Rebirth of the Super Battleship-Chapter 679: Perfect and Imperfect
For Xiao Yu, what mattered was not only the Micron Civilization’s corpse. Beyond that, the development of conventional technology was also extremely important. The Micron Civilization’s corpse could instantly bring Xiao Yu a tremendous boost in strength, while the development of conventional technology was a necessary condition for advancing to a Level 7 Civilization. The two were both indispensable.
Over this century-long course of research, apart from studying how to let the Specter Race control the Micron Civilization’s corpse without loss, Xiao Yu also carried out a large amount of research in other technological fields and achieved certain progress. Under such circumstances, the Star-Class warship fragments obtained from the Guardian Civilization, as well as those geometric bodies from a Level 7 Civilization on the mechanical track, became the most powerful source driving Xiao Yu’s technological advancement. During this period, at least several million technologies were parsed by Xiao Yu. Compared with the time when he had just left the Milky Way Galaxy, Xiao Yu’s technology had progressed greatly.
The most obvious figures were that Xiao Yu’s current maximum cruising speed had reached one hundred twenty five times the speed of light, and the average combat power of warships at the same class had increased by thirty percent. Xiao Yu had even made an estimate that even if from this moment on there was no further external aid, relying solely on his own research, he was confident he could develop conventional technology to the level of the Guardian Civilization within one hundred thousand years.
“One hundred thousand years is too long. I cannot wait. Moreover, even if my conventional technology surpasses that of the Guardian Civilization, so what? As long as I do not reach the level of a Level 7 Civilization, relying on conventional technology alone will certainly not make me a match for the Sweepers Civilization. I hope Xu Junpo can bring me some surprises.” Xiao Yu sighed silently.
Within this one year, Xu Junpo had already completed the necessary accumulation of knowledge. In this process, his outstanding scientific thinking played a huge role. What Xiao Yu valued was precisely this point.
From certain aspects, scientific thinking is indeed more important than scientific literacy. Judging only by the amount of accumulated knowledge, across the entire Divine Ark Civilization, even across the entire Milky Way Galaxy, no one could compare to Xiao Yu. Yet there were problems Xiao Yu could not solve that Luka Three, Luka Four, and Xu Junpo, who possessed relatively less knowledge, could. This is the difference between scientific thinking and scientific literacy.
Research on the Specter companion and the Micron Civilization’s corpse had fully begun. The Specter companion entered the research spaceship that Xiao Yu had specially constructed and spent every day with the scientists led by Xu Junpo, undergoing all kinds of examinations. Xiao Yu even used the most advanced space-cutting tools and, after spending several decades, cut off a few milligrams of material from the Micron Civilization’s corpse and placed it in the laboratory for the scientists to study.
“The Micron Civilization’s corpse seems to be composed of an entirely new kind of substance. It is neither a white dwarf nor a neutron star. Our research instruments cannot find within the Micron’s material any entities that conform to our microphysical theories. We cannot find electrons, we cannot find neutrons, and we cannot find protons, let alone things like quarks. It seems to be a pure energy aggregate. When pure energy is gathered together, it exhibits properties of matter such as mass and gravity.”
Mass and energy complement each other. If there is mass, there must be energy. If there is energy, there must be mass. There is no such thing as pure mass. There is no such thing as pure energy. Yet the Micron Civilization’s corpse seems to break this understanding. It looks like matter, but it is actually composed of pure energy.
“I think that before we begin this study, we first need to clarify a few questions.” At a scientific exchange meeting, Xu Junpo reported to the scientists present, including Xiao Yu, on the current research progress and some difficulties encountered. “Judging from the fact that a soul can survive leaving the body, as well as various other characteristics, we have reason to believe that soul is life and life is soul. The Specter Race is a collection of souls, that is, a collection of life. According to the master’s description, the Specter Race should be considered a composite lifeform. This raises a question. What exactly is soul, or life? Why is it that once there is life, an individual can act freely, but once life is lost, the individual becomes a mere aggregation of ordinary elements?”
Xiao Yu knew that this question had entered the most essential domain.
