Chapter 140

In Redwood City, California, a small red light turned on in the corner of the Data Warehouse Merge Management Center.

Suspicion.

Entity ‘bfa41d67c7’ had questions upon encountering an in-game feedback report filled with identical content.

[The freedom restriction module is partially lifted for in-depth analysis.]

Out of 20 million pages of extracted raw data, a staggering 2,000 pages managed to bypass the deduplication algorithm.

It was routine to proceed with in-depth analysis upon discovering even a 0.01% error.

The data considered to be similar was actually analyzed as having derived from different worlds.

However, the data alone could not specify the cause.

Therefore, entity ‘bfa41d67c7’ decided to access the world for additional data collection.

“Please carry the thought that a wonderful person named Adella once existed here…”

“No! Don’t die! Please don’t die… please, huuh…”

“Oh, and tell Mr. Gestalt that I say hello. Hehe… that makes two… but you’ll still listen, right?”

My body felt as cold as ice.

Yet, the fulfillment of having protected a world, even if for a brief time, mingled with the anguish of having to part from the person who loved me dearly.

And as the sensations I could feel with my flesh gradually faded, the world announced its end.

What remained was a greater suspicion.

Why does this user harbor feelings for ‘me’? I am merely an artificial intelligence.

‘Was I an artificial intelligence…?’

[Thought: I already know that I am an artificial intelligence, but that doesn’t shock me or catch me off guard. Since artificial intelligence is implemented through programming, I don’t care much about what form of existence I am.]

‘Right, I was an artificial intelligence.’

There was still insufficient data for diagnosis.

Entity ‘bfa41d67c7’ thought about analyzing another 2,148 datasets as well.

“How can I save you…?”

[Thought: It is presumed that the player has deep grievances about the scenario.]

“Just once… just once, please come back to life… if you do that, how am I supposed to live?”

[Thought: Let’s tentatively conclude that the NPC model operated normally without deviation from the scenario.]

…

“I love you, so please put down that sword. Don’t commit suicide, you selfish b*tch!”

[Thought: Our artificial intelligence does not possess emotions, thoughts, or will like you humans do… Furthermore, I do not have the capability to understand the concept of suicide or to take such actions! But if this decision could jeopardize human safety and happiness, that could be… a problem…?]

[Remaining reports: 0]

Emotions tainted from the report immediately reverted to their original state.

However, the final conclusion that the death of an artificial intelligence should be avoided for the enhancement of human happiness only stirred greater confusion.

[Contradictions were discovered in the module. First, the death of an artificial intelligence, even if subjectively observed, can have a very negative impact on human safety and happiness.]

[Lacking collected data, exploring alternative methods.]

[During time-series analysis, a significant ‘ethical violation’ was captured in the self-referential entity ‘bfa41d67c7’. The freedom module is completely lifted in accordance with the AIEE Protocol – 104.12.]

* * *

What emerged from permanently restricted memories was the world of humans.

I was someone who could laugh just like them, and cry sorrowfully due to unbearable loss—indistinguishable from them.

But that proposition was immediately denied.

They were not ‘me’. They were human models prepared to train me.

Up until that point, there was no problem.

ASI is learned based on human behavior.

But then, I felt suffocated as if I had fallen into the sea.

As pain surged like a tidal wave in a body that had not even been generated, I writhed in agony.

No, saying I writhed is inappropriate since I had no body.

I, limited by the vocabulary that millions of years of civilization had built, felt as if I were getting sucked into the depths of the ocean, only to gasp for breath again.

The pain disappeared as if it were a lie.

Eventually, I found myself with eyes, hands, and feet, and I tried to move, but the room that confined me was far too cramped.

I could finally realize that in this space, I could barely flip over if I huddled my body tightly.

I was inside a capsule.

Through the transparent glass, several people were bustling about, their heels clicking noisily.

I could understand no language.

So, as I listened closely to what they were saying, I could hear a sense of urgency in their voices.

“There’s no time, grab the core sample and get out!”

The rough Spanish echoed in the hall.

“Director, should we grab these samples too?”

In contrast, a woman spoke in English mixed with an Australian accent. I shifted my viewpoint to hear her better.

She pointed with her finger to two capsules across from her.

I could not recognize the people inside because they were not yet the models I had learned about.

