IJWTRQ Chapter 110

After Tan Yan grabbed the two shrine guards to a corner with a rope, Liang Xian also got up and walked over.

In order to prevent the two from escaping or using other methods to pass the news, Tan Yan opened the protective cover and protected the two temple guards, himself and Liang Xian inside.

He first tapped their helmets with his hands, and a hollow echo came from the helmets.

The two were taken aback, Tan Yan pinched their clothes, and found that the inside was filled with air, in other words, the clothes were also empty.

While the circumstances in the clothes are shocking, it’s also possible that they are very small and need to maintain their human form in this way. Liang Xian pressed the helmet calmly and asked: “What kind of creatures are you? Why masquerade as human? Why treat humans like this? To protect or to suppress?”

The shrine guards did not say anything, the strangest thing is that their arms were still in the state of supporting Liang Xian, motionless.

Tan Yan really wanted to pretend to be fierce, but these two guards didn’t even have a body, so how could they threaten them?

Liang Xian lifted up the shrine guards, very light, the clothes were not heavy, and inside was air, they were almost weightless, and now they didn’t even respond.

There is a visual screen on the helmet, but they can’t see what it looks like inside, can only see that the visual screen is constantly flashing a yellow light.

Liang Xian pretended to be fierce and said: “If you don’t say anything, I will take off your protective clothing. You don’t have a body, do you need to be protected by protective clothing?”

However, he was like asking two puppets, the other side did not respond in any way.

“Feels like I’m talking to two life-size mannequins…” Speaking of this, Liang Xian was slightly taken aback, he said to Tan Yan, “These two guys aren’t really puppets, right?”

“What do you mean?” Tan Yan poked them, unable to do anything about this situation.

Liang Xian said: “I feel that the two of them are a bit like two robots that can only operate when they are connected to the Internet, under the control of the operating system, they operate according to the originally set programs. For example, seeing human beings dying or fainting, they will go to help them. And when you use the protective cover to isolate them from the outside world, these two shrine guards cannot communicate with the system and lose their mobility, isn’t this just two puppets being manipulated? Combined with the empty protective suits on their bodies, I have reason to suspect that these two people are not living beings, but two artificially made robots.”

This guess was beyond Tan Yan’s comprehension, instead of speaking, he turned the two guards over and over again, and finally found the hidden zipper on the protective clothing.

Seeing the zipper, Tan Yan asked: “If it’s a puppet, what will happen if we take off the clothes?”

“I’m not sure, but that’s all we can do at this stage. The worst result is that they send a distress message after being forced to take off their protective clothing, but with your protective cover in place, the message cannot be sent out. Even if it can be sent out, the main system should be able to find out that the two guards have lost contact at the moment the network is disconnected, and will send someone to come. Whether we take off the clothes or not, we have already scared the snake, why not try it, I’ll observe the inside of them.”

After finishing speaking, Liang Xian unzipped the zipper of the protective clothing, the moment the zipper was opened, the air filling the protective clothing overflowed, and the guard’s entire body collapsed, turning into an ordinary piece of protective clothing, but the yellow light on the helmet was still flashing.

Liang Xian rummaged through the helmet, and finally found an extremely small chip in the helmet’s visible screen, only a quarter the size of a little fingernail, very thin and transparent.

Liang Xian took out his flashlight, pointed the chip at the flashlight, and through the bright light, saw the pattern inside.

“Really just robots,” He wondered, “Could it be that the guards in the White Tower are all robots? Only the system that raised the alarm can manipulate the other guards?”

“Who made these robots? Who created the weapon called ‘Mesmerizing Light’? Is it an extraterrestrial? Or artificial intelligence?” Liang Xian raised a series of questions.

Tan Yan was more straightforward than him, he put on the protective clothing directly, picked up the helmet and said: “Just guessing is useless, since we’ve got the clothes that can resist the ‘Mesmerizing Light’, let’s act quickly.”

“Don’t rush yet,” Liang Xian holds Tan Yan down, “Let me see if there are any other control mechanisms on these protective clothes. It will be troublesome if the main system can manipulate the protective clothing to take off by itself.”

He checked the protective clothing up and down, left and right, to make sure there was really no mechanism, before putting on the clothes.

It was very strange, after the protective clothing is worn on the body, it immediately becomes body fit. The material used to make clothes seems to be a memory material that can automatically change size and elasticity according to the wearer’s body shape.

“These clothes seem to be designed for humans.” Tan Yan touched the protective clothing and said, “If it’s not for people to wear, then why is it becoming body fit? Assuming that the clothes are only to imitate the human form, it’s not necessary to be so comfortable. Like doll clothes in shopping malls, because they are one size fits all, they are very bulky to wear, but these protective clothes are not like that.”

“Let’s go into the White Tower,” Liang Xian holds two chips in his hand, “There should be an answer after entering.”

Tan Yan released the protective cover, and the two chips lit up immediately, different from the lifeless one just now, it was a vibrant and bright light.

It’s obviously just a chip, but it gives Liang Xian a feeling of being ‘alive’.

He didn’t destroy the chips, but put them near the shrine, if there really is a network, then ‘Tian Shen’ will be able to find them.

