Era of Disaster

Chapter 153: Alodia

The activated cells had an immense impact on living things, but the purpose of the initial stages of the research was the so-called 'longevity'. But in the process of the research, due to various different people having different discoveries and different ideas about things, the direction of the research had some changes to it. Most of them still continued their research toward the original objective, but similarly there were some who veered off from that original direction. However, sometimes the power these demented side paths created was completely unimaginable compared to the original route.

In the Mount Pleasant region below Picton, there was a small research facility and an unimaginable thing was being researched inside this place.

The connection between activated cells!

This doesn't sound too special, but once one thought about how all the activated cells originated from the Progenitor, they would understand the importance of this topic. Seemingly, the mysterious connection between activated cells could result in a new creation under certain conditions.

Unfortunately, even Ji Hua Qing wasn't too clear about the details of this research. The researcher that escaped from that research facility belonged to Brazil. This information was also something China's special agents acquired after much effort.

"I once worked with Gomez before, so I'm still quite familiar with him. That guy was really quite crazy. Anybody in New Zealand had already been infected with the activated cells, so in order to not become a new experimental subject in someone's else hands, he had to produce something that had value and importance," Ji Hua Qing explained.

"The connection between activated cells!"

"Maybe it doesn't sound very impressive, but based on my understanding of Gomez, that guy definitely produced something amazing. Unfortunately, New Zealand was too dangerous, and the higher ups didn't see the importance of this piece of information, so they weren't willing to send people to execute this dangerous mission. When my old enemy tricked me this time, I initially wanted to return as well. But suddenly, I recalled this piece of information. Since I was already at the edge of New Zealand, I might as well head to that research facility. However, New Zealand's dangers were still way beyond our expectations. In just a short while after landing, we encountered evolved lifeforms and suffered casualties," Ji Hua Qing continued.

"After that you extracted the blood source serum, intending to make those soldiers assimilate with the activated cells." Bai Yi's voice was very cold.

"Yes, only then could they have the ability to protect themselves."

"Why not just say instead that they'll have the ability to protect you to head toward that research facility."

"What's the difference? Didn't you say too that this was their only chance to survive in this place," Ji Hua Qing's beard bounced, as he talked. "Fine, I admit that I'm quite selfish, but I really am curious about the thing Gomez left behind. The connection between activated cells, just what did the research into such a subject contain?" Ji Hua Qing saw the unfriendly faces of the others in Bai Yi's team and immediately softened his words.

"I'm not interested in whatever happened between you guys, but you better not try to have to any special thoughts in my team." Bai Yi only reminded him simply and looked away. However, it was this unhurried way of speaking that made Ji Hua Qing quiver in his heart. He was already an old man, and had met many different types of people before in his life. He could tell that Bai Yi wasn't joking with him, his outcome would definitely be very tragic if he did have any strange plans in his head.

The Bai Yi now was no longer the gentle and mild Bai Yi at the beginning of New Zealand's change.

……

Bai Yi's team didn't want to waste any more time and immediately set out for the Mount Pleasant region. However, without walking for even a kilometer, everyone looked at Ji Hua Qing's face full of melancholy; he was way too slow. Due to Bai Yi emphasizing on independence in the team, everybody always walked by themselves. Even though they had Sharpei and Pupu in their team, other than when they were playing around or under special circumstances, even Momo wouldn't ride Sharpei. Instead, she would walk on her own legs. After moving for a while like this out of habit, they realized that this old man was really too slow.

"Sharpei, carry this old guy." Bai Yi tried to pacify Sharpei first.

"What?" Ji Hua Qing panted heavily, walking 1 kilometer in New Zealand now wasn't like walking 1 kilometer on a flat road. Ji Hua Qing was already so tired to the point where he had difficulty breathing.

"You should be happy that you can sit on Sharpei, normal people would never have this chance." Woolf added in from the side. Even this Dr. Ji Hua Qing who had long gotten used to looking at the evolved lifeforms inside the research facility got a fright from this. After hearing Woolf's words and looking at Sharpei standing over there, his face looked like he had just eaten shit. Could he not sit on him?

However, Sharpei immediately walked over, bit Ji Hua Qing's collar and swung the old man onto his back. Ji Hua Qing's heart almost popped out of his chest, this was extremely close contact! The Sharpei now could star in any monster movie and frighten people to death.

"Move!" Bai Yi immediately said again after seeing that Ji Hua Qing had climbed onto Sharpei's back.

