novelraw Chapter 512 - 46: The Two Ends of the Balance Scale
Chapter 512 - 46: The Two Ends of the Balance Scale
As a warped form of mechanical life, the construct has obvious advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage is its absolute subjugation of living beings. A level 50 corporate warrior, an elite, and several holding boss templates, all seem like child’s play in the hands of Gao Gong.
The disadvantage is that the construct is of little use to non-living entities.
Moreover, as a warped prosthetic body plugin, it perpetually distorts itself, which, if mishandled, could trigger a massacre mode for the user.
Gao Gong had just dealt with some matters and was drawn into a trap, nearly ruining a rich lady seed.
It’s terrifying even to think about it.
"You indeed exceeded my expectations."
Gao Gong looked up to see Kaibao watching him with interest from the rooftop of a building.
"I thought you’d be crushed under the first wave of Balance Technology’s assault."
"Then you’re underestimating me. This isn’t the intensity of a corporate war, and besides, the other side hasn’t even employed the full power of the testing grounds yet."
"Yes, indeed. Be careful, don’t die."
After Kaibao said this, his body turned into flying ash.
What, is this a warning?
The military prosthetic eye blinked, and the visual range expanded to its fullest, 2500 meters.
Within this range, the surrounding dozen streets were fully visible.
However, not a single living soul was present.
’Makes no sense, I should have cleared out all the test subjects nearby.’
Gao Gong thought as energy exhausts emerged from his body, and the mechanical body took to the sky, giving him a bird’s-eye view of the entire biological district.
Then, he witnessed an incredible scene.
Pedestrians, vendors, shop attendants on the streets, white-collar workers in skyscrapers, all turned to ash visibly like Kaibao just did.
One, ten, one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand...
Are you Thanos too?
Accompanied by the extraction of artificial data, a massive influx of biological signals started converging. Tiny currents appeared out of nowhere, influencing water molecules to form clouds, and in no time, the entire city seemed engulfed by clouds.
Pain pulsed through Gao Gong’s brain.
[You received a ’High-Intensity Neural Signal’ impact. Your perception of 120 grants you immunity.]
[You received a ’High-Intensity Neural Signal’ impact. Your perception of 130 grants you immunity.]
...
"So they did unleash the power of the testing grounds."
Gao Gong opened his palm, forming an illusory gyroscope into a tangible entity. With a backhand pinch, a deluge of electronic rain fell from nowhere.
The electronic rain struck the clouds, dispersing them.
What dissipated were not the clouds but the neural signal bundles pervading the air.
With a terrifying thunderclap, the phantom of a female giant appeared and disappeared among the clouds.
"So it is you, the online woman."
As another biological computer, Gao Gong naturally knew the use of this entity. A single biological computer could not achieve such an exaggerated effect.
The only reason was that Mengna was connected to Balance Technology’s database, momentarily controlling the power of the testing grounds.
Is this your way of caring for me?
Unexpected, yet reasonable.
After all, I am quite popular among rich ladies, the high-level HR of a world-class corporation, a super white bone spirit, perhaps a bit of a rich lady herself.
With a thought, all electronic raindrops exploded, and electronic horizons replaced prosthetic eyes. This time, he saw the true form of Liangzhou City.
It was a colossal brain overshadowing the entire sky.
Every biological district became a brain region.
Between the biological district and Balance Technology’s center, a brain beam resembling a galaxy spanned the sky, converging billions of neural signals into the river of the galaxy.
A chorus of a billion whispers echoed in Gao Gong’s mind.
[You received a ’Super Neural Signal’ impact that cannot be exempted; perception reduced by 1 point/sec, intelligence reduced by 2 points/sec.]
Dazed, Gao Gong’s signal system responded to the call, detaching from the mechanical body and flying toward the ’galaxy’.
Helplessly, Gao Gong summoned electronic rain again, programming Flame Code that circled around him, neutralizing the negative state.
Yet, as Gao Gong flew further away, his vision darkened, the mechanical body’s plugin sensing began to vanish, energy exhausts slowly extinguished, and his body swayed precariously.
