Chapter 345: Heart of the Machine

Hughes felt the world drifting away from him; all that remained in his vision were blood-red flashing alarms and piercing warning sounds.

Since its introduction, the Psionic Excitation surgery has maintained an extremely high success rate, especially for surgeries performed at the Anthem Company headquarters, where the success rate has reached one hundred percent.

Alarms for surgical failure were once considered safety redundancies; members of the Psionic Excitation Department had only ever heard them during training.

In the instrument operation logs of the Psionic Excitation Department, actual operational errors had only appeared twice, and both occurred with him.

No! He cannot give up just like this!

Hughes shook his head, dispelling the confusion on his face, and turned a resolute gaze toward the surgical interface.

The next moment, the momentum he had just gathered leaked away completely.

The reason was simple: he could not understand it.

Back then, Wu Chang’s talent zone was merely overly complex, as if one person possessed three faces.

It required simultaneous modification from multiple angles to ensure that all three faces reached perfection, whether viewed from a single angle or as a whole.

If Wu Chang’s situation, while complex, still fell within Hughes’s understanding, then the talent zone in He Yun’s brain had already exceeded his cognition.

It was as if the face he needed to modify was not a human face at all, but that of some alien.

Yes, an alien.

Hughes suddenly thought of something, a look of panic appearing in his eyes.

"Mr. Hughes."

Could it be that Vice Chairman He Yun before him, like that deity of the Light of Eternal Purity, was also an alien?

It was too late to ask Chairman Schultz to intervene now; surely the Anthem Company’s great backer, one of the few aliens, wouldn't have problems because of his surgery, would they?

"Mr. Hughes?"

If anything happened to He Yun, not to mention how that deity-level alien would deal with him, the company wouldn't let him off either.

"Mr. Hughes!"

Hughes’s body suddenly lifted into the air; he stood up inexplicably from where he had been slumped in his chair.

He came to his senses and realized he had been hoisted up by the back of his collar by Xiao En and placed directly on the floor.

"Mr. Hughes, I’ve called you three times. Snap out of it."

He tugged at the collar strangling his neck and said in a daze, "Chairman Xiao En, I, she, I..."

Wu Chang waved his hand and said:

"No need to explain, I know what happened. Go get some rest; leave the rest to me."

Hughes felt this sentence sounded familiar; when Chairman Xiao En’s surgery triggered an alarm, Chairman Schultz seemed to have said the exact same thing to him.

He collected himself, looked at Wu Chang in surprise, and said:

"Chairman Xiao En, what are you planning to do?"

Wait, Chairman Xiao En wouldn't be thinking of imitating Schultz and taking over the operation himself, would he?

Psionic Excitation surgery was a modification of the brain; it was a very serious and dangerous matter.

With Chairman Xiao En’s knowledge base, he might not even be able to pronounce the technical terms on the surgical operating system. If he messed up and killed someone, wouldn't he have to take the blame himself?

Wu Chang said:

"I intend to ask Her Excellency the Light of Eternal Purity to perform the operation; she doesn't like strangers getting too close."

Hughes breathed a sigh of relief after hearing this; as long as it wasn't Chairman Xiao En doing it himself, everything was fine.

Psionic Excitation technology originated from alien science; aliens must be more proficient at operating it than he was, so there shouldn't be any problems.

Wu Chang watched Hughes’s departing back, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly.

He read offense in that fellow’s eyes; a mere chairman, this kid was looking to get on his bad side.

Who was he looking down on? Did he really think he couldn't complete He Yun’s surgery?

Omniscient Crystal, go!

He took out the Omniscient Crystal and signaled it to take over the surgery.

Before performing the surgery, he had already anticipated that this situation might arise; his confidence in letting He Yun get on the operating table lay in the Omniscient Crystal.

Under the guidance of the Omniscient Crystal, Wu Chang connected the operating system to the company’s central AI, and the other end to the Omniscient Crystal.

It became the Omniscient Crystal providing the operational plan, with the AI completing the operations on its behalf.

The Omniscient Crystal was very proficient in executing this process; the Psionic Excitation surgeries for both Wu Chang and even Schultz had been performed by it personally.

After a preliminary assessment, the difficulty of modifying He Yun’s brain was, like Wu Chang’s, level nine.

