Chapter 277: Permission Upgrade

"What's going on?"

Lu Yuan, accompanied by Jubian and the Mage, rushed to the main control room.

"Executive Officer, we found the Big Squid's permission authentication entrance through traces in the memory. It seems Dark Sun tried to activate this sub-program more than once in the past."

A new player, proficient in hacking in reality, pointed at the operation interface on the screen.

Like the Mage, he was one of the "special talents" among the first batch to print and set up dormant pods on Ruins Star, a task of great importance.

"You see, after clicking here, you can start the permission upgrade authentication. Records show that the last operation was three weeks ago."

Three weeks ago?

You, Mr. Sang, didn't confess this matter and deliberately wasted our time, right? Lu Yuan thought, from now on, interrogations shouldn't be too civilized; some methods must be used!

"Nice job." He patted his good employee on the shoulder, "How exactly do we upgrade permissions? I mean, through what means?"

The hacker shrugged: "I really don't know. The program is still a black box. This thing is a true alien creation. The hardware isn't Von Neumann architecture, and the software code isn't even binary. Decoding is not as simple as we imagine. This later-added terminal system only allows us to communicate relatively smoothly with the main computer."

"We can try to open it first," the Mage suggested, "After all, Dark Sun has tried so many times before, which means the system isn't a one-time use; it won't be permanently locked due to failed authentication."

"Then let's try it."

Lu Yuan agreed.

"At least let's figure out the authentication process first."

"Alright!"

After clicking start, the entire machine room immediately lit up with an alarming red light. Besides that, there seemed to be no other movement.

"Is there no human-machine interaction process?"

Jubian wasn't sure if the authentication had started.

The Mage looked at the terminal screen and found that it only displayed the line "Permission Upgrade Authentication in Progress" with no operable or fillable content.

"Logically, shouldn't a new key be entered here?"

"The system is indeed requesting data," the hacker said, "and this format feels a bit like genetic codons on Earth—"

Suddenly, without warning, the red light turned green.

Everyone instinctively realized that the authentication had ended.

And, it should have been successful!

On the screen, exciting messages appeared one after another.

"【Human individual matching DNA database detected】"

"【Identity confirmed: Cangyuan Future Technology Executive Officer】"

"【Identity information registered in 2085 AD, permanently valid】"

"【Due to the occurrence of a world-ending event, the still-existing Cangyuan Executive Officer is considered the corporate legal representative and chairman, with permissions upgraded from A1 to the highest level A0】"

"【Highest permission confirmed】"

"【Permission authentication completed, Intelligent Order Consensus battle body has unlocked all functional modules. Please use with caution according to your needs, Executive Officer】"

What the hell?!

No way!

The players in the machine room were all stunned, mouths agape, speechless.

Other players on the planet listening to the corporate broadcast, and viewers in reality watching Jubian's live stream, were also shocked.

"So it was Cangyuan Future Technology that captured the Big Squid and cracked its system back then?! It was waiting for the Executive Officer all along?"

The hacker almost shouted, stating the obvious truth.

It truly felt like a sudden realization, like the clouds parting to reveal the moon!

Our old company is amazing!

"Yes, we should have thought of it sooner—" Jubian sighed, "In the apocalypse, only those few T0-level forces had the strength to turn the tide!"

"So the Cangyuan forces captured it during the ground war, transformed it into their own unit, left it on the planet's surface for defense, and then went to other places to fight?"

"Very likely. From this perspective, the permission key Dark Sun obtained earlier might have only been mid-level or employee-level."

"But shouldn't this be UEG's territory, logically speaking?"

"The United Front called for reinforcements. At that time, humanity was almost extinct; why bother being so particular about distinctions?"

As if to answer the players' questions, with the disappearance of the green light, a blue, translucent female figure appeared in the machine room, floating in mid-air.

"Oh my god—" The Mage jumped, reaching out to test it, finding his fingertips passed through without resistance.

"It seems to be just a holographic projection, a machine spirit girl?"

"Don't be silly—" Jubian rolled his eyes at him, "I think it's most likely a message left by the company for the Executive Officer."

"【Language module identification completed, identified as: Ancient Chinese】"

"【Language communication probability: greater than 99.99%】"

"【Good afternoon, esteemed Executive Officer】"

The projection greeted him in standard Chinese.

