Bionic Origins

[Task complete, Experience +4500, Cable Tribe Favorability +500]

[Brain in a Vat Favorability +400]

After Huang Yuanli, this petite woman, fainted, a substantial mental fluctuation suddenly erupted from the tentacles of the Brain in a Vat.

Blue light rippled around it in circles, deep as the sea.

Highworker narrowed his eyes and lightly rested his palm on the hilt of his knife. The intense mental fluctuations let him feel that excitement at the same time.

Brains in vats came in two types: wild and domesticated.

The wild ones were more ferocious, and most had developed a fondness for eating human brains. By absorbing human emotions and memories, they completed their ethical frameworks. They were extremely cunning, the kind that belonged among behind-the-scenes villains.

By contrast, artificially cultivated ones like this were simpler and relatively harmless by nature.

But no matter what, this thing was still a level-thirty-plus boss with invincible mental attacks. Taking advantage of people was fine, but he absolutely could not mistake it for an idiot.

In fact, once his Perception reached twenty-one points, he immediately sensed more than a dozen invisible tentacles slowly stroking him, especially around his head.

The other party had not agreed to this transaction because of his "verbal persuasion." It had first confirmed that Highworker was not lying before accepting his arrangements.

In a sense, this fellow was practically half a prophet.

"Human, thank you. You are different from the others."

"Of course. I'm not doing research by cutting people into slices. I only like studying the special fetishes of different races... Ahem, what are your plans from here?"

The Brain in a Vat stretched its tentacles in delight, and the liquid in the nutrient tank rapidly drained away.

"Researcher Han made me eat many things I disliked. I'm going to deal with them, and then—find a suitable body."

"Researcher Han? You mean Professor Han? You don't hate him?"

"Forty years ago, with Researcher Han's help, I obtained my first life. Forty years later, with his help once again, I awakened from chaos."

"According to your human principle of equivalence, our debts and grievances are settled."

"However, if one day new content appears in my thoughts, or rather, if I become more 'human,' I will return and perform an equivalent act. Ah, in your human terms—that means revenge."

Highworker shrugged. He had no objections.

"Researcher Han hid some of his research data from back then in the laboratory. The data may be useful to you. I can sense that some dangerous flames are burning within you."

"Sorry, I used the word 'dangerous,' but among the words in the human lexicon, I could not find a more suitable phrase."

Carbon-based flow plus mechanical flow—let alone on this planet, they were synonymous with danger throughout the entire universe.

"Then goodbye, my human friend. I have already taken a liking to a rather fine body. I hope we will have the chance to meet again in the future, and I hope that by then, you will have obtained what you seek."

The blue light grew brighter and brighter. With a storm-like mental shock, the Brain in a Vat vanished into the nutrient tank.

In another corner of the city, within the High-Risk Zone, lay the Metal District.

At the center of this High-Risk Zone lay mechanical corpses everywhere. In the middle of them was the wreckage of a massive object resembling a mechanical castle, its entire body billowing with green smoke.

At its chest was a cavity the size of a water tank. That had once been its radiation organ.

The leader of the Class-A Radiation Beasts, the Mechanical Fortress.

Before its lifeless eyes, a scarlet carpet of flesh slowly withdrew from the former lair of this mechanical bio-beast.

Meanwhile, the back of the one who had killed it, the "Fission Duke," now bore a large blood-red cape.

Likewise, amid the sky full of "red lanterns," clusters of nuclear energy lit up inside them.

Two tigers could not share one mountain—unless one was male and the other female.

The Crimson Empress and the Fission Duke seemed to have undergone a certain degree of "fusion."

Before long, Scavenger City might gain another S-class Beast King.

Or perhaps two Beast Gods controlled by the Knights Order.

However, a small accident occurred.

Inside the Mechanical Fortress's "chest," a pale-blue octopus suddenly appeared. Countless neural lines shot out and injected energy, causing the circuits of the various mechanical modules to light up once again.

The next moment, the Mechanical Fortress's eyes moved.

Highworker naturally had no idea that he had already changed the course of history to some degree. At that moment, he was in a laboratory from the Pre-Civilization Era, looking through the data left behind by Professor Han.

