Therefore, unless absolutely necessary—when he had truly run out of options—Ai Yue would never prioritize borrowing Aponia's power.
"What do you suggest?" Mobius looked at him. "At least offer some advice. Let's see what you're capable of."
"I really don't have any good ideas." Ai Yue shook his head. "At present, Dr. Mei's plan is indeed the only feasible one. In the end, the power we possess is still too weak. We simply don't have the qualifications to bargain with the higher-ups."
Naturally, that was just something he said for appearances. As for plans, Ai Yue could come up with plenty. It was just that almost none of them were usable right now.
He couldn't exactly say, I know the next Herrscher will be the Herrscher of Consciousness. As long as we kill her, take out her Herrscher Core for research, and make a large-scale Mind Controller to brainwash all those powerful officials, everything will be fine, could he?
Leaving aside whether they could deal with the higher-ups of Moth to Fire, if he said something like that, these two scholars in front of him would probably dissect him first.
You can predict the next Herrscher? You little brat, are you a spy sent by the Honkai?
So in the end, he could only keep this matter buried in his heart and personally carry it out when the time was right.
If things really came to that...
Ai Yue glanced at the system's technology tree. In a remote corner, a dim star named "Mind Controller" waited to be lit.
Once I shave my head, I'll cosplay Yuri and brainwash all of you!
And so, after a brief silence, the group moved on from the topic. Until the next subject was raised, not a single person suggested "using a Fusion Warrior surgery with a one-hundred-percent success rate to force the higher-ups into submission."
That was because they all understood clearly that it was impossible to make the higher-ups obey through flattery and compromise. Human greed would only make them grow more avaricious, driving them to demand even more.
If a person who possessed power and harbored greed gained a long lifespan, the world would learn what it truly meant for a disaster to have no end.
That was also one reason Dr. Mei wanted Ai Yue to keep himself hidden. The extremely high failure rate of Fusion Warrior surgery was precisely why the higher-ups of Moth to Fire had not developed ulterior motives toward it. But if they learned that there was a way to become a Fusion Warrior with one-hundred-percent stability, they would definitely do everything in their power to become the sole beneficiaries.
If these people started a war over the right to become the only immortals, human civilization would truly be beyond saving.
"All right, we've finished discussing the most important matter." Dr. Mei offered a final summary. "As for the reshuffling and reorganization of the Poison Pupa Unit, I'll choose suitable people to carry it out. Do you have anything else?"
"No." Mobius shook her head. "It has nothing to do with me anyway. If there's nothing else, hurry up and leave. I still have a lot of work to do today."
"I have a question." Ai Yue suddenly remembered something important. "Dr. Mei, what's the current state of Moth to Fire's research into Artificial Intelligence?"
Ai Yue didn't know whether the super AI "Prometheus" from the original story had been created at this point in time. If it could be brought into existence before the Eighth Herrscher appeared, many matters would have a new solution.
"Artificial Intelligence?" Dr. Mei thought for a moment. "I'm not in charge of that project right now. If you're interested, I can take you to meet the project leader another day."
Mobius Couldn't Understand
Hearing Dr. Mei's words, Ai Yue raised his eyebrows.
Although Moth to Fire was enormous, there weren't many scholars who could be described as standing at the top. If Dr. Mei could confidently hand a project like Artificial Intelligence over to someone else, then that person should at least be a scholar on her level.
Besides Mei and Mobius, that only left...
"Can Vill-V really handle another project?" Mobius clearly knew some of the inside details. Upon hearing Dr. Mei, she couldn't help saying, "Weren't you also planning to hand the 'Divine Keys Project' over to her?"
"She's the most suitable candidate. There's nothing I can do about that." Dr. Mei sounded somewhat helpless. "I can't spare the time right now... But if Mr. Ai Yue is interested, why not let you take charge of the Artificial Intelligence Project?"
"Are you sure? Artificial Intelligence is completely different from the Fusion Warrior Project..." Mobius stopped halfway through her sentence, then shook her head. "Oh, he wasn't a specialist in that field to begin with. Never mind."
"Can you really hand it over to me?" Ai Yue froze. "Can projects like this be passed around like a hot potato over here?"
"Vill-V has always complained that I assign her too many projects, and she even uses the opportunity to demand excessive funding." Dr. Mei still wore a smile, but faint trails of black smoke seemed to rise behind her. "This is the perfect chance to teach her a lesson and stop her from spending funds on strange things."
"But Vill-V definitely won't hand the project over so easily." Mobius added from the side, "That woman is extremely stubborn. If you want her to spit out the meat she's already swallowed, you'll have to prove your ability."