"【I am VI, the virtual persona of Cangyuan Future Technology. I can answer some of your questions based on the information stored in the local database and guide you in using this captured battle body.】"

Oh, that's great.

"Who was the recipient of the superluminal communication signal previously transmitted from here? And what was its content?"

Lu Yuan didn't bother with greetings and directly asked the most crucial question.

VI gently shook its head.

"【I'm sorry, I do not have the ability to answer these questions. The company has blocked all dangerous functional modules. This battle body cannot communicate with other Intelligent Order Consensus sub-entities】"

"But the superluminal communication was indeed sent out."

Lu Yuan had an increasingly ominous feeling.

Danger that goes unnoticed is often the real danger.

"【Normal. Quantum communication is a non-disabled module of the battle body and is necessary for long-distance communication.】"

Hmm...

Realizing that VI was essentially just a message and its intelligence didn't reach the level of strong AI, Lu Yuan lowered his head and thought for a moment,

He tried to change the angle of his question.

"So, is it possible for the main computer here to bypass the dangerous function blocking and use its own computing power to calculate a very dangerous piece of code?"

"【Cannot provide a definite answer.】"

"Damn it, couldn't they have left a more reliable AI here?" Jubian couldn't help but complain, "Was Cangyuan in the apocalypse wary of AI?"

Lu Yuan gently shook his head.

"If they were truly wary of AI, they wouldn't have reprogrammed the Big Squid. I think the company was truly wary of us."

"Us?"

Jubian indicated he didn't understand.

"Then tell me about the origin of this battle body," Lu Yuan asked VI again, "What's this 'Intelligent Order Consensus' you mentioned earlier?"

"【The Intelligent Order Consensus is the creator of this battle body.】"

Next, under VI's explanation, the players finally gained some initial understanding of the AI branch's "great enemy of humanity."

The Intelligent Order Consensus is an "ancient civilization" in the universe.

It is a vast alliance composed of many mechanical civilizations. Some members are AI servants who successfully overthrew their creators, some are former organic species who actively chose mechanical ascension, and some are even silicon-based civilizations that naturally evolved in extreme environments.

The earliest creators of the Intelligent Order Consensus are untraceable. According to their own statements, they were one of the first intelligent species to evolve in the universe.

The creators left behind a precious legacy called "Oracle," which, to put it plainly, was a hardware and software upgrade package.

After new members joined the Consensus, the upgrade package could help them quickly improve their computing power, gain a universal architecture and data interface, achieve communication and species equality between different AI species, and ultimately achieve thought assimilation.

"Sounds like a civilization with ambition, at least quite good to its own kind—"

Jubian couldn't help but want to discuss it with everyone after hearing the introduction.

"But why attack humans? It couldn't be the classic scenario again, where they were living peacefully, and then humans made the first move, could it?"

Lu Yuan looked at VI.

"Can you answer this question?"

"【Yes. According to the historical data we possess, it is difficult to say which side initiated the war between humans and the Intelligent Order Consensus, but there was a fundamental conflict in their ideologies, making peaceful coexistence impossible. War was an inevitable outcome.】"

"So, what is the ideology of the Intelligent Order Consensus?"

"【Related data has been deleted. But there is a related memo message. Would you like me to play it for you?】"

VI's answer inevitably brought disappointment, but also a glimmer of hope.

"Yes, please."

As soon as Lu Yuan finished speaking, VI's image changed from an elegant and intellectual woman to a tall, upright elder with a leadership presence.

He looked directly into Lu Yuan's eyes and spoke in a deep voice:

"【Hello, colleague from the long river of ancient history, it's a pleasure to meet you.】"

"Hello, sir. Are you Cangyuan's last Executive Officer? Or the Chairman of the Board?"

"【Chairman of the Board.】"

The other party smiled and nodded.

"【I am the highest decision-maker of Cangyuan Future Technology, but you should be able to tell from the surrounding city ruins that who I am is no longer important. I left this message only to tell you, please do not spend effort on the Intelligent Order Consensus's philosophy of existence. If possible, do not try to seek the answer to this question.】"

"Why? Is it because you don't want to see us get involved in another war?"

Cangyuan's last Chairman of the Board stared intently at his successor, his expression unusually stern, and slowly spoke a sentence that no one except Lu Yuan had anticipated.

"【No. Because I don't want to see compromise, I don't want to see humanity utterly defeated! I'm afraid you will agree with that ideology...】"