Chapter 34: The Dyson Principle

"I am truly, terribly sorry." As Dr. Schultz helped Xiang Shan attach his brand-new prosthetic arm, he kept apologizing. "I really am so sorry. My uncle, at the time... he didn't mean it that way. We are, of course, incredibly grateful to you, Great Hero, but..."

"I understand." Xiang Shan made a gesture with his newly attached right hand, signaling Dr. Schultz to say no more. This hand had originally belonged to the swordsman Longkoni; its parameters were far superior to the junk prosthetics he had been using. The palm even contained an electromagnetic system that could interface with magnetic weapon hilts, allowing for sword techniques impossible with flesh and blood.

Only after the explanation did he understand what had happened to the townspeople.

They could not bear the sight of "direct destruction of a biological brain." For them, the mere imagery of such a crime was enough to trigger a stress response.

Directly destroying a biological brain was a violation of the "Dyson Principles," an act that would cause the offender to lose the protection of civilization and forfeit every human right afforded by this era. In a sense, it was a punishment far more terrifying than the death penalty, for even those on death row possessed basic human rights that ensured they would not suffer punishments beyond the execution itself, such as torture.

But an individual who had lost the protection of civilization could be subjected to anything.

At the same time, everyone in this era believed that the "Father of All Machines" watched every individual with equal scrutiny.

To express this in non-religious terms: "There is a supreme dictator who can monitor everyone through the visual prosthetics or surveillance systems of any person."

Although Longkoni was already attacking Xiang Shan when he destroyed the man’s biological brain—perhaps keeping Xiang Shan within the boundaries of "not violating the rules"—the majority of the townspeople were incapable of discerning that in the heat of the moment. Even if they could understand it after reflection or explanation, they still felt intense terror at the time of the incident.

Whether an act counted as a "violation" or not depended entirely on the mood of the local adjudicator.

Events in that gray area between "violation" and "no violation" were enough to spark collective panic. They were terrified of attracting the gaze and punishment of the "Father of All Machines."

It did not look like mass hysteria; it was the specific form of mass hysteria unique to this era: "Fear of Power."

"No specific legal codes, no precedents to cite or supplement. Regulations that appear perfectly free are, in reality, a license for tyrants to wield their power..." Xiang Shan mused, head bowed. "The Dyson Principles... what the hell are they?"

He had already learned of the so-called Dyson Principles from Will Granddog's memories.

One could say that the Dyson Principles were the only law, perhaps even the only morality, of this era. There were only six articles, and there was even a "Article Zero" that contained no substantive content, with each article having only minimal annotations. In this era, any act that did not violate the Dyson Principles was considered "permitted."

Article Zero: All individuals who have not explicitly refused to abide by the Dyson Principles, or who have not explicitly committed an act in violation of the principles, are deemed to abide by the Dyson Principles and are granted the protection of civilization. The Dyson Principles are the only universal principles of human civilization. Any act that does not violate the Dyson Principles shall be permitted.

Article I: All humans have an obligation to maintain human genetic diversity. Refusal of this obligation results in the automatic loss of the protection of civilization.

Article II: It is forbidden to damage the biological brain of another.

Article III: It is forbidden to manufacture, use, or sell addictive substances.

Article IV: Private property exists and is protected.

Article V: Individuals are permitted, and only permitted, to form organizations in the form of "one individual pledging loyalty to another."

That was all.

"Sounds like something extreme libertarians and anarchists would love. Especially the last one... is this to prevent the emergence of 'collectives' like 'governments' that possess their own will? People with such political inclinations..."

Suddenly, an image surfaced in Xiang Shan's mind... the face of a barbarian, looking like a savage. These people might not necessarily believe in doomsday rumors like "2012." However, they were inexplicably worried about various cataclysms, refusing to live a good life, voluntarily abandoning the conveniences of modern civilization, and insisting on building various survivalist bases. Furthermore, they generally distrusted others, preferred to form small groups, and were obsessed with "survival."

To them, this was the manifestation of "free will."

Thinking of this, Xiang Shan felt as if a piece of his memory was missing. He seemed to remember... the period of wilderness survival... green rainforests... and...

His memory was indeed too fragmented. Even having found a catalyst, he couldn't recall everything.

