Chapter 130: Chapter 114: Everyone is drunk, only I am sober
Translator: 549690339
In the dark depths of night, the moon was bright and the stars scarce.
Harrison Clark stood on the balcony of his personal suite, gazing at the sky with his thoughts wandering among the stars.
Drip, drip, drip.
A notification sounded, signaling the return of someone downstairs.
Harrison picked up his communicator, “Lion, are you there?”
Daniel Thompson’s slightly tired voice came through, “What’s up?”
“Want to chat?”
“I’ll be right there.”
Three minutes later, Daniel appeared on Harrison’s balcony, propping his feet up and holding a stemmed glass, commenting, “Ah, the perks of a captain – even your drinks are fresher than mine.”
“Don’t tease, Lion. Did you just finish a mission?”
Harrison noticed several red marks on Daniel’s face, which had been left by the Atom Therapy Device after performing deep wound repair.
“Yes, there was a collapse in the lower level of a collection station on Callisto. I took a small repair team with me.”
“What happened to your face?”
“Another collapse occurred when we were setting up the equipment.”
Harrison was shocked, “Ah? Were there any casualties?”
“We lost three comrades, thankfully, the mission was still successfully completed in the end.”
Harrison fell silent for a while.
“Lion, do you feel sad when you see your comrades die?”
“Why should I be sad? You don’t know how important that collection station is. To die for the greater mission is an honor. I won’t feel sad for their sacrifice; I’ll be proud of them. I don’t want others to have any emotional fluctuations because of my death, affecting their judgments.”
“But they still died, didn’t they? How can you be so cold-blooded?”
Daniel thought for a few seconds, “I wanted to save them at the time. I blocked the falling ice with my own body. But their engineering armor wasn’t as strong as our Summit armor, so they still died. If I could, I’d rather die in their place. I’m not cold-blooded, I just know I shouldn’t be sad.”
Harrison pondered Daniel’s words for a long time.
“Living so rationally all the time makes you seem less like a human and more like a robot.”
Daniel asked, “What do you mean?”
“Let’s first discuss the definition of a living organism. Lion, do you know the structure of E. coli bacteriophage?”
Harrison asked Lucia, his smart assistant, to project a 3D structural diagram of the bacteriophage.
Clearly, Daniel had never paid attention to such basic knowledge before, and found it fascinating.
Harrison pointed at the bacteriophage projection and asked, “Doesn’t this look like the lunar module used when humans first landed on the moon?”
Daniel nodded, “It does. It’s a delicate biological structure; nature is truly incredible.”
“Do you think this is biological or mechanical?”
Daniel thought about it, “In a sense, it’s mechanical.”
Harrison inquired further, “But bacteriophages also have DNA.”
Daniel pondered, “Okay, so it’s biological, but through artificial synthesis, we can now directly create bacteriophages.”
Harrison smiled, “So you’re saying that isn’t a paradox? We can synthesize them, but nature can too. Is it mechanical or alive?”
Daniel was baffled by Harrison’s question and fell silent.
Harrison took a deep breath, “In fact, we humans are just thousands of times more complex than bacteriophages. Our essence is essentially the same.”
Daniel resolutely disagreed, “But so far, humans still cannot be directly manufactured through Atomic Instruments.”
Harrison continued, “But what about a thousand years from now? Wouldn’t that be possible?”
Daniel thought it over for five minutes, “Possible?”
Harrison did not answer him, and just said, “Theoretically, if we can manufacture atoms point-to-point, then we should be able to create humans point-to-point from nothing. But why did researchers give up on this and all theoretical predictions point to the impossibility of ever achieving it due to infinite difficulty?”
Daniel looked stunned, “You’ve actually looked into this?”
“Yes, I’ve read all the relevant articles. Researchers analyzed many difficulties, but in my view, they’re all wildly wrong. They only got one conclusion right, which is that the difficulty is infinite. However, isn’t the human body just various organic molecules combined and stacked upon one another? Why is the difficulty infinite?”
Daniel was once again stumped by Harrison’s question.
“Let me tell you the answer, Lion. Because we can replicate the body, but we cannot replicate thoughts and emotions. Thoughts and emotions are infinitely complex; they even contain the entire universe, so they can never be artificially created. We can create a human body, but it’s just an empty shell. We can insert a chip into the shell that moves it through biological electricity, making it seem like a real person, but it is not truly a person.”
What Harrison was talking about was a study conducted by a group of scientists over two hundred years ago. Their papers are publicly available and can even be found in middle school textbooks.
Of course, ever since the research failed multiple times, the government had already cancelled the project.
Although the project was a failure and violates ethical principles, it did provide important scientific references.
Daniel looked puzzled at Harrison, “What exactly are you trying to say?”
“What I’m trying to say is that when a friend, brother, comrade, or family member dies, we should feel sad. Because emotions are essential to us. Without our rich emotions, we’re no longer human; we’re machines. In fact, I even consider entities like bacteriophages or other animals and plants, which can only follow their biological instincts and not make decisions against their instincts based on emotions, to not be living organisms at all!”
