Xyrin Empire
Chapter 352 - Chapter 352 Chapter 352 The Most Ridiculous Research Institute

Chapter 352: Chapter 352: The Most Ridiculous Research Institute Ever Chapter 352: Chapter 352: The Most Ridiculous Research Institute Ever Facing the Flower Pot Girl’s bursting curiosity, I blurted out a random superpower, but seeing her constantly nodding and casting envious, jealous, and resentful looks my way, I was shocked that such a clumsy lie actually worked!

Indeed, in Academy City, a place specifically designed for developing power users, even if only a small fraction possess superpowers, that was enough to cover for me.

After ensuring there was no risk of another explosion in the store, Chichun Shili and I quickly rushed to Zuotian Tsuruya’s side.

“How is she doing?”

Even though I asked, I had already discerned the direness of the situation: the short-haired girl, seriously injured, had fallen into a severe coma, blood pooling beneath her, confirming my worst fear–her heart had been stabbed.

With human fragility, a vital organ like the heart, even a minor wound, could be fatal, let alone now, with a sharp metal object piercing it from behind. Though she still clung to her last breath, such damage was akin to a death sentence. Even if the medical staff Chichun Shili contacted arrived immediately, they would be powerless.

“What to do… What do I do…”

Even the strongest beings, like an ordinary junior high school girl like Zuotian Tsuruya, who ought to be enjoying her life carefreely at school, couldn’t bear the shock of witnessing a vibrant life fading before her eyes.

“She won’t make it until the medical staff arrives.”

Just a glance was enough for me to reach this conclusion. Blood had nearly soaked through her light blue waitress uniform. Not to mention the fatal wound in her heart, the blood loss alone was sufficient to kill.

Moreover, waiting for medical staff to arrive was out of the question, let alone rushing her to the regrettable “Xyrin Research Institute.” The usual means of transport were too slow, and the space transmission device would instantly kill such a frail human–I hadn’t brought the modified version intended for ordinary people.

“How could this…”

Hearing my declaration, the two girls could only murmur in disbelief.

“Alaya, can ordinary humans endure your descent?”

Since Alaya was currently hiding in my Spirit Sea, it was easy for her to understand my thoughts and she immediately affirmed, “If it’s just ‘inhabitation,’ there shouldn’t be a problem temporarily, but the victim must completely lose consciousness during the process, even entering a ‘pseudo-brain-dead’ state. Otherwise, any subjective resistance could cause the host’s soul to collapse.”

“This can be handled.”

I gently placed my finger on the forehead of the waitress who was on the brink of death. Her body trembled slightly, then became still.

By freezing the target’s spiritual energy, producing a state even more thorough than brain death – “spiritual death” – aside from the soul, the body was no different from a dead person. This should meet Alaya’s requirements.

“What have you done?!”

Feeling the body in her hands suddenly becoming heavy as if it had lost all life, Zuotian Tsuruya suddenly looked up and asked me in a frightened tone.

“Don’t worry, this is to save her.”

I briefly explained and then placed my hand over her forehead, blocking it with my palm, and slowly, a bright white light merged into her head.

Minutes later, Alaya had entered her body in the form of divine energy.

Somehow, an interesting proposition suddenly crossed my mind: energy state, light state, material state, could this be considered Alaya’s three-state transformation?

“Lord Brother, I have temporarily substituted part of this child’s biological tissue with divine energy, but she can probably only hold on for fifteen minutes; after that, she will be irreversibly assimilated into light by me.”

“Enough time.”

I spoke softly, then took off my outer garment and draped it over the girl who had begun to breathe steadily, and picked her up around the waist. The wounds on her body were gradually filling with a white light, and I had to prevent anyone from seeing such an anomaly.

At the same time, a white van bearing the research institute’s mark screeched to a stop next to us, and Big Sister got out of the car and walked swiftly over.

“What happened? This girl is…”

While holding the victim and walking towards the car, I replied through spiritual connection, “An accidental victim of an explosion, already dead. However, Alaya is sustaining her life by descending upon her–life truly is full of diversity.”

“I thought this was a peaceful place.”

Big Sister muttered, then waved to the somewhat dazed Chichun Shili and Zuotian Tsuruya, “Get in!”

“Why let them come, too? What if it leaks out?”

As I watched the two girls sit nervously in the back seat, occasionally casting worried glances at the seemingly fine victim, I questioned Big Sister through spiritual connection.

“There’s no difference between leaking and not leaking at our place,” Big Sister was quite aware of the level of visibility Qianqian’s recent whimsical ideas had given us over the past few days, “Moreover, these two girls were the closest to you just now. It’s hard to say whether they noticed Alaya’s presence. Taking them to the institute is also for observation, and more importantly, it just doesn’t seem right to leave them there.”

