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But why am I so excited that I can't contain myself? The feeling of blood flowing through my neck is so hot, bringing a burning, vibrant sensation.
Haida's face was hidden in the shadow of the candlelight, and a very faint smile curled up from the corner of her lips, like the slightly cunning kiss of a wolf.
"Why not flap your wings, why not breathe, why not roar? Dragon, do you still dare to try to escape?"
Pansassin thrust out his spear, seemingly weary of the previous entanglement and intent on ending the battle in one fell swoop. After several minutes of contact, he had become completely familiar with Haida's movements and speed, and had executed his plan for a fatal blow.
He slammed the spear into the sword guard, his scales and claws tore through his armor, and completely ignored the wooden-handled folding knife thrown by the nun.
The spear forged from the tailbone of a dragon-shaped heir, used by the previous chief, pierced through Haida's chest. Its tough bone plates held for a moment, but ultimately could not stop its relentless and sharp edge.
The beating heart in her chest fell silent.
Haida felt a familiar chill, a chill that signified the continuous loss of life force, the cold breath of death lingering in her ears. She had felt the same way a year ago when she collapsed in the dark alley of the North District, a night littered with corpses on a snowy night.
Now, looking back, it feels strangely familiar.
Thump-thump!
Her heart pounded like a drumbeat, and she abruptly reached out and gripped the dragonbone spear piercing her chest, preventing him from pulling away. Then, gathering her remaining strength, she swung her power sword "Nirvana" straight at Pansassin's neck.
"As expected of the chief hunter known for hunting giants, it would be difficult to even touch him without using such an unsightly method."
The blade flashed.
Pansassin opened his mouth in an extremely bizarre manner and viciously bit the blade of the power sword, producing a sour metallic scraping sound.
Can that really be called a mouth? It looks more like the long, narrow mouth of a dragon covered in fangs.
Despite being blocked, the sword still sliced through most of his head along the corner of his mouth, breaking the fragile jawbone joint and exposing most of the atlantoaxial joint.
The trauma and pain slightly lessened the dragon hunter's frenzy, and reason seemed to briefly return to his mind, his inverted, ferocious pupils also dilated into circles.
"So, I was the dragon all along..."
"A frail mortal who hasn't even reached the fourth level has managed to do this... I don't know where you got your other heart, but using it as bait is not worthwhile."
At this point, he slowly lowered his head and looked at his chest.
"But this round... you win."
An invisible, grayish-white blade had pierced through the gap in Pansassin's ribs, slicing through the contents beneath his scale-like skin.
That was Haida's secret technique, the "Mechanized Spirit Body," which she had kept hidden.
She had already planned ahead; this trump card would be revealed at the very last moment, when life and death were at stake. Using it too early might gain some advantage, but it would also lose the element of surprise.
"What is the name of the summons attendant who has gained my approval?"
The dragon hunter's voice returned to its old and weak state.
"Hyda Moira".
Sister Qiu wiped the blood from the corner of her lips in response.
Si felt her vision was a little blurry, but her body was in an unprecedented state of excitement, like a hot sword blank that had just left the forge, and she would not lose consciousness in a short time.
“Hey… I thought you’d also have the surname Meredith, like me, like that crazy kid with the same colored eyes as you more than twenty years ago. He was far more ruthless than you, who diligently wielded your sword.”
Sipanthuston's body began to disintegrate, yet he continued his casual conversation with an unperturbed expression. He seemed more concerned with the nun's identity than with his own impending demise.
"If you mean the chief of funeral services this year, then he now also uses Moira as his surname."
Wu Haida looked at the person in front of her and offered an explanation.
Lu Yaheng Moira. He is my father.
The dragon hunter seemed to suddenly realize something.
"Abandoning their original surname, so that's how it is. I understand now. If the proud and aloof wolves have all perished in the natural disaster, leaving only the lowly survivors, then leaving is indeed the only option..."
"Finally, Sister Heda. What you see here is a remnant of the past, abandoned here."
"If one day you find me in the Tomb of the Feathered Dragon, remember to kill me, and preferably burn my remains to charcoal completely. ...Whether I have exposed my mouthparts, feathers, or scales. Whether I retain my human form or not."
Having managed to utter his last sentence, Pansassin's body withered and crumbled into a pile of fine ashes.
-
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soup!
Chapter Fifteen: Primitiveization
At the entrance to the corridor on the ground floor of the Suspended Blade Training Ground, a person was leaning against the wall, resting his cheek on his hand as he waited.
