Knights of the Wasteland Fortress

Chapter 14 Black Sound and Digital Life

After deciding on the next move, Jiatu put the submachine gun on his back, picked up the cane and pistol, and under the guidance of the voice of the heart, opened the locked door of the containment room.

According to Voice of Heart's instructions, he pried open the maintenance door next to the isolation door, found the manual rotary valve inside, and used a thermal dagger as a crowbar to slowly open the automatic door of the containment room.

After squeezing his body out of the narrow door of the containment room, Jiatu saw the interior of the Spiritual Life Research Institute for the first time.

The sight in front of him made him feel a little shocked.

It was as if a monster had invaded here a long, long time ago. The solid alloy walls and the silver-gray ground were all crushed to pieces, and even the walls and glass were covered with cracks and bullet holes.

The ground was covered with debris and dust, and even broken metal pipes could be seen under the uplifted metal panels.

And the entire floor has only one circular corridor for many people to pass through. There is a row of alienation body storage rooms on the left and right sides. With a certain degree of security measures.

"...Haven't you considered replacing the tempered glass?"

Looking at the tragic scene in front of him, Jiatu became suspicious.

In his perception, although the bullet-proof glass is strong, there is still a big gap compared with the real riot-proof steel plate.

Although he still doesn't know what kind of monsters the alienated bodies are, but looking at the scene in front of him, he can roughly guess that they should be much more dangerous than "good babies" like "Blue Enchantress".

Facing Jiatu's questioning, Voice of Heart quickly explained:

[The basement floor is full of alienated bodies of "Noise Level", and the design of the first-level containment room is sufficient. 】

[As for the more dangerous alienated bodies of "Geometry Class" and "Nightmare Class", we will use secondary closed containment rooms and surveillance cameras to manage them. 】

"It's 'adequate by design', but your management system doesn't seem to be working."

Looking at the miserable scene in front of him, Jiatu couldn't help complaining.

[What fails is not management measures, but other things...]

Heart Voice's answer was very subtle.

Can't help arousing Jiatu's curiosity:

"Something else? Internal struggle? Intruders?"

[The specific content, because your authority is insufficient, I cannot elaborate. 】

As a result, the voice of the heart poured cold water on Jiatu.

It wasn't until this time that Jiatu realized that in the eyes of Xinzhiyin, he was just a second-class reserve soldier, or to put it bluntly, a temporary worker.

So he couldn't help complaining:
"You have so many restrictions."

The Voice of Heart didn't answer, as if she had acquiesced to Jiatu's statement.

In the silence of the voice of the heart, Jiatu moved carefully towards the end of the corridor.

The equipment on his body is much more than when he first came, and the burden has become very heavy. Even with the help of the outer armor, his left foot still bears a great burden.

He walked in the corridor full of gravel and glass slag for less than 3 minutes, and felt his left foot was a little numb, and his five toes were wet, as if they had been smeared with honey oil, and a little slippery——

According to past experience, Jiatu knew that it was not "sweat" but "blood".

His old ailments were repeated.

At the same time, Voice of Heart also discovered Jiatu's abnormality through the mind-boggling life monitoring system, and couldn't help asking:
[Your left foot seems to be abnormal, do you need a rest? 】

"No, it's not necessary."

Jiatu shook his head. Having experienced several times before, he already knows where his limit is: "With the current situation, I can still hold on for at least 10 minutes. If the adrenaline secretion stops due to rest, the sedative If the pain effect is removed, it will be more troublesome."

【…】

Hearing Jiatu's answer, Voice of Heart was silent for a while, as if surprised, before prompting:
[I understand, so before going to the third basement, I suggest you go to the second basement first. 】

"Go to the second basement? Why? Is there anything there?"

Jiatu froze for a moment, and asked curiously.

[It is an alienated body of "equipment class". 】

The voice of the heart replied: [According to the information, the alienated body can provide you with some help. If no one destroys or moves it, it should still be in the containment room. 】

"What is it specifically? Is there a risk of fighting?" Jiatu continued to ask.

[The storage of alienated bodies on the second basement floor is mainly "Geometric Level". Under normal circumstances, you should be able to deal with them; as for the information of alienated bodies, you cannot know the detailed information about them before formal contact. 】

"...In other words, my authority is not enough?" Jiatu was slightly silent, as if he had guessed the answer in advance.

