Chapter 519.3: Advancement

He never intended it that way, and he certainly didn’t want her to feel indebted and burdened to repay some imagined kindness.

An unbalanced relationship would eventually tip one way or another. He didn’t think she owed him anything.

“Come on, I already told you it’s a gift. It took me a lot of effort to get it... Talking about money just ruins the mood.” Ample Time quickly out on a troubled expression while shooting down her question.

“But...”

“How about this.” his eyes landed on the mechanical arm beside the surgical table, and a thought struck him. A smile crept up his face. “That thing... it’s mine now.”

“That?” Dori stared blankly at the old mechanical arm, then murmured without much confidence, “That... That arm can’t possibly compare to this!”

Even if she’d never been to Ideal City, she could guess that the arm Ample Time brought back was worth mountains of chips. Her old arm was mass-produced item from Boulder Town Arms Industry.

“True,” Ample Time rubbed his chin and nodded seriously. “One’s just a piece of gear anyone can buy with enough points. The other? A limited-edition item loaded with memories. To me, that one’s far more valuable.”

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

“Valuable?”

“Yeah. After all, it helped you through a lot, right? Without it, life would've been much harder.”

Seeing Dori looking puzzled, he reached out and patted her head, a warm smile on his face. “You might not understand what I mean, but that’s okay. I just want to say, happy memories or painful ones... Your past, your present, and your future, I want all of it. That’s what I consider most precious.”

Her eyes slowly welled up with emotion.

A nurse nearby, though reluctant to interrupt the moment, had to prepare the room for the next procedure.

She cleared her throat gently, then smiled as she politely reminded them, “Sir... May I ask how much longer you’ll be staying?”

Realizing they were still in the operating room, Ample Time smiled sheepishly. “Sorry, I’ll bring her out now.”

Dori’s face also flushed red, half from embarrassment, half from guilt for holding up someone’s work.

She tugged lightly on Ample Time’s sleeve and whispered, “Let’s go.”

The two of them quickly left the room.

Just as Ample Time was wondering where to head next, a familiar figure walked toward them.

“Falling Feather?”

Hearing his name, Falling Feather stopped and looked over at them. A look of surprise appeared on his face.

“Huh? Ample Time, you’re back already?”

“Yeah, just got back.” Ample Time smiled while holding Dori’s hand. “This is Dori, my girlfriend.”

Dori nodded politely. “Nice to meet you.”

“Oh, hi,” Falling Feather managed a friendly smile despite having a lot on his mind. He greeted them in his broken Federation tongue before turning back to Ample Time. “By the way... Have you seen Little Feather?”

“Little Feather?” Ample Time blinked. “What happened?”

“No idea,” Falling Feather shook his head, puzzled. “Yesterday it suddenly developed a fever, so I brought it here. The doctors didn’t know what to do either, so they notified the research team. A researcher showed up and said they needed to keep it under observation... They told me to come back today. But I’ve been looking all day and haven’t found that NPC.”

“Maybe they’re busy?”

“Could be. Hopefully it’s not another bug.” Falling Feather frowned at the thought.

Lately, he felt like the server had it out for him. Every damn bug found its way over.

Ample Time shot him a sympathetic look. “Want me to help?”

“No, no,” Falling Feather shook her head vigorously. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll figure it out myself, you two go do your thing.”

Muttering to himself, Falling Feather walked toward a nearby office, planning to ask one of the doctors who might know something.

As luck would have it, a few members of the Guard Corps were also heading into that same office, and they ended up taking him somewhere else.

The one leading them was someone Ample Time recognized.

It was that young man named Lu Bei, the one who was always by Chu Guang’s side.

That invisible gossip antenna on Dori’s head twitched. Her journalist instincts told her something was going on, so she glanced at Ample Time curiously. “What’s happening?”

Ample Time gave her a conflicted look. “Maybe... He triggered a hidden quest?”

“Hidden quest?”

“Nothing to do with us.” He squeezed her hand gently. “Come on, let’s get dinner.”

...

Shelter 404, in the warehouse on level B3.

Chu Guang, fully geared up, stood with a frown, staring at a bizarre-looking creature before him.

It looked like a humanoid with excessive growth. Its conical skirt fused with the floor, and thin tendrils danced behind it like Medusa’s hair.

What was more shocking was that it had taken just one night for the creature to change from its original form into this.

“... Yi...wu...” The sound coming from its mouth was faint, completely at odds with its bulky form.

The tendrils swayed toward them, and the nearby soldiers tensed, gripping their weapons tightly.

