Saving Pre-Civilization with Black Tech from Scratch in Honkai Impact 3rd

Therefore, unless it was absolutely necessary and he had no other options, Ai Yue wouldn't prioritize borrowing Aponia's power.

"Then what's your plan?" Mobius looked at him. "Give us some suggestions, let's see what you're capable of."

"I really don't have a good plan," Ai Yue shook his head. "Currently, Dr. Mei's plan seems to be the only viable option. Ultimately, the power we possess is still too weak, and we don't have the qualifications to negotiate with the higher-ups."

This was naturally just a polite remark. If it came to plans, Ai Yue could come up with many, but none of them were currently usable.

He couldn't just say, "I know the next Herrscher is the Herrscher of Consciousness. If we defeat her, take her Herrscher Core, research it, and create a massive Mind Controller to brainwash all those dignitaries, wouldn't that solve everything?"

If he said something like that, setting aside whether he could even deal with the higher-ups of Moth to Fire, he himself would easily be captured and dissected by the two scholars in front of him.

"The ability to predict the next Herrscher? Kid, you wouldn't happen to be a spy sent by Honkai, would you!"

So, such thoughts could only be kept to himself, waiting for the right time to act on them personally.

If all else fails...

Ai Yue glanced at the System's technology tree. In a remote corner, a dim star named "Mind Controller" awaited activation.

When I shave my head and cosplay as Yuri, I'll brainwash you all!

And so, after a brief silence, the topic was dropped. Until the next topic was brought up, not a single person suggested "using the 100% success rate Fused Warrior surgery to force the higher-ups to compromise."

Because they all knew clearly that relying on flattery and compromise would never make the higher-ups obedient. Human greed would only make them more avaricious, wanting to take more.

If a powerful and greedy person possessed a long lifespan, the world would understand what true, endless disaster meant.

This was also one of the reasons Dr. Mei asked Ai Yue to hide his abilities—the extremely high failure rate of the Fused Warrior surgery was precisely why the higher-ups of Moth to Fire hadn't had any ulterior motives regarding it. However, if these people knew there was a way to become a Fused Warrior with 100% certainty, they would absolutely find ways to become the sole beneficiaries.

If these people were to wage war over the sole right to eternal life, human civilization would be completely doomed.

"Alright, the most important matters are concluded," Dr. Mei said in summation. "The reshuffling and reorganization of the Poison Pupa Unit. I will select suitable individuals to carry this out. Do any of 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 have a lot of work to do today."

"I have a question I'd like to ask," Ai Yue said, remembering something important at this moment. "Dr. Mei, what is the current state of Moth to Fire's research on artificial intelligence?"

Ai Yue didn't know if the super AI "Prometheus" from the original story had been born yet. If it could be born before the Eighth Herrscher appeared, many things could be solved in new ways.

"Artificial intelligence, huh," Dr. Mei pondered for a moment. "I'm not in charge of this project right now. If you're interested, I can take you to meet the project leader another day."

Chapter Twenty-Five: Mobius Cannot Understand

Hearing Dr. Mei's words, Ai Yue couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

Moth to Fire was vast, but there weren't many scholars who could be considered "top-tier." If Dr. Mei could confidently hand over a project like artificial intelligence, then the other person should at least be at her level.

Besides Mei and Mobius, that would only leave...

"Can Vill-V still handle it?" Mobius clearly knew some inside information. Hearing Dr. Mei, she couldn't help but say, "Aren't you planning to hand over the 'Divine Keys Project' to her as well?"

"She's the most suitable candidate, there's no other way," Dr. Mei said with some helplessness. "I'm tied up right now... However, if Mr. Ai Yue is interested, why don't you take charge of the artificial intelligence project?"

"Are you sure? Artificial intelligence is a completely different field from the Fused Warrior project..." Mobius stopped halfway through her sentence, then shook her head. "Oh, he doesn't specialize in this field anyway, so never mind."

"You can give it to me?" Ai Yue was taken aback. "Can projects like this be passed around like a hot potato here?"

"Vill-V has always complained that I assign her too many projects and extort extra funding," Dr. Mei said with a smile, but faint black smoke seemed to rise behind her. "This is a good opportunity to put her in her place and let her know not to spend funds on strange things."

"But Vill-V definitely won't hand over the project that easily," Mobius added from the side. "That woman is very stubborn. If you want to persuade her to give up what she's got, you'll have to prove your abilities."

