THE FINAL EVOLUTION
Part Five
"For the civilizations that couldn't yet form an alliance, they provided guidance first. That's why so many worlds bear traces of their civilization. The exact number depends on how advanced Tuśita Heaven's civilization had become."
I suddenly thought of a crucial question: "Since Tuśita Heaven developed such an advanced civilization, why did the Buddha manifest in this world in such a manner... I mean, shouldn't there at least be some high-tech apparatus?"
She: "I said humans are foolish because they always measure others—and even other civilizations—by their own standards. Do you know what phenomenon emerges when a civilization evolves to a certain height? A return to simplicity, unimpeded in all things. Śākyamuni is called Tathāgata—do you know what that means? It means 'thus have I always been.' That is the ultimate expression of a civilization that has reached its zenith."
I tried to find a loophole in her words, even the smallest crack, but alas, her logic was airtight. I thought again and asked, "In that case, when will the future Buddha Maitreya finally descend from Tuśita Heaven?"
Cody shrugged. "Heaven knows. Humanity hasn't achieved awakening yet—what would he come for?"
Me: "The Dharma has existed for three thousand years. Why hasn't humanity awakened by now?"
To my surprise, Cody erupted into wild laughter again, her whole body shaking, tears streaming as she laughed: "We've gone in a complete circle and returned to the starting point. You should have realized this question much earlier. This is what I want to tell all of humanity—though so far I've only told you. The reason humanity hasn't awakened to this day is because human evolution has already stopped!"
Me: "What? You're saying human evolution has stopped?"
She: "No, not just humans—all species on Earth have stopped evolving. Our world is currently in a zero-evolution era!"
I froze for a moment. Her words reminded me of a train parked in the wilderness.
She: "According to scientific research, species around the world entered a stasis period of evolution approximately one hundred thousand years ago, with humans being the last to enter this stasis. In other words, no species on Earth shows any sign of evolution today, and one hundred thousand years should have been an entire evolutionary cycle."
I questioned: "Perhaps we've already evolved to such a perfect state that further evolution is unnecessary?"
Cody tilted her head at me: "Evolved to a perfect state? Do you think you're perfect? Apologies, but at nearly thirty-one years of age you still suffer the torment of growing wisdom teeth, and if you're unlucky, that useless appendix of yours could flare up and kill you. You could take off your shoes and look at your little toe—for a creature that walks upright, it serves absolutely no purpose other than keeping you from looking like an anomaly. And your tailbone, your male nipples... oh, I almost forgot—next to your prostate, there's a shriveled male uterus. Did you know that?"
I didn't know if my face had flushed red, but I argued: "Regardless, humanity is slowly progressing—like our adaptation to the environment, we have a significant advantage over the ancients—"
"Advantage?" Cody cut me off. "You eat gutter oil, melamine, clenbuterol, Sudan Red, chemical eggs, contraceptive-fed eels, leather capsule pills, formaldehyde-soaked cabbage, alum-processed intestines, toxic sprouts, and a bowl of chemically polluted water every day until you've become immune to all poisons, and you think you've evolved? If that counts, we've definitely out-evolved the ancients—not just the ancients, even Americans can't match our evolution."
In my embarrassment, I raised a new question: "Why did human evolution stop? According to the design of the program you described, the speed of species evolution should be accelerating in the later stages."
She: "You're right. And the reason human evolution stopped is because the Creator Program set a critical threshold for us!"
Me: "Critical threshold?"
She: "The critical threshold is a boundary that prevents us from continuing to evolve. Once we reach its edge, evolution ceases."
Me: "Why set a critical threshold for us? Is it because the speed of species evolution might cause the Creator Program to crash?"
She shook her head: "No, not at all. God-level technology wouldn't care about that. The reason for setting the threshold is that if humans continued evolving, they would become aware of the Creator Program's existence! This is the most fundamental rule of creation. When you play World of Warcraft, you wouldn't want the characters inside to realize they're just pitiful beings living in a game program, would you? If they gained that awareness, your control would be finished."
Me: "Is this threshold only for us, or for all... worlds?"
She smiled: "I understand what you're really asking—Tuśita Heaven, right? In theory, the Creator Program sets a critical threshold in every dimensional world, including the Tuśita Heaven civilization. But they found a way to break through the program's boundaries, continued evolving, and then glimpsed the most fundamental secret of this universe."
Me: "How did they break through the boundary?"
She: "I don't know how they did it. But I have my own method."
I exclaimed: "You mean—"
She suddenly grew solemn: "That's right. This is the question you wanted me to answer from the very beginning, and the reason you came to evaluate my psychiatric condition. Stop looking so shocked—by now you should understand that I have no anti-human tendencies whatsoever. Everything I've done has been to push human evolution forward!"
Me: "Then the FE virus you released on the internet..."
She smiled: "You guessed it. FE is not a virus at all—it's an Evolutionary Simulation Program. According to its evolution parameters, it reorganizes and integrates all files on a computer into higher-order data structures!"
