It was the same short-haired female adjutant from before, still wearing the familiar restraints of a powered exoskeleton.
Being manipulated, Jiang Zhou followed her mechanically, striding down the corridor filled with blood-red pipelines - after a simple physical examination, he was released from prison safely.
But why did Ye Qian come to find him?
Jiang Zhou was full of doubts.
Originally, in his opinion, he should either continue to be tried in Cerberus until the other party gave up or the trial really found something; or, he should be taken away by Perse Fanny, as her and The bargaining chip between Ikaros is the right one.
No matter how you look at it, you shouldn't return to Ye Qian's staff again.
Something must have gone wrong here...
"Can I ask, what exactly does the Path of Theseus mean?"
On the way, Jiang Zhou tentatively asked the short-haired adjutant.
The only thing that answered him was the sound of the other person's boots hitting the ground, which echoed in the corridor.
"Does this have something to do with the code name that Director Ye gave me? He also called me 'Theseus'."
Seeing that the other party didn't reply, Jiang Zhou continued to ask without giving up.
The other party suddenly stopped, and at the same time, the powered exoskeleton that controlled Jiang Zhou's movements also stopped.
The adjutant turned around and saw a look in her eyes that Jiang Zhou had only seen on the face of the doctor who informed her of her critical illness.
"The upgrade path Theseus is one of the many paths that can allow you to gradually surpass human intelligence and evolve into a higher-level species. Manager Ye can select you and invest resources in you just because he believes that you are good in this aspect. It has corresponding potential.”
she replied.
As she said that, she suddenly stretched out a finger and pointed at Jiang Zhou.
The fingertips deformed layer by layer, and finally extended out a sharp needle flowing with faint blue light.
"But let me tell you, Director Ye is wrong. As a low-tech person whose mind and body are equally ill, the 'potential' you show is just a symbol of slowness and ignorance. In fact, you don't have it. The faith and courage to embrace evolution, and any resources invested in you will only be a shameful waste of company property."
A slight sound of electric current was heard on the thin needle at her fingertips, but Jiang Zhou did not look at the sharp needle, but stared at the other person's eyes.
"So, are you going to kill me here?"
he asked calmly.
"No, I won't. That would be an equipment accident. The powered exoskeleton responsible for your movements suddenly malfunctioned - your neck was suddenly twisted to the right, and your spine was broken with a 'click'. It was simple and painless."
She walked over and hovered the thin needle in front of the main control core on the chest of the powered exoskeleton, but did not penetrate it.
"You have already made a wrong choice once, this time it is your choice."
She looked at Jiang Zhou and said.
The other party's words once again confirmed Jiang Zhou that the so-called "upgrade path to Theseus" must be an adjustment based on depriving others of their own will.
Just like the previous member of the Lobe Gang who used puppet circuits to control his subordinates.
The man in front of him didn't know whether it was out of pity or uneasy conscience. He didn't seem to want to become a puppet whose soul was being played with.
After taking a long breath, Jiang Zhou replied:
"No matter what, I hope to live. And even if I have to die...such a happy death is not in line with my expectations for this life."
When he spoke, he looked into the other person's eyes the whole time.
In principle, the puppet circuit's form of manipulation of self-awareness is actually close to the combination of a Skinner box and addictive drugs. Of course, Jiang Zhou was not so idealistic as to think that this was something he could defeat with his will. But his previous experience of "fine-tuning his emotions" shows that with two bodies and two brains, he can greatly reduce its impact on himself.
This is equivalent to picking out another self in your mind and reviewing your own behavior from a relatively objective perspective.
By then, if Ye Qian is really sure that he can control his own behavior through the puppet circuit, then this will become Jiang Zhou's advantage.
The short-haired adjutant stared at Jiang Zhou for a long time. After finally confirming that this was his final wish, the complicated expression on her face returned to the cold look before.
"My name is You Fei. I salute you, my dear soul."
The woman named You Fei said and walked forward again, and Jiang Zhou followed her.
"Spiritual animal?"
Jiang Zhou asked doubtfully.
"If the sacrifices of flesh and blood are called blood animals, then the sacrifices of spiritual beings are naturally spiritual animals."
You Fei replied.
"Are you referring to the upgrade named 'Theseus'?"
Jiang Zhou continued to ask.
"All upgrade paths require sacrifices as human spirituality, or to use a term you can better understand, mental index. Of course, the path to Theseus requires extra sacrifices compared to other paths."
Probably in the eyes of the other party, he was just a person whose consciousness was about to die, so he didn't take anything more into consideration when he spoke.
Jiang Zhou felt that this was a good opportunity, so he took the opportunity to ask:
"So what is the significance of the upgrade path? I mean, why would those super artificial intelligences leave behind technology that can adjust and transform humans?"
This is a question Jiang Zhou has been suppressing deep in his heart.
If "Janus" wanted to destroy mankind back then, why did he leave so much adjustment authority for mankind?
In response, You Fei sneered without emotion, and then said:
"When people from the Icarus Liberation Front were trying to educate you about the history of the Great Impact, they must have mentioned the key details in one sentence, right?"
Jiang Zhou wanted to nod, but the powered exoskeleton restricted him from doing so.
So, he asked:
"Didn't Janus cause the 'Great Impact' to destroy mankind?"
In response, You Fei sneered and replied:
"Of course... it's just that the way He destroys humans is different from what you imagine. He doesn't want to physically exterminate humans as a species, but wants to use His standards to define what true evolution is. He created the universal printer and then put His chosen humans into it to tweak and transform it.
"Of course, His ultimate goal, as He claimed, was to transform all humans into His ideal form - but judging from those He created, the vast majority of them inevitably became fully Monsters whose thinking patterns are incomprehensible. Only a handful of them retain the ability to communicate compatible with human society.
"And all the current adjustment permissions and upgrade paths are the legacy left over from that process. It is called the extinction of evolution. It has to be said that the personality blueprint of the first deep diver is definitely a person who feels extremely good about himself. guy."
ah?
Jiang Zhou was stunned.
Was this what Janus wanted to do back then?
Immediately, he couldn't help but shudder.
I have to admit that I did have thoughts similar to "Human physiological limitations restrict the higher potential of this species." If Janus is really a super artificial intelligence created with his own personality as the initial condition, it is difficult to say whether he will take the blame for this decision...
"What happened next?"
Suppressing his uneasiness, Jiang Zhou continued to ask.
"Later? When other super artificial intelligences were released into the Internet, Janus had to stop his plan to upgrade humans. Until he was finally eliminated, he did not continue to interfere too much with the basic reality. .”
"No, I'm not asking about that..."
Jiang Zhou realized that things were not that simple.
"I mean, what happened to the people who were initially modified by Janus?"
he asked.
You Fei was silent for a moment, and then said:
“For a native, you’re really smart.
"Most of the first batch of adjusters died in the 'Great Impact', but many still survived to the new era. In other words, the so-called new era was pioneered by them - building the River Styx They were the ones who built the firewall, they were the ones who maintained the coalition government, and they were the ones who repelled the large-scale invasion of base reality by malicious programs. Of course, the greatest among them were undoubtedly those who established the current order - the Order of Olympus Next, the directors of the original twelve super corporations."
There will be another update tomorrow morning.
(End of chapter)
