Volume 8 - CH 150.2

The humans who saved the world in the game’s plot don’t seem at all reliable, per se.

That said, considering how humans behaved on Earth in reality, the unreliability carries a certain ‘verisimilitude,’ as it were.

Xiang Chenyü moves right onto the crux of the issue, “so the AI cannot be shut down?”

This is ultimately what led her here. Xü Beijin hinted to her that he has some authority of NE, but not all.

It wasn’t too difficult for her to link the issue even though he couldn’t directly talk about the issue.

Is it possible to afford Xü Beijin greater authority?

Xiang Chenyü does not know about NE and ‘Iro’s differences and such, but she has, at least, figured out where the people who set the AI up to manage the Tower are.

So she’s here. She needs an answer from these people.

The trip here was arduous for sure, but Xiang Chenyü did it.

She would have been happy to receive help of any kind, but it was so out of the way she met no one. No one sane enough to help her.

It makes her worry about the amount of people still awake in the Ultimate Nightmare.

Though… she is digressing. She needs the answer right now instead of pondering. The answer of——Revoking the authority of the AI in the Tower.

If she knew this answer would be critical in the future back then, she would have asked the Actors in the Nightmare and the Nightmare owner before they succumbed.

Unfortunately, hindsight is a cruel mistress.

So obsessed were they with ascending the floors that they did not consider at all that some answers may have been forever buried in the floors they passed through, inside the Nightmares they ignored or hurried through.

But at least, there is still time. She can use this Nightmare she knew——Quite possibly, only she knew, among all the people still awake——And contribute to humanity’s salvation.

She watches the man in front of her intently.

The man seems bewildered by the question, asking, “why? It almost sounds like that AI will actually go rogue in the future or something.”

At this point in the Ultimate Nightmare, maybe the Tower is still under construction, but the fact that the AI will become the Tower’s manager hasn’t been set in stone yet; but this is a Nightmare. They can’t just simply change the Nightmare.

Instead, the value of revisiting these torturous ghosts of the past, is in the truth.

Xiang Chenyü says, “because in the future, the AI has gone rogue.”

The man widens his eyes, then quite possibly thinks of Xiang Chenyü as joking. He is laughing cacophonously, finding this ‘joke’ highly hilarious.

The others are quite intrigued by the laughter, coming to ask about it.

The man, in between gasping for breath, says, “this woman… This woman just said, the AI will go rogue in the future! Hahaha! Does she even know what an AI is?”

He suddenly turns to face Xiang Chenyü and says with a serious tone, “an AI will never make a mistake against its programming.”

Xiang Chenyü just sighs again, and says, “I’m not here to… discuss your digital worship or other conceptual things. I just need to know——Can the AI be shut down.”

The man seems a little surprised again, but then casually tells her, “oh well, looks like we’ll be agreeing to disagree. Shame. Though… I suppose, if you did need to, you can.”

“How?”

“An AI is a type of tool,” replies the man, “if the tool’s owner doesn’t need the tool anymore, it’s obviously become useless. That’s what I believe in, and I’ll probably do that if that really comes to pass.”

The tool’s owner doesn’t need it anymore?

In that sense, who owns that AI?

This man here?

No… obviously not. If it were him, then in the Nightmare Xiang Chenyü went through, he would have put a stop to the danger before he ended up overwhelmed.

The Nightmare showed in dramatic fashion that the AI was not under the control of the humans in this mansion at all.

So Xiang Chenyü ponders another related question instead.

What is the purpose of this AI again?

Protect the Tower, and those human survivors of the Apocalypse. That is the sole purpose it became the Tower’s manager. Its goal is to ensure, to the best of its ability, humanity’s survival in the Tower.

So, as a tool, it was needed by humanity in the Tower.

Then what if, the humans in the Tower, no longer needed its service?

The Ultimate Nightmare——Xü Beijin told her that this was a Nightmare belonging to everyone…

Xiang Chenyü mumbles, “everyone…” Looking at the man, and all the others who are living in their pre-Apocalypse lifestyle in this isolated little mansion, she asks again, “everyone?”

The crowd doesn’t know what she’s going on about.

Xiang Chenyü’s voice grows slightly louder this time, “everyone——This is something that everyone has to…”

Decide.

But she didn’t say that last word out loud, because suddenly, a voice popped up out of nowhere next to her; it’s Xü Beijin’s voice, saying, “stop; speak no more.”

Xiang Chenyü was taken aback, but she stopped in time.

Thanks to her slower and dulled actions in general, she was able to stop instead of letting it slip regardless. She was able to heed Xü Beijin’s warning in time.

She’s also not going to ask why Xü Beijin can talk to her directly in the Nightmare; he did find her in an entirely isolated floor and talk to her. This feels like standard practice for him.

Instead, a more pertinent question would be, “why can’t I say it?”

The people in front of her seem shocked by her suddenly talking to the air, especially the man. They probably think she’s insane now, and quickly disperse, including the man.

But Xiang Chenyü does not care about them anymore, because she knows what to do.

