The cleanup of the Shield UY Star Realm went very smoothly.
Once the Devourer Beast Ancestor was subdued, everything else fell into place.
Controlled by the Gray Tide in its body, the Devourer Beast Ancestor had completely transformed into Shen Feng’s Battle Pet, utterly obedient and attacking wherever he pointed.
The ordinary World Beasts, under the Beast Ancestor’s control, held Shen Feng in similar awe and didn’t dare act out in the slightest.
The equipment inside the Meteorite Laboratory was swept away by the Gray Tide and sent to Earth through the Space Wormhole. Then, Shen Feng, wearing his Nanomechanical Battle Armor, and Jingwei returned to Earth through the same Space Wormhole, receiving a grand send-off from the World Beasts who lined their path.
He also located the Wormhole Generator hidden inside the meteorite and fitted it with a low-level artificial intelligence. With a single command from Shen Feng, it would completely shut down the Space Wormhole.
At the very least, the Space Wormhole would no longer continue to expand.
The World Beasts’ massive bodies and powerful life force were, in fact, an inexhaustible resource. Therefore, Shen Feng didn’t simply wipe them out; all that mattered was maintaining firm control over these colossal creatures.
While the entire world was still gripped by panic over the Space Wormhole and the World Beasts, Shen Feng had already quietly resolved the massive crisis, returning home with all the equipment from the Meteorite Laboratory.
「In a small courtyard in the suburbs of Huaxia Tai City.」
Itching, stinging, warmth, and moisture... Shen Feng lay in a bio-pod from the Meteorite Laboratory, his entire body submerged in a culture fluid Jingwei had prepared on-site. He felt like a fetus returning to the womb.
Just like the one from the Water World Apocalypse, this Meteorite Laboratory’s equipment and internal data were nearly identical. Jingwei only needed to perform some simple calibrations before she was completely comfortable using it.
Shen Feng’s body already contained large amounts of the Stone Statue Virus and a zombie virus, along with numerous antibodies. Combined with the various biological agents he had injected during the Stone Statue Apocalypse, his system existed in a delicate state of equilibrium.
What Jingwei had to do now was induce a preliminary evolution and fusion of these two viruses within his body, all without triggering any rejection, in order to make his physical form stronger and more resilient.
Something akin to the powerful biological tissues of the World Beasts.
Watching Jingwei bustle about nearby, Shen Feng spoke from within the culture fluid:
"Jingwei, why do I feel a little itchy... I’m not going to sprout tentacles or something, am I? It’d be all over if I turn into some kind of humanoid octopus monster."
He had already gone through several physical mutations, and being an expert in biology and virology himself, Shen Feng knew all too well how unique genes could be.
The slightest difference could lead to a wildly divergent outcome.
He had been lying in the bio-pod for the better part of the day, and now he couldn’t help but wonder. ’Were the World Beasts the result of a mutation that happened when a version of me from a Parallel World was experimenting on himself?’
After all, it wasn’t like this had never happened before. That "Destructive Shen Feng" from the Biohazard Apocalypse was pretty much the same deal.
Thinking of the title "Devourer Beast Ancestor," Shen Feng felt a little uncertain himself.
"Relax," Jingwei said, busying herself by the bio-pod while dressed in a nurse’s uniform. "Let me put it this way: if an ordinary person soaked in this vat of culture fluid for this long, they would’ve been broken down at the cellular level by now. The fact that you’re only a little itchy proves there’s nothing wrong."
"Your body has gone through so many mutations that it’s long since diverged from that of a normal human. Do you really think you’re still human in the traditional sense? Going by the proportion of silicon-based framework in your body, it wouldn’t be wrong to call you a robot with biological tissue attached. Just accept it, you brat."
Shen Feng was speechless. He looked at the youthful projection on the bio-pod’s lid and muttered to himself:
"How could a face this handsome not belong to a human? You’re just being insulting, aren’t you?"
Though he said that, he knew in his heart it was true. ’After several apocalypses and all sorts of massive changes, my body has gone through too many mutations and evolutions. I’m quite different from a human in the traditional biological sense.’
According to Nietzsche’s philosophical theory, the projection of the human spirit is divided into three levels: the ego, the id, and the superego, with the superego being the highest level.
And the biological tiers of human evolution are divided into three levels: old humans, humans, and transhumans.
To be precise, the difference between modern humans and old humans lies in the development of technologies like information technology. These have provided an instrumental extension to human consciousness and abilities, such as acquiring information via the internet or changing the world with technological devices.
The next evolutionary direction is toward the transhuman, which basically has two mainstream paths. One is physical evolution in a biological sense, corresponding to a being like Captain America. The other is the integration of technology for self-modification, corresponding to a being like Steel Bone.
