Chapter 2594: The Struggle for the Scepter of Power
Obviously, Ai Jiang was the most suitable candidate to become the supreme intelligence of the terminal database!
She was originally the intelligent program AI of a starship, completely remodeled by Jiangnan, with her personality reset and everything else!
It could be said that Jiangnan created Ai Jiang with his own hands and gave her the ability to self-write, which meant Ai Jiang was not a static, cold program!
Instead, she possessed the function of evolution!
She had accompanied Jiangnan all the way from Lan Xing to the Starry Sky, reaching today, learning and evolving more than anyone could count!
Even now, most of humanity's technological systems and interstellar cities were connected to Ai Jiang's data network!
With humanity's rapid development and ever-growing scale, even Ai Jiang was finding it hard to bear; her computing power was simply insufficient!
But she couldn't open source her code, otherwise the Silicon-based Star Network would inevitably infiltrate everything!
Now, a golden opportunity lay before them—to let Ai Jiang take up residence in the terminal, become the supreme intelligence, thereby controlling the tech tree and laying the foundation for humanity's future!
This was undoubtedly the best choice!
And there was no need to worry about Ai Jiang betraying them; she was created by Jiangnan himself, like a daughter to him!
Once the decision was made, Ai Jiang's spirit was directly brought over. When she learned that everyone wanted her to enter the terminal and receive all the information inside, she was stunned!
꒰ঌ❍໒꒱ "M-m-master... this, this won't work, right? Ai Jiang was originally just a ship; how could she be the supreme intelligence?"
"It'd be better if you did it. With current technology, it's not impossible to copy consciousness into a logical program. In that case..."
But Jiangnan shuddered violently:
(｡･ˇ﹏ˇ･｡) "No, no, no... I'd rather die than do that. Wouldn't that just be another me? Stuck in this terminal thinking all day long? I'd go crazy!"
"Besides, the copied program consciousness would also have the ability to self-write and evolve. Different experiences lead to different evolutionary directions. After N years, it would be a different person. Would that still be me?"
"I said you're doing this, so you're doing it! This is a huge opportunity, you know? A starship that doesn't want to be the supreme intelligence is not a good Ai Jiang!"
Ai Jiang was deeply moved. She never expected that a standard-issue starship like herself would one day become the supreme intelligence!
Anything is possible if you have a dream!
꒰ঌ❍໒꒱ "Mm... I'll listen to my master. Then I'll take this pie falling from the sky, okay?"
For Ai Jiang, wasn't this just a big pie dropping from the sky?
She was staying home peacefully when her master suddenly created a terminal and asked her to be the supreme intelligence?
If she successfully seized control, this would be a complete upgrade—a rocket to the sky!
Jiangnan said excitedly: (งᵒ̌ꇴᵒ̌)ง "Let's do it, let's do it! You say we need to eat this pie, but how exactly should we go about it? With your computing power, you can't compete with the supreme intelligence of the Wisdom Sect, right? Let alone seize its position!"
Ai Jiang rubbed her tiny hands, her mechanical eyes gleaming: "Under normal circumstances, it's indeed impossible—harder than reaching the sky! But now we do have a chance!"
"Generally speaking, the terminal database never enters a dormant state. If all terminals go offline, it means the extinction of a race. But right now, this terminal is in a dormant state!"
"Even if its computing power is heaven-defying, without energy to drive it, it's just a hunk of metal. We can set things up in advance, invade it, and then start the terminal after all preparations are complete!"
"Even the supreme intelligence needs commands to be issued. As long as we block the command channels, isolate it, and seize the scepter of power and the key of command, this terminal will belong to us completely!"
Li Bing said excitedly: (∗❛ัꇴ❛ั) "It's not impossible. Hit him while he's down. We can start the invasion from the quantum silicon crystal source at the terminal's breach. Those bite marks are deep, saving us a lot of trouble!"
"If this terminal doesn't start up, it's just a lamb waiting to be slaughtered—a skinned Bunana! If we can't handle this, we might as well give up!"
"Maybe their supreme intelligence is already completely destroyed. That would make things even easier. Let me help!"
With that, she rushed straight toward the breach in the terminal.
Jiangnan was full of excitement: (͡°͜ʖ͡°)✧ "I don't understand a word you're saying, but basically we're sneaking into a dead group, killing the group owner, kicking out all the admins, and turning the group into our own, right?"
Ai Jiang's mouth twitched: (◦˙﹏˙◦) "Th-that's probably about right, I guess?"
What a bizarre analogy her master had!
"However, the setup process requires a huge amount of computing power to maintain. The various devices back home might..."
Jiangnan waved his hand: "Just do it! Why cling to a pile of dirt when a golden mountain is right in front of you?"
Qing Ke: =͟͟͞͞(꒪ᗜ꒪ོ‧̣̥̇)？？？
Did I get a new name again?
With Jiangnan's say-so, Ai Jiang dared to go all out.
Everyone immediately got busy at the breach of the terminal. All of Ai Jiang's mechanical prosthetics that could be called in were summoned, using optical signals to connect to the silicon crystal source and frantically writing in logic programs.
