Chapter 100: Flesh That Reproduces Without End

The furnishings inside were exceedingly plain: only a table that looked somewhat worn, and a cabinet standing against the wall. On the table lay several thick books and a notebook, while atop the cabinet sat a bizarre jar containing an irregular lump of something that looked like a piece of flesh, steeped in blue liquid.

Lin Wei first walked to the table and casually picked up one of the books.

“Biography of the Mortals of Rabas?” Lin Wei glanced at the cover, his expression turning odd. He opened to the first page, skimmed it twice, and could not help muttering, “This is just light reading, isn’t it?”

He then opened the next book.

“The Love Story of the Girl Mumu?!” Lin Wei turned to Herrick. “What is all this?”

Herrick yawned, regarding Lin Wei with undisguised contempt. “Those belonged to the old master. After coming here, he always liked to buy books from the mortal realm to read. Most of them were thrown away, and only the ones he especially liked were kept and reread. This Love Story of the Girl Mumu was one of the old master’s favorites.”

Lin Wei nodded lightly, glanced at the covers of the remaining books, and set them aside.

“Let’s hope there’s something worthwhile in the notebook...” he thought to himself.

He opened the notebook, and lines of scrawled notes appeared before him.

“Core, analyze this notebook. Transmit only the information related to wizards; strip out everything else.”

He could not be bothered to keep reading by hand.

“Analyzing... analysis complete... removing useless data... removal complete... transmitting...”

Very soon, Lin Wei felt fragments of text pour into his mind.

He closed his eyes slightly, letting his whole mind sink into stillness.

“...In the ruins of the War of Worlds, I found a piece of flesh capable of infinite reproduction. I have examined many historical and scientific records from the wizarding world, yet found no mention of such a peculiar existence. I suspect the War of Worlds may not have been a war between wizards at all, but a clash between the wizarding world and another civilization. I must search for evidence to prove my hypothesis...”

“...At last, in an ancient book, I found records of the War of Worlds... Wizards, bearing boundless knowledge and inexhaustible might, began their conquest of the Bloodline World... The war ended in carnage, leaving both the wizarding world and the Bloodline World gravely wounded... Perhaps that endlessly reproducing flesh is a relic left behind by the Bloodline World...”

“...I tried to reveal the truth of the War of Worlds to the public, but no one believed me. Instead, I was threatened by the most powerful great wizard. I have the sense that the upper ranks of the wizarding world are hiding something... I can no longer dig any deeper. For the sake of my life, I can only yield... How laughable—wizards who pursue truth and fact have been living within lies all along...”

“...I have discovered another terrifying matter. Perhaps the opening of the War of Worlds was, from the very beginning, a conspiracy. I have a theory: perhaps this piece of flesh came from a third world...”

“...”

The contents of the notebook kept unfolding in Lin Wei’s mind. Already shaken by the wizarding continent, he was struck once more by an even fiercer shock.

There was another world beyond the world?!

Herrick had just said that his old master liked to investigate all manner of strange secrets. Could this be what he had meant? Why did it sound so fantastical? Could the contents of this journal be trusted?

Lin Wei could not tell for the moment.

He turned to Herrick. “Herrick, can the words your old master recorded in the notebook be trusted?”

“I don’t know.” Herrick sniffed and shook his head. “You mean that speculation about the War of Worlds? He never let it go. If he had given up that research back then, perhaps he would not have lost his family’s support, and maybe by now he would already have been promoted to a fourth-rank great wizard...”

“Family support?” Lin Wei asked.

Herrick nodded. “That’s right. The family behind the old master was very powerful, like the royal family I belong to; they too had a fifth-rank great wizard behind them. He was a genius as well, but it seems that his investigation into the War of Worlds touched upon certain secrets, so the family abandoned his cultivation.”

“Can his conjecture be trusted?” Lin Wei asked.

“I don’t know. And I don’t think you need to know either. You’re not even a formal wizard yet; there’s no need to think about so much.” Herrick narrowed his small eyes, twirled his little mustache, and spoke to Lin Wei in the lecturing tone of an elder scolding a junior.

After a pause, Herrick pointed at the jar on the cabinet, the one filled with blue liquid. “That is the endlessly reproducing flesh recorded by the old master.”

Lin Wei followed his gaze. His curiosity was immediately ignited, and he no longer paid attention to Herrick. Instead, he walked over to the jar.

“This blue liquid seems to be nothing more than a solution for soaking decayed flesh...”

Lin Wei lifted the jar into his palm and ordered the intelligent Core in his mind, “Core, analyze this piece of flesh and list its special properties.”

“Model established... analyzing... estimated analysis time: one minute and seventeen seconds.”

The flesh was irregular in shape, and instead of being blood-red, it was a deep blue.

Lin Wei stared at the piece of flesh, no larger than his palm, his brow tightly furrowed.

“Analysis complete...”

“According to the model verification, this flesh possesses an endless ability to reproduce and can regrow after being damaged.”

Lin Wei was faintly startled.

If a piece of flesh were cut from a wizard’s body, the wizard could use potions or even his own abilities to regenerate the damaged area; that was nothing strange. But if the severed flesh itself were broken apart again, it should absolutely not remain intact.

Lin Wei’s eyes turned cold. He opened the jar directly and scooped out the deep-blue flesh with one hand.

The instant the flesh touched his skin, a chill shot straight up to his scalp.

Lin Wei vaguely felt the deep-blue flesh trembling, as though it possessed a consciousness of its own.

“How eerie...” he murmured softly, then formed a tiny blade at his fingertip. “Core, record everything that happens during my next cuts!”

Splat!

The black blade severed a corner of the flesh.

Sizzle!

The tiny piece that had been cut away immediately vaporized into the air!

“Hm?” Lin Wei had never seen anything like this before.

The flesh, now missing a corner, began to writhe. New tissue emerged, and in only a few breaths, the deep-blue flesh in Lin Wei’s hand had returned to its original form, not even its edges altered in the slightest!

“This...” Lin Wei could hardly wait to uncover the truth. “Core, what just happened?!”