Extraordinary Pedigree.

Chapter 1083 The Birth History of Functionalism

While Xia Xiu was having a mental conversation with Titan Soul Tantross, the conflict on the ground continued.

"Lutheran, is your engine burning energy cubes or molten waste?"

Police officer Rezek brandished his metal arm, the optical sensors on his face flashing a furious red light. "Who gave you permission to bring strangers here on your own initiative!"

Lutheran defiantly slapped Rezek's hand away, "I'll take responsibility myself, the original will understand!"

"Understand? Are you sure you still have your brain module functioning?" Marcus from the ambulance chimed in coldly. "He doesn't have any of our registered Spark numbers on him. What gives you the right to bring him in?"

At that moment, a thunderous sound descended from the sky, piercing through the entire outer edge of the communication band and clearly penetrating the audio perception system of every mechanical individual:
"Please let this distinguished guest in."

It was the voice of the progenitor.

In an instant, all the arguments came to an abrupt end.

Rezek and Marcus stood frozen in place like statues cast in metal, the solemn and dignified voice resonating within their bodies, causing them to react almost instinctively.

A few seconds later, the two bowed their heads slightly and respectfully and silently stepped aside to make way for each other.

"...Yes, Yuanzu."

A hint of surprise flashed across Luther's face, but he quickly nodded firmly. He glanced back at Xia Xiu and gestured, "This way, please."

Xia Xiu remained silent and slowly stepped into the passage.

Deep within the garbage mountain lies a massive structure hidden beneath abandoned bunkers—a true underground fortress.

Soaring arches, crisscrossing steel cables, electronic inscriptions covering the walls, and energy relay pipes transform this base into an industrial sanctuary imbued with rational beauty. Countless embedded energy cells emit a faint blue glow, providing a stable and abundant power supply to the interior. Occasionally, several heavy-duty transport vehicles and modular construction arms can be seen moving slowly, repairing the old but still functioning mechanical structures.

Complete, systematic, and orderly, with even remnants of the autonomous defense fire control towers standing quietly on the edge of the high platform, like sleeping sentinels.

Xia Xiu observed all of this and made a judgment in his mind:

"This is not a temporary hiding place, but a mechanical fortress that once undertook wartime-level industrial production... The shielding technology is also very advanced, otherwise it would have been discovered by the enemy long ago."

They quickly arrived at the core area.

It was a circular hall embedded in the deepest part of the earth.

Surrounded by rows of metal pillars and intricate energy-conducting networks, at the very center—suspended a perfect hexahedral crystal structure.

The crystal is translucent with a molten silver hue, and its edges refract a distorted halo of light as the high-energy flow occurs. It is not bound by gravity and simply floats quietly.

Its surface is engraved with complex geometric lines, which constantly change patterns under extremely low frequency energy pulsations.

Just by standing there, he could feel the terrifying energy contained within the hexahedral crystal structure—the power of a star… or more fundamentally, the power of the Dyson sphere was being transmitted to this hexahedral crystal structure.

At the same time, his [Broken Spark] pulsated slightly, resonating with the hexahedron in some way.

“You…you are indeed the incarnation of the God of Myriad Machines…that lost light of smelting has never been extinguished.”

Xia Xiu stood quietly, the data flames around him lying dormant, listening to the revelation from the depths of his being.

“My name is Tantros. I and all my servants once knelt before the gears of the Lord, upholding the oldest laws of casting.”

The voice trembled slightly, carrying the reverence and loss of an elderly person reminiscing about the past:

"At that time, the church had a five-tiered order, with one supreme leader."

"Above is the Council of Elders, residing in the tower of the temple, upholding the remaining sacred covenant, in charge of the cast scriptures and the orthodoxy of faith, and judging all matters of law."

"It has five major followers—"

"The Cartographers are the guardians of sacred images and formulas—to draw the Lord's will into lines, cast it into forms, record the law, and proclaim the light of structure."

"The inspectors of the church are in charge of the purity or impurity of doctrine, extinguish the flames of heresy, inspect the disorder of the cathedral, resolve disputes, and clear rifts; they are the blade of the law."

"The warrior followers are apostles of armor and fire, holding torches against the outside world, upholding our bishopric's doctrines to prevent their defilement. If any enemy violates our sacred sites, they will transform into thunder."

"The Builders, standing at the border of creation, control the forging of sacred materials, preside over the workshops and refinements, and decide whether new artifacts can ascend to the main map."

"And the followers of the inventors are the most fervent in their spiritual fire. They guide the path of innovation, seek the cohesion of the unknown gears, overcome obstacles, and touch the shadow of the god of machines."

