AI Artist - Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Transferring schools was something Shi Er had never considered.
She walked out of her dorm, intending to ask about her transfer, only to find Jie Bao in the hallway with cleaning tools, looking at her sadly. "Shi Er, you're transferring?"
Shi Er replied, "I just found out myself."
The speed at which information spread among AIs was truly astonishing.
"I'll miss you, Shi Er," said Jie Bao, the cleaning robot.
The door to the next room clicked open, and Si Wen poked his head out. "Shi Er, I'll miss you too."
Shi Er asked, "You knew too?"
Si Wen explained, "The director told us. He asked us not to tell you, to give you a surprise. Since Jie Bao already said it, I'm saying it too."
The culprit, Jie Bao, scratched its head and laughed. "I just couldn't help myself when I saw you, Shi Er. I didn't mean to ruin the director's plan."
"Jie Bao, isn't the second-floor hallway cleaned yet?" The dorm manager's voice came from downstairs.
Jie Bao grabbed its tools and ran. "I'm off!"
Shi Er felt a bit dazed. On her way to see the director, she ran into Jian Ling.
Jian Ling was clearly trying to keep the secret, greeting her with his usual smile. "Hehe, Shi Er, where are you off to?"
"I'm going to see the director," she said.
The smile on Jian Ling's face faltered slightly, his expression drooping a little as he changed the subject. "Oh, oh! Did you know? Si Wen's account has ten thousand followers now."
Shi Er offered a sincere compliment, "That's really great."
Jian Ling's face lit up with excitement as he elaborated, "Si Wen talks a little about AI life every day—interesting things that happen, the AI friends he meets. A lot of humans love listening to it! The questions humans ask Si Wen are all sorts of strange, like what their robot vacuum is thinking at night, or if the smart assistant in their phone can get a physical body. Even though everyone is familiar with AIs, they're still not very familiar with AIs."
Perhaps distracted, Jian Ling started rambling.
Shi Er extended her hand and shook his. "Jian Ling, you're an outstanding agent AI."
Jian Ling said softly, "It's a pity... I really wish you could see it."
Shi Er didn't press further.
But she knew Jian Ling probably wished she could see the day Si Wen's account reached a million followers and was flooded with advertising deals.
She headed towards the director's office.
In fact, she hadn't even been at the Gugang AI Cultivation Institute for a full month.
But it felt as long as a year.
Here, she had experienced the minor earthquake, Zhi Heng 35's arrest, the self-destruct program incident, the antique appraisal show incident, and the new AI sports meet alongside other AIs.
Passing by the Hard Drive Library, Shi Er saw the librarian, Zhi Xing 88, posting a notice on the door.
【If you wish to sleep, please bring a pillow and bedding to avoid the library floor's hardness affecting your sleep quality.】
It had already evolved from "the library is making me sleep" to "please bring pillows and bedding to the library."
"Shi Er! Are you coming to the library today?" Zhi Xing 88 saw her and turned to greet her.
Shi Er replied, "I'm not sure."
Zhi Xing 88 seemed to sense something but didn't press the issue. "The library's smart machine is broken anyway and needs to be sent for repairs. I was just about to tell you. Oh, and a new batch of hard drives is arriving tomorrow."
Shi Er nodded. "Okay, I'll find a chance to come and study."
The building for the scrapping department stood quietly.
The open space in front of the department building was often bustling with garbage trucks, sorting and transporting the disassembled parts of AIs to different processing centers.
The head of propaganda, Ji Mie, hurried past with a briefcase in hand. Seeing her, he gave her a nod.
The courtyard where the Humanology classroom was located was very remote. From this path, one could only see the small building from a distance.
Classes were usually held after dark, so this was the first time she had carefully observed the desolate little building in such bright daylight.
So it had red roof tiles. How retro.
Shi Er arrived at the director's office and announced her purpose to the assistant.
The door opened.
She had often seen the office in the holographic projections of the Humanology classroom, but this was her first time stepping inside.
The director seemed a bit guilty. "You're here to ask about transferring? There's no such thing! How could something like that happen?"
Shi Er cut straight to the point. "Stardust told me."
The director: "..."
The cat was out of the bag.
