Ward?

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Inpatient Department, Unnamed Building

There are five buildings in the inpatient department. With his advanced senses, he can hear the voices of patients in every building, but there is no sound in this one building.

This is highly suspicious!

According to the senior engineer's previous life experience, the physical world manifestations of "advanced information" are not entirely the same. It could be a person, an anti-physical phenomenon, a religious symbol, or even an ordinary object.

The difficulty of obtaining it varies; some are as easy as picking up money from the ground, while others are harder than killing a big boss.

And most importantly, he could sense an anxious signal coming from the 'organism,' as if it were melting at any moment, and this melting was even irreversible.

This made him somewhat anxious.

Higher-level organisms are very difficult to kill, because even a single cell remaining can allow them to revive.

But biological computers are an exception; they are among the few that are known as the nemesis of carbon-based species.

The version 0 biological computing system can fully digest the physical body of a senior engineer version 0.

And it's different from destroying one mechanical entity and creating another.

Once a living organism is destroyed, it is very difficult to find a replacement in a short period of time.

One hour, no, it's only 35 minutes now.

In fact, he wouldn't have resorted to this method if it weren't for the fact that there was a certain probability of obtaining "advanced information" in the City of the Dead.

Wouldn't it be better to use nuclear weapons to deal with this kind of viral attack?

Alternatively, they could simply summon a hacker army to hack all the biological computers.

They could even ask a certain "brain in a vat" to intervene and trigger a continent-wide beast tide that would devour all the "brain-computer interface modifiers".

However, these methods can only defeat the "Venus Life Safety Group," but cannot completely contain the "brain-computer interface virus."

Without controlling the "brain-computer interface virus," there can be no complete victory.

This doesn't matter to Ms. Ye, since she is the chosen one of the versions; the stronger the "brain-computer virus," the stronger her superpowers. But it's a different story for herself.

Suddenly, an idea popped into the senior engineer's mind.

"Can I use the power of the fusion route to forcibly shut down the 'biochemical brain-computer interface'?"

For a long time, senior engineers have rarely had the opportunity to develop the "fusion route". After all, senior engineers don't need to use their ultimate moves against ordinary enemies, and they won't provoke enemies that are too powerful.

Apart from the time with the android A, although the senior engineer fought many battles and seemed to be in danger, he was actually as steady as a rock every time.

"According to the Queen of Blades's personal advice, the path to fusion requires constant self-challenge in the face of life and death to achieve deeper integration. This Zerg Queen has faced countless dangers and challenges along her journey, and has been hunted by advanced civilizations more than once, yet she has always managed to escape unscathed. Perhaps I should learn from this violent woman's methods?"

As the senior engineer pondered, he wandered aimlessly through the deserted building. The corridors were empty, the lights were off, and there was an even stronger smell of formaldehyde permeating the air.

"Boss, none of these medical rooms are staffed."

"Um."

The senior engineer quickly toured several wards, and sure enough, they were all empty.

The senior engineer thought for a moment and then spoke:

"Sometimes, what the naked eye sees is not necessarily the truth; reality and virtuality are not the same thing."

The senior engineer snapped his fingers, and in an instant, four figures appeared, breaking through walls and floors, quickly sweeping across the entire building.

Virtual Life Replication Ritual (Tier 2 - Mastery): Creates a 100% accurate data life form through copying and pasting source code. Duration: 6 hours. Maximum: 4.

However, the 'scene' seen through the lens of data life is completely different.

The entire building, every floor, and every ward was filled with patients.

In the corridor, doctors in white coats came and went, and calls of "surgical arrangements," "emergency," and "medical treatment" were heard constantly.

So, the reason they were willing to come back is because someone "cured" their illness?

The senior engineer tapped his fingers, a thoughtful look flickering in his empty eye sockets.

So, this "real-world information" is from the night shift ward?

Creating a massive illusion to devour incurable patients and thus grow stronger—no wonder the senior engineer couldn't find a single living person in any of the Pale Forest's strongholds.

If there is any hope of survival, who would willingly close their eyes and wait to die?

Moreover, the senior engineer is certain that this kind of "illusion" is playing out in all hospital inpatient wards.

"Phenomenon-type 'real-world information,' this is the most troublesome, but also the most powerful. Tsk tsk, it's time to call my little sister to solve the problem."

Just as he was thinking this, the senior engineer suddenly heard footsteps. Then, the vision of a 'data life' suddenly reversed 180 degrees. By the time he reacted, he was already tied to an operating table. A group of perverted doctors were looking at him with smiles on their faces, while an ordinary-looking female nurse was coldly giving him an injection.

