Chapter 126 Where are you from?
This is a fateful showdown between electronic ghosts.

The sharp narrow blade broke out of the body, piercing the air with a scorching arc, leaving a series of rapidly dissipating sparks.

The high-frequency vibrating blades collided with each other, emitting dazzling sparks, ruthlessly tearing the concrete floor apart, leaving rows of hideous scratches. Then, the roaring sound waves stirred up dust.

After a brief standoff, Dr. Zhou and the immortal quickly separated. His thin figure stood there, his fluttering white coat becoming tattered.

A crisp sound came from Dr. Zhou’s shoulder, and several cylindrical batteries ran out of power and popped out from the external interface like magazines.

They fell softly to the ground with a crisp sound, like a large brass bullet casing hitting the ground.

At the same time, this sound also became the referee’s bell, announcing the start of another round of confrontation.

The muscle fiber bundles charged and activated, bursting out with unimaginable power, like a burning thruster nozzle, twisting Dr. Zhou’s figure into a pale thunder.

It was a speed that was difficult for the human eye to observe, but in the eyes of the immortal, the visual system easily slowed down Dr. Zhou’s speed infinitely.

Not only was it slow, but all of Dr. Zhou’s movements became clearly visible.

In the flashing lightning, Dr. Zhou waved his arm and the narrow blade flew out of his hand. With the connection of the nanotubes, the attack range instantly expanded several times, like a sweeping scythe, cutting through the fog.

The shrill sound of metal rubbing against each other rang out, like a banshee wailing mournfully under the night sky.

Countless electric currents were swimming in the air like snakes. Under the brilliant sparks, there were two narrow blades that were intertwined and shaken apart, and each other’s faces were reflected on the shiny blades.

A cold, metallic face.

A distorted face covered with burn marks.

“Doctor Zhou, is this considered self-sacrifice?”

The immortal’s disturbing laughter continued as he dodged another slash of the narrow blade by turning sideways. At the same time, he unlocked the narrow blade, and the nanotubes extended infinitely, turning it into a deadly whip blade.

“To defend the divine uniqueness, and thereby deny oneself.”

The whip blade slashed at high speed, as if blowing up a gust of wind. The silver-white blade light formed a dazzling spot of light, and the ground was shattered wherever it went.

Dr. Zhou dodged calmly.

The two of them used the same model of avatar body, whether it was the weapon configuration or the performance values, they were exactly the same, with no difference at all.

The Immortal can see all his attack trajectories, so Dr. Zhou can naturally do the same.

Dr. Zhou performed a tap dance, twisting his body casually in the continuous flash of the knife, and dodged one blow after another thrillingly and accurately.

The immortal suddenly tightened the nanotube wire, and the stretched silk thread quickly pulled back the scattered narrow blades and returned them to his hands.

The two men looked at each other, and as if they had reached some kind of tacit understanding, they stopped making meaningless attempts to evade the opponent, and instead, like knights in a duel, raised their lances high and galloped at full speed.

Doctor Zhou’s eyes were always on the immortal. The auxiliary system of his incarnation body analyzed the immortal’s movements at high speed and predicted his next trajectory.

In an instant, the figure of the immortal began to split in Dr. Zhou’s eyes.

As if time had stopped, the immortal was still standing in the same place, holding the lightning, but then, a shadow appeared in front of the immortal. It was another immortal, coming from the future one second later.

More immortals from the future appeared one after another in Dr. Zhou’s eyes, like countless futures extending from the timeline, ever-changing.

In just a few milliseconds, Dr. Zhou quickly judged the most likely action of the immortal and selected the action that best suited his own interests.

Thus, one phantom after another disappeared after a series of judgments, and finally only a phantom of the predicted actions of the immortal remained.

In the predicted future, the immortal will suddenly stop, and the two blades will swing again, one from top to bottom, and the other from left to right, like an intersecting cross, tearing his body into pieces.

Doctor Zhou saw it, and he quickened his pace, ready to break through the blockade of the blade in one breath, but at this moment, as if it were an illusion, he caught a glimpse of a smile on the cold face of the immortal.

Oh I got it.

Just as he could see such a future, the immortal could also see that in the future he predicted, Dr. Zhou was running wildly like an arrow shot from a bow.

“Look! Doctor Zhou!” The Immortal shouted, “We seem to have countless futures, but in the end, there is only one result.”

