After news came from District Three, Big and Little Bryan were so frightened that they could not even eat dinner. Neither of them could have imagined that things would turn into this after just one afternoon.
Big Bryan frantically made phone calls, roaring, “Hurry up and suppress it! At worst, just shoot those lunatics dead!”
Little Bryan tremblingly grabbed his father and said, “But there’s Song Yue’s younger brother too! If Song Yue tells Marshal Yan—”
If the District Three administrator had acted immediately when Song Yue’s parents reported the case, perhaps these six people would have been cured before the outbreak. But now, not only had they acted slowly, if they also shot those six people, they would never be able to withstand Marshal Yan’s investigation!
Big Bryan had obviously thought of this too, and his face turned green. Song Yue’s younger brother could not be killed. But what about the others? If they discovered that only Song Yue’s younger brother had been spared while the other families pursued the matter and attracted the attention of higher authorities, there was no way they would come out looking good!
Big Bryan was about to explode. After holding it in for several seconds, he roared, “Suppress them! Suppress them! Use the tranquilizer guns! Arrest them immediately! Consciousness… consciousness power?! Forget it! If a few people have to be sacrificed, then sacrifice them! Their consciousness bodies being shattered won’t kill them anyway! Knock these six people unconscious immediately!”
He slammed down the phone.
The next second, there was another knock on the office door.
Big Bryan roared, “What is it?!”
The door opened, and a subordinate walked in trembling.
“C-Central Star just called. It’s from Marshal Yan Qiu’s side…”
Little Bryan stiffened. He said incredulously, “It reached Central Star this quickly?”
Yan Family Estate.
Yan Qiu looked back when he heard the knock on the door.
His adjutant had arrived together with the doctor earlier. While the doctor examined Lu Qiao, the adjutant contacted the authorities on Sanguang Star.
Yan Qiu gestured for the adjutant to come in.
The adjutant walked over to him and said quietly, “I’ve already made contact. Mr. Lu and the others went to the Planetary Administration Bureau earlier because of the six people who had fallen unconscious in the district where they live. One of them is Song Yue’s younger brother. They suspected that someone was secretly carrying out genetic mutation procedures.”
“After they left the Planetary Administration Bureau, the District Three administrator immediately began investigating the matter, but they had no leads. Around six-thirty just now, the six people gradually regained consciousness. Multiple symptoms of genetic outbreaks appeared on their bodies, and all of them contained Consciousness Clan genes.”
“The Planetary Administration Bureau has already sent additional personnel to assist the District Three Administrative Bureau in dealing with the matter, but quite a few people have already been attacked by the six individuals… Most likely, their consciousness bodies have suffered damage. As for Mr. Lu, according to the location data from his terminal, he was on the mountain behind his home when he collapsed. We’ll have to wait a little longer to know the exact situation.”
After the adjutant finished reporting, the doctor also completed his examination.
Yan Qiu immediately frowned. “How is he?”
The doctor looked somewhat puzzled. “His brain waves are normal, and his consciousness body should not have suffered any damage. He only has some flesh wounds on his body. In theory, none of these should have caused him to fall unconscious.”
Yan Qiu glanced at the motionless person lying on the bed, his face solemn.
The doctor thought for a moment and said, “Let’s wait a little longer. Perhaps it’s physical exhaustion. He may wake up after getting some sleep.”
Seeing that Yan Qiu remained silent, the adjutant tentatively asked, “Are you going over there?”
The doctor could not determine why Lu Qiao was unconscious, and there was nothing else they could do. If Lu Qiao did not wake by six tomorrow morning, he would have to be transferred back to the location where he had collapsed while still unconscious. Marshal Yan certainly could not allow things to develop that way.
Sanguang Star was a seven-hour journey from here. If they wanted to arrive at Sanguang Star before six, they would have to leave soon.
Yan Qiu was silent for one second before speaking.
“Make preparations. We’ll depart in one hour.”
Just as expected—
Since they were leaving, tomorrow’s schedule would have to be rearranged. This was probably the first time Marshal Yan had ever disrupted his own work schedule.
The adjutant sighed inwardly and immediately answered, “Yes!”
After closing his eyes on the mountain, Lu Qiao felt something touch him. After that, he fell into a deep sleep.
