Chapter 120: The Mysterious Girl

"Ahhhhh...!"

The elven girl’s mouth fell open, emitting an irrepressible gasp. Her body arched high, legs stretched taut, and a clear, viscous, warm fluid sprayed from between her thighs onto the floor. The rich, feminine scent of the girl filled the carriage. Nearby, Eluka, Chris, and Kurona flushed bright red, awkwardly turning their heads away as if they had seen nothing at all.

"The physical reaction is no different from that of an ordinary human."

Only when the elven girl collapsed back onto the metal bed did Feren withdraw his fingers from between her legs. He then extended his tongue to taste the fluid that had stained his fingers.

"Physiological responses are perfectly normal, and there appear to be no deficiencies in her reproductive functions... Hmph, I’m actually quite curious whether such a test subject could truly bear offspring. If not for the time-consuming nature of it, I wouldn’t mind putting it to the test."

"I never imagined you would be interested in this sort of thing, Master."

"Think of it as a custom-made blow-up doll; it’s not a bad experience."

Answering Delin casually, Feren looked back at the elven girl. After the stimulation, her face was flushed, her small mouth slightly parted, and she breathed in short, shallow bursts. Yet, this was merely the instinctive reaction of a human body to stimulus; beyond that, she remained motionless. Even after what Feren had done to her, she did not twitch, and there was no trace of self-awareness in her eyes.

She was exactly like a puppet that had lost its soul.

"What kind of person would want this thing?"

Feren narrowed his eyes, staring at the elven girl, a strange, sinister smile creeping onto his face. This certainly wasn’t as simple as some typical shut-in buying her for cosplay. Moreover, Delin had admitted that she could sense a powerful energy within the girl, identical to that of a Familiar. This meant that the elven girl before him had undoubtedly been "manufactured" by someone with intent.

That’s right—at least in Feren’s view, the girl could only be an artificial product.

Cloning, genetic mutation, test-tube babies... the level of human scientific technology before the Great Catastrophe was quite high. Creating a little girl similar to an elf was not actually that difficult. As long as one spent enough money, anything other than ethics was a non-issue; and even ethical concerns were trivial, provided one kept the news away from idiotic organizations like Greenpeace or animal rights groups that lacked a moral compass.

However, this was precisely the crux of Feren’s confusion. If what lay before him were merely a man-made freak, that would be one thing. The real problem was that Delin sensed the power of a Familiar within her.

This made the situation very strange.

It was common knowledge that Familiars only appeared on Earth after the Great Catastrophe, and they were not invaders, but victims—in their eyes, life in their homeland was far more comfortable than on this broken wasteland. Having been inexplicably transported to such a wretched place, they were even more dissatisfied than humanity.

But now, a pre-Catastrophe artificial lifeform possessed the power of a Familiar. This was not something that could be laughed off. Even Feren wore a grave expression, his brows furrowed. He had already inspected the cryo-pod, and based on the current data, it was certain that the pod had been sealed before the Great Catastrophe. The implications of this were dire.

The origins of the Great Catastrophe remained an unsolved mystery to this day. If one were to poll the citizens of the wasteland on the answer they most desired, the cause of the Catastrophe would surely top the list. After all, this was not a nuclear war of mutual destruction; after the Catastrophe, everything changed—the humans, the animals, and even monsters that had never existed before. Everything had been irrevocably altered.

On the wasteland, most people believed the Catastrophe was certainly not a natural phenomenon, though some rumored it was a meteor or comet impact. Yet, they could not explain why humans possessed systems or energy networks after the event.

The Familiars, too, wanted to know the answer. They desperately wished to find the "culprit" who caused them to cross over, perhaps even hoping to use it as a breakthrough to return to their own world. After all, to them, this world—left in chaos by humans and teeming with monsters—had nothing worth lingering for. Just as an educated white-collar elite would not choose to settle down in a desolate, impoverished countryside with a terrible living environment.

And now, the key to all of this was likely sitting right before Feren.

"What a nuisance..."

Even Feren felt a headache coming on. He enjoyed killing, fighting, and tearing people limb from limb. But he did not enjoy being caught in overly troublesome affairs. As it stood, however, the situation was not just troublesome—it was bordering on severe.

Yet, simultaneously, Feren felt a flicker of excitement. If things were as he suspected and the elven girl was connected to the Great Catastrophe, then the organization trying to take her was likely involved as well—or perhaps they were the ones who had manufactured the Catastrophe itself. At the very least, they should know the truth. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be hunting for this elven girl.

But this faction was not the Federation.

Recalling the investigation report on the Federation that the "Emperor" had sent him, Feren quickly dismissed that thought. With the Federation’s pathetic, bottom-tier strength, they could not possibly possess such capabilities. Judging by his own instincts, Feren suspected the Federation was merely a puppet. The disparity in power between the Federation they faced and the entity behind this was simply too vast.

On one hand, they could produce strange serums that turned ordinary people into ability users, but on the other, the Federation lacked the military force to match such strength. According to Feren’s memory, only three people in the Federation possessed those mutation serums, and all three were high-ranking officials. If this were truly Federation technology, there was no way they would have used it on themselves first. This wasn't some high-tech consumer product like a smartphone; when it involved living organisms and mutations, one could never be too careful.

"What shall we do next, Master?"

Seeing Feren’s expression, the cat-eared maid asked with a hint of concern. Faced with Delin’s question, Feren hesitated for a rare moment before giving his answer.

"In any case, let’s head back to the Ninth District first."