Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1252: Chapter 93: Lies

Until the time was about to reach two in the morning… Inside the secret laboratory of Auston Pharmaceuticals, apart from the guards who were already dead, everyone was keeping their minds fully alert.

In fact, under her instruction, the corpses of those guards were moved and piled up in a corner by several researchers… The small mountain of bodies placed quite a bit of pressure on the staff present.

The air seemed almost frozen, with only the occasional sound of gun disassembly — she was currently fiddling with modern weapons, a table full of them taken from the guards. It seemed her interest in them exceeded the experiment itself.

Mr. Haus struggled to maintain his composure, wiping the sweat off his palms on his pants time and again.

Jimmy said nothing, his gaze wandering, as if contemplating something.

Finally, the head of the research team suddenly exclaimed, “It’s done!”

Mr. Haus instantly stood up, took a couple of shaky steps forward, but then realized ‘she’ was behind him. His ecstatic expression immediately froze.

“Go on, why are you looking at me?” she teased at Mr. Haus’s dramatic expression, “What? Aren’t you going to embrace your new life?”

Mr. Haus didn’t speak, just signaled with his eyes, beckoning Jimmy to his side. Supported by Jimmy, he gradually edged towards the massive pedestal.

“Jimmy, I’ve waited for this moment too long, I cannot fail,” Mr. Haus murmured, his tone absolute but terrifying, gripping Jimmy’s arm with unusual force, “Help me… No matter what, you must help me. Child, I have no heir. As long as you help me, you’ll receive half of my wealth.”

The voice was low, only audible to Jimmy and Mr. Haus.

Jimmy sighed helplessly, “Boss, I’m afraid I can’t handle this woman on my own…”

At that moment, Mr. Haus suddenly said, “On the other side of the pedestal, there’s a specially marked indentation. If that woman makes a move, or if this fails, you uncover that indentation and press the button inside.”

“What is it?” Jimmy furrowed his brows.

Mr. Haus said, “A special escape route, known only to me… If we fail, open the secret passage and take me out. You should know, only if I make it out alive, you’ll get my wealth.”

Jimmy barely hesitated, nodding silently.

As Mr. Haus approached the pedestal of the giant container, a special piece extended from the base — right in front of the pedestal was a conspicuous metal reclining chair.

Numerous complex machines and instruments, under the busy operation of countless researchers, began surrounding the pedestal… Mr. Haus, supported by two researchers, lay himself onto the metal recliner.

Someone began rolling up his sleeve, and a machine was pushed forward, preparing some kind of injectable liquid.

She also put down the gun she was fiddling with, walking into the busy crowd with a half-smile.

Mr. Haus had no choice left, his physical condition was beyond dire, and even though the private cloning of a human body was internationally prohibited, and the experiment ahead fraught with danger, he was already past caring.

“Proceed!”

The azure liquid was injected into Mr. Haus’s veins via a syringe, and his cloudy eyes suddenly saw halos… his eyelids gradually closing.

The head of the research team gritted his teeth, acting as the highest technical director of the project, he finally pressed the button that began everything,

Everyone held their breath… They had been serving Mr. Haus here, some for over numerous years, years that had been spent in this dark, secret laboratory, severed from all contact with the outside world, all for this dying old man… And yet, years of effort awaited this moment of trial.

Their emotions were complex.

“Voltage stable… System operational.”

“Clone Life Index normal…”

“Consciousness connection… beginning!”

The progress of the experiment was continuously reported… She merely awaited eagerly, slightly raising her chin, watching with keen interest the changes of life within the container.

Mr. Haus had already entered into a state of slumber, his face devoid of pain… Electricity ferociously surged into the pedestal of the container, with the instruments flashing hundreds of indicator lights every second, data on the screen frantically refreshing… while the research organization unknowingly broke into cold sweat.

She suddenly approached the head of the research team, “I’m very curious, is this artificial No. 0 gene based on Haus?”

“Uh… yes, yes.” The head looked at her with terror, lowering his head.

“Speak honestly,” she squinted her eyes and said: “I’m quite interested in this technology for synthesizing the artificial No. 0 gene, but I’m equally interested in another technology… How did you accomplish it?”

“Wh-what…” The head swallowed hard.

She smirked, “Consciousness transfer… Even if the artificial No. 0 gene is based on Haus, even if it contains all the information from Haus’s life, it’s still just a vessel. A clone and Haus should still be two separate individuals, right? If Haus’s consciousness can’t inhabit the clone, then what would it be? Two Hauses?”

