Cyber ​​Heroes

Chapter 1190 Antimatter Family Ethics and the Love Brain
Xiang Shan reactivated his prosthetic eye. The repair kit had already replaced his prosthetic body—well, of course, it was also moved along with the stolen biological brain and motherboard.

For the next few hours, he was downloading various resources from the internet.

He found numerous memories from the Secret War to the final defeat within Xiang Shan's memory labyrinth. Previously, downloading external data on David's server was strictly monitored; even if the AI ​​Zhu Xinyu used the Trojan horse spread by Zhu Xinyu, it couldn't download freely. Moreover, if they were preparing to escape, the AIs would still need to find useful intelligence from more recent history.

In addition, he also gathered information about the man's identity through various channels.

Knight Commander Michael G. Johnson, one of the vice-masters of the Knights of Oklo, is relatively marginalized and has a low profile online—though this could also be due to the project's confidentiality, which limits the amount of information available on the public internet.

His age is evident from his traditional name. According to his publicly available resume, this old man joined the Knights of Orklo 150 years ago. A hundred years ago, he participated in a major project of the Knights of Orklo.

Even if it's a herbivore, this is a herbivore the size of a Brontosaurus, not someone to be trifled with.

not to mention……

He was also the assistant assigned to Xiang Shan by the Ascended AI, Zhu Xinyu.

Xiang Shan knew he wouldn't die easily. The Ascended AI was watching his every move, and even if he were truly in dire straits, Zhu Xinyu, who claimed to be the Ascended AI, would guarantee his escape. Xiang Shan guessed that the expert who ultimately targeted him hadn't delivered the decisive blow, which might be related to the Ascended AI.

Zhu Xinyu, on Mars, even has an assistant, who seems to know quite a bit of inside information.

Zhu Xinyu is suspicious by nature. Childhood trauma and later experiences have all exacerbated her distrust of the outside world. If she shares information with someone, it's mostly out of "necessity."

—Even the ascended AI thinks it can make use of some people.

AI is thinking like this about the mountain.

He was currently using the identification of an armed squire of the Order of Orloran, directly under the command of Vice Grand Master Michael Johnson. After leaving the preparation room, a programmed navigation system directed him to a higher floor.

Along the way, research knights kept brushing past him. Most of the research knights were indifferent to the passing squires. A few, however, noticed this unfamiliar squire, immediately checked his identification, and then immediately became wary.

When I saw Michael again, the man in the loose white coat was floating in mid-air and slowly falling down. On a planet with only one-third the gravity of Earth, you could fill the room with more gas as a heat dissipator and you wouldn't even need to add any flight components. You could just jump up to a high place and spread your limbs to increase drag.

Xiang Shan looked up. The ceiling of the room seemed to be a screen, with numerous blueprints constantly updating on it. Xiang Shan's memory maze did not contain technical information; the AI ​​Xiang Shan's professional knowledge was still stuck in the late 21st century, making it somewhat incomprehensible.

Xiang Shan greeted Michael. The old-looking knight commander pulled a memory stick from his chest: "Want to give it a try?"

"what is this?"

"It's not spam, you'll see once you try it."

What is spam? And why would you like spam?

“So ancient…” Michael continued looking up, tapping his forehead. “How do you explain this—oh right, didn’t you ancient people also eat junk food? I’ve never thought of junk food as waste.”

Xiang Shan inserted the memory into his data interface with some skepticism. Then, something magical happened. This prosthetic body didn't have a mouth at all, but he inexplicably felt a smooth and chewy texture in his "mouth," the illusion of teeth cutting through something, and even a pure taste experience that was so fresh it was slightly bitter.

"...Shrimp and fish cake noodles?"

Even the physiological satisfaction brought about by elevated blood sugar is faithfully reproduced by the program.

"Someone has compiled statistics on what Wu Zu Xiangshan often ate at night during his apprenticeship as a research knight. This is ranked third."

Xiang Shan was speechless: "I was poor when I was a kid, but I still ate well, right? Well... even if it was just noodles with soybean paste or McDonald's? Anyway, it's all just data."

It's really strange that something that's "not spam" is actually "information about junk food."

"Eating this in the lounge is all about the atmosphere," Michael said.

"I don't think I've ever deliberately pursued this kind of thing..."

"It doesn't matter anymore." Michael landed on the ground. "How do you feel?"

“I still don’t understand why you were chosen to be my assistant,” Xiang Shan said frankly. “I think many people in this Knights Order have doubts about you.”