Even the oversized medical court uniform coat couldn't conceal her tall and slender figure. Behind her followed a five-person emergency medical team, ready to respond to any emergencies.
"Haida has been in that secret chamber for almost ten minutes. Will she be able to pass the test of the remnants of the Dragon Hunters?"
Marianne gently touched her beauty mark and sighed softly, not hiding the worry in her eyes.
Under the constraints of the ritual and forced tranquility, the remnant of the past, originating from Pansassin, could still maintain humanity and consciousness. But the moment the seal was broken, he would be overwhelmed by obsessive fantasies…
He came to regard all life within his sight as dragons.
His murderous intent and hatred came from the heart; they were genuine, fiery, and intense.
Therefore, the casualty rate of the first type of trial has remained high for centuries. Hoping that a former chief, filled with resentment, would show mercy is unrealistic delusion. He even stifled his own potential rebirth into a dragon form in the womb.
Those who are not qualified should have no complaints about having their lives taken by him.
And the only thing that could give Qi the recognition he had earned... was death and Lu Anmian.
As for why this former chief hunter, known for his bravery and strength, had fallen into such a state, Marian learned about it from the secret documents of the Medical Court.
Now that this information has been filed with the medical court, the reason that led to Pensassin's suicide becomes quite clear...
Epidemic.
That was the curse of the dragon-type holy heirs before their demise; mortals stained with their blood would be transformed into their degraded subspecies.
A sufficiently strong body will be replaced by it.
The aged dragon hunter, who had already ascended to the rank of apostle, killed himself time and time again until his body was completely shattered into several remnants, at which point the dragon plague, which was enough to cause a natural disaster, was barely contained.
Although she was quite confident in Haida's current strength, Marian still couldn't help but feel uneasy.
Excessive worry about the younger generation is a common trait among elders, especially since Haida has been cared for by Marian ever since she was brought into the Hunter's Order by Yaheng, and is treated no differently than her own child. In addition, this is also related to her profession.
As a doctor who has personally experienced a major pandemic, she has witnessed far too many deaths and accidents.
Although Haida may be even more formidable than Yaheng was back then, she is sometimes too straightforward and forceful. She hasn't yet become accustomed to using ruthless and unscrupulous means as one of her regular weapons.
Marian bit her lip slightly, then glanced at the time on her silver-plated watch.
Is ten minutes really that long? Damn it, why isn't the time limit up yet?
Just then, a figure dressed in a black nun's armor pushed open the brass door and slowly walked out.
Her leather robe was tattered and torn, revealing fair skin covered with scars of varying depths. These newly formed scars gleamed with a silvery metallic sheen in the shadows, making them particularly striking.
Marian waved to the first aid team beside her to follow, and then quickly approached Heda.
"Haida, did you encounter any danger during the assessment? Were you injured...?" <★4⌒〗4△∵♀｜
By the dim, flickering light of the kerosene lamp, Marianne could see the nun's condition clearly. Her pupils narrowed sharply at that moment, and her ochre-red, matte lips were slightly parted, remaining open for a long time.
Haida's current condition can only be described as "tragic".
Even with the second-tier mid-level secret technique [Engraving Holy Wounds] temporarily sealing the wound, the nun's inner lining and skirt armor were still mostly soaked with blood. What truly shocked Marian was the horrifying wound on her chest that pierced through to her left heart.
Even the dragon bone spear that caused the wound remains there in its original state.
The spearhead pierced diagonally into the pectoralis minor muscle below the clavicle, penetrating the two layers of ribs protecting the chest cavity, and then exiting from the lower end of the scapula on the back. In most cases, injuries of this magnitude are not the responsibility of a surgeon… and should be handled by the coroner and forensic pathologist.
Heda remained calm and even walked steadily to Marian's side.
Marian's first reaction was to have the emergency medical team prepare a stretcher, but the position of the dragon bone spear that ran through the nun's chest was too tricky, and making her lie on her side could cause secondary injury.
"Secure the foreign object, prepare for emergency blood transfusion, life support equipment, and a portable surgical platform!"
The senior doctor bit his inner lip to calm himself down, and then quickly issued instructions.
Haida had intended to say that she could walk to the medical court on her own, but before she could finish speaking, she was surrounded by medical personnel who rushed forward. A near-maximum level of emergency medical procedures were then initiated.
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Foggy Street Clinic, Cloning Lab.
Outside the observation cubicle in the laboratory, Fran stood with his hands behind his back, examining the month's interim results with great interest. Tinuville stood quietly to his side, silent and still, like a delicate and serene classical plaster sculpture.
