Soul to Flesh, Experiment Begins

Mei harbored many speculations. In her heart, she still hadn't fully accepted the hypothesis of an ancient civilization. As long as she couldn't find traces of the previous civilization in Fuxi, this hypothesis would never hold true in her mind.

All current inferences are hypothetical assumptions, exquisite gardens built on castles in the air, unable to withstand any scrutiny or test from reality and history.

Although the girl harbored hope, she also understood that any apparent breakthrough or glimmer of light might just be a reflection in the lake, ultimately amounting to nothing.

Her time is precious. Whether it's the research on the Hyper-Mutation Factor, the preparation for the Chimera Project, the continuous updating of the Anti-Honkai Potion, the debugging and manufacturing of the Divine Key, or other projects and experimental ideas, large and small, they all require her attention and energy.

Therefore, even if Fuxi truly represents the legacy of ancient civilization, Mei still believes there are many key points that need careful scrutiny.

Contrary to Su Qing'an's initial expectations, researching Fuxi and obtaining results was not easy, and in fact, during this period, it could be said that nothing was gained.

Even disregarding humanity and morality, and treating it as a tool to be used, attempting to use its blood as a raw material for a drug to completely eradicate the symptoms of Honkai Infection, the final result was still unsatisfactory.

All current signs indicate that she herself, and everything that belongs to her, is extremely domineering over the existence of Honkai.

[Purification] does not conform to the law of conservation of energy. The essence of it Honkai Energy from the surrounding area is not expulsion or replacement, but pure erasure.

A true erasure.

In comparison, Mr. Su's [Stigmata] is a level below in rank.

The concept of [Stigmata] itself is to draw upon, absorb, and contain, and there are also huge limitations on the carrier and the amount of reserves.

The [purification] function is so convenient it's chilling.

A few days ago, this base, which can float and even fly on its own at sea, traveled to an area where Honkai Energy was present.

The rumbling dark clouds that raged across the sky like splashed ink, the terrifying tsunami that rolled across vast areas, and the massive storm that swept across the world like a sharp blade standing upright in the sea.

That is undoubtedly one of the Honkai Energy areas in the world, and it would take Su Qing'an's [Stigmata] at least a month of non-stop work to absorb it completely.

This phenomenon is still prevalent around the world, so almost all regular flights have been suspended, with only a few regions still offering flights specifically for certain individuals.

For example, the Mu Continent and the previous Australia.

The flight that Ryusuke Muryōtō took bypassed all Honkai Energy phenomena before arriving in Australia.

This is also the key reason why the missionaries had to push Himeko to such a state before she would have no objection to her father coming to Australia.

Because the risks of accidents while traveling long distances by air are much higher than before, long-distance travel should always be the last resort unless there is a sufficiently compelling reason.

This Honkai Energy phenomenon, which causes a rapid increase in risk, is currently difficult to eliminate effectively. Existing Honkai Energy extraction instruments are extremely inefficient and meaningless when placed at this level.

Su Qing'an's [Stigmata] was much stronger, but he still struggled to achieve the desired results.

Mei's internal plan was to use the stable opening of the portal to the Sea of Quantum to directly insert the Honkai Energy phenomenon into a region outside the world.

Convenient, labor-saving, and energy-efficient.

However, the specific operational and implementation methods are still in the theoretical stage and cannot be implemented quickly.

Fuxi's attack on this type of area was completely unreasonable, a dimensional reduction strike.

The mobile base she was in had not yet been completely submerged in this hellish zone; it was only located on the edge. Naturally, the extremely mysterious and eerie power was already unfolding on a large scale.

The [Purification] domain, as always, arrived silently and without any outward signs. It simply descended with an absolute erasure range of one mile, swiftly and cleanly evaporating the Honkai Energy phenomena along the way into nothingness.

Like Parting of the Red Sea, it was domineering and unstoppable, and wherever it went, all calamities naturally subsided.

