The Research Station's News

"Let's talk on the way." Brother Mr. Bourne led Xue Ming and Afeng downstairs, seemingly very resistant to the [Afterlife] sect.

He glanced at the handyman behind Xue Ming every now and then, and asked the nameless gang leader while retrieving the car—

"--This kid"

Jiang Xueming answered without hesitation, "An ordinary person."

Mr. Bourne blinked and deliberately raised his voice. "Shall we talk about this later?"

Afeng immediately shouted, "Oh! I can't hear that, right!"

The kid's voice could be heard from the parking lot to the boardroom counter, and even further to the rain shelter. It wasn't that Afeng did it on purpose; he just had a loud voice.

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward, but it couldn't stay awkward forever.

So Jiang Xueming broke the awkward silence. "Why don't you talk about things that ordinary people can understand, and promote some anti-fraud knowledge?"

Mr. Bourne nudged the materials on the truck and said, "Shall we talk while we work?"

Ten minutes later, three men were laying out lines and tamping stakes on the open ground next to the security complex, where the Fragrant Dream was faintly visible.

The work of bombarding sand and gravel to level the muddy ground masked some of the conversation. The building materials Jiang Xueming brought were all semi-finished products, mortise and tenon structure floorboards that could be quickly unfolded. This kind of quick-build house is very popular in the underground world. Many scientific research and exploration teams do not stay in one place for too long and need houses that can be taken around. It is much more reliable than a tent and can withstand a category 16 typhoon, floods, and high temperatures.

"Here's what happened," Mr. Bourne Xue Ming as he worked on building a dream home for himself and his gun-wielding wives. "Before Canaan became the Mother Goddess of Rebirth, many passengers had contact with her—and in the past ten years, the researchers at the Research Station have also exchanged a lot of information with her."

"About her race, about the exact location of her home planet in the universe. And most importantly."

"Those who had close contact with her did not experience any abnormalities in the early stages, unlike the miraculous 'rebirth' described in the rumors."

"You know, Bu Liuxing also had close contact with the Canaan Mother Goddess. Apart from some messy and difficult-to-organize audio and visual images, it is difficult for us to fully express these strange and special impressions in human language."

"But later, that's it."

At this point, Mr. Bourne deliberately lowered his voice—

"--Gunsmith, after the battle at the Red Star Hill front-line base in Niflheim, the Canaan collected from the Great Fireman of Surter, and the Canaan recovered from the misfired shells, after these elements were de-rotated and returned to their rightful owners, underwent a slight, subtle change."

Afeng was moving precast slabs. As he himself said, he had no shortage of strength, and assembling floor slabs was a piece of cake for him. He didn't pay any special attention to eavesdropping on Mr. Mr. Bourne's whispers.

Jiang Xueming unloaded bags of cement and high-powered fluorescent light fixtures from the truck, intending to fill the foundation with concrete, and casually asked...

"You mean, after these aliens encountered Earth's prehistoric super-civilization, they started doing some strange things to humans?"

Mr. Bourne nodded and lent a hand to help with the reinforced concrete, arranging the fluorescent lights around their future love nest and connecting them to the power supply of the security complex.

This reliable security officer knows a lot of insider information about the Research Station. As the guardian of the Research Station, he must be clear about the Spirit Calamity attributes of Canaan. However, this information cannot be passed on to outsiders. Just like with [Death Runes], there will always be curious passengers trying to cross the forbidden zone.

"Since then, over a period of six months, a total of seventeen passengers have had close contact with the Mother Goddess Canaan. Before heading to the Western-style building, they, like you back then, still had those strange dreams, and this phenomenon continues to this day."

"But when they leave the settlement and return from the Western-style houses, their personalities and physical appearances will change somewhat."

Mr. Bourne emphasized this solemnly.

"--At first, the change wasn't obvious; I had difficulty noticing any difference in these people before and after."

"Until there came a very, very strange fellow, who is now the Pope of [the afterlife], named Pix Adriano, let's just call him Mr. Pi. Let's use your Chinese grammar."

"Mr. Pi appeared very agitated, and when he returned to the security complex, he kept self-harming."

Mr. Bourne mimicked Pope Pixar's mannerisms, describing it with a grin.

"And so, he took the knife and repeatedly cut open his arm, watching the purplish-gray blood seep out, and then seeing the wound heal rapidly."

"He kept talking and talking."

"I did it! I did it! I got it!"

I have been completely transformed.

"Oh! Oh oh oh! Oh! Wow!" When Jiang Xueming finished the ground leveling work and heard these incoherent babblings, he felt a strange sense of familiarity.

Many followers of the Madness Butterfly Sect also exhibited a frenzied, ecstatic state after receiving their blood.

This is very similar to Mr. Pixar's symptoms, and the purplish-gray blood is more like the result of the bloodletting in Canaan.

When they first arrived at the Fang Feng, the "foolish children" wandering on the outskirts possessed blue blood rich in copper ions, and their self-healing abilities were extremely strong. Perhaps Our Holy Mother bestowed this ability upon the visitors.

