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

As one of the key experimental bases of Destiny, this base is responsible only to Otto himself, and its importance is self-evident. Internationally, everything about the Tower of Babel is a secret; no agent, spy, or surveillance satellite can obtain any information from within the Tower of Babel.

However, for the members of the Shaniat family, who also wield considerable influence in the Heavenly Mandate, this is not a secret that cannot be accessed at all.

The first fire-fighting checkpoint of the Tower of Babel is now warm as springtime, separated by a sterilized glass curtain wall.

“Cecilia Schariat, from the Schariat family, I am from Germany.” The white-haired saintly wife looked at the receptionist through retinal detection. “According to the ‘Regulations for Handling Complaints and Reports on the Supervision and Management of the Tianming Genetic Engineering Experiment,’ I have received a report and, with the highest authority of an S-class Valkyrie, I have the right to conduct a thorough investigation of any institution under Tianming’s jurisdiction. Please cooperate.”

The receptionist, a young researcher, was now sweating profusely with panic. "This...this isn't right! I know you, of course I know you, Saintess! But we are..."

“Even Bishop Otto’s elite troops must cooperate. I’m speaking not only as an S-rank Valkyrie, but also as the head of the Shaniat family, questioning the head of the Apocalypse family.” Cecilia smiled slightly. “You have no right to object.”

The receptionist and at least a dozen uneasy researchers behind her hesitated, but after a long silence, they finally opened the door.

Even if it's not opened, this saintess can certainly barge in.

According to the rules, Babel indeed had no right to refuse Saintess Shaniat's visit. The Babel's authority over secrecy was theoretically weaker than that of the Shaniat family head; nominally, the Shaniat family truly had the right to know about all actions under Schicksal's rule. And it wasn't just Shaniat; Kaslana also had this right.

However, Kaslana's willingness to exercise this right now seems somewhat presumptuous.

But the Schariacs are still at their zenith, in some ways even more so than the Apocalypse. The Schariacs' dominance of half of Schicksal's territory is due to their family bloodline and the generations of powerful and prosperous Valkyries. The Apocalypse, on the other hand, is a mortal family; now only Otto remains alive, and Theresa is merely a homunculus bestowed with the name.

Babel knew it lacked the ability to obstruct the Saintess's supervision. Cecilia herself was a walking nuclear bomb; while Babel wasn't afraid of nuclear explosions, the Valkyrie was ultimately different.

"Where is Bishop Otto?" Cecilia asked as she entered.

“Bishop Otto is certainly not here. He’s at the Destiny headquarters in England, didn’t you know?” A beautiful, mature woman with white hair walked out from behind the researchers. Cecilia frowned slightly when she saw her.

"Claire?"

Miss Witch held a glass of brandy and raised it in a gesture of greeting from afar.

Then she dismissed the receptionist. "Holy Maiden, I shall receive you. After all, you are now a daughter of my family. Cheers to you, Cecilia. No, you should be addressed as Comrade Cecilia. Welcome to this snowy plain."

Cecilia's keen senses reminded her once again that something was amiss.

Over the years, Cecilia had gradually come to understand Brunhilde and Siegfried's estrangement from their mother. Brunhilde's was particularly pronounced; her attitude towards Claire bordered on hostility.

Although Cecilia wasn't entirely sure what Claire had done to make her two children treat her this way, she instinctively sensed, during her interactions with Claire, a kind of venomous malice lurking beneath the woman's stunning beauty that didn't match her age.

Claire had never done anything to her, but Cecilia just felt that Claire harbored such dangerous malice. As a result, she had been caught in a dilemma for many years. On the one hand, she trusted her intuition to be wary of Claire, and on the other hand, Claire was, after all, her elder and had not done anything wrong to her, so she really couldn't be too nasty.

She nodded to Claire, took the waiter's glass, dipped her finger in the wine to get a feel for the recipe, then clinked glasses with Claire and drank it all in one gulp. "To Siberia, Miss Claire."

“You should actually call me Claire’s mom.” Claire looked at her, expressionless, as if she were saying something perfunctory. “From every angle.”

