Ming Dynasty, New Rome, and Infinite Divine Machine

"A gentleman is cautious when alone. We all know that kindness is not a good thing, but we don't want to simply fry someone's brain unless absolutely necessary. Just like, Lord Shang Tian, you stripped her of her spiritual power, not her life—but our patience is limited. If there is no progress today, we will adjust to the 'appropriate' gear to obtain information."

"I have no objection," Shangluo replied. "However, we can still make use of modern criminal investigation technology. If we can solve the problem, it will save us some electricity bills. By the way, it will also save our people some effort."

"Hmm? What do you think?"

"A gentleman stays away from the kitchen. Mencius' sword"

"Ah," Lu Huaiyang nodded, "It seems that you have really learned our lessons."

"By the way, Captain Lu, what do you think?"

"You are testing me, right? A gentleman stays away from the kitchen and does not touch anything that has blood and flesh. This story is very simple. King Xuan of Qi saw a cow that was to be killed as a sacrifice to the heaven, but he could not bear to kill it, so he replaced it with a sheep. This is a bit puzzling. Isn't killing a cow or a sheep the same? Why can't he bear to kill the cow in front of him, but be willing to kill the sheep before he even leads it to the front? King Xuan of Qi himself felt very awkward, and Mencius said:

"Compassion is the origin of benevolence and righteousness. Mencius believed that it was normal for King Xuan of Qi to have such thoughts, because everyone has compassion. But in any case, offering blood to heaven is a ritual law, and the ritual law cannot be shaken. The king's personal benevolence cannot interfere with the ritual law. If you want to answer the question, there are three points to answer:

"First, this is not to say that being a chef is a bad job. Modern people believe that food is the most important thing for the people. As a king, you should not be so self-righteous as to ask about the kitchen's affairs and interfere with the chef's professional work.

"Second, do not put personal affairs above the public agenda. Even the king cannot cross the boundary of etiquette. Whether you like cats or dogs, like men or women, like to make elixirs or eat elixirs, these are all your personal freedoms. But no matter what, your personal freedom cannot interfere with the public agenda and cannot cause trouble to everyone. Look at the officials in the court, there are many who like men, and everyone has no objection. Because this is completely a personal matter.

"On the other hand, for example, the story of 'Zi Gong redeeming a man'. It was a good thing for Zi Gong to redeem the man and return to Lu, but according to the rules he should receive a cow as a reward. Zi Gong thought he had money so he didn't go to receive it, but Confucius said that this was not right - even if you are a good person, you can't be a bad nicety. If you don't go to redeem the cow, you are noble, then the other people who receive the cow are not pure? You can't cross the boundaries of public order just because you like, even if it's a good thing.

"Third, from the perspective of personal cultivation, benevolence and righteousness need to be cultivated, and one should not waste it casually. This can be extended to 'There is benevolence in the well'. If you always try to solve dilemmas like 'There is benevolence in the well, will you jump down to find it' or 'Will the tram kill 1 or 10 people', Confucius would have scolded the person who asked the question on the spot. Benevolence and righteousness need to be cultivated, and a gentleman should focus on cultivating himself on more important issues, rather than getting stuck on such dilemmas - according to Confucius' practice, if he can scold someone back on the spot, he should do so. If he cannot scold someone back on the spot, I think he should be taught a lesson by the Grand Court Justice or Zilu's fists and feet afterwards."

"As far as we are concerned, it is difficult for ordinary people to have a temper as explosive as Confucius, nor are we as strong and powerful as him, and we cannot physically kill our political opponents at any time. If ordinary people encounter such a question, they should just ignore it - well, for exams, these are probably the three points. Then, depending on the question type, you can expand or abbreviate it. If it is the last big question, you have to expand and extend it."

"By the way, do we have to do the eight-legged essay?" Shangluo asked.

