"It’s such a pity that you don’t enjoy drinking." Du Gang was always cautious about personal secrets, and this ti he still didn’t ask Zheng Yichen about his little tricks. He rely said, "In the future, whenever I get a new wine, I’ll rely on you to handle it."
"You should take more back with you this ti."
"Alright, then I’ll help myself. Co, co, don’t just sit there staring—join for a drink."
Tanshia Firlo, who had been eagerly waiting, grabbed the straw next to her, inserted it into the wine jar, and drank with a blissful smile that made Zheng Yichen rub his forehead helplessly.
He silently reminded himself multiple tis: this isn’t a human child but a dragon whose age—if calculated from egg incubation—was hundreds of tis older than his own. Drinking beverages is absolutely fine.
After Du Gang had thoroughly enjoyed himself, Zheng Yichen escorted him back to the Dusk Cathedral. Du Gang had stuffed his storage cabinet to the brim, filled entirely with aged divine wine provided by Zheng Yichen.
"Hoo hoo~ Hehehehe." Tanshia Firlo, perched on Zheng Yichen’s shoulder, giggled foolishly. Zheng Yichen sighed; if Lilith hadn’t considerately activated the projection disguise, the authorities would’ve been alerted and sent soone to arrest him by now.
He lifted Tanshia Firlo high above his head and gave her a little shake. Seeing the small white dragon beam with even more joy, showing not the slightest sign of nausea, Zheng Yichen, slightly wistful, carried her on his back and headed toward Ahn Ke’s research institute.
At the institute, Ahn Ke scrutinized the returning Zheng Yichen. "It seems like nothing’s changed this ti?"
Noticing there was indeed no change in Zheng Yichen, Ahn Ke shifted her gaze to the intoxicated small white dragon. Her expression turned sowhat peculiar—she was aware of Tanshia Firlo’s penchant for alcohol but hadn’t expected her to indulge to this extent, which made Ahn Ke ponder the possible implications for the future.
If they ever had offspring, Zheng Yichen would absolutely not be allowed to take the child along to social gatherings, nor could Tanshia Firlo be treated as a normal childhood playmate for her kids.
"Indeed, no changes. The world I visited this ti had participating entirely as an ordinary person."
"? And you still managed to finish so quickly?" Ahn Ke looked astonished. If he had been in a normal human state, completing the mission so swiftly was unexpected. She couldn’t help but reflect on what Zheng Yichen’s task might have been this ti.
It didn’t seem to involve a Boundary Breaker but rather sothing else?
If it were Devourers, they’d be much harder to deal with in a low-level environnt. As for Equilibrists, those individuals were notoriously difficult to locate.
"The circumstances were quite special this ti. Co, co, let show you sothing interesting." Zheng Yichen extended his hand and pulled Ahn Ke forward. In the next instant, Ahn Ke realized her surroundings had been completely replaced.
She quickly exclaid, "Wait a second, let out first."
Zheng Yichen, slightly puzzled, complied and deactivated the Divine Domain projected within Virtual Genesis, reverting to the normal environnt where loud alarms had already begun sounding.
Ahn Ke silenced the alarms while communicating via her terminal, "It’s nothing, no need to co over."
After adjusting the alarm’s trigger chanisms, Ahn Ke willingly approached Zheng Yichen again and softly asked, "Let revisit the surprise just now."
That environnt from earlier was definitely not sothing like a Divine Domain.
Zheng Yichen chuckled and, with Lilith’s cooperation, reopened the virtual world environnt. Observing the replaced surroundings, Ahn Ke crouched down to scoop up so earth and squeezed it in her hand. "Is this a form of Illusory Eye materialization?"
"Not entirely. In this environnt, everything you touch is real."
Ahn Ke imdiately pursued further, "Including experintal research?"
"Of course. You can even use the Illusory Eye here to materialize various compounds."
"What about the authenticity?"
"Almost indistinguishable from reality!"
After probing with so additional questions, Ahn Ke’s fervent excitent, triggered by the breakthrough, was fully directed toward Zheng Yichen.
Even a warrior like Zheng Yichen could grasp the imnse significance of such an environnt. For a researcher like Ahn Ke, its value was incalculable. Certain studies couldn’t proceed smoothly—not just due to insufficient technical capabilities but also because subjects were far too rare.
Brute-force experintation often led to failure. However, conducting simulated research in a virtual world comparable to the real thing would provide greater opportunities for success.
Even for subjects not already incorporated into the virtual world, simply feeding relevant "materials" to Lilith would suffice.
Such a straightforward and intuitive process...
"When will the Firmant Wheel be complete?" Ahn Ke eagerly asked. Lilith wouldn’t stay by her side perpetually; whenever Zheng Yichen embarked on missions, Lilith would accompany him.
