Era-Of-Disaster - Chapter 216

Chapter 216: Returning to the Devil Isles Again

Bai Yi faced off against Hodgson again with an incomparably forceful attitude. “Don’t be mistaken: I’m just informing you and not asking for your permission.”

“Looking for a way to regain human form is a good thing for both normal humans and evolved humans now. The original goal of activated cells research was for the sake of longevity; if the technology matured, I believe that many of your higher-ups would want to assimilate with activated cells, right? It’s something obviously beneficial for both sides, but because I was the one who brought it up first, you guys want to intentionally make this hard for me so as to gain more benefits.”

“Team Leader Bai Yi, your attitude is really…!”

“I’m not a politician, so don’t beat around the bush with me and get to the point!”

…

Finally back again!

Everyone looked at the evolved lifeforms flying in the sky and a strange sense of familiarity rose in all of them. It was as if the Devil Isles, which were incomparably dangerous to outsiders, actually gave them a sense of home. Nobody knew exactly what Bai Yi and the United Nations had discussed, but they did indeed return to the Devil Isles smoothly.

A few helicopters flew toward the Devil Isles, but their speed wasn’t considered too fast.

It was extremely dangerous for something like a helicopter to enter the Devil Isles now because something mechanical like that could easily be seen as a prey for some flying evolved lifeform. As long as some part of it was damaged, these helicopters would lose the ability to fly anymore. However, this wasn’t a problem for Bai Yi’s team right now, because Bai Yi wasn’t inside a helicopter, but rather flying outside. Even though they met many flying evolved lifeforms along the way, it didn’t affect their journey at all with Bai Yi outside guarding the helicopters.

To be able to return to the Devil Isles smoothly, Bai Yi had also agreed to some things.

The first condition: circulate information regarding the Tasmania autonomous region in the Devil Isles and inform other evolved humans of it. If there were any evolved humans that wanted to head to the autonomous region, they could wait for the United Nations aircraft supercarrier Wagram to fetch them. However, this aircraft supercarrier was still in the middle of construction and couldn’t be used yet. One must know, a normal aircraft carrier was only 300 plus meters long with a water displacement weight of around 90,000 tons¹; they couldn’t be considered to be absolutely safe in the seas now.

The second condition: return to Ghost City Wellington and collect branches from the Soul Release Tree.

The United Nations ascribed extraordinary importance to the Soul Release Tree and conducted thorough tests with Bai Yi’s approval. A normal human had a soul as well, but it would dissipate within three to seven days in the absence of a special environment.

Regardless of whether a human died through an accident or through natural causes, their soul would be sucked into Soul Release Wood as long as they were carrying it upon their death.

In the short period of observation they had, they concluded a soul wouldn’t dissipate after getting sucked into Soul Release Wood. Seemingly, the space inside of it was a special environment.

It was hard to say whether revival was possible now, but it was at least a hope for everybody else. What if they really managed to develop a way to revive souls in the future?

Hence, the second condition was to collect the branches of the Soul Release Tree and send them to the other countries. As for how the leaders would divide these things, that wasn’t something that Bai Yi cared about.

The third condition: this probably couldn’t be said to be a condition, but rather a common goal.

The United Nations provided a detailed map of the 121 research facilities located all over the Devil Isles. In reality, the United Nations had wanted to collect the things inside the research facilities long ago, but sending normal soldiers into the Devil Isles was just like delivering food. Those experimental subjects seen in the battle before hadn’t been successfully developed then either, so their progress hadn’t been smooth.

Based on Doctor Wang’s personality, after leaving from Tongariro National Park Research Facility, that guy would definitely continue with his research. However, to be able to continue to conduct his research he would need a well-equipped place, and that would probably be one of those 121 research facilities. Their goal was to follow this detailed map to search for Doctor Wang, otherwise, they would just be blindly looking around. They wouldn’t realize it even if there was a secret research facility right below their feet.

The helicopters stopped at Wellington itself, and there was not only Bai Yi’s team inside them but also people from the United Nations. Coming directly to this place, it was easy to tell just how much the United Nations valued the Soul Release Wood. The helicopters landed at the edge of Wellington, on an unloading pier. Although the place was already completely different from when it was still in use, it wasn’t a problem for helicopters to land there.

“Team Leader Bai Yi’s strength is really amazing,” Sarelli said after landing. This guy was the in charge of the team sent by the United Nations. After they finished collecting the Soul Release Wood, his team would be in charge of sending it back.

“It’s nothing much, but what are you guys going to do when going back?” Bai Yi asked. On the way here, all the flying evolved lifeforms were repelled by Bai Yi, and they hadn’t even engaged in a real battle yet. If not for Bai Yi, the hundreds and thousands of strange flying evolved lifeforms wouldn’t be easy to drive away.

“You don’t have to worry about this; we have a way,” Sarelli smiled and said.

“Orh.” Since that guy already said so, Bai Yi couldn’t be bothered to ask anymore.

