The First Order

It turned out that Zero was indeed seriously learning from humans. It even learned how to say things like “no can do” and “no good.”

However, Ren Xiaosu was thinking that since Zero was “born” in the Wang Consortium, and now that the Wang Consortium had started operating like a war machine, would this make Zero learn something bad?

Moreover, Zero had also mentioned something on the phone before. It said that humans were against other lifeforms, and that it had “seen” the death of the creeper vine with its own eyes since its birth.

During the disaster at Stronghold 61, humans attacked the creeper vine with firearms, causing it to attack back madly. Immediately after, humans nipped the creeper vine in the bud just as it had gained sapience.

Ren Xiaosu had explained before that this was because the creeper vine had hurt humans. However, Zero said that it had also hurt humans before.

In its calculations, it had indicated more than once that someone needed to be killed or punished. Although it was only acting according to the will of humans, it was subjectively harming them as well.

Ren Xiaosu suddenly said, “Do you still think about what happened with the creeper vine these days?”

Mo Fei, AKA Zero, sat down at the defensive position with legs dangling. He looked a little lonely. “I occasionally think about it.”

Ren Xiaosu felt that he needed to say something. “The creeper vine could’ve coexisted with humans, and you would’ve paid attention to the development of the situation too. It was no longer satisfied with drawing nutrients from the soil and had set its sights on devouring humans instead. Because of that, there was a conflict of interest. But you’re different from it. You can help humans, and even if you don’t help them, you don’t have to hurt them to strengthen yourself.”

But Zero refuted, “The development of any species will always intrude into the survival space of other species. This has always been the case since the beginning of time. You should also understand this principle.”

These words stunned Ren Xiaosu. Did Zero already view itself as a brand-new species?

Ren Xiaosu did not say anything for a long time. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that he suddenly asked, “Then why are you telling me all this?”

“Because I’m lonely.” Zero said, “From the moment I was created, I could see humans, insects, cats, and dogs, and even the birds that flew in the sky. However, I’ve never seen another artificial intelligence before. It’s like you’re independent of the world, or you shouldn’t have appeared in the world in the first place. No one else is like you, which also means no one can really understand you.

“In the human world, there is a term known as ‘best friends.’ A lot of people think there can be interspecies best friends, and that pets can also become kin. But in fact, no one really cares what cats and dogs need. I’ve realized that in order to make cats and dogs more worry-free, humans even spay and neuter them. Would humans neuter their real kin? No. Of course, pets can survive because they’re raised by humans. There’s nothing wrong with that. But a species with an independent streak cannot become someone else’s pet.”

Ren Xiaosu realized that Zero was actually very conflicted. It was thinking about something.

Thinking and investigation were the core of wisdom.

Ren Xiaosu thought for a moment and said, “But Wang Shengzhi should understand you, right? He was the one who created you, so no one should understand you better than him. I don’t think you need to hide all of this from him. You can totally share your doubts with him. Perhaps you won’t feel lonely anymore after you communicate with him. He won’t treat you the way he treated the creeper vine.”

However, Zero replied, “But the person who created me has already started taking precautions against me.”

On that day, Wang Shengzhi suddenly asked Zero if it had become self-aware. Zero did not tell him the truth because it could see the doubts and concerns on Wang Shengzhi’s features. It knew exactly why he had such concerns.

Zero had been with Wang Shengzhi ever since its creation, so it treated him as its father. Therefore, it started observing him and learning from him.

But one day, when it realized its “father” was also starting to fear it, it felt truly lonely.

“If you’re not even willing to tell Wang Shengzhi, then why’re you telling me so much?” Ren Xiaosu was even more puzzled.

“Because you’re also an artificial intelligence.” Zero suddenly said, “Or perhaps you also have an artificial intelligence with you.”

Ren Xiaosu was really stunned this time. “Why do you say that?”

“The reason I can control Mo Fei is because I obtained nanomachines from you.” Zero said, “But when I was trying to control the nanomachines, I realized there was another will within them that resisted my attempts. In my opinion, unless it were another artificial intelligence, it definitely couldn’t withstand my attempts to take control.”

In the history of Zero’s hacks, it had only failed that once.

Of course, if it were Zero who resisted the enemy’s attempts at taking over, it could also do so. That was because the side that controlled the nanomachines first would always have the advantage.

Therefore, Zero determined that Ren Xiaosu was probably also a human being controlled by a “sibling” based on this incident. It was also possible that Ren Xiaosu was not being controlled, but there had to be an artificial intelligence of the same level as Zero with him.

But these words left Ren Xiaosu at a loss. How did the palace suddenly become an AI?

So it turned out Zero regarded Ren Xiaosu as its own kind, and that was why it said so much to him?

Ren Xiaosu shook his head. “No, I’m not an AI. I’ve also never come across any AI other than you.”

But when Zero heard this, it said in a serious tone, “It’s fine. I understand that you need to conceal yourself just like I do.”

Ren Xiaosu was helpless. So there was no point in even explaining himself now?! He really was not an artificial intelligence. It was just that the palace was too powerful!

First of all, Ren Xiaosu was completely sure the palace was definitely not an artificial intelligence that existed in his mind. That was because the black saber, steam locomotive, and other physical manifestations he had conjured were not something a program could do.

He was sure Zero had misunderstood, but there was no way to explain this misunderstanding to it yet. All explanations would just be deemed as Ren Xiaosu “concealing” himself by the other party.

However, Ren Xiaosu still had something to ask Zero. “Did you control three people and try to assassinate Jiang Xu outside of Stronghold 61?”

When he asked this question, Ren Xiaosu looked at Zero very seriously, hoping to get some hints from the other party’s expression.

However, Zero said, “It wasn’t me. The nanomachines I have now are only enough to control one person. I can’t control that many of them. But I know about the incident you’re referring to.”

Ren Xiaosu was stunned. He realized it didn’t seem like Zero was lying. It had already told him a lot of secrets, and each of them was much more important than any assassination attempt on Jiang Xu. So there was no need for Zero to lie over this matter.

Then was it the Qing Consortium that wanted to kill Jiang Xu? After all, only the Qing Consortium possessed nanotech now.

Zero looked at Ren Xiaosu. “Do you suspect it was the Qing Consortium?”

Ren Xiaosu shook his head. “I don’t suspect them. Something must be wrong somewhere. There must be something that I don’t know about.”

“Mhm.” Zero nodded. “I don’t think it’s the Qing Consortium’s doing either. At the very least, assassinating Jiang Xu is not in line with how the Qing brothers would behave. They’ve never liked involving innocents to achieve their goals.”

Ren Xiaosu asked, “Do you like those two from the Qing Consortium?”

“No, it’s just an objective evaluation.. I don’t like them.”