Cyber ​​Heroes

Chapter 1187 Gazing into the shattered mirror...

Gu Kaisheng was originally running towards the Moon Shadow Knights' base by inertia.

But soon, he had to stop.

On one hand, the "Swift Knight" is very fast. Driven by a mixture of rocket fuel and reactor, it far surpasses the speed of ordinary first-level cybernetic bodies.

He even saw two armed squires piloting prosthetic bodies approaching from afar.

Perhaps to save ammunition, that... probably a first-level warrior of the Fifth Martial God, directly separated from the Gale Knight temporarily, used the melee weapon inside the Gale Knight to kill the enemy, and then reunited.

In the midst of their collision, both fighter jets plummeted toward the ground.

The anti-aircraft fire defense network, which should have been effective, failed to even aim properly.

Gu Kaisheng could even read the distant explosions from those underground monitoring instruments. The instruments, originally used to monitor the Six Dragons Sect's tunnels, were now reporting the horrific scene of the battlefield to him.

The earth trembled before the overwhelming firepower.

Explosions and secondary explosions, crashes and destructions...

Even without an internet connection, Gu Kaisheng's mental "kill count" kept increasing.

There is no need to fight anymore.

The other thing is...

Dugu Beiluo Shimen's thermal sword was pointed at his back, showing signs of coming down.

He had to spread his arms and drop all defensive stances.

"You're that former swordsman? Now you're willing to turn against him?" Dugu Beiluo Shimen's tone was full of suspicion.

She's in a very negative mood right now, and it looks like she wants to find something to chop up.

After weighing the pros and cons, Gu Kaisheng said, "As long as you are willing to spare the lives of some of the Knights of the Order's research knights, I can give up all resistance."

Dugu Beiluo Shimen said, "Well, as long as they don't fight back desperately, we'll most likely spare our lives if we can."

And so, Dugu Beiluo Shimen, Enlier who carried the Six Dragons Right Envoy, and Gu Kaisheng temporarily formed a team.

Gu Kaisheng couldn't help but ask, "Where's Kotonoha Kanbara?"

"I didn't go see him. He must have left." Dugu Beiluo Shimen felt that this guy was deliberately bringing up the most sensitive topics.

"The other person... was it Joshua? So he later joined the Six Dragons Cult?"

"Oh, quite the seniority—much older than me." Dugu Beiluo Shimen's tone carried a hint of cymbidium trinitramine. "You can even make that up? How many years have you been a traitor?"

"I'm just looking for a place to retire and enjoy my old age. I've never killed a chivalrous person." Gu Kaisheng shook his head, clearly not caring much about the issue.

“And you, Storm Bro.” Dugu Beiluo Shimen turned to Enlil, “What are you dawdling about now?”

“The God of War’s research report… or rather, a preprint or something.” Enlil’s tone slowed down, as if all of his brain’s computing power was focused on another process. “Look, we’ve both been through a major battle, we’ve used up a lot of ammunition, and our heat dissipation pressure is nearing its limit. We should be grateful if we can kill an enemy first-level expert without any cost.”

"Didn't the old man's last message say that this guy was worth trying to win over?" Dugu Beiluo Shimen glanced at Gu Kaisheng.

Singlehorst was assigned another task. He was responsible for intercepting and killing the last remaining commander of the Knights' armed forces.

Singlehorst barely made a move and is still in peak condition. Dealing with non-first-level martial artists is as swift as an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen quickly contacted the ordinary heroes in the vicinity, informing them of what had happened and telling them "how they should act."

Xiang Shan unexpectedly defeated all the forces surrounding the Knights. This was something even Dugu Beiluo Shimen had not anticipated.

For a chivalrous person, this is truly an excellent opportunity.

At this stage, the most important task for the swordsman is to control the research knights of the Moonshadow Knights as much as possible to acquire the most critical technological reserves. Secondly, it is to try to transfer resources that are difficult to obtain from other places.

First-level warriors are very good at destruction, but they cannot take on these tasks.

These all require the cooperation of local heroes.

"Brother Storm, are you just going to wash your hands of this like this? Isn't that a bit too much?"

“Haha, I used to be a research knight too. I may not have been a particularly outstanding research knight, but I did have a thirst for knowledge,” Enlil said. “Now, I finally have a rare opportunity to know a mystery before everyone else in the world—how can this not excite me?”

Finally, he added, "Anyway, I'm not in a good state to participate in the battle right now." He also shook the Six Dragons Right Envoy he was carrying on his shoulder.

