"What the hell is this?" Jiang Lijin covered her mouth tightly. Even a single glance at the thing inside the glass cabin was a pollution to her mind. "Are the side effects of that contraband drug from the black market really this severe? This is a freaking mutation!"
She had always known that the contraband drug Felwin used had side effects. But turning a living female into a half-human, half-bug monster was no longer in the realm of side effects; it was practically a crime against beastmen.
Chiron stood beside her, his gray eyes coldly watching the twitching arthropod limbs inside the cabin through his glasses.
"It has nothing to do with the contraband drug," he said in a very low, chilling voice. "The drug's effects would at most destroy the spiritual sea and cause a breakdown of the gene chain. This thing is an artificial gene fusion. Someone forcibly implanted Zerg genes into her body, which could only be achieved through extremely complex and cruel live experiments."
Jiang Lijin froze. Artificial fusion? Live experiments? A name instantly flashed through her mind—Holman.
No matter how deep the grudge between her and Felwin was, seeing this sight right now did not bring her any satisfaction. Instead, it brought a bone-chilling horror born from their shared identity as females.
"Shouldn't she be in the Imperial Security Bureau's maximum-security prison?" She stood up straight, keeping her voice low. "Her trial isn't until the end of the month. Even if Felwin is only a B-grade, she is still a female, a registered priority care subject of the Empire. How did she end up looking like this and appear here?"
"She was found on a desolate fringe planet near the capital star." Chiron turned his head, his gaze falling on Jiang Lijin's pale face. "And she wasn't found by the authorities. A female took her beastman husbands to the barren planet for some thrills and discovered her in an abandoned mine."
His tone carried a rare hint of sarcasm. "To get attention, they didn't report it to the police but directly filmed a video and posted it on the Star Network. Within three hours, the views surpassed twenty million, and the comment section exploded. If public opinion hadn't become uncontrollable, prompting higher-ups to demand a thorough investigation, this thing would never have reached my Academy of Sciences."
"There is a cover-up by the higher-ups." Jiang Lijin's mind raced. "Felwin couldn't have grown wings and flown out of the Security Bureau on her own. And if she had escaped by herself, it is impossible that you wouldn't have received any news."
She paused, remembering something. "What about her three A-grade beastman husbands? Are they missing too?"
Chiron shook his head. "We are still waiting for feedback from the Security Bureau. However, hope is slim. They have ten thousand reasons to explain it away."
A chill ran down Jiang Lijin's spine.
"You suspect the royal family did this?"
Chiron didn't speak, only nodding slightly.
Jiang Lijin subconsciously wanted to call Xiao Yi in her mind to have it scan the specific data inside the glass cabin.
"Xiao Yi? Come out and work."
Silence. There was no usual cheerful response.
She called out a couple more times, but there was still no movement. This broken little system was usually so talkative; why was it playing dead today?
Could it be blocked? This place was too close to the Master Brain's core, and the signal environment was inherently complex.
"What about the Master Brain?" Jiang Lijin looked at Chiron. "Felwin turned into this, and the Master Brain didn't issue any alarms? Aren't all citizens supposed to have a tracking terminal in their bodies?"
"She is locked up here precisely to wait for the Master Brain's judgment." Chiron pointed to the flashing red light at the top of the glass cabin.
He walked to the console and brought up a set of three-dimensional images. The images showed a cross-sectional scan of the back of Felwin's neck, which was completely empty.
"The flesh and skin on the back of her neck were sliced off entirely, along with a portion of her cervical vertebrae." Chiron's voice was flat. "With that level of trauma, a normal person couldn't possibly survive. The only reason she has lasted this long is because the regenerative abilities of the Zerg cells in her body are forcibly keeping her alive."
"In the Master Brain's surveillance network, Felwin is already a dead person."
Evading the Master Brain's surveillance, forcibly digging out the terminal, and conducting inhumane gene fusions.
The power behind this held immense sway over the entire government.
