Omega Alien Star, Black Shark Base.
Sitting in the quiet, gray-toned lounge, Diana Lance absentmindedly picked up the teacup in front of her, gulping down several mouthfuls of black tea to suppress her shock.
Thechief sat across from her, calmly asking, “So, do you have any other doubts about the crystal particles?”
“No, cough…!” Diana choked on a small sip of tea, flustered, “No, no more!”
Sylph: “That’s good. Then, do you need a little more time to digest the information?”
Diana: “No, no need!”
“Diana, relax a bit.” Sylph’s eyes held a smile. Today, she was not wearing her black head cover, revealing her silver hair and azure eyes, as well as her wrinkled but still elegant face.
“Let’s continue talking about the White Bird Project,” she said. “To ensure the news is blocked, very few people know the truth about the White Bird Project, including a few senior researchers at the Black Shark Base, the Emperor, Old Marshal Chen, and the Speaker Yuan Zhi and Vice Speaker Luna Lopez of the Glorious Autonomous Dominion.”
Diana quickly put down her teacup, pursed her lips, her heart racing. She knew that she was now also one of the people who had come into contact with the world’s secrets.
“The White Bird Project has two branches, and the White Bird Expedition is one of them.”
The chief sighed softly, “The Emperor and Old Marshal Chen – of course, there are also those Silver Big Dipper generals who don’t know the truth, but out of a pioneering spirit for the universe or an instinctive sense of crisis, they have always supported the advance – have taken on the pressure on the surface.”
“As for the Black Shark Base, in addition to being responsible for daily research, its more important mission is to execute another branch of the White Bird Project, the Base Body Project, with the technology of mental consciousness projection at its core.”
“Base Body Project…”
Diana clenched her fingers, thinking of the large number of human bodies she had seen in the top-secret laboratory at the base last time, she sat up even straighter in her seat.
At this moment, someone knocked on the door, and the chief turned back and said, “Come in.”
“Chief.” A male researcher from the base entered, his expression excited yet serious as he quickly walked over to Sylph and whispered something to her.
A few seconds later, Sylph nodded in understanding, “Is that so, has the Empire made a decision?”
Researcher: “Yes, just as you predicted.”
Sylph hooked the corner of her mouth, “I see, you can go now. Notify the base, we’ll have a full meeting in two hours.”
“Yes, Chief!” The male researcher turned to leave, glanced at the uneasy Diana, and carefully closed the door.
“Um, Chief…” Diana vaguely heard some shocking keywords like “full-scale war”, “announcement”, “autonomous dominion”, and became even more restless, “May I ask what happened to the Empire?”
“There’s no rush to talk about this, it’s just something that was bound to happen sooner or later.” The chief made a calming gesture, as if nothing had happened, and continued to explain to her.
It turned out that when the White Bird Project was formulated, Great Emperor Kaios had early on predicted that the White Bird Expedition would be difficult to maintain. Over time, it would inevitably deplete the elite combat power of humanity.
And the Base Body Project was a research project intended to assist the expedition. The ultimate goal was to use the latest mental consciousness projection technology to project the consciousness of soldiers into the base body, and then send the base body, not the original body, into the Crystal Nest.
In this way, if the Crystal Nest killed the base body, the consciousness projection would be pulled back into the original body, avoiding direct death.
Although human spirits find it difficult to withstand multiple projections, even if they could only project once, it’s equivalent to having an extra life… If this project could succeed, the support it would bring could be described as earth-shattering.
At this point, Sylph, who had spoken a lot, lowered her head to drink tea to moisten her throat. Diana listened in a daze, and it took her a long time to recover.
In just half a day, the chief had given her so much information that if she hadn’t already had a lot of related knowledge, she would have been dizzy by now.
“But, but…Chief.”
After thinking hard for a long time, Diana suddenly showed a puzzled look and couldn’t help but whisper, “Isn’t the current consciousness projection technology still unable to carry the memory of the original body? His Highness Ryann doesn’t remember Jiang and me.”
In that case, how could the soldiers with blank memories rush to the front line?
“Ah.” But as soon as she finished speaking, Diana covered her mouth, thinking it was bad, she had revealed that Jiang Jianming had asked her related questions before.
