It's been another long night.

The pale orange sun peeks out from one side of the mountain, illuminating the snow-capped mountains below. No matter what life on Earth is doing, struggling, surviving, betraying, or dying, it never stops for what it does.

The man in the suit looked at the dazzling snow-capped mountains, and they looked so unsightly against the sunshine at the moment.

Faintly, there was a helipad in the mountains, and the helicopter landed there.

The helicopter was parked, and a heavily armed man was already waiting. He reached out and helped the man in the suit out of the helicopter. "Welcome back, messenger."

"Hmm." The man in the suit responded indifferently.

On one side of the snowy mountain, there was a jet-black metal door, which opened quickly as the man in the suit approached.

The two walked through the protective door, and the man in the suit, accompanied by armed men, quickly walked into the equipment.

It is a base of a pyramidal structure, set in a small town surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Today, the town is still empty, except for the occasional entry and exit of this base, as if it were out of the world.

The two of them walked through a dimly lit passageway, surrounded by lights that glowed with a faint orange light. At the end of the passage, a gray-white door stood alone.

The man in the suit approached the authentication device on the side of the door, and he took out an ID card from his arms to confirm his identity.

The verification device, which was originally slowly flashing with red light, turned into a green light after the man in the suit confirmed his identity.

The mechanical system female voice prompted, "Welcome back, Dr. Dick." ”

The cross-locked door opened in front of him, and Dick nodded back to the armed men and walked inside.

Inside the door is a series of sterilization treatment devices, Dick after one by one purification, and then take off the clothes on his body, and then wash and disinfect.

When all was done, he went into the room and changed into the clean clothes he had prepared.

Dick took a few steps to the side, and there was a closed gray-white metal door again. He straightened his neckline, made sure it was in order, and then went through the last security check in front of the door.

"Cleaning is complete, the door is about to open." With a beep, the closed door slid open.

A man in a white research coat was already waiting, and he smiled at Dick, "Welcome back." ”

The room is well-lit and state-of-the-art, spotlessly clean and tidy. There is no trace of the particle dust that can be seen everywhere outside. At the back of this room, the space closer to the interior of the base is separated by multiple blast doors.

Dick looked around, there was no one he was looking for, "Where's Karina?" ”

"Do you need me to come with you in the lab?"

"No," Dick refused, "you go and do something else, I'll be alone." ”

With that, he walked towards the elevator. On the way, we passed through the office area, a space made up of many small but well-organized cubicles.

"14th floor." , he pressed on the elevator, which is a separate elevator that only leads to a separate area of the upper floors.

The outside can be seen from the inside of the elevator, which is a pyramid-shaped base that separates people from one floor to another, with people coming and going at the bottom.

A sneer crossed Dick's face.

The elevator door opened, and Dick managed his expression as he walked briskly into the lab on this floor.

This is a separate research area, and there is no way to get there, let alone harm the people here, or the results of the research, except for this elevator for a small number of people.

Embedded in the wall to the left of the research room are three large cylindrical specimen troughs, in which three Slots of varying degrees and missing parts are floating.

On the other side, there are more similar specimen troughs, but slightly different in size, with animals, plants, insects, and even humans floating inside.

Dick rubbed his shoulders and walked in. "Karina, how's it going?" He asked.

At the large test table, a woman in a white research gown was immersed in the data, her eyes moving rapidly on the screen, so focused that she didn't even notice who was coming in the lab. It wasn't until Dick asked a question that she looked up suddenly.

She shrugged her shoulders, "76% of the structure has been written, but it is all based on theory, and I am not optimistic about the actual effect." ”

The woman named Karina had red hair, which made her skin fairer, and her nose was sprinkled with a few freckles, but this did not affect her beautiful face, but rather made it a little pretty.

Karina reported to Dick while frequently manipulating the screen on the table.

Dick leaned down and looked at the spiral genetic structure floating in the middle of the screen. There were still a lot of missing parts of the map, and Karina was arranging them bit by bit.

Karina was silent for a long time, and finally took a deep breath, as if she had mustered up her courage, and asked, "What is the effect of the sample you brought out this time?" ”

Dick's gaze was still glued to the screen, "The effect is good, at least the onset time is already within the acceptable range, and the physical function has improved significantly, but the intelligence is a little ......" he considered the word, "lacking." ”

Karina turned to look at Dick, her hands in the pockets of her research gown, "Intelligence is not unexpected, if you want to take a shortcut to chemistry, you always have to pay something, a price. She accentuated the tone of the last two words.

