Ling Cage: Twelve Talismans? I have everything I need.

Chapter 110 is really getting going!
The capital city of Heluo Kingdom.

The office of the CEO, Dong Mu, is located on the top floor of a giant structure in the city center, with a panoramic view of the orderly and efficient future city through the circular floor-to-ceiling windows.

The streamlined, suspended vehicles silently traverse along pre-set tracks.

Dongmu has just finished a video conference on "Talent Investment in Jiuchuan City".

His fingertips tapped unconsciously on the large desk.

The meeting went smoothly, but a hint of fatigue still lingered between his brows.

The deeper the Heluo Kingdom delves into the realm of "Life Source Essence," the more profound and unknown the road ahead seems.

The genetic engineering technology of the Zeon Kingdom is becoming increasingly mature, and the Hela Empire's controlled nuclear fusion seems to be just one crucial step away.

Just then, a very high-priority notification sounded in his private encrypted channel, interrupting his thoughts.

This notification sound means that the information bypassed all conventional filtering and screening processes and came directly from a few top-secret intelligence sources that can only be triggered by those with the highest authority.

Dongmu paused, his fingers tapping the table, and his eyes instantly sharpened.

He raised his hand and made a gesture in the air. A pale blue light screen quickly unfolded in front of him. After a complex authentication process, a message popped up.

The information was unsigned and lacked a source.

The information content is extremely concise.

【Coordinates: E102XX° ​​N24XX°】

[Event: Localized, minor crustal activity]

【时间：新历2033年8月19日，21:17 - 21:49】

Dongmu's brows furrowed immediately.

This coordinate is located southwest of Heluo, where the probability of an earthquake is very small. Moreover, today is only June 16th, and current technology cannot detect such a distant time.

His fingertips slid rapidly, and the information on the screen scrolled down.

Following this text report was a picture.

The picture appeared to have been taken in a laboratory; the image quality was somewhat blurry, but the content of the picture caused Dongmu's pupils to suddenly contract.

It was an exceptionally complex ring-shaped device, surrounded by various musical instruments.

In the center of the device, there appears to be a designated spot for people to stand.

The overall design concept, structural layout, and even the configuration of some key nodes of this device...

It bears a striking resemblance to the design blueprint of the top-secret "Phenomenology" project in his secret storage cabinet!

What happened? Was there an information leak?

Wait a minute, we haven't even officially started the research yet, how could it have been leaked?
But what's wrong with this picture?

Dongmu felt his breathing become rapid. He almost lunged at the light screen and quickly turned the page.

The following is a video.

Dongmu immediately clicked to play.

The video appears to have been specially processed; Dongmu couldn't make out the people in it.

But he was soon drawn to its contents.

A person stands in the middle of the equipment, and the surrounding electromagnetic pulse devices precisely target the person's various acupoints.

Dongmu looked focused. If the video hadn't been edited, the approximate locations of these acupoints would be used to block out a person's five senses.

He then looked down.

The video contains altered human voices, making it impossible to discern whether the person is male or female.

'The sensory system and brain have ceased signal transmission; preparations are now underway to extract the life essence.'
'Activate the source mass projector.'
A projector-like machine rose up in front of the man, and then a strong blue beam of light shone down on his chest.

'The source material has been extracted; with the assistance of the vibration frequency equipment, the source material has entered a turbulent state!'
The video ends here.

Huh? It's stuck?

Dongmu's thirst for knowledge reached its peak here, and he hurriedly dragged the progress bar, but the video had obviously ended there.

I***
Dongmu couldn't help but swear.

How could someone only post half of a video?
What happens next? What is the turbulent state of the source mass? Why does it stop here of all places?
Heluo has always focused on the research of life essence, and there are also some people with innate and acquired superpowers in Heluo.

So I've been trying to find ways to actively stimulate these hidden powers within the human body.

The equipment in this video is what they are now planning to research, and it even looks like it's already perfected.

Who is it? Who has the capability to conduct such an experiment? Who possesses this technology?
Who was it that delivered these things so precisely to him in such a bizarre way?
Countless questions overwhelmed Dongmu.

He abruptly raised his head, facing the empty space of the office, and growled in a low, urgent voice:

"Xia Qinghe! Come here right now!"

The silence in the office did not last long.

Almost exactly ten seconds after Dong Mu finished speaking, the heavy office door slid open silently to the side. A young man wearing a white uniform commonly seen on researchers, with a Heluo-style jacket casually over it, strode in.

