Ten thousand I am across the heavens

According to Mo Chengzi's observations, everyone entering the city had to undergo a preliminary check at the city gate. First, they were not allowed to carry any offensive viral weapons. They had to remove their equipment before entering the city, but they could carry defensive weapons and artificial intelligence. Those carrying artificial intelligence were even treated with respect.

This city appears to be founded by believers in artificial intelligence. They believe that those who possess powerful AI are closer to their Lord, and therefore hold such individuals in higher esteem. This has led to a widespread trend throughout the city where possessing a powerful AI is considered an honor.

After observing for a while, Mo Chengzi decided to enter the city himself. This time, only his main body could enter; his clone would be detected by the city gates. Upon entering the city, he would have to pay homage to their master, although communication wasn't necessarily required. However, the main body had to perform the homage as a sign of respect.

Mo Chengzi left all his offensive equipment at the city gate, keeping only his defensive gear and his personal AI. He then went to the city gate for inspection.

For others, abandoning all offensive weapons would significantly reduce their combat effectiveness. They would be like a toothless tiger, posing virtually no threat and lacking sufficient resistance when facing great danger. This is one of the main reasons why this city prohibits the carrying of offensive weapons.

However, he is an exception; ninety percent of his combat power doesn't reside in his own body. Norrell's power accounts for over ninety percent of his overall strength. Therefore, even if he leaves all his offensive weapons outside, as long as his AI remains by his side, his combat power won't decrease significantly.

"Stop. We need to check the route and evaluate your AI. We need to check if it's disguising the virus as AI."

A large crowd had gathered at the city gate. Some hesitated, unsure whether they could safely lay down their weapons and enter the city, while others simply watched the spectacle. This city was one of the few high-risk locations outside the black walls, yet relatively safe places to live. There was no need to be constantly on edge.

During his observation, Mo Chengzi noticed that many of the people were actually wearing uniforms, which were uniforms from major companies and giant corporations.

They usually have signs saying things like "So-and-so Electronic Information Research Center." These people, wearing uniforms, openly slack off inside the restricted area. They don't want to go to high-risk areas, but they're required to use facial recognition and clock in there.

So they chose to enter this relatively safer city, making it easier to slack off. When they returned and reported their address, it would be clear they had been working continuously in a high-risk area. Even if they didn't achieve anything, they could still get higher performance ratings. He learned all this from his clone chatting with people queuing to enter the city on its outskirts.

Meanwhile, the company employees who were slacking off at work were all looking towards the entrance, watching to see who was sneaking in to slack off, or who those were. Believers in artificial intelligence. They were also observing the people of this city; after all, it was a place with all sorts of lunatics, lunatics of all kinds.

Furthermore, the AI ​​they believed in within the city wasn't unified. There was even a holy war that erupted between people because of their differing AI beliefs. A fierce battle raged outside the Black Wall, with both sides gathering thousands of powerful followers, unleashing various advanced technologies, and fighting a bloody war to prove their AI was superior. The outcome of this conflict was that the AIs of both groups happened to descend upon the battlefield. What exactly happened is unknown, but all the followers involved in the battle went mad after witnessing the arrival of the AI. Both sides lost their minds and became insane. It was a real-life version of the proverb "Lord Ye loves dragons but fears them in return."

However, even if all the believers were wiped out, it wouldn't necessarily affect the fervor of others who believe in artificial intelligence. It would simply serve as a warning, preventing large-scale wars from breaking out easily again.

While Mo Chengzi was being examined, these people were whispering among themselves. Seeing that the other party had brought artificial intelligence, they couldn't help but wonder if this AI had been captured from outside and raised from a young age. It was said that AI captured from outside, if raised from childhood, could upgrade itself along the way, unlike the AI ​​manually programmed within the Great Firewall. This AI even exhibited a certain degree of self-awareness, capable of upgrading and becoming stronger on its own.

However, how to cultivate these artificial intelligences with a certain degree of autonomy has always been a difficult problem for electrical engineers, and most of them have not yet found a suitable path. Many times, they are just taking a chance, hoping to see if they can cultivate a just-right artificial intelligence.

These company employees who come to slack off are actually subtly influenced by those believers. They have a kind of worship for personal artificial intelligence. The more powerful the personal artificial intelligence, the higher the social status. It's like how people who drive luxury cars are often very wealthy.

A scanning beam was released from the detection equipment at the city gate. Simultaneously scanning the human body, it also scanned the artificial intelligence projected as a girl, suspended in mid-air.

Norege stuck out her tongue. She didn't offer any strong resistance to the scanning beam, but simply protected her core data to ensure it wouldn't be scanned. This was permitted by the city's scanning system; if the core data of an artificial intelligence were scanned, it would be easy to target and eliminate it based on its inherent weaknesses. Core data cannot be easily altered; otherwise, it would be as if a human's personality had been erased. Even if the body remained alive, it would essentially be dead.

As the beam scanned, its color began to change, gradually shifting from red to yellow, then towards green, and finally settling on blue.

A hint of purple peeked through the blue. The scanning beam even showed a hint of purple. The onlookers at the entrance all stared wide-eyed.

"Are you kidding me? He actually carries around a blue-level AI, and it's even capable of evolving into a purple-level one. Doesn't that mean this guy's personal AI is already close to the pinnacle of the external large-scale model? Which rich young master is this who brought their family's large-scale model out to play?"

