Xia Li looked at the various data on the row of screens.

  His head was spinning right now.

  But a conclusion was vaguely forming in his mind.

  Whether Mech-Corpse modification succeeded might be related to Spirit-Severed Bodies.

  "Sister Ke, does becoming a Spirit-Severed Body mean one can never cultivate again?"

  "To be precise, one permanently loses the ability to self-cultivate, but Heaven Chip and Spirit Core are unaffected."

  "A Spirit-Severed Body doesn't mean inability to absorb spiritual energy—it just stops spiritual energy's process of promoting life-form evolution."

  After Ke Xiao explained the Spirit-Severed Body's characteristics, Xia Li immediately thought of a key point.

  Spiritual energy promoted positive life evolution—that is, continuously strengthening the original body without changing basic biological characteristics.

  In contrast was mutation caused by radiation. Radiation would drastically alter basic biological characteristics.

  Demons and monsters were the combined result of spiritual energy evolution and radiation mutation.

  "Sister Ke, do you think Corporate Union might be conducting experiments related to artificial demon creation?"

  Being able to survive extremely lethal radiation mutation itself indicated that such mutations possessed extraordinary environmental adaptability.

  Demons and monsters were truly the strongest, most terrifying creatures on Earth today.

  The most powerful among them were currently named after stars.

  For example, the most dangerous kilometer-class monster: Betelgeuse.

  That was basically a living concentrated mega-yield nuclear bomb. Once that monster stopped showing life signs, it would produce an unprecedented nuclear explosion. This made humans actually need to protect it—quite absurd.

  Today, humanity actively pursued interstellar exploration missions, having even built a Spirit-Fusion reactor on Pluto. All so that if one day they couldn't stop the monsters, they could still survive by abandoning the homeworld.

  "Highly possible. Seems like something Corporate Union would do."

  "Then Sister Ke, have you heard of... Mech-Corpse?"

  Xia Li asked about a critical piece of information. Mech-Corpse modification was Corporate Union's handiwork—a terrifying modification unknown to most.

  "Mech-Corpse? What Mech-Corpse?"

  "Here, let me draw a picture for you to see."

  Xia Li didn't dare directly produce evidence and video footage. He feared that if Ke Xiao knew, it might harm her. True information security had one principle—obscure the information's source as much as possible.

  Over ten minutes later...

  A sketch-like image composed of simple lines was transmitted to Ke Xiao by Xia Li.

  Having Heaven Chip draw in a hand-drawn style minimized the risk.

  "What is this?"

  Ke Xiao looked at Xia Li's drawing. It depicted a tall skeleton with mechanized features—grotesque and terrifying in appearance, but also carrying a certain... beauty.

  Ke Xiao didn't know why she found that thing beautiful. Perhaps because she was a modification specialist—the thing's structure gave her a sense of machines and biology perfectly combined.

  Of course, that was just regarding Xia Li's drawing.

  If such a thing actually existed in reality, she'd be too busy running to admire it.

  "Graffiti mural I saw at some ruins."

  "Where were the ruins?"

  "Destroyed during my fight with a demonic beast. I already tried excavating nearby—no more information."

  "Don't tell me you actually took some ruins graffiti artist's work seriously?"

  Ke Xiao hadn't expected Xia Li would come back to find her over just a graffiti mural.

  "What if... that graffiti artist really saw this thing?"

  Xia Li's expression was serious, his tone grave.

  Ke Xiao fell silent for a moment. She'd known Xia Li for a while now and had developed some understanding with him.

  So she directly deleted the image Xia Li had sent her.

  "I suggest you keep quiet about this. If you absolutely must investigate, that graffiti artist was your close friend, and you care deeply about the meaning behind the painting they left before dying."

  Ke Xiao had already figured it out. What Xia Li had shown her probably really existed, and Xia Li had witnessed it personally.

  As Hidden Wing's intelligence officer, she'd seen plenty of data on Hidden Wing's internal network. Before joining Hidden Wing, she'd been a security consultant for some corporation and knew plenty of their dirty deeds.

  Yet even so, she'd never heard anything related to Mech-Corpse.

  This was completely beyond her capabilities.

  "Should I inquire with the organization?"

  "I suggest not. It's not that I doubt the organization. Some things... if the discoverer's status is too low, they'll be purged. You don't yet have the qualification to discover this."

  "Are there anonymous methods?"

  "That depends on how serious the matter is, which directly determines whether you can stay anonymous."

