Chapter 690 - 215: Number 8, Number 10, Number 12

"Once these things flow into reality, they might cause a new impact on the world."

In the Virtual Realm, Black Rose’s body transformed into a strange radiance, colors exceeding the normal scope of Perception, and evolving at speeds beyond human visual limits.

This was the result of her internal chemicals interacting continuously with surrounding digital signals and simulated perception models.

The highest tier Bionic Shell can complete bionics in any kind of Illusion Realm, a Tier 2 Talent unique to the Bionic Man.

However, Black Rose remained wary of these ’virtual monsters.’

Once these people appear, they could impact the Bionic Realm.

And currently, half of the Bionic Realm is under her Authority.

"Impact is inevitable; every social transformation causes large-scale backlash. Previous ’Cyber Epidemics,’ ’Brain Out-of-Control Symptoms,’ and ’Biochemical Crisis’ were all this way."

Simple transformation is not the problem; withstanding the backlash of transformation is what makes a successful reform, or rather, social reform.

In the Cyber Test Field, such ’transformation’ is often accelerated a hundredfold.

Not only Black Rose felt the threat, but even Ye the Big Lolita shared a strong unease.

Originally, she assumed that winning this Corporate War would allow her to control the Holy Brain Group, to control everything.

But now it seems this might just be the beginning.

The global ’Brain Infrastructure’ will usher in the impact of these virtual monsters.

And as the future global ’contractor,’ undoubtedly, she will be the greatest enemy of these virtual monsters.

Gao Gong said nothing, instead expanding ’Perception of Destruction’ to the maximum.

As the carrier for ’Number Five,’ he may not be the strongest, but undoubtedly, he’s the fastest runner.

This is why he’s not concerned about arriving late; as long as there’s a hint of a sign, he can follow the trail and find the last Destruction Form.

"Again, a data wave."

Normally, to ’surf in Cyber Space,’ one must go through these three steps.

Wear professional virtual equipment, nurture the ’Virtual Personality’ from the digital ocean, and teleport to the nearest virtual node via high-speed information channels.

The most dangerous part of this process is nurturing a personality from the ’digital ocean,’ which involves the separation of self and identity.

With slight wave changes, a terrifying Information Stream can potentially turn a person’s brain into a blank slate.

Those less lucky could even ’passively download a virus,’ twisting their personality.

However, at the juncture of virtual and reality, the dangers of the ’digital ocean’ are more than a hundred times stronger than before.

Even top experts like Gao Gong, Black Rose, and Ye the Big Lolita need to take turns to provide rest for the other two.

"It’s your turn."

Gao Gong lifted his chin, signaling for ’Ye the Big Lolita’ to step up.

"I seriously suspect you brought me here just to make me do the hard work."

Ye the Big Lolita complained, then stepped forward, the distant ’data wave’ had already turned transparent, formatting everything ahead of it back to factory settings; some transparent human figures formed by Virtual Personalities failed to dodge in time, swept away in one wave, adding thousands more ’dementia patients’ to the reality.

Unknown if these unlucky folks have backup personalities.

Ye the Big Lolita’s vision turned black, and ’Black Tide’ activated.

In an instant, both reality and virtual were shrouded in darkness.

Purely comparing Spiritual Power intensity, the entire planet probably has none stronger than her.

The ’format wave’ quickly dissolved in the darkness.

Yet Ye the Big Lolita immediately frowned, as a rustling noise erupted, like dozens of mice crawling within the darkness.

The small bear in Ye the Big Lolita’s embrace, its abdomen suddenly bulged with several small lumps, crawling all over its body, seeming ready to erupt from the gaps at any moment.

Ye the Big Lolita frowned again, gaining another bloody mark across her face.

But before she could act, a hand with red nail polish gently pressed down, transforming the ’mouse lumps’ into pus, squeezing out through the hairs.

"I can handle it myself."

"The enemy thinks so too," Black Rose revealed a dangerous smile, saying, "I felt a familiar ability, it’s Prometheus."

"’Reverse Bionics,’ hm," Gao Gong frowned, the abilities of the three Bionic Ancestors are all troublesome, whether Nanobiology or Metabolism Queen, they’re extremely bug-like, and ’Reverse Bionics’ equally so; it can instantly imitate capabilities tailored to counter yours, in some sense, she can even counter other Destruction Forms."

Black Rose’s pupils suddenly transformed into pinhole-like shapes, an eyeball manufactured by Level 10 Bionic Technology specifically for searching nearby Bionic Man; as long as there’s a Bionic Man nearby, there’s a 100% discernment of their authenticity.