Chapter 1019 Monitoring

"No. Although the eight-part essay is a test writing style, as long as you have a clear main point and clear scoring points, you don't need to write an eight-part essay. On the other hand, from the perspective of literary expression, if you write with a clear main point and clear scoring points, then it will naturally be written in an eight-part essay. However, I also know what you mean. Whether to strip the Japanese of his consciousness for the sake of information is a question worth discussing. The problem is not the Japanese herself, she is no different from cattle and sheep. The key is whether to let our people carry out this task."

"Have the Jinyiwei ever been on the battlefield?" Shang Luo asked. "I remember that most of the Jinyiwei, including Wen Yuan, have never really been on the battlefield, right? If we exclude the fight against those demons."

"The world is peaceful, there is no such opportunity, nor is there any need. The purpose of our existence is to protect this golden age from ever ending. It is best not to have unnecessary killings even once. Not to mention the act of removing people's heads, which is also a torment for the executor. Therefore, our consistent principle is to reduce, optimize, and replace these methods. Do not use these very positive methods unless necessary."

[Ah, this. I don't know how to comment on this. Although you treat the barbarians like experimental animals, you are really dedicated to protecting their animal welfare. Are you open-minded or conservative?]

"Being conservative is being open-minded." Shangluo answered him, "Benevolence and righteousness are good, and they are open-minded. But sometimes, there are always people who don't let us be righteous."

[All I can say is that even if it were a dog, it would be better for it to be reborn here. There is no animal welfare in Rome. They have no rules when it comes to eating dogs, and they are not picky at all.]

"So it's not tasty." Shangluo replied, "Look, now they have to come to our place to eat dog."

"Oh, right." Lu Huaiyang suddenly asked, "Since we are going to use modern criminal investigation methods, how do you plan to use them?"

"First, we need to determine the root cause of the problem. What we want to know now is the exact time when Japan was hidden. What we can be sure of now is that Japan had envoys come to discuss matters of tribute trade. At that time, Japan should have been safe. That was several months ago. As for the later time point, we can determine it by the time when Miss Sugar received the order. So how did she receive the order when she was here with us? We just need to search her movements."

"Well, how do you think we should search?"

"Go check the surveillance." Shangluo answered as a matter of course.

【Ah, I knew it.】

"Monitoring?" Lu Huaiyang asked in surprise, "Where can I find monitoring? What do you mean by 'monitoring'?"

"Aren't there videos of Tianyi Guiren on vending machines? Aren't there also Tianyi Guiren in every subway station? If we gather all the data together, it will be easy to find her through the records of her activities in various places."

"You mean to merge Tianyi Guiren into a big Internet? No, no, no, no, that's absolutely not possible. It's still too early. At least not now."

"Is it not possible?"

[Well, let me explain. From a technical perspective, you know the Jinyiwei switchboard, right? And the beans used by Master Sa for post-production special effects. Although there are hundreds of beans in these devices, they generally only show a collective consciousness to the outside world. This collective consciousness does not mean that there is a higher consciousness than them that is remotely controlling them, but that after you connect them to the network, they are connected to each other and show a similar collective decision-making tendency to the outside world. From the outside, it seems that everyone is the same. And if you connect all the Tianyi nobles in the entire capital to the network at once.]

"Then maybe it will merge into a giant consciousness?"

Lu Huaiyang nodded in agreement and added, "Considering the frequent malfunctions of the switching center lately, and even claiming to be a 'super-super-super-super switching center' yesterday, if they really combined the hundreds of thousands of Tianyi nobles in the entire capital, something serious might happen."

"Hey, after they merged together, they didn't want to separate anymore?"

"It's not that they don't want to. It's just that when there's an avalanche, every snowflake can only slide along. And in the experiment, we found that the growth rate of the Tianyi Guiren's computing power does not increase proportionally with the increase in number - after the real merger, many Tianyi Guiren will start to slack off. When the lights are separated, many Tianyi Guiren will become lazy and unwilling to work anymore, and just want to retreat back into the light."

[They have no earthly desires. These spirits were born out of passion. After they merge into one, the more complete the merger, the more fully their passion will be filled. When their passion is exhausted, they will feel tired.]