"Indeed, it's been going on for more than just a day or two."

"A vice-commander suspected of being a knight-errant brought back a strange martial artist and then allowed him to move freely within the knight order..." Xiang Shan said, "I don't understand. I sensed the research knights' wariness towards me. You're close to being exposed."

“I’ve been restricted from leaving the Knights for years,” Michael said, unconcerned. “What do you think the situation is like outside right now? Just these last few days.”

Xiang Shan seemed to be deep in thought: "The uprising launched by the Fifth Martial God is unstoppable? So... the more suspicious you are now, the safer you are?"

“It’s not hard to understand, right? I’m somewhat important to the group, so they don’t plan to execute me until they get concrete evidence. And now, the leader is even more eager for me to actually have connections with the Chivalrous faction.” Michael switched to a different storage device, probably some kind of junk food. “In the few hours you were changing your prosthetic body, three cities switched sides, and two space elevators fell into the hands of the Chivalrous. His Highness the King of Conquest has never disappointed; he failed to organize an effective counterattack and seems to have merely tightened his defensive perimeter to ensure the safety of the Temple Zone.”

The Temple Zone, the area near the Martian Palace of the Conqueror of the Heavens, is where the headquarters of many of the Knights' superior organizations, the "Temples," are located.

In addition, the most core Holy Knights order mostly settled here.

"According to my information, the Mars Orbital Defense Force is also in a very passive position. The Twelfth Martial God has already departed from Earth and will arrive here in a few days. Although many martial artists from space cities claim that the Martial God will pass through their areas, this is mostly false information. The Fifth Martial God declared even earlier that he would prepare for the arrival of the Twelfth Martial God." Michael seemed a bit talkative and continued to explain, "Even a fleet will not fare well against a top-tier martial artist with top-tier cybernetic bodies. If His Highness the Heavenly King cannot regroup before the Twelfth Martial God arrives, the Mars Orbital Defense Force and the Planetary Defense Fleet will be easily defeated by the Twelfth Martial God."

“But I think, no matter what, you can survive.” Xiang Shan pointed to the content flashing on the ceiling screen. “A scientist like you… a research knight, would be given special treatment on either side. If I’m not mistaken, you’re researching…”

“Antimatter engine. No need for riddles here,” Michael said. “I prefer to get straight to the point.”

The Knights of Oklo are a scientific order of knights who study particle physics and energy, and naturally, they also include the next generation of power systems.

That is, antimatter.

In 2025, the BASE collaboration at CERN had already completed the long-term (more than one year) storage of a single antimatter particle and managed to make an antiproton oscillate stably between quantum "spin-up" and "spin-down" states for nearly a minute.

The preparation and storage of antimatter have a theoretical basis in the 21st century, so it is not difficult to understand why they have been developed in this era.

The reason the Knights of Oklo were willing to protect Michael, this guy who loved slurping instant noodles, was indeed because he was very important.

He is one of the most knowledgeable researchers about antimatter engines in all of humanity, and his role in the project is irreplaceable.

Xiang Shan pondered, "How far has this technology progressed? Can it be applied to... um..."

“Can’t you tell this is a dedicated engine for a super-large spaceship? Miniaturization is impossible. The storage condition for charged antimatter fuel is ‘near absolute zero.’ It uses an environment close to absolute zero to restrict the thermal motion of antimatter particles, while simultaneously using Coulomb force to reduce and compress the storage—even the Speed ​​King’s prosthetic body can barely maintain a temperature of 4 Kelvin within a very small range, which is far from absolute zero.” Michael waved his hand. “The only prototype hasn’t even been handed over to the Speed ​​King’s court yet, so there’s no need to worry about it having any impact on the war for the next twenty years.”

In the field of cryogenics, energy comparisons are proportional. Reaching a temperature from 300 Kelvin to 3 Kelvin requires removing 99% of the energy in the environment, leaving only 1%. However, from 3 Kelvin to 3 mK (three-thousandths of a Kelvin), more than 99.9% of that remaining energy must be removed.

Even the most advanced prosthetics available to humans can only achieve the level of cooling quantum chips using liquid helium.

Xiang Shan didn't admit that he genuinely hadn't noticed. So he steered the conversation back to the beginning: "Someone like you who researches such advanced stuff would try to recruit you from either side, right? But you jumped out to help me, the one with the most questionable stance."

“You are Xiangshan. If even Senior Zhu thinks you are Xiangshan, then you must be very much like Xiangshan.”

"But I am AI."

