DBMEP CH83

Chapter 83: How Can One Sheep Be Slaughtered Twice? 

Xiang Nanli’s brain, in a rare occurrence, short-circuited.

Sitting on the bed, he unconsciously clutched his blanket tightly, feeling somewhat bewildered and a bit guilty.

Xiang Nanli: “Um, Xiao Qing, carbon-based monkeys just get their nerves scrambled by alcohol…”

Xiang Nanli had drunk too much and only vaguely remembered a little. But exactly how it happened, and the process he went through in between, he had absolutely no memory of.

He also didn’t know how many years of prison time molesting metal carried under the laws of the Omnic Legion.

Dongfang Qingdi observed his expression, which clearly screamed “I don’t want to take responsibility,” and squeezed a cold sneer from his nasal cavity—it was impossible to tell if it was mocking or resentful: “Get up and eat.”

After speaking, he turned and left.

Xiang Nanli stared at his retreating back, spacing out for a while.

He originally wanted to ask Xiao Zhi what to do if he “accidentally kissed his good brother,” but on second thought, Xiao Zhi was just a mini version of Xiao Qing; how was that any different from asking Xiao Qing directly!

Thus, exactly as Dongfang Qingdi anticipated, Xiang Nanli chose the “pretend nothing happened” route.

He changed his clothes and walked out of the room, only to discover that Xiao Qing surprisingly wasn’t waiting for him like usual. A wave of disappointment washed over his heart.

“Why does Xiao Qing hold such a grudge?” Xiang Nanli deliberately muttered very loudly. “I hate petty robots the most!”

[…]

[I am at the infirmary.]

Alright, so he went to work.

Xiang Nanli decided to forgive him.

The 1 million credit point consumption voucher in the account had returned to zero.

Xiang Nanli opened the backend to take a look; the expenses were primarily concentrated on materials for Beichen’s laboratory and infrastructure consumables.

1 million credits: two or three cybernetic enhancements; four or five mid-to-high-end cybernetic prosthetics aimed at senior corporate drones; a five or six square meter apartment in Luoyang City; enough for one person to live relatively comfortably underground for seven or eight years—but when used for the infrastructure of an entire city, it was truly a drop in the bucket.

While eating his meal in the cafeteria, Xiang Nanli pondered, his gaze fixed on Yi Hengxing, who was similarly chewing on plain fare, his eyes full of deep thought.

Yi Hengxing inexplicably felt a chill run down his spine. When he looked up, Xiang Nanli was already sitting beside him, beaming with smiles.

“Teacher Yi,” Xiang Nanli wasn’t wearing his electronic lens, and his emerald-green eyes looked exceptionally gentle. “Are you getting used to the dormitory you stayed in last night? The conditions in Eternal City are not great, but you are our most esteemed guest. Please don’t hesitate to mention any needs you might have. I will do my utmost to fulfill them.”

Yi Hengxing thought to himself, the conditions were indeed terrible enough. In the dead of night, the dorm didn’t even have electricity; he had to light a candle just to see the path clearly. The signal was also poor, completely unable to connect to the internet.

He had no idea that to prevent outsiders from discovering anomalies, the Eternal City had installed extremely powerful signal jammers. Furthermore, Xiao Qing had waited until Yi Hengxing fell asleep to secretly cut off the equipment’s network connection.

Yi Hengxing smiled and replied: “It’s fine, I’ve always been very clear on the conditions on the surface. By the way, looking at the schedule, it seems there are no classes during the day? Then I…”

Yi Hengxing wanted to wander around on his own.

He remembered the massive Mutant he had seen earlier—that was not a good sign. Perhaps he should request a transfer order from his superiors; Mutants weren’t exactly far from Gusu City either.

At this moment, Xiang Nanli interrupted him with a smile: “Teacher Yi, you must be very curious as to why that Mutant obeyed my commands yesterday, right?”

Yi Hengxing was taken aback, then nodded somewhat embarrassedly: “A little.”

He had wanted to investigate secretly, never expecting Xiang Nanli to bring it up so directly.

A gentleman is upright and forthright, making Yi Hengxing feel he was being overly petty.

“Please come with me.”

Xiang Nanli led him to the garage and sat in the driver’s seat of the senior mobility scooter. He handed a protective suit to Yi Hengxing: “Put this on.”

Yi Hengxing initially wanted to say he had undergone genetic enhancement and was equipped with a radiation absorber. But on second thought, the more protection, the better, so he obediently slipped the suit on.

With the recent road repairs, the path to the pasture had become much smoother. Xiang Nanli drove for an hour, arriving at the location of Pasture No. 1 from his memory.

The pasture was situated in a valley, resembling a sunken basin. Inside the iron fences, the creatures roamed aimlessly; if they bumped into the electric wire, they would retreat on their own.

Looking at these blood-red beasts covered in mycelium, Yi Hengxing’s pupils violently constricted: “These are?!”

Xiang Nanli didn’t bring Yi Hengxing any closer, instead speaking: “I’ve listened to the radio. This is the mycelium disease that recently broke out in Gusu City, right.”

Xiang Nanli let out a heavy sigh: “We were dealing with sick cattle in the river valley area. We originally intended to let them decompose naturally and then bury them. But when we calculated the time and came to bury them, we discovered the cattle carcasses had been parasitized by the Black Silk Spore Fungus…”

“We were terrified and tried to set fire to burn the cattle, but the Black Silk Spore Fungus has extremely high vitality and is highly infectious. As long as there are sufficient nutrients, a massive patch can grow back by the next day.”

