Treatment, Advancement, and Personalized Information

Wu Pifu returned to Gaia in the blink of an eye. Though he himself had suffered grievous injuries, he endured the agony wracking his entire body and dragged the two people—one in each arm—to the hibernation pods.

There were three hibernation pods here. The Main Brain had reclaimed all the others; it only retained as many pods as there were active personnel.

Wu Pifu immediately placed Yamadai into one of the hibernation pods and said, "Don't worry. I'll open a passage as soon as possible. I looked at the map before—one passage leads directly outside to a small medical station. Even if it's only a small station, getting a few thousand units of carbon-based nanites shouldn't be a problem. I'll definitely heal you then."

"Don't, don't do it as soon as possible." Yamadai's lower body was completely paralyzed, and his upper body kept twitching with pain. He was already weak to the extreme, but his mind was still clear. He said to Wu Pifu, "If you rush, you'll get flustered. If you get flustered, you'll make mistakes. You should keep yourself alive first. Wait until you're strong enough, or until you have enough companions. I've already been frozen for so long. A little longer won't matter."

Wu Pifu nodded and was about to close the lid when Yamadai suddenly asked, "While I'm hibernating, will I see the truth at the end of the 'Week'?"

Wu Pifu shook his head. "No. You can't see the truth when you're unconscious, and you won't be harmed by the end of the 'Week' either. It's just that the Main Brain's rules have changed. You can't enter short-term hibernation on your own anymore; someone has to wake you up. It's probably because many of the lifeforms in hibernation had mutated, so the Main Brain made this rule... So rest easy and hibernate."

As the lid lowered, Yamadai slowly closed his eyes inside the hibernation pod.

Then Wu Pifu carried Xu Shilan to another hibernation pod as well.

Xu Shilan's heart had already stopped beating. By twenty-first-century medical standards, she was already dead. But her brain was still functioning, so she could not be considered truly dead. As long as there were enough units of carbon-based nanites, she could still be revived.

Wu Pifu froze her in hibernation as well.

After doing all this, Wu Pifu's body had weakened to the absolute limit. Blood poured from his mouth, ears, nose, and eyes. Even with his current control over his qi and blood, he could not stop it. Every step sent pain tearing through his entire body, especially where his internal organs tugged at his heart channels, making his vision repeatedly darken.

Fortunately, he was not missing much of his body.

The consumption of carbon-based nanites for repairs depended on how much body mass was missing. Compared to half one's brain matter being gone, losing an arm actually consumed more units of carbon-based nanites.

There were still 1.3 units of carbon-based nanites left, enough to repair all the injuries across his body.

But this was probably the last repair he could make. After this... if he suffered injuries as severe as these again, he would basically have no choice but to close his eyes and wait for death.

(I can only take things one step at a time. Fortunately, injuries from the end of the "Week" won't carry over unless you truly die...)

Wu Pifu's heart was heavy. It took him several minutes to reach the repair pod. He glanced at Jiujiu, and the little bird was truly clever. It automatically flew away and perched on a rack in the distance, watching Wu Pifu.

Wu Pifu entered the repair pod and looked through the inspections one by one, then directly skipped all of them to look at the final cost.

Carbon-based nanite consumption: 1.1.

Wu Pifu's eyes widened at once. "That much!?"

After all, apart from losing some fingers, having some skin burned and peeled away, losing several strips of muscle, breaking dozens of bones, probably suffering severe damage to his internal organs and nerves, having his ribs pierce his lungs, likely injuring his heart, and probably having a concussion too... everything else was fine, wasn't it?

Although only 0.2 units of carbon-based nanites would remain after this expenditure, enough at most to repair minor injuries next time, Wu Pifu could only grit his teeth and accept it. After selecting confirmation, treatment began.

As the repair pod began treatment, Wu Pifu's injuries healed at a visible speed. His skin reshaped, flesh and blood regrew, bones reconstructed...

In only a few moments, he had completely recovered. Even his nerves and internal organs had fully healed. To a low-tech civilization, such means would be nothing short of a miracle.

Wu Pifu stepped out of the repair pod and stood still as he performed a set of basic martial arts. He only felt utterly unimpeded from head to toe. When dark force burst forth, it came naturally; with but a thought, it could almost erupt from anywhere across his body. He seemed only a hair's breadth away from the realm of a Transformation Force grandmaster, where not a feather could be added and not a fly could land.

But Wu Pifu also knew that what looked like a hair's breadth was in truth an insurmountable gulf.

Countless martial artists had reached this point but failed to find the proper method to cross it, wasting away their entire lives. Otherwise, why was it that in the previous Red Lantern Society world, there were many masters? In just a few days, he had encountered masters like Xu Zhenshan and Lin Heier, yet according to Lin Heier, she had only ever met three grandmasters?

But Wu Pifu also knew that compared to the martial artists in that world, he was practically riding a rocket past them. Whether masters or grandmasters, he could surpass them with ease.

First, he had the Main Brain's shelter reward points. Right now, he only needed to add one advancement reward to his Dark Force attribute, and he would immediately become a Transformation Force grandmaster.

Second was this repair pod.

This was the real game-changer!

Traditional martial arts were arts of killing, and those who killed would inevitably be killed. As long as two martial artists sparred, even if they stopped at the right point, casualties were still common. Death meant the end of everything, but injuries left hidden wounds behind. If the damage was irreversible, such as injury to the nerves or internal organs, then you still wanted to advance? Dream on!

