parentshiftbook Chapter 657 The Idea of Integration and Its Successors
Chapter 657 The Idea of Integration and Its Successors
In the pale white light of the underground laboratory, Jemin stood before his work, three metal containers containing bizarre samples laid out before him. Several days had passed since he acquired the Shadowy Omen.
After that night, he hardly left the laboratory.
The process by which the Shadow Thief and the Crevice Man merged to become the Shadow Omen gave him a great deal of inspiration... not about the strength of the Omen's own power, but about the "possibility" of the Omen's existence.
The two malevolent entities, at the level of danger, crossed the threshold of the catastrophic level the moment they merged, and even, with the help of favorable weather, touched the threshold of the natural disaster level. While the sudden surge in power was astonishing, the very fact that the two entities merged was more worthy of Jemin's attention.
This illustrates a point: there is a certain natural "affinity" between some kinds of strangeness.
While not all supernatural entities can be integrated, many do possess compatible characteristics.
Jemin opened the lids of the three containers one by one.
Seal inside are three different types of dangerous and eerie fragments: one that can induce mild fear, one that can spread a faint chill in the dark, and one that can cause temporary dizziness.
These three fragments come from different sources and are not related to each other.
However, in the field of vision of the all-seeing eye, their energy fluctuation frequencies exhibit a subtle, stepped overlap.
He brought the fragments of fear and the fragments of cold air close together.
The two energies repel each other slightly at the moment of contact, like the repulsion between like poles of two magnets.
But when he brought the dizziness fragments over as well, a triangular balance was formed among the three energies.
Fear suppressed the agitation of dizziness, the cold air softened the sharpness of fear, and dizziness filled the gap between the cold air and fear.
This shows that the fusion of the Shadow Thief and the Crevice Man was not an isolated case, and that different kinds of strange things can be compatible.
Even if two anomalies cannot coexist, under certain conditions, they can coexist with the coordination of a third party or even more anomalies. Jemin separated the fragments, his mental energy quickly recording a string of data within the memory crystal.
Then he put down the crystal, leaned back in his chair, and looked down at the silver-white metal panel on the ceiling.
Theoretical deductions continued to expand in my mind.
If there are enough strange creatures, and if their characteristics are complementary enough, then theoretically all of them can be merged into one, creating a terrifying entity.
An existence that combines all bizarre characteristics, cannot be categorized, cannot be evaluated, and may even be undefinable.
That thought lingered in his mind for only a moment before he suppressed it.
It's not that it's impossible, but rather that it's unrealistic.
He had too few materials.
There are only a few dozen dangerous fragments, and only two complete and bizarre ones of the hazard level: the Shadow Thief and the Crevice Man.
Moreover, they have merged into a shadowy and eerie entity, becoming a single, catastrophe-level sample.
He couldn't take it apart anymore; that would be a waste of valuable research material.
He needs more materials, more bizarre fragments, more complete bizarre elements, and more research data.
Only in this way could he continue to explore the bizarre fusion mechanism and verify the hypotheses and conjectures that kept emerging in his mind. Jemin sighed, closed his notebook, and placed it in a corner of his workspace.
Then he blinked.
His gaze pierced through the ceiling, across the floor of the bookstore on the first floor, over the wet stone path, and landed in an alley less than two hundred meters from the bookstore.
Two people in dark blue uniforms were standing in the shadows of the alley, leaning against the wall, talking in hushed tones.
Their uniforms had the psychic association's emblem embroidered on the left breast and silver trim on the collar.
Jemin was "familiar" with both of them.
One of them was Dirk, young, with a tense face, as if he was nervous about something.
The other was Harding, in his forties, with a calm expression, hands in his pockets, relaxed as if he were standing in his own living room. Jemin's lips twitched slightly.
It seems the problem of insufficient materials will be solved soon.
In the alley, the light from the gas lamps shone from afar, casting a blurry halo on the wet stone pavement.
Dirk and Harding stood at the boundary between light and darkness, half of their bodies in the light and half in the darkness.
"Is this the place?" Harding's voice was soft, with a casual tone.
"This is it." Dirk nodded, his gaze sweeping across the alleyway to the old house with a wooden sign that read "Used Bookstore." "Based on our investigation over this period, this shop has indeed acquired a large amount of bizarre materials. Fragments, sealing containers, and some semi-finished gene potions. The quantity is considerable, but the types are very diverse, with no clear main focus."
"What about personnel exchanges?"
“Very few.” Dirk shook his head. “We’ve been observing for almost half a month, and only occasionally a few people who look like ordinary customers come into the store… but those people come out quickly, and they’re not necessarily carrying anything. Apart from that, there’s almost no regular personnel coming and going, and it doesn’t seem like an organization’s base.”
Harding nodded.
This is precisely why he didn't bring people directly to seize the property.
If this store were an underground stronghold of that cult, there would have been a large number of suspicious people coming and going long ago.
