The plot of land measured a full acre. Xu Zhi continued to excavate and expand a section, building a simple hut. Inside, he set up various experimental and alchemy tables, filling shelves with test tubes, beakers, and transparent bottles, creating what resembled a large chemistry laboratory.
In the distance, a river of lava provided illumination.
"Many experiments cannot be carried out on the surface; here, it will be much easier."
Dressed in an elegant black wizard's robe, Xu Zhi gazed out the window.
Previously, to create species, he had to enter the Wizard World as the Messiah and spend many years studying "Rubik's Cube Genes" to fully establish a system, thus forming the Primordial World.
It was no different now; he had to research "System Genes."
Xu Zhi turned away from the window, stood at the alchemy table, shook a glass test tube filled with glucose nutrient solution, and issued a command:
"Zerg Sub-brain, access gene bank, propagate 'System' species."
A mechanical voice responded, "Propagating!"
In the square pool of the culture dish, the DNA genes of the initial spores arranged themselves in peculiar patterns, forming specific primitive life forms that rapidly multiplied, taking shape as chip templates.
"These are the life forms that will serve as foundational genes."
Xu Zhi looked down at the chips, which resembled flat, square sea turtles with furry, seaweed-like tentacles. However, he was not satisfied with the patterns on their carapaces.
After all, this was not an electronics factory; the circuit patterns produced would inevitably have deviations, much like the stripes on a tiger's skin. Even large CPU manufacturers had a high defect rate on their production lines, let alone a biological system.
Most of these chips were defective.
Xu Zhi asked, "Sub-brain, what's the approximate yield rate?"
A mechanical voice responded, "The yield rate is one in ten thousand. Most specimens of this species have one to five circuit errors, making them unusable. If manually modified post-production, some products with fewer error points can be corrected, increasing the probability of a successful outcome to one in a thousand."
"Most of them require manual post-production adjustment?"
Xu Zhi nodded.
Pan Xuexian had also done this; almost every specimen required fine-tuning, but most were too deformed to be adjusted, resulting in a very low output of viable species.
"A one in ten thousand yield rate from natural conditions is far too low," he mused. "System chips can be adjusted, but what if they're bred into living organisms? How would one make adjustments inside a human brain? Brain surgery? ...If I were to create life, normally only one in ten thousand individuals would possess system talent!"
This was a terrifyingly complex problem.
Furthermore, this was without integrating other life forms. If other genetic material were incorporated, the yield rate would likely plummet even further.
"Am I demanding too much?"
Xu Zhi sighed. The ideal was beautiful, but it was incredibly difficult to achieve.
Even Pan Xuexian couldn't provide a system for every individual; how much harder would it be for him to create a world of intelligent life where everyone possessed a full system?
"I'll have to simplify it. This matter cannot be rushed."
Xu Zhi sighed, calming his anxious heart, and began researching the gene chip. "I can only remove the system interface and all those other features," he mused, "leaving only the core for the most basic computer functions: ultra-fast computation, storage, and retrieval."
Time flowed onward.
In the lava world, he activated accelerated time for his research, spending a full seven years—equivalent to two hours in real-world time—to simplify the biological circuits of the "System" species.
He then employed a big data elimination process with a ten-thousand-fold acceleration, wildly proliferating hundreds of millions, even billions, of species. He selected the viable specimens, then further propagated them, guiding their evolution and continually improving the process. Eventually, the yield rate reached one-third.
This was nothing short of a qualitative leap!
With the basic system gene optimized, he moved on to the next phase: testing the integration of humanoid genes.
He initially chose ape and monkey genetic templates, but quickly discovered that these could not be integrated at all. Even when he tried modern human genes, there was no possibility of integration.
"Why is this happening?"
Xu Zhi, in his wizard's robe, held a transparent glass test tube containing a miniature, roaring, furry ape. "System genes can't be integrated? What's the reason?"
This was an uncharted path.
It was as if a mysterious, divine forbidden zone was keeping silicon-based life and carbon-based life, two fundamentally different forms, separated.
In the time that followed, Xu Zhi became determined to push forward with testing. He even directly utilized the "System" by-products of his experiments as laboratory assistants, tasking them with cultivating and testing countless species.
A massive "Genesis" experimental base was established.
A new research project was launched: the "System Gene Integration" experiment.
