The White King claimed to be human.

This left Zhou Yi completely baffled.

No matter how you look at it, the being in front of him resembled an architectural lifeform, far from anything made of flesh and blood.

But apart from considering itself human, the White King couldn't draw any other conclusions.

Zhou Yi was very intrigued.

So he called for the Ice Pot, which specialized in consciousness exploration and could capture consciousness.

The Golden Ball flew and circled around the White King.

A thick mist spread from its body, covering the white giant and intertwining with its consciousness.

Half an hour later.

The Ice Pot communicated, "Chairman, the White King does indeed resemble an architectural lifeform, containing a vast number of individual consciousnesses, but it is more orderly and rigid compared to an architectural lifeform."

"Each foundational unit contains an independent consciousness. Each unit measures 30×30×30 centimeters, totaling 44.44 million units, which means there are 44.44 million consciousnesses."

"These consciousnesses are independent, each storing specific information and only activating altogether during specific collective behaviors."

"For the White King, this collective behavior is the creation of the Sun Eye. Beyond this, they operate individually and cannot be mobilized by the White King."

"This design is extremely clear and tight. It cannot gather individual consciousnesses into a unified whole like Jade City or the Big Buddha."

"Compared to Jade City, the White King values a stable, sealed structure, making it less prone to becoming like an atmosphere creature and enabling it to store enormous amounts of information without cross-contamination."

"Even if some consciousnesses have issues, naturally degrade or even vanish, the overall operation remains unaffected, with specific information continuing to be stored within their foundational units."

"Stability also brings drawbacks. The White King finds it difficult to alter its established patterns. Its self-awareness and actions are heavily constrained, unable to gain much support from foundational consciousness units beyond creating the Sun Eye, which hinders further growth."

Zhou Yi felt something strange in his heart: "Doesn't this sound less like a lifeform and more like a community? Or even a country?"

"You are correct."

The Ice Pot confirmed, "It is a collective lifeform composed of many consciousnesses, with the White King manifesting their collective will."

"I can't access the depths of the foundational units; many consciousnesses are extremely conservative, refusing my access and interaction, making it impossible to obtain more information."

It suggested asking the Book-eating Demon, an expert in information fields, to try.

"Because some of the consciousnesses within the foundational units have already shattered and dissipated, but the fragments remain, and those fragments can be read."

Zhou Yi followed its suggestion.

The Book-eating Demon accepted the challenge but proposed involving Zhi and Sun Hao for additional support.

The three of them, all skilled in consciousness-related matters, could support each other.

Together, they examined and diagnosed the White King.

Sun Hao was responsible for repairing the shattered consciousnesses. Though unable to revive them, he could at least restore order to the information within them, making it readable.

With the White King's full cooperation, they reached a conclusion in under an hour.

The Book-eating Demon remarked, "Its stability is terrifying... Among 44.44 million foundational units, only 31 have naturally shattered consciousnesses. According to the recorded time, the White King has been operating naturally for over 3000 years."

"From these 31 pieced-together consciousness fragments, I obtained two specific pieces of information."

"The first is that the White King can indeed be considered human."

Zhou Yi listened intently.

The Book-eating Demon said softly, "The summary in the fragment records mentions that humans existed in that world, very similar to the humans of our world. They also had facial features and limbs, high intelligence, and abilities to use various tools and harness natural environments and resources."

"In that world, a group called Fire Thieves had stolen the sun, rapidly moving away. This triggered a massive energy crisis as Circular Flow quickly faded."

"The local people couldn't fight the Fire Thieves, so they created the Sun Eye. Their dying bodies and consciousnesses would be sealed within the foundational units, ensuring the consciousness could continue to operate and prolong the existence of the White King."

"The White King's mission is to find a new stable sun and chart a space corridor route to it, uploading human consciousness to a new world with a sun."

"All the remaining resources of their world were used by the White King to create the Sun Eye."