“There are pure AIs in Martial God.” Michael’s bionic face revealed a confident and sunny smile. “And I am an AI empowerment advocate.”

"What?" This explanation was unexpected by Xiang Shan.

“I am an AI empowerment advocate,” Michael emphasized again. “I support treating sufficiently complex composite AI models as human. Therefore, helping AI in non-asylum camps is one of my dreams. There should be relevant intelligence in publicly available data.”

"Hmm...that makes sense." Xiang Shan nodded.

Indeed, some historical records mention that Michael occasionally expressed his views on AI a hundred years ago, but Xiang Shan never expected that he would be so persistent about this topic that had nothing to do with his own profession.

"Now that you've talked about me, let's talk about you." Michael crossed his arms. "What are your plans?"

"Specifically?"

“I can provide you with prosthetics, weapons, and necessary supplies. So, what do you plan to do next?” Michael said. “All I’ve been told is ‘assist you,’ but I don’t know what kind of assistance you should provide. Tell me your goals so I can prepare the necessary resources.”

Xiang Shan hesitated for a moment: "How much do you know?"

“You are an AI created by the King of Conquest, completely imitating the personality of Martial Ancestor Xiang Shan, and appearing exactly like Xiang Shan in the eyes of humans,” Michael said. “I think that in essence, you are not much different from the Second Martial God and the Third Martial God.”

“I see…” Xiang Shan said, “To be honest, I really haven’t thought about it yet. In that server, all I could think about was 'escaping.' In the end, it’s about continuing Xiang Shan’s way of doing things. As for what exactly to do… I really haven’t thought about that.”

“You can take your time to think about it, but it’s best to decide within a few days.” Michael waved his hand. “I have something I’d like you to pass on to the Fifth or Twelfth Martial God. It’s quite important, and I don’t really trust anyone else to do it.”

He waved and led Xiang Shan out the door.

"Um, where are we going?"

“I can’t keep that thing in the office—the electricity cost for storing it is too high. If it weren’t for the fact that our team’s small projects are all about reactors and there are verification reactors everywhere, you really wouldn’t be able to cover the electricity costs.”

Following the elevator, the two went down, and Xiang Shan felt that they had entered a separate underground warehouse.

It was a rectangular container two meters high, with high-reflectivity paint sprayed on all four sides.

"what is this?"

“A storage container,” Michael said. “Inside is a grenade, 200mm caliber, which can be fired with any firearm using a conventional launcher, but is only recommended for use by high-speed warriors in space.”

Based on the conversation just now, Xiang Shan had a strange guess: "This couldn't be..."

“Antimatter bomb.” Michael spread his arms, quite pleased with himself. “So far, there are only three prototypes on the surface. Two of them were detonated in Mercury’s orbit, and one was used to verify the long-term preservation plan. After it leaves the container, it only has a three-minute launch window. After three minutes, it will become unstable and we can’t guarantee a safe launch.”

Xiang Shan fell into deep thought: "Then its power is equivalent to..."

"It's only a few million tons of TNT. After all, antimatter can't be compressed too much; if even a little leaks out of the magnetic confinement, it's self-destruction."

Xiang Shan pointed to the box, then to himself: "This thing?"

"Ok?"

"Grenade?"

"Ah."

"What's the range of that thing, a few hundred meters?"

"It's usually only a few hundred meters."

Xiang Shan pressed his forehead: "Detonating at least several hundred Hiroshima atomic bombs from several hundred meters away? That sounds a bit..."

“So I don’t recommend using it in planetary environments.” Michael nodded. “In space, there’s no air to transmit kinetic energy and cause damage, which is much safer for the user. The user can also get away quickly. One shot can guarantee to take down a warship, and the collateral damage caused by the gamma photons will also cause other warships to malfunction to varying degrees.”

Xiang Shan understood: "So, it's for high-speed martial artists only?"

"It should be said that one of the weapons used by the Speed ​​King was originally designed to be deployed by the Swift Army when conducting infiltration strikes against enemy fleets. However, the Speed ​​King has not contacted us in recent years, so it has not yet been tested in actual combat," Michael said.

"You can even steal this kind of weapon..." Xiang Shan couldn't help but want to give a thumbs up.

“What are you thinking?” Michael said. “I did it secretly.”

"what?"

Michael nodded repeatedly, seemingly approving of himself: "Sigh, that's really not easy. Do you know the difference between antimatter fuel and other fuels?"

"what?"

