Apocalypse Forecast-Chapter 657 - 545: Then Carry It Through to the End_2

Armed with the Rat-man’s superior adaptability to foreign organs, they created the mighty Tool Rat!

The surgery took place in one of the most advanced operating rooms in the entire region. Eight hours had passed by the time the two Scholars leading the operation, with Huai Shi assisting throughout, stitched the final suture. It was their first attempt, and lack of experience meant that many tasks couldn’t be replaced by machines, so it took a bit longer. Given a few more chances, they could reduce the time to within four hours.

At that moment, as they examined the three-meter-tall creation before them, an indescribable sense of pride welled up inside them. Its steel-hardened skeleton allowed it to move freely in the most adverse conditions, while the most advanced artificial muscles endowed it with invincible strength. The items outfitted on it alone were worth dozens of times more than the Rat-man itself. This didn’t even account for the layers of Alchemy Matrixes added to its skeleton during the process, or the cloned organs from various Hell Swarms implanted within it.

Even the strongest trolls among the Dead Black Corps couldn’t hold a candle to the Tool Rat before them; this was a bona fide War Machine, a battlefield meat grinder, and a harbinger of destruction. Such a decidedly uneconomical experiment would never have been approved by the Director of Affairs if the situation weren’t so special.

After gutting an old-fashioned computer and replacing its components piece by piece with the most advanced technology, the end result looked like a stitched-together abomination devoid of any aesthetic sense.

But honestly, it was too interesting...

No wonder so many mad scientists loved to mess around; who could resist the temptation to do whatever they wanted!

It was just as well there were no human rights laws or ethical systems in the Abyss, and although the Rat-man had ’man’ in its name, it really wasn’t considered human at all. In any case, they were all so badly injured they were close to death, so nobody felt any burden on their conscience when they got to work.

Isn’t this also for them to better contribute to the Ivory Tower? Work hard, and they could regain their freedom sooner! Huai Shi and his team didn’t even charge for the upgrade costs; truly an act of kindness.

As for those Scholars who yammered on about the frailty of flesh, they were purely there for the spectacle. Much like players in those ’how long can you survive with ten bucks’ games, they simply wanted to see to what extent these cannon-fodder Rat-men could be enhanced.

Everyone was very satisfied with the end result. Just one problem remained.

"This Rat-man has become an idiot."

The lead Scholar, wielding an electric shocker, poked back and forth on the awakening Rat-man, "No reaction to any stimulus... Check the Source Substance."

"The Source Substance is still in the silent state from the anesthesia. No, Soul stimulation isn’t working either."

"How about some morphine?"

"What the hell, this isn’t an emergency; why bother? If you ask me, force-feed it a can of chili powder. That’ll get a reaction for sure."

"Damn it, chili powder guy! Aren’t you from the Mechanical Transmission Department? How the hell did you sneak in here?"

"I’m just making a suggestion, a suggestion, and now I’ll leave... Hey, hey, hey, why are you guys kicking me out? I want to see Mr. Huai Shi, the person in charge! I want to see the Great Grandmaster! I’ve served the Ivory Tower! I’ve bled for the Iron Crystal Throne..."

BOOM. The door closed.

Once the riffraff had been expelled, everyone began to test the awakening Rat-man. An unfortunate conclusion was reached.

"It’s no use. Primitive instincts like neural reflexes are still there, but the Source Substance has collapsed."

Marvel removed the mask from his face, "There were just too many modification steps; the Rat-man’s consciousness probably collapsed midway. Mr. Huai Shi, I think we should dial back the configuration a bit..."

There was no choice; the Rat-man’s inherent quality was too weak. After all, they were a race good for little else besides explosive breeding; they had survived thus far only because they reproduced faster than they died, and their environmental tolerance and adaptability were maxed out. But essentially, they were still weak. The Scholars of the Iron Crystal Throne had gotten overly excited and made too many modifications. The Rat-man couldn’t withstand the imposition of the Alchemy Matrix midway through, ultimately resulting in a collapse of its Source Substance.

It was worse off than a brain-dead vegetable. At least after brain death, the Source Substance would remain, and with good luck, phenomena like thought bodies could form. But after the collapse of the Source Substance structure, it was pretty much akin to being dead, leaving behind only a powerful shell.

"There’s no helping it. It’s not like we’re piloting Gundams, where you can just stuff whatever parts you want in. Let’s try the low-spec version then—Mr. Huai Shi? Mr. Huai Shi, are you listening?"

In the silence, Huai Shi stood in front of the operating table, looking down at the huge Rat-man as if unable to accept the reality of this failure, stunned.

Marvel sighed, ready to go over and offer some comfort—experiments fail all the time, Rome wasn’t built in a day... But when Huai Shi turned around, his eyes gleamed with a strange fervor, barely concealing his excitement.

"What... did you just say?"

"Uh, Rome wasn’t built in a day?"

"Did you say that?"

"COUGH, COUGH. I was about to... What I just said was, let’s try the low-spec version?"

"What was the sentence before that?"

"It’s not like we’re piloting Gundams?"

"Yes!"

Huai Shi clapped his hands in excitement, almost dancing with joy. Yet, his excitement wasn’t due to a breakthrough in the current experiment, but because he had suddenly found a new path for the large group he commanded.

A Yin Soul, it had to undergo Possession to function, right?