Just then, 16 suddenly lifted his head and said, "I've detected a powerful energy signature, like Mr. Doe."
"Mr. Doe!" Upon hearing 16's words, 18 became upset. "How dare he follow us! I want to ask him what he's up to." With that, 18 flew towards Mr. Doe.
17 followed behind, saying, "How do you know he's following us? Maybe he's just passing by."
"It's a big planet," 18 replied. "We just parted ways, and now we've met again. You call that a coincidence? I don't buy it."
Before long, Mr. Doe and 18 met.
18 immediately confronted him, "Hey, what's your problem? I really dislike you now. Why are you following us?"
Mr. Doe, having lived two lives, had a thick skin. He didn't mind 18's questioning and said, "I'm sorry. I did come here specifically to find you. If I've caused you trouble, I apologize."
After apologizing, Mr. Doe bowed. Seeing his sincere apology, 18 didn't press further and asked, "Since you came here specifically to find us, what's the matter?"
Mr. Doe looked down at the bustling city below and said, "Let's go down and find a place to talk. It's not appropriate to talk up here; it might attract attention from below."
After Mr. Doe spoke, 18 looked down and saw many people looking up at them in amazement, wondering how they could fly.
Not wanting to be the center of attention, the four of them descended into the city and found a drink and dessert shop to sit down.
After Mr. Doe ordered a lot of drinks and desserts, he told 18 about the future unknown creature.
However, 17 and 18 were confident in their abilities and dismissed the news of the unknown creature.
Mr. Doe continued, "You must not take this lightly. This creature can absorb the energy from other people's bodies to enhance its own strength."
"It may not be as strong as you now, but as time goes on, it will become more and more powerful. Eventually, it might even be too much for us to handle."
16 also spoke up, "17, 18, Mr. Doe is right. This creature is very dangerous. We must destroy it before it grows stronger."
17 and 18, hearing the seriousness from both Mr. Doe and 16, became solemn. 17 asked, "Mr. Doe, what's your plan?"
Mr. Doe replied, "This creature is clearly not a natural phenomenon but a man-made one. In this world, when it comes to artificial beings, Dr. Gero is the most formidable."
"So, I want to ask you, aside from the two of you, does Dr. Gero have any other artificial beings?"
17 thought for a moment and said, "As far as we remember, we were the last three artificial beings. But it's hard to say for sure, because Dr. Gero, unable to control us, put me and 18 into hibernation chambers."
"Before modifying us, he had already created many artificial beings. From our names, it's clear that there were at least 15 models before us."
16 added, "There's a huge laboratory beneath the original one that might contain information about this mysterious artificial being."
17 immediately responded, "Then let's go back. If we can find this artificial being's weakness, that would be great."
The four of them flew back to Dr. Gero's laboratory in the northern mountains.
16 cleaned up the debris in the laboratory and found an entrance to the underground.
16 opened the door to the underground passage, but unfortunately, the entrance was too small for his massive body to fit through.
17, 18, and Mr. Doe flew down.
The entire underground laboratory was pitch black, without a trace of light. However, for Mr. Doe and the others, seeing in the dark was not a problem.
17 found the power switch and turned it on, illuminating the dark underground laboratory.
Mr. Doe immediately looked at the central incubator in the laboratory, but the scene before him shocked him. According to the original plot, the embryo of Cell, which should have been in the incubator, had disappeared.
"How is this possible?!" Mr. Doe exclaimed.
"What's wrong?" 17 and 18 asked, hearing Mr. Doe's exclamation.
Mr. Doe quickly shook his head and said, "Nothing, I'm just surprised. I didn't expect this underground laboratory to be so big."
Hearing Mr. Doe's words, 17 and 18 looked at him strangely. Was this something to be surprised about? However, they didn't pursue the matter further.
The three of them immediately began searching the entire underground laboratory, including the computers.
On the table, they found various blueprints of artificial beings, including mechanical ones like 16, modified ones like 17 and 18, and energy-absorbing mechanical-biological hybrids.
Seeing these blueprints, 18 remembered the pain of her modification and wanted to destroy the laboratory.
Fortunately, Mr. Doe stopped her, saying, "18, I understand how you feel. You want to destroy this place, but let's search through all the information first."
18 glared at the laboratory and said, "Fine, I'll give you this courtesy. After you're done searching, I'll destroy this place completely. But I don't want to stay here any longer; it makes me uncomfortable."
After saying this, 18 flew out of the underground laboratory.
Mr. Doe said to 17, "Let's continue collecting information, and don't forget the computer over there."
Soon, 17 flipped to the bottom of the blueprints and found one for an artificial being named Cell.
"Mr. Doe, I think I've found the unknown creature you mentioned. His name is Cell!" 17 said, handing the blueprint to Mr. Doe.
Unfortunately, Mr. Doe, neither in his past life nor this one, was a top student. He couldn't understand Cell's blueprint at all.