Xiang Nanli pointed to the pasture: “Just then, Eternal City’s Mayor Andrew discovered by accident that Mutants wandering nearby actually ate these fungal organisms. To prevent the Mutants from eating people, we had no choice but to feed the Fungus Cows to them. Once full, the Mutants wouldn’t attack humans. Gradually, more and more Mutants gathered nearby. Just like a pack of wolves, congregating in the forests near the city limits.”

“Their leader is very intelligent. Every so often, he leads the other Mutants to the pasture to eat these Fungus Cows. To some extent, Eternal City is essentially feeding them. The leader will occasionally listen to our suggestions, but of course, it entirely depends on his mood… This is why I was able to get the Mutants to abandon their attack on you.”

However, Yi Hengxing’s focus was on an entirely different matter: “Are you saying they can eat the mycelium?”

The mycelium disease was spreading madly in Gusu City, and numerous quarantine zones had been constructed. Yet the illness remained difficult to control. More and more people were succumbing to fungal transformation.

Although those who had undergone genetic modification hadn’t yet shown symptoms of infection, the fact remained that in any society, ordinary people made up the vast majority.

Yi Hengxing had accepted missions, charging in and out of the epidemic zones, clearing out a massive number of infected. He had also tossed and turned on sleepless nights over Gusu City’s dire situation.

He grew somewhat excited: “If we release some Mutants into the underground city…”

No, that’s not right.

Yi Hengxing suddenly became alert, a sharp gleam flashing through his narrowed eyes.

In his understanding, Mutants, just like the mycelium disease, were creations of the Divine Court!

If releasing Mutants into the city was the Divine Court’s true goal, wouldn’t he be inviting wolves into the house?

In fact—

If Xiang Nanli hadn’t accidentally conquered the Eternal City and captured the Holy Spirit, this indeed would have been the Divine Court’s original plan.

Except they didn’t intend to release Mutants; everyone knew Mutants were dangerous.

What the Divine Court wanted to release underground was the disguised Holy Spirit.

The Divine Court would use a specialized potion to alter the Holy Spirit’s appearance into a common, non-venomous snake.

Waiting until the infectious disease in Gusu City reached an extremely severe point, they would arrange for a certain investigator to “accidentally” discover that this non-venomous snake species could consume the mycelium.

At that point, someone would definitely propose introducing these black snakes to control the mycelium infection. Even if no one else stepped up, there was still Xin Zhui.

With Luo Xiu promoted to Acting Mayor of Gusu City, Xin Zhui’s status rose accordingly. The proposal had an extremely high probability of being approved.

Never underestimate their bond. Growing up together, Xin Zhui had risked his life to save Luo Xiu at least three times.

This way, the Holy Spirit could bypass security checks and smuggle itself into the underground city.

The disguised Holy Spirit could unreservedly devour the mycelium, rapidly evolving.

The more this kind of monster ate, the faster it evolved, and it could even split off companion spirits to assist in its feeding. By then, the entirety of Gusu City would become the Holy Spirit’s cafeteria.

The original residents of Gusu City largely favored the Human Alliance anyway, so their deaths would be convenient. The Divine Court had a massive flock of surface believers eager to move underground.

Ultimately, the Divine Court could capture an empty city without shedding a single drop of its own soldiers’ blood.

As for the Human Alliance’s reaction, that would be a matter to deal with after securing Gusu City.

…This plan seemed flawless.

Unfortunately, Xiang Nanli came charging out from midway, completely oblivious, yet managing to utterly shatter the Divine Court’s entire layout.

Lacking basic morality tends to result in things like this; even God refuses to help.

Xiang Nanli spoke warmly: “Why would you release Mutants into the underground city? Using ‘feeding’ to decompose the mycelium is extremely inefficient. To see any real effect, you would need at least hundreds of Mutants. The slightest misstep would bring an immense security risk to Gusu City.”

Xiang Nanli voiced everything Yi Hengxing had been thinking.

From a psychological perspective, Xiang Nanli had at the very least dismantled his secondary mental defenses.

Analyzing his expression, Xiang Nanli finally revealed his true intentions: “Actually, bringing you here and showing you our pasture was to tell you something else. We extracted an active substance from the stomach contents of these Mutants that inhibits mycelium growth, and we have developed a batch of mycelium disease inhibitors.”

Deliberately giving him the wrong direction was to maximize the secrecy of the formula.

Xiang Nanli had completed his psychological preparation days ago, so he lied without an ounce of pressure. His tone right now sounded incredibly sincere and unadorned.

Yi Hengxing’s breathing involuntarily quickened. He understood better than anyone the importance of an inhibitor in the current situation.

“At present, the dosage of this batch of medicine is extremely small. After portioning, there are only 20 bottles, 1 milliliter per bottle.”

“You know humans are not always united. Especially when matters of life and death are involved. I hope this batch of inhibitors can enter various research institutes and maximize its efficacy, rather than being placed in cold storage in some private warehouse, waiting for the day it’s unsealed.” The smile on Xiang Nanli’s face slowly faded, his expression growing solemn. “Yi Hengxing, I believe you are a good person. Please tell me, can I trust you?”

Yi Hengxing’s heart couldn’t help but tremble slightly.

Was he a good person? Yi Hengxing thought, most people have a good opinion of themselves and never consider themselves villains.

Yi Hengxing had been in the Investigation Bureau for over twenty years, going from a greenhorn to a seasoned veteran. He had done good deeds, and to continue doing good deeds, he had also suppressed his conscience to do some unethical things…

A thousand thoughts raced through Yi Hengxing’s mind before he said solemnly: “Please, trust me.”

The smile on Xiang Nanli’s face bloomed, and he patted Yi Hengxing heavily on the shoulder: “Good brother.”

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