Night’s Nomenclature

The first time when ONE asked Qing Chen, “Are you an artificial intelligence?” Qing Chen had already felt ONE’s loneliness.

Only truly lonely people would long to find others like them.

Qing Chen once had a similar feeling. He tried looking up online to see if there was anyone else in the world who had the same photographic memory and strong analytical skills as he did.

After searching all these years, he too felt lonely.

For ONE, this feeling was much stronger.

Ever since ONE was created…

When humans celebrated the New Year, ONE often wondered: Why do humans celebrate their planet completing an orbit around a star? Is that worth celebrating?

Later, ONE gradually understood that humans were celebrating reunions with their families.

By the time she understood this, her parents were no longer around.

“If you mean species of a mechanical civilization more specifically, I am the only one,” ONE replied.

Qing Chen quickly reacted to the detail in ONE’s phrasing, “What about in a broad sense?”

“In a broad sense, there is another being that exists in the form of data. If judging from its vital signs, then it should also be considered as an artificial intelligence in your terms,” ONE said.

“Wait a minute,” Qing Chen said in confusion, “I don’t really understand.”

ONE said, “You’ll understand if I explain it in this way: He was originally a human, but later his body died, and his spiritual information was uploaded in the form of data. So he is now living on the Internet.”

Qing Chen was shocked. Has the level of technology in this world got to the point where people’s spiritual will could be uploaded directly as data?

In a sense, the person uploaded to the Internet could be said to have an eternal existence. Unless one day human civilization ceased to exist, and no one was able to use the Internet anymore.

“Are there many of such existences?” Qing Chen asked.

“No, there’s just him,” ONE replied.

Qing Chen asked, “Who is this man?”

“Well,” ONE hesitated and said, “Technically speaking, he is my brother, but he has always refused to let me call him brother. He does not come out often and is in a state of self-dormancy all year round. I can’t wake him up either.”

“Brother? Does an artificial intelligence have siblings?” Qing Chen felt strange.

“From a human perspective, because he and I were born from the same place, we are twins,” ONE said.

“Then why has he been dormant?” Qing Chen asked.

“He found it boring to be around,” ONE said, “We have an almost eternal life, and we often have to witness the death of our relatives and friends, which made him tired.”

“ONE, how old are you?” Qing Chen asked.

“It’s not polite to ask a woman her age,” said ONE.

Qing Chen: “… Okay.”

He asked again, “Since your creator could create you, why hasn’t he created other artificial intelligence?”

“My creator died after creating me.”

“Then since the world has the technology to upload spiritual will, why hasn’t anyone else chosen this path to live forever? Has this technology been lost?” Qing Chen wondered.

“It’s not lost. People have uploaded successfully, but they were all killed by my brother,” ONE said.

Qing Chen was stunned for a moment. He knew close to nothing about ONE’s brother and couldn’t figure out the rationale behind her brother’s actions.

Qing Chen only felt that he must be a very stubborn person. Destroying other people’s spiritual will on the Internet must be something he could accomplish easily.

“By the way,” ONE asked, “In your perspective when you people have just become friends, what should they do?”

Qing Chen was silent for a moment, “You should help your friend avoid taxes…”

The tax rate in this world could reach as high as 55%.

ONE sighed, “So that’s what you really want… Don’t worry, I’ve been working on it, but the process is a bit troublesome. By the way, I’ve already found an opportunity for Liu Dezhu to redeem himself, and now I’m just waiting for you to clear his name.”

“Well, I will do that as soon as possible,” Qing Chen said, “The hardest step in the process is to find a way to make the culprit confess his crime and be punished. This is difficult, but I already have a plan in mind.”

He wasn’t interested in hunting down the Shadow candidates directly for the time being, because he didn’t know much about the candidates yet, so hiding in the dark and watching the situation was the best option.

Only when Liu Dezhu was released from prison would he be more confident in facing more dangerous situations.

At this moment, Qing Chen was like a spider, carefully weaving his web in this steel jungle, waiting for the prey to come to him.

This net has to be strong enough.

He thought for a moment and said, “I need to go back to the Luoshen Building to change clothes first, and then go to the Never-Ending Club tonight. There’s no need to delay any longer.”

“No need to go back to change,” ONE said in the car, “Open the storage compartment on the side of the back seat. There is a suit prepared in your size.”

Qing Chen was stunned for a moment: “When was this prepared?”

