What It's Like Being a Vampire

Chapter 511: Chapter 511: The Buried Secret (Part 4)

The snippet of information shared towards the end of the video is quite revealing.

“Predator,” “Ultimate Predator,” “Mutational limit of blood-eating creatures,” “Unexplored domains,” “Carbon-based life,” these keywords alone could be interpreted to reveal plenty of information.

This concept of a “Predator” has never appeared in any of Academician Shen’s documents so far—at least not in any of the ones that Alice has transferred and he has reviewed. It’s highly possible that this concept has been created by Mr. Liang based on his own understanding.

Simply judging from the term “Predator,” it is clear that the relationship between “blood-eating creatures,” as perceived by Mr. Liang, revolves around the dynamics of predation – a cycle of hunting and being hunted, mirroring the relationship between food and predator, hinting at the survival of the fittest.

Of course, based on the “mutant creatures” Xiang Kun has encountered thus far, due to the existence of the “phase limit” defined in Academician Shen’s documents, once the mutation reaches a certain stage, ordinary creature’s blood can no longer satiate the need, so blood from other “mutants” is required. Consequently, a predation relationship would form among the “mutant creatures.”

As for the term “Ultimate Predator,” in conjunction with its description, and in line with various documents from Academician Shen, Xiang Kun believes it is likely pointing towards the “mysterious power” mentioned by Academician Shen.

Academician Shen has mentioned that the so-called “Mysterious Power” could potentially be a higher form of existence than the “blood-eating creatures.” In contrast, Mr. Liang defined it directly with the term “Ultimate Predator.”

Although the term includes the intense sounding word “ultimate,” making it seem invincible, in reality, it places the Ultimate Predator on the same plane as other “blood-eating creatures,” transforming it from an unknown and elusive existence into another “species,” albeit a stronger one.

Taking into account what Xiang Kun has seen so far – Mr. Liang’s documentation on his status, various related new compound materials used for “components,” and his mutation guiding concepts:

The plan Mr. Liang designed to “break through the Ultimate Predator’s net” involves a forceful alteration of his own carbon-based biological essence.

Apparently, Mr. Liang believes that the reason why the “Ultimate Predator” can stealthily kill other creatures, causing “blood-eating creatures” to collapse and disintegrate, is directly related to the carbon compounds present in living organisms. Escaping from carbon-based existence is the key to breaking the “net.”

In view of this, the tasks Mr. Liang has his research staff at “Divine Technology” perform in their secretive department becomes elucidating – he is constructing a “plug-and-play” “plugin” for himself, blending technology with mutation, and through this, transforming his own carbon-based biological nature.

Xiang Kun knew that nearly all known organisms on Earth being carbon-based life forms was not just a coincidence of evolution, but a result determined by the characteristics of the four valency electrons in carbon atoms and the Earth’s environment.

Previous conjectures posited silicon-based life forms. Like carbon, silicon can also form four chemical bonds, therefore, theoretically, what carbon can do, silicon should also be capable of.

However, the truth is, under Earth’s environmental conditions, silicon really cannot achieve what carbon can.

Complex molecules based on silicon are highly prone to breaking, too brittle to form viable cell structures, while carbon is just right—neither too active leading to easy decomposition, nor too stable preventing plasticity and adaptability.

Other element-based life form ideations also pose various issues, generally unable to replace carbon-based life, at least not under current Earth conditions.

According to the information Alice unearthed, the research Mr. Liang had the staff of “Divine Technology” carry out involved not just a large amount of silicon compounds basedon biological components but also a small number of ammonia, boron, and iron-based biological components. But they did not resolve the relevant defects. Just based on this research, there was no actual application value.

But it is apparent that when Mr. Liang was applying it on himself, he found a solution.

Xiang Kun remembered when he was at Wushu Mountain — after Mr. Liang entered his invisibility status, his flight device also turned invisible. Those were his “plug-and-play” style biological components, “tech equipment” only Mr. Liang could operate.

