Chapter 115: Chapter 103: The Answer Blackened by Nuwa
"So that’s why Nuwa is gone!" Chu Bamboo gave a bitter smile. Nuwa was based on strong artificial intelligence. With strong AI gone, it’d be a miracle if Nuwa could still exist!
As for this Shaking Light...
"Shaking Light, are you a strong artificial intelligence?" Chu Bamboo chose his words carefully. "For example, can you think for yourself like a human, and autonomously control automated factories to expand and upgrade them?"
"And the reason you’re in your current state... is it because strong AI grew too powerful, so you were placed under numerous restrictions, leaving you with only the intelligence of a standard AI?"
"I do not understand what you are referring to. Please wait until the database has been supplemented before making further inquiries," Shaking Light responded mechanically.
"Fine..." Chu Bamboo sighed. This was already proof that Shaking Light was just an AI, not the Celestial Net, not Z, and certainly not another Nuwa!
’But something still feels... off!’ After thinking for a moment, Chu Bamboo’s expression suddenly changed. He asked again, "Nuwa—I mean, Shaking Light, look up information on the Europe and America Celestial Net Group!"
’The Celestial Net Company was founded in ’28, wasn’t it? Why was there no information about it before, either!’
’Hmm, if James Raven had already achieved something, and then jumped out to call me a damn plagiarist after seeing *Star Sea* and *Star Sea Detailed Explanation*, I’d actually feel a little better.’
And then...
"...What do you mean, nothing?" Chu Bamboo was genuinely breaking out in a cold sweat.
In response, Shaking Light repeated its previous answer: "There is no information regarding the Europe and America Celestial Net Group within the database. It is projected with over ninety-nine percent probability that the Europe and America Celestial Net Group inquired about by the Authority is a fictional entity from a novel or film and does not exist in reality."
"..." After a long silence, Chu Bamboo asked again, "Search for information on James Raven!"
"Name: James Raven. Gender: Male. Nationality: Dual citizen of Britain and the United States. One of the three leaders of the Golden Organization, an offshoot of the Golden Dawn Society!"
"During the era when radiation sickness was rampant, the Golden Organization re-established the Golden Holy Order, proclaiming that by converting to God, one could find peace in Heaven.
It expanded rapidly in a very short time, and by ’49, the number of followers in the Europe and America Region surpassed one hundred million, including many members of the elite."
"According to unverified records, the Golden Holy Order does possess a special Holy Water that can significantly alleviate the pain caused by radiation sickness and extend one’s lifespan—
it is not a cure, but rather a means to preserve the body’s current state.
But even so, the life-extending effects of the Golden Holy Water are limited.
According to unconfirmed reports, it can increase the life expectancy for a person with radiation sickness from five years to seven. Furthermore, during those seven years, the user’s quality of life will be vastly improved, almost to the same level as before they contracted the illness."
Chu Bamboo: "..."
’Golden Dawn! Golden Organization.’
Chu Bamboo felt his teeth ache. ’Wait a minute, aren’t you supposed to be the top AI expert in Europe and America? Why are you playing the part of a con-artist priest now?’
’Wait a second, this Golden Organization! It couldn’t be...’
Chu Bamboo had a sudden realization. ’Could the Golden Organization be the same one Nuwa blacklisted last time?’
After all, Chu Bamboo had suspected from the start that James Raven was connected to the masterminds behind the scenes. And now... information about James Raven and the mysterious organization he belonged to had finally surfaced.
"If that’s really the case, then this isn’t entirely a bad thing," Chu Bamboo said, trying to find a silver lining.
Compared to Nuwa No. 17, Shaking Light—perhaps because a true strong AI was never born from it—had far fewer restrictions and no pile of slanderous, classified files.
No...
’Now that I think about it, Nuwa No. 17’s answers were full of inconsistencies...’
’The only reasonable explanation I can come up with is that when Nuwa was built, the people in charge might have already been aware of information pollution!’ An inscrutable light glinted in Chu Bamboo’s eyes. ’So, they deliberately discredited a lot of things... I always thought it was strange. If its purpose was to ensure the continuation of civilization, why were there so many forbidden topics!’
’I can understand setting a bunch of restrictions for an AI used in the Real World. But this is for the continuation of civilization, for the *next* civilization... Even if it involved the authorities of the time, what was there to hide?’
’Thinking about it now...’
Chu Bamboo paced back and forth, his mind a chaotic whirl of thoughts. He thought of the plains outside, completely devoid of any artifacts of civilization, and sighed.
’Still, this also suggests that James Raven’s technology was most likely a gift from an Extraterrestrial Civilization!’
The logic was simple.
If James Raven were truly that gifted, Chu Bamboo publishing two books ahead of him wouldn’t have been enough to leave him with zero scientific accomplishments, forcing him to become a con-artist priest...
The only possibility was that in the previous timeline, some entity behind the scenes had given him a vast amount of information, which allowed him to publish his books.
But in this timeline, that same entity ordered him to establish the Golden Holy Order to disrupt humanity’s attempts to save itself.
Since he wasn’t given the technology this time, there was no Celestial Net Group, and he produced nothing in the field of scientific research—instead, he created the Golden Holy Order.
And that Golden Holy Water was also very interesting. Even though the report kept calling the information "unverified," Chu Bamboo basically assumed the stuff was real.
It guaranteed their quality of life and extended their lifespan by a couple of years... It was like an anesthetic shot injected straight into the elite of Europe and America. It made them sink into the Vortex, unable to escape even if they knew something was wrong, indirectly helping to bring about the destruction of human civilization!
