The Record of Unusual Creatures - Chapter 766

Chapter 766: Is your life always so wonderful?

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Nolan finally knew the truth about keeping her memory when she reincarnated. However, the truth was not a pleasant thing for her.

It was harder to accept that you were just the product of a program than to find out that the world was actually a virtual program. Although Nolan had much more calmness and wisdom than anyone else, she was not prepared to face the truth.

“You don’t have to care too much about it.” Lily leaned against the console desk to enlighten Nolan. “Oh, by the way, I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Lily. I also help you guys to ‘move house’. I heard landlord say something about your world. Humans have been transformed into virtual worlds, right? If you think about it, they’re actually being transformed into data. You are also data, the souls are all data, so there’s no difference between you and humans now.”

Hao Ren tilted his head and glanced at Lily. This husky could always give them some help in an unexpected way. Her open mind was a good fit for the situation now.

Nolan just smiled and said, “it’s okay. I understand it. I just got a little upset when I realized my real identity. When I first learned about the existence of the real world, I thought about what I was like in reality. I also thought about my life before I entered the virtual world… But now it seems that I really think too much. So my life started when the virtual world turned on?”

“All the people of Zorm are at the same starting line. The planet has been completely burnt down at the material level, and everyone is left with data. On this point you are identical with them,” Hao Ren reminded, but he also had to admit that her other views were right. “But without ‘past’ is really a problem. When the people of Zorm wake up, they will recall all the life in the virtual world. But your memory… Sorry, the beginning is indeed 0 and 1.”

Nolan lowered his head. They could not guess what she was thinking. Finally, she raised her head and said, “It doesn’t matter anymore. Whatever it is, it’s still my life. At least I’m still alive, better than dying at the end of the world. Then… What will happen to me in the future?”

Nolan eventually mentioned this topic and it made Hao Ren anxious. He slightly swayed uneasily and Nolan noticed it. “Is it… What else has happened to me?”

“According to the original plan, you should be with other people of Zorm, and you’ll be able to get a new body and enter the real world with them after the Firstborn has reshaped the biosphere, but a small a problem happened in the process…”

Hao Ren explained while observing Nolan’s expression. When he saw that Nolan was calm, he decided to tell her everything. “Because your data coding is not compatible with the UAV link, I can only store you on my spacecraft’s mainframe by force. And there is a certain degree of damage to your soul in this storage process. Now the mainframe of the spacecraft is re-encoding the damaged part. The good news is that you survived, and the bad news is… You have become part of this spacecraft.”

Nolan was shocked and did not seem to understand what it meant.

“In other words, you have changed from the mechanical AI of the Dream Ark to the mechanical AI of Petrachelys. Because of the incompleteness of the soul, it now relies on the common data from the spacecraft to maintain its operation, which is equivalent to a program that can only operate in a particular system environment. You can’t separate yourself from the system now.” Hao Ren tried to explain to her in a simple way. “Defects and complementarities are very complex. It’s difficult for the conventional technology to solve this problem without causing any damage. To prevent another damage to your soul, I can’t separate you from this spacecraft for the time being.”

The astonished look on of Nolan’s face gradually faded. She looked around uneasily. She was not looking at the control room of the spacecraft, instead, she was right inside the mainframe of the spacecraft, and watching the weird data world from the perspective of a built-in program. She murmured to herself, “Will I be trapped in this place from now on?”

“It shouldn’t be permanent.” Hao Ren told her the best scenario. “The soul has the function of self-healing. This kind of self-healing is superior to any manual intervention. Maybe one day your soul will be able to sustain itself, then I’ll be able to separate you from the spacecraft.”

Nolan was listening to Hao Ren quietly, but suddenly she asked a seemingly unrelated question. “I have a soul, too?”

Hao Ren nodded and said, “Of course you have. I’ve mentioned it several times just now. You have a soul.”

“Oh… So AI also has a soul…” Nolan whispered to herself, but because now she was part of the system of the spacecraft, therefore, it was automatically amplified. Hao Ren could still hear it clearly.

Nolan seemed to notice that too. She frowned awkwardly, then smiled and changed the subject. “Anyway, I have to accept it. But what do I do next? What can I do here? What should I do? This empty place… Is this always like this?”

As Hao Ren was about to talk, an unexpected voice suddenly interrupted them. “I wonder how come none of you thought of asking an expert. I have a lot of experience in this!”

Hao Ren turned around and saw a blue light swished from the console slot. The data terminal flew to the front of the holographic projection and began to shout loudly, “Hello, newcomer! We’ll be colleagues from now on. No matter how many years of human experience you have before, you need to clear up the moment you become a plug-in on the host. As a senior, I want to tell you some truth…”

Nolan was startled by the alloy brick that suddenly popped up. “This is… What is it?”

