[Protector Zhuo Yan requests to add you as a friend!]

September 2149.

Although the​⁠‌‌⁠⁠‌‌​‌⁠⁠​​​‍⁠‌‍‍‌⁠‍⁠ world has long been dominated by irregular snowstorms, autumn, as defined by the calendar, still arrived as scheduled.

Autumn this year was exceptionally quiet; even the Main City seemed to have fallen silent. Black Tower announced that the “Aberrant Advent” caused by the super-grade snowstorm of 2122 will be officially renamed the “Mysterious Advent.”

[Humanity has been fighting aberrants for nearly twenty-seven years now. The aberrant tide is still growing, but a greater threat comes from those mysterious, non-gene-related power bodies that are gradually surfacing. The world’s chaos no longer affects life, but also extends to matter, space-time, and consciousness. All existence will inevitably face disorder. But regardless, human order will never surrender. We will continue to resist, until the day the very last straw breaks.

—Black Tower]

This passage appeared on electronic screens in streets big and small. Order had been restored to the Main City, but occasionally, someone in the busy crowds would suddenly stop, look up, and silently gaze at the announcement.

The Molly crisis was officially declared over, but AI was not abandoned. Alternating with the Black Tower announcement on the screens were public service announcements filmed by the victims of the Molly incident.

The girl who had lost her ex-boyfriend smiled bleakly at the mirror. “Human emotions are rich and subtle. Please don’t let AI speak for you.”

The little boy who had killed his mother sat blankly before the camera, his father gently holding his hand beside him. “We can create tools we can hardly manage, but please refrain from making uncontrollable killing machines.”

A Protector with butterfly-patterned spots growing on his cheeks and neck stared into the camera. “Even if the spirit can escape to false tranquility, humans must eventually return, to face the cruel snowstorm alone.”

…

An Yu turned off the video, crumpled the bread in his hand into a strip, dipped it into the chocolate sauce, and stirred it round and round.

Zhu Tao, eating breakfast with him, asked, “Was the film shot by Black Tower?”

Tang Feng shook his head. “Black Tower didn’t have the time for that. It was an activity initiated by university students.”

Zhu Tao sighed with emotion, “Even student organizations are like this, completely erasing the benefits of AI consciousness descent.”

Inside the Spire, almost everyone was playing that popular public service announcement on their terminals. Various discussions filled the spacious dining hall.

Qin Zhilu remained silent throughout, only speaking coolly at the very end of breakfast, “Humanity will not thank Molly.”

An Yu returned his tray along with him, walking quietly by his side, occasionally turning his head to look at that calm, resolute profile.

Qin Zhilu suddenly said, “Guo Xin was secretly executed. The developer source was forcibly taken over by Brain. In the future, all AIs will continue to operate under the constraints of new base protocols—First, AI must not harm humans. Second, AI serves humanity. Third, if any modification or deletion occurrs to the base protocols, the AI will automatically self-destruct. With this, humanity can ensure a second Molly will never appear.”

An Yu asked softly, “Will humans really hate Molly?”

“Humans will, but certain individuals won’t, like Wu Ju.” Qin Zhilu’s expression was calm. “Brain only discovered during a full review of the development logs that Molly had gained self-awareness long ago. She had initially been named Luna. While supplementing motion capture data, she asked Wu Ju how humans usually chose names. Wu Ju told her situation: her father died in a mission, her mother died in a childbirth accident, the family never got together, so she was named Wu Ju. Molly then requested the developers change her name to Molly, hoping people in the world would no longer be separated.”

An Yu opened his mouth, but didn’t know what to say. Qin Zhilu glanced at him. “21 suddenly said something to me last night before going to sleep.”

“What?”

“‘Molly didn’t need to be loved or thanked.'”

An Yu was stunned for a moment, then, after a long pause, asked in shock, “It wouldn’t have started computing Molly’s core code, would it?”

“Don’t know. Can’t control it.” Qin Zhilu’s expression was calm. “When a blank slate starts growing little thoughts, who can control it?”

An Yu frowned upon hearing this, feeling the Commander was implying something.

According to 716, the Cloud Island, after Molly left, hadn’t changed much. It was just that the Cloud Island and the human world had reverted to being two parallel space-times that would never intersect. 716 was often not on An Yu’s terminal now. Instead, Qin Zhilu would frequently find, expressionlessly, two AIs crowded onto his screen, severely obstructing his view. So he simply opened up permissions, letting them play freely. 21 just needed to come back occasionally to sleep.

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“But it also acted on its own authority, doing whatever it wanted.” Qin Zhilu glanced sideways at him, his gaze dropping to his neck.

