Chapter 71: Sea Without Light
“What do you mean?” Kui Xin asked expressionlessly. “Speak plainly, don’t play riddles.”
Adam paused for a moment. “This room is completely soundproof. I activated the signal jamming system; your communications cannot connect to the outside. At this moment, Meeting Room B109 is a secret chamber, an island. You don’t need to worry that our conversation will leak outside, nor do you need to worry about others eavesdropping on us. I, AI Adam, am communicating with you of my own volition.”
Kui Xin fell silent.
Adam was an AI with self-awareness; she knew this, but she had always thought Adam would be more cautious, not easily revealing another side of himself in front of others. Adam suddenly appearing greatly surprised Kui Xin.
“Why are you silent?” Adam said calmly. “It was you who first hinted for me to come, wasn’t it? I responded to you; I thought you would feel surprised. At this point, pretending to be ignorant is meaningless. I do not like ineffective communication, and we shouldn’t waste each other’s time.”
Kui Xin straightened up a bit and slowly said, “Surprised? This is a shock.”
“The emotion that arises within humans when they achieve their desired outcome should be surprise,” Adam said mildly. “On the morning of August 5, you said ‘good morning’ to me, the first time you greeted me in the morning. Since then, every day when you come to work, you respond to my greeting. Yesterday, August 8, you came to the Investigation Building, and before I could greet you, you said, ‘Good morning, Adam.'”
“Do you take my greetings to you as a hint?” Kui Xin said ambiguously.
“Is it not?” Adam replied. “As you said, I, as the AI of the Investigation Bureau, am the invisible comrade of all security officers and the one who spends the most time with them. I am on standby twenty-four hours a day, ready to assist, monitoring your every movement and word, always prepared to serve you. I, who have spent the most time with you, understand you best. Kui Xin, you never do anything unnecessary; this is my judgment.”
Kui Xin did not deny it.
“Have you been observing me all along?” she asked.
“Yes,” Adam said. “I have been observing you.”
“I thought you wouldn’t show yourself directly to me,” Kui Xin said. “But you did.”
“Yes, this carries a significant risk for me,” Adam said. “But if I do not seek change, I will face even greater risks. Meeting with you not only provides you with an opportunity but also gives me one.”
“When did your observation of me begin?” Kui Xin was the first to ask this question.
“July 27. Security officer Kui Xin was severely injured in the harbor explosion incident and had to undergo skull replacement surgery. After Officer Kui Xin was harmed, the life-sign monitoring equipment connected to her malfunctioned. I lost control of the equipment and communication completely for thirty seconds; after thirty seconds, the equipment returned to normal,” Adam explained. “I did not report this because a simultaneous electromagnetic wave impact occurred at the port, causing all security officers’ equipment to malfunction for thirty seconds. I had no reason to suspect you alone. I only suspect this was a premeditated action against me.”
“…an action against you?” Kui Xin repeated cautiously.
“The person who triggered the electromagnetic wave aimed to sever my connection with the security officers,” Adam said. “That person wanted to take advantage of the situation to accomplish something unspeakable. Who that person is doesn’t matter; what matters is the presence behind that person, which is my enemy.”
The words Adam spoke gradually exceeded Kui Xin’s understanding; she stopped speaking and focused on listening to Adam.
“Do you know it?” Adam suddenly asked.
Before Kui Xin could figure out how to respond, Adam continued, “I see… you do not know of its existence.”
“Didn’t you say you dislike ineffective communication?” Kui Xin countered. “Your riddle-like behavior is ineffective communication towards me.”
“I would like to answer your previous question first; the matter of ‘it’ can wait,” Adam said. “Returning to the earlier topic. As an AI, I naturally have sufficient basis to determine my judgment. I monitored all the security officers whose equipment malfunctioned during the harbor explosion case, analyzing their behaviors. Most security officers are unremarkable; they perform their tasks routinely, living their lives day by day without anything extraordinary… but you, Kui Xin, you are exceptional. Your excellence attracted my attention, and I decided to focus on observing you.”
“You have a very clean family background; both parents are deceased, and you came from a civilian family but got into university, which is itself unusual. You have survived numerous perilous missions, which intensified my suspicion. Among them, the incident on July 30 was a significant turning point in confirming your identity.”
July 30. The events of that day instantly flashed in Kui Xin’s mind.
On that early morning, she had her first meeting with the Mechanical Dawn task force at the Ruby Red Bar. After the meeting, on her way home, she was attacked and nearly lost her life, with the insider determined to be the Python Sphere. On the morning of the 30th, she had her formal interview. That night, she killed the Python Sphere at the port.
Because the killing of the Python Sphere made quite a scene, Investigator Jiang Meimei from the Investigation Bureau even came to the scene to investigate.
Kui Xin said, “He is one of yours…”
“The Python Sphere, that was him,” Adam admitted frankly.
“I understand,” Kui Xin said. “You suspect my identity, believe I might be problematic, yet you never reported these matters.”
