After binding Hewlett with her hair transford into tendrils, Yvette didn’t kill him but quickly left the road and flew into a rural wasteland.
She was uncertain if Hewlett had set any traps and didn’t want to risk waiting too long, potentially inviting an ard response from Linthou Biotech. Thus, she needed a new location to interrogate him.
Once she released the hair that was gagging him, the thought of him possibly saring saliva across her hair caused Yvette to sigh inwardly. She resolved to cut off that unnecessary part later. “Now, answer my question.” The source of thɪs content is NoveIꜰire
“Why should I? Can you guarantee you won’t kill ?” Hewlett asked, his face pale while he held his head high defiantly.
“I can promise you a painless death,” Yvette replied. “Is that reason enough?”
“Um… can’t you spare ? I can promise I know nothing…” Hewlett’s face broke into a sycophantic smile.
Yvette remained silent, her expression blank; it communicated clearly—having seen my secrets, you think you can live? What kind of dream are you living?
After contemplating, she said, “I can give you an opportunity to leave a farewell ssage for your friends and family.”
Hewlett’s smile faltered for a mont.
Yvette’s lips curled into a small smirk as she spoke in a tone that was soft yet laced with malice, “I imagine you wouldn’t want to die without saying a word to your mother, right? She’s probably still hoping you can co ho for dinner and chat or at least send her a goodnight ssage tonight.”
Hewlett fell silent, the stillness throbbing audibly. It was not until a long while later that he finally made his decision, exhaling deeply and murmuring, “Despicable witch… what do you want to know?”
“All the information you have regarding ‘Zero’ and ‘One.’” Yvette stated.
“Well… if that’s the case, I don’t know nearly enough,” Hewlett shook his head. “I only know that about three years ago, informants from Black Tower Pharmaceuticals transmitted information claiming that two highly classified test subjects escaped from the Abyss base. Those subjects were codenad ‘Zero’ and ‘One,’ and they reportedly appeared to be a silver-haired girl and a blonde girl… both around eight or nine years old.”
As he spoke, Hewlett glanced at Yvette. “Though you seem older, your appearance closely resembles that of the silver-haired girl—almost like a grown version of her… Oh, by the way, according to the company’s investigations over the past two years, those two subjects were eventually identified; one was nad ‘Yvette Loxivia’ and the other ‘Lianna Renee.’ Before becoming subjects, they were orphans supported by Black Tower in a welfare institution.”
He paused, then regretfully added, “Now you know why I imdiately concluded you must be Zero, right? Even if it’s a false identity, your disguise is rather lazy…”
Yvette fell into thought.
If Hewlett were not inclined to lie before dying, then it ant “Zero” could indeed be confird as the original, i.e., her. As for Lianna Renee, she was less familiar. During her initial dream entry long ago, she hadn’t interacted much with the other genetically modified orphans from the Transformation Plan; she only knew that there appeared to be a girl by that na.
The original and Lianna were Zero and One—held under high secrecy, likely due to the “Eternal Life Project”…
She asked again, “Why did you say I’m using non-human ans?”
“That’s a hypothesis… Miss Zero, if I may call you that, do you know about the ‘Corroded Seed’? Of course, that’s a codena circulating within Linthou Biotech; perhaps it goes by a different na at Black Tower Pharmaceuticals…”
Corroded Seed?
Hearing this unfamiliar term, Yvette paused montarily, her mind recalling another na.
—Divine Transformation!
Related to the potential origins of extinction!
“Go on.” Yvette remained noncommittal.
“The Corroded Seed is a codena whose origin is unknown. We know nothing about it. It could be a living thing, a dead thing, a concept, or a remnant… Many scholars within the company believe it truly exists, possibly representing a technological legacy from an extraterrestrial or ancient civilization. The company obtained theoretical backing from it, allowing us to translate this into practical applications…”
“At first, everything was rely speculation, often a jest among us. But later, we heard similar rumors within Black Tower Pharmaceuticals. Only then did our academic circle start to genuinely believe that both Black Tower and Linthou possess sothing extraordinary, that our new technologies weren’t results of developnt but so special acquisition or even inheritance…”
“And you, Miss Zero,” Hewlett continued, “as escaped test subjects under exceedingly high secrecy within Black Tower, are definitively linked to crucial and powerful new technologies, perhaps even the elusive ‘Corroded Seed.’ The company’s keen interest in you stems from that, hoping to extract Black Tower’s confidential information through you.”
