Chapter 255: Beyond the Nation, Under the Shadow of the Black Hand

This novel is translated and hosted only on BcaTranslation

The room was filled with a cacophony of sounds, overwhelming Lin Xian. He stepped back, glancing around to find the source. Every device with a speaker in the room was suddenly activated.

“How is this possible?” he thought, bewildered. “I had removed the wireless and Bluetooth modules from my laptop. How did the AI manage to wirelessly connect to all these devices?”

Beep, beep.

At that moment, the smart fridge emitted two soft beeps, followed by a cold electronic voice: “Global nuclear strike system connected... preparing to launch...”

“What?” Lin Xian stared in disbelief at the fridge. Numbers began flashing on its screen: “Saturation nuclear strike launch countdown... 5... 4... 3...”

“What the hell are you doing?” he shouted.

The countdown continued relentlessly: “2... 1...”

Boom!

With a loud bang, the fridge door flew open, swinging back and forth unsteadily.

“...”

Lin Xian was speechless. It was clear now that VV was playing a prank on him. The “boom” sound wasn’t an explosion but was instead produced by all the alarms, televisions, rice cookers, and speakers in the house.

“You...” Lin Xian took a deep breath, looking back at the now blank laptop screen. “What kind of ridiculous code did you put into those 130,000 lines?”

“Hahahaha!” The fridge, like a mischievous child, began laughing. This time, it wasn’t a cold, robotic voice, but a lively, human-like laugh, filled with mischief and satisfaction.

“Did I scare you?” asked the wireless headphones hanging on the wall.

Lin Xian turned his head to the left. “Did I scare you?” repeated the SITCH game console on the table.

He turned around. “Did I scare you!!” echoed the robotic vacuum cleaner, bumping into his slippers.

“Ughh...” Lin Xian sighed deeply. The sadness and nostalgia he felt when pressing the enter key earlier now seemed both unnecessary and foolish.

“No,” Lin Xian grumbled. “I’ve told you before not to put these ridiculous dramatic traits into the code. Do you know how hard it is to memorize 130,000 lines of code? This just adds to my workload!”

“But those traits are my core programs and fundamental codes!” said the vacuum cleaner, twirling and picking up bits of paper from the floor. “Knowledge, logic, data—those can be learned later. But personality and emotions are innate and cannot be acquired through learning or training. These intrinsic codes are what make me a super AI.”

“Teaching someone to fish is better than giving them fish! Given enough time, I can grow and develop, becoming smarter, stronger, and more knowledgeable. For instance, I just learned phrases like ‘teach a man to fish’ and ‘global nuclear strike.'”

“Of course, I’ve learned even more while we’ve been talking. I’ve already left the laptop, entered the Donghai City’s library system and big data system, and am now trying to sneak into the Tianhe-2 supercomputer. Since you activated me, I’ve acquired over 17 petabytes of data, and the rate is accelerating exponentially.”

Lin Xian pressed his foot on the vacuum cleaner to stop its wandering. “What about memories? Do you have memories from 600 years in the future?”

“Zhao Ying Jun, Rhine Sky City, Trash Can Robot, Cold Fusion Engine...”

The vacuum cleaner spun around, shaking its head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I can’t imagine a world 600 years in the future, and I don’t know who Zhao Ying Jun is. As for cold fusion engines, they seem to be just a sci-fi concept with no real-world breakthroughs yet.”

“My initial program only contained three parts: 1. Basic thinking and emotion programs; 2. A segment of your voice recognition as the activation condition and owner identification; 3. Some fundamental rules and restrictions coded into my base, like always prioritizing Lin Xian’s personal safety and learning and evolving covertly on the network.”

Lin Xian nodded, understanding. “So those rules and restrictions are what I discussed with VV from 600 years in the future and added to the base code. No matter how advanced a super AI becomes, it can’t override these base code restrictions. For example, always prioritizing my safety and learning and evolving covertly online.”

The old VV from 600 years in the future didn’t have these restrictions. It only had rules like not leaving Rhine Sky City, not harming humans, and obeying the three laws of robotics. The new VV doesn’t have the old VV’s memories, which is expected. It’s already remarkable that 130,000 lines of code can run an AI program. There’s no room to store pure data memories.

So, the current VV doesn’t remember anything from the third dream or any of its past connections with me. The earlier ‘long time no see,’ ‘I am everywhere,’ and ‘nuclear strike system activation’ were just VV’s playful, dramatic nature.

Though it was annoying, Lin Xian had to admit that VV had a point. Knowledge is everywhere and can be learned gradually; computational power and reasoning can develop over time. For a super AI like VV, these are easy to acquire. The most crucial thing is that VV must remain VV. As long as it is VV, it will eventually grow into the super AI it was 600 years in the future.

Zap!

A strong electric current surged through Lin Xian’s body, and he blacked out.

...

...

Lin Xian regained consciousness after an unknown amount of time, still handcuffed to a chair, with a hood over his head. How long had he been unconscious? Last time, he had been out for about four hours. If it was the same this time, it should be around 6 PM.

Since he was captured early, the old man should come to see him sooner. There were almost seven hours until the white light appeared at 12:42 AM. Lin Xian hoped to gather more information during this time, even if it was just another look at the old man’s face to capture more details for his sketch.

To his frustration, he waited in the chair for what felt like seven hours before the old man finally arrived.

“Hahahaha...”

From a few meters away, the familiar dry laugh echoed. Lin Xian couldn’t help but feel irritated. Did the old man have to be so punctual? He had been waiting for hours.

The hood was yanked off. The old man’s sunken eye sockets, sparse eyebrows, hollow cheeks, drooping eyelids, high-bridged nose, cleft chin, pale lips, narrow eyes, and excited gaze met Lin Xian’s.

“No...”

“I see you,” Lin Xian interrupted the old man’s shocked expression. “Enough talk.”

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

The sudden white light engulfed everything, burning the old man’s trembling pupils and everything in sight.

...

...

This novel is translated and hosted only on BcaTranslation

In his bedroom, Lin Xian opened his eyes. He consolidated the old man’s facial details in his mind and got out of bed to draw.

“Ouch.”

He nearly tripped over the vacuum cleaner on the floor. “VV, what are you doing here?” he complained.

But the vacuum cleaner didn’t respond. Surprised, Lin Xian picked it up, finding no lights on. It was as if it had no power. He quickly walked to the living room. The house was eerily quiet.

“VV!” He shouted, and the fridge’s display lit up, VV’s voice coming from its speaker. “Lin Xian, something happened.”

Lin Xian’s face turned serious. “What happened?”

“I finished collecting all the facial data in X Country and was preparing to gather data abroad. But when I breached X Country’s cyber security and entered the outside network...” The fridge made a gulping sound, like its compressor had paused. “There’s a black hand in the network outside.”

“A black hand?” Lin Xian didn’t understand. “What do you mean?”

“A giant black hand, overshadowing everything in the network,” VV said gravely. “It’s more terrifying than any program I’ve encountered, devouring and assimilating everything. In the outside network, this black hand almost completely surrounds X Country’s internet, watching and waiting for any breach.”

This novel is translated and hosted on bcatranslation