Apocalyptic Era: Starting from picking up a Bishoujo
Chapter 183 - 174 Tailoring Reality Devil Realm 3

Chapter 183: 174 Tailoring Reality Devil Realm 3

Being grabbed by the heart and interrogated probably feels unbearable, and this senior researcher must have also succumbed to excessive blood loss, his body temperature growing colder and colder.

However, under the coercive power of the Black Rope Heart-locking Ring, he had no choice but to writhe his lips desperately, despairingly dredging up the information he knew.

"After summoning the ’Doctor’ persona, Ying Lingyun transferred the highest authority to him, while he himself traveled to the outside world, frequently creating so-called monsters... ’Monster’ is his own term for them, while internally, we refer to them as Modified Humans," the senior researcher managed to say.

"I heard that the Human Bureau’s goal is to create Extraordinary Soldiers that fully obey human society, yet now you’re allowing Ying Lingyun to spread the seed of the heart in society, creating monsters that massacre the weak. Isn’t this putting the cart before the horse?" I asked.

"The activities of the Human Bureau require massive funding, and we must produce results that are convincing enough to justify our backers’ investments. For this, we actively create bizarre incidents with Modified Humans in society, provoking the Evils of Luo Mountain to fight them, showing our backers the potential of the Modified Human project while also collecting data for our future research," he said expressionlessly. "As for how many ordinary people die in the process, the backers don’t care. They’re only concerned with maintaining their own power," he said.

"Who are the backers of the Human Bureau?" I asked.

"...Someone of my level is not privy to such information, but most of us suspect they include big shots of this nation, individuals with high authority and super-rich... It might also involve some foreign governments and capitalist forces," he said.

In other words, the backers of the Human Bureau might be members of the ruling class whose positions became precarious after the Fan Tian Incident.

In Saltwater City, many local elites were killed by Shadow Swapping Monsters, yet for those with the power to back the Human Bureau, those so-called elites are probably no different from ordinary citizens.

Although these are all speculations from the senior researcher, they do make sense.

"Serving those rulers who disregard human lives... are you really willing to do it? I overheard your conversation with Dr. Silver Mask last time; initially, you weren’t some heartless maniacal scientist, but were forced into it by Ying Lingyun, right? Yet now, you seem to be enjoying it?" I asked.

I wasn’t asking out of a desire to morally criticize him, just curious about his mental journey as a researcher.

"Enjoying it? How could I possibly!" he scoffed, "I’ll admit, I was blackmailed by Ying Lingyun. If I don’t obey, it won’t just be me who suffers, but also my wife, children, and parents... But even without being blackmailed, I would still have joined this work voluntarily.

"If Luo Mountain were to overturn the social order and seize the power to rule the nation, societal values would be turned upside down. Where would ordinary people like us go then? Even someone like me, who managed to become a scientist through hard work, is destined to lose my current status and rights, not to mention others.

"Whether or not one can wield mana—just this one criterion will be enough to sort people into ranks of high and low in such a terrible society. I certainly don’t want to put myself and my family among those considered lowly commoners, let alone be categorized as slaves.

"...No, compared to ’the worst future,’ that would still be a ’relatively better future’... In any case, once the order of the demon hunters is established, ordinary people will lose any possibility of resistance. That would be an absolute rule, enduring until the extinction of humanity.

"How much corruption and terror would breed under absolute power, you, a kid who hasn’t read much history, can’t even begin to imagine..."

Towards the end, he seemed to envision countless horrifying scenarios, his expression trembling.

Even in a society ruled by demon hunters, scientists with extensive knowledge like him might not necessarily be categorized as "lowly commoners" or even "slaves," but most of what he said made sense.

Luo Mountain’s Governance Ideology forces hoped demon hunters would integrate into society, but they were considered by Extraordinary Fanatics like Lu Youxun as bound to enslave humans eventually. Extraordinaryism views ordinary humans as "lesser beings not even worth enslaving," and even though Lu Youxun claims "this is actually better for the humans," I find it hard to believe that the future would be as benign as he describes.

One thing is undeniable, whether it be Lu Youxun, me, or even Zhu Shi: in a world with demon hunters, the inevitable historical trend is the replacement of human governance. It might even be said that history up until now is the oddity, having been twisted by the inexplicable "divine seal."

