Although Nero had been accustomed to using iron-fisted methods to achieve goals forcefully and efficiently since ascending the throne, this minor disturbance made him reconsider the team of teachers sent to the Mirror Spring Palace.
While Betas indeed do not experience heat cycles, a trained Beta could still easily harm Omegas. Sending Wolf Knights or stationed troops to guard the trial site at the Mirror Spring Palace seemed excessive, as the Empire’s military strength had not reached such a point of surplus.
It was not until this moment that Nero vaguely sensed why successive Kaises emperors had always been more inclined to laissez-faire than to protect and utilize Omegas.
Just as he was preparing to temporarily set aside the matter of the educational trial, following in the footsteps of past monarchs and prioritizing more important state affairs, he unexpectedly received a letter from Teacher Gagne.
Gagne, as the Emperor’s mentor and Minister of Imperial Education deeply attached to the Crown Prince, had always been kept out of the sight of the major noble groups since Nero ascended the throne.
In the letter, using the same sharp language as always, Gagne criticized Nero’s direct action of placing Omegas in the vacation palace, which exacerbated his reputation for debauchery. Then, he made a proposal:
“If Your Majesty is unwilling to see me in the Imperial Council but still harbors a shred of pity for this old man in your heart, please do not consign me to a life of idleness in the Scholar’s Tower. I am somewhat intrigued by Your Majesty’s mention of ‘Omegas possibly possessing greater industrial design talents than the other two genders,’ so please allow me to personally lead a group of Beta teachers to the Mirror Spring Palace to thoroughly shatter Your Majesty’s naive fantasies about Omega genders.”
Nero glanced at the last sentence, lifted the corner of his lips, and stamped a decree seal at the bottom of the email.
In this way, the email itself became an imperial decree, granting Gagne full authority to manage the affairs of the educational trial.
During this period, the most pressing matter requiring Nero’s attention was still Asaga, who remained an experimental subject at the Imperial Science Bureau.
In his spare time between handling provincial affairs, Nero would occasionally visit the Imperial Science Bureau to stay updated on the latest research on the Zerg blood.
Given that Asaga would go berserk upon seeing him due to instructions embedded in his collar, Nero mostly remained out of sight, observing his status through a screen in a separate observation room at the Imperial Science Bureau.
Neural repair experiments were exceptionally brutal. Their irreversibility meant that the experimental subjects had to remain conscious at all times and continuously report their perceptions, memories, and mental states to the researchers, even during the process of having their brains dissected.
After witnessing several inhumane experiments, Nero had to admit that Asaga was indeed the only experimental subject in the Empire who could withstand such experiments, thanks to his rapid healing abilities from the Zerg blood constitution.
“Subject 001, please report your current memory status.”
“…”
“001, report your current memory status.”
“…”
The dark-skinned man lay on the operating table, his head tightly covered by a silver-gray cranial device, only exposing his determined jaw and lips.
Externally, he appeared no different from a patient undergoing a brain examination. However, in the observation room where Nero was present, he could clearly see the situation inside the cranial device:
The insertion point of Asaga’s collar at the back of his head had been opened with a circular incision, and a metal conduit passed through the incision to prevent rapid healing.
Countless nanorobots and thin mechanical arms were probing into his brain through the conduit, cutting off the bio-mimetic nerves extended by the Asimov Collar and constantly connecting healthy bio-mimetic nerves to repair them, all while Asaga endured the process without any anesthesia.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Please cooperate with the experiment, 001… What is your name?”
“…Crjuj.”
“Cuf?”
“…”
“Blcrtlq?”
“…”
“Mjwlis yjmxugbecv?”
“…”
“Fw, qifjrf mbbqfgjaf klat atf fzqfglwfca… Po la’r jybea qfgrbcji qglnjms, P mjc jrx vloofgfca defralbcr.”
“P tjnf cb qglnjms lrrefr.” Crjuj gfqilfv, tlr nblmf regqglrlcuis ibk jcv tbjgrf, alcufv klat j tlca bo jqbibus. “P vbc’a tjnf atbrf qfbqif.”
“Cigluta,” atf gfrfjgmtfg mbcalcefv gfiemajcais, “ja ifjra afii er jybea rbwfbcf ktb ifoa j vffq lwqgfrrlbc bc sbe? Mgbw ylgat ecali cbk—”
“…Nero Augustus Kaises.”
Caught off guard by the mention of the name, Nero paused and looked at the dark-skinned man on the operating table.
The researchers obviously hadn’t expected such boldness from Asaga, who dared to directly utter the Emperor’s name. Glancing at Nero’s profile, they nervously asked, “Ner… um, why did this person leave such a deep impression on you?”
Asaga paused for a moment, then spoke in a very soft voice, “He is my… conqueror.”
