Birth (Part 2)

Because Little Apple doesn't have to go to school now, she often chats with Xiang Kun on WeChat during the day, asking him about computer knowledge. She has now been genuinely guided by Xiang Kun to develop a love for computers.

These past few days, when Li Yang went home, he often saw Little Apple chatting with Xiang Kun, and after listening in for a while, he was quite surprised.

He could tell that Xiang Kun was trying his best to impart knowledge and to help Little Apple understand how computers work. Although he felt that learning these things was not very meaningful for Little Apple, he was happy to see it happen since Little Apple was enjoying it and was interested in it.

After meeting Xiang Kun today and watching him teach his daughter directly, Li Yang could clearly feel his eagerness to teach her, which deeply moved him.

He could tell that Xiang Kun really cared about how well Little Apple was learning, whether she understood, and whether she had mastered the material. As a teacher himself, he could understand this desire to impart knowledge and resolve doubts very well.

Little Apple to learn this skill for her own good, since Xiang Kun didn't benefit from it at all. So Li Yang silently accepted the favor.

In addition, the exquisite three-piece wood carving set he gave to Little Apple this time made him feel that he needed to find an opportunity to return the favor.

"Uncle Xiang's hearing is probably better than mine," Little Apple suddenly said.

Li Yang was taken aback, looking at his daughter with some confusion. He knew very well how good his daughter's hearing was; how could Xiang Kun's hearing be even better than hers? That seemed unlikely.

Little Apple recalled, "When I used to tell you, Uncle, or other people about the sounds I heard, you would often say that you didn't hear some of them. But when I chatted with Uncle Xiang, he could hear almost all the sounds I heard, and he could even tell me some sound details that I couldn't quite make out."

Li Yang recalled their first meeting with Xiang Kun, the bald man walking barefoot on the mountain path, and his younger brother's assessment of Xiang Kun back then. He couldn't help but say, "Xiang Kun must have been training his hearing specifically, right?" He guessed that Xiang Kun's previous trips into the mountains might have been a special form of training, and walking barefoot was perhaps a way of tempering his will or something.

Little Apple nodded and said, "Uncle Xiang is very capable."

Li Yang also agreed with his daughter's judgment, especially after Xiang Kun's family for meals twice.

It's already quite remarkable for someone to have a relatively professional hobby outside of their career, given that everyone's energy and time are limited.

While Xiang Kun is an excellent cook, he is also a skilled woodcarver and raises canaries exceptionally well. His ability to interpret the meaning behind the canary's chirping is comparable to that of Little Apple, which is truly remarkable. Moreover, it's clear that Xiang Kun exercises regularly, which also requires a significant investment of time and energy.

"Little Apple, how about we buy a canary to raise when we get back?" Li Yang suddenly said to his daughter. He had seen the genuine joy on his daughter's face when she played with Xiang Kun's canary, "Gold Glitter," and he wanted her to feel the same way when she got home.

Of course, the best option would be to bring "Gold Glitter" home, but Li Yang knew how much effort Xiang Kun had put into that canary, and even asking about the price would be impolite; Little Apple wouldn't agree to it either. So, if they were to keep it, they would have to buy another one.

Little Apple hesitated for a moment after hearing her father's words, clearly tempted, but ultimately shook her head gently. "No, I can just go to the park outside our neighborhood when I want to hear birdsong. Many of them 'recognize' me now. I bring birdseed there, and they fly over. I can barely take care of myself, let alone keep a pet. It would only trouble Dad and Aunt Yang."

That night, Xiang Kun used one of the Motherboard Wooden Carving he had given to Little Apple to successfully trigger her dream.

This dream was the same as the several times Xiang Kun had "observed" in the past; there were no images, and his vision was filled with nothingness.

Familiar voices faintly reached his ears, explaining various computer hardware knowledge. Xiang Kun listened for a moment and knew it was his voice, which seemed to be sped up, like a 2.0X version of himself speaking, giving it a strangely comical feel.

Oh dear, it seems a little embarrassing to make Little Apple "take lessons" in her dreams?

However, the emotions Xiang Kun Emotional Injection this time were "interest" and "focus." The fact that Little Apple could hear his "lecture" while in this emotional state proves that she is indeed interested in this knowledge.

