Inside the Snail Shell, a large number of mind flayers, goblins, orcs, and gnoll slaves were busy setting up some psychic devices.

As the Fourth Scourge plan unfolds, this semi-living magic ship powered by psionic energy needs to be transformed into a huge mobile signal transmitter so that it can move between different planes, crystal walls, and even the universe.

What these guys are doing now is to carry out a series of complex and bold modifications to the Snail Shell Ship, temporarily abandoning all speed, defense and attack capabilities, and only pursuing signal stability and coverage.

Of course, this is not easy.

Because although the mind flayers' psychic technology is the most advanced and powerful in the universe, not every mind flayer community has mastered all the technologies of the entire race.

Especially the snail-shell ship that was captured by the mad wizard and taken into the underground maze. Its original main brain had been destroyed once by the crazy attack of the Githyanki.

Although the Heartbreaker, Isemedon, recovered most of the knowledge and technology afterwards, a lot was inevitably lost.

In order to make up for the poor performance of some psychic equipment caused by the loss of this knowledge and technology, the only thing that can be done at present is to enlarge the size of the equipment and then use quantity to make up for the lack of quality.

At a glance, the internal corridors of the ship are almost covered by densely packed energy transmission lines and signal amplifiers that look like octopus tentacles.

On the top of the huge conch-shaped shell, there is a biological antenna with automatic retractable function, which is specifically used to amplify psychic signals.

However, Zuo Si obviously did not come here today to check the progress of the entire plan, so he just took a rough look and then walked directly into the room where the brain pool was located.

The moment he stepped over the threshold and entered, several mind flayers who were busy the previous second immediately knelt on one knee and greeted him in an extremely respectful tone.

"Owner!"

Isadora, who became the mastermind, also wanted to say something through the mental connection.

But before she could speak, Zuo Si raised his head and revealed a pair of cold eyes. He slowly walked to one of the mind flayers, stretched out his hand and grabbed the guy's neck. With his strength attribute of 31 points, he lifted him up from the ground and asked coldly, "Do you remember what I told you before?"

"No...you are not allowed to reveal the information about the Fourth Scourge Plan to anyone." The Mind Flayer, whose neck was stuck, stammered in response.

He was not a fool. He could feel the anger hidden beneath his master's calm and cold appearance, and he did not dare to make even the slightest struggle or resistance.

"Very good! Then tell me, did you obey the orders I gave you?" Zuo Si narrowed his eyes and continued to ask.

The Mind Flayer was obviously frightened by this attitude, and hurriedly defended himself, "Master, please calm down and listen to my explanation. Because the new main brain had too many uncontrollable factors, I thought of letting the most rational and calm Isadora replace it as the new main brain consciousness. Only in this way can the whole plan smoothly transition to the next stage..."

"That's enough! I'm not interested in your explanation, and I don't want to know your motives and reasons for doing this. I just need to confirm that you violated my orders."

As the last word came out of his mouth, Zuo Si suddenly raised his right index finger and shot a dazzling green light at the mind flayer's head.

moment!

The unfortunate guy turned into a pool of useless green dust without even having time to scream.

Sixth Ring Magic [Dissociation]! A truly terrifying magic that can leave no trace of a person's body.

Any creature with insufficient magic resistance and vitality will become what it is now in a matter of minutes once it is hit.

If we only calculate based on the lethality, the six-ring [Dissociation Technique] is even more amazing than the seven-ring [Finger of Death].

After killing this self-willed guy, Zuo Si swept his murderous eyes over the other mind flayers and said in a cold voice without any fluctuation: "Listen to me! Although I do not rule out your subjective initiative to solve some problems by yourself, it does not mean that you can violate the orders I issued. There can only be one voice here, and that is my voice. There can only be one absolute master, and that is me. Do you understand now?"

"Understood!"

The remaining few mind flayers immediately lowered their heads, not daring to look into those eyes that were as deep as black holes.

At this moment, they finally realized how strong their young master was in his bones. Like a tyrant, he would never allow his subordinates to disobey his orders.

Any self-righteous actions and calculations may be severely punished.

"From now on, you will take over the plan for the Fourth Disaster."

Zuo Si randomly assigned a mind flayer to replace the one who was turned into dust by the disintegration spell.

He was obviously very clear that behind Isadora's replacement of the Mastermind, there must be the mind flayer who was in charge of the Fourth Scourge plan and was secretly fanning the flames.

"As you wish, Master."

The designated mind flayer responded quickly, then turned around and left the room where the brain pool was located with several other of its kind.

After they all left, Zuo Si turned his gaze to the enlarged human brain in the brain pool. After a full minute, he asked, "Do you know what it means to be the master brain?"

