Chapter 448.3: Eternal Love

The guard stood at attention, saluted sharply, and quickly turned and walked back. Sien cleared his throat and went to fetch Escaping Mole, the commander of the Skeleton Corps, and walked with him to the entrance of the banquet hall.

Soon, the pilot was brought in.

Wearing a hyena-skin pilot's cap, Mosquito just reached the entrance when he saw rows upon rows of delicious food and drinks in the banquet hall. His eyes widened in surprise. "Damn, I've been fighting bloody battles on the front lines, and you guys are eating too well!"

He was exaggerating.

The battle that afternoon was effortless. The enemy’s planes didn't even have a chance to engage in a dogfight before they were annihilated by a barrage from the administrator on the airship.

That was the most satisfying time he had picking up free spoils, even more so than during the battle with the Bonechewer Clan.

Seeing Mosquito’s stupid face, Escaping Mole hurriedly coughed. "Don't embarrass us... So, how did you get here?"

"Hehe..." Mosquito raised an eyebrow, his expression one of mischief as he said, "The administrator himself ordered me to deliver a message."

After he spoke, he tapped his VM twice with his index finger, and a serious vibration synchronized to Escaping Mole's arm.

[Mission 1:

Investigate the Cloudfly crash site.

]

[Mission 2:

Recover the body (or remains) of pilot, Falling Feather.

]

Seeing the missions, Escaping Mole was momentarily stunned.

Recover remains, really?

Good grief... That dude was hit by a megaton nuclear bomb... What remains can possibly be left?

Was there two ounces of ashes left or something?

"... Isn't this asking for the impossible?" Escaping Mole finally couldn't help but complain.

Mosquito chuckled, "I think so too, probably only the almighty can find it."

Escaping Mole frowned. "Comeone... What is the point?”

Mosquito shrugged casually. "Who knows? But it makes sense to issue this task. You might not know since you haven't logged off, our brother Falling Feather seems to have been bombed into a bug."

"Huh?"

Are there actually bugs in the game? No wonder Light and his code monkeys are always fixing something...

Mosquito continued, "Anyway, Light is contacting the tech department for repairs, but probably hasn't notified the NPCs in the game, so the administrator let his most loyal Granddaddy Mosquito come take a look.”

“...”

Mosquito chuckled, "Take me along when you go. I'm quite curious too. I haven’t seen what it’s like to be bombed by a nuke...”

Completely unable to understand the conversation between the two, the puzzled Sien was about to ask what the two were talking about when Sisi walked out of the banquet hall to speak to him.

"I received a new prophecy. The evil spirit summoned by the Army has not been completely sealed! We need to deal with it immediately! This... The Divine Envoy just told me this.”

Clearly, she also received the mission and so did the rest of the Order of the White Bear.

Hearing her, Sien didn't show any embarrassment due to the earlier rejection. However, his expression turned grave as he frowned. "But now, Lost Valley is filled with a massive amount of curses. The negative energy there can even cause the grass and trees to wither, unless we use...”

"No worries. We've brought anti-radiation drugs and radiation suits, it's not a big deal.”

Looking at the girl in front of him, Sien asked seriously, “Do you really need to go?”

Without blinking, Sisi replied, "This is for the well-being of the residents of Petra Fortress. We must ensure that the curse there is permanently sealed... The Divine Envoy said it's her duty and responsibility. I hope you can understand.”

Sien was silent for a while, then nodded “I understand, I will arrange a guide for you.”

“Good luck."

Standing nearby, Escaping Mole and Mosquito exchanged glances, sharing the surprise in each other's eyes.

𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Awesome..."

"Holy shit..."

She wasn’t even blushing when she bullshitted the everliving daylights out of him... The worst part was that the other side believed her!

She was truly something else!

...

Lost Valley.

Deep in a dark cave, hidden in a room filled with jars and bottles, if not for a few malfunctioning terminals and the connected cultivation tanks, it would be hard to tell it was a laboratory.

