Life Dungeon Game

The entire reading process lasted until five or six in the morning.

During the process, because the bracelet ran out of power, He Ao also dug out his tablet computer, which he hadn't used in a long time.

By the time He Ao had finished reading all the materials and stretched, the sky was already beginning to lighten.

The table was now covered with various documents and materials, most of which were drafts written by Roger to verify and check certain data.

He Ao put down the bracelet, got up and made two cups of coffee with instant coffee powder. He placed one cup in front of Roger, then yawned and sat back down on the sofa.

He rummaged through the pile of papers on the table and found the key points he had jotted down all night.

Roger glanced up at He Ao, pulled his own manuscript paper aside, and then continued reading the materials.

He Ao held his coffee, took a sip, and looked at the key points he had written down.

At this moment, the door to Annie's room slowly opened. Still half asleep, she glanced at the two people who were intently looking at documents at the coffee table, and then carefully walked towards the kitchen.

He Ao's gaze remained fixed on the manuscript he had written.

The reports and documents documented a variety of things, but the useful content can be broadly divided into three parts: 'the institute's operations', 'the Mars project', and 'some of Reid's notes'.

The research institute's work required analysis of Roger's data, and He Ao only summarized two key points from those documents.

point.

First, everyone in the research institute, including staff, doctors, and patients, is contaminated by some unknown force. The longer they stay in the institute, the deeper the contamination becomes.

This information came from a report submitted to Reid by a researcher with extraordinary abilities. Reid had locked the report in the supercomputer in the safe, and Reid had only made one annotation: 'Solved'.

The problem that needs to be solved is not pollution itself, but most likely the problem of the person who raised the issue.

When Heo saw Coles's soul before, he also found that it was corrupted to a certain extent, which is why he was so obsessed with the experimental project. This 'corruption' most likely came from the Fountain of Youth.

Of course, it is also possible that it came from Reed, who was 'alienated' by the Fountain of Youth.

However, judging from the report, as long as the exposure time is not long, the pollution will not be too serious.

As He Ao read this, his fully charged bracelet vibrated. It was a message from Coles: "Did you succeed?"

Because of his unexpected expectations, Coles reacted quickly when the research institute caught fire and managed to escape from the institute amidst the chaos.

He also sent a message to He Ao around 2 or 3 a.m. last night, but He Ao was focused on data analysis at the time and didn't see it.

He Ao also knew that Coles's messages to him were not out of genuine concern for his health, but rather because he wanted the research data from the institute, which had become Coles's obsession.

Previously, the data was in Reid's hands and was a top secret, which Reid would definitely not give to him. But now the data is in He'ao's hands, and this data is not particularly valuable to He'ao.

Getting data from He Ao was much easier than getting it from Reid, which is why he was willing to help He Ao.

Since we can't achieve our goal no matter what, we might as well take a risk and choose a more likely option.

After reading materials all night, He Ao had roughly determined that the 'Mars Project' simply could not be launched without the financial backing and the Fountain of Youth.

He thought for a moment and replied, "I have some things to take care of in the next couple of days. Someone will contact you in a couple of days."

There was no immediate reply; after a long while, a single word appeared: "Okay."

After replying to Coles, Heo turned off the bracelet.

He turned his gaze back to the manuscript and continued reading.

The second important point He Ao extracted from the institute's business is that the institute is the place where the life-saving medicine is 'finally prepared'.

Its preparation method is related to the silver metal box placed inside those 'volunteers'.

It appears that those metal boxes were not entirely intended for storing 'small organs'.

Besides the research institute, the documents also contained a large amount of information about the Mars Project.

First, the leader of Project Mars was a man codenamed 'Doctor'. In many of the reports and research materials on Project Mars that Reid preserved, this 'Doctor' was mentioned, and it was emphasized several times that without 'Doctor', there would be no Project Mars as we know it today.

From this, it can be inferred that the 'Doctor' seems to be a key figure in the Mars Project and is very likely to have a deep connection with the Fountain of Youth.

Secondly, these materials vaguely mention

The manufacturing method of 'enhancing agent' was discovered:

By extracting and purifying the blood of a powerful beast using a special method, and then mixing it with some life-enhancing potions, a strengthening potion that can forcibly boost one's strength can be created.

The enhanced medicine can be injected or ingested directly, but ingestion will cause a severe burning sensation in the esophagus and stomach.

However, this information ends here; it does not include any details or data related to the preparation of the medicine.

In addition to the two points mentioned above, these materials also mention the manufacturing method of the 'life potion'.

A certain amount of 'qi' and 'fountain of life' are mixed in a 1:2 ratio and then sent to the research institute for special preparation.

He Ao speculates that the 'Fountain of Life' mentioned here is likely a diluted version of the Fountain of Youth that has undergone some kind of treatment.

And the 'qi' should be the martial arts 'qi' that He Ao guessed.

However, contrary to He Ao's original guess, this "qi" did not originate from any martial artist. The research data stated that this qi came from a "giant machine" that could produce "qi".

He Ao had seen a book about martial arts in Ilya's underground library. Its author was one of the founders of Starry Sky Pharmaceuticals, so He Ao could understand why Starry Sky Pharmaceuticals could train martial artists.

