43: Chapter 43 100,000 Essence! (System's whisper)

Like a ghost orchid blooming in the night, Laya, carrying a fragrance that intertwined coldness and allure, tackled Li Yuan onto the soft bed.

Her thin-as-cicada-wings black silk nightgown slipped off her shoulder during the movement, revealing a large expanse of snow-white, delicate skin that gleamed with a lustrous sheen under the dim bedside lamp.

Her eyes shimmered with moisture, carrying a radiance emitted from energy filled to the extreme, deep and hazy.

She gently cupped Li Yuan's cheeks, lowered her head, and pressed her lips against his.

“Mmph...”

Li Yuan's brain went blank for a moment, and then, a torrent of energy, far more majestic than any previous transmission, surged from Laya's lips like volcanic lava finding an outlet!

This energy was so vast that Li Yuan felt his meridians slightly bulging.

So it turns out Laya was passing on her cultivation... She's getting more and more creative with this, Li Yuan thought, slightly relieved.

This was a life source aura similar to life essence, but even more ancient and sacred—this was undoubtedly the power from Olivia's life crystal!

After the energy poured into his body, it didn't flow directly into his dantian like in his usual cultivation. Instead, just like when he absorbed life essence before, it seemed to have its own consciousness and split into two distinct streams!

The smaller stream, like a docile brook, happily rushed downwards and injected directly into the liquid, slowly rotating bei ming core he had condensed in his lower dantian.

The other, larger stream, like a rushing river, surged upwards, heading straight for Li Yuan's sea of consciousness, and then vanished!

Undoubtedly, this was the system starting its deductions again. With his rich experience, Li Yuan focused all his mental energy on the bei ming core, and wisps of power escaped from this diversion and were absorbed into the bei ming core.

This energy transmission lasted for an extremely long time. Laya's body trembled slightly, the blush on her cheeks grew more intense, and a faint halo even began to radiate from her body, as if she herself were undergoing some kind of baptism.

Finally, when the last bit of energy finished transmitting, a satisfied and lazy sigh escaped from Laya's throat.

It was as if she had gone through an intense workout. With a body full of weariness and satisfaction, she lay softly on Li Yuan's chest. Her long eyelashes drooped like butterfly wings, her breathing was even and long, and she actually fell into a deep sleep just like that. A serene and charming smile still hung on the corners of her mouth.

Li Yuan looked at Laya in his arms, who looked like a sleeping angel. He felt the sense of fullness from the dantian cyclone in his body, which had clearly grown a circle larger, and heard the notification sound in his mind that had become active again because the system had devoured a massive amount of life essence. His mood was complex.

[Ding! Energy absorption complete! Settling...]

[Essence + 100000]

[Energy + 150000]

[Lifespan + 3 years]

The values for Essence and Energy in this settlement notification were ridiculously high; it was clearly the system's "generous" feedback after devouring the Queen's life essence. And the increase in lifespan far exceeded that of hunting ordinary Zerg.

Just as Li Yuan was secretly complaining to himself about this system "middleman" making a fortune, a long-unheard, energetic, and even clearly joyful girl's voice rang out happily in his mind:

“host sir, you are truly amazing! ٩(◕‿◕｡)۶”

Li Yuan was stunned. Why was this Customer Service Agent No. 1518 so lively today?

“System?” Li Yuan tentatively asked in his heart, “Listening to your voice... did you encounter something happy?” The system's abnormality was clearly related to the Queen's life essence that had just been devoured.

[Ah? Happy?] The system's voice was still overflowing with undisguisable joy, [No, no, how could that be! We systems are always emotionless, unless... unless we encounter something particularly worth being happy about, otherwise we would absolutely not be happy! host, your perception module must be malfunctioning! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧]

Li Yuan: “...”

He felt as if black lines were sliding down his forehead. Is this a classic example of a confession without being asked? A system that lies so poorly and has near-zero emotional management—if it were really some mastermind or ultimate BOSS like in some novels, then Li Yuan felt his transmigrator career would be too devalued.

