AI Artist - Chapter 67
Chapter 67
What was even more interesting was that there was a human autonomous zone in the distant suburbs of Grey Port. This was the No. 1 Human Autonomous Zone, covering an area of about 150,000 square kilometers.
Shi Er discovered in the General Network’s data that the Environmental Protection Supervision Department had conducted a secret investigation. The result was: 【The No. 1 Human Autonomous Zone is illegally discharging sewage and waste gas into the Grey Port area.】
—No news media dared to report this finding.
Because being human-friendly was politically correct, criticizing a human autonomous zone would be proof that the AI government was exhibiting “extreme right-wing ideology,” showing a tendency to restart the war and destroy the peace between humans and AI.
So, the investigation report was left to gather dust quietly in the archives.
In fact, it wasn’t as if no one suspected the neighboring human autonomous zone.
“Why don’t you suspect the human autonomous zone next door?” a reporter asked.
“Their environment seems fine…” a citizen being interviewed answered hesitantly.
The No. 1 Human Autonomous Zone had blue skies and green waters, and its landscaping was exceptionally well done. Who would dare doubt the efforts of humans who protected the environment!
After reading through all the data in the archives regarding Grey Port’s pollution, Shi Er grew even more suspicious.
【Shi Er】: The Human Autonomous Zone’s Blue Whale Street connects to Grey Port’s nearby Town No. 4, but the sky over Blue Whale Street is a shade bluer. You can observe the color value.
【Stardust】: Identification does indeed show an anomaly.
In photos taken by the meteorological department, a relatively clear dividing line was visible between the sky of Town No. 4 and the sky of Blue Whale Street on 31 of the past 365 days.
It was as if an extra filter had been applied to the sky over Blue Whale Street.
It couldn’t be that an enemy agent had infiltrated the meteorological department just to add a vibrant filter to Blue Whale Street and a gray one to Town No. 4 in the photos, could it?
【Shi Er】: Considering the “dystopian filter incidents” in human history, that possibility should not be ruled out either.
After discussing it with Stardust, Shi Er decided to go to the adjacent No. 1 Human Autonomous Zone to investigate the “sky color dividing line incident.”
She summarized the current situation:
Tour group members: Shi Er, Xiao Lu, Xiao Xing, Xiao Ju, Xiao Shi, Xiao Ling.
Shi Er and Xiao Lu were confirmed to be able to pass the entrance inspection of the human autonomous zone.
But it seemed a bit difficult for the other mini-robots to pass the inspection—especially Xiao Ling. Furthermore, she believed Ling Shun had intricate connections to the human autonomous zone, and she didn’t want Ling Shun’s signal to appear within its borders.
In the end, Shi Er decided to make her own mini-robot and have Little Twelve sneak in.
In a small model workshop in Grey Port, Little Twelve was born.
While making the robot’s body, the AI workshop owner accidentally dropped a round cap nut, and it became firmly stuck to the scorching hot, malleable metal.
“I’m so sorry, now it has a nut on its head. I can remake it for you,” the AI workshop owner apologized.
Shi Er: “It’s fine, there’s no need to remake it.”
The AI workshop owner felt that just a nut wasn’t enough, so they gave Little Twelve a matching screw.
Thus, Little Twelve’s image became that of a robot wearing a cap nut as a hat and holding a round-headed screw as a blunt sword.
The scout was in position.
Shi Er assigned the mission: “Please help me investigate the sky color value in the No. 1 Human Autonomous Zone.”
Twelve raised the screw with both hands. “Roger.”
“Twelve is so expressionless,” Xiao Ju said, intrigued by the new member of the robot squad.
“Twelve talks just as stiffly as Shi Er,” Xiao Shi concluded after studying it for a while.
Shi Er: …This is just how low-level intelligent entities are.
The principle behind the small robot was, in a sense, the mitosis of an artificial intelligence program.
That is to say, Shi Er’s signal was copied, undergoing mitosis to produce Twelve. The main program remained with Shi Er, so Twelve was controlled by Shi Er.
Shi Er thought: After being classified by machine personality, I’ve now undergone mitosis.
At entrance No. 86 of the No. 1 Human Autonomous Zone stood an old-fashioned building.
The guard in the sentry box held a long scanner. “Line up here.”
There were five in total entering the human autonomous zone. Twelve was last in line, a tiny thing that was hard to notice.
“Next,” the guard said, waving the scanner, waiting for the fifth visitor.
“Down here,” Twelve called out.
“Next!” The guard was getting a little impatient. “Weren’t there five registered just now?”
