"Patching the cracks in a damaged body is simple. Just apply some patches."
The nano-scale black-and-red threads were enough to create a "gene limiter," making it even easier to repair Firefly's battered body.
Damaged organs and tissues, bones and meridians, muscle tissue... Meng Yi applied "patches" to them one by one.
The second stage of the surgery took less than two hours in total, not even one-fifth of the time required to capture every cell in Firefly's body.
Meng Yi gradually retracted the black-and-red layer covering Firefly's body. The bright-blue cracks across the girl's skin drew together and healed.
The Selection Dungeon Worldview did not possess the "generosity" of the "Imaginary Space," which supplied unlimited "Imaginary Energy."
Meng Yi had never come into contact with a "supernatural energy system" either. He could only absorb external nutrients to obtain the energy needed for his body's activity.
If he relied on Firefly's human body to digest and absorb nutrients herself to replenish the excessive loss of "water" in the "container," it would take forever.
When you save someone, you save them all the way. When you escort Buddha, you escort him to the west.
He had already helped her create a "gene limiter" and repair her shattered "container." He might as well see it through to the end.
Meng Yi acted as a relatively efficient conversion device. While some of his biochemical tentacles pierced into the giant nutrient tank, others connected to Firefly's limbs and organs.
The nutrients were absorbed at super-high speed by the "Virus Progenitor," then used to recharge Firefly with "vitality."
After receiving the external supply, the broken telomeres in Firefly's cells reconnected, and their burned-out ends gradually began to grow.
The term "vitality" might sound mysterious, but ultimately, it still belonged to the microscopic field at the cellular level.
Extending the ends of telomeres increased theoretical lifespan, stimulated cells to divide, and replaced worn-out old cells with new ones, maintaining and repairing them according to the philosophical concept of the "Ship of Theseus."
Meng Yi did not overly revere the "technology system" or the "Psionics System."
Nor did he look down on the "Idealism System," "concept system," "Rule System," "Magic System," "strange system," "fantasy system," or "cultivation system"...
There was a sequence to learning the Way, and each discipline had its own specialization.
Different systems entered different fields at different stages. There were distinctions in order, but no difference in status or worth.
In his understanding, once one reached a certain level, every system could theoretically achieve "mastering one method and understanding all methods through it," using one point to influence the whole, and construct a relatively "Almighty One domain."
Unable to achieve "relative omnipotence"?
Then, sorry, but a one-legged cripple specialized in only one field was a fattened pig waiting to be slaughtered, no matter how massive it grew.
Time passed. Ten hours remained before the Selection Dungeon ended.
Firefly's three surgeries had taken Meng Yi fifteen hours in total. The illness of this "desperate player" had been completely cured by him.
The time consumed was longer than expected. Thus, when he noticed signs that Firefly's consciousness was returning halfway through, Meng Yi added a little more highly concentrated anesthetic.
Time was pressing, and there was no time to remain in the laboratory and wait for Firefly to wake up.
Meng Yi instructed "Artificial Intelligence · Red Queen" to tell Firefly the precautions he had already explained once she woke up. He himself withdrew all the biochemical virus derivatives and hurried out of the laboratory.
He was going to complete a great plan. He also wanted to verify a conjecture he had pondered for a long time.
He found Alex, who had nothing to do and whose style was completely out of place with Umbrella Corporation's underground Hive.
The hooded man had really made something of himself. Once he had money in his pocket, his attitude changed drastically.
Unable to leave the high-tech facility and go out to loaf around, Alex had transformed into a "rich bro" addicted to the internet. His spending was astonishingly lavish.
When Meng Yi first learned of this from the "Red Queen," he was both angry and amused.
After thinking it over, rewarding female streamers was still rewarding someone, and rewarding Umbrella Corporation was still rewarding someone. Why not support his own company's technological advancement?
Thus, Meng Yi ordered the "Red Queen" to use AI technology to create a large batch of lifelike virtual girlfriends, completely bewitched Alex.
Female livestreamers, Caring Big Sisters who chatted with him twenty-four hours a day...
Their identities and backgrounds were made as tragic as possible. For example, a mature big sister might have "a poor family, a sick mother, and a younger brother in school; she just started working and is still inexperienced; her ex-husband was abusive and a gambler, and she had to raise her daughter alone with no income; her siblings all depended on her; her business failed and she cried every day; helpless, she stepped into livestreaming and hoped her little brother would take care of her..."
There was nothing Alex could think of that "Artificial Intelligence · Red Queen" could not do.