Even if the Human Bureau develops hunting power that ordinary people can use for their backers, I find it hard to feel optimistic that "ordinary lives will henceforth improve." Indeed, history has shown that the Human Bureau’s backers do not care about the lives of ordinary people at all.

The "terrifying absolute power" could emerge not just from Luo Mountain but from among them as well.

"So, you’d go so far as to stain your hands with the blood of innocents and commit countless acts against your conscience?" I asked, "Your experiment subjects aren’t only demon hunters, but even include ordinary people, pregnant women, and infants, right?"

"You don’t understand. Luo Mountain could start a war at any moment, whether it be next month, next week... or even tomorrow," the senior researcher began, "We’re running out of time and must produce results by the minute, creating Modified Humans who can rival Great Impermanence. And yet, the Doctor... despite having attacked those so-called ’innocent ordinary people’ himself, is still hung up on something trivial!"

Towards the end, he gritted his teeth in anger.

Creating a monster capable of rivaling Impermanence was indeed a formidable dream. In other words, they wanted to create "Gods."

However, considering that Chen Long, who had achieved level status in the past, was suspected to have been elevated to Great Success Rank through monster transformation technology, this dream might not be entirely empty talk. If they truly could achieve this, they might even qualify to sit at the negotiating table in Luo Mountain.

The problem lay with this "monster transformation technology" — a technology that should not exist in this era.

"Where exactly did your monster transformation technology come from?" I asked.

"...That too was brought forth by Silver Mask. The reason he was able to become one of the top decision-makers of the Human Bureau was also due to this merit," the senior researcher said. "He can summon self-duplicates representing different possibilities... Perhaps among them exists a ’self that became a scientist and invented the Transformation Skill.’"

This was impossible.

The monster transformation technology bore distinct traces of the Doomsday Era, and although a person’s possibilities are limitless, they are built upon the foundation of past life experiences, not the future.

Could it be that Ying Lingyun had access to secret channels to the Doomsday Era?

I continued to inquire about the part that concerned me, "Is Ying Lingyun currently inside this base?"

"No, he’s not here," the senior researcher replied. "He did come back once a week ago, but he was in very bad shape. It looked like he had suffered a fatal injury somewhere and used the treatment facilities inside the base to recover for several days before waking up.

"After he woke up, it seemed he issued an order to Chen Long, then, with his injuries only halfway healed, he hastily left the base. I don’t know what duty he rushed off to perform next. Chen Long also temporarily left the base and then brought someone back from the outside."

Hearing this, my right hand gripping his heart involuntarily tightened, and he showed a pained expression once again.

"Abduct someone? Who was it?" I pressed on, "Where is that person being held?"

"...I don’t recognize him. I just know he’s a young man of college-going age," he answered laboriously. "We are forbidden to inquire about him. We don’t even know if he’s still inside this base."

The young man Chen Long had abducted could only be Changan, no matter how I thought about it.

As for the "Ying Lingyun who suffered fatal injuries a week ago" mentioned by the senior researcher, that obviously corresponded to the incident where Ying Lingyun was destroyed by my network of destructive consciousness. He indeed had not died but still suffered serious injuries.

Why did he command Chen Long to abduct Changan immediately after waking up? And why leave the place with severe injuries?

Was this related to his desire to "resurrect Yinyue"?

"Does this Different Space have an exit? How do you enter and exit this place?" I asked.

"The only ones with the power to come and go from this place are Ying Lingyun and Chen Long," said the senior researcher. "We researchers, as well as the security guards, are like the experimental subjects; we cannot leave this place and are not entitled to inquire about how to exit or enter." He continued, "However, we can submit applications to the doctor, detailing the materials and experimental subjects we desire... the latter generally won’t get approved, so I was planning to apply to Silver Mask himself, but he left very quickly..."

I proceeded to question him again, this time wanting to confirm the divergence between "the base as he saw it" and "the base as I saw it."

Before I could ask for details, a series of disordered footsteps suddenly echoed from the corridor outside, approaching rapidly.

I had a bad feeling and pulled him back as I summoned the Outer Path Impermanence Sword once more.

He, however, showed a look of malicious glee.

"It’s too late... All of us researchers carry items that monitor vital signs at all times; death will trigger an alarm. And my current vital signs have dropped to the brink of death, which will also attract the guards to come and check," he said weakly with a sarcastic tone. "Although I don’t know how you managed to bring the Evil Sword here, you’re bound to be unable to escape now."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the iron door of the cell was brutally kicked open from the outside.

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