Earlier, when the Sprite Queen infected Jiang Liushi, Starseed protected his brain swiftly. Thus, Jiang Liushi was able to struggle and stay conscious. When Shen Hai was at dire straits, Jiang Liushi resolutely used his last shreds of willpower to raise his sniper rifle and kill him. But by doing so, Jiang Liushi lost his senses and then his consciousness. In the end, Jiang Liushi fell in an abject state of mental confusion. According to Li Yuxin’s conjecture, that was caused by Jiang Liushi’s brain as a self-protection measure.
Currently, Jiang Liushi was sleeping in the big bed of his room. His face was as pale as a sheet of paper. He was not sleeping with a serene look, but instead, he was frowning from time to time. His facial muscles were twitching in deep pain.
Li Yuxin felt nervous and sad every time that happened.
“Xiyu, how are you? Are you better?” Li Yuxin asked Ran Xiyu.
Li Yuxin clearly knew how much Ran Xiyu was hurt. Other than Jiang Liushi, she was the one who had suffered the heaviest injuries. After all, injuries regarding the mind and soul were absolutely terrifying.
Ran Xiyu shook her head and answered, “I’m okay. Maybe I will get better in the following days. After I recover, I’ll be able to communicate with Brother Jiang,” Ran Xiyu sighed and then she added, “If I were stronger, the situation would not have turned like this…”
Ran Xiyu was unable to finish what she was saying as Jiang Zhuying shouted, “We have arrived back at Shen Hai’s base.”
Initially, they all thought that another fierce battle was awaiting them. However, they were utterly wrong as almost the people guarding the base had been killed. Apparently, they had killed each other.
After sweeping over the bloody battlefield with her eyes, Jiang Zhuying shook her head. Undoubtedly, the slaughterfest’s cause was none other than the plague. Shen Hai had died, while the Sprite Queen had failed to possess Jiang Liushi. Therefore, without a leader, the infected fell in a chaotic state, leading to the base’s fall.
The base was vast, while no living soul could be seen around to question, so Jiang Zhuying jumped off the tour bus, planning to search by herself. However, after carefully contemplating over her options, she said to Li Yuxin, “Sister Yuxin, send Luoluo out.”
Li Yuxin understood what she was thinking immediately. Then, she smiled and told Luoluo to go out.
Luoluo flew mid-air like a small ball with a huge stomach. It smelled and toured around the base. Soon, it got whiff of a familiar smell, and like an automatic navigation system, it flew toward a heavy metal door. Luoluo licked its lips and pointed to the back of the metal door with its little paw.
“It’s here?” asked Jiang Zhuying.
Luoluo roared in excitement. After smelling the familiar odor, it was if Luoluo had turned into a greedy puppy.
“The door is thick enough.” Jiang Zhuying touched her chin and decided to ask Ying to open the door. As long as the tour bus transformed back to its original form, it would be a piece of cake to open the door.
Shortly after, a loud sound reverberated throughout the base as half of the reinforced concrete wall was smashed open. Then, the MCV transformed back to the tour bus, and its robotic arms picked all the steel bars lying around and placed them to the side.
At the same time, Jiang Zhuying looked inside the warehouse, which was large and resembled a secret laboratory. There were 10 long tables, and on each table were various instruments. On one of the tables was a special container in an open refrigerating cabinet, containing blue liquid. It was evident that the quality of the blue liquid stored by Shen Hai was better than those found in the infected. However, it also couldn’t be compared with the Sprite Queen.
Upon seeing the blue liquid in the container, Luoluo purred excitedly. It was about to pounce on the table, but it restrained itself and looked at Jiang Zhuying worriedly. It was afraid that she would not allow it, so Luoluo stared at her pleadingly.
Jiang Zhuying touched Luoluo’s cute head and said, “You’re a glutton, you know that? The liquids potency is stronger than the previous liquids you’ve consumed, so take it slowly. Don’t consume the whole container. Sister Yuxin will need some to study!” Jiang Zhuying hoped that Li Yuxin could find something which could help her brother to recover faster.
After listening to what Jiang Zhuying said, Luoluo jumped on the table and dashed at the container. Then, it started eating to its heart’s contents.
Jiang Zhuying looked around and noticed a safe in the corner. Fortunately, she could easily cut it open with her electricity. When she opened it and saw its contents, Jiang Zhuying’s jaw almost hit the ground. Inside it was about 70 mutant nuclei!
