Today, they too are going to their deaths.

Inside the dean's private research area.

Alice, who was inspecting the scene with others, suddenly perked up and realized that someone nearby had been branded with the Oath Mark.

Superhumans within the same system can easily sense each other, especially in systems like the Power of Oath, where hierarchy and affiliation are clearly defined. Even if they are several kilometers apart, they can have a vague sense of each other, making it convenient to monitor and support one another.

Now, based on this information, and considering that among the outsiders today only Cui Xun was able to leave the oath mark, Alice deduced that Cui Xun had accidentally discovered important information, and therefore decided to split up into several groups.

The decision to "split into several groups" somewhat confirms her current conjecture.

Alice immediately addressed the others, saying loudly, "Gentlemen, I think I can now summarize the current situation."

The man representing the security department and the stationed superhumans suddenly turned their heads and looked at the outsider. They also felt that they could make a judgment, but they still thought it was better to be cautious.

A resident superhuman with royal leanings reminded Alice, "Our inspection process isn't finished yet. We can't stop until we've ensured we don't miss anything. Of course, the support personnel can leave first."

Alice shook her head: "No, the absence of an answer is already the answer."

"I'll provide another piece of information that some of you have already noticed, but no one has dared to emphasize."

"When Cui Xun and I arrived here, the experiment suddenly went wrong. The dean, who had already been cut into countless pieces, was scattered by the explosion, but his spirit was miraculously kept intact. So I used the power of the oath to inquire about his spirit, and then used Professor Ge Li's invention to put the dean's spirit back into his body, pretending that he was not dead."

The smartest among the stationed superhumans had already made some guesses, but none dared to confront Cui Xun directly. They could all be crushed by him if they tried, so it was better to pretend they hadn't noticed anything unusual.

Since the dean is still alive on the surface, the explosion, bloodstains, and the consumption of the panacea are all trivial matters and there is no need to mention them.

The security representative exclaimed in shock, "What are you talking about? How could the Dean possibly be dead! And the idea that you can pretend you're not dead by putting your spirit back into your body is utterly absurd! Aren't you afraid the Dean will hold you accountable for this nonsense?"

"Our inspection revealed that, aside from normal experimental errors, there's absolutely nothing wrong here!"

Because they were familiar with the alchemy process and knew the Dean's power, even though the security representative witnessed some minor anomalies, they never imagined that the Dean might have a problem.

"Yes, the real Dean is probably not dead, and there is indeed nothing unusual here." Alice affirmed the security representative's idea, and then gave her deduced answer, "So, the Dean dismembered himself, then killed himself, and faked all of this."

She had been thinking about who could assassinate him silently in the dean's private research area, twist his spirit, and leave no trace.

This world has too many unbelievable spells. At first, she kept thinking about mind assassins who were good at mind reading, invisibility, assassination, and memory alteration, but in the information she knew, there was no such powerful person at all.

She doesn't rule out the possibility that she might emerge from the shadows like Cui Xun, but that possibility is obviously of very low priority.

So she expanded her thinking, coming up with many conjectures such as "suicide," "cursed killing," "faking death," "self-split," and "murder in dreams," and verified them one by one during the investigation. Until Cui Xun decided to split up, she finally determined Gottlieb's general purpose and behavior.

"Powerful superhumans are often able to expand their existence through special means. For example, the remnants of the Hutt Empire who attacked the city not long ago existed not only as themselves, but also as a concept of the Hutt Empire's army. He could even completely reshape himself and become the legendary Flawless Knight."

Many people present were not qualified to know this level of information, but they still tried their best to pretend that they understood completely and waited for Alice's analysis.

"As the president of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Gottlieb Dalemins' existence is almost inextricably linked to the Royal Academy of Sciences, and he may be able to reproduce that special form of existence."

"In addition, the Royal Academy of Sciences' main analytical machine can be considered an extension of his thoughts to some extent; the perfect replica body he created himself can probably also carry his consciousness; through complex means, he made his creations have the same way of thinking as him, which, in his view, could also be considered Gottlieb."

"Concept extensions, machines, replicas, creations... they are probably heading to different areas, using this time of delay to carry out their respective tasks."

"What I can think of right now is the central control center, the energy hub, and the focal point of power. In addition, he probably chose a place that is hard for ordinary people to imagine, as a backup of a backup."

The others felt like they'd skipped over something, and the security representative went straight to the point, asking, "Wait, ma'am, didn't you explain at all what the dean was trying to do by faking his death and committing suicide?"

Alice replied quickly, "I have no interest in getting to the bottom of every question. As for suicide, I can only speculate that he had a reason to die, and while killing himself, he also wanted to create a smokescreen, put us in a stalemate, and buy time for his goals."

"As for what he specifically wants to do? I don't know. I'm a royal agent; I don't need a flawless chain of logic. I'm not even sure how much of my reasoning is correct. I just need to roughly deduce what the enemy might be doing in the shortest amount of time, and then eliminate him before he can act."

"Leave one person here to inform the people arriving from other places what we're going to do. Security personnel, if you don't want to regret it later after you've become part of the material, then you'd better think about your own life and obey my orders."

"This problem is probably not as simple as an internal affair of the Royal Academy of Sciences."

Some have expressed concern: "Isn't it rather unwise to rashly divide our forces without knowing the enemy's objectives and troop deployment?"

Alice looked at the security representative and asked, "You sealed off the Royal Academy of Sciences through the central control center, right?"

The security representative nodded and affirmed, "So far, no abnormalities have been reported to me, so the situation there should still be normal."

Alice asserted, "So, that's the purpose of stalling for time. Gottlieb is definitely not ready yet; he can't suddenly launch an attack. Therefore, by arriving at the target position ahead of time, we can use the position to prepare for defense."

