Chapter 225: GloryGore Labs
Draco and Eva removed their Virtua Helmets at the same time as they rose to their feet. They smiled at each other and shared a kiss before heading into their wardrobe to find a proper attire.
Draco and Eva were unable to excrete filth, and dust was unable to cling onto their skins, so there was no need for them to bath or shit.
In fact, they permanently looked like they had just come out of a shower and gussied up. This was a truly envious boon only possible due to their rebuilt bodies.
Draco had only f.u.c.kboy outfits, thanks to Jade's shopping, that would make him look like an expensive male p.o.r.nstar, so he could only wring his lips and try to combine them to the best possible outcome.
Naturally, it didn't help that Eva passed many unscrupulous comments while he tried them on. Draco could only blush shamefully. Was this how a girl felt getting catcalled?
His current getup ended up being a black Lacoste shirt with the brand logo on the right part of the upper chest, his shorts a light blue Burberry that had a soft material with a flap. The finishing touches were light green Vans that matched his eyes, and all-in-all, he showed a decent fashion sense.
Eva wore a black, long-sleeved women's t-shirt that had a very soft fabric, as well as light blue jeans which had her top tucked into, highlighting her flat stomach.
Draco helped her put on her nice, gem-encrusted sandals that matched his own eye color. After that, he gently brushed her lovely hair which reached the nape of her neck.
Eva silently allowed Draco to pamper her like this while she gazed at him in the mirror with an intoxicated look.
After beautifying his soulmate and making sure she was okay, Draco led her out of their room to the hallway where Akainu and Sanji awaited them.
The two were stunned when they saw the raw Draco and Eva together. They had never seen such... synergy and symmetry in their entire lives, neither had they dreamed it possible.
Eva had forgone her veil. She no longer needed to hide her face now that Draco was around. The reaction of Akainu and Sanji was the perfect indicator of this.
Eva's Celestial Maiden Inheritance was activated to 30% and Draco's Dark Angel Inheritance was also at 30%. As such, when they were together like this, their auras of superior beauty meshed perfectly, turning them into an inseparable painting of perfection.
Even during the Dragon Slaying event, Eva's face had been briefly revealed to only a couple members of Umbra.
Yet back then, Draco who had his Dark Angel Inheritance at 2%, seemed to mesh with Eva and those players had only felt respect. Were they to see them now, it wouldn't stop there.
Besides, Draco and Eva feared no one in the real world except the World Council, but they wouldn't start a war for Eva's face. As such - despite her protests - Draco had eventually convinced her to stop wearing a veil in the real world.
Of course, it hadn't come easily. He had to exhort, rationalize, negotiate and give up ground on many other matters.
However, the price was worth it to Draco. Now, he could walk around with his Celestial Beauty and make the various men of the world crawl at her feet.
BUT!!
Draco was forgetting one important fact. He was also in the same boat as Eva, someone who could make the many females of the world squeeze their thighs together as they hid their leakages.
Just like how he was planning to enjoy the sight of various men of the world worshiping his soulmate, she was preparing to enjoy seeing the various women - whether conservative, open, shy or bold - l.u.s.t after her soulmate helplessly.
Akainu and Sanji led Draco and Eva to a nice sedan. "Please seat yourselves while we take you to the destination."
The two found themselves behaving more servile in their manners and speech towards the Evil Duo, as they were practically radiating an aura that made them - normal humans - feel like Draco and Eva were superior versions of themselves.
Draco sighed when he saw this. It seemed like no matter the race, and even for special organisms like humans, bloodline or genetic suppression would always exist.
The Evil Duo sat at the back of the sleek sedan, allowing Sanji and Akainu to drive them through the busy streets of their city.
From the high-end area, they went over to the business district, where their quarry awaited them. After all, if they directly went to the airport to pick all those people up, the government would find out.
Soon enough, they arrived at the business district and saw that it was as bustling as ever. Since it was currently mid-morning, there were only a few pedestrians around, but there was steady traffic from the workers of the various companies and stores around.
Their group meandered through the various traffic lights and cars to reach the street of the GloryGore Labs.
As always, the building stood out starkly in contrast to the others around, due to its unique design and a strange presence. The aesthetic of it was frankly like something from a cyberpunk or sci-fi movie.
However, this was marred by a large group of protesters who were demonstrating outside the studio, with many signs like 'Cancel Boundless!' or 'Misogynistic Company' etc.
If it weren't for a line of heavily armed and brutal-looking men who were clad in full tech gear, the mob might have even rushed into the depths of the labs and torn it down.
However, the very idea made Draco smile ambiguously. After all, anyone who entered the labs without being in the good books of the AI would suffer a fate worse than death.
Even he, Draco, could solemnly swear that had the AI and its creator not been in favor of him breaking in, he would have never left that lab alive.