Jiang Zhuying knew that Shen Hai had established his camp to collect mutant nuclei, but she had never expected that he would have collected that many. She had never seen before so many mutant nuclei gathered in one place. Not even large Safety Zones could have accumulated so many.
‘Shen Hai must have also collected many low-grade mutant nuclei, and maybe they have been used up. Why would they collect that many?’
Although Jiang Zhuying couldn’t understand the reason, she still took them all. As for the other things in the safe, Jiang Zhuying was attracted by a certain file. There was information, in great detail, about the liquid lifeform, the Sprite Queen, as well as the ‘Weapon’.
Jiang Zhuying felt excited with her discovery as her brother wanted to know more about the Weapon!
‘ What is the weapon? Well, I’ll head back to the bus first,’ thought Jiang Zhuying. Then, she walked back to the bus and opened the file to read it carefully. After reading, she felt more confused than before. There was no description of what it was. It only showed where it had once appeared. It was not the Shenhai Island. Instead, it had appeared in Japan!
‘It’s abroad?’ Jiang Zhuying was momentarily stunned. Then, her brother’s hypothesis about the Weapon came to her mind. It was likely than the Shenhai Island was just a gathering place for Genesis’ members.
‘Oh! I got it! They may gather there first, and then take a plane from the airport or a boat to travel to Japan!’ thought Jiang Zhuying.
From what she already knew, it was likely that Genesis’ members had already gathered and set off. In other words, they also needed to go to Japan and search for the so-called Weapon. However, Japan was far away from them, and the vast sea was separating them.
Jiang Zhuying was hesitant. In the end, she decided to head to Shenhai Island first and wait for her brother to wake up. After waking up, they could make further decisions and even set off directly from Shenahi Island.
“Eh?” While Jiang Zhuying had been pondering in silence, she felt that the energy of the mutant nuclei she had brought back was slowly leaking. Jiang Zhuying was alarmed, so she picked up a mutant nucleus and looked at it. She clearly sensed that the energy contained in the mutant nucleus was decreasing. Jiang Zhuying tried to follow the strand of energy leaving the mutant nucleus, but her perception was limited, so she failed.
At that moment, Ran Xiyu opened the door and said, “Zhuying. I sense that strands of energy from the nuclei are gathering in Brother Jiang’s body.”
“Really!?” Jiang Zhuying was stunned. Why and how was her brother absorbing the mutant nuclei’s energy directly?
Although mutant nuclei had become the hard currency of this treacherous world, it was the first time they heard of anyone absorbing their energy directly. Even the military, which had the means to use their energy and create evolution crystals, could only extract a small amount of energy from them. As for ordinary paranormals, they could only consume evolution crystals to acquire them as a part of the mutant nuclei’s energy. Nobody could absorb a mutant nucleus’ energy directly.
‘Is it the Sprite Queen?’ thought Jiang Zhuying.
Shen Hai had collected the mutant nuclei just to cultivate the blue liquid. Jiang Zhuying had also witnessed the infected consuming mutant nuclei directly to strengthen their power. Since the Sprite Queen had entered Jiang Liushi’s body, it was only reasonable that it should be the one absorbing the mutant nuclei’s energy.
“What…what should we do?” Jiang Zhuying was at a loss.
If Jiang Liushi was the one absorbing the energy, she would gladly put all the mutant nuclei besides him. However, in her mind, it was the Sprite Queen that was benefitting from the mutant nuclei. How could she let it become stronger?
“I don’t know.” Ran Xiyu shook her head. It was quite difficult for them to predict the outcome.
“We can’t take the risk! It’s better to put all the mutant nuclei away,” said Jiang Zhuying.
Before she could continue, Ying stormed in the room. “Please, wait!” Then, she closed her eyes and sensed carefully. “I also don’t the reason or where this will lead, but I can feel that Brother Jiang yearns for this energy,” said Ying.
Jiang Zhuying and Ran Xiyu were flabbergasted.
“Are you sure? It’s my brother? Not the Sprite Queen?”
“Yes, I’m sure!” replied Ying solemnly
Ran Xiyu and Jiang Zhuying stared at each other. They were still hesitant. But right then, Li Yuxin also entered the room, saying, “Zhuying, I can feel that Brother Jiang’s vitality is slowly increasing. It’s like a spark of fire that is turning into a blazing inferno!”
Upon hearing that, Jiang Zhuying took a deep breath. “In this case, we will follow Ying’s instructions. Let’s give it a try,” said Jiang Zhuying and picked a mutant nucleus. Then, the four girls headed to Jiang Liushi’s bedroom.