With a face as puzzled as a swamp dove, Dove touched his chin and looked at the unconscious young man lying on the metal bed. In the end, he muttered to himself, "This shouldn’t happen though?”

The cardiac and pulmonary functions had revived, but the person just wouldn't wake up, as if he had lost his soul.

It was truly bizarre.

He had lived for so long, yet it was the first time he had encountered such a strange incident...

... A few hours ago.

Some fool detonated a nuclear bomb outside, causing a partial collapse of a distant mountain, nearly burying him alive.

Thankfully, the explosion's epicenter was right in the center of the valley, about 10 kilometers from the mountain stronghold.

Thankfully, the remnants around contained a large amount of alloy structure, blocking some of the radiation that came their way.

If not for so many coincidences... Probably only Reddy would have survived.

Although he survived thanks to his regenerative abilities, the dude with the fleshly body wasn't so lucky. The organic molecules in his body were instantly perforated by high-energy radiation, causing extensive necrosis of organic tissues.

If he left that guy alone, he would definitely die.

Considering their fateful encounter, Dove decided to give him a hand. He let Reddy create a Seed of Life for him.

The so-called Seed of Life was a name Dove came up with himself. It was essentially Slime Mold from the Mother Body.

But unlike other regional Slime Mold, those created by Reddy would not extract nutrients from the host or devour the host for their own mutation, nor do they turn the host into themselves.

Instead, they would sacrifice their autonomous consciousness, becoming a part of the host, granting the host regenerative abilities, and in the following years, rapidly replace the host's aging, or dead cells, keeping the host perpetually healthy and young.

It was like an all encompassing, self sacrificial love!

In this symbiotic relationship, the host would completely escape the shackles of age, not weakening due to aging, but rather becoming stronger as the years pass.

Because the longer they live, the more cells would be replaced. Because the symbiotic Slime Mold lacked autonomous consciousness, even if all the cells in their body were completely replaced, the host's autonomous consciousness would still belong to them.

As for the young man's concerns about the cost... In Dove's view, it couldn't even be considered a downside!

Every known form of life couldn’t escape metabolism. Whether it was organic or inorganic, they would need to periodically replace worn parts.

Even without any external factors, the cells in a human body were completely replaced every six years. That was a normal reaction and wouldn’t affect the person in any way.

The symbiotic Slime Mold wouldn’t escape the cycle either. The only difference was that the Slime Mold could reproduce indefinitely, while cells of normal humans had telomere limitations, gradually becoming less capable of reproduction over the years.

Symbiotic Slime Mold would never disdain his aging and their eternal love would always surround him.

Even if all the cells in his body had decayed, he would still be standing as a healthy young man. Not only would he be able to think for himself, but he would still be able to reproduce!

That was simply a biological miracle!

Whether he is Dove or some Slime Mold entity called Dove, in his view, it doesn't matter at all. After all, he was the person controlling his body!

Thought was the fundamental reason for a person's existence! The body was just a shell that held thoughts!

Moreover, the change that replaced a few cells every time in a slow and reliable way, was much better than uploading one’s consciousness into a circuit board!

If they were in the Prosperity Era, his research would certainly have been one of the greatest discoveries of that era!

"Hmmm?" In the lab, Reddy tilted its head.

Its round, rough tentacles, gently floated behind its head, swaying like seaweed. The blurred outlines of its features were filled with confusion, resembling Dove standing by the bed.

"Do you not understand either?" Dove sighed, scratching his rotting head.

Reddy nodded.

But just then, it suddenly looked up towards the door of the lab, its floating tentacles slightly tensing.

“Yiwu...”

"

Hmmm

? Someone’s coming?” Dove muttered, looking at the nodding Reddy before glancing again at the motionless young man lying on the bed.

Recently, people had been tampering with something in Lost Valley, perhaps explorers from the Academy, or other treasure seekers. Honestly, he didn't really care, nor was he very interested.

But thinking about the nuclear bomb that had exploded earlier, he sighed and stiffly cracked his neck. "You wait here... I'll go outside and have a look."