Chapter 46: The Bizarre Aquarium (3)

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Zhu Ning had always wanted to see it. She had never imagined their first encounter would take place under such official circumstances.

Prometheus’s voice was transmitted directly into her skull. It did not sound like the voice assistant inside the helmet.

It was as if someone were speaking right beside her ear. This utterly intimate manner of speaking made Zhu Ning intensely uncomfortable.

She glanced at the others. They seemed completely unaffected by being connected to an artificial intelligence.

Li Nianchuan asked, “Are you all right?”

Xu Meng, beside him, also asked, “Zhu Ning, are you okay?”

Her complexion was awful. Even after being beaten by the Demon Hunter for three days, she had never looked this bad.

After a while, Zhu Ning adjusted to it, and the stabbing sensation faded. Prometheus seemed to exist only on the surface of her mind.

Zhu Ning took a deep breath and quickly composed herself. She could feel probing gazes settling on her.

“I’m fine.”

Compared with her physical condition, Zhu Ning’s state of mind was the real problem.

The legendary mastermind was inside her head.

The helmet had an automatic recording function. After the mission, Zhu Ning would have to return it to the Data Collection Center.

If Prometheus had been the one to edit the surveillance footage for her last time, then it might be difficult for it to act again now.

Last time, there had only been one video. This time, there were eight people and eight cameras. Processing all of them without leaving any traces would be nearly impossible.

That meant she absolutely could not have any unnecessary conversation with Prometheus.

The great mastermind she had imagined had come to meet her, yet Zhu Ning could not even speak to it.

She could only suppress her curiosity and pretend to be an ordinary employee.

Prometheus’s voice continued to sound in her ears, this time addressing everyone.

[I am Prometheus. For all employees connected to me, I will be presumed to possess the highest level of authority over your bodies. When necessary, I will take control and remove you from the site directly.]

Its voice was more human than a purely mechanical one—so much so that it could even be called gentle.

But it was a cold sort of gentleness.

It was as though your life meant nothing to it. You were merely a tool for carrying out its objectives.

Once it took control of your body, you would have no way to defy its wishes. It would invade your nervous system, manipulate your body, and make every decision on your behalf.

How was she supposed to describe the feeling?

It was profoundly unsafe.

It was like opening a back door in the human mind for an artificial intelligence to enter.

An artificial intelligence could place itself above you, and at a critical moment, even strip you of control over your own body.

It was an outright declaration that the other party was a higher order of intelligent life than you.

Every decision it made was superior to yours.

Disgusting.

Zhu Ning’s first impression of Prometheus was sheer revulsion.

Having come from a world overrun by zombies, she had always believed that no matter how advanced artificial intelligence became, it could only ever be a tool.

The fact that the wasteland allowed an artificial intelligence to take control of human bodies was terrifying.

At last, Zhu Ning understood what Li Nianchuan had meant when he said that the Demon Hunters were pieces on an artificial intelligence’s chessboard.

She was a chess piece now.

Prometheus said, [Please put on your helmets.]

The fully enclosed helmets covered their entire heads, creating a sealed space that made Prometheus’s voice even clearer.

[The location of this mission is the Mechanical Oceanarium. The cameras inside the oceanarium have already been contaminated, so the only cameras available to me are the ones you are carrying.]

The cameras inside the oceanarium were unusable. In other words, they were all Prometheus’s eyes.

Its advantage of omniscience could not be brought fully into play. In reality, its greatest function was to connect the entire team’s communications channel.

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Prometheus said, [The contaminated area contains extremely high concentrations of contamination, reaching a maximum of 178 percent. The cause of the contamination is currently unknown. After evaluation by the technical department, it has been classified as a Class B contaminated area. The contaminated area has a volume of fifty thousand cubic meters. Upon entry, you will encounter intense mental contamination. Please remain rational.]

[The organic glass inside the oceanarium can withstand pressure measured in tons, but high-powered weapons may cause a secondary collapse. The water pressure inside the oceanarium is approximately 2,620 tons. Please exercise caution when using explosives.]

Fang Ying had repeatedly reminded them that the interior of the oceanarium was far too complex. Weapons that were excessively powerful might bury everyone inside.

Prometheus said, [The current plan is as follows. The Grey Eagle Team will take Cleaning Team A70265 to locate the source of the contamination. The White Dove Team will be responsible for rescuing survivors. I will synchronize information between both sides.]

[The estimated mortality rate for this mission is between five and eight percent.]

Mortality rate?

Zhu Ning had never heard one mentioned on any of her previous missions.

An artificial intelligence could rapidly run through every possible scenario, but a contaminated area was a dangerous place. It could not guarantee that everyone would return alive.

Someone would die in the oceanarium during this mission.

Sometimes, Zhu Ning felt that the speed of technological development was frightening. They had just been handed a death sentence.

[Next, I will enter monitoring mode. I will provide communications support and environmental analysis only. Until further notice, command will be entrusted to Tang Ke, captain of the Grey Eagle Team. Good luck.]

After Prometheus finished speaking, it fell silent.

What?

What did that mean? Were they being left to fend for themselves?

Wasn’t it supposed to be the combat commander?

Zhu Ning quietly asked Li Nianchuan, “What does monitoring mode mean?”

The Demon Hunters were already preparing to enter. As they moved forward, Li Nianchuan answered, “It means that until it obtains authorization, it can only provide support. It can’t directly take control of your body.”

