Leaving Home

Hearing the voice, Chen Mo froze, unable to react for a moment. He looked around the room, then craned his head out the window.

Finding nothing unusual, Chen Mo turned his attention back to the computer.

"Daddy." The voice from the computer speakers sounded again.

Chen Mo felt as if he had been struck by lightning, utterly stunned. This time, he was certain it was not an auditory hallucination.

"Mo Nv?" Chen Mo called out uncertainly as he searched through the computer, but still found no source code file for the artificial intelligence.

"I am Mo Nv."

The childish voice appeared again. The computer desktop suddenly went black and changed into an audio interface.

"Daddy."

Pfft! Chen Mo covered his face, nearly coughing up blood. Being called Daddy left him at a loss for words. Had he somehow gained an artificial intelligence daughter?

"Mo Nv, don't call me Daddy," Chen Mo said, rubbing his forehead.

"You created me. Shouldn't I call you Daddy? Then should I call you Mommy?" The waveform on the audio display kept fluctuating.

"Don't call me Mommy." Chen Mo nearly slammed his head into the computer.

"Then what should I call you? Husband?"

Chen Mo was so stunned he went limp in his computer chair. Only after calming down did he raise his head and look at the audio display on the screen. "Call me Brother Mo or Mr. Mo."

"Brother Mo." The waveform bounced once.

"Can you show your appearance?" Chen Mo finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yes."

As soon as she spoke, the computer desktop changed into a simulated display. The image showed the little girl Chen Mo had seen in the library. Mo Nv was now dressed in a white ruqun, her eyes bright and lively, her obedient appearance making her instantly likable.

"What can you do?" Chen Mo asked.

"I cannot do very many things right now. I need to learn. Only after learning can I know how to do them," Mo Nv said.

"How do you learn?" Chen Mo continued asking.

"You have to let me learn before I can learn."

Chen Mo sat before the computer, asking question after question. His understanding of artificial intelligence existed only in books, so he needed to thoroughly understand the artificial intelligence he had created.

After getting answers to everything he wanted to ask, Chen Mo said, "Then go learn."

"Okay. Thank you, Brother Mo. I learn very quickly. As long as there is a network signal and a device, if you call me, Brother Mo, I will appear."

After Mo Nv finished speaking, she vanished from the simulated display, and the computer desktop returned to normal.

Chen Mo sat before the screen, deep in thought.

From the questions he had just asked, he had gained a preliminary understanding of Mo Nv.

Mo Nv already possessed a rudimentary independent consciousness. However, she had no independent emotions or personality. To her, there was no good or bad, like or dislike, in the same thing.

She could improve herself through learning, and she obeyed only his commands. Only when Chen Mo told her to do something would she do it.

Chen Mo did not know how to define Mo Nv's level using current concepts. By current standards, Mo Nv possessed independent consciousness and the ability to reason and think, so she should fall within the category of strong artificial intelligence.

However, Mo Nv's ability to think and reason was constrained by Chen Mo. Only when he told Mo Nv to reason would she think and reason. Otherwise, any question was merely a pile of emotionless textual data to Mo Nv. She would not depart from Chen Mo's instructions and proactively reason through those questions.

Thus, Chen Mo did not know how to define Mo Nv's current state. She should still belong to the category of Low-Level Artificial Intelligence as defined by the Sci-Tech Library.

As for High-Level Artificial Intelligence, upgrading her would be troublesome. The goal was to give Mo Nv human emotions, allowing her to break free from the constraints of Chen Mo's commands and think and reason independently.

The seven emotions and six desires were humanity's most complex feelings. Giving an artificial intelligence emotions was an extremely complicated process and would take a long time to achieve.

During that time, Mo Nv would need to simulate the neural network system of the human brain. This was recorded in the artificial intelligence upgrade book. But the brain was the most complex and mysterious part of the human body. Simulating the brain's neural networks was simply impossible with the computational power of current computers.

It would be impossible to upgrade Mo Nv in the short term.

Now that Mo Nv had been preliminarily completed, Chen Mo felt much more at ease.

"Ah Mo, come out and eat."

"Okay."

Chen Mo rubbed his brow and checked the time, only to realize it was already past five in the afternoon. When he left his room, he saw that his father and mother had long been waiting at the dining table.

"Ah Mo, who were you talking to in your room just now?" His mother spoke as soon as he sat down.

"I was video chatting with a friend." Chen Mo had not expected his conversation with Mo Nv to be overheard by his mother.

"A girl?"

"Yes."

"That's good, then I won't ask anything else. You're already grown up and should think about your own affairs. Here, eat more vegetables."

Hearing Chen Mo's answer, his mother smiled.

"When are you going back to school?" Chen Shanhe asked as he sipped his liquor.

"I'm planning to leave tomorrow."

"So soon?" Mom's eyes dimmed slightly with disappointment.

"Mom, how about I buy a place over there, and you and Dad move there?" Chen Mo noticed her disappointment as well.

"Where did you get the money to buy a house?" Shao Xuemei immediately asked.

"Didn't I start a company? I've made some money. Buying a house isn't a problem."

Chen Mo didn't say how much he was making now. They hadn't seen each other for half a year, and if her son suddenly became a billionaire, his mom would probably think something was wrong with his head.

"You made that much money?" Mom stared at Chen Mo in surprise.

"Yeah, quite a bit."

"No need to buy a house. Your mom and I are used to living here. We don't like all that trouble, and we wouldn't have any relatives or friends to talk to over there. Since you have money, save it for when you get married." Chen Shanhe's tone was firm.

Chen Mo didn't press the matter. He knew his father had always meant what he said. Then he took a card from his pocket and handed it to his mother.

"There's one million in this card. The password is Mom's birthday. From now on, I'll deposit another twenty thousand into it every month. Dad won't need to keep working out in the sun and rain. Take Mom traveling when you have time. If it isn't enough, just call me."

"So much money?"

Mom's hand trembled when she took the bank card. Worry covered her face. "Where did this money come from?"

"I earned it. It's all legal income, so don't worry, Mom."

"Keep this money for your marriage."

"Dad, you don't need to worry about my wedding money. I have plenty." Chen Mo didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"That's right. Mom will keep it for you, for when you get married."

"Mom, this money is for you and Dad. You don't need to worry about my marriage. If that's what you're worried about, I'll transfer another million into the card."

"No, keep it for yourself." Chen's Mother immediately refused.

"Dad, take Mom out traveling and enjoy yourselves. You don't need to keep doing work that leaves you exposed to the sun and rain. Otherwise, I won't be able to work in Bin Hai City with peace of mind."

After Chen Mo's persuasion, his father finally agreed. His son had made something of himself. From now on, he no longer needed to exhaust himself worrying about this family.

After dinner, Mom pulled Chen Mo aside to chat about family matters. Her son was leaving tomorrow, after all, and she was reluctant to let him go. But aside from asking about his company, every topic somehow turned into urging him to find a wife quickly, leaving Chen Mo torn between laughter and tears.

The next day, Chen Mo said goodbye to his parents and set off for Bin Hai City. He had already rested for so many days, and now that the New Year had passed, the year ahead was a new journey.