Death Notice

“Major Gerthard, please take these. This is the waterwave vibrator and receiver. It lets us know your condition at any time.” Dr. Shahil handed Qin Lun a collar-like device and earpieces, guiding him to put them on.

“Can I breathe freely inside this Amniotic Tank?” Qin Lun curiously looked at the large glass tank starting to fill with water.

He had seen something similar once before, in the last World War II World. After the Allied Forces captured the Queen of Sandstorm, Monica, they imprisoned her in this kind of Amniotic Tank.

“You can. Perhaps initially, there might be some slight irritation to the nose and lungs. However, this amniotic fluid is rich in oxygen molecules and bonds easily with lung cells, so you won’t feel suffocated.”

Dr. Shahil spoke with confidence. “Of course, if you really can’t adapt, just tell us. The waterwave vibrator will translate your vocal cord vibrations into language we can understand.”

“Heh, I originally thought I’d be lying on a hospital bed, with countless monitoring sensors attached to my body…” Qin Lun smiled as he joked.

“That is a very outdated medical method; we abandoned it long ago. This Amniotic Tank can immediately detect and handle internal bleeding, inject corresponding treatment drugs, and also stimulate and revive cardiopulmonary function through different levels of electric shock. It can be said to be the most advanced medical means of this era.”

Dr. Shahil said a bit proudly. “Although the Allied Forces also have this kind of medical equipment, theirs isn’t as advanced as ours. Alright, Major Gerthard, please step inside and keep in touch with us at all times.”

“Okay!” Qin Lun agreed. He took out the Rune Bottle containing the demon’s essence blood from his bosom. With a flick of his finger, he popped off the bottle stopper, tilted his head back, and drank the azure blue iceflame in one gulp.

“Hiss!” As soon as the essence blood from the Iceflame Demon entered his mouth, Qin Lun felt a cold energy rapidly spread from his mouth throughout his whole body. His throat to his stomach instantly lost all sensation.

“Not good!” Qin Lun’s pupils shrank. He casually threw away the Rune Bottle and, while his body still had a bit of sensation, pushed off with his legs and directly dived headfirst into the Amniotic Tank below.

While still in the air, his eyebrows and facial hair were already covered in a layer of sparkling frost. The skin exposed outside was pale as snow, and the capillaries underneath were even clearly visible.

“Gurgle!” As Qin Lun breathed, a string of bubbles rose from the amniotic fluid. However, this string of bubbles only rose halfway up the Amniotic Tank before directly freezing solid. Centered on Qin Lun’s body, the entire Amniotic Tank began to rapidly freeze.

“Crack!” The tempered glass of the Amniotic Tank developed cracks like a spiderweb. Ice has lower density than water, and with Qin Lun inside, the sealed Amniotic Tank began to give way.

“Not good, scatter quickly!” Grant hugged his head and made a sideways dive, tucking himself behind a machine. Major Montana, though portly, reacted quickly too. He pulled Dr. Shahil, and both of them crouched, hiding behind a workbench.

“Boom!” Glass fragments of the Amniotic Tank scattered everywhere. The research lab was in chaos; many staff members were injured. The unluckiest guy held his throat gushing blood, convulsing continuously on the floor. His companion frantically pressed on his neck.

His carotid artery had been cut by a fragment; if not for the many medical personnel here, waiting a bit longer would have meant certain death.

“Almost got screwed over by this guy!” Grant wiped his face, stood up, and looked toward the Amniotic Tank’s location. He saw that the original Amniotic Tank now only had a base left at the bottom. On top of the base was a huge cylindrical ice block.

This ice pillar, over a meter in diameter and as tall as two meters thirty, was different from ordinary ice. Its color was azure blue like seawater, sparkling and translucent. Qin Lun was completely naked, his golden hair disheveled, eyes tightly shut, still maintaining a head-first, feet-up posture, standing upside down within the ice pillar.

“What is going on?” Dr. Shahil stared somewhat blankly at the large ice block before him.

Major Montana glanced at the spot where Qin Lun had discarded the Rune Bottle. The bottle seemed to still have a few drops of that azure blue liquid left.

However, as the Rune Bottle shattered, the liquid turned into a small azure blue flame, while the area around the flame eerily froze into a circle of blue frost about half a foot in diameter.

Major Montana slightly frowned. He remembered that when Qin Lun and Grant were brought into the flying battleship by Hans, they carried nothing and hadn’t hidden this bottle of azure blue liquid.

However, the major soon pulled his thoughts back, focusing again on Qin Lun’s ice pillar. Most Superhumans had their own secrets; Superhumans like him who could store items inside their bodies weren’t rare. There was no need to dig deeper here.

“Heh, it seems we can’t be of much help. Captain Kluge, let’s go to the cafeteria for some coffee first.” Major Montana called out with a laugh. “Major Gerthard said it would take about half a day, so there’s still plenty of time.”

