Some things, the feelings brought by "simulation" and "practical operation" are completely different. And without Mobius as a safety net, the mental pressure Lin Wei felt was even more worlds apart.
After all, if any step went wrong this time, or if any new problems arose, he could no longer find Mobius to intervene and solve them. So, besides praying that no new accidents would occur during the process, Lin Wei decided to use a nearly exhaustive method to solve the problem by brute force.
Thus, Lin Wei began to experience an unimaginable, round-the-clock, dual torment of body and mind.
Sometimes, he was even quite grateful to have a fellow like Jackal around, so that when he was in a bad mood due to successive failures, he could have an emotional garbage can to vent on freely.
"Finally, it's a success..."
After making the final stroke in the experiment notebook, Lin Wei looked at the data in the record, which was exactly as expected, and listened to the almost imperceptible hum of the various large and small instruments around him. He let out a long breath.
He had done so much, suffered so much, and spent so much effort to get this one chance. If he had messed it up at the most critical moment, he really wouldn't know how to explain it to Yuno and Mobius.
"Tsk tsk, a total of one hundred and seventy-nine failures. The experimental subjects consumed have piled up into a mountain. No wonder you requested such a large incinerator beforehand." Jackal, who had watched the entire process from the side, pursed her lips in disdain.
"And they were all laughably low-level mistakes. A fellow like you isn't even qualified to be under my command. I really don't know what Dr. Mobius sees in you."
Although she initially thought Lin Wei was bragging, after observing the entire process, she had to admit that this imaginative and insane experimental style was indeed the work of that undying serpent.
"Unfortunately, you're not qualified to be my superior either, and I have no intention of becoming anyone's subordinate." Lin Wei closed the experiment notebook with a blank expression and said indifferently,
"As for making mistakes? Hehe, these one hundred culture tanks exist precisely so that I can keep making mistakes."
A hundred culture tanks are not just for cultivating a hundred experimental subjects, but also for repeated cultivation and production on this basis—Lin Wei was afraid he wouldn't have enough, so he pushed the "materials" aspect to an unreasonable level, forcibly piling up a successful result.
"What does it matter if I fail ten thousand times? As long as I succeed once, it's enough."
"Heh, what you said actually sounds somewhat decent."
Jackal glanced at Lin Wei proudly, quite satisfied with his concluding statement. Then she looked at the neatly arranged culture tanks on both sides, at the clones of Yuno of different sizes and ages suspended in the green culture medium, a hint of excitement in her tone. "There are still about eighty spare experimental subjects left. They can finally be used for some more valuable research!"
She had long been interested in that girl with the special constitution next to Lin Wei, just as she was very interested in Lin Wei himself.
However, having suffered such a huge loss not long ago, plus being told that this fellow was already on the great master's radar, she had regretfully dismissed those dangerous thoughts.
Since it was inconvenient to have any ideas about the original body now, having these clones would be fine too!
Jackal suppressed the urge to cheer with joy. Her mind was already conceiving one new biological weapon after another, but in the next second, her expression suddenly changed, and she shouted in a mixture of shock and anger, "What are you doing? Stop!"
It turned out that while she was dreaming of the future, Lin Wei had silently input a new command on the control console—a black liquid was injected into all the culture tanks. The clones, which had been motionless with their eyes closed, suddenly showed painful expressions, their curled limbs twitching slightly, as if struggling. After only a few seconds, they all returned to silence.
"The reason they appeared here was for a practical purpose. Now that the purpose has been achieved, it's naturally time to send them back to the void."
Lin Wei's fingers danced rapidly on the console. The liquid in one culture tank after another was quickly emptied and opened. The suspended, already dead clones were then gently lifted by robotic arms and sent one by one into the blazing incinerator to be completely destroyed. He spoke calmly, "Ms. Jackal, you'd better not get so excited. I never said I would leave these things for you in the end—after all, I never invited you to participate in my experiment from the beginning to the end."
The reason I let you stay here was merely out of basic courtesy, Lin Wei silently added in his heart.
When devising this experimental plan, Lin Wei himself didn't have any particular feelings. After all, in the Elysian Realm, he was just following Mobius's every step, learning and imitating.
Although there, he had already seen clones of Yuno, and even of himself, that was, after all, the Elysian Realm. They were, after all, beings made of data. So even if they looked, felt, and tasted like real ducks, Lin Wei subconsciously knew very well that they were not real ducks.
But back in reality, when the first artificial embryo appeared complete in Lin Wei's hands, he still felt a subtle difference.
At that time, Lin Wei, surrounded by these dense hundreds of culture tanks, suddenly had an incredibly absurd, and then incredibly real, thought—What I'm doing, how does it feel somewhat similar to Otto?
And when this thought arose in his mind, another thought also uncontrollably surfaced: "When Otto first created the Kallen clones, was the shock he felt, and the subsequent thoughts, the same as mine?"
In the past, Lin Wei didn't quite understand why Otto was so harsh on Theresa when she was first born, especially making her kill another clone almost identical to her with her own hands, which sounded so cruel.
But now, he understood a little—these bodies, mass-produced and soaked in culture medium, with no nerve impulses to speak of, were really just bodies. They were no different from the human specimens soaked in formalin in a laboratory.
The only difference was that the cells of these clones in front of him were still active, their hearts still beating, like one living vegetative person after another. But unless one of them suddenly opened its eyes and looked at this world through a pane of glass, and at its creator, with dazed eyes, Lin Wei would find it difficult to call "them" "her."
And he wasn't here to "create life," let alone bring a twin sister back for Yuno. Therefore, after the potion for repairing her physical defects was successfully made, and before "they" really had a chance to become "her," Lin Wei unhesitatingly pressed the stop button on all of this.
