Defeated Before the First Battle

In the basement of Guarding Prosperity Building, Peng City.

John Cavendish, his blond hair slightly disheveled, sat cross-legged on the floor, looking at the Rabbit Woodcarving in his hand with a hint of despair.

Since being brought to this secluded and technologically advanced underground space on the 17th of last month, he has not left and has stayed here to "solve the mystery" of the "scarred" Rabbit Woodcarving.

Mr. Liang gave him two choices: either figure out what was special about the Rabbit Woodcarving within 40 days, or defeat the giant snake.

Having barely escaped the snake's jaws, John naturally made the first choice. Compared to the terrifying and powerful "Blood Beast" giant snake he had witnessed, a Rabbit Woodcarving seemed much more harmless.

But for the next month or so, he spent 24 hours a day with the Rabbit Woodcarving, constantly observing, pondering, and fiddling with it. Every part of the carving and every mark on it was deeply etched into his mind and memory.

Even now, if he closes his eyes, he seems to see a rough, ugly Rabbit Woodcarving grinning at him.

But aside from being able to vaguely discern that the tools used to carve the rabbit were probably unprofessional, and that the various marks on it indicated the different kinds of "torture" the wood carving had endured, he still couldn't figure out what was so special about this Rabbit Woodcarving.

After he accepted the task, Mr. Liang basically ignored him. He neither provided him with a room nor gave him any equipment or tools. He could only sit on the floor in the hall—the only chair belonged to Mr. Liang, and he dared not touch it.

Mr. Liang occasionally handled some matters through the screen that rose from the platform in the middle of the hall, but most of the time he was invisible. Judging from the opening and closing of the elevator and its operation, Mr. Liang often left, but because of his special invisibility ability, John was not sure whether Mr. Liang had actually left or whether the opening and closing of the elevator was just a game to him.

Of course, regardless of whether Mr. Liang left or not, he had no intention of running away.

It wasn't that he didn't want to run, but he had observed that there were no buttons on the outside of the elevator, clearly indicating that it wasn't for just anyone.

Without the elevator, he had no idea how he could get out of this space, which was some distance from the ground and surrounded by metal walls.

Moreover, given Mr. Liang's terrifying abilities and the various advanced technologies he has demonstrated, even if Mr. Liang leaves temporarily, he would certainly be able to trap him here. Keep in mind that besides him, there is at least one other "Blood Beast" giant snake here.

If he weren't Bloodline, he would have starved and died of thirst long ago within a month.

Even for him, being locked up here for so long was exhausting, both physically and mentally, and he was on the verge of losing his mind.

Especially as time ticked by and the 40-day deadline drew near, John still couldn't find anything "special" about the Rabbit Woodcarving, and he felt an urge to smash it.

He knew that what Mr. Liang meant by "special" was definitely not something that could be judged directly, such as the style of the wood carving, the carving technique, or the source of the damage marks.

At first, he suspected that there might be something hidden inside, so he asked Mr. Liang to cut the wood carving open directly. However, Mr. Liang showed him X-ray scans of the wood carving from various angles, as well as reports from various instruments, letting him know that Mr. Liang had already conducted a lot of scientific tests on the wood carving. Even the various charred, drilled, and cut marks on it were all done by Mr. Liang.

Furthermore, Mr. Liang also possesses numerous reference images similar to or closely related to the Rabbit Woodcarving, possible sources of imagery, and extensive analytical reports on carving techniques and tools. There are also analyses of the possible psychological state of the wood carver provided by psychological experts, artistic judgments from various artists, and interpretations of the artistic conception expressed in the wood carving and the carver's emotions and thoughts...

Clearly, Mr. Liang couldn't find anything special about the wood carving using these methods, so he handed it over to him, hoping, as the Chinese proverb goes, that this "Bloodline" from Slovakia could offer some new perspectives for discovery.

He also asked Mr. Liang what angle or method should be used to study this "Rabbit Woodcarving," and the answer he received was "do it your way."

He asked Mr. Liang why he was so sure that the "Rabbit Woodcarving" was "special," but Mr. Liang did not respond.

John didn't know if Mr. Liang would let him leave or grant his request to become his "loyal servant" if he truly found out what was special about the "Rabbit Woodcarving." But he understood that, given Mr. Liang's style of doing things, if he couldn't provide an answer within the time limit, the final outcome would certainly not be good.