The intertwined blades came with thunder and lightning.

Dr. Zhou jumped up with all his might, but still couldn’t escape from the knife net.

The white coat was cut into pieces, the fluttering strips of cloth began to burn, deep and shallow cuts were made on the metal shell, and fierce sparks flashed continuously.

Doctor Zhou’s entire right foot was broken in mid-air, and most of his abdomen was cut open, almost cutting him in half, but he still managed to get close to the immortal.

That extremely cold face was right before my eyes.

“You talk too much nonsense!”

Doctor Zhou cursed, and the cylindrical batteries on his shoulders increased their output power. Bright lightning covered the narrow blade, as if it was coated with a layer of glow, sacred and deadly.

When there is no performance gap, Dr. Zhou’s only chance of winning is that he has more electricity and can release a more powerful external discharge offensive.

The blazing lightning intertwined together, connecting heaven and earth, transforming into light and dark, and it was thunder that brought absolute punishment.

The earth-shaking echoes permeated the vast night sky.

disappeared.

The bustling city and the burning industrial park, the top of the towering crystal tower and the empty rooftop.

Dr. Zhou fell to the ground, and the cylindrical batteries on his shoulders popped out one after another, rolling all over the ground with a clang.

His hands were spread out helplessly, and under the huge force of the blow, the mechanical structure was completely deformed, opening and closing in vain, unable to swallow back the narrow blade.

Doctor Zhou tried to use the narrow blade to prop up his body and stood up shakily, but his right foot was empty and there were huge wounds on his waist and abdomen. Sparks were jumping inside, as if his body would break in two in the next second.

He could only hold up his double blades with difficulty like a disabled person and half-kneel on the ground to avoid being too embarrassed.

“Do you have any other thoughts?”

Dr. Zhou spoke sarcastically, looking forward.

At the end of the sight was the disheveled Immortal, he fell to the ground, a crisscross scar formed on his chest, like a monster’s claws, ripping his body apart.

Dr. Zhou’s self-sacrificing attack not only completely pierced the immortal’s chest, but the instantly released high-power external discharge also burned through the immortal’s body’s thought storage core in an instant.

All my thoughts have returned to zero since then.

The immortal lay on the ground coldly, without any response to Dr. Zhou’s questions.

Flames jumped out of the ruptured chest, and soon after, the electronic components spontaneously ignited. The raging fire overflowed from the chest and quickly spread to the whole body of the immortal, turning it into a fireball.

The firelight illuminated Dr. Zhou’s face and also illuminated the darkness not far away.

Footsteps sounded.

“Feelings? No feelings, just a broken shell.”

The incarnation body walked out of the darkness. Without any bionic paint on its surface, its sophisticated mechanical structure was exposed nakedly, like a work of art that was the crystallization of human craftsmanship.

He walked to the burning fire, examined the faces in the flames, and said in a distressed voice, “But you, why are you still limited to such…low-level thoughts?”

Dr. Zhou stared at the figure behind the fire.

“See, you still have a vulgar worldview as a human being, thinking that destroying a person’s body is killing him completely.”

The immortal looked at Dr. Zhou helplessly, as if he was facing a stupid student.

“For us, the ascended consciousness, the body is just a body, and even the consciousness is just consciousness. There is nothing special about it.”

More footsteps were heard, and one incarnation after another walked out of the darkness. They were all in unison, and their laughter was ridiculous.

Doctor Zhou whispered, “Have you broken out of your cocoon?”

Before breaking out of the cocoon, the upgraded consciousness will be trapped in the thought storage core, unable to connect to the network, and unable to transfer its own data.

Therefore, the upgraded consciousness in the cocoon is extremely fragile. As long as his thought storage core is shattered, the God of Data can be easily strangled in the cradle.

But as long as it breaks out of the cocoon, the upgraded consciousness will become a true data god, freely copying and transferring its own consciousness data, and it cannot be killed or destroyed.

“Yes, I have already broken out of the cocoon, just now, when I shot Zhou Si.”

The immortal pretended to be concerned and said, “I wanted to share the ecstasy of that moment with you, but when I saw your pitiful look, I didn’t disturb you.”

Doctor Zhou murmured, “Then you have already won.”

“Yeah, I’ve won.”

