Fantasy Game: Infinite City

Chapter 717 Purification Operation (Part 1)

"found it!"

Mars, Infinite Corporation Base 4.

In a control room, one of the observers shouted, attracting the attention of some senior researchers and management personnel nearby. They immediately went over and looked at the screen in front of the observer. The paused footage on the screen showed the moment when the humanoid object was swallowed by the rotting flesh construct, but the perspective appeared to be that of the humanoid.

"I'll go inform the professor immediately!"

"I'll go inform the person in charge!"

"I'm going to find the chairman!"

After briefly observing a few clips of the footage, several senior researchers and management personnel immediately jogged out of the control room, quickly leaving via different paths in the corridor. A dozen minutes later, these individuals returned to the control room, each followed by a different person.

One of them appeared to be a heavily mechanized enhanced soldier, wearing a black research robe typical of research labs. Except for his head, his entire body seemed to have undergone mechanization. However, this person, who looked like he belonged to a combat unit, was actually the chief researcher at Base 4. He certainly possessed formidable combat capabilities, but strictly speaking, he was a civilian official.

At the other side of the fork in the road, a group of management personnel surrounded a middle-aged woman, dressed in a neat short haircut and suit. Although in her early forties, she looked very well-maintained and possessed a refined air. She was the head of Base 4, originally from the intelligence department of Infinite Corporation, so she placed great importance on the authenticity of intelligence and information. She was meticulous, yet also tactful and adaptable. Moreover, she was quite capable; Base 4's gradual 'independence' from Infinite Corporation, and its current status as Infinite Corporation's 'legacy,' owed, if not the greatest, at least indispensable, credit to her.

The last person to enter the corridor was an old acquaintance—the former chairman who orchestrated the Infinite Corporation's lunar base incident. He seemed to be in a good mood, not dressed in his usual formal, expensive suit, but simply wearing loose sweatpants and a sweater. He was also holding an iced cola, which appeared to be from a fast-food delivery, and was sipping it through the straw, occasionally making some air-slurping sounds.

After arriving at the control room, the three exchanged a few words with the observer who had previously controlled the humanoid figure, and then asked him to upload the complete recording to the research department's system. Once the observer had fulfilled his request, he began other work, and the three did not linger, quickly leaving the control room.

"You all go ahead and get busy, we need to have a short meeting."

"Yes, Chairman."

The chairman, who was sucking on a straw, took his other hand out of his pocket and waved it casually. The senior researchers and management personnel who had been following the three immediately left. After they were out of sight, the three exchanged a brief glance and then left together. A few minutes later, they arrived at the railcar transfer station where they could leave Base 4 and travel to other facilities.

"Chairman, Ms. Merlin, Professor Unger, please go first!"

"No need, we're not in a hurry. You must have work to do, right?"

"Yes, Ms. Merlin, we have several samples to send."

"Then you go first, our business isn't urgent."

"Okay, ma'am. Shall we...?"

"Go ahead and get busy."

Several researchers carrying sample collection boxes, along with the sentries escorting them, exchanged brief greetings with bowed heads before boarding the carriage that had arrived at the transfer station. After they entered the carriage and the doors were sealed, the carriage quickly and quietly sped away from the transfer station along a track composed of numerous individual magnetic field devices, soon disappearing from their sight.

The three waited quietly for the next carriage to arrive, without exchanging a word. They appeared relaxed, and the other staff at the transfer station, even though they recognized them, didn't approach to disturb them. After all, they didn't seem serious and didn't seem to be doing much work. The chairman's relaxed demeanor, in particular, led those around them to believe that they were probably heading to the rest area and had simply bumped into each other. They were unaware that a significant event was quietly unfolding.

Soon, the second carriage arrived, and the three quickly boarded. Some researchers and staff members, understanding the situation, did not ride in the same carriage as them. Instead, they waited quietly for the next carriage after theirs departed.

"so.."

"We'll talk about it when we get back to the office."

"Oh."

On the train carriage where the three of them were, as the train left the transfer station, passed the surface track section, and entered the underground section, Count Unger, also known as the professor, spoke first. However, before he could utter two words, Merlin interrupted him. He nodded and remained silent. As for the chairman, he was still sucking on his straw, leaning back in his seat, legs crossed, still very relaxed.

The train was moving quickly, and in no time, it had taken us from the transfer station to another base a dozen kilometers away. This was the Martian office area, where most of the staff were clerical workers responsible for processing various information and documents. Although there were many people, it was much quieter than research departments or other bases.

Taking the elevator, the three quickly left the public area and arrived at the high-level management area deep underground. They then walked to Merlin's office instead of choosing the faster option of using the facility's small vehicles. Strangely enough, the chairman's glass of cola seemed to have remained unfinished for almost half an hour; even under the light, the drink appeared to be about half full.

After traversing numerous areas, the three finally arrived at the intelligence department area on floor -11 and followed Merlin to her office. Once the office door closed and Merlin activated the shielding field device, the three finally began to communicate.

"Unger, what were you about to say?"

"Don't rush that, Merlin. What I'd like to ask is, is it really necessary for you to be so cautious? Mars is basically full of our people. Your worries are a bit excessive."

"You said it yourself, 'basically' they're all our people, which means there are still some who aren't completely loyal to the three of us. So my worries aren't unfounded. It's our caution that has brought us to where we are today, isn't it?"

"That's true... but that's also..."

"Hiss~~~~~"

The chairman's seemingly inappropriate sipping of a straw interrupted their conversation, bringing their thoughts back on track before things went awry.

"So, Unger, what were you going to say just now?"

"Oh, right, it's about the intelligence our 'scouts' have gathered."

