Chapter 360: Long Time No See, Old Friend [Part 2]
Cillin and Eudy were discussing more future plans when a running figure suddenly appeared on the other end of the corridor. He immediately skidded to a stop when he caught sight of the duo, but as if thinking better of it, he resumed to jogging speed and made toward Cillin. Right after that, a running Cary and Mogas showed up from the same end of the corridor as well, but unlike the figure, they merely stopped in their tracks, let out an awkward chuckle, and ran back down the way they came from.
“Oh, commander, vice commander, thank goodness you’re here,” The figure said after stopping in front of the duo. He looked as if he had found his saviors.
Cillin looked at the reserved-looking person who looked exactly the same to him. He was a robot and his body double, X-7. Every time Cillin left the squad for some business he didn’t wish outsiders to know about, such as his rescuing of Mo Heng, X-7 would show up in public and pretend to be him.
X-7 wasn’t an Origin robot and obviously inferior to Sigma and Moon. However, he stood a cut above all the other robots Xi Kai had created thus far. X-7 was the only robot among his new X series that developed a free attribute—something that was procedurally generated and had less than a thousandth chance to occur—so Xi Kai nearly wept when he was born. X-7 was without a doubt the closest robot he had ever created to an Origin robot.
Obviously, a robot closer to an Origin robot would be far more convincing than a basic robot. Therefore, Xi Kai canceled the robot he was originally going to use as Cillin’s double.
X-7 had gone through multiple upgrades since its creation and becoming more and more lifelike every day. Although it didn’t possess the Origin robots’ terrifying learning ability and self-awareness, it was still a rare robot. Since then, X-7 had become Cillin’s exclusive body double.
In public, X-7 would activate a program and act very similar to the real Cillin. Since he looked exactly identical to Cillin, no one they had traded with realized they had been dealing with a fake the whole time.
But unlike the actual Cillin, X-7 was always bullied by his squad mates. For example, they would try to make him pull a comical face and more things the real Cillin would never do it. Also, no one had the b.a.l.l.s to ask the real Cillin to pull those stunts.
“What do they normally make you do, Seven?” Cillin asked.
X-7 searched his records for a bit before answering honestly, “Pull a face, sing romantic songs, handwalking and breakdancing…”
Cillin: “...”
“Ahem. It’s just something the squad does to uh, enliven the atmosphere a little,” Eudy said with a distinct lack of confidence.
“Should I be thankful that they didn’t make X-7 do a strip-tease or the pole dance then?”
Eudy fell silent and thought to himself: Cary, you’re on your own.
X-7 answered innocently, “Commander, Moon told me that the regarding the two dances you just mentioned is almost complete, and that I should visit him later to get the upgrade.”
Cillin stared at Eudy. Eudy didn’t make a peep.
Moon, you’re on your own as well.
That day, Cary and Mogas were summoned to the training ground for a “spar” with Cillin himself, and Moon lost the visual tools he just made to watch his p.o.r.n.
Moon tried to reason with Cillin with truth and emotions, but of course all he got was a firmly shut door.
Cillin wanted to help Tang Qiuqiu before he traveled to Sea Paradise with Lung. Learning from Miracle’s mistake, he decided to play it safe and administer her drugs that were specifically tailored to her const.i.tution and physiological indices.
People with different const.i.tutions could react differently to the same drug. What might be considered safe for someone might not be the case for another.
Gene evolution was one of the fields Cillin was very experienced with, so he knew exactly what to look out for when performing it for Tang Qiuqiu: the activation of silenced genes, the speed rate of DNA unwinding and coiling, the changes to genome a.s.sembly and protein a.s.sembly due to drug stimulation were all things to look out for. Cillin had no intention of playing with Tang Qiuqiu’s life, so every step was carried out with the utmost caution. He carried out the next step only after he confirmed that the exiting step wouldn’t harm Tang Qiuqiu overly much.
Tang Qiuqiu gave Cillin her full cooperation and stayed inside the workshop the whole time. After Cillin gave Tang Qiuqiu her first injection, he observed Tang Qiuqiu for any signs of adverse reactions. There were some pain that was caused by adverse reaction, but so far everything was falling within his expectations.
