Meanwhile, in the Main World, the Second-in-Command of the Scholar's White Tower in White Eagle urgently contacted Elysia, his face a mask of indescribable shock. He had clearly made a groundbreaking discovery, but his first words were nothing like what Elysia had expected.
"Lady Elysia!" he exclaimed in astonishment. "What exactly is that piece of meat?!"
Elysia sighed in exasperation. "If I knew, why would I have asked you to study it?"
The Second-in-Command paused, realizing his phrasing was flawed. He quickly rephrased, "No, what I mean is, where did you obtain this piece of meat? It's utterly... extraordinary."
"It's just a severed piece of muscle tissue, yet it's teeming with vitality. In a sense, this meat is still alive. Its cells are clearly differentiated and continue to perform their specialized functions."
"Our research has revealed that each individual cell contains an unimaginable amount of energy. A microscopic particle, barely tens of micrometers in size, holds more energy than the entire city of White Eagle consumes in a single day!"
In other words, if we could fully extract the energy from this piece of flesh and use it as a power source, it would be enough to supply the entire White Eagle for centuries. After all, we're talking about the energy contained within a single cell, and this piece of flesh contains at least a hundred million cells.
(The average density of human tissue cells is approximately 125 million cells per cubic centimeter.)
The Second-in-Command continued, "Furthermore, this flesh automatically eliminates any harmful substances that enter it, from bacteria and viruses to the metal fragments I deliberately inserted. It killed the bacteria and viruses and dissolved the metal—a phenomenon similar to the regenerative abilities seen in some ability users."
"But here's the strange part: when we cut it in half, it doesn't regenerate. Instead, it behaves like two entirely new entities. Moreover, it doesn't reject harmless substances. I dripped a mouse's blood onto it, and the flesh began to slowly transform and assimilate the blood."
"Its genetic structure is gradually aligning with that of the mouse's blood donor. Unfortunately, the sample is too small and too precious for more in-depth research."
The Second-in-Command turned to Elysia. "While I'm not a researcher specializing in biology, even I can recognize the extraordinary value of this specimen. Lady Elysia, what exactly is this piece of meat...?"
Elysia pondered for a moment before replying, "Perhaps... it could be considered the flesh of a god."
"A god?" For some reason, hearing this explanation gave the Second-in-Command a sense of "Ah, that makes sense" and "Just as I suspected." But then he froze, his lips trembling as he stammered, "Lady Elysia... you... you killed a god?!"
How else could this piece of flesh have come to be?
Elysia felt a headache coming on. Explaining the origins of this meat would be far too complicated, so she decided to simply avoid the explanation. "Continue intensifying the research," she said. "Spare no resources—it's fine if it's all consumed. I just want to learn everything we can about this flesh."
The communication ended quickly, and Elysia wondered if this was why Ikezawa had become so powerful after consuming it.
But one perplexing question remained: if a single cell contained such immense energy, then the original owner of this flesh must have been incredibly powerful in life. How could such a being have died and been reduced to these scattered fragments?
-
The perspective shifts back to Lingsha. After a night's rest, the trio resumed their journey at dawn. Unlike the previous day, they quickly emerged from the gloomy black forest, finding themselves facing an endless expanse of crimson desert.
Did the boundary between these regions really have to be so stark? Lingsha silently grumbled, glancing down at her feet.
Beneath her lay the same black soil, with a gnarled, leafless tree standing beside her. But one step forward brought her onto red sand. The abrupt transition formed a strikingly clear line on the ground, as if drawn with a ruler, sharply demarcating the forest from the desert.
There was no gradual transition. Within the line lay the forest; beyond it, the desert. It felt as absurd as stepping from rain into dry air, or walking from winter into summer in a single step.
Even more bizarrely, the moment Lingsha stepped out of the forest and into the desert, she could distinctly feel the surrounding temperature surge by at least ten degrees Celsius, possibly even more.
Li stepped into the desert region, her bare feet sinking into the red sand. She wagged her tail and exclaimed, "Wow, I've never seen sand like this before! It's so soft and warm—so comfy!"
Lingsha, however, urged, "We need to pick up the pace."
Their water and food supplies were limited, and this barren landscape offered no means of replenishment. They had to reach the First Laboratory before their resources ran out, or they'd be in serious danger.
Lingsha knew this wasn't truly a problem. After all, Ikezawa was in the Chat Group. They could easily ask other members for supplies—Shu Cat and the others wouldn't refuse. But Lingsha, not being in the Chat Group herself, was supposed to be unaware of this advantage, hence her warning.
The trio pressed onward. At first, the soft sand felt wonderfully comfortable underfoot, far more pleasant than the hard-packed earth they'd left behind. But within ten minutes, as grains of sand crept into their shoes and socks, Lingsha began to feel increasingly uncomfortable.
Unless you were wearing specially designed sand boots, it was nearly impossible to keep sand out of your shoes. The few grains that clung between your toes were incredibly irritating.
But it wasn't a major problem. As time passed and more sand accumulated, you gradually stopped noticing it.
It was like how wet socks feel unbearable in light rain, but once they're completely soaked, it doesn't matter anymore.
Notably, Ikezawa had been walking with his head bowed, seemingly lost in thought. Finally, as noon approached and the group prepared to rest, he turned to Lingsha and said, "If anything goes wrong, Lingsha, use this to escape."
Just as Lingsha was wondering what he was talking about, a notification appeared before her eyes:
Daoist Wuwei has invited you to join the Chat Group. Accept?
Yes/No
Lingsha: "???"