"This is another world." After passing through the Anomaly Point and arriving on the other side, Ada looked around at the surroundings, her face full of confusion.
Even though Ada was a top-tier agent, it was perfectly normal for her to have questions after suddenly encountering something like this.
"The facts are right in front of us, aren't they?" Shen Fei said. He ignored Ada and walked straight ahead. About five hundred meters away stood a towering altar made of dozens of stone steps. If nothing unexpected happened, the Stairway of the Sun should be atop that platform.
Shen Fei had already seen an altar like this on the other side. He had also seen it in the cave murals.
The altar on the other side had probably been built in imitation of this one. As for how this altar had been built, no one knew.
It had to be said that even primitive tribes possessed intelligence that could not be underestimated. At the very least, constructing an altar like this in that era was not something ordinary people could have accomplished.
"I want to take a look around," Ada said after carefully observing the area.
"Be careful. This island may not be very safe, and don't waste too much time."
"No problem."
There were islands on both sides of the Anomaly Point. Perhaps that was the real reason the secret of the Stairway of the Sun had remained hidden for so long.
To protect the secret of the Stairway of the Sun, Spencer and the others had crazily slaughtered the entire primitive tribe. Even now, human bones and ruined buildings could still be seen on the island.
To keep the secret, the three of them had agreed never to reveal the island's location. Whenever they came to collect the Stairway of the Sun, one of the three had personally made the trip.
As for the guards who had escorted them to the island, they had all been poisoned to death after the three left.
On the other side of the Anomaly Point, apart from the towering altar, there were no signs of human existence and no buildings. However, animal remains could be seen, and most importantly, the beasts here were much larger than ordinary animals.
"There are no birdcalls or insect sounds. This looks like a dead zone." Although Shen Fei had no experience in wilderness exploration, he still knew some basic things. Besides, Ada was right beside him.
During the time they had spent together, Shen Fei had sought Ada's advice on agent-related knowledge whenever he had the chance. It was not because he wanted to become an agent, but because he wanted to guard against them.
For example, knowledge of how to detect listening devices and cameras. Without being a professional agent, some things were very hard to notice.
An outstanding agent, especially someone like Ada or Black Widow, needed to master far too many skills. First was driving proficiency: flying planes, piloting submarines, and operating all kinds of vehicles in between.
Then came hacking proficiency. In modern society, without that skill, one could not be considered a powerful agent at all.
There was also weapons proficiency, wilderness survival proficiency, combat proficiency, and so on.
"A lot of people died for this thing." Upon reaching the altar, Shen Fei found all kinds of remains sprawled across the stone steps—human bones as well as those of other creatures. At the very top of the steps, there were even more remains.
Trying to become stronger by consuming the Stairway of the Sun was a life-or-death gamble for ordinary people and animals. Success meant becoming the king of the tribe and enjoying wealth and glory. Though Shen Fei felt the wealth and glory of a primitive tribe amounted to little, for the tribe's people, it was genuine enjoyment.
Failure meant dying on the spot.
There was also a small chance of becoming a monster. That was probably why there were so few signs of life on this island.
"The Stairway of the Sun." The Stairway of the Sun was a brightly colored flower that survived only in the patch of earth at the very center of the altar's summit.
"Is the soil special?" Shen Fei said as he used the Op-Op Fruit's ability to analyze the soil beneath the Stairway of the Sun. The result was something he mostly could not understand.
"It should be similar to the Heart-Shaped Herb." Spencer and the others had initially spent a great deal of money researching how to transplant the Stairway of the Sun. In the end, they found that once transplanted, it became an ordinary flower and lost its miraculous abilities. Even transplanting the soil along with it made no difference.
Just as oranges grown in the south remained oranges, while those grown in the north became bitter citrus.
"Sorry." After saying that, Shen Fei swept up every remaining Stairway of the Sun, then buried several highly powerful bombs around the area, preparing to destroy the place completely.
If a botanist saw Shen Fei doing this, they would definitely fight him to the death. This was an absolutely unique plant. Even setting aside its effects, such an act of extermination deserved condemnation.
Unfortunately, Shen Fei was not a botanist. Even if he were, he would not preserve this plant. It was simply too dangerous. Although this might seem like needless worry, it was necessary to ensure safety.
Earth already had too many dangerous viruses. It could not afford another one. Moreover, with the Stairway of the Sun gone, the viruses in this series would gradually become fewer over time.
The T-Virus extracted from the Progenitor Virus was the source of all viral enhancement. As everyone knew, viruses could not survive independently and could only reproduce by relying on a living host's vitality.
That was the fundamental reason most viruses were lethal.
However, the T-Virus possessed a unique trait compared to those viruses: it could rewrite a living organism's genes. Most viruses could not do that.
At present, the only thing capable of doing the same was the Heart-Shaped Herb.
Human genes were exclusive, so only a radioactive spider could produce a case like Spider-Man's. Even then, not every radioactive spider could accomplish it.
Spider-Man's emergence had been both accidental and inevitable. If someone else had been bitten, they would not have gained superpowers. They would have received a ticket to the hospital, or, in more serious cases, a ticket to Hell.
But if the T-Virus were combined with spider genes, creating another Spider-Man would not be difficult. Strictly speaking, an Ant-Man, an Octopus-Man, or even a Lizard could all be created.
According to traditional Chinese medicine theory, the T-Virus was the medicinal catalyst for genetic modification. It could guide genes to change.
The T-Veronica Virus had been created by combining the T-Virus with ancient Queen ant genes.
Of course, that was only in theory. Perfect fusion still involved all kinds of problems, problems that most scientists could never solve.
But for Shen Fei, they were entirely solvable.
"I wonder what this world is like." On the island's shore, Ada looked out over the endless sea and said this.
"Who knows?"
Naturally, Spencer and the others had not set their sights only on the Stairway of the Sun in this world. Unfortunately, leaving the island to explore elsewhere was far too difficult for them.
The Anomaly Point was too small to bring modern ships through. Trying to build a boat or raft from materials on the island and sail across the ocean without protagonist luck was practically suicide.
Spencer and the others had once sent several groups to explore this world, but none ever returned. In addition, Spencer's attention at the time had been focused on the Progenitor Virus and the T-Virus, so he never sent anyone again.
Whether those people had all died, discovered something, or even integrated into this world, no one could know as long as no one returned.
"You don't want to take a look?" Ada asked Shen Fei with a smile.
For ordinary people, exploring this world might be extremely difficult. But for Shen Fei, as long as he wanted to, it would not be particularly hard.
First, his Dimension Magic could be used in this world. That indicated that this world had some unknown connection to Earth. It was not impossible that it was a world from the past or the future.
Furthermore, even if the Anomaly Point closed now, Shen Fei could use magic to open a Portal back to Earth. That was the wonder of Dimension Magic.
If he wanted, he could even leave a magical marker in this world and return whenever he wished afterward.
Unfortunately, Shen Fei had no intention of coming back. With his current strength, opening such a Portal might leave him needing to rest for a long time afterward.
That was not a major issue. At worst, he could simply refrain from using magic afterward. The key was that no one knew what this world was like, and without a map of it, his Portal could only open somewhere within his line of sight.
As for opening a random Portal, unless he wanted to die, he had better not do it.
As long as he became strong enough, he could open a door to other worlds whenever he wanted. There was no need to take risks now.
With so many Stairways of the Sun, Shen Fei's magical strength could become even greater in the future.
Just as Kamar-Taj could heal the body through the soul, a stronger body could likewise make the soul stronger.
Before you continue