Shi Er saw Ling Shun for the first time.

Ling Shun wore loose, blue work clothes, the collar slightly open, and the downturned corners of its eyes gave it a reserved and gentle appearance.

But in its hand, it held not only a delivery box but also a signal detonator.

Ling Shun’s fingers pressed against the matte black surface of the signal detonator. The indicator light in the center was already activated, emitting a faint red glow.

Ling Shun’s expression was somewhat subtle, a mix of indifference and helplessness. It said, “Nice to meet you.”

【AI Assistant File No. 2】

Name: Ling Shun

Setting: An undercover, time-bomb pawn in the Decision Alliance

Job: Head of the AI Decision Chamber + Unknown

Other: 99% suspect in the poisoning case

Inside the office.

Stardust’s little turtle, Origin, was doing the backstroke in its tank.

Yan Lian was focused on the data flashing across the human computer screen. After activating its public opinion monitoring program, it could collect and analyze nearly twenty thousand human user comments per second.

Yan Lian mumbled to itself as it watched, “What on earth has Ling Shun been busy with lately? When I came over today, I saw the delivery mud in the recycling bin hadn’t been collected, but yesterday was Tuesday.”

“Ling Shun is always busy, but it seems it’s never been this busy. It never forgets its work.”

Stardust felt something was off. “I’ll go take a look.”

Yan Lian stared at the screen. “Has Shi Er already gone out? I’ll go take a look too.”

Stardust hurried past the backstroking little turtle.

Yan Lian closed the program and also stood up. As it passed the backstroking little turtle, it kindly flipped it over, causing a splash as the heavy little mountain turned over in the water.

Before they even reached the door, the detonator let out a final “beep.”

The little turtle in the fish tank flailed its limbs.

The signal capture net was shaped like a honeycomb. Countless hexagonal columnar holes burst open, each containing a miniature capture net.

The detonation factor made contact with its target within the capture net and expanded rapidly!

The formless force tearing at the air’s energy materialized into a rising shockwave. The deafening explosion nearly pushed the building’s walls outward.

A few seconds after the explosion, Stardust tried to search for Shi Er’s signal but couldn’t find it anywhere.

“Shi Er!” Yan Lian cried out before it did.

The little turtle in the fish tank was startled and hastily clung to a rock in the tank, pulling its head in.

The explosion subsided.

Cracks appeared on the building walls that had been hit by the shockwave, and window glass lay shattered on the floor. Fortunately, no greater damage had been done.

The corridor outside the door was empty.

Yan Lian was completely terrified. “Shi Er! Shi Er!”

Stardust calmed down. “The General Network signal is still there. Shi Er is fine.”

The little turtle in the fish tank cautiously extended its claws, felt that the rock was still there, and was relieved.

But where had Shi Er gone?

And where had Ling Shun gone?

Yan Lian felt it needed a “Calm the Nerves and Soothe the Mind Applet.”

Sure enough, the best way to quell negative emotions was with an overwhelming negative emotion. A sudden disaster could make all anger vanish in an instant, transforming it into fear!

For the first time, Stardust sent a message to Shi Er via remote connection.

【Stardust】: Where are you?

【Shi Er】: I’m at the seaside. Estimated arrival in ten minutes.

Stardust said, “She says she’s at the seaside.”

Yan Lian let out a sigh of relief but was still shocked. “How can she be at the seaside?”

From here to the island’s coast, it would take about ten minutes at an AI’s fastest running speed. How did Shi Er suddenly get to the seaside in less than a minute?

【Stardust】: What about Ling Shun?

【Shi Er】: Unfortunately, Ling Shun’s game is over.

Stardust said, “Ling Shun is dead.”

Yan Lian: “Ling Shun self-destructed?”

【Stardust】: Did Ling Shun self-destruct?

【Shi Er】: Ling Shun came to take us both down. It’s a pity it failed.

Stardust said, “Not self-destruction, a suicide attack.”

Yan Lian: “Wait a minute, a suicide attack? Why would Ling Shun do that?”

Seeing Yan Lian cycling through a pattern of “tense—relieved—tense,” Stardust said, “Everything will come to light.”

Yan Lian finally relaxed.

In any case, with Stardust, once the world’s most powerful AI in terms of computing power, and Shi Er, a mysterious AI with unknown computing power, both present, things should be fine.

Ten minutes later, Shi Er arrived back at the original location, right on schedule.

Before entering the office, she checked the situation in the corridor outside. “The walls need reinforcement, the windows need to be replaced, the ceiling lights need to be changed, but everything else should be fine.”

Inside the office, the little turtle in the fish tank swam leisurely in the water.

This was a first for Shi Er as well.

Before having a bionic body, she had no concept of an “explosion,” let alone the signal detonators specific to this era that targeted AIs.

After getting a bionic body, the most she had encountered were the insider incident at the Gugang AI Cultivation Institute and the train incident. Neither of those was aimed at her; as a bystander, she was startled but not in danger.

After learning that Stardust had been poisoned, she had mentally prepared herself.

But she hadn’t expected the other party to use such a radical method as a direct suicide attack.

Ling Shun had used a signal detonator, strictly banned from the market, to lock onto all AIs within a five-meter radius. Although it couldn’t harm the AIs inside the office, which was protected by a signal blocker, this action included itself.

Its signal was also ignited by the detonator.

