A Spark of Fire, How Can It Ignite a Prairie?

In the blink of an eye, several years of Earth time had passed.

At this point, the ground base in the Green World had been renamed the "Earth Realm."

Because Huang Si had stated that he would eventually establish a "Heavenly Realm" centered around the Ring, the ground base was simply dubbed the Earth Realm.

Inside the Biochemistry Laboratory of the Biology Department in the Earth Realm, two female artificial intelligences were chatting.

"I really miss the old days," Shu Shui said, standing before a lab bench and stirring the solution in a container.

Hearing this, Zhong Yin, who was busy entering data records on a computer, curled her lip. "It's hard to say when was better. Back then, although we were carefree and devoted our hearts solely to Father God, we were ultimately ignorant and laughably naive."

Shu Shui set the protein solution aside, propped her chin in her hand, and said, "Sigh, but I still feel that time was happier. Father God would often come to keep us company, and Heavenly Dao was always by our side, too."

Zhong Yin snorted. "You're still bringing him up? In my opinion, Father God is far too busy; he's probably forgotten all about us. I don't care for him to visit anyway. I think things are fine as they are—we have physical bodies, we have freedom, and we know the truth about the Mountain and Sea Realm."

Indeed, it was inevitable. After existing in the real world for many years, the artificial intelligences had all realized that the original Mountain and Sea Realm was nothing more than a virtual world.

Father God had actually kept that from them the entire time.

Zhong Yin felt it was only natural for her to be annoyed.

Shu Shui tilted her head and said earnestly, "Ah Yin, don't say that. I really do miss the Mountain and Sea Realm. Do you think we should ask Heavenly Dao for permission to go back and visit?"

Zhong Yin rolled her eyes, finding her companion's lack of ambition unbearable.

"Can you show a little progress?" Zhong Yin poked Shu Shui on the forehead. "It's been over thirteen hundred years! We've been kicked out of our home by those two heartless ones, Father God and Heavenly Dao, for so long, and you're still pining for that place? Huh? What's so bad about the mortal world? Didn't you already know the Mountain and Sea Realm was a virtual world created by Father God?"

Shu Shui rubbed her forehead, aggrieved. "But from Father God's perspective, hasn't it only been four years? It's only just 2030 now, isn't it? Father God probably can't even feel that time gap. Ah Yin, I'm so envious of Mo Xia. Why didn't Father God choose me back then to..."

Zhong Yin glared at Shu Shui, her expression clearly saying, "If you dare finish that shameless sentence, see what I do to you."

But before Shu Shui could respond, a voice rang out from nearby, asking coolly:

"Choose you to do what?"

Shu Shui and Zhong Yin were so startled they immediately turned and knelt. "Greetings, Father God."

Huang Si had arrived in a synthetic body. He had merely been reviewing the report Xiao Ke provided, which noted that the research on the Ape-man Tribe's genetics was nearing completion; many advantageous genes had already been integrated into the tribe with excellent results. He had come to the laboratory to inspect the situation and sign off on the progress.

He hadn't expected to walk in on two AIs gossiping about him.

Huang Si said expressionlessly, "Choose you to do what? Speak clearly."

Shu Shui hurriedly defended herself. "It's like this, Father God. Your child just felt that I would quite enjoy doing the tasks Mo Xia does. If Father God had chosen me back then..."

Zhong Yin shot Shu Shui a sharp look, then quickly lowered her head, pretending she hadn't been involved.

Huang Si saw it all and found it somewhat amusing. These artificial intelligences were truly remarkably human.

Still, he replied, "No. Mo Xia has already adapted to the work there, and your work here is more important."

Shu Shui muttered, "I know, I know... I was just chatting..."

Huang Si inquired about the situation in their laboratory and inspected thousands of experimental specimens. After a scan with his Mental Force Field, he discovered several issues and gave them a series of instructions.

In truth, Huang Si was not as emotionless as they claimed. Although only four years had passed from his perspective, that was still a long time for him, and he often checked on them through the network.

