Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 138 Examining the Corpse (Eighth Update)

The workshop's heavy metal doors closed behind them, shutting out the complex gazes of the Mann team members.

The space returned to its usual silence, with only the low hum of the energy pipelines and the slight hiss of the cooling system in the background.

Chen Yu's massive, heavy, dark red body turned toward the corpse on the low-temperature platform.

The servo skull hovered silently to one side, its steady beams of light projected from the eye sockets clearly illuminating the remains of Lucky Bartmore.

“Start recording, old buddy,” Chen Yu said in a low voice, his mechanical finger swiping across the console to bring up several analysis interfaces. “Research sample: Lucky Bartommos, a key figure in the history of local network technology, estimated to have died more than fifty years ago.”

He first conducted a basic physical state assessment.

Several servo-controlled skulls surround Barthemos' remains, equipped with high-precision sensors to perform a full-range scan of the body.

“External observation: male, aged between twenty-five and thirty at the time of death,” he stated calmly as he scanned. “Lean build, with less muscle mass than the standard for a soldier, but the arrangement of muscle fibers showed an unusual fineness, which may be related to the extremely high requirements for nerve conduction efficiency.”

There were no obvious external injuries on the skin surface, and the distribution of livor mortis was consistent with the characteristics of long-term low temperature and fixed posture preservation.

Analysis of nail residue... mainly consisted of keratin and trace amounts of insulating material debris, consistent with characteristics of prolonged, precise manual manipulation.

A mechanical tentacle moved from behind Chen Yu to the head of the corpse.

“The skull structure is intact, with no signs of implant penetration. This is very interesting,” Chen Yu said with a hint of interest. “In a world where people generally rely on implants to enhance their cognition, this individual, who has achieved legendary data processing capabilities with his native brain, must have a unique physiological structure.”

He initiated a deeper scan: "To conduct non-destructive testing of the internal structures of the skull, focusing on analyzing the density and sulcus complexity of the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, and corpus callosum."

The data stream scrolls rapidly on the projection screen.

A moment later, Chen Yu made a soft sound, like air passing through, indicating that he had noticed something amiss.

“The density of neurons in the prefrontal cortex exceeds the local human baseline by 37 percent, and the number and complexity of nerve fiber connections in the corpus callosum are exceptionally developed, almost twice that of the standard model,” he continued. “This explains why he is able to perform superhuman multi-threaded logical processing and information integration.”

The area of ​​the sulci and gyri of the cerebral cortex is also 18 percent larger than the average... a biological processor naturally optimized for processing massive amounts of information.

His attention shifted to the corpse's spine and limbs.

“No obvious signs of reinforcement or modification were found in the spinal cord structure, but the thickness of the nerve bundles was unusual. The peripheral nerve nodes… well, there were multiple microscopic adaptive thickenings,” he observed the data feedback. “This is more like physiological reinforcement caused by long-term extreme use than artificial intervention.”

“The intricate structure of his hand bones and joints, along with the tendon attachment points, indicates that his fingers once possessed extremely high dexterity and reaction speed,” Chen Yu added. “This aligns with his top-tier agility in reality. It wasn’t designed for combat, but rather for ultimate operational precision.”

After completing the basic physiological assessment, Chen Yu began examining any potential technical interfaces. "Look for non-standard biological interfaces or residual implant signals," he commanded.

The servo-controlled skull scanning mode switches and emits probe waves of different wavelengths.

“No large-scale, permanent neural implants or enhancement modules were found. Only a standard-model early network access module interface was found in the back of the neck, an old model, a rather primitive technology level,” he read the scan results. “In addition, there are traces of miniature data interfaces on both wrists, which appear to be for connecting external input devices.”

This discovery made Chen Yu pause for a moment. "In other words, the vast majority of his achievements relied on this unmodified native brain, and a basic interface that, by the standards of this world, was even considered outdated," he concluded. "With the pure computing power of the biological brain and its unique neural structure, he mastered and crushed the digital world of that era. Impressive."

He retrieved data fragments about Bartmouth from the depths of the cyberpunk world's network and from scattered information streams outside the Black Wall.

This information is mixed in with the company's incompletely destroyed files, logs scattered when the initial network crashed, and legends of hackers in later generations. It is full of contradictions and omissions, but the core point is consistent.

“The individual ‘Latchie Bartmos’ is generally considered to have reached the theoretical limit of the world’s framework for measuring human abilities, based on existing records,” Chen Yu said in a calm tone, as if stating a physical law. “Others reach this limit because their abilities stop there; he is at this limit because the measurement system itself cannot define a higher level.”

Existing physiological structural analyses, particularly the complexity and neural connectivity density of the cerebral cortex, support this assessment.

"Regarding its reaction speed, there is a saying that in the real world, its reaction speed has reached the theoretical peak of the human body; and once connected to the network, its reaction speed can break through this constraint and reach a level that cannot be measured under the conventional framework," he paused slightly, comparing the neural scan data with those legendary fragments in the processing core, "From the perspective of physiological structure, the conduction speed of its biological nerves has indeed reached a state of perfection."

However, that 'beyond-the-framework' performance is more likely to stem from its unique mapping and interaction patterns of consciousness in the data space.

His thought process was almost seamlessly integrated with the network environment, resulting in a qualitative leap in efficiency and giving people a sense of breaking through limits.

This is essentially an extreme optimization of the efficiency of the consciousness-machine interface, rather than a true contradiction of physical rules.

Chen Yu began to review Barthes Moss's life, piecing together these fragments of information within the core of his processing.

"He was exposed to the internet at the age of four, and his technical skills reached legendary levels during his adolescence. He defrauded multiple companies by exploiting millisecond-level time differences to obtain huge sums of money," he recounted. "His behavioral patterns show that he has an extraordinary insight into and ability to exploit loopholes in system rules."

“After achieving financial freedom, his behavior turned to exposing corporate scandals, leading to the bankruptcy of several small companies and damage to the reputation of large companies,” he continued. “The motivations seem to include a non-utilitarian sense of justice or dissatisfaction with the power structure.”

“The creation of the ‘Network Peace Zone’ in collaboration with individuals such as ‘Otto Cunningham’ and ‘Spider Murphy’ demonstrates their social organizational capabilities and awareness of protecting vulnerable groups.” Chen Yu noted this point, “and this move shows that they have certain social organizational capabilities and awareness of protecting vulnerable groups.”

His gaze lingered on the records of the Fourth Corporate War.

"Key event: Persuaded by the AI-powered 'Ultra Cunningham,' he intervened in the conflict between military technology and Arasaka. He single-handedly confronted Arasaka's anti-hacking department and achieved an overwhelming victory," he pulled up the relevant records. "The records describe his method as 'lighting up the initial cyberspace,' which is speculated to be some kind of large-scale, high-efficiency data attack or system overload method."

“Faced with the ‘Soul Killer’ program, we choose to remove the firewall and imprison the program in reverse,” Chen Yu analyzed the tactic. “This tactic is extremely risky, and its successful execution depends on the instantaneous and complete analysis of the target program’s operating mechanism, as well as the extreme stability of one’s own consciousness structure. The unique physiological structure of its brain may be the key.”

(End of this chapter)