Chapter 446: The Child Has Been Born |
“How is he doing now?”
“Not good. He won’t make it on our help alone.”
In the shelter, Guan Tong and Uenoshi stared at Adam, lying on the bed in a deep coma. He was exhaling more than inhaling, struggling on the brink of death, and couldn’t hold on much longer.
“I gave him some emergency healing items for now, but they’re mediocre. Those advanced healing items require self-use only, no one else can operate them on a patient,” Guan Tong said.
White Star came over to check Adam’s condition: “If we drag this out any longer, he really won’t make it. Right now it seems he’s only holding on through some kind of obsession… With injuries this severe, if he weren’t a top-tier Ascendant, someone else would have died many times over.”
Guan Tong knew White Star was right. An energy eruption of that magnitude would have killed most Ascendants on the spot. Adam survived only because he had already entered the Second Stage of Ascension, and his physical constitution had been boosted across the board, preventing immediate death.
But prolonging it was still a one-way path to death.
“He’s in a deep coma and cannot use items himself. We have to find Ascendants with outstanding healing abilities to help him.”
When White Star heard this she thought of someone: “Troupe Leader, didn’t you call in that academy lecturer to help Aaron last time? Can’t we ask her for help again?”
He paused and assigned tasks to everyone: “White Star, contact your brother Black Star and see if he has any contacts. I’ll reach out to the Countermeasures Research Office. Uenoshi, use Sigaochin to contact Yelanka and ask if she has anyone who can help.”
The three channels Guan Tong could reach right now were the Countermeasures Research Office in Yunhua, Black Star’s intermediary networks, and the Xisiya official channels. If none of those three could provide suitable personnel, then Adam’s fate was sealed.
But he didn’t believe it would come to that. He knew the Research Office held a database with abilities of millions of Ascendants, and among them there had to be many with healing capabilities.
White Star agreed and immediately went to contact Black Star. Uenoshi asked, “Can you contact the Research Office? After all, Adam used to belong to the Suroma official Ascendants.”
“Used to belong,” Guan Tong corrected. “I don’t believe that if he survives all this and wakes up, he’ll still be willing to work for the Suroma government.”
“...Makes sense. Got it. I’ll contact Sigaochin.”
There was no time to waste bargaining with the reaper. The three sprang into action and Guan Tong called Li Meng directly.
Although the strike team disbanded after the last decapitation operation, he and Li Meng still stayed in touch. The two were from Yunhua and had known each other since shortly after the Doomsday Rules were announced two years earlier, so their relationship was naturally good.
“Hello, Guan Tong?” Li Meng picked up quickly. “What’s up?”
“I have a severely wounded, nearly dying person who needs treatment. I’d like the Countermeasures Research Office’s help.”
Li Meng immediately grew serious. “No problem. I’ll contact Dr. Zhang Minglu to coordinate personnel. What exactly are the injuries?”
“His entire right arm and left leg are shattered, multiple bones throughout his body are broken, and his internal organs have been violently displaced. Also, considering the large amount of residual radiation inside him, his blood condition is probably dire.”
“Ugh...”
Li Meng drew a sharp breath hearing Guan Tong’s description.
Shattered limbs, broken bones, displaced organs, and possible radiation-tainted blood—if he was still alive after that, it bordered on a miracle.
Li Meng couldn’t help but ask: “This patient’s identity isn’t simple, is it?”
Among all Ascendants worldwide, few could survive such injuries.
“He’s Suroma’s Adam.” Guan Tong didn’t hide it, and there was no reason to.
“Adam?!”
Li Meng was shocked, immediately understanding how complicated the situation must be. He didn’t press further on the phone and went straight to contact Zhang Minglu.
Not long after, Zhang Minglu called Guan Tong: “I’ve been briefed. I’ve coordinated ten Ascendants with healing abilities or specialized healing items to help. Do you remember Base Two? The place you went before to identify parasitized forms. If it’s convenient, bring him there—Adam is a Suroma official Ascendant, his identity is sensitive, and the high official refused to let him come to the main base.”
“Understood. I know Base Two. I’ll bring him there immediately.”
...
