Cracking Memory Metal

</b>

A streak of light flashed across the sky above Fuqing Island.

"Boss, it's crooked, it's crooked!"

"Boss, speed it up!"

"Boss, let me drive."

"Shut up!"

!

A 'High-Level Craftsman's Marrow Sword' emitting black smoke descended from the sky and landed crookedly on a rock.

The blade was badly worn, and sparks or electric currents were seen flying from various parts of it.

At the end of the sword hilt hung two heads, one belonging to the senior engineer and the other to Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu, resting her head on the senior engineer's chin, insisted, "Boss, let me change just once, just once!"

"Are you sure you can transform?"

"Of course, I've checked it several times, there's absolutely no problem!"

"Okay, I'll trust you this once."

The High-Level Engineer's Spinal Marrow Sword—no, it should be Xiao Yu's Spinal Marrow Sword—began to transform. Various parts crookedly flipped out, and occasionally one or two titanium alloy parts would pop out due to mismatches. The shattered reactor was also spinning around on its body. Finally, it moved to its navel—and then stopped moving.

Well, pretty much the same.

Who says a reactor has to be embedded in the chest? It's good enough that it's not embedded in the forehead.

The mechanical angel Xiao Yu returned to human form, jumped around a few times, stretched her limbs, and felt quite good about herself.

"Boss, see? I told you I could change! Hey? Where are you?"

"Damn it, where did you put me?!" the senior engineer roared in anger.

The little angel looked down following the sound and discovered that the boss's mechanical head had been moved to his buttocks at some point, like an upside-down durian.

"Huh? I was wondering why I felt like there was something extra. I thought it was your tail, boss!" the little angel said innocently.

"Bullshit, does your tail weigh more than ten pounds? No, does your boss even have a tail?"

"Don't worry, boss, I'll change you back right away. Where do you want to go? How about to my chest? I'd like a bigger cup size."

"..."

When the mechanical body is separated from the biological body, and it is simply used as a weapon, the senior engineer does not need to worry about it so much.

However, using a heavily injured mechanical body to perform long-distance "sword flight" is quite unreliable for someone as stubborn as Xiao Yu.

Given her driving skills, she probably would have blown up the already badly injured mechanical body halfway through the race.

That's why the senior engineer personally took charge.

Ultimately, the senior engineer's head was implanted into the mechanical body's abdomen, becoming a mechanical version of Xing Tian. The two shared a single mechanical body and headed straight for the biochemical laboratory.

The reason for coming to Fuqing Island is simple: before the big battle, the senior engineer needs to fix his mechanical body, or at least repair it to a certain extent.

Xiao Yu was destroyed once in the Asian continent, and then he was overloaded again when fighting against the machine generation.

The mechanical body is currently in a very bad state.

In less than a month, the entire Fuqing Island has undergone a dramatic transformation. With tens of thousands of robots working tirelessly, most of the buildings on the island have been razed to the ground and replaced by a super-luxurious biochemical testing center. Although it only has two floors, it covers an area roughly the size of ten football fields, not to mention all sorts of supporting facilities.

In addition, the experimental center is equipped with many advanced biological research devices, all of which were airlifted from the Iron Sand Desert.

For this reason, Professor Han rarely complained. In the holographic video, the brain cylinder master had a full head of white hair and dull eyes, as if he was about to collapse after only a few months.

The senior engineer knew that once a bionic human entered a period of functional decline, the rate of deterioration was ten times that of a normal person.

This person has truly entered the twilight of their life.

Of course, unlike normal people, as long as they undergo a top-notch full-body transformation, androids can "rejuvenate" and continue their youth.

Of course, the parts for "rejuvenation" are extremely precious, belonging to the core of bionic technology.

Professor Han had no hope for this level of surgery.

In the last video, this usually taciturn professor chatted with the senior engineer for quite a while, talking about life, ideals, and regrets from his adolescence.

The senior engineer listened with a heavy expression.

He didn't tell her that once Sister Rose successfully took over, she would have an endless supply of materials for rejuvenation.

There was no other reason—he just enjoyed watching others die.

The robots on the island quickly discovered the "intruders," and soon Dr. Rong and Dr. Yu appeared at the entrance of the experimental center.

