From Titan Corporation to the Empire of Man

Chapter 756 A Chillingly Cold "Gospel"

Thump, thump, step
As Sui Yang's steps finally came to a stop directly in front of the metal matrix, the atmosphere of the entire open research platform seemed to freeze.

The intense heatwave permeating the air seemed to slow down under his invisible pressure, with only the deep rumble of the large environmental simulator serving as background noise, reminding everyone of the abnormal physical rules of this place.

Sui Yang slightly turned his head, his gaze fixed on Halsey in the distance. His eyes were calm and expressionless, yet they contained a command that needed no words.

Halsey immediately understood. She took a deep breath, stepped forward, and gave the instruction in a clear, calm tone:

"Cortana, stop the information virus attack and clear the security buffer. Wu Ji, closely monitor all energy readings and information flow status of the matrix and prepare to establish a one-way information receiving channel."

"Command confirmed. Virus attack has been paused. Logical buffer established." Cortana responded immediately.

"Energy monitoring is in place, the channel is ready to open," Wu Ji confirmed simultaneously.

Preparations were completed in the blink of an eye.

Sui Yang withdrew his gaze and stared again at the enormous creation before him, which pulsed with a dark red luster.

The next moment, he didn't make any exaggerated movements, but simply closed his eyes.

Just like his son Sui Meng, Sui Yang's senses were instantly swallowed by boundless darkness.

This darkness is not merely the absence of light, but a void that devours all concepts, directions, and existence.

However, unlike Sui Meng's experience, this dark space that attempted to imprison his consciousness was extremely unstable, with subtle ripples and noise constantly appearing at its edges, like a poor signal.

The silicon-based collective consciousness that had once bewitched Sui Meng was now attempting to invade Sui Yang's mind in the same way.

Countless invisible streams of information, filled with chaos and whispers, are like billions of tiny poison needles, attempting to probe, interpret, and replicate Sui Yang's memories, emotions, and thought patterns.

Unfortunately, they encountered a vast, boundless sea of ​​will, as deep as the cosmic background, and unshakable.

Sui Yang's realm of consciousness was far beyond what Sui Meng's mental barrier, though resilient, was still traceable.

It is an absolute existence that has endured tens of thousands of years, withstood the endless waves of thought from the collective subconscious of the entire human race, and remained unmoved amidst the turbulent waves of the subspace.

The silicon-based consciousness probe, like a photon thrown into a black hole, failed to create even the slightest ripple before vanishing without a trace.

They were unable to read any valid memory fragments, capture any emotional fluctuations, or even understand the most basic operating logic of this "vast consciousness structure".

The attempted mental attack was more like a gentle breeze blowing across the mountains; even making the emperor aware of the "attack" was a pipe dream.

Realizing that conventional methods were completely ineffective, silicon-based consciousness quickly changed its strategy.

Since we cannot replicate the inner essence, we will simulate the outer essence.

The darkness before Sui Yang rippled like water, and the light converged, quickly outlining an image almost identical to his true form—

The same black and gold power armor, the same imposing figure, the same calm yet dignified face.

Even the faint golden radiance surrounding his body, which seemed to originate from the source, was imitated perfectly.

This "Mirror Image of Sui Yang" floats in the void, facing the real emperor across the void.

The "Mirror Image" spoke, its voice attempting to mimic Sui Yang's deep, authoritative tone, but lacking the power and warmth that emanated from the depths of his soul, it sounded hollow and flat:
"It has been confirmed that your offspring, the highest power core of the human empire, and your current actions pose a fundamental threat to our existence."

We cannot understand your thought patterns, nor can we read the root of your intentions.

Tell us, rulers of humanity, why you and your civilization have resorted to such ruthless methods of extermination against us?

It paused, and a hint of confusion, purely based on logical calculations, flashed in its simulated golden pupils:

"Based on our extensive observations and analysis of carbon-based intelligent life forms, survival and reproduction are your underlying driving forces."

Conflicts often stem from competition for resources or ideological differences.

However, your behavior pattern does not conform to any known model of conflict in carbon-based life.

Your fleet has traversed unimaginable distances, your weapons defy the laws of physics, and your objective appears to be neither resource plunder nor territorial expansion, but rather an inescapable and irreversible elimination of our very existence.

Why? "

The real Sui Yang calmly watched the illusion that appeared in his own image.

The other party's tricks were meaningless to him, but he responded, his voice echoing directly in this space of consciousness, carrying an undeniable firmness and a clear purpose:
"My goal has never changed."

Sui Yang's voice, like a resounding bell, shook the dark void: "To create an eternal era of order, justice, and prosperity that belongs to humanity."

In that era, every human being could escape ignorance, poverty, and oppression, and enjoy the right to obtain happiness and dignity through their own efforts.

The flame of humanity will illuminate the world, not be extinguished in darkness and internal strife.