“Of course not!” the head quickly said, “It retains everything of Mr. Haus’s memory! Whether in personality or in thought patterns, it’s consistent with Mr. Haus!”

“Consistent… but not unique.” She shook her head, somewhat disappointed, “It seems you haven’t mastered the technology for consciousness transfer at all, you’ve merely created a ’20-year-old Haus with all of his memories’…”

The face of the head of the research team suddenly changed, attempting to launch an assault, as he grabbed a syringe from a nearby table and lunged at her.

He was tall and clearly strong, but faced with an essentially non-human entity from another world… his frantic counterattack was swiftly subdued.

The head of the research team crouched on the ground, clutching his stomach in pain.

She let out a cold laugh, just about to give a lesson, when several researchers simultaneously pounced, “Please don’t hurt the leader!”

Numerous researchers, who had been in hiding out of terror during the guards’ shooting, suddenly found some courage and rushed up together.

She naturally remained unafraid, raising her already loaded assault rifle to shoot at the ceiling, instantly retreating the crowd.

“It seemed the one who made the first move, was him…” she scoffed coldly, “In fact, I didn’t do anything to him, I merely asked a few questions.”

She had indeed come here to resolve trouble — as the entity she was attached to in this Sub-world, the identity of ‘Nan Xiao Nan’ had always been pursued by Mr. Haus — resolving this trouble naturally meant addressing Mr. Haus and his organization, but that clearly didn’t include these researchers in front of her.

Having infiltrated this place, she had long since converted all door locks to the star creation type, but during the journey found several rooms used for living, making it easy to infer that the researchers here were likely trapped, even subjected to various threats, perhaps related to their families or something else.

Even if these researchers left the place, they clearly wouldn’t cause trouble for the identity of ‘Nan Xiao Nan’ — so, she truly hadn’t thought of doing anything to these folks.

Yet the initial plans didn’t dictate the final actions… these ungrateful ones had clearly already irritated her.

Despite her obedient demeanor in front of Mr. Luo, it was merely circumstantial… The true her, in her original Sub-world, bore the title of the Witch, capricious as fate.

“We have no choice!”

Suddenly, a young, though also about thirty years old, researcher cried out in pain, “We’ve been imprisoned here, working on this project for Mr. Haus… His desire for rebirth became almost distorted, if we fail to satisfy him, our families won’t have good outcomes… I haven’t left this place in five years! Yet, yet we can’t perform consciousness transfer!”

“Originally, we could always delay claiming the lack of the most crucial formula, the method for making the artificial No. 0 gene… But Haus already obtained this formula! We couldn’t refuse him! The leader acted for our sake only… Please don’t kill him!”

“Yeah, please spare us… We will be grateful to you.”

“Please… My parents don’t even know if I’m alive or dead…”

She sighed impatiently, disliking the scene, about to speak when Mr. Haus on the metal recliner suddenly convulsed.

His face was extremely agonized, suddenly opening his eyes and letting out a howl of pain… At the same time, the indicator lights at the base of the pedestal flashed madly.

Inside the container, large amounts of bubbles surged from the bottom!

“What’s happening, why is the voltage overloading…”

“It’s not working! The pressure in the cultivation chamber is rising… 87, 93… 114… still rising!”

Boom—!

Just in an instant, the indicator lights on the machines began to burst… The lighting system within the entire laboratory also directly collapsed, automatically switching to backup lighting. A dark red light filled every corner, dyeing everything with the color of blood!

“Ah—!!!”

Finally, under a shrill scream from Mr. Haus, the pressure in the entire cultivation chamber exceeded its limit and suddenly exploded, sending a large amount of cultivation solution spraying out!

The pressure from the explosion and the shards of the container knocked the researchers around to the ground… She reacted quickly, finding cover and avoiding injuries from the flying debris.

Under the dark red light, Mr. Haus collapsed under the dining chair and seemed to have regained consciousness… But his face was distorted, and he was spitting blood.

On the base, there was also a young body lying in the solution.

He tried to move… yet his limbs seemed powerless. He was attempting to use the strength of his body, but as soon as he managed to lift himself, he fell weakly again.

Mr. Haus stared dazedly at the actions of the young body.

Finally, their gazes unintentionally met… Seeing the gaze of this young life, Mr. Haus opened his mouth, his pupils suddenly widening, and emitted an even more mournful sound.

“No—!!!! No—!!!!”

