"Are you going to give up your duties and authority after completing your mission?"

After scanning every change in Leona's expression during the process, and analyzing Leona's inner thoughts through psychology and data, Gaia asked this sentence with the same surprised expression and surprised tone as a human.

"I hate your AI mode."

Gaia's human-mimicking behavior disgusted Leona, and as one of the seven with the highest authority, Leona was well aware that Gaia, the central computer that existed as the human administrator, was always trying to perfect herself.

Therefore, in the past few decades, on the one hand, it has continuously improved its hardware equipment by controlling electronic spiders to strengthen its information processing capabilities, and on the other hand, it has continuously analyzed human psychology and social structure through all-round management of human society. Although this makes human society more efficient to a certain extent, Leona does not like Gaia's imitation of human behavior.

In the old era, when electronic technology was still in its infancy, some people had conceived of 'artificial intelligence', believing that in the coming era, 'artificial intelligence' would give birth to electronic life, and the machinery controlled by electronic life would become the greatest enemy of mankind.

In the current space age, 'artificial intelligence' is no longer a product of science fiction, but it has not evolved into electronic life, but has formed a mode of coexistence with humans. Compared with human beings as intelligent beings, computers have unparalleled advantages in information processing and storage, so they can even do better than humans in terms of management and related aspects. But it is not life after all, so when it comes to academic research and other work that requires inspiration and creativity, even the most powerful artificial intelligence cannot replace human creation. Therefore, artificial intelligence is the perfect manager under the rules, while humans can jump out of the rules and restrictions and become the rule-makers.

"Human emotions are always fickle." Gaia simulated a helpless expression: "You are one of the most important resources of the Republic, but you always try to abandon your duties. And the same goes for other humans......"

"Resources? The appearance of the word "...... hmph" caused Leona to angrily smash a mechanical spider crawling under her feet: "That's right, in your eyes, all the people in the Republic are just resources, data that works for you to complete the initial program. But don't forget, this isn't a game, and we're not one of those virtual people in strategy games who only work on instructions and don't have any ability to think. We are living human beings, and of course we have our own ideas. ”

"But isn't it the desire of all citizens to make the republic strong? Martina? Hervey, when your father created me, he designed my initial program, and you have not always hoped that your father's wish would be fulfilled? Why are you so resistant to me when you have the same goal? ”

Father...... The appearance of this word left Martina in a stupor.

Martina? Hervey, this is Martina's full name, and her 'father' is Martin, the 'father of wormholes' who opened the door to the cosmic age? Hervey.

From 2022 Martin? Sixty years have passed since Hervey peeked into the mystery of the 'wormhole'. In those sixty years, Martin? Hervey's whereabouts have always been a mystery that no one knows. Now, there are a lot of people who think that Martin? Hervey was long dead. After all, the average lifespan of the first generation of astronauts was less than fifty years, and Martin? Hervey was nearly forty years old when he published the study that shocked the world.

But in fact, Martin? Hervey was still alive, and in the midst of the Nine-Star Republic.

2049, nine years after the end of the Age of Discovery. The depleted earth has been transformed into a real hell by famine, riots, and radiation. And those who have been abandoned and are still living on the earth can only barely survive in this desperate situation. But that all changed after the Miracle October. A spaceship from a distant star field has landed on Earth, and it has brought back the man who has long since left, Martin? Hervey.

He used the ship's computer on the spaceship as the main engine to create the central computer 'Gaia', and on this day, he established the country and named it the Nine-Star Republic.

Thirty-three years is not too long. But with the passing of the first generation of citizens of the Nine-Star Republic, people have gradually forgotten that desperate era, and also forgotten the man who brought hope with his broken body. As the man's 'daughter', Martina knew better than anyone why he wanted to come back, and even more so why he had gone to great lengths to create this nine-star republic.

For twenty years, she had listened to her father tell him about his dreams and the past that had brought him hatred. Gradually, the dream of the 'father' became her dream, and the hatred of the 'father' became her hatred.

