Treating experimental subjects as inhumane must be based on the premise of having a sufficient sample size. Otherwise, if the experiment is only successful once and cannot be continued, the data cannot be verified, and the research cannot be replicated, which is no different from failure.
Similarly, many people believe that forcing growth can speed up research, but this is not the case. Experiments, especially biological experiments, must follow certain rules. Even a simple bacterial culture, no matter how urgent, requires at least 24 hours of observation to get results. Deviating from these rules and artificially shortening experimental time to accelerate progress will result in unusable materials.
You mean use acceleration magic? That's something you only use in industrial production after the results have been obtained in the laboratory!
Nobody knows why a true embodiment of death would appear here, so Hayden can say whatever he wants. Anyway, Goddess Mikkelsen considers him a technical genius and doesn't dare to completely dismiss him as nonsense.
—At least that's what Hayden originally thought.
[Don't worry. We backed up the kitten's personality memory chip before she even started the ceremony.]
However, the goddess Mikite calmly replied...
[This is much cheaper than forcibly interrupting the ritual to try and rescue her, then cloning her.]
噫
[This was certainly impossible before. But this year, through our collaboration with the Mitra Group, we've developed mature personality chip technology. While we can't replicate the soul, we can now replicate her personality and memories.]
After that, all that's needed is to clone the body and insert the personality chip—ta-da! Pania II is born!
For capital and for companies, this is a naturally cheaper option.
Hayden was speechless, but he noticed something else: "Wait, you just said that forcibly interrupting the ritual to get her out would be more costly—meaning it's definitely worth a try?"
Of course. I am, after all, the Goddess of Death of the Smoke Mirror Company, the Shadow of the Eclipse that devours the sun.
Miktikashiva answered proudly. But she immediately turned and looked at Hayden with a strange expression.
"But Mr. Hayden, rescuing this kitten will definitely cost a fortune, and it will cause significant losses to both of our businesses. If you simply like this kitten, I can clone a new one for you later, but there's absolutely no benefit in going out of your way to rescue this one."
Do you like Pania?
To be honest, Hayden didn't really like this little brat. At most, he wouldn't say he disliked her.
As for what benefits there would be in saving her, Hayden really couldn't think of anything that could convince the goddess Mikkelsen—he couldn't even find anything that could convince himself.
Is it possible that clones might not be able to replicate Panya's uniqueness? That's certainly possible, but if that were the case, the value of this to the goddess Mikkuri would decrease—a unique case, a technology that can't be mass-produced, has very little value to her.
Hayden knew he couldn't save Panya on his own. The more she fought the corpses, the worse her situation became. Meanwhile, beneath the sea, in a death deeper than the astral plane, the corpses released were constantly growing. They seemed to be inhaling something, devouring something, expanding infinitely, expanding and expanding.
What are those deaths and corpses devouring? The void? The air? Or perhaps Pania herself?
Hayden had no idea. He could only vaguely sense that no matter what he consumed, nothing would come of it in the darkness of death.
无
Only nothingness expands, devouring everything, a hungry void. It has already stretched out countless invisible claws of death, binding the magical girl's hands, feet, and head.
Hayden was powerless against this dark void of death. He could do nothing on his own.
However, asking Hayden to pay a huge price to save Panya... that would clearly be inappropriate. The things he had left, the things he could use to negotiate with the goddess Mikt, could be recklessly thrown away and could potentially harm his own people.
From a rational perspective, Panya is not worth Hayden paying such a price.
This is indeed a rational way of thinking.
For example, if a hospital administrator only has one million gold coins, should he choose to use that money to save a five-year-old child who needs a one million dollar liver transplant, or spend the one million dollar on other medical equipment or to pay doctors' salaries?
From a rational, business-oriented perspective, this question is clearly foolish. If medical equipment and doctors' salaries cannot save other lives, then the existence of hospitals or doctors is meaningless.
Who determines the value of humans, and other life forms? How is it determined? On what basis is it determined?
The answer is simple: money and math.
Regardless of the era, people actually use money and numbers to calculate and determine the value of human life. This is hardly an evil thing, nor is it something only capitalists do; rather, it is something that all rational rulers and high-level managers have done since ancient times.
Even the kindest ruler or administrator in the world, if he wants to save the most lives with limited funds, must first determine the monetary value of human life.
