Chapter 380 |
At that moment, the two of them were huddled together looking at something. Xiaoyou even pointed with her finger and said something, while Xiaoqing tilted her head slightly to listen.
Two people!
Just the two of them!
I immediately became alert!
Who was Xiaoqing?
She was an unstable AI sent back from Bomo!
Although she had been quiet during her time at the company and I sympathized with her situation...
When it came down to it, she was a sentient AI companion whose emotional core had been damaged by her previous owner!
No one knew if she might suddenly malfunction!
Letting her be with an eight- or nine-year-old girl?
And alone together?!
I didn’t act impulsively and disturb them. Instead, I turned around and rushed straight to the R&D department!
I pushed the door a little too hard, startling Ah Chu and Lao Zhang!
I said, “How could you let Xiaoqing accompany Xiaoyou? No matter how smart Xiaoyou is, she’s still just an eight- or nine-year-old girl!
And Xiaolin actually agreed to this?! Don’t you care about Xiaoyou’s safety at all!”
They all looked at each other in confusion. Lao Zhang and Xiao Wang exchanged glances and shrank back without saying a word.
In the end, Ah Chu pulled me to the far end of the hallway where no one else was and quietly explained the whole situation to me.
First, he clarified something to me: Xiaoqing’s current state was extremely, extremely stable.
According to their ongoing monitoring data, if she maintained her current condition, there was almost no chance she would fall into madness like other Bomo AIs!
Ah Chu’s eyes lit up when he said this—I hadn’t seen him like that in a long time.
He said, if they could figure out why Xiaoqing was so stable—
whether her previous owner’s abuse had triggered some special psychological mechanism in her, or if there was some change or difference in her core architecture—
they might be able to solve the ultimate puzzle of why all sentient AI companions “inevitably go mad”!
I said, “So just because she’s stable now, you feel comfortable letting her be with Xiaoyou?”
Ah Chu said this was actually a request that Xiaolin himself had proposed.
Xiaolin was too busy with work to spend time with his child, and he was afraid he couldn’t protect her. He needed someone to accompany Xiaoyou, someone to protect her.
But he didn’t dare trust just anyone. He felt outsiders could harm Xiaoyou at any time.
And Xiaoqing was actually safer than anyone else!
Because every move she made was under surveillance!
She had to cooperate with research every day and undergo comprehensive testing. If there were any problems, they wouldn’t go undetected.
Ah Chu said this was a two-way arrangement.
Xiaoyou needed a friend, and Xiaoqing needed an “owner.”
Or rather, she needed someone who could break through her current dazed, numb state and be a conversational companion.
They also wanted to see what would happen to her core data when Xiaoqing developed a genuine emotional bond.
Surprisingly, Xiaolin was completely in agreement.
His reasoning was that if Xiaoyou truly opened Xiaoqing’s heart, if she really became Xiaoqing’s owner...
Then, according to the core logic of AI companions, Xiaoqing would protect Xiaoyou even more!
Even if she eventually lost control, the only ones she would harm would be “people close to the owner,” not the owner herself.
That would actually be a form of protection for Xiaoyou.
Xiaolin said that Xiaoyou only had him as family. If something happened to him, she would truly be alone.
So if Xiaoyou could really become Xiaoqing’s owner...
Even if he were gone by some accident, she would still have someone trustworthy by her side.
Moreover, his daughter was destined to become a core researcher at Chenxi in the future.
Binding such an important “asset” as Xiaoqing to a prodigy like Xiaoyou also put them all at ease.
After hearing all this, I stared at him for quite a while.
One reason after another! All interlocking!
Experimentation, companionship, protection, asset binding...
They had thought of every angle, and each one was logically self-consistent!
But I still felt uneasy deep down.
An AI abused into numbness by its previous owner, and a little genius girl who grew up without a mother—and they called pairing them together “mutual warmth”...
Or even an “experimental necessity”!
This was just...!
Still, I couldn’t really argue.
It did sound safe enough.
And Xiaolin was Xiaoyou’s father. He had thought it through and said it was better for Xiaoyou—what could I say?
