Chen Xu was very surprised: "Won't this affect their work?"
The devil chuckled: "Of course not. On the contrary, this environment makes it easier for these scientists to keep in a good mood, thereby improving their work efficiency... Heh, on the shore of the island, we have specially prepared a villa like this for you. You can see the beautiful sea view from the villa, and you can also see these beautiful sea fish from the basement. It is very suitable for you and your few confidantes to live together."
Chen Xu laughed. Who says demons are all hateful and fearsome? At least they all have one thing in common: they know what you like and will make arrangements in advance.
Instead of rushing to see the villa, Chen Xu first toured the research base.
To be honest, Chen Xu had never seen such a large research base before. He had never even seen many of the instruments before, let alone heard their names. The demon next to him was acting as an explainer, introducing Chen Xu to each instrument and its function.
The instruments and equipment here are mostly used for life science research, including DNA analysis instruments. Chen Xu was familiar with this kind of experiment because he had spent some time with Dr. Li. However, without Dr. Li's explanation, Chen Xu knew that the instruments here were far more advanced than those in the Hexie University laboratory building. Many of these instruments were not something that could be bought with money.
"Life is fragile, but it is also strong. More importantly, there are so many unknowns in life waiting for us to explore," the demon said as he walked with Chen Xu, clearly having done his research in this area. "Human wisdom is boundless. Otherwise, we humans would be so fragile, yet we have created such an advanced civilization."
Chen Xu's mind raced as he heard the key phrase "human beings today"!
He saw the devil give him a meaningful smile, but Chen Xu remained silent, waiting for him to continue.
The devil chuckled, "Mr. Chen, are you satisfied with our gift?"
"Not bad." Chen Xu thought for a moment, then added, "Very good."
"That's good," the demon clapped his hands and laughed. "Since we have done something to your satisfaction, then I will be so petty as to say that we have satisfied you. In this respect, compared to the stingy X organization, our organization has done a better job than them. So, I hope that Mr. Chen can also tell his master that we hope that what we receive is no less than what the X organization receives."
"He's quite the scoundrel, but I like it," Chen Xu laughed. The X organization, in order to curry favor with him, never dared to openly ask for anything. They always used roundabout and indirect methods to beat around the bush. But this "Tarot" organization was completely different. They would give you something and then directly ask for something in return.
This style does indeed resemble the straightforward, direct approach of Europeans, which rarely involves flexibility or formality.
Unlike the Chinese, they are not overly modest.
However, Chen Xu doesn't reject this style now, because, in reality, Chen Xu and they are not friends at all; they are just using each other.
Since it's a matter of mutual benefit, there's no need to try to build rapport or get close; it's better to be straightforward.
Moreover, although the devil kept saying that the guy who ordered the assassination of Chen Xu had been executed... how could Chen Xu know if he was telling the truth? And even if he was telling the truth, so what? In Chen Xu's opinion, that guy deserved to die... not because he tried to assassinate him, but because he failed! In the end, he caused the organization to suffer heavy losses!
For this reason alone, he has to die!
Kill him, then try to please yourself? Hey, do you really think Chen Xu is an idiot?
Therefore, Chen Xu was also eager to give some research materials to the devil... You can do your research, the greater the results achieved in this century-long deception, the heavier the price you will pay!
So Chen Xu wasn't surprised at all by the devil's words. He smiled and said, "This All-Eat Island is now my property, so naturally I hope to develop it. Rest assured, I can keep my teacher's promise. My teacher's research can provide you with something that is at least one level higher than what the X Organization provides..."
The demon laughed: "Thank you very much then, but words are no proof..."
Chen Xu knew what he was going to say, and directly took out a USB drive from his pocket and handed it over: "Dr. Li's research on the smart drug is certainly a breakthrough, but it's not exactly a rare treasure. At the very least, the drug's temporary effects can lead to psychological dependence on it. My teacher's research in this area is clearly more advanced than yours. He uses drugs and electrical waves to stimulate the brain, thereby breaking through the forbidden zone of God, and permanently. This gives him a significant advantage..."
Chen Xu had something he kept to himself... but the brain, after being stimulated, would gradually become frantic, and mental abnormalities would occur. The consequences of forcibly using brain cells would lead to accelerated aging, the most obvious manifestation of which would be in the head. Just wait until all the hair falls out. Then, the more brain cells are developed, the shorter the lifespan will be. No one who forcibly develops more than 20% of their brain cells will live past 45 years old, and they all look like they died of old age. The older they get, the greater the side effects, and it will also lead to various other problems.
