Veronica/Ophelia's answer was so quick and direct that Gawain didn't react for the first two or three seconds, and then he realized that he had found Amber's life experience so easily. The key clue - an insider, is standing right in front of him.
"Why did you suddenly mention Shadow Fortress?" Veronica noticed the change in the expressions of the three people in front of her and asked with a little curiosity, "Where did you hear this name?"< /p>
Gawain did not answer the other party immediately, but immediately asked a question: "Let's not talk about this first - since you know the Shadow Fortress, then you have heard of a royal named Sari Randolph "Shadow Guard?"
Theoretically, this "Saint Princess" was not yet born when Surrey Randolph was active, but Gawain knew what was hidden under Veronica's young appearance. It is the soul of an ancient rebel. This rebel has been moving in the world through soul parasitism. She has changed into countless bodies. Maybe one of her bodies was active in the Ansu Kingdom decades ago. Even the mission performed by Sally Randolph was related to her.
But Veronica shook her head: "I have no impression of this name."
Her expression did not seem to be lying, but it was difficult for Gawain to learn from this ancient name. The rebel's usual indifferent expression revealed her true thoughts, and at this moment he could only tentatively believe that what she said was true.
"Sari Randolph was a royal shadow guard decades ago," Gawain thought for a moment and decided not to mention Amber's identity, but to start with the secret mission many years ago. Speaking of which, "We found some information from that year and found that the Royal Shadow Guard was ordered to find an ancient Gondor ruin called the Shadow Fortress - now it seems that this fortress was indeed part of the rebellious plan back then?"
Amber next to him followed Gawain's words: "Can you tell me more about this fortress? What is it used for research? Why do you say it was abandoned?"
Vero Nika took a deep look at Amber, which made the latter subconsciously feel guilty, and then said: "It is a wrong route - the route of escape and avoidance. The Shadow Project attempts to completely change the nature of human life, through transformation As a kind of shadow creature, it hides in the shadow world to avoid the demonic tide in the real world, and even avoid the power of the gods. The Shadow Fortress is the main research base of this project."
"Change the essence of human life. ? Transform into a shadow creature and hide in the Shadow Realm?" Gawain frowned. This answer was vaguely consistent with some of his speculations after seeing Sally Randolph's diary. The essence of the Disobedience Plan is actually the "Human Continuation Plan", so The Shadow Fortress must have been built to allow humans to avoid disasters, but is the Shadow Realm really a world that can avoid the demonic tide?
Veronica nodded slightly: "The Shadow Realm has existed forever, and the Shadow Residents are a group older than humans, elves, and all known intelligent creatures on the continent. Therefore, in After launching the disobedience plan, we naturallynoticed them. Various evidences show that various changes in the real world will produce corresponding changes in the Shadow Realm according to certain mapping rules. Therefore, after a demonic tide occurs in the real world, things in the Shadow Realm will also change accordingly. In this process, the Shadow Realm The residents have never been affected...
"They possess certain qualities similar to those of elemental creatures, which allow them to avoid the influence of magic tides and quickly adapt to new ones after huge changes in the magic environment. environment, to re-stabilize its own form.
"On the other hand, the power of shadow is the most mysterious and widely distributed power among all the elements and element-like fields known so far. The world of shadow is 100% reliable. Covering our real world, it does not have huge limitations like other elemental realms. From the perspective of 'development potential', the Shadow Realm is a sanctuary more worthy of choice than other elemental realms.
"Based on these factors, the rebels launched the 'Shadow Project' in the early stages of the plan and built a subspace fortress in the space gap near the Shadow Realm. Out of the need to study the environment , this fortress has no physical entrances and exits, but remains connected to the material world through some specific time and space anchors.”
As promised, Veronica is involved in disobedience. She was very candid when planning, and she revealed the brief information about the Shadow Fortress without any concealment, allowing Gawain to have a general understanding of the ins and outs of the fortress.
"What is the specific method?" Pittman, who had never spoken at the side, suddenly said, "How did you transform humans into shadow creatures?"
"The initial method was simple and crude. , using a method similar to 'Elemental Corrosion', directly introducing the power of shadow into the human body in batches, and gradually changing the material structure of the human body in the process. In this way, we have created some variants with powerful shadow power. Humans, but the state of mutants is extremely unstable. The human soul cannot fully control the external shadow power, and its body cannot withstand huge mutations. The volunteers who initially accepted the transformation soon could not distinguish between the material world and the shadow world. Differences, and gradually lost human self-awareness..."
Veronica shook her head as she spoke.
“Afterwards, we accumulated experience and realized that simply introducing external forces and changing the material body was not enough. It also required transformation at the soul level and cultivating the adaptability of the experimental subject to the power of shadow from the embryonic stage. , so we started the 'Artificial Man' project."
Gawain clearly felt that when Veronica mentioned the words "Artificial Man Project", Amber's breathing paused for a moment. .
