Didn't you go to Teyvat to earn money to support me?

“Alright, thank you for your trouble, Your Excellency,” Claire said nonchalantly.

“Now you know to call me Your Excellency, you were probably so annoyed you wanted to kill me just now,” Otto joked. “But to put your mind at ease, I’ll tell you anyway, my friend. Brunhilde and Kiana’s compatibility rate is only 99%.”

"So tall?" Claire was taken aback.

"It's not high. For most people, this ratio would basically mean there's no parent-child relationship. Besides, Brunhilde and Siegfried are siblings, so their genetic similarity is naturally high. A 99% match rate is normal. Let me repeat, even two strangers have a 90% match rate."

Claire nodded in agreement. "That means Kiana is Siegfried's child."

Otto smiled without saying a word.

"Now, can we continue our plan?" The man changed the subject. "Through the complete cloning of Kiana, the survival rate of the K-series androids has been significantly improved. The new generation of androids all possess powerful talents that are no less than those of the Saintess lineage and the Knight lineage."

Claire listened absentmindedly, "Then when can we clone me and Bubu?"

"You're really impatient."

“After all, Bubu’s hope for the rest of his life might lie here. Bubu is young now and doesn’t know that a woman willing to bear his child is a good woman. Although he has let me down, hates me, and even despises me, he will realize after spending time with those young girls that the only person in this world who truly loves him unconditionally is me, only Claire Kaslana.” The witch wife touched her chest. “I have hurt him, so I must do everything I can to make it up to him.”

“You’re just trying to use one child to tie down another.” Otto clicked his tongue in amazement. “Your values, even in my opinion, are quite… shattered.”

"It was just that the love was extremely passionate."

"Let's get back to the main point. The K-series android technology is still immature. The first, second, and even third generations all had various flaws and were ultimately destroyed humanely. It wasn't until the fourth generation that stability was achieved, demonstrating superior adaptability and control over Honkai energy. How should I put it? The android formed by the fusion of Kaslana's blood and Schariac's blood will be the key to replacing bloodline inheritance, a giant leap forward in android technology!" Otto gazed at the countless infants floating in nutrient solutions in the incubation tanks in the room, a gentle light shining in his eyes. "Sooner or later, I will be able to create an android exactly like her, to replicate her, and to fulfill my five-hundred-year-old... long-cherished wish."

Neither of them showed even the slightest emotional reaction to the “humane destruction” of the lives of hundreds of androids across three generations.

“Congratulations in advance, but this kind of outrageous experiment will get you wanted by the United Nations. I believe most Valkyries wouldn't accept something like this. You'd better be careful; I don't want you to fall before you've even accomplished my goal.” Claire left the room, waving her hand. “I won't return the Oath of Judah to you yet. After all, if news of the Tower of Babel leaks to Cecilia, you can't expect Theresa to use this thing against her, can you?”

“That’s your daughter-in-law, how could you bear to do anything to her?” Otto laughed.

“Phil might be sad, but she’s still young, it doesn’t matter. Bubu’s life is tied to me, and I’m willing to do anything for her.”

“What a selfish mother,” Otto exclaimed.

It wasn't until long after Claire left that the electronic notification informed him she had departed the Tower of Babel. Otto sat down on the sofa, took a cigar from his jacket pocket, cut off the butt, and took a deep drag.

A phantom figure appeared behind them.

"You lied to her," the projected virtual character whispered.

“That’s not lying, that’s just skillful talking, Kallen,” Otto said in a low voice. “And the truth is, we don’t really know whose child Kiana is. I just selectively said things that Claire would like to hear. She’s a madwoman, an egoist. Once she finds out that what she wants has been defiled, she’ll be furious and lose her mind. Brunhilde has to be the one who can’t have children, otherwise, she might even kill me here, or even leak the Tower of Babel. You know, I don’t have many people who can handle her. Schicksal’s most powerful Valkyrie isn’t on our side this time.”

"These are all excuses, Otto. You're becoming more and more cunning." The AI ​​personality projected onto the screen was based on Kallen, the Holy Maiden of Destiny, from five hundred years ago. At this moment, she sighed softly, "I can't stop you, but you will lose."

