Su Chen was awakened by a knock at the door. He opened his eyes. It was already noon outside, sunlight streaming in through the half-drawn curtains, casting a golden band of light across the floor. He was dazed for a moment before remembering where he was.
"Come in." He pushed himself up on his arms, the soul tool brace on his right arm chafing painfully.
The door opened, and Li Yang entered. His complexion looked better than it had that morning, but the circles under his eyes were still somewhat dark—clearly, he hadn't rested well either.
"Strategist, Lady Qian Renxue wants you in the conference room. She says they've made some discoveries."
Su Chen stood up, working the stiffness from his neck. "Is Chen Hao awake?"
"Not yet. Zhang Wan is watching over him. She told me to tell you not to worry."
Su Chen nodded and followed Li Yang out. The conference room was at the end of the corridor. When he pushed open the door, Qian Renxue was already seated at the head of the long table, with over a dozen jade talismans and several paper booklets spread out before her. Lin Xue sat to her right, an open notebook in front of her, rapidly copying something down with a pen.
"Sit." Qian Renxue lifted her chin.
Su Chen sat down on her left, his gaze sweeping over the materials on the table. Most of those jade talismans and booklets had been brought from the cavern. He had briefly flipped through some of them back there, but hadn't had time to examine most in detail.
"I had someone do a preliminary sorting of these materials." Qian Renxue's fingers tapped the table surface. "Several critical pieces of information have been discovered. You all need to hear this."
She picked up an emerald-green jade talisman and infused it with soul power. A semi-transparent three-dimensional map projected above it. Dozens of light points were marked across the Douluo Continent—the densest concentration in the Tian Dou Empire, quite a few in the Star Luo Empire, and even two near Sea God Island.
"These are all known research bases of the Void Cult." Qian Renxue said. "The bases we destroyed in the Extreme North and Qingfeng Valley are only two of them. According to the records here, they have at least twenty-seven more bases still in operation, seven of which are marked as 'core-level.'"
Su Chen's gaze swept across the map. Those light points were like lurking eyes, silently watching them. His fingers unconsciously gripped the edge of the table.
"What does core-level mean?" Li Yang asked.
"It means each core-level base has at least one Titled Douluo stationed there, along with complete soul beast cultivation systems and experimental facilities." Qian Renxue's voice was calm. "In other words, take the scale of Qingfeng Valley and multiply it by seven."
The conference room fell silent for several seconds. Li Yang's Adam's apple bobbed up and down, but he made no sound. Lin Xue's pen tip stopped on the paper, the ink blooming into a small blotch.
"There is another discovery." Qian Renxue put away the map talisman and picked up a light red one. "The truth about the void soul beasts. Previously, we always assumed they were wild soul beasts that had been captured and modified. But according to these materials, their experimental process is far more complex than we imagined."
She pushed the talisman toward Su Chen. Su Chen took it, sent his soul power into it, and vast amounts of text and images flooded into his mind. His expression grew darker and darker as he read. By the time he set the talisman down, his knuckles were white from the force of his grip.
"What is it?" Li Yang leaned over and asked.
Su Chen took a deep breath. When he spoke, his voice was somewhat hoarse: "The void soul beasts are divided into three generations. The first generation was indeed modified from wild soul beasts. The success rate was extremely low—out of a hundred, you'd be lucky if one survived. The second generation involved cubs they raised, modified from birth, raising the success rate to about thirty percent. But the third generation..."
He paused.
"The third generation is done directly on humans. They use living people as vessels, implanting modified soul beast embryos into human bodies, allowing the human and soul beast to fuse and coexist within the same body. If successful, it creates an entirely new existence—possessing human appearance and intelligence, but with the abilities and void attributes of soul beasts. If it fails..."
He didn't continue. But everyone understood what "failure" meant. Those human-shaped corpses soaking in the containers in the cavern were the products of failure.
Li Yang shot to his feet, the chair legs scraping against the floor with a piercing shriek. His lips trembled a few times. He wanted to say something, but in the end not a single word came out. He turned around, both hands braced against the windowsill, his back to everyone, his shoulders trembling slightly.
Lin Xue lowered her head, her fingers tightly gripping the pen, her nails digging into her palm. She thought of the text in those experimental records, every page stained with dried blood, every line describing the process of a living person being transformed bit by bit into a monster. Those people's names, their ages, their recorded "experimental performance"—the youngest among them was only seven years old.
"So," Su Chen's voice broke the silence, "they are creating something that exists between human and soul beast. If these things are mass-produced, for ordinary people, they truly would be no different from a natural disaster."
Qian Renxue nodded. "This is one of their ultimate goals. When the High Priest of the Void said he would destroy the Tian Dou Empire, it wasn't empty talk. The military force he holds is far greater than we previously estimated."
Su Chen rubbed his temples. His right arm was still throbbing with pain. At this moment, that pain combined with the swelling ache in his forehead, making him feel as if he were being crushed between two massive boulders.
"We need to get this intelligence back to headquarters," he said. "And we can't delay any longer. Tian Dou City is three days' journey from Spirit City. Adding in the time for transmission and decision-making, we need at least five days. Within five days, we must make the top brass at headquarters aware of the true scale and threat level of the Void Cult."
"I've already sent people." Qian Renxue said, "This morning when the city gates first opened, I dispatched three groups of messengers, two per group, taking three separate routes to Spirit City. Even if one group encounters an accident, the other two can still deliver the intelligence."
Su Chen glanced at her and nodded. Qian Renxue had always been thorough in her actions. He had understood this deeply from the very first time he cooperated with her.
"One more thing." Qian Renxue took out a black jade talisman from her bosom. The texture of this talisman was clearly different from the other materials in the cavern. It was entirely black, with extremely faint purple patterns flowing across its surface. "This was found on that Titled Douluo. I tried to examine it with soul power, but it has a very high-level seal inside. Forcibly breaking it might destroy the contents."
Su Chen took the black jade talisman. It was cool to the touch, and the layer of purple patterns faintly brightened when his fingertips touched the surface. He tried to send his soul power into it, and as expected, was bounced back by a resilient barrier. That barrier was like an invisible net, airtight, without any gap to be found.
"Leave it for headquarters to handle," he said. "Their sealing arts are more sophisticated than ours."
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