RELDCF 01

Chapter 01

Cyborg

Blue Star

In a hidden laboratory in the suburbs, a young man lay quietly inside a culture tank filled with green liquid. Perhaps it was because his mental strength was relatively high that, despite being in a coma, he could faintly perceive his surroundings. Unfortunately, these signals were intermittent, and his consciousness shifted constantly between sleep and semi-awakening…

“Damn it, this is a scion of the Murong family. How did those aristocrats get their hands on such high-purity bloodlines? They are so protective of their own, it’s sickening.”

“What does it matter if it’s an aristocratic bloodline? Aren’t they all human anyway? Besides, he’s already this old and hasn’t even awakened yet.”

“That’s just it. They usually awaken their bloodlines eventually. The only reason he hasn’t is because of that disease in his body. What a waste.”

…

“What? The Federal troops have noticed us? Retreat immediately! Destroy all experimental data!”

“Understood, Doctor. Data destruction complete.”

Bang!

Accompanied by a violent crash, the tightly closed mechanical door was forcefully smashed open, followed by the sound of chaotic footsteps.

“Stop! Where do you think you’re going? You’ve already been surrounded by military personnel from the vicinity. Drop your weapons and surrender immediately!”

“Do you even know what a magnificent project you’ve just destroyed? Are you content with being oppressed by alien races for so long?”

Beep—

Boom—

…

“Officer, the area search is complete. The remaining experimental materials were destroyed in the explosion. Now, only those few good specimens are left.”

“Is Murong Xiao there?”

“He is. However, we arrived too late. They had already performed experiments on his body; he has become a cyborg.”

“The Federation does not tolerate the existence of cyborgs on its planets. Contact his family to negotiate. You are to send him and the other surviving cyborgs to the prison planet for disposal.”

“Yes.”

…

Not long after, just as Murong Xiao was about to wake up, the culture tank opened. The internal culture fluid poured out onto the barren ground and evaporated, disappearing.

Upon waking, Murong Xiao did not leave in a hurry like the other cyborgs to explore the outside world. Instead, he quickly calmed down to recall everything that had happened before.

Although he didn’t know exactly what had happened later, he vaguely remembered that he had been in the hospital recovering from injuries. It appeared that someone had taken action against him while he was resting.

Kidnapping and theft at a hospital—Murong Xiao had heard such rumors many times before, but he never imagined that such a thing would actually happen to him. Based on the snippets of information he had perceived while in a coma, his intuition told him that his current situation was dire.

Without wasting time, as soon as his judgment was complete, Murong Xiao saw the terrifyingly modified cyborgs in front of him…

“Cyborg”—because this was a taboo term, Murong Xiao didn’t know much about it. Rumor had it that some crazy scientists wanted to fuse humans with the genes of certain fierce beasts to gain immense power. However, these experiments had never succeeded, and the hazards posed by the failures were terrifying, so the Federation had banned this research long, long ago.

Even though it was strictly prohibited, some people continued to research it in the dark. The channels for experimental subjects were numerous: beggars and orphans brought back from the frontier, students with limitless potential… As long as they could get their hands on the required subjects, they would do so, all to increase their experimental success rate.

Thinking that he was now one of these cyborgs, Murong Xiao felt strangely calm. He immediately reached out to touch his face, then his back, and finally, his legs…

Thank goodness, thank goodness. He hadn’t developed any strange monster organs like the other cyborgs, which made Murong Xiao breathe a sigh of relief.

At that moment, he judged that he should be a “semi-finished” cyborg. He had heard that semi-finished cyborgs would not show those strange monster organs, though they still fell into the category of failures and were not worth continuing the research on.

Looking at the barren land, which appeared somewhat distorted due to the high temperature, Murong Xiao hesitated for a moment before bravely stepping out. He knew that staying here was just waiting for death. Even if he went out, he might not have much time left due to the illness in his body, but he refused to die so miserably.

That’s right—he was suffering from a rare, terminal illness in the galaxy. This disease could lie dormant in the human body while constantly and rapidly absorbing the host’s life force. As far as he knew, no one who had contracted this terminal illness had ever lived to adulthood.

It was precisely because of this that his family had never allowed him to touch the family business. It wasn’t that they didn’t love him, but they hoped he could live more comfortably in his remaining time. The Murong family had given him the means to buy whatever he wanted.

As for why, even if he was ill, some people still plotted against him and used underhanded means to make him spend money constantly so that he wouldn’t be able to enjoy it for long. They sometimes even secretly used methods to make him get injured—his hospital stay before had been due to one such injury.

Murong Xiao’s family wasn’t unaware of these things; it was just that those people were instructed by people behind the scenes, so every time his family tried to investigate thoroughly, they were blocked by various excuses from certain family members.

Eventually, Murong Xiao’s family must have known who those people behind the scenes were, but due to their status, they couldn’t take action for the time being. They could only keep these accounts on the books, planning to settle them one by one after he reached adulthood.

In the end, Murong Xiao hadn’t lived to see that day, and now he had encountered this.

Due to the mutation, his past experiences were “Class A,” and the cyborg experiment was also “Class A.” The power that the experiment gave him to possess strength far beyond that of ordinary people also caused a certain deficiency in Murong Xiao’s emotional spectrum. This allowed him to remain calm when facing any situation, thereby reducing his error rate.

“Where is this place?”

On the ground, other semi-finished cyborgs like Murong Xiao were not in a hurry to leave. Some had deformed bodies but still retained a trace of intelligence; others had lost their minds but still retained their human form. Murong Xiao was the only one who retained both his human form and his intelligence.

Perhaps it was because they were all cyborgs; whether they had lost their minds or not, the cyborgs did not harm each other. Those who had lost their minds simply left the facility as soon as they were out of the culture tanks.

As your AI collaborator, I’ve translated the first chapter of your story while maintaining the original character names. Would you like me to continue translating the next chapter, or would you prefer help with editing, character development, or world-building based on what you have so far?