"As I suspected, they were all defective products with huge flaws."
Fran raised his hand and stroked his lower lip, his amber eyes reflecting a soft, gentle light, showing no sign of disappointment.
"One had no skin, one had organs hanging outside its body, and one had an abnormally large proliferation of blood vessels. The remaining two were simply degenerate embryos without human form, looking like bloated little chaotic eggs."
After completing clinical observations and sketches, she devised a plan for the disposal of these five cloned products.
"The first three, though each has its flaws, are already quite well-developed in other areas. They can be harvested as a preliminary achievement to fill the technological gaps in reverse genetic engineering. As for the two embryos that haven't reached the differentiation stage... let Sister Heda practice on them."
Generally speaking, cloning results in either failure or success.
The products obtained are either dead bodies that failed to activate the embryo, or living bodies that are identical in appearance to the prototype. There are very few intermediate states that are half-dead or half-alive.
However, the original genome is not only as mysterious and complex as its construction process, but it also possesses an almost astonishing vitality... so much so that even if there is an error in the activation of the nuclear genome, its offspring will still survive in a deformed state.
A moment later, Fran straightened his collar and lining, then put on white medical gloves and walked into the observation room through a side passage.
The two deformed embryos, which had not yet differentiated into limbs, contracted slightly but did not make any other movements.
The remaining three clones, which were beginning to resemble humans, immediately turned around and crawled towards Fran on all fours.
That spark of intelligence did not arise in their minds. Right now, these clones were just a collection of flesh and blood dominated by hunger and fear, not even worthy of being called beasts.
"The technology is still somewhat imperfect, and we have to solve many things manually. We need to make an automated recycling module next month."
Adhering to the principle of efficient solutions and respect for experimental materials, Fran quickly bound the three deformed clones to the spot with the flower branch chains of the [Dawn Lily], and then used the bio-alchemy [Dissolving Bone and Blood] to dismantle the flesh and blood in reverse engineering.
"Tinuville, prepare to analyze and record the gene expression profiles obtained this time, as well as the subsequent environmental stress experiments... I need a dataset that is clinically applicable, as for the visualization tables, it's optional."
"Yes."
Tinuvel nodded in agreement.
During the process of stripping the clone of its flesh and blood, Fran still had the energy to instruct the ship's AI beside him on how to proceed with the next step.
She did not directly use anatomical techniques to dismantle all these flawed prototypes, but stopped after opening their body cavities and exposing their internal structures.
Then, the doctor opened the medicine box and took out an unexpected biological material.
—It was a heart that radiated a deep, dark blue hue.
The heart of Melvis Rudolph, president of the Star Abyss Society.
Deep within Mordway's fabricated mortal palace, the attention of the vast majority of people—whether they were the remnants of the Heil, the Tide Listeners, or the Hunters—was completely captivated by the escalating and intensifying battle. They could no longer spare a thought for the final fate of this heart.
If Fran had carelessly tossed it to the ground then, it would have turned into salt dust during the cleansing process of Shiodia [S-200. Moonstone Silver].
However, the doctor had already stored Melvis's heart in his medicine box before the purification began and processed it into a specimen through a series of procedures. After losing the perfusion of fresh blood, Melvis's heart lost its crimson color as flesh and blood, and under the sedimentation of spiritual energy, it revealed an almost pitch-black azure blue. (Hedgehog)
At first glance, it looks like some kind of raw mineral crystal.
"Thump." Fold
A faint throbbing sound came from Fran's hand.
The heart trembled slightly, as if reborn, and an indescribable influence immediately permeated the entire observation room. It was a yearning and covetousness for the origins of the bloodline, for an ancient mystery.
Tracing back to the source, degeneration, atavism.
Under its influence, the three clones slowly began to revert to a neotenous state. Approximately six hours later, their previously differentiated skeletons, organs, and limbs fused together again, returning them to an incompletely developed embryonic state. II
The clinical data observed during this regression was exactly what Fran sought, saving her a great deal of time figuring things out on her own.
"The resolution of the gene prototype manufacturing process has reached nearly 40%, and the 'prototype' experiment can move to the next stage."
Fran was in a good mood after the successful acceptance of her research findings. Now she planned to relax a bit and regroup before continuing her research.
She breathed a sigh of relief, carefully tucked Melvis's heart into her hands, and then took out a small booklet with a leather cover.
Hmm... seems to be this guy's schedule. (馓)
Sunbathing with Sigrid for five minutes (completed). Five
Observe Ms. Shitia's adaptation to the foggy street environment. (Completed) VI