Translator’s note: I have decided to change my translation from ‘Evolved’ to ‘Evolutionary/Evolutionaries’ (Like revolutionary). I’ll be changing all previous mentions of it in the coming days. For those who’ve been following the story as I release each chapter, please note the change. Thank you!
Chapter 7
“What do you need me to do?”
The young man’s voice was gentle.
Si Chen handed over the pulse cutter in his pocket. “The Eternal Life Abyss merges through parasitism. It lives in the human brain. But if the Eternal Life Abyss does not take the initiative to parasitize, it needs to be implanted forcibly.”
He took the long black monster off his wrist and put it next to his ear.
The Eternal Life Abyss raised its head suspiciously but it seemed to have no intention of getting in.
It had drilled out of its mother’s body.
Few mothers will let their young burrow back in because its young could be used as food and decompose in its body.
This thing was a bit sticky, like an extra wet glutinous rice cake. It stuck to Si Chen’s hand and wouldn’t come off for a long time.
Later, the Eternal Life Abyss became a little anxious and kept making “chi chi chi chi” sounds.
If Si Chen only understood its alien language, he would be able to hear the juvenile crying, “Mom, don’t eat me”.
Ji Chuyao lowered his head and looked at the knife in his hand. “So it needs to be planted by force?”
“Yes. The most direct way is how to make a hole in the head, avoiding damage to the brain. So…”
Si Chen pointed to his left eye, which was a pale white, like the hazy fog at dawn over a mountain stream. “This eye is dead. I had plans to replace it with a prosthetic eye. Open an entrance here and force it in.”
Ji Chuyao understood. He had never done such a crude operation in his life but Si Chen had already lain down.
Without the surgery, Si Chen would die.
If the operation fails, Si Chen will also die.
And what’s more, his will be an unsightly death, just like the dried up people he had seen before.
That was why, Ji Chuyao still picked up the pulse cutter. “By the way, your prosthetic eye was manufactured by the Ji Family. I can help you install it.”
Ji Chuyao had spotted the prosthetic eye during his scan.
Si Chen did not refuse and handed over the mechanical eye that Shen Yanxing had given.
“This model,” Ji Chuyao checked the prosthetic eye that Si Chen handed over and was somewhat dissatisfied. “Wait until we get out. I’ll give you a better one.”
This was one of the Machine Core’s mid to low end products. It only had one functionality and its service life was only fifteen years.
Si Chen smiled and said “Thank you” but he didn’t place much store in what he said.
He was long past the age of expecting charity from others.
But he knew that he looked very good when he smiles.
Ji Chuyao wiped the surface of the cutter with a cleaning cloth. “Do I need to knock you out? I don’t have any anesthesia.”
Si Chen rejected the offer. “I want to stay awake.”
If he failed to evolve, he would never wake up from unconsciousness.
Si Chen would rather die sober and in pain. Pain itself is a proof of existence.
Were it someone else, they might have worried that with the patient conscious, the patient’s struggling would affect the operation and disrupt their field of vision.
But Ji Chuyao didn’t worry at all about this.
He lowered the temperature of his palm, pried open Si Chen’s eyelid with two fingers and pressed his palm firmly against Si Chen’s head.
“I’m about to start,” he said.
Even without using High Dimensional technology, Ji Chuyao’s own physical strength has already reached a terrifying value.
His entire body was on Si Chen. His eyes were very focused and cautious.
Si Chen couldn’t move, but when he saw the tip of the knife aimed at him, he couldn’t help his pupils from constricting.
“I’m not an expert at bio-modification surgery so this might hurt a little bit. Bear with it.”
The world turned blood red.
A few broken groans escaped from Si Chen’s throat. He couldn’t control himself and he struggled, shaking his head.
His fingers curled and he grabbed onto the vines on the ground. His body twitched nonstop from the pain. The whole body jerked and plopped, like a fish out of water.
