"As for communication, can we cut it off unilaterally?"

The girl in Frost Moon's earpiece spoke again, asking, "Cut off the incoming calls from outside, and just say that there's a drill happening throughout the area."

"As for internal outbound calls, don't cut them off. Intercept them, then use a voice changer to disguise the reply."

"Your job is to help me buy time, stall anyone unrelated to... but who wants to get involved in this. The longer, the better."

"Can you do it?"

"Of course!"

Frost Moon nodded heavily, then cracked his fingers, and said blankly, "This is my specialty... trust me with it."

With that, he carried the computer, skillfully crawled into the ventilation duct beside him, and quickly made his way to the monitoring room on the sixth underground level.

He kicked aside the corpse of the old Hacker, disregarding the bloodstains and sour smell on the chair, sat down, looked at the wall full of screens and various incoming communications, and revealed a confident smile.

"Now, full firepower!"

The next moment, the monitoring room was filled with the crackling sound of keyboard clacking, like a solitary artist silently performing...

Yang Lie himself, and those distinguished guests, of course, did not know these things.

At this moment, they were in the conference hall on the 67th floor, clinking glasses and smiling happily.

The hall's decor was truly lavish, the floor covered with expensive red animal fur carpet, and the white chandelier composed of as many as ten thousand natural crystals, emitting a soft yet magnificent glow... the glow of money.

The walls were adorned with exquisite oil paintings, all acquired by Yang Lie from famous artists, each valued in the millions.

He had hired the best designers to arrange all this, making the whole hall exude a noble and dreamlike quality, completely different from the messy and shabby miners' dormitory outside.

"Thank you all for taking the time out of your busy schedules to attend my humble 30th birthday celebration."

Yang Lie walked slowly to the podium at the front of the hall, raised his glass, and smiled as he thanked everyone: "I'm deeply grateful, really."

"Oh, Lord Yang always so courteous."

A Chief Superintendent of the police department smiled and shook his head, flattering: "Being friends with such a great Apprentice Death God like Lord Yang is our honor."

"Indeed."

The other guests also laughed, echoing continuously, "No need to be so polite, Lord Yang."

"We are the ones who should feel honored."

"A kind Death God like Lord Yang would be welcomed everywhere."

"..."

Listening to the compliments, Yang Lie grinned, enjoying it for a while, but did not linger much on the topic.

"Ahem."

He cleared his throat twice and pressed his hands.

The crowd instantly quieted down.

"You all should know, the reason I, Yang Lie, gathered everyone here today is not merely for a birthday celebration."

"I've come with a special cooperation idea that I want to discuss with all of you."

Saying this, he clapped his hands.

The security guard standing by immediately understood and hurried to close the hall's doors and pull down the windows.

This wasn't meant to threaten the guests, but to remind them that this matter was an internal secret of the clan, something extremely important.

The attendees weren't just big entrepreneurs from Midtown District, but also bureaucratic officials within the system, so they naturally understood Yang Lie's meaning, and sat upright accordingly.

"Frankly speaking, although my Tiger Head Heavy Industries specializes in mining and smelting, in places unknown to the world, we've always been researching biotechnology."

"This technology wasn't initiated by me, but at least I've inherited it now, and furthermore, successfully developed its results."

Yang Lie paused briefly and then took out a vial of blue-green reagent from his pocket, waving it in front of everyone.

"Even though due to confidentiality reasons, I can't reveal the specific effects of this result to all of you..."

"But I can say this much."

"Its primary breakthrough direction is on a problem that's been hailed as the highest crown in biology in recent years—harmless life extension!"

"Or rather, anti-aging without side effects."

Upon hearing this, the whole room was in an uproar!

Life extension and anti-aging technology is not uncommon in Nest City.

Whether through mechanical modification or gene editing, it's possible to extend human lifespan.

However, those technologies all have significant flaws.

For instance, mechanical modification can even replace a brain with a chip and replace normal consciousness with electronic consciousness.

But is that so-called electronic consciousness, that so-called "personality," really still the original person?

No one can provide an answer.

As for gene editing, it's extremely unstable, often seeming normal one moment, then mutating the next and twisting a person into a hunk of flesh.

For the wealthy yearning for longevity, these aren't ideal choices.

Only the human body itself is the most suited for "living on" and "enjoying life."

And life extension without side effects could give them a wonderful hope.

Yang Lie's few words sparked everyone's interest, with some even wanting to make a decision on cooperation with the Apprentice Death God on the spot.

But Yang Lie was in no hurry himself, instead applying the strategy of first conquering by feigning indifference, heaving a sigh.

"What a pity..."

"Though progress has been made, there are still some uncertainties at present, so we need a large amount of living people to provide data samples."

"You should all know that my Tiger Head Heavy Industries is ultimately a mining company, and we're unable to apply for so many test subjects, let alone casually use workers for experiments! That would go against my principles and values."

"So..."

He did not continue, but instead cast his undetermined gaze over the crowd.

Yang Lie believed that these intelligent individuals should understand his meaning.

"Can't use workers for experiments?"

Upon hearing this, everyone below furrowed their eyebrows and couldn't help but criticize in their hearts: "Going against your principles? You're just talking nonsense there..."

"Without using workers for experiments, how were your research results obtained? Brought by Martians?"

"It's merely due to the large toll human experiments take on people, and you don't want to bear it, so you want us to help solve it. What other excuse is needed..."

Everyone understood this point, but on the surface, no one dared to speak it out loud.

They were all gentlemen, and words needed to be spoken with decorum.

"Then how many people do you need?"

It was still that Chief Superintendent who took the lead in asking the question.

"We temporarily need this number."

Yang Lie showed a gesture for "5."

"5,000 'volunteer' subjects, as well as 20,000 internal organ samples."

"I will divide this amount into one hundred shares, each acting as 'original stock.' As long as you provide test subjects, our future shares will include a portion for you."

"For you, a mere 25,000 should not be a problem, as long as you stretch out the timeline of doing things a bit, right?"

"..."

The crowd was silent.

In everyone's hearts, a thought unconsciously surfaced.

"25,000 test subjects?"

"You really dare to ask for that..."

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