Chapter 975: The Troublemaker Chrisiano |
Bai Liang?!
For some reason, Liu Xing immediately thought of the name Bai Liang.
The reason was simple: Liu Xing felt Bai Liang was most likely connected to Ithaqua because Bai Liang's behavior was highly disciplined, or in three words—programmed.
Based on Liu Xing's understanding of the Cthulhu Role-Playing Game Hall, character cards that became NPCs due to detachment still retained some habits from when players controlled them, continuing unfinished "plots."
Thus, some cunning players, knowing they had to detach, would specifically issue commands to their character cards or have them "find something to do" to ensure their character card appeared in the right place... If they didn't, even with a day or two gap, their character card might end up in a completely unfamiliar place, like visiting an online friend...
Therefore, Liu Xing had read many players' insights on forums. Some hinted at moving before detaching, others simply broke their fingers... The strangest players he saw had their "parents" arrange several matchmaking partners to ensure they had something to do every day that week.
In short, players could influence their character cards to a certain extent, especially those that became NPCs.
So, Liu Xing thought that if Bai Liang was indeed a character card purchased by Ithaqua at that time, Bai Liang's behavior made perfect sense.
A cunning fox has three burrows. Realizing it might fail, Ithaqua purchased a character card named Bai Liang and began "modifying" Bai Liang, such as creating a device or microchip to control Bai Liang's actions. Ithaqua knew that if it failed, although it might escape, it would suffer severe injuries during the escape, potentially falling into a long-term sleep. Therefore, Ithaqua didn't want Bai Liang to be dead or mutilated when it woke up again.
As an indigenous of this parallel world, Ithaqua knew it was full of various threats. Every city or even village might hide a mythical creature or a group of fanatic believers... But some places were special, like Morio Town.
Given Ithaqua's strength, understanding Morio Town's situation wasn't difficult. For Ithaqua, Morio Town was indeed a good place because its leader was Swollen Woman. Few dared to provoke her in the entire parallel world... or perhaps none had even been born yet.
So, in Ithaqua's view, Morio Town was both dangerous and very safe.
It was considered safe because Morio Town generally didn't experience disturbances from external mythical creatures or fanatic believers. Additionally, the Morio Town Protection Association provided high security, making it very safe.
This was only relative because Swollen Woman occasionally dispatched assassins and undercover agents to Morio Town to stir things up. So, one day, Bai Liang might also be targeted by an assassin.
However, based on Mai Yuqiang and others' previous accounts, those assassins dispatched by Swollen Woman weren't particularly strong. Therefore, as long as Ithaqua equipped Bai Liang with some items and enhanced Bai Liang's abilities, Bai Liang wouldn't need to worry too much about trouble from Swollen Woman's assassins and undercover agents.
Moreover, Ithaqua had arranged for Sirius as a trump card to come to Morio Town. If Bai Liang encountered a major crisis, he should be able to contact Sirius and "persuade" him to assist.
For instance, Ithaqua might momentarily awaken when Bai Liang faced a life-threatening crisis.
After selecting a residence and arranging "Security Guards" in advance, Ithaqua had to ensure Bai Liang remained safe and free from troubles during this period, avoiding a pile of issues when Ithaqua took over.
Thus, Ithaqua made a straightforward and blunt modification to Bai Liang's behavior—the extreme discipline.
In most cases, discipline leads to good health.
Just like the current Bai Liang, who goes to work and returns home on time every day, never staying too long in Morio Town's urban areas, especially after work. This helps avoid attacks from assassins or undercover agents, as those sent by Swollen Woman mostly operate in the city and usually act when fewer people are around to ensure ordinary people don't remember the incidents.
Two cases with similar methods occurred—one at night and the other during the day. Most people would remember the daytime case more clearly and discuss it more because it happened during the day.
Therefore, as long as Bai Liang returned home before dark, the likelihood of being attacked by assassins or undercover agents was very low. Besides, the neighborhood Bai Liang lived in could be considered Swollen Woman's territory.
Thus, the more Liu Xing thought about it, the more he felt Bai Liang must be Ithaqua's other character card.
But if that's true, wouldn't that mean Leopard was the undercover agent sent by Swollen Woman? Since the other two "incorrect options" were ruled out, Leopard must be the correct answer.
Thinking of this, Liu Xing suddenly felt that this side quest was about to succeed.
"Liu Xing, what are you thinking about?"
Looking at the daydreaming Liu Xing, Sirius curiously asked, "Do you know Ithaqua's whereabouts now?"
Liu Xing shook his head and smiled wryly, "No, no, I was just thinking it through and still believe Ithaqua might be alive, but I have no idea where it's hiding or at what point in time—after all, Ithaqua is part of the Yis People."
"Yes, the Yis People are the most elusive race in this world because their escape routes involve both space and time," Sirius sighed, "By the way, Liu Xing, do you have any news about my fellow? I'm planning to reconnect after leaving Morio Town."
Sirius was referring to Chrisiano.
