The long staircase stretched downwards infinitely. Chen Luo walked alone in the dim space, his footsteps echoing far in the deathly silent underground.
After crossing another sealed metal door, a hellish world appeared before Chen Luo's eyes, illuminated by the light spheres beside him.
Beyond the metal door lay a long road extending to the horizon, sloping downwards as if to plunge into the depths of hell.
On both sides of the corridor were two colossal glass curtain walls.
Chen Luo felt a momentary return to a place he had visited before, an aquarium.
In the aquarium, behind the massive glass walls, were marine creatures kept by humans. Though deprived of freedom, they were granted the right to survival.
But now, before Chen Luo's eyes, beyond the boundless glass curtain walls, were infants floating in liquid.
Although Chen Luo had seen it once before in Fang Zheng's memories, he remained silent.
Chen Luo reached out and gently touched the glass curtain wall beside him. He could sense that all the infants were now dead.
And what he was seeing now was merely a corner of humanity's breeding grounds.
Chen Luo's perception pushed further into the reddish-pink liquid, but even after his consciousness extended beyond the scope of a city, he still hadn't reached the end of this cultivation vessel.
Within his range of perception alone, the number of infant corpses had already surpassed one billion.
The enormous cultivation vessel had multiple exits, facilitating the next stage of modification for these infants.
A brief scan of the spaces beyond those exits sent a chill down Chen Luo's spine.
Only humans could be so cruel to their own kind.
Flipping through the paper documents in the modification rooms with his mind, Chen Luo quickly learned more than Fang Zheng had ever known.
The Nine Dragons utilized gene technology to accelerate the growth of these infants, a process they called "breeding."
The nearly one billion infants within Chen Luo's perception were merely the initial screening of "this breeding cycle."
"Truly disgusting beings."
"Truly beautiful beings, are they not? An uninvited guest."
The moment Chen Luo sighed, a flippant voice echoed in his ear.
But Chen Luo showed no surprise. He silently withdrew his perception and turned to continue walking down the road.
Looking ahead, there was no other human figure on the long staircase stretching downwards.
...
As the path continued downwards, the glass curtain walls on either side also extended.
Chen Luo felt as if he were descending a dark staircase into an unknown abyss.
Except this abyss was contained behind glass walls, and there were no marine creatures within this abyss, only floating infant corpses.
The flippant voice did not reappear as Chen Luo proceeded.
Chen Luo continued his silent journey downwards.
After descending a thousand meters, the human corpses on the other side of the glass curtain walls showed a visible change.
The infants' bodies began to grow, but this growth was far from satisfactory.
Chen Luo stopped again. Even without further perception, merely by sight, he could see a large number of deformed child corpses floating in the reddish-pink liquid within the glass curtain walls on both sides.
"This is the price of humans attempting to control life. After 'breeding,' under forceful acceleration, a certain rate of defective products is inevitable."
"Moreover, to complete the cultivation of a certain number of Soul Hearts, the defect rate has been greatly increased."
"But it is all worth it. Only then can the surface world be so prosperous, and the Nine Dragons have a continuous supply of Soul Heart soldiers."
Chen Luo still did not respond to the flippant voice. He quietly gazed at a corner within the glass curtain wall.
There, the corpse of a little girl with a missing arm floated quietly, while her right foot was held by a mechanical arm.
The little girl's face still bore an expression of pain, but her life had long since departed.
The mechanical arm had stopped, but it extended far into the distance, where countless similar arms were located.
They were all dragging bodies of humans who were deformed or missing limbs, and at their end was a massive metal chamber.
Chen Luo's perception "saw" everything there. He said nothing more, merely turned and continued walking deeper.
But the flippant voice, as if it had discovered something, exclaimed excitedly in Chen Luo's ear:
"Ah! Did you use a special method to observe the 'Recycling Station'? Haha! That's the masterpiece of Third Sequence Lord Radie!"
"Cultivating humans consumes a vast amount of resources! Even though we have infinite energy, the planet's resources are still finite!"
"But for every Soul Heart cultivated, a thousand times more deformed humans might be produced. These deformed ones are difficult to grow and have short lifespans, a complete waste of resources!"
"But the intelligent Lord Radie thought of a brilliant idea. Since deformed humans waste resources, why not turn them, no, *it* into resources!"
"Truly worthy of being recognized by Lord Nine Dragons! Lord Radie is so brilliant!!"
Chen Luo's footsteps suddenly halted. For the first time since entering this underground passage, he responded to the flippant voice:
"Radie? Is he dead too?"
Upon seeing Chen Luo's response, countless lights suddenly illuminated the dim passage!
The corridor, previously lit by Chen Luo, was instantly as bright as day!
And the flippant voice excitedly echoed around Chen Luo:
"Haha! Human, you finally paid attention to me!! Ahhh! I'm so bored!! Because humans have died in large numbers, even the recycling grippers have stopped."
"If these 'resources' aren't recycled soon, the culture medium won't be able to maintain their freshness! If these 'resources' rot, I'll get dirty!!"
*Thump!!!*
Chen Luo punched the giant glass screen beside him. Dense cracks spread outwards from his fist.
"If you utter one more useless word, I fear I will be unable to resist destroying everything here!"
"Now! Immediately!! Answer my question!!!"
The lights in the passage flickered erratically under Chen Luo's roar, as if mirroring the owner's fear.
Almost instantly, the flippant voice became obsequious:
"My Lord! Let's talk! Your loyal artificial intelligence terminal 'Nine Dragons' is at your service!!"
"The Third Sequence individual you wish to locate, 'Radie,' should still be alive!"