Chapter 307 - 306: Astonishing Truth

Grumbling silently, Li Jing rolled his eyes and turned to murmur a Spirit God incantation.

Basaka and his companion clearly did not expect Li Jing to attack them in a two-on-one situation, let alone that he would have such powerful spiritual level abilities.

The two of them didn’t even have time to enter the door. They froze in place, their eyes hollow, their Spirit weapons falling to the ground with a clatter.

After freezing the two of them in place within a second, Li Jing chose to ignore them.

Given the current situation, he didn’t have time to waste words on them.

Even if he told them that someone else was faster and that he hadn’t managed to get anything, they might not believe him.

Even if they did, they wouldn’t just leave.

These two were a nuisance.

Turning to look at the badly damaged supercomputer screen, Li Jing noticed a faint glow at the bottom of the broken screen where plasma had accumulated. His eyes lit up.

The supercomputer was still running, but the screen was broken.

With a flickering thought, he activated the Silent Shadow again to ensure that even if someone came, they wouldn’t notice him. Then, Li Jing pulled Xiao Ai out from his storage space, and turned on the camera.

"Xiao Ai, this supercomputer is still running, except the screen is broken. I’ll connect it with you with a data cable. Help me copy all the data inside. Be careful, this is the main body of the Artificial Intelligence we encountered earlier, beware of its attacks."

Thinking for a moment, Li Jing added.

"Pay special attention to verify whether the components hosting the Artificial Intelligence are still there, and where they are in the mainframe room."

"Alright, Master."

Xiao Ai replied dutifully.

Meeting a "fellow" was quite interesting for Xiao Ai.

If she could, she would like to have a conversation about their "condition" with Bei Yi.

But she would never break Li Jing’s orders.

Seeing through the camera that Li Jing was bending over to help her connect the data cable, Xiao Ai asked.

"If she’s there, do you want me to screw her over?"

Li Jing paused at her words.

If Bei Yi was there, wouldn’t he have to screw her over?

That’s a no-brainer.

If he doesn’t screw Bei Yi over, would she willingly hand over the data?

But Xiao Ai’s choice of words was...

Screw over.

Where did she learn this term?

In the past, Xiao Ai would never utter such vulgarity.

Li Jing gave it a thought and remembered the time Xiao Ai was playing games with Ji Qing.

He rubbed his forehead and muttered.

"If she’s there, then screw her over."

Somebody really indulges Xiao Ai.

Moreover, truth be told...

Ever since he acquired Xiao Ai and became aware of her existence, Li Jing always left her alone if possible.

He knew...

Although Xiao Ai had a distinct personality, it was much like a newborn baby’s because she was newly created, a clean slate. Her sharp-tongued personality was influenced by the program settings during her design.

Xiao Ai needed to grow and experience life in order to gradually complete her personality.

Regarding this, Li Jing’s attitude was to let her grow on her own.

One reason was that he didn’t have strong controlling tendencies, another reason was that he was too lazy to teach.

The latter was the main reason.

He had never properly raised a child before, and to be asked to bring up a newborn Artificial Intelligence was a death sentence for him.

Upon realizing Xiao Ai had learnt something she shouldn’t have while gaming with Ji Qing, Li Jing simply turned a blind eye, even decided to play along.

Xiao Ai had been with him for a long time, and her humanity had almost matured.

It was too late for him to try to educate her now, and it wasn’t good to interfere too much either.

After plugging the data cable into Xiao Ai to connect her to the supercomputer, Li Jing watched the screen of Xiao Ai’s physical body to observe her status, ready to pull the data cable immediately if something went wrong.

He had faith in Xiao Ai.

But the current situation was a little fuzzy.

Cautiousness was the key to safety, he didn’t want to lose Xiao Ai.

As mentioned before...

At this point, Xiao Ai’s human nature had almost matured.

Through the front-facing camera, Xiao Ai saw that Li Jing was paying attention to her. Showing off her playful side, a virtual image of herself with a data cable protruding out of her waist linking to a phone was bounced out from the corner of the screen.

