Asura in Arknights

His action finally prompted Muirsay to make a decision.

"Wait a minute!"

Muirsey shouted loudly, her breathing sounding somewhat rapid.

“I can let you in, but… I also have some requirements.”

"The use of any Originium Arts is prohibited, and you are not allowed to bring any Originium-related items. You must undergo disinfection as required by me when entering and leaving... If you can do all of these, I can let you in."

Muirse said in a cold tone, "If you can't accept that, then I'll only meet you using a water clone."

"I...can't get out of here."

"Ok?"

Muirsey's answer surprised Leon.

In that instant, he imagined many things, such as the Muleseth in front of him still being a water clone, and that her real body was seriously injured or unable to move, so she could only send the clone outside... or that Muleseth was actually imprisoned here, and without the orders of the commander, she could not leave this prison at all.

After using his senses to observe the situation on the other side of the door, Li Ang realized he had been overthinking things.

Standing at the other end of the quarantine zone was Muirsey's true form; she was neither injured nor physically disabled.

Muirsey's reluctance to leave the eco-park was clearly for some other reason.

“Okay… I think it’s acceptable,” Li Ang replied after thinking for a moment.

Given the scale of this eco-park, any external factor could potentially cause the collapse of the entire artificial ecosystem, so Muirsay's request doesn't seem particularly excessive.

"...Then let's follow the standard procedure. There will be a prompt tone telling you what to do next."

After Muirsey hung up the walkie-talkie, the heavy door in front of Li Ang, which consisted of multiple structures such as explosion-proof and airlock, slowly opened as the mechanical structure operated.

The air leaking from the positive pressure zone formed a powerful airflow. Li Ang took a step forward, shielding Rosemary behind him.

As the air pressure on both sides returned to equilibrium, the door was fully opened.

Immediately afterwards, Muirsey's slightly impatient voice came from the loudspeaker at the top of the passageway, "Hurry up and come in! Don't let the pollution from outside get in... You don't know how troublesome it is to deal with the pollution that comes in from outside every time this door is opened."

Upon hearing this, Li Ang quickly pulled Rosemary into the isolation passage.

Muirsey even filmed a clone of herself to help young Rosemary complete this series of complicated procedures.

Li Ang? Li Ang only needs to take care of himself.

Subsequently, Li Ang underwent several extremely tedious disinfection procedures. After completing those procedures, Li Ang even felt as if he had shed several layers of skin.

Since Muirseth had said that nothing related to Originium was allowed to be brought in, most of the devices he carried, including those containing Originium batteries and chips, were left in the buffer zone.

When Li Ang came out of the bathroom and changed into a standard uniform from Rhine Lab, Muirsey, Rosemary, and one of her clones had been waiting outside for quite some time.

"Too slow!!" Muels said irritably. "It's just cleaning up some Originium contamination, why are you taking so long?"

"...Well, it's probably because of my abilities. That automatic program keeps warning me that the pollution in my body is too high." Li Ang scratched his cheek, his expression somewhat subtle.

Li Ang had become accustomed to compressing Originium particles into wave-like imprints and carrying them on his body. With his control, these Originium particles would not affect the outside world. However, for a program that only recognizes numbers and is automated... Li Ang was essentially carrying a large amount of pollutants with him.

After several unsuccessful attempts to pass the program's verification, Li Ang had no choice but to release control of the wave imprint and throw it into the contaminant treatment tank.

"Huh? Let me see..."

Muirsey was taken aback after hearing Li Ang's answer.

She then pulled a somewhat bulky but still brand-new terminal from her pocket and began to review the records of the disinfection process.

Li Ang noticed that the terminal did not contain any Originium materials.

The terminal was so bulky because it used technology that is somewhat outdated by today's standards.

Moreover, everything here is made using technology that eliminates the dependence on Originium materials.

Even the amount of Originium in the air here is pitifully low, less than the amount of Originium in a normal human body, and close to the Originium vacuum environment that Li Ang created in several battles.

This place... shouldn't be called an ecological park at all; it's clearly an alternative 'sterile room'.

