Chapter 242 Ying Lingyun's Conspiracy

Both... The senior researcher's answer puzzled me.

There's no need for me to rush things. The intelligence source is right in front of me, and there's no time limit for the interrogation. In the end, I'll extract all the information I can from his head anyway, so I can take my time.

"It seems you know quite a bit." I considered the angle of my next question. "How do you know that Chang'an is the vessel for Silver Moon's resurrection? I heard you are Ying Lingyun's right-hand man. Did you also provide assistance in his exploration of methods to resurrect Silver Moon?"

"Yes, I have." He admitted, "At the highest level of the Humanitarian Department, it is no secret that the Silver Mask is Ying Lingyun, and it is easy to judge that he wants to revive the Silver Moon. As his research assistant, I also have the responsibility to monitor him from the sidelines."

"Although this responsibility was gradually abolished as his power in the Humanitarian Affairs Department grew, I participated in his research for a long time, including research on how to resurrect the dead."

"I didn't know at first that Zhu Chang'an was a resurrection vessel. But after seeing Zhu Chang'an captured by Chenlong and taken to the stronghold, and combining that with the information I had, it wasn't difficult to deduce that."

I wasn't concerned with his stance within the Humanitarian Affairs Department, and continued, "So, how is Ying Lingyun's research progressing? Has it been successful? Why, even though Silver Moon has already made preparations for resurrection, does he still want to continue exploring methods to revive Silver Moon himself?"

"It should have been successful. As for why he wanted to explore the method of resurrection... it's very likely because the resurrection method that Silvermoon prepared itself was incomplete," he said.

“You said ‘very likely’... which means you yourself are not sure?” I asked.

“Yes. Because this is just my speculation based on what I’ve seen; Ying Lingyun didn’t tell me the truth directly,” he said.

“Tell us about the situation you’ve encountered,” I said.

He could only nod, and then said, "It all started with the defection of the Dog."

The name "戌狗" (Xu Dog) sounds unfamiliar, but I've encountered it before. I quickly retrieved it from my memory.

Fu Feng, however, was somewhat puzzled, unsure whether he was feigning it or being genuine. He asked, "Who is Xu Gou?"

"The Dog is one of the experimental subjects of the Humanity Division's 'Twelve Gods Project'." I said, recounting what I remembered. "The purpose of this project was to create super warriors capable of rivaling demon hunters at the Great Perfection level or above, but in the end, only two successful cases were created."

"One of them is Chenlong—he achieved the Great Completion rank through the 'Twelve Gods Project'; and the other is Xugou."

That's about all I know about Xu Gou, while the senior researcher looked shocked: "'Project Twelve Gods' is a top-secret project even within the Humanitarian Department. How did you find out about it?"

"The Humanitarian Division can actually create a Grand Completion level?" Dongche was also shocked. "I know Chenlong. He was originally a top-tier Grand Completion level cultivator and also possessed the 'Comprehensive Enhancement' ability. It's not unacceptable that he would use unorthodox methods to enhance it to a level comparable to a Grand Completion level cultivator, regardless of resources and costs... But what about this Xugou? Has this 'Twelve Gods Project' really succeeded?"

"No, it was a failure..."

Perhaps knowing he couldn't resist, the senior researcher spoke up before I could repeat the question: "This Xu Gou is also a unique success story that cannot be replicated. The reason he was able to reach the Great Completion level is because Ying Lingyun implanted some unknown substance into his heart."

"Thanks to this, the Dog not only gained absurd power, but also became a candidate for the Great Impermanence."

I had also seen this on Dr. Silver Mask's bookshelf, but Dongche couldn't accept it. He couldn't help but say, "A candidate for the Great Impermanence? Are you serious? Does your Department of Humanity even know what a candidate for the Great Impermanence means? That's an earthly deity whose mere existence, even without doing anything, affects the rise and fall of civilizations; as long as they don't die prematurely, they are guaranteed to become the Great Impermanence... How could you possibly create a deity?"

It turns out that not only are those who possess the qualifications of the Great Impermanence referred to as deities, but even those qualified as Great Impermanence are considered to be similar beings?

Unlike Dongche, Fufeng did not question the senior researcher's statement, but instead inquired about other parts: "What do you mean by 'some unknown substance' that you just mentioned?"

“It’s a substance that looks like black jade,” the senior researcher replied.

Fu Feng clearly made a connection to something; a similar item had also been contained within this Fu Feng base. His expression immediately changed: "Ying Lingyun actually implanted that kind of thing into a test subject..."

“Continue. What happened to this Dog that made you discover that the method to resurrect Silver Moon is incomplete?” I asked the senior researcher.

And he continued speaking—

The general background of the matter is not complicated. While the Humanitarian Division was researching the technology to create super soldiers, it was also researching ways to restrain them.

