Chapter 1768: Chapter 1766: Equivalent Exchange (Time to Become an Orange Cat!)

Soon, Fang Zheng brought Saten Reiko and Kuroko Shirai to the entrance of Mokuyama Haruo’s research institute, then straightforwardly walked inside and arrived at Mokuyama Haruo’s office, knocking on the door.

Quickly, the door opened, and a woman with dark circles, looking exhausted from staying up all night for many nights without sleep, appeared in front of Fang Zheng and the others.

Seeing this person, Kuroko Shirai and Saten Reiko were both stunned.

"Dr. Mokuyama?"

"Ah? It’s you guys... What brings you here?"

Seeing the two, Mokuyama Haruo seemed a bit surprised, and at this moment, Fang Zheng yawned, then casually turned on his personal terminal. Soon, a melodious classical music began to play in everyone’s ears. To Kuroko Shirai and Saten Reiko, this music seemed very pleasant to listen to, but nothing particularly special. Yet, for Mokuyama Haruo, it was different.

"Whoa!!!"

In just less than thirty seconds, Mokuyama Haruo clutched her head and fell to the ground, and seeing this, Saten Reiko hurriedly rushed over.

"Dr. Mokuyama, are you okay?"

"Ugh... aah..."

However, Mokuyama Haruo didn’t respond to Saten Reiko’s words at all; she just clutched her head, trembling all over, appearing to be in considerable pain. Meanwhile, Kuroko Shirai turned to Fang Zheng surprised, momentarily at a loss for words.

"Mr. Fang Zheng, are you really sure she’s Dr. Mokuyama?"

"Certainly."

Fang Zheng said while casually closing the door, then pulled over a chair and sat down. At this moment, Mokuyama Haruo also stopped struggling; she slowly sat up, staring at Fang Zheng fiercely.

"What... what did you do!?"

"Deleted the network centered around the Fantasy Manipulator completely."

Fang Zheng shook the personal terminal in his hand.

"Your idea wasn’t bad, but unfortunately, your Fantasy Manipulator network is now completely finished. Those who gained abilities through the Fantasy Manipulator will also lose their abilities. Well, this incident is perfectly resolved; indeed, dealing directly with the server is the most convenient, isn’t it?"

Fang Zheng was not bothered about dealing with that AIM beast; solving it from the source is way more convenient, isn’t it?

"How could..."

Hearing this, Mokuyama Haruo paused, closed her eyes and remained silent for a moment, then fell to the ground like a weak doll as if all strength had left her body. Seeing this, Saten Reiko couldn’t help but ask.

"Dr. Mokuyama, is it really you? Are you the mastermind behind the Fantasy Manipulator?"

"Yes... it is indeed me..."

While speaking, Mokuyama Haruo nodded.

"Why did you do such a thing?"

"I..."

Faced with Saten Reiko’s inquiry and resembling every boss whose plans have failed, Mokuyama Haruo confessed her motives, which were basically identical to what Fang Zheng saw in the animation. Mokuyama Haruo was originally just an ordinary researcher, later she participated in a project, responsible for taking care of the children involved in the plan. And in the process of caring for these children, Mokuyama Haruo gradually developed emotions with them.

However, when the formal experiment commenced, the experiment encountered issues, resulting in those children completely losing consciousness, becoming vegetative.

Not only that...

"Only afterwards did I learn it wasn’t an accident at all!"

Mokuyama Haruo furiously punched the floor.

"It was all planned; those children... those children were just discarded like lab rats!!"

"..."

Upon hearing this, Saten Reiko and Kuroko Shirai were both stunned, and after a while, Kuroko Shirai spoke.

"You, you can notify the Guard Officer..."

"What’s the use of those guys who can’t even walk without their superiors? Don’t even mention them, those guys are not even as competent as the police in detective dramas."

Fang Zheng sneered, interrupting Kuroko Shirai, and though Kuroko Shirai wanted to refute, thinking about how the Guard Officer has indeed been ineffective recently... she seemed to have nothing to argue about. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

"But what’s this got to do with you creating the Fantasy Manipulator?"

"I wanted to treat those kids, to restore their consciousness, also to simulate the cause of the accident, I repeatedly applied twenty-three times for the use of the Tree Diagram designer. If the computation power of the Tree Diagram designer could be utilized, those kids might be saved... But all applications were rejected!"

Speaking here, Mokuyama Haruo stood up angrily.

"The Coordinating Council is all the same; no one can be trusted! Therefore, I had to use this method to obtain enormous computational power, then save those kids! As long as those kids can be saved, I would do anything, even if it means going against everyone in this city!"

But soon, Mokuyama Haruo lowered her head weakly.

"But now... it’s all over, the Fantasy Manipulator network is completely dissolved... you guys came to catch me too... hehe..."

"Uh... this..."

