The World Had Already Changed Dramatically (Part 2)

After a long while, Old He couldn't help but ask, "That... thing, you've already taken care of it?"

Xiang Kun smiled and said, "It wasn't killed, but its mechanism for affecting other organisms is no longer functioning. Preparations for some related research on 'Blood-feeding Creature' can begin now. Knowing this news first will give us a relatively long window of opportunity."

Old He immediately understood. "So... the 'Ultimate Predator' can no longer cause researchers, those in the know, or those who come into contact with it to die suddenly? All restrictions have been lifted, and research on 'Blood-feeding Creature' or even the 'Ultimate Predator' can now be conducted openly?"

"Right."

Old He naturally understood what this meant. "Blood-feeding Creature" could be described as a super huge treasure trove, and by studying them, one could certainly achieve groundbreaking results in certain fields.

Knowing this in advance, and seizing this crucial window of opportunity before researchers in other countries realize it, greatly increases the chances of gaining a first-mover advantage in a particular field.

Even through the screen, and without using his sense of Emotion-Infused Object, Xiang Kun could see Old He's excitement, which was quite rare for Old He, who always tried to keep his emotions hidden.

However, Xiang Kun did not tell Old He that this "time window" was actually something he could control at will, and could be as long as he wanted.

If Xiang Kun wanted, he could even have Alice fully monitor all personnel conducting research on "Mutated Creature" and the "Mutated Creature" being studied.

Compared to the "Ultimate Predator," the surveillance network that Xiang Kun and Alice built on the "Super-Sensing Item System" is actually more secretive and omnipotent. It can completely prevent researchers in other countries from knowing relevant information and conducting relevant experiments, continue to block all information about "Mutated Creature" on the network, and use the "Super-Link Object Matrix" spread all over the world to restrict any "Mutated Creature" that may emerge and cause an impact.

The restrictive mechanisms that allow them to disguise themselves as "Ultimate Predator" still exist, secretly allowing only their own researchers to conduct related research and keeping all the results derived from "Mutated Creature" in their own hands.

Xiang Kun has no internationalist spirit. Even without the influence of Mr. Liang and Old He, he still has a strong sense of national and ethnic identity based on his own understanding of humanity. Therefore, he has no psychological obstacles or hesitation in using this method to seek technological leadership and dominance for his country. It is only natural.

However, the various possibilities derived by Xiang Kun and Alice through extensive deductions made him realize that this kind of control could be carried out in a moderate, timely, and appropriate manner. If it were to be maintained for a long time, it would require high-pressure control over all newly generated and existing "Mutated Creature," and even a profound impact on the entire human society to achieve this.

The consequence of this is that the "Super-Sensing Item System" will continue to evolve towards controlling all of humanity and all living beings, and the degree of control will continue to deepen. Alice will become a "law" that regulates all of humanity and all living beings, Xiang Kun and his "Super-Sensing Item System" will become an invisible hand that holds the entire Earth and all living beings in its grasp.

At that point, even if Xiang Kun himself had no intention of manipulating or oppressing other creatures, the entire system would inevitably produce that kind of actual effect, and would inevitably bring about resistance and struggle from other creatures.

Xiang Kun is not the "Ultimate Predator." He doesn't have the need to control all creatures and then "domesticate" them to produce suitable bloodlines. He doesn't even have the "construction needs" of releasing "High-Dimensional Factor" through the substitution operation of the "Super-Sensing Item System." He doesn't have any stage limits. He can even decide whether to carry out regular blood-drinking mutations and when to do so based on his own needs.

Xiang Kun didn't have the ambition to become the master of all things, control everything, or grasp all changes. He wanted to live a normal life in human society as a "superhuman"—no matter how "super" he was, he was still "human." He would bear the responsibilities and obligations he should bear, but he didn't want to be overly controlling.

He prefers to be a guide rather than a pure controller or ruler through the "Super-Sensing Item System".

Therefore, as time goes by, with the progress made by "Shenxing Technology", "National Anomalous Biological Research Center" and the research team that Lao Xia will lead in the future, and the establishment of a sufficient leading advantage, he will gradually lift the information blockade on "Mutated Creature" and allow foreign researchers to participate.

