Chapter 144: Where Is My Limit? (1)
Su Yu had not expected that his first task would be cleaning the research center. After about two hours, he finally finished cleaning up the living area.
"This is a pigsty!"
He cursed while gasping for breath tiredly. This place was too dirty! Could anyone even stay here?
In fact, Bai Feng seemed to be a resident of the research center. When cleaning the place, Su Yu had discovered a lot of Bai Feng's personal items. That guy was obviously a sloppy person. In that case, where did he get all those clean and neat outfits he wore when he was outside?
"Don't tell me he has hundreds of the same outfits that he would throw away after wearing once?"
Su Yu muttered to himself. After cleaning the place, his curiosity toward the research center rose. He decided to start exploring the research center. The research center was split into six floors. Three were above ground while the other three were underground.
Each floor housed a single zone. He was currently on the first floor, the living area. There, he could find dining halls, kitchens, living rooms, and so on. The floor was large enough to house dozens of people. But the place was empty nowadays since their faction barely had any members.
Su Yu could imagine that back during the peak of this research center, there were probably a lot of people here. In fact, there were over a dozen bedrooms on the first floor. The main laboratory was located at the third underground floor. The second underground floor was the prison zone. The first underground floor was the storeroom.
The second floor was the secondary laboratory. The third floor was the data room. Su Yu only had the authority to enter the first underground floor, the first floor, and the second floor. He didn't dare to enter the other floors due to Bai Feng's warning. It would be a pity if he got himself killed due to bad luck or something.
"Let's check the storeroom first. Maybe there is some good stuff left there?"
Su Yu wondered if the storeroom of a big research center like this would really be completely empty. He was really skeptical of Bai Feng's words.
A few minutes later.
Looking at the over 1,000 square meters storeroom that was filled with completely empty shelves, he had no choice but to trust Bai Feng's words. The storeroom was really empty!
Flying sky tiger blood essence (Skysoar)
Soul devouring demon blood essence (Skysoar)
Golden peng blood essence (Cloudbreach)
Looking at the empty containers, looking at the labels, Su Yu was stunned for a long time. He could imagine how rich this place used to be. Skysoar blood essence, Cloudbreach blood essence, and so on. Furthermore, the blood essence all came from powerful races.
But now, nothing was left. Only an empty storeroom remained. No, there was something left. After spending a long time searching through the storeroom, Su Yu found a shelf that was not empty.
Fire hog blood essence (Infinite Strength)
It was a small bottle of fire hog blood essence. It must have been forgotten, left in the corner of the storeroom. Su Yu felt like crying. Fire hog blood essence was actually quite valuable as well, but compared to the names he saw on the other labels...this was basically trash.
This thing was even worse than the iron-winged bird blood essence. But it was still somewhat helpful to temper the physical body of those in the Great Strength and Infinite Strength Realms.
"Is...the research center going bankrupt?"
Su Yu couldn't help but to suspect that. Even the storeroom was empty. Were they unable to continue with their research anymore? Or perhaps they had reached the end stage of their research, so they no longer needed any research materials?
"If they sell the research center, could they really get hundreds of thousands of merit points?"
Su Yu recalled what Xia Huyou said. Was he going to inherit a large amount of wealth right after joining the research center? He shook his head speechlessly.
He looked around again and noted that deeper into the storeroom, some shelves were even labeled with the blood essence of divines and devils. He was regretful to see the storeroom so empty, but he was also shocked at how wealthy this research center used to be.
They used to experiment on the blood essence of divines and devils! In fact, he saw a lot of top 100 races on these labels. Hong Tan...was an incredible individual. Su Yu had a newfound admiration toward that person.
When he walked out of the storeroom and shut the heavy door, he had a feeling that without the relevant authority, not even a Skysoar cultivator would be able to break through this door.
"This would be a good place to hide stuff..."
Su Yu muttered to himself. This storeroom was already empty anyway. And it seemed like Bai Feng had not entered the storeroom for a very long time. It would be a good place if he had something he wanted to hide.
He left the sole bottle of fire hog blood essence in the storeroom. That belonged to the research center. Bai Feng might have forgotten about it, but he could never be sure that this wasn't merely a test to see his character.
If he ended up expelled because of a bottle of fire hog blood essence, it wouldn't be worth it. A lot of people still had their eyes on this research center. He really wanted to know more about this research center. If he was able to remain, he would be able to get much more than a bottle of blood essence.
