'Humans' were dead.
According to Hao Ren's definition of human beings, humans on this planet had gone extinct at least a thousand years ago. When they lost the ability to reproduce, lost the aura of intelligence, and could only be stored in a culture container like a cluster of cell samples, they had gone extinct in the sense of a race.
But to the stubborn Cortex Prime and the entire Executor society, humans were dead today.
Within the cylindrical culture container, various electrodes and nutrient delivery tubes were slowly separated from the liquid surface under the Cortex Prime's control. Those wriggling pieces of meat immediately began to tremble violently after losing the support of the machine, and in just a short moment, cracks of various sizes appeared on their surface. Turbid red liquid and bubbles began to gush out from between the pieces of meat, and the originally light pink nutrient solution instantly became a sea of blood red.
Hao Ren could not tell if the flesh could still be considered a complete creature, because every single cell within it was completely different. The lethal mutation caused the cells to produce a whole new genetic sequence after every division, and from a biological perspective, the cells should not have survived until now.
For a long time, they were forcefully assembled and maintained by the Cortex Prime using technological means, and the entire life support system had to filter out the large amounts of toxic substances produced by the flesh to prevent the cells from being killed by their own metabolites.
But today, this endless suffering could finally end.
After the life support system was removed, the flesh could still survive for a short while, and the cells would die en masse. But until the nutrients in the incubator were depleted, they would still continue with their lethal and toxic biological activities, and according to the Cortex Prime's calculations, the last cell would probably die after a few hours.
"Is that all?" Hao Ren frowned as he watched the 'human funeral'. Other than the 'outsiders' he led, the only witnesses were the Cortex Prime and N-6. "I thought there would be a more solemn ceremony."
"The era of humans is over, and we shall send them off in our own way." The Cortex Prime's voice echoed in the hall. "This day should have come a long time ago … I've used too much time to complete all the calculations."
Hao Ren sighed. "With your hardware architecture, these calculations are too difficult."
"But only I can do it."
The Cortex Prime was different from the Executor.
Even though they were all artificial intelligence, they had completely different missions. When the humans created the Executors, they tried their best to imbue them with human-like traits, from their appearance to their thinking. That was why the Executors had richer emotions and a more flexible way of thinking. These two traits gave them a stronger ability to learn and develop themselves. When the humans created the Cortex Prime, they were designing a precise manager. In that precarious era, they had to ensure that the potential of civilization was not wasted, so the Cortex Prime was designed to be precise, strict, rational, and absolutely obedient.
The Cortex Prime was the highest commander of the Executors, but at the same time, it was also the Executors' nanny.
Using a precise and efficient computing machine to manage the stumbling Executor society had indeed ensured the survival of civilization in the early days. However, there would come a day when humans would leave, and when they did, no one would be able to reach the control panel of the Cortex Prime and press the button to make the final judgment.
Perhaps the humans had thought of this problem before, and designed all sorts of judgment mechanisms to help the Cortex Prime determine when to make the decision, but the long war had destroyed too many things. Even the great think tanks had lost half of their data, and the judgment mechanisms that the humans had designed were long lost in the annals of history.
So when the day finally came, the Cortex Prime had to complete this arduous process by itself.
As a rational and logical AI, the Cortex Prime thought with great difficulty, using all its might to think. In the midst of its thinking, it burned a good half of its servers and all of its maintainers. After paying the price of near destruction, it finally accepted the truth amidst the layers of contradictions and conflicts: "Humanity" was dead.
Then it ran the last program left by its creator. It was a short code, the code that signified "adulthood" to the Executors. N-6 was its first user.
"Now, there is only one thing left." The Cortex Prime's voice echoed in the hall, still that emotionless electronic voice.
N-6 looked up in a daze. "What is it?"
"The Executors of 'adulthood' do not need the Cortex Prime."
N-6 did not seem to understand what the Cortex Prime meant, but Lily knew what the Cortex Prime was trying to do. She exclaimed, "Hey, you don't have to do this! The humans may be gone, but there are still so many people waiting on the moon … "
"My job is done." The Cortex Prime did not seem to mind Lily's words, and continued quietly. "The era of the humans is over, and so is my era. An adult civilization does not need a guardian."
