Chapter 452.2: Surprise on Level B6

With that dull expression, it was hard to imagine him as any kind of threat.

But beasts didn’t think like humans. Maybe Neeko had picked up on a scent that Chu Guang couldn’t.

He gently patted Neeko’s head.

She gave a low purring sound and rubbed against his arm, looking both aggrieved and slightly pouty, as if asking why she’d been left alone for so long... Or maybe pleading for that creature to be moved farther away.

Yin Fang and Hyrja stood beside the iron bars of the small cell, scrutinizing Falling Feather like a specimen.

“It’s strange...” Yin Fang muttered. “He has everything a person should have, nothing extra, nothing missing. But why can’t I sense any independent consciousness?”

He looked baffled as he continued to examine Falling Feather.

Hyrja stood beside him, arms crossed in thought. “Yeah... It is odd. The Slime Mold cells have somehow integrated with his biology. I’m not sure how, maybe by modifying receptors, but they’ve completely bypassed the immune system. There is no rejection, and they’re working even more efficiently than normal cells.”

Yin Fang turned to her and frowned. “I don’t know much about Slime Mold, but how is this different from what happened with Bucky?”

Hyrja pondered for a moment before she explained, “There’s a key difference. One is parasitic while the other is symbiotic.”

“So basically, both of them have been taken over by Slime Mold?”

Hyrja nodded, then shook her head. “Yes and no... Let me give an example. If you replace your arm with a bionic prosthetic, are you still the same person?”

Yin Fang replied matter-of-factly, “Of course. A prosthetic is just a better tool. It’s not like I changed my brain.”

“Exactly,” Hyrja nodded. “It’s the same with him. Only, the tool replaced is organic. His genetic information hasn’t been altered. Even if all his somatic cells were replaced by Slime Mold, he could theoretically retain his consciousness.”

Yin Fang looked stunned, but didn’t argue. Instead, he fell into deep thought. “... That makes some sense.”

But that was only in theory.

No current theory could explain why he was still so... Blank-looking.

Chu Guang eventually approached and asked, “Did you find anything?”

Hyrja shook her head. “Unfortunately, no... Life sciences are my specialty, but this feels beyond my academic range.”

After a pause, she added, “But I did notice something interesting during these few days.”

Chu Guang leaned in. “What is it?”

Hyrja explained, “The Mutant Slime Mold from Oasis No.7 is fundamentally different in genetic structure from the ones in Clearspring City. Though we use the same term, they’ve evolved into entirely different species.”

“For example, Clearspring City’s strain uses spores to transmit information. But the Oasis No.7 strain... Well, they don’t seem to have that ability. They communicate like humans, using sound.”

Chu Guang nodded. “My team noticed that too... They get visibly more aggressive when they hear the mother body’s roar...”

Suddenly, Yin Fang’s eyes lit up. “Could it be that the desert environment lacks water so they can’t release spores en masse, and the valley terrain makes echo-based communication easier...?”

“That’s exactly what I think!” Hyrja nodded excitedly. “Slime Mold adapts to the environment incredibly well, but that also makes it evolve rapidly. In just 200 years, their divergence is so extreme that they no longer recognize each other as the same species. That’s great news for us!”

Yin Fang mused, “So, in simple terms, both colonies won’t merge into one giant blob?”

“Correct!” Hyrja snapped her fingers. “In fact, if their differences grow large enough, they may even compete. Instead of sharing genes, they’ll fight for resources, until one drives the other out. Though, that’s just my theory. I don’t have enough data to back it yet.”

Still, their findings were promising. It was a new angle for solving the Slime Mold crisis.

If nuclear weapons couldn’t destroy them, maybe they could introduce a friendly strain to outcompete the hostile one.

How to boost the competitive fitness of the friendly strain?

That was up to the New Alliance’s researchers.

“Any other leads?” Chu Guang asked.

Hyrja shook her head with a hint of guilt. “No... That’s all for now.”

Chu Guang nodded and offered a word of reassurance. “Don’t feel discouraged. You’ve already done a great job.”

It had been four days since Falling Feather was transferred to Clearspring City.

Four full days without any progress in research. At that point, all Chu Guang could do was put his faith in the wisdom of the First Administrator.

After a moment of thought, Chu Guang gave the next order. “... Inject him with Slime Mold inhibitors and a sedative. Transfer him to the conveyor system on Level B1.”

Hyrja immediately asked, “Where will he be taken?”

“The shelter’s sample vault... Probably,” Chu Guang replied vaguely.

Truthfully, he didn’t know what was beneath the shelter. The First Administrator never told him. He hadn’t even seen the man’s face.

Hyrja looked slightly disappointed but said nothing more.