Chiron had clearly thought of this as well, frowning as he looked at the monster.
Jiang Lijin also forced down her nausea, her gaze falling back onto the fleshy tumor on the monster's back. The thing was rising and falling rhythmically, and there was clearly something alive wriggling inside.
"This is most likely Holman's handiwork. Perhaps he didn't get satisfactory results from male subjects, so he turned his attention to females, who have more unique genes. And the only female in the maximum-security prison was Felwin."
He pointed to a series of abnormally fluctuating red curves on the screen. "To prevent Felwin from dying on the spot, they even severed most of her pain receptors and forcibly implanted Zerg eggs into her spinal cord."
Jiang Lijin's scalp went numb. Planting bug eggs in a living person's spine? Is this something a carbon-based lifeform could even come up with?
Just then, the monster in the cabin stopped its meaningless twitching.
The head, whose outline could barely be made out, turned with difficulty, its cloudy eyes locking onto Jiang Lijin outside the glass.
"Jiang—" A muffled, indistinct syllable was squeezed out of its throat.
Expressionless, Chiron raised his hand and pressed a red button on the console.
High-voltage electricity instantly surged through the base. The monster convulsed violently a few times before collapsing heavily into the slime.
"She still has consciousness?" Jiang Lijin's eyes widened as she took a half-step back.
"Only the most primal instincts remain," Chiron said in a flat, unwavering tone. "Like feeding, or her jealousy toward you."
Jiang Lijin sorted out her thoughts.
"Why would Graven go to such great lengths to get a B-grade female out of prison and turn her into this monstrosity? What is he after? Does he want to create a monster army to fight the Zerg?"
"To create a god," Chiron paused, analyzing the situation. "The Zerg possess formidable physical bodies and incredibly long lifespans, but they lack spiritual power. Beastmen have powerful spiritual power, but they are highly susceptible to going berserk. The ultimate theory behind Holman's previous experiments was to perfectly combine the advantages of both."
He paused, his gray eyes looking straight at Jiang Lijin.
"Felwin is merely a defective product. Because a B-grade gene chain is too fragile to withstand the devouring nature of the Zerg cells. But what if it were an S-grade, or... a 3S-grade?"
A sudden chill shot up Jiang Lijin's back.
Graven didn't want a political marriage at all, nor did he intend to use her to soothe his berserk spiritual power.
What he wanted was her very person—or rather, her body, the only perfect 3S-grade experimental mother body in the entire galaxy.
No wonder he didn't even dare to go to the front lines but had the audacity to blatantly fish Holman out of the maximum-security prison. This lunatic wanted to create an immortal, indestructible vessel for himself.
"He has got it all figured out, hasn't he?" Jiang Lijin tugged at the corners of her mouth. "Trying to use me, Jiang Lijin, as a lab rat? He had better see if he, Graven, has the teeth to swallow a tough bone like me!"
"You cannot attend the royal banquet."
"Why shouldn't I go? They have already sharpened their knives. If I don't go and test his limits, how am I supposed to strike back?"
Chiron pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Graven is an absolute lunatic. He got Holman out and turned Felwin into this; what he is plotting far exceeds our estimates. If you go now, it is equivalent to a sheep walking into a tiger's den."
"Would he dare make a move in broad daylight with everyone watching?" Jiang Lijin retorted.
"He wouldn't dare take you by force, but he has countless ways to ensure you 'accidentally' remain in the palace. An out-of-control mental surge, for instance, or an unidentified attack that suddenly requires royal protection." Chiron frowned, his gaze locked onto her eyes.
Jiang Lijin took two steps back, her tone softening. "You can run, but you can't hide forever. Now that he has his sights set on me, taking one step back will only encourage him to advance ten. Rather than waiting for him to pull some dirty tricks behind my back, I might as well go and see what he wants."
Chiron did not reply.
After a long silence, he finally spoke.
"Alright. If you have decided to go, then we need to be fully prepared."
