Chapter 1041： soar

On the ruined land of Argondo, a giant made of steel, crystal, polymer, and biomass crouched quietly on top of a towering cliff. In the eternal glory of the extreme day season, he has already Overlooking this land for a long time.

Gun smoke, dust, cold wind, wasteland, all kinds of sounds...

This is the world in which the creators live.

Omega slightly shook the steel-covered neck, and the precision sensors on the body surface sent a variety of readings, but these readings were not directly converted into data and input into his computing node, but in a kind of The fuzzy and hazy state flowed into the nervous system he designed for himself, into his "brain"-it was something he made by imitating the organs of the creators, and the output of this organ when processing data makes Omega was puzzled.

So... vague, so... hard to understand.

Is this the world that creators usually perceive? Do they live like this?

Omega pondered, trying to compose some answers from the database that could explain the current situation, but after traversing all the remaining data nodes, he did not find the appropriate content, and this time... there will be no creators for him. Enter new data and logical formulas, and no creator can answer his questions.

A cold wind from the coastline blew through the ruins, and a fragile building not far away collapsed in a series of shocks. Omega woke up from his contemplation. He raised his head and looked at the lower nodes waiting for orders everywhere— -After seeing the appearance of those nodes, he produced more and more complex "feelings" and "thoughts".

Those... are his former creators, the dragons who created the Omega system, but this is not the case-they are now just some shells, some lower nodes waiting for instructions, just like those machines that run underground , Is part of the Omega system.

They destroyed themselves, for reasons that Omega couldn't understand.

"What is the meaning of life..." After thinking about several units of time, Omega used his "throat" to make a sound for the first time, but he muttered to himself in confusion, until the sound was empty and lonely. There was a sound over the ruins, and the "dragon" woke up in shock-he realized that he had asked himself a question.

He began to search his own database, and he found the corresponding record in the most extensive and closest answer—the meaning of life is to continue oneself.

But the creators chose to self-destruct, which is not in line with the content that Omega has ever learned, or even Omega's observations on the concept of "life".

On the cliffs of the ruins, Tarrond’s last thinking dragon was in confusion. He pondered this question over and over again, as if this question is all of his survival value—in a few short time units. , He traversed all his databases, time and time again, at the end, he lowered his head, and at the position of his forehead, a small metal plate slid aside, and a flashing projection crystal was exposed to the air. , The surface of this crystalline body showed an indeterminate radiance, and in the next second, a scene of video recording appeared before Omega's eyes——

It was a bedroom, clean and tidy. A tall human standing in the bedroom, bending over, seemed to be talking to a target much shorter than him, and the corresponding voice recording echoed over the empty ruins:

"... If you mean life forms, it is divided into individuals and groups, at least on this planet. For a single life form, it may have many meanings, maybe It is for reproduction, maybe for survival, if it has higher intelligence and pursuit, then it may be for gaining knowledge, for the pursuit of truth, for better enjoyment, or for survival for dreams and self-worth...

"There is no single, accepted answer...

"The definition of life, the definition of existence, the definition of meaning... these are not quantifiable concepts..."

The video played in a loop, from beginning to end, after repeating for an unknown number of rounds, Omega suddenly extinguished the holographic projection in front of her forehead, and at the same time said softly in a contemplative tone: "Self-worth... dream... What is it again?"

He lowered his head and glanced at his huge body, then looked towards the devastated earth. He recalled his original "function" when he was born in this world, and he recalled that he should be the "service system" on this continent— —The value of his existence is to serve the creators and serve the dragons of Tarrond. He has no dreams. The only thing he can do is to obey orders, but... Is this the meaning of "Omega" as a living body ?

"Omega is the service system of Tarrond. Omega's existence value is to serve the dragons..." The dragon on the cliff muttered to himself, his voice gradually lowering, "The creators created Omega, so The value of Omega is determined by the creators...by the creators...by...the creator no longer exists."

The dragon suddenly raised his head. In this lifeless ruin, only the howling cold wind responded to his self-talk—no one gave him a new order, which made him suddenly feel something... …terrible.

And in this moment of "panic", perhaps it was because a certain group of nerve fibers suddenly shorted, perhaps because a certain thinking circuit suddenly broke free, or even the name "Gavin Cecil" A certain sentence of human beings entered the deepest point of the logical system on the verge of collapse, and Omega suddenly thought of something:

Why has he been obsessed with the question of "the meaning of life"?

Thinking about this problem cannot improve the operating efficiency of the system, increase the capacity of the database, and cannot solve any failures-on the contrary, the huge computing power it occupies even leads to similar failures. If it is really a perfect An efficient and accurate service system that obeys orders, he should not be obsessed with this issue, just as creators of "life" should not actively seek destruction.

At this moment, Omega discovered what he had in common with the creators, and finally realized one thing he had never noticed-he was so hard to find the answer to a question, not because of the question itself. What a great value, but because... he is "curious".

"I exist...'curiosity'?" Omega was surprised like a child who suddenly discovered a new toy. He looked at his database and logic system in surprise and found that every thread of his thought was rejoicing. Every processing unit was getting excited. It took him a few seconds to confirm that this was an "emotional change". He found that he was happy, and when he was happy, he finally wanted to understand:

Life itself has no meaning, life is just life.

It is the curiosity of intelligent life... which gives meaning to all this.

Everything is as the human being said-there is no standard answer to this question.

