Chapter 119 Senior
Li Ziyue did not show much surprise when he learned that Cheng Cheng, who had fought with Zhang Lian for several nights, was not a real person but an artificial intelligence that was almost 100% simulated.
He once watched the fight between Cheng Cheng and Zhang Lian in the observation room. No matter how hard Zhang Lian hit him, the injured parts of Cheng Cheng healed at a speed unimaginable for ordinary people.
Zhang Lian had undergone body modification and almost perverted special training since he was a child, and his physical fitness had long been much better than that of ordinary people, but Cheng Cheng's recovery speed was even faster than Zhang Lian's.
It's really strange.
The technological level of this virtual world is advancing at a rocket speed. There is basically no difference in appearance between machine anthropomorphism and real people. Even if the robot's body is cut open, what you see are bloody pieces of flesh and organs, rather than the densely tangled wires that the public imagines.
The only thing that surprised Li Ziyue was Li Xiaocan's attitude towards Cheng Cheng.
After knowing that the other party is a cold machine with no life in the theoretical sense, Li Xiaocan still treats Cheng Cheng as a friend.
They would occasionally practice together, and go to the restaurant to eat ice cream when they were tired. During this time, Li Xiaocan would also make a few insults to Cheng Cheng, and while sighing, he would ask Muchuan, who was sitting next to Cheng Cheng, to take care of Cheng Cheng.
However, Muchuan is also a machine.
Most machines must be built based on a specific functional requirement, but Muchuan and Chengcheng do not take on any tasks in this area. They are born just to be themselves, and their behavior and daily routine are no different from real people.
If so, what is the meaning of their existence?
Li Xiaocan did not shy away from this topic. He took Li Ziyue into the innermost room of the main area, known as the "data grave", without reservation.
The entire structure of the room blurred into pure white, and people seemed to step into the clouds in the sky. Looking up, they saw an endless barrier that seemed to be covered by thick fog, and countless tiny silver lights flickered inside the barrier.
Looking down, I see rippling blue waves. The blue sea water keeps washing the soles of my feet, and magically, I don't feel any dampness or coolness at all.
Countless slender gray and white human shadows could be vaguely seen in the thick fog, but when Li Ziyue tried to get closer, the shadows moved away from him at the same time.
Li Xiaocan waved to Li Ziyue. He held three invisible silk threads in his hand and pulled two of them with his fingers. The figures in the distance caused a silent collision and shaking, and two shadows moved towards this side.
After bypassing the thick fog, Li Ziyue saw the true identity of the shadows - it was Cheng Cheng and Muchuan.
Their bodies below the waist were trapped in thick fog, and their upper bodies were surrounded by light blue data circles. The blue gradually gave way to flesh color as they went higher, and by the time they reached the head, it formed a skull that looked no different from that of a normal human.
The simulated human's eyes were lifeless, his pupils were pitch black, his hair was wet, with water droplets flowing down the curve of his face, but his lips and other places showed the redness of life.
"For some reason, my life was extended indefinitely. They were my friends, but their real bodies died fifty-six years ago," Li Xiaocan said softly. "After they died, I accidentally entered this virtual world during my long personal journey. Here I found their 'remains' preserved in the form of data. With the help of technology, I also gave them 'eternal life'."
"Although I took the initiative to 'resurrect' them, I fully respect their wishes as mechanical life forms," Li Xiaocan tapped their brows, causing them to retreat and fall into the thick fog again. "This room is also open to them. When Cheng Cheng came here for the first time, he even smiled and said, 'How cool! This way, no matter how badly injured you are, you won't die.'"
Li Xiaocan's eyebrows softened slightly, as if he was lost in some memories.
Li Ziyue stared at him for a long time.
“Although this is a tomb that preserves their origins, it is also a place where they can be reborn.”
Li Xiaocan retracted the silk thread and met Li Ziyue's eyes.
Li Ziyue said carefully: "They are still machines... How do you know that it is their real reaction and not the result of rigid calculation?"
There is still an essential difference between living things born from nature and machines that can be reassembled and reborn infinitely. This transcends species and is naturally difficult for people to fully accept.
