But this wasn't too surprising. After all, the three AIs had lived for thousands of years by now. Any being would have developed consciousness after living for that long. They had experienced more things than most humans could even imagine, and their long existence had given them enough time to develop personalities and individual ways of thinking.
As they landed, it was nighttime on this part of the planet. The city below was still brightly illuminated, with countless lights shining between the buildings and the streets remaining busy despite the late hour. Yu Weiwei used his disguise talisman.
To be honest, the technology for disguise was very high-tech in this Interstellar world, but Yu Weiwei used his disguise talisman mainly because no one could sense spiritual power, so it would be hard to give himself away. He didn't want anyone realizing that the disguise wasn't created using the technology of this era.
Besides Yu Weiwei was the invisible Ryan, while Xiao Baobao and Louise guided them towards the laboratory they had landed on.
Yu Weiwei couldn't help but comment as he looked around.
"This doesn't look like a place where illegal research could be conducted."
The population of the planet they were currently on was large, and the people were going about their daily lives without any idea of what was hidden beneath the peaceful appearance of their planet.
Shops were open, hover cars moved above the streets, and children could be seen playing in the nearby parks. There were couples walking together, people returning from work, and vendors still calling out to customers.
Nothing about the place looked suspicious.
"It is precisely because there are a lot of people here that the laboratory is set here. People going missing in small amounts won't arouse the government," Ryan explained.
Yu Weiwei pursed his lips upon hearing this, but he didn't say anything because Ryan was completely right.
The more ordinary the place looked, the easier it was for something terrible to remain hidden.
"It's just that I don't know whether the commotion we are about to cause will affect these people, and whether we can evacuate them without arousing suspicion," Ryan said, his eyebrow furrowing slightly.
Seeing this, Yu Weiwei gave the imperial guards who had followed them a bunch of protective talismans and asked them to stay behind and protect the people. If anything happened, the talismans would at least give the guards enough time to protect the civilians from the aftermath.
Finally, Yu Weiwei and the others arrived at a black market.
The moment they entered, the atmosphere changed.
The streets were crowded, people moved between the various stalls, and the air was filled with the voices of merchants bargaining with customers. There were all kinds of things being sold here, some of which were completely legal while others were clearly not.
Seeing the bustling crowd, Ryan's face turned sour.
Yu Weiwei understood why he was like that and couldn't help but chuckle. After all, Ryan was the law of the empire. The law wouldn't permit places like the black market. But these kinds of things should be overlooked sometimes. After all, not all humans would follow all rules. They were bound to break one. That's what made them human in the first place.
Ryan understood this concept, but his programming was like that.
He couldn't simply ignore a violation of the law just because it was convenient.
As they went deeper into the black market, the more silent and dangerous it became. The lively atmosphere from the entrance gradually disappeared, replaced by people who watched them with wary eyes. The further they went, the fewer ordinary people they encountered.
They soon came across a restaurant, but what they actually sold was body parts of rare star beasts and beasts.
The restaurant was, in fact, the entrance to the laboratory.
Yu Weiwei's eyes narrowed slightly when he realized this.
The entrance to the laboratory was tightly guarded, and Yu Weiwei didn't want to alert them. So they decided to wait until the morning, when the black market was less bustling, to prevent harm to innocent people. Besides, they had to gather information about how they could enter the restaurant without disrupting anything.
They couldn't simply rush in.
Not when there were still so many ordinary people around.
Yu Weiwei and Ryan went to check into a hotel while the imperial guards gathered information. They needed to know the layout of the restaurant, the number of guards stationed there, and, most importantly, whether there was another way into the laboratory.
Meanwhile, Xiao Bai was currently fuming.
How dare these humans try to hurt him?
Let us go back to an hour ago.
When they arrived at the laboratory with Xiao Bai, Louise blended into their technical system while Xiao Baobao stood guard and directed Yu Weiwei and the others from the outside.
Xiao Bai underwent different security scans until he was stripped naked and bathed before he was dressed as a patient, wearing an outfit that Xiao Bai found distasteful. However, the people here wouldn't let him take it off.
Xiao Bai had no choice but to endure it.
Later, he met a guy with green hair and plants sticking out of his head. He was wearing a white coat, with his face as pale as a sheet.
If Yu Weiwei were here, he would have concluded that this was a ghost.
At first sight, Xiao Bai disliked this ghost-like man due to his mixed aura. There was something strange about the man's aura, something that made Xiao Bai instinctively uncomfortable.
The man then injected a syringe into his arm to draw his blood.
Xiao Bai's expression immediately darkened.
He didn't like needles.
Minutes later, the man came back with his face twisted into a strange smile, laughing maniacally. Xiao Bai's impression of him dropped even lower.
"Haha! That thing is inside you too! This is a treasure. I finally got my hands on it!" the man laughed.
Xiao Bai looked at him with even more disgust, thinking that he might have gone mad.
If not for the fact that Yu Weiwei had sealed his spiritual power, making him unable to use a huge part of it, he would have already flung the man across the room.
And why was this mad scientist laughing?
It was because of the spiritual power flowing through Xiao Bai.
They had not been able to discern what this power was, but they knew it was capable of great things.
The reason why Lin Zhe was on their radar and not any other SS powerhouse was because of this unique power flowing through him.
They had come after Yu Weiwei, but he didn't have it back then. Since he was somewhat useless, they used him as a test subject for one of their most potent mental disorder drugs. However, it didn't affect him much. Instead, it reduced his chances of awakening a high-rank level.
Who would have thought he would be able to cure himself of this irreversible drug?
And to make it better, he seemed to have awakened this special power.
They had kidnapped Xiao Bai in hopes of having him as a hostage and bringing Yu Weiwei over. Who would have expected they would gain such a huge reward instead?
The moment they discovered the spiritual power inside Xiao Bai, their plans changed.
So they decided to start experimenting on Xiao Bai, and they could always use his clone to bring Yu Weiwei over.
And so, when they began the experiments, they were repelled by the protective talisman on Xiao Bai.
Several of them were injured.
But instead of backing out, they became much more excited.
The special power could be detected on the protective shield around Xiao Bai. If they could decipher it, they would be one more step closer to success.
And so, about fifteen scientists surrounded Xiao Bai. Some tried to use force while others tried to decipher the protective barrier.
One scientist was examining the barrier with a scanner while another was recording every change in its energy fluctuations. Some were discussing among themselves, their eyes filled with excitement as they looked at Xiao Bai as though he were some rare specimen rather than a living being.
Xiao Bai sat there, looking like he was about to explode.
A man who looked like the head of the research institute walked in, he looked like he was in his middle-aged and was much more handsome compared to every one in the research institute.
"Sir, what if they can't decipher it two days? The child would starve to death." An old man following behind commented.
"Don't worry about it, the protective shield would leave itself after all the person who designed it wouldn't want the person they are protecting to die within it." The handsome middle-age man said, his voice sounding very unpleasant.
As if to confirm the man's reasoning, Xiao Bai brought out a steamed bun from the space Yu Weiwei had imprinted on him.