Memory inheritor

Chapter 45 Circuit Breaker

Feng Xiaoxu switched to a different picture.

The picture shows two rows of somewhat dilapidated low-rise buildings, several overturned off-road vehicles on a dusty open ground, and dozens of corpses dressed in camouflage scattered among them. The exposed skin of the corpses gleamed black under the strong light, and automatic rifles, magazines, and other items were scattered around the bodies.

"This photo was taken in the western Sahel region fifteen years ago. At that time, an opposition force was rapidly rising in this area, establishing an armed force of nearly a thousand people. Its core fighting force was called the 'Viper Squad,' with more than a hundred members, each of whom was said to possess qualities comparable to top special forces soldiers of military powers."

"With the 'Viper Squad' possessing combat capabilities far superior to ordinary soldiers, the opposition captured the capital in less than two days. The ruling party sought help from the United Nations while organizing a counter-offensive. Just as the mediation organization entered the area, the ruling party, which had suffered repeated defeats, suddenly achieved a victory, and the opposition forces were almost completely annihilated."

"The soldiers in the photo are members of the 'Viper Squad.' The mediation organization investigated this and concluded that these soldiers were not killed by the ruling party, but died in internal strife, which led to the defeat of the opposition forces."

"According to another investigation report, members of the Viper Squad all have traces of invasive brain-computer interfaces on their skulls, and their combat skills are instilled from the outside."

"Compared to the number of pilots trained by that North African country, the number of members in the 'Viper Squad' is undoubtedly much greater. This shows that after five years, the technology has evolved from individual indoctrination to mass indoctrination, but the negative effects have not changed much."

Wei Hongbo couldn't help but ask, "You mean, the technology providers behind these two incidents are the same force or organization?"

"It may or may not be, it doesn't matter. What matters is that their technological roots are the same, which is key to tracing their origins. Also, I want to correct one of your statements: in these two incidents, there was no so-called technology provider."

Feng Xiaoxu paused briefly at this point, "From its inception, one of the core objectives of this technology was to achieve military applications. These two incidents are actually a continuation of those failed experiments from the last century. It wasn't that someone provided the technology to those two countries, but rather that the people of those two countries became the guinea pigs for the technology."

Wei Hongbo couldn't help but recall that Wei Hongsi had mentioned his teacher had seen the declassified files on this subject. Perhaps the reason he introduced Feng Xiaoxu to him for consultation was because this senior colleague knew more about the relevant matters.

"So, similar experiments have been ongoing all these years?"

"I think so, but it's done more discreetly, so even if something goes wrong, it won't have as much impact as the two cases I just mentioned."

Are there any relevant cases?

"I've collected some information, but most of it is unverified; it's only suspected. Officer Wei, if you're interested, could I send it to your email address once I've compiled it?"

"Thank you so much!"

Although Wei Hongbo didn't know which type of case it was, since it was similar to the case he was working on, it wouldn't hurt to learn more about it.

"You're welcome," Feng Xiaoxu said with a smile, switching to the next picture.

The picture shows a monkey with a line extending from its head, connecting to a watch face next to it.

"Invasive brain-computer interface technology was validated in principle in the 70s. People triggered a pointer to turn by making neurons in the brain of a monkey. This was the first publicly documented instance of converting brain signals into machine instructions."

"At the time, some people thought that since signals can be output from the brain, signals can also be input into the brain. Related theories quickly emerged, but few countries had the ability to put them into practice because the threshold was too high."

The image changed again, showing drawings of materials and equipment. Because there were no text labels, Wei Hongbo could barely understand them.

"The first hurdle is the materials used in brain-computer interfaces. Initially, silicon or metallic materials such as gold and platinum were used. Later, in order to alleviate the biocompatibility of rigid materials, polymer films such as polyimide were used as a substrate to improve flexibility. The two African cases mentioned earlier used this type of material."

The image switched to a vintage-looking photograph, not very high resolution, showing rows of items resembling metal electrical control cabinets neatly arranged. Wei Hongbo recognized these; they were supercomputers from the last century.

"The second hurdle is computing power. The basic principle of implanting information into the brain is to establish a two-way communication channel directly with neurons through microelectrodes to achieve precise release and collection feedback of electrical signals, which requires precise control and calculation. At that time, only a handful of countries in the world possessed supercomputers of this level."

When the image switched, Wei Hongbo was taken aback. On the screen was an icon with a circle crossed out and the word "banned" above it.