That was why traditional martial arts had methods of cultivation: to heal hidden injuries. But these were cultivation methods, not immortal arts. They could not heal every kind of injury.

Yet it was almost impossible to improve in traditional martial arts without fighting others. The sort of thing where someone buried their head in solitary practice for decades, then stepped outside and became invincible under heaven, simply could not happen. So if one wanted to improve, to progress, to advance, one had to fight many people and gain experience. But once one fought, injuries accumulated. In the end, not only would one fail to improve, there were as many people who died suddenly in middle age as hairs on an ox. This was why grandmasters were so rare, let alone those who turned from the external to the internal, reaching Dan Force, Gang Force, or the realm of seeing the gods and remaining unbroken.

Compared to other traditional martial artists, Wu Pifu truly enjoyed a blessing they could never imagine. He could fight desperately, and as long as he did not die, he would return to Gaia a whole man again.

After finishing his forms, Wu Pifu felt refreshed and clear-headed. He was in no hurry to use his rewards or inspect the legendary personalized information interface. Instead, he turned to look at Jiujiu.

When he had returned earlier, he had felt that Jiujiu's face seemed to have gotten fatter. Looking closely now, he indeed found that its face seemed a little rounder.

Wu Pifu beckoned to Jiujiu, and it immediately flew onto his palm, tilting its head at him.

"You... didn't eat too much, did you?" Wu Pifu asked.

Jiujiu angrily slammed into his face and pecked wildly at his forehead.

Wu Pifu helplessly shook his head. "I don't even know whether you're male or female. If you're male, it's fine. But if you're female and eat too much, you'll get fat and start hating yourself. Be careful not to get depressed."

Jiujiu's eyes clearly revealed a look of contempt, as if it were looking at an idiot. Then it hopped back onto his palm and spat out a crystalline yellow shard.

Wu Pifu froze for a moment, then immediately flung the yellow crystal away. Holding Jiujiu, he retreated more than ten meters.

"Where did you pick that up!? Don't you know... wait."

Wu Pifu carefully looked Jiujiu over and found no sign whatsoever of it turning into a paper person. He immediately went to search in the direction where he had thrown the yellow crystal.

The crystal was extremely small. Even with Wu Pifu's keen senses as someone who had mastered Dark Force, it took him more than ten minutes to find it. Then, pinching the crystal between his fingers, he said, "Main Brain, display information."

Yellow Lotus Fragment.

...After escaping from %#*, its body transformed into five lotuses, simulating the five foundational structures of the Heavenly Dao, Buddhist Realm, Sin Prison, Void, and Human Realm, ultimately becoming the True Emptiness Homeland. Among them, the Yellow Lotus is the control center of the Human Realm and possesses the power to project worlds of living beings.

Would you like to activate this world's personalized information interface? Detailed functions of the Yellow Lotus Fragment may be viewed.

Wu Pifu did not respond immediately. He only stared fixedly at the tiny fragment, while his mind was filled with a continuous stream of what the fuck.

This thing was incredible. Judging from the Main Brain's description, it was practically a world-creating divine artifact like Pangu's Axe or the Eastern Emperor Bell. Though it was only a tiny fragment, it had directly leaped past traditional martial arts, wuxia, and xianxia, reaching the level of primordial gods and demons. His poor little heart simply could not bear such stimulation.

After a long while, Wu Pifu finally said, "Main Brain, activate this world's personalized information interface."

Confirming activation... Activation complete.

Wu Pifu said, "Display my personalized information interface."

Wu Pifu, human, pureblood.

Level-one maintenance personnel, consumable grade.

Physical body: Second rank (expandable). Soul: First rank (expandable). Inspiration: Second rank (expandable).

Traditional martial arts: Dark Force mastery (progress bar expandable). Tiger Demon Art: consummate mastery (progress bar expandable).

Virtual personality. May absorb self-fragments to solidify into reality. Negative backlash rate from the sea of consciousness: 3%. Total negative amount in the sea of consciousness: ???

Imprints: Buddhist Realm attraction rate: 3% (from Buddha Mud). True Emptiness Homeland attraction rate: 5% (from the Unborn Mother's gaze).

Wu Pifu read through the entries one by one. He did not examine the expandable sections in detail, instead first reading all the major entries.

When he saw "virtual personality," his heart sank.

It seemed Yamadai and Xu Shilan had been right. The original Wu Pifu had already perished in the hundreds of years of nothingness. He was merely a new life reconstructed from fragmented personality, memories, and self-fragments of Wu Pifu. Yet he was still Wu Pifu—just not the original personality.

As for the negative backlash rate from the sea of consciousness and the total negative amount in the sea of consciousness, their meaning was obvious enough from the wording. Once the negative backlash rate reached 100%—no, it probably would not even need to reach 100%—that would likely be the moment he went mad and died violently. As for the total negative amount, it held no meaning for him for the time being.

Then he saw the final entry, and his mind immediately filled with question marks.

"Main Brain, what does imprint mean?" Wu Pifu asked.

A karmic connection that cannot be explained by science. As time passes, the degree of imprint will deepen. Every 20% constitutes one stage and will draw you into worldviews closer to the Buddhist Realm and the True Emptiness Homeland. Upon reaching 100%, you will be pulled into the Buddhist Realm or the True Emptiness Homeland.

Preliminary assessment... Assessment complete. The Buddhist Realm is baseline reality 0.1 world. The True Emptiness Homeland is baseline reality 0.2 world.