Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 448 Sphinx
"So... all of this was within your expectations?" Sun Hang looked at the "brain in a vat" in front of him with great interest. "You can foresee the future, so you're not worried at all about the final fate of Tianfu City?"

“No, it’s not the kind of precognition you’re imagining.” Pei Zongjun’s holographic projection shook his head. “The Sphinx’s precognitive ability is as abstract and vague as the riddles it poses. I have to unravel this information and use a lot of calculations to analyze it in order to get a few useful… ‘hints’.”

"hint?"

“I only know that you are crucial, but I don’t know how you will deal with Chimera 17, nor do I know if you will succeed in the end… All I can do is follow the Sphinx’s instructions and provide you with as many resources as possible unconditionally… You can think I’m gambling, but it seems that I’ve made the right bet.”

"Then... has the Sphinx's precognitive ability ever malfunctioned?" Sun Hang asked.

“So far, no,” the mastermind said. “It allows me to find the ‘optimal solution’ among countless options… even if some options may not be the best from the current perspective, the Sphinx’s prophecy has proven to be true time and time again over time.”

"You seem to rely on its abilities quite a bit... Aren't you afraid that it still retains a part of its own consciousness, or that it might be remotely controlled by the other half of its brain, and stab you in the back at a crucial moment?" Sun Hang asked rhetorically.

“If the Sphinx wanted to destroy humanity, it had many opportunities,” the mastermind said, “but it didn’t.”

"So sending me to the nameless island for an advancement trial is also part of the Sphinx's prophecy?" Sun Hang narrowed his eyes. "What's the purpose of doing this?"

“The Sphinx’s prophecy is vague. I only know that I have to do this, but I don’t know why I have to do it.” The mainframe sighed in a very human way. “Moreover, the Sphinx warned me in the prophecy not to delve into your origins, otherwise it would lead to completely irreversible and serious consequences.”

Completely irreversible and serious consequences?

Could it be that he used his precognitive abilities to explore the secrets within himself, only to be discovered by the Three Apes and then eliminated?
From this perspective, it seems that even the Sphinx is no match for the three monkeys.

Sun Hang suddenly realized that the three apes might be able to put up a fight against the original low-level monsters.

“I know you’re curious about what happened on the Nameless Island, but it’s not that I don’t want to show you those documents; it’s just that they were erased from this world in a very bizarre way… even the memories of those who knew about them were altered,” the mastermind said. “To be honest… I, or rather, Pei Zongjun, was one of the main participants in that project. The Nameless Island Research Institute was built under my leadership, and I attended fifteen out of the seventeen negotiations with the Siberian Federation… but now you’re asking me about the details of that project, my memories related to it are completely blank.”

Sun Hang nodded: "I believe you."

"You were just trying to read my mind, weren't you?" Pei Zongjun's holographic projection smiled gently. "Did you read anything?"

"As you said, it's a blank."

“Yes…and it was only after I fully merged with the mainframe that I realized there was such a gap in my memory. As for the other participants in the project, they have completely forgotten the existence of the Nameless Island and the project, as if the project had never been proposed at all,” the mainframe said. “I tried to communicate with them, trying to evoke their memories through certain keywords…but whenever I mentioned information related to this matter, they would fall into a daze, seemingly losing all ability to understand the information. This state could be restored by changing the topic…clearly, the existence of the Nameless Island was 'blocked,' and as for the reason for the blocking, no one knows.”

"That can't be right," Sun Hang asked doubtfully. "If mentioning Nameless Island would turn everyone else into idiots, then how was this advancement trial conducted? What about the design plans for the Nameless Island Research Institute and the previous landing operations? If this 'shielding effect' is this strong, then Nameless Island should be a 'forbidden word,' something that can't even be mentioned, right?"

"The shielding effect is limited to the generation that directly participated in the plan back then. After their passing, this shielding effect weakened significantly... Those documents are not the original manuscripts left behind, but replicas that I copied using the Sphinx's abilities. As for those island landing operations, they were also tests to verify some of the contents of the prophecy," the mastermind said.

"What did you find out?" Sun Hang asked.

The mainframe did not answer his question directly, but continued on its own: "After you appeared, your name appeared frequently in new prophecies... and in one of the prophecies, the Sphinx told me to send you to the nameless island, and at the same time, I must go to the island with you according to a sufficient number of 'sacrifices'."

"So, those hunters... they were part of the plan, meant to be sacrificed from the very beginning?"

“Yes, they are sacrifices,” the supercomputer said. “It’s inhumane, but I have no choice. Continuing human civilization is my highest priority, and for this goal, any individual can be sacrificed, including myself.”

Speaking of the sacrificial offerings, Sun Hang suddenly thought of the final fate of those hunters.

Anna absorbed all their emotions, becoming the "last straw" to awaken her... From this perspective, they were indeed no different from sacrifices.

But... why did the Sphinx awaken Anna? And what is Anna's connection to the continuation of human civilization?

Sun Hang had met Anna many times, and he was certain that Anna had absolutely no concept of good or evil. To her, the lives of humans were irrelevant; all she cared about was...

I?
Sun Hang was startled.

He suddenly realized the key point.

He himself was the link between the two... He didn't want the world of human civilization to be destroyed by monsters. As long as he stuck to this idea, Anna might stand on the side of humanity... Could this be the "solution" given by the Sphinx's prophecy?
“Besides that, there is another prophecy that I have been unable to decipher for decades… I think this prophecy may not be for me, but for you,” the mainframe said.

"Oh? Can I take a look?"

A robot silently glided in front of Sun Hang. There was a gap about one finger wide in the robot's chest. With a soft rustling sound, an A4 sheet of paper was spat out from the gap.

