Chapter 175: Bizarre Experiments

Chapter 175: Chapter 175: Bizarre Experiments

Judging by the flow of spiritual energy coursing through the stone floor, they were currently in the underground core layer of the Mermaid race — the deepest place beneath the Glazed Sapphire Sea Palace.

But this place was no longer a shrine.

It had been converted into a massive laboratory.

A towering Mermaid statue stood right in the middle of the spiritual energy flow. The statue had its eyes closed, both hands raising a glowing golden holy pearl, its posture so reverent and sacred that it made one want to bow their head.

But surrounding that statue, what encircled it were not incense altars or offerings.

But countless glass cages, lined up in rows so deep the end couldn’t be seen.

Inside, countless Mermaids were imprisoned.

And not just Mermaids.

Ice Dragons. Celestials. Angels. Humans. Even spirit beasts and magical beasts of all kinds were not spared. Among them were also alien races that neither Jeremy nor Evelyn had ever seen before — creatures with six limbs, creatures without eyes, creatures with transparent bodies where every blood vessel was visible.

From juvenile to adult forms, everything was present. Counting with the naked eye, if it wasn’t ten thousand, it was at least thousands.

In those sealed glass cages, a pale green glowing liquid flowed sluggishly, completely submerging the creatures imprisoned within.

Whether Mermaids or other races, their bodies had all deformed to a bizarre extent.

Their bodies were completely wrapped in thin threads, piercing through their skin and connecting to the tubes above the cages. Their skin was covered in crisscrossing red and black patterns, bulging like swollen blood vessels.

Most had their eyes open.

But in those eyes, there wasn’t even half a trace of spirit. Only an endless void and deathly stillness.

And in the hidden corner on the other side, countless unidentifiable scraps of minced meat were piled up, dissected and then discarded. Some pieces still had scales attached. Some pieces still had feathers attached.

This palace was in a semi-enclosed state. The water current circulated slowly, carrying an indescribable foul stench.

It was impossible to distinguish whether it was the smell of rotting meat or the smell of that bizarre liquid.

But one thing was certain: the living beings imprisoned here had been stripped clean of their freedom and will, becoming sacrificial offerings.

Because Jeremy completely could not sense the existence of their souls.

He cast his spiritual consciousness in a circle. There were heartbeats. There was breathing. There was body temperature.

But no souls.

Not a single one.

Even though their eyes were open, even though their chests still rose and fell, in reality, they were all just soulless puppets, their physical bodies left for others to arbitrarily dictate.

What on earth was going on here?

Furthermore, weren’t the leader of the Mermaid race and all his royal children supposed to be here? Where did everyone go?

The doubt had just kindled in Jeremy’s head —

When countless chains suddenly shot out from the void, lunging straight toward him and Evelyn.

The speed was so fast it left almost no beat for a person to react.

Both were tightly bound simultaneously, their arms pressed tight against their bodies, their legs locked together.

And right at that moment, the stone floor beneath their feet descended.

It dropped. Fast and straight.

Plunging past ten floors before stopping.

And the scenes on the ten floors they just brushed past were many times more horrifying than the first floor.

Here, it was no longer a matter of being soaked in liquid.

But the bodies of different races being dismantled, then forcibly grafted together.

A human body attached to a beast head. An Ice Dragon body sprouting six Angel wings. A body where the upper half was a Mermaid, the lower half something unnamable.

Some individuals were stitched together with metal wire, the stitches running from neck to abdomen. Some individuals had grafted parts that were still festering, unhealed.

And the number of races here was also several times higher than the floor above.

If counting the corpses piled in the pits along the walls, the total would probably exceed ten thousand.

The one capable of doing these things right in the underground core of the Mermaid race, aside from the leader himself, Jeremy couldn’t think of anyone else.

Was he crazy?

What did he ultimately want?

That doubt quickly had an answer.

Five minutes after he and Evelyn reached the bottom floor, the pitch-black space around them suddenly lit up. Rows of magic lamps ignited along the walls, stretching toward the end of the room.

But the test subjects on this floor were not strangers.

They were precisely the royal children of the Mermaid race.

Faces absurdly beautiful, hair of emerald green and moonlight silver, dragon pattern marks between their brows — all lay inside glass cages, eyes glaring wide open, yet immobile.

Judging by the number, aside from him and Evelyn, all royal family members had been imprisoned here.

All the Highnesses that Lorelin said had "all arrived."

A chilling sensation quietly crept down his spine. Jeremy directed his gaze toward the end of the laboratory.

There, a tall man was slowly stepping out from the deepest room.