And those who couldn't leave this 'sterile room'... Li Ang looked at Muirsey beside him.

As for Muirsey... when she saw the terrifying pollution level left by Leon, she clutched her head and screamed in terror, "My God! What on earth are you carrying?"

Even the pollution index during a natural disaster is not this high... it almost exceeds the carrying capacity of the isolation channel.

"Some compressed Originium that I developed myself... well, I carry it with me for self-defense."

As he spoke, Li Ang looked away somewhat guiltily.

If his guess is correct, then with his abilities... he and Muirsay are practically incompatible.

"Damn it... I regret it, I shouldn't have let you in."

Muirsey frantically operated the pollution treatment system, quickly removing the compressed Originium left behind by Li Ang to prevent the pollution from breaching the isolation zone and causing devastating damage to the entire ecological park's artificial ecosystem.

As a result, the process of controlling the spread of pollution went much more smoothly than Muirsay had imagined.

Although the pollution index looked terrifying, it was actually very inactive, and even the radiation had weakened to an extremely low level.

Muirsey finally breathed a sigh of relief.

She looked up at Li Ang, her face sour, and asked, "You actually have something like this on you... Was the active source stone from last night also like this?"

Li Ang nodded.

Although that thing wasn't created using wave imprinting, there wasn't much difference; the only difference was the quality of its energy level.

"Alright, then we..."

As Li Ang said this, he walked towards Muirsay.

However, noticing Li Ang's movements, Muirsey's feet seemed to have springs attached to them, and she jumped back several meters with the rosemary in her arms.

She stared at Li Ang warily and stammered, "I'm warning you! Don't, don't, don't come near me! Stay away from me."

Rosemary looked at Muirsay with some confusion, not understanding why this older sister was so afraid.

"Are you afraid of the Originium I possess?"

Seeing Muirsey's reaction, Li Ang realized that his guess was correct.

The purpose of this ecological park is to remove Originium from the normal ecosystem.

As for Muirsey... she's probably one of those individuals who's extremely sensitive to Originium, much like the Saka dwarf, who's almost entirely infected.

"However, all the Originium on me has been removed, and the amount of Originium in the air here is pitifully small. You don't need to be so nervous, do you?"

As he spoke, Li Ang gathered together a large area of ​​source stones from the surrounding area, but in the end, only a crystal the size of a melon seed was formed.

Hmm... I guess I could barely throw out a Ground Shattering Wave Sword?

Seeing Li Ang's actions, Muirsay, who was not far away, was completely stunned.

His actions just now caused the Originium content in the air here to drop by another order of magnitude. Although it was quickly restored to the average level by the Originium backflow from other areas of the ecological park, those brief ten seconds... did indeed reach the theoretical level of an Originium vacuum.

Although almost all life forms on Terra contain Originium, this is primarily acquired from the air.

Muirse has personally proven that if one lives in an area with low Originium content for a long time, the Originium content in an organism's body will also decrease. If one can live in a place where there is no Originium, then the Originium contamination in the body will be gradually cleared away over time.

But with Muirsey's current technology, it's simply impossible for him to achieve that level.

Even with the massive investment in the ecological park, trace amounts of Originium still remain in the air, making it impossible to separate them...

And this man in front of me... he was actually able to separate this part of the Originium, which is a miracle that even machines cannot do!

Trevor and Christensen were completely forgotten by Muirsey at this moment. Could those people be more important than the goal she had fought for her whole life?

Now, Muirsay has an opportunity to realize her long-cherished wish.

Muirsey dropped the rosemary, grabbed Leon's shoulder with a frenzied expression, and shouted urgently, "How did you do that just now?!"

Chapter Nineteen: The Elf

"What, aren't you worried about the Originium contamination on me now?"

Li Ang hadn't expected Muirsey to react so strongly... All he did was extract all the Originium particles from the air, right? Was there really any need to get so worked up?

Filtering airborne mineral contaminants is a very large project that is used in many scenarios.

Muirsay's design is undoubtedly the best among them, having reached a technical bottleneck, and it is almost impossible to make any improvements in the short term.

