Alien Relic Hunter

Ke Lan thought quickly, and then asked: "The person who modified your underlying program and made you work for the great god, is he still alive?"

Nieto didn't answer.

"Where is he now?" Ke Lan changed the question.

Nieto still didn't answer.

It should be that the way I asked the question was wrong. To deal with this kind of artificial retardation, you should find a way to bypass its safety logic. The same question should probably be asked in another way.

"The person who modified your underlying program is the owner of this hive, right?"

"Yes... only the owner of the nest has the authority to modify the underlying program of the administrator." Nieto answered very "honestly".

This answer was within Ke Lan's expectation. After all, managers are the "second class" in the hive, and the only ones who can control it are the supreme "first class".

"The owner of the hive, he is still alive, right?"

Nieto didn't answer.

Ke Lan realized that he might have made a mistake - Nieto had a rather special definition of life and death. The eroded people in Hruni were equivalent to dead people in Nieto's eyes, even though they still retained their identities at that time. human consciousness.

If this hive city has experienced the baptism of "disaster", then the owner of the hive city will most likely not be able to survive alone - if he had not been eroded, he would not have changed Nieto's underlying program like this.

If the master of the hive has turned into a corpse, then in Nieto's perception, he cannot be considered alive.

Following this train of thought, Ke Lan asked again: "The master of the nest, he still controls everything in the nest, right?"

"Yes, he is watching every move you make now."

It seems that as the owner of the hive, he should still be "alive", silently watching everything happening in the hive through Nieto... But, if he has control of the hive, why doesn't he act on his own? To interfere?

If he was corrupted and became a slave of the great god, then he should try his best to kill himself after discovering his "mistake". How could he be allowed to come and go freely in the nest?

Could it be said that the owner of this hive city, like Nieto, lost control of the hive city?

This guess is very likely, because Ke Lanti's question is "He still controls everything in the nest", and Nieto's answer is "He sees every move you make now."

Being able to observe does not mean being able to control...

Nieto is just an artificial intelligence. He can't ask the most important things from its mouth. It seems that he should still find a way to make contact with the owner of this hive... No matter whether the other party has turned into a corpse or not, he has. This attempt is necessary.

Ke Lan even made a decision in his mind - if the master of this hive cannot communicate, he would use living armor to devour him and see if he could get something from the other party's remaining memories.

"The master of the nest, he is in Yunding now, right?" Before taking action, Ke Lan planned to get some more information from Nieto.

"The master of the hive will never leave Cloud Top." Nieto replied.

Never leaving Genting?

What does it mean?

Originally, Ke Lan just wanted to confirm whether his guess was accurate. Even if Nieto didn't answer, he could roughly know the answer - except for Genting, the master of the nest had no place to go - but now, Nieto's words The words made Ke Lan a little confused.

Forever...this is a very strict word...

Will the owner of the hive city not leave Yunding, or will he be unable to leave?

Could it be that, like Nieto, he had turned into a piece of rotten flesh and lost the ability to move?

Ke Lan couldn't help but recall the scene when he saw Chiron for the first time... If Chiron had not died later, his body would probably expand further until the entire South Sixteenth District was filled...

"The passage leading to Yunding is under this ground, right?" Ke Lan said.

Nieto did not answer, but Ke Lan knew that he had guessed correctly.

He took a step forward, and the squirming pile of pink flesh immediately retreated a large distance, almost retracting into the passage.

"Wait!" Nieto shouted, "You can't kill me!"

"Why?" Ke Lan looked at the pink meat in front of him playfully. The meat squirmed as if it was trembling. He could clearly feel the emotion symbolizing "fear" in it.

Although this "fear" is also an emotion simulated by the personality module of artificial intelligence, in the underlying program of artificial intelligence, the priority of "self-preservation" is definitely not low.

In the old era, there was a man named Asimov who once proposed the "Three Laws of Robotics":

"First Law: A robot shall not harm a human being or remain inactive while witnessing a threat to a human being."

"Second Law: A robot must obey orders given to it by humans, except when that order conflicts with the First Law."

"Third Law: A robot must ensure its own survival as much as possible without violating the First and Second Laws."

Although the so-called first and second laws became empty words in later generations after robots were put into war, the "third law" of robots has always been written in the underlying program of every device with artificial intelligence.

Even those military robots that charge into battle must know how to avoid fire blockades and bombings on the battlefield, and make reasonable use of bunkers to ensure that they do not "die" before completing their goals.

The current version of the three laws of robots may be changed into two laws to be more accurate:

"The First Law: A robot must complete the instructions given by the controller."

"The Second Law: Before completing the instructions, the robot must ensure its own survival as much as possible; after completing the instructions, if possible, it should also ensure its own survival as much as possible."

Nieto is "afraid of death," which does not surprise Ke Lan.

"You can't kill me." Nieto emphasized again, "I know that you were almost wiped out by the will of the great god just now. You used a special method to deceive His sight... But if you Kill me and the great god's thoughts left in the nest will be touched. No matter how you disguise yourself, you will never be able to deceive Him again."

"Really?" Ke Lan took another step forward, and Nieto's body had completely retracted into the passage.

"If you are not afraid of death, you can try it, but I suggest you not to do that." Nieto threatened.

"Don't you really want me to die? Why, you don't even have the courage to die with me?" Ke Lan pressed Nieto and followed into the passage.