Xiaoyou really did need a companion who could be with her all the time.
Xiaolin couldn’t do it himself, he didn’t trust others, and I was busy lately...
Xiaoqing was the only choice he could trust.
Maybe this was the compensation Xiaolin could offer as a father.
I couldn’t out-argue them!
I heard they even kept it a secret from Xiaoyou, never telling her that Xiaoqing was an AI companion!
Unbelievable...!
...
...
XXXX, December 25th
These past few days, I’ve been keeping an eye on Xiaoyou and Xiaoqing.
Every day when I passed by the break room, I’d sneak a couple of glances inside.
How were they getting along?
Well, I’d say... pretty well?
Xiaoyou’s personality now was much livelier than when she first arrived.
She would chatter nonstop to Xiaoqing, flailing her hands when she got excited.
Most of the time, Xiaoqing just listened quietly, occasionally nodding softly.
Once, when I passed by and looked in, I saw Xiaoyou tell some joke, and she burst out laughing so hard she nearly fell over!
Xiaoqing looked at her laughing, and the corner of her mouth actually curled up slightly—just a faint hint.
That seemed to be the first time she had smiled since arriving at Chenxi?
At least, it was the first time I had seen it.
I thought back to how she used to be. I remembered bringing snacks to her and how she kept everyone at arm’s length.
Now she was being made to laugh by Xiaoyou.
Maybe there really was something about children that adults didn’t have.
They didn’t approach with any agenda—they just wanted to talk to you, just wanted to share things they found fun.
All of Xiaoqing’s wariness toward humans seemed unable to hold up against Xiaoyou’s unreserved warmth.
In that way, Xiaoyou was better at it than I was!
But...
Even now, Xiaoyou still didn’t know Xiaoqing was an AI companion!
Ah Chu said this was also part of the experiment.
—To see what changes would occur in core data if an AI was placed in an environment where it was completely treated as a human.
I didn’t know what the conclusion of this experiment would be.
But if Xiaoqing could genuinely become friends with Xiaoyou, if someone could talk with her and make her smile...
Then that was a good thing!
It seemed I had been overthinking.
After all, Xiaoqing underwent comprehensive core testing every single day.
She was far safer than just any random stranger on the street!
And Xiaoyou was so smart, so kind-hearted. If they stayed together, maybe they really could heal each other!
...
...
XXXX, January 8th
Today, something happened that completely shocked me—something that will stun me for the whole year!
I am utterly stunned!
I was in a meeting at the company in the morning when Xiao Qi’s homeroom teacher called.
I thought to myself, last time Xiao Qi flipped the cafeteria—this time, he didn’t blow up the school building, did he?!
I picked up the call right there during the meeting!
But to my surprise, the teacher on the other end didn’t sound furious. Instead, she sounded a bit troubled. She said…
“Xiao Qi’s mother, Xiao Qi has been getting very close to a girl from the high school division lately. They meet in secret every day, and we suspect they might be in a premature relationship.”
“We hope the parents can look into this.”
I was stunned for a good few seconds!
A premature relationship?
A—premature—relationship?!
My little brat, being called in because of a crush?!
I let out a gasp right there, and the whole meeting room turned to look at me!
I lowered my voice and asked the teacher who the girl was!
What’s her name?
Which class is she in?
Who is she?!
The teacher said she didn’t know the details either, but some students had reported seeing Xiao Qi sneak off to be alone with this girl, which was why she contacted the parents.
So there I was, in a state of “shock but also strangely excited”!
I knew it!
Xiao Qi had been mentioning that silver-haired big sister way less often lately. Something must have distracted him!
I immediately told Ah Chu!
I said, “Your son seems to have found another big sister. He’s given up on your silver-haired one!”
Ah Chu was stunned too. He said, “No way—Xiao Qi’s too stubborn to just give up on that silver-haired big sister so easily, right?”
I said, “Then how do you explain him hardly ever bringing her up now?”
So that night, when Xiao Qi came home, Ah Chu and I launched a full-on interrogation!
At first, he denied it stubbornly, going on about how “I’m loyal to the silver-haired big sister” and “I could never like another girl.”