"Ah, I'm sorry, this content is not convenient to show." Feng Xiaoxu smiled apologetically, and continued:

"The third hurdle is the huge investment and trial-and-error costs. In fact, the 'microelectrode array synchronous modulation infusion system' and the 'Utah electrode array' can be said to be the same type of technology, but the former is more radical and comes with huge ethical risks."

"At that time, humans were already able to land on the moon, but they didn't know much about their own brains. However, this did not prevent related experiments from being carried out. Many of the achievements at that time seem incredible now because there was no complete theoretical foundation or sufficient technical conditions for implementation."

"But the people at the time just managed to do it. This stemmed from trial and error, regardless of resources or costs, until they found a viable path. If they couldn't find one, they would bring in a new group of people. This kind of life-or-death competition for development is essentially a brutal struggle."

Feng Xiaoxu sighed softly and switched to the last picture, which only had a big question mark on it.

"Due to the enormous risks and uncertainties of returns, this technology had originally reached a dead end. But with the advancement of AI technology and breakthroughs in nanomaterials, it has been revived and is showing a trend of proliferation."

"Spread?" Wei Hongbo's heart tightened upon hearing this. "Is it because the threshold has been lowered? I heard that the performance of supercomputers in the last century was not as good as that of personal computers today, and nanomaterials are now quite common."

"No, by proliferation I mean the potential harm this technology could cause. Because it can control people to some extent, it can easily be used as a tool for crime by organizations that control it. As for the barrier to entry, I think it's actually higher than before."

Feng Xiaoxu pondered for a moment and said, "For example, the carbon nanotube material you brought, as far as I know, only about ten organizations have the capability to manufacture it. Hmm, let me look into it in more detail and compile a list for you after I've figured it out. And it's not just this material; the technology of the equipment that can precisely control its insertion into the skull is actually even more advanced."

"Speaking of computer performance, you're right if you only look at the floating-point arithmetic values. But the supercomputers of that time were highly customized systems for specific scientific computing. Their software stacks and I/O capabilities were designed to handle special data streams such as neural signals, which is not the same as the benchmark scores of today's general-purpose PCs."

"More importantly, the current production of 'information packages' relies on specialized AI models trained on massive amounts of data. This requires not only peak computing power, but also continuous and massive amounts of electricity to drive the entire data center. This is the real barrier to entry."

"Powerful AI has enormous electricity demands, often consuming terawatt-hours (terawatt-hours) annually, or 10 billion kilowatt-hours. The two African countries I mentioned earlier don't even generate that much electricity in a year. In fact, there are no more than 20 countries in the world capable of supporting the power supply for super AI."

"Could you give me a list as well?"

"no problem."

Wei Hongbo asked several more questions related to the case, which Feng Xiaoxu answered, feeling that he had gained a lot from the trip.

Before taking his leave, Wei Hongbo said, "The pictures you showed me look like they were taken directly from a PowerPoint presentation."

"Ah, you noticed." Feng Xiaoxu smiled a little embarrassedly. "There are indeed many slides from a previous courseware."

……

……

Jess Bar was busier than usual on Saturday night.

Around 9 p.m., Mu Jie arrived at the bar, walked around the whole place, and sat down to chat with familiar customers and have a drink.

His bar has a relatively quiet atmosphere, and the prices for drinks and food are quite high, so it rarely attracts reckless teenagers or ignorant girls. In his view, maintaining the bar's style is very important, as it filters out those "customers" who have no value.

After shedding his burdens, Mu Jie felt incredibly relaxed, so he drank more than usual that night, and was already a little tipsy before 11 p.m.

An unknown female singer was performing on stage. She had a nice voice with a retro blues vibe, but it got a bit tiresome after a while.

It would be great if Shen Qing sang here instead; that girl's singing skills are truly excellent. However, given her current fame, it would definitely be difficult to invite her. But after a while, it probably won't be so hard. I just wonder if she'd be embarrassed if she got booed off stage? So, it's probably best to avoid going to the amusement park.

Mu Jie's thoughts drifted aimlessly, and a smile involuntarily crept onto his lips.

"Hi, Jess, why haven't you been around these past few days?" A somewhat delicate female voice rang in my ears.

Mu Jie turned his head and saw a woman with light makeup in front of him. Her long hair fell over one shoulder, and her appearance could be considered above average.

"There are some things," he said with a smile.