However, more than half a month of tracking and surveillance did not reveal anything unusual, which means that either this is not a cult stronghold, or the cult members are hiding very well... so well that even the association's elites could not see any flaws.
However, if they were truly such deeply hidden cultists, they shouldn't have revealed such a large flaw in resource transactions, so there's no need to consider this possibility.
"Moreover," Dirk added, "while he acquired a lot of materials, it wasn't enough to supply the entire organization's needs. It was more like an individual effort. One person, or a small team, researching something."
Harding turned his gaze from the wooden door of the old bookstore to Dirk.
"Doesn't this place look familiar?"
Dirk paused for a moment, then re-examined the exterior of the house.
Old, worn, two-story building with a wooden sign for an old bookstore hanging at the entrance...
"Am I supposed to be very familiar with this?"
Harding shook his head: "Although we haven't seen any actual pictures, we've seen products related to this store in the newspaper." Dirk thought for a moment, then his pupils suddenly contracted: "This is the place mentioned in the newspaper before... the place that improves the success rate of gene-enhancing drugs?"
Harding neither nodded nor shook his head, but simply said, "I've questioned those shady brokers. I've questioned everyone who's dealt with the association and is willing to cooperate. Although they spoke haltingly, most of their testimonies pointed to the same place... right here." Dirk frowned.
Of course he remembered that intelligence.
Two months ago, a modified gene-enhancing drug suddenly appeared on the black market, reportedly with a success rate five percent higher than the theoretical value. This number may not seem like much, but it was enough to raise the association's alarm.
They conducted a risk assessment, but because no negative news has emerged, they have temporarily shelved it.
Unexpectedly, the source of that medicine was right in front of them.
"So..." Dirk said slowly, "the owner of this used bookstore is ostensibly a quack doctor, but actually a highly skilled technician in disguise?"
"Most likely." Harding's tone remained calm, but a hint of eagerness appeared in his eyes. "According to the shady brokers, this guy only recently arrived in Fog City. Nobody knows where he was or what he did before. But judging from the improved potions he's been selling, his skill level is quite high; it's not something someone with no connections could do."
"What is his purpose in hiding here?"
Harding shrugged. "I don't know. But logically speaking, it's highly likely they conducted some illegal experiments elsewhere, got wanted, and came here."
Dirk was silent for a few seconds, then nodded, a look of "I see" on his face.
Both he and Harding were indifferent to the illegal experiments.
Human rights in this world aren't that high. Even within the Psychic Association, there's a practice of using death row inmates as experimental subjects. Moreover, so-called "illegal experiments" often stem from infringing upon the interests of certain powerful figures.
If a researcher develops a new technology in a city and doesn't share any of the benefits with the city's leaders, you're considered "illegal." If your research methods are too advanced and some old-fashioned academics disapprove, you're considered "illegal."
Even if you're just in the wrong place at the wrong time, some petty bureaucrat might casually label you as "illegal."
Conversely, the fact that someone can be wanted for illegal experiments indicates that they possess the ability to surpass that of an entire research team of a prominent figure.
Such researchers are highly sought after in other cities. Many people are willing to pay and exert effort to help them clear their arrest warrants in exchange for their technology. Dirk, realizing this, also became excited.
After all, they are really short-staffed right now.
The previous incident involving cult members did indeed cause quite a stir, prompting the Psychic Association to launch an emergency self-examination.
Although many cases of embezzlement were uncovered, the perpetrators were not caught.
However, the deeply hidden spy was not the reason for their anxiety. Although it was troublesome, it was not something the Psychic Association could not handle.
The real trouble is the terrifying and bizarre thing that suddenly appeared a few days ago.
In the dead of night, a bizarre, catastrophic event suddenly erupted on the sea not far from the city; no one could bear that.
Dirk still clearly remembers how chaotic things were in the association when they calculated that strange energy intensity.
For the next few days, the association conducted an urgent investigation into clues related to this catastrophic event, but found nothing useful. This result, ironically, made the members of the psychic association even more suspicious.
After all, it's too easy for the supernatural to hide.
If we can't find or handle it now, and it suddenly erupts sometime in the future, the entire city could be destroyed in an instant.
Moreover, this bizarre incident suddenly broke out while they were investigating cult members. To say that the two are completely unrelated is simply an insult to their intelligence.
Therefore, in the past few days, the psychic association in Fog City has been trying every means to improve its combat strength in order to cope with the impending crisis. In addition to seeking help from psychic associations in other cities to mobilize combat strength, gathering all useful people in this city as a precaution is also one of the methods.
In the current situation, recruiting a highly skilled researcher would be just as effective as sending a psychic of catastrophe caliber from headquarters.
Moreover, judging from the intelligence, this researcher is probably very good at improving gene therapy.
Even if they can't provide new research results for the time being, this alone is enough to help the Psychic Association improve its combat power in a short period of time. "Let's go in and take a look." Harding walked out from the base of the wall and headed towards the old bookstore.
Dirk followed, and the two of them walked one after the other across the wet stone path and pushed open the creaking wooden door.