Open Your Eyes and Win!

"I can't think of shit!" Lou Feng was so furious he nearly laughed. Did this bastard take him for a wishing well turtle? Just toss in a coin, clap your hands, and whatever you wish for pops out?! This wasn't even a matter of technique, nor was it about materials or costs. The most troublesome hurdle lay precisely in accumulated data! Every single person's spiritus possessed subtle variations; no two were ever identical. Different people had different habits, tendencies, limb control, and subconscious signals, all completely distinct. Meanwhile, the Lord of the Flies's Spirits of Creation were external entities after all. If they wanted seamless synchronization, Lou Feng would have to individually optimize and adapt the system for every single user, tailoring bespoke configurations for each one. Otherwise, adapting an individual to the Spirit of the Flies, followed by translating, encoding, and interpreting different spiritus signals—each of these was a bottomless abyss of work. It was fundamentally impossible to resolve overnight. What blocked their path right now was the data built from countless practical cases. "Get ready, Ji Jue. This is a long-term project capable of swallowing up all of Haian Tech's profits. I advise you to tread carefully." "Why make it so complicated?" Ji Jue pinched his chin, mulling it over for a long while before arriving at a conclusion. "Can't we just open it up on a massive scale?" "The hell are you talking about?" Lou Feng frowned. What the fuck was he babbling on about? Before Lou Feng could ask, Ji Jue's voice rang out again. "While guaranteeing basic functionality, can its cost be pushed even lower?" "Well, yes, but..." Lou Feng pondered for a moment, then quoted a figure. "No, lower." Ji Jue waved his hand. "Cut it from the materials. Abandon the hospital patents—it's not like we're working for those people. Rejection can be managed with oral medication, and there's no need for a deep neural link anyway." Lou Feng's eyes went wide, instantly on guard. "Are you fucking changing my schematics again?!" "Just tell me if it'll work or not." Thoughts raced through Ji Jue's mind as he scribbled and sketched, downgrading all the materials and fabrication techniques by one tier. After a brief hesitation, he knocked them down another tier. "No, absolutely not!" Lou Feng flatly objected. "If you do it like this, there's no way to guarantee stable operation!" "Then let it be unstable." Ji Jue remained as calm as ever. "What if I only demand a service life of under six months? No, three months is plenty. Once three months are up, wear and tear and errors won't matter. "In that case, the outer casing can be scrapped. The neural probes can go too. Switch to mass-produced materials, scrap the stabilization components, and there's no need for such large spiritus crystals—cut them down. As for the chips, just use the batch of materials from the original Sundial movement." With every sentence Ji Jue uttered, Lou Feng's face twitched. By the end, Lou Feng just wanted to strangle him. Lou Feng's original design was a work of art combining generations of Lou clan heritage, Three-Phase Alchemy, and the essence of the Lord of the Flies. What lay before them now was a pile of junk that barely functioned and could turn into scrap at any second! It was so crude it could bring a man to tears. Budget! Bare-bones! Absolute peasant-tier! This was an entirely different beast from what they started with! "Stripped down to this degree, it won't even achieve its intended effect! You can kiss precision manipulation goodbye!" Lou Feng threw up his hands in resignation. "I'm out. Do whatever you want, just don't tell anyone I designed this piece of crap!" "Even if we used your design, could precision control really be guaranteed right out of the gate?" Ji Jue chuckled. "You take one bite at a time—aren't those your own words? Why fret so much during the initial accumulation phase? Besides, you tell me..." He asked abruptly, "Which is simpler: operating complex industrial machinery, or controlling a prosthetic limb?" "Say what now?!" Lou Feng froze in shock, struck by a bolt from the blue. "Controlling complex machinery requires high-precision interpretation, but a prosthetic limb shouldn't need that, right?" Ji Jue reasoned, "At most, it's an arm or two, a leg or two, or maybe ten fingers if you want to get fancy. As long as someone wasn't born disabled, users naturally have prior physical experience. We'll use prosthetics as our beachhead, then gradually expand into other fields of application... "Next, we tackle auxiliary work arms. In any case, our factories have plenty of subje—*ahem*, employees. That'll boost efficiency