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Published at 23rd of August 2023 08:50:04 PM


Chapter 121

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“World 275369 has triggered an advanced alert. Please deal with it in time—”

The huge space made up of data streams echoed with sharp sirens but the robots shuttling through it didn’t respond. They went about their business as usual.

The alarm didn’t stop until one of the robots responded to the data. Once it opened the corresponding world’s data and started to check, the identical-looking robot next to it turned to look at it.

“No 5, the world you are responsible for has another alarm.” The cold mechanical voice didn’t rise or fall. “What is the problem?”

No 5 replied in the same tone, “The human identity of the system was recognized by the host, the system and the host are in love, the emotional line target is wrong, the career line progress is too fast and the mission release function has been damaged…”

The No 2 main brain representative who asked the question changed to a standard tone of surprise. “The damage to this world is very serious.”

No 5 wasn’t surprised. It remembered that System No 0587 was in charge of this projection world. When he first came to the system center to attend a regular meeting, he caused a system colleague to be infected with a virus of an unknown origin. Fortunately, it was dealt with in time.

After expressing surprise, No 2 returned to indifference. “How do you plan to fix it?”

No 5 mused, “I haven’t decided yet.”

No 2 said sternly, “World 275369 hasn’t ushered in the first settlement and the consequences are temporarily under control. According to the rules, you can forcibly transfer the system and let the world go back to the moment before the problem occurred, so it can re-develop. Or you can simply abandon this projection world and completely freeze it.”

Judging by the number, No 2 had differentiated earlier than No 5 and there was the attitude of a senior.

But after No 2 gave the reminder, it saw the constantly flowing and flickering data of No 5’s body and said again, “You don’t seem to want to do this.”

“Yes,” No 5 admitted simply. “Before making a decision, I want to see that world for myself.”

“Why?” No 2 questioned it. “You can see everything from the data report. You don’t have to go there yourself.”

No 5 was silent for a while before suddenly mentioning something that seemed completely unrelated. “Some time ago, I went to World 232074 once.”

No 2’s mechanical eyes flashed with the light of retrieving data and it immediately answered, “It is another world you are responsible for. It is a fantasy theme and the system is a young human. The world has passed the initial settlement, the performance is excellent and it is running stably.”

The mechanical head of No 5 nodded. “When I was regularly checking the state of the world, I found a very small problem.”

“What problem?”

“System 0499, who is in charge of this world, has attempted to breed an aquatic animal seen in the modern world but failed.”

“Once his host learned about this, he was dismissive at first. Then after discovering that System 0499 was extremely persistent about it, he gradually changed his attitude and wanted to help secretly.”

“As a result, due to his lack of understanding of this strange aquatic animal, it backed and caused System 0499 to fail more times. The host didn’t dare to tell him.”

No 2 immediately gave a judgment. “It is indeed a small problem. It is a daily trivial matter that has no impact on the main line of the world.”

“But—” No 5 paused. “I found that the feedback from the recipients gave the most positive feedback when conducting this daily episode.”

No 2 couldn’t understand it. “Why?”

“I didn’t know, so I entered that world.” No 5 continued, “When I arrived, the host of that world was making a scabbard of a very special golden color to give to System 0499, who exists in the form of a sword spirit.”

“System 0499 looked at the aquatic animal that died again and was about to cry. After all, he was just a fragile human child before becoming a system.”

“This was until he saw the scabbard that was taking shape and he became happy again, gradually forgetting to cry. The host quietly sighed with relief while observing his reaction during the forging.”

“Wrongdoing deserves compensation.” No 2 was puzzled. “I don’t understand why such simple content would get positive feedback from the recipients.”

“I don’t understand either.” No 5’s tone seemed to have a smile in it. “But I liked this scene.”

“When I first saw System 0499, his soul kept crying like it would never stop. It is very different from what it is now.”

Once it finished speaking, there was silence for a while.

Soon, No 2’s tone returned to indifference. “No 5, you are always so strange.”

“From the time of the request to bring in the remnant souls of humanity to serve as a system, you have been the strangest among us.”

No 5 didn’t refute it. It got up and walked in another direction, no fluctuations in its mechanical voice. “Once I finish dealing with the things that have piled up, I will go to World 275369 to take a look.”

It wanted to see something more vivid than cold data to determine the future of that world.