"Proving my abilities again..." Ai Yue's expression was a little subtle. "Can't you guys just do it together?"

He hadn't forgotten that the screening of Garuda's genome information was originally a test from Mobius.

"Even if we did it together, it wouldn't change anything. Although she's also a genius, unfortunately, we're not the same kind of people," Mobius shook her head. "So even if you did it together, you'd still have to undergo two tests."

"Fine," Ai Yue said, not saying anything more. "Is there anything else? If not, I'll be going."

"We'll handle the rest," Dr. Mei nodded. "I'll let you know when you can go see Vill-V."

"Okay." Ai Yue nodded. Just as he stood up, he seemed to remember something. "Right, can you give me a copy of the records and related materials from Kevin and the others' Fused Warrior surgeries? I'd like to take a look."

Dr. Mei and Mobius exchanged glances. After a moment of thought, they nodded. "No problem, but this information cannot be shared externally. You can only look at it yourself."

After Ai Yue left, Mobius looked at Dr. Mei. "What do you think of him?"

"Hmm? Why do you ask?" Dr. Mei blinked her eyes. "Is there something wrong with him?"

"I can't tell, that's why I'm asking you," Mobius sighed. "But think about it, someone who can solve a problem that an entire research institute... no, the entire Moth to Fire hasn't solved in years, in just one day. That doesn't sound human, does it?"

"What are you suspecting?" Dr. Mei looked at Mobius. Years of interaction made her vaguely aware of what the other party was thinking, and she couldn't help but laugh. "Are you suspecting he's sent by Honkai?"

"It doesn't have to be Honkai; it could be something else. Who knows," Mobius shrugged. "In short, I can't really accept your assertion that this guy is human."

"That doesn't sound like you, Mobius," Dr. Mei said, looking at her with some surprise. "Don't you hate those narrow definitions of humanity?"

Mobius's research philosophy was very bold. She spent her life searching for ways to evolve humanity, even if it meant borrowing the power of Honkai. The prototype of the Fused Warrior project originated from this.

For such a person to say someone else "isn't human" felt a bit strange.

"Perhaps it's just resentment. Seeing things that I have to work on for who knows how long being easily accomplished by someone else... that sense of unwillingness might make me want to deny them," Mobius said after a moment of silence, then sighed. "So this is 'jealousy'? This is the first time I've felt this emotion."

Dr. Mei just looked at Mobius quietly, not saying anything—Mobius wasn't someone who was lost and needed guidance. She could figure out such small matters herself.

"Let's not talk about that. How is your side going?" Mobius calmed herself down, seemingly feeling a bit embarrassed, and changed the subject. "The research on the Sea of Quantum... is it still not going well?"

"There's been a small breakthrough, but only a small one," Dr. Mei sighed, also finding her own project quite troublesome. "We can't even keep the 'Gate' open for thirty seconds, let alone a stable passage."

The Sea of Quantum, a concept known only to a select few, is currently Dr. Mei's primary focus. After all, it was a lecture on quantum mechanics that first brought her to the attention of Moth to Fire.

Although Dr. Mei has confirmed the existence of the Sea of Quantum through theoretical deduction and experimental research, there is still a barrier to truly interacting with it. If this barrier could be broken one day, establishing a direct link to the Sea of Quantum, then perhaps a new path forward could be found in the face of the Honkai threat.

To overcome this challenge as quickly as possible, Dr. Mei delegated all other projects to different research groups. However, even with this, the project's progress remained unsatisfactory.

"If that guy can pass Vill-V's test," Mobius suddenly said, "should we have him try the Sea of Quantum project too?"

"Are you serious?" Dr. Mei looked at her, narrowing her eyes. "Or are you still doubting him?"

"I'm not doubting him, I'm just curious," Mobius said, covering her face with a document and revealing only her eyes. "Is his intelligence innate, or is it acquired?"

"If it were innate, he shouldn't have appeared in our sights only now. But if it's acquired—then through what means has he managed to master all of this in such a short time?"

Chapter Twenty-Six: The Secret of the Fused Warrior Surgery

Ai Yue was unaware that Mobius was once again speaking ill of him behind his back. His attention was entirely focused on Kevin's experimental report.

The observation report on the Fused Warrior surgery was written in cold, precise language, devoid of any human emotion. It was unclear whether Dr. Mei or Mobius had written it, but it meticulously detailed Kevin's entire Fused Warrior surgery process.

