This Spiritual Energy is Lethal!

Chapter 91: Chapter 091: Man-Made God

The room was about a hundred square meters and had two computers set up, with a blackboard hanging on the wall and a row of time clock machines for the employees next to it.

Aside from the man hanging in the middle of the room, the place looked relatively normal, where dockworkers would punch in for work.

The man being interrogated had already passed out. He had a crew cut and looked to be in his thirties, not particularly tall, but very sturdy.

“Hey… hey…” Chen Ke shook the man, hoping to pry some useful information from his mouth.

However, the man showed no sign of life. Chen Ke placed his finger under the man’s nose but couldn’t feel a trace of breath. Could he have been beaten to death?

He then covered the man’s chest, and the heartbeat was very faint; even if he was still alive now, he wouldn’t last long under these circumstances.

Chen Ke decided it was a waste of time to linger on the man and turned his attention to the two computers on the desk.

He jiggled the mouse, hit the enter key, and found that the computers weren’t turned on, so he pressed the power button, glancing back at the iron door from time to time.

It felt like being a kid again, sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night to play with the computer without the family knowing…

The old computer made a grunting noise, the fan in the case obviously hadn’t been cleaned for a long time. After about a minute, the screen finally displayed the desktop.

Chen Ke moved the mouse, searching through various folders. He didn’t even know what he was looking for.

Office computers generally don’t store much. The desktop was filled with scheduling tables and various forms, recording names and shift times. The import and export schedule for the port was a blank slate; it must be very idle work here.

“Hall, I’ve entered already. There doesn’t seem to be anything useful in the computers,” Chen Ke spoke into the radio.

“Is that so? But there’s nothing ordinary here. I also saw the patrolling security just now; they’re not from this place,” Hall said.

Chen Ke turned on the other computer, which, besides the scheduling tables, was empty.

“Did you bring a USB drive? I suggest copying whatever’s in the computers, useless or not. Maybe Bain can study it,” Lucina’s voice came through the headset.

“I don’t have one. Hall, do you? I’m in the building with the iron ladder staircase outside the wall,” Chen Ke inquired.

“Wait for me,” Hall replied.

Chen Ke left the computers, grabbed a chair, and went over to another door, propping the chair at an angle against the door handle, before checking the interior staircase of the room.

It led to the first floor of the building, now very quiet.

“Uhm… ah…”

Chen Ke spun around abruptly, pointing his gun towards the source of the noise. It turned out that the guy who was hanging had woken up.

Chen Ke approached the man and saw his face was full of pain, his arms discolored from hanging too long. As the man slowly regained consciousness, he looked at Chen Ke with a mix of surprise and unease.

“Oh… Who are you…” the man had never seen Chen Ke before and asked.

“Who I am depends on what you’re willing to tell me,” Chen Ke stated, waving the gun in his hand in front of him.

The man seemed to ponder, a flicker of hopeful surprise crossing his eyes, as if he’d found a way to escape his predicament.

“How do I know you’re not one of them sent to test me?” the man asked cautiously.

“For someone who’s just come out of unconsciousness, you’re quite clear-headed,” Chen Ke appraised.

“You weren’t here just now,” the man said, and Chen Ke could tell he was leaning towards trust.

“Tell me, who are ‘they’ that you’re talking about?” Chen Ke inquired.

“They’re all from the company, but you don’t look like one of them,” the man replied.

“The company… Ever heard of Si’s consortium?” Chen Ke’s eyes shifted as he asked.

“Of course I have, it’s deafening,” the man said.

Chen Ke was taken aback, he hadn’t expected there to be a connection to them here?!

“You’re doing work for Si’s consortium? What are they doing here?” Chen Ke asked seriously.

“No, no… you might have misunderstood… The company is a collective, and Si’s consortium might be part of it, but they’re definitely not the only one. The company is always discreet in its dealings. Even their own people don’t know exactly who they’re working for… Ow…” the man said, a sharp pain from his wound making him wail.

Chen Ke pulled out the ARK Tactical Arc Fold Knife and waved it in front of the man. “Tell me everything you know, and maybe I’ll be merciful enough to take you with me.”

“The company… They’re all bonafide Spiritual Ability Enterprises with legal business dealings, but when they come together, they use the company as a cover to do some unsavory things…” the man said.

“What kind of things? Smuggling Holy Relics?” Chen Ke asked.

“It’s not just smuggling Holy Relics, buddy… what I could tell you would definitely send chills down your spine,” the man said.

The Spiritual Businesses’ above-board dealings were nothing more than pharmaceuticals and processing of Spiritual Energy products. What else could their under-the-table activities entail if not smuggling Holy Relics?

“Enlighten me. What is their purpose?” he asked, arms crossed.

“They’re after more than just the Holy Relics. Haven’t you ever wondered… who are the Holy Relics for?” the man countered.

“Spiritual Ability Users? I don’t think that’s a secret. If they simply wanted to nurture their own Spiritual Ability Users, it wouldn’t be completely impossible,” Chen Ke said.

“No, what they want is something beyond Spiritual Ability Users… Ah…” the man said with an agonized expression.

“Something beyond Spiritual Ability Users…?” Chen Ke murmured to himself.

“They’re conducting human experiments… trying to mass-produce beings akin to Spiritual Monsters… Mm…” the man said.

“Buddy, what did you do for them before? And why would they do this to you?” Chen Ke asked.

In his eyes, an information box suddenly popped up next to the man:

[Mutated Individual Level: Ordinary]

[Status: In Transformation]

[Form: Biological]

[Category: Sin]

[Attribute: Witchcraft]

The man’s eyes suddenly began to weep blood, veins bulging and turning black as they spread under his skin. He was gasping for air, and black blood also flowed from his ears and nostrils.

“My name… is Robert… They want to… create… gods… beyond superhumans… Ah…”

The man’s face contorted in extreme pain as he managed to utter his last sentence. Then, his heart area suddenly bulged out to the size of a fist.

Chen Ke slowly stepped back, raising his gun and aiming at the man.

“Wuwu… woo… oh wu…” the man struggled in agony, his body turning completely black. His eye whites glared menacingly at Chen Ke, his body unnaturally twisting from side to side, the sounds from his mouth becoming indistinguishable.

Suddenly, the fist-sized bulge on his chest burst with a “puar” sound, and black blood and sticky flesh burst out of his body, splattering everywhere.

Chen Ke was luckily shielding his face with his hand, but his body still got smeared with a big lump of it, which was utterly disgusting.

“Holy shit…” Chen Ke was shocked at everything unfolding before him, unable to speak.

The man was unrecognizable as a normal human, his body pitch-black, with a blood-red hole in his chest, undoubtedly dead.

“The company… wants to create gods?” Chen Ke wondered.

Just then, the sound of a door pushing open came from behind.