"Hurry up and finish reading, then go back to sleep."
The words were strong, but the voice was much softer.
Bai Yu calmly turned to the side and watched 21's reaction intently. After several seconds, the person lying on the table slowly sat up straight and looked up at the tall figure in front of him.
"Sir..." 21 glanced at the moved terminal unhappily——
On Yun Dao, Qin Zhilu said expressionlessly: "Can I stop reading these? Ling Qiu never taught me to reconcile accounts."
In the bakery, 21 looked away from the terminal and yawned, "Can I stop reading these? Ling Qiu never taught me."
716 raised his eyebrows and reluctantly returned the terminal to him, "Then just reject your employee's request. Why do you ask me?"
On Yun Dao, Qin Zhilu continued to respond emotionlessly: "I can't speak to her."
21 sighed and muttered in a low voice: "I can't defeat her."
Bai Yu chuckled, turned back to Xu Shuangshuang and whispered: "It seems that the Bagua Post is right."
"Ah?" Xu Shuangshuang was confused, "What else did the Bagua post say?"
"They say the bakery owner is a weirdo. He is only indifferent to strangers, but he is very docile and easy to bully in front of acquaintances." Bai Yu took the bread and winked at her, "Let's go, come back tomorrow."
The wind chimes moved gently, the shop door opened and closed, and the two girls holding the bread quickly disappeared into the night, arm in arm with each other.
21 on the sofa took a deep breath, immediately moved into the corner and hugged his knees.
"Thank you, sir." He seemed to be speaking to the air, "I can indeed feel her observation. Was she looking at me just now?"
Before Qin Zhilu finished typing, he saw 716 sitting next to 21, comforting him in a low voice: "She is indeed observing you, but you behave very well, without any flaws."
21 raised his head, "Really? I only read back two sentences of the sir."
716 nodded and smiled, raised his hand and pinched 21's head, as if pinching non-existent rabbit ears, "Although there are only two sentences, it is enough for Mo Li to make a judgment. After all, you will never learn from the raw data. Acting like a baby, but An Yu is very good at it."
21 was confused, "Are those two sentences just coquettish?"
at the same time.
An Yu looked at Qin Zhilu with wide eyes, "Can I act like a baby?"
Qin Zhilu turned off the screen monitoring the real world and continued to walk forward without answering.
An Yu jumped up and caught up, "Can I act like a spoiled brat?"
"Otherwise." Qin Zhilu spoke indifferently and glanced at him, "The conversation just now was not about being coquettish to the superior, what else could it be?"
An Yu was confused, "But those two sentences just now were made up by you——"
"Then what if it were you sitting in the store instead?" Qin Zhilu looked calm and raised an eyebrow at him, "What would you say?"
"I will..." An Yu was suddenly stuck.
It has to be said that Qin Zhilu accurately grasped his words and deeds. If it were him, he would most likely have the same reaction. But... An Yu lowered his head and rubbed his furry face vigorously, "Is this coquettishness?"
"Yes, this is coquettishness." Qin Zhilu paused and then said: "Don't be anxious. You have a lot of coquettish records as early as Area 53, although it is still difficult for me to tell whether it is a natural reaction or a deliberate performance."
An Yu: "...I'm sorry, I can't remember."
Qin Zhilu didn't say a word, but grabbed his paw again and curled his lips.
Officers can suddenly develop many, many evil intentions. An Yu thought.
He was caught and took a few steps forward, then asked: "So 21 hasn't learned... this communication mode?"
"Of course not, I didn't feed it your coquettish data." Qin Zhilu replied matter-of-factly: "It is a blank piece of paper in the true sense, and there is no arrogance, cunning, or anything hidden inside. and self-righteous ploys.”
An Yu: "...I used its blank brain to understand what you were scolding me for."
The curve of Qin Zhilu's lips deepened, "You misunderstood. It's just that human nature is like a blank sheet of paper, but the brain is very smart - it restores your attributes at this point."
"..."
An Yu didn't feel that this brain was useful, but he no longer wanted to argue with Qin Zhilu, so he could only mechanically check the list that his brain had sorted out.
The first of the four is a young cellist.
