Every Party Ace member was struck dumb by the news.
They felt like a giant club had come cras.h.i.+ng down from the sky and hit them on the back of the head!
Or like a new recruit that had just joined the battlefield but was instantly stabbed with a b.l.o.o.d.y bayonet!
They were not prepared for this this. They did not expect this.
More importantly, the little bit of morale they had recovered with difficulty after their loss in the previous world was destroyed again! They had picked themselves up only to be struck back down to the ground. Even Zi and Reef, who were usually strong-willed, showed signs of defeat.
The only one who was not disheartened was Sheyan, not because he had a strong heart or was exceedingly calm, but because he's extremely furious right now! His face looked like it was on fire. The muscles on his face twitched in anger.
Why? Because of Sanzi!
His little brother had just started following him in the nightmare realm, full of expectations, and within a minute of accepting the main mission in a nightmare world, they had already failed the mission and would face a 20% penalty in all base attributes. It was more than an embarra.s.sment. It was an utter disgrace to his status as a big brother.
The scenery along the road became blurry lines due to the speed of the bike. The wind roared into Sheyan's ears. The nearest strand of black smoke came from a common Californian hotel in front. The bottom floor of the hotel was a parking lot. After the customers parked their car, they could just swipe their credit cards and go straight to their room upstairs to rest. The whole process was very convenient.
In Sheyan's vision, there were originally two red dots representing the two important characters. The red dot representing Reese had completely disappeared; he had apparently turned into a cold corpse by now. Sarah Connor's red dot, though still present, was very weak, like a candle in the wind that could go out at any moment.
Next, like a chain reaction, a series of notifications was sent to him.
[ Warning: The missions related to the heroine, Sarah Connor, will be deleted due to her death…. ]
[ Warning: The subsequent development of the world will be dramatically altered due to the death of the heroine, Sarah Connor…. ]
[ Warning: The heroine, Sarah Connor is dead and will no longer appear in the records of all the contestants experiencing this world in the future. ]
Sheyan instantly discovered something strange.
He did not get any notification about his mission failure!
By rights, since the male and female protagonists were both dead, his main mission should have failed immediately.
What's happening?
Sheyan glanced at the mission hint of the main mission – make sure that history is not substantially rewritten – and a strange idea suddenly flashed in his mind.
'Could there be a sliver of hope still? That's it, I know why! I know the reason! Although it's dangerous and outrageous, but there's still a sliver of hope for this mission. That mastermind behind the scenes could never have imagined that there's a loophole due to timing!'
'It's difficult for other people to exploit this loophole, but it's possible for me! It's f.u.c.king possible for me!'
A cold glint flashed in Sheyan's narrowed eyes once he saw the light. He quickly made an enquiry, then revved his bike's speed to the limit and accelerated forward. He lifted the front of the bike and drove up a car in front at high speed. Using the car as a stepping stone, he smashed the bike through the window of a room into the second floor of the hotel.
At the same time, Sheyan also issued some orders quickly and orderly in the party communication channel.
“Sanzi, I need you to go to this address and find someone. He's just an ordinary person, so do whatever you have to do to make him obey you…. ”
“Reef, come here quickly and join me.”
“Mogensha, I'm breaking in. Get ready to cover me. There should be a T-800 and a lot of contestants inside. We may have some allies among them.”
When the huge Harley motorcycle crashed into the second floor at a high speed, the thick front wheel of the motorcycle kissed the T-800's face. The sungla.s.ses it was wearing instantly broke into pieces.
Under such a violent impact, even the heavy robot from the future was forced to stagger back. It's back crashed into a wall, which collapsed like a fragile wooden part.i.tion.
Sheyan had a clear view of the situation in the room. Although the whole place was in a mess, it could still be clearly seen that the enemies had simultaneously launched a fierce attack from both the room on the left and right side. The situation was akin to a move in wushu which striked the opponent's ears with both fists. The defender could not defend against it.
Sarah Connor lay on the ground with a frightened look on her face. No traces of blood could be seen on her body. Her corpse was completely intact because she suffered only one fatal attack.
A very brutal attack.
Her neck was twisted by roughly 270 degrees. Her face, which was supposed to face forward, was now facing diagonally backwards….
What exactly was this strong, heroic woman thinking of before she died?
Seeing the crime scene where Sarah Connor died, Sheyan confirmed that his judgement was correct! With a hard push of his feet, the Harley's exhaust pipe sprayed out thick black smoke once again. He crashed the bike into the T-800 while he himself landed smoothly on the floor with a somersault.
When ordinary people, and even contestants, took a high-speed rotating tire to their face, it was difficult to make any effectively responses besides the most basic self-protection measures.
But that was not so for the T-800. Although its jaw was in a terrible mess of flesh, blood and metal, it still forcefully jammed its right hand into the rotating wheel!
The artificial skin on the T-800's right hand was thoroughly churned to pieces, but the Harley motorcycle's front-wheel steel axles were also damaged beyond recognition. The powerful Terminator gave the motorcycle another punch, and then tore it apart. The motorcycle fell into a semi-disintegrated state.
Fortunately, a nearby contestant took the chance to fire a hot bullet into the fuel tank of the Harley. The expensive and eye-catching toy exploded violently, wrapping the T-800 in a huge fireball. That contestant should be a protector of Sarah Connor too.
Sheyan did not remain idle after jumping down from the bike. After a heavy landing, the muscles in his legs and abdomen tensed to the limit, and he burst out like a cheetah towards Sarah Connor's body.
He acted just in time, because within a second of his landing, a few silent hisses could be heard.
That's the sound made by a pistol with a m.u.f.fler.
Seven bullets were let fly and accurately pierced into flesh. If the special-made steel-core bulletheads had hit ordinary people, they would have churned the skin, muscles, and internal organs into a pulp. From the outside, the wounds would only look like small bullet holes, but the inside would look like conical holes the size of towel gourds!
Unfortunately, the one those seven bullets. .h.i.t was Sheyan. His strong physical defence caused the bullets to burst ahead of time, making a few b.l.o.o.d.y holes on Sheyan's back. Sheyan didn't even feel anything. He picked up Sarah Connor's body and was prepared to run away.
But just then, there was a loud crash from the ceiling, and a T-800 fell down from above to block Sheyan's way. It launched a punch without saying a word.
Sheyan took half a step back. Grabbing Sarah Connor's body with his left hand, he blocked with his right.
Against the T-800's force, Sheyan had to block with all his strength. His s.h.i.+rt was stretched taut by his tense muscles and the b.u.t.tons on it burst away angrily, exposing the bulging veins and steel-like muscles inside!
