Hao Ren looked at the weird container in Big Beardy's hand, feeling a little nervous. "Should I lie on the floor, topless?"
"Just sit here," Big Beardy said, slightly smiling. "It's merely an inoculation of the lifeblood. But, I still suggest that you concentrate and try to call out to our goddess in your mind. Although it is difficult to say how effective it'll be without genuine faith, I suppose it will still help however slightly."
Hao Ren gritted his teeth and nodded at the MDT next to him. "Help monitor my physical condition. If something unexpected happens—"
The MDT's voice was particularly full of anticipation. "Rest assured, I'll knock you out the moment something goes wrong."
Hao Ren had always felt that the MDT sounded a little evil to his ear. Big Beardy had set up the container with a sharp needle on his forehead. He felt a cool sensation but nothing had happened.
Big Beardy hemmed twice. "Can you deactivate the shield for the moment?"
Hao Ren smacked on the back of his head. "Oh, I forgot."
The lifeblood permeated his skin with the needle. A warm and wonderful sensation began to pervade from his forehead.
The fluid, true to its name, contained an eternal and original vitality. It was not cold or felt foreign. On the contrary, when it penetrated the skin, Hao Ren almost felt that his body was actively welcoming the foreign substance. A mild and slightly itchy sensation spread under the skin and gradually flew to his limbs. Then there was a thought flashed across his mind:
He was getting gutsy by the day. Injecting oneself with an unknown microorganism was a freaking red-flag endeavor, which was an unimaginable to him a year ago. But now he was enjoying the experiment.
When the thought popped up in his mind, Hao Ren had a moment of hesitation: Why would he look forward to inject the lifeblood into his own body? Was this in line with their own cautious character? The urge to carry out the Branding Ritual seemed to have arisen from the time when he first saw the ritual... Was this impulse just a curiosity?
Hao Ren felt his spirit was slowly diverging. A sense of expectation of the lifeblood and a sense of security that seemingly came from returning to his mother's arms came at the same time. This not only diluted the doubt he just had, but he also felt a sense of delight and satisfaction.
The holographic projection of the MDT showed the spread of the lifeblood in Hao Ren's body. It appeared to be expanding like a mist, unhurriedly but vigorously. Lily looked on, nervous. She could not groaning in her throat. "Is this okay? I feel like it's some illegal medical experiment on television?"
"It's just a temporary vaccination test," the MDT sounded indifferently. "Don't be worried, this guy's reinforced genes will soon break down foreign substance. Before that, we will see what he can 'listen'... huh?"
The MDT seemed to be surprised suddenly. Everyone saw something anomalous: In the holographic projection, the lifeblood that had gradually spread in Hao Ren's body had disappeared suddenly.
Vivian pulled her brows together; a dark shade of shadow appeared on her face but had quickly subsided. She had recalled a similar incident in the past.
Lily stretched out her hand to poke the MDT. "Did you sensor malfunction?"
"Bullshit. I am working perfectly," the MDT shook a few times, before quickly flying around Hao Ren. "It's gone... No. It seems it has all been absorbed in a flash. Hey, Big Beardy, is this normal?"
Meanwhile, Big Beardy and Cardinal Orben were both perplexed. Obviously, this was something abnormal. Cardinal Orben immediately came over and examined Hao Ren. "This has never happened before... Whoever does this, there must be a long adaptation period after the inoculation. The body should have shown obvious changes... Foreigner, how are you feeling now?"
Hao Ren had only withdrawn from the inexplicable experience. He looked down at his hands. "Nothing has changed. Is this over?"
"The lifeblood has disappeared in your body." The MDT replayed the visual. "It seems it was absorbed in just a split second, and your body has shown no changes, and there is no trace of the lifeblood."
"Absorbed?" Hao Ren blinked. "But I felt it hadn't started yet."
Big Beardy holding the container thought for a long time. He then gritted his teeth. "Try again!"
Without waiting for Hao Ren's response, Big Beardy had already pricked the needle on the container to his forehead. After a moment, the MDT screamed again. "It has been absorbed!"
Seeing Big Beardy's itchiness for another try, cold sweat trickled down Hao Ren's forehead. He quickly waved his hand. "That's enough. Don't do it again. It's not normal saline drips, okay!"
Big Beardy reluctantly put the container aside. Lily jumped up to them in excitement. "So now what that mean?"
"I only knew that there had been a similar situation before," Vivian bit her lower lip as she began to tell Hao Ren's bizarre physique. "He was immune to some magic. He used to absorb my blood when I used blood magic on him last time."
"He even absorbed vampire's blood sucks?" Nangong Wuyue looked at Hao Ren in shock. "Who are you two?"
Vivian turned her face away, embarrassed. "I admit I'm not that really good in this thing."
"Forget about your recipe problem," Hao Ren waved them off. "The key to the problem now is what happened to me. Could it be that my magic-immune body works on the lifeblood too?"
"It could be a matter of divine conflict," said the MDT very quietly. "If it is the life blood's divine part that has an effect on other creatures, then it will surely conflict with the divinity of your body, so neutralisation is possible."
The MDT had mentioned 'neutralisation' rather than 'consumed' because it was to take care of the feeling of the Disciples of Glory believers. But Hao Ren understood the meaning. He realised that the Goddess of Creation of this universe was divinely weaker than the lunatic Goddess was. So, the divine power of the former did not affect him. This was something to be proud of, but now it had obvious affected his work unexpectedly.
"But how are you going to explain this," Y'zaks knew a thing or two about the 'divinity' knowledge out of curiosity. He felt that something was wrong. "The lifeblood here is a later reproduction from the Seed of Origin, a substance of many generations. Its connection with the Goddess of Creation should have weakened considerably. And we apply the logic that all lives in the world are born from the lifeblood, and the lifeblood is divine, and then are flies and mosquitoes divine too? If so, when Mr. Landlord landed on this planet earlier, there would have been explosion here."
Vivian's eyebrows knit together. "But if this is not the case, how do you explain the disappearance of the lifeblood in Mr. Landlord's body?"
Nangong Wuyue crawled around Hao Ren curiously, (as she was in the form of a sea snake right now). "Leave that for a moment. Could you hear anything from the Goddess if you focus your mind?"
Hao Ren thought it made sense. He immediately closed his eyes and focused his mind, silently calling the Goddess of Creation who might be somewhere in the universe. Everyone remained silent not to interrupt him. The room became so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.
A faint sound came from nowhere. "Crunch…crunch… crunch…"
Hao Ren opened his eyes and felt a bit confused. "I heard a strange crunch."
Lily raised her hand. "Me too!"
Hao Ren checked around and was surprised to find the little mermaid was chewing the table leg not far away. "... Lil Pea are gnawing the table!"
After some chasing around, the slippery Lil Pea was finally captured. And needless to say, Hao Ren's attempt to listen to the Goddess failed.
He could not carry out the Branding Ritual. Not only that, he could not even make any contact with the lifeblood.
Big Beardy and Cardinal Orben had tried several times with other methods. The last time they smeared the lifeblood on the skin of Hao Ren. But the lifeblood was quickly sucked dry, leaving no trace behind.
"Speaking of it... I had never come into direct contact with the lifeblood. I had been observing it through the shield of the container or using a glove." Hao Ren looked at the back of his hand in a daze. A few seconds ago, there were still some warm red fluid on it. "Only now I have discovered this phenomenon."
"But I seem to have no such problem." Lily raised her hand, offering her thought. She had volunteered to do the experimented too but the lifeblood had not disappeared on her.
Other than that, Lily had not established whatsoever spiritual connection with the goddess.
So their attempts had failed.