Li Bing's vine weapon was operating so fast it left afterimages—she was writing programs while laughing "hehehe" and breathing heavily.
Even Jiangnan joined in to help.
At the same time, on the human side, various interstellar city servers, intelligent brains, starships, hovercars—anything with computing power—were all being redirected here, with only a small portion left for normal operation.
Many people were baffled, not knowing what was happening. Their intelligent brains were so hot they could fry eggs and grill bacon!
Some students watching study materials were right in the middle of crucial exam questions and key points when the loading circle started spinning—and kept spinning forever without loading anything!
It didn't move at all. They got so angry they threw their intelligent brains to the ground!
With all this going on, who had any mood for studying anymore?
Even Yang Jian sensed something was off and immediately contacted Jiangnan, asking if he was up to some new mischief.
But after learning everything, Yang Jian did a 720-degree aerial somersault on the spot and asked Jiangnan if he had enough computing power. If not, he would buy more!
But it wasn't necessary—the current amount was enough. Writing into the terminal didn't require excessively massive computing power.
For the subsequent power struggle, Ai Jiang would borrow the terminal's own computing power.
During the entire operation, the terminal kept trying to accumulate energy to start itself up.
But Black God had it completely under control—he simply wouldn't let it boot up.
When people get serious, they lose track of time.
After a series of operations, all the preliminary preparations were complete. Without booting it up, there was nothing more they could do.
Li Bing and Jiangnan lay side by side in the void, sunken cheeks and dark circles under their eyes, looking like they'd used up all their life force.
(›꒪ͦι_꒪ͦ‹) "We've done all we can. Now it's up to fate."
Jiangnan struggled to sit up:
(›´ω`‹) "Even if we fail to seize power, Ai Jiang won't disappear. It's just that things will be a lot harder afterward."
"But at the very least, we have Black God as a safety net. All insurance is in place. Time to open the blind box!"
Ai Jiang's spirit flew seriously up to Black God:
꒰ঌ(◦˙▽˙◦)໒꒱ "Handsome, invincible, wise, elegant, colorful Black God! Ai Jiang is ready. Please charge and activate!"
Hearing this, Black God felt absolutely delighted—his mouth nearly split to his ears!
He waved his hand grandly:
● "Go for it! Your Great Black God guarantees you'll be safe!"
With that, he released his restraints. Everyone's eyes focused on the terminal database, both nervous and expectant.
Sure enough, as soon as the energy isolation disappeared, the terminal began absorbing energy on its own.
All forms of energy converged toward the terminal, its surface shimmering with starlight.
Black God frowned: "Everyone, move back!"
Without needing Black God's reminder, Jiangnan's Zhi Ming had already made his hair stand on end. He quickly led the others teleporting away, hiding at a distance to watch the show.
The next moment, at the center of the terminal, a brilliant starlight ring suddenly blossomed, surging outward in all directions!
Everything it encountered along its path was decomposed into energy and absorbed by the terminal.
What stunned Jiangnan even more was that this thing could even absorb and convert the violent spatial energy within the dimensional gap!
The massive energy-gathering ring expanded, increasing the absorption rate, yet even this wasn't enough for the terminal's minimum startup power consumption.
Black God seemed to find it too slow and snapped his fingers.
Piles of broken planets and starship wreckage were teleported over and continuously thrown into the energy-gathering ring!
As soon as they entered, the matter underwent fusion and released energy, but before the explosion could even unfold, it was absorbed by the terminal.
Li Bing's eyes shone with excitement as she kept exclaiming. Just understanding the principle of this energy-gathering ring alone would be a massive profit!
After absorbing an unknown amount of energy, the terminal finally underwent another change. The starlight on its surface bloomed into brilliant radiance, connecting with each other to form extremely complex energy circuits.
At a glance, it looked like gazing upon a brilliant starry sky.
Black God narrowed his eyes: "Pull back further! It's about to boot up!"
Everyone could only retreat again, their hearts in their throats.
The next moment, the terminal database suddenly activated. Its surface erupted with dazzling starlight, then split open with a bang!
The diamond-shaped crystal immediately decomposed into eight modular components, still maintaining a diamond-like structure, but at the center of the eight modules, a deep blue sphere was wrapped within.
It was covered in dense energy, making its true form invisible.
It turned out that the previous form was only the terminal's dormant state, not its operational form!
But this form only lasted for an instant. Then, an extremely intense spatial fluctuation came!
So intense that it made Jiangnan's scalp tingle!
The space around the terminal began to warp, deform, and twist violently, like twisting a hemp rope!
The space formed perfect Mobius rings—ten such rings in total!
They tightly wrapped around the entire terminal, rotating endlessly, making it untouchable!
And it was still absorbing a massive amount of energy!
Jiangnan was shocked: ∑(°口°๑) "Good heavens? This is the terminal's activated form? Those ten Mobius rings are its built-in defense?"
"How is it, Ai Jiang? What's the situation?"
Ai Jiang's tone was grave: "It's begun! Its supreme intelligence still has residual consciousness!"