<h4>Chapter 933: Biochip</h4>


    <h4><strong>Trantor: </strong>CKtalon </h4>


    Jiang Baimian continued forward, but she didn’t dare to walk too quickly lest she couldn’t retreat in time. This gave her plenty of time to think and distinguish her surroundings. It also prevented her from straying off the path despite there not being a fork in the road.


    Step by step, Jiang Baimian passed through the half-open door and walked along the corridor to the end.


    The area ahead opened up, and a sizable hall appeared.


    There were machines everywhere in the hall with all kinds of flickering lights, dazzling Jiang Baimian.


    Sheposed herself and carefully sized up the situation through the military exoskeleton’s visor.


    In the middle of the hall were a few metal objects that resembled space capsules. They surrounded arge, suspected supeputer that upied one-third of the space.


    The machine’s outer shell was silver-ck, and many signal lights flickered with red, yellow, or blue glimmers on its surface.


    Thick electric cables connected therge machine to the cabs along the walls. There were no panels around the cabs, making them well-ventted.


    This allowed Jiang Baimian to see sealed boxes of electronic products inside the cabs. Each box had a blinking indicator.


    There were countless simr electronic products lined up in rows like beehives, reminding Jiang Baimian of Pangu Biology’s engine room. But be it theyout or the machines, this ce was much moreplicated and massive in scale.


    Around an open space capsule were many skeletons. In the space capsule was also a skeleton.


    <i>Researchers?</i>?Jiang Baimian looked at the corpses nearby until she saw the deceased near the ‘mainframe.’ She muttered to herself,?<i>I wonder how many of them ultimately became Kalendarium…</i>


    At this moment, she waspletely certain of one thing: The Eighth Research Institute’s main goal in constantly sending people in to maintain the nuclear power nt was to power the machines here!


    ......


    Jiang Baimian was in no rush to approach therge machine that was clearly the core object. She checked the sealed electronic products in the cab.


    She carefully took out a box. ording to thebels and her knowledge, she determined that it was a miniatureputer. It had a processor and storage, but there was no disy. The I/O seemed to rely on the ‘mainframe.’


    These were very different from thetest Old World micrputers Jiang Baimian had seen. They used biological chips, also known as bionic chips.


    With the mechanical monks as a precedent, Jiang Baimian shouldn’t have been surprised to discover arge number of biological chips being used here. But it was precisely because she hade into contact with mechanical monks that a thought suddenly surfaced in her mind:?<i>One of the main characteristics of a biological chip is that it can simte brain functions…</i>


    Coupled with her previous discovery and guesses, Jiang Baimian had a new understanding of the essence of certain matters.?<i>If the biological chip wasn’t designed to simte a normal human brain but a special brain that had been stimted and developed, it’spletely exinable if mechanical monks also have Awakened abilities…</i>


    <i>What I can’t figure out now is why some monks can Awaken after bing Eternals. The biological chip can also change the solidifiedyout, structure, and materials upon stimulus? Or could the mechanical monk’s so-called Awakening be a result of the person being ‘knocked unconscious’ and entering the factory for repairs?</i>


    <i>Also, why should there be prices when one has already be a mechanical monk? Brain abnormalities with special functions are definitely apanied by damage or mutation in the corresponding area. When designing the biological chip, they could only lift everything before theypletely figured out the corresponding principles. This was to prevent Eternals from both failing to obtain abilities and suffering from brain damage?</i>


    Jiang Baimian was once a researcher and was rather interested in such matters. She was now regretful that although Pangu Biology had the word ‘biology,’ it didn’t have any breakthroughs on the biological chip. This resulted in her only knowing the basics, so she was mainly guessing.


    If she had known this, she would’ve most likely gotten Shang Jianyao to apany her to the mechanical monks’ zed Pure Lands to listen to their sses—no, listen to the Buddhist Dharma.


    Time was of the essence. Jiang Baimian only had a few thoughts before she walked toward the mainframe, the space capsules, and the many corpses.


    When they were about to reach their destination, she suddenly eximed.