"Of course! I will be your assistant, the most important tool in your hands, helping you achieve and complete countless miracles that are impossible in the eyes of outsiders, assisting you in creating a new civilization from scratch, and building a powerful army for you that can never be truly destroyed. From now on, I will become the most important thing around you, and I will be able to stay by your side forever, and that is enough."

Isadora, who became the mastermind, gave the answer through the mental connection.

Obviously, she knew the entire Fourth Disaster Plan and the horrific effects that would be brought about if the plan was pushed to its final stage, so she chose to actively merge with the main brain.

This way, he could prevent this part of his personality from being devoured by the other three Isadoras, and at the same time ensure that his position would never be shaken.

As for the "little thing" of giving up one's human identity, it is insignificant.

After figuring out the other person's thoughts, Zuo Si held his forehead and sighed speechlessly: "Alas - your seriously distorted personality and values ​​make me not know what to say."

Isadora responded nonchalantly, "You don't need to say anything. This is all my own decision and choice. And after becoming the Mastermind, my psychic abilities and talent for learning arcane magic have greatly improved. And... I already have some ideas about the Spiritual Master you mentioned before."

"Oh? What's your current psychic level? What's your arcane spellcasting level?" Zuo Si asked in an uncertain tone.

“I now have a LV17 Psion level, a LV20 Warlock level, and a LV11 Mage level.

After the first phase of the Fourth Scourge Plan is completed and 50,000 new mind flayer brains are absorbed, I can raise my psychic level to above LV25 and become a truly legendary mastermind.

Not only that!

With the significant increase in my intelligence level, my learning speed in arcane magic will also become very fast.

And through the thoughts, memories, experiences of those souls and the information they transmit back from controlling the body's activities outside, they can become increasingly powerful. "

When saying this, Isadora's originally calm tone clearly carried a hint of excitement and agitation.

Because after so long, I can finally help Zuo Si.

"The total professional level has reached forty-eight?" Zuo Si was obviously surprised.

Isadora answered without hesitation, "That's right. The LV15 Psion level and LV11 Mage level were both obtained after the clones devoured each other. After replacing the main brain's consciousness, my Psion level increased by two levels, and I also obtained the LV20 Warlock level."

"I see!"

Zuo Si instantly realized that the LV20 Warlock level was actually one of the many powerful abilities possessed by the Mastermind.

In addition, this legendary creature can also freely perform a series of psychic powers such as astral projection, charm monsters, detect thoughts, dominate humans, group suggestion, plane teleportation, mind blasting, etc.

It can be said that ordinary adventurers or adventure teams will not even have the chance to resist when they encounter the mastermind. They will be enchanted and controlled in minutes, and eventually become slaves or food for the mind flayer.

This is also the reason why Zuo Si has been unable to make up his mind to strengthen the new main brain.

There is no other reason, it's just that the power of this thing is too strong. If it is not controlled well, it will create a powerful enemy out of thin air.

Of course, with Isadora becoming the main brain's consciousness, this hidden danger has now been eliminated.

After realizing this, Zuo Si quickly took out the box full of outstanding talents from his pocket and gently threw it into the cage built with tentacles and flesh buds next to him.

moment!

A tentacle reached in and opened the sealed box, and thirty souls of elites from all walks of life on Earth were released.

However, before they could react to what was happening, they were immediately pulled into an extremely real illusion by the powerful mental power of the main brain.

…

"This... this looks like a medieval tavern?"

Dr. White stared at the unfamiliar environment around him, his face full of shock and disbelief.

Not only him, the other twenty-nine people had similar reactions.

Because they all remember very clearly that they are 100% dead and only their souls have been preserved.

But now, not only can they be seen by others as if they were alive, but they can also touch things with their hands and even smell the strange smell mixed with food, alcohol, tobacco and sweat.

Most importantly, this tavern doesn't look like it's on Earth.

The guests on the first, second and third floors are not only dressed in medieval style, but also look like dwarves, elves, halflings, gnomes, orcs and other species that only appear in myths and legends.

At the feet of one of the druids was a bear that was bigger than a cow.

All of this made the thirty souls from Earth fall into deep thought.

Who am I? Where am I? Is everything I see before my eyes an illusion or real?

Fortunately, Zuo Si did not confuse these people for too long. He soon appeared out of nowhere next to the bar, raised a cup full of drinks and asked with a smile: "Does anyone of you want to have a drink?"

"Oh - damn! You finally showed up! Where on earth is this place? Why do we act like we're still alive even though we're all dead?"

Dr. White was the first to come forward and expressed all his doubts and confusions.

Zuo Si did not answer immediately, but gestured to Isadora, who had regained her human form and was standing at the bar.

The latter understood instantly, raised his hand and snapped his fingers lightly.