"Like you, I couldn't accept lifelike robots at first. I always felt that no matter how realistic they were, they were not human beings. Until I met that robot," Li Xiaocan said frankly. "In the past few years, she would watch a video of someone before going to bed every night and then cry herself to sleep."
He lowered his head and looked at the pads of his index finger and thumb pressed together: "One time, I helped her turn off the video, and when I got close to her, a tear from her eye just happened to fall on my fingertips."
"The warm, transparent liquid evaporated quietly in my hands. I could even feel its weight becoming lighter. It was the sadness of a simulated person, but it overlapped with my emotions."
Li Ziyue discovered that Li Xiaocan's hands were shaking.
"From an operational perspective, humans are also sophisticated computers," the swallow above Li Xiaocan's head was awakened by his voice and tucked its round head into Li Xiaocan's hair. "The new Cheng Cheng and Mu Chuan are made up of a bunch of data, and you and I are made up of a bunch of cells, that's all."
"If I hadn't told you that they were machines, would you not have had such doubts?"
"How do you view real people? How do you view machines?"
He stared into Li Ziyue's eyes and asked seriously, "How do you view life? How do you view feelings?"
"I don't know," Li Xiaocan lowered his head and paused for a moment. "I only know that after they died, I missed them for a long time. When I saw them again in this world, they could talk instead of being buried in a cold grave. I was so excited that I almost cried."
Li Ziyue's lips moved slightly, and he thought about it for a while but still didn't say it. He just stared at the last silk thread that was pulling the shadow and was still in Li Xiaocan's hand.
“That’s my answer.”
Li Xiaocan stroked Yan Zi's soft artificial feathers, but asked him: "What about you? Li Ziyue."
Li Ziyue's fingers hanging at his sides trembled slightly towards his palms, and the expression on his face seemed to be covered with a layer of mist that made it unclear what was going on, moist and with a coldness that seemed to be about to condense into ice.
"You might as well explain it more bluntly."
Li Ziyue seemed to be answering a question that was not related to the question, but Li Xiaocan smiled and understood what he meant.
"You ask me this because have you ever really thought about 'digital life'? You've already guessed who wants to see you, right?"
…
Everyone knew that a large-scale mutation was about to happen, but they didn't expect it to come so soon.
Originally, the mutation only existed in scrapped machines, but now it has spread rapidly for some inexplicable reason, setting off a mutation trend like a swarm of locusts.
First, the animals in the main area inexplicably went out of control. The abnormal self-destruct systems in their bodies were activated one after another. On the road, there were many lions and sheep that were inexplicably broken in half, and birds madly crashed into high-rise buildings until they were completely destroyed by the rebounding impact force.
The little soldiers who recycle scrapped machinery are already too busy to handle the situation. Broken pieces of metal are rolling on the roads, in houses, and even in the wastewater ditches deep in narrow alleys.
Red lights were on everywhere and security alarms were blaring in the area.
"A mechanical explosion is about to occur inside the restaurant, 36 degrees west in front of you and 23.9 meters away from you. Please choose the new route I have planned for you."
AI reminder in the brain.
Li Ziyue was still twisting a paralyzed rabbit in his hand, frowning.
A thick black and red oily liquid kept spitting out of the pink mouth of the rabbit in his hand. The liquid flowed down along the tilt of Li Ziyue's hand, dripped onto the ground, and was quickly absorbed by the smart carpet.
"The liquid report has been issued, and the results show that the rabbit in your hand has undergone initial mutation. Please discard it as soon as possible," a gentle female voice sounded from the ceiling. "We will complete the mutant recovery within a minute, so you don't need to worry."
Li Ziyue remembered this female voice. When he and Zhang Lian first arrived here a few days ago, she reminded Li Xiaocan to register as a visitor.
Later, Li Ziyue learned from a conversation with Li Liu that she was the security system of this area, which was currently suffering from serious external attacks, so she rarely appeared in the main area.
Li Ziyue shook his head and, disobeying the reminder of the AI assistant in his mind, walked straight towards the area where it indicated there would be mechanical self-destruction.
Every time he took a step, the AI repeated the reminder.
"Please change direction. The explosion will occur in 30 seconds."
"Please change direction! The explosion will occur in 10 seconds!!"
