Collapse Iron: I just transmigrated! You want me to save the Black Tower?!

[Feixiao: Xuanquan seems to have sensed something is wrong, but it's too late.]

[Yu Kong: So what if we find out? The Dragon Master has already taken control of the Fanghu's daily operations. Even if the Dragon Lord knows that people are missing, she doesn't know where these people are, let alone who did it.]

[Jing Yuan: I know that on some immortal ships, the Dragon Lord is the nominal supreme ruler, but the Dragon Master holds the actual power. Is this also the case with Fang Hu?]

[Yao Guang: Judging from the images, Fang Hu's communication has been restricted to some extent. Even if Lord Hu Yuan wanted to ask the Immortal Boat Alliance for help, it would be difficult for her message to get out.]

Moreover, under these circumstances, even the Immortal Ship itself might be in danger.

[Fu Xuan: Perhaps Fanghu was isolated and helpless from the very beginning, not because they left the alliance, but because Ruan Mei had already closed the "door" for Fanghu before they left.]

[Qingque: ...I'd rather Fanghu had run away.]

Fu Xuan: ...Me too.

The scene in the laboratory became more and more terrifying every day.

The first batch of "materials" had completely lost their human form. Their bodies were injected with a certain substance by Ruan Mei, causing their skin to dissolve, their muscles to roll, and their bones to twist into unnatural angles.

Some people have organs that don't belong to them... compound eyes, arthropods, and carapaces.

Traces of reproduction.

By the time the second batch arrived, the first batch had already stopped struggling.

The liquid in the petri dish changed from transparent to cloudy, and then from cloudy to deep red.

Those things that were once enlightened floated in there, occasionally twitching slightly, but that... seemed to be just the last reaction of nerve endings, unrelated to consciousness.

Ruan Mei stood in front of the petri dish, writing some notes in her notebook.

"In the third stage, the gene fusion completion rate was 17.3%, but... the rejection reaction was lower than expected. The reproductive gene fragment was successfully integrated into the Wisdom genome. The Wisdom race has better compatibility with the reproductive destiny than ordinary humans."

She closed the notebook and turned to look at the third batch of "materials" being brought in.

Those who held the Dharma were "contained" in specially made containers. Some were unconscious, and some were still struggling, but their mouths were sealed and their hands and feet were bound, so no one could make a sound.

The young, enlightened girl's eyes were filled with fear. She shook her head desperately, but could only shout something silently.

Ruan Mei glanced at her, then looked away.

"When will the fourth batch arrive?" she asked calmly.

The deputy lowered his head and spoke calmly, his eyes vacant and lifeless, yet his voice trembled slightly: "...Tomorrow."

Ruan Mei nodded and walked towards the lab table.

The last glimmer of light in that young, wise pupil went out.

[March 7th: I...I can't stand it anymore...]

[Star: March, stop looking, I can hug you!]

[March 7th: Those who uphold the Dharma... How tragic! Are they still alive? Are they even human anymore?]

[Dan Heng: ...No, that doesn't count.]

[Himeko: Is this Ruan Mei's experiment? No pain, no screams, no emotional fluctuations, only data and records. To her, those things can't even be considered life.]

It was just a cold, lifeless experiment.

Perhaps in her eyes, Chiming was no different from an insect.

[Walter: The scariest thing is, she doesn't even see anything wrong with it...?]

[Topa: To be honest, I thought the company was already pretty bad enough... cough cough, anyway, this is really too depressing.]

[Gold Sand: So many people, just like that, sent in batches as "materials," how can you dragon masters sleep at night?]

[Fu Xuan: I can't sleep. They're doomed.]

The number of missing persons in Fanghu is increasing.

It started with tens, then hundreds, then thousands.

The dragon masters began to get restless.

“Ms. Ruan Mei,” Yao Feng entered the laboratory, trying to keep his voice steady, “the number of people who have gone missing recently is…too many. Long Zun has intensified his investigation, so we may need to slow down…”

Ruan Mei raised her head, looked at Yao Feng, paused for a few seconds, and then suddenly smiled.

Do you think you have a choice in this matter?

Yao Feng's smile froze on his face.

