Eternal Night

Chapter 507 Memories and Humanity

Wu Pifu said to A1, "Light several more campfires, make sure everyone stays close to the fires and doesn't go into the shadows around them, and... no, never mind, just do it this way, hurry up and do it."

A1 looked completely bewildered. Sure enough, Wu Pifu noticed that his bewilderment level was rising again. Not only A1, but all the androids around him who were listening to his orders, whether they were members of the Ruoye unit or members of the resistance army, all looked completely confused.

Does the problem with the central processing unit have anything to do with lighting a campfire or staying away from the shadows?

This is roughly equivalent to a modern person going to a primitive tribe and starting to look for a charging cable and power source because their phone is out of battery. Then, a respected tribal shaman tells them with absolute certainty that they need to first perform a three-day ritual of divination, then capture a lion with their bare hands, and finally jump off a cliff hundreds of meters high to charge their phone...

Even describing it as "talking past each other like chickens and ducks" falls short.

Although... the androids remained obedient. Even though they couldn't understand it at all, they still listened to and resolutely carried out whatever Wu Pifu, this "human," said. Some of the androids even began to comfort each other in whispers, saying that Wu Pifu's method must be an alternative way of fixing the error in the central processing unit, and that it might even be the real artificial human creation technology of ancient humans.

Wu Pifu naturally listened in even more silence. If it weren't for his habitually expressionless face, coupled with the disguise of the main brain that made him look like a dead fish-eyed little kid, he would probably be looking completely embarrassed right now.

In any case, the androids escaped the darkness and gathered around the fire.

Wu Pifu then began patrolling the edge of the camp to ensure that no contaminants entered the camp through the darkness, and then he spotted a familiar face.

When he first arrived at the resistance camp, he went into a bar to gather information. At the time, there was only one bartender in the bar, or perhaps he wasn't even a bartender, but just someone who lived in that bar to imitate human behavior.

Wu Pifu stood by the campfire and said to the bartender, "When the camp was attacked by mechanical lifeforms, the bar collapsed. I thought you were dead."

Surprisingly, the bartender wasn't reserved with Wu Pifu at all. He chuckled and said, "It was just luck. I happened to be out of the bar at the time... Human, may I ask you something? What exactly is death?"

Wu Pifu was stunned. He had intended to say one sentence and then continue his inspection, but this question left him speechless for a long time. After several dozen seconds, he shook his head and said, "I don't know... maybe there's nothing at all."

The bartender paused for a moment and then said, "If there's nothing there... then why are we so afraid of death?"

"You... are afraid of death?" Wu Pifu asked in surprise.

The bartender laughed, but it was a bitter laugh, while the artificial beings around him all lowered their heads slightly.

The bartender said, "Perhaps you made us too good, or perhaps our programming has too many anthropomorphic elements, to the point that we can even feel fear of death... That's not good, is it?"

Wu Pifu had no reply and could only walk away silently.

While on patrol, Wu Pifu suddenly asked, "Do you think... they are considered living beings?"

It chirped once, Daphne barked once, but Beelzebub remained silent.

Wu Pifu listened to the voices of Qiuqiu and Daphne. Both of them said that they were life, because only life would fear death.

But... does life truly exist that is born from programs and simulations?
Beelzebub suddenly said, "I suddenly remembered something from the past..."

Wu Pifu immediately asked, "What is it? Does it matter?"

Beelzebub paused for a moment and said, "I don't know if it's important or not. It's just a conversation, but I don't remember the cause and effect. I only remember this conversation."

I asked Lilith: "Do you think that's life? A bunch of reproductive gibberish created by mixing and combining random numbers?"

"Lilith didn't answer me, but Belfinger said from the side: 'No, this is not life. The basic definition of life is having a soul, while the body and consciousness are actually ordered changes derived from the soul by random numbers. This has been confirmed in our countless previous experiments.'"

“Satan beside us said: So, our attempt has failed once again. We cannot generate ordinary intelligent life forms of our civilization again. Even if we all become the source, sinking, falling, and ultimately being lost is still an inevitable future.” Michael, who was also present, said: “But this experiment is meaningful. We know that after countless iterations and selections, pure inorganic matter has a probability of evolving into organic matter, and organic matter also has a probability of evolving into sentient life forms. However, because they lack souls, their intelligence will become chaotic after a short period of ordering, with entropy increasing infinitely. Their rate of deterioration is tens of millions of times faster than that of real sentient life with souls, and it is irreversible. This is still meaningful to us.”

