Shave It Down to Nothing

Having finally mastered the proper use of the Brain-in-a-Box, Xiao Bai set about tackling his main task.
He first visited a professional academic website, searched for "Email Anti-Tracking," sorted the results by citation count, and skimmed through the top-ranked papers.
He couldn't fully comprehend the technical details, but he managed to jot down the names of the specialized software needed and tasked his "phone" with handling the setup.
Next, he reviewed several more accessible, introductory papers and cobbled together a rudimentary "Anti-Location" system using the recommended software.
"This should do the trick, right? If that bastard still finds me, I'll blow his head off!"
Xiao Bai finally opened the Encrypted Email app, registered a new account, and began drafting an anonymous whistleblower letter.
He detailed the murder of the teacher and student, the subsequent cover-up, and everything else.
But instead of writing from the perspective of a victim, he claimed to be a "concerned citizen," neither revealing that he was still alive nor mentioning the 2-114 Abyss Gate, known as "Paradise."
He copied and pasted the anonymous letter, sending it to the whistleblower email addresses of the Mecha Alliance, police, Defense Force, authoritative media outlets, independent journalists, and various influential online figures, doing everything possible to maximize the impact.
"Let's feel out the situation first, see how much attention we can draw and if we can find some influential figures we can trust to uphold justice. Hopefully it works."
After completing this crucial task, Xiao Bai searched the internet for a few topics he was particularly interested in, such as Paradise (No. 2-114), the Foundation, and the Funeral Rangers.
Of course, his feet didn't rest either. He activated the scanning function again, preparing to explore areas he hadn't visited yet.
But after this scan, something unusual appeared on the System's 'large and small maps': a dense cluster of yellow arrow symbols.
"Huh? Are these indicating available resources I can harvest? Is it because the Brain-in-a-Box has greatly increased my processing power, allowing me to harvest more and scan with greater precision?"
"Excellent! I was worried about searching such a massive base thoroughly. Now this is perfect—watch me strip it bare!"
Xiao Bai felt like the only survivor who had parachuted into a military base, school, or boxing gym. Even if he was eventually killed by the shrinking zone or toxic gas, he'd search every corner first.
[Bio-cultivation Chamber Component 1 acquired.]
[Genetic Analyzer Component 2 acquired.]
Autonomous Main Control Module Component 3 acquired.
Biological Embryo Fragment 1 acquired.
Power Engine Fragment 2 acquired.
The items here were scattered in such a haphazard manner that searching was inefficient, but Xiao Bai had both time and patience in abundance. He didn't find it the least bit tedious and even seemed to enjoy the task.
He managed his time well, using the gaps between rushing about and bumping into walls to search online for information. Soon, he had some results.
First, about this "Paradise":
It turns out that the Abyss Gate of Paradise 2-114 was destroyed by that Great Demon Lord of Discharge a year ago, leading to its designation as "sunk"... No wonder they say this base is completely abandoned and no more trash is being thrown in.
To shut down a Paradise, the simplest method for humans is to bombard the Abyss Gate wit h massive amounts of energy, such as thermal or electrical energy, causing it to collapse. The higher the danger level of the Paradise, the stronger and more difficult to destroy the gate becomes. But this is only level 2, so it's relatively easy to close.
Once the Abyss Gate is shut, escape can only be achieved through special means, such as emergency escape devices. But re-entry becomes almost impossible. To the outside world, it's like a sunken ship.
"So I don't have to worry about that Great Demon Lord suddenly reappearing in front of me for now. But I still need to be careful about the culprit who attacked me. He might have mastered some kind of black technology. Otherwise, how could he have thrown me into this place?"
Xiao Bai organized his thoughts, continuing to search and browse the official website of the "Future Evolution Foundation."
This was the result he found when searching for that human proportion division diagram.
Upon entering the site, the first thing that caught his eye was a curtain inscribed with the words "Survival of the fittest, the strong survive." This confirmed that this was indeed the "Foundation" Xiao Bai was looking for.
He hadn't expected it to be some secretive, mysterious organization, but rather a well-respected entity in both the financial and scientific communities, with a certain degree of official backing. It was also part of the "Future Evolution Society," a consortium of several organizations all sharing the "Future Evolution" name, which frequently made headlines.
This wasn't surprising. If it were truly an illicit organization, it wouldn't have been able to jointly establish this base with the Defense Force and the Academy of Sciences.
According to their official webs ite, the Foundation specialized in investing in and supporting various laboratories and research institutes, focusing primarily on genetic evolution. This put them in direct competition with the Prometheus Society, which advocated for mechanical evolution.
"It seems both sides want to lead and dominate the future of humanity... Genetic evolution, mechanical evolution—both paths seem quite formidable."
"It can't possibly be the Spirit Energy path, right? I'd rather believe I'm Qin Shi Huang."
Xiao Bai couldn't find any more information here, so he searched for the keyword "Funeral Rangers."
As expected, there was very little information. The most recent news was from a year ago, about the destruction of the 2-114 Abyss Gate, but it didn't mention anything about the base, and the report was very vague.
Earlier news was similar. There would be a story every year or so about them destroying some factory or warehouse, but they were all equally vague, not even reporting the losses or casualties.
Xiao Bai understood. That Devil Head's terrifying combat power could truly cause social panic...
He casually scrolled through the rest of the page when he suddenly saw a very eye-catching title:
Why are the Funeral Rangers so powerful?
It looked like a forum post. Xiao Bai hurriedly clicked on it, only to find that he needed to log in to view it?
But he couldn't directly register a new account either. He needed to fill in an authentication code and an invitation code to complete registration.
"What kind of forum is this? A trap?"
He glanced at the forum's name:
Paradise Tavern
"I've never heard of it, but I'm quite curious..."
Xiao Bai tried wishing his "phone" again, to see if he could write a program to bypass the login verification.
After a one-second black screen, a "Force Login" program appeared on the screen.
Only then did he successfully open the post.
But apart from the title, there were only two replies:
"Because the Funeral Rangers likely obtained some unique Paradise Technology, and it's probably Spirit Energy-related... Wait, didn't I post this three years ago? How come I'm the only one who replied?"
Damn...
Xiao Bai was left torn between laughter and exasperation.
He initially wanted to close the browser, but since he was on the move, he decided to quickly glance at some other posts on the forum.
Then his expression gradually shifted from surprise to delight.
This forum seems a bit... unusual.

Chapter end