Chapter 511: Unexpected Profit II
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Kui looked at Ye Chong with an unreadable expression, "Well, looks like you know your stuff!"
He continued, "We got interested in biological research about a century ago, and made great discoveries." He sounded modest, but Ye Chong could see that he was filled with pride.
"I've always been interested in biology since I was young. I believe that life is the world's greatest mystery, and the pinnacle of all secrets." Kui looked nostalgic as he recalled, "That's why I've been involved in the field since I was very young. In the end, I ended up in research just as I wanted. You can't imagine how much better we are in biology compared to other people. We have a lot to catch up in spatial science and mechanics when compared to the Three Aristocratic Families, but even all three of them combined will not be a match for us in biology."
Kui sounded proud just then, and a little arrogant.
Ye Chong said nothing. He did not doubt Kui's claim. The Three Aristocratic Families were not known for their strengths in biology. Ye Chong knew little about biology, but he was familiar with one field that was intimately related to biology, and that was alchemy. Lunatic Guan's extraordinary alchemy skills still continued to amaze Ye Chong. He still could not figure out the Guan Family's auto-analytics mechanism that Lunatic Guan came up with.
Nevertheless, he did not approve of Kui's declaration that biology was the world's greatest mystery. The way he saw it, every field of knowledge had its own intricacies, and it would be meaningless to compare between them. Kui's view was too biased.
"Have you studied biology before?" Kui asked.
"No, but I've learned alchemy for a while."
"Alchemy?" Kui grew excited, "Not bad, not bad, alchemy is a branch of biology."
He lowered his head in thought, mumbling to himself, "Perhaps, giving it to him will be a wise choice."
Ye Chong did not catch his expression. He was still talking to Shang.
"Ye, this guy is definitely not some average Research Consortium engineer," Shang warned Ye Chong, sounding certain of himself.
"Why do you say that?" Ye Chong asked. He did not see anything particularly outstanding about Kui, apart from his easy going demeanor.
"Humph, there are too many signs of suspicion! How would a normal engineer know so many secrets?" Shang noted disapprovingly, then laughed, "But Ye, don't worry about it for now, he's not looking to mess with you yet."
Kui seemed to reach a decision then. He looked up at Ye Chong and said, "Come with me."
Kui walked out of the memory chip room and entered another corridor. The corridor went downwards. A travellator moved them along the corridor.
Kui turned back to Ye Chong and said, "Better keep that. You can't fly in here. If the system detects any flying objects, security will automatically retaliate."
"He's right," Shang whispered to Ye.
Ye Chong obeyed and withdrew Shang.
Ye Chong and Kui stood on the travellator as it brought them further down along the sloping corridor. On both sides of the travellator were exhibits separated from them by glass. All kinds of weird flora were within these glass chambers. Ye Chong recognized some of them, but not for most of them.
Kui had his head lowered, fully absorbed in whatever he had in mind.
Ye Chong watched the plants passed by in a daze. There were many real life specimens here that he had never seen before, which he recognized only through Lunatic Guan's chip. This was a learning experience for him.
Alchemy was something quite different of all the skills that Ye Chong had picked up. He had not spent much time in it, but instead had relied on Lunatic Guan's auto-analytics mechanism to overcome most of the obstacles he came across. However, he realized that alchemy was a very useful skill, and had always appreciated the opportunity to learn more when it presented itself.
"How many do you recognize?" Kui asked from behind him.
"115," Ye Chong answered without delay. He was always sensitive to numbers, a habit he picked up from Mu.
"115?" Kui sounded surprised. "You know that many?"
Ye Chong replied, "Yes, but I've only seen 52 of them in real life. The other 63 are from a memory chip my teacher gave to me."
"Who's your teacher?" Kui looked agitated.
"Her name is Guan Ling." Ye Chong was surprised that he remembered her name at all. The silhouette of the woman with a wine glass in her hand, leaning lazily against the door frame as her eyes gazed outwards, lost in thought, came to his mind unbidden.