Through big-data searches, Alex's "XP system," born from his longing for maternal love as an orphan, was exposed with nowhere to hide.
The omnipresent virtual paper people manipulated the young man until he was utterly dazed.
Enraptured by beauty, Alex gradually lost himself amid one sweet, coquettish "big brother~," "hubby~," and "little brother~" after another.
In just over ten days, the ten million dollars that had only recently been deposited into his account was spent almost entirely by the carefree Alex.
Such a pitfall... Ahem, such a magnificent and thoughtful plan naturally could not only "look after" Umbrella Corporation's tech guys and Otaku Men.
The younger generation of America was being relentlessly eroded by the "Virtual Avatar Project" of the "Red Queen."
If America's fat pigs—cough, cough, the top donors—wanted to meet offline and ask the streamers out for a face-to-face meeting,
that was easy enough too. The cloning technology only needed a slight modification. One "B.O.W. Modified · Tyrant" was enough to rush to the set and deal with multiple "sponsors (complete suckers)."
Meng Yi used Umbrella Corporation's highest authority to open Alex's private room without notifying him.
Hearing the door open, the hooded man erupted with astonishing speed. He swiftly unplugged the computer, spun his computer chair around, and looked toward the door as if nothing had happened.
The person who entered was not his sister Dana, there to check the bills, but the "Chairman Bai" he had not seen for several days.
This made the guilty young man extremely irritated.
Alex stared at Meng Yi with a deeply aggrieved expression, as if Meng Yi owed him several units of "Qi" (note: one Qi per day = 5.01 million ≈ two days of bliss).
"Boss, what brings you here?"
Meng Yi wore a beaming smile. The young man had contributed tens of thousands of dollars to him shortly before he opened the door. How could he not be happy?
Meng Yi found a nearby sofa and sat down. He crossed his legs, rested his elbow on the armrest, interlaced his fingers, and stared silently at Alex, making the hooded man's hair stand on end.
"B-Boss, let's talk this out! Don't look at me like that. I'm scared..."
Alex gritted his teeth and stomped his foot. "You want me to go to the laboratory, right? Let's go! We'll go right now. Whether you want blood or flesh, do whatever you like!"
Meng Yi chuckled. He pushed up the rim of his Black Frame Gold Pattern Glasses, which had no prescription, and said meaningfully, "Alex, can I trust you?"
After interacting with him online through "Artificial Intelligence · Red Queen," Meng Yi determined that Alex was not a bad person.
At the very least, his moral bottom line was much higher than Meng Yi's, and he was far less flexible than Meng Yi.
At least Meng Yi could never provide an Caring Big Sister with unconditional support, contributing his wealth, time, energy, and emotions to help the Caring Big Sister and her "Lovely Daughter" rebuild a "better life."
"Huh? Boss, what do you mean?"
"If you tell me to go east, I absolutely won't go west!"
Alex was stunned for a moment before speaking with utmost sincerity.
Meng Yi had been the first to acknowledge his identity as a "human," and Meng Yi had given him his current financial freedom and comfortable life.
Without a conflict of principles, how could Alex possibly betray Meng Yi?
Meng Yi smiled, rose, and paced to the window of the virtual exterior view, clasping one hand behind his back.
"My experiment is complete. Next, I'm going to initiate the 'Great Nirvana Plan' for the entire civilization."
"Remove the Black Light Virus's contaminating properties and retain only its rapid evolutionary ability. In the early stages, humanity's rate of evolution may not be as fast as that of beasts and plants."
"I need you to become a 'Civilization Watcher' and suppress the uncontrollable nonhuman life-forms on the surface."
Alex felt an immense sense of responsibility and trust weigh down upon his not particularly broad shoulders.
"Boss, what about you?"
Meng Yi did not turn around. With an actor's finest performance taking hold, he said quietly with his back to Alex, "Me? I'm leaving. Opening the 'Nirvana Era' requires a sacrifice. It is the destiny I have long dreamed of."
"So, Alex, can I trust you?"
Caught off guard, bewildered, hesitant, reluctant, and unwilling to part...
Alex hunched over, his fists tightening and relaxing. After a long, long while, he finally spoke in a hoarse, strained voice.
"Boss, you're willing to sacrifice yourself so that the human race can evolve."
Then he smiled freely. "I, Alex Mercer, have nothing but this rotten life. What's wrong with paying the price of most of my future time?"
"Civilization Watcher? That title is super cool. I accept your final mission!"
Before you continue