The entire report could be summarized in two words: a miracle.

It could only be said that Kevin was indeed lucky. A lethal surgery with a success rate that only began to register a '1' from the sixth decimal place, and yet it didn't claim his life. It was truly astonishing.

Furthermore, Ai Yue was certain that the formula for the Fused Warrior project he had obtained earlier had been further optimized after Kevin's surgery. Therefore, the situation Kevin faced at the time must have been even more desperate.

Attached to the surgical records were the hypervariable factor data of the Emperor-class Honkai Beast "Parvati" that Kevin had used. Ai Yue inputted this data into the System's simulation construction and began his own simulations.

It wasn't until the 9,000th attempt that Ai Yue successfully simulated Kevin's survival. However, that experiment also had severe sequelae—Kevin's body temperature was extremely low, and he continuously emitted high concentrations of Honkai energy into his surroundings. At such a concentration, the person performing the surgery would have likely turned into a shabti before it was even completed.

Moreover, this leakage of Honkai energy would drastically shorten Kevin's lifespan, preventing him from living as long as he did in the original storyline.

Under these circumstances, Kevin only suffered from a lowered body temperature. It could truly be said that he was incredibly lucky.

However, Ai Yue's request for the Fused Warrior surgery report wasn't just to see how pale Kevin's face was. More importantly, it was to simulate different fusion results using various hypervariable factors, thereby refining the Fused Warrior project's formula.

The reason his hypervariable factor, derived from the Garuda genome, had such a high success rate was essentially because he had meticulously filtered out incorrect answers through constant trial and error. It did not mean that Ai Yue could achieve such a success rate using the genes of any Honkai Beast.

Therefore, the immediate priority was to complete the ultimate Fused Warrior formula, thereby lowering the difficulty and threshold for becoming a Fused Warrior. This would provide a chance to realize the future of thirteen billion, or even thirty billion, Fused Warriors.

After fully understanding Parvati's hypervariable factor, Ai Yue began modifying the Fused Warrior formula. He quickly refined a small portion of it, causing the completion rate to rise again.

This also proved his conjecture—optimization points were merely a convenient setting to skip the research process by consuming materials. Even without optimization points, one could gradually perfect the entire project through continuous learning and research.

Setting aside Kevin's surgical records, Ai Yue picked up the second one: Elysia's surgical report.

Elysia's surgery was performed solely by Mobius, so the surgical report was very brief, only roughly describing the entire process and outcome. There wasn't much valuable information, and the success rate wasn't even recorded, clearly indicating an informal procedure.

If Ai Yue hadn't asked for it, Mobius probably wouldn't have brought it out.

Like Kevin's surgical records, this one also included the hypervariable factor of a Honkai Beast. Unlike Kevin, Elysia had chosen the genes of the End-of-Law Class Honkai Beast "Mahamayuri." It seemed there was only one gene of an End-of-Law Class Honkai Beast within the entire Moth to Fire organization.

Even more interestingly, Elysia's Fused Warrior surgery had no success rate in Ai Yue's System.

If Kevin's surgery was a miracle that occurred once in tens of thousands or even millions of attempts, then Elysia's surgery would result in death on the spot even after hundreds of millions of attempts.

In other words, the hypervariable factor of an End-of-Law Class Honkai Beast, processed with the current Fused Warrior formula, could not be combined with a human to create a Fused Warrior.

But Elysia was special—she likely realized this herself, which is why she wanted to be the first to become a Fused Warrior.

After all, this would provide experience for future successors on one hand, and on the other hand, it would prevent any potential discovery if she were to undergo the procedure after the technology had matured.

Ai Yue optimized Mahamayuri's genome several times based on the new formula and his own experience. After finding that the success rate remained unchanged, he decisively abandoned the record.

Perhaps only when he had the opportunity to obtain Elysia's materials could there be a new breakthrough.

Compared to the first two, Mobius and Sakura's surgeries were already somewhat standardized. Ai Yue inputted the hypervariable factors they had used and, in a short time, managed to repair them to a 96% success rate.

After further refining the Fused Warrior formula using their data, Ai Yue began to tackle his true objective for the day—how to eliminate the sequelae of Fused Warrior surgery.

