The Trembling World

Chapter 415 - Spares

TL: Lifeisajourney

After Zhao Meng entered the reward capsule, the scientist got to work under Jiang Jin-Yuan's supervision. From the workstation, he erased the soul's memory and all its varied resistance factors within the soul storage equipment. Once the soul had been processed into spirit essence, it was injected into Zhao Meng, laying within the capsule.

According to the scientist, this technology of spirit essence injection could only be performed once per person. Only one soul could be turned into spirit essence, and two souls couldn't be mixed to form a spirit essence. This type of leveling up could only be done once; if it was done more than once, soul rupture might occur.

Just like all the the previous players who had entered the capsule, after being injected, Zhao Meng's stats started to increase. After ten minutes, Zhao Meng leveled up from 6 to 7, and his stats continued to increase.

Standing right by the capsule, Liu Gan didn't know how successful the experiment would be. Ultimately, the results would have to wait until Zhao Meng exited the capsule, and they knew if his body had been taken over.

The procedure of injecting spirit essence wasted a lot of time, so Liu Gan slept on the ergonomic chair in the meantime. After a little over four hours, the process was finally completed.

After leaving the capsule, Zhao Meng stared at his wristwatch, and it displayed level 10! According to the scientist's explanation, Zhao Meng's body could only handle one spirit essence. If they tried to forcefully inject another spirit essence into his body, his soul would rupture and his body would be severely damaged.

After exiting the capsule, Zhao Meng gave answers that matched exactly what he had told to Liu Gan previously. Even the Soul Detection Analyzer only picked up one soul within Zhao Meng's body, which meant that the experiment was very successful.

When Zhan Nan Shan saw this scene, he started crying. He had lost another comrade-in-arms; he wouldn't be able to finish his mission. Humanity had lost its last hope. On top of that, Liu Gan didn't care for anything other than himself.

After Zhao Meng, it was Jiang Jin-Yuan's turn to enter the capsule to receive a spirit essence injection. Liu Gan had his worries, since Jiang Jin-Yuan technically had been through a similar procedure, so his body might not be able to accept this sort of upgrade, or weird anomalies might occur. Ultimately, Jiang Jin-Yuan was also able to accept the blessings of the spirit essence. Not only was Jiang Jin-Yuan's procedure completed faster, but also the effects were better than Zhao Meng's. Everything about Jiang Jin-Yuan was slightly better than Zhao Meng, which was due to the higher innate aptitude of Jiang Jin-Yuan's body.

Last, it was Liu Gan's turn to enter into the capsule. However, this time it was different from when Zhan Nan Shan had set the trap. Under Yin He and Jiang Jin-Yuan's close supervision, the scientist injected the spirit essence into Liu Gan.

"Spirit Essence can only be injected once. You can only use one person's soul as an essence. Since your level is fairly high, the majority of the other souls wouldn't be able to raise your level, so it would be a waste. The only remaining soul that will help you level up has to be the strongest soul. The soul of the Dragon Commander is the only suitable match," the scientist informed him unflinchingly.

"No! You can't do that! You are heartless! You are destroying humanity's last hope!" Zhan Nan Shan started arguing with the scientist.

"Oh? Am I now? Now, can you tell me about this secret mission you are carrying out? What is the truth behind The Trembling World? If you tell me honestly, then maybe I will reconsider for the sake of all humanity. I might even let your Dragon Commander go, but if you insist on remaining silent about it, then you have no worth to me. I will use up all the spare souls," Liu Gan threatened Zhan Nan Shan.

Zhan Nan Shan stared at Liu Gan to see if he was speaking truthfully about carrying out that threat. He hesitated before giving an answer.

"Oh right, I have a lot more close aides down in the south. They are around level 6 or 7, too. Since there are 15 more remaining souls here, I can prep them all into nutritious spirit essences for my aides," Liu Gan continued to speak out about his plan.

"The secret mission… I am not high enough ranking to know the details. Only Dragon Commander himself knows. So if you kill him, then you have single-handedly ruined humanity's last hope! You can't do that!" Zhan Nan Shan cried loudly.

"Then, I guess for humanity's last hope, you should consult with your Dragon Commander one last time. Tell him about your current situation, so he can decide for you. Tell him his option, to tell the truth about The Trembling World and his secret mission, or to become my essence and vanish from existence," Liu Gan told Zhan Nan Shan.

Zhan Nan Shan immediately agreed. With Yin He escorting them, they arrived at the soul storage equipment that could communicate with the souls through an interface. Once Dragon Commander's soul was called for, Zhan Nan Shan started talking.

First, Zhan Nan Shan apologized for being incompetent and unable to carry out his mission. Then, Zhan Nan Shan broke the bad news to Dragon Commander. He hoped that everything would go according to Liu Gan's demands, so that there would be hope for Dragon Commander to stay alive.

"You can reply to him. This matter is of the highest degree of secrecy. I can't tell him," Dragon Commander thought about it for a long time before responding.

"Then… You will be killed…" Zhan Nan Shan trembling as he begged his leader to reconsider.

"You have done your best already, so don't blame yourself too much. We were unable to accomplish our mission, that is our fate. It also sealed the the fate of humanity. If our fate is destined to be like this, then let him do as he pleases," Dragon Commander finished his thoughts and stopped communicating.

***

"Do you know what you are doing? You can't do that! For a little benefit now, you are sacrificing all of humanity! Brother Liu, I know you are very reasonable. Let's think this through…" Zhan Nan Shan continued pleas fell on deaf ears.

"Oh? I gave you a chance already. Even your leader Dragon Commander didn't want to spill the truth, so he doesn't seem to value the fate of humanity at all!" Liu Gan coldly spoke back.

"When we signed up for the mission, we signed confidentiality agreements. We can't casually tell you the truth behind the mission!" Zhan Nan Shan continued to try to reason with Liu Gan.

"At this point, what is there to talk about? Now, you can carry the secret to your grave!" Liu Gan kicked Zhan Nan Shan away from him as he headed back toward the capsule room.

"No! NO! Don't do it!" Zhan Nan Shan cried out loudly as he watched Liu Gan's back disappear from his view. He smashed his head on the ground out of impotent fury and inability to do anything.