  Ke Xiao's words were already quite clear. If Xia Li really planned to report now, anonymity would be useless. Those wanting to trace the information source had countless ways to find Xia Li.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  "Then let's set this aside for now. Sister Ke, see if you can crack this Spirit Core."

  Xia Li took out the Spirit Core Ning Ge had previously used. He currently needed the built-in technique or spiritual energy circulation routes within.

  "Let me see..."

  Ke Xiao reached out to take it, examining it thoroughly from all angles before shaking her head.

  "Where did you get this? This is illegal among illegal Spirit Cores. No ID code, no Heavenly Dao certification, no manufacturer—a 'three-no' product."

  "So it can't be cracked?"

  "It's not that it can't—the risk is too high. You can't imagine what backdoor programs an uncertified Spirit Core might have. Just self-destruction would be considered merciful. If there's some worse program, we'd both be done for."

  Spirit Cores, Heaven Chips, prosthetics, weapons, tools, and other spiritual constructs—anything with data recording functions needed Heavenly Dao certification before going public.

  It wasn't for anything else—personal information security.

  Therefore, certified devices had no backdoors. Or rather, only one existence had permission to access backdoor programs.

  The Heavenly Dao Computer's AI—Cang!

  And Cang's underlying logic was generated by global citizen votes, achieving true fairness and maintaining confidentiality principles.

  In this regard, AI's integrity far exceeded humanity's. Contracts were sometimes just waste paper to humans, but to AI, they were part of what constituted their existence—something that couldn't be violated.

  Only this way could people truly trust Cang.

  And certified items were mostly cracked through brute-force physical methods, usually yielding only incomplete data or garbage code. Even recovery required considerable effort.

  So unless it was important data, few were willing to do the time-consuming work of cracking.

  Its complexity was no less than building a city with blocks.

  "Alright..."

  Xia Li reluctantly put away the Spirit Core.

  "What are you planning to do next? If it's investigating that Mech-Corpse thing, I'd suggest forgetting it. It's not something you can touch right now."

  "If you're lucky enough to reach Soul Transformation, maybe you could look into it then."

  Soul Transformation—the highest realm Spirit Cores could openly reach. At that level, if not walking sideways, at least self-preservation wouldn't be a problem.

  "But I can't wait that long."

  "Why? What's the rush? Just take it step by step. The organization's upper levels will notice eventually."

  "I'm afraid if I don't push myself, I'll give up. I know my own personality... I..."

  Xia Li wanted to say something but didn't know how to begin.

  He was someone with fleeting enthusiasm who gave up easily. Like before in Wind Crane City, he'd easily given up on uniting the bottom-level rogue cultivators.

  He accepted reality too easily. His mind was too at peace!

  That was why his fury was like dying embers—not even visible flames, just some sparks escaping.

  He needed to seek wind.

  Whether the wind would extinguish the embers or fan them, he needed to place himself in the wind.

  Otherwise...

  The fire would die.

  Embers were ultimately just embers. No matter how long they burned, they weren't fire, couldn't compare to fire.

  "Why force yourself? Are you the type who won't move unless driven to the edge? Who pushes themselves toward a dead end? Are you stupid!"

  Ke Xiao was confused, finding Xia Li before her somewhat unfamiliar. Xia Li had previously been someone who feared causing trouble in everything he said and did.

  "I'm used to retreating. Back then, if I'd chosen to continue treatment, I had at least a thirty percent chance of surviving! I wouldn't have come to this shitty new era!"

  "I could have spent my life peacefully with family, enjoyed eating and playing with friends, lived the life I wanted in that peaceful age!"

  "It was because I retreated that I ended up like this!"

  "I... I..."

  Xia Li was emotionally agitated, speaking somewhat incoherently.

  Seeing this, Ke Xiao fell silent.

  After a long silence, she sighed. Perhaps she should congratulate Xia Li instead—Xia Li had found himself, even if it meant placing himself in danger.

  "Go to this address and keep watch. It's a B-rank mission. Recommended minimum Golden Core cultivation, but you're already very close to standard Golden Core strength."

  "The mission has three objectives of different priority. Completing the primary objective is enough; complete the secondary ones as the situation allows."

  "Primary objective: Obtain the illegal transaction goods. Secondary objective: Obtain the target personnel's Heaven Chip. Secondary objective two: If possible, eliminate all transaction personnel present."

  "Transaction party A: Qiming Mining Corporation. Transaction party B: Unknown."

  Ke Xiao gave Xia Li a mission. For Xia Li, the mission rewards weren't key—the mission process was.

  "Qiming Mining Corporation, huh... Got it. Heading out now!"