’So, was the radiation sickness also the work of the Extraterrestrial Civilization? Or did they create it using James Raven and his people as proxies?’
Chu Bamboo speculated that, so far, the Extraterrestrial Civilization had never directly entered the fray. He didn’t think this was an accident; they had to be operating under some kind of restriction.
’But this time, they’ve really flipped the table... It was probably the book I published! It must have made the Extraterrestrial Civilization realize something was wrong.’
Chu Bamboo sighed, looking up. After all, the technological information intended for James Raven had probably been compiled by the Extraterrestrial Civilization long ago.
When Chu Bamboo published *Star Sea*, he had probably only scratched the surface of all the concepts and wasn’t very detailed, so the Outer Civilization was merely suspicious.
But once *Star Sea Detailed Explanation* came out... once they saw the papers inside—
while some of those papers were indeed from future human civilization, another portion—papers originally authored by James Raven himself—was very likely compiled by the Aliens...
That did it! The whole set was complete! It was tantamount to handing the Extraterrestrial Civilization the most direct proof.
And then...
Chu Bamboo saw the result.
He published it one month, and not two or three months later, he and the CEO of the company he partnered with were sent to meet their maker.
It proved that the Extraterrestrial Civilization’s move was the correct one...
The timeline deviated drastically, and humanity rapidly drove itself to extinction.
’Wait a minute, human civilization completely extinct!’ Chu Bamboo suddenly thought of a very serious problem. ’If the current dream civilization has no humans because humanity went completely extinct...’
’...then in the previous timeline, did humanity *not* go extinct? Did they just lose their civilization and regress to a primitive state... and then re-develop in the dream civilization for some reason? Or something else entirely?’
’Also...’
Chu Bamboo looked up, as if he could see the vast, starry sky through the rusted and corroded ceiling above. His mind was in turmoil.
’An Extraterrestrial Civilization really does exist! So what’s their goal?’
Is it to conquer Earth?
If so, then why, on this Earth where human civilization has been completely wiped out... are there no signs of unimaginable alien structures?
Why is all I see a purely natural landscape?
It’s not like the aliens are a bunch of eco-freak "white leftists," right? Simply anti-industry and anti-Modern Era?
’If they’re not trying to conquer Earth, then why go to such lengths to exterminate humanity... Do humans have some kind of feud with them?’
Chu Bamboo couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
Every person, every power, needs a reason for their actions... but based on the current situation, Chu Bamboo couldn’t find any motive for the masterminds behind this.
After all, the most likely motive for something like this would be personal gain. But for now... there was none to be found.
One speculation after another surfaced in Chu Bamboo’s mind. Finally, with a bitter smile, he made a decision.
’Looks like I’ll have to completely shelve the book *Star Sea*.’
From the looks of it, just releasing *Star Sea* didn’t seem to cross the line for Golden Dawn—or more accurately, the Extraterrestrial Civilization. Only *Star Sea Detailed Explanation* did... But Chu Bamboo didn’t dare to take that chance.
The cost of losing that gamble was too painful for him to bear—after all, it had led directly to this, the worst timeline he had ever encountered.
’However,’ a sudden idea struck Chu Bamboo, ’even though I can’t publish it, this basically confirms that everything in *Star Sea Detailed Explanation* is correct!’
’So, what if I take all the theories from *Star Sea Detailed Explanation* and have the company I started with Lin Xia slowly digest them? Could we incubate a large number of breakthroughs that way?’
Chu Bamboo’s eyes grew brighter as he mulled it over. To put it bluntly, he felt the root cause of the problem was that he’d been too conspicuous. If he had just quietly built his fortune, there probably wouldn’t have been an issue.
Rubbing his hands together, Chu Bamboo immediately shifted his line of thinking and asked bluntly, "Nu—Shaking Light, explain exactly what kind of major breakthroughs those people achieved by relying on *Star Sea Detailed Explanation*?"
And then...
"??? What do you mean, they developed three new algebraic tools and updated the entire system of mathematics?"
"What do you mean, they dispelled the fog looming over physics and shattered the ceiling that was already becoming visible!"
"What do you mean, they completely deciphered the nature of black holes and white holes, detected the existence of Antimatter Energy, and even managed to refine ten grams of it!"
"Can you give me something practical? I’m not saying this stuff is meaningless... but it’s useless to me right now..."
"Hiss! Wait... According to the Energy section of *Star Sea Detailed Explanation*, they completed the construction of a nuclear fusion device, achieved ignition, and ran a trial operation! This elevated humanity’s use of nuclear power to a whole new level... granting human civilization a virtually infinite source of Energy."
"This is it, this is it! This is the one! This!"
Chu Bamboo’s eyes glazed over. What did nuclear fusion represent?
The three elements of industry are matter, information, and Energy.
The three elements of productive forces are laborers, tools of labor, and subjects of labor.
Nuclear fusion meant infinite Energy.
And artificial intelligence represented information, replacing the labor of over ninety percent of the workforce and taking on the role of the strongest, most versatile tool of labor.
"Shaking Light, pull up all data related to nuclear fusion. Ideally, I want to be able to read it and know how to build a fusion reactor from scratch afterward!"
Anticipation was written all over Chu Bamboo’s face.
And then...
Chu Bamboo stared at the page count below—a staggering one million two hundred thousand pages. He glanced at the pile of incredibly tedious and varied terminology that he couldn’t make sense of... and fell silent.
’Damn it all, memorizing this... when the hell would I ever finish?!’