The Tarot organization's leadership has already discussed the "side effects" of smart drugs in detail.
Of course, they didn't know that this drug would cause irreversible damage to the human brain, but they were different from pure academics like Dr. Li. Their "dependence" on this kind of smart drug was an unavoidable, primal human instinct... it was unavoidable.
"So how does this 'development of the forbidden zone of God' compare to the X Organization? According to our intelligence, the X Organization is now able to increase the utilization rate of the human brain to 12% to 13%."
“Fifteen percent.” Chen Xu smiled confidently, pointing to his brain: “My brain development is twenty-seven percent. If we cooperate well, we might as well strengthen our cooperation in this area in the future.”
The demon's eyes suddenly lit up!
He understood Chen Xu's unspoken message... If 27% succeeded, what's another 15%? This information can be used directly once we get it back!
No one knows what the outcome of developing the "forbidden zone" of the human brain will be, but according to Chen Xu's information, before university he was just an ordinary student, at most a little smarter than the average person. But in his freshman year, he not only reached a very high level in hacking skills, but also experienced a crazy improvement in his physical fitness... In the eyes of the Tarot organization, this is obviously the credit of SMMH, and he may have opened the "forbidden zone" of God!
Little did he know, Chen Xu was inwardly sneering: "Go ahead and open it. After you've racked your brains, you'll understand what true, bloodless murder really means..."
Chapter 328 The New Jimmy
Chen Xu is much more ruthless than before, but a significant part of the reason is that he simply doesn't like this "Tarot"... After all, these guys wanted to kill him before! If Chen Xu hadn't been lucky and had enough strength, he wouldn't be in a position to negotiate with them and get benefits from them now.
Moreover, their overly "pragmatic" approach displeased Chen Xu.
This is a contradiction. Chen Xu doesn't want to get entangled with them, so he hopes everyone's transactions will be straightforward, with only transactions and no personal relationships! But if it's too straightforward, Chen Xu won't be happy either. After all, no one would be happy to face someone who only wants transactions, has no personal relationships, and even once wanted to kill him.
Chen Xu had mixed feelings about Organization X. Although he didn't approve of some of their methods, he also felt that their actions were "not necessarily wrong." This "not necessarily wrong" was quite subtle, since the world wasn't just black and white. Therefore, Chen Xu had always been careful to control Organization X, not giving them anything "good," because he knew that the "better" the things they gave them, the faster they would perish.
There's a saying that goes, "Whom God would destroy, He first makes mad."
Tarot, go crazy, go absolutely crazy!
The more insane you become, the closer you are to your demise.
"Have you been here before?" Chen Xu asked Jimmy, who was traveling with him, after using the excuse of needing to use the restroom to send the demon away. Jimmy had already submitted to Chen Xu as he captured wave after wave of assassins. Although Chen Xu didn't like this guy, he didn't make things difficult for him because, despite not having good intentions, he had done a good deed. Jimmy was also quite familiar with the Tarot organization and there was something he could do for him. So this time, Chen Xu brought Jimmy along without any fuss. The demon was also very accommodating and didn't say anything, treating the guy like he was invisible.
What could the demon really say? Jimmy wasn't his direct subordinate, so his betrayal had no impact on the demon whatsoever. Besides, even if it did have an impact, so what? A tiny little impact compared to the grand plan of the entire organization.
Jimmy wore a very strange helmet, and his expression was very respectful, almost to the point of humility... Consider this: Jimmy was, after all, a member of the Twelve-Petaled Golden Chrysanthemum clan before. How could Chen Xu have been so careless as to bring him here alone? He did this because he had something to rely on. In fact, the current Jimmy was no longer the same Jimmy he had been before. Although he still retained his memories, his mind had been controlled!
How exactly to control it is still just an experiment... an experiment taken from the "great hoax of the century." This experiment is indeed very effective, but as for what consequences it will cause... does Chen Xu need to consider these things?
Jimmy replied respectfully, "I've been here once, but that was ten years ago. I trained here once, on the east side of this island. It was a training camp, and this used to be an assassin training base in Asia, but the base was later moved to Myanmar."
"Oh? Why do we need to move?"
