The Retired Emperor

In the eyes of the young woman—or rather, Gaia's pale eyes—it seemed as if an entire world was reflected: blue skies and white clouds, herds of cattle and sheep, a completely natural ecosystem, like the grasslands of a civilized era.

Even Professor Han was sucked in; everything that was ordinary in the old civilization seemed so wonderful in the present day.

Gaia looked at the senior engineer, whose eyes were like mirrors. His perception, which was as high as 56 points, allowed him to pass the 'exemption' directly.

The senior engineer knew that this was not something the other party did intentionally, but rather that the arrival of a spiritual entity naturally brought with it its 'worldview'.

As expected of the "Three Idiots of the Universe," the senior engineer remarked with some emotion. Once the Brain in a Vat passes its infancy, its upgrade speed is terrifying, like a virus that can spontaneously spread from person to person.

Currently, the number of creatures infected by it in the entire Iron Sand Desert is probably greater than the number that are not infected.

In this universe, there are always some strange and bizarre life forms that are extremely abnormal, such as pangalactic life forms, prehistoric megastructures, and cosmic dark tides. Compared to them, the brain in a vat is not particularly abnormal; it can only be considered slightly abnormal.

"This guy's almost level 60, time to find an anchor point."

Information life forms receive information thousands or even tens of thousands of times more intensely than normal life forms, which often causes their worldview to collapse. Therefore, as their level increases, they must also find their own information anchors.

This anchor point can be a worldview, a fantasy, or a vehicle capable of handling its massive amount of information, such as a planetary-level supercomputer.

Gaia looked at Engineer Gao and suddenly said, "There seems to be something strange about Mr. Gao."

The senior engineer looked between his legs and said seriously, "If you don't have this, but I do, then I do have one."

Gaia landed lightly in front of Gao Gong, its palm glowing white light, and actually pierced through his chest, grabbing the 'Co-evolution Seed' inside him.

The senior engineer's palm suddenly turned bright red, and he grabbed the other person's wrist with his other hand. The 'red liquid' writhed wildly. Although it could not block the other person's information intrusion, it could absorb the other person's energy, preventing the arm from becoming ethereal.

"Little Woman Number Two, although I am quite familiar with the owner of this body, we are not close enough to be completely open with each other. There is no need to be so sentimental."

Gaia tilted his head and explained softly, "There is a special entity within you that will gradually cause you to lose control of your body."

"I have my own way of handling it."

Gaia pondered for a moment and said, "I see. I was being presumptuous."

Gaia slowly withdrew his arm, and the front half of the little woman's arm suddenly disappeared, only to return to its original state when she put it down.

"Information technology is practically unsolvable below level 30. Fortunately, this guy isn't fully information-based, but it would probably be very difficult for Little Woman 2 to achieve full informationization on this planet."

Complete informatization is equivalent to becoming the "Gaia consciousness" or "Mother Earth" of this planet. To become the administrator of this planet, one must first remove the three mountains: "Cybertron," "Deep Web," and "Fortress."

There is no solution.

The level cap is completely locked.

Just then, Professor Han also came to his senses, gasped for breath, and said with a livid face, "You dragged me into the virtual world!?"

The senior engineer gloated, saying, "Truly, a great teacher produces great students; each generation is stronger than the last."

Gaia said, "I thought you would really like the old days."

"I don't like counterfeit goods!"

"There's absolutely no credibility to what you're saying."

Professor Han glared angrily at the senior engineer, who coughed and quickly changed the subject. "Number Two, you should know why we called you here. What are you standing there for? Get to work! Don't you want to go home?"

Gaia nodded calmly and stretched out his hands. The next moment, the gloomy dark forest began to flicker, and streams of electrical signals appeared in various objects. As time passed, the trees, soil, and ground began to fade away, revealing a huge experimental base.

A line of large characters is engraved on the metal plaque at the main entrance.

Human Body Application Technology Research Institute

Gaia bent his five fingers, making a tearing motion, as if he was ripping something. The next moment, hundreds of electric currents exploded and sparked around him.

After Gaia lowered his hand, the chilling feeling that had gripped the engineer disappeared.

"What is this? Environmental biomimicry?" The senior engineer looked around curiously.

"I don't know either," Gaia said.

"This isn't environmental biomimicry, but rather biomimicry of the human defense system. What you just witnessed was a bioelectric phenomenon. Shouldn't you two monsters be the ones who know this best?" Professor Han said coldly.

"Researcher Han's thyroid gland is secreting excessive hormones, his stomach and intestines are contracting abnormally, his blood flow is accelerating, and his heart is beating faster. This is a phenomenon called 'anger' in human emotional changes."

"This was clearly caused by you."

