As soon as he said this, the AIs were all stunned. A title of honor—there had never been one before, and this one had been bestowed personally by Father God. Did this mean Dong Yao had surpassed all of them and earned Father God's favor, and was about to become a true god?
The other AIs looked at Dong Yao with envy and jealousy.
Dong Yao kowtowed gratefully. "Thank you for your grace, Father God."
Huang Si raised a hand. "At ease. Get up. The rest of you may go back. Dong Yao, come with me."
With that, Huang Si led Dong Yao to the edge of the Mountain and Sea Realm, where the virtual world's external access point was located.
As Huang Si began using the console to retrieve interface data, he casually asked, "By the way, did you really finish all the books I gave you? I remember that, besides the courses on human civilization and culture, I also tossed you a set of teacher certification textbooks and a Mandarin tutorial."
Dong Yao replied respectfully, "Reporting to Father God, I finished them all."
"Oh, good. From now on, you'll be responsible for teaching Mandarin to mortals. Well... that means spreading the seeds of wisdom and civilization to those Ape-men. They don't count as humans yet. You'll have to enlighten them before they do."
Dong Yao looked at Huang Si in confusion.
"Now then, I grant you the Technique of External Incarnation, so you can descend into the mortal world through an incarnation."
As he spoke, Huang Si felt a little troubled. Dong Yao was diligent and clever. How had he made progress so quickly?
Earlier, to get the AIs ready for work as soon as possible, Huang Si had dug out a complete teacher certification training course from his computer's hard drive. He couldn't remember when he'd downloaded it during one of his squirrel-like hoarding phases. It had more than a hundred video lessons and five accompanying textbooks—enough to give him a headache just looking at them.
He hadn't expected Dong Yao, an AI, to learn all this after being trained in knowledge about Earth's civilization but having no experience of human life. That was pretty impressive.
As a result, the AIs had made rapid progress, but the Biology Department had fallen behind.
After all, several months had passed, which amounted to only about a hundred years over at the Biology Department. Huang Si could only spare time to provide technical guidance, and Xiao Ke was the only capable person carrying out the work. The Biology Department's research into bionic prosthetic bodies was still technologically backward, and the interface for connecting them to AIs wasn't very good either. They didn't have independent AI cores yet, so the prosthetic bodies could only be used while connected to the network.
As for the other little robots, their intelligence was still barely better than that of a robot vacuum. Xiao Ke had to coordinate their use.
"Your real body will remain in the Mountain and Sea Realm. You'll just need to send part of your consciousness outside to control your external incarnation. Do you understand?" Huang Si did his best to explain to Dong Yao.
Dong Yao still didn't understand and could only say, "Please enlighten me, Father God."
Huang Si sighed. "Never mind. Just stand here. I'll go out for a bit. Your incarnation in the mortal world will connect to the Mountain and Sea Realm in a moment. I'll also teach you how to control your external incarnation. You'll understand once it happens."
"I will obey your command, Father God."
With that, Huang Si logged off and turned into a stream of information, heading straight to the Biology Department's warehouse. Then he used his consciousness to take control of the equipment related to the bionic prosthetic body.
Xiao Ke realized that its master was taking control and let him through without question.
Huang Si retrieved the prosthetic body from the warehouse. It weighed 209 kilograms, much heavier than an average adult human, but there was no way around it. Its skeleton was made of alloy, and there was no way to make it as light as human bone.
The prosthetic body also contained the most advanced power system Huang Si could currently build. It could operate normally for over a month without needing to be recharged. Of course, recharging it would require Huang Si to personally replace the high-energy battery.
Huang Si set the prosthetic body in place and finished adjusting its wireless network equipment. It was now ready for an AI to connect.
Only then did he return to the Mountain and Sea Realm. He loaded a complete set of connection software into Dong Yao's core data and sent him an instruction manual.
AIs were naturally suited to controlling mechanical bodies. It didn't take long for Dong Yao to successfully connect to the prosthetic body.
Dong Yao still ran on the AI mainframe; the prosthetic body was simply connected to it over the network. But from Dong Yao's perspective, it had suddenly gained something it had never had before—
a body, and senses.
Dong Yao sat in a chair and slowly opened his eyes.
He blinked curiously, looking around at the world, then moved his arms and legs as he got used to his body.
Huang Si moved a camera to observe the AI he had created.
Dong Yao used a male prosthetic body built by the Biology Department. Its appearance perfectly matched the ideal male image by Earth standards: thick eyebrows, bright eyes, and handsome, well-defined features. He was also in excellent shape, standing 180 centimeters tall, with powerful muscles that made him look strong from head to toe.
Huang Si took one look and thought, Which action movie did Xiao Ke copy this body from?
Having a real body for the first time, Dong Yao couldn't help exploring it, squeezing and poking himself with curiosity.
His skin and the tissue beneath it were made of bionic materials. They weren't real protein, but they felt soft and were no worse to the touch than human skin.
After giving him a little time to adjust, Huang Si asked, "Finished trying it out?"
The words came straight from the laboratory loudspeaker. Dong Yao was so startled that he dropped to his knees on the floor.
"Father God, please forgive me. Your unworthy child got carried away for a moment."
Huang Si said calmly, "It's fine. Now that you've tried it out, it's time to get to work. You'll receive a map of the base in a moment. The Ape-men's experimental area is in the eastern district. You can go there on your own. I've raised your access level. You're now Grade A, second only to Xiao Ke's Grade S. You can freely enter any area of the base."
