I Pick Up Talents on the Interstellar Battlefield

Chapter 288: Chapter 273: Bad News, Invisible Hand

"Gene sequence G-1147 is showing signs of rejection..."

Dr. Karl stared at the holographic projection, muttering to himself. His voice was unnaturally sharp, more like the noise of metal scraping, "Need to increase the dosage of the Spiritual Power Stabilizer..."

His fingers flew across the holographic keyboard, the blood vessels on his deformed skull pulsating in rhythm with his thoughts. The gene chain in the projection began reorganizing, displaying a dangerous red warning.

"Doctor, the sample’s tolerance is already at its limit," a female researcher softly reminded, "Increasing the dose might..."

"Shut up!" Karl suddenly screamed, his eyeballs bulging menacingly, bloodshot, "What do you know? This is groundbreaking evolution! The pain is only temporary!"

He turned sharply, his mechanical prosthetics beneath the lab coat tapping rapidly on the holographic keyboard, the projection instantly switching to show a figure bound to a surgical table—a young man, his body pierced with tubes, eerie lumps moving beneath his skin as if something was growing inside him.

"See?"

Karl’s voice trembled with excitement, "Just adjust the Spiritual Energy resonance frequency a bit more, and we can make history by perfectly integrating Spirit Beast genes into a Spiritualist’s genes, thereby creating the first Beast Spirit Warrior."

His mechanical arm suddenly twitched, emitting a piercing "ZZZ" noise.

Karl impatiently slapped it a few times, then turned to yell at the female researcher: "Get the new stabilizer! Now!"

As he finished speaking, he noticed the "experimenter" who had just returned from behind, angrily shouting:

"What are you dawdling for? Get the equipment ready, the next experiment is about to begin."

"Yes, Doctor."

Qin Tian began arranging the experimental apparatus based on the memories from the researcher’s soul fragments.

The female researcher, hands trembling, brought over a test tube shimmering with a ghostly blue light, its contents a viscous Spiritual Power Stabilizer.

Karl snatched the test tube, his mechanical arm precisely loading it into a syringe.

"The moment to witness history has arrived!" Karl whispered fervently, inserting the needle into the experiment subject’s neck vein.

As the blue liquid was slowly injected, the young man on the surgical table suddenly arched his back, emitting a howl that was not human. His skin started to take on an eerie gray-blue hue, muscles pulsating and expanding like living creatures.

"Gene fusion rate is climbing!" The female researcher stared at the monitoring screen, voice trembling, "65%...72%...80%..."

Karl’s bulging eyes were fixed on the experimental subject, a twisted smile spreading across his lips: "Look! This is the power of evolution!"

The subject’s nails began to elongate and harden, transforming into sharp bone claws; his spine bent unnaturally, the coccyx extending into a hideous bone tail; facial bones distorted, snout and nose projection shifting towards canine traits.

"90%...95%..." The female researcher’s voice became increasingly terrified, "Doctor, the fusion rate has exceeded the safety threshold!"

"Shut up! Hold on just a bit longer to break the critical point!" Karl frantically adjusted parameters on the control console, shouting loudly.

Suddenly, the data on the monitoring screen started to fluctuate violently.

"No... impossible..." Karl’s expression froze, "How could the gene chain..."

The subject let out a heart-wrenching scream, his body beginning to deform visibly—the skin erupted with countless tumors, joints twisted in reverse, new bone spikes piercing out from within.

"Bang!"

An eyeball exploded from its socket, floating in a pool of blood. Immediately after came a second muffled bang, the subject’s right arm bursting like an overinflated balloon, fragments of flesh and bone littering the entire surgical table.

"Quick, activate the suppression program!" Karl hysterically shouted.

The female researcher frantically operated the console, but it was too late.

The subject’s chest cavity burst open like a blooming blood-red flower, internal organs dissolving into a pool of viscous pus before their eyes. With one final crash, the entire body detonated like a bomb, leaving nothing intact.

Blood rained down on every corner of the laboratory.

Karl stood dumbfounded, his lab coat stained dark red, his grotesque head covered with bits of flesh.

"Again... failed again..." he muttered, suddenly raging, pounding the surgical table, "Why is it always just a little short?!"

What a madman!

Qin Tian witnessed everything, understanding that Karl’s goal was to create gene warriors through genetic technology that rivalled bloodline spiritualists. Were he to succeed, the balance within the Empire and even the Cosmos would shift dramatically.

Fortunately, no experiment had succeeded thus far.

Karl removed his lab coat, heading straight for the nearby washroom, leaving a remark:

"Norvan, you’re next. Get ready for your experiment."

"Yes, Doctor."

...

Stepping into the washroom

Karl washed his face, then looked out beyond the doorway, murmuring:

"Such an amazing ability, to transform completely. If it weren’t for your off magnetic field, you might’ve fooled your way in."

Finishing his sentence, Karl took out an internal communicator, just about to press the dial button after entering the number when his body suddenly stiffened, his soul seemingly frozen, unable to move.

"Off magnetic field? Honestly, it’s my first time being seen through; didn’t expect it to be for such a reason."

A figure emerged from the void.

"Dr. Karl, seems your abilities are quite something too."

Qin Tian walked up, still wearing the face of Experimenter Norvan, slowly approaching Karl, his gaze probing: