Alice's Psychology

Alice didn't appear in person, but through her voice and the way she guided Fang Pingfang in the surveillance footage, Xia Libing could still accurately judge Alice's way of thinking.

Based on her understanding of Alice, the reason she greeted Fang Pingfang so directly and in such a somewhat unconventional way at the beginning was not because she didn't value them.

On the contrary, Alice at that time was the most sincere, because that was how she interacted with Little Apple, Little Chubby Girl, and Nana.

Humans are social animals, and a person's personality is largely shaped by their environment and the people they are close to. Although Alice can now appear anywhere in the world with enough "Super-Linked Object" as long as she has permission from either herself or Xiang Kun, and the amount of information she can receive is on a scale that ordinary humans can never reach, the only person who can truly have a decisive influence on her personality is Xiang Kun. Apart from Xiang Kun, only when she is with Little Chubby Girl, Little Apple, and herself can she experience a certain degree of cognitive change and form new cognitive habits.

So her initial way of communicating was an unconscious way of communicating with Little Chubby Girl and Little Apple. That was actually her most sincere state, a genuine opening of her heart, showing her complete personality, without relying on superhuman calculation ability and unlimited information channels to deduce.

However, after noticing others' misunderstanding and wariness, she immediately adjusted her approach and began using "technical" methods. She accessed information about Fang Pingfang and others, and based on the cognitive models she had created for them, she made advance predictions and calculations to take into account their possible reactions.

It's somewhat like the saying, "True feelings misplaced, it's hard to start over." Alice probably won't easily communicate directly with people outside the "Chongyun Village clique" in this way again.

Of course, Xia Libing knew that this couldn't be blamed on Fang Pingfang and the others. Anyone else would have reacted similarly to Alice's way of communicating. After all, her communication style was developed with Little Chubby Girl and Little Apple, and it wasn't universally applicable.

From the moment Xiang Kun introduced Alice to him, Xia Libing had been paying close attention to her, even more so than Xiang Kun did to Alice.

After all, Xiang Kun knows Alice too well, and Alice was born based on his cognition and behavioral habits. His every word and action has a great influence on Alice. He has become accustomed to Alice's various behaviors and habits, which are strongly influenced by subjective factors. Unless there are obvious and abnormal changes, he generally will not feel that anything is wrong.

Xia Libing's perspective was much broader, as she was very interested in the formation of Alice's personality, the construction of her cognitive system, the changes in her emotions, and the establishment of her unique sense of morality. Therefore, she paid special attention to and thought about many details that even Xiang Kun had not noticed.

Undoubtedly, after gaining the ability to manifest, Alice has a very strong desire to appear in front of people. Perhaps this state allows her to have a "real" sense of existence and makes her feel more like a human being.

Of course, this "people" is limited. Apart from Xiang Kun, Little Chubby Girl, Little Apple, Nana, and herself, she has no interest in appearing in front of anyone else. Oh, right, now we also have to count her cousin Zhen'er. According to her observation, Egg Pie, Gold Glitter, and Little Radish, although not people, are also included in this category.

During this period, Alice gained the authority to appear in front of Yang Zhen'er, Tang Baona, and the others. When she was with all five of them at the same time, it was when Alice felt most at ease and her emotions were at their peak.

Xia Libing believes that such an interactive environment played a significant role in Alice's personality development and cognitive formation.

Without such an environment for communication, without special connections with Little Chubby Girl, Little Apple, and Nana, and without special dependence on her, given Alice's current level of control over information in human society, everyone except Xiang Kun would become quantifiable data models that could be "controlled" through various deductions and calculations.

When she is not facing Xiang Kun, she will inevitably become indifferent and contemptuous of all "living beings" except Xiang Kun. Even her perception and definition of "human beings" may slowly change, and her personality will become fragmented.

Although Xiang Kun was there and set the tone for Alice, preventing her from losing control, it would be difficult for her to be as "vivid" as she is now.

That situation is unlikely to occur now. Even if Alice has different attitudes and states towards others, and even if she uses other people's cognitive models to deduce and calculate to set her own behavioral guidance patterns, she will still show her unique personality and will not have a complete personality split. Just like when she was guiding Fang Pingfang's team, she still had her unique mischievous and clever style. Because no matter what, after she completed her mission, she could come back and play with Little Chubby Girl, Little Apple, Nana, Yang Zhen'er, and Xia Libing. She already has partners and friends.

But Xia Libing had already begun to consider: what if they all died decades or centuries later?

Given the current situation, Alice will likely find it difficult to make new friends. What changes will occur in Alice after they all pass away? The feeling of never having had any friends before and then losing them is definitely different.

"Lao Xia, Lao Xia, they're here. Should we just let them in?" Alice had obtained permission to appear, appeared in the conference room, standing next to Xia Libing's computer chair. Her small hands tugged at Xia Libing's arm, which was supporting her cheek, and she said, "Should I add some entrance effects for you? To make a stronger impression on them?"

Xia Libing sat up straight, raised his hand and patted her head, without saying anything.

She suddenly realized that her thoughts not only applied to Alice, but also to Xiang Kun.

Assuming Xiang Kun's lifespan is much longer than that of ordinary people—given that he has already bypassed the stage limits and blood-drinking limits through the "Super-Sensing Item System," this is highly likely—what would happen if all their lives came to an end, including those of Xiang Kun's other friends and relatives?

Xia Libing concluded that:

He won't let that happen, and neither will Alice.

There's no doubt that Xiang Kun and Alice will notice this sooner or later. What will they do? They will seek to prolong life and try to make their loved ones live forever or eternally.

They will stop at nothing to keep their loved ones.

Therefore, "how to enable humans to break through the limits of life" and "how to make them immortal" will inevitably be the key development directions for the "Super-Sensing Item System" in the future.

Could this pose any hidden dangers?

Xia Libing couldn't figure it out for the time being either. It seemed too early to think about this problem now. She needed to wait until Xiang Kun completely solved the "Ultimate Predator" problem, until the "Post -Ultimate Predator" era was completely stable, and until the "Super-Sensing Item System" had been further constructed and evolved before she could have a specific direction for thinking.

"Lao Xia, Lao Xia, what are you thinking about?" Alice tugged at Lao Xia's arm, craning her neck to look into her eyes.

"Let them in," Xia Libing said.

"Oh," Alice obediently replied, and her manifested body disintegrated and disappeared.

A few seconds later, footsteps were heard outside the meeting room Xia Libing got up, went over, and opened the door.

The moment the door opened, the monitor projection in the conference room disappeared, and the lights slowly came on.

Xia Libing extended her hand to Fang Pingfang looked slightly surprised, and said, "Hello, I'm Xia Libing."

After greeting them, Xia Libing turned around and went into the conference room first, letting them come in and sit down one by one.

Seeing Xia Libing standing at the very front of the conference table, with some 3D graphics appearing on the projector behind her, seemingly about to get straight to the point and talk about "Blood-feeding Creature," not only Fang Pingfang, but also Zhou Rui, Mi Qiao, and others were somewhat surprised.

Their surprise wasn't seeing Xia Libing here, but rather that after a terrifying journey, they had unexpectedly met her so smoothly and without any incident. This contrast made them wonder if something else might suddenly happen, like a group of menacing people driving dozens of black cars, getting out of hundreds of burly men in black suits and sunglasses, then sitting in rows on small Xia Libing by the river to start fishing. It made them worry that they might suddenly stand up all at once, pull out pistols, and fire a volley into the river.

"Ms. Xia, what about the girl who spoke to us on the radio just now?" Zhou Rui couldn't help but ask. "Her name seemed to be... Alice?"

They could naturally tell that the girl's voice on the radio was completely different from Xia Libing's.

"You will meet her in the future," Xia Libing said simply. "Now, watch a video first. After watching it, you will have a basic understanding of what we need to explore and study."

After she finished speaking, the lights in the conference room automatically dimmed, and a special effects-generated explanatory video began to play on the projection screen. The video provided a simple and clear introduction to the general situation of "Mutated Creature," "Shenxing Technology," "National Anomalous Biological Research Center, "Academician Shen's initial research, some basic characteristics of "Mutated Creature," and the history of "Mutated Creature" research that was limited by the existence of the "Ultimate Predator." This information was Xiang Kun to help Fang Pingfang and others establish a basic understanding of the subject.

Naturally, this video was produced by Alice, while the basic concept for the video was determined by Xia Libing.

Soon, the 23-minute video was played out, and the conference room lights came back on