Chapter 32 The indescribable murmurs of the tentacles echoed, the pitch-black tendrils...

Pei Qian was confused and didn't know what had happened to make her being taken away again.

The atmosphere inside the car was somber and solemn, with armed guards on both sides, watching them intently.

She couldn't muster any resistance, so she could only sit obediently, not daring to ask any more questions, for fear of causing more trouble.

Pei Qing was speechless. How could someone manage to get in by picking up a secondhand, broken terminal from a 'garbage dump'?

The key point is that the broken terminal originally belonged to her! These days, is it illegal to pick up your own stuff?

Where is justice?!

Thinking about this series of events that were both incredibly smooth and strange, Pei Qing seriously suspected that she, as a powerless and lowly commoner, was actually taking the blame for some arrogant and domineering unknown Celestial Dragons.

No, what on earth is going on?! What exactly did these high-ranking officials lose that they're searching for so frantically?

Recalling Teres's silent words at the door before he left, Pei Qing became even more agitated. Her scalp also became intensely itchy, and she couldn't help but scratch it.

Before Pei Qing could even move her hand, the next second, the soldier next to her had already swiftly raised his weapon and aimed it at her vulnerable spot.

!!

Good heavens! Why the stress?! She was just scratching her head, no, she's already sitting here, what else can she do?!

Besides, Pei Qing really had no intention of resisting. She was exhausted, her brain was shut down, and that was it.

And so, Pei Qing kept her hands pressed tightly against her trouser seams and her back straight until the vehicle stopped.

Huh? You arrived so quickly?

After Pei Qing was taken off the vehicle, a person in a white protective suit walked towards her. Pei Qing noticed with her sharp eyes that the person seemed to be holding some kind of glass object, which gleamed coldly in the sunlight.

Pei Qing stared intently, and holy crap! It was an enormous syringe! The needle was so thick—wouldn't a prick from that die?!

She looked around, and apart from a group of uniformed, solemn-looking soldiers, it seemed that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, she was the only guinea pig...

Ha, ha, maybe we should just run away...

Pei Qing's hands trembled slightly, and her legs felt a little weak.

Her foot had barely moved an inch before the soldiers forcibly escorted her to the man. The man nodded slightly, and the needle twitched, causing Pei Qing's eyes to dart back and forth.

Before Pei Qing could even finish looking around, the enormous needle was right in front of her, plunging deep into her carotid artery.

So there was absolutely no preparation or disinfection measures whatsoever? Who will be responsible if someone gets stabbed? Our lives matter too! This violates federal human rights laws; she's going to file a complaint!

Pei Qing wanted to shout it out, but her mouth opened and closed blankly a few times without making a sound. No, where were her vocal cords? Who stole her vocal cords?

For some reason, her vision became increasingly blurry, everything spun around, and her thoughts became extremely sluggish and slow.

A minute later, Pei Qing lay on the ground, snoring loudly, sleeping peacefully.

The experimenter in charge of administering the injection frowned in confusion upon seeing Pei Qing's reaction. This female A seemed to have a conditioned response that was somewhat off, something that had never occurred in previous experimental cases.

Theoretically speaking, after the initial gene injection, the body's reaction will vary to some extent due to various factors such as each person's physical condition and mental strength, but it will not deviate from the quantitative track. This is a valuable experience they have gained from thousands of experiments.

However, she had never seen a test subject so peaceful and without any painful reaction. Perhaps something went wrong with the drug during its journey.

No, they've been experimenting for years; they wouldn't make such a basic mistake.

After a moment of contemplation, the researchers decided to return to the base immediately. Due to the suddenness of the incident, the subsequent residual reactions of the test subjects could only be observed and recorded en route.

With a wave of her hand, Pei Qing was lifted onto the airship.

"They said the sample is lost?"

In the core laboratory located in a secret base on an abandoned planet, all kinds of sophisticated instruments of various types are displayed in the room.

While answering her assistant's questions, the chief researcher kept an eye on the latest experimental results displayed on the screen. As she looked at them, her eyes crinkled, and she seemed to be in a very good mood.

"Yes, that's the message we got from over there."

The assistant adjusted his glasses, answered meticulously, and then turned to hand over a vial of nutrient solution.

"You haven't taken your nutritional supplements on time for two days. If this continues, it will harm your health."

"Pfft!"

The woman laughed so hard she couldn't straighten up, her deep gray eyes narrowing into crescent moons. She leaned against the table with one hand, while pinching her assistant's cheek with her other hand. "Why are you so serious, Nana? Are you really that concerned about your older sister?"

The assistant's lips moved slightly, and he lowered his head somewhat helplessly, saying in a stiff tone, "You are the chief researcher, so your health is naturally the most important thing."

The chief researcher's smile slowly faded. He ran his long, slender fingers through his disheveled short hair, put his hands in his pockets, and leaned back in his chair. "Little Nana, it's been a year. In this year, you haven't called me 'sister' even once."

"But once the experiment starts, it won't stop, haven't you always known that?"