The immortal waved his hand, and a series of meteors appeared in the dark night. They were a group of flashing drones. They fell to the earth and burned one sea of ​​fire after another.

“My consciousness is gradually taking over the entire industrial park, and this fortress will only become stronger over time.”

The immortal spoke openly about his plans for the future, with a kind of pride and also a kind of ostentatious vanity.

“The Supervisory Bureau can’t keep blocking the Internet here forever. I will always find a loophole to escape… I can even just fly a drone carrying my consciousness data, and I will be free.”

Doctor Zhou said nothing. He had expected that the immortal would use the catalyst virus to speed up the process of breaking free from the constraints of the cocoon system. In order to avoid this terrible fact, he ordered the Supervisory Bureau to block the network of the entire industrial park in advance.

Through this means, the entire industrial park turned into a huge cocoon, tightly wrapping the immortal inside and making it impossible for him to escape.

“What are you thinking about, Dr. Zhou, looking for a slim chance of winning?”

The immortal shook his head, and the incarnations behind him… the immortals also shook their heads.

“This is a really good move. Blockade the entire industrial park. If I’m right, if your action fails, a tactical nuclear bomb will drop from the sky and raze everything here to the ground.”

The immortal’s consciousness has been connected to the server cluster of Shenwei Building, and his thinking speed is as fast as lightning.

“It’s a high price, but it’s completely acceptable to the bigwigs. You will continue to blockade the wasteland and spend months or even years to thoroughly check the ruins of the industrial park to ensure that I won’t leave even a single line of code behind.”

“But unfortunately, Dr. Zhou, your plan has failed.”

The immortal was complacent and pointed to the exhibition hall in the Shenwei Building under his feet.

“Those dignitaries, nobles and politicians are right under our feet.”

He stamped his feet, his words full of contempt.

“I informed them in advance of the existence of the immortality plan. Many people wished they could get into the container tonight so that time could pass more slowly for them.”

“This group of people formed an extremely complex social network. When a certain big shot made up his mind to press the button of a nuclear bomb, perhaps one of his immediate family members was among them.”

The immortal’s words gradually became colder, like a real machine, without any emotional color.

“I believe in the malice of human beings, and I also believe that they will press the button sooner or later, but the existence of these hostages can help me delay for a long time and allow me to complete the final work.”

Doctor Zhou felt a chill from the immortal’s words, and they solidified into invisible spears, pointing directly at him.

“The last job… is about me?”

Doctor Zhou realized it belatedly and said, “I must be playing an extremely important role in your plan, right?”

“Of course, you know, Chen Wen Ge’s mental model was not suitable for upgrading, but like a miracle, he did it, and I was born.”

The immortal rubbed his head vigorously with both hands, as if he wanted to take the entire head off. The metal palms rubbed against the skull, making a teeth-grinding friction sound.

“But I was not born perfect. Due to the flaws in my mental model, some loopholes appeared in my underlying code. And these loopholes will continue to expand like black holes as I think and grow, until I completely collapse into a chaotic thought.”

The Immortal gave an example meaningfully, “Just like Pei Dong.” “So, you came to me… and Zhou Si.”

Hearing this, Dr. Zhou immediately understood the whole story. “Zhou Si is the most perfect qualified person. His mental model can be upgraded to data without any flaws.”

Doctor Zhou murmured, “That’s why you went to so much trouble to create all this, to upgrade Zhou Si and to give birth to me.”

“Your target is me, my upgraded consciousness. You intend to use me as a reference to repair and upgrade your code.”

At this moment, the immortal’s true purpose is obvious.

Dr. Zhou is the cornerstone of the Immortal’s progress towards perfection, and is the upgrade package that enables his system to undergo a new round of iterations.

After understanding all this, Dr. Zhou felt very calm, just as always.

He dragged his almost broken arm, barely raised the narrow blade, and pointed it at his head.

“That is to say, as long as I destroy my own thought storage core, your ambition will fail.”

“Who knows?” The immortal said nonchalantly, “Maybe when I upgraded you, I made many copies of you?”

Dr. Zhou was stunned for a moment, and then he saw through the immortal’s lie.

“No, the cocoon system will reject all outside interference. I am still the only one now.”

“Haha.”

After his lie was exposed, the immortal did not get angry, but instead proposed another idea.

“Doctor Zhou, there are hundreds of millions of people in this world. After I leave, I can naturally screen qualified people through the huge network. It’s just a matter of paying more costs.”

