Chapter 469: Aberration

In this star system, which resembles the Solar System.

There is a planet with a highly intelligent civilization, referred to by the locals as Changli Star.

Although the living environment on Changli Star is similar to the Solar System, the Changli people living upon it are a long-lived species capable of living for five or six hundred years.

This allowed the Changli Civilization, after entering industrialization and solving the food problem, to see the average lifespan of their race begin to soar.

This enabled those brilliant scientists and outstanding Leaders to have more time to shine and contribute to the entire civilization.

Consequently, in terms of overall civilizational and technological development, they were at least an era ahead of the Water Blue Star Civilization before Su Ping pushed its development.

The tentacles of the Kali Civilization had already touched the edge of the star system.

While persisting in going out and unswervingly developing the star sea.

The Kali Civilization was also conducting surveys and development of the underground world of their home planet.

Not only were there various types of Underground Cities, they had also built tens of thousands of underground mines for scientific research.

The deepest ones had even touched the outer shell of the core.

On Kali Star, inside a large underground mine exploration station located in its Antarctic region.

As workers drove large bipedal engineering robots to finish unloading supplies from the tail of a hundred-meter-long transport plane.

In the cabin, a security officer of the Kali Civilization—who looked not much different from a normal human, except for slightly pointed ears and a narrower face—used an instrument to scan the cargo containers that had been transported up while the supplies were being unloaded from this base.

When an underground mine is dug deep enough, there is a probability of hitting a gold-bearing layer containing large amounts of gold.

This Antarctic base was one such lucky one, and because of this, it received more attention and was allocated more resources.

With the development of technological civilization, gold, this precious metal, did not lose its importance due to the development of the era; instead, because more and more fields required gold, it became increasingly valued by the entire civilization.

This made it so that every transport of gold required multiple checks to ensure nothing went wrong.

"No abnormalities."

The security officer pressed confirm, gave a reply, and then walked out of the cabin.

His mood had not been very good lately.

A day ago, he had received a video call from his wife and learned that his younger sister had also given birth to a freak.

It was a faceless infant with only a mouth on its face.

As for why it was "also"... he did not know why.

Starting ten years ago, the number of deformed children in the Kali Civilization began to soar.

In the last few months, it had risen in a straight line, to the point where some had leaked that the proportion of deformed children in the Kali Civilization in the last week had already exceeded half.

Furthermore, the appearance of the deformities was increasingly developing in a terrifying and bizarre direction.

The security officer did not believe the wild claims of these people who feared the world would not be in chaos.

But he could not stop the fact that such things were happening more and more around him, and to people close to him, leaving him no choice but to doubt and worry.

After all, his wife was also pregnant.

Although expert tests had consistently shown no abnormalities.

Yet the security officer still remembered that the test report from the week before his younger sister gave birth had also shown everything was normal.

Just as he was worrying and distressed like this.

The security officer suddenly heard a hurried voice, carrying a hint of joy, come through his earpiece:

"Notice to all employees of the Antarctic Underground Research Base."

"This research base has finally dug into a mineral vein rich in Magic Gold!"

"All employees of this base will receive an extra bonus no less than an annual salary!"

"And then... everyone, cheer up!"

Hearing this good news, the security officer gave a slight jolt; he, who should have been happy.

Felt his heart jump violently instead.

An inexplicable intuition that a great disaster was imminent had emerged.

It seemed... as if something bad... was about to happen?

The security officer swayed his body, slowed his pace, and leaned against the wall.

Immediately, a pain struck his brow!

This security officer suddenly fell into a coma.

But it was only for an instant, before his body could even fall randomly and touch the ground.

This security officer opened his bright, piercing eyes once again and stood back up, maintaining a steady breath.

Yet, just from this instantaneous change.

The one controlling the security officer at this moment was an Avatar separated from Su Ping's Nether Immortal Body.

Upon discovering that although the Nether Avatar was weak, it could save time by passing through Time-Space Nodes faster.

Su Ping had utilized this Avatar.

Not to mention that no matter how weak it was, it was still transcendent; in this world without Spirit Qi, it should also have the power to protect itself.

Then, as long as the Avatar arrived at the destination, it was equivalent to Su Ping's true self arriving at the destination.

Su Ping could directly descend upon the local area at any time and take over all the resources in that star system.