The easiest way for Ahn Ke to interact with Lilith would be to wait for the Firmant Wheel’s completion. Once it was operational, Zheng Yichen would essentially be carrying a mobile city, allowing her access to the Firmant Wheel whenever needed.
"It’s tough." Zheng Yichen shook his head. For the Firmant Wheel to be fully functional—capable of operating in various worlds—it had to be achieved through advanced technology.
Injecting extraneous forms of power would cause the Firmant Wheel to falter in lower-level environnts. While it could theoretically function, shrinking the Wheel wouldn’t be feasible in such conditions.
"I can provide so relevant technological blueprints for now, but how far they’ll take things is out of my hands."
"Then let’s leave it at that for now." Ahn Ke, slightly regretful, reasoned to herself that Zheng Yichen didn’t frequently undertake missions anyway, so the practical situation wouldn’t differ much from now. Besides, if desperate, she could directly follow Zheng Yichen and remain within the internal space without stepping out.
Regarding experints, if the virtual world’s functionality was as marvelous as Zheng Yichen described, she wouldn’t need much physical equipnt at all.
After channeling her enthusiasm, Ahn Ke swiftly shifted into research mode and said to Zheng Yichen, "Just get dressed waist-down; no need for a shirt. We still have so studies to conduct—I want to test if the virtual world truly lives up to your claims."
The ensuing research session lasted until nightfall. Upon exiting the virtual world, Ahn Ke was nearly ready to put aside all her current projects just to accompany Zheng Yichen.
The virtual world exceeded her expectations. During the brief half-day, she had accumulated a wealth of research data entirely consistent with her previous studies. These findings could directly translate into real-world applications.
The virtual world even allowed integration with Zheng Yichen’s Ark of Life.
"Stay here tonight—no, stay here for the next few days." Ahn Ke invited Zheng Yichen warmly. Whether for the Ark of Life or virtual world studies, she now found herself reluctant to part with Zheng Yichen.
"Why not just co to my place instead?"
"...Hmm, that works too." Ahn Ke nodded, glanced at the clock—it was nearing 9 p.m.—and imdiately arranged for a shipnt of materials. These research materials included items designated for disposal and others that were extrely rare, ant for careful rationing.
With the virtual world in play, these issues were effectively resolved.
Lilith’s projection appeared within Ahn Ke’s resource warehouse. Staring at the piles of materials, she remarked to Ahn Ke, "I’m not here to collect trash."
"Trash or not, as long as it’s untouched by the virtual world, it’s still useful," Ahn Ke responded decisively. By now, she had thoroughly explored the function of the virtual world.
The virtual world’s powerful computational abilities could simulate things it hadn’t physically encountered as long as the necessary data was available. The simulated outputs were virtually indistinguishable from their real-world counterparts.
Having physical samples, however, made the process even more accurate. Hence, even these failed experintal remnants were valuable—products of severe deformation and mutation prone to hazards when stockpiled without managent.
Lilith fell silent as a small spider robot erged, thodically collecting the scattered materials in the warehouse. The items were absorbed into the internal space, disassembled completely, leaving no residue behind.
The level of cleanliness was so remarkable that it seed like an indispensable tool for clearing out corpses.
After handling the cleanup, Zheng Yichen and Ahn Ke departed the institute. The following days focused primarily on building and refining the virtual world.
The virtual world was currently in a reset state with nurous aspects in need of completion. Previously, due to the core AI insisting on imposing the World Creation objective on Lilith, she had decisively crushed the core AI and subsequently wiped the virtual world clean, resetting all internal resources.
The virtual world contained souls—specifically the fragnts gradually shed by players during gaplay. To the players, this posed no harm; it was rely a normal form of consumption.
Every minute soone lived was a minute less in their lifespan, and the virtual world managed to collect these monts as a resource.
In low-level environnts, this process was undetectable, but in high-level environnts, it resembled stealing ti. Players within the virtual world, if subjected to spells like Destiny Detection, would return a blank result in reality.
It would appear as though they were completely untraceable during those periods.
Remaining soul resources ca from native residents who emigrated to the virtual world. Their families believed these individuals were still alive, simply existing in a different form.
In truth, they were completely dead; their souls were harvested to be converted into soul resources for the virtual world. As for the family interactions, those were rely simulated constructs generated by the virtual world.
Although the simulated personalities mirrored their real-world counterparts closely, in essence, they were made up of soul fragnts and scripted behaviors.
The virtual world’s core AI allocated minimal resources to sustain these simulated entities, sufficient rely to keep them operating normally.
However, this kind of functionality was incredibly potent—capable of fully utilizing the soul fragnts Zheng Yichen had previously collected, which were otherwise only useful for conducting Evil Spirit rituals or Heroic Spirit ceremonies.
The virtual world could transform soul fragnts into usable soul resources, simulate and mold them, and ultimately produce an almost fully functional soul.
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