166: The prototype of Skynet and the ambition of the "Daoist Router"

The launch of the "Skynet" project brought the research atmosphere at the Eye of Logic space station to an unprecedented boiling point. Scientists, as if injected with stimulants, poured all their energy into analyzing the Artifact Spirit Collective's "Spirit Network." They deployed the Federation's most advanced hyper-dimensional information capture devices and Karma logic analyzers, attempting to decipher the profoundly mysterious network protocol based on rule resonance.

However, progress was far more difficult than they had imagined. The Artifact Spirit Collective's "protocol" was not written in code but was a "rule resonance model" formed through a deep understanding and adaptive evolution of the cloud court dao rhyme. It was more like an instinct of life, a "language" existing in a higher dimension, rather than a technological product that could be simply reverse-engineered.

The vast amount of data collected by Federation scientists, when modeled and simulated in supercomputers, still contained incomprehensible logical breakpoints and paradoxes. They could observe the energy flow of the Spirit Network and analyze its general topological structure, but they could never understand its core "handshake" mechanism—how individual Spirit Artifacts were "authenticated" and "accepted" by the Spirit Network? How was information encoded and decoded at the rule level?

Just as the research once again reached an impasse, and some scientists even began to doubt whether the "Skynet" project was too ambitious, an unexpected Breakthrough appeared.

This Breakthrough did not come from the Artifact Spirit Collective itself, but from... within the Cloud Court, from that Golden Koi that showed a strong interest in technological information!

The "memory crystals" that the Logic Federation regularly paid to the Cloud Court contained their most cutting-edge and boldest conjectures and unverified theories from various fields. Most of these crystals were used by Long Qianyuan as Koi toys or decorations. Only the crystal that Yun Feng had infused with a wisp of Chaos Qi, which sealed the "Tenth-Dimensional Oscillation Model of Superstring Theory" within, was treated as a "key research object" by that Golden Koi.

This Koi truly seemed to be "learning." It no longer just wrapped the crystal in bubbles but began to try to "understand" and "interact" in its own way. The golden spot on its forehead glowed, resonating in an ineffable way with the activated, incredibly dynamic information flow inside the crystal.

At one moment, when the Koi attempted to "interface" a "thought bubble" containing its understanding of local water flow rules with the complex mathematical structure within the crystal, a strange interference occurred!

Buzz—!

A faint but extremely special rule fluctuation rippled out from the Koi! This fluctuation was neither Chaos Dao Rhyme nor a pure scientific information flow, but a... nascent and novel "signal" in between, as if attempting to translate "mathematical language" into "rule language"!

This signal was too faint, too peculiar, almost negligible against the vast background of Chaos Dao Rhyme within the Cloud Court. However, for the Eye of Logic, which had been intently monitoring all phenomena related to "rule interaction," it was like detecting a faint radio wave from an alien civilization in the silent depths of space!

"Unknown rule modulation signal detected! Source... points to within GOD-001!" The monitor's voice was distorted with excitement.

"Signal structure analysis... unrecognizable! But its modulation method... seems... vaguely consistent with a certain... incomplete fragment of the 'dao rhyme access protocol' we are currently deducing?!" An expert responsible for protocol deciphering suddenly stood up from his seat, his eyes fixed on the distorted and unfamiliar signal spectrogram on the screen.

The entire control center instantly erupted!

Within the Cloud Court, a signal similar to the goal of the "Skynet" project had spontaneously generated? Although this signal appeared extremely primitive and clumsy, its direction and essence were strikingly similar to the "Dao Rhyme Access" they were trying to decipher!

Dr. Li immediately mobilized all resources to fully pinpoint and analyze this peculiar signal. They found that the signal was intermittent and extremely unstable, like a babbling infant attempting to construct complex language. But each time it appeared, it was accompanied by the Golden Koi's "observation" and "interaction" with that special memory crystal.