“AAARRGH!!!!” Sheyan's eyes turned bloodshot as he growled with all his might. The nightmare imprint on his chest shone brightly and the pattern of a fist interlaced with a s.h.i.+eld emerged. That shocked all the contestants on scene.
A Growth Hunter was nothing to be surprised at, but this was the first time any of them had seen a dual-attribute Growth Hunter! Some of them instantly realised that it might be bad news to get mixed up in a fight of such a high level!
However, the T-800 in front of Sheyan was a very simple war machine which had no concept of a Growth Hunter or a dual-attribute breakthrough. Its power may be inferior to Sheyan, but its fierce will to fight made the notion of defeating him in a short amount of time unrealistic.
But in the next second, a light flashed outside the window.
Following that, a violent explosion damaged the neck of the T-800 fighting with Sheyan!
Chapter 977: A Plan to Strike BackThe robot's head hung at a weird angle as it staggered back from the strong impact, then lost its balance. Dazzling bluish-white electrical currents sprayed out from its facial orifices.
But the tremendous force of the impact was not exhausted yet. It pushed the T-800 along the ground for more than a dozen rolls before sending it cras.h.i.+ng into the next room in a storm of dust and smoke. Based on the loud rattling noises it made, there was probably no furniture left intact in that room.
Sheyan was not fighting alone!
Brother Black was right behind him. When he saw Sheyan had his way blocked by the T-800, he did not hesitate to bust out the new killer move he just obtained — the pulse shot from the MIB world! The power was amazing indeed.
Brother Black did not stop firing after that. He alternated between ricochet bullets and special bullets to form a dense bullet net. Sheyan leaped straight down from the second floor of the hotel. Although he was constantly attacked, leaving a trail of blood and ragged clothes spattering behind him, he did not even bat an eye. Some contestants attempted to chase after him but a grenade from Mogensha was enough to temporarily delay their pursuit.
The pursuers did not give up that easily. There was a man who ran after Sheyan like a wild animal, scaling walls and obstacles maniacally to get to Sheyan. His eyes were bloodshot and two jets of thick white gas which lingered in the air like steam were ejected from his nostrils.
This guy, Deco, was a formidable contestant on the Terminator's side. He was actually a concocting alchemist, with an ability somewhat similar to Sheyan's. His ultimate concoction was something that could make his blood boil and enable him to obtain the fighting instinct of a crazed beast. He really stood out in the previous fight and caused great trouble for the defending side.
Mogensha's bullets could not hit him at all; they were always a step late and always arrived behind him. It was the first time that Mogensha had encountered such a strange scenario. The reason for this was that Deco had a strange pa.s.sive ability which would refract the light acting on him. It was similar the way some pools would look shallow even though they were deep.
Of course, he would not be that hard to deal with if it was just that pa.s.sive refraction. The real problem lay in the fact that the refractive index of his ability was constantly changing, which led to the need to adjust to his refractive index all the time.
Deco moved as if he was ignoring gravity. He easily scaled the eaves and walls in his way, leaving behind clear footprints and raising a trail of dust in his wake. The distance between him and Sheyan kept getting shorter. He looked up at Mogensha and smirked, showing his sharp canine teeth.
A group of contestants followed behind him, firing as they ran. There were at least eight people in the group. Their shots were surprisingly accurate.
Although Sheyan was running with all his might, he did not forget to check the movement of the people in his rear. Suddenly, there was a sharp braking sound from the road nearby. A large tanker truck, in an attempt to avoid a stray dog, had lost control and overturned.
The giant tanker truck slid forward carried by its momentum, sc.r.a.ping meters long of horrible sparks on the road as it crashed towards the spot in front of Sheyan's group! It hit a building and exploded, engulfing an area of almost 1000 square meters in flames!
The scale of the explosion was as magnificent as the detonation of a large napalm bomb!
Although it all happened in an instant, Sheyan clearly saw that both the stray dog and the driver of the large tanker truck were not under the control of contestants. But it was precisely the combination of the two which caused a seemingly accidental event that greatly hindered them.
These kind of things, which cannot be explained with science, were often called: misfortune.
Sheyan had already suffered a “fate” attack in the previous world, so he was sensitive to these kind of weird occurances! In this short instance, Sheyan was not thinking of how to escape the danger in front of him, but had come to an important realisation instead. A realisation which sprung up in his mind right after the tanker truck had overturned.
If there really was someone manipulating all this from behind the scenes, why not set the crash site of the tanker truck directly at their location? That way, there was no doubt that it could cause them more trouble.
This mastermind must have something malicious planned! Was he enjoying the cat-and-mouse game?
Sheyan immediately overruled this possibility. Anyone who could survive until now must be one who advocated efficiency above all else and wouldn't do any unnecessary things. Just like the way veteran soldiers in ancient times wouldn't perform any sword techniques that were purely for aesthetic purposes.
Therefore, Sheyan concluded that if there really was a mastermind behind all this, the person could not – or could, but needed to pay a great price – to use this way to directly affect or attack their group. The person could only indirectly weaken them!
More precisely, the person could probably dig a pit on the path the group would traverse through, but they probably couldn't dig a pit directly underneath the group.
The shock wave and explosion from the tanker truck had stifled the speed of Sheyan's group. The contestants in pursuit were about to swarm them.
Sheyan threw the body of Sarah Connor away. He did it in such a skillful way that the body rolled a few times when it hit the ground. Even if she was still alive, she would not have felt any pain.
At this point, at least half the pursuing contestants had shown different symptoms of illnesses such as coughing and chest pain. Deco was lucky to escape the disease. He pounced towards Mogensha like a bolt of lightning. Mogensha managed to dodge Deco's initial strike, but Deco immediately swept upwards with his foot. Sharp claws had inexplicably grew out of his toes. The claws almost tore a deep wound on Mogensha's chest.
At that moment, however, a curse-mix landed next to Mogensha's feet. No matter how amazing Deco's refractive illusion was, it could do nothing against an AoE stun effect unless it could mislead other's vision for an error of over ten meters.
Brother Black swept his gun across to fire a fusillade of shots in Deco's direction. The bullets were scattered over a large area like the shot from a shotgun. The bullets easily penetrated through the “Deco” in their sight without any resistance, but streams of blood spurted out two meters to the right of the image. That was Deco's real location.
Sheyan lowered his head and rushed through the midst of a few Growth Hunters on the enemies' side. The nightmare imprint on his chest once again showed the image of the fist and the s.h.i.+eld! He fended off the attack of those hostile Growth Hunters and dashed right up to the unawakened Deco. With the 'Zergling Rush' activated, he landed three consecutive punches on Deco.