    The discovery reminded her of something illogical.?<i>Since mechanical monks could still be alive and kicking without a body and didn’t need to absorb human consciousness to replenish themselves as long as they had enough electricity, why did the Kalendarium have to prepare apatible body and not directly use a corresponding biological chip?</i>


    <i>Was it for enjoyment, or had the mutation in their brains reached a level that the biological chip couldn’t simte from a design standpoint?</i>


    At this thought, Jiang Baimian frowned.?<i>I just discovered the corpses of two Kalendarium. Their skulls were intact, and the brains inside definitely hadn’t been taken out. In other words, there’s no such thing as their brains being secretly hidden in a Petri dish to maintain their existence.</i>


    <i>Then, what form are they living in now? A consciousness lifeform that purely replicates the brain structure or…?</i>Jiang Baimian suddenly turned around and cast her gaze at the rows of cabs.?<i>Or are they using some of the biological chips here?</i>


    After thinking for a few seconds, Jiang Baimian slowly retracted her gaze and muttered to herself, “Coupled with the fact that the Eighth Research Institute has been maintaining the electricity supply here, I’m inclined to thetter possibility. Or do these machines have more important uses?


    “If it’s thetter situation, it’s fine as long as the Kalendarium have electricity. There’s no need to absorb human consciousness at all. They don’t extract human consciousness because of hunger but for another reason?


    “If it were the previous situation, ignoring the question of whether consciousness lifeforms exist, just the fact that consciousness lifeforms feed on consciousness makes sense. It makes sense, but the question is: Why did Master Zhuang imntplete thoughts into the Heartless to maintain the nuclear power nt and ensure the electricity supply here?”


    Jiang Baimian stood rooted to the ground, her mind filled with thoughts as she stared at therge silver-ck machine.


    Her intuition told her that the matter was quite different from her previous guesses. These discrepancies hid the real reason for the Old World’s destruction and the final goal of a portion of the Kalendarium’s uprising.


    …


    In the maze, Shang Jianyao pushed open the blood-red door. Having been dominated by his rashness, he didn’t hesitate to walk into the room.


    His vision blurred before he saw a room filled with machines.


    The machines varied in size. Therge ones upied less than half the space, and the small ones were only the size of an adult man’s palm.


    At this moment, they were distributed in different ces and were connected in various ways. The corresponding signal lights flickered with red, yellow, or blue lights, illuminating the entire room like Weed City’s bars and clubs. However, there weren’t as many colors.


    “Xiaochong! Xiaochong!” Shang Jianyao shouted as he saw a man in a ck robe standing in the middle of the room.


    The man was originally standing with his hands behind his back, but he slowly turned around when he heard Shang Jianyao’s shout.


    He was in his forties, had ck hair, and a very elegant beard around his mouth.


    “Teacher Du Heng!” Shang Jianyao was ‘shocked.’


    The man was Du Heng, who hade to the Eighth Research Institute with them but had disappeared with the wind.


    Shang Jianyao then clenched his right fist and punched his left palm. “I understand! Your surname is Du, and Xiaochong’s surname is Du. Master Zhuang’s surname is also Du, so you are one of Master Zhuang’s personalities!”


    These words had the essence of Inference Clowning.


    However, Shang Jianyao didn’t doubt his judgment at all and said eloquently, “It’s no wonder as Master Zhuang’s childhood, Xiaochong was chased around by you. The Kalendarium are shameless! It’s no wonder youck many memories. As a single personality, there are many things you have never experienced.”


    Du Hengughed. “I changed to my current name after I became a neuroscientist. It’s to distinguish me from that experimental subject that’s myself. I’ve had a tendency to have split personalities since I was young.”


    “Because you were born an Awakened.” Shang Jianyao expressed his understanding.


    “As for the memory loss, it’s not because of a split personality but the aftereffects of the disaster back then,” Du Heng added.


    At this moment, Shang Jianyao suddenly became nervous and looked around. “I’ve already opened the door and entered, but Truth and the others haven’t attacked? Do they really expect me to persuade you?”


    Du Heng’s expression didn’t change as he said with a slightlyplicated tone, “They will begin soon. True chaos is imminent.”


    “How will they begin?” Shang Jianyao was curious and confused.


    Du Heng looked at him and sighed. “Every Old Task Force sent by Pangu Biology should have an Awakened in the Master Zhuang domain who paid the price of having a split personality.”