radicalducati Chapter 156 Stuka the Clay
Chapter 156 Stuka the Clay
Chapter 156 Stuka the Clay
Bai Shuyuan took out the Shannon counter from before and selected the environmental detection mode.
The numbers on the screen jumped a few times before finally stabilizing.
【0.91】
"It's gone up a little compared to before. When the survivors came in, the reading was 0.90," Little Green said.
"It seems that the elimination of a small portion of the monsters here has slightly improved the stability of this area," Bai Shuyuan concluded.
"Moreover, judging from the readings, there are indeed no monsters here that are a combination of deformed fetuses and madmen."
"Awoooooo!"
Beside me, the monster began to shriek again.
Bai Shuyuan remained expressionless as she performed a frontal lobe resection to restore his composure.
She continued her questioning, asking for more information about the building.
Although she could still get useful information, Xiao Lü noticed that as the number of excisions increased, the thing became increasingly sluggish.
Its intelligence is declining at a visible rate.
"What's your name?"
After obtaining enough information, Bai Shuyuan repeated the initial question.
"Jin—Xiao Liang."
The answer became hesitant and stammering, interspersed with long pauses.
What is thirty-five plus twenty-seven?
"----I have no idea."
Sure enough, I've become dumber.
It appears that this brain's computational ability is directly related to the number of insects.
Bai Shuyuan collected all the remaining insects from the monster's skull into the cookie jar.
Then she turned to another body next to her and did the same, placing it in another jar.
Then, the worms in the two cranial cavities were exchanged.
The insects quickly began to rearrange themselves, regrouping into the shape of a brain, and began to hiss.
After performing the previous surgery, Bai Shuyuan waved at the adult male body.
"What's your name?"
"Jin Xiaoliang." A voice belonging to an adult male answered the name.
What are your parents' names?
It used the same voice to announce its parents' names.
"—Okay. Got it, thanks."
Bai Shuyuan nodded, indicating that everything was over.
— Weird.
This was Xiao Lü's idea. She couldn't find a better word to describe it at the moment.
The feeling that this consciousness could be transplanted at will made her feel an instinctive discomfort.
"It reminds me of a philosophical paradox called the Ship of Theseus."
Xiao Lü remembers that this paradox was proposed by a Greek philosopher two thousand years ago: If all the planks of a ship are replaced, is the ship still the same ship?
"I know this paradox."
"However, it doesn't have much practical significance. And compared to the Ship of Theseus, the changes in these people were far more drastic."
"Just like how the Ship of Theseus became the Theseus-class aircraft carrier," Little Green casually remarked.
"—Although, during the process of being modified, their consciousness seemed to remain continuous," Bai Shuyuan added.
"It doesn't matter, the Ship of Theseus is no longer the Ship of Theseus it used to be."
Little Green replied calmly.
"They are no longer the same people, even if they seem to have retained their original memories."
Bai Shuyuan looked at Xiao Lü, seemingly waiting for an explanation.
"Because thinking like that makes me feel a little better."
Whether the Ship of Theseus is still itself is irrelevant. The criterion is simply which answer reduces my internal conflict, or rather, makes me happier.
"A classic postmodern answer."
After giving her evaluation, Bai Shuyuan fell silent, seemingly deep in thought.
Xiao Lü looked at her and could roughly guess what she was thinking.
"Do you think this thing will be very useful?"
"Indeed, I can think of many uses," Bai Shuyuan admitted. The potential value of a parasite capable of shifting consciousness is self-evident.
"But," she added, "I'd rather get rid of them all."
"After all, my goal has never been to control, contain, or protect."
"Unlike Sasa's offspring, this assimilation is unidirectional, and the consequences are irreversible."
Hearing this reply, Xiao Lü breathed a sigh of relief: "Okay. Then I'll take care of the rest of this building."
.
"If you mind, it's fine for me to do it."
"No, let me do it."
Although she never showed much expression, I always felt that her inner thoughts were probably much richer than what she showed.
"Okay." Bai Shuyuan didn't dwell on the issue.
"However, we still need to be wary of the older brother it mentioned." Until we reach the top floor and confirm the actual situation, we must remain highly vigilant.
"clear."
Then, she activated her magic to completely freeze the three bodies, as if they were placed in ice coffins.
The subsequent cleanup operation went quite smoothly.
Moreover, the monsters' characteristics were becoming increasingly inhuman. This ever-increasing inhumanity meant that Xiao Lü felt no psychological burden when she took action.
She simply froze these monsters completely in silence; ice was the coffin of the corpses, and the corpses were the coffin of the insects.
At the top floor stairwell, a door on the very top floor was ajar.
Just as Xiao Lü was about to step onto the last step, Bai Shuyuan's voice suddenly came from behind her.
"etc."
Xiao Lü stopped and looked back. Bai Shuyuan was holding up the Shannon counter, gesturing for her to check the reading.
【1.01】
"what?"
Xiao Lü was somewhat taken aback. This value—wasn't something a little off?
She recalled that the stability index at the bank branch was only around 0.98.
The number of cases in this area, which has not yet been completely cleared, is actually higher than that in the headquarters.
"In fact, it's even higher than the world before the disaster."
"In the environmental model, the benchmark of information stability, '1,' is extremely close to the world before the catastrophe."
"—So, it contains something that can stabilize reality?"
Xiao Lü immediately thought of this possibility.
"Possibly."
Just then, a strange buzzing sound came from the crack in the half-open door.
It sounds a bit like a mosquito, but much louder.
Immediately afterwards, a strange thing emerged from the crack in the door and flew about, wobbling.
The thing was yellow and looked like a small toy airplane; it had a rather retro feel.
It seemed to be lost, circling around the two of them.
"—Stuka," Bai Shuyuan said after taking a look.
"Huh?" Little Green was shocked. What was all this about?
"—This kind of insect can be used to build airplanes?"
"No, it's not a bug."
Bai Shuyuan denied her guess.
Before the words were even finished, the small Stuka suddenly adjusted its posture and swooped down towards them!
Immediately afterwards, a small yellow object detached from under the fuselage.
"Snapped!"
It crashed into the ice shield that Little Green had instinctively raised, and exploded.
— Its power is similar to that of a firecracker; it makes a sound, but it can't even threaten Little Green's main body.
However, a layer of yellow stuff was smeared on the ice shield.
Little Green could even smell a familiar scent—the artificial fragrance unique to inferior modeling clay.
"—So, the reason this place has such a high degree of stability is because what we're facing right now is quite surreal?"
An absurd idea took shape in Xiao Lü's mind.
She felt that the eerie atmosphere from before had completely vanished at that moment.
It's like you've suddenly been transported from a world like the back room or Silent Hill to the BabyBus set.
She slapped the buzzing plane, which was trying to continue dropping bombs, back into the doorway.