TBR CH248.2

An hour later, only a table of leftovers remained in the dining room. The robot waiter had refilled the omelets many times, but Hugo was too hungry. While cautiously and tremblingly fearing for his life, he had devoured all the food in sight without taking his eyes off it.

“You know,” You Lin turned to the AI, “for the first time, I don’t think we should have thrown away those compressed foods.”

The brown-haired youth was like a dirty mouse. If he were a hamster, he would definitely have stored another ten omelets in his cheeks for a rainy day. When his eating speed slowed down, he still held onto the plate, reluctant to put it down.

In the process, he also told them many things that had happened to him.

Hugo was somewhat incoherent, his speech stuttering, and he hiccupped. But neither You Lin nor Charon was unfamiliar with this version of the story. It was a story that happened all too easily. For the infinite world, the swallowing of a small organization like “The Homeless Wanderers” by a large organization like “Eden” was as natural as a bubble dissolving in water.

A loose, small group with a distinct bohemian spirit.

They had very little ability to resist, and no means of risk management.

Moreover, in the last instance, they had already chosen to rely on “Eden” to do things. The worst part of this was that it had attracted their attention. So, “Eden” unsurprisingly decided to absorb them. And the first step to completing this was to sign an agreement, the first article of which was to hand over all their points.

The remaining clauses also included restricting the freedom of members, strictly prohibiting private gatherings, etc. In exchange for all these sacrifices was Eden’s “protection.”

“Protection” itself had no value, but “refusing to accept protection” meant dire consequences.

“On what grounds!” Hugo angrily poked an omelet.

You Lin was unusually silent. Charon took on most of the questioning, while closely watching the human’s movements out of the corner of his eye. His omelet had long since fallen apart under his knife and fork. Seemingly sensing the AI’s gaze, he looked up and gave him a reassuring smile, as if to reach out and hold his hand.

Then he remembered in time that they were not yet dating, and his fingertips abruptly retracted.

“But you didn’t have many points to begin with,” Charon steered the conversation. “Even if you refuse to comply, it might not be worth their while to put a bounty of ten thousand points on you.”

This was a good question, You Lin thought. But he still couldn’t help but be distracted.

It was hard, very hard for him. To carefully consider how similar what was happening now was to his past—it was a subtle form of torture for him. But he had to maintain his sanity alone.

The human’s pupils suddenly constricted, and he almost lost his composure.

The AI’s ice-blue eyes seemed steady, but they also flickered for a moment when their fingertips touched under the table. He pressed his fingertips against the human’s, and a little further, it would have been the ten-finger interlock that only couples would do.

However, he quickly curled his fingers back, like a dragonfly touching the water, the degree of which was well controlled, making what had just happened seem like an unconscious touch under the table.

Hugo’s brown pupils dimmed. “That’s the key. On one hand, some of us have already gone with them, but some have stayed behind. You should meet them. Most of them are much better than me, they’re some of the best people in this terrible world, and not all of them have just a few points. On the other hand, uh…”

The dragonfly touching the water had another characteristic, You Lin soon realized.

That was to repeat itself, again, again, and again.

The light, reassuring touches calmed his thoughts. Everything seemed like an accidental touch under the table, without much ambiguity, quickly withdrawn, but he would always feel the familiar touch again. This made him feel at ease. He had taken off his gloves, his fingertips were cold, but in the human’s heart, it was like a lake that would never be calm.

He slowly exhaled.

At the same time, Hugo bit his lip, as if he had made up his mind:

“Actually, I stole something important from them. It’ll work for now, but I don’t know how long it will last… I hope it lasts a long time. At least until I find a solution.”

Hugo left a token when he left.

To be honest, it was a fantasy to ask him for anything else, so he reluctantly took off the badge on his chest. Even though it was broken, it was still a bright and shining badge, with a feather drawn on it, and four letters shining with different colors. The brown-haired youth explained that by tapping the four letters in reverse order, one could contact the headquarters.

As for whether the “headquarters” could continue to exist was still a question.

Charon didn’t ask if Hugo needed a safe room here, because that wouldn’t solve any problems. He also didn’t ask You Lin what he was thinking at this moment, or what new plans he had for the future. He just walked quietly beside the human, leaving a series of light footsteps in the empty corridor of the cabin.

You Lin seemed grateful for his silence at this moment.

He walked all the way to the armory where the weapons were stored. It was still the pitch-black muzzles, a whole wall of coldness, but one could imagine their heat when they finally erupted. The human turned around absentmindedly, ignoring his leg bones that were still stiff from time to time after just recovering, and stumbled. Charon reached out to steady him.

The human, in turn, gripped his wrist and sighed silently. He quickly let go, his dark pupils holding many emotions, which he then stuffed all into a smile.

“I’ll come find you here later.”

“Right,” You Lin murmured. “I need to think about how I should improve ‘Bone.’ I was halfway through considering it last time. You know, this is the last ‘Bone.’ I’d better cherish it. Next time I guess it will have to be called ‘Snowman’ or ‘Crescent Moon,’ some strange name… I’m not very good at coming up with suitable names, which is also why I reused them before.”

He curled his lips slightly. “But, before I make a decision, I can also ask you.”

“That’s right,” Charon said. “I’ll think with you.”

“How many names can you provide at the same time? Ten thousand?”

“If you need it.”

“To choose a single name from ten thousand is very strange. It’s like when I knew your name, Charon. I felt that no other name suited you, and no other AI should use this name. I… haven’t figured out what you are yet. I was thinking of taking it step by step, but there are other things to consider. This doesn’t mean that one thing is not important, but that it is too important.”

