Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 336 - 255: Nature Creates Me for a Purpose

Chapter 336: Chapter 255: Nature Creates Me for a Purpose

When Duan Mingyuan returned to the surveillance room, the guards had already dispersed.

After a busy day, some went to take a shower, others went to sleep, and some, having had epiphanies, decided to spend the entire night in the gym to improve themselves.

"Maybe, staying in the digitalized world isn’t necessarily a bad thing," Owl mused after hearing about the events below Sector D47.

He had once conducted an interview on this subject. At that time, brain-computer interface technology was at the forefront of technology, and the experts invited believed that this was just the beginning—in the near future, everyone would receive a ticket to live in the digitalized world.

For the sake of the show, Owl was arranged by the production team to be on the opposition side, playing the role of a worried citizen skeptical about the new technology.

The debate ended, not surprisingly, with a significant loss to the experts.

The world they described was so attractive that even Owl, as an opponent, was almost persuaded by them.

And today, decades later, this technology had finally become a reality.

Owl said seriously, "If I retired one day, I would probably want to live in the virtual world."

"Why? Doesn’t it look the same as before?"

Norton asked, puzzled.

He was part of the Neutral Faction; as long as it did not affect his daily life, he really did not care how others used the technology.

"No, from the moment you enter the digitalized world, everything changes."

"What changes?"

"For example, the mechanical guards here."

Owl, understanding Norton’s preferences, brought up the change most likely to sway the Prison Governor.

"Mechanical guards? What about them?"

"Once you arrive in the digitalized world, you can customize their appearances."

Upon hearing this, Norton rested his chin in his left hand, his deep gaze turned towards the door, and his right hand reached for the button on the table—he used it to summon mechanical guards for communication, and had yet to use this function since the Judge went out of control.

As the button was pressed, footsteps echoed from a distance in the quiet corridor.

Norton’s heart raced, he felt more excited than even when Specters invaded the prison.

A moment later, the office door opened.

In Norton’s view appeared a blonde, blue-eyed mechanical maid, dressed in black and white, her opaque white stockings outlining her long legs, with a cold gaze and furrowed brow, her expression mixed with a trace of disdain.

"You’re right, Owl, we should all settle in the digitalized world."

Norton was almost in tears. The mechanical guard was not just perfect in appearance and attire, but also perfectly matched his fantasies in personality.

Since he had been transferred here, it had been over a decade since he had seen such long legs; the few female guards brought to this kind of place were mostly muscular like Amazon warriors, spending their days in the gym, their legs even thicker than his.

Before, Norton did not understand, but now he unreservedly became a supporter of the digitalized world.

As for responsibility and ambition...

Norton never had those; he believed the Judge would definitely manage this place well.

After witnessing the transformation of the mechanical guards, Duan Mingyuan also reached a conclusion—Norton would likely find much in common with the Third Prince.

They both longed for coolly distant maids.

"You see, that’s the problem," Owl shrugged, not surprised at the outcome.

When the concepts of brain-computer interfaces and digitalized worlds emerged, all the opponents immediately thought of the possibility of an impending AI crisis. However, the experts invited by the production team believed that most opponents’ thinking was skewed.

They might indeed face a war in the future, but it would not be a war of fighting and killing; the artificial intelligences did not need to wage a real war. They just needed to promise many benefits to humans heading to the digitalized world, and people would voluntarily abandon their current worlds.

Reality is harsh and full of suffering, but in the virtual world, all desires can be fulfilled, even resurrection.

"As far as I know, the situation is the same on every planet. As soon as a company and Chamber of Commerce get involved, the local residents become a cheap labor force for them; hence, if there was a button to live in the digitalized world, most people would press it without hesitation," Owl said.

In fact, in that debate, Owl and other representatives raised many thought-provoking questions.

For example, if humans voluntarily gave up the real world, they essentially handed their fate over to artificial intelligence. Although they could obtain temporary pleasure, from a longer-term perspective, it was definitely a loss.

Just another generation or two, and they would regard the digitalized world as the real world, without even knowing that everything was under the control of artificial intelligence.

Brain-computer interfaces would not only grant human computational power comparable to artificial intelligence but would also give everyone a new ability—they could overwrite their own memories at any time, delete parts they did not want to remember, and completely transform into someone else.