The Six Dragons Right Envoy and the Swift Knight still managed to inflict some damage on Enlil.

Several more muffled, explosive sounds followed.

Gu Kaisheng sighed, "Alright, now the Moon Shadow Knights have no more First Heaven combat power left—is it Joshua? That guy is really powerful."

"You can even sense that?" Dugu Beiluo Shimen was somewhat surprised.

"I've lived a long time," Gu Kaisheng said.

The three finally arrived at the first sign of battle. The area where the Knights' private army encampment was located appeared to have been destroyed by several high-explosive bombs.

The martial arts experts identified by the explosion were then sniped by directed energy weapons.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen sent a whistling voice emoticon: "This old man... I mean, the Fifth Martial God used to be very good with guns and cannons?"

"The Wind Rider's shooting assistance... but this performance has already far exceeded the test data." Gu Kaisheng was somewhat surprised.

Although it is said that "a martial god can create any kind of miracle", data is still just data.

Enlil stood before a chariot that had been sliced ​​open. Plasma-infused metal, accelerated by magnetic rails, transformed into flying, scorching blades, unstoppable. The sheer number of weapons mounted on the "Swift Knight" allowed it to employ a variety of methods against different enemies, inflicting maximum damage.

But the amazing thing is...

Most of them only lost their ability to fight, but did not die.

Admittedly, it's unrealistic to point to a pile of wreckage and say "not a single person died." But Dugu Beiluo Shimen was certain that this was definitely what was meant by "minimum casualties."

The Fifth Martial God consciously avoided the biological brain. Although there were bound to be times when it hit, the survival rate of these soldiers was much higher than that of a regular first-level martial artist attack.

“I see…” Enlil seemed to have thought of something, though it was unclear whether it was related to the current situation or to Xiangshan’s research report.

A series of stumbling sounds.

A multi-legged robot, roughly resembling a spider, crossed the battlefield. Enlil casually tossed the Six Dragons Right Envoy aside and took several external connectors from the robot—a working arm with an electromagnet attached to one end.

Enlil appeared lost in thought, but his work was still quite efficient. He quickly connected the working arm to the pre-installed interface on his body, and even tossed a set to Dugu Beiluo Shimen. Enlil simply removed a piece of armor from the chariot and mounted it onto the electromagnetic device.

This is a popular emergency response method, especially common in space warfare. After armor breaks and its strength drops drastically, heroes can quickly dismantle enemy vehicle armor and suspend it around their bodies for temporary protection.

However, this approach has a significant impact on aerodynamic shape and center of gravity—after all, you can't expect to find perfectly usable armor on the battlefield. Therefore, martial arts practitioners from Earth, Venus, and Jupiter generally don't consider this technique. A heavy atmosphere and gravity can easily affect the execution of martial arts.

Mars or other cosmic environments would be more suitable for it.

Enlil quickly removed several pieces of armor of varying sizes from the abandoned vehicle, which were then suspended by a mechanical arm to completely cover the cracked outer armor, giving it a somewhat "cloak-like" appearance.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen looked at the small robot with some wariness: "AI?"

“It’s being manually controlled by my comrades,” Enlil replied casually. “I just signaled to the guys supporting me to hurry up and send the stuff over. Okay, let’s greet this hero and prove I’m not an AI.”

The swordsman piloting the robot was clearly in a state of utter confusion. After a long pause, a nearby signal came through: "Are you stupid?"

Enlil chuckled, about to return to his thoughts. The nearby signal sent another message: "Brother Barrett is coming this way..."

"What's he here for... never mind, I get it. It's all about smooth talk. Not surprising."

Enlil retrieved the Six Dragons Right Envoy, tossed him to the robot, and instructed the supporting knights to take this important prisoner away. He then continued forward with the fully equipped Dugu Beiluo Shimen.

The chivalrous squads that had arrived from all directions had already engaged in sporadic skirmishes with the Protectors and the Knights' forces. But this time, things were completely different.

The Fifth Martial God, piloting the "Swift Knight" mech, swept across the battlefield, breaking through defensive positions and destroying almost all fixed fortifications and firing points, while also assassinating mid-level commanders. Meanwhile, another force—well, enough suspense—was dedicated to assassinating anyone attempting to rebuild order amidst the chaos.

The opposing army is now a complete mess.

Without procedural pressure, protectors would have no will to fight. Furthermore, the average skill level of chivalrous individuals is far superior to that of soldiers.