Mr. Bourne continued, "I immediately informed the Research Station and the transportation department of this situation, and without exception, all seventeen passengers became believers in the Virgin Mary."

"You mean she's actively spreading this belief?" Jiang Xueming asked.

Mr. Bourne shook his head. "Not necessarily. You can talk to the head of the Research Station later—if she wants to recruit, then I should be the top pope."

Jiang Xueming: "So that was Mr. Pi's spontaneous fan behavior, and had nothing to do with Ms. Canaan?"

Mr. Bourne: "Possibly, after all, there are only these seventeen humans who have received this kind of blood-granting grace."

"Besides their healing abilities, what other skills do they possess?" Jiang Xueming asked.

Mr. Bourne continued, "There's a noticeable improvement in mental strength, will to survive, and Inspiration, but I'm very prone to panic, perhaps related to the excessively high level of Inspiration —there are also some strange physiological phenomena, which are hard to explain in a few words; you'll have to investigate them in detail at the Research Station."

Jiang Xueming: "Understood."

After cleaning the house, the concrete foundation quickly reached a temperature of around 45 degrees Celsius under the intense sunlight, and it will be completely solidified in just one day. When I return tomorrow, I can install soundproofing material on the floor slabs and complete the roofing.

"Afeng!" Xue Ming called out, "Unload the things from the truck, you can go back now."

"Boss, is there nothing else for me?" Afeng, somewhat surprised. His hesitant manner suggested he was filled with curiosity about the Canaanite Mother Goddess.

Xue Ming took the box from Afeng's arms and gave the young man a meaningful look.

"Yes, you can discuss the fee with Red Sister. You can go back now."

After thinking it over, Afeng finally asked in a low voice, "Can I go to the beach with you?"

Mr. Bourne: "Why?"

Xue Ming also asked at the same time, "Why?"

Afeng answered truthfully, "I don't know either, it's just a strange feeling, I can't describe it, it's like..."

The young man scratched his head, feeling lost and uneasy.

"I want to go, I just want to go. If I don't go to that place, I feel like something is missing. I didn't have any auditory hallucinations, and no voices were pulling at me. I wasn't dreaming; I was perfectly lucid."

"I'm so sorry, boss."

He started muttering incoherently, talking nonsense.

"I don't know, this life is just too bland, too boring, you know that."

He made strange hand gestures, sometimes shrugging, sometimes spreading his hands.

"There used to be all sorts of cults, and I would wonder if I could fight on the battlefield when I grew up."

"Who would have thought that after growing up, I would have to do odd jobs for a boss to make a living?"

"Sometimes I wonder if it's possible that if I had been born earlier, my life would have been different."

"Hehe. Hahahaha, just kidding, just kidding."

His smile was very restrained, as if an invisible hand was gripping his neck, filled with anxiety.

"I don't know how long this will last. I used to study to be a chef, and I thought I could cook for the rest of my life. But then I had no choice. I ended up delivering food. I wish I could pick up a gun someday."

"Feng!" Jiang Xueming reacted quickly, slapping Afeng on the head, her eyes turning terrifying.

Until the young man's head tilted to the side, his body slumped down, and he fell into Mr. Mr. Bourne's arms, finally ceasing his mental struggles and peacefully falling asleep.

Mr. Mr. Bourne looked puzzled and explained, "No one else has this symptom; this is the first time."

"It has nothing to do with the Mother Goddess Canaan." Jiang Xueming patted Afeng on the shoulder, then continued, "He's exhausted. The BOSS's essence overwhelmed him, and he started acting up as soon as he got to this godforsaken place. Let him rest well. Mr. Mr. Bourne, please take good care of him—once the kid wakes up, send him back."

Mr. Bourne raised an eyebrow and asked, "You don't need me to come with you? You're going to the beach alone?"

"Do you have any clearance documents? Just give me the materials." Jiang Xueming, carrying two boxes of plague bones, climbed onto the truck. "Don't worry, it's the same this time—if this woman really wants to do anything to me, I've brought my treasure this time; the Dump Truck Iaijutsu should work."

David Mr. Bourne handed his sidearm to the co-pilot, separated the cartridges, and returned the same combination as ten years ago: Smith Wesson and the AR-15.

"Give the gun nameplate to the head of the Research Station and let him see it. That way, I won't mess with the printer and produce a bunch of waste paper. When they see my gun, they'll know you're a genuine gunsmith."

Jiang Xueming: "Thank you."

Mr. Bourne: "I hope you find it worthwhile."

Jiang Xueming reached out his hand--

--Mr. Bourne grasped his hand, then collapsed to the ground in an instant, falling into a deep sleep.

Xue Ming slapped his forehead; he had been too polite and forgotten that he wasn't wearing gloves.

"Hold!"

After carrying Mr. Bourne and Afeng back to the office, Xue Ming drove alone to the temporary base.

The road has become unfamiliar. The fossil forest on both sides of the road used to be very dense, but now, after artificial logging and road widening, there are many tire tracks of construction equipment left in the fields on both sides.

