Ren Yi repeatedly scrutinized the fragmented file within his perception.
Although the file was heavily redacted, the sense of oppression radiating from between the lines was lingering.
Who exactly would have dared to strike at the heart of the Sky Eye Organization during its absolute peak?
Ren Yi had already conducted a preliminary logical deduction regarding the geopolitics of this world.
The collapse event involving several S-rank Anomalies back then was of such a scale that every power structure in the world would have caught wind of it.
Though the Sky Eye Organization had forcibly secured S-099 through ruthless means, containment was not the same as a monopoly.
The ancient proverb about a man's treasure becoming his curse held true in this world as well.
"Was it the 'People of the Abyss' from across the mountains, who possess a large number of Anomalies, or the 'Tide-Followers' from the downstream plains, organized by tribes?"
Ren Yi chewed on those names.
Regardless of the truth, the Sky Eye Organization had indeed lost a portion of S-099 during that chaos in 2003. That fragment, known as the "Stomach of Glat," had been lost to the Wilderness ever since.
What Ren Yi found most jarring were the five missing years.
From its escape in 2003 to its first sighting in 2008, for five whole years, the "Stomach of Glat" had seemingly vanished into thin air. There were no records of any sightings.
Was it lying dormant, or was it undergoing a deeper evolution under the cover of some other power?
And today, Dr. Cyril was risking a direct approach to the Red Tide riverbed with this steel behemoth. She clearly wasn't going there just to reminisce.
Being able to drive such a massive steel behemoth meant this action must have been authorized by the higher-ups of the Sky Eye Organization.
However, Dr. Cyril also seemed to be hiding something from those very superiors.
Hiss... my head hurts.
"The file ends here. For what comes next... I'll have to see for myself."
Ren Yi's consciousness sank slightly.
He could still clearly sense the part of his body that had been "bitten off," as well as the Seed he had planted within Evans.
Strangely, they were extremely stable at the moment—perhaps even a bit too quiet, as if they were "shackled" in place by some specific frequency.
Ren Yi controlled that thread of perception, extending it downward through layers of decks. His vision shifted from cold white lights to a viscous, pitch-black darkness.
He descended upon that black "sea surface."
Having gorged itself, S-099 was now in a state of extreme tranquility.
The originally violent flesh had regressed back into a thick liquid.
With the tremors of the land ship's movement, the black waves slapped against the chamber walls rhythmically, making a splashing sound.
In this deathly silent lower deck, the sound actually carried a rhythm like a twisted lullaby.
Ren Yi could not sense Evans's vital signs. Logically, the boy's physical body should have been ground into fragments.
Yet, strangely, the Seed was still pulsing within his sensory map.
It hadn't disappeared; instead, it was moving with the rise and fall of the black tide.
"The Seed... moved onto S-099?"
Ren Yi's heart suddenly tightened.
Of course, he didn't have a heart, so this was likely just phantom limb pain.
There were only two explanations for this phenomenon:
Either Evans had somehow "parasitized" himself inside S-099;
Or, the boy had been a shell projected by the "Stomach of Glat" from the very beginning, and he had simply returned to his True Form.
"Evans... you really are a handful."
As for the part of his own body that had been swallowed, Ren Yi could feel that it still existed.
It was just encased in a chaotic power, making it impossible to pin down its exact location.
What annoyed him most was that the faint sense of "joy" coming from it still hadn't faded.
"What kind of 'joy' is this? Do you actually think it's comfortable living inside this monster's stomach?"
It was a pity. He had originally wanted to see what would happen if S-099 tried to "digest" his body.
If it really dared to try, he might not even have had to lift a finger.
Now, it seemed the monster intended to protect his body as some sort of special "collectible."
After scanning the lower deck and confirming there would be no more changes in the short term, Ren Yi withdrew his consciousness.
Ten days left.
No matter what, something was bound to happen in ten days.
It was time for him to do some preparations as well.
At this very moment, in a corner of the land ship, inside a medical room under heavy surveillance.
The fingertip of the guard B-050, who was lying on the bed, suddenly twitched slightly.
...
The land ship came to a halt on a desolate stone beach, its massive mechanical treads leaving deep furrows in the ground.
This place was only a step away from the Red Tide riverbed. To avoid conflict with the upcoming large-scale tribal migration, the Doctor had ordered a temporary halt.
By now, seven whole days had passed since that soul-stirring experiment.
Inside a medical cubicle of the base, the delivery guy B-406 was sitting on a metal chair, clutching the briefcase he never let go of.
His newly installed mechanical eye flickered with a slightly stiff red light as he stared intently at the guard on the bed.
Guard B-050 was awake. Not only was he awake, but he could even get out of bed and move around.
"You're saying all your senses are back?" B-406 asked in a low voice.
"Every single one." B-050 sat on the edge of the bed, flexing his somewhat stiff fingers.
Seven days ago, the "perception" that had been forcibly snatched away by B-013-A seemed to have returned to its place without warning at a certain moment.
After various multidimensional experimental verifications by the medical team, his reaction speed and sensory sensitivity were even slightly higher than they had been before the injury.
A medical staff member nearby chimed in while recording data on a handheld tablet.
"Our initial guess was that B-013-A's ability had some sort of temporal nature, like local anesthesia."
"Once the time is up, the effect naturally fades."
B-406 shook his head, his voice very low and carrying a trace of lingering fear. "Perhaps."
"But at that time, B-013-A had just had 'intimate contact' with S-099 below."
"When I captured it, I could feel its state was off. Maybe it was too shaken, or perhaps it took some damage, causing it to stop the influence on its own."
The medical staff member shrugged, pasted the final check-up results on the head of the bed, and tactfully walked away, leaving space for these two "staff members" of the B-rank sequence to talk privately.
The two of them seemed unexpectedly familiar with each other.
"When can I return to my post?" B-050 looked up at B-406. "I'm going crazy staying in this isolation room."
"Since you've kept your life, just rest for now," B-406 said flatly.
"The base hasn't been peaceful these past few days. The Doctor's temper is getting weirder and weirder. Returning to duty now might not be a good thing."
B-050 was silent for a moment before suddenly asking, "By the way, about B-013-A's data... have you guys confirmed it?"
"I remember that day, that kid from the Red Ring Tribe went in for the test before I did. How did his reaction differ from mine?"
At the mention of Evans, B-406's mechanical eye zoomed in and out rapidly.
He hesitated for several seconds, the image of that shadow being instantly torn apart by the wave of flesh flashing through his mind. Finally, he spoke vaguely:
"He wasn't as lucky as you. He was eaten by S-099. Not even a bone fragment was left."
The air in the room seemed to drop several degrees instantly.
B-050 opened his mouth, but all the further details he had wanted to ask were stuffed back into his throat by that excessively bloody conclusion.
"Dying now... that's also fine."
He stopped asking and simply stared blankly at the snow-white wall.
"Get some rest."
B-406 patted him on the shoulder, picked up his heavy case, and turned to walk out of the medical room.
The moment he stepped out of the door, B-406 paused in the long corridor.
He subconsciously touched his chest.
There, a gray seed he could neither detect nor dispel was pulsing along with his breath.
And behind him, within the heavily isolated containment area, Ren Yi's consciousness was calmly watching this steel island through his prosthetic eye.
...
Rate on N.U.
