I'm fighting Kal'tsit? Really?

"It's all your fault! If it weren't for you, the situation in Colombia wouldn't have changed, and everyone could continue doing what they were doing, without worrying that some madman would destroy everything one day!"

"It's all your fault! My only relative died!! Think about it, how many people like my nephew, perhaps just working under a beach umbrella, will lose their jobs or even their lives because of you?"

However, Saria, who was used to hearing these kinds of comments, didn't buy it at all:

"So instead of hating the murderer who killed your nephew, you hate me."

She stepped forward, her voice laced with suppressed anger, each word like a hammer blow, slamming down on the other person's sophistry:

“You always have countless reasons to blame other people for the root of the problem, but you never think that breaking the rules is a big deal.”

“Even if you receive the punishment you deserve, and even if there are other rule-breakers like you who don’t care about breaking the rules and killing your nephew, you still want to pin the problem on me.”

“That’s stupid, Rendel.”

"—Because this is just blaming other people for your unvented emptiness."

As soon as he finished speaking, Randolph's face revealed a look of mockery and distorted expression.

He breathed weakly for a few moments, then spoke with a cold laugh:

"But what about your friend who brought you, that man named Gerald?"

"Is his revenge justifiable and acceptable to you, or do you simply not know anything about his past?"

"You're just making excuses, trying to confuse the public, and changing the subject." Saria quickly retorted, "No matter how much you emphasize others, the experiments your nephew did, his disregard for life, and the mistakes he made will not disappear, and neither will you."

Randolph's face stiffened slightly, but then a deeper hatred appeared in his eyes.

He chuckled softly, but the laughter soon grew louder, filled with a twisted sense of pleasure.

"But no matter what, you still came here."

His laughter finally subsided, his voice carrying the same calm and tranquility as before: "Following the clues from the beach umbrella, trying to find the source of the slush fund, you discovered that the target was right here. So you used Anthony's matter as an excuse to come to Mansfield, and shortly after entering prison, you just happened to find the passage used for experiments."

"What wonderful coincidences! Having a money-loving image still has some use in other people's minds, right?"

Randolph's gaze seemed to pass over Seria, looking at something behind her. "If you could have ignored Anthony and come sooner, you would have become a part of this place. But instead, you went and found the most troublesome guy here and became friends with him."

"But it's okay, you still made it here."

"Listen to what the child is making."

Saria quickly realized what he was looking at.

He was looking at the prison itself.

"Mansfield is a heart that beats forever, galloping across the wilderness without ever stopping."

He squinted, listening to the steel behemoth running across the wilderness. "Only crashing into a towering mountain or exploding from within can stop this child's steps."

"For twenty-five years, I have been with it, becoming a part of it. And today you will be here with it, welcoming a new life."

Rendel reluctantly turned his gaze from the surrounding walls back to Saria.

"What a pity, it's such a great, such a great, such a great pity."

“If you didn’t realize Mansfield was going full speed ahead, I would have liked to let you taste an even more wonderful kind of despair—but honestly, it’s not too late now, is it?”

The wind still held his body firmly in the air, but it couldn't stop him from opening his bloody mouth and revealing a chilling smile.

"Why don't you open the room behind me, Saria? You'll be surprised."

"Because the legacy you've always wanted regarding the Loken Tank is right there."

Chapter 41 A tram speeds by... (4K)

Loken water tank.

The incident that once shocked Colombia, despite the strict control over related speech, meant that the general public was unaware of the specific details, only knowing that it was a human experiment conducted in a small laboratory.

But for researchers, this term has a completely different meaning.

Initially, the laboratory only revealed casting units for subcutaneous implantation. This technology quickly spread to various sectors of Columbia, and even Rhine Lab produced similar technologies. The subcutaneous metal previously used by Jeston, capable of resisting Duma Originium Arts, also falls into this category.

But soon, the true purpose of Loken's water tank was revealed to everyone:

[Through experiments, a test subject was artificially created whose spellcasting abilities were greatly enhanced, but whose Oripathy did not worsen as a result.]

Infected individuals do not need to rely on casting units to perform Originium Arts; their infected organs can directly achieve an effect similar to that of casting units, resulting in an increase in the Originium content within them and a deterioration in their physical condition.

The existence of the Loken water tank means that it is possible to create a computer that can be continuously overclocked without being affected by hardware wear and tear.

