Chapter 72: Eternal Sleep Project (Part 2)

Xia Mi clicked to carry Liao Tianhua, and the progress for “The Lost Boyfriend” quest changed to 20%, drifting further and further from completion.

On the other hand, the “Eternal Sleep Project” was proceeding smoothly.

the plane dropped them near the island. Liao Tianhua used a parachute to land on the protruding reef first, opening his Nest to separate the bombs from the laboratory.

Liao Tianhua’s Nest was slightly larger than the island and even encompassed a portion of the surrounding sea.

Xiao Mi was connected to Liao Tianhua via Consciousness Threads and quickly felt that he was already within the Nest. Guided by the Consciousness Threads, she first landed in the water and entered the Nest from the sea at a certain distance from the island. She didn’t touch the island at all, thus avoiding triggering the bombs.

Xiao Mi arrived in the laboratory and met up with Liao Tianhua, after which the two of them advanced without a hitch.

The monsters in the laboratory did not attack Xiao Mi. They simply worshipped her incessantly, their mouths emitting various strange calls. Every sound made Xiao Mi’s mental state increasingly abnormal.

Xiao Mi felt something deep within the island attracting her.

But she did not go.

She first went to the hiding places of several Drones. These men were hidden inside a sealed, blast-proof room. The room was extremely sturdy, and the door could not be opened from the outside.

Xiao Mi manipulated their Consciousness Threads through her information connection, intending to order them to open the door from the inside.

Through the consciousness of several Drones, Xiao Mi discovered that there were also several researchers in this room. One of them was the person who had performed surgery on Xiao Mi in the ending of Building 6.

Among these people were the core technicians of the entire laboratory. They held weapons that controlled the Drones’ personal freedom. The Drones were wearing high-voltage electric shock devices; at the slightest sign of trouble, the technicians would press a button to stun them.

And they were currently monitoring the movements outside the door through surveillance cameras.

It seemed the idea of controlling the Drones to open the door would not work.

Xiao Mi was trying to find a ventilation duct, hoping to send the Silkworm threads through it to absorb the life force of these researchers.

In the past, Xia Mi had only absorbed the energy of Zhuo-fied Humans. Although she had accidentally absorbed a bit of life force once, she had returned it all through Liao Tianhua. She had never absorbed the life force of a normal person before.

Xia Mi could use force to subdue criminals. If she encountered a counterattack during a mission, it was perfectly reasonable and legal to kill the opponent on the spot.

But if she absorbed the life force of normal humans, it would be as if she were becoming one with the Zhuo.

Xia Mi had a feeling that if she did this, her consciousness would gradually align with the concepts of the Zhuo, and she would no longer be able to suppress the Queen Bee.

Fortunately, this was only an attempt within the game, and the real Xia Mi would not be affected.

Xiao Mi was just about to do it when she was pulled back by Liao Tianhua.

Liao Tianhua winked at Xiao Mi and tapped his own head.

Their conversation would be overheard by the people inside the door. Liao Tianhua had something to say but didn’t want others to hear it, so he signaled Xiao Mi to read his Consciousness Threads.

Xiao Mi made contact with Liao Tianhua’s Consciousness Threads and heard him say in her mind: Don’t risk absorbing their life force. It will cause the Queen Bee to awaken prematurely. Let me deal with them.

Xiao Mi asked in confusion: How are you going to deal with them through such a thick door?

Liao Tianhua’s abilities were purely supportive; since when did he have any offensive power?

Liao Tianhua reminded her: This is my Nest. I can Zhuo-fy them.

Xiao Mi had never opened a Nest herself and didn’t understand some of the potential abilities within one. Inferring some capabilities from Liao Tianhua’s words, she asked: You can control the targets and the speed of Zhuo-fication?

Liao Tianhua nodded: If there are many people in the Nest, I can only focus on Zhuo-fying a few of them; I can’t Zhuo-fy everyone. Most of the creatures in this Nest are experimental monsters that can resist my Zhuo-fication. Only these few are ordinary humans. I can make them Zhuo-fy to the point of mental derangement within an hour and appropriately control their behavior so they can’t press the electric shock buttons.

Xiao Mi asked: Don’t they have any protective measures similar to a Shield?

Liao Tianhua: I feel like there aren’t any.

Xiao Mi: Strange, there should be.

She tried to read the memories of several Drones, searching for whether the technicians had any way to defend against Zhuo-fication.

Through the Drones’ memories, Xiao Mi discovered that weapons to defend against Zhuo-fication did exist, but they were extremely rare. Only two such items had been taken by the high-ranking figures of the Immortal Foundation. Fearing they might encounter naturally occurring Zhuo, they carried the defensive items with them.

All the monsters in the laboratory were fitted with devices to restrict their freedom. The staff could press buttons at any time to attack or control them. Even if they were accidentally trapped in a Nest, they could immediately kill these monsters, so they didn’t need weapons to defend against Zhuo-fication.

This time, their plan was to blow up Xia Mi and all the monsters in the laboratory. Under the power of such intense bombs, there was no need to worry about anyone opening a Nest.

