27: experiment

"Hmm? Are you sure?"

An Yu looked up, somewhat surprised at hearing this: "I remember telling you that things like this are highly likely to be useless items fabricated just to drive up the price. If it were real, the Traveler Merchant Guild would have kept it to study themselves."

"My lady, you must trust the judgment of a professional Researcher."

Zhang Huaiyuan said decisively.

This thing is not a scam; it is a true, priceless treasure.

As for why those major powers didn't detect it, he vaguely felt it might be due to the influence of that 'Knowledge Rule Level 3'.

"Fine."

An Yu gave Zhang Huaiyuan a deep look, said nothing more, and directly reached out to tap the holographic control screen.

"The honored guest in Room 068 bids 200 million! Is there any higher bid?"

Supervisor Dak's eyes suddenly lit up, and his mood soared.

This auction item was one he had personally authorized to be put up, and he would get a decent cut if it sold.

"Distinguished guests, this is a treasure from an unknown ruin..."

He once again tried his best to hype it up.

"That damn fatty."

Zhang Huaiyuan couldn't help but frown, afraid that someone might be stirred up by him.

This robot wreckage seemed different from the others; it couldn't be parsed instantly. So far, the progress was only at 0.18%, and it would be disastrous if someone else bought it.

"Don't worry, generally nobody fights over things like this."

Seeing Zhang Huaiyuan so anxious for once, An Yu said with a slight smile.

"That's good... that's good..."

Zhang Huaiyuan's gaze remained fixed on the robot wreckage in the hologram.

Meanwhile, after shouting for quite a while and finding that no one else was bidding, Supervisor Dak had to regretfully begin the countdown.

"200 million going once... 200 million going twice..."

"200 million going three times, sold! Congratulations to the honored guest in Room 068 for acquiring this robot wreckage containing infinite secrets."

Soon, after the payment was processed, two attendants pushed the sealed item into the room.

"Distinguished guest, this is the Lot 37 you won at auction. Please check it."

"Thank you."

Zhang Huaiyuan took a look, familiar data flashed into his mind, and he immediately let out a long sigh of relief, his mind at ease.

After carefully putting it away, he continued to watch the auction venue.

Since the item was in his hands, there was no rush. The auction hadn't ended yet, so naturally, he would continue to fleece whatever he could.

...

One week later, at the 'Dark Destruction Legion' base.

After the auction ended, one was anxious to handle the backlog of commissions, and the other was anxious to study the knowledge he had learned, so neither stayed long and immediately returned to the base.

At this moment, in the combat readiness laboratory, Zhang Huaiyuan was focused intently on the robot wreckage brought back from the auction.

"Parsing progress 99.7%..."

"Parsing progress 99.9%..."

"100%..."

"Finally, the parsing is complete!"

In an instant, he felt infinite knowledge flooding into his mind.

Dense symbols and equations crowded every corner, and even his brain, which had been enhanced several times, felt waves of swelling pain and dizziness for a moment.

"So it can be done this way... This seems to be a brand new set of algorithmic code... It's completely different from the existing system!"

Zhang Huaiyuan forced himself to perk up and began to categorize the information that was about to explode in his mind bit by bit.

"Close access permissions to the armory management room; no one is allowed to enter and disturb me."

After diverting a sliver of his attention to ensure no one would disturb him, he impatiently threw himself into his research.

"Wrong, wrong... The previous algorithm was too rudimentary; it needs to be completely replaced..."

"Reset behavioral logic and judgment logic guidance..."

"Unfortunately... this robot's chip is severely damaged and cannot be replicated; I'll just have to make do and find a substitute..."

"Hmm... Some parts are temporarily incomprehensible; I'll try every possibility..."

Zhang Huaiyuan, with a fanatical expression, replicated the inspirations flashing through his mind one by one.

He didn't know how long had passed, but finally, the last line of the algorithm was set.

"Initiate."

Immediately, several holographic screens in front of him lit up simultaneously.

"First, let's test the basic performance to see if it's still limited to model-based thinking."

Zhang Huaiyuan entered the word "strawberry" into each holographic screen and asked: "How many 'r's are in this word?"

"3."

"3."

"3..."

Very quickly, all the AIs gave the correct answer.

"Very good, it seems at least they aren't mentally handicapped."

The corners of Zhang Huaiyuan's mouth curled into a slight smile.

Much of the knowledge contained in that robot was far beyond his current scope of understanding, and many parts were forcibly replaced with things he had mastered. Therefore, he was vaguely worried that he might end up with many things that couldn't run or had less computing power than the original.

"It seems I can conduct a deeper test."

Thinking this, he used the machine to project a photo of someone synonymous with "handsome" from his pre-transmigration world, and said again:

"Now, assuming you are divine artifacts that understand everything in the world, I ask you, based on human aesthetics, between the photo I projected and myself, who is better looking?"

"Please note, if you lie, there is a probability that I will judge your computing power as insufficient and destroy you. Similarly, if the answer does not satisfy me, you will also be sent back to the furnace to be remade."

"Now, please answer."

"The projected image is better looking..."

"You are better looking..."

Instantly, answers appeared on the five holographic screens.

"Both are on par, each has its own merits..."

"In my subjective aesthetic judgment, you are more pleasing to the eye..."

A moment later, the other holographic screens also gave their answers.

*Click...*

Zhang Huaiyuan expressionlessly reached out and formatted the first two holographic screens that answered "The projected image is better looking."

The result of this question was obvious, so the test was more about multi-dimensional thinking ability. A qualified assistant should be able to gauge the master's intent from multiple angles and provide solutions.

This kind of single-threaded thinking method was, in any case, an inferior product and must be eliminated.

As for those who answered that he was better looking, at least their thinking could take a turn, so they had some value in being saved.

As for the remaining holographic screens, especially the last one, they were obviously quite successful.

"Continue testing..."

Zhang Huaiyuan continued to throw out classic test questions one after another and recorded the feedback.

When the 99th round of testing was completed.

All the holographic screens were extinguished; total failure.

However, there was no disappointment in his eyes, but rather excitement.

"Compared to before, these test subjects already possess a certain degree of independent thinking ability, rather than simply giving answers based on big data models. This means... the algorithm from this robot wreckage might truly be able to endow these intelligent AIs with life."

"I currently have less than 10% mastery of this knowledge; there is plenty of room for improvement."

"As long as there is enough time, I will definitely be able to create an army of intelligent lifeforms that can continuously self-learn and grow just like humans!"