"Are you saying I'm a pathogen?"

"Of course, otherwise why would Professor Han target you instead of the other bionic monsters? He wants to nip you in the bud."

"Is that so?" Gaia began to ponder, "Could it be that my life form has triggered a large-scale uncanny valley effect?"

Professor Han's lips twitched. These two idiots, one dared to speak, and the other dared to listen. He took a deep breath, walked straight to the door, and entered a series of numbers.

The heavy metal door creaked open and slowly slid inward. Professor Han turned his head and said coldly, "This is just the outermost layer of the defense system. In my memory, there are two more layers of such defense systems. If you want to die, you can wait here."

"Professor, don't be angry. Relax and keep a good mood when you get home."

The senior engineer happily followed, and Gaia floated over with her feet off the ground.

The entire research institute is a huge elliptical structure, like a closed bird's nest, and it is a segmented structure. In this way, in the event of an experimental accident, the research institute and the experimental unit can be sealed off at the same time to minimize the damage.

This research institute must have an energy recycling system, so even after decades, it still has a sufficient amount of electricity.

The three moved around inside the large research institute, and the cameras faithfully recorded the scene.

In the universe, a Type I civilization is called a "satellite civilization." This means that although a civilization of this level cannot achieve interstellar migration, it can already achieve preliminary space exploration.

Above this, a Type II civilization is also called a "planetary civilization." The hallmark of this type of civilization is the establishment of planetary bases and the exploitation of resources from other planets.

Of course, the universe is vast and full of wonders. It is possible that there is only one habitable planet in an entire galaxy. Civilizations in such galaxies would be rather unfortunate, as they could only see the ceiling when they looked up.

For such a civilization to make a breakthrough, the cost would likely be a hundred times greater than that of other civilizations.

The emergence of three different types of Type II civilizations on the same planet is actually a very rare phenomenon.

Because civilization is not a nation, within the same civilization, there can be great power rivalry, racial wars, cyber wars, or even corporate rivalry—these are all common occurrences.

However, such competition usually takes place within the same technology tree.

It is extremely rare for three different civilizations to exist on the same planet.

Empire, Alliance, Union.

These are three superpowers of the civilized era, each following a different path—something the senior engineer knew from his previous life.

But from the perspective of someone who has been through it all, the fact that these three Type II civilizations appeared on the same planet is very likely the result of human manipulation.

The Cyber Test Site was not born a Cyber Test Site.

This planet must first have value to be seen by an advanced civilization before it can be used for civilization experiments.

Therefore, the senior engineer suspects that the aliens at this research institute may have already been micromanaging this planet before the "Cyber Test Site" was established.

It's like a small investor buying shares in a startup team, only to have the team and its members acquired by a super-large corporation.

One of the conflicts of interest involved is probably the reason for the "alien playing the role of the Machine-Splitter Alien".

The senior engineer suddenly stopped and turned around sharply. The corridor was empty; there wasn't a single person in sight.

"Stop looking, we are indeed being tracked," Professor Han said without turning his head.

"What she just tore apart was only the first layer of defense, which is the skin of a 'human'. What we are entering now is the interior of the 'human body'."

"So, what's tracking us now is the research institute's 'immune cells'?"

The senior engineer stroked his chin. "Then why don't they make a move?"

"Because the route I led you through was the safety passage."

Professor Han, watching the two eager individuals, warned, "Don't use your abilities recklessly. This place is different from other places. Do you want to alert the entire defense system?"

Gaia remained silent for a while before saying, "When I left here, most of the experimental subjects were either dead or had escaped beforehand."

Professor Han led the two through a winding path until they finally arrived at the entrance of a large laboratory. Professor Han focused his pupils on the monitoring equipment, and soon, a mechanical voice sounded.

Good morning, researcher number 122.

The closed door creaked open and split open in the middle, and Professor Han stepped in first.

The laboratory is very large, with all kinds of instruments on both sides. The most numerous are the nutrient tanks, which contain all kinds of brains. Looking around, there are probably thousands of varieties.

Gaia pointed to the largest nutrient tank and said with some nostalgia, "I used to sleep here."

"Your bed is quite big, several square meters."

"I used to sneak off to other places to play and 'observe' their life experiences when the researchers weren't looking, but unfortunately there are fewer and fewer places I can go."

The senior engineer looked at the other nutrient tanks and found that most of the brains inside were rotten, and some were even covered with green mold.

The energy system can be recycled, but the nutrient solution wasn't replaced in time?

The senior engineer looked at another nutrient chamber, which was even more luxurious than Gaia's, but it was empty, and the nutrient solution had been drained.

"Professor, whose brains were placed here before?"

"The Retired Emperor".

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