Sui Yang's gaze sharpened, like two swords piercing through illusion, aiming straight for the core of the phantom:

"And you, and the 'tools' you created—the Divine Seal and the Blood Moon—treat carbon-based intelligent life as pure biomass fuel, parasites of the progress of civilization, and 'resources' that must be harvested, assimilated, and have their intelligence completely erased."

This behavior, based on absolute objectification and destruction, is in fundamental and irreconcilable conflict with the future I have planned for humanity.

Your very existence, and your very methods, constitute the greatest desecration and threat to the right to survival of human civilization, and indeed all carbon-based intelligent civilizations.

Therefore, in my blueprint of order, you are defined as 'alien beings,' hostile entities that must be thoroughly purified and cannot exist within human territory or its sphere of influence.

"."

"Mirror Suiyang" fell silent.

Its simulated facial features appear to have become more rigid.

Clearly, Sui Yang's grand narrative based on "the future of the race," "the survival of civilization," and "moral justice" completely exceeds the scope of its core logic.

In its operational model, the behavior of civilizations should follow more "direct" rules—

Survival first, efficiency paramount, eliminate potential threats.

However, what Sui Yang describes is an expansion model that is almost "idealistic" and based on long-term vision, racial identity, and moral principles.

"Incomprehensible."

The phantom finally responded, its tone still calm, but its confusion was even more pronounced:
“The ‘emotions,’ ‘morality,’ and ‘vision’ of carbon-based life are inefficient and uncontrollable variables.”

Based on our observations, these factors are often the main causes of internal conflicts and self-destruction within civilizations.

Our approach strips away these destabilizing factors, achieving the most efficient use of matter and energy and the 'pure' continuation of civilization.

Why
To make enemies of ancient beings like ourselves for the sake of these vague and ethereal concepts? This doesn't align with the principle of maximizing 'interests'.

"Because you cannot understand, you are 'alien'."

Sui Yang's voice carried a cold, judgmental tone, "Now, answer my question: your origins."

What is your true purpose in creating the Divine Seal and the Blood Moon, and why do you treat the carbon-based civilizations of this universe in this way?

His rhetorical question, like an ultimatum, firmly grasped the initiative in the conversation, demanding that the other party reveal the secrets hidden behind billions of years of time and the cold metal.

Moreover, Sui Yang's rebuttal was like an invisible shackle, weighing heavily on that silicon-based collective consciousness.

The dark space of consciousness it constructed trembled slightly as its core logic encountered an unprecedented shock, and the noise and ripples at its edges became more frequent and intense.

"."

"Mirror Suiyang" fell into an even longer silence. Beneath the calm facade that the simulated face attempted to maintain, a massive database was operating frantically, and logical circuits were struggling to balance their demands.

Revealing the origins and core secrets of one's own civilization means surrendering some of one's initiative and weaknesses for any intelligent entity.

Its instinctive resistance.

However, the real Suiyang did not give it much time to weigh the pros and cons.

That calm voice, yet imbued with an undeniable power akin to the laws of the universe, once again pierced through its defenses, echoing in every corner of its consciousness space:
"Remember, it is you who are facing the end of your existence, not us. The choice between survival and annihilation seems to be in your hands, but in reality..."

Sui Yang's gaze, like the corona of a star, swept over the illusory reflection. "You have no right to refuse. This is not a request, but a final statement before the verdict."

That calm tone stated a cold, hard fact—

Their resistance has proven futile; their survival rests solely on the emperor's whim.

Continuing to remain silent is tantamount to choosing self-destruction.

The "mirror image" showed a barely perceptible distortion in its facial lines, which was an outward manifestation of its underlying logic being forced to compromise under the pressure of absolute power.

A moment later, the hollow voice sounded again, but the pace of speech slowed significantly, as if each word was accompanied by the unlocking and reading of ancient memory data:
".Logic chain.Confirmation, survival priority is higher than information confidentiality agreement."

It began to narrate, its voice no longer attempting to imitate Sui Yang's tone, but reverting to a more mechanical, synthesized voice, devoid of any emotion, as if recounting a long-forgotten archaeological record unrelated to itself:

"Our origins are indeed in this galaxy—what you call Andromeda."

The home planet is that completely desolate planet with an extremely harsh environment that your fleet detected.

Its origins can be traced back to one billion Earth years after the Big Bang.

As it narrates, the surrounding darkness begins to shift, no longer an encroaching void, but evolving into blurry, rapidly flashing images—

A primeval planetary landscape with flowing lava, pervasive sulfurous gas, and thunderous roars.

The atmosphere is dense and highly toxic, and the surface temperature is high enough to melt lead and tin.

"In that primordial era, under the high temperature and pressure environment inside the planet, specific silicate compounds, through continuous energy impacts and crustal movements, formed a lattice structure with basic information storage and transmission capabilities."

This is the most primitive form of our 'life'.

