Chapter 207

"Ai Yue?"

Seemingly noticing the other person's distraction, Dr. Mei couldn't help but offer a reminder.

"Where is Vill-V?"

Ai Yue snapped out of his reverie and then asked, "How's the Virtual Nation going?"

"It's here,"

Accompanied by a weak voice, Vill-V's image suddenly squeezed in, occupying a corner of the projection, "The Virtual Nation is complete enough, but is it a bit of a stretch for you to rely on it to deal with the current Honkai Beast?"

Although she said that, when she recalled the changes she had recently observed within the Virtual Nation, Vill-V even pursed her lips nervously.

With a well-planned evolution path and direction, the speed at which those virtual Honkai Beast evolved was simply beyond imagination. The advantage of data updates was fully demonstrated at this moment. In just a short time, beings comparable to the Judgment-class were born among the virtual Honkai Beast.

Although this is only a rough judgment based on the total amount of data in the virtual world, Vill-V is certain that as long as enough Honkai Energy is used to provide it with a real body that matches its data volume, then with the intelligence of the virtual Honkai Beast and the combat experience honed in the virtual world, it can absolutely be said to be invincible in its class.

The problem is that Honkai Beast are a global crisis, so how can virtual Honkai Beast achieve the same level of reach?

The Virtual Nation where the virtual Honkai Beast live is contained within a separate server. Relying on the network to transmit such a massive amount of data would probably be no faster than transporting the hard drives storing the data directly by transport plane.

"Weren't you always curious about the purpose of the 'Dominion Network' that I had you create?"

Ai Yue smiled and said, "I remember there was one last satellite that hadn't been launched yet, right?"

Vill-V suddenly realized. "So that's what you were planning all along?!"

Not long after the war against the Herrscher of Herrscher of Dominion ended, Ai Yue assigned her an extra task: launching satellites. And not just any satellites, but a total of 999. If the work of manufacturing satellites hadn't been outside her purview, the Spiral Workshop would probably have just finished it by now.

At the time, Vill-V didn't know what the purpose of launching these satellites was; she thought it was simply to solve the network access problem in the Fortress City.

But now it seems that the other party had clearly started planning the actual use of the virtual Honkai Beast a long time ago!

Using the satellite network "Dominion Network" and the virtual data materialization device equipped in each Fortress City, the virtual Honkai Beast can reach any Fortress City on Earth in an instant.

Now, what she needs to do is launch the independent server containing the Virtual Nation to the designated location, completing the most important core of this network.

Thinking of this, Vill-V's expression suddenly became somewhat subtle.

Where did she take that satellite?

Seeing that Vill-V suddenly disconnected the communication without even leaving a word, Ai Yue and Dr. Mei couldn't help but look at each other in bewilderment.

"Never mind, she knows what to do anyway."

Ai Yue shook his head slightly, no longer dwelling on the matter. "With the virtual Honkai Beast, we won't have to worry for at least a while."

Just as Vill-V thought, Ai Yue had already begun planning how to apply the "Virtual Honkai Beast Technology" to the actual battlefield. Therefore, not only were corresponding devices deployed in each fortress, but even the Fused Warrior stationed in the Fortress City had been premeditatedly equipped with some mental perception types.

Although the virtual Honkai Beast no longer require mental energy to operate manually, they are obviously easier to command by mentally perceptive Fused Warrior compared to ordinary people.

"I will arrange the relevant precautions."

Dr. Mei nodded, then glanced at Ai Yue's side, seemingly casually. "There's nothing else to worry about for now. You can focus on your research."

Ai Yue watched Dr. Mei's subtle movements and couldn't help but reveal a subtle expression. "There's nothing to concentrate on. Have Kevin come over, and in exchange, I'll have Elysia go and cover for him."

"You succeeded?!"

Upon hearing Ai Yue's words, Dr. Mei immediately showed a delighted expression, but seeing the subtle look on Ai Yue's face, she realized that her reaction might have given something away. "Um, I..."

"Do you know why Aponia has hardly come to see me lately?"

Ai Yue looked at Dr. Mei, but suddenly brought up another matter, "Because she knows very well that she can't hide anything from me, so she can only try to minimize contact to prevent exposure."

"But reducing contact implies that she's hiding something, right?"

Having said all that, Dr. Mei naturally realized that their plan might have already been exposed.

"We are also doing this to prevent problems from happening in the first place,"

Dr. Mei explained somewhat awkwardly, "Regardless of whether we can actually help or not, as friends, we can't just do nothing, right?"

