Unexpected Old Friend

Professor Han's eye sockets were sunken, his face dotted with age spots. The neural bundles on his head had withered due to the loss of the Brain in a Vat's power, making him look as though he could pass away at any moment.

Having failed to integrate with the Brain in a Vat, Professor Han didn't have many years left to live.

In fact, even if he had succeeded in integrating, his brainpower wouldn't have been enough to sustain the calculations within the inner world for long.

This was why Gao Gong scoffed. Sure, being a shut-in was comfortable, but the problem was finding a sustainable path.

Escaping reality for a moment wasn't the issue. The true meaning of virtual reality was to be able to escape continuously until no one could find you, or even deal with you.

"Alien Base," Gao Gong mused, "if I'm not mistaken, this knowledge chain of Bionic Technology was also given to you by alien forces, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

"So, this is a conspiracy?"

Professor Han frowned in pain. "I'm not sure. It's just that when we fully realized the opponent's theories in our research, those aliens suddenly broke in, captured us, and forced us into bionic experiments."

"And their goal was to achieve complete bionics on us, to completely transform those alien monsters into the carbon-based humans of this planet."

Gao Gong stroked his chin. Generally speaking, the most common way for advanced civilizations to interfere with lower civilizations was under the guise of 'exchange,' trading them a technological path with low potential and many pitfalls.

From the perspective of a lower civilization, it was impossible to discern any issues with this 'advanced alien technology.'

In fact, even if they knew there were pitfalls, forces on the planet would still willingly fall into the trap and be deceived.

Why? Planet civilizations were mostly not a unified entity but rather a dispersed alliance of numerous sovereign states. If you stood still, others would advance rapidly with external help, turning you into a member state or a satellite state.

Alternatively, interest groups or corporate forces within a country might secretly contact alien knowledge, package it as their own discovered technology, and then, more violently, a political party in opposition could achieve a technological revolution through a coup.

In short, the tactic of 'knowledge' changing civilization, though cliché, was incredibly effective.

Once used, it would almost always yield results.

Advanced civilizations did this for a few reasons.

Perhaps they wanted to use nascent planetary civilizations to verify the feasibility of a certain technological path and the resulting social ecology.

Or, they wanted to cultivate this planetary civilization into a subordinate civilization. For example, an advanced mechanical civilization might cultivate a lower carbon-based civilization to achieve technological counter-offensives against rival carbon-based civilizations.

Or, through the calculations of the planet's main brain, they discovered that a certain type of race had immense potential and would become the nemesis of an advanced civilization, thus carrying out malicious interference.

Under the regulations of the highest Civilization Council, advanced civilizations would not and were not allowed to conduct dimensional reduction attacks on lower civilizations. Interstellar colonization was rarely seen in the current universe.

But rules were rules, and they couldn't suppress the desire to show off their skills.

For a lower civilization to progress from a planet to interstellar space, it either had truly heaven-defying potential that carried it all the way to the top, or it had endured various crises—mechanical disasters, alien parasitism, technological crises, racial mutations—and been forged into seasoned veterans.

This continued until Civilization Ascension.

At that point, other advanced civilizations would think, "This kid is pretty tough, ruthless, and shameless. He's good material for navigating the universe." Fearing retaliation, they would then move on to bully natives of other planets.

At that time, external crises would be reduced by one level.

However, alien species passing down Bionic Technology and then bionically transforming into the humans of this planet...

This operation was a bit confusing.

Were they playing a long game of infiltration? It seemed unlikely.

With too few known conditions, Gao Gong couldn't figure it out and changed the subject. "You just said there were many dangerous things in the research institute. Did you mean the aliens, or something else?"

Professor Han said hoarsely, "During the previous exploration, I secretly opened the institute's outer defense mechanisms. I wasn't attacked, and even the password was the same as it was back then. So, I can initially conclude that the aliens should have already left."

"And what I meant by dangerous were the failed products born from the series of biological experiments conducted back then. The physical bodies of those alien monsters were unimaginably powerful, and their failed bionic products were beings that even energy weapons couldn't destroy."

Is that so? This was a bit troublesome. He had planned to investigate after the hunting war ended.

Now it seemed this was a high-level instance.

"Since it's so dangerous, please tell me the location. Otherwise, your kin might accidentally get caught up in it."

Gao Gong flashed a devilish smile.

[『Bionic Origin』 Quest Fragment Activated]

[Reward: Mechanical Puzzle Fragment [1/5] * 1]

Adding the one he had obtained earlier, Gao Gong had now completed 2/5 of the puzzle.

Mechanical Puzzles were a type of advanced blueprint, at least 'Rare' or above. If he got even luckier, he might even roll a cross-civilization blueprint.

These types of puzzles were generally not for single-person weapons but for large equipment.

'This research institute might have clues to new quest fragments.'

