Chapter 88: The First Death

Chapter 88: Chapter 88: The First DeathThe death certificate plastered on the wall had been crumpled many times, covered with wrinkles, and its edges torn, yet it was still smoothed out and placed on the wall. "Hengxing Company..." Xu Huo opened the game interface, clicked on White Notes, and read the note below: [The chairman of Hengxing Company is undoubtedly the most popular man.] The person pictured on the White Notes was the chairman of this company. Initially, he had thought Hengxing was a game development company, or perhaps a special company within the game’s setting, but now he was certain that the game itself existed in the real world. Therefore, it was highly possible that Hengxing Company, capable of printing images on White Notes, was either the developer or a participant of Dimensional Rift. What its pharmaceutical research group was doing was self-explanatory. He found some academic certificates and medals belonging to Logan Niese and Molly Ye from inside a cabinet; both held doctoral degrees and were employed by the Stellar Pharmaceutical Research Group. They had won several medical contribution awards and had published award-winning papers that discussed the dangers of genetic improvement agents to humans. After reading these papers carefully, he found references to at least ten drugs he had never heard of, all targeting congenital genetic defects. These drugs could be used during gestation to reduce the risk of hereditary diseases in the fetus and avoid certain physical deficiencies. However, this couple was not optimistic about genetic improvement agents and published a paper listing over sixty suspected new side effects brought on by these drugs, which received authoritative recognition. There were no materials about Evolution Potion. Xu Huo replaced the materials in their original place and took two steps back to take in the room’s layout. After Master Niese’s death, many of his personal belongings had been taken away. If it were just about money, then the clocks made by Master Niese during his lifetime would have been more valuable. Not even the clocks at his residence were taken, suggesting that there were other secrets involved. Anything that could be left out in the open was definitely not important. Not finding any clues in this room, he turned to the children’s room next door. Upon entering, he couldn’t help but frown; this was not a room where normal people lived. All the windows in the room were fitted with bars, identical to a cage. The spacious room contained a miniature train track, a cart full of plush toys, a small hut dedicated to painting, the bed and floor littered with picture books, and graffiti plastered everywhere on the walls, ceiling, and even the mirrors... In short, nearly every possible space was crammed full, bloated and cumbersome. Sёarch* The Nôvel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. Observing the chaotic graffiti on the wall, Xu Huo subconsciously pulled one off, not expecting a piece of paper to fall out from behind it. Picking it up, he saw it was a brief report, generally stating that the Stellar Pharmaceutical Research Group was facing frequent accidents, with senior personnel stepping forward to clarify. He then tore off a second piece of graffiti, revealing another report behind it, again related to incidents at the Stellar Pharmaceutical Research Group. This was followed by a third and a fourth, each piece of graffiti hiding a piece of paper, some were newspaper clippings, some scattered notes, most recording the addresses of suspected medical accident victims, and others symptoms of drug side effects, including but not limited to pustules, muscle atrophy, and organ failure. Pustules, atrophy, failure – these were words all too familiar to Xu Huo; the leftover player he had encountered in the Beheading Demon Copy and Professor Han, who was currently undergoing treatment, both exhibited these symptoms. The difference was that the leftover player had stopped using the potion, while Professor Han had been scratched by an Alien outside of the train. Aliens were once Evolvers; theoretically, they should exhibit symptoms of organ failure without taking the Evolution Potion. However, not only did they not show such symptoms, but they also carried a toxin that could induce the premature withdrawal symptoms of Evolvers from the potion. Although Aliens might have undergone a special mutation, the symptoms seen in ordinary Evolvers seemed to be quite common. According to these clippings and notes, despite different types of drugs, the side effects shared some common characteristics. "It’s not an issue with the drugs, but rather a defect within the Evolvers themselves." "Evolution itself is a scam!" "Isn’t there any medicine that can stop evolution?" "I’m going to kill those people from Hengxing Company!" The notes behind became increasingly intense, but Xu Huo suddenly saw one that read: "I was wrong, real evolution does exist, it’s just too late." He stood up abruptly, his face barely containing his excitement as he paced back and forth a few steps, then forced himself to calm down. Judging from the arrangement of the room and the facilities of the town, it wasn’t hard to tell that Master Niese’s granddaughter had encountered a problem. His son and daughter-in-law, who had originally worked at the Stellar Pharmaceutical Research Group, died in an accident—or perhaps it wasn’t an accident. However, from Master Niese shifting his investigation from doubting evolution itself to affirming the existence of true evolution, it was clear he must have discovered the method for perfect evolution! The residents of the town were not Master Niese’s friends and relatives, nor precision decibel enthusiasts; they were there to surveil Master Niese and even took his personal items after his death. That’s why there were Alien creatures in the town, and stringent travel conditions had been set. The problem now was whether the town still held the answers he was seeking. Looking back at the intact notes on the ground, Xu Huo pocketed the last one and went downstairs. The most common things in Master Niese’s residence were clocks. He could hide things behind the graffiti, and these clocks were also fair game. In the following time, he did not leave the small building, exhausting the search through all the clocks, including those broken ones in the storeroom, but all for naught. He glanced at his cellphone; it was almost time to return as agreed. Xu Huo pocketed the Dual-color Cube, placed the clocks back on their shelves from the floor, and as he did so, a stopwatch face fell from a large clock. He caught it, and a game interface popped up: "Three Seconds of a Lifetime: Legend has it that people see a revolving lantern containing their life’s most profound memories just before they die. But how long does this time last? According to authorities, it is between one and ten seconds." "Clockmaster Niese, however, believed it lasted only three seconds, hence this Super Prop, imbued with the craftsman’s effort and the master’s soul, came into existence." "While it has sixty second marks, only the last three seconds are usable. Wearers will have their lives automatically rewound to the third second before death, and each rewind will consume three of its second marks. When the hand makes a full rotation, it will lose its soul." It turned out that while fiddling with the Dual-color Cube, he didn’t find any information related to evolution but unexpectedly acquired a super prop, a watch face with the ability to rewind time. Although it could only go back three seconds, this stopwatch essentially gave him twenty chances at resurrection after death! Time rewind, huh? This is a concept that completely transcends three-dimensional space, and to think it could be achieved through a watch face! Super Props like the Girl in the painting were already shocking enough, and now this sort of magical item that seemed to control the order of space and time could apparently be crafted by people, and it seemed to have been formed inadvertently. "Do items with special properties emerge from extra-dimensional space?" Xu Huo muttered to himself, then found a pocket watch case to put the watch face into, and picked up another pocket watch with a similar case before leaving the storeroom. Just before leaving, he glanced at the time on the wall clock, pulled the door open with one hand, and out of nowhere, a black arrow flew in and pierced through his heart!