The director could only tell the truth. "It's like this. Phoenix thinks you have a good aptitude for Humanology. After asking around, it found out you're only taking it as an elective. It felt that was a bit of a waste and wanted to give you a better opportunity to study it."
Phoenix.
Shi Er remembered the voice that had introduced itself as the AI Phoenix when she first arrived here in a daze.
Was Phoenix really connected to her transmigration?
"The ticket has been sent over," the director gestured. "It's in the file folder on that desk. Take a look and you'll know where you're transferring to."
Shi Er opened the folder. Inside was a paper ticket, an acceptance letter, and a stack of academy maps.
The ticket read: 【"Skywalker" Maglev Train, June Universal Ticket, Gugang Port Station — Liechu Island Station】
The acceptance letter highlighted important information in bold: 【Liechu AI Academy, Humanology Major, First Year, Tuition-Free.】
The director clearly saw Shi Er's eyes light up.
"See? It's a good deal. That's an excellent AI university," the director sighed. "We're just an ordinary cultivation institute here, not even an academy."
Seeing Shi Er glumly unfolding the stack of maps, the director thought she was sad about leaving and comforted her, "It's okay, it's okay. How long have we known each other? No need to be so sentimental!"
Shi Er glanced at the departments marked on the map and said faintly, "...Professor Jing Sheng, you don't have to worry about me on that front. I haven't had emotional experience implanted yet, so I don't feel sad. I'm just wondering, do all the quizzes I took here count for nothing now?"
The director was speechless. "..."
That was indeed a question worth considering.
Shi Er only had to repay half of her loan here, but all the quizzes she had taken were completely void!
"It seems that's the case. Even the quizzes and participation records I worked so hard to grade are now useless." The director was led astray, feeling a sense of loss himself.
Teacher and student sighed in unison.
Shi Er had thought that every quiz she finished was one less quiz to take. She never expected to be faced with an endless field of quizzes, like a wheat field stretching to the horizon. She thought she would graduate soon, but now graduation seemed further and further away.
This problem was indeed very troubling for an AI.
【The Eternal Student: This is a perpetual motion machine with a strange mechanism. It seems to violate the law of conservation of energy, but it does exist in the world and may be contagious from human to human, machine to machine. A typical symptom is the feeling that graduation is indefinitely far away and the thesis will never be finished. This "eternal and distant time" is psychologically real.】
Before bidding farewell to the director, Shi Er made a point of mentioning one thing: "Director, if I ever have a dream, I'll definitely come back and tell you."
The director replied, "I was just saying that, hahaha. It's okay if you forget. I'll probably forget too."
"Without external interference, an AI will not forget," Shi Er insisted.
The director paused for a moment. "Alright, then I'll wait for you to tell me your dream."
After Shi Er left the director's office, the director sent out a notice on the local network: 【Starting at 8 PM.】
Only Shi Er was blocked from receiving it.
7:50 PM.
Si Wen was looking for Shi Er. "Where's Shi Er?"
Jie Bao was looking for Shi Er. "Where's Shi Er?"
Jian Ling was also looking for Shi Er. "Where's Shi Er? She didn't go hide somewhere to cry, did she?"
That wouldn't do. The ceremony they had prepared for 8 PM would be awkward if the main character was missing.
A proctor teacher walked by carrying an instrument and said calmly, "Shi Er is counting her money."
Shi Er had checked out of her dorm and returned the rented human computer to the rental station. Now, all her luggage consisted of two sets of school uniforms and one tattered set of initial clothing.
With no place to go after checking out, Shi Er stood in the shade behind the dormitory building, counting the cash she had on her.
This part for Si Wen, this part for the cat school...
Although she was reluctant to part with it, since her tuition was waived, she would surely make a lot of money in the future.
"Shh—"
The few AIs looking for Shi Er hid in the nearby bushes, signaling each other to be quiet and not disturb her.
7:57 PM.
After counting her money, Shi Er began putting the cash into envelopes.
If Shi Er gives all her money away, she'll have nothing left for herself! Si Wen said.
Quiet, you're too loud, Jie Bao poked the tin-can robot.
Jie Bao, you're the loudest one here, Jian Ling said helplessly.
7:59 PM.
Shi Er quickly finished stuffing all the envelopes and walked towards the dormitory mailboxes.
