Wasteland Development Diary

Zhou Yi was a little doubtful he had heard correctly: "Are you the new Zhuangzi?"

703 said with some pride: "[Kindling] chose me, although I don't know if I was chosen from the beginning, or if I am the successor after other candidates gave up."

"But now I am the [Zhuangzi] of this generation. In addition, the [Laozi] of this generation has also been born, but for safety's sake, we don't know each other's real names, just like in the past."

Zhou Yi was a little curious: "Why were you chosen? Are there any clear selection criteria?"

"Yes."

The robot dog said: "[Kindling] showed me the rules. The qualities required for Laozi and Zhuangzi, as the highest decision-makers of the Mechatronic Knights, are different."

"Laozi must seek the Dao, which is to find the fundamental laws of nature and the universe. It transcends language and image and is the foundation of all existence."

"Zhuangzi's behavior needs to have the characteristics of the unity of all things, or the usefulness of the useless. The unity of all things means that all things are equal, without distinction between high and low, noble and humble. The usefulness of the useless means that seemingly useless things often have their unique value and purpose."

"My understanding is that Laozi should be a scientist who focuses on pursuing the truth of nature, while Zhuangzi should pay attention to the survival and value of individual lives."

Zhou Yi thought to himself that these two code names really followed the characteristics of the two ancient Taoist figures.

But times have changed dramatically, and the era and environment have undergone earth-shaking changes.

Is this pursuit still suitable for the wasteland era?

He raised his concerns.

"This is in line with the purpose of the Mechatronic Knights."

703 said seriously: "What the Mechatronic Knights must do is to pursue the truth of the world and to devote themselves to finding new ways out for mechatronic life."

"Laozi and Zhuangzi represent two paths."

"The former focuses on the field of scientific research, trying to use the power of technology to promote changes in the external world."

"The latter focuses on individual lives, in order to promote spiritual freedom and self-realization."

This internal and external, objective and subjective partnership is very complementary.

Zhou Yi became more curious about this knightly order.

"How were the Mechatronic Knights born? Who were the first generation of Laozi and Zhuangzi?"

"This has to be traced back to File 2 [Origin]."

703 said: "Within the Mechatronic Knights, it is also classified as confidential."

Zhou Yi immediately understood: "Never mind then."

"If it is the Chairman, as the Zhuangzi of this generation, I think I can share this information with you."

The robot dog said: "This matter must be discussed starting with the brain-eating bug incident."

Zhou Yi listened quietly.

"According to the clock record of the Kindling program, 152 years ago, the brain-eating bug virus broke out and spread to almost every mechatronic city. This virus program caused a large amount of information leakage from the infected, and the light seeds on electronic accounts were transferred and stolen in various ways, causing an unprecedented major blow to the entire mechatronic society."

703 squatted on the ground and said slowly: "In this incident, a mechatronic teacher named Pangu was ultimately identified as the creator and source of the brain-eating bug program."

"However, when found, Pangu had become a semi-civilized body that could not communicate. According to the investigation records at the time, Pangu's core program was backlashed and invaded by the latest brain-eating bug. In the end, this culprit was locked into 404 City."

"Since then, a universal agreement has connected every mechatronic city to protect mechatronic life from similar damage and destruction."

"This is the part that the public knows."

"However, two of Pangu's students questioned this. Because they knew that Pangu was not only a mechatronic expert, but also had a secret special identity."

The robot dog paused: "He was a Mount Tai Knight."

"The Mount Tai Knights have always been the most loyal supporters of order and the creators of the mechatronic city system. Because there are strict knight program constraints within the Knights, unless their own life safety is seriously threatened, they cannot make destructive acts."

"This constraint makes it objectively impossible for Pangu to do such a thing as destroying mechatronic society."

Zhou Yi's eyes narrowed.

Pangu was also an AI large model after all.

And from the same camp as Wenxin Yiyan.

703 said: "Pangu was good at collecting conversations, writing programs, and data evolution. Before being captured, he had been missing for nearly half a year. The two students obtained a piece of encrypted data left by Pangu through special means."

"After reading and restoring that part of the data, they learned the truth."

"The brain-eating bug was indeed created by Pangu, but it was written according to the requirements of 404 City, the purpose was to manage the prisoners in the city and avoid them from making escape and jailbreak program behaviors."

"Its original name was not brain-eating bug, but 'Iron Wall', divided into AB versions. Version A is for prisoners to install, and Version B is for guards and investigators to use. Version B has higher permissions, can lock Version A, and can observe and locate the former's every move at any time, and even read various data through Iron Wall."

Zhou Yi remembered that 404 City announced the development of the Iron Wall program to contain the brain-eating bug.

It turned out that these were all designed long ago.

But it was AB sides.

"At the same time, 404 City also asked Pangu to expand 'Iron Wall' to create a universal agreement to connect all the mechatronic prisoners in the entire 404 City. They would constrain their behavior through the agreement to prevent them from destroying and harming other lives."

"Pangu also spared no effort and spent ten years completing this agreement framework and program creation."

703's electronic lights dimmed slightly: "Therefore, the universal agreement was actually written by Pangu."

"To write this program, Pangu was authorized to observe and read a large amount of prisoner data inside 404 City multiple times."

"During this period, he discovered a strange phenomenon."

"Most of the prisoners in 404 City fell into a deep sleep, and only a few prisoners remained awake. Local management is extremely strict, with various powerful equipment suppressing them. It seems that there is no need to worry about the prisoners destroying or escaping from the inside. It is not normal to spend huge sums of money to build Iron Wall."

