Chapter 58: Entering the Virtual World

Chapter 58: Entering the Virtual World

Pu Liuqian and the pursuers were gone, and quiet settled back over everything.

The work of cracking and making use of the stolen quantum weapon materials, however, had only just begun. Engineer Lin and the base technicians were all deep in various experiments.

I used the downtime to send Du Xiaoran an alt-account message, asking how things were on his end and whether the equipment was safe. He said the moment I was exposed was the moment he was safest—the outcome in our partnership he was most glad to see.

The equipment was his livelihood, so he had moved it at the first possible moment. I suspected it might have its own invisibility or flight capability. Otherwise, how could he have moved it so fast?

For the next stretch of days, with nothing pressing to do, I wandered over to the base to watch Engineer Lin and the others work on cracking the quantum weapons. It would take time. The technical analysis and verification work alone was consuming a great deal of their energy.

Not wanting to sit in on their discussions, I drifted to the biological laboratory to look at the custom-fit bionic-human parasitic host that Engineer Lin was building for me. It was still growing vigorously inside its culture vessel.

I learned that the growth of a bionic-human body designed for parasitizing followed essentially the same process as natural human development—the full sequence from a single totipotent cell dividing into thirty-eight trillion cells. The difference was that it began by reverse-transforming blood cells from my true body into totipotent cells, then completing the entire process under precise AI control through rapid, catalyzed growth inside a biological culture vessel.

A body cultivated this way was almost indistinguishable from one born and raised naturally. The only difference was that the timeline had been compressed to two or three months. During cultivation, certain technological elements also had to be added—built-in wisdom structures and knowledge content in the brain, for instance, so that the body would emerge with something equivalent to a doctoral education. Knowledge, memories, and skills could all be loaded in.

Watching the parasitic host grow inside its vessel, I began to understand why Shiqing knew so much about the Elite World. It was not lived experience. That knowledge had been built in by his creators.

Thinking of Shiqing, I suddenly felt it was necessary to use his body and return to the Mundane World once. I had left too abruptly, and there were things I had never properly explained. I did not know whether Gu Kunling had been in touch with Uncle, but at the very least I had said nothing to Zhu Zhaojie or Du Xinlang before disappearing. They would be worried.

So I went to Uncle and asked, “Uncle, the custom-fit parasitic host still needs time. I want to use Shiqing to go back to the Mundane World and say hello to Gu Kunling, Zhu Zhaojie, and the others, and explain a few things. Is that possible?”

Uncle said, “Technically, of course it’s possible. But Shiqing is your trump card. Expose him too carelessly and the Soul Hunters may find him—and you’d be down one life. If all you need is to get a message to people in the Mundane World, I can have my avatar contact Gu Kunling and ask her to handle it for you.”

I said, “That works. There’s nothing urgent—I just feel that leaving so suddenly will worry them and invite speculation. Please contact Gu Kunling, then, and ask her to explain things to Zhu Zhaojie and Du Xinlang. They’ll understand.”

Seeing how much thought I was giving to Zhu Zhaojie and Du Xinlang, Uncle said, “I’ve already told Gu Kunling about our departure. I’ll have her inform those two ladies straight away. If you ever want them brought here to the Elite World, I have a way to bring them through a special passage.”

I shook my head. “That isn’t necessary. Du Xiaoran told me there are bounties here for anyone caught smuggling in—ten achievement…