The assistant's eyelashes trembled, and her left hand gripped the fabric of the lab coat tightly behind her back, then released it, leaving indelible lines.

"...No, no, I just..."

She raised her dark gray eyes, which were similar in color to the other person's, as if to explain something, but the words she finally uttered were so pale and weak.

A knowing look crossed the chief researcher's face. She stepped closer, patted her assistant's shoulder, and said gently, "Go on, go and rest. You're just too tired."

The assistant nodded, reverting to his aloof and calm demeanor, and left after putting down the chart he was holding.

After the assistant left, the laboratory remained silent for a long time, with only faint breathing sounds and the continuous operation of the instruments remaining.

After a long silence, a sigh came from the deepest part of the room, "My little Nana, always so soft-hearted..."

"It's time to get ready and welcome our new guests."

The airship continuously traversed its orbit, bypassing countless magnificent planets, before slowly landing on an extremely desolate, abandoned planet near the edge of the Ninth Sector, where no signs of life could be detected.

"Beep—Landing request approved, please land as soon as possible. Beep—Landing in progress—"

The flight system issued a prompt, and the airship slowly shut down its engines, opened its hatch, and extended its hover ladder.

A strangely shaped, pure white, oval-shaped cocoon rolled out, followed by several shriveled objects that appeared to be corpses.

They were the soldiers who were performing the guard duties.

At the airship cabin door, the experimental personnel's previously intact protective suits had a large hole in the chest area, exposing the skeleton and muscle fibers inside. Strangely, not a drop of blood flowed out.

If you look closely, you'll notice that the fabric near the abdomen of the protective suit bulges a few times, as if black, root-like things are moving.

A few seconds later, the eerie black roots appeared on the top of the pure white cocoon-like object, gradually covering it, surging for a moment, and then disappeared without a trace.

Pei Qing had a dream in which she seemed to have been hungry for a very long time and was in a bad mood. Fortunately, she found some not-so-delicious food and managed to fill her stomach. The food tasted terrible and she was still not full.

Let's rewind to a few hours earlier.

Pei Qing, who was in a coma, was placed in a specially made semi-transparent portable observation chamber and placed securely in the corner of the room to await the researchers' recording.

The researchers connected the cabin to the instruments and began recording data after the indicator lights flashed in an orderly manner.

The diligent researchers failed to notice that several tiny, dark tentacles silently emerged from the observation chamber and climbed to the ventilation holes in the protective suit.

The researcher felt an itch on her neck, but she didn't pay attention to it, assuming it was a loose strand of hair, and continued working.

The crisis happened in that instant! The seemingly small and harmless tentacles suddenly became extremely hard, piercing through the internal protective device and stabbing into the chest of the experimenter when she was completely unprepared!

In just a few seconds, a large amount of blood was lost, but not a single drop was wasted or spilled on the ground; it was all returned to the mother.

Pei Qing's eyes suddenly opened, the whites of her eyes had long since disappeared, replaced by complete darkness. Twisting tentacles crawled up her expressionless face, parted her eye sockets, and burrowed inside.

The intelligent system inside the room sensed the abnormal state of the organism, activated emergency mode, locked the room door, and activated the observation cabin to its highest alert level. In an instant, countless pure white substances flowed out from the edge of the observation cabin, tightly wrapping and binding it to prevent the organism from escaping.

But it had no effect.

Pei Qing narrowed his eyes, and instantly, countless black tentacles spread and intertwined, covering the entire room. The room door was squeezed to pieces, and a black tide surged forth.

So hungry...so hungry...

No, that's not enough...

Indescribable murmurs arose, and pitch-black tendrils filled every corner of the airship, while an immense and unparalleled wave of spiritual energy swept across.

One by one, the soldiers' weapons fell from their hands, and everyone's expressions gradually became bewildered and peaceful, immersed in this grand nightmare.

The tangled, jet-black tentacles enveloped and penetrated everyone's bodies, causing them to wither and die, their life force flowing along the twisting tendrils into the depths of the airship.

Pei Qian, still in a deep sleep, seemed to sense something, frowned, and pursed her lips.

...It seems like...I ate something really awful...

The airship's alarm system was completely destroyed. Inside the empty cockpit, autopilot mode was activated, and it rapidly moved toward the pre-set coordinates.

...

The spacecraft wreckage was dismantled, and professionals carried out the destruction work in an orderly manner, while researchers used testing instruments to collect fragments that still contained active fluctuations.

Linka stood a little further away, hands in her pockets, looking at the mess before her. A smile played on her lips as she muttered to herself, "That guy was right, the energy cluster really was absorbed, that's why..."

"Ha, what perfect experimental material..."

A base security guard jogged over, looking troubled. "Doctor, what...what should we do with these things?"

"Cut off the parts with the strongest activity fluctuations and pile them all in materials room A-1103. As for—"

Linka turned her gaze to the pure white cocoon-like object not far away. "As for Him... I need to think about it carefully."