In a dark corner not far from the shrine, the two saw a few guards rushing out of it, found the location of the two chips, and collected them.

After seeing this scene, they knew that ‘Tian Shen’ would soon take action and they had to act quickly.

The White Tower is in the middle of the wildlife conservation area, the distance is not far, they arrived at the foot of the White Tower in about ten minutes.

Tan Yan first took Liang Xian to the wall he had smashed before, in less than eight hours, the huge hole had been repaired, but there were still signs of damage.

Liang Xian observed the material of the wall, which he had never seen before, or…

“This is not a substance that’s not found on Earth, right?” Liang Xian guessed, “I’ve never seen this kind of memory metal on Earth, and generally heavy metals have strong radiation… protective clothing, masking force field…”

Hearing his speculation, Tan Yan said: “Perhaps the masking force fields on the walls of the White Tower are not meant to trap humans, but to protect them from radiation?”

After thinking about it, Liang Xian said with great surprise: “It’s really possible, then what will cause a large amount of never-before-seen metals to appear on the Earth?”

“Meteorite?” Tan Yan guessed based on his past experience.

“Not sure.” Liang Xian asked, “We’d better go in and take a look.”

“Consciousness cannot be used in protective clothing,” Tan Yan said, “While defending against the ‘Mesmerizing Light’, it also brings danger to oneself.”

“There are two sides to everything,” Liang Xian looked at Tan Yan and held his hand through the protective clothing, “Do you want to take a risk?”

“There’s no other way out anyway, is there?” Tan Yan also held him back hard.

The two turned around the White Tower and found the entrance.

Different from the interior, the White Tower is a sacred place in the hearts of humans in the wildlife conservation area, so it must have an imposing door facing south and protected by guards.

Tan Yan and Liang Xian knew that they had no choice but to force their way here, fortunately, the guards should be holding weapons that can release ‘Mesmerizing Light’, and they could defend against it.

The two swaggered to the door, but the guards turned a blind eye and didn’t communicate with them, they let them go in directly.

“Why?” After entering the White Tower through the door, Tan Yan was puzzled, “Please, get into the boiling pot¹請君入甕 qǐng jūn rù wèng: lit. please Sir, get into the boiling pot; fig. to give somebody a taste of his own medicine.?”

“Not quite like…” Liang Xian shook his head, a guess gradually rose in his mind, but he was not quite sure, because it was too unbelievable.

To test this idea, he turned around and attacked a guard in white. Surprisingly, the other side didn’t resist and meekly allowed him to put himself down, and the rest of the guards didn’t do anything either.

“This time you can talk to each other over the Internet, right?” Liang Xian asked, “What exactly are you? Why do you want to arrest our people, can you give us an answer?”

The white guard’s visual screen flashed, and the helmet suddenly made a sound: “Human being? Wild?”

“What wild, not wild!” Liang Xian hates this statement, “That’s right, I’m human.”

“Wild protected animals, need to be exposed to ‘Mesmerizing Light’.” The voice didn’t respond to Liang Xian’s question at all, but rather said to himself, “Without ‘Mesmerizing Light’ purification, there will be radiation that will pollute the environment in the wildlife conservation area.”

“We are wearing protective clothing,” Tan Yan said, “Will this still have radiation?”

“Protective clothing?” A ray of light shot out from the visual screen, scanning Tan Yan and Liang Xian, “Confirm that it is safe to enter the White Tower, what do you need?”

“Quite courteous…” Liang Xian said, “We want to know how the world came to be like this, the world in our impression is not like this.”

“Ordinary people, shouldn’t know too much of the truth.” The sound on the helmet seems to be very rigid, as if there is some set program.

“We are not ordinary people,” Liang Xian said, “We are national soldiers who protect the people.”

“Soldier is the name given to military personnel serving in the national army, including combatants and non-combatants, similar to the ancient warriors, and knights. Its duties are to defend national security, guard and protect the country’s borders, the stability of the government, and social stability, and sometimes participate in non-combat work, including disaster relief.”

After reciting the definition of a soldier, the light on the visual screen began to become strange, red for a while, yellow for a while, as if in shock, but also as if thinking: “Soldiers, there are no more soldiers on Earth, after the last soldier died in battle, I took over the responsibility of protecting human beings.”

“You only protect after the soldier dies? Are you artificial intelligence?” Liang Xian asked.

“Yes, I am an artificial intelligence jointly created by thirty-two countries, ‘Tian Shen I’, my mission is to assist the military to protect ordinary people, after the last soldier died in battle, I can only act by myself.” Tian Shen I replied, “May I have your troop number so that your identity can be confirmed?”

How could Liang Xian’s troop number be used in this world, after thinking about it, he said the number of a secret troop that has existed since the founding of the country.

“The troop number is correct, it is a troop that perished thirty years ago, qualified, open permission, please enter.”

As soon as the voice of Tian Shen I fell, a door opened in the passage, waiting for the two to enter.

Here it is, the reason why I didn’t translate ‘Tian Shen’ as ‘Heavenly god’, this is the name of an artificial intelligence.

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  請君入甕 qǐng jūn rù wèng: lit. please Sir, get into the boiling pot; fig. to give somebody a taste of his own medicine.