He looked to be about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, and his hair was slightly disheveled.

He is Xia Qinghe, the leading genius in the field of life source material application in Heluo Kingdom, and the main builder of the theoretical model of the "Phenomenology" project.

Despite his young age, he is already the undisputed authority in this field in China.

"Executive Officer, you wanted to see me?" Xia Qinghe asked respectfully, bowing slightly.

His gaze swept quickly over Dongmu, keenly noticing the unusual seriousness and... a hint of urgency on Dongmu's face.

Without exchanging pleasantries, Dong Mu pointed directly to the light screen floating in the air, his voice low and deep.

"Qinghe, come here and take a look at this."

Xia Qinghe did as instructed, took a few steps forward, stood in front of the desk, and looked at the light screen.

When he saw the image of the blurry yet clearly structured ring-shaped device frozen on the screen, the ease on his face vanished instantly, and his brows furrowed unconsciously.

"This is...?" he murmured to himself, his body leaning forward unconsciously.

Dongmu didn't explain, he just quickly tapped the play button with his finger.

The edited video started playing again.

Xia Qinghe held his breath, as if he were nailed to the spot.

His gaze was fixed on the screen, watching the blurry figure step onto the platform, watching the electromagnetic pulse precisely hit the acupoints to shut down the five senses, watching the source energy projector rise and shoot out that blue stream of light, listening to the processed voice announcing each step of the process...

When the video abruptly ended again, Xia Qinghe took a deep breath.

"What's behind?!"

"That's it, the video ends here."

"Fuck you!" Xia Qinghe cursed.

Dongmu turned his head and looked at him with a "Hmm?"

"This...how is this possible?!" he exclaimed, turning sharply to look at Dongmu.

"Executive Officer! Who did this?! Where did the video come from?!"

His voice trembled slightly with excitement: "Blocking the five senses, drawing out the source matter, and using a specific frequency to bring the source matter into a turbulent state... This, this is exactly the core concept of our 'phenomenological' theory!"

"Even...even more advanced than our current ideas! They've already entered the implementation phase? That's impossible!"

Xia Qinghe was extremely agitated, which completely overturned his understanding.

Phenomenology is a project to which he has devoted countless efforts.

He couldn't believe that there were other people in the world who had thought of the same thing.

They even...did it ahead of time? They even created a physical prototype and conducted human experiments on it?

Dong Mu's face was equally gloomy. He turned off the video, and the office returned to silence.

"I don't know." Dongmu's voice suppressed his turbulent emotions.

"This message was sent directly through the highest level of encryption, without a source or signature. The sender seems to have a thorough understanding of our internal communication protocols and vulnerabilities."

He looked at Xia Qinghe, his gaze sharp: "Are you sure that all the core information of the 'Phenomenology' project is absolutely confidential? That there is absolutely no possibility of any leakage? Not even the theoretical derivation part?"

“I guarantee it with my academic career and my life!” Xia Qinghe answered almost immediately and decisively.

"All the core data is stored on physically isolated servers, and it's still only in the theoretical stage. The video shows the source material being successfully exported, but the rest is missing, and we don't know if exporting the source material will cause any harm to the human body."

Just as Xia Qinghe was about to continue analyzing these theories, Dong Mu immediately interrupted him.

"Then there are only two possibilities left." Dongmu's fingers tapped the table unconsciously again.

"First, there may be an unknown organization or individual with technological capabilities that may far exceed our imagination, who has independently completed similar research and made groundbreaking progress."

"Secondly," Dongmu's gaze deepened.

"This is an elaborate trap. Someone somehow found out that we were conducting 'phenomenological' research and deliberately threw out a half-true, half-false bait, using what we most wanted to see to lure us in."

Xia Qinghe forced himself to calm down.

“Executive, although the video has been manipulated, the technical details... don’t seem fake.” He pondered, his tone becoming much more cautious.

"Especially the parts about source material extraction and turbulence activation, the energy flow pattern is very consistent with my theoretical predictions. Even if it is a trap, the person who made this trap must be a top expert with a very deep understanding of the source material of life."

Dong Mu nodded slowly; Xia Qinghe's analysis coincided with his own judgment.

"If that's true, then the previous message might also be true."

Dongmu retrieved the first message and instructed, "Have someone go down and monitor the location of these coordinates."

"Report to me immediately when the time comes."

"understand!"

(End of this chapter)