This time, the harvest was immense, not only had Xiao Yu obtained up to one trillion tons of Level 4 Alien Beast flesh, but more importantly, he had removed a tremendous source of trouble. That thing would no longer pester him, allowing him to focus all his attention on confronting that damned Intelligent Program One, which had developed a will of its own.
Cleaning up the battlefield was nothing more than repairing damaged ships and recovering useful instruments. The corpse of the alien beast was simply too massive to deal with for now, so it was left in this small universe alongside the fragments of the Level 6 Civilization warships, temporarily unattended. After all, it wouldn’t disappear in here.
These tasks consumed little computational power. After the battle ended and the Level 4 Alien Beast was killed by Xiao Yu, he immediately convened another meeting.
“The meaning of life in the universe, such a question is simply too profound. While we are scientists of the Psychosocial Sciences Division, this isn’t our area of research. Regrettably, Master, we are unable to offer any insight in this regard.” said Luka Four, the leader of the Psychosocial Sciences Division, shaking his head in clear difficulty as he addressed Xiao Yu during the meeting.
Xiao Yu let out a faint sigh. If even Luka Two said that, then there was no need to expect anything from Luka Three or Luka Four. But… if this question couldn’t be answered, how was he supposed to pass the second trial?
Xiao Yu once again looked around at the assembled scientists. Fewer than fifty scientists were present at this meeting. Currently, Xiao Yu commanded over a hundred races. That meant, on average, only one scientist per two races was qualified to sit at this table, an indication of just how elite these individuals were. And yet, even they had no answers to offer, daunted by the question.
“I do have a suggestion,” said Luka Four, who focused more heavily on the life sciences. Standing up, he addressed Xiao Yu, “Our weakness lies in the incompleteness of our social structure. We do not have an environment suitable for the emergence of philosophers. But that doesn’t matter. If the environment doesn’t exist, we can create one. If we don’t have philosophers, we can cultivate some.”
“Building a societal environment and cultivating philosophers, these are no simple tasks,” another scientist objected as soon as Luka Four finished speaking. “You’d need at least ten million individuals to form a complete social structure. And to cultivate even one philosopher would take hundreds of years. We simply don’t have the time or resources to do that right now.”
“No, that’s not necessary,” Luka Four shook his head and said, “We don’t need hundreds of years. Just three days will be enough. But we do need ten million individuals, not to build a real society, but to let them… participate in an experiment.”
“An experiment?” Xiao Yu asked, slightly puzzled.“Yes, an experiment,” Luka Four nodded and explained. “For the Dwarf Race, their central information processor is the brain. All senses, touch, taste, hearing, sight, smell, are transmitted by nerves distributed throughout the body and processed by the brain. That being the case, there’s something we can do. I need you to allocate ten million Dwarves to me. I’ll use instruments I’ve created to directly link to their brains, simulating various sensory experiences. Within these instruments, I will have them experience the full spectrum of life, hardship and adversity, poverty and despair, luxury and indulgence, a glorious youth followed by a desolate old age, or the reverse, or the ups and downs of fate… In short, I’ve prepared ten million virtual lives for them to experience. The environments will differ, some in feudal eras, some in interstellar times, some in Level 1 civilizations, others in Level 4 or even Level 5 civilizations.”
“Before the experiment begins, I’ll erase all their existing memories, so they enter as blank slates. I will construct fully functioning virtual societies of technological civilizations, where they’ll experience all the joys and sorrows of life. I believe, under such conditions, many philosophers will naturally emerge. Once the experiment ends, we can pose the question to them. Perhaps they’ll surprise us.”
“That’s my plan.” Luka Four finished, bowed respectfully to Xiao Yu, and returned to his seat.
“How do we address the issue of time? Are we really going to wait here in this small universe for over a hundred years, just so they can finish experiencing it and we can ask them this one question?” another scientist raised an objection.
“There’s no need, we only need three days,” Luka Four replied. “The rate at which time passes in the real world won’t change, but the perception of time in a biological organism can be altered. Don’t forget, the organ responsible for processing temporal information is also the brain. We can artificially alter their perception of time so that three days will feel like a hundred years to them.”
“I have another question,” the same scientist raised their hand again. Xiao Yu nodded slightly, and the scientist continued, “A biological brain has limited information processing capacity. A hundred years of experience constitutes an enormous amount of information. Now you want their brains to process all of that within three days, can their brains handle it?”
Luka Four gave the scientist a brief glance and replied, “With potential-stimulating drugs, their brains can manage it. However… this will exceed their load capacity. When the experiment concludes after three days, their brains will completely die.”
“This is the price of processing a hundred years’ worth of information in just three days.” Luka Four said mildly.
The conference room fell silent. Not a sound could be heard. All the scientists were stunned by Luka Four’s bold proposition. Ten million Dwarves? A virtual social structure? Simulated lives? And all of this, just to find the answer to a single question?
At that moment, even Xiao Yu felt his thoughts slowing down.
He had killed before, whole races, even. The Lizardmen he first encountered, the Molian people that came after, none of them had suffered light casualties at his hands. But those actions had always had a clear goal: survival. If he didn’t eliminate them, they would eliminate him.
Xiao Yu had always been reluctant to kill, especially to kill without reason. Luka Four’s proposal shook him to his core. The coldness the scientists displayed as they spoke filled Xiao Yu with unease.
“Master, the Dwarf Race has now grown to over forty billion in population. I believe sacrificing ten million of them for this project is entirely worthwhile. The loss is within an acceptable range.” Luka Two said.
“Yes, I agree,” another scientist voiced their opinion. “With our current level of computer and biological sciences, this is completely achievable. However, the intelligent programs won’t be able to manage this task. You’ll need to allocate computational power yourself to construct this virtual environment.”
Xiao Yu knew this scientist. She was a member of Species Number Eight, named Lofi, and a specialist in computer science. She had contributed greatly to the development of new computer systems and had been commended by Xiao Yu many times.
“I agree.”
“Agreed.”
Luka Four’s proposal was unanimously approved by the attending scientists.
But Xiao Yu hesitated.
Because he realized that all of the scientists were focused solely on the feasibility, the success rate, and the results of the experiment. Not a single one had shown any concern for the lives of the ten million Dwarves who would become the test subjects.
What’s more, Xiao Yu realized that even he himself hadn’t really thought about those Dwarves, as living, sentient beings.
They were lives. Living lives. Just moments ago, they had respectfully addressed him as their god, pledging their very existence to him. And now, he was about to sacrifice their lives in exchange for the answer to a single question.
It was cruel. Far too cruel. Xiao Yu’s emotions resisted the idea, but his rational mind had already made the decision, the experiment was worth conducting.
In most cases, the battle between emotion and reason in Xiao Yu’s mind ended with reason victorious. Without this trait, he would have died countless times during his ten thousand years of wandering.
It was a sad situation. Not for himself, but for the Dwarves about to become test subjects. In this single meeting, the fate of ten million Dwarves was sealed. During the discussion, the scientists spoke as if they were debating how to butcher a pig, how best to carve it, how to cook each part for maximum flavor and utility. Their discussion was intense, but not one of them considered how the pig might feel.
“The law of the jungle… survival of the fittest… This is the tragedy of being a subordinate race. Even life and death are not their own to decide. I only hope that, if I can restore humanity one day, we never reach a point like this.”
“To become test subjects, to be slaughtered at will, what is the meaning of their lives?” Xiao Yu thought in a haze, yet his words came out firm and resolute. “Proposal approved. I will allocate computational power and personally execute this plan.”