The dark clouds were dispersed, the tsunami was calmed, and the storm was stopped.

In order to test the energy consumption and maintenance time of its domain, and thus see its limits, Mei had this base, along with Fuxi, continuously wander through this forbidden area.

Only after this forbidden area, stretching for hundreds of miles, returned to its original calm state did Fuxi's [Purification] domain slowly and naturally recede back to an area within one meter of himself.

This was clearly not because he had reached his limit, but simply because after the external Honkai Energy phenomenon dissipated, the elements that would continue to trigger Fuxi's ability to use it autonomously were lost.

Mei failed to grasp the limits of the [Purification] domain and the source of its energy consumption; this conceptual-level ability truly resembled the power wielded by Herrscher.

However, Fuxi herself does not possess any Honkai Energy, and she does not even allow Honkai Energy particles to exist around her. Considering that current information suggests that powers require a large amount of Honkai Energy to be activated, the possibility that the source of the [purification] domain is powers is very, very low.

Mei knew that even if Su Qing'an, whose soul carried a portion of power, still needed to expend a large amount of Honkai Energy to manipulate that power.

The soul's role within is merely to resist the oppressive force passively generated when power is manipulated; it cannot be used as a pure energy source, and it would be more accurate to say that it is completely unrelated to it.

Therefore, even though she cared a lot about Su Qing'an's statement that Fuxi's soul was stronger than her own, Mei still didn't connect it to the thought process of whether the [purification] domain was equivalent to power.

However, from this, she gradually derived other hypotheses about Fuxi.

The soul manifests, the Soul Materialization, the soul becomes flesh and blood.

To be precise and clear, the girl believed that Fuxi's form of existence was not the form of existence of modern humans, but rather a special way of existence that manifested in the world by perfectly embodying all external aspects of humanity through his soul.

This can explain many previously incomprehensible puzzles.

For example, why didn't she get frostbite when she was frozen in ice, but instead got cut and bled the moment she woke up?

Meanwhile, according to the footage recorded inside the nano-armor, Fuxi was inside a frozen layer of ice, yet he was able to open his eyes and look straight ahead.

Subsequent dredging and assessment of the ice layer, and even the visual effects of the images alone, revealed that the interior of the ice layer did not have the conditions to blink, and the hair within it would not move naturally as if flowing with the water.

If we assume that Fuxi's existence before awakening was a pure soul-like human form, without any medium that could truly interfere with matter, then it would be natural for her to open her eyes without being frostbitten.

This form is easily understood when compared to the normal existence of Feather Udu-dust.

Upon awakening, Fuxi spontaneously transitioned from a state of soul mimicking human form to a state of soul manifesting flesh and blood, which explains why she bled.

Extending this line of thought, it's quite normal for wounds and cut hair to heal on their own.

Although it is unclear what level Fuxi's soul occupies, Su Qing'an frankly admitted that he was far inferior to him, so it is likely that these substances, which are of unknown value and can not be compared to any level of soul matter, would not harm him.

At the same time, since the focus has been shifted to the soul, it's hard for Mei not to compare Fuxi's [Purification] with Su Qing'an's [Stigmata].

The meaning of benchmarking is not to compare the superiority or inferiority of the two, but to see if the capabilities of both parties originate from the same source.

The turning point in this logic is quite normal. After all, if the possibility of [Purification] being a power is greatly reduced, then the only thing that can be compared to it and meets the conditions is the [Stigmata] that Su Qing'an possesses.

That is, her first hypothesis.

The manifestation of the soul.

According to Mr. Su, this is the essence of his [Stigmata].

Logically speaking, if Fuxi also possessed the ability to materialize her soul, then given that her soul strength far surpassed that of the former, it would be natural that the power she condensed would be far more domineering and powerful than the [Stigmata].

Many of the secrets and core details may not be as simple and crude as she thought, but they should be largely correct.