They never expected that Liao Tianhua’s Nest could separate reality and the Nest into two dimensions, blocking the powerful bombs outside.

Xiao Feng knew about this, but he had died in Liao Tianhua’s Nest and never had the chance to pass the information on.

This plan was feasible.

Xiao Mi gave Liao Tianhua a subtle nod.

The two of them pretended they couldn’t open the door and were going to look for a password or an opening button. They deliberately rummaged around nearby to lull the other party’s vigilance.

Xiao Mi manipulated the Drones’ Consciousness Threads, making them move slightly from time to time to attract the technicians’ attention and prevent them from noticing the changes in their own bodies.

Liao Tianhua focused on making the group Zhuo-fy.

He hoped the Zhuo-fication of the technicians would proceed covertly, ideally starting from their internal organs and the skin beneath their clothes. It would be difficult to detect in the early stages, and by the time these people noticed the changes in their bodies, it would already be too late.

“Zhuo” can control some of the people within the nest, just as it did with the woman in Building 6.

Liao Tianhua’s strength had long since surpassed the Y-Series “Zhuo.” He could control more people, and his degree of freedom regarding mutation was much higher.

He began by causing several people’s skin to mutate first.

These individuals were wearing lab coats and masks, making it impossible for them to notice the subtle changes in their bodies. As their skin gradually took on a toad-like texture, they felt nothing out of the ordinary.

Half an hour later, their skin had completely transformed into the hide of a toad, and their mental states began to show signs of instability.

However, “Xiao Mi” kept them constantly distracted. She punched a crater into the alloy door with her fist and shouted about finding the ventilation system to pump in poison gas. Terrified, their nerves were on edge; they attributed any mental shifts to the sheer fear “Xiao Mi” inspired in them.

After another half hour, even their mouths and tongues had shifted into amphibian forms. Only then did they realize their mutation was severe and that their minds were being controlled.

Taking advantage of the situation, “Xiao Mi” used her Consciousness Threads to command a “Drone” to open the door. The technicians, their minds compromised by Liao Tianhua, failed to stop the “Drone” in time.

The moment the door opened, “Xiao Mi” discarded them like tools that had outlived their usefulness, using “Silkworm” to absorb the energy from several “Drones.”

Only these specific “Drones” possessed the capacity to receive the “Queen Bee.” With them dead, the technicians’ plans were utterly shattered, making them easy to break for information.

After killing the “Drones,” “Xiao Mi” interrogated the survivors for information regarding the “Queen Bee,” offering to reverse their mutation as a bargaining chip.

She wanted to know exactly what was hidden in the depths of the island that exerted such a pull on her.

Under the combined mental interrogation of “Xiao Mi” and Liao Tianhua, the leader of the technicians finally broke and spilled the truth.

This island was the birthplace of the “Queen Bee.” The place deep within the island that called to “Xiao Mi” was the “Queen Bee’s” cradle.

The “Queen Bee” had originally been slumbering there, a place that held the power to return her to “Zhe.”

The technicians pulled up photos of the site from a computer. In the images, that dark, mysterious area was covered in numerous “8” symbols.

The technician told “Xiao Mi,” “This symbol was a communication sign used by ‘Zhuo’ in the past. It was because of this characteristic that we classified them as ‘Bees’ and named the monster inside you the ‘Queen Bee.’ We didn’t paint these symbols; after we removed the ‘Queen Bee’s’ cocoon, more and more of these ‘8’ symbols began to appear automatically.

“We tried to decipher their meaning, but we failed. The Drones can use these symbols to manipulate other Zhuo-mutated monsters. It seems to be a form of communication between ‘Zhuo.'”

“Xiao Mi” stared at the photos for a long moment. She instinctively understood what those symbols represented.

It was “The Hive,” the exact same thing as her game.

Mi Xiangyan had analyzed this before: Xia Mi’s game wasn’t just a precognitive ability. It was more like a sophisticated system that could deduce future events by integrating all existing information.

In reality, the “Queen Bee” sat at the very apex of all consciousness. By reading every mind and tracking the shifts in every person’s awareness, it could calculate the future and then manifest it into reality.

If one had to name this ability, it could be called “Big Data,” the “Mainframe,” or even “Divine Providence.”

“The Hive” was a Domain that assisted the “Queen Bee,” functioning just like the game.

The “Queen Bee” could only exert her full, terrifying power while situated within “The Hive.”

The Immortal Foundation had removed the unformed “Queen Bee” from “The Hive,” thereby restricting her power.

She had been sealed inside Xia Mi. To force the progression of events, she had attempted to turn Xia Mi into a replacement for “The Hive.”

After four years of gradual alteration, Xia Mi’s abilities finally awakened, manifesting “The Hive” in the form of a game.

What the “Queen Bee” hadn’t expected was that the power she painstakingly cultivated did not answer to her will. Instead, it was dominated by Xia Mi. Every deduction prioritized Xia Mi’s intentions.