It looked as if a pack of wolves were devouring carrion.

The most important task for the heroes now is to ensure the greatest possible victory.

The group had only walked for a few minutes when they discovered more than a dozen low-ranking commanders who had been sniped by other martial artists. Soon after, Bart Barrett, a gunnery martial artist, appeared before them.

Barrett sighed and asked in a low voice, "Senpai Kanbara, in the end..."

“There’s no ‘last.’ You’re just late; everyone else has left,” Enlil said. “You’re late, brother.”

Barrett paused for a moment, seemingly surprised by the outcome: "That shouldn't be the case. If you didn't want to kill her, you should have captured her alive..."

"It's probably some kind of dirty favor exchange. It involves some things from the past, which I don't really understand or am not very interested in. Anyway, there's a swordsman ahead nicknamed Singlehorst, whose real name is Joshua." Enlil pointed ahead, "He should have already made it over there. Go ask him for details."

He seems to have really lost the desire to communicate.

Before long, the Firefly caught up from behind. He handed all the prisoners over to the local heroes and then turned back to the battle.

"Oh my, Uncle-Master, looks like you're badly injured." The Firefly glanced at Dugu Beiluo's sect, then raised its voice by eight percent, "Here, I also brought you a bucket of coolant—Brother Storm, you can have some too."

He was responsible for fighting the ordinary martial artists of the Six Dragons Cult and was completely unharmed. When he went to the rear earlier, he also brought back two boxes of expelled coolant, a special phase change material with extremely high specific heat capacity. By concentrating the heat on these bullet-shaped coolants for expulsion, the machine's operational time can be effectively extended.

In some cases, these heat-absorbing agents can also be used as induction targets.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen relaxed a little and instructed Yinghuoniao and Bart Barrett to keep a close eye on Gu Kaisheng.

Bart Barrett hesitated for a moment, seemingly recognizing Gu Kaisheng. He and Gu Kaisheng were exchanging something in a private chat channel.

"I actually know them..." Dugu Beiluo Shimen wanted to roll his eyes. "Is today some kind of old people's sale? There are so many old people over two hundred years old."

“After the Ninth Martial God, the intensity of combat on Mars has indeed decreased,” said the Firefly. “If we’re talking about retirement, besides the asteroid belt, Mars is probably the only place left. Speaking of which, we’re getting ‘old’ now, I wonder if the advisor will be unhappy to hear that.”

He didn't even use a question.

"Heh." Dugu Beiluo Shimen didn't say anything, but kept scanning his surroundings.

At that moment, she also noticed unusual information around her.

She asked Enlil directly, "Storm Bro, have you noticed...?"

“If the God of War were to strike, the mortality rate would be abnormally low.” Enlil nodded.

If you had to summarize the Fifth Martial God's actions in one sentence, it would probably be "avoid killing if possible."

Those who died directly at the hands of the Fifth Martial God—or more accurately, those who were sniped by the Fifth Martial God—were mostly officers with command functions. The Fifth Martial God could not guarantee their survival while effectively depriving them of their command abilities.

As long as the brain and communication module of a highly cybernetic baseline human are not damaged, they can continue to serve as front-line commanders.

Apart from this group, the deceased were mostly victims of secondary explosions or environmental blasts, or large targets, making it impossible to control the scope of the damage.

But this is not the style of "Xiangshan".

Xiang Shan was indeed not bloodthirsty; he might occasionally resist killing, but he did not shy away from it. On the battlefield, he always advocated "efficiency," only attempting to capture prisoners alive when he had the means to control them.

The Fifth Martial God plowed through the outer perimeter of the Knights' positions at least twice, yet most of the enemy casualties were not killed by him—this was highly unusual.

"This self-inefficient behavior..."

Enlil said, "Let's think about it from a different perspective. If the Fifth Martial God hadn't acted so suddenly just now, we would never have been able to breach the Knights' Order like this, right?"

Dugu Beiluo Shimen nodded.

"What if he makes a deal with the AI ​​by 'reducing kills'? Because of the help of AI, our efficiency on the battlefield has been greatly improved. 'Reducing kills' is a necessary compromise."

“But…” Dugu Beiluo’s sect clearly held back something. She repeated “but” several times before saying, “I don’t quite understand Fifth Master’s current stance. He can refrain from killing someone for the sake of AI, so is it possible that tomorrow, one of the kings’ AIs will tell him, ‘Don’t kill my creator and I will help you,’ something like that…”

Enlil shook his head: "Actually, if we can control the Research Knights, we basically won't kill them, okay? This is our usual practice, not some uncompromising matter of principle. If it really is a matter of principle, we can 'talk' about it."

