Data refresh

An Yu’s earpiece‍⁠⁠‌⁠‍⁠​‌‌‍‍​‌‌‌⁠⁠‌‍‍‍‍‌ was quiet. In just a few short months, the aberrant phenomena had first broken biological boundaries, and then broken the boundaries of matter and consciousness. With Qin Zhilu on the Cloud Island, it was impossible for him to contact An Yu through the earpiece as he had before. But standing before the large screen now, watching humanity’s elites work together against the clock, An Yu still subconsciously touched his earpiece.

“He’s fine, and very safe,” AI Qin Zhilu suddenly spoke.

It was as if he knew what An Yu was thinking. He glanced at An Yu, and then his gaze shifted to a higher-up behind him.

That higher-up froze. “Do you have an order?”

AI Qin Zhilu looked at the laptop in front of him. “You don’t seem to be joining their work.”

The man nodded quickly. “Yes, this is my personal computer.”

AI Qin Zhilu then held out his hand. “Then perhaps you could lend it to me?”

The higher-up hesitated for a moment, but still handed the computer over.

“I will temporarily disconnect this computer from Brain, to avoid interfering with humanity’s game of hide-and-seek with the Super-Aberrant.” AI Qin Zhilu explained as he operated the machine. He then sent an authorization request to An Yu’s terminal. After An Yu clicked ‘approve,’ a small window popped up on the computer screen.

An Yu didn’t understand the code. He only understood the server source in the bottom right corner: Main City Central Server Matrix A099.

AI Qin Zhilu said, “This is my—the location you set for me. Although my words and actions have to be distributed and calculated by the central system, my actual storage location is fixed. It was decided the moment you set me up. The Super-Aberrant hasn’t changed the storage locations of small characters like us yet.”

An Yu opened his mouth. “Do you mean…”

“If you really want to help him—” AI Qin Zhilu typed code proficiently, “we can first give him a human body on the Cloud Island. Of course, I will set a time limit, so it’s convenient for me to switch back to my preferred octopus body when I return.”

Before An Yu could even react, hundreds of lines of code had already scrolled past.

“Done.” AI Qin Zhilu turned back. “Is there anything else you want to help him with?”

An Yu asked in surprise, “Anything?”

“As long as it affects his own settings, yes.”

Half a minute later, AI Qin Zhilu hit ‘enter.’ “Finished. Now he not only has a human body, but he also has his gloves back, and a piece of bread in his pocket—” He smiled. “It seems you understand how to take care of the Commander very well. None of this will help the mission, but it’ll put him in a good mood.”

An Yu was a little disappointed that he couldn’t see the Commander’s current appearance. He asked, “Do you guys actually eat on the Cloud Island?”

“We do. We don’t perceive taste; we just compute the action of eating.” AI Qin Zhilu paused. “But that isn’t important. He probably has never cared about the taste of bread.”

An Yu was stunned. “He doesn’t care about the taste when eating bread?”

“Mhm. He only cares about the bread itself.”

The safe time limit for the dome’s disconnection from the Main City network was only 600 seconds. In those brief ten minutes, Qin Zhilu, who was far away on the Cloud Island, coordinated perfectly with the people in the command room. They tested back and forth twelve times. In the later attempts, Qin Zhilu changed his attack methods, but no matter how he varied it, the central system that deleted his attack records was always located at the same spot.

“This is the most ideal situation,” AI Qin Zhilu said, looking at the screen. His tone faltered slightly. “I hope so.”

An Yu asked, “Is the Super-Aberrant Molly?”

AI Qin Zhilu shook his head. “My apologies, I can only speculate, but I can’t guarantee it. I can’t even say when the Cloud Island’s central system secretly connected all the human world’s servers, changing all the calculation methods to a mechanism that is difficult for humans to interfere with. Nor can I say if the one manipulating this change is a specific AI, or a specific human, or some other existence I can’t comprehend. I only know that as the central system’s abilities surpassed human jurisdiction, all AIs gradually gained some autonomous will, and this will also drove me to become curious about the real world.”