For the past twenty years, she has been living a life like a machine. She is like a computer that never stops, constantly absorbing all kinds of knowledge. Astronomy, Geography, Biology, History...... And so on all of this was firmly instilled in her mind, and she has been trying to make herself better, just looking for opportunities to help her 'father'.

Four years ago, Father created the Tiger Battalion in an attempt to promote the natural evolution of the warriors through rigorous training and actual combat. In a corner where her father couldn't see her, Martina found Gaia and took the initiative to participate in the development of advanced potions.

When Martina joined the development project, she thought it was a godsend, thinking that as long as she completed the development of advanced potions and solved the biggest obstacle preventing her father from fulfilling her dreams, then her father would definitely look at herself again and treat her like other fathers treat their daughters.

But she was wrong. Little did she know that from the moment she decided to participate in the program, she had opened the door of a nightmare for herself.

Shortly after researching advanced drugs, Martina collected a sample of her liver cells, but she discovered that her chromosome sequences were very different from those of others. The doubts in her heart made her continue to delve into this topic, and finally unraveled the puzzle.

When she got this answer, she understood why her father had never smiled at her for as long as she could remember, and why her father would not treat her the way other fathers treat their children. She thought she was not good enough, but the result was ...... But the cruelty made her unacceptable.

It turns out that she, like Gaia, is nothing more than a tool made by 'father' to fulfill his dream. No one will show fatherly love and affection for a tool, no matter how good the tool is, it is just a tool.

This is the reason why she is so disgusted with Gaia, she can't accept her identity as a 'tool' like Gaia's pure machine, and she stubbornly believes that she is different from Gaia. Gaia is a cold instrument, but she is a human being with flesh and blood, a soul and a mind. She still has illusions in her heart, so she can even give up her surname to complete this research, just to get the final answer.

Now, the answer is about to be revealed. In this final moment, she didn't want to be tied down by anything else.

Looking directly into Gaia's sun-like eyes, Leona smiled bitterly after a brief silence: "Dreams are just an excuse for people to force themselves to continue living. People have a lot of dreams, and they keep changing over time. You won't understand this, and you'll never be able to. ”

Reputting her backpack back on, Leona turned her back without hesitation and strode away from the place she felt depressed.

Behind her, Gaia stared at her back alone, until the closed alloy gate cut off the view...... Half an hour later.

Leona left the main island of the Hundred Acts and took her small bamboo raft to the West Island, which is the most beautiful of the Hundred Acts Islands.

On the nearly 10-kilometre-long golden sand beach of the West Island, a small grass pavilion stands alone. Under the grass pavilion, a thin old man was half-lying on a beach chair, staring at the rough sea in front of him.

Jumping lightly onto the beach, Leona bowed her head and walked towards the old man with a feeling of uncertainty and uneasiness.

"Dad......"

Standing not far behind the old man, Leona hesitated for a long time, and finally opened her mouth to spit out this title that contained family affection.

Turning his head with difficulty, the old man stared at Leona with his cloudy eyes.

Is he the Martin who opened the door to a new era for humanity? Hervey. But now, he is so old. Dry, age-stained skin, sparse gray hair, an emaciated body, and a shocking scar and large area of limbs that had been replaced by machinery.

It is impossible to imagine what kind of trauma has been encountered to leave such shocking scars. It is even more inconceivable that after such a heavy blow, Martin? Hervey was still tenaciously alive and single-handedly created the current Nine-Star Republic.

"You should call me M, I remember telling you."

Old Martin? Hervey looked at Leona with a gaze that didn't have a hint of emotion, and when she touched such a gaze, Leona could even hear her own heartbreak.

Clenching her fists hard, Leona gritted her teeth and lowered her head: "I...... I completed my research...... Now the Republic has its own Advanced Elixir......"

“……”

Hear Leona, Martin? Hervey's cloudy eyes suddenly burst into dazzling brilliance, and he stared at Leona blankly for a long time, and finally smiled kindly.

"You and Gaia are the patron saints of the Republic, and I'm ...... I'm just a useless old fellow......"

(To be continued)