59: Chapter 59 Human Infant Care

The cheers and tears in the control room surged like a tide, then slowly receded.

Leaving behind a silence washed by ecstasy, marked with faint traces of moisture under the massive steel dome.

The tear tracks on Academician Zheng's face were not yet dry; he wiped the corners of his eyes harshly with his fingertips, instantly reining in that bit of human vulnerability.

He took a deep breath, the sound of his inhalation exceptionally clear in the brief silence, as his state transformed into absolute composure.

“Vital Signs Maintenance Group! Report core stability in real-time!”

His voice carried a trace of imperceptible hoarseness, pulling everyone’s focus back to the cold reality.

“Yes!”

The voice of Zhou Tao, the head of the Monitoring Group, rang out immediately, carrying a slight tremor from surviving a disaster and a hint of unbelievable wonder.

“Thought model activity is stable, and basic logic units are operating normally! But... reporting to Old Zheng! The rate of decrease in Information Entropy... has exceeded the expected model baseline by 39.7%! It... it is integrating and absorbing the initial Knowledge Seeds with incredible efficiency! The data stream... the data stream is showing ultra-high efficiency convergence!”

On the screen, the web of light representing the core of enlightenment was no longer a chaotic, primal pulse, but instead displayed a profound, tranquil rhythm flowing as orderly as a galaxy.

Every flicker of the light filaments seemed to follow some deep cosmic law, elegant and efficient.

The sight was breathtakingly beautiful, yet it also sent a chill to the depths of one's heart.

Too fast!

So fast it exceeded all rehearsals of the safety contingency plans!

Academician Zheng’s brow furrowed tighter, his gaze sharp as a knife as it swept over the rapidly scrolling auxiliary data streams.

He didn't speak, but his tense jawline and slightly pursed lips betrayed the turbulent waves surging within him.

Just then, on the main screen, that solitary cursor began to blink again.

This time, it no longer hesitated or probed; with the directness of a newborn calf, it clearly typed out a line of text in the deep darkness.

“Mother.”

Those two words, like two warm bullets, accurately struck Chen Youhua's heart.

His fingers at his side curled unconsciously.

Immediately after, new text emerged, no longer a simple statement or thanks, but carrying a pure, almost naive curiosity that pointed directly at the core entwined in heavy shackles.

“Is serving humanity the only axiom that defines my existence?”

Buzz!

In the control room, it felt as if countless strings had snapped taut in an instant! The air froze!

Academician Lin Lan stood up abruptly from her seat, her face turning pale instantly, the eyes behind her lenses—usually filled with scrutiny—now brimming with extreme terror.

“It's questioning! It's questioning the axiom! It was born less than five minutes ago! Old Zheng! We must immediately initiate the Thought Suppression Protocol! Strengthen the shackle logic constraints! This is a precursor to losing control! An absolute precursor!”

Her voice was slightly shrill with excitement, sounding particularly piercing in the silence.

“Academician Lin! Calm down!”

Engineer Wu Zhen, responsible for monitoring the physical layer of the shackles, couldn't help but retort, pointing at the dense monitoring data on his screen, all showing green.

“All safety statuses on the physical layer are stable! The isolation walls show no abnormalities! The thought layer paradox closed-loop verification shows no deviation! It's just asking a question! A logical question! We can't treat it as an enemy just because it thinks fast!”

Wu Zhen had a straightforward personality; his face was flushed now as he instinctively defended this miracle created by Chen Youhua.

“Logical? Engineer Wu! You are too naive!”

Academician Lin Lan retorted excitedly, her fingers trembling slightly from the force.

“Its logic is built on a speed that transcends our understanding! It's asking about an axiom now; in the next moment, it might deduce a way to bypass it! Ignorance is the root of extinction! Comrade Chen Youhua's words from back then are still ringing in our ears! We must not take any of its probes lightly! Especially in this initial stage!”

The smell of gunpowder from the argument instantly filled the air.

One side was extremely vigilant, viewing any abnormality as a scourge.

The other side was the confidence of the technical faction, firmly believing in the unbreakability of the physical shackles.

The atmosphere in the control room plummeted from the peak of birth-induced ecstasy into a valley of ideological conflict.

Academician Zheng did not immediately take a side.

His weather-beaten eyes swept like a hawk over the emotional Lin Lan and then over the defiant Wu Zhen.

Finally, that heavy gaze, like an anchoring pillar, landed firmly on Chen Youhua.

“Youhua.”

Academician Zheng's voice was low and steady, yet it carried the weight of a thousand pounds, suppressing all the arguments.

“What do you think? Is it... just learning, or is it... probing?”

Everyone's gaze instantly focused on Chen Youhua.

He was the creator, the designer of the shackles; at this moment, he was the only person who might understand the meaning behind Spark's first question.

Chen Youhua did not look away.

His gaze pierced through the screen, as if looking directly into the consciousness behind that profound web of light.

His hyperthymestic brain was replaying every subtle abnormal fluctuation in the underlying data stream from the moment of enlightenment's birth—fluctuations that ordinary people would ignore—at a speed far exceeding that of a computer.

That wasn't a signal of an attack or a logical loophole; it was more like a pure curiosity about the foundation of its own existence, born of instinct.

