I'll also work hard to conquer the dungeon today.

Chapter 354, 1.23, 17 Paper Cutting (Inside)

"The security is very tight. We haven't found a way to leave and come back without being detected yet," Bertias said slowly, frowning as she looked at the patrol in the distance from the kitchen window.

"After all, it's the City Lord's Mansion. Although we want to investigate the City Lord's wife's room, given the current situation, we can only wait." Lan Xiao sighed softly, feeling helpless.

After sneaking into the kitchen, the two of them heard something happening outside. Suddenly, the number of guards increased, trapping them in the kitchen and preventing them from leaving.

Fortunately, the kitchen servants had all left and it seemed they wouldn't be back anytime soon, giving them enough time to hide until they found a way to escape.

only……

Hiding like this isn't a solution, and there's no way to leave right away. Besides, we only have one chance, so we have to think about it carefully.

“I’d like to say…” Bertias suddenly spoke up.

"Hmm?" Lan Xiao subconsciously turned around to look at him, but only saw a back view, with his beautiful blue-gray hair swaying gently in the breeze.

"How about we try another way?" Bertias looked out the window, gestured with his fingers in the air, and said slowly.

"Another way?" Lan Xiao frowned slightly, puzzled.

"I've never told anyone that I used to live in the lowest and most lowly place. I loathe this kind of place where only servants would stay, but now I have to hide here because of the dungeon. It brings back some memories of that time."

His blue-gray eyes were dark and cold. He slowly closed his eyes, as if trying to calm himself down, and sighed softly.

Lan Xiaowei was taken aback. Bertias's tone was very indifferent, as if he were narrating someone else's story from an outsider's perspective, but one could sense a deep-seated disgust in it.

"I'm sorry, I might have made you feel sad with me. Let me be alone for a while." Bertias turned and walked into the depths of the kitchen, where she sat quietly in a corner, lost in thought.

I've never seen this person show such an expression before, or rather, this is the first time they've shown an expression that isn't pretentious. They've moved beyond simply imitating others' performances and entered into a role that is uniquely their own.

Bertias sat leaning against the corner, her long blue-gray hair falling from her shoulders, obscuring her slightly sad face.

Lan Xiao looked at the dejected Beltias from afar and suddenly realized something. This person's appearance was quite different from that of ordinary interstellar humans. His unique hair color, eye color, and unusually thin body made him look like someone who had been forced to undergo genetic fusion.

She was born during a time of great chaos, a time when even her remote and desolate planet had heard of a notorious human experimentation lab that injected genes from other races into newborns, forcibly imbuing humans with those genes.

Most of the failed products died, and those that survived were simply sold as scrap.

She didn't know if the gene experiment was successful, but she later heard that the research institute had been destroyed. The era of gene experiments that caused widespread panic was finally over. Because she was born rather frail, she wasn't selected and thus escaped a terrible fate.

Although her life experiences afterward were not exactly a smooth ride, she sometimes wondered whether her life was more miserable after she was selected or now.

After seeing Bertias's appearance, she now realized that there was no comparison between the two.

If Bertias had been forced to undergo gene fusion as an infant but survived despite the failure, he would have been sold off like merchandise to impoverished nobles.

In the eyes of those impoverished nobles, these genetically failed experimental subjects were not even human, but merely garbage and goods, to be sold or disposed of at will. They were not even as good as livestock, and killing them casually would not be considered a crime.

A failure deprived of human rights.

Humans who have been fused with the genes of other races can no longer be considered human. After their defeat, they are no longer considered human at all, and they themselves don't even know what they should be. "Bell..." Lan Xiao began, but after speaking, he was completely at a loss for words.

"What?" Bertias's voice was a little hoarse and nasal, as if he had been crying, but he pretended that nothing had happened.

"What race's genes have been fused into you?" Judging from your blue-toned hair, you should be from a race from the Blue Galaxy.

As soon as he finished speaking, Bertias's beautiful blue-gray eyes narrowed sharply, and he gripped his pants tightly as if enduring something.

"You found out..." There wasn't a single extra emotion, only indifference, like the eternal ice on a snow-capped mountain.

"Because they look somewhat different from ordinary human boys." No matter how you look at it, human boys are not so thin, and you can't even see any muscles.

Her long gray hair had beautiful blue tinges, as did her eyes, which were almost entirely mixed colors, as if her original appearance had been deliberately concealed and could never be returned to.

"Is that so..." It seemed like a casual remark, devoid of any emotion.

After an unknown amount of time, just when Lan Xiao thought he wouldn't speak, he heard him say in a weak voice, "An ancient mermaid from the Mermaid Galaxy in the Blue Galaxy, but I didn't fully merge with it. I'm a failure."

I am a failure, a half-finished product. When I touch water, the scales unique to mermaids still grow on my feet, but I can't transform my legs into fins. It's meaningless, even depriving me of my right to be human. I don't even know what I am.

Bertias clutched her clothes tightly to her chest, suppressing the negative emotions that were about to erupt within her.

These words took almost all of his courage; they were secrets hidden deep within his heart, which he had never told anyone before, but he spoke them out at this moment.

"No matter what Bertias is, you are still Bertias, you are simply yourself. Just like I am Lan Xiao, I will only ever be Lan Xiao, even if I lack the courage to face my true self..."

No matter what a person encounters or what role they play, in the end, they can only be themselves, and will always be themselves.

Not only Bertias, but Lan Xiao was the same.

Even so, there's no way to face the past, no way to face the real self.

Wearing a mask, disguising oneself, and hiding one's true self.

Can this really help us know what our true self is?

Can she be found again?
Is it still possible...?

The dungeons in the first playthrough are mainly for introducing the characters, so a lot of the content consists of the characters' personal storylines.

This is a world of misery for everyone; this story is a contest of who's the most miserable.

Xiao Bei and Mu Yin (Mu Ye Gui) are actually related. Xiao Bei is a failed product of gene fusion, while Mu Yin is the only successful one (they thought they were successful, but in fact they were all devoured by Mu Yin's own cells).

The laboratory was destroyed on the very day Nalan Xu rescued Mu Yin; Mu Yin smashed it.

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(End of this chapter)