“I told you I didn’t lie! A 99% probability doesn’t mean he’s the child’s father. I just didn’t tell her that the probability was calculated based on dozens of loci, not over ten thousand! Even with over ten thousand loci, a 99% probability is indeed a very good match, but it’s possible that Brunhilde’s genes are just too similar to Siegfried’s, leading to a misjudgment! Besides, Siegfried’s match rate is 99.99%, so saying that Siegfried is a better match is not a problem!” Otto argued.

“You’re still deceiving me, Otto. I’m a networked AI, you can’t fool me. You’ve hidden the genetic differences between genders. There are a lot of absolutely mismatched genetic loci between men and women, and you’ve included those loci that should be excluded. Even so, there’s still a 99% match rate… Brunhilde’s true match rate has already surpassed Siegfried’s.”

Otto remained silent.

He found it laughable that he had actually dared to try and deceive AI. But if Karen were alive, that foolish woman would surely be fooled by a whole bunch of data he presented her with.

He leaned back casually, glanced at Karen with pity in her eyes, and smiled wearily: "Alright, I give up."

"But you never learn your lesson."

“Haha, of course I am that kind of person. Since losing you, I’ve been going down the ugliest path, never learning my lesson.” Otto shrugged. “But speaking of which, Brunhilde really shouldn’t have any offspring. His genome… is very strange, and it even piqued my interest at one point. Perhaps because he was male but had the blood of the Kaslana family, Brunhilde’s genome is somewhat disordered, and you could even say it’s not very human. He can’t reproduce… somewhat like reproductive isolation from most people.”

"I checked Brunhilde's medical records. This child needs the blood of a saint to keep his body from collapsing, and although he looks weak, his reproductive gene activity is actually very strong. How to put it... the nurses in the Nordic branch's medical department recorded it quite exaggeratedly in the files. This child can easily make an A-rank Valkyrie fall into endless pleasure, and his gene activity can even survive outside the body for more than a hundred hours. The reason he cannot reproduce is not so much that he has a physical problem, but rather that he has surpassed humanity and is no longer the same type of creature as humans... Although this answer is somewhat ridiculous, it is indeed the most likely."

"Could a genetic disorder result in this? This child... what kind of Valkyrie Succubus is this?" Kallen shook her head.

“Haha, but it doesn’t matter. Once the android army is complete, Destiny will no longer need the three great families. The warriors of Kaslana and Shaniat fusion will end this era of fragmentation by the supernatural side government.” Otto looked at her, his eyes full of hope. “Kallen, this is a new era that integrates all resources to revive you… much newer than any era of dynastic change on Earth.”

Happy Dragon Boat Festival! (Taking leave)

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Chapter Sixty-Seven: Ethical Issues

Meanwhile, Brunhilde had arrived in the armored vehicles on the outskirts of Moscow at Suzdal, a town that is considered one of the most beautiful towns in Moscow during the spring. It's about 200 kilometers from the city center. Because there's no train connection to Moscow, transportation is inconvenient, but the scenery is beautiful. A winding river flows lazily over the hills, and the lush green fields are dotted with small wooden houses and windmills.

But it's winter now, the earth is a vast expanse of white, and the snow on the streets is even deeper than knee-deep.

There were almost no survivors in the town. After all, no one would want to live in a city without heating during the cold season; most people lived in Moscow or St. Petersburg. Therefore, the Siberian government opened the town to refugees displaced by the war.

Because they were driving, Brunhilde and her group arrived in the town first. After speaking with the town's government officials who were receiving refugees, they asked them to wait for the rest of the buses carrying refugees. Brunhilde and Shigure Kira then drove after the armored vehicles, passing through several streets, and arrived at the outside of a dilapidated monastery.

“Suzdal is my hometown. When I was a child, it hadn’t been designated as a tourist area yet, and I lived nearby. This town doesn’t have much else, but it has a strong religious atmosphere. There are more than ten monasteries and churches from south to north.” Cocolia got out of the armored vehicle, looked at the almost abandoned gate in front of her, sighed, then drew her gun, smashed the iron lock on the gate, and pushed open the rusty iron gate.

"This used to be the town's convent for intercessory prayers. After the nuns moved away, I bought it and renamed it the Holy Sisters' Orphanage. I haven't had time to renovate it yet. I originally planned to become the director of this orphanage after I retired from the military, but I didn't expect the war to break out so quickly and the troops to be defeated so suddenly. This house is now in use."