Lucifer scoffed: "That makes sense to you new angels. Your essential entropy is a new product of the lost mixture. However, it is precisely because you quickly ascended to the source, and it happens to be the source of the soul realm, that your essence has been preserved. In reality, you are very similar to these reproductive gibberish."

"At this moment, the Antarctic Longevity Emperor said: Perhaps the number of iterations is not enough, or perhaps the amount of reality injected is too small. Currently, there is indeed no data showing the origin of the soul. Buddhism has done a lot of research on this matter, but unfortunately, they have gone too deep into it..."

“I countered: Buddhism doesn’t actually create new life either. I’ve been to the sacred site of creation in the Sun, Moon, and Star Heavens of Mount Sumeru. I can’t enter higher realms yet, but from my observation, the reason why life can be born in the Buddhist sacred site of creation is due to… the concept of reincarnation. That’s not a realm we can touch. Currently, it seems that only the first Buddha, or the first immortals of your Heavenly Court, can do it, but…”

"Everyone present seemed to fall silent. I don't remember what 'but' meant, but it seemed that something serious had happened to the Heavenly Immortals. At this moment, an indistinct black figure spoke in a female voice: 'We may not be able to achieve the concept of reincarnation, but we can do something similar, only at a high price.'"

“Lilith said: Unfortunately, the root of death is quite different from what we originally thought. It is not... However, the fear of death does seem to be a common characteristic of life, something that the reproductive scramblers, which only have a body and mental consciousness but no soul, do not possess.”

"In the next scene, no one spoke. At the end of the memory, Lilith and the shadowy figure left. They seemed to have made a decision, but I don't know what it was. I just vaguely heard words like splitting, reorganizing, shaping, and soil... That's what I remember."

Wu Pifu listened silently. He instinctively felt that Beelzebub's memory was very important, so he immediately memorized it all. Even though his past memories were incomplete, he still recognized several important figures from mythology in the conversation.

Leaving aside Beelzebub, the infamous Lord of the Flies, there's Lilith, Satan, Michael, Lucifer, and then there's the Antarctic Emperor, who is clearly one of the Four Heavenly Emperors in Eastern mythology. It also mentions Buddhism and the Heavenly Court, etc. These legendary figures, who are prominent in various mythological systems, are now casually mentioned by this big fly, which really gives Wu Pifu the feeling of strolling through mythology.

"...Is the fear of death a common characteristic of all life?" Wu Pifu murmured.

Beelzebub said, "Yes, Lilith did say that in this recalled conversation, but I don't remember anything else, and I don't know what it means."

After a long silence, Wu Pifu said, "Then let's give it a try."

Wu Pifu immediately arrived at the center of the camp and loudly addressed all the androids around him: "I order everyone in the camp to shut down for twelve hours, including all sensory systems and emergency systems. Except for the minimum maintenance functions, all systems must be shut down for twelve hours. Your safety will be guaranteed by me!"

Many androids heard the order and were stunned. In their underlying logic, protecting humanity and dedicating themselves to human glory was something they had to do at all costs. Now, they were being ordered to shut down for twelve hours, which meant that they could no longer protect Wu Pifu for twelve hours. Although... Wu Pifu didn't need their protection at all and was actually protecting them, this action still meant that it violated their underlying logic.

A dozen seconds later, the first resistance android to shut down and fall to the ground. After the first one, a series of androids fell to the ground, until only seven members of the Wakaba unit were left, looking at Wu Pifu with difficulty.

A1 said to Wu Pifu with difficulty, "Sir, we are not worried about our own safety, but once we shut down, we will be unable to protect you for twelve hours, this..."

Wu Pifu smiled at A1 and said, "It's alright. You've all seen my strength before. Humans are just that powerful. Otherwise, how could humans have become the dominant species on Earth? Don't worry, this is a pure-blooded human. I will definitely not have any problems."

The seven members of the Wakaba unit looked at each other, then nodded to Wu Pifu at the same time. After that, all seven of them turned off their phones and fell to the ground, motionless.

Wu Pifu circled the entire camp, confirming that all the androids had been completely shut down, leaving him as the only one moving around in the camp.

Then, as time passed and the night deepened, the darkness that had been surging outside the camp gradually receded and dissipated.

The situation, which should have been characterized by increasing darkness and pollution, was completely reversed at this moment. By the early hours of the morning, only tranquility remained outside the camp, and all malice and supernatural fear had completely dissipated.

At this point, Wu Pifu finally confirmed the biggest question that had been lingering since he came into this world.

He said earnestly, "That's right, they are not robots, nor are they androids. Perhaps their physical bodies are, but they all have souls, they..."

"It's the humans of this world!"

(End of this chapter)