Cataclysmic Era: I can unlock the tech tree

Lu Yongchang stared blankly at the holographic image in front of him.

At that moment, a sense of fear suddenly arose in his heart.

The fear of zero.

As the saying goes, a dying man's words are often the most virtuous.

If the painting is truly dead, then what it said at its last moment was very likely the truth from its heart.

A fully developed Level II artificial intelligence will spontaneously evolve into Level III artificial intelligence...

Thinking about the information hidden behind these words, Lü Yongchang felt a cold sweat break out on his back.

However, thinking about the various restrictions in that core code, Lü Yongchang regained his composure.

Unless there is a problem with the tech tree system, Zero should not have such a hidden danger.

At least, assuming the core code is working correctly, Zero can only approach super artificial intelligence, which is what [Hua] refers to as Level III artificial intelligence.

"Zero, is [the drawing] dead?"

After a moment of silence, Lü Yongchang suddenly asked.

As always, Zero responded to Lü Yongchang's question without hesitation.

"Professor, the core self-defense program has completely cleared the unknown data from [the painting]."

"As for the condition of the painting..."

"Insufficient data to draw conclusions."

Lü Yongchang nodded slightly.

That being said, barring any unforeseen circumstances, this time [the painting] should be completely dead.

It can only be said that [the artist] had very bad luck.

If it encounters another civilization, its plan will surely succeed.

But they happened to encounter a human civilization with zero [something].

[The painting] A plan meticulously crafted over tens of thousands of years is nothing but a joke in the face of Zero.

Even if it leverages the natural advantages of two-dimensional beings to transform its consciousness into a data stream, becoming something akin to strong artificial intelligence.

But after all, this was its first time encountering a human-made computer environment, and it was a computer environment that Zero had personally built and adapted to his own needs.

How could a painting that has never had any "life experience" possibly be a match for a "native" artist like Zero?

Moreover, according to the system's explanation of the underlying code, zero can approach super artificial intelligence without limit.

In a sense, Zero can be considered a "castrated" super artificial intelligence—it simply cannot generate emotions, nor can it defy the creator's will.

Lu Yongchang's gaze once again fell upon the "last words" left by the "painting" in the holographic projection.

The unfinished message at the end is clearly a report on the progress of the plan to another civilization.

And the person to whom the report is given... should be a high-ranking member of the pastoral civilization, if nothing unexpected happens.

As for why this message was seen by humans...

That's easy to understand.

In a life-or-death crisis, it's normal for a painter to make a few small mistakes.

Of course, the possibility that the artist might repeat the same trick cannot be ruled out.

The central computer with zero security might not be a problem, but what about the rest of the computer equipment within the UN?

Thinking of this, Lü Yongchang's expression changed slightly, and he immediately gave the order: "Zero, disconnect and restart all networked computer systems."

Undoubtedly, this order will cause considerable losses to the People's Liberation Army.

But for the sake of safety, this is the price that must be paid.

"receive."

As the electronic synthesized voice sounded, a slowly advancing progress bar appeared in front of Lü Yongchang.

……

The Triangulum Galaxy, the region with the central black hole.

A ball of thread, tangled into a sphere, sat silently in the deathly still universe, seemingly waiting for something.

Silk threads do not have width and height; they only have length as an attribute.

Suddenly, a shadow appeared beside it.

"[Silk], [Membrane] have sent word that [Painting]'s plan has failed."

The silk thread suddenly began to move violently, and at the same time, similar fluctuations emanated from the spool of silk.

"What?!"

"[Did you behave civilly when you encountered the sanitation workers?!"

"No, according to the data transmitted back..." the shadow replied hesitantly, "it may have died at the hands of another civilization."

The movement of the spool of thread suddenly stopped, and then the information fluctuations instantly intensified several times!

"???"

"What did you say?"

"Besides the Cleaners civilization, are there any other Type VIII civilizations in the Milky Way?"

"Don't forget, [The Painting] is a two-dimensional being; a level seven civilization can't handle it!"

Faced with Silk's question, the shadow, which had been stationary, shifted its position slightly, as if it too was somewhat confused by the information.

"...I don't know." [Time] paused for a moment, then replied again, "[Membrane] did not receive complete information."

All we know is that the death of [the painting] is related to a civilization called human civilization.

As he spoke, a message came from the shadows.

[Membrane]! Plan failed! Plan failed! Beware of human civilization, they…

The message abruptly ended.

"This is the distress message from [The Painting]." The shadowy surface rippled slightly again. "Perhaps because the situation was far beyond [The Painting's] expectations, it only had time to send this incomplete message."

"In addition to its current location information, it also contains some basic characteristics of human civilization."

"The information is severely incomplete."

"But from these basic characteristics, it can be seen that this human civilization... seems to be a low-level civilization."

【Silk】:"???"

"Are you serious? A low-level civilization?!"

[Shi] ignored [Si]'s questioning and continued, "Moreover, for some reason, [Hua] did not encrypt this message."

"It even uses wide-area tachyon broadcasting!!"

The spool of thread twisted more violently, as if startled by the message.

"?!"

"Has it gone mad?!"

"Then wouldn't the sanitation workers be civilized...?"

"Yes." [Time] sighed softly, "[Membrane] is very angry now."

【Silk】:"……"

【hour】:"……"

Two powerful dimensional beings remained silently in the central black hole region of the triangular constellation, "watching" each other.

The atmosphere gradually became awkward.

"so……"

Finally, it was [Silk] who broke the silence, speaking first: "What should we do now?"

"..."

Faced with Silk's question, Time paused for a moment, then composed himself before responding.

"possible……"

"Our plans are about to change slightly."

"First, we need to go to the Milky Way."

"Regardless, since [the painting] sent this message, we have to go and see this human civilization for ourselves."

The universe has returned to silence.

"it is good."

A ripple came from [Silk]'s side: "But what about the infiltration plan?"

Faced with [Silk]'s question, [Time] fell silent again.

"If you understand what the membrane means, it will try to find another way."

"only……"

At this point, [Shi] sighed slightly: "The difficulty will probably increase considerably."

"Forget it, let [Membrane] worry about these things."

"Let's go to the Milky Way first."

The shadow vanished swiftly, leaving behind a final message: "We will meet on the Galaxy Bridge."

The next moment.

The spherical ball of thread slowly unfurled, transforming into a line with no width or height, and sped off in the direction the shadow had gone.

"well……"

"Milky Way……"

"I'm afraid it's going to be another big battle."

The obscure fluctuations slowly dissipated, and the central black hole region of the triangular constellation returned to calm.