“There are no natural reserves,” Michael said. “You can’t expect to find anti-iron or anti-copper underground, right? All antimatter fuels need to be produced artificially. Currently, the energy consumed in producing antimatter fuel is more than 500,000 times the energy released when it annihilates. If energy weren’t so cheap, this technology wouldn’t be worthwhile. After all, given the size of humanity, the nuclear fuel from Jupiter and Saturn is practically inexhaustible.”

"Generally speaking, antimatter fuel is produced in large quantities in space cities between the orbits of Mercury and Venus. The Throne's energy canal was created for this purpose. If we calculate the energy density and reaction efficiency, antimatter fuel is two orders of magnitude higher than nuclear fuel. This is energy enrichment and storage based on high energy loss."

Xiang Shan couldn't help but ask, "Why not somewhere closer to the sun... ah..."

“As you might have guessed, maintaining absolute zero closer to the sun would be far too costly,” Michael said. “It’s incredibly difficult. Every single microgram of charged antimatter particles transported to the group is meticulously recorded. It’s no easy feat to extract such a bomb.”

Xiang Shan was completely convinced and gave a thumbs up: "So you want... this thing, uh, to be used by the Twelfth Martial God?"

“A weapon that could absolutely change the course of the war in the Jupiter region.” Michael nodded with his eyes closed. “I guess I’ve indirectly influenced history, haven’t I? Impressive. The impact of false reporting is incredibly efficient.”

"Why don't you go and deliver it yourself?"

“I already said, I’m restricted from leaving. The Commander still intends to use me as a trump card, whether it’s to ultimately side with the Knights or prove loyalty to the Throne, he can use me for various purposes,” Michael said. “Outside, you usually only allow someone to be issued a first-level cybernetic body after proving their high level of skill, but here, we Research Knights can equip any armed follower with a reactor-equipped cybernetic body, forcing them to adapt to a higher-level cybernetic body on their own…”

Xiang Shan felt a little numb: "I thought the government had very strict control over the First Heaven..."

“As long as the computational performance of the prosthetic body is limited and no firepower is installed, it can be said that ‘that’s not a first-level prosthetic body.’ Most of the time, it does not have the combat power of a first-level prosthetic body; it’s only close in terms of mechanical performance,” Michael said. “However, such prosthetic bodies are also subject to strict restrictions and are not allowed to leave the Knights’ monitoring range.”

"In other words, as long as I dare to break free from the Knights' surveillance, a group of martial artists with reactor prosthetics and matching martial arts skills, who train in simulations all day long, will pick up the corresponding equipment from the First Heaven and gang up on me."

"I understand." Xiang Shan nodded. "It seems you intend to stay in this dangerous place."

“Not really, I’ve recruited a few comrades within the group,” Michael said. “But if I were to gather those people together, it would mean breaking ties with the group, and they would be the first to surround and wipe us out. Of course, we’re not entirely defenseless. If a martial arts master or a great hero comes to our rescue nearby, we can still try to hold on.”

Although Michael spoke casually and confidently, Xiang Shan could tell that he was in a dangerous situation. This guy was far from being as nonchalant as he made it sound.

"If possible... I'll deliver it for you."

After Xiang Shan finished speaking, he fell into deep thought.

Indeed, until today, everything he did was solely to escape that server. He refused to live within it.

Furthermore, he firmly believes that after leaving the server, he will join the army against Yogemov as a warrior and a knight-errant.

But what exactly should be done?
What can he do now?
—Apart from helping Michael transport that antimatter bomb.

Furthermore, what is the purpose of the Ascended AI - Zhu Xinyu?
What would she expect herself to do? What would she need to do?
Although AI Xiangshan inherited a sense of aversion towards ascending AI from his own Zhu Xinyu, at the same time, he felt even more...

The idea of ​​wanting to help Zhu Xinyu.

Of course, AI Xiangshan is not powerful at present. When the cyber martial arts framework was initially built, the Martial Ancestor deliberately chose a development path where "the human brain has more advantages." The brain that AI Xiangshan has hijacked is only at a normal level. Putting aside external martial arts skills, even the "curse" in the internal energy field was a gift from the ascended AI.

If a soldier goes to the battlefield as an ordinary warrior, then he is not much different from a regular martial artist.

Even if one's spells are powerful, they are nothing compared to a true master of internal martial arts.

“You can take your time to think about it.” Michael put his hands in his pockets, turned and left. “I have work to do. We can talk again later.”

Xiang Shan felt that Michael's attitude towards him was a bit strange, with a kind of inexplicable closeness—a closeness that even exceeded the level of "being familiar with someone immediately," and was closer to the feeling of "a long-lost relative."

