Between life and death lies a great terror. Li Siran had lived through the world-ending scenes of the apocalypse and seen the opening of the end times, when a human life was worth no more than a weed, and he understood exactly where his own terror came from.

Shi Jingang had brainwashed him because Shi Jingang promised him he would be made an evolved person.

A scientist should never have believed a charlatan. He should have believed the government. But under the terror of life and death, Li Siran believed Shi Jingang, and off he went to be a monk.

In fact, after a year as a monk he was still an ordinary person, living off the con and enjoying the status.

He had not become the evolved person he dreamed of.

Under Shen Cong's threats and inducements, Li Siran finally "came to his senses" and chose the first option: work with Shen Cong in exchange for the chance to become an evolved person.

As for the other researchers, the ones who had not been brainwashed deeply chose to cooperate readily enough. Only two were too deeply brainwashed and flatly refused.

Right in front of Li Siran and the rest, Shen Cong gave his reason — traitors to the species were beyond forgiveness — and pop, blew their heads open.

Next came the three collaborators, the monks who had worked the natural carrier vehicles and taught the Firestarter Spirit. Shen Cong finished using them and simply blew their heads open too. He held to the principle of fair trade, but he had his own line, and the three monks had crossed it by acting as traitors to the species. They did not have the scientific ability of Li Siran and the others either. So all that was left for them was to die.

"I hold to the principle of fair trade... The right you now have to be alive is something you'll pay for later with your research results, and so are the Spilled Water Serum and every kind of living resource. I'll instruct the Provisional Government to arrange it…