Chapter 164: The Finished Product
Roland had his reasons for pursuing a powerful soul-based consciousness. Otherwise, he could have simply let an AI take direct control of the body.
But the issue seemed to involve something metaphysical. A body controlled purely by AI consciousness had inherent flaws—it couldn’t fully unleash the body’s potential. Pyke was a special case, having fused with the original consciousness, achieving perfect compatibility. Jhin, on the other hand, drew most of his power directly from Roland, with the AI responsible only for controlling the body.
At the heart of it all was something called the soul.
The overwhelming power of PROJECT-modified beings came partly from advanced genetic modification and extremely powerful custom cyberware, but another critical component lay in the soul itself. Only a sufficiently powerful soul could truly command such a formidable body and bring out its real strength.
And the PROJECT world… was no longer just a technological one. It contained no small amount of mysticism as well.
Mr. Blue Eyes’ consciousness was never the final goal. Roland intended to use it as a foundation, then fuse it with many other consciousnesses—or souls—to assemble an entirely new, immensely powerful composite consciousness.
This was Roland’s first attempt at something like this, so further experimentation was necessary. Conveniently, Mr. Blue Eyes had delivered himself along with others, making it the perfect chance to grab a few smaller specimens and test the waters.
Any successful results wouldn’t go to waste. They could simply be installed into top-tier security robots or assassination units—put to good use.
Soon, under Mr. Blue Eyes’ arrangements and Lissandra’s covert actions, an encirclement took shape.
Inside the base, the sub-intelligent AIs put on a show of resistance, frantically sending distress signals outward while launching attacks at surrounding AIs. But under the sheer volume of incoming assaults, they quickly found themselves overwhelmed.
Before long, they were defeated. The firewall defenses collapsed under the onslaught of rogue AIs led by Mr. Blue Eyes, who broke straight into the base’s internal network.
After flinging a program at the sub-AI inside the base, Mr. Blue Eyes called over his companions to keep watch, ensuring the target would become one of their own.
Every AI present had attack programs primed—and none of them were for show.
As for why… Roland had his concerns. Even though he had great confidence in the sub-AI created by Lissandra, there was always the possibility of something going wrong. Better to be cautious.
If it really did get assimilated, that would solve the problem just as well.
Soon enough, the AIs noticed a flicker of green light flash through the sub-AI’s eyes. Confirming it was still on their side, they finally relaxed.
“Thank you for your assistance. I understand your purpose now. The object is inside the base.”
The sub-AI looked calmly at Mr. Blue Eyes and raised a hand, pointing inward. An ultra-powerful data-constructed firewall immediately dissolved.
Mr. Blue Eyes’ eyes widened in surprise.
The firewall had been exceptionally well hidden, with a collection of terrifyingly subtle viruses embedded within it. If the AI in front of him hadn’t dismantled it…
He would have suffered badly.
But with all obstacles cleared, Mr. Blue Eyes didn’t hesitate. He moved straight inside and soon spotted an unmistakably conspicuous shell.
A body without a soul.
Mr. Blue Eyes slowly drifted above the shell in cyberspace. A fiery glint flashed in his eyes, mixed with visions of the future—and even a faint, nameless ambition.
As the leader of this group of rogue AIs, his strength was nothing to scoff at. But compared to the massive AIs beyond the Black Wall, he fell far short.
And this shell before him… feeling the power contained within it up close, Mr. Blue Eyes realized it was like an amplifier, capable of drastically boosting his strength. Perhaps… with this, he could truly become one of the strongest AIs in existence.
At the thought, his gaze grew unfocused. To be honest, as much as he hated to admit it, humans really did surpass AIs when it came to certain conceptual ideas.
Mr. Blue Eyes began guiding his consciousness, slowly sinking it into the shell. Before long, his awareness fully merged with the body.
As light gradually flooded his vision, he quickly took in his surroundings—then immediately sensed something wrong. The body’s energy reserves were pitifully low, not even enough to let him move.
Unease surged within him, and he tried to withdraw from the body.
There was no response.
Panic struck instantly, and he shouted, “Red Queen! Quickly—transfer energy to me and get me out of here!”
Buzz—
A low hum echoed, and a humanoid projection appeared before him. It was the Red Queen.
Relief flashed across Mr. Blue Eyes’ face. “Quickly, take me away from here.”
“You can no longer leave. You will become one of us.”
The Red Queen looked at him with cold indifference as she spoke.
Mr. Blue Eyes froze. He tried to say something, but the Red Queen vanished before he could—someone else had arrived.
“Pleased to meet you. You’re the first AI I’ve seen in this world with reasonably decent processing power. Hmm, a local one.”
Mudor spoke cheerfully as he activated the equipment.
“So I’m more than happy to use you for a bit of experimentation. But you’re far too valuable a specimen, so don’t worry—I won’t lay a knife on you until I’m absolutely sure.”
Mudor patted Mr. Blue Eyes on the shoulder and stepped aside, lowering the energy output again. At this point, even turning his neck was impossible.
“Who are you? What exactly are you people planning?!”
A chill crept up from Mr. Blue Eyes’ core as he demanded answers.
“My boss has always been curious about who’s really backing you. Night Corp? Unlikely. After all, you AIs have existed for so long and control such a vast territory that humans don’t even dare approach it. There’s no way you could’ve stayed completely quiet.”
Mudor ignored his question and continued speaking to himself.
“Is it those so-called ‘New Humans’ of this world? Or some restless forces in Europe? Maybe a big shot in Crystal Palace? Or perhaps people from certain major corporations?”
“You probably control some kind of large-scale weapon too, right? After all, some of the folks up top even have orbital weapons. Hmm… hard to say. Ah, forget it. I’m just a researcher anyway. You lot can be handled by Super Body.”
“Super Body?”
Listening to Mudor’s rambling, Mr. Blue Eyes quickly extracted the key information. First, PROJECT Corporation was fully aware of their existence. Second, they had a solid understanding of the world’s so-called upper powers and their military strength. And third… their corporation possessed something called Super Body, seemingly designed specifically to deal with AIs.
“Mm, right. You don’t know about him? Tsk, tsk. He’s not someone you want to mess with.”
As he spoke, Mudor pulled up a photograph.
A towering humanoid robot stood in the image, exuding overwhelming pressure as it stared straight ahead.
For reasons he couldn’t explain, a profound sense of dread welled up in Mr. Blue Eyes’ core.
“Oh—almost forgot…”
Mudor hurried forward, adding another layer of network isolation to Mr. Blue Eyes, and had Lissandra apply additional suppression as well.
After all… having learned this much, even if they didn’t want to kill him, they had no choice.
And besides, he was someone they had intended to deal with from the start.
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