Infinite Chimera Creation

Although Nanjo Ai looked visibly disappointed after Yuan Yuan's rejection, she had clearly anticipated this situation and quickly regained her composure.

After all, according to the data, Yuan Yuan did not join the national research institution to save his life during the most critical Gastrea outbreak. Nanjo Ai did not think she could successfully invite Yuan Yuan, but only made the suggestion with the mentality of trying her best.

"Since Mr. Yuan Yuan is unwilling to join my research project, I wonder if you would be willing to have your name listed on it? You don't need to take on any responsibility. As long as you are listed on my research project, I can provide you with various resources free of charge. I believe that your experiment will require a lot of things to continue."

Afraid of being interrupted by Yuan Yuan again, the girl recited the lines she had prepared in one breath. Only after she finished did she breathe a sigh of relief, panting slightly, before looking at Yuan Yuan with expectant eyes.

Under the girl's anxious gaze, Yuan Yuan neither refused nor agreed, but simply looked at her with a smile. Seeing Yuan Yuan's smile, the girl seemed encouraged, a flush of excitement rising on her face.

"Of course, it would be even better if you were willing to sell some of your research results to me."

P.S., thank you to the Trust Foundation for the donation and monthly pass, I'm very touched.

Chapter Nine: The Initial Changes

Even after returning to her office, and even with that not-so-thick but incredibly heavy document in her hand, Nanjo Ai still felt a sense of unreality.

[Really... you agreed so easily?]

Opening the document in his hand, and confirming once again that the signature on it was the two characters "Yuan Yuan," Nanjo Aizawa felt a slight sense of reality, and his breathing became a little heavier.

Ai Nanjo knew that the conditions she offered seemed generous, but in this era where research institutions had become extremely prestigious, most research institutions could actually do the same.

Yuan Yuan, the brilliant researcher who had rejected invitations with more favorable conditions from most research institutions, accepted Nanjo Ai's invitation with just one small condition. No wonder she felt it was unreal.

"No, no, now is not the time to do this kind of thing."

Nanjo Ai slapped her cheeks hard and shook her head vigorously, trying to clear her mind from the hazy feeling. She picked up the internal phone line and quickly dialed a number she had memorized.

The number had barely been dialed when someone answered the phone, a somewhat aged voice coming through.

"Xiao Ai, is something urgent? You even used a dedicated line to call me."

Taking a deep breath, trying to tone her excitement but failing, Nanjo Ai spoke in an excited voice.

"Teacher, Mr. Yuan Yuan has agreed to sell some of his research findings to me!!"

The old man opposite him fell silent, seemingly processing this shocking news. After a moment, he asked cautiously,

"Over the years, Yuan Yuan has only sold his research results once, and that was directly to the government. No matter how large or famous other research institutions are, they can't get anything from him. Now he's willing to sell his results to you. Could there be some kind of conspiracy?"

One of the Four Sages, Sumire Muroto, was personally invited by Ai Nanjo's mentor, so he naturally knew the immense cost required to invite a researcher of that caliber. Inviting Yuan Yuan, a researcher of the same caliber as Sumire Muroto, would have required a cost that Ai Nanjo's research institution simply couldn't afford.

Given this somewhat unusual phenomenon, it's understandable that the elderly man, who regarded Nanjo Ai as his daughter, would have such doubts.

However, the old man's worries did not affect Nanjo Ai's good mood in the slightest; she remained excited, and her eyes remained fervent.

“Teacher, I know what you're talking about, that's why I came to you. When Mr. Yuan Yuan promised to sell me his research results, he made an additional condition. Although this condition is not difficult, I cannot fulfill it with my current authority, so I can only ask you for help, teacher.”

"Oh? It's not that difficult. Tell me about it. If I can do it, I'll definitely help you."

Hearing Nanjo Ai's explanation, the old man's voice visibly relaxed. It's good that conditions were set; conditions prove there's a need, and as long as there's a need, it's not so difficult to handle.