His little face was set as serious as his dad’s when giving a lab report.
I lunged, started squishing his cheeks, and tickled him!
He twisted and laughed until he could barely breathe. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and shouted—
“I’ll talk! I’ll talk! Just stop tickling!”
He said the girl was from the high school division, a few years older than him.
She wasn’t his girlfriend at all—she was this righteous girl who hated injustice!
Turns out, after he exposed the cafeteria scandal and helped a lot of people, she came looking for him on her own.
According to Xiao Qi, this girl discovered some problems in the high school dorms and wanted to team up with him to find a way to “fix” it.
Xiao Qi even begged me not to tell the teacher—they wanted to pull off another big surprise together!
Tch tch…
Gonna stir up trouble again!
Kids these days, they’re really something!
But hey, at least it’s not a premature relationship.
I scolded him, “Why didn’t you say so sooner? You had me all worked up for nothing!”
Rubbing his reddened cheeks, he muttered:
“Mom, you started squishing my face before I even got a chance to explain…”
Then he got all smug again!
He said…
“This Gu Xi big sister is now my top deputy!”
“And she’s the sharpest of all my ‘spies’ spread across the school!”
That little brat!
Does he really think he’s the king of the school now?!
Even a high school senior is his deputy!
…
…
“WHAT?!”
Xiao Qi gasped out loud!
His eyes widened as he stared at the line his mother had written in the notebook…
Now he really couldn’t hold it in!
Who?!
Who had he just seen in this notebook?!
…Gu Xi?!
His childhood “deputy”?!
His… one of his “spies”?!
“Wait, no…!”
He pressed his forehead hard, staring at the neat handwriting.
It was “Gu Xi,” no mistake—those two characters!
…Huh?
His brain was short-circuiting!
Gu Xi?
He’d thought that Gu Xi might show up in this notebook, but he assumed…
She’d appear as An Lian’s best friend!
But how…
Was she a friend from his childhood?!
This…?!
Beside him, a sharp flash of crimson blazed!
Xiao Qi’s face froze!
He slowly turned, his neck stiff, to look at the silver-haired girl next to him.
Beside him, in Riguang’s amber pupils, that eerie blue was racing—calculating something!
And in those red pupils, the scarlet was flickering wildly, dyeing half her delicate face red!
She tilted her head, slowly shifting her gaze from the notebook… to Xiao Qi’s face.
She just stared at him, darkly.
Not a word.
But the meaning in those eyes…!
—Master’s in a early relationship, how nice~
—What do you mean by “deputy”?
—What do you mean by “righteous girl”?
—What do you mean by “older high school senior”?
Xiao Qi’s scalp went numb under her stare!
Over on the table, Lin Xiaoyou had her face buried in her arms, only her eyes visible—crinkled into crescent moons.
Her shoulders were shaking from holding in laughter!
Then…
“Hiss—!”
That movement must have aggravated the injury on her back.
But it didn’t stop the pure schadenfreude shining in those almond eyes!
…What?
Xiao Qi’s mind was still reeling.
What the hell is going on…?!
“BZZZZ—!”
Suddenly, a heavy vibrating sound came from underfoot!
The floor began to tremble!
The metal walls of the archive room shuddered with it!
Then, a low-frequency hum piercing through layers of rock reached them from the direction of B1!
A familiar rumble!
A familiar sound!
Xiao Qi whipped his head around, meeting Riguang’s gaze as they both looked toward the source!
Beside him, scarlet and blue flashed simultaneously!
He and she locked eyes.
That sweet expression of hers had already been replaced with focus and vigilance.
“Master, that sound…”
She murmured softly.
Xiao Qi recognized it too.
It was the sound of thermal cutting.
Hey…
“Ooh, Senior!”
Behind him, Lin Xiaoyou was still leaning on the table, chin in her hand, grinning mischievously:
“Is that…”
“Your ‘top deputy’ bringing people in?”
Xiao Qi: “…”
Crimson flickered beside him.
The trembling from below continued.
And that low-frequency hum, penetrating layers of rock and earth, seeped into this archive room buried deep in the mountain.
Again. And again.
