Those people…

　　They were mostly naked, but their private parts were covered with thin film that looked like latex. Their bodies were connected with crystal wires and cables from head to toe, too. A lot of the wires extended deep into their bodies along their veins and nerves.

　　A lot of tentacles that looked like biochemical nerves also dangled down from the medical cabins and extended to their heads.

　　A rather powerful new crystal processor was placed next to every medical cabin to monitor the status of their bodies. Thousands of data streams were changing on the light beam every second.

　　All the crystal processors were then connected together through cables that were as thick as boas to a super crystal processor that took up an enormous amount of space at the end of the hall.

　　The crystal processors were still emanating a creepy light and functioning amid various hums. The green nutrition liquids were bubbling nonstop, too.

　　Stimulated by the wires, cables, and biochemical nerves, the half-dead-half-alive people were both cramping softly and displaying joy, anger, sadness, and other emotions on their faces. Some of them even opened their eyes abruptly, and their empty eyeballs were rolling crazily, unfocused, projecting a light of lifelessness.

　　The scent of death filled the room, outlining a mortifying scene!

　　However, no matter how they cramped and how their facial expressions changed, they were confined to the tiny medical cabins from beginning to end. It did not appear that they would really wake up anytime soon.

　　Li Yao swallowed and stuck his right hand to the tempered glass. Exerting his strength slightly, he immediately broke the entire tempered glass into pieces.

　　The noises of the broken pieces hitting the ground randomly was particularly clear and ear-splitting in the hall that was dead silent.

　　Floating in midair, Li Yao and Long Yangjun flew into the weird hall to the middle of the hundreds of medical cabins and the hundreds of half-dead-half-alive people in them.

　　Although some of them had their eyes wide open, they simply ignored Li Yao and Long Yangjun’s arrival, as if they were still dwelling in a different world, and only the most primitive reflexes of the animals were kept in the real world.

　　Li Yao and Long Yangjun glanced at the nameplate on every medical cabin sharply. Li Yao even walked to the crystal processor and operated on it quickly.

　　“This place is the Deep Sustenance Treatment Center of Deep Blue Super Brain Hospital,” Li Yao said. “They are all the vegetative patients who have been sent here for treatment. Most of them were specialists of crystal processors and the Spiritual Nexus in the past.”

　　“That explains a lot. According to the files I found online, Deep Blue Super Brain Hospital has adopted a certain ‘immersive virtual stimulation procedure’, in which a unique virtual space is created with their memories of the past and poured into their brain, thereby soaking them in special dreams, simulating their brains intensely and helping them to wake up. Other than that, their internal organs and limbs are also stimulated by bioelectricity all year long.”

　　Against the glass window, Long Yangjun observed the vegetative patient inside the medical cabin carefully. “Through the simulation of bioelectricity and the irrigation of spiritual energy, it is possible to maintain the body functions of the patients at a healthy level. Muscular dystrophy, organ failure, bone ossification, and other common symptoms for the vegetative patients can be avoided in such a way. So to speak, this should be a public ward instead of a weird experiment base?”

　　“But where are the doctors and nurses?” Li Yao glanced around quickly and frowned. “There isn’t a single doctor or nurse in such a huge ward? Besides, where did the battle puppets and the weirdos who boasted tremendous mental combat ability come from?

　　“Also, don’t you feel that it is quite strange? I checked the files of more than ten patients in a row, only to discover that they were exclusively specialists in crystal processors and the Spiritual Nexus. None of them specialize in other fields?”

　　“That is actually not very strange,” Long Yangjun said, “According to the introduction on the official website of Deep Blue Super Brain Hospital, the ward of the Deep Sustenance Treatment Center is classified according to professions, levels, and types of patients. In such a way, it is easier for the patients to resonate. It is more convenient for large-scale treatment procedures to be carried out, too.”

　　“Is that so? I still feel that something is wrong.” Li Yao gazed at the vegetative people who were soaked in the green fluorescent liquids. Most of them were admin-type, research-type, and creation-type Cultivators, who usually worked in an office. Naturally, their bodies were different from the ‘gardeners’ whom they had encountered previously, and they were far less perfect and athletic.

　　Right then, Li Yao and Long Yangjun both heard glass being broken far away.

　　Although the sound was quite distant and feeble, the two Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators were still able to hear it clearly.

　　The two of them looked at each other and immediately rushed toward the source of the sound.

　　They found three halls in exactly the same style on their way. Almost a thousand vegetative people were lying quietly in the medical cabins. Simulated by the bioelectricity and the incoming spiritual energy, their bodies were cramping, and they were wearing vivid expressions as if they were having a dream.

　　“Hiss!”

　　In a corner, a naked, muscular man suddenly shrieked and lunged at the two of them, only to be blown away immediately, forming a human-shaped dent on the wall. The bones all over the man’s body were broken, and thick bodily fluids flowed out of his nose and ears.

　　“This is…”

　　Li Yao fell to one knee and picked up a cluster of greasy, gooey liquids from the dead body. He rubbed the sample with his fingers and said, “It’s nutrition liquid that contain tremendous spiritual energy, identical to what was injected into the medical cabins just now.”