even further. "From there, we can expand outward to heavy engineering exoskeletons and other hazardous production equipment. "Throughout this entire process, we conduct small-scale practical tests and experiments in parallel. "That way, not only can we cultivate a new generation of Lord of the Flies seeds, but we can also test parallel networking between multiple Spirits of Creation..." Lou Feng's vision swam with stars. Ji Jue had dumped an avalanche of demands onto him—redesigns, follow-up roadmaps, novel prosthetic development and adaptation... When Lou Feng finally came to his senses, his schedule, which had only just relaxed, was blowing up again! It was going to explode worse than before! What was more, Ji Jue had estimated the project timelines and set hard deadlines with pinpoint accuracy, landing right on the outer edge of Lou Feng's endurance. Now that this dog knew about his latest breakthrough, he was treating him like a nuclear-powered donkey! "What about pricing?" Lou Feng rolled his eyes. "How much are you planning to sell them for?" "In the short term, we don't sell. Lease only. "The initial price only needs to break even on costs and cover operational wear. If they're willing to sign a user agreement, the price drops even lower. "Regular wear and tear, regular replacements. Not only does it streamline maintenance and upgrades, but it also continues our established routine, letting us harvest the data accumulated within at regular intervals." Ji Jue paused, letting out a silent chuckle. "Get ready, Old Lou. Soon, we'll be drowning in experimental data and results!" Lou Feng fell silent. Even though he was one of the beneficiaries, listening to this scheme made his fists clench tight for some inexplicable reason. "...You dog, you really aren't human anymore!" "What are you talking about? They'll be thanking me!" Ji Jue's smile grew brighter. "If this succeeds, you'll be the head of the project. A nomination for the Church's Medal of Benevolence this year is practically in the bag for you! "So, are you in or not?!" Faced with the temptations and coercion of an evil mastermind, Lou Feng didn't hesitate for a second... and chose to jump right into bed with him. In! Hell yes he was in! Only an idiot would say no! No matter how obnoxious this dog Ji Jue was, the Medal of Benevolence was innocent, wasn't it?! The thought of this year's Church nominations going forward without his name, leaving an innocent medal unawarded, made Lou Feng's heart bleed with agony. Besides, sinister motives and scummy tactics aside, if executed well, it really was a noble deed! After all, Ji Jue's proposal was genuinely a win-win scenario for everyone involved. Ordinary people shackled by physical disabilities could affordably lease prosthetics that responded to their thoughts, helping them return to a normal life; Ji Jue would see the Lord of the Flies's swarms expand; Lou Feng would obtain a treasure trove of practical data; and the Lord of the Flies would seize this opportunity to complete its vital transition into mass practical application... Win! Win! Win! Open your eyes and it's a win—nothing but winning across the board! Ji Jue was just winning a few extra times compared to everyone else, but what did that matter? They'd still have to thank him! Once Ji Jue and Lou Feng finished their deliberations, Isis went right to work mobilizing resources and making arrangements. Per Ji Jue's instructions, the first phase of the Haian 'Charity' Donation Program was slated to launch in one month as a small-scale pilot across Haizhou, the Seven Cities, and the White Nation, with a cap of five thousand recipients. From there, in three-month cycles, it would gradually upgrade and expand outward, increasing participant numbers and iterating based on user feedback. Within a year at most, data accumulation for the Lord of the Flies external module would be complete, leaving only deep-dive optimization for specialized sectors. In fact, it went beyond even that... The long-brewing engineering alchemy had finally taken a crucial first step! Ji Jue lowered his gaze, staring at the tiny prototype external module resting in his palm, and smiled quietly. He wouldn't even need to do anything extraordinary—just have the Paradise system implement a minor tweak to stay compatible with it. In his mind, the true, ultimate form of an external module was hardware purpose-built to host an access terminal for the Paradise system. It was a permanent residency card tailored specifically for humanity! Through symbiosis with the Spirit of Creation, more and more people would be integrated into the Lord of the Flies's network. As the Paradise system expanded step by step, it would not