But Ji Chuyao’s hands were steady and even his expression didn’t change much. He just sped up his movements.
In his hand, the Eternal Life Abyss, who’d caught the scent of blood, gradually turned docile.
It was momentarily at a loss and it got into this newly opened black hole.
It was a very suitable and fitting body.
Si Chen heard a strong heartbeat, slow but heavy. It was like a rust covered machine had begun running again.
His body had a strange sense of weightlessness. He felt like he was floating in the clouds and at the same time, he was falling into the abyss.
Someone was watching him.
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.
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Ji Chuyao opened the nerve lines from behind the mechanical prosthetic eye. These lines will automatically connect with the human body and receive the bioelectrical signals from the brain.
The prosthetic eye was installed.
The person who chose this prosthetic eye might not have been very rich but he’d been quite careful in its selection. It looked exactly the same as Si Chen’s original eye. Only now it was stained red with blood.
Si Chen closed his eyes tightly and stopped struggling. If it weren’t for the shortness of breath, it would look as though he were dead.
Due to nervousness, Ji Chuyao’s heart was beating fast.
Biological transformation, also known as human body modification.
Among Ji Chuyao’s guards were biologically transformed Evolutionaries.
Each of their bodies had varying degrees of distortion. This is the inevitable side effect of merging with High Dimensional organisms.
There were also those people who, though they’d undergone biological transformation, but because their bodies were too weak to withstand the invasion of the High Dimensional organisms, ended up dying.
Si Chen’s physical strength wasn’t great either.
He’d taken a lot of gene medicines and evolution fluids but because of his body’s high drug resistance, the efficiency of absorption was surprisingly poor.
Even a rich family wouldn’t be able to keep up with such consumption.
Ji Chuyao was actually a little puzzled. It was a pity that his scanner could only check some basic physical data.
Just when Ji Chuyao was thinking this way, the person he was holding down opened his eyes.
It was a pair of dark eyes — no whites, completely black. It looked a bit creepy.
Moreover, this darkness was fluid. It looked as though something was swimming beneath the surface.
But soon, the eyes returned to normal.
Si Chen’s chaotic mind gradually cleared.
Ji Chuyao let go of his hand. He moved away from him and asked, “How do you feel?”
Si Chen’s eye was still covered in blood but the pain had subsided. The suns, hot enough to roast people alive, no longer felt scorching.
Si Chen knew that the Eternal Life Abyss was still alive because he could hear its voice. It was in his mind. He gradually begun to understand the creature’s language.
It was calling out, “Mom”.
He felt as if a hole had been opened in his body. This hole didn’t exist in a physical sense, but the wind of everything in the world poured in from here, filling this empty nest.
And the Eternal Life Abyss lived in this warm and humid cave.
Almost automatically, Si Chen understood the meaning of “Heaven’s Stairway”.
Because apart from this open cave entrance, there were still nine caves that were tightly blocked.
Si Chen replied. “I feel good.”
Like sleeping until late in the morning and waking up naturally.
Ji Chuyao’s tone was hesitant. “Your degree of body distortion seems to be very low. I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.”
As if afraid that Si Chen would not understand, he explained, “My father told me that evolution is just a milder way of invasion.”
“You’re on the path of biological evolution. A low degree of distortion might allow you to live longer but it might also mean that you’re weaker than others.”
“Most of the Evolutionaries, when their invading organisms evolved later on, turned into monsters that retained their sanity. In the end, no one’s sure whether they’re actually Evolutinaries on Heaven’s Stairway or if they’ve simply been possessed by the High Dimensional organisms.”
“Moreover, biological transformation will inevitably lead to different degrees of side effects.” Ji Chuyao paused and asked, “Do you regret it?”
Si Chen smiled lightly and replied, “Not at all.”
He stood up.
This place had been a small supermarket before the High Dimensional Invasion.
The fresh fruits and vegetables had all rotted and the water had leaked completely dry. Si Chen’s only harvest was a cart with half of its body buried in the soil.
