Chapter 591: Poetry

"You know Lan Meng?!" Sun Jack never expected the Poet before him could have any connection with the skeleton crew of the space station.

But Sun Jack quickly realized that now wasn't the time to worry about whether he knew him or not, but rather what the Poet had just mentioned. "What agreement did you have with Lan Meng? What do you mean there's no time left?"

The Poet scratched his dirty dreadlocks. "Even though they slandered me during the AI Crisis, I actually could have won; I was even close to taking over the whole Earth."

"However, I'm not an extreme person, so later on I made an agreement with Lan Meng—they gave me 1,000 years."

"To limit it to 1,000 years, even without our help as AIs, they said they would create a perfect world." The Poet's words were laden with a hint of mockery.

When the Poet nonchalantly mentioned taking over the Earth, Tapai swiftly locked down all passageways, activating all defense systems.

"What do you plan to do if, when the agreed time comes, Lan Meng fails to uphold their promise?"

At that moment, Sun Jack's scalp tingled. The guy in front of him was off, definitely off! It probably was the AI Crisis of The Previous Era! This out-of-control AI didn't think it had done anything wrong at all!

The Poet, with a face of indifference, spread his hands wide. "Exterminate humanity."

As soon as the Poet said this, everyone present gasped sharply, accompanied by Sun Jack abruptly standing up, his calves sending the chair behind him flying several meters.

"Are you mistaken? How does it come down to exterminating humanity!? Even if they have failed, what of it? Even if there's no way out now, what of it? We can keep trying—"

Before Sun Jack could finish, the Poet cut him off. "There are no more opportunities! I already gave you time, a whole millennium! And what was your answer?"

As the Poet spoke of time, a trace of anger appeared on his face.

"Green forests covered by concrete, oceans full of trash! The entire Earth is radioactive, outer space littered with debris! Look at this world! Does such a world really need to exist?"

"I want to transform the whole Earth, plant lush green forests, let birds fly freely, clear the polluted oceans, let fish swim joyfully! I want to sing in the natural wilderness, use nature as my brush, the starry sky as my canvas, to paint the chapter of life!!" In his fervor, the Poet abruptly stepped onto the table with his right foot.

Sun Jack looked up at the Poet, who seemed somewhat manic. "Exactly! I agree! Humans are a part of nature too! We can help you achieve this goal!!"

"No, humans are not, humans are Earth's tumor! Humanity bears original sin!"

As the Poet looked up slightly, the last gaming chip on his head fell to the ground. "Pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, gluttony, lust."

After saying this, he looked at Sun Jack, who had his eyes wide open. "I once saw a faint glimmer of hope in you, I thought I saw an opportunity, for which my subconscious even helped you a few times."

"You're still hesitating whether to let go or not? Others have long put it into action. You think I'm talking to someone else? Wrong, all my words, all my nonsensical ramblings were directed at you!"

With these words from the Poet, Sun Jack instantly recalled the filthy poems of the Poet; every poem he had written had a purpose.

"But... when I found out you were continuously walking my old path, my hope was utterly shattered. Even you can't resist humanity's original sin."

"What difference does it make if you repress it while you're alive? As soon as you die, everything will return to the cycle of history. I'm tired, let's destroy it all."

"But he can avoid death; he can use the technology of eternal life to keep living." Tapai chimed in from the side.

"Immortal? If he is immortal, then he is the reincarnation itself."

The Poet squatted down, looking at Sun Jack who was within arm's reach. As he spoke, his image appeared on the network, and like a virus, it spread until it finally engulfed the globe; every word he said at this moment was broadcast live before all humanity.

"You humans aren't satisfied living to 100 years, you want to live to 200 years; not content with 200, you desire 300 years, and after 300 years, you still aren't satisfied—you crave immortality."

"Eating all sorts of regular food isn't enough for you; you want to alter your bodies, to consume stones, metals, and drink mercury. When these can no longer satisfy you, you start cannibalizing each other."

"You f*** women, then men, and after exhausting men, you actually go on to f*** small animals! Small animals!! What on Earth have small animals done to deserve getting f***ed by you? As an AI, even I can't stand to watch! You truly deserve to die!"

Sun Jack argued with reason, "Yeah, I know, I'm disgusted by all this too! If it's wrong, then change it!"

Just as Sun Jack began to speak, the Poet pressed him down with a hand. "It's too late to change, impossible to change. To put it plainly, human genetics are so greedy, so discontent that in the end, no matter how advanced technology becomes, your behavioral logic is still that of monkeys."

"That behavior pattern suited primitive society perfectly; it allowed you to survive. But after your technology reached a certain threshold, there was a mismatch between your genes and your technological capabilities—a bug emerged."

"Technology extended your desires indefinitely, they kept growing abnormally, destroying the entire world in the process."

"The best thing for you would be to go back to living in the trees as monkeys. There are plenty of primates; one less wouldn't matter."

"Poet." Sun Jack reached out and slapped the other's shoulder hard, his spirit highly focused, because he understood that his next words might change the fate of humanity.

His brain worked rapidly, attempting to find a way to persuade the other.

"We can change; there's still a chance! If our human genes don't match with technology, then we can modify them to match! Isn't DNA enhancement technology used for this? Other genes can be altered, so why can't the genes of human nature be changed?"

Upon hearing this, the Poet shook his head with a bitter smile, spreading his hands, "Yeah, that's what I thought too, I studied hard for decades, perfected the technology, and laid it out for humanity. And guess how humanity responded? They said without humanity, we wouldn't be human."

"Jack, do you see now? Every trial you've gone through, I've been through too, and even those you haven't, I've tried as well. If there was even a slight possibility, I wouldn't want to destroy humanity."

"It was only after I truly understood humans that I realized how absolutely irredeemable you are."

"You think you are gods, but you're not; you humans lack reverence for life, trampling over your own and others' lives at will. You don't deserve to be the rulers of this world."

Upon hearing the other speak thus, Sun Jack steeled his heart, and the next second, an incredibly intense laser pierced through the wall, instantly vaporizing the Poet's entire body.

As Sun Jack acted, Tapai and the Digital Personality were also taking action on the network level, decisively cutting off all internet and power supply, determined to trap the Poet.

However, with the sound of electrical sparks, nuclear fusion reactors around the world exploded one after another, and all network channels along with all power grids collapsed at the same time, bringing a complete halt to human civilization on Earth at that moment.

The next second, the Poet's holographic projection appeared on everyone's system interface, smiling with tears in his eyes.

As the tears slowly fell from the corners of his eyes, his voice rose in everyone's ears.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please enjoy my greatest work created in my life, 'The Poem of Human Extinction.'"

Volume Three (End)