The Grand Commander also stopped joking. He understood very well that power not under his control, people not cultivated by him, would never selflessly protect humanity or Pretty Country as depicted in movies. The spirit expressed in movies is often the spirit people lack in reality.
His expression turned serious.
The Grand Commander tapped the table heavily with his finger.
"Since a monster has been discovered, and within Pretty Country, what are the findings?"
Finally addressing the matter, the Director of Intelligence immediately replied, "At that time, a local police search team of over a dozen officers entered this mountain and discovered the monster's corpse."
"They ultimately recovered one monster corpse and coincidentally found the bodies of the missing students."
The Grand Commander nodded. "It seems the monster's strength was not very great."
A monster that could be defeated by a few students without firearms was weaker than the Grand Commander's estimated lower limit for monsters. A more manageable monster was good news.
The Grand Commander analyzed the monster's approximate strength solely from the combat outcome between the students and the monster.
The role those students could play was limited. Neither the Grand Commander nor the Director of Intelligence cared about the missing students; they only cared about the monster.
"Where is that monster's corpse?"
The Grand Commander asked.
"It has already been transported to the laboratory. Does the Grand Commander wish to visit personally? Or shall I send researchers to the Black House to present a report and explanation to the Grand Commander?"
The Director of Intelligence said sternly.
"Have the researchers come to the Black House to explain..."
The Grand Commander pondered the two options and then said, "No need. Since it's an unprecedented monster, a slime from fantasy works, I will go myself."
"I also want to see what kind of existence this low-level monster, the slime, which frequently appears in games, movies, and anime, truly is."
...
In the laboratory.
This was a very advanced laboratory, ranking among the top ten, perhaps even top three, on Blue Star.
Many researchers moved about inside. Most of these researchers were highly experienced biological scientists, renowned outside, all professors.
Yet, within this laboratory, they were merely ordinary researchers.
True titans in biology held more critical positions.
This laboratory also housed various advanced instruments, each priceless and considered a treasure in an ordinary laboratory, but here they were commonplace.
After being brought here, the Grand Commander ignored other experiments and went straight to the location where the monster's corpse was stored. There, he saw the monster.
Seeing the monster's corpse firsthand, that mass of viscous, green slime, even with his high status and power, the Grand Commander's eyes were filled with shock.
Although he had seen the image of a slime many times since childhood, such monsters were usually low-level creatures in games, television shows, or movies, easily defeated by any novice.
But that was in games, in pictures. How could a slime in a picture compare to the shock of seeing such a wondrous creature in reality?
The Grand Commander took a deep breath. Shocked, he also felt a deep sense of confusion... Why did the monster have to be a slime?
If it were another unknown monster, the Grand Commander's shock would have been much less. But it was precisely this low-level monster that frequently appeared in human games, which made the Grand Commander feel a profound sense of doubt.
Did fantasy works create monsters?
Or did someone once see a monster and then record it in fantasy works?
What was the relationship between fantasy works and monsters?
Did this monster corpse before him crawl out of a game...
Did monsters from games enter the real world?
Forcing himself to stop thinking about this question, the Grand Commander knew his worldview had been shaken again.
The last time his worldview was shaken was because of the appearance of the Water-Repelling Pearl.
Its ability to repel water had shocked him.
Now, although this was the second time he had encountered something beyond his worldview, it was not the first.
However, the Grand Commander's shock was no less than the first time.
This was because the Water-Repelling Pearl could still be explained as a mythical artifact passed down from ancient Dragon Country.
It could be said that long ago, in history, such things did exist and were recorded in mythical form.
As for the slime—the Grand Commander knew that the earliest slimes were the Shoggoths from the Cthulhu Mythos, whose image was created over a hundred years ago.
All subsequent slimes in games, movies, television shows, and anime, tracing back to their earliest prototypes, were the Shoggoths from the "At the Mountains of Madness" chapter of the Cthulhu Mythos.
If it were other myths, it would be one thing. The so-called Cthulhu Mythos was merely a fictional work created by a writer over a hundred years ago.
The Cthulhu Mythos was not a true pantheon of myths and legends from various countries.
Then why would a monster whose prototype was a fictional work appear in the real world...
The Grand Commander felt that two unprecedented events occurring consecutively on Blue Star were unlikely to be natural occurrences. There must be some will manipulating them from behind the scenes.
A mastermind...
They wanted to use the world to achieve some purpose...
"Have any results been researched?"
Suppressing his thoughts, the Grand Commander said to a research supervisor.
The research supervisor presented the research report.
He explained, "Grand Commander, in this monster's mucus, we found components of sulfuric acid and sulfur compounds."
"This monster's corpse is very resistant to high temperatures. To destroy it, ordinary high temperatures are insufficient; only temperatures like lava can completely destroy it."
"Although it is dead, we have deduced that its respiration is not like Blue Star organisms, inhaling oxygen. Instead, it breathes in sulfur dioxide, not oxygen."
"This slime is definitely not a naturally occurring organism on Blue Star. It is more like a sulfur-based life form that appeared in science fiction films."
After listening, the Grand Commander asked, "Is it truly not a Blue Star organism?"
The research supervisor nodded. "All organisms on Blue Star, including those that fly in the sky, run on the ground, or swim in the water, are carbon-based life forms, organisms with carbon as the fundamental basis of their organic matter."
"However, this slime is not carbon-based. The element connecting the amino and carboxyl groups internally is not carbon, but sulfur... I believe this should be an extraterrestrial organism."
The Grand Commander pondered for a moment, as if thinking about something.
"Is it possible that this slime was manufactured by someone, a product of genetic modification?"