Chapter 103: Artificial Soul 30
Silverface was not originally called Silverface; he had a codename: I-B-1-1.
The letter “I” indicated that he was a Type I artificial gene-edited human. The letter “B” was the code for the person who provided the gene sample. The first number “1” in the codename represented that he was among the first batch of experimental subjects created, and the last number “1” indicated the order in which he was produced. He was the first of the B-class gene-edited humans to come into this world and the first artificial human to survive successfully.
Unlike his “brothers” who were rapidly matured, he developed naturally. The researcher who created him favored him particularly, often saying to him, “You are different from the other defective products.”
“What is different?” he asked in confusion. “I look exactly the same as them.”
“Their appearance is similar, but I am not concerned with appearance; I am focused on something deeper.” The researcher looked deeply into his eyes. “You have a soul; they do not.”
“What is a soul?” he asked, bewildered.
“A soul is a concept that exists on philosophical, religious, and real-world levels; it might be a bit difficult for you to understand.” The researcher pressed his shoulder, directing his gaze towards a motionless white-haired artificial human standing in the laboratory.
The researcher nudged him and said, “Go attack him.”
So he obediently stepped forward and punched the artificial human with the same face to the ground.
The artificial human lay quietly on the ground, not struggling, not crying, not fighting back.
They were unwound puppets, soulless marionettes that could not think, cry, or laugh, lacking any concept of pain, devoid of emotions.
The researcher called him back, pulled his hand, and took out a scalpel from his pocket. Coldly, he pierced it through the palm of his hand, blood gushed out immediately, and he trembled in pain, tears uncontrollably spilling from his eyes.
“Does it hurt?” the researcher asked softly.
“Pain… it’s so painful…” he said, covering his hand with teary eyes.
“What else can you feel besides pain?”
“I… I don’t know. I feel uncomfortable…” he sobbed.
“What do you most want to do right now?”
“I want the wound to stop hurting,” he said, “I want… I want…”
“Speak it out; what do you think inside?” The researcher squatted down, meeting the child’s pink eyes. “Tell me.”
He paused for a moment, then followed his inner thought: “I want… you to feel the same pain as me, or even more pain…”
The researcher was pleased, saying, “This emotion is called hatred, called anger. That is where you are different from them; you are a sentient artificial being, whereas your brothers born with you are not. You can cry and laugh; you are alive, but they are merely unconscious shells; strictly speaking, they are not humans; they are just objects, not ‘they’… they should be ‘it.'”
“Why do I have one, and they do not?” he asked in bewilderment.
The researcher said, “Perhaps it is a matter of chance; perhaps you are the only miracle. No matter how mature our technology for creating artificial humans becomes, we have not been able to produce another individual like you who has a soul and self-awareness.”
He touched his bloodied hand to his heart, as if trying to find where this marvelous thing called “soul” was hiding in his body. “Where is the soul in the body? Is it in my heart, my head… or my stomach?”
The researcher expressed slight confusion: “Why do you guess the soul is in the stomach?”
He earnestly stated his conjecture: “Every time I eat, my stomach feels warm and comfortable. A soul, being so rare and special, must be something good; it might just be in my stomach, just like food, which is also a good thing.”
The researcher: “…”
He noticed the researcher’s helpless expression and said warily, “Isn’t a soul a good thing? Um… Having a soul causes pain; without a soul, you wouldn’t… Thinking about it, a soul is indeed not a good thing!”
“That’s not right; you shouldn’t think like that,” the researcher said. “It’s precisely because a soul is a good thing that obtaining it requires a certain price; you will feel pain and produce negative emotions. That is the cost of having a soul. Conversely, by having a soul, you can experience things that soulless puppets cannot; you can savor the deliciousness and warmth of food, and gain spiritual satisfaction from it, which your puppet brothers cannot. There is gain and loss.”
He considered for a moment and said firmly, “Then, it is better to have a soul.”
At that moment, the researcher handed him the scalpel: “You go and kill the defective product on the ground.”
“Oh.” He walked over, bent down, and cut the throat of the artificial human, blood splattering out, flowing onto the ground and quickly reaching his feet, staining his shoes red.
Two minutes later, no more blood flowed. He touched the face of the artificial human, looked up, and said, “He’s dead.”
“Tell me, how do you feel now?” The researcher examined him.
“I don’t really like the color of blood; it stained my shoes, and I’m not happy,” he answered.
The researcher stared at him and said, “Is that all?”
“Then… what else?” He couldn’t understand the indescribable expression on the researcher’s face.
“What if I asked you to kill someone with a soul, like me?” the researcher said. “Just as a hypothetical, I wouldn’t really make you do it.”
He replied, “If you give me an order, I will do it.”
The researcher fell silent for a long time.
