Chapter 611 - 236: Mechanical Undead No. 1

"Did you hear me?"

The zombie clawed at the ghastly white bones. Neither its sharp bone fingers nor its mechanical body could break through the Bone Prison, which was forged from the skeleton of a legendary King of Skeletons.

"Shut up!"

Wei’en shot the zombie a cold glare. The chilling aura radiating from him made it instantly shrink into a corner of the Bone Prison, its red eyes flickering violently as if terrified.

"If I didn’t still need you for subsequent experiments, I’d dismantle you right now!"

In this time, he had dismantled at least three hundred, if not five hundred, zombies due to failed experiments.

If it weren’t for his Soul-Devouring Magic, the residual essence from the dead zombies in this workshop would have been enough to scare Shawa from even taking a single step inside.

In addition, with the increase in his power and his duels against Abyssal Creatures, the aura he exuded when he let loose was far colder and harsher than before.

Although he had only learned the eight spells required to meet the basic conditions for promotion to Great Mage, if he were to fight the version of himself from ten days ago, he could achieve a flawless victory with almost zero injuries.

Wei’en glanced at the grandfather clock; an hour had passed since his call with Ronan.

’Hmm, there’s still some time.’

With this thought, he activated a black communicator. Speaking to the swirling gray mist, he said coolly, "Connect me to number 11346, Teresa Ilina Silvira."

’This experiment was a success, so it’s about time to write the phase-one research report.’

’Otherwise, if I keep draining the Research Center’s funds without producing any results, Dean Josue’s skeletal face will probably be clawed to pieces.’

"Director, is your experiment complete?"

As the connection was established, Teresa’s image appeared on the illusory screen. Her eyes were bloodshot, the bags under them were much heavier than before, and her hair was a mess. She looked completely exhausted.

Seeing her like this, Wei’en subconsciously rubbed his nose.

Over this period, to ensure the experiment proceeded smoothly, he had kept Teresa’s schedule almost completely full.

From major tasks like procuring and requisitioning all sorts of consumables, to minor ones like collecting data and writing progress reports, Teresa did it all. If he hadn’t fulfilled his earlier promise and promoted Christa Kanawa to be his assistant to share some of the workload, the young lady of the Silvira Clan would have likely collapsed from exhaustion on an experiment table.

"It’s done. The results of the experiment are..."

Teresa clasped her hands together, her bloodshot eyes behind her gold-rimmed glasses fixed on Wei’en. She felt as if her heart was in her throat.

Nearby, Adolph and a few other researchers who had just finished their own experiments also grew tense.

’A success, it has to be a success!’

"A complete success!" A smile broke across Wei’en’s calm face.

"A success..."

Teresa murmured, her gaze shifting to the side as if to ask: ’Did you hear that? Am I hearing things? Was it a success?’

"Deputy Director, the Director said the experiment was a success!" Adolph shouted excitedly as he slid into the frame on his tentacles. "We did it!"

"We did it..." Christa collapsed to the floor. It had been so, so hard.

Oshana jumped for joy. Although her own progress was the slowest, she had been the one who most hoped for the project’s success.

Ausel and Escobar, who hadn’t finished their own experiments yet, heard the commotion from nearby and hugged each other. "Did you hear that? The Director’s research was a success!"

In that moment, the honest and good-natured Escobar no longer cared about the plague toxins corroding Ausel’s body. He felt that all their effort had been worth it. Even the hideous zombie strapped to their Binding Platform began to look pleasant and agreeable.

"ROAR—"

Having received a definitive answer, Teresa’s face slowly bloomed into a radiant smile. Looking at Wei’en on the illusory screen, her nose tingled, and her eyes slowly filled with tears.

"That’s wonderful, Director... *sob*..."

Wei’en watched the emotional group on the screen, waiting quietly for them to calm down.

He knew that compared to these researchers, he wasn’t a very competent director.

Aside from the necessary project experiments, he barely involved himself in anything else. Teresa was the one who led them in completing most tasks.

And because he wasn’t at Feng Enliso, he didn’t have to endure the ridicule from other research institutes, nor would he attract the attention of Dean Josue and the others...

’But thankfully, the result was a good one!’

"Alright, everyone."

Seeing that the two Witches, Christa and Oshana, had also joined the chorus of sobs, Wei’en had no choice but to interrupt them. "The experiment has achieved a phase-one success, but we still have a long way to go before the entire research project is complete."

"Yes, Director!"

Teresa and the others quickly wiped their faces and stood in a line, looking at the illusory screen.

"Of course, you will get some proper rest."

Wei’en pointed at Teresa and chuckled. "Especially you, Teresa. Take a good rest for the next few days. I’ll need your help with the subsequent experiments."

"My apologies, Director." Teresa’s face flushed red.

"I’m not blaming you. I just want you all to understand that the success of this research project is inseparable from your hard work, and even more so from your help."

"Without Teresa’s resource allocation and timely resupply of Undead Creatures and various consumables, our experiments would have been terminated days ago."

"Christa has been the best-performing researcher so far. Her discoveries in the fusion experiments, in particular, have greatly accelerated our research progress."

"Oshana..."

"And Escobar, Dean Josue has been putting a lot of pressure on you, too."