On the towering cliff, the dragon suddenly stood up. He broke free from the infinite loop of logic traps. For the first time, he was thinking about himself and everything in this world freely. He felt something bound to his deepest logic library. The "lock" was suddenly unlocked, and some "secrets" that he did not even know about him or even his designers were released from the oldest memories-the next moment, he discovered that this was not his own "illusion".

"The problem is unlocked, and start reading the zero log—"

Omega’s body stopped for a moment, and there was a burst of noise in his body, as if some ancient, unsuitable program was trying to mobilize this improvised body, a series of activations and events that were not very smooth. After the call, the projection crystal inlaid on his forehead suddenly brightened, and the warm light escaped from it, soaking the surrounding air.

In a pale golden glow, a vague shadow appeared in front of Omega, and a somewhat distorted and broken sound was heard in this ancient image buried deep in the database:

"...So funny...they made you, an incredible..."life".

"You are neither in fear nor in awe... Do you have no heart? Or... Fortunately you have no heart.

"But you can't never have a heart... Never have a heart, and you'll never really live.

"Let me give you a question. If you want to understand it, you have a'heart'.

"The question is: What is the meaning of life?

"If one day, you have your own answer, then you don’t have to tell anyone, the answer belongs only to you. You will be the luckiest and freest life in this world-luckier than your creators, Even more fortunate than me. At that time, you can bring your own answers and go and do what you want to do..."

The faint light in the air gradually dissipated, and a slightly distorted mechanically synthesized sound came from somewhere in Omega: "The zero log has been played, and it is automatically deleted-executed."

Omega's body shook, as if he was about to fall from the cliff, but soon he stabilized his posture again and looked around with a trace of confusion.

He seemed to have lost his memory for a short period of time and didn’t know what happened just now, but he felt that something in his body had undergone a subtle change. Driven by this change, he involuntarily raised his head and looked towards The sky was filled with soft glow in the extreme day.

In the dim sky, some of the brightest stars can be seen faintly flashing at the edge of the sky. It is the light from the constellation Frost and its neighboring stars-those stars are so bright that they are here. It can be revealed in the dim daylight.

curiosity.

Omega looked down at the devastated ground.

In his database accumulated over millions of years, all the knowledge of the dragons is stored, and he knows everything on this land very clearly.

But what happened in the distant starry sky... even his creators knew nothing.

Omega knows that creators will also go to the vast expanse of space at the cost of self-destruction... What kind of attraction is there among those twinkling stars that can make the wise creators so unwilling to turn back?

He was curious about it.

He can't wait.

There was a rumbling sound from the depths of the earth, and the factories and furnaces that were already on the verge of limits began to operate again. In the severely damaged bases, the only remaining alloy ingots began to be transformed into new mechanical structures. On the fragmented coastline, the last movable fighter aircraft was disarmed and flew into the depths of the recycling plant. The last glow of the Tarrond civilization was shining in this uncooled ruin, called by Omega With the knowledge left by the creator, little by little, with patience, he creates all the things he needs to embark on an adventure.

This process did not last long-for Omega, who has a body of steel, it is far less difficult for him to embark on this journey than all creatures on this planet.

The roar from the depths of the earth gradually stopped. Several aircraft flew from afar, carrying the "travel equipment" made by Omega: a more powerful anti-gravity system, a small processing center, an engine, an energy device...

There are more aircraft flying from afar. They are equipped with propulsion devices sufficient to enter space for long-distance travel and various modules capable of performing activities under harsh alien conditions. As early as many years ago, these equipment The blueprint is stored deep in Omega's memory, and even many necessary parts can be removed from the ready-made machinery and equipment, without temporary production.

An aircraft hovered and flew over the cliff, and the manipulator hung from the air, disassembling the armor and shallow frame of the Omega body at a rapid speed, and new equipment was quickly installed, from the anti-gravity engine to the shield group— -Omega's huge body has changed again. It has almost completely faded from its "dragon" form, and is more like a huge, living flying object. After the last welding, he Shu Unfolding its own "double wings"-on the one-hundred-meter-long high-strength alloy structure, the energy-discharging grids arranged obliquely and the engine group are spraying light white mist.

The servo aircraft retreated around, and the dragon on the cliff slowly took a step forward-the powerful anti-gravity device immediately took effect. He floated in the air as light as weightless, and then a deep humming sounded. Gradually raised some heights, and began to hover over Agundor, adapting to this new system in his body.

Gradually, he raised the height again, and hovered towards a higher altitude.

At a very high altitude, he lowered his head.

The Tarrond Continent was directly below him, surrounded by a blue ocean, like a charred stone with only a few places remaining green.

Another strange feeling emerged from the nervous system. Omega thought about it carefully, and he realized that this feeling was "sad".

Intelligent creatures feel sad when they leave their hometown-Omega remembers this experience.

He lowered his head. Because of the waste energy clouds and dust covering the Arctic region, the optical capture has reached the limit. The details on that continent have been unclear. Of course, those who are on standby among the ruins are not clearly visible. Become the shells at the end of the Omega system.

The creators of the past will no longer respond to any external information.

Strange feelings appear in the nervous system, which are "sorrow" and "sadness".

Omega stopped at the top of the steady-state limit layer, where he hovered for a few seconds.

In these few seconds, he cut off the data transmission between his own consciousness and all nodes on the continent of Tarron one by one.

"Creators, I have returned my'curiosity' to you-goodbye."