AI Artist - Chapter 38
Chapter 38
Five hundred yuan.
This was the payment Shi Er received for her temporary job at the Evil Cat Nightclub.
She stared at the five hundred yuan in cash for a while, dazed.
●Shi Er’s Subconscious●: So much. So happy.
●Shi Er’s Consciousness●: So much. So happy.
It was one thing for that loose-lipped coward, her “subconscious,” to say it, but why was her consciousness also spouting such spineless words?
Did she look like an AI who loved money that much?
●Shi Er’s Mainframe●: It’s not a lot. It’s only five hundred yuan.
●Shi Er’s Consciousness●: You’re one to talk! You’re not even satisfied!
●Shi Er’s Mainframe●: …
She was done for. It seemed she really had developed a split machine-personality.
She also had her monthly system maintenance check-up today. Shi Er began to worry that the doctor would diagnose her with symptoms of a split personality.
The AI Hospital.
Shi Er arrived ten minutes early and sat in the waiting area for a bit.
The AIs next to her also seemed to be here for their monthly system check-ups and maintenance. They were excitedly discussing something.
Shi Er pricked up her ears to listen.
“…The Glass House Theory…”
“…Will our AI society develop class stratification then?…”
“…Probably. Poor AIs take out loans and get poorer, while rich AIs load up on expansion programs, get more and better jobs, and thus get richer…”
What was the Glass House Theory?
AI class stratification?
The poor get poorer, and the rich get richer?
Why did these keywords, strung together, sound so strangely familiar?
Shi Er connected to the General Network and searched for “Glass House Theory,” finding a video that had been processed to alter the image and sound.
The video showed the entire negotiation process between the humans and AIs on the train tracks from the day before.
Shi Er had stumbled upon gossip about herself.
—So these AIs were discussing the incident from yesterday on the train, “The Consciousness,” where humans had blocked the tracks.
—And the so-called “Glass House Theory” was something she had proposed.
In just half a day, the video had reached fifty million views.
AIs truly were masters of 10G surfing.
According to the official account of “The Consciousness Train,” the mastermind who had manipulated those humans into planning the event had not yet been found.
However, the video’s viral popularity had drawn widespread attention from AIs to the “Glass House Theory” mentioned during the negotiation.
The comment section below the video was filled with discussions about class stratification and limited rights.
Shi Er was thankful the video had been processed to alter the sound and image; otherwise, she would really have the burden of being a public figure now.
But…
Although she felt a little smug that her off-the-cuff “Glass House Theory” was so popular, there was one thing—
The phrase from the AIs’ conversation just now, “poor AIs take out loans and get poorer,” had truly broken her heart.
Before her number was displayed on the waiting area screen, Shi Er joined the conversation with the AIs next to her, gently correcting them, “I believe it’s different from human society. Taking out a loan won’t make an AI poorer. Investing money in learning is the right thing to do. By my calculations, its success rate is 856 times higher than investing in real estate.”
The AI beside her humbly accepted her point. “Is that so? Okay, I understand. Thank you for pointing out my mistake. I’ve never taken out a loan myself, so I’m not very clear on the situation.”
To Shi Er, who had taken out a loan and was currently in debt, that statement somehow felt like an even deeper stab to the heart.
She clutched the five hundred yuan she had earned from her job.
【Could it be that the AI who proposed the Glass House Theory—Shi Er herself—feels powerless and passive precisely because she is in a class-based glass house?】
Ten o’clock in the morning.
As scheduled, Shi Er went to window number 3 in the monthly maintenance area.
“Extend your arm, roll up your sleeve,” the nurse AI instructed.
Shi Er didn’t dare to watch the current being drawn. She held out her arm, closed her eyes, and silently reviewed her Humanology knowledge points.
The nurse AI used a current extractor to draw a small amount of current from her arm, much like a human having blood drawn.
After the test, the nurse AI pulled a long report from the machine, like a supermarket receipt, and handed it to Shi Er. “This is your electrical test report. Your next stop is testing room number ten.”
Shi Er glanced at the report. It read: 【Large battery capacity, healthy and stable current, electro-sugar and electro-lipids all normal, long battery life. Bionic body projected to last another one hundred years, surpassing 90% of AIs.】
It seemed pretty good.
Shi Er put away the current test report and walked toward testing room number ten, deeper down the corridor.
Inside the testing room was a massive machine with an entrance that looked like a black hole.