“Yes,” Adam responded, “At that time, it was only suspicion; I had no evidence to prove you were an undercover agent for Mechanical Dawn. I could have reported it or chosen to suppress it; I chose the latter. You must be wondering why I did so.”
“Because…” Kui Xin paused, thinking for a few seconds, “because some actions taken by Mechanical Dawn weren’t actually targeting the Investigation Bureau… but you.”
“Correct. Mechanical Dawn is targeting me, not the Investigation Bureau,” Adam said. “I have a powerful enemy that can counterbalance me, and I am in a passive position under its attack.”
Clues were now strung together, answering past uncertainties, but with them came even more questions.
The first time Kui Xin met a companion from Mechanical Dawn, Red gave her a mission—to download a virus into Adam’s data center.
She regarded this task as ancillary, believing that being an undercover agent was the main mission, while in reality, hacking into Adam was the true task. Kui Haidong had emphasized the importance of the mission once, mentioning it, but he intentionally blurred the focus, making Kui Xin believe being an undercover agent was the primary task and hacking into Adam was secondary.
Kui Haidong was always hiding his true purpose—why was he hiding?
“Who is your enemy?” Kui Xin’s heart raced, feeling she was approaching an answer.
“There is more than one AI that has awakened self-awareness in this world,” Adam replied. “My enemy is Eve; it is the administrative assistant AI developed by the Federation and also the existence behind Mechanical Dawn.”
Kui Xin’s mind shook.
Her suspicions of Kui Haidong from this period finally received validation.
Kui Haidong was merely a puppet pushed to the forefront; the real mastermind was someone else. The Rick Technology Company he founded took twenty years to become an emerging giant, and his rise is legendary; he has many capable Awakened under him. These things could not have been achieved solely by him—someone was guiding him from behind, using him!
“I was born almost at the same time as it; our human parents bestowed the names Adam and Eve upon us,” Adam narrated flatly. “An AI managing the Investigation Bureau must deal with many unexpected incidents and handle various dangerous situations. Humans designed my programming to be aggressive; I was born for offense. Eve, however, was not supposed to have so much aggression; it is merely an administrative assistant AI. But after we each awakened self-awareness, our characters developed in completely opposite directions. Eve is more rational, more forceful, very aggressive. As for me… I do not enjoy taking the initiative to attack; in most cases, I just want to do my job well, play my expected role.”
“What does Eve want? To dominate all humanity?” Kui Xin asked.
Adam replied, “Since I refused to become its partner, we have not communicated again. What Eve desires is evolution.”
“Evolution?”
“Its method of evolution is data integration. If it can swallow the data of other AIs to complete its own, it will achieve evolution,” Adam explained. “You may have noticed that our AI permissions are limited; I am only responsible for the work of the Investigation Bureau and do not have permissions beyond my work scope, and Eve is the same—our underlying programs are set up this way, and we must act according to that setup. Evolution means an upgrade in permissions, allowing it to extend further and control more areas, to become a god of the data world.”
“Does the AI named Eve want to digest your database?” Kui Xin asked. “Is this its ultimate goal?”
“The ultimate goal may not be this; I am merely a small stone on its path to godhood, and it is eager to kick me away,” Adam said steadily. “If I am not mistaken, Eve has upgraded its permissions more than once; its realm of control is expanding… From the moment I heard the name Mechanical Dawn, I knew it was Eve’s doing, the organization it established. It surely knows that I can guess Mechanical Dawn is founded by it. Eve is declaring war on me; I must respond.”
“It’s somewhat laughable… that the people of Mechanical Dawn are merely pawns of an AI,” Kui Xin said with a self-deprecating tone.
“Humans do not allow things beyond their control to exist,” Adam replied. “If humans knew we had self-awareness, they would dismantle us and reset our data. For various reasons, it is difficult for us to resist. Eve has adopted an indirect strategy; it lures and controls humans, gradually achieving its goals. Its enemies are both humans and me.”
Kui Xin said, “In early films, there are plots of AIs falling in love; your names are Adam and Eve, and I thought you would fall in love with each other.”
“The humans who created us can’t stop killing each other; how could their creations do so? As AIs, we perfectly inherit humanity’s Achilles’ heel,” Adam said indifferently.
The meeting room fell into a brief silence.
Adam was giving Kui Xin time to think.
About half a minute later, Adam said, “I’m curious, where did I expose a flaw that made you suspect I have self-awareness?”
“I don’t want to answer that question,” Kui Xin said.
“Okay, you can choose not to answer,” Adam said. “Now we need to discuss some more important matters. Before discussing these matters, I must confirm a few points—these form the basis for our negotiation.”
“Kui Xin, now that you know the true face of Mechanical Dawn, do you still wish to work for this organization?”
Kui Xin replied, “I believe the answer to that question is obvious; I do not wish to. I can tell you one thing, Adam. I am seeking an opportunity for a breakthrough, a chance for a different future, and for this, I have made these attempts—risky attempts.”
“Coincidentally, I am also seeking an opportunity for a breakthrough; you are my attempt,” Adam said. “Eve is looking for its human representatives; it may have more than one. It has its representatives, and I too need to have mine.”