As a newly minted extreme cyborg, Dr. Rong expressed strong dissatisfaction with the senior engineer's separation of machine and meat, shaking his head as if he were on drugs, looking indignant at his lack of progress, and calling it "heretical".

The senior engineer ignored him and instead looked at Dr. Yu, whom Dong Gang had mentioned. Surprisingly, this doctor was not very old, although her thick glasses and bowl haircut made her look like a middle-aged woman.

But based on the experience of a senior engineer who is a pervert, this person should be under 20 years old.

Even in the cyber test field, a top-notch biological expert under the age of 20 is a top talent.

Like prosthetic doctors, biologists also need to choose an advanced profession after reaching level 10.

Choosing an advanced career path is also a choice of knowledge direction—

Paleontology, Evolutionary Biology, Interstellar Biology, Morphology, Microbiology, Bioinformatics, Biological Genetics, Ecosystem Science, Origin Biology, etc.

Only by choosing a knowledge direction can an advanced career be developed.

The other party chose "Origin Biology" and "Bioinformatics" as their research areas.

These are two rather unpopular majors.

Her advanced profession is Origin Biologist.

The senior engineer did some research on the other party's background and found that because his profession was unpopular, even though he was a top expert at level 20, no company would hire him.

Since I can't find a job, I'll start my own business.

Then Professor Yu went bankrupt.

I became a proud freelancer.

Despite this, the other party remained neither humble nor arrogant when dealing with the senior engineer.

After all, most people who can reach the pinnacle of their field of expertise in sinkholes possess two characteristics: extremely high IQ and extremely low EQ.

Without further ado, the senior engineer got straight to the point. "Dr. Yu, how's your research on the material I gave you coming along?"

Dr. Yu stared at the senior engineer in "Xingtian Mode" with some astonishment, and after a moment, he recovered.

"Plz follow me."

Dr. Yu led the senior engineer to the gene culture dishes. The numbers on the two culture dishes were 74% and 18%, respectively.

74% of the gene chain was restored from Tong, while 18% came from the collider.

Being able to reconstruct 74% of a neural modeler's genetic code in a short period of time has already demonstrated the other party's capabilities.

However, this 18% is much less than the senior engineer had expected.

"Why is the decoding progress so slow?"

The senior engineer's mechanical body is still counting on it to recover.

Faced with the investor's questioning, Dr. Yu remained calm. "Research on mechanical bodies is not within my area of expertise. More importantly, I can sense that this metal cell is technologically locked, making it difficult for its components to be extracted."

Tech lock, I'm still Zhizi.

As a seasoned veteran, the senior engineer immediately understood what the other party meant.

Firstly, in order to prevent the leakage of the shape memory metal formula, there may indeed be some methods used by the mother city.

Secondly, the other party wasn't fully committed; they were slacking off and ready to run away at any moment.

The senior engineer calmly stated, "So, in other words, once the technological lock is unlocked, the structure of the metal cells can be analyzed very quickly?"

"Maybe."

"I see."

The two remained silent for a while before Dr. Yu took his leave, and the senior engineer did not try to stop him, creating a somewhat awkward atmosphere.

What has this person been doing lately?

As a level 50 artificial intelligence, nothing that happens on this island can escape Dr. Rong's notice.

"Dr. Yu seems to be quite fascinated by the origin of everything."

"The origin of all things—does this one want to become a monkey or a fish?"

"Uh, neither. The doctor seems to be very interested in the legendary 'Nika bacteria,' the common ancestor of all life on this planet."

"In biology, there is a theory that in a single event, one bacterium somehow inhabits another body—resulting in breaking through the ancient energy shackles of the bacteria, which led to the subsequent series of major species evolutions."

"What the doctor wants to deduce is the nature of this bacterium."

"Oh, I see."

The senior engineer neither confirmed nor denied it.

Life is an inevitable product of cosmic chemistry, but the chemical composition is not exactly the same in different galaxies, star regions, and planets.

The senior engineer neither disliked nor respected the other party's persistence. He was a pragmatist, and if this "Nika bacterium" could significantly enhance biological evolution, he wouldn't mind investing a lot of resources in it.

But this is not an excuse for the other party to slack off at work.