After all, times were progressing, and his own development had reached a point where conditions were optimal, allowing for ample scientific research support.
Mechanical lab assistants, with chips embedded in the back of their humanoid, black, furry giant bodies, controlled their movements, pacing back and forth in the corridors, entering and exiting laboratories.
"Assistant 104, responsible for system gene integration tests on reptilian animals from the Wizard World!"
"Assistant 803, responsible for system gene integration tests on flying animals from the Primordial World!"
The entire laboratory was meticulously organized.
As time progressed, Xu Zhi carried out extensive integration and large-scale tests. He attempted to merge the system with every species in the world, experimenting on over a hundred thousand indigenous species from the worlds he had cultivated over the years, including the Primordial World and the Wizard World. Finally, he uncovered the answer.
At that moment, the lava outside cast a glowing halo.
Xu Zhi, acting as the office director of the Genesis Laboratory, sat at his desk, sipping tea, and reviewing a black-bound report containing big data on 179,000 species.
"Many low-intelligence species can integrate system genes," he read. "However, high-intelligence species, even moderately clever ones, have no possibility of integrating the system!"
"So... a species' intelligence is the true factor determining whether it can integrate system genes."
Xu Zhi suddenly realized the most significant possibility!
Silicon-based life's brain—a mechanical brain chip, memory modules, processing units, CPUs—he wanted to use it to replace the brains of flesh-and-blood life, thus achieving computer-like advantages.
This could naturally be achieved in organisms lacking higher intelligence. Since they possessed no true wisdom, their brains merely contained biological instincts—essentially, a mechanical program of innate behaviors. It was therefore logical that another mechanical program could replace it.
But what about highly intelligent life forms?
Higher life forms inherently possess their own intelligence. The neural circuits and neurons within their flesh-and-blood brains give rise to something called "self-awareness," enabling thought. Replacing such a brain with a mechanical chip to create an intelligent AI would inherently create a conflict.
"The more sophisticated the existing brain, the more impossible it is to replace it with a mechanical AI circuit board? Is this the fundamental truth behind the impossibility?"
Xu Zhi took a deep breath. Things were proving to be more challenging than he had anticipated.
He composed himself, understanding that no endeavor ever proceeded entirely smoothly. On an uncharted path, difficulties and setbacks were the norm.
"Animals and beasts can be integrated because they lack significant intelligence," he reasoned. "So, let's start by integrating animals!"
"I will create animals with system brains!"
Xu Zhi took a deep breath, organized his thoughts, and recommenced his research. After numerous failures, an experimental assistant in Room 803 finally succeeded in creating a mouse-like giant beast possessing a system brain.
This was Fenba, a colossal beast species from the Gilgamesh Era of the Wizard World, renowned as the most powerful giant beast.
Upon Xu Zhi's arrival, his first sight of it struck him with the wonder of life. It behaved exactly like a normal wild animal: eating, drinking, sleeping, hunting, running, and leaping.
However, when Xu Zhi dissected its brain, he discovered it was no longer flesh and blood. Instead, it was a viscous liquid, resembling a nutrient solution, encasing an octahedral black crystal core. This core was translucent and crystalline, appearing to be the most exquisite evolutionary creation, with intricate internal patterns that seemed to form its neural circuits.
A hint of surprise appeared on Xu Zhi's face.
Through continuous examination and testing, Xu Zhi arrived at a remarkable conclusion.
"The animal instincts deep within its brain—its neurons, impulses, nerve centers, and cranial nerves—have been entirely replaced by a circuit board! It's been substituted with electronic components, electrical wiring, and storage strips, yet it can survive exactly as before..."
He conducted an experiment on the animal's habitual neural reflexes to see if this "brain" could effectively store and retrieve memories.
Each time he fed it, he would ring a bell.
After countless repetitions, Fenba, like any ordinary animal, developed a conditioned reflex. Every time the bell rang, it would eagerly scamper over, even wagging its tail as it waited for food.
"Indeed," he confirmed, "a chip-based brain, formed from silicon-based electronic components, can perfectly read and write memories, and manage its own neural reflexes."
Xu Zhi felt that he was as mad as Medusa, the evil wizard—a deranged creator conducting terrifying life experiments!
At that moment, filled with the joy of overcoming difficulties and setbacks to achieve significant research results, he suddenly yearned to share his triumph with others. Yet, his surroundings were empty; there was no one to embrace, cheer loudly with, or celebrate alongside him.