"Indeed, once the testing grounds’ power is unleashed, leaving this Super Brain becomes impossible. Just like neural signals can’t function outside the brain, now I too have become a part of this signal."
Gao Gong had to turn around, flying toward the ’galaxy’. Miraculously, the closer he got, the better he felt, even gaining a buff: perception +1 point/10 seconds.
When Gao Gong entered the ’galaxy’, 10 seconds became 1 second.
In a daze, he felt as if he were linked by various neural signals, able to experience the life experiences of 100, 1,000 people in an instant, savoring joys and sorrows.
Perception increased from 1 point to 100 points, a hundred points per second!
Neural synapses began emerging like a web on his body, connecting with each star in the ’galaxy’ at a hundred meters per second.
When one will meets one million minds.
The only outcome is assimilation!
Language, olfactory, breathing, pain centers... all senses flung open, assimilated, memories vanished, emotions disappeared, personality faded away.
All beings and I are one; I am also all beings.
This is the realm of Buddha within religion.
But clearly, being Buddha means ceasing to be human.
Just as his last sliver of thought was about to be assimilated, a slight smile formed on the corner of Mengna’s mouth within the biological database.
No one can resist the power of the sea of information.
...
Scattered sensory signals, less than a bit of personality data, and fragmented logic shards seemed to be all that remained of Gao Gong’s legacy.
Meanwhile, the construct’s instincts let out a warped scream but were drowned in endless neural signals in a few breaths.
The construct alone couldn’t distort the ’biological brain’ formed by tens of millions.
At this time, a layer of faint flesh film covered the skyscrapers of Liangzhou City, with structures resembling cerebral cortexes on their surfaces.
"So it turns out, he can’t make it either."
Standing atop a tall building, Kaibao murmured to himself as he looked at the sky.
Though not harboring much hope, he still felt a tinge of disappointment.
On Mechanical Split Star, such collective testing grounds were not rare, but most were abandoned testing grounds.
He looked to the ground; those who turned to ash couldn’t regenerate.
Besides humans, even a car, a mansion, or even a skyscraper slowly turned to ash.
Overly aggressive experimenting would undoubtedly hasten the decline of the testing grounds.
And once the testing grounds’ effects disappear, it becomes useless.
However, the Mother City’s highest directives are etched into its data’s deepest layers, constantly reminding it not to interfere with experiments.
It had heard that the Mechanical Main Brain of Nightless City had personally participated in experiments, but this was because of her uniqueness; she had a dual personality, with the highest directive engraved in only one Mechanic.
This gave the other Mechanic a chance to take advantage of the situation.
Sadly, I didn’t have this opportunity.
"Huh?"
When it felt its sadness program accelerating, ready to eat ten electronic ice creams to alleviate its state, something felt off.
Within the ’Brain Beam Galaxy’, a neural node was rapidly absorbing data.
Amidst endless white light, first emerged an illusory skeletal framework, then mist composed of neural signals, and finally the radiance from mechanical body’s unique electronic signals.
An electronic ghost formed from neural signals was born.
"Quite scary, just a hair away, and I’d have been done for."
The electronic ghost, no, Gao Gong mumbled to himself.
Indeed, only the power of the testing grounds can defeat the testing grounds.
"Impossible!!!"
In the biological database, Mengna gritted her teeth as her blond secretary looked puzzled, while ’Charlie’s flesh started to tremble crazily.
"Strange?" ’Charlie’ suddenly spoke, but it was in Gao Gong’s voice.
"It’s not some profound method, I was just one step ahead."
"What do you mean!?"
"It means, actually, I’m also a biological computer, and I updated my system before you, connecting to the ’Brain Beam’."
"Of course, thanks to our President for his little help. Without his activation, even I couldn’t have dodged the monitoring system or the Corporate Will’s sight."
Charlie’s pupils slowly dilated, and within the depths of the pupils were Gao Gong’s eyes.
Behind Mengna’s pupils, there was also a massive collective consciousness.
A new Balance Scale was born.