"Bionic Principles and Experiments of Arthropods"

"Bionics of the Human Body and Amphibian Simulation"

"Could Oceanic Humans Exist?"

"Laboratory Journal"

Highworker's heart stirred, and he opened the journal.

4 June, Year 231 of the Third Xia Calendar

"According to the rules of drawing lots, my colleagues and I were assigned to this Mesozoic site to collect and restore cells from ancient fossils."

"I think this is a complete waste of academic resources. The concept of giant heavily augmented soldiers was rejected long ago. Combining dinosaur cells with augmentation technology could create 'humanoid warships.' What idiot came up with this idea?"

"When will those fools in the Imperial Research Department stop being so wildly imaginative?"

5 June

"Digging rocks. Dig your mother."

6 June

"Digging rocks. Dig your mother."

7 June

"Digging rocks. Keep digging your mother."

8 June

"My God, deep in the mountains and not a single girl around. Next time I get leave, I have to download several hundred gigabytes of virtual companions in advance. Otherwise, I won't be able to survive these days."

What followed was nearly two months of digging for ancient fossils, interspersed with a certain researcher's copious stream of profanity.

This young researcher's surname was Han. His name was Han Yuan. The journal even contained selfies of him from all sorts of angles, including some in which he wore no clothes.

It was confirmed. This flamboyant young man was Professor Han.

No one knew what kind of vicious butcher's knife could have turned the flamboyant show-off in the journal into the reclusive, miserable old man he was now.

15 July

"A group of people came to the site today. They're university students majoring in ancient biology. Heh heh, the girls are really pretty."

16 July

"Today, a drone caught sight of a figure in the mountains. Could it be a wild man? I'll bet five hundred mechanical coins that it's female."

17 July

"Caught red-handed. Well, I can't use that phrase, but this is simply ridiculous. It's already the twenty-sixth century, and extraterrestrial colonies have even been established, yet there are still enthusiasts of ancient weapons who cosplay in the deep mountains. Why not just simulate the environment with VR at home?—Speaking of which, how do these people deal with going to the bathroom?"

19 July

"I wonder whether my application was approved. I really want to leave this place. I'm a PhD in 'neurobiology,' yet they're making me dig rocks. This is ridiculous."

20 July

"Holy crap, we actually dug it up! It's huge. Is this thing alive? Can we extract ancient biological cells from it? If this is real, I'll have the subject for my dissertation. If the cells can be fused, wouldn't that mean I'm reaching the peak of my life?"

13 October

"The experiment failed. Sigh, I'm out of here. What a waste of excitement. With current biotechnology, incorporating ancient organisms into augmentation technology has at least seven or eight obstacles that haven't been overcome."

21 October

"My application actually received a response. The Institute of Applied Human Technology? I've never heard of this organization. But why is its confidentiality level so high?"

Highworker flipped through the journal and found that many pages had been torn out afterward.

It seemed that because of the need for secrecy, much of the content had been removed.

4 February, Year 234 of the Third Xia Calendar

Had two years passed just like that?

"It's hard to imagine. It turns out the upper levels had made contact with extraterrestrial civilizations long ago. 'Applied human technology' was all a smokescreen. It's clearly bionic technology!"

"On this planet, our nation already possesses the strongest cybernetic and augmentation technologies... Human bionics—do the upper levels want to turn all of us into robots?"

8 March

The "AI Life Act" and the "Human Bionics Act" were passed. The species on our planet seemed to have gained the right to choose freely.

Although this freedom was given to us by aliens.

9 May

The strongest bionic technology is brain science!

Highworker flipped to the final page and raised his brows. That was it?

At the same time, the system panel's mission notification sounded.

[You obtained 1 "Bionic Origins" mission fragment (inactive)]

Mission Fragment: A fragment of a large mission network. You need to collect enough clues to uncover the truth of the mission.

Mission Hint: Bionic humans seem to be connected to aliens? This may be a clue, but it is definitely not enough. Find more "mission fragments" and piece together the truth behind the entire bionic modification project.

Fragment Reward: 1 incomplete mechanical jigsaw piece