Chapter 652: New Personnel

Old Joe died.

When this news slammed into the crowd, everyone's first reaction was disbelief. That Gipro girl named Momo and the "prisoners" behind her repeatedly checked the truth of the intelligence several times, then gathered around Old Joe's mechanical head and stared at it for a long time before daring to run and tell the others hiding in rooms and laboratories. Soon, more people in lab uniforms ran out from various places and gathered in the hall to confirm the situation.

After that, it took a while longer before some began to cheer, some waved whatever they could find and started shouting and yelling, while others cried quietly. All of this gradually turned into a spreading uproar.

In the end, that Gipro girl, who had lost one ear and half her body, had to rush to maintain order, even assigning people to tie up some of the more emotionally excited "cellmates" and inject them with sedatives to prevent their overheated emotions from burning away their reason and to stop them from harming themselves.

She did all this with practiced ease and clearly held high prestige among the people present.

That mechanical head, cut from Old Joe's "main body," was thrown on the ground. At first, many avoided it, but then Momo was the first to kick it in front of everyone. Noticing that Luo and Yu Sheng did not stop this action, the act almost immediately "spread." Once one person dared, a second and third followed, and people rushed over to kick the head around until it was deformed against the wall.

These people didn't seem to know what Old Joe's true "body" was. Perhaps after Luo escaped his control, Old Joe never exposed the brain hidden in his life-support tank to any of his "lab assistants." To the people here, that terrifying mechanical head represented "Old Joe." Now that it had been twisted off and a group of "invaders" had announced Old Joe's death, then Old Joe was dead.

Luo stood to the side, quietly watching this scene, not intervening in their celebration and remaining silent for a long time.

It wasn't until Yu Sheng approached from beside her that she spoke softly: "Back then, I dreamed of seeing this moment. They got to witness it."

Yu Sheng pointed his chin at that Gipro girl running around: "See a bit of yourself in her?"

"...Not quite the same. I wasn't as energetic as she is back then. Gipro are always more optimistic than other races, and she probably hasn't been here that long yet," Luo said slowly. "And this place is different from what I remember. Two hundred years have passed, after all; this place has changed a lot."

Yu Sheng exchanged a few casual comments with Luo, then saw several people walking toward them. Momo led the way.

They seemed to have just calmed down from their excitement, realizing they still hadn't figured out the origins of these strangers in front of them.

"Excuse me, you are..." Momo looked up cautiously into Luo's eyes.

Luo glanced at these people, opened her mouth, and instinctively wanted to say she was the Senior Project Manager of Black Dot Group—this was her public identity in front of the surrendered clone soldiers outside. But the words stopped at her lips, and as if struck by a thought, she immediately changed her tune: "You can call me 'Luo,' a member of the Traveler's Lodge. Also—"

She stepped half a step aside and pointed at Yu Sheng.

"This is my boss."

Yu Sheng raised an eyebrow when he heard Luo's self-introduction, his eyes now carrying a hint of understanding, and a smile immediately spread across his face: "Nice to meet you, nice to meet you. Just call me Yu Sheng."

As soon as he finished speaking, the little puppet scrambled up onto his shoulder: "I'm Aileen! The second-in-command of the Traveler's Lodge!"

"I'm Hu Li," the fox girl also came over, then raised a finger to point at the silent Luna beside her. "This is Luna."

Momo blinked, seemingly trying hard to memorize everyone's names, even though she had never heard of this "Traveler's Lodge" organization and still had no idea who these people were or where they came from.

But she was very cautious and didn't ask a single extra word, still maintaining a submissive attitude, waiting for orders.

"Boss, please open a door," Luo turned to Yu Sheng. "I want to send all these people to Blackstone Station."

Yu Sheng nodded, thinking to himself, just as he had guessed.

Just as he suspected, Luo had special arrangements for these people—from now on, they would have nothing more to do with Black Dot Group.

"I'm already explaining the situation to Mo Ran. She'll send the nearest people to Blackstone Station to receive them," Yu Sheng said as he turned and casually pulled open a rift. An illusory door took shape instantly, and when it opened, the other side revealed the eco-leisure area lobby of Blackstone Space Station. "Also, I can see many of these people are in poor health. Mo Ran will arrange for a group of doctors to treat their injuries."

