The night before the promotion

Chapter 58 Beauty

After delivering the goods, Song Qiliang and Xiang Ji did not leave immediately. Song Qiliang sat on the sofa beside them as if this place was his own home. With Zhou Si's permission, Xiang Ji went to visit his clinic. In the warehouse, he looked at the spare parts on the ground and marveled at them - they were all Zhou Si's trophies.

"Don't underestimate these electromagnetic weapons. They are all new models and are equipped with fingerprint authentication." Song Qiliang showed Zhou Si the handle of the gun, where there was a small identification window.

He added, “Of course, this is still not as good as the authentication process for armed avatars.”

Due to the lethality of the armed avatar, its activation not only requires numerous approval processes and reporting, but even its use requires biological verification and thought consciousness verification.

Zhou Si carefully examined the two electromagnetic weapons, one large and one small. Although it was not the first time he touched a firearm, it was the first time Zhou Si held these things legally.

His palm brushed across the shiny metal paint surface. The cold and hard touch, as well as the prominent edges and corners, made Zhou Si admire the beauty of industry.

While Zhou Si was admiring the weapons, Song Qiliang brought up a new topic. In Li Weiyun's group, he was always the most talkative and outgoing one.

"Come to think of it, Doctor Zhou, I heard that our Supervisory Bureau will be carrying out field reforms in the future."

"What reform?" Zhou Si asked.

"It's basically about reducing the involvement of inspectors, and instead everyone lies in the dream pool together, controlling the humanoid avatars to do the work," Song Qiliang gave an example, "Have you seen the old movie Robocop? It's similar to that."

Zhou Si put away his gun and asked, "What's the difference between this and directly sending out armed avatars?"

"There are other differences. For example, the humanoid avatar will not carry as many deadly weapons as the armed avatar, and its own defense is not as strong as its. This sounds more like a compromise between the regular avatar and the armed avatar."

Song Qiliang thought about it and said, "At least from an ideal perspective, it will greatly reduce the casualties of the inspectors."

Zhou Si didn't care, "Some jobs can't be replaced by machines, even if they are extremely realistic."

He moved the suitcase aside, as if he had casually placed a package, showing no respect for the official weapon.

"The flesh and blood body is fragile, but it is not without any advantages," Zhou Si asked, "Commissioner Song, do you sometimes have the so-called 'intuition'?"

Song Qiliang was a little confused, but still replied, "Of course."

"Let's take intuition, for example."

Zhou Si changed the subject and elaborated on his thoughts, "I have always believed that humans do not live in the real world, but in the world of perception, and the body is the channel through which we perceive the world. In other words, what we can feel depends largely on the sensory organs or the sensory system's centralized feedback to our consciousness after being stimulated by the outside world."

Song Qiliang understood Zhou Si's meaning a little bit. He speculated, "You mean to say that there are some things that the incarnation body cannot feel, but are unique to the flesh and blood body? Intuition is the product of this."

Zhou Si nodded. "No matter how realistic the incarnation's body is, I always feel that there must be something in the flesh and blood that it cannot replicate, such as the soul that scientists and religious people often debate."

Song Qiliang thought about it seriously, and suddenly said, "This reminds me of a test on AI a long time ago."

"what?"

“Can AI understand beauty?”

Song Qiliang immediately replied, "AI has data and computing power far beyond imagination, and is like a god in some areas, but it is still a cold tool. The 'beauty' that we are crazy about is just a normal reaction to excessive secretion of biological hormones under certain conditions."

Xiang Ji's voice came from the side. He ended the tour and joined the conversation. "Machines and AI can easily surpass humans, but there are some things that are unique to humans that they can never surpass."

He added, “Just like you don’t think AI can resonate with you, right? That’s just the result of big data and algorithms.”

"So, this is where the fun part comes in." Zhou Si smiled, which was rare. He looked energetic and did not look like an injured patient at all.

"We always doubt whether the soul exists and try our best to verify its authenticity. However, when faced with AI that is more human-like than humans, we find it difficult to regard it as the same as us. Does this prove the existence of the soul?"

Song Qiliang had no idea what to say. Zhou Si's few words almost burst his head, while Xiang Ji fell into deeper thought.

After a long time, Xiang Ji asked curiously, "Doctor Zhou, do you always think about these things?"

