So, it was top talent.
He had just realized that organizations like the Alchemist Association contained not only human enhancers but other Guangna Species as well.
Zhou Yi began to ponder how to keep Octopus Brother around.
The company was currently short on talent in the field of scientific and academic research.
Yet Bi Qi asked again, "Where is this place? Can you help me contact Fengdu City? I come from Fengdu City. My submarine's energy was exhausted, and I encountered a serious malfunction before..."
Zhou Yi was taken aback.
That was Qian Su's hometown.
"I work at the Alchemist Association in Fengdu City. Can you help me get in touch with them? The Alchemist Association will send someone to pick me up and will pay you a generous reward. Time might already be running short, I still have to attend the year-end report, or it's going to be problematic for next year's funding...Please help me out, I would be deeply grateful!!"
Octopus Brother rattled on.
Zhou Yi told it, "Fengdu City is no longer there."
"Fengdu City...is no longer there?"
The other party was puzzled, "Was it merged with other cities or did it change its name? This is so sudden."
"No, it was completely destroyed."
Zhou Yi repeated the information given by Red Kestrel, "Nine years ago, there was a huge explosion in Fengdu City. The explosion and the shockwave caused high-energy radiation that covered Fengdu City and the four surrounding towns, resulting in a large number of deaths."
"The explosion resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths, over 27,000 people had to take Suppressant Pills to contain physiological mutations, and the entire city was abandoned right then and there."
Qian Su had almost died in that accident as a child.
"Fengdu City was destroyed..."
Bi Qi's large eyes suddenly constricted, its smooth body tensed up, and its tentacles moved restlessly, "A high-energy explosion in the city... damned thing! It must be the 'Light Burst experiment'!"
Zhou Yi was a bit surprised, "You know the inside story? They only said the explosion was caused by a factory accident."
"What kind of factory could cause radiation covering several towns? It could only be the Light Burst experiment."
Bi Qi gestured with its tentacles, somewhat angrily, "At the time, Fengdu City secretly brought in a very risky project in order to secure a huge investment; among them, the one with the highest destructive power and danger level was the 'Light Burst experiment'."
"This experiment was to simulate a Light Burst using technological means in order to create a specific Light Imprint Device, which was also a project that the Alchemist Association headquarters had been pushing forward. However, due to the high risk of radiation leakage and the fact that the Light Burst itself could easily cause catastrophic damage, the Alchemist Associations of other cities refused it."
"But Fengdu City was one of the territories of the Light Imprint School. There were many people from the Light Imprint School within the Alchemist Association, and their style was very aggressive, worshiping and researching the power of Death Light... Even though we strongly opposed it, the Light Burst experiment eventually took place in Fengdu City."
Bi Qi closed its eyes in some pain, "I had been worried before. The Light Burst experiment was supposed to be conducted inside a special radiation tower after it was built in the wilderness, but to get results hastily and secure new funding, they insisted on starting in the basement of the city using live rats and dogs for experiments. Fengdu City turned a blind eye to this."
"We wrote a whistleblower letter, reported the regulatory issues to headquarters, and asked for a halt to the experiment until a process check could be performed... Still, the accident happened."
It was only now that Zhou Yi learned the cause.
By the time they considered, Bi Qi had been asleep under the sea for at least nine years.
Zhou Yi asked, "How did you end up falling here?"
"I was studying the civilization from the Divine Era and would regularly go to the Dead Sea for undersea exploration and excavation work."
Bi Qi pointed to the immobile mechanical crab, "This is a samurai crab-themed submarine custom-made for me by the Craftsmen Guild. It's designed this way to avoid provoking the aggression of samurai crabs."
"They get agitated easily, and if you encounter them in the sea, they can be quite troublesome. This appearance reduces their hostility, and the structure is also well suited for the environment of the Dead Sea."
"We, five Alchemists, wrote a joint letter, which was transmitted to headquarters through the Mechanical City's equipment. The response from the headquarters was that verification was in progress, and then I entered the Dead Sea for work as usual."
"I brought the exploration vessel to hover over the Dead Sea, raised the flag of the Alchemist Association, and then took the submarine all the way down."
Octopus Brother reminisced, "During this dive, I entered an area of undersea relics previously confirmed, where several buildings were well-preserved."
"I got nothing from those buildings, but I found a previously undiscovered burial pit under the silt next to them."
"In those pits, there were well-preserved skeletons of Prehistoric Humans, all juveniles, who didn't look much different from humans of this era. Most importantly, each of these juvenile Prehistoric Humans was buried with a deity statue."
Octopus Brother took out two items from the tin box.
"These two are the most common."
Zhou Yi took a closer look.
One of Octopus Brother's tentacles was holding a plastic Ultraman, the other tentacle a plastic monster.
"Similar images can be found in various Divine Era buildings. We often believed that they were images of protective deities, meant to safeguard Prehistoric Humans."
"There are many classifications for protective deities, though, like these two, they might represent different factions and tendencies."
"Some think that the deities of the Divine Era were merely servants and tools controlled by Prehistoric Humans, so those humans of that era created millions of deities. In the end, humans were overthrown and betrayed by the gods they created, leading to their utter destruction, submerged by the Dead Sea, and the remaining descendants also lost their former power."
Bi Qi paused and said, "I also have a bold idea."
"Is it possible that at that time, the deities or some part of Prehistoric Humans underwent a change similar to desiccation, shrinking into this shape like we Water Octopuses, to evade that unrecordable disaster? Maybe these are their true forms and essences. It's just we haven't found a way to restore them."
"Of course, this is just a wild guess of mine, unsupported by theory or technology."
Zhou Yi looked at Ultraman and the little monster, and could roughly guess that the place Octopus Brother found was either a kindergarten or something akin to a nursery.
But to later generations, these things are truly incomprehensible. Content orıginally comes from novelꞁire.net
Octopus Brother could only deduce the behavior of Prehistoric Humans based on its own situation.
"As I continued to collect and record in that relic, my submarine suddenly became immovable. The energy inside was rapidly exhausting and overflowing..."
Octopus Brother's expression suddenly stilled.
It darted to the outside of the submarine to check, then swore loudly.
"Damn it, the Light Imprint School sabotaged my submarine! It was to keep me from talking too much!"