This Nether Avatar of Su Ping's had saved nearly four-fifths of the time compared to other Avatars reaching the star system where the Kali Civilization was located.

It was just that such rapid travel was not without a price.

After arriving at the target planet, this Avatar's consciousness had also experienced temporary Chaos.

After relying on instinct to find the most suitable local intelligent life form.

It took nearly the time of one incense stick to successfully perform possession and gain control of this body.

And the security officer's original consciousness had not been devoured; it was merely trapped within the sea of consciousness, able only to watch everything in terror.

"Your intuition is not wrong."

"Your civilization has no idea what it is that they have dug up, do they?"

"To be able to accumulate so much in such a dense concentration on a single planet, I don't know whether to call it your civilization's good fortune or great misfortune."

Su Ping quickly read the security officer's memory and learned all the secrets of this middle-aged man named Kafute.

He also keenly realized that the Magic Gold dug up by this base was the Gray Gold his main body needed to refine Abyss Gray Soil.

Gray Gold is just like nuclear material; it has high radiation, a type of terrifying radiation in a Yuanling that at least the current technological civilization has not yet recognized.

Judging from the situation encountered since the Kali Civilization.

Even without Spirit Qi, and without the stimulation of an awakened World Consciousness.

This radiation from the Gray Gold is still slowly taking effect.

Furthermore, Su Ping's Avatar can rely on his extraordinary intuition to perceive that this world may be reaching the critical point where the Gray Gold radiation produces a qualitative change!

"Being able to attach to your body can be considered a fate between us."

Security officer Kafute stood steady and silently recited in his heart:

"Rest assured, if your family needs help, I will provide it; after all, my mission can be considered complete."

"What follows is just game time before the arrival of my main body."

Security officer Kafute stretched, then suddenly turned and ran back to the airport.

At the same time, he used the communicator built into his portable helmet to ask for leave from his superior, who was still intoxicated by the joy of success.

Kafute could be considered an old employee.

Plus, he had already reported the matter regarding his relatives.

Kafute successfully obtained leave and was arranged a first-class seat for his return trip.

However, Su Ping's Avatar declined the arrangement and chose to pay extra to board the transport plane that was about to depart.

Kafute's superior, a gray-haired man two meters tall with a neck as thick as his head, saw the report and frowned slightly:

"This mental fortitude is not enough to serve as a security officer."

"Although it is understandable, this kid's wife is also about to give birth."

"But... having dug up Magic Gold, every position at this base will be extremely precious."

"At this time, any problem will be infinitely magnified; this kid's position is likely not going to be kept."

This superior shook his head slightly, but he did not warn Kafute.

There was no help for it; who told him that he also wanted to let his own people come over to help him?

It was just that, as Su Ping's Avatar relied on Kafute's identity to take off in the transport plane and quickly disappear into the horizon.

At the underground mine entrance of the Antarctic Research Base.

A shrill alarm had already begun to sound inside.

A researcher saw with horror as workers wearing protective suits crawled out of the shaft elevator.

And with the help of the surrounding personnel, after opening the protective suits, they discovered that all the personnel inside had developed extremely terrifying deformities.

They had almost no intact skin left, all the hair on their bodies had fallen out, and they were covered in bloated pustules and lumps of flesh.

The features on their faces were also completely twisted into these lumps of flesh, making it impossible for even their closest relatives to recognize them.

"What is going on?"

"Why have they become like this!"

"What exactly happened to them in the underground tunnel?"

"They were only workers in the gold-bearing layer; they didn't go to the deeper underground at all!"

"The video records are all there; they suddenly felt unwell and then began to return collectively."

"Then... when they were in the elevator, the surveillance found that they had developed severe abnormalities."

The scientists and bureaucrats on the surface were completely bewildered.

This was a situation they had never encountered before.

There was no dangerous gas leak, nor was it a tunnel collapse caused by an earthquake, or a fire or even an explosion caused by equipment failure.

Rather, workers whose vital signs were completely normal just before.

In a short time, they all turned into a group of deformed, flesh-like creatures?

Looking at those mutated workers, many people felt that they had been subjected to Mental Pollution, and even began to suspect whether they had encountered the intrusion of Immortals, demons, or other such existences.

However, there were also some scientists who clearly guessed something, their expressions terrifyingly serious.