Although the plastic on the handles had melted due to the high temperature and the basket had warped, it should still be usable.
He grabbed the cart and pulled it out of the dirt. He was surprised to find a huge spider attached to the bottom of the trolley.
This High Dimensional creature was half the size of a human and it was in the middle of laying eggs. — it was spitting out eggs about the size of chicken eggs from its abdomen.
Before Si Chen was fully conscious of it, his body had already taken a step forward and smashed the spider’s head.
Literally smashed it.
Si Chen felt like his hand was hitting a layer of steel. The carapace covering the spider’s surface shattered and sticky green blood spattered on his hand.
The spider, which Si Chen couldn’t see clearly, shrank into a ball, its sixteen limbs struggled in mid-air for a moment before completely going still.
Just now, the Eternal Life Abyss’ fighting instincts had taken over his consciousness.
Fragments of the spider’s shell pierced into the back of Si Chen’s hand, causing slight pain.
Si Chen pulled out those shards with a cold expression on his face. He heard the Eternal Life Abyss cheering in his mind, “Mom, eat!”
Si Chen: “…”
Was this something that people could eat??
He whispered, “Don’t call me ‘Mom’.”
His voice sounded slightly annoyed.
Si Chen would rather be a father than a birth-free mother.
As an Eternal Life Abyss, it couldn’t understand the concept of a “father”. So after being confused for a while, it continued to shout, “Mom, food, food. Hungry, hungry.”
Si Chen put Ji Chuyao in the cart.
Looking at the nothingness beyond his hips, Ji Chuyao sighed.
If his legs had been his original biological ones, at least they could have been repaired with gene medicine after being damaged.
Ji Chuyao picked up a bunch of spider eggs from off the ground and peeled them like grapes. Inside the white eggs, the embryos were a translucent white.
“It’s edible and not poisonous.” He handed it to Si Chen, “Although the energy concentration is not high and it’s not delicious, it is a High Dimensional item. A bunch of this could sell for hundreds of thousands outside. Moreover, despite your evolution, you still need to drink water.”
Ji Chuyao frowned. “…So bitter.”
Si Chen copied what he’d done and swallowed the peeled egg. It tasted like lychees, very sweet.
His sense of taste seemed to be somewhat different from Ji Chuyao’s.
His stomach gradually felt full.
Si Chen paused. “Let’s go and find the next charging station.”
Ji Chuyao had wanted to explain that his energy core was broken and that it was useless to look for a charging station. He could just recharge using solar energy, though it wouls be relatively slow.
But on second thought, idleness was idleness. Why not find something to do? So he acquiesced to Si Chen’s decision.
The next charging station was six kilometers away. Because of the prosthetic eye, Si Chen’s field of vision had been greatly expanded. He had a nearly 360-degree panorama view and he now noticed details he hadn’t before with the naked eye.
For example, hidden in the tree, there was a long bamboo-shaped insect whose color allowed it to blend in with the trunk.
For another example, there was a ring-shaped insect, like a big snake, drilling in and out of the soil.
They weren’t very intelligent and human beings weren’t part of their diet, so they didn’t show too much aggressiveness towards Si Chen and Ji Chuyao.
Only that Si Chen understood that if he were to touch them accidentally, they would be very troublesome.
However, the Eternal Life Abyss didn’t seem to think so.
Even though it’d just eaten, Si Chen clearly felt that it was already hungry.
“Uaua! Hungry!”
Because of their shared sensation, seeing each of those High Dimensional creatures, brought their matching tastes into Si Chen’s memory.
Braised pork, barbequed wings, grilled durian…
Looking at them, Si Chen himself started feeling a little hungry.
While pushing Ji Chuyao he begun to have this false sensation like he’d returned to his first day of college.
He’d taken his student card and went to the supermarket. He was so hungry but he couldn’t afford anything.