Does Hayden like to calculate human lives this way? Of course not. Just like he said when he joked with Karen before, he's on the chaotic good side and doesn't like playing the numbers game with human lives.
Regardless of good or evil, calculating human lives with numbers is a cold, yet necessary, form of order.
Because money, energy, and resources—all the resources in this world—are finite.
Long, long ago, there were holy knights in this world who had to eat dead infants to save people; and there were also poor people who were forced to kill two hundred to save three hundred, or blow up the plane carrying their foster mothers.
Their sorrow, their cries, their pain, all their tears, are essentially because the world's resources are limited.
limited
So Hayden turned to look at Angela behind him and swallowed hard. In this situation, her role was obvious.
"Angela".
Hayden asked tentatively,
"Do you have any way to save Panya?"
Angela, who had been somewhat absent-minded just a moment ago, suddenly had a terrifyingly helpful glint in her eyes.
The Infinite—a miracle that doesn't belong to this world and requires no sacrifice—is here. She can wipe away all tears, sorrow, cries, and pain, and even stuff stillborn infants back into the devil's mouth.
But the prerequisite is that Hayden must make good use of her and prevent the capitalists from discovering it.
160: Deceiving Death
—The situation is not optimistic.
【Magical Girl Pazuzu】is still fighting with the Corpse Giant.
She swung her claw, striking the very center of the undead army. However, she herself was also struck by the giant's fist in the process!
Boom!
It was clearly just two people fighting each other on the sea, yet they managed to unleash such devastating force, like a mountain collapsing!
...That being said, the rise and fall of all things is a natural law of the world. A dragon that soars too high will regret it; fullness cannot last.
【Magical Girl Pazuzu】The more she fought, the stronger and fiercer she became. Her momentum, strength, and determination all reached their peak. She was like a flying dragon with great momentum. Everything had reached its zenith.
But human strength has its limits. Since everything has already reached its peak, it can't go much higher.
In contrast, the legion of the dead fighting the magical girl seemed to possess inexhaustible power. The power of death was like... like Angela, seemingly limitless.
Perhaps the power of death is indeed like that.
"Angela, do you have any way to save Pania?"
Therefore, Hayden's only remaining strength is Angela's infinity.
This was the right thing to do, so Hayden wouldn't regret it. To save someone, and to do so without paying any price, Angela's miraculous power was indispensable. To save the person with greater certainty and speed, asking Angela for help was the only logical step, and that's what should be done.
This is the only option. Apart from this path, the only remaining choice is to stubbornly insist on implementing a plan with extremely low success rates, which will only cause more suffering and may even kill innocent people.
...Although he did not regret it, Hayden still felt ashamed.
The reason Hayden found himself in a situation where he had to rely on Angela's help was, in other words, because he lacked the strength himself. Therefore, he felt ashamed. He wanted to remember this shame—the shame of being insufficient in both strength and knowledge.
In contrast, Angela always possesses boundless power and a vast amount of knowledge.
"There is a way."
She answered Hayden's question immediately.
As expected of Angela.
"Before we discuss solutions, we must first get to the root of the problem. Miss Panya's current situation actually has a reason."
As always, Angela often grasped the truth and secrets faster than Hayden.
"Miss Pania is currently haunted by the shadow of death because the astral body of [Magical Girl Pazuzu] is composed of half entropy from real death and the other half from the psychic energy of the astral plane."
???
Entropy?
This word really startled Hayden: "How can this be related to entropy?"
“Fate, decay, and return to nothingness—the energy of possibility and decay—these are all, of course, the domain of entropy.”
Angela tilted her head and answered matter-of-factly.
"Entropy requires neither personality nor intelligence, but anomalies caused by artificially altering entropy often lead to abnormal changes in entropy. This is a natural law, and it is why I previously advised you to avoid using magic that involves contact with death, such as necromancy. They generally have very strong side effects, and even I can see that most of them are not yet perfect."
As she said this, a thoughtful expression suddenly appeared on her face.
"However, if we are to delve into the mysteries of life, death is a process that we must understand—but that is a rather distant topic. You probably don't need to think about it too much right now."
"In short, Miss Panya is not challenging her own corpse, but the very laws governing the universe."
