Chapter 599 - Chapter 599: Chapter 599: Rebellion

Chapter 599: Chapter 599: Rebellion

In the empty room, a sudden heart-rending cry rang out, startling Song Jian. Even with his strong psychological endurance, the abrupt wail made his heart pound.

Fortunately, the cries slowly faded as the mysterious letter burned to ashes.

Song Jian collected himself, noticing a strange smile appearing on the wall in front of him. It looked as if it had been drawn with the smoldering ashes.

Song Jian was certain that before he took out the strange letter, there was nothing on the wall;

“Playing tricks!” Song Jian gave a cold hum and summoned the Crimson Fire Heart Ape Sword. He struck the wall fiercely. A golden Sword Qi flashed, making it feel like he was slashing at a mass of cotton, unable to channel his strength.

Suddenly, the sound of shattered glass echoed in his ears.

Just then, the wall unexpectedly caved in with a “rumble”, revealing a pitch-black hole.

The black hole was completely dark; he could not make out what was inside;

Just then, a chilling roar pierced through from the black hole. A pair of crimson eyes, like two lights in the darkness, shone onto Song Jian;

“Who are you? Another reckless adventurer? It is quite commendable that you managed to find this place…” a strange voice echoed in Song Jian’s ear. It sounded like two dry pieces of wood rubbing against each other.

“Who are you, and what are you doing here?” Song Jian clenched his sword, his face full of vigilance.

The red eyes in the darkness stared at Song Jian for a long time, finally letting out a sigh;

Next, faint red light illuminated the surrounding area, revealing the room’s interior to Song Jian;

It was a chamber of about twenty square meters with an empty surrounding, except for a stone platform rising waist-high in the center. A creature that appeared to be human was tied to it.

This creature was almost identical to a human, except that its body was nearly naked, save for a piece of cloth around its waist;

What surprised Song Jian was that the surface of this human-like creature was marked with patterns resembling tree bark. If not for its red glowing eyes, Song Jian would have thought it was a tree sculpture;

“Surprised, aren’t you? Do you think I’m a monster?” Its mouth curled into a mocking grin. The red eyes stared hard at Song Jian, “What if I told you, I was once a human? Would you believe me?”

“Have you been poisoned? Has your body mutated?” Song Jian asked with a slight frown.

“Actually, I was a researcher on this floating base!” The bound “wooden man” said helplessly: “During the research, a sudden rebellion broke out in the base, most researchers were killed, and I was infected with the Shaferin virus, a virus that turns people into wood. If it had not been for the antidote, I’d have long rotted into a pile of decaying timber.”

“A rebellion? What rebellion? And what were you researching? Also, who are you? Since you were poisoned, why are you tied up here?” Song Jian asked a series of questions, his brows furrowed.

The base has been deserted for God knows how many years, and it’s incredible that some of the original researchers are still alive;

“You have too many questions. As for the rebellion, I don’t know much. I guessed it was because there was a significant breakthrough in our research, which some people wanted for themselves, thus the rebellion ensued.”

“As for me, you can call me Simon, just a humble researcher on this floating base!”

“Our research, hahahaha. Do you want to know what we were researching?” Simon’s wood-textured face broke into a crazy grin, laughing wildly: “Our research is something everyone who is alive cares about; no matter their influence, or their wealth, once our research results are published, it will be a mad scramble.”

“Our research is…” Simon stared at Song Jian and said clearly, “Our research is on immortality!”

“Immortality?” A sarcastic smile appeared on Song Jian’s face, “Are you implying eternal youth?”

“Stupid mortal, you dare mock the great…” Simon seemed enraged by Song Jian’s facial expression, his voice suddenly booming. But quickly, he noticed something, gave a cold hum, and explained, “Humph, you wouldn’t understand. What do you think thousands of the empire’s most outstanding biologists were doing in this giant metal cage all year round, deprived of daylight? Do you think your intellect and knowledge can compare to those of the thousands of elite biologists of the great empire?”

Simon’s words made Song Jian fall into deep thought. “Could it be that everything this strange fellow said is true? The original research of this floating base was to pursue immortality, not to produce Puppet Beasts and other war weapons?”

Song Jian had always thought that the base’s research was for military purposes. He never expected that his conjecture was wrong from the start.

“Can you tell me more about your research, Simon?” Song Jian asked curiously.

“Of course, it’s not a problem!” A mysterious smile spread across Simon’s face, “This should start when the empire discovered a peculiar plant. At the time, I was just a seventeen or eighteen-year-old greenhorn…”

Simon began to recount the entire event to Song Jian. Initially, a massive empire discovered a plant full of life energy, the same Life Vine that Anna mentioned.

The juice extracted from the Life Vine had a miraculous effect that could save the critically ill. Ingesting one drop of its essence could rejuvenate a person by at least twenty years;

This discovery drove the empire’s nobles insane. They assembled all the biologists in the empire and brought them to this floating base to research this plant;

During the study, they found that the Life Vine emitted energy fluctuations or radiation all the time. Any organism frequently exposed to this radiation environment would experience mutations;

These mutations could be good or bad, but the unknown always sparked human curiosity. Some researchers gradually changed their research direction towards triggering evolution after discovering this characteristic of the Life Vine. This was the root cause of the many Puppet Beasts and other plant monsters in the replicas;

Researchers of immortality and evolution began to diverge significantly. Ultimately, when no one could convince the other, a purging massacre was inevitable.

…