…
Several days later, when Nero came for his second inspection, the deep brain neurorepair experiment happened to be underway.
If this experiment succeeded, it would signify the removal of the main bio-mimetic nerves from Asaga’s brain, a crucial part of the Asimov Collar.
As mechanical hands probed into Asaga’s brain, Nero saw the exposed muscles of the man’s chest and abdomen tremble—he was in immense pain.
The bio-mimetic control nerves grown from the collar had fused with the native brain tissue, and as the mechanical hands simultaneously destroyed the decayed brain nerves and removed the fused control nerves, they also continuously repaired the connections with healthy bio-mimetic nerves. Asaga endured all this without any anesthesia.
As vast amounts of data flowed into the Imperial Science Bureau’s database, Asaga began to tremble and struggle violently. His arm muscles bulged, almost breaking the steel handcuffs on the operating table.
“001, calm down! Don’t damage the equipment! Raise your hand if you can’t bear it anymore!”
The researchers shouted into the microphone.
Asaga let out a desperate growl like a trapped beast. But he clutched the edge of the operating table with all his might, refusing to lift his hands.
“Tell us the name of the planet that left the deepest impression on you.”
“…”
“Is it a memory you can recall but can’t articulate, or have you momentarily forgotten the name?”
“…Forgotten—”
“Your name? Can you still remember your name, 001?”
“…”
“No…”
“Can you remember anything at all?”
Asaga emitted a cry of extreme agony. But with all ten fingers gripping the edge of the bed, he almost twisted the steel pipe of the bed rail.
Just before going into shock, he suddenly murmured, seemingly in a struggle against the will emanating from the collar, “My… conqueror… is… Nero Augustus Kaises…!”
The researchers were stunned. Acting on instinct, Asaga struggled so fiercely that he almost tore his head, with its bloody incision, from the cranial device.
“Nero decisively ordered, ‘Abort the experiment!'”
The researchers hurriedly stopped the instruments. The moment all the mechanical hands withdrew from the incision, Asaga’s body, which had been struggling wildly, completely collapsed on the operating table.
“Our removal direction was also wrong this time… sigh, quickly reconnect the bio-mimetic nerves and don’t cause permanent damage to his brain.”
An ordinary person undergoing such an experiment would lose a significant amount of blood.
But evidently, Asaga’s insect blood once again proved effective.
Nero waited only thirty seconds before he saw the man’s golden eyes trembling open within the cranial device, looking confused and lost at the darkness within the instrument.
“…Nero Augustus Kaises…”
Thinking that no one would hear, the man quietly repeated the name with a very soft voice.
But soon, he sensed the surge of killing intent in his mind against his will—this meant that the collar removal experiment had failed again.
“Damn.”
He cursed softly, his voice choked with emotion.
“Damn it!”
With veins bulging on his fist, the man struck the edge of the bed.
The bed rail, already shaky, couldn’t withstand the force, and with a loud “clang,” it fell down.
The loud noise startled the soldiers standing guard nearby with their guns ready.
Everyone immediately cocked their guns, ignoring the blood-stained head of the man, and pointed their guns directly at him. “What are you trying to do!?”
“Don’t move! Don’t move!!”
“Quick, bring the handcuffs!”
“What did I tell you when I was here last time?”
Nero’s fingertips tapped the screen, speaking coldly.
On the screen, the dark-skinned man was knocked over by several guns, but he made no attempt to resist, even quietly raising his hands in front of him, ready to be handcuffed.
“W-What, Your Majesty?” The staff accompanying the Emperor looked around in confusion.
“I said to treat him like a human being. Have you forgotten so soon?”
The silver-haired Emperor’s voice was faint, devoid of anger, but his red eyes, slightly turned away, seemed unusually sharp.
“…Understood, Your Majesty!”
The soldiers in the screen received the order and quickly dispersed.
Asaga slowly got up from the ground, wiped the blood dripping from his forehead, and quietly sat down at the edge of the bed again, as if everything that happened to him was already commonplace.
“It’s almost time.”
Nero pondered in his heart. He intended to harness Asaga’s power, along with the old Wolf Knight’s and over a thousand gladiators’ he had brought back from the arena, but their mental state was deteriorating every day.
The progress in cracking the Asimov Collar, however, remained stagnant.
But this was purely a scientific and technical obstacle, something he couldn’t solve with his expertise in combat and politics. This unprecedented obstruction and frustration left Nero feeling stifled.
“How’s the reward for the Asimov Collar challenge posted on the Star Network?” He ordered the Minister of National Defense and Technology. “Sync Asaga’s experimental data as well and double the reward amount.”
…
Aw I hope the collar gets resolved soon :”)) thank you for the chapters~~ (ʃƪ ˘ ³˘)♥️
how frustrating for Asaga!! my heart 💔