Two teams, more than 20 people in total. Half of them stayed to guard the helicopters while the rest headed toward Wellington. The moment Bai Yi’s team entered the range of the Devil Isles, their entire bodies immediately went into a high-alert state, ready to react instantly to anything that might happen. This was a natural instinct developed over their years living on the Devil Isles. However, Sarelli and his team were much worse. These guys were LV2 as well and were the trump cards of the United Nations, but they probably didn’t understand just how dangerous the Devil Isles could be.

“You guys better put up your guard.” Bai Yi didn’t want these guys to die so carelessly.

“Orh,” Sarelli replied, but he didn’t really take it in mind. Bai Yi wouldn’t continue to remind him; he wasn’t a nanny.

The city had long lost its original appearance, and they could see fewer and fewer signs of human activity around. The group of people carefully made their way to the heart of the city. Although Bai Yi looked relaxed, he had already activated his Reverse Flower Eyes, and the other people on his team also had their bodies slightly tensed.

This place was the home of the Giant Devil Mosquitoes.

However, before they could see any Giant Devil Mosquitoes, the group encountered something else. While walking past a bracken, a very small shadow suddenly shot out from beneath one of the leaves. When the leaf was moved, the small bug hiding beneath it got startled and shot out instantly. It was too fast; a normal human would never be able to see the shadow.

Bai Yi’s team instantly dodged to the side, but Sarelli’s team was different, and one of the guys actually tried to grab the bug.

“Stop!” Bai Yi immediately shouted.

However, this guy completely ignored Bai Yi’s words and grabbed toward it full of confidence, sparks of electricity appearing on his fingers. However, in the next moment, this guy issued a pained cry; the small shadow had instantly pierced through this guy’s palm and rapidly disappeared in the underbrush.

Nancy and the doctor in Sarelli’s team immediately ran over and carefully checked him. A small hole the size of a chopstick head had been bored through his palm, a small trickle of blood flowing outward from the wound. Nancy saw the thin fur by the sides of the wound and immediately took out her scalpel, wanting to cut it off. However, the other doctor immediately stopped her.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m saving him, get out of the way,” Nancy said, her scalpel moving toward the wound again.

“Are you crazy? Why are you using a scalpel for such a wound?!”

“Idiot, acting smart when you don’t know anything!” Nancy said as she looked at the wound and kept her scalpel. Since they didn’t appreciate her good intentions, then forget about it. Sarelli’s team seemed to be a bit hostile toward Bai Yi’s team, seemingly somewhat unsatisfied regarding them. As somebody with a similar occupation, the doctor also had some hostility toward Nancy.

“I’m acting smart?! I’ve gotten…”

“Don’t show off whatever accolades or medals you got in the outside world, all your so-called ‘knowledge’ learned outside has no use here!” Nancy said, before turning around and leaving, angering the other doctor to the point of speechlessness.

Sarelli tried to ease the atmosphere and asked Bai Yi, “Don’t be like this. Team Leader Bai Yi, can you explain this a bit? Don’t tell me this injury is very serious?”

“Not really serious.” Bai Yi smiled and said.

“That kind of bug isn’t poisonous and isn’t fatal either. It’s just that when this bug bored through his hand, it left some of its tiny fur on the wound, and these furs have already entered his body,” Bai Yi said with a nonchalant expression. “Don’t be so reckless next time. There are many different varieties of lifeforms in the Devil Isles now, but normally speaking, the lifeforms here wouldn’t attack you if they didn’t sense any danger. The fur bug just now only got startled and tried to fly away, you guys didn’t have to attack it at all.”

“No, not this; would there be any effects if the fur enters his body?” Sarelli asked.

“Of course there would be effects, but they wouldn’t be so quickly fatal. This kind of fur is able to grow by itself inside the body; the fur would slowly grow longer, gradually restricting the muscles and nerve activity.” Bai Yi maintained his nonchalant expression all the way through.

“Then what would he become?”

“I remember in the earlier days that after somebody got injured by this bug, his movements gradually became slower and slower as if his body was being restricted. He practically lost all ability to move after one month and managed to live for another half a year through the help of his teammates, but still died in the end. After dissecting him, they realized that his body was filled with this kind of fur connected together, forming a dense web inside his body,” Bai Yi said. Actually, this was quite similar to Bai Yi’s body now, but unfortunately, that guy couldn’t control the fur inside his body.

“Is there any way to save him?”

“Those furs should still be in his right hand, just chop it off.”

“Chop it off!” Sarelli said in shock.

“I’m kidding, there’s a kind of dissolving drug that’s effective, but it would cause great damage to his body. Nancy, concoct one portion of it,” Bai Yi said.

“I don’t have enough ingredients now, I need the juice of the Aqua Regia Flower,” Nancy said.

“Then that would be troublesome.” Bai Yi smiled bitterly. The two of them echoed each other, scaring Sarelli’s team dumb. However, Bai Yi didn’t lie either; that little fur bug was just that dangerous, and this was just an insignificantly small part of the Devil Isles.

***

Editor’s Notes:

1. Perhaps amusingly, aircraft carriers of approximately this size (like the Nimitz-class and Gerald R. Ford-class, although both are larger) are presently considered supercarriers in comparison to older-style carriers, which usually weigh less than 30,000 tons.