【Yes. 】The voice of the heart admitted.

Hearing its answer, Jiatu sighed again.

For a moment, he felt that "Voice of Heart" was playing tricks on him.

However, he soon realized that the "Voice of Heart" is not a human being, and cannot "cheat" or "lie" like a human being.

In fact, according to the information Hena brought back from school, in the vast majority of cases, the externally-applied horror can't "actively" do anything.

It can only respond passively to the needs of users—at least Hena's "Ling Jing Generation" is like this.

So is it the same for his "Second Generation of Lingjing"?

Cato thought.

I feel a little strange.

From just now, he has been a little concerned about the wording and reaction of Voice of Heart.

For example, although he has never used the "Second Generation of Lingjing", isn't the voice of the heart in his head a bit too human?

It even used the sentence pattern "I think" when answering Jiatu's "Ma Huang" and "Lingzi Field" questions.

From this point of view, it is not "extremely scary".

Moreover, Jiatu was also a little concerned about the "Magical" and "Spiritual Field" mentioned by the "Voice of Heart".

It was a theory he had never heard of while he was alive.

There are even such things as "self-awareness" and "electromagnetic energy conversion"-normally speaking, can the external horror really recover the power by destroying the alienated body?

And what are "Alienated Body" and "Spiritual Life Research Institute"?
From the moment he activated the Brain Apparatus, there were too many confusions in his heart.

But everything is constantly spinning on the "Mako" and "human consciousness".

All Jiatu's thoughts were finally summarized on a very bizarre possibility.

The answer almost came out of his mind:

"Couldn't you... be a 'human being'?!"

[...To be precise, it is "human consciousness". 】

The voice of the heart was straightforward, and after a slight silence, he confessed his identity.

[I am the first human being to complete "Consciousness Uploading" in the Lingzi Life Research Institute. 】

[However, the "consciousness uploading theory" based on the Moko system is not complete, so the "I" you feel is just a personified "brain-shaking system"-many restrictions on the brain-shaking system are also valid for me , so I can't answer you more on the question of the alienated body. 】

The voice of the heart explained in Jiatu's mind.

And Jiatu couldn't help but continue to ask after being slightly dazed.

"...Then what did you encounter? Not only were they completely wiped out, but you also uploaded your own consciousness to the external horror brain?"

According to the information provided by Hena.

Jiatu knew that the engineers in the pre-civilization era had imposed many restrictions on the exterior of the brain-hazard system in order to prevent the brain-hazard system from being abused, including "cannot tell lies".

Therefore, no matter whether Voice of the Heart invades his body through the external appearance of the brain, or hides the truth from him with the help of Jiatu's management authority, it is physically impossible.

But just because it couldn't be done, Jiatu didn't want to understand why the uploader of the "Voice of Heart" would rather upload his incomplete consciousness to Horror's brain than really die——

Because in a sense, digital life cannot be regarded as truly alive——

This was the human consensus of Jiatu's era.

For biological humans, building a digital life based on themselves is more like "creating a child".

Biological "self-awareness" will still be completely annihilated after death.

The leftover "digital personality" does not need to eat, drink, have fun, and does not need emotions. The so-called emotional system is just a "simulation" to better serve human beings.

The vast majority of digital beings "cannot" and "cannot" resist human beings.

They will either choose to refuse to execute instructions because of some principled issues, or they will accept any number of instructions from any human being.

They don't get tired, they don't get bored, they don't need to rest, they don't eat, and they don't even ask humans for their free time.

Can such a digital life really be called a "human being"?

Jiatu has two digital life girlfriends modeled on "society idols", so he is very clear about the pros and cons—

After proper feeding and debugging, his two virtual girlfriends can even help him write code.

Because the "learning ability" of digital life is essentially the embodiment of the floating-point computing ability of computer chips.

Therefore, as long as enough computing power is invested and the time is long enough, any digital life can become a master in a certain field——

Even if the digital life uploader himself has never been in contact with this field, it is absolutely impossible to be proficient in it.

In other words, if the fig leaf of "virtual personality" is removed, all digital lives are essentially the same thing——

That is AI, artificial intelligence.