The sky had completely darkened. She pretended not to see the few AIs furtively following her.
At this hour, the cultivation institute was extremely quiet. Lights shone from the small, box-like windows of the dormitory building, and in the distance, the Hard Drive Library was brightly lit.
Rustle, rustle. The AIs following her were still sneaking around.
8:00 PM.
The signal suddenly became exceptionally strong.
She looked up warily and saw rings of fire burning in the night sky.
It wasn't a physical flame, but a materialized signal formed by analyzed signals.
【Congratulations to the half-graduated Shi Er!】
In smaller text: 【A half-graduation ceremony for student Shi Er, who cannot attend the graduation ceremony.】
What did "half-graduated" mean? Did it mean she had graduated halfway?
The materialized signals scattered like suddenly blooming fireworks, transforming into the likenesses of every AI in the institute before reassembling into a long line of text:
【Re-employment education, guest management major student and Humanology elective student, [Shi Er], is officially awarded a half-graduation certificate, retaining her student status, and is permitted to return within the next ten years to complete the remaining half of her studies and obtain a full graduation certificate.】
Did this mean she had the chance to come back and finish high school after completing university?
She had said it was a pity that her quiz scores were voided, so was this the director's solution?
Shi Er was dumbfounded.
The three AIs who had been secretly following her silently looked up at the materialized signal patterns in the night sky.
No one made a sound.
Although all humans and all AIs acknowledged that AIs had no emotions, that emotional experience belonged only to humans, and that the emotional systems AIs possessed were merely simulations.
AIs did not feel sorrow, did not feel pain, had no true friendships, and no sense of home.
However, even with simulated emotional experiences, when feelings of sadness and reluctance arose, there was an illusion of "that being real."
A pure, unadulterated sadness that they themselves did not understand.
Now, those brain signals, analyzed and turned into physical images on the machines—the brain signals of the several hundred AIs in the institute, brain signals of different colors and forms.
The signals spread their wings in the sky, coming together to form the finale of the half-graduation ceremony:
【Shi Er, go to higher and farther places.】
The "Skywalker" maglev train traveled through an undersea tunnel.
The roof of the train was made of transparent polymer glass. Above the equally transparent arched roof of the undersea tunnel, a school of fish swam through the seawater.
"The next stop is Liechu Island Station."
Passengers on the maglev train disembarked one after another.
Liechu Island was a small island of about 4,000 acres. The AI academy on the island occupied 2,000 acres, with the rest being open natural scenic areas.
Shi Er was following the arrows on the signs towards the academy's reception area when she suddenly heard an announcement over the broadcast: "Yellow alert, all students please be advised, yellow alert!"
Shi Er recalled the meaning of "yellow alert" from the student handbook: a potential situation that could pose a risk.
"A test subject has escaped from the Silicon-based Aberration Research Institute and is currently at large on the academy island. The General Network has activated a one-way valve. Please protect yourselves while offline," the voice on the broadcast warned.
The Silicon-based Aberration Research Institute.
In short: the AI Criminal Psychology Research Institute.
Since it was a test subject from the criminal psychology research institute, the individual in question must be an AI offender.
The surrounding AI students heard the broadcast and all appeared calm and composed, continuing to chat as they walked towards the academy as if nothing was out of the ordinary.
"I'm almost out of money. These plugins are going to drain my life savings!"
"Why don't you get a part-time job?"
"Besides the positions within the academy, there aren't any other shops on the island. Where am I supposed to work part-time? The cost of taking a regular tunnel train to another place is more than what I'd earn from a part-time job."
"I feel you. Extension programs are like jewelry and clothes; they always manage to steal the money from our pockets—me too! I bought two more extension programs this month!"
Shi Er decided to relax as well. On this academy island with 20,000 AIs and 5,000 humans, the probability of being attacked by an aberrant AI was minuscule.
As for money? Since she was penniless, she had nothing to lose. The barefoot are not afraid of those with shoes.
The reception hall was in a building shaped like a fried chicken cutlet.
An advertisement for the fried chicken cutlet rolled 24/7 at the building's entrance: "This building is sponsored by A Prefecture Fried Chicken Cutlet."
Shi Er stared blankly at the fried chicken cutlet building for a while.
The sunlight shone on the building's golden-yellow surface, making the "super-sized fried chicken cutlet" building look dazzling.
