Hunter of Mysterious Creature

Chapter 678 3: Mastermind_2

She tried to use her hands to grab the ground to counteract the inertia, but soon, her hands didn't belong to her anymore—as if all the screws and fasteners had suddenly disappeared, her cybernetic skeleton shattered into pieces, turning into a pile of loose parts wrapped under silicone skin... sharp gears even directly cut through the silicone skin, rolling to Sun Hang's feet.

"Knowing full well that I have the ability to control metal, yet you still charge at me?" Sun Hang looked at the black-clad woman lying on the ground, akin to a mangled human, "Your actions resemble those of expendable grunts in cartoons who shout 'close combat is beneficial to me' and then rush in only to die."

The black-clad woman said nothing, just twisted her head and glared fiercely at Sun Hang.

In fact, Sun Hang held back, not dismantling all of her cybernetic body—at least he retained her artificial heart and lungs, and the circulatory system connecting the heart, lungs, and brain... if Sun Hang were to dismantle this part, it wouldn't be long before her brain died from lack of oxygen.

"Come in." Pei Zongjun's voice rang in the hall, and the door silently opened.

Sun Hang glanced at the immobile black-clad woman on the ground, then walked into the "reception room."

The arrangements in the reception room hadn't changed much; spotless sofas and coffee tables looked as if they had just been cleaned. Pei Zongjun's holographic projection stood in front of the blazing fireplace, smiling as Sun Hang walked in.

"Same as last time? Sugary Coca-Cola?" Pei Zongjun asked.

"Today I want to drink iced tea." Sun Hang sat on the sofa without hesitation. "I just dismantled your bodyguard, should be no big deal, right?"

"No problem, her set of cybernetics was due for an upgrade anyway; she just had sentimental attachment to the old ones, so she refused to change... it's a perfect opportunity to ask you for a favor." Pei Zongjun said with a smile, as an adjacent mechanical arm served iced tea with ice cubes to Sun Hang's side.

"Oh, it seems I've been used by you again?" Sun Hang picked up the cup and drank it in one gulp. "Refill, please. By the way, aren't you afraid I'd just kill her? That would save the hassle of getting new cybernetics."

"I haven't sensed any murderous intent from you." Pei Zongjun's holographic projection picked up a virtual cup of tea, gently swirling it.

"Murderous intent? How did you sense that?"

"To be precise, it wasn't sensed but computed." Pei Zongjun said, "When a data sample is sufficiently ample, and computational power is strong enough, whether a person's emotions contain murderous intent can be calculated."

"Then why don't you calculate what's on my mind right now?" Sun Hang drank his second cup of iced tea, asking.

"There's no need to calculate that."

"Why?"

"Because when you boarded that plane, I already knew what your purpose was in seeking me."

"Wang Xiyi told you?"

"No, I saw it. My eyes are everywhere." Pei Zongjun said, "The cameras in that airplane cabin are part of my field of vision."

"You don't quite seem like an old man about to 'kick the bucket'." Sun Hang said in a deep voice, "Then... what exactly are you?"

Sun Hang attempted to use his mind-reading ability on Pei Zongjun's holographic projection, but only gleaned a bunch of binary data—mind-reading abilities only work on living beings or entities capable of thought, and the holographic image before him was merely a form of data output, possessing neither self-awareness nor thinking ability.

"You're right, actually, I've been dead for quite a while... or rather, the person known as Pei Zongjun has been dead." The holographic image made a gesture inviting Sun Hang, the flames in the fireplace instantly extinguished, and the entire wall split into two.

A world of silver and white appeared before Sun Hang.

In an immensely large glass tank, brain tissue the size of an entire main battle tank was immersed, countless electrode patches were attached, myriad tubes extended from within the brain tissue, connecting to the glass tank's base interfaces.

The surrounding walls were directly "built" from a multitude of precision equipment, Sun Hang could even feel the rushing information flow surging through the fiber optics, converging from all directions into the glass tank and then transmitted to various places from there.

Beside the glass tank lay a transparent coffin, wherein a gaunt elderly man lay quietly.

This old man's features bore some resemblance to Pei Zongjun's holographic projection.

"As you see, the real Pei Zongjun has been dead for a long time." Pei Zongjun's holographic projection walked to the coffin's side, calmly gazing at the old man's corpse inside.

"So what are you now?"

"You can perceive me as the continuation of Pei Zongjun's thought consciousness, or call me the 'main brain'—the core supercomputer 'main brain' of Dubhe Tower." Pei Zongjun's holographic projection said.

Sun Hang noticed on Pei Zongjun's real corpse, there were traces of a cut along the skull, forming a circle as if the entire top of the skull had been opened.

"When my bodily functions were near their limit and life-support equipment could no longer sustain my life, I underwent a craniotomy." Pei Zongjun's holographic projection said, "I extracted my brain and merged it with the 'main brain'. I, myself, have transitioned into a new form of life—you can consider me as a digital lifeform, or as a new enigmatic entity."

The enormous brain tissue within the glass tank was unabashedly emanating the aura of enigmatic memes.

"This 'supercomputer'... wasn't built by humans, right?"

"It was built by humans, but the raw materials used came from enigmatic entities." Pei Zongjun's holographic projection said.

"Let's hear it." Sun Hang walked around the edge of the glass tank, asking.

"Have you heard of the Sphinx?" Pei Zongjun's holographic projection—or rather, the "main brain" asked.

"The Egyptian Sphinx?"

"Yes, the prototype of the Sphinx is the Sphinx." The main brain said, "The Sphinx truly exists; according to current enigmatic entity classifications, it should belong to the same category as the Chimera 17 you destroyed just now."

"Go on."

"The Sphinx is a rare enigmatic entity with high intelligence, and it bears no hostility towards humans... Just as described in Ancient Greek Mythology, it enjoys having other intelligent beings solve riddles—it kills those who answer incorrectly, and those who solve the riddles can make a request of it."

"I thought it would jump off a cliff and commit suicide once the riddle was solved like in mythological stories." Sun Hang said, "Seems the real-world Sphinx is quite sensible."

"The 'main brain's' core comes from the Sphinx—in Egypt's unfallen days, a Hunter found the Sphinx and successfully solved its riddle." The main brain said, "And the condition he proposed was half of the Sphinx's brain."

"Why only half? Can't he just take it all?" Sun Hang asked puzzled.

"No one knows the exchange process between the Hunter and the Sphinx; in any case, he only brought back half of the Sphinx's brain."

The main brain continued, "The ability possessed by this half of the Sphinx's brain... is 'premonition'."