There is no difference between the two.

Therefore, the "incomplete uploading of consciousness" mentioned by Voice of Heart only solves the problem of "data source" in essence, and does not completely solve the problem of "inhumanity" of digital life.

As a former artificial intelligence engineer, Jiatu can think of one, and only one, reason for the "Voice of Heart Uploader" to do this——

That is the "principled purpose".

"The uploader of the voice of the heart" must have a "principle purpose" that "must be realized", so the digital life of "the voice of the heart" is left——

For "him" to realize the wish or plan that cannot be fulfilled because of death.

And no matter what that wish or plan is.

Thinking of this, Jiatu couldn't help asking the voice of the heart in his mind.

"What's your name? What should you and your uploader be called?"

[... Hei Yin. 】

The voice of the heart was silent for a while, and then replied:
[You can call me Heiyin. 】

[As for my uploader, you can call him "Silver", he is my friend. 】

"The voice of the heart in the dark... it's an appropriate name..."

Kato nodded.

Jiatu didn't pay much attention to the fact that Heiyin's name was different from that of the uploader.

After all, many artificial intelligence engineers will give their digital life another name when they are still alive——

Because calling another computer program by its own name looks weird anyway.

Thinking of this, Jiatu couldn't help but continued to ask:
"The uploader of your consciousness is a woman?"

【...Yes, how do you know? 】

"Heiyin" seemed a little surprised.

Horror Brain can't read all consciousness, and she doesn't know what Jiatu is thinking about non-dialogue thinking activities.

And Jiatu didn't care too much.

He habitually replied in the same tone as when talking with his "virtual girlfriend":
"After all, I have seen the bones of 'you'. The difference in pelvis between men and women is quite obvious."

[...I think it's best not to say "this" in front of my face. 】

Heiyin seemed to feel a bit of dissatisfaction and shame.

This made Jiatu feel a little strange.

After all, his two virtual girlfriends can't achieve such a vivid personality response, and most of the time, they are still artificial intelligence.

After walking around the circular corridor for 10 minutes, Jiatu finally found the entrance to the stairs on the second basement floor.

The elevator is broken, only the fire stairs in the escape route can be used.

But the fire escape is also full of gravel and dust, without a shocking filter system outside, the floating dust raised during the journey can choke him to death.

Faced with such a scene, Heiyin couldn't help but return to the question at the beginning:
[So, have you decided what to do?I can't assure you that you won't encounter danger, but I assure you that the alienated body on the second basement floor is not too dangerous for you to deal with. 】

[But the alienated body on the third floor is not necessarily the case. If you encounter the alienated body of "Nightmare Class", you are likely to die. 】

Hearing Heiyin's warning, Jiatu couldn't help being silent for a while. He had already thought about this issue for several rounds.

All kinds of trade-offs have also been sorted out.

After all, as an artificial intelligence engineer, this is what he is best at.

"If you can assure me that the 'loss of battle' will be less than the 'gain', then I will agree to your proposal."

Jiatu looked at the shadow in the depths of the stairs, his eyes showed a trace of firmness, because he knew very well that sometimes taking a long way is the shortcut.

Although detouring the second basement level, the danger may be "increased", but the danger on the third basement level may be "more deadly".

That being the case, waste some time and go to the second basement floor to accumulate some positive income, and "seek qualitative change with quantitative change", but it can improve the security of the entire system.

So when faced with Jiatu's question, Heiyin replied simply and neatly:

[Unless the alienated body I'm talking about has been damaged or moved away, I can assure you that the gains from going to the second basement floor will definitely outweigh the losses. 】

"So what do you think is the possibility of it being removed or damaged? In terms of confidence?"

Jiatu thought about it and asked.

[I am not a prophet, if you have to ask, the possibility of damage or survival is 50%. 】

Jiatu seemed to feel that Heiyin rolled his eyes, and replied angrily: [There is no theory or basis to support my current judgment, so I can only flip a coin. 】

"OK, that's enough."

Hearing the answer, Jiatu smiled, took a deep breath, and pushed open the fire door on the second basement floor.

"After all, I haven't encountered a 'fair competition' with a winning rate 'up to' 50% for a long time!"

(End of this chapter)