Chapter 196: Rat in the Sewer

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

After bidding farewell to Wang Jinsheng, Feng Qi returned to Star City Academy.

In the following days, he devoted himself to his studies. Other than his teaching time, he did not give himself any time to rest.

During this period, Wei Wei contacted him online.

In order for him to study better, the Scarlet Research Institute had drawn up a study plan for him.

From which books to start his self-study with, the plan was very detailed.

With this plan, his learning efficiency increased exponentially.

Time flew by.

In the blink of an eye, a year passed.

During this period, Feng Qi had had several appointments with Bai Fusheng, as the latter tried to persuade him to join the Tiger Soul Research Institute and not waste his time and talent in “meaningless” aspects.

Feng Qi knew that Bai Fusheng’s frustration were for his own good.

However, what Bai Fusheng did not know was that what he was doing now was the most meaningful thing on this tomeline of sacrifice.

He was silent at this point was not because he had nothing to say, but because it was difficult to explain in a few words.

After many failed attempts at persuasion, Bai Fusheng could only regretfully give up.

Feng Qi finally welcomed the first round of the Science and Technology Research Institute’s assessment.

This round of assessment was conducted online. The content of the assessment was mainly some basic knowledge.

Feng Qi was not worried.

After a year of hard work, he was confident that he could pass the first round of the basic assessment.

Half an hour after the assessment ended, the results were released.

Just as he had expected, he obtained 278 points out of a total of 300 points and easily passed.

After passing, Feng Qi did not relax and continued to study.

There were still several rounds of exams waiting for him. He was not confident that he could pass them. He still had to continue working hard.

Time passed quickly. Half a month later, the second round of the assessment arrived.

Because the Science and Technology Research Institute was in Future City and was far from many cities, an examination venue was set up in every city.

The examination venue in Star City was Star City Number Two High School.

On this day, Feng Qi hurriedly finished his breakfast and set off.

In this round, the difficulty of the questions had clearly increased. However, he, who had studied according to the study plan specially set for him by the Scarlet Research Institute, easily passed.

Following that was the third round, the fourth round…

There were a total of five rounds of assessments. Feng Qi had passed the first four, but he fell in the fifth.

When he saw the results of “unsuccessful” online, he was not depressed. He lowered his head and chose to continue working hard.

If he could not do it this year, he would do it next year.

During this period, he received a new study plan from the Scarlet Research Institute and immersed himself in studying again.

Time passed quickly. Spring passed and autumn came. In the blink of an eye, another year passed.

During this period, Feng Qi could be seen studying hard in the library and the field.

He also applied to take the Science and Technology Research Institute’s entrance examination again.

This time, he passed all five rounds of the assessment with extremely outstanding results and obtained the qualifications to be admitted.

The moment he saw the results, a smile appeared on Feng Qi’s face. The goal he had worked hard to pursue had finally come to fruition… even if that was hell.

With Bai Fusheng’s regret and the students’ confusion, he resigned from his position as a teacher of Star City Academy and embarked on the path to Future City.

The journey between Star City Academy and Future City was a long one but here was an underground tunnel through the mountains that led straight there. He need to head to Star City’s subway station first.

On the day Feng Qi left Star City Academy, it was drizzling. Lin Ran, Mu Qing, and the others came to see him off.

He smiled in return as he listened to the farewell wishes in his ears.

No one knew that he was going to the abyss, and there was no need for them to know.

He got into the car and looked at the gradually shrinking figures in the rearview mirror. He suppressed the reluctance in his heart.

When he arrived at the subway station, he dragged his luggage and stood outside the cordon, quietly waiting for the subway to arrive.

A moment later, the train arrived at the station, but no one got off.

Back then, Star City had transported more than 100,000 soldiers to Future City to help it resist the domain invasion. In the end, less than 3,000 people returned.

Since then, when the subway between Star City and Future City was connected, there would always be an empty train from Future City to Star City in the early morning to pick up the deceased souls who had not returned from the battlefield and send them home.

As he waited quietly, the entrance to the station opened and Feng Qi walked in.

The metal gates closed, and his vision became blurry. The train moved at high speed, and the reluctance in his heart turned into determination at this moment.

Future City was located in the mountains, and the climate was wet and cold.

However, it was known as the capital of technology.

the Science and Technology Research

There were not only science and technology academies here, but also the dream goals of many students

Institute and the Future Research Institute.

After half a day’s journey, the train slowly stopped.

After exiting the station, Feng Qi saw countless maglev cars shuttling through the tall buildings. Everything here was filled with a sense of technology.

He took out his phone and hailed a ride. A maglev car suddenly changed direction and landed in front of him.

The car door slowly opened and Feng Qi got in.

After a green light swept past, the electronically synthesized voice sounded.

“Identification complete. Do you confirm the destination: Science and Technology Research Institute?”

“Yes.”

“Information confirmed. This trip is at the service of Boundless Company’s unmanned navigation maglev A2123.1 wish you a pleasant trip.”

At this moment, the door closed. The maglev car slowly rose into the air, and merged with the river of traffic as it drove towards its destination.

Looking down at the scene of Future City from the sky, Feng Qi, who had never left Star City, was quite shocked.

After an hour and 23 minutes, the car stopped in a remote area of the city.

After paying, he got out of the car. In front of him was a small city surrounded by a metal wall.

