Book 4 Chapter 23.5 - Price
In Conier’s exquisite living room, a conversation that definitely couldn’t be considered cheerful was carried out. Apart from changing a set of clothes, Su didn’t seem any different from when he left. However, the elder could clearly sense something different within his body. The Su he first met was calm and gentle, and aside from his excessive beauty, there wasn’t a trace of strangeness beyond that of an ordinary person. However, after making a trip through the underground base, Su clearly became a bit indolent, but from time to time, there would be bits of sharp energy released, these needle like sensations reminding the elder of his existence.
In other words, it could be said that the current Su became even more like a human.
What made Conier restless was not Su, but rather Cirvanas who didn’t speak a single word this entire time. After several days of resistance and struggle against the nucleus, the youth finally resigned himself to his fate, becoming silent, no longer acting as explosive and irritable as he was in the beginning. He only sat there calmly, quietly looking at Conier, yet this in itself added tremendous pressure to the old man.
When the irregular humanoids erupted in the base, Cirvanas and Ansuna were only children in their teens, while Conier had the appearance of a highly capable middle-aged man. Now that several decades had passed, Conier had already turned into a declining old man. However, even though his true age already exceeded a hundred years, his physical strength and intellect were still preserved at the optimal state of his earlier years. However, Cirvanas didn’t change in the slightest! When he thought back to the experiments that were carried out on Cirvanas’ body back then, as well as the true meaning behind his name as Ruler, Conier felt a deep fear. His new body still had several decades of life remaining, so Conier did not wish to die so early.
After wiping at the sweat on his face several times, Conier finally spread his arms with a bitter smile and said helplessly, “Alright, I will answer all of your questions truthfully. What do you wish to know?”
From Conier’s narration, Su finally understood that Project Frozen Throne was actually a part of an even larger project. This was the project the federation invested the most in, the project of the largest scale, codenamed ‘Apostle’. Project Apostle’s ultimate goal was the research of super life forms. Aside from this, Conier did not know anything. The heart of darkness beating within Su’s thoracic cavity was precisely the core of Project Frozen Throne’s research, as well as a part of Project ‘Apostle’. Conier suspected that there were other projects similar to Frozen Throne in other areas under the federation.
The heart of darkness originated from a super life form that could not be considered human, a part of that life form’s organ. When it was transported to Frozen Throne, it seemed to already be completely dead. However, this was all a facade. Prior to Frozen Throne, researchers had tried to cultivate a small piece that was removed from its surface, however, contrary to its appearance, this fragment that seemed completely devoid of life force, under an environment full of nutrients, suddenly erupted with flourishing vitality. It began to divide and reproduce at speeds several hundred to over a thousand times that of ordinary cells, and just like that, all of the nourishment in that petri dish became its own nutrients, moreover growing from a tiny fragment that could only be seen through a microscope to a fist sized abnormal life form. Immediately afterwards, it rushed out from the petri dish, threw itself at the closest researcher’s body, and bore into his body.
Perhaps in just a few minutes of time, that male would have completely been absorbed and transformed into an uncontrollable vicious abnormal creature. During this moment of crisis, the research director immediately followed the highest crisis level contingency plan, pressing down on the red emergency button. A dozen or so seconds later, all areas the abnormal creature could have access to were sealed off. Then, oxygen and incendiary agents poured into these areas. The extreme temperature flame not only burned down the newly born abnormal creature, it also turned the dozen or so researchers and staff members who couldn’t escape in time into charcoal.
This was the emergency plan Rochester personally worked out. This plan received great skepticism at first, feeling that it was too cruel and decisive, but after seeing the terrifying power the abnormal creature produced from the heart of darkness displayed, all of those who showed doubt towards the emergency plan instead admired the doctor’s great foresight. If they allowed such a terrifying strange creature to escape, no one knew what kind of disaster would break out.
Only because of this accident was there a Project ‘Apostle’, as well as an underground base as large as Frozen Throne. Before finding a method to control Frozen Throne, all steps towards its activation were strictly prohibited. Frozen Throne’s highest level of emergency plan was to blow up the nuclear power generator below the base, using the nuclear explosion to destroy everything in the base.
After endless research, a genius tentative plan was brought up. The heart of darkness was a power source organ of a super life form, similar to a human heart in use. It doesn’t possess intelligence in itself, only developing intelligence in nasty circumstances, as well as evolve towards a complete biological body. This was an instinctive reaction towards its continued survival. As such, from what they currently knew, sooner or later, the heart of darkness would turn into into a new super life form.
This tentative plan was directed especially at the heart of darkness’ special characteristics. If, they were to find it a new host body, it would play out its role as an energy source instead of completing its evolutionary instinct to turn into a complete life form under a vile environment. This was the prison plan.
During ‘prison’ plan’s first few years of formal launch, experimental bodies died by the thousands and tens of thousands on Frozen Throne base’s experimental stages. This sea of lives was turned into a pile of data for ‘prison’. When they received the first complete set of data for ‘prison’, when the federation’s population library was compared, the most suitable candidates to serve as the prison included Ansuna and Cirvanas, Conier’s son and daughter.