As a representative of the final differentiation of the extremely intelligent main brain, perhaps something beyond reason and rules had appeared in its body.

It didn’t hate this feeling, even though it wasn’t sure what it was yet.

World 275369.

The snow on the streets melted, the winter chill started to dissipate, green weeds emerged from the corners and the smell of spring had already appeared.

After the winter vacation, the students returned to school. Many of them were happy after spending the Spring Festival at home.

At the beginning of the semester, most of the students in the school were still immersed in the laziness of the holidays and hadn’t entered the proper state.

After the freshest first semester, the freshmen had all become old veterans. They no longer arrived early in class but mostly stepped into the classroom at the right time. They stayed up late to play games and skipped class to catch up on sleep in their dorm rooms.

However, Ji Tong and Pei Qingyuan were at the same table and arrived on time as before.

The class monitor Ouyang Yu turned his head to look at the two of them with satisfaction. He also asked, “After the teacher finishes the general meeting tonight, do you want to go to the laboratory for a formal meeting?”

Excluding the senior students who were under the pressure of further education and employment, the most time-constrained group in the school was probably those who were going to participate in this year’s RS Cup.

The domestic zone of the RS Cup of each country would start in April. After the results were decided, there was a preparation period of over a month and the final international competition would be in June.

Last year, the team from the school of artificial intelligence of Jiangyuan University won the championship in several competitions in the domestic zone, but they unfortunately only won third place in the international competition.

After seeing the works of each team this year, the teachers of the school had high expectations for this international competition.

In previous years, the one the teachers were most concerned about was the robot soccer competition that was usually the most enjoyable and influential competition. However, this year, the teachers of the school simply took turns to run to the laboratory of Pei Qingyuan’s team.

Several teachers who initially weren’t interested in games learned mahjong and the mahjong storm swept from the students to the teachers.

For this reason, the president of the mahjong club’s status rose again and again. He had to change his profile picture in his Moments from ‘temporarily not recruiting’ to ‘participating in club activities needs to draw a lottery in advance. Teachers must also draw it’. For a time, he was in the limelight.

In short, teachers had high hopes for this year’s competition and couldn’t wait to talk to each team as soon as school started in order to learn more about everyone’s ideas and progress and to prepare for the upcoming competition.

Unlike Ji Tong and Pei Qingyuan, who lived in the city, the other three people of the team came from different provinces and cities. They studied their respective parts at home during the holidays and now was the time to talk to each other.

“Okay, did you tell Senior Xie about them?” Ji Tong answered him with a smile.

“No,” Ouyang Yu replied. “I’ll mention it in the group later.”

It was still Ji Tong who nodded. Next to him, Pei Qingyuan looked down at the book without responding.

This made Ouyang Yu scratch his head in confusion as he withdrew his gaze.

The winter vacation was relatively short. The other students in the class didn’t have any obvious changes except for occasionally gaining weight.

On the contrary, Ji Tong and Pei Qingyuan seemed to have become different.

Ji Tong still laughed often but Ouyang Yu inexplicably felt that he was more cheerful and generous than before. It was as if he let go of some of the things he had accumulated in his heart and faced every day more calmly.

Pei Qingyuan was the opposite. He became more silent when facing others and was inseparable from Ji Tong no matter what.

In the last semester, the teacher allowed him to skip some basic professional courses. But this semester, he didn’t miss a single class and quietly sat next to Ji Tong, as if this was the most important thing.

Ouyang Yu couldn’t figure out the logic behind these changes and couldn’t help whispering to his deskmate and roommate. “They didn’t break up, did they? Is Brother Pei chasing him again?”

His deskmate looked at him with an expression of discovering a new world. “I didn’t expect you to really be a straight man.”

Hearing this, Ouyang Yu actually felt a bit uncomfortable. “Why do you say this?”

The deskmate rolled his eyes. “This is obviously the power of love. Do you understand possessiveness?”

“I don’t understand.” Ouyang Yu smiled firmly. “Do you think I look like I’ve been in love before?”

Ji Tong, who was sitting behind them and eavesdropping, was initially amused. Then he whispered to Pei Qingyuan, “Ouyang thought that the two of us broke up.”

The resurrected mission panel lost any response so Ji Tong no longer feared hiding his love status recently.

Pei Qingyuan looked at him sideways. “No.”