Upon learning of this, the Colombian military intervened, and its mastermind, Loken Williams, lost everything in a failed and risky attempt.

This incident also represents a consensus among many in the Colombian scientific community.

The essence of science lies in transcending common sense, while morality is a shackle that mediocre people put on themselves.

When the collapsed bricks and shattered human bodies piled up into a mountain at the feet of the silver-haired experimental subject, most of the people who were not directly involved felt not panic, but rather a longing and yearning for this gold mine.

If they could acquire this technology, and instead of rushing headlong into failure like Loken did... then the Colombian military would treat them like honored guests, and fame and fortune would come their way.

……

Saria stopped Rendel from saying anything more by using calcification. The enamel covered his mouth, leaving him only room to breathe, while she herself walked into the back room.

Gerald had not previously mentioned any traps near the room, indicating that she didn't need to worry about them too much.

The key to unlocking everything is now in her hands; it is up to her to decide whether to open Pandora's box.

Her gaze fell on the seemingly ordinary marble door, which was no different from any other door, but seemed extremely out of place in this room.

She covered her hands with enamel and turned the lock.

A scene resembling a threshold space appeared before her eyes.

A soft light shone from above, bathing the entire room in a warm hue. The room's layout was distinctly Victorian, with an exquisitely carved chandelier hanging high in the ceiling, radiating a warm, sun-like glow.

However, the spaciousness made the strangeness slightly outweigh the warmth it contained. The space was large enough to accommodate dozens of people, and every inch of the floor was polished to a spotless finish, as if it could reflect people's shadows.

Upon closer inspection, four beds are neatly arranged in the center of the room, each covered with clean, soft white sheets. Next to each bed is a small bedside table, upon which sits a lamp and a few children's books. Around the bedside tables are several potted plants. Everything looks so peaceful and beautiful, like an ideal, warm haven.

That sense of warmth was instantly shattered when my gaze fell upon the beds.

Two young men, about sixteen or seventeen years old, were sitting on each of the two beds.

They stood motionless, their faces pale, their eyes staring blankly ahead, unfocused.

Upon closer inspection, their bodies all bore obvious signs of abnormality—fragments covered their shoulder or arm wounds in a strange way, and the junction between the skin and the fragments was reddish in a way that did not match the usual symptoms, as if they had been completely eroded.

If that were all, it would be fine.

The problem is that there is a strange phenomenon about them.

Why do a person's body, whether it's the hands or the feet, show different skin colors and sizes?

The next second after she regained consciousness, Saria sprinted to the bed in the center of the room, and calcification instantly covered their skin.

As beings that are not yet fully developed, this is why human ethics so strongly reject and hate using children as experimental subjects.

A vibrant life possesses boundless potential.

The two people sitting on the bed were unmoved by Saria's actions—or rather, they were completely unable to react. Apart from the reflex system originating from their spinal cord, everything about them seemed to have been severed from them, and no action could have any effect on them.

In the next instant, Saria's figure rushed out of the room.

Hanging in mid-air, Rendel only saw the fleeting shadow. The next second, a heavy punch landed on his abdomen, shattering the wind that was holding him up and sending him flying more than ten meters away.

The calcification caught Randolph, who was about to freefall in mid-air, while Vayvan's hand grabbed his collar the next second, lifting him up in the air. The enamel around his mouth was also removed at this moment.

"Explain to me what you did to them!?"

Faced with Saria, who was on the verge of losing control, Rendel only had time to vomit the acid churning in his stomach. The heavy punch that hit him in the abdomen almost displaced his internal organs, but calcification covered his body in time, offsetting the impact and stopping him just in time to the point of serious injury.

The rumors are indeed true that he was able to remain rational even in the face of rage.

He thought so.

"...cough, cough cough."

After vomiting out the acid in his stomach, Randolph's voice gradually became weak and indistinct.

“Loken is indeed a genius…isn’t he? He suppressed the neural responses of the test subjects, bringing them to the brink of a vegetative state, yet they still retained some consciousness…My former employer should have valued him more, at least they shouldn’t have just handed over the research results to others.”

“You’re crossing the line.” Saria’s anger was now impossible to conceal. “What about those prisoners from Sector C who disappeared?”

Rendel grinned.

