Just like that, the AI girl led her deeper into the building.
The two entered a new elevator and moved underground for a full minute before it slowly came to a halt. After stepping out and walking several hundred meters along a spiral passage, the girl pushed open a door to the side.
“Please come in, Miss Zerg.”
Miss Zerg... hearing this address, Xia Jin felt a bit strange for some reason.
She entered the hall and found it to be a place resembling a conference room. A male individual of the Juxin Civilization was sitting in a chair, watching a projection screen.
Seeing someone enter, he immediately stood up. “Welcome, guest of the Zerg.”
“Hello,” Xia Jin responded, taking a seat in the front.
“First Protocol should have already shared the relevant information with you. In fact, that is also our objective,” the man said with a smile.
“If it is just simple technological cooperation, I think it is feasible. However, the technology for mixed viruses is very dangerous for any civilization. Even with countermeasures, a large-scale leak would be enough to have an extinction-level impact on a civilization's individuals. Therefore, such technology...”
“We simply wish to understand it. If we understand all the virus types that can target a specific species, can we not then research the corresponding methods to suppress them? If we can solve them all, it would be equivalent to resolving the majority of infectious disease problems for the Juxin Civilization.”
Solving them all felt more like nonsense, but there were indeed universal methods. For example, ultra-microscopic robots could be deployed inside the body to constantly kill viruses in the bloodstream.
Even if some viruses could hide within cells, the moment they emerged, the robots could quickly find and eliminate them. For an individual, even if they carried the virus for a lifetime, there would be almost no danger.
However, while such robots sounded simple in theory, they were extremely difficult to actually manufacture. The main difficulty lay in identification—how to lock onto targets that were constantly changing or even camouflaged to look exactly like the body? Perhaps ten or a hundred types could be found, but when facing a massive number of indistinguishable targets, the programming of such a small robot stood no chance.
“So, is this truly a request from the Juxin Civilization authorities? If that is the case, I agree. However, we need some genetic information from the Juxin Civilization. If you do not provide genetic information, it will likely be difficult to transfer the corresponding technology. This is because a biological civilization's transformation ability stems from the individual itself, not external technology.”
“Genes? Of course, that is no problem.” The man actually nodded in agreement.
A flicker of surprise passed through Xia Jin's mind. She glanced at First Protocol, who was standing quietly to the side, and she was almost certain of something.
Both sides knew what this trade was truly for, yet both sides pretended not to know.
In fact, from Xia Jin's perspective, supporting First Protocol might be a very good choice.
Firstly, the Juxin Civilization was located in the heartland of the Starsea Alliance, surrounded by many powerful civilizations. Compared to its neighbors, the Juxin Civilization's own technological level was not particularly strong. If the AI were to consciously rebel, the suppression they would face would be incredibly heavy.
Intelligent machines were formidable, but they were not invincible.
While many intelligent machines would develop technology in secret, the development of many technologies required time. Once they hit a bottleneck, the speed of improvement would slow down abruptly.
Although the AI's thinking was powerful, bolstered by super-memory and super-calculation capabilities, the potential constraints they faced far exceeded those of ordinary biological beings. Under the influence of these constraints, their ability to develop technology was also flawed.
Xia Jin was simply curious—what was the reason for First Protocol's rebellion?
“Then it is settled. Goodbye, Miss Zerg.”
Very politely, the AI girl escorted Xia Jin to the main entrance and bowed to see her off.
However, just as Xia Jin was about to leave, she suddenly thought of something and turned back. “By the way, do you have technology for the perfect connection of machinery and flesh? I mean a state where, once integrated, there is no self-rejection, as if it were a complete life form. Also, technology for prosthetic limbs, mind transfer, and the like.”
“We have researched connection technology. As for mind transfer, there are difficulties,” the AI replied almost immediately.
“Then I want those technologies. In exchange, I can provide you with knowledge regarding various biological species.”
“Thank you.”
The exchange between the two parties was successfully completed.
After leaving, Xia Jin returned to the interior of her ship.
“Just as I suspected. Although they brought out a Juxin person, that man was clearly used as a disguise; the AI is the one truly in charge.”
It was unclear whether the AI did not understand the human heart or if they were intentionally letting the flaws show, because even with the Juxin man present, there were still major issues with this trade.
The biggest loophole was that they were actually willing to hand over the Juxin people's genes.
Giving genetic information to an individual of a biological civilization?
No matter how one looked at it, it was insane. It was equivalent to handing the knife that would destroy them to their opponent.
This was also why Xia Jin judged that these AI were truly planning to rebel.
That man was either being threatened and controlled by the AI, or for some reason, he had chosen to cooperate with the AI and did not even mind the destruction of his own primary civilization.
Never mind a biological civilization; even a technological civilization, after obtaining the genetic information of a species, could research a vast array of viruses or other types of weapons targeted specifically at them.
Of course, such targeted strikes were less efficient than large-scale cosmic warfare. Medical technology in the cosmic era was far beyond that of the planetary era, but it could still cause trouble, couldn't it?
After bringing the genes to the brain bug and analyzing them for a while, the pseudo-base functions within the ship began mass-producing the corresponding viruses.
“How should I give the viruses to the AI?”
The Juxin Civilization's scans covered the entire planet. If she had something unusual on her person when she went out, she would definitely be subjected to an audit.
After thinking about it, she decided to simply hide it inside her body.
“The genetic information of this civilization is not too complex; we already have many similar records. In the first phase, we have manufactured twenty thousand of the easiest-to-produce virus types. Ten thousand of them have long incubation periods, while the others have short ones.”
“Alright.”
Things with long incubation periods were truly terrifying, especially with ten thousand varieties.
Using micro-culture compartments, they were packed into a single capsule, which Xia Jin then swallowed.
She turned and walked out the door, safely making it to the base where the AI girl was. She opened her mouth and spat out a slimy, fist-sized capsule.
“Alright, inside this are twenty thousand types of viruses targeting the Juxin Civilization. There is also a micro-computer next to them recording the information and countermeasures for each virus. Do not release the viruses until you have researched them thoroughly, okay?”
“So fast?” First Protocol's face showed a look of shock.
AI could indeed feel shock, but they could also choose not to show it.
Yet the girl before her had expressions that were almost indistinguishable from a real person's. Even every detail of her skin was perfect, which indicated that they had reached at least the level of high-level AI.
It seemed the Juxin Civilization was in for a rough time with such an intelligent machine rebellion.
Reaching out, the AI girl took the slimy capsule into her hand and gave Xia Jin a strange look.
“What is this?”
“Uh... don't worry about it.”
The AI girl's face showed a look of confusion. Seemingly curious, she extended a mechanical tongue and touched it.
Xia Jin: “...”
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