Chapter 296 - 295: Soul Beast Separation Experiment

Gu Qi’s lips were trembling. "I can’t choose, and I don’t want to choose."

He couldn’t imagine how bizarre he would look after swapping his eyes.

It would definitely be ugly and wouldn’t match his handsome face at all.

Gu Qi held nothing back when insulting himself. "Chief Pei, look, you already have so many eyes, so please don’t take mine. I don’t have any skills, and my spiritual power is so low I’m practically useless. My eyes would be of no use to you."

He scratched his head, picked at his hands, lowered his head, and his gaze darted around. "Everything I’m saying is true."

Pei Yin’s mind raced.

He realized Gu Qi’s sparkling eyes had vanished.

Those were the same sparkling eyes that had been shining brightly at him ever since Gu Qi walked in.

Pei Yin looked as if he’d taken a blow.

Jian Yu couldn’t bear to watch.

She whispered, "Ayue was just spouting nonsense. Gu Qi never said he wanted to swap eyes."

Pei Yin asked tentatively, "So... no swap?"

Gu Qi let out a sigh of relief, and the sparkle returned to his eyes. "No swap, definitely no swap! You can draw as much blood as you want, and I’ll cooperate with anything else!"

Pei Yin’s eyelid twitched.

He silently put his things away, pretending nothing had happened.

’After one trip out with Ling Gou, Xi Yu’s turned into a real dog himself.’

Pei Yin glanced at Lin Yu. "Why are you still here?"

Lin Yu’s voice was gentle as he replied with a smile, "My chief has instructed me to take good care of Gu Qi during this time."

Pei Yin couldn’t be bothered with him. He put on a new pair of gloves and started his experiment, quickly becoming engrossed.

Jian Yu, afraid of disturbing him, opened her Star Brain to send Lin Yu a message.

Jian Yu: Why don’t you take him out to eat first.

Lin Yu walked over to Gu Qi and made a welcoming gesture.

Gu Qi stared intently at Pei Yin, trying his luck. "Chief Pei, look at me! Can I be considered for one of the slots?"

Pei Yin looked up. "You know about the slots?"

Seeing the desperate longing in Gu Qi’s eyes, he moved his mouth, then finally nodded. "They’re all gone for this month. I’ll reserve one for you next month."

Gu Qi thanked him excitedly. "Chief Pei, I’m a good judge of character, and my intuition is even better. I know you’re not like what people on the outside say. I, Gu Qi, am no big shot, but since you’re willing to give me a chance, I’m willing to trust you and pay the price."

After laying on the flattery, Gu Qi clutched the big gold chain and skipped and hopped his way out of Zone Five.

The corner of Lin Yu’s mouth twitched.

Pei Yin remained composed until the door closed, only then allowing a hint of pleasure to show on his face.

He looked at Jian Yu, tilted his chin up, and silently begged for a compliment.

Jian Yu’s voice was a little hoarse. "Impressive."

She walked up to the experiment table without any hesitation.

Pei Yin smiled as he adjusted and placed a chair next to the experiment table. "Sit here."

"What are the results?" Jian Yu spoke slowly, as if she wasn’t used to talking much.

Pei Yin’s expression turned serious again. "It’s hard to say. Other than the fact that they aren’t human eyes, I can’t see anything else wrong with them."

He pursed his lips. With a pair of glasses perched on his nose, he gave off the air of a refined, elite gentleman.

Jian Yu sat on the chair beside him. "Are they beast eyes? Can you tell what kind?"

Pei Yin shook his head. "Not beast eyes. They’re artificial. Rather than for sight, they seem to function more like a switch, like the left and right hemispheres of the human brain."

He put the pair of eyeballs away. "In a couple of days, I’ll apply to find a test subject to try them on."

Pei Yin paused for a long moment before conjecturing, "It’s very likely that only Yan Mingjiao’s body is compatible with these eyes."

Otherwise, there’s no way to explain the disappearance of her corpse.

"As for those two Poison Needles, they’re similar to the bracelets the Si Xu Family uses to restrain Soul Beasts." Pei Yin casually stopped the instrument from automatically printing a hard copy.

