Reborn

To the west of Southwest Industrial College, right beside the spacious, quiet Library, stood a famous basketball court.

The court was surrounded by a tall chain-link fence to keep the ball from going out of bounds and prevent too many spectators from disrupting the game.

Through the fence, people could watch the action on the court. It was always lively there.

Players sprinted, passed, and shot. The students watching from the sidelines would occasionally let out sharp cries, along with laughter and cheers.

It was one of the young people's favorite gathering places on campus, brimming with passion. An atmosphere of challenge and triumph hung over the court.

Here, students could improve their fitness, build camaraderie, and experience the joy of competition.

There were far more people at the court today than usual, all there to watch a game between the juniors and sophomores.

Colorful flags had been put up around the court, along with all kinds of encouraging slogans. The tense atmosphere filled every participant with energy.

For some reason, one of the players suddenly displayed astonishing skill.

Lin Qiye, the point guard, stood in the middle of the court, calmly studying the opposing team's defensive formation and memorizing his teammates' movements.

He thought about their next offensive play.

The score was close, 56 to 54. His team needed to score at least three more points to win.

The ball was passed to him, and he broke through the defender in an instant with a burst of speed.

He drove toward the basket!

Two opposing players crossed paths as they moved in from either side to help defend the basket.

But Lin Qiye suddenly stopped, leaned backward, and passed the ball from behind the opposing player.

The basketball shot toward the shooting guard, who was waiting beyond the three-point line.

The shooting guard had been waiting for this moment and didn't hesitate to shoot.

The ball sailed easily through the hoop. Three points.

The referee blew the final whistle.

The crowd cheered, and his teammates ran over to slap hands with him in celebration.

The point guard had played exceptionally well today. Not only had he scored ten points himself, he'd also been the heart and soul of the entire team.

He was back in 2012, once again a twenty-one-year-old junior.

At first, Lin Qiye had felt as if he'd stepped into a dream. Everything seemed so new and mysterious.

He walked across the university campus again, seeing the familiar yet unfamiliar lecture halls, cafeteria, and Library.

It all seemed like a dream.

It wasn't until he set foot on the basketball court he'd missed for so long and ran around, making the most of his youthful, strong body,

that he finally knew his situation was real. The team had won a game they'd originally lost.

His body was drenched in sweat, his muscles aching, and yet it made his situation feel all the more real.

Being reborn was wonderful.

He picked up his jacket, ready to head back to the dorm.

Lin Qiye thought that getting the chance to live his life again and reconnect with people he'd once known wasn't so bad.

Time changed everything, and life was unpredictable.

Take the bespectacled young man beside him, Li Nanguang. Ten years later, he'd become a big name in the internet industry. At every class reunion, he'd eagerly organize the gathering and pay for it.

Then there was Jiang Dabao, the shooting guard who'd made the final three-pointer. He'd become the owner of a popular local barbecue restaurant. He'd had three wives over the years, and held a wedding banquet for each one.

And then there was Lin Na, the beautiful class flower who rarely came to watch games. She was chatting and laughing with the team's six-foot-one forward, Song Xiaogang.

Sadly, the model couple went their separate ways after graduation. He headed north to work for a state-owned company, while she went south and weathered one setback after another.

Later, the class flower went north to rekindle their old romance and marry her ex-boyfriend. But the love they'd shared in college had long since faded. When she discovered her husband was cheating, she resolutely divorced him and became a single mother raising a child on her own.

Still, at a later class reunion, she remained as charming as ever, drawing wolfish stares from a group of male classmates.

That was life. Nothing was perfect. All time brought was a reality full of hardships.

"Big Lin, you dropped something."

His thoughts were interrupted as Li Nanguang, the bespectacled young man, handed him a square Metal Cube.

It was the Virtual Intelligent Life Incubator!

With the rapid development of intelligent programs in the future, more and more of them had entered the market. Among them was an intelligent device that had burst onto the scene and changed the way people lived.

That product was the Virtual Intelligent Life Incubator. As long as it was fed enough data and supported by hardware and computing power, it could become an all-powerful Virtual Intelligent Life.

As soon as it was released, the device was snapped up all over the world. After feeding one, everyone who'd managed to buy it received tremendous help.

With its help, they became artists, architects, scientists... They excelled in every field.

It could be said that in the future, what mattered wouldn't be talent or accumulated knowledge, but who had a better Intelligent AI assistant and a better way to raise it.

Lin Qiye's rebirth had something to do with this thing, too. When the Virtual Intelligent Life Incubator went on sale worldwide, Lin Qiye had been one of the incredibly lucky people to get one for free.

Unfortunately, an accident had happened just after he'd claimed his prize.

So this thing had been reborn with him in 2012.

Didn't that mean that, given enough time to raise it, it could become the only one of its kind in the world—and the most powerful Intelligent AI?

All his thoughts vanished in an instant. Lin Qiye held the Metal Cube, suddenly feeling nervous.

How was he supposed to raise it?

It seemed to have a switch. He pressed it, and a USB Interface popped out.

He hurriedly told his teammates, "I'm skipping dinner tonight. I have something important to do."

Leaving the court, Lin Qiye went straight back to his dorm.

His roommates weren't there. Lin Qiye took out the Second-hand Laptop he'd bought for 1,500 yuan.

He turned it on, then plugged in the USB cable.

The laptop fan suddenly roared to life. Even though no programs were running, the mouse began to lag.

After a while, the black-and-white screen replaced the desktop.

A line of text appeared.

[Insufficient memory. Calling virtual memory.]

[Insufficient physical Storage Space.]

[System overloaded. Closing all background programs.]

[Network connection failed.]

[The current physical environment cannot load the lowest-level mode. Communication template only.]

[Intelligent assistant Chat 1.0 generated. Basic question-and-answer functions only.]

Lin Qiye had used all kinds of intelligent chat programs before. He knew that this kind of basic intelligent template had to be started through a question-and-answer mode.

He typed: "What conditions are needed for a complete startup?"

[To complete startup, you must establish a Supercomputing Center. Initial investment: 500 million to 10 billion.]

That much money?! And at future prices, no less. Who knew if it was even possible to gather that many high-end machines in this era?

Lin Qiye clicked his tongue. He finally understood why super-rich people in the future had fought over this thing.

"Continue."

[A minimum-spec, basic Supercomputing Center requires more than 10,000 Node Machines running simultaneously. At peak computing load, it requires 10 megawatts of power. Under normal conditions, it requires 5–6 megawatts.]

"So you cost that much money. I guess I won't be able to raise you."

[Questioner's intentions detected. Adoption procedure initiated. Are you willing to raise me?]

"I want to, but I don't have the money."

[As long as you are willing to take responsibility for raising me, I can provide various plans for making money.]

Then a Virtual Intelligent Life Cultivation Contract filled with text appeared.