Gene Research Center

"The Killer Rats are agitated."

"But I need to burrow through these layers of garbage."

Cheng Qi hovered in midair, thinking.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up as a wild plan formed in his mind.

He slowly extended both hands, and pale blue light shone from the Gravitational Field Adjustment Gloves.

Then he turned the gloves' power up to the limit and slowly pressed them against his chest.

A nearly crazed gleam flickered in Cheng Qi's eyes as well.

Bzzzt!

The gravitational field erupted from the gloves, and a faint ring of yellow ripples enveloped Cheng Qi's body.

At the same time.

Diamond-like radiance blossomed in Cheng Qi's eyes.

The Extreme Warrior Armor swiftly disengaged from his body at that very instant.

Taking the Gravitational Field Adjustment Gloves and Turbine Flight Shoes with it, it withdrew behind Cheng Qi and reassembled into a humanoid form.

An even more dazzling light shone against the gloomy sky.

Cheng Qi's body became entirely silicon-based, as though he had transformed into a brilliant, human-shaped diamond.

The crystalline structures on his body grew rapidly. Sharp crystals sprouted continuously from his shoulders, elbows, waist, and legs, converging beneath his feet.

Finally.

Cheng Qi seemed to have become a pointed cone made of colorful crystals.

The violent, uncontrolled gravitational field took effect at that very moment.

Whoosh!

BOOM!!!

Cheng Qi plunged from the sky, driving into the garbage heap like a drill bit!

The Killer Rats were dumbfounded.

That wasn't how this was supposed to go!

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Cheng Qi tore through layer after layer of garbage with unstoppable momentum.

To him, however, it felt as though he were wrapped inside a crystal cocoon. No matter how chaotic the gravity outside became or how violent the collisions were, he felt nothing but an overwhelming sense of security.

These crystals, transformed from the body of a silicon-based lifeform, seemed like matter from another dimension.

The upper limit of their hardness was a complete mystery. It seemed no force could shatter them, or even chip off the tiniest fragment!

Boom!

Cheng Qi drilled through another layer of material, but this time it felt like some sort of concrete structure.

Then.

Cheng Qi felt the space beneath his feet open up, as though he had entered a spacious underground chamber.

He immediately controlled his silicon-based body and retracted the Crystal Armor, performing repeated somersaults in midair to bleed off his momentum.

After completing his final somersault.

He landed on one knee and punched downward with his right hand, bringing himself to a complete stop.

Cheng Qi slowly straightened.

At that moment, his diamond-like body radiated the light innate to a silicon-based lifeform.

Everything around him seemed to turn into a kaleidoscope beneath its glow.

Cheng Qi scanned his surroundings and discovered that this really was an office buried deep underground!

The Extreme Warrior Armor flew down through the hole overhead. While still in midair, its chest panels folded backward layer by layer, opening into its wearable configuration. The instant it touched Cheng Qi, it fitted perfectly around his body.

One second before the faceplate flipped into place.

Cheng Qi switched his gene sequence, returning to his carbon-based form.

The hole overhead began to collapse. Soil and garbage poured in from both sides, eventually sealing it shut.

Cheng Qi could faintly hear the Killer Rats howling outside. They had already begun digging.

But a depth of nearly 150 meters was no joke. They would need a very long time to dig down here.

Swish!

Two rows of lights flipped out from the shoulders of the Extreme Warrior Armor.

Two broad beams shot forward.

Directly ahead stood a reception desk. Thick dust coated its surface, and layers of cobwebs covered the wall.

But the owner of those webs, a fist-sized spider, had long since died and shriveled into a dried corpse.

This place was clearly different from the Muon Research Center. Professor Huo Linzhong had lived alone there for twenty years, keeping it in fairly good condition.

The office before him, however, had been completely abandoned from the start. Its dust-control and filtration systems had long since failed, leaving it increasingly dilapidated over time.

Cheng Qi stepped forward and pulled the cobwebs off the wall.

Then.

Cheng Qi's gaze sharpened. Four large Chinese characters remained on the wall-"Gay Buddy Center."

"???"

Cheng Qi froze. "What the hell?!"

Then Cheng Qi noticed several plastic characters scattered on the floor by his feet.

Huaxia, gene, welcome, all, international, people, visit, this.

Cheng Qi understood.

Put together, the characters read, "Huaxia Genetics welcomes all international friends to this center."

"Fuck, that scared the hell out of me. I thought our illustrious Kyoto of Huaxia had set up a Gay Buddy Center specifically for the benefit of gay men!"

Then Cheng Qi paused. "This is the Gene Research Institute?!"

In an instant, hope flared in Cheng Qi's eyes.

He had never expected to actually stumble upon this place!

Of course, it hadn't been entirely blind luck. He also had those navigating Killer Rats to thank!

He slowly drew a breath.

Cheng Qi headed deeper inside. The power system here had completely failed, so there would be no bright lighting. His surroundings were utterly silent, save for the drip, drip of water coming from the deepest part of the facility.

Cheng Qi advanced cautiously.

First, he crossed a large office area, then gradually entered the experimental section.

Inside a huge room with a sign reading "Sample Room," Cheng Qi discovered a rather horrifying sight.

Glass jars lined every wall of the room. By a rough estimate, there were at least ten thousand of them.

Inside every glass jar lay a tiny skeleton.

They had four feet, long spines, and tailbones.

Cheng Qi narrowed his eyes. "These are the skeletons of lab mice."

He remembered that the Standard Template Construct's introduction to the Gene Research Institute had clearly stated that after Song Dayi developed the prototype formula, he began five years of experiments using lab mice as his subjects.

The lab mice before him were probably experimental subjects abandoned after humanity evacuated Earth.

Cheng Qi examined the glass jars.

Many jars had tangled scratches inside, while the claws of the mice within them showed severe wear.

Cheng Qi frowned.

They had been alive when they were abandoned.

As time passed, no one came to feed them anymore.

Gradually, hunger drove their survival instincts into overdrive, but it was no use. They couldn't break through the glass jars and ultimately starved to death.

Cheng Qi shook his head, feeling a heaviness in his heart.

Humans chose lab mice as experimental subjects.

Because their physiology and metabolic processes bore certain similarities to those of humans.

Their genes were also highly similar to human genes, with an overlap of as much as 85 percent.

Besides that, lab mice reproduced quickly and were docile and easy to handle.

"They're weak, docile, and similar to humans."

"So they became experimental subjects."

"If that's considered a valid justification."

Cheng Qi frowned. "Then suppose humans are also weak, docile, and highly similar in the eyes of some advanced civilization in the universe?"

"What if humans were treated as experimental subjects too?"

"What if an advanced civilization began brutally abusing and slaughtering humans for some experiment?"

"Then humanity would surely claim the moral high ground, condemn the aliens' cruelty and viciousness, and portray that advanced civilization as demonic."

"I imagine the lab mice feel the same way, don't they?"

"They just can't express it."