He had no idea how long he had slept before he gradually woke up.
No.
He had not truly “woken up.”
He discovered that he was inside the Yan Family Estate, lying on that familiar bed. But there was no one around him. There were only countless glowing flame spheres constantly moving back and forth.
Ah, he was having another one of those strange dreams.
What exactly were these flame spheres?
Lu Qiao felt somewhat irritated. For the first time in one of these dreams, he felt restless and uneasy. His entire body seemed to be being torn apart and squeezed.
It was unbearable.
He rushed out of the room and began crashing and circling through the air in the hall, desperately wanting to roar in pain, yet he could not make a sound. His entire body felt as though it were about to be torn to pieces!
Suddenly, with a loud “bang,” Lu Qiao seemed to genuinely explode, shattering into countless fragments.
Then, those fragments slowly gathered together again, little by little.
When he regained consciousness once more, he discovered that he was standing before the door at the end of the corridor on the left.
He was somewhat dazed. Tilting his head, he passed through the door.
There was still no Old Marshal Yan on the hospital bed. Only fragmented specks of starlight floated in the air.
But Lu Qiao’s thoughts gradually became clearer.
Something inside his heart suddenly seemed to light up.
It was as though, during that collision and explosion just now, he had suddenly stepped into an entirely new domain.
And while within this domain, he instantly understood what the thing before him was—and what the flame spheres he had been seeing in those strange dreams all along were.
Consciousness bodies…
These were all consciousness bodies, right?
Just like him at this very moment, they were existences that had transcended the physical body and existed within another layer of space.
Lu Qiao was shocked and astonished.
At the same time, he clearly realized—
He stretched out his hand.
Countless threads of light emerged and reached toward the fragments of the consciousness body floating above the hospital bed.
After sticking to the fragments, the threads slowly drew them together, piecing them back into the form they should have had, without leaving the slightest gap.
He clearly realized—
He possessed the ability to repair shattered consciousness bodies!
Inside the hospital room, the servant was somewhat drowsy. Her head kept nodding downward as she dozed off.
Suddenly, she sensed something.
She immediately woke up and opened her eyes to look toward the hospital bed.
Old Marshal Yan was still lying there quietly.
Other than that, nothing else had happened.
The servant rubbed her eyes, yawned, and continued forcing herself to stay awake as she watched over the person on the bed.
Meanwhile, in another layer of space, a complete flame sphere had already formed.
Caught off guard, Lu Qiao was pulled toward the flame sphere and plunged into a black world.
Bits of light gradually shone down.
The black world seemed to be slowly awakening.
And standing before Lu Qiao was a middle-aged man.
The two faced each other, both somewhat astonished upon seeing the other.
The middle-aged man asked in surprise, “Were you the one who awakened me?”
Lu Qiao murmured, “Old Marshal Yan…”
Before he could say anything more, Lu Qiao was far too exhausted and once again fell into unconsciousness.
At exactly nine o’clock, Yan Qiu led a group of people out from the Yan Family Estate.
He carried Lu Qiao into the aircraft, carefully keeping him protected in his arms the entire time.
Meanwhile, on Sanguang Star, inside the Planetary Administration Bureau—
The six people who had gone berserk were finally all tranquilized and captured.
At the location where Lu Qiao’s terminal had last placed him, they also discovered a seventh suspicious target. Fortunately, he was unconscious, so they took him away directly.
Big Bryan finally had some time to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
“Dad, thirty-six people in total have fallen unconscious. It’s very likely that all of them have suffered damage to their consciousness bodies,” Little Bryan said nervously.
Hearing this, Big Bryan gritted his teeth and said, “There’s nothing we can do about that. They’re only unconscious anyway. Nobody died!”
When all was said and done, how much could the lives of people in a place like theirs really be worth?
Getting the matter handled and making sure no important figures ran into trouble was the key.
However, he had never expected Lu Qiao to become unconscious and transfer directly to Marshal Yan Qiu’s side.
No wonder they had learned about this matter so quickly!
So no matter how they looked at it, they had still completely botched this matter.
Big Bryan felt exhausted both physically and mentally. He had no idea how he was going to deal with the troubles that would gradually arrive tomorrow.
Just then, there was another knock on the office door.