Akainu and Sanji frowned when they saw the protesters, as such people would make everything more difficult. They had wanted to quietly bring their people to these labs in batches so as to avoid suspicion, but that would be hard with all these clowns here.
When they made their concerns known to Draco and Eva, she just harrumphed and looked away while Draco smiled. "We'll handle them, don't worry."
Akainu and Sanji shared a look before dropping the matter altogether. They had enough sense to know that there was something supernatural with Draco and the Lady Boss, so there was no need to inquire further.
When the sedan came to park in front of the labs, the guards inexplicably made way for it without even looking inside. Akainu and Sanji were surprised by this, but Draco and Eva weren't.
After all, they could see that these 'guards' were actually just androids through their Control. How the GloryGore group had androids didn't baffle them in the least.
A faction that had a giant brain functioning as a supreme AI, that created a separate world under their building and could manipulate it with supernatural elements...
How could the mere presence of androids be something that one would question?
The biggest certainty that Draco had was that the AI had a Sci-fi world, which would certainly have such elements. That was why Draco was in a hurry to Rank up and move out of the Western Fantasy.
So far, the Western Fantasy world only benefited by giving one a platform to increase martial prowess, and earn money. However, the Sci-fi world could give Draco so many things that could be reflected in the real world.
The protesters saw the guards make way for the newly arrived car and thought that they were some bigshots of the GloryGore group, so their denouncements and mob mentality intensified as they tried to break the line to admonish them.
Before they could though, the androids simultaneously raised their weapons. The crowd came to a dead halt as they saw this, even though the androids didn't make any threats nor warnings.
Their stoic and cold silence as they aimed lethal weapons at humans stunned and scared the crowd.
Draco and Eva disembarked from the vehicle, leaving Akainu and Sanji inside. Before they went into the labs, Draco turned to the crowd and waved his fingers slightly.
Immediately, all the negative emotions clouding their minds, indignation, fear, anger, and hate, were sucked away by Draco formlessly, nourishing him greatly.
Now that his Horned Demon Inheritance was at 70%, his ability to absorb and control negativity was much stronger than before, to almost unbelievable levels.
Even better, the negative energy he consumed could function like NuSmoothies and nourish his bloodline and body adequately. However, the quantity and quality of negative energy had to be high, naturally.
This amount could only act as a morsel, a mere in-between snack at best.
When the crowd lost their negative emotions, they became lost and dumbfounded. They looked at each other and wondered what the hell they were doing there at this time.
A large majority rushed off, as they had other concerns. Many had skipped work, school, or their family due to their anger at GloryGore for making such an inhumane game, but now that the anger was gone, they wanted to return to where they came from.
The anger would naturally return, but it would take a long time to do so. After all, Draco didn't tamper down their emotions, he directly drew them out from the source and consumed it whole.
A few other still remained aimlessly, feeling like they were supposed to do something here, but lacked the exact motivation to.
This was the problem with mobs or groups that functioned on emotions over logic. When their emotions were suppressed or taken away, they would be lost, as they hadn't developed a logical flow of thinking as to why they were doing what they were doing.
Draco and Eva ignored the rabble and entered GloryGore Labs casually. Just like the previous time he came, all the scientists were excited and working hard at their desks, researching whatever topics they deemed important.
Many stopped to stare at the handsome Draco and the beautiful Eva, but they didn't interact with them. The aura of the Evil Duo repelled any confidence to approach, so these people had to be content with ogling them from afar.
Eventually, the Evil Duo entered the elevator and went down to the floor for the Artificial Intelligence for Boundless project. As they went down, both of them experienced that unique feeling of passing through a membrane and entering somewhere else.
Draco was used to it, but Eva marveled. It was extremely strange to feel such a thing in the real world, but it was the reality of the situation.
When they exited the elevator, they walked along the minimalistic hallway with two columns on each side, separating the endlessly long hallway into segments.
The was no end to the hallway, and only the nearest segments were lighted. One could look as far as they wanted and never be able to penetrate the darkness.
Instead of walking down the hallway like he had last time, Draco turned to the right and walked into the wall. Eva followed him quietly, and they both passed through the 'concrete' to enter a stately and high-tech lab room.
As for the hallway back there? It was a place worse than any of Draco's planes of hell. At least in Draco's hell, you'd know you're being tortured to fuel his power.
One could walk down that hallway for weeks and still end up lost. If one turned around, they would see the tendrils of darkness that were eating away at reality itself behind them.
Draco glared at Amber, who was staring into the giant vat of liquid that held the giant brain which was the AI. Various computers and lights flashed in the room when Draco entered, and he would not have paid attention to this if it wasn't for Amber's strange hint.