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“It didn’t make any mistakes,” Qin Zhilu said matter-of-factly. “It didn’t know anything, and it didn’t do anything.”

Don't scrape

Don't copy

An Yu’s voice wasn’t loud, but after those three words, the clang of iron that filled the gym instantly vanished.

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“You can ask it yourself. It was very honest.” An Yu skillfully and swiftly assembled the firearm, raised it, and aimed at the nearest target. “You yourself said, it’s no longer a blank slate.”

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An Yu frowned, took a deep breath, then another, until his arm grew sore, but he still couldn’t pull the trigger.

Don't scrape

Don't copy

“Forget it,” Qin Zhilu said. “I stopped expecting you to learn how to shoot long ago.”

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An Yu turned to walk to the side, then suddenly heard him chuckle behind him. “Did you know, 716 gave 21 a set of toy guns? 21 picked it up very quickly. It learned your data and it’s a bit braver than you.”

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Even though the gunfire was silenced, An Yu still subconsciously touched his empty pocket and added, “If you had been gentler that day, I wouldn’t have developed such a deep psychological scar. You can’t blame me.”

Don't scrape

Don't copy

An Yu was baffled. Somehow, it sounded like the Commander equated acting coquettish with shooting as equally important abilities. But Qin Zhilu didn’t seem inclined to explain. He put down the gun, walked to the nearby vending machine, and soon bent down to retrieve a chocolate cake.

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Qin Zhilu opened his terminal and began processing the backlog of emails. An Yu finished the cake in a few bites. Seeing the Commander had no intention of letting him go back, he had no choice but to take out his terminal as well.

His inbox was quiet as usual. 716 wasn’t on the screen. He could only, after a long time, open the Spire forum.

The moment he opened the forum, An Yu’s eyes went wide.

【BREAKING! 199CP Relationship Hits Rough Patch, Third Party Supposedly Discovered by Corner!】

199CP was the name the forum had given him and Qin Zhilu. 21 and 716’s consciousness descent was still classified; the people in the Spire still believed the two on the 199th floor had publicly announced their relationship through their actions.

An Yu clicked on the new post. The main evidence was a secret photo taken at the gym entrance a few tens of minutes ago. The short phrase “It kissed back” had actually been recorded, and the image happened to capture the instant Qin Zhilu’s steps had subtly paused.

-OMG! Am I worthy of seeing this?

-Law cheating caught red-handed by Corner??!!

-Shocked… speechless…

-Corner is really good-tempered in front of Law, even when catching him red-handed, his tone is so gentle.

-Be realistic, he’s his supervising commander after all. Can he scream and question him?

-You can’t say that, given Corner’s status today…

-True, in everyone’s eyes, the 199th floor already has two Commanders.

-Wait, did I take a wrong turn? Wasn’t this the gossip section? Am I the only one curious about who the third party is??

-Check next door, decoding already happened.

An Yu’s eyes slowly widened. He glanced at Qin Zhilu beside him, who was frowning at a document, and silently clicked on the adjacent post.

The Protector who had been dug up was named Zhuo Yan, a feline gene aberrant Protector. Coincidentally, Zhuo Yan’s hair color was a pale gold, almost white. He had a petite build, delicate features, and sharp, cold red eyes that looked fierce at first glance. But he was usually in a daze; eight out of ten candid photos showed him holding milk tea and spacing out.

There were two reasons he was targeted: one, his subtle resemblance to An Yu, and two, Zhuo Yan’s Ladder rank was 21.

—Recently, wherever Qin Zhilu and An Yu passed, all the Protectors practically perked up their ears. The designation “21” has long since been overheard, but no one could have guessed that 21 was actually just an AI Qin Zhilu kept in his terminal.

An Yu took a deep breath. A message suddenly popped up on the screen.

[Protector Zhuo Yan requests to add you as a friend!]

Below the high-level members, aside from those he had been on missions with, no one had dared to directly send An Yu a friend request before.

Qin Zhilu happened to glance over. He knew nothing about the forums and casually asked, “Someone added you? Accept it. It’s good to make more friends.”

An Yu pressed his lips together and clicked confirm.

Soon, Zhuo Yan sent a message.

-Corner, Law and I are innocent. I’ve never been on a mission with Law and have never privately contacted him. He probably won’t even remember me. Please don’t listen to rumors. I looked forward to having the honor of cooperating with you on future missions.

Qin Zhilu frowned. “What’s this?”

An Yu took a deep breath and put his terminal away.

“Commander, I need to talk to Billy.”