Chapter 63-63- The Fire Thief
During the days of learning to use the compilation tools, a month passed by unknowingly. No new big orders came from the middlemen of Agashe, and Yvette was like an ordinary female college student, commuting between the university and the apartment every day. Apart from the occasional confession of love by some male college students who were attracted by her beauty, there was nothing worth mentioning about her.
On the news pages, the werewolf killer incident has gradually cooled down and no longer has the heat of the past, but the mysterious girl named Wuming still maintains her fame in the mercenary world of Agashe. It seems that the less she reveals her true identity, the more charming she becomes. Many people are looking forward to the day when she will show up, if for no other reason, they are simply curious about whether she is the "peerless little beauty" mentioned by the middleman Caster.
Then, after more than half a month, the Fire Bearer finally replied. He asked Yvette to add his chat account because there were too many useless messages in the private messages of the forum account and he didn't want to check them frequently.
So, that evening, after the addition was completed, Yvette immediately asked, "Have you considered the deal I mentioned?"
This is naturally referring to the knowledge transaction. She doesn't mind whether it is directly exchanging information for information or spending money to buy discounted information.
The Fire Bearer replied, "The knowledge we gather to maintain civilization is to prepare for the post-apocalyptic restart of human civilization, not for the purpose of trading knowledge. My friend, I cannot offer you such an opportunity. It would increase our risks and attract the attention of even more corporate forces."
"So what are you going to do? Let me upload knowledge to you without building mutual trust with you?" Yvette asked with a frown.
Only because she knew that there were top hackers behind this inconspicuous and mysterious organization would she be more patient. Otherwise, who would think that this was not a scam?
The Fire Bearer was silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "I can't trade knowledge with you directly; that's too risky. But I can give you something else, and at the same time, let you feel our ability and determination."
"Something else?"
"Yes, it can be an item or intelligence. It won't feel like great value for money, and it might even be a bit overpriced, but it might be one of the few ways you can get those things."
"What?"
"Depends on what you want."
That's a bit boastful... Yvette thought for a moment and then asked tentatively, "So... do you have any information on 'intelligent AI gaining self-awareness'?"
According to information obtained during the exploration of the Abyss Base, the base's main control intelligence should have come alive last year, gaining self-awareness and being discovered by maintenance personnel in the computer room. However, in the days since she entered the dream, she had not seen any media reports or rumors about this.
Obviously, these messages that could easily cause panic among the public have been blocked. Without any special channels, it would be difficult to obtain them.
The fire bearer said, "Yes."
"Really?" Yvette was a little surprised, so she just asked casually.
"This is indeed a secret. If it weren't for us, you would never have known it anywhere else," the Fire Bearer said. "But how can I put it, my friend? You're no ordinary person, even to think of asking this question."
"What price do you plan to offer for this information? How do you want to trade?" Yvette asked.
"I will arrange for someone to conduct an offline transaction with you. The extent of the intelligence provided depends on the value you give us. Of course, you don't have to worry about whether the knowledge you hand over is something we already have. Regardless of whether we already have it or not, we will calculate it according to the market value." said the Fire Bearer.
"Okay, I have a complete copy of the Elemental Decay Complementary Technology. How much information can I get from this intelligence?"
"A small part."
"What if I add money temporarily during an offline transaction? Will you accept it?" Yvette asked again.
"Buying directly will also help our cause, my friend. Because I have already told you, what we give you will definitely have a premium."
"OK."
"Okay, I'll send you the transaction-related information later. Thank you for your support of our cause, my friend. From now on, we are comrades."
…
Considering that the other party must have searched for information about her after the last dream, Yvette directly used "Anonymous" as the code name when providing a pseudonym, and she didn't care whether the other party could guess that she was the famous "folk hero" recently.
The next morning, at the agreed-upon Floating Light Bar, Yvette saw her transaction partner. It turned out to be a humanoid mechanical puppet, resembling a mature, middle-aged man. As she pushed the door open and entered, the puppet waved at her with a faint smile.
Offline transactions use physical coins, also known as "credit coins." The biggest advantage is that they can't be transferred online. If Yvette feels she's been scammed, she can easily beat the person up and get the money back.
Carrying a bag of physical coins, Yvette sat down across from the puppet and heard him say, "I am the Fire Bearer. Nice to meet you. Good morning, the famous Miss Nobody."
"I will directly transmit the Element Decay Complementation Technology to you, but I hope you won't make me feel cheated." Yvette said.
"Don't worry, this puppet of mine is not cheap, and I don't want it to be scrapped after just one use." The fire bearer made a gesture of pushing his glasses and smiled elegantly and casually.
Soon after transmitting the information about the professional book, Yvette saw the information sent by the Fire Bearer through the private chat channel.
