Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After achieving a substantial victory that allowed its strength to be multiplied several times, the rise of Tudenan’s power was now unstoppable.
Unfortunately, no matter how abundant the pre-conditions were for the rise of any power, it still required a period of process. Zhang Lisheng, who had been working together with the Three Great Mountain Gates of Life, Death, and Sacrifice, did not have the time to witness this tribe that believed in him to become the hegemon of several thousands of kilometers in the jungle.
After staying for only two to three days in the tribe, he rode on Ghostface with great regrets and hurriedly rushed back to the human gathering place.
Out of caution and the fact that he was only covered with a single piece of animal skin, Zhang Lisheng did not go through the gate of the city wall. Instead, he transformed into a lizard and turned himself invisible before walking through the wall of the gathering place.
He first sneaked quietly into the cement house situated at the corner of the gathering place where the wizards gathered and realized that it was completely vacant. Only then did he relax and conceal himself again as he walked back to the residence that he stayed on the surface.
After passing through the wall conveniently with his invisible state, Zhang Lisheng consolidated his naked body again in the bathroom and soaked himself in a hot bath. After cleaning the mud away from his body, he changed into a new set of clothes and walked out of the door in a carefree manner, before going to the meat shop LS had opened on the Shrimp B1 Island.
Recently, he had deliberately avoided the vicinity of the shop when he was moving about in the gathering place so when he appeared again this time all of a sudden, he naturally created a commotion.
“Oh my dear God! Mr. Zhang! You finally appeared!” The shop manager, Tony, who had sparse hair, put his hands together in a praying manner as he shouted in pleasant surprise. “Mr. Charlie has left a message for you a long time ago! He asked you to make a trip back to Earth. The group has already finished building the factories in the metropolitan cities like Los Angeles, Chicago City and Dallas so they can start operations immediately with just one order of yours!”
“Is that so? Time flies so fast.” Zhang Lisheng was stunned. “In that case, I’ll make a trip back to the lab first before I go back to New York right away. However, before that, Tony, pack me a few pieces of freshly grilled meat and a dozen cans of iced Coke please.”
“Yes, sir! Right away!” Tony personally carried out the order and dexterously packed a few hot and delicious grilled meat in a paper bag for his big boss. “I’ll go to the beach to buy you a ticket. You can just get on board of the ship directly later.”
“Thank you! You’re very attentive!” Zhang Lisheng nodded with a smile as he took the paper bag and iced Coke. Without caring for his image, he ate and drank all the way as he walked towards the cement room that had a white-headed eagle flag hanging on the door beam.
After having his face scanned by the sergeant on duty in accordance with practice, he walked into the bunker along the underground channel of the inner room. After he had found his biological laboratory at the digital landmark on the ramp, he keyed in the password to open the door but to his surprise, the door would not bulge at all.
Zhang Lisheng was stunned. After realizing that the door still would not bulge even after he had keyed in the password and turned the doorknob again and again, he pressed on the speaker on the door suspiciously and shouted close into it, “Professor, are you in the lab?”
After a long while, when he was already feeling impatient, the laboratory door was slowly opened. Steven’s unkempt face that was covered with white stubbles and a pair of dark-circled eyes stretched out. “Oh, it’s you, Lisheng! Come in! Hurry up and come in!”
“H-How long have you not rested, Professor?” Zhang Lisheng walked into the lab in a dumbstruck manner and saw that the lab was in a mess. “I’ve asked the servicemen in the bunker to help clean the lab already. How did it become like this? Professor, what happened?”
“Nothing! The only major event recently is the Kanado people, or was it Kalado or something? In short, they’re the guys who were formerly known as the steam civilization from the foreign world. They have completely defeated the South African government and occupied Cape Town already. Perhaps you didn’t know that there are three Cape Town provinces in South Africa, with an area of hundreds of thousands of square kilometers…” Steven muttered in a crazy manner.
“The South Africa has been successfully invaded by the foreign world’s people?” Steven announced the news in a light manner but Zhang Lisheng could not help but cry out in surprise. The face of an old black man who always had a gentleman-like smile and a face full of wisdom suddenly appeared in his mind as he felt chills running down his spine. “How about the other countries on Earth? How about those military powers? The US, China, EU, or even Japan? Did they do anything when Earth was being invaded?”
“Who knows? It doesn’t have much to do with me anyway whether they did or did not do anything. I’m a scientist and not a politician. Anyway, staying in the US will never let my body be in harm and I have my own job as well. I merely came across this big news inadvertently and it just somehow carved itself in my mind. Who knows who’ll…” Steven waved his hand and mumbled incoherently.
“Oh you really don’t care too much about this kind of thing,” Zhang Lisheng’s expression changed as he interrupted his supervisor’s nagging. “I really have forgotten just now, there’s only one thing that can make you like this. How’s Professor Effiny already?”
