I will quietly come to your side.
Tie you up.
On your collarbone,
Carve a little sheep.
Chapter 141 (Number 141)
Yi Heye held the note and read the few lines of text for a very long time.
Given his personality, upon seeing this unilaterally announced notice, his first reaction should have been to tear it up and let it sink to the ground through the sewers.
This time, Yi Heye just gritted his teeth and stared at the paper, feeling the burning sensation in his chest as the veins on his forehead bulged. It took him a long time to finally raise the corners of his mouth and reveal a smile.
He casually tossed the letter back onto the table, then, after a moment's thought, took it out again, put it back in the envelope, and shoved it into the drawer.
It must be said that Jian Yunxian's handwriting is quite beautiful. Although he must have found the font in a stock photo library, it at least proves that his aesthetic sense is always on point.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have chosen such a beautiful face for herself.
As he pondered, Yi Heye realized he had strayed from the point of focus again, so he went to the bathroom, splashed his face with cold water, and forced himself to put those distracting thoughts aside.
Looking up, Yi Heye saw the clearly visible marks on the collarbone and couldn't help but reach out and touch the little sheep's head.
Putting aside the added effects of redness, swelling, heat, and pain, this little sheep is actually quite well-carved, quite lifelike, and with those two nail-like eyes that seem to have been imbued with soul, it's as if the Sheep from the screen has landed on his shoulders.
Yi Heye and the sheep exchanged a glance. He took off his clothes and changed into a simple and neat T-shirt. Only then did he realize that the little sheep was still lying by his collar, staring out with its two round eyes.
He finally realized belatedly that this thing was engraved here, and almost everyone could see it.
He remembered Jian Yunxian telling him that this little lamb would let everyone know that he had been kidnapped by his beloved rival and that his signature had been left on his collarbone.
Every time he looked in the mirror, he would think of Jian Yunxian as the master of his "little lamb".
Yi Heye knew that at this moment, this person had etched this shameful yet exciting memory into his collarbone and nailed it into his mind.
He couldn't help but glance at the countless marks of varying depths on his body—and to make matters worse, he was prone to keloid scarring, so this little lamb was probably going to stay on his collarbone, watching over his heart, for the rest of its life.
Yi Heye gasped, patted his face, and quickly changed into a high-necked shirt.
Although the scratch is a little uncomfortable, it at least covers it up a bit.
After finally getting everything sorted out, Yi Heye slowly turned on his phone and communicator.
He knew he must have missed some calls and messages during this time, but since he had already missed them for so long, waiting a little longer wouldn't be a big deal.
Upon opening his phone, the first message at the top was a series of inquiries from Director Li. Without reading them carefully, Yi Heye made a call directly.
Yi Heye: "Hello? Director Li?"
"Oh, you finally replied!" Director Li said anxiously. "What happened? I called you all day and you didn't answer!"
Based on the principle of leniency for confessing, Yi Heye chose to conceal some facts: "I ran into SHEEP again, we had a fight, and I didn't have time to deal with it."
"Huh?!" Director Li was taken aback, not expecting such a big surprise right from the start. "How are you feeling right now?!"
"I'm fine!" Yi Heye quickly reassured him, then subconsciously glanced at the little lamb on his collarbone, "...just a minor superficial wound."
Director Li couldn't help but curse angrily: "Damn you, you little beast!"
Director Li's first concern was his safety, not about SHEEP. After dealing with someone like Pei Xiangjin, Director Li seemed particularly humane in comparison.
This display of human kindness made Yi Heye feel a little guilty: "I'm sorry, Director Li, I let him escape again..."
"Well, it's good that everyone's alright." Director Li paused for a moment, then said with a hint of helplessness, "When you've had some rest, come back to the team as soon as possible."
Yi Heye sensed something amiss in his words and asked, "Is there something you need?"
Director Li didn't give a direct answer, but only urged, "Anyway, come over as soon as possible."
Yi Heye frowned. He couldn't stand being rushed. When the other party said "as soon as possible," it meant "immediately" to him.
After putting on his coat, Yi Heye rushed out of the house. The moment he pushed open the door, he saw the door he saw every day, the one that had become a familiar part of his life.
The door across the hall, which had been silent in his life for many years and had never been given much attention by him, had somehow become a hiding place for another person's waiting and prying, and last night it carved out a corner for him and Jian Yunxian to breathe.
