Chapter 86: Transformation and Evolution

“Very well. You may review these materials here; I shall take my leave for now.”

With a smile, Zhou Jie offered a few brief instructions, then turned and departed. He still had many matters to attend to and no spare leisure to chat idly with a child.

Watching his retreating figure, Zhao Jie felt that something was amiss, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not tell exactly what it was.

Forget it. No need to dwell on it.

Shaking his head, Zhao Jie turned his attention to the laboratory around him. From their earlier conversation, it seemed that Professor Zhou Jie had also researched the super-evolution of Greymon, and perhaps those records were still preserved here.

“The Threat of Digital Beasts to the Human World?”

He opened the computer in the laboratory, and the first thing that met his eyes was a data document. Zhao Jie hesitated for a moment, but in the end he still clicked it open.

“Since the emergence of digital beasts, the course of human civilization has changed. We no longer venture into outer space, but instead have begun to open the gate to the digital realm. I believe digital beasts are of nothing but harm to humankind; they ought not to exist in this world at all...”

The further Zhao Jie read, the more alarmed he became. Every line of the document was filled with hatred toward digital beasts. Fortunately, the signature on the file was not Professor Zhou Jie’s, but that of a researcher named Di.

Who Di was, Zhao Jie did not know.

But his thoughts were extremely dangerous, and the writing carried a strange power of persuasion, as though it were issuing an invitation.

“Forget it. I won’t read this one.”

Zhao Jie shook his head, skipped past that section, and looked to the other资料.

Soon, a paper titled A Brief Discussion of the Digital Gene Evolution Sequence of Garurumon appeared before his eyes.

Garurumon?

At the name, Zhao Jie immediately thought of Metal Garurumon, and then of WarGreymon, and he wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth.

Omnimon was beckoning to him.

The more he read, the more startled he became. In A Brief Discussion of the Digital Gene Evolution Sequence of Garurumon, Professor Zhou Jie introduced a new term.

He called it transformation evolution.

According to this theory of transformation evolution, one digital beast could alter its gene sequence and become a completely different digital beast.

What Zhao Jie found somewhat regrettable was that in this Brief Discussion of the Digital Gene Evolution Sequence of Garurumon, Professor Zhou Jie only mentioned the theory in passing and did not elaborate further on transformation evolution.

“Transformation evolution...”

Zhao Jie murmured softly at the documents before him. If transformation evolution could truly be achieved, then in the future WarGreymon would no longer need Metal Garurumon at all.

Through this transformation evolution, the digital data of Metal Garurumon could be stored within Agumon’s body.

Thus WarGreymon itself could evolve into Omnimon!

At the thought, Zhao Jie continued searching through Professor Zhou Jie’s materials, looking for theories related to transformation evolution.

It had to be admitted: Professor Zhou Jie was a genius researcher.

This transformation evolution had not merely remained at the theoretical stage; he had even created a converter for digital gene sequences.

Yet what disappointed Zhao Jie was that in Professor Zhou Jie’s experimental reports, every single test of transformation evolution had failed without exception.

The primary gene sequence of the digital beast would continuously reject the newly introduced gene sequence.

In more severe cases, the primary gene sequence would mutate, giving rise to an unknown and uncontrollable form.

Zhao Jie studied the materials on transformation evolution with rapt attention. This transformation evolution offered him a way to make WarGreymon become Omnimon without relying on Metal Garurumon.

Thus, Professor Zhou Jie’s ideas and experimental data were pioneers clearing the road ahead, helping him avoid many detours.

...

While Zhao Jie was absorbed in the documents, Zhou Jie somehow appeared inside a surveillance room.

Although he was not the one managing this place, over the years he had turned it into his own castle.

Professor Zhou Jie fixed his eyes on the images in the monitor.

“How is it?”

After seeing Zhao Jie browse that report, a smile crept across his sullen face as he spoke toward some place in the darkness.

One second passed, then two, then three. During that time, the smile on his face quickly faded, for he already knew the answer.

“What a regrettable answer.”

With a rather pitying shake of the head, Professor Zhou Jie left the surveillance room and returned to the laboratory where Agumon was being treated.

On the screen, unlike the image Zhao Jie had seen earlier, the white cloud representing Agumon’s pure consciousness was steadily being invaded by the black mist.

“Two more days.”

Looking at the scene displayed on the screen, Professor Zhou Jie nodded in satisfaction.

By then, when the boy discovered that his digital partner had become a mindless monster, he would surely come to understand the harm digital beasts pose to our human world.

He looked forward very much to that day, eager to see what expression that boy would wear.

He had originally only taken an interest in ZombieGreymon, yet unexpectedly there was an added delight; Black ChaosGreymon must be even more thrilling.

Moreover, this time he had infused dark energy into Agumon’s body. Unlike before, when the black ring could be shattered and the dark energy would then dissipate, this method had no such obvious flaw.

This time, the creation would be flawless.

Indeed, he himself had been one of the makers of that black ring, and he understood such energy very deeply.

He had first noticed Zhao Jie during the final of the Sand City Newcomer Cup, or rather, he had noticed Greymon.

In present-day China, Greymon had become nearly impossible to find; to witness one evolve into Greymon through sheer chance and fortune stirred a thrill in him that no one else could comprehend.

After that, he had kept a close watch on Zhao Jie’s movements. When he learned that Agumon had encountered a problem, he knew his chance had come.

The berserk digital beast ZombieGreymon would become even stronger in his hands. Merely imagining it made him tremble all over with excitement.

As for the unprecedented Black ChaosGreymon, Zhou Jie eagerly awaited its destructive power.

“Pity.”

Zhou Jie shook his head again. Originally, he had wanted to make this little fellow one of his own, but the power of Di had failed to resonate with him.

Then, when the time came, he would simply have to eliminate the child!