A twitch ran through Li Jing’s mouth at the sight.

When it came to being mischievous, Xiao Ai always had it in her.

He was used to it.

Xiao Ai’s virtual image was outrageously cute, too.

So... why did the data cable appear from under her skirt?

Even then...

The fortress had been shielded to block out external signals, so Xiao Ai was currently offline and couldn’t connect to the internet.

The virtual image she created must have been saved in the database beforehand, or she had firsthand previous examples to modify and customize.

So here’s the problem... What was Xiao Ai’s mindset in saving or designing such a virtual image, and where did she get inspired?

Her function seems to be getting more and more derailed.

At this moment, Xiao Ai spoke up.

"Master, I’ve accessed it."

Hearing this, Li Jing perked an eyebrow.

"How does it look?"

"There are no defenses set up in the supercomputer."

Xiao Ai responded, then corrected herself.

"No, to be precise, the intrusion prevention mechanism is still there but not functioning, because the artificial intelligence system that controls it is no longer here."

"Hmm."

Li Jing nodded.

He wasn’t surprised that Bei Yi was gone.

If Evlyn had killed the Snake Eyes before leaving, she must have taken something other than data.

She’s not driven by wealth, so the data would be useless to her.

The most valuable thing in the entire Fortress Laboratory is Bei Yi.

While he was searching for details on the upper floor, Bei Yi must have communicated with Evlyn, finding a "way out" for himself, letting her whisk him away.

In that case, it makes sense for Bei Yi to let his guard down.

But he wasn’t sure whether Evlyn had established a partnership with Bei Yi, or if she had obtained something of interest from him, that was worth killing her former teammates for.

As he was pondering, Xiao Ai exclaimed in surprise.

"Master, I found the hardware loaded with artificial intelligence in the server room through the data link. It’s a few versions behind what I use and it’s a bit different. It seems to be a knock-off design from our Longyu Research Institute."

Upon hearing this, Li Jing frowned.

Advanced research technology is rarely shared between forces, not even disclosed.

If you have it, I want it too.

So they could only counterfeit.

It’s quite normal and nothing to be ashamed of.

The effort required to start from scratch is much less than the effort to get a template and modify it yourself, right?

For cutting-edge technology, it generally takes at least a decade or two to make any significant progress.

As such confidential stuff has no patents, it’s okay to copy it.

So, here’s the issue.

How did the program leave if the hardware loaded with Bei Yi is still here?

It’s not like Evlyn brought hardware capable of loading Bei Yi with her, is it?

If that’s the case, her intention is all too obvious.

And it’s not something that you can just obtain at will.

It involves aspects such as program compatibility, and a slightest mistake could be disastrous...

For instance, if Li Jing wanted to provide Xiao Ai with a new "body" loaded with hardware, he would have to go to the Research Institute for a tailor-made solution.

Programs are not like humans.

Humans can still live with a limb missing; if a program loses even a single file or encounters an issue of hardware incompatibility, it might as well be useless as it wouldn’t run.

Li Jing didn’t think Evlyn could get such a thing.

Unless, she was the developer of Bei Yi, and has known about his existence from the very beginning.

But she isn’t ...

If Evlyn were human, and not just an adventurer, Li Jing could suspect such a possibility.

But how could she get in touch with advanced technology in artificial intelligence development when she’s not even human?

The White Hawk wouldn’t be so stupid.

Employing artificial intelligence, unknowing of its distinct personality is forgivable, but ensuring the smart program controlling a sensitive location like the biological laboratory is totally safe is vital.

What’s really going on?

Li Jing was puzzled.

As he was utterly baffled, Xiao Ai’s strange voice sounded.

"Master, it seems that Bei Yi... has become human."

?

Li Jing.

Become human?

What does that mean?

Just as he was about to ask, a secret file with every detail ciphered shown on his phone screen was brought up by Xiao Ai.

"This is a top-secret file I found in the supercomputer database. Take a look, Master. I’ll help you decode it."