Although she was introverted, she was not stupid. When Jiang Jianming asked that question, it was hard not to think of something when she saw the Crown Prince, who had died three years ago and suddenly resurrected. Plus, Diana herself was of noble birth and knew that there were many secrets hidden inside the Empire that would not be mentioned on the surface.
After a little reasoning, she guessed that the current Crown Prince was a projected base body. The chief didn’t mind, just smiled at Diana, put down her teacup and explained, “Your guess is correct, Ryann Kaios is indeed a mental consciousness projection.”
“The history of the Base Body Project is as long as the White Bird Expedition, we figured it out bit by bit. The circumstances were special when the 000 and 001 base bodies were born, in an emergency, we had no choice but to temporarily use immature technology.”
Diana realized, “So that’s how it is.”
Actually, she wanted to ask more about what the emergency special situation was, and who was projected, but in the end, she didn’t have the courage to interrupt, so she had to suppress her curiosity.
Sylph continued, “002 was the first regular experimental body. At that time, a researcher proposed the idea of making the base body into a humanoid tranquilizer weapon, hoping to maximize the suicidal attack style of the White Bird Expedition and give the Crystal Nest a greater blow.”
“The base voted to pass this proposal, and the Glorious Autonomous Dominion took on the task of observing the condition of the experimental body.”
“Then nearly twenty years passed, until five years ago, the data for the new type of base body was finally determined and began to be mass-produced, which is what you saw that day.
Diana couldn’t help but let out a small “ah”, at that time she saw the dark environment and the human bodies in the cultivation tank, and felt creepy. Now that she had heard all the causes and effects, all that was left in her heart was a huge shock.
Sylph said solemnly, “The mental consciousness projection technology is also only one step away from the final hurdle. All this time up to now, it’s the heroic souls who sacrificed themselves in the White Bird Expedition who fought desperately for it, we must not let them down.”
“…Yes!” Diana bit her lip, her hands unconsciously clenched. She knew this was why she was here.
For the blood of the martyrs, the future of the Empire, the survival of humanity… and for her sleeping brother to return in a new body.
“Very good.” The chief smiled slightly, “Since you’ve made up your mind, start working from tonight, I’ll find someone to guide you.”
“Yes!” Diana nodded like a pecking chicken, her eyes clear, knowing nothing about her future that was about to be squeezed madly…
In the end, Diana couldn’t help but ask in a low voice, “Chief, who are the 000, 001, 002 base bodies?”
The leader was silent for a moment, stood up, and slowly said, “You will soon know about 000 and 001.”
She picked up the black mask next to her, put it back on, metal covered her face, and electronic sound replaced her original voice.
“As for 002, he’s not anyone special.”
“He’s just a researcher at the base, not even one of the most talented.”
“That day he told me that since there were still uncertainties in the technology, we couldn’t let the elites bear the unknown risks.”
“So he volunteered to be a subject….that’s all.”
****
“Is… is it me…?”
In the banquet hall of the White Jade Palace, a trembling voice came from Yuan Changze’s mouth.
His face was pale, “You said, the first regular experimental body of the Base Body Project, an effective humanoid tranquilizer weapon to attack the Crystal Nest, is me!?”
At this moment, it seemed like all the lights above were shining on this weak young man, making Yuan Changze’s eyes white and his breathing difficult.
The Base Body Project that Vice Speaker Lopez had just described was enough to make his head dizzy, not to mention the final hammer blow.
He couldn’t accept it, why in just a few sentences, the always thriving human empire fell into a precarious situation; they who had always enjoyed a peaceful and prosperous age, became the poor bugs colonized by the crystal particle race?
The past years suddenly sprinkled with the frozen tears of the ancestors, the future was dyed by the long night, and there was no end in sight.
And all along, as the son of the Speaker of the Autonomous Dominion, living a privileged life, being praised and loved by the people as the “Light of the Disabled Humanity”… he had another identity.
Was he dreaming? If so, this was too absurd, too bizarre, too shocking a dream!
Suddenly looking up, the dream had not yet awakened, no, this was not a dream. Yuan Changze found that everyone else was looking at him.
