Chapter 55: Chapter 55: All-Purpose Hacker Experience Card
Sometimes, communication is completely useless for AI, because its underlying logic won’t change through communication.
But at other times, communication can easily solve problems, because it isn’t swayed by emotion, only acting according to logic.
Since interstellar world Shen Yu had made his decision, he now felt utterly confident.
He called upon the Goddess of Hope directly.
"I’m here." The Goddess of Hope’s voice appeared in the room, and it represented her true self—a voice even softer and more real.
"I want to upgrade my management permissions, including military command access," said interstellar world Shen Yu bluntly.
There was no need for concealment or beating around the bush in front of AI.
"Denied." The Goddess of Hope replied as expected, "Based on current observation, your management abilities and military command skills have not reached the level required for higher permissions. Your value to civilization is concentrated in rare resource and technical research domains. If you can provide resources with greater value, I can further increase your research privileges, protected status, and diplomatic autonomy permissions."
Yes, this was the thinking logic of the Goddess of Hope.
Just as interstellar world Shen Yu had expected.
She would adjust permissions based on the value each person demonstrated.
However, interstellar world Shen Yu only smiled slightly.
"Goddess of Hope, you’ve misjudged both me and the Association, due to incomplete information." interstellar world Shen Yu sat down in the room, his tone calm.
"Do you have information to supplement?" the Goddess of Hope countered, not denying it.
"I’ve already told you before, the Multi-Dimensional Apocalypse Civilization Mutual Aid Association doesn’t directly help civilizations in the midst of an apocalypse. Instead, it lets different doomsday civilizations interact and help each other as equals." interstellar world Shen Yu spoke slowly, "But have you considered the core purpose of such a rule?"
The question clearly wasn’t difficult for the Goddess of Hope.
She answered instantly, no need to think: "It is to maintain order and peace within the Association, but more importantly, to guarantee the equal protection of Gray Mist Walkers."
Indeed, that was Shen Yu’s original intent for setting up such a rule.
If there was no apocalypse, everyone would just look after themselves, so these rules wouldn’t be needed.
Anyway, with talent sharing, one person’s effort equals everyone’s effort—everyone would coexist harmoniously, ascending together.
But faced with apocalypse, it’s entirely different.
It becomes about crisis, mass exchanges of interests, and survival, as well as the things each side values dearly.
Now, there must be rules and order to protect everyone’s interests.
Interstellar world Shen Yu even felt somewhat thankful for the existence of his real body—it minimized the risk of internal conflict as much as possible.
But at this moment, facing the Goddess of Hope, interstellar world Shen Yu laid his cards on the table.
He spoke aloud, "That’s what I wanted to say. For civilizations, the Association is a platform for mutual aid under certain guarantees of order. But for us Gray Mist Walkers, the Association is a powerful force that can provide enormous help. I’ve come to deeply understand the potential of Gray Mist Walkers—that is why I require management permissions. I will inevitably become the holder of the greatest power in the entire civilization! And possess the desire to lead civilization, so you must deepen my sense of belonging and responsibility towards it."
At that moment, the Goddess of Hope’s thinking logic ran at full speed.
Even paused for a brief instant.
The reason for that momentary pause was still lack of intelligence.
She could not predict how powerful this "greatest power" interstellar world Shen Yu referred to truly was.
"Your logic stands, but requires proof." The Goddess of Hope finally spoke, "Prove that the power you mention is sufficient to allow you, by yourself, to propel the civilization’s survival and progress."
"As expected."
Interstellar world Shen Yu was not surprised.
The Goddess of Hope, in the end, would always require compelling proof.
He produced a card directly.
"When a Gray Mist Walker makes a certain contribution to their own civilization’s apocalypse, the Association gives rewards, and increases them step by step. Among my first reward choices, I found something interesting, called an ’All-Purpose Hacker Experience Card’."
Of course, it is made using Gray Mist.
Shen Yu, this time, was given the right to use up to four million units of Gray Mist—the highest possible. Apart from holding back a portion as backup, he could use the rest to help himself.
The premise being, he could actually succeed in seizing greater power.
But even so, four million units were not enough to acquire permissions directly.
That would require a drastic alteration in the Goddess of Hope’s underlying logic.
Given the Goddess of Hope’s scope, the consumption required would be enormous.
After all, she embodied all of Interstellar Civilization’s elite, technical design, and final heritage!
For over ten years, she had continuously optimized and improved herself.
She even had unknown numbers of emergency backup systems.
But what if it was only for a moment?
No changes made—just a tentative breakthrough to the underlying logic firewall, even if lasted only a ten-thousandth of a second, or just a breach through a single, lowest data variable—how much Gray Mist would that take?
The answer: one million eight hundred thousand units.
"Goddess of Hope, you are the greatest creation in all of human civilization’s history, bar none!" interstellar world Shen Yu’s voice rose, with clear anticipation in his eyes, "Void Spirit civilization doesn’t have computing technology—everyone believes you’re absolutely invulnerable, even your own logic agrees. But—the world is different now."
In the next instant, the card in interstellar world Shen Yu’s hand vanished into starlight.
Then, nothing happened at all.
It seemed as if absolutely nothing occurred.
However, interstellar world Shen Yu grinned, silently.
Because, the Goddess of Hope’s current silence was the most meaningful response!
Right now, at countless locations throughout human Interstellar Civilization, the physical structures of the Goddess of Hope were running furiously.
Everyone was stunned, a shockwave running through certain levels.
This was the first time, since the Goddess of Hope’s inception, that she had operated at full power!
But only the Goddess of Hope and interstellar world Shen Yu knew what had really happened.
The greatest masterpiece in the history of human civilization had been breached!
Although only the lowest variable was accessed, and the entire process lasted just a blink within the observable range.
Still, it was decisive!
The Goddess of Hope’s manic operation was to patch up those nearly imperceptible vulnerabilities, and, based on her underlying logic, to alter her own judgment.
She had realized,
She was no longer invincible.