Chapter 217: Ridiculous Research

Chapter 217: A Ridiculous Study

The Spark Plan??

Chen Jian hurried to the spot where Lin Jing lay, only to find her already reclined again, silent and still.

After five minutes of monitoring her vitals, Chen Jian concluded, with grim certainty, that she was truly dead this time.

She had bequeathed a city riddled with wounds, endless sins, and a multitude of secrets.

And then, she slipped away, as if released from all ties.

Chen Jian cursed the urge to yank her up and slap her twice, to demand what she had been duped by that turned a thriving spring city into this ruin.

Of course, he also needed to ask what her so‑called “Spark Plan” truly entailed, and how much she knew of it.

But it was evident that today he no longer had the chance.

Chen Jian stared at her in silence one last time, then issued his orders:

“This time she’s dead to the core.”

“Bury her.”

“Understood.”

Huang Meng, who had been waiting nearby, rushed forward to tend the corpse, while others pressed on, unceasingly excavating the ruins.

Chen Jian approached Xu He, muttering like a madman, and asked:

“What else do you know?”

“You’d better spill everything now, or if I find you’re still hiding something, I won’t be so courteous.”

“Hide? Hide what!”

Xu He chuckled wryly:

“I’ve no chance left; Lin Jing’s dead. What could I possibly conceal?”

“The answers I seek are hers alone, and you’ve just killed her!”

“My neural device, my data—right. I must go to the Imperial Capital, I must return to the Hall of Sacred Blood.”

“There might still be…”

“Stop the chatter!”

Chen Jian inhaled deeply, then asked:

“What exactly in that neural device captivates you? What do you truly seek by obtaining a complete one?”

“My heaven! That is my heaven!”

Xu He screamed hysterically:

“I was so close! I’ve had enough of this world! I could truly ascend to heaven!”

“Do you know? The Mechanical Cult is wrong! How could a fleshly body ever reach heaven?!”

“Only the soul can enter heaven!”

“The neural device is the conduit linking soul to heaven!”

“But that passage is incomplete; no matter how I probe, I’m blocked at the threshold, unable to proceed.”

“I’ve endured enough of this waiting, enough of this torment.”

“You must give me an answer! Otherwise—”

“Otherwise what?”

A cold, barrel‑mounted blast gun pressed against Xu He’s forehead.

In an instant, he steadied himself.

“Heh… heh…”

“What I mean is, I’ll aid you with all my might!”

“We still have a chance, don’t we?”

“The Imperial Capital’s secrets remain unspooled, Lin Jing mentioned something— the Spark Plan.”

“What she pursued must be tied to the neural device; follow her trail and you’ll find what I seek.”

“Please, you must take me with you, absolutely, you must take me.”

“If you don’t reveal everything you know, we’ll have a hard time proceeding.”

Chen Jian’s tone was icy; Xu He forced a smile and said:

“I will speak, I will speak. I have already disclosed all the crucial matters; the trivial ones I’ll take time to recount to you.”

“If you need, I can speak right now.”

“Lei Jie, come listen to him.”

“Understood.”

Lei Jie, busy moving rubble, turned toward Xu He, while Chen Jian brushed past him to examine the scant documents already unearthed.

But when he lifted the slightly brittle pages, he froze, stunned.

“What is this? A thesis?”

As the words fell, Fuxi’s voice echoed in his ear.

“It is a paper on genetic stability, likely authored around 2027.”

“It is regarded as one of the seminal works in genetic theory.”

“Regrettably, the vast majority of its content is merely theoretical, often just conjecture.”

“Deriving a practical method from it would be as daunting as building a starship solely from Newton’s three laws.”

“Perhaps even more so.”

Chen Jian sighed.

Before his eyes lay countless such papers; though he knew little of biology or genetics, he could readily tell they were no “how‑to” manuals.

So Lin Jing was attempting, with these fragments, to forge her so‑called “fourth‑generation genetic progenitor”?

That’s absurdly fanciful, isn’t it??

Fortunately, amid the relentless digging, Chen Jian uncovered no “precision apparatus.”

That proves Lin Jing was indeed resorting to a crude, home‑grown method of creation.

At least she didn’t squander those precious reserves—

Hold on.

She didn’t waste them, but what of the Hall of Sacred Blood?

A foreboding chill rose in Chen Jian’s gut.

And at that very moment, the collapsed ruins finally gave way completely.

Inside the cramped confines lay numerous corpses tangled in a chaotic heap, and when Chen Jian lowered himself to investigate, he was startled to find that among these dead was, remarkably, a dread-fiend.

