Voluntary Trial Agreement

Behind the glass wall, Jackal was currently covered in blood. The bottom of her white coat had been completely dyed red. Her long brown hair was scattered messily behind her, and she was holding a syringe, injecting it into a lab mouse.

Hearing Ren's voice, Jackal ignored him and continued injecting all the liquid in the syringe into the mouse's body.

In the next second, the mouse's body began to expand rapidly. A large number of purple patterns began to spread all over its body. This was a sign of Honkai energy erosion. As the purple patterns continued to spread, white chitin gradually appeared on its surface. It was obvious that the mouse was mutating into a Honkai beast.

However, this state didn't last long. The continuously expanding mouse suddenly exploded like a balloon. The Honkai beast's chitin hadn't completely formed, and the excess flesh had already turned into mush. Splattered blood further stained Jackal's clothes red. Half of the exploded mouse's head crashed on the glass in front of Griseo, and slowly slid down after leaving a long trail of blood.

Startled by the sight, Griseo quickly hid behind Ren, not daring to look at Jackal again.

It was obvious that this experiment had failed again. Jackal threw the exploded mouse carcass into the laboratory's recycling bin, where there was already a mountain of mouse corpses.

Taking off her dirty coat, Jackal opened the laboratory door, and greeted Ren.

"Ms. Jackal, what's that?"

"Just testing the resistance of the activator against Honkai energy. It seems the effect on mice isn't obvious enough. Human bodies are still needed." After she said that, she then noticed the little girl beside Ren. "Is this the test subject you brought?"

"Yes, this is... my daughter."

"Daughter? Are you crazy? I already told you about the dangers of this experiment. Even so, you still dare to use your own daughter for the experiment?" Jackal scanned Ren and Griseo. Her gaze was somewhat dubious. Although she didn't care who the test subject was, Moth of Ink was, after all, a cadre with a codename. If the experiment failed and caused a ruckus, it would be difficult to handle.

Ruffling Griseo's hair, Ren smiled helplessly, "There's nothing I can do. I'm just an ordinary person. In the coming Honkai disaster, I can barely protect myself. If my daughter doesn't have the power to protect herself, sooner or later, she will also be swept up in the maelstrom. It's better to carry out a Stigmata experiment beforehand. At least with Ms. Jackal's care, the probability of success will be higher."

"I think you've misunderstood. Whether I personally carry out the experiment or not has nothing to do with its success or failure. At most, it'll slightly increase the survival rate."

All this time, Jackal had been using Heliopolis Life Sciences Pharmaceutical's claim of conquering all diseases as a marketing strategy, coaxing patients seeking treatment into signing a voluntary trial agreement and becoming test subjects. She had called it the 'price.' There were so many people who were sick. It was impossible to run out of test subjects. So, she had never considered whether the test subjects could survive or not.

"If you've truly decided to have your daughter undergo the test, then sign this voluntary trial agreement."

The test subject had already come to her door. Jackal wouldn't push them back. As long as they signed the voluntary trial agreement, she wouldn't care about the rest.

Looking at the agreement that had been handed to him, and then at his daughter, Ren was silent for a moment. "Can I talk to her for a moment?"

"Of course. You still have the chance to change your mind."

Nodding lightly, Ren led the somewhat frightened Griseo to a small room nearby. Naturally, he wasn't really going to communicate with her, since both bodies were controlled by him. Instead, he took this opportunity to carefully examine the characteristics of Griseo's body.

In the original timeline, the Herrschers of Thousands existed as puppets. The energy source that controlled their movements was the core of Thousands. They had independent thoughts, and their ideas and actions were strange and varied.

But in Ren's hands, these puppets were all living bodies with flesh and blood. And Griseo was the most special. Because she was the only one who had been tainted by Ren's blood, creating a body that was unique to Griseo's existence.

Ren wasn't a scientist, and he couldn't determine if her body would retain his genes. Sending her to Jackal for experiments was, on the one hand, to smear World Serpent with dirt in front of Kiana in the future, and stir up trouble between them.

On the other hand, he was also genuinely curious about the Stigmata Project. If Griseo really awakened a Stigmata, then could he also use the power of the Stigmata?

If the Stigmata Project really succeeded, Ren would go all-in, and send the puppets to Jackal for modification. Then, with 1000 puppets with Stigmata, even the Finality could be smashed into pieces.

Of course, that possibility was too low. Ren didn't hold much hope for it.

After pretending to have a conversation with Griseo, Griseo's face was now filled with worry and fear, and she even had tears in her eyes—this level of meticulous personality simulation was difficult for the other puppets to achieve.

"Have you confirmed? Then, sign it."

Accepting the trial agreement that Jackal had handed over, Ren signed his name, 'Moth of Ink'. Jackal nodded with satisfaction. After her brief observations, she had already seen that Griseo had a basic adaptability to Honkai energy. She had not shown any signs of discomfort in the lab for this long.

"You helped me find a test subject, so what do you need?" Handing a material list to Ren, she hadn't forgotten that this was a transaction, and generously offered her terms.

After thinking for a moment, Ren chose one of the reagents.

"HSN-b46 serum."

…

After reaching an agreement, Jackal quickly began the Stigmata activation research. Griseo's strong adaptability to Honkai energy quickly caught her attention. Her capacity to tolerate Honkai energy was far beyond the limits of ordinary humans. This led her to gradually transfer all of her experiments that she hadn't yet carried out to Griseo, and pay her more and more attention.

Naturally, she didn't know that Griseo was controlled by Ren. The various modified Honkai energies that Jackal provided to her were practically like he was feeding on various styles of desserts, and coincidentally, Ren had several stomachs.

"[Moth of Ink], Gray Serpent has successfully infiltrated the Hyperion. Now, it's your turn to go to the Sea of Quanta for support. It's time to welcome the Lord's descent."

Over here, after confirming that Griseo wouldn't be exposed, the [Moth of Ink] puppet received a notice from Raven, ordering him to go to the Sea of Quanta to provide support.

According to the original timeline, the opening of the Sea of Quanta meant that the Herrscher of Reason would soon awaken, and also meant that Kevin, who had been trapped in the Sea of Quanta, would return. This was a huge test for Ren.

But it was also an opportunity, and it would depend on whether Ren could seize any benefits from it.

And the work on the ARC City side would be handled by Ren's main body.