Apart from the living area and the storeroom, the secondary laboratory was the only place Su Yu could visit. He was just about to set off to the next floor when he heard a series of roars.
Boom!
The floor was also shaking slightly. Su Yu was still on the first underground floor. When he felt the shaking of the floor, he shivered. The shaking was coming from the prison zone! There really were some living beings in there!
"Is that one of the remaining living beings mentioned by Bai Feng?"
Su Yu was shocked. There really was something living down there? Something at the Skysoar Realm or beyond?
"Kujili..."
An indistinct voice rang out, accompanied by furious and painful roars. Su Yu stopped and listened, but he couldn't understand those words. That was not one of the languages he knew.
"An unknown language..."
He raised his brow. The prisoner was an intelligent race. In truth, there were many non-intelligent life forms among the myriad races, but the one being imprisoned downstairs was clearly an intelligent life form.
After spending a short while listening, he decided to leave. He didn't even have the courage to stay near the prison zone much longer. He was just about to leave when the words changed into the common language.
"Release me! Release me! If you release me, I'll give you an invaluable treasure!"
The voice was indistinct, so Su Yu couldn't hear everything the prisoner was saying. The prisoner might have sensed something and realized that someone other than Bai Feng and Hong Tan was present. That prisoner was roaring unceasingly.
Su Yu took a deep breath and hurriedly walked away. He did not dare to try anything rash. He had tried stomping on the floor. Even after using his full strength, the floor showed no reaction whatsoever. A prisoner capable of causing the floor to shake was clearly extremely powerful. Su Yu was even worried that the prisoner would break free and kill him. The research center suddenly felt much more dangerous.
...
At the same time, the second underground floor.
Row upon row of metallic cages were arranged in a large room. Many of the cages were empty, but a few of the cages were still occupied. Some were completely silent, looking like they had died a long time ago.
Some were merely piles of dry bones. In a large cage, a life form that looked like a golden lion was ramming into the metallic bars in front of it repeatedly. Bolt after bolt of lightning struck the golden lion as it did so. The lightning strikes left the golden lion badly mangled.
However, the golden lion ignored its injuries. It continued roaring for a short while and finally stopped after sensing that the newcomer upstairs had left. It scanned its surroundings with its large eyes before roaring again.
"We will die! It is only a matter of time before we all die! If we don't save ourselves, we won't be able to leave this place alive!"
The lion was using the common language as it roared at the beings in the nearby cages.
"Hong Tan is away and there is a newcomer. If we entice him, we can escape..."
A soft voice rang out, "Stop dreaming. We won't be able to escape. Just wait for your death silently. All these cages were sealed by Hong Tan with his Divine Characters. We won't be able to take even a single step out. Save your strength. Unless a Mountainsea expert personally breaks in here to release us, there is no hope."
The lion roared, "No! There is still hope! If the newbie is given sufficient authority, he would be able to open these cages for us!"
"This is a cultural research academy of the human race. Even without these cages, we still won't be able to get far. There are too many experts here, with plenty of Mountainsea experts around. Xia Longwu himself is in the city. Even after leaving these cages, where can we go?"
The lion sank into silence. It had nothing to say. The other voice was right. There was no escape for them. Even if they could escape Hong Tan's cages, where could they go after that? They were deep inside the Human Realm!
The other voice rang out again, "Calm down and stop wasting your strength. You're not getting any source qi replenishment here. You need your strength to stay alive."
The lion furiously said, "I am not reconciled to dying like this! Dying in such a sorry manner! I want the humans to pay a price! As long as I can leave this cage, even if I'll ultimately die, I'll still slaughter as many humans as I can! I will spill rivers of blood here!"
The lion looked at a cage at the corner. Within the cage was a shadowy life form. The being was almost undetectable.
"Shadow, there is still hope for you even if the rest of us won't be able to leave this place alive. As long as your cage is opened, you will be able to hide in the shadows of others and sneak away..."
The shadow spoke again, "That's impossible. I have been imprisoned for too many years. My racial ability has degenerated. Without my racial ability, a random Skysoar can easily kill me. Any Skysoar cultivator can see through my concealment."
The golden lion roared furiously. It couldn't accept this. It couldn't accept being reduced into a prisoner, being experimented on by Hong Tan, having its blood extracted again and again by Hong Tan to produce blood essence.