The Emperor was looking at him, Vice Speaker Lopez was looking at him, the Crown Prince was looking at him, and Jiang was also looking at him.
–Since he was part of the Base Body Project, and was a successful new weapon base body that had survived to this day, it meant that this pampered little young master Yuan, was not only an observed subject.
He would also be taken to the battlefield, thrown into the Crystal Nest full of unknown fears like bait, and complete his mission as a weapon.
Everyone was looking at Yuan Changze, the emotions in those eyes were too complex: hard, guilty, cold, unbearable, pity…and waiting, waiting for Yuan Changze’s final reaction.
Yuan Changze hung his head low, his black hair covering his pale face.
“Is that so…I see.” His Adam’s apple moved, he muttered softly.
Slowly, his palm clenched and loosened, loosened and clenched, repeatedly tormenting.
Suddenly, the young disabled human from the star dominion raised his face.
A smile actually appeared on his face, his eyes shining with a light of surprise, like tiny fireworks.
He waved his hand dramatically and exclaimed, “Heavens! So, I once said something so cool!!”
Lopez was slightly moved, seeing Yuan Changze’s cheeks turn a little red with excitement, he spoke quickly and softly, “Leading the charge, bravely sacrificing! My god, is that me? It seems like something that only happens to the protagonist in a blockbuster movie.”
His eyes sparkled, “I am a secret humanoid weapon, is it the kind of trump card? Will I be written into textbooks in the future?”
He spoke incoherently, “Oh, and it’s the first regular experimental body. Yes, in the setting of a blockbuster movie, the first model is often the strongest…”
“Can I be like His Highness the Crown Prince? My god, this is simply… simply like a dream… It’s great, it’s great.”
Yuan Changze blinked rapidly, talking non-stop, but rather than pouring out his feelings, it seemed more like he was emphasizing it to himself over and over again.
“Changze.”
Lopez suddenly called out to him.
Yuan Changze’s voice suddenly broke off, he clenched his mouth, trying to maintain the curve of that smile, but there were already tears in his eyes.
He looked down and saw himself trembling.
His legs were shaking.
Yuan Changze hurriedly pressed hard on his knees. It was too uncool to be trembling before even going into battle, it didn’t fit the cool concept of a humanoid weapon at all.
But he couldn’t control his legs at all. Gradually, his whole body began to shake, and his teeth also embarrassingly started to chatter.
“…Hehe, there’s just one thing that’s not so good,” Yuan Changze clenched his back teeth, forcing a smile despite his sour nose, “…Dad should have trained me as a real humanoid weapon. If that were the case, I wouldn’t be so embarrassed now…”
Lopez walked up to him, a hint of pity in her eyes, “I’m sorry, little young master Yuan.”
She stroked the boy’s face, guiltily saying, “Over the years, the Speaker has truly treated you as his own son. Before the envoy team set off, he had sleepless nights because he couldn’t face telling you the truth.”
Yuan Changze suddenly threw himself into Lopez’s arms, he couldn’t hold back any longer, and burst into tears.
In front of the Emperor, in such an important secret situation, this was undoubtedly very rude.
But no one interrupted this crying, whether it was the iron-fisted Empress or the aloof Crown Prince, no one spoke.
Yuan Changze didn’t even know how long he had been crying, until it gradually subsided, he felt someone gently patting his back.
Jiang Jianming had somehow come to Yuan Changze’s side, his eyes were a bit sad, but deep down he was very calm.
His voice was gentle, “It seems that the little young master is still a little bit away from the humanoid weapon in the blockbuster movie.”
Yuan Changze sobbed, “I will train hard.”
Ryann also came down and stood next to Jiang Jianming.
“Are you scared?” the Crown Prince asked lightly.
Yuan Changze nodded as he cried, he choked, his voice thick with nasal, “But I will train hard.”
Ryann glanced at Yuan Changze, then exchanged a look with Jiang Jianming, who nodded slightly.
So the Crown Prince’s eyes hooked up, he spoke without a doubt, “From now on, you will act with us. Before going to the Far Star, learn not to cry first.”
