“Can this thing really work? Nothing happened in the last few experiments!” In the operating room, Feng Xue felt the source energy he had built up within himself, still not entirely at ease. After all, turning a mechanical creation into a body of flesh and blood sounded unreliable no matter how you put it.
“Relax. The experiments were just to make you remember the feeling of using your ability. The targets were only rocks—nothing happening was normal. If you weren’t assimilating so many parts at once, you wouldn’t even need this kind of training. In short, as long as you keep it steady, it’ll definitely work!” Old Jiang adjusted the equipment parameters, thought for a moment, then picked up a length of water hose and walked over—
“Don’t move. I’ll add another layer of insurance for you.”
“No, what kind of insurance is this?” Feng Xue watched as Old Jiang opened up his abdomen and stuffed several meters of water hose inside, coiling it up as he went. He found it very hard to understand what exactly this old man was thinking.
“You don’t get it, do you? Source energy is, in essence, a high-dimensional information-state power. It can overwrite information from the top down. It isn’t a change based on the material level, but on a higher informational level. You can think of us as characters in a video game. Normally replacing cybernetics is like a game character changing equipment, while source energy directly alters your parameters and textures from the code level.”
As Feng Xue mobilized his source energy, Old Jiang explained the mechanism behind this power system. But the more Feng Xue listened, the more confused he became—
“If it’s really that freaking [beep—] amazing, why not just create a flesh body directly?”
“That’s why I said there’s been a technological rupture!” When Old Jiang said this, a hint of regret appeared on his face.
“Although people still have all kinds of opinions about what the previous civilization was actually like, one thing is certain: source energy was a power the previous civilization wrote into human DNA through technological means. It’s just that, because the related technology has been lost, our use of source energy is still extremely primitive. The previous civilization could modify code through knowledge, while those of us who can’t even read the code can only perform simple operations like search, replace, copy, and paste.
“For example, flesh assimilation is essentially a kind of ‘same-name file overwrite.’ Your source energy identified the prosthetic hand. The prosthetic possessed the definition of ‘hand,’ so it retrieved the information for a similar ‘flesh-and-blood hand’ from your DNA and overwrote the ‘prosthetic hand’ with it. Thus, your hand became a real hand. As for the information in the prosthetic itself that exceeded the concept of a hand, source energy would inherit it after making compatibility adjustments. In essence, it counts as a beneficial bug.”
Although Feng Xue could not understand how a previous civilization that possessed such technology had ended up gone, he at least understood the operating mechanism of this ability system.
“So this coil of water hose is to make the source energy identify a digestive tract? Hm, the water pump and air pump are the heart and lungs, the filtration system is the kidneys, and these inexplicable structures are actually all there to be recognized as internal organs?”
“Correct!” Old Jiang nodded in satisfaction. “You have decent comprehension. But in reality, the digestive tract is the life-support device. The water hose is just extending the digestive tract into the abdominal cavity to avoid any bugs... Mm, compared to that, what’s your source-energy coverage at now?”
“Feels like about ninety percent.” Feng Xue sensed the power surging out from his mind and replied with a hint of modesty.
“Then wrap up the remaining ten percent too. Source-energy assimilation won’t preserve interfaces. Remember that. If any part isn’t covered, it’ll turn straight into a situation where equipment grows into your flesh. It’s not too dangerous, but you won’t avoid problems like amputation and reinstallation. If you don’t want to suffer, get it done in one go.”
At a time like this, Old Jiang rarely showed a serious attitude. Feng Xue was also made more solemn by the old man’s change. Only after his entire body had been enveloped by source energy did he, following the textbook and his previous experimental experience, slowly construct the image of a large red button in his mind.
As the button in his mind was pressed, an impulse to “activate” instantly arose. A sensation difficult to describe in words suddenly unfurled, followed immediately by an intense tingling numbness, as if caused by prolonged compression.
Feng Xue felt as though his entire body was trembling. The tactile system that had been omitted to save on budget seemed to start operating again at this moment, but right now Feng Xue would rather have had no sense of touch at all. After all, that feeling of bugs crawling all over his body was truly enough to tank his SAN value!
The sound of the water pump operating gradually distorted, turning into a familiar heartbeat and pulse. The act of breathing no longer carried that strange smell of machine oil, becoming smooth and calm.
Feng Xue’s sense of time was completely disordered at this moment. It was hard to say how long had passed. He only knew that when he woke up again, he had once more become a complete human.
The cold sensation conveyed by his skin gave him goosebumps all over. Then he heard Old Jiang’s voice ring out again:
“If you’re done, hurry up and get up. I know my craftsmanship is excellent, but a grown man should still cover up a bit!”
“Ah!” Only then did Feng Xue react. Instinctively, he reached out and pushed himself up, and his whole body sprang upright. Then he froze.
“This...”
“What’s wrong?” Seeing Feng Xue like this, Old Jiang grew somewhat worried. But Feng Xue shook his head and looked at his own hand.
“Why are my reactions so nimble? And this coordination...”
“Pretty slick, right? I told you installing that Phantom Dragon Soul Type III was definitely the right call! That thing’s performance far surpasses the limits of your normal physiological state, so source energy inherited it. Add in the operating system and motion modules I wrote, and that chip should greatly improve your neural reflexes and limb coordination. I also reserved a training module for motion modules. In the future, when you’ve got nothing to do, download some martial arts materials or something. I won’t say you’ll master them, but getting started quickly will be absolutely no problem.
“But remember this: the chip was installed at the position corresponding to the inner side of the fourth cervical vertebra. It should now have become part of your medulla oblongata. In the future, unless you obtain a higher-grade cybernetic chip, I don’t recommend installing any cybernetics involving the brainstem or cervical vertebrae. Otherwise, there’s a high probability you’ll lose this portion of the enhancement.”
Old Jiang gave the post-op instructions with a perfectly serious expression. Feng Xue nodded while moving his body around like someone with hyperactivity. Only after several minutes did he finally realize once again that he still had no clothes on, and awkwardly picked up the cheap everyday outfit Old Jiang had placed to one side.
Who would have thought that just as he pulled on his underwear, he would hear Old Jiang say:
“Just put on the pants. Don’t put on the shirt yet!”
“Eek!”
Probably because he still had not adapted to the sudden increase in neural reflexes, Feng Xue’s brain had yet to react when his body retreated two steps as if under stress. Seeing this, Old Jiang merely reached out and patted the operating table.
“Weren’t you the one who said you wanted interfaces before? I’ll install them for you now. We can forget about things like the control hub, but the main ones are the brain-computer interface and gateway protocols. In modern society, if you don’t install this stuff, you basically can’t live! Don’t worry, it’s branded, original, and brand-new. Got it from Great Yan! After you install it, give it a sweep with source energy, and you basically won’t have to worry about backdoors!”
“Huh, it can still be used after being swept by flesh source energy?” Feng Xue asked, rather surprised. Old Jiang’s eyes lifted at the corners.
“How novel! Didn’t I tell you? The coverage of flesh source energy is only a rewriting of same-category information. The parts that exceed your original information content will be retained. Take this interface, for example. After you assimilate it, it’ll become an organ made of flesh-and-blood tissue that can read electrical signals through neural synapses. Just think of it as a belly button you can plug a data cable into!”
“Does a belly button make any sense?”