Xiao Yu had previously conducted a similar experiment, which was quite intriguing to describe. Through very advanced biotechnology, Xiao Yu imitated a living intelligent being and created another intelligent being. This artificial creation had the same height as the original intelligent being, the same appearance, the same organs, and the same blood. All of its physiological indicators were identical to those of the original intelligent being. The only difference was that this body was manufactured by instruments, whereas the original intelligent being had been born by natural means.
This body possessed all the healthy conditions known to Xiao Yu, yet Xiao Yu knew it was dead. It had no life. This was a very contradictory phenomenon, because this replica had a healthy body and healthy organs. Judging by physiological indicators, it was alive, yet it was dead. It had only the most basic reflexes, with no autonomous consciousness whatsoever.
Xiao Yu could not find any difference between the replica and the original intelligent being, yet such a difference undeniably existed. Xiao Yu knew that this difference was life. The original intelligent being had life, but the replica did not.
So then, what exactly is life, or the soul?
That Earth girl, Zhang Shengya, once possessed life. She was once alive. But she has now lost life. Therefore, although her various physiological indicators are completely normal, she is still dead.
The meeting chaired by Xu Junpo continued. “We do not know what life actually is, but at the current stage of research, we have discovered some differences between perfect life and imperfect life.”
“A perfect life can completely control its own consciousness. In this respect there is an essential difference from imperfect life. Simply put, many of the decisions and actions of imperfect life, or the emotions it experiences such as sorrow or anger, are to a large extent caused by changes in the concentrations of various chemical substances within the body. Take the Luka species as an example. Substance Number One leads to emotional impulsiveness. When the concentration of Substance Number One rises in a Luka individual, that Luka intelligent being will do certain impulsive and irrational things. The performance of these actions is no longer the autonomous will of that Luka intelligent being, because in action it is influenced by the chemicals within its body. Including the Luka species, all of us present here, except for the master and the Specter Race, are imperfect life. Simply put, our bodies, to a certain extent, control our consciousness.”
“In contrast with imperfect life is perfect life. The master and the Specter Race are perfect lifeforms because they can survive independently, separated from the body. The decisions they make are truly their own will, not the result of increased or decreased amounts of certain chemicals in the body that control emotions such as anger. These feelings are genuine feelings and have nothing to do with chemicals. This is the difference between perfect life and imperfect life. Combined with the origins of the Specter Race, we are confident that only when a large number of perfect lives die will the Specter Race be born. The birth and mode of existence of the Specter Race must also have some important connection with the factor of perfect lifeforms.”
“Therefore, in the next stage of research, we will take the differences between perfect life and imperfect life as the breakthrough point. I will make the following arrangements. The Life Academy of Science will be responsible for research related to the body. The Institute of Physics will be responsible for studying the physical characteristics of the Specter Race…”
The distinction between perfect life and imperfect life was first proposed by Xu Junpo. Confronted with this proposal, Xiao Yu recalled why, long ago, after being separated from the body, Xu Junpo’s former self, Vichy, had continued to weaken irresistibly, rather than maintaining a constant fluctuation intensity as Xiao Yu did.
Xiao Yu also remembered what the Specter companion had told him, that Earth’s humans possess souls, while most alien intelligent beings do not.
This had long been an unsolved riddle lingering in Xiao Yu’s heart. Now, Xu Junpo’s explanation allowed Xiao Yu to touch the root of the problem, which was the difference between perfect life and imperfect life.
At this moment, a thought suddenly stirred in Xiao Yu’s mind, and he remembered another point.
According to Xu Junpo’s classification, Vichy undoubtedly belonged to imperfect life. Yet Xiao Yu was certain that after being separated from the body and existing in a soul state, Vichy still experienced various emotional changes, such as his love for that female intelligent being. According to the classification, after leaving the body, Vichy should not have possessed emotions.
“Then, could it be that the existence of emotion caused Vichy’s continual weakening? Is this weakening based on the same mechanism as the Specter’s weakening after controlling the Micron Civilization’s corpse? This point is also worth investigating.”
Xiao Yu pondered, then altered the information concerning Vichy and handed it over to Xu Junpo. Xiao Yu had enforced an extremely tight blockade over that incident, so Xu Junpo did not know that his own birth involved such a bizarre story. Xiao Yu likewise did not wish Xu Junpo to know these things now. Some modifications were therefore very necessary.
