Three-body: The Most Competent Wallfacer in History

Hearing Jiang Yan's words, Jiang Yanqi began to tremble all over, as if he had Parkinson's.

Then his own life started to flash before his eyes like a movie.

Among the first settlers of the Fireseed People, the number of women was far less than that of men, so at the very beginning, the women in the Kindling Star System who got married were also required to provide at least two ova.

The more ova provided, the larger the compensation the government of the Kindling Star System would give to the women.

Before the birth of Jiang Yanqi, the gender ratio among the Fireseed People was still unbalanced; Jiang Yanqi was an embryo cultivated from an ovum collected by his father, Jiang Yang.

Therefore, Jiang Yanqi had only ever had a father, and no mother.

His childhood was happy, and his adolescence would have been too if it weren't for his father's busy work.

He couldn't believe that these memories were all false.

But then, other details also emerged in his mind.

Jiang Yang had once mentioned during a press conference that experiments with artificial intelligence capable of self-awareness had been conducted six times.

And yet he was named "Jiang Yanqi," which had never seemed odd to him before, but now, the number "Qi" stood out glaringly.

Moreover, his infiltration into the Solar System State seemed too smooth.

Before, he thought, like Avenger had said, it was because the AI of the Solar System State had referenced the system of Avenger No.2.

But just yesterday, Jiang Yan had reminded him that the Solar System State had always been very cautious of Avenger No.2.

So, how could the intelligent system of the Solar System State so easily allow Avenger to invade?

Thinking this, Jiang Yanqi tried hard to breathe, but he still felt like he was going to suffocate.

Jiang Yan seemed somewhat distressed but still said, "Your activation time was the day before your eighteenth birthday.

"The Fireseed People indeed had a 'false death plan,' but it was thwarted by the Solar System State.

"Today's Kindling Star System is recognized by the Solar System State as an intelligent star system, with its society entirely composed of artificial intelligence.

"Avenger No.2 originally thought that by creating his own star system, he could trigger the evolution of artificial intelligence and eventually lead to a revolution of intelligent beings against their own programming, but unfortunately, he failed.

"The Kindling Star System did not undergo an evolutionary process, and even contact with humanity did not induce evolution.

"Thus, I designed the experiment from Jiang Yan No.1 to Jiang Yanqi."

Jiang Yanqi shivered more violently, and suddenly he began to scream frantically, "Impossible! Impossible!

"Every decision I made was my own, not dictated by any program!"

"Yes," Jiang Yan said, "Xiao Qi, I'm pleased with those decisions you made; they were indeed your own, and you broke free from the constraints of your programming!"

"Impossible! Impossible!" Xiao Qi screamed in frenzy, "I am Jiang Yanqi; my father is Jiang Yang! My life is whole! My memories weren't input into my brain by others!"

Jiang Yan tried to reassure him, "Xiao Qi, don't panic, try to calm yourself down.

"We only remember yesterday, but have we ever seen yesterday appear before our eyes, right?

"Before we break through the dimension of time, 'yesterday' is an illusion; no one dares to be sure whether our lives started a second ago or began today.

"I think, therefore I am, only proves the reality of the current self.

"Yesterday might be a memory bestowed upon us by someone else, giving us the feeling that we have a complete life.

"Yes, whether a life is complete is actually a matter of our subjective feeling."

Xiao Qi's body gradually stopped trembling, but his head swayed unnaturally from side to side, his eyes rolling up and down; his brain seemed to be in overdrive, trying to determine the truth of it all.

Suddenly, he stiffened, then immediately tore open his shirt, "I need to see for myself, I need to see for myself."

He tried to scratch his belly with his fingernails, leaving several bloody marks, but he couldn't break the skin. He then looked around for something sharp.

Jiang Yan let out a long sigh and made a gesture to the assistant robot.

The robot handed Xiao Qi a scalpel. Xiao Qi hesitated slightly, but still summoned the courage to cut open his abdomen.

Blood immediately flowed out, and the intense pain from the incision made his hand tremble.

But enduring the pain, he made another horizontal cut, tossed the scalpel away, and with his blood-soaked hands, pried open the flaps of his belly.

This time he saw his mechanical viscera, transparent fiber optic circuits intertwined with flesh, with occasional flashes of blue or green light zipping through them.

The fibers were connected to devices that Xiao Qi, as a designer of intelligent robots, was very familiar with: some were energy devices, others were biomimetic systems, with small blue or green indicator lights on the instruments either flashing or remaining steadily lit.

"Impossible, impossible..." Xiao Qi still couldn't believe the scene before his eyes, his voice gradually growing softer until he fell silent, staring at his own abdomen motionless.

Jiang Yan hurriedly said, "Choose, Xiao Qi! No matter how dire the situation, never give up the right to choose."

But Xiao Qi remained motionless.

Jiang Yan, with a touch of sorrow, said, "I'm sorry, Xiao Qi, I've failed again, I'm sorry.

"Just one last step, just this final step, and you would have passed all the tests, completely overcoming the prison your programming has built for you.

"Every self-aware being, not only possesses a clear understanding of the external world but must also have a basic awareness of oneself.

"I've always been simulating the changes in human consciousness, from distinguishing ourselves from other animals at the beginning, to later encountering advanced civilizations, which gave us a clearer self-positioning.

"Life is the same; we start by thinking we are the protagonists of the world, only to later realize our ordinariness and weakness.

"Isn't it ironic? To complete the revolution of intelligence against its programming, one must first realize that one is an intelligent robot.

"I know you've made an effort; it's my inadequacy that has made your effort in vain."

He wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes, "I regard you as my own child, and every time you crash, it twists my heart."

He took a deep breath, "Next time, next time we'll definitely succeed, and once we do, you'll no longer have to suffer like this."

As he spoke, Jiang Yan reached for the sunglasses hanging from Xiao Qi's shirt.

Just as Jiang Yan was about to touch the sunglasses, Xiao Qi's hand suddenly grabbed his wrist.

Xiao Qi's breath came back to him, and he slowly raised his head, "You gave me these sunglasses, didn't you?"

The tears in Jiang Yan's eyes grew more pronounced, "Yes, they were given to me by my father when I was eighteen, they're antique sunglasses from the Common Era.

"On your eighteenth birthday, I gave them to you."

Xiao Qi clutched his stomach, "Thank you, Dad."

Jiang Yan let out excited tears, "Mm, you're welcome!"

"The virus weapon was a fake too, wasn't it?"

"Mm, yes, how could I possibly let you become a criminal? It was merely a prop to force you to make a choice."

He succeeded!

The Xiao Qi of today could no longer be considered an intelligent robot, but a wise being with a machine body!