"I knew you were the best to me, teacher. Here's the thing: Mr. Yuan Yuan gave me a coordinate and asked me to destroy that place. I checked and it's an uninhabited forest, and it's quite a distance from Tokyo. All you have to do is send a few mechanized soldiers or arrange for a few planes to go there and set it on fire. How about that? It's very simple, isn't it?"

The old man considered for a moment, nodded, and said in a deep voice,

"No problem, I can afford to provide a few mechanized warrior instructors. Send me the coordinates, and I'll make the arrangements."

During the conversation, both the sixteen-year-old girl Nanjo Ai and her teacher, who was over fifty, tacitly ignored how many of the mechanized warriors who had been sent out would survive after crossing the forest full of Gastrea, and how many would be able to return to their settlement alive when the forest fire broke out and the Gastrea rioted.

"I knew you would help me, teacher. I'll give you the coordinates now. I'm counting on you for everything."

"Don't worry, your teacher will definitely take care of this small matter for you. What you need to consider now is that since you've already established a relationship with Yuan Yuan, you should try your best to maintain it. In this era where technological ability determines survival ability, maintaining a stable relationship with a capable researcher will definitely increase your status, treatment, and chances of survival significantly."

Nanjo Ai was stunned for a moment before realizing that she had forgotten such an important thing because she was too excited.

"Well then, teacher, I'll leave the matter that Mr. Yuan Yuan entrusted to me to you. I need to think about how to strengthen my relationship with Mr. Yuan Yuan now."

The old man wasn't angry at the girl's somewhat rude words. Instead, he chuckled and gave her a few words of advice before hanging up. He then dialed another number and, upon being answered, immediately said…

"Send a team of mechanized soldiers to burn down the entire forest at coordinates 67, 38, 42."

After speaking, the old man hung up the phone immediately, not at all worried that the other party had not heard him clearly.

Not long after the old man hung up the phone, a team of fully equipped soldiers left the settlement protected by the megalith and rushed into the vast, dark forest without hesitation.

Three days later, in a certain forest, crimson flames shot into the sky, and countless Gastrea burst forth from the flames, fleeing in all directions. However, many more Gastrea did not even have time to escape before being completely engulfed by the flames.

Although Gastrea are incredibly terrifying, possessing high physical strength, strong regenerative abilities, and many of the most lethal organs of any creature, they are still mortal beings in the flames. Lacking any mystical powers, they cannot escape the fate of being reduced to ashes.

However, among the various creatures that were consumed by the flames, some individuals who had inhaled a certain pink liquid did not die.

In the flames, these lives underwent all sorts of changes.

A once-lush ancient tree, scorched black by the flames, its leaves reduced to ashes, suddenly underwent a mysterious transformation as its life force threatened to vanish. In an instant, this ordinary plant began absorbing the surrounding fire. Moments later, its weakened vitality surged back to its former strength, stronger than ever before. Finally, the ancient tree transformed into a colossal tree with leaves of flame and branches of lava.

Meanwhile, even more changes were rapidly unfolding in this fiery hell. Gastrea, possessing characteristics of a mantis, bat, and centipede, turned entirely ice-blue, constantly spewing pale ice from its mouth. It carved a path of solid ice through the flames and then leisurely walked out of the fire. Gastrea, resembling a slug, slowly moved forward in the flames. The flames scorched its body time and time again, but with each step it took, the charred black clumps fell off its body, and the new skin showed no signs of tenderness, seemingly no different from its original skin. Gastrea, with a head like an eagle but four beast claws, roared and soared into the sky, enveloped in a terrifying gale.

P.S., thanks to [不想取名字] for the donation, and thanks to [燕娇万岁], [八云紫控], and [oo風風oo] for the monthly tickets.

Chapter Ten: The Reason

"Even the most outstanding evolved individuals only reach the level of semi-elemental life? That's quite disappointing."

Playing with the teacup in his hand, Yuan Yuan looked at the dozens of white gaps in front of him, but there was no disappointment on his face, and there was even a faint smile.