His facial features were so handsome his age was impossible to guess — he could be thirty, or he could be three hundred.

He wore a yellow-and-purple robe, holding the scepter symbolizing the leader’s status, the scepter head inlaid with a large aquamarine.

The smile on his lips was very gentle. His voice was as soothing as a spring breeze skimming the water’s surface:

"My two late children. You’re the only ones left."

If ignoring the overwhelming stench of blood in the room, and the sticky red bloodstains clinging to his sleeves, he truly looked like a good person.

A good father.

Jeremy intended to open his mouth.

But exactly at that moment, his throat felt as if choked. He couldn’t utter a single syllable.

He tried sending a voice transmission to Evelyn. This method succeeded.

But Evelyn at this moment also fell into the exact same condition — wanting to speak but unable to.

It seemed they were being controlled again.

And this time, the thing locked wasn’t their movement. It was their voices.

The leader of the Mermaid race in front of them — who was also their father in the illusion — didn’t seem to care about an answer.

He rested a hand on his chin, his gaze scanning them up and down, smiling with narrowed eyes:

"Hill. Viya. You two are the heir candidates I favor the most. It’s a pity that position only requires one person. Tell me, who should I choose?"

"..."

This madman.

His strength was unfathomably deep. Jeremy released his spiritual consciousness to probe, but the moment it touched, it was instantly repelled, unable to read a single number.

Fortunately, he hadn’t used the soul mark in his spatial bracelet back in the Ice Dragon territory.

If he had spent it there, he feared it would be hard to escape death today.

But those two names, Hill and Viya...

Could they be the real names of the two body owners they were currently occupying?

While Jeremy was calculating his next move, a sharp pain suddenly reverberated through his body.

The chains binding them suddenly transmitted an electric current, piercing through their entire bodies without the slightest mercy.

That pain didn’t strike the flesh. It struck straight into the tendons and marrow.

Evelyn and Jeremy almost simultaneously coughed up a mouthful of blood. Both their complexions rapidly turned pale.

Before they could recover, an identical glass cage to the surrounding ones thrust up from beneath the floor, closing shut, locking them tightly inside.

The man outside spoke, his voice still flat:

"Since you won’t answer, then die together..."

He paused for a beat, then corrected himself, as if realizing he had used the wrong word:

"No. Let’s undergo the modification together. Don’t be afraid. Father will grant you endless rebirth."

His tone was very calm. His expression was also casual.

But precisely because of that, it brought a maddeningly sickly feeling.

He snapped his fingers.

From the bottom of the glass cage, the pale green liquid instantly poured out, rising very fast.

The moment it touched his skin, Jeremy felt his bones crackling — as if being crushed from the inside.

Suppressing the pain, he sent a voice transmission to Evelyn, briefly stating his plan.

Evelyn understood. Her face didn’t reveal any unusual expression, maintaining the blank look of a test subject.

This type of liquid could dissolve magic power. The water level had reached their chests.

There wasn’t much time left.

Waiting until the man who called himself their father turned his back and walked toward the central area to concoct potions, Jeremy dared not delay.

He used his remaining sliver of magic power to prick his fingertip, dripping blood onto the spatial bracelet.

The blood dissolved into the green liquid, but still managed to seep a drop onto the bracelet’s body.

But precisely at the moment he prepared to activate the soul mark —

His soul abruptly twinged.

His vision went dark. A massive repulsive force struck without warning, violently compressing him, dragging him away.

Jeremy only felt himself being pushed very far away. And the pain suddenly vanished.

Never before had he felt so relieved.

Waiting until he regained his vision, Jeremy realized he was outside that sealed glass cage.

He instinctively looked down at his own body.

Everything had returned to normal. No scales. No ear fins. His two hands were his own hands.

Even his clothes had changed back to the academy uniform he wore before entering the Wasteland ruins.

The bloodstain on it was still the blood that flowed from his seven orifices after mistakenly drinking the antidote in front of the ice jade door, right before being pulled into the illusion.

But the wounds on his body had almost completely healed.

"Captain?"

Evelyn’s voice rang out beside him.

Jeremy hastily turned around. She was standing right there, a step away from him.

The Mermaid race characteristics on her body had also vanished. Her appearance had restored to its original state.

What is... going on?

Both simultaneously looked towards the glass cage they had just been in.

And discovered there were still two people locked inside.

Their shapes were completely different from theirs. The totems on the backs of their hands were also gone.

But the mark between their brows and the Mermaid race characteristics remained intact.

As for the man in the central area, he seemed not to realize anything unusual on this side at all. He didn’t even cast half a glance over.