My Cell Prison - Chapter 29

Chapter 29: Chapter 29 – Cell Essence

Translator: Exodus Tales

Editor: Exodus Tales

30 minutes after meeting Nina, the mechanic apprentice looking sister of his had finally calmed down… She simply could not believe that her own brother had managed to survive.

On their way home, Nina finally asked the one question that she had kept hidden for the longest time, “You’re not my brother, are you?”

Actually, before Han Dong had entered the Space of Destiny, Nina had also said something similar.

“How can you tell?”

“Brother Valen is completely different from you. He’s very lazy, and is absolutely good for nothing… He totally lacks any traits that you’d find in an ‘elder brother’. He’s completely unwilling to do anything, spending all his time at home doing absolutely nothing. After he was forcibly requested to participate in the Space of Destiny, he had already completely given up any hope of living when he wore that clockwork device. Somewhere around the afternoon on the day that the Space of Destiny would be active, he had run out of the house all by himself. I had even thought he had been so afraid of what was to come that he killed himself in advance.”

“He had indeed killed himself… It just so happened that I came across him and am now in his place.”

Han Dong had decided to come clean after thinking over this very carefully. From the words that Nina had just used, she did not sound like she was too fond of this Nicholas Valen, perhaps even looking down upon this brother of hers. 

Now that Han Dong had this returnee identity, there was no reason for Nina to do anything unfavorable to Han Dong, so there was a very good chance that she would accept everything.

“So he killed himself… Who are you?”

“Don’t worry, I’m originally a human as well. Even though I’ve assumed your brother’s identity, I will still be a member of your family.”

There was a flash of uncertainty in Nina’s eyes, only to smile after a while, “Actually, this is pretty good too… At the very least, mother won’t have to worry about big brother anymore. Thank you… I’ll be sure to keep this matter a secret.”

“Okay.”

As long as Nina completely trusted him, the possibility of his identity being exposed would be very low.

That was when this short brown hair sister of his, wearing a pair of protective goggles, actually took the initiative to hold Han Dong’s hand as she beamed, “Let’s go home, big brother… Mother surely cannot believe that you’ve managed to come back to us alive.”

As an adult man who had spent large portions of his time in the laboratory, holding hands with this younger sister of his made his body shudder ever so slightly.

“Uh, speaking of which, does my returnee status help the family in any way?”

“Of course it would. At the very least, I won’t be forced to enter the Space of Destiny and would have plenty of time to prepare. Furthermore, once big brother begins his further education in the Knights’ Academy, the school would be on the opposite bank of the Mosrabi River. There is special student housing over there, so mother and I would both be able to move out of the Commoner’s District and lead a life without worrying about food or clothes.”

Saying this, Nina could not help but privately giggle, the happiness she felt overflowing within her.

“I see! In that case… Later tonight, come over to my room… I have plenty of things I need to ask you.”

“Okay, no problem! I am also considered half a mechanic apprentice, and my master knows plenty of information that the average citizen wouldn’t know about.”

Just like that, with Han Dong settling the issue of his identity, he followed Nina and made his way back to a cramped collective apartment in the Commoner’s District.

The place was as cramped and chaotic as the Kowloon Walled City.

Nina had been through countless times, and they passed through several more dark alleys that snaked in every angle possible, only narrow enough for one person to barely squeeze through before they found a damp and gloomy flight of stairs that went up.

On the seventh floor was a simple apartment that had two bedrooms and a single living room. As the four walls had nowhere for sunlight to shine through, the entire place depended on several kerosene lamps to light up the rooms. 

This was very different from the steam-powered city of machinery that he saw from the outside… This was the commoners that lived on the lowest rung of the social ladder, with hardly any metal in sight. Most of the furniture here was made of wood.

Han Dong heard the sound of a door opening as his ‘mother’ with brown mixed with plenty of white hair, bearing a slightly hunchbacked figure stepped out. 

She was very different from the memory that he had of a plump caucasian woman.

Nicholas’ mother gave people the sense that she was prematurely aging and barely skin and bones. Everyone in this family had issues with sufficient food and warmth… With only Nina’s figure looking fairly okay.

“Oh heavens! Nicholas… Do my eyes deceive me? You’re still alive?”

Hearing such words coming out from his birth mother was somewhat odd, but nobody would have believed that a frail and sickly loser like Nicholas would be able to come back alive.

Han Dong merely smiled slightly as he nodded and answered, “That’s right… Mom, we’ll soon be able to move out from here. I’m very tired today, so I’ll return back to my room to rest up first.”

“You do that. When dinner is ready, I’ll get Nina to send it over to your room.”

His mother was crying tears of joy by this time, and the look of concern that she showed to Han Dong made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

He lowered his head politely and hurried back to his room.

When he called out the word ‘mom’, he could vaguely feel the slightest bit of emotion in his very soul… After all, Han Dong had been an orphan since young and had never once used the word mum or dad.

“Let’s just leave the family issue at this point for now. Now that I’m being honest with Nina, the issue of revealing my true identity is significantly reduced. Furthermore, learning about how the nation is forcibly conscripting youths to enter the Space of Destiny, their urgent need for talent is evident, and as a returnee, even the fact that I’m a foreigner who came and stole Nicholas’ body should not be too big a problem. What this nation needs is talent, so as long as my interests are completely aligned with that of the Holy City, they should be able to readily accept me. Of course… Not revealing my identity would still be the best.”

Han Dong was lying on the relatively comfortable wooden bed of his, ready to start on his next major task. 

Having just returned from the Space of Destiny, Han Dong doubted that Nina or his mother would come and disturb him.

He activated his Faceless One’s Head, and Han Dong now appeared inside his Portable Prison… However, he was not here to visit Miss Chenli this time.

Opening the doors to the sterile laboratory inside, Han Dong’s purpose this time was to inspect the Cell Essences that he had collected.

Sure enough, the syringe that was placed in the center display case of the room had already stored these things, the Cell Essences that he had collected from the corpses of the special lifeforms.

Retrieving the syringe from its display case, he walked over to the clean bench.

Han Dong had already done countless cell seeding experiments like this in his previous life, but he was still a little nervous right now, somewhat worried that he did it improperly and harm the mass that represented his own mass of cells.

“The first step is always the hardest… A single success is all it takes to pave the way.”

Han Dong focused all his attention to the task as he stared at the mass of cells on the workbench.

In the event that the cells were to show any signs of distress during the injection period, he would immediately stop what he was doing, but the situation was much simpler than what Han Dong had imagined.

When the syringe got near the mass of cells, the plasma membrane actually contracted to reveal a small hole that was the perfect fit for the needle…

Slowly pushing the plunger, the cell essence was slowly injected into the mass of cells.

After the injection was complete, a prompt sounded

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The Cell Essence has all been injected. Load Value limit increased by 25 points. (5 points from the Plague Corpses and 20 points from the Wraith Specimen)

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“Five of those Plague Monsters only gave me 5 points… yet a single evil spirit was worth 20 points!” Han Dong was shocked. His Load Value limit had really increased!

At this rate, he can search for a new body or even a body part, slowly repair or replace this weak body he currently resided in.

“Let’s start with my ‘Arm’…”