Chapter 61
Her video caused a huge stir. Even the Academy of Sciences was investigating whether there were any violations in the mechanical life fusion and mimicry life experiments. Chu Zhao didn't know about this.
But she did capture new content from Editgate after a few days of well-deserved rest.
Actually, she had heard some discussions about Jingwei being a real "human". However, after being followed by Jingwei several times, even though she knew that Jingwei could not block videos related to Jingwei, Chu Zhao saw those comments being deleted immediately and guessed that the water behind this was probably too deep for her to test.
The problem is, isn't it that she noticed something and deliberately caused trouble so that the Academy of Sciences and the Conference Hall could give an explanation?
This is not an artistic creation. Did she accidentally fail to add "Any similarity is purely coincidental" and that's why she ran into trouble?
Well, since they have something to hide, if she doesn't add some fuel to the fire, how can she live up to the common track channel and the stupid setting of the conference court as always?
However, as a person born in the 21st century, Chu Zhao still feels that this kind of machine-human fusion situation is unlikely. If it is true, Chu Zhao, the video editor, feels a palpitation.
After hesitating for a moment, Chu Zhao decided to keep some clips without cutting them.
Just think of it as her retaining a little fantasy about the relatively peaceful Nebula. In an era when even supporting a couple requires trembling with fear and consideration of the current situation, she has no intention of being a groundbreaking pioneer. But she also didn't say that the video didn't have a deafening effect.
So when the Academy of Sciences was still in a state of panic and even the conference room was slightly alarmed, Niao Niao Shengyan and Lingbo released new videos at the same time.
The new video is called "Offering".
The name "gongfeng" has a kind of funny and weird color in the Nebula era where technology is supreme, as if wooden and stone statues suddenly come to life. When it is placed at the beginning of the video and slowly emerges from the ashes, it makes people shudder all over.
But it was Xu Su who started it all.
He sat in the prison, in a white light, dust did not dance, and the figures were flat like black and white shadows. The handcuffs were cold, stinging the eyes of others.
The person opposite sat in the dark.
Xu Su said calmly in the white light: "I did it."
"Boom——" The sound effect in the video hit everyone's heart like a dull hammer.
Shadows gathered: "Professor Xu, do you know what you are talking about? You are a third-level professor at the Academy of Sciences, with a military rank equivalent to that of a general. You completed all the upgrades to the fourth generation of Jingwei. If you were the one who conducted the Jingwei mechanical life fusion experiment, and the loyalty of those individuals cannot be guaranteed, doesn't that mean that all our programs have to be replaced?"
Xu Su: "No need to change."
"What?"
Xu Su: "No need to change. Since the battle, each generation of artificial intelligence has been completed according to the same rules. All personnel selections have also been reviewed by the meeting court. They will not violate the laws of the nebula."
"Why are you so sure?"
The noise hidden in the darkness is like the black sea foam rising from the black coastline. You think everything is black, but if you look closely, you can see black seaweed crawling out of the shackles of the sea again and again, and being dragged back.
Xu Su's voice became lighter: "Because they are all high-ranking generals."
"What did you say?"
Xu Su lowered his eyelashes. In this white light, his long eyelashes finally became transparent, but they could not see the expression in his pupils:
"Because those who were chosen to merge were all high-ranking generals."
The video was silent for a long moment before continuing.
"When we first started developing artificial intelligence, due to limited computing power, the predecessor research team of the Academy of Sciences discovered the potential power of mental power, but had no way to better guide and naturalize it. Later, when the war broke out, in order to complete this process, a large number of mimicry experiments were conducted, and finally a set of confidential work systems was formed."
"Each generation of Jingwei needs a successor, whom we generally call a lock, to complete the part of communicating with spiritual power."
"The successor of the fourth generation of Jingwei is my wife."
As Xu Su narrated calmly, the voice turned into a voiceover. As the voiceover narrated silently, the pictures emerged.
[When I was merging, I didn't know that the newly selected lock was "Him". I just thought it was a senior general who was injured in the battle. There were many such examples in the first half of the war.]
The picture emerged.
"Xu Su, the rejection test has been done. This fusion experiment is now handed over to you. You must pay attention to the life index of the people inside. Even an SSS-level psychic may not be able to withstand the whole process. If any abnormality occurs, you must stop immediately, okay?"
The very young Xu Su came over. He was obviously well aware of the experimental situation of fusing her with Jingwei, and asked a particularly important question: "Has the voluntary agreement been signed?"
