092. Judgment

  Ding-dong—

  The elevator doors opened, and Qiu Ran rushed out, carrying Nomi's head. Li Aozi followed leisurely, his eyes fixed on Qiu Ran ahead, while his peripheral vision sed the surroundings.

  Even though he knew he had cleared out everyone on the first floor of the shelter, Li Aozi didn't sider caution to be a mistake.

  Moreover, he had already entered a pseudo-human and dared not let acquaintances out of his sight.

  "Where are we going?" Qiu Ran asked anxiously.

  "First to the ICU, to question Nordley."

  Li Aozi kept his hand on the hilt of his sword, staying half a step behind Qiu Ran, not letting her out of his sight.

  No matter how careless Qiu Ran was, she noticed Li Aozi's ge in attitude aated for a moment before saying:

  "Are you worried about me now?"

  She phrased it politely, using 'now.'

  The implication was, 'You weren't like this before; what's happeo make you act this way now?'

  "Is it because of that transformed Camity Armament—"

  "Trust me."

  Li Aozi replied tersely.

  He didn't want to expin too much. For the human kingdom, knowing about the existence of pseudo-humans was more harmful than the pseudo-humans themselves.

  Qiu Ran pursed her lips but didn't say more.

  "I don't know what effect that guy had on you just now... I trust you, but please trust me too."

  Despite witnessing many incredible things about Li Aozi along the way, he was still just human.

  "I'll try."

  Li Aozi didn't want to speak too definitively.

  He wasn't a genius. As someone whose main attribute was 【Charisma】, Li Aozi wasn't known for his intelligence. He also couldn't immediately distinguish between the real and the pseudo-human.

  Regarding the Abyss, he was driven by his hatred for harming babies and his vea, which might seem somewhat hypocritical. But regarding pseudo-humans, Li Aozi always harbored a deep rese.

  He once had a great team during versions 1.0 and 2.0, enjoying themselves every day, building unities, sharing funny pictures, and doing quests together.

  If not for the trust crisis caused by pseudo-humans, leading to a of suspi and internal flicts that tore them apart, his es could have been much better.

  Qiu Ran, or rather the entire Azure Star, didn't realize the true horror of pseudo-humans— even if all pseudo-humans were elimihe seeds of suspi and division had already been sown in humas.

  Everyone could it crimes and then shift the bme by saying, "It wasn't me, it seudo-human who repced me; I'm a victim too."

  Once people tasted the bes of such deceit, their moral boundaries were shattered, and all humaionships deteriorated.

  Courts couldn't distinguish truth from falsehood, making crime unpunishable. Order and justice became jokes, and non-criminals became the odd ones out— such a society was unfit for space exploration.

  In Li Aozi's view, this was more despairing than direct destru. Such a p and cultural enviro could only produce scum and pure chaotic evil demons.

  Pyers, though dubbed the fourth sce and cer of the universe, generally weren't anti-human. When used well, they could be mutually beneficial and highly effective. But under pseudo-human influehey'd bee worse than the Abyss Humanitarian's worst.

  The most crucial point— they were useless.

  With humans' fragile bodies and shallow knowledge, uo form cohesive groups, peting with those geically modified ielr overachievers with decades of pulsory education seemed like a pipe dream, and i was absurd.

  They reached the ICU without i. Seeing Nurse Nordley on the operating table, pale and at death's door, despite knowing her past crimes, Qiu Ra a deep disfort and disgust.

  Nordley's limbs were crushed by Li Aozi. With her energy drained, her muscles atrophied, making her as sickly and weak as the Camity Armaments.

  "Nurse Nordley."

  Qiu Ran spoke, unsure of what to say .

  "It's... you."

  Nordley lifted her . Her muscles had wasted away, making her look forty years older, like an old woman, her face wrinkled, her eyes dull. She g them, her voice barely a whisper:

  "You've... e back, for... what?"

  Li Aozi stepped frabbed her hair, and lifted her head, asking sternly:

  "Where is ZX-626? Where are yh-potassium protein repair agents and nutrient solutions stored?"

  "626... you mean Snow?"

  Nordley had pletely given up resisting, her guilt stantly tormenting her. She moved her lips like a dying old woman, speaking slowly with all her strength:

  "Snow is on the sed floor, arranged by the professor. You will see her there."

  "What about the medies?" Qiu Ran quickly asked.

  "The medies you mentioned are long gone."

  "How..."

  "You should know that the Camity Armaments... were a grave mistake by Abyss Humanitarian. Most resources were prioritized for the produ line..."

  "So you knew about Abyss Humanitarian's and Frost-Pted's dealings."

  Li Aozi sneered.

  "...I had no choice. The professor promised us it was to help the weak and prolong humanity."

  Nordley pursed her lips:

  "I think... the professor became too obsessed with research. She fot the inal purpose of establishing Abyss Humanitarian: to help the outsiders escape Camity Virus iion, but she focused solely on Camity research... all out of curiosity and stific error..."

  "Research?"

  "Resear Camity... but iy, Camity iion might ."

  Nordley paused:

  "There may never have been any Camity iion. All our research results have been about Omega energy awakening."

  "No Camity iion?"

  At this moment, before Li Aozi could speak, Qiu Ran suddenly interjected:

  "At this point, you're still defending the professor?"

  "I don't mean that. The professor used to be gentle and stious, but Frost-Pted's policies forced her to leave the try. Her obsession with Camity Virus made her ruthless—"

  "Leaving the try for the outside world meant she could do as she pleased, right? Without w about publinatiht? As long as the Abyss experiments' subjects weren't domestio, as long as they weren't wealthy, it was fine, right?"

  The usually cheerful Qiu Ran stabbed Nordley’s heart with each word like a knife.

  Nordley trembled, her voice quivering:

  "No... you don't uand..."

  Li Aozi, seeing the depth of corruption and misguided as, felt a growing sense ency. He o eradicate this entire operation, ensuring that such atrocities could never spread or corrupt others.

  FAL