After hearing about the Knights' history, Qing Chen came to realize just how much the previous generations had done to cut down the troubles for the future generations.
Because they cannot go into the oceans anymore, they could no longer complete the eighth Life and Death Stage, so they had to create a new path for themselves.
Qing Chen asked, "What does the breathing technique have to do with endorphins? How come it allows a Knight to break through the genetic locks easier?"
"The breathing technique could help you secrete endorphins the instant after you feel pain. It is a technique that grants you better control of your body. With the help of the breathing technique, it will only take you three months to finish while others may take a few years," Li Shutong said, "So when you use the breathing technique to finish a Life and Death Stage, you will have an abnormally high level of endorphins in your body."
"What other effects does it have?" asked Qing Chen.
"When you finish the first Life and Death Stage, I'll tell you what else it can do, because it’s useless for you to know now." Li Shutong said.
"Can't I just inject endorphins directly?" asked Qing Chen. He believed that with the current technologies in the Inner World. There should be ways to harvest and inject endorphins.
Li Shutong smiled and said, "This is the time that even love can be achieved artificially with Phenylethylamine core, so please understand that outside forces will not do you any good in this case. There had been ancestors that tried to use injected endorphins instead of the breathing technique, but the person wasn't about to unlock the genetic lock after completing the Life and Death Stage."
"We can understand the science behind endorphins, but not the science behind genetic locks. Even today, the genetic locks to every Knight are sacred and untouchable."
"We can only use the dumbest of all methods and follow the paths left from our ancestors. This, after all, is the longest of all shortcuts. The only path to the sacred temple is to cultivate the hard way."
"Ok, I'll remember," said Qing Chen, "Then what happens after I finish all eight of the Life and Death Stages with the assistance of the breathing technique?"
"That's a pointless question." Li Shutong shook his head.
"It's not," said Qing Chen as he looked at Li Shutong, "Because there are no forbidden lands in the Outer World."
For the first time, he saw a look of surprise on Li Shutong's face. Before, this person's face had always been so confident and uncaring.
But upon hearing this, his demeanor changed.
"Yes, your world indeed never had any Extraordinary, so of course there won't be any forbidden lands," said Li Shutong while still being a little shocked, "So you can possibly finish all your Life and Death Stages there."
"What are the forbidden lands and forbidden items?" Qing Chen finally asked what he wanted to know the most.
Ye Wan saw that his boss was thinking about other problems, so he answered, "Forbidden items are from the forbidden lands, and they are both from the same source: the Extraordinaries."
"The Extraordinaries?" asked Qing Chen.
"Yes," Lin Xiaoxiao said, "After an Extraordinary person dies, his powerful blood would seep into the soil and incubate the creatures there, like ants, centipedes, scorpions, and any other insects. It can also fertilize the plants and microorganisms there. Then, these death land organisms would evolve, and the death land would become a forbidden land"
"The oceans in the Inner World are so terrifying because the Kashima1It's a typical Japanese last name, so I used the Japanese pronunciation here. In Chinese, it's pronounced Ludao. Corporation researchers thought that there was once a super-evolved whale that passed away due to old age in the ocean, and its body nourished the entire ocean."
"What did they find out?" asked Qing Chen.
"The Kashima Family used a remote-controlled submarine to search the ocean, testing if it's possible to find another continent. Before it was destroyed by ocean creatures, its cameras captured a large whale skeleton," Lin Xiaoxiao explained, "The exploration was done hundreds of years ago, and it only got released to the public in the recent decades."
Qing Chen asked curiously, "So how large exactly was it?"
"Err," Lin Xiaoxiao didn't know how to how this, "It's just fucking huge."
"Come on," Qing Chen's face darkened, "Speak properly."
"Even when using a wide-angle lens camera on the submarine, it could barely capture the skull from a 300-meter distance," explained Lin Xiaoxiao.
Qing Chen exclaimed, "That is fucking huge!"
From that point on, humans gave up on exploring the oceans.
"Then what about the forbidden items?" asked Qing Chen.
"A forbidden item is something related to an Extraordinary’s life, and it appears decades or centuries after the death of the Extraordinary," explained Lin Xiaoxiao.
"Can you name some examples?" asked Qing Chen.
"Some forbidden items are direct results of the Extraordinary's powers. For example, there is a 6-car train running on the wasteland near City 16. Very few people know where it's going. It will occasionally stop, and if you throw a gold coin into the first car, it can bring you to anywhere you want, and it wouldn't stop until it reaches there."
"A gold coin…"
"Yeah, its first car is filled with gold coins, as many organizations like to use it to smuggle goods, even though finding it is a challenge too."
"Then what if someone tries to steal its gold coins?" asked Qing Chen.
"It will close its doors and trap you inside until you die, that's also why the last car is filled with skeletons." Lin Xiaoxiao laughed, "So don't try to steal from it when you meet it one day."
Qing Chen nodded.
"There are also some forbidden items that have no apparent correlation to the person it was from, just an object with an infinite lifetime," Lin Xiaoxiao continued, "If you happened to tame it, then it would serve you."
"What if there's no way to tame it?"
"Then it would be very dangerous."
At this moment, Li Shutong seemed to have thought through some things and stood up, "Facing these forbidden items, we are like hunters in a forest with a spear in one hand, knowing that there are beasts of all kinds in there and every beast is different. We already categorized these beasts and found some general rules while fighting them. We know which ones we can beat and which ones we must avoid. Now that there are too many beasts, a specialized group of hunters is needed, so here came the Taboo Tribunal. They not only were enemies with the beasts but also those who tamed the beasts."
"They would not only tame the forbidden items, but also the Extraordinaries who might cause forbidden items to appear. They are preventing that one day the beasts will wipe out humanity."
Qing Chen became a little thoughtful after hearing so.
Li Shutong looked at him and said, "From now on, Ye Wan will start teaching you combat techniques, training your physical strength, and familiarize you with the techniques to the eight challenges you will face. I'm envious of you that you are born in the Outer World, but that's not it. The important part is that you might one day change this world. Get started, I can't wait to see that day."
The, Li Shutong left.
Prison 18 seemed a little creepy at night, but Qing Chen left that it was more pleasant than the day. He liked it here.
He was freer here in a prison than anywhere else in the world.
……
1It's a typical Japanese last name, so I used the Japanese pronunciation here. In Chinese, it's pronounced Ludao.