Saten Reiko and Kuroko Shirai exchanged uneasy glances. To be honest, at first, they intended to bring the creator of the Fantasy Manipulator to justice, but after listening to Mokuyama Haruo, they weren’t quite sure what to do next......

However, at this moment, Fang Zheng also spoke up.

"Alright, alright, stop pretending to be innocent. Mokuhara Genki isn’t a good person, and you’re not much better. Conducting experiments with ten thousand people’s brains, to be honest, I think you’re worse than Mokuhara Genki. He only messed with a few kids, but you’ve harmed over ten thousand people."

"But I have prepared a treatment device for the Fantasy Manipulator."

Mokuyama Haruo looked at Fang Zheng and spoke up.

"There will be no side effects, it won’t harm anyone!"

"Ha? Are you dreaming?"

However, Fang Zheng sneered at what Mokuyama Haruo said. He reached out and patted the head of Kuroko Shirai beside him.

"See this girl beside me? Not long ago, she got five ribs kicked and fractured by someone using the Fantasy Manipulator, almost ruining her face...... And now you’re telling me it won’t harm anyone? I wouldn’t dare guarantee with a random experiment involving ten thousand people that everything would be fine, yet you’re pretty confident, huh? Shirai, tell her how many victims there have been since the Fantasy Manipulator spread."

"Um......"

Hearing Fang Zheng’s inquiry, Kuroko Shirai hesitated for a moment.

"Currently, including the previously injured Guard Officer from a virtual explosion, there are about five hundred people in the hospital."

"Did you hear that?"

Fang Zheng snorted coldly and looked at Mokuyama Haruo. Mokuyama Haruo lowered her head in silence—in fact, she didn’t know what to say.

"...... So, Mr. Fang Zheng, what should we do now? Should we call the Guard Officers?"

Saten Reiko felt genuinely troubled at this point. To be honest, she initially sympathized with Mokuyama Haruo, but Fang Zheng’s words reminded her of the chubby guy she saw not long ago—he wanted to buy a Fantasy Manipulator but ended up being cheated out of ten million yen by those thugs, and even got beaten up. Moreover, she and Kuroko Shirai also suffered quite a bit because of this...... Saten Reiko didn’t have any particular resentment about it, but when she thought that others might also suffer because of this, she became a bit undecided.

"Of course, I’ve already decided."

As he spoke, Fang Zheng stood up and walked over to Mokuyama Haruo.

"You just said that you’d do anything to save those kids, right?"

"That’s right."

"Very well, then sign this."

While speaking, Fang Zheng took out a contract and handed it to Mokuyama Haruo. Seeing this contract, Mokuyama Haruo froze.

"What is this?"

"A contract. You will work at my Quantum Neural Research Institute for at least ten years. As compensation, I will provide you with sufficient computing resources...... No problem, right? I’ll give you the resources; whether or not you can create something depends on yourself."

"What, how is this possible?"

Looking at the contract in front of her, Mokuyama Haruo was stunned.

"Are you saying you have computing resources comparable to the Tree Diagram Designer? That’s impossible! The Tree Diagram Designer is......"

"Come on, it’s just a lousy computer, yet you talk about it like it’s some sort of immortality device. Other than being a bit more accurate in weather forecasting, it’s completely useless, all nonsense."

Fang Zheng lazily interrupted Mokuyama Haruo’s words.

"I can assure you that the computing resources I provide exceed that broken machine by hundreds of times. So? Want to use it? If not, we’ll just cuff her and send her to the Guard Officers, Shirai."

"No, I’m willing! Of course, I’m willing!"

Upon hearing this, Mokuyama Haruo no longer hesitated and quickly grabbed the contract, signing it swiftly. After confirming that she had finished signing, Fang Zheng also took the contract, flipped through it, and then nodded in satisfaction, snapping his fingers.

"Alright, to the research institute."

"Wait, Mr. Fang Zheng, are you sure this is okay?"

Kuroko Shirai and Saten Reiko were completely confused at this point. It wasn’t until Fang Zheng was about to turn and leave that Kuroko Shirai reacted and hastily asked.

"What could be the problem?"

"Doing this, with the Guard Officers......"

"The Guard Officers hadn’t filed any report, right? If that’s the case, then as far as they’re concerned, this matter doesn’t exist. This whole time, it was you handling it, wasn’t it?"

"Uh...... that’s true......"

Kuroko Shirai was a bit conflicted. Indeed, the Guard Officers hadn’t taken any action or paid much attention to the matter. In fact, all this time, it was only Kuroko Shirai and Hatsuharu following up on the Fantasy Manipulator issue----------now Kuroko Shirai finally understood why Fang Zheng brought her along.

"So what’s your decision?"

"...... Just do as Mr. Fang Zheng said."

In the end, Kuroko Shirai also gave her answer with helplessness.