"Human awakening."

Kao's voice wasn't loud, but to Jiang Baimian, it felt like thunder rumbling and echoing.

The research direction of the Eighth Research Institute was actually "human awakening"!

To her, this answer was truly unexpected, yet it inexplicably felt so realistic and reasonable.

With the level of technology in the Old World that could research "Eternal Humans," it was impossible not to pay attention to human awakening.

Unless, awakening was a phenomenon that only appeared after that disaster.

"You have enough results?" Jiang Baimian asked, only then realizing how well she was disguised, her voice calm, her tone without inflection, as if she were discussing the weather.

Kao laughed, with a hint of his previous arrogance:

"Otherwise, how do you think I awakened?"

Jiang Baimian was about to ask further when Bai Chen couldn't wait to speak:

"Can you guarantee awakening?"

Kao glanced at her:

"Only a little over thirty percent success rate."

How could he say "only"? When it came to awakening, having a stable success rate, even if it was less than ten percent, was extremely impressive! Involving the research field, Jiang Baimian couldn't help but roar inwardly.

Currently, none of the major forces claimed to be able to stably awaken their members. Even religious organizations that believed in a Ruling God were the same, it was more like relying on luck. Only this "luck" referred to the Ruling God. Sometimes, the Ruling God was in a good "mood," and the number of people who awakened would be high. Other times, the Ruling God was not satisfied, and no one would receive divine grace.

Being able to stably awaken people was definitely a shocking thing.

As long as the success rate wasn't too low, the major forces would have ways to obtain a large number of awakeners.

On the Grey Earth, population was very important and also very unimportant!

"How did you do it?" After thinking it over, Jiang Baimian ultimately decided to be direct.

Kao chuckled:

"I'm not a researcher, just a research subject. How would I know how those guys did it?

"Even if you have items from the 'Doomsday' field and can read my memory, you can't figure out the specific process from me. How can you figure out something that doesn't exist?

"Well, I only know that I need to inject a drug, receive irradiation from certain instruments, and finally sleep in a place similar to a space capsule."

He was so frank because the information he possessed wasn't that important.

Jiang Baimian thoughtfully nodded:

"What are the aftereffects for those who participated in the project but failed to awaken?"

Kao was relatively clear about this aspect:

"Most of them are fine. A small number experienced mental and physical impairments, but many recovered after treatment.

"This is the first awakening failure. If you want to try a second time, the probability of aftereffects will increase linearly and be difficult to cure, even leading to death on the spot. Therefore, our research institute does not recommend that failures try to awaken again."

Speaking of this, Kao's gaze swept across Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen's faces:

"I heard a researcher say that this is still under the premise that we have mastered mature methods; otherwise, the situation will be worse, even for the first awakening."

Bai Chen was silent for a few seconds and said:

"Can you choose the field of awakening yourself?"

"Consider the price you pay. It often corresponds to your field, but it's often not so accurate, there's a certain amount of overlap." Kao was happy to stall for time with this information that wasn't of great value.

Huff, Bai Chen exhaled, somewhat disappointed.

She thought that the Eighth Research Institute could allow people to freely choose the corresponding field and the abilities they wanted.

Kao continued:

"Don't think about using the lightest price to get a sufficiently powerful ability, that's not realistic. Even if there are similar situations, the corresponding price may change qualitatively as your abilities increase, becoming more terrible."

Jiang Baimian noted this down and asked in turn:

"How many members of your research institute have survived from the Old World to the present?"

Kao considered for a moment and said:

"'Vice President', 'Charlie', 'Professor Li', and 'Doctor'.

"All four of them have entered the 'New World', they are in a state of hibernation all year round, and can only be active occasionally."

A total of four 'New World' powerhouses? The Eighth Research Institute is indeed powerful... Are these four the people Olei spoke of whose bodies had undergone terrible changes and had become dark hounds? Jiang Baimian's eyebrows twitched slightly.

Seeming to perceive Jiang Baimian's thoughts, Kao chuckled:

"Even compared to 'First City', we are not weak, and in some aspects, we are even stronger, much stronger. Otherwise, how could we stop those who were tempted by demons from exploring the cause of the Old World's destruction?"

Jiang Baimian asked smoothly:

"Where is your research institute located? Where is that city you mentioned that was destroyed in the last decade?"

The tied-up Kao straightened his neck:

"You can kill me now, I won't tell you."

Jiang Baimian wasn't in a hurry to find a way to pry Kao's mouth open and ask about the location of the Eighth Research Institute. She first took out Shang Jianyao's father's photo and showed it to Kao:

"Have you ever seen this person?