Hayden was almost stunned when he heard this.
How did this topic suddenly become so massive? Universe-level?
But he did realize something: Goddess Mikkuri had indeed said that half of the energy of [Magical Girl Pazuzu] came from death. It was energy extracted from death by using the name of the deceased Pazuzu as a guiding light and the faith of the living as a hook.
in other words……
"...Could it be that the astral body of [Magical Girl Pazuzu] contained too much energy extracted from death, thus triggering an abnormal rebound of death power?"
Hayden immediately guessed that.
Angela shook her head again: "That's not the case. What's causing the anomaly now is not death energy—but mental power that's mixed with death energy."
……ah?
“If Miss Panya were only fighting against the death energy she herself had generated, she might still have a chance of winning. After all, she is very determined, has a strong will, and a very firm dream.”
Angela paused here, then glanced at the live stream chat and comments section.
"But now millions of viewers and admirers are connected to her through sympathetic connection, and Miss Panya uses energy derived from both death and astral forces. Thus, she is not only fighting against the death she herself has caused, but against the death stirred up by the minds of millions. How can she possibly win by directly confronting death with the energy of death and the mind?"
Hayden finally understood.
And he was speechless.
To put it bluntly, this is exactly what it means to add fuel to the fire, to put out a fire with more fuel. It may look visually spectacular, but in reality, the fire will only get bigger and bigger.
Why didn't anyone else notice that this was actually the case?
The truth is quite simple. As Goddess Mikt mentioned before, the energy of death has significant side effects, making it inherently impractical. Major companies rarely use it. It's only recently, with the development of the "Kowtowing Bug" system, that the side effects of death energy can be neutralized. And the "Kowtowing Bug" is itself a recently developed technology.
This has been said before. Mixing two "unfathomable new things" together for an unprecedented practical test—it would be crazy to expect them to go completely without errors!
Many new technologies seem very useful when they are first developed, but we don't know where their side effects are hidden. This is a kind of historical inevitability.
New technologies are not necessarily bad, but they often require careful research and application. Capital's short-sighted approach of immediately putting new technologies into practical use is fundamentally wrong for academics.
"We really have to cut off the live stream."
After hearing Angela's explanation, Hayden immediately thought of this plan, but then felt that it might be a bit risky.
"...No good. I'm afraid it's too late to cut off the live stream now. Cutting it off suddenly will only make the audience more curious and eager."
Communicating with someone isn't so much about physical distance, but rather about emotional distance. If many fans are actively thinking about [Magical Girl Pazuzu], even cutting off the live stream won't stop their thoughts! Not to mention, it's impossible to cut off the emotional energy supplied to [Magical Girl Pazuzu]!
"Angela, what specific solutions do you have for this problem?"
Faced with such absurdly profound magic, Hayden could only ask Angela for her opinion first.
"The simplest way, of course, is for me to connect to the astral network now and go out to sea to defeat those deaths."
As a result, Angela puffed out her chest and said those words with surprising confidence.
“I know my master doesn’t want the capitalists to notice my existence and what makes me special. But as long as I disguise myself as a virtual idol and openly rescue Miss Panya, they definitely won’t notice anything amiss! It’s precisely because this kind of thing can’t be done openly that doing it this way won’t arouse suspicion!”
What kind of bizarre and eccentric thinking is this?!
"No. This is definitely not going to work. Miktikahiva isn't stupid."
Hayden immediately complained, glancing at the company's internal communication channel from the side.
The goddess Micket herself wasn't here; she was merely communicating and watching the live stream via the StarNet. Besides, she was in a very good mood and was completely focused on [Magical Girl Pazuzu]. As long as Hayden and Angela were careful, they could secretly chat and discuss things without her noticing.
But you always have to be careful.
“If you really rush down and release a large amount of life force to pull Pania out of death, Miktikashiva will eventually find out that there is a problem with your Secret Flame reserves.”
Angela possessing the Secret Fire is not a major issue. However, if the Gods of Capital discover that there is an infinite source of life energy here, things could spiral out of control.
Besides, Angela's line of thinking is just too bizarre. How could the anomaly not be detected?
…………
...No, no, no matter how you think about it, it's impossible to avoid being discovered! There's no such thing as that kind of bizarre, illogical thinking in reality!