Chapter 576 The Origin Device

The Origin Device hummed and operated for a short time after being fully charged with energy. Various sensing devices immediately took this opportunity to record the phenomena and internal changes during its operation. However, the entire test process lasted less than three minutes. Due to the lack of the most critical control core, this ancient device could only run to the system self-check stage before it became impossible to continue.

"I suddenly feel a little sympathy for Bessemoth," Vivian revealed a strange smile. "Even without our meddling, he was destined to fail—but he seemed quite confident at the time. Where did that guy find the information that gave him such confidence?"

"Anyway, Hespera is still interrogating him, news will come sooner or later," Hao Ren curled his lips. "But I guess there won't be any important information in the end. This thing has been in the Olympus family for so many years, and Zeus didn't figure it out either... By the way, Hespera is here, do you know anything about the Origin Device?"

Hao Ren just remembered that Hespera was a survivor of the Olympian family, so he asked the other party with anticipation. However, Hespera just shook her head apologetically: "I'm not a scholar, and my position in the family is not very high... I can't get in touch with things that seem to be top secrets."

But after she finished speaking, she still recalled it seriously, and remembered some useful things: "If I have to say... I remember that in the last days, when I met Athena a few times, she was always absent-minded and muttered some strange things, saying something like 'it's all a mistake', 'brought it on ourselves', and so on. And during that time, strange things often happened on Mount Olympus... People often disappeared, and then came back after a few days. The guys who came back were like different people, irritable and didn't communicate with anyone. I suspect that Athena used living people for experiments when studying the Origin Device."

"Brought it on ourselves... brought it on ourselves..." Hao Ren pondered these words, "Did the Olympus family discover the secret of the Origin Device and realize that they were created by someone? But what does this have to do with brought it on ourselves?"

"Maybe this sentence is for the creator of the Origin Device!" Vivian clapped her hands lightly. "Don't forget there is a big disaster in the Dream Plane, could this disaster be related to the Origin Device?"

Hao Ren felt that this was very possible, and a little light seemed to be revealed in the mist, but this light was fleeting, and the whole thing was still shrouded in clouds and mist, making it impossible to figure out. He instinctively felt that there was a fundamental misunderstanding in some link between him and Vivian's speculation about the Origin Device, but after thinking for a long time, he still had no clue. Finally, he shook his head: "Let's not guess, if we guess wrong, we'll go further and further."

The data terminal agreed with Hao Ren's cautious attitude. It controlled a group of mechanical tentacles to reset some components on the Origin Device, and at the same time used holographic projection to show the operation of the shipborne factory: "This unit has ordered the shipborne factory to produce some substances. These substances are synthesized according to the material composition detected in the 'feeding port'. Then this unit will copy a few sets of the Origin Device and try to process those synthetic materials... Although the expected finished product will definitely not come out, it should be possible to understand how much this device is missing, and there will be a direction for future research."

Hao Ren nodded and looked up at the top of the Origin Device, where the alloy shield had been removed, revealing a football-sized gap below, which was where the missing component of this ancient device was originally located. He lowered the entire platform so that his line of sight was level with the gap, then reached into the gap and touched it, touching many regular bumps—it should be something like a slot.

If only I could find this missing core.

He temporarily put the Origin Device aside and went to the next test bench to check the progress of the other analysis work. On a test bench closest to him were being tested the blood samples and body tissue samples of the Demon Hunters, and on another test bench were some very familiar things: exquisitely crafted small hand crossbows, huge and complex enchanted large crossbows, cards written with Leta runes, and arrows shimmering with silver light. These things were all spoils obtained from the Athens Sanctuary, and some were things that were snatched when he contacted the Demon Hunters before.

Half of the rune cards were left by Nangong Sanba—that half-baked Demon Hunter's two weeks of labor made Dou Dou eat for a long time, and she hasn't finished it yet, so Hao Ren took a few of the cards over for analysis, just to compare the difference between a half-baked Demon Hunter and a genuine Demon Hunter.

As soon as Dou Dou saw her "food" on the table, she let out a loud cheer. She finally mistakenly thought that Hao Ren had brought her here to eat in a restaurant, and jumped onto the test bench with a thud to start eating, but she bumped her head on the transparent protective cover—a few rune cards were being analyzed, and there was something covering them.

The two sensing probes that were scanning back and forth on the rune cards were startled by the sudden impact, and at the same time raised their "heads" to look in Dou Dou's direction, then the two miniature tentacles bent their bodies as if shrugging, and lowered their heads to continue scanning on the cards.

Dou Dou was furious when she saw her food being occupied by other fish (she felt that those probes were another kind of fish), and tugged at Hao Ren's sleeve and clamored: "Daddy! Dou Dou's food! Stolen!"

Hao Ren immediately felt a little teary-eyed: the effort of teaching his daughter to speak for the past half month was not in vain, look, the child can call correctly at critical moments!

He took out the small wooden chips he had prepared from his pocket and stuffed them into Dou Dou's arms to appease his daughter, and then looked at the analysis report: "...Most of the Demon Hunters' props have undergone complex enchantment processing, and at the same time they have been quenched with herbs and minerals, and the common point of these quenching raw materials is... their own blood is used?"

"That's right, blood components were found on all the equipment," the data terminal replied, "the paint of the rune cards, the background color of the magic patterns of the crossbows, the potions used to temporarily enhance the physique, and even their clothes—those fabrics are mixed with a small amount of silk threads soaked in blood. By comparing with the collected blood samples, it can be confirmed that the blood used to make these equipments is the Demon Hunter's own, and theoretically it is dedicated to each person."

Hao Ren immediately felt an indescribable weirdness from this table of equipment, and his eyes finally fell on the rune cards left by Nangong Sanba. A chill ran through his body, and he quickly picked up Dou Dou: "You can't eat these cards in the future!"

Dou Dou's answer was a tail slap on his hand, the little guy just pretended not to hear.

"Don't worry, Nangong Sanba's cards don't use blood, just ordinary herbal juice," the data terminal reassured Hao Ren, "It may be that there is a problem with his blood, and the magic power in his blood is not enough, or it may be that he didn't have time to learn this."

Vivian picked up a crossbow arrow from the next table and said carelessly: "Actually, this is nothing. Many magics need to be guided by blood. If you are allergic to this, what should I do if I use blood magic all day long?"

Hao Ren thought about it, and didn't pursue the issue. He was just very curious: "So the power of the Demon Hunters comes from their blood?"

"It's not just derived from the blood, their blood structure is very strange, and it even makes people wonder how the complicated components inside can coexist peacefully," said the data terminal, "and this unit also found a wonderful phenomenon... which may slightly explain the weakening of the Demon Hunters in recent years."

Hearing this, Vivian and Hespera immediately pricked up their ears.

"The genetic genes of the Demon Hunters are out of balance. This unit found some strange 'lesions' in the bodies of young Demon Hunters, but not in the bodies of older Demon Hunters. These lesions are not fatal, and do not even affect health, but will lead to a decrease in the magic power contained in their blood and a decrease in fertility. If I'm not mistaken... this is a genetic disease, and it may have spread throughout their clan. As for the cause of the genetic disease... perhaps just like aliens cannot adapt to the new environment and continue to decline, they have also begun to be rejected by the environment, but their decline is thousands of years later than that of aliens."

The data terminal paused and added the last sentence: "In addition, no signs of treatment were found—they are very likely not aware of these subtle diseases."