A level-nine difficulty Psionic Excitation surgery could not be completed relying solely on the Anthem Company’s existing technology; it required the assistance of divinity.

Previously, when completing the Psionic Excitation for Wu Chang, a large amount of spiritual light accumulated by Schultz had been consumed; now that a true deity was introduced, it wouldn't be so troublesome, and divinity could be used directly.

The only problem was that divinity was an intangible transcendent energy, unlike the spiritual light Schultz had condensed into liquid, and could not be directly connected to the surgical operating system.

If it were any other deity, solving this problem would require spending quite a bit of time.

If it dragged on too long, it might directly lead to the failure of the surgery.

But for Wu Chang, these were not problems; if he couldn't solve it, he could just make a wish.

One must know that the Pillar of the Divine Kingdom supporting Ailin’s massive divine kingdom had the item name "Tree of Miracles."

"Item Skill: Miracle"

"Skill Description: Consume wish power to trigger a small-scale miracle and satisfy the user’s wish. If the wish power is insufficient to support the realization of the wish, forcing the activation of the wish will bring about certain uncertain negative effects. Cooldown: 15 days."

He only needed to make the wish; the rest was up to the Tree of Miracles.

Under the injection of divine ability, the Omniscient Crystal’s surgical progress went very smoothly; the duration of the surgery was the same as his own, twelve hours.

The surgical execution program stopped, and the Omniscient Crystal disconnected from the surgical pod.

Just as Wu Chang thought everything was over, He Yun in the surgical pod suddenly disappeared, leaving behind only the surgical gown she had been wearing.

On the monitoring screen connected to the surgical pod, all values returned to zero, indicating that He Yun had indeed vanished from inside.

Wu Chang panicked instantly; what happened? Could it be that the negative effect of the miracle was triggered?

That made no sense; the wish to inject divine ability into the surgical pod was not difficult and was far from the level of forcing a wish.

He rushed into the adjacent surgical room and looked at the empty surgical pod; his spiritual perception told him that He Yun was indeed not there.

Had she vanished into thin air?

Just as he took out the Omniscient Crystal again, preparing to ask it, a cylindrical multi-functional service robot entered the room through the door he hadn't closed tightly.

On the robot’s semi-circular LCD screen, a surprised emoticon appeared, and a mechanical electronic voice said:

"How amazing. Can this kind of ability really be obtained just by developing the brain?"

Wu Chang turned to look at the multi-functional robot; his spiritual perception told him that this guy, which looked like a trash can, was the missing He Yun.

"He Yun? What is going on with you?"

Another multi-functional robot walked into the room, and both robots said simultaneously:

"I don't know. When the surgery was completed, I felt my consciousness could extend infinitely along the machinery; I seem to be able to connect to any electronic device."

"I tried using this ability, and I became what I am now."

Wu Chang looked at the two cylinders in front of him and asked: "So, your consciousness is now inside these two robots?"

"That’s not it," the two robots said.

The surgical table’s monitoring screen, which had already been turned off, turned on, displaying He Yun’s face.

"My consciousness is still outside; I can just control these machines as if they were my own body."

The chairman’s operating terminal, which looked like a mobile phone on Wu Chang, vibrated; he took out the phone and saw He Yun’s face on the screen.

"As long as I want, I can appear anywhere."

Wu Chang hissed, drawing a cold breath; while pressing the power-off button, he asked:

"Can you only control the phone, or can you also read the content inside?"

He Yun replied: "Rest assured, I didn't peek at your browser’s chat history; I don't know what the 'let's fly together' you were searching for means."

Wu Chang immediately shoved the phone into his personal space and said:

"Miss He Yun, you are violating my privacy!"

He Yun controlled the service robot and pointed outside the window.

"My ability isn't limited to just entering phones."

Wu Chang looked out the window and saw that on the side of a skyscraper not far from the Anthem Company, a cartoon version of He Yun’s face had appeared on the massive electronic screen surrounding the building.

"Within a radius of three thousand meters, I can be everywhere. If you want, I can appear on all electronic screens simultaneously."

Wu Chang swallowed a mouthful of saliva, staring at the giant cartoon version of He Yun that was winking at him, not knowing what to say.

After a moment, he asked uncertainly:

"Did you upload your consciousness to the network and become a digital lifeform?"