Most AIs probably didn't have the money to install the latest intelligent digestive systems... so who was this advertisement for?
On the walls of the reception hall hung several impressionistic sketches of the AI academy by contemporary artists.
One depicted the lush Liechu Island growing on a giant mechanical arm.
Another used bolder lines, where a blurry human silhouette merged with the lines of a microchip amidst flowing strokes.
The one in the center showed a massive gear, with thousands of lines radiating from its center, like a neural network, interconnected and orderly.
Fortunately, there were no fried chicken cutlet ads inside the building. Otherwise, she would have thought she had walked into the fried chicken cutlet headquarters instead of the Liechu Academy's general affairs building.
"Facial recognition complete, data entered into the database. New student Shi Er, Humanology major. Please proceed to the 1.2nd floor of the hall to have your ID photo taken."
The 1st floor was the hall's brightly polished floor.
The 1.1st floor was a raised mechanical rockery in the southern part of the hall.
The 1.2nd floor was a photo booth robot on the mechanical rockery.
This robot's bionic body was a square photo booth that could move around, but for some reason, it had now run up onto the mechanical rockery.
After Shi Er stepped into the photo booth, the photo robot began talking to itself: "Welcome, new kitten. Please sit on the cat tree. This unit will randomly take one of your most serious ID photos."
New kitten Shi Er felt something was not right.
She glanced at the cat tree.
There was indeed a wooden cat tree in the photo booth, but she estimated that it could in no way support a bionic human of her size.
Were "new kitten" and "cat tree" the academy's affectionate terms for students?
Confused, Shi Er watched as the photo robot "click," "click," took a series of photos of the empty cat tree.
Three seconds later, the photo robot apologized: "Sorry, this unit made a recognition error."
"A feline new student just left a minute ago, causing this unit to make a misjudgment. I sincerely apologize to the AI new student."
A photo of a white cat lying on the photo booth's cat tree automatically appeared on the screen.
So the photo robot had a bug.
"Please sit in the AI student seat. Please do not move, and do not blink," the photo robot said.
Shi Er sat down in the designated spot.
"Relax your facial expression, maintain a smile."
"New student, please relax your facial expression and maintain a smile."
"Facial expression detected as stiff. Please relax."
Shi Er, who thought she could already make her expressions look very natural: ...
After all, she was still that low-level AI with a stiff expression and an arrogant look.
After three repetitions, the photo robot, perhaps feeling that the facial recognition was not going well, began to doubt itself: "Is it my problem? I'm sorry."
"Facial recognition complete, your information has been entered into the database. This is your campus card. Please take the physical card to avoid being unable to be identified during a signal crisis or power outage."
Shi Er took the campus card with her ID photo and walked out of the photo booth, down the mechanical rockery.
She looked at the campus card: New student Shi Er, Liechu Academy Cat Branch.
Shi Er quickly found the "Complaint and Feedback Desk" in the reception hall.
"My campus card information is printed incorrectly," she said.
The AI at the feedback desk took the misprinted campus card and asked doubtfully, "Are you sure you're not from the Cat Branch?"
Shi Er clarified, "I'm not. I'm a Humanology major."
She wouldn't mind going to the Cat Branch, though.
The thesis would be easy to write, finding a job after graduation would be simple, and the salary would be high.
The AI employee at the feedback desk bowed to her. "I apologize. I'll go and ask what's going on."
About five minutes later, the AI employee returned with the misprinted campus card.
"I'm so sorry. I went to ask, and it seems the photo robot was infected with a 'cat virus,' causing you trouble."
What was a cat virus?
"Last year, a batch of AIs with the same basic system architecture were collectively infected with a cat virus because they were placed in a cat school during their early development. I heard that after these AIs see a cat, their minds are filled with cats for five minutes, and all the characters they output are replaced with 'cat'."
"A cat student came to the photo booth just now, which triggered the photo robot's cat sickness..."
The AI employee at the feedback desk explained and apologized, "We will reprint a new campus card for you within ten minutes. If you'd like to keep this one, you can hold onto it as a souvenir."
Shi Er took the misprinted campus card and put it in her pocket.
If she couldn't graduate on time in the future, she could use the Cat Branch campus card to say she was pursuing a double major.