On the A4 paper is a portrait resembling a pencil sketch, depicting three monkeys: one covering its mouth, one covering its eyes, and the other covering its ears.

"A prophecy?" Sun Hang couldn't help but sneer inwardly. "Isn't this more of a warning?"

"Do you know what this drawing is?" the mastermind asked.

“Monkeys,” Sun Hang replied. “Yes, monkeys. But these three monkeys have another name, called the ‘Three Wise Monkeys’,” the mainframe explained. “This story comes from a saying Confucius gave to his disciple Yan Hui in the Analects: ‘Do not look at what is contrary to propriety; do not listen to what is contrary to propriety; do not speak what is contrary to propriety; do not do what is contrary to propriety.’ Later generations of craftsmen created sculptures called the ‘Three Wise Monkeys’ based on this saying.”

"Do not look at what is improper, do not listen to what is improper, do not speak what is improper, do not do what is improper... There should be four sentences, right? So why are there only three monkeys in the statue?"

"Think about it, why are the Three Wise Monkeys presented in the form of statues?"

"Because... the statue can't move?" Sun Hang suddenly realized. "Besides that, is there any other explanation for the origin of the Three Wise Monkeys?"

Pei Zongjun's holographic projection shook his head: "I've looked up almost all the existing information about it in human civilization, but I still have no clue. I tried to use the Sphinx's precognitive ability on it, but I suffered a very serious backlash... You can find online that Chunming City experienced a major power outage 26 years ago. That power outage was caused by the Tian Shu Tower trying to repair the main brain."

Pei Zongjun's projection led Sun Hang to the back of the glass tank. From this angle, it could be seen that the brain tissue immersed in the glass tank had suffered severe trauma, with a large number of scars left after healing on the surface. Near the bottom, there was even some carbonized tissue remaining. Through the transparent mucous membrane on the surface, some artificial devices buried inside the brain tissue could be seen. A polymer soft tube replaced the blood vessels, connecting the intact tissue on both sides of the carbonized tissue like a flying wire on a circuit board.

With the brain in the tank pulsating slightly, something like blood flowed through the tubing, and tiny bubbles occasionally emerged from the gaps in the brain tissue, rising to the top of the glass tank.

"They can even fix this?" Sun Hang exclaimed in amazement. "Their skills are truly amazing."

"We paid a huge price to repair the mainframe." Pei Zongjun's holographic projection showed a sad expression. "Even so, the mainframe has not been able to return to its original state... If we only consider computing power, the mainframe now has about 60% of the performance it had before the backlash."

"Then if you show me this prophecy, aren't you afraid of suffering another backlash?" Sun Hang asked.

“This is also part of the prophecy,” the mastermind replied. “The Sphinx told me that this prophecy was left for you.”

"What do you mean 'staying for me'... This is just the three apes' mother warning me not to push my luck!" Sun Hang thought resentfully.

He casually tore the sketch into pieces, stuffed them back into the gap in the robot's chest, and then clapped his hands: "So, you can't answer my questions either?"

"There are some questions I cannot answer," the mastermind said very sincerely. "And there are some questions I cannot answer."

"Is this also a prophecy of the Sphinx?"

The mastermind remained silent, which was taken as tacit agreement.

"If I were to retrieve the other half of the Sphinx's brain, and obtain the complete Sphinx brain, do you think you could withstand the backlash?"

As soon as Sun Hang finished speaking, the equipment surrounding the brain in the vat began to emit a dense buzzing sound. This was the sound of the internal cooling system fans spinning wildly. The scalding coolant flowed rapidly along the copper pipes, and tens of thousands of indicator lights flashed at an extremely high frequency...

Just when Sun Hang thought the equipment was about to explode, everything went quiet.

"what happened?"

“Just now, I received a new prophecy,” the mainframe said. “I saw… an endless desert.”

"Desert? Egypt?" Sun Hang's lips twitched. "The Sphinx already knew I was going to find it? By the way, have you seen any pyramids in the desert? And that iconic Sphinx?"

“No.” Pei Zongjun’s holographic projection shook its head.

"There's not even a landmark, just an endless desert... Is the Sphinx trying to avoid being found by me? Well, with the other half of its brain removed, it probably can't survive. Out of its survival instinct, it probably doesn't want me to find it either..."

"Actually, I've always been able to sense the Sphinx's approximate range of activity," the mainframe suddenly said. "The desert mentioned in the prophecy must refer to something else."

"Oh? It has a location function? Where is the Sphinx now?"

"It has been wandering around the former sites in Egypt, Sudan and Libya, but its exact location is uncertain."

"Egypt, Sudan, Libya?" Sun Hang recalled a map of Africa. These three countries are located in the northeast corner of the African continent, covering an area of ​​about one-sixth of the entire continent... The deviation in their location is a bit too large.

“To be honest, I don’t recommend you go there,” the mastermind said. “Although the Celestial Tower has been secretly exploring the occupied territories, we have never been to such a remote place and know nothing about the situation there.”

"What about satellites? I've always been curious, is it possible that even satellites can't capture images of the occupied areas?"

“It can be captured, but the satellites only capture images of the occupied area before it fell,” the mainframe said. “This is because of the existence of the rule-based artifact ‘Shadow of Time,’ which can interfere with all observations of the occupied area, making it impossible to spy on.”

"Trying to cheat, huh? You've got no shame at all," Sun Hang said, somewhat annoyed.

“There’s no other way. There’s only one way to get real information about the occupied territories,” the mastermind said. “Seeing is believing.”

(End of this chapter)