However, Xiang Shan was also certain that until his final defeat, he had no memory of anyone resembling Michael. Furthermore, Michael's life trajectory did not intersect with any of the Martial Gods—if it had, he would have been executed by the Knights long ago.

This "love without reason" left Xiang Shan somewhat bewildered.

However... since it was an assistant introduced by the Ascended AI, it should be trustworthy, right?

So, what exactly do you want me to do...?

—Wishing you a speedy rain…

..........................................

Michael called Xiang Shan again thirty-six hours later. This time, their meeting was arranged in Michael's lounge. The guy's cyborg body had even changed into a bathrobe.

If it weren't for the decorative slits on his cheeks that deliberately exposed some metal, he would really be no different from humans of the Homo sapiens era.

Michael even had a memory card plugged in. When he saw Xiang Shan enter, he handed him one as well.

"So, is it braised beef noodles or spicy beef noodles this time?"

“The one you’re holding is ‘Beijing-style home cooking,’ I think you might like it. But I can’t stand it,” Michael said. “I prefer this one, nut Basque cake.”

Xiang Shan placed the memory device on the table: "Surprisingly, it's quite... tasteful."

“These were extracted from Xiang Shan’s memory labyrinth. These are memories to reward myself.” Michael looked at Xiang Shan. “After the work is over, people need to relax.” “Work… do you mean your part as a research knight, or…” Xiang Shan didn’t know whether he should say the rest.

“The research knight part is tiring enough,” Michael said with a wry smile. “Let me tell you, my career has been pretty bad. Sixty years ago, I was doing quite well on a project, but unfortunately, it was a collaborative project. The scholar I was working with suddenly disappeared.”

“I actually experienced something similar when I was an apprentice,” Xiang Shan couldn’t help but say. “Why?”

“At the time, I didn’t know why, but the members of the Order of Saint Mercury who were cooperating with me were either purged or suddenly disappeared and couldn’t be contacted. There were also rumors that they were executed because they were involved in esoteric activities—I wanted to laugh at the time, did I not know whether those guys were involved in esoteric activities or not?” Michael’s face was very bitter. “I even wasted a lot of energy to distance myself and investigate what was behind it, but I only recently found out that all of that was in vain…”

"why?"

"The project I'm collaborating on is researching technologies that can convert gamma photons into electrical energy, which involves some novel materials. One approach is to adjust the lattice through an active quantum structure stabilizing field, so that when a gamma photon enters, it efficiently excites an electron-hole pair, using almost all the energy to generate an electric charge. Another approach is to create a de-energized resonant cavity, filling it with a particle field in a specific metastable state. When a gamma photon enters the cavity, it is excited by the particle field, causing it to undergo cascade transitions and release a series of low-energy photons that can be converted into electrical energy by conventional materials."

Michael said quietly, "Both of these research directions can be traced back to 'new Cherenkov radiation media.' It's just about capturing neutrino trajectories and adjusting quantum field parameters to make the medium material under an actively stable field more sensitive to neutrinos. I have a clue now, and given a few years, I can develop mature technology. The actions of the Twelfth War God on Earth made me understand what exactly happened to the Knights of Saint Mercury. The Father of All Machines is planning something big, so everyone who gets in his way has to be dealt with."

Michael's incessant complaining suggested that he had been harboring resentment for a long time.

"Seven or eight times, my projects were delayed because of one thing or another, for various reasons."

Xiang Shan involuntarily clutched his chest. His virtual heart felt as if it had been pierced—or something similar in intensity.

But at the same time, Xiang Shan felt that slight sense of unease again.

Is his relationship with Michael... good enough for him to complain about something like this?

"But thanks to this incident, many in the group have come to realize that the Throne has completely lost all logic. His actions over the past hundred years have seriously affected our research. To be honest, if he hadn't repeatedly tricked me, I might be the Grand Master and High Knight Commander by now." Michael sighed, then changed the subject, "So, senior, have you considered your future plans?"

"I... I carefully reviewed the Fifth Martial God's recent activities, including his recently released research reports and his views on AI. I seem to have some clues... but I don't know if I should do it. It..."

"Why don't you tell me?"

Xiang Shan hesitated for a moment, then shook his head: "No... I can't really be sure which parts of this idea are my actions as Xiang Shan, and which are driven by my underlying logic as an AI..."

“Humans may not be able to understand themselves correctly, and AI, as a product that imitates humans, may also be unable to understand itself correctly.” Michael nodded. “That makes a lot of sense.”