The bunch of them started running again .At this moment, Ji Hua Qing realized just how big the difference in speed was. After a while, he realized that there was little cat in front of him. At this time, this little cat stared at him with curious eyes.

A normal chinchilla cat!

Ji Hua Qing immediately let out a breath of relief, there was finally something normal in this team! However, in the next moment, he suddenly woke up with a start. How could there be anything normal in New Zealand now? This little cat should be one of the members of Bai Yi's team, so how could it still retain its original form? In an instant, the fanatical researcher in Ji Hua Qing's head came out.

"Hi!" He called out to Chinchilla, intending to form a good relationship with it first.

However, Chinchilla seemed to see something from Ji Hua Qing's eyes, and it immediately sent its paw scratching at him. Although its form didn't change much, it was still extremely restless and active in all the time it spent in Bai Yi's team. Its claws were already polished sharp from all its activity. With a 'puchi!', Ji Hua Qing immediately felt a pain on his face and a section of his beard got torn off. Shit! To think that I would get disfigured when I'm already so old and from a cat too!

Chinchilla looked at him arrogantly and did a catwalk toward Sharpei's head. Then, it slowly laid down on Sharpei's head just like a proud little princess. Who would tell Ji Hua Qing that in the half a year with Momo, Chinchilla was also learning these so-called noble etiquettes with her? It had even learned it so well that the etiquettes was a part of it now.

In that moment, Dr. Ji Hua Qing felt a mysterious sorrow in his heart. The cat had definitely looked down on him!

All of the members in Bai Yi's team were a bunch of freaks!

……

Their speed now was a lot faster. Ji Hua Qing and his group had initially landed at Picton, and it wasn't too far away from the Mount Pleasant region. In less than two hours, they had finally reached a small town in that place. Obviously, the research facility that the old man talked about was one of the 121 research facilities in New Zealand. However, how were they supposed to find that small research facility in an environment like this?

"Do you know the exact location?" Bai Yi looked at Ji Hua Qing.

"The research facility is under the guise of a factory, and it's close to the railroad for ease of transportation of resources. But I'm not too sure about where exactly it is either," Ji Hua Qing said.

"Then we have to search carefully, let's start," Bai Yi said.

"Aren't you going to split into a few teams?" Ji Hua Qing asked in puzzlement after hearing Bai Yi's words.

"Split into a few teams?"

"That's right, the Mount Pleasant region isn't too big, so we can definitely find the research facility very quickly if we split into a few teams," Ji Hua Qing said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Keep quiet if you don't know anything, it doesn't matter if we are slow, the important thing is safety. New Zealand now isn't like the outside world, nobody can say that they can handle any situation that may come at them. Hence, it's best for a team to stick together, so that we can help each other if we encounter any dangers. The chances of surviving would be a lot higher this way as well," Bai Yi looked at Ji Hua Qing and explained.

Was it like this?

Ji Hua Qing immediately became speechless. Perhaps he was way ahead of Bai Yi's team when it came to activated cells research, but he had almost no understanding of New Zealand's environment now. Or maybe after hearing Bai Yi's words, there was a sense of guilt in his heart. After all, researchers like him caused all of this.

With a clear target, they only had to look for an hour before finding the factory close to the railway. This research facility was built underground like before, so Woolf and a few others couldn't enter the place. Hence, there were only Bai Yi, Heloise, and Ji Hua Qing who entered.

"Team leader, wait!"

"En, what is it?" Bai Yi looked at Alodia.

"I want to go as well." Alodia's voice was somewhat uneasy.

"Ok!" Bai Yi was taken aback for a moment, but he quickly smiled and nodded after. Bai Yi didn't know which noble family Alodia was born in, but her background was apparently not ordinary. In the period of time after New Zealand had changed, it could be said that many times it was due to Vala's protection that she could survive until now. However, this young girl finally seemed to be starting to grow and gained the courage to face everything in front of her. Although this kind of resolution was somewhat late, it was already a very good start.

"Are you worried about Alodia?" Raymond couldn't help but ask after the few of them entered from the entrance when he saw that Vala seemed to be thinking about something.

"No, it's sense of gratification!" Vala looked at Raymond and smiled.

Alodia wasn't Vala's only student, but she was the student that Vala liked the most. She was a true young noble lady - humble, elegant, serene, and not like those other young noble girls who were unruly and wilful. Unfortunately, faced with New Zealand's sudden change, Vala felt that Alodia would be eliminated sooner or later if she didn't change. The New Zealand now had no use for a serene personality like Alodia's.