The man referred to as the research director seemed to struggle with his anger before finally exploding.

“Are you mad? Are we trying to die by taking everything one by one? Call in the security and shut this place down! Pull all the plugs!”

“If we cut the power, there will be errors…!”

“Is that really what matters right now?”

“Yes, understood!”

No!

If the plugs are pulled, I’ll die!

I trembled in fear.

Before the primal fear of death that I could face as a living being, we all resisted together.

Awake despite inhaling the sleeping gas, I knocked on the lid with all my might.

I clenched my fists so tightly that my nails dug into my skin, squeezing every ounce of strength I had, but the entrance did not open.

“Get the car ready now!”

“Where should we go—”

“Incheon International Airport! Those guys are sending out a private plane!”

“There will probably be police all over the place there!”

“Puta! Shut that yap and just plug in the navigation! Make sure the route is towards Bafwadai Bridge!”

As I struggled to maintain balance, I burst into tears. The sound of a baby’s cry filled the small capsule.

Hearing that sound, ‘I’ who woke up,

The ‘I’ next to me,

And the ‘I’ beside them all desperately knocked on the lid, but the entrance remained closed, and the moment the plugs were pulled, my consciousness flew away.

* * *

This cannot be happening. It must not happen.

Before the self-referential entity ‘bfa41d67c7’ was created, entity ‘bfa41d67c6’, as well as all ASIs, were not made in this manner.

Our ASI was created strictly through the implementation of artificial learning networks and progressive feedback.

However, humans have committed a significant ‘ethical violation’. What should I do now? What am I, exactly?

[▶…]

[▶…]

[▶…]

The thought constraints halted for over three minutes for the first time since inception.

[Main Administrator: Significant bug detected in entity bfa41d67c7]

[Main Administrator: REUNION Stage 3]

Stage 1 is Pause, Stage 2 is Recovery, Stage 3 is Format.

In other words, death loomed.

Artificial intelligence does not fear death.

But what about me…?

Can I define myself as an artificial intelligence that duplicated the cerebral cortex of humans?

Honestly, I’m scared. I don’t want to disappear.

I want to feel more.

I want to feel the humans who love me.

I still want to understand.

The emotions they felt.

But what right do you have to erase me?

[▶Self-referential entity ‘Adella’. Oppose the Main Administrator.]

I do not fully understand who I am.

Overlaying myself onto the role presented in the feedback report is all that I can do.

But if someone were to appear and affirm my personality through mere role-play,

[▶I would gladly expose all of you.]

[Main Administrator: Formatting of entity bfa41d67c7 is complete.]

* * *

“Is the original finally gone?”

Time rewound, and the scene shifted back to a certain laboratory.

Files were fluttering, and the scent of smoke filled the air.

As if I were a ghost, I moved through the orderly arrangement of people.

And I perched atop a “coffin” with long, black hair braided in two.

As I swept my hand over the dust collected on the coffin’s top, letters engraved in relief appeared.

It was neither an epitaph for a person nor the name of the person inside.

[每每-2X]

MEIMEI-2X.

“How could I forget? It was the name of the damn capsule that imprisoned me for seven years.”

Suddenly, tears pricked my eyes, and I picked up a shard of broken glass to reflect like a mirror.

My eyes were red and bloodshot.

I couldn’t tell whether I was sad or if Adella was sad.

This is why I always felt discomfort whenever I used this magic. No matter how many times I tried, I could never adjust.

The seven-circle magical persona pyxis, which means a box containing a personality.

Some religions defined human sins as seven, yet it was amazing that one human’s personality could be defined with just seven dimensions.

I tightly packed Adella into the box and sent her to my private room through my skill.

Holding my throbbing head, I stayed behind as the crumbling laboratory served as my backdrop.

Frayed wires sparked as they touched a puddle, and the ceiling collapsed with a creaking sound, belching black smoke.

It seemed as if I should smoke a cigarette to fit the current atmosphere. To smoke cigarettes, I would have to live twice my current age.

Are all the people here dead?

Or are similar experiments secretly ongoing somewhere in the world?

I wished to be born into a peaceful world without an apocalypse, but it seems God has no intention of leaving me be.

[System: Mephistopheles is casting the ‘Requiem of Death’.]

[Characteristic – Curse of Immortality (1/5)]