This generation of the system might just be a dork, right?

“Fine, as long as you're happy.” Li Yuan was too tired to retort and decided to end this awkward conversation. He carefully moved his body, settled the sleeping Laya, and covered her with a blanket.

Looking at her serene sleeping face, the displeasure in his heart caused by the system's greed was slightly diluted. In any case, Laya seemed to have benefited from it, and he himself had also gained quite a bit.

...

The next day.

The North Star city defense forces and the Special Incident Handling Department, after tight control and deployment, finally entered the dead end of the abandoned industrial area and discovered the Zerg Queen's remains.

Surprisingly, the remains did not show any of the common decay, melting, or energy dissipation phenomena seen after the death of Zerg units. She lay quietly on the cold cement floor, her posture even carrying a hint of the curling and helplessness before death.

Except for the completely vanished life signs and energy fluctuations, everything about her remained as it was in life—flawless white skin, exquisitely beautiful facial features, tattered but even more tragically beautiful scales, and that long silver hair like flowing moonlight. She was lifelike, as if she were just a sleeping princess under a spell, rather than a cold corpse.

The residual energy traces at the scene became the focus of the investigation. It was a kind of extremely pure holy flame aura, completely different from the holy light power currently activated by human Awakeners through their talents, which carries distinct personal psionic imprints.

It was closer to the original laws of light, without any “human” aura. After the highest-precision energy spectrum comparison and analysis, it was confirmed that this did not belong to any powerhouse of the Yanlong Alliance or even any known human nation.

Due to the lack of witnesses and no direct evidence pointing to anyone or any organization, after a very detailed investigation, the officials had to helplessly classify this incident temporarily as “an unknown benevolent third-party force intervened to assist in clearing high-risk Zerg units,” and the relevant files were encrypted and sealed, listed as an unsolved case.

In any case, for Chen Jingyi who participated in the operation, because she excellently completed the manufacturing of the tracker and the subsequent tracking task; and for Aria, Li Yuan, and Laya, because they well completed the task of guarding Chen Jingyi, the previously promised trial points were issued along with the discovery of the Queen's corpse.

However, there is no wall that doesn't leak. Especially when it involves a top-tier Zerg unit as rare and research-valuable as the “Zerg Queen.”

Within forty-eight hours after the incident, a high-level delegation of envoys arrived at North Star from a distant star domain. They came from the “Holy Alliance,” a vast nation famous for its belief in freedom and its deep research into cutting-edge biotechnology, psionics, and certain “ancient truths.”

Several archbishops, dressed in robes embroidered with complex golden runes and possessing unfathomable auras, personally came forward. Using unassailable grand justifications such as “concerning the survival strategy of human civilization as a whole” and “deeply analyzing the evolutionary mysteries of high-level Zerg to seek a path for racial survival,” they formally submitted a request to the highest council of the Yanlong Alliance, hoping to share the remains of the Morph Queen for “sacred and necessary” scientific research.

The outside world's evaluation of the Holy Alliance has always been mixed, with rumors of them conducting various taboo experiments that challenge ethical boundaries. Calling them a “gathering place for perverts and geniuses” is not without basis.

As a regime that upholds rationality and pragmatism, the Yanlong Alliance naturally did not have a special fetish for studying well-preserved humanoid corpses. After the organization's top biology and energy experts conducted basic dissections, sample collection, and data analysis on the Queen's remains, the alliance's top leadership, after intense discussion and weighing of interests, finally made a pragmatic choice.

Trading a Queen's remains that had already lost its core value for advanced technology authorizations from the Holy Alliance in multiple strategic fields, including but not limited to miniaturized blueprints for high-efficiency energy shield generators for new-generation starships, industrial preparation processes for high-density psionic conductive composite materials, and partial research data on potential special therapies for gene collapse syndrome. In the eyes of the Alliance Council, this deal was a technology exchange that aligned with the Alliance's interests.