"Hmph, I couldn't get through on the phone either. I couldn't find him all day yesterday."

"Is there something you need?"

"Yeah, I wanted to ask who you were fooling around with."

"you guess."

"Hate!"

Mu Jie chatted with the woman for a few minutes and finally remembered who she was. Perhaps it was the alcohol, but he felt her looks had improved from above average to above average.

So he looked directly into the woman's eyes, pursed his lips slightly, then turned back to give her a profile view, and said in a calm tone, "Actually, nothing's wrong. I'm just tired from work and want to completely clear my head."

"Really!" The woman's tone softened a bit more. "You do look very tired."

Mu Jie downed his drink in one gulp, then pointed to the half-full bottle of Laphroaig on the table and said, "I'm going back to rest now. Enjoy your time!"

When the woman saw the number "30" on the bottle, she was initially delighted. Then, seeing Mu Jie walking towards the door, she thought for a moment, grabbed the bottle, and quickly followed him.

Mu Jie left the bar and heard the clatter of high heels behind him. He turned around and looked at the woman, saying, "What were you doing in there?"

"How about we go to your place for a drink?" The woman waved the bottle of wine in her hand.

Mu Jie was silent for a few seconds, noticing the change in the woman's expression, then nodded and said, "Let's go."

That night, Mu Jie felt a sense of relaxation he had never experienced before.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw a man's face. His features were quite regular, but his skin was dark and rough, clearly showing that he had suffered from the wind and sun.

"Who are you?" Mu Jie asked, stunned. Looking around, he was certain he was in his own bedroom. Looking around again, the woman was gone. He reached out and touched the bed; it was still warm, so she must have left only recently.

"Do you know who this woman is?" The man didn't answer, but instead asked a question.

"She is..." Mu Jie realized that he seemed to have forgotten the woman's name again.

"have no idea?"

"She's an HR person at Zhiwei," Mu Jie said impatiently. "Are you her boyfriend? Sorry, I haven't heard her mention him. Please leave now, or I'll call the police."

"You know the name Li Yunxiang, right?"

"Hmm?" Mu Jie raised his head, a look of wariness in his eyes.

"You and Peng Jun seem to have a pretty good relationship, right?"

Mu Jie paused for a moment, then said, "You could call us friends."

"Well, you could say you helped him, but your goal was to use him and even take his life."

"You're a police officer?" Mu Jie's face showed disbelief.

"You're right." Wei Hongbo nodded and pulled over a chair to sit down.

The bedroom door was pushed open, and Zhang Shengyong walked in and stood by the bedside.

Ignoring the two men, Mu Jie lowered his head and muttered, "How could you possibly have found me? How could you have found me so quickly?"

Zhang Shengyong snorted coldly and said, "Stop chanting and have a proper talk with us."

Wei Hongbo sensed that Mu Jie seemed a bit neurotic, so he raised his hand and waved it, indicating that they shouldn't provoke the suspect.

After a dozen seconds, Mu Jie stopped talking to himself, looked up at the two officers, and asked calmly, "Officers, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Wei Hongbo said, "Let's talk about the two people I just mentioned."

"I think you all already know, right?" Mu Jie shrugged. "It's just a small matter!"

"We want to hear what you have to say."

"Okay. I heard... that woman just said that one of her company's cleaners is having an affair with a senior executive, and she thinks she could take advantage of it. And coincidentally, that cleaner went to my music store..."

"Peng Jun is so broke he can barely afford food, so he came to my bar. It's fair of me to give him a hand..."

Mu Jie recounted the most important details about the two individuals, which were largely consistent with what the police had gathered.

Just as Wei Hongbo was about to ask another question, Mu Jie lifted the blanket and then covered himself again, saying, "Officer, haven't I been quite cooperative? Could you let me put on my clothes first?"

This request was indeed not unreasonable, but Wei Hongbo hesitated.

He felt that Mu Jie's reaction after waking up was a little abnormal, as if he could see the shadow of Li Yunxiang.

"Let him get dressed first." A voice came from outside the bedroom. It was the person in charge of the arrest operation, whose rank was even higher than Yu Zhen's.

Wei Hongbo hesitated for a moment, then gestured for Mu Jie to proceed.

Mu Jie smiled indifferently as the two stared at him, picked up his clothes from the bedside, put them on, and then lay down on the bed again. After letting out a long sigh, he closed his eyes as if he had fallen asleep.

(Two-in-one)