Cecilia returned the cup, gazing at Claire's figure. This woman was nearing forty, yet looked no different from a twenty-year-old. The nylon Valkyrie uniform clung to her shapely body, her legs were encased in delicate, pure black fleece-lined pantyhose, and her boots wore eight-centimeter platform heels. Above her, her long, silver-white hair cascaded down her back in curls, making her appear as beautiful as a newlywed in her early twenties.

She looked no more than two years older than Cecilia, and it would be hard for others to imagine that she was Brunhilde's biological mother. But there were many Valkyries who knew how to preserve their youth, and Cecilia could understand why she had maintained her charm to this day, since she was rumored to be keeping a lover on the side... A woman dresses up for the one she loves.

"It's really hard to use such words with you."

“That’s true. If I really called her that, it would bother me. It would make me seem like an old maid in front of Bubu.” Claire smiled gently. “That wouldn’t be convenient.”

Cecilia knew why she felt Claire was somewhat "sinister." When Brunhilde wasn't around, the woman was still playful, but only verbally; her eyes were cold.

She didn't care about anyone else in the world, only about herself and her Brunhilde. In her eyes, everyone in the world, including someone like Cecilia, was negligible and unimportant. She didn't need to think about what to say next when talking to you; her playfulness was just a facade to mask her indifference.

This is what happens when someone is extremely selfish and self-centered. Brunhilde had told her more than once that Claire was a completely self-centered and bad woman.

"Are you also in the Tower of Babel, working for Otto?" Cecilia asked.

Claire poured him a drink: "I am the head of the Kaslana family, the former, and of course, Otto's direct Valkyrie, his scalpel. Hmm... is this something I can say? Probably not. In fact, Otto doesn't have many powerful Valkyries he can completely trust, and I'm one of them. Since I'm safe with Babel, a secret organization he cares about, I'll definitely be brought here. Of course, Otto and I are just colleagues. When you tell Bubu, emphasize this: Otto and I have no relationship whatsoever, and tell him not to misunderstand."

Cecilia tilted her head. She didn't know why Claire had brought it up, but she didn't think much of it. "There are quite a few people in this building."

“There are 1,400 researchers, Miss Saintess. I will answer any questions you may have.” Claire, holding a slender wine glass, led Cecilia out of the elevator and into the Tower of Babel. “Ten underground floors and twenty-three above-ground floors, a total of thirty-three floors. The ten underground floors are the base for genetic engineering projects. Above ground, floors one to ten are the bases for large-scale projects such as cloning projects and culture tank projects. Floors ten to twenty are the living area, with a gym, swimming pool, orchard, plantation, restaurant, oxygen bar, and researcher dormitories. The top three floors are the living area for senior researchers, fully equipped and with a comfortable lifestyle.”

"I never imagined there would be so many people in a place so far from human habitation."

“Unfortunately, most people aren’t exactly destined for greatness.” Claire’s scarlet eyes scanned the white-coated researchers passing by. These experts and researchers couldn’t help but stop in their tracks when they saw the two stunning beauties, and then hurriedly ran away shyly in front of Claire’s smile. It was obvious that they had never been in contact with a group like the Valkyries, where everyone was a beautiful girl.

“An outsider?” Cecilia was taken aback.

"Since the collapse of the largest political bloc in Siberia in 91, the academic community in this land has also fallen apart. People are suspicious of each regime, and even the voices of each university are not the same. All projects have been cut. After all, after being scattered into small countries, no one has the ability to support the original Soviet scientists to continue their great work. People are restless, the country is broken and families are destroyed. Veterans sell their war medals to buy three loaves of bread and a can of beef. These researchers return to their hometowns wrapped in newspapers but cannot even do the most basic job as postmen."

"So, destiny recruited these talented individuals?"

“This one, Stepan, studies paleontological resurrection. He successfully extracted genes from a fossil in the Yellow River in China from an ancient saber-toothed elephant that had been extinct for 2.5 million years. This one, Sergei, researches long-term hypnosis; his experimental results have been applied to the KGB. This one is Leonid, who successfully hybridized the genes of fifteen organisms without causing gene chain collapse. This one's focus is on space warfare; he was originally conducting Mars exploration research. In fact, he was the one who piloted the Mars rover twelve years ago, but after the dismantling…”

Claire introduced them one by one, then shrugged. "But after losing their projects, they became useless people who could not integrate into society at all. More than a hundred of these scientists committed suicide by shooting themselves... It's a loss to humanity."

