Chapter 632 - 14: Ivan’s Request (Part 2)
Sitting across from Chen Zhou, Ivan seemed very much like a thin and aged osprey. If his face hadn’t changed significantly, Chen Zhou might not have recognized him.
Two years is not enough for the aftereffects of the transformation project to turn a warrior who has endured decades of suffering into this.
Ivan tightly grasped a full cup of vodka with his skeletal hands, his lips trembling, unable to speak for a long while.
Chen Zhou knew Ivan might have really found that lost base, but the development was as he had predicted two years ago— a harbinger of disaster.
Ivan must have encountered some mishap at the base to be reduced to this near-death state.
...
The warmth from the tavern’s heater covered a large area, and it seemed the boiler’s coal hadn’t been extinguished for days, with the indoor temperature soaring to 25°, forming a stark contrast with the snow and ice outside.
But even with this warmth, Ivan still seemed chilled, sticking close to the hot heater, sipping his drink as if unable to dispel the cold he felt.
Until Chen Zhou grew somewhat impatient, Ivan suddenly lifted his head, staring intently at Chen Zhou’s face, squeezing out a sentence from the depths of his throat.
"Chen, you have to help me, no matter what!"
After speaking, he lowered his head, feeling perhaps his words were inexplicable and unconvincing, he added another line.
"Only you can help me, Chen, name your price, a billion, two billion, I can give you all my assets.
Please, I beg you, help me!"
"Calm down, Ivan, I can help you.
But you need to first clarify what exactly you need my help with, and what you’ve experienced these past two years."
With Chen Zhou’s vague agreement, Ivan finally calmed his agitated emotions and slowly revealed what he had been through during those two years.
...
After obtaining that photo, Ivan treated it as his lifeline, willing to use all his resources to search throughout Russia for that abandoned factory, seeking the building matching the smokestack.
He initially believed that the secret project 10003 might still be under Russian control, possibly continuing operations silently.
Unexpectedly, this transformation base, which consumed untold manpower, material, and financial resources, was really abandoned.
And its location was not deep in the mountains or at the heart of the vast Siberian Plain.
It was located in present-day Pripyat, Ukraine.
Afraid Chen Zhou might find the name unfamiliar, Ivan took the opportunity to mention another world-famous structure nearby—
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
This giant plant, built in 1965 and transferred to Ukraine after the Soviet Union’s dissolution, shocked the world with its radioactive leaks, directly and indirectly affecting millions of lives and properties.
Now it was mired in another quagmire due to war.
The radiation, heavy metals, other pollutants, or the smoky flames of war have turned it into one of the world’s most dangerous places.
Who would have thought that, just forty kilometers from this isolated and sealed nuclear power plant, lurked another horrifying mysterious base?
Once obtaining the precise location of the transformation base, Ivan was reluctant to venture there himself.
He sent mercenaries and loyal thugs under the guise of aiding the war to Pripyat to gather intel, pinpointed the exact site of the transformation base, and took photographs of the surface factory’s ruins before setting off to Ukraine with his team and specialized equipment.
Due to changes in the international situation, the war’s de-escalation, and Chernobyl’s dangers, Pripyat was not particularly focused on by either side, with few stationed troops.
Ivan smoothly arrived near the transformation base, and testing revealed the radiation levels were not overly high, posing only an acceptable level of harm to humans, which relieved him somewhat.
He thought it was a promising start, not realizing it was the prelude to a nightmare.
...
At this point, Ivan took a big swig of his drink, his murky eyes slightly bloodshot, filled with both terror and longing.
His Chinese was more fluent than when they last met two years ago, though his hoarse voice made his words unclear.
While numbing his body with alcohol, Ivan reminisced, speaking to Chen Zhou in a near-dreamy state.
"It could be due to the radiation, or maybe the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant’s construction purpose was to supply energy to the transformation base.
According to what I observed, the transformation base continued operations for about four or five years after the Soviet Union disbanded.
The explosive disaster of Reactor No. 4 in ’86 did not halt the transformation project until the nuclear plant was completely shut down in 2000, only then did the researchers slowly retreat.
Eventually, it was deserted, completely abandoned."
Yes, you heard it right, even such a major incident as radioactive material leaking, followed by the Soviet deployment of a massive military to seal the nuclear waste, did not interrupt the base’s research.
Do you know why those researchers were willing to risk radiation damage to keep the project going?"
At this point, Ivan seemed exceptionally excited, his wrinkles smoothing out, his tone turning sharp.
"Because the transformation project succeeded!
No, not succeeded, they were just inches away from success, within reach!
But damn it!
They ultimately couldn’t complete the transformation, and most of the experimental key data was taken away, leaving only unknown-purpose instruments behind."
Ivan’s tone calmed, but his erratic mental state had made Chen Zhou cautious—
It seemed his two-year disappearance inflicted not only physical trauma but also great psychological damage.
Seeing him like this, who could relate him to the calculating, stoic oligarch from two years ago?
Although listening all this while, Chen Zhou still didn’t understand why only he could help Ivan, but he didn’t interrupt Ivan’s tale, maintaining silence and continuing to listen.
...
After blasting open the underground base’s doors with his men, Ivan, clad in protective gear, plunged into the base.
According to his account, the base was immense in size, clearly built to nuclear defense standards, with heavy reinforced concrete walls outside, even lead plates near the interior.
The entrance to the base lay directly beneath the chimney from the photo, apparently just a tiled ground plain from outside.
If not abandoned for years, with weeds growing through the secret door’s cracks and guided by the photo, Ivan might not have figured out how to enter; using explosives to forcibly breach the outer walls would take the equivalent of two or three Little Boys.
Once inside the base, Ivan first sought experimental data, hoping to find methods to enhance brain processing or augment other bodily functions.
But the base was long deserted, with nothing useful at the surface level.
Blinded by the safe facade, he ventured deeper.
...
Not counting the surface-level factory for disguise, the entire transformation base was divided into four layers.
The first underground layer was the living area for most ordinary staff, consisting of dormitories, cafeterias, offices, medical rooms, psychological support, and confession rooms.
Post restoring the elevator, he reached the second underground layer, designated for transformations and human experiments.
However, the second underground layer’s transformations weren’t highly advanced, mostly concerning enhancing human immunity, toxin resistance, and radiation defense, seemingly to cultivate a batch of superior test subjects for further transformations.
Ivan obtained some somewhat helpful data on the second underground layer, retaining his alertness then and thinking he should quit while ahead, so he left the transformation base with the data.
Following the steps described in the data, he purchased instruments, hired professionals, and spent six months undergoing transformations on himself with a satisfying outcome—
The abnormality of his hearing was controlled; the troubling buzzing noise by his ears finally disappeared, his organ aging was delayed, everything appeared to be improving.
However, it didn’t last long, as less than two months post-transformation, his old ailment flared up again.
Perhaps because the suppressive transformation lowered his body’s tolerance, this time his suffering surpassed anything encountered before, driving him towards a second exploration, leading him on the Hellish journey that resulted in his current state.