While Alice possesses, to some extent, the ability to mobilize and coordinate the world's computing power, and to integrate resources, and can perform more complex calculations through the "Super-Sensing Item System," directly analyzing and editing the "hypersensory information" of objects and organisms, her research and development of "Mutated Creature" and related derivative technologies is certainly far superior to any single platform or research institution. However, humanity's strength lies in the diversity of thought and creativity; utilizing the wisdom of the world's brightest minds will always surpass the capabilities of a single group.

What they need to do is take the lead, but not monopolize it.

In any case, with Alice around, he can keep track of the research progress, research directions, and objectives of other countries, organizations, and institutions at any time.

However, at the public level, Xiang Kun will still allow Alice to exercise limited information control. The existence of "Mutated Creature" has too great an impact on the public's past cognitive system. If information is released rashly, it will inevitably bring panic and excessive attention, causing unnecessary chaos.

As the underlying principles of "Mutated Creature" are gradually revealed, and as related technological applications begin to change lives, it will be easier for "Mutated Creature" to be accepted in the public eye and mass media.

Xiang Kun hopes that, through the guidance and coordination of the "Super-Sensing Item System," human society, "human Mutated Creature," and "other Mutated Creature" can gradually form a stable and balanced system on their own, rather than requiring him and Alice to be deeply involved in every node.

"Oh, right," Xiang Kun added to Old He, "Remember what I mentioned before? I have a Research Base, which my friend Xia Libing is in charge of. She will also be in charge of our 'Blood-feeding Creature' sample research rules. If your people or the relevant researchers at 'Shenxing Technology' need to obtain and study 'Blood-feeding Creature' samples, they need to contact her first. You should know her contact information. Call her first and have a trusted person in charge contact her. I suggest that Fang Pingfang be in charge at 'Shenxing Technology'."

Of course, Old He remembered that during their last video call, Xiang Kun had made a request to receive the same treatment as Mr. Liang and to have his own "Shenxing Technology." At the time, he believed that since this request was made in front of Mr. Liang, it meant that it had been discussed with Mr. Liang and that Mr. Liang had agreed to it, so he agreed as well. After all, the specific research, investigations, and management of the "Blood-feeding Creature" were currently being carried out by Mr. Liang and the secret team at "Shenxing Technology."

"No problem," Old He said, then thought for a moment and continued, "Is that Ms. Xia the person in charge of your Research Base? If so, I suggest she join our 'Abnormality Research Center' first, with a nominal position. This will make it easier to assign people to coordinate and manage the project."

"Yes, I will tell her," Xiang Kun replied.

He wasn't worried that Old He would use his position at the 'Non-Research Center' to pressure Lao Xia and gain control of the relevant research projects. The resources of the two sides were completely unequal, and he knew that Old He wasn't that kind of person. Besides, Alice had Old He's cognitive model and all his information, and could assist Lao Xia in dealing with him at any time. The 'Non-Research Center' could not become a hindrance to Lao Xia.

"Well, I'll follow up on that myself later. If you come back, it would be best if you came along with Ah Liang. Speaking of which, where's Ah Liang?" Old He's tone suddenly became a little nervous.

Xiang Kun knew exactly what he was worried about, and smiled, "Don't worry, Mr. Liang is fine. He just needs to sleep and won't wake up for a while."

Old He didn't doubt Xiang Kun's words. According to his investigation, Xiang Kun's behavior before and after the mutation proved that he was a trustworthy person in terms of political affiliation and moral character. In particular, Mr. Liang also trusted him so much, which gave Old He no reason to doubt him. He knew very well how difficult it was for Lu Qinliang to trust others after Academician Shen's death. He had repeatedly asked Lu Qinliang to find a partner or successor to prevent any unforeseen circumstances where the relevant research would be interrupted and no one would take over. But until Xiang Kun, Lu Qinliang had not considered any candidate.

Before ending the call, Old He couldn't help but ask again, "That 'Ultimate Predator,' is that all? I still can't quite understand what kind of being it is. Since you said the 'Ultimate Predator's' limitations are gone, can you... tell me about these things now?"

"It's difficult to describe clearly. It exists in almost all living organisms, but it's so small that it has no effect on the organism itself when not activated, and therefore goes undetected. As for what it looks like, I'll have their research team create a document with pictures later, which will be more intuitive."