"Don't other countries accept it?"

"Take them in? What country has the capacity to take in the talent after the collapse of the Soviet Union? No country has enough resources to support their continued research, nor is there any reason for them to waste their time, after all, the Cold War is over. China on the mainland can't take them in, and neither can the United States across the sea. Who else can? Only us. Fate has given them the possibility of continuing their research, and even if it's just for funding that is nothing to us, they are willing to give their all."

Cecilia was silent for a moment, then smiled: "This can be considered as ensuring that everyone is provided for."

"Everyone... what do you mean?" Claire couldn't understand the Chinese dialect she suddenly spoke.

“What Bubu told me is that if we can ensure that ‘the elderly are cared for until their end, the able-bodied are employed, the young are nurtured, and the widowed, orphaned, lonely, and disabled are all provided for,’ then whether it’s an organization or a country, it’s a good thing.” She translated it slightly so the other person could understand.

Claire's red eyes flickered slightly. "Is that what you're saying... Bubu has never told me he speaks Chinese."

"He can cook Chinese food, so how could he not speak Chinese? Bubu is a child who is fluent in sixteen languages, and he even knows lip reading and sign language."

As the two walked, Claire explained things along the way. After arriving at the first underground level, Cecilia finally saw what she had guessed from the beginning.

Culture vessel.

Standing in the center of the hall was a culture tank containing a small, naked child, about six or seven years old, curled up in a vibrant green nutrient solution, hugging her knees. Researchers working in genetic engineering were coming and going around her; clearly, no one was avoiding Cecilia.

"This is... human experimentation?" Cecilia became alert and almost instantly activated the Holy Blood within her body. Honkai energy surged within her with immense power, and she immediately went on the highest alert.

How did she actually discover the secrets of the Tower of Babel?

These people didn't even try to hide themselves?

Human cloning violates international conventions!

Could they have already made preparations?

Despite her strength and confidence, Cecilia's caution led her to prepare for any battle.

Claire simply shrugged, looking at the person inside with a strange expression, but it returned to normal. "Yes, as you guessed, human experimentation. This child, codenamed K413, is one of the few surviving products of the Destiny's artificial Valkyrie technology, a clone."

"Clone?"

Claire scrutinized Cecilia for a long time, then suddenly laughed: "Miss Saint, you might be exaggerating a bit. Schicksal is indeed conducting cloning experiments, but it's not some shady research project. The main task here is to try to create artificial Valkyries. As we all know, the number of Valkyries that awaken naturally is too small, and androids can fill that gap. As for human rights, we have a plan in place. Clones enjoy the same human rights as humans."

Cecilia narrowed her eyes, but she didn't mention that Anti-Entropy had discovered the Babel Tower's dumping and burying of corpses.

“Of course, there might be some failed clones that simply cannot develop, but such clones are just placentas anyway, not even human, so human rights are irrelevant,” Claire said calmly. “And if Schicksal has a large number of Valkyries, you know, that's good for Schicksal, but not so ideal for the United Nations. So this matter must be kept secret, but if the Shaniat family needs to know, there's no reason to keep it a secret from them. After all, Schicksal's expansion is also a good thing for the Shaniat family, right?”

The expansion of the Valkyrie population is certainly a good thing for Schicksal. Currently, it is the world government on the supernatural side, but once the "supernatural army" reaches a certain scale, Schicksal may no longer be just a world government on the supernatural side.

The Schariac family is not a family that takes it upon themselves to maintain human political power; to be precise, the Schariac family protects humanity itself. Whether political power is in the United Nations or in Destiny's hands, they don't care.

This matter is indeed too grand, and it truly needs to be kept secret… Cecilia never expected Otto to have such a proposal. Cloning technology could bring about an unimaginable number of Valkyries, but…

"Won't this cause an imbalance? Not an imbalance between the supernatural and the mundane, but rather the rise of human power, leading to a corresponding increase in the level of collapse," Cecilia pointed out incisively. "Earth's peace is a temporary effort to maintain balance, but this plan has led to a rapid increase in the strength of human civilization. Bishop Otto was even unwilling to develop many pre-civilization technologies in order to balance the strength of civilization, so why is he suddenly interested in expanding his military power now?"