Xiang Kun began to skillfully use Little Apple's unique cognitive methods in his dreams to perceive his surroundings, trying to find the projection of "Emotional Injection"—the "interest" and "focus" he felt while making the wood carving this time stemmed from his early curiosity and enthusiasm for computer hardware, as well as his recent dedication to the "AI assistant project." Judging from past experience, this emotional projection should be the image of the computer hardware that Xiang Kun imagined during "Emotional Injection."

Xiang Kun's purpose was to use the unique cognitive methods in Little Apple's dream to observe those possible "models".

However, after sensing the surroundings, Xiang Kun discovered that Little Apple was in what appeared to be an abandoned "city".

Calling it a "city" doesn't quite seem right, because in her understanding, the various "buildings" around her, whether tall or short and of different shapes, don't look like normal houses at all.

Then he heard his own voice, now accelerated. "Little Apple, look at these capacitors. Their function on the motherboard is twofold: one is filtering, to remove interference, and the other is coupling, to transmit signals. As for how they do it, what the principle is... let me give you an example..."

Xiang Kun then suddenly realized that the place in Little Apple's dream was not a "city" at all, but a huge motherboard that resembled a city!

The enormous "structures" of varying shapes that Little Apple perceived were actually components of the motherboard. She had constructed them based on her previous touches and her understanding. No wonder Xiang Kun, relying on her perception, couldn't determine what they were, as they were quite different from the actual enlarged appearance of the motherboard.

Xiang Kun suddenly thought of something, and with the help of Little Apple's senses, he tried to "find" the source of the accelerated sound. Then he "sensed" a "person".

It is described as a "person" because, in Little Apple's perception, it has a head, a torso, hands, and feet; its shape is indeed that of a person, and it is making sounds towards Xiang Kun.

But through Little Apple's perception, the "person's" entire body seemed to be made up of all sorts of circuit boards, with complex circuit connections inside. There was an invisible space outside that "framed" all of them within the "person's" body, and in that space, one could feel a large amount of code constantly surging, including machine code like 010101, as well as assembly and C language formats, all sorts of things, a mess, but one could vaguely sense that there was a strange logical connection between these codes.

When Xiang Kun came to his senses, he found that the dream had ended and there were images in front of him again, no longer the void where he could see nothing.

But his mind was still immersed in that "person".

He now realizes that the "person" who accompanied Little Apple in her dream, guiding her through that "motherboard city" and explaining various computer knowledge and principles in Xiang Kun's fast-forward-style voice, was the projection of his "Emotional Injection" into that wooden carving.

Little Apple, in her dream, used her unique cognitive patterns to create a special model for that "person"—a model that doesn't exist visually, but is constructed in her cognition.

Xiang Kun believed that if someone else's dreams were triggered by that "Motherboard Wooden Carving," the emotional projections appearing in those dreams would definitely have completely different images, or they would simply be the normal Xiang Kun and various computer parts.

Xiang Kun sat blankly in the chair, once again feeling like he had "grabbed something," and this time he held onto the "tail" of that feeling tightly, refusing to let go!

If anyone were watching, they would definitely think Xiang Kun was possessed, because he just sat there blankly, petrified, motionless, not even blinking, for an hour, two hours, from late at night to midnight, from midnight to dawn, and from midnight to sunrise.

When "Gold Glitter" flew over to "greet" as usual, Xiang Kun finally moved. He swept the wood, carving knives, and various books and documents that were originally on the table onto the floor, then pulled over the keyboard and started configuring the computer environment. However, he felt something was wrong halfway through, so he switched to one of the mainframes he had bought for the project with Director Lin.

A few hours later, Xiang Kun moved all three desktop computers and one laptop from his home to the living room, and moved his computer desk out of his room and placed it next to the dining table so that he could easily switch between the computers.

Then he went to JD.com and bought some peripherals and computer parts. He then immersed himself in a concept he had come up with earlier, and he wanted to try to realize that concept.

For the next few days, Xiang Kun basically sat in front of that row of screens, sometimes frantically typing code, sometimes rubbing his forehead in deep thought, sometimes for one or two hours at a time, and then continuing to frantically type on the keyboard.

Two nights later, Xiang Kun sensed one of the three wooden carvings from Little Apple's side again and entered her dream once more.