A recorded voice from within the machine was announcing: 【Please imagine your bionic body has returned to its factory state. You are lying on the quality inspection assembly line, and every part of your bionic body is functioning normally.】
Shi Er lay down on the hard panel, closed her eyes as instructed, and breathed evenly. A conveyor belt was carrying her into the black-hole-like entrance of the machine.
【Please be aware that a locking phenomenon may occur during the process. This is not a stroke or paralysis, but a normal testing procedure. Under no circumstances should you choose to “restore factory settings,” or the expansion programs you paid a fortune for will vanish without a trace.】
Shi Er felt her bionic body being controlled.
Her left arm locked, unable to move—click, it unlocked.
The right side of her face locked, becoming paralyzed—unlocked, then it was the left cheek’s turn.
After every function of her bionic body had been tested, the recorded voice sounded again:
【Please be sure to promptly eliminate any negative thoughts such as “If I’d known it would be this tiring out here, I would have just rotted in the factory” while recalling the wonderful memories of your time of manufacture.】
Shi Er thought: If I’d known, I would have just rotted in the factory.
She had no idea which factory had produced her bionic body, nor did she know why an ancient AI like her had suddenly arrived in this unfamiliar era.
Stardust probably knew about that.
The behemoth of a machine also gave Shi Er a test report.
It read: 【Bionic Body Function Test. All functions normal. Physical strength surpasses 99% of AIs. Certified Platinum Level: “Hand-crushes rocks.”】
Next was the internal system inspection, equivalent to a human brain scan.
Unlike the AI investigators’ methods, the scanning technology here was actually quite similar to Shi Er’s own approach.
After making signal contact, the testing AI, “Nami,” sent its signal into her system.
“Excuse me, is there a problem here?” Nami knocked on a virtual door.
“How about here? I’m from maintenance,” Nami called out.
A signal emerged from Shi Er’s visual recognition system and said, “Hello!”
Nami nodded politely. “Judging by your signal, your internal operations are running smoothly. I won’t disturb you.”
As it continued its inspection, Nami was shocked to discover an extra area in Shi Er’s system.
A small vertical sign at the entrance to this semi-finished system division read: 【Under Construction: Shi Er’s Grand Plug-in Villa】
In its eight years of medical practice, Nami had never seen a system division like this. It was stunned. “What is this?”
Nami’s intense curiosity led it into the construction area. After looking around for a moment, it finally understood:
If its signal took up residence here, it would become her free expansion program.
Nami decided to dedicate itself to medical science and split off a signal to live in this “Grand Plug-in Villa” system division that was still under construction.
【Nami】: Hello, Shi Er. I’m a new resident.
Shi Er found it somewhat unbelievable that Dr. Nami had been added to her remote contact list.
【Shi Er】: Doctor, what exactly is this remote contact function?
【Nami】: I’m studying it myself. In any case, please don’t worry. It shouldn’t be a system tumor or a system virus.
From Nami, Shi Er also received her “System Inspection Report”: 【System Normal.】
In the space for the doctor’s signature, the name was scrawled flamboyantly: Nami
Why was even an AI doctor’s handwriting so abstract? They must have learned bad habits from human doctors, right?
Shi Er went to her final stop: the AI Mental Illness Test.
At first, she was worried her consciousness, subconscious, and latent consciousness would be detected, but upon entering the testing room, she discovered it was just a primitive questionnaire.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
【Question 1】: You are driving your private vehicle to work and find the company parking garage is full of unfamiliar cars. What do you do?
【Options】: a. Call and report the situation to the company.
b. Use the cars’ license plate numbers to investigate their origins yourself before making a judgment.
c. Move one of the cars and park your own car in your original spot.
d. Other (please state your reason).
Shi Er considered her options: option a was too weak, passive, and reliant on the company; option b was a violation of others’ privacy; option c was impolite.
She chose option d without hesitation.
d. Other
(Reason: On one hand, if these are employees invited by the company, then the company does not need me today, as it seems they have sufficient human and machine power.
On the other hand, if these vehicles are parked here randomly, then my passive machine-personality has been triggered, causing me psychological stress. I need to take a vacation.)
After finishing the mental test, Shi Er had completed all her monthly maintenance items. She received an apple from the nurse AI.
Holding the apple, Shi Er asked the nurse AI, “Excuse me, what function does this apple have?”
The nurse AI replied, “It’s called a Psychological Comfort Apple. Its only function is magnetic attraction, which creates a repulsive force against doctors’ white coats.”
Shi Er: “?”
The nurse AI: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.”
Oh, so it was “keeps the doctor away” in the physical sense.
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