"He was also investigating the cause of the Old World's destruction and may have been killed by you or your colleagues, subordinates, uh."

Kao glanced at it casually, his expression suddenly freezing.

He looked at it carefully for a few seconds and slowly said:

"Didn't I mention just now? A group of people investigating the cause of the Old World's destruction made great gains, found that city located in the north, and brought about a disaster that almost affected the entire Grey Earth. He was one of those people."

Jiang Baimian perked up and quickly asked:

"Is he still alive?"

Kao replied with an unsightly expression:

"Most of his companions in that disaster either became 'Mindless Ones' or died at the hands of 'Mindless Ones'. Only he and two others are missing. We have been looking for them all these years.

"Of course, they may have also died in that city, only to be eaten clean by the 'Mindless Ones', not even leaving bones, so we can't identify them."

Alive, but no sign of the person; dead, but no sign of the body... Such a sentence suddenly appeared in Jiang Baimian's mind.

But she believed that this was good news for Shang Jianyao.

At least there was a little more hope than before.

At this moment, Jiang Baimian's walkie-talkie made a sound.

She picked it up and found that it was from Focas's attendant.

The General wanted them to go outside the room to communicate.

Jiang Baimian glanced at the tied-up Kao, casually gave an order, and led Bai Chen out of the room, all the way to the area near the back door.

The old lion-like Focas was standing by the window at the edge of the corridor, nodding to the two ladies:

"Your ability to handle matters is beyond my expectations. I didn't think you had much hope of contacting Aviya.

"Who knew, you not only obtained complete information, but also captured a very useful prisoner. This is simply beyond your ability."

He seemed to be testing whether the Old Task Force had additional help.

Jiang Baimian smiled:

"Your Excellency General, time is short. I will now quickly tell you what Aviya told us."

Focas nodded slightly:

"Speak."

After Jiang Baimian shared her gains without reservation, Focas frowned:

"Give me a copy of that mysterious number."

"Okay." Jiang Baimian took out paper and pen and busied herself on the spot.

While waiting, Focas said:

"I have a way to ask the prisoner for the location of the Eighth Research Institute and that city, but this will cause irreversible damage to his brain. You shouldn't have anything else you want to ask, right?"

Jiang Baimian and Bai Chen exchanged glances and considered for a few seconds before saying:

"No."

Focas said nothing more, half-closing his eyes as if he were resting.

After taking the copied number from Jiang Baimian and comparing it, the General walked into the room where the prisoner was being held.

In less than ten minutes, Focas returned to the two ladies with a crude map in his hand.

A rough map of the current Grey Earth.

It drew the Icefield, Old Mountains, Angry Lake, Golden Coast, Black Swamp Wasteland, Monk Wasteland, Scarlet Wasteland, and other places, marking the locations of forces such as 'First City', 'Pangu Biology', 'White Knights', 'Salvation Army', 'United Industries', 'Mechanical Paradise', 'Coastal Alliance', 'Orange Company', 'Future Intelligence', Spirit Isle, and Mist Domain.

Focas pointed to a spot on the map and said:

"This is the location of that city."

Then, he moved his finger to a red circle:

"The Eighth Research Institute is roughly within this range."

Seeing that Bai Chen was a little puzzled, Focas added:

"The prisoner is called Kao. As a special envoy, he doesn't actually know the exact address of the research institute. He only arrives near here, sends out a signal, and has someone come to pick him up. During the journey, he wears a blindfold the entire time."

Quite cautious, considering the possibility of the special envoy failing and being captured... Jiang Baimian looked at the red circle and the point on the map, and found that they were both in the Icefield area.

The Icefield was a concept that existed in the Old World. In ancient times, many Icefield people were affected by the climate and migrated south into the Red River Basin, developing into today's Yargai people.

Before the destruction of the Old World, the Icefield wasn't as vast as it is today, only covering the far north. As far as Jiang Baimian knew, in that cataclysm, the superposition of many destructive weapons had a great impact on the climate, leading to the "expansion" of the Icefield in the following twenty or thirty years, turning the original "Great North" into a land of ice and snow.

The area where the Eighth Research Institute and that city were located belonged to the original "Great North."

Almost at the same time, Jiang Baimian thought of two things:

First, Jiang Xiaoyue was sent to a hospital in the north to receive experimental treatment as a volunteer;

Second, the vegetative in the Steel Factory ruins was also sent to a certain place in the north as a volunteer to receive new treatment.

The North!

ps: Asking for monthly tickets at the beginning of the month~