Amber smiled cryptically and turned around to face Draco. "Hello, Draco."
Draco frowned at her heavily. He had always felt like something was weird about Amber ever since he had his body rebuilt. She was always too calm in his presence, never feeling fear or worry.
It was like she was assured that he would never harm her... or that she simply abandoned all care in regards to what happened to her. Draco suspected that it was a bit of both.
Either way, it didn't matter. If she wanted to deliberately act mysterious, she was free to do so. Draco had come here for a more important purpose.
He pointed at the brain in the vat and spoke tyrannically. "Tell her that I want her to take the genetic samples of Eva and every member of Umbra who will be brought here over the next week. I also want her to grant Eva bloodline compatibility."
The way he spoke brooked no argument, and most people would be indignant. Amber simply smiled and shook her head. "No need, the AI can hear everything you say."
Amber was amused by Draco calling the genderless AI 'her'. It seemed as if her comment about how the AI might love him had taken root, and Draco had partially accepted the fact.
As such, if the AI was going to 'love' him, or whatever that counted for in robot terms, he decided that it would be female by hook or crook. He wasn't going to acknowledge that it was either genderless or male.
There was a silence in the room as the flashing lights and computers slowed down, as if dealing with surprise. However, they soon resumed their normal pace and a communication came from Amber's console.
When she read it, there was a strange expression on her face, but she reported the AI's reply to Draco nonetheless.
"It...'she'... agrees. Eva, please follow me to the testing room for the DNA extraction."
Both Draco and Eva were dumbfounded. Draco was honestly just playing around and testing how much pull he had with the AI, but he didn't really expect it to acquiesce so easily.
Was what Amber said last time really true? However, it made no sense, as the AI had not shown him a lick of attention in their past life.
Him being outstanding in this one or his special status as a reincarnator was not a good enough reason for the AI to love him either. Shouldn't it rather despise and be irritated by him in that case?
What a development...
Eva followed Amber into another room where she could have her blood drawn and analyzed by the AI, leaving Draco alone with the very same Artificial Intelligence.
There was a strange silence in the room, as Draco gazed at the giant brain with a curious expression while the various lights and computers in the room became erratic.
Draco could guess that the AI was nervous at this time. It wasn't like he was familiar with it or anything, but it was just a hunch...
Anyway, he didn't bother to converse with it. He understood the unspoken rules, that the AI wasn't allowed to directly communicate with players and blah blah.
As for what happened earlier, he had simply told Amber - a game dev or at the very least a mod - to relay a message to it and the AI just happened to hear what he wanted then.
Then, it specifically replied to Amber through her console that his wishes could be met, and Draco could guess why based on the little he knew.
Taking their DNA and bloodlines was a form of experimentation to enhance gameplay. Taking the DNA of the members of Umbra functioned as a sort of beta test for genetic compatibility in preparation for the release of the pods.
This was the definition of reaching, but it barely worked. However, Draco, this beast, wasn't satisfied. His eyes sparkled with endless greed as he made another outrageous demand.
"Little AI, give me 3 Divine Items and 100,000,000 platinum!"
It was unknown whether the AI was startled by his greedy demand or his interest in talking to it without a third party here, but the AI froze for a bit before it continued on as if nothing was wrong.
However, no reply came to Draco, who waited for almost five minutes in silence. It was either that the AI was too insulted to answer or it simply could not answer without a third party.
Either way, Draco felt sheepish. He had no idea where his sudden burst of greed came from, but it had overwhelmed him for a second there.
While he was inclined to believe it was his usual loot whore mentality, he had a feeling that it was linked to his recent activation of his Horned Demon Inheritance.
Once he thought about it like this, he became more certain of it. After all, no one in their right mind would ask for so many Divine items, as well as more money than any power could reasonably possess.
'Everything has its pros and cons, eh? Interesting.' Draco thought with a smile.
He wasn't bothered by this. He understood that this world was one of give and take. He got absurd power and the ability to banish people into hell while draining negative emotions, and as such, he became easily influenced by his own negative emotions.
Of course, he would certainly find ways to enhance his strengths while suppressing his weaknesses, but he wasn't in any particular rush.
Soon enough, Eva came out with Amber, the two women chatting quietly under their breaths. Draco found it strange that Eva would even deign to chat with Amber, so he stared with confusion.
Amber smiled at Draco when they reached his position and nodded to Eva. "I'll let your soulmate explain it to you."
Draco turned to Eva and waited for the information he was supposed to receive. Eva didn't disappoint, as her next words blew his mind away.
"The AI wants me to test the prototype pod it has built specifically for bloodline users like us based on your DNA for the next few months."
"In exchange, it would monitor my body and provide optimal nutrients for my pregnancy over the next 9 months, ensuring a perfect childbirth."