FOUR: "His name is [beep]"
The silencing beeping sounded, and all three people present frowned.
FOUR tried again: "[Beep—]"
They exchanged glances. Clearly, FOUR's system was encrypted, and the name of this mysterious person had become a secret she couldn't reveal. It was precisely this attempt to cover up the truth that led the arrow of the truth straight to them.
Jian Yunxian reassured the somewhat flustered robot girl, saying, "It's alright, you can skip his name and talk about him."
The girl shook her head helplessly: "I know very little. I only know that he was the one who proposed the original version. He often said that the world was his greatest dream, and that any LIFE that deviates from it would be meaningless."
Yi Heye couldn't help but ask, "Where is he now?"
“...He’s dead.” Four said slowly. “He died in a car accident five years ago.”
Author's Note:
Little Cloud: I don't know who died, but I'm definitely dead without midnight snacks. (Fatty collapses)
Chapter 29, No. 029
An employee who passed away five years ago? Yi Heye and Jian Yunxian exchanged a glance.
Before Yi Heye arrived, he patiently read through the information Pei Xiangjin had sent. The information did mention the relocation of core members of the Four-Dimensional Network, but it never mentioned a person who died while persisting.
More importantly, if the other party is indeed dead, it means that he used consciousness preservation technology to digitize his thoughts and separate them from his body.
This technology was halted early in its development because it violated human ethics.
Four looked at the two of them somewhat awkwardly, unsure of what to say.
Jian Yunxian explained, "I don't know if you've been following the news, but LIFE, a game under Siwei Networks, has recently been involved in several murder cases."
FOUR: "Isn't it Mr. Sheep...?"
Seeing Jian Yunxian's somewhat helpless expression, Yi Heye answered for him first: "It wasn't him. Although this guy is very bad, he definitely didn't do it."
Upon hearing this, Four's previously expressionless face turned somewhat angry: "Please don't speak of Mr. Sheep like that. He is our AI's greatest spiritual leader."
Yi Heye wisely kept quiet—he was unsure of the value standards of these AIs; he could say their leader was a murderer, but he couldn't use the word "bad."
After a long silence, Four's rapidly working brain finally responded, and she asked expressionlessly, "Do you mean that this murder case is related to [beep]?"
Seeing the two men's noncommittal attitude, Four was somewhat puzzled: "But he's already dead."
Yi Heye had been secretly observing her expression for a long time—when discussing life, death, and regret, her expression showed only numbness and confusion, as if it was an instinctive reaction because her brain's programming could not produce a precise answer.
Robots are inherently incapable of empathy, Yi Heye thought coldly. No matter how much effort the designers put into facial muscle groups, these AIs simply cannot understand human emotions.
He thought of his carefree son, Xiaoming, then of the energetic Sheep, and finally of himself.
Such unfounded associations made Yi Heye a little flustered. He suddenly raised his head, and the sounds that had been blocked out around him swept back into his ears.
“We’ll investigate the rest ourselves.” Jian Yunxian carefully avoided answering her questions. “Thank you for the information you provided.”
Yi Heye came to his senses and realized that they had talked about most of what needed to be talked about, so he recalled the other mission he had come for.
He expressionlessly pulled the capture gun from his waist, raised it, and aimed it at Four's forehead—he was there to help Four fulfill his wish to destroy things, and scrapping a bunch of parts was not a difficult task for him.
Just a second before he pulled the trigger, Four's expression suddenly tensed, and he said, "Wait...wait a minute..."
Yi Heye released his finger from the trigger—choosing death and then suddenly changing one's mind before death is not just a human instinct.
FOUR asked, trembling, "...Will you catch him with your own hands?"
Jian Yunxian glanced at Yi Heye and handed over the right to answer to him.
Yi Heye replied, "Yes."
FOUR said, "I want to wait and see... I want to know if he has replicated that world..."
Yi Heye frowned as he looked at her.
“This isn’t just his wish, Mr. Hunter,” Four said. “It’s something I’ve always longed for too.”
Yi Heye paused for a few seconds, then slowly lowered his hand: "Then I will come back and kill you after I solve the case."
FOUR clutched her skirt and bowed deeply to him: "Thank you."
Yi Heye, who had been working amidst screaming and resistance, was not good at handling gratitude. He put his hands in his pockets, turned around, and left the room.
Jian Yunxian helped him say goodbye to FOUR from behind, closed the door, and found Yi Heye dragging the stubborn fat sheep towards the stairwell, looking irritable and depressed.
Yi Heye was indeed somewhat depressed.
The expectation and longing in the AI's eyes made him feel very strange and uncomfortable. For a moment, he felt that the standards he had always firmly believed in seemed to have been shaken.
But soon he decided to put the problem aside for the time being, because Little Cloud started making a fuss again.
Little Cloud: "Baa!!"
Yi Heye: "Get the hell out of here!!"
Little Cloud: "Baa!!!"
Seeing that Yi Heye was about to grab the guy by the tie and forcibly drag him downstairs, Xiao Yunduo simply spread her legs and slammed her bottom hard on the ground, causing the fragile wooden floor to creak and groan as it collapsed.
After all, he was a formidable heavyweight, and Yu Xiyi Heye was almost strangled by him, which angered him so much that he turned around and sought revenge on his master.