But the 'machine' that produces 'gas' left him a little bewildered.

He had a vague feeling that he needed to go and see this 'machine'.

Besides this gas-producing 'machine', the document also mentioned another thing that He Ao was interested in: a 'test tube' containing the life-giving potion.

The information states that this is a 'custom test tube' made by mixing in fragments of the Soul-Devouring Pearl.

The text didn't explain what the Soul-Devouring Beads were, but He Ao couldn't help but think of the marbles he had found in the hospital.

He reached out and took out the marbles; a faint purple mist emanated from the glistening beads.

This 'marble' seems to be used to collect souls.

"what!"

At this moment, Roger stretched and yawned, took a big gulp of coffee, and then burped. "This workload is too much. The last time I analyzed and studied this much data was the last time."

"Listening to your words is like listening to your words."

He Ao placed the manuscript paper on the table, saying, "You could have used a computer to do the calculations."

"For some data analysis, computers aren't necessarily faster than me,"

Roger stood up, stretched, and crackled all over his body.

"what's the result?"

He Ao took a sip of coffee and asked softly.

"I've figured out the optimal formula for these cultivation methods, as well as the best timing and preparation method for the life-saving potion. These are things the research institute hasn't yet developed, but I know your focus isn't on these things,"

Roger plopped back down on the sofa and projected his wristband onto the table.

"What the institute does can be summarized in a few points, the most important of which is," he said, holding up a finger, "that this institute is a 'large organ culture factory'."

"Ok?"

He Ao raised his head.

"I know you've probably already deduced this conclusion, now I'll go into more detail,"

Roger said slowly,

"The organ cloning technology developed by Qunxing Pharmaceuticals is very interesting. They use something called 'Fountain of Life' to inject life into cloned organs that cannot maintain their activity, making them 'come alive'."

"However, this method cannot be used casually. It requires injecting the fountain of life into the organ before it has grown into its normal form, and then implanting the organ into a living person's body so that the living person can nourish the organ."

This answer wasn't too unexpected for He Ao. He asked softly, "What impact will this have on the person receiving the organ?"

"Shortening lifespan,"

Roger calmly stated, "Excluding the two factors of damage to normal organs caused by 'cloned organs' and the increased risk of disease in donors due to foreign objects in their bodies, donors' lifespans will be significantly reduced after receiving organ transplants."

He Ao: "Are there specific figures for the decline?"

“Take the heart, an organ that requires prolonged and strenuous activity, as an example. The time it takes to nurture a cloned heart until it passes its critical growth period is approximately three months,” Roger said, leaning back on the sofa and watching the gradually brightening sunlight outside the window.

"According to the research institute's data, the direct lifespan reduction caused by these three months is about 5-10 years, with most caregivers experiencing a lifespan reduction of about 8 years. Of course, this does not take into account the damage caused by complications and organ loss. If these two factors are taken into account, the average lifespan reduction is about 12 years."

However, transplanting this cloned heart to the original clone owner would only increase their lifespan by 2-5 years.

At that moment, He Ao suddenly understood what the report meant by 'life replacement efficiency'.

If we calculate based on the highest possible loss, and convert twelve years into two years, the loss could exceed 80%.

In reality, this is a transaction. The research institute requires poor people to grow 'organs' for them, and the so-called 'subsidies' they provide are actually purchase payments—payments to buy the lives of poor people.

They spend money to buy lives from the poor and then resell them to the rich.

He Ao opened the report on 'life replacement efficiency' and showed it to Roger.

Roger stared at the report with some confusion, then his gaze hardened. "This is..."

"Trading life."

He Ao said calmly.

He glanced at the Soul-Devouring Bead in his hand. There was a high probability that such a Soul-Devouring Bead existed within the research institute. After the volunteers' lives were exhausted, their souls would most likely be 'taken away' as well.

Roger fell into a brief silence; he didn't know how to describe his feelings.

He intuitively felt that this kind of thing should be unreasonable, but he was also surprised to find that these things were 'reasonable' in a certain sense.

He sighed and sat back down on the sofa. "They can't find jobs, they have no future, they can't support themselves, they can't repay their loans, they can't raise their children, so they have no choice but to sell their lives for a meager income in order to get through the current difficulties. As for the future, it's no longer something they can think about."

During his years as an underground doctor, he witnessed a large number of people who had no choice but to risk their lives and do dangerous things because they could not survive. What they did was no different from 'selling their lives'.

But those

Nothing made him feel this uncomfortable as 'trading his life'.

He quickly realized the source of his discomfort.

Those who risk everything to profit from danger are ultimately a minority, but this kind of "trading life" can be scaled up and rapidly expanded throughout the federation, just like industrial products.

If this kind of thing really spreads, countless desperate people will inevitably step into this 'life shop' and sell their lives cheaply.

The conglomerate will definitely act like a vampire, buying up these 'lives' at the lowest price and then selling them at a higher price.

Those who have lost everything and are burdened with huge loans have no other choice.

Having witnessed this kind of operation before, Roger could almost predict that, in order to acquire lives at the 'lowest price,' the conglomerate would push those who had not yet fallen into despair even further into despair.