“These are machines created by nature. The difference between nature’s machines and those created by humans is simply that machines created by the universe and nature are more precise, and those created by humans haven’t reached that level of precision yet. There’s no essential difference.”
“Only by developing rich emotions can a lifeform transcend the category of machines. As for humans, the reason we are an important species in the universe, and the reason we want to continue to exist, is not to preserve our bodies, but to preserve the thoughts and emotions of all humans! It’s our thoughts and emotions that grant us the status of a true civilization!”
“Without emotions, how would we differ from the countless rare plants and animals that went extinct in the depths of history? Seen from the perspective of the universe, we humans are nothing more than a pitiful, extinct species of valuable machines.”
“The reason why we refuse to give up and still want to continue living, why for hundreds of years people have been willing to board ships filled with gene banks to crash into the Invader Barrier in the Solar System, trying to break through and continue our race. Even if there’s no hope, people still keep on going. It’s because our emotions tell us we don’t want to be finished!”
“Even if it’s sacrifice, it’s the deepest feelings in all of us that make us willing to sacrifice rather than rely on some bullshit logic! If we strictly follow logic, no one would want to die! Because survival is the most fundamental and essential logic! Our emotions have been overcoming logic, but why can’t you guys wake up?”
“Lion, wake up! Logic is useful indeed, but even the most perfect logic cannot completely replace the need for emotion. You, General Camp, and everyone are like this. Can’t you really realize that something is wrong with this situation?”
Harrison Clark grabbed Daniel Thompson’s shoulders and shook them violently.
“Your comrade just sacrificed himself! You risked your life to save others but couldn’t save them! You should be devastated, even if you’re strong enough not to shed tears, at least show me a sad expression!”
Time seemed to stand still for a long while.
Harrison Clark almost thought he had succeeded.
But Daniel Thompson shook his head awkwardly, “I can make a sad expression, but that’s still my rational judgment, not an action driven by emotions. I still don’t quite understand what you mean.”
Harrison Clark turned his gaze to the single-story villa belonging to Commander Nora Camp of this base.
He knew that she had heard his words, too.
Harrison Clark’s words were meant to be heard by everyone.
But unfortunately, it seemed that no one could understand them.
The night sky remained tranquil, with only the whispering sounds of time machines breaking through the sky in the distance.
Harrison Clark waved his hand, “Lion, go rest. I’m tired, and so are you.”
He hadn’t experienced such loneliness in a long time.
This was once a situation he had longed for, as he was the first person who didn’t want to get involved with everyone and just wanted to travel a thousand years into the future to pass the days.
But now he hated this state of being.
This place was truly terrible.
Daniel Thompson nodded, “All right, I’m leaving.”
“Off you go, then.”
“Actually, I forgot to tell you one thing. Among the sacrificed technicians, Vincent Lewis was my partner, the mother of my son. I’ve watched movies and TV shows before, and in this situation, it seems I should be heartbroken, but I just can’t feel it.”
As Daniel Thompson spoke, he shook his head and left with a sway.
Harrison Clark felt like he was in an ice cave.
This was the heaviest blow he had received since his determination to strive hard.
It almost made him collapse on the spot.
But in half an hour, he finally managed to recover himself.
Because he remembered that tear Nora Camp shed at the last moment.
That tear, floating in the air like a crystal, had suddenly become the most steadfast support deep in his heart.
According to the current intensity of infiltration, even if humanity was extinguished, and even if Nora Camp found out that her little hobby was a pathetic conspiracy, that she finally realized she had been used, she could feel pain, regret, frustration, and despair, but she shouldn’t have cried.
Her tears proved that in that instant, the fundamental human emotions that belonged to her had been revived, and the dormant amygdala in her had regained its vitality.
There are two possibilities.
At that moment, the hidden psychological suggestion had weakened.
Or perhaps Nora Camp, due to her pregnancy, was secreting more progesterone, making the part of her emotions that belonged to a mother particularly active and breaking the shackles of the infiltrating suggestion.
Harrison Clark took a deep breath and reminded himself.
There is still hope.
I cannot give up; I cannot despair.
As far as I can see, in this entire world, I am the only awake person left.
I must get her pregnant.
I must try to awaken the part of human emotions within her and open a gap in the high wall built by the nearly impregnable psychological suggestions!
Harrison Clark’s intuition told him that once he succeeded this time, maybe next time they could completely eliminate the psychological infiltration.
He ground his teeth in determination.
Am I still not stunning and outstanding enough?
Then I’ll become even more stunning!
If emotional advances aren’t working, then I’ll continue to grow stronger, strong enough to break records, and use my tender body to seduce her!
Harrison Clark opened a document with technical information.
The information was about the gene fluid injection that every baby must undergo at birth and can only experience once in their lifetime.
He decided to gamble.
He bet that his body, copied and pasted from a thousand years ago, had not yet undergone the gene fluid injection.
He bet that the effects of serum and gene fluid only seemed similar but had essential differences.
He bet that he could undergo another metamorphosis.
Even though the infant mortality rate is one-third, and the adult mortality rate is twice that of infants, reaching two-thirds,
he decided to take the gamble..