A crisp sound akin to gla.s.ses breaking was heard around Deco's body. That was the sound of his refractive ability being destroyed by Sheyan's 'Strength of the Sky'!
Deco regained his ability to move. Although Sheyan was right in front of him, he couldn't help looking at the highway, because a red Ferrari had just burst through the residual flames of the tanker truck!
A woman, long hair fluttering in the wind, full of elegance and dignity, stood proudly on top of the Ferrari.
The mage dagger she held in her hand, curved like a crescent moon, was already s.h.i.+ning with a terrible light.
The light of death!
The light of destruction!
Deco, who had his refraction ward shattered, felt like he was standing there naked.
To meet Zi at this moment when he was the most vulnerable was as if he was standing naked in public with a sharp dagger held to his groin. He could almost feel the chill in his b.a.l.l.s!
Zi's eyes were closed. Her curved silver dagger cut rapidly through the air. Each cut would produce a sharp, lightning-like trace in the air. Finally, the traces formed into a powerful and bizarre symbol — the crest of the Sith Republic in Star Wars.
The powerful and bizarre symbol flew to a spot a meter in front of the Deco and suddenly turned into a huge hand with jet-black skin and protruding joints. The hand had only three fingers and extremely long nails. It wrapped around Deco's neck.
'Force Suffocation'!
The ability which summoned a Sith demon claw to strangle the enemy and terminate the enemy's life with suffocating agony! The enemy killed by the Sith demon claw would turn into a certain amount of MP and fed back to the caster.
When Deco's refractive ward was broken, he had already lost all fighting spirit. He had turned tail the moment he saw Zi coming. He knew that as long as he could run back to his group, he could be saved! But he had just run for a few steps when he suddenly felt a sharp pain around his neck. The terrible giant hand had tightened its grip. Deco's vision immediately darkened. He groaned and screamed painfully, and even spat a few mouthfuls of green bile.
Chapter 978: EscapeSheyan's disease broke out for the second time, and Deco was not fortunate enough to escape the infection this time. He instinctively grabbed his chest and gasped for breath.
Seeing this, Mogensha did not hesitate to pull out the Spartan javelin.
It was obvious that the power of the javelin had increased after Mogensha was promoted to a Growth Hunter. When he was throwing the silver lightning javelin, the muscles in his right hand swelled, and his nails actually grew into claws. Not only that, but an illusionary image of a crimson Spartan flag also appeared behind him, waving majestically in the air as if it was blown by the wind of Thermopylae!
The fierce lightning javelin shot away and pierced Deco three times in a row before splitting the air towards the group of contestants catching up from the back!
After taking the attack of the Spartan javelin, Deco was left with about three-fifths of his HP, an awkward state. If it was a little lower, he definitely would have used an honorary dosage, but if he did so now, it would feel like such a waste. After all, the optimum use of an honorary dosage was to administer it when one had only a sliver of HP left. One could then rise from the ashes like a phoenix.
While Deco was hesitating, Zi had opened her eyes.
Her eyes were as deep and as vast as a sea of stars. That kind of unspeakable charm was enough to make people lose themselves in those eyes. But in an instant, they turned into a terrible nebula storm which swept across Deco's mind in the form of countless needles!
'Force Needle Explosion'!
d.i.c.ky instantly felt the world spinning around him. He screamed hysterically but he could make no sound. What he saw in his vision was the scenes of gla.s.s walls breaking and collapsing.
The Deco who was stunned by the 'Force Needle Explosion' became the perfect target for Party Ace to concentrate their fire. He only managed to endure for three seconds before he blew up in a horrible fleshy, b.l.o.o.d.y storm. He was not even out of his stunned state yet.
Of course, Sheyan was also withstanding heavy pressure all this while. At the moment, Sheyan, Zi and Mogensha formed a triangle, which was the most basic arrow formation, and Sheyan was the tip.
There was no doubt that all the contestants in pursuit would attack Sheyan first. Although Sheyan was tough, there were simply too many enemies; he was still beaten black and blue and had to take cover in a building to the side. The other contestants refused to give up. They jointly bombarded the building, which collapsed after shaking a few times.
Sheyan rolled again and again, and when he escaped the building, he retrieved Sarah Connor's body and continued to flee. Unfortunately, he slipped on a banana peel and lost his balance, falling to the ground. But even then, for some reason, Sheyan still tried his best to protect Sarah Connor's body. He would rather take the fall himself than to let any harm come to the body.
“What's that guy doing? Is he a necrophile?” asked one of the contestants on the opposing side in a strong Devons.h.i.+re accent. “Also, why is our mission not shown as completed yet?”
Another contestant, who was resentfully retracting his heavy sniper, replied, “It must have something to do with why he's protecting the body so carefully. That guy's a freaking monster! We've attacked him for so long but he's not even in a state of near death! He just took a shot from me head on, too! He must have more HP than the devil himself.”
After the three on Sheyan's side joined forces to kill Deco, the momentum of the pursuing side was stunted, because their opponents had just proven that had the ability to eliminate someone in an instant! The a.s.sault of the pursuers instantly lost its bite, but Sheyan, gritting his teeth while running away with Sarah Connor's body, cursed viciously.
“d.a.m.n, that shot just now almost broke my arm. Whoever fired that shot, you better not let me catch you!”
The two sides continued their pursuit for two to three hundred meters. Zi kept firing her Force, and together with Mogensha's shots, they could always force back any contestants who got close. It could be seen from the small details that Zi and Mogensha had already formed quite a nice understanding between them.
Sheyan could not help but wonder, what would the battle be like if Aziz was here with them too?… Aziz was admittedly very strong, but he was quite unruly. He was like a sharp blade. If the wielder could not control the blade well, the blade could easily hurt its wielder instead. Aziz was not someone whom an ordinary person could control.
In fact, even in Zeus' party, Aziz existed in a detached way, almost like an independent ent.i.ty outside the system. He could refuse Zeus' orders without giving Zeus any respect at all. But Sheyan felt, and he was positive, that he himself was one of the few people who could utilise Aziz and utilise him well.
At the moment, Reef had made all the necessary preparations and was quietly lying in ambush in the path of the pursuers.
Sheyan and the others retreated while they fought. While the contestants pa.s.sed by him in pursuit, Reef suddenly made his appearance and disrupted their formation with a 'Cardiac Shattering Roar'. Sheyan took the chance to turn around and rush into their midst with 'Hornrage'. At the same time, he threw down a curse-mix underneath him.
The seven or so pursuing contestants were instantly sent into chaos inside the dark green smoke cloud. After Reef's 'Cardiac Shattering Roar' had gained precedence, it had become a terrifying AoE speed reduction skill.
