Chapter 245

Chapter 245

"Opening permissions."

With Ye Mo's permission, Bragi began to open permissions to Norton. Most of its mental energy was entrenched in Norton's study; the core of the old robot could not support such a massive data stream.

Bragi very meticulously confirmed again with Ye Mo, and only after receiving a response did it fully open the permissions, releasing the heavily encrypted data stream.

"Decrypting data for you."

In the meantime, it still found time to interject, "Your Majesty, trophy No. 43."

Norton tilted his head.

Secretary-General Lin understood tacitly and opened a small box on the side table. Inside was the blue crystal. Bragi moved over, stretched its head, and circled the table, looking at the small box from all sides.

Secretary-General Lin adjusted his glasses, "After inspection, if there are no problems, it will be yours."

"I agree."

The small light on Bragi's chest flickered. It completely detached from the robot's shell, as if discarding a heavy burden, and the data flowed smoothly, its mental energy settling in the study.

"Your Majesty, data is ready. In what form would you like to view it?"

"Don't bother."

Norton's mental energy spread out again across the entire Grath palace, enveloping the whole palace.

Bragi was also within his mental influence.

It realized that Norton wanted to perform direct data transmission. This is the form of communication between intelligences and the most direct way to get information.

In Bragi's view, written or visual forms, even immersive holographic projections, are inefficient ways to communicate. Between intelligences, sharing data provides the most detailed and intuitive information.

Its data was carried within its mental energy. Theoretically, it could perform data transmission with humans through mental energy, but it had never done so with humans.

Bragi cautiously began to make tentative contact with Norton's mental energy. It only touched the mental energy, keeping far away from Norton's mental domain.

Norton closed his eyes. At times like this, he could most directly "see" Bragi—more than through any replaceable shell.

The life form of data is somewhat different from humans. Bragi's mental energy properties are very special, like data, silent and unnoticed. Perhaps because its mental energy was born from data, it could also manipulate its mental energy as finely as it manipulates data.

But for Norton, creatures with mental energy are all the same—they can be crushed.

He had also violently crushed enemies' mental domains with his mental energy, searching for the intelligence he wanted from the fragmented pieces, and had directly shared memories with Arnold and the others using mental energy.

Norton waited for Bragi to send him what he wanted.

Others were unaware of their mental clash. Secretary-General Lin stood quietly nearby, waiting.

Ye Mo saw them busy with matters and didn't mind not being attended to. He sat back in his seat and played with his little lion toy.

After several tests, Bragi opened the data transmission channel.

In this process, it also revisited those past events again. For an intelligence, revisiting the past means processing countless data; as long as data exists, every moment feels like being back there. Time is stretched in this process. It could re-experience the emotions of that time, hear the sounds, and feel the temperature, light, and even smell of that moment.

Norton would too.

He would essentially relive those experiences from Bragi's perspective.

At first, Norton was calm. He watched the progress of the experiments through Bragi's eyes, and the repeated failures.

He also wondered in passing how Grath's genes had leaked out.

Then an embryo survived.

And then it became almost entirely the growth log of the embryo.

Norton immediately realized that was Ye Mo.

Normally, becoming parents requires applying to the fertility center and going through a series of tests. After passing the tests, the center approves the application and begins to cultivate the embryo. During this period, applicants receive updates on the embryo's growth and blurry images, but no high-definition images of the embryo are allowed to be shared, and parents are not allowed to visit.

This is because there's a chance the embryo may stop developing at some stage, which helps reduce the parents' grief. Perhaps also because the embryo is not really attractive during that period.

Regulation or not, Grath is an exception because Little Grath embryos require the mental energy of a relative during the embryonic period, otherwise they will stop developing.

So Baide would sometimes talk about what they were like as embryos—hands, feet, etc.—mostly to tease Arnold.

Norton couldn't help wondering: without his mental energy, had Ye Mo suffered back then?

If Ye Mo had been born normally in Grath, Norton would have visited him too. Ye Mo would have gradually grown tiny hands and feet under Norton's watch, and he would have grown up healthy.

The embryo gradually took shape as Bragi frequently visited.

It should be over now, Norton thought.

He knew that Ye Mo was still in the cultivation pod when Ye Zhiyuan took him away. Strictly speaking, Ye Mo was born in Grath.

From birth, his life was fully recorded in Grath, although not in the Grath palace. Arnold and the others often lamented having missed Ye Mo growing up.

But Ye Zhiyuan and Mrs. Ye had done a good job raising Ye Mo, which was at least some comfort. Arnold often comforted himself that at least Ye Mo grew up well in the Ye family. Then he was grateful that Ye Zhiyuan finally decided to bring Ye Mo back to raise. Norton never said it, but he felt the same way.

