Chapter 308: Cold Storage

Using pain to offset.

Zhao Zijing and the others exchanged a glance, feeling that Master Pi Fu was deliberately hiding something, but since he was unwilling to say more, it wasn't appropriate to press him for details.

Being alive, sometimes ignorance is bliss. Just like how you shouldn't go inspect the kitchen hygiene of the takeout restaurant you usually order from, or you'll be in for a bunch of surprises.

"Once again, thank you, Master Pi Fu."

Father Andre made the sign of the cross on his chest, nodded gratefully, and briefly recounted his experience in a few words.

They had also been driven to Gao Ta by the collapsing earthquake, arriving two hours earlier than Li Cheng and the others.

After reaching an agreement with Dr. Noah, they ran errands for him and took out two aberrant monsters that had infiltrated Gao Ta, but on the way to a higher floor, they were ambushed and set up; out of seven players, only Andre survived.

"This Gao Ta looks pretty sci-fi and advanced, but the defense system is like a colander."

Bai Ji Xiong in border collie form scratched his ear with a front paw and quipped, "Aberrant monsters come and go as they please, like this place is a public restroom."

"The ones that can sneak in are the toughest, most cunning batch of aberrant monsters. Just like how some animals in the real world can sense an incoming earthquake, they should be able to sense that danger is coming, and they'll stop at nothing to infiltrate Gao Ta."

Andre paused and said, "Besides, I also suspect Dr. Noah is hiding certain things from us."

Fu Ding Hua Long frowned upon hearing this. "What do you mean?"

Andre said, "Before we arrived at the embryo storage room, it had already been wrecked. And given this macaque's physical fitness, it couldn't have smashed the alloy liquid nitrogen tanks."

"That's not necessarily true. Mammals, especially primates, can rapidly secrete hormones in critical situations and unleash powerful potential—like a grandma lifting a car to save her grandson."

Li Cheng said casually, "I know a guy named Zheng Zha. He once got so angry in an extreme situation that he stayed angry for an entire day, and finally unlocked the Fourth Gene Lock."

??? Enough already, are you doing Infinite Terror now?

Bai Ji Xiong and the others looked completely bewildered. Zhao Zijing once again wore a constipated expression—she had read the previous files on Master Pi Fu that Su Jie had uploaded to the Special Affairs Bureau, and knew this guy was doing the Chu Xuan Colonel meme from Dragon Hidden Base again.

"Time is limited, let's not chat about this nonsense."

Li Cheng's face changed instantly. Amid the group's exasperated "Hey, who's the one wasting time here?" looks, he walked unhurriedly to the wall, activated the scanning function of his Information Integration Glasses, and reached out to feel along the wall.

Click.

He gripped a metal handle hidden inside the wall and yanked hard, pulling out a horizontally placed cylindrical metal cryogenic hibernation pod.

Its appearance was identical to the hibernation pods used for interstellar travel in sci-fi movies. Through the top glass cover, a person could be seen lying inside, wrapped entirely in a white net woven from polymer material, a tube in their mouth, and injectors and vital sign monitors connected to their limbs.

"There's one here too."

Li Cheng pulled open another twenty-plus hibernation pods. The group busied themselves and discovered that all four walls of the embryo cold storage room, including the floor and ceiling, were stuffed with hibernation pods, numbering as many as five thousand.

The people inside were all adult men and women, mostly middle-aged and elderly, and without exception, all dead.

"Holy shit."

Even Bai Ji Xiong, who had experienced many script missions and prided himself on being well-versed, couldn't help but feel his scalp tingle at the sight. Even his border collie tail drooped. "No wonder that macaque wanted to hide here. This place is basically a human brain buffet."

"These people were already dead before the cold storage lost power. Cause of death was cardiac arrest triggered by drug overdose injection."

Li Cheng said calmly, "They should be the ruling class from before the disaster—either rich or noble."

Andre asked, "How do you know?" "From the age distribution and physical characteristics."

Li Cheng kept playing with the yo-yo using the macaque in his left hand, while holding the Victory Flag Spear in his right, tearing open the polymer net. "High-intensity manual laborers often have joint wear and spinal issues, truck drivers often have one-sided facial sunburn, and office workers have calluses on their palms.

The people in these hibernation pods all lived lives of luxury, with no traces of labor. At most, they had calluses from playing golf and deliberate tanning marks.

By the way, the reason tanning culture became popular in Europe and America over the past century is not only because a brown skin tone implies sun exposure, vacation travel, wealth and leisure, carrying inherent class attributes that invisibly separate the rich from the common folk,

but also because the skin of some white European races is too pale, especially as they age, when their skin turns a ghastly white like a bloated corpse.

The tan man's white eye rings are caused by his eyelids not tanning along with the rest of his face.

If you don't believe me, I can cut open these refrigerated corpses and check for organ transplant traces and stomach contents to further deduce their social class.

Let me tell you, judging social status from stomach and intestinal condition is also my specialty."

Li Cheng made to leap onto the hibernation pod and use the flag spear to split the hero fragments. Zhao Zijing and the others hurriedly held him back.

Everyone's had enough of the scatological content, please take it away.

After much coaxing, Li Cheng reluctantly lowered the flag spear and said casually, "These five thousand dead were probably the powerful, wealthy, and government high-ups who first banded together for warmth after the catastrophe.

Looking at them one by one—/p>

They likely knew about Dr. Noah's interstellar colonization plan, and may have even negotiated terms, providing Dr. Noah with the resources he needed in exchange for the right to survive in the new world.

But from the looks of it, the plan still fell through."

Zhao Zijing looked at the corpses filling every nook and cranny and murmured, "Should we go back down the tower to confront Noah?"

"We can, but there's no need."

Li Cheng shook his head. "Whatever happened in the other world is none of our business. Since the entire Gao Ta was built by Dr. Noah, and only he can build the spatial jump engine,

why bother bringing along these powerful and wealthy people who have become a burden, produce nothing, and are utterly worthless?

The new world doesn't need a second god.

As for now, let's hurry on our way."

Saying so, he recalled the yo-yo, preparing to finish off the aberrant macaque.

"Please wait, Mr. Pi Fu, are you going to kill it?"

Fu Ding Hua Long suddenly thought of something and said, "How about transferring it to me? The Bureau is very interested in this kind of monster with psychic abilities, and is willing to pay a high price, no less than a Perfect-quality item."

"Hmm? Sure."

Li Cheng nodded. He only wanted to kill the macaque for the experience and in-game coin rewards. Since the Special Affairs Bureau wanted to buy it at a high price, he was happy to do them a favor.

"Many thanks, many thanks."

Fu Ding Hua Long carefully took the half-dead macaque, pulled out a blank sheet of drawing paper with his other hand, brought his hands together, and imprinted the macaque into the paper.

Perhaps tortured too badly by Li Cheng, the macaque sealed into the painting actually wore a faint expression of relief and gratitude.

(End of chapter)