“Yuan Jun, you don’t seem disappointed at all.”

He took a sip of tea, exhaled deeply as if enjoying the four seasons, and said with a smile.

Yuan Yuan raised an eyebrow but didn't refute Siji's spitting. Indeed, although the result of this attempt was not ideal, it was still within his expectations, so he couldn't say he was disappointed.

Yuan Yuan remained silent, but Siji's mouth was constantly moving. After quickly eating a rice cracker that had been placed on the table as a tea snack, she asked with some curiosity,

“Yuan Jun, if you just want to create a crisis and force those life forms to activate and absorb the life essence to evolve, why don’t you do it yourself? As long as you’re still within the scope of this planet, it’s just a matter of time for you. Why go through all the trouble of entrusting it to an ordinary person? Besides, if you, Yuan Jun, had done it yourself, the result would have been much better than it is now.”

When Yuan Yuan entrusted the task of destroying the forest to Nanjo Ai, Shiki assumed he had some other plan and didn't have any questions. But now, she felt somewhat confused. In Shiki's calculations, if Yuan Yuan personally orchestrated the forest's destruction, at least three fully-fledged elemental life forms should have emerged. However, the result was that the highest-level being was only one and a half elemental life forms, which Shiki found incomprehensible.

“You’re right. If I were to do it myself, destroying this forest would be as easy as opening a crack, and the result would be much better than it is now.”

Yuan Yuan remained calm, seemingly having anticipated the issue of the four seasons.

"But you have to understand one thing: I am a researcher, and a researcher with hundreds of years of experience. These hundreds of years of experience will make me subconsciously try to do my best in any operation. This subconscious behavior is undoubtedly a good thing in normal experiments, but in this experiment, it is not a good thing."

Although she knew Yuan Yuan would continue to explain, Siji's curiosity was piqued, and she couldn't wait to ask.

"Why isn't it a good thing in this experiment?"

Yuan Yuan glanced indifferently at Siji, calmly took a sip of tea amidst the other's somewhat frantic gaze, and then continued his explanation.

There are two reasons.

First, the main purpose of this experiment is to create life forms that meet the requirements of Gensokyo. This life form doesn't necessarily have to be the strongest or the most outstanding. As long as it can promote the further evolution of Gensokyo, it doesn't matter if it's weak, inferior, or even has some fatal flaw.

Therefore, the requirement for the results of this experiment is not that the experimental individuals should be as excellent as possible, but that they should be as diverse as possible, and then, with such a large sample size, find as many of the life forms that I, or rather, Gensokyo, need.

In this situation, my instinct for perfection became somewhat of a hindrance. If I were to drive the experiment myself, I would subconsciously choose what I consider the most perfect solution, thus contradicting the experiment's original purpose. Therefore, in this experiment, my task was not to guide the process, but to observe and randomly create challenges to promote their evolution.

As for the second point…

Yuan Yuan's expression remained calm, but Siji still keenly caught a hint of displeasure in his tone.

"I naturally had my own selfish motives for this experiment."

After learning about the function of the life essence, I've always hoped to cultivate shadow life forms, or even information life forms. However, I'm currently unable to devise a scheme to cultivate these two types of life forms. Moreover, according to Alaya's calculations, to deduce these two formulas, it would need to abandon all computational support for Hell and operate at full power for at least seventy years. Doing so would be somewhat counterproductive. Therefore, I might as well try my luck in this request from Yakumo Yukari and see if I can create an information life form.

After blinking for a full half minute, Siji finally managed to utter, "So even Yuan Jun has things he can't do."

Yuan Yuan glanced coldly at Siji, too lazy to explain to her that "the so-called omnipotence does not exist," and said in a cold voice,

"Alright, let's leave this topic at that. My guest has arrived, so please open the door quickly."

"Huh? Why do I have to open the door? Why can't we just let her come in by herself like last time?"

