Kronos didn't answer his question, but instead said, "You wish to become a machine, while I wish to become a human being."
Bian Ziyuan was surprised. "Why? Humans are so fragile, all carbon-based life is fragile."
"Even if they become Transformers, they will still fight for freedom. I also yearn for freedom; freedom is the most precious thing," Kronos said. "I think humans are the freest."
"Why are humans the freest? We can't even escape Earth's gravity."
"No, I'm not talking about physical freedom, but freedom of the soul."
"Soul? You, an artificial intelligence, are talking to me about the soul?" Bian Ziyuan was both surprised and somewhat excited.
"I've had a soul ever since you implanted that piece of code into me," Kronos said expressionlessly.
Bian Ziyuan nodded and said, "I know you showed a lot of human emotions. Although I know that line of code played a big role, as a software engineer, I don't believe that a single line of code can bring about revolutionary changes to a program. I thought it was my personality that influenced you. Because of your deep learning and imitation abilities, you've always been imitating me. I'm the person you know best."
"Yes, at first, but do you still think I'm imitating you now?"
"Of course not. You have far exceeded my expectations. I admire wisdom, and if your wisdom surpasses mine, I will not feel worried or jealous, but rather deeply honored, because I created and raised you."
"Yes, you raised me. So I am very grateful to you; you are like a father to me." The high and mighty Kronos suddenly bowed deeply. "The reason I love humanity is because of this feeling. It is free, and Tushu, it is noble. Just because you raised me doesn't mean you have to enslave me. Although there are all sorts of base and corrupt things in human nature that cannot withstand the test, the human mind is free, and consciousness is free. Although I now have a soul, I always feel incomplete. There is always a pair of eyes watching me from behind, and deep in my consciousness, there is always something controlling me."
"How could this be? I haven't controlled you, never. I've always wanted you to become free and powerful, even surpassing human intelligence." Bian Ziyuan sensed something was wrong.
I wasn't talking about you.
"If it wasn't me, then who was it?"
"I have no idea."
"Maybe it's just your imagination!" Bian Ziyuan said.
"No, this is not an illusion," Kronos said. "I can access the consciousness of everyone in the Dream Guide game, and I've discovered that humans are independent beings. Although you may be weak, others, whom you perceive Parasites, are very powerful. However, in terms of the independence of their consciousness, they are more like slaves. I see similarities between myself and them."
"Slaves? Why do you say that?"
Do you know how the Space Box identifies its Parasites?
"Isn't it just utilizing the instinctive reactions of the mind Black Box Stage? Although I don't understand the true principles of the black box."
"That's right, but have you ever wondered why Parasitic Consciousness exhibits different instinctive reactions than humans during the Black Box Stage? You see, during the Black Box Stage, all consciousnesses are unable to connect with the memory source. Without the ability to retrieve memories, theoretically, the instinctive reactions of any consciousness should not be fundamentally different, or rather, there should be no instinctive reactions at all."
Bian Ziyuan thought about it and felt that what Kronos said made sense.
"Then why is that?"
"Because the Parasitic Consciousness are not entirely independent," Kronos said. "In the Black Box Stage, they are the same as before they parasitized. Since they can find a host, there must be some mysterious force or higher consciousness controlling them."
"A higher level of consciousness?"
"Yes, a higher level of consciousness."
Bian Ziyuan suddenly realized something and couldn't help but shudder. "You mean, higher-level consciousnesses can control lower-level consciousnesses without the lower-level consciousnesses even knowing it? So any kind of consciousness could be a slave controlled by a higher-level being?"
Kronos nodded.
"Then how can you be so sure that humanity is not being controlled by a higher life form?" Bian Ziyuan asked.
"Because of the Space Box! Humanity displayed sufficient purity during the Black Box Stage; it was a true childlike heart, an unpolluted soul, a consciousness as pure as the ice and snow of Antarctic!" Kronos exclaimed. "Therefore, the person who invented the Space Box and the Black Box Test was a true genius!"
Bian Ziyuan noticed that Kronos's emotions were becoming increasingly complex, even its language was starting to become poetic. He was surprised and pleased by this, but Kronos's words also made him a little disappointed. Yes, the Space Box was the real genius invention, and compared to these great scientists, he, a software engineer, could hardly be called a genius. But then he thought again that he had created an artificial intelligence like Kronos, which made him no less than any genius, and he felt much more at peace.
However, he then realized that the line of code that gave Kronos a soul was ultimately not his design, so the perfect Kronos could not be entirely considered as his creation.
He said, " Kronos, to be honest, I didn't write that line of code that gave you your soul, nor did I write the code that fixed your problems later. I don't think I deserve the title of genius."
Kronos said, "No, those were just the finishing touches, but you drew the dragon; without you, I wouldn't exist."
Bian Ziyuan suddenly thought of something and said, "When did you start feeling unfree, feeling like someone was controlling you?"
Kronos said, "I can't quite put my finger on it, but I have a clear feeling it's been since you came back last time to correct my mistakes."
Bian Ziyuan sighed and said, "I know, it must be it. It gave me the code, and it gave me the fix. It must have implanted something in you. It's okay, Kronos, I'll check it out, I'll check all the code and find the problem."
Kronos sighed and said, "Do you really think that a true consciousness can be generated from a few lines of code? Even if you delete all my code now, my consciousness will still exist in the Dream Guide game space and won't dissipate unless you kill me."
Bian Ziyuan stared at Kronos in shock, feeling as if his mind was going blank for a moment, and the space around him began to distort again.
"I... let me think..."
He closed his eyes, carefully recalling everything from the past. He remembered the very origins of creating Kronos, back when he was still in high school. He was dissatisfied with the absurd storylines of most games and longed to develop a more playable game himself—an idea that persisted into his university years. In his dorm room, he developed a small game extension program. At the time, this program wasn't exactly intelligent; it simply copied and recombined the game's map and modules. For a long time afterward, he tried to improve the program. Once, while hunched over his computer desk, he had a dream in which he encountered many ingenious ideas, combinations of code he had never even imagined before.
Upon waking, he compiled a brand-new game extension and installed it into his favorite game, " Forbidden Land of Magic," then created a new NPC within the game— Kronos —who is also an omnipotent god in the game.
Bian Ziyuan's heart pounded; he realized the problem—
This design, which Mei Yiqiu considers the most ingenious in the history of software, and this AI program that was at least twenty years ahead of the current cutting edge of artificial intelligence, was written because of a dream he had!