Lord of Prayer - Chapter 237
The Li Family was tempted.
After all, the Eternal Life Project wasn’t exactly a core secret to them. In terms of importance, it didn’t even compare to their secret research on floating cars. Now that it had caused such a massive mess, trading related intelligence for an Extraordinary Armament seemed like a good deal no matter how you looked at it.
As for dealing with the trouble from the Blood Race and the Abyss Church… the Li Family didn’t give it much thought. If the Star Association had said it, that would be one thing. But Zhou Chen was just one man; a single tree cannot make a forest. It was impossible for him alone to influence the underlying situation in Hong City. Still, just as he’d said, one more person meant that much more Power…
The transaction went very smoothly. Once Elder Li saw the logic in it, he readily sent someone to give Zhou Chen the relevant files on the Eternal Life Project. It wasn’t a huge amount—just enough to fill a large cardboard box.
“These are copies of the Eternal Life Project files. The originals were all taken by the Star Association,” Elder Li said with a warm smile. “Don’t doubt their completeness. We, the Li Family, value our integrity.”
“I trust the Li Family’s reputation.”
Zhou Chen nodded. He didn’t look at them right away. Instead, he fulfilled his promise, creating the remaining four pieces of Extraordinary Armament on the spot. Only after he finished did he begin to rummage through the documents for the Eternal Life Project.
Appropriation amounts, fund flows, purchase orders, equipment lists, experiment logs, researcher diaries…
After looking through them one by one, Zhou Chen finally picked up a researcher’s diary.
[New Era, Year 172, January 19. Entry by Charles:
Today marks one month since we left the research department. Without any support, our research couldn’t continue. Thankfully, Howard comes from a prominent family. With the Li Family’s funding, we were able to continue the Eternal Life Project.
Those pedantic bastards at the research department confiscated the prototype we’d built, but luckily, all the experimental results are engraved in our minds. It won’t even take us half a month to restore our research progress.]
[New Era, Year 172, February 20. Entry by Charles:
We’ve successfully restored the development progress of the Eternal Life Machine, but the road ahead will be even more difficult. Ordinary equipment can’t withstand the Eternal Energy. Perhaps we can build an energy stabilizer… I really miss the World’s most advanced research equipment we had back at the department…]
[New Era, Year 172, March 20. Entry by Charles:
This month, we successfully developed an energy stabilizer. The effect was remarkable. The prototype ran for 0.33 seconds and produced a small amount of Eternal Energy. It was a dazzling light, more beautiful and brilliant than the Galaxy Star System itself. A single glance captivated my very soul. Unfortunately, we have no way to store it, so we could only let the Energy dissipate.]
[New Era, Year 172, April…]
[New Era, Year 172, May…]
[…]
[New Era, Year 173, January 10. Entry by Howard:
The professor is getting too old. He’s had a severe cold for a week now, and it’s difficult for me to conduct research on my own. I guess we’ll just take these days off to rest. Lately, my heart has been spasming with pain, and I often feel dizzy, see strange hallucinations, and even have Nightmares.
I’m afraid this is a sign of sudden death from overwork. We really do need to rest.]
[…]
[New Era, Year 173, October 19. Entry by Charles:
We’ve pushed the development of the Eternal Life Machine to seventy percent completion. The remaining thirty percent will likely take some time. The thing giving us a major headache right now is the Energy Source problem. Yesterday, the prototype ran for just 0.79 seconds and caused a blackout across more than half of Hong City. To keep it running normally, I’m afraid the power of the entire city wouldn’t be enough…]
[New Era, Year 174, February 15. Entry by Charles:
We bought a skeletal fragment from a Tier Five Ascender. I have to say, he was worthy of the title Crowned King. A single piece of bone completely solved our Energy Source problem. It will take some time to adapt the Essence frequency, though. The good news is that the development of the Eternal Life Machine has reached the final ten percent.]
[New Era, Year 174, March 28. Entry by Charles:
I had a bizarre dream. In it, a guy in a suit asked me if I knew what I was doing. I proudly answered that I was leading all of humanity toward a glorious future, but the guy just laughed and said I was leading all of humanity to Hell…
The strange thing is, Howard had the same dream. We had to stop our research to think about what the dream could mean.
In the field of Extraordinary Mysticism, one’s own Spirituality often uses dreams to warn of impending danger…]
[New Era, Year 174, April 2. Entry by Charles:
After days of verification and contemplation, we’ve determined that the dream was a manifestation of a sense of crisis from deep within our subconscious. This means we’re afraid of eternal life—afraid of the harm it might bring…
From a macroscopic perspective, this anxiety is perfectly normal. Technological development is a sharp, double-edged sword; it has its pros and cons. Take “nuclear reactions,” for example. Used in war, they cause devastation. But if we could develop controlled nuclear fusion, then humanity would have an endless supply of clean Energy.
To put it simply, a knife can chop vegetables, but it can also kill someone. Any technology that benefits humanity will inevitably have its drawbacks. The key is how people choose to use it.
—I sincerely believe that the technology of eternal life will bring about a wonderful outcome.]
[New Era, Year 174, June 29. Entry by Charles:
The month-long experiment with the lab mice is over. All of them are alive and well. Who would have thought that just a month ago, they were all old, weak, sick, and disabled?
The Eternal Life Project has reached its final stage. God knows how excited I am. People will remember us, and in the history textbooks hundreds of years from now, this year will be known as the turning point in human history!]
This was the last entry in the researcher’s diary. Not long after, Charles and Howard activated the Eternal Life Machine.