The bloody skull emblazoned on its chest left no doubt as to its identity, yet judging from its attire and expression, it seemed devoid of the savage, tyrannical traits typical of its kind.

A refined dread-fiend?

Could she actually have pulled it off?

Chen Jian turned over the limp body of the fiend; its internal organs had already been shattered into pulp, and its bones crushed by the collapsing rubble.

Blood trickled from the corpse's facial orifices, presenting a truly gruesome sight.

Yet it was precisely this movement that revealed an anomaly to Chen Jian.

The thoracic cavity of this dread-fiend was a full size larger than that of an ordinary human.

Without a moment's hesitation, he drew his dagger and sliced open the corpse's chest.

A stench of blood billowed out as Chen Jian shifted the viscera with his blade, and in that instant, he finally confirmed the source of the abnormality.

"He has two hearts and three lungs."

"Li Shi, just like you."

Behind him, Li Shi peered out curiously, asking with a touch of innocence:

"Why?"

"Why... how should I know why?"

"I'm afraid this isn't an ordinary dread-fiend; it's some sort of intermediate species between a Blood-Saint and a dread-fiend."

"If that's really the case, then we have a massive problem on our hands."

"Why?"

Li Shi persisted with his questioning.

"...Because this is a dread-fiend of extraordinary strength and intellect."

"Just like the one we saw in Wuxue, it is a natural-born leader of the Blood Skulls."

"He would bring a whole new dynamic to the Blood Skulls—just think about it, a horde of fearless, brainy Blood Skulls, how much havoc could they wreak?"

"Probably about the same as the people of Huadu?"

"...True enough."

Chen Jian let out a wry, helpless laugh.

Damn it, what was that about wisdom masquerading as ignorance, or returning to a state of pure simplicity?

Indeed, the combat effectiveness generated by such a dread-fiend would at most match that of Huadu, perhaps even fall short of it.

Now that Huadu was completely wiped out, even if such a dread-fiend truly existed, it wouldn't pose much of a threat.

Relaxing slightly, Chen Jian stood up, stepped over the fiend's corpse, and walked toward the storage crates stacked in the corner.

The crates lay open, containing no weapons or equipment, but rather a dense, suffocating accumulation of research data.

It appeared this "Queen of Huadu" was genuinely serious about her experiments, plotting her "grand scheme."

If only this spirit of dedicated research had been applied to something worthwhile.

Regrettably, she had chosen the wrong path.

The moment she pursued a so-called "solution" at the cost of countless lives, she was destined to achieve nothing.

This had nothing to do with ethics or moral baselines, but rather the simplest of reasons.

The efficiency was far too low.

Humans were not lab rats; they couldn't give birth to a dozen offspring in a single litter. If you used humans for experimentation, how many ages would it take to see results?

Even so, these records still held value.

Chen Jian moved the documents to an open space and laid them out, placing them beneath a camera for Fuxi to conduct a rapid scan. Half an hour later, all the files had been thoroughly digitized and analyzed, and Fuxi delivered a synthesized, summarized overview of the results.

"This batch of data originates from eight years ago at the earliest, documenting the experimenter's entire journey of researching mimetic heretics, Blood Skulls, the connection to Blood-Saints, and their methods of creation."

"Throughout most of the contents, the experimental methods employed by the researcher were remarkably primitive, crude, and riddled with numerous errors."

"However, amidst this tangled web of information, I have discovered a few pieces of data that may prove useful."

"List them."

Chen Jian gave a terse command, and subtitles immediately materialized upon his smart visor.

"First, the reason Lin Jing knew a connection existed among the three distinct artificial entities stems from research conducted at the Temple of Sacred Blood."

"The Temple's methods for genetically modifying Blood-Saints were equally primitive, yet they possessed certain unique means to effectively induce the direction of mutation."

"These methods were mythologized as 'rituals,' but in reality, they appear to be specific medical procedures."

"Second, the primary genetic material of the Blood-Saints is derived from the so-called 'Holy Father,' yet the Holy Father is not chosen by election; instead, upon the demise of the previous incumbent, the role is assumed by the Blood-Saint possessing the most exceptional genetic traits."

"The Temple of Sacred Blood claims the selection of the Holy Father is entirely random, guided by an 'unknowable revelation,' but the outcome is actually predetermined long in advance."

"Third, the genetic stability of the mimetic heretics is stronger than that of the Blood Skulls. According to Lin Jing's hypothesis, their genes should possess absolutely zero mutation, representing one hundred percent inheritance."

