Chapter 115
A few minutes ago, Xie Xubai spotted Zhou Chaosheng in a player's shared view.
However, contrary to his expectations of being held hostage, there were no supervisors around Zhou Chaosheng, nor was he wearing any restraints such as shackles; he was simply wearing a white lab coat.
At that time, he was in a secluded research and exhibition hall of the Fu Group. The exhibition hall was open to the public and was located very close to the entrance. Players who had just infiltrated Fu's Pharmaceuticals spotted Zhou Chaosheng almost immediately.
The latter stood in the center of the exhibition hall, looking up at a super-large planet model.
The planet is surrounded by a ring of asteroids, its surface a charcoal black, burned by intense heat. The outer layer cracks under the extreme temperature, and scorching orange-red sparks erupt from the cracks, raising plumes of grayish-white embers, creating a sense of impending destruction and madness. Magma flows through the dark ravines, lifelike and vivid.
Zhou Chaosheng remained motionless, whether lost in thought or mesmerized, the dim shadows casting shadows on his face, making it difficult to discern his features.
Just as the player was about to approach and confirm his identity, he suddenly turned his head without warning, his lifeless eyes, like gray-white fish eyes, precisely glancing at the stealthy player.
The player sensed danger approaching and felt a chill run down his spine. Fortunately, he reacted quickly and immediately identified himself, indicating that he meant no harm and had been assigned by Pei Yu and the other person to rescue the person.
Zhou Chaosheng only said one sentence.
He asked, "Have they developed a vaccine yet?"
The player was taken aback.
In that instant, Zhou Chaosheng seemed to read the answer from his expression, closed his eyes expressionlessly, and said as if sighing, "It's all fate..."
"Please pass on a message for me: I am waiting for their arrival in laboratory A01322."
Before the words were even finished, the player had no time to say anything when everything suddenly went black and he collapsed to the ground.
Xie Xubai confirmed through the mental link that the player was only unconscious and not injured, and notified other people nearby to go and rescue him.
A group of players rushed to the exhibition hall as fast as they could. Looking through the windows, they saw that the hall was empty, the lights were off, and it was deathly silent.
What's even more bizarre is that the open exhibition hall doors were locked, with a notice posted on the door saying "Temporarily closed due to the impact of a viral outbreak," and the closure date was several months ago!
Use the lock-picking tool to open the door and enter. The marble floor and display case glass are covered with a thin layer of dust, indicating that no one has visited for a long time. There is only a string of fresh footprints, which spreads from the doorway to the spot where the player is unconscious.
In the very center of the hall, the destructive planet model had vanished, replaced by standard solar system planet models.
The abnormality of the bizarre world has become the norm, so there's no need to be alarmed.
Xie Xubai felt inexplicably uneasy, as if Zhou Chaosheng's appearance was a premonition of something. He dared not linger for a moment and rushed to Fu's Pharmaceutical.
As it turned out, the Fu Group was not so easy to attack. The executives were more afraid of death than they had imagined. The pharmaceutical factory was attacked one after another. Headquarters sent people to provide support, but there were still more than 300 guards left to guard the main camp.
In just one encounter, these people's eyes bulged out, their blood lines turned black, and they writh like worms. In a matter of minutes, they broke through their skin, grew ferocious tentacles, and transformed into terrifying and brutal monsters, engaging in a frenzied battle with the players!
In an instant, the Fu's Pharmaceutical Group's factory area turned into a battlefield.
Explosions continued, blood filled the air, and the roars of monsters and the furious cries of humans fighting to the death pierced the sky!
Midway through, the security personnel received orders to collectively head towards the evacuation route, protecting the executives as they left, making it easier for Xie Xubai and his group to enter amidst the chaos.
However, Xie Xubai had to pay attention to the players' situation during this time, which severely depleted his mental energy. He also couldn't let the players see his weak appearance and affect his faith value, so he didn't notify anyone else when he set off and relied entirely on his own strength to support himself.
Large beads of cold sweat streamed down his cheeks, and the fingertips he was using to brace himself against the wall turned white from the force.
After he swayed again and almost fell, Pei Yuheng ignored his struggles and forcefully carried him on his back.
Pei Yuheng had worked here for many years and was familiar with the terrain, so he arrived near the laboratory that Zhou Chaosheng had mentioned without much trouble.
All security checkpoint gates were wide open and unobstructed. Considering Zhou Chaosheng's words before he disappeared, which led them here, Pei Yuheng absolutely did not believe that the other party was not involved.
In my memory, Zhou Chaosheng was just an ordinary scientific researcher, low-key and uncompetitive. But now, after experiencing so much with Xie Xubai, Pei Yuheng is no longer as innocent and naive as before.
He almost immediately figured it out: what kind of simple person could be able to protect him under the pressure from the Fu Group?
The clean and tidy corridor reflected a cold, metallic light under the lamplight. Everyone seemed to have been called away; documents and papers were scattered on the floor, uncollected; most of the equipment had been taken away, some destroyed, and the air reeked of burnt plastic.
The laboratories of the Fu Group are almost all of this size, giving people a suffocating sense of confinement. Pei Yuheng was once trapped here day and night, and reflexively felt depressed.
Suddenly, Xie Xubai, who had been silently on his back, wrapped his arms around his neck.
"It's nothing." Pei Yuheng regained his senses with the slight force, propped his arm up, and emphasized again, "Be good, I'm fine."
Before long, the laboratory door was within reach. It wasn't locked, just ajar, revealing a sliver of light, as if inviting someone in.
Xie Xubai took a breath, persevered, walked ahead, placed his hand on the doorknob, and gently pushed it forward.
This push shattered the illusion of peace, and a furious roar pierced through the eardrums, echoing throughout the room!
