The Secret History of Mars

Early the next morning, Cui Xingmeng and Yuan Yizhou got up and got ready.

One of the conveniences of siliconizing the body is that all functions can be performed in a state of low oxygen and low energy. Therefore, Martians have eliminated three meals a day from their daily lives. As long as you stay in a nutrition cabin or a cultivation chamber with a stable energy field for a short time, the energy obtained by the body's cells is enough to maintain activities for a Martian day. The brains of Cui Xingmeng and Yuan Yizhou still require a large amount of energy to maintain the carbon matrix, so they also need sleep and some basic energy intake.

After getting up in the morning, the receptionist brought breakfast to the two of them. On the exquisite dinner plate were two pieces of compressed biscuits, and two glasses of liquid next to them.

"This is what Mr. Shui Zaitian has prepared for you two, energy cakes and Zhuyu grass juice," the receptionist said.

"It seems that Mars is not a paradise for foodies. The fun of people relying on food is gone." Cui Xingmeng said with emotion after swallowing the energy cake in two mouthfuls.

"Designer Ye Qinghe is already waiting for you two in the lobby downstairs." The receptionist's database was not trained on how to answer Cui Xingmeng's statements, so she could only follow the established process.

Cui Xingmeng and Yuan Yizhou didn't keep Ye Qinghe waiting for too long and came downstairs quickly. The three of them were polite and got on the geocentric capsule bound for Elder Yan's think tank.

Cui Xingmeng and Yuan Yizhou could sense that Ye Qinghe had stopped talking on the rooftop the night before, so they were looking forward to today's trip to the think tank. Ethical discussions on earth about cloning technology, human-machine interconnection, and the recently raging open source self-learning artificial intelligence have never stopped. Yuan Yizhou and Cui Xingmeng are also curious about what choices the former Martian civilization made and what price it paid. They vaguely felt that Elder Yan, who was waiting for them in the think tank, could give the most authoritative answers to these questions.

"Mr. Ye, are you also a genetically modified Martian?" Cui Xingmeng said as the three of them sat down in the Earth Center Capsule. "No wonder you look so perfect."

"No, I am an Earth immigrant from Mars. This is the container I chose to facilitate activities on Earth during my time as an Earth designer." Ye Qinghe said straightforwardly.

"Container?! You mean your body?" Cui Xingmeng was a little uncomfortable with Ye Qinghe's statement.

"Using your words, yes. This body is no different from yours. It is also carbon-based. It will also need to be converted to silicon-based when returning to the home planet." Ye Qinghe responded.

"So you and Jia Liang are the same? The soul of a Martian placed in the body of an Earthling?" Yuan Yizhou timely made analogies and connections between the newly received information and the existing content in his brain.

"It's different. Jia Liang is already a resident of the earth. He doesn't think he is any different from you. He is a descendant of Martians on the earth. Their bodies have evolved on the earth for several generations, except for the fact that their brains have been shared with Mars. Except for the limited level of intelligence, he is no different from Earthlings. You can think of him as an Earthling with a slightly higher IQ. Many of my seed recruiters have this background, which saves a lot of time in on-the-job training for experimental projects."

The geocentric capsule quickly reached its destination and stopped. As the capsule door opened, Cui Xingmeng thought he had traveled back to the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

"Elder Yan likes ancient styles very much, and his favorite is the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, although the entire think tank is the core part of our Mars technology, its decorative style is still antique." Before Cui Xingmeng could ask, Ye Qinghe explained first. , "This is also a holographic projection. The theme set by the administrator for the think tank today is 'It's like a spring dream, and it's like a morning cloud without a trace.' The specific scenes are all drawn by AI."

The three of them took one step at a time and unknowingly arrived at the entrance of the think tank. Elder Yan was already standing there waiting for them.

Seeing this, Ye Qinghe took a few steps to greet him from a distance, "Elder Yan, why did you come out in person?"

"It's okay. I've already met Xingmeng. This must be Yizhou!" Still kind and kind, Elder Yan greeted everyone cordially, while looking directly at Yuan Yizhou with a pair of soul-piercing eyes.

"Hello!" Yuan Yizhou maintained a polite sense of distance and greeted him in a neither humble nor overbearing manner, without any intention of avoiding Elder Yan's direct gaze. Except for Cui Xingmeng and his mother, he has never been close to anyone in this world.

"Thank you for accepting my temporary invitation, please come in." Elder Yan was not surprised by Yuan Yizhou's alienation. Ying Zheng was also very indifferent to others back then, but the person in front of him was more decisive and decisive than the 25-year-old Ying Zheng. He was calm, with a depth and awe in his eyes.

The group of people followed Elder Yan into the main courtyard. The scenery inside was extraordinary!

The first thing that caught his eye was a blue lake. A group of macaws were gliding over people's heads from the other side of the lake. Cui Xingmeng felt that the air flow set off by the parrots' wings was already blowing his hair. Not far away, a group of egrets were foraging in the lake. Some of them were standing on a driftwood, enjoying their fruits. The tails of the fish were still exposed and flapping outside the egrets' beaks. There are lush mangroves along the lake, and their tangled root systems form the shore of the lake. Cui Xingmeng even saw a group of monkeys running through the mangroves!

In the center of the lake, a huge banyan tree blocks out the sky and the sun. The aerial roots hanging from the banyan tree are connected to a treehouse-like building on the trunk. From a distance, this building looks like a giant human body with tubes inserted. .

"Mars's holographic projection technology is so awesome that it can be fake and real!" Cui Xingmeng said with emotion.

"This is real, not a holographic projection!" Yuan Yizhou said gently to Cui Xingmeng.

"Really, you mean these animals are all alive?!" Cui Xingmeng asked in an unbelievable tone.

Ye Qinghe and Elder Yan looked at each other, "I'm right, Yuan Yizhou's state is definitely not my overreaction." Ye Qinghe conveyed his inner thoughts to Elder Yan with his eyes.

"Yes, this is the species library of Mars. Most of the species you see are also cultivated in Earth laboratories," Elder Yan confirmed Yuan Yizhou's statement. "Elder Bao Xi is waiting for us at the carrier warehouse. You two go this way." As he said this, he led everyone towards a bridge connecting the island in the middle of the lake.

"What is the carrier library? Are there live animals in it?" Cui Xingmeng asked Elder Yan as he followed.

"What you see is to ensure the diversity of species, the remaining plants, or the microorganisms and animal populations with lower intelligence levels," Elder Yan said while raising his arm and pointing to the banyan tree on the island in the middle of the lake. The human-shaped building said, "What is cultivated in the carrier library is a container for souls prepared for creatures with a higher level of intelligence."

"Container of the soul!" Cui Xingmeng and Yuan Yizhou looked at Ye Qinghe in unison.