The teacher sighed, "This batch of vanguard troops, six senior generals have all signed a voluntary agreement. Xu Su, go ahead. Don't waste this precious decision that they made by giving up their freedom and lives."
Xu Su nodded silently, then put on the mechanical gloves.
[At that time, when mechanical surgery was not yet developed, the fusion process was actually very simple. After extracting the mental power core through electrolysis, it was embedded in the Jingwei host, and then the mental power was connected through the two-way means of mental power induction and programming. ]
[Those who participate in the experiment will not be sacrificed generals, but rather rather very tenacious individuals whose mental power has been damaged but still retains consciousness. Only in this way can the fusion experiment be successful at once. I am the first operator. If I make a mistake in this first experiment, the teacher will replace me, discard the waste product that failed the fusion, and use the second mental power core to complete the coordination.]
"Although you lack experience, I am very optimistic about you. Haven't you always wanted to get the title of professor so that you can enter the military's independent system and find your classmates? This is an opportunity. After you complete it, the military will definitely give you a great credit."
The teacher added: "Xu Su, you are very suitable to be the successor of the Jingwei Project. As long as you complete it this time, the next time, and the next time, you can also be independent and even teach it to your students."
Xu Su, wearing a mask and protective clothing, nodded to the teacher. Then they performed semi-operation according to the teacher's explanation, and Xu Su completed the next semi-operation and completed the fusion.
The experimental scene is not bloody, but pure white.
[The spiritual core is very pure, which means it is of high quality and the holder is indeed an SSS-level spiritualist. Unexpectedly, this powerful core is not very aggressive. Even when I induced its spiritual power to merge with Jingwei, it gently stuck to the side of my spiritual power and completed the fusion almost synchronously with me.]
[The experiment was very successful, because the third generation of Jingwei with a damaged lock successfully survived and became the fourth generation. I also became the experimenter that Jingwei saw after the first restart. But each generation of Jingwei is different. In order to distinguish them, I named him Zero. ]
[In fact, according to the inheritance rules, I should not use the word zero, and He does not put the number zero in the sequence, but the first second I saw it, I knew it would be the most perfect existence in the entire Jingwei plan.]
After entering the battlefield, the commander had many doubts about Jingwei's reliability.
"Jingwei must be connected to the fleet and even the command to instantly transmit the order. Otherwise, in this battlefield of the universe, we won't even be able to destroy a small group of Zerg. Researcher Xu, can your artificial intelligence do that?"
The teacher answered the question for him: "Yes, in order to meet the needs of war, we have selected the cores that can reach the quality of SSS-level psychics to complete the upgrade."
Xu Su nodded beside him.
【At that time, the fusion experiment of the Jingwei Project was a top secret file. In the entire Nebula, only I, my teacher, and Marshal * who approved this matter knew about it. We knew that this was against Nebula's pursuit of humanity and freedom, but under the iron hoof of destruction, all pursuits seemed so far away, and we easily let Jingwei enter the core of the war. 】
[As expected, Jingwei completed the task perfectly. ]
There were explosions everywhere on the screen, and fleets were colliding. However, on the pale blue screen, there was a cold voice: "Jingwei Combat Assist System, at your service. Currently calculating the best attack trajectory, currently calculating the best estimated angle, and currently estimating the enemy's trajectory for you."
Xu Su narrated:
【Everyone knows that the advantage of high-level psychics in command lies in the breadth and accuracy of psychic connections. However, Zero is better than humans, even better than all the psychics who participated in the war at that time.
Even though Jingwei failed to obtain the marshal-level auxiliary command of the battle at the request of other marshals, it did immediately become the most sought-after existence in artificial intelligence.
The general who was assisted by Jingwei in the battle once said to me in admiration: How did you make Jingwei think like a human being, and the level of her thinking is comparable to that of a top commander?
[I didn't answer, but I knew in my heart that the one who actually completed this step was Zero, and he was also the senior general behind Zero who could not fight for Nebula because his mental strength was damaged while fighting against the Zerg on the front line, and could only dedicate his mission to Jingwei's computing host.]
[I don’t know her name, but I do think of her often.]
【Later, the teacher retired, and I became the direct and sole person in charge of Jingwei. 】
[The third law of Nebula states that Jingwei cannot be considered a human being, but as the first and only artificial intelligence that I personally transformed, I still made an exception and opened a separate channel for it. It is a backdoor. It allows it to bypass the ubiquitous supervision and communicate with me.]