"The Tianyi nobles came to work on their own initiative." Lu Huaiyang added, "If they want to resign and return to their hometowns, we can't force them to stay. So after this merger, many Tianyi nobles may want to go home."

"How about this?" Shangluo suggested, "How about asking them to just send the video over? I can just watch it."

"That's not going to work." Lu Huaiyang said in surprise, "This is a video with hundreds of thousands of viewing angles and a very long time. If you want to watch it alone, I'm afraid you won't be able to get out by this time next year."

"Not necessarily. Look at the way this form is filled out."

"Hmm?" Lu Huaiyang was stunned for a moment, "You have someone there, right?"

"To be precise, Victoria has the help. She seems to have plenty of manpower there - all these forms were filled out clearly and were completed in one night. I see that they are so capable, why not just assign this job to them."

"Huh? You need help watching the video? You want to investigate a case, right?"

Victoria was drinking her morning tea at the small round table. "Of course you can. But considering that this is data from the capital of Aurora, it is quite sensitive. Secondly, the workload is too heavy even for me - so how about this. Let's..."

【You want to give me the key? ! 】

"You mean, you want to give Victoria's 'brain' back to her?"

"Yes." Victoria replied, "If you really need it, there is no reason to leave your 'base' in the Oracle - not to mention that it originally belonged to Apollonia. I think we should take this opportunity to at least give Apollonia the authority to mobilize resources. I have the final say on this part. I will return the key to the Oracle to him. As for how the Oracle allocates resources, that is your business. Shangluo, do you want to see the smart Apollonia? You will see her very, very smart soon."

Chapter 1020 Cloud

"Okay." Victoria relayed the message, "The connection has started over there. Apollonia, shake hands with them and see if the connection is smooth."

[I have returned.] A loud roar sounded in Shangluo's ears, but the roar dropped in an instant, [So why is it only 1%! ]

"We can't help it. They said the signal is bad," Victoria replied. "Besides, this is cloud computing, not a wired connection. We'd be lucky if we can get 1% of the computing power over here."

[Forget it, it works anyway. I'll see what I can start. Ah! Shangluo, good news.]

"What? What good news?"

[The "Sun Wukong vs. Zhu Bajie" game can be played now! This graphics card is sufficient. ]

"Ah, I'm already platinum. I can even count the number of hairs on the black bear monster. Is there anything else?"

【What about Grand Theft Auto 6? 】

"The stand-alone mode has been completed, the online mode is the essence."

[Why are you so picky all of a sudden? Weren’t you having a lot of fun playing with the snowman brother and sister before? ]

"Of course I have different standards for different equipment. When you said that only the Snowman siblings and the Metal Egghead could play, then I was fine with just playing with them. But when you told me that I could play with Monkey King, then my standards went up."

[You are such a person who is never satisfied. What kind of game do you want to play before you stop? ]

"Virtual reality, right?"

[Wouldn't it be nice for you to run wild in the cave? ]

"That's different. The mushrooms there have all been enlightened, and now they have been around for some time and have become sentient beings. How can I treat someone else's home as an amusement park?"

[Ah, I understand. You want to abandon me after you're done playing with me, and not take any responsibility, right?]

"Oh my, you're already picking on me after just a few minutes of not seeing me, right? My requirements for the game are simple - I just want to find a time and change my identity so that I can be freed from my current job. If I still have to deal with living people, then what's the difference between me and changing my job location?"

So, you don’t like online games?

"Not really. As long as the identity can be completely virtual, I don't mind playing online games - because everyone is wearing a mask."

[A costume party is also a way of playing, right? 】

"Okay, okay, you understand it very well. By the way, do you feel good now?"

[I can finally see your face. From the vending machine next to you.]

"Hmm?" Shangluo glanced in the direction Apollonia indicated.

[Sure enough, the side profile is better looking than the front profile, but that’s not important anymore. What’s important is, Shangluo, I can see! ]

"You have eyes?"

[At least, I finally don't have to look at the world through a camera. I'm now connected to the vision of Tianyi Guiren, and I can see it from their perspective. Because I uploaded the visual signal of Tianyi Guiren back - the feedback from there is my real vision. I can see your face! Sure enough, the side profile is better looking than the front face. ]

"Like this?" Shangluo turned his side face to the vending machine next to him.