The Humanitarian Division's goal was to "create super soldiers to serve mortal leaders." If they created experimental subjects with sufficient power who then disobeyed their orders, it would be tantamount to creating another group of demon hunters who would threaten the ruling order of mortal society—something the Humanitarian Division absolutely could not tolerate. Therefore, the Humanitarian Division had made corresponding preparations for the experimental subjects of the "Twelve Gods Project."

Chenlong once mentioned to me that while Ying Lingyun was modifying him, he also implanted a backdoor into his body. In order to prevent Xu Gou from rebelling after obtaining great power, the Humanity Department did the same thing to him, and even went further.

Having undergone a complete transformation through the "Twelve Gods Project," the Dog (戌狗) possessed the power of a fully-fledged being, but was also intentionally burdened with numerous flaws. He required specialized life support devices to survive and function normally, and the maintenance of these devices depended entirely on the Humanitarian Department's vast and complex logistical system. He was also injected with countless potent and addictive elixirs and potions; once the drug supply ceased, he would suffer a fate worse than death. These were merely the tip of the iceberg of the Humanitarian Department's control methods.

In addition, the Dog itself has a maximum lifespan of only three months. This is because, to the Humanitarian Division, it is not a combat asset, but merely a lab rat existing to advance to the next stage of research.

More importantly, the Humanitarian Affairs Department anticipated that it could not control this super-individual for long—the Dog, who had always been inhumanely treated, harbored an inexhaustible resentment towards the Humanitarian Affairs Department. Therefore, if the Humanitarian Affairs Department did not execute the Dog before it spiraled out of control, it would only destroy itself.

Then something happened that completely exceeded the control of the Humanitarian Affairs Department.

To be honest, when the senior researcher talked about this part, I also wondered if I had misheard the story—a female researcher in the Humanitarian Department who was in charge of monitoring Xu Gou fell in love with her monitoring subject for some unknown reason; and Xu Gou was moved by her feelings and also fell in love with her.

Subsequently, facing the increasingly frail lifespan of the Dog, the female researcher made a painful decision. Using a ritual technique she obtained within the Humanitarian Department that combined mysticism and science, she transferred the Dog's soul into her healthy body, while she herself was annihilated.

The Dog, having acquired a new body, did not lose his magical powers as a Great Impermanence, since magical power is fundamentally derived from the soul. He lost everything that restrained him, and he also lost his beloved. Overwhelmed with grief, he utterly destroyed his Humanity Division outpost and vanished without a trace.

"In fact, the ritual technology that the female researcher obtained was the resurrection method that Ying Lingyun was researching. The reason she decided to use it on the dog was, to some extent, the result of Ying Lingyun's instigation," the senior researcher said. "At that time, Ying Lingyun was already at the height of his power in the Humanitarian Affairs Department. I couldn't resist him and was forced to participate in this matter, so I knew the general situation."

"The original intention of that resurrection method was not to change the body, but to use the person being resurrected as a living sacrifice and then resurrect him in his complete form... This may sound a bit convoluted, so it might be more accurate to call it a 'rebirth ritual' rather than a 'resurrection method'."

"It's just that the backdoors implanted by the Humanitarian Department into Xu Gou's original body were too numerous and too deeply rooted, and even the rebirth ritual could hardly eradicate them. Therefore, it was necessary to use another healthy body, and that female researcher chose to sacrifice herself."

“I see…” I said, “Xu Gou, and that female researcher, were merely test subjects chosen by Ying Lingyun to test his resurrection method, right?”

“I think that’s probably it. Both Xu Gou and Yin Yue are at the Great Completion level. By reviving Xu Gou to its complete state, Ying Lingyun can obtain the key data he wants,” the senior researcher said. “The ‘Twelve Gods Project’ itself was also led by Ying Lingyun, so perhaps he had this idea at the time. If it weren’t for the need to extricate himself from the incident of Xu Gou going out of control, he might have taken a more direct approach.”

"Perhaps the only part that went beyond his plan was that the power that Xu Gou unleashed in his grief surpassed his calculations. Originally, he intended to destroy Xu Gou on the spot after the deed was done, but Xu Gou turned the tables and destroyed the 'possibility clone' left at the scene along with the scene itself."

I've sorted out some of the logic.

As Elder Zhu had told me before, simply using a direct relative like Chang'an as a living sacrifice was far from enough to resurrect Yin Yue; Yin Yue herself would have to be sacrificed. Of course, doing so would be completely unnecessary; since Yin Yue already existed, there was ultimately no need to resurrect her. However, if Yin Yue were resurrected in an incomplete form, and Ying Lingyun were to then bring her back to her complete form, then this act of "resurrecting Yin Yue by sacrificing her" would have meaning.

But... is that really all there is to it?

I detected an undeniable contradiction within it.

(End of this chapter)