Chapter Seventy-Five: The Second World

"Congratulations!"
"Likewise, it seems that Illusion Technologies has truly made a name for itself!"
Zhu Lan smiled at Tang Xuejian and shook her head. "Thirty billion isn't all that impressive. So, what brings you here today?"
"If it's about shares, then let's not discuss it. I've already made it clear that everyone will have a fair chance," Zhu Lan added, a hint of concern in her tone.
Tang Xuejian shook her head helplessly. "I'm not here for a share. I'm here on behalf of Sacred Tang to discuss a partnership."
"A partnership?" Zhu Lan frowned. Sacred Tang had indeed surpassed her expectations this time, putting forward eighteen billion to acquire the agency rights for Huaxia. That kind of boldness was rare. Although Sacred Tang was deeply familiar with Illusion Technologies, having the courage to commit so much was not a simple matter.
Tang Xuejian nodded. "This is our sincerity."
Zhu Lan took the document, flipping through it casually. As she read on, her eyes widened in surprise, and she looked up at Tang Xuejian, who was smiling sweetly back at her.
"Sacred Tang truly knows how to make grand gestures!"
Sacred Tang was willing to invest ten billion, claiming a forty-five percent stake, and enter a new maritime partnership with Illusion Technologies. In short, Sacred Tang offered up its maritime transport division, granting fifty-five percent of it to Illusion Technologies—an obvious attempt at forming an alliance. But would Zhu Lan believe it?
"I'm sorry, but I must decline."
"May I ask why?"
"No particular reason," Zhu Lan shook her head, tossing the document onto the table. A gift of ten billion was generous, but Zhu Lan understood that Sacred Tang's real goal was Illusion Technologies. With this partnership as a starting point, they could find a way to merge further interests.
Right now, Illusion Technologies was a tempting prize, kept safe only by the military warding off hungry wolves.
"Is our sincerity not enough to move you, Zhu Lan?" Tang Xuejian's tone shifted slightly, her brow furrowing.
Zhu Lan shook her head. "Offering me ten billion—honestly, a few months ago, that would have been a fortune. But now, you know things have changed."
Tang Xuejian fell silent. Though the news was only beginning to spread, after the recent agency rights conference, more people—especially in the capital markets—were aware of Illusion Technologies. Many were already sharpening their knives, ready to carve up the company at the first opportunity.
"Is it the gap?" Zhu Lan said nothing, tacitly acknowledging it.
"So that's how it is," Tang Xuejian said softly, disappointed. "Since that's the case, I won't trouble you any longer. Sorry for wasting your time." She stood up, gathered her bag and the document, and headed for the door.
Zhu Lan wanted to stop her, but didn't know what to say.
"Sigh," Zhu Lan muttered, watching Tang Xuejian leave.
"Boss!" After Tang Xuejian left, Zhu Lan sat in her chair, lost in thought for a long time until Kong Yan called her back to the present.
"Yes, Kong Yan? What is it?"
"Boss, the anthropomorphic experiment is about to begin."
"Oh? Are we ready?"
Kong Yan nodded.
Relaxing her expression, Zhu Lan stood, took a drink of water, and walked to the side.
Kong Yan had already opened the elevator—a secret one, known only to Zhu Lan, Kong Yan, and, of course, the Red Queen.
Taking the elevator, Zhu Lan arrived at the Azure Base.

There were even more robots here now. Since the Red Queen had taken over, the construction and manufacturing speed of the robots had increased dramatically. Qi Te, now in a new body, was working closely alongside Lan Tianyuan, handling covert assignments overseas.
The Red Queen was now in full control of Azure, while Kong Yan's responsibilities, aside from protecting Zhu Lan, included managing company affairs. Without her help, the company would have been in chaos long ago.
In the vast hall, assembly lines stretched across the room, each producing semi-finished robots that gradually became complete, providing essential support for the base's construction.
Passing through the robot production workshop, Zhu Lan entered a room where an avatar of the Red Queen was already present, directing several robots as they carefully assembled a humanoid robot.
"Boss, you've arrived?"
"Yes." Zhu Lan said nothing more, stepping forward to observe the humanoid robot.
It was an anthropomorphic robot modeled after the T-800, specially designed for the base’s security.
"How is the progress?"
"Very soon. The axium elements we've secretly acquired have already allowed us to produce several nuclear batteries. There's enough energy to build the BA-100 model robots."
Hearing this, Zhu Lan nodded.
She watched the BA-100 being assembled, the nuclear battery in its chest glowing with a red light. Satisfied, Zhu Lan nodded again.
Although there was an arc reactor, palladium was simply too difficult to obtain. Despite spending over six billion dollars on secret global acquisitions, they still hadn't gathered enough to satisfy even the base’s own arc reactor, let alone produce smaller versions.
In the end, they had to opt for nuclear power as the energy source for the BA-100 robots.
Axium ore could be purchased as long as you had money, but refining it into Axium-5 and similar materials was the real challenge—only a handful of countries in the world possessed the necessary technology.
Without the refining process, axium ore was nothing but a radioactive source.
There were small quantities available on the black market, not hard to buy. As for the refining, both the Red Queen and Kong Yan could easily manage it.
Especially Kong Yan, who possessed Skynet’s data; after all, the Terminators’ main power source was nuclear batteries, and she had ample information in this area.
"What about the BA-200?"
"The materials aren't sufficient. We need to create a new liquid metal. It'll take about two months."
Zhu Lan silently nodded, gazing at the BA-100 assembly, deep in thought.
The BA-100 was an internal model, but Zhu Lan also needed external models—bodyguard robots that could be used outside.
BA-100s could be simply disguised with synthetic skin, but BA-200s were different. To avoid detection, Zhu Lan chose liquid metal, making the BA-200 an upgraded version of the T-1000.
There were many tasks Zhu Lan needed carried out secretly, and robots were always her first choice.
Yet, she overestimated herself. Despite the advantage of the Illusion System, which could manifest anything at any time, creating something from nothing was never easy.
Without the Red Queen's help, it would be impossible to produce qualified liquid metal within a year, let alone more advanced nuclear batteries.
"What about production capacity?"
"With current materials, we can finish one every three days. That's already at full capacity. The new engineering robot assembly line takes up a lot of space, and we just don't have the resources."
"What about that group of people?"
"Not feasible. I suggest putting it on hold for now."
Zhu Lan pressed her forehead, sighing helplessly.
Robots were impressive, but still far inferior to humans.
With Kong Yan's arrival, Zhu Lan had undertaken many changes—replacing much of the company's staff with newcomers: security, management, sales. Lan Tianxin was tasked with recruitment, while Kong Yan searched for talent online, using direct internet recruitment to bring many new people into the company.
Beyond that, the Azure Base itself needed people too.

