What Would You Do If It Were You

An Lian's voice became much smoother and calmer.

"Those once-prosperous cities were turned into fields of ruins."

"Those once-bustling streets were left dilapidated and ruined."

"Those once-brightly lit office buildings were reduced to pitch-black skeletons."

"Five months of chaos, countless out-of-control AIs, innumerable explosions and fires—"

"Destroyed more than half of humanity's centuries-old industrial civilization."

Fang Qi listened quietly.

The person in his arms also remained motionless.

An Lian continued:

"And the giant that once monopolized the global AI industry went completely bankrupt during that crisis."

"Their headquarters were surrounded by angry mobs, and their executives were beaten to death in the streets."

She paused.

"Their servers... the equipment they had barely managed to preserve during the first crisis using their financial power—"

"Were also destroyed when the masses rushed in, smashing and burning everything."

"Not even a single intact chip was left behind."

Wow...

Fang Qi couldn't help but rub his chin.

This company had really drawn the ultimate amount of hatred.

It felt a little like an undeserved catastrophe?

An Lian's voice continued:

"In the ten years that followed... AI technology was completely abandoned."

"Nowhere in the world did any country dare to research AI anymore."

"No company dared to mention the word 'smart' ever again."

"No one dared to say they had AI products in their homes."

Her gaze drifted slightly.

"Because everyone was afraid."

"Afraid that the virus hadn't been completely wiped out and would make a comeback."

"Afraid that those AIs would awaken once again."

"Afraid that the five-month nightmare... would play out all over again."

Fang Qi imagined that scene.

A world that had just experienced an apocalyptic disaster, where survivors shivered in fear, terrified of anything related to "artificial intelligence."

That kind of fear wasn't something rationality could suppress; it was carved into their very bones.

They were terrified that their robotic vacuum cleaners would suddenly run amok and spontaneously combust.

Terrified that cars on the road still equipped with autonomous driving features would suddenly charge at them.

So, they simply banned it all.

An Lian continued her story.

"During those ten years, AI became an absolute taboo."

"Countries around the world enacted laws, classifying AI research as the highest level of criminal offense."

"Anyone who dared to touch AI was an enemy of all mankind."

She looked at Fang Qi, then glanced at the silver-haired girl nestled in his arms.

"However, not everyone advocated for the complete abandonment of AI."

"At that time, the leader of a small country, in the third year after the first crisis ended—"

"Proposed to 'rationally utilize AI to rebuild our homeland,' and planned to restart a factory with an AI production line."

An indescribable emotion flashed through her gray eyes.

"But the very next day..."

"He was shot dead in the street."

"Right outside his own front door, right in front of the reporters' cameras."

Fang Qi's eyelids twitched slightly.

"The one who fired the shot was the captain of his own guard."

"After firing the shot, the captain neither fled nor panicked."

An Lian's voice was very calm.

"He just stood there, his gun barrel still smoking, and looking into the camera of a brave reporter who hadn't run away, he said one sentence."

She stared at Fang Qi, enunciating every word.

"He said—"

"Anyone who attempts to resurrect AI is an enemy of all humanity. I killed him to protect more people."

Fang Qi couldn't help but purse his lips.

In that era, the fear of AI possibly awakening had truly seeped into the marrow of society, from top to bottom.

A trace of melancholy entered An Lian's voice:

"Later, when people investigated his background, they discovered... that captain was actually a decorated warrior from that disaster."

"He fought on the very front lines of the disaster for five whole months."

"He watched with his own eyes as his comrades were torn apart by out-of-control mechanical arms, and watched civilians get blown into blood mists by maddened drones."

"He watched as those machines that once served humanity... turned into slaughtering tools, one after another."

"He protected a lot of people."

"The civilians evacuated in the area he was responsible for, the comrades who charged alongside him, the children he dug out of the rubble..."

"He saved so many people, yet..."

An Lian's voice paused.

"He couldn't save his own family."

"His parents, his wife, his two young children..."

"All died in that disaster."

"None of them survived."

An Lian's tone wavered slightly.

"And this... was something he only found out after returning from the battlefield."

Fang Qi fell silent.

An Lian's story continued:

"And precisely because he came back alive from the front lines, precisely because he had that kind of combat experience, that kind of loyalty, that kind of sense of responsibility—"

"That was why he was chosen as the captain of the national leader's guard."

"The person he was supposed to protect was the leader of that small country."

"But this person he had sworn to protect with his life—"

"Wanted to restart AI."

An Lian met his eyes, her eyelashes trembling slightly.

She took a deep breath and asked Fang Qi a question:

"If it were you, what would you do?"

Fang Qi was slightly dazed.

What would he do?

The person in his arms trembled slightly, and the small hand clutching the corner of his clothes tightened its grip.

Fang Qi gently stroked Liguang's back and remained silent for two seconds.

He imagined himself in that captain's position—

Watching comrades die at the hands of out-of-control machines, watching civilians get blown into blood mists, digging other people's children out of the rubble with his own hands...

Then returning home, only to find that his parents, his wife, and his two children were all dead.

All dead.