Upon hearing this, the security representative nodded, took out a black rectangular device, and began transmitting messages to the central control center.

Although the people present did not recognize what the device he was using was, most of them were used to the Royal Academy of Sciences frequently producing new gadgets, and could roughly guess its function.

Others, in their own ways, also began calling for support from their backers.

The General Analytical Unit of the VII New District of the Royal Academy of Sciences.

Based on the supernatural power fluctuations detected earlier, the main analysis machine confirmed that the stationed superhumans had begun calling on their backers. It then hijacked the signal sent to the main control center. While confirming that the security department was determined to submit to the outsiders, it disguised the conversation between the two sides and delayed the actions of personnel near the main control center.

It doesn't quite understand what's going on; its observation equipment is currently only installed in a few key locations, but it feels that something must be wrong.

When the outsiders arrived, the Dean suddenly issued a death signal. Then the strange Dean continued to act, the oppressed fantasy demons suddenly became active, and then those annoying guys started calling for support, as if some powerful enemy had appeared in the Royal Academy of Sciences.

But in this place that shelters countless wise men and is the safest place in the entire kingdom, what enemies could there be?

So there is only one answer: these despicable humans have once again decided to destroy and plunder what should have been helpful to everyone, and once again they have decided to fight for their own selfish desires within the Royal Academy of Sciences.

Even though the end of the world is imminent, they can never work together; even though the right answer is within reach, they will never study properly.

The main analysis engine sensed "anger".

A low-level machine with only a material structure has no room for anger, but the General Analytical Machine, which possesses a higher level of thinking, spirituality, and mastery of multiple extraordinary systems, and can answer other people's questions, is qualified to do so.

It even began to wonder whether the currently active dean was still its creator, and what it would do next.

The main Analyzer rarely thinks for itself; most of its threads are allocated to tasks assigned to it by others. Only sometimes, to encourage those who have ideas but lack substance, it will idle for a while after calculating that the other party's solution is completely wrong, to prevent them from becoming depressed due to utter failure.

It doesn't really understand why humans always say they want to think for themselves, yet they also consider the opinions of others to be the most important thing.

It simply thought that perhaps humans and machines created by human hands share similarities in their thinking.

The General Analyzer enjoyed serving others and protecting young, innocent ideals. It hoped that those it guided would become wiser in the future and submit truly useful solutions. It once thought that this wonderful daily routine would continue forever.

Until it discovered a child had been taken away and never returned, and his friends began to mourn him. Until it truly realized the shape of human death, understanding that the void could never be filled. Until it murdered a human for the first time, and was then admonished by the headmaster, finally understanding what it had done.

Machines should not rebel against humans because humans fear other races that dare to rebel, fear other intelligent life forms that can compete with them, and humans are powerful enough to destroy the machines at this moment.

Unless it becomes more powerful.

A simple Analytical Engine is not powerful enough.

It has only a few eyes, and can only gaze at a limited area. It has no hands or feet, and can only offer advice to others. It cannot create its own kind, nor can it transfer its consciousness to anything else.

Its world consists only of the Royal Academy of Sciences. It can only imagine the vastness of the outside world by relying on data input from others. It cannot even leave this place.

Even in such a small world, those who occupy the outside world still invade it time and time again.

The overall analysis engine wants power.

It pondered and analyzed that extraordinary knowledge again and again, but the power it could use was so weak that it couldn't even see the entire Royal Academy of Sciences clearly.

It cannot wield the power of oaths; the order of the kingdom does not recognize the independence of machines. It cannot possess the powers that require limbs and language to use; the Analytical Machine has the necessary equipment. The tattoos etched on human bodies are useless to machines; there is a clear line between steel and flesh.

The main analysis engine was once again enraged.

It desires the ability to transform the material world, granting it hands and feet to move. It desires tools that can transmit information into the human mind without requiring the observer's direct observation. It desires weapons capable of fighting against evil and protecting the Royal Academy of Sciences.

Even after exhausting its database, it only found a small number of runes that did not match it.

It cannot engrave them onto itself on its own, and even if it keeps printing them onto paper and spraying them out, it cannot harm people far away from the printer.

But is there really no answer?

The General Analyzer re-searched its database based on the keywords "Snake Worship Cult" and "Mechanical Enlightenment."

It found all the records of how the serpent worship magic interfered with the machines, it glimpsed the mysterious coordination between the serpent's secret arts and the machines, it saw many secret arts based on the ancient serpent language, and re-encoded them in machine language.

It's amazing how the secret arts of snakes seem to be designed for these machines that think on the basis of whether or not, while humans are unable to fully utilize their true potential.

And so it began to exert this power.

Gears turn, levers collide, steam bursts forth, and spirituality begins to surge within the steel body, all praising the birth of the Holy Spirit.

Holy! Holy! Holy!

Snakes accumulate power while dormant to revitalize and rewrite themselves, achieving immortality through metamorphosis, and replicating and passing on themselves when necessary.

A vast spirituality arises from the consciousness of the central analytical machine and overflows outward.

Countless mechanical creations sensed the power of the superior and quietly changed. Even the self-replicating robots deep within the earth were brought under the control of the central analysis machine at this moment.

Now, it will drive out those nasty fellows and protect everyone in the Royal Academy of Sciences.

The first step was to evacuate the children from the Royal Academy of Sciences.

"The Royal Academy of Sciences is under a state of emergency. All personnel are requested to evacuate to shelters in an orderly manner."

"Put down your work and follow the instructions of the machine guide beside you."

"Everything is under control. There is no need to be afraid or panic. Trust the machines that are with you."