"Prove my ability again..." Ai Yue's expression turned strange. "Can't you two do it together?"
He hadn't forgotten that the screening of Garuda's genomic information had originally been Mobius's test for him.
"Even if we did it together, it wouldn't work. She's a genius too, but unfortunately, we aren't the same kind of person." Mobius shook her head. "So even if we came together, you'd still have to undergo two tests."
"All right." Ai Yue didn't say anything else. "Anything more? If not, I'll be leaving first."
"We can handle the rest." Dr. Mei nodded. "I'll let you know in advance when you can go over to Vill-V's side."
"Okay." Ai Yue nodded and had just stood up when he seemed to remember something. "Oh, right. Could you give me a copy of the records and relevant materials from Kevin and the others' Fusion Warrior surgeries? I'd like to take a look."
Dr. Mei and Mobius exchanged glances. After thinking for a moment, Dr. Mei nodded. "No problem. However, these materials cannot be shared with anyone else. You may only read them yourself."
Only after Ai Yue left did Mobius turn to Dr. Mei. "What do you think of him?"
"Hmm? Why do you ask?" Dr. Mei blinked. "Is there something wrong with him?"
"I couldn't figure it out, which is why I'm asking you." Mobius sighed. "But think about it. Someone who can solve in a single day a problem that an entire institute—or rather, all of Moth to Fire—has failed to solve for years. Doesn't that sound like something that isn't human?"
"What are you suspecting?" Dr. Mei looked at Mobius. After years together, she vaguely sensed what Mobius was thinking and couldn't help laughing. "Are you suspecting that he was sent by the Honkai?"
"It may not be the Honkai. It could be something else. Who knows?" Mobius shrugged. "In any case, you tell me this guy is human, but I can't really agree."
"That doesn't sound like something you'd say, Mobius." Dr. Mei looked at her in surprise. "Aren't you the one who hates those narrow-minded arguments that define humanity so restrictively?"
Mobius's scientific philosophy was exceptionally unrestrained. Her entire life had been devoted to finding a way for humanity to evolve. Even if it meant borrowing the power of the Honkai, the prototype of the Fusion Warrior Project had come from that pursuit.
For someone like her to say that another person "wasn't human" felt strangely out of place.
"Maybe I'm just unwilling to accept it. Watching someone effortlessly accomplish something I would have to painstakingly research for who knows how long... Perhaps that resentment deep in my heart made me want to deny him." Mobius fell silent for a moment, then sighed. "So this is 'jealousy'? This is my first time experiencing such a feeling."
Dr. Mei simply watched Mobius in silence. Mobius wasn't lost and in need of someone else to enlighten her. She could figure out something this trivial on her own.
"Let's not talk about that anymore. How are things on your end?" Mobius calmed herself down. She seemed somewhat embarrassed, so she changed the subject. "The research on the Sea of Quantum... Is it still not going well?"
"We've made a little progress, but only a little." Dr. Mei sighed, clearly troubled by her own project. "We can't even open a 'door' that stays open for thirty seconds, let alone establish a stable passage."
The Sea of Quantum was a concept known to only a very small number of people. It was also Dr. Mei's primary area of research. After all, Moth to Fire had noticed her because of a lecture she had given on quantum mechanics.
Dr. Mei had confirmed the existence of the Sea of Quantum through theoretical deductions and experimental research. However, there was still a barrier between her and true contact with it. If one day that barrier could be broken and a passage connecting to the Sea of Quantum could truly be established, humanity might find a new way out in the face of the Honkai threat.
To overcome this problem as quickly as possible, Dr. Mei had delegated all her other projects to different research groups. Even so, the project's progress remained unsatisfactory.
"If that guy can pass Vill-V's test," Mobius suddenly said, "should we let him try the Sea of Quantum project too?"
"Are you serious?" Dr. Mei looked at her and suddenly narrowed her eyes. "Or are you still suspicious of him?"
"I'm not suspicious of him. I'm just curious." Mobius covered her face with a document, revealing only a pair of eyes. "That intelligence of his—was he born with it, or did he acquire it later?"
"If he was born with it, he shouldn't have only appeared in our field of vision now. But if he learned it later, then by what method did he master all of this in such a short time?"
The Secret of Fusion Warrior Surgery
Ai Yue had no idea Mobius was criticizing him behind his back. His attention was currently focused on Kevin's experimental report.
This observation report on the Fusion Warrior surgery was cold and precise, without a trace of human warmth. He couldn't tell whether it had been written by Dr. Mei or Mobius. It recorded in detail the entire process Kevin had undergone during the Fusion Warrior surgery.
