Chapter 153

Chapter 153. I Had It All Planned Out, Maybe? (2)

So, I barged straight into the Biological Research Institute with Jessica.

We decided to check the authenticity of what we had seen with Gryanarr, who was happily and cheerfully conducting bio-experiments on the slaves(?) he had captured.

And upon hearing our questions, Professor Gryanarr showed a very interested expression.

“Hmm, wait a minute… So you’re saying you want to ‘upgrade’ this Biological Research Institute, which is essentially a living organism connected to a neural network?”

“Exactly.”

“Well then, it’s a good thing you asked me before proceeding, Commander!”

Then, with eyes shining like a passionate graduate student, Gryanarr immediately lifted a large screen from the floor using something that resembled a bio-mechanical device.

He offered us small sofas(?) to sit on, but they felt squishy, warm, and alive, so Jessica and I politely declined and decided to stand instead.

==========

After a series of complicated explanations, I kept cutting off Gryanarr, who was throwing around technical jargon, and demanded a clear conclusion.

In response to my request, Gryanarr shrugged, casually draped his lab coat over his arm, and said:

“The conclusion is simple, Commander. If you had proceeded with the ‘upgrade’ without any thought… this Biological Research Institute would have turned into a literal monster with no intelligence!”

“Oh…”

“It would have been a beast driven purely by instinct!”

Like a man who dreams of giant battleships, perhaps Gryanarr has a thing for giant monsters too.

As he spoke, he flashed a mischievous little devil smile, seemingly lost in some delightful fantasy… but right after, he tilted his head in confusion at the descriptions I had given of what I saw in the ‘gallery.’

“But, the form you described… seems a bit difficult to pull off, don’t you think?”

“Huh?”

“Think about it, Commander. If the size you mentioned is ‘dozens of times’ larger than a Kraken’s tentacle…”

“Right.”

“Exactly.”

“But if something that big were to swing around as you described, wouldn’t this base be smashed or flung around?”

For a moment, I just stared at Gryanarr, wondering what he was talking about.

In response to my silence, Professor Gryanarr, as if dealing with a new grad student in his lab, began stuffing my brain with detailed ‘physics laws’ and all sorts of information.

‘Oh sh*t.’

Thanks to that, my pure brain was flooded with things I never wanted to know, and I couldn’t help but feel immense frustration at how this SF-themed world, which had long tossed physics out the window, was suddenly bringing it up.

Seeing my reaction, Gryanarr finally summarized his point neatly.

“In short, Commander, what you saw might just be a composite image. Otherwise, it’s just not realistic.”

“I see…”

As our professor waved his hands, saying that even if we mobilized all the organic matter in the base, we wouldn’t be able to create such a mass of flesh…

Oxianor, who had quietly appeared beside us at some point, chimed in, agreeing with Gryanarr.

“Gryanarr isn’t wrong. While it’s not impossible for us to create such a massive tentacle…”

“But?”

“At the very least, you’d have to visit the ‘Nest’ where the Queen resides. There, the ‘pillars’ on stellar-class mobile fortresses are about the size you described.”

“Oh… hmm.”

“So what Gryanarr and I are saying is, if something like that were to grow in this base…”

“The base wouldn’t be able to handle the countless blood vessels or flesh needed to sustain the tentacle’s ‘roots,’ Commander.”

“I see, that makes sense.”

And as this discussion concluded, I decided to block that flow of false information from my brain for a day, then asked Gryanarr about the feasibility of the upgrade…

“So, does that mean the ‘upgrade’ of the Biological Research Institute is impossible?”

“Impossible? What do you take me for?!”

In response to my provocation, our professor Gryanarr firmly denied that such a thing could ever happen.

“Of course it’s possible! Even if the Commander insists it’s nonsense… once you’ve seen such bizarre information, it’s hard not to be suspicious, right?”

“Hmm.”

“So, if we proceed with the ‘upgrade,’ I’ll personally oversee and manage the internal growth!”

Interesting.

Anyway, since Gryanarr made such a definitive statement, I decided not to waste any more time arguing pointlessly.

“Alright then, Gryanarr, I’ll leave the ‘upgrade’—no, the growth management of this Biological Research Institute to you.”

“Just leave it to me, Commander.”

At least within our base, Gryanarr was the top expert on monsters.

I entrusted Gryanarr with solving any potential issues during the upgrade process and decided to head back to the command center with Jessica.

Even in the midst of all this, I couldn’t help but notice the still-present ‘sofa.’

‘Ah, maybe I shouldn’t have refused. Gryanarr probably suggested it out of consideration for us.’

Feeling a pang of guilt, I thought maybe I should have spoken up earlier or just closed my eyes and sat down once as a courtesy.

==========

A moment later.

As Icarus and Jessica headed back to the command center, Gryanarr saw them off with a smile.

Right after the door of the Biological Research Institute, their nest, closed with a squelching, slimy noise.

Gryanarr stared blankly at the two ‘sofas’ left behind, then immediately frowned and clicked their tongue.

“Tsk, I really thought I could uncover the secrets of the Commander’s body this time.”

“Hmm…”

“At this rate, creating the ‘Commander’s clone’ is impossible…”

As Gryanarr muttered while biting their teeth, Oxianor, standing nearby, shook their head and said.

“There’s no need to rush. Honestly, we’re working on something similar with other Commanders.”

“…”

Of course, Oxianor was just trying to calm Gryanarr down by saying that the issue wasn’t ‘urgent’…

“Although we haven’t extracted any meaningful results or genes from other Commanders yet, with a bit more time, we should be able to get enough from some Commanders…”

“No, it’s meaningless if it’s not our Commander.”

Spitting out the teeth they were biting, Gryanarr declared firmly.

Seeing the strange obsession in Gryanarr’s eyes, Oxianor nodded, realizing their mistake.

‘Aha, so the goal isn’t to provide us with a clone… but to create a clone of Commander Icarus specifically.’

And that thought came just as Gryanarr lifted the so-called ‘juicing sofa’ they had placed on the floor to collect Icarus’s ‘genes.’

“Too bad, but what can we do? As you said, there will be plenty of opportunities.”

“Hmm.”

“And if we manage to get the Commander’s genes… next time… hehehe.”

Seeing Gryanarr’s complex, ambiguous gaze and a smile filled with delight.

Oxianor couldn’t help but wonder if they had chosen the wrong partner.

And at the same time, our protagonist Icarus…

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—————————————-

<Neural Network Building Growth in Progress...>

<Biological Research Institute 'Growth'>

<Growth Completion in 5 days, 5 hours, 20 minutes, 40 seconds>

—————————————-

“Let’s go!”

Completely unaware of the impending crisis to their chastity.

Icarus was leisurely enjoying their base construction tycoon game.