"There's a parasite in the investigation team!" That was Mei Ziqing's first thought.
The diary's disappearance suggests it contained potentially important information, which was then taken by the parasites who didn't want the investigation team to discover the secrets recorded in it.
But when Mei Ziqing said those words, she noticed that Professor Mei, Professor Su, and Qingmu remained silent, seemingly not entirely agreeing. She bit her lip in disappointment and asked doubtfully, "Did I... say something wrong?"
Mei Yiqiu said, "You're right, that's very likely. But precisely because that's so likely, we took precautions beforehand. The members of the investigation team supervise each other, or rather, they are all subject to the supervision of the Space Management Committee. At least none of them had the opportunity to act alone."
"Based on the information sent back by our people, it's certain that a member of the investigation team leaked the information, but it's highly likely that the person who took the diary was someone from the US military," Su Huilan added.
"US military?"
"Most of the investigation team members are researchers, but maritime rescue is not a scientific experiment. In addition to the maritime rescue team sent by the New Zealand government, the navies of the United States, Australia, and France also participated in the search and rescue," Mei Yiqiu explained. "Because of the discovery of fragments of a Soviet-made submarine, the US military attached great importance to this operation and bypassed the investigation team in many matters. They may have also found some other clues that we were unaware of. This time, some of the crew's belongings, including the diary, were first found by United States warships."
Qingmu suddenly asked, "Can you be sure it was stolen or destroyed?"
Mei Yiqiu was taken aback, then shook her head.
Su Huilan analyzed, " Captain Church's diary is a personal item. Before it was discovered, no one should have known what he wrote. If there were any secrets inside, they would only be visible after it was restored. However, the people involved in the search and rescue and investigation, whether from the military or other organizations, are not of very high rank. Theoretically, they shouldn't be high enough to have the authority to destroy the diary directly."
Qingmu said, "That means there's a high probability the diary is still there."
Su Huilan shook her head and said, "It's hard to say. They might ask their superiors for permission and destroy the items after receiving orders."
Qingmu also thought this was possible. If someone from the Dream Society possessed Dream Corridor like Zhao Pengcheng (www. hetushu. com. com), contacting superiors would be easy. However, according to Zhao Pengcheng, Dream Corridor were extremely rare, possessed only by a few high-ranking individuals or those on special missions. People who infiltrated the military and investigation teams probably didn't have such a high rank.
"It's also possible that they've already passed the diary entries to their superiors, such as the White House or the Pentagon, right?" he asked.
"That's very likely." Su Huilan and Mei Yiqiu nodded simultaneously, then Mei Yiqiu's eyes lit up, and she said, "You mean..."
Qingmu smiled and said, "I should go see him too. I wonder how his training is going lately."
Since the Turing Test ended, Mei Yiqiu had all the servers from the surrounding experimental computer rooms moved to his laboratory, and a larger computer room was set up on the basement floor.
In this way, the entire experimental building forms three independent computer workgroups, with the top floor being an independent network based on a quantum communication satellite architecture, used for the Third Space Foundation's internal communication, top-secret experiments, and data storage;
The two underground floors are a protected area for mechanical consciousness centered around the " Ghost " with whom Qingmu made an agreement. Although the security measures here are not as strict as those on the top floor, the access control is extremely high. Apart from the computer room administrator, only the professor, Mei Ziqing, and Qingmu are allowed to enter.
The middle floors remain the same as before, with normal Internet access and a separate firewall. The regular staff of the lab work on these floors and are unaware of the differences between them and the areas above and below.
Qingmu went down to the basement alone; this time, neither Mei Ziqing nor the professor followed him.
Only the three of them knew about the existence of the Ghost. They had agreed not to tell anyone else until the conditions were right. Of course, Xia Xiaoxiao and Situ were exceptions, since the existence of Internet Consciousness was no secret to them; in fact, they knew more about it. However, Xia Xiaoxiao and Situ probably wouldn't come.
Mei Yiqiu didn't tell Su Huilan, and Qingmu naturally wouldn't either. Although Su Huilan was curious, she was reserved as a guest, and without being invited, she didn't dare to ask Qingmu where he was going, let alone suggest going with him.
The server room was much larger than the original, but with more servers, it felt even more crowded. However, this time Qingmu didn't need to sit among a bunch of metal cabinets. The server room was neatly divided, providing Qingmu with a very comfortable space, a small room with a mat, drinking water, and a few books, somewhat like a small training room.
Upon seeing this, Qingmu couldn't help but think of Su Huilan, who practiced yoga. This woman also possessed strong Mental Power, was skilled in hypnosis, and could enter dreams; it was just unknown whether she could communicate with machines. She was from the Third Space Foundation and was also familiar with Professor Mei, so she probably already knew about the Internet possessing consciousness, but she probably wouldn't think of using the internet to experiment with dreams of mechanical consciousness.
Qingmu sat cross-legged in the small room and skillfully pressed two control buttons. One of these buttons would disconnect the server from all external devices, including the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and so on; the other would physically sever the connection between the local area network and the external network.
At this point, even the power supply was provided by an independent UPS, and there were no power lines connecting it to the outside world.
In this way, the local area network essentially loses all perception and enters a state of pure conscious activity.
This operation was already very familiar to Qingmu. Since the last time they reached an agreement, Qingmu had come here twice to conduct mental training on the Ghost.
However, he currently has no way to communicate with the Ghost without disconnecting from the internet. He is experimenting with whether he can use Mental Power control to make the Ghost more independent, thereby freeing it from the control of the Internet. Of course, he won't tell the Ghost any of this, at least not yet.
Compared to the first time, the meeting between human and machine consciousness went much more smoothly. Humans are increasingly understanding the dimensional variability within the machine's dreams, while the machine is also gradually recognizing and comprehending the human world.
After two strange images flashed by, the machine's dream lingered in a picturesque ancient world, where magnificent gardens and pavilions stood tall and imposing, with lush greenery providing shade. Occasionally, one would encounter flying eaves and shooting stars, or hear the cries of monkeys and cranes amidst the misty Jade Pool.
Amidst the ethereal atmosphere, a pale, floating figure emerged, like a thin paper doll, and spoke in a chilling, sinister voice. "You've come!"