Her face remained expressionless, but she felt her heart tremble even faster.
[A request to access the progress of the host’s adaptive neural architecture has been detected.]
[Request has been labeled as HIGH RISK.
External access is restricted.
A limited diagnostic view is currently being authorized.]
[Compiling host’s neural model…]
[Analyzing:
• Sensory networks
• Motor networks
• Language networks
• Memory networks
• Executive function networks
• Emotional networks …..]
The list went on and on, and on the last line, it showed how long the analysis would take to finish.
[Estimated completion: 02:00:13]
Alice finally realized that things could go even worse.
Although she did not quite understand everything, she faintly realized what was happening.
Her eyes were especially rooted to one specific word.
Language networks.
Quickly piecing the clues together, she realized that these people could pretty much see everything that was going on inside her brain.
Then they would soon discover that she could already understand them all along since waking up, but had not shown signs of any attempt to tell them at all.
They would find it incredibly suspicious!
Meanwhile, seeing the time prompt, Dr.
Smith frowned.
“Two hours, that’s quite a long wait.”
“Check the other parameters in the meantime.”
“On it.”
[A request to access the secondary subsystem information has been detected.]
[The access request is granted.]
[A secondary subsystem has been detected in the host’s body.
Nanofluid System.
Status: Active
Active nanobots: 8,422,113,947….]
There was a long list in the window, before another access request prompt flashed and changed the contents again to display a new set of detailed data that the researchers wanted to know.
Alice’s attention was no longer on the constantly changing floating window.
Her face was lowered to hide the sharp look in her eyes, and she was inwardly calculating what she could do at the moment.
In the end, she decided to spill the beans voluntarily.
This was the only viable option.
Fortunately, Alice was currently in a child’s body and had clearly not yet learned all this complicated knowledge.
Dr.
Smith finally drew a long breath after gathering most of the data needed from the neural interface, although there were some that needed more time to load due to the sensitive and complex nature of the data.
“Hmm?”
Dr.
Smith felt a tug on his lab coat.
He looked down and saw the little girl looking at him with wide eyes, with lips pursed slightly in ‘bashful’ excitement.
It was the first time he saw the little girl show such a vivid expression.
Oh, but it is not surprising at all.
Dr.
Smith chuckled.
“Seeing such a wondrous thing in front of your eyes for the first time, it must have been quite exciting, huh?” This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
The little girl nodded heavily.
“I knew it.
I was like that too after I volunteered to have the BCI chip implanted in my head during my youth.
See that guy over there?
He was even more exaggerated…”
His voice suddenly trailed off and his head spun back towards the little girl at breakneck speed that his neck hurt.
“You, you…” He sputtered for a moment.
“Do you understand me?”
Under everyone’s shocked gazes, the little girl innocently nodded, before tilting her head to look at them with a large pair of electric blue eyes.
Look at me, so innocent, just an ignorant little girl.
Not suspicious at all.
…
…
As expected, no one doubted a nine-year-old child’s intentions—especially those of a nine-year-old child who had been in a prolonged coma since the age of three and had lost her memories.
The laboratory was busy celebrating.
Everyone was thrilled!
From having no language ability at all, Test Subject C3 could now completely understand them!
To think that the integrated project involving Neural-Link and nanofluid assistive technology had actually produced such miraculous results!
If it were possible, all the researchers would have wanted to open up Test Subject C3’s brain and see just how this had turned out.
Their eyes were glowing with a green light as they looked at the little girl on the monitor.
Alice, who was sitting alone on the bed and thinking of what kind of fate awaited her in this new world, felt the hair on the back of her neck standing straight, and she shivered unconsciously.
???
She looked around confusedly, wondering where that weird sensation came from just now.
The researchers had already looked away in resignation, knowing that their thoughts of wanting to cut open her skull were pointless.
Alas, even if they did, they would only see a mess of red and white.
They could only turn their fervent attention and hopes towards the neural interface.
“That security measure…”
“Should we?”
