Chapter 678: Progress
"All right."
The little girl, who had already lost everything, actually had no choice left.
With her already sealed in a can, what else was there to think about? A nod was all it took.
"So, how long do I have to stay in this state now?"
Although the liquid in the glass jar was quite warm, and she didn't feel cold even completely naked, as someone with normal human sensibilities, she couldn't possibly enjoy her current state—
Completely bare, hanging upside down, head towards the ground and feet towards the sky, suspended in some unknown liquid.
"Hello, user with serial number 0x1b2b3b4b5b6b, initial activation of the Holy Progenitor System..."
Bai Mo no longer focused on the children. Instead, a cold voice emanated from the system.
"The current state needs to be maintained for another twelve hours."
Before her vision completely succumbed to darkness, she, inside the cultivation tank, only managed to leave behind this single sentence.
The micro-robots floating within the cultivation tank continued their work of relocating into the host's body.
These tiny things, unique to the host, would serve as machines for internal bodily repair, accompanying the Holy Progenitor throughout their life.
...
After decades of development, both the Land of White and the Human Federation had achieved immense breakthroughs in bio-engineering.
Of course, such breakthroughs came at the cost of abandoning certain social ethics.
For instance, clones.
Although Federation law still prohibited the creation and use of clones and related technologies within grand flagship vessels, among the numerous legal loopholes within the hereditary flagship vessels of the nobility, the use and breeding of clones was already an open secret.
These clones served various purposes. The more normal ones worked as laborers or nurses, while the less conventional uses included things like "Loli Island" or "untouchable" services.
If not for breakthroughs in medical technology allowing for the direct induction and differentiation of specific organs from cultivation bases, they might even have become a peculiar kind of "meat person."
Here, "meat person" doesn't refer to those sent to a slaughterhouse for human flesh, but rather clones kept alive as a reserve organ bank for an original body.
When an organ in the noble's original body developed issues, a "meat person" would be killed to replace the organ.
Brainwashing from birth, coupled with the extremely closed information channels within the hereditary flagship vessels, made it difficult for clones living within them to develop many rebellious thoughts.
The sealed and independent nature of these hereditary flagship vessels also made it nearly impossible for anyone disgusted by these vile practices to infiltrate and rescue them.
Together with the alien natives brought in for "humanization" education, they became the true bottom rung of society within the Federation.
...
Due to certain technical issues, the lifespan of clones was still much shorter than that of natural humans. However, for the nobles who bred them, this was actually a good thing—it even saved them pension costs.
Clones, who would die around the age of forty, would diligently work for their masters for decades, and just as they were about to become too old to work, they would "voluntarily" die, saving their masters the burden of old-age care. Perfect tools.
The darkest aspects of human nature were almost entirely concentrated within these hereditary flagship vessels, exclusively owned by the nobility.
Federation citizens who lived their entire lives under the bright lights of the grand flagship vessels would perhaps never intersect with the tool-like inhabitants of the hereditary flagship vessels.
Especially since the hereditary flagship vessels were generally not connected to the internet.
The Federation's constraints on these independent mini-kingdoms were limited to two regulations:
First, each hereditary flagship vessel was required to pay a not-insignificant annual usage tax based on its actual internal area, and also complete certain tasks assigned by the Federation.
This served as a bribe to the Federation, a hush money for them to turn a blind eye to these sordid affairs.
Second, the owner of a hereditary flagship vessel must possess a noble title.
This seemingly redundant clause was, in fact, crucial.
Because noble titles in the Federation were only granted to those of Five Tiers and above. Even a legitimate eldest son would be vetoed if their cultivation strength was insufficient.
While other properties could be inherited even by a cripple, hereditary flagship vessels could only be registered under the name of a noble.
If a family no longer had anyone of Five Tiers, they would immediately be expelled from the noble ranks.
...
Returning to Water Blue Star.
"Captain, save me!!!" After a desperate cry, the slowest support member of the Hell Team was engulfed by a vast swarm of "bugs."
They had expected to be intercepted by human-like soldiers, but to their utter surprise, what burst forth directly from underground were mechanical cockroaches and mechanical ants!
These mechanical insects, with shells made of special alloy, impervious to high temperatures, strong acids, and strong alkalis, caught the Hell Team completely off guard.
Most conventional weapons designed by humans were specialized for eliminating their own kind. They weren't particularly effective against bugs with such a vast difference in size.
Not to mention, these weren't ordinary bugs; they were specially designed contraptions.
"Everyone, fly up! Keep rushing towards the inter-realm gate!"
At this point, they had no retreat. Blowing up the gate and immediately returning to the Main God was their only chance at survival.
The support member, submerged by the bugs, quickly fell silent.
As the remaining few took flight, an astonishing number of mechanical cockroaches also ascended.
The densely packed cockroaches were enough to make anyone with trypophobia or entomophobia break down.
"Thunder! Slash!"
Hanluo formed hand seals. Immediately, a terrifying bolt of heavenly lightning descended, causing all the cockroaches in the closest circle around him to begin free-falling.
But this didn't deter the subsequent insect charge.
...
"Only caught the slowest one."
"Damn it! My cockroaches were instantly wiped out!"
"Who told you to rush so fast? That was a Six Tiers guy; it'd be strange if you weren't instantly killed for foolishly charging in."
Inside the command center, a dozen or so Holy Progenitors, lying in special control pods, were rapidly typing messages with their minds, chatting.
They wore extremely complex helmets, controlling various portions of the defense system's bugs through their thoughts.
"Have the second group form a bug wall to protect the Holy Progenitor beacon."
"Bacteria squad, prepare."
"Hopefully, we won't need to deploy the virus squad..."
After unifying Earth, Bai Mo had invested considerable effort into building the Holy Progenitors' military units.
Above the planetary level were various types of space battleships.
For ground operations within the planet, there were diverse metal bugs and nanobots created from modified bacteria and viruses. There were no Holy Progenitors themselves on the front lines.
He believed that ordinary humans, as extremely complex organic beings, were simply too fragile; a slight disturbance could lead to the risk of death, making them completely unsuitable for the high-intensity front lines of ground combat.
Therefore, they were replaced by small things like metal ants, metal cockroaches, modified bacteria, and modified viruses, remotely controlled for combat through the consciousness of the Holy Progenitors.
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