Chapter 75: Mana Ecology?_1

Dr. Qin in the research institute was actually Wallace.

Qin Ming had used his own body to transform into his likeness through the C virus.

After being taken over by the government, the research institute conducted human experiments for a month, and once the safety of the technology was ascertained, the government began to build factories and operated at full capacity to manufacture nanobots.

Revolutionary medical products were about to hit the market!

This blockbuster news spread in the circles at the top of the human pyramid.

Aside from a very few stocks of companies researching genetic medicine, the vast majority of medical, pharmaceutical, and hospital stocks were falling and plunging,

Capital is the most sensitive, fleeing from danger. Many were puzzled; some followed the sell-off, others sought to profit from it, buying at rock bottom.

Medical stocks plummeted, triggering a market-wide downturn. Other countries were baffled, not knowing what America was up to.

Seeing the U.S. stocks fall, A-shares followed suit in their usual fashion, not rising but falling. Medical-related funds and stocks also began to tumble, foreign capital fled, domestic investors were bearish, and institutions and fund companies started looking for someone to take over.

Bought-off experts roared: Medical companies can't go under, human health cannot do without medicine, now is a historical low point, America is shooting itself in the foot! A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy low, buy now, or it will be too late!

At home and abroad, investors in the dark had their eyes shining, crying out: The chance to buy low has come!

The situation did not improve, only experts were still coaxing others to take over.

Expert: Iron-clad long term, buy boldly! The market can't fall any further! Public: Buy now! This is really the bottom, buy low now!

Subsequently, things took a turn for the worse, continuously falling with no sign of rebounding. Many defiant investors: I'll buy! And buy! And buy again! I'm buying your mother!!!

In the end, medical-related stocks fell to the point where no one was willing to take them over. Investors saw nothing but green, until the state machinery finally stepped in and outright banned trading.

The wealth of the investors hadn't disappeared, it had just been transferred. In this feast, those who shorted made a killing.

...

Outside the world was in an uproar, but the remote Eastern European village became unusually quiet, losing its former bustle.

The villagers here were exceptionally warm and welcoming, wielding knives and carrying spades when they saw them coming. Qin Ming could only instruct Chris to get them to settle down.

Arriving at the depths of the village cavern, one looked up to see a fungal entity, immense beyond belief, the size of a heavy-duty truck, occupying nearly half of the cavern space, suspended from the cavern ceiling by a dozen or so thick, tangled black roots.

It resembled an enlarged version of an infant embryo, and also somewhat like the Mana ecology in a spiritual cage.

This was the fungal entity?

Qin Ming stopped in his tracks, probing with his telekinesis when Chris's loud voice came through.

"Dr. Qin, where should I put this thing?"

Qin Ming looked over to see Chris and Piers carrying equipment bigger than a sofa, followed by a dozen teammates, all shouldering various types of gear.

"Put it there, we'll set it up once everything's here," Qin Ming said, casually pointing to a spot on the ground nearby.

After speaking, he looked towards the passageway they had come from. The passage was narrow, allowing only five people to pass at a time. Vehicles carrying the equipment couldn't possibly fit, so all the equipment had to be transported into the cavern by raw manpower.

After being injected with the second-generation nanobots provided by Qin Ming, Chris and his team could now be considered half a Captain America, as they could easily lift instruments weighing several hundred kilograms, even up to a ton.

Compared to the first-generation nanobots, the second generation had enhanced electromagnetic forces and other minor improvements.

The recovery, speed, and strength of the Nanotech-Enhanced Beings had tripled in comparison to the first generation, enough to lift a five-ton car, and the force of a punch could reach thousands of kilograms.

All members of the USS Squad could now be called mini Tyrants, and with the aid of modern weapons, the werewolves infected by the mold in the village had been completely eradicated by them.

The four major bosses were also controlled by the USS Squad through injection of nanobots.

Only the ultimate boss, Miranda, proved to be a bit more troublesome; it took Chris and his five-man team half a day to subdue her.

Facing five individuals with non-human strength, impervious to death or mold infection, Miranda was beaten until she began to question her existence.

Trouble comes when least expected; one second, she was still researching how to resurrect her daughter, and the next, a squad of soldiers burst in to attack and occupy the territory she had painstakingly managed for hundreds of years.

When she saw an enemy chopped in half only to stand up again two seconds later as if nothing had happened, an exhausted Miranda let out a wail, "Are you even human?"

Miranda and the four minor bosses had gained various special abilities after being infected by the mold, and they held research value, so Qin Ming did not kill them immediately but instead controlled and imprisoned them.

Within a day, the entire village was swept clean and completely fell into Qin Ming's hands.

In the eighth installment of the story, this village was a tragedy, but now that tragedy would not happen again.

The village had been infected by Miranda's mycelium, turning the villagers into "werewolves" solely for her research on mycelium and to bring back her deceased daughter; she kidnapped Ethan's daughter as a vessel.

Ethan, the hand sanitizer God of War, to save his daughter used as a vessel by Miranda, braved untold hardships, nearly dying multiple times, defeated the four major bosses, and finally encountered the ultimate boss, Miranda. After being killed by having his heart torn out and subsequently resurrected.

It was because of the mold infection that Ethan was able to resurrect, his body had actually become a walking mold corpse after being killed by the boss in the seventh part.

This also explained why Ethan could use "hand sanitizer" to reattach his severed hands and feet, and why he possessed such powerful regenerative and vital forces.

After resurrection, Ethan's body was on the verge of collapse due to the loss of his heart, which the mold could not save. Thinking of his daughter still in Miranda's hands, he forced his failing body to continue the rescue.

Miranda, thinking the ritual was complete, took the child from the mycelium in the holy pedestal. To her surprise, Rose had not become her daughter, Eva. Moreover, at the moment she took Rose, Miranda felt the power within her was rapidly draining away.

Clearly, the ritual had failed.

Meanwhile, Ethan, whose body was about to collapse, finally arrived at the scene. Faced with the ritual's failure and Ethan's interference, the mother who had spent a century's effort about to reunite with her daughter seemed to spiral into madness, attacking Ethan with mutated ferocity.

In the ultimate battle, Ethan used his last bit of strength to defeat the mutated Miranda. Holding his daughter, Ethan felt a tremendous release from burden, but his body was reaching its limits, barely able to hold on, he knelt on the ground, cradling the child, his right hand already calcified.

Chris arrived just in time to take over his daughter, while Ethan took the bomb detonator; the Wolfpack Squad, led by Chris, had installed a super bomb underground in the village capable of blowing the whole place sky-high.

In the end, Chris left with his daughter, Rose, and wife, Mia. Ethan, bracing for death, pressed the detonator, vanishing along with the raging village in a violent explosion.

The plot of the seventh and eighth episodes of Resident Evil was caused by the mold host and Miranda.

After setting up the equipment, Qin Ming began studying the mold host in front of him with the aid of a micron-level Psychokinetic Field, attempting to uncover the secret of its ability to absorb the consciousness of the deceased.

Can it truly absorb souls? An alternative form of soul prison, mana ecology?