Volume 14: Devastation Chapter 660: Core Mastermind
At the bottom of the black well, the main archive.
The entrance to the Ark's core computer room.
Aphrodite rolled up her gauze-textured sleeves, revealing a section of her fair and smooth forearms.
She put her forearm close to the wall in front of her, and within half a second, the wall seemed to sense something and automatically cracked open.
Aphrodite took a step forward and thrust her forearm into the gap.
At this time, Ke Lan was standing behind her. With the advantage of height, he could clearly see the changes that happened to Aphrodite's forearm after it was inserted into the wall.
The lifelike bionic skin on the arm was lifted up, revealing the delicate structure underneath. The metal skeleton and mechanical joints were wrapped in simulated fat and muscle for cushioning and protection, and thin hydraulic pipes that replaced blood vessels were embedded in the hollow metal pipes, contracting and expanding regularly with the rhythm of breathing.
If Layton saw the structure of this arm, this cyborg would probably burst into tears on the spot.
A dozen metal probes stretched out from the cracks in the wall, paused in the air for a moment, and then suddenly pierced into Aphrodite's forearm.
Her body trembled violently as if she had been electrocuted, but soon the probes retracted into the wall.
A semicircular mark lit up in the center of the wall.
"It's your turn." Aphrodite turned around and said to Ke Lan, "The passage to the core main brain room must be opened by two members of the Undead Crew."
Ke Lan glanced at the arm that she had just stretched into the wall. The bionic skin that had been lifted up had been covered back, and the edge of the incision had almost healed, leaving only a faint pink mark.
"But... my body doesn't have this function." Ke Lan said.
"Same thing, you just have to stretch your arms out."
"Really?" Ke Lan raised his arm doubtfully, imitating Aphrodite's actions just now and moved closer to the wall.
As expected, the wall sensed him and a crack appeared.
Ke Lan gritted her teeth and stretched her arm in.
Anyway, his recovery ability is abnormal enough that even if the entire arm is cut off, a new one can grow in a few days.
But this time, what stretched out from the wall was not a probe, but a thin blood-drawing needle. After drawing a small amount of Ke Lan's blood, it retracted into the wall again.
The other semicircular mark also lit up.
The wall split apart, and a passage that was just big enough for two people to walk side by side appeared in front of Ke Lan.
"Let's go." Aphrodite took the lead and walked forward, and Ke Lan followed closely behind her.
The passage is not long, only about fifty meters, but the entire passage is located inside the wall, which means that the outer wall of the computer room is a full fifty meters thick.
Even without taking into account additional protective devices such as energy shields, the wall itself can withstand a direct shot from the main gun of a "Yu" class heavy cruiser.
The temperature in the computer room is very low, only about five degrees Celsius. Although it is a bit cold for living things, it is an excellent ambient temperature for precision electronic equipment.
But... this "thing" that appeared in Ke Lan's field of vision ... can it really be considered a pure "electronic device"?
Located in the center of the machine room is a glass tank with a diameter of more than 100 meters. The glass tank is filled with a light yellow clear liquid suspected to be LCL. A huge "head" is immersed in it and suspended in the middle of the glass tank.
"Is this the core brain of the Ark?" Ke Lan murmured, "What a... brain..."
If calculated according to the proportions of a human head, this giant head has been magnified at least a thousand times. From the metal parts leaking out from the gaps in the flesh and blood, it can be seen that the basic structure of this head, that is, the main body of the supercomputer, should still be a non-living object made of metal and polymers. However, on the surface of the non-living object, a layer of flesh and blood tissue like tattered cotton wool has grown, wrapping up the entire body of the supercomputer.
Perhaps it was because it had been soaked in liquid for too long, the flesh and blood appeared pale and swollen, just like a corpse that had been dead for many days... But Ke Lan was absolutely sure that it was alive.
These pale, swollen, cotton-like flesh and blood formed a fragmented human face, with vague facial features that could be vaguely recognized. Ke Lan compared this somewhat terrifying face with the virtual projections of all the members of the Undead Crew, and found that no one had a similar appearance.
Of course, it is not ruled out that the face in front of him was too severely deformed - if the flesh and blood could become the same as the simulated skin on Aphrodite next to him, perhaps Ke Lan would see a completely different face.
Countless thick pipes and cables connected this "head". Some of these pipes and cables were connected to the electronic devices under the flesh and blood, while some directly penetrated into the flesh and blood. Ke Lan could even vaguely see the liquid pumped out of the tubes spreading along the fiber structure inside the flesh and blood , and then being absorbed...
Ke Lan did not see the parietal bone on the top of the skull. Instead, soft tissue that was almost identical to the human brain was placed in a reserved metal container. On this "brain tissue" were countless electrode patches. With the output of electric current, the brain tissue would twitch slightly from time to time... When multiple twitches gathered together, it looked like the brain tissue was constantly wriggling. The scene was extremely funny.
"Yes, this is the core brain of the Ark." Aphrodite replied, "The highest achievement of human computer technology."
"Is it a living thing... or a machine?"
"It is both a living thing and a machine." Aphrodite raised her head slightly and stared at the "head" in the glass jar. "The core brain has undergone three major upgrades. The second upgrade was to implant a biological tissue matrix into it, allowing it to grow and integrate with the computer. Relying on the efficient processing of bioelectric signals by the biological 'brain', the upgraded core brain's computing power has doubled."
"Does it have self-awareness?" Ke Lan couldn't help asking, "I mean... real artificial intelligence, not those artificial idiots out there..."
"Of course, yes."
