Red Mist Research Institute, Laboratory 13.
Lan En pushed the small cart and opened the door to the laboratory, placing the three body bags on the long table. He exhaled and said, “Teacher, the new materials have arrived!”
“I’m here.”
Lawrence came out from the inner room and glanced at the ten body bags on the table the size of copper bells. He slightly sniffed the scent of decay, filled with the smell of death, and nodded. “What about the dolphins?”
“The female dolphins you specified have been placed in the water tank and sent over, but it’s difficult to bring the water tank up here because of its size. Do you want to study freshly dead dolphins? When do you need them?”
“Not for now. You take care of her.”
“Alright. Do you want to study live dolphins? Should I bring the water tank up here?”
“No need to bring it up.”
Not used as research materials, and not brought to the laboratory?
Lan En blinked. “Teacher, are you really going to study dolphins?”
“Yes, of course.” Lawrence said lightly, “But remember to send her to my house later.”
As an outstanding human graduate student, Lan En felt that his values had been shaken. The rumors about Lawrence, the blue-scaled fishman, having a preference for dolphins turned out to be true!
“Come and open the boxes.” Lawrence said, “You’re lucky. When I was an intern, there weren’t so many research materials. Take a good look and learn.”
“Yes!”
Lawrence opened the first body bag. “Human, male, obese youth, non-artificer, Level 1 common material. You can practice with it.”
“Orc, male, strong youth, non-artificer, Level 3 common material. You can practice with it.”
“Human, female, normal youth, non-artificer, Level 3 common material. You can practice with it.”
“Elf, male, strong middle-aged, non-artificer, Level 7 rare material. Mine.”
“What happened at the hospital… never mind. Dog, male, strong and mature, non-artificer, Level 2 common material. You can take it.”
Lawrence opened the last body bag and couldn’t help shaking his head. “Eight common bodies, two rare bodies, and not even one sorcerer’s body. Luck isn’t on our side this time.”
“Teacher, this is already very good.” Lan En couldn’t help but say, “Usually, the hospital only sends about twenty bodies to the institute in a day, and they are mostly Level 1 common bodies that died from serious illnesses or old age. Even so, they have to be divided among the entire institute. When I was studying with Orzalan, there were times when we didn’t have any new research materials for a whole week.”
“It’s only in the past few days that we’ve had more materials, but even with the restriction of ‘death qi dissipating in seven days,’ we still can’t use them all even if we work overtime.”
“Yeah, that’s true.” Lawrence’s mood was actually quite good, and his speech even had some unique fishman bubble sounds. “We have to thank those foreign sorcerers. They should come to Camon City every year… no, every month.”
“Teacher!” Lan En was startled. “Be careful! The Supreme Lord won’t be happy!”
“Relax, we are the Blood Saints favored by the Supreme Lord. I won’t lose his favor just because of some careless words.”
“But it’s still not good. What if someone reports you—”
“Alright, alright. Do you think I’m wrong?”
“Of course you’re wrong. Going to the city every month is too damaging to the economy. Camon City can’t handle such frequent devastation. In the new materials produced in Camon City, one-third of them are sent to the research institute in Feimeng City.”
Lawrence glanced at this new student. He truly deserved to be a former human. His scheming was even darker than a fishman’s.
A light screen suddenly popped up, reminding Lawrence that his reserved time had arrived. He said to his student, “Alright, Lan En, you handle the pre-processing of the materials. I have something to do outside.”
“Yes, Teacher.”
Taking off his outer robe and spraying perfume to dispel the smell of corpses, Lawrence left the laboratory with light steps.
Passing by the water tank downstairs, he stared at the graceful figure and seductive eyes of the dolphin, wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth, and stepped onto the school road illuminated by the Blood Moon.
He had just returned to the research institute a few days ago, and the institute quickly assigned him a laboratory.
Although Lawrence felt weak and incompetent, his bloodline aptitude was among the top five in the entire institute. Therefore, even if he offended important figures in the four major research institutes, the institute still spared no effort in favoring him with resources.
Lan En was also assigned to him as a graduate student by the institute. Although Lawrence was reluctant, it was a mandatory requirement for young researchers to have graduate students. Moreover, there were many miscellaneous tasks in experimental research, and he really needed a graduate student to help him.
Lawrence had also been a graduate student for others. This was a necessary step before undergoing “blood exchange,” equivalent to a “probationary period” or “internship” before transforming into a different race.
Although the preparatory bloodline had passed the graduate student exam and had guaranteed aptitude, many projects in the institute conflicted with universal values. The institute needed to ensure that the new person was a “smart person” who could integrate into their “family,” rather than a “model citizen” indoctrinated by propaganda.
Of course, the “probationary period” was nominally for the graduate student to have early contact with sorcerer research and quickly raise their faction level to the Silver rank. But if the new person couldn’t integrate into the institute’s “family,” their fate generally wouldn’t be good. There was a joke in the institute called “Today you are my student, tomorrow you are my material.”
The institute wouldn’t intentionally violate the law, but the law couldn’t reach the institute either.
By the way, the main research projects of the Red Mist Research Institute were the “Blood Artificer Faction” and the “Necromancer Faction,” both of which required a large number of corpses as research materials. Lawrence specialized in the Necromancer Faction, and thanks to the abundant materials, his research progress had been advancing rapidly these days. He had even summoned a new sorcery spirit, and the Necromancer Faction was on the verge of reaching the limit of the Silver rank.If he continued to struggle with the Source Blood in prison, he would never catch up with such a good opportunity. So, fate is really strange.
