Briefing (Part 1)

The International Science Exploration Association's Xia City Branch was located on the eighteenth floor of the "Supreme Tripod" Triad high-rise office building in Xia City's Li Lan District. Its position was relatively low, only around fifty meters above the ground—the lowest point civilian low-altitude public transit could descend to—and the natural lighting was atrocious.

However, the floors below this one were quite cheap to rent. The Association's subordinate Wilderness Explorers Branch had rented out all the space from the first to seventeenth floors in one go, renovating them into several spacious areas for members' activities.

To the ordinary employees working at the Association, those "wilderness explorers" were simply a bunch of insane rich people with money to burn. With the money they spent on renovations, they could have rented prime locations in the core CBD and done whatever they wanted. Why go through all this trouble renovating a place when most of the facilities would remain unused?

The most typical example was the luxurious circular conference room formed by connecting the bottom three floors. It could accommodate over a thousand people for discussions, yet in the more than ten years since its completion, it had been used fewer than ten times.

Today, the conference room was finally opened once more. Several hundred people filed in one after another, leaving the Association employees, who were usually bored out of their minds, staring in disbelief.

Were there really that many wilderness explorers in Xia City?

Unable to see the meeting's organizational documents, the employees had no idea what the meeting was about or how it was scheduled. They only felt that it was lasting an exceptionally long time. The attendees had entered in the morning, and even after lunchtime had passed, it still had not ended. Not even during the earthquakes had anyone come out to seek safety.

Speaking of earthquakes, the white-collar workers nearby had noticed that the number of quakes they felt seemed far greater than what the Earthquake Administration had reported—at least ten or twenty, by their estimate.

Even so, those wilderness explorers continued their meeting calmly. They really had nerves of steel.

2 PM, September 28, 2096.

Inside the circular conference room, the lighting was dim. Nearly half of the simulated daylight fixtures that remained on year-round had shattered. Vast, spreading shadows blanketed the wrecked venue and seeped into the hearts of the attendees.

Zhang Yingying lightly held Susan's plump hand. Their combined body heat pushed back some of the chill in the darkness. Susan muttered words no one could understand, while the wound on Zhang Yingying's shoulder still throbbed faintly. If it had been two centimeters lower, her carotid artery would have been torn.

At the podium in the center of the conference room, modeled after a parliamentary lectern, Ouyang Chen, president of the Xia City Wilderness Explorers Branch, remained dressed in an immaculate formal suit, bow tie, and antique-style non-prescription glasses, looking like a refined scholar.

He swept his gaze across the faintly visible faces in the dim light and spoke calmly. "The screening is now complete. Four hundred and twenty-nine people are present at this meeting. Four hundred and twenty will ultimately participate in the briefing."

The nine who had been excluded had now become corpses... and some did not even have bodies left to find!

The air in the conference room had frozen solid.

"I will brief you on the situation, and we have also invited Mr. Hu Yuli, Executive President of Quantum Corporation's Xia City region, to provide a detailed explanation."

At the side of the podium, Mr. Hu Yuli, who had once commanded the business world, looked pale. He struggled to maintain his composure and gave a slight nod in every direction. That was all he could manage.

Ouyang Chen adjusted his glasses and began his formal address. The projector behind him activated in sync, displaying a ruined stretch of the Research Zone.

"First, a brief explanation: at the Aberrant Laboratory in Xia City's Research Zone, Quantum Corporation, the government, and the military jointly conducted live dissection research on Aberrant Species. The project has been underway for two years. About half a month ago, Quantum Corporation replaced the test subject with a special specimen—a rare case of a Darkside Creature parasitizing an Aberrant Species. Its codename was the 'Human-Faced Spider.'"

A large number of images flashed across the projection, all records retained by the laboratory. The attendees stared coldly at them and continued listening.

"Yesterday, at approximately 5:13 AM on September 27, an equipment operator at the laboratory was controlled by the Darkside Creature and forcibly destroyed the power supply. Before the backup power could come online, the Darkside Creature drove the Aberrant Species in an attempt to escape the laboratory.

"Quantum Corporation brought the situation under control and killed the Aberrant Species at 5:19 AM, causing the Darkside Creature to separate from its host. At 5:24 AM, Quantum Corporation also killed the Darkside Creature. But before that, the Darkside Creature had released some kind of... virus by means we still do not understand."

Ouyang Chen paused and emphasized it again. "A virus. That is all we can call it for now. According to statistics, with Quantum Corporation's laboratory in the Research Zone as the center, the virus spread as far as 520 kilometers away, covering the entire Xia City metropolitan area and all Satellite Cities.

"Within a ten-kilometer radius of the center lies the core infection zone, where the number of infected people is highest. Preliminary statistics put it at over seven hundred, mainly laboratory personnel and some residents. Beyond ten kilometers, the number of infections drops rapidly. According to preliminary research, the 'virus' currently has three characteristics:

"First, outside the core zone, the infection rate among ordinary people is not high, and no cases have been discovered so far. But for Ability Users, the situation is terrible. The current rate is nine in a thousand. I believe this is related to the method of transmission. After all, Ability Users are far more sensitive in their perception than ordinary people."

The atmosphere in the conference room became even more oppressive. That infection rate of nine in a thousand had been calculated in human lives. Today's attendees accounted for nearly half of the registered members, and during the screening just now, four people had been infected, causing five others to be killed or injured.

"Second, special conditions are required to activate this virus. Intense emotional fluctuations, especially Negative Emotions, are the most obvious trigger. According to Quantum Corporation's internal experimental reports, the virus survives in the human body for approximately eight to eighteen hours. If the host remains calm during that period, it will be completely extinguished. But if Negative Emotions are present, its survival time will be greatly extended, and there is a very high chance of activation. The specific data has not yet been finalized.

"Third... you all saw it just now. An activated virus absorbs the host's Qi and Blood energy, transforming into a Darkside Creature. These Darkside Creatures devour and fuse with one another, growing stronger without end. With every growth, their forms and power levels come closer to their 'releaser.'"

Ouyang Chen set aside the briefing and turned to Hu Yuli. Behind his non-prescription glasses, his gaze was cold and clear.

"So we have to ask: is that Human-Faced Spider truly dead? When these Darkside Creatures absorb enough nutrients, devour one another, and fuse, will that represent its rebirth? Has Quantum Corporation conducted any research that supports or touches upon this possibility?"

Hu Yuli could only shake his head. "The research has not gone deep enough yet. We truly don't understand..."

He struggled to evade Ouyang Chen's question, but that did not mean he had passed the test. Ouyang Chen's questioning had only opened the door.

Soon, another voice rose from the conference room. "What was that news about a stolen drug? It's completely different from the story you released before!"