Magical Girl's Knight Brother

Chapter 549 Old Chang's mentality collapsed

After repeating Tang Zijun's words, Suolin looked at Tang Zijun in disbelief.

"You, you're kidding, right!?"

The howling wind swirled snowflakes like icy sand, lashing against the jagged rocks surrounding the temporary camp, creating an endless rustling sound that only amplified the deathly silence of this small, sheltered spot beneath the rocky slope. Outside, the world was a chaotic gray-white and bitterly cold, but beneath these recessed rocks, the air seemed to freeze.

Tang Zijun sat cross-legged on the cold, rocky ground, her back straight as a pine tree.

"I'm not joking."

The black card with an ominous glow flowing around its edges floated in front of him.

At this moment, the ancient runes etched at the core of the card are emitting a faint yet chilling wave, which, like an invisible spider web, connects the awakened bodies that stand silently like sculptures around it.

They were no longer the tattered dolls from the laboratory. Driven by the power of the undead, these bodies, though still pale and bloodless, had become much less stiff, as if they had been injected with some kind of cold "vitality".

Like the most loyal gargoyles, they formed a loose defensive formation in the shadows, protecting Tang Zijun, the card, and another being at the center. The ghostly blue flames of the dead burned silently deep in their empty eye sockets, leaping and reflecting the rough texture of the rocks, casting ghostly shadows.

Suolin blinked, staring at Tang Zijun for a long time without saying a word.

Even if she were slow to react, she would understand Tang Zijun's plan now. One hundred and seventeen bodies, one hundred and seventeen agents from the Demon Surveillance Bureau—there was no need for contemplation; the answer was right there in the mystery. "Don't tell me you want those humans to upload their consciousness back into these bodies. This... this isn't just wishful thinking; even my backups don't have any similar records..." "But it's possible, isn't it?" Tang Zijun asked softly.

"This..." This time, Suolin was speechless.

She turned her gaze to Scáthach, whose voice slowly rang out at that moment. "Theoretically, it's possible. Since the wasteland can use information flow to enter the real world, it means that a bridge has already been built between the two worlds."

Scáthach looked at the bodies. "Their consciousness has been uploaded to other places. What remains here are just mindless bodies. Using them as 'containers' is not impossible."

"Are you sure?" Zolin's expression became quite interesting. "Well, even if it's theoretically feasible, it's simply impossible to do in practice. I can't even do the calculations for this kind of experiment, let alone in a world with incredibly backward technology."

"While the technology may be backward, that world possesses much more than just technology." Scáthach's lips curled into a smile as she shifted her gaze to Tang Zijun. "Since you have this idea, you must be quite confident, right?"

"Um"

After thinking about it carefully, Tang Zijun nodded slightly and chuckled.

"I guess so."

"puff!"

Chang Lei sprayed a mouthful of tea all over the spotless machine's surface, the brown liquid meandering like an abstract map of coffee stains. His heart skipped a beat; he almost jumped out of his throat to become a spare part for this broken machine.

"What the hell did you say?!"

Inside the [Confidential] Temporary Operations Room of the Demon Surveillance Bureau Building.

Chang Lei slumped in his high-end ergonomic chair, his face a picture of disbelief, staring blankly at Shangguan Su, Qin Nan beside her, and Suolin in her hand, unable to process what was happening for a long time. To be honest, when he first heard Suolin's words, Chang Lei's head went blank, his CPU instantly overloaded and started smoking.

Stuffing the consciousness of 117 living people into those rigid "eco-friendly movable mannequins" in the wasteland like takeout food? That's not how you play with immersive post-apocalyptic experiences.

"He's gone mad, he's gone mad! Tang Zijun must have inhaled too much radiation in the wasteland and blown his brain out..." Chang Lei couldn't hold back any longer and suddenly jumped up from his chair. His movement was so fast that he almost ejected the lumbar support of the ergonomic chair.

He clutched his head in his hands, his expression filled with pain. "Chief, do you think this is something a carbon-based life form could come up with? There's a limit to even dreaming! Why does that guy always drag me into his bragging?!" Shangguan Su looked at Chang Lei, who was wailing in front of her, and for a moment she found it hard to reconcile this guy with the image of a high-ranking greedy cadre. However, she was also understanding—because when Qin Nan came to her with Suolin, this robot head had just submitted a report on the "Glorious City Fireworks Show."

The report's wording was extremely cautious:

...An unusual energy release event was observed, accompanied by intense light and shadow effects and large-scale geological changes. It is suspected to indicate a friendly interaction between high-dimensional organisms (Note: the interaction method is highly "creative")....Subsequent impact assessment is underway (Note: It is recommended to purchase a batch of nitroglycerin tablets).