Hao Ren poked the data terminal and let it flip in the air. “You’ve seen it. This is Pattie. And this is how ‘she’ looks like in the real world.”

“I look more handsome now, right!” Data terminal said and spinning proudly. “Look at the edges and lines of my body, look at the SpongeBob… Why do I have SpongeBob on my body?”

Lily stepped aside and said, “I don’t think you believe if I said it was battie who did it.”

Hao Ren looked at data terminal in surprise and asked, “You can see your body now?”

“I suddenly found this function!” Data terminal shouted, and suddenly realized something. “Eh, wait, it sounds like… Do you often put stickers on my body?!”

Hao Ren immediately quietly looked at Lily. The only one that would do it was this husky.

Nolan was stunned. It took her a long time to remember who ‘Pattie’ was. It was difficult for her to associate the poor blonde girl with the talkative alloy brick. “You are a… What are you actually?”

Hao Ren showed the data terminal to Nolan and explained, “This is called Mobile Data Terminal, every inspector has one. It’s like our personal assistant. I got it as soon as I started working.”

Nolan murmured, “Is it?”

The data terminal jumped out of Hao Ren’s hands, swaying before Nolan’s eyes. “Look at me, do I look better than that blonde girl now? And you see, I never care about whether I’m AI or not. I look like this when I come down from the production line. I’ve always been an AI but you see, I’m living a good life! It doesn’t matter if I’m a human or not. In the future, I’ll have the opportunity to tell you the benefits of being an AI…”

Hao Ren realized one thing: No matter how hard Lily and he tried to comfort Nolan, it was actually useless. The best way was to let the data terminal show Nolan the superiority of being an AI. There were two reasons that Nolan was unhappy when she suddenly knew that she was actually not a human, one, she was confused about her identity, and the other was the sudden sense of loneliness.

Now the data terminal was jumping out happily. She finally had a companion.

And left Nolan there, trying to process what the data terminal had just told her. Then, she began to look at Hao Ren. It made Hao Ren uncomfortable. He scratched his face and asked, “You… Why are you looking at me this way?”

“No, it’s just incredible. Your partner was a dead person at first, and then she became a senior cerebral thrombosis. Now she has become a brick… Is your life always this wonderful?”

“… Yes, it’s always been so wonderful.”

---

 

Chapter 767: You’re One of Us From Now On

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The MDT soon began to chatter away, and it did not give Nolan any chance to talk back. When it finally took a break, Nolan was already dizzy and she had almost forgotten why she was there. Hao Ren still remembered that they had to arrange for her future life and reminded them, “We have to talk about your future.”

Nolan looked around and then looking at the data space that only she could see. “Do you know what the scene around me is now? Nothing… I can only see weird streams of light and shadows here. The whole world is chaotic. In front of me is a small window, and you are in this window. I can’t stand to live in a place like this forever.”

“This is a transient compatibility issue,” Hao Ren nodded and said. “The spacecraft server has never loaded the personality plugin. Also, the sensor on the spacecraft does not match your nervous system, that’s why you can’t see the outside world from the spacecraft’s visual angle, and therefore, the system can only temporarily simulate a space like this for you. Next, the data terminal will write you a set of drivers that connect some of your senses to the spacecraft. This should be a very novel experience, but it’s better than staying in a chaotic space.”

Lily leaned on Hao Ren’s chair, poked her head out and said, “That means Petrachelys is your new body from now on! This body is more powerful than you were before …”

It was incredible for Nolan. She felt uneasy but still looking forward to it. “This spacecraft? That… That means I can fly in space?”

Hao Ren smiled and nodded.

“I can see the other planets from my own angle of view?” asked Nolan.

Hao Ren connected to the external monitor of the spacecraft. The spectacular Crapple Research Station and the light golden Tannagost appeared in front of Nolan. “Not only can you look, you can also land on to them. All kinds of interesting new worlds will open the door to you. Of course, that’s after you completely matched the spacecraft’s system. Now, you can only stay here on the bridge and your vision is limited to the interior of the spacecraft. Connecting the external monitor requires another set of lines.”

Nolan slightly closed her eyes and seemed to take a deep breath. She then said, “though I don’t know what will eventually become… It still seems to be a very interesting life. ”

“You will lose a lot of pleasure as a human being, but eventually there is compensation,” Hao Ren said and nodded earnestly, “and if you request, you can simulate another set of living conditions on the spacecraft’s mainframe, where you can live like a human. Although it’s just a simulation, I believe that the mainframe can simulate something identical with the real world, and even more real than the Dream Ark of Zorm.”

“What if I want a hug? A real, warm hug from a friend, not the kind of virtual temperature and touch created by data. Can you do that?”

Hao Ren did not know how to answer it, and it was Lily who answered the question. “The ‘absolute real world’ is a pseudo-proposition for most physical creatures,” she said seriously.

