The others had no objections. With their leader dead and their strongest fighter reduced to a pile of melted metal, they knew resisting was pointless. Zack nodded and tossed a small chip from his suit. The chip landed on the back of Lady Clara's neck. She felt a sharp sting, but she didn't flinch. "That chip has a self-destruct system," Zack said coldly. "I assume you understand what that means."
Lady Clara remained composed, though a chill ran down her spine. "Understood, sir," she said smoothly. She had already seen his power firsthand. There was no point in resisting now.
"Good." At that moment, Zack's mechanical army arrived. A wave of combat machines rolled in, their cold, metallic frames gleaming under the dim sunlight.
The survivors shuddered as Zack made his final declaration. "From now on, this city is a territory of NYC." He left behind dozens of mechanical dogs as enforcers.
Lady Clara, now the appointed overseer, bowed slightly. "As you command, my lord." She had no complaints. She had fought and clawed her way through the apocalypse, leading her people through hell. But Zack? He was on another level entirely.
Zack turned to her. "How many people are here?"
Clara thought for a moment before answering. "Sir, we have 4,300 people. Most are young adults. Only a handful of eldery and children remain."
Zack wasn't surprised. There were hardly any elderly left in this world. Survival was brutal, and without the old generation, human civilization itself was at risk. He spoke in a commanding tone. "Select 1,000 able-bodied adults and send them to the NYC steel plant. The mechanical dogs will ensure their safety."
Lady Clara nodded. "Understood, sir. I will begin the selection immediately." Zack watched her go, satisfied. She was efficient. And efficiency was exactly what he needed.
Soon after, 1,000 young adults were successfully relocated to NYC Base. Zack's mechanical army remained stationed in the city, conducting repairs and securing the area. Damaged units were transported back to base for maintenance, while the ones still operational continued their mission—eliminating the remaining zombies. Despite some losses, the fearless warriors held strong. The reorganization of the City had gone smoothly, aside from the earlier resistance.
Back in NYC Base, Zack wasted no time. He immediately turned his focus to the BEC Creature production line. The facility had been successfully relocated, thanks to the coordinated efforts of his mechanical bugs. The thirty-two semi-finished energy entities were also transferred.
Zack examined them closely. These creatures were incredible combatants. "Ego, how's the system coming along?" Zack asked. If he had access to the full production system, he would have started mass production immediately.
"SIR, I've been working on restoring the missing data," Ego responded. "However, some critical information is proving difficult to recover."
Zack frowned, deep in thought. "Send me the data," he ordered. Within seconds, a flood of complex formulas and element comparisons filled his visor.
Zack smirked. "Interesting… Let's see just how advanced this tech really is." His expertise in mechanical engineering was already at a high level, so analyzing experimental data wasn't new to him. However, this project required more than just calculations. It needed experimentation.
Zack reviewed the formulas, making adjustments where needed. "This should work… Ego, input this new data set and run a simulation."
Seconds later, Ego reported back. "Simulation failed, SIR. The calculations are still off."
Zack's expression darkened. The missing data was proving to be more troublesome than expected. Too many fluctuating variables—it was like solving a puzzle with half the pieces missing. "I refuse to believe I can't crack this," he muttered. He dove back into the complex equations, refining his calculations with every iteration. Hours passed as he tested theories, corrected errors, and built alternative formulas.
Scattered across the floor were sheets of holographic data projections, filled with intricate calculations. He looked like a mad scientist, completely immersed in his work. "Ego, try this version."
Ego ran the new data through the simulation. "SIR, it's viable, but the risk factor remains at 50%."
Too high. "Keep this set for now," Zack decided. He returned to his previous formulas, systematically cross-referencing them to pinpoint the discrepancies. Hours passed. After refining his calculations over and over, a fourth version of the data was completed.
Zack exhaled, his eyes gleaming with determination. "This one should be close."
Ego processed the new input. "SIR, the calculations are stable."
Zack's lips curled into a smirk. "Let's start the experiment." Data streams flooded his HUD, displaying the steps of the Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) creature's creation process. Unlike traditional biological organisms, this entity was being constructed at the quantum level, relying on exotic matter manipulation rather than cellular mitosis. "Ego, break it down," Zack ordered, his eyes scanning the developing form within the containment field.
"Affirmative, Sir. Initiating synthesis sequence." A supercooled chamber, pressurized to near absolute zero, served as the creature's birthplace. Within the chamber, a specialized atomic lattice framework—engineered from superconducting graphene nanofibers—acted as a skeletal base.
First, Bose-Einstein Condensate matter was introduced. The system injected rubidium atoms into the chamber, rapidly cooling them to a fraction above absolute zero using magneto-optical traps and evaporative cooling fields. As the atoms lost kinetic energy, they transitioned into a coherent quantum state, behaving as a unified wave function rather than individual particles.
Zack watched as the floating mist of ultra-cold atoms began merging, forming the semi-ethereal base structure of the creature. Unlike standard biological tissues, this entity wasn't held together by chemical bonds—it was stabilized by quantum coherence. "Structural integrity at 27%," Ego reported. "Beginning neural lattice integration."
Rather than relying on neurons and synapses, the creature's cognitive framework was built using entangled particle streams. Airui's technology had perfected the method of encoding neural patterns into superfluid condensates, allowing for a consciousness-like process without biological constraints. Inside the chamber, microscopic electromagnetic pulses mapped out the neural pathways, creating an artificial brain composed entirely of quantum vortices. Zack tapped his fingers against his wrist console. "Ego, does this neural design match the human brain's cortical structure?"
"Negative, Sir. This system operates on a higher-dimensional computational model—akin to a distributed intelligence network. It does not require individual synapses; rather, its entire structure functions as a single processing unit."
Zack smirked. "A hive mind in one body. No weak points." The data streams updated as neural stabilization reached 60%. With the cognitive structure secured, the next step was initializing a physical shell.
This was where the process diverged from anything remotely biological. The creature needed a stable external form—one that could interact with its environment while retaining its exotic matter properties. The system deployed a secondary condensate phase composed of ytterbium-doped metamaterials. These materials were engineered to remain quantum-entangled with the core, allowing the BEC creature to phase between physical states. The result? A semi-solid body capable of shifting between tangible and intangible forms at will.
Zack's eyes flickered with interest as the shimmering mist within the chamber condensed into a humanoid shape. Its structure pulsed like liquid metal, occasionally destabilizing into vapor before reforming. "Fascinating," Zack muttered.