"A beauty, lost at a young age," Shang sighed.
"Guan Ling?" Kui looked like he was trying to recall something, and then it came to him. He looked even more surprised as he said, "Guan Ling … You mean Guan Ling of May's Night Ridge on Guang Hua?"
Now it was Ye Chong's turn to be surprised. "You know her?"
Kui did not answer him. He was studying Ye Chong closer, not quite believing it, "You are Guan Ling's student? You truly are Guan Ling' student?"
Ye Chong nodded,"If you mean Guan Ling of May's Night Ridge on Guang Hua, then that's right."
"Wonderful! Wonderful! Haha!" Kui was almost jumping with joy, "Haha, and I was worried you might not have the basics! So you're Guan Ling's student! The Heavens smile upon me, now all my work will not go to waste! Haha!"
Ye Chong could not understand Kui's excitement, and repeated his question, "You know her?"
It took another three minutes before Kui finally calmed down. "I've been to the free space zone when I was younger. That's where I first heard of Guan Ling. She was very famous in the alchemy circle in the free space zone, it's a pity I've never met her in person. I've studied a few of her products. She is truly an amazing alchemist. I was worried that you might not have the basics, but there's nothing to worry about now."
Basics? Did he mean basics in biology? Ye Chong was confused.
"Shang, do you think he'll just give it to me?" Ye Chong asked Shang in his mind.
"Who knows? Sigh, it's not a photo album anyway. People nowadays are losing their creativity, look at the lousy gifts they come up with …" Shang mumbled in complaint.
Ye Chong realized that he was asking the wrong person.
He asked Kui directly, "What are you offering me?"
Kui paused a bit before laughing, "You're blunt, but I like that!" He then smiled teasingly, "You'll know when you see it."
The travellator moved them forward at an even pace. Ye Chong estimated that they had covered about five kilometers.
Kui was beginning to look pale. His chest was no longer bleeding, but the skeleton within was exposed. The flesh around his wound was beginning to turn gray.
Kui saw the look Ye Chong was giving him and smiled easily, "Don't worry. The product's reliable, there won't be any accidents. We still have two hours, plenty of time."
Ye Chong was silent. Underneath Kui's easy demeanor was so much regret and dissatisfaction.
Suddenly, Ye Chong thought of something. "How are you related to the incident on Zhou Jian?"
Kui's gaze turned sharp. "How'd you know it is related to us?"
This was the second time Ye Chong saw Kui became alert abruptly. The first time was when he saw Shang. However, he was not afraid. "I was there at Zhou Jian, and saw some of you from Gray Valley."
Kui's gaze softened. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes betrayed the pain he felt in his heart. He recovered soon and said, "That was an accident. A virus accident. A core member of the virus experiment group was isolated from his colleagues. We were too busy with the experiment to notice. By the time I realized, that member had already left and went into hiding. Nobody thought he'd escape Gray Valley to the He Yue Galaxy. We kept looking for him, but to no avail. We heard of the incident soon after it happened, but it was already too late."
Kui whispered in a low voice of this little known secret.
"I see," Ye Chong nodded and said nothing else. What Kui said better matched with what he knew.
He did not do anything to Kui. It was not his place to get involved. Besides, the Research Consortium was almost completely gone by now. The last member, Kui, had only another two hours left to live.
"We're here," Kui said.
They still had to pass through three passcode protected doors to reach their destination.
This was the most peculiar laboratory that Ye Chong had ever seen. There were many mech parts, and all kinds of odd culture containers. Some of them were huge, holding something that was barely visible inside. There were also many other apparatus that he had never seen before.
"This is the Research Consortium's most important and forefront technology," Kui explained solemnly, "I don't know whether it's the right decision to give them all to you, but I don't have much time left, and I have no other choice to make." He looked at Ye Chong and said earnestly, "I believe that you're capable of continuing our work here."