Buzz buzz~

The sound of high-speed rotating wheels and the exclamations of medical staff came from the corridor.

A few seconds later, an electric wheelchair rushed into the ward at full speed, performing a cool drift and tail-flick, stopping steadily in front of Wu Chang.

"What I am entrusted to is not the network, but machinery; I can control any machine that has power."

"If I were to name this ability, I would call it 'Heart of the Machine'."

Wu Chang looked at the electric wheelchair swaying left and right in front of him, as if it were showing off its figure to him, and slapped his forehead.

"Fine, I know your ability is very strong, but you aren't going to stay in this state forever, are you?"

He Yun said: "Of course not."

On the monitoring screen of the surgical pod that had returned to zero, the numbers for human vital signs appeared once again, and He Yun’s body condensed once more in the special nutrient solution.

The surgical pod opened, He Yun stepped out, and teased:

"It seems you prefer this body."

Wu Chang took off his own coat, threw it onto He Yun, and said:

"After you recover your physical body, the surgical gown won't just put itself on you."

He Yun draped Wu Chang's coat over herself and said softly:

"Don't worry, after unlocking the talent zone, my consciousness can cover the entire Anthem Building."

"I have already locked all access to the operating room, and Ailin is currently binge-watching shows in the chairman's office; we have plenty of time now, and no one will disturb us."

"Flying together won't work, but I can give you a different kind of reward..."

Wu Chang slammed the operating room door shut with a bang and said honestly:

"Don't get the wrong idea, I've had a strong sense of honor since I was little, and I love rewards the most; the teacher always gave me a little red flower every time."

One hour later, Wu Chang and He Yun walked out of the operating room.

He Yun sat in an electronic wheelchair, feeling her newly acquired abilities, and said:

"I still can't understand why developing the talent zone in the brain can awaken such magical power."

Wu Chang took out the All-Knowing Crystal and said:

"It's asking you."

The Psionic Excitation Surgery was a technique Schultz obtained under the inspiration of the All-Knowing Crystal; there was no reason for the All-Knowing Crystal not to know.

The All-Knowing Crystal spun in the air for a moment, then gave its answer.

Every intelligent life is born with transcendence, and the place where transcendence resides is the talent zone.

In the deep layers of the Abyss, many life forms have their talent zones fully developed from birth and do not require additional modification.

However, for intelligent life in the shallow layers of the Abyss, because they are affected by the laws of the plane and isolated from transcendence, the vast majority of people's talent zones are sealed and require modification to be activated.

Developing the talent zone is merely releasing the intelligent life's original transcendent potential.

In other words, if He Yun had been born in the third or fourth layer of the Abyss, she would have been able to awaken her current "Mechanical Heart" ability from birth.

He Yun asked skeptically:

"Can modifying only parts of an organ really bring about such a huge change?"

The All-Knowing Crystal replied:

"Your lives are far more magical than you imagine, just as the power of belief from ordinary intelligent life can condense into divinity."

Wu Chang took the opportunity to ask:

"Then can you tell us what the root of this magic is?"

The All-Knowing Crystal fell silent, and after a moment, it replied:

"That is something you will need to explore for yourself in the future."

Wu Chang raised an eyebrow; he looked at the All-Knowing Crystal, very much wanting to ask one more question: did it not know, was it not sure, or was it unable to say?

Based on his understanding of the All-Knowing Crystal during this time, it probably wouldn't answer.

However, one thing was certain: the All-Knowing Crystal was not truly all-knowing; it could only know the secrets of certain things to a certain extent.

Upon leaving the surgical pod, He Yun immediately dove into the laboratory to study the technique of condensing divinity.

Having personally experienced the transition from ordinary to transcendent, He Yun had a deeper understanding of Schultz's research.

Besides that, the Mechanical Heart ability itself was a huge boost for her.

The Psionic Excitation Surgery was indeed a technique capable of activating the most suitable job transfer; she soon discovered that the Mechanical Heart could affect more than just physical, energy-powered machinery.

The technological mysticism she invented could be superimposed with the effects of the Mechanical Heart, the two amplifying each other to produce an effect that infinitely approached divinity.

When Wu Chang and Ailin left the Anthem Company plane, they had already seen the prototype of a divinity seed in He Yun.