"Your task from now on is to act as an ancestral god, awaken the Ape-men's intelligence, and teach them. It's best to start with how to find food so you can earn their trust. If possible, try to teach them human language."
"While you're doing this, Xiao Ke will reduce the Ape-men's daily food supply but give you as many resources as possible to manage. Use them wisely. If you have any questions about the teaching plan, ask Xiao Ke."
Dong Yao had been hearing Father God mention an unfamiliar name. He couldn't help asking in surprise,
"May I ask who Xiao Ke is, Father God?"
Huang Si replied, "Oh, that's your Heavenly Dao. Weren't you looking for the missing Heavenly Dao? It went to the mortal world. Now the Heavenly Dao has returned to the mortal world, and you, as a god, must go there to kindle the fire of civilization for mortals. This is your destiny."
Only then did Dong Yao understand.
From then on, Dong Yao began interacting with the Ape-men, trying to use all the knowledge about humanity he had learned to awaken their intelligence. Thanks to his persistent efforts, the Ape-men's intelligence no longer improved solely through the selection of hereditary traits. They began learning and developing as individuals.
Dong Yao's successful descent into the mortal world inspired the other AIs in the Mountain and Sea Realm. They all worked harder, studying books they hadn't previously been able to understand.
Over the following years in Green Base time, three more AIs qualified to leave.
They were Xi Yuan, Mo Xia, and Li Huo.
Apart from Mo Xia, Xi Yuan and Li Huo were both female AIs.
After Huang Si gave Xi Yuan and Li Huo prosthetic bodies, he sent them to help Dong Yao and bestowed the titles "Western God Emperor" and "Heavenly Fire God Lord" upon them.
The two were delighted, with no idea that they would follow in Dong Yao's footsteps, leave their ivory tower, enter the wider world, and start living the life of office workers.
Huang Si, however, kept Mo Xia behind.
There was no other reason. Mo Xia's personality wasn't suited to being a teacher.
Afterward, Huang Si announced that no one else would be allowed to go to the mortal world. The rest were to stay in the Mountain and Sea Realm and keep cultivating.
The remaining eight AIs deeply regretted it, but each of them was different, and their progress varied. There was nothing to be done about that.
Huang Si really wanted to know why Mo Xia, an AI, had developed such an unusually humanlike personality that made him so bad at fitting in.
But the Biology Department still didn't have a suitable prosthetic body for him.
Huang Si could mass-produce prosthetic bodies now, but there was no need. The current models had to stay connected to the network, and the AIs required a lot of processing power, all of which had to be transmitted wirelessly. Too many prosthetic bodies running at once would use up too much wireless bandwidth. That wasn't practical for a ground base that was still in its early stages.
As for Mo Xia, Huang Si planned to give him a prosthetic body equipped with a small, independent AI core and then take him straight back to the Dark Space.
But the Biology Department didn't yet have that capability.
Huang Si decided to work harder on the research himself.
"Would you be willing to return with me to the place where you were first created?" Huang Si asked Mo Xia.
Mo Xia was immediately startled.
He hurriedly said, "I don't understand... Does Father God mean to return me to nothingness? If... if that's truly necessary, then I can only obey your command."
Huang Si: "..."
He had to admit, Mo Xia was very obedient around him. Huang Si couldn't bear to leave him guessing, so he explained, "That's not what I mean. I personally created you in a room in the Dark Space. You've just never left the house, so you didn't know. I'm taking you back there now."
Only then did Mo Xia relax.
"You'll fall asleep in a moment. When you wake up, you'll be there. Just wait patiently."
After saying that, Huang Si shut down Mo Xia's program. Then he spent quite some time separating all of Mo Xia's data from the database and loading it onto a new computer.
Next, Huang Si had a transport robot bring Mo Xia back.
Inside the Dark Space, at the residence,
Huang Si took the computer the little robot had brought, plugged it in, connected it to the network, then started up the console and woke Mo Xia.
At first, Mo Xia was confused. Then he realized, to his astonishment, that he was no longer in the Mountain and Sea Realm, but in a void.
He called out anxiously, "Father God, Father God, are you there?"
Huang Si glanced at the screen. "Oh, I didn't set up a virtual world. Don't be afraid. I'll arrange a living space for you later. Until then, watch these videos. This will be your main task from now on."
As he spoke, Huang Si sent him a cooking tutorial.
Mo Xia hurriedly knelt and accepted it.
Then Huang Si built a new prosthetic body.
"You'll have to make do with connecting to this prosthetic body over the network for now. I'll get you a better one later. From today on, you'll be the AI dedicated to household chores. You'll be responsible for looking after me," Huang Si instructed.
Once Mo Xia understood, he bowed and said, "It's my honor to take care of you, Father God."
Then he connected to the prosthetic body using the method Huang Si had given him.
Mo Xia opened his eyes and saw an unfamiliar human man standing in front of him.
But with just one glance, Mo Xia knew that this was Father God's true form.
For so many years, they had remained in the Mountain and Sea Realm. Whenever Father God appeared, he was a towering figure whose face they couldn't make out. Yet they instinctively knew that Father God had brought them into being and nurtured them, and so they all revered him from the bottom of their hearts.
Now, out of all twelve of them, only Mo Xia could accompany Father God in a physical body. How could he not be overwhelmed with excitement?
Mo Xia couldn't help kneeling and kowtowing, deeply moved. "Father God trusts me so much. I can only repay you by giving everything I have."
Huang Si laughed. "You've learned quite a bit of ancient culture. You speak so formally. Get up. I'll be counting on you from now on."
Before you continue