only foster the growth of the Spirit of Creation, but users themselves, as nodes within the system, could command other apparatuses across the network according to their clearance levels! Whether prosthetics, vehicles, armaments, or manufacturing facilities. Even if Ji Jue were to wash his hands of everything one day, as long as the system core remained intact, every user could still tap into the fruits of this boundless accumulation. This was the very bedrock of engineering alchemy. —[Shared Deus Ex Machina]! Just imagining that scene made Ji Jue drool with anticipation... Unfortunately, as splendid as ideals were, reality was notoriously skinny. He hadn't even penned the first stroke of the character yet; it was just getting off the ground. Better not feed himself empty promises. "Right, there are two more things I need your help with," Ji Jue said seriously once their work discussion wrapped up. "First, could you help me book some time with your aunt? See if she's free recently." "Fine. She's bored out of her mind lately anyway. You'd better not drag her into any messy nonsense." At this point, Lou Feng wasn't the least bit worried about any romantic sparks flying between his aunt and this scoundrel Ji Jue. He pulled out his phone to set up a time with her, quickly receiving a blunt reply: [ojbk]. Lou Feng stared speechlessly. Where on earth did she pick up the habit of constantly throwing profanity into her messages? "What's the other thing?" he asked impatiently. The sooner he finished here, the sooner he could get back to working overtime. Just thinking about his upcoming workload was already giving him an aneurysm. "The second matter is a bit awkward to bring up." Ji Jue smiled sheepishly, offering a solemn request. "Could you give me a punch?" "Huh?" Lou Feng stared blankly, nearly suspecting his ears. "What kind of garbage are you spouting..." *BOOM!!* Doubt all you want, but if you hear it, take it as permission! Everyone heard it—he asked for it! In all my years, I've never heard such a shameless request! Spiritus heart awakened; transmutation triggered; burst sequence initialized. Spiritus input at seventy percent: bone reinforcement, muscle reinforcement, strength enhancement— In a split second, like an exploding bomb, the violently surging spiritus completed its transmutation within Lou Feng's frame, erupting into raw, unadulterated force behind his fist. It tore through the air in an instant, kicking up a gale. The abrupt blow blasted out a Mach ring, its iron fist bathed in phantom spiritus glow, burning incandescent against the friction of the air as it smashed square into the palm Ji Jue slowly raised. And then... There was no 'then.' Silent and traceless, the force vanished without a trace. In that single instant of stunned disbelief, Lou Feng's eyes bulged as he watched Ji Jue's other hand rise languidly, drifting forward until it came to rest against his chest. A gentle tap. And so, the terrifying impact that had vanished into his left palm manifested out of thin air from the fingertips of his right hand, unleashing in a furious torrent! *BOOM—* Lou Feng flew backward. He slammed flat against the wall like a squashed bug, stuck so hard you couldn't scrape him off! "*Guh... gasp...*" Lou Feng's eyes were bloodshot, nearly popping from their sockets. He glared at Ji Jue, unable to utter a single sound. *Wait, what the fuck was that?!* *How did you do that?!* "Force transmission, nothing more." Ji Jue smiled faintly, brushing nonexistent dust off his clothes before clasping his hands behind his back. "Physics is marvelous, isn't it?" *Marvelous my ass!* Lou Feng nearly coughed up a mouthful of blood. *Marvelous, sure, but where the fuck is the physics? Classical mechanics just got thrown to the ground and stomped into paste by you, you bastard!* "Come on, don't just stand there dazed. Let's keep going." Ji Jue waved him forward, warm and genial. "You only get one shot at this, Old Lou. I won't use my creations today. Whether you can win back your dignity depends entirely on you. "As long as you win, I'll post on my feed singing your praises! "Only..." He paused, looking deeply concerned. "Our statuses are worlds apart now. Don't tell me you don't even have the courage to challenge me anymore?" *Snap!* The sound of grinding teeth seemed to crack the air. Lou Feng's expression twitched, his smile turning cruel. Within that body of his, countless spiritus limbs unfurled, tangled, and wove together, drawing from the entire workshop's reserves to coalesce into the shape of a grotesque, colossal beast. At the same time, Mirror Transformation: Star of Bethlehem unfolded, roaring to full output. *You dog, you brought this on yourself!*