Cocolia smoothed her radiant golden curls. As a soldier, she quickly recovered from her sadness and walked towards Brunhilde in her black military boots. She then stood at attention and saluted: "Formerly Captain Cocolia of the Schicksal North America Branch, now Anti-Entropy peacekeeping force stationed in Siberia, salutes you, Valkyrie!"

“Yes, sir,” Brunhilde reminded him.

Cocolia was taken aback. "You're not a Valkyrie?"

Her eyes shifted slightly, a cold glint flashing within them.

Brunhilde shrugged: "Don't even think about it. She is. If you've seen the news, you'll know you can't mess with her."

Cocolia looked at Shigure Kira, and the little idol immediately tilted her head skillfully, made a peace sign, and gave a cute wink, "Kira~kira~ Kira Star~"

Cocolia frowned slightly. It was obvious that she didn't know this so-called "national idol" who hadn't even acted in a TV series. But she recalled the Valkyrie rankings, going from high to low, and remembered the name Shigure Kira in the top ten.

"The one codenamed 'Floating Solar Prominence'?" Cocolia exclaimed with awe. "A Valkyrie who uses her voice as a weapon, yet she humbly claims to be just a singer. A song that breaks the heart, where in the world can one find a kindred spirit?"

“A fine poem,” Brunhilde commented. “A fine poem indeed, Qiluo.”

"My singing isn't that bad!" Shi Yu Qi Luo covered her face, unable to refute.

A group of people entered the monastery. Since it was only an intercessory monastery, it was not large, consisting of just a courtyard with only one annex. Upon entering the annex, a musty smell hit them. A thin layer of dust covered the carpet. The main hall served as the chapel, and in front of the huge fireplace were cashmere sofas for the nuns to sit and rest.

It's clear that this monastery is indeed very suitable for conversion into a small orphanage, because initially it housed about a dozen nuns. There are different rooms on the second floor, and the first floor is also very spacious, making one imagine that in the spring, when the flowers are in bloom, the women can lean against the fireplace, holding picture books and fairy tales, telling stories to the little girls and boys around them, with the fireplace roaring and the whole hall warm and cozy.

The group first gave each other a heads-up.

Open all the windows, and Shiyu Qiluo uses infrasound to create air resonance, shaking up the dust in the room and suspending it. Then turn on the exhaust fan in the center of the hall, which will temporarily remove most of the dust that is not suitable for human habitation—of course, the actual cleaning work still needs to be done by a professional housekeeping company, but everyone needs rest now, and it's already good enough if people can stay in the room without coughing all the time.

After cleaning the ashes and closing the doors and windows, Cocolia smashed several benches and threw the wood into the fireplace. Bright yellow flames rose, and several people sat around the fireplace on the soft sofa, looking at each other.

“The refugees will be flooding into this town soon, and my monastery will provide temporary accommodation for many people, probably arriving this evening. Ask me any questions you have.” Cocolia helped Bonya sit down, then said calmly, “I’ve told you everything I need to. I’m just a captain here in the Anti-Entropy faction, not even a Valkyrie. Trying to find Anti-Entropy through me is impossible. You should know that Anti-Entropy isn’t a centralized organization; it’s extremely loosely organized, with almost single-line communication between superiors and subordinates. All you can do is send me back to Schicksal headquarters in exchange for some military merit, but not much… In fact, Schicksal has captured quite a few Anti-Entropy members, but Anti-Entropy is bad in every way except for its exceptional secrecy.”

Bonya, with her long, gray Roman curls, looked timid and gripped her best friend's hand tightly. Hearing Cocolia's words, she couldn't hold back any longer and pleaded in a low voice, "Coco isn't a bad person. I don't know what destiny is, or what anti-entropy is... but everyone knows that Coco led thousands of refugees out of hiding. She's definitely not a bad person. You must have misunderstood something... right?"

Ordinary people, two ordinary people.

Brunhilde sized up the two beautiful yet timid married women. Neither of them showed any signs of Honkai energy; they were just ordinary people. Especially Bonya, who was clearly a typical daughter raised in a wealthy, ordinary Russian family—a naive woman who knew nothing about the dark side of society, the supernatural, or even the military.

Cocolia, on the other hand, is an ordinary person on the supernatural side. She is not so naive, and she is clearly prepared to surrender.

“But I hope that now that I’m gone, Destiny will send someone to take care of these refugees.” Cocolia raised her head and looked directly into Brunhilde’s eyes. “You Destiny have done such a terrible thing; you should at least take some responsibility for the ordinary people you’ve affected!”

