Martial Dao: Peace by Force

Chapter 231: Chapter 165: Ultimate—Start Killing

Deep within the Grand Canyon, clouds and mist churned like the sea, hiding sheer cliffs that never saw the light of day year-round.

Who could have possibly imagined that beneath this secret realm, forgotten by the world, the heart of a mountain had long ago been hollowed out to create a research base, completely cut off from civilization.

Layers upon layers of sentries, both in plain sight and concealed, made security incredibly tight.

At that moment, inside a laboratory deep within the facility, the lights were cold and white, and the instruments hummed.

A man in his early thirties slammed a report manual onto the console and demanded furiously, ”Why was my plan shot down again? Is there some better plan I don’t know about?”

Standing across from him was an elderly man with black-framed glasses, graying hair, and a gaunt face. Hearing the outburst, he simply adjusted his glasses and said in a calm, unhurried tone, ”Fu Hai, there you go again. Does getting agitated solve problems?”

Fu Hai took a deep breath, his chest rising and falling violently a few times, but he managed to suppress his flare of anger.

He knew his mentor all too well.

Though he’d only been parachuted into this project half a year ago, he had already learned all the ins and outs of the place.

Six months ago, his mentor had been just a marginal figure in the Secret Palace, yet now he could have the master of the Secret Palace’s Seventh Floor personally inquire about the project’s progress. He had managed it all with that unshakeable calm of his, the kind that wouldn’t falter even if a mountain were to collapse before him.

But this was his, Fu Hai’s, life’s work!

”Professor...” Fu Hai lowered his voice and took a step closer. ”You know better than I what that body represents. Especially that layer of rock-like material covering her—its molecular structure is completely beyond anything known. Thermal spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy... I’ve thrown every tool we have at it, and in all these years, I’ve only managed to break through one or two centimeters! This isn’t a miracle, it’s a divine wonder!”

Qin Yuming remained noncommittal, pacing over to the transparent stasis chamber.

Inside the chamber, a woman lay perfectly still.

To be precise, it was the body of a woman, encased in some sort of semi-translucent, rock-like substance.

Through that mysterious substance, one could see that the woman’s skin was as white and clear as crystal, glowing with the gentle luster of fine jade under the cold light. Her hair was jet-black, and her facial features were so exquisite as to be flawless. The long robe she wore was clearly no ordinary piece of clothing; it seemed more like a legendary magical artifact.

Fu Hai followed him over, his voice dropping even lower. ”The Secret Palace has been putting on the pressure lately. The intelligence department has already indirectly questioned me three times. They’ve long suspected we have the item, and we can’t hide it for much longer. And as for Shan Wu... do you really think his Seventh Floor is on our side? Shan Wu doesn’t even dare let the rest of the Seventh Floor know too much. He just wants to use our data to make a deal with the Secret Palace’s top brass and take another step up the ladder.”

Qin Yuming gave a faint smile, his gaze still resting on the female body. ”Wanting to get ahead isn’t an issue. Shan Wu has his own agenda, and we have ours. We’re each just taking what we need.”

”But...”

”I understand how you feel.” Qin Yuming raised a hand to cut him off, turning to face him. His gaze was serene, yet left no room for debate. ”But have you ever thought about what gets destroyed when those explosives go off? It won’t be a corpse; it will be the only leverage we have on this project. Why do you think the Secret Palace still lets us continue our work? Because only we can break through this material. Once that woman is destroyed, what value do we have? Will Shan Wu still need us? Will the Seventh Floor still need us? At that point, forget the data—we’ll have to give up this very laboratory.”

Fu Hai fell silent.

He knew his professor was right.

Qin Yuming had been parachuted in, so his foundations within the Secret Palace were weak. If he hadn’t been holding the project’s core technology, he would have been pushed out by the local power players long ago.

Cooperating with the Seventh Floor was tantamount to asking a tiger for its skin, but for now, it was their only path forward...

Only after a true breakthrough would the initiative return to their hands.

Fu Hai gazed at the woman in the chamber and suddenly asked in a low voice, ”Professor, do you think... is there any chance she could come back to life?”

Qin Yuming shook his head, a rare, complex expression crossing his face. ”If she was truly sealed in that stone sarcophagus eighteen hundred years ago, then there’s absolutely no chance of her coming back to life. A biologically active body doesn’t mean consciousness still exists.”

This was the one thing that, as a scientist, he found most inexplicable.

Carbon-14 dating, geological analysis, even cross-referencing historical texts—all evidence pointed to the same conclusion... The female corpse was at least eighteen hundred years old, perhaps even older.

But how had she remained so perfectly preserved?

What exactly was that rock-like substance? Was it sealing a corpse, or something else?

He had considered many possibilities...

Things that science could not explain often led people to entertain thoughts they shouldn’t.

He believed the Secret Palace knew something, but no one was telling him.

And in turn, he hadn’t told the Secret Palace about his own secret discoveries either.

Right now, he needed time.

He also needed a reason to make Fu Hai fall in line.

He truly disliked it when Fu Hai acted on his own authority.

But as things stood, only Fu Hai had the technical expertise to serve as his second-in-command.

”Professor, look at her...” Fu Hai’s gaze lingered on the woman’s body for a moment, his Adam’s apple bobbing slightly. ”She looks like she’s in her early twenties, don’t you think? So young, yet her flesh is immortal. Since we can’t break through that layer anyway... why don’t we try a different approach?”

Qin Yuming shot him a glance. ”What kind of approach?”

Fu Hai fell silent for a few seconds, then his expression grew solemn. He spoke, almost enunciating each word: ”Make her pregnant.”

Qin Yuming thought he had misheard. His brow furrowed. ”What did you say?”

”I’m serious, Professor.” Fu Hai met his gaze, his voice taking on an unnervingly fanatical calm. ”If she truly still possesses biological activity, and if that substance is just some sort of protective mechanism... then why can’t we use the most traditional method of verification? What does conception imply? It means her cells, her hormones, her nervous system... are all alive! That’s more persuasive than any data! If we succeed, what will that be? That will be immortality! True, genuine immortality!”