“That…” Chichun Shili’s timid voice interrupted the “conversation” between me and Big Sister, the girl with the garland hesitantly said, “I have already notified the security team and the Disciplinary Committee, and I am a member of the Disciplinary Committee. I supposed I should have stayed at the scene…”

Are you just realizing this now?

“Don’t worry, don’t worry,” I reassured the girl, who if looked down upon from the sky, resembled a flower pot (is it really appropriate to describe her like this again?), “Human lives are paramount; they will understand.”

“Eh? Aren’t we going to the hospital?”

Zuotian Tsuruya suddenly looked out the window and realized that the car was driving in the completely opposite direction from the nearest hospital, and she couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.

Big Sister, driving, responded without turning her head, “We’re going to the research institute.”

The two girls exclaimed together, “Huh?”

“We have the most advanced treatment equipment and medical personnel. Yes, that’s right! Our place is a medical research institute! It’s absolutely safer to bring the victim there than to the hospital, and in terms of distance, it saves time going to the institute… uh…”

The van deftly rubbed against the curb and securely stopped at the institute’s entrance, cutting off my nonsensical talk: not two meters away, a signboard bore bold letters–Xyrin Philosophy and Culture Form, Botany, and Mandarin Promotion Research Center.

I nearly pushed open the door and killed myself against that sign! When had they put that there?

“Brother, brother!”

This cheerful call was undoubtedly Visca’s voice. As soon as I opened the car door and stepped out, I was hit head-on by a small black figure, then accomplished what I had just thought of doing but hadn’t done: crashing into that striking sign.

“How’s this?” The cat-eyed Loli, completely unaware that she almost killed her own brother, hopped out of my arms and pointed proudly at the sign behind her, “Visca made it herself! I wrote all the words by myself!”

Oh, what a lovely little sister.

Due to the uniqueness of this world, Visca didn’t have to worry about his eye condition causing any turmoil. As the little guy curiously opened his eyes to observe the two girls following me out of the car, he naturally elicited a small cry of surprise from them, but that was all.

“Let’s prioritize treating the injured first,” Big Sister finally couldn’t resist reminding us of what we should consider first, “The Life Support Chamber is ready–though we might have over-prepared because we don’t know how severe the situation is.”

Over-prepared… a bit?

Looking at the so-called Life Support Chamber that Big Sister referred to as a bit “over-prepared,” I held my head in my hands, pounded the floor, and Orz.

It had a massive size, occupying over a hundred square meters, its front composed of entwined mechanical structures resembling eerie walls. Dark red energy flowed like blood between these structures, pulsing dimly and brightly as if alive, and at the base of this mountainous complex machinery, all the streams of energy gathered together at the slowly pulsing heart-like entrance to the chamber; yes, the place you’d lie in when you’re about to die and hope for Chun Ge to possess you.

“I always feel… something very dangerous is going to happen as soon as we get near this thing…”

With a trembling tone, Chichun Shili immediately stepped back two paces upon seeing the dangerous black machinery monster in the hall and said.

“This device is really subtle, is this the live experiment equipment that’s never disclosed to the public in the institute?”

I continued to hold my head in my hands, pounding the floor, Orz.

From the dedicated contribution of Xyrin’s top scientists, merging the most advanced cosmic technological theories with mysticism, perfectly reflecting the terrible aesthetic sense of some exceedingly rare Xyrin designers, comes the latest model of the “Life Support Chamber specifically designed for Carbon-based Life, abbreviated as TTT, though even the author doesn’t understand why these three letters were chosen” series. It had an appearance that made one wonder if jumping in might transform them into a Killian when they came out; this thing was really exaggerated.

Watching two white-robed Xyrin Technicians carefully push the girl, whose life Alaya was sustaining, into the entrance of the chamber, which flickered with sinister red light, all of us couldn’t help but sweat coldly.

What Chichun Shili and Zuotian Tsuruya were worried about, I didn’t know, but I genuinely feared that a moment later, an Ultraman might be pushed out from inside. Those Xyrin Technicians, who always like to add various additional functions to their products, were the best at this.

“Lord Brother, the child’s condition has stabilized,” Alaya’s voice rang in my mind, “The Life Support Chamber has extracted and preserved her soul, and is now gradually repairing her body; she can probably be handed over to the staff for routine treatment tomorrow.”

At the same time, a gentle female voice also resounded in the hall, “Biological condition in the Life Support Chamber is normal, entering the second phase of repair.”

This voice was to reassure the other two girls present.

“That’s great,” Chichun Shili took a long breath, her face wearing an unmistakably happy smile, “It’s really impressive.”

“Of course, our institute has mastered the most advanced medical technology and is dedicated to using these technologies to benefit all of humanity with sunshine and care…”

“But aren’t you guys studying philosophy, botany, and linguistics?” Chichun Shili naively inquired, “Although such research projects are very rare in this Academy City.”

Me: “Actually, we are a comprehensive research institution, you know; philosophy and such are just recent research topics.”