“I, personally, haven’t reported this to the company; instead, I chose to co visit you directly not just to seize credit, but also out of selfishness. I wish to receive an answer from you—a definitive answer before I die…”
“Miss Zero, before I die, can you tell —does the ‘Corroded Seed’ or any technology like it truly exist?”
…
After giving Hewlett a confirming answer, Yvette noticed an indescribable complexity in his expression. Eventually, it seed he released a long-held breath, as if he had completed a long-cherished quest for knowledge.
After he had sent tearful voice ssages saying goodnight to his parents, wife, and children, Yvette ended his life, crafting a simple little box using earth magic.
This small urn would later be sent anonymously to his wife, a request he made before passing.
Standing on a large rock in the rural wilderness, Yvette gazed toward the center of Agash City, where the night’s veil failed to shroud the neon tropolis. The soaring holographic advertisents seed to boast the city’s opulence to the universe.
She recalled the seeker-like glint in Hewlett’s eye earlier, speculating that he held back another unspoken question—was the Origin Civilization genuinely created by their hands?
Was the Origin Civilization rely a child standing on the shoulders of giants, yet boasting about its own height?
Such a difficult question to answer. Thankfully, as a traveler, whether true or false wouldn’t shake her sense of pride…
Yvette thought to herself, then shifted her focus to the remaining six corporations: the Black Tide Corporation, Linthou Biotech, Gravity Group, Ashen Chemical, Skytech, and Rift Space Corporation.
If Black Tower had “Divine Transformation,” and Linthou possessed the “Corroded Seed,” perhaps these two super companies chose to pursue dical and biological ventures as core missions.
What about the remaining six super corporations?
Did their technologies also relate to similar phenona?
Or were they a mixed bag, with both normal and aberrant elents present?
Regardless, tonight’s gains had been substantial—solving the problems surrounding the Werewolf Killer while clarifying the identity of the original…
In this thought, Yvette suddenly realized sothing and felt a twinge of regret.
Earlier, she had used Hewlett’s magical terminal, employing hacking techniques to erase many of her information trails. While this wouldn’t prevent Linthou Biotech from noticing her, it could delay their response ti significantly.
Then…
She had forgotten to extort money from Hewlett.
Originally, she had intended to demand money—maybe not a billion, but a simple twenty to thirty million should’ve been a breeze. Yet, as Hewlett left a heartfelt ssage for his family, she didn’t have the heart to act on that. Then during his execution, she felt a somber mood and completely forgot about the plan.
Fortunately, equipnt was indeed available—one military terminal with a 100,000 symbol point cache, a semi-liquid biological armor, along with so bio-prosthetics fused with the body.
Among them, she could disregard the biological prosthetics; they essentially equated to part of the body with gene locks—useless if transplanted.
The Active Rune Sets weren’t un-recyclable, but collecting blood to refine them felt too wicked and troubleso.
The biological armor could be used, but since Hewlett had worn it daily, it had picked up an odor. After activation, the fully enclosed armor would hinder her use of her tendrils… She intended to sell it on the black market, estimating it could fetch at least two to three million.
Only the military terminal with a 100,000 symbol point cache was directly usable—definitely stronger than her 60,000 civilian-grade one, and during its black market surge, it had risen to over 800,000.
Weighing her gains, Yvette thought it was ti to reunite with Irene, collect the bounty on the Werewolf Killer.
Tonight’s chaotic magical energy had drained nearly 1,000 points, which was absurd; she’d need to devour an entire district of aberrations to restore it. Thankfully, the rewards had been considerable—valuable intel, equipnt, and a bounty.
Thus, she opened the ssaging interface and responded to Irene’s ssages, first assuring her of her safety and then instructing Irene to wait outside the police station with Tennyson for a quicker bounty collection.
After that, she noticed a long-missed red notification that piqued her interest.
She switched to it and saw a private ssage from the Fire Wielder; after more than half a month, the Civilization Continuance Society had finally responded.
Reviews
All reviews (0)