What is the definition of life?

This is an issue in the universe that I have to discuss despite my idleness.

After all, most civilizations that can enter the universe cannot starve to death. When they cannot starve to death, everyone begins to think about life.

The definition of life, at best, is a tool to kill time while squatting in a pit; at worst, it can even determine the diplomatic relations between two civilizations.

After all, an extinct regime and a mixed-blood federation can never play together.

In the eyes of intelligent species, independence and freedom are symbols of life.

But this is only the view of some intelligent species. Parabiote species, bacterial races, nano-will, and hive mind are dissatisfied.

In the universe, there are indeed many intelligent races that are not independent or autonomous, but live a good life.

This type of intelligent race is the most common among carbon-based civilizations.

Having said so much, I just want to prove one thing. Some species, such as 'Kelmos', only care about evolution and do not care about some unique human viewpoints, such as loyalty, freedom, belonging, and betrayal.

Its only purpose of existence is to evolve.

And the way it evolved is being studied.

In the past, it was studied by the 'Water Monkey Scientists', then by the 'Knights', and then, it was studied by 'Someone Gao'.

To put it simply——

They just want to be the county magistrate's wife, it doesn't matter who is the county magistrate.

Therefore, when Gao Gong demonstrated his own methods, especially the 'technology' that could assist it further, it was only natural that 'Kelmos', the king of deep sea leeches, chose to cooperate.

It was on this basis that the two sides joined forces to trick the 'Black Palm Flag Officer' to death.

…

In the deepest part of the Eye of the Ocean, there is an ancient trench. At this time, in the deep sea tunnel, a huge thing squeezed out of the black hole.

Just its protruding part is enough to make people with macrophobia faint.

Black intestines with a diameter of ten meters each poked out. These 'intestines' seemed to have no end, extending to nearly the sea level before stopping.

This kind of height cannot even be compared to the super buildings in the cyber era.

The next moment, a terrifying suction force came out, and huge whirlpools emerged one after another on the sea level.

After being summoned by the 'god', a large number of 'ocean knights' flew out from the bottom of the sea riding cloud-winged beasts. These warriors had wild eyes and strange murmurs in their mouths, like songs, and the targets they attacked were no longer there.

It’s the mixed-race marine people, but their former allies—the Knights!

A sudden battle started just like that.

In the direction of the submarine, a meat knight fiercely pinched the neck of a water monkey scientist, almost tearing it off.

"What are your people doing? Tell them to stop immediately! Otherwise I will kill you!"

On the periphery of the submarine, a large number of Ocean Knights appeared. With a completely lifeless attitude, they frantically besieged the Meat Knights, not caring at all about their own death. It didn't matter if ten were exchanged for one, or even a hundred were exchanged for one.

The Meat Cavalry, which was already short of manpower, immediately fell into a high-intensity casualty situation.

The water monkey scientist has a calm expression:

"43% of our bodies are cells, and the remaining 57% are microorganisms."

"In the human genome, 37% of the genes come from bacteria, 28% from eukaryotes, 16% from animals, and 15% from vertebrates. Only 6% are completely new genes."

"The physical body is not the essence of life."

The meat knight was so angry that he tore off one of the opponent's arms and shouted:

"What do you mean!?"

"I mean, what you call death is the end of self-consciousness, but for us, it is just a new journey of life. Our genes, cells, and other microorganisms will become one with our mother and wait for the next time.

'Birth'."

"It's strange. You have mastered powerful biotechnology, but your thinking is exactly the same as that of humans. It's incredible."

‘Crack’, the water monkey scientist’s neck was pinched.

"Kill them!"

With the roar of the meat knight, all the water monkey scientists were slaughtered one after another, and even many human scientists were affected by the aftermath, and many died.

And as the thick outer steel of the submarine was torn apart, the beast pupils of each Ocean Knight lit up at the cracks.

…

And in the ancient trench, "Kelmos" showed its full picture.

In the 'small intestine area', a body was slowly squeezed out, and countless transparent leeches lay on the surface of her body, absorbing the fragments of her consciousness, preventing her from emitting any biological signals.

The senior engineer also appeared, floating opposite her. His hair grew longer and redder, and its nature changed from ordinary hair to a nerve bundle.

Red electricity shoots out from his head and pierces various parts of the opponent's body.

S-level talent, ‘Fusion of Flesh and Blood’ is activated!

[Your power 1]

[Your Agility 1]

[Your power 1]

[You get the random talent ‘Biological Hard Drive’]

…

As the 'Star Absorbing Technique' unfolded, the body of the female flag officer turned white visibly to the naked eye, like a seriously ill patient with a massive loss of body nutrients.

Seeing that the opponent had been weakened to a certain extent, Gao Gong immediately used another talent of his - reverse symbiosis.

Reverse symbiosis (bloodline talent): The greatest ability of the symbiote is to devour the other party's body and gain the other party's abilities. However, as an artificial symbiote, you can separate part of the 'body' and let the other party master your abilities.

.

This time, it was Gao Gong's turn that the flesh and blood on his body drained away rapidly, and soon only a mechanical body was left.

All the lost flesh and blood is integrated into the opponent's body.

The other party's complexion has improved visibly, even better than before.

Not only did her nutrition come back, she even had Gao Gong's 'nutrition'.

But this back and forth, coupled with the previous system downtime of the other party and the explosion of the hard disk, led to a result.

That is, when she opened her eyes, she was already in the shape of a senior engineer.

"Tsk, tsk, biological computers are just convenient. They are not even a little bit better than brain computers."

The senior engineer felt the powerful computing power in his brain and the biological system that seemed to be able to control everything. With a thought, the memory of the 'Black Palm Flag Officer' was extracted.

If an outsider invades, this memory will be destroyed immediately, but it's up to you to see what mosaic you want.

'To tame that 'leech', we need the computing power of that insect.'

'Biological computers, this is the only way to avoid the deep web.'

'By mastering it, we can evolve 'ancient creatures', those powerful and dark life forces in history.'

At the round table meeting, the Knight Master said in a deep voice.

The black-handed flag officer sat among them, his face tense and silent.

"Black Flag, you are responsible for dealing with this bug."

"good!"

As the Black Palm Flag Officer stood up, this 'memory' was completely gone.

"Then, let's take another look at the Knights' stronghold."

The next moment, a huge map appeared in my memory, not only the 9-3 Guanzhong plate, but also the other five continents in the 'Pan-Asia region'.

There are more than thirty small red dots in total, surrounding these plates. Each small red dot is a secret base of the Knights.

‘Ding~’

[You obtain the second level-difficulty level mission, stronghold destruction]

[Mission: Stronghold Destruction]

Difficulty: Level 2 - Hard

Mission briefing: We must eradicate the roots. Since we are already sworn rivals with the Knights, why not be more ruthless and destroy all the underground bases of the Knights.

Mission goal: Destroy the Pan-Asian region and all Knights bases

Mission reward: 300,000 experience, 8,000 sea reputation, and three random Knights technology blueprints

'The technology of the Knights is at least the second level technology. Even if you are lucky, it is not impossible to have the third level technology.'

According to the system's camp level division, the Knights should be at the peak of the second-order camp at worst. In the not-too-distant future, the Knights during the Cyber ​​Tide period would be basically the third-order camp.

The senior engineer opened the 'Flag Officer' panel again.
To be continued...