On the eve of her awakening, Xia Mi’s consciousness had been in a state of chaos. Through “The Hive,” she had read glimpses of the future. She had mistaken certain events that would eventually happen between her and Liao Tianhua for current reality, thereby manifesting a boyfriend out of thin air.

That was the origin of everything.

If a mere imitation in the form of a game possessed such terrifying power, there was no telling what the world would become if the “Queen Bee” returned to the true “Hive” and awakened.

It wasn’t just the “Queen Bee” that needed to enter Eternal Sleep; “The Hive” had to as well.

After extracting the information, “Xiao Mi” drained the Zhuo Energy from the technicians and knocked them unconscious. She planned to bring them back to the mainland after everything was over, where professionals could extract even more intelligence.

“Xiao Mi” then set off alone toward “The Hive.” She had a feeling that only after seeing “The Hive” would she know how to execute the “Eternal Sleep Project.”

Liao Tianhua said, “Go ahead. I’ll stay here to watch these people and ensure they don’t have any more tricks up their sleeves.”

“Xiao Mi” nodded and headed into the depths of the island.

The moment she stepped into the elevator, a dialogue box popped up in the game: [Please select a perspective: Liao Tianhua / “Xiao Mi”. You may only choose once. After choosing, you will be unable to know what the other person experiences.]

The real Liao Tianhua, watching Xia Mi play the game, spoke up immediately. “I’m not important. Just follow ‘Xiao Mi’s’ perspective.”

“I’m the one who decides which one to pick,” Xia Mi said, shooting him a domineering glare.

She hesitated for a moment before choosing Liao Tianhua’s perspective.

Whatever “Xiao Mi” was about to experience, Xia Mi would find out soon enough when she reached the island and saw “The Hive” for herself.

But Liao Tianhua’s perspective was something she might never see if she didn’t view it through the game now.

The answer to “The Lost Boyfriend” likely lay within Liao Tianhua’s point of view.

In the game, after “Xiao Mi” left, Liao Tianhua sat calmly on the ground. Beneath his clothes, something was bulging and shifting, as if something were writhing under his skin.

He raised his hand and gave a gentle squeeze, crushing the surveillance camera in the room.

Liao Tianhua let out a long breath and said, 【She’s finally gone. I almost couldn’t hold on any longer.】

Then, his clothes burst open. His entire body slumped to the floor like soft mud, his limbs acting on their own, completely beyond his control.

He had turned into Zhuo.

Xiao Mi would suffer a backlash from the Queen Bee for absorbing human life force. Since Liao Tianhua had actively released his power to turn the technicians into Zhuo, how could he remain unaffected?

A Rong was originally a creature existing between humans and Zhuo; whether one remained human or became Zhuo depended entirely on their own will. He had subjectively crossed the human limit and chosen Zhuo of his own accord, so there was no way he could emerge unscathed.

Liao Tianhua’s consciousness grew increasingly hazy, and his body became more and more deformed.

But he persisted, never unraveling the nest, clinging to his last shred of awareness as he waited for Xiao Mi to resolve everything.

After an unknown amount of time, Liao Tianhua felt a powerful summons.

Every monster in the entire laboratory felt it.

They ran toward the source of the summons, but most were blocked by the containers holding them captive.

Only Liao Tianhua was free. He wriggled his body, crawling toward the depths of the island.

When he reached the source of the summons, he saw a massive cocoon in front of Xiao Mi. She was patting the cocoon soothingly, whispering, 【Sleep. This era does not belong to you. Please do not wake at this time.】

Hearing Xiao Mi’s words, Liao Tianhua closed his eyes uncontrollably.

At the same time, every monster in the laboratory closed its eyes as well.

Together with the Queen Bee, they fell into an eternal sleep.

In the final moment before he drifted off, Liao Tianhua flicked his eyelids open. He saw Xiao Mi walking past him, saying, 【Mission accomplished, Xiao Liao. Come back and marry me!】

He wanted to answer, but he couldn’t speak.

He wasn’t dead; he was only asleep.

Perhaps in the next era, he would wake along with the Queen Bee, but that era would have no Xia Mi, nor anything else he knew.

Amidst the silence of the crowd, a game ending popped up: 【Congratulations on completing the Eternal Sleep Project. You have not only successfully sealed the Queen Bee and crushed the ambitions of the Immortal Foundation, but the superhuman physical traits you gained because of the Queen Bee have not disappeared.

You possess physical capabilities far beyond those of ordinary people and the merit of saving the world. Your career path is bright, and in the future, you will reach heights unattainable by most.

But you will never find Liao Tianhua again.

You don’t even know where he is; the surveillance in that room was broken.

You simply went to seal the Queen Bee, and by the time you returned, Liao Tianhua had vanished. You searched the entire island but found no trace of him. You tortured the captured technicians over and over, yet you still couldn’t learn where he had gone.

If he were dead, you would have moved on without looking back. But with his fate unknown, you have lost someone precious.

His disappearance is the regret and failure of your lifetime.】