BXBX NOVEL Chapter 484 Blood-stained Memories, Part 1
Chapter 484 Blood-stained Memories, Part 1
"If you know about my past, then you should know why I am acting like this. Oh, of course you know about it. You’re a part of me after all." Alex replied sarcastically within the soulscape.
"Original, after all this time, you still hold that grudge? Will you never... let go of that?" Golden Alex said, with his voice full of hesitance. "It’s been years since that happened. Are you still hung up with them?"
"Stop talking, Golden Alex. Just stay quiet and watch things happen." Alex angrily said, which forced Golden Alex to close his mouth. "I can’t afford to be distracted with you right now, so please, just let me have some peace and quiet."
"...Fine. I will just do my best to run away, while you do your own thing." Golden Alex meekly replied as he continued forcing his body to move. Seeing that original Alex had no more interest to talk in this time, Golden Alex kept on being quiet, as he knew that right now is not the time to make any noise.
"...."
As Golden Alex plowed his way towards Alina, the original Alex used the remains of his power to observe the descending palm attack that Black Alex just made.
Original Alex appeared to be desolate as he stared at the palm, and this desolation increased when his gaze landed on the 3 Supreme Puppets.
"....Even if you three are my enemies, I still could not help but pity you three. You should not have been Emperor Litch’s puppets, and you should not be even used in something like this." Alex thought as he let out a mental sigh. "Sigh, and here I thought the Emperor’s treatment on his previous Supreme Puppets were already bad. Tsk, why did I even think of that? Now I’m beginning to think of my past..."
Alex then began to feel light-headed at this point, as memories of his past began flashing across his mind.
Even though he was displeased by this, he did nothing to stop these recollections from happening, as he knew that stopping them now had no merit to him at all.
After all, Emperor Litch was bound to arrive within few seconds, so thinking about the past wouldn’t hurt, right?
"...." Without anything that was worrying him at this time, Alex began to relax as he let his mind be immersed in his memories once more.
His tension and paranoia all disappeared as he sought a recluse on his memories, something that he had not done before.
"Ah.... Why am I even thinking about my past now? Does this mean that I am about to die? Yo Alex, that’s not a good thing to think..."
[[[AUTHOR’S NOTE: FLASHBACK TIME!!!]]]
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ROUGHLY 30 YEARS BEFORE THE START OF THE MAIN STORY.
There had been many myths about a secret research institute inside the Undying Empire, which was said to be dabbling with the study of life and death itself.
Some myths said that inhumane experiments were being run in this secret institute, while others say that a top-secret military base was hidden inside this institute.
No matter what story was made, there was one thing that was constant with these stories. And that was the name of this secret Institute.
The Ouroboros Research Centre.
Nothing else was known about this institute except for its name, making it one of the greatest source of rumors for the residents of the Undying Empire.
With the protection granted by Emperor Litch himself and his fearsome Generals, nobody tried doing any drastic actions to uncover the secrets of the Ouroboros Research Center, although many still yearned to know the truth about it....
OUROBOROS RESEARCH CENTRE
OUTSKIRTS OF THE UNDYING EMPIRE
Along the farthest edge of the Undying Empire, a sprawling metallic construct the size of a planet could be seen.
This construct, which looked like a place for habitation, was covered to the brim with extreme defensive measures. Lasers, forcefields, spatial folds, you name it all and this construct have it. Even the famed black-hole cannons and anti-matter rifles were in abundant quantity in this place too, making any approaching pirate back away without hesitation.
Every now and often, robots and war-mongering ships could also be seen hovering around this construct, which just increased the construct’s defensive level.
All in all, these things made the whole construct appear like a tightly-guard military base, or possibly, even a prison.
That could be the truth, but to those who managed to get inside the habitable construct, this place was no military base or prison at all.
"Glug glug glug..."
Instead of rows of cells meant for prisoners, the common sight that could be seen inside the construct were actually countless apparatus and machines meant for scientific inquiry.
Tanks, glass screens, chemical vats, refrigerators, and metallic cases were the usual objects seen inside the construct, with more esoteric and foreign-looking instruments stowed on the corners.
Numerous people wearing what looked like to be laboratory clothes could be seen all around these scientific objects, which just made the ’scientific aura’ of the whole place appear more legitimate.
Most of these people were milling around the area busy on doing their own tasks, while some were occupied on giving orders.
"Glug glug glug..."