When he arrived at the Wine Cafe, Lawrence greeted the snake boss. The snake boss smiled and said, “Sss, back again? We’ve got some good blood recently. Would you like a glass of ‘Song of the Elves’?”
“Do you have elf blood? What’s the ratio?”
“60%! Besides the Song of the Elves, I also have ‘Wolf’s Kiss’.”
Lawrence’s eyes widened in surprise. “I didn’t hear about the church being attacked!”
“There was a Moonshadow Priest who happened to be outside at that time and encountered a large group of attackers. May the Supreme One have mercy on this unfortunate soul… How about a 10% ratio?”
“One glass of Song of the Elves and one glass of Wolf’s Kiss!”
“You really know how to drink.”
Lawrence sat back in his previous seat and waited quietly for the Blood Moon Judgment to begin. For some reason, after watching the Blood Moon Judgment once, he suddenly became fond of this show. Even though he used to not even bother to look at it when he was in prison.
Perhaps it was because he was expelled from prison.
Perhaps it was because he knew that he would always be stepped on by [222] in his life, and the other party would never notice him.
Perhaps it was because he had accepted his mediocrity.
During his time studying, interning, and performing rituals in prison, Lawrence always maintained a high fighting spirit. He could satisfy himself with self-motivation alone and didn’t need any entertainment shows to enrich his spiritual life.
But now, he had put his previously neglected sexual desires back in front of him. He went to the Wine Cafe every night to have a few drinks and even developed a liking for watching the Blood Moon Judgment… The reason behind it all was that he could no longer find happiness in “striving”.
To Lawrence, studying, researching, practicing, and exploring the Virtual Realm had become “must-do” work.
Because he saw his own ceiling and knew that no matter how hard he tried, it would be useless.
Faced with an insurmountable wall, all he wanted to do was lie down and live a carefree life.
Ironically, when Lawrence first came to the research institute, he often looked down on those researchers who lived carefree lives, thinking that they were no different from corpses in coffins, and he vowed that he would never become one of them.
“Perhaps I died that night when I was thrown into the Broken Lake.” Lawrence calmly reflected on himself. “Without ambition, all I have left is a heart that won’t beat.”
Suddenly, there was a commotion outside the Wine Cafe, and someone rushed in excitedly, shouting, “Something happened at the Broken Lake Prison! The death row inmates escaped!”
“Is it true? How did they escape? What about the guards?”
“It seems like the guards were locked up. The death row inmates seized the transport ship that came to the prison today and escaped. The port noticed that the transport ship hadn’t returned and reported it layer by layer, only to discover that something had happened at the prison!”
“Broken Lake is going to lose face nationwide. Is this the first prison break by death row inmates?”
“Wait, doesn’t the prison have medical staff? Could it be that they…”
“Hahaha, this is hilarious! Let’s raise a glass to the escaped inmates and hope they bring some fun to the Bloodthirsty Hunters!”
“Cheers!”
Someone else shouted, “Cheers to the increased supply of materials recently! The materials in the past few days are worth several months!”
“Cheers!”
“Cheers to the foreign sorcerers…”
“Hey hey hey, we can’t raise a glass to that.”
“Then let’s raise a glass to the deceased!”
“Cheers! Ahh~”
Lawrence also raised his glass happily and finished the Song of the Elves.
Although it had nothing to do with him, Medical Officer [222] was definitely still in the Broken Lake Prison. The medical team in the prison couldn’t escape blame for this prison break, and their responsibility was even greater than that of the guards—after all, the guards were the obvious targets, while the medical officers were like bats hiding in the dark.
Lawrence even secretly rejoiced that he was expelled early—he couldn’t accept the fact that a prestigious Blood Saint Clan sorcerer would be controlled by death row inmates and be associated with such a disgraceful act.
“So, there won’t be any Blood Moon Judgment to watch tonight? Boring.”
“Snake boss, how about starting a betting pool for the escaped inmates? Bet on when they will be caught, or whether they will be shot during their escape. I have a friend in the hunting hall who can pass on the news as soon as possible!”
“Sss… Let me think…”
Just then, a light screen suddenly appeared in the center of the Wine Cafe!
Everyone was stunned and looked at the snake boss. The snake boss remained calm and said, “I set the light screen to start the Blood Moon Judgment at 8 o’clock sharp, but now the show is gone—”
“If you have been hurt enough, use a pair of hands to cut open, curse from yesterday…”
There was even an opening music!?
In the eyes of everyone who was confused, surprised, and expectant, a prison guard in uniform appeared on the light screen. He held the “Catalog of Sinners” in his hands, covering his mouth, revealing only a pair of cold eyes.
“Hello, everyone. I am the host of this Blood Moon Judgment, Asho Heath.”
Asho Heath?
Asho Heath!
No one would forget this name in just a few days, especially since many people were eagerly anticipating his return to the stage in this episode of the Blood Moon Judgment!
“Since the judgment could end at any time, let’s not waste any time and introduce the list of the redeemed.”
The scene shifted, and the camera focused on the Broken Lake outside the prison. Eight slender red stone pillars appeared on the lake, each with a stone seat, and a prisoner sat on each seat.
“This is Edmund Menken, former executive secretary of the Tax Bureau.”
“This is Bernard Laidor, former director of the Project Department of the Ministry of Government Affairs.”
“This is Ernest Andreier, former senator.”
When the camera turned to the last contestant, everyone in the Wine Cafe, the research institute, the church, the orphanage, and the hunting hall stood up in shock.”This is Arandor Fenanche,” Asho said, “the current mayor of Camon City.”
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