Witch, Fireball and the Evil God of Steam-Chapter 731 - 104: White-Haired, Red-Eyed, Number One in the World

Ethan assumed an attentive posture; this was exactly the intelligence he wanted to hear.

"I never thought that with the current technology, they could already build starships."

"That's all thanks to your efforts."

"My efforts?"

"Space transmission technology; before you were transferred to this department, you made quite a remarkable contribution."

Merlin said, "In my opinion, bringing a doctoral student from Mashu Institute of Technology to this department is a bit underutilizing your talents. The outreach team could better use someone like you... If you're interested, I can help you write a recommendation letter to the Democratic Assembly."

Merlin suddenly came up with a fascinating idea. If, in the dream experiment, he managed to get Ethan aboard that starship "visiting" the Empire, would the starship be damaged when pulled into a black hole?

"I have to discuss this with my family first."

"The Democratic Assembly anticipated this; the visit might take several years, even a dozen years. They're currently considering introducing a new law allowing family accompaniment, as not everyone is willing to leave their family for years."

"Is this related to the 'prophecy of world destruction'?"

"If the visit goes smoothly, the residents of the shelter might consider relocating to the other side to live—of course, all contingent on the Empire's permission, as we don't want any conflict... You should have read those materials yesterday: pathway, faith; many people over there have unique powers, almost like superpowers!"

Discussing this topic, the longing in Merlin's eyes was perfectly expressed, "I was a fan of stories about superpowers when I was a kid... By the way, did you know that the Democratic Assembly recently set up a project, secretly gathering several people, and I registered for it too, just returned to take over the department's work."

"What project?"

"The Pathway Faith project."

Merlin glanced around, seeing no one else was around, he opened his mouth mysteriously, "Simply put, it's selecting a group of people to practice pathway faith based on the information brought by the Empire's envoy. By the way, I was assigned to the Elemental Shaper group, with Fireball Skill, Ice Arrow, Lightning Chain—it sounds so cool."

"Wow!"

His communication with Director Lin went smoothly; Ethan naturally fell into the supporting role.

He couldn't help but suspect if this new director was actually generated by his subconscious specifically to explain the situation to him.

"Alas! We strictly followed the methods they provided, but facts proved that the Imperial People's cultivation techniques were not suitable for us. They suspect it's a racial issue."

Merlin sighed deeply, "My dream of becoming a mage has shattered again."

"At least your mindset is quite youthful."

A person in their thirties still believes they can become a mage; Ethan found this mindset truly precious. He even felt like recommending 'Magic Power Studies of Fireball, Ice Arrow' to Director Lin.

He wanted to comfort the other not to be discouraged; persistence is key for an Elemental Shaper. He also insisted on working out for two years to become as strong as he is today.

It's just that now is not the appropriate time; suddenly pulling out an ancient sheepskin book in this setting would definitely make one look like an immature youth.

Merlin chuckled, "Is that so? Everyone says I have a good mindset."

He suddenly felt this conversation was peculiar; both he and Ethan had their own thoughts, yet the content of their talk perfectly aligned, as if they were old friends meeting for the first time despite this being their first day knowing each other.

"Old Sen, you as a doctoral student of Mashu Institute of Technology have seen much; regarding this racial issue, I have an immature thought, would you help me weigh in?"

"What's up?"

"I definitely can't become a mage in this lifetime, but if I were to find an Imperial wife, would the child we have in the future inherit from their mother and become a mage?"

"I think it's possible."

Ethan was serious; Director Lin, in a straightforward way, deciphered the mystery of genetic engineering, a matter also recorded in 'The Half-Blood Prince.'

Nowadays, there are many families in the academy with a father who's a Muggle and a mother who's an Elemental Shaper.

"Really?"

"At least that's what I believe."

"Then, my friend, I have an unreasonable request."

"Go ahead."

"If circumstances allow, and you become part of the visiting team, once you reach the Empire, could you help the old buddy find a suitable candidate? Actually, my basic conditions aren't bad; I'm in my early thirties and already a director, no bad habits, and I have some savings."

"No problem, leave it to me."

Ethan agreed wholeheartedly, after all, based on what he understood, the starship hadn't actually reached the Empire, and everything they were discussing was just a pipe dream.

He just wondered if, after the City of Truth was destroyed, this interesting Director Lin survived.

"You see, I said those people complicate things. Clearly, getting married would solve the problem, but they insist on elevating it to something like human experimentation."

