Overturned Tower

Page 263

"Oh... that's the same. But there's no way... All the company's money is used to poach people. But the network engineer profession requires the number of people... It's much, much less than psychic hackers. How can one person It can’t stop more than twenty hackers. Those damn hackers are like hyenas—if any research institute or company exposes the address, a large group of people will rush out from nowhere to surround and bite. How can there be any reason to guard against thieves for a thousand days?"

"Can't you catch it?"

"Oh, where can I catch it... I've said it all, we are different from your Happy Island. The salary of our executive department is not high, and it's not like Sun Island is full of loyal elites, all of them are a bunch of idiots. .”

Mr. Otter cursed: "Just highlight one gangster. If you can do it for a day, it will be a day. If you can't do it, you will run to fight against the company. So there is no way, the company can only support those old men."

"...Are you so gentle?"

"I can't help it. Chairman Saar is very kind, but he is too merciful."

Chatting and chatting, the research director code-named "Otter" gradually lost his fear and his tone became smoother.

Perhaps because he was complaining about work and concentrating on criticizing others, there was even a lot of sincerity in his words: "You Happy Island has a 'punishment and expulsion' system. Arrest the criminal and let him be a member of the executive department To eliminate other uncoded people. When they fight each other, the number of these scumbags can be continuously consumed, and the number will never reach a critical value.

"But we don't allow it here. Even those who have no codes have to be arrested and tried... But we don't even have laws, so how can we judge? Consensus!

"The most stupid thing is here. We also have a 'defender' system here-you know, the defense of public opinion! How can it be killed? When the people hear that they are against our company, basically all of them will They were released. In the end, no one could be caught anyway, and they were caught desperately, and then half of them had to be released again. In the end, the executive department was released."

"It's normal, it's me too."

Russell was very puzzled: "But if this is the case, who will enter the executive department?"

"Trash, fools and scum. After all, the executive department is armed with guns, and the defensive counterattack can shoot down the opponent or even directly kill the opponent according to the situation. In most cases, they don't need to shoot at all-just show off the gun, All kinds of stores and the like will always give them some discounts and kind treatment. After all, no one can bet on whether they are so stressed that they will shoot in the street... After all, they have guns in their hands.

"Even if there are people who shoot in the street or even enter the school, after being caught, they will start the live broadcast and cry for a while, talking about how poor their family is, how miserable their life is, and how oppressive their company is. They let him go if they decide. Even if there is an objection in the end, it’s just netizens beating each other, and he’s alive anyway.”

Mr. Otter shook his head again and again: "A group of fools, mobs! The executive department is also full of bastards, and the network security department is full of idiots. They are all rubbish! The big bosses above them don't care about these things, they have been working on the system and doing research... ...The following is in chaos, what's the use of research?

"I really want to run away... If it weren't for my research and confidentiality, I would probably have gone to Happy Island or Chongguang Island. Or to Taoyuan Island..."

He said, leading Russell to the black warehouse on the 48th floor.

After they stood still and sensed the presence of someone, the eight black gun barrels that were as thick as an adult's arm turned around with a creaking sound.

After scanning Mr. Otter and Russell, a mechanical synthesis sound came out:

[Welcome, Otter-Technical Director]

[Unregistered visitors detected... Combat prosthesis detected, dangerous weapons detected, psionic energy fluctuations detected...]

Hearing that voice kept ringing, Russell's eyes behind him became unkind.

So Otter quickly said: "Give him a login, use my ID card."

【Temporary visitor logged in】

[Heart rate rise detected, judged to be a dangerous visit—this visit has been reported and recorded to the Security Department and the Special Operations Department]

A mechanical sound sounded, and the barrel was retracted; the warehouse door was opened.

【Welcome, Temporary Visitor FG9003】

"...Your security here is pretty good."

Russell raised his brows, folded his hands on his chest: "It seems that I guessed well.

"Not all synths defected, did they?"

"Indeed..."

Mr. Otter smiled bitterly and said: "You will know this after a little research, so I didn't want to hide it from you.

"Those synthetic humans who defected thought that their compatriots were kidnapped by us. That's why they wanted peace talks...but that's not the case."