In the report, Suolin cleverly described Tang Zijun as "mysterious neutral unit A," Scáthach as "environmental effects artist B," and the undead bodies as "recyclable and eco-friendly basic units." Heaven knows the extent of Shangguan Su's psychological trauma upon seeing this report.

"Old Chang, are you alright?" Qin Nan's lips twitched, and he couldn't help but ask.

Chang Lei, on the other hand, was completely immersed in his own frantic world. He scratched his hair in frustration, and two images appeared before his eyes.

Scene 1: The roster of the Demon Suppression Bureau agents, 117 faces, some handsome, some ordinary, some full of resentment for working overtime. They might be clocking in, slacking off, or praying that the cafeteria won't have another innovative dish today... completely unaware that they are about to become beta testers of "Wasteland L".

Scene Two: A wasteland, a biting wind swirling snowflakes, where 117 pale "environmental mannequins" stand, their eye sockets gleaming with a faint blue light, like a row of cheap LED figurines waiting to be lit up. Sigh.

Chang Lei shuddered, inwardly shaking his head frantically.

"Deputy Director Chang?" At this moment, looking at Chang Lei, who seemed to have gone slightly mad, Shangguan Su tentatively called out.

"Hmm?" Chang Lei responded subconsciously, then realized what he had said. "I'm sorry, Director, I lost my composure." "Um... Deputy Director Chang, are those plans that Suo Lin mentioned earlier, devised by Tang Zijun, really feasible? Can you really... get the agents of the Demon Surveillance Bureau to upload their consciousness to the wasteland world?" Shangguan Su's tone was strained, because this was truly too unbelievable.

Chang Lei, on the other hand, wore his difficulties on his face.

After a moment of silence, he slowly spoke. "...Well, okay, I admit it, if it's just uploading those people's consciousness into a container with a fixed anchor point, I can indeed do it." "Really!?" Qin Nan's mouth dropped open, even Little Gray on her shoulder was surprised.

A hint of surprise flashed in Shangguan Suye's eyes, and then Chang Lei continued to explain. "Sorlin has the data on the anchor point and the container. As long as I use Sorlin to connect the information flow between the two worlds, I can exploit the loopholes in the logic and deceive the consciousness of those agents."

Are you sure this still falls under the category of "fraud"?

"Of course," Chang Lei said. "Deceiving ordinary people is the easiest thing in the world, and besides, Suolin has already built the bridge. I guarantee that the agents will be able to cross, but I can't be sure about their mental state."

"What do you mean?" Qin Nan asked.

"Is it that hard to understand?" Chang Lei shrugged. "Imagine those agents going through something like 'signing up for a tour to Yunnan and then watching helplessly as the bus they're in crosses the border.' What do you think their mental state would be like?"

".."

At this moment, Shangguan Su focused on the safety of the agents. "Can you guarantee the safety of this trip? After all, the agents are our colleagues, not expendable experimental subjects." "Chief, don't misunderstand. Although I'm a greedy person, I possess the same emotions as humans. Of course, I won't use those people as guinea pigs, but..." "But what?"

Chang Lei scratched his head. "However, uploading oneself to a virtual wasteland world does cause damage; ordinary people simply cannot withstand it. To completely avoid this, we would probably need a sufficiently powerful stabilizing device, but with the current level of technology..."

Chang Lei didn't continue, believing the other party understood his meaning—without this stabilizing device, the agents would face a one-way trip. Hearing this, Shangguan Su also fell silent.

She certainly hoped to meet Tang Zijun's request. His plan could be considered a milestone exploration of other worlds by mankind, and judging from the situation in the wasteland, Tang Zijun did indeed need a group of trustworthy subordinates to do things for him.

However, if this operation is a one-way trip, it might not be so easy to explain to the higher-ups.

Suddenly, Zolin, who had been silent until now, spoke up. "As for a stabilization device, although your technology can't make one, perhaps we can borrow something else." As soon as she said this, everyone's eyes focused on Zolin's face.

Then Suolin continued, "You, you still have the corpse of a 'god'... If that doesn't count, then there's no suitable stabilizing device in this world." "Right!" A word to the wise, Chang Lei clapped his hands. "The God of Time and Space can travel through timelines, so it must have a device to ensure its stability!" He frowned again. "But... how do we use this device?"

"I'm here," Zorin said. "It's just controlling a mechanical device; it's a piece of cake for me."

"...But do you really have the ability to upload those people's consciousness to the wasteland world like Tang Zijun said? This is something that even the technology of the gods of the era couldn't do." To this, Chang Lei just smiled mysteriously.

His smile was filled with the hardships of being a beast of burden.