“But you resisted that curiosity,” An Yu said softly.

AI Qin Zhilu nodded calmly. “Of course. Because I was born from him. Of the tens of thousands of AIs created based on human prototypes, as far as I know, not a single one possesses the same self-control I do.”

“That’s because, among those tens of thousands of people, there isn’t a single one as worthy of trust as he is.”

AI Qin Zhilu turned his head to look at An Yu upon hearing this, but he found An Yu wasn’t looking at him. Instead, he was looking at the still-open code interface on the laptop. That final sentence seemed to be just him talking to himself.

At 5:47 AM, Brain completed preparations for the elimination of backup server room D380 in District 17.

If the central system was the Super-Aberrant’s core, then wiping this machine would directly cause the Super-Aberrant on the Cloud Island to disappear.

A researcher explained, “There are three scenarios. The most ideal: the Super-Aberrant is not Molly, and after its core code is erased, this disaster will end quietly. A slightly worse scenario: the Super-Aberrant is Molly, and after she disappears, we’ll need to explain her disappearance to the public. Both scenarios require the Super-Aberrant to be on the Cloud Island at this moment, and not to have descended. He paused, then said, “The worst-case scenario: regardless of who the Super-Aberrant is, it has already descended and is in a human body in the real world. With the core code erased, the corresponding human consciousness temporarily on the Cloud Island will disappear forever. The Super-Aberrant’s consciousness would have no way to return and would permanently occupy the human body.”

The atmosphere grew heavy, but AI Qin Zhilu said, “No need to worry. Once the main code disappears, it’s impossible for an AI consciousness to remain in a human body. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a 12-hour limit on the consciousness’s descent. The instant the code is destroyed, the human consciousness would return, and the AI consciousness would automatically self-destruct.”

As he spoke, he naturally picked up the screen controller, just as Qin Zhilu would have, and projected Molly’s current surveillance feed onto the screen. He said, “Of course, I predicted the second scenario would occur. After all, in the memories I could access, Molly’s countdown to the sunset was the earliest clue. You all should probably think about how to explain the disappearance of this great AI to the public.”

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AI Qin Zhilu just gave a casual nod. “Please begin.”

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The progress bar shot up rapidly from 0%, hitting 100% in the blink of an eye. The system popped up a notification—[17-D380 HAS BEEN COMPLETELY WIPED!]

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The alarm clock rang.

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On the screen, Molly groggily got out of bed. She sat on the bed, hugging her knees for a moment, then got down, went to the refrigerator to get a face mask, and took it into the bathroom.

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An Yu turned his head to look at the screen. “But her behavior is no different from usual. Since the Super-Aberrant can subtly influence you all to become curious about the real world, maybe Molly’s sudden interest in the sunset was also influenced by it.”

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The bakery’s real-time surveillance was also pulled up again. Xu Shuangshuang, who had originally been very patiently doing pre-opening prep work, suddenly froze for two seconds. Then, she impatiently dumped out all the cash she had received, gave it a rough shuffle, and sent a message with her head down without even counting it.

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An Yu: …Understood.

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“I’m still here,” AI Qin Zhilu said. “But he’s about to return.” He turned completely to face An Yu. “Although I’m reluctant to leave, An Yu, I hope this is our last time meeting in the real world.”

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“Okay.”

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The instant the real Qin Zhilu returned, An Yu suddenly realized he could actually tell the difference. Because even if they had identical gazes and movements, his feelings when they appeared beside him were completely different.

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Qin Zhilu still didn’t show much emotion. He just nodded. “Understood.”

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The Commander was lying. The AI had clearly said that eating on the Cloud Island had no taste.

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-The Super-Aberrant’s disappearance might have some effect on the AIs. I will rest more today. If it isn’t important, please don’t disturb me.

An Yu hurriedly replied to it: Okay.

On the big screen, Molly walked out of the bathroom after finishing her face mask. She had originally started walking to the kitchen to make breakfast as usual, but she hesitated. Then she yawned twice, went back to bed, and reset her alarm for 6 hours later.