　　“That’s right. Also, the man’s private parts are covered by membranes as thin as paper, too.” Long Yangjun examined the man’s skin carefully. “Look. There are traces of wires and soft tubes among the pores, just like the vegetative people that we saw a moment ago.”

　　“So…” Li Yao blinked quickly. “It was actually vegetative people who had been in coma for decades that attacked us just now?”

　　The guy who was suspected to be a vegetative person must have just broken out of the medical cabin in the emergency. He did not even have time to put on his clothes, much less a crystal suit. Nutrition liquids were still wet and dripping off from his body.

　　Therefore, through his footprints and the scent of the nutrition liquids in the air, the two of them easily traced his path back to another ward that was on the minus ninth level.

　　The scene in this place was completely different from the upper floors.

　　Everything was a mess. The lights were flickering. All the tempered glass had been smashed into smithereens. Most of the medical cabins had exploded from the inside, as if something had broken out of the shell. Green nutrition liquids were running on the ground blatantly. The vegetative people who should have been resting inside quietly, on the other hand, were all gone. The only things left were wires, cables, and biochemical nerves, which were shaking softly like tentacles that were about to die.

　　“Ho! Hooo!”

　　Inhuman howls echoed from the depths of the world.

　　Li Yao and Long Yangjun’s pupils all shrank violently as they saw the most unbelievable nightmare.

　　The few medical cabins in the corner had not been broken yet. The vegetative people were still soaked inside. However, the ‘vegetative people’ were not exactly the same as what they were expected to be. Their eyes bulged to such an extent that their eye sockets were almost ripped apart. Their muscles were puffing one piece after another like crystal bombs, but their veins were expanding even faster than the muscles and protruded through their skin like chains!

　　The wires, cables, and all kinds of other messy tubes that deeply pierced into their brains, limbs, and internal organs had all been straightened into a line. Invisible waves were surging out nonstop as they poured immense spiritual energy into the bodies of the vegetative patients!

　　“Those guys are waking up!” On the analysis light beam of Li Yao’s crystal suit, the spiritual waves from the opposite side were getting stronger and stronger. There were even red alarms of ‘high energy alert’. “Their soul and physical strength is growing more and more powerful!”

　　“The crystal processor. Blow up the mainframe crystal processor!”

　　Li Yao and Long Yangjun attacked at the same time. Before the unknown objects were completely woken up, they had already blown up the crystal processors next to the targets and the mainframe crystal processor at the center of the ward.

　　Without the control of the crystal processors, all the wires, cables, and tubes loosened and dangled down lethargically. The mad dances of the few vegetative people gradually slowed down, too. Their bloodshot eyes slowly closed, and they fell asleep again.

　　Only one of the ‘vegetative people’, or whatever it was right now, crashed against the glass shell of the medical cabin hard and flowed out together with the nutrition liquids.

　　But it was not completely woken up. As if it was still short of the last program that should have been installed, it sniffed at the surroundings, covering its neck, like a lost animal.

　　Very soon, it smelled the scent of Li Yao and Long Yangjun.

　　But instead of attacking the two of them, it simply ran away in fear, like a hyena that had run into lions and tigers.

　　Li Yao and Long Yangjun were much more ferocious beasts than it. With nothing but its animalistic instincts, it did not have the courage to challenge two Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators.

　　Li Yao could not help but frown. He felt that his heart was rubbed by a cold and damp hand. It was quite uncomfortable.

　　“Unlike the upper floors, all the patients here are battle-type Cultivators.” Long Yangjun checked the nameplates next to more than ten medical cabins quickly. “Also, since they can afford the exorbitant prices for treatment and live here for a long time, they are all high-level Cultivators above the Building Foundation Stage.”

　　Li Yao’s voice was cold. “They all are?”

　　“This is only part of them,” Long Yangjun explained. “The few wards nearby are all filled with such patients. Most of them were transferred to this hospital in recent years. Thanks to the treatment plan here, their flesh and blood did not wither, and their bodily functions have been maintained quite well.

　　“First of all, the Uranian Ring War caused a lot of heavily wounded soldiers on the federation’s side, and many of them became vegetative patients due to brain damage. Then, in recent years, the arrival of Firefly brought the news that the Black Wind Fleet will soon arrive. To better resist the expedition army of the Imperium, a lot of battle-type Cultivators in the federation have chosen to upgrade themselves at risk. Those who were brought here in time after their attempts failed were actually the lucky ones.

　　“Combining both factors, battle-type Cultivators make up at least twenty percent of the tens of thousands of vegetative patients being treated here.”

　　“So, it means two to three thousand battle-type Cultivators. Not just any Cultivators but high-level Cultivators with profound Cultivation and powerful bloodlines.”

　　Looking at the medical cabins around that had been shattered, Li Yao mumbled, “But how did they wake up and even become so weird as to launch attacks at us fearlessly?”

　　“No. They did not wake up.” Looking around, Long Yangjun said gloomily under the illumination of the creepy lights, “They are probably not human beings, at least not the Cultivators they used to be, but… shells!”