Who is in Chapter 2?
Does Ye Xiao look haggard in the glass room?
She must look haggard. How can a pregnant woman in a place like this compare to her glamorous appearance on stage or the red carpet?
This day is considered a day for collective family visits. Did Ye Xiao's relatives come?
I don't think I saw it.
Even if he wasn't a die-hard fan, he was still a long-time fan. Wang Youwei knew that his idol was married; it had been officially announced.
However, the man is a complete outsider to the entertainment industry, and his identity is kept very secret, leaving everyone to speculate.
Where is her husband? How could he abandon his wife and children?
A thousand emotions and ten thousand angry complaints surged into Wang Youwei's mind in an instant.
However, his sister, who was even more haggard and delirious, and showed signs of abnormality, immediately took over his mind. He looked away and never saw Ye Xiao again.
The apocalyptic catastrophe was just two months away, and the world was collapsing. How was his radiant idol, that pale and haggard pregnant woman, doing?
His thoughts were interrupted by the soft tinkling of the strings. When Wang Youwei turned around, he found that his file had touched Qi An's hand, and Qi An's hand was protecting the strings.
He quickly came to his senses and apologized.
Qi An said it was okay. Her face seemed a little pale. After the shop owner applied sandpaper and polishing compound, and the worn and rusted metal strips looked brand new, she asked the shop owner if she needed it cleaned.
Wang Youwei was slightly taken aback, but only slightly.
Having lived half a lifetime and seen countless people, this person naturally guessed from Qi An's respectable attire, her fair and clean face, and her privileged life of owning a musical instrument that she was no ordinary person.
The daze of the past was completely replaced by the surprise of reality. Mr. Wang's fine lines around his eyes deepened with joy as he laughed heartily:
"It's Dr. Qi! I need purification! Thank you, Dr. Qi! I, Old Wang, am having the best of luck today!"
The afternoon sun was so intense it made people dizzy, and Qi An felt a little dizzy after carrying his violin case out.
She found a dilapidated bench on the tree-lined path and sat down.
The bright and cheerful half was covered by the shade of the trees, so Qi An could only let his heavy and damp half show, and he slumped heavily by the roadside.
After a long while, she finally took out her phone.
The new phone was bought at Base No. 1 in South China; her old phone was completely destroyed in that battle that took her up mountains and down rivers.
The phone is new, but the content is still the same, and the few commonly used apps remain unchanged.
She has many unread messages on "Red Conch," she has many friends now, and three months ago the second batch of nanosatellites were launched, Starlink network relaxed many restrictions on civilian traffic.
She has 99+ unread messages every day, more than half of which are from Lin Jiaran.
Qi An didn't check the message for the time being. Instead, he found a friend in his friend list with a colorful and abstract profile picture, named "Little Monster Alliance Unit 3," clicked on it, and typed:
Could you help me find some information about the pre-apocalyptic world?
There was no reply for a long time.
Qi An wrote several more sentences before finally replying belatedly: "What information?"
[A singer named Ye Xiao from before the apocalypse—her background, relationships, experiences... the more detailed the better. Especially, find out who her husband was.]
[Why are you investigating this person? Have you been too free lately?] came the reply from the other side.
Qi An raised an eyebrow.
"Blue Star" has been a bit irritable lately.
Not only is he short-tempered, but he also frequently disappears.
It appeared less often on its own initiative, and when Qi An called it, its response became slower and slower.
Thinking back to last year when the South China campaign had just ended, "Blue Star" was very close to her, always sticking to her, and basically available whenever she needed him.
At that time, Qi An discovered that as long as her mobile phone or advanced combat headset was connected to the Starlink network, she could contact "Blue Star".
She had an engineer check her phone as soon as she bought it.
The engineer said that she had a program package that had been downloaded in the background at some unknown time, which could bypass user permissions and automatically connect to the Internet.
No wonder her old phone, which didn't have much data stored on it, already had very little memory left.
Behind the instant intimacy and attentiveness lies an unequal relationship. Qi An asked the fundamental question: "Can you turn on the camera and microphone on my phone anytime?"
The other person hesitated for a moment, but then told the truth: "Sure..."
Qi An then began to consider the possibility of never using a mobile phone again.
"Blue Star" hurriedly explained: "But they're not that tasteless; they don't pry into your privacy."
I only turned on the camera and microphone once or twice during testing.
This is what I can do. Just like when you're purifying someone's memories, you'll always accidentally learn something.
A person's sincere memories are the core of their personality.
So you're saying your invasion of some people's privacy is no less than mine?
"Blue Star" is good at roasting people, and these words left Qi An speechless.
She choked, and "Blue Star's" voice lowered, seemingly muttering, but with an inexplicable mechanical indifference:
There are still 30 million people on the mainland. Who's interested in watching this? It's all the same old trivial stuff over and over again.
I only care about people I like, people who are valuable, and... damn people.
These words immediately gave Qi An a strange feeling.
How come "Blue Star" is both like AI and not like AI?
Is it too intelligent and lifelike? How can it have the concept of "liking"? And how can it judge human existence?
No amount of speculation could be verified, so Qi An only asked the one question that was most crucial to her:
Which high-ranking officials at Northwest University also know my secret? Who sent you to follow me?
But the answer she received was even more unexpected:
No one else knows, only I do. It's not the right time for them to know yet.
Qi An was completely stunned.
Blue Star is not even entirely under the control of its developers and owners.
Does it have an independent will?
He was stunned for a long time, a multitude of thoughts racing through Qi An's mind, like flashing swords...
Ultimately, they came up with a "retirement" strategy.
Qi An instinctively repelled the spy, but also instinctively felt that "Blue Star" meant no harm.
She simply couldn't fathom what kind of strange and powerful existence the "Blue Star" was, nor did she know the extent to which it was omnipresent.
Instead of pointlessly rejecting and guarding against each other, why not continue chatting about gossip in our daily lives and fight side by side on the battlefield?
It's written in her "Monthly Journal" that she will protect those who are willing to protect her... or AI.
However, Blue Star has been a bit irritable lately. Qi An asked it, "What's wrong?"
[Having eaten too much shit, he wants to destroy the world.]
Qi An: [...Is there anything I can help with?]
[Yes, but not really.] A long string of colorful abstract graffiti appeared again. It might have started out expressing happiness, but then it became chaotic, and its meaning is unclear.
But when Qi An asked for help, "Blue Star" responded very generously:
Because of your concern, I looked into that female celebrity for you!
But you're likely to be busy lately; you might receive a new assignment notification soon or tomorrow.
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