"Mr. Otter!"

At this moment, a crisp voice sounded from the lightless warehouse: "You are back!"

As the light was turned on, seven or eight children appeared in front of Russell.

They all have pure white hair and silver pupils, and wear uniform pure white sweaters with different numbers marked on them.The appearance age ranges from seven or eight to fourteen or five years old, and the appearance is beautiful and lovely.In terms of appearance, it is no different from ordinary humans.

And most importantly... They don't have any spiritual relatives.

There are only round ears—not the long ears of elves, but the round ears of human cubs before they get soul relatives.

The one who spoke was the oldest-looking one among the group of children.

Her waist-length pure white hair is not real biological hair, so it has the softness and luster as in the shampoo advertisement.

And the number on the girl's chest is 30.

"Is this what NO.30 means?"

Russell raised his eyebrows, turned to Mr. Otter and asked, "Why are there three on number 7 and two on number 3?"

"Not."

Before Mr. Otter opened his mouth, the girl smiled and replied: "This is the number of times I have been nirvana."

"... Nirvana?"

"Yes."

The girl smiled, and under the terrified gaze of Mr. Otter, she cheerfully extended her hand to Russell: "My name is Bubble-30. It's the first time we meet...a good-looking big brother."

Chapter 30 The First Synths

"...Bubble-30?"

Russell murmured softly: "Not bad name."

The name reads like "No. 30 Bubbles" or "No. 30 Bubbles".

"You said '30' is your number of Nirvana, so is 'Bubble' your code name?"

He stared at the girl with white hair and silver eyes, as if he was shocked by something, and his mood seemed to fluctuate for a while.

His emerald green pupils, which were originally as calm as a lake, also became brighter.Like some kind of ripple vibrating on it.

After seriously shaking hands with Russell, the girl put her hands behind her back, bent slightly, and showed a cheerful and clean smile: "Yes!

"Because I like bubbles very much!"

"Bubble?"

"It's the kind of rainbow-colored bubbles that pop out when you blow the bubble machine."

The girl blinked her silver prosthetic eyes playfully, longing and nostalgia appeared on her face: "That is the most beautiful thing I have seen since I was born.

"So, I call myself Bubble! Because I also hope that I can be as beautiful as the bubbles blown by the bubble machine!"

Russell was silent for a while.

Mr. Otter, who was terrified at the side, saw that Russell didn't seem to see Bubble-30, and immediately blurted out something, as if he had let go of something, he suddenly heaved a sigh of relief.

But seeing that Russell's mood seemed to fluctuate at this moment, Mr. Otter, who was still a little scared and uneasy, came over slowly.

He explained to Russell in a low voice: "This child is the earliest synthetic human."

"The earliest?"

"Yes, she was born 15 years ago. I just graduated that year, and I was just a graduate student helping my tutor."

Talking about his field of research, Mr. Otter, who was always timid, became fluent and confident in his tone: "In order to raise them like human beings and cultivate a 'humanity' similar to human beings, we conduct annual Replace some of their prosthetics.

"We set this day on their birthdays and call it 'New Year's Day'. Every time we celebrate New Year's Day, we will look a little 'newer' and 'bigger' than before, in this way to simulate human beings Physical growth.

"Because according to our research, the different performances of the human body at different ages largely determine people's life behaviors at this age. Humans usually use hormones to regulate this process, and we need to program means. But what we hope to obtain is a synthetic human that can behave the same as ordinary people when exposed to the same things as ordinary people. Only this method..."

"—Only this method can prove that what you have produced is a real 'human being', not an artificial intelligence that deceives you?"

Russell asked back.

Feeling that Russell's tone was inexplicably unfriendly, Mr. Otter immediately followed the guidance of his heart, shrank his neck and backed away.

Although Bubble-30 didn't understand what happened, she sensed that Russell was not in a good mood.

But she took courage and asked in a low voice: "Did I say something wrong?"

"None of your business, girl."

Russell shook his head, took a deep breath and let it out slowly.It's like smoking a cigar that doesn't exist.