There were cameras outside the wall and drones patrolling in the sky.

Everything here was like the future world in the movies, giving him a strong visual impact.

When Feng Qi arrived at the entrance of the Science and Technology Research Institute, he took out the acceptance letter and placed it in the identification area.

After the green light swept past the acceptance letter and his entire body, the metal door slowly opened.

He walked in and did not look back.

There was no turning back on this path.

Time passed quickly.

In his third year at the Science and Technology Research Institute, Feng Qi was already 23 years old.

He had also been promoted from a newbie to a researcher of the Starry Sky Branch.

For the past three years, he did not forego his studies just so he could enter the core circle of the Science and Technology Research Institute one day.

For this step, he lay low for three years and kept laying the groundwork for himself.

In the eyes of his colleagues, he was a person filled with negative energy. He always complained about the injustice of the world and often blamed everything and everyone but himself, claiming that it would be good if the system could be overthrown and restarted.

However, he did not make any mistakes in his work and always strived for perfection.

He strived to complete a month’s workload in half a month and worked through the night every day.

During this period, he often interacted with Mo Fei from the Viper Branch.

Mo Fei already knew his secret.

In order to help him enter the core circle, Mo Fei often gave him his research results to help build his resume.

His end of an early death was like gangrene attached to his bones, spurring him to work non-stop.

He would often leave messages in his private email to his future self. However, there was no bitterness in the messages, only hope.

No one could bear more than he did on this sacrificial timeline.

Therefore, he needed to hide his weakness and bring hope to his future self.

After working hard day after day, he was promoted to a core member of the Starry Sky Branch and came into contact with a lot of core content of the Science and Technology Institute.

But this was not what he wanted.

Finally, at the age of 29, he waited for the opportunity to join the core circle of the Science and Technology Research Institute.

The black shadow that he had seen in Le Ping’an’s memory fragments appeared beside him and told him that it could help him build his ideal human society.

Faced with the invitation, Feng Qi expressed his doubts and even reached out to ring the alarm in the room.

He had rehearsed this scene countless times in his mind, and his performance satisfied the black shadow.

What followed was a bewitching negotiation. The black shadow’s words seemed to have magic power, constantly tempting his inner desires.

Feng Qi chose to cooperate and put up a performance, gradually moving from struggling to compromising.

In the end, he agreed to the black shadow’s request.

To be safe, the black shadow implanted a spiritual energy mark in his body.

This mark was similar to the one on Le Ping’an’s body. It did not have the effect of surveillance, but it could control his life and death.

The switch for this mark was with the black shadow. After the mark was triggered, his body would be devoured by spiritual energy and finally turn into Spiritual Qi fragments and dissipate.

At the same time, he could use his consciousness to trigger this switch and use it to destroy himself in desperate situations.

In order to control him, the black shadow even gave him a bottle of white pills.

Once one began taking this pill, one had to take it regularly. Otherwise, it would be worse than death, bringing about both physical and mental torture.

Feng Qi accepted this calmly.

Falling into hell was the future of his sacrifice timeline. There was nothing he could not give up.

In the following days, he came into contact with some core content of the Science and Technology Research Institute.

Just as Mo Fei had predicted back then, the Science and Technology Research Institute’s spiritual energy technology was already very advanced, but it had never been announced to the public.

This was because this technology could advance the process of human civilization.

The Science and Technology Research Institute did not allow such technology to benefit future generations. They chose to hide it and announced that the technology was immature.

As for the technology related to spiritual energy nanomites, he had yet to come into contact with it because his authorization level was too low.

In order to increase his authority, he began to work crazily.

During this period, he discovered that the Science and Technology Research Institute was secretly researching a “virus” that could destroy humans. They were using human genes as samples for research in an attempt to create a super virus that only targeted all mankind.

There were many living humans in the base used as test subjects.

They were all vagrants outside or human geniuses who had been secretly captured.

And he was a member of this project.

He, who participated in the experiments, had a calm expression the entire time. He even took the initiative to ask for more projects. His cruelty was even unbearable for the other researchers who were also traitors.

However, his performance satisfied the domain forces controlling the Science and Technology Research Institute.

The grief in his heart was deeply hidden and never revealed.

With his hard work, he got closer and closer to the true core circle. He was also getting approaching to the plan that targeted Tiger Soul Research Institute.

On this long holiday, he returned to Star City.

At the cafe outside Star City Academy, he met Wei Wei again.

Right now, he was already a middle-aged man, but Wei Wei was still young and charming. She still had a confident smile on her face.

Looking at Feng Qi, whose eyes were bloodshot from overwork and who had aged a little compared to her memories, Wei Wei opened her mouth and said softly,

“It must be painful.”

At that moment, his hands were already stained with the blood of dozens of his kind. He, who was even called a “demon” by the core circle of the Science and Technology Research Institute, suddenly whimpered.

Under the surprised gazes of the passers-by, he finally couldn’t hold back the grief in his heart. He curled up and began to cry.

Everything was not what he wanted, but he had no choice.

Only Wei Wei could understand the bitterness of this journey.

On this trip back, he was like a rat that had crawled out of the sewer. He hurriedly took a look at the world outside, but in the end, he still had to carefully return to the sewer.

In the future, everything would be the same. He would still be that cold and heartless “demon”..