“Welcome, Earthlings!” A hoarse voice suddenly came.
“Who is it?”
As Ling Jiu turned around, he saw a black substance hung down from the ceiling. The substance kept wriggling before it formed into a person.
“Ghost!”
Shi Gang screamed, scurrying to hide behind Ling Jiu as if that was the safest place.
“Don’t be afraid, Earthlings!”
This person’s face gradually turned clearer, and his appearance was exactly the same as a human, except that his skin was darker—much darker than the darkest man on Earth. The level of black was quite similar to that of Ling Jiu’s Venom Suit.
A pair of eyes were putting out a strange violet glow that was exceptionally bright.
“Who are you?”
Ling Jiu asked in a low voice. Anyone would have freaked out to see such a strange ‘black person’ in such a strange place.
“Nice to meet you all.”
The ‘black person,’ let out a smile. “Let me introduce myself. I am from the Emissian Civilization, the brain of the exploration spacecraft BES9527. You may call me 9527!”
“The Emissian Civilization?”
“The exploration spacecraft BES9527?”
“The brain?”
That was a lot to swallow.
The three of them were struck dumb.
“In other words, we are now inside a spaceship, and you are the intelligent program of this spaceship. Am I right?” Ling Jiu asked in a low voice.
“Well, you can say that.” 9527 smiled and nodded.
“What is the Emissian civilization?” Ling Jiu asked again.
“A powerful bio-energy civilization. The research on bio-energy has reached its peak, our civilization stays in the forefront of the entire universe.”
9527 smiled. There seemed to be a touch of pride in its mysterious violet eyes. Although it was a program, it was still proud.
Ling Jiu couldn’t help taking a deep breath. Ling Jiu learned about aliens and alien civilizations in the universe from his conversation with the camp head and others.
But hearing it and seeing it are two entirely different experiences.
The Emissian Civilization? A bio-energy civilization at the forefront of the universe?
How powerful was this civilization?
Ling Jiu honestly could not imagine it.
“What is your purpose of capturing us here?”
Shi Gang’s teeth clattered, his voice trembling. “Are you going to perform experiments on us, just like in some sci-fi movies?”
“Fret not, earthlings!”
9527 smiled. “This spacecraft has a scanning function. You all have no secrets in front of me. I don’t need to study you.”
Shi Gang felt a little relieved now. “Then why did you catch us?”
“According to the program setting, a test will be conducted on you all!” 9527 let out a smile. “You will get rewarded handsomely as long as you pass the test.”
“The test?”
“What if we fail?”
Shi Gang asked again. He cared most not about whether he would pass, but whether he could make it out alive.
“You will be obliterated if you fail,” 9527 said.
“O-Obliterated?”
The three of them got chills. Shi Gang was shaking in his boots. “Why are you doing this?”
“It is a program setting,” 9527 said matter-of-factly.
“Let me out. Let me out quickly! I don’t want to take the test!” Shi Gang yelled. “I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die here!”
“Those who do not take the test will be regarded as a failure and will be obliterated!”
As two rays of violet light flashed in 9527’s eyes, black tentacles sprang out of the ground and turned into bolts of lightning, striking at the three of them.
The tentacles moved so fast that it caught the three unawares. Before they knew it, they had been bound up like dumplings.
Ling Jiu wanted to escape into the dimension, but it shocked him to find that he could not use his Dimensional Arcana or his other Arcanas.
“You’ve failed the test. You will be obliterated!”
9527 smiled and repeated the sentence. Ling Jiu felt the black tentacles that were wrapped around him slowly tighten as if they were about to strangle him alive.
“What test is it? We will take the test!” Ling Jiu quickly said.
Not that they had any choice when things had come to such a pass. They had lost the right to choose the moment they entered this place.
There might be still a glimmer of hope if they took the test. Otherwise, death was certain.
There was no other way around it.
“Smart choice!”
9527 nodded. It did not seem to have done anything, but the floor under their feet suddenly squirmed, and three large holes opened and swallowed them up.
By the time Ling Jiu knew what happened, he found himself falling into a dark cabin.
The cabin was small, slightly over 20 square meters with the walls made of the same material of the Venom Suit.
Square and empty, the cabin looked exactly like a prison cell.
Besides, as the hole opening above him closed back up, the small cabin instantly turned into an enclosed cell. There was no way out of it.
At the same time, Shi Gang and Dylon had also fallen into a similar cabin.
“Shi Gang, Delong, can you hear me?” Ling Jiu called out aloud.
There was no reply.
Not a single reply.
“Damn it. We are separated!”
Ling Jiu cursed. He tried to hack walls, but it was useless. These walls were indestructible, and hacking would not make a dent in them.
“What should I do now?”
Ling Jiu became anxious. There was no way out, and that meant he was a prisoner now, and his fate was in the hands of that thing.
Ling Jiu thought of what 9527 said. He could get out if he passed the test. The question was, what test was it?
9527 spoke again at this moment. “Hello, Ling Jiu!”
“What is the content of the test?” Ling Jiu asked.
“Let me introduce: This is the primary training room of the Emissian Civilization. It can help cultivators to find the source of dark bio-energy!
“By the way, in your language, dark bio-energy can be called Gene Arcana.”
9527 continued. “This primary training room is completely isolated from the outside world. While a cultivator here can’t absorb any dark bio-energy, the training room will continue to draw dark bio-energy from the cultivator.
“Unless the cultivator can find the source of the dark bio-energy and draw dark bio-energy from it, the cultivator’s dark bio-energy will be drained completely and the cultivator will eventually die.”
“You will stay in this primary training room for the next five days.”
“There will be no food and water. You are to find the source of the dark bio-energy while the dark bio-energy leaves your body little by little.”
“I will die if I can’t find it?” Ling Jiu asked.
“Yes, you will die.”
“Of course, if you can find the source of the dark bio-energy before that, then congratulations, you pass the test and there will be a handsome reward that you could never imagine awaits you.”
“Alive or dead. Obliterated or rewarded. It all depends on your efforts.”
“Ling Jiu, given that the dark bio-energy in your body far exceeds that of the ordinary people, the primary training room will draw the dark bio-energy much faster than it does to others!”
“So good luck. And remember, the dark bio-energy comes from the void.”