Ruan Mei put down the instrument in her hand, turned around, and looked at him.

“You had no choice from the beginning.” Her voice was calm and devoid of emotion. “You were just the key that opened the door for me. Now that the door is open, the key is useless.”

Yao Feng took a step back: "You... what do you mean?"

Ruan Mei did not answer.

Behind her, a petri dish suddenly shattered, and transparent liquid gushed out from the crack, spilling onto the ground.

An insect crawled out of the liquid.

It wasn't big, only about the size of a fist, its carapace gleaming with a ghostly green light, and its six segments leaving deep scratches on the slippery ground.

Its mouthparts open and close in the air, emitting a faint hissing sound.

Yao Feng's face turned deathly pale instantly.

"......What's this?"

Ruan Mei glanced down at the insect and said in a flat tone, "This is one of your kind."

Yao Feng was stunned.

Movie Review (88) - The Genius Killer Polka

That insect was once a Vidyadhara.

A living, breathing Vidyadhara who can speak, think, and feel fear.

Right now, it's just an insect...

An insect that has been starving for a long time...

It turned towards Yaofeng, and with all six of its limbs exerting force, pounced on him.

Yao Feng's screams echoed in the laboratory, but were quickly muffled by something.

Ruan Mei did not turn around.

She simply picked up her notebook and wrote on the latest page:

"Live animal feeding test successful."

"The reproductive gene is fully expressed in the body of the 'Mortal,' and the host is completely transformed into a Zerg individual. The 'Mortal' can serve as a high-quality culture medium for Zerg reproduction."

[Fireworks: Tsk tsk tsk... Not pitiful at all, Dragon Master. Did you get eaten by your own "materials"? How does it feel? Comfortable?]

[Silver Wolf: Wasn't he trying to solve the problem of the Vidyadhara clan's reproduction? Now he's solved it, using his own body.]

[Fireworks: The first batch of "materials" turned into insects, the second batch of "materials" turned into insects, and now even the Dragon Master himself has become food for the insects... This closed loop is perfect.]

[Gold Sand: So Ruan Mei never intended to help them solve any problems from the beginning... What she wanted was the immortal power of the Vidyadhara clan.]

[Cang Gang: Now I'm a little curious, do those dragon masters still dare to think they're very smart?]

[Shu Ju: They won't have a chance to realize it anymore. Yao Feng is already inside the insect's belly, and the rest will probably be in it soon.]

That's... karma.

The number of insects in the laboratory is increasing.

One, ten, one hundred, one thousand.

They crawled out of the petri dishes, poured out of the broken containers, and emerged from the unrecognizable corpses.

Their carapaces gleamed dimly under the lamplight, their mouthparts opened and closed incessantly in the air, and the reflection of the celestial vessel that would soon become their hunting ground was in their compound eyes.

Ruan Mei stood in the center of the laboratory, surrounded by countless crawling insects.

Her expression remained unchanged.

"Phase 5 of the experiment is complete."

She closed her notebook and headed towards the laboratory exit.

Behind him, the swarm of insects automatically parted to make way.

No one was blocking her way.

No insects dared to.

[Star: Huh? None of the bugs in the lab attacked her.]

[March 7th: Strange...why?]

[Danheng: Hard to say... The bugs didn't attack her in the previous timeline either. Could it be that the bugs know who their creator is?]

[Himeko: More accurately, "mother".]

[Black Tower: No need for such sweet talk. She's using herself as a maternal host for research; at this point, she's no longer human.]

[Walter: ...That's terrifying.]

[March 7th: If she succeeds... will she also... in other places...?]

[Danheng: Yes.]

[Black Swan: No way, isn't Jiang Jiu already at Fanghu? He'll definitely be able to stop Ruan Mei.]

[Dahlia: Darling, he's too late. The pot has already become an insect nest.]

The swarm spread faster than anyone imagined.

They emerged from the laboratory and spread to various areas along the pipe system of the square pot. They bred in the dark and nested where people could not see them.

The first to discover the swarm of insects were Fanghu's patrol team.

Five Cloud Cavalry soldiers encountered three insects in a secluded alleyway during a routine patrol.

They are eating a corpse.