He didn't want to resurrect anyone, nor did he want to create anything out of thin air. So although he was almost at the finish line, there were some red lines he didn't want to really cross. And as a final act of mercy to these "unborn little lives," after their mission was completed, Lin Wei didn't want them to end up in the hands of World Serpent, to be made into one cruel biological weapon after another, suffering endless pain without release.
Just like that, before Jackal could react, Lin Wei had already terminated the life signs of all the clones. Everything was already irreversible. Feeling offended, although she was somewhat ashamed and angry, because Lin Wei's performance during the Manila Honkai Eruption was too terrifying, she didn't dare to act rashly in the end.
"Heh... Hahaha, you fellow, you're really a hypocrite!"
Jackal forcibly suppressed her anger, crossed her arms over her ample chest, and sneered, "Your mouth is full of sanctimonious words, but your bones are so ruthless and unfeeling. Hmph, no wonder that Gray Serpent fellow looks at you with new eyes time and time again!"
She couldn't win in a fight, so she didn't mind having a verbal victory. Or rather, she could only have a verbal victory now.
"Ruthless and unfeeling? Hehe, Ms. Jackal, you've been watching me for so long, is this really the first time you've known this?"
Lin Wei, however, chuckled unoffendedly. "Think about it, how many good people can maintain such a friendly relationship with your World Serpent?"
He was too lazy to argue or justify himself with others; just retorting directly was enough—Your World Serpent is no good either.
"Lin Wei, you're too presumptuous!"
Lin Wei's contemptuous attitude towards World Serpent indeed angered the loyal Jackal even more. "If it weren't for the organization's protection, you'd still be hiding like a pitiful mouse under Schicksal's inescapable net. How would you have the qualifications to be so arrogant now!"
"Is that so? An inescapable net? Hehe, Otto really thinks highly of me!"
Lin Wei didn't even lift his head as he continued with the final operations on the control console. He wasn't surprised by this result at all, just sneered, "Miss Jackal, if you continue to be so rude, I can only regretfully and tactfully ask you to leave."
Using the word "tactfully" to express tact was really not very tactful. Jackal was clearly stepped on a sore spot and raised her voice to reprimand him, "This is my laboratory! How dare you say such things to me?"
"That's your own business, it has nothing to do with me. I'm using it now, that's enough."
Lin Wei said with a strong sense of "ownership." "I'm a very reasonable person. How others treat me, I treat them the same—Ms. Jackal, do you have anything else to say?"
This attitude was almost a threat. Although the tone was extremely calm, even with a hint of playfulness, it was enough to make Jackal's heart sink.
If it were before, the proud her would have become even more enraged after being provoked by Lin Wei like this.
But now, Lin Wei, who had already fully proven himself before, was deeply feared by her. The string of reason was therefore tightly controlled by her. Apart from a few sarcastic remarks, she didn't dare to easily cross the line.
Who knows what kind of unreasonable things this madman would do!
Like the Honkai energy fission bomb that almost hit ARC City, World Serpent had already easily found out the truth afterward: that damn thing was a big show Lin Wei put on when he was fighting with Otto—didn't you see that the one who stopped it all in the end was Schicksal's so-called strongest Valkyrie?
Both destruction and salvation, Otto obviously wouldn't give such a contradictory order. The answer was naturally very obvious...
So, Jackal, who had almost been hit on the head by a Honkai energy fission bomb back then, knew very well that this Lin Wei fellow was simply an imaginative and reckless madman!
She would have to be crazy to provoke such a fellow! If she wasn't careful, she might even get herself involved!
In fact, a large part of the reason why Jackal had come to this place to see Lin Wei was to get an explanation for the incident in ARC City back then—she strongly suspected he had done it on purpose, but she had no evidence.
But when the aggressive Jackal really met Lin Wei, she instantly calmed down—thinking about it carefully, there was no reason!
Before the Manila Honkai Eruption, she had just received Gray Serpent's notice and started a new business there. As soon as that Honkai Eruption ended, a missile came flying over. At that time, Lin Wei was under Schicksal's control the whole time!
Unless that fellow really had heavenly eyes, this matter could only be a coincidence...
The reason why Jackal had been rude to Lin Wei earlier, besides being angered by Lin Wei's actions, was also because she didn't want to admit the somewhat self-deprecating fact that she "feared Lin Wei."
Therefore, when Lin Wei really started threatening her, she instead became afraid to act rashly.
"Hmph, arrogant and rude... Lin Wei, is this how you behave as a guest?"
Jackal sneered with feigned disdain. "You've occupied so many of the organization's resources for nothing. Don't you think you should leave something behind?"
The things Lin Wei had just destroyed, she was still unwilling to give up. What rare experimental materials they were!
"Hahahaha..."
Lin Wei laughed. Seeing a fellow who was usually not very reasonable suddenly start being reasonable was truly a different kind of enjoyment.
"What are you laughing at?"
And this laughter obviously stimulated Jackal's nerves again. She questioned him somewhat irritably.
"Nothing, I just think that Ms. Jackal probably doesn't negotiate with people very often, right?"
Lin Wei tactfully expressed the fact that Jackal was "terribly unskilled." Then, after finishing the remaining work in his hands, he stood up and took out the freshly made embryonic gene potion from the window that had just popped open on the left.
"If you have any other requests, just have Gray Serpent come and talk to me. I have other business, farewell."
After saying that, Lin Wei took off the white lab coat he was wearing and placed it aside, gave the ashen-faced Jackal a polite smile, and then turned to leave, completely too lazy to waste any more words with this woman.