"The erosion and symbiosis of living metal can't be reversed... but at least other injuries can be saved," Luo nodded, her expression grateful. "Feiyu Star Sector's medical technology is famous."

With that, she turned and beckoned to Momo.

"Gather everyone in this area. Walk through this door—someone will receive you on the other side, and they'll treat you. Just follow their arrangements."

Several Alglered looked at each other upon hearing this, and many others had a trace of hesitation and unease on their faces. Clearly, the door that had appeared out of thin air and the lobby on the other side, bearing the style of Black Dot Group, made them nervous.

At that moment, it was still the Gipro girl who stepped forward first. Momo walked to the entrance, turned to look at a tall Alglered youth: "Allen, take Lian and Babadian and call everyone here. From now on, we all follow Miss Luo and Mr. Yu's arrangements."

"Uh, okay!" The tall elf youth quickly nodded, then ran with two others toward the exit at the other end of the hall.

"After you go over, you can rest in the lobby. Just don't run around randomly. Food and drinks in the lobby are free to take," Luo thought for a moment and reminded them. "Also, you might see some soldiers there—wearing Black Dot Group gear. Don't be afraid when you see them; they won't hurt you."

Once again, Momo wisely asked no further questions, just nodded slightly.

The personnel transfer didn't take long. Soon, everyone from the entire laboratory area was gathered, and under Momo's direction, they passed through the door to Blackstone Station. Their numbers were even fewer than Yu Sheng had predicted—only about a hundred people in total.

But their condition was far worse than Yu Sheng had expected. The dozen or so who had first gathered in the hall and the thirty or forty who had arrived later were actually the best off. Though almost all were disabled, weak from modification surgeries and various aftereffects, they could at least move around on their own. But many who came later were pushed by companions, and a few dying Alglered were even placed in life-support tanks, already tormented beyond recognition.

Hu Li was so worried when she saw the last batch of injured that even after Luo personally confirmed the people's life-support devices would last until the surgical xianren from Shuji arrived, she still loaded everyone up with healing and life-prolonging spells before allowing them to go.

By the time Momo led the last group of "prisoners" through the door to Blackstone Station, and the illusory door slowly dissipated in the air, Luo finally let out a soft sigh, the tension in her body subtly relaxing.

She turned to Yu Sheng and bowed with particular gravity: "I'm sorry, boss, for acting on my own."

"Uh, that's fine. I'm just curious—how do you plan to settle these people?" Yu Sheng had been silent the whole time and now asked. "All stay at Blackstone Station?"

"...I know Old Joe's preferences. He had high standards for his 'works.' 'Lower lifeforms' didn't qualify as his experimental subjects—and to be honest, his living metal symbiosis technology did require high demands on the subject's spiritual talent and neural development. These people were all carefully selected by him, then kidnapped or tricked from all over the universe by various means. They either possess outstanding spiritual talent or have some knowledge and skills; only then could they serve as 'lab assistants' here."

Luo explained earnestly, then sighed softly.

"Blackstone Station is indeed critically short of hands right now. When I returned to the stronghold earlier, I successfully infiltrated the local database and found that many of the surviving scientists under my command had been directly transferred away by company orders. Even if I go back now, it's hard to pull those people back from the other supervisors. As for those who remain, I need to screen them carefully... Because from what Old Joe confessed, he'd been targeting me for a long time, and such a serious intelligence leak at Blackstone Station couldn't have happened without an inside mole. After all this time, who knows how deep the infiltration has gone?

"Now Old Joe is dead, but even so, those who once betrayed are no longer trustworthy—especially now that Blackstone Station is docked at Shuji and frequently deals with people sent by the Special Operations Bureau. So I have to be very careful when contacting old subordinates."

"That's true. From a certain perspective, the people we rescued from Old Joe's hands are far more reliable than those who once worked at Blackstone Station," Yu Sheng agreed. "At least no matter who they defect to, they can never go back to Black Dot Group."

"The only downside is that they all need training," Luo added. "But with this many people... there's bound to be a few who can be put to use quickly."

Yu Sheng didn't say anything, just nodded slightly.

"Next, we should take stock of what we've gained from this trip," he said, exhaling as he thought. "Especially the intelligence Old Joe revealed—that bunch of fanatics from the Chongsheng Hermitage. The trouble they're stirring up this time might be a bit big."

(End of chapter)