He continued, "However, compared to the restraining bracelets, the Poison Needles are far more destructive and have a chance of causing irreversible side effects to a Soul Beast."

Jian Yu’s brow furrowed as she listened.

Pei Yin disconnected the machine’s automatic reporting program to the Alliance.

He lowered his head. The lines of his profile hadn’t completely lost their youthful softness, but his gaze was heavy.

"Gu Qi was part of a Soul Beast separation experiment."

Jian Yu wasn’t surprised. After learning he had Soul Power, she had already suspected as much.

She looked up. "I remember you saying that the mortality rate for Awakeners who have their Soul Beasts stripped away is ninety percent."

"That’s right, ninety percent. The class of the person who receives the Soul Beast is also unstable and might even continuously drop. As for the Awakener who has it stripped away, the on-the-spot mortality rate is extremely high." After his initial shock, Pei Yin was filled with pride. "As expected of my fan."

Jian Yu couldn’t help but give a small eye-roll.

’How desperate for fans is he?’

Pei Yin stared at her, then bent down with a smile. "You look so pretty when you roll your eyes."

Her face was delicate and fair, with large, round eyes and long lashes.

Jian Yu tilted her head back and closed her eyes.

Pei Yin’s heart skipped a beat, and he kissed her on the forehead.

Gu Qi was brought in again by Lin Yu.

The big gold chain around his neck was so heavy it made him walk unsteadily.

Gu Qi was dumbfounded. "Aren’t those two just colleagues?"

Lin Yu’s expression didn’t change. "They share a bed."

’So it’s not just three of them? Chief Pei is under her spell too? My poor Chief, having to compete with so many people.’

Lin Yu gave Gu Qi a gentle push. "Get in. There are some questions for you."

A session of questions and answers followed.

Gu Qi was cooperative, answering every question asked.

Lin Yu also took the opportunity to send the information he’d found to Pei Yin and Jian Yu.

But then, with a single sentence, Gu Qi cut off everything Pei Yin was about to say.

He said, "I’ve never had a Soul Beast. I was found and taken in by someone. I’m an F-level Half-awakened."

Lin Yu added, "The people who found him were an ordinary couple. They only had one daughter and couldn’t have a son due to health issues. When Gu Qi was found, he was still an infant, covered in blood. It didn’t look like he had just been born; it was more like he was bleeding from all seven orifices."

After a half-hour-long questioning, Gu Qi left again, clutching his big gold chain and smiling so wide his eyes disappeared.

Lin Yu was responsible for escorting him back to his dorm.

To make it easier to look after him, he arranged for Gu Qi to stay in his own building.

Lin Yu assigned a few people to watch the door, ostensibly to take care of Gu Qi.

He hadn’t gotten far before he received a report from one of his subordinates:

Executive Director Lin, I saw Gu Qi through the window, screaming and rolling on the floor. His face was contorted as he hugged the gold chain and kissed it nonstop. Then he started crawling around creepily, then he got up with his hands on his hips, and then he went back to crawling on the ground, writhing, wriggling furtively, and rolling around like a maggot doused in salt water. I’m a little scared, Senior Lin Yu.

Lin Yu was silent for a moment before replying: Just ignore him.

...

「Zone 5.」

Pei Yin ran the tests three times before reaching a conclusion. "This should be his second awakening."

To survive having a Soul Beast stripped away and even awaken a second time... it was a miracle.

It was just a pity that he lacked the resources, which prevented his soul domain from stabilizing during the initial phase of his awakening.

"His original soul beast level was at least A or higher. If he’d had access to an Awakened Hospital during his second awakening, his current Level wouldn’t be the lowest, F."

Pei Yin took off his white lab coat and removed his glasses. "Don’t tell him about this yet. Let’s wait until I’ve prepared the medicine and we see the results. I don’t want him to get his hopes up for nothing."

’Consider it compensation for his willingness to be a test subject.’

He had, in fact, become genuinely interested in studying Gu Qi.

"Okay." Jian Yu nodded. She wasn’t one to gossip anyway.

She said thoughtfully, "Gu Qi used to be an Awakener, which means he’s also from a noble family. I’ll have Lin Yu check if any of them have reported a missing child."