allendalepharm Chapter 227 The 1024th Failure and the Only Glimmer of Hope
Chapter 227 The 1024th Failure and the Only Glimmer of Hope
With the official launch of the second phase of the "God-Making Project," the core strength of the entire Alliance Academy of Sciences, like a heavy machine fully fueled, began to operate frantically.
The old blueprints for the Xingtian exoskeleton armor have been completely revamped.
After three years of silence, top-tier mechanics and new-era array masters were brought together by the military using extremely forceful methods. Before a whiteboard tens of meters long, they engaged in a fierce clash between science and metaphysical cultivation.
"No! Titanium alloy has too low conductivity. If spiritual energy is overloaded, the joints of the exoskeleton will melt instantly! At least 30% [Black Steel] must be added!"
"Bullshit! Black steel is too heavy! Even if a cultivator could lift it with their true energy, a mortal, even with a pseudo-spiritual root implanted, wouldn't have the physical strength to carry a one-ton shell! Their kneecaps would shatter!"
"Then add the [Lightness Array]! Inscribe a miniature array at each joint bearing!"
"Do you think formations are as easy as cabbages?! The failure rate of micro-carved formations is extremely high, and they require a continuous drain on spiritual energy! The meager output of a pseudo-spiritual root is barely enough to maintain the main formation, let alone have any extra spiritual energy to power the Light Body Formation?!"
Arguments, shouting, and even physical fights.
In this dark and sunless basement, gears and bearings representing the pinnacle of physics in the old era, and runes and spiritual energy representing the laws of the new era, are being stitched together in an extremely painful, even grotesque way.
Time passed day by day.
The "consumables" pulled from the death row camp died one after another on the experimental table.
In the first batch, due to incompatibility between the spinal nerves and the exoskeleton's data interface, an extremely strong spiritual pressure feedback was generated the moment spiritual energy surged into the shell. The brains of the three test subjects were instantly burned into a paste, and they died bleeding from all seven orifices.
In the tenth batch, the psionic circuit was finally connected, and the exoskeleton was successfully activated. However, due to the lack of a [Spirit Gathering Array] to buffer the impact, the pseudo-spiritual roots within the death row inmates were instantly drained. After letting out a half-scream, the test subject, like a dried-up corpse, turned directly into ashes.
Batch 20...
Batch 50...
The death row inmates sent in were like defective spark plugs, exploding one after another under extremely violent testing. The incinerator behind the laboratory spewed out thick black smoke day and night.
All the researchers were plunged into extreme exhaustion and self-doubt.
"Failed again..."
Wang Mingyuan stared at the screen as the vital signs returned to zero, his eyes sunken and his hands trembling uncontrollably.
This is the 80th failure.
There were less than ten hours left before he made the pledge to the top decision-makers.
"Professor, give up."
The elderly researcher with graying hair took off his greasy glasses, his voice hoarse and almost inaudible, "We were too arrogant. Forcibly mixing the flesh and blood of demonic beasts, the formations of immortal cultivators, and the machinery of mortals together... This is not creating gods, this is creating evil."
"Shut up!"
Wang Mingyuan suddenly turned his head, his bloodshot eyes like those of a lone wolf cornered. "If we fail, then eighty percent of mortals will forever remain mud beneath the feet of cultivation clans! Humanity will only be left to be devoured by demonic beasts and the void!"
"There must be something wrong... there must be some details we've overlooked..."
Wang Mingyuan rushed to the whiteboard covered with densely packed runes and mechanical drawings, his fingers frantically tracing formulas across it.
"Neural connections are fine...spiritual energy conversion is fine...metal resistance has reached its optimal level..."
"Why do the runes on my exoskeleton repel my pseudo-spiritual root every time I channel spiritual energy to cast a spell?! Why?!"
Wang Mingyuan clutched his hair, his desperate screams echoing through the laboratory.
Just then, in a corner of the laboratory, a junior mechanical apprentice who was responsible for cleaning up experimental waste timidly raised his hand.
"Professor Wang... Professor Wang..."
The apprentice's voice was soft, but it sounded exceptionally clear in the deathly silent laboratory: "When I was cleaning test subject number 1023 just now, I discovered... I discovered that the array patterns on that 'artificial pseudo-spiritual root' seem to have undergone an extremely subtle deformation due to the high temperature..."
"Transformation?"
Wang Mingyuan whirled around, lunged at the apprentice, and grabbed his collar tightly. "Explain yourself! What transformation?!"
The apprentice was startled and stammered, "It's...it's that pattern at the spinal joint. Cultivators draw talismans in one smooth, flowing motion. But the pseudo-spiritual root we implanted in the spine is a biological tissue made from a mixture of demonic beast bone marrow fluid and micro-carved arrays. In a living person's body, with the stretching of muscles and the flow of blood, those originally rigid micro-carved arrays...will undergo extremely slight distortions."
"The array on the exoskeleton armor is engraved firmly into the metal; it is absolutely standardized."
"One is constantly undergoing subtle changes, while the other is absolutely rigid... When spiritual energy is transferred between the two, could it be... could it be that this extremely subtle 'frequency mismatch' is what ultimately causes the spiritual pressure to go berserk?"
The apprentice's words were like a blinding flash of lightning suddenly streaking across the dark abyss!
The experts in the entire laboratory were stunned.
"Frequency mismatch..."
"The biological array of living beings and the metal array of inanimate objects generated a repulsive resonance..."
Wang Mingyuan's eyes widened, and he shoved the apprentice aside, lunging at the central control console like a madman!
