Volume 8 - CH 149.2

Mu Jiashi can’t help but sigh, and says, “you’re the creator of this AI.”

Liang Xingyi answers, fidgeting, “uh, yes.”

Then Mu Jiashi coldly points out, “and you don’t know how to shut the damned AI off!”

Liang Xingyi opens his mouth, but he has nothing to say. On the verge of crying, he says, “I… I really didn’t know… I just made it following procedures… Doing everything by standard protocol…”

“Wait,” Mystic suddenly interrupts, “did you say, standard protocol?”

The other three aren’t sure why she is asking.

Liang Xingyi, looking lost, nods.

Mystic then asks, crisp and clear, “Three Laws of Robotics?”

Liang Xingyi seems confused, but assures her he followed them, “ye-, yes… I did that…

It cannot harm humans or let humans come to harm without intervention;

It must obey any commands issued by humans, unless it contravenes with the first rule;

It must protect itself, unless it contravenes with either of those two rules…”

The three people look increasingly gloomy as he went on. He almost suspects he remembered the rules wrong.

With a trembling, and much quieter tone, he asks, “what’s wrong? That’s what I made it do…”

His tone dies off, leaving the four to staring right at each other.

Finally, Shen Yünjü, in disbelief, says, “the AI has clearly disregarded the first two rules. Throwing insane people outside the Tower is definitely hurting, even killing those people.

And if it really had to obey human command, how would the Ultimate Nightmare have gone this way?

Is it going to shut down just because we tell it to? That’s not what the game was building up to at all!”

Mu Jiashi concludes, “clearly, the safety of humans inside the Tower is the highest priority instead, even overruling Asimov’s laws.”

Mystic comments quietly, “so it is first the manager of the Tower before it is an AI.”

Mu Jiashi, clearly suppressing his rage, gritting his teeth, says, “damn it all… which sick idiot suggested the AI to be the manager of the Tower!”

Now they still have to fight against NE!

Operating Room 3 falls silent.

Meanwhile, in the Tower, Xü Beijin has his eyes on the control panel right next to him.

Lin Qin asks, “is something wrong with this control panel?”

Xü Beijin ponders, “can I see how many times ‘Iro’ has made the attempt here?”

He is leaning on a positive answer.

The control panel represents NE’s authority in the game, true, but more accurately, it is the control the Tower’s AI can exert over the Tower.

The AI is coded to try to wake up Liang Zhiyi’s consciousness.

So Xü Beijin thinks he might be able to find a string of numbers here representing how far away the AI is from being shut down.

Though he also isn’t sure if NE will even let him access the number which is related to the AI’s entire existence.

And even if they can check the number, they’re going to need it to be so utterly gargantuan.

Is there even a way to speed up the process through which Iro is trying to wake up Liang Zhiyi?

At least Xü Beijin can’t come up with any. It’s not even something they are remotely familiar with.

And who even knows where Liang Zhiyi’s brain would be. The top floor? Did NE hide it there?

Or maybe NE just had it destroyed already. Iro won’t do that, but Xü Beijin suspects NE would have done it.

Besides…

Xü Beijin says, “even if we don’t go to check the number, we at least know that, eventually, Iro will be shut down. And then… maybe we will be able to make it there.”

Lin Qin seems a little confused, and asks Xü Beijin, “make it there?”

“Yes. If Iro is going to shut down eventually, we are also going to be free of NE eventually,” explains Xü Beijin, “in the game, NE is already entirely part of Iro. We are going to need a chain reaction, and need NE to… entirely seize up in chaos and errors, for at least a moment, that we can take advantage of.

We’ll need to create this chance by ourselves first, though; there won’t be time to spare.”

Lin Qin thinks about it, and doesn’t ask the pertinent question about ‘taking advantage of’ what. He just asks, “if NE is shut down, does that affect you?”

“Me?” Xü Beijin thinks about it, then says, “no, it won’t. NE is different from me. If NE goes offline, I’ll have its authority instead.”

Lin Qin tilts his head to ask, “is it different from right now?”

“Right now…” Xü Beijin looks at the grey fog outside, and concludes, “Liang Zhiyi is still sleeping, which means I do not have full access to NE’s authority.”

In this human-AI showdown, looking at Liang Xingyi’s information, he must have set Liang Zhiyi to have authority that can override the AI itself.

So the one Acting as Liang Zhiyi’s brain, Xü Beijin, can certainly exercise that authority, in a manner opposite of how he faltered when NE and Iro were equally forced onto him.

But if Liang Zhiyi’s brain doesn’t wake, the AI’s authority reigns supreme, and Xü Beijin can do nothing alone.

Lin Qin nods and asks, “so are we going to wake up Liang Zhiyi’s brain now?”

Xü Beijin wonders why Lin Qin is asking, but nods. This seems to be a viable shortcut if it can be done.

“But what you told me before about how to resolve the Ultimate Nightmare and get an Ending is needing everyone to make a decision, isn’t it? Why is waking up Liang Zhiyi a suitable substitute for that?”

Xü Beijin pauses to organise the logic within, and explains, “you’re right that the ending for the whole game consists of humans versus the AI in the Tower, and humans choosing to shut down or keep the AI.

