"Core Remnants?" Feng Lin was momentarily stunned.
Mars's core was a massive fireball, with magma churning and temperatures reaching tens of thousands of degrees. He never imagined there could be another space within it.
What kind of remnants could exist inside a planet's core? It was utterly inconceivable.
"What exactly are these core remnants?" Feng Lin asked his assistant, Matsushita Kijin.
Feng Lin's spiritual genes had been maxed out to 9 points, making his hypnotic abilities far more domineering than before. Over these days of subtle influence, these Egghead researchers had become completely submissive to Feng Lin, their defenses utterly gone. They answered every question, hoping only to glean a few words from him about crystallization pharmaceutical techniques.
Matsushita Kijin replied respectfully, "Those underground remnants are an ancient mythological site our company excavated. They hide the secrets of ancient myths, and even the ancient divine medicine was unearthed from there. It's now become our company's forbidden zone! Without company permission, no one can approach it—any violation means immediate execution without mercy!"
"Oh?" Feng Lin's face remained impassive, but his heart stirred. He suddenly recalled a detail he'd overlooked before. His eyes gleamed with sharp light, staring intently at the core as if piercing through it like a sword to uncover all its secrets.
Could that be the site of the Furnace Immortal Sect?
Feng Lin's imagination ran wild.
The ancient divine medicine was the Primordial Creation Pill. Since Giant Pharmaceuticals had obtained this pill, they must have discovered the Furnace Immortal Sect's ruins on Mars.
Ten thousand years had passed since humanity set foot on Mars, yet the Furnace Immortal Sect's ruins had only recently been found by Giant Pharmaceuticals. They must be extremely hidden, or they'd have been plundered long ago.
With modern technology so advanced, every inch of Mars had been scanned. So where was the safest place?
Only within the core itself was most likely!
After all, the core was the planet's heart, affecting the entire planet's stability. Touching it could trigger a chain reaction, and no one dared tamper with it recklessly.
The risk of destroying a living planet was something no one could bear.
With this reasoning, Feng Lin was seventy to eighty percent certain that the Furnace Immortal Sect's ruins lay within Mars's core.
This also aligned with the mysteries of alchemy.
Alchemy required fire, and the star-core flame was known in alchemy as the Stellar Earthly Fire—a superior flame for pill-making, with extremely high temperatures and many wondrous properties. If harnessed, it would be perfect for refining all kinds of divine elixirs.
Given the Furnace Immortal Sect's foundation, it was entirely normal for them to make subtle alterations within the core without a trace.
What might be inside those ruins? Could there be a cauldron?
Feng Lin's mind raced. Alchemy had become a lost art—wasn't the lack of a cauldron the main obstacle?
If he could get his hands on one, then...
Feng Lin feigned casual curiosity: "Matsushita Kijin, why are you so familiar with these core remnants? Have you been inside?"
"Yes!" Matsushita Kijin replied without suspicion. "The Divine Blood Ritual takes place there. I went in once when I was transformed into a Son of God. It was utterly mind-boggling! But due to confidentiality, I can't say more!"
Hearing this, Feng Lin didn't press further.
After all, his spiritual influence only made these people feel close to him; it couldn't control their minds.
If he pushed too hard, it might arouse their suspicion, which would backfire.
Hadn't Aiko, who had a good impression of him before, turned hostile the moment he became the new team leader and posed a threat?
Feng Lin didn't stir up trouble. In truth, he already knew what he needed.
He began planning his next move.
These days, he'd been trying to escape but found no opportunity.
Giant Pharmaceuticals' internal organization was incredibly strict, with layers of secrets that made it impossible to breach step by step.
Alone, he couldn't break through. He needed external forces to forcibly crack the situation.
Through days of covert experimentation, Feng Lin had been dissecting alchemy techniques, and his crystallization pharmaceutical skills were growing more refined.
Mastering crystallization pharmaceutical techniques, Feng Lin knew he was no longer just a genetic scholar—he could be called a junior genetic pharmacist.