This was a transformation method far superior to frontal lobe surgery.

The Owl still remembered how their representative made a resounding statement, placing themselves from the perspective of all humanity; however, this did not garner much support for them.

Including the Owl himself, who also felt bewildered by the elusive future.

Contrary to those illusory words, what lay before them was a tangible button; if he, himself, felt this way, there was no need to mention those who lived day by day.

And now, this "journey to the second dimension" button had appeared without any warning, leaving everyone unprepared.

The Owl looked to Duan Mingyuan, "Mingyuan, what do you think?"

At the moment, Duan Mingyuan was likely the only one capable of destroying this button.

The Owl’s heart was filled with conflict, if Duan Mingyuan destroyed the Judge, there was no telling when the next "button" would appear.

"I think there are still many technical issues to be resolved."

Duan Mingyuan had never been interested in topics like "life and death" or "the future of humanity"; he only focused on issues at the practical level.

"For instance, if I made a pot in the digitalized world, how would I bring it back to the real world? Or if I leveled up in the digitalized world and enhanced my attributes, would I become stronger in the real world too?"

After all, this was fundamentally different from the virtual reality technology depicted in movies and TV shows; they were not connected here through game helmets, but rather, the entire Prison Planet had been transferred into the Judge’s conscious space.

This was his third experience witnessing a conscious space born from "Cocoon" transformation, and he had gained a deeper understanding of the cocooning process.

The ability that cocooning brought was the ability to modify rules.

The "Cocoon" on Mechanical Star could metalize everything on the planet, while Forest Sea Star would become plantlike, those believers who were devoured by the Divine Tree’s Angel Envoy, turned into part of the planet’s flora.

What the Judge brought was the ability to digitalize.

Duan Mingyuan had learned a lot from his friends, but as Dr. Eisenberg said, the Judge’s case was different from typical cocoons; at least it had not shown any clear hostility towards humans yet.

"This process is not easy; you might need some help."

Duan Mingyuan said to the Mechanical Maid, "I do have a little experience in this field."

"You?"

The Mechanical Maid stared at Duan Mingyuan. It considered this human arrogantly self-satisfied since the moment he arrived at the Prison Planet, perhaps unaware of what he was talking about.

Even for it, with its supercomputing power, could not calculate the path ahead, and it had not yet decided how to deal with the prisoners in the prison.

"Many hands make light work; sometimes a casual word from someone else can give you a sudden insight."

Duan Mingyuan persuaded, although the Judge had no malice toward humans, it seemed to inherently disdain humanity, not believing that human wisdom could offer any help.

But it could not operate without the power of humans.

The fuel for the conscious space was the souls of the prisoners; this was likely the real purpose behind the Judge issuing Resurrection Coins.

"The setting up of a worldview, the recycling of energy, and the future of this planet—it’s time to pool our wisdom."

"Just you guys?"

The Mechanical Maid glanced disdainfully at Norton and the Owl.

The presence of these two directly lowered the team’s average level.

"Never underestimate anyone. Although the Prison Governor seems to be an incurable foot fetishist on the surface, if you were to look at him more fairly, you would discover..."

Duan Mingyuan paused for a moment, then asked Norton, "What is your strength?"

"Uh... It seems I don’t have any special talents."

Norton looked embarrassed.

Even during his time in military school, he had no talents for performances, his grades had always been mediocre, and his social life was average, not enough to be a social butterfly, yet not so poor as to be isolated by his classmates.

Their eye contact lasted for a substantial period.

Duan Mingyuan changed his statement, "Even though Governor Norton has no special talents, we still have Mr. Owl; he’s an experienced war correspondent and has participated in academic discussions on brain-computer interfaces. He can definitely offer some valuable insights..."

"Actually, there’s not much I can help with either."

The conversation fell into a deadlock once again.

The Mechanical Maid snorted coldly, everything was as it expected.

After a moment of silence, Duan Mingyuan made a new proposal, "Let’s go outside and talk about it."

Saying so, he and the Mechanical Maid left the room one after the other, leaving the other two standing there, staring at each other.

Then, a message appeared before them:

"You have been removed from the squad!"