The young man’s question made Steven, who had an irritated expression on while shaking his head constantly, freeze right away. His entire being became quiet as he stood there for a long time at the same spot like a sculpture. Then, he slowly walked to the laboratory’s chair that was piled up with various research papers and sat down on it, before burying his expressionless face into his palms.
Zhang Lisheng, who was standing by the side, did not urge him and just looked at his supervisor silently. After who knows how long, a hoarse and dry voice resonated in his ears, “She suddenly had multiple organ failures. The doctor said that it’s the sequelae left behind by the lack of oxygen in her body for a long time due to her damaged brain. It’s a very rare sequelae but Effiny was just not lucky enough. Her time is running out. I intend to try to use the Gold Core to maintain her life on behalf of her visceral system before her brain dies. I’ve conducted more than 170 tests in the last ten days but unfortunately, the results of the tests on small mammals have been very good but not so ideal on large mammals.”
“Large mammals?” Zhang Lisheng opened his mouth. “Don’t tell me that you’ve used monkeys for experiments, professor?”
“I’ve bought ten monkeys and shipped them over but all of them have already died. In fact, as long as I use a strong enough anesthetic, the experiment is not that dangerous. As long as the basic substance of the body is protein, it’d be subjected to modern biology’s…”
“Oh Professor! Stop mentioning modern biology or nonsense already! According to the theory of biology, such thing as Emperor Molasses should not even existed at all.” Zhang Lisheng looked at his supervisor and smiled wryly as he made a metaphor. “There’s no accident in the experiment. It’s just that you just so happened to have obtained a straight flush in these ten rounds of poker that you played.”
“Even so, I’ll still continue to do it!” Steven said calmly. “Good luck is also a talent. Recently, I feel like I’m the Newton who was hit by the apple. Perhaps I’d be able to find the law of gravity as well because of a painful head.”
“I understand how you’re feeling, Professor, but what you’re doing is undoubtedly suicide. If you continue to modify in such a short time based on the quality of the existing ‘stabilizers’, it’d be a joke as well if you run a test on large mammals! Even if you succeed, there’s nothing that you can do except for creating a monster that kills you.”
“Even so, I want to try it as well! I might have to waste the shards of Gold Core that you’ve obtained with great difficulty. I’d have to say sorry in advance, child.”
“The hell? This, This is really messed up! Those Gold Core shards are not important, what is important is your life!” Zhang Lisheng was rendered utterly speechless by his supervisor. In the end, he finally exploded. “This isn’t the professor I know! You weren’t like this in the past! You’re a scientist! You’re a scientist who can directly use a steel clamp to hold a razor blade to cut open a monkey’s scalp by force without so much as trembling and pour in different concentrations of corrosive agents just for the sake of collecting experimental data! Don’t think of yourself as the male protagonist of an 8pm soap opera!”
“I’m still a cold-blooded scientist right now but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight for my sister’s life!” Steven said in a low voice. “In fact, aren’t we all such people? People who are molded by a contradicting hot and cold temperature!”
Zhang Lisheng became stunned and remained silent for a while. Then, helplessly, he said, “Since you have made up your mind, then I have nothing to say. Everyone is responsible for their actions, Professor. Everyone is like this, whether he is an idiot who can’t even count to 100 and uses a rake to plant potatoes in the Texas agricultural industry or a tenured professor at Stanford University. I wish you good luck. Goodbye!”
Then, he turned around and exited from the door.
“Wait a minute, Lisheng!” Steven stood up from the chair with a swaying body. “I’ve left all of the updated and renewed formulas for the stabilizer in the ‘X’ folder on the lab’s hard drive. You know how to find it. Also, I’ve summarized the research we’ve previously done on ‘Sea Shrimp B1 Island’ for more than half a year into a thesis and handed it to Stanford University’s Degree Review Board in your name already. I don’t think there is any problem with the thesis but it’s better for you to go back to university to make up a year of basic knowledge to defend your thesis. Stanford University’s Degree Review Board likes to hire some antique-level scientists to do a viva voce and they don’t particularly appreciate a billionaire.”
Zhang Lisheng froze. “Thank you, Professor.”
In the end, he still opened the laboratory door without turning his head and strode into the ramp.
When he came up to the ground, he felt so depressed that he breathed in a few mouthfuls of the island’s humid air. Walking through the bustling streets of the town, he unknowingly came to the beach.
“Mr. Zhang, the ship has just arrived, I’ve already bought you the ticket.” Tony, who had already long bought the ticket and was awaiting by the beach while being drenched in his sweat, saw his big boss walking over so he quickly waved the ship ticket in his hand. He walked up to Zhang Lisheng and pointed to a ship in the sea as he said, “There are not many people waiting in line so I didn’t help you queue up first.”
Due to the cost, the size of the civil ship sailing to Shrimp B1 Island was much smaller than that of the government-organized cruise ship. It was basically a medium-sized ferry that looked similar to the ship that traveled to and fro from New York downtown. The only difference was that one would need to spend at least several hundreds of USD to ride it while the other one did not cost a single penny at all, it was completely free.