I can’t even imagine how deep Qianqian had to hack into the computer networks of Academy City to allow such a ridiculous place to operate openly!

“So… are you researching Ability Development, like technologies that might help improve Ability Level more easily?”

Zuotian Tsuruya, who had been silent and just curiously observing the busy researchers around, suddenly said this in an even tone, yet with a hint of hardly noticeable anticipation.

I paused for a moment, then quickly understood her interest in this matter.

And considering she’s bringing this up now, that certain “Fantasy Master” event probably hasn’t happened yet; no, due to the differing nature of the projected world and the real world, it’s still an unknown whether or not that event will happen.

“Zuotian student, that sort of thing, it can’t possibly exist, it’s just an urban legend, only an urban legend.”

That thing really did appear…

“Regarding Ability Development Research, we did carry it out for a while,” an interesting thought emerged in my mind, and after achieving unanimous approval during a momentary mental meeting, I spoke with a regretful expression, “But, because the Power Users we hired had to terminate their contracts early due to family reasons, and most of the research goals were already achieved, that project stopped a year ago. Personally, though, I still feel somewhat regretful.”

A glint of hope flashed through Zuotian Tsuruya’s eyes, but it vanished in an instant. Clearly, she knew that being an utterly ordinary person, who was still just a LEVEL0 to this day, she stood no chance of qualifying to participate in such research.

“However, I’m planning to start another Ability Development experimental project soon.”

I glanced at the black-haired girl in front of me, inadvertently, my creepy-uncle aura in full blast–speaking of acquiring lolis, I could rival the legendary EX Emperor, though there’s a kind of sadness in that statement.

Zuotian Tsuruya isn’t a loli, but as a mere middle schooler, you’ve just graduated from the loli Race!

Seeing no reaction from her, I threw in a stronger dose, “Now, as soon as we find the right collaborator, um, a Power User to collaborate with the research, we can immediately kick off the project.”

“Do the collaborators you’re looking for have to be Power Users?”

Seeing her dear friend’s face full of anticipation yet lacking the courage to speak up, and having picked up something from my tone, Chichun Shili couldn’t hold back any longer.

Good job! I’ve decided, based on her performance this time, the girl named Chichun Shili has graduated from being called Flower Pot Girl to Flower Bed Girl!

“Power Users aren’t exclusively people above LEVEL1, right? For us researchers, having the talent to potentially become a Power User, even if one is LEVEL0, can still be referred to as a Power User. In fact, our research needs test subjects who, despite having undergone all the Ability Development training, have not yet awakened their own abilities and have reached the age of thirteen, entering the age range unsuitable for Ability Development, um, if possible, it would be best if they are students from nearby school districts, because this project might require all-day experiments, and being close to school could provide a lot of conveniences.”

If this doesn’t hook her, I might as well head-butt a wall!

“Really?!” Finally, Zuotian Tsuruya realized a huge opportunity laid before her, an opportunity she had never dared to imagine before!

Most of the research institutions in Academy City are built around Power Users. Naturally, their research also focuses on enhancing the Ability Levels of Power Users or discovering more effective Superpower training methods, and the extended domains that result. Although in essence, it means being used as experimental subjects, or more bluntly, “lab rats,” many Power Users are willing to cooperate with such experiments. The high compensation is one aspect, but more importantly, this sort of research does indeed help improve Ability Levels. Zuotian Tsuruya is not a person who blindly pursues power, but when all her friends around her are much more “excellent” than she is, always being the one protected, even burden-like, this deeply pained the girl who valued friendship so much. Therefore, even if there’s only a one percent chance to gain abilities, even if it’s as unreliable as an urban legend, Zuotian Tsuruya would still want to give it a try. However, being specifically chosen by a research institution for Ability Development was something she had never contemplated.

The reason is simple, no one would invest a large amount of money and effort for a goal that’s nearly impossible to achieve.

Of course, that doesn’t include a bunch of idle, moldy Imperial Leaders…

Now, an opportunity was laid before her, although it was a rather suspicious-looking institute, and its research was filled with various questionable points. However, at the very least, it looked very… very much like a research institute!

And more importantly, the man before her seemed like a good person…

Seemed like a good person…

Seemed like a good person…

Suddenly, I felt a chill run through my body, as if some pretty terrible thing had hit me on a spiritual level–a fatal blow, but apart from discovering a significant drop in HP, I couldn’t figure out where the attack came from.

“Are you really conducting such research?!” Being just a middle school student, the black-haired girl couldn’t hide her emotions, “Then, can I join? May I participate? I will work very hard!”

I must say, getting you hooked was not easy.

“Hold on!” Chichun Shili suddenly interrupted our conversation, “There’s no danger involved in your research, right?”

“Of course,” I smiled brightly, “One hundred percent safe!” (To be continued. For more, please visit www.NovelFire.net. More chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)