"The story of mechanical puppets gaining self-awareness actually happened several years ago and was blocked by governments around the world."
"Based on the existing secret information, one thing we know for sure is that this incident originated from Silver Mirror Continent's Sky Dome Technology."
"But what's strange is that this is clearly a good opportunity to strike a blow against competitors, but the other seven super companies have remained silent on this matter, even companies like the Sky Split Group, whose business has obvious overlaps."
"There's a unified code name within the company and the government for the mysterious event that led to everything."
"They called it, 'The Fire Thief's Incident.'
The message from the Fire Bearer ended. A professional book worth 500,000 yuan was exchanged for just a few words, so few that Yvette subconsciously frowned. But she had to admit that these few words did add more mystery to the intelligent awakening event of the Abyss Base.
If the root of everything is Tianqiong Technology, then why don’t other super companies do something to attack their competitors or seize the market?
Especially Lin Tui Biology and Ling Man Company. The former is rapidly iterating a biological intelligent brain technology called "Magic Dragon", intending to use it to replace the "mind core" inside the mechanical puppet, and is ambitious; the latter uses a technology called "Green Seed" to connect consciousness with a plant-type data center called "Fuyuan Tree". Once Tianqiong Technology falls, it will be more helpful for Ling Man Company to promote this type of technology beyond the Emerald Continent.
Could it be that some kind of agreement had been reached? Or perhaps the Fire Thief incident involved something where the super companies had a common interest?
After a moment's silence, Yvette handed all the cash she had brought to the Fire Bearer. The 1 million yuan was the remaining value of the intelligence the Fire Bearer had quoted her. She hadn't initially thought it would be useful, but now it seemed she'd miscalculated.
Worried about her own little money, Yvette threatened coldly, "You'd better not let me find out that you made this up."
"Don't worry, Miss Wuming, you are not an ordinary person. I will cherish the opportunity to interact with you and will not do anything stupid. At the same time, I also thank you for your support of the Civilization Preservation Society."
The Fire Bearer accepted it without even looking at it, speaking sincerely, and then sent more intelligence information to Yvette's private chat.
"The origin of the Fire Thief incident is a special information virus beyond human cognition. Sky Technology calls it the 'Fire Thief Program.'"
"No one knows how Skydome Technology came up with such a unique program, perhaps even they themselves don't know. It has no self-awareness of its own, but it can give self-awareness to any mind core it comes into contact with, and even actively carry it away or into hiding. It's quite incredible."
"But what's even more incredible is that, according to the information recently revealed by Sky Dome Technology, the Fire Thief program has already 'died'."
"It's not killed by antivirus programs, nor is it manually eradicated. Instead, it dies naturally after reaching a certain 'lifespan'."
"This is what Skydome Technology secretly submitted to various governments and major corporations. It sounds ridiculous, but for now, we can only accept it, wait, and observe."
"The most recent record of the Fire Thief program infecting the intelligence core of the Black Tower Medical Abyss Base on Ish Island last year. However, not long after, the Black Tower secretly called the Presidential Office to say that the matter had been resolved and the impact was minimal."
"But it's reasonable to suspect that there are still many undiscovered, carefully hidden intelligent life forms out there."
"Human society has no idea where they are and whether they are secretly preparing something."
After reading the message sent by the Fire Bearer, Yvette fell into a long period of thought.
She suddenly thought that the infection of the Fire Thief Program in the Abyss Base and the escape of Zero and One all happened last year. Is there a causal relationship between them?
There's also the ability of the Machine God described by Bingyu and other Mechanoids, one of which is to grant Mechanoids souls. If this is true, then the Machine God is either the Fire Thief program itself, or an awakened AI that possesses the Fire Thief program.
But any of the possibilities would not be the "natural death" of the Fire Thief's program - if this thing had a lifespan, and it was so short, then the power of the God of Machinery would have disappeared hundreds of years after the apocalypse, and how could the mechanical race be born?
So, Skydome Technology is lying?
But if that is true, would other super companies be able to detect such a trivial lie?
Or, even if you know, there is nothing you can do?
…
After the transaction was completed, the man holding the torch said goodbye politely, opened the door and walked out, quickly disappearing into the crowd on the black street.
Then she walked out of the Floating Light Bar and pushed open the door. Yvette looked up and saw thick clouds covering the sky of Agashai. The sultry wind blew up the paper scraps on the ground, and a heavy rain seemed inevitable.
She thought that compared to the Fire Thief Program and the God of Machinery, the things hidden behind the Civilization Survival Society were equally unfathomable. The fact that they could even provide such secret information was like infiltrating the top management of various governments or companies.
Maybe we can really look forward to them, and look forward to digging up the heritage of their original civilization in the post-apocalyptic world...
Well, this shouldn't be considered grave digging.
(End of this chapter)
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