432: Chapter 429 Whose cake was touched?

The Gibbon's fist charged up again, its elongated arm like a fully drawn bowstring—

Shen Mingyuan kicked Ye Ouyang, sending him flying two or three meters away, while simultaneously leaning back himself. That punch roared past his armor's breastplate, the resulting wind making his visor hum.

He didn't stop.

The moment he hit the ground, his twin guns were already raised, aiming at the arm that was currently retracting—the Gibbon's previously injured arm was the left one, and now its right arm, which had just thrown the punch, hadn't had time to pull back yet.

Bang! Bang!

Two shots hit the trajectory of its punch.

The Gibbon's right arm snapped back and swung to the left, dodging the bullets. Although its left arm was injured, it managed to raise it and swing to the right, attempting to interfere with Shen Mingyuan's aim.

(You come from Shandong, or I am a layer of snow white. Want to eat Cantonese food.)

The two arms swung rapidly in the air, alternating like two frantically swaying door panels.

Shen Mingyuan stared at those two arms and suddenly let out a laugh.

"What are you doing waving your arms around?"

He lowered his muzzle, aiming directly at its chest.

"I shot at your arms because your body would dodge. Now your arms are dodging, but your body isn't—"

Bang!

A black-red plasma bullet pierced through its chest. Charred fur and flesh exploded, and the Gibbon let out a short hiss, its body stiffening before falling straight backward.

"What use do you have?"

Shen Mingyuan put away his guns and blew on the muzzle—even though there was nothing on it.

Ye Ouyang scrambled up from the ground, patted the dirt off himself, and walked over quickly. He crouched beside the still-twitching Gibbon, his golden sharp claws raised, then hesitated for a moment.

"It's still alive." He looked up at Shen Mingyuan, "But it's dying soon."

"Keep it hanging on by a thread." Shen Mingyuan walked over, looking down at the dying monkey, "There are still things to ask."

Ye Ouyang nodded, and his claw tips pierced into the Gibbon's chest—releasing a minute amount, just a tiny drop of golden liquid. The Gibbon's body convulsed, and the piercing wound in its chest healed slightly at a visible rate, but only slightly. It wouldn't die, but it certainly wouldn't get better.

Lu Jianchuan climbed out from the pile of broken bricks, shook his head, and stretched his shoulders.

"Ouch, that punch really hit hard." He walked over, his silver-white armor covered in dust, but he seemed fine, "But I'm not injured; I dissipated the force."

He glanced at the Gibbon on the ground and then at Shen Mingyuan.

"How's the situation here?"

Ye Ouyang stood up and answered for Shen Mingyuan.

"Senior Shen blew a hole in its chest with one shot. I injected a tiny amount to keep it alive—this amount isn't enough to heal it, so it can't die and it can't move."

Lu Jianchuan nodded, his gaze falling on the twitching Gibbon whose eyes were half-open and half-closed.

"The main thing is to ask about that Lizardman," he said. "Let's go, take it back."

Shen Mingyuan put away his guns, walked over, and bent down to grab the Gibbon's intact arm.

"Give me a hand."

Lu Jianchuan walked over and grabbed the other one.

The two of them lifted the limp monkey off the ground. Ye Ouyang stood nearby, looking at the spheres scattered around, then at the half-dead Gibbon, and scratched his head.

Soon, personnel from the The Authorities arrived to pick them up.

"So how did you hit its chest?"

As the professionals drove over and lifted the Gibbons into the vehicle, Lu Jianchuan stood to the side and tilted his head toward Shen Mingyuan.

Shen Mingyuan was putting away his guns. He paused upon hearing the question and then laughed.

"He was acting like a total idiot." He said as he put away the twin stars, "Afraid I'd shoot his arms, he just stood there waving them frantically like a pair of fans. Meanwhile, his body stayed perfectly still, just standing there letting me hit it."

He made a motion as if aiming.

"I just went—bang. Right in the chest."

Lu Jianchuan nodded.

"So that's how it was."

Ye Ouyang stood nearby, spinning a coin around his fingers.

"It really was a bit stupid," he said.

The few of them brought the Gibbon back to the base. Once at the base, after ensuring it was kept alive, the interrogation was left to the professionals—this was something the three of them were indeed not good at. Shen Mingyuan was a lawyer, but that was for courtroom debates, not criminal interrogation.

As they were standing there, Wei Ziqing came from the other end of the corridor.

"Yo, hello guys." He walked over with a smile on his face, "Look at me, I'm out of the hospital."

He patted his chest to prove he was completely fine.

"Those cells of yours are really too useful." He looked at Ye Ouyang, "No problems at all."

Ye Ouyang scratched his head.

"So what are we going to do now?" he asked.

After a few seconds of silence, Ye Ouyang added, "How about we go see Li Mo? I'm really curious how far his research on my Special Cells has progressed."

They looked at each other, nodded, and walked together toward Li Mo's laboratory.

Inside the laboratory, Li Mo was looking down at something through a microscope. Hearing footsteps, he looked up and nodded to them.

"You're here."

Ye Ouyang leaned in and asked directly, "How far has your research progressed?"

Li Mo set down what he was holding and picked up a blood sample tube nearby.

"This blood of yours is very interesting," he said, shaking the test tube. "When using your blood to prepare a culture medium, the survival time of the cells can be extended significantly."

He paused, as if organizing his words.

"In other words, the survival time of these cells seems to depend on something special in your body. As long as the cells are inside you, consuming that thing, they can stay alive indefinitely. Once they leave you and lose the supply of that thing, they die after thirty minutes."

He put down the test tube and glanced at Ye Ouyang.

"Of course, as for what that special thing is, I haven't found it yet."

Something special?

Ye Ouyang was stunned for a moment, several thoughts flashing through his mind.

It was probably something the Shaper gave me. But specifically what it is... should I ask the Shaper later?

This thought only flickered in his mind. Li Mo was still there, so he didn't say it out loud.

Li Mo didn't notice his distraction and continued speaking, his tone carrying an irrepressible excitement.

"Now my goal is to find this special thing in your blood. Once I find it and purify it, I can manufacture it into a specialized healing agent."

He paused, his gaze falling on Ye Ouyang as if looking at a gold mine.

"When that time comes, it can be provided for everyone in the base to use. For medical treatment—all injured people, those with severed limbs, can regenerate them using your Special Cells. As long as it's paired with nutritional agents to let them quickly replenish what's consumed, they can regenerate rapidly in a special way."

He became more and more excited as he spoke.

"With you, the entire medical world will undergo a massive change!"

Ye Ouyang scratched his head.

"Then I wouldn't be touching anyone's cake, would I?" he asked, his expression a bit subtle. "At that time, would I... accidentally, would everything I buy turn into something bad? The kind where the durability is very poor? Would everything I buy be arranged by capitalists to be defective products?"

—

Atop a distant high-rise, in front of a floor-to-ceiling window, a figure held a red wine glass, gently swirling the deep red liquid inside.

He looked at the city lights outside the window, his lips slowly curling up.

"Ha," he said softly, his voice echoing in the empty room, "Finally, we've gotten around to Ye Ouyang."

He took a sip of the wine.

"Who told him to touch our cake?"