Chapter 96: The Stupid Dog and the Smart AI

Feng Xue, having swallowed a mouthful of seawater, felt a sense of humiliation, as if deceived—but it was his own stupidity. He thought it pointless to provoke a bizarre species whose physical abilities clearly surpassed his own just because of minor emotional discomfort, so he sat back down beneath the tree, pondering whether he should take out his second pancake.

Or perhaps let Seeing Mo Ying try?

Feng Xue muttered to himself, considering whether 【Ghost-Muddled Mind】 could take effect, but the sun blazed fiercely now; ghostly energy could barely reach ten meters away. To summon Seeing Mo Ying in this weather—even if she agreed—would require excessive spiritual power to block the sunlight, and given that food was being stolen right now, the cost-benefit ratio was far too low.

Just as he was formulating his plan, the beast-eared girl suddenly began thrashing her body like a drowned dog crawling onto shore, shaking with such frequency and force that water droplets flew over ten meters away, making one marvel that a spin dryer could hardly be more effective.

Feng Xue marveled at the beast-eared girl's stamina, when suddenly she collapsed beneath the shade of a nearby coconut tree—and a slightly mechanical voice entered his ears—

"Threat assessment module updated: external environmental risk coefficient dropped below blue threshold."

"Per Emergency Survival Protocol, Seventh Amendment, Clause 4.2.1 (Protocol ID: ZD-001-α)"

"Survival Protocol Phase III completed."

"Central nervous system control disengaged."

"Motor cortex control handover countdown: 3… 2… 1…"

"Emergency takeover mode terminated."

"Neural interface shutting down…"

"Shut down complete."

"Backup power switched to standby mode."

"System resources released: 97.3%"

"Initiating self-diagnostic program:"

"Trauma repair unit / Integrity 92% / Consumables remaining 17% / Energy remaining 43%"

"Drift navigation module / Cumulative runtime: 127 hours 3 minutes /"

"Nutrition supply system / Emergency biomass replenishment: 9 times / Food supply: 1 time"

"Self-diagnostic complete. Entering cruise mode."

…

As the series of utterly incongruous mechanical reports concluded, the girl's beast ears and her once-drenched, now-fluffed tail suddenly began melting like overheated figurines, while wisps of white substance oozed from her pores and coalesced beside her into a…

A white dog?

Well, given its sharp fangs and defiant crouch, perhaps it was a wolf… dog?

It wasn't surprising Feng Xue made a joke—this thing's expression was absurdly stupid, so stupid it looked like a white albino husky.

But judging from earlier events, this thing seemed less like a wild animal and more like… some kind of biological exosuit?

"So I was wrong all along—this world isn't just not backward, it's… technologically advanced?"

Thinking this, Feng Xue's mood lifted. Never mind anything else—just the six-digit lifespan on that girl's head proved this world's technology had reached the point of dramatically extending life!

Still, Feng Xue restrained his excitement; though she looked human, she might not be the same species as him.

Like in some xianxia worlds, where they call themselves "human," but their ancestral return means primordial deities or ancient masters—while his own return might just turn out to be a monkey.

Just as Feng Xue was wondering whether he could now eat, the white wolf suddenly turned its head toward him—and the mechanical voice spoke again—

"Unknown lifeform detected: 1"

"Biological characteristics analysis in progress..."

"Thoughtwave frequency: β, activity level: high"

"Physical condition: E"

"Special unit: none"

"Divine force attribute: Strength (extremely weak, inactive)"

"Carried items detected:"

"Decorative mineral: gold (purity 92.3%) / Decorative stone (density 3.33g/cm³) / Chemical fiber textile (no defensive capability) / Low-quality woven sack…"

"Low-grade electronic device detected"

"Signal reception device confirmed"

"Activating signal simulation protocol…"

"Frequency matching…"

"Signal connection successful."

"Data stream analysis beginning…"

"Language library comparison:"

"Text similarity: 94.27%"

"Character set match: 89.56%"

"Grammar structure deviation: ±6.3%"

"Content analysis report:"

"Original medical knowledge system detected"

"Analyzing…"

"Analysis complete."

"Threat level: extremely low"

"Classification: Anthropoid primate indigenous knowledge carrier (provisional designation: Wild One)"

"Per the Deep Sea Expansion Interaction Act, assist host in initiating preliminary contact…"

"Error!"

"Host in comatose state; contact cannot be established…"

"Error!"

"Per Basic Protocol, host survival is the highest priority…"

"Resource Assessment:

"Medical Unit Integrity: 67.2%

"Nutrient Synthesis Capacity: Insufficient

"Environmental Adaptability: Continuously Deteriorating

"Per Article 7.1.4 of the *Emergency Survival Protocol, Seventh Revised Edition*, establishing interaction with indigenous civilizations…

"【Interaction Protocol Activated】

"Beep—Request to establish mutual-assistance relationship. Offering: fertile female resource (host), limited knowledge exchange. Exchange condition: ensure host survival. Repeat: ensure host survival."

Feng Xue watched with a subtle expression as this big white wolf muttered a string of mechanical sounds to itself—sounds that seemed both understandable and not quite understandable—and before he could even respond, the collar around the white wolf's neck lit up with a snap. Immediately, a 3D projection of considerable "artistic" flair materialized before Feng Xue.

"Ah, this… the AI selling out the host, is that even a thing?"

Feng Xue finally understood what that earlier "fertile female resource" line from the white wolf had meant, and his expression couldn't help but turn subtle as well.

The big white wolf seemed to have caught the change in Feng Xue's expression. Though its body still looked like a dopey husky, the mechanical voice continued:

"Resource display complete. Accept this protocol? Protocol validity: 30 day-night cycles (tentative).

"Warning: Harming the host will trigger the defense protocol.

"Awaiting response…"

"…"

Feng Xue looked at this dopey, cute white wolf chasing its own tail in circles, then glanced at the 3D artistic projection floating above it—specially rendered from multiple close-up angles to demonstrate the resource's value—and for a moment felt a strong sense of breaking the fourth wall.

But then again, undeniably, he really was tempted.

It wasn't that he was tempted by the girl, honestly—compared to that "cockroach-crawling" aberrant type that had left him with a rather deep (negative) impression, he'd much rather go into his dreams to play with his own darling Ying.

If he really wanted hands-on practice, wasn't there still the ever-changing, peerlessly delightful little white snake Liu Yunxi?

What truly tempted him was, as expected, that "limited knowledge exchange"!

After all, he'd heard the AI's assessment of him perfectly clearly—based on his own combat power, the danger rating was actually only *Extremely Low*? And combined with its so-called "divine power" rating, this world was probably far from being merely technologically advanced!

However…

"Speaking of which, why does this AI insist on narrating the entire evaluation process out loud?"

Feng Xue lowered his head to glance at the white wolf still chasing and biting its own tail, the corner of his mouth twitching—

Sure enough, it was a dumb dog!

(End of Chapter)