She glanced at the silent Crowned Giant with a trace of pity in her eyes: "When the White King was activated, they destroyed its self-awareness and castrated its self-consciousness, ensuring it could remain stable and function like a tool without undergoing self-change or exhibiting other behaviors."

"However, this contradictory requirement led to a series of malfunctions in the White King. It lacks self-awareness and conventional judgment, operating solely on the ultimate command to seek the sun."

"The White King's cognitive abilities are stunted, acting only in alignment with its command. To ensure the most effective use of resources, it turned the remaining 40 million living people of that world into foundational units, making them part of its body."

"It was meant to be an apocalyptic shelter for those humans."

"But ultimately, due to the interference and destruction by the locals, the White King became their tomb."

This sounded absurd, but indeed, it was the kind of scenario humans might create.

Zhou Yi contemplated.

Human history truly abounds with incidents of self-destruction.

He couldn't help but ask, "Does this mean the White King's initial consciousness wasn't human?"

"Correct."

The Book-eating Demon nodded, "That's the second discovery."

"The White King's initial consciousness came from a special substance called 'Shattered Star'."

"Shattered Star?"

Zhou Yi abruptly recalled.

As a Fire Gatherer, White Suanni had mentioned waiting for a sun to explode and then collecting Shattered Stars.

"But there is too little record about Shattered Star."

The Book-eating Demon showed a hint of frustration: "The locals deleted this part of the consciousness information, preventing any reconstruction. They didn't want the White King to know its origin came from the consciousness born within a Shattered Star."

"However, this information couldn't be entirely eradicated. Key terms like Fire Thieves and Fire Gatherers still prompt reactions in the White King, though it can't reconstruct the deleted sections."

"That's all I obtained."

Zhou Yi nodded, "Thank you for your hard work."

"It's nothing, but this has enlightened me... The sun appears to be a vital resource in higher dimensions."

"For me, information is the most vital wealth. The more information, the more I can refine my 'Book of All Living Beings'."

Her attitude was highly positive.

The Book-eating Demon wasn't a company employee but a collaborator.

So Zhou Yi was always grateful for her relentless assistance.

After the Book-eating Demon spoke, Zhi slowly began to speak.

"I wove multiple layers of dreams, drawing many consciousnesses into them."

Once a Dream Demon Weaver, now in modern attire, wearing a lab coat and gold-rimmed glasses, Zhi spoke calmly.

"Unfortunately, they were highly vigilant against dreamworld intrusions. In their world, there are no Dream Demons, making them quickly alert and able to break free. Moreover, the consciousnesses had high dream resistance, and the foundational units also had strong protective capabilities..."

"I only obtained a bit of information."

"Their world once had two suns."

"The first sun exploded during Circular Flow, with some debris impacting their world, allowing the survivors to rapidly evolve."

"The most crucial of this debris were two pieces of Shattered Star."

"A Fire Gatherer appeared then, exchanging and taking one piece of Shattered Star that had fallen and teaching the locals how to use the remaining damaged Shattered Star, thus hatching the White King. It had a special connection with the sun and served as the core of the Sun Eye."

"Sadly, they've now detected my presence and are highly cautious about dreaming. The same tactic won't work a second time."

Zhou Yi felt stirred: "That's already a great job, thank you."

In other words.

The Fire Gatherers indeed specialize in collecting the remnants of dying suns, with White Suanni likely being part of this group.

Perhaps only when a sun explodes, generating Shattered Star, will it revive and respond, possibly in a dormant or standby state now.

The White King is a flawed Shattered Star product, so the passing Fire Gatherer left it, teaching the locals how to activate it.

"There's one more thing."

Zhi looked at the silent Crowned Giant: "The sun's power slowly repairs Shattered Star, but the process is exceedingly slow, and proximity to the sun accelerates it. This piece I extracted from the White King's initial consciousness fragments contained very few remnant traces."

Zhou Yi now understood.

The White King's sun-seeking was not only its creators' demand but also driven by its inherent instincts.

This investigation was a great success!

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