A subordinate walked in with a mournful expression and said, “Marshal Yan Qiu seems to have already left home and is heading this way.”
Big and Little Bryan were both dumbfounded.
Big Bryan stammered, “H-He’s coming here personally?”
The subordinate nodded miserably.
Big Bryan failed to catch his breath.
He had thought that at most, someone from the Star Domain Administration Bureau would come over, yell at them, and impose some punishment.
He had never expected Yan Qiu to come personally!
His eyes rolled back, and he fainted on the spot.
Little Bryan was startled and hurriedly went over to catch him.
“Dad!”
When Lu Qiao finally woke up completely, his head was splitting with pain.
He sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth, “Hiss,” and curled up slightly.
Very quickly, a pair of hands supported him, and a familiar, deep voice sounded beside his ear.
“Lu Qiao?”
Lu Qiao tremblingly opened his eyes. After his vision focused, it settled on the man’s face.
The man’s brows were tightly furrowed.
Lu Qiao opened his mouth and asked blankly, “Yan… Yan Qiu?”
Before he had passed out… he seemed to have been fighting a monster?
What exactly had happened—
Lu Qiao’s head hurt, and his thoughts were a mess. He struggled to sit up.
Yan Qiu helped him up and let him lean against his chest.
Only then did Lu Qiao clearly see his current surroundings, and he was stunned for a moment.
He was on the bed in his own home, in the simple room.
Besides Yan Qiu, who was sitting beside the bed and acting as a backrest for him, Big and Little Bryan were standing to the side, nervously staring at him.
Yan Qiu’s adjutant and a doctor were standing at the head of the bed, also watching him.
There were also several other unfamiliar people. Judging from their uniforms, they seemed to be from some administrative bureau. They were all standing several steps away, their expressions tense.
Lu Qiao asked awkwardly, “W-What’s going on?”
Why was there such a huge gathering?
And judging from the time, this clearly was not the time period when he was supposed to be locked onto.
So why had Yan Qiu and his adjutant come to Sanguang Star?
“You encountered a patient whose genetic mutation surgery had failed on the mountain. You forgot?” the man asked quietly.
“…The genetic mutation surgery failed?!”
Lu Qiao’s expression tightened.
He quickly pieced the entire matter together and asked, “So there really was an underground doctor performing this kind of procedure? Have they caught the person?”
As soon as he asked this question, the entire room fell silent.
Nobody answered.
Lu Qiao felt that something was wrong with the atmosphere, and a bad feeling arose in his heart.
He turned around and asked Yan Qiu, “It… it was who?”
Yan Qiu paused before saying, “The man who lives next door to you. You should know him, right?”
Lu Qiao’s expression went blank.
The man who lived next door to him.
Uncle Gavin.
Big Bryan stood to the side and wiped away some sweat.
Yan Qiu and his group had arrived shortly after four in the morning. After arriving, they went directly to the location where Lu Qiao had last remained conscious.
Speaking of which, when they captured the seventh patient whose genetic mutation surgery had failed, the other party had clearly been beaten unconscious. There seemed to be no trace of anyone else at the scene, so this patient had most likely been knocked down by Lu Qiao alone.
Thinking carefully about this, Big and Little Bryan broke out in cold sweat.
After capturing the patients, they sent them to the hospital.
Through genetic testing, the doctors confirmed that these patients had not originally possessed any special genes. However, the genetic mutation surgery had awakened the racial genes within their bodies one by one, consuming them to their limits.
As a result, their strength far exceeded what they should normally have had.
It was extremely abnormal.
Song Yue was already a first-class military officer. When dealing with his younger brother, he could only manage not to be completely suppressed. He could not defeat the other party at all.
Meanwhile, the Planetary Administration Bureau and the District Three Administrative Bureau had sent a total of six teams, more than a hundred people, and only then were they able to knock down all six of the others as quickly as possible.
Against this comparison, they could clearly understand just how powerful Lu Qiao was.
After Yan Qiu and the others arrived there, they completed Lu Qiao’s transfer at six o’clock.
After bringing Lu Qiao onto the aircraft again and returning to this house, they finally obtained the results of their investigation as well.
All the patients had come from a private clinic on that mountain.
The owner of the private clinic had gone traveling for a month and had very generously given the other nurses and doctors at the clinic time off.