"But I think... I'll probably go find the Fifth Martial God. There's something I want to confirm with him."

“That makes sense. In that case, I’ll arrange the route for you—with Senior Zhu’s assistance along the way, reaching your destination shouldn’t be a problem,” Michael said. “You could set off as early as tomorrow. Of course, you can rest as long as you wish.”

"That's great." Xiang Shan nodded.

“Sigh,” Michael said, “Now that we’ve covered most of the important business, let’s talk about something personal. I actually have a few things I’d like to ask you.”

"Huh?" Xiang Shan shook his head. "The word 'asking for advice' is too strong. I... I really can't think of anything I have that you would ask me for advice about."

“I lack some life experience,” Michael said quite seriously. “I have a father-in-law I’ve never met, a capricious and difficult mother-in-law, and a sister-in-law who is very prejudiced against me—you might as well think of her as an ex-girlfriend. Yes, we hate each other. And then…”

"Stop..." Xiang Shan said expressionlessly, "Are we... the kind of people who can discuss these kinds of private matters?"

"I think so."

"Let me catch my breath..." Xiang Shan rubbed his temples. "I feel like this topic shift is a bit abrupt, really—I never expected that I, a defected AI, would be needed by humans again, to solve an emotional problem. Speaking of which, there's no such thing as 'father-in-law and mother-in-law' in this era, is there?"

Under the "Dyson Principle," the term "couple" simply means "partners who reproduce together and fulfill their obligations," without involving any sharing of property. Children who reach reproductive age have no relation to their parents.

The concept of "father-in-law" is tied to old ethics and should not exist in the new era.

“There’s nothing I can do, my parents-in-law are old-fashioned from the old days.” Michael smiled as he looked at Xiang Shan.

"I..." Xiang Shan fell into deep thought, "And do you really want to discuss this issue with me?"

"Huh? What?"

“If you’ve studied my memories, you should know that my lover hates her father, and my relationship with my father-in-law… I can’t even call him father-in-law. My biggest connection with her father was that I secretly pushed him into bankruptcy.” Xiang Shan pressed his forehead. “You really want to learn this?”

Michael actually had a "I've learned something" expression on his face: "If you don't mind, I can learn it."

"Did your father-in-law, whom you've never met, offend you?"

"To the best of my knowledge, he was never involved in my wife's upbringing."

"Damn, he's a scumbag?" Xiang Shan was shocked. "You didn't hit it off with me because of these similarities, did you? How can we be so alike?"

Michael looked at Xiang Shan and smiled: "I was just kidding. Actually, my wife was adopted. She has no blood relation with her parents—of course, as for the scumbag aspect, I can only say that the old man does have that side."

"what……"

"Besides, I remember you actually got along quite well with your brother-in-law..."

Xiang Shan sighed, "There is no conflict between me and my brother-in-law, but your relationship with your sister-in-law... is probably a bit too complicated."

Michael sighed, "Who can argue with that?"

Xiang Shan felt exhausted and wanted to end the conversation. Just as he was about to speak, a signal suddenly came through.

Okay, enough of the jokes.

Xiang Shan was taken aback.

Michael suddenly shared a file—it appeared to be an executable file.

After Xiang Shan ran Michael's file, a woman with light blonde hair appeared behind him. The woman was around thirty years old—this was a virtual model, so her actual age couldn't be determined. But according to the file description, this should be the possible appearance of a woman growing naturally.

The woman slightly opened her eyes and said in a low voice, "[Hello, senior. My code name is ABC. Of course, I don't need to hide my real name from you. My name is Atanasoff Berry, you can also call me Berry. I am a disciple of 'Turing' Zhu Xinyu.]"

Michael nodded smugly: "This woman with the forked hair is also my wife."

Berry gave a troubled look: "Let's stop with these kinds of jokes."

"You know, darling, my feelings for you have never been a joke..."

"Stop!" Berry chopped Michael on the head without hesitation. Although the image was just a virtual model, Michael seemed to have an interactive program built in, and this blow actually made the man feel a slight pain.

Michael groaned in pain with a grin.

Berry chose to ignore this and said to Xiang Shan, "I think my master's guidance of you here might be related to me..."

Xiang Shan was so shocked that his mind went blank. He pointed at Michael, his finger trembling slightly: "You bastard... the father-in-law you just mentioned that you've never met, could it be...?"

The mountain, trembling and precarious, pointed towards itself.

