Pretending To Be A Boss
Chapter 905 - 61: The Last Hope of Baichuan City

Baichuan City.

Ju Mang's experiment had reached a critical stage—human trials.

Her progress was thus stymied. If she were in the Pyramid, she would have already proceeded without any trouble, as a Daughter of Order, she would encounter no obstacles.

But in Baichuan City, Ju Mang faced significant challenges.

She initially submitted a written request to Li Xiaoyu to use some malicious criminals as test subjects—for example, those attempting to dismantle Baichuan City.

This experiment was very important to Ju Mang because the ultimate goal of Xi He's entire Evolution Zone, including Ju Mang's own project and the Natural Eye Squad, was to achieve a perfect fusion between humans and all creatures.

Li Xiaoyu, of course, rejected the request because Ju Mang's experiment essentially duplicated the practices of the Evolution Zone.

Injecting the serum of all creatures into the bloodstream of humans.

All the tragedies in the Evolution Zone originated from this.

Li Xiaoyu took this matter very seriously and issued a stern warning to Ju Mang.

Unable to conduct live human experiments, Ju Mang's research progress came to a halt.

Ju Mang felt a sense of regret but began to consider Li Xiaoyu a friend and truly valued her opinions—things Li Xiaoyu opposed, Ju Mang wouldn't pursue further.

However, Ju Mang still decided to inform Song Que about it.

If Tang Xian was absent, Song Que, in Ju Mang's view, was the most valuable human for experimentation.

Having delved deeply into the Evolution Zone and witnessed its horrors, Song Que naturally declined, and in a righteous and dignified manner, educated Ju Mang, explaining many of the moral principles needed to survive in Baichuan City, including an understanding of human rights.

"How is this any different from the practices of the Evolution Zone? I urge you to stop this behavior."

"I am more inclined to call this ability Semi-Beast Transformation. It's fundamentally different from Xi He's Evolution Zone experimental subjects because the chaotic serum is exceedingly unique—it doesn't involve the concept of synchronization rate. It either matches perfectly or backfires, leading to death. And all of this is closely related to an individual's willpower."

Ju Mang then described how Duck was able to use its consciousness to control changes in its body.

Out of politeness, Song Que didn't interrupt, but when Ju Mang finished speaking, he still calmly responded:

"This experiment must not continue. Practices that defy the sanctity of life inherently disrespect life. Miss Ju Mang, if your abilities were applied to the field of medicine rather than genetics, it would surely garner greater respect."

"What is the significance of respect?" Ju Mang asked.

"More people would grow to like you."

"Is that so... Then I'll learn medicine. If my medical skills surpass Qiao Shanshan's, you…"

"I have other matters to attend to, goodbye for now."

As soon as that day's conversation ended, Song Que hurriedly left.

This incident took place a few days before the Saint War.

A trivial matter, its importance paled in comparison to Lin Sen and Yu Xiaozhe finally developing an uninterruptible teleportation rift.

The people were still waiting for Tang Xian to return with good news from the mining zone.

But after the Saint War, when Tang Xiaojiu, Bai Mansheng, Yun Wu, Tang, and the other humans and beasts assisting in the mining zone safely returned, the awaited good news did not arrive.

Tang Feiji and Tang Xian did not come back.

Bai Mansheng's intuition told her that Tang Xian might be in danger, though Tang Feiji's final words seemed to suggest Tang Xian had some sort of plan.

It had always been like this. Tang Xian was strong—his strength wasn't limited to combat capabilities. That man always prevailed.

And so Bai Mansheng tried her best to convince herself—to trust that Tang Xian would, as always, solve the problem.

...

...

On the twelfth day after the Saint War, a little girl appeared on the outskirts of Baichuan City.

As humanity's sole refuge outside the Pyramid, Baichuan City could not possibly turn a blind eye to a young girl in need.

The little girl seemed starved for a long time, frightened as well. She wore tattered red clothes, her bare feet dirtied, her eyes filled with helplessness—anyone who saw her would feel pity.

Thus, Baichuan residents tasked with gathering food naturally brought the girl back to the city.

But when asked where she came from, which part of Baichuan City she lived in, or whether she had become separated from her parents, she remained silent like a mute, only shaking her head repeatedly, looking utterly pitiful.

Soon, Zhang, the farmer responsible for gathering food, put up notices, asking if anyone had lost their daughter.

But perhaps because of slow information dissemination, or the general busyness of Baichuan City residents, no one responded to Zhang.

At nearly fifty years old, Zhang had no children of his own. After several days of fruitless effort, he began entertaining the idea of adopting the girl—after all, wouldn't that make her the child he had always wanted?

Gradually, Zhang gave up on searching for the girl's parents.

This happened in Baichuan City—a minor, inconsequential event. Hardly anyone noticed when a farmer in the remote West City District adopted a little girl he had found outside the city.

Shortly thereafter, Qi Yuan arrived in Baichuan City.