Personal Assistant

Lin Yumo sat on the sofa, drinking red date millet porridge with a faint sweetness and eating flatbread, a strange emotion spreading through her heart.

"This little man is really good at taking care of people! I wonder who'll be lucky enough to get him in the future." Lin Yumo murmured to herself.

After returning to his room, Guo Yuan ladled the remaining red date millet porridge into a bowl and fried a few pan-fried dumplings for dinner.

After dinner, Guo Yuan sat down in front of his computer again, just about to continue working on facial recognition.

Then an idea suddenly popped into his head. Since he couldn't create a complete biological computer, could he make a stripped-down version instead?

It didn't need to be fully capable of interacting with humans. As long as it could understand commands and help handle certain tasks, that would be enough.

Like a phone's voice assistant, only far more comprehensive.

Once the thought appeared in Guo Yuan's mind, he couldn't stop thinking about it.

The next second, his hands began dancing nimbly across the keyboard.

Black command windows started popping up on the screen, then disappearing one after another.

The first step of Guo Yuan's plan was to break down the biological computer's core code, retain the portion he needed, and then refine it.

Guo Yuan's current technical skills definitely weren't enough for that, but he had the narrator, which would give him some guidance.

As Guo Yuan's fingers flew, the computer began operating at high speed.

If someone knowledgeable saw it, their scalp would surely go numb.

The command sets appearing in those little black windows had already surpassed the limits of what ordinary people could understand.

Later, Guo Yuan directly switched to the Linux operating system.

"Clatter, clatter~" For a time, the only sound left in the room was the rapid tapping of the keyboard.

Before he knew it, two hours had passed, and fewer and fewer lights remained on in the residential complex.

Guo Yuan knew nothing of it. He had already immersed himself in the world of code.

"Beep beep beep beep~" After who knew how long, the sudden ringtone of his phone interrupted Guo Yuan's movements.

Looking down, Guo Yuan discovered it was his 8 a.m. wake-up alarm.

Only then did he realize that he had spent the entire night coding.

Fortunately, the night hadn't been wasted. Under the narrator's guidance, Guo Yuan had successfully broken that massive string of biological computer core code into multiple sections.

Guo Yuan took out one section of the core code and began expanding it.

The process was like assembling a computer. This section of core code was the CPU. After installing the CPU onto the motherboard, Guo Yuan needed to add the RAM, solid-state drive, and air cooling system, then place the motherboard into the case, install the power supply, connect the power cables to the motherboard, and finally turn it on.

Guo Yuan had now reached the most complicated step: wiring everything together.

But after working the whole night, Guo Yuan was starting to feel unable to keep going. He ate a bag of oatmeal, lay down on the sofa, and took a nap.

By the time Guo Yuan opened his eyes again, it was already 1 p.m.

He stretched, casually ordered some takeout, and sat back down in front of the computer after eating.

"Clatter, clatter~" The sound of keyboard tapping rang out through the room once more.

Before he knew it, it had grown dark outside.

Finally, at nine in the evening, Guo Yuan's hands stopped.

He raised a finger and pressed the Enter key. A dialog box immediately popped up on the computer screen.

Guo Yuan entered a line of text into the dialog box: Create a complete facial recognition program based on the facial recognition source code on the desktop.

After entering the command, Guo Yuan pressed Enter. The computer then began operating automatically. About an hour and a half later, when Guo Yuan checked again, the facial recognition program had already been completed.

Guo Yuan tried running it, and it worked flawlessly. All that remained was to connect it to the backend.

"This really is efficient. It's much faster than doing it myself. My work wasn't for nothing." Guo Yuan said excitedly.

Then Guo Yuan tried entering some other commands. As long as the commands were clear and specific, they could be completed smoothly. But vague commands that required independent judgment produced less than satisfactory results.

Guo Yuan also discovered an inconvenient issue: he had to enter commands into the dialog box every time, which was too troublesome.

You can add a voice recognition function to the program to make it more convenient.

Guo Yuan's eyes lit up at those words. Right! How had he not thought of that? Wouldn't adding voice recognition solve the problem?

Guo Yuan then added a voice recognition function to the program and found a voice pack he liked online to include as well.

Finally, Guo Yuan gave his personal assistant a name: 01.

"01."

"I'm here!"

"Help me find materials related to computational biology, both domestic and international."

"Searching. Search complete. Downloading materials. Download complete. Would you like to open them now?"

"Open."

The moment Guo Yuan finished speaking, a Word document opened on the desktop. It contained some materials on computational biology, while more than a dozen folders had also appeared on the desktop, all of them newly downloaded.

Guo Yuan was very satisfied with 01's efficiency. Although 01 was currently only a more advanced voice assistant and couldn't be considered a strong AI at all, it was still a tremendous help to Guo Yuan at this stage.

"01, can you install yourself on my phone?"

"Please connect the phone to the computer."

Guo Yuan found a data cable and plugged his phone into the computer.

"Scan complete. The voice assistant on the phone can be replaced."

"Then replace it!"

About half an hour later, 01 finished replacing the phone's voice assistant.

After checking it over, Guo Yuan realized that 01 had not actually transferred the program from the computer onto the phone. The 01 on the computer was still there; the one on the phone was merely a copy of it.

To use 01 on the phone normally, the computer had to remain powered on. Otherwise, the 01 on the phone was no different from an ordinary voice assistant.

At that moment, Guo Yuan desperately wanted a supercomputer. If he had one, why would he need to go through so much trouble just to make this half-finished product?

Unfortunately, supercomputers cost money, and what Guo Yuan lacked most right now was money.

Meanwhile, Lin Yumo received a call from Su Yurou.

"I've made a new discovery," Su Yurou said without preamble.

"What discovery?" Lin Yumo asked at once.

"Yesterday, Wang Qiu met with a writer of detective novels. Some of the writer's unintentional actions made me realize that Wang Qiu valued the pendant in his hand very highly.

"After that, I tested him several times and basically confirmed that Wang Qiu never let the pendant leave his side. I'm guessing the thing we want is hidden inside it."

Lin Yumo's eyes lit up after hearing Su Yurou's words. After more than a year, they had finally found a lead.