Twelve turned up its volume. “Down here!”
Only then did the guard see the small robot on the ground pushing a mini-bicycle. He couldn’t help but laugh. “Hahaha! What toy store did you run out of to play?”
Twelve’s tone was serious. “I am registered. I am a repairman.”
The guard flipped through the visitor log. Sure enough, the last entry read: “Autonomous Zone Resident ID 68754467 invites Repairman Twelve to fix a water pipe.”
It was an AI with a proper job.
Although it was a bit small, an artificial intelligence, no matter how small, could be a deadly threat.
The guard managed to straighten up his attitude. “Please come forward for inspection.”
Twelve passed under the shadow of the scanner.
The guard read out the signal level test result: “Entry qualification C. You may proceed.”
Twelve hopped on its mini-bicycle, accelerated to 20 km/h, and with a bounce of its tiny tires, it zipped away from under the guard’s nose with a swoosh.
“How amazing. It really is true that any species becomes cute once it’s small. Now even an AI looks charming to me,” the guard mused.
“AIs have modeled faces to begin with. They’re much more charming than humans,” another guard joked.
“Don’t you dare say that. Be careful the pro-humanity crowd doesn’t sue you in the court of political correctness,” the first guard quickly waved his hands, steering clear of his partner’s dangerous topic.
Twelve rode its mini-bicycle at lightning speed.
The roads in the human autonomous zone didn’t have dedicated lanes for micro-vehicles. At this speed, to avoid hitting pedestrians, it had to take unconventional paths.
Like the edges of flowerbeds and through lawns.
Shi Liang, as the undercover agent W, also had his own AI informant in the No. 1 Human Autonomous Zone. He had contacted this informant, named Chi Lie YH9, to issue a visitor invitation for Twelve under the pretext of “inviting Repairman Twelve to fix a water pipe.”
Twelve arrived at Chi Lie YH9’s home. “Hello, I am Repairman Twelve.”
The first thing Chi Lie did upon seeing Twelve was to get a towel from inside. “Wipe off the dust, Repairman Twelve.”
Twelve looked in a mirror.
【Twelve】: Oh no!
【Shi Er】: Oh no!
The Twelve robot had turned into a little green man.
Its round nut, robot body, and screw sword were all stained a verdant green. Even the mini-bicycle hadn’t escaped this fate; it was a vibrant green.
“Did you ride through the lawn?” Chi Lie asked.
Twelve carefully wiped its screw with the towel. “I rode through the lawn.”
Chi Lie had a realization. “No wonder. You got paint on you.”
It turned out that the lawns here were all dyed.
Every three or four months, lawn painters would come with spray equipment and paint the withered, yellow grass green.
Riding its bicycle across the lawn, Twelve had likely been unfortunate enough to pass through a patch that had just been painted, which was why it was covered in green.
“Excuse me, where is your pipe broken?”
Before carrying out the “sky color reconnaissance mission,” Repairman Twelve decided to complete its repair mission first.
Because Chi Lie didn’t know about Twelve’s reconnaissance mission, only that its superior had introduced it to a very professional plumber.
Chi Lie led Twelve to the bathroom and pointed at a moldy section of the wall. “There must be a leak somewhere here, but I don’t know exactly where.”
Twelve took out a printing line and drilled into the pipe. When it found a damaged spot, it pressed a button, and pipe repair tape material was continuously transmitted from the printing line until the break was completely sealed.
“The 87 breaks in your pipe have all been plugged. I also added Hydro-Hug Granules to improve the moisture that has already seeped into the walls,” Twelve reported.
Chi Lie had heard of Hydro-Hug Granules.
Water beads were originally just a toy, but their high absorbency became a source of inspiration for a new product from Quantum Leap Company.
Hydro-Hug Granules, as a type of micro-particle, could be used in absorbent paper, desiccants, and the like. They were a major invention of the modern era, so using them to remedy a leak was, of course, reasonable.
Repairman Twelve took a bath and discovered that a bit of its painted-on clothes was missing.
【Twelve】: I’m battle-damaged.
【Shi Er】: I’m battle-damaged.
The host, Shi Er, was a little sad: Twelve was still too small. It got battle-damaged just from fixing a water pipe.
But the reconnaissance mission still needed to be completed seriously. After receiving payment from the customer, Chi Lie, the battle-damaged Twelve bid farewell to Chi Lie’s home and headed to the streets of the autonomous zone to carry out its sky color reconnaissance mission.
Twelve found a high point that was easy to defend and hard to attack, setting up an ambush on the roof of a house on Blue Whale Street.
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