He had already advanced this far, just one step away from destroying the Abyss Humanitarian Relief Organization.
Li Aozi stopped, standing in the center of the hall, looking around.
In the dark vision, this empty ward activity area, once the crowd and wards were moved out, became a ring structure like the Roman Colosseum.
"A cage."
It was the Professor...she wanted to trap them here.
With all the accumulated circumstances, even with the physiological structure aging, Li Aozi realized it. Du Zexin, with a higher rank, reacted faster, shouting first:
"Something's wrong, I feel danger nearby."
(Next page is more exciting!)
Bang!
The overhead ventilation ducts burst open, each one pouring out hundreds of tons of red-black liquid. Under the pale light of the emergency lights, it resembled a doomsday flood, with a roaring momentum.
Drip chirp chirp—
[High energy warning!]
The belated alarm sounded, but it was already too late.
Li Aozi and Du Zexin jumped to higher ground. At this moment, in the red-black flood, a grand and ferocious hideous skeleton gradually emerged.
"What is that—emerging with the red-black liquid...is it an animal's bones?!"
Du Zexin was shocked:
"45 meters long, 19 meters shoulder height—are you kidding me, how could this be a creature born under the gravity and environment of Blue Star!"
The hideous skeleton stood in the red-black tide, like an unignorable pillar in the current. Because of its presence, the flow speed of the tide was suppressed, and the water depth of four to five meters blocked the debris at the door, preventing them from easily escaping.
This was a trap, no—a blatant scheme.
The cold red-black liquid climbed up the second-floor railings of the ward. Under the emergency lights, several biochemical soldiers wrapped in thick red-black smoke crawled out slowly.
They opened their arms, their bodies completely deformed, growing extra brains and arms. Some opened their mouths wide, with teeth spinning like circular saws. Some even lost their human shape, floating like jellyfish with their brains encased, their gun weapons corroded by flesh, becoming their tentacles and tails.
Calamity...
"***, what are these?!"
Du Zexin, as a [Mechanic], was completely shocked. These scenes of biological deformation defied scientific understanding, resembling creations cursed by gods rather than scientific inventions.
These biochemical soldiers were originally living dead with cloned brains, now barely retaining any human elements.
Even more so, he saw a strange creature growing bony armor, its lung lobes flapping like mosquito wings, with rhino horns and a snake tail. Its brain jar contained 12 eyeballs and pencil-thick nerve lines, with layer upon layer of muscle tissue generating electricity, occasionally emitting dazzling sparks in the air.
Crackle!
This is not the human world!
The flesh and blood, like millstones and mechanical parts, caused severe physiological discomfort at a glance. The pungent stench of decay and blood was overwhelming. Combined with the visual impact of the red-black Calamity liquid, Du Zexin and Li Aozi felt numb all over.
This is the fear imprinted in human ancestors' bones.
What they saw was beyond the realm of scientific understanding, a reappearance of mythological hell and underworld relics.
"Nature has limited the extremes of science."
An extremely kind female voice echoed in the hall:
"Dear friends, welcome to my Eden."
"Li Aozi, your Omega Energy is just a plaything of genetic mutation, insignificant under precise calculation."
"Du Zexin, steel and machinery will eventually rust. Only genes and flesh are eternal, moving towards immortality."
In the surging red-black tide, the Professor's voice became more sonorous and filled with seductive passion:
"Vivvida, agos (Long live life, my friends.)."