Two of these ’busy’ people could be seen hovering in front of a cylindrical glass tank, with one of them cautiously placing probes inside the glass tank.
The person who placed the probes let out a small hiss as the probes entered the tank, with her taking care to not jostle the body floating inside the tank.
Once the probes were in place, the prober wiped the sweat on her forehead as she manipulated the buttons placed on the base of the glass tank.
"Glu glu glu..."
The body inside the tank immediately had a reaction to this change, with the liquids around it gurgling quickly. Both the observers had a serious expressions on their faces as they saw this happening, with most of their attention seemingly focused on the body alone.
"Glu glu glu..." The body inside the glass tank appeared to be trying to swim on the liquid around it, although the restraints wrapped around the body made it impossible for it to move. This body could only jerk as the probes continued to release the electrical signals, with its best efforts only managing to move the restraints by a mere centimeter.
The person who placed the probes quickly took notes about the movements of the body, and she only stopped once the body had stopped moving.
"Sir, the integrity of this clone is within the acceptable range. His organs are also working properly and his brain is showing signs of low-grade consciousness." The prober said as she began removing the probe inside the tank. "All in all, I think this clone is a good product, Sir."
"Anatta, is that the only thing that you can tell me about this clone?" The person standing with the prober replied, with his face clouding slightly with his words. "How about its mana reserves? How about its appearance? Do they also approach within our set standards? Does this clone even look like the Main Body at all?"
"Y-Yes Sir! They’re within those standards too!" The prober, who was called Anatta, hastily replied as she clutched her notebook closer to her body. "Don’t worry Sir. Bright, I measured it thrice just to make sure! And if you look at the face of the clone, you can see that it looks like the Main Body, although its nose was slightly off by a centimeter to the left..."
"Is that so? If that’s the case, then you can remove this clone from the nurturing tank. It’s ready for deployment later." The other person, who was addressed by Anatta as Sir Bright, replied calmly. He then tilted his head as he looked at the body inside the tank, with a faint hints of smile tugging his face. "Just make sure that you won’t mess up the deployment process...."
"N-noted Sir! I-I will do my best to not mess up! I promise that!"
"Anatta, you don’t need to act nervous around me. Even if it’s just your first day of job, I know that your talent will allow you to flourish here." Sir Bright said with a laugh, as he appeared to be pleased on seeing the stiff and nervous attitude from Anatta. "Just do things your way, and I am sure that you will be a Professor like me in no time."
"I get it, uncle. You don’t need to remind that to me."
"Good. I don’t like seeing you stay as an assistant for long, so you should do your best to climb ranks!"
"Geez, uncle. You just gave me more pressure now...."
"Hahaha, what’s a little pressure to a prodigy like you, Anatta?" Sir Bright said with a laugh once more. Hehehe, why don’t you start removing this clone from the nurturing tank already? I want to see if your skills are on par with your brain..."
"Ok Uncle. I will do it under your observation. Geez, you watching me just makes this worse..." Anatta muttered as she began pressing another set of buttons on the base of the tank.
"Dut dut dut..."
"Uncle, before I remove the clone, I want to ask a question first..." Anatta suddenly said as her fingers stopped on pressing the buttons. "All the clones that we made here are assigned with numbers, right?"
"Yes, Anatta, all the clones here are assigned with numbers. Why are you asking that?"
"Um well, I’m just curious to know... if we are allowed to give a name to the clones assigned to us..." Anatta awkwardly replied as she gave her uncle a smile. "I mean, there’s nothing wrong with giving names to the clones, right?"
"...As long as you don’t use the names that the other assistants used, its fine for you to give names to the clones assigned to you." Sir Bright replied. "Don’t worry about giving names. Because of boredom, others have also decided to give names to their assigned clones. Heck, some even gave girly names even when all the clones are only males!"
"Ugh... I’m not like those people, uncle... I will only give this clone a powerful name, something that will make me, its manager, appear cool!" Anatta said with anger in her tone, as if the matter of giving girly names to a male clone was something that had offended her.
"A powerful name? Care to tell me what you plan to give on your assigned clone?"
"Alexis, that’s what I will call this clone. It means ’defender’ in some language, which will be perfect for him! He will be my defender, and he will protect me from harm!" Anatta began to giggle as she said these words, with her face showing her satisfaction with what she just said. "What do you think about that name, uncle? Isn’t that great?"
"Alexis, Alexis... What a nice name. I hope this clone will get to perform that task well. If not, then we will just have to replace it with another one."