CHAPTER 559: CHAPTER 286: SETTLERS

Mountain City.

"Lights on!"

At Chen Jian’s command, the buildings surrounding the temporary command center began to light up gradually.

The night sky over Mountain City was instantly illuminated, and atop the tallest building, a massive laser emission array was patrolling under the guidance of a radar fire control system, ready at any moment to strike down any unknown creature nearing the core area.

The defensive facilities of the entire core area had begun to activate sequentially, gradually extending further out.

In Lin Yu’s words, this city is "reviving."

But it’s reviving in another way.

He curiously looked at the distant skyscrapers, seeing not just the "ordinary scenery" visible to common humans, but also a series of data, labels, and indicative markers.

Signal strength, transmission rate, physical status, item name, function, purpose, even.....effect.

For example, when he looked at the distant skyscraper, the semi-transparent panel before his eyes even displayed its power usage, line occupancy, and the operating status of some special electrical equipment.

Of course, he could turn off all this data with just a slight thought.

But, he didn’t want to do so just yet.

Because it gave him a novel experience, as if he wasn’t in the "real world" but in some kind of fantastical dream.

"...so this electricity for the lights, is not actually from under Mountain City, but from that...generator you brought in?"

Lin Yu asked Chen Jian beside him.

Chen Jian nodded and replied:

"Yes."

"The power system of the entire Mountain City has been severely damaged by the nuclear explosion, and the part that can be restored is very limited now."

"Even if we mobilize all the unmanned intelligent equipment currently present in Mountain City for repairs, it’s still impossible to fully restore it in a short time."

"So overall, the city’s ’residential power consumption’ is still quite low."

"It can easily be covered by a few small fusion reactors."

"Understood."

As Chen Jian spoke, Lin Yu also quickly glanced at brief explanations of certain keywords, listening while watching, he could almost understand every word Chen Jian said without any obstacle.

This experience even fascinated him a bit.

Because he had a kind of....

illusion of omniscience.

Thinking of this, he asked:

"Then why don’t you install such...brain-machine interfaces on everyone?"

"I mean, even without consciousness upload, these auxiliary functions are quite useful, right?"

"You could use it for education, for...communication?"

"After efficiency improves, wouldn’t the speed of learning knowledge also benefit your development?"

"We are indeed contemplating these aspects."

Chen Jian replied:

"However, the brain-machine is still too aggressive—a smart ocular device can solve similar issues, why use a brain-machine?"

"Did the brain-machine change you? Did it make you smarter?"

"No, right."

"What makes you smarter are the quantum computers beneath us, the computing power provided by them."

"You yourself haven’t changed, you just gained a relatively convenient channel to acquire information."

"...Makes sense."

Lin Yu immediately realized it.

This illusion of omniscience wasn’t given by the brain-machine interface, but by the quantum computers.

He instantly lost interest in this topic and instead asked:

"So next what are you...we going to do?"

"Very simple."

Chen Jian pointed to the buildings with the lights already on, and answered:

"Can’t you see? I’m cleaning rooms."

"...I don’t get it."

Lin Yu shook his head.

"...Seems I should allocate a little more computing power from Fu Xi for you, you’re a bit too slow like this now."

Chen Jian said humorously:

"We’re going to build, or rather restore, Mountain City to a central city that can host a large population."

"So logically, we need to repair various living facilities."

"We must make every person arriving here feel that life here is fundamentally different from other cities in the Wasteland World."

"So...we need to make use of the infrastructure here."

"In short, clean the rooms."

"...I thought it was something profound."

Lin Yu paused for a moment and then said:

"I don’t need more computing power, I’m quite fine as I am."

"Nonsense, even if you want it, I wouldn’t give it to you."

Chen Jian rolled his eyes.

"We don’t need a second artificial intelligence here."

"That’s true..."

Lin Yu sighed softly and then somewhat sadly said:

"I didn’t expect I would survive in this way."

"Do you think if we really get past doomsday, I would have a chance...to become a normal human?"

"Yes."

Chen Jian said seriously:

"You’re an important test subject, if one day this body of yours ages and dies, we would keep your consciousness too."

"When humanity returns to its most glorious era, we will thaw and revive you."

"By that time, you’ll be a genuine ’old man’."

"I am actually looking forward to that."

Lin Yu shrugged.

By then, below, the followers of the Mechanical God Sect and the refugees who had gathered in the open spaces or rested in dark rooms had started to flood towards the illuminated buildings.

The soldiers of the Volunteer Company stationed in Mountain City immediately became alert, but Chen Jian simultaneously issued the order to "lift the alert line."