Lord of Prayer

Chapter 419: Chapter 270: Cyber Monster Reborn?

"Among the cases mentioned in the report, only the Mirror Man could replicate someone down to the genetic level. But the Mirror Man’s appearance and organs are reversed from a normal person’s, so they’re easy to identify.

But these Resurrectionists... they’re more troublesome than any of the similar cases listed in the report."

’More troublesome than those cases?’ Zhou Chen didn’t understand, so he asked, "How are they more troublesome?"

"The strangest thing about the Resurrectionists is that whether they were buried or cremated, upon their revival, their bodies and ashes completely disappear. They themselves then appear in a place they consider ’home.’"

Wang Miao sighed helplessly. "To this day, we still haven’t figured out how they do it. If it’s related to a Forbidden Object, like the Swamp People incident, then the Forbidden Object causing it would have to be B-Level at a minimum."

A Forbidden Object classified as B-Level has the power to destroy an entire city if left unchecked.

’How did this suddenly switch from the sci-fi superpower channel to the horror channel...’ Zhou Chen thought for a moment before saying, "Let me see a Resurrectionist first."

From the Swamp People thought experiment Wang Miao had used as an example, he now understood what kind of beings the Resurrectionists were. The next step was to put theory into practice.

"Are there any on death row?" Zhou Chen asked.

Although everyone knew the Resurrectionists weren’t normal, they inherited everything from their original selves and could be considered the same person. So, before a Resurrectionist showed any dangerous traits, Zhou Chen didn’t want to experiment on an innocent person. It would be no different from experimenting on a normal human being.

"Yes, several," Wang Miao said. "They were all from the same group of inmates executed on February 16th. All of them had been locked up for about ten years. After their execution, their bodies were cremated the same day. But then on February 19th, they appeared out of thin air inside their cells."

"Uh... Did they consider their prison cells to be their home?"

Zhou Chen suddenly had a thought. "If the ’home’ they thought of wasn’t the prison but their actual home, wouldn’t they have just broken out of jail?"

"That’s right. That exact situation did happen once," Wang Miao said with a shrug. "But just as that Resurrectionist was about to pack his things and flee, the Special Operations Team showed up at his door and nabbed him."

’So it really happened...’ Zhou Chen thought of something else. "And what about the Ascender from Case 3? Why did he resurrect in the Star Association’s morgue?"

"That Ascender’s parents were both dead, and he had no other relatives. He wandered between cities alone, with no fixed residence. It’s possible he had no concept of ’home’ in his mind, so he just revived on the spot in the morgue. But there is another possibility..."

Wang Miao paused, then said in a low voice, "The Star Association’s Matrix Barrier blocked his path ’home.’"

·

Soon, Wang Miao led Zhou Chen to an observation room. Through a one-way window, Zhou Chen saw the Resurrectionist locked in the room.

He was a burly man with a scruffy beard and a fierce expression. His arms and neck were covered in tattoos. His file said he was a former gang boss who had killed seventeen people. After his capture, he spent nearly ten years in prison before being executed not long ago. Then, on the third day after his death, he inexplicably returned to his cell, nearly scaring his cellmate to death.

"What are you going to do?" Wang Miao asked.

Zhou Chen held out his index finger, a pale flame igniting on its tip. He smiled faintly. "First, let’s try burning him a little."

Wang Miao had watched the Sword Forging Competition and knew about Zhou Chen’s ability, so his interest was instantly piqued.

He pressed a button, opening a small hidden compartment that led to the cell.

With a flick of his finger, Zhou Chen sent a small ball of Cyan Flame through it. He controlled the little flame, making it hop and skip toward the Resurrectionist.

The Resurrectionist was lying on the bed with his eyes closed, resting. The small flame entered his body without any trouble.

One second, two seconds, three seconds...

Half a minute, one minute...

In the silence, a full minute and a half passed. The ball of Essence had completely burned away, but the Resurrectionist showed no reaction at all.

