Chapter 1674

NO．289：A super-long signal puppetry

「Explosion sounds, police car sirens。」

「There's also a bit of startled cries, not many. 」

「If you are a police officer working in Heaven Gate City, the daily background music cannot do without these three elements. 」

Noticing Bi Ze's gaze drifting away, then as it zoomed out, one sees the firelight and smoke swaying at the end of the street; Aomo, not surprised, looked back at the jumping drink page before him.

Then, in passing, he expressed the aforementioned sentiment.

「Even if you say that, you still can't help but care, right? 」

Seeing that another explosion seemed to occur within the smoke, the sudden loud noise made Bi Ze shrink his head.

「In the Boundary Gate District, I haven't even seen a traffic accident. 」

「Even if the matches I watch always have monster fights? 」 Aomo chuckled and retorted.

He had just closed that tablet page, then activated his own terminal light screen. On it were the girls' street-shopping return pictures; several dialogue boxes formed a queue, making one unable to resist using the mechanical monster's computing power to answer conveniently.

After praising, he also used emojis to neutralize the intentional feel of the praise; when the other party also sent back a response bundled with emojis, that counted as the end of a conversation.

Although there had been a period of internet social confusion where one couldn't tell how far the topic had progressed before it was okay to close the window, that too was a childhood thing.

Later, seeing Bopang, Suzi, and even Bi Ze being clumsily ignorant about this with acquaintances, I couldn't help but feel amazed at how precious this scene was.

Bopang aside, are crazy scientists and alien infants also considered hard to negotiate with?

Perhaps it's because I'm used to doing things my own way that I'm not good at expressing concern; or perhaps my past habit of doing things my own way includes a part that causes poor communication expression… but never mind.

That's what Aomo thought back then.

Such a naive thought would be erased if we recalled a bit more of everyday conduct; we should stick to the facts and not let self‑serving interpretations mislead us.

Bi Ze handled this well; his single‑track thinking only extends toward show effect, otherwise it's pure nonsense, and he's stubbornly adamant: "Monster fighting? Each time it's done so covertly you can't see it directly—what could I possibly feel?"

So what about here?

Between words, a short deployment report from Nate was drawn up, and the demon kept speaking in a leisurely manner.

If you worry too much about those explosions and fires, you might not even sleep soundly; do you need a sleep aid these two days? The hotel actually has plenty given out for free.

I have that stuff too; the difference is just quality, so the effect shouldn't differ much, right?

Indeed.

Besides, I need to be able to sleep! The excitement of coming to Heaven Gate City hasn't faded yet, and…" This person hesitated, then mused, "People should have some nightlife, right?"

It's hard not to agree.

Your reply is too perfunctory; couldn't you, like David, have a discussion with your brothers about XP and life? That kind of friendship is as solid as iron!

Sounds not quite normal," Aomo said, expressionlessly greeting the robot approaching with a drink, "Just put it here, thanks.

Hmm, okay, thank you, generous sir.

After leaving a tip‑related thank‑you, the robot ignored Bi Ze's weird remarks and walked away.

While Aomo watched Bi Ze still keeping his mouth shut, even burying his head to glance at the robot's back, he picked up the soul‑flavored drink he hadn't seen in nearly a year.

Just based on that, I quite support robots replacing cheap labor; at least the most straightforward‑minded bunch can maintain adequate service standards, won't mind your odd talk, and won't draw too much attention to us.

But I've heard such workers might upload what they see and hear to some information hive!" Bi Ze lowered his voice.

Indeed, AI also has circles formed by companies, organizations, even parties, where they regularly gather and exchange information, but that level of information theft and sharing is overly courteous compared to what humans do.

The former mostly involves mutual aid, the latter mostly business; the resulting harm to the parties' rights is naturally huge. Bi Ze's worry about this only makes Aomo think he's recently been keen on engaging with it, or perhaps he's been tangled by the big data of the "AI harm theory" and then refused incompletely.

Otherwise, there shouldn't be this meaningless worry.

Rather than worry about one's harsh words being recorded by a robot and stuffed into an information nest, it's better to worry about the data one casually fills in when registering on some websites and the information tags torn off parcels.

Compared to a machine's mind, the human heart's precipitation is deeper; whether good or bad, AI falls short.

Of course, AI also has some talent‑type players that humans can't learn, who, through malicious learning and bugs, easily walk to extremes; picking one up at random is already a major heinous crime—such cases that could leave a stench for ages are naturally rare, far less than humanity's accumulated malice.

But that's getting off track.

Although AI assistants that help tigers often appear in nowadays criminal investigations, there's currently no sign of it, and pre‑emptive targeting would be a shot in the dark.

On the contrary, compared to the first day when everyone had their own travel goals upon arriving at Heaven Gate City, by the third day he no longer had such leisure in his work schedule.

Apart from the excitement still present in Bi Ze's stubbornness, everyone else's fresh enthusiasm had faded considerably by the third day.

In Texas, it's no longer necessary to meet exclusively with Ms. Kong and the others; the gatherings of Ms. Shi Huaiya, Ms. Chen Huijie, and Ms. Xiong Xing have also concluded, Isabella Mara has returned from Ms. Lauren Tina, and the Sirius symbol has likewise bidden farewell to local friends… By now, among those who were still in small groups on the first day, the number of people going solo will only increase.

Holding similar plans, everyone will each begin their adventure in Heaven Gate City.

However, the problem lies precisely here.

When the team‑building segment ends and everyone disperses to work out their individual travel plans—you'll find that most people's travel plans contain a repeated name.

Aomo Lindun.

A highly sought‑after demon now faces a two‑sided dilemma: "Spending time with one person will fill the schedule, while choosing to accompany several will damage each person's mood value."

Moreover, this dilemma cannot be solved by his studied puppetry.

Once you realize the figure before you is merely a puppet manipulated by the demon, the mood value still drops—could it drop even more than the initial choice? After all, perception is fundamentally subjective.

But the above applies only to worries about female targets; when it comes to male brothers, it doesn't matter what you have or lack—as long as you can come out to stroll and chat, even if you spend the whole time playing on terminals or poking around, it's fine.

Brothers care even less whether you're a fake person; interaction is normal anyway, and even your gaming performance reflects your own style—as long as you can boost my rank, who cares what you do here or there!

Just like that.

On the third day in Heaven Gate City, what Aomo had sitting across from Bi Ze was a puppet.

Perched on Nishizaki Yutaka's shoulder, the Magabasa that accompanied him to visit the local trainer is, of course, also a puppet.

Hanging on Xiao Lu's backpack, the little rainbow snake heading to the Light Nation office is, of course, also a puppet.

Then what about the real body?

The real body is climbing a mountain.

Together with Chazuo, Ling, He, and a certain big painter who keeps a half‑raised evening face yet persists, they are climbing Heaven Gate City's sole naturally towering famous peak.

It is worth mentioning that the summit of this mountain is not only towering into the clouds, possessing the ethereal mountain aura of East Yan Culture, but also has several residents living there.

One of them is the project manager of the Frontier Lighthouse Company's branch in Heaven's Gate City.