Stacked together with the stun effect, speed reduction and visual interference caused by Sheyan's curse mix….. while the other side was not instantly defeated, they could no longer form any effective concentrated attack.
Brother Black and Zi took the chance to launch a wanton bombardment inside the smoke cloud. Sheyan's mechanical gloves emitted a dark green glow as various mechanical parts on them began to rotate violently. He suddenly bent down and pounced forward like a tiger, not giving a care to the fierce slash coming at him.
The slash was very swift and very vicious.
Blood gushed out from Sheyan's shoulder. Because of the vigorous pumping of blood in his body, the blood shot nearly two meters high. But Sheyan merely reached out his hands without saying a word to grab the throat of a gunman in front of him!
The gunman's eyes immediately popped out while his legs kicked violently, but Sheyan was not affected in the slightest. Then, Sheyan squatted down and executed a shoulder throw. The gunman immediately lost control of his body and was thrown high into the air. It was Sheyan's 'Tactical Throw'.
Without the need for any instructions, Brother Black and Zi simultaneously aimed at this guy in the air. This guy had already used an honorary dosage previously. Even though he hid himself in the back, he was still caught by Sheyan!
Powerful destruction continued to rain down on him, ruthlessly ravaging his whole body. Finally, he had no HP left to support his life…. The guy was violently shattered and split up before he could touch the ground! His body exploded, scattering his flesh and organs everywhere!
The Sith Lord's sinister laughter reverberated through the air. A strand of dark aura appeared amidst the broken body pieces in the air and flew into Zi, filling up more than half of her previously depleted MP.
After Party Ace managed to launch a counter attack, the situation among the pursuers turned chaotic. They all fell into the dangerous mentality of ensuring their personal safety first and foremost. The enemies they were facing were simply too insane. If the s.h.i.+eld-wielding Reef also turned out to be an MT, then the party they were fighting was actually a dual-MT party!
Furthermore, the few contestants on the side of protecting Sarah Connor had come to their senses and, unwilling to have their base attributes reduced for no reason, had started firing or casting spells from afar. There was also that eerie and sinister disease which would occasionally break out. Sheyan's group managed to hijack a pa.s.sing car and successfully escaped the pursuing contestants. Now, they just have to guard against the Terminators sent after them.
Honestly, Sheyan had been pushed to the limit during the escape. Not only had he used the 'Gloryheal' ability, he had also used the free honorary dosage. After getting on the car, before he had even wrapped up his injuries, Sheyan had already started screaming.
“We're being watched for sure! In my previous world, I fought with a guy called Fate, and I feel like the mastermind behind the scenes this time has a somewhat similar ability!
“You killed Fate?” asked Zi in surprise.
Sheyan smiled and answered, “That's where your 't.i.tanium Mesh Magic Barrier' came from.”
“How did you kill him?” Zi obviously still found it hard to believe.
“Good question. I was able to kill Fate because there was a prerequisite for his ability – he had to see me when he use it! Having grasped this point, I used it to my advantage and was able to eliminate him in the end. Since the mastermind we're facing now feels somewhat similar to Fate, the first thing we need to do is to escape that person's surveillance!”
“How do you think he's spying on us?” asked Reef with a frown.
Sheyan gritted his teeth as he pulled a piece of shrapnel out of his arm, then drew in a cool breath. “If I were that guy, I would find a way to use satellites to monitor Party Ace's actions as soon as I enter this world. Do not underestimate the technology of 1984! Regardless of whether my judgement is correct, let's try to stop that first.”
Chapter 979: The Kidnapping“Hey, realm, I'm applying for electromagnetic s.h.i.+elding as a lieutenant colonel to prevent other contestants from using native technology to get my information,” said Sheyan loudly.
Sheyan had already suffered from something similar in the Jura.s.sic Park world, where his every action was monitored via a satellite. Therefore, he was familiar with the procedure of requesting for electromagnetic s.h.i.+elding. Furthermore, he was now a lieutenant colonel, so the process had become even more convenient. After paying three achievement points, everyone in Sheyan's party was s.h.i.+elded.
The s.h.i.+eld was naturally limited in some ways. First of all, the s.h.i.+eld was only effective against contestants of lower ranks. Secondly, if other contestants made their own satellite and launch it into s.p.a.ce, Sheyan's jamming s.h.i.+eld would be invalid against it because the s.h.i.+eld was only effective for native technology.
Zi also became more cautious. After the satellite monitoring threat was resolved, she pulled out her silver crescent dagger. Threads that looked like the tentacles of a jellyfish extended out from the tip of the dagger. They wiggled around, carefully searching for anything suspicious.
Zi was being over cautious, as she knew of some black magic that could monitor other's actions through a crystal ball. As it turned out, Zi's wariness was not unfounded. After a brief search, she shook her head and shouted, “There's nothing.”
Sheyan immediately felt that something was wrong, and as soon as Zi finished her sentence, she pierced her slim fingers at a seemingly empty s.p.a.ce at the side. The place sparkled for a moment, showing signs of spatial instability. She flicked her dagger and caught a fist-sized magical creature from within.
The creature had four ears, and its purplish-black body was uneven like a toad. Its tongue was red and flat, dripping colorless, transparent mucus. As soon as it was caught, it screamed in hysteria and jumped onto the tip of Zi's dagger, killing itself and contaminating the blade of the silver storyline dagger.
After that, everyone heaved a sigh of relief. Their bodies felt lighter, as if an invisible pressure had been lifted.
Not long after that, they suddenly heard the sound of a bird fluttering and beating its wings outside the car window. It turned out to be a lark, which were usually very shy, pecking at the window.
Sheyan immediately let the bird in, then spread out a newspaper. The lark began to peck the newspaper with its beak. Each letter pecked was jotted down by Sheyan. In the end, the message turned out to be:
“I'm fine. The thing is done.”
It was obviously a message from Sanzi.
Sheyan appeared deep in thought as he said, “We can now confirm the second thing about the mastermind – he can only attack one target at a time. Otherwise, he would've dealt with Sanzi as well. Since Sanzi was moving alone, it was a great chance to eliminate him. The fact that he didn't shows that he can't control two sides at once.”
Brother Black finally relaxed. He lit a cigar for himself and inhaled the pale blue smoke deep into his lungs, before puffing out a smoke ring. “That b.a.s.t.a.r.d! He actually followed us all the way into this world!”
Sheyan scoffed. “Since he doesn't know when to stop, this world will be his grave. Reef, help me take care of this woman. Let me bandage myself.”
