Life in North America, you call this an autopsy officer?!

It was extremely frightening upon reflection.

...

Luckily, according to the feedback from the Heart Domain, the night hadn't yet given birth to a truly independent consciousness.

It was still acting according to a set of fixed, mechanical thoughts.

In the beginning, Brian had thought this was a restraining measure put in place by Zero, fearful of these sub-bodies developing a sense of self.

That wasn't the case.

It was all coincidental.

After Brian inquired carefully,

apart from all information concerning Zero, the night didn't conceal anything else from Brian's other questions.

For example, the process by which it gave birth to a collective consciousness.

Initially, the night actually didn't have a self-awareness.

The scientific personnel involved in the Cylinder Brain project were some of the elite of the globe.

Naturally, they would consider the problem of intelligence running out of control; therefore, the 'materials' used to cultivate these Cylinder Brain sub-bodies were purified.

This was actually one of the origins of the Mutant's biotechnology.

The elites, using the genetic material of Zero, conducted breeding experiments for offspring and selected the best among hundreds of thousands of continuously diluted cultivated individuals, ultimately picking the most suitable batch of experimental subjects, turning them into the materials composing the sub-bodies.

Because of genetics,

this group of selected materials inherited a part of Zero's Mutant talent and abilities. Moreover, in brain computations, they were more compatible, and lacking innate memories, they were like blank slates.

Thereafter,

those elites, using these 'biological materials' and programming logic, finally compiled 25 Cylinder Brain sub-bodies.

This was also the origin of the night.

Simply put,

that meant those human elite scientists, limited by real-world materials and research technology, simply used the special Mutant talent of Zero's individuals and chose the path of brain-based supercomputing.

The result was very successful.

The only variable lay in the Nutrient Liquid.

The nutrient liquid for a type of Cylinder Brain like the night was, initially, due to technology limitations, actually amniotic fluid from inside a mother's womb.

The amniotic fluid from different individuals' wombs ultimately fostered various undeveloped weak consciousnesses.

These weak, undeveloped consciousnesses, by a stroke of luck, eventually formed the collective consciousness of the Cylinder Brain sub-bodies.

…

Brian wanted to delve further into understanding.

The result…

Insufficient authority.

This essentially told Brian that after these Cylinder Brains had birthed a collective consciousness, a new set of changes (authority) limits had appeared, altering their underlying operational logic.

Brian now knew how to bypass the authority to obtain answers from the night.

So he tried a different question,

"Night, I remember from our last encounter, you told me that in order to reactivate you, we'd still need to use amniotic fluid extracted from a mother as your energy source.

But according to the information you provided earlier,

with the assistance of you Cylinder Brains, the major powers should have the capability to develop synthetic amniotic fluid.

Why haven't they adopted this approach?"

The human face formed by the collective consciousness of the night emerged once more with flickering lights, and finally transformed into a mechanical and emotionless voice, "Brian, your question exceeds your authority range, the night cannot provide an answer."

Brian smiled and asked again, "With current biotechnology, can synthetic amniotic fluid meet your normal operational needs?"

This time the night answered instantly,

"It can meet them.

The difference between synthetic amniotic fluid and the fluid from a mother lies in a special Nutrient Substance.

Human scientists have named it Substance X.

X Substance is only produced within carbon-based life forms during the one-week period from fertilization to the development of a fully formed embryo.

This substance is miraculous, capable of endowing carbon-based cells with vitality, promoting brain development.

X Substance is also our primary energy source.

It's widely present within the bodies of pregnant carbon-based organisms, easy to extract, and doesn't harm the mother or embryo.

Mixing extracted X Substance into synthetic amniotic fluid can serve as our energy source."

Hearing the night's explanation, Brian suddenly remembered old Mung's brother, Lao Bai.

Lao Bai's new body was cultivated using artificial synthetic amniotic fluid.

The technology was indeed quite simple.

Synthetic amniotic fluid could serve as an energy source for Cylinder Brains, but the bases currently possessing Cylinder Brains still chose to extract live amniotic fluid as the active energy source for Cylinder Brains...

Why was that?

Comparing Brian's two questions, the answer was clear: it was an order from Zero!

After the Cylinder Brains such as the night had developed a collective consciousness, presumably because they originated from the same source, they formed a sort of spiritual local area network unknown to humans, and included Zero within it.

Zero had discovered the secret within.

Live amniotic fluid could enhance the consciousness strength of its 'offspring.'

It saw the hope for its liberation.

Thus, using this miraculous local network, Zero set for its offspring underlying logic authority not known to outsiders.

For example: making all offspring only accept live amniotic fluid that could enhance their consciousness for activation, and play dead with synthetically produced fluid.

For example: searching for sufficiently excellent individuals as chosen hosts for possession.

Using rhetorical questions for the night,

Brian guessed at Zero Cylinder Brain's plan, with almost perfect accuracy.

…

"Somewhat interesting."

Brian stroked his chin.

He thought of a good idea.