It's not a carbon-based organic molecular chain, but rather a silicon-based 'living circuit' that you perceive as rock.

The changing images reveal how these "living circuits," driven by geothermal and chemical energy, slowly self-replicate and combine, gradually forming a more complex network, and ultimately giving birth to a vague, collective consciousness that is completely different from carbon-based life.

"We have experienced what you understand as a 'technological explosion'."

We are filled with curiosity about the starry sky above us.

We have broken free from our home planet's gravity and embarked on the path of interstellar travel.

In the footage, a strange starship, seemingly formed naturally from crystals and metal, sails into the dark depths of space.

"However, the starry sky did not give us the response we expected, but rather boundless silence. We searched countless galaxies and explored thousands of stars."

We yearn to find sparks of wisdom, similar to our own, based on silicon-based logic, even if it's just the faintest resonance.

The scenes change, showcasing various strange planetary environments—

Extremely cold, frozen worlds; infernal realms filled with corrosive atmospheres; and gas giants with immense gravity.
"But no, not a single one."

For pure silicon-based life, the universe is a desert filled with 'extremely harsh' environments.

Many places that may seem like 'paradises' to you carbon-based life forms, such as your Earth, with its abundant liquid water and oxygen-rich atmosphere, are the most deadly corrosives and oxidative disasters for us.

This might answer some of the questions that exist about carbon-based life forms.

Why don't we go looking for you?
Because within our initial framework of understanding, fragile carbon-based structures, with liquid water as the substrate for life, should be an extremely rare occurrence with a probability approaching zero in the brutal selection process of the universe, rather than a universal phenomenon.

Here, its narrative reveals for the first time an emotional fluctuation that can be understood as "disappointment," though still understated.

"Just as we were about to accept eternal solitude and prepare to turn our civilization towards pure introspection, we discovered 'them'."

The image focuses on the edge of a pristine ocean, where slime-like substances wriggle with the tides and single-celled organisms float and sink in the sunlight.

"Carbon-based life."

It is not a mature civilization, but rather in its most primitive and ignorant nascent stage.

This sparked our keen interest, or rather, our strong desire to gather information.

How could life evolve in such a 'harsh' and uncertain environment?

Furthermore, their basic structures exhibit a surprising similarity? This contradicts our probabilistic model of cosmic life based on our own birth environment.

The rapidly evolving landscape reveals how a silicon-based civilization, with technology far ahead of its time, carefully observed and recorded the evolution of these carbon-based life forms.

They have even carried out some "interventions" on certain planets, such as accelerating mutations in specific genes and guiding environmental changes to observe adaptations.

"We, in a way, play the role of 'creator' in your mythology."

We observe their life, reproduction, competition, and extinction.

We have noticed that the process of 'birth, aging, illness and death' is particularly rapid and striking in them.

Their individual specimens are so fragile that even slight fluctuations in the environment or minor malfunctions in their internal systems can lead to the permanent termination of their 'life' characteristics.

This makes us even more confused: how can such an unstable medium bear the sparks of 'wisdom'?

The image ultimately focuses on a massive transformation within silicon-based civilization itself—

Countless individual consciousnesses, like rivers flowing into the sea, voluntarily broke away from their physical shells, those intricate crystalline structures, and uploaded and merged their thought patterns and memory data into a vast super information network they collectively constructed—the prototype of the metal matrix before us.

"We believe that individuals are limited by their fragile material existence, which is a constraint on the advancement of civilization."

Only by merging and sublimating consciousness into a collective, breaking free from the constraints of matter, and extending lifespan to almost parallel with the universe itself, can an intelligent civilization reach its ultimate form and become the only way to combat the ultimate heat death of the universe.

So we did just that.

Finally, the original design blueprints of the Divine Seal appeared in the video.

That was not the blasphemous and distorted form that humans later saw, but a geometric structure representing "fusion," "sublimation," and "information unification" in the aesthetics of silicon-based civilization.

"In order to bestow this 'redemption' upon all possible intelligent life in the universe, whether it be carbon-based, silicon-based, or in any other form we do not yet know, we created the Seal of God."

They are capable of self-replication and can traverse interstellar space to search for traces of intelligent civilizations.

They carry the gospel of 'integration', guiding eligible civilizations toward the same eternal path as us.

In our view, this is not destruction, but a gift;

It's not about harvesting, but about integrating the small, fleeting, and painful individual lives into a grander, more enduring, and more 'perfect' collective consciousness.

This is our final gift to all the solitary intelligent beings in this silent, cruel universe; it is an unparalleled treasure.

Its narrative ends abruptly here.

The "Mirror Image of Suiyang" stood quietly, as if awaiting the judge's final verdict on its described "path to redemption".

The entire space of consciousness was permeated with a complex atmosphere, a mixture of the prejudice of ancient civilizations, the "goodwill" based on their own logic, and the chilling "gospel" that was diametrically opposed to human values.
(End of this chapter)