But moments later, she shook her head.

"Prometheus probably already left."

"So soon?"

"’A’ used the power of ’Nanobiology’ on him, which means he can abandon this body at any moment and reassemble himself beside Bionic A."

"She’s ’Prometheus’, you’re ’Epimetheus’, so what is A?"

This world has a mythology system similar to Earth’s.

’Prometheus’ is the God of Fire Stealing, ’Epimetheus’ is the God of Calamity. Gao Gong is very curious about what god the last one is.

"Achilles, a demigod destined for battle death," Black Rose said calmly.

Gao Gong discerned another meaning.

"Is there any information about A among the internal secrets of the three bionic giant leaders?"

"Yes, very little. The only certainty is that he is also not a complete Bionic Man."

Gao Gong found it ironic that among the successors of the three Bionic Ancestors, not a single one of them is a so-called pureblood. ’Prometheus’ might have been, but after she accepted Bionic A’s ability, she no longer was.

Black Rose didn’t know Gao Gong’s thoughts. She glanced around and said:

"It seems we are close, otherwise Prometheus would not appear here."

At this moment, the four couldn’t distinguish between the virtual and the real, only vaguely seeing blurry visions with the occasional piercing noise of ’digital waves.’

"The signal can’t be transmitted anymore."

Gao Gong frowned; his trump card was his younger sister, but he couldn’t contact Gao Yuanyuan in time. Whether she could appear promptly was a concern.

Especially since the virtual means he gave Gao Yuanyuan from the previous lifetime, whether she could perform it was also unknown.

"Let’s go. The good news is that we can’t transmit information, nor can the opponents. At least the Knight Order doesn’t know we’ve arrived yet."

Gao Gong knew that in the previous life, the real acquirer of No. 13 was the boss behind the Knight Order, the ancient computer ’War.’

Bionic A had failed in the competition.

...

And the vanished ’Prometheus’ reappeared in a bizarre city.

This city had countless display screens, each broadcasting a person’s life in reverse, from old age to youth and then to childhood.

Every time it finished, a person’s life abruptly ended.

When ’Prometheus’ arrived, a person on the screen had just returned to the artificial womb.

Then, the bloody infant disappeared, the screen was torn open, and Bionic A stepped out with a gloomy face.

"Failed again?" ’Prometheus’ asked unsurprisingly.

"The bizarre Rewind System makes it impossible to directly locate the true body of ’No. 13.’

"Is it possible that ’No. 13’ never had a true body?" ’Prometheus’ retorted.

"During the Electronic Brain Plan, No. 13 was nurtured, or more accurately, it was the vanishing ’natural brain’ that triggered this Destruction Form, so human brain memory naturally reverses. For instance, the ’life flash before eyes’ at death is just like that. You can’t just rely on your powers and act recklessly, A."

"I am not acting recklessly, I’m merely cooperating with the experiment," Bionic A said, staring at the big screen. "Number Eight is attempting to control it, you know. She holds Authority in Artificial Intelligence."

’Prometheus’ furrowed her brows upon hearing this:

"Don’t trust Number Eight too much; she’s a lunatic. In her ideal world, there are no humans, no intelligent beings, not even Bionic Men, only a world controlled purely by Artificial Intelligence."

"What’s wrong with that?" Bionic A revealed a strange smile and said.

’Prometheus’ said coldly, "In a world where not even Bionic Men can survive, what is the point of existence?"

"Bionic Men aren’t humans, after all. Emotions and memories are products of simulated human evolution. If the day comes when artificial intelligence completely replaces humans, Bionic Men will still be able to mimic artificial intelligence and generate a new species."

’Prometheus’ decided not to continue talking. Upon waking, she found the world had become incomprehensible, and the current Bionic ideology was totally different from the time before Bionics had risen.

It was even hard to find the concept of ’human.’

"There’s more bad news," ’Prometheus’ changed the subject, "other similar beings have joined this game."

"Similar beings?"

"Two similar beings, one of which is also a Bionic Man, while the other seems like Number Five in my memory. I didn’t expect that old entity to be sheltered by someone."

"Number Five, the Purple Energy Strings, if you say so, I know who he is."

A shadow of somberness flashed in Bionic A’s eyes. He unconsciously touched his chest, where there was a scar even his abilities couldn’t heal.

That was something left by that guy.

"Just in time," Bionic A’s eyes flashed with fierce battle intent: "The previous debt hasn’t been settled yet."