Normally, it would take Mei some time to quickly veer onto such an absurd and nonsensical track, but the bizarre incident a while ago, where Su Qing'an held a little girl and solemnly declared that she was his daughter, leaving Mei stunned for five minutes, provided a vivid example.

If a feather that has absorbed soul matter can transform into such a delicate and exquisite little girl, so adorable that she couldn't help but pinch her cheeks, then why couldn't Fuxi, who already possessed a powerful soul, do something similar or even more advanced?

The girl, whose mind was cleared by Su Muxi, thus came to the above many guesses. Since there was already a precedent, even the boldest assumptions became a path of verification that could be followed.

However, relying solely on subjective will is not enough for Mei to convince herself whether the other party truly exists in the world as a soul transformed into flesh and blood.

Since learning of the existence of souls, she has developed a great interest in observing them. Although the technology she developed is far less convenient and accurate than Su Qing'an's soul observation methods, it still has a basic level of recognition. The adaptability of the Divine Key can be matched and compared using this technology.

After proposing the hypothesis in her mind, Mei had been deliberately using special instruments to test Fuxi.

Her heart was filled with curiosity and a desire to explore.

Was Fuxi an ancestor who survived to this day by chance, a product of the final technological breakthrough of an ancient civilization, or perhaps the strongest warrior at the pinnacle of that civilization?

Perhaps she is a traveler who drifted from the Sea of Quantum from another world, or perhaps she is some other, more incomprehensible and incredible being.

Numerous guesses clashed fiercely in my mind, yet I still couldn't find an answer.

She could not find any clues or elements related to another civilization in Fuxi.

But if the previous hypotheses can truly be proven, then perhaps this highly efficient use of the soul can be regarded as the technological culmination of ancient civilizations reaching their limits.

The instrument collected data slowly, but Mei gradually came to understand the strangeness of Fuxi's soul.

Compared to Su Qing'an's soul wavelength and data, Fuxi's data is more like a wondrous product of tens of millions of disordered wavelengths.

If a normal person's data is like the trace left by a drop of water, then her data is like a constantly pulsating ocean.

Subsequent observations revealed that this ocean of souls would experience massive waves when encountering an environment rich in Honkai Energy, thus triggering the [purification] domain.

Honkai.

This is the only thing that Fuxi has responded to so far.

The girl didn't yet know the mechanism behind this stress response, but it secretly reinforced the credibility of the ancient civilization theory in her mind.

If we assume that Fuxi was the remnant of an ancient civilization, then it would be normal for him to have an innate aversion and rejection towards the Honkai destroyed his own civilization.

Overall, Mei finds it difficult to explain the definition of the soul and the reasons for its interference in reality using existing scientific theories.

For now, she can only think about it from a philosophical perspective.

That is, matter can determine consciousness.

But perhaps the consciousness embodied by Fuxi was too vast, so he could turn the tables and use his immense consciousness to directly interfere with and reverse reality itself, in order to achieve the manipulation of materialization, physicalization, and flesh-and-blood manifestation.

Although she believed in her own conviction that all the hypotheses she had built up on the soul were highly credible, her rigorous research instincts still compelled her to verify them.

The verification method is not difficult. It only requires subjecting Fuxi to intense stimulation, causing his soul to fluctuate more violently than usual, and even subconsciously returning to a humanoid form of the soul that is not disturbed by matter, in order to obtain clear data.

Mei's initial idea was to use the simulation of the virtual world, combined with a large amount of Honkai Energy artificially created by the outside world, to make Fuxi feel that his life was threatened, thereby creating a sense of crisis and causing him to move in the direction she wanted.

However, considering that people with strong souls are not easily deceived by visual effects, the success rate of this method is really not high.

The only chance of success rests on the premise that Fuxi's independent consciousness is almost non-existent and he may not possess accurate judgment.

In fact, after several tentative tests, all attempts failed.

Simply creating the illusion of a crisis is not enough to elicit a stress response from the other party; it must be a more real and unmistakable crisis.