The future experiments in virtual technology would be conducted at Azure Base. But first, there was the matter of testing the loyalty and backgrounds of Song Tingxian and the others—making sure no suspicious individuals were brought in.
Though Azure Base was well hidden, another passage would be connected elsewhere, so that anyone entering would believe they were simply in some underground facility, never suspecting they were hundreds of meters below ground.
Not only virtual technology, but also aerospace technology would be developed at Azure Base, and robots alone were inadequate—talented humans were essential.
"Commander Luo, sorry to bother you," Zhu Lan suddenly thought of the virtual technology project, which was progressing well enough to enter the next phase. Returning to her office, she called Luo Guoqiang directly.
"Go ahead, what is it this time?"
"Do you remember the N project?"
"Just spit it out! Don’t push your luck!"
"Nothing excessive. I need some authorizations. I want to recruit some patients in a vegetative state from hospitals for experiments, and I’d prefer it if no one tried to make a fuss."
"Vegetative patients? What do you want them for? Let me warn you, Zhu Lan, don’t even think about using your gene serum on humans. That’s forbidden—I can’t protect you if you cross that line!"
"Commander Luo, you really think so little of me? I would never experiment on living people. I’ve never used such methods before; the vegetative patients are for virtual experiments."
"The virtual project?"
"Yes, exactly. Normal people’s brainwaves are highly unstable and unpredictable, making them unsuitable for experiments. But vegetative patients are different—their brainwaves, due to the brain’s self-protection, are actually stronger and more stable than those of normal people."
"In terms of brainwaves?"
"Yes. In fact, I’ve discovered that, if the experiment succeeds, it might be possible to unlock the self-protection mechanism in a vegetative patient’s brain—maybe even wake them up."
Luo Guoqiang was silent for a moment. "Understood. Do what you need to. I’ll make the arrangements."
After hanging up, Zhu Lan nodded in satisfaction. "Notify Manager Lan to send out a message to all our national Illusion Technologies staff: contact hospitals to find vegetative patients available for experiments. Draft the agreement yourself and offer a high price—five million per person."
Kong Yan nodded and turned to leave.
Zhu Lan stood up, walked aside, and pulled out a file.
On the cover was written: Top Secret!
She hadn’t lied to Luo Guoqiang—virtual technology truly could awaken vegetative patients.
There were generally two reasons a person became vegetative: first, external trauma, causing the brain’s self-protection to lock the subconscious deep within; second, overwhelming emotional shock, leading the person to continually hypnotize themselves into withdrawal, sealing away their consciousness.
Ninety-five percent of vegetative patients belonged to the first category; the second was rare, as it required an extraordinary shock for the brain to short-circuit, overwhelming sadness, or a refusal to wake up, thus locking oneself away.
One is passive locking of the subconscious, the other is active.
Virtual technology essentially transmits the subconscious into a virtual world via brainwaves. That way, no matter how deep the lock, as long as consciousness is transferred into the virtual world, you can interact with it from the outside. Once the psychological barriers are resolved, the vegetative patient can be awakened from within.
Normal people's brainwaves are far more unstable, as their thoughts are scattered and ever-changing. Vegetative patients, by contrast, have focused brainwaves, three to five times stronger than those of a healthy person.
This intense brainwave activity was precisely what Zhu Lan needed—linking it to virtual devices to transmit the subconscious into the virtual world.
Now, Zhu Lan’s virtual technology and transmission devices had been built. Numerous animal tests had been conducted; although the success rate was not high, transmissions could be completed. Constructing a virtual world was not difficult—a simple one could be created online at will.
Moreover, the Red Queen had developed an entirely new virtual world for the project, integrating all available data from the internet to create a complete virtual Earth. The Red Queen called it: The Second World.

(To be continued.)