Bionic Origin

[Mission complete, EXP +4500, Cable Tribe Favorability +500]

[Brain in a Vat Favorability +400]

After the young woman Huang Yuanli fainted, a substantial mental fluctuation suddenly emanated from the tentacles of the 'Brain in a Vat'.

Blue light rippled outwards, as deep as the sea.

Gao Gong narrowed his eyes, his hand resting lightly on the hilt of his blade. The intense mental fluctuation made him feel a sense of exhilaration.

There are two types of Brain in a Vat: wild and domesticated.

Wild ones are more ferocious and often develop a taste for human brains, cunningly constructing their ethics by absorbing human emotions and memories. They are the typical behind-the-scenes villains.

In contrast, these artificially cultivated ones are simpler and relatively harmless.

But even so, this thing is a boss above level 30, with invincible mental attacks. It can take advantage of others, but don't mistake it for an idiot.

In fact, when his perception reached 21 points, he immediately felt more than ten invisible tentacles slowly caressing him, especially around his head.

The other party didn't agree to the transaction because of the 'talk'; it only accepted his arrangement after confirming Gao Gong wasn't lying.

In a sense, this fellow is equivalent to a half-prophet.

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

"Of course, I don't do slice research; I only love studying the peculiar habits of different races... Cough, what are your plans now?"

The Brain in a Vat happily stretched its tentacles, and the liquid in the nutrient tank quickly depleted.

"Researcher Han fed me a lot of things I didn't like. I want to get rid of them, and then—find a suitable shell."

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

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

"According to your human principle of equivalence, my grievances with him are settled."

"However, if one day my thoughts develop new content, or in other words, become more 'human,' I will return to perform equivalent actions, oh, according to your human saying—revenge."

Gao Gong shrugged, having no objections.

"In the laboratory, Researcher Han hid some research data from that time. This data might be useful to you. I can sense dangerous sparks burning within you."

"I apologize for using the word 'dangerous,' but in the human lexicon, I couldn't find a more suitable phrase."

Carbon-Based Flow plus Mechanical Flow, let alone on this planet, is a synonym for danger throughout the universe.

"Well then, goodbye, my human friend. I have already set my sights on a very good shell. I hope we will have the chance to meet again, and I hope by then, you will have obtained what you desire."

The blue light grew brighter, and with a storm-like mental shock, the 'Brain in a Vat' disappeared from the nutrient tank.

In another corner of the city, in the high-risk zone, the metal district.

In the center of this high-risk zone, mechanical corpses were scattered everywhere. In the middle of these corpses was the wreckage of a giant mechanical castle, billowing with smoke.

And in the position of its chest, there was a hole the size of a water tank, where its radiation organ used to be.

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

Before its lifeless eyes, a crimson flesh carpet was slowly withdrawing from the lair of this former mech-bio beast.

And the one who killed it, the 'Fission Duke,' now had a large blood-red cloak on its back.

Similarly, amidst the 'Red Lanterns' filling the sky, clusters of nuclear energy were lit within the lanterns.

One mountain cannot tolerate two tigers, unless one is male and the other female.

The Crimson Queen and the Fission Duke seemed to have undergone some form of 'fusion.'

In the near future, Scavenger City might gain an S-Class Beast King.

Or perhaps two Beast God Generals controlled by the Knight Order.

However, a small accident occurred.

In the 'chest' of the Mechanical Fortress, a cluster of pale blue octopuses suddenly appeared. Countless nerve lines extended, injecting energy, and causing the circuits of the major mechanical modules to light up again.

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

Gao Gong naturally didn't know that he had, to some extent, altered the course of history. At this moment, he was in a laboratory from the pre-civilization era, sifting through the data left by Professor Han.

"Bionic Principles and Experiments of Arthropods"

"Human Bionics and Amphibian Simulation"

"The Possibility of the Existence of Marine Humans"

"Laboratory Log"

Gao Gong's heart stirred, and he opened the log.

Third Xia Calendar, Year 231, June 4th

'According to the rules of the lottery, my colleagues and I were assigned to this Mesozoic relic site to collect and restore cells from ancient fossils.'

'I consider this a complete waste of academic resources. The concept of giant bio-engineered soldiers was rejected long ago. Fusing dinosaur cells with bio-engineering technology to create 'humanoid battleships'? What kind of idiot came up with that idea?'

"When will those idiots in the Imperial Science and Technology Department stop being so full of wild ideas?"

June 5th

"Digging rocks, what the hell!"

June 6th

"Digging rocks, what the hell!"

June 7th

"Digging rocks, still digging, what the hell!"

June 8th

"God, this deep mountain and old forest has no girls at all. Next holiday, I absolutely must download hundreds of gigabytes of welfare models in advance, or I won't be able to live."

What followed were nearly two months of ancient fossil excavation, interspersed with a lot of colorful language from a certain researcher.

This young researcher's surname was Han, and his name was Han Yuan. His notes also contained selfie photos from various angles, some of them nude.

Confirmed, this flirtatious young man was Professor Han.

He wondered what kind of ruthless "pig-slaughtering knife" it took to turn the flirtatious diary writer into the reclusive, miserable old man in reality.

July 15th

"A group of people came to the ruins today, they were university students from the ancient biology major. Hehe, the girls are so beautiful."

July 16th

"A drone spotted a human figure on the mountain today. Could it be a wild man? I bet five hundred Mech Coins it's female."

July 17th

"Caught red-handed. Okay, maybe that's not the right phrase, but it's just too ridiculous. It's the 26th century, we've established off-world colonies, and there are still ancient weapon enthusiasts cosplaying in the deep mountains and old forests. Why not just simulate the environment using VR at home? — Speaking of which, how do these people handle their business?"

July 19th

"I wonder if my application was approved. I really want to leave here. I'm a Ph.D. in 'Neurobiology,' and they're making me dig rocks. It's ridiculous."

July 20th

"Holy crap, we actually dug something up! It's huge! Is this thing alive? Can we extract ancient biological cells? If this is real, my graduation thesis will be secured. If I can achieve cell fusion, won't I be on the path to the pinnacle of life?"

October 13th

"The experiment failed. Sigh, let's pack it up. It's no fun, all that excitement for nothing. With current bio-technology, there are at least seven or eight major hurdles to overcome before we can integrate ancient organisms into bio-augmentation technology."

October 21st

"My application actually received a response. The Human Application Technology Research Institute. I've never heard of this unit before, but why is the security clearance so high?"

Gao Gong flipped through it and found that many pages at the end of the diary had been torn out.

It seemed that due to security reasons, a lot of the content had been removed.

Third Summer Calendar, Year 234, February 4th

Just skipped two years.

"It's hard to imagine that the higher-ups had already made contact with alien civilizations. This 'human application technology' is all a smokescreen; it's clearly bionic technology!"

"On this planet, our country already possesses the strongest prosthetic and bio-augmentation technology… Human bionics, are the higher-ups trying to turn all of us into robots?"

March 8th

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

Although this freedom was given to us by aliens.

May 9th

The strongest bionic technology is brain science!

Gao Gong flipped to the last page and raised his eyebrows. That was it?

At the same time, a system notification sound echoed from the task panel.

[You have obtained 'Bionic Origin' Task Fragment *1 (Unlit)]

Task Fragment: A fragment of a large task network puzzle. You need to collect enough clues to uncover the truth of the task.

Task Hint: Do bionic humans seem to be related to aliens? This might be a clue, but it's definitely not enough. Find more 'Task Fragments' to piece together the truth of the entire bionic modification.

Fragment Reward: Mechanical Puzzle Fragment *1