Psychics don't die from gunfire

Chapter 385: Tower of Sanity

"——An emergency occurred!"

At three o'clock after midnight, Lapis Lazuli suddenly spoke up.

Under the bridge, Song Shi sat upright: "You say."

Lapis Lazuli sorted out the order of the words: "Taitai First Artificial Intelligence Research Center, also known as the 'Mind Tower'. It is located in Taitai County, 172 kilometers away from us as the crow flies."

"Our original plan was to attack at the physical level."

"Wait a mininute."

Chu Tonglu couldn't help but raise his hand: "You originally planned to directly break into the Mind Tower and pull out those intelligent machines?"

"That's fine, it means sneaking in." Ai Lu replied.

"Are you really not afraid of death?" Chu Tonglu was shocked. "I checked the information. The Mind Tower is a key support project of Taitai County. Just talking about psychics, there are two third-ring psychics stationed there! This does not include those cutting-edge individual soldiers who rely on technology to stack their combat power to the same level."

"Yes, I know you are strong! Even if all these are added together, it will only take a short time!" Chu Tonglu spoke very quickly: "But attacking head-on and making such a big noise is really courting death! The people of the Order Maintenance Agency are not blind!"

"A reasonable concern." Song Shi raised his hand and smiled calmly: "But I know my limits."

Chu Tonglu was choked for a moment, and after a few seconds, he slowly said, "Let me make it clear first, I did say I would help you, but I won't do anything that will obviously get me killed. Or you tell me, what is your back-up plan."

"This is exactly why I called you all." But it was Lapis Lazuli who spoke next, and her usually calm voice seemed to surge: "We have a chance to avoid the risks at the physical level!"

Song Shi made a "please" gesture.

"We have been spying on the operations of the Sanctuary Tower since last week."

The "we" mentioned by Lapis Lazuli are the Depth 4 Intelligent Demons who stayed in the Beiting Defense Front. Song Shi and others have not been locked down by the Order Maintenance Agency so far, and the former has made great efforts.

"Progress is very slow." Lapis Lazuli said frankly, "We can't let the Council of Knowledge know that our ultimate goal is the Tower of Wisdom."

"So the purpose of our actions is to be completely conservative and cautious. In addition, the network protection system of the Mind Tower is extremely advanced. We dare not get too close."

"So." Ai Lu asked the core: "Mr. Lapis Lazuli, what is the emergency you are referring to?"

"If we regard the network protection system of the Tower of Mind as a fortress, in theory, it is integrated and indestructible." Lapis Lazuli could not hide his excitement. "But in order to facilitate the research on the abyss, the Tower of Mind has built a deep diving center inside, with an interface leading directly to the abyss."

"The existence of the Abyss Interface is equivalent to creating a crack in this fortress - do you understand? The network protection system is for the surface network, and the Deep Dive Center is for the Abyss. They are like two smooth stone slabs. No matter how tightly they are attached and how smooth the surface is, they are not a whole after all."

"Flaw?" Song Shi raised his eyebrows.

"It can't be simply considered a flaw." Lapis Lazuli tried to output a sentence that was easier to understand: "This is just a congenital defect in the underlying architecture."

"In short, in the end, we took advantage of this congenital defect and finally got a glimpse of high-value intelligence. No, it should be said that it was this intelligence that enabled us to get the glimpse."

Lapis Lazuli didn't have the bad habit of keeping people on suspense, so he went straight to the point.

"Just nineteen minutes ago, the Mind Tower used the Deep Dive Center to sink the imprisoned Omnics to depth 3!"

Song Shi reacted in an instant.

"You mean we also dive down and attack directly from the abyss, bypassing the physical plane to rescue your compatriots."

"Even if we succeed in rescuing them, they are only their souls." Chu Tonglu paused, and suddenly hesitated: "Or should I call it consciousness? Core intelligence? Forget it, I'll just call it consciousness." "The existence that can be called [Intelligent Machines] has awakened self-awareness. Except for some intelligent machines that always insist on only operating on the Internet, most intelligent machines will choose their own fixed body for real-life activities."

"'Sense of identification' with this fixed machine? Let's call it that for now."

As a third-ring [Transcendence], especially since his biological father is a clone closely related to the intelligent machine, Chu Tonglu has a deep understanding of this aspect: "Just like when humans implant prostheses, they may develop mental illnesses such as phantom limb syndrome."

"An omnic that has awakened its own consciousness also has a sense of identity with its own body. It can accept minor changes or slow major transformations, but if it is suddenly replaced with a completely different body, it will be a great stimulation to the omnic."

"Some of the crazy AIs that are circulating on the Internet right now have gone crazy because of this kind of stimulation."

"You are now equivalent to abandoning the bodies of these intelligent machines and only saving their consciousness." Chu Tonglu's tone was emotionless, just a simple analysis: "Considering that the environment is the abyss, I think the damage to them will not be low."

"This is a necessary sacrifice." Lapis Lazuli said simply, "We have no choice."

"If the body is gone, it can be rebuilt. If the mind is damaged, we can ask Gao Huan for a healing plan. In any case, this is better than being imprisoned forever!"

The light patterns on the Lapis Lazuli fuselage flowed, and became brighter as it spoke: "This is the best and lowest-risk option for us. We can't miss this opportunity!"

"If an omnic dies as a result, it will be irreversible."

The omnic suddenly fell silent, and did not speak again until several seconds had passed.

"In the name of Lapis Lazuli," it said slowly, enunciating each word: "I will bear their death."

"Then let's go."

Song Shi made a decision: "It just so happens that our requirements for deep-diving equipment are not that high."

Conventional deep-sea salvage operations require a complete set of deep-sea diving equipment. Otherwise, the deep-sea divers will not be able to withstand the pressure of the abyss and various problems will arise halfway through the salvage.

The most ideal situation is that a single person develops mental abnormalities. There have even been things like crazy AI and abyss derivatives that use deep-sea divers as springboards to surface and pollute the surface network.

Fourteen years ago, a deep-diving center of the giant corporation [Zero Degree Network] located in Matland State was attacked by a derivative active at Depth 5. It destroyed the entire deep-diving center through the divers. At that time, all ninety-seven employees of the company were contaminated and turned into distorted foreign objects.

——Just for now.

Everyone present is at least a second-ring psychic, so their demand for deep-diving equipment is not that high, and just enough is enough.

"I haven't dived into the abyss for a long time." Song Shi stretched his neck and said, "Just right."

"——No, the first mission is not to dive."

Lapis Lazuli spoke up, looking around at everyone.

"Let's leave here first, and try to rush to the border of the Council of Knowledge. By then, no matter whether the rescue is successful or not, the Council of Knowledge will definitely be able to lock our position, and it will be too late to retreat by then."

"How long do you plan to run?"

Song Shi turned his head away.

"One hour." Lapis Lazuli said, "In one hour, we will officially dive."

(End of this chapter)