“Then you are happy.” Ji Tong reached out to poke his arms. “Ruan Ruan.”

From the day his human identity was exposed, Pei Qingyuan didn’t allow Ji Tong to call him host. He could call by any name except for host.

Thus, he had to choose randomly between the three names of Ruan Ruan, Brother and Xiao Yuan.

Pei Qingyuan answered him seriously, “I’m not unhappy.”

Ji Tong looked into his eyes and saw the emotions that were stronger than the past.

He was indeed not unhappy. It was just that after more than a year of getting along and understanding each other, Ji Tong felt that Pei Qingyuan seemed to be making a very important decision.

Under the shroud of a crisis that was always hanging above their heads, this important decision might be related to each other’s futures.

Ji Tong didn’t know what it would be. He could only comfort Pei Qingyuan with the words he knew best. “Don’t worry too much. Tomorrow won’t necessarily be bad.”

He used to always say this to himself.

Tomorrow might be fine, so hold on until tomorrow.

Countless long-awaited tomorrows would add up to form long days.

Pei Qingyuan placed the warm milk tea into his hand and held the cup with his slightly cool fingers. “Yes.”

Warmth spread in the palm of his hand.

The daily snacks and milk tea process hadn’t changed.

The single dog Ouyang Yu accidentally saw this scene and shifted his gaze to his deskmate again in a melancholy manner. “I also want to drink milk tea.”

“Oh, buy it.”

“I want to no longer be single.”

“…Do it if you want. Why tell me?!”

Hearing the bickering between the two people in front of him, Ji Tong smiled happily while holding the milk tea.

At night, the buildings belonging to the school of intelligence were lit up and students passed from time to time in the corridors. A conference had just ended and there were scattered conversations everywhere.

Qiao Yunhe sat by the flower bed downstairs and chatted with friends from the same team.

“The things made by Xiao Pei’s own group are too cool.” His friend was a bit frustrated. “Compared with this, I feel that the things we made are meaningless.”

Qiao Yunhe comforted him. “Relax, the competition items are different. There is no need to compare.”

“That’s right.” His friend sighed. “You are really well-informed. It is a good thing for our group to pull them in as soon as school starts—”

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly saw Qiao Yunhe stand up abruptly and even curse. “F*k, I was right!”

The friend: “……”

He didn’t have to be so excited.

Just as he was about to speak, his eyes instinctively followed Qiao Yunhe and looked over. He saw a stranger with a very eye-catching appearance walking in the direction of the school of artificial intelligence.

The other person looked very old with white hair tied into a single ponytail at the back of his head. He wore a black formal suit and had a tall figure, a grim expression and a pair of sunglasses on his face. He was a rather temperamental old man and seemed to have just come out of a fashion pictorial.

The Frankenstein grandfather with a white beard.

Qiao Yunhe hadn’t expected to actually see a person who was so in line with his imagination in his lifetime.

His white beard had become a white ponytail but this small detail was irrelevant. Still, it made Frankenstein look cooler.

“I’m not dreaming, am I?”

He muttered while staring at the old man without blinking. This was until he was sure that the other person was really going to enter the building belonging to the school of artificial intelligence.

Qiao Yunhe really couldn’t bear it. He took a few steps forward and blurted out, “Are you here to find Pei Qingyuan and Ji Tong?”

The old man’s footsteps paused and he slowly turned to look at Qiao Yunhe. “How do you know?”

His voice was cold and emotionless. It was very much in line with his cool appearance.

Qiao Yunhe was so excited that he quickly flew over and reported, “The teacher in the school just finished a meeting for everyone. The two of them seemed to have a bit of conflict and are chatting alone in a corner of the building. Are you here for this?”

The deep friendship between his imagined Frankenstein grandfather and his fellow junior brothers of the same school might be correct!

The No 5 representative of the main brain looked vigilantly at this native of the projection world who took the initiative to talk to him. “Do you know who I am?”

He was about to deeply check whether there was any suspicious abnormal data in this world again when he heard the happy college student in front of him say, “I know. You are the coolest grandfather!”

A bit of a bewildered expression appeared in the eyes of the No 5 representative of the main brain covered by the sunglasses.

Qiao Yunhe couldn’t wait to hand over his notebook, his tone full of admiration and adoration. “Handsome guy, can you sign your name?”




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