This is a step diagonally downwards. The space is very spacious, but most of the space has been occupied by foam-like pink tissues... except that now these pink tissues are like snow that melts when heated, and Ke Lan is like a blazing torch. Every time he takes a step forward, the surrounding pink tissue will quickly retreat in a circle to make room.

Nieto didn't answer, and Ke Lan continued on by himself: "Actually, the probability is not 100%, right? Only 50%, or even lower? If I kill you, I will not necessarily attract the attention of that existence. Even you don’t dare to guarantee it, after all, you are just a program without a soul.”

Nieto: "..."

"If the probability is 100%, no, it doesn't even have to be that high. As long as it can exceed half the probability, with your program logic, you will not hesitate to let me kill you... It seems that in your calculation, The probability of dying with me is probably really low..."

Nieto continued to remain silent, but when Ke Lan moved forward, it retreated faster, as if Ke Lan had a virus that could kill it.

"But I don't have to kill you, as long as you take me to Yunding." Ke Lan said as he threw out the engineer shovel in his hand and plunged it into a mass of pink flesh. Bright blood spurted out instantly. .

A tentacle made of living armor flew out, wrapped around the handle of the engineer shovel, and pulled it back. The wound on the pink flesh was suddenly torn to three times its original size. , the blood surged like a smashed high-pressure faucet.

"I can't let you enter Yunding. My duty is to guard this hive." Nieto refused.

"Guarding the nest? Are you sure your duty is not to sacrifice your life for that bullshit god? Oh, you don't even dare to sacrifice your life, you are so cowardly." Although he knew that mocking an artificially retarded person was of little use, Ke Lan's words Still not merciful at all - being yin and yang to the other party may not be of any use, but it can make you feel better, and that's enough.

Ke Lan shoveled again, and the blood spurting from Nieto's body had accumulated on the ground, even reaching Ke Lan's instep.

Nieto originally had the ability to heal quickly, but Ke Lan discovered that as long as he attached his mental power to the weapon, the wound would have the ability to resist self-healing, as if a pair of invisible hands were left on the wound. Pull the wound hard to both sides...

Not only can it make it difficult to heal wounds, but if you deal with creatures that can feel pain, it can also amplify the pain of the wound several times.

Ke Lan continued to walk forward, and the steps had disappeared, replaced by a huge underground space - this should have been an archive or a computer room, but now it has been occupied by the infinitely proliferating Nieto's body. , those squirming pink tissues filled the entire space.

The underground space of the ringed city also looks like this. This is what those relic hunters face - this kind of organization itself is not lethal, but it has the ability to make people fall into hallucinations. Those relic hunters who died underground in the ringed city , half committed suicide, and the other half were killed by other hunters who fell into the illusion.

It's just that after Ke Lan fused that "body", his mental strength has increased to an unprecedented level. He can sense that Nieto has been trying to implant hallucinations into his brain, but those hallucinations have not yet Any picture that could be formed in Ke Lan's mind was directly torn apart by Ke Lan's mental defense barrier.

It's like installing an invincible anti-virus software. The hallucinations implanted in the brain are like virus programs written by hackers. They are isolated, blocked and deleted before they have time to spread... This is Nieto's most recent The fatal method is also the most useless method against Ke Lan.

There are no markers in the underground space, and there is only Nieto's body in sight. It is very easy for ordinary people to lose their way when walking in it. Fortunately, Ke Lan's mental power is strong enough. Every step he takes, there is something in his mind. It will generate a three-dimensional image of a part of the underground space, and the walking route can be almost accurate to centimeters, ensuring that there will be no deviation in every step.

However, Ke Lan did not take a straight line, but a reciprocating search route. Just like an engineer clearing mines, he advanced into the depths of the underground space in an S-shaped route. He first selected a direction on one side and walked all the way to the end. Before turning around and walking towards the other side, make sure not to miss an inch of space.

Finally, after searching a space of almost three hundred square meters, Ke Lan found a metal cylinder - Nieto's body always kept a few meters away from the cylinder, as if there was a circle of restrictions around the cylinder. , preventing it from getting close to the general.

Without Nieto, Ke Lan knew that this column must be the passage leading to the top of the clouds - the Nieto in the Lower City said that as managers of the second class, they themselves had no right to enter the top of the clouds. Yunding is a territory that belongs only to the owner of the hive. No one, including these artificial intelligences, is strictly prohibited from entering.

Ke Lan walked up to the column and walked around it. At this time, Nieto's voice rang again: "I suggest you not to enter the cloud top."

"Why?" Ke Lan turned to look at Nieto with some curiosity, "From our standpoint, you shouldn't use the word 'suggestion', right?"

"Due to the influence of the remaining power of the great gods, the space and time in the cloud top are in a highly chaotic state. You may be killed instantly if you enter, but it may also cause the power sealed in the cloud top to leak out, destroying the entire nest. They were all destroyed... To use human allusion, Genting at this time is like a Pandora's box. No one knows what will come out before opening it," Nieto said.

"Space and time are in a state of high chaos? What kind of chaos? Can you describe it to me?" Ke Lan reached out and stroked the surface of the metal cylinder - the texture of this metal is very strange, it is obviously very hard, but it feels like It is a liquid rather than a solid. Ke Lan can even feel the surface of the metal cylinder tightly fitting his palm prints, but when he wants to press down hard, it is difficult for his palm to press down at all.

"There are some places in Genting where the time is normal, and there are some places where the time was at the moment when His power came half a million years ago..."

"His power...refers to disaster, right?"

[P.S. I wish everyone a happy New Year in 2023. 】