Madman

Sun Jack, standing in the pouring rain, was still listening to the Robot recount this history.

"The information online isn't detailed. The general idea is that AIs, integrating into all aspects of human life, gradually became more similar to humans. Then, one day, they surpassed humans, awakened, and began to destroy humanity."

"Nuclear bombs were used as casually as regular artillery shells. The entire Earth descended into chaos. That war lasted for 200 years. Approximately 85% of the Earth's population died, the ecosystem was completely destroyed, and the weather systems were in total disarray."

Sun Jack thought of the silver planetary ring and the dense debris of satellites that enveloped the entire Earth. He understood that the war at that time must have been incredibly brutal, fought from the sky to the ground, and had even obliterated the moon.

The absence of the moon would have caused tidal changes, delivering a devastating blow to the surface.

"And then?"

"Then, humanity exhausted all its resources to destroy all the awakened AIs and achieved ultimate victory. They began to build a new home on the ruins. The year of victory marked the new human era. Then, 721 years passed, you woke up, activated me in orbit, and then we fell from the sky."

"What is all this?" Sun Jack felt utterly exhausted. Everything had happened too quickly, and his mind was a mess.

The Robot sat down beside him. "What do you plan to do next?"

Sun Jack didn't answer, a hint of confusion in his eyes. Honestly, he didn't know what to do. How had he ended up over a thousand years in the future?

Was everything he once knew gone forever? Could he truly never go back? What had happened during his five lost years of memory?

"You're already defeated? I truly look down on you then. Don't expect me to comfort you; I don't have that program installed in my system." The Robot extended a metallic hand and forcefully pushed his shoulder.

"Damn it!" Sun Jack cursed with a laugh, struggling to stand up. "You want to defeat me? It's not that easy! I at least need to figure out why I was placed on the space station and what happened during those lost five years of memory."

Sun Jack didn't want to live so cluelessly. Even if he could never go back, he had to thoroughly understand what had happened to him.

Thinking of this, Sun Jack's eyes suddenly lit up. He looked up at the Robot. "Right, aren't you connected to the network? Search the records from the old era. See if there's any mention of my name and appearance, like missing person notices or accident reports."

The Robot searched for a while and quickly delivered some bad news to Sun Jack. "No data found. To prevent AI data uploads that could cause riots, the old era's internet was destroyed, leaving not a single byte. The current network is newly built, with entirely new protocols."

"All records about the old world are retellings from the new world."

"I'm really impressed. Forget it, let's open the map first. We need to find people first. I'm really thirsty and hungry right now and need a place to rest."

Looking at the ruins all around, the mentally exhausted Sun Jack felt numb.

"Understood. User request received. Searching for map."

Sun Jack sat on the ground, looking at the Robot in front of him. As he watched, he suddenly burst out laughing. "I should give you a name. It doesn't seem right to keep calling you Robot."

As soon as Sun Jack finished speaking, he heard the other party's sarcastic reply.

"Ah. No trouble for you. My wise and mighty master has given me a name. What the heck, is this troublesome thing my name? Look at this name, how well it's been chosen."

After speaking, it didn't forget to pop up a matching emoticon from its eye display. ‎(◔‸◔)

"Wasn't the situation urgent before? How about this, your company is called Taipai, right? How about you just call yourself Taipai?"

"Ah~ I think it's better if I go, am I mistaken? This is too troublesome," Taipai said, putting down the repaired beginner's arm, refusing to give up.

"Why are you so stingy? I already said the situation was urgent."

However, this time, Taipai didn't retort. His tone suddenly became serious.

"Jack, I'm afraid there's trouble. I just discovered that the views on this map are increasing rapidly. Many people know that something fell from the sky. They are all navigating and locating here, and they will be here soon."

"Oh?! Isn't that even better?" Sun Jack was ecstatic. He could finally meet people from this world. If there were people, he could be saved.

"I'm afraid it's not good." The Robot grabbed Sun Jack and started to walk.

"Are you saying they'll study me, a person from a thousand years ago? Will they slice me up?"

"No, they'll kill you. Forget about the old world. The rules of the current world have completely changed. If we calculate according to the rules of our old era, the mercenaries who rush to pick up scraps first are all Cyber Maniacs."

"All maniacs?"

"Yes, all maniacs."

"Why? Are they really that dangerous? Can't even communicate at all?" Sun Jack asked somewhat unwillingly.

"What happened in the last era made the people of this era completely distrust AI. All AI intelligence is stuck below Level 3 Strong AI. This means that some things that should have been done by robots now have to be done by humans, such as war."

"Under the arms race, in order to enhance the strength of soldiers, some weapons that were previously only found on robots began to be installed on humans. They call this thing 'prosthetic bodies' and directly install neural systems in their brains for unified control. As old soldiers continuously retired, this trend gradually began to spread from the military to civilians."

"What does this have to do with maniacs?" Sun Jack wiped the rain from his face with his hand and flicked it forcefully to the side.

"Because this kind of modification is not that simple. Gradually, prosthetic bodies are no longer limited to weapons and have begun to develop towards services."

"As long as you have enough money, you can modify your stomach, not need to eat or excrete, and directly install a nutrient box. You can even modify the ascending reticular formation of your brain and not need to sleep at all, being energetic 24 hours a day."

"Isn't that even better? Is the current technology so advanced? I even want to get a set." Sun Jack was tempted. Is this the future world?

"Yes, this is indeed better, but if you don't even need to eat or sleep, are you still human? As the differences grow, some people gradually stop considering themselves human and begin to lose empathy. They think they are a higher existence. They call themselves Cyborgs, but the public calls these people Cyber Maniacs."

"In fact, it's not just a cognitive issue. Mercenaries are like rats in the city, specializing in eating corpses and doing dirty work. They can't use the latest technology."

"Rejection reactions and phantom limb pain from second-hand or ill-fitting prosthetic bodies. Many people also use drugs and inhibitors to suppress them, so even without cognitive issues, their mental state is not good under the influence of drugs."