The demon dragon, currently submerged in the vat, was naturally oblivious to the conversation between Bai Qi and Octavian outside. It was only when Octavian pressed the button to begin the surgery, and excruciating pain coursed through its brain like a venomous snake, that the demon dragon realized something was terribly wrong.
But it was too late to resist now.
As electricity continuously surged in, the demon dragon's consciousness gradually blurred, eventually sinking into a state of complete unconsciousness.
Observing the unconscious demon dragon in the vat, Bai Qi frowned and asked, "What's the situation now?"
Octavian, operating the control console, replied to Bai Qi's query, "Rest assured, Your Majesty, this is just a normal phenomenon during surgery. The operation is proceeding smoothly. If all goes as planned, the demon dragon's original personality will be completely erased within three hours."
As time passed, the progress bar on the screen steadily advanced. When it reached one hundred percent, Octavian pulled the end lever, wiped the sweat from his brow, and turned to report respectfully to Bai Qi, "Your Majesty, the demon dragon's personality has been deleted. Shall we proceed with injecting a new personality now?"
"No rush."
Bai Qi raised his hand, stopping Octavian from initiating the next step. He looked at the comatose demon dragon in the vat and said, "If we're going to do this, let's do it perfectly. Let me modify him first."
With that, Bai Qi extracted the demon dragon from the vat and brought it to the adjacent laboratory, roughly tossing it onto the operating table.
"Xiao Shizhong, perform a full-body scan on the demon dragon."
Xiao Shizhong activated and quickly completed a full-body scan of the demon dragon, simultaneously presenting Bai Qi with its genetic issues and the optimal modification plan.
Bai Qi nodded in satisfaction as he reviewed the plan provided by Xiao Shizhong and began the modifications.
The first step was genetic. The genes deleted by Warren would be replenished.
Although Warren was a top-tier expert in cloning, he lacked sufficient technical support when creating the demon dragon, rendering many of his ideas impossible to realize.
Bai Qi, however, was different. Even if he didn't have as many ideas as Warren, Bai Qi possessed Xiao Shizhong and technology far beyond this era. With just these two aspects, Bai Qi held an absolute advantage over Warren.
Multicolored beams of light shone back and forth on the demon dragon, followed by robotic arms roughly cutting it open and rummaging inside with nimble movements.
This was also why Bai Qi hadn't rushed Octavian to implant a new personality. After all, even if it were implanted, after Bai Qi's tinkering, it would likely suffer a mental breakdown, requiring a new implantation.
The robotic arms retracted after completing the main framework. After stitching its abdomen shut, two tubes of nanobots were injected.
Upon entering the demon dragon's body, the nanobots immediately began to function. They continuously improved and strengthened the demon dragon's various organs, while also inscribing different magical runes onto these organs.
The primary effect of these magical runes was to protect the demon dragon's internal organs. Simultaneously, they could store excess magical power from daily use, which could then be retrieved when needed to instantly boost strength.
This was not the end. Bai Qi then installed an artificial organ within the demon dragon. The function of this organ was simple: to store the chaotic demonic energy absorbed from other demons.
It was precisely because the demon dragon had recklessly absorbed the demonic energy of other demons without considering the consequences, and lacked sufficient power to control it, that its internal demonic energy became chaotic, preventing it from unleashing its true strength. In turn, its body mutated into a bizarre abomination under the influence of this energy.
Now, with this organ installed by Bai Qi, the demonic energy from other demons would be stored within it and could be accessed when needed.
This might waste a second or two, but it was the most suitable approach for the still not-strong enough demon dragon. At least this way, it wouldn't be turned into a grotesque hybrid.
Of course, Bai Qi's enhancements for the demon dragon didn't stop here.
Physical enhancements only granted it greater strength, while genetic improvements were what allowed for a qualitative leap in its power.
Under the irradiation of various lights, the demon dragon's genes, deleted by Warren for stability and control, were repaired. However, only a majority were fixed; Bai Qi deliberately left several crucial parts unrepaired.
Bai Qi had his own considerations for this. The former demon dragon was already troublesome, and even with a new personality implanted, Bai Qi couldn't guarantee its absolute loyalty. Therefore, he intentionally left a few genetic defects to impose certain constraints on the demon dragon's strength.
From the outset, Bai Qi's positioning for the demon dragon was not that of a savior like Bai Qi. After all, Bai Qi alone was already giving Bai Qi a headache. Bai Qi had no spare energy to cultivate a second savior.
For the demon dragon, Bai Qi intended to turn it into a sharp blade, or perhaps serve as a backup plan should Bai Qi be defeated.
That's right, Bai Qi had never believed Bai Qi to be invincible from the start.
The void was too mysterious, and the vast number of ancient gods were each more bizarre than the last. Even Bai Qi didn't dare to guarantee that he could perfectly protect the main world.
This was why Bai Qi captured the demon dragon and proceeded with its modification, intending it to be his final backup plan.
If it was never needed, that would be ideal. But if an irreversible situation arose, the main world would have enough time to hold on until his return.
The repair work was complete. The next step was reinforcement.
With its current strength, even with significant improvements from its original state, the demon dragon was still no match for its opponents. It couldn't even defeat Bai Qi in a one-on-one fight. How could it shoulder the burden after Bai Qi's defeat? Therefore, necessary reinforcement was crucial.
Among numerous abilities, Bai Qi selected a few practical ones to incorporate into the demon dragon's genetic sequence.
Firstly, and most importantly, was Captain Atom's energy absorption ability. Bai Qi also incorporated some aspects of Superman's powers, granting the demon dragon not only the ability to quickly absorb and retaliate against opponents' energy attacks but also the effect of gradually increasing its strength through slow absorption.
Next, Bai Qi endowed the demon dragon with super-fast regeneration, incredible speed, night vision, and many other superpowers.
However, there was one thing Bai Qi strictly controlled: he did not include any mental superpowers for the demon dragon.
After all, Bai Qi had achieved the demon dragon's obedience through personality erasure and reconstruction. Although the process was meticulously executed, no one could guarantee that no trace remained. Once mental superpowers were added, and if the demon dragon discovered its true origins, the resulting catastrophe would be immeasurable.