"Quick! Retrieve the spiritual energy wave records of all previous failed experimental subjects! Compare the frequency difference between the pseudo-spiritual root and the exoskeleton array!"
"Pat-pat..."
The entire laboratory erupted in excitement, with all the researchers frantically typing away on their keyboards.
"Professor! We have the results!"
A few minutes later, a data analyst's voice trembled with excitement, "There really is a frequency difference! Although it's only an extremely small delay of 0.01 seconds, under the impact of high-pressure spiritual energy, that 0.01 seconds is enough to trigger a fatal backlash of spiritual pressure!"
"Found it...finally found it!"
Wang Mingyuan burst into tears of joy. He slapped his thigh, exclaiming, "So we've been stuck in the dead end of cultivators' belief that 'formations must be absolutely precise'!"
"To hell with absolute precision! We're building living weapons, not cold, lifeless magical artifacts!"
"Immediately modify the main array pattern at the exoskeleton interface! Don't use straight lines, use curves! Use those 'flexible array patterns' that can accommodate spiritual energy fluctuations!"
"Add a biological buffer pad made of cartilage from a 'Level 1 Mutant Soft-Boned Rabbit' to the interface! To neutralize this 0.001-second frequency difference!"
One frantic order after another was issued.
The mechanics and array masters erupted with unprecedented fervor, immediately grabbing welding torches and spirit carving knives to carry out extremely violent on-site modifications on the first-generation rune exoskeleton prototype at the very center.
Sparks flew everywhere.
As the countdown reached its final two hours, a completely redesigned steel monster, exuding an extremely ferocious and violent aesthetic, was hoisted by a massive robotic arm to the central open space of the laboratory.
It was made entirely of black steel, its surface covered with dense, dark blue, flexible array patterns. The heavy armor, the huge hydraulic joints, and the extremely exaggerated psionic beam cannon on its right arm made it look like a steel tyrannosaurus that had crawled out of hell.
"Bring up the last death row inmate!" Wang Mingyuan roared.
That was test subject number 1024.
He had been implanted with a "pseudo-spiritual root" and was being dragged to the cold exoskeleton armor by several strong guards, who were tightly chaining him up.
"Go in!"
The guards roughly shoved the death row inmate into the half-open cockpit of the exoskeleton.
"Click! Click!"
The mechanical latches automatically lock, firmly securing the condemned prisoner's limbs inside the armor.
Then came the most fatal step.
More than a dozen extremely sharp metal probes, glowing with a ghostly blue light, protruded from the back of the exoskeleton cockpit.
"laugh!"
With a sickeningly painful sound of flesh being pierced, the probes pierced the condemned man's spine with extreme precision, forcibly connecting with the "artificial pseudo-spiritual root" on both physical and psionic levels!
"ah!!!"
The condemned prisoner let out an extremely shrill scream, his eyes instantly turning bloodshot, and the veins on his forehead bulging as if they were about to burst.
"Activate the Spirit Gathering Array! Connect the neural circuits!"
Wang Mingyuan gripped the edge of the control panel tightly.
"Buzz!!!"
A blinding blue light emanated from the surface of the exoskeleton armor. The artificial pseudo-spiritual root began frantically drawing in the surrounding spiritual energy, transforming it into mixed spiritual power, and then, like a torrent, pouring it into the body of this steel behemoth through the metal probes!
The death row inmates' screams grew even louder.
The data on the console screen was fluctuating wildly, with the pointers all approaching the glaring red line!
"Frequency matching accuracy 90%...95%...99%..."
"The biological buffer has worked; the spiritual pressure backlash has been successfully neutralized!"
"The psionic circuit is fully connected!"
Upon hearing these few sentences, everyone in the laboratory held their breath, not daring to even breathe loudly.
In the center of the laboratory, the previously lifeless runic exoskeleton armor, driven by immense spiritual power, slowly... raised its extremely heavy right arm!
Its movements were somewhat stiff, accompanied by an extremely loud roar from the hydraulic rods, but it did indeed move!
"Fire! Test the psionic beam cannon!" Wang Mingyuan roared, his eyes bloodshot.
"Buzz—Boom!!!"
The spirit stones embedded in the right arm of the exoskeleton were instantly drained, and the array began to operate at high speed.
A beam of pure spiritual energy, nearly half a meter in diameter, extremely dazzling and violent, erupted from the cannon like an indestructible sword!
"BOOM—!!!"
At the end of the laboratory, the target wall used to test defenses, made of ten layers of extremely thick black steel, was as fragile as paper under the bombardment of this spiritual energy beam, and a huge hole with red edges was instantly melted in it!
The terrifying heat caused the temperature in the entire laboratory to rise by more than ten degrees, and the blast wave overturned several instruments in the vicinity.
The power of a single shot is comparable to the full-force attack of a cultivator at the Great Perfection of the Qi Refining stage!
"Beep—Attack complete! Exoskeleton structure integrity 98%! Pilot's vital signs stable, no meridian rupture!"
The extremely cold, yet heavenly electronic synthesized voice emanating from the system completely ignited the underground fortress that had been suppressed for three years!
"Success!!!"
"1024th test, perfect success!!!"
All the researchers embraced each other frantically, sobbing uncontrollably.
Looking at the steel behemoth that still stood in the center of the arena, emitting pungent gunpowder smoke and a ghostly blue array light, Wang Mingyuan's legs went weak, and he collapsed to his knees.
He was panting heavily, laughing and crying at the same time.
He did it.
He truly used extremely brutal, bloody methods that violated all cultivation ethics to forcefully tear open a ray of dawn for mortals without spiritual roots in this despairing darkness.