“No, that won’t be necessary!” Grant showed a strange smile at the corner of his mouth and pointed at the ice block. “I don’t think this kid anticipated such an intense physical reaction himself. Whether he succeeds or fails, I think we’ll know the result very soon!”

Before Grant finished speaking, they saw the large blue ice pillar encasing Qin Lun undergo a wondrous change. The ice, which looked extremely hard on the outside, seemed to contain flowing liquid inside. The youth with tightly shut eyes slowly bent his knees and curled up inside the ice, arms hugging his legs, floating and sinking within the ice, like a fetus gestating in a mother’s womb.

“The ice color seems to be fading!” Many of the German scientists observing nearby keenly noticed the ice’s subtle change.

Indeed, the azure blue ice pillar trapping Qin Lun was gradually lightening, as if the energy within was being absorbed by the youth. Moreover, mist began to rise from the ice pillar’s surface, with countless water droplets appearing. At this rate, it would soon turn back into a pool of amniotic fluid.

“Look, look quickly, what is that?” The surrounding researchers suddenly exclaimed in surprise.

They saw Qin Lun inside the ice pillar abruptly undergo drastic changes. His body surface occasionally sprouted slender, sharp cone-shaped spikes. These spikes lengthened and shortened erratically, appearing briefly on his skin before immediately retracting back inside. Everyone outside could see with the naked eye the ripples exploding in circles within the ice pillar.

The two strongest present, Grant and Major Montana, felt waves of dangerous warnings in their hearts the moment they saw these spikes.

“Researchers and soldiers below sergeant rank, leave this area. Also, call Captain Hans and Lieutenant Solin to come here and guard the research lab entrance.” Major Montana frowned slightly and immediately gave new orders.

After giving the orders, Major Montana still felt somewhat uneasy and turned to ask Grant: “Captain Kluge, do you think Major Gerthard will succeed in his promotion? His current physical changes…”

“I don’t know!” Grant sighed. He knew the Second Order profession Qin Lun was about to promote to was related to the Demon Bloodline, but he had never seen the transformation process of a Demon Bloodline. Major Montana’s question left him unable to answer.

“However, I know that whether he succeeds or not, he should still be alive!” Grant glanced at his Apostle Soul Mark and smiled reassuringly. Since Shattered Starry Sky hadn’t notified of a team member reduction, Qin Lun was naturally fine.

While the two were talking, they saw Qin Lun undergo new changes. His curled-up, fetal-like body slowly unfolded. The skin on his body surface began to transform into a semi-transparent azure blue, with mysterious patterns covering his entire body, appearing both inside and out simultaneously.

Visible blood vessels inside his body slowly flowed with azure blue liquid, though in some places conspicuous emerald green threads occasionally emerged.

The youth’s originally slender and not very muscular body now had bulging muscles and prominent tendons. It quickly turned into a brawny, well-built man over two meters tall. Even the part between his legs seemed to have grown a full size larger, standing erect proudly.

However, this wasn’t his most significant change. Qin Lun’s limbs were now not only muscular, but his fingers and toes were transforming into something non-human. They began to keratinize, tips curving like hooks, looking somewhat like eagle claws but entirely different in shape.

Two spiral, azure blue transparent curved horns emerged from his temples. At first glance they resembled goat horns, but the tips curved inward. The horn tips faced each other, each emitting a fiercely burning azure blue flame.

These two blue flames quickly merged between the horns, supporting above his head a mass of what seemed like a never-extinguishing blue iceflame. As it burned fiercely, everyone in a daze seemed to see countless azure blue ice flowers dancing around the blue flame.

The only part that probably didn’t change was Qin Lun’s face. His appearance still maintained a human look, eyes tightly shut, motionless.

“He succeeded!” Grant let out a long breath, looking at the youth in the ice pillar with a complex expression.

“Bang!” As the transformation ended, Qin Lun seemed to start waking up. His eyelids twitched slightly, and the now completely light-blue ice pillar developed a barely visible crack on its surface.

“We’d better take cover. It seems he can’t wait for the ice to melt!” Grant’s face twitched slightly upon seeing this. He turned to Major Montana and said wryly.

“Alright then!” Hearing that Qin Lun’s transformation succeeded, Major Montana also looked very pleased. The two very tacitly avoided mentioning the youth’s current non-human appearance.

After drinking the Iceflame Demon’s essence blood, Qin Lun quickly lost consciousness. In a daze, he felt his surroundings become a land completely covered in ice and snow, and he himself turned into a small, azure blue, somewhat transparent Iceflame Demon.

He didn’t know how much time passed. He continuously foraged, played, and fought alone against various strange and powerful creatures on this icy land. As time went on, he grew stronger and stronger, until one day, a group of Flame Demons wrapped in flames arrived on that frozen earth.

He roared and fought the many enemies to the death, killing one invader after another, until he finally exhausted his strength and was captured by these Flame Demons.

Endless anger and memories flooded into Qin Lun’s mind. For a moment, he couldn’t even distinguish who he really was. However, in the chaos, a few familiar yet strange faces appeared before his eyes, startling him and making him remember his true identity again…