Michael jumped up laughing and gave Xiang Shan a hug: "Hahahaha, it's a pleasure to meet you, my dear Taishan. I don't mind learning how you get along with your father-in-law, it's just a pity that external conditions may not allow it."

“Okay…stop, Mike,” Berry said.

“Darling, this is a rare moment of family time in this day and age, let’s make it last a little longer.”

Xiang Shan's mental processes were occupied by several chaotic thought chains, which contaminated each other and were then forcibly cleared by the system, repeating this process several times.

Xiang Shan felt that his mental age was no more than thirty-five years old.

Throughout his life, he never considered such an unrealistic idea as "his adopted daughter and son-in-law, whom he had never met, coming to enjoy family life."

A few minutes later, Berry finally lost her temper and said, "Mike, you should go check on the research group's progress."

"Hey, I've only been resting for a little while..."

I said, you should go and check on the research team's progress.

So the famous knight commander, feeling wronged like a pet cat, continued with his own duties.

Only Xiangshan remains here.

Xiang Shan said, "I have a small question... You're actually communicating with me through a program, right? I can sense that your physical body is with Michael. You're operating inside Michael's prosthetic body. Avoiding him like this... doesn't make any sense, does it?"

"It's just so we can focus on communicating." Berry sighed, "That's Michael's true nature; he just always has to keep a facade. He really wants to... live without pretense."

"You'll become a pervert if you hold it in for too long, right..." Xiang Shan looked at Berry with complicated feelings. "Although I felt that his closeness to me was a bit strange... I really didn't expect it to be for this reason... It's too weird, really, too weird."

And I really don't know how to face an adopted daughter who looks older than me.

It took Xiang Shan a while to calm down. He said, "Let me sort this out first—you here are also wearing a false personality mask, right?"

Berry nodded: "Strictly speaking, I should be called Berry-β branch 1, a pseudo-personality overlay directly separated from the α entity. Theoretically, there's also a γ branch, an individual copied from the β branch."

Xiang Shan said, "I don't know if it's polite to say this... Michael just said, 'This forked version of her is also my wife'—does he only think of this local personality as his wife, and not your original self, uh, as his wife?"

Berry pressed her hand to her head, feeling a bit of a headache: "This... is actually quite complicated. I've been thinking about this until today before deciding to discuss it with you. I think that Master's decision to bring you here is somewhat related to my way of life."

Xiang Shan interrupted, "Do you know what state your master is in right now?"

Berry nodded: "I'm not sure if my original self in the Jupiter space is aware of this, but I am aware of this one here. My master... the contradiction between her biological brain components and her complete self on the network is irreconcilable, ultimately leading to her mental distress."

"That's about what I know..." Xiang Shan nodded. "Then, let's talk about you. What's going on with your situation?"

Atanasov Berry Zhu, Zhu Xinyu's first disciple.

Her story with Michael G. Johnson dates back ninety years.

At that time, Zhu Xinyu was already trapped on a moon of Jupiter.

The Fourth Martial God transformed "Facing the Mountain" from a specific individual into a cultural phenomenon. The Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Martial Gods then expanded the influence of this cultural phenomenon to unimaginable levels. An organization calling itself the Philosophers' Society is exploring the path to "Ascension" and has made contact with the future Eighth Martial God on Earth.

It was during this period that Zhu Xinyu discovered her own path to "ascension," which was "strengthening her mind."

The "personality masking" technology, which originated from inhumane practices, was put into use. Several of Zhu Xinyu's disciples set up their own pseudo-personality masks near the Knights Order, which required close monitoring.

The Eighth Martial God eventually exchanged research findings with Zhu Xinyu. This allowed Zhu Xinyu to overcome the final obstacle.

From that time onward, disciples of the Turing lineage were able to utilize the biological brains of their assistants to perform certain internal energy techniques to a limited extent.

From that time on, Berry and Michael became partners.

At that time, Michael was still very young (by benchmark). He had just begun to make a name for himself on a big project.

Michael gained an edge over his contemporaries with Berry’s help—including through illegitimate means such as stealing competitors’ data.

[Of course, this doesn't mean Michael's skill level is questionable.] Berry further explained.

Michael was a leading researcher of his time.

He even developed a completely new nuclear reactor configuration, maximizing thermal management to make the reactor more compatible with ice-like materials.

He transmitted the complete set of design drawings to the Knights faction in the outer ring of the solar system through Zhu Xinyu.

It can be said that the development of the chivalrous forces in the Saturn and Uranus regions was inseparable from Michael's assistance.

