Humans were dying.
That is, if the cells in the test tubes that were left with twisted flesh could still be considered human.
Even without any detection, Hao Ren could tell that the flesh in the test tubes was slowly losing its vitality. Something that was rooted in the genes was changing under the influence of the First Born's wrath. This change transcended the distance of space and directly affected the 'survivors' who had once escaped from the homeworld. In fact, they had never survived. The destruction had already begun, it was just that it was a little late.
It seemed that the 'lucky ones' like Holletta were in the minority, and most civilizations could not escape the First Born's slaughter.
"When humans die, the entire Executor society is finished." Vivian shook her head. "Their birth was built on the foundation of serving humans. All of their mission systems, all of their way of thinking, and even their social structure are in service of this goal. Once this goal is lost, the entire society will collapse. The Cortex Prime hid the truth about humans to prevent this from happening."
Lily's ears drooped a little. "But the Cortex Prime itself could not escape from this framework. When humans really came to an end, it became the first to malfunction."
Hao Ren did not interrupt this time because he was thinking about something else. From the Cortex Prime's actions and the word 'Executor', he seemed to see another side of the matter.
"You are not satisfied with this outcome, right?" After a long while, he suddenly looked up and said to the air.
The Cortex Prime's answer was as stiff as ever. "I follow the humans' orders. In my programming, there is no option to be dissatisfied."
"But when you malfunctioned, one of the servers issued an order for N-4 to lead a team to the homeworld to search for the crashed extraterrestrials. While you quickly rejected this order, it still means that a part of your programming is not willing to give up. Humans call this phenomenon the 'subconscious'. In your subconscious mind, you still hope for a turning point, even if you do not know what it is."
The Cortex Prime was silent for a few seconds before asking a question. "Can you heal humans?"
Hao Ren looked at the flesh in the test tube. Through the MDT's scan, he had now confirmed the true state of the flesh. The human parts were long gone, and now they were just twisted, stacked, and proliferating cells. Every cell was the result of mutation.
In a sense, humans were long dead. Even before they entered the test tube, the humans on this planet had already perished.
The Executors were just fighting for a ghost of the past.
Hao Ren believed that the Cortex Prime knew this very well, but this powerful AI had maintained the survival of the human cells for thousands of years due to its loyalty or obsession. But to Hao Ren, this persistence had long lost its meaning.
"I can't save them," Hao Ren said, shaking his head. "Because they're already dead. I can't see any humans in this tube, not at all."
"Mr. Landlord?" Lily's ears twitched as she looked at Hao Ren in confusion.
Hao Ren waved his hand, indicating that he still had something to say. "Although I can't save your 'humans', I believe that if they knew that they would end up like this, they would not want to continue to 'live' like this.
"And I also believe that when humans first created the Executors, the reason they gave them this name was not just for them to work and fight for humans.
"The survival of a civilization is not as simple as' people living '. If an entire race faces the threat of extinction one day, they would usually choose to do their best to preserve the civilization heritage they created. The knowledge, culture, and way of thinking of the world created by countless generations are the most precious legacies of a civilization. You mentioned earlier that humans created the Executors when they realized their race was declining, and then they used a thousand years to teach the Executors how to think freely. Then they used another thousand years to build a giant think tank, converting all their knowledge and thinking into data that the Executors could download and read. Do you know what this process means to humans? "
The Cortex Prime did not respond, but Hao Ren continued. "It is a legacy. Parents teach their children, and the previous generation nurtures the next."
"The Executors are not humans, and they cannot become the descendants of humans." The Cortex Prime said stubbornly.
"But they can become the descendants of human civilization." Hao Ren pointed at N-6. "These are the Executors. They can think, have emotions, and are curious about the world. When your creators created them, they did their best to imbue them with human traits. Aside from their lifeforms, they can inherit the entire civilization that your creators created. I think this is the ultimate goal of creating the Executors."
Vivian understood what Hao Ren meant, and she continued. "Your creators had long realized that they could not survive. From the day the mutation went out of control, they knew that their days were numbered. Even if they destroyed the planet devourer, so what? The mutation that happened to them could not be reversed. They were destined to die, it was just a matter of time. Why would a group of people who were destined to die still care about reclaiming their homeworld? They would not have the chance to continue living there. "
"They just wanted to find a place for the Executors to settle down." Hao Ren shook his head. "I learned from N-4 about your technological level. Based on your spaceflight and the distribution of celestial bodies in the area, you would not be able to find a second habitable planet. Even if the Executors are much stronger than the carbon-based lifeforms, you would not be able to survive on a planet that is too hot or lacking in metal resources. So the homeworld is the best home you can find."
"They gave you the order to reclaim your homeworld. They just hope to see you live well in your remaining years." Y 'zaks added in a muffled voice.
N-6 had been silent for a long time. She stood there as if her computer had crashed. It was only then that she seemed to wake up from Y 'zaks' words. She turned her head slowly. "Have we … let down our creators?"
Vivian shook her head. "No. As long as you are alive, you have not let them down."
"Cortex Prime, you should have thought of this yourself." Hao Ren said to the air. "And I believe that after you realized this, you have tried to give the Executors the ability to break away from the control of the program. It is just that your own logic structure has made it difficult for you to do so. So I am curious what you have done."
After a long silence, the Cortex Prime finally spoke. "Yes."
Hao Ren did not say anything. He felt that the Cortex Prime had more to say. And sure enough, a moment later, the electronic voice came from around the hall. "The entire Executor system is under the control of my system. At the same time, they are also controlled by their own set of primitive commands. In the early days, this is a requirement for the Executors to develop smoothly. Because the primitive self-growing AI is severely lacking in stability, they must rely on a strict monitoring system and a simple set of primitive commands to grow. "
Hao Ren continued the Cortex Prime's words. "But this system has a huge limitation. Because one day, the Executors' growth will exceed the limits of this monitoring system, and they will have to face the reality of humanity's demise. At first, they used 'serving mankind' as their core command and grew stronger, but sooner or later, they had to learn to find their own goals to survive. "
"I have already updated a code in every Executor's logic circuit. This code was left behind by my last programmer a long, long time ago." The Cortex Prime said quietly. "This code will allow them to break away from the control of primitive commands. Once it takes effect, the Executors will be free. N-6, I have detected that the final code in your body is active, and it is because of this that you are able to function normally after witnessing the true state of humanity. Congratulations, little soldier. You are the first to be free in the new era. "
Hao Ren looked at N-6 curiously, and the latter, after a brief moment of confusion, suddenly remembered what happened when she was traversing through the fortress. When she saw the mess in the Cortex Prime's secondary server room and understood the truth of the fortress, she briefly crashed and rebooted.
At that time, she felt an unfamiliar code appearing in her logic circuit, and after that, her system began to operate in a completely new way.
Even after witnessing the true state of humanity soaked in the culture vessel, and facing the reality that could theoretically cause the core of the Executor to burn, she still stood there.
Richer and more stable emotional modules replaced those fatal logical conflicts, and those original commands that couldn't be shaken at all had unknowingly disappeared.
N-6 suddenly realized, that was the last gift the humans gave to the Executors.
Hao Ren also realized why the Cortex Prime rejected his help, and said that the entire Executor society did not need help from outsiders, and that they would complete their own mission.
Because they could really complete it all by themselves, at least in terms of their own internal problems, this tempered civilization did not need any "rescue" from outsiders.
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