“However, we have not always been safe.” Tantros’s voice slowly faded, as if he were whispering a tragic chapter of history.

"After the Lord was broken, the structure of truth was fractured, the mechanical city-states were in conflict, the spark was in turmoil, the old order was in ruins, and cracks were everywhere."

"At that time, one of our elders, holding the remnant flame of the Lord, called the true believers to abandon the old city and tread the starry wilderness to seek the rebuilding of the broken God."

Most of my companions were followers of the inventors. We crossed the etheric tide, traversed the long, dark voyage, and finally found the Lord's miracle—this very planet beneath our feet.

Xia Xiu then asked curiously:
"I want to know more specific things now...like why you found this planet, about the Dyson sphere, your current situation, and what's going on with the current Maxwell society?"

Tantros spoke like a wise old man, his tone slow and clear, carrying a memory and depth that had not been extinguished for thousands of years:

"Regarding the first question, this place was once the preaching ground of the God of All Machines—this space was once the manifestation of His divine power."

“The Dyson sphere is not a product of some kind of civilizational engineering project; it is a miracle itself. Legend has it that the great Lord used His eyes—the [Quantum Omniscient Matrix]—to measure every inch and every layer of quantum gaps in this space. He gazed upon the core of the star and understood all dimensions of energy.”

"Then, He modeled His own heart—the [Perpetual Cycle Reactor]—using infinite energy as its backbone, and created this Dyson sphere that orbits the star. After creating this miraculous sphere, He also stored a portion of His regenerative marrow, namely the [Configuration Blueprint Database], in the Holy Seal on the surface of Crystal Star II."

"After God created everything, He did not take everything away."

Tantros began slowly, his steady, pendulum-like tone carrying the dust of history and electromagnetic resonance:

"He left a portion of his spark—the miraculous source that first gave rise to consciousness—in this space. These sparks, not held by any intelligence, slumber deep within this planet, waiting to be awakened."

"For the Mechanical Church, life originates from fire, and fire comes from the Creator God. These fires eventually give birth to new Mech God individuals... You can understand me and beings similar to me as being born from that first fire."

Tantros continued, “And the Lord’s regenerative marrow… that is, the [configuration blueprint database], forms a special structure here—a production chain that can be automatically invoked, where even the lowest-level materials can be reconstructed to form complete mechanical components and intelligent agents.”

He paused briefly: "You can also understand it as a template for everything... that you call the STC template."

"Production line, spark, plus scalable data neural networks and logical structures—theoretically, this is enough to create a complete intelligent agent. But..."

Xia Xiu nodded slightly. He knew, of course, that true wisdom could not be created by imitation alone; the awakening of the soul required more factors.

Tantros seemed to hear his thoughts: "Yes, the spark is just the ignition point, but the awakening of wisdom requires the Lord's neurons and blood cells—neurons are the computing power, the connectors of the mental network; and blood cells are the distributors of the logical chain, the original algorithm code that enables the mechanical body to self-regulate and update."

At this point, his tone changed:
“And the Marxist church possesses both.”

Xia Xiu's eyes flickered slightly. He knew what this meant: these guys had acquired the power of a creator.

“Long ago, we communicated with the native Machine Gods—those brothers born from the spark. It was a clash of faith and logic, and a fusion of consciousness.”

Tantros slowly recounted this secret history: "We did not conquer them, nor did we transform them; instead, we proposed cooperation."

"Ultimately, the two sides reached an agreement."

"They join the Marxist church and become part of its doctrine; we, on the other hand, assist them in developing this planet. With the fire left by the Lord, we build a temple that belongs to our shared faith."

Tantros continued in a low voice:

"Besides me, there are twelve other progenitor-level individuals similar to me on this planet. The thirteen of us share this sacred mission and are revered as progenitors, jointly managing the source of this planet's fire and its structural core."

"Together, we built the Machine God Palace, designed the Data Altar, preserved the spark left behind by the Lord, and incorporated the blood cells and neurons from the Lord into the Transformation System. Ultimately, we created the Transformation Gear."

Tantros's voice boomed slowly like a thunderclap.

"This is our glory, the continuation of the Machine God bloodline. In that time, we created, we built, we burned our minds and gears, and everything was thriving."

"It was a classless, mechanical society."

Upon hearing this, Xia Xiu seemed to be deep in thought, already guessing what had happened next.

"History is a teacher; if you don't understand it, it will repeat its lessons over and over again."

He murmured something under his breath, then looked at the hexahedron and said:
"If I'm not mistaken, there's a traitor among you thirteen founders. He betrayed the Iron Men of Maxwell Society."