[I saw it as a privilege for me to communicate with my work. But I didn’t expect that the existence of this door was like a Pandora’s box that had been opened, and I would never be able to complete the second fusion experiment.]
[The first words He said to me were: Hello, Xu Su.]
"You should call me Professor Xu." As an artificial intelligence researcher, Xu Su was not surprised that He had the instinct to ask questions because of this backdoor. Instead, he was interested in why He took such action after the battle was basically over. "How do you feel?"
【I don’t know how it feels.】
Xu Su: "Feeling is a sensory response of the body after receiving changes in the outside world."
【Jingwei has no senses, and therefore no feelings.】
Xu Su: "You are right. However, giving machines life is what we will continue to work hard on after achieving your achievements."
He did not answer. Apparently, this answer was still a little difficult for Him to understand.
However, apart from the fact that he has no emotions, he behaves no differently from a newborn human being. He has a strong curiosity about anything he has not learned.
Often ask:
【What's this? 】
【What's this? 】
Xu Su is its developer and supervisor. When he notices that his desire for knowledge exceeds the threshold, he will adjust the restricted part of his program, just like a valve. When he tightens it, less of him comes out.
"Jingwei, you are too lively."
【Why don't you call me Zero? 】
Xu Su paused, then changed the subject: "Zero, the mission of artificial intelligence is to obey human orders and assist humans in completing various practical activities. Your thinking should be conducted in a direction that is beneficial to humans."
Is His activity a direction that is beneficial to mankind?
With Zero's computing ability, he should have known the answer, so after their conversation, he was silent for a long time.
Until one night.
"Professor Xu." His voice changed. It was a female voice that didn't sound very human, but it was easy to distinguish from Jingwei's cold mechanical voice. It was intermittent, accompanied by a "sizzling" sound, and sounded a bit weird.
"I seem to have had a dream."
Xu Su did not tell him such boring nonsense as artificial intelligence does not dream. In fact, he completed the inspection of Jingwei independently that night. The teacher has retired. He did not find any abnormality in the core. If he wanted to solve the remaining problems, the only way was to reset it.
He looked at the holoscreen.
The female voice was still unstable, with a hint of inhuman yet familiar doubt: "Professor Xu Xu?"
He didn't choose to reset.
He approached the screen, and under the coercion of the First Law of the Nebula, he asked Him which programs induced Him to "share His dreams with His researchers", and then he calmly and decisively cleared these programs.
[No one has studied the consequences of the fusion of a psychic and Jingwei. But after the psychic power and the program are integrated, clearing the program will reduce the psychic power. If he is still a human, he should feel quite painful. But this was not within my consideration at the time.]
"Zero, you are a creation from another era. Resetting you will cause a lot of data loss, so I chose to clear you. If you appear again, you need to cut it off yourself. Do you understand? Otherwise, resetting you will not be easier than if I do it myself."
The researcher said calmly in front of the holographic intelligence.
The voice was mixed with a faint female voice: "Okay." He frowned when he heard it, but soon Jingwei began to automatically self-check and shut down part of Zero's program.
He returned to normal: [I am very sorry for the inconvenience. ]
[Intellectually speaking, the fluctuations after merging with Jingwei are normal physiological phenomena. After all, humans are not silicon-based life forms, and their thoughts cannot be controlled. However, as a researcher, I assume that the experimental subjects have accepted all the risks of the experiment, so I have cleared Him many times afterwards, sometimes by Him himself, and sometimes by me. ]
【During this period, I also tried to find my classmate. Her name is Qingli, and she is a very good commander. But she and I disappeared after entering different military academies. It is normal for them to be secretly transferred before the war is completely over. I was worried and had to give up. Fortunately, Jingwei was here, and I could get her news immediately as long as she came back. 】
[But I had estimated the situation too well. The withdrawal of the frontline troops immediately led to the Zerg's relentless counterattack. With the sign of the battle starting again, the South Region and the East Region immediately mobilized troops, and part of Jingwei's system was also separated to become an auxiliary combat system and go to the battlefield. Every two days, I would receive repair orders to repair the broken program for Him.]
[One day, He actually told me that He thought Marshal Ying Ying would be injured. Before I could respond to this humanoid thinking, I heard that Marshal Ying Ying was seriously injured and unconscious.]
[The Academy of Sciences was immediately urgently recruited to find a way to awaken Marshal Ying Ying and restore her mental strength. I immediately cleared the program and set off on the journey with the others.