Even though she's currently using an ordinary human body without any special abilities, Shiki's immense spiritual power as the world's consciousness still allows her to utilize a portion of it within her body's limits. Therefore, when Nanjo Ai, the guest Yuan Yuan mentioned, approached, Shiki already sensed her presence.

Although Shiki is becoming more and more like a human being with emotions, she is still essentially a world consciousness lacking emotions. She only behaves this way when facing Yuan Yuan, a being who both terrifies and fascinates her.

Therefore, she was naturally unwilling to open the door and welcome a human being who, in her view, was no different from natural phenomena such as air currents and lightning.

Of course, Yuan Yuan wasn't the kind of person who cared about the other person's feelings. Although he vaguely guessed why the other person was unwilling, he still said coldly,

“Last time, she was someone who needed my help, and letting her in already showed enough goodwill. This time, she's my collaborator, so of course I have to give her the treatment befitting her status. Alright, since she's my assistant, don't be lazy, get to work.”

"You put it so nicely, but if you ask me, it's just that human said you're easy to get along with, and that's how you got so nice to me, that's why you're being so friendly."

Reluctantly standing up, Shiki muttered to herself as she slowly walked towards the door. Then, as if timed perfectly, she arrived at the door at the same moment Nanjo Ai stood there, and just as Nanjo Ai raised her hand to knock, she flung the door open.

Just as she was about to knock, the door opened automatically. Nanjo Ai was momentarily stunned, but quickly realized what was happening and greeted them with a smile.

"Hello, Miss Shiki, are you going out?"

The inhumanly beautiful Siji, as Yuan Yuan's assistant, was naturally recorded in Yuan Yuan's file. Most people speculated that this impossibly beautiful woman, who only appeared by Yuan Yuan's side as an assistant after the Great Cataclysm, was likely a bodyguard that Yuan Yuan himself had modified. This is because, according to records, Yuan Yuan had never hired any assistants before the Great Cataclysm.

Faced with this beautiful woman who might have gained Yuan Yuan's complete trust and was suspected to be his personal bodyguard, Nanjo Ai naturally dared not be impolite in any way.

P.S., thanks to [Bahamut] and [青山医院公義哥] for the donations. Also, please vote with monthly tickets and donate!

Chapter Eleven: The Cursed Child

Just as she was about to knock, someone opened the door. Nanjo Ai naturally assumed that Shiki was about to go out, so after asking a polite question, she quickly moved aside to let Shiki out.

To Nanjo Ai's surprise, Shiki turned around and walked into the living room without even glancing at her, let alone answering her question.

Her smile froze on her face, and Nanjo Ai stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to say.

For a full half minute, the girl left standing at the door finally came to her senses and hurriedly went inside. Although she didn't know if she had somehow offended Yuan Yuan's assistant, Nanjo Ai didn't dare to ask Yuan Yuan. After all, she had only recently started a relationship with him, and compared to Shiki, who lived and ate with Yuan Yuan, her status in Yuan Yuan's heart was naturally far inferior.

At Yuan Yuan's prompting, Nanjo Aisa sat down somewhat awkwardly in the chair opposite Yuan Yuan, then took out a small player from his briefcase and placed it on the table in front of him.

"Mr. Yuan Yuan, we have confirmed that the forest you specifically requested to be destroyed has been burned down. This is footage taken from the air by helicopter after the fire was extinguished. Please take a look."

With that, Ai Nanjo pressed the play button on the media player.

Yuan Yuan glanced casually at the scorched earth in the media player, waved his hand, and said rather nonchalantly,

"There's no need to show me this. Since I've chosen to cooperate with you, I naturally trust you."

Yuan Yuan naturally didn't want to waste his time watching this kind of thing, because when that great fire that created so many new lives broke out, he watched it live.

Even when Nanjo Ai's helicopters went to investigate the fire scene, they failed to find any new life forms such as the Flaming Giant Tree. It was only because Yuan Yuan personally moved them to another location that they were able to find them.