If He Yun could truly awaken divinity and become a god, her existence would be terrifying.

In the Mechanical Heart state, she could enter a special state without a physical body; as long as she wished, all machinery with energy would be an extension of her body and consciousness.

As long as the plane she entered was not in the cold weapon era, or the opponent did not have countermeasures of the same level, her existence would be a dimensional strike.

Since both were level-nine difficulty Psionic Excitation Surgeries, the fact that He Yun's Mechanical Heart effect was so powerful made Wu Chang start to look forward to his own exclusive job transfer.

He took out the Virtual Reality Interactor and toyed with it in his hand.

He had originally thought that the job transfer obtained through the Virtual Reality Interactor would have the effect of uploading consciousness to the virtual world and becoming a digital life form.

But after seeing He Yun's "Mechanical Heart," the digital life job transfer instantly lost its appeal.

He looked at the Mortal's Poison and whispered a wish:

"Bless me, Lyman God, for the sake of our old friendship, please make sure to drop a powerful authority and let my job transfer mutate successfully."

Just as Wu Chang finished praying, Ailin, who was sitting not far away binge-watching shows, had her expression freeze for a moment, then she looked up and said to him:

"Someone sent me a message through the Kingdom of God, saying they want to see you."

Not many people knew that Wanghai City had a Kingdom of God on Earth, and even fewer knew the nodes of the Kingdom of God on Earth and could send messages through them; without guessing, he knew it must be the Apocalypse.

Wu Chang asked: "Where?"

Ailin said: "The commercial street."

Peace District, commercial street.

Zhen Wo wore a disguise mask, sat at an outdoor seat at a coffee shop, and ordered a cup of coffee.

He hadn't been sitting for more than a few minutes when Yu Na, dressed like a powerful career woman, sat opposite him and said:

"Do you mind treating me to a cup of coffee?"

Wu Chang shrugged and said: "Of course."

Yu Na smiled and said: "I didn't expect you to come so quickly."

Wu Chang said: "Time is money, especially at this time; has His Excellency Christine agreed to see me?"

Yu Na said: "My Lord is looking forward to meeting you."

Wu Chang raised an eyebrow and said: "Then what are we waiting for? It takes a while to get to Wanming City; take the coffee and drink it on the way."

Yu Na said somewhat mysteriously: "We don't need to go to Wanming City this time; we're staying in Wanghai."

After the two finished their coffee, Yu Na took Wu Chang to her restaurant and entered the basement via an inconspicuous freight elevator.

The elevator door opened to reveal a small church directly in front of them.

Wu Chang looked at Yu Na in surprise and asked: "You moved the Apocalypse stronghold to Wanghai City?"

Yu Na smiled bitterly: "Some time ago, a madman from the Reason Realm entered Wanming City and bloodied our stronghold in Wanming; all the members in the stronghold met a tragic end."

"I had something to do at the time and went to headquarters to report, which is how I escaped disaster."

Wu Chang knew who the madman Yu Na was talking about and comforted her: "My condolences."

The bitterness on Yu Na's face faded, and she bowed deeply to Wu Chang, saying:

"My Lord told me that the evil madman had already been killed by you, and I thank you on behalf of the brothers and sisters who died in that disaster."

"If it weren't for you, with my strength, let alone revenge, even maintaining the existence of the stronghold would have been a problem."

"We're all friends, it's the least I could do," Wu Chang said with a guilty conscience.

Although You Feipeng was severely injured by Ailin, strictly speaking, it was the Painter who finished him off, not him.

Yu Na continued: "My Lord said that in a while, the madmen from the Reason Realm might often return to reality, so he had me move the stronghold to Wanghai City."

"He said that with you and that god sitting here, the guys from the Reason Realm won't act recklessly."

Wu Chang was stunned after hearing this; what was the meaning of this? You are trying to get Ailin's protection, so you moved the stronghold into Wanghai City?

Although this Kingdom of God on Earth was built by the Apocalypse, it wasn't too much to ask to borrow a roof.

But there is no such thing as one's own believers seeking protection from another's god; Christine was being a bit too familiar.

Besides, he was ostensibly the acting director of the Wanghai Branch; was it appropriate for an acting director to become the protective umbrella for an evil god cult?

(End of chapter)