I didn’t know about the Liang brothers in the beginning; perhaps they were added to complete the plot after me in a game update…”

His voice trails off as he wonders if the update was ultimately for the better or worse for them.

Then he snaps back, putting the question aside, and continues, “now we have two choices instead. One, wake up Liang Zhiyi and/or shut down Iro… That’s the way this can be resolved from the twin brothers’ clues.

Both result in Liang Zhiyi’s authority overriding or becoming the sole authority in the Tower, giving it back to the people. Then in the game… we will probably be able to do what we needed to.

As for the method I was talking about in the beginning…”

Xü Beijin sighs, holding his head.

Lots of unexpected circumstances have arisen since entering the Ultimate Nightmare.

The situation only became more complex over time, so he isn’t too sure about the exact instructions needed.

Lin Qin asks, “what does that method need?”

“Not Liang Zhiyi, at the very least,” Xü Beijin answers, “but they need another group of people.”

“Who?”

“The group which let Iro, the AI, manage the Tower. Find out what they did and then search for a way to revoke that authority the AI has in the Tower.

It would actually happen with or without human intervention… If they did as I said exactly and just stayed awake in the Nightmare, our goal will still be achieved. That said…”

Xü Beijin is looking at a figure on the control panel – the number of people still awake in the Ultimate Nightmare.

It’s about a fifth of everyone who entered the Ultimate Nightmare; it’s decreased a lot, but it doesn’t matter in the long run.

As the people who’ve already succumbed to the Ultimate Nightmare are being hustled into the Tower via the doors in the grey fog.

So next to the figure, the one displaying the number of succumbed people in the Ultimate Nightmare is actually decreasing even faster.

They’ll reach a moment when the Ultimate Nightmare is full of only people that are awake soon enough.

Though Lin Qin, after thinking, says, “I think finding Liang Zhiyi is better to deal with the problem once and for all.”

Because the AI can be shut down directly with him;

Meanwhile, the other group can only revoke the right the AI has to manage the Tower, which is basically like how Xü Beijin got his identity in the first place – a fight with the AI for its authority.

And the bare minimum is not letting it fall to their enemies, and right now, because NE is a substitute for Iro, the authority isn’t just about managing the Tower, but the entire game here.

So fighting for it is important.

Xü Beijin agrees that waking Liang Zhiyi to have this authority in their control is far better than neither humans nor AI having any authority whatsoever.

But… Xü Beijin says, “I was only given this partial authority when NE has gone to sleep. Getting all the authority… sounds almost delusional.”

Lin Qin then poses a new question, “is there really no method to wake Liang Zhiyi’s brain up?”

“The AI must have tried countless times… wait,” Xü Beijin suddenly stops and asks, “tried countless times? And all these times, did Liang Zhiyi’s brain really not react at all?

If Iro has been trying continuously, 1024 to the 1024 isn’t actually that great a number…”

Xü Beijin mumbles, “we’ve been in this game all these years too…”

Lin Qin asks, looking at him, “what are you thinking about?”

Xü Beijin replies, “there are different endings in this game. Not just two, but even more… at least three.

Maintaining the status quo, shutting the AI down, and, not shutting the AI down but revoke its authority.”

“It feels like different levels of trust towards the AI.”

“Yes, exactly,” Xü Beijin says, then thinks a little more, saying, “Liang Zhiyi’s brain… that brain must represent how humans think the authority of the Tower’s management should be handled.”

Lin Qin blinks, and blinks some more, saying, “so, if everyone agrees to revoke the right for Iro to manage the Tower, then Liang Zhiyi’s brain might wake up?”

Xü Beijin says, “after such a long time, Iro might have passed that threshold already, but it’s not shut down; possibly, Liang Zhiyi is even already awake.

Xü Beijin goes over his thoughts a few times, mumbling, “yes… yes… This is very likely to be the case.”

He looks at Lin Qin almost by reflex, and he is also looking at him with clear eyes.

Xü Beijin, excited, tells him, “these two lines are parallel! Finding Liang Xingyi and also the other group of people is necessary, then it will all go the way we need it to!”

He realised his thoughts were stuck earlier.

The twin brothers were actually here to complete the game’s worldview;

And, they’re also the help humanity needed.

If they, going with the original ending, merely revoked Iro’s right to manage the Tower, it is still not quite enough for humanity to successfully escape the Tower;

But with Liang Xingyi and Liang Zhiyi, there is a real possibility they can take over the sole managing authority to the Tower.

They’re complementary.

Xü Beijin doesn’t know when they first appeared in the game’s plot, as the version he gleamed didn’t feature these brothers.

Perhaps they were already planned in some roadmap then, but they weren’t in the earliest version of the game.

They were possibly added after ‘someone’ successfully became ‘Iro,’ and the game designer outside intentionally instructed for these brothers to be added to the plot…

There are many other possible scenarios.

But Xü Beijin thinks, it is definitely proof that, outside the Tower, outside the game——There are still people trying to save them!

Xü Beijin is relieved. This makes him more confident in escaping the Tower.

Lin Qin seems a little confused, but nods nonetheless.

Xü Beijin leans over to kiss his cute little apple, then manipulates the control panel and changes the camera on the stream accordingly, pointing at the group of people he needed shown.

Then, surprisingly, he discovers that some others have already reached this area.