Silent Crown

Chapter 477 Showroom

Chapter 477 Showroom

In the silence, Charles finally recovered from his shock. He looked around in disbelief.

"You…made this?"

Gaius laughed at himself. "Me? I was just a logistics supervisor in this, a supplier. If they wanted blood, I'd give them blood. If they wanted a knife, I'd give them a knife. If they wanted everything, I'd give them everything.

"My job was to satisfy all their requests with all costs. The nations opened the paths for me and the Sacred City vouched for my soul. Everything I was doing was for humanity. That's what they all told me."

Gaius smoked his pipe and said quietly, "The one who truly controlled and was responsible for this program was known as the best of the School of Mind in this millennium. He was once one of the nine Eastern royals, a complete Deva. You might have never heard of his name before—Ye Lanzhou. He was the most terrifying creature I've met."

"Ye…Lanzhou?" Charles murmured. This name was familiar but Ye Qingxuan's face kept appearing in his mind.

"From the surface, his job was to test if it's possible to communicate with natural catastrophes and give Hecatoncheir a human language," Gaius said. "He did it well, both his surface and true work."

"What was he really responsible for?"

"Through communication, humanity learned how to use languages. Through languages, we created souls…" Gaius laughed. "Ye Lanzhou's goal was Hecatoncheir's soul. His mission was to instill humanity in Hecatoncheir and bring a natural catastrophe's power to humanity. He did a good job. He completed something no one could in history and made a huge breakthrough. That was how we stole inhuman power." He paused and glanced at Charles. "Telling you like this is not direct enough. Follow me."

He raised the lantern and walked deeper into the darkness. Charles followed behind him. After who knew how long, they entered a long hall.

"Where is this?"

"You can say it's the showroom for the failures." Gaius smoked and pushed the door open emotionlessly. "All the failures are displayed here to serve as a warning."

Behind the first door, a giant corpse was sealed behind transparent albino steel. The odd corpse was like the combination of beasts of the sky and land but it looked more like a human. Ashes remained on the bones as if it had just been taken out of the fire and tossed in the molten steel to be sealed here after solidifying.

"This was the first test product created from the manmade natural catastrophe plan," Gaius muttered. "With Ye Lanzhou's genius mind, we created this from Hecatoncheir's flesh. Unfortunately, demonic things are too hard to control. It went crazy and killed hundreds. Finally, Knights Templar pushed it into the furnace with no regards to cost. The flesh evaporated and all that remained was this skeleton that had turned to steel." He put down his pipe and glanced at Charles.

"You can see it as…your predecessor."

Charles froze.

Gaius continued forward and opened the second door. Behind it, there were thousands of embryos. Immersed in antiseptic liquid, they still looked alive and every detail was so lively. However, it could not change…their demonic nature.

They were all demons.

Innumerable demon embryos.

Even Charles only recognized one-third. He had never even heard of the rest.

"The second plan used lessons learned from the first. We gave up on using demons similar to natural catastrophes as a breeding ground. Instead, we used the bacteria forging furnace of Choir musicians. With no need for foreign mediums, we developed Hecatoncheir's flesh directly to find its original appearance."

Gaius looked indifferently at the embryos immersed in the glass tubes. "The result is what you see now. As one of the four living objects, Hecatoncheir represents the living organisms of the world. Its blood is also the source of all.

"With his blood, we can observe the nature of demons. Even with a replicate, it can help humans improve tremendously on transformation technology. It was at that time that people realized human and demon blood could be fused after birth to create superhuman soldiers.

"The research information was divided by the nations. Perhaps you have heard of what Anglo took."

After a pause, Charles asked quietly, "…the Dragon Riders?"

"That's right." Gaius nodded. "Under my command, the armies all over the world chose the six hundred most suitable soldiers. After the experiment, two hundred and one survived. Twenty-five percent. With the sacrifices, we received the first legion that could move freely through the Dark World. They did not need to be resupplied or even commanded. But unfortunately…"

Gaius did not finish saying what was so unfortunate. However, Charles could guess what it was. The Dragon Riders were abolished and all members were imprisoned, still not free even today. It was also the start of Abraham's tragic life.

"Let's go." Gaius pushed the door open and stepped into the hall. "Next one."

The third room was empty. There was nothing in the silence but there was a hot sour smell in the air. It was like the cave of a beast but he saw nothing. Gaius stood in the corner and studied the hole in the wall while smoking. After a while, there was the faint sound of sticky trickling water. Dark sap rushed out of the crack in the wall. The shapeless liquid radiated with a sour smell and writhed on the floor like a living thing.

Under the dim lantern light, Charles saw what it was and tried to stop himself from throwing up.

It was a pile of…ground meat.

Like mud, the flesh rolled on the ground. It circled Gaius like a pet, making weird chirping sounds. When it writhed, faint ripples would go through the dark red body. It flowed and crawled on the ground.

Gaius studied it. After a while, he sighed and petted it. "Little thing, you're still alive. How've you been?"

The writhing flesh made a noise in reply.

"This was the third plan," Gaius said to Charles. "It's the only successful one."

Charles stared at the meat and shuddered. "What…is it?"

"The first and most important step of the manmade natural catastrophe plan," Gaius said. "We turned man into demon and gave it strong vitality like Hecatoncheir. It has weakened these years. You haven't seen what it used to be like. Blades, ice, acid, even decomposition had no effect on it.

"In low temperatures, it could grow a shocking insulation layer. In molten steel, it can grow a thermal shell. In a vacuum, it can survive more than four years…It won't die. As long as it's alive, no one can kill it."

"But it…used to be a human…" Charles's teeth clattered from fear and disgust. He almost threw up. Gaius laughed mockingly and didn't reply.

"It's been alive all these years?" Charles asked.

"I've said before that it won't die." Gaius pointed to the empty room. "There used to be many things here. And the hole in the wall, it must've eaten it, right? It's very obedient. It won't eat what you tell it not to. Which means, it'll eat everything else."

Charles studied the chirping flesh. He could not imagine how it used to be a human… Whenever he thought of this, he wanted to vomit. Goosebumps pricked at his skin.

"Let's go." Gaius rose. Looking away from the flesh, he walked out the door.

"Just…leave it here?"

"Let it live here." Taking one last glance, Gaius murmured, "Other than these ruins, nothing in the outer world will accept it anymore."

The fourth plan was a withered brain. Apparently, it once contained boundless intelligence and the sparks of inspirations. It could enter a state that humans could not know.

But seven days after its death, it died.

The fifth plan was a strange box…

The sixth plan…

Charles followed Gaius numbly until the man opened the seventh door.

"Charles, this is the seventh plan," Gaius said. "And the first one that your mother participated in."

In the darkness, he raised his hand and illuminated what was before him. Behind the large glass wall was some sort of decayed liquid. It was filled with moss and parasites, turning it dark green. They seemed to be standing outside a giant bottle. Through the glass, Charles could see the giant that had been transformed by the liquid.

No, it was not a giant…

Through the moss and other matter, there was a giant object immersed in the foul liquid. The short and fat limbs had turned black. Parts had even crystallized. Half a head of the swollen and stubby body had come out of the water. Outside the liquid, the head had already decayed. Inside, the face had turned white from the water but was still complete.

Charles finally saw it clearly. He stumbled back. Holding onto the wall, he started throwing up. Tears and snot streamed out embarrassingly. He vomited like he wanted to spit out his organs.

It was not a giant.

It was a meters-tall…baby!

"Every time I see how it died, I feel sad," Gaius murmured to himself as he smoked. "The child of the future, the baby of endless times, the eternal fetus…"