After a moment, Merlin commented with a tone of complaint, which was why he brought up the topic.

With regard to the "divine factor" Zhuang Xiao mentioned, combined with the restricted area Song Xian accidentally discovered, it inevitably made him think of human experimentation. Following this train of thought, Lindong might be the successful version of this experiment, perhaps even the only one.

That's why both the committee and Chen Qi have high hopes for her.

Yet, they still don't know what exactly the "divine factor" is or where it comes from.

Fortunately, the meeting with Ethan went better than he imagined; Merlin felt he was getting closer and closer to the truth, perhaps only needing to find a way into the sanctuary's restricted area to figure out what exactly happened inside—of course, in a world without magic and superpowers, full of surveillance cameras, this would be an impossible task.

He neither had the authority nor an invisibility cloak; the only possible outcome was being intercepted by security personnel as soon as he approached and taken in for questioning.

Song Xian was detained for an entire day, and with the committee members' orders, no one could get him out of the detention room.

Merlin came up with another idea.

On the other end of the dream, he could saunter into any area of the sanctuary without worrying about getting caught by security personnel.

Just now, he revealed the information about the "divine factor" to Ethan. In his subconscious, this unknown experiment was about to unfold.

"Are you saying they're conducting a human experiment in the sanctuary?"

Ethan confirmed.

"I've only heard rumors; after all, such things aren't convenient to spread widely."

Merlin rummaged through his inner pocket for a moment and then pulled out a hand-drawn floor plan of the sanctuary. He pointed to a marked location, "If I were them, I'd probably build the lab here."

He wasn't worried this would make Ethan suspicious because Ethan had already realized this was his dream, where random passersby appearing as per his wishes was the norm.

His background and identity weren't important; what was important was that he would bring the information Ethan wanted to know.

Ethan accepted the hand-drawn map of the sanctuary, and this lunch ended on a pleasant note. After that, the two tacitly avoided mentioning anything about human experiments.

That afternoon, Ethan finally had a sufficient "overtime excuse."

He never dreamed there would come a day when he would secretly be grateful for having to work overtime. When Lindong asked about the reason on his phone, he immediately pitched the intel about human experiments.

It was for the sake of promoting justice that he was working overtime.

Tonight, he decided to sneak into the laboratory marked on the hand-drawn map to investigate. For him, infiltration wasn't a big deal; he didn't even need spells or an invisibility cloak. After work, he confidently walked towards the location marked on the map, planting the thought "you can't see me" in the security personnel guarding the entrance.

In fact, Ethan couldn't quite explain the mechanism behind it, but once he spread the idea, the two security personnel treated him as if he were invisible. He opened the laboratory door right in front of them, went in, and closed it behind him.

The air was filled with the scent of formalin, and the lab was exceptionally cold.

When he pushed open the door at the end of the stairs, he took a deep breath and prepared himself mentally.

Given that it involved human experiments, the sight in the lab would likely make him uncomfortable.

Yet even so, when Ethan saw the scene in the laboratory, he couldn't help but furrow his brow—there were many children.

Ranging from newborns to six-year-olds, this stemmed from researchers' belief that this was the age range most susceptible to human reshaping. Through a casual chat with a researcher, Ethan learned that most of these children were street kids from the city, while the newborns were considered precious resources acquired through "special" means.

Hospitals would regretfully issue death notices to the infants' parents, while in reality, the infants were transferred here immediately after undergoing surgery.

They were convinced that infancy was the most moldable stage.

"You came again."

A voice caught Ethan's attention.

Following the sound, he saw a fair-skinned girl, who seemed to be only four or five years old, with short white hair and red pupils. Her hands were behind her back as she looked up at him with a cheerful smile.

What caught Ethan's attention was his feeling that the girl didn't seem to be affected by cognitive disruption.

And the researchers didn't seem to notice her presence either—in the absence of an experiment, the children were all assigned to their rooms, and it wasn't typical for unsupervised children to be wandering the hallway.

"What's with this kid?" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

Ethan asked a researcher. The researcher, puzzled, followed Ethan's gaze towards the direction of a cart, looking blank, "What kid?"

"Have you forgotten? The experiment causes genetic changes, with changes in hair and eye color being one of the side effects."

The little girl answered Ethan's question, explaining the changes happening in her body, her smile growing ever brighter, "But, white hair and red eyes are the best in the world!"