The moment the meeting ended, these scientists hid away to hold a small meeting.

After making a decision and jointly reporting their guesses to their superiors.

They prepared to head to the workers' ward, hoping to extract some body tissue for research.

Just as they reached the passage leading to the emergency ward, they suddenly heard the sounds of roaring like wild beasts and screams coming from inside.

The few of them hurriedly stopped and looked at each other before starting to retreat.

No one was willing to continue forward to see what had happened in the ward.

Just as they retreated, an alarm sounded at the entrance of the passage.

Fully armed security personnel rushed out.

The scientists, who hurriedly cleared the way, noticed that they were all carrying weapons.

Bang!

These security personnel kicked the door open, and then the few team members near the door trembled, as if they had seen some extremely terrifying scene.

Then, these team members raised the shotgun-like weapons in their hands without hesitation and pulled the triggers desperately.

Bang, bang, bang!

The sound echoed in the passageway for several seconds, then ceased, accompanied by a series of screams.

The scientist running at the back widened his eyes, seeing the figure of a team member who had discarded his weapon appear at the turn of the passageway.

That team member also saw the scientist and opened his mouth as if to shout something.

Just as his mouth opened, his body suddenly stiffened, and clumps of flesh emerged from his mouth.

Then, this team member was dragged back with a swish.

This caused the scientist's brain to somewhat crash, finding it hard to understand what had just happened.

It was only after being pulled by a companion that he left the passageway entrance and closed the multiple security doors.

"Cough, cough-cough!"

These few scientists caught their breath for a while.

Then, they discovered that everyone's eyes had turned bloodshot.

Then, blood actually began to flow from their noses and the corners of their eyes.

"Something's not right, this is not right."

"Cough, cough, cough, our bodies are all having problems."

"Quick, pull up the data on the employees who first came into contact with those patients!"

"See if they have also developed more severe symptoms!"

The scientists quickly saw evidence supporting their judgment through the ubiquitous surveillance.

The employees who first came into contact with those deformed workers all exhibited varying degrees of pathological symptoms.

Although there were slight individual differences, it could be determined that the earlier the contact and the longer the duration of contact, the more severe the symptoms!

Such contagion... the scientists were not unfamiliar with it.

The Kali Civilization had come into contact with the power of the Nuclear Bomb five hundred years ago and had used nuclear power in various places.

They immediately thought of similar radiation sickness.

It was just, where was the initial radiation source? How did it manage to make those people instantly become new radiation sources?

And most crucially, why did their radiation monitoring equipment still show everything as normal even now?

"Cough, cough, cough, we must make the higher-ups take this seriously; such radiation that cannot be detected... is simply unheard of! And... it is very likely to have a great connection with the current anomalies in civilization!"

As the scientists were discussing, they suddenly felt a tremor beneath their feet.

Afterward, they felt the entire base begin to shake.

It was a massive explosion occurring in the underground construction area.

Flames began to spread.

The underground passageways began to collapse.

And on the base's rooftop.

A group of high-ranking bureaucrats boarded a small vertical-takeoff-and-landing transport plane on the roof, intending to leave this base.

But just as the transport plane took off, the pilot discovered that the radar had begun to sound an alarm.

"What's going on?"

Stunned for a moment, the pilot discovered that the source of the danger was actually coming from the high altitude above!

In the sky, an iron box from an orbital platform suddenly opened after reaching a certain altitude.

Immediately, thousands of small black spheres were ejected from the iron box, turning into a Heavenly Net that covered the base.

The transport plane was also enveloped by this large net.

It turned into a fireball in the air on the spot!

At the same time, a Nuclear Bomb was flying over rapidly from afar.

As this Nuclear Bomb hit the base.

A huge mushroom cloud rose into the sky, leveling all surface structures of this research base.

The flight Kafute was on also failed to reach its destination smoothly.

Instead, it appeared at a military base midway under the escort of fighter jets to undergo strict quarantine.

Several high-ranking generals whispered to each other while observing the stationary plane through surveillance from hundreds of kilometers away.

"It's been three hours; according to life detection, the passengers and crew are all normal."

"Smart robots have also collected everyone's saliva, and testing revealed that no one has shown a deformation reaction."

"It seems this transport plane was very lucky to have left the Antarctic research base before the deformation radiation reached the surface."