He grabbed Jian Yunxian by the neat collar, pointed at the sheep lying on the ground, and gritted his teeth: "Take control of your pigs!"
Jian Yunxian, like a loving father, turned to his overweight, rebellious son and asked, "What's wrong?"
Xiao Yunduo glanced back at Jian Yunxian, then sprang to her feet with a thud, and (thinking to herself) tiptoed through the door next door with a creak.
Just as Jian Yunxian was about to turn around to apologize, she saw behind the creaking door a hunched old robot with a flowerpot in its hand, waving at Xiaoyunduo.
The little cloud trotted over happily, munching on the potted plant leaves and affectionately rubbing against the robot's palm.
Yi Heye was furious—damn it, he treats strangers better than him, what an ungrateful bastard.
Clearly, Xiaoyunduo had been lured into the house by the old robot. Jian Yunxian peeked in to inquire about the situation.
"Hello! %!" The old robot stammered out a bunch of gibberish, its voice hoarse and unpleasant, sounding like it was about to explode. "FOUR told me! %# you are hunters."
Jian Yunxian pointed at Yi Heye: "He is."
Yi Heye, who was staring at the little cloud, was called out and quickly turned around: "Ah, it's me."
The robot grinned and slammed the potted plant in its hand onto Little Cloud's head: "Kill me, please!"
Yi Heye frowned but remained silent.
"We... saved up #%￥% in District C and bought a villa," the robot said haltingly. "We'll give it to &%#% who can kill *&... us."
Having said that, the robot, mimicking actions it had learned from humans, slowly knelt before him: "Please..."
Jian Yunxian immediately stepped forward to help him up, and Xiao Yunduo, whose head was covered by a flowerpot, also turned around to support him with her body. Yi Heye took a step back and asked, "Who are you?"
The robot looked up, trembling, and said, "All...all..."
Yi Heye looked at the robot that was slowly getting up and tightening the loose screws, and said coldly, "Okay, but not now."
“I made an appointment with Four. Once I finish the case I have, I will come after her,” Yi Heye said. “At that time, those of you who don’t want to die can leave early, and I will take over the rest.”
Before leaving, the old robot stared at Yi Heye's back, its gray eyes trembling slightly, seemingly filled with non-existent tears.
Only after they left the sanatorium did Jian Yunxian lead the sheep and catch up: "Do you really need that villa?"
Yi Heye looked up and glanced at him: "My savings are enough to buy ten apartments in Zone B."
Jian Yun chuckled: "The richest man in District D still has to beg me to buy him baby formula..."
Before he could finish speaking, Yi Heye decisively pulled his wrist away: "Think it over before you speak."
"Ouch, ouch, ouch..." Jian Yunxian begged for mercy in a sorry state, "I was wrong, I willingly became your purchasing agent."
Yi Heye slapped his hand away, expressionlessly mounted the motorcycle, propped his long legs on the ground, and coldly said, "Get on."
Jian Yunxian rubbed his wrist and followed.
Before Xiaoming could even speak, Jian Yunxian seized the opportunity to ask, "So, you've got your eye on that Mr. B?"
Yi Heye nodded: "Mm."
“But that guy is already…” Yi Heye started to say, but then swallowed his words back, as if he were cursing. “That guy is dead, and all his information has been erased. Siwei obviously doesn’t want us to know about his existence.”
Jian Yunxian: "So, what are you planning to do...?"
“A person’s existence leaves a trace, but finding someone is no longer within my job scope,” Yi Heye said. “We’re going to find the cops now.”
Jian Yunxian: "You trust them quite a bit."
Yi Heye sneered: "If you dare to believe even me, who else can't I believe?"
Having arranged a time in advance with the busy Officer Pei, they met Pei Xiangjin and Yu Yili, who were in plain clothes, at the coffee shop without wasting any time.
Jian Yunxian sat down gracefully and greeted the two very politely. Yi Heye then sat down silently next to him. The four of them looked at each other, and with a fat sheep sitting calmly on the side, the atmosphere became strange.
Jian Yunxian spoke first: "Are you two a regular pair? I often see you two acting together."
Yu Yili arranged the coffee cups on the table symmetrically: "I am his personal punching bag, tied here to relieve stress."
Pei Xiangjin glared at him, then stopped venting her anger and dared not speak.
Jian Yunxian patted Xiaoyunduo's head, and a projection appeared above the guy's head, which was the content of FOUR's conversation with them about Mr. Bi.
Without another word, Pei Xiangjin immediately understood what the two meant: "This 'beep' is Blue Sheep?"
Yu Yili: "Captain Pei, please don't swear."
Pei Xiangjin: "..."
Yi Heye: "Yes."
Pei Xiangjin's voice tightened: "But he's already dead."
Yi Heye said calmly, "Whether preserving the consciousness data of the deceased is technically impossible or legally prohibited, you should know in your heart."
Pei Xiangjin fell silent.
Yi Heye lowered his head and took a sip of coffee. Ugh, it was too bitter. It wasn't even a fraction as good as milk. He wanted to spit it out but was too embarrassed, so he forced himself to swallow it.
“Although I don’t have evidence, the timing matches up,” Yi Heye said.