The Dr. Zhou in front of him was much more interesting than Xiang Ji had imagined. When practicing medicine, he was like an irrational thug, but when he calmed down, he was like a wise man, engaging in profound philosophical thinking.

Zhou Si said frankly, "As the person who is closest to becoming an immortal, I have died once, and I have been sick and recovered. After going through life and death several times, it is inevitable that I will think about these mysterious and incomprehensible things."

The Lishi disease distorts Zhou Si's self. In order to deal with this distortion, he needs to understand himself more deeply, trying to clarify what the so-called soul is and the meaning of human existence...if such a thing really exists.

Xiang Ji nodded, not quite understanding. Zhou Si was like a dark mystery. Every time you thought you knew him well enough, he would always show you a more unknown side, like another mountain after another mountain, making people curious about what was on the top of that mountain.

Zhou Si sat behind his desk and asked without raising his head, "Don't you have any work today?"

Xiang Ji folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the door. "Are you asking us to leave?"

"How could that be? Don't be so sensitive, Xiang Ji. I'm just asking a simple question."

Zhou Si was typing on the keyboard, filling out the drug report, and reminded, "My health is almost good, and I can participate in the survey at any time."

"I can see that you are in good spirits," Song Qiliang recalled, "much better than the night in the Golden Dream. Wow, I almost thought you were dead at that time."

He then exclaimed, "However, Doctor Zhou, you are really amazing. You can kill through the Golden Dreamland by yourself."

"It's nothing, I just borrowed the power of the armed incarnation." Zhou Si raised his left arm.

While Zhou Si was receiving treatment, the prosthesis on his left arm was removed and sent back to Shenwei Technology for repair and maintenance.

After inspection by technicians, the prosthesis was found to have no obvious damage, only the bionic coating was scratched. After careful treatment, it was returned to Zhou Si.

"And, if it weren't for you, I would probably have died there." Zhou Si gave Song Qiliang appropriate encouragement.

"It's different. The Iron Soldier incarnation was blown up, so it was blown up. The worst that can happen to me is that I can just write a report. But it's different for you. If you're not careful, you'll die there." Song Qiliang felt a little scared.

For Song Qiliang, the action was more like a shooting game, but for Zhou Si, it was a real life-and-death battle. Song Qiliang admired Zhou Si's spirit of fighting bravely.

Song Qiliang raised his eyebrows and said, "Come to think of it, everyone is quite curious."

"What are you curious about?"

Song Qiliang couldn't help but imagine, "Doctor Zhou, you can achieve such a terrifying record with just one arm of an armored avatar. If your body is completely cybernetic, what kind of power will you have?"

"Full body prosthesis?" Zhou Si stopped typing on the keyboard. "You mean controlling an armed avatar?"

"Oh, yes, the armed incarnation." Song Qiliang added.

Zhou Si showed a helpless expression and sighed, "Then there should be no chance. I was once a patient with Lishi disease, and I was strictly prohibited from using a fully immersive avatar body, let alone an armed avatar."

Song Qiliang said vaguely, "It's okay, we can arrange for someone to be with you, as long as you lose control, we will forcibly pull you out of the dream pool."

Zhou Si smiled and asked, "By the way, Song Qiliang, where did you control the armed avatar on the day of the golden dream? Was it in the Supervisory Bureau building?"

"No, I was downstairs at the time, in an explosion-proof armored vehicle," Song Qiliang explained. "Although it was very dangerous, it was also to avoid any special circumstances."

Just like the special nature of the armed avatar, the dream pool that controls the armed avatar is also extremely unique.

The dream pool is usually divided into two types. One is a fixed type, which is also the most common type. It is built deep inside certain defensive buildings and is protected by multiple layers of defense. Even missiles and electromagnetic weapons cannot affect the work of the operators.

The other type is mobile. This type of dream pool is relatively simple in design and is placed in a special explosion-proof armored vehicle. It is often used in extreme special environments, such as when the signal in the entire area is blocked and the consciousness network is severely interfered with.

In this case, the explosion-proof armored vehicle will carry the sleeping operator and act together with the armed avatar. It no longer uses a wireless mind connection, but instead directly connects physically with the armed avatar through a transmission data line several kilometers long to avoid electromagnetic interference.