Sequelae were an unavoidable outcome of Fused Warrior surgery. From Kevin's extremely low body temperature at the beginning, to Elysia's elf-like ears, Mobius's snake molt, Sakura's fox ears, and even in the mid-stage when the hypervariable factors were more refined, Pardofelis still grew cat ears and a cat tail after undergoing surgery in the original storyline.

This situation only ended when Dr. Mei completely perfected the Fused Warrior formula and created the second-generation hypervariable factor. At that point, those who received the second-generation hypervariable factor no longer exhibited obvious sequelae.

However, Ai Yue's goal extended beyond this. What he wanted to try now was whether it was possible to reverse the sequelae left by Fused Warrior surgery through secondary surgery or other means.

While obvious physical deformities might be irreversible, perhaps something like body temperature imbalance was not?

Ai Yue again repaired the Fused Warrior formula based on the experimental results of the two individuals. At this point, the formula's completion had reached an astonishing 55%. With data from about four or five more people, he would be able to bring forth the second-generation hypervariable factor early.

But at this moment, he also realized a problem—some sequelae were actually crucial for the success of Fused Warrior surgery.

Physical deformities could serve as a kind of "buffer," resolving the rejection generated when human genes fused with Honkai Beast genes and accommodating the redundant information in the genes, thereby increasing the success rate.

In other words, the more deformed a Fused Warrior appeared, the higher the success rate. If one wanted to simply and crudely increase the success rate, it would be better to increase the probability of sequelae appearing, leaving enough buffer and redundant space for the fused genes.

Ai Yue's resolve wavered—thinking about it, this plan was both cheap and simple. It was a direction that even Mobius could figure out with some research. Could it be popularized?

Moreover, having more beast-eared girls in the world seemed like a good thing, too?

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Come Join Us

The beast-eared girl plan was ultimately rejected by Ai Yue himself.

After all, although this world had experienced many hardships, the current gender ratio still favored males. In other words, for every beast-eared girl produced by Fused Warrior surgery, there would certainly be more... uh, beast-eared guys?

So, this would definitely not be the final version of the Fused Warrior project, but it could be used as an interim version.

Ai Yue simulated for a long time in the System and finally found a formula that could stably construct deformed bodies. This would significantly increase the success rate of Fused Warrior surgery, and the remaining optimization program could be left to Mobius.

Mass production, in the end, isn't something Ai Yue can achieve alone. To increase the number of Fused Warriors in preparation for future wars, he needs the power of Moth to Fire.

After sending the updated formula and general explanations to Mobius via Moth to Fire's internal network, Ai Yue focused his attention on the next matter.

Could Kevin's runaway body temperature be reversed through subsequent procedures?

Ai Yue directly used the Kevin's hair he obtained earlier, successfully acquiring new research progress and optimization points. Kevin's current genomic data was presented to him without any concealment.

After studying for a long time and using optimization points, Ai Yue arrived at one piece of good news and one piece of bad news.

The good news was that, at present, it was indeed possible to repair the information loss in the genome caused by forced fusion through subsequent procedures. However, the bad news was that the Fused Warrior formula alone wouldn't suffice.

Even if Ai Yue forced out the complete Fused Warrior formula, it wouldn't be enough to fully repair the previously existing loopholes. While special potions could temporarily restore Kevin to a normal state, it would only be temporary.

However, the Fused Warrior plan might not be enough, but what if other methods were added?

Ai Yue exited the current project, and a star-like technology tree reappeared before him. He traced the direction of the Fused Warrior project upwards and soon spotted "Body Modification Surgery (Shuka Version)."

If he could reference other similar technologies to allow the Fused Warrior plan to break through its current completion level, then things might take a turn for the better.

Of course, before that, he should prepare the gift for Kevin first.

Ai Yue took out the prepared materials from his bag and frowned again.

The materials weren't enough. It seemed he'd have to start a project to get funding from Moth to Fire.

The next few days passed peacefully for Ai Yue.

Every morning, he'd do some research. When his head started to ache, he'd go for lunch. In the afternoon, he'd check on Pardofelis's training, then wander around. After dinner, he'd go chat with Aponia. At night, he'd return to his research, and when he got sleepy, he'd just sleep, waking up the next day to continue the cycle.

Actually, his life in Twilight Street used to be quite similar. The difference was probably that the environment and conditions at the Moth to Fire base were much better. At least he didn't have to eat the same tasting canned food and compressed biscuits every day.

Now he heard that the children at the Twilight Street sanatorium could also eat different vegetables every day. He wondered when he'd be able to go back and see them.