Chapter 9: New Forces, Section 5

The vast universe, a silent starry expanse. An asteroid floated quietly, like a grain of sand in a desert.
In fact, calling it an asteroid was an exaggeration. Given its size, it was at most the size of a meteorite. But unlike real meteorites, it showed no signs of movement—well, almost no signs at all.
“Huh…”
A ripple in space, and four massive white warships appeared out of nowhere. Their rear particle streams fired at full strength, instantly freeing them from the gravitational pull of space jumps. Then, in perfect unison, they curved like birds returning to their nests and swiftly flew toward the asteroid. The asteroid seemed to come to life as well, suddenly opening a huge mouth and swallowing them up.
The mouth closed… The asteroid immediately showed signs of movement, accelerating rapidly before vanishing into the vast starry sky.
Darkness.
This was what Black Hair saw when he opened his eyes. It was as if he had just woken up after a long sleep, unable to tell north from south for a moment. But in just a short while, his excellent physical condition and resilient mental strength helped him understand what had happened.
He moved his limbs—thankfully, nothing was wrong. Checking his internal condition, everything was normal too. Yet he couldn’t move at all.
Frowning slightly, Black Hair slowly closed his eyes, his breathing quickly becoming steady, rising and falling as if following some mysterious rhythm. An unknown energy within him was activated, circulating throughout his body. When he opened his eyes again after three minutes, everything around him became clear.
“This!?” Even Black Hair, who had seen much, was shocked by what he saw.
Before him was a vast, completely enclosed space. There were no objects inside at all—utterly empty. What surprised him wasn’t the existence of this space, but its material composition.
In his vision, the walls of this space were made entirely of muscles—veins like old tree roots, tubes that seemed to be carrying something, and constantly writhing muscle tissue, all of which shocked his senses.
He was currently at the top of this space, inside a sphere formed by a membrane of unknown origin. The sphere was filled with thick, transparent liquid, and his body was floating within it.

But strangely, despite being in such a place, he didn’t feel any sense of suffocation or restraint at all. However, any attempt to move was counteracted by the liquid around him, leaving him with strength but no ability to move even a little.
A gene training device!
This term immediately flashed through Black Hair’s mind. For those who had experienced such nightmares, this terrifying term could never be forgotten. Due to the extreme horror of those memories, they were often suppressed deep in the subconscious, never to be recalled.
Looking around, Black Hair soon realized that he wasn’t the only one in this space. On the vast ceiling, countless identical membrane spheres hung densely, so many that it was impossible to count them at a glance. At the center of each sphere was a creature—various species, encompassing almost all races that had ever existed in this world.
Blood Pupil was among them as well. The assassin who had always followed Black Hair was now in a sphere just over three meters away from him. His eyes were closed, his expression calm, as if he were asleep. Yet his body twitched from time to time, with his limbs suddenly lifting and then dropping again—very strange.
Sighing deeply, Black Hair knew that Blood Pupil must already be in the process of gene training. Those irregular twitches and unconscious movements were signs that control over his body had been taken away.
He only didn’t know who was behind this. A cold glint flashed in Black Hair’s eyes. His left hand moved slightly before suddenly twisting and deforming…
Unbeknownst to him, in another space identical to this one, all his movements were already under their watch…
Those were spheres with a diameter of only three meters, also made of muscle tissue. But on their surfaces lay a layer of shiny membrane. Within their complex muscle structures, there were also substances resembling brain cells, moving imperceptibly.
“What a strange base body, Number Three. Your prey this time really satisfies me,” a voiceless message echoed through the space. It came from the largest flesh sphere. It clearly had much more brain tissue than the others, and its surface membrane wasn’t transparent but dark red.
“Thank you, Core,” replied a flesh sphere nearby. It must be Number Three.

“But this human male is a very dangerous creature. He and his weapons destroyed eight of our Predators, forcing us to reduce our hunting range. Core, perhaps you should create some more Predators so that we can obtain more Suits.”
“Yes, yes,” the flesh balls nearby agreed, their pulsing frequencies accelerating noticeably.
“If we can get more Suits, our evolution will surely speed up greatly. This is a matter of survival for our Wandering Clan. Core, why are you always so cautious? We can’t see any other hidden dangers in this galaxy.”
The flesh balls chatted animatedly, exchanging silent messages back and forth. Strangely, their leader, the one called Core, remained silent the entire time. After a long while, it suddenly sent out a strong message:
“Silence.”
The entire space immediately fell quiet. All the flesh balls stopped transmitting messages; even their pulsing seemed to cease. If anyone were here, they would notice slight tremors in their bodies, as if they were afraid…
“I was the one who suggested collecting Suits. I’m glad to see our evolution has progressed rapidly these past days. We can now simulate human weapons of war. But have you ever thought—is that’s the only use for Suits?” Core’s tone was slow but authoritative. In this space, it was the ruler; everything existed because of its division, including the smaller flesh balls responsible for managing tens of thousands of tasks.
Upon hearing its words, the lower-level flesh balls immediately showed excitement, their pulsing frequencies speeding up.
They knew that at such moments, their ruler would come up with new ideas. And every new idea brought about tremendous changes for the Wandering Clan. It was because of Core’s existence that they had been able to survive and reproduce throughout their long journey through the universe, unscathed by its harsh conditions.
“We’ve collected the memories of so many Suits. We should now be able to understand the situation in this galaxy. Those creatures called humans have become undisputed rulers thanks to their powerful military force, rich imagination, and incredible creativity. But have you ever wondered what their military strength comes from? Is it really just those steel-built monsters? If so, we would simply need to devour them—there’s no need to collect so many Suits at all.”

“Then why exactly?” asked the entity called Number Three.
“Desire and ambition,” replied Core immediately. “These are unique to humans. It is these two things that give them endless drive to explore, to create weapons. Without them, they are nothing but ants, devoid of any value.”
“Unfortunately, we don’t possess these two things,” Core said with regret.
“Then what does this have to do with those pure bodies?”
The fleshy balls fell silent, waiting for their master to give a clear answer. Unfortunately, the truth disappointed them.
“There’s no direct connection,” Core said calmly. Seeing the unrest among his subordinates, he continued, “But these pure bodies allow us to indirectly reap the benefits of ambition and desire.”
“They enable us to obtain countless pure mineral resources without the need for laborious extraction. They give us more advanced technology, accelerating our evolution. They also provide us with abundant carriers to expand our influence on a larger scale. If we make good use of these pure bodies, our race will advance by leaps and bounds. We can settle in one place without endless wandering.”
“Wow…” The fleshy balls were excited by Core’s tone, writhing with enthusiasm as if dancing.
“Then we should speed up the plundering of pure bodies. Core, why don’t you want to split?” Number Three, still calm, asked first.
“Because I’ve found one,” Core replied slowly.
“I’ve found a suitable pure body to serve as my carrier. So more pure bodies mean nothing to me anymore.”
“Are you referring to that human male?” Number Three asked cautiously. “But we don’t see anything special about him. Although his physical strength is much greater than that of ordinary pure bodies, and his mental energy is also abundant, he’s still far too weak compared to us. The only thing worth noting is that he seems unwilling to accept our training. I think he’s not suitable as a carrier for someone as great as you.”
“Of course, if you insist, Core, we won’t stop you.”
“Hehe, that’s the difference between you and me.” Core suddenly became happy. “You can only see his surface, but what I like is his inner self.”

“My children, let me conduct an experiment for you, and then you will understand why I made this choice.”
In the silent message, the speed of nuclear writhing suddenly increased. Immediately afterward, all the sensory cells in the fleshy balls received the image of black hair…