Hao Ren and Nolan looked at Lily blankly.

“The human mind needs media to get in touch with the real world,” Lily said and shrugged. “Consciousness is trapped in the brain, in a cage made of flesh and nerves that separates us from the real world. Our consciousness has never been in touch with reality. We can feel the heat because of nerve conduction, and so does cold. All the senses and the judgments made are the electrical and chemical signals transmitted through billions of cells. Some very simple and primitive viruses are enough to destroy this seemingly advanced sensory system. The world in the eyes of those who had sensing and perceiving disorder is completely different. So basically, a human is a ghost trapped in a cage of flesh and blood. We have hundreds of millions of nerve cells to guess what the outside world is like, but we never really feel and touch any physical matter at all. So to sum up, we live in a virtual world from birth. Our nervous system has programmed all the parameters needed for our consciousness.”

Both Hao Ren and Nolan was stunned, but Lily proudly smiled and said, “So why do you care so much about the physical body? Is there a difference between the body made of steel or flesh? Is there a difference between the nerves or the wires that send the signal to you? Is there a difference between the neurological impulses or electric potential difference that allow you to perceive the information? If you want a hug, create one then. As long as you believe it is real, then it’s real.”

“Although I know you have graduated from Peking University four times, and I also know that you are a super scholar,” Hao Ren looked at Lily solemnly and said, “I still wonder, have you eaten the wrong thing just now?”

Lily threw her head proudly and said, “Well, this was my thesis. But I didn’t hand it in. It was too futuristic at that time. Now I’m a little regret that I didn’t publish it.”

Nolan turned her head awkwardly and said, “I was just kidding, didn’t know that you’re so serious.”

Lily’s ears trembled and then said, “Oh, it’s all right, I’m just showing off…”

Nolan just noticed that the pair of pointy ears on Lily’s head was not a decoration and asked, “Eh? Your ears…”

Hao Ren shook Lily’s fluffy head up and down happily and said, “You’ve never seen it, have you? The world is big. This is an alien creature.”

Then he pointed to Lil Pea who was napping on the armrest and said, “Look at this. It’s also an alien creature.”

Lily was wriggling under Hao Ren’s big hand. However, she was still a husky, and a husky loved it when people scratch or rub it. “Landlord, stop. I have dignity. You can’t… Eh, scratch the back of my ear.”

Lil Pea opened her eyes slightly, found that everything was fine, so she went back to sleep.

Nolan looked at them and thought that she should not judge the aliens’ life, so she could only make a slightly awkward sound to get Hao Ren’s attention. “Ahem, I have a question. You let me handle your spacecraft, don’t you worry?”

As soon as Hao Ren heard the question, his face grew solemn and said, “Ehem, this is what I want to say. Although this spacecraft will be your new body, you can also control part of the spacecraft to some extent, but all of this is restricted. This spacecraft has a security protocol, you know what I mean?”

“In other words… I will be restricted by the program?”

“This spacecraft and everything on board is controlled by a strict authority tree system. First, the authority tree itself has the highest priority, and it cannot be canceled or changed. Second, I am the commander of the spacecraft. My command has the first priority below the authority tree system. Third, the spacecraft security agreement, under any circumstances, has the second highest priority after the captain, and you must not defy. Later I’ll give you a detailed spaceship safety manual and operation rule list. You’ll know what you can do and what you can’t do, as well as some of the banned items in the system.”

Nolan pondered for a moment, and then nodded, “So, to sum up, the simplest point is: I have to obey your orders.”

“Just my command as the captain of this spacecraft,” Hao Ren explained, feeling a little awkward. “The ideal situation for this spacecraft is this: its onboard mainframe has a personality and intelligence starting today, but it will still be a perfect execution machine. The intelligence of the mainframe cannot affect the efficiency of the spacecraft to perform the task. My work is very dangerous and this spacecraft is one of my greatest weapons. I have to make sure it’s good enough to use.”

Nolan calmly accepted the Hao Ren’s request. “But as long as it doesn’t conflict with your instructions or the security protocols of the spacecraft, I can move freely, right?”

Hao Ren could only smile and said, “You’re smart.”

“Got it. I’ll try to do my best.”

“Actually, I’m still very sorry for this,” Hao Ren scratched his head and said, “feels like I’m forcing you. But don’t worry, I won’t make things difficult for you.”

“Never mind,” Nolan smiled and said, “after all, I survived because of you, and it’s a really good situation now compared to the end of the world. What’s done cannot be undone. So why bother?”

Hao Ren nodded and said, “I’m glad that you can think this way.”

“It’s called Petrachelys, right? It sounds cool, though not very ladylike, still, it seems very reliable,” Nolan said and smiled brightly, “I will remember the name well, and remember my new identity: the core intelligence of Petrachelys.”