The first shot was just the buffer. After Tang Qiuqiu had adapted to it, Cillin performed the second shot and officially began the process of the drug-induced gene evolution.
He didn’t ask for immediate results. Slow but steady wins the race all the same.
On the tenth day, Tang Qiuqiu received her third shot. Her gene was now at rank B, but it hadn’t completely stabilized yet.
“Once your genes have completely stabilized, you can begin the process of excavating its potential. Your evolution to rank B went pretty well because you had a solid foundation when you were still at rank C. Some rank C people wouldn’t be able to endure this induction process because their foundation is weak. In short, the better your foundation, the easier it is your evolution to the next rank will be,” Cillin explained to an excited Tang Qiuqiu.
“I know,” Tang Qiuqiu replied excitedly while staring at the alphabet “B” on the machine’s display.
Tang Qiuqiu went to the shooting room almost immediately after she left the workshop. In the past, she could feel that controlling the PTS E was her absolute limit, but now, she discovered that that ceiling had become much higher than before.
Cillin gave Tang Qiuqiu a PTS K. She might not be able to use it well at her current rank, but it was good training, and it would allow her to figure out her physical limits.
Meanwhile, a pitiful-looking Moon finally saw Cillin and didn’t hesitate to trail behind him like a gum on his shoe.
“You want your tools back?” Cillin asked.
“Yes, yes!” Moon nodded rapidly. He only had enough materials to create one set of visual tools, so he needed to get it back from Cillin no matter what.
“Come.” Cillin beckoned the Origin robot to follow him while walking into a nearby lounge.
After Cillin set the tools on the table, Moon seized it with lightning speed and clutched it against his chest. Every one of his gestures said that he would rather die than let it go again.
“Moon, the G.o.d’s Tear of Aurelio’s Cage, the one that represents redemption, what is it really?” Cillin asked.
“G.o.d’s Tear” was one of the five Aurelios, and Cillin had gotten one of its star map fragment from Jiada a long time ago. He had been meaning to give it to Lung, and the operation to Sea Paradise was a good time as any. Also, he had a feeling that Lung’s operation had something to do with G.o.d’s Tear.
“G.o.d’s Tear?” Still clinging to his visual tools, Moon swiveled his head toward Cillin and straightened the blue strip on his “face” to a single line, “It is a chemical compound.”
“A chemical compound?”
“Yes. It is a chemical compound that causes the throat to grow a special organ. The Xi Family had created it after studying a huge number of sea beasts, but it is not very effective on the average person. It is far likelier to succeed if it is applied to some of the ancient races of Sector H.”
Unfortunately, Moon’s knowledge of G.o.d’s Tear wasn’t very deep. It was because they weren’t born yet when G.o.d’s Tear was created. Still, some information was better than no information at all.
Cillin prepared to leave after he had gotten his information. He had arranged everything that needed to be arranged in the Eleventh Squad, and he wasn’t worried that someone might notice that he, the commander of the Eleventh Squad was absent from the squadron because he had X-7 to act as his body double.
And so he left for the meeting location Lung had told him with Czedow and Wheeze.
On a prosperous planet of Sector H, Cillin stepped into the room of a high-rise building at the city center.
Young Master Lung had, as per his usual self, taken up an entire sofa for himself.
“Long time no see, old friend!” Lung rose to his feet to b.u.mp fists with Cillin before motioning for Cillin to take a seat. At the same time, he placed a plate of fish biscuits on the table for Wheeze to “grind” its teeth.
Lung checked the time before saying to Cillin, “Let’s wait just a bit longer, okay? Some dudes my grandfather sent will be joining us on our trip.”
Lung’s grandfather was nicknamed the Old Fox in GAL, so Cillin had no doubt his subordinates were extraordinary. He only wondered if they were as foxy as their boss.
Half an hour later, a serious-looking guy wearing a suit and carrying a black briefcase stepped into the room.
Lung greeted him from the sofa, “Aha, you’re one of my grandpa’s ten super bodyguards, Big c.o.c.k right?”
Big c.o.c.k replied seriously, “Young master, my name is Big Rock, not Big c.o.c.k.”
Cillin: “...”
He should’ve known better than to judge a bodyguard of the Andrea Family by the cover.