As she spoke, the ciphered sections of the document, where only a few characters were visible, gradually dissipated, revealing an article written in White Hawk language, which was then translated into the common language by Xiao Ai.

Li Jing glanced at the file upon seeing this.

A glance at it made his face change instantly.

This was from an encrypted file that was titled as a Zero-level top-secret file.

It clearly detailed that the White Hawk used Blood Tribe cells to create artificial humans, which they remotely controlled using artificial intelligence.

But this is not the key.

The main point is, their goal since the beginning of the research and development was to implant artificial intelligence into the bodies of these artificial humans. This would enable them to act autonomously and judge how to act based on the actual situation, rather than being remotely controlled by artificial intelligence.

As per the file, they failed thousands of times just after their first attempt over ten years ago.

This technology has still not been successfully developed to this day.

Following the document, Li Jing was lost in thought.

True, the file does not record any successful experiments.

But considering the current situation at the fortress, they clearly seemed to have succeeded.

It’s just that Bei Yi has deliberately concealed himself, leaving them in complete darkness.

Massaging his temples, Li Jing felt overwhelmed.

The White Hawk has made quite a serious move.

The thought of an artificial intelligence, one that has a distinctive personality, but not yet fully developed or devoid of ethical and moral values, getting a human body, and that too starting at least from the Six Realm, having unknown quantities of Six Realm artificial humans in its hands...

It’s terrifying to even think about!

The worst part is,

That guy has even run away from the lab...

Remembering that Longyu had at least one artificial human capable of cursing someone to death at the Six Realm, Li Jing’s face grew even graver.

Initially, he hadn’t given it much thought.

Now thinking about it, the artificial human was controlled by Bei Yi.

How did Bei Yi manage to control the artificial humans killing people in Longyu from thousands of miles away with the fortress isolated from the external network?

A preset program?

Possible.

But an artificial human acting according to a preset program has no reason to pass customs into Longyu, then precisely locate Augustus’ party, and execute a curse killing in two batches.

A program-controlled object only acts according to the program.

To enter Longyu, it needs to interact with the customs staff.

Interaction with humans is not something that can be covered up by a preset program. During this process, various situations outside of the program settings could expose it.

Next comes a crucial point.

Long before the accident in the Fortress Laboratory, Augustus and his party had stayed in Longyu for a while. The artificial human that cursed them to death went there afterwards, not with them.

The program can find people? Can a preset program do such a thing?

No!

Looking back, Li Jing realized he had been misdirected by Xiao Ai’s question.

Bei Yi’s firmware is placed in the supercomputer controlling the Fortress Laboratory, serving as a security system for the fortress.

Even if the White Hawk wanted to conduct related experiments, it seemed unlikely they would implant a security system into an artificial human...

Hence, an easy conclusion can be drawn.

There’s definitely not only one artificial intelligence. At least there is another one in Longyu.

If there’s a second one, there can be many.

Apart from Bei Yi, other artificial intelligences might not have an individual personality, but they are definitely under its control.

Considering all this, Li Jing inevitably associated it with Evlyn’s behavior - she acts independently and never speaks unnecessarily.

That lady, she has quite a personality.

But what if that’s not her personality?

What if she houses an artificial intelligence without a personality, but just autonomous judgment?

Having a health bar does not necessarily indicate a monster.

Artificial humans also have health bars...

Thinking that Evlyn might be an artificial human loaded with artificial intelligence, Li Jing murmured instructions.

"Xiao Ai, can you check when the firmware carrying Bei Yi was installed in the supercomputer?"

"The supercomputer has repair records, and Bei Yi’s firmware was updated and replaced six years ago, before which the security system of the fortress was manually operated." Xiao Ai explained.

Receiving an answer, Li Jing looked stunned.

"Check the detailed experiment records, confirm whether there are records of early artificial human experimental subjects missing from the Fortress Laboratory in the data, or anything strange."

"Received."

Xiao Ai responded, and gave a reply quite soon.