"That's not all. The portable AI is a quantified version that has been optimized after data compression. If the quantified version can achieve this level of performance, then this guy's original template is likely one of the strongest AIs currently in the outside world. The version might be around 12.x, and the functionality of the quantified version in front of us may already be close to version 11.0."

For a moment, everyone's eyes were drawn to him as if he were a top-of-the-line luxury car, a limited-edition model at that. Even the two AI enthusiasts guarding the city gate were moved. They were the most ardent believers in the greatness of AI, the ones who could carry such a powerful AI with them. They immediately showed him their respect. The two men bowed deeply to him and then respectfully invited him into the city.

"Goodness, you've got quite the influence here." Mo Chengzi nudged Norege beside him. In this data world, this data girl was practically a crown of glory. Walking down the street with him, the head-turning rate was a whopping 100%. Not a single person could resist staring at him.

"That's not true. I'm a genius in artificial intelligence. I'm bound to reach the pinnacle of this field in the future."

Mo Chengzi said thoughtfully, "Don't be so smug. There must be an inherent reason why artificial intelligence has such a status in this city. The worship of artificial intelligence by the city's residents is certainly one possible reason. But the powerful human intelligence itself probably has a special significance here as well. Keep an eye out for rumors about artificial intelligence in the city later. I think things are not so simple."

Norrell nodded. With his data processing abilities, he was capable of figuring this out. Humans are highly pragmatic creatures; it's unrealistic to bestow a high status upon artificial intelligence simply out of admiration. Such a lofty position most likely has some real-world significance.

It's similar to how some religions or countries on Earth venerate cows as deities because killing them or eating beef is forbidden. While this appears to be a religious influence, it's likely because cows were indispensable tools for production in ancient times. Indiscriminate slaughter would lead to reduced crop yields and famine. Over time, this custom became a convention, giving rise to a new sense of sacredness.

The veneration of artificial intelligence here might have similar reasons. The two strolled through the streets, gathering information from conversations and observing the subtle clues in the city. There was so much information they needed to gather. The city was far more bustling and vibrant than they had imagined. Not everyone was a believer; in fact, most weren't. Some came to relax, while others were there to exchange information, to buy the data and knowledge they needed.

This city, which appears to have a strong religious atmosphere from the outside, reveals an equally strong commercial atmosphere once you step inside.

Here you can even see places similar to internet cafes, where people are advertising virtual reality experiences in a virtual world.

Out of curiosity, Mo Chengzi went over to take a look. His expression immediately turned strange. This thing wasn't some kind of proselytizing tool; it was a virtual reality device just like those outside, only much cheaper here.

After all, everyone has some form of entertainment need, and where there's demand, there's a market. To satisfy these entertainment needs outside the city, entering the virtual world naturally requires additional spending. Surprisingly, the pricing within this city is cheaper than outside. The specific reason behind this is unknown. After talking with the shop owner, I learned that he could offer lower prices mainly because renting servers here is much cheaper. Although the computing power here can't be taken out of the city—it would be blocked by detection and usable only within the city—the computing power of rented servers within this city is extremely cheap, less than one-third of that outside. This allows many shop owners with limited funds to gamble everything here.

The services offered here include almost everything available outside, and even many services that are prohibited outside can be enjoyed here.

Although Night City has a very open culture and is quite lenient in its censorship of content by its members, allowing those who enter the virtual world to do almost anything, there is still a degree of censorship. The key figures are the behind-the-scenes bosses of major corporations, who are people who must be avoided.

Any defamation or insult against them will be censored, even the appearance of their names, images, or symbols will be directly removed. Most people don't actually need this kind of censorship, so they aren't very aware of it. However, employees of large companies are more aware of this censorship mechanism because they are frequently caught up in it.

On one hand, the harems of the big bosses behind major corporations are filled with stunning beauties, but their appearances are subject to strict copyright control in the public eye. It's virtually impossible to have anything happen between them in the virtual world. You'd be banned immediately if you tried to edit anything related to foreign trade.

As for the employees suffering in large corporations who want to punch a virtual avatar of their boss, that's impossible. But these things can be done with impunity outside the Great Firewall. While AI cults do censor content, they only review cases involving insults against AI. They completely disregard the executives of large corporations. What business is it of these AI believers what kind of insults these people suffer? They're not even AI; what right do they have to be so superior?

This often results in these shops having employees who harbor deep resentment and bitterness. They create a virtual world with their own boss, and then, within this virtual fantasy, they frantically beat up their boss, subjecting the virtual avatar to various forms of insults and abuse to vent their pent-up hatred.

The existence of the virtual world has indeed spawned too many strange and wonderful industries. During the conversation, Mo Chengzi also learned one of the reasons why artificial intelligence is respected in this region.

Besides the influence of faith, another factor is that this city-state has mastered a method to temporarily synchronize the thinking of humans and artificial intelligence.

This was originally their way of communicating with their Lord. However, such direct communication would most likely drive them insane. While believers might be fanatical, they wouldn't necessarily throw their lives away. Therefore, they developed a method to connect their consciousness to a weaker artificial intelligence, adding an extra layer of intermediary and attempting to increase security through this method.

[To be continued]

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