This morning, it vomited itself out of its stomach and returned once again to that empty, deserted, and abandoned house.
While lost in thought, Yi Heye quickly took the elevator downstairs, got on his motorcycle, and prepared to set off.
Today, Zone D is shrouded in gloom again, but this does not dampen Xiaoming's happiness and enthusiasm in the slightest.
He chattered on and on, greeting Yi Heye with "Good morning," and then subtly urged him about the independent parking garage.
Yi Heye drove quietly while listening to his rambling and incoherent chatter.
"Yebao, I never speak ill of other cars, but this time I really can't stand it anymore," Xiaoming said indignantly. "The guy next door smells so strongly of engine oil on him, like he never washes himself. His parts creak and groan at night, making it impossible to sleep! I reminded him it was time for his annual vehicle inspection, and he mocked me, saying I'm just a kid who doesn't know what 'manliness' means..."
Yi Heye listened absentmindedly, giving perfunctory answers, and finally coaxed her skillfully, "I know, once I'm done with this busy period, I'll build you a small garage. There won't be any other cars smelling of engine oil, and no other cars will disturb your sleep. You can wash the car anytime and get it inspected online. I guarantee no one will laugh at you anymore, you little brat..."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Ming immediately chuckled, and the car body seemed to become much lighter.
One of the main reasons Yi Heye likes cycling is that it allows him to avoid busy routes and take shortcuts with tricky terrain.
The motorcycle skillfully weaved through the buildings, the gray, dilapidated walls flashing past like slides. Walking further into the east alley and turning left, past a small barrier made of stacked tiles, the motorcycle leaped over a low wall for the umpteenth time, saving nearly twenty minutes of winding journey with just one leap.
Xiaoming gets a little nervous every time he lands, but that doesn't stop Yi Heye from being skilled and adept at it.
The moment the car touched the ground, Yi Heye propped himself up on his legs, using his toes as the center, and swung the car body in a circle on the ground before turning the car around and driving towards the alley entrance.
This is a street graffiti area, where a colorful, dynamic, and overlapping art wall is displayed in front of you. There are skillful cartoons and vulgar profanities on it, just like the young people of this city, so colorful that it makes people wary.
Behind them, in stark contrast to this scene, stood a faded slogan on the wall, worn and worn by time.
"Violating laws and regulations will result in imprisonment for minor offenses and exile for serious offenses."
Exile refers to the E-zone immigration experience card, a true one-way trip, which is the ultimate form of punishment.
He admitted that when he came into contact with matters related to Zone E again, his feline curiosity would still stir within him, but he had promised Jian Yunxian that he wouldn't take any risks, and he really wouldn't go.
With headphones on and speeding along, Yi Heye's brain was completely incapable of thinking.
It wasn't until he arrived at the entrance of the Artificial Intelligence Administration Bureau and parked Xiaoming's car that he remembered he had come because Director Li had called him.
For some reason, at this moment, he felt that this matter was not going to be very pleasant.
As the agreed-upon process drew closer, this intuition grew stronger in Yi Heye's mind.
So when he pushed open the office door, his brows were furrowed in a frightening way.
Yi Heye glanced at Director Li by the desk and said with a serious expression, "Director Li, is there something you need from me?"
“It’s like this…” Director Li rubbed his hands together, seemingly considering his words. “As you know, recently there have been more and more cases of AI impersonating humans. At the same time, technologies like consciousness transplantation surgery have emerged, which has impacted the previous standards for distinguishing and judging ‘humans’ and ‘AIs’ to some extent.”
Yi Heye pondered for a long time before he understood what he meant—his unease became even clearer and more intense.
"We've been discussing this for a while now, and we feel that judging people and AI solely based on appearance is no longer appropriate," Director Li said. "So now we've specifically revised and restarted the emotional response test that was abolished fifteen years ago, as the final judgment standard..."
Yi Heye, who guessed what he was going to say, began to have some difficulty breathing.
“Xiao Yi, you have to believe that the organization has always trusted you completely…” At this point, Director Li’s voice lost its confidence. “Due to the large sample size, a comprehensive census is quite difficult. We have conducted a big data screening recently and prioritized testing some key individuals.”
Yi Heye looked into Director Li's eyes and began to experience uncontrollable tinnitus.