“But that will be dangerous, we can’t afford to lose this one.”
“Ugh…”
At this point, they were all considering submitting an application to headquarters to bypass the security program embedded in the neural interface.
But rationality finally managed to hold them back.
It was true that bypassing such security measures could easily trigger the brain’s natural protective responses.
The brain was such a sensitive organ that even the tiniest mistake could have immense repercussions.
They only had this one, unique Test Subject C3!
They could not afford to lose this precious test subject!
Thus, during their daily checks, the pitiful researchers could only swarm around the test subject like bees around honey, briefly access her neural interface through the decoding computer to gather data, and then return to the conference room to analyze the information together.
While the researchers were running around like headless chickens, Alice was about to enter another battlefield of her own.
A rehabilitation program.
Currently, Dr.
Smith was in charge of observing the results of the two most recent clinical tests conducted on Alice.
The first clinical test was the integrated project of neural interface and nanofluid working together to optimize the body, which everyone initially thought had failed.
But now, with the enhancement of the nanobots’ energy configuration, things suddenly took a turn.
The integrated project finally showed astounding results!
Dr.
Smith naturally hoped to maximize the achievements they could obtain from this.
The other researchers were only part of the nano-assistive technology department, but he himself was a core researcher in both the nano-assistive technology and Neural-Link departments.
The better the test subject’s body improved, the more successful the project results would become.
Thus, he intended to squeeze as much potential out of Test Subject C3 as possible, maximizing the difference between her baseline condition and her eventual endpoint.
Dr.
Smith made a call through the internal network.
“My dear friend, how is it?
I heard the medical staff will be coming soon.
Did they approve your request?”
“All the paperwork on our side has been processed.
There’s just a slight delay because they’ll incorporate the pilot trial for the augmented feature of the neuro-medical pod.
We have to make sure there are no problems before we send them the neuro-medical pod.”
“So it’s been approved!
That’s good news.”
“Your test subject is pretty lucky.
We used to dream about full AR and VR back when we were younger, but we never really got to experience the real deal.”
“Aren’t we about to, now?” Dr.
Smith chuckled.
“I’ve long planned to apply for a neural interface once Neural-Link rolls out and get myself a neuro-medical pod while I’m at it.”
“The perks of being insiders,” the other person laughed.
“Everyone here in the second division is excited too.
It won’t be long, and our team will definitely deliver the most immersive AR and VR experience possible!”
“I’m looking forward to it.
Don’t forget to keep me updated.”
“You too.”
….
….
A week passed, and Alice had gradually calmed her inner anxiety.
She had realized that although the researchers were using her as a test subject, they would still do their best to ensure her safety.
After all, her safety and recovery meant success for them.
There was no use constantly worrying about something she could not control.
Life was indeed much better now than her previous life.
So after confirming that there was no immediate danger, Alice had quickly adjusted her mindset and decided to sit back and enjoy life again.
Of course, she was no longer as unguarded as before.
She no longer ignored the details in her surroundings, taking note of every conversation she overheard.
Soon, Alice began to see a few perks in being a test subject highly valued by the laboratory.
Initially, Alice had thought that the previous treatment which she had considered a VIP treatment befitting of a queen was already very good, considering that she could eat delicious food and drink clean water to her heart’s content.
But apparently, that was not a VIP treatment at all!
“Delicious?
You think that thing is delicious?”
Dr.
Smith stared in disgust at the bowl of white nutritional porridge and the glass of water containing a dissolved nutrition tablet, then at the word ‘delicious’ that Alice had typed on the tablet.
Ever since the researchers discovered that Alice had become literate, they had given her a tablet so she could express herself freely.
Yes, the language optimization also included the writing ability in the package!
This is much more delicious than the food I ate in the previous life.
The little girl nodded in response to Dr.
Smith, put her tablet aside, and began eating the gruel, as if tasting some exquisite cuisine.
Dr.
Smith snorted disdainfully.
Heh, I wonder how shocked you’ll be tomorrow once you taste real food.