Using this technique to crystallize drugs not only reduced the impact of the medicine's potency when taken but also enhanced its effects.
Though far inferior to true alchemy, mastering this skill set him apart as a unique practitioner.
Next came the Green Giant gene serum.
Each serum required specific adjustments based on its refining method; they weren't all the same.
This was still an intermediate low-martial serum, making it extremely challenging.
It was also the first truly graded gene serum Feng Lin had mastered, with incredibly complex steps that were hard to grasp.
Fortunately, the facility wasn't short of brilliant genetic scholars. Setting aside his crystallization technique, each of these people surpassed Feng Lin in gene serum expertise.
By watching them prepare the Green Giant serum, Feng Lin quickly grasped the general process.
But he showed no reaction, waiting until he returned to his room to begin experimenting.
Giant protein, radiation powder, Parsons alloy solution...
Each ingredient was exceedingly rare.
Feng Lin first prepared the serum, but unlike before, he didn't just mix the concoction—he controlled it over a flame.
He extended his spiritual power to sense the minute changes, combining past experience to make the substances intertwine, forming a stable crystalline structure that locked the medicinal power tightly inside.
Drawing on prior experience and more alchemical techniques, Feng Lin's execution was flawless.
Even so, his first attempt failed due to inexperience with the heat.
But Feng Lin wasn't discouraged. With ample supplies, he had many chances to try until he succeeded.
Finally, a blue-green crystal appeared in his hand, dazzling and shaped like a regular icosahedron, exuding a mathematical and geometric beauty so captivating it was hard to look away.
Anyone seeing it for the first time would think it was a natural diamond, not a genetic drug.
The crystallized Green Giant serum was complete!
Feng Lin carefully stored it away, revealing nothing.
Then, he activated his identity chip, compiling all the data from his days in the core experiments—the clone army, Green Giant serum, Divine Blood Ritual, Sons of God—into a compressed data packet. Using the encrypted contact method Luke had left behind, he sent it all out in one go.
Afterward, he deleted every record, leaving no trace.
With this step, Feng Lin knew he had irrevocably broken with Giant Pharmaceuticals.
But it was a necessary move.
He finally understood why Frank had trusted him, an intern, with such a critical role as team leader of the core lab, even hiding nothing about the clone army.
It was because the Divine Blood Ritual awaited him.
If he succeeded in developing crystallization techniques, he'd be transformed into a white-skinned Son of God, becoming one of them, with no escape.
If he failed, it would be even more dangerous!
Having learned so many of Giant Pharmaceuticals' secrets, did he think they'd let him leave peacefully? Dream on!
Feng Lin couldn't guess what traps they had in store for him.
This was a huge pitfall he hadn't anticipated. He'd only come to learn gene serum technology, not to walk the same dark path as Giant Pharmaceuticals, betraying his Chinese heritage to become an Egghead.
Now, he had only two choices.
First, slip away quietly and return to Earth.
Second, stir chaos within Giant Pharmaceuticals, fish in troubled waters, and maybe reap huge rewards.
The Mars Revolutionary Army was Giant Pharmaceuticals' sworn enemy. The information he'd leaked was explosive core intelligence. If they learned their foe was building a clone army and upgrading it into a Green Giant legion of elite cultivators, they'd be terrified.
To avoid being wiped out by Giant Pharmaceuticals, they'd likely act quickly, possibly clashing with the company. Then Feng Lin could seize the moment.
If conflict erupted, Feng Lin would snatch an opportunity to explore the Furnace Immortal Sect ruins.
If the Mars Revolutionary Army chose caution, Feng Lin decided to leave immediately without looking back.
No matter how far Giant Pharmaceuticals' reach extended, it couldn't touch Earth.
At worst, he'd pay the breach-of-contract penalty!
Having become an interstellar cultivator, a mere 500,000 credit fine meant nothing to him.
But the fallout from his actions far exceeded Feng Lin's expectations.
War erupted!
Mars's civil war broke out without warning, suddenly igniting!