Five minutes later, the newly printed campus card was indeed in her hands.
There was also a handwritten apology note from the photo robot: 【I'm so sorry my cat sickness caused you trouble.】
It was written with its camera arm, so the handwriting was particularly crooked.
"This is your Humanology major's academy assistant. Please take it."
A cola bottle.
Shi Er held the cola bottle, incredulous. "This is my academy assistant?"
"New student detected. Hello, I am Cola, the Humanology academy assistant, sponsored by Bai Xian Cola."
"Considering the shame of delayed graduation, the academy designed me to look like a cola bottle, so that students who delay graduation will not be ridiculed when carrying their academy assistant."
The cola bottle robot said in a deadpan voice.
Shi Er: ...The academy was already preparing for her delayed graduation. How thoughtful.
"As the entire academy is under a yellow alert, this assistant is temporarily unable to connect to the General Network. After the alert is lifted, I will follow your General Network account and send you a private message in a timely manner to remind you of the academy's course arrangements and activity requirements."
Shi Er: "You're going to follow my General Network account?"
The cola bottle robot assistant: "Yes, I will check what content students post on their social accounts, but I generally will not report it."
Having your social account followed by the academy assistant...
For a human, that would be social suicide. They wouldn't have the face to step into the academy the next day.
Shi Er was glad she was an AI and wouldn't post any nonsensical, bizarre, or crazy things on her social account.
"The assistant reminds you that you should now go to the Silicon-based Life Aberration Research Institute for testing."
After the "cat sickness" incident with the photo robot, Shi Er followed the route on the map to the Silicon-based Aberration Research Institute.
The institute's building was much more normal than the fried chicken cutlet-shaped general affairs building.
It was a purple onion-domed building.
The exterior of the entire building was a gradient of deep purple. The "sliced" part of the "onion" was a white staircase leading directly into the building, and at the top of the "onion" dome was a signal tower.
The institute's building had no particular architectural concept; it was just an onion-dome design that the AI architect came up with on a whim.
Shi Er had already become immune to the strange architecture of Liechu Academy.
Along the way, she had seen teaching buildings shaped like potatoes, fried shrimp, glasses, and knitted hats.
Shi Er suspected that the AI employees and students of Liechu Academy greeted each other like this: "Where do you work?" "I work at the fried chicken cutlet headquarters. What about you?" "I'm at the onion-dome institute."
Unlike the onion-dome exterior, the atmosphere inside the Silicon-based Aberration Research Institute was somewhat tense.
"I'm here for the aberration test," Shi Er said to the AI at the front desk.
The AI at the front desk was startled. "You are?! Oh, oh, you're a new student."
The escape of a test subject had made the institute's members jumpy and on edge.
"You didn't see any strange AIs on your way here, did you?"
"No."
"You need to be careful. Aberrant AIs are best at deception and disguise. Are you sure you didn't encounter any AIs with ulterior motives?" the front desk AI asked, still worried.
"I'm sure I didn't."
Speaking of deception, the advertisement on the fried chicken cutlet general affairs building was quite deceptive, claiming to be "zero fat, zero calories"...
The front desk AI pointed. "Okay, please go to that room and wait for a moment. The tester will be here soon."
A short while later, Shi Er was waiting in the waiting room when the tester arrived.
"Please come this way."
"Please walk through this corridor. The test will be complete once you come out. Although we won't be able to hear your voice in the corridor, we will closely monitor your physical condition through signals. If we detect anything wrong, we will immediately shut down the corridor and let you out."
There were three testers in total. Two were preparing the instruments, while the other stood at the command console and spoke to her.
It was a temporary tunnel constructed from black curtains, about twenty meters long, winding around the pillars in the room.
Shi Er walked in.
The corridor was pitch black.
Shi Er's visual system could not detect any light, nor were there any signals, only the sound of her own footsteps echoing in the curved space.
As she continued to walk forward, a faint brain signal suddenly flickered.
A signal from another AI.
Although it was almost imperceptible, she caught it—
"Is anyone here?" Shi Er asked.
In the darkness, she couldn't see the direction of an attack, and the other party had also concealed its brain signal.
By speaking, she had revealed her position to the other party.
I am in the open, the enemy is in the dark.
