Chapter 70: Rumors

Professor Sun's face was somewhat awkward. Chu Yunsheng's intense reaction exceeded his expectations. He awkwardly explained, "Dissecting Gan Ziqiang and the others is due to the current situation. Follow me, and you'll understand."

Chu Yunsheng hesitated for a moment, then decided to see what they were up to. He realized that these people would eventually belong to state institutions. Given the current situation, increasing research on awakened humans was inevitable. Dissecting deceased awakened warriors had probably already begun in Jinling City.

The dissection room was set up in an auxiliary rest room next to the meeting room. As soon as they entered, a strong smell of blood hit them. Professor Sun shook his head helplessly, "The conditions are really too rudimentary; we can't do better processing."

A few candles were lit in the room. On a platform made of tables in the middle, three bodies lay, already completely dissected. An old man and a young man stood beside them, discussing in low voices under the candlelight.

Seeing someone enter, the two men stopped their discussion. Professor Sun pointed to the older man and introduced him, "This is Professor He, a biomedical expert, and the other one is his student, Xiao Ning." Then he said to Professor He, "Old He, let's start."

Professor He adjusted his large-framed glasses, which had a crack in the lens and were wrapped with a cloth on the frame. He cleared his throat and pointed to the bodies on the table, "Take a look. Due to the lack of all detection instruments and observation equipment, we can only make rough analyses based on direct observations."

"First, let's look at the muscle tissue. The changes are obvious to the naked eye. The muscle fibers are more resilient, and their properties have changed. Our hypothesis is that part of the energy of awakened warriors is stored in the muscle cells, which have undergone some unknown transformation. This allows them to store not only food energy but also a portion of dark matter energy. Because dark matter is completely transparent, we can't observe it, so these hypotheses lack concrete evidence or experimental results; they are just guesses.

"Next, let's look at the internal organs. The changes in the heart area of fire-ability awakened warriors are more significant than in other areas. For ice-ability awakened warriors, the changes are more pronounced in the kidneys. Without other awakened warriors with different abilities to dissect for comparison, and considering the existence of other unique ability warriors like the military's diamond-ability warriors, it's hard to draw definitive conclusions.

"The brain is the area with the most dramatic changes. The neural fibers are intertwined, and the more powerful the ability of the awakened warrior, the more pronounced the changes. The brain was a world-renowned challenge even in the Sunlight Era. Now, with only the naked eye, we can't provide definitive conclusions.

"Finally, the bones. There are no obvious changes to the naked eye, so we can't make a judgment."

Professor He finished his brief introduction. Chu Yunsheng was somewhat puzzled. It seemed pointless for Professor Sun to bring him here to listen to these useless analyses.

As if reading his thoughts, Professor Sun continued, "Our conditions are rudimentary, so we can only make simple judgments. These initial observations, combined with the extensive samples we collected before the bugs appeared, and after much debate, have led us to a hypothesis:

"Because dark matter and dark energy are completely transparent and can pass through the human body and even the Earth without a trace, the dark energy that awakened warriors obtain might be controlled by an active region in the brain. This region captures and absorbs the dark energy that floats around or passes through the body, storing it within the body.

"This hypothesis requires several foundations: first, when humans awaken, their bodies must rapidly transform the cells in their muscles to accept dark energy in addition to carbohydrate energy. Second, the brain must play a role in introducing dark energy. Third, the neural units must react to, mobilize, and utilize this dark energy.

"These are our initial hypotheses. Many phenomena remain unexplained, such as the unique attack methods of awakened warriors. The release process is too complex for us to model or explain."

Professor Sun then continued to explain most of the results they had deduced.

Chu Yunsheng listened to him, feeling dizzy and disoriented. These hypotheses were somewhat similar to his own insights during his recent cultivation. Upon careful consideration, he realized there might be useful points to consider. However, he didn't understand why Professor Sun was telling him so much.

Professor Sun answered straightforwardly, "If we were in Jinling City, all our work would be highly classified. I wouldn't reveal a single word to anyone, not even my wife or daughter, without approval. But now, all our hopes rest on you. I know some people outside don't fully trust you, but I do!

"Colonel Du said you need three days to enhance your abilities. We old men are doing our utmost, even resorting to the destructive dissection of awakened warriors, to help you in any way we can!"

Chu Yunsheng nodded lightly. Professor Sun's bold hypotheses sketched a model explaining how awakened warriors absorb and store energy. Although unverified and lacking experimental data, it was very helpful for Chu Yunsheng to understand his own condition, especially after his recent experimental cultivation.

His mind was now filled with models of energy circulation, step by step, from outside the body to inside, how to store this energy, and where to store it. When he infused energy into the Qianbi Sword, it seemed like a simple flow of energy, but what was the principle behind it? How did it mobilize and force the energy outside the body into the sword?

The ancient book only provided a series of operational techniques, which he had memorized thoroughly. However, he had never considered how these techniques were created or how they worked. It was like when he was in junior high, he could skillfully use the Pythagorean theorem to calculate side lengths but never paid attention to how the theorem was proven.

Chu Yunsheng absentmindedly collected the bodies of the red-eyed monsters that Yao Xiang and his team had hunted. He then received the new fog wall passage map that Professor Fang and his team had derived after extensive calculations.

The professors who had completed the calculations could no longer hold up and collapsed into chairs, falling into a deep sleep.

Chu Yunsheng stepped out of the Jingjiang Building, shook his head to clear his mind, and became slightly more alert. Once he entered the fog, any distraction could be a matter of life and death.

The red figure once again vanished into the vast fog. The flesh worms were sometimes easy to encounter, but other times, their camouflage made them hard to spot. Chu Yunsheng moved at mid-height among the giant creatures, suppressing his chaotic thoughts and remaining fully alert to the surrounding fog, sometimes moving slowly and stealthily, other times sprinting at high speed.

He urgently needed to break through the One Yuan Heaven realm. The red figure frequently appeared in various corners of Kun City, hunting flesh worms, which provided him with a large number of energy-infused摄元符 (energy absorption talismans). Later, he no longer avoided small groups of red-eyed monsters, instead, he would directly shoot and freeze them.

Chu Yunsheng returned to the Jingjiang Building every twelve hours. The professors worked tirelessly, calculating large amounts of data to prepare the next fog wall passage map for him.

More and more awakened warriors were gathered by Advisor Tao. By the second evening, about 60 had been assembled.

The topic of discussion had shifted from the initial eight people's doubts about Chu Yunsheng's abilities to the recent sightings of a red-armored warrior who moved swiftly and killed large numbers of monsters.

Although military personnel had mentioned seeing Chu Yunsheng in red armor, to avoid causing distrust among the civilian awakened warriors, all information about Gan Ziqiang was kept secret by Colonel Du. This made the military personnel's accounts vague and inconsistent, as if they were making up stories.

Since the success of the entire plan depended on it, everyone was extremely concerned. The rumors spread widely, and whenever Chu Yunsheng appeared at the door, the intense debates reached a climax.