Chapter 380: Earth-Shattering Secret
The moment the key was successfully entered and the magic suppression circuit was deactivated, before the researchers even had time to react, hundreds of gray moths had already fluttered down before their eyes, scrambling their prepared thoughts of resistance. Subsequently, the Little Mutant’s extraordinary ability returned. Now able to actively output extraordinary energy, its [Sealing] trait could take effect.
Caught completely off guard, the researchers suspended on the branches couldn’t even muster a struggle before they were suppressed once again.
“I have temporarily blocked your connection to the binding oath circuits. Let’s not waste time. Start competing to answer. I want to know how far your experiments have progressed and what results you’ve obtained.”
“Once I learn everything I want to know, anyone still left on the tree will die.”
After all, having used her [Authority] to suppress the power of the binding oath circuits, she could feel her extraordinary energy draining rapidly. She needed to get the information she wanted as quickly as possible.
As Xu Zhi’s voice fell, someone immediately shouted in a frantic rush: “Miss, I know! I’m the leader of our team! I know a lot!”
Hearing this, Xu Zhi patted the Little Mutant’s branch. The man was then lowered slightly so his feet could touch the floor, though the Little Mutant’s branches didn’t let go of him completely.
“Speak. But if you can’t tell me what I want to hear, I will kill you right now.”
The man’s face paled at Xu Zhi’s words. Fortunately, he hadn’t lied; he truly was the leader of a research group. Gulping, he said, “You should know that our institute primarily researches talent circuits.”
“And our team’s research direction is whether the circuits of extraordinary creatures possess the possibility of coexisting with human circuits.”
Good heavens, they were trying to create hybrids…
Pantheon Heavy Industries was truly even more audacious than she had imagined.
The researcher continued, “At first, we discovered that although there are differences between the talent circuits of extraordinary creatures and those of humans, those differences are like genes. Do you know about genes?”
Seeing Xu Zhi nod, he added, “Extraordinary creatures can be seen as animals. Animal and human genes share some similarities, and the same goes for talent circuits. However, there are also entirely divergent parts that could never appear in a human.”
“We were attempting to see if we could make these completely divergent parts function on a human’s extraordinary circuit.”
“Regrettably, we haven’t made any substantial progress on this front yet…”
As he spoke, a look of regret surfaced on his face, but he quickly grew excited again. “However, our research discovered that as the extraordinary ranks of both the creature and the human continuously rise, and their talent circuits become more complete, those gene-like fragments within the circuits also change!”
“Human genes begin to transcend humans, and animal genes begin to transcend animals, becoming increasingly convergent. We theorize that if both evolve to a certain level, perhaps those fragments within the circuits will transform into the exact same existence!”
“Of course, ‘same’ doesn’t mean completely identical, but rather of the same type.”
“But even if they evolve to that level, the imperfections in human talent circuits will still remain. If we can find a way to fuse human and creature talent circuits before they evolve to that point, we might be able to create a flawless circuit!”
“Furthermore…”
He hesitated slightly here, glancing at Xu Zhi, then at Xiaozhen on her shoulder, and the Little Mutant beside her. He seemed to have reservations, but thinking of his own life, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue:
“Research shows… if an Extraordinary’s ability inherently involves an extraordinary creature, it is highly likely they can use their own ability to reinforce their talent circuit.”
“Simply put, it means taking the talent circuit of the creature spawned by one’s extraordinary ability and making it one’s own.”
“Because one of the biggest obstacles in our research is the natural rejection between the circuits of extraordinary creatures and humans. However, a creature evolved from an extraordinary ability will not trigger any rejection reaction with its master’s circuit. It is the perfect fit…”
His voice grew lower and lower. “Unfortunately, Extraordinaries with such abilities are simply too rare. We only managed to capture two for our experiments, and due to imperfect experimental procedures, neither yielded very good results.”
“But what is certain is… this path isn’t a completely dead end.”
Xu Zhi completely understood what he was saying, and she realized one thing.
She absolutely could not let a single person here leave alive.
“Where is the experimental data?”
The man gave the location of his team’s files, and Xu Zhi nodded. “You pass.”
The Little Mutant set him down. The man’s legs gave out, and he nearly collapsed to his knees.
On the surface, Xu Zhi seemed unbothered, coldly asking who was next. Inside, however, she recalled how, when leaving the Federation, she had “withdrawn” her thralls back into her body.
Was that exactly the result this research group was trying to achieve?
And the fact that she was able to use it as an “exception” that one time—did it mean that when she and her thralls evolved to a sufficiently high level, she could truly merge their circuits with hers, transforming them into a more perfect talent circuit?
Or perhaps, for someone whose extraordinary ability was an extraordinary creature, did it inherently mean they were born with an extra extraordinary circuit compared to others?
The more Xu Zhi thought about it, the more dangerous she realized this subject was. She could absolutely never let anyone in the outside world know about it!
Furthermore, if her thoughts were true…
If her thralls’ circuits could become hers to supplement her own upon evolution, then right now, she already possessed extraordinary circuits for five attributes: [Lantern], [Moth], [Edge], [Winter], and [Grail]!
The more Xu Zhi thought about it, the more astounded she felt. She even realized she had never truly understood what kind of path she was walking until now…
Her heart pounded violently, yet she still had to act as if nothing was wrong on the surface.
She had never expected that a trip to this underground laboratory would yield such shocking information.
Afterward, several more people consecutively spoke up about the research subjects they knew. Yet, all of their information combined couldn’t compare to the sheer impact of the revelations the first man had delivered.
After seven or eight people had been successively lowered, Xu Zhi recovered from her shock. She looked at those still hanging from the branches and said, “Anyone else? I’ll give you another half hour.”
Hearing this, the crowd immediately panicked.
“It’s not that we don’t want to speak, it’s that they already said everything!”
Someone yelled loudly, sounding deeply wronged. Hearing this, Xu Zhi only smiled. “I don’t care about that. I only let the first person who gives me the information live.”
Come on, hurry up and ruthlessly fight amongst yourselves for a chance to live.