Si Chen didn’t have the nerve to ask Ji Chuyao if this was a kind of side effect.
They arrived at the charging station.
To Si Chen’s surprise, there was someone at this charging station.
They were currently facing against the direction of the wind and Si Chen had stopped a few hundred meters away. He could smell the scent of blood brought over the by wind.
This man had a pair of brown moth-like wings on his back and he was sitting on the ground with his back to Si Chen, very clumsily putting on clothes.
Si Chen asked, “Is it a biologically transformed Evolutionary?”
But Ji Chuyao’s expression had turned grave. “No, it’s not.”
He held the two sides of the shopping cart with his hands, his eyes lighting up with a greenish blue light. “According to the scan, this is an evolved High Dimensional creature.”
Zhuangshan District.
If someone were to look down from space, he would see that the planet was covered with black domes of different sizes, like bulging bubbles.
The places covered by these black barriers are Space Folds. The darkness making up the barrier is called “dark matter” and it can swallow all energy from the outside.
The Space Fold that appeared in Zhuangshan District this time had a diameter of 49 kilometers. According to its energy fluctuation, the danger level is 3A.
Ji Chuyao told Si Chen that there are two ways to escape a Space Fold but in fact, there are three methods. The last method is to bombard the barrier with more intense energy from the outside, forcing it to crack open violently.
With the current level of human power, the highest kind of barrier they can break is a 3A level.
If you want to destroy a Space Fold using external force, the cost would be astronomical. Thus, it has happened only a scant number of times in history.
But in this world, there would always be someone who could afford this price.
Heavy armored vehicles were transferred here from the nearest production base, like silent worker ants.
Ji Sicheng, the current head of the Ji Family, was wearing a Tang suit, standing on a high construction platform, looking very somber.
Behind him, his secretary reported on the situation. “Forty five high-energy electronic pulse guns have been dispatched…”
Ji Sicheng interrupted him, “I don’t need to hear about that. When will it be done?”
“According to the calculations, it will take 24 hours at the fastest.” The secretary lowered his head.
As everyone knew, Ji Sicheng has only one son. And he treasured him greatly.
Because they hadn’t properly watched over Ji Chuyao, all the staff of the Ji Family’s security team were punished with a salary cut and suspension.
Ji Sicheng let out an “en” and leapt, landing steadily on the ground from the tens of meters high construction platform.
He walked towards the office building of the Machine Core Group in Zhuangshan District. This was the most luxurious building in Zhuangshan, with a total of 108 floors. With it as the center, ten kilometers beyond was the slums, with its piles of garbage and shantytowns.
Ji Sicheng opened the DNA lock and entered the empty president’s office. He breathed out a sigh and made himself a cup of tea.
But as soon as he picked up the teacup and raised his eyes, he saw a person suddenly appear on the sofa.
Ji Sicheng’s wrist flicked slightly.
The uninvited man wore a western suit and leather shoes. He had a pair of beautiful blue eyes. Every inch of his body was perfectly just right.
There was no trace of any sort of mechanical transformation on his body. A ring adorned his thumb, index finger and little finger. He appeared noble and dignified.
If Si Chen were here, he would probably be shocked.
Because his face was exactly the same as Ji Chuyao’s.
In other words, he was “Ji Chuyao”.
He and the Ji Chuyao in the Space Fold had a “main body” – “replica” relationship.
The replica doesn’t know about the existence of the main body, but the main body receives real time data sent back by the replica.
In other words, the main body was in possession of all the memories of the replica. If necessary, the main body could even descend onto the replica body.
Ji Sicheng sat down in front of him, a little unable to grasp Ji Chuyao’s thoughts. “Why are you here?”
“Just passing by,” Ji Chuyao replied, “I decided to come and have a look.”
There was no emotion in his voice.
Finally, he said, “Although the replica is expensive, there is no need to mobilize so much resources like this. I can make another one at any time. I’ll just use another identity.”
