Inside a विशाल vaulted chamber, countless cables connected every part of the dome to the external cranial nerves. All neural information was processed and converted within this room.
At that moment, from a dark corner high above the room, a drop of blood seeped from the junction between a cable and a nerve, landing lightly on the floor without making a sound.
The blood seemed like an independent living entity as it surveyed the surroundings, then slowly crawled toward the room's sole exit. However, the electronic doors were all made of the same white material, with molecular gaps only one-tenth the width of a single molecule. They were completely impermeable.
An iris scanner was embedded in the door, seemingly requiring special identification before access would be granted.
"Buzz!"
A mechanical sound rang out as the metal automatic door before the blood slid into the walls on both sides. The person entering from the outer corridor was none other than the diminutive Old Man Ksitigarbha. Naturally, the blood was Zhang Chen in disguise. As he observed the old man he had killed above, he quickly spotted something unusual.
"It seems these are all semi-mechanical artificial humans Ksitigarbha created based on his original ghost body. There should be quite a few throughout the laboratory, all used to manage the experimental facilities here."
Zhang Chen studied the artificial human before him. The other party had likely detected a faint electrical fluctuation in one of the neural transmission conduits through the system and had come to confirm whether something was wrong.
As the blood paused upon the body of the Ksitigarbha semi-artificial human, it swiftly attached itself to the man's heel and slowly climbed upward. While his attention was focused on the cables in the room, Zhang Chen rapidly assimilated the flesh-and-blood portions inside