"Pop!" With a crisp sound, thirty experts, including Dr. White, suddenly had a glass filled with dark red wine and a plate of special barbecue stacked in the shape of a pyramid.

It doesn't matter if you don't touch it. Once you touch it, it immediately arouses your subconscious desire for food and alcoholic beverages, and you all sit around the bar and concentrate on eating.

They devoured the food like starving ghosts.

Dr. White ate the fastest, finishing the barbecue on the plate in just a few minutes. Then, while tasting the wine, he sighed, "I never thought that I could still taste food and wine after death. If this is the world you mentioned, then I am beginning to look forward to my future."

"That's right! Eating and drinking are the most basic needs of human beings, and they also produce a lot of happy emotions. If all this is true, then I think there will be many dying people on the earth rushing to sign that contract and continue their lives in another identity and form." Chris, a sociologist with no hair on his head, nodded in agreement.

"Haha, what is your definition of true and false? If a computer or magic can perfectly simulate everything in the real world, including gravity, physical rules, smell, taste, touch, visual effects, and even create people with independent personalities, memories, and logical thinking from scratch, how is such a virtual world different from reality?"

Zuo Si put forward a hypothesis with a smile.

The experts and scholars present fell silent upon hearing this.

Because virtual reality technology was proposed a long time ago on Earth, and its earliest embryonic stage can be traced back to 1963, which was the eighteenth year after the invention of the first electronic computer.

After 1990, virtual reality was no longer a vague concept on paper, but entered the stage of practice, improvement and application.

Since everyone present is an elite in the field of scientific research, they are not unfamiliar with the concept of virtual reality. They also know that with the current level of technology, let alone virtual reality, even those things in the aerospace field that are manufactured at no cost cannot deceive the human eye.

Not to mention taste, touch, the laws of physics, gravity, and the difficulty of creating virtual characters.

Especially as a physicist, McCas has been observing the actions of other guests around him. From time to time, he would pick up empty plates and move them left and right, or gently lift them up and throw them on the table, looking for physical phenomena that may be inconsistent with common sense.

But unfortunately, after trying several times, he couldn't find even the slightest flaw.

Finally, sociologist Chris took a deep breath and said, "You are right. If everything in the real world can be perfectly simulated, then there will be no difference between reality and fantasy. Even the virtual world that does not consume too many resources is more attractive than the real world. But I am still very curious, is this the real world or the virtual world?"

"This is a virtual world, an illusion magic called Waterdeep Replica. You will stay here for a while until the clones prepared for you mature."

As he spoke, Zuo Si stood up, walked to the door, and pushed open the tightly closed door with force.

The next second...

A complete Waterdeep City appeared before everyone.

Obviously, compared to Isameton who has never been to the real Waterdeep, Isadora has not only been there, but also lived in Waterdeep for a period of time, so she can simulate the general appearance of the entire Waterdeep.

Although there may be some flaws in some places, the problem is that these experts and professors are not native residents of Waterdeep and cannot see anything wrong at all.

"You...you actually created a virtual city that is almost the same as the real world?"

Dr. White slowly walked out of the tavern and onto the street. Looking at the bustling crowd around him and the various shops on both sides of the road, his whole body was trembling slightly with excitement.

But Zuo Si smiled and shook his head: "No, this place was not created by me. Please allow me to introduce to you Isadora, the creator and controller of this virtual city, who is also responsible for keeping your souls."

moment!

Thirty pairs of eyes followed the direction of Zuo Si's finger and focused on the girl.

Isadora was not shy either. She walked straight out from the bar and gracefully bowed like a lady: "Welcome to the virtual world I created.

As a talent chosen by Soth, you can enjoy fine wine, delicious food, and even some special services to satisfy your desires in the replica of Waterdeep.

If you are interested in magic, you can also go to the Mage Tower to read related books. I have instilled the relevant language into your memory.

But please note that you must not leave the area of ​​Waterdeep City, otherwise you will bear the consequences at your own risk."

"Replica of Waterdeep? In other words... there really is a place called Waterdeep?" Dr. White's eyes lit up slightly.

Zuo Si smiled and replied, "Yes. Waterdeep is a famous city in the world we are in now. But don't worry about it, because it is not important. In a few hours at most, we will leave and go to another world. That is where you are needed to contribute your wisdom and talents."

"Two worlds? Do you have some kind of super-time and space teleportation technology that can teleport between two different planets regardless of the distance?"

McCas, a physicist, suddenly became excited.

Since the Einstein-Rosen bridge, also known as the "wormhole", was proposed in the physics community, many scientists have been trying to find evidence of its existence.

But unfortunately, so far this kind of time and space tunnel still remains in the stage of hypothesis and conjecture.