"Of course, I understand that, which is why I haven't said it out loud."

Ai Yue raised an eyebrow. "However, things have come to a close for now, so let's not do anything that could disrupt stability."

"I understand, I will tell them."

Dr. Mei nodded, then asked curiously, "But what do you need Kevin for?"

"Kevin messaged me a while ago saying that he's ready."

Ai Yue's gaze swept over Dr. Mei. "So now I've taken the time to finish the final step of the 'Brahma Project'."

"So, that's what it was all about."

Dr. Mei blushed slightly and subconsciously pushed up her glasses. "In that case, I'll go and call him now."

As she was about to turn and leave, she suddenly remembered something and turned back. "The genes of those three Herrscher-class Honkai Beasts?"

"Oh, I almost forgot,"

Ai Yue then remembered this matter, "Please prepare one for each of you and send it over as well."

How different are the genes of Herrscher- level Honkai Beast from those of other Honkai Beast?

"There's not much difference."

After ending his communication with Dr. Mei, Ai Yue approached Mobius, who was busy at the experimental table and wouldn't even look up. "So far, these guys don't have organs similar to the Herrscher Core, and their genetic information isn't much stronger than the Judgment-class. Instead, they seem quite strange."

"Nothing at all?"

Ai Yue was also a little surprised when he heard this. "Really? That's so strange?"

It's really strange—there's no Herrscher Core, and the genetic information doesn't contain Herrscher authority, so where does the immense power on these Honkai Beast come from?

"In short, I'll send you the data I have first, so you don't have to go through the trouble yourself."

Mobius manipulated the computer and sent a file to Ai Yue: "Currently, these Herrscher-class Honkai Beasts and Judgment-class Honkai Beast are not fundamentally different, but if we deduce from their genetic information, they shouldn't possess such powerful strength."

"You suspect that some of their characteristics only manifest when they are alive?"

Ai Yue understood Mobius's implied meaning. "Could it be that they maintain a real-time connection with the Cocoon of Finality? In that case, the connection is broken after death, and the supply of power naturally disappears?"

"This is probably the most likely scenario,"

Mobius nodded, then added with some regret, "Unfortunately, capturing these guys alive is far too difficult, essentially eliminating any possibility of research."

"More than that, I'd like to know how your other projects are going."

Ai Yue decided to put the topic aside for the time being and talk about something else. "Is there a stable version of the Simulated Herrscher Potion? How is the 'Stigmata Project' progressing?"

"It's amazing you still remember,"

Mobius rolled his eyes at him, annoyed. "Thanks to the Herrscher of Herrscher of Dominion, the Simulated Herrscher Potion is almost worthless for further research. I kept my own portion of the results. As for the 'Stigmata Project'... it's progressing a lot. I already have a second Stigmata holder. Guess who it is?"

Who is it?

Looking at Mobius's "you'd never guess" expression, Ai Yue couldn't help but ponder, "Klein?"

"How could that be! How could I possibly experiment on Klein!"

Mobius spoke with bias, while waving to the side, "Come on, say hello."

A slightly shy figure appeared in the projection and nodded to Ai Yue: "Doctor Ai Yue."

"Cosmo?"

Chapter 87 Now he's become the god Kevin.

Ai Yue considered many candidates, and even Dr. Mei's image flashed through his mind, but he never thought it would be Cosmo.

Because Cosmo is an anomaly even among Fused Warrior, requiring a separate department for specialized research, conventional methods are unlikely to be effective against him.

For example, during the Aberration Event, apart from Fused Warrior like Kevin and Elysia who were in special circumstances, almost all Fused Warrior underwent surgery to transform into simplified Mutated Weapon, but Cosmo did not.

Compared to Kevin's arduous struggle within the distortion, his process of "breaking free" from the distortion can even be described as smooth.

When all the Fused Warrior entered a state of Overweight Hypermutation due to the distortion, Cosmo, who was already used to this power, did not take long to return to normal.

Then, the "Vishnu" gene in his body activated the ability to devour, digesting and familiarizing himself with the mutated power within his body through autophagy, and eventually evolving into a new form that could completely control this power.

Endless devouring, endless evolution—this is the way Cosmo grows. Ai Yue doesn't need to conduct any experiments on him; he only needs to continuously provide him with Honkai Beast genes and ensure that he doesn't lose control during the process.

The reason for not performing the "Mutated Weapon" surgery on him was to avoid prematurely limiting his growth potential—and the same principle applies to the Stigmata Space.

