83: Chapter 83: Under National Observation, the Entire Internet Erupts

As the words fell, there was a thirty-second silence on the other end of the internal line.

The sound of something falling to the ground and rolling across the floorboards came through; it was clear that Director Zhang had been startled.

After a long while, a heavy voice finally came through:

"Now, please wait right where you are!"

"No one is allowed to leave the laboratory. Do not make any outside contact. I will arrive in ten minutes."

The phone hung up.

Guan Jingming put down the receiver and looked at all the researchers in the laboratory with a serious expression:

"You heard him. This matter is now a state secret."

It was a long time before they recovered from the death of "Xia Country".

Li Mo suddenly stood up:

"Professor Guan!"

"Jiang Zhe, the person who proposed this idea!"

"He will be livestreaming again tomorrow night; moreover, he doesn't know that his sister has been livestreaming him; once he finds out that his sister knows, he might never talk about those advanced concepts again."

"If Xia Country truly existed in some sense..."

"Perhaps Jiang Zhe is the only person who can understand what actually happened!"

Guan Jingming looked at Li Mo and nodded slowly:

"I know—so the people above will definitely go looking for him, and perhaps even pay attention to him."

"However, we need to find a way to stop the authorities, while also getting him to continue talking about these topics."

He looked out the window; the sky was gradually brightening.

He knew the nature of a genius—livestreaming for his sister, inadvertently revealing advanced scientific concepts.

If they wanted him to continue like this...

Then he must not be discovered!!!

A super genius with this kind of knowledge would inevitably be put to work for the country.

But Jiang Zhe himself had no such intentions.

At this moment, on the sixth floor of an old residential building.

He had just turned over in his sleep.

Completely unaware of what had happened tonight.

Suddenly!

A dream quietly emerged.

...

At this moment, inside the master bedroom of the old six-story building.

"Who, who is it?"

Jiang Zhe woke up with a start, cold sweat streaming down his face.

He had just had a heart-wrenching dream, as if he had lost something.

Looking down at Xia Country from high above in the dream, the face of an indistinct three-year-old child converged with the rivers and mountains, and in the blink of an eye, it turned into a look of regret and loss.

Finally, it said to him silently: "Master, goodbye!"

At the very end of the dream, the child's light dust fell back onto the 9.6 million square kilometers, every particle resembling a lamp.

White light rushed towards him, causing him to wake up.

Jiang Zhe sat on the edge of the bed, pressing his chest, his heart pounding rapidly, yet he could find no reason for it.

"Thoughts by day, dreams by night..."

This feeling of being watched was too real, as if someone was truly watching him in his dream.

"Master, goodbye?"

"Is that what Hidden Dragon Base's strong artificial intelligence, Hidden Dragon, called me in my past life?"

"It's a bit strange."

Unable to sleep, he got up, changed into casual clothes, and went out for a morning run.

...

Approaching five in the morning.

When Director Zhang arrived, Professor Guan, Li Mo, and several others were sitting in chairs in the laboratory, not saying a word.

There was only the cold, rhythmic ticking of the machines.

Seeing him arrive, Professor Guan hurriedly pulled up the experimental records and monitoring data.

After browsing for fifteen minutes, Director Zhang finally took off his glasses, feeling somewhat at a loss for words.

"So!"

"You used an obsolete supercomputer and in one night simulated the prototype of a collective consciousness with cognitive tendencies..."

"This consciousness called itself [Xia Country], and at the moment of its demise, it actually forced its way into the internet and some security department agencies to find its creator?"

"Yes."

Guan Jingming nodded solemnly,

"Director Zhang, I know this sounds like science fiction."

"But the actual data, monitoring, and logs are all here; these were absolutely not lines we pre-set."

Director Zhang silently looked at the last log on the display screen:

[Master, goodbye!]

It was clear that in the end, "Xia Country"...

Did not want to leave, did not want to dissipate, but alas, the computing power was limited!!!

If they hadn't pulled the plug, both the supercomputer and Xia Country would have dissipated!!!

Director Zhang did have a way to let Xia Country upload into... the internet, but no one knew what the consequences of such an action would be!!!

A sense of regret also washed over Director Zhang.

But soon, he regained his serious demeanor:

"Have all external connection records and records of the forced intrusion been deleted?"

"Yes, including the records from the service provider, they have been wiped."

The technician on the side operated the computer, "If the receiver is turned off, it won't be received."

"If it were turned on, it could be received, but according to the logs, Jiang Zhe's phone was powered off."

Director Zhang nodded upon hearing this and turned to look at everyone:

"This matter is classified as a state secret. After you sign the agreement, your lives will enter a higher level!"

"You cannot mention it to the outside world, you cannot publish papers, and you cannot discuss it in private."

"Any involvement will be considered treason!"

"Do you understand?"

Director Zhang's accompanying secretary handed out the documents.

Professor Guan, Li Mo, and the others all felt their hearts skip a beat.

"Understood!" x8

After everyone signed, Director Zhang's expression softened slightly.

"You have indeed done very well."

"No, it even exceeded everyone's expectations—our country has invested hundreds of billions over decades into strong artificial intelligence research, following the [human brain emulation] and [big data training] routes."

"And you few proved one thing tonight—we were wrong."

He pointed to the simulated structural diagram on the display.

Li Mo looked up with fervent eyes: "Director, what do you mean?"

"It means we have accidentally touched the threshold of the next era."

Director Zhang stood up, feeling a secret excitement:

"We will continue this experiment, but not here."

"All parameters, data, and algorithms will be transferred to the supercomputing center's project team."

"The core personnel among you will also go there."

Guan Jingming felt incredulous, "And what about Jiang Zhe?"

