Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 167 'Root Servers'

"Test all performance aspects!"

The existence of this machine has given ordinary people a way to communicate with mutated plants, which is certainly a very important achievement. However, the people who put so much effort into it did not just create a translator.

Xu Huan had been cultivating this potato in a targeted manner for a long time, making it more capable of performing its current 'job'.

Yes, for this potato, this is indeed a kind of work; it earns spiritual energy crystals by completing the instructions input by the operator.

Of course, there's also water.

The crystals that were previously inserted into the machine were not entirely for feeding this potato; the machine also carried some early exploration of psionic computing centers by humankind.

Watching the researchers busily working, Su Xun and Xu Huan revisited their previous conversation.

"In reality, a single fourth-level extraordinary plant can accomplish a lot, but it is unrealistic to cram a high-level plant into every device if we want to apply it on a large scale in the future."

Reaching the fourth tier is not something that can be achieved easily. In Su Xun's previous life, many extraordinary beings never reached this level in their entire lives. Although this potato in front of him was controlled by Su Xun and Xu Huan from the beginning, it was still a being that displayed powerful extraordinary characteristics in the early days of the apocalypse. At that time, it was even on the shelf. Such a level is considered extremely talented among extraordinary plants.

A true genius among beans.

Su Xun said, "My idea is to use the lower-level offshoots of this potato plant to distribute the offshoots of the same potato plant into various different low-end devices. Problems that these lower-level offshoots cannot handle can be sent back to the higher-level mother plant for processing."

“Then it really is a server.” Xu Huan had clearly learned about some well-known old jokes from before the Great Cataclysm in recent days, and a smile appeared on his face as he pondered.

"It's still a root server, a genuine root server."

This is something that mutant beasts and human superhumans find difficult to do. For plants, their 'boundaries' are even more blurred. Even before the cataclysm without superhuman abilities, these plants could relatively easily do things like grafting, which is almost unimaginable for animals.

Su Xun's plan was actually to use this high-level mutated potato as the core to artificially build a single-species, controlled-scale cluster consciousness, so that it could serve society.

It's not entirely a service; it could be more of a collaboration.

By then, their entire extraordinary 'network' will likely be built upon countless such plants.

After much deliberation, Xu Huan finally said, "It should be worth a try."

The potatoes that people eat every day are actually the tuberous stems of a potato plant. These are buried in the ground, but from a classification point of view, they are not the roots of the potato... However, this is not important. What is important is that the tubers can reproduce asexually. In many cases, a large batch of potatoes are actually sprouts from the same potato plant, which are its offspring.

After advancing to the extraordinary level, these 'clones' will certainly find it difficult to advance to a higher level along with the mother plant, but there will still be a certain degree of connection between the two. Theoretically, it is possible to achieve the solution proposed by Su Xun by utilizing this connection.

At this point, preliminary test results had been presented, and researchers approached the two with the forms to report.

"In terms of pure computing power, it is far inferior to the vacuum tube computers in the computing center, but its logical thinking ability is much stronger than the so-called artificial intelligence before the cataclysm... although its logic sometimes differs greatly from ours."

After all, this is a truly intelligent and extraordinary individual. Its way of thinking is just different from that of ordinary people. In some aspects, these advanced plants may be even smarter than ordinary people.

In other words, it can at least be a good assistant, and there's basically no need to worry about it betraying you—not to mention Su Xun and Xu Huan's long-term training and suppression, plants don't actually have a concept of good and evil like humans or animals; instead, they follow a rather unique way of thinking. It might not even understand what betrayal means yet. And even if it does one day, Su Xun has plenty of ways to intervene.

"If my proposed solution can be implemented in the end, then many of the current problems can be solved."

Su Xun spoke earnestly, explaining that even extraordinary individuals cannot be perfect in every aspect, such as the current headache of supervision.

As the number and strength of extraordinary individuals gradually increase, it is common for high-level powerhouses to bully the weak. In the dark corners of the city, such incidents are virtually impossible to prevent.

If this cluster consciousness centered around potatoes can be established, can it undertake large-scale regulatory work?
At that time, an inconspicuous potted plant by the roadside might become a surveillance camera, and the level of this camera might even be higher than that of the superhuman who committed the crime.

The zombie horde in Haizhou proves that a fourth-order superhuman individual can become a key node in a large cluster, and its influence can cover the entire city. If it really reaches that point, what it can do is far more than just being a probe.
Xu Huan solemnly promised, "Rest assured, I will do my utmost in this matter!"

Su Xun nodded: "If you encounter any difficulties, please feel free to bring them up, and the organization will find a way to resolve them."

Upon hearing this, Xu Huan didn't mince words: "The biggest problem right now is the weather. High-level mutated plants can withstand the cold, but if we need to cultivate a large number of low-level plants in winter, we need a more suitable environment."

Xu Huan's superpower only accelerates plant growth; it cannot guarantee that these plants will survive. No matter how well plants can survive in the wild, they are prone to dying when they are artificially cultivated.

The weather this coming winter is going to be quite harsh for both humans and mutated plants and animals.

Su Xun nodded, then asked, "Anything else?"

"Suitable spiritual energy crystals," Xu Huan said. "If we want to cultivate a large number of offspring plants from this mother plant, we will need a large number of spiritual energy crystals to help it grow quickly."

"I'll find a way to fix it."

Su Xun took one last look at the busy crowd at the scene, bid farewell to Xu Huan, and walked out of the research institute.

Just then, Jiang Yi came over and said to him, "The superhumans from Lingnan have arrived. Except for Loulan and Kunlun, the representatives of superhumans from various military corps have all arrived. In addition, the number of civilian superhumans who will participate in the meeting has exceeded two hundred, and this number is still growing."

Su Xun nodded in response: "Then let's go and have a meeting with the people from the Corps first. You organize the meeting, and also have Commander Qin arrange for people to settle down those civilian superhumans. These people are getting more and more unruly outside, and we can't let them cause trouble in the city."

"I'll have Lao Yin go over there later. If there are any troublemakers, we might as well just kill them."

Su Xun spoke as calmly as if he were discussing killing a chicken, and Jiang Yi remained unmoved, quietly taking notes in her notebook.

Jiang Yi has now reached the third tier and is steadily progressing towards the fourth tier, even though she doesn't often participate in battles.

This speed is considered top-notch among superhumans without special abilities, but she herself seems to have changed little. Apart from being in better mental and physical condition, she still quietly does her job every day, and her presence in the legion has become even less noticeable.

Of course, even fourth-tier transcendents dared not look down on her in the slightest. After all, everyone knew that Jiang Yi didn't talk much to outsiders, but every time she spoke, it basically represented Su Xun's will. At this moment, her own cultivation level was no longer important.

The two walked one after the other toward the headquarters. The passersby along the way were already familiar with them. They rubbed their hands together in the cold wind, but their faces were full of smiles. They saluted or waved, greeting Su Xun in their own way.

(End of this chapter)