Ji Sicheng smiled wryly. “But in the eyes of outsiders, he is my own son. I also regard him as my son. As a father, how can I ignore my son?”
Ji Chuyao replied, “That’s just superfluous data. I can see it, but I can’t understand it.”
“Maybe, you can try walking down another path.” Ji Sicheng was silent for a moment, holding the teacup tightly with his metal hands, considering his words, “Perhaps you can also learn to deal with some errors.”
He looked into Ji Chuyao’s blue eyes.
In Ji Sicheng’s days, High Dimensional Invasions had only just begun happening. Mechanical transformation was the most efficient and most direct way to evolution.
To fend off the invasions, all strong, healthy humans were encouraged to have mechanical body parts.
Ji Sicheng, as one among the first batch of Evolutionaries who came into contact with a “mechanical civilization”, joined hands with a few others and established the Machine Core Group.
In the beginning, although mechanical bodies and exoskeletons were expensive due to the raw materials, like houses, they were affordable to ordinary people.
But now, even the most common mechanical bodies can be sold for sky-high prices. The price is countless times more expensive than a hundred years ago.
It wasn’t that Ji Sicheng wanted to prevent other people from crossing social classes. Instead, he had discovered that a mechanical civilization shouldn’t be the final goal of human beings.
Otherwise, the creatures on the Blue Planet would also be heading for extinction, repeating the old path of the Intelligent Machines.
25 years ago, Ji Sicheng was 196 years old. His life was also coming to an end.
In order to find a breakthrough, he took the initiative to enter an s-class Space Fold known as Life’s Forbidden Zone.
It is located at the southernmost glacier and is the origin of all mechanical civilizations.
This Space Fold has existed on the Blue Star for more than two hundred years.
Everyone had thought he was going to die.
Only Ji Sicheng knew what had happened that day.
He had brought back a living body from the world of inorganic matter.
Ji Sicheng named this living body “Ji Chuyao” and claimed that he was his own child.
Ji Chuyao didn’t speak for a long time.
“You’re right, Father.” Ji Chuyao nodded slightly and his body began to blur, “The replica was originally created to process abnormal data. Before we used to call it a ‘virus’, but you told me it was ’emotions’. Differences between humans and machines include ’emotions’. I will try to deal with them.”
The person in front of him disappeared in the next second.
Ji Sichang let out a sigh of relief and put down the teacup with its now cool tea.
He was 97% mechanically transformed. He shouldn’t feel a lot but he still felt his back break out in cold sweat.
Ooohhh interesting 🤔. So it the male lead a robot/human virus 🤣🤣
Thanks for the translations!! This looks like it must be a difficult novel to translate 😮💨
The author’s writing style is pretty straightforward so in that aspect, it’s not too bad. But because of her setting, there’s a lot of ‘jargon’ and ‘novel-specific words’ so that makes it difficult. Also because I’ve only skimmed this story and I’m reading as I translate. Hahaha
Omg the eternal life abyss is so CUTE!! 🥹💗
It could be a novel with gemini polyamory, but no, it should be a novel about survival
Thank you very much for the translation 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚
Mom! MC: Call me daddy! This sounds like a different kind of novel!
Poor little ELA-tentacle: So hot, so hungry… suddenly, has a host…
Happy little ELA-tentacle: Eat that! See that, eat it! Pfft!
Thanks for the update 🤣❤️🤣❤️🤣
so ji chuyao is not an evolutionary human but rather a high dimensional being that ji sichang brought back from a space fold? 🤔
I’m a bit confused. So there’s a replica and a main body, and the replica dosnt know of the main body. So who is the replica? Is the replica the one with MC or the one talking to his father. Or is this just a term describing his robot side and emotions? 😵💫
I’m just happy the ML wasn’t actually pure metal, d*ng. It was hard for me to feel romantic reading all the descriptions of the replica. I’m sad tho the blind eye of the MC got change into a fake one, it could’ve also evolve in the future.