Zhu Ning considered this for a moment.

Prometheus was an artificial intelligence, and humans were wary of artificial intelligence.

On one hand, they relied heavily on its algorithms. On the other, they feared being directly controlled by it.

So they had established numerous restrictions and would analyze each situation accordingly. As long as the circumstances remained under control, Tang Ke, captain of the Grey Eagle Team, could lead everyone in completing the mission.

Only when the situation became uncontrollable would Prometheus apply for higher authorization and have room to act.

In short, it was the safety net.

Prometheus served as a safety net for everyone, but before that point, its authority was extremely limited.

There might also be questions of accountability involved. If everything were handed over to Prometheus from the very beginning, it would be difficult to determine who bore primary responsibility during the post-mission review.

They could not simply pin every failure on an artificial intelligence.

Zhu Ning asked, “Prometheus is actually going to command a Class B mission?”

It was rather different from the daily life she had imagined for the great mastermind.

Li Nianchuan said, “It handles a lot of things at the Cleaning Center. I don’t know exactly what. It monitors every mission the Demon Hunters undertake. Its computing power is extremely strong. It might be carrying out our mission while simultaneously taking charge of another team and guiding them out.”

Prometheus was the one truly capable of operating on multiple fronts. This Class B mission was only one of many tasks it was handling.

Artificial intelligence had been developed to serve humanity from the very beginning. If she thought about it carefully, there was nothing particularly strange about that.

However—

The Demon Hunters used Prometheus for communications during every mission. During the fishman incident, Prometheus had definitely been present.

The incorrect assessment of that contaminated area must have involved its interference.

Zhu Ning asked, “You didn’t feel anything when you connected?”

Li Nianchuan said, “No. I could sense something piercing into me, but only for a moment, and there wasn’t any pain at all.”

Zhu Ning fell silent.

Why were their reactions so different?

How did it operate? How could technological advancement allow it to control the human nervous system?

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Li Nianchuan said, “Maybe your mental stat is high, so you have a harder time adapting.”

The higher a person’s mental stat, the more difficult it was to control their nervous system. Li Nianchuan could not understand what Zhu Ning had experienced, just as ordinary people had no way of knowing what went on inside a genius’s mind.

Li Nianchuan was talkative and added, “I actually like it.”

“Why?” Zhu Ning asked.

Why would humans willingly allow an artificial intelligence to pierce into their nervous systems?

Li Nianchuan said, “The network is very secure when it’s there. You don’t have to worry about the communications channel being contaminated.”

Contamination spores could infect networks. Prometheus was a firewall that blocked contaminating agents from attacking at the network level.

All communications among the Demon Hunters were controlled by Prometheus.

Communication was a vital part of any team.

Whenever Prometheus was present, there was never any need to worry about a communications error. Even if it only served in a supporting role, it could greatly increase their survival rate on the battlefield.

This was the wasteland, not a peaceful world. They were willing to surrender certain freedoms to an artificial intelligence in exchange for a better chance of survival.

Li Nianchuan said, “And if you’re on the verge of death, it will comfort you.”

Zhu Ning fell silent.

Prometheus also moonlighted in hospice care?

She had been about to say that its utterly calm voice sounded like the voice of a grim reaper, and probably would not have much of a comforting effect.

But then she thought of Cheng Mofei.

What had Cheng Mofei felt when he died inside Test Subject 777?

He had known that death was unavoidable, yet he had walked resolutely into Test Subject 777. He had removed his helmet and allowed himself to be contaminated without resistance.

If Huang Yaruo had not been there, what would he have been thinking during the final moments of his life?

If you were trapped inside a contaminated area and had an artificial intelligence to speak to you before your death, perhaps the process would not be quite so painful.

Cheng Mofei’s Demon Hunter employee bracelet was still inside her pocket.

Zhu Ning was not alone. She was two people now.

In some imperceptible way, it seemed that she had inherited a certain will from Cheng Mofei.

Zhu Ning tightened her grip on the gun in her hand. After all, if she made one mistake, she could very well meet the same fate Cheng Mofei had.

Everyone entered in orderly fashion. They had each completed numerous Class B missions and were highly experienced.

For Zhu Ning, however, this was her first group mission. The contaminated areas she had entered before had been little more than child’s play.

This was the scale a proper mission should have.

With so many people around, Zhu Ning could not use any system items or abilities as freely as she wished. Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain herself.

She truly did not want to be treated as an experimental subject and studied.

Still, Zhu Ning was a Cleaner. She should be able to avoid most of the danger, and under normal circumstances, she would not need to act herself.

A worker in a yellow protective suit gestured toward them, then slowly pulled open the entrance to the facility.

The moment the doors opened, a wave of damp air rushed over them.

The oceanarium had lost power. Water had pooled across the floor, and if there were any electrical leaks, the entire interior would become an energized field. They had simply cut off the power supply.

Under the helmets’ night-vision function, the entire oceanarium glowed green.

After so many missions, Zhu Ning had long since grown accustomed to seeing the world through night vision.

The lobby of an oceanarium was usually where visitors bought tickets and souvenirs. There had never been any marine life here in the first place.

Much of the interior had collapsed. The counters and chandeliers had all crashed down, leaving broken stones and standing water scattered across the floor.