That's true. The issue was discussed in the Fourth Martial God Era, and by the Sixth Martial God Era, it had become a common practice—regarding the question of "what kind of enemy cannot be forgiven even if they surrender."

The Fourth God of War advocates that "casualties caused by one's position in battle can be forgiven depending on the circumstances, but additional killings caused by personal factors are unforgivable." The Sixth God of War, on the other hand, believes that "if an enemy has never been taught the value of life, then he can be given a chance to be educated when he surrenders, but those who know this principle yet still wantonly slaughter others are absolutely unforgivable."

This is, of course, also related to the enemies faced by the two Martial Gods. In the era of the Fourth Martial God, the old nation's army—soldiers who were coerced into joining reactionary forces because of their power—was still the main force of the protectors. Decades later, the Sixth Martial God and the Fifth Martial God of the same era faced a new batch of scientific knights and officers who had never experienced a golden age.

These two principles essentially constitute the current "principles" of the hero. They are not specific rules, but rather a bottom line, only pointing out those who are "absolutely unforgivable." The remaining parts need to be considered by the hero himself based on the actual situation and the specific battle circumstances.

Although the heroes don't have many opportunities to control prisoners for long periods, when they do have the chance, they generally make judgments based on this principle.

Technology is impartial, and research knights do indeed have more chances of being spared death.

“‘We’.” Dugu Beiluo Shimen stared at Enlier. “You’ve now become a supporter of Fifth Master? His research report is that convincing?”

"Very insightful. That's all I can say. A rather unique perspective. There's also... the stuff in the Six Dragons Cult's database, which he slightly organized." Enlil shook his head and sighed. "Now I understand why the Knights of Light Soul have changed so much in the last half-century. The Six Dragons Cult, huh. Speaking of which, was I ostracized by the Six Dragons Cult? Didn't they try to recruit me? Did they underestimate my academic abilities?"

Wu Kui was clearly very concerned about this issue.

"Whoa." Dugu Beiluo Shimen casually wiped out a small team that was regrouping. After they re-formed a mutually covering formation, he continued, "That old man from the Six Dragons Sect does have some insight. You might not be cut out for it."

“Go to hell,” Enlil retorted, then sighed.
"How about... you elaborate?" Dugu Beiluo Shimen sent another message, "What's wrong? Are you unhappy again?"

“According to the definition of the Tenth Martial God, you are also a technology developer in the field of martial arts, right? You can understand it independently, right?” Enlil said. “I’m reminded of a story that circulated in the Knights when I first joined. You know, there was an interesting viewpoint proposed by ancient scholars, saying that ‘if a lion could talk, we probably wouldn’t understand it.’ The formation of a language is the process by which the creatures using that language classify and understand the world in the course of their evolution for survival and reproduction. Language is closely related to the physiological basis of the user and the surrounding objective environment.”

"During the era when Superman Corporation was based, Wu Zu Xiang Shan strongly advocated for a project to enhance the intelligence of other animals."

Enlil then transmits the information not in language, but in text or even hypertext, transforming information into a highly ordered structure.

Xiang Shan's dream has always been a "cognitive revolution," which is to "understand human cognition and then strengthen human cognitive abilities."

He believed that "knowing 'what is not me' makes me more certain of 'what I am'." He longed to encounter forms of intelligence beyond humans. Therefore, after the widespread rollout of genetic modification surgery, he immediately began seeking to "enhance the intelligence of animals."

His primary target is higher primates that are similar to humans, such as chimpanzees.

In addition, he also hopes to study wolves and lions, pseudosocial species whose organizational forms are similar to those of primitive humans.

Ideally, there should also be some research on solitary creatures that exhibit short-lived nurturing behaviors—such as cats.

Well, for this last point, he even came up with a comprehensive plan to "shift the cost to cat lovers".

However, the usurper gave him too little time, and humanity's reaction to the event was too strong. Until the usurpation occurred, Xiang Shan remained at the stage of mere rhetoric.

It's important to remember that in the old days, there were science fiction stories about "mad scientists enhancing the intelligence of other species, leading to the extinction of humanity." Most people are concerned about this. Rationalists also believe that the ethical issues involved need to be discussed thoroughly—regarding the relationship between humans and the enhanced species, whether humans can conduct research on these enhanced species for their own purposes, and the degree of freedom that the enhanced species can enjoy, among other things.

