Unexpectedly, what lay beyond the door was not the research institute Ling Xiaoyou had guessed, but an elevator lobby.
Ling Xiaoyou glanced at the elevator buttons, which only had ‘Up’ and ‘Down’, thought for a moment, but still didn’t press them recklessly. Instead, she first closed the door and looked at the human researcher who had been thrown into the corner and was still unconscious.
“Hey, wake up!”
Ling Xiaoyou kicked the guy, not intending to give the researcher any favorable treatment. After all, these people had conducted so many ghost-body experiments on the abducted spirits, each of them unforgivable. She couldn’t be bothered to put on a nice face.
Perhaps because this researcher had some level of cultivation, he quickly regained consciousness under Ling Xiaoyou’s urging.
He opened his eyes, looked dazed for a moment, then noticed the several young girls in front of him. His panic was visible to the naked eye, but he forced himself to calm down and asked, “Who are you people?”
“Just ordinary passersby. Don’t worry about it.”
Ling Xiaoyou waved her hand dismissively and said, looking at him, “Now, I ask, you answer. Understood?”
“…I understand.”
Realizing the situation was not in his favor, the researcher chose to nod honestly.
“Good. I ask you, where is the research institute located here? Can we get there just by taking the elevator?”
Ling Xiaoyou inquired, looking at him.
“Yes. The research institute is located in the secret compartment space here. It can only be accessed through the elevator, which is a ritual facility.”
The researcher nodded in reply.
Hearing this, Ling Xiaoyou nodded her little head in understanding but didn’t press the ‘Down’ button directly. Instead, she continued asking, “What kind of experiments are you conducting here?”
“There are many types of experimental projects, but the main focus is on experimenting with the spirit race—testing their survivability in different environments, their adaptability to energy, or their compatibility with the world, and so on…”
The researcher’s spiel was very familiar, as if he had said it to others many times before. Seeing the researcher’s so matter-of-fact attitude, the girls all frowned, clearly displeased.
Sensing the girls’ mood, the researcher seemed to realize this wasn’t the institute, and the people before him weren’t his subordinates but enemies holding his life in their hands. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something to remedy the situation, but Ling Xiaoyou waved her hand and continued asking:
“Is it the Demon Grand Duke who supports your research? What does he want you to research for him?”
“He needs us to research an explosive for him—an explosive with immense power and extremely rapid propagation.”
The researcher was silent for a moment, then lowered his head and answered.
“Explosive? But what does that have to do with propagation?”
Su Lihua asked, puzzled.
Ling Xiaoyou had the same doubt. Generally, explosives and the word “propagation” don’t go together; that word is usually used to describe highly infectious diseases. Could they be researching something like a “Mutual Multiplication Detonation Talisman”?
“You… are treating spirits as transmissible bombs.”
Suddenly, Bai Shuanglian’s words entered the ears of the pondering group, causing them all to freeze.
Ling Xiaoyou raised her little head in a daze, looking at the serious-faced Bai Shuanglian, unable to understand for a moment what she was talking about.
Meeting Ling Xiaoyou’s gaze, Bai Shuanglian took a deep breath, rubbed her little head, and forced a smile, saying, “Remember the conversation between researchers that Jiang Rouqian said she overheard? There was mention of related words there.”
Hearing this, Ling Xiaoyou recalled that conversation—
“Right, how should we deal with the other batch of failures?”
“Hand them over to the demons. We’re not short on materials anyway, and our Grand Duke is getting a bit impatient to see the power.”
At the time, she had only thought it was about letting the Demon Grand Duke satisfy his curiosity by seeing the difference between failed spirit experiments and successful ones.
But if combined with this researcher’s current words—”immense power, extremely rapid propagation”—what kind of explosive would need the word “propagation” to describe it?
Something that explodes. Assuming the “explosive” isn’t a literal explosive, but an exploding “lifeform”; and “propagation” is an infectious disease that can spread this “explosion” among these lifeforms.
The answer was already obvious.
Ling Xiaoyou sharply looked at the researcher and said angrily, “You’re researching an infectious disease that turns spirits into bombs?!”
Hearing Ling Xiaoyou and Bai Shuanglian’s words, the Su sisters quickly caught on as well.
Although Su Taosheng’s face beneath the mask couldn’t be seen, her clenched fists indicated her emotions were not calm.
Su Lihua directly kicked the researcher, her face flushed red with anger, shouting, “You’re researching something so evil! Are you all insane?! Do you want to exterminate all the spirits?!”
Although this was a bit of an exaggeration—after all, there are many powerful spirits who wouldn’t be affected by the “Bomb Disease”—but the ordinary spirits definitely wouldn’t survive.
If all the ordinary spirits died, even if new spirits supplemented the population every year, in the short term, the spirits could be said to be practically extinct.
Kicked hard, the researcher shrank back, afraid the girl might kill him in a fit of displeasure.
“That’s not what we wanted to research! We were just following the Grand Duke’s orders, researching this for him. Our main focus is still on the spirits, researching things beneficial to them like the ‘Blazing Sun Potion’!”
The researcher hurriedly tried to defend himself, but the girls wouldn’t be fooled by his words.
Even if it was the Demon Grand Duke’s order, without the cooperation of these researchers, how could anything have been researched?
“Hey, what’s the Blazing Sun Potion?”
Not wanting to waste more words on this researcher, Su Lihua kicked him again and asked.
Although she really wanted to kill this guy, he still had uses and couldn’t be killed so easily. He needed to be kept alive.
Seeming to sense the killing intent, the researcher trembled and quickly said, “That’s a research project ordered by the Director. The goal is to modify the physical conditions of spirits, granting them greater strength and the ability to not fear sunlight.
But the potion we’ve developed so far has many side effects. For example, after use, the spirit temporarily loses their Yin Soul Talent, and after expending their power, they must replenish the potion to continue using it, and so on…”
Seeming truly frightened, this researcher spilled everything in one go, plunging everyone into thought.
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