"Yes, Lord William."
A somewhat dull female voice came through the player.
Although the voice was muffled, Ning Yu's memory was excellent, and she clearly recognized the owner of this voice.
It was the voice of the blue-haired mechanical girl who had broken her crimson blade!
But hearing the voice through the player, it didn't have that lazy, world-weary feeling from Tianshen Elementary School; instead, it sounded rather stiff.
It seemed some time had passed between then and now.
At least she finally knew her name: Lacy.
"The human body is ultimately too weak to withstand complete cybernetic modification."
"Let alone the issue of digitizing consciousness, just considering the body alone, once it exceeds the critical threshold of 51%, it begins to break down."
The voice of the man called William in the player carried a hint of regret, but this didn't seem to be the core issue.
"What should we do then, Lord William?"
The girl Lacy asked in her still-mechanical tone.
"This is a compound that was just successfully tested on human replicas. I call it Utopia."
"With this, humans can break through the 51% genetic limitation and achieve enhancement."
"Then, everyone can undergo complete cybernetic modification and become immortal."
"Everyone can achieve true happiness."
William's voice carried a trace of excitement, as if he was envisioning some beautiful future about to unfold.
"You're a miracle, Lacy, and soon this miracle will happen to everyone!"
"Then, will I still be special to you when that happens?"
Lacy asked in an innocent voice.
"Of course, Lacy, we just need a little more time..."
"But you will always... be... my... beloved."
"Yes... every...thing... as... you... wish, Lord... William"
The voice suddenly became unclear, and Ning Yu noticed the progress bar had reached its end.
But this segment contained enough information to leave her deep in thought.
Lin Hao must have already listened to it once, so he quietly waited for Ning Yu to process her thoughts.
"So... this so-called T-virus is actually the Utopia serum mentioned in the audio?"
Ning Yu voiced her speculation.
"Perhaps, but if that's the case, this Utopia serum must have failed completely."
Lin Hao answered quietly, then continued:
"Or perhaps something we don't know about happened, turning what he called a miracle into a disaster."
Neither of them knew for certain.
Ning Yu recalled the scene of Lacy retrieving the Butcher at Tianshen Elementary School; clearly, she seemed to still be executing some kind of plan.
But obviously, this plan had deviated from what the man named William had originally intended.
"What exactly does cybernetic modification mean?"
Although Ning Yu had a general idea, she still asked.
"According to my understanding, it means replacing human organs, including the brain, with mechanical parts, thus bidding farewell to the cycle of life, aging, illness, and death."
Lin Hao replied.
Ning Yu furrowed her brow; such technology sounded far more advanced than anything from her original world.
However, she remembered the one time she managed to harm Lacy, there had been no blood or organs inside her body - she was a purely mechanical life form.
"At the end of our chromosomes, there's a repeating DNA sequence called telomeres."
Lin Hao continued explaining.
"When telomeres are depleted, cells initiate apoptosis, so they determine our aging process and cannot be restored."
Ning Yu nodded:
"So our lifespan is predetermined, decided from the moment we're born."
"Exactly."
Lin Hao paused briefly before continuing:
"There have been many studies trying to stop this process. For instance, cancer cells can maintain telomere length through telomerase to achieve unlimited replication."
"But the person in the audio wasn't using this method."
"If human organs and internal organs could be directly replaced with mechanical parts, it would be a perfect solution, since mechanical parts can be removed for maintenance or replacement."
"This would completely overcome biological limitations."
"If the consciousness digitization issue could also be solved, as he mentioned, humans would become immortal."
He said quite a lot at once, and Ning Yu listened attentively.
After a while, she spoke:
"But after such modifications, would a person still be human? Would I still be me?"
"Who knows..."
Lin Hao smiled and shrugged, indicating he too was uncertain about this philosophical question.
"But one thing's for sure - something happened, and this guy's plan failed completely."
Ning Yu nodded in agreement.
But the audio ended there, with no further information.
"This is just part of it. I haven't finished analyzing the evolved mutant serum you brought last time; its sequence is even more complex."
Lin Hao said, suggesting they might be able to obtain more information through it.
"I have a question."
Ning Yu suddenly spoke.
"Why did he embed this information in the T-virus sequence? Isn't that completely unnecessary?"
Lin Hao agreed with Ning Yu's point, saying:
"Indeed, it's an interesting question. Logically, it's completely redundant."
"But at least it left us clues. Whatever his purpose was, I need to know exactly what happened."
Lin Hao clenched his fist, his gaze intense.
Ning Yu understood what he was thinking: he wanted to find who was responsible for his wife's death.
"Is there anything I can help with?"
Ning Yu was also very interested in this information, especially now that they had some intelligence about the blue-haired girl Lacy.
If she wanted to continue surviving in this world, she needed to eliminate all unstable factors.
And clearly, both the T-virus and Lacy were unstable factors for her.
"Not at the moment, but more serum would be helpful."
Lin Hao shook his head. His research was progressing smoothly for now. He turned and pulled two vials of clear liquid from his pocket.
These were the purified products from the T-virus serum Ning Yu had obtained from killing the Slaanesh.
"I can't give you the golden one yet; it's still being researched, and the team is still looking for purification methods."
Lin Hao said.
"That's fine, no rush."
Ning Yu nodded, though she knew that serum purified from intermediate mutant zombies would definitely provide more attribute points.
But clearly, intelligence was more important.
"By the way, how's the investigation into the missing mission records we discussed?"
Ning Yu was referring to Wan Heng's mission, whose records had disappeared.
She had asked Lin Hao to help check the database records last time.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
nto another world, I bought a slave for the first time, never expecting the silver wolf girl to be so cute... Lin Feng: I know it's cold, but you don't have to sneak into my bed! Yuna: Just sharing body warmth, if you dare do anything naughty, I'll definitely...
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
