The meeting continued until sunset.
Various aid projects, totaling 18 trillion, and this was only a portion; more subsequent aid projects would be placed on the table for discussion.
Jiang Ye was so tired his head felt oxygen-deprived. After the meeting, he remained seated, gazing at the blood-red sunset outside.
He had never imagined that so many things would happen because of this giant ball of fire.
Other planet leaders and foreign ministers had already risen and left, but one person, like Jiang Ye, remained silently seated in their original position.
Yuki Yotsuya.
"Mr. Jiang, is something the matter? If not, you can come to my residence now," she said with a smile. "There are some things about artificial humans that you might find interesting."
"Please wait a moment, I need to ask my wife for permission." Jiang Ye took out his phone and smiled apologetically. "I'm truly sorry."
"I understand." Yuki Yotsuya's smile became meaningful.
He typed a message to Cen Yemeng.
"I won't be back for dinner. I have something to discuss with Planet Leader Yotsuya at her residence, and I might be back quite late."
"Male planet leader or female planet leader?" Cen Yemeng replied instantly.
"Female planet leader," Jiang Ye typed in explanation. "Don't worry, we're really just discussing official business."
"You're not keeping your word!" Several angry emojis followed.
"Although this is very important, if you don't agree, I won't go. I'll listen to you," Jiang Ye replied.
He said this deliberately, knowing his wife well enough to expect a transformative response.
"Forget it. Since it's important, you go. I don't want to be Daji," Cen Yemeng replied as expected. "Come back immediately after you're done, don't get your butt stuck to the sofa and be unable to move."
Jiang Ye put away his phone and smiled at Yuki Yotsuya. "It's settled."
...
Yuki Yotsuya's residence was an underwater house, a giant swimming pool with the entire glass structure submerged within it.
Jiang Ye stood by the wall, looking at the high water outside, feeling a sense of suffocation. This design was requested by Yuki Yotsuya; perhaps she preferred a deep-sea ambiance.
"Here, look at this." Yuki Yotsuya pressed something the size of a Go stone onto Jiang Ye's hand.
The object stuck like a cheap sticker and emitted a faint warmth, projecting a video in the air.
High technology, Jiang Ye marveled inwardly.
The displayed interface showed various parameters for the creation of artificial humans.
The maximum height could be three meters.
Appearance could be modified arbitrarily, from Xi Shi to Quasimodo.
Skin color could be adjusted to any hue, making an Avatar easily achievable.
In addition to external features, internal organs could also be created, including the initial brain structure.
Tens of thousands of gene templates were already fixed. Jiang Ye casually selected one, [Common 00113 Gene], and its description read:
[Ordinary appearance. Liver and heart are prone to disease. Physical condition deteriorates rapidly after the age of 40. Therefore, the life trajectory of individuals with this gene is approximately as follows: they strive upwards in their youth, achieve a certain level of success, become incapable in middle age, rapidly decline, lose social status, and their family fortunes dwindle. If they stubbornly push themselves, it is highly likely to lead to a disease outbreak and a shortened lifespan. If they accept reality, they will spend their later years in hardship, reminiscing about past glories.]
He switched to another, [Common 00284 Gene], and the description was even longer:
[Appearance is average before the age of 30. After 30, appearance becomes increasingly outstanding, reaching a highly charming level. Physical condition is poor in childhood, but significantly better than peers in middle and old age. The brain is slow to develop in youth, with a sudden enlightenment in middle age. The life trajectory of individuals with this gene is approximately: they look down on themselves in their youth, and their luck suddenly explodes in middle age, leading them to believe that destiny has great plans for them. They will boast that the hardships experienced in youth are the capital for their later success, believing that they can change their fate through hard work, and finally spend their later years in pride.]
Jiang Ye felt a chill run down his spine.
This was more accurate than fortune-telling; it was practically a book of destiny.
If there were truly creators of humans, like God or Nuwa, they might have used similar software.
"These gene descriptions are just rough estimates," Yuki Yotsuya said, glancing at the interface with a smile. "In small-scale tracking experiments, the accuracy rate is about sixty percent. After all, a person's fate is variable; postnatal efforts, low-probability events, and the surrounding environment can all change a person's life. Only about half is truly determined by genes."
"Honestly, this is too terrifying," Jiang Ye's back was sweating. "When you create a person, you predetermine half of their fate. This is too cruel. We cannot defy heaven, but we at least shouldn't abet evil."
"Why do you find it terrifying?" Yuki Yotsuya smiled, looking somewhat perplexed.
"Imagine you are an artificial human, but you believe you are an ordinary human. You have desires, you have dreams, you want to succeed through hard work, or you simply want to live a peaceful life," Jiang Ye said. "But in reality, all of this is an illusion. The age of illness and death, whether the abilities granted by genes can lead to success, all tragedies are predetermined from the very beginning, and controlled by human hands. Isn't that terrifying?"
"Then why not bestow a beautiful fate upon artificial humans?" Yuki Yotsuya countered immediately. "Imagine you are an artificial human, but you believe you are an ordinary human. You have desires, you have dreams, you want to succeed through hard work, or you simply want to live a peaceful life. For a long time, you will be anxious, but in reality, due to the gene design, you will indeed achieve success and live a healthy life. All your anxieties and worries will be narrowly averted, and all doubts and pains will be temporary. Isn't that good?"
Jiang Ye was momentarily speechless.
It seemed to have some logic.
Creating a person destined to fail and watching them suffer was undoubtedly a heinous crime.
But creating a person with a high probability of success, watching them live a happy life, perhaps even... doing a good deed?
However, something felt wrong, and Jiang Ye couldn't quite articulate it.
"As you can see, our technology is very mature. We can create completely different people, enough to fill the entire universe," Yuki Yotsuya said. "Artificial human technology is very mature. Once applied, it can inject sufficient vitality into a planet. Mr. Jiang, would you consider it?"
"But... artificial humans are not feasible in terms of social ethics and order, are they?" Jiang Ye frowned.
"What makes them infeasible?" Yuki Yotsuya tilted her head. "As I mentioned in the meeting, artificial humans can be fully integrated into human society. No one knows their differences, not even themselves. Perhaps a loving couple, where the wife is an ordinary human and the husband is an artificial human, they can still be happy and blissful, living until they are old without ever knowing that their origins are different."
"This is a major problem," Jiang Ye shook his head.