At best, it provides material for some science fiction movies, novels, or comics.

But now, McCas saw a real-life example right in front of him, how could he not be excited.

Perhaps even if he had figured out the knowledge and principles contained in it, he would not have won the Nobel Prize after he died, but it was good that he was able to satisfy his curiosity and solve a problem that has plagued human civilization on Earth for decades.

"No, professor. Strictly speaking, the magical universe we live in is a little different from the universe you understand. Although there are concepts of space and planets here, they are not physically in the same space. Do you understand what I mean?" Zuo Si tried to explain.

"In the same universe, but not in the same space in the physical sense?" Physicist McCas was stunned.

Zuo Si nodded slightly and responded in a very affirmative tone: "That's it.

There are additional concepts of planes and crystal walls here.

You can understand that the crystal wall is equivalent to an independent star system.

Some of them are very large, while others are very small, and are covered by a huge spherical shell.

The concept of plane is even more complicated.

The most typical one is the material plane, which is planets and galaxies formed mainly by matter.

In addition, there are the elemental plane formed by elements, the astral plane formed by spirit, and a series of outer planes divided by good and evil, order and chaos tendencies, such as Baator, the Abyss, the Seven Heavens, the Sea of ​​Chaos, the Mechanical Realm, the Paradise, the Unrestrained Wilderness, the Gray Wilderness, etc.

The planes and crystal walls are actually completely isolated from each other, and only some powerful magic, portals and special magic ships can pass through them.

Of course, the above conclusions are all drawn from a magic perspective.

If you are interested in conducting research from a scientific perspective, I would be happy to provide support.

In fact, I am also very curious about these seemingly plausible things described in the book. "

There is no doubt that the universe where the world of Toril is located is not only complex in structure, but also has as many as seventeen outer planes, including some kingdoms established by gods.

Even Zuo Si couldn't explain it very well and could only give some general scientific advice.

As for whether the other party can understand or not, that is none of his business.

Fortunately, McCas was prepared and immediately said with a smile, "It sounds like I won't be short of research topics for a long time."

"It would be more appropriate to replace 'you' with 'you all'. Because what you are about to face is a world that has just experienced a catastrophe and the entire human race is struggling on the brink of extinction. This means that your mission is to shoulder the responsibility of rekindling the fire of civilization." Zuo Si said meaningfully.

"No problem! We're all dead anyway, and have nearly unlimited time to accomplish this goal."

Monte, an expert in geology and materials science, shrugged indifferently.

Sociologist Chris added: "If the human race in that world is really on the verge of extinction, then our manpower is definitely not enough. Apart from other things, it will take a lot of time and energy to restore the population and avoid the harm caused by inbreeding. We need more people, at least tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of immigrants."

Zuo Sishen nodded in agreement: "You are right. I have thought about this a long time ago. In fact, the reason why I recruited you is that I hope you can help me consult about the population structure of immigrants, the gender ratio of men and women, and the specific number of various professional skills required."

"You're not going to just bring millions of souls from Earth and stuff them into clones, are you?

I suggest you don't do that.

Because these souls from the earth are very likely to have conflicts due to nationality, nationality, religious beliefs, historical hatred, etc., and may even directly tear the entire society apart.

After all, you don't have enough population to assimilate them, and the result will only be chaos."

Chris warned with a serious expression.

To be precise, this is also the challenge that many immigration countries have been facing.

"Don't worry, the situation you just mentioned will not happen.

First of all, I will eliminate those with racist tendencies and religious fanatics during the selection stage, and only keep those who have received higher education or have certain professional techniques and skills.

Secondly, their memories will be tampered with, and most of them will never know the truth in their entire lives. Instead, they will be influenced by illusion magic and believe that they are still alive and are just playing an extremely real virtual game.

Finally, and most importantly, the clones prepared for these people are not limited to humans.

There will also be elves, dwarves, orcs, half-orcs, gnolls, kobolds, hobgoblins, bugbears, ogres, trolls and other creatures, as well as the hybrids born between them.

I would even delete the characters and language they originally knew and instill a new language and writing system in them.

As a result, it is impossible for them to know each other who the other is, what country and ethnicity they come from, and whether their skin color is white or dark.

I will just think that the other person is a so-called player just like me.

In this way, complex national, ethnic, religious and historical conflicts will be transformed into the simplest conflicts of interest, which are much easier to handle. "

As he said this, the corners of Zuo Si's mouth slightly raised, revealing an unfathomable smile.

Obviously, the reason why he told the truth to these personally selected high-end talents was because he needed them to form a team to assist him in conducting a series of research.

As for the rest, they should just do their promising job as "The Fourth Disaster" honestly.

(End of this chapter)