Chapter 19: Ascension to Godhood

Soon, Ivan rummaged through a corner and pulled out a long box.

The box was carved from bone, adorned with intricate patterns.

Ivan carried the box to Lu Xiao.

"My friend! This is a piece I have collected for many years!"

As he spoke, he opened the box.

Inside lay a bone spike approximately thirty centimeters long.

Exquisite and complex patterns covered the entire surface of the bone spike.

At the end of the handle laid a smooth, azure-blue gemstone.

Ivan picked up the bone spike, his voice echoing through the room.

"I obtained this leg bone and an eyeball by chance!"

"I do not know which being they originated from!"

"On this bone spike, I have poured my lifelong understanding of alchemical arrays!"

"It is the greatest work of my life!"

Lu Xiao's gaze was firmly captivated by the bone spike.

His eyes never left the exquisite artifact.

After staring at it for a long time, Lu Xiao reluctantly declined with regret.

"Mr. Ivan, this is too precious!"

Ivan, however, shoved the box into Lu Xiao's arms.

"My friend! Now it belongs to you!"

"A great work deserves to be owned only by those who can appreciate it!"

"Clearly, you are a man who understands art!"

The Prison Doctor chimed in from the side.

"Ivan is right, my friend. Only you are worthy of possessing it!"

Lu Xiao was taken aback. His lifeless, fish-like eyes somewhat undermined the moved expression on his face.

"Thank you for your recognition!"

He stored the bone spike away, then spoke solemnly.

"Forgive me! After knowing each other for so long, I haven’t even told you my name!"

"My name is Lu Xiao, Xiao as in 'smile'."

The Prison Doctor replied.

"Lu! Prison Doctor is my name."

Ivan’s voice echoed at that moment.

"Lu! We will certainly become very good friends!"

Lu Xiao nodded, a smile spreading across his face.

In the monitoring room, the Doctor watched everything unfold.

Surveillance of the contained anomalies was conducted around the clock.

One reason was to prevent abnormalities among the contained entities, and the other was to continuously collect data for research and analysis.

"Hmm! The containment conditions for S081 can be updated now!"

He muttered softly to himself.

Then, his gaze shifted to the bone spike.

Elsewhere.

Ivan’s voice sounded again.

"Lu! Your curse will continue to trouble you in the near future!"

"I’ve carved a suppressing alchemical array on your bones, but that only addresses the symptoms, not the root cause!"

Hearing this, Lu Xiao listened intently.

This concerned his own body, and he didn’t dare take it lightly.

Ivan continued.

"That curse is rooted deep in your bone marrow. Eradicating it is utterly impossible!"

"However, the curse also grants you formidable strength!"

Lu Xiao nodded, then asked.

"What should I do next? How much time do I have left?"

Ivan pondered for a moment, then looked at the Prison Doctor.

The Prison Doctor explained.

"As I have told you before, the end result of this curse is to become a mindless, instinct-driven mass of rotting flesh!"

"But this theory may not necessarily apply, as my previous observation was based on a pig!"

"Although that pig ended up as a mass of rotting flesh, it also transformed into a higher-dimensional form!"

"Even I was nearly contaminated just by witnessing that form!"

The Prison Doctor’s voice carried a trace of lingering fear.

Then, he turned to Lu Xiao.

"Your condition is similar to that of the cursed pig. Based on the curse components in your blood, you should turn into that mass of rotting flesh by next month!"

"However, thanks to the surgery performed by Ivan and me, the timeline has been delayed by a year!"

"So, within this year, you must find a solution!"

Lu Xiao nodded, his voice grave.

"Where should I look? Should I return to the Dark Prison?"

The Prison Doctor replied.

"Returning to the Dark Prison would accelerate the curse. My suggestion is to search in the human world!"

Lu Xiao nodded, then looked at Ivan.

Ivan offered no advice.

Thus, Lu Xiao took note of the suggestion.

After some casual conversation, Lu Xiao bid farewell to the two.

Once Lu Xiao left, Ivan turned to the Prison Doctor.

"Why did you lie to Lu?"

"Returning to the Dark Prison is clearly the more likely way to find a solution!"

The Prison Doctor shook his head.

"I did not lie to him! Returning to the Dark Prison does indeed offer a higher chance of resolving the curse!"

"But it would also speed up the curse’s erosion!"

He paused for a moment.

Ivan instantly understood his meaning.

A strange vibration emanated from his bones.

Simultaneously, all the carvings in the room began to vibrate.

In the monitoring room, the Doctor watched the pitch-black surveillance feed amid the chaotic noise and adjusted his monocle.

The Prison Doctor continued.

"This curse is called Ascension to Godhood!"

"And since Lu is a human being, the human world is more suitable for him!"

Hearing this, the soulfire in Ivan’s eye sockets flickered intensely.

"How could a human like him be afflicted with such a curse?"

The Prison Doctor shrugged.

"I am also very curious!"

Ivan’s voice carried worry.

"But the consequences of failing Ascension to Godhood…"

He left the sentence unfinished.

The Prison Doctor let out an unpleasant laugh, like the cawing of a crow.

"But I believe in Lu!"

…………

Upon returning to his containment room, Lu Xiao immediately spoke to the air.

"Mr. Doctor! Are you there?"

Soon, the Doctor arrived at Lu Xiao’s containment room.

Lu Xiao asked him directly.

"Mr. Doctor! I want to go to the human world!"

Since Lu Xiao wasn’t sure whether this "human world" was the same as the one he originally came from, he could only use the term "human world" for reference.

Based on what he had seen in the containment facility so far, aside from the firearms which seemed familiar, almost everything else was foreign to him.

The Doctor pondered for a moment.

"However, the facility has no precedent of taking living anomalies to the present world!"

In truth, the Doctor wasn’t lying.

Lu Xiao was a living entity, whereas the anomalies typically deployed to assist with containment were inanimate objects.

The difference was that Lu Xiao was far more difficult to control.

Hearing the Doctor’s words, Lu Xiao paused, then asked.

"Is there any other way?"

The Doctor put on a troubled expression.

"There is a way!"

Hearing that there was a way, Lu Xiao breathed a sigh of relief and looked at the Doctor expectantly.

The Doctor said solemnly.

"I can assign you to assist the Wardens in completing missions to contain anomalies!"

"However, this would undoubtedly pose significant risks for me!"

He looked at Lu Xiao, his monocle reflecting Lu Xiao’s figure.

"If you harm any humans during the mission, the organization will classify you as a D-level entity, and I will face a trial!"

Lu Xiao instantly understood the Doctor’s meaning.

He thumped his chest and assured him.

"Mr. Doctor, don’t worry! I am very friendly toward humans!"

The Doctor nodded.

"Based on what I have seen so far, that does seem to be the case! That is the premise of my trust in you!"

"However, I have one condition!"

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