Earlier, when he was forced to reveal the function and source of the "Holy Blood" in the knife, which led to Mr. Liang consuming the "Holy Blood," John had a moment of worry and fear. He was afraid of Earl Joel's wrath, afraid that his escape route would be cut off, and afraid that he would never be able to return to the "Red Rose."

But soon he realized how powerful Mr. Liang and the organization behind him were, and he even looked forward to Joel or the "Red Rose" coming to him. At that time, he could play a role, at least provide more information, and demonstrate other values.

He hoped that some of the old guys in "Red Rose" would have the courage to come, given the lack of "blood" and the approaching limit of their current stage.

Hopefully, they can step up their game and cause some trouble for Mr. Liang and the organization behind him, so that they can have a chance to play a role.

But he also knew very well that the old guys were incredibly patient monsters. They had lived so long because of their patience and caution. So even if they knew he had betrayed them, and even if their limits were nearing their end, they would definitely look for other alternative solutions that could be found in Europe first, and they wouldn't come here unless absolutely necessary.

His attempts to pique Mr. Liang. Mr. Liang's interest in the "Red Rose" of Slovakia and have him act as his agent to return to Europe during his several conversations also failed.

At least within this 40-day period, it's difficult to expect to delay or obtain a replacement mission through "Red Rose".

John racked his brains, trying to find the right approach by applying the various secret methods, mystical arts, and legends he had heard about in "Red Rose," as well as the plots involving wood carvings, dolls, and statues in the novels and movies he had seen.

He even asked Mr. Liang to return the white porcelain knife. Although it no longer possessed Joel's "Holy Blood" and lacked the lethality it had against other "Bloodline" and "Blood Beast," it was still extremely sharp.

He cut his hand with a porcelain knife and smeared his blood on the Rabbit Woodcarving, but the Rabbit Woodcarving did not react.

He also applied various treatments, such as applying garlic, to the wood carving, but to no avail.

So at this moment, looking at the wooden carving in his hand, John was filled with despair. He even began to wonder if Mr. Liang had simply wanted to toy with him by providing this option, to make him experience the feeling of going from hope to despair over forty days.

Or was it telling him: if he refused to confront the giant serpent, the final result would be the same torture he suffered as this wooden sculpture?

Is this implying that he, like this Rabbit Woodcarving, is just another plaything of Mr. Liang?

But considering the various test reports Mr. Liang had shown him, and Mr. Liang's arrogant and disdainful attitude towards "Red Rose" and other "Bloodline," he felt that it shouldn't be like that. The wood carving must really have a problem, and Mr. Liang wouldn't stoop to such manipulation.

Just as he angrily bit the long ear of the Rabbit Woodcarving, the lights in the entire hall suddenly dimmed.

John paused, slowly opened his mouth, and looked up at the huge, brick-like light grid above him. Something felt off—he had been in this place for over a month, but had never encountered any unstable lighting.

The next moment, the lights brightened again, but the brightness became much greater than normal, and then they started flickering again.

Computer screens rose from the central operating platform, screens extended down from the top, and various control panels of unknown purpose protruded from the sides.

"Sir? Is that you?" John called out nervously, but there was no response.

He cautiously approached, only to find that most of the screens were black, with some displaying lines of code scrolling rapidly at a speed too fast for the naked eye to read.

Then, very quickly, all the screens retracted back into the platform, and the lights in the hall went out instantly.

John held his breath, not daring to move. After a moment, the lights came on again, and the image of a giant snake appeared on the wall not far away, startling John. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the wall where the giant snake was kept had turned into a screen, projecting the situation inside in real time.

Next, the walls next to them lit up one by one. Some projected empty rooms, while others contained strange-looking creatures, clearly other "Blood Beast."

Sure enough, there was more than one "Blood Beast" locked up here!

John tensed up immediately; he was worried that something was wrong with the electronic systems in Mr. Liang's seemingly high-tech place.

If all the compartments holding the "Blood Beast" are opened, he won't even have a place to escape, and he'll probably die a horrible death.

However, the giant screens that had lit up quickly went out again, returning to the normal appearance of the partition walls, although the overhead lights remained unstable and flickered continuously.

Clearly, the situation is not over yet.