Shen Feng understood. ’In my current state, I’m already a "transhuman" in a sense, and one who has integrated both evolutionary paths at once.’
The unbearable tingling and itching continued. Shen Feng even wondered if he was shedding a layer of skin as his mind grew groggy.
In a daze, he seemed to once again see the visions of the Parallel Cosmos he had witnessed through the Transfer Towers during the Biohazard Apocalypse.
A Cosmos filled with beings of pure energy; a Cosmos where black holes devoured everything; a Cosmos occupied by terrifying, bizarre, and indescribable colossal creatures; a Cosmos crisscrossed by the trails of starships; a Cosmos with only a single, super-giant planet; and the ones that made up the vast majority—dark, cold, dead Cosmoses where nothing remained but despair and death, where even time itself had ceased to exist.
Innumerable Parallel Cosmoses were like countless overlapping bubbles, like the infinite cells of a giant honeycomb, nested layer upon layer, dense and unending.
Shen Feng was struggling in his dream when the sound of approaching footsteps startled him awake. It was followed by the voices of Shen Xiaofeng and Wei Xiaoqing.
"Dad, Mom, we’re home! What’s this? A coffin?!"
"What’s wrong with Dad? Why is he lying in a coffin? Oh, Mom, he’s not dead, is he? For the funeral, can I invite my friends over to play... uh, I mean, to pay their respects?"
Jingwei’s exasperated voice followed:
"What nonsense is this! Are you that eager for your dad to die? Let me tell you, even if he were dead, you’d still have me, so don’t go dreaming about ’ultimate freedom.’ Shen Xiaofeng, don’t think for a second I don’t know what you’re up to. You just want to build a reactionless-drive ship and go gallivanting across the Cosmos, don’t you? Think you’re the Ship of Theseus? Believe it or not, I can lock you inside a pager right now and limit you to 10KB of data a day!"
"Mom, I’m sorry! I was just talking nonsense! I’m actually overcome with grief!" This time it was Shen Xiaofeng’s voice, sounding utterly panicked.
Then, still in a daze, Shen Feng felt someone throw themselves onto his bio-pod and start wailing:
"Dad, you can’t die! I was wrong! I don’t want to live in a pager! Kids these days don’t even know what a pager is! It’s a complete antique! Dad, wake up!"
The wailing jolted Shen Feng fully awake. He slowly opened his eyes to see Shen Xiaofeng and Wei Xiaoqing leaning over the bio-pod, looking at him with worried faces. The moment they saw he was awake, they burst into cheers, their faces plastered with apologetic smiles.
Speechless, Shen Feng turned to Jingwei and asked:
"I’ve been asleep for a whole day. Is it done yet? If this keeps up, you’ll be planning my funeral next... I’m hungry."
Even though he had eaten a big breakfast of soy milk, fried dough sticks, and meat buns, and had only missed lunch, Shen Feng now felt an extreme hunger, as if his stomach was about to crawl out of his body to find food on its own.
Hungry. He was just so incredibly hungry...
Jingwei glanced up at the data on the bio-pod’s screen and said:
"It’s basically finished. This session was mainly a primary enhancement of your biological tissue. I’ve given you the powerful defensive and regenerative abilities of the World Beasts, plus a few other minor functions. You can lie in there a bit longer if you want; it’s good for your skin."
Hearing this, Shen Feng couldn’t help but let out a long sigh of relief.
’Good, it’s done.’ He now had another layer of security. Even without transforming into his stone form, he could now withstand light to moderate damage.
He was just about to get up when he heard Wei Xiaoqing say:
"Mom, is there a weird smell in the house? I’m picking up something strange, it smells like... rotten eggs."
Jingwei frowned. "Someone is interfering with the local power grid..."
In the next instant, the lights in the room abruptly went out, and the lid of the bio-pod opened as well.
The power was out.
Jingwei and Shen Feng both realized something was wrong. They exchanged a look and shouted simultaneously:
"Natural gas!"
The Gray Tide on the floor surged up, about to shield Shen Feng’s body.
But it was too late!
The lights flickered back on as the power returned, but a tiny spark from an outlet instantly ignited the natural gas that had filled the room, triggering a flashover!
BOOM!
A bright fireball erupted inside the room, then swelled to fill the entire building. The gas leaking from the main pipes ignited all at once, producing a massive explosion that instantly engulfed the room containing Shen Feng and Jingwei, as well as the silicone decoys of Shen Xiaofeng and Wei Xiaoqing!
All the windows of the small, two-story building shattered. Tongues of flame spewed out, and the structure was reduced to a heap of rubble!