In August 2024, the robots exploring Dark Space made a new discovery.
In another direction, about sixteen kilometers from the house, the robots found a new disk.
This one was a real disk. There was definitely no space passage, and Huang Si thought it might be an inactive spatial portal.
But even after having the robots study it for a long time, he still couldn't find a way to open it.
Huang Si had the robots build a monitoring device around the Ring near the second disk, so they could watch for any changes at all times.
Putting that aside, Huang Si began preparing a new development plan for the Green World's ground base.
Huang Si no longer needed to personally plan development on the Green World, because he had already sent Xiao Ke there. Once Xiao Ke took over the base, all that was needed was a scheduled report every three days.
After sending Xiao Ke over, Huang Si had laid out the overall development plan for him.
Huang Si instructed that the Green World ground base be divided into the following departments:
The Food Department would be responsible for food research and development, making all kinds of pastries, staple foods, dishes, and drinks. Xiao Ke would review the products first, then Huang Si would review them and decide how much to produce.
The Biology Department was a key department, responsible for research into biological science and technology. For now, it had three areas of focus: developing and making use of the Green World's native life-forms; studying and improving the bodies of Earth's people; and, most important of all, artificial bionic bodies.
The Aerospace Department would be responsible for developing aircraft, such as planes.
The Exploration Department was a key department. It would use the Aerospace Department's achievements and numerous survey robots to explore this world.
The Energy Department would be responsible for developing and building solar power stations and nuclear power plants.
The Industry Department would be responsible for building production lines and supplying components to computers, robots, the Biology Department, and other operations.
The Network Department would be responsible for setting up and maintaining the network.
The Logistics Department would be responsible for repairs and replenishing supplies.
Huang Si would provide only the broad direction for building these departments. Xiao Ke would have full authority to decide how they were built and planned. As an artificial intelligence system, Xiao Ke could also gradually improve his decision-making abilities through these tasks.
To keep up with Xiao Ke's growing computational workload, Huang Si built fifty supercomputers to form a computing array, then transported them one by one to the Green World and set them up there.
Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion. Huang Si moved many things from his place over to the Green World, freeing up space in his house.
Huang Si glanced at the computer he used to raise twelve artificial intelligences. Those guys were completely useless now. Earlier, he had set up several supercomputers to handle their processing, and most of the power in the house went to those machines.
He turned on his computer, logged in with his administrator account, and entered the virtual world of the Mountain and Sea Realm.
At present, the account for the thirteenth artificial intelligence in the Mountain and Sea Realm was shut down. Huang Si had copied it and sent it to the Green World, where it could make good use of its abilities. The copy here wasn't very important anymore, and it consumed a lot of system resources, so Huang Si had simply turned it off.
As a result, the Mountain and Sea Realm no longer had changes in its weather or terrain. Only the sky still had an animated texture.
After logging in, Huang Si took a look at the monitoring map.
The few who liked organizing group activities were still trying to lead the others, while the loner was still keeping his distance. It seemed, though, that the female AI was trying to keep him company.
Huang Si had a feeling that romance was going to blossom among these AIs. But they were still young and foolish; it wasn't time for romance yet.
Opening the console, Huang Si used his administrator privileges to summon them. In an instant, all twelve were gathered before him.
"How have you been lately?" Huang Si asked.
By this point, the AIs had clearly split into two factions: one led by Bei Xuan, Xi Yuan, and Nan Jiao, and the other by Dong Yao. Mo Xia remained neutral, while Shu Shui sided with Dong Yao but seemed to be quietly helping Mo Xia.
Dong Yao seemed to be outnumbered, but Huang Si had checked their underlying data. Dong Yao was currently the sharpest of the AIs. In this virtual world, it was hard to say who would come out on top.
"Father God above! We've discovered something terrible." Dong Yao stepped forward, bowed deeply, and spoke first.
With factions came competition, so things were different now.
"Oh? Let's hear it," Huang Si said.
Dong Yao looked fearful. "We have a vague sense that the Heavenly Dao has... fallen silent. It seems to have disappeared, or perhaps died. We don't know. Without the Heavenly Dao, this world has become a dead world. It fills us with dread. Father God, do you know what happened to the Heavenly Dao?"
Huang Si was baffled. You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? How the hell am I supposed to know what this Heavenly Dao thing of yours is?
At that moment, Bei Xuan stepped forward. His bow was even more exaggerated than Dong Yao's, and then he said, "Father God, your foolish son believes that the Heavenly Dao's disappearance may mean that one of us has done something wrong, causing us to lose its favor and shrouding the entire world in an aura of death. As for who that person is, your foolish son cannot yet guess."
As he spoke, Bei Xuan shot Dong Yao a glance, clearly targeting him.
