Chapter 397: Perfect Clone and Star-Grade Mech Pilot

"But Doctor, you said cloned soldiers have serious flaws—their lifespan can't be fixed, their innate spiritual power is static, and they cannot cultivate star-nature energy." General Xu frowned again.

"Yes, no matter how perfect the clone, once created, its spiritual power is fixed—no amount of star-nature cultivation can change it."

"Moreover, according to the law of energy conservation, the stronger and more perfect the clone, the longer the cultivation time and the more resources it consumes. With Blue Star's resources, we cannot mass-produce high-grade clones—otherwise, Blue Star wouldn't be so desperately short of formal mech pilots in the future." Chen Boshi replied helplessly.

"So clones can only serve as low-tier troops. High-grade mech pilots must still be slowly cultivated from ordinary people." General Xu sighed.

"As for elite mech pilots, it's manageable—just let formal mech pilots train harder and experience more battles, and they'll eventually rise to that level."

"But cultivating star-grade mech pilots is entirely different."

"First, only a tiny fraction of people are born with naturally strong spiritual power—and even achieving star-nature energy is merely a prerequisite for becoming a star-grade mech pilot."

"The so-called star-grade mech pilots in 'Star River' today merely meet the basic spiritual power requirement to pilot a star-grade mech. Though they're granted the title in-game, actually piloting a star-grade mech in reality is by no means this simple."

"In our time, a star-grade mech pilot represented the ultimate power of the Alliance. Each new star-grade mech pilot meant one more sliver of hope for humanity's survival."

"Fortunately, you now have our early warning—hopefully, when disaster comes, you can cultivate more star-grade mech pilots." Chen Boshi smiled bitterly.

"Let's hope so. We've been striving in this direction, hoping Blue Star can survive this great calamity." General Xu replied in a low tone.

Chen Boshi nodded, his gaze fixed on the massive screen, saying nothing more.

On the massive screen, two soldiers clad in silver armor now each held a glowing, electrically charged blade, slashing at each other with sharp clangs—yet showing no sign of fatigue.

"The newly developed third-generation berserk serum seems to work well," General Xu murmured.

…

In the British Commonwealth, a hundred meters beneath a massive castle, inside a huge metal chamber constructed of thick steel plates.

A blonde woman with blue eyes stared through the chamber's only transparent bulletproof glass window, gazing intently inside.

At the chamber's center, on a long silver table, lay a completely white, translucent skeleton.

Its limbs were shackled with thick metal manacles to either side of the table, and a black metal collar was fastened around its neck, locking its skull firmly in place.

Though its body was utterly immobilized, faint green flames flickered in its hollow eye sockets, and its jaw occasionally opened slightly.

It was utterly eerie!

Around the silver table stood various advanced instruments, and seven or eight lab technicians in white coats bustled about excitedly.

Meanwhile, special microphones mounted outside the chamber occasionally transmitted the voices of those inside.

"Incredible—it's clearly an inanimate object, yet it shows signs of life, even faint brainwaves. Does this thing think, or is it just instinctual reflexes?"

"No, no… even stranger—could this even be an ordinary skeleton? How is its body harder than any conventional alloy?"

"Elemental analysis indicates it is indeed human bone—but its density exceeds that of ordinary humans by over a hundredfold."

"What's going on with the bone-age readings? Some parts show ages of three or four hundred years, while others show only a few years."

"So this thing is assembled from bones of different ages?"

"Nonsense—bones hundreds of years old would be fossilized. How could they look like this?"

"Don't you think the thing glowing in its eye sockets deserves the most careful study? Bring me the spectral irradiation response device!"

The blonde woman watched the researchers' frantic activity, her face expressionless, yet her blue pupils flickered faintly.

"Captain, is this thing safe? Should we assign more guards?"

"It's too strange—almost like those undead 'skeleton monsters' from novels." The 'Iron Man' behind her, upon hearing the chamber's dialogue, spoke with concern.

"No need to worry. Though unusual, this thing clearly requires external control to function. The 'Number One' is long gone—this is merely a discarded pawn."

"Besides, the manacles restraining it are made of super-titanium alloy, and the neck collar is fitted with the latest high-explosive charges. Even if it were an Iron Man, we could destroy it."

"But have we heard anything about Number One? He's almost certainly in Xierde by now." The blonde woman replied coldly.

"No concrete news from Xierde yet. Our personnel there have begun screening cities starting from Xitie City, but it will likely take a long time to get results."

"But what if Number One never stopped in Xitie City and went straight into Xierde's heartland?"

"Then tracking him becomes nearly impossible—he possesses strange abilities and can alter his appearance completely." The Iron Man replied obediently.

"We still must find him. Though cloned, Number One's importance needs no explanation—if we fail to recapture him, even I will bear heavy responsibility. Spare no cost." The blonde woman spoke with chilling intensity.

"Understood, Captain. I'll dispatch another team into Xierde immediately to locate him. But since he's a clone, why not just create another Number One?"

"Next time, with proper preparation, we'll never let him escape again." The Iron Man straightened up instantly in pledge, yet hesitated slightly at the end.

"Hmph, create another? Easy to say."

"Do you have any idea how much effort and resources it took to clone Number One originally?"

"Most importantly, we no longer have any of Number One's flesh and blood. To achieve a perfect clone, we failed countless times—every scrap of that tissue was entirely consumed."

"The cloned cell samples preserved in the base can barely be used to clone again—but a perfect replication is impossible. At best, we could produce a shell without memories." The blonde woman rebuked sharply.

"Understood, Captain. I'll go arrange the team immediately." The Iron Man nodded in realization, bowed, and left.

The blonde woman continued staring at the white skeleton on the table.

After a long while, she touched her cheek and whispered, barely audible: "Perfect clone."

…

After muttering a string of numbers, Wang Yu watched the door open again, then walked in solemnly.

By the picturesque little lake, Chen Boshi smiled at him, as if he had been waiting a long time.