The only person going to work there every day was Gavin, the security guard.
When their people investigated the clinic, all the equipment used to perform genetic mutation surgery was still there.
They also found the belongings that the seventh patient had brought with him.
But Gavin was nowhere to be found.
The clinic’s front door had been left open. He had probably fled in a hurry as well.
During this period, Gavin should have been using the private clinic to lure those seven people there and secretly perform the surgeries on them.
Although Gavin had not yet been caught and the seven people had not yet awakened, the truth of the matter was already more or less certain.
Yan Qiu briefly explained the situation to Lu Qiao.
Lu Qiao was stunned and did not react for a long while.
Yan Qiu looked at him and gave his adjutant a glance.
The adjutant immediately said to everyone else in the room, “All of you, go outside.”
Big Bryan immediately smiled ingratiatingly.
“How about I have someone prepare afternoon tea? Mr. Lu has been unconscious for so long. He must be hungry!”
The director of the Star Domain Administration Bureau was also there.
After hearing the news, he had hurried over. After scolding Big Bryan, he had realized just how serious the disaster was and no longer had the energy to bother with this idiot. His eyes remained fixed on Yan Qiu the entire time.
Hearing this, he immediately said, “Yes, yes, and there are other—”
“You can all go out. There’s no need for you to worry about things here,” the adjutant calmly refused.
Earlier, he had already driven these people out once, but this group had been completely afraid to leave.
Before long, they had all returned to the room, standing there like a group of quails, terrified that something might happen to Lu Qiao and cause Marshal Yan to fly into a rage.
But no matter what, this was not something that could be resolved simply by trying to curry favor with him at this point.
Their military corps normally was not responsible for planetary administration.
But now, the consequences caused by the chaos in planetary administration were right before their eyes, and their own people were involved.
Marshal Yan absolutely would not ignore it.
The adjutant had spoken, and his attitude was so firm that the several people exchanged glances.
None of them felt confident, but they still left the room.
Yan Qiu said to his adjutant, “You all go out too.”
“Yes.”
Only Lu Qiao and Yan Qiu remained in the room.
Seeing that Lu Qiao had remained silent the entire time, Yan Qiu squeezed his arm and frowned as he looked at him.
Lu Qiao murmured, “Why would Uncle Gavin do something like this?”
“For money? But he’s lived like this all these years, and he never intended to move somewhere else. He has enough to live here.” Lu Qiao was genuinely confused. He could not understand.
“Let’s wait until we see him before talking about it. Don’t think about these things for now.” Yan Qiu asked, “You’ve been unconscious for fifteen hours. Don’t you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”
Lu Qiao came back to himself and said, “I just feel a little sore all over…”
“The doctor said these injuries aren’t enough to make you unconscious for this long.” Yan Qiu’s brows remained tightly furrowed.
Suddenly, Lu Qiao thought of something.
He completely turned around to face Yan Qiu, his expression somewhat tense.
Yan Qiu’s expression became slightly restrained. “What’s wrong?”
Lu Qiao stammered, “I-I think I awakened a secondary gene!”
Yan Qiu froze.
Lu Qiao’s heart pounded wildly.
“Really. It happened in the dream, but it seemed real! I think I awakened the Consciousness Clan gene!”
Yan Qiu was astonished.
Lu Qiao tried extending a consciousness tentacle and touched Yan Qiu.
Yan Qiu moved slightly, his eyes narrowing.
“When your consciousness power activates, I don’t feel anything.”
“Right?” Lu Qiao recalled that when he had fought the monster on the mountain earlier, it had been the same.
When his consciousness power activated, there had been no sound or trace whatsoever!
He seemed to have never heard of a consciousness manipulator possessing this kind of ability before!
Yan Qiu pondered for a moment and said, “Try entering my consciousness—”
Before he could finish speaking, Lu Qiao grabbed his hand, his expression becoming even more nervous.
Lu Qiao took a deep breath and said quietly, “I haven’t finished yet. While I was unconscious, I think I did something.”
Yan Qiu froze again. “What?”
Lu Qiao stared at him and said awkwardly, “I-I think I pieced your father’s consciousness body back together…”
Yan Qiu was rooted to the spot.
At the same time, his terminal received an incoming call.
The call was from the Yan Family.