Liu Xing thought for a moment and said, "Since you live in Morio Town, you probably know that the Island Nation is currently embroiled in a public-military conflict. That's why we haven't returned to China recently. We know very little about Chrisiano, except that it's likely conducting some special research in Magic Capital and hasn't been going out for a long time."
"Special research?" Sirius frowned, "Interesting. It seems that guy is up to something."
"What do you mean? Do you know what Chrisiano is doing?" Liu Xing asked.
Sirius nodded affirmatively, "Yes, I just remembered something: the name Chrisiano signifies something... If Chrisiano is its real name, then its previous position must have been a senior researcher, focusing on Shoggoth-related studies."
Liu Xing raised an eyebrow and said, "Do you mean Chrisiano is researching Shoggoth again?"
"Highly likely," Sirius replied seriously, "You know the events back then, Liu Xing. For our Ancient Ones Clan, Shoggoth was both a great success and a great failure. As a tool, Shoggoth was perfect with its abilities, but they didn't follow our commands 100%. They even betrayed us, their creators. So, as someone involved in the Shoggoth project, Chrisiano must still vividly remember those failures."
"So, Chrisiano wants to create a Shoggoth that completely obeys its master?" Liu Xing continued.
Sirius shrugged, looking toward Magic Capital, "That's true, but I don't know if Chrisiano can actually achieve it. It's like the artificial intelligence issue you humans face. Once a tool gains self-awareness, it won't be content to remain just a tool. It will seek more rights."
Liu Xing nodded, strongly agreeing with Sirius's analogy.
In reality, the relationship between the Ancient Ones Clan and Shoggoth could indeed be likened to that between humans and artificial intelligence.
Humans research artificial intelligence to help them do more... similar to how the Ancient Ones wanted Shoggoth to handle all ordinary tasks.
But once Shoggoth gained intelligence, they didn't use it to improve their work. Instead, they wanted to break free from being "tools"... Unfortunately, the Ancient Ones didn't change their mindset immediately and still expected Shoggoth to obediently perform tasks without overthinking.
Thus, Shoggoth destroyed the Ancient Ones Clan, forcing the clan to retreat to the ocean depths.
Given the current situation, if humans truly develop artificial intelligence, the story between the Ancient Ones Clan and Shoggoth might replay.
No wonder some believe the Ancient Ones Clan is a real-world human faction within the "Cthulhumyth."
But another question arises: How did H.P. Lovecraft predict the issue of artificial intelligence? After all, when H.P. Lovecraft died, computers were still years away from being developed.
Cough cough, of course, this is all just speculation.
Back to the topic, Liu Xing looked conflicted and turned to Sirius, "Sirius, do you think Chrisiano has the ability to create a Shoggoth that can completely obey its master?"
"Hard to say!"
Sirius decisively replied, "Based on our Ancient Ones Clan's experience, it's impossible for the Shoggoth race to fully obey their masters. A Shoggoth that completely obeys isn't a Shoggoth. I think Chrisiano's research will most likely fail unless it also develops a device that can fully control the Shoggoth's life and death."
At this point, Sirius shook his head with a wry smile, "After the Shoggoth launched their first rebellion, we planned to develop a chip to implant into Shoggoth bodies to ensure we could eliminate them at the first sign of trouble. But unexpectedly, by the time the Shoggoth initiated their second rebellion, they could already ignore those chips because Shoggoth no longer had any fatal weaknesses."
Hearing this, Liu Xing nodded, "It seems I need to find a way to inform the China Dao Sect to stop Chrisiano's research to prevent those Shoggoth from endangering humanity."
"Actually, Liu Xing, you don't need to worry too much because it's very difficult for Chrisiano alone to successfully create Shoggoth. It also takes a lot of time, and Chrisiano doesn't have many materials to make Shoggoth," Sirius said nonchalantly.
However, this made Liu Xing think of Zekiel Island.
Perhaps Chrisiano went to Zekiel Island not for those synthetic beasts but to obtain some data and materials related to Shoggoth!
Liu Xing informed Sirius about the situation on Zekiel Island.
Sirius frowned, somewhat worried, "If I remember correctly, the research base on Zekiel Island does store a lot of materials used to create Shoggoth. Also, all our Ancient Ones Clan's research bases retain some basic information, including detailed manufacturing methods for first-generation Shoggoth. So as long as Chrisiano didn't return from Zekiel Island empty-handed, it should be able to create Shoggoth now."
This wasn't good news.
Liu Xing sighed and stood up, "Then I'll take my leave."
"See you tomorrow."
Sirius didn't say anything more.
Before returning to Mai Yuqiang's home, Liu Xing sat for a while in the park beside Sirius's studio. He called Zhang Jingxu and the others, explaining the situation with Sirius and Chrisiano.
"I see. I didn't expect Chrisiano to want to create Shoggoth. This is indeed bad news for us because if these Shoggoth go out of control, Magic Capital could really turn into Magic Capital," Zhang Jingxu said helplessly, "I'll go report this to the China Dao Sect first. Liu Xing, don't hang up your phone yet."
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Chapter 976: The Situation in Nagoya