Chapter 331: Insect Clan Research Report

Chapter 331: Chapter 331: Insect Clan Research Report

Capital Star.

Upon their return to Capital Star, Yan Huoshui and the other two began pressing for the screening process for recruitment on the Border Defense Star.

Of course, the screening wouldn’t be fast. The number of volunteer positions was limited, but the public was signing up in a constant stream. The number of applicants kept increasing, and even with the help of robots, the screening office staff was completely swamped.

Yan Huoshui’s group was certain to pass, but they still couldn’t go alone. They had to wait for all the screenings to be completed so the new recruits could depart together.

There was nothing Yan Huoshui and his companions could do to speed things up for the time being. But at least He Hanshi was with Shi Lan, which gave them some small measure of peace of mind.

Meanwhile, as the future heir, Ye Ming couldn’t easily go to a dangerous place like the front lines. Besides, he had a lot of work to do and couldn’t get away.

Recently, Shi Lan’s donation and the news about the slums being published online had unintentionally inspired many citizens to donate spontaneously. With these construction funds, the renovation of abandoned buildings in the slums had already begun. It was estimated that order could be fully restored within a year, though eliminating poverty would take much more time.

Every day, Ye Ming had to check on the construction progress, participate in councils regarding the Insect Clan on the Border Defense Star, help arrange blind dates with females for Leo, and keep an eye on the progress of Dr. Ai’s Insect Clan research.

The subject of this research was the same insect that had caused the incident with He Hanshi. Although Leo had said Dr. Ai found nothing unusual last time, Ye Ming suspected the problem was with its blood. He returned to the scene of the incident and dug up some of the soil splattered with the insect’s blood for Dr. Ai to re-examine.

Although more than half a month had passed, the weather on Capital Star had been fine, with no rain. Plus, no one ever went to the place the insect had blown up, so the deeper soil stained with blood hadn’t been disturbed and was still preserved.

However, Ye Ming wasn’t sure if Dr. Ai could find anything from the soil. But as a 3S Spiritual Power Beastman himself, he didn’t want such a bizarre and dangerous element—one that could induce a spiritual power collapse—lurking in the shadows. Not to mention, the timing of the incident was too coincidental; the insect had exploded right in front of He Hanshi.

He felt there was more to it than met the eye.

That was why he was paying more attention to this matter.

On this day, Ye Ming went to the research lab again.

The lab was as busy as ever. Researchers coming and going greeted him when they saw him, and Ye Ming nodded to each of them as he passed. He arrived at Dr. Ai’s office to find the room empty. The man wasn’t there.

Ye Ming saw an open notebook on the desk. He walked over to look at it; it contained records about the Insect Clan.

The open page was about Chao Si. At the very top was written: "Fifth-Generation, Improved Version."

Ye Ming had always known that Dr. Ai was researching whether Chao Si could be used to heal spiritual power. This was likely a research report on that topic.

He glanced down at the contents. It noted that the blood of a Chao Si was special, containing twenty times the toxic components of a regular insect. Furthermore, this toxin could replicate and spread within the human body. "Extract the blood of a Chao Si and inject it into an unmodified..."

The sentence was unfinished. Ye Ming didn’t know what Dr. Ai had intended to write next.

A flash of doubt crossed his eyes. Just then, Dr. Ai walked out of the break room adjacent to the office. He looked a little surprised to see Ye Ming there.

"Your Highness, what brings you here?"

Ye Ming turned to look at him, blinking in confusion. "Dr. Ai, were you in the break room? How come I didn’t hear anything?"

Dr. Ai rubbed his forehead. "Yes, I accidentally fell asleep just now, so I didn’t realize you had arrived."

Ye Ming had access rights to the entire research lab; he could enter even Dr. Ai’s office on his own.

For the past few days, he had come to the office to see Dr. Ai. Not seeing him today, he had assumed the doctor would be back shortly and hadn’t thought to look for him elsewhere in the lab.

"Oh."

Ye Ming nodded. "You’ve been working hard."

Then he asked, "How about the soil I sent last time? Did you find anything?"

Dr. Ai walked to his desk and casually closed the notebook.

He adjusted the glasses on his face. "Ah, Your Highness’s timing is perfect. I was just about to tell you that there is indeed something strange."

"Yes, I know that much. Last time, it seemed Admiral He’s collapse value was stimulated by contact with that blood..."

Ye Ming trailed off, not saying more. After all, what came next involved Shi Lan’s healing abilities.

Dr. Ai, however, asked a few more curious questions. "Oh? What happened to Admiral He afterward? With that kind of increase, wouldn’t his collapse value return to high-risk territory?"

It concerned Shi Lan, so Ye Ming didn’t want to reveal too much. He shook his head. "No."

"That makes sense. If Admiral He had reverted to a state of High-Level Spiritual Power collapse, things wouldn’t be this calm."

Dr. Ai nodded, and Ye Ming continued to ask about the soil.

He replied, "I analyzed the blood components in the soil. Part of it is similar to the blood of a Chao Si. And since the Chao Si was the original source that induced your spiritual power to collapse to a high-risk state, it makes sense that the insect Admiral He encountered would trigger such a situation..."

"No, it’s not quite the same. The effect of this insect was different from how the Chao Si behaved."

Back then, their spiritual power collapsed because of the sudden Insect Clan attack on the Capital and the appearance of the unfamiliar species, the Chao Si. But that process was slow; they felt their collapse values gradually rise over two days, and they didn’t suffer an immediate spiritual power breakdown afterward.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have been calmly locked up in a prison under guard to await the construction of Black Star.

But He Hanshi’s collapse value spiked suddenly, in a short period of time. And this was after Lanlan had helped treat their spiritual power down to a low-level.

If this had been before, they could have blamed it on years of accumulated Spiritual Poison that hadn’t been treated by a female, which would have been understandable. But it made no sense for He Hanshi to experience this after receiving Lanlan’s treatment.

Dr. Ai asked him, "Your Highness, how was it different?"

So, Ye Ming briefly explained the situation to Dr. Ai, omitting the parts about He Hanshi’s collapse value rising to high-risk and Shi Lan’s subsequent healing.

Dr. Ai thought for a moment. "The appearance of the Chao Si was quite sudden back then. Could it be that this recent insect was the progenitor of the Chao Si? That would explain why its effects were more potent."

Ye Ming didn’t know. The main problem was that the insect’s body had been obliterated, leaving no useful information to be found.

Finally, he could only say, "Dr. Ai, can you tell anything else?"

Dr. Ai sighed. "Your Highness, the blood in this soil has already dried up. The components I did find were the result of a genetic analysis I could only perform after numerous screenings. It would be better if we had fresh blood, or the insect’s corpse. The results would be much clearer then."

"I see..."

Ye Ming knew it was a long shot, but he truly hadn’t expected at the beginning that this insect would have some connection to the Chao Si.

Speaking of the Chao Si, he suddenly thought of something. "If a progenitor exists, why haven’t any more Chao Si appeared among the Insect Clan now?"