Oni2:Truth Number Zero/Digest

Maximum synthesis: Hasegawa's plan - The Daodan Chrysalis was developed by Hasegawa (Konoko's and Muro's father).

The supposed goal of the project (mostly according to Kerr) was to allow mankind to survive in an increasingly toxic environment.

Arguably, adapting to overwhelming pollution - and ultimately embracing the BioCrisis as a new way of life - is both naïve and cynical.

Hasegawa's true plan (under the "Truth Number Zero" theory) was far less naïve and less cynical, and involved the following steps:

1. develop the Chrysalis right under the nose of the old-school Syndicate, and let them take the bait of the "universal soldier";
2. assist Muro in escaping the Syndicate's control, eliminating the old leaders, and alienating the whole organization (Strikers);
3. once Muro is in power, continue to monitor/support him, but also create and lead an independent faction (Ninja and Comms);
4. let Muro and his Strikers go crazy with their bio-terrorist STURMANDERUNG project, but sabotage it at the very last moment;
   • (on Muro's signal, the atmospheric processors were supposed to start functioning in reverse, hyperpolluting all the major cities)
   • (with Hasegawa's sabotage, either nothing would have happened - the processors would have continued to pump out clean air)
   • (or the Ninja could have performed an "anti-sabotage" at the ACCs, causing them to start cleaning the city air more efficiently)
5. eliminate Muro and his generals, destroy the infrastructure of the Strikers, render Daodan technology secret and/or unusable;
6. help/force the WCG to evolve into something less rigid and authoritarian (now that both the Syndicate and the BioCrisis are gone);
7. PROFIT!!!

P.S. Not all of the above "plan" had to be designed aforehand. Some of it (if not most of it) may have been contingency.

P.P.S. The plan fits in with Hasegawa's idealism, and aims to improve the state of the world in more than one respect:

• it attacks the core institute of organized crime (Syndicate) - by infiltrating it and destroying it from the inside;
• it assembles/enrolls the most radical individuals (Strikers) around a terrorist project - and later eliminates them;
• it creates an opportunity for massive and radical modification of the ACCs (something the WCG would never allow);
• finally, it attacks the WCG as well, by shaking the two pillars of their abusive authority (pollution and organized crime);

P.P.P.S. This plan implies sacrificing Muro. As for Hasegawa, he sacrificed himself as well, by "becoming" Mukade.

Mukade's nature - Unbeknownst to Kerr, Hasegawa started by implanting a Chrysalis to himself. He also benefits from the help of another idealist who wants to break the system - an ex-assassin who is fed up with both the Syndicate and the WCG.

This person (the "true Mukade") not only knows the internal functioning of the Syndicate (which can be useful if one wants to infiltrate it), but he is also an outstanding hacker and fighter (even though he is retired).

Thus Hasegawa can, when the time is right (i.e., when his Daodan integration is sufficient), subject himself to the "brain engrams" of that renegade assassin and inherit his hacking and fighting skills.

This turns him into a one-of-a-kind schizophrenic - not really Hasegawa, not really Mukade, more like "a bit of both", and possibly "neither" (with an extra layer of alienation coming from the Daodan).

Konoko's role - Simply put, Konoko ruined everything - first by killing Mukade/Hasegawa, then by blowing up the ACCs.

Part of the blame for that is on Mukade/Hasegawa himself - for confronting Konoko and talking to her in creepy riddles.

But it is the Daodan's "fault", too (because of how it was messing with Mukade/Hasegawa's mind and Konoko's).

The nature of the Daodan - The Daodan is an immaterial entity (a kind of aura), that comes from the same parallel universe as the Screamers, Mukade's "Devilstar" and all of Oni's "Phase technologies".

• This parallel world is simply called the Phase. Oni's society uses it to "harvest" out-of-this-world technologies (force field and invisibility), as well as some weapons including the Screaming Cells.

If the Daodan comes in contact with stem cells of a host organism (e.g. a human) under the right conditions, these cells are transformed into a "Chrysalis", which is a sort of "smart/beneficial tumor".

• If, then, this "tumor" comes in contact with the rest of the host organism (i.e., the Chrysalis is implanted), it performs a gradual consolidation and upgrade of the host, following damage or stress.

(It's a bit like the "full cyborg" concept in Ghost in the Shell, except that instead of prosthetic upgrades of one organ then another, it occurs much more continuously and at cellular level.)

• (Basically you're being eaten alive from the inside by your own semi-extraterrestrial clone, which eventually assimilates your brain and redefines your identity. In general, it's not pretty.)

Konoko's case is unique in that she doesn't leave behind her "human side" and manages to balance "on the razor's edge", never giving in to the total conversion that the Daodan process implies.