"I'm not entirely sure about that, but I can guess a bit. Most of us were selected by Taro from orphanages around the world... some were even kidnapped because of his potential. We've been trained since childhood. This sea base is like a perfect prison. When the children first arrived, many couldn't endure the almost cruel training methods and tried to escape, but in this base, they couldn't escape even if they wanted to. As for why it was suddenly moved later, it's probably because the organization's strategy changed somewhat in the later stages. From the early days of seeking only absolute elites, they adopted a policy of lowering the standards slightly to obtain more numbers. So, the new base was built near the Golden Triangle in Myanmar, so that the children would be exposed to bloodshed from a young age. That's why this base gradually fell into disuse."
"I see." Chen Xu nodded and teased, "Then you must have been quite skilled to stand out from so many people back then!"
Upon being "praised" by Chen Xu, Jimmy's face immediately showed a look of fear. He said, "No, no, it's just that my training is more focused on administrative work, belonging to the category of corporate espionage, so the requirements for physical skills are not that terrifying. But the training of real assassins can only be described as brutal."
"oh?"
Jimmy's face showed a look of lingering fear. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "There were more than 300 kids in our group back then, but only 50 were selected to be trained as commercial spies. Although the training was brutal, and we would often be whipped or go hungry, we were really satisfied... Looking at the other 200-plus candidates for assassins, we were truly content."
"What? Are they not doing well?"
"It's more than bad!" Jimmy's face twitched. "Their assassin group had a total of 267 people, and after six months, only 120 were left! Half of them died!"
Chen Xu was stunned. This was too cruel!
Jimmy looked pained: "I remember there was a girl, white, with beautiful sky-blue eyes..."
"There are girls too?!"
"Of course, because women actually have an advantage over men in many tasks."
Chen Xu understood what he meant, and although he felt helpless, he could only nod in agreement... Even heroes can't resist the charms of a beautiful woman! But he still had a question: "According to what you said, that girl should also be like you, a corporate spy, right? How come she was assigned to the assassin group?"
"Because they were trained for the purpose of killing!" Jimmy said fiercely. "Every year, the organization recruits many children, who are about six or seven years old. Every year, and this is just the number for one base..."
Chen Xu was secretly alarmed. How many children would that be? And these are in Asia. In some very poor countries in Africa, wouldn't there be even more children?
"Some very pretty girls, even though they're very young, you can tell they'll definitely grow up to be beauties. The organization carefully trains these girls, but of course, they show no mercy when it comes to punishment! Have you seen the movie 'Naked Weapon'? Actually, our organization's environment was similar to that, except there were both men and women... In fact, the girls had it even worse. Not only did they have to learn how to kill and undergo brutal training, but from the day they were brought in, they had to learn how to serve men!"
Chen Xu was startled: "I remember you just said that the children who were brought in were probably only..."
“Seven years old,” Jimmy’s face was ashen. “Only seven years old!”
You beast!
Although Chen Xu always claimed that he was not a good person and even called himself a lolicon, he liked little girls because they were cute. He said that there were three good things about little girls: soft waists and easy to push over. But he was just joking. How could he possibly lay a hand on a seven or eight-year-old girl?!
These people are truly a bunch of beasts!
"Over the past ten years, the organization has held a competition every three years, and in the end, it has only cultivated two killing gods. They are the most powerful assassins in the world. As long as they take action, there is no problem that they cannot solve. This is the breeding of Gu... Well, you know that I have some Chinese blood. I know that in ancient Miao areas of China, people raised Gu. They put a group of insects in a box and let them kill each other. The one that survives in the end is the strongest."
They use methods similar to raising poisonous insects to train assassins. Over three hundred people are trained annually, divided into groups of three. When their average age reaches 19, they engage in a brutal battle, where only one can survive! That one will be the strongest assassin!
One in a thousand!
Chen Xu gasped. The people selected through such brutal competition could truly be called "gods of death"!
However, Chen Xu could also understand why the twelve-petaled golden chrysanthemum changed its strategy later on.
This method of raising venomous insects does indeed produce terrifying assassins, even horrifying ones! However, it's incredibly inefficient and utterly foolish!
Admittedly, this method can cultivate the world's top assassins, but at the same time, they also lose countless top-notch assassins! For an assassin organization, people are endless, and while two people may be incredibly powerful, their numbers are naturally too few, pitifully few. If they don't change their methods, and something happens to one of their top assassins, their strength will be reduced by more than half!
"Then why didn't they send those two when they were trying to kill me?"