Recalling that the Ultimate Nightmare needed everyone to be asleep to open, and the choice…

‘Everyone.’ They’ve already met that condition once, like some kind of rehearsal.

Xiang Chenyü narrows her eyes as she waits for Xü Beijin to reply, and the reply comes, apparently completely unrelated to the question – “This is a game.”

It’s like he’s implying something.

After blanking out thinking about it, shocked, Xiang Chenyü asks, “do you mean… saying it out loud, is also itself a condition?!”

Xü Beijin does not reply, affirming her thus.

It makes Xiang Chenyü’s back drenched in cold sweat. She has experienced first-hand what has made Xü Beijin always so careful and secretive, and always speaking in riddles. It’s because this is a game, that they cannot rush it.

So Xiang Chenyü asks, “when can we say it? What do we need to achieve first?”

Xiang Chenyü is so sharp-witted it makes Xü Beijin feel ashamed in comparison, but he tells her, “wait for my signal.”

Xiang Chenyü quickly nods.

Xü Beijin breathes a sigh of relief. He didn’t imagine she would be able to find these people so quickly, and even immediately realising what she needed to do.

Though…

He thinks Xiang Chenyü still doesn’t have the right idea about the whole situation, and what exactly is required to achieve the condition of ‘shutting the AI down.’

Then he looks at the numbers on his control panel once more.

It is great that Xiang Chenyü has become aware of the correct methods to proceed, but they still need to wait for a chance, a most opportune moment…

It is approaching them gradually. It’s going to be a short while until then.

The number of people still awake in the Ultimate Nightmare has settled down, only changing every few minutes. Meanwhile, the number of insane people remaining inside is now decreasing, but less quickly than before.

About a few hundred remain, which is no small number, by any means.

They’re also gradually filing through the doors in the grey fog within the Ultimate Nightmare to leave.

Of course, there are still countless insane people in the Ultimate Nightmare – those Missiontakers and Actors who have succumbed before the Ultimate Nightmare, and entered the Ultimate Nightmare through the grey fog, instead of through sleeping and ‘dreaming.’

They——are not Tower residents that ‘Iro’ would recognise.

So Xü Beijin is just keeping a close eye on the number representing the number of people having succumbed in the Ultimate Nightmare, and still remain.

300… 150… 89… 63… 17…

Xü Beijin watches the number decline quite linearly.

Then it stops at 17 for unexpectedly long.

That is when a flurry of knocks strikes his bookstore entrance.

Xü Beijin and Lin Qin look at each other; Xü Beijin was going to go open, but Lin Qin stops him, to go the door himself.

Xie Zhijin is standing outside the bookstore, all sweaty and worried. As soon as he hears someone at the door, he yells out, “there’s nowhere to stand outside!”

The madmen flowing out from the grey fog are so many that the entire bottom floor has been filled up.

Unable to enter a higher floor or open the door to other residences, they are filling up all the streets and alleys.

There are still empty residences, but not that many.

So the entire bottom floor has actually been filled up to the brim.

Hearing that, and quickly connecting it with the frozen number 17 on his control panel… Oh gods, the number has stopped decreasing because there is nowhere else in the Tower to go?

It’s quite the unexpected situation, but Xü Beijin quickly has Lin Qin open the door to the bookstore wide.

As soon as he does so, the madmen outside start rushing in; Lin Qin forces the door close after a while.

The madmen that have made it in are standing on the first floor of the bookstore quietly, almost like they’re lifeless life-sized dolls.

So Xü Beijin, Lin Qin and Xie Zhijin retreat to the second floor of the bookstore.

They’ve allowed about 30-odd madmen inside the bookstore, which means the first floor has no more floor space to stand on.

The number on the control panel, Xü Beijin finds, is slowly decreasing once more after stopping for a long time.

16… 13… 8… 5… 0.

As the number hits zero, Xü Beijin finds himself almost entranced.

When he found he was stuck on the bottom floor for the first time, he never imagined, that there could come a day…

That there would be a day, when the hope to leave the Tower would really, actually, be in their own two hands.

It’s merely a grasp away.

Xü Beijin takes another deep breath, and sees for himself once more, that the number is exactly 0.

Then, he gets Xiang Chenyü’s attention once more, telling her, “you can say it now.”

Xiang Chenyü is waiting, bored, and the voice catches her off guard. She nods soon enough, though, taking her breath, possibly taking time to organise her language.

Xü Beijin also waits patiently.

Right now, both inside and outside of the Tower, inside and outside of the Ultimate Nightmare, everything seems far quieter than usual. It’s like the entire world is holding out its breath for something.

That is when Xü Beijin glances at his control panel once more… only to be caught by a suffocating fear that threatens to stop his heart right there.

The number of people succumbed and remaining in the Ultimate Nightmare, has jumped from 0 to 1!

Xü Beijin, horrified, scrambles to contact Xiang Chenyü to stop her.

But it is too late. Xiang Chenyü has already said the magic words.

“If everyone agrees to revoke the right for the artificial intelligence to manage the Tower, then it will be shut down.”

The next second is one of dramatic changes.