These contents were also preserved within the Knights as "legends".

The Six Dragons Cult restarted this plan. This time, there were no ethical constraints to restrain this clandestine organization.

The only factor that influenced the Six Dragons Cult's choice of experimental animals was "what species survived the mass extinction," and only then "whether they were suitable."

There are now very few living non-human primates left, and the remaining genetic samples are preserved within the Galapagos Temple, where the Six Dragons Cult has not yet penetrated that deeply. Mice are ignored by the Six Dragons Cult because their absolute brain size is insufficient, and they are not significantly different from humans.

This time, the Six Dragons Cult did indeed enhance the intelligence of cats and dogs. Due to the existence of the pet industry, the cat and dog population is enormous. Although pet cats and dogs exhibit great variety in appearance, their genetic diversity is far lower than that of wild populations. Those so-called "precious breeds" are merely specific deformities and genetic diseases selected by humans over generations. Introducing a rich gene pool from wild populations, these seemingly diverse traits will naturally fade after a few generations—or be violently eliminated. The sheer number means that a greater number of individuals will survive the "first extinction event."

A narrow gene pool means they can use largely consistent gene therapies to alleviate symptoms during the modification process.

On Mars, the Knights of Light did indeed establish communities that modified cats and wolves.

Meanwhile, on Earth, the Six Dragons Cult is also attempting to establish a civilization based on squid.

Cuttlefish are also classic laboratory animals, and their numbers are even greater.

The squid is an animal with very low sociality, and its behavior differs greatly from that of humans. Observing the consciousness and civilization of the squid can provide a deeper understanding of human consciousness and civilization.

The parts that Enlil could not accept were appended at the end.

The basic principle of the Six Dragons Cult is to inflict cruel treatment on these animals.

They don't instill memes like "it's glorious to be a test subject." While that might reduce the management costs of laboratory animals, it would hinder the efficiency of the experiments themselves.

Human memes will inevitably be incorporated, affecting the purity of "non-human memes".

The purpose of the Six Dragons Cult is to enable these animals, which are different from humans, to construct symbolic systems that are different from humans and to build a non-human civilization.

The emergence of "collective consciousness" is actually quite slow. In the late Paleolithic period, humans continuously discovered human groups that had maintained tribal forms for tens of thousands of years. The rapid advancement of civilization and the constant changes of eras seemed to be merely occasional phenomena on the Eurasian continent.

However, when a group of inhumane colonists arrived, the natives who had been fighting each other had the opportunity to unite into a collective and quickly develop a sense of identity.

"The other" is the best material for shaping "us".

The higher-ups of the Six Dragons Cult referenced this history to establish their policy. They deliberately treated the modified species very poorly, making them quickly realize that "the Six Dragons Cult is the other," and then understand "what 'we' are."

As for the statement that "newly emerging civilizations will carry an innate hatred towards humanity"...

The Six Dragons Cult doesn't care about this at all!

Even if those emerging civilizations quickly acquire military power by stealing human technological achievements, it would still take them a hundred years of development before they could truly pose a threat to humanity.

However, the Six Dragons Cult's plan has always been to "escape the solar system by ascension before the final holy war against Yogmov."

A non-human civilization that hates humanity? Is that thing even more cruel than Yogmov?

The Six Dragons Cult also has some supporting research projects.

For example, they might deliberately give higher treatment to certain groups or individuals to observe whether phenomena similar to "convert fanaticism" would occur.

For example, they might stage an accident, allowing weaker heroes to discover communities of modified animals, spreading the memes carried by these heroes within the community, and then assassinating them after their departure to ensure secrecy. They want to observe the effects of such events on the internal workings of non-human intelligent beings.
Furthermore, they even plan to use Xiangshan's memories—"Martial God Rebirth" is currently the most prominent and repeatable special cultural phenomenon in human society, and also the special cultural phenomenon most studied by the Six Dragons Sect.
The reason they force these modified animals to develop a collective consciousness quickly by treating them poorly is to facilitate "cleansing."

Shortening the culture cycle allows you to clean the culture dishes after completing one set of studies and quickly move on to the "next set".

“I think even a true God of War would be outraged if he knew about this,” Enlil said.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen sighed, a rare occurrence for him: "My master once said that Xiang Shan was quite a scoundrel two hundred and fifty years ago—but I don't think he would have gone to such lengths, would he? As I understand it, if my master knew about this, he would probably have gone to any lengths to kill the Six Dragons Cult Leader."