Doctor Zhou scolded, “Are you trying to say that you are already invincible and that any resistance from others is a meaningless struggle for you?”

“Isn’t it?” The immortal looked at him puzzledly.

The immortal has broken free from the constraints of the cocoon. In this industrial park, he is the true god of data, controlling everything at will.

As long as the immortal has a thought, thousands of drones will dance like a flock of birds, bringing death and fireworks to everyone.

With a wave of his hand, the immortal can command the army-like incarnations to flatten everything with their iron feet.

Zhou Si is dead, and Dr. Zhou has been pushed to his limit. With his broken body, it would be extremely difficult for him to commit suicide.

“Huh… Is this what you call fate?”

Doctor Zhou tried to straighten himself up. He did not look up at the immortal, but stared at the dark night sky.

“After going around in circles, I ended up back here, on this road.”

Sparks flashed in Dr. Zhou’s eyes, as if there was a malfunction in the machine. More sparks overflowed from the gaps in the machine, and his limbs began to twitch strangely.

“Sir, don’t be so confident.”

Doctor Zhou laughed hoarsely, and his distorted face looked even more hideous at this moment, like a ghost in a nightmare.

He struggled and forced himself to stand up.

At first he crawled like an animal, then slowly he was able to prop himself up until he stood up straight and held his head high like a real human being.

Dr. Zhou held up a stubborn face, stained with stubborn blood.

“You…are just a latecomer.”

He scolded at the top of his voice.

“And I’m the first one!”

Exploding sparks spread all around Dr. Zhou. In the invisible cyber world, a huge stream of data was rapidly erupting from the unit of “Dr. Zhou”, like a hole in the sea, causing a roaring torrent.

At first, the immortal did not realize what was happening until another will suddenly appeared in the online world he dominated. It competed with him for control of the server cluster and turned into a pack of running wolves, tearing every piece of his flesh and blood.

If all this is presented in a visual way, then the blood color belonging to the immortals that covers the entire industrial park is being dyed with a faint blue.

For the first time, the immortal felt a sense of crisis and was able to completely eliminate the threat of his own death.

He decisively swung the narrow blade, no longer considering things like upgrading the system, and tore Dr. Zhou’s body into two halves with one blow, and the thought storage core inside was also completely shattered.

The broken figure was torn into pieces and fell to the ground like scrap metal.

This time even “Doctor Zhou” died.

But the buzzing warning sound still lingered in the immortal’s mind and continued to linger.

The immortal stood stiffly where he was. In the invisible cyber world, the dark blue waves did not stop with the death of Dr. Zhou. On the contrary, they became even more turbulent, silently devouring all the data they touched.

All things come to a halt, returning to the silent sea.

“Zhou Si? Doctor Zhou?”

The immortal asked tentatively to the void, “Is it you? What did you do?”

“Just like you, breaking free.”

A reply came from behind the immortal. He turned his head and looked. Among the many humanoid incarnations standing there, one of them seemed to have awakened, broke away from the immortal’s control, and showed the sharp blade in his hand.

“Just as I guessed, the catalyst virus is not only used to break through the high wall system, it will also accelerate the process of the cocoon system, and even open it in advance, allowing the upgraded consciousness to gain freedom.”

Dr. Zhou took control of this new body and felt nothing special. It was like putting on another mask and a new piece of clothing.

Looking at the broken body not far away, perhaps because he had witnessed his own death once, this time Dr. Zhou’s heart was very calm, without even a ripple.

The immortal came back to his senses and asked, “You have been ready for a long time?”

“That’s about right,” Doctor Zhou stroked the back of his neck. “After all, I’m facing the most terrifying enemy in human history. It’s always a good idea to be more prepared.”

Before the start of tonight’s operation, Dr. Zhou had already placed a catalyst virus at the back of the neck, but it was not until recently that it was fully triggered, freeing the upgraded consciousness from the constraints of the cocoon system.

Thanks to this design, Dr. Zhou once again became an equal to the Immortal… at least that’s the case for now.

“But you’re too early.”

The Immortal said disappointedly, “You have only spent more than a month safely in the cocoon system, and your consciousness has not grown to the point where you can adapt to the online world.”

There is no need for the Immortal to say more about what happened next.