Brunhilde and Shigure Kira exchanged a glance.

This was precisely what puzzled them. In fact, they didn't need any so-called military merits; the Kaslana family had no shortage of resources. However, Cocolia's resentment towards fate made them both suspicious.

"Explain in detail, what exactly is the relationship between the War of Chariots and destiny?"

Cocolia stared intently at the two people, pondering whether she could trust them. After a few seconds of hesitation, she gritted her teeth and made her request.

There's nothing to consider. Whether these two are die-hard followers of the Archbishop of Destiny or not, saying anything won't make the situation worse. Besides... most Valkyries must have a conscience. Destiny must be hiding its true purpose to launch this war that has caused such devastation; otherwise, so many Valkyries wouldn't be willing to go to the Siberian battlefield.

These young girls couldn't possibly be so wicked. Cocolia had worked with the Valkyries for more than a year, and she knew that these girls were essentially the same as ordinary people. In fact, because the supernatural side generally had a better economic status, the Valkyries were also more educated, and their moral character was on average even higher than the average person.

Just like these two people, there must be many Valkyries who are deceived and tricked into fighting!

“We just talked about the Tower of Babel, right?” Cocolia organized her thoughts.

"The Tower of Babel is Schicksal's third laboratory, located in the sparsely populated Siberian permafrost plains, mainly conducting research in genetic technology." Brunhilde recited the information with great familiarity. She was not a Valkyrie and had no combat power, but in order to keep up with her sisters as much as possible, she had an extremely good memory for such informational materials. "The results are also remarkable, such as female-female cloning technology and single-person replication cloning, which are among the most advanced research in the world."

"Cloned humans... Ha, don't you know that cloning is unethical?"

"Huh? Does cloning have anything to do with ethics?" Shi Yu Qi Luo asked, confused. "Aren't clones still people? They just fulfill girls' desire to have children with other girls."

“That’s just one application scenario. Cloning technology is indeed unethical.” Brunhilde understood Cocolia’s meaning and calmly explained, “You think cloning technology is about allowing two infertile people to have offspring, such as a woman giving birth to a child, a man giving birth to a child, or a couple whose sperm and egg are inactive… But cloning technology has many uses beyond that. For example, what if a person is cloned just to harvest the clone’s organs for use by the original? After all, there will definitely be no rejection reaction between the organs of the clone and the cloned person.”

Shigure Kira was stunned for a moment, "Then... that's not right. Wouldn't the clone be dead then?"

"But what if the original clone was cloned just to get organs? That clone was created entirely because of the money the original provided, so his organs should rightfully go to the original, since he wouldn't exist without the original... Then why should the clone have human rights?"

Shiyu Qiluo was confused, but still retorted, "No, no, if I didn't have parents, I wouldn't exist. My parents forcibly took my organs, so don't I have human rights either?"

"Clonable humans are made by machines, but you were born of your parents."

"They're all the same!" Shigure Kira exclaimed.

“Really? You think that children born to parents and clones are the same? Let me give you another example. Imagine a doctor finds a blood bank with a similar genetic match to yours, clones a person, kills that person, and gives you their organs. You have no idea how the doctor operates from beginning to end; you only know that you go to the hospital, and a year later, the doctor cures your kidney failure.” Brunhilde glanced at her. “Would you still consider this clone to be in a ‘parent-child’ relationship with you? They didn’t even use your genes.”

Shigure Kirara was stunned.

"That's also... creating a person, killing a person..."

"That person has no parents. That person was born a lump of flesh raised by your money. Why should a lump of flesh have human rights? How can this be called murder? No one will even speak up for him. Killing him has no impact on society, and it doesn't even affect public order. The one who died was just a piece of flesh that had never been in contact with society from beginning to end."

Shigure Kira couldn't argue; she just felt there was something wrong with Brunhilde's words. No matter how eloquent or aggressive Brunhilde was, Shigure Kira instinctively felt... how could a person, a child, a being already born, have its life so easily and without any reaction?

"We can take the lives of mice at will, as long as it's to save people. Why can't we do the same with clones? Clones are people too."

Shigure Kira really didn't know how to refute it, because Brunhilde could refute all the definitions of "human," so perhaps clones really weren't human.

Physiologically, he was a product of technology. Socially, he could die without ever having any social contact.