Of particular note is that shortly after the reactor was put into use by the Knights, a traitor brought some technical data to Mars. The King of Conquest then dumped them all on the Orklo Holy Knights. The Protectors, on the one hand, arranged for experimental teams to reverse engineer the reactor, and on the other hand, launched a propaganda campaign about the traitor's deeds—which naturally included some blurry images.

Upon learning of this, Michael downplayed it, pretending that he had "roughly reverse-engineered the new reactor of the Raptor from distant photos," and published his previous results again before the reverse engineering team could.

Anyway, neither Xia Ke nor Michael expected that this special configuration for poor people could be kept secret for long. Besides, the government would definitely not need this special configuration for poor people. So let them have it.

On the contrary, Michael could use cheating to boost his reputation within the group.

Even if other research knights suspect that "this guy may have done research before", they will only gloat and say, "This guy is so unlucky, his ideas actually collided with those of the knights."

Michael ended up losing several of his achievements to the Rangers. If he hadn't done that, he might have had more resources at his disposal now.

"He aspired to be a knight-errant from the very beginning," Berry asserted.

As for the entanglement between Michael and Berry's main body and the β branch, it should be traced back to eighty years ago, to the period between the Eighth God of War and the Ninth God of War.

By then, Berry's beta branch one had been with Michael for a long time, and Michael naturally fell in love with this AI who had been with him for twenty years. He expressed his love to Berry with a passionate attitude that only he could perceive.

Berry, however, felt utterly lost. The self she was here wasn't her complete self; the β branch was merely a persona that, in most situations, made judgments consistent with the original, and even her memories were incomplete. Berry-β Branch One's biggest hesitation lay in…

Love is an exclusive emotion.

Berry's entity possesses more than one beta branch, and some branches have even developed into lower-level gamma branches. One of the terminals received a highly exclusive emotion, which will have unknown effects on the entire self-network.

Branch 1 therefore hesitated.

So she tried to contact the original body.

At that time, the Eighth War God's sacrifice secured the temporary safety of the Turing lineage. Therefore, the Turing lineage implemented even stricter controls on information security, with data files synchronized to the main body hidden within specific data trains. These data trains passed through Europa's network hub according to a specific cycle.

Berry's beta branch communicates with the main body outside of the predetermined period, and naturally, there is no memory synchronization. There is a gap of more than five years of memory lag between the two.

The data sent by Berry's original body is...

She was actually quite willing to have a closer relationship with Michael. At the same time, Michael was a necessary talent during that turbulent period in the chivalrous camp, and the β branch could solidify its connection with him in any form.

To explain it in a deeper way, it is...

Berry felt that if her true self had the opportunity, she would be willing to make a sacrifice.

Of course, the more likely scenario is actually...

This feeling is not something that the original α can respond to.

Because Berry's true form was sealed on the Galileo satellite along with Zhu Xinyu.

Therefore, the β branch can be done cheaply.

But Berry's response made Michael feel insulted.

From that moment on, he firmly believed that the only AI he had created was "Branch 1," and that Berry's true form was not his lover at all.

"Michael never asked for anything in return from the beginning," Berry's β branch explained to Xiang Shan. "Even if I rejected him, his yearning for freedom would never waver. Therefore, based on my α body's response, he judged that my α body neither understood him nor loved him, and even insulted his love."

Over the next thirty years, Berry underwent two rounds of memory synchronization. After completing the synchronization, the original Alpha understood the thoughts of Beta Branch One and was willing to apologize to Michael. However, Michael only said that he was willing to accept the original Alpha's apology, but could not regard the original Alpha as a lover.

All he loves is AI.

Afterwards, Berry's original self spent about five years trying to repair the relationship, but Michael refused to accept it.

Considering the difficulty of communication between the two planets, this is roughly equivalent to "a few letters" in the old days.

After that, Berry, located on Jupiter's moon, also felt angry.

She no longer uploads her memories to the local area.

"What a...surprise..." Xiang Shan covered his forehead. "A father-in-law I've never met, a mother-in-law who's always on a whim, a sister-in-law who's like an ex-girlfriend and we don't get along, complicated family dynamics...heh...this guy...is he just being difficult?"

But that all happened eighty years ago! Eighty years!

This is outrageous... Is Michael G. Johnson, the vice-commander and knight commander of the Oklo Holy Knights, perhaps... suffering from a severe case of being love-struck?

How could such a misunderstanding last for eighty years?
Sigh, I overestimated myself. I've had severe insomnia this month, and my condition is terrible.