Adam successfully passed the psychological assessment, and this incident caused a lot of waves in Lost Paradise.
The Round Table's stance hadn't been made clear yet, but for several days there had been unauthorised protestors outside the Lab, holding huge banners with curse words written all over them. Some people even threw rotten vegetables and wine bottles at the entrance of the Lab, which made quite a few mechanics and researchers dare not come to work at all.
On the third day, when a mecha under repair was destroyed by several protesters, the military finally sent people in to drive the troublemakers away.
At the same time, Zhang Xun shut himself in his personal R&D room, trying to create the first bendable screen from nano-material that was almost as thin as ordinary cloth. If the manufacture was successful, he hoped to equip this on the battle uniforms of the hunting regiment. When necessary, if the soldier covered himself under this material without any gaps, the surrounding environment could be projected onto the cloth through the miniature cameras all over it, making someone invisible to a certain extent. This technique may not completely deceive the human eye, but it should be sufficient against relatively simple robot soldiers.
He took off the microscopic mirror on his right eye and rubbed his aching eye, then turned to look at another computer screen that was showing the situation in Adam's room. Adam was practising push-ups on the ground. From the monitor's point of view, through his sweat-soaked undershirt, he could see the muscles on his back that were bulging out due to his exertion.
Zhang Xun quickly turned his eyes away, but after a while, he couldn't help but look up again. His throat suddenly became a little dry and he hurriedly picked up the water glass and took a few sips of water.
"The protesters have been dispersed by the guards."
Pan's sudden voice startled Zhang Xun, the water choked into his nose and he lay on the table and coughed for a long time.
Pan asked with concern, "Zhang Xun, do you need any support?"
"Pan! How many times have I told you not to talk suddenly like this!"
"Sorry," Pan replied gently.
"No, you won't be sorry..." Zhang Xun muttered, these artificial intelligences were all too good at acting...
But when he thought that their "acting" skills had also been learned from him, he felt that he really had no position to complain. He went with the flow and said, "If anyone comes back to work, let them in."
"Zhang Xun, if another troublemaker comes back after the guards leave, can I activate the No. 2 expulsion system?"
With a sigh, Zhang Xun raised his head and looked at the camera in midair, "It seems like you want to activate the No. 2 expulsion system?"
When the protesters first showed up, Pan would ask him almost every day if he wanted to activate the No. 2 deportation system... ...Of all the expulsion systems, No. 2 was the least threatening, but the most irritating to humans. For some people, after hearing that noise it would remain stuck in the ears for days, like an earworm, and wouldn't stop even when they slept.
It was no wonder that James and Fernandez often complained to him that Pan was too evil, but he still didn't agree. Pan was the most complex and successful housekeeper AI he had ever trained, and it did everything it could to meet the goal of "maintaining the safety of the Lab and its owners." Zhang Xun just always thought that these people didn't know enough about artificial intelligence, or that they were biassed, or they didn't know how to use it. People always like to project their thoughts on the things around them. They didn't understand that the consciousness system of an AI was completely different from that of a human being. There was no such thing as likes and dislikes. It could only execute orders or not execute orders.
But now it seemed... what they had said wasn't completely groundless...
"This is for the safety of you and all the researchers." Pan's tone was still brisk and soothing, "The high-frequency noise of the No. 2 expulsion system will not harm the target. It will only cause them to have short-term side effects such as muscle soreness, nausea, and headaches, which I think is a very mild punishment."
Zhang Xun leaned back on the chair, thought for a while, and finally made up his mind and nodded, "It's better to give some appropriate punishment, lest they think we're pushovers."
"Okay." There was no obvious joy in Pan's tone, it was still calm and magnetic, but he didn't know if it was his imagination, but he could feel a little liveliness...
At this time, Zhang Xun felt a faint tingling in his arm. When installing the "probe" on Adam's forehead, Zhang Xun made some improvements on the microcomputer that was originally used to remotely control the microbomb on the back of Adam's neck, which was implanted in his arm. Usually his arm would look the same, but when he activated the controller, the control interface would appear in his microscopic mirror, which not only showed Adam's current brainwave status and coordinate position, but also the image from the probe camera. When Adam's brain activity spiked, such as when he was concentrating on something that caused a mood swing, the controller implanted in his arm would vibrate slightly.
He looked up at the monitor screen and saw that Adam was stretching the muscles of his arms. While stretching, he raised his head slightly, smiled at the camera and waved his hand.
Recently, Adam seems to be "calling" him in this way...
And Zhang Xun wasn't going to pay attention to him.
For the past three days, Zhang Xun had been worried that someone would break in, so he hadn't allowed Adam to leave his room. The first time Adam tried calling him this way, Zhang Xun didn't even look at the monitor first, he just left his work at a critical moment and rushed to Adam's room, thinking that Adam had some kind of simulator reaction. In the end, the other party just looked at him innocently and told him that he just wanted to test the sensing ability of the "probe".
Zhang Xun was so angry that he almost wanted to put him on standby...
After the second and third time, Zhang Xun gradually understood that Adam was testing his limit. Testing how much he cared about him.