Lily was still anxious. "But …"
"Forget it." Hao Ren held the agitated Lily back. "He's already switched off."
As expected, the Cortex Prime's voice did not ring again. The MDT detected that the various mechanical structures in the fortress were activated and operating automatically under the control of a preset program.
Hao Ren had already guessed that the Cortex Prime would make such a decision. When he saw the burned maintainers in the secondary server room, he had already guessed it. The Cortex Prime burning the maintainers was a result of its own malfunction, but it also meant that the Cortex Prime's "subconscious" had made its choice.
It was seeking to self-destruct, because its mission was over.
Even if Hao Ren were to intervene, things would not change much. Most of the Cortex Prime's servers had been destroyed over the years, and its remaining consciousness had been transferred to the control center, but the control center was not enough to handle the Cortex Prime's massive data.
So, the Cortex Prime that Hao Ren and the rest saw today was the last time the ancient AI was operating.
A low rumble came from the depths of the fortress, and some large mechanical structure was operating. Hao Ren could feel the entire building shaking slightly.
"Let's get out of here." Vivian pulled Hao Ren. "There's nothing for us to do here."
"Stop looking, let's go." Lily tugged at N-6, who looked a little sluggish. "There's still a lot waiting for you."
N-6 staggered under Lily's strong pull, and only then did she regain her senses. Her dull eyes quickly regained their luster, and after one last look at the bubbling and blood mist in the incubator, she turned and followed Hao Ren and the rest.
"Goodbye, human."
They left the fortress at a much faster speed than when they came. All the passages along the way were open. Even the gates that were locked and required the MDT to infect with a virus were wide open. All the lights in the fortress were turned on, and the roar of machinery came from the depths of the building. It was as if a beast that had been sleeping for a long time was about to wake up.
They rushed out of the fortress, and Lily pointed in the distance in surprise. "Mr. Landlord! What's that? "
Hao Ren looked at where Lily was pointing. He saw the Executors, many of them. These synthetic humans that looked no different from humans walked out of the factories and warehouses. They stood on the road and stared blankly in the direction of the fortress.
They must have seen Hao Ren and his team rushing out of the fortress, but they did not react. They just remained motionless, staring at the shaking fortress.
The Cortex Prime, which had been supporting and guiding the Executor society for thousands of years, was ushering in the end.
"Why are they not moving?" Lil Pea poked her head out from Hao Ren's collar, looking at the Executors in the distance in surprise.
Hao Ren patted the little guy's head. "They are adults."
A moment later, Nolan's voice rang in Hao Ren's mind. She sounded puzzled. "Boss, I don't know what's going on … The Zenith's forces have suddenly stopped moving, and I have received a guidance signal to the moon …"
"Things are over here. Come and pick us up," Hao Ren interrupted. "We are going back to the homeworld. We still have work to do."
Yes, there was still work to do.
The departure of the humans and the Cortex Prime was only an internal problem for the Executors, but the bigger threat they had to face was on their homeworld. The Planet Devourer was still there. Although the Planet Devourer had lost its offensive ability due to the meteorite shower, as long as it was still on the homeworld, the reborn civilization on the moon was not really safe.
At least on this point, Hao Ren felt that he could still find something to do.
After returning to the spaceship, Hao Ren and his team flew straight to the vibrant planet, while N-4 learned from N-6 that the humans had died.
As the Cortex Prime had updated the code in every Executor's logic circuit in advance, N-4 and her team members accepted the fact without a hitch. But when it came to the 'future', N-4 and N-6 were equally at a loss.
Or in other words, until today, the executors who were used as consumables had never considered the word 'future'.
N-6 took the initiative to find Hao Ren on the bridge and confessed her confusion.
"We have never thought of facing these problems ourselves," the robot girl said. "Without orders from the Cortex Prime, what should we do?"
"The Cortex Prime should have selected and set up a management team among the Executors before it left." Hao Ren had been using the MDT to scan the signals sent and received by the fortress, so he had a general understanding of the matter. "It will not be long before the new management team will contact you, and you will know by then."
N-6 frowned in a very human manner. "So what should we do now?"
Hao Ren looked up at the large holographic projection in the center of the bridge.
On the projection, the blue and green planet was zooming in rapidly.
"Let's go to the deepest part of your homeworld."
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