"Aaaaaaah!!! Let me go!!"
Xie Xubai instantly became alert and quickly looked toward the source of the sound, only to see a tall, burly man firmly bound to a specially made chair.
He struggled frantically, his skin swollen, turning bluish-purple, and his face was covered with bulging veins, like a zombie after a rampage.
Although the man's face had been altered and looked very different from before, Xie Xubai and the other man recognized him at a glance as Fu Zong!
Amid the noise, a loud crash came from the lab bench.
Xie Xubai was the first to come to his senses, looking in astonishment at the busy figure in front of the lab table.
Zhou Chaosheng, dressed in a white coat and holding a syringe, walked over unhurriedly, ignoring Fu Zong's almost murderous glare, and skillfully gave him an injection.
Fu Zong roared and screamed, the iron chains rattling as he struggled, and finally, under the influence of the drug, he reluctantly closed his eyes.
The room suddenly fell silent again.
Xie Xubai was unaware of what had happened and cautiously remained silent. Pei Yuheng looked at his somewhat unfamiliar mentor and was also speechless.
"Don't worry, it's just a tranquilizer," Zhou Chaosheng finally said.
I hadn't seen him for several months, and he looked much more haggard. His hair was thinning, his bones were protruding, his gait was somewhat strange, and there was an indescribable weariness in his eyes.
Behind Zhou Chaosheng, there was a large instrument covered by a thick cloth, occupying a quarter of the entire laboratory area. Countless thick tubes drilled into the gaps in the cloth and connected to it, crisscrossing along the floor and extending to the crystal circuits on the walls.
Upon hearing his mentor's familiar, hoarse voice, Pei Yuheng's heart skipped a beat, and he finally broke down, urgently asking, "Teacher, what exactly happened? Were you trapped at Fu's Pharmaceutical Company for the past few months while you were missing?"
He said this because he didn't believe Zhou Chaosheng had any connection with the Fu Group, and he still had a sliver of trust in people.
But Zhou Chaosheng shook his head, shattering his wishful thinking: "No, whether it's joining Fu's Pharmaceuticals or participating in their experiments, it's all voluntary."
Without elaborating further, Zhou Chaosheng took out a file folder with a yellowed foreskin and handed it to Pei Yuheng: "How much do you know about the research your parents were unable to complete?" His deep gaze not only fell on Pei Yuheng but also clashed with Xie Xubai's.
Upon hearing this, Pei Yuheng's movements suddenly froze.
He stared at the tightly wrapped document bag in front of him, and an unbelievable possibility suddenly occurred to him. He couldn't wait to take it and open it, his fingers trembling unsteadily with excitement.
The document was pulled out; it was indeed signed by the Pei couple, but the title boldly read: "On the Development of Human Brain Potential."
Pei Yuheng's excitement instantly turned into bewilderment, and he blurted out, "...How could this be?"
Human research into the development of brain potential has never stopped. Studies have shown that most people currently develop only 2%-8% of their brain potential, and even the most famous scientists in history have only reached a maximum of 13%.
The biological composition of the human brain is not obscure or complex, consisting of proteins, lipids, vitamin B, etc. The difficulty lies in the fact that people have not yet found a suitable scientific theory to explain the origin of the soul and thought.
This is a highly anticipated and arduous research topic; some people have spent most of their lives studying it without achieving results. If the Pei couple can truly produce significant results, it would be no exaggeration to say that it would cause a worldwide sensation!
However, Pei Yuheng was bewildered because his parents mainly focused on fighting cancer cells and lesions, and were not experts in this field at all.
Even within biopharmaceutical research, there are many broad categories, each further subdivided into countless smaller ones, with vastly different levels of difficulty in learning and applying the skills. Trying to master these skills in a short time is simply a pipe dream.
Looking further ahead, Pei Yuheng's gaze suddenly froze, his confusion growing stronger, almost burning away his reason like flames.
All that could be seen was written in black and white on the white paper.
[Experimental subject: Pei Yuheng.]
It was at this moment that Zhou Chaosheng spoke again: "I am an alumnus of your parents' school. We used to work together in a laboratory. Later, they fell seriously ill for no reason and resigned due to mental confusion. At that time, you had just been born, about six months old. Your parents suddenly came to me and asked me if I believed in reincarnation."
Zhou Chaosheng still looked incredulous when he recalled the situation at the time, and said with self-deprecation: "Everyone says that the end of science is theology, and I didn't believe it until you were six months old and clearly recited a passage of Darwin's theory of evolution in front of the three of us."
"Your parents thought I wasn't shocked enough, so they made you recite 'On the Origin of Species' and 'The Gene' word for word. Your mouth was dry and you started to cry. I snapped out of my daze and went to get some water. In my shock, I wasn't paying attention and tripped and fell hard on the ground."
Pei Yuheng's first reaction was that it was impossible.
A six-month-old baby's bodily functions are not fully developed. To put it jokingly, at this stage, even if someone's soul were to transmigrate, they would have to go through a process, drooling and babbling.
But for some inexplicable reason, he remembered when Xiao Xubai recognized the names of the medicines.
The warehouse contains 180 kinds of drugs, whether they are conventional drugs or special antagonists, and they come from all countries. Xiao Xubai can answer them instantly. Isn't this another kind of impossibility?
Author's Note:
Thank you for your concern, my darlings! Love you all! I'm feeling much better today. I've been having a lot of issues lately, so I'm hesitant to make any promises. I'll try to catch up on updates as soon as I feel better. As compensation, I'll send you another 100 small red envelopes. Even if I stumble around while updating, I'll definitely finish it. I promise I won't abandon the story! (ω)
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