Unger nodded, his mechanized left eye began to glow, and the chairman casually switched off the lights in Merlin's office. Soon, a holographic image appeared between the three. It displayed several images, video clips recorded and observed by the humanoid object at different times.

"While I was in the carriage, I watched all the transmitted videos and found some important information. According to our intelligence, the unfinished instance shouldn't have a '94th floor' area. Although the Ferdinand family discovered serious problems with the instance after taking over Infinite City and began to intervene and maintain it using Infinite Corporation's technology, based on the information transmitted by the scouts and the energy frequency detected, this so-called '94th floor' questline is neither part of the instance's original structure nor something temporarily constructed by the Ferdinand family's technicians. This questline appeared out of thin air. It didn't even exist before the first batch of low-level players died."

Following the outline highlighted by Unger in the holographic image, the chairman and Ms. Merlin noticed several key details.

“Indeed, the energy bands and frequencies within this questline are very similar to those of copies created or modified using the 'Editor,' but the core energy frequencies are completely different. It's an imitation with an identical appearance but extremely chaotic internal energy fluctuations. Unger, what do you think is the reason for this?”

"I have two ideas, Merlin. The first is that the 'Editor' is malfunctioning, or that the person who still controls one of the 'Editors' on Earth has gone mad. After all, this kind of thing has happened before, but..."

The chairman finally put down his cup and continued speaking, picking up where Unger left off.

“But Sebastian will definitely go and observe the ‘Editor’ himself. It’s not a wise thing to do to go crazy under his nose, so that idea is unlikely.”

"He's right."

"What's the second idea?"

"I think you probably think about the same thing as me."

Unger didn't directly state his second idea, but instead looked at the holographic image between the three. The last frame transmitted back by the highlighted humanoid object before its complete destruction silently revealed his thoughts.

"Is it related to this thing?"

Merlin glanced at the large machine in the distance of the screen, which was parasitized by rotting flesh, but her gaze was not on Unger, who was responding to her, but on the chairman.

"Qinglin, is this the thing you've been researching all this time?"

Unger temporarily turned off the holographic image and turned his head towards the chairman, who then turned on the room lights and lit a cigarette.

"Hiss... Hmph... To be honest... I'm not sure."

Is it that its activity mode is inconsistent, or that the behavior of the secondary product is mismatched?

"Or perhaps there's a gap in your intelligence?"

Unger raised questions from a research perspective, while Merlin pointed out intelligence-related issues. However, in the chairman's view, the problems with what they had just witnessed did not fall within the scope of what Unger and Merlin had raised.

"No, based on my research and on-site investigation, this thing is definitely a corrupted creation engine. Whether it's the main body's activity and behavior, or the activity and behavior of the secondary products it produces, it's over 90% similar to a normal creation engine. But the only problem is that a creation engine that has been corrupted, and according to the video content, is so severely corrupted, shouldn't be able to continue operating. Let alone generating a large number of secondary products, it shouldn't even be able to maintain its activity. But as you've all seen, it is."

"Could it be related to your previous research direction, or is there an error in the data calculation? Perhaps you didn't collect enough samples?"

“There should be differences between these special individuals. Even if you have a large number of different individual samples, you may not be able to fully recognize the differences between these special individuals.”

Faced with the questions from Anger and Merlin, Wei Qinglin shook his head.

"The number of creation engines is far greater than you think. They are not all large entities that can occupy an area; there are also many small and micro-sized individuals. Moreover, all normal creation engines have one thing in common: they all release the same energy fluctuations, regardless of how large their size or how far apart they are. As long as there are no signs of corruption or necrosis, the energy fluctuations they emit are completely consistent, with only differences in concentration."

Immediately afterwards, Wei Qinglin tapped his watch, and another holographic image appeared in the center of the three of them.

"The energy fluctuations and frequencies of those corrupted or even necrotic creation engines are completely opposite to those of normal individuals. However, as long as these corrupted or necrotic creation engines, or their remaining parts, are not completely dead, their energy fluctuations and frequencies are consistent with those of normal individuals or groups, and are even more disordered and weakened. But the one we are seeing this time is completely different from the energy fluctuations and frequencies of normal and corrupted individuals. Perhaps you will find the data more intuitive."

Wei Qinglin waved his hand, and the data about the discovered individual was highlighted. Consistent with what he had said, the energy fluctuations and frequencies produced by this individual were completely different, whether compared to normal creation engines or to corrupted, damaged, or dying creation engines. If the energy fluctuations and frequencies emitted by ordinary creation engines and corrupted or damaged creation engines were simply opposites, but could be seen as different states of the same thing, then the energy fluctuations and frequencies emitted by this special individual seemed to be something entirely different.

"Its behavior patterns, even the generation and decomposition of secondary products, are no different from those of a conventional creation engine. However, the energy source that enables it to do these things, or rather, its own energy core, seems to have nothing to do with the creation engine. This is quite interesting..."

"Even the fact that it only reacts when attacked is exactly the same as a normal creation engine, but why is that? Could it be that this thing's state isn't actually corruption, but rather another... model of the creation engine?"

"That's unclear. To find out the specifics, we need actual samples, but right now our focus is on restructuring the company, so we don't have any capable spare staff."

"So you want him to go? But with his current abilities, we might not be able to get him to cooperate."

“We don’t need to force him to cooperate with us. We just need to ‘leak’ some information, and he will study it on his own. All we need to do is send some mechanical sentries to collect some samples when he leaves after he’s finished. It’s not only safe, but based on his behavior, we should be able to get a fairly large sample.”

"Understood, I'll get started on it."

Merlin nodded and accepted the task. For someone in charge of intelligence, this job wasn't difficult.