Abyssal Wanderer

The fog door dissipated, and Jiang Zhou was the only one left in the huge trial hall.

He lowered his head and thought about Hecate's warning before leaving. After a while, he sighed deeply.

Hecate was right. Ever since he learned part of the truth about the "Janus Program", he had been looking for various reasons for himself not to use it.

Perhaps deep down in my heart, I am afraid of this legacy.

Jiang Zhou thought to himself.

Fear that it will become the cornerstone of an unprecedented ultimate tyranny; fear that it will be exposed and used by the Olympian order; and even more fear that one's own choices will once again trigger a horrific disaster like the "Great Impact"...

After all, this legacy left by the original super artificial intelligence is so powerful that if used properly, it can become the power to subvert the entire human society today.

Therefore, he always thinks that he must control it in a foolproof way and complete his mission step by step with the lowest intensity.

He subconsciously wanted to control all this.

But in this way, a paradox arises - if we want to control humans and connect them into a system, then an "independent self" outside the system must exist.

Jiangzhou needs an "ontology" to supervise at all times to ensure that everything is going according to plan.

In other words, he is still afraid that his "current self" will be changed - not because he believes that "self-awareness" is sacred and inviolable, but because he is afraid that the self-awareness of others will bring disaster.

In other words, he doesn't trust humans.

Therefore, he sealed his heart before anyone else, fearing the influence of other people's minds on his plans.

"But this won't work..."

Looking at the empty trial hall, Jiang Zhou murmured.

As Hecate warned herself in the end - the premise of all this is that she must be able to get to that point.

In fact, not to mention in order to complete the unfinished business of the past, even if he simply wants to survive, he must rely on the help of the "Janus Program".

Jiang Zhou smiled to himself and lowered his head.

If there is no way to guarantee survival, then there is no need to talk about other things.

After thinking about this, Jiang Zhou called up the startup interface of the Janus program and silently stared at the simple image of the two-faced god.

The old god looked at the past and at the future.

Had He seen his current situation back then?

Or is this part of His plan?

With his thoughts racing, Jiang Zhou sighed, and then started the Janus program again.

If he could have defended himself by saying that it was an unintentional act when he connected with Liao Qi before, then this time he really wanted to use his own will to open Pandora's box and impose unprecedented "tyranny" on another independent soul. "Yes.

At the moment when it was turned on, fear and excitement were intertwined. Jiang Zhou silently watched the Janus icon fade in mid-air, and the surrounding area turned into an infinite white space in the blink of an eye.

Since Jiang Zhou obtained the "Moon God Realm" authority of the Janus program, he was able to open this special space and check out the backup controllable elements.

At this moment, sixty-six human figures composed of countless changing color blocks appeared in front of Jiang Zhou at the same time.

There were sixty-six different souls, sixty-six unique identities, sixty-six different lives... They were displayed one by one in front of Jiang Zhou like carefully tied sacrifices.

At this moment, they are each continuing their own ordinary or legendary lives, completely unaware that their fate is about to change dramatically with someone's slightest finger.

Thinking of this, Jiang Zhou's hands actually trembled slightly at this moment.

Whether this was fear or excitement, he couldn't tell, but the more important question at the moment was which person should he choose as his controllable factor?

Linking controllable factors is not a competition, so personal ability is not the first thing you should consider.

The key lies in whether the other party has the potential to become stronger, and whether they are willing to provide help to the main body that is still trapped in Tartarus.

In addition, given his control over the "Icarus Liberation Front", it may be a wise choice to choose someone who clearly supports the cause of the struggle of the people at the bottom of the Nord settlement area.

In this way, after several conditions were filtered out, the ever-changing humanoid shapes of color blocks dissipated one after another. In the end, only four people remained.

Whether it was a coincidence or subconscious guidance, the four people in front of him happened to be the four people Jiang Zhou was most interested in before.