"Like cloning?"

Chen Jian inquired.

"More stable than cloning, yet this technology does not exist within my database. It is speculated to be the product of an entirely independent, top-secret project."

"Understood."

Chen Jian nodded slightly.

"Go on."

"Understood. Fourth, Lin Jing believed that whether it be the mimetic heretics, the Blood Skulls, or the Blood-Saints, they were all engineered by a now-extinct power to counter an apocalyptic crisis, though they ultimately failed to achieve their objective."

"I had already guessed as much."

Chen Jian let out a soft sigh.

"Is there anything else?"

"The remaining information holds little reference value; a large portion of these records consists of sheer gibberish—at least from my perspective."

"It is evident that this researcher named Lin Jing was indeed attempting to save the world through her own methods; it is simply that her approach was entirely wrong."

As the voice faded, Chen Jian could not help but shake his head.

Still, there was a dearth of truly actionable information.

As things stood, apart from the crucial clue of the "Spark Project," they had no further breakthroughs to pursue.

The Imperial Capital.

They had to go to the Imperial Capital.

What exactly lay hidden there? What was contained within Fortification 001?

Chen Jian felt a growing sense of impatience welling up inside him.

"Gather all the data and bury it here for the time being."

He gave the order.

"Fuxi has already finished watching; there is no need for us to take it away."

"When we return, if the chance arises we’ll dig it up; if not, we’ll leave it here."

"In all likelihood, we’ll never need these things anyway."

"Understood."

"Copy that."

The group nodded in turn, and Chen Jian glanced at the map.

At that moment, his squad still had four hundred kilometers to the Imperial Capital.

According to the original schedule, they should have arrived in two or three days.

But it was evident the unit could go no farther.

Relentless, high‑intensity combat had drained their stamina, and their gear begged for repair and maintenance.

At least a day of rest was indispensable.

Otherwise, pressing on in a compromised state might cause a sudden, unforeseen collapse.

Thus, Chen Jian issued a decisive order to rest.

Not, however, in Huadu.

Admittedly, the 008 ruins within Huadu City were alluring.

Yet the situation was too chaotic now, and thousands of civilians still lingered in the city; a rash entry would invite unnecessary trouble.

It was wiser to pause, let the aftershocks of the city‑wide battle subside, and then devise a way to enter and claim the spoils.

Consequently, he resolved to veer slightly northward, to a modest settlement called Plainfield Town.

That place had once lain within Huadu’s sphere of influence, but perched on the north‑south thoroughfare it remained relatively neutral, sparing them from fearing reprisals by Huadu’s scattered remnants.

With the plan set, the squad swiftly packed their gear and turned north.

The twenty‑plus kilometers were not arduous; by ten in the morning they had reached the outskirts of Plainfield Town.

"This is the place," Ji Xing said, pointing toward the distant village.

"The settlement isn’t large—only a few hundred souls."

"But it sits on a crucial node of the north‑south trade route; virtually every caravan stops here."

"Precisely for that reason, it’s a town with no particular character or allegiance."

"So choosing it as a foothold feels appropriate."

"Shall I go in first to scout? If it’s safe, I’ll report back."

"Go ahead; if you’re familiar, you may proceed."

With Chen Jian’s blessing, Ji Xing sprang up and sprinted toward Plainfield Town.

Watching her silhouette fade, Chen Jian felt the urge to remark that a cat‑cart would have sufficed.

Perhaps she had grown accustomed to such haste.

Chen Jian turned his head; Lei Jie was racing against the clock, inspecting his tank.

Drawing nearer, he saw the tracks freshly cleaned and the drive sprockets re‑mounted.

"How does it look? Any major issues?"

"Nothing serious."

Lei Jie exhaled, replying, "This beast is surprisingly sturdy; I doubt it will falter on the road to the Imperial Capital."

"Still, we must service it; should an unexpected mishap cause the tank to seize, we’ll be finished."

"We still have to push into Quancheng; we might even have to fight, so caution is paramount."

"It may not come to a fight."

Chen Jian shook his head, saying, "Their command hub has been shattered, their main armed forces crippled; the only lingering threat is a handful of armed civilians."

"Those people won’t hold out forever, yet to settle them we indeed need certain measures."

"Notify Zhang Tao."

"Have him mobilize the nearby Mechanical Cult’s guardian troops to assist us in the reception!"

"Understood."

Lei Jie nodded at once, and Chen Jian, as if recalling something, added, "Also inform the Holy Blood Hall; have them send their own men, too."

(The chapter ends)