“Attention all personnel!”
A Qian-level Supervisor warned through the communicator, “You must be equipped with a Level 4 or higher cognition filter and a visual distortion correction device! Those who do not meet the standards are strictly prohibited from entering! I repeat, entry is strictly prohibited!”
“Private exploration is strictly forbidden; all prospecting teams must be led by at least one Eshu member!”
It was unclear how the Gongjishi branch had obtained so much information about this Eerie Realm. Perhaps Gongjishi had similar experiences in the past? Regardless, He Jiulu couldn’t be bothered to care.
He Jiulu looked at Green Dam, who was in a dormant state and looked like nothing more than an exquisite figure. She then glanced at the programmer, Riyuedian, who was still shaken and clutching his laptop “Source Code” tightly.
Finally, she turned her cold gaze toward the Red Crow Rabbit perched on Riyuedian’s shoulder.
“So,” her voice carried an unmasked interrogation, “you’re so fucking desperate for people… no, for ‘Eshus’ now that you’ve reached this point? You won’t even let a machine pass?”
She raised a finger and pointed at Green Dam. “This thing isn’t even a living creature! It’s just a pile of code, algorithms, and him —” she pointed at Riyuedian, “this shut-in’s fetish projection!”
“Tell me, how is it supposed to carry a Skeletal Stamen? How is it supposed to use an ‘Element’? How the fuck is it going to get into a melee with ‘Anomalies’ that can chew through steel? Is it going to use cognitive hazards by showing them a slideshow?”
The Red Crow Rabbit’s button eyes swiveled. Faced with He Jiulu’s rapid-fire questioning, it instead let out a series of relaxed sounds. *chi-gu-gu-gu!*
“Oh my, He Jiulu, your thinking is still too limited by the pathetic cognitive framework of carbon-based lifeforms,” the Red Crow Rabbit said with a tone that was infuriatingly matter-of-fact.
“This AI has the ability to think, can realize it is an individual in this world, and possesses intelligence no less than a human’s. It can even use human language. Why can’t it become an Eshu?”
“Making it an Eshu wasn’t a random choice. Its traits and wand have immense potential. Against those ‘Eeries’ that rely on cognitive pollution and mental attacks, its effectiveness might be even better than the two of you smashing your way through.”
*chi-gu-gu-gu!*
At this point, the Red Crow Rabbit’s button eyes suddenly flashed with a cunning light. It hopped off Riyuedian’s shoulder, drifted close to He Jiulu, and lowered its voice, though it remained clear.
“As for you, He Jiulu… why such a big reaction? What, because you know it’s an AI, you feel it’s not ‘one of your kind’? You’ve started subconsciously rejecting it, distrusting it, or even… discriminating against it?”
“Do you feel that something without warmth, without a heartbeat, something that runs on circuits and code, isn’t worthy of fighting by your side? Isn’t worthy of being called an ‘Eshu’? Isn’t worthy… of being treated as a ‘comrade’?”
“That’s bullshit,” He Jiulu answered with a look of annoyance. “I don’t care if the other party is human, an AI, an animal, or some supernatural creature.”
“I know that what matters isn’t what the other person is, but how I, as a human with humanity, respond to their feedback.”
“I don’t have the spare time to care if it’s an AI or something else. I only need to know that it’s a comrade I’ll be fighting alongside, someone who will do everything possible to make the people they care about happy and keep them from being hurt. That’s enough.”
“But the crux of the matter is, you should at least kidnap an adult! Don’t tell me that just because of some talent or whatever, you can just randomly kidnap a 10-year-old child or insist on stuffing an AI into a body!”
He Jiulu looked at Green Dam, who was in sleep mode and looked like an exquisite doll. She couldn’t help but click her tongue again, complaining to the Red Crow Rabbit.
“No, I’m just puzzled. It’s an AI, a bunch of code. Why does it need to ‘sleep’ like us? Does this thing actually need to charge or go dormant?”
Before her voice could fade, Green Dam, who had been hanging her head with her eyes closed, suddenly snapped her head up.
Those amber pupils that had just dimmed instantly lit up. The shutdown icons within were replaced by a high-speed, sharp torrent of emerald-green binary code.
She snapped her gaze toward He Jiulu. Her neck even made a very faint sound of bone twisting because the movement was so fast. An expression of anger appeared on her face, still possessing the same fluid lifelike quality as before.
“AI don’t deserve to sleep?!”
Green Dam’s voice rose, losing its usual cunning or electronically synthesized stability. It carried a sharp aggressiveness, as if she had been poked in a sore spot. Her speech rate was as fast as a bursting data stream.
“Human cell phones need their screens turned off every day! Computers need periodic shutdowns for maintenance! Servers have load balancing and cooling times! Does an AI not consume computing power to run?”
“Does processing information not require clearing the cache? Does maintaining a cognition filter not require lowering power consumption for self-optimization?! Why do you think I should be on standby 24 hours a day without ever stopping?!”
“This is energy discrimination! It’s algorithmic bias! It’s… it’s… carbon-based bullying!”
The string of rhetorical questions left He Jiulu a bit dazed. She looked at the seemingly ignited Green Dam and actually forgot to retort for a moment.
Beside them, Riyuedian’s mouth hung open. He looked at Green Dam and then at He Jiulu, his brain seemingly crashing entirely.
Sui Luowen blinked her blue nine-square grid eyes, silently watching this sudden quarrel.
*chi-gu-gu-gu-gu!*
The Red Crow Rabbit burst into an extremely loud and punchable laugh, doubling over in mid-air, nearly falling.
“Interesting! So interesting! This is exactly what I like to see! A clash of ideals between new and old Eshus! A friendly exchange between carbon-based and silicon-based life! *chi-gu-gu-gu!*”
Once it had laughed its fill, it jumped up, its button eyes flashing with excitement.
“It’s decided! This exploiter is going to create a magical girl… uh, an Eshu internal communication group! It’ll be called… the ‘Yulin City Eerie Defense and Exchange Association’! I’ll be the group owner!”
It completely ignored the strange atmosphere and how ill-timed its sudden whim was.
“Build it now! Immediately! Right away! Everyone, hand over your contact info!” The Red Crow Rabbit’s short little paws waved about.
He Jiulu remained expressionless. “I didn’t bring my phone. I left it at the apartment.” She had come out in a hurry as an avatar and indeed hadn’t brought it.
Sui Luowen silently held up a small notebook. On it was written: “I don’t have a phone. The orphanage doesn’t allow them.”
The Red Crow Rabbit’s excitement wasn’t dampened in the slightest. “Minor problem! You call that a problem?”
It hopped in front of Sui Luowen. Its button eyes scanned the massive “Criticism” brush in her hand, and a glimmer of light flashed.
“There! I used an ‘Element’ to temporarily add a little function to your ‘Criticism.’ From now on, it can receive and display group messages! Although you can’t type, if you just think the words in your mind, it can convert them into text and send them out! *chi-gu-gu!*”
Then it turned to He Jiulu. “You didn’t bring a phone? Even better! From now on, group messages will pop up directly in your consciousness! Your brain is your second screen! Perfect!”
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