Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

The researcher was stunned.

Then, confusion, hesitation, panic, and anger flashed on his face so vividly that Li Yao couldn’t tell anything wrong.

“Director, what’s the meaning of this?”

The researcher stepped back and roared desperately, “You’re suspecting that I’m from the Covenant Alliance?”

“I’m not suspecting; I’m quite sure you are. Look at your tomography and compare it with that of the cold-blooded killer.”

Zhuge Jinglun displayed a few new tomographies and compared them with the old ones.

Everybody craned their head, but then, they frowned.

“They’re absolutely different!”

The researcher roared, “Even a blind person can tell that my tomographies are different from the killer’s! My reaction is normal! The activities of my brain are standard!”

“Yes, they are. They are perfect and even unimaginably standard.”

Zhuge Jinglun said, “I almost forgot to tell you that these are not your tomographies from today, but an overlap of all your tomographies in the past 27 tests. Do you see the problem? Your reaction is too perfect. It’s almost identical in the past 27 tests!

“Normal people will think and react slightly differently when they’re faced with the same question, so their tomographies should be blurry when overlapped.

“What kind of people will react to the same question in exactly the same way for 27 times in a row, as if it were not his real reaction but some sort of… pre-installed program?”

Astounded, the researcher did not know what to say when he looked at his brain tomographies.

“Rest assured. I wouldn’t jump to a conclusion so quickly, as that would be an insult to my professionalism.”

Zhuge Jinglun displayed another tomography. “Different from the previous 26 tests, we added a new question today, which is the choice to be a human or a machine in a Wiseware rebellion. You had never seen the question until the database was unlocked, had you?”

“No, but so what?”

The researcher said quickly, “My reaction was normal!”

“Just like I said, it’s too normal.”

Zhuge Jinglun said, “As the control group, a thousand ordinary people were asked the same question. When we told them that their memories were faked, they were not real human beings, and the world out there had been deformed by the Wisewares, they all hesitated and considered. Some of them even had self-doubts, wondering whether or not they were humans at all.

“Both the askers and the answerers had doubts. Many of them even needed therapy.

“But your brainwaves were the steadiest when you were faced with the question for the first time. They were 30% steadier than those of the people far stronger than you! You did not waver. You did not believe the bulls*it of ‘Wiseware rebellion’ at all. You never considered whether you were a human or a machine. Why?

“Because you knew very well that you were some sort of ‘Wiseware’, except that you are made of flesh and blood instead of metals!”

“Lying! You’re lying! I’m not from the Covenant Alliance!”

Stunned for a long time, the researcher suddenly shrieked hysterically and even lunged at Zhuge Jinglun. “You can’t jump to any conclusion so hastily! I’m a living human! Long live the Imperium! I’m not from the Covenant Alliance!”

Naturally, Li Yao and Long Yangjun wouldn’t allow the crazy researcher to hurt Zhuge Jinglun.

But their help was unnecessary. Several brawny security guards seized the researcher and shackled him before they dragged him down.

The researcher struggled and howled, like a normal person that had been wronged. His roar could still be heard when he was long gone. “I’m not from the Covenant Alliance! I’m not!”

“Look…”

Zhuge Jinglun rubbed his hands and grinned at Li Yao and Long Yangjun. “A spectacular show, isn’t it? This guy has lurked here for three years and passed six versions of the Ring-Tu Test. But he’s finally exposed in the new version!

“Oh, I must thank President Long’s question on the Wiseware rebellion. It’s really interesting. Wait, I almost forgot. You’re not President Long. You changed your name. I should call you President Dongfang, right? Forgive me, President Dongfang.”

“It’s President Long…” said Long Yangjun while holding her forehead.

“Wait, I still feel that it’s inappropriate.”

Looking at the blood left on a corner when the researcher was dragged away, Li Yao asked, “You determine whether or not a person is from the Covenant Alliance based on the tomographies and random questions? What’s your accuracy? Would good guys be wronged?

“For example, what if he is determined and wouldn’t be influenced easily? Or what if he is a man without imagination and cannot understand the Wiseware rebellion at all? Or maybe, even if he is a cold and heartless man, it doesn’t mean that he will necessarily commit crimes, no?