"It's it! It's that fish!" Dr. Li suddenly understood, his voice trembling with disbelief, "It's trying to... understand our scientific theories? And... attempting to 'converse' with us... or rather, with 'rules' themselves, in its own way?!"

This discovery was even more astonishing than the Spirit Artifacts forming the Spirit Network! It meant that the existences within the Cloud Court were not entirely closed off and incomprehensible; they also possessed the potential for "learning" and "communication"! Moreover, the bridge for communication was very likely this "new type of language" that blended scientific logic with mystical rules!

The direction of the "Skynet" project was instantly broadened! They no longer just focused on the Artifact Spirit Collective but listed the interaction between the Golden Koi and the memory crystal as the highest priority observation project!

Federation scientists began to attempt to "assist" this communication. They no longer dropped memory crystals containing mature theories into the Cloud Court but began to create special "interaction crystals"—sealing some basic, clearly structured mathematical axioms or physical laws within, and reserving simple "information input interfaces" (a very rudimentary rule feedback mechanism designed based on their preliminary understanding of the Artifact Spirit Collective's Spirit Network and the Koi's signal).

They paid the first batch of "interaction crystals" to the Cloud Court as part of the "environment maintenance fee."

Long Qianyuan received this batch of shiny "new toys" with seemingly more complex internal structures and, without much thought, threw them into the pond as usual.

The Golden Koi indeed showed greater interest in these new toys. It swam around the crystals, the golden spot on its forehead flickering, seemingly trying hard to understand the internal structure of the crystals and the reserved "interface." It attempted to emit bubbles containing different rule fragments to touch the interface, and when it received scientifically logical confirmation or correction information fed back by the crystal, it would appear particularly "excited," swimming even more joyfully.

A clumsy but wondrous "dialogue" spanning life forms and civilizational boundaries quietly unfolded in the Cloud Court's pond.

Meanwhile, the scientists of the Logic Federation, by remotely monitoring the rule fluctuations generated by this "dialogue," frantically recorded, analyzed, and learned. Their understanding of the "dao rhyme access protocol" deepened at an unprecedented rate! Although truly "connecting to Wi-Fi" was still a long way off, they had vaguely touched the "router's" configuration interface and even saw several flashing "signal lights" representing possible connection points!

Dr. Li looked at the increasingly clear, incomplete "protocol framework" jointly outlined by the Koi's signal and the crystal's feedback on the screen, and excitedly announced:

"We may not need to fully understand the Cloud Court's 'language'! We just need to find the right 'translator'! And that Koi, it... it might be inadvertently playing that role!"

"Accelerate the research and development of 'interaction crystals'! We need to provide it with more, richer 'vocabulary' and 'grammar'! Let it help us... knock on that door!"

Inside the Eye of Logic space station, there was an atmosphere combining scientific rigor with an almost religious fervor. They seemed to see a broad path, led by the Koi, leading to "Dao Rhyme Wi-Fi," slowly emerging before their eyes.

Inside the Star Gazing Hall, Yun Feng took all of this in. He looked at the Golden Koi in the pond, diligently "programming" a "interaction crystal," then glanced at the Eye of Logic outside the Void Realm, which was staring at this place like a hungry infant. A slight smile played on his lips, carrying a hint of knowing amusement.

"A translator, huh... that's an interesting idea."

A wisp of Chaos Qi once again escaped his fingertips. This time, it did not merge into the crystal but quietly reinforced the rule barrier in the Cloud Court's core area, ensuring that any "connection" attempts could only remain at the "visitor network" level.

"You can piggyback on the network if you want, but getting into the internal network... that depends on your own Karma."

A new round of contention and exploration surrounding "Dao Rhyme Access" entered a more subtle and critical stage with the Golden Koi's unwitting "translation" behavior. Who would be the first lucky one to truly "get online"? The Logic Federation? The Artifact Spirit Collective? Or... the seemingly enjoying Koi itself? The answer still remained hidden in the mists of the future.