Reef picked up Sarah Connor's body and asked in doubt, “But boss, why do you value this woman's corpse so much? Sure, our mission was to protect her, but she's already dead!”
Sheyan pulled out the 'Chris Redfield's Lucky Bracelet' and soaked it in Sarah Connor's blood. Then, he continued to bare his upper body to let Zi pull out the bullets or shrapnels that were imbued in his body with the Force.
As for Reef's question, Sheyan narrowed his eyes and replied, “Since the male and female protagonists are both dead, why haven't we failed our mission yet?”
Reef felt weird about that too. After thinking for a while, he said, “I don't know. Is it related to this corpse?”
“Of course it is. I also know that if we don't do anything, the mission will fail in an hour at the very latest,” replied Sheyan faintly.
“Why?” Even Zi was curious.
But their discussion was interrupted by Sanzi's message in the party communication channel. “Brother, I've dealt with that guy. You guys can come now.”
Sheyan nodded. Brother Black stepped on the accelerator, executing a beautiful drift, and the car rushed towards Sanzi's location. Soon, a professional-looking ambulance, which looked very new, came into view. The ambulance was parked on the side of the road and Sanzi was in it.
“What the h.e.l.l.” Brother Black was so surprised that he dropped his cigar. “I know that the Terminator world is a bit more technologically advanced than the real world (Skynet was self-conscious on August 29, 1997, killing 3 billion people that day. What could the real-world internet do in 1997?), but the ambulance is not going to bring back a person whose neck has been broken for half an hour. Come on.”
Sheyan ma.s.saged his temples and exhaled in relief. He said seriously, “Your thoughts are clouded, AK. Think carefully. Who's the main character in the Terminator?”
Mogensha was stunned. He murmured, “The main character….in the Terminator?”
At this time, Sanzi had already got out of the ambulance together with a rather unhappy-looking middle-aged man. He led the man to their car. Although the middle-aged man did not look like he had been bound, beaten, or threatened, his movements were stiff like a puppet.
If you looked carefully, you'd notice an inconspicuous spider crawling on the artery on his wrist.
The spider was not the harmless kind which bite could turn someone into an American superhero. It was a North American venomous spider, which cyanide venom it inject could kill someone in a minute and fourteen seconds.
The reason why the information was so precise was that when Sanzi “invited” the middle-aged man over, in order to put some weight on his persuasion, he let the spider bite an impolite security guard in front of the middle-aged man.
The security guard lasted for a minute and fourteen seconds.
Sanzi then asked for the middle-aged man's opinion. After confirming that the man had no intention to challenge the security guard's record, he brought him here without much trouble.
Sheyan stepped forward and said to the middle-aged man, “I'm so sorry we have to meet in this way, Professor Edwards. I know you're a distinguished n.o.bel Prize winner, a top geneticist in the United States, and an esteemed scholar globally – at least, that's what it says in the phone book. The reason we brought you here is because we need you to do a tiny little favour for us. Don't worry, it's something you've done countless times before.”
Professor Edwards' face twitched. He could barely maintain his calm as he said, “Do you think I can perform any experiment in my present state, gentlemen? Every experiment I do requires the utmost precision!”
With a smile, Sanzi moved the venomous spider to the corner of a wall before releasing it. Sheyan smiled at the uneasy looking Professor Edwards and said, “See, we're very sincere. And I repeat, what I need you to do may be very complicated for us, but for you, it's as simple as drinking water. You may have done it thousands of times for the past 20 years. When it's all done, you'll get a handsome reward to make up for your psychological trauma.”
Following Sheyan's words, Sanzi threw a diamond that was at least three carats to Professor Edwards. It was worth noting that there was a “x.x.x Jewelry Store” price tag on the diamond still. The diamond was obviously obtained through illegitimate means.
Professor Edwards was still hesitating on whether he should refuse the offer when Sheyan said softly, “That was just the deposit, prof. After it's done…..”
Sanzi took out a s...o...b..x-sized pouch and shook it. The contents tinkled loudly. Sheyan smiled and nodded. “This pouch will be yours. Of course, if you fail, it won't be pleasant for you.”
The were currently in a very chaotic place with pretty bad public security, so as soon as Sanzi revealed their wealth just now, several people had already started moving towards them slowly with their hands behind their back. There were also some who would occasionally glance over from the distance. All of them obviously intended to rob the group, and probably a.s.sault Zi too while they were at it. Mogensha smoothly captured one who got too close. He's not exactly a nice guy himself. He stuffed the muzzle of his AK into the robber's mouth and fired without hesitation.
Professor Edwards' face twitched. He knew that he had met a group of criminals today.
“I can help you, but at least let me know what you want me to do!”
Sheyan asked Reef to bring Sarah Connor's body out.
“She's been dead for less than half an hour,” he told the professor.
Professor Edwards went forward to inspect the corpse. After a while, he nodded heavily.
Sheyan stepped forward and whispered, “What I need you to do is….”
When Professor Edowrds heard Sheyan's request, his expression suddenly lightened up. Finally, he asked a little nervously, “That's all?”
Sheyan nodded. “That's all. But I need you to make sure that the success rate is 100%!”
Chapter 980: The Real ReasonProfessor Edwards clenched his teeth and told Sheyan, “Fine! But you have to fulfill a few criteria first. It's impossible to ensure a 100% success rate with the limited facilities in this ambulance. We have to go to Elia Private Hospital at once!
“Wouldn't that take too much time?” asked Sheyan in hesitation while staring at the corpse of Sarah Connor.
Now that the topic of conversation finally turned to his field of expertise, Professor Edwards smiled with ease and said, “Not a problem. There are always some differences between what's written in books and in reality.”
He stepped forward and examined the corpse in Reef's arms. His eyebrows gradually became less tightened as he said, “Under normal circ.u.mstances, five minutes after death is considered one phase. During this phase, the brain will die and the major organs will decay. The next phase is the following three hours. Within three hours, the body will not undergo much changes in its internal environment except for the brain, the heart and the digestive system. At least, the muscles will remain soft. Body temperature will drop to about 30 degrees. Many anaerobic reactions will continue, and some special cells will remain active. Note that this estimate is for the elderly who suffer from chronic illnesses. For people who were physically healthy when they were alive, the duration can be extended to up to four hours. People like the corpse in question, for instance.”
“OK.” Sheyan hesitated no longer. “Since the professor is so confident, there's no reason why we shouldn't support him.”
The group quickly jumped into the ambulance, turned on the siren and drove to Elia Private Hospital. On the way there, Sheyan looked at Mogensha and asked, “Do you understand now?”
“Nope,” replied Mogensha with a shrug.