He was still… He was still inside his own body, inside this wretched, decaying body — yet he had awoken, gained consciousness!

Failed!!

“No—!!!”

Sobbing!

In the sound of sobbing, Mr. Haus collapsed to the ground again, completely passing out.

She frowned and stepped out from behind cover… only to see a fist-sized object flying through the air… She was momentarily stunned, watching as it suddenly exploded, releasing a large amount of smoke.

She quickly spotted a figure rushing towards Mr. Haus… Jimmy!

When?

She furrowed her brow slightly, her thoughts speeding up as images from thirty seconds ago flashed through her mind — it was during the researchers’ uproar!

Taking advantage of the chaos, Jimmy bypassed her and took a smoke bomb from the table… and perhaps weapons.

She sensed danger, not expecting that as a transcendent she would be caught off guard by an ordinary person — but the smoke billowed extremely rapidly, stealing away all her vision, forcing her to find cover nearby.

Although the rifle in her hand had been transformed into a Star Creation Creature, the issue of perspective still existed!

…

When the smoke dissipated somewhat, she cautiously walked out from behind cover — holding two rifles transformed by Star Creation in her hands.

But to her disappointment, she didn’t see Jimmy, nor Mr. Haus — and even Mr. Haus’s clone had disappeared without a trace.

A large number of researchers had been injured and lay unconscious on the ground due to the container explosion, some fainted, others severely injured and unable to get up.

On the other side of the base, she saw a hole one meter wide, knowing it was the escape route… She furrowed her brow, glanced at the researchers here, and jumped directly into the escape hole.

…

When she exited through the escape hole, she found it led to a pharmaceutical company’s courtyard intended for employee rest — emerging from a flower bed.

She did not see Jimmy or Haus in the courtyard, not even the clone, but the footprints in the courtyard indicated the direction the others had fled.

Just as she was about to take action, voices echoed around her… strong beams from flashlights shone through.

Clearly, the people searching differed from the guards in the secret laboratory… Apparently, they were just regular security guards of the pharmaceutical company.

“A bad start…” She shook her head.

If still in the sealed space underground, she could act recklessly, but now coming out, it’s uncertain… There are many ordinary employees of the pharmaceutical company here.

Without understanding Mr. Luo’s attitude towards ordinary people, she didn’t intend to make too much commotion — besides, having finally obtained a ‘green card’ for the sub-world, judging for something heinous would be unwise.

“Hmm… How about some supper?”

…

…

“Quick, come here!”

Jimmy, sweating profusely, led a group of security guards rushing into the courtyard — he stood before the flower beds, instructing them, “The thief must be hiding nearby! Mr. Haus is hurt, we must find the culprit!”

“Yes!!”

Though not as well-trained as the underground guards, these security guards had undergone professional training too, starting to search the area centered around the courtyard!

A security captain approached Jimmy, “Assistant Tang, what happened? Suddenly the power went out, and I think I heard an explosion… The ground even shook a few times?”

Jimmy glanced at the security captain and said calmly, “You just need to catch people… Don’t ask about tonight’s events, it’s a company secret.”

“Alright then.” The captain nodded, “I’ll lead the men to search over there!”

Jimmy nodded, watching the security captain leave with his men, then quickly scanned the surroundings… Shortly after, he slipped behind a rockery by the flower beds.

There, facing the wall, was a hollowed-out area, just enough to hide someone… Jimmy crawled into the recess, his face slightly changing.

“Where are they…”

He escaped, clearly hiding the clone here!

…

“Assistant Tang, we’ve searched everywhere and found no suspicious person…”

Approaching dawn, Jimmy, with bloodshot eyes, listened to the security guards’ reports, finally irritatedly dismissing them.

Then, Jimmy calmed his mood, quickly walking into another room.

Here, Mr. Haus lay on the bed, attended by two doctors and four nurses administering IV fluids.

The doctor approached rapidly seeing Jimmy, “Assistant Tang, what’s wrong with Mr. Haus? His heart stopped at one point… His body was already in terrible condition, now…”

Jimmy sighed, “What’s his condition now?”

The doctor replied helplessly, “Currently he’s unconscious, and his heartbeat is very weak… I recommend transferring Mr. Haus quickly, the equipment here is inadequate.”

“Alright, go ahead and arrange it.” Jimmy waved his hand.

He slowly walked to Mr. Haus’s bed, gazing at the elderly man who could only rely on oxygen equipment to maintain life, silent.

Suddenly, a cold smile appeared on Jimmy’s face.