Then, the "senior engineer" felt weak all over and his consciousness became sluggish. His patient gown was also pulled off.

"Holy crap, this 'phenomenon' even has a death detection mechanism, that's amazing!"

[Your perception level exceeds 200 points, effectively exempting you from this consciousness attack.]

The engineer jolted awake, realizing that only three of the summoned 'data lifeforms' remained.

Ancient Information, including phenomena, was also categorized into different levels. Information with a judgment mechanism was definitely stronger than information without one, and information with a fatal judgment mechanism was definitely stronger than information with a non-fatal judgment mechanism.

"The decision-making mechanism on the operating table is based on death. Are there any other methods?"

Just as I was thinking this, footsteps sounded again.

Soon, another "data life" was also sent to the operating table.

This time, "he" did not die. The surgery was successfully completed, but the senior engineer's arm fell off with a "thud" and he lost all feeling in it.

"The determination of non-fatal nature is 'limb amputation'."

However, this time, the senior engineer clearly felt that although his right hand had lost most of its sensation, unlike the previous "death judgment", he still had sensation in his hand.

With a thought, the golden arm instantly spewed out a large number of monomolecular rays, piercing the ground densely with holes.

Then, with another thought, the monomolecular wire twisted back into a golden arm.

Some of the lost senses have been restored.

After doing this three or four times, my senses were finally mostly restored.

"Understood!"

The senior engineer finally figured out why the residents of the City of the Dead didn't have "biochemical brain-computer interfaces" on the back of their heads.

The reason is simple: when the brain-computer interface virus entered and spread, it was detected by the "night shift ward" and an automatic brain-computer interface resection surgery was performed.

The brain-computer interface is gone, and so is the virus.

The determination of lethality is murder.

For non-fatal cases, local excision is performed.

But what are the criteria for this judgment?

The senior engineer was both killed by surgery and had his arm cut off during surgery.

During this time, he did nothing.

As I was pondering, footsteps sounded for the third time, but this time they came from the location of my main body.

A group of doctors and nurses rushed over from around the corner, and the operating table clattered and shook incessantly.

Here we go again!

The senior engineer cursed under his breath, then flicked his wrists, unleashing a torrent of raw bullets from two Desert Eagles, leaving doctors, nurses, and even hospital security guards sprawled on the ground.

"Advanced Information" is invincible, at least in early civilizations, with almost no means of countering it, but that doesn't mean the "Information Ghosts" it summons are unkillable.

After all, although the opponent has an "instant death" condition, it's not a "kill on sight" situation.

After a mass of dead bodies were laid out, footsteps sounded once more.

Moreover, the footsteps that rang out split into two waves, and then, the senior engineer felt a sudden pain in his right thigh and completely lost sensation.

Another data life has been surgically altered.

The decision was deemed "non-fatal," and his right leg was amputated.

"This thing is disgusting."

The senior engineer quickly retrieved the last 'data life', then tossed the mainframe downstairs. He closed his eyes, and the next moment, the entire metal body disintegrated, turning into dense golden mist that swiftly passed through each floor.

Just before the mainframe crashed to the ground, the mist rushed to the ground, condensed once more, transformed into a senior engineer, and grabbed the mainframe.

"Boss, are you trying to scare me to death?!"

The senior engineer ignored the other party, shook his right leg, and sure enough, most of the lost sensation returned.

The previously implanted "memory metal" allows the engineer's mechanical body to transform between solid and liquid states, which greatly reduces his physical damage. This is how he achieves the 500% damage recovery rate.

After being implanted with the "Metal Heart", the high-level engineer has gone a step further, evolving from a liquid metal robot to a fog-like version.

This not only grants 100% immunity to physical damage, but also immunity to some common-level energy attacks.

And so, the senior engineer's thigh was restored once again.

The arrival of the senior engineer did not cause panic among anyone.

Without a doubt, he has been drawn into this "phenomenal space," and he either escapes by exploiting a bug or waits to die.

As for the bug, the senior engineer had some guesses. Since it was a doctor-patient relationship, if he "died" in this space before the "surgery-induced death," then there was a certain probability that he would leave this place.

The logic is simple: if a surgery is fatal, then there's no need for it if the patient dies.

However, he had an even simpler way.

"My world's cutest, most beautiful, kind, innocent, romantic and pure little sister, help me!"

!

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