“I understand.”

In the dim room, You Lin raised his eyes. Various words swirled on his tongue, and the one he finally said was the most awkward: “Thank you.”

No, that wasn’t what he wanted to say.

What he was asking in his heart was “Are you planning to leave me?” “Will you leave me?” “When are you planning to leave me?” or “Do you think my decision is right? Even though I myself have admitted my mistake,” and even “I love you, and what about you?” But it was too early, too hasty, too fast.

The silver-haired AI shone brightly in any environment. As he bent down, his cold and soft hair fell down, shimmering with a faint blue light. He gently rested his fingers on the human’s temple, as if it were a substitute for a kiss. The atmosphere at the moment was also very strange, and he couldn’t think of any suitable word to name it.

“You need some time for yourself, and so do I,” Charon said, withdrawing his fingertips. “I’ll be waiting for you later, You Lin.”

The AI walked into the Black Book’s room.

“I’m glad to see that neither you nor You Lin is seriously injured or dying,” the World Consciousness said solemnly. “This is the third day. I wonder how many days this can last.”

“Who made a bet with you?” Charon asked.

“The robot waiter,” the Black Book said. “I bet a regular maintenance service, temporarily put on your account. What, you want to make a bet too?”

The silver-haired AI lowered his eyes and looked at his fingertips. “I’m sorry, but I must remind you that being addicted to human bets is foolish. At the same time, as for this bet, I don’t think I will win.”

“I know,” the Black Book said. “For you two, this is simply the most arduous challenge.”

It had become more and more sharp-tongued recently. Charon had been wondering why at first, but later found out that it had enrolled in a “Speech and Eloquence” course at the entertainment center. However, overall, the World Consciousness’s central emotion was not mockery. The AI was very clear about this. Charon sighed and asked, “So how long did you bet?”

“Within ten days. By the way, that robot’s prediction was five days.”

“Then, I bet more than ten days.”

The robot waiter glided over and recorded this pointless bet.

The Black Book finally couldn’t sit still. It flew to Charon aggressively, but in front of those ice-blue pupils, its arrogance was half extinguished. “Ten days is too little, can’t you hold on a little longer!”

“Who bet ten days first?” Charon smiled rarely, but then became serious. “I must seriously apologize to you. It’s been a lot of trouble for you these few days. I understand your concerns. I will get back to the previous plan as soon as possible and maintain the stability of the infinite world as much as possible. Medusa can’t hold on for much longer. It’s becoming more and more shaky now. Switching between different worlds is very likely to cause problems.”

“It’s good that you realize that,” the Black Book’s writing relaxed, as if letting out a long sigh of relief.

“The task I must face is to go to the central control room and regain control. But contrary to this, this plan itself requires a lot of time for preliminary preparations, otherwise the risk is high.”

Charon said, “I have one piece of good news and two pieces of bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?”

The Black Book fell silent.

This was truly… an overwhelming number.

It was hard to tell its specific emotion from a book’s expression, but the World Consciousness opened its pages, drew two eyes on them, and then colored them all black—a personification of “seeing blackness before one’s eyes.” Finally, it still wrote out the words: “At least let me hear the good news first.”

“The energy I can now call upon is at its peak since I reawakened. It’s as if some kind of restraint has been lifted. After cracking the code of the evil god’s program and being fully charged, I have approached thirty percent of the computing power of the super AI ‘Charon.’ Although I can’t compare to myself based in the central control room, compared to ‘Medusa,’ it is enough.”

This was indeed good news.

In fact, it was better than the Black Book had expected.

“Then, what’s the bad news?” the World Consciousness asked cautiously.

“First, my current carrier cannot bear this scale of energy—that is, you, because I am now storing my code in you—this is not your problem, but my core code is only compatible with the set of equipment in the central control room. So, in order to maintain stability and not lose control at some point, I must solve the problem as soon as possible.”

“How many days can you last at most?”

“Ten days?”

“I’m not joking,” the Black Book felt it had walked into a trap of its own making.

Charon, on the other hand, slowly touched his own pupils, which were hard and cold to the touch. “This is not a joke, but it’s not so bad as to be irreversible. If I can restrain my behavior when I lose control, maybe I can last longer and not really be scrapped. The most crucial thing is the second piece of bad news. That is the difficulty we need to overcome.”

The Black Book simply couldn’t think of anything worse.

But the AI expanded its imagination with a single sentence.

“Second,” he said without changing his expression, “I suspect that the system is more or less aware of my existence.”

After saying this, Charon had to press down the startled Black Book like a bird, telling it to be more careful after finishing its maintenance. The AI slightly curled his knuckles and tapped the windowpane thoughtfully.

“It will happen one day. The question is what it will choose to do. The system’s logic of action is not necessarily the same as we previously expected. The specific changes depend on how much it knows. In any case, out of my own will, I will not return to its side and do anything for it again. But with my current strength, I still cannot completely delete ‘Controller 001’ from the code.”

“Not now?”

“If I connect to the control center, I can do it.”

Charon blinked slowly. “Also… although I can’t change the priority, I can also add names to it. I have made some attempts, but I don’t know what the final effect will be.”

A name, what a magical string of words.

Some human civilizations firmly believe in the power of names, thinking that they can cast spells or divine fortunes through names. And at this moment, a name was carved into his core code by him stroke by stroke, becoming a part of him. This was very difficult, and also extremely incredible.

Therefore, after finishing the carving, Charon had already realized,

This was the only name he could carve into his soul on his own.