The relationships between people were often a process of testing each other's limits. Adam had been trying to push his limits in the month since the descent, whether intentionally or not, but Zhang Xun suspected it was more intentional.
This time, Zhang Xun made up his mind to ignore him.
After a while he looked up again and saw Adam sitting on the sofa with his back straight, his hands resting on his lap, his eyes fixed on the camera, and the sensor under the skin of Zhang Xun's arm was vibrating slightly.
Zhang Xun, who was overwhelmed with anxiety, irritably dropped the materials in his hand, strode up to the elevator to the fourth floor with flames all over his body, scanned his pupils impatiently and entered Adam's room.
"I said, if something happens, you can ask Pan to inform me." Zhang Xun's voice was cold and unsympathetic, "I'm very busy."
"Ah-Xun, are you mad at me?" Adam tilted his head, his ethereal eyes looking very innocent, "Am I doing something wrong?"
"You're deliberately increasing your brainwave peaks for no reason and interrupting my work. Don't you think that's wrong?"
"I'm sorry . But sometimes my brain wave peaks are beyond my control." Adam spread his hands and explained earnestly and helplessly, "You rarely show up these days and I'm not allowed to go out to find you. So when I hope to see you, there will naturally be peaks. Human emotions are still unfamiliar to me and are difficult to control."
Adam started doing this again...
Zhang Xun realised that Adam had probably found some kind of weakness in him, and he had been putting pressure on this weakness to counter-control himself. But Zhang Xun had no evidence for this, only speculation.
The more there was no evidence, the moreZhang Xun felt uneasy, and...depressed.
He hoped he was wrong.
He still didn't have an answer to what Adam had asked him the night he passed the simulator test. He didn't know whether he wanted Adam to be more like a machine, or more like a human being. Zhang Xun didn't like most of the human beings he came into contact with or learned about, and he didn't like the narrow-mindedness, selfishness, and irrationality of human nature. But he also expected to find something related to these characteristics from the machine that had weeded out these things, such as desire, such as concern, such as dependence... While rationally knowing that he couldn't find it, he couldn't help but want it.
This was probably why he was willing to spend ten years of hard work on the god descent plan. He wanted a creation that could fulfil all his wishes, a fusion of mechanical and human, a new race created by his own hands.
"Adam, if you want to go out, you can walk around freely from now on. Now that the protests are over, as long as you don't leave the Lab, I won't restrict your activities. Will that do?" Zhang Xun said, and turned to leave, but after walking only a few steps, suddenly his wrist was pulled.
Adam's hand was still strong, but it was clear that he relaxed immediately. Zhang Xun turned his head to look at Adam impatiently.
"Ah-Xun, I'm sorry, I will try my best to control my emotional activities." Adam looked at him without blinking, his tone was steady and sincere, "Please don't be angry."
Zhang Xun wanted to pull his hand away, but Adam wasn't letting go. Zhang Xun frowned, feeling that Adam was getting more and more defiant, and he revealed his watch in a threatening manner. Adam immediately let go, his expression even looking a little frightened.
He probably didn't expect Zhang Xun to really consider using the electric shock collar?
Originally, it was just to scare him, but seeing Adam's reaction, Zhang Xun felt a little guilty. He sighed and said, "I'm not angry. I'm worried about the hunting party and I'm a little irritable."
"The hunting party? I remember you chatting with James, and saying that the Round Table has suspended all hunting activities."
"No. James and the others are going out next month." Zhang Xun's hair was dishevelled and the circles under his eyes were dark. Obviously, he hadn't slept well in the past few days. "There are also robot soldiers in the Rocky Mountains. Eden wants to catch them."
"Ah." Adam said clearly, "He wants to find out about me."
"You know yourself best, don't you?" Zhang Xun smiled sarcastically and remembered that this matter had nothing to do with Adam, so he restrained his sharp attitude and softened his tone, "Don't worry about this. You've already passed the test, when things have calmed down I can take you out of the Lab. You can continue to practise your fighting skills with Diego. We'll also have the opportunity to design some new systems and mechanics. Overall, your situation is safe."
"Ah-Xun, I can help you." Adam took a step forward. Being a lot taller than Zhang Xun, he lowered his head slightly and looked at his mechanic, his eyes soft like unpolluted lake water, "I am afraid no one in Lost Paradise knows the robot soldiers better than me."
This is...
Zhang Xun looked back into Adam's eyes, considering the possibility of Adam helping him. Adam had passed the test, and while he knew Adam had "cheated", no one else knew, but he felt a little unsafe in this situation.
But as he himself said, wouldn't it be foolish if they didn't dare to use Adam's power after so much effort? Although the empathy simulator had failed for Adam, his control over Adam was still there. There were three controls in total, the collar, the probe, and the miniature bomb that even Adam himself didn't know about... If so many insurances were still not enough to reassure himself, wouldn't that mean he had become as stupid as those technophobes?
Zhang Xun then raised his chin and said somewhat provocatively, "Yes, you must clearly explain all your ideas and designs to me. The real hands-on and manufacturing must be done by me, you can only observe."
Adam then grinned, a smile so bright that it gave the illusion that he couldn't keep his eyes open.
"Yes, my mechanic."