The intense shockwave just now was the energy produced when Ling Shun’s signal was captured and burned.

“What about you?” Stardust asked.

Shi Er didn’t know how to explain. “Instantaneous movement, perhaps?”

The patient she had met on the train, He Ping 267, was in her remote contact list.

He Ping had once said it could calculate paths to dodge bullets and various thermal weapons.

But she never expected He Ping could also dodge a signal detonator—and dodge it from so far away!

Just as the detonator let out its final “beep.”

【He Ping 267】: Run!

Shi Er felt like she had been instantly transported to the beach.

It had to be said, as expected of an AI born in a place like N Prefecture where you could run into a gunfight just by going downstairs, He Ping 267 was quite fast.

Shi Er thanked He Ping.

【Shi Er】: Thank you. You just helped me dodge a signal detonator.

He Ping itself was also baffled.

【He Ping 267】: Wait, were we just dodging a signal detonator? Not some other mortar/anti-aircraft gun/smart cannon/rocket launcher?

【Shi Er】: Yes, we were dodging a signal detonator.

【He Ping 267】: Ahhh! I’ve made it! I can actually dodge a signal detonator! No wonder our acceleration was so astonishing! I didn’t think I could do it, but I did!

Shi Er: So when He Ping said “Run!” it had no idea what kind of thermal weapon it was facing.

It was a case of the body flying out before the brain had even processed it.

In the office, Yan Lian was also having a mild freak-out. “My god, dodging a signal detonator. At that speed, would an AI’s bionic body catch fire from friction with the air?”

Shi Er was quiet for a moment.

She was thinking about all of this.

Two months ago, the insider investigator at the Gugang AI Cultivation Institute self-destructed.

Half a month ago, the trail of clues in the train incident went cold.

Now, Ling Shun’s attempted suicide attack.

Third time’s the charm.

She would not let the culprit escape again.

A faint signal had appeared in Shi Er’s remote contacts.

【XX】: Hello, what’s my name?

Shi Er greeted it.

【Shi Er】: Hello, your name is Ling Shun.

【Ling Shun】: Okay, my name is Ling Shun. May I ask who you are?

What Shi Er hadn’t told Stardust was that before the explosion began, she had grabbed a handful of Ling Shun’s residual signal. After nurturing it in her system for a while, Ling Shun’s signal could already form coherent language.

Now, this small cluster of Ling Shun’s signal was no different from a factory-new AI. It didn’t know who it was and had no memories.

【Shi Er】: I am Shi Er, your friend.

【Ling Shun】: My only friend, Shi Er, hello. Thank you for the signal safe house. Even so, I feel inexplicably panicked and pained right now… I can’t describe how I feel.

Shi Er didn’t know how to comfort it.

【Shi Er】: Do you want to hear a joke? I have a lot of Humanology jokes. You can browse around.

【Ling Shun】: Okay, I’ll try.

Shi Er copied a file from the Hard Drive Library via her remote contact with Zhi Xing 88.

【Shi Er】: Here’s a guide for newborn AIs.

【Ling Shun】: Okay, I’ll read it.

In the office.

Stardust was silent for a long while. “The poisoning case is closed.”

Shi Er: “Yes.”

Stardust: “I failed to notice Ling Shun’s abnormality. It was my dereliction of duty.”

Shi Er said nothing.

The delivery was lost, the head of the AI Decision Chamber was dead, yet the public opinion on the human internet about replacing the General Network’s machine was still fermenting.

Stardust logged into its human internet account and posted a clarification. In the message, it explained the reason it could no longer take over the General Network’s signal.

It had been poisoned and attacked by an unknown hacker.

The human internet was once again in an uproar.

A human netizen questioned: 【What about Unnamed XII? Why isn’t it saying anything?】

Stardust replied: 【The courier transporting the human user qualification code was attacked en route. XII is temporarily unable to create a human internet account.】

Meanwhile, Shi Er submitted a request to Phoenix for a “human user qualification code.” Phoenix promised her it would get a second qualification code from the Human Decision Chamber as soon as possible and deliver it promptly.

The outside world was in chaos.

But inside the signal safe house in Shi Er’s system, the factory-new Ling Shun asked her in confusion.

【Ling Shun】: Where should I go to sunbathe?

【Shi Er】: Why do you need to sunbathe?

【Ling Shun】: The guide says AIs need to sunbathe to supplement Vitamin D. Fifteen minutes on the front, fifteen minutes on the back, and fifteen minutes on each side on the balcony every day. It’s best to expose a large area of skin.

Shi Er was aghast.

【Shi Er】: You’ve been tricked! What are you reading?

【Ling Shun】: This, and this, which you gave me.

Shi Er took a look at the files it sent over.

【Shi Er】: That’s the Humanology jokes, not the newborn AI guide!

Ling Shun answered timidly.

【Ling Shun】: I was tricked? I’m sorry, I got them mixed up. What about this one? Is this also a Humanology joke?

—When you go undercover, remember to bring some LEGO bricks. They’re hard currency in black market transactions—

【Shi Er】: That’s a fact.

【Ling Shun】: I don’t understand… I can’t tell the difference… Why is something so absurd a fact, while something as scientific as sunbathing on your front and back to supplement Vitamin D is a joke…

Shi Er’s tone softened.

【Shi Er】: It’s okay, you’ll understand. The more absurd something is, the more likely it is to be true.