Todd stood up, looked at the ruins of this underground world, and couldn't help but ask, "Is this the Elder Council's underground temple?"

“The Elder Council existed long before the Ancient Tyro Empire issued the order to purge the alien species.” Meredith found a rusty iron chain in a hidden compartment in the wall, pulled hard, and a heavy stone door slowly rose, revealing a secret passage.

"The leaders of the Elder Council had already sensed the danger long before the regent of the Ancient Tyro Empire, who spearheaded the great purge of the alien races, came to power. They began to do everything possible to ensure the survival of the alien races, including smuggling alien criminals out of the country and raising funds to build shelters. My father was one of the alien leaders."

Meredith stepped on the dilapidated floor tiles, a nostalgic expression on her face. "Back then, the alien races worked together, each of them prepared to sacrifice themselves, all in order to preserve as much of their bloodline as possible for this race in that chaotic world."

Meredith glanced at the thoughtful Todd and said softly, "Richie should have told you what happened afterward. After escaping the Empire, with the barbarian invasions and internal strife within the Empire, the greatest threat from the aliens was eliminated one by one. The members of the Elder Council began to slack off and started to focus on vying for power. The entire organization became a disorganized mess, with factions forming and attacking each other becoming the most common occurrence."

"Later, some of the more ambitious members of the Elders decided to find a way to end this infighting and reintegrate all the different factions."

Meredith stopped in front of a stone door, pushed it forward with both hands, and the door collapsed.

A pungent smell of preservative liquid wafted over, causing Todd to frown deeply.

"This group secretly formed a heterogeneous alliance association, intending to unite against the ambitious figures and power-hungry individuals within the Elder Council. They hope to end the chaos within the Elder Council by resurrecting leaders."

Todd followed up with, "The Alien Association? The resurrected leader??"

Meredith flapped her black raven feathers, and the clutter in front of her flew into the air, which she cleared to both sides. "That's right, Rachel is a member of the Alien Association. Her mission was to fight against the ambitious members of the Elder Council while seeking a way to resurrect the leader."

"Let's put aside the matter of the Alien Association for now and get back to the main topic: the resurrection of the leader. A thousand years ago, the first group of leaders in the Elder Council led the alien races to escape the Taro Empire and avoid the Great Purge. Therefore, they are revered as sages by all alien races and are regarded as near-gods. The Alien Association's idea is that if one of their dead can be resurrected and return to the world, then the entire Elder Council will submit to this leader, and there will be no more conflict."

"To bring the dead back to life? To give them a new life? Is that even possible?" Todd said doubtfully. "Even Scáthach would have a hard time bringing someone who has been dead for a long time back to life."

Meredith pressed down on several stone slabs on the stone wall in turn, and with a click, a downward stone staircase appeared on the ground.

"The Inhuman Society has come up with many ways to resurrect leaders, including a bizarre ritual—human cloning."

"A small piece of tissue from the human body is cultured and reproduced to eventually obtain a copy that is exactly the same as the original."

Todd's eyes widened involuntarily as he thought to himself, "This method sounds more and more like human cloning from my past life."

Descending the last stone step, Meredith said, "The ritual of human cloning has been attempted by the Alien Association for hundreds of years, through the research of countless scholars and masters, and was even once considered a dead end. Finally, decades ago, a breakthrough was achieved."

Meredith waved her hand and lit the torches around her, revealing a huge laboratory filled with crystal culture tanks to Todd.

The room contained hundreds of huge, upright culture tanks, most of which were dry and cracked, with only a small number remaining relatively intact.

Todd walked up to a culture tank, wiped the dust off the surface with his palm, and a deformed and ugly face appeared before him.

Seeing this creature, neither human nor ghost, floating in the preservative liquid, Todd took a few steps back, feeling a tightness in his chest.

Meredith walked to the laboratory door, wiped a bronze plaque hanging on the door clean, and then gestured for Todd to come and take a look.

Filled with doubt, Todd approached the bronze plaque and, by the light of the fire, saw the words on it. His eyes widened, and his body began to tremble involuntarily.

A name can still be faintly discerned on the bronze plaque.

'Ratchet'