Pandora

Chapter 15: Pandora

Half an hour later, the torrential rain gradually subsided.

The Black Hawk Helicopter had long since landed in an open clearing.

Several Lighthouse Organization combatants, including the pilot, had left the cabin and stood guard outside with their weapons.

Inside the Black Hawk Helicopter, the cabin door was tightly shut, occasionally trembling.

Xiao Liang's muffled groans could vaguely be heard, along with a woman's utterly blissful whimpers.

The combatants all wore strange expressions.

After all, that mutant might have borne a pair of wings and been terrifyingly savage.

But her appearance was one of peerless beauty, breathtakingly gorgeous.

"Cough, cough. The Flying Yaksha really lived up to her reputation. I nearly got drained dry!"

The helicopter cabin door opened, and the pale-faced Xiao Liang clung to the handle, gasping for breath as his legs went weak.

The moment he stepped out, he nearly stumbled and fell. Fortunately, a charming shadow flashed past, and the Flying Yaksha appeared beside him, supporting Xiao Liang.

In stark contrast to Xiao Liang's utterly exhausted, sickly state, the Flying Yaksha now radiated powerful spiritual energy.

Her cold, aloof face was flushed, and as her eyes flickered toward Xiao Liang, they carried a trace of dissatisfaction.

Feeling the emotion through their spiritual connection, Xiao Liang shuddered and nearly fainted from anger.

"You have no idea how terrifying you are when you suck up mana. You're like some giant water pump! Even if I tossed both my arms and legs into that little mouth of yours for you to chew on, I still couldn't feed you enough!"

Hearing Xiao Liang trying to shirk responsibility afterward, the emotion conveyed by the Flying Yaksha became even more agitated.

She had been promised a higher evolution, yet after only a taste, this bastard Xiao Liang had cried that he could not go on.

"Pandora, I promise you, once we return to the Sky Mist Continent, I'll let you absorb all the spiritual energy you want!"

Xiao Liang tapped his head with one hand and braced his lower back with the other, straightening his spine.

It felt as though his long-standing efforts had finally borne fruit.

The Spirit Zombie Refinement Method had reached minor mastery.

Xiao Liang named this Flying Yaksha—Pandora.

The woman from the mythological legends of his previous life, whose beauty was peerless yet who brought misfortune and calamity.

"So, was I cursing myself?"

A strange thought flashed through Xiao Liang's mind, but he promptly shook his head and threw it aside.

In a world of immortals and martial arts, without strength, there was no escaping calamity and misfortune anyway.

"It's time to discuss a deal with the Lighthouse Organization. Exchanging goods between two worlds—the profits involved..."

Xiao Liang's eyes burned with excitement. He had originally believed that his ability to travel to the apocalyptic world could at most earn him some materials from another world.

But this experience told him that an apocalyptic world did not mean there were no intelligent beings.

Indeed, to a certain extent, survivors in such apocalyptic worlds were often even more desperate for what they sought.

It was much like a traveler dying of thirst in the desert, willing to trade ten thousand taels of gold for a bottle of clean water.

With that in mind, Xiao Liang seized the time to recover his mana.

However, the blood essence consumed in refining Pandora would be difficult to replenish anytime soon.

Combined with the prolonged depletion of blood essence from his previous cultivation of the Blood Nightmare Technique,

if he did not find a way to make it up, Xiao Liang's lifespan would likely suffer greatly in the future.

That would be no small drawback when it came to breaking through to higher realms later on.

A moment later, although Xiao Liang was still pale, his aura had become much steadier.

After exhausting his mana and recovering it, he had even made slight progress.

He called out to the Lighthouse Organization combatants:

"I'm a man who keeps his promises. Since I've received your help, it's time to discuss a deal."

The combatants all sighed in relief at his words.

They all knew the inside story and understood that the man before them possessed unfathomable methods.

Now, he had even subdued that terrifying mutant.

Even if Xiao Liang wished to leave, they would have been unable to stop him.

"Mr. Xiao Liang, I'll take you to the nearest Lighthouse base right away."

Xiao Liang nodded and returned to the cabin with Pandora.

During the earlier pursuit of Pandora, Xiao Liang had already told them his name. That was also part of showing his sincerity.

As the Black Hawk Helicopter rose into the air, the group soon arrived near a mountain range.

Surrounded by mountains and devoid of human habitation, this place was indeed well suited for a secret base.

Before the base gates, rows of Lighthouse personnel in protective suits were already waiting.

Xiao Liang led Pandora off the helicopter and received an exceptionally grand welcome.

A middle-aged man walked at the front. Considering that Xiao Liang was a person from another world and might not understand their etiquette,

he gave up the more formal handshake and instead bowed slightly in greeting.

Xiao Liang keenly noticed that the man's gaze swept over Pandora, and he seemed somewhat uneasy.

After all, in the middle-aged man's eyes, Pandora was unquestionably a high-level viral infected.

Her destructive power was astonishing. If she went berserk, perhaps fewer than two people present would survive.

"Don't worry. She has already been subdued by me. I'll take her away from this world, and she won't cause you any trouble!"

Xiao Liang shook his head and gently stroked Pandora's hair.

Only then did he notice that, in the extremely short time since her birth, Pandora had somehow grown a cascade of silky-soft golden hair.

"Leave this world... Sir, you have the ability to take people out of this world?!"

The middle-aged man clicked his tongue, his throat bobbing slightly as his mouth went dry.

At the thought that he might be able to leave this apocalyptic world and go to another normal world,

his brain nearly ran out of oxygen.

"You misunderstand. I don't have that ability for now. The reason I can take Pandora—her—with me is simply because her situation is special. She cannot be considered a living being."

Xiao Liang explained that when he had arrived last time, he had experimented on an ordinary zombie.

As long as he stored it in his storage bag, it could return with him to the Sky Mist Continent.

And a storage bag could only hold dead objects without life.

A living person could not be put inside.

As everyone knew, zombies were not people; they were a different kind of existence.

Hearing Xiao Liang's explanation, the middle-aged man revealed a disappointed expression, but quickly recovered.

He invited Xiao Liang into the base.

Xiao Liang nodded and followed the middle-aged man into the mountain base while listening to his introduction.

Only upon reaching a large conference room did the middle-aged man speak with slight apology:

"Mr. Xiao Liang, I regret that I cannot show you the residential and research areas of this base. The base operates as a fully enclosed facility, and its fragile ecosystem cannot bear the risk of any outside viruses!"

Xiao Liang nodded without taking offense. This was not enough to make him feel insulted.

After all, it was their first meeting. It was only natural for the Lighthouse side to hold something back.

As long as he could genuinely obtain the weapons and equipment provided by the Lighthouse Organization, that would be enough.

(End of chapter)