Quest networks and quest chains were different. Quest chains could be continued as long as you weren't stuck on a particular stage.

But quest networks were different; they required the assembly of different quest fragments.

The more quest fragments you collected, the higher the chance of assembling a 'Quest Network.'

But this was only a possibility.

Sometimes, even after activating a 'Quest Fragment,' you might find yourself with no further path forward.

This situation did exist.

Therefore, many players preferred to stubbornly grind through quest chains rather than attempt quest networks.

Because the mission chain at least had phased mission rewards.

It wasn't until the mid to late game that players understood that the "Mission Network" was one of the few paths that could bypass the "Professional Knowledge Chain" to forge large-scale equipment, and even ascension equipment.

Gao Gong naturally wouldn't let go of this "Mission Network."

Not to mention he knew a lot of background information about Ji Lie Star.

More importantly, he had player subordinates he could command.

It was just basic rewards, he would give them.

"Alright, rest when we get to my territory, it's not safe here."

Gao Gong clapped his hands and gave Huang Yuanli a look. The young woman immediately put her hands on her hips and, like driving sheep, yelled at the tribal members.

At this moment, the young woman already had some of the bearing of the "Great Elder."

Suddenly, Gao Gong's expression changed slightly, and then the young woman's face stiffened.

She suddenly felt a strong malice.

The malice was so strong it felt like she would be devoured at any moment.

They were being targeted!

Gao Gong narrowed his eyes; he had clearly driven away all the surrounding Radiation Beasts.

Logically, no Radiation Beast should have wandered into this area in such a short time.

Unless the other party had been coveting them for a long time.

And there was a faint sense of familiarity.

The next moment, he understood why.

A giant metallic head shot out from behind the trees. It moved on all fours with lightning speed. Its mouth was wide open, its metallic teeth like daggers. A tribal member, caught off guard, had its body bitten in half. The Reaper threw its head back, and with a bloody mess, carried the upper half of the body in its mouth before charging back into the forest.

Reapers!!

The figures of these steel monsters appeared once again in the forest.

Gao Gong's eyes twitched. It wasn't that he didn't want to act, but a powerful sense of threat surged from the depths of his heart.

If he made a move, he would definitely be ambushed.

Elegant footsteps sounded, and a crimson Reaper slowly emerged from the depths of the forest.

Its neck was twice as long as that of an ordinary Reaper, and its six wings were not folded under its ribs like a cockroach's, but spread out like blades.

Its four forelimbs were more slender than those of other Reapers, even growing five hooks like a human's, which rotated slowly as it walked.

Its long red whiskers, its red exoskeleton, and its relatively slender build compared to male Reapers.

Although there were significant changes, Gao Gong still recognized it at a glance.

It was that female Reaper!

And now, the female Reaper had reorganized her family and was even more powerful than her husband.

Name: Reaper Queen

Radiation Level: C+

Health: 3660/3660

Stamina: 900/900

Bio-energy: 13530

Bio-attributes: Strength 51 Agility 48 Endurance 35 Intelligence 15 Perception 27

Skills: Steel Slash Lv9, Whirlwind Slash Lv6 (Advanced), Six-Round Kill Lv4 (Elite), Electromagnetic Whip Lv8 (Elite), Psychic Shock Lv5 (Elite), ??

Leader Template: Mother Beast's Grasp

Effect 1: Mentally controls fellow Reapers.

Effect 2: Emits pheromones, causing Reapers to temporarily go berserk.

Effect 3: Absorbs the essence of different types of Mech-Bio Beasts to give birth to Reapers with more biological characteristics.

Gunshots suddenly rang out. Not far from Huang Yuanli, a tribal member's body trembled, and a bloody hole appeared on his forehead.

Not far away, a juvenile Reaper slowly retracted its smoking forelimbs. Its forelimbs were no longer "biological scythes" but biological gun barrels.

Its "father" was most likely a Gun-Cannon Beast.

"I don't have the energy to take care of you anymore," Gao Gong said without looking back.

"I know!"

The young woman also showed the decisiveness of a leader, her eyes instantly becoming vacant.

"The elderly, children, and severely wounded retreat first. Everyone else covers the rear."

The next moment, a juvenile Reaper charged over. Its pair of biological scythes had turned into biological spears, thrusting directly at the young woman.

However, the next moment, another juvenile Reaper suddenly appeared and rammed into the charging one from the side. With a heavy impact, it forcefully knocked the attacker off its attack path, forcing it to crash into a large tree beside them.

At the same time, two juvenile Reapers suddenly emerged from the forest, blocking Huang Yuanli from the left and right like guards.

Mechanical Telepathy had a very special effect called "Mechanical Possession," which allowed it to "command" machines for a short period.

Gao Gong watched the approaching Reaper Queen, took a deep breath, and slowly drew the Red Unicorn, then released its sheath.