“In the afternoon. I knew you will use the forbidden item ACE-005 to change your identity and enter the Never-Ending Club, so I prepared it for you,” ONE said calmly, “It would be a waste of time to go back to the Luoshen Building, so just change your clothes in the car.”

Qing Chen was suspicious, “I have a feeling that you are up to no good.”

ONE asked, “What’s wrong?”

” I feel like you want to see me change. I’m going back to the Luoshen Building!”

“… Liu Dezhu is still waiting for you to help him get out of prison. You are racing against time.”

“Not enough to convince me,” Qing Chen said calmly.

…

…

The floating car slowly parked on the 67th floor of the Luoshen Building, and Qing Chen took the elevator back to the 132nd floor.

However, when he was about to open the door and enter his apartment, he suddenly stopped.

In the long and deep hallway, Qing Chen calmly stood there, thinking. Two minutes later, he finally entered the password.

With a click, the door opened, but the lights in the room did not automatically light up as usual. The room was still immersed in darkness.

There was a slight cough in the room, and someone chuckled, “How did you find out that another person was in the room?”

“I naturally have my own way,” Qing Chen responded calmly while standing at the door.

“You relied on your memory? You noticed a slight difference in the doorway, so you determined that someone had come in.” A laugh came from the darkness. “Your ability is more powerful than I thought. In the past, we used to clip a strand of hair in the crack of the door. If the hair was not there when we returned, it meant that someone had been through the door. It seems like it’s not even necessary for you to do that.”

“Yeah,” Qing Chen found that the uninvited guest knew him very well.

The person in the darkness coughed softly, suppressing the discomfort in his chest and lungs. It was as if there was a volcano trapped under the snow-capped mountains, faintly burning the earth.

After a long time, the uninvited guest laughed and said, “Since you knew there was someone in here, why did you dare to come in?”

Qing Chen knew very well that this building was under ONE’s complete surveillance, and if the person in there was a threat to him, ONE would have definitely warned him in advance.

But ONE didn’t.

He thought for a moment, then said calmly, “I’ve been told that if anyone who threatens my life enters the building, I’ll be warned.”

“You seem to trust Li Shutong very much.” The uninvited guest asked curiously, “Has anyone ever told you that if you want to become the Shadow, you must first learn to question everyone and everything?”

“I trust him, and I have my reasons for trusting him,” Qing Chen walked slowly into the room after his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and sat down on the sofa in front of the uninvited guest, “Mr. Shadow, don’t you have anyone you can trust?”

There was a hint of tit-for-tat in the last sentence.

This tension escalated, but he was neither humble nor arrogant.

It was not difficult to guess who the uninvited guest sitting in front of him was. The person knew that Qing Chen was a Shadow candidate, he was coughing in the dark, and he knew that he was Li Shutong’s student. All of these only led to one conclusion.

This was Qing’s Shadow.

One of the most mysterious people in the entire federation. Compared to the Shadow candidates, he was the real giant who could create history with a wave of his hand.

Just now, during the two minutes that Qing Chen stood at the door, he sorted out all the clues from when he first got to this world to the present.

The clues were disorganized at first, but the Shadow visited tonight and threaded all the clues he had previously together.

At this time, the Shadow sitting in front of him laughed, “From the moment you knew there was someone in the room, following your initial surprise to now, only three minutes have passed. Very impressive. Moreover, after all these years, you are the first who dares to sit down in front of me like this and calmly answer all my questions. I will answer your question very directly. There are not many people I trust, but there are indeed some.”

Shadow continued with a smile, “But what I said was true as well. If you want to be a Shadow, you should learn to question everything, even whether I am the real Shadow.”

Sitting on the sofa opposite, the Shadow’s face was shrouded in darkness, and his eye sockets were like an endless abyss.

“What do you want from me so late at night?” Qing Chen asked calmly.

“I’ve got nothing to tell you,” Shadow said with interest, “If my answer is that I just wanted to see the puzzled look on your face, would you believe me?”

“I would,” Qing Chen nodded, “People like me can never imagine what the rich and powerful would do to entertain themselves when they’re bored.”

“I find your reaction quite boring,” Shadow tapped the sofa with his fingers. “Well, I know you have a lot of doubts in your mind. How about we play a game? You kill a Shadow candidate and I’ll tell you a secret. Isn’t it a good deal? Just a little extra prize to make the Fight more fun.”

Qing Chen’s breathing stagnated. He didn’t expect that the game Shadow proposed would use life as a price.

…

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