Ding dong—
The elevator doors opened, and Qiu Ran, holding Nomi’s head, rushed out in a frantic hurry, while Li Aozi followed behind at a more leisurely pace. He kept his eyes fixed on Qiu Ran ahead and used his peripheral vision to swiftly scan the surrounding environnt.
Although he knew the first floor of the Shelter had already been cleared by him, Li Aozi did not think caution was a mistake.
Moreover, having seen a Pseudo-Human, he really did not dare to let acquaintances out of his sight.
"Where are we going?" Qiu Ran asked anxiously.
"First to the ICU to inquire with Head Nurse Nodley."
Li Aozi kept his hand on the hilt of his knife at all tis, maintaining a position half a step behind Qiu Ran, not daring to let her slip from his view.
Even Qiu Ran, who was usually quite blunt, noticed a change in Li Aozi’s attitude. She hesitated before saying,
"Are you worried about now?"
Her statent was very tactful, using ’now’ specifically.
The subtext was, ’You were not like this before, so what has happened now that you are acting this way?’
"It’s because of just now, that transford Ersha Armant—"
"Trust ."
Li Aozi replied thinly.
He did not want to explain too much. For human kingdoms, knowing the existence of Pseudo-Humans could be more harmful than the Pseudo-Humans themselves.
Qiu Ran pursed her lips and did not say much.
"I don’t know what effect that guy just now had on you... I trust you, but please trust as well."
Though she had witnessed many unbelievable feats by Li Aozi along the way, after all, he was only human.
"I’ll try."
Li Aozi was too absolute in his inner speech.
He was not a smart man, and Li Aozi, whose Main Attribute was [Charm], was not known for his intelligence. In fact, he could not imdiately distinguish a real person from a Pseudo-Human.
If he claid to be indignant and hateful toward the abuses of infants in Mingji Humanity, such a statent would be hypocritical to so extent—then, regarding Pseudo-Humans, Li Aozi had always borne a grudge.
He once had an excellent team. During versions 1.0 and 2.0, everyone was harmoniously joyful, building governance every day, exchanging silly s, and teaming up for instances and tasks.
If not for the crisis of trust caused by Pseudo-Humans, which plunged them into a chain of suspicion and sparked serious conflicts, tearing their relationships asunder, his connections could have improved a lot afterwards.
Qiu Ran, no, the entirety of Azure Star, had not realized what truly made Pseudo-Humans terrifying—not even if all Pseudo-Humans were exterminated, as the seeds of doubt and estrangent had already been sown in the hearts of humans.
Everyone could recklessly commit cris and make mistakes, then claim, "It wasn’t ; a Pseudo-Human took my place. I too am a victim," to shirk responsibility cleanly.
Once they had tasted the advantages of such deceit, human integrity was thoroughly shattered, and all social relationships beca exceedingly vile.
Courts could not distinguish between real and fake identities, even cri went unpunished, and order and justice beca a joke. Here, those who did not commit cris beca anomalies—a society like this was fundantally disqualified and powerless to ascend into space.
In Li Aozi’s view, this was more despairing than outright destruction, for such a planet and cultural environnt could only breed completely unprincipled and degenerate villains, purely chaotic and evil demons.
Players, though dubbed the fourth disaster and the cancer of the cosmos, mostly behaved in ways that were at least not anti-humanity. Instead, if used properly, they could be mutually beneficial and et each other’s needs—very useful. But once influenced by Pseudo-Humans, they could beco badder than Mingji Humanity without any humanity.
The most critical point is—they are useless.
With humans’ fragile bodies and shallow knowledge, unable to form groups, yet aspiring to compete with cosmic civilizations—beings who have been genetically enhanced since childhood and received decades of compulsory education—it sounded sowhat like a fool’s dream, and indeed, it was preposterous.
Just like that, they arrived at the ICU ward without encountering any danger. When Qiu Ran saw the ashen-faced Head Nurse Nodley lying on the operation table, her life hanging by a thread, she felt a deep sense of discomfort and nausea despite knowing the nurse’s past cris.
Her limbs had been crushed by Li Aozi, and due to the depletion of Qi Energy, her muscles had atrophied, leaving her as sickly and frail as those Ersha Armant ordinary won.
"Head Nurse Nodley,"
she began to speak, but didn’t know how to continue.
"It... you."
Nodley lifted her chin, her muscles rapidly deteriorating, making her appear over forty years older, like an old lady with a face full of deep wrinkles and eyes devoid of any sparkle. She glanced at them and, in a mosquito-like voice, asked:
"You... co back, for... what?"
Li Aozi stepped forward, grabbed her hair with one foot, brought it in front of his eyes, and asked in a deep voice:
"Where is ZX-626? Where are all your High Potassium Protein Repair Agents and Rich Nutrition Compounds stored?"
"626... you an Xeno?"
Nodley had already given up resisting. The guilt inside her heart tornted her incessantly. Her lips trembled, and, like a dying old person, she mustered her strength to speak slowly:
"Xeno has been placed on the second level by the Professor. Once you get there, you will still see."
"And the potions?" Qiu Ran asked hurriedly.
"Those drugs you ntioned have already been used up."
"How can..."
"You must also know about those Ersha Armant, that’s an unforgivable error committed by Mingji Humanity. Most of the resources have been prioritized for the production line..."
"So, you know all about Mingji Humanity and Frost Plated’s sches,"
Li Aozi sneered coldly.
"... I had no choice. The Professor promised us it was for helping the weak, for the continuation of the human race."
Nodley pursed her lips:
"I think... the Professor has beco too obsessed with research. She has forgotten the original purpose of establishing Mingji Humanity: to help the residents of the Outer World escape the Infection of the Ersha Virus. But instead, she has focused her mind entirely on the research of Ersha... All because of curiosity and scientific wrongdoing..."
"Research?"
"Researching Ersha... But in reality, an Ersha Infection might not even exist."
Nodley paused:
"There may have never been any Ersha Infected Individuals. Our research findings have always been about the awakening of Arcane Energy."
"Nonexistent, Ersha Infection?"
At this mont, before Li Aozi could speak, Qiu Ran suddenly spoke out:
"At this point in ti, are you still making excuses for the Professor?"
"That’s not what I an. The Professor, in the past, was very gentle, very conscientious. It was only because of Frost Plated’s policies that she had to leave the country, and her obsession with the Ersha Virus that made her resort to such unscrupulous thods—"
"Leaving the country for the Outer World, so you can do as you please, right? Without having to worry about being condemned by public opinion, right? As long as the subjects of the Mingji experints are not live people from within the country—no, as long as they aren’t the wealthy, that’s acceptable, right?"
This ever-optimistic and sunny big sister delivered each sentence like a bayonet, stabbing directly into Nodley’s heart.
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