"Franz Jones, male, 35 years old, died of a sudden cerebral hemorrhage 4 months ago. He was a very talented performer and had been active on stage until he was 30 years old. However, he was in a wheelchair due to a car accident and immediately disappeared from the public eye. The information shows that he has a quiet and calm personality. He has lived in seclusion for five years since the car accident and has taken in two students." Qin Zhilu quickly refined the information, "He lives a stable and low-key life, with limited range of activities and simple social relationships. Most importantly, he can be well with paralysis. To cover up the slow operation caused by his load of redundant code, he is most likely to be selected by Mo Li to store nuclear code backup."
The brain cannot locate Franz's AI, but he is easy to find - Qin Zhilu and An Yu came to the area where he lived before his death. According to their previous habits, he would be downstairs from 9 to 11 o'clock every night. coffee bar to chat with students.
An Yu stood in front of the bar door. Qin Zhilu behind him stretched out a tentacle and gently opened the door for him.
Soft music and white noise-like conversations intertwined in the dim room. An Yu couldn't smell any smell, but a perception emerged in his mind - this space was filled with the aroma of wine, cheese, and tobacco.
This is a survival experience unique to AI.
An Yu didn't catch anyone in a wheelchair. When the two came to the bar, the waiter quickly took a look at Qin Zhilu's tentacles and clothes, stepped forward and said, "Boy, what would you like to drink?"
Qin Zhilu ordered whiskey for himself and a cup of coffee for An Yu.
He picked up the wine glass with his leather gloves, drank the liquor in one gulp, and pushed the empty wine glass back to the waiter. Soon, the waiter poured wine and pushed it over.
An Yu looked down at his cup and asked in a low voice, "Can you taste it?"
"No." Qin Zhilu answered simply, his eyes wandering around the tavern.
An Yu lowered his head and took a sip of coffee, and the words "bitter and mellow" immediately came to his mind, but he didn't feel anything on the tip of his tongue.
"AI has no sense of smell or taste, but after drinking, the body will still enter a state of relaxation." Qin Zhilu raised his head and drank the second glass of wine. He pointed the glass towards the corner and said, "Over there."
He frowned slightly, pushed the empty wine glass back to the waiter, and whispered: "It seems it's not him anymore."
The young man in the corner was Franz, and among the people sitting around him were the two students in the document.
But Franz is not in a wheelchair. He only leaned on a cane and stood in the crowd talking. Although his speech was gentle, it was not difficult to feel that his speech was quick and his thinking was active.
Soon, 716 sent back the message.
-Sorry, the brain just found out that Franz had several video calls with an orthopedic surgeon in District 25 a month before his death. Two days before the cerebral hemorrhage, he booked a ferry ticket to District 25. It seems that the AI calculated that he had successfully operated and got rid of the fate of paralysis.
An Yu sighed, had no choice but to lower his head and drink up the coffee, and chewed another piece of tasteless wine-filled chocolate.
Before leaving, Qin Zhilu made a habit of buying more chocolates for him to prepare, but An Yu pressed the officer's payment card.
"It's tasteless." He whispered in Qin Zhilu's ear, "I don't want to eat it."
Surveillance footage shows that 21 has returned to the minaret with 716. Since this exchange was highly confidential, they had to hide it from all the lawful people in the spire, so after returning, they went straight to the top floor, and 716 rejected several reporting applications from high-level lawful people.
21 was not familiar with An Yu's bedroom, and being in contact with too many unfamiliar humans in one day made him particularly anxious. He huddled in the corner and remained silent while 716 took some human bread to coax him.
In the picture, the moment he chewed the bread, his golden eyes lit up.
Qin Zhilu looked at the surveillance screen and said, "21 is exactly the same as you in this regard."
An Yu didn't react, "What?"
"When you eat bread, it is as bright as the morning sun." Qin Zhilu said softly.
"Isn't it delicious?" 716 smiled lightly and sat on the ground next to 21. He tore off a corner of the piece of bread and threw it into his mouth. "The real feeling of eating is very wonderful. The simplest thing that humans have is an experience that we cannot obtain even with all our calculations and imagination."
21 took big bites of the bread, until there was only the last small piece of bread left. He hesitated, handed the small piece to 716, and whispered: "After tasting the taste, I seem to believe in this thing more. It can sustain my survival. This is no longer a knowledge obtained from data, but a belief generated by myself.”
716 smiled and fed the small piece of bread back to his mouth, "Eat it, you don't have to worry about bread here in An Yu."