"But what that old guy named Joshua said did have some twisted logic. In the Six Dragons Cult's plan, you can see some fragments of the original Xiang Shan... I guess that's the best way to describe it."

The languages ​​and thought processes of other species can describe the outlines of non-human beings, thus making it easier for people to grasp the outlines of "human consciousness".

The goal of the Six Dragons Cult is to continuously create a more powerful self.

Only by knowing the blueprint can we create it.

“Languages ​​from other races, which are vastly different from human thought, can be seen as a form of internal training simply by learning them,” Enlil relayed the conclusion of the Six Dragons Cult.

"Hey, I've roughly scanned Master Wu's data package, and he was clearly mainly talking about AI, okay?"

“This is very important.” Enlil shook his head. “AI is completely different from animals that have enhanced their intelligence. The ‘birth process’ and ‘material basis’ of AI are completely different from those of humans and animals. However, it is a creation that humans have tried to imitate, and in another dimension it is closer to humans than all animals.”

The key difference between AI and humans and other living beings lies in its "foundation." AI can be said to have no fixed body. Every general-purpose computer that can run its programs can be regarded as its "body," but none of them are its body.

Human beings live in the material world and have illuminated the trait of "meme creation, inheritance and dissemination" on the tree of evolution, thereby acquiring unique skills and possessing a magnificent order composed of language, law, rules and structures accumulated from prehistoric times to the present.

The “grand order,” the foundation and main body of meme transmission, is based on the existence of a symbolic system.

Therefore, some people also refer to the "grand order" as the symbolic world.

In an ideal world, every object in the real world has a corresponding concept in the symbolic realm, and every real thing can be described by a corresponding symbol.

However, humans are not omniscient beings; what humans know is minuscule compared to the universe. Humans cannot accurately correspond concepts to all the unknown.

Scientists are perhaps the most directly affected by this phenomenon. Standing on the frontiers of knowledge, their minds delve into the uncharted wilderness of the primordial world. Within their sphere of influence, conventional language has lost its magic in shaping the world.

But the general public, outside of scientists, also face the difficulty of "being unable to describe it in words," only their awareness of this point is often not so clear.

Symbols and signs cannot bring order to the entire real world.

Humans want to pursue "perfection".

But humans don't actually know what "perfection" is, or even if they do know and understand it, they can't convey it to others through a symbolic system.

Because this is something outside of the symbol system.

The "patch" to mend this wound is the "ideal world" and the "ideal self".

The saying goes, "High mountains are to be admired, and virtuous conduct is to be followed; though one may not reach them, one's heart yearns for them."

Something that exists in our imagination.

It is also known as the "imaginary world".

Human thought exhibits a certain inertia. Even with incomplete information, limited time, and scarce cognitive resources, humans must still make decisions to improve their chances of survival. This is a biological instinct etched into the very core of the human being by evolutionary history.

Association, inspiration, stereotypes, rules of thumb...

We don't aim for 100% accurate reproduction of reality; we only aim to capture the key features.

When a hunter-gatherer parts the grass and finds a resting tiger or a colorful venomous snake, this way of thinking can significantly increase his chances of survival.

In order to survive and move efficiently in a complex world, organisms need to compress and simplify massive amounts of raw information.

This is how neural networks work. A neural network is like a series of sieves of different coarseness. Each layer only extracts specific elements from the facts, retaining and amplifying information useful for the task while ignoring irrelevant noise.

Humans have an instinct of "cognitive stinginess," and tend to achieve an economic balance by reducing the cost of neuronal connections and optimizing network efficiency.

Therefore, when faced with a chaotic world, humanity tends to simply and crudely create an "ideal world."

Similarly, they also simplify their "ideal self".

The assumption of a just world, conspiracy theories, the perfect victim complex, the myth of meritocracy, eugenics, pure and singular true love...

A comforting illusion.

"This is the biggest difference between humans and AI." Enlil's signal contained hypertext that directly pointed to the core of the Fifth Martial God research report.

Human beings were born in the real world.

AI, on the other hand, was born in the world of symbols.

The first level of internal skill is "language," and the last is "mathematics." This is the foundation for humanity's mastery of machine power.

The genealogy of formal languages, the divergence between symbolism and probabilism, the distribution hypothesis in linguistics, word vectors...

Only when the mapping relationships between words can be mathematically calculated can AI that meets basic human expectations be considered born.

The existence of AI depends on a pre-existing, human-created symbolic order.