Once upon a time, it was a ferocious being who dominated the Allheaven Battlefield. Once upon a time, it was a genius of its race. It was unwilling to die away without making a single wave.
But there was no escape. This was a prison made by a Mountainsea expert. The cages were unique products overlapped with Divine Character seals. It had no way of leaving.
...
Su Yu was completely clueless about the exchange in the second underground floor. He didn't have the courage to even approach that floor. He was still feeling some lingering fear from the shaking he felt earlier.
The beasts imprisoned down there were all at the Skysoar Realm and beyond. Who knew if the strongest one was at the Cloudbreach Realm or even stronger. He might end up being swallowed in one bite if he dared to enter the prison.
He only heaved a breath of relief after reaching the second floor. The second floor was split into several sections. He saw numerous rooms, and each room was labeled with its function.
Blood essence separation room.
Blood essence fusion room.
Divine Character fusion room.
Dissecting room.
...
There were about a dozen rooms in the secondary laboratory. Only after walking until the end of the floor did Su Yu see the waste area mentioned by Bai Feng. That section was independent from the others. With a corridor in the middle, to the left was the filter room and to the right was the fragment room.
Apart from that, there was a different area ahead of him. When he stretched his neck to get a better look, he saw a sign board saying "Discarded Divine Character segment". Su Yu blanked out. Discarded Divine Characters? Could Divine Characters be discarded? To be precise, could Divine Characters be separated from its owner's body?
One ought to know that after materializing a Divine Character, the character would quickly dissipate into nothingness unless it was preserved with special methods. In that case, what was the purpose of the area ahead of him?
Su Yu hurriedly took out a small book named Newbie's Manual. That was a book he found on the couch in the living area. He flipped through the pages and stopped at the discarded Divine Character segment introduction.
Divine Characters at the Mountainsea Realm and above can stay materialized forever.
Discarded Divine Characters are similar to Marks of Culture. These were the damaged Divine Characters left by dead cultural researchers. These characters had yet to fully dissipate yet couldn't be used due to the damage they had suffered. They are all stored in the discarded Divine Character segment. They are mainly used for Divine Character ability transfers.
Most of the discarded Divine Characters in Wentan Research Center came from the myriad races. A small portion of them came from our past failed attempts at ability transfer or fusion.
Ability transfer and fusion used to be one of the most prominent research subjects of Wentan Research Center. Due to the high failure rate, we have stopped working on this project. Our theories have been preserved but all experimentations have stopped. The ability fusion classes of the academy will only touch upon the basics of the theories we left behind.
...
The small manual gave a detailed introduction on the status of the ability transfer project. Some cases of successful transfers were cited, and there were quite a lot of them. But there were even more cases of failed transfers.
The price of failure was the crippling of the Divine Character or the collapse of the sea of willpower. There were also cases where the Divine Character would reject the new ability, or the abilities conflicting against each other, and so on. There were far more failed examples than successful examples.
Thus, the project had been stopped a few decades ago. They were no longer working on this project nowadays.
The academy had a course touching on this topic, but the course only taught some basic theories. Strictly speaking, the course only existed to serve as a reference to the students. Hong Tan's research center was no longer accepting applications for ability transfer or fusion.
Of course, as a student in Hong Tan's faction, Su Yu would be able to learn more than the basics. But the manual also explained that human experimentation was no longer allowed. It was fine to continue experimenting on the myriad races. Only when the success rate reached 90 percent would they be allowed to continue experimenting on humans.
These years, Hong Tan had been busy on his new project. In the past, the ability transfer and fusion project was still maintained by some other people, but over the years, almost everyone had left. As a result, this project was completely stopped as well.
"Why are they stopping such a good project? What a waste."
Su Yu felt regretful. Of course, he also understood that the new project must be far more important for Hong Tan to give up on the old project. As for people like Bai Feng, he probably didn't have enough energy to work on so many projects.
But Su Yu suspected that there was someone else in the academy continuing the research. After all, the theories had been submitted to the academy and the research center had continued receiving grants from the academy all these years even after the project was stopped.
"Discarded Divine Character Section..."
Su Yu gave the large room another look. He did not enter the room. Even though he was also quite interested in the discarded Divine Characters, he was far more interested in the other two rooms.