John vaguely heard a sound like fine sand falling onto some metal parts above his head, seemingly from the ventilation ducts. However, the sound was very faint and intermittent, making him unsure if he was mistaken or if it was just another ventilation system or the cooling system of some equipment working.

Suddenly, in the dim light, a whole piece of meat appeared abruptly on the ground not far in front of him—the cut surface was neat and clean, and it did not look bloody, but rather like an ingredient that had already been processed and was ready to be sliced or diced before being cooked.

And for some reason, the moment he saw that piece of meat, a thought popped into his mind—it was rabbit meat.

It was an extremely eerie feeling.

He subconsciously looked at the Rabbit Woodcarving in his hand and found that his hand was trembling slightly.

This was somewhat unbelievable to him. He had always thought that he would only tremble and be afraid because of power and death, and not because of such strange and mysterious things, because he felt that he was one of the strange and mysterious.

But at this moment, a chill ran through him, and he inexplicably thought of some stories he used to treat as jokes, and suddenly he understood how the people in those stories felt.

It turns out that even Bloodline are afraid of that kind of thing.

He didn't know what it was; the fear brought by the unknown is sometimes even stronger than the threat posed by absolute power.

At this moment, the underground maintenance area on the third basement level above John, as well as the Guarding Prosperity Building above it, were also affected. The entire building had no signal, whether it was WIFI, mobile phone, Bluetooth, or 2.5G device signals.

Fortunately, it's past 11 p. m., and not many people are still working, so the number of people affected is not large.

However, it's still incredibly frustrating when the computer restarts automatically, the lights turn off automatically, or there are brief power outages.

Neither John, nor the maintenance workers on the third basement level, nor the "Shenxing Technology" staff in the Guarding Prosperity Building knew that these phenomena were not something deliberately showing off or scaring people, but rather side effects caused by a "digital life" that thought itself "perfect" attempting to forcibly access the large, unconnected storage device hidden deep within the "Shenxing Technology" underground secret space.

Even before fully integrating into the "Super-Sensing Item System," Alice was already able to remotely control and influence some electronic devices through Super-Linked Object, even if they were not connected to the network.

However, it is still not possible to obtain detailed data stored on electronic devices and transmit it directly from a distance through the "Super-Sensing Item System," then convert it into digital information in the outside world and display it on other electronic devices.

With Little Apple's help, after fully entering the "Super-Sensing Item System," both Xiang Kun and Alice believed that she was theoretically ready to retrieve the contents of the large storage device beneath the Guarding Prosperity Building; the rest was just a matter of time.

Alice was well aware that Xiang Kun was eagerly anticipating and longing to see that information, believing that it had a high probability of helping him answer the various questions raised by "Shenxing Technology" and Mr. Liang, and might even reveal some of the origin secrets of the "Mutated Creature".

As a result, on the one hand, she had just been fully integrated into the "Super-Sensing Item System" and had not yet found a suitable method for the essential transformation between data; on the other hand, she was too impatient and there were not enough "Super-Linked Object" around her, which caused a great deal of disturbance when she was transforming and acquiring data.

Not only did it cause temporary inconvenience and trouble for the staff of the Guarding Prosperity Building, but it also had a powerful impact on John Cavendish -proclaimed immunity to paranormal frights, and almost burned the storage device.

Knowing this, Xiang Kun was truly at a loss for words, because the task he had originally assigned to Alice was a long-term one, prioritizing stability and not rushing things.

Tonight, after successfully transferring data from the hard drive of an old desktop computer in Chongyun Village that wasn't connected to the internet to Xiang Kun's laptop, Alice proactively asked Lao Xia for permission to manifest. She then appeared in the form of Little Lao Xia, one hand on her hip, the other pointing a scalpel at the sky, and boasted to Xiang Kun: "Before sunrise, Alice will bring that data over for the boss!"

And so, this is how things turned out...

Alice, whose mission had failed at first, did not request any more manifestations from Lao Xia. She didn't even utter a sound, but instead displayed text on the computer screen. "That device is not connected to power. Without power, more Super-Linked Object are needed to complete data acquisition. We don't have enough Super-Linked Object over there. Request more Super-Linked Object to be deployed."

I was planning to update before midnight... but I failed... _(:зゝ∠)_