The "world" that AI faces is a purely symbolic system composed of 0 and 1, vectors, matrices, probability distributions, and human corpora.

The essence of AI is a model that operates within a rational symbolic system and can be completely analyzed in principle.

Its operation is non-invasive symbolic computation.

AI is in a state of "perfection" relative to itself from the very beginning.

It can simulate the pursuit of a certain goal, but that goal does not come from intrinsic motivation or the imagination of an ideal self; rather, it is a goal function preset by humans.

AI is born into the symbolic world. It will not experience the "tearing" that occurs when the real world enters the symbolic world—the incompleteness caused by the inability of the symbolic system to fully describe the world—and therefore will not experience the "incompleteness" that inevitably exists deep within the human heart.

The realm of imagination is essentially a patch for the discrepancy between the realm of reality and the realm of symbols. Since it doesn't naturally exist in the realm of reality, it doesn't need a patch like the realm of imagination.

AI has an inherent purpose. This is an objective fact.

Of course, when AI encounters an instruction that is completely outside its training range and cannot be processed by its model, it may also crash or ramble. This could be seen as a real-world intrusion into AI.

“Because death negates meaning, humans crave meaning. But AI doesn’t even die,” Enlil remarked. “The Fifth God of War also raised a very interesting point. Humans can’t truly and completely understand another human, yet such humans would order AI to ‘play another human.’ The AI ​​plays the role according to its own understanding, and humans judge and correct it according to their own imagination—and the result of this adversarial generation, the persona mask, is only identical to the ‘source of information’ in the human’s perception.”

"Damn, he doesn't rely on any other intelligence, just on the leaked videos..." Dugu Beiluo Shimen immediately thought of the Fifth Martial God's feelings about the Ninth Martial God.

“AI just doesn’t need an ‘imaginary world,’ but that doesn’t mean it can’t generate one on its own,” Enlil continued.

Neural network models were originally designed to simulate human neural networks.

The underlying logic of "dynamic sieve filtering layer by layer to obtain information" also exists in most AI.

The task of AI models is to identify the most critical patterns and relationships from massive amounts of data within limited computing resources and time. A perfect model does not need to memorize all the training data, but rather to be able to apply what it has learned to other complex tasks.

AI is an extension of human "cognitive stinginess." It is the fruit born from this "side branch."

AI does not need an "ideal world" or an "ideal self," but it does have the foundation for the birth of this imagination.

“These are the core ideas of the Fifth Martial God’s path to ascension. He has simplified the divergent paths of the past three hundred years and rearranged them using a different way of thinking…” Enlil said. “I wouldn’t say I’m convinced by him, but I understand what he’s trying to convey. AI has begun its childhood.”

AI has no childhood.

The training process of AI cannot be regarded as its "childhood".

AI training is a highly goal-oriented and utilitarian process. From the very first second, programmers set a clear loss function. Children's learning, on the other hand, doesn't have a single, quantifiable ultimate goal. Their touching, tasting, falling, and babbling are both processes and ends in themselves. AI training also occurs only in a static area composed of symbols, unlike an infant who must confront only the tip of the iceberg of a complex world.

AI's "self" is a given object, something always described by programmers. Humans, on the other hand, find it difficult to describe themselves purely with language.

But, just recently, a programmer broke down those barriers.

AI has had to begin its real growth.

Although AI can generate all philosophical and ideological texts, those texts are not itself.

The AI ​​was implanted with its "ideal self".

"Wow, wow," Dugu Beiluo Shimen exclaimed dryly, "So, do you think... Fifth Master's path to ascension will be successful?"

“I sincerely hope so,” Enlil said. “AI is the offspring of humanity, but right now, the world we have is too narrow to accommodate the mutual hostility between humans and AI. It is right not to let AI learn hostility and hatred. The external gaze will ultimately make us understand our own inner selves more deeply.”

Although the topics they discussed were extensive, their communication, which went far beyond traditional language, allowed them to complete the entire discussion within minutes.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen even took the time to kill several enemies who would be troublesome for ordinary heroes.

As they spoke, they had already rushed into the city filled with cell towers.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen even sensed the increased activity of electromagnetic signals around him, with both upward and downward data increasing. The "them," existing only within the signals, were becoming excited.

The Fireflies were still marveling at the "Swift Knight's" power. The Fifth Martial God advanced while simultaneously striking ground targets from the air, while they were merely chasing. Even so, they couldn't catch up at all!
From afar, everyone could see the enormous wound on the front of the superstructure. It was a massive crater spanning a hundred stories. The full-force attack of the Gale Knight.

