Don't confiscate my identity as a human race

Chapter 843 - 690: Lanci’s Huadu Endgame_5

Those who had fought before in the Sacred Silvervine Arena understood that what came next was a contest of close-range, powerful moves.

But at this critical moment,

Enon suddenly extinguished all flames, and the magic power that had been gathering around her dissipated as well.

She stood quietly, a peaceful smile on her lips, her gaze calm and composed as if welcoming the ultimate conclusion of a settling dust.

A gray crack ran straight through her heart.

Not until the gray rift burst and Enon coughed up a mouthful of bright blood, slowly closed her eyes, and her body fell weakly down, like a blood-red leaf elegantly drifting amongst the rubble and ruins.

"...?"

Lanci stared, confused as to why Enon had been defeated so easily by him.

"Ivanos? Why on earth...?"

Lanci asked her, bewildered, in that instant.

Talia appeared in person, intercepting Lanci from continuing to approach Ivanos without any precautions.

But Talia also understood that Ivanos likely had no deceit left.

At the moment Lanci sought to kill her,

she surrendered.

Ivanos lay on the ground with a slight smile, looking up at the clouded sky where no sunrise could be seen.

"..."

Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, her eyes gradually dimming.

She neither cried nor laughed, nor did she answer Lanci’s question.

And so, she passed away in serenity.

As if it were the curtain call of her life.

Leaving behind only the Original Tablet - Fire.

"There was such an experiment... It began by giving some mice a period of happiness, implanted electrodes in their brains to record the cells excited by bliss. Then it took away their friends, confined them in a narrow, closed, damp, and cold space, continuously shocked them, occasionally dunking their heads in icy water. They couldn’t escape the night, nor could they struggle. After some time, they despaired."

Lanci spoke, his gaze fixed in the distance.

"How can you be sure it really despaired? What if it was a ’never-say-die’ roach, the more you tormented it, the stronger its will to resist became?"

Talia listened intently, raising her doubt.

She sensed Lanci was even more fatigued than she had imagined, his voice half as light as usual.

"There are two indicators,"

Lanci continued,

"The first is called the sweet water test. After torturing them, they’re placed back in the cage with two types of water, sweet water and plain water."

"A psychologically healthy mouse drinks sweet water and plain water in an eight-to-two ratio; it favors sweet water but occasionally drinks plain water."

"If it goes back and the drinking ratio becomes five-to-five, we consider it disturbed."

"Why?"

Talia asked.

"It has lost its preferences, everything it eats or drinks tastes the same."

Lanci looked at her, explaining.

"..."

Talia seemed to understand; if one day she lost hope, she too might become like that.

If she’d never met Lanci, and upon arriving in Ichrite had found that Hyperion had already met her end, and then found no trace of her sister in the Cerryti Empire, she might have indeed given up on everything but vengeance.

"Of course, one indicator isn’t enough."

Lanci took a deep breath, then let it out,

"The second is called the tail suspension test. They pick up the mouse by the tail, let its head hang down. A psychologically healthy mouse will curl up its head, will struggle. But if it gives up everything, stops resisting, loses the will to live..."

"Then after fulfilling those two criteria, it indeed is in despair."