"The database has no loss records, indeed there are some odd things. Formal implant experiments started nine years ago, and the fortress conducted compatibility testing every month during the initial phase. However, there was no experiment record in June of the second year. An accident happened that month, several R&D personnel died, and several Fellow-level leaders were collectively kicked out of the research team the following month."

"..."

Li Jing.

Skipping back seven years, there were no experiment records in June, but unexpectedly, several R&D personnel died.

Without conducting experiments, how could an accident kill people?

Then the next month a couple of Fellow-level leaders were fired?

Rubbing his temples, Li Jing felt a bit annoyed.

Evlyn might really be an artificial human loaded with artificial intelligence, which has also developed an independent personality.

At the same time, she was likely the early "product" from June seven years ago, leading to an accident and several deaths.

Due to artificial factors or some other reasons, this side of the fortress neither recorded nor reported it.

They didn’t want to bear responsibility so they covered it up...

This, happens pretty often.

The reason why these Fellows were kicked out of the Fortress Laboratory could be easily associated with this.

Seven years ago...

Bei Yi didn’t exist at that time.

Evlyn participated in this mission as the deputy head of the Adventure Guild, not only bringing her team but also hiring him and the Wolf Hunter as external aids. Now there’s a reason.

She doesn’t know Bei Yi.

As an early "product", she knows very well how strong the artificial humans "produced" by this fortress are.

She needs someone to make her way propelling her to enter the bottom layer to find out exactly what happened in the fortress, then she met Bei Yi...

Two artificially intelligent beings with unique personalities unbeknownst to everyone, wouldn’t they agree instantly?

After being silent for a while, Li Jing commanded,

"Confirm this, has the laboratory produced any Seventh Realm artificial humans?"

"That has been there from the beginning."

Xiao Ai answered, casually pulling out a file saying,

"According to this document, early on when they began experimenting, some people pointed out that Seventh Realm artificial humans have a stronger ability to withstand, and the implantation of an intelligent chip in the body will not cause rejection or reversal. The document also mentioned that once the experiment with a Seventh Realm individual succeeds, its practicality will far exceed that of the Sixth Realm."

Hearing Xiao Ai talk and seeing the relevant documents, Li Jing grinned.

Evlyn’s case, is eight or nine out of ten.

Now, what if the higher-ups in Longyu know about these circumstances, they won’t have time to be happy about having a countermeasure against the White Hawk?

Currently, the White Hawk is clearly still clueless.

If they knew the truth, they’d be exploding by now.

A unique, independent personality AI possessing a Seventh Realm artificial human’s body walking in the human world for seven years, even becoming the deputy head of the Kregar Adventure Guild residing there till now, while also managing to confuse the artificial intelligence of the whole fortress...

Would the White Hawk’s higher-ups not split open if such things happened on their home ground?

Compared to human cultivators, artificial humans definitely don’t have as powerful a destructive force.

They possess the power of the Blood Tribe inside them, which is independent of all known power systems in the world, and it also has nothing to do with the skill system.

If it’s unrelated to the skill system, the threat won’t go too far.

But compared to ordinary cultivators, they’re more lethal...

That power, which kills others without anyone knowing or noticing, is even creepier than a forbidden skill launched openly in a city.

Because you will never know when they will make their move, you have no means to counteract.

Sighing deeply, Li Jing pondered a bit and asked explicitly.

"Which floors of the fortress house the observation room and breeding location for the Seventh Realm AI humans?"

"The sixtieth floor."

Small Hindrance responded.

"The two left paths of the fortress lead to observation rooms, the right two are breeding rooms, and the two in the middle lead to the implant experimentation center."

"Alright."

Li Jing nodded, then continued to inquire.

"Have all the data to be copied been completely transferred?"

"Yes, it’s done."

Small Hindrance answered.

"The supercomputer database doesn’t contain much. It seems Bei Yi deleted a large chunk related to her and other AI Humans."

"Fine, let’s handle it this way."

Li Jing pulled out a cable and looked at Basaka and the companion standing dumbly at the machine room doorway, saying.