Sheyan smiled and said, “First, tell me. Who's the main character of the Terminator world?”
“The two who just died,” answered Mogensha.
Sheyan shook his head slightly. “Wrong! The first main character in the Terminator world is the future leader of the Resistance, John Connor, while the second main character is Skynet. All the stories revolve around them.”
“But John will only appear in the future, and the same holds true for Skynet. The two of them have nothing to do with us right now,” Mogensha could not help exclaiming, “Are we supposed to travel through time?”
Sheyan smiled and said, “Wrong. John…is right next to us.”
As soon as Sheyan uttered this sentence, Zi and Sanzi's displayed an incredulous look, feeling as if something had been punctured inside them.
“How's that possible?! You mean…you mean…”
Sheyan said slowly, “In the original plot, Sarah Connor was a single woman until she met Kyle Reese, a warrior from the future. Maybe it's fear, maybe it's love, maybe it's to vent, but they made love pa.s.sionately in the process of being chased, resulting in John Connor.”
“According to the information I've got, Sarah Connor and Kyle Reese had spent more than 48 hours together before we entered this world.”
Sheyan's eyes sparkled with a ray of light that seemed to be able to discern everything. “Well, 48 hours were plenty of time to be attracted to each other and make love. According to the plot, the chances of conceiving after s.e.x this time are 100%, or the main plotline wouldn't exist otherwise. Now….you should understand what I mean when I said John is right next to us.
(TL: Holy sht) (ED: Yeah, this sht's wild)
“The future leader of the Resistance, Mr. John Connor, is still with us in the fallopian tube of his mother, in the form of a fertilised egg — Sarah Connor is dead, but the fertilised egg is still alive! It's precisely thanks to the existence of the fertilised egg that our main mission is kept alive!”
“As long as John, the protagonist doesn't die, no matter what happens, the plot will not change too much! We're actually pretty lucky. It only takes one stray bullet through Sarah Connor's abdomen to completely destroy our chances of completing this mission. The bullet doesn't even have to hit her uterus or fallopian tube directly because the resulting biological contamination would be enough to kill the fertilised egg.”
“But… But there's still a ways to go to turn him from a fertilised egg to a fetus,” Mogensha could not help saying.
“That's why Professor Edwards, the great geneticist, is here with us. His authority in this field is beyond doubt. He has just told us that human organs will fail within five minutes after a human's death, but the preservation of fertilised eggs in fallopian tubes lasts for about four hours….”
“Because Professor Edwards told us this right after we shot a guy's head off with a gun, I think the information should be credible. No one would joke with their own life after all. Oh right, I forgot to introduce another one of Professor Edwards' ident.i.ty. The yellow page clearly stated his t.i.tle as: the Director of the Stepford Infertility Center. He has performed more than 1,000 IVF operations so far.”
The so-called IVF, or test-tube baby technology, is not a technology which enabled babies to grow in test tubes, but a process of manually combining an egg and a sperm into a fertilised egg in a laboratory dish, then transfer the embryo (the new life conceived through in vitro fertilisation) back into the woman's uterus (embryo transplantation). The embryo can then develop in the uterine cavity like in a normal pregnancy until it reaches full term, after which it can be birthed normally.
This method is a great boon for many parents with inactive sperm or fallopian tube deformities, and the number of test tube babies worldwide has reached a figure of four millions.
What Sheyan wanted Professor Edwards to do right now was simple enough – to suck that precious fertilised egg out of the fallopian tube of the dead Sarah Connor (a woman expels only one egg a month, so it's not difficult to find) and after the proper treatment, transfer it into the womb of a healthy woman.
In that way, the future saviour will still be born – just with a different mother.
Professor Edwards could already perform the IVF operation successfully 20 years ago, so the only thing he wa worried about right now was not the failure of the operation, but whether Sheyan would keep his promise afterwards….
“Those people are way too strong!”
The one who spoke was Ougens, who had unwittingly joined the side of the Terminators.
During the pursuit, he was pretty relentless at first.
He felt as if he had fallen into a huge conspiracy after coming to this world. After painstaking effort, their side had finally managed to kill the two mission targets and finally saw a sliver of hope, but a bunch of people had suddenly appeared halfway through and stolen away Sarah Connor! Of course they would chase with everything they had! (All of them thought Sarah Connor either had a glimmer of life left, or had faked her death.)
But what happened afterwards scared the life out of Ougens.
Be it the dual-attribute MT, or the masked female mage, or the black man with the golden AK, they all appeared to be as unshakeable as towering mountains in front of Ougens. And there was that dual-MT configuration towards the end!
This led directly to the pursuers being struck down mercilessly one by one even though their numbers were more than double that of the opponent's!
Ougens was almost sure that even the T-800 Terminator would be killed in a head-on fight with that formidable squad! The fact that that group had chosen the defending side of the mission meant that their side now was facing an insurmountable task.
Shots rang out again in the distance. Amidst the rising smoke and dust, a T-800 Terminator moved past Ougens' side and ran along in a cold silence towards a contestant running in panic over fifty meters away.
The only advantage of choosing the Terminator's side was that they would not be attacked as long as they were not within ten meters of the Terminator.
Ougens narrowed his eyes. He had already resigned himself to failing the mission, so he was determined to recover his losses from his enemies. He immediately gave chase.
The fleeing contestant suddenly turned around and fired.
Some of the bullets missed their target and burrowed themselves into the wall nearby, while the rest hit the T-800, but besides making holes in its clothes, they did not seem to hinder the Terminator much.
However, the bullets were just a feint. The contestant suddenly opened his mouth and out slipped an orange-sized electromagnetic grenade. With a kick, the grenade flew straight at the Terminator. Amidst a harsh static noise, even the mighty Terminator immediately fell into a state of interference.
The contestant was going to escape successfully!
Just then, a figure flashed out of the pillar to the left of Ougens. The person was dressed as a hippie and had a mohawk haircut. Between his fingers was an Ace of Spades poker card. A ray of light shot out with a light flick of his fingers.
A shrill noise which was like the sound of a chainsaw forcefully sawing through steel could be heard. The flying card shot through the air and left a faint trail of light behind it. When it cut through the steel surface of a car, the surface would split, roll up, and emit some dazzling sparks!
Following that was the abrupt halt to the ceaseless shooting of the gun. It was replaced by an agonising scream. A severed arm that was still tightly holding on to a gun traced a parabolic path in the air before cras.h.i.+ng down to the ground.
Chapter 981: Searching for John's New MomThis seemingly ordinary poker card possessed an unstoppable momentum! It very easily injured the defending contestant!