Along with the firearms, two brochures were also delivered to the vehicle, providing a brief description of the future new station. It was a large station with eight lanes and sixteen tracks, situated in a woodland next to the beach with natural sunlight, making it very suitable for human habitation. The only thing to avoid was the Canaanite life.

This place could become a land of plenty, close to the sea, and only two stops away from the Eureka Volcano City, a vital maritime trade route. It seems that the Canaanite life form was aware of these conditions, and at a rather ambiguous juncture, it completed a blood-placing-like ritual with humans and began to expand outwards.

In the information age, these extraterrestrial beings possess nanomechanical-level technological standards, and their methods of modifying and processing electronic, electrical, semiconductor materials, and various metals are nothing short of miraculous. The Holy Mother may believe that in another ten or twenty years, it will be her time.

Jiang Xueming pondered, gazing at the dim road ahead, thinking about a question.

"So, was she hostile towards Homo sapiens?"

"To her, are people merely tools for promotion? Or materials to be exploited?"

Is it just a stepping stone? Or a long-term partnership?

"She seems to be like the BOSS, trying to imitate humans and ride the wave of human civilization. This niche has already been occupied by Ming De."

"Can she steal the BOSS's niche?"

These questions remain unanswered for the time being, but at this moment, as Jiang Xueming looked at the two briefcases containing BOSS essence, things seemed to have become more complicated.

The good cat didn't tell Xue Ming about Our Holy Mother and the Church of the Afterlife beforehand, but instead sent him directly to the beachhead with the Plague Bone to seek an opportunity for cooperation.

--In the eyes of the Canaanite life, it was like the neighbor suddenly inviting their fierce-looking security guard over, who also brought two guns.

This seems to be a deterrent, a way of marking territory, but the BOSS didn't say it outright. The Little Kitty has many wicked intentions, and wants Xue Ming to play the bad cop, since the War King knows the [cult] best.

Xue Ming drove for a long time until the orange-yellow light from the crater at the bottom of the sea in the distance began to appear, merging with the misty fog.

Four experimental buildings were built around Mr. Mr. Bourne's front-line outpost, covering an area of twenty hectares. Further away, 1,800 meters away, was the groundwork for the new train station, which was surrounded by a blue isolation wall.

The golden egg-shaped mud houses in the settlement still stand, but since it is not the rainy season, the sons of Canaan are not as lively as before, nor do they come out to roam.

At the road checkpoint, armed guards stopped Xue Ming's car.

Xue Ming immediately got out of the car with his gun, raising his hands high.

"--Mr. Mr. Bourne sent me; this is his gun!"

A tall, imposing captain emerged from among the soldiers. Upon seeing Mr. Bourne's gunplate and the gunsmith's face, he was utterly astonished.

"An anonymous person!"

Xue Ming nodded.

The captain immediately saluted, reported the unit number and battle group affiliation, and instructed the soldiers on both sides who saw firearms to lift their guard and not to point their guns at the most trusted and reliable hero.

The sentry captain opened his arms and led Xue Ming toward the internal road of the research station.

"Come with me, the station chief has been waiting for you for a long time! Hop on my motorcycle."

As he helped Xue Ming onto the motorcycle's trailer, he spoke to the combat personnel in his group.

"Call that boy from Class Two, the one with the white hair, the one with albinism, to come pick him up."

Jiang Xueming followed the local defense personnel's procedures. As he sat in the cargo bed, he casually asked a question—

"--What's your name? Are you new here? Don't you know anyone? Don't you even recognize the soldiers in your own unit?"

"Hey!" The squad leader twisted the throttle, and the motorcycle wobbled forward. He patiently explained, "I'm a member of the Guangling Zhixi battle group. The security post is a mixed unit of the warning hall and the militia. We have to rotate shifts frequently. Every two months, the soldiers are transferred to other places."

"Oh," Xue Ming asked another question, "Because of the Canaanite Mother Goddess?"

"Yes, it's because of the Mother Goddess Canaan." The squad leader nodded. "Staying here for too long, having dreams every night, my mind started to waver, and I started having wild thoughts, wondering if what the [Afterlife] Church is promoting is true."

The squad leader led Xue Ming to the largest laboratory building; the long journey was finally nearing its end.

The director was already waiting by the gate, not in formal attire, but in a rain and cold-proof cloak, looking like a down-to-earth person.

He was an Asian man around fifty years old. Xue Ming had to call him "uncle." He had a trimmed beard, obvious forehead wrinkles, and a smiling face. He gave off a very friendly feeling, but also a noticeable Inspiration Pressure. He was a psychic.

The research institute's staff ID was hidden in the uncle's sleeve. As Jiang Xueming approached the gate, he immediately introduced himself, tucking the ID into his sleeve.

"Hello, I come from Tian Shu. I have been assigned to Fang Feng. I am an anonymous person."

"--You can call me Han Zhi. I'm a psionic researcher from your sister unit."