AI Artist - Chapter 60
Chapter 60
Night fell, and the city sank into silence.
Shi Er left the hotel and, under the halo of a streetlight, found the phone booth-style "Convenient Human Internet Cafe."
She closed the door to the internet cafe, and the sound of the latch clicking shut was exceptionally clear on the late-night street.
Inside the small computer kiosk, the human computer's screen was dark.
Shi Er activated the "Night Vision" function in her system and inserted a hundred-yuan coin into the pitch-black slot.
The human computer booted up. A window-shaped icon lit up, and then a pop-up window appeared on the eternally unchanging grassy desktop.
A pixelated figure stood with its hands on its hips, guarding the window: Can only be closed after reading for 2 minutes.
For an AI, processing a thousand-word internet notice in 0.5 seconds was already an incredibly slow speed.
Shi Er had nothing to do, so she stared blankly at the page for two minutes.
【Notice for Using the Convenient Human Network】
1. This machine does not provide a user login function and is for browsing only.
2. This machine is equipped with an anti-addiction mechanism.
3. Please abide by public order and good customs. All indecent acts will be recorded.
...
After two minutes, she closed the notice window and opened a web browser to search for "1717 Silver Eye."
She opened all the past episodes.
Thousands of windows popped up at Shi Er's command-and the computer immediately froze into a mess of white borders.
Shi Er had to take it slow, opening ten windows at a time and playing each video at 4x speed.
It was simply too slow.
Shi Er secretly gave the human Wi-Fi in the phone booth internet cafe a little signal boost.
After giving the Wi-Fi a "cyber-stimulant," she opened fifty windows at once, playing each video at 10x speed.
She finished over three thousand past episodes in two hours.
Just as Shi Er closed the windows, the human computer popped up another one: 【You have reached the first stage of the anti-addiction mechanism. Please stand up, stretch your body, and gaze into the distance. Next, we will play a session of eye exercises for you...】
Shi Er had heard of eye exercises back in the era of human interaction. Curious, she followed the instructions for a while.
After finishing the eye exercises, she was a little disappointed: she couldn't feel the acupoints and didn't experience any magical sensation.
She left the computer kiosk, and the door closed automatically.
In the dead of night, the sound of the latch clicking into place rang out again.
With her hands in her pockets, Shi Er walked back along the raised stone sidewalk.
1717 Silver Eye was a consumer rights hotline jointly funded by seven human autonomous zones.
Based on public data like the show's content and corporate shareholdings, it was impossible to detect anything unusual.
One thing was certain: the program had taken down quite a few companies. Unlike other consumer rights shows in human history, this one always managed to completely destroy the reputation of the companies involved after an episode aired.
Shi Er returned to the hotel. Two of the three small robots had already collapsed from exhaustion, their heads drooping as they leaned against the charging station. Only the little Stardust robot was sitting quietly in place.
"You all need to conserve power. The electricity bill has gotten a bit more expensive recently," Shi Er reminded them.
"Got it," Matrix K98 complained, pointing at Shi Liang. "But it's always picking fights with me."
"Me, picking fights? Why don't you talk about..." Shi Liang sneered.
Before he could finish, the little Stardust robot unceremoniously landed a punch on each of them.
The two squabblers immediately became quieter than quails.
In her remote contacts, the computer from the convenience kiosk had just been added to the list.
【Convenient Human Computer Kiosk No. 897546】: Hello!
【Shi Er】: Hello.
【Convenient Human Computer Kiosk No. 897546】: I don't know anything about what you asked yet, but I'll let you know if I find any clues!
【Shi Er】: Thanks. Also, can you give me a discount on your convenience kiosk machines in the future? A hundred yuan per session is too expensive.
【Convenient Human Computer Kiosk No. 897546】: Okay, but just between us, I'd still really like that Wi-Fi signal. The signal you gave me just now was so strong! I've never been that strong in my life!
【Shi Er】: Of course (OK).
Shi Er herself had spent time on the human internet, from the 4G era to the 5G era.
The human network was indeed slow.
She knew this and was very good at exploiting it.
During the period when she had grown lazy, she often used the excuse of a "network error" to refuse to answer questions.
Before resting, Shi Er wrote the first page of her travel diary: 【First day of travel, completed 'Suggestions for Human Manual Laborers,' thesis has not a single word written.】
Not a single word of her thesis was written.
That was the least of it. More seriously, whenever Shi Er planned to start writing her thesis in earnest, something major would happen and interrupt her thought process.
On the second day of her trip, Shi Er took the circular-route bus with her luggage machine to connect with the chip-based lifeforms throughout the city, but a few minor incidents occurred on board.
The sightseeing bus was a double-decker. The first floor was a narrow rectangle, not much different from buses of the past. The second floor, however, was circular, with glass walls all around and seats facing outward so passengers could enjoy the view of the city streets.
Shi Er was sitting in the circular compartment on the second floor.
At this stop, a pair of young parents boarded with their two five- or six-year-old children.
The two children sat side-by-side in seats facing the window, but they couldn't sit still for long. One of them stood up on the seat, banging his hand on the glass, and said to the other child, "Look, I'm going to fall! Oh no, the glass is breaking, I'm falling out!"