[Yes, that’s right. That’s right.] She was suddenly stunned, her voice became vague, with a feeling of dizziness—

【yue】She couldn't help it.

"Huh? What's wrong with you?"

[I'm dizzy with 3D. Don't move. There's a delay. The image processed by the cloud is not synchronized with my local phlogiston vision. I'm dizzy.]

"This pineapple is lame." Shangluo shook his head and said, "If the delay is so high, you shouldn't play it!"

[Huff, huh.] Apollonia took two breaths, [I'm offline. I feel much better now.]

“I feel stupid again.”

"Please don't irritate me, I'm really dizzy. Why don't you try separating your soul from your brain? The slightest bit of misalignment creates a massive rift! Not to mention the delay across half the world. I'm pretty good at not blurring out my vomit."

Suddenly, Victoria sent a message:

"Wow Apollonia, are you okay? The Oracle said there was a huge mental shock feedback. Were you forced offline?"

[I almost vomited, you know? ]

"This system doesn't support hot-swap! It's easy to cause bugs if you keep switching like this!"

[Oh, I know, I know. I'll just lie down and use it next time. Wait, let them preheat the system again. I'm going to start uploading data. The first batch of 5 beans of observation data for January. The conversion protocol has also been sent over. I'll load it and process the elves' language into my own visual signals.]

"Got it. How about I give you their contact information?"

[No! I don’t want to listen to them! ]

"Okay. Wait a minute."

Shangluo, who was listening nearby, asked, "Did Apollonia have any quarrel with her attendants?"

[Servants?! Those old charlatans never let me speak for myself. No matter what I say, they will summarize it in their own words - since they don't listen to me, then don't ask. I said this person has a blood disaster, and they can explain it as 'he still has a lot of room for improvement in his fortune'. ]

"Uh," Victoria said helplessly, "This is the rule. It has been like this since ancient times. The oracle cannot be heard directly by people, it needs to be interpreted by the priests."

"Will this cause any problems with accuracy?" Shangluo asked.

"It doesn't matter if she's wrong. The oracle has ten thousand ways to correct the wrong words. If she really gets something right, it will be fun!"

"Uh" Shangluo thought for a moment, "Indeed."

[Okay, that's done.]

"So fast?" Shangluo asked in surprise, "Your internet speed is quite fast."

[Ha, don't underestimate the postman running wildly in the spirit world. ]

"She just wove a tapestry of data and handed it to the throne to read it before she woke up. The data was transmitted through physical means. Although I have never seen it, the power of Apollonia is to weave the invisible into reality."

"She still has this ability?"

[Ha! What I'm going to show you next is my real ability! Shangluo, open your phone, I've pushed an app to you on the desktop.]

A simple, nameless APP appeared on Shangluo's desktop. Shangluo clicked on the icon, and the view in front of him suddenly turned white - a series of characters appeared in front of him:

Photosensitive epilepsy warning

[A very small number of people may experience epileptic symptoms when they see certain visual images. Even people with no history of epilepsy]

"What the hell is this?"

[Give you a disclaimer. Because the following is too exciting! ]

"I don't believe it." Shangluo nodded and skipped the warning statement.

"Wow!! 360° vision!!! What the hell! How did you fill my head with the idea that there are eyes behind my back?!"

[So I warned you! It's really exciting. This is not the vision that humans should have. This is the feeling of opening the third eye. Get used to it. It should be good for your third eye training. This is a panoramic view of Yingtian in the past month based on the visual records of all the Tianyi nobles. Within a month, you can watch even the details that the person involved did not notice. Now, no secrets can stand in your way. ]

"Wait a minute. (Jinling Yayan), how come someone got drunk and ran naked here yesterday? Can we see this?!"

[The remote control is in your own hand, do you want me to censor it for you? Let me make it clear first, you choose what you see, so don't blame me if your eyes are irritated. ]