She understood why Chu Guang had to make this call. Leaving that thing out in the open was simply too risky.

“... Can I go to Oasis No.7’s ruins?” She asked cautiously, “I want to find out what’s really going on with that strain of Slime Mold.”

Chu Guang shook his head. “Until we’re sure the strain isn’t dangerous, I can’t allow it. Besides, the ruins are already occupied. The people there have physically sealed it off. We can’t risk destabilizing the entire region just to collect a sample.”

He paused, then added while looking at her disappointed face, “I’m not abandoning the region. I’m just saying we need to wait for the right time.”

“I promise you... I’ll send out a team once the time is right.”

After being injected with the inhibitor, Falling Feather immediately rolled his eyes and collapsed to the ground, out cold before the anesthetic even took effect.

His body had been almost completely destroyed in the nuclear blast. What was left had been rebuilt almost entirely by the Slime Mold.

And that was what baffled Chu Guang most.

The man was still physically the same.

So why couldn’t he trigger a resonance?

It was too strange.

He tossed the unconscious Falling Feather onto the conveyor and watched as the bulkhead slowly shut. Three light-blue holographic prompts popped up in front of him:

[Emergency Mission Complete]

[Mission Reward: Shelter 404 Level 86 Authority]

[Bonus Reward: +4000 Genetic Sequence Spots]

The moment those notifications appeared, a flash of delight lit up Chu Guang’s face.

Hot damn!

They’d crashed a plane and somehow gotten 4000 closed beta slots out of it.

And it wasn’t even his plane!

Actually, there was no rush, with how they had only been releasing 20 to 50 slots a day, they hadn’t even used up their previous slots.

Chu Guang stepped onto the elevator, extended his finger, and tapped the screen. He selected level B6, which appeared below B4, skipping B5 entirely.

As the elevator descended, excitement and anticipation churned in his chest.

Straight to B6, skipping B5 entirely... What kind of surprise had the First Administrator left him?

The elevator soon stopped.

But the moment the doors slid open, Chu Guang froze, staring blankly ahead, then glanced at the control panel to make sure he hadn’t gone to the wrong floor.

Unlike the spotless, pristine condition of other newly unlocked floors, level B6 was a mess. It was an absolute wreck.

The air quality was terrible as a strange, unsettling smell hung in the air.

According to the map on the wall, the place was different from the others, it appeared to be a research facility.

The elevator didn’t open into a lobby but an airlock room, equipped with air showers, positive-pressure systems, dust removal, sterilization, and other safety protocols.

The setup was identical to the decontamination chamber at the main entrance, designed to prevent spores or Slime Mold from infiltrating the interior.

But now it seemed the purpose had been reversed. Level B6 had been quarantined from within!

Chu Guang frowned.

It wasn’t the current state that raised suspicion, it was the fact that it had gotten this way.

Everyone knew that Slime Mold couldn’t survive without a queen or mother body.

That was why they had never breached the outskirts of Clearspring City.

Once they left the spore zone, the Slime Mold quickly weakened and decomposed under microbial action.

Theoretically, they shouldn’t be able to infiltrate a sealed environment.

Unless... There was a new queen, forming a new Hive...

“Activate internal life support...”

His helmet sealed shut. The exoframe’s internal oxygen circulation kicked in, consuming more power, but ensuring clean air.

Chu Guang pulled the hammer from his back and stepped into the open alloy door, walking into the now-pressurized buffer zone.

The airlock systems were still operational.

But beyond the reinforced inner door...

It was just as he feared, the corridor was a nightmare.

Silver alloy walls were streaked with fungal blotches, and the air stank of damp rot. Bullet holes and slash marks marred the walls, clear signs of past combat.

The air purification system had long since shut down, and had stayed shut for years.

But even then... The Slime Mold hadn’t died.

Even without external oxygen, they had survived, hibernating at minimal energy levels, clinging to the tiniest traces of organic matter.

At the entrance, several corpses lay untouched.

They wore security uniforms, some clad in the battered remains of Type 5 Light Cavalry exoskeletons.

Their bodies were little more than skeletons, molded and pitted by invasive fungi, so badly decayed there wasn’t even flesh left to rot.

One could only imagine how brutal their last stand must have been.

Chu Guang gulped once as he tightened his grip on his warhammer.

The next moment, as the airlock room’s pressure fully equalized, a distorted voice crackled over the loudspeakers.

A recording, perhaps automated, played overhead. The sounds of panicked shouting echoed through the space.

“Level B6 is compromised! The test subject has broken containment! The samples are out of control! Damn it, we have to evacuate immediately!”

“Wait! The experiment data hasn’t been backed up to the servers! At least let me...!”

“There’s no time! Move!”