Hunter of Mysterious Creature

Chapter 680 4: Sphinx (Part 2)

Speaking of sacrifices, Sun Hang suddenly remembered the final fate of those Hunters.

They were absorbed by Anna, losing all their emotions, becoming the "final straw" that awakened Anna... From this perspective, there is indeed little difference between them and sacrifices.

But... why does the Sphinx want to awaken Anna? And how is Anna related to the continuation of human civilization?

Sun Hang has contacted Anna many times, and he can confirm that Anna absolutely does not have any concept of good and evil. To her, the life and death of humans are irrelevant; what she cares about is only...

Me?

Sun Hang was jolted with surprise.

He suddenly realized the crux of the matter.

He himself is the connection between them... He doesn't want the world of human civilization to be destroyed by sinister entities. As long as he sticks to this idea, Anna might stand on the side of humans... Is this the "solution" given by the Sphinx's prophecy?

"Besides, there's another prophecy that I haven't been able to decipher for decades... I think this prophecy might not be for me, but left for you," said the main brain.

"Oh? Can I take a look?"

A robot silently slid in front of Sun Hang, with a gap about a finger wide on its chest. Accompanied by a fine rustling sound, an A4 paper was ejected from the gap.

On the A4 paper was a pencil-like sketch, depicting three monkeys: one covering its mouth, one covering its eyes, and the other covering its ears.

"Prophecy?" Sun Hang sneered inwardly, "This seems more like a warning!"

"Do you know what this is?" asked the main brain.

"Monkeys," Sun Hang replied.

"Right, monkeys. But these three monkeys also have another name, 'Three Wise Monkeys,'" the main brain explained, "The story originates from the Analects, where Confucius told his disciple Yan Yuan, 'Do not look at what is improper, do not listen to what is improper, do not speak what is improper, do not move according to what is improper.' Later craftsmen created sculptures of the 'Three Wise Monkeys' based on this saying."

"Do not look at what is improper, do not listen to what is improper, do not speak what is improper, do not move according to what is improper... There should be four sayings, right? Why does the sculpture have only three monkeys?"

"Think about why the three wise monkeys are presented in the form of a statue?"

"Because... statues can't move?" Sun Hang suddenly understood, "Besides that, is there any other explanation for the origin of the Three Wise Monkeys?"

Pei Zongjun's holographic projection shook his head, "I've searched through all existing human civilization records related to it and still haven't found any clues. I tried to use the Sphinx's foresight ability focused on it but suffered severe backlash... You can find online that Chunming City experienced a major blackout twenty-six years ago. That blackout was caused by Dubhe Tower attempting to repair the main brain."

Pei Zongjun's projection led Sun Hang to the back of the glass tank, from this angle, one could see that the brain tissue soaked in the tank suffered very serious injuries, with numerous healing scars on the surface, and near the bottom, some carbonized tissue remained, through the transparent membrane on the surface, one could see some artificial devices buried within the brain tissue, a polymer tube replaced the blood vessels, like circuit board jump wires, connecting good tissue on both sides of the carbonized tissue.

Accompanied by slight pulsations within the brain in the tank, something like blood flowed within the tube, tiny bubbles occasionally rose from the crevices of the brain tissue, ascending to the top of the glass tank.

"Can all this be repaired?" Sun Hang exclaimed in wonder, "Technology is truly amazing."

"We paid a huge price to repair the main brain," Pei Zongjun's holographic projection showed a hint of sadness, "Yet even so, the main brain hasn't returned to its previous state... If calculated solely on computational power, the current main brain has only about sixty percent of its performance before the backlash."

"And you're not afraid of experiencing another backlash by showing me this prophecy?" Sun Hang asked.

"That's also part of the prophecy," replied the main brain, "The Sphinx told me, this prophecy is left for you."

Left for me... This is just the Three Monkeys' warning not to push my limits! Sun Hang thought angrily.

He casually tore the sketch into pieces, stuffed it back into the robot's chest gap, and clapped his hands, "So you can't answer my questions?"

"Some questions I can't answer," the main brain said sincerely, "and some questions I must not answer."

"Is this also the Sphinx's prophecy?"

The main brain didn't respond, tacitly acknowledging.

"If I retrieve the other half of the Sphinx's brain, once we have the complete Sphinx brain, do you think you could resist such backlash?"

As soon as Sun Hang finished speaking, the equipment surrounding the brain in the tank began to emit dense buzzing sounds, the sound of cooling system fans spinning frantically inside the equipment, boiling cooling fluid flowed rapidly through copper tubes, tens of thousands of indicator lights flashed at a very high frequency...

Just when Sun Hang thought these devices were about to explode, everything went silent.

"What happened?"

"I just received a new prophecy," said the main brain, "I saw...a vast desert."

"A desert? Egypt?" Sun Hang's mouth twitched, "The Sphinx already foresaw I'm about to go looking for it? Did you see pyramids in the desert? Or the iconic Sphinx?"

"No," Pei Zongjun's holographic projection shook his head.

"Not a single landmark, just endless deserts... Is the Sphinx avoiding me? Indeed, taking the remaining half of its brain would render it unviable, so out of survival instinct, it wouldn't want to be found by me..."

"Actually, I've always been able to sense the general activity range of the Sphinx," the main brain suddenly said, "The desert appearing in the prophecy signifies something else."

"Oh? Also a tracking function? Where's the Sphinx now?"

"It's been roaming around the encompassing areas of the former sites of Egypt, Sudan, and Libya, though precise location can't be determined."

"Egypt, Sudan, Libya?" Sun Hang recalled the map of Africa, these three countries are located in the northeastern corner of the African Continent, roughly accounting for one-sixth of the continent... This margin of error is rather large.

"Honestly, I don't recommend going there," said the main brain, "Though Dubhe Tower has been conducting secret exploration of the Surrendered Area, we've never ventured so far, and we know nothing about the situation there."

"Satellites? I've always wondered, can't even satellites capture images within the Surrendered Area?"

"They can capture images, but they only show images from before the Surrendered Area succumbed," said the main brain, "This is due to the interference of the rule-based entity 'Time-freezing Shadow,' which disrupts all observations of the Surrendered Area, leaving it in a state of invisibility."

"Cheating, shameless indeed," Sun Hang said with some displeasure.

"There's no choice, to obtain true information about the Surrendered Area, there's only one way," said the main brain, "Direct observation."