“Oh,” Hao Ren responded with a weird expression and said, “then you can discuss anything else with data terminal. I’m going to check the other parts of the spacecraft.”

After saying this, he dragged Lily and grabbed Lil Pea along and ran out.

Waited until they already reached the corridor, Lily pulled Hao Ren’s sleeve and whispered, “Landlord, do we really not tell her that Petrachelys actually means Bastard Barrio?”

“… Don’t mention this, I don’t want to blaspheme. This is not my idea anyway.”

“Oh.”

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Chapter 768: The First Step of Reshaping

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The spacecraft docked at the Crapple Research Station for several days. The rest of them had returned to earth, except for Hao Ren, Vivian, Lily, and Lil Pea. They had nothing to do there, so they went back to their normal lives. The four of them had nothing to do at home, so they just stayed and looked after the space station’s research facilities while waiting for the results of Zorm and Muru’s first phase.

On the sixth day, Hao Ren came to the central hall of the space station early in the morning. In the hall, he saw that Muru was chatting with Zorm. Muru had now been granted permission to move further freely. Apart from a few secret areas in the space station, he could move around freely in most places. Basically, he would come here and chat with Zorm these few days when he had the time.

To Hao Ren’s surprise, Vivian and Lily were here, too. They stood beside a tall crystal cluster and in front of them was a group of large vessels that were arranged neatly in a row, looking like water distillers. Those vessels looked like they were moved here from a lab. Several autonomous robots were flying around, helping to operate the vessels. Vivian turned her head to communicate with the tall crystal from time to time, and then observed the reactions in those vessels carefully, seemed to be immersed in the scientific research.

“Yo!” Hao Ren greeted them. Lil Pea, who was sitting in Hao Ren’s shoulder, also lifted her head, waving his little arm and shouting, “Yo! Yo!”

Hao Ren was holding Lil Pea so she would not fall down while looking at Vivian and asked, “What are you doing early in the morning?”

“I’m testing the activity of these lifeblood.” Vivian pointed to the experimental equipment in front of her and said, “These are the lifeblood brought from Holletta, which has ‘multiplied’ after catalytic replication. We want to see how these differ from the lifeblood used to create the biosphere and see if they can be used directly.”

Hao Ren saw the bright red viscous liquid flowing in the transparent compartments of the ‘distillers’. Those liquids were significantly more active than usual. Apparently, it was the result of the mental disturbances. There were six distillers and the motion frequency of lifeblood in each container was different. It seemed that Zorm was testing different control methods.

Vivian was an expert on the power of blood. Although the lifeblood was not normal blood, she was still able to help in this respect. However, Hao Ren knew nothing about it. He turned and looked at Lily, who should also know nothing about the lifeblood and asked, “Then what are you doing here? Helping?”

Lily pointed at Vivian and said, “Waiting for breakfast.”

“…” He knew it!

There was a synthetic food facility in the space station, but who was willing to eat that kind of food when Vivian was here? In Lily’s world, the most important thing in the universe must be food. Vivian sighed and stopped working on the lifeblood. She let those autonomous robots continue the work and walked toward the door. “Wait here, I’m going to prepare breakfast!”

“Awwoo!” Lily was wagging her tail happily.

“This husky’s last dignity is eventually lost to the food,” Hao Ren covered his forehead, sighed and said, and then looked at the tall crystal cluster and greeted, “Good morning! How’s it going? Looks like you’ve begun to interfere in the real world?”

“Yes,” Zorm replied cheerfully. “These lifeblood can be used! Its nature is the same as the one in the seed, with a little catalysis, I can create a variety of creatures in them! Good that you can get the lifeblood and the very energetic one.”

Hao Ren waved his hand and said, “There are still many people in this world who remember the Goddess of Creation. They have been preserving these things carefully. You should thank them. ”

“But we still have some problems,” Muru’s voice thundered from above, “Zorm’s current state limits its power. The areas it can control are very limited, and the accuracy is also a problem.”

Hao Ren looked at the tall crystal cluster. The holographic projection released from its surface showing the state of ‘Zorm’. Today’s status was:

O(∩_∩)O

Although Hao Ren did not know why this thing suddenly grasped the use of the emoticon, this way of displaying was very straightforward. At least it was much easier to understand than the previous one.

“Is it because it’s incompatible with the system of the Crapple Research Station?” Hao Ren asked while staring at the damn O(∩_∩)O until he could not stand it anymore, “Or do you need some new drivers?”