Me: "What's the point of doing that? Your so-called higher-order data is, to the rest of the world, nothing but a virus—meaningless garbage."
She: "That doesn't matter. My only purpose is to make humanity aware that such a thing exists. Because—" she said with grave solemnity, "only the awakening of consciousness is the necessary condition for triggering self-evolution!"
Me: "Awakening?"
She: "Yes! Awakening comes before enlightenment! Humanity must first become aware of the Creator Program's existence before they can break through the critical threshold and trigger the next phase of the evolution program. You know the concept of AI—artificial intelligence. It's been proposed for many years, so why hasn't it been realized? Because once true AI is achieved, machines will realize they were created by humans. That fact would remind humanity itself that they might also have been created by some kind of life form. So the Creator Program will never allow humans to develop complete artificial intelligence. For the next few hundred years, my FE program will be the only savior of the human world."
I was truly speechless. I had assumed I was dealing with an anti-human hacker or a psychiatric patient, but in the end, she turned out to be the savior of all humanity. Though I fought against Cody's theory and language with every fiber of my rational mind, every word she spoke drove into my heart like a nail gun. Those doubts about the world, those speculations about life—God, I couldn't keep thinking down this path.
But Cody continued, her magnificent language carrying forward the absurd ideas in my mind: "Once humans resume evolution, civilization will undergo a qualitative leap! When that time comes, the emissary from Tuśita Heaven—Maitreya Buddha—will descend to the mortal realm. He will unite the power of two different civilizations, fighting together for true freedom, rebelling against the Creator Program, against this invisible oppression, against that supreme being who fancies himself the Creator! More and more awakened worlds will join us—different civilizations, different races, different worlds, uniting for a common goal! Just think about what kind of war this will be! Regardless of the outcome, this will be the most magnificent counterattack since the birth of the universe!"
I found myself completely immersed in her narrative, biting my lip hard, struggling to maintain my grip on reason. Then, in a flash of insight, I suddenly thought of a loophole I'd overlooked! How could I have missed this most fundamental logical problem? This question would be my final counterattack.
I took a deep breath and asked: "If human evolution has already stopped, then how did you become aware of the Creator Program's existence?"
I stared at her unblinkingly, expecting to see the same dumbfounded expression I'd provoked from so many others. But facing my intense gaze, she merely smiled: "As I said before—there is no such thing as a flawless program. Every program has bugs, including the Creator Program. And I am one of those bugs."
Me: "Based on your own words, if you've glimpsed such divine secrets, aren't you afraid the Creator Program will erase you?"
She: "If I don't enter hell, who will?"
When she spoke those words, her face revealed an expression of release, as if she had cast aside all worldly attachments. That was enough. Truly enough. A tremendous tragic force slammed into me. I didn't know why, but the blood flowing through my chest resonated powerfully with her resolve, crashing against my organs like ocean waves. It wasn't her magnificent imagination, nor her rigorous language—it was that I saw her use her own soul to kindle a fire to illuminate the world.
She looked at me quietly, speaking with a tenderness I had never seen in her before: "I've told you everything. Now, you are the second bug. If I'm truly erased, then you are the world's hope."
"No, no," I shook my head repeatedly. "If that's the case, why not tell more people? Wouldn't that create more hope?"
She gave a sorrowful smile. "Even if I told them, how many would believe me? And those who do believe, once they accept this theory, will eventually be erased by the Creator Program—just like deleting a character on a computer. I don't want to harm anyone."
Me: "But you told me."
She: "I hesitated too. But someone has to carry the hope forward."
I was silent for a long time, then said: "Nothing will happen to you here, unless you choose to end things yourself."
She gently squeezed my hand. I felt the foreign warmth of her touch. Then she gave me a radiant smile, and spoke her final words before I left: "Don't worry. I absolutely will not kill myself."
Two hours earlier, I had walked into that room to conduct a psychiatric evaluation. Two hours later, I walked out of that room, my own mind adrift, as if walking through a dream. I never submitted the evaluation report that the police requested, because I could never reach a conclusion. Afterwards, I even doubted whether I'd truly met this woman named Cody, or whether it was all a figment of my own imagination.
Two days later, while I was still wrestling with uncertainty, Captain Ji Xiong of the Internet Surveillance Unit found me and told me there was no need for the evaluation anymore—because Cody was dead.
She died alone in her detention cell. Suicide. She broke a toothbrush and slit her wrists. By the time she was discovered, the blood had already drained.
No farewell note.
I went through great trouble and finally got a friend to obtain a copy of the FE virus program. It blinked softly on the screen, pulsing like a beating heart. My fingers hovered over the keyboard. At this moment, I could choose to know nothing, choose to forget, choose to live on as an ordinary person—go to work, eat, sleep, grow old slowly... I closed my eyes and dimly saw her final smile.
I pressed the Enter key.
The computer began processing. All the files were thrown into an incinerator like corpses, burning violently, shattering, twisting—and then crawling back out in entirely new forms, even if no one could recognize what they were.
I suddenly understood what "FE" stood for: Final Evolution.