"Technological lock, genetic lock."

In advanced civilizations, especially carbon-based civilizations, species genes are the highest secret of the civilization, as well as its highest technology. It is no exaggeration to say that every member of an advanced civilization is implanted with a "sophon"-level gene lock at birth.

But clearly, the genes of a collider are not that noble.

But the other party didn't seem to be lying.

"Get me Professor Yu's research data."

The three professional characteristics of biologists—gene editing, gene mutation enhancement, and animal simulation—are highlighted.

For a moment, the senior engineer seemed to have entered a certain microscopic level.

When I look at these materials again, I immediately feel a strong sense of immersion.

It took the senior engineer a full hour to finish reading the documents.

He was certain of one thing: the other party was not lying. Based on extensive experimental research, this advanced metal cell did indeed possess sealed technology.

That's strange.

The senior engineer muttered to himself.

In his memory, memory metal, also known as interstellar metal, is the main material for building megastructures.

While this is rare in primitive civilizations, intelligent robots made from interstellar metal are even rarer.

But this does not mean that shape memory metals are more valuable than 'gene locks'.

In the universe, when space pirate groups are starving, they will sneak around digging into the corners of giant structures. Since memory metal has a fast recovery speed, even if they dig up tens of tons, it can be completely restored in less than half an hour.

Of course, all of this is on the premise of not being discovered. If discovered, you're doomed, which is even more dangerous than the death rate of robbery.

"In a sense, does the breakthrough of the collider unlock the genetic potential?"

"Bombarding metal cells with pure energy to push their malleability to its limit, thereby unlocking their genetic potential?"

The senior engineer tried it, and it wasn't the case.

"Or is it necessary to use AI to control it?"

The senior engineer switched modes again, experimenting through virtual means.

It was unsuccessful.

After thinking for most of the day, the senior engineer had a flash of inspiration.

He's overthinking it!

There is no such thing as a gene lock.

It's clearly just a difference in environment.

"Dr. Rong!"

"Boss."

"Use your AI to simulate the environment for me."

"What kind of environment?"

"Cosmic environment".

Soon, following a series of parameters reported by the senior engineer, the gravity system, air system, and circulation system began to operate at full capacity.

The senior engineer took out the spinning top again, grabbed it, and the next moment, the spinning top disappeared, replaced by the vast universe.

He wants to use a virtual environment to simulate time.

The scale of the universe is beyond the imagination of ordinary people. Even a massive star is no different from dust from the perspective of the universe.

On such a large scale, besides various navigation technologies, what every civilization strives for is to leave a mark in a corner of the universe – that is, a megastructure.

A super project with a minimum scale of galaxies.

The material used for this megastructure is memory metal.

Under the influence of the cosmic environment, the metal cells of the collider finally changed, and their color changed from silvery-white to blue.

Under the interference of 'cosmic time', the resolution of cells began to increase rapidly.

"I see. Only in a cosmic environment can shape memory metal fully unfold, and for life on a planet, this is probably the most difficult 'genetic lock' to unlock."

"Great, boss, I'll notify Dr. Yu right away!" Dr. Rong's mechanical voice rang out.

"No rush, let me give them a bit of a challenge," the senior engineer said confidently.

He has something that the other party is absolutely interested in.

On the system panel—

Honkai Energy: 76% (Charging)

The last fusion transformation caused Gao Gong's Honkai energy to surge to 100% in a short period of time.

Even after the transformation ends, the Honkai energy increases from 36% to 76%.

And the notes explain everything—

This special energy is replenished as species evolve, and its source may be related to the origin of species on this planet.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the engineer's other half, a living organism, is surfing the internet.

Finally, he found a safe place: the back of a corporate executive's brain chip.

The executives' brains are protected by layers of Electronic Barrier.

Unfortunately, this protection does not include the body.

The senior engineer got hooked on hormones.

Corporate executives, to a certain extent, possess immunity from cyber killers.

Assassins typically don't investigate high-ranking individuals like this.

As soon as the capsule human landed, his stomach churned violently, and he vomited profusely.

It's not that he's incapable; even the most powerful transmigrator couldn't withstand the ability to possess tens of thousands of bodies in a short period of time.

For shut-ins, it's even less likely.