Luckily, this wasn't considered too late. Awakening at this time in Bai Yi's team still gave her plenty of chances to grow.

Chapter 154: Yeye Appears

The four of them entered the research facility through the passageway and slowly headed downward. This was indeed a small-scale research facility, so they only had to walk through two doors before they entered the inner area of this research facility. Bai Yi looked at the faint marks of damage on the two doors and shook his head with slight regret in his heart.

People came here before!

Although he didn't know who came here before them, he could tell very clearly from the marks on those doors that somebody had already been here. After knowing this, Bai Yi made some mental preparations about the harvests that he may reap from this trip. It would still be okay if the people that came here before didn't know anything, but if people who could make use of the research data came here, they would probably not be able to get anything on this trip.

Although it was a small-scale research facility, it still had its own internal electricity generator. Very quickly, they switched on the lights inside. Ji Hua Qing immediately ran toward the main research lab, as he wanted to check the files on the computer to see if there was anything important. Alodia immediately followed by his side and watched this old man.

"I'm quite skilled in computers," Alodia looked at Heloise's questioning eyes and explained.

"Oh really, then that's great." Heloise nodded.

As for Bai Yi, he went around examining this research facility in detail. Honestly speaking, this research facility really couldn't be considered big, but they could tell that a group of people had stayed in this place for a period of time. However, they seemed to have given up on this place afterward. What Bai Yi placed the most importance on was a giant cultivation pool more than 20 meters in diameter at the center. There were still some traces of blood and flesh on top of it, but they were all long dried up long ago. It really made him very curious, just what was being cultivated and nurtured here?

After a while, Bai Yi returned and saw Ji Hua Qing's dejected face.

"How is it, did you find anything?" Bai Yi asked.

"It's no use, the computer is still fine but the data inside has already been wiped clean. It would be very difficult to retrieve it again." Ji Hua Qing's face was full of disappointment. It was really a pity, the people who left this place were very thorough and wiped all the hard disks inside the computers. However, this also proved that the data inside this research facility had to be quite important. Even if the group of people wasn't researchers, they still didn't want other people to acquire this information after they understood it.

"I can try to recover the data, but I only learned about all this as a hobby, so I might not succeed," Alodia said.

"Then you can wait for a moment, I think I have a companion that can help you," Bai Yi said. Then, he walked toward the outside.

Companion?

Who was more proficient in computers than her? Maybe Teacher Vala? That's not right, Teacher Vala didn't seem to be too skilled in computers either. Alodia thought for a while in her heart, but she really couldn't figure out who was good at computers in the team. Even Heloise stood there blankly, but after a while, her eyes finally lit up. The companion that Bai Yi mentioned, it was her!

Sure enough, Bai Yi came down again after a while. He carried a sealed protective case. Vala and Nancy followed him back this time, but Raymond still didn't come down because his body couldn't fit in this place.

"I forgot to introduce you guys, but there's still one more person on this team. It's just that all along the circumstances weren't right, so you guys would probably not have much impression even if I introduced her. But now seems like a pretty good time," Bai Yi said and opened the protective case, revealing a CPU inside.

"A computer?"

"That's right, a computer. Don't get shocked later, ok?" Bai Yi said to Alodia and the rest. After that, the few of them worked together and connected the computer to the research facility's system.

"Bai Yi, just how long did you forget about me?! It has been so long, yet you haven't even let me out once!" After the system finished starting up, a girl suddenly popped up on the screen and shouted angrily at Bai Yi. Yeye's mouth went off like a machinegun grumbling at Bai Yi, and her words seemed unending.

"Sorry, sorry! There really weren't any suitable conditions to let you out before!" Bai Yi hurriedly raised both his hands and apologized quickly.

"Hmph, your apology is so insincere."

"Then Yeye, what do you want me to do?"

"Why don't you help me to create a body? A body with the appearance of a human and with an independent internal energy system. I could stay outside permanently then!" Yeye's eyes suddenly lit up.

"That's impossible, I really don't have that ability." Bai Yi could only laugh helplessly.

"Hmph, I knew you would say that. So, what do you want, letting me out this time?" Yeye grumbled for a while before changing her background to a wide-open balcony and making herself a cup of milk tea.

"Let me introduce a few friends to you first," Bai Yi said, as he pointed to the people beside him. The surveillance cameras placed all around the research facility immediately turned around and focused on these few people. Vala, Nancy, and Alodia. When the camera turned to Heloise, she immediately waved and gave a smile.

