Chapter 276: Another Form of AI

The information contained behind the notification was just too much to handle.

But now, Meng Chao could be certain that the Mystery of the Supernatural Entities was not a fighting-based quest.

He did not need to fight with his life on the line against those smart and incredibly fierce monsters with high intelligence, and he also did not need to get rid of them to complete his mission.

Instead, he needed to look for clues and report them to the related departments. Once he gained more feedback, he could look for more clues. This was a basic procedure that he could follow.

After all, with his scraggly limbs and thin body of a two-star superhuman, even if the remaining Eight Great Supernatural Entities had yet to grow, he could not hope to win against them alone.

Based on yesterday’s experience and the underground monster he saw in his nightmare, this matter was related to the Eight Great Supernatural Entities, so his quest progress had increased.

But how was that possible?

‘I dreamed… of a much larger Giant Sandworm. It ate gravel ten times faster than normal sandworms and could even crawl through the foundations of the buildings in the downtown areas and cause powerful earthquakes.’

Meng Chao wiped his face and mumbled, “Could it be one of the Supernatural Entities?”

He thought about it carefully. In the memories of his previous life, there was indeed one sandworm-type monster that hid underground, which was classified as one of the Nine Great Supernatural Entities.

But the difference between Supernatural Entities and Apocalyptic Beasts was not in their destructive power, but their intelligence.

Meng Chao could understand how mammals or cattle could get intelligence, because they had brains.

Sandworms were primitive, low-grade animals. Could they gain intelligence?

While Meng Chao was scratching his head, Ning Shewo called him and told him in a rather agitated tone that the matter from the day before had been leaked.

“How could it be?” Meng Chao asked. “Before we entered the monster research center, didn’t we sign a confidentiality agreement? Besides, since we discovered a needle-shaped hole in the biochemical pets’ ear canals, it means that it’s highly likely that this isn’t an accident, but a vicious crime. We handed this over to the Supernatural Tower and the adjudicator court. There’s no way I’d say anything and alert the enemy.

“That’s good, then.” Ning Shewo sighed in relief. “Look at the news online. Someone mentioned it there. That person posted the mangled corpses of the three victims and even the pictures of the wounds of the brave people who fought against the biochemical pets. There are all sorts of bloody pictures online, and it has already caused a storm in the city. Spirit Creations Creatures has been pushed to the center of the storm.”

“What?” Meng Chao instantly snapped awake.

He put down his phone and could not even be bothered to wash his face. He went to Dragon City’s largest monster forum and took a look. It was just as Ning Shewo said, a few of the trending topics were all about the case of the biochemical pets going out of control and injuring people.

[This is too terrifying. The biochemical pets who stay with you day in and day out instantly turned into bloodthirsty demons? If that’s the case, no one will dare to keep pets!]

[Monsters are monsters. No matter how long you keep them, they will never be tamed. It’s better to humanely get rid of all the monsters, pets, biochemical beasts and all the other stuff in Dragon City!]

[I heard that after the three biochemical pets went out of control, the brave people who heard the noise and came over were fighting-class one-star superhumans. Even so, they had a lot of trouble trying to kill them, and they were even injured pretty badly. Isn’t the fighting strength of these biochemical pets a bit too high?]

[There’s no way around it. Dragon City experiences monster invasions all the time, and the pet companies skilled in biochemical modifications have set up companion mode, work mode, and fighting mode. These are their selling points. They fearlessly inserted all sorts of fierce creatures’ genes into pets but don’t care about stability and safety. How could nothing happen to humans if that’s the case?]

Most people online had criticisms for Spirit Creations Creatures being blinded by profit and ignoring the safety of the consumers.

The biochemical pet supporters could not come up with retorts when the bloody and terrifying on-site photos were uploaded.

Meng Chao stared at the uncensored bloody photos. After a long time, he saved all of them.

He then looked through a few rubbish guesses and arguments before he closed the page and went to Agricultural University’s forum.

As he expected, since everyone’s interests were involved in this matter, the information on Agricultural University’s forum was much more detailed. It gave him an even more detailed understanding of the chronology of what happened that day in Blessed Paradise.

The students and lecturers’ opinions were more insightful compared to those of the normal netizens.

However, the hottest topic in the university was shared from a website not within the university. It was a post that spoke against biochemical modification technology.

[In the past half a century, Dragon City had to go through the brutal Monster War. Humans and monsters had to fight for living space, and this became the main melody pushing our civilization forward. But on the other hand, through all sorts of biochemical modifications, the belief that monsters can be domesticated and controlled has permeated into the entire society’s soul without our knowledge.]

The anonymous thread poster stated his opinion clearly.