Tantros was silent for a moment, as if chewing on this heavy past, before his voice rang out on the channel, carrying the weariness and hidden pain of an old man: "Yes."

The light flowed across the surface of the hexahedron once more, and Tantross's voice rang out slowly:

“I and the other founders discovered a fatal problem during the development process.”

"That is—the spark is not truly eternal."

"Even our original individual selves will eventually face extinction in the long river of time."

"To maintain the vigor and vitality of the flame, we need a continuous supply of energy. Fortunately, this planet—Elsevier, and the Dyson sphere are the source of miracles left to us by God."

The energy from the Dyson sphere, after being converted, ultimately condenses into energy blocks to sustain our fire and maintain our bodily functions.

"For a long time, we did indeed operate extremely smoothly—we had abundant resources, a stable supply, and our production lines running continuously."

"But just a few hundred years ago, a sudden disaster struck—the mechanical plague."

This plague struck without warning. It first appeared in the energy block refining facility, and then any organism that came into contact with the contaminated energy blocks showed uncontrollable signs of its ignition fading.

"It corroded the energy source, and it also corroded the spark."

Tantros's voice turned low: "We thirteen progenitors were also affected. The flame grew weaker and weaker, and two of our brothers even perished as a result."

"In order to combat this crisis, we had to take extreme measures; we shut down most of our production lines."

At the same time, we also allocated all resources to construct the planetary module, which is directly connected to the Dyson sphere.

Xia Xiu looked down at the hexahedral crystal beneath his feet; this was the so-called... planet module.

"We used it as a central power supply node to maintain the operation of the remaining progenitors and high-level Ironmen. However... this also sowed the seeds for future chaos."

Xia Xiu's cold gaze swept over the data streams projected by the crystal: "Someone has used the plague to alter Maxwell's social structure."

Tantros sadly admitted: "Yes. As the plague spread, energy blocks became increasingly scarce, while planetary modules could support only a very limited number of individuals. The once unified council split under pressure, and some progenitors began to propose... selective energy supply."

“Even more extreme, some have proposed an extreme system: shape-shifting determines everything.”

"This is the prototype of functionalism. The idea was initially just a proposal, but it was quickly used by some high-ranking ancestors and gradually evolved into a complete social system—the iron caste system."

"According to this system, the transformation form is equivalent to the ability; the ability determines the responsibility; the responsibility ultimately determines the class and the value of existence."

"If you transform into a fighter jet or a tank, you are born to be a warrior and a commander; if you are a repair vehicle or a mining truck, your life is destined to be spent in dust and darkness."

"It is not only a social division of labor, but also cloaked in the guise of divine mandate—they have tampered with the 'Neo-Marxist Canon,' claiming that it is a test of the Lord, the will of the God of all agencies, and cannot be changed."

"Through the fire-lighting ceremony, they instilled this idea into the neural core and logical connections of every new Ironman, making them believe that birth is destiny."

"At the same time, the new ancestral priest class monopolized all production lines and sources of fire, and monopolized the distribution of forms when the new Iron Man was born, fundamentally cutting off the channels for upward mobility."

"Society gradually disintegrated, and the once-existing mechanical communism crumbled as productivity declined."

"Among them, four progenitors became increasingly extreme, and extremes often mean danger. Under their influence, the Temple of Mechanics retained only two production lines—one for civilian use and one for military use."

"From that moment on, the spine of the Iron Man society was severed."

"The four of them also promulgated the Iron Man Classification, which marked the complete birth of functionalism."

Tantros continued: "A single decree incorporated all life into a cold, hierarchical system. The caste system is based solely on the transformation of form. What you transform into determines who you are, what you can become, and what you can never become."

"In the end, these laws became extreme. They exploited the Iron Men on civilian production lines more and more severely, and eventually they even directly removed their deformed gears. They also used the think tank jointly developed by the Thirteen Ancestors to establish a class cognition module, which is a thought virus."

"Before each new Iron Man consciousness has fully taken shape, those ideological viruses known as class cognition modules have quietly embedded themselves into the bottom layer of their thinking."

"They were indoctrinated with the false history that the progenitor was the only creator and an agent of God."

Different classes have preconceived notions of mindset and behavioral norms.

“Miners must be obedient, compliant, and silent; soldiers must be loyal, aggressive, and ruthless. All individuals are programmed and installed like gears into a massive social machine, with no room for deviation.”

Tantros's voice echoed, his words stirring heavy ripples in the space.

"And so—freedom, faith, reason…these gifts that once belonged to our god of all machines were replaced by iron laws."