Chapter 2788: Chapter 2788: PROJECT ASCENSION

’Please wait. I will initiate a deep scan right away.’ Bo Ya replied.

Several silent seconds ticked by before Bo Ya finally spoke again, his voice unusually hesitant.

’Master... my scan cannot completely penetrate this chamber.’ Bo Ya stated.

’You can’t pierce it either?’ Yu Qi blinked in surprise.

’The walls are reinforced with a special alloy infused with spiritual ore.’ Bo Ya explained. ’It actively disrupts my scanning frequency and severely dampens my detection range.’

"Brother Hui, Bo Ya says these walls contain a special alloy mixed with spiritual ore." Yu Qi immediately shared the discovery with Long Hui.

"Spiritual ore..." Long Hui’s expression darkened the moment he heard those words.

"So my hypothesis was not wrong." Yu Qi said, her face turning deadly serious.

"Yeah," Long Hui agreed, nodding slowly. "Cultivators have definitely been involved here."

No ordinary civilian or military organisation possessed materials capable of actively shielding against spiritual detection. Someone from the cultivation world had either engineered this facility... or was directly pulling the strings behind the organisation.

"This room is even more critical than we thought." Yu Qi said solemnly.

"Step back a little." Long Hui instructed, moving forward.

Yu Qi obediently retreated a few paces.

Long Hui gently pressed his palm against the biometric scanner interface. Instead of dismantling the mechanism with raw, destructive force, he channelled a refined thread of pure spiritual energy directly into the intricate circuitry hidden beneath the casing.

Click...

Click...

Click...

One heavy locking tumbler after another disengaged. A moment later, a deep mechanical rumble echoed down the corridor as the massive steel door slowly slid open.

A freezing gust of air immediately billowed out from the darkness inside. The temperature beyond the threshold was several degrees lower than the surrounding hallway.

Yu Qi and Long Hui exchanged a silent glance before cautiously stepping inside.

The chamber was colossal. Rather than looking like a laboratory, it closely resembled a heavily fortified, classified research archive. Judging from the fine layer of dust coating several display racks, the facility had not been visited frequently in recent times.

Hundreds of towering shelves stretched all the way to the high ceiling, each packed with thick classified files, sealed storage boxes, preserved biological samples, crystal containers, and transparent preservation tanks filled with strange specimens suspended in pale blue cryogenic fluid.

Some appeared unmistakably human. Some... did not.

"What on earth are these?" Yu Qi’s brows knitted tightly together.

Long Hui slowly approached one of the preservation tanks. Inside floated what appeared to be a severed human arm. However, countless faint silver lines interlaced beneath the skin like an intricate web of luminous veins, perfectly mirroring a cultivator’s spiritual meridians.

"It still retains traces of residual spiritual energy..." Long Hui said quietly.

Yu Qi felt a cold shudder run down her spine. She had witnessed countless atrocious human experiments in her line of work, but this was the very first time she had seen researchers attempting to harvest, dissect, and analyse the spiritual meridians of cultivators.

She walked toward an adjacent shelf where a thick black binder rested. Across the cover, several bold words were stamped in deep red ink:

PROJECT ASCENSION

Yu Qi carefully opened the file. The very first page contained a single, chilling objective line:

Objective: Create an artificial cultivator through forced spiritual integration.

Both she and Long Hui froze as they read the words.

Yu Qi turned to the next page, her heart sinking. Then another, and another.

Page after page detailed a horrifying catalogue of failed subjects:

Subject 001 — Spiritual veins ruptured under pressure. Deceased.

Subject 012 — Host body rejected foreign spiritual energy. Deceased.

Subject 047 — Temporary resonance achieved. Complete mental collapse after six hours. Terminated.

Subject 093 — Spiritual core formation failed. Body exploded during high-density energy infusion.

The next few pages listed countless failed experiments. Page after page, every experiment ended with death.

Yu Qi gripped the binder so tightly that the heavy paper crumpled beneath her fingers.

"So many lives..." Yu Qi said, her voice shaking with suppressed rage.

"I am afraid these records only represent a fraction of their casualties." Long Hui stated gravely.

"What should we do with all of this?" Yu Qi asked in a low voice. "We can’t let any of these files fall into the hands of ordinary authorities. If this information leaks, the existence of the cultivation world will inevitably be exposed."

"Agreed." Long Hui nodded. "It would spark widespread chaos and bring endless danger to our people."

Yu Qi pondered the problem for a brief moment before a decisive plan formed in her mind.

"Brother Hui, I am going to transfer everything in this archive into the Sere." Yu Qi stated.

"Are you sure? A space this size will take an immense toll on you." Long Hui glanced around the vast, multi-story archive.

"I am sure with my ability." Yu Qi nodded firmly. stated.

"I will back you up." Long Hui replied without hesitation.

Yu Qi focused her mental power, expanding her spiritual sense until it encompassed the entire archive. The room was immense. Every shelf, storage container, preservation tank, and document folder had to be fully bound within her domain before the transfer could take place.

The sheer energy consumption hit her instantly. A fine sheen of sweat broke out across her forehead as she pushed her spatial authority to its limits. A second later... everything inside the archive vanished. The densely packed room was emptied completely, leaving behind nothing but bare concrete. Exhausted by the sudden drain, Yu Qi swayed slightly on her feet. Long Hui instantly stepped forward, catching her securely in his arms before she could fall.

"Are you alright?" Long Hui asked gently, his eyes filled with concern.

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