The Predecessor of Yako Laboratory

The purebred Basket-Tailed Snake Species, tracing its origins, should have originally been part of the Sea Race hundreds of years ago.

However, the Undying Cells and long lifespan did not bring them prosperity.

Lacking strong individuals, they were captured in large numbers and became research subjects for the Sea Race.

These studies, focusing on the Basket-tailed Serpent, greatly promoted the improvement of the Dragon Spirit Species' physical shaping techniques.

Although they failed to achieve immortality, they did shorten the time required for physical transformation.

In fact, the Sea Race Second Research Institute was likely established based on these studies.

Then, unsurprisingly, the purebred Basket-Tailed Snake Species, which was already of average strength, went extinct.

Only a few new species that retained the bloodline of the basket-tailed snake remained, and after cultivating to the Heaven Realm, they escaped the ocean.

These Basket-Tailed Snake Species are survivors of numerous experiments.

Their cultivation talent far surpasses that of the purebred basket-tailed snakes of the past.

Currently, the Basket-Tailed Serpent swarm, as well as the ancestor of the Demon Race who reached the Heaven-Controlling Realm, are also from them.

However, the place where this batch of Basket-Tailed Snake Species landed was not the Moonfall Continent where the Demon Race's Heaven-Controlling Realm is now located.

Instead, it is Lantiao Continent, which has a much wider coastline.

Because this batch of Basket-Tailed Snake Species also possessed beast-like characteristics and had great potential, they were absorbed by the Beastfolk Main Lineage at the time.

As for why their descendants led a group of mixed-blood Beastfolk to independence, forming the Demon Race of today.

And why did they migrate to the Moonfall Continent?

This brings us to the predecessor of the Yako Laboratory — the Shahai Laboratory located in the Lantiao Continent.

Lantiao Continent, Shahai City.

Once settled, Yan Fei, Lu Qianyu, and their group immediately got to work.

Yan Fei was responsible for handing over the teahouse that the Shahai City Intelligence Group had bought for him.

The teahouse is located in the city center, on a bustling commercial street.

The owner was an orphan from another Human Race, which is why he agreed to sell the teahouse and then his whole family immigrated to Zi City.

The Human Race high command had previously given the boss instructions, so he rarely appeared on ordinary days.

The change of ownership was completed quietly, without even most of the teahouse employees knowing.

A temporary base has been established, and intelligence work is also progressing smoothly.

With the newer and better equipment provided by the Shahai City Intelligence Group, Lu Qianyu no longer needed to carry the equipment she had found in the small submarine.

Although that thing was also for military use, it was installed on a small submarine with limited space.

Naturally, it's not as sophisticated as the equipment actually supplied to intelligence teams.

Lu Qianyu quickly got the hang of the new equipment.

He cautiously probed the city's garrison.

At the same time, he multitasked, monitoring the Psychic Energy fluctuations in and around Shahai City.

Not long ago, his efforts finally paid off, and he actually noticed some unusual behavior from the city defense forces.

It's important to understand that the relationship between the Demon Race and the Beastfolk has never been harmonious.

In addition, there are Tree Spirit Species of the Spirit Race living two or three hundred kilometers away from Shahai City.

Therefore, in order to ensure the safety and well-being of the people, this large settlement built large shelters on the outskirts of various areas of the city.

These shelters are usually unused and people are not frequently sent there.

Moreover, these are military facilities, and under normal circumstances, no one would dare to approach them.

However, Lu Qianyu made an unexpected discovery while monitoring the garrison soldiers.

When the troops patrol, they will deliberately pass by a certain shelter in the East District of the Shahai City, which is close to the inland.

This behavior is really strange.

It was as if they were extremely worried about outsiders breaking into the refuge, or perhaps they were guarding against some possible intruder.

Lu Qianyu judged that this might be a valuable clue, so she immediately reported it to Yan Fei, who was building an intelligence network.

Upon receiving this news, Yan Fei did not rashly send someone to investigate immediately.

There are two reasons.

Firstly, it's because they haven't yet fully grasped the internal situation of Shahai City, so they can't make any major moves.

Secondly, doing so without knowing what secrets are hidden there would be too easy to expose oneself.

If they attract the attention of the Demon Race garrison within the city, not only will their mission be impossible to complete.

It might even implicate the intelligence team on the Sea of Sand side.

Therefore, he decided to take a roundabout approach and conduct an indirect investigation of the shelter.

"Boss, two bowls of seafood congee, please!"

"Okay!"

In a fairly large market in the East District, there are shops lining the street, with various stalls of different sizes arranged outside.

This restaurant is clearly one of the best.

Many gourmets and tourists flock here just to taste the renowned seafood porridge.

Therefore, there is no shortage of fresh noodles here.

One pot of porridge after another was cooked on three stoves, without stopping from morning till night, so the porridge was served quite quickly.

"Two bowls! Two bowls of our signature seafood congee, please enjoy!"

After placing the two bowls of porridge on the table, the proprietress turned and went to the next table.

Two intelligence agents, wearing inconspicuous animal ears and disguised as Demon Race, naturally began to eat their porridge.

Their attention, however, was entirely focused on the noisy conversations of passersby.

Most of the intelligence was actually just trivial matters like family life and daily necessities.

At best, we can roughly estimate the living conditions in this residential area; very little information is truly useful to them.

But some things can only be understood by immersing oneself in the local living environment.

For example, right now.

"Boss, two bowls of seafood congee, no scallops, plus four oyster cakes and a plate of fried fish."

"Another case of beer, please."

"Okay, the oyster pancakes will take a while. Please find a seat."

"OK!"

Two soldiers who were taking a break from their shifts entered the store.

The two intelligence agents, who had already finished half a bowl of seafood porridge, exchanged a glance.

They continued chatting idly, but their attention was already focused on the two soldiers.

The target has been identified.

A moment later, one of the intelligence agents raised his hand to beckon to the landlady who was passing by.

"Hello, could you please add some stir-fried whelks and salt and pepper squid?"

"Okay, there are quite a few people, please wait a moment."

"Fine."

The proprietress went to the kitchen with a big smile to add more food for them, and a little while later she brought them two cans of beer for free.

"Laugh!"

Two intelligence agents pulled the tab off a beer bottle with one hand, and with a gentle twist, specks of white foam appeared.

They enjoyed the delicious food leisurely, just like any other diner.

In the distance, two soldiers also opened beer bottles.

They seemed a bit annoyed, and immediately downed two bottles.

After a few drinks, the two men immediately started talking.

"Tell me, if it's so dangerous, why send us lowly scoundrels on patrol? If we actually run into them, do you think we can stop them?!"

One of the soldiers started cursing, but he kept his voice very low.

Clearly, they do have some sense of caution, just not much.

"Don't panic, we're not even on the front lines yet. There are still guards at the city gates and walls!"

Another soldier offered a casual word of comfort, but it sounded more like self-deception.

"That's hilarious. If that thing could escape before, getting back in would be a piece of cake."

The soldier who spoke first rolled his eyes.

"Sigh, there's nothing we can do about it. The higher-ups ordered you to watch the gate; can you refuse?"

"If you don't go, you'll be punished by your superiors before you even encounter the legendary 'evil spirit'."

The two men's voices reached the intelligence officer's ears intermittently.

It seems there's a new direction for the investigation into the rumored 'evil spirit'.