If the monster posed any threat to their administrator, they would shoot without hesitation.

But Chu Guang raised a hand, signaling them to lower their weapons.

Perhaps because he was the first person it saw upon gaining awareness, the creature still held some lingering trust in him, believing he wouldn’t hurt it without reason.

He could sense that faint voice wasn’t threatening. It was simply pleading with him.

Chu Guang turned to Hyrja. “By the way, is this the evolution you’re talking about? What does that even mean?”

“It’s a transition from the Mother Body to a Hive!”

Unlike the tense soldiers, Hyrja wasn’t afraid. Her voice trembled slightly, but with excitement, not fear. Her clenched fists were damp with sweat.

At that moment, she looked like a textbook mad scientist from a Hollywood movie, obsessed with her biological experiments.

Her fanaticism even made Chu Guang glance at her twice.

If they were really in some comic, her fate likely wouldn’t be too good.

Unbothered by Chu Guang’s strange look, Hyrja continued passionately, “I don’t know if the Academy or the Enterprise ever studied this, but for us, it’s the first time! You probably don’t realize what this means, we’re about to witness a Mutant Slime Mold’s complete transformation from early development, to maturity, and finally to a Hive!”

She went on to rattle off a series of obscure scientific terms.

It all sounded like witchcraft to Chu Guang. He didn’t understand a word.

Though he trusted her expertise, he still interrupted, fixing her with a firm gaze. “I only want to know two things. What happens if we do nothing, and what can we do to keep things under control?”

He didn’t want level B3 to end up like level B6. One accident was enough as level B3 held a lot of nurturing cabins.

Taking a deep breath, Hyrja regained a bit of her usual composure. “Sorry, got a little carried away. To answer your question, doing nothing means letting it evolve on its own.”

“As for keeping things under control... I don’t know what counts as control, but we can intervene in the process. There are two choices. Either way, it’s a gamble... It depends on what result you’re after.”

Chu Guang asked immediately, “What do you mean letting it evolve on its own?”

“Non-intervention,” Hyrja answered concisely. “It’ll grow on its own, like most Hives do. First, it’ll enter a very long hibernation phase. During that time, it’ll slowly transform into a new lifeform. The benefit is we can collect interesting data. The downside is it might forget everything that happened before.”

“Why?” Chu Guang asked.

“No particular reason,” Hyrja replied. “It’s my hypothesis based on previous data, including logs from the B6 lab. Like how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, most cells are broken down into nutrients for the adult form. The transformation from Mother Body to Hive is similar. It’s a life cycle, shedding the old self to forge a stronger one.”

Chu Guang frowned. “And the alternative?”

“Piggybacking on a cocoon,” Hyrja said bluntly. “In plain terms, let it devour the Hive on level B6 that already went through this phase. That would mean the Hive already completed the path ahead for Little Feather.”

Chu Guang was stunned. “Is that even possible?”

“Of course,” Hyrja said. “That’s what Mutant Slime Molds do. They devour everything, extract genetic secrets, and analyze them, even from their own kind.”

She paused, then spoke more seriously. “But it’s not without risk. There’s a real chance it gets devoured instead. Think about it, how hard would it be for a toddler who just learned to walk to defeat an ancient monster? Even with our help, like suppression agents, it won’t be easy. I’m explaining this in terms you’ll understand, try to keep up.”

“I get it.” Chu Guang looked toward Little Feather and asked, “Which option gives it a better chance of keeping its self-awareness?”

If it lost its memory during the evolution, then all of Falling Feather’s efforts would be for nothing.

At least that was what Chu Guang thought.

The reason he allowed Falling Feather to roam freely with Little Feather, despite the risks, wasn’t for fun, it was because he needed a Mutant Slime Mold that understood humans and saw them as allies, not prey.

If the species couldn’t be eliminated from nature, then maybe it could be domesticated.

It wasn’t impossible.

Before dogs were domesticated, they too were humanity’s competitors in the food chain.

Looking at Chu Guang’s serious expression, Hyrja sighed, “This has never happened before, I can’t give you accurate odds. If Dove... The fellow from Lost Valley, were here, he would know what to do. But it’s too late to reach him now.”

“And even if we could, he might not help us.” Chu Guang looked again at Little Feather.

He could feel the creature’s confusion, and its desire to retain its consciousness.

But as Hyrja had said, both options were gambles, and neither had great odds.

Just then, a soldier in an exoskeleton strode up and stood beside Chu Guang, raising a fist to his chest and nodding slightly. “Administrator, sir. We’ve brought the one you requested.”