The Programmer Cultivator

After all, while this information lacked the core knowledge, Zhang Deming, as someone who understood code very well, knew that if it were developed, it would undoubtedly point to the one thing the Array Department coveted most—artificial intelligence.

The Celestial Universe Federation really put out some big bait to go fishing!

Similarly, Zhang Deming was also quite eager to get his hands on this Skill.

As a programmer in his past life, he knew a fair amount about the theory of artificial intelligence.

But until his sudden death, true ’intelligence’ had never emerged—only the ’artificial’ part...

Of course, this didn’t include the weak AI created by building pre-programmed responses with algorithms. That stuff was completely bogus, essentially just false advertising.

The minimum standard for intelligence should at least be the ability to think. That had to be the absolute baseline for intelligence, right?

Once the idea surfaced in Zhang Deming’s mind, he couldn’t extinguish it no matter how he tried.

His thoughts raced and his eyes flickered. After pondering alone for a long time, he hesitated for a moment before taking the Tier Three Array Dao Technique, ”Array Heart”, from the other side of the shelf. He had bought it long ago but had never learned it.

He checked his warehouse Energy. Merit: 3.2, Qi Fortune: 15.8, Karma: 1.0.

He had put it aside before because he lacked sufficient Qi Fortune Energy. Moreover, after the Array Dao’s mutation, Zhang Deming discovered a certain compatibility between the Array Dao and his editor.

Zhang Deming had wanted to wait for a second looping light orb to appear, but unfortunately, those things were far too rare.

So now, he decided not to wait any longer. He would just learn it first.

”10 Ordinary Energy, small plug-in can be edited.

Editing conditions met!

...”

Watching the Energy disappear and the code generate, Zhang Deming began to edit.

’If (possess a certain amount of Spiritual Power AND cast Array Heart)

{Then, Array Heart cast successfully}

Else{Then, Array Heart cast failed}.’

He clicked for a test run. There were no problems.

Immediately, Zhang Deming selected ’complete and upload.’ Just like with the Tier Two Array Technique before, the moment the Array Heart Rune condensed, it shattered into points of light.

Countless specks of runic light drifted into the editor, which showed no change.

Zhang Deming spread his hand, and a Light Curtain of an Array appeared in his palm.

Although Zhang Deming didn’t have a single Array Dao Rune, he could now use Tier Three Array Dao abilities. Furthermore, his aura’s fluctuations were clearly those of an Array Cultivator who had constructed their Rune Core with the Array Dao.

After finishing this, Zhang Deming returned to the notebook. He picked it up and went straight downstairs to the underground Cultivation Room, which he hadn’t used in a long time but hadn’t sealed off.

Zhang Deming placed the notebook in front of him. The power of his Tier Three Array Dao surged, activating all the Arrays of the Flying Spring Waterfall Tower.

Although he had only been exposed to some specialized Array Dao knowledge for the past few months and wasn’t considered a qualified Array Cultivator, using his Tier Three Array Dao Rune Core to activate the various Arrays of the Flying Spring Waterfall was far more powerful than an Ordinary activation.

The Arrays of the entire Flying Spring Waterfall Tower surged, defending it so tightly that not even a Three Talents Great Cultivator could break through in a short amount of time.

Feeling the rapid consumption and recovery of his Spiritual Power, the corners of Zhang Deming’s mouth lifted slightly. With a Tier Five Cultivation Technique, an operation of this scale might have been a bit difficult. But with his Tier Six Cultivation Technique, plus the Spirit Stones in the tower, he could handle it perfectly.

After activating the Arrays, Zhang Deming cautiously returned to the laptop and clicked on a special script on the desktop.

A pitch-black panel appeared, looking somewhat like his editor. This was the only thing that could contact the ’Watch Tower’.

Instead of immediately starting to reply, Zhang Deming’s Spiritual Power surged. The editor reappeared in his mind and established a human-machine network connection with the laptop.

Zhang Deming quickly called up the laptop’s underlying data and, after searching for a long time, finally found what he was looking for.

It was the message data from his unlucky predecessor’s replies to the ’Watch Tower’.

He had to thank the fact that, although the notebook was powerful, his unlucky predecessor, being an undercover agent, had rarely used it.

Therefore, finding such data wasn’t too difficult.

If an ordinary person owned such a powerful Quantum Notebook, just searching through the registry for a single day’s worth of deleted data would be a freaking nightmare.

And if a long time had passed and you didn’t even know the specific deletion time? You want to recover it then?

Heh...

Zhang Deming extracted the data, restored a good amount of information, and then began to read it carefully, observing the writing style.

Zhang Deming also jotted down some useful information.

After reading for a long time and thinking for a moment, Zhang Deming began to type on the panel:

”Message received. Am making arrangements. If all goes smoothly, I will await the arrival of the guests from Celestial Eye; if not, I will contact home again.

The ’weather’ has been a bit turbulent lately, so it’s not suitable to go out. I hope the old home doesn’t worry!”

After writing the message, Zhang Deming compared it and felt there was no issue with the style, so he chose to send it.

At that instant, Zhang Deming was on full alert, guarding against any accidents.

A faint, strange fluctuation emanated from the Quantum Notebook. Something akin to the quantum entanglement of spatial fluctuations began to operate.

The fluctuation was very weak, but it was peculiar. If there were any cultivators at or above the Duality realm in the tower, they would definitely have noticed it.

No wonder he hadn’t found much contact data when searching earlier. It turned out the Celestial Universe Federation’s Interstellar communication technology wasn’t fully mature.

After the message was sent, nothing unusual happened.

The reply came quickly, as if someone was on duty 24/7.

”Understood. We will maintain silence and will not disturb you again before Celestial Eye arrives.

—Watch Tower!”

When Zhang Deming saw the message, his face lit up with joy. It seemed he had succeeded, and no one suspected him.

’It makes sense,’ he thought. ’If they weren’t able to modify the notebook’s underlying system like me, then with that special Quantum Key, very few people could have hacked their way in.’

And anyone from the Celestial Universe Federation who *could* hack it obviously wouldn’t be in a place like Hongmeng Planet.

Zhang Deming quickly closed the panel and shut down the laptop. Only after the notebook had transformed back into a watch did he let out a long sigh of relief.

He couldn’t help but be cautious. He had originally thought the Celestial Universe Federation was just one technological era ahead of his previous world, with a slight mix of Superpowers thrown in, but now it seemed that wasn’t the case.

He recalled the Technique Xue Su had used during his outburst. It clearly resembled the Magic or Witchcraft of legends.

Therefore, Zhang Deming guessed that the Celestial Universe Federation was very likely in a quantum technology era—in other words, an era where Magic and technology were mixed.

In this regard, it was a bit like Hongmeng. Hongmeng was now clearly in an era of Spiritual Technology as well.

There might be some stylistic differences, but at their core, they weren’t much different.

After finishing everything, Zhang Deming didn’t leave immediately. He stayed in the secret room for a long time, carefully checking everything over and over again.

Only after confirming there were no hidden Dark Pawns did Zhang Deming deactivate all the Arrays, return to the third floor, and place the watch in the storage room.