For corporate employees, ideas like national spirit and patriotism were nothing more than absurd fantasies.
No one here believed in "those not of my race must have different hearts."
For people like them, only profit mattered.
Give them enough money, and they would sell even their own father's ashes without blinking.
Xiao understood this perfectly.
So, he went straight to the point.
"Money isn't a problem."
"Whatever Kang Tao offered you, I'll pay double."
"But in return, I need you to become a Mechanical Sage of the Holy See."
To his surprise, Hermann agreed without the slightest hesitation.
In fact, he looked almost excited.
"Of course."
"No problem at all."
"To be honest, I've admired the God of All Machines for a long time."
That reaction wasn't strange.
After all, Hermann had once been a core researcher at Arasaka.
He knew enough about Xiao's nanomechanical technology to understand just how miraculous it was.
To him, it was nothing short of divine.
More importantly—
becoming a Mechanical Sage didn't just mean power.
It meant longevity.
At least five hundred years.
If it weren't for the fact that those nanomachines had once been completely outside his control—and the lack of any known advancement path—he might have already performed the implantation on himself long ago.
But now?
None of that mattered anymore.
So, what if his life ended up in Xiao's hands?
That was a trivial price.
What Xiao offered was already enough for him to willingly surrender something as meaningless as freedom.
Besides, true freedom had never existed inside the corporate world anyway.
Take the cyberware and optical implants they all carried.
Every single one of them was monitoring their lives around the clock.
"Deal."
Xiao extended his hand once more.
"Deal."
Hermann clasped it firmly with both hands.
Then—
"Ah—!"
A sharp cry escaped him.
He jerked his hand back instinctively.
A silver liquid had already begun flowing from the point of contact.
Like a living serpent, it pierced through his skin and burrowed into his body.
Xiao smiled.
"The modification process will be gradual."
"It'll take about a month for you to fully reach the level of Mechanical Sage."
"Use that time to slowly adapt to your growing power."
Hermann's face lit up with excitement.
"Thank you."
"This is already unbelievably fast."
As far as he knew, the growth rate of Cybernetic Apostles was notoriously slow.
Advancing in rank was even harder.
Under normal circumstances, an ordinary apostle would need years of painstaking cultivation just to become a priest.
And so far—
not a single Mechanical Sage had ever broken through solely through their own power.
Every one of them had relied on the direct grace of the God of All Machines.
Even the ascetics of the Mechanicus were still stuck at the level of newly advanced priests.
Yet Xiao had just promised to elevate him to Sage within one month.
That was absurd.
"As long as you're satisfied."
Xiao said lightly.
"There are still many technologies within the Mechanicus that remain undeciphered."
"If you're interested, you can study them."
"I will."
"Research is one of my hobbies."
Hermann replied absentmindedly.
In truth, he had no interest in research at the moment.
Years of endless pressure and constant problem-solving had already exhausted him.
Right now, all he wanted was to enjoy life—
and the pleasure that came with power.
Because Mechanical Sage wasn't merely a title.
It was also one of the highest positions within the cult.
A Sage had the authority to establish a private research division and specialize in a chosen field.
Within the Mechanicus—
technology was power.
The deeper your mastery, the greater your authority.
Of course, many Mechanical Sages didn't actually possess exceptional research ability.
As a result, these so-called research divisions often became little more than personal guard units.
In practice, it was closer to feudal privilege.
Xiao wasn't bothered by Hermann's perfunctory response.
He knew exactly what this was.
A rebound.
The emotional backlash of someone who had been suppressed for far too long.
At his core, Hermann was still an honest and capable researcher.
If Yorinobu Arasaka hadn't recklessly stolen Johnny Silverhand's Relic and cornered him into a dead end, he never would have betrayed Arasaka.
Once the novelty of freedom wore off—
he would naturally return to research.
Because compared to the noisy world outside—
technology was what truly fascinated him.
For a scholar like Hermann, nothing in the world was more beautiful than a formula.
…
…
Meanwhile, after successfully obtaining the complete Relic data, Xiao immediately immersed himself in research.
It had to be said—
Hanako Arasaka and Hermann were genuine geniuses.
Their exploration of the soul had reached an unprecedented level.
The significance of the Relic extended far beyond simple consciousness transfer.
It encompassed over three hundred advanced technologies, including:
neural modificationbody reconstructiongene implantationmemory editingpersonality restructuring
All of it had been fused into that tiny yet terrifying chip.