“Take the middle school teacher just now. If his friends hadn’t taken him to the casino, he might’ve lived his life in peace instead of turning into a murderer, wouldn’t he?

“So, what if your Ring-Tu Test is wrong? It can’t be 100% accurate, can it?”

Zhuge Jinglun looked at Li Yao in surprise, as if he was shocked by the childish question.

“Of course there are errors. This is a game where our enemy and us are constantly trying to outsmart each other.”

Zhuge Jinglun said, “However, when we’re talking about accuracy, it’s not about the good guys that we wronged, but about the bad guys that we let go. The good guys—let’s call them good guys for now—are potential lunatics and criminals anyway and take up no more than 5% in total. They’re the necessary sacrifices in this war.”

Li Yao got it now.

It was better to wrongly kill a thousand good guys than to accidentally let a bad guy get away.

“Necessary sacrifice” was also a phrase that Immortal Cultivators always talked about.

Li Yao’s eyes turned cold. He disliked Director Zhuge Jinglun who was cold and heartless in his bones and did not care about lives himself either.

“It’s an interesting test and a great eye-opener for me.”

Li Yao said coldly, “Then, Director Zhuge, have you considered another interesting question? If a spy from the Covenant Alliance can work in your institute for years, how can you make sure that you’re not another spy that is hiding more deeply?

“Of course, you may have passed the Ring-Tu Test countless times, but it’s pointless. As the creator of the test, you definitely know its flaws.

“So, how can you prove your innocence so that other people will not suspect you?”

Li Yao thought that the question would be tricky for Zhuge Jinglun, but the director of the asylum raised his thumb at Li Yao with glowing eyes. “Good question! It’s very hard to prove. That’s why there is more than one research center that works on the Covenant Alliance, and why the Ring-Tu Test has thousands of different versions.

“Black Wind King, you should know that there is not an official, authoritative agency on the studies of the Covenant Alliance in the Imperium, right? Why do we not have an official agency to deal with the rival that has haunted us for a thousand years?

“The reason is simple. If an authoritative agency existed, all the Covenant Alliance needed to do would be to infiltrate it and alter the standards of the Ring-Tu Test, then we would be screwed!

“Now, we don’t have an authoritative agency, but we have dozens of half-official agencies working at the same time and introducing different versions of the Ring-Tu Test. The leaders of those agencies, including me, have been testing each other regularly. It’s rather troublesome, but it guarantees our safety.

“Of course, this cannot prevent the Covenant Alliance from infiltrating us. After all, with their advanced technologies, some of them might be able to pass the tests of dozens of different agencies. That person could be me, or President Dongfang, or Black Wind King. Hahahaha. Who knows?

“Or rather, maybe the Imperium and the Covenant Alliance do not exist, and the world around us is faked with the memories and data indoctrinated into us. Instead, the Wiseware rebellion is actually the truth, and we’re just intelligent machines of the latest model. If we open our skulls, we might really find glittering, gem-like crystal processors in it, right?

“President Dongfang, Black Wind King, do you want to open your skull and see what’s inside? Hahahaha!”

When Zhuge Jinglun laughed, he sounded like an oinking pig, but it was one of the most horrible things that Li Yao had heard.

“Director Zhuge…”

Narrowing his eyes, Li Yao asked, “Are you sure that you’re not influenced by the psychopaths around you? Or maybe, are you a hopeless psychopath too?”

“How do you know?”

Zhuge Jinglun replied in a stun, “I’m indeed a severe psychopath. I spent almost a hundred years in thirteen asylums on seven planets!”

“What?”

Li Yao found it hard to believe. “Then how did you become the director of this place?”

“Very simple.”

Zhuge Jinglun winked at Li Yao and said, “The last asylum I stayed in was not carefully managed. At that time, a doctor named Zhuge Jinglun came to study me, and I ate him up from skin to bones. I even fried his brain and his internal organs. How delicious it was!

“After I was full, I left in Zhuge Jinglun’s name. In honor of my old days and my old friends, I regarded the studies of mental diseases as my lifelong career.

“Hush. This is my little secret. Black Wind King, please keep it between us and don’t let them catch me. Please. Hahahaha!”