Ye Chong was baffled. He could not understand Kui.
Kui took Ye Chong further into the lab without another word. Ye Chong could feel the reverence the man had for his mission emanating off him.
The further they went in, the more cluttered the place was. Ye Chong's interest deepened. He could see that many of the culture containers had mech parts in them. There were mech mechanical arms, mech mechanical legs … These mech parts had tissue growing all over them. Some were plant based tissue, and some were muscle flesh.
Kui did not slow down as he went further in. Ye Chong could only set his curiosity aside and followed.
"This lab has been here ever since the Research Consortium was born. The spatial window is also here in this lab. All these years, the Research Consortium has ventured into many fields of research, but no matter if we're talking about spatial technology, machinery or biology, all the best works come from this laboratory. Only the top scientists can enter this lab. It's the dream of every researcher in Gray Valley to step into this place. It is a symbol of prestige and true capabilities.
"You see how messy the lab is? Can't do anything about it. All of our best research works are here. Anything you see can be highly valuable, so no one dared to touch them. No one has ever figured out what exactly we have here, much less talk about the value of these things. That's how the things start to accumulate over time, ending in up what we see today. Of course, another reason for this was that all the people who made their way in were very busy! No one wanted to waste time cleaning up someone else's mess."
Kui said all of these with a mixture of pride and helplessness. The lab was in such a mess that Ye Chong found it difficult to decide where his next step should be. He could even make out some ancient machinery items, their dull luster telling of the long history behind them.
"Hey, Ye, look's like a treasure trove in here. We have to go through this place thoroughly later! Tsk tsk, leaving them behind in this secluded place is such a waste," Shang's eyes glowed like a miner who saw gold.
Kui was not aware, of course, that a greedy someone was enticing the solemn looking Ye Chong right at that moment.
"In some ways, the Research Consortium is over," Kui sounded devastated, "but I wouldn't want these things to be forgotten just like us. They are the result of hard work from so many people. It'll be truly regretful if they vanish from the face of the universe just like that. I'm not a researcher myself, but I can understand this at least.
"You are a hero. Haha, perhaps you don't think it suits you, but that's how I think it is. It's not too bad, losing to you. Of course, it helps that you're not from one of the Three Aristocratic Families. More importantly, I have no choice! Haha!" Kui laughed heartily, and Ye Chong could sense no sadness behind it.
"This base is yours. Take your time to explore around, find anything that interests you. I believe that there are many things that you will find curious and exciting. I had wanted to pass over to you the Research Consortium's allies. After all, the people may be gone, but the Consortium can still live on. However, forget about that. Those people are all mediocre but ambitious fools. When I heard you talking about what they had done, do you know what I felt?" Kui turned to look at Ye Chong.
"What?"
"Humiliated! Furious!" Kui'e eyes glowed in anger as he spoke through gritted teeth, "Those useless b*stards! They're smearing the name of the Consortium! Arrogant fools, all of them. And when danger strikes, when their strength is needed, they all refused to step up. Cowards! They are the Consortium's greatest embarrassment! Their actions are unforgivable!"
Kui waved his arms around as he growled with intensity.
Ye Chong watched Kui in his emotional state without a word. The Research Consortium's members were useless, that was true. He knew that the Consortium would forever lose the confidence of the people, and never recover their former glory.
Half a minute later, Kui finally calmed down. "Those untrained civilians could win against the red-tailed beasts when they're with you. You're stronger than me in this. If that's the case, I'll be at peace knowing that everything is given to you. I know that, with everything in here, you will rise so much faster. Leave the useless failures to themselves."
Kui suddenly frowned then, "Let's move faster, I don't have much time left."
The two of them quickened their pace, and soon reached a very large culture tank.
The container tank was about 15 meters tall and 10 meters wide. Inside was a murky solution, where a large humanoid shaped figure of about 10 meters tall was submerged in. The culture tank was connected to many colorful tubes outside. The tubes were connected to the tank on one end and other devices on the other end.