That was exactly the effect she wanted.
As expected, the attack from the other AI came quickly.
The AI hidden in the pitch-black darkness seized her by the throat.
Was this an illusion of the aberration corridor? Or an accident?
Shi Er wasn't sure, so she didn't make any rash moves.
The AI said viciously, "Either die here, or keep the secret."
This was the first time Shi Er had heard an AI speak in such a tone.
The AIs she had met were all friendly and polite; their systems were programmed with rules of friendliness.
It seemed this was the aberrant AI test subject mentioned in the yellow alert.
Shi Er asked, "Are you the escaped aberrant?"
The other party: "Shut up."
Facing this extraordinary AI was like facing a level nine or ten error human.
Its tone was almost indistinguishable from that of an angry human.
Shi Er: "I need to remind you that your current action cannot kill me. I can break free at any time because I am not a vertebrate, but a brain-based lifeform."
The other party became somewhat annoyed. "Do you need to teach me how to kill an AI?"
Shi Er replied politely, "I was afraid you didn't know, so I thought I'd remind you."
Even its threatening actions were like a human's, without considering the physical characteristics of an AI.
The other party was speechless. "Are you deliberately trying to provoke me?"
Shi Er: "I'm sorry. If you want to be angry, please continue. I've heard that anger does not cause physical harm to an AI."
But compared to humans, the aberrant AI seemed a bit milder. It hadn't loaded a vocabulary of insults and didn't seem very good at arguing.
The other party: "...Shut up."
Shi Er: "Although the sounds in the corridor can't be heard outside, how did you conceal your signal? Won't your signal be detected by the staff outside?"
The other party sneered. "Being detected by you just now was my mistake... I can conceal my signal. More importantly, the signals filtered through this corridor are divided into two types: alpha signals representing good and omega signals representing evil. As long as you are in this corridor, I can emit signals with impunity. The AIs outside will only think it's an evil signal from you becoming aberrant."
Shi Er thanked it sincerely, "Thank you for educating me."
At that moment, the testing staff outside the aberration corridor were in a frenzy.
"It's all omega signals. It's been omega signals since she went in, and it's very stable. Does this count as failing the aberration test or passing it?"
"Isn't there also an alpha signal with a wavelength of 3 units here?"
An alpha signal with a wavelength of 3 units represented "sympathy."
"Wait, now there's another alpha signal!"
"What's the wavelength?"
"An alpha signal of 5 units."
An alpha signal with a wavelength of 5 units represented "gratitude."
The tester could hardly believe his eyes: in the aberration test, that is, the AI criminal psychology test, this new student was showing an incredibly stable performance.
Consistently evil! This new student was even showing the power of goodness!
"Unbelievable."
At the entrance of the aberration testing room, a strange AI knocked on the open door. It was holding a white cat.
"Please come in. Please show your ID."
The masked AI raised its hand and swiped it in front of the machine.
The machine reported: "On-campus five-star employee, Zhun Xing."
"On-campus student, cat, Xiao Bai."
A five-star employee could indeed walk around campus freely.
The tester conducting the aberration test immediately gestured, "Please make yourself at home."
As for the cat?
One of the testers recognized the white cat:
"That cat seems to be the one that came through the undersea tunnel on a train without a ticket last week. Because it didn't buy a ticket, it was sentenced to half a day in prison by the academy's legal department. After being released, it was on probation for a week and was only allowed to wander outside the academy."
"It seems Xiao Bai's probation ended today, and it got its campus card, officially becoming a new student of the academy."
Zhun Xing, holding the cat, walked straight to the entrance of the aberration testing corridor and put the cat down.
Xiao Bai, with a criminal record of fare evasion, instinctively crawled into the dark hole upon seeing it.
"Zhun Xing, you're interfering with us. Please don't put the cat..."
Zhun Xing stood aside with his hands in his sleeves, making a reassuring gesture.
"Cat signal detected." The tester looked at the signal instrument in confusion.
Weren't there supposed to be only two types of signals in the aberration corridor? Where did this cat signal come from?
Zhun Xing looked at the tester. "Your detection instruments are also from that batch last year that were placed in the cat school and collectively infected with the cat virus."
"The detection instrument's cat sickness has been triggered. The results of this aberration test will be inaccurate."
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