"Is there any way to counteract this?"

Karina shook her head, apparently Dick didn't take the "price" to heart. "If you could let me test it, this 'friend'." ”

Dick reached out and turned the genetic structure on the screen, looking closely, "I'm afraid not." ”

Karina frowned, "He's dead?" ”

"Yes."

Karina let out a long sigh and shook her head helplessly.

Dick saw the disappointment and grief on her face, and took out a medium-sized, airtight petri dish from behind him, which contained a sample of tissue with blood, which should have been a piece of flesh if I was not mistaken.

Karina didn't reach out to take the petri dish, she looked at the flesh and blood in it, and said, "My suggestion is to follow the rules. There are no shortcuts to evolution, one step at a time for your own physical condition. Of course, if this is still 'evolution'. ”

Dick held the virtual genetic structure in his palm, and his face showed a slight hideousness. He squeezed it and said, "We don't have that much time, the Slots don't know when they will close the net, this is a decisive battle for humanity." Whether or not we can survive on this planet depends on success or failure. ”

"Dick, I feel like you need to take a break, you've changed since the day the end began. Become...... It's less and less like you. ”

Dick grabbed Karina's shoulders and pulled her in front of him, looking excited, "Rest? How can I rest in these special times. I am the messenger of the Creator, the chosen one, no, I am ......"

"Enough!" Karina slapped Dick, "Wake up, Dick!" How many people have died in order to carry out this test? Do you still want to use it on yourself? ”

Dick smiled weirdly, "No, our 'friend', he didn't die suddenly. ”

Apparently frightened by Dick's smile, Karina staggered back two steps, covering her face with her hands, and wept bitterly, "When this project was first implemented, you said that it was for the common survival of mankind and that there should be a spirit of sacrifice in the face of justice. And now, what are you talking about?! You're too deep in your own setting! ”

Dick looked at the crying woman in front of him, and his demeanor gradually returned to normal.

Karina is still complaining, "This project is all built with people, and before we save humanity, we will become accomplices of the Slots!" ”

"These are necessary sacrifices." Dick replied lightly.

Karina was shocked by the understatement in which he said this, and she looked up, not knowing for a moment what to say.

Immediately, she slowly stood up and looked directly at the man in front of her, "I think we need a bottom line, it's not right to do this." I don't want to continue this plan anymore. With that, Karina ripped off her gloves and took off her research gown.

Dick chuckled as he walked over to Karina, "So, are you ready to give up now?" What should humans do? ”

"I'm not that great, the problems of humanity should be considered by the government, and everything is caused by them. I'm just a scientist studying gene medicine and gene therapy, not an executioner of a false god! ”

"Oh? But when everyone didn't dare to do it, you were the only one who picked up a knife and dissected those Slots. ”

"That's just for science! And now it's just satisfying your own selfish desires! Karina tried to retort.

"Don't make excuses to fool yourself, you're enjoying it. You look around you, you look at the material, it's any scientist's dream! Dick spread his arms and floated behind him, as if nodding his head over the various bodies suspended in the liquid tubes.

Karina's expression darkened. Indeed, such a research room, such a test equipment, and such a quiet environment are all what she once dreamed of. Not to mention the dissecting Slots, once you miss it, you may never have the opportunity to touch them for the rest of your life.

Dick looked at the quiet woman in front of him, reached out and patted her on the shoulder, and then hugged her tenderly.

Karina whimpered in Dick's arms because of her inner turmoil.

"I'm sorry, I pushed it too hard. I found new hope. Remember the Slote who ran away? Dick asked gently.

"Yes. What's wrong? ”

"We met her this time, and all the guards who went with us, as well as the test specimen this time, were all killed by her. Even me...... I almost died there, too. ”

"What?" Karina broke away from Dick, and she looked up into Dick's eyes to make sure he wasn't lying.

"Like you said, we need the bottom line. I'll find a way to capture it, and tell it everything, and if possible, it might be able to explain it to its people and resolve the current crisis. But what is going on, we can't stop either, the Slots won't wait for us. Dick stroked Karina's shoulder and whispered.

Karina wiped her tears and nodded, "I see, I'm a little emotional. With that, she rested her head on Dick's shoulder.

And Dick, after hearing the woman's compromising words, once again flashed a hint of madness in his eyes.