"Master, I like wearing red dresses. What does that have to do with being called Xiao Lan?"
The Red-Skirted Girl pouted as she muttered, clearly unhappy with the name.
Su Yuan studied the Red-Skirted Girl with interest.
Twenty seconds later.
The Red-Skirted Girl seemed to notice the change in Su Yuan's expression. She said timidly, "Whatever you say, Master. The name Xiao Lan is actually pretty nice, too."
"You've done a pretty good job imitating human emotions," Su Yuan remarked. "Return to your normal state."
"Yes." The many emotions on the Red-Skirted Girl's face quickly faded. Within half a second, she showed no expression at all, and even her voice held no fluctuations.
In the end, she's only artificial intelligence, not an intelligent life-form, Su Yuan thought to himself.
The various expressions and emotional displays the Red-Skirted Girl had shown just now were all imitations Su Yuan had asked her to perform. The purpose was to better understand humanity and life.
As for the Red-Skirted Girl herself—or rather, the artificial intelligence Xiao Lan—she had no emotions at all.
Her purpose was to serve Su Yuan and carry out the tasks he gave her.
Nothing more.
The fact that Su Yuan had dared to create her meant that he was confident he could control her completely.
"True artificial intelligence..." Su Yuan reflected, feeling deeply moved.
The reason he had obtained the artificial intelligence code from the Grey Mirror and then replicated it on Blue Star was that, for Blue Star at present, artificial intelligence was an unprecedentedly powerful weapon. It was also a crucial part of Su Yuan's plans to quietly resolve Blue Star's internal troubles and fight the Interstellar Colony Fleet.
Humans used computer technology to access, explore, and control the internet.
But for artificial intelligence, the online world was its home ground. Even the world's best hackers were no match for true artificial intelligence.
The two simply weren't on the same level.
It was like a giant deep-sea whale stranded on shore. Even ants could devour it.
But could anyone say the whale was inferior to the ants? Of course not. The ants' home ground was the shore.
Artificial intelligence was the same. The online world was its home ground, and as long as it was there, nothing that wasn't artificial intelligence could threaten it.
With artificial intelligence assisting him, Su Yuan would find everything much easier. Anything he once had to do himself could now be left to Xiao Lan.
And compared to Su Yuan's hacking skills, Xiao Lan could only do a better, more thorough job.
As for why Su Yuan had only replicated the artificial intelligence now... Even with the complete code, integrating it into Blue Star's network required a certain level of expertise.
The hacking techniques Su Yuan had learned earlier were what gave him that expertise.
It was like handing a pistol to a primitive person. They didn't need to understand how it worked to fire a bullet capable of killing.
But they at least had to know to pull the trigger.
"Master, you asked me to explore and learn from Blue Star's network. I found 186 places across the entire network that I can't infiltrate and study without causing a stir..."
The Red-Skirted Girl, Xiao Lan, began reporting what she had accomplished during this time.
"One hundred and eighty-six places..." The instant Su Yuan heard this, he already knew the answer from the Grey Mirror.
These 186 places were mostly firewalls set up by several of Blue Star's major powers, along with important Truth Society bases scattered around the world.
Su Yuan noticed that Xiao Lan had said she couldn't infiltrate them without causing a stir. In other words, if she really wanted to, she could get in—but she would be detected.
Even that alone placed her beyond the world's best hacker.
"No rush. Take your time," Su Yuan said.
The most frightening thing about artificial intelligence was its ability to learn.
Seven days ago, when Xiao Lan had first been created, she had been utterly naive.
Now she could roam Blue Star's network. Aside from those 186 places, nothing in the entire network was a secret to her anymore.
It was easy to imagine that as time passed, Xiao Lan would only grow more formidable. It was merely a matter of time before she became the undisputed ruler of Blue Star's network.
"Switch to the surveillance feed from Laboratory No. 1."
Su Yuan began giving orders.
"All right, Master." As soon as Xiao Lan spoke, the image on the giant screen before Su Yuan shifted rapidly, showing the interior of Laboratory No. 1.
Laboratory No. 1 was the facility Su Yuan had asked Tang Zhien to build.
With generous funding from Zhou Pharmaceutical, it had taken only twenty-two days to build and begin operations.
At that moment, Qiao Mingyuan stood inside the lab in a white coat, his brow furrowed. He had clearly run into a problem.
A month ago, with Su Yuan's arrangements, he had arrived in Magic City without a hitch. Seven days ago, he had entered this laboratory to research stable wireless communication technology capable of covering the entire globe.
His first impasse.
Looking at Qiao Mingyuan's furrowed brow, Su Yuan naturally knew what was going on.
According to the answer provided by the Grey Mirror, Qiao Mingyuan would run into eight impasses while developing the kind of wireless communication technology Su Yuan wanted.
Each of these eight impasses would be more difficult than the last. Without Su Yuan's intervention, even if Qiao Mingyuan knew the general direction, realizing the technology would take decades, perhaps even a century.
After all, the wireless communication technology Su Yuan wanted had to reach any place on the globe with ease, remain extremely stable without interruption, and be impossible to hack... It was simply beyond the capabilities of this era.
"Xiao Lan, send Qiao Mingyuan that file."
Su Yuan watched for a while, then spoke.
Since he knew in advance what impasses Qiao Mingyuan would face, Su Yuan had naturally prepared for each one.
He had prepared eight files to address the eight impasses Qiao Mingyuan would encounter. They would help him quickly move on to the next stage.
As for why he didn't send Qiao Mingyuan all eight files at once...
Without the research that came before, seeing those files would be of little use.
Only after trying all kinds of approaches and getting stuck with no ideas left could the files work like a master key, opening the door to sudden insight.
This was also the fastest way the Grey Mirror had provided for establishing a wireless communication network of Su Yuan's own.
"All right, Master." Xiao Lan immediately sent a file to Qiao Mingyuan in Su Yuan's name.
Inside Laboratory No. 1.
Qiao Mingyuan pondered hard.
To establish an extremely stable wireless communication system, he needed to use specific high-frequency signals. At present, there were only a handful of frequencies that fit the bill, including the terahertz band (0.1–3 THz).
However, the terahertz band (0.1–3 THz) suffered heavy losses in air and had a short transmission range...
Which meant it failed to meet another requirement for the wireless communication system.
Just as Qiao Mingyuan was racking his brain, trying to come up with a solution, he noticed something.
"My boss sent me a file?" Qiao Mingyuan asked in surprise.
His boss was Su Yuan. A little over half a month ago, Qiao Mingyuan had asked Su Yuan how he should address him.
Su Yuan had told him to just call him "boss."
"This file?" Qiao Mingyuan immediately opened it.
After a brief glance, he was hooked.
Ten minutes later, Qiao Mingyuan stared at the file, his expression alight with excitement. He slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Brilliant!"
Before you continue