"Because you failed all ten of your previous emotional tests, we may need to use a new scale to retest you to confirm your identity."
Author's Note:
Wild Treasure: Your 100% trust is worthless.
Chapter 142 (Number 142)
Yi Heye opened his mouth, and after a long while, he said incredulously, "...Director Li? What do you mean by this?"
Director Li also looked very troubled. He took off his glasses, awkwardly touched the bridge of his nose, and sighed after a long while: "Xiao Yi, there's nothing we can do, but the higher-ups are taking this matter very seriously..."
"Above?" Yi Heye was so angry he laughed. "Is it Area A again?? We're not even from the same world, what right do they have to stand over this wall and point fingers at me?!"
Such words were considered a major taboo by the older generation, so Director Li quickly told him to stop talking and then comforted him, "We're just going through the motions, it's not that difficult or tiring, is it?"
With just a few words, Yi Heye was so angry that his eyes turned red. He looked at Director Li and said helplessly, "Have you been suspecting me all along?"
"How could that be?" Director Li quickly said, "Xiao Yi, we don't suspect you..."
"Isn't this suspicion?" Yi Heye was so angry he laughed: "You've already put me on the first batch of testing lists, isn't this suspicion?"
Director Li anticipated Yi Heye's anger, sighed repeatedly, and reached out to comfort him, saying, "We believe you're not AI, so as long as you pass the test, we can prove ourselves..."
Yi Heye couldn't stop this weak and feeble explanation; he could only try to adjust his breathing so that he wouldn't lose his temper on the spot.
After staring at the ceiling for a few seconds to calm down, Yi Heye finally spoke, "I don't understand, what makes me look less than human?"
"I passed the physical examination to get into the bureau. I feel pain, I get injured, I bleed. Several times you watched me being rushed to the ICU. I almost lost my life trying to help you catch AI. Isn't that enough for you to judge?"
Director Li fell silent, looking at the indignant child in front of him with eyes full of helplessness and heartache.
The standards for distinguishing between humans and machines have never been fully unified.
Yi Heye is a staunch advocate of "externalism," which is also the mainstream evaluation standard among recycling workers to date.
The "externalism" school of thought believes that physiological structure is the primary standard for distinguishing humans from AI. Those who possess a human body and normal reflexes are human, while those like Jian Yunxian, no matter how multifaceted and rich in personality and emotions, must be artificial intelligence as long as they possess a mechanical body.
Now, judging from Director Li's point of view, the "internalism" school of thought, which has been popular for more than 20 years and uses emotional ability as the standard, is beginning to re-enter the mainstream. Physiological structure is no longer the only standard for judging whether someone is human. And people like Yi Heye, who are "human" in a physiological sense, may no longer be human.
"Director Li." Overwhelmed with anger, Yi Heye couldn't muster any more rage; all he could say was utter helplessness and exhaustion. "I can't accept this..."
He not only couldn't accept being doubted in this way emotionally, but more importantly, he himself lacked the confidence to pass such a test.
Starting when Yi Heye was five years old, after failing his first test, he was placed on the key monitoring list by the local government of District D. As a result, he was forced to undergo testing once a year, and failed the test once in ten consecutive years.
Fortunately, when he was fifteen, this standard was forced to be abolished after facing widespread criticism; otherwise, on the day he came of age, he would most likely have been judged as a machine and destroyed.
“I don’t agree…” Yi Heye recalled the unsettling ten years he had spent there, and the ever-changing test questions that had tormented his mind. His breathing became heavy. “I don’t agree with the entire standard of this set of questions. I don’t believe it can lead to any correct judgments…”
Director Li was also in a dilemma. He patted Yi Heye on the shoulder and tried his best to comfort him: "Xiao Yi, the previous set of questions was indeed not rigorous enough, so we have made a lot of revisions this time. There will definitely be no misjudgment. Just think of this as a physical examination. It's a good opportunity to prove your innocence to those who doubt you. Isn't that great?"
Yi Heye wouldn't listen to a word, pacing anxiously around the room: "Why? The externalist principle has never failed me, and I've never made a single misjudgment in all these years. Why should such a standard be replaced?!"
"Xiao Yi, the situation has really changed a lot recently," Director Li said helplessly. "Because there are more and more cases of 'consciousness transplantation surgery,' physiological structure is no longer convincing enough."