An Yu watched the surveillance camera for a long time. The relationship between 716 and 21 is much smoother than he imagined, but this smoothness comes entirely from 716's initiative. His more outgoing personality than Qin Zhilu is particularly obvious in front of 21.
Qin Zhilu's voice interrupted his thoughts, "You may want to see Ling Qiu again."
An Yu looked up in surprise, "Huh?"
"The second target is named Shao Tong. He was in the same class as Ling Qiu. He had all the characteristics similar to Ling Qiu. He died six months ago during his second cleaning mission after being promoted to sergeant." Qin Zhilu took the photo. Show it to An Yu, "This person is in the team led by Ling Qiu just now. There is a high probability that he will appear in the bakery at the same time tomorrow night. We will pay attention to make a judgment tomorrow. The third target is an old acquaintance and died at 53 Major Chris in the district mission, I estimate that he should be Ling Qiu’s direct subordinate or colleague now, and you can give Ling Qiu some insinuations tomorrow.”
A picture of a training camp for the new recruits came to his mind. Although the focus was on Shao Tong, there was actually a blurry shadow of Ling Qiu in the corner.
Ling Qiu looked sideways at the camera, with his training jacket on his shoulders, pointing in the distance and shouting something.
An Yu glanced at the figure, lowered his eyes and said, "We can't see you again, sir."
Qin Zhilu hesitated, "Don't want to go?"
An Yu looked at the two lop-eared shadows on the ground.
Ling Qiu's smile was brighter than in memory. Just one glance and it was deeply engraved in his mind.
"I can peacefully recall his death again and again, but I don't want to see him standing in front of me alive again." He heard himself whisper, "I have already eaten the cheese and sourdough bread he bought, so I won't see him again. I don’t want to have these illusions of happiness anymore.”
This was the first time An Yu refused a mission order from his superior.
He lowered his head for a long time, until he heard the rustling sound of leather gloves - Qin Zhilu did not blame him, just took off his gloves, gently placed his palms on his head, and rubbed it twice more, "Then then We will split up. Tomorrow night I will go outside the bakery and you will go to the brain. Target No. 4 is a researcher who died of out-of-control experimental subjects. You are responsible for investigating him."
An Yu raised his head, "How do I get rid of my brain?"
He couldn't help but stretch out his two plush round paws, "Can any rabbit enter the brain if it wants? I will definitely be caught by the laboratory for gene injection..."
Qin Zhilu smiled, "Just any rabbit can't do it, but you can."
An Yu was stunned for several seconds, suddenly remembered something, and suddenly took out his main city ID from his pocket.
There are actually three familiar dark metallic patterns in the lower right corner of the ID.
"A lop-eared rabbit with extremely weak social character, high IQ, and loves money and bread. He is new to the main city, but he has a mysterious upper-level background. His authority is equivalent to that of the core decision-making figure in the main city. He can freely enter and exit the black tower and brain. , Spire." Qin Zhilu recited the information he had set up for the lop-eared rabbit, "In a sense, 21's authority in this cyber city is greater than your authority in the real human city. high."
An Yu raised his head and looked up at Qin Zhilu, his three-petal mouth slowly opening into a small circle.
"You are so kind to 21."
Qin Zhilu rubbed his furry head again, "When I set up the AI, I thought it wouldn't have a boss in the AI world, so I just let it be stronger on its own. I didn't expect it would come in handy one day."
*
As night fell, An Yu and Qin Zhilu returned to 716's residence.
According to An Yu's setting, this is a small apartment in the center of the main city. All the facilities and decoration style inside are in accordance with Qin Zhilu's real preferences.
"Just stay here for the next few days." Qin Zhilu said matter-of-factly: "The big space will make 21 uneasy. The place I set up for it is a small tent in the corner of my room. It's very time-consuming for us to go there now."
An Yu hugged the quilt and thought for a long time, "There is only a small tent, so how did you live in the 21st house before 716?"
Qin Zhilu threw his quilt on the sofa, "No room. It did send me several applications to stay, but I rejected them all."
"……oh."
late at night.
A few glasses of strong wine in the evening made Qin Zhilu fall asleep smoothly on the sofa, but An Yu lay on the bed tossing and turning. Half an hour later, he opened his eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling.