“Stop! Stop!”
The AI prompts become more and more ferocious and crazy.
"There are only three seconds left before you are blown to death! You are blown to death!"
"Your death was very tragic... hehe... I saw it all..."
The AI suddenly became gloomy, and those curse-like murmurs lingered in Li Ziyue's ears, as if countless stillborn babies who had just been born from their mothers were making noises around him.
"You will get the same death penalty as them... Have you forgotten... You can't escape..."
The AI read his memory without his permission.
Li Ziyue's face became darker and darker. He continued to move forward in silence while counting down in his heart.
“3.”
“2.”
“1.”
He opened the door of the restaurant and the scene before him seemed normal.
The mechanical animals helping in each area worked in an orderly manner, and there were no abnormalities warned by the AI.
Li Ziyue secretly breathed a sigh of relief, his upper teeth lightly touched the gray spot on the tip of his tongue, and he wanted to turn off the AI assistant again.
"Sorry, you don't have enough permissions to shut me down."
As expected, the other party popped up a rejection feedback again.
This was not the first time. After the animals outside went out of control, the AI assistants in most people's brains also began to become confused, often producing some non-existent danger warnings. Li Ziyue could not count how many times he had been awakened by the shrill mechanical screams in his head in the past few nights.
The recent mechanical mutation has had a great impact. The attackers have adopted an invasion method similar to a mental attack, which can "infect" normal machines without leaving any trace. The AI assistant has also been affected. It is now like a few-year-old child abandoned by its mother. Any slight movement around it can make it frightened and distracted.
At the same time, it also unconsciously absorbs the negative emotions produced by humans, such as boredom, panic, fear, sadness... all kinds of pain are transformed by it into indiscriminate insults to the owner, destroying its psychological defenses for the second time.
What's worse is that Li Ziyue can't force it to shut down. Its firewall will become very vulnerable when it falls into dormant state. In order not to be further affected by the mutation, it refuses Li Ziyue's shutdown with a human survival instinct.
"I'm sorry," the female voice from the ceiling sounded again as soon as I stepped into the restaurant, "My child has been attacked too many times recently, so I can't provide you with the help you deserve. I have used the administrator's authority to force it to shut down."
The crazy AI in my head finally went silent.
"This wave of invasion has been initially cracked, but because there are too many mutated machines in the area, the remaining labor force cannot support the repair and operation. I need your assistance."
"Please ask Cheng Cheng and Mu Chuan to go to the east gate, Li Xiaocan to go to the west gate, Li Liu to stay in the center, Liu Yuche..."
At last, Li Ziyue heard his mission, but it was very strange - "Li Ziyue, please go to your bedroom and rest."
"Please rest assured, I am not questioning your ability," the always calm female voice finally began to rise and fall, and the words were no longer official. "If I still make you worry here, then I am too unqualified."
Li Ziyue suddenly raised his head and looked at the ceiling which was lit with a layer of warm light.
"You..." He blurted out subconsciously, but the words got stuck at the beginning.
What did he want to say at that moment?
This round of mutant invasion was successfully resolved, and Li Ziyue sat motionless on the bed for two hours.
There was no light in the bedroom, the curtains were tightly closed, and it was pitch black all around.
It was not until there was a knock on the door that Li Ziyue was startled as if he had just woken up from a dream.
It’s Li Xiaocan.
He looked at Li Ziyue and said, "Let's go."
Li Ziyue almost forgot all the details of his journey to that room. His mind was in a mess. He thought about the falling snow or the hot weather, the endless exercises on the table, and the wooden desks by the window in the back of the classroom that received half of the sunlight.
Outside the window is the fragrance of camphor leaves.
Until that door opens.
His gaze was so cautious and timid, and the composure he had acquired over the past few years vanished in an instant, leaving behind only the shadow of the young boy who was being protected following behind them.
The floor was too smooth and the man's blurry figure was reflected on it.
He heard his voice trembling.
His teeth chattered as two words came out of his throat hoarsely and quickly, mixed with the sourness of his nose and the redness of his eyes.
Too dumb.
“…Senior.”
At this moment, he seemed to have returned to six years ago, when no one was dead and everyone was still by his side.
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