Chu Ran listened quietly to the old man's rambling words. "She had to be ruthless to survive until now."
"If not for the Zerg invasion," Chu Ran's gaze shifted to the storage tank beside her, "her end would have been no different from those."
"But no matter how glorious she once was, since she's been exposed, it proves that the organization behind her has abandoned her."
"As for what she was thinking when she chose... chose me as her test subject?" Chu Ran paused briefly. "Actually, does it really matter whether we know or not?"
"Everyone is an individual. Whether the world agrees or not, she must have made that choice for something she wanted."
"This world has always been survival of the fittest. Morality and justice are human inventions. Since justice cannot be equally applied to individuals, we should respect that individuals may violate justice for their own survival."
"I can imagine the uproar when her Spiritual Power recovery was discovered. When they took her away, they probably raised the banner of human justice."
"After all, the Zerg and humanity are mortal enemies. Depriving a person of their rights and life to give the race hope of victory—how worthy..." Chu Ran looked at the motionless corpse in the liquid, her tone flat. "If a vote were opened on StarNet, prettified, probably ninety percent would agree. The remaining ten percent wouldn't be opposed; eight percent would abstain. That's human nature."
"If you stood before me with this provocation to mock my so-called great-grandmother, or to make me hand over the Divine Ruins Key sooner, you'll be disappointed."
Professor Hu's great-granddaughter is already dead.
She died before the Zerg even descended on the Garbage Dump.
I am the only one with the right to judge.
A trace of sorrow leaked from Chu Ran's eyes. She could never truly feel the pain of those who experienced it; all she had was the anger of a bystander.
Professor Hu didn't turn from a dragon-slaying hero into a dragon. She was a person thrown into hell who climbed back out as a demon.
The demon had lost her family.
Thinking back now, the day Professor Hu returned to Central Star was probably the day her experiment failed.
She still chose not to reunite with her family.
But if not for that, Professor Hu could never have gone from a soldier to a medical authority.
The day she laid hands on herself, she had already resolved to cut off her past.
He Qiwu smiled as she listened to the fruitless exchange between Chu Ran and the old man. She wasn't interested.
This wasn't the first time such a thing happened, nor would it be the last. As time passed, the same events played out on different people.
The internal strife born of human survival never disappeared.
If she pitied this great-grandmother and great-granddaughter pair, who would... but then, she didn't need anyone's pity.
Life was fine now.
He Qiwu grinned at her own hand, clenching her fingers around the empty air.
"So you refuse to hand over the Divine Ruins Key?" The old man's voice turned cold.
Chu Ran waved a hand. "Doesn't my great-grandmother know? Go ask her."
If you can threaten Professor Hu through me, I'll take your last name.
The old man's gaze hardened.
He Qiwu suddenly hopped down and pressed Chu Ran's shoulder. "All right. Looks like the two of you won't reach a conclusion today. I'll take her away first."
That sense of discord she'd felt upon first seeing George lingered in her mind despite being dismissed countless times.
Since George was staying, she couldn't leave a loose end for her own safety. The Divine Ruins Key could wait a day or two.
As a test subject, she had to stay alive.
Chu Ran obediently followed He Qiwu out of the room.
George was placed in a nearby room.
The moment the door opened, he stuck his head out, his nose twitching rapidly as if sniffing for a long-lost treasure.
Chu Ran's internal alarm screamed, but He Qiwu reacted faster. Before she could even think, she was flung backward.
Unfortunately, the changes in George outpaced their dodging. His eyes swelled rapidly, the number of pupils increasing.
It was hard to stay human, but becoming non-human took only an instant.
He Qiwu grabbed the back of Chu Ran's collar and dashed for the base's express elevator.
The next second, the alarm at the God Summoning Society base blared sharply.
"That monster can trip the alarm?" Chu Ran endured the chokehold on her neck while furiously pumping her legs.
A flash of joy crossed He Qiwu's eyes. "Do you see any hands on it? It must be because the tail wasn't handled properly. Your people have tracked us down."
Perfect timing.
The Zerg parasite in George was of unknown species, but its level was definitely high.
Relying on these fools from the God Summoning Society, she'd very likely die here.
Her backup plan hadn't been wasted.
As He Qiwu predicted, with Charlie Jing's equipment support, Huang Feiying and the others quickly breached the God Summoning Society base gate.
"Just the remnants left from the last purge," Huang Feiying said grimly.
Charlie Jing stood behind, watching the open underground door with a flicker of suspicion.