But he did not interrupt Veronica's narration, but listened to the other party continue -
"With the help of the biochemical technology experience accumulated in the 'Abomination' project, Shadow The project team created a batch of synthetic embryos. The somatic cells of these embryos were derived from the first batch of failed mutants, but they were deeply modified and stabilized. At the same time,We also captured the same number of shadow dwellers. After combining and recoding their souls with human souls, we created a synthetic soul that could maintain humanity and control the power of the shadows at the same time. After injecting it into the embryo, we formed an 'artificial people'. "
At this moment, Gawain finally couldn't help but say: "The soul of the artificial man is a shadow dweller? ! "
"It's a mixture of humans and shadow dwellers," Veronica corrected, "Although this sounds incredible, the shadow dwellers have a similar soul structure to humans - in fact, They are almost a kind of 'spirit' creature. Apart from the shadow clouds driven by them and the rune cloth of unknown origin, their remaining structure is only the soul - and in the ancient Gondor period, the empire controlled Very advanced soul extraction and transformation technology. "
At this point, the ancient disobedient pointed at himself and smiled lightly: "You should be able to imagine that I am also a user of this technology. ”
There is no doubt that “Ophelia Norton”, who has survived in the parasitic form of her soul for more than a thousand years, has also undergone transformation at the soul level.
However, at this moment Gawain But he didn't have the extra thought to pay attention to these technical details. He just glanced at Amber subconsciously.
She is not a half-elf at all.
She is a human and a shadow dweller. "Hybrid", mixed blood at the soul level.
Amber also turned to look at Gawain. After a brief moment of thought and silence, she turned to Veronica: "How many of these were made in total back then?" 'Embryos'? "
"One hundred and twenty-six people managed to survive in the end," Veronica said. "This is the report I received that year. ”
“Then why was this project abandoned? Gawain then asked, "Is there any hidden dangers in it?" "
What he is most concerned about now is the reason why this project was abandoned, because it is directly related to whether there are some hidden dangers in those "artificial human embryos" - although Amber has grown up healthily for decades. Years, but who can guarantee that she will not have problems one day in the future?
Veronica's eyes swept between Gawain and Amber, and after a few seconds of recollection, she He said softly: "If the artificial man survives, there will be no hidden dangers, but there is something wrong with the project itself.
“After the experimental process entered the embryonic cultivation stage, the entire Shadow Fortress and even the subspace rift where the experimental group was located entered an unstable state. Additional energy flows of unknown origin appeared in the energy circuit of the fortress. Mysterious and short-lived echoes frequently appeared in the communication system, and shadow residents' projections wandered around the building. In the later stages, some rooms even disappeared out of thin air, and some corridors had the strange phenomenon of additional branches.
"While abnormalities occurred in the fortress, the core personnel of the project also began to be troubled by frequent hallucinations and auditory hallucinations. Many people reported hearing the embryos still in the culture chamber talking, and hearing the embryos using a hoarse voice. noiseThey were talking to each other vocally, but all the monitoring equipment found no evidence of this. As the project progressed with difficulty and the embryos gradually grew into larvae, these strange situations intensified - the phenomenon of auditory and visual hallucinations began to move toward the center. As the rooms outside the area spread, it became increasingly difficult for researchers to distinguish the boundaries of reality, and the entire Shadow Fortress began to show a state of 'reality fragmentation'.
“We tried a variety of extraordinary countermeasures, but they all failed in the end. The risk assessment department determined that the experiments in Shadow Fortress may have moved the boundaries of the realm other than the Shadow Realm and the real world. ', in order to prevent the project from breaking through the security barrier and attracting the attention of the gods, I had to order the termination of the entire 'Shadow Project', and the Shadow Fortress was abandoned."
This is the end of the Shadow Fortress. .
Pitman looked into Veronica's eyes and asked slowly: "What happens after that? Are those embryos left in the fortress?"
"The embryos had grown into Larvae, but they are all in an inactive state, I ordered them to be destroyed - before they opened their eyes," Veronica said, "The project is out of control, nothing can be left behind, let those experimental subjects gain their own will. It is better to disappear before they are born than to face death after they are born." Amber took a breath and asked in a low voice: "Are they all destroyed?"
"All of them. Destroyed, at least that’s what the report I received said.”
“But there is actually one left.” Amber looked at Veronica and said each word.
Veronica raised her eyebrows slightly, but did not speak, just responded to Amber's gaze.
Amber pointed at herself and said calmly: "I am Android No. 36."
"Ah," Veronica said softly, but there was not much Surprised, "Is it really like this..."
Gawain looked at her: "What do you mean? Did you already..."
"No, I didn't recognize it before "She," Veronica shook her head, "but after you ask so many questions, how difficult is it to guess the truth?" As she said this, she looked at Amber seriously for a long time. With a little sigh: "It turns out... you will be like this when you grow up."
Amber couldn't help but take a step forward: "Don't you have anything else to say?"
"For a thousand years, few things have surprised me, and what happened today finally surprised me... I know that's not what you want to hear, but this is my truest thought now," Veronica responded to Amber's gaze calmly, but there really wasn't much surprise or emotion in her calm expression, "I don't know how you survived. Maybe it has something to do with the situation that enveloped the entire Shadow Fortress at that time. It's related to hallucinations, but your survival is a surprise to me - I'm happy to see you standing here so healthy."
"Oh, isn't it a pity that you didn't destroy me back then? ?" Amber stared at WeiRonika, "Isn't this a hidden danger to you?"
Veronica's answer was very calm and indifferent: "You have grown up safely and are no longer a hidden danger."
Gawain's eyes moved between Amber and Veronica. He thought Amber's next reaction would be fierce, but after a few seconds of silence, the other party just shook his head: "Then take it as That's it."
Her figure gradually disappeared into the air, and a distant voice floated gently: "I'll go out and get some air first."