NOVEL WEB Chapter 235
Chapter 235: Two Ends of the Scale 16
Once again回到了桐林市, 隗辛 was accompanied by 于寒雪.
Since the work units of her aunt and uncle were not in the provincial capital but only went there to treat her illness, they had to go back and forth between two cities, which was very troublesome. They couldn’t afford to lose their jobs.
隗辛 used the Hypnotic Sound ability to erase the memories of hospital staff, making them believe that于寒雪 was discharged through regular procedures. This way, she could move around freely. Upon returning to桐林市, 隗辛 immediately sought out her aunt and uncle again and used the Hypnotic Sound on them as well. According to what 于寒雪 wanted, it would be most secure if her family members knew nothing about it.
Since she had no place to stay, she temporarily stayed at隗辛’s house.
“The house still looks the same as before,” said 于寒雪.
“Yes, everything here is old now, I can’t bear to throw anything away,” 隗辛 found new clothes for 于寒雪 and said, “Put these on after you shower; the pants might be long…”
“Alright.” Having changed into casual wear last night, 于寒雪 washed up and dressed in 隗辛’s clothes, finally appearing like a vibrant young person.
Looking in the mirror, 于寒雪 exclaimed in surprise, “I didn’t remember you wore this style of clothing before. You always wore athletic and casual styles. These new clothes are quite… ladylike? I like the heart pattern on this short-sleeve shirt.”
“Changing up styles isn’t a bad idea. It’s always better to be careful. I initially bought these for university, but with my leave of absence, it’s not necessary to maintain a different style,” said 隗辛. “When I work on serious business, I’ll stick to wearing casual outfits.”
“Do have a point. I should probably start acting more carefully too.” Reflecting a moment, she continued, “In the Second World, I rarely interact with people outside. The secret research institute is managed in a closed manner. I’ve seldom had contact with colleagues. Each of us was assigned to a specific region and would only leave our area when absolutely necessary.”
“Were you aware of the risks involved when trading with Augus? It won’t be easy to help him sneak into the research institution,” said 隗辛.
“Auggus entering the research facility intends to kill experimental subjects to acquire their abilities. My plan is to escape during the chaos,” 于寒雪 said with concern. “I can’t stay there forever. Once my ability improves enough, from A level to perhaps even a top-notch A level, I’ll be able to escape.”
“Don’t the experimental subjects in the research institute provide enough experience for you to reach S rank?” asked 隗辛.
“Reaching S rank is indeed difficult… All the experimental subjects I encounter are mostly E rank,” explained 于寒雪 seriously. “There’s an invisible bar on the Game System that shows accumulated experience points. Harvesting the same low-grade abilities results in diminishing returns, yet progressing to higher ranks requires enormous amounts of experience points. At my stage, killing experimental subjects yields negligible improvements. To achieve significant progress in the future, I will need to harvest higher-ranked subjects.”
隗辛 had also become aware of the depletion in experience points.
Most likely, the S rank ability showcased by Augus last night was his initial acquisition, “Material Reorganization.” How many lives did he take to advance to S rank?
“Can you tell me more about the secret research institution’s projects? This seems like deep waters,” said 隗辛. “Considering the secret research institution was built by the Federation, what does the Federation intend to research here?”
“There are various study projects within the secret research institution; it’s underground, with different zones,” explained 于寒雪. “The researchers inside the institution are ranked, and I am toward the lower end with limited rights, mainly handling miscellaneous tasks without conducting research. The project I’m part of focuses on Extraordinary Abilities related to time. Beyond ‘Wheel of Time,’ they collect other time-related abilities like time freezing, time barriers, and others. I oversee the sub-project of ‘Wheel of Time’… This secret research facility is vast and complex.”
“Besides time-related abilities, what else do they research?” asked 隗辛.
“A broad spectrum of things—space, mental categories. These are among their major focus areas. The rarer the category, the greater their investment. However, I know little about other research projects,” commented 于寒雪. “Xin Xin, guess why the Federation has gathered so many special Extraordinary Abilities.”
Reflecting, 隗辛 replied, “The Federation hasn’t concealed the existence of Awakeneds from ordinary people. Awakeneds often receive benefits, and those who awaken gain higher citizen grades. With the large population in the Federation’s Second World, locating special abilities shouldn’t be surprising.”
“Yes, but not entirely. Awakening might lead to either great opportunities or despair.” A dark look appeared on 于寒雪’s face.
“I understand your meaning—the Federation may train them or capture them for human experiment purposes.”
点头点头。
于寒雪 nodded, “Awakening isn’t necessarily positive, it could become a curse.”
How should one respond… 隗辛 felt slightly unsurprised to learn this explosive news.
Given how rotten the Second World had become—a total mess—隗辛 held no hope for that world, and she found any behavior by those in power not surprising.
“I’ve long despised the Federation’s actions against players,” said 隗辛 sarcastically. “But thinking about it, I now understand why they do it—they’re treating even their own poorly. For us, caught players, it makes sense.”
严控高压，剥夺自由，命不由己，这些丑态尽显无遗。
“I made a guess due to my prolonged exposure to time-related projects,” said 于寒雪.
“What might it be?”
“If you possess wealth, status, even supreme force… what else could you want?”
隗辛 thought, then answered, “Immortality!”
“With money and power, the goal is naturally to secure them. But human life is finite, making immortality unrealistic.”
Unless one obtained eternal life…
The answer was so obvious it made 隗辛 laugh quietly.
统治者的心思难以捉摸却又显而易见，毕竟他们关注的只有少数几个方面；即使掌管大多数财富，人的贪欲却无止境，始终想要更多。
Immortality—clichéd yet timeless. Many have strived for it throughout history. But this cliché remains timeless because humans have never attained it.
What existence could achieve it?
Only deities.
碎片的情报拼凑起来，隗辛恍然大悟。
“Why does the Investigation Bureau research Xenomorphs? Why protect a cargo ship? Why pursue Divine Blood and the concept of ‘God’? They’re doing all this, yet their ultimate objective remains consistent—immortality.”
As for Eve…
“What did Eve do with the Mechanized Dawn squad regarding the Kraken? She must hate humans to prevent the Federation leaders from obtaining the divine cocoon and its mystery.”
She gave two choices for the task—to detour in another city or to sink the ship. This suggests sinking the ship wasn’t her first option. She was tempted by the cocoon but controlled her desire. Unlike the Federation, which may sacrifice lives to achieve it.
Keeping the cocoon off Hei Hai City made sense—it was once their headquarters. The cocoon’s awakening would attract Xenomorphs.
If the cocoon had awoken in Hei Hai City, would Xenomorphs flood inland like a tide?
To avoid this, Eve moved the cocoon elsewhere… Unfortunately, it failed and sank the ship. Neither side benefited.
“Xin Xin… What’s on your mind?”
“Thinking about past events,” 隗辛 muttered.
After her reminder, 隗辛 finally understood some things clearly, just somewhat belatedly. This matter had little bearing on her anymore.
于寒雪 observed 隗辛’s expression and assured her, “The Federation is a massive structure that’s hard to change. Stop worrying for now. Our path is long.”
“No, actually it’s not long,” 隗辛 shook her head. “The world changes too quickly, we have no time to adapt. Augus is in Tonglin City; we need to find and remove him.”
“I can track him. It’s four in the afternoon, and we have eight hours left until shifting time.”
“Each shift brings significant changes,” said 于寒雪. “I wonder what the tobacco factory will be like next week.”
“We should expect something from Augus. He’s waiting till midnight. Outside the old industrial area, he likely plans something for the Dark Realm in the tobacco factory.”