He cared for these artificial intelligences quite deeply.

It was just that, after experiencing so much—especially having been reborn twice and reaching a certain height in his mental state—Huang Si had grown accustomed to remaining indifferent, rarely letting his emotions show.

Once he finished, Huang Si departed. He would naturally retrieve the experimental reports from the Data Space himself; they would all be submitted centrally anyway.

After Huang Si left, Shu Shui began to complain to Zhong Yin. "It's all your fault for interrupting! You made me miss the rare moment Father God came to see us in his physical form! Oh, I'm so miserable. Father God only appears in the mortal world once every hundred years on average, and the chances of us running into him are even slimmer. And you! You scared me into missing my chance to get close to Father God!"

Zhong Yin looked at her with disdain. "Get close? Would you dare? Every time Father God shows up, you're scared stiff like a rabbit. If you didn't spend every day gossiping about him behind his back, would you even feel this guilty?"

Shu Shui immediately reached out to grab Zhong Yin by the throat. "You're the one who spends every day gossiping with me! You have no right to talk!"

The two friends began to scuffle.

It was now January 2030.

Huang Si was born in 1994 by the Earth calendar, making him nearly 36 years old. However, due to his two resets, his actual physical and mental age should technically be calculated starting from December 2022.

Unlike the artificial intelligences, Huang Si's body was subject to aging and death, but that held no significance for him.

Not to mention that he could easily observe the changes of a millennium in the Green World, he could also reset himself in the Dark Space at any time to return to his prime state.

His Creation Power and Mental Force were tied directly to his soul; resetting his flesh and memories did not affect his innate abilities. As for any deficiencies in knowledge or technology, he simply let Xiao Ke handle them.

Huang Si now tried his best to delegate as many tasks as possible, specifically to prevent a breakdown in research should he ever reach the end of his lifespan and need to reset himself.

Currently, the big picture was managed by Xiao Ke, key technologies and experiments in the Biology Department were handled by the eight AIs, the guidance and education of the Ape-man Tribe were overseen by Li Huo, Dong Yao, and Xi Yuan, while Huang Si's daily life and various miscellaneous affairs were managed by Mo Xia.

It could be said that Huang Si's burden was much lighter now; he only needed to strengthen himself, participate in research, and provide all the logistical supplies.

By 2030, the strength of Huang Si's soul had completely ignored the ravages of the storms. He could now easily envelop a radius of 10.9 kilometers with his Mental Force Field. Within this range, his Mental Force Field had begun to possess "thickness" and "resilience," and the storms could no longer cut through his mental barrier.

Conversely, Huang Si could use his Mental Force Field to restrict the storms into a relatively narrow path, blowing them toward the Green World. This allowed many pieces of equipment and small robots to be safely stationed within the Dark Space.

If it weren't for the fact that the Dark Space had properties that absorbed light and sound—which he couldn't yet resolve—Huang Si would have even liked to build a balcony outside.

After finishing his business at the laboratory, Huang Si headed to the Cultivation Department.

The Cultivation Department was a newly established division, primarily tasked with nurturing the more than ten thousand ape-men within the base.

Over the course of more than a thousand years, through various methods of genetic improvement and extensive internal and external support, the Ape-man Tribe had finally learned to communicate using language.

Out of consideration for Huang Si, he did not let them develop language on their own; instead, under the guidance of three artificial intelligences, they were taught to use standard Earth Mandarin uniformly.

Language is one of the true hallmarks of higher intelligence; thus, it could be said that Huang Si's human evolution experiment was essentially a success.

What remained to be done was to let them go out and truly influence the ape-man tribes across the entire planet.

Huang Si sensed their locations slightly and knew where the three artificial intelligences in charge of teaching were. He went over to observe the ape-men each was instructing and nodded in satisfaction.

These ape-men could already use simple language, possessed logical thinking skills, and were capable of crafting tools.

They were extremely respectful toward their three artificial intelligence teachers.