After completing the Stigmata Project and acquiring the Stigmata Space, the traces of Honkai Beast genes that originally belonged to Mobius almost disappeared from her body. Even her Mutated Weapon completely disappeared, leaving only her former resurrection ability. After combining with the Stigmata, she became what she is now.

If the same situation were to occur with Cosmo, it would be difficult to say whether he could retain his ability to grow indefinitely.

Mobius should have known about this, so why did he still use Cosmo for the experiment?

Ai Yue couldn't help but frown.

"Don't worry, your worries are unnecessary."

Mobius was well aware of Ai Yue's concerns, so he answered before the other could ask, "Cosmo's abilities have not been affected; it can still grow by absorbing the genes of Honkai Beast."

Cosmo was standing nearby, nodded in agreement, thus corroborating Mobius's statement.

Ai Yue's furrowed brows relaxed slightly, but then he seemed to remember something. "You've completely completed the Stigmata Project?"

He clearly remembered that Mobius's Stigmata Space was actually something she forced out using the most rudimentary method. Unless she found someone else with the same resurrection ability, it was impossible to reproduce, let alone extend to all Fused Warrior or even ordinary humans.

Fortunately, there is now a successful case. Using the answer to deduce the process is always much easier than before. But given Ai Yue's understanding of Mobius's abilities, it seems that the other party will also have a hard time getting this done in such a short time.

Therefore, if she doesn't completely complete the Stigmata Project, then she's basically just resorting to another foolish method.

As expected, upon hearing Ai Yue's question, Mobius subconsciously shrank his neck and his gaze became somewhat evasive. "No, nothing."

This guy is usually as dense as a block of wood, how come he's so perceptive when it comes to things like this!

Ai Yue shook his head slightly, then looked at Cosmo beside him. "Cosmo, you go ahead and get busy. Come to Star of Light tomorrow, and I'll have Elysia take over your shift."

"I see."

Cosmo's gaze swept back and forth between Ai Yue and Mobius, but in the end he said nothing and left the projection area.

After the other party left Mobius's laboratory, Ai Yue spoke again, "Does Cosmo know?"

The so-called "clumsy" method is the same as what Mobius once did—those with the ability to resurrect glimpsed the true meaning of the Stigmata through repeated deaths, while those with the ability to devour and evolve naturally had to constantly devour the same kind of things to grow.

Ai Yue never expected that this method would actually work.

"I didn't say that."

Mobius lowered his head, no longer looking into Ai Yue's eyes. "I was just trying it out at first, and I never expected it to actually work."

This behavior is tantamount to cutting off one's own flesh and feeding it to others. For the person cutting off the flesh, it may be commonplace, but if Cosmo really knew what he was eating, who knows what kind of impact it would have on his values.

After all, he was one of the people with the lowest moral standards among the Moth to Fire.

"Let's keep it a secret then."

Ai Yue didn't criticize Mobius too much, "Just send over your research results."

Mobius nodded and then disconnected the communication. At the same time, a file package appeared on Ai Yue's glasses.

He could actually guess why Mobius had been conducting experiments methodically before, but recently a successful case like Cosmo had suddenly emerged.

The situation with Elysia clearly gave Mobius a sense of urgency. After realizing that Ai Yue might not be able to solve the problem easily either, she wanted to make up for it as much as possible in her own way.

Ultimately, it comes down to his lack of ability.

However, the data from two different growth paths should be enough for him to complete the final part of the Stigmata Project. With that, combined with the Brahma Project, he should be able to achieve the ultimate goal.

Ai Yue was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "Ai Yi, help me bring up 'Unfinished Project NO.12'."

As soon as he finished speaking, a brand new folder appeared in front of him, with a very simple title: "Fusion Warrior Project (Third Edition)".

At the same time, Ai Yi said, "Doctor Ai Yue, Kevin has arrived."

With the Teleportation Gate in existence, as long as Kevin hands over his work properly, coming to the Star of Light will be as easy as taking a stroll.

"Have him wait in the Herrscher lab for a while."

Ai Yue nodded, then opened the folder in front of him. "I'll be there shortly."

I haven't thought about this thing in a long time; I need to recall what it all means.

Ten minutes later, Kevin, who had already dutifully settled down on the operating table, finally saw Ai Yue. However, Ai Yue did not pay attention to Kevin but instead looked at the metal briefcase placed on the table.

Ai Yue walked over and opened it, and then saw liquids in three glass tubes, each emitting a different color of light.

"They even took care of everything. How thoughtful of them."