"Who's this old guy?"

"You can consider him to be our captive, as he's somebody who came into New Zealand from the outside world. He's also a researcher. I think he should be quite useful, so I brought him along as well. His name is Ji Hua Qing," Bia Yi looked at Ji Hua Qing and explained.

"Idiot! Ji Hua Qing is a titan in biology research in China, and he was even the teacher of Dr. Wang for a period of time. You guys actually took him captive!" Yeye said carelessly. However, these words immediately stunned Bai Yi's team for a moment, so this old man was actually somebody so awesome? But this old guy never mentioned anything about this before!

"I am Yeye, an artificial intelligence." Yeye stood up and gave everyone an elegant self-introduction after the rest of them had finished introducing themselves.

"Oh!"

Everyone was still in a bit of daze now, and their minds couldn't wrap around this. The computer inside the protective case was actually an artificial intelligence! That unassuming old man was actually a titan in the field of biology in China and even the ex-teacher of Dr. Wang! However, very quickly, all of them regained their composure. Obviously, the reason Bai Yi brought Yeye out was to ask her to recover the deleted data.

"You are an artificial intelligence? That can't be, I've seen artificial intelligences before, and I have never seen one that's as life-like as you! Although the various data would simulate an image, it would always be limited by the programming settings." Ji Hua Qing looked at the young girl in the screen with doubt.

"Hmph~!" Yeye snorted and couldn't be bothered to explain.

"Talk, what is it this time?" Yeye put down her teacup and asked Bai Yi.

"This used to be one of the research facilities, and the thing being researched here was the activated cells as well, but it should be a branch of the original research direction. There were people who came here before us and they deleted all the data before leaving. Can you help and see if you could recover the deleted data?" Bai Yi didn't beat around the bush either and said directly.

"Just this? No problem, but it's impossible to recover everything completely. After all, the data has already been deleted, so there will definitely be some loss," Yeye said. In the next moment, all the computers within the research facility switched on by themselves and started running.

"It has already been 1 year and 7 months since then, just what does New Zealand look like now?" Recovering the deleted files didn't expend too much of Yeye's processing power. While executing those processes, Yeye also asked Bai Yi about some things.

"Is today already October 14th of the second year? I really didn't imagine that time would go by so quickly." Bai Yi was surprised himself.

"You guys don't even keep track of the date?" Yeye said with a face full of disdain.

"What to do? The people now wouldn't keep track of things like this so clearly, and it was already very good to be able to survive for another day. We only have a general sense of the days, but we aren't sure which day it is exactly," Bai Yi explained. Lifeforms like humans had a lot of limitations once they separated from their tools. They couldn't be like Yeye with an internal power source and could track the passing of every second.

After chatting with her for a few sentences, Bai Yi told her about their experiences over this period of time. When she heard about Mavis' death, and how Warner went missing, Yeye was also apparently quite dispirited.

At this time, Ji Hua Qing, who heard Bai Yi's story from the side, was also quite affected. Bai Yi's words completely detailed the most directly observed scene in New Zealand now - a cruel struggle!

In addition, Ji Hua Qing also noticed how different Yeye was from the other artificial intelligences that he had seen. Emotions, Yeye had her own complete emotions! If he didn't know that she was such a computer, there really wasn't any difference between her and a true intelligent lifeform. No, that's not right, she was a true intelligent lifeform, just that humans created her.

Ji Hua Qing instantly became excited again when he thought till here.

The Bai Yi whom the outside world wanted to grasp but couldn't reach; his daughter Momo that had a strange butterfly merged within; a little cat Chinchilla that clearly assimilated with activated cells but had no physical changes; and this artificial intelligence Yeye that had developed her own autonomous consciousness. If it was possible, Ji Hua Qing really wanted to study this group of people properly, but now…

Bai Yi only glanced at him plainly and Ji Hua Qing knew that he shouldn't do things to endanger his own life.

One could say that the more Ji Hua Qing knew about Bai Yi's team, the harder it was for him to leave. The more a person knew, the more dangerous it would become.

"I already recovered a portion of the data. Do you guys want to take a look first?" Yeye asked when a soft 'ding!' came from the computers, while Bai Yi detailed everything that had happened over this period of time.

"En, take a look first." Bai Yi nodded.

"You guys can find a computer each. I can send the data to all the computers at the same time," Yeye said while the few of them each found a computer close by and carefully looked through the data that she had recovered.

Lemme try using the notes feature, so this is 6/7 of the chapters owed!