Jimmy looked at Chen Xu somewhat awkwardly. He really didn't know how to answer this question, but Chen Xu smiled with relief: "That's right, how could a mere student like me be qualified to ask the God of Slaughter to step in? But later I destroyed their base, and the higher-ups of Tarot must have thought about that, right? But in the end they still chose to make peace with me... God of Slaughter, tsk tsk, if I were to encounter them now, I'm afraid I really would be in mortal danger. Hmm, it seems I really am the protagonist, no doubt about it."
Jimmy didn't understand the meaning of the last sentence and could only look at Chen Xu with an awkward smile. Chen Xu chuckled and said, "Don't you usually read novels or watch TV dramas? Why do the villains in those shows ultimately fail? It's because they didn't pay attention to the protagonist in the early stages, giving him room to grow. Hmph, if a few killing gods came now, I'd probably be a little wary. I'd probably die at their hands eighty percent, no, ninety-five percent. But three years... give me three more years, let alone killing gods, even if they were real gods, what could they do to me?!"
Chen Xu is confident that three years and one base will be enough for him to do many of the things he has always dreamed of!
Tarot, they may have made a good plan, but their biggest mistake was giving themselves such room to grow. And three years later, many of the side effects of what they gained will become apparent. With the balance of power shifting, what does Chen Xu have to fear?
"Jimmy, from today onwards, I'm handing this island over to you."
I will provide you with a steady stream of funds. I don't care what methods you use. In three years, I will make sure the whole world dares not underestimate my All-Conquering Island!
Chapter 329 Going Mad
Why does Chen Xu trust Jimmy so much?
Because Jimmy now is not the same Jimmy he used to be!
Well, when people say this, the subtext is usually that the person has turned over a new leaf, like the Buddhist saying that once you enter the monastery, all worldly desires are emptied, and all past wrongs are no longer relevant to the current monk... Please, how is that possible? You kill someone and then just shave your head and everything's fine? But then again, if there hadn't been such rules in ancient times, there wouldn't have been Lu Zhishen and Wu Song.
The helmet Jimmy is wearing now is actually a brainwave controller.
This brainwave controller is unlike the kind that appears in many science fiction novels and movies, where wearing it on a person's head can completely control them, making them do whatever you tell them to do, not chase chickens when you tell them to beat a dog, or even die without them even flinching.
The brainwave controller that Chen Xu used was actually a very rudimentary product... because Chen Xu simply couldn't manufacture high-tech things; he had absolutely no ability to do so.
But if we keep it simple, it's not necessarily true that we can't make anything at all... like this helmet, for example.
This helmet is less of a brainwave controller and more of a subconscious hypnotist. It was made with Dr. Li's help, and despite its ugly appearance, it was quite expensive to make.
The principle behind this thing is actually quite simple: it involves placing a high-configuration microcomputer inside the helmet. This "computer" is naturally not the kind you usually see. Its main components are a CPU with extremely powerful computing capabilities, plus storage devices... These things can be obtained with money. The reason it can hypnotize is because Chen Xu put the simulated life form that his grandson Chen Fei left in the supercomputer into it.
Of course, Dr. Li's help was indispensable. Although Dr. Li was unaware of Chen Fei's existence, he was, after all, a world-leading brain research expert with an extremely high level of expertise in brain information exchange. With his help, Chen Xu added a subconscious signal transmitter to the helmet and then had Chen Fei control the signal to gradually and slowly influence Jimmy's thinking.
This influence wasn't like directly ordering someone in his brain, "You must obey Chen Xu!" Rather, it was a gentler, slower-acting, but safer and more effective method, having Chen Fei constantly remind him in his mind, "Chen Xu is a good person, and he spared your life and entrusted me with important responsibilities. A scholar will die for one who understands him; even if it costs me my life, I will fulfill all his requests..."
Every moment, whenever Jimmy thought of Chen Xu, this prompt would appear in his mind, and over time, he would naturally become devoted to Chen Xu.
Of course, this method isn't entirely without flaws. The biggest problem is that if this guy takes off his helmet, he might still remember Chen Xu's mistreatment of him until the hypnosis reaches a certain level. But that's not a problem now, because Chen Fei adds the line "This hat is a gift from Lord Chen Xu, and I can't take it off even if my head is cut off" to his hypnosis every day. Besides, with Chen Fei, this pseudo-AI, around, there's no fear of him suddenly waking up... Moreover, the island's armed forces have been completely taken over by Chen Xu, and the replacements are all elite veterans!
This is a matter of reaping what you sow.