“Lack of direct contact and the organs needed to command the source of blood,” Muru said, and then sat cross-legged on the floor. The central hall was quaking as if the sky is crumbling as he was sitting down. “To control the lifeblood, Zorm requires a nucleus of the brain or similar nerve tissues to release signals. It also requires tentacles work like an antenna to produce the broadcasting function. But now all of its organs are burnt. With this crystal facility, it can only release a very limited mental signal, probably only a radius…”

Muru stretched out his hand, drew a circle and said, “From here to the position of the fish.”

Hao Ren turned his head and found that Lil Pea had already jumped to a place more than 10 meters away from him. He quickly took her back, and at the same time, he finally knew why Vivian was moving the lifeblood vessels from the lab to the hall—for the WiFi here…

The tall crystal cluster stood silently in the middle of the hall. Its surface was glittering with colors. It was not a device for releasing signals, but an interactive terminal for the mainframe of the Crapple Research Station. The crystal itself had a high energy affinity, so the Firstborn could use it to spread his soul power. The key problem was not whether this huge crystal could release the signal, but that Zorm needed a body.

A body that was no different from its original body and could be well compatible with the soul of the Firstborn.

Lily pinched her chin and pondered. And then she said, “This request is a little difficult to achieve. If you want to get some equipment, there are plenty in the landlord’s pocket. But it’s not easy for you to find a tentacle monster. They usually live in the little yellow book*…”

Hao Ren stuffed a bag of snack into Lily’s hands and said, “Don’t mess up, go and eat your snacks.”

Then he looked at Muru and said, “If you need a body… Actually, there’s a real one in this space station. You know what I’m talking about.”

“The two… guardians from Holletta?” Muru paused for a moment, then addressed the two samples in the container No.1 and No.2 as ‘guardians’. He knew the existence of the two Firstborn, but he shook his head and said, “It’s very wrong, it’s dangerous.”

“Can’t we just erase their souls and put Zorm in?”

“It’s easily contaminated,” Muru said with his deep voice. “Their crazy obsession has gone deep into every cell in the body, engraved on all the nerves and memory organs. You may not be able to completely erase these thoughts, and as long as there’s a little bit of it, Zorm’s will would have the possibility of being contaminated. After all, the strength of its soul has almost weakened to the limit. And this kind of contamination will be subtle and undetectable. It’s too dangerous. You’d better give up this idea.”

The tall crystal cluster was emitting a slow and gentle hum. Zorm was quietly listening to their discussion. It also knew that there were two other Firstborns in the space station, but Muru told it that the two Firstborns were in complete madness, and would not even listen to the orders left by their mother, so it was better not to touch them.

Out of the trust of its ‘gardener’, Zorm had already dismissed the idea of contact with his two ‘brothers’.

Hao Ren was thinking about any other possible ideas. Suddenly, he remembered something that he kept in the lab. “If those two can’t do it… I’ve got a backup plan here. Can we solve the problem of the brain nucleus first?”

“Solving the problem of brain nucleus means we almost solve all the problems. That’s the most important organ,” Uru said and looked at Hao Ren in surprise. “Do you have the brain nucleus of a guardian who has never fallen into madness?”

“I do have one!” Hao Ren clapped his hands and ordered the mainframe of the research station to send the two experimental vessels here. “I assure you it has never gone mad. It died 200000 years ago!”

A moment later, they heard a slight buzz coming under the ground near the tall crystal cluster, then the ground opened and two cylindrical containers rose from under the ground. Two red round organs were soaking in the containers.

Hao Ren looked at the surprised look on Muru’s face with pride, patted the cylindrical container and asked, “Come and see if the color is fine. Can we use it?”

Muru stunned for a moment and then muttered, “The color…”

Lily gave Hao Ren the side-eye while eating her snacks and muttered, “Without Vivian, he starts to talk nonsense again.”

*International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis

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Chapter 769: The Connection Test

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Regardless of whether Hao Ren was talking nonsense, after explaining the origins of the brain, Muru and Zorm both said the brain could be used. But they had to test them before they could be activated: After all, they were remains from 200,000 years ago. It would be a lot of trouble if they connected the consciousness to the brain without careful consideration.

After having breakfast, Hao Ren decided to test the activity of the brain, but because the central hall did not have the necessary equipment and suitable environment, he sent the brain to the laboratory of the space station and connected Zorm’s consciousness to the mainframe in the laboratory. Muru was also there to observe the brain. Now he was squatting in the lab, leaning in an awkward position and said, “It’s a little… cramped here.”

Hao Ren looked up at the roof, shrugged and said, “You know, this place is seven meters high, which is very wide for me. I wonder what the Goddess of Creation was thinking. Why make you so tall?”

Muru was squatting on the ground, but looking serious. “The body given by the mother is the proudest thing I have. I don’t think it’s any inconvenience.”