...

Holy Alliance, Seventh Cutting-Edge Biological Laboratory.

Inside a huge culture tank enclosed by high-strength transparent alloy and energy fields, it was filled with a light blue liquid rich in active factors and nutrients. The Morph Queen's body, perfect as a work of art, was floating quietly in the center. The bat wings on her back had been repaired, looking like two pieces of exquisite black jade carved out. The scars on her body had also disappeared without a trace, her skin was as smooth as jade, glowing with a soft halo under the refraction of the liquid. Her long silver hair, as if alive, floated slowly in the liquid.

A researcher wearing a sterile protective suit with sharp eyes was reporting to the several big figures outside the observation room through a communicator:

“Respected Your Excellency Bishop, the preliminary comprehensive scan and deep tissue analysis have been completed. The biological structure of the target individual is a miracle. Its gene sequence contains a large number of unknown fragments and differs greatly from known Zerg maps, especially in the mimetic nervous system and psionic wave resonance organs, which have extremely high research value. However...”

The researcher's voice carried a hint of gravity and regret: “We failed to detect the expected ‘God's Essence’ energy signal. According to the records of the Sacred Scripture Secret Scrolls and our internal top-secret files, a Queen of such rank should have ‘God's Essence’ containing her rule origin within her body. But the current test results show that there are only some residual psionic traces in her body, and no energy with special properties.”

In the observation room, an old man wearing deep red clerical robes with an ancient and simple face slowly opened his half-closed eyes, a flash of shrewd light in them: “It seems that other eyes have also set their sights on this ‘God's Essence.’ Moreover, they were faster than us, and their methods were even more... sophisticated.”

Another old man wearing white-gold clerical robes, with a more gloomy temperament, interjected: “Our ‘eyes’ inside the Yanlong Alliance did not send back any intelligence regarding the Alliance secretly researching ‘God's Essence.’ They seem to be unaware of the existence and value of this thing, otherwise they would never have exchanged the remains so easily.”

Sitting in the main seat, an old man wearing a simple crown of thorns and holding a plain wooden staff calmly watched the body in the culture tank, which could be called a masterpiece of the Creator, and finally made a decision.

His voice was calm but carried unquestionable authority: “Since the God's Essence is lost, searching for it is meaningless. This shell, which fuses the perfect Zerg genes with divine factors, is itself a priceless treasure. Let us use it as the core matrix for the new generation ‘Primarch’ project. If we can guide it to evolve in the direction of a ‘Sacred Remains,’ it will surely add an opportunity for our Holy Alliance to glimpse the supreme laws. In this way, it will not be a waste of this transaction.”

“We respectfully obey the Pontiff's decree.” Several archbishops bowed to receive the order.

Just as the laboratory researchers began to inject the specially prepared gene-inducing spiritual fluid and holy resonance catalyst into the culture tank, no one noticed that the Queen, suspended in the light blue liquid, seemed to roll her eyeballs extremely slightly... beneath those beautifully drawn eyelids.

Immediately after, everything returned to absolute stillness, as if the movement of that instant was just an illusion caused by light refraction.

...

And in a strange space that cannot be described by conventional physical dimensions, filled with endless data streams and conceptual radiance.

That familiar girl's voice belonging to Customer Service Agent No. 1518 was laughing uncontrollably, without any image, full of ecstasy:

“Wahahaha—! Success! Finally got it! A high-dimensional life core with ultra-high completeness, containing a trace of ‘ancient divinity’ characteristics! It's too perfect! One of the most important pieces of this system's ‘Ultimate Completion Plan’ has finally been obtained! host sir, you are truly my lucky star! Mua~! (✿◡‿◡)”

The cheerful laughter echoed in the void, full of excitement and pride that the plan had made key progress.

It was a girl who looked exactly like the phantom inside the Queen's crystal core, but the unrefined, wild laughter ruined her sacred aura.