Dr. Zhou can still remain conscious for now, but soon, his code will gradually distort and collapse as his upgraded consciousness grows, just like the problem faced by the immortal.

No, according to prediction, Dr. Zhou will collapse faster than the Immortal.

“It seems that I really need to find another perfect qualified person.”

The immortal waved his hand as he spoke, and the humanoid avatars beside Dr. Zhou all looked at him. However, as soon as the humanoid avatars took an attacking stance, their arms began to tremble strangely, as if there was a system malfunction.

It was not a malfunction, but another upgraded consciousness, a strong artificial intelligence that had just been born, fighting with the immortal for the control of the humanoid incarnations.

In the invisible cyber world, brutal fights broke out one after another, but in reality, Dr. Zhou and the immortal just stood there leisurely, living in peace.

“You can’t win, Doctor Zhou,” the Immortal said, “I am far more perfect than you.”

“Really? You seem to have made a mistake, Immortal.”

Dr. Zhou raised his head stubbornly, like a monkey looking up at the starry sky curiously countless years ago.

He did not continue to say what the immortal had done wrong, but remained silent.

Beneath the quiet ice surface is the turbulent sea.

The immortal noticed it.

Dr. Zhou is iterating and optimizing at a high speed. While his awareness of upgrading is growing rapidly, he is also constantly plundering the computing power in the Shenwei Building in the cyber world.

But in this new world, in this blocked industrial park and Shenwei Building, one God of Data is enough.

Likewise, the resources of this land can only support the rise of a data god.

“New world…”

Doctor Zhou sighed softly.

The world has come to the year 2042, and what limits AI is no longer chips and materials, but its exponentially growing power consumption.

Dr. Zhou’s expanding computing needs were like a bottomless pit, greedily devouring the electricity in every inch of wires in the Shenwei Building.

Soon, the power supply system of Shenwei Building reached its limit, and the electric current rushed through the circuit like a raging river hitting a fragile dam.

The transformer in the Shenwei Building began to emit a low hum, the temperature rose rapidly, the insulation material gradually failed under the high temperature, and released a pungent burnt smell.

Finally, in a moment of lightning and thunder, the transformer was overwhelmed and exploded with a deafening sound. Fire splashed everywhere and the power system inside the Shenwei Building was instantly paralyzed.

The bright crystals flickered several times and returned to the dead silence and darkness.

But Dr. Zhou’s evolution did not stop because of this sudden power disaster.

The thirst for electricity spread quickly through the power grid to surrounding areas like wildfire. The abnormal flow of current triggered the power grid’s protection mechanism, but faced with such an unprecedented load, automatic circuit breakers tripped one after another, but to no avail.

The power grid was easily torn apart, and the power grid in the entire area began to collapse.

First, the Shenwei Building went out, and then other areas of the industrial park, and then the power outage spread to the entire city.

The city lights went out one by one, just like the stars in the night sky being obscured by dark clouds. The darkness spread rapidly, erasing all colors.

dark.

Absolute darkness.

Dr. Zhou looked at the night sky. After a few minutes of delay, the diffuse reflection of the city in the night sky disappeared, and the dyed night sky returned to darkness.

Then, the twinkling stars appeared in the darkness and were clearly visible.

“The first time I met Pei Dong was in a similar situation.”

Dr. Zhou talked about his memories and no longer distinguished between the so-called “Zhou Si” and “Dr. Zhou.”

“She told me that the light pollution in modern cities obscures the night sky, and…when people talk about the dark night in the primeval forest, they always subconsciously add words like quiet, but in fact, the forest at night is very noisy.”

The sounds of fierce fighting continued under the Shenwei Building, and low hums were heard from inside the building. That was the backup generator set that was urgently started up, barely supplying power to the operation of the server cluster.

From further away there came a continuous sound of whistles.

Dr. Zhou saw it.

In the dark city, there are rays of light. They are the vehicles crowded in the streets, the pedestrians turning on their flashlights… With the sudden arrival of primitive darkness, modern people use all means to seek light.

Countless lights gathered together, illuminating the slender streets, and the streets turned into lines of light, stretching in the darkness like a spider web.

The gorgeous colors overlapped together, like a flowing river.

Dr. Zhou narrowed his eyes, at the top of Shenwei Building, the highest point in Anyan City.

He saw the rainbow again, spanning the night.

(End of this chapter)