Since someone from his side managed to strike down one of the opponents, Ougens was supposed to relax a little, but instead, his brow furrowed even more.
The young hippie, Thompson, was a card dealer in Las Vegas before he entered the nightmare realm. His innate ability was that card throwing skill he just displayed.
But the greater the power, the bigger the cost, so in every world, Thompson would at most use these “sharp cards” five times. They were his ultimate skill and literally his trump card. Based on how pale he looked at the moment, it was obvious that he did not have the energy to throw another card.
Since he had already used his ultimate move at this point, didn't that mean he had lost all confidence in his future undertakings in this world? He was taking the chance to reap as much benefit as possible from the current battle!
Ougens watched as the pale Thompson stood there grinning while checking his spoils after successfully killing the enemy. He felt that something was off, but for the life of him, he couldn't pinpoint what it was.
Suddenly, the powerful T-800 Terminator got up from its original position. It was only hit with an electromagnetic grenade, so there shouldn't be too much damage – maybe some interference in his internal program, but that's all.
But now the T-800's eyes suddenly exploded, and a bluish-white electrical current sprayed out of them, reaching a length of three to four meters. The joints all over its body started emitting sparks. Then, the mechanical parts that made up its body fell apart and crashed down into a heap of sc.r.a.p iron, as if they had suddenly lost the force which held them together!
That wasn't all. The pile of sc.r.a.p iron was still burning on the ground. A large amount of black smoke rose into the air and formed words. This method of transmitting information was really similar to the way the realm handed out the main mission when they first stepped foot in this world!
“O lost sheeps, I will guide you to the road of success…”
At this time, Sheyan's group had arrived at the Elia Private Hospital.
They were not afraid of any ambushes. Besides, Professor Edwards didn't look that uptight.
Sheyan's actions from before had undeniably lifted the morale of the whole party.
The enemy had already laid down the chessboard in a way that would ensure their defeat, but his plan was still foiled by Sheyan, who had found a sliver of chance from examining the details. Sheyan had then expanded that sliver of chance into a legitimate path to success!
The main mission of Party Ace was still teetering precariously on the edge of failure with the male and female lead both dead. Even if they completed the mission, they would probably get the lowest evaluation, but for the members of Party Ace, the rewards were no longer important. All they hoped for was not to have their attributes deducted again.
By now, Sheyan had gained a better understanding of Sanzi's usefulness. His role as a summoner was only one aspect of it. After providing him with enough powerful equipments, in conjunction with Sanzi's own innate talent, he had completely broken the shackles of an ordinary summoner.
The way summoners usually operated was to tame and train creatures in safe places, then summon them to fight in dangerous places. Because once the summoner was interrupted during the summoning process, it was very troublesome.
But most of the time, Sanzi could recruit and control a creature immediately after they met. This undoubtedly made for very flexible tactics. Although offense was the main means to victory, other aspects could not be ignore too. For example, the lark that came to them to deliver news before, or the venomous spider that was used to threatened Professor Edwards, were both very useful.
Before stepping into Elia Private Hospital, Sanzi had even summoned a few rats to scout the place to prevent them from stepping into a trap. Instead of a summoner, he was more like a druid who had mastered the way of nature.
None of the other members had said anything when Sanzi joined the team, but it was inevitable that their impression of him was someone who got in through nepotism. But now, Sanzi had proven himself to be very useful in a utility role and could effectively make up for any shortcomings in the team with his summoned creatures. Therefore, although they had only spent a few hours together, even the most demanding person among them, Zi, had silently acknowledge Sanzi as a teammate.
They had drawn the equipments of the two opponents Zi had killed in the last fight, in addition to some achievement points. Neither of those two guys were anything special. They drew a dark blue equipment and a black equipment, both of which were not very useful to them. As a result, they were given to Sheyan to feed to the internal furnace in his 'Planetary-Grade High-Energy Mechanical Power Gloves'.
The energy bar of the gloves had already fallen below the red warning level because Sheyan, or more precisely, the entire Party Ace, had no extra funds to recharge them. The two pieces of equipments came just in time to solve the problem. After the gloves were fed with the equipments, the energy bars of the gloves were finally increased to approximately 70%.
Each of them had also obtained the t.i.tle of 'Machine Predator'. The effect of the t.i.tle was pretty weak, but it was very useful for t.i.tle synthesisation.
(TL: 'Machine Predator' was mentioned way back in chapter 8)
Elia Private Hospital appeared to have a good working relations.h.i.+p with Professor Edwards. The people here seemed very familiar with him. Sheyan stood at the side in a white coat, silently overseeing the series of procedures without anyone questioning his presence.
Professor Edwards had lost count of the number of times he had retrieved an egg from a woman's body. It was even easier to do so from a woman's corpse, since he didn't need to apply anesthetics or consider the feeling of the patient. It saved a lot of time.
He removed the egg in a practiced manner and soaked it in a top-grade nutritional liquid, before inspecting it under a microscope. After a while, he smiled.
“It's a very healthy fertilised egg. It seems that the death of the mother has not had any effect on it yet.”
Sheyan also checked the microscope. He knew that the sperm was the smallest cell in the human body and a man could excrete hundreds of millions of sperms at a time, while the ovum was the largest cell in the human body and there would normally be only one of it at a time. Therefore, a fertilised egg was easily visible with a low power microscope.
“What's next?” asked Sheyan.
Professor Edwards hesitated for a moment before he answered, “Normally, we'll monitor the fertilised egg and inject some nutrients to make it grow stronger, then give it one to three weeks to develop. Finally, we will implant the embryo in a healthy woman's uterus.”
Sheyan said flatly, “We don't have that much time. Don't worry, I have full confidence in the embryo's strength and luck. But before that, I'd like to witness an embryo transfer operation. I heard that the operation is very simple and is only as difficult as a circ.u.mcision operation?”
“Well, yes, in theory, if we do all the necessary preparation beforehand.”
“Good. Then please arrange it. I'd like to take a look at the next embryo transfer operation. You mentioned before that more than a dozen patients come here every day for check-up and operations?”
Sheyan naturally wouldn't leave everything to a storyline character. That would be a very dangerous move.
He did not forget the fact that a large number of Terminators and contestants, armed to the teeth, were extremely interested in terminating the fertilised egg.
Which was why an hour later, he got himself a bottle, a syringe, an injection gun, and a book.
The bottle is filled with the latest nutritional liquid, which could provide enough nutrients to the embryo soaked inside it to ensure that the embryo obtained the necessary nutrients as it would in the fallopian tube. This bottle of nutritional liquid could ensure that the fertilised egg grew healthily within seven days.