Hong Wu, an adjuster of unknown depth, a street rogue, a lone wolf urban mercenary without a fixed employer. This person acts cold-blooded and cruel, but is calm and rational enough. He has no special political leanings and is a model of doing things for money. What Jiang Zhou values ​​most is his persistence in becoming stronger - if there is a chance to use the Icarus universal printer, the opponent has great potential to become stronger in the future.

Noriki is a cyber witch who practices in the New Tenri Sect. She has an out-of-the-box personality and a clear mind. On weekdays, she undertakes the business of "soothing spirits" and "exorcising evil spirits" for the house where the housekeeper AI is running wild. Although she is not an adjuster, she is a Sandman-level hacker. If the support from the City of Sages is excluded, she is much better than him in terms of hacking skills. And more importantly, the other party is also a supporter of the "Icarus Liberation Front" and has participated in organizing the data destruction activities of the underground branch many times.

Frank Overload, on the surface, is the data center security officer of Apollo Biotechnology on the 11th floor, but in fact, he is suspected to be the chosen horse of a dark network entity. This person belongs to the extreme AI Adventists - that is, the crazy people who hope that AI will rule mankind - if he finds that he one day merges with the master version of Janus, then his self-awareness will most likely be lost. Will have too much influence on his own decision-making, but regard Jiang Zhou's wishes as divine inspiration and silently implement them.

Finally, there is Jim Leiter.

Jiang Zhou's eyes swept across the first three people and landed on the figure of the middle-aged man at the end.

The certified private detective has undergone biological enhancement, but it is unclear whether he has undergone adjustments or transformations. At least Jiang Zhou couldn't tell from his performance.

What can't be seen is not just about adjustments and transformations - among the sixty-six alternative options for controllable factors, Jiang Zhou feels that Jim Leiter is the one farthest from his own in terms of thinking mode.

As a detective, this person neither insists on procedural justice nor cares about factual justice. Instead, he uses a set of judgment standards that are difficult for Jiang Zhou to understand and are almost free to testify. In terms of political orientation, the other party both expressed disdain for the "ten-layer" government and ridiculed Icarus's career. He seemed to dislike both sides, but he had many good friends on both sides. people.

Not as a connection, but as a true friend - this is another concept that is difficult for Jiang Zhou to understand. In his past life, it seems that there was no such "friendship" without any exchange of interests, and it was purely based on mutual appreciation.

Jiang Zhou felt that if they met in reality, they would definitely not like each other.

Therefore, according to common sense, Jim should be the one who should be eliminated in the first round.

If two people with completely different personalities connected and thought of each other without distinguishing each other, Jiang Zhou could not imagine how much negative impact the internal friction would have on the mobility of the entire system...

To put it bluntly, if a normal person is so internally consumed, he may split into two personalities and take turns taking over the body.

However, now, Jiang Zhou has finally decided to make Jim Leiter a controllable factor.

He walked to Jim's "side" and squatted down, and slowly stretched out his hand with some hesitation.

There are two main reasons for Jiang Zhou’s choice:

First, as Hecate said before, if his goal is to integrate all mankind into the Janus system, then he will inevitably integrate people with opposite personalities into the same network.

The so-called mutual understanding between people must be achieved by allowing completely different people to reconcile with each other, rather than just finding people who are similar to themselves to form a small group to keep warm, so that different groups can understand each other. The gap is getting bigger and bigger.

Therefore, whether it is an experiment or a test, Jiang Zhou believes that it is necessary to combine with such a person who is very different from himself to see if the Janus program can fulfill the wish he made back then.

The second reason is more realistic.

At this moment, Jiang Zhou was squatting next to Jim Leiter's "corpse". At this time, the opponent's human form composed of countless color blocks was about to completely dissipate.

The other party suffered a fatal attack not long ago. If he didn't take action, he would probably die completely soon.

I hope this choice is not wrong...

He thought this before he was no longer just "me". (End of chapter)