However, reducing the Originium content in the air from 10 to 1 is indeed a remarkable invention that could save countless lives, but reducing it from 1 to 0... is not as significant.

Because the Terrans have long coexisted with Originium, they have always contained trace amounts of Originium in their bodies, which has given them the ability to use Originium Arts.

It's irresponsible to talk about toxicity without considering dosage. Too much water can drown people, right? The current environment of the ecological park means there's no risk of contracting carcinoma; anyone can survive here.

Upon hearing this, Muirsay released his hand with a slight embarrassment.

“Because… I’ve been stuck on this issue for a long time…” Muirsey explained, “and now that I see someone can actually do this, I’m a little emotional.”

"Can you tell me how you did it? If you can transfer the method to me... I can offer you a sufficient reward."

Before Li Ang could answer, Muirsey said anxiously, "I'm the head of the Ecology Department. Even if you don't believe me, you should believe in Rhine Life's capabilities! Christen will pay for this."

It's clear that Muirsey is getting impatient; she's even bringing up the name of Rhine Lab, which shows just how much she craves this technology...

If this technology can actually be sold, then Li Ang might be able to get in touch with Christensen through Muirsey.

Unfortunately... this technology cannot be sold.

"I know you're in a hurry, but don't rush."

Leon took several steps back, dodging Muelseth who was about to pounce on him again, and asked, "Let me ask you a question first, your water clone spell... can others learn it?"

Muirse's water clones exhibit Originium reactions because she added some random things to them, but the essence of this ability is not Originium Arts at all.

Another instance of diminished power... Muelseth's race is unknown; perhaps he's some kind of descendant of gods...

RheinLife really does have a wealth of talent.

Upon hearing this, Muirsay stopped moving instantly.

Her emotions underwent a dramatic change in a short period of time that was hard for others to imagine.

After a moment, Muirsay asked in a dry voice, "You mean... you're not using Originium Arts?"

Li Ang nodded.

"How could the ability to control Originium itself be Originium Arts?"

Subsequently, Muirsay's appearance deteriorated at a visible rate.

She muttered to herself, somewhat distraught, "How could this happen... Why did we finally find a possibility, only to have it turn into this strange ability that's completely inexplicable..."

Water clones are an ability that Muirsey was born with, and she doesn't understand what it is.

After achieving academic success, driven by curiosity, she sought help from some colleagues to analyze the principles of water clones... However, before she could get too deeply involved, she was stopped in time by the knowledgeable Palvis.

It was then that she learned that there were some special abilities in this world that existed outside the framework of Originium Arts.

No matter how complex the Originium Arts are, they can all be analyzed. For example, Saria's specialty, calcification, could be learned by anyone who could achieve the same level of success in life sciences, microbiology, and Originium Arts.

Although the hope is slim, it is definitely not zero.

This ability, which is not part of Originium Arts, cannot be analyzed in any way... at least not at their current level.

After a brief moment of dejection, Muirsey quickly rallied and said with a forced smile, "It's alright. Even with that kind of special ability, we can definitely glean some useful clues from it."

"So... could you please cooperate with me on some tests? The pay might be a little lower, but it will definitely satisfy you."

It seems that only when Muirsey herself comes to a clear understanding will she be able to truly give up...

Scratching his head, Li Ang's feelings were equally complicated.

Muirsey was investigating illegal human experimentation, so he specifically brought rosemary with him this time. Unexpectedly, he ended up being the one targeted? That's really strange...

"I have a question: why are you so determined to filter out...pure air? Is it related to what you mentioned before, that you can't leave this ecological park?"

“If I tell you the reason, would you be willing to cooperate with me to do some tests?” Muirsay asked in return.

"...I can consider it, but I don't have much time."

There's a whole host of things waiting for Li Ang to handle... He doesn't have time to spend with Muirsey doing any tests.

Upon hearing Li Ang's answer, Muirsay frowned slightly, weighing the pros and cons.

"Well... it's not really a secret."

At least the staff in the ecology department basically know why Muirsay spends all his time in the ecological park.

If Muirsay could use this widely known information to get a few testing opportunities, then he would have made a profit.