So-called "Lords" were likewise forbidden from owning armies. Those who appeared to have highly uniform prosthetics were, in name, free groups composed of individuals who chose to follow the Lord personally and were hired by the Lord as an individual. The officials under a Lord were not a systematic civil service, but the Lord's personal assistants. A Lord, in name, did not even have the power to issue orders to the populace; he merely provided "civilian protection" and was someone who, morally, "ought to eliminate thugs"—even whether or not to eliminate those thugs was the Lord's own prerogative.

—A hollow order.

This was Xiang Shan's view of the era.

Aside from a few personnel related to the "Human Gene Bank" derived from Article I of the Dyson Principles, nothing in this era could be called "order." Everything had regressed to...

The feudal era? The age of slavery?

No, it was different. The imprint of modern technology already existed on human civilization and deeply affected this era. The tyrants of this age possessed technology that ancient despots could not have imagined; therefore, even such a chaotic, "free" tyranny could shackle every single person.

The strong had the freedom to trample on the weak at will, and the weak theoretically had the freedom to resist, but they were unable to exercise that power due to physical constraints.

This era appeared free, but some were undoubtedly freer than others.

"And perhaps that is why the light of chivalry will not be extinguished upon this earth..." Xiang Shan thought.

It was a pity that Will's memories of the chivalrous knights ended there.

It was strange, too. Logically, a person who had lost all memories would almost certainly have their personality influenced by absorbing the memories of others. Yet, Xiang Shan found that the influence of Will's memories on his own personality was negligible. His way of thinking was no different from what was recorded. It seemed that the memories Xiang Shan had forgotten were even more vast than he had imagined—so vast that...

He did not know to what extent.

He must have been a man with quite a story.

This made Xiang Shan even more interested in the memory storage devices. He now had several more in his possession. Some came from the giant called "Leif," and others from Paulus and Longkoni. Anthony's memory storage device had vanished; it must have been picked up by someone.

Xiang Shan's loot was recognized by the townspeople as "Xiang Shan's private property," so they had dared not touch it and had collected it all for him. However, since Anthony had been killed by Leif, someone had taken the opportunity.

Xiang Shan was too lazy to pursue the matter. It was said that Paulus, Longkoni, and Anthony were very close and often traveled together. Their understanding of the world was likely largely overlapping. These three guys didn't have very good martial arts, and Anthony was a practitioner of the Gun-Fu school. Xiang Shan felt he knew Gun-Fu as well, but he didn't know how to handle firearms, so he had no interest in Anthony's martial algorithms.

The only thing Xiang Shan regretted was that the memory storage device of the mysterious enemy who appeared at the end had been completely scorched and could not be recovered.

That person was undoubtedly in league with Leif, but Xiang Shan had no idea what they were there for.

In addition, the prosthetics of those people now belonged to Xiang Shan.

—I must find a time to absorb those memories... at least to figure out what the "Green Forest Path" is all about...

"...Great Hero? Great Hero?" Dr. Schultz's call interrupted Xiang Shan's thoughts.

"What is it?" Xiang Shan asked.

"Your left arm has been installed," Dr. Schultz said cautiously.

Xiang Shan jumped off the operating table and looked at his arms. These arms had originally belonged to that swordsman. The streamlined silver casing looked like a work of art, clashing with the crudely fashioned outer armor on his body. But there was no denying that these were excellent hands. The organic combination of classical power transmission and artificial muscle fibers made them incredibly agile.

Xiang Shan tentatively swung them a few times. An explosive sound raked through Dr. Schultz's auditory system.

Dr. Schultz looked at Xiang Shan with trepidation. Xiang Shan was a full foot shorter than he had been when he visited his home half a month ago. His legs had been replaced with an artificial muscle structure and featured reverse joints. In this state, Xiang Shan's legs were always in a "primed" state, ready to exert force at any moment, capable of instantly accelerating to supersonic speeds. Furthermore, with his center of gravity adjusted this way, Xiang Shan could more easily lean forward and fight from a prone position.

His outer armor was still the piece forged in the village, scarred and battered; it likely wouldn't survive another battle of equal intensity.

Head, torso, arms, legs—they seemed to be things from different eras and different price points.

Xiang Shan muttered to himself, "If I had these hands this morning, I wouldn't have had to sacrifice a prosthetic limb to gain leverage..."

"By the way, Great Hero, there is one more thing..." Schultz said carefully. "Enoch, who betrayed us, has already fled, but his cronies didn't manage to escape and were all captured by us. Also, my uncle thinks there is something you should know..."