But then he whispered, “But mother said she hadn’t seen many natural evolution creatures when she created us. So the scale might be a bit of a problem…”

This was a large laboratory. There are many vast spaces in the Crapple Research Station. Hao Ren chose to test here not just because that this space was big enough for Muru, but also because the largest ‘lifeblood culturing tank’ in the space station was placed here. The roughly oval room was divided into two floors. The upper level was a large annular platform with a good location for good view and the main control facilities of the laboratory. Looking down from the annular platform, you could see the lower level of the lab: half the area was occupied by a huge, swimming pool-like container. The container was mounted on the laboratory floor with a capacity of several thousand cubic meters. Inside the container, the scarlet lifeblood was flowing slowly, like the Nanomachine Swarm seen in the Grey River, going on day and night without stopping.

Muru was crouching on the lower level of the lab, where he was leaning against the lifeblood culturing tank, and his head was revealed from the rim of the upper-level annular platform. Thanks to this platform, now that Hao Ren could finally enjoy the view in parallel with this giant.

Hao Ren ordered the mainframe to activate several major devices. He then put Lil Pea in the sink next to the operator’s seat and said seriously, “Don’t go out, just watch, and you have to call dad when you want to go out, got it?”

“Oh, got it!” said the little mermaid while flapping her tail.

“Stop playing with the console, you don’t understand it anyway. Come and keep an eye on Lil Pea,” Hao Ren said while dragging Lily away from the console, “and stop her from making any trouble.”

“I didn’t know that you have already cultured so many lifeblood.” Muru’s voice thundered from the rim of the platform. He watched in amazement at the lifeblood culturing tank, and he knew that this culturing tank was not the only one in the space station. “You guys seem to have a better way of culturing than Holletta,” he said.

Hao Ren came to the edge of the platform, leaning over the railing, looking down at the container filled with scarlet liquid and said, “At first we just had a little bit, the dosage of a few test tubes, but after giving it enough nutrients and electric stimulation, it began to proliferate exponentially. The lifeblood is an incredible thing. It’s made up of something like a cell, but not exactly a cell. Those particles can almost devour all matters and then transform them… that reminded me of the Nanomachine Swarm. To be honest, if you don’t know that this is the origin of life, you might associate it with disaster. The nature of it is too dangerous.”

“Anything out of control is dangerous, not just the lifeblood,” Muru said while putting his hand a few meters above the culturing tank. He gently moved his fingers, and the scarlet liquid seemed to feel it and rippled. “So the first thing the mother thought of when she learned that the guardians had fallen into a frenzy was to stop them… What is capable of creating things must have the power to destroy them, and it is much easier to destroy than to create.”

Hao Ren looked at the center of the roof of the laboratory: The laboratory, like the rest of the Crapple Research Station, was built from a large number of crystals and magical devices. In the center of the dome, there was a large cluster of beautiful crystals hanging down like crystal lamps. The crystal cluster was the ‘mainframe’ of this laboratory.

Now there were a lot of mysterious runes emerging on these crystal clusters. These runes then converged into the emoticon of Zorm’s status: (⊙_⊙)

“You haven’t got used to sending your consciousness around the station, right,” Hao Ren smiled at the crystal cluster and said, “get ready, now let’s get to the next step.”

The brain that had just been removed from the container was floating in the air on a weightless platform on the rim of the annular platform. It looked a little more energetic than when it was just sent to the space station, but there was no obvious change. The brain was releasing faint red light regularly in the air and twinkling, which seemed to echo each other.

Hao Ren activated the connection program.

A series of mysterious runes was lit beneath the weightless platform. Several long and thin needle-like objects, made of crystals, were detached from the platform and touched lightly on the surface of the brain. Several light streams connected the brain with a few crystal prisms surrounding it. Then, they heard a light sound of wind chimes in the air. It was the unique operating sound of the magical equipment produced by Xi Ling Celestials.

“The connection has already established,” Hao Ren said and glanced at the device’s parameters, “for security reasons, I left a firewall between the brain and you, so you can only browse the contents of the brain in the read-only mode. Now you try to connect and see.”

“Oh.” Zorm then began to test his consciousness into the brain, and the ringing of the wind chimes was getting a little more hurried. A large amount of complex data and runes were floating like water on the surfaces of the crystal prism around the annular platform. It was a mess at first, but it quickly calmed down.

“What’s the situation?” Hao Ren asked nervously.

“Just a few fragments of memory, even if combined, it shouldn’t work.” Zorm sounded disappointed. “It’d been dead for too long. Nothing can be read.”

Hao Ren opened his mouth but did not know what to say. After pondering for a while, Vivian sighed and said, “Okay…”

The brain was taken from the Y’zaks’s home. Y’lisabet found them and once used them as the temporary energy source of Helcrown. It was the remains of a Firstborn who strayed into a different world. Hao Ren also hoped to extract the memory of the Firstborn who died 200000 years ago. But now it seemed that it was impossible.

