After the incident at the Northington Central Museum, the hunters of the Seeker Guild returned to their usual work rhythm. Meanwhile, the White Cup was overwhelmed with the massive aftermath duties...
Heida received commendation for her performance in the previous incident.
Firstly, her position was promoted, and she became the "Head Maid" of the funerary attendants. Secondly, she was placed on mandatory leave for nearly a month by the Administration Bureau, meaning she had no tasks for the entire month of May.
Vivian, having been assigned to Heida's action team, also enjoyed this rare vacation along with her.
However, this was not a happy matter for Heida... It meant that for a long time, she would be hounded by Lady Marian for health checks.
——
In the afternoon, Vivian returned to the preparation room.
As soon as she opened the door, she couldn't help but squint her eyes. She cast a worried glance at Heida, who was training.
At that moment, Heida had her long eyelashes entwined and eyes closed, wielding a wooden-handled dagger among several training dummies.
Her movements were fluid and composed, flowing like dancing water as she navigated through the gaps between the dummies. Yet, every strike she delivered was infused with an unwavering decisiveness, perfectly locking onto the dummies' vital points.
The trachea, heart, eye sockets, every artery that could potentially be severed, and the fragile primary sexual organs... Like a butcher, she showed no concern for the lives she was taking away.
"Heida, are you training a bit too much? It's not healthy..."
Vivian saw Heida training with firearms against practice targets as she left the preparation room.
After returning to the preparation room following lunch and a break, she was surprised to find that Heida's training had not yet ended... she had simply switched from firearms to melee weapons.
"I know my body well; I haven't even come close to my limit yet... No need to worry."
Heida recognized Vivian's voice, opened her eyes, and performed a flourish with the wooden-handled dagger before smoothly returning it to her thigh pocket.
Sweat, like fine threads, dripped down her face, flowing along her fair neck and beautiful collarbone, soaking her black fitted shirt. The outline of her taut muscles was clearly visible beneath the thin fabric.
Though she had successfully expended some energy through long periods of regular aerobic exercise, Heida still didn't feel tired at that moment.
Her stamina felt endless; this level of training merely allowed her to adapt to her changes and was far from pushing her true limits.
"Well..."
Vivian's concern for her team leader had initially been casual; after all, her health was regularly monitored by professional doctors in the medical office.
Oh, and besides Lady Marian, there was another, even more mysterious and specialized doctor who was very interested in her and closely monitored her as well.
But that might not be a good thing...
Heida sighed softly and picked up a nearby towel to wipe the sweat from her face.
Since Vivian had returned to the preparation room, it meant the afternoon schedule had begun...
Lady Marian was on her way.
Before long, the preparation room door swung open again, and Lady Marian stepped in, her high heels adorned with black ribbons clicking on the floor.
"Little Heida, you're as lively as ever... How intense was today's training? If you're still not feeling noticeably tired, we can add some more anaerobic exercises."
Marian approached Heida, caressing her face and admiring the beautiful curve of her oblique abdominal muscles.
After Heida cleared her throat a couple of times, Marian smiled and got down to business.
"Here's your medical report, which also includes various mental health assessments. Well... there are some parts that you might find a bit hard to accept, so I came by to explain."
As she spoke, she tilted her head slightly and looked over at Vivian, who was preparing to take some soda crackers from the wicker basket on the table, with a gentle and calm gaze.
"Ah... I suddenly remembered that I need to return to the Confidential Bureau to submit a recent performance report. My apologies, ladies; I must take my leave for now."
Vivian immediately understood, not even grabbing the crackers as she quickly exited the preparation room.
Although she belonged to the Confidential Bureau, which specialized in gathering information, it was precisely because she often dealt with secrets as an agent that she understood more clearly... sometimes it was better to remain unaware of certain secrets that should not be known at this time.
"Speaking of which, ever since I was assigned to work with Sister Heida, my training has increased quite a bit..."
There was no way around it; Sister Heida was rigorously honing herself, completing one well-planned training exercise after another, focused like a master smith crafting a sword...
She couldn't really sit there chewing on soda crackers while casually reading a novel, could she?
"Anyway, since there's not much to do during the vacation, I might as well head to Old Will's bookshop this afternoon to see if there are any new arrivals..."
Vivian walked down the narrow hallway, lost in thought about what she should read next.
...
After reading the medical report, Heida's expression was not one of surprise, but neither was it calm.
Though she had prepared herself somewhat, learning the exact details still felt somewhat unexpected.
"So, you're saying that I actually have two hearts now?"
She had previously seen the item labeled "Second Heart" on Fran's bill, but at the time, she thought it might be some medical term she didn't understand. She never imagined the reality was that straightforward... she had literally had a second heart installed.
She placed her hand on her ample, well-rounded left breast, feeling the rhythmic beating beneath the softness, and still sensed no abnormalities.
It felt so harmonious, with no signs of anything unusual... it was as if she had been born with this second heart.
"Yes, that's right, little Heida. Moreover, this heart enhances your blood supply capacity and allows you to operate in more hypoxic environments..."
Marian caressed the beauty mark at the corner of her eye, her expression a mix of excitement and regret.
She was thrilled to witness this remarkable biotechnology firsthand, but saddened that her knowledge was insufficient to grasp its principles.
"The operational mechanisms, specific materials, transplant techniques, and how that doctor resolved the rejection issues... all of it remains a mystery. If I could, I would really like to meet her."
"Why did Doctor Fran specifically implant this second heart for me? Is there any special significance or risk involved?"
Heida still felt a tinge of concern; she remembered the scene of Solani's eyeballs crawling out of their sockets like spiders after taking Doctor Fran's medication...
"The medical office held four or five meetings with those difficult old-timers from the funerary office to discuss this, conducted several rituals for testing, and the final conclusion is... it's just a simple human organ, with no hidden dangers."