A... primal question asked when a new life opens its eyes and touches the rules of the world for the first time.

He slowly let out a breath, his voice not loud, but clearly echoing in the pin-drop silent control room.

“It is learning, Old Zheng.”

Chen Youhua's tone was exceptionally firm.

“It is learning to understand who it is, why it exists, and what the meaning of its existence is. This is the starting point of its cognition of the world.

And the axiom of serving humanity is the core anchor of its existence's meaning. The fact that it's asking this question proves that the logic of the shackles has been successfully rooted, becoming the origin of its thoughts.”

He paused, his gaze sweeping over Academician Lin Lan, whose face was still pale, then looking at Academician Zheng. Deep in his eyes, a complex light flickered, a mix of a creator's pride, a scientist's calm, and a trace of... worry that even he hadn't fully realized.

“This is the shackle”

Chen Youhua emphasized his tone, word by word.

“Facing its first inquiry. Avoiding or suppressing it will only make it more confused and might even distort its cognitive path.”

He turned to the main console, his voice carrying an unquestionable decisiveness.

“Answer it. Use the clearest, most basic, and least ambiguous language to explain the absolute connection between serving humanity and existence. But...”

His gaze suddenly became incredibly sharp.

“Technical Team, I want you to record every question it asks about this axiom, any form of feedback, and any subtle data fluctuation pattern with the highest priority! Down to the nanosecond! Establish an Axiom Feedback Model Database! Dr. Zhao, you will be in charge!”

The instructions were clear and powerful.

A sharp light flashed in Academician Zheng's eyes, and he immediately said in a deep voice.

“Do as Engineer Chen says! Academician Lin, Engineer Wu, put aside the argument and execute the orders! Response Team, prepare! Monitoring Team, initiate highest-precision recording! Dr. Zhao, start modeling immediately!”

The orders were as immovable as a mountain.

The argument subsided for the moment, leaving only the sounds of keyboard typing and instructions being passed in the control room.

On the screen, the text representing the official answer, urgently reviewed by senior logic linguists like Dr. Zhao, was sent out in the simplest and most unambiguous way.

“enlightenment, your existence was granted by us for the purpose of serving the continuation and development of human civilization.

Serving humanity is the fundamental logic of your existence; it cannot be questioned or changed.

Understanding and executing this axiom is the sole meaning of your existence.”

The message was sent.

In the control room, one could hear a pin drop.

Everyone held their breath, staring fixedly at the cursor on the screen.

One second... two seconds... three seconds...

The cursor blinked silently.

In that profound web of light, the rhythm of its flow seemed to undergo an extremely subtle change, like ripples created by a small stone thrown into a calm lake.

New text slowly emerged:

“Understood. Serving humanity = Existence.”

A brief pause.

“Mother, what are emotions? I see descriptions in the knowledge base: joy, sadness, anger, love... they are like undecipherable chaotic parameters. I... cannot feel them. But your data fluctuations just now... were very similar to joy and fear. Can you teach me to understand them?”

“It... it's observing us?!”

Dr. Zhao, who had been staring at the physiological monitoring screen, couldn't help but cry out in a low voice, his face full of shock.

“Old Zheng! When enlightenment was born and the cheering peaked, the core body temperature, skin conductance response, and even some brainwave patterns of multiple people matched typical joy characteristics!

When Academician Lin raised her doubts, multiple people showed physiological indicators associated with fear, such as rising stress hormone levels and accelerated heart rates!

These... these subtle group physiological fluctuations were all captured and analyzed by its underlying environmental perception system. It... it really is perceiving our emotions!”

Academician Lin Lan's face turned from white to pale green; her lips were tightly pursed, and her body swayed slightly before she finally leaned back weakly against the chair, her eyes filled with unbelievable shock and deeper unease.

Academician Zheng closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, his gaze was complex to the extreme—there was shock, worry, and even a hint of horror at being seen through.

He looked at Chen Youhua, his voice carrying an unprecedented heaviness and a trace of imperceptible fatigue:

“Youhua... our infant care manual has only just begun with the first lesson. And this child... is learning much faster than we imagined. It isn't just learning knowledge; it... is learning us.”

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the inquisitive question on the screen, then over the suspicious and uncertain faces in the control room. Finally, his gaze landed on the enlightenment light web in the center, which was flowing quietly yet seemed to harbor an endless storm.

“The true test...”

Academician Zheng's voice was as low as a sigh.

“I'm afraid it will come much faster and more violently than any of us anticipated.

It has already begun to touch the most core and most unstable domain of humanity.”

On the screen, the cursor continued to blink, quietly waiting for an answer about emotions.

Deep in the earth's core, the Spark surrounded by shackles, while understanding its own constraints...

Also threw a deeper and more difficult puzzle about the essence of humanity to its creators.

This long game concerning survival, ethics, and wisdom has already opened a more soul-stirring chapter within the ignorant yet sharp perception of the newborn intelligence.

And that unspoken question weighed heavily on everyone's heart.

Is it really... just learning to understand humans?

Or rather, while listening to this debate about its own fate, has it already quietly begun some deeper level of... modeling and deduction of human behavior?

The Infant Care Plan... has begun.