"Pangu realized that the program he wrote might not be used to deal with criminals, but to act on more ordinary mechatronic lives."

"But it was too late when he confirmed it. He could only transmit this piece of data through special encryption, along with the source code of Iron Wall. The outflow time of this piece of data was exactly before he disappeared."

Zhou Yi pulled open a can of Coke with a hiss: "That is to say, the source of the brain-eating bug incident and the release of the universal agreement were all led by 404 City."

"Yes, Chairman."

703 said in a heavy tone: "But this city has too little public information. It does not contact the outside world. It only knows that it will receive criminals from all over the world and send out its own investigators. The outside world describes it as a huge prison in the Dead Sea."

"The two students of Pangu investigated 404 City, and all the clues were cut off."

"When the brain-eating bug broke out initially, two students wanted to announce the truth, but they were stopped by a mysterious person named Kimi or Komi. Her whole body was modified into a cyborg, appearing as a female."

"She seemed to know about Pangu, but warned the two students that if they announced it now, they would only be courting death. She told them to observe and wait patiently, make good use of the data and technology left by Pangu, lie dormant first, further promote and develop the technology, and then consider doing something when the time is right."

Kimi, Komi.

Zhou Yi was no stranger to this name. He used it a lot in the last era.

The latest novel is first published on Liu Jiu Shu Ba!

This one is also an AI large model, and is most likely one of the Mount Tai Knights.

The robot dog continued: "The two students remained silent and formed the Mechatronic Knights many years later. One was code-named [Laozi] and the other was code-named [Zhuangzi]. Unfortunately, they did not wait for the right opportunity."

"When they were alive, many mechatronic cities were in the bonus period brought by the universal agreement. The cities were booming, and the output value was rising steadily. Everyone's income seemed to increase indefinitely... The soaring unemployment rate, the increasing expenses, and death from poverty after unemployment were matters after the end of the rising period."

"The first generation of Laozi frequently tested various programs on himself, and eventually all the programs crashed and his consciousness died; Zhuangzi encountered two mechatronic thugs and was robbed and shot to death."

"They spent a lot of effort to create five files, which are divided into numbers 1 to 5 according to the level of confidentiality from high to low."

"Among them, File 5 is the [Kindling] program, File 4 is [Breathing], File 3 is [Key], File 2 is [Origin], and File 1 is [Error]."

Zhou Yi frowned as he listened.

The other ones are easy to understand.

"What do breathing and error mean?"

703 explained: "[Breathing] is a system that imitates natural life. If the breathing program stops, it will die and crash, which can help understand organic life."

"Breathing will make mechatronic life afraid of death and timid, have breathing lights, and understand flesh and blood life. A real fear of death will stimulate creativity and survivability, and will also enhance the survival experience of mechatronic life."

"Currently, Laozi and I are considering whether to directly release and promote [Breathing] to the outside world."

Zhou Yi did not comment on matters related to the internal affairs of the Mechatronic Knights.

What he cared more about was: "Can breathing really bring creativity?"

"According to a large number of tests conducted by the first generation of Laozi, the result is indeed so. Saying it is creativity is more like an artificial sense of death oppression. Mechatronic lives that pursue their own limits and want to break the rules can try this direction."

703 carefully considered his words: "It's like the samurai crab apartment in the company, providing a continuous training method to keep mechatronic life in a state of stress."

"The operation of the breathing program will make mechatronic life fragile. If it is not handled properly, it will feel the fear of death triggered after the breathing program stops. This program is a process of highly simulating death data, which will eventually lead to a body reboot."

"The first generation of Laozi experienced a large number of death experiences after breathing cessation in order to test the program, and still felt fear and palpitations about it."

"So this is also a high-risk program, but the benefit is that breathing and the death behind it will become an environment that promotes the ultra-high-speed evolution of data in the body."

The robot dog said: "This is actually simulating humans."

"When a person is near death or encounters a life threat, they will burst out with a strong desire to survive, and a large amount of hormones such as adrenaline will be secreted. Brain reactions, reflexes, strength and speed will be greatly improved to provide survival opportunities."

"What the breathing program has to do is this, to stimulate the continuous operation of overload calculations in the program data by approaching death…"

Zhou Yi understood now.

This is equivalent to stimulating electronic adrenaline and stimulating potential by repeatedly jumping on the edge of death.

It is indeed a somewhat extreme program.

"As for File 1 [Error]... only if it meets the [Kindling] program's judgment, and [Laozi] and [Zhuangzi] both agree, can this file be opened. We don't know what that represents now."

703 said: "However, according to the records and descriptions in File 2 [Origin], the current environment does not meet the opening conditions."

"Only when the war with the Celestials starts again... can it be opened."

"If this day never comes, this file will never be decrypted and cannot be read."

Zhou Yi thought to himself.

It seems that this error is related to the Celestials.

Since the time is not right, there is no need to force it.

He looked at the robot dog: "I am very happy with your trust in telling me these secrets. But I think you must have something else you want to tell me?"

703 sat upright: "Chairman, I am applying to promote the pilot implementation of [Breathing] in the company first, to see what the effect is, and then consider whether to further promote it to the outside world. Do you think it is okay?"

Zhou Yi pondered for a moment: "No problem, but you must fully explain the risks involved, and the employees must be willing."

"Yes! Chairman! I will fully demonstrate the risks and proceed with caution!"

703 promised.