"We will not contact him, but we will observe him indirectly."

Director Zhang said thoughtfully:

"But the attitude must be gentle; his tutoring must continue, and his thinking must also continue—"

"We also need to observe whether the theory of [collective consciousness emergence] was proposed by him by chance, or if he really knows something."

He paused and added:

"Moreover, every concept and every idea of his is not something an ordinary person should have."

"Instead, it's like... a think tank!"

As he finished speaking, the laboratory fell silent.

...

While the world inside the Huaqing University laboratory was turned upside down.

Even in the early morning, the internet outside remained hot.

The top three trending searches were still occupied by Jiang Zhe.

[Is the xia country brain experiment feasible?]

[The Earth is a life hypothesis!]

[Who exactly is Xiaoyu's brother?]

[Why is it that whenever someone leaks specific information about Xiaoyu's brother, it always gets deleted?]

A highly upvoted answer caught everyone's eyes:

This user was none other than [A researcher at Huaqing University who wishes to remain anonymous, Li X.X.].

"Let's get straight to the conclusion—"

"He is not some amateur enthusiast with fantasies; he is playing for real."

"Our team conducted model training tests overnight, and preliminary results show—when the nodes reach the billion-level..."

"A [comprehensive synergy] phenomenon will occur."

"To summarize simply: it's feasible, but very difficult, and requires massive computing power!"

"Currently, all the quantum computers in the world are not enough to sustain the soul of a country for a year!"

These words were clearly partially false.

"And Xiaoyu's brother was right: [Just because it's unscientific, does that mean it's wrong?]"

"Currently, we know: science is not necessarily right; it's just that science hasn't reached that level of 'science' yet!"

"Thanks for the invite!"

And below this answer, things completely exploded.

"Holy f*ck, you guys really did the experiment?"

"Awesome, I didn't expect you to actually do it; it seems the possibility of collective consciousness is very, very high!"

"The face-slapping came too fast, like a tornado~~"

The second answer was even sharper:

"Those who mocked Xiaoyu's brother for having no academic credentials or background, perhaps you have forgotten how many breakthroughs in scientific history came from [outsiders]?"

"Mendel was a monastery gardener, Einstein was a patent office clerk, Faraday was a bookbinder's apprentice;"

"Our horizons must absolutely not be so narrow!"

Ever since these two answers appeared, the abusive comments under all videos about Xiaoyu's brother across the internet instantly reversed polarity.

"Last night people were calling him a scammer, today the big shots have done the model and even posted pictures of the supercomputer running."

"I said it before, how could Xiaoyu's brother be an ordinary person?"

"So the Earth really is alive!"

"It's Friday today, is there a livestream? I want to watch it!"

"..."

In some obscure computer circles, the commotion was even greater!

In a certain AI and big data professor group chat.

"Old guys, is your team working on collective intelligence?"

"Come look at the logic of this [xia country brain]; isn't it similar to your ant algorithm approach?"

"This is more than just similar; we've been seriously working on it for three years and are currently still simulating at five million nodes; the Huaqing University supercomputing department used obsolete quantum computers to jump straight to the billion-level, and even predicted the phase transition point."

"This person must be found. No matter what it takes."

"Find him? You could have found him a few days ago, but just moments ago, he couldn't be found, completely untraceable."

"Really can't find him. I asked my son in the Security Bureau, and that information has been classified as a secret..."

"Hiss~~~"

"..."

Currently, inside the national security system.

A file on Xiaoyu's brother has been thoroughly evaluated.

[Target: Jiang Zhe]

[Personal Risk: High!]

[Personal Value: Extremely High!]

[Personal Ideology: Ultra-Frontier!]

[Personal IQ: Estimated 160~175]

[Personal Occupation Prediction: Think Tank Member, Scientific Research Madman, National Destiny Planner]

[Plan: No plans to make direct contact; adopt a soft observation mode to avoid interfering with his freedom of speech]

...

Friday night.

Xiao Yu ran back from outside carrying a bulging kraft paper bag.

She didn't even pay attention to the fragrant food, "Brother, Mom and Dad's inheritance has come through."

Jiang Zhe came out of the kitchen carrying soup, quite surprised:

"Mom and Dad, there's an inheritance?"

He wiped his hands on his apron, took the folder, and sat back on the sofa.

He opened the kraft paper bag; inside were several documents. Father: Jiang Ran, Mother: Wang Qin...

Source of funds...

His gaze fell on the amount: 2.4 million yuan.

Jiang Zhe frowned slightly, "2.4 million?"

"Ah.. yes, it's 2.4 million."

Xiao Yu rolled her eyes somewhat unnaturally, "Right, it's from some old investments or something, Brother, just use it however you want."

This was the idea Operator Wang gave to Xiao Yu; after all, they couldn't let Jiang Zhe discover he was being livestreamed.

And the advertising fees needed to be presented reasonably, so they came up with this method. She had skipped class today to work on this, even going to see Operator Wang in person.

The guilty expression on her face was seen by Jiang Zhe.

He guessed that Xiao Yu had secretly hidden a portion of the money for pocket money, so he didn't dig too deeply.

"Not bad, I'll find some time to make some investments."

As a member of a think tank in his past life, while he might not be amazing at making money, he could at least analyze the financial situation.

He didn't want to just rely on the meager money from daily tutoring. Now that he had income, he should naturally use it as principal; rather than buying a house or a car.

"Alright, let's eat. After we finish, we'll continue the tutoring."

A delicious meal was quickly finished.

Sitting opposite each other on the sofa in the living room.

Xiao Yu skillfully turned on the pinhole camera and began to ask questions:

"Brother, hurry up and bring out the delicious stuff; I can't wait any longer."