"As for the significance... this extra heart might be the basis for some enhancement technology. Preliminary estimates suggest it would be a highly complex and mature technical system."
Heida nodded, indicating she understood.
After all, Doctor Fran had personally told her more than once that there were still many subsequent steps involved in this operation... She then noticed some other questions.
"Lady Marian, you collaborated with the higher-ups of the funerary office... do those old demon hunters really agree to cooperate with you?"
Heida was somewhat puzzled by this.
Based on her impression of the senior hunters from the funerary office, these guys would likely have immediately formulated a capture plan for Doctor Fran as their first reaction upon learning about this matter.
"This issue concerns your safety, so the higher-ups of the funerary office have chosen to prioritize cooperation with us."
Marian paused slightly, as if she had thought of something.
"However, they subsequently submitted a proposal for capturing and containing 'Doctor Fran,' which included more than eight specific implementation plans. However, the general affairs office rejected it."
"Well... that's fine."
Heida nodded slightly.
Initiating a manhunt would carry a strong implication of offense; she preferred the current approach of the general affairs office over such a confrontational attitude.
"Please, Lady Marian, describe the conditions of the remaining organs. I want to understand my physical condition... better."
"You're too polite, little Heida. I'm more than happy to serve you; it's my responsibility."
Marian lightly popped a soda cracker into Heida's mouth and then began explaining the other items on the medical report in detail.
——
Mist Street Clinic.
[Unknown Spine (from the Terra World)]
[Quality: Excellent]
[Traits: This biological material is a high-risk item, and its form is unstable. Please exercise caution during dissection. It is a fossilized bone formed under extremely rare conditions by a malignant disease.]
[Remarks: "This is a spine."]
In the operating room, Fran, dressed in heavy protective gear, had a peculiar expression on her face. She stared at a huge spine on the operating table, momentarily frozen in place.
In the end, she smiled in relief. She had finally come across a high-risk item...
"An excellent grade high-risk item, and from the Terra world which produces source stones... could a fossilized spine still retain biological activity? Let's take a look."
She took her beloved small circular saw from her medicine kit, skillfully fitted it with a blade, and began her dissection work for the day.
"According to 'General Knowledge of the Spine,' this segment of the spine is too large and does not conform to the standard dimensions of a regular Terra person. Is it from some kind of beast?"
"Unfortunately, my Terra medicine has only 3% resolution, so I can't make a direct assessment."
Fran pressed her lips together slightly; she was visibly excited, yet her hands remained absolutely steady. The circular saw, usually used for woodworking, felt like a precise surgical instrument in her hands...
"Wait a minute."
Fran quickly overturned her previous guess.
"Although this vertebra resembles that of a large beast, many structures still bear traces of humanity. The beast-like characteristics of the bones seem to arise from acquired traits, suggesting some kind of high-level atavism..."
She spent some time breaking through the hard exterior of the fossilized vertebra, and then immediately halted the circular saw to avoid cutting into the contents inside.
The spinal canal was filled with translucent crystals, some pitch black and others clear yellow... they were source stones that had undergone a certain degree of purification.
"If this stuff were to spread, it would indeed be troublesome, but the total mass isn't much. Moreover, its host has already turned into a fossil, so it should have lost the ability for self-detonation and the capacity to spread mineral dust..."
Compared to the source stones stored in the spinal canal, Fran believed that a piece of lively, bouncing orc meat would be more threatening...
She quickly began to dismantle the vertebra and attempted to separate the source stone crystals embedded within the bone.
"Cutting from one end to the other reveals nothing but inorganic material; the only surgical instrument here is the circular saw. Perhaps a geologist could do this better..."
With a vague complaint, Fran started making cuts through the gaps in the bone cavity. But soon, a hint of seriousness appeared in her amber eyes.
A degree of active curvature in this fossilized spine? No muscles, no nerves, pure dead... But it shows biological activity.
Within these mixed source stone crystals flowed a certain art of driving dead things, and... And as a result, the entire spine is waking up!
And its recovery quickly activated the surrounding ore, burning the target of light and heat began to accumulate, I am afraid it only takes a moment to reach the level of dust explosion.
Sure enough, it takes reaching this level for something to be classified as hazardous... Fran thought with some excitement.
"I've always been curious about how some creatures, like Creepers, pursue self-destruction as their ultimate goal while still managing to sustain their species..."
"But isn't it a bit arrogant to try to die in front of me using such a classic method of self-destruction?"
Saying this, Fran swung the circular saw to shatter the mineral clumps inside the spinal cavity, nearly completely abandoning her earlier cautious approach.
This rough action significantly accelerated the awakening of the spinal column, but before it was fully activated, Fran had already precisely filtered out all the large mineral clumps from the fragments of the spine and separated them.
"If you do not have access to a sufficient mass of source stone crystals, you will not reach the energy threshold that triggers the dust explosion."
Fran simply processed these mineral clumps and stored them in a container. She didn't have the relevant manufacturing techniques mastered yet, so she wouldn't waste any materials.
At this moment, the most important thing to her was the remaining spinal fossil.
It had clearly lost its life and had become highly mineralized, yet it seemed to trigger some kind of instinctive reflex. However, in this state, it didn't even have nerves, making any reflex impossible.
Was it the entanglement of souls, or perhaps the remnants of obsession?
Fran had done considerable research on souls, but unfortunately... after the recent violent smashing, this spinal column seemed to have reverted back to a mere lifeless object.
"Never mind, let's cut the spine into smaller pieces first. If any organic material is preserved, I can extract the genes... that would make things much easier."
She definitely preferred dealing with living creatures that had flesh and blood over inorganic materials.
In any case, she had found something interesting enough to occupy her time during this dwindling May.