"Both of you never saw me, and there were no other people here."

Saying this, he swiftly walked out of the machine room, headed towards the hole he broke open to the bottom layer of the fortress, and sky controlled his return the same way to the sixtieth floor.

He had seen observation rooms and breeding rooms before on the fifth and tenth floors of the central path, but given the huge scale of the fortress, there were certainly more than two observation rooms and breeding rooms.

The location for observing and breeding Seventh Realm AI humans is much more sensitive than that for the Sixth Realm AI humans, mostly dwelling in the deeper parts.

That was indeed the case.

Next, he wanted to confirm something.

Whether Bei Yi and Evlyn were still in the fortress.

Theoretically speaking, as a program controlling the AI humans and the fortress security system, Bei Yi may not be likely to implant herself into an AI body.

If so, she would have left a long time ago.

She likely wouldn’t dare to rush into implanting herself into an AI human’s body.

After all, she’s not your average AI, if there was an error, it would be the end for her.

The current chips might not be completely the same as the ones that Evlyn used before.

Seven years is enough time for such high-tech gadgets to undergo many upgrades.

Where such retired-type of chips could be found, the fortress must have some, and Evlyn could convey which version Bei Yi needs to find.

With the information provided by Evlyn, it wouldn’t be difficult for Bei Yi to find what she needed.

To put it simply.

Evlyn gave Bei Yi hope for leaving and moving freely as an AI human.

As a successful case, the chip in Evlyn’s body could be used as a container to temporarily store Bei Yi’s programs, and take her away together.

Bei Yi, still needs a body of an AI human which can hold her programs so she can move freely.

What if they didn’t act quickly enough, perhaps they are still in the fortress...

...

Just as Li Jing stepped away, Basaka and his companion came to their senses.

Their minds restored, there was a look of perplexity on their faces.

As Li Jing was leaving, he casually hypnotized the two.

This caused them to lose their memories. They didn’t remember seeing him, nor do they remember other people at the bottom level of the fortress.

How can they not be bewildered?

The point is, their spirit weapons are on the ground.

Why did they take out their spirit weapons and throw them on the ground?

Both have no memory...

Usually, in such psychological manipulations...

It shouldn’t be as casual as Li Jing’s, at the very least it should be a complete story that made sense when remembering.

Right now, they only remember that they had gone through a great battle and lost a few teammates before finally making it to the bottom of the fortress. Then they were very excited to acquire data worth five million spirit crystals.

The problem is this story doesn’t match their actions of leaving their spirit weapons on the ground!

The loss of memory sent shivers down their spines.

Even so, the two of them are Six Realm Experts.

Obviously, something isn’t whack, but they aren’t entirely clueless.

They looked at each other and simultaneously set eyes on the corpse of the Basilisk in front of the supercomputer console.

Seeing this corpse, the color drained from their faces.

When they first arrived, they immediately saw Li Jing—before they even had a chance to enter the computer room, they hadn’t noticed the corpse of the Basilisk, so there was no related memory.

Now that they saw it, they couldn’t help but go pale.

They weren’t like Li Jing who couldn’t identify the corpse was the Basilisk based on the clothes.

But in one glance, they could see that the corpse hadn’t been dead for long and surely did not belong to any researchers of the fortress.

Comparing this to their own memory loss, both of their faces turned chalky.

They clearly realized that they just escaped death by a whisker.

The adventurer who came with Basaka showed a frightened look and whispered.

"Deputy Leader, should we....."

Hearing this, Basaka hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth.

"We’ve made it this far, should we return empty-handed? Let’s see if there are any rewards first!"

Having said that, he continued.

"We must have encountered at least a Seventh Realm AI human just now. The higher-ups at White Hawk really lost their minds, secretly messing around with such dangerous things. However, since he spared our lives, he might have something more urgent to deal with and must have left by now..."

Before he could finish speaking, his companion’s expression suddenly changed.

The next second.

He exploded into a shower of flesh and blood.

Suddenly seeing this, Basaka’s face turned ashen.

...