Alien Hotel.

Chapter 652 New Manpower
Old Joe is dead.

When the news hit the crowd, everyone's first reaction was disbelief. The girl named Momo and the "prisoners" behind her repeatedly confirmed the authenticity of the information, and stared at Old Joe's mechanical head for a long time before daring to run to tell the others hiding in the room and laboratory. Soon after, more people in laboratory uniforms ran out from all directions and came to the hall to confirm the situation.

After a while, people started cheering, waving whatever they could find and shouting, and some even started crying quietly. Gradually, it all turned into a contagious commotion.

In the end, the girl named Gibraltar, who had lost an ear and half of her body, had to run around maintaining order. She even had to arrange for people to tie up some of the more agitated "fellow inmates" and inject them with sedatives to prevent their excessive excitement from destroying their reason and to prevent them from engaging in self-harm.

She did these things with ease and clearly had a high level of prestige among the people present.

The mechanical head that had been cut off Old Joe's "main body" was thrown on the ground. At first, many people avoided it, but then Momo was the first to go over and kick it in front of everyone. After noticing that Luo and Yu Sheng did not stop this, the action almost immediately "spread." Once one person dared to do it, a second and a third followed. People went over and kicked the head around until it was deformed from being smashed against the wall.

These people seem unaware of what Old Joe's true "body" is. Perhaps after Los was out of control, Old Joe never exposed his brain, hidden in the life support tank, to any of the "lab assistants" again. To the people here, that terrifying mechanical head represents "Old Joe." Now that it has been twisted off and a group of "intruders" are here to announce Old Joe's death, then Old Joe is dead.

Luo stood aside, quietly watching the scene, neither interfering with their celebration nor speaking for a long time.

Only when Yu Sheng approached from the side did she whisper, "They've finally witnessed the scene I dreamed of seeing all those years ago."

Yu Sheng gestured with his chin towards the girl named Jiplow who was running around: "You see a reflection of yourself in her?"

“…It’s not quite the same. I didn’t have her energy back then. Jibrilos are always more optimistic than other races, and she probably hasn’t been here for that long,” Luo said slowly. “And this place is not quite the same as I remember it. After all, two hundred years have passed, and this place has changed quite a bit.”

Yu Sheng chatted with Luo Xian for a few minutes, and then saw several people walking towards them, with Mo Mo walking at the front.

They seemed to be calming down now, realizing they hadn't yet figured out where these strangers came from.

"Excuse me, who are you...?" Momo raised her head and looked cautiously into Luo's eyes.

Luo glanced at the group, opened her mouth, and instinctively wanted to say that she was a senior project manager at Black Dot Group—her public identity in front of the clone soldiers who had already surrendered. But she stopped abruptly, as if remembering something, and quickly changed her words: "You can call me 'Luo,' a member of the hostel organization, and also—"

She stepped aside and pointed at Yu Sheng.

"This is my boss."

When Yu Sheng heard Luo introduce himself, he raised an eyebrow. At this moment, a hint of understanding appeared in his eyes, and a smile immediately appeared on his face: "No problem, no problem, you can just call me Yu Sheng."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the little doll jumped onto his shoulder in a few quick movements: "I'm Eileen! The second-in-command of the inn!"

“My name is Hu Li,” the fox girl also came over, and pointed to Luna who was silent beside her, “This is Luna.”

Momo blinked, seemingly trying to memorize everyone's name, even though she had never heard of the "hotel" organization before and still couldn't figure out where these people came from.

But she was very careful not to ask a single question, and remained docile and waiting for instructions.

“Boss, could you please open the door?” Luo turned to Yu Sheng. “I want to take all these people to Blackstone Station.”

Yu Sheng nodded, thinking to himself that he knew it was true.

Just as he suspected, Luo had made special arrangements for these people—they would no longer have any dealings with the Black Dot Group.

“I’ve already explained the situation to Mo Ran, and she’ll send the nearest people to Blackrock Station to meet us soon,” Yu Sheng said, turning around and casually pulling a door that instantly materialized into a virtual doorway. The door opened to reveal the lobby of the Blackrock Space Station’s ecological recreation area. “Also, I noticed many people here aren’t in good health; Mo Ran will arrange for a group of doctors to treat their injuries.” “The erosion and symbiosis of living metal is irreversible… but at least other damage can be mitigated,” Luo nodded, his expression grateful. “The medical technology in the Flying Feather Starfield is renowned.”