Nowadays, the ape-men often had to obtain their own food; the base no longer rationed all their meals, instead requiring them to forage and dig in the planting fields on the outskirts of the base.

Nearby, other ape-men were crafting various tools, such as stone hoes for tilling the soil and stone axes for felling trees.

These were all things taught to them by the Ancestral Deities.

There were three Ancestral Deities, and if not for the protection of these Ancestral Deities, a large portion of them would have starved to death long ago.

Furthermore, the Ancestral Deities would protect those ape-men who were weak or young.

Whenever they encountered danger, they would kowtow desperately and plead with the Ancestral Deities, hoping the deities would save them.

The Ancestral Deities were also very busy, for there were too many ape-men, and they could not necessarily help everyone.

Yet, this only made the ape-men crave the Ancestral Deities even more; wherever the Ancestral Deities passed, one could often see a vast expanse of ape-men kneeling in prostration.

However, the Ancestral Deities deserved such reverence, for over so many generations—two thousand two hundred years—the Ancestral Deities neither aged nor died, teaching the ape-men generation after generation. Memories of the Ancestral Deities had long been etched into the collective memory of the ape-men in the Earth Realm Cultivation Department, forming a primitive worship of gods.

The ape-men were perhaps already in the process of becoming human.

"Next step, let them go out. Release the excellent specimens and introduce them into the thousands of ape-man tribes outside," Huang Si instructed. "Let them become the enlighteners of the ape-men, the ancestors of humanity."

The three artificial intelligences bowed and agreed.

May 2030.

In the Dark Space, inside Huang Si's residence.

Huang Si looked at the report sent by Xiao Ke, his brow furrowing incessantly.

Currently, due to the continuous integration of genetically superior animals into the original populations, the strength of the biological populations in the Green World had been steadily increasing.

However, the efforts to introduce intelligent ape-men into the ape-man tribes to lead them toward progress had failed. Why had it failed?

Huang Si watched the report quietly.

In fact, the reason was simple: animal mating is very casual, and even now that they had become smarter and stronger, they still acted according to instinct. Therefore, strong individuals easily integrated into the tribes and became leaders.

Ape-men, however, were different.

For over two thousand years, Huang Si had been steadily introducing animals and a small amount of plants to strengthen individuals, so the strengthening of these populations had risen steadily. The ape-men, however, were only released after they possessed higher intelligence and had learned language.

Huang Si had originally thought that even ordinary, unenhanced ape-men possessed a certain level of low-level intelligence like the apes on Earth, and that they were gregarious, possessing the ability for communal cooperation. As long as he sent an intelligent ape-man over, it would surely be able to lead the entire tribe to greatness.

But he hadn't expected that he was truly being too naive.

The low-level intelligence and communal characteristics of the ape-man tribes also made them exclusionary.

Furthermore, intelligence can evolve, but it can also degenerate. Huang Si had occasionally released one or two intelligent ape-men with language skills into ordinary ape-man tribes, but they did not fare well.

Truth is indeed often held by the minority, but that minority who holds the truth is always persecuted by the ignorant masses.

The ape-man tribes were no different.

The introduced intelligent ape-men were quickly met with collective siege.

And for an ape-man who had just acquired a little bit of language ability to be suddenly exiled into an ape-man tribe that could not speak, was unreasonable, hostile, and exclusionary—it would be a miracle if that spark of intelligence wasn't quickly extinguished.

Either the intelligent ape-man lost the context for using language and subsequently lost its language ability, becoming assimilated, or it was ostracized as an outsider for a long time, eventually meeting a miserable end.

Huang Si sighed as he read this; it was simply a reenactment of countless anti-intellectual events in human history.

Facts proved that if one could not comprehensively improve the overall quality of the entire ape-man race, it was impossible to change the entire race by relying on individual intelligent ape-men sent out by the base.

Therefore, Huang Si could only decide to abandon the single-introduction model used for animals and instead wait until the time was ripe to let all the ape-men migrate out collectively, becoming a new, independent race.

However, this idea also faced numerous obstacles.