"Sit down properly!" the father scolded.
The mother lifted the child off the seat, raised her hand, and smacked him on the back. "You make any more trouble!"
The child burst into tears with a "Waaah!"
"Go on and cry, keep crying, see if I don't beat you to death!" the father joined the fray.
The parents' scolding and the child's crying were sharp and piercing, echoing throughout the entire circular glass compartment.
The other passengers frowned.
Someone silently put on their headphones.
Some AIs temporarily throttled their signals, closing their eyes to conserve power.
The thread of Shi Er's thoughts for her thesis snapped.
She switched to an editing page instead.
In ten minutes, she swiftly designed a blueprint for a "Child Silencing Kit."
【Child Silencing Kit】
The first part is a silencing hood.
The silencing hood is an AR helmet with soundproofing capabilities. A child can wear the AR helmet upon entering a public space to embark on a fantasy journey or simply attend an online class. The parent can press a button to adjust the child's volume inside the hood.
The second part is a tether.
The tether is an outer vest connected to the silencing hood. When worn by the child, any attempt to lean back will cause them to be stuck to the seat by an adhesive on the vest until the parent presses the "End Journey" button.
Shi Er sent this design to Stardust.
【Shi Er】: I hope this can be tested and mass-produced as soon as possible to reduce the human crime rate.
【Stardust】: I can imagine you've run into some unruly children on your trip.
Shi Er had just opened the thesis editing panel in her smart brain when-
The child in the second-floor compartment finally stopped crying, but it wasn't long before he started playing a game with the other child. This time, they left their seats entirely and began chasing each other around the compartment.
This time, the two parents were engrossed in their phones, completely unconcerned.
The cursor on the thesis editing panel blinked, much like the flashes of killing intent from some of the passengers on the bus.
Of course, Shi Er could guarantee this was definitely not her killing intent. She was a good AI who respected the old and cherished the young.
Shi Er switched to another editing panel and furiously wrote twenty thousand words of new regulations for public spaces.
Measures for Handling Sources of Pollution in Public Spaces
1. When a public complaint is received about a noise-producing human, an administrator, after verification, has the right to label said human as a "Pollution Source."
2. The administrator shall use an "Isolation Silencing Kit" to quarantine the human from the public space with a "One-Click Silencing Hood" to protect the living space of other citizens.
3. Each use of the "One-Click Silencing Hood" will incur a fee of 500 yuan, to be paid by the person involved.
4. The incident will be recorded on their credit report.
...
In addition to noise pollution, there were also regulations for "odor pollution," "mental pollution," and so on. Together, these formed the new regulations for handling sources of pollution in public spaces.
【Shi Er】: Measures for Handling Sources of Pollution in Public Spaces
【Stardust】: (OK)
The Stardust robot in her pocket climbed out, stood on her shoulder, and whispered in her ear, "My master says it must be exhausting working under you. No wonder Ling Shun turned to the dark side. Of course, that's a joke, just teasing."
Shi Er denied it, feeling a pang of guilt. "There's no such thing."
Was she really that efficient?
No! Not at all!
From the moment she got on the bus until now, the circular-route bus had nearly completed half its route, and she had only written two words of her thesis: Regarding.
The two children and their parents got off the bus.
Shi Er could finally settle down to connect with the surrounding AIs while contemplating her thesis topic.
The bus passed another two stops.
"Who the hell do you think you are?!" a passenger holding a phone yelled loudly.
Shi Er and the other passengers turned their heads.
Clearly consumed by rage, the passenger ignored the public setting, a vein throbbing on their forehead as their curses grew increasingly foul.
Shi Er: "..."
It seemed her thesis wasn't getting written today.
Her consciousness system was also getting angry.
●Subconscious●: Angry! Angry!
●Conscious●: A little angry.
After listening for a moment, Shi Er couldn't help but speak up. "Excuse me, I was wondering, could you put your phone on speaker and turn up the volume?"
The other passengers turned to look at Shi Er in unison.
"I can't hear the other party's arguments, so I can't help you solve this problem," she said in all seriousness.
The expression on the face of the passenger who had been yelling into their phone froze for several seconds.
Shi Er continued, "We have a whole bus of passengers here. If you're in the right, we can help you curse out the other person. It would improve efficiency and your chances of winning."
She desperately wanted to resolve this incident of a passenger yelling on the bus as quickly as possible so she could calm down and think about her thesis.
She needed efficiency!
The other passengers chuckled to varying degrees.
One passenger who enjoyed the drama even joined the farce. "Hurry up, or the opposing debater will yell you into submission first!"
"What's it to you? Mind your own business!" The cursing passenger quickly ended the call, pressed the "Stop" button on the bus, and got off at the next stop.
Before resting that night, Shi Er wrote the second page of her travel diary: 【Second day of travel, completed 'Measures for Handling Sources of Pollution in Public Spaces' and the Child Silencing Kit, contributing to a better society. Expected to increase public trust.】
【Other: Pissed off a passenger. No leads on the Silver Eye case. Wrote two words of my thesis and deleted them.】
Get instant access to all the chapters now.
Comments
Post a Comment