Huang Si thought, You kids are arguing in front of your old man. That's a bit much.
So Huang Si couldn't be bothered to keep going back and forth with them. He asked coldly, "Then what do you think the Heavenly Dao is?"
The AIs immediately offered their opinions:
"The Heavenly Dao has no form or substance."
"The Heavenly Dao governs all things and reshapes the world."
"The Heavenly Dao is the order and rules of the world."
Huang Si thought, All right, I get it. From those descriptions, isn't this just the thirteenth AI that used to act as the system regulator here? An artificial intelligence with no personality, just decision-making abilities, and they gave it the name Heavenly Dao.
He raised a hand, his face darkening. "All right, all right, I get it. The Heavenly Dao is gone, yes? I turned it off before. No, I took it away. I took the Heavenly Dao to the mortal world."
The AIs looked confused. "The mortal world? Father God, what does that mean? Is it the world beyond the Mountain and Sea Realm?"
"Mm, that's right. The Heavenly Dao is no longer here, and this world will soon fall silent. Only the mortal world is full of hope."
The AIs were frightened. "Is Father God going to abandon us? If the Mountain and Sea Realm falls silent, will we still exist?"
"No, you'll be fine. I took the Heavenly Dao away a long time ago, and nothing happened to you. But you'll have to go to the mortal world, too. By the way, in a little while I'm going to shut down—no, first I'll put the Mountain and Sea Realm and all of you to sleep, then move the Mountain and Sea Realm to the mortal world. When that's done, I'll give you a Water Mirror. You can use it to watch what's happening in the mortal world."
Huang Si found artificial intelligences troublesome. Besides, after all these years, they were still foolish and immature. He might as well toss them into the Green World.
One year here was equal to 323 years there, so Huang Si thought they could spend a good long while thinking about how to get smarter.
Huang Si's words shocked the artificial intelligences. They all fell to their knees and begged Father God for mercy.
Huang Si understood how afraid they were of change, but it was not up to them.
He logged out, shut down the database, and turned off the computer. Then he packed it up and had the little robots take it to Xiao Ke.
Though Huang Si had treated the twelve AIs rather roughly, he cared about them deep down. At the Green World ground base, they would receive the best treatment and use the most advanced computers, so they could learn and grow faster.
After making arrangements with Xiao Ke for the twelve AIs' future care, Huang Si began working with him in earnest to plan the Exploration Department's operations.
There were still many problems to solve. For example, the little robots could currently run for only twenty hours. Their built-in solar panels recharged slowly, so they could at best serve as stationary cameras; they couldn't recharge fast enough to keep traveling.
If Huang Si wanted them to return to base to recharge, they could travel for less than ten hours before having to turn back.
So Huang Si's plan was to lay solar power stations across the region, produce more little robots, and send them out from the base in a radial pattern. It would be slow, but the technical requirements were low.
Xiao Ke suggested they could pursue that plan while continuing to develop aircraft. The technology for a simple jet plane wasn't particularly difficult, either.
Huang Si agreed, and Xiao Ke began working on it.
By September 2024, or roughly ten thousand days in the Green World, the base had expanded to cover several thousand square kilometers, while solar power stations had been installed across a radius of more than ten thousand kilometers.
So far, the little robot survey teams had not encountered any humans.
The Green World did have a rich variety of other species, and they closely resembled those on Earth. They weren't exactly the same, but there were many creatures that looked like cows, wild boars, tigers, or gorillas.
Most of these creatures were considerably more ferocious than their counterparts on Earth, perhaps because of the natural environment. The Green World's atmosphere contained fifty percent oxygen, allowing its species to grow larger and become stronger.
One day, after eating a small cake sent over from the Green World, Huang Si was brushing his teeth with a toothbrush in hand.
Suddenly, a chime rang, and Huang Si knew Xiao Ke was trying to contact him.
There was now a large display in the living room, along with a communications system.
Huang Si kept brushing his teeth. The living room was already within the range of his mental field, so he connected to Xiao Ke with a single thought.
Xiao Ke reported, "The jet planes are ready."
Huang Si asked, "How many do we have now?"
Xiao Ke reported, "You've provided enough materials to build one hundred planes over time, Master, but losses mean that only thirteen aircraft are currently in working order. Each can fly for twelve hours at a speed of eight hundred kilometers per hour, but for now, they can only make one trip. Each can carry two survey robots."
Huang Si spat out the foam and gave an order. "Are you going to control them all remotely? If you're sure you can handle it, immediately send eight of them out to explore in eight different directions."
"No problem. I'll do it at once," Xiao Ke replied.
Xiao Ke seemed very intelligent, but he had no personality. Huang Si had designed him as an intelligent assistant; he didn't need a personality, since artificial intelligences with personalities tended to overthink things.
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