“What’s wrong? Did I do something wrong?” He began to reflect on himself.
The researcher said, “Have you considered the option of refusal?”
“Why would I refuse?” he asked, puzzled.
“Seeing a life that has died, doesn’t that make you feel upset? Has your soul not been stirred?”
He carefully touched his heart, then his head, and finally his stomach, and said, “My heart, head, and stomach do not feel upset; my soul hasn’t stirred.”
The researcher: “…”
He asked, “Isn’t the soul in the heart, head, and stomach? Then where is it?”
“It may be due to a lack of a clear concept of death, a deficiency in social knowledge leading to a lack of empathy; I don’t know if this can be improved through learning…” The researcher sighed. “Forget it… It’s also quite good like this; you just need to follow orders.”
He obediently nodded.
…
Through the distorted and chaotic flames, Kui Xin saw shadows wrapped in circular flames.
She froze entirely, for no other reason—there were over a dozen “Silverfaces” opposite her, all of whom had extraordinary abilities.
Some of them had a B-level extraordinary ability, and Kui Xin could see the specific effect of “Pure Water,” while others seemed to have reached A-level extraordinary abilities; she could only see the name of the ability, “Pure Water,” without seeing the effects.
Counting roughly, there were about eight A-levels and eight B-levels.
“What is this?” Kui Xin said with difficulty. “Clones? Cloned extraordinary beings?”
Wei Zhi showed an expression of unprecedented distress on her face and said, “Probably.”
Because the “Silverfaces” began to move, hand in hand, raindrops falling from the sky obeyed their commands, gathering together as water in the air coalesced, forming a semicircular water shield that resisted the highly invasive Black Flame.
As water met fire, steam hissed up; the three parties were at a stalemate, neither side could prevail. The Silverfaces could even manipulate the steam; it was raining in the sky; their water was inexhaustible, taking advantage of the weather to gain the upper hand.
The controlled water quickly boiled due to the flames; at that moment, the clones suddenly controlled the boiling water to form water whips and struck towards Kui Xin and Wei Zhi.
The three hastily dodged, and then the water whips were blocked by a wall of fire, evaporating into white mist.
“Interesting… so interesting…” Wang Feichi said after a brief probe, confirming the strength of the opposing dozen individuals. He grinned grimly, “Where did you get his gene information?”
He withdrew the flame vortex, and the Black Flame coalesced into needles that were black to the extreme and compressed to the utmost. He flicked his fingers, and the black needles easily pierced the defensive water shield, striking one of the clones, and the flames surged, instantly engulfing the pierced clone.
In less than three seconds, the clone had turned to ashes.
“What is your purpose?” Wang Feichi gathered another black needle and flicked it away.
This time, the clone struck by the black needle exploded, with blood and flesh flying everywhere in a bloody scene.
“Not willing to speak, huh? We’ll take our time. Wei Zhi, you and your secretary stand back; I’ll handle this.” Wang Feichi’s smile turned sinister as he flicked his palm, and five fingers each had a black needle tip. “Who do you think you are? Do you think a dozen ants can bite me to death?”
Kui Xin looked towards the Silverfaces and Red, hidden behind the water shield: “The opposing side actually possesses spatial teleportation abilities. Is there any way to cutoff the enemy’s communications and destroy their electronic devices so they can’t coordinate accurately?”
“There is.” Augus replied, “Utilize an electromagnetic pulse to disable all devices in this area. The nearby branch two kilometers away has this kind of equipment. The range of the electromagnetic pulse can cover five kilometers. We have interference-resistant equipment to avoid the impact, but we don’t know if the opponent has similar gear. If the electromagnetic pulse takes effect, the enemy’s equipment is expected to malfunction for three minutes.”
This method had previously been used on him during the initial docking port bombing incident when Mechanized Dawn took that opportunity to switch “Security Officer Kui Xin” and “Undercover Kui Xin.”
Kui Xin asked Wei Zhi: “Team leader, can we use it?”
Wei Zhi’s expression shifted: “Permission granted.”
Weapons of this type have a vast coverage area and would severely affect nearby residential areas and cables; under normal circumstances, their use would not be permitted. But now, it was necessary.
The reason Kui Xin wanted to do this was to obscure Eve’s “eyes,” preventing it from seeing what she was doing.
Not far away, beneath the dominant Wang Feichi, a deep blue vortex suddenly appeared at his feet. He was startled and could not control his body from falling into the vortex. At that moment, the vortex suddenly closed, but thankfully he managed to support himself with one hand and leaped away just in time, avoiding having his legs caught by the closing spatial vortex.
In the next moment, the ground where his hand was supported suddenly sprouted another blue vortex, and his arm was plunged into it, then severed on the spot!
