Chapter Fifty-Two: Liu Zong's Reward (Merry Christmas)

As he followed the group toward the main laboratory, Liu Chun sought out Liu Zong and spoke quietly, “I've gathered some information. Among the twenty-one synthesis methods, Blue Ghost has one successful case—Blue Ghost combined with Green Crystal.”

Liu Zong had spent quite some time with Liu Chun and understood his way of thinking. He nodded and replied, “I don’t like Green Crystal much. I might go check the laboratory for Blue Ghost and Green Vine. Of course, Brother Liu is heading to the place with a proven success, so the remaining Blue Ghost area will be all mine. How about that?”

“No problem.”

Once Liu Chun agreed, Liu Zong said nothing more and fell in with the group as they reached the main laboratory.

After five days here, Liu Zong had already grasped the general situation of this ancient experimental site. Though it was still operational, many functions had ceased. Apart from a few key places still guarded, most of the sentinels had lost their effectiveness.

Despite the many places demanding permissions and requirements, in truth, as long as one avoided dangerous, guarded zones, there was little to worry about.

Not only Liu Zong but the others had also realized this over the past few days. Except for the main laboratory, they had explored most areas, and their ambitions—and courage—had grown ever greater.

This time, upon reaching the main laboratory, they quickly dispersed toward the laboratories they had chosen for themselves.

Judging by their actions, they had forgotten that these places still had guards.

Liu Zong, however, remained cautious. He stuck to the methods learned at school, advancing through shadows and corners. Even when close to his destination, he moved with utmost care, never venturing recklessly.

For this reason, Liu Zong was the last to reach the second fusion area of the main laboratory. Once there, he felt vindicated in his slow approach—he could smell a faint trace of blood, and spotted the corpses of some mechanical sentinels on the floor.

It was clear that the main laboratory’s guards had not completely failed, but had been redeployed to defend critical areas.

The place Liu Zong wanted to visit had almost no guards. From the perspective of sentinels or the ancient site’s managers, those failed laboratories held nothing worth protecting. Placing guards there would be a waste.

This eased Liu Zong’s mind considerably. The site he sought was among the failures, tucked in a corner of the first floor. The door bore the emblems of Blue Ghost and Green Vine.

Pushing open the laboratory door, a cloud of dust rushed out, covering Liu Zong in a layer of white. Only when the dust settled did he have a chance to survey the laboratory. Though the experiment had failed, the room was quite large—about three hundred square meters.

Most of the space was taken up by various instruments, with only the very center occupied by a massive iron cabinet taller than himself.

Liu Zong was immediately drawn to this iron cabinet, sensing that what he sought lay within.

Still, he suppressed his impatience and searched the laboratory. Soon, he found some documents on a lab table, along with an identification card.

He didn’t care whose card it was. At a glance, he saw its permissions were quite high. He flipped through nearby papers, searching for anything resembling a password or code.

After much searching, he found nothing of the sort, confirming he could not access the lower floors.

Resigned, Liu Zong used the identification card to swipe open the iron cabinet’s door. When he pulled the heavy door open, he was stunned.

Inside was a massive cabinet, occupying four square meters and standing over three meters tall, divided into four tiers. Each tier held four seeds, each fifty centimeters tall.

All these seeds were encased in crystal-like material. Liu Zong could clearly sense a strong, sinister energy emanating from these crystals.

He surmised these must be the Blue Ghost and Green Vine hybrids; the outer crystal was likely formed from Blue Ghost’s condensed liquid, while inside were Green Vine seeds.

If so, why did the documents say this experiment had failed?

With this question in mind, Liu Zong took out one seed. He hadn’t expected that, as soon as he removed it from the cabinet, the crystal formed from sinister energy would melt instantly. The seed within, upon contact with air, turned from green to gray, losing all vitality.

This left Liu Zong speechless. He took out two more seeds from the cabinet, and the outcome was the same—once removed, the crystal melted and the seed turned gray, lifeless.

Liu Zong thought for a moment, then quickly retrieved the documents he had found, focusing especially on the volume “Vine Growth and Energy Transmission.” He sensed within it lay what he needed.

Soon, Liu Zong found the method for determining the state of vine seeds in “Vine Growth and Energy Transmission.” He wanted to confirm whether these seeds were already dead, or if they had vitality but lost it upon being removed from the cabinet.

After working through this, Liu Zong clarified some matters. The Blue Ghost and Green Vine combination had indeed failed because Green Vine required abundant life force, while Blue Ghost, though not the opposite, had sinister energy that eroded life force.

Thus, the combination resulted in Green Vine seeds losing their function, turning to gray stone.

At that critical moment in the war, Green Vine seeds were precious, not to be wasted here, and so the experiment was declared a failure.

The remaining Green Vine seeds, already partly experimented upon, were left in the iron cabinet, untouched for years, until Liu Zong opened it and restarted the process.

Moreover, Liu Zong sensed that these were close to the original design—a kind of semi-finished product. Years of exposure to sinister energy had forced the seeds to reach a precarious balance. If he could get them to sprout before the balance was broken, the experiment might succeed.

The problem was, Liu Zong could neither remove these things from the cabinet nor seal them up. He had only one choice: to activate them before removing them, and then take them back. At that moment, a sudden idea struck him. He scanned the cabinet and found the plumpest remaining seed.