Chapter 1043: Even without a human body, one still has a human heart

"Oh no, I actually think Dr. Hughes in this form is a bit cute. Should I go see a doctor?"

"Yes, dear, it is suggested that you go register for an appointment at the psychiatric department next door while you're at it."

"Uh... does Dr. Hughes have no sense of pain? Even if his current eyes are tough, it wouldn't feel good to be stepped on like that by someone, right?"

"Maybe Dr. Hughes has some special hobby? After all, it's normal for eccentric geniuses to have some points that differ from ordinary people."

"I suspect you are implying something about the Genius Society, and I have evidence."

"However, Dr. Hughes's entrance is indeed quite oppressive. If you changed the BGM to something solemn, drew a health bar, and wrote 'Bartholomew Hughes' on it, you could throw him into a game as a boss."

Time returns to before 3125 had fully descended.

After moving away from the death scene at Site-41, Dr. Hughes quickly found an exit to leave, found a drone, and manipulated it to head rapidly toward Site-167.

And before this, he had never experienced such special air traffic—being stuck in a petri dish, hanging under a launch rack.

It wasn't until he entered the plain and arrived at Site-167 that he breathed a slight sigh of relief, and then found the massive void leading underground between two buildings.

"Site-167 has also been destroyed..."

Dr. Hughes in his germ state had originally been thinking about how to communicate with the employees of Site-167, to avoid them treating him as an escaped containment object.

But looking at the building complex that had been destroyed over a large area, Dr. Hughes felt he didn't need to worry about that.

Pop... he blew a bubble, manipulated the drone to go deeper, and finally managed to see what the bunker that O5-8 and Marion Wheeler had spoken of looked like.

This bunker was empty, with only an empty shell and a floor full of uncleaned construction waste.

What does this mean? How much of what Michael Lee said is true?

Dr. Hughes wanted to scratch his head, but only raised a few tentacles, and even used too much force and hit his massive single eye.

"￥#@%￥#... this body is truly godforsaken."

Having just experienced being shot to death and being resurrected in an alien form, Dr. Hughes felt physically and mentally exhausted. He decisively treated everything Michael 633 Lee had said before as bullshit, planning to study what was true once his condition improved.

"Wait, where are my people?"

Dr. Hughes suddenly realized that besides the research equipment that should have been filling the bunker, there were also his capable subordinates, and he didn't even see a lab coat here.

Various signs pointed to one conclusion:

Michael Lee had long been influenced by 3125, or perhaps had even actively betrayed the Foundation, defected to that Apollyon-class containment object, and become a traitor to the Foundation.

"Tsk, what a headache-inducing situation."

He had indeed pushed for the construction of the bunker, but it was to completely destroy the possibility of humanity resisting 3125.

He had come forward as a department head, mobilized excellent anti-memetics department agents, and secretly killed them; and given the special nature of the anti-memetics department, no one would question why they had disappeared.

As for the research equipment that should have been here, the same logic applied.

This was the first thing that made Dr. Hughes sad.

Soaking in nutrient solution, Dr. Hughes looked at the empty and dead-silent bunker, his mind gradually becoming restless.

Before his mood could improve even slightly, Dr. Hughes suddenly remembered another thing, and this made his mood instantly plummet into the abyss, in free fall.

"Damn it... I didn't take any body tissue."

Without his own body cells, he couldn't clone his own body, and thus couldn't transfer his consciousness out.

In other words, he was likely to spend the rest of his life in this body.

"@%￥#... now it's really over."

This was the biggest mistake he had ever made, and perhaps the one with the most far-reaching consequences.

At a secret meeting, Marion had warned him that in order to guard the Foundation and protect human civilization, he might have to pay an incredibly tragic price, even sacrificing himself.

Dr. Hughes was no stranger to such rhetoric; if one day he needed to make a noble sacrifice, he would not resist.

At least, he had believed so until today.

The Foundation awarded a batch of Foundation Star medals every year to commend those brave soldiers who sacrificed themselves.

But the number of agents and researchers the Foundation sacrificed every year was far more than just that.

Some people were caught up in memetic or anti-memetic hazards, and even their own existence was erased.

There were even more people whose real names had to be hidden, and even their deaths had to be concealed, because of the secrecy of the missions they carried out and the classified nature of the research they engaged in.

However, building psychological preparation and the day actually arriving were clearly two different feelings. ===== CHAPTER 1045 =====