[The areas outside and inside the city are two different worlds. In the battlefield dozens of kilometers away, humans’ warm blood stains the cold monster claws and scales. We curse them by saying that the monsters are demons, destroyers, and killing machines. We say that they are nightmares, hell itself, and the apocalypse. But we don’t even need to curse them. The word “monsters” alone shows our opinion of them.

[However, all sorts of biochemical beasts, pets, and beasts of labor are widely used in the city. Their numbers are even increasing. They help us dig tunnels and develop underground spaces. They clear out the trash we create and provide help as well as comfort to those who are physically or mentally disabled. They even fight with us and are like comrades who live and die with us.

[The more our civilization fights against monsters, the more we research them, and the more impossible it is for us to stray from their help.

[In the end, even toddlers who are just learning how to speak wrap their arms around biochemical pets’ necks while they swing their little fists at the savage monsters on the screen. Even if the difference between a biochemical pet and a Nightmarish Beast might just be a string of unstable DNA or a small chip that might become faulty at any moment.

[I’m not saying that domesticating monsters is wrong.

[After all, tens of thousands of years ago, our ancestors started trying to domesticate wild animals while hunting near their caves. They managed to turn monstrous and hungry wolves into loyal hunting dogs, and the domestication of plants and animals are all skills that an early civilization must learn.

[But I hope that all of you understand that domesticating cattle and domesticating monsters are two different things.

[The genetic chains of the creatures in the Other World are just too unstable, and they evolve as well as mutate far too quickly. Besides, the cranial capacity and brain circuits of far too many monsters don’t lose to those of humans. Even a wild monster’s intelligence is equivalent to the intelligence of a seven to eight-year-old child. The only thing that is stopping them from possessing full intelligence is a societal system and a massive amount of information.

[No one knows the potential of these monsters. So how could you keep a monster that has a high possibility of possessing mind control abilities around you like a pet?

[Of course, I’m not condemning the current biochemical modification technology. It’s just as some netizens said, it’s impossible and irrational to humanely get rid of all biochemical pets, fighting beasts, and beasts of labor.

[But I still have to ask. What is the limit of monster modification? Just how high do we intend to increase the monsters’ intelligence? Must we create a perfect monster with superior intelligence to humans but with sturdy armor and sharp claws or one that can fly around or crawl underground? Will only then will we understand that we have been keeping a threat by our sides all this time?

[Don’t go thinking that this is all alarmist talk.

[Humans are far too attached to technology, and we use it too much. We’ve never learned the lessons from it. So, if we have a hammer in our hands, we will always look for a needle to use it on.

[Now, there are no fewer than one hundred biochemical modification companies in Dragon City. As they face the fierce competition in the market and find that the pie of profit has a lot of room for their imagination, will the talented monster controllers, gene modifiers, and monster experts be able to control their excitement and desires?

[If we let them modify monsters as they please and turn our civilization into a monster civilization, in the end, how will the Dragon Citizens look?

[I don’t know, but I can imagine it.

[In many sci-fi works, you will find the classic theme of AI betraying their masters. This seems like a natural fear in us. We don’t trust those cold machines beside us, especially when we input complex and complicated codes that normal humans don’t understand. While they operate on their own, we lack confidence in ourselves and wonder whether we will be replaced by these sturdier, smarter, and more callous as well as brutal lumps of metal.

[But those are unrealistic worries.

[At the very least, with Dragon City’s current runic symbol technology and the level of the automatized superbrains, it’ll be a long time before real AI can be born. We have a long way ahead of us on that path. Machines are just machines, and they listen to us fully.

[But who is to say that AI must be born from those icy cold chips and machines?

[If we use genetic modification to make a monster who is already skilled in mind control possess a brain that is even greater than that of humans and lead it to gaining terrifying intelligence, wouldn’t this be another form of AI? How can you guarantee that it won’t go out of control?

[Why do people feel instinctual fear when they see human-shaped machines who can speak, but find pet dogs who can understand human commands cute?

[You must understand, the thought of metal machines possessing their consciousness and going out of control is just a fantasy.

[But machines of flesh and bones possessing their own consciousness and going out of control to attack their creators is a threat that is right in front of our doorstep!

[After all, we humans might call ourselves the most intelligent species, but at the end of the day, we are still machines of flesh and blood. There is no essential difference between our brains and monster brains. In fact, after dissecting many of the Apocalyptic Beasts, we found that the abilities they can use with their brains surpass what we can do. It’s just that those abilities are undeveloped or still locked.

[Now, let me ask you again. Are we prepared to unleash the seal on monster brains to create a completely different and unfathomable AI, then release these true creatures of the Other World to live together with us? And are we also prepared to be destroyed by them?]

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