Xing Chen had many things he wanted, and these were all breakthroughs for the future development of human civilization.
Friston could provide him with all of them; he could directly transform into a professor for areas he was skilled in, and for things he didn't understand, he could search the database.
Although Theresa didn't quite understand the professional terms Xing Chen used, she believed that Xing Chen harbored no ill will towards the Sarkaz.
Everything was going smoothly, but was that really the case?
Of course not.
Xing Chen was like a mouse that had stumbled into a granary; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't empty it.
Before he possessed superior power, he could only try to take as much as he could.
"The largest storage device I've seen is the server in the next lab, and that's only a little over a hundred TB. You're telling me that's not enough."
Xing Chen looked down at his hard drive, which he had used for a long time. It was 2 TB in size and had been with him for many years, rarely running out of space.
Friston's explanation was also very reasonable. He could summarize things in extremely concise text, but he could tell that Xing Chen wanted to do research, and such brief texts would have almost no effect on promoting development.
"How about this: you first figure out how to upgrade your storage technology, and then I'll copy the data and theories to you."
"Alright," Xing Chen nodded. This was also a significant step forward. "Then how should the Moore Limit be broken through?"
"...How about you first explain what the Moore Limit is? I haven't heard of that term..."
Xing Chen wasn't a specialist in that field, so what could he explain?
However, relying on his foundation in materials science, he still managed to let Friston know what he wanted.
"I've already tried my best to compress the file size. Whether the technical details can be sorted out will depend on the abilities of the researchers."
"Okay," Xing Chen unplugged the USB drive from the console. He truly couldn't understand how the people of Terra managed to fit Friston into the small cart.
Their data storage technology wasn't much more advanced than humanity's. The only possibility was that their storage technology had a unique characteristic, allowing for efficient storage of personalities and other information.
"Besides the technical issues, is there anything else you need me to do?"
"Yes, there are two more such things," Xing Chen said, pulling out the blood he had requested from Skadi from a hidden pocket in his clothes. "Do you recognize this thing?"
"Originium? Or the liquid inside it?" Friston asked, puzzled.
"This is Lu's research achievement, but it has fallen into an uncontrolled state due to certain external factors..."
Xing Chen didn't mention Aegir's matters, just in case Friston got carried away.
"Put it into the Stasis Chamber, and I can analyze it more thoroughly."
"Of course." Xing Chen replaced the Originium container with an ordinary glass container and carefully placed it in the Stasis Chamber.
After a period of analysis, Friston reached a conclusion: there was nothing wrong with the creation of the Deep Blue Tree Project.
There was just a bit too much redundant information, likely caused by encountering a complex survival environment.
There was also a small portion of information that didn't belong to the Deep Blue Tree, but it matched some biological information from Tau-2.
"Then can you extract that superfluous information and only retain the original source code gene?" Xing Chen had a few friends in medicine and biology, but he himself didn't know much in this area. "The original model of the Caretaker Project, I wonder if Lu ever mentioned it to you."
Friston's light dimmed slightly; this was his behavior when retrieving information from the database rather than his own memory.
Soon, the light returned, and Theresa noticed the anomaly.
"Mr. Friston is accessing the continuation of civilization."
"Don't worry, Theresa, allow him access."
Theresa nodded, lifting their mental defenses. The next second, she and Xing Chen appeared in a laboratory with Friston.
Beyond the thick protective glass, outside was a huge rock cave illuminated by scattered lights. A blue creation, too massive to see its full extent, was pulsating rhythmically with time.
In front of a nearby isolation door, Friston was waiting for them, and a blurry figure stood beside him.
If Xing Chen guessed correctly, this should be Lu.
After Xing Chen and Theresa approached, Lu handed a tube of liquid to Friston. Immediately after, the illusion shattered, and the two returned to the Stasis Chamber. The lid of the Stasis Chamber was already open, and transparent liquid filled it.
"Go on, this is for you." Xing Chen stepped aside, gesturing for Theresa to take it.
"For me, this..." Not only Theresa, but Friston also couldn't figure out Xing Chen's intentions.
With Lu's source code, there was a possibility of converting Seaborn blood into an enhanced serum, but he didn't plan to reveal this idea for now.
"What about the other matter? It's getting late, and you two should still need to return to your residence."
"I want Mark Max's control authority."
"Mark Max... I remember now, wasn't that a project I worked on when I had nothing to do after becoming a Preserver?"
"But he is now the President of Columbia—and Columbia is right above the Stasis Chamber."
There was no helping it; a grain of dust casually created by a superior being was a mountain to an inferior one.
Friston readily agreed to Xing Chen's request and, following his instructions, input the authority into Theresa's crown.
"I'm very curious, why don't you keep these authorities for yourself?"
Before they left, Friston questioned Xing Chen.
"Because my life is almost over," Xing Chen turned and gave Friston a relieved smile.
After they left, Friston muttered to himself, wondering if he had been used... On the other side, Theresa was also puzzled by Xing Chen's various actions. "If we controlled a few organizations, our actions should be smoother, right? Why do you only occasionally give a few orders, Xing Chen?"
This touched a sore spot for Xing Chen, but he didn't know how to express it appropriately.
"...Theresa, let's imagine," Xing Chen's words were unexpectedly heavy as they walked through the dark ascending passage, "Suppose a hundred... no, a thousand years from now, you choose a smart and loyal Sarkaz illiterate as the inheritor of your Babel vision. Will she be able to uphold your ideals for the next thousand years, and then the thousand years after that?"
"This... I don't know, but ideals always change with the times and environment, don't they?" Theresa said, supporting Xing Chen.
"I'm talking about the most core, most fundamental ones."
Theresa fell silent; clearly, she also had little confidence.
"So, I don't want to be tied down."
"Then do you have any ideas?"
"No," How could Xing Chen solve such a thing? "I can give you a saying: 'Today, it is you who must be defeated; in the future, it will be me.'"
"Each generation has its mission; I only need to fulfill my duty."