"I suddenly understood Medusa," he mused, "the loneliness of pursuing truth alone along that long path... the desire for someone to accompany her on the journey."
Xu Zhi sighed with a touch of melancholy, gazing at the distant, boiling lava river that emanated a slow, profound heat.
"Continue the experiment!"
This particular Fenba, which appeared entirely like an ordinary animal, would reveal no hint that its brain was actually a black crystalline mass—a miniature computer dictating its behavioral logic—unless one were to dissect it.
Xu Zhi suddenly felt a profound sense of wonder. "Differences in cognitive logic lead to differing perspectives..." he thought.
He suddenly recalled an Earth science fiction story titled, "They're Made of Meat."
We Earthlings find the concept of a silicon-based brain — a circuit board, chip, and circuits capable of thought — quite incredible. Although the continuous expansion of intelligent AI technology has gradually made us more accepting, would silicon-based life find *us* carbon-based life forms equally unbelievable if they saw us?
Silicon-based life would surely be astonished: "My goodness, a lump of meat possesses consciousness? Meat is creating machines? Meat has manufactured mechanical life forms similar to us? Are you certain their brains aren't electronic?"
"Oh! We've conducted thorough tests, and indeed, it's a lump of meat. This is unimaginable! Their forms of communication are even different from ours; they don't exchange information via infinite signals. They communicate through the sound of flesh slapping together? They even sing by expelling air from their bodies!"
Xu Zhi simply smiled.
Different stages of civilization lead to differing perceptions of the world.
For instance, people from the last century would have found it difficult to imagine an era of telephones and high-speed rail, where two individuals separated by vast distances could converse, or even conceive of a colossal metal beast soaring through the sky.
"So, can this novel biological brain be transplanted?"
Xu Zhi smiled.
In modern society, brain transplantation presents a significant challenge due to the brain's soft, fragile tissue, where even a slight error can damage the cerebral cortex, neurons, or thalamus. However, a brain constructed from a circuit board appeared to bypass such concerns.
Xu Zhi quickly attempted to transplant Fenba's brain crystal core into another Fenba. Astonishingly, the very first attempt succeeded in transplanting the brain. Furthermore, after he cast "Spring's Protection" to heal the wound, the recipient appeared entirely unchanged.
"What a miraculous life form."
Xu Zhi couldn't help but marvel at the wonders of semi-silicon-based life. This life form indeed possessed numerous characteristics that surpassed both humans and carbon-based, flesh-and-blood life. Its computational speed was akin to a computer, and its data storage and retrieval were exceptionally rapid.
It could even be simply understood as a living computer: its eyes functioned as cameras, its ears as voice receivers, and its mouth as a speaker, with its biological behavioral logic programmed into the chip.
"There are many advantages," he considered, "but a major drawback of silicon-based life is that its brain is easily manipulated, allowing others to control its very existence..."
Xu Zhi chuckled, "Opening the brain and writing fictitious memories directly onto the memory chip would pose no problem. One could control its life and death, or even implant unwavering loyalty to someone... So, could I write memories into Fenba's brain? Could I make its simple brain mechanically practice cultivation daily? Or even inscribe witchcraft onto its inherited memory information?"
"If you think of it like a computer," he mused, "witchcraft would simply be desktop software. For instance, 'War Gavel' would automatically run once clicked. What about 'Spring's Protection'? 'Flame Wind'? 'Earth Pulsation'? 'Meteor Shower'?"
Xu Zhi suddenly stood up, brimming with excitement. It felt as if he had unlocked an entirely new systematic path, one that could mass-produce high-level powerhouses, enabling them to reach the sixth or even seventh rank upon adulthood!
They would possess innate magical talents!
"Integrating two life forms... semi-silicon-based life," Xu Zhi, dressed in his black wizard's robe, held a transparent test tube containing a cubic life form with chip genes. "A brand new era has begun."
"The chip within the brain, the crystal inside the skull, can program and record spells..." He couldn't help but smile. "This is destined to be an extraordinarily terrifying transcendent world."
[21 seconds from now] Chapter 2240: The Power of One Shot
[8 seconds from now] Chapter 209: Recruitment
[3 minutes ago] Chapter 2491: Coercion
[6 minutes ago] Chapter 403: Destined Destruction
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