Countermeasures Research Office Base Two, medical ward.
Adam lay on a hospital bed while several Ascendants with healing abilities took turns using their powers on him.
One person had an ability to accelerate broken bone healing, another possessed a device to purify blood... After everyone used their abilities and items, medical mind-power detection instruments showed readings stabilizing bit by bit.
The doctor observed for a while and made a judgment: “For now his life should be saved, but he’s not out of danger yet. His injuries are too severe. Even with all this treatment and his own strong constitution, he’ll need at least a week of observation.
Besides, during this rule’s effect, most professional medical devices won’t function. So he has to rely on you Ascendants with healing abilities and his own will to pull through.”
The doctor looked helpless as he spoke. Many professional medical devices contain plastic parts, which means during this rule period doctors have to revert to old-fashioned diagnostic methods like observation, listening, questioning, and pulse-taking. Treatment mainly relies on drugs.
“Thank you,” Guan Tong said. He felt Adam surviving at all was already a huge blessing. Full recovery or a quick return to peak condition would still be very difficult.
After the doctor and the Ascendants left, only Guan Tong and Zhang Minglu remained in the room with the deeply comatose Adam.
“Guan Tong, are you going to tell me what happened?” Zhang Minglu asked.
Even if he weren’t personally curious, he had to ask. Adam wasn’t just an Ascendant affiliated with the Suroma government—he was one of its stars. Adam had gained wide fame through his outstanding performance on the Black Flag Country front, becoming one of the world’s most renowned Ascendants.
Zhang Minglu also knew that after the failed decapitation operation against the Fire Thief Worship Cult, Adam had gone missing. Intelligence at the time suspected he had a falling out with the Suroma official apparatus.
This wasn’t rare. Many Ascendants initially joined their governments while weak; as they grew stronger, the balance shifted and ambitions swelled, causing friction.
Many small countries didn’t perish solely from the rules; at least half of them collapsed due to a mixture of rule disasters and internal conflicts between Ascendants and governments.
So Guan Tong suddenly bringing a gravely wounded Adam meant there was certainly more to the story.
After asking, Zhang Minglu added jokingly, “It wasn’t you who beat him up, right?”
“...He was gravely wounded by a combat mech developed by the Suroma government.”
“The Suroma government? ” Zhang Minglu wasn’t too surprised. He didn’t think Guan Tong would deliberately injure someone so severely and then bother to rescue them. If it wasn’t Guan Tong, the only forces capable of maiming a top Ascendant like Adam so badly would be either one of a few other top-tier individuals or a government-level military force.
“Dr. Zhang, do you know about Eden Island?” Guan Tong asked suddenly.
Eden Island!
Zhang Minglu’s pupils constricted. “How do you know about that island? Was that the battlefield? Have you been there?”
Guan Tong nodded and asked in return, “It seems the Research Office has intelligence on the island.”
Zhang Minglu hesitated a moment then said, “The island’s information is classified, but since you’ve been there, I can tell you... Shortly after the Doomsday Rules were announced two years ago, Suroma secretly launched the ‘Eden Project’ on that island. The goal was to have high-potential Ascendants pair and breed offspring who would be born with inherently high Mind Power upper limits.”
Guan Tong was taken aback. He hadn’t expected such a thing and instinctively found it absurd.
“Wouldn’t Suroma worry that some survival-type rule might cause those newborns to die at birth?”
“The Suroma Senate has always operated like that. Even if the project failed, it wouldn’t hurt them much,” Zhang Minglu said. “They probably think that if the project succeeds, it would produce so-called ‘Children of God,’ a new human leader.”
“...The forty-nine Doomsday Rules will end within a few years. How could a baby become a leader in a few years?”
“That’s what puzzles us too, but Suroma has been pushing the project hard. There may be other reasons we don’t know about.”
Zhang Minglu finished and glanced at the bed.
“Adam is one of the project’s ‘fathers,’ and appears to be the most powerful among them. I didn’t expect the Senate to treat him like this.”
Guan Tong’s heart stirred.
If such a powerful ‘father’ had been sidelined, it could only mean that the backers of the project already obtained the child they wanted, and that the child met the project’s requirements.