As she spoke, she turned around and waved to Momo.

"Gather everyone in this area and go through this door—someone will meet you there soon, and someone will treat you. Just follow the instructions."

Several Algerians exchanged bewildered glances upon hearing this, while many others wore expressions of hesitation and unease. Clearly, the sudden appearance of the large door and the hall opposite it, decorated in the style of the Black Dots Group, made them somewhat nervous.

At this moment, it was the girl from Gibraltar who was the first to step forward. Momo walked to the door first, turned to look at a tall young man from Algrai: "Alan, take Lian and Barbadian and call everyone here. We will all follow Miss Luo and Mr. Yu's arrangements now."

"Uh, okay!" The tall elven youth nodded quickly, then led the two of them to the exit at the other end of the hall.

“You can rest in the lobby after you get there. Just don’t wander around. You can take any food or drinks you want,” Luo thought for a moment and then reminded him, “Also, you will see some soldiers over there—wearing Black Dot Group equipment. Don’t be afraid when you see them; they won’t hurt you.”

Momo wisely refrained from asking further questions and simply nodded.

The personnel transfer didn't take long. Soon, everyone in the entire laboratory area was gathered together and, under Momo's direction, passed through the gate leading to Blackstone Station—the number was less than Yu Sheng had predicted, totaling only about a hundred people.

However, the condition of these people was far worse than Yu Sheng had expected. The dozen or so people who initially gathered in the hall, as well as the thirty or forty people who came later after hearing the news, were actually the best-behaved group. Although almost all of them were disabled and suffered from the weakness and various aftereffects of the modification surgery, they could at least move freely. Many of those who came to the hall later were pushed there by their companions, and there were even a few Algered people who were on the verge of death and were placed in life support tanks, having been ravaged beyond recognition.

Hu Li was extremely worried when she saw the last group of wounded patients come out. Even though Luo had personally confirmed that the life support devices on those people were enough to last until the surgical immortals from Shuji arrived, she still used a bunch of healing and life-extending immortal spells on everyone before daring to let them go.

After Momo led the last batch of "prisoners" through the gate leading to Blackstone Station, the illusory door slowly dissipated in the air. Luo finally breathed a sigh of relief, and his tense body gradually relaxed.

She turned to look at Yu Sheng and bowed deeply with great seriousness: "I'm sorry, boss, I took this upon myself to do so."

"Uh, it's nothing. I was just curious to ask, what are your plans for settling these people?" Yu Sheng, who hadn't said a word the whole time, finally spoke up. "All of them will stay at Blackstone Station?"

"...I understand Old Joe's preferences. He has high standards for his 'works,' and 'lower beings' are not worthy of being his experimental subjects. And to be honest, his living metal symbiosis technology does indeed have high requirements for the spiritual talent and brain development of the targets. These people should have been carefully selected by him and then kidnapped or tricked from all over the universe by various means. They must either have outstanding spiritual talent or have certain knowledge and skills. Only in this way can they serve as 'laboratory assistants' here."

Luo explained earnestly, then sighed softly.

"Black Rock Station is indeed in dire need of manpower right now. When I returned to the base, I successfully hacked into the local database and found that many of the surviving scientists under my command had been transferred away by the group company with a single order. Even if I go back now, it will be difficult to pull those people back from the other managers. As for the remaining people, we need to carefully screen them... After all, judging from what Old Joe told me, I have been on his radar for a long time. And such a serious intelligence leak at Black Rock Station could not have happened without the help of an insider. After so much time has passed, who knows how far this infiltration has gone."

“Old Joe is dead now, but even so, people who have betrayed us are no longer trustworthy—especially now that Black Rock Station is docked in Shuji and we often deal with people sent by the Secret Service, so I have to be very careful when contacting my former subordinates.”

“Indeed, in some ways, the group of people we rescued from Old Joe’s hands are far more reliable than those who used to work at Black Rock Station,” Yu Sheng agreed. “At least they can’t possibly side with Black Dot Group again, no matter who they join.”

“The only downside is that they all need to be trained,” Luo added, “but with so many people… there are bound to be a few who can be put to good use quickly.”

Yu Sheng didn't say anything, he just nodded slightly.

“Next, we should take stock of what we’ve gained this time,” he said, taking a breath and thinking. “Especially the information Old Joe gave us—those charlatans from the Cult of Saints are probably up to something big this time.”

(End of this chapter)