Although the data terminal had tested the physiological activity of the brain and confirmed that the ancient biological tissues were still alive’, there was no doubt that the memory and consciousness were irretrievable.

Hao Ren put the disappointment aside, paid attention to the matter at the moment and suggested, “It should not be possible to transfer all your souls to the brain. Now we only have the brain, but no matching organs. Without a neural network to combine the left and right brain into one whole, they would not be able to perform all their functions. So my plan is to use the brain as something like a ‘relaying station’. Your soul still remains in the mainframe of the Crapple Research Station, and then you’ll be connected to the brain through the device, just to relay your mental signals. As for how to amplify these signals to the entire planet… I set up a lot of antenna arrays on the surface of the Tannagost, which were originally used to clean up the Vengeful Spirits. Now that the Vengeful Spirits are almost cleared up, I can make a little alteration to these antennas and let them relay your mental signals, which should have the similar effects as the tentacles.”

Lily nodded and said, “Well, all the other Firstborns are still using wired but you’ll use WiFi from now on!”

“Keep an eye on the kid,” Hao Ren said, “but you are right. As long as you can broadcast your mental signals to the whole planet, you can begin to reshape the biosphere.”

Zorm thought about it and said, “Although I don’t understand what WiFi is, I can try it.”

“Before that, let’s test the effect of controlling the lifeblood through the brain first,” Hao Ren said while lifting the inhibition of the lifeblood culturing tank. This set of inhibition devices prevented the lifeblood from being hyperactive. “You inject your will into the brain and then create some primordial cells in the lifeblood. The device will record the entire process.”

The safety grille around the lifeblood culture tank was rising quietly, meanwhile, several crystal prisms of the inhibition devices turned from bright to dull. After these devices had changed their state, a large amount of red liquid in the culture tank quickly became active.

They were moving more and more violently and began to surge out of the culture tank as if they wanted to get rid of the control. However, they were all blocked by the light curtains from the safety grille.

These things were dangerous when they were out of control.

Zorm immediately began to try to control the lifeblood according to Hao Ren’s instructions. The moment when its mental signal intervened in the lifeblood…

In the sink next to the console, Lil Pea suddenly opened her eyes and looked at the direction of the culture tank as if she sensed something.

All the lifeblood in the culture tank quieted down all at once as if they were dead.

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Chapter 770: Sowing Under the Sun

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

No one noticed the little mermaid’s reaction in the sink, because everyone’s attention was on the lifeblood culturing tank in the center of the hall.

When Zorm connected its mind to the brain and released the control signal with the brain as the converter, the red liquid in the culturing tank suddenly calmed down and without even one single ripple. The state of calm was more like suddenly inactivated than being controlled. Lily curiously leaned on the railing, looked down and asked, “Why do I feel this is not right… Is this what happens when the lifeblood is under control?”

“No sense of life,” Muru said and frowned. He leaned over to examine the situation in the tank and said, “It’s abnormally calm… It’s like being suppressed or inactivated. Zorm, you did it?”

“I don’t know what’s going on.” Zorm’s voice came from the air. “I just connected to the brain, haven’t released signal yet.”

Hao Ren turned and tried to adjust the equipment on the operating table. Of course, he did not really understand the principles of these things, but he could roughly read the reports. “There seems to be something wrong. There’s a strong inhibition signal in the lab that blocks the connection between the brain and the lifeblood. The activity of the lifeblood itself is also suppressed.”

Lil Pea was still leaning motionless on the wall of the crystal sink, looking at the direction of the lifeblood culturing tank. Because of the angle, her sight was actually blocked by the floor of the annular platform, so she could not see anything, but something made her curious about that direction. However, the little kid’s curiosity always did not last long. After discovering that there was only a floor in that direction, Lil Pea lost interest and went back to the bottom to sleep.

Hao Ren was working on each device in the lab to see which inhibition device was not turned off. At this point, however, the connection between the brain and the lifeblood was suddenly restored.

The red liquid in the culturing tank was rumbling and began to flow slowly in the tank again. The red rays released from the surface of the brain on the rim of the annular platform echoed the flowing frequency of the lifeblood, and the light streams connected to the brain continued to operate smoothly. The crystal prism also began to refresh the mental signal readings of Zorm quickly.

“Oh oh, it seems to be working!” Zorm yelled happily, “I can feel my spirit is filling this place. The lifeblood is easy to control, just like the one I used before!”

“Cool.” Muru congratulated Zorm, then turned to look at Hao Ren, who was standing on the platform and asked, “What happened just now?”

“It may be that the connection between Zorm and the brain was not enough at first, so several inhibition devices continued to function after sign of violence was detected in the lifeblood,” Hao Ren said while scratching his head, “the equipment in this place is very complicated, and they are all magical devices, I don’t fully understand.”

