Yawgmoth’s "subjective time" was in disarray. Humans perceive time through the cyclical firing of specific neurons, but once this function is replaced by machinery, a person’s sense of time becomes inextricably linked to the machine.
This is not to say that if a human’s perception of time is accelerated, their thinking can accelerate as well. In fact, human cognitive capabilities are always limited by the speed of biological electrical signal transmission. Even if a human’s time sense is accelerated a hundredfold by the power of machines, they can only feel that time is passing slowly, yet their own thoughts are just as slow.
Yawgmoth had no idea how long he had been trapped in darkness. He only knew that at some point, an "obstruction" had disappeared. Thus, the dormant neurons were reactivated, and another set of memories was awakened.
The "weight" of this set of memories was no different from the previous set when he worked at Superman Enterprise. If he relied solely on his feelings and intuition, he couldn’t even distinguish the authenticity of the two sets of memories.
But if he carefully sorted through the specific content of the memories, the differences between the two sets became apparent.
These memories told him that in the latter half of the 21st century’s sixth decade, Superman Enterprise had already been silently usurped. By that time, he had left this super enterprise he created with Xiang Shan and others to form a resistance force.
Then, perhaps at the beginning of the 22nd century, they killed the "Usurper of the State" who had taken over the Super Leviathan on the Moon.
But that was when the unexpected happened.
As Yawgmoth decapitated the leader of the usurpers and was extracting intelligence from his brain using chemical methods, he had pondered whether to seize this power for himself and use the opportunity to fundamentally change humanity.
He swore that he was only thinking about it.
But Xiang Shan’s decision was made even faster than him.
Yes, exactly, that made sense. Xiang Shan was always such a person. Once he decided on a direction, he would resolutely move forward. Even if there were moments of hesitation, he would cut through them instantly.
But this time it was just too fast.
Perhaps it began even earlier.
To counter the pervasive rule of Superman Enterprise, Xiang Shan had extensively taught the "techniques of concealment."
To enable people all over the world to have access to affordable drugs, Xiang Shan had shared the "techniques of pharmaceutical manufacturing."
But these two techniques had been used by a strange group of people in strange ways.
Yawgmoth never understood why religious groups would want to create genetic weapons that could sweep across the entire biosphere.
During that period, Yawgmoth was also in a state of mental breakdown, so he didn’t notice.
But after Xiang Shan trampled that religious group, something about him was indeed different.
Perhaps Xiang Shan felt that he had been betrayed—the "collective of humanity" that he believed in, even venerated, had stabbed him in the back.
Maybe that was the case... Perhaps years of skepticism finally breached the dam in that moment.
And then, Xiang Shan the person changed completely.
He attacked Yawgmoth, almost killing him. Yawgmoth was unconscious for a long time... rather, since then he had few moments of clarity.
Xiang Shan placed him in a brain vat, deceived his memory with Cyberspace, and then made him conduct scientific research.
In that false memory, Yawgmoth had been working on a "difficult problem" since 2065, and in 2077, he encountered a "bottleneck"—he was always in a state of "seeing hope, and success just one step away," immersed in anxious emotions. Such emotions would make him overlook many details.
In fact, he had already solved hundreds of such problems.
The reason Yawgmoth felt that recent developments in biology were abnormal was that they were actually the result of more than two hundred years of development.
Yawgmoth had also tried to break free from his constraints. In the beginning, he often broke free and acquired information from the network. Yawgmoth had even once controlled a robot to bring him a Prosthetic Body in an attempt to escape.
But after each escape, Xiang Shan would apply newer technology to seal him tighter.
He vaguely remembered...
After coming out from the Moon, Xiang Shan had used lies to stabilize the Heroes and negotiated a secret agreement with the remnants of the usurpers. In the lie fabricated by Xiang Shan, it was the Protector who had injured Yawgmoth.
Zhu Xinyu was still the first to sense something was wrong. But no one believed her this time. The "end of the hero war" had raised Xiang Shan’s prestige even further. Zhu Xinyu’s challenge to Xiang Shan was seen as "another round of power struggle"—Xiang Shan’s great reputation made most people overlook the doubts.
Xiang Shan openly restrained Zhu Xinyu’s Biological Brain.
Then, he spent the next fifty years changing human society. He brought the Biological Brains of all humanity under unified management, gradually expanding his power—the reason being "we must tighten our belts to restore the ecosystem, there are no resources left for humans to squander, so those who desire material pleasures please log into the virtual world."
At first, this was voluntary. There were also quite a few old colleagues who supported Xiang Shan’s approach. Faced with the grand cause of "restoring Earth’s biosphere," opponents didn’t say much, only hoping to carve out reserves on Earth or live freely in the Space City, on the Moon, or Mars. Chapters first released on novᴇlfire.net
Xiang Shan naturally agreed at first. But it was only a façade.
He spent fifty years gaining control over the vast majority of human brains.
The "Liberation Emperor" gradually turned into the "Emperor of Liberation."
—Liberation... tsk tsk, Xiang Shan has always liked this word. The liberator of productive forces?
Another train of thought intruded upon Yawgmoth’s mind: [Maybe in the rhetoric of the ’Liberation Emperor,’ ’to liberate you’ is equivalent to ’offering you as a sacrifice’].
[This mocking yet hate-filled idea... tsk, you’re still alive, huh, Zhu?]
[Yes, just like you, not dead.]
Yawgmoth regained his visual signal. It was a spacecraft’s camera. He felt that it was probably a ten-meter-long spaceplane, used for transporting engineering drones to designated locations in space. It must be David’s design.
[Where are you, Zhu?]
[Me? Are you referring to my Biological Brain?] Zhu Xinyu was unconcerned, [That thing can’t be taken out. I’m different from you. You just have to do some research, but part of my Biological Brain was forcibly conscripted by His Majesty the Emperor to serve as a data processor. If my Biological Brain disconnects from the base, the alarm will be triggered. However, this also allows me to misuse some of the Liberation Emperor’s authority to act...]
Another consciousness joined the conversation: [It is precisely because of that, we were able to find you, Yawgmoth.]