The Mechanic [BL]

[97]

Chapter 97 – Feathered Serpent City (3)

Zhang Xun's words stirred up dark ripples in the clear, white meeting room, suppressed anger smouldering beneath the calm surface.

But High Priest Eztli wasn't affected by Zhang Xun's words.

"Men are guilty." Eztli spoke slowly, "Patriarchy lasted on Earth for thousands of years and in those thousands of years we consumed the planet to the point of near unsustainability, we treated women as our possessions, we took pride in plundering and possessing, we killed each other in hatred, we created weapons that could destroy the only planet, we plundered and taken for granted. If Eden hadn't come along, if Eden hadn't taken all the necessary measures, the Earth would have become an exhausted and barren land. Yes, we don't hate Eden as much as you do. Men have to atone for their sins, to find ways to evolve, not to be stubborn."

"Even if Eden uses you for experiments?" Zhang Xun took a step forward and asked, "How many of you died in the Ascension Project?"

"Ah, you've heard of the Ascension Project." Eztli smiled, rising slowly from his chair and walking down the three-step circular staircase, "From the prisoners you have taken?"

"And those who escaped from you."

"There are always victims in any experiment, all of our experimental subjects were voluntary."

"I'm not rebuking you for what you did. I can even say that I can understand what you're trying to create." Zhang Xun slowed down his tone and put all the sincerity in his expression, "You want to get closer to God, you want to throw away your sinful male bodies and become something else, something greater. That's why you desperately want to transform your bodies and even upload everyone's consciousness, but you can't do it."

"If we can't do it, can you?" A soldier-like priest said angrily.

Zhang Xun lowered his eyes and said in a deep voice, "We might be able to do it because we're the subjects of Eden's experiments."

Whispers filled the air and the High Priest raised his hand, signalling for everyone to be silent, "Is there a plan for ascension in Lost Paradise too?"

Zhang Xun's eyes wandered around the hall and he cleared his throat slightly, "The human brain is an extremely complex and sophisticated organ. Through thousands of years of evolution it has closely integrated with all other systems of the human body. Any physical changes may affect the brain and when that effect exceeds the limit of the human brain's tolerance, it will lead to chaos and mental illness.

When you were modifying your bodies you must have known that you had to limit all sensory input to a certain range of values, otherwise you would overload the brain and cause damage. You would also be aware of the need to use a flow of solutions within the machinery to simulate hormonal fluctuations and the cyclical changes in chemical reactions typical of the human body, because when these fluctuations are gone, the human brain is unable to properly interpret the external stimuli it receives, causing emotional and perceptual confusion.

The human brain is in some ways flexible, in that even if part of the brain is injured, other parts of the brain can continue to work in place of the injured part, but at the same time, the human brain is also very stubborn and very fragile. Like a soft piece of tofu floating in cerebrospinal fluid, the slightest bump against it could cause serious damage. It needs to form its own inherent thought patterns to facilitate its ability to make sense of this all-too-complex and confusing world, also known as consciousness.

Without the support of external stimuli and the complex bioelectric transmission system in the brain, consciousness is empty and wandering. Just like a billow of smoke, if you submerge it in a cloud and take it out again then what you take out will no longer be the same billow of smoke as before. It may have been laced with everything it touched and it's simply impossible to re-separate it."