Chapter 163 - 162: The Quality of the Clone

Chapter 163: Chapter 162: The Quality of the Clone

More and more Hunters stepped forward.

The remaining Hunters also said that once they finished clearing the Pollution Bodies in Zone A, they would head to Zone B and Zone C to help with the search.

Feng Ling mused to herself, ’Ye Zheng’s reputation among the Hunters is truly incredible.’

There was a reason for this.

Before the Alien Species Safety Inspection Bureau was established, the Exotic Species Research Institute had already been founded.

The purpose of this research institution, besides studying Alien Species and Cards, was to serve a more direct function: to supply talent to the Inspection Bureau.

Although it’s common knowledge now that obtaining a Card is equivalent to gaining a superpower, back then, everything was an unknown. No one knew what side effects absorbing a Card would produce, how to treat any problems that arose, or even if humans who used Cards could still be considered human in the conventional sense.

Theory was one thing, but practice was another.

Live subject testing was unavoidable.

The first group of test subjects were elites selected from the military—ten men and ten women. They all signed agreements to participate in the experiment voluntarily, completely surrendering the rights to their bodies to the Research Institute.

At the time, to encourage this spirit of sacrifice and dedication, the names and photographs of all participants were publicly promoted in a heroic fashion.

In the end, of these twenty people, four died from uncontrolled Pollution Values, and the remaining sixteen became the nation’s first Inspectors.

The Research Institute also obtained a massive amount of valuable data from the experiments and achieved preliminary results.

For example, the human tolerance for Pollution Value is around 22%.

And for another example, a Card’s properties could have a subtle, transformative influence on an individual’s personality.

These research findings laid a solid foundation for the future development of the Inspection Bureau.

Later on, Ye Zheng began appearing frequently in news reports. Her military achievements were illustrious, and she quickly became a household name.

Of course, part of this was due to the propaganda department intentionally shaping her into the image of a "hero fighting Alien Species" to reassure the public, but Ye Zheng herself was genuinely exceptional.

Speaking of which, it was hard to say that Pei Xianjue’s determination to become an Inspector wasn’t influenced by Ye Zheng.

The Hunters who had entered Zone A split into two groups.

One group stayed behind to continue clearing out Pollution Bodies, while the other followed Xu Yiming, Su Yuqing, and the others toward Zone B.

The forest was enormous. They walked for several hours before they finally reached the edge of Zone A.

Next, they needed to cross through Zone D to enter Zone B. Even without taking any detours, the straight-line distance was about six kilometers on foot.

The good news was that Zone D was an area Ye Zheng had cleared out. There was no Maze here, no wind or snow, and the temperature was relatively normal. Only a few contaminated wild animals remained.

Feng Ling stopped and looked back at the team, which had gone from a tight-knit group to a scattered line.

Huangfu Miaomiao had originally been walking beside her, but the child had short legs and poor stamina, so she was now trailing at the very back of the group.

Su Yuqing had also fallen behind. His face was flushed, and he didn’t look to be in good condition.

Feng Ling turned and walked toward the rear of the group. As she passed Xu Yiming, she said, "Rest here for fifteen minutes."

"Huh?" Xu Yiming was taken aback for a moment, then nodded quickly. "...Oh, okay."

The Hunters were all exhausted. The cold had accelerated their energy drain, and by the time they walked out of the forest, everyone’s legs were practically numb. They only started to regain feeling after reaching Zone D.

Now, hearing Feng Ling say they could rest, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Feng Ling walked over to Su Yuqing and looked him up and down. "How are you? Don’t push yourself if you’re not feeling well."

Su Yuqing felt dizzy and groggy.

He sat down on the spot, catching his breath, and said in a low voice, "I’m fine. It’s probably because this double’s constitution is weaker. I caught a cold from the freezing weather, but it’s not fatal."

"A cold might not be fatal, but it’s not something that goes away instantly, either." Feng Ling sighed as she looked at his weakened state. She turned her head to find Huangfu Miaomiao. "Little Skeleton, give Captain Su a shot."

Hearing this, Su Yuqing gave a wry smile. "Feng Ling, really, there’s no need. My doubles are weaker than a normal body in every respect, including a poorer ability to absorb medicine. Don’t waste the supplies."

"Even a little relief is better than nothing. We still have several kilometers to go," Feng Ling said helplessly.

Su Yuqing fell silent for a moment, then stopped refusing. He rolled up his sleeve to expose his arm, letting Huangfu Miaomiao give him the injection.

The medicine was a type commonly used on Alien Species and usually took effect quickly. However, after Su Yuqing was injected, his face remained flushed. Just as he’d said, his body’s absorption was very poor.

Su Yuqing explained in a weak voice, "My best state is with three doubles. Once the number of doubles exceeds three, their constitution drops off a cliff. But don’t worry about me. Even if this body dies, it’s fine. It won’t affect my main self."

"If you can stay alive, then stay alive. How are you going to find Ye Zheng if you’re dead? Just going to split off another sickly body?" Feng Ling teased him, then held out a hand. "Let me see your phone."

Su Yuqing paused. "What do you want to see?"

Even as he asked, his hand was already passing the phone over unconsciously.

"I want to see your chat history with her. Is that okay?" Feng Ling took the phone and found it was already open to the chat list. Ye Zheng’s chat was pinned to the top, visible at a glance.

Su Yuqing: "..."

’Is that okay? You’re already looking at it, what’s the point of asking...’

Feng Ling stared at the screen without speaking.

Su Yuqing couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. He said awkwardly, "She stopped talking to me after sending that ’Squirrel’ message. The next few messages are all random and make no sense. I suspect she sent them by accident."

Feng Ling handed the phone back to Su Yuqing. "You’re right, it doesn’t make any sense."

After a pause, she said, "You get some rest. I’m going to check if anyone else has caught a cold from the freezing weather."

Feng Ling turned and walked away.

She slowly walked to the front of the group, where Li Qing immediately spoke to her upon her return. "There’s no Maze in Zone D, and we can get a cell signal here. I just looked up some information on Slavic Mythology. It turns out there really is a creature called a Night Spirit. It’s tall and slender, as thin as a twig, often appears during the cold seasons, and even warms its hands in chimneys. We can use this to figure out what the other monsters in the Maze are like and prepare for battle in advance."

Feng Ling listened distractedly.

Li Qing called out to her, confused. "Feng Ling? What’s wrong?"

Feng Ling snapped back to reality and asked him in a low voice, "Daoist, if someone... becomes a Pollution Body, is there absolutely no way for them to recover?"

Li Qing’s expression grew serious. He answered with absolute certainty, "Correct. To become a Pollution Body means to have already transformed into another kind of being. It’s like a fish in the water evolving legs to crawl onto land—it can never go back to being a fish in the water."

Feng Ling fell silent at his words.

’I think I know why the news has been covering up what happened to Ye Zheng...’

’The glory that Ye Zheng represents cannot accept her becoming a Pollution Body.’

’It can only accept death.’

’Su Yuqing’s search for Ye Zheng’s whereabouts is just a preliminary step before the official announcement of her death.’