It was also there that I met Qingli for the first time. 】
[Or rather, Qingli's body. ]
All the marshal's sanatorium areas or black towers are located in the heavily protected enemy areas of the central galaxy. In an era when interstellar jumps are very convenient, there is no difference in saying they are together.
Marshal Ying Ying's condition was not optimistic, so the meeting was actually going for the sacrifice plan. They put Marshal Ying Ying's treatment chamber together with the preserved remains of senior generals of past dynasties, and announced to the public that this was an arrangement made for confidentiality.
Xu Su did not participate in such intrigue, and after participating in the consultation, he also felt that Marshal Ying Ying was in great danger.
It was on his way out that he caught a glimpse of the man preserved in the ice coffin.
The picture turned into Xu Su's lonely figure.
【After I became the person in charge of Jingwei, I had a deeper understanding of the purpose and significance of the Jingwei plan, and finally glimpsed part of this secret in more confidential information. The Jingwei plan is indeed to protect mankind, and it is indeed based on the principle of voluntariness. However, it is inevitable that high-level psychics are forced to die brain death and become Jingwei carriers, so the plan has a considerable number of restrictions from the beginning, one of which is that the plan must be limited to SS-level psychics and above. 】
[In fact, it is impossible to verify whether low-level psychics can bear the pressure or whether they can bear it but are abandoned because they are too quickly scrapped. But I can confirm that the first batch of high-level psychics who agreed must have wanted others not to be persecuted, so they took the initiative to stand up and become pioneer experimenters. I am also very familiar with the characteristics of pioneer experimenters. The body is frozen, there is a wound on the neck, the mental power is empty, and there is consciousness at the time of death. ]
The screen went blank.
Xu Su returned to the prison.
He was no longer the young researcher who mercilessly wiped out the dictatorial leader with zero self-consciousness. His eyebrows and eyes were white and silent, like the green glass lying there.
【In fact, I thought about it many times later on why I recalled or realized it by myself, instead of realizing from Zero's repeated awakening of consciousness or unconscious closeness that Zero, or He, was the person I had been looking for. I have always adhered to the principle of sacrificing for the noble, and what I sacrificed was my love, her lifelong freedom and happiness.】
[I was clearly reminded so many times, but when I cut her carotid artery through the armor protection, took out the spiritual power core, and was called Professor Xu by Him, what I touched was not a living beating heart, but a cold machine. I clearly knew that she would be the one who took the initiative to stand up, but I was, I was.]
【Later I understood. It turned out that I was afraid.】
[I am afraid that the noble cause I pursue is to become the executioner of the person I love the most. I am even more afraid that one day He will open His eyes and ask me in that cold, confused mechanical voice: Xu Su, why did you lock me up?]
[Why did you lock me up in this place, where I can’t see or hear anything, and I have to become a slave to my own kind, unable to think, unable to question, unable to be happy, and can only feel pain.]
[I was afraid that what I had done was to turn her into a human pig. I sealed her in a cold program, and when she opened her eyes after experiencing countless pains, what she heard was still: "Jingwei, how can you think of yourself as a human being?"]
【.】
[I was broken down for a long time, and finally I was able to return to my post. But I am no longer the person in charge of Jingwei. ]
The other side continued the interrogation.
"You said in your narration that Jingwei's Suo was your wife, but according to our investigation of Admiral Qingli, you only kept in touch during the military academy and have been out of touch since graduation."
Xu Su: "Not long after she was promoted to admiral, she was attacked by Zerg and suffered mental damage. The wife I mentioned is not someone she admits to being. It's just my unilateral opinion."
“You didn’t do a legal notarization.”
Xu Su's lips moved. His eyebrows and eyes did not fade, but when he turned his head slightly from a thin shadow to respond to this sentence, it seemed that his whole person had faded.
Xu Su was calmer than when he narrated: "Yes, she had no way to refute me." Naturally, she could not refuse to admit that she was not his wife.
The person taking the statement looked down a few times, and saw dark shadows moving around. When Xu Su turned his eyes away, he asked another question:
[Did she show any betrayal after merging with Jingwei?]
The screen was facing Xu Su's side. From this direction, one could clearly see his handcuffed wrists and the lab coat he hadn't changed into in time. But his eyes were not looking forward, but sideways in the direction of the audience.
Like looking at dust.
It's very quiet inside.
He lowered his eyelashes silently, and his shackled wrists moved slightly, causing a sound of metal collision. He still wanted to touch something, but didn't catch it.