From this point of view, Song Qiliang's job is not that safe. In his armed incarnation, he is invincible, but once someone touches him near the dream pool, he becomes as fragile as a sleeping baby.

jingle--

The doorbell rang again, and the three of them looked towards the door. A guest was there, looking a little overwhelmed.

After the atmosphere froze for a few seconds, Xiang Ji finally reacted. He and Song Qiliang were both wearing inspector uniforms. In the current social environment, this uniform was not much different from a police uniform. It could even be more intimidating than a police uniform.

"Then I won't disturb you from your business, Dr. Zhou." Song Qiliang waved to Zhou Si and left the clinic with Xiang Ji.

The guest looked at the two people's backs, walked in hesitantly, and asked curiously, "Just now... nothing happened?"

"nothing."

Zhou Si put away the briefcase containing the guns and stuffed it into a corner where the customers couldn't see it. Then, Zhou Si took another look at this first customer since the business closed.

He looked to be about the same age as Zhou Si, with a standard crew cut, ordinary looks, and obvious dark circles under his eyes. He seemed to have a very irregular work and rest schedule, or he worked the night shift for a long time. He wore a black T-shirt and black shorts, and even his shoes were black.

Zhou Si thought that in the man’s wardrobe, there must be a lot of similar black clothes and black pants, maybe even black socks. It’s not that the man is so fond of black, but he doesn’t have too much pursuit of external image, he just wants clothes to cover his body.

Looking at the man's face more carefully, Zhou Si felt a sense of familiarity. Then this sense of familiarity continued to intensify and magnify until the man's name emerged in Zhou Si's mind.

"Huo Daochuan?"

Zhou Si read out his name, then he opened the computer document, checked the list, and asked in confusion, "Why are you here? It's not time for a follow-up visit yet, right?"

"Oh, nothing, I just came to see you, Dr. Zhou." Huo Daochuan looked a little embarrassed and moved a chair to sit opposite Zhou Si.

"Before... before, didn't I tell you about the Golden Dreamland?" He said carefully, "And then something happened in the Golden Dreamland, you know that, right?"

Zhou Si naturally knew that he was the core participant in the incident.

After being discharged from the hospital, Zhou Si found some time to review the news during this period. Under the packaging of the Supervisory Bureau, they concealed important information such as the Paradise, the Incarnation Killer, and the Metamorphosis Technology.

In their reports, Golden Dreamland became a criminal den that provided illegal sexual services and smuggled illegal avatars. Faced with the inspectors' investigation, they not only refused to cooperate, but also tried to fight back.

The result is what everyone knows. The armed incarnation intervened forcefully and burned the criminal den to ashes like a whirlwind.

This incident caused quite a bit of discussion in the city of Anyan. People might not know what the Golden Dreamland is, but everyone has more or less seen the golden dome above the horizon.

Now that this distinctive logo has disappeared, many people are still not used to it and miss it very much.

As for the follow-up investigation, Zhou Si did not learn about it in detail. Anyway, the Supervisory Bureau was handling the investigation. He only needed to concentrate on dealing with the case of Chen Wen Ge's death.

"I know about this, what's wrong?" Zhou Si asked curiously.

"Nothing, nothing," Huo Daochuan said quickly, "It just feels like a coincidence. I just mentioned Golden Dreamland to you, Doctor Zhou, and then something happened there, and then your clinic was closed... It's inevitable that I'm worried."

Huo Daochuan said in a concerned tone, "Doctor Zhou is a kind-hearted doctor. If something happens to you, we patients will have nowhere to go."

Zhou Si concealed it, "I'm fine. During the time when the store was closed, I just went on a long trip and dealt with some personal matters."

"Is that so? That's good. I was really scared," Huo Daochuan let out a long sigh. "After all, I mentioned that bliss thing to you, and then this happened. I thought I was going to be involved in some big trouble."

Upon hearing about the paradise on earth, Zhou Si narrowed his eyes and stared at Huo Daochuan, like a leopard with bared fangs, staring at the throat of its prey.

Huo Daochuan didn't pay any attention to Zhou Si's reaction. He rubbed his chest repeatedly, as if to relieve his breath, and said with a smile.

"Please forgive me, the mentality of ordinary people is so fragile."

(End of this chapter)