“You’ll have to ask him that. I’m just here to answer questions,” Claire said calmly. “Reasons? Who’s going to tell us the reasons? Otto was a dictator anyway.”

Cecilia was full of doubts, but Claire didn't seem willing to explain further. She didn't care whether Cecilia believed her or not, and simply turned to look at other places.

But Cecilia glanced again at the young child in the culture jar; it was a black-haired child with delicate and lovely features, like a girl.

“It feels… somewhat familiar,” Cecilia mused.

But she didn't know many young children, and the people around her who could be called "children," such as Brunhilde, Theresa, and even little Kiana, all had white hair. Logically, she shouldn't have associated them with this black-haired clone child.

But she kept a close eye on it, carefully observing and noting the number of eyelashes on the child's right upper eyelid. Although it was a child, this little clone already had delicate features, with fine and long eyelashes, totaling 189.

Cecilia was taking notes when she suddenly saw the child's lifeless eyes open.

“He’s not conscious yet. This is a raw body with an undeveloped brain, so he can’t be considered human yet. Without consciousness, it’s like having no soul.” Claire turned around and said casually, “His opening his eyes was just an instinctive reflex, probably because the surrounding light was a bit too bright.”

Sure enough, the clone quickly lowered its eyes again.

But Cecilia remained silent for a long time.

She saw the child's clear red eyes.

That perfect, jewel-like red—she had only ever seen it in the eyes of two people: Claire and… Brunhilde.

Chapter Seventy-Three K423

"Now we are playing Frédéric Chopin's Lullaby in D-flat major. My dear little swans, please drift off to sleep, for your dreams are the most beautiful, sweet and fragrant~"

The loudspeaker attached to the security camera on the door frame emitted a pleasant notification, then remained silent for three seconds before starting to play piano music.

Unlike the clear and crisp voice of the announcer, the piano music suddenly sounded rough, with occasional cassette-like white noise interspersed during the lullaby.

The lullaby lasted for three minutes. When the music ended, the little girl with shoulder-length white hair gently got up and shook the little girl next to her, who was about the same age and also had shoulder-length white hair.

In fact, all the little girls in the Tower of Babel have white hair and vary in age, most of them being around three or four years old like them. But there are also some who have been prematurely aged, looking six or seven, eight or nine, or even teenagers, although their minds are still immature.

The little girl, codenamed K423-1, took off her earplugs, which were made of cotton and fine white clay. They had excellent sound insulation. By wearing them and quietly humming a tune with a different rhythm from the lullaby, she could completely block out the lullaby from the loudspeaker and avoid falling asleep as much as possible.

K423-1 was unaware that this was a renowned musical hypnosis technique used by KGB researchers. In the mainstream Cold War world, the KGB had been able to hypnotize agents to infiltrate foreign countries and reside there for decades. The agents were completely unaware of their identities, and no counterintelligence organization could detect any flaws. However, when necessary, the KGB only needed to send the agent a text message with a specific tone, and the hypnotist would break the spell, allowing the agent to recall their former profession and thus begin working as an espionage agent.

Using this kind of hypnosis to actually put children to sleep is almost overkill. But K423-1 only knows that this lullaby has an irresistible magic to make people fall asleep. She doesn't like going to bed so early every day because life is too boring. Apart from a few hours of outdoor time each day, most of the time the children have to stay in their rooms reading, writing, and drawing.

So, during one of her outdoor activity periods, which involved making ceramics, k423-1 secretly saved some kaolin clay from firing porcelain. Combined with cotton from her blankets, she made these earplugs that were completely silent. This way, she could stay awake at night and had much more free time than others.

Of course, she wasn't the only child in the room; there was another one, even smaller than her, whom the researchers said was her twin sister... In fact, K423-1 knew it was unlikely she would have twins, because twins are supposed to be born and grow up together, but K423-2 was thrown in a few months after her.