Abyssal Wanderer

Chapter 23 NO.0017: Paradox

What's happening here? !

Jiang Zhou, who had been resting on a chair, stared dumbfounded at the two people who fell in front of him from the starry sky—Book E, who had previously connected his brain-computer interface to a universal printer and planned to restart it. Erwin and... Liao Qi.

Or, myself?

It's not that Jiang Zhou hasn't thought about what a strange situation it will be when he meets his "controllable elements" one day.

But he never expected that this day would come so fast and so suddenly.

He almost sat up from his chair in shock.

Fortunately, he restrained this impulse and calmed down.

Don't panic, don't panic on both sides of yourself...

The one who should panic right now should be the third party other than myself...

Through Liao Qi's line of sight, Jiang Zhou saw what he looked like in their eyes at this moment: a fuzzy human figure pieced together from countless broken color blocks, every detail of his body is constantly being disassembled and reassembled, so that the dynamic balance is maintained. own human form.

It looks very similar to the "Janus" I saw ten hours ago and a hundred years ago.

Jiang Zhou moved his eyes down and looked at his hands pressed on the armrests—it was still a precise model generated by the stand-in program according to his body in the sub-compartment of the deep dive.

So, for these people who are not in the abyss and dark net, is their image distorted?

In any case, while that person is still immersed in shock, let's pretend to be a master and gain the initiative.

With a thought, Jiang Zhou imitated the opening line of "Janus" a hundred years ago, and said flatly:

"Good evening……"

From Jiang Zhou's side, it sounded like his normal voice when speaking, but the voice he received through Liao Qi's side was an extremely distorted and distorted voice like the howling of an electric current.

One sentence echoed in his ears with two voices without delay, which made Jiang Zhou feel very strange.

Suppressing that strange sense of disobedience, he looked at the two people in the audience and continued:

"Liao Qi, and Booker Irwin."

He said their names separately.

He knows who we are...

Hearing the sound like howling electricity, Booker felt like his scalp was going to explode.

In electronic warfare, a person's real name and surname are the only key to the mandala code. But because the Mandala password is almost impossible to be cracked based on its underlying design, so for hackers, the real name is its biggest weakness. Once his real name is mastered by others, he basically declares his own failure in the field of electronic warfare.

Therefore, when this existence said the names of the two of them lightly, the last trace of luck in Booker's heart was blown out like a candle flickering in the cold wind.

This is not an accident or a coincidence, the other party came to find them.

But how did the other party know their names?

"Why do you know our names?"

A stunned young man helped Booker ask his deepest questions.

It was Liao Qi who was standing aside, looking up at that existence.

Is this kid crazy?

Hearing such a straightforward question, Booker's heart suddenly tightened.

He wanted to stop that young man who usually acted recklessly, but it was already too late.

"There are still many things that I need to know, but none of them need to explain to you how I know."

That existence didn't seem to be annoyed at all, and he still replied calmly.

Don't ask me such silly things.

This is what the other party meant.

Being able to communicate normally, and whether it is a disguise or not, the other party has shown a certain degree of humanity in the communication...

After a long sigh of relief, Booker analyzed the conversation just now and came to a preliminary conclusion.

No matter what the other party is, he at least has a personality interface that can communicate. Although in today's era, for those existences beyond human intelligence, the personality interface of their external communication is not equal to their essence. But at least it also provides them, those laggards who have been left far behind by their peers on the life evolution track, with the opportunity to glimpse the wisdom of the leaders.

Now that you can communicate normally, start by asking the other party's name.

"Then may I ask, what should you address, Your Excellency?"

Although he didn't think that the other party would care about these red tapes of human society, Booker still pressed his chest and bent slightly, asking very respectfully.

"my name?"

Hearing this question, Jiang Zhou paused slightly.

This is indeed a problem. If I want to show myself in this capacity again in the future, what kind of name should I choose?

First rule out his real name, Jiang Zhou.

This name appears in this era, if it is exposed, God knows how many enemies will find it.

Then exclude Janus.

For one thing, I don't quite believe it now, but Janus has completely fallen under the siege of other super artificial intelligences, as the public knows. Secondly, I was active under this identity. If I was exposed, the hatred I attracted would probably be ten times more than that of "Jiang Zhou".

How about just using Theseus as your title?

Jiang Zhou thought to himself.

The famous "The Paradox of the Ship of Theseus" is quite in line with his current state, but it is still the problem, and the possibility of exposure must be considered. Now I am in the body of Tartarus, and was named Theseus by the guy named Ye. Even if the probability is so low that it can be ignored, he doesn't want to risk his real identity being exposed just to pretend to be X.

However, following the train of thought of "The Ship of Theseus Paradox", Jiang Zhou quickly thought of a suitable title.

He straightened his body slightly, then continued to use the calm tone before, and replied indifferently:

"I don't have a name, but if you must look for a title, then my name can be...

"paradox."

paradox……

The moment he heard the name, Booker's eyes were slightly out of focus.

Whether the other party is an adjuster who surpasses the limit of 7 people's intelligence, an autonomous electronic warfare weapon developed by a super enterprise, or an out-of-control program left over from the super artificial intelligence in the past... he can hack into the universal printer and pull them here. The existence from this area must have surpassed the human way of thinking, making them "homo sapiens" incomprehensible "upgraded life".

For normal people like them, the way of thinking, behavior patterns, values, and worldviews of these existences... have all entered the realm of incomprehension.

Human thinking is attached to language, and because of the inherent incompleteness of language, the emergence of complex and various paradoxes is enough to prove that human thinking is also inherently incomplete.

Therefore, for Booker himself, Liao Qi around him, all members of Icarus, and more than 99.99% of the human beings living in the entire world at this moment... the best way to call these existences is indeed "paradoxical" On the word ".

This is really a... perfect title.

Booker sighed.

Calling himself a "paradox" is not showing the absurdity of his existence.

Rather, it reminds them of the shallowness of their own existence.

"Ah, I see..."

Booker nodded heavily, and said in a low voice.

What do you understand?

Jiang Zhou looked at the man in front of him whose aura suddenly became darker, with a look of sudden enlightenment, and tried hard not to ask.