"I'll give you a chance, activate them!"
"..."
Dr. Merrick instinctively looked up at Hawk.
Hawk stood with his hands in his pockets, smiling at the expressionless Dr. Merrick, and repeated, "Activate them, I won't kill you."
Upon hearing this, Dr. Merrick looked at Hawk, and a glimmer of hope for survival gradually appeared in his previously dull eyes.
Soon enough.
Dr. Merrick, leading Hawk back to the control room, began to operate alone, preparing to awaken the remaining five clones.
Hawk just stood there, quietly watching the screen showing the clone chambers in front.
At this moment, Natasha also arrived with the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents from outside.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. agents dispersed, beginning to search and collect all the data in this cloning base according to plan.
Natasha entered the control room, seeing on the surveillance screen, the five clones curled up and submerged in the clone incubators, and glanced at Dr. Merrick who was too busy and nervous to even wipe his sweat, she then understood and looked toward Hawk.
"Do you want to see these five awakened clones?"
"Mm."
Hawk retracted his gaze and looked at Natasha, "Aren't you curious?"
Upon hearing this, Natasha thought seriously for a moment, then shrugged, "Alright, I am pretty curious."
Hawk smiled slightly.
"Then let's watch together."
"Okay."
Natasha nodded, crossing her arms, watching the busy Dr. Merrick alongside Hawk.
After all, as the person involved was here, and he wasn't worried, what was there for her to worry about.
Most importantly,
She was really curious whether the cloned Hawk and the real Hawk had any differences in strength.
After all, hearing is not seeing.
With two inspectors suddenly appearing, Dr. Merrick felt the gaze upon his back, making him so nervous he wanted to faint.
But he dared not, after all, Hawk promised him that as long as he behaved and obeyed, he would not die.
So...
Four hours later!
Dr. Merrick wiped the sweat from his forehead, then sat at the main control console, starting to activate the system he had adjusted through continuous trial and error, named the 'Soul Infusion' system, confirmed all parameters were correct, then took a deep breath and turned to look at Hawk.
Understanding Hawk's intent, Hawk looked at Natasha and said, "Watch here, if anything seems off, kill him immediately."
Previously, he had considered finding Dr. Merrick to help clone a body for his sister and resurrect her.
Although he still wanted to, compared to the impulsive desire to find Dr. Merrick immediately, the impulse had greatly diminished.
After all, even without Dr. Merrick, resurrecting his sister was just a matter of time.
And he could now see his sister at any time.
Anya was living well in the Pure Land World of the Netherworld, and Anna showed indifference to his desire to resurrect her.
Anna said, as long as she could see her brother, whether resurrected or not didn't matter.
So!
Though Hawk still wanted to resurrect his sister, the urgency was no longer there, naturally lowering Dr. Merrick's importance in his mind.
Soon.
After speaking to Natasha, Hawk's figure disappeared from the spot and appeared in the clone incubator on the surveillance screen.
Seeing this, Natasha looked at Dr. Merrick.
Understanding her gaze, Dr. Merrick wiped his sweat again and pressed the 'Soul Infusion System' button.
Instantly.
The consciousness infusion system was activated, and immediately, the pale blue liquid in the incubators holding the five clones began to boil.
At the same time.
As the liquid boiled, scenes flashed, and the calm eyelids of the five clones in the incubators began to twitch rapidly.
Just like someone having a dream, their eyelids flickered rapidly.
Hawk watched the changes in the incubators with keen interest.
Natasha in the control room was also curious.
"What is this device for?"
"Soul Infusion, it's what I invented to solve the problem of clones being unconscious."
Dr. Merrick spoke with a proud expression, "The reason other cloning experts have not succeeded is because they cannot solve the critical issue of clones lacking souls, but I did."
Cloning animals isn't difficult; scientists solved that long ago.
But human cloning has been delayed, not due primarily to ethical issues.
In the eyes of scientists, ethics hardly exist.
Everything is for science.
For the truth!
So even though the five great philanthropists have officially banned any human cloning experiments, in secret, many cloning experts continue to challenge the goal of human cloning.