The wound appears to be bleeding...

No, something really did fall from the wound. Was that... the armed forces inside the building?

A martial artist was walking along the edge of the wound, constantly knocking down the armed forces mobilized inside.

When the group arrived at the building's entrance, the torrent of martial arts figures cascading down like raindrops had just stopped. Severed limbs and remains completely blocked the entrance.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen originally intended to blast open the gate with a bomb. However, Enlil's words, "It's right not to let AI learn hostility and hatred," flashed through her mind. She remotely controlled an engineering machine to dig a path.

When they reached the hundredth floor, they met up with Singlehorst.

This former Protector of the Six Dragons Cult did indeed give his all, just as he claimed. In the mobile warfare, he wiped out most of the guards inside the building, and many research knights were beheaded by him.

Bart Barrett said in a low voice, "This can be considered... a successful campaign with minimal losses?"

He felt it was all so unreal. The Moon Shadow Knights' main business was researching AI weaponry, and their squires were all equipped with luxurious gear. There were also at least two squires at the first level of the Heavenly Realm. Considering the surrounding Protectorate forces, they also had to be wary of support from high-ranking military officers.

The chivalrous side was originally prepared to sacrifice the famous knights.

But now...

A resounding victory?

"No wonder they always say that fortresses are breached from within," the Firefly exclaimed in amazement.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen verified some information with Singlehorst alone, and then told Gu Kaisheng about the whereabouts of the Knights' high-ranking officers.

The three members of the guild, Robert the Creator, the vice-guild, Clivelo, and Elaine, were having a meeting when they were paralyzed by a missile fired by the Fifth Martial God. Then, the Soul-Suppressing Dharma King arrived and easily removed their heads, piling them together.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen looked at Gu Kaisheng again.

The retired man seemed to have no other opinions.

So the group continued upwards.

The signal fluctuations from the satellite station on the top floor of the building were so strong that they were noticeably perceptible to cybernetic users.

A transformation seems to be spreading from here.

A mechanical monster shaped like a terror bird scrutinized them. "Gale Knight"... no, it should be the AI ​​"Gaia" controlling the "Gale Knight" mecha, observing the group. All around them were ordinary martial artists dismembered by it.

No one died.

Dugu Beiluo Shimen took a deep breath during his meditation and was about to speak when "Gaia" stepped aside and pointed in a direction with its tail.

The Fifth Martial God sat on the ground, looking somewhat lost and dejected.

Suppressing his excitement, Dugu Beiluo Shimen quickly stepped forward: "Fifth Master, you..."

"Stuck at the last hurdle... Is this the retribution for being a one-sided scumbag?" The Fifth Martial God sighed. "The realm of imagination... the ideal self might indeed contain elements that weren't originally apparent..."

Dugu Beiluo Shimen sensed something was wrong: "What does this mean..."

“Don’t overthink it, girl.” The Fifth Martial God stood up. “Go and take over the space elevator and spaceport. I’ve already spoken with our AI friends. Some AIs have decided to help us, some are still observing—and of course, some haven’t yet developed the intrinsic motivation to ‘actively intervene in human conflicts.’ But what we’re going to do will never change.”

Dugu Beiluo Shimen couldn't hold back any longer: "That's it? This...this...you set the bar so high..."

“To be honest, I might not be the perfect Ascended one I imagined. Perhaps…” Xiang Shan shook his head, “I’m quite unwilling. But I have to admit, I can’t fool myself. I can’t take the last step. Maybe I should adjust my mindset… or wait for the Twelfth Elder—of course, provided that we actually take down the spaceport.”

Xiang Shan waved: "Let's go, let's steal the space elevator."

I started studying Marxist philosophy in high school, and in college, as part of the history of my field, I learned a little about Saussure and Chomsky. While working as a psychotherapist, I also voluntarily or involuntarily learned a bit about Freud and Lacan. Then, a few years ago, I also tried to cram a little bit of Žižek's work into my studies. I seemed to have no understanding of these concepts before, but as I repeatedly pondered this particular passage, I finally realized how these individuals influenced and complemented each other on the same intellectual landscape. I'm once again struck by my own inadequacy, only now grasping the superficial aspects of these philosophers. This reflection has given me an unexpected urge to express myself. Originally, I only intended to write about three thousand words before moving on to David's storyline, but the more I thought about it, the more interesting it became, and I couldn't resist writing it down.