The syringe could suck 1000cc of the nutritional liquid and the embryo inside it without harming the embryo. It could then be fitted onto the injection gun.
The length of the needle on the injection gun had undergone precise measurement. It could easily penetrate the skin, abdominal muscles, and outer wall of the uterus, so that the tip of the needle be placed just inside the uterus. With a pull of the trigger, the liquid and embryo in the syringe would be transfered into the uterus without spilling a drop.
The book was t.i.tled “All About IVF”.
Having done all this, Professor Edwards discovered that those mysterious and vicious people did not break their promise. He not only got his diamonds, but had also survived.
But six hours after Sheyan and his group left, another person found Professor Edwards. Despite the professor's cooperative att.i.tude, he was nevertheless killed.
That's because the person who interrogated Professor Edwards would rather that what the professor had said was a lie. He understood that if Professor Edwards had not lied, it would be very difficult to stop Sheyan now, unless….unless they could kill every woman of childbearing age in Los Angeles!
Currently, John was still a fertilised egg, while both the male and female lead of the Terminator movie were dead, so Skynet's dispatch of Terminators had been halted.
Sheyan was now sitting in a McDonald's, eating hamburgers and drinking c.o.ke with all the Party Ace members while carrying a thick briefcase.
Chapter 982: Waiting is Also a Form of Attack“We must be careful in the selection of John's mother. We must make sure that the first reaction the new mother shows upon finding herself suddenly being pregnant will be to cry tears of joy and thank G.o.d, instead of calling an abortion centre to ask how much it'll cost. We'll leave the rest to the realm. They'll surely arrange everything better than we will,” said Sheyan while chewing a mouthful of bbq chicken burger.
“This is a big project, boss,” murmured Mogensha.
Sheyan drank half a c.o.ke and burped comfortably before lifting the briefcase on his hand. “I agree with you, AK, but we have to do it no matter how big the project is. Here's some demographic information Sanzi and I have gathered, including a list of families that are looking to adopt boys, and a list of infertile patients waiting for treatment. There's a mother with a fallopian tube deformity, a father with low sperm count….there must be something we can use in here.”
While Sheyan was speaking, he handed out a thick pile of information to each of them.
“Now we need to find the right person. First, John's mother should be below 35 years old because older mothers are three times more likely to suffer from pregnancy complications.”
Not many people would discuss work in a McDonald's, but such people were not few either. The focus of the public was on the recently invading machine mob, so they were especially alert to anyone with stiff, dull faces, and would immediately call the police if they saw any signs of suspicious activities. Since Sheyan's group talked and laughed merrily, no one suspected them.
The first round of screening by Party Ace already eliminated 3/4 of the candidates.
Sheyan ordered another Colonel Chicken (TL: This ain't KFC wat u doin author) and issued the second requirement while chewing on the chicken.
“Second, John's mother should have a decent job, which ensures that she has enough money during the pregnancy to cope with all kinds of accidents.”
This requirement further eliminated 1/2 of remaining the candidates.
Sheyan continued, “She should have a refined husband, someone who's highly educated, non-alcoholic, and has no record of violence – after all, domestic violence is one of the main causes of miscarriage.”
After listening to Sheyan's request, Zi shrugged and said, “You sure set a high standard. We'll have to make calls to investigate and verify their situations.”
“I'll pay for the phone bills,” said Sheyan with a smile.
Zi rolled her eyes at that, but even this action of hers contained an indescribable charm. It stirred Sheyan's heart. Without any change in expression, he rubbed Zi's leg tentatively under the table. It resulted in his toes being stomped by the heel of her stiletto. The pain penetrated into the very core of his being, but he dared not make a sound.
After this round of screening, there were only nine candidates remaining. Everyone was relieved that the most difficult phase of the task was over. However, Sheyan's next order sent them to the brink of insanity.
“Now, the last requirement.” Sheyan said with some difficulty, “I want to know the exact time of their menstrual period.”
“Boss, you've gone too far!”
“I object!”
“We're not risking our lives in the nightmare world to satisfy a certain person's abnormal fetishes!!!”
“SILENCE!!!!!”
The veins on Sheyan's forehead throbbed. “Do you seriously think I'm that kind of person?”
Sheyan's expression that was full of righteousness finally silenced them a little, but Jinkuang suddenly appeared and laughed wickedly.
“Brilliantly done, my master….”
Sheyan shut his eyes in misery. The righteous image he had worked so hard to create was immediately destroyed.
He yelled bitterly, “You ignorant, illiterate, uncultured ma.s.ses! It's clearly written in “All About IVF” that a woman has certain time periods when she's not suited to get pregnant. For example, during the menstruation period and 10 days afterwards, the environment inside the uterus is like a barren land, and the success rate of embryo transfer is no higher than 30%. The most suitable time for embryo transfer is seven days before menstruation! Dealing with ignorant people is a real pain.”
Towards the end of his speech, Sheyan was already roaring and growling, but he suddenly noticed Zi giving him a chilly stare.
“Who did you call ignorant?”
Sheyan coughed sheepishly and changed the subject. “Let's move on. All their contact information is here. Tell them that you're staff from the hospital calling to get some information from them in order to properly process their request. Try to speak in a textbook doctor's tone. It won't be much of a problem.”
The survey found that the contact details of four of the nine candidates were already out of use. The remaining five contact numbers were successfully connected, but two were picked up not by the candidates themselves, and the people who picked up the phone could not answer questions as personal as menstruation periods.
Of the 3 remaining candidates, one had a change of heart. She had suddenly realised that children were “terrifying creatures” and no longer wanted to have one.
In the end, their choices was narrowed down to two. Ms. Adess told them that her period was half a month ago,while Ms. Dumbley was just done with her last period. Therefore, they had no choice but to set their sights on on Ms. Adess.
The remaining process was simple.
Sheyan slipped some aphrodisiac into the dinner of Ms. Adess and her husband and waited for them to have some action. Then, using ether as anesthetic, he succeeded in injecting John Connor, still in his embryo state, into Ms. Adess' body.
The most error-p.r.o.ne part of the embryo transfer operation was gauging the depth at which the needle needed to penetrate the body. Too deep, and the needle would penetrate through the uterus, but too shallow, and the tip would not reach into the uterus.
They were errors often committed by newbies who performed the operation with nervous, trembling hands. Sheyan was also a newbie, but he was someone who had gone through a lot of life-and-death situations, so his mental strength was unbelievably strong. He succeeded on his first try.
After cleaning their trails and removing anything out of the ordinary, Sheyan set fire to the several archives he had been to, destroying all the sources of the information he had gathered. This way, it would be impossible for their