They even reached Dr. Merrick's level; they could successfully clone humans.
But they stopped there.
Their creation, more than a clone, was like a human-like corpse.
Because they couldn't resolve the critical human component: the soul.
But Dr. Merrick did.
"My Soul Infusion device can convert calibrated memories into specific neural signals and directly implant them into the clone's brain."
"With memory comes consciousness, and with consciousness, there is a soul."
"So..."
"Yes."
"I can create souls!"
Talking about his great invention, Dr. Merrick watched the screen with fervent eyes, observing the boiling fragments of various images and the clones trembling in the cultivation chamber.
Natasha, listening to Dr. Merrick's claim, felt uneasy.
After all, if souls could indeed be created,
what would they be?
At this moment.
Hawk, who was in the cloning cultivation chamber, seemed to hear Dr. Merrick's self-proclamation as God and glanced at the monitor: "Don't listen to his nonsense. Creating souls, as if he's fit for that. If he could truly accomplish such a feat, Mephisto, who wields the power of souls, would have taken him away long ago."
Dr. Merrick, hearing his research being denied, wasn't pleased.
Even if this person can easily kill him, it doesn't matter.
"Mr. Phoenix, I can create souls, and once the infusion stops, you'll realize I'm not lying."
"Make him stop talking, Natasha."
"Ah!"
A scream echoed through the speaker.
Hawk shook his head and refocused his attention on the five boiling clones.
Soon.
The boiling liquid in the cultivation chamber gradually calmed down, while the red indicator light on the cloning chamber turned green.
The liquid, accompanied by mechanical sounds, began to drop at a visibly fast rate.
After a while.
As the liquid disappeared, a clone's expression became distorted, seemingly in great pain. Instinctively, it grabbed the device covering its mouth and nose, and upon pulling it off, the chamber door opened. The clone fell out and started breathing heavily.
"Hiss!"
Upon seeing this, Natasha gasped: "Success?"
Hawk remained silent, raising his right hand slightly, telekinesis wrapped around the clone with his face and levitated it mid-air.
Sixth Sense scanned the clone inside and out.
"Name."
"Al... Al... Allen!"
Suspended in mid-air, the clone, startled from a deep sleep and realizing it was being controlled, almost instinctively uttered.
The voice was dry and tender, much like speaking for the first time.
Natasha was stunned, glancing at Dr. Merrick.
"Allen?"
"A S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent's memory. We can't extract Hawk's memory, so we extracted the agent's memory and then wrote it into the system. Afterward, through converting neural signals, transferred it to the clone."
"Is this how souls are created?"
Listening to Dr. Merrick's explanation, Natasha frowned, not fully understanding but feeling something wasn't quite right.
"This isn't a soul."
"It's a program."
"Think of Zola. The only difference between these clones and the electronic Zola is they have flesh."
Hawk's voice echoed.
Natasha, hearing Hawk's words, realized why she felt something was amiss.
Hawk looked at the suspended clone, chuckling softly.
"Merrick."
"Let me guess the reason why your previous five clones failed."
"Those five clones must be because you attempted to write my memory, resulting in an incoherent memory, which led the clone to collapse soon after activation. Am I right?"
"..."
Natasha glanced at Dr. Merrick.
Dr. Merrick's expression froze.
He swallowed.
"Yes."
"See, this is like a program. A complete memory is like a written program; it runs smoothly. But a missing program soon crashes when it operates."
Hawk said, then, without hesitation, looked at the clone suspended before him, his eyes crimson, and grabbed it, instantly refining it.
The same happened to the other four clones on the ground.
They vaporized on the spot.
In the next moment.
Hawk returned to the command room and continued speaking to Natasha: "He merely created a memory program, and it's even copied from someone else's. Create? He may as well call it copy-pasting."
Indeed.
This is what Dr. Merrick's so-called clones are.
He treated the clones as servers, merely copying a memory from a person with complete memories, then inserting it into the server and lighting it up.
Is this creation?
Creating nothing.
...