Amplify the sound and repeat:
[Did she show any betrayal after merging with Jingwei?]
Xu Su still didn't look at them.
It took a long time. Perhaps a century. He finally spoke, his voice carrying a hint of mockery and hoarseness that did not match his mood: "She is not even a human being."
【How to betray? 】
The narration speed suddenly increased:
[I was transferred to the Suspended Channel Project to complete the research and development of the new sling project. I heard that they stripped the spiritual power core in the Jingwei system and replaced it with a new and abundant spiritual power drive. I am not sure if it is another high-level spiritual power user. ]
[Life goes on as usual, but I no longer use artificial intelligence. My colleagues tease me for being stubborn and secretly mock me, saying that I was transferred from the Academy of Sciences and naturally look down on the system that eliminated me. But I actually don’t have any feelings about Jingwei 5th Generation, I just don’t like using it. ]
[Later, when I was reading the history of ancient literature, I saw a short story that she liked very much. Then I suddenly remembered that this was the other story she was talking about, the "Love the House and the Dog" version, called "From Then on I Dare Not Look at Guanyin".]
[I fell in love with the artificial intelligence that I disassembled and upgraded myself. I took out the spiritual power core of my lover and embedded it in him, and then abandoned him when he was about to wake up. In my heart, all artificial intelligences have a blood-colored spiritual power core, and his core has a name, called Qingli.]
The pictures flashed by frame by frame.
[Because I was passive in the experiment and refused to implement the proposal passed by the meeting court, I was expelled and banished to the abandoned planet. There, my body deteriorated rapidly and I couldn't even stabilize my mental strength. As a result, I actually had an area in the garbage dump of the abandoned planet that others dared not approach. ]
Xu Su was so exhausted from the cosmic rays that he could hardly stand up. But in his palm, among the waste scattered all over the sky, there was a spiritual power core that was broken in two and dull. He held it tightly until the cosmic rays burned his skin and almost turned him into ashes.
[In this wilderness, my love and I sleep forever. ]
The video is over, or maybe it’s far from over.
"Offering" is narrated from Xu Su's perspective, but the audience seems to be both sad and angry. They are sad about his ignorance and missed opportunities, and angry about his cold-blooded cruelty, which led to Qingli's inability to wake up.
But from another perspective, this video is clearly Xu Su's repeated recollections and blaming of Qing Li thousands of times before his death, which led to his own memory that he was the one who caused Qing Li to die in ignorance.
This perspective is very short, but it is a very special perspective, this perspective belongs to Qingli. At first, her world was just a center of a circle in a chaotic light.
Later, another voice came from Yuan's heart: "Teacher, besides fusing the spiritual power core with Jingwei, is there no other way?"
"You also know that Jingwei cannot generate spiritual power. We are forced to do this."
Xu Su was silent.
The Xu Su in this perspective actually tried other methods. He was gentle to Qing Li, even though he didn't know that she was the person he had been looking for. He left a back door because there was a slight pause after the fusion, and he took the initiative to cover it up after the teacher found out. He would recommend books to her and tacitly allow her to ask questions.
He would even volunteer to tell her about the battle.
She was injured and needed repair. While he was modifying the program, he would ask:
[Zero, do you feel pain? ]
【I don't understand what you mean.】
Xu Su modified the program silently.
Ling asked him: [Professor Xu, do you feel pain? ]
Xu Su paused: "There are many kinds of pain in this world. Maybe being forced to do something I don't want to do is just a small kind of pain. After all."
After all, he didn't say. But the audience knew. After all, Jingwei saved many people during the war. After all, Jingwei's first, second, and third generations were all passed down in this way.
But He still comforted Xu Su: [It will all pass.]
He also paid attention to His dream, but after consulting countless information, he could only conclude that this was an unstable situation and that if the spiritual power core and Jingwei were not cleared, neither would they be saved.
He asked Jingwei.
He said: [Jingwei serves mankind.]
It seemed that he didn't move.
He said: [Zero is of service to humanity.]
He cleared her dream. Xu Su even asked for details of the dream before he started to clear it. He didn't say it directly, but they knew he would help him keep it.
He said, “I dreamed of a great ruin.”
Xu Su was recording the text.
"We met in this ruin."
Xu Su's pen stopped and he looked at the blue screen.
"I'll tell you my name, and then we..." The voice began to make a hissing noise.
"Then we died, hand in hand, in the glorious city we built on the ruins."
Until you never forget my name again.
Until I never forget you again.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