Frankly speaking—
the technology behind the Relic was so advanced that even many cosmic civilizations in the Marvel universe would struggle to fully replicate it.
It was almost identical in rarity to the Solar Sail technology from the One Piece world.
A miracle technology born from the exhaustion of an entire world's fortune.
Once something like this appeared, technological progress for the next several thousand years would likely stagnate.
Because once the elite achieved immortality—
they would stop innovating.
And once those who ruled the world stopped progressing—
they would ensure no one else progressed either.
Technology would be locked down by the Relic.
Civilization itself might even regress.
Until the end of the world.
But for Xiao—
the impact was immeasurable.
What truly shocked him was the neural modification technology.
Who could have imagined that a mere stream of data—
with no physical mass, no obvious energy form—
could be inserted into the human body and directly alter the structure of the brain?
It could bring people back from the dead.
Overwrite the original consciousness.
Even force the body to reject its own mind and accept an external one.
Although the technology was still incomplete—
fortunately—
V existed.
A nearly perfect successful case.
As long as he could fully decode this technology, it would become an unshakable cornerstone for his future cultivation path.
Compared to that—
even Nascent Soul preservation technology suddenly felt insignificant.
He couldn't wait any longer.
Without hesitation, he activated his dimensional ability.
In an instant—
V and Panam Palmer were directly pulled from the road and dragged into his laboratory.
"What the fuck—!"
Panam started to curse—
but before the words fully left her mouth, the violent spatial transfer made her vision spin.
Her stomach churned violently.
She dropped to her knees, pale-faced, dry-heaving.
V's eyes widened.
"Hyperspace teleportation?"
Her voice was filled with disbelief.
Even she had underestimated Xiao.
Teleporting people to a fixed location like this—
it was absurdly powerful.
But Xiao had no time for explanations.
He grabbed V and immediately pressed her onto the operating table.
"I need your full-body data."
His voice was sharp and urgent.
"Already?"
"You found a way to cure me this fast?"
V asked.
"Quiet."
"Don't talk."
"You'll disrupt my thoughts."
He didn't even look up.
The scalpel in his hand moved swiftly.
Her clothes were cut open.
Data cables and monitoring devices were rapidly connected across her body.
Every single change the Relic had made inside her was recorded in real time.
Converted into data.
Fed into the Cyber Dimension.
Its computational speed exceeded 250 cycles per second, continuously optimizing the incomplete neural modification model.
Panam had just barely recovered when she saw V on the operating table.
"Holy shit, you—"
Before she could finish—
an invisible Cyber Aura seized her.
The floor beneath her turned swamp-like and swallowed her down to the neck.
Only her face remained exposed.
Time passed.
Minute by minute.
Xiao continued collecting data.
Piece by piece, the mystery of neural modification began to unravel.
Then finally—
the final piece clicked into place.
"Success."
His eyes lit up with unprecedented excitement.
He gently touched the neural interface at the back of V's neck.
"I'm pulling it out now."
"It might hurt."
"Bear with it."
V clenched her teeth.
"…Okay."
Then Johnny's voice suddenly echoed in her mind.
"V, don't trust him!"
"Run!"
"He's going to kill you!"
Before she could react—
Xiao had already grasped the Relic.
"I'll count to three."
"Three—"
He never reached two.
In one swift motion—
he yanked the chip free.
"AAAHHH—!"
The pain was indescribable.
It felt as though her brain had been violently emptied.
As if something had been ripped directly out of her soul.
Worse—
death itself seemed to descend upon her.
Her consciousness began fading.
Darkness swallowed her.
"Damn it…"
"You lied to me…"
Rage and betrayal surged through her.
Her cyberware flared to life.
She struggled violently.
Determined to take Xiao down with her.
But he pressed a hand gently against her chest and forced her back down.
Then his psychic force surged outward.
Warm.
Calming.
Like spring wind over frozen earth.
"Relax, V."
"Deep breaths."
"You're okay now."
"It's over."
Even so—
Johnny's warning still echoed in her ears.
She couldn't fully trust him.
"Drowsiness is normal."
"Your nerves are reorganizing."
"Sleep."
"When you wake up, your life will begin anew."
Her resistance slowly weakened.
Her consciousness faded.
Endless Cyber Aura surged around her like a tide.
Repairing her damaged brain.
Reconstructing her nervous system.
Nourishing the body that had been reduced to ruin.
A rebirth was beginning.
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