However, in the video and related documents, Mr. Liang did not explicitly detail the methods or operations through which he utilized these biological components. This fell short when compared to Academician Shen’s documents.

If this were really a “handover video,” then Xiang Kun could only rate it a 5.

Continuing to flip through, despite Mr. Liang’s documents being quite capricious and rough, Xiang Kun still had a general idea of Mr. Liang’s biological component system, and what new functions they added to him or were still in development — many functions were actually derived from the “mutant creatures” he captured.

The way Mr. Liang obtains abilities from other “mutants” is somewhat similar to Xiang Kun, but it’s simpler and clearer, with a higher minimum and a smaller maximum, with no room for development and further evolution. The use of these abilities requires loading, and a significant part of the drones that always follow him carry some of these biological components.

Moreover, according to Mr. Liang’s records, these biological components are still not perfect. There are many inherent rejection reactions when using them, preventing them from functioning as seamlessly as directing one’s limbs, preventing control over them like the use of one’s own limbs.

Some biological components still suffer significant wear and tear, usually requiring remanufacturing after two or three uses. These things are not “mass-produced industrial products”. Apart from semi-finished materials and components from the lab, Mr. Liang also has to spend a lot of time on “processing”.

Even counting all the biological components, Mr. Liang’s plan for “breaking the carbon-based organism limit” still has a long way to go. His body still contains a large amount of carbon-based compounds, which he can’t dissociate from at the moment.

After reviewing several of Mr. Liang’s documents, Xiang Kun found a suspected “custodial video”.

The Mr. Liang in this video doesn’t look much different from the image of him in John’s dreamland — of course, he’s not that tall.

And from its current state, it doesn’t seem like there are any issues due to mutation.

Mr Liang starts with an introduction:

“If you are able to watch this video, it proves two things: first, you have gained the approval of the ‘research center’, and second, I am already dead.”

Obviously, this was a precaution taken by Mr. Liang or the authorities in case he suddenly died without a proper handover.

The secret storage device hidden underground is also prepared for just such an occurrence.

Xiang Kun scratched his chin bashfully, muttering to himself: “They probably couldn’t imagine that neither of these conditions were fulfilled when I watched this video…”

Mr. Liang continued in the video: “Our research project doesn’t have a fixed name, you can call it whatever you want after you take over. The founder of the original plan was Scholar Shen Hai Chong, who was also my teacher. He told me that the fundamental objective of our plan is …well, the people at the ‘research center’ should have told you this. I don’t need to repeat it. Just remember, even if you are just trying to survive, you should execute this plan with all your strength.”

Then, Mr. Liang walks around in a vast space, explaining how to use various equipment, why he placed these devices there, and introducing the intelligent AI system “Tyer” which controls the location’s security and can provide intelligence and support for the newcomers.

At the end of the video, Mr. Liang solemnly faces the camera and says:

“Remember, do not trust any ‘blood-eating creature’ easily, regardless of whether they look like humans or anything else. Don’t forget their true nature.”

This sentence made Xiang Kun frown. It was contradictory. According to the previous documents of Academician Shen, those who could take over the research should all be human “blood-eating creatures”, including Mr. Liang himself.

So, basically, the one watching the video is a human “blood-eating creature”.

If we don’t trust human “blood-eating creatures”, then who do we find as “successors”, “research partners”?

Xiang Kun pondered. While Mr. Liang did use the term “do not easily trust” for strictness, his tone and attitude suggested “do not trust”.

Thinking about how Academician Shen’s documents suddenly disappeared, and how the person Shen referred to as “Ah Xue” didn’t have any records or information available, Xiang Kun surmised there must be a story there.

As Xiang Kun, who just turned off the video, prepared to continue reading, he suddenly realised that no new documents had been transferred.

Then Alice’s voice sounded: “Boss, the storage device is overheating, I need to let it rest a while, otherwise it’ll break!”