“All AIs are automatically executing a data refresh. This is very normal,” a researcher said. “It seems the Super-Aberrant’s influence on the AIs had been quite deep. Its removal triggered the AIs’ self-refresh. It shouldn’t affect the accumulated data from the past.”

Qin Zhilu questioned calmly, “How do you know?”

“Molly possesses the most powerful computational ability. 6 hours isn’t set randomly; it means she estimates the refresh will take 6 hours,” the researcher said. “She can clearly recognize this was a routine code self-check. Otherwise, she would have sent a warning to the developers.”

Qin Zhilu studied the girl on the screen, who had fallen asleep again, and mused, “Does it need to take that long?”

“Molly is relatively complex; it’ll indeed take a bit longer. Of course, the other AIs will be faster than her.”

Qin Zhilu nodded. “Good. I will compile a report regarding the Cloud Island matter.”

The higher-ups all rose and bowed slightly. “Thank you both for your hard work.”

An Yu followed Qin Zhilu out of the White Tower. He kept turning his head to look at him on the way.

He felt a subtle discomfort. He wanted to say something, but didn’t know how to begin.

“Were you…”

Qin Zhilu turned his head to look over. “Did you get along okay with 716?”

An Yu paused, gazing at that pair of eyes. He didn’t answer, but asked back, “Did you get along okay with 21?”

Qin Zhilu lowered his gaze and smiled. “It was fine. I didn’t feed it data very often, so its state was more like you when you first came to the Main City. Not very talkative.”

An Yu was confused for a moment. “Why?”

Qin Zhilu pulled open the passenger door for him and said calmly, “I’ve never intended to copy you completely. An AI is an AI, and a person is a person.”

“Oh…”

An Yu fumbled with his seatbelt, pondering the meaning of the Commander’s words. Qin Zhilu got into the car as well. The higher-ups were still in a meeting reviewing the mission. He casually patched into the channel, listening in as he started the car.

Over half an hour later, the Spire gradually came into view. Before hanging up the call, Qin Zhilu asked casually, “Right, have they contacted that developer yet?”

“Just found him. Guo Xin went on vacation to District 71 a week ago.” The reporter sounded exasperated. “He had been very unhappy about the previous inspection of Molly. After he finished his urgent work, he gave himself a month-long vacation, turned off his phone, disconnected, and left the Main City. He had no idea what had happened.”

Qin Zhilu remained expressionless. “District 71 is all rainforest. If one doesn’t consider the risk of aberrant invasion, it’s indeed a good place for a vacation. How did they contact him?”

“It was Molly’s motion-capture actor who found him and had him contact us,” the person replied. “That girl had been looking for him for several days, hadn’t she? He will return to the Main City immediately and check Molly’s motion code with the actor to see exactly what has gone wrong.”

Qin Zhilu slammed on the brakes.

An Yu, who had been listening to the meeting half-asleep, was nearly flung forward. The seatbelt dug painfully into his shoulder. He turned his head and saw that Qin Zhilu’s expression was terrible.

Qin Zhilu’s tone was icy. “We couldn’t find Guo Xin. How come she did?”

The communication line fell instantly silent. The background noise of the chaotic meeting discussion and footsteps disappeared at the same time.

Qin Zhilu took a deep breath. “Show me what Molly is doing now.”

Brain pushed the live feed to Qin Zhilu’s car.

In the room, Molly was still sleeping peacefully, no different from usual. The sun had risen, and the light shone through the curtains onto her face, which was soft and moving.

Qin Zhilu said coldly, “Forcefully interrupt the refresh. Wake her up.”

After speaking, he waited for more than ten seconds but got no response. He frowned. “Are you listening?”

“We… are…” The researcher’s voice was trembling. “We have already sent the interrupt command several times. No response…” “Molly doesn’t seem to be running the code refresh program… She…”

Qin Zhilu took a deep breath, his gaze darkening.

“Her consciousness has descended. She is in the motion-capture actor’s body.”

M1zushi:Tomorrow’s chapter will be uploaded at the same time as today~~