Norton waited for the embryo part to end, expecting it to stop there.

But it didn't. Ye Mo was born at the Spider Base. Several researchers placed him there, drew blood, and took various measurements.

From this point, Norton realized something was wrong. Ye Mo shouldn't have been born yet. The date was wrong, the location was wrong.

But these were all memories of the past. All Norton could do was continue watching.

He watched as they placed Ye Mo there, treating him as a precious test subject or experimental material. After confirming he was alive and normal, they ignored him.

Even occasional conversations were cold.

"Good thing it worked."

"We've used up the remaining blood."

"With that little material, getting that many embryos is already impressive. Now we've got this little one, haven't we?"

"He might not survive long. Collect data while he's still alive."

They came and went in the lab, leaving the tiny baby to cry until he eventually quieted on his own.

Norton must have been furious, his mental energy subtly stirring in response.

Ye Mo keenly sensed it. He stopped and looked at Norton, whose eyes were closed. Not having Ye Mo's sensitivity, Secretary-General Lin was puzzled. "Is something wrong, Young Highness?"

Ye Mo shook his head uncertainly and whispered, "Father seems angry."

Soon he turned his head back. Nothing to be afraid of, Ye Mo forced himself to stay calm. It probably wasn’t his fault—he hadn’t done anything recently, and his father wouldn’t lose his temper for no reason, he thought.

But they were watching something about him! Could it really not be his fault? Ye Mo grew wary again.

He had figured out Norton’s limits and no longer avoided him from a distance like before, but Ye Mo admitted he was still a bit scared. Arnold and the others were also afraid of their father, so it wasn’t strange for him to be a little scared too.

He should have checked what it was first before deciding whether to show it to his father, Ye Mo regretted. He quietly decided that later he would go find Sylvia, or he could go to Adelaide instead.

Bragi and Norton had no idea what was going on in Ye Mo’s mind.

The transmission continued.

Norton watched Ye Mo live there.

Infancy was dull. The experimenters only came to feed him and draw blood at set times, ignoring him the rest of the time.

But Norton didn’t skip a single second. He watched Ye Mo, observing the little baby as it looked around with wide eyes, sometimes suddenly crying for no apparent reason.

He never got any response when he cried, only Bragi’s gaze. Bragi stayed hidden, not making any sudden moves most of the time.

It simply stood aside, watching Ye Mo objectively and in detail.

And now, through its eyes, Norton was reliving all of this once more.

Ye Mo gradually stopped crying for no reason, but as he grew older, his senses became sharper. When someone came, he would start to be happy at the sound of footsteps. The experimenters would feed him and record his data, and then a needle pierced his skin, and he would cry again.

Later, even when the needle pierced his skin, Ye Mo no longer reacted. He just bit the bottle and sucked desperately, taking it all as a normal routine, thinking pain was normal.

He survived, and they named him Cyril.

When Norton heard that name, he suddenly opened his eyes wide.

He looked at Ye Mo. The transmission was still ongoing. Before Norton’s eyes, the image of Ye Mo and that tiny child alternated.

Data transmission could create an illusion of elongated time. From the outside, it seemed like only a short while had passed, but Norton and Bragi had already spent a long time continuously.

Although Norton was still fine for now, Bragi carefully controlled the speed, syncing the transmission speed with real time, to avoid giving Norton any illusions or causing unnecessary accidents.

Bragi was always very cautious with Norton.

Secretary-General Lin also finally noticed something wrong. From just a moment ago, the study had been almost filled with Norton’s mental power, making it extremely oppressive.

And it wasn’t just frightening to look at. Norton had used mental power suppression on the battlefield before.

Ye Mo was right—Norton was angry. No, it was more than that—he was enraged.

Secretary-General Lin slightly lowered his head, avoiding meeting Norton’s gaze so as not to startle him. Norton hadn’t let his emotions show like this in a long time, especially in front of Ye Mo, where he was always very composed.

Ye Mo blinked. Being locked in Norton’s gaze didn’t particularly affect him, but he grew a bit uneasy and worried. “Father?”

Norton just looked at him and said, one word at a time.

“You are Cyril Grath.”

Secretary-General Lin stood to the side without hesitation. “Without a doubt, Your Majesty.”

Ye Mo was a little puzzled, but he nodded immediately to Norton. “I am Ye Mo, and also Cyril Grath.”

Norton stared at Ye Mo for a long moment before closing his eyes again.

They had defiled the name Cyril. These scumbags, Norton thought with disgust.