Kui looked up at the tank, speaking as though in a trance, "You see that? That's the result of our latest research."
"What is it?" Ye Chong was a little taken aback.
"A mech!" Kui smiled mischievously, then turned around to make adjustments on the apparatus around them.
"It's not fully formed yet? Sigh, there's not enough time," Kui muttered to himself as he studied the apparatus. His hands moved quickly as he worked.
The solution inside the culture tank drained away rapidly. Through the transparent walls of the tank, Ye Chong finally had a good look at what was inside.
This was not a mech, this was a human!
A 10 meter tall person! The face had strong angled contours, an aquiline nose, thick lips and dark eyebrows. The eyes were tightly closed. It was like a strong and huge giant.
There was a very archaic looking black helmet worn on its head, with a tall red feather rising up tall from the helmet. The body was covered with a layer of form fitting black colored armor, which made it look like the God of Death came from hell himself. Its wrists, elbows, waist and knees were decorated with a bright red flower. This did not tone down the intensity of the humanoid's appearance, but made it look even more enigmatic and treacherous.
Was this really a mech? Ye Chong was deeply shaken.
"What's your choice of weaponry?" Kui observed Ye Chong's expression, pleased with himself. "Originally, we wanted to make it an armor of gold and bright red, which suits our style more. However, we later find that the black colored alloy improves the physical properties of the armor a lot more, and made the armor more compatible with biological substrates. That's how the black colored alloy came to stay. However, since pure black is the Ye Family's signature appearance, we decided to add these Hell Blossoms. These represent death and chaos."
"We prepared an array of weapons for the mech. Heh, those fellows just do what they want. Look at that, almost all of those are its weapons. Someone even made it a weapons backpack, which can hold around six weapons at a time.
"It's the beginning of a new age! It's a bio-mech! First of its kind in the universe! Three generations have worked on this project, culminating into our success today! We started out with plant based matter since it's structure is simpler, but we gave that up later for more advanced life forms. This mech is the one we've been working on. The skeleton is made of metals with the best physical properties. We then grow muscle tissue over the skeleton using culture growing techniques. The bio-mech is more flexible than mechanical mechs. Its fingers are almost identical to a human's. The skeleton frame is not exactly like a human's, as we have improved upon it in many ways. Based on well-established principles in mechanical mechs, we produced an original skeleton frame design that preserves the agility of the human form while improving its structural integrity. The muscle tissue is modified with a virus, giving it 30 times the strength of normal alloys, and 5.52 times the flexibility of human muscle tissue."
Ye Chong listened to the shocking figures in a daze. Even Shang was rendered speechless.
"Information relay is via neurons, much faster and accurate compared to photon circuits. The neurons are connected to the mech's bio-photon processor. This bio-photon processor is the only one that we made successfully. It's powerful, and you'll exactly know how powerful it is once you try it out. Besides, even though it's a powerful photon processor, it does not result in a PSI." Kui took a glance at Ye Chong.
"The armor is grown with muscle tissue, which greatly enhances its defensive functionality. Its holographic scanning system, comms system and all that are the latest from the Research Consortium. Many of them are just fresh out from the lab oven. This mech is the essence of the Research Consortium's most advanced skills and knowledge.
"It can go up to Mach 30! Compared to the Three Aces from the Three Aristocratic Families, it doesn't differ by a lot! This bio-mech may not be the fastest mech in existence, but its power for short ranged movements has no equal! This is attributed to the unique muscle tissue of the bio-mech. Unlike mechanical mechs that mimic life, this bio-mech is the real thing. It moves like a real life animal, the king of close range combat!
"You may not know this, but the Research Consortium spent almost a third of its research budget on this project. The schematics and design for the bio-mech has been modified for no less than three dozen times. Its every muscle tissue, every armor piece, every piece of skeleton, was the highest achievement of the Research Consortium.
"Its name is – Celest!"