Fusion Warrior.

This was Mei's first thought. She believed that Fusion Warrior whose essence was no different from Honkai Beast but was far stronger would inevitably arouse Fuxi's greatest hostility.

The reason is that she herself does not possess any obvious intelligence, and has no extra understanding of the warriors who use Honkai power to fight against Honkai; she only has the same hostility as those who treat Honkai equally.

But that was like walking a tightrope. Mei was leading this experiment with the intention of also seeing the limits of Fuxi's abilities.

However, the risks involved are too unknown, and no one knows the extent to which [purification] can actually be achieved.

The very nature of Fusion Warrior means that while they can inflict a tremendous stress response on Fuxi, they themselves also face significant limitations.

Judging from the fact that even the Divine Key created based on the Herrscher Core can be obscured by its power, neither Kevin, who is currently in the process of fully integrating with the Herrscher, nor Yae Sakura, who is in the process of continuously fusing with the genes, can remain unscathed in the [Purification] field.

The power of [Purification] is too overwhelming and too unsolvable for Fusion Warrior.

Fusion Warrior are a completely new species that uses the genes of Emperor-class Honkai Beast as a fulcrum to draw a complete circular system.

Every cell in them contains Honkai Energy, every breath they take in and out infuses Honkai Energy, and every minute and every second they are working with the genes of the Honkai Beast.

The [Purification] is precisely the key to their survival. If all the Honkai Energy inside their bodies is wiped out in an instant, if all the connections with the Honkai Energy outside are severed in an instant, and if the new genes formed by the fusion of the Emperor-class Honkai Beast genes and their own genes are annihilated in an instant, then even the strongest Fusion Warrior can only face annihilation.

Even after Kevin perfectly accepted the Chimera Project, Mei wasn't confident he could escape unscathed from Fuxi.

This is the essential difference between prey and hunter; Fuxi is the deadly nemesis of all things related to Honkai.

Even without uncovering her secrets, simply awakening her intellect—whether it truly exists or not—and forming an alliance with her, subsequent Herrscher would no longer possess such oppressive and threatening power.

Unfortunately, based on the data obtained from the instruments, it is highly likely that Fuxi did not possess true intellect.

Mei believes that perhaps her soul is too vast, almost like the product of millions of souls converging and aggregating, with her brainwaves and soul fluctuations being tens of millions of times more active than those of a normal person every second.

The result is that they are unable to demonstrate any self-awareness in actual actions; one could even say that they are "vegetative state" patients who have been overwhelmed by their own self-data.

Therefore, making Fuxi truly feel a sense of crisis would be so troublesome and involve extreme risks.

Those Fusion Warrior who might fail must be removed from the list of eligible candidates. Mei quickly came up with an excellent alternative and contacted and discussed it with Su Qing'an immediately.

The boy remained silent for a while after hearing this. Even someone as indifferent and unambitious as him felt something was amiss upon hearing the plan.

"So, roughly speaking, you directly launched Honkai Fission Bomb at the base where Fuxi is located?"

Mei nodded and said:

"Right."

"How brutal."

"..."

Su Qing'an thought for a moment and asked:

"Is it a pure Honkai Fission Bomb?"

Mei stated:

"An overly pure Honkai Fission Bomb is not capable of testing the waters completely in one go, and you probably don't want a similar brutal experiment to happen a second time."

"I need to know if Fuxi can truly encompass everything related to Honkai within his power, just like your Stigmata. At the same time, only in this way can he force out any possible anthropomorphic form of soul."

Su Qing'an nodded in understanding; this would definitively confirm whether it involved conceptual abilities.

But there's a problem here.

That is, if Fuxi's abilities do not involve concepts and have no anthropomorphic soul form, then the experiment would become a meaningless and brutal murder.

Mei seemed to have read his thoughts. She adjusted her glasses and said calmly:

"So you'll get bombed along with her."

Su Qing'an: "?"