Evans didn't hesitate any longer.
In an instant, half of his body transformed into black liquid, coating his surface like a suit of flowing armor.
Ren Yi slid into the deepest depths of the black liquid, hiding inside the surging fluid.
In the next instant, Evans lunged through the gap between the two clashing weapons.
Bloody aura and green light collided violently overhead. Shrapnel flew past them from time to time, but not a single piece hit them.
The black liquid paved a dark path beneath Evans's feet, carrying him around the corner.
Immediately after, he saw a massive double metal door, completely silver-white without any markings.
Evans stopped in front of the door.
He re-solidified into human form and stood before the door. He raised his hand and pressed it gently against the surface, a cold, hard sensation greeting his fingertips.
“This is it.”
Ren Yi communicated with Evans in his mind, using a voice simulated through illusion.
After Sword-man left, he had taken over the duty of guiding the way.
At this moment, his perception of the Base Station was clearer than ever.
Evans closed his eyes and sensed the surroundings for a moment.
The annihilation reaction at his fingertips had noticeably intensified here. The black liquid was frantically locked in a tug-of-war with that suppressing force.
Annihilating, regenerating, annihilating again, and regenerating again—it was like an unyielding ember flickering in a gale.
“S-003 is inside too,” he said, opening his eyes.
Ren Yi remained silent for half a breath.
“Then we go in together.”
Black liquid burst from one side of Evans's body, blooming in an instant like a dark, multi-petaled flower.
In contrast to Evans's unrestrained display, Ren Yi retreated into the deepest part of the black liquid, keeping his presence completely hidden.
Evans raised his hand, and the black liquid condensed into a massive fist, slamming into the door.
“Boom!”
The door burst open to both sides, the panels flying outward to reveal a massive space behind them.
The room was about the size of half a football field and looked incredibly empty.
A strong, sickly-sweet odor filled the air, like a mixture of disinfectant and cleaned bloodstains.
The light was very dim, with only a few incandescent bulbs on the ceiling in the center of the room barely working.
The beams of light were concentrated in that area, as if illuminating a small stage.
In the center of this “stage,” two operating tables sat side by side.
The tables were made of metal, their surfaces covered with white cushioned pads.
At each of the four corners of the tables was a slender pillar, the tops of which were connected to a dense network of tubes and wires.
These lines extended from the tables, converging into a massive cluster interface on the ceiling like bundled blood vessels.
The white sheets covering the two tables bulged slightly, each with a person lying beneath them.
In the darkness behind them was a giant transparent water tank.
The tank occupied almost the entire back wall, filled with a translucent, yellowish-green liquid that seemed to glow with a faint fluorescence under the light from the front.
From time to time, a string of bubbles rolled to the surface, as if something inside was breathing quietly.
A person stood in front of the tank.
A woman.
She wore a white surgical gown, its hem stained with several dark red spots.
In her hand, she held a scalpel, a drop of blood still clinging to its tip.
Her hair was neatly tied back behind her head, and she wore a pair of silver-rimmed glasses, her eyes behind the lenses calmly watching the intruding monsters.
Doctor Cyril.
The moment Ren Yi's perception touched Doctor Cyril, he locked onto his target.
His Base Station was currently on her person.
When Doctor Cyril saw the black tide pouring into the room, she unhurriedly set down the scalpel in her hand.
The drop of blood on the tip of the blade dripped onto the metal floor due to her movement, making a soft “tap” sound.
Then she began to peel off her gloves, finger by finger, her movements incredibly slow.
She looked like a doctor who had just finished a major operation, performing the final ritual before clocking out.
She casually tossed the blood-stained gloves into a nearby stainless steel tray, producing a soft “clack.”
The moment Evans's black liquid entered the room, it flooded more than half of the floor.
He did not rashly draw close, stopping near the doorway instead.
His body re-solidified from the black liquid, with only his upper half in human form while his lower half remained a surging mass of black.
Ren Yi's perception did not linger on Doctor Cyril for long. His attention bypassed her, landing on the first operating table on the left.
That was S-003. God's Corpse.
Having been in this world for so long, Ren Yi had finally laid eyes on God's Corpse.
The corpse lay quietly on the table, its skin displaying a marble-like, grayish-white hue, resembling a statue weathered by time for an eternity.
In an instant, Ren Yi's Assessment panel began to refresh frantically.
Lines of text cascaded down like a waterfall, characters jumping and flashing on the panel so quickly that he couldn't make out a single complete sentence.
Even so, Ren Yi still captured the crucial changes.
The line of text he had previously sneaked a peek at through Doctor Cyril—which had been completely obscured—finally revealed itself at this moment:
【Containment Performance and Anomalous Properties】
【3. The state and conditions of God's Corpse are suspected to have some connection with the world's geological changes.】
【Natural disasters, such as Red Tide or Rotten Mountains eruptions, can be predicted through its energy fluctuations.】
Ren Yi had no time to ponder what this line of text meant, because something new popped up on the panel.
This time, it wasn't a scrolling stream of data, but two solitary entries.
【S-001】
【Brain in a Vat】
There was no danger rating, no detailed description, no explanation of anomalous properties, and no response protocols.
Even the omnipresent remarks section, which usually contained a witty comment or two enclosed in parentheses, was completely empty.
Those two entries just floated quietly on the panel, their characters glowing faintly in Ren Yi's vision.
Ren Yi shifted his perception away from the operating table and onto the giant water tank behind Doctor Cyril.
The name was incredibly straightforward and fitting, without any abstraction or metaphor.
That brain was suspended in the yellowish-green nutrient solution.
Its surface was covered in dense folds, and its color was an unhealthy grayish-white.
It floated there in utter silence.
Ordinary and devoid of any anomalous aura, it looked just like an old specimen preserved in formalin.
Ren Yi was somewhat surprised.
He had actually speculated on what kind of thing S-001 was and what state it was in.
Inferring from the clues obtained earlier, the greatest possibility was that S-001 was the Immortal Sword Venerable's “cheat.”
That mysterious existence that granted him foresight, never failing him at any critical juncture.
He had imagined a profound-looking treasure, a high-tech system, or perhaps even an actual golden thumb.
He had never expected that the ultimate result would be this.
A brain.
Rate on N.U.