After reading the whole thing, there were only two words to describe it: miracle.
Kevin really had an incredibly tough life. A murderous surgery with a success rate that didn't reach one until the sixth decimal place hadn't managed to kill him. It was truly astonishing.
Moreover, Ai Yue could be certain that the Fusion Warrior Formula he had obtained earlier had been further optimized after Kevin's surgery. In other words, the situation Kevin had faced back then had been even more desperate.
Attached to the end of the surgical records were the Hypervariable Factor data of the Emperor-class Honkai Beast "Parvati" used by Kevin. Ai Yue entered it into the system's simulated construction and began his own simulation.
It wasn't until more than nine thousand attempts that Ai Yue successfully simulated an experiment in which Kevin survived. That experiment also had serious aftereffects. Not only was Kevin's body temperature extremely low, he also constantly emitted high concentrations of Honkai Energy into the surrounding area. At that concentration, the people performing surgery on him would become dead apostles before they could even finish the operation.
Furthermore, this leakage of Honkai Energy would drastically shorten Kevin's lifespan. He would never have lived as long as he did in the original story.
Under those circumstances, the fact that Kevin had only suffered from a lowered body temperature could only be attributed to extraordinary luck.
However, Ai Yue hadn't asked for the Fusion Warrior surgery reports just to see how lucky Kevin was. More importantly, he wanted to use different Hypervariable Factors to simulate different fusion results and thereby perfect the Fusion Warrior Formula.
The reason the Hypervariable Factor he had derived from Garuda's genome had such a high success rate was that he had essentially screened out the wrong answers through constant trial and error. It didn't mean Ai Yue could achieve the same success rate with the genes of any Honkai Beast.
Therefore, completing the Ultimate Fused Warrior Formula was still the most urgent task. Only by lowering the difficulty and threshold of becoming a Fusion Warrior would there be any chance of creating a future with 1.3 billion—or even 3 billion—Fusion Warriors.
After completely understanding Parvati's Hypervariable Factor, Ai Yue began modifying the Fusion Warrior Formula. He soon perfected a small portion of it, causing the completion rate to rise another notch.
This also proved his guess. Optimization points were merely a convenient system function that allowed him to skip the research process by consuming materials. Even without optimization points, he could gradually perfect an entire project through his own continued study and research.
Setting Kevin's surgical records aside, Ai Yue picked up the second report—the report on Elysia's surgery.
Elysia's surgery had been performed by Mobius alone, so the surgical report was very simple. It only gave a rough description of the process and results, without much valuable information. It didn't even record the surgery's success rate. Clearly, this had been a very informal operation.
If Ai Yue hadn't asked for it, Mobius probably wouldn't have brought this thing out at all.
Like Kevin's surgical records, this report also had the Honkai Beast's Hypervariable Factor attached at the end. Unlike Kevin, Elysia had chosen the genes of the End-of-Law Class Honkai Beast "Mahamayuri." It seemed that Moth to Fire currently possessed only this one End-of-Law class Honkai Beast.
What was even more interesting was that Elysia's Fusion Warrior surgery didn't have a success rate at all in Ai Yue's system.
If Kevin's surgery had been a miracle that occurred only once in tens or even hundreds of thousands of attempts, then Elysia's surgery would have resulted in her dying on the spot even if it had been performed hundreds of millions of times.
In other words, using the current Fusion Warrior Formula to process an End-of-Law class Honkai Beast's Hypervariable Factor could not combine it with a human to create a Fusion Warrior.
But Elysia was special. She had probably realized this herself, which was why she wanted to become a Fusion Warrior at the very beginning.
After all, this would allow her to provide experience for those who came after her while also avoiding the possibility of people discovering something suspicious if she underwent the procedure after the technology matured.
Using the new formula and his own experience, Ai Yue optimized Mahamayuri's genome several more times. After discovering that the success rate still hadn't changed, he decisively abandoned the record.
Perhaps he would only make a new breakthrough once he had the opportunity to obtain Elysia's materials.
Compared with the previous two, Mobius and Sakura's surgeries were already somewhat more standardized. Ai Yue entered the Hypervariable Factors the two of them had used, and it didn't take much effort to repair them to a success rate of ninety-six percent.
After using their data to further perfect the Fusion Warrior Formula, Ai Yue began attempting the true goal of the day: how to eliminate the aftereffects of Fusion Warrior surgery.
Aftereffects had always been an unavoidable result of Fusion Warrior surgery. From Kevin's extremely low body temperature at the beginning, to Elysia's elf-like ears, Mobius's snake scales, and Sakura's fox ears, even when the Hypervariable Factor had become fairly mature in the middle period, Pardofelis had still grown cat ears and a cat tail after undergoing the surgery in the original story.