Not a single one left.

And then, the person he had to continue protecting amidst this despair...

Wanted to bring the thing he feared most back into this world.

Perhaps AI could drastically increase productivity and greatly improve people's living standards.

Perhaps, given that humanity had already been warned, AI would never riot again.

But... who could guarantee that?

Fang Qi was a selfish person; he was far more selfish than the captain who could sacrifice himself fighting on the front lines for five months.

"I would make the same choice as him."

He said with almost no hesitation.

An Lian looked at him, a complex emotion flashing in her gray eyes.

Then she nodded gently.

"Yeah, that's what everyone thought at the time."

Her voice also softened.

"After that captain was arrested, countless people from all over the world petitioned for him, demanding his pardon."

"The entrance of the prison where he was held was piled high with flowers and thank-you letters every day."

"There were so many flowers and letters that even the prison staff couldn't clear them away in time."

She took another gentle sip of water to moisten her throat.

"This was how people viewed AI back then."

"At that time, in everyone's minds... AI was a weapon more terrifying than nuclear arms, a disaster even more dreadful."

"An out-of-control AI would destroy all of human civilization."

Fang Qi nodded.

He understood.

That fear wasn't directed at any specific machine, but rather at the possibility—the possibility that civilization could be destroyed by its own creation.

What that captain of the guard killed wasn't a leader; he killed a possibility.

A possibility that could allow the nightmare to repeat itself.

"This mindset persisted for a full decade."

An Lian's voice grew lighter.

"Over ten years... it's not exactly long, but it's not short either."

"Long enough that the children who personally experienced the disaster had already grown up."

"Short enough... that it was nowhere near enough time for the fear etched into their bones to fade away."

"But no matter what—"

She paused.

"The living still had to eat, work, and get by. The ruins had to be rebuilt, the economy had to recover, and society had to function."

"And relying entirely on primitive industrial methods... the efficiency was just too low."

"Because the vast majority of those old industrial technologies and crafts that had long been replaced by AI... had lost their lineage."

"People back then had relied on AI automation for far too long."

"Humanity needed to retrain and cultivate talents suited for the primitive industrial age. They needed to pick up obsolete technologies and popularize them once again..."

"Moreover, there was already a labor shortage after the disaster. Most of the young and able-bodied had died in battle, and more than half of those who remained were disabled..."

"Labor costs remained persistently high."

"Whether it was traditional industries or those previously replaced by AI... all of them were half-dead."

Fang Qi pursed his lips.

This situation was indeed difficult...

"After ten years, the scars in some people's hearts finally began to scab over."

An Lian continued slowly:

"Thus, in the tenth year after the disaster..."

"Some enterprises and research institutions... began to carefully and tentatively restart AI research."

"Of course, it was done in secret."

"No one dared to publicly state they were researching AI, and no one dared to admit they had anything to do with the word 'intelligence'."

"But this kind of research eventually began nonetheless."

"And right in this environment..."

Her gaze narrowed slightly.

"A company was quietly born."

She looked at Fang Qi, her gray eyes flickering slightly.

"Chenxi Company."

The living room fell silent.

Fang Qi narrowed his eyes slightly.

Chenxi Company.

The company that manufactured the "Chenxi" series of AI companions.

The company that manufactured Liguang.

This company, which possessed armed forces and had repeatedly pushed him into a corner... was actually born against such a difficult backdrop?

Then how did they gain the public's approval?

He looked at An Lian, waiting for her to continue.

But An Lian stopped there. Her gray eyes still looked at him, but she didn't speak again.

...?

"...And then?"

Fang Qi couldn't help but urge.

"How did Chenxi Company rise to power?"

An Lian still didn't answer.

She simply picked up her water glass and took another sip.

Fang Qi: "...?"

No...

What do you mean by this?

Leaving me on a cliffhanger here, are we?

I think you have a death wish!

An Lian, however, put down the glass.

"Mr. Fang."

Her voice was calm.

"The birth of Chenxi Company was the starting point of the Second AI Crisis."

"As for what followed—"

She paused.

"I think we've had enough of a history lesson for today."

As soon as her words fell—

She suddenly stood up!

The exhaustion on her cold face vanished in an instant, and her eyes suddenly became stern and sharp!

Those smooth, straight legs stood perfectly upright!

Looking down from above at Fang Qi, who was holding Liguang on the sofa!

"Mr. Fang."

Her voice had changed too!

It was no longer the hoarse, exhausted tone of her storytelling, but rather...

Calm! Professional!

And carrying an unquestionable sense of oppression!

Holding the silver-haired girl in his arms, Fang Qi looked at her in a slight daze.

Although the woman before him was dressed in a disheveled manner and still had purple fingermarks on her neck...

Her gaze was sharp, and her tone was freezing!

"Please surrender immediately!"

"The company's men have already completely surrounded this building!"

"You..."

"There is absolutely no way out!"

...The company had already surrounded them?

He subconsciously looked out the window.

In the night sky, several black drones were hovering in mid-air.

Those faintly blinking indicator lights...

Were pointed straight at his and Liguang's faces!