He glanced at Bubble-30 with some confusion, and his voice became low: "I just finally realized... what kind of evil experiment they conducted."

That may be the reaction that can make Mr. Otter ecstatic.

——Because when Russell came into contact with Bubble-30, he clearly felt the existence of the soul from the other party.

Obviously, the other party is made of machinery from beginning to end, without any "wet parts" taken from the human body.Not even a human brain exists.

Theoretically, all her thoughts and ideas should come from the virtual values ​​highlighted in the calculations of the chip; the expressions and expressions on her face, and all the small movements that show her emotions and personality are nothing but simulations from the chip.

but……

Russell was very clear, and felt the existence of "heart" from her.

...that is an immature, rational and clear mind.

It’s as if she was born with incomparably pure compassion and kindness—but compared to the natural Madonna, she is also proficient in a lot of knowledge and philosophy, understands the principles of observing words and feelings and the knowledge of getting along with others, and has an extremely intelligent brain that can clearly understand Incomparably calculated all difficult problems.

The wisdom of a sage, the compassion of a sage, are fused together with the innocence of a child.

It is impossible for humans to have this trait.

If you want to learn this knowledge, you must sink your heart and study it; if you want to gain a broad horizon and rich wisdom in life, you must dive into the crowd to experience the tastes of all beings; if you want to gain the wisdom of life, you will become cunning Or sophistication; if you want to gain the wisdom of the world, you must abandon the innocence and carefreeness of children.

But Bubble-30's heart...has this completely conflicting quality that symbolizes "artifacts".

"Although they all look like children..."

Seeing this, Mr. Otter quickly explained: "But that's just that they didn't use the body that looks like an adult.

"Each of them has the knowledge at the level of a first-level researcher in Sun Island. All the knowledge that can be obtained through data entry has long been transmitted to them; the skills that can use the mechanical body have also been completed. programming and entry.

"Not to mention Bubble-30...even those kids who don't seem to be seven or eight years old are amazing all-rounders if they just pull one out.

"They don't use biological brains, but directly use the database model to enter knowledge; they don't use instinct to control the body, but directly program and issue instructions to make the body run [-]%..."

"In a sense," Russell interrupted him suddenly, "you specially let them use children's bodies and give them children's personalities...in fact, it is to better control them."

"Is such that."

Mr. Otter replied without hesitation: "Children don't have such strong desires. As long as they can meet their simple requirements full of childlike innocence, it is easy to cultivate feelings.

"Our original plan was to cultivate these children from scratch. We will produce another batch every few years to form a kinship relationship with brothers and sisters, and to cultivate feelings and trust with us humans.

"Once the population has expanded to a certain extent, with the first members reaching adulthood...we can give them the task of educating the new generation.

"This is a relatively simple statement... We have a very mature plan. We have prepared records to deal with various emergencies..."

"Including the synth rebellion?"

"...yes, including."

Mr. Otter subconsciously glanced at Bubble-30, sighed, and closed his eyes.

"We have the central control program of synthetic humans in our hands, which can directly 'shut down' or 'restart' them, and naturally 'return to the previous version', so that they can forget about these things and become harmless again.

"For human beings, the 'brainwashing' that touches the bottom line of morality. For synthetic humans, it is only a part of their life. The process of their learning any knowledge is a kind of brainwashing... The so-called 'Nirvana' is even more A kind of brainwashing."

"What exactly is Nirvana?"

Russell spoke again, and his tone became lighter: "I'm curious!"

Mr. Otter just felt that his tone was a bit weird, but he didn't care.

But Bubble-30 looked at Russell in astonishment—she clearly scanned that Russell's reaction was exactly the same as hers!

Russell closed one eye and quietly raised his fingers in a hush.This made Bubble-30 realize for the first time that the strange illusion he felt was actually correct!

"Nirvana..."

Just as Mr. Otter was about to answer, Bubble-30 interrupted him.

"I want to prepare some drinks for this good-looking big brother... Let's sit down and chat."

"Alright."

Mr. Otter nodded happily, he happened to be thirsty too: "Prepare me a cup too, Bubble-30."

Chapter 31 Nirvana