Chapter 236: The City of Crimson
The little boy whom Zhou Ming had named Tianqiong had already changed into children’s clothes suitable for him and, under the lead of Catwoman Aina, came before Zhou Ming.
Tianqiong appeared to be only around ten years old. That tender face should have been filled with the innocence and purity proper to a child, yet in reality, his eyes revealed a cold, deathly stillness.
He was like a walking corpse that had lost its soul, completely devoid of self-awareness, a marionette at the mercy of others.
“My lord, are you going to experiment on Tianqiong?”
Perhaps because she saw that Tianqiong’s experience resembled her own, Catwoman Aina faintly felt a surge of maternal instinct and could not bear to see the tragedy he might face.
Seeing Aina take the initiative to plead for Tianqiong, Zhou Ming found it somewhat amusing, and a faint smile appeared on his expressionless face.
“Is your lord really that bad?”
Upon hearing this, the cat tail behind Aina swayed rapidly, her nervousness unmistakable.
“No, my lord is very good.”
Aina lowered her head to look at Tianqiong. In order to spare him further suffering, she had no choice but to speak against her conscience.
“Relax. It is merely a simple examination.”
Zhou Ming’s gaze was like a sharp blade, instantly slicing through Aina’s surface disguise and seeing the truest thoughts in her heart.
In response to her worry, he could only give a firm assurance.
After Zhou Ming had found the path he wished to walk, human experimentation no longer held much significance for him—unless it could bring him greater benefits.
Moreover, Tianqiong could be said to be a one-of-a-kind existence, even rarer than Catwoman Aina. How could he possibly treat the boy as experimental material?
To Zhou Ming, recording the changes in Tianqiong’s telekinetic power during his growth was far more meaningful.
After all, spiritual consciousness was far too complex. It was difficult to derive concrete research results through experimentation, unless there were a large number of samples like Tianqiong for Zhou Ming to study.
After dispelling Aina’s worries, Zhou Ming led the silent Tianqiong upstairs to the second floor.
Just as Zhou Ming began conducting a detailed examination of Tianqiong, the investigative team sent by Qinghui Base had already confirmed the exact location where the explosion had occurred.
As far as the upper echelons of Qinghui Base were concerned, they were naturally well aware of which force had been hiding in Maple Leaf Ridge.
The Dark Card Organization was one of the three major underground forces in the Shadow World.
The reason the Alliance had tolerated the existence of the Dark Card Organization was mainly because it had not crossed the Alliance’s bottom line. Additionally, there were two Transcendent-level Beast Tamers behind it.
When facing Transcendent-level existences, as long as no matters of principle were involved, the Alliance generally chose to turn a blind eye.
Furthermore, the reason the Dark Card Organization had focused on bloodline genes research was chiefly because those two Transcendent-level figures hoped to find the path beyond the Blood Lord.
For this goal, the Dark Card Organization had been exceptionally active when dealing with the Vampires among the Foreign Races. After all, the Crimson Apostle profession system had been modeled on Vampire abilities at its inception.
The Vampire Healing Injection, which had gained considerable fame within the Alliance, had been an accidental product derived from the Dark Card Organization’s capture and research of Vampires.
Now that the Dark Card Organization’s stronghold in Maple Leaf Ridge had been destroyed, it might very well provoke new trouble. Thus, upon receiving the news, the upper echelons of Qinghui Base immediately dispatched personnel to investigate who had destroyed the Dark Card Organization’s stronghold.
Zhou Ming was completely unaware of the changes in the outside world, and even if he had known, he likely would not have cared.
At this moment, most of his attention was focused entirely on Tianqiong.
Because advancing to Transcendent Master was not merely an increase in a Beast Tamer’s strength—it also involved deeper transformations.
In the Shepherd Class Advancement materials Zhou Ming had redeemed at the Military Outpost, it was recorded that upon advancing to Transcendent, one’s Spiritual Power would undergo a qualitative transformation.
Spiritual Power would begin to involve the soul and, according to different profession systems, would acquire different transcendent characteristics.
Tianqiong’s telekinetic ability, in a certain sense, was a mutation of Spiritual Power, granting him special abilities beyond ordinary humans.
This mutation of Spiritual Power resembled the transcendent characteristic that appeared after a Transcendent Master’s Spiritual Power transformation.
Only after Zhou Ming had learned from the Dark Card Organization’s research personnel about what made Tianqiong different from ordinary people had he been willing to bring the boy back to the camp.
As for the other experimental subjects within the Dark Card Organization’s stronghold, Zhou Ming had very mercifully sent them away from this world, sparing them further suffering.
Several hours later, Zhou Ming completed all examinations of Tianqiong. The results were almost identical to the materials left behind by the Dark Card Organization. Judging from the situation, Tianqiong had not undergone significant changes in the short term.
As for deeper examinations, due to a lack of instruments and insufficient knowledge regarding Spiritual Power mutations, Zhou Ming was unable to conduct more detailed analysis.
However, as long as Tianqiong remained by his side and his changes were constantly recorded, considerable benefits could still be gained.
After returning Tianqiong to Aina and instructing her to take meticulous care of him, Zhou Ming began flipping through the various research results he had obtained from the stronghold.
Aina gladly accepted the task Zhou Ming had given her.
Life within the Small Building had been far too monotonous. Previously, concerns over her own survival and the pain brought by various experiments had made that monotony less noticeable.
But now that she no longer had to worry about her safety, nor continue to undergo Zhou Ming’s examinations and experiments, the sense of boredom in her heart had grown stronger.
After all, not everyone was like Zhou Ming—able to endure loneliness and monotony, dedicating all energy to research and various experiments.
Now that Tianqiong was there to accompany her, the joy on Aina’s face clearly increased.
Meanwhile, after reviewing the research materials brought back from the stronghold, even Zhou Ming could not help but sigh in admiration. The Dark Card Organization truly lived up to its reputation for bloodline genes research.
Although he already possessed very deep knowledge of bloodline genes, the materials he had obtained still opened his eyes and even solved several problems he had previously encountered.
However, just as Zhou Ming immersed himself in the research achievements from the Dark Card Organization’s stronghold, what had occurred at Maple Leaf Ridge ultimately reached the Dark Card Organization’s headquarters.
The Gloom Domain—formed by the fusion of several super-large subterranean world caverns by the Legendary Saint who had once retreated into the Underground World—was where the Dark Card Organization’s headquarters lay hidden.
Within a cavern spanning hundreds of kilometers, a massive, brightly lit city stood at the very core.
The City of Crimson—a subterranean city established and controlled by the Dark Card Organization—was also the location of its headquarters.
Here, slave trading, Genetic Potion sales, and transactions forbidden by the Alliance were all conducted without restraint.
The various forces that came to the City of Crimson, along with the Blue Star humans living in the Underground World, almost all carried a thick scent of blood upon them.
If not for the suppression of the Dark Card Organization, such prosperity would have been impossible to see in the Gloom Domain.
Though this prosperity was distorted and grotesque, this was the order of the Gloom Domain.
The weak were prey to the strong, and the strong were supreme.