Zhou Chen was stunned. This had never happened before.

"Strange..." Wang Miao also looked surprised, stroking his chin in thought.

Unconvinced, Zhou Chen increased the amount of Essence and flicked another ball of flame into the Resurrectionist’s body.

Still no reaction.

"Hiss..." Zhou Chen sucked in a sharp breath. "This thing can’t possibly be brainless, can it?"

The "brain" he was talking about wasn’t the physical organ, but "consciousness."

These days, besides its terrifying physical temperature, the destructive power of his Cyan Flame against the mind had been elevated to a horrifying degree. It could even go a step further and burn the Soul itself.

So, the question was, why did the Resurrectionist have no reaction?

—Because there was nothing to burn!

The Cyan Flame targeted the mind and Soul. If neither of those existed, what was there to burn?

’Not only does it have no Soul, but it doesn’t even have a mind? Although the mind and Soul are linked, for a Resurrectionist in this state to not have even a trace of a mind is just too strange.

The Swamp People, the Mirror Man, and the Spore People of the past didn’t have Souls either, but they all had minds.’

Wang Miao mused, "It seems we’ve been operating under a misconception. Seeing how normal the Resurrectionists are, we subconsciously assumed they had minds...

Now, it seems they’re more like some kind of ’intelligent robot.’"

"A robot?"

"Right. You’re one of the Jinzhu People. You must have seen a Godslaying Weapon during the Jinzhu War, right?"

Wang Miao said, "A Godslaying Weapon is a robot. It has no Soul, no mind. But she looks just like a normal human because she’s a super-intelligent AI that can learn and imitate human behavior.

The Resurrectionists are very similar to that. They have no Soul and no mind, yet they act just like a real person. This guy’s real name is Cao Daniu. Doesn’t he seem like a robot running a program called ’Cao Daniu’?"

Suddenly, Wang Miao slapped his forehead as if he’d figured something out. "All Resurrectionists are incapable of physiological reactions and have completely lost the ability to reproduce... Isn’t that just like a robot?"

After hearing Wang Miao’s explanation, Zhou Chen had to admit it did seem quite similar.

’So this is basically cyber-resurrection?’

"Obviously, they don’t have ports on the back of their heads... But their ’program’ should be stored in the brain. Hmm... I think I need to do an autopsy. Do you want to observe?" Wang Miao asked.

"I’ll pass... I’ll just stay here and continue studying the Resurrectionist," Zhou Chen politely declined.

Wang Miao took out his phone, dialed a number, and quickly arranged for an autopsy. He then left in a hurry, leaving Zhou Chen alone in the observation room.

Zhou Chen sat in his chair, lost in thought as he watched the Resurrectionist on the other side of the one-way glass.

This obviously wasn’t "resurrection" in the true sense of the word. Compared to when he resurrected Erin, the Resurrectionist before him was undoubtedly an inferior product of the lowest quality. It wasn’t the deceased themselves coming back to life, but a replica of the deceased.

But they could also be seen as the deceased themselves.

’Hmm... If some top scholars were brought back to life like this, and you add in the fact that Resurrectionists don’t age or die of natural causes... how much black-box technology could they create?’

Zhou Chen had a faint feeling that the Star Association had likely already tried this, because the temptation was just too great. The research and deductions of a single world-class scholar in one year could very well be more important and valuable than all the research of the entire academic world combined, greatly advancing human development.

If those top scholars could never die... just the thought was terrifying. Nothing might be apparent within a few years, but if you stretched the timeline out to ten or even several decades, a technological explosion would be inevitable.

Snapping back to his senses, Zhou Chen mulled it over for a few seconds and decided to make a wish.

"I wish to know the truth behind the Resurrectionists’ resurrection."

Now that he had enough wish value, Zhou Chen wasn’t going to be stingy. Before, to conserve wish value, he would always wish for clues. Now, he was wishing directly for the truth.

Light shone from within the Wish Bottle as star after star began to burn.