William and Lacey

"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.