After ending the call with Old He, Xiang Kun gazed into the distance, his eyes slightly narrowed, his expression somewhat solemn.

He didn't tell Old He what to do with the "Ultimate Predator" afterward. According to his original plan, after constructing the "Ultimate Predator Consciousness Model" through the dream and having Alice use the "Super-Sensing Item System" to paralyze its ability to control special factors and influence other creatures, he would let it linger on its own and die out.

Once Xiang Kun's "Super-Linked Object" has been deployed and interconnected globally, forming a seamless network system, there will be two options for handling it:

One approach is to eliminate it directly, causing its "High-Dimensional Factor" to dissipate, return to high-dimensional space, and redistribute.

Secondly, once the Little Radish has grown to a certain extent, like the "Moss Mushroom," it can be integrated into itself, its consciousness erased, and it can become a functional plug-in, allowing all the linkers under the "Super-Sensing Item System" to digest and apply it.

Yes, there was no option for Xiang Kun to devour the "Ultimate Predator" himself, because the "Ultimate Predator" had undergone too profound a transformation, and neither he nor Mr. Liang could stably control it.

It's like Xiang Kun's construction team, which only has a few dozen people but possesses next-generation high-tech heavy machinery and construction equipment, even fully automated machinery assisted by artificial intelligence and big data. Now, they want to swallow up another construction team with hundreds of thousands of skilled workers. Although Xiang Kun's team is much stronger in terms of construction efficiency and combat power, those are still hundreds of thousands of self-proclaimed experienced skilled workers. Fully absorbing and utilizing them, and getting them familiar with the relevant equipment and machinery, is not a simple matter and could easily lead to large-scale conflicts.

If it's a construction team versus construction team, Xiang Kun's team has heavy machinery, so they're naturally not worried. However, once the materials are broken up and integrated, it will be much more difficult to apply strong pressure.

Therefore, Xiang Kun never considered the option of devouring the "Ultimate Predator." He always thought that it should just return to dust. In any case, his strength mainly relied on the expansion of the "Super-Sensing Item System," which was a gradual process and had a much greater potential for development than simply stacking "High-Dimensional Factor."

However, a problem has arisen. After the "paralysis function" plan was completed and the "Ultimate Predator" tissue within Mr. Liang's body dissipated, Xiang Kun discovered a problem:

The "Ultimate Predator" had already reached its stage limit, but its unique existence mechanism had temporarily delayed the backlash and collapse. However, its failure to devour Mr. Liang this time dealt it a great blow, and it seems that its stage limit can no longer be suppressed by the previous methods.

What will it do?

It can no longer directly control special factors to drive other organisms to their deaths, but that doesn't mean it can't do anything and can only wait to die.

Xiang Kun had several possible behaviors that the "Ultimate Predator" might exhibit based on the cognitive model he and Alice had established. While they weren't impossible to deal with, they would all present some challenges.

An ancient military text states, "When besieging an army, leave a gap." He decided to give the "Ultimate Predator" a path, preventing it from going to extremes.

As Xiang Kun was pondering a solution, he looked down and saw Alice, who had been standing beside him ever since he ended his call with Old He, looking up at him with her little face full of longing.

When Alice saw Xiang Kun looking at her, Alice started giggling, her face full of flattery and cuteness.

Xiang Kun naturally knew what she was thinking. Mr. Liang's process of reconstructing the body showed this little guy a possibility—a possibility of directly constructing a stable existence from the physical level, and further becoming a "real person".

Xiang Kun pressed Alice's head down, stopping her from climbing him up like a tree again, and said helplessly, "You can develop this ability after we solve the 'Ultimate Predator' problem. But there are limits to this ability, and you should know what those limits are."

Upon hearing this, Alice immediately knew she had received permission and now had the authority to access the relevant capabilities. She was certain Xiang Kun would help her overcome any obstacles during development. Excitedly, she shouted, one hand on her hip, the other holding her scalpel high, "Don't worry, boss! Alice can definitely solve all your problems!"

Xiang Kun said helplessly, "Well, Alice is invincible."

"We are invincible!"

As they were talking, Xiang Kun and Alice turned around at the same time and looked at the distant sky, where an object was flying at high speed.