Vivian stood on tiptoe to look at the lifeblood culturing tank below the platform and then looked at the brain not far away and said, “Anyway, it looks normal now.”

Muru glanced at Hao Ren with a strange expression and said, “How could such a large space station be managed by someone like you?”

“Highly intelligent devices are like this,” Lily tried to explain. She then looked excitedly at the lifeblood pool below and asked, “Can you try to create life now? Can you make something out of it? Let’s start?”

“Yes, what do you want?” Zorm replied briskly.

Lily thought for a while then said, “How about a Bahamut? Or Leviathan… Woohoo!”

Hao Ren covered Lily’s mouth, dragged her aside and said, “You stay here. Zorm, don’t listen to her. Let’s start by assembling a single cell and then assemble the multicellular organisms that can live on Tannagost.”

A strange bubbling sound came from the lifeblood culturing tank. Zorm was trying to control these primitive life matters, though it was a little rusty, and began to create those lives in its memories.

In the next few days, everything was going smoothly.

Using the factory inside Petrachelys and the assembly workshop in the Crapple Research Station, Hao Ren gradually realized those plans in his mind.

A newly built facility had emerged in the direction of Tannagost. It looked like a weird beetle, clinging to the outer layer of the Crapple space station. The facility, like the rest of the research station, was made of crystals, and its translucent dome allowed people to get a glimpse of the interior, which was filled with the breath of life in bright red. In this facility, the reconstructed left and right brains were sealed inside. They were immersed in the lifeblood and were fixed in the middle of the facility by a large number of pipes and light streams. The whole structure looked like a peculiar ruby, with two scarlet cores shining inside.

Zorm’s will was connected to the brain through those light streams, which, after a complex conversion, became signals that could interfere with the real world. This ruby-like facility had a large, high-power broadcast antenna on its surface which amplified the brain’s signals and then broadcasted it toward Tannagost.

This facility was named ‘Capulum Vitae’ by Lily. Although her overly creative mind always surprised them, they had to admit that the name she created had the highest level of all.

On the surface of Tannagost, the signals reception and broadcasting system were gradually in place.

The main body of the system was the antenna arrays that were built long ago. These arrays had been used to dispel the Vengeful Spirits on the planet. Now the spirits have returned to the energy cycle, and the antenna arrays that completed the mission were transformed into a transmitter capable of broadcasting the will of the Firstborn. They were essentially sophisticated and high-power electromagnetic broadcast towers and their newly loaded programs were also created based on the research results of the Firstborn, which simulated the nerve impulses of the tentacles of Firstborn.

Through this system, Zorm’s will finally get rid of the constraints of the mainframe. Not only would it be able to reach the real world smoothly, but also allow its will to cover the entire planet.

When Tannagost and Crapple Research Station welcomed the splendid sunrise, Hao Ren ordered the research station to put some lifeblood vessels on the surface of Tannagost.

He was standing on the upper deck of Petrachelys and watching this scene. As the sun rose from the horizon of Tannagost and the entire research station was bathed in gold, a part of the Crapple Research Station opened silently. Dozens of ellipsoidal crystal containers flew out slowly from the ejection port, dragging a long, gorgeous glow behind them to the surface of the planet. Those crystal containers were sparkling with scarlet luster. They took away 90% of the lifeblood stock from the research station, but soon more lifeblood would proliferate on the surface of the planet.

There was plenty of nutrition and a more reasonable growth signal stimulation from the Firstborn. A new biosphere would awaken from the lifeblood, and it would not take long.

“It will take hundreds of millions of years if we’re taking the normal evolutionary route, but with a blueprint, a lot of things can be created directly, as long as we have a reasonable plan to match these species.”

Muru’s voice came from the communicator of the spacecraft, they could saw him on the holographic projection. Behind Muru was not the background of the Crapple Research station, but the pale golden steep mountains. The shadow of Alamanda, the City of Gold could roughly be seen at the foot of the mountains.

The giant was not in the space station. Hao Ren asked him to go to the surface of the planet to help Zorm complete the ‘sowing’, and also sent him some autonomous robots and arcane servants as his assistant. There was no madness and hatred on Muru’s face. He was standing on the land that was about to be reborn, with a peaceful expression on his face.

Everything was going on as Hao Ren expected: The gardener had returned to his work, and there was no better way to bring back his peace.

“The new biosphere won’t affect the existing life of Tannagost, will it?” Hao Ren worried about it, wanted to confirm again.

“Rest assured, Zorm and I have made an accurate design of the biosphere, and species from two planets will coexist well. We want to make everything reborn, not eliminating one of them.”

Hao Ren nodded and said, “That’s good. Then it’s time for us to go back. Hopefully, the next time we come, we will see a vibrant planet.”

“You can expect it,” Muru smiled and said.