Book 6 Chapter 4.1 - Consciousness
May 11th, this was an extremely ordinary day in history, but for Dr. Connor and his research base, it was definitely a fate deciding day. The entire research base was busy working from early morning, while over a hundred cleaning staff members had already been adding overtime from a week ago, cleaning every corner of the hundred thousand square meter enormous research base until there wasn't a speck of dust to be seen.
On the morning of the 11th, Dr. Connor wore his favorite formal attire. This suit was made by a great master known for his tailoring and handwork. The shining gold pocket handkerchief added a bit of color to the doctor, making him look as if he became seven or eight years younger.
When the glimmers of dawn appeared, it was the coldest time of day. Connor, who wasn't all that strongly built, stood a kilometer out from the research institute's main entrance, his body straight like a solitary tree on a snowy cliff, facing the cold winds without moving an inch. Those who understood Dr. Connor all admired him greatly. It was because they understood well that with the doctor's frail body, standing for so long in the cold winds, as well as bathing in such powerful radiation without collapsing mentally truly wasn't easy. Meanwhile, the most difficult part was that no one knew just how long he was going to wait for. Connor was already gambling with his life.
Just as Dr. Connor's face was frozen until an abnormal flush of redness appeared, surging dust finally appeared from the horizon, a vehicle fleet speeding over. The two armed off-road vehicles at the front separated, resting respectively at Dr. Connor's left and right. A dark black limousine slowly came to a stop before Dr. Connor. When the vehicle was opened, the door perfectly lined up with the end of the red carpet. This long scarlet carpet stretched out an entire kilometer from the research institute's main entrance! Meanwhile, Dr. Connor stood precisely outside of this carpet.
The chairman who was wrapped in a thick overcoat, the one who held the greatest authority in the Blood Parliament, walked out from the limousine and stood at the other end of the carpet. He narrowed his eyes that were swelling a bit from his age and the recent burden of events, staring at the long red road before him, suddenly feeling like this carpet was completely formed from the dye of human blood. His hair was a bit thinly spread, several near white hairs flying about in the wind. The skin on his hands was already loose, and several senile plaques could be seen. Bevulas didn't have any excessive decorations on his body. Only his right ring finger and little finger each carried a large jadeite ring, these rings rather eye-grabbing. Those were two extremely pure gemstones, yet their depths couldn't be seen from a single glance.
Bevulas' hands moved together, using his fingers to fiddle with the jadeite rings. Only after looking at the research institute for a while did he look towards Dr. Connor and say with a smile, "Could tell you were quite diligent."
Just this slight delay already made Dr. Connor perspire profusely. He finally managed to receive Bevulas' praise, yet for some unknown reason, Connor just couldn't feel happy. When the last armed off-road vehicle stopped next to Bevulas' car, the one who came out was still the somewhat innocent Haydn. He was like a naive big child, yet those by Bevulas' side all treated him respectfully. When Haydn's golden pupils landed on Dr. Connor's body, the doctor felt as if he had been locked onto by a scorpion, his body couldn't help but tremble.
During this time of war, Bevulas' bodyguards were pitifully few, even his chauffeurs less than twenty individuals. However, as long as Haydn was here, it would make everyone feel a sense of safety. Dr. Connor hadn't really seen Haydn take action, from time to time, he found this a bit difficult to understand. Fearing Eileen was understandable, but why would there be such great fear for this child who hadn't even grown up yet?
Bevulas already turned around and began to walk towards the research institute. Dr. Connor promptly followed, while Haydn followed at the end of the procession, perfectly capturing everyone in his line of sight.
Half an hour later, Bevulas sat in the only seat inside the presentation hall, calmly waiting for Connor's presentation. Haydn stood behind Bevulas with his hands clasped behind his back, a pair of slightly curved eyes sweeping over the busy researchers, a bizarre, viper-like smile hanging from his lips.
A robust man walked into the presentation hall, displayed a deep act of courtesy towards Bevulas, and then propped up an extremely large, strangely shaped rifle on his shoulder, aiming it at the other end of the hall. Several robust men carried a heavy target inside, placing it next to the wall. This was a heavy target made of alloy steel, its thickness reaching thirty centimeters. In terms of defensive strength, it was equivalent to an olden era 120 centimeter thick homogeneous steel plate. The robust man that held the gun assumed a half-knelt stance, and then he undid the safety. A light blue radiance immediately flowed through the gun, this weapon seemingly equipped with electromagnetic power installations. After aiming at the center of the target, the robust male released a groan, and then all of the muscles in his body surged, his body instantly expanding by a third of his original size. From those muscles that were as steady as a mountain and sturdy like steel, it was clear that he had five levels of power and at least six levels of defense.
A question emerged in many people's minds. To have this clearly Combat Domain ability user operate a powerful sniper rifle, what exactly was Dr. Connor trying to do? Everyone knew that a powerful new era sniper rifle needed a set amount of weapon control ability before it could be effectively used. Meanwhile, there was no lack of weapon specialists, able to see with a single glance that this gun, for the sake of increasing power, sacrificed many other functions, moreover the production costs bound to be expensive.
When the robust man's abilities were activated to their peak, he firmly pressed down on the trigger! Within chi chi sounds, the powerful rifle's air vents released several streaks of blazing exhaust, and then with an enormous bang sound, the sniper rifle fiercely recoiled backwards, unexpectedly forcing the robust male with six levels of defense to continuously take steps backwards before stabilizing himself. Each time he took a step back, there would be a deep footprint left in the ground, his face red like it was going to drip out blood. When he finally stood firm with great difficulty, several bone fracturing sounds could be heard from within his body!
A wave of surging heat struck everyone head on, blowing everyone until their clothes fluttered about. Those with lower levels of ability were shaken up by the gunshot sound until their bodies rocked back and forth, their faces revealing expressions of pain.
The gunshot sound was tremendous, the recoil force leaving even the robust male with six levels of defense injured, the power naturally great. A half meter sized cavity appeared at the center of the steel target, the edges already completely melted. The steel target that was comparable to a battleship's armor was actually blasted through! Moreover, the entire target completely warped and deformed, deeply embedding itself into the wall that was similarly protected under armor plating. This was enough power to deal an effective blow against someone with nine levels of defense ability. Only after seeing this terrifying attack did Bevulas slightly nod his head.