"Haven't you realized it yet, Saria?"

"Due to the body's rejection phenomenon, the body suturing process must undergo the most rigorous screening and evaluation to ensure tissue compatibility and the success rate of the surgery."

"but if--"

He lowered his voice, mustered all his strength, and slowly moved his body a step closer to Saria, looking up at the anger on her face. "What if we suppress their consciousness in their minds beforehand, and then use the human organs infected with Oripathy as a medium for spellcasting, and use that as the direction for stitching?"

"Then, the body's rejection response will be dominated by the influence of Originium, thus forming a strange balance within the human body."

"—Rejection, excessive accumulation of Originium particles in the blood, and the body's self-repair are three factors that restrain and integrate with each other."

"Ah, yes, what beautiful harmonious notes!"

“This is a gift from the Creator.” He said slowly, then closed his eyes, marveling at the creation he had recreated like a devout believer. “Although we still cannot reach Loken’s level, we cannot understand how he managed to keep the test subjects conscious while achieving this balance. Even now, these test subjects can only use the power of the Originium within their bodies through output and input.”

"But clearly, our experiment can still be considered a success."

“My children, the heart of Mansfield, with their amplification, can even transcend the constraints of those inferior industrial products.”

“Listen to the sound of it running across the wilderness.” Rendal slowly laid his body flat, feeling the vibrations from the moving tectonic plates beneath him. “Don’t you understand yet, Saria?”

"These experimental subjects have long since become [staffs]."

arms.

Only one word flashed through Saria's mind, and then it began to extend endlessly.

If these experiments can be replicated, casters who do not require spellcasting units will soon appear in the military, and soldiers will become deadly weapons that can be deployed to the battlefield immediately without in-depth training in Originium Arts theory.

This will be an endless disaster.

The Colombian military, which relies on scientific research and equips itself with advanced technology, will not resist such an opportunity.

"Ah, don't be too sad, Saria, smile."

At this moment, Rendel's malice finally reached its peak. He smiled and said the words that Saria did not want to hear: "I have good news for you, and bad news for you."

"The good news is, as you might expect, these experiments are difficult to replicate, and the military is unaware of them for the time being—after all, we don't want to be targeted by people the Melander Foundation has planted in the military; the risk is simply too great."

“The bad news is—oh, right, maybe this is actually good news for you?” He sneered, his tone growing increasingly excited. “After all, the greatest legacy of the Loken Water Tank wasn’t taken over by anyone else; even the beach umbrellas only found some remaining fragments. The fact that they were able to do this was simply because they had the opportunity to conduct research in advance, which allowed us to seize a loophole.”

"And the one who truly inherited this legacy was none other than himself."

The malice in the words landed precisely on Saria, like a steel bar piercing through her, stringing together the previously fragmented clues in her mind.

"It is your Rhine Life, isn't it?"

"Ms. Seria, who was the founder of Rhine Lab, was kept in the dark all along."

……

The mobile sector continues its rapid expansion.

Saria silently released Rendel's collar. Her gaze lost focus as memories and clues intertwined in her mind, causing her brain to overclock.

The biggest funder of the "Flame Demon" experiment has the ability to hire multiple top laboratories to conduct research at the same time. Ferdinand's recent actions—no, there are just too many, she can't keep up with them all.

How can we stop this ever-moving tram and bring it to a halt?

Would she be strong enough to block the trolley? If she used her body and enamel to block the trolley's tires, would that be enough to end it all? Would it save the people on both sides of the fork in the road?

Randolph continued speaking.

“I don’t like the look on your face, Saria.” He sighed unexpectedly. “I was expecting to see despair, to see helplessness, and then I could perhaps see you pull yourself together. After all, you are the famous Saria.”

“You should start thinking about how to deal with these test subjects. If you get involved yourself, you will put them in the army’s sights ahead of time. On the contrary, they will be discovered by the army.”

"You should consider whether or not to kill me. After all, I am a living witness. You have no right to kill me; instead, the law should punish me. Right, our hero Saria?"

“I should have seen you struggle and fall into despair, not just wear a listless expression like you do now. I should also have seen you regain hope—”

Rendel licked his lips: "That way, when I tell you that Mansfield can't be stopped, your renewed hope will be instantly shattered."

"My revenge deserves to end like this."

After hearing these words, Saria slowly raised her head.