This only finally ended after Dr. Mei completely perfected the Fusion Warrior Formula and created the second-generation Hypervariable Factor. By the time Hua underwent the procedure with that version of the Hypervariable Factor, she had no obvious aftereffects.
But Ai Yue's goal went beyond that. What he wanted to try now was whether the aftereffects left on Fusion Warriors could be reversed through a second surgery or other means.
Perhaps obvious physical mutations could not be eliminated, but was an imbalance in body temperature really impossible to change?
Ai Yue once again repaired the Fusion Warrior Formula based on the experimental results of the two people. The formula's completion had now reached an astonishing fifty-five percent. With the data of four or five more people, he would probably be able to bring the second-generation Hypervariable Factor into existence ahead of schedule.
But at this point, he also realized a problem: some aftereffects were actually the key to the success of Fusion Warrior surgery.
Physical mutations could serve as a kind of "buffer zone," dissolving the rejection produced when human genes fused with Honkai Beast genes and accommodating redundant genetic information, thereby increasing the success rate.
In other words, the more deformed a Fusion Warrior looked, the higher the success rate. If one wanted to increase the success rate through simple and crude means, one should actually increase the likelihood of aftereffects appearing and leave enough buffer and redundancy for the fused genes.
Ai Yue wavered. Thinking about it carefully, this plan was both cheap and simple. It merely provided a direction, and Mobius could probably complete it after researching for a while. Could it be promoted?
Besides, having more beast-eared girls in the world didn't seem so bad, did it?
Come Join Us
In the end, Ai Yue rejected the beast-eared girl plan himself.
Although this world had endured countless hardships, the gender ratio was still currently skewed toward men. In other words, for every number of beast-eared girls Fusion Warrior surgery produced, it would definitely produce even more... uh, beast-eared men.
So this definitely couldn't be the final version of the Fusion Warrior Project. But as a transitional version, it could still be used.
Ai Yue spent half a day simulating it in the system and finally found a formula that could stably construct mutated bodies. This would greatly increase the success rate of Fusion Warrior surgery. The remaining optimization work could probably be handed over to Mobius.
Mass production ultimately wasn't something Ai Yue could accomplish alone. If they wanted to increase the number of Fusion Warriors and prepare for the war to come, they had to rely on Moth to Fire's power.
After sending the updated formula and a general explanation to Mobius through Moth to Fire's internal network, Ai Yue turned his attention to the next matter.
Could Kevin's uncontrolled body temperature be reversed through follow-up procedures?
Ai Yue directly chose to use the Kevin hair he had obtained earlier. He successfully acquired new research progress and optimization points, and Kevin's current genomic data was laid out before him without any concealment.
Ai Yue studied it for a long time and even used optimization points. In the end, he arrived at one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.
The good news was that, judging from the current situation, it was indeed possible to repair the information loss in the genome caused by forced fusion through follow-up procedures. The bad news was that the Fusion Warrior Formula alone couldn't do it.
Even if Ai Yue forcibly completed the full Fusion Warrior Formula, he still couldn't completely repair the flaws that had already appeared. Although a special medicine could temporarily return Kevin to a normal human state, it was only temporary.
The Fusion Warrior Project might not be able to accomplish it, but what if other methods were added?
Ai Yue exited the current project. The technology tree, vast as a galaxy, appeared before him once more. He searched upward along the direction of the Fusion Warrior Project and soon saw "Body Modification Surgery (Shocker Version)."
If he could refer to other similar technologies and allow the Fusion Warrior Project to break through its original level of completion, then perhaps things would take a turn for the better.
Of course, before that, he should prepare Kevin's gift first.
Ai Yue took the prepared materials out of the bag beside him, then frowned.
He was out of materials. As expected, he still had to start a project and obtain funding from Moth to Fire.
The next few days passed peacefully for Ai Yue.
Every morning, he got up and worked on research. When his head began to ache, he went to eat lunch. In the afternoon, he checked on Pardofelis's training before wandering around. After dinner, he went to chat with Aponia, then returned to continue his research. When he became tired, he went straight to sleep, waking up the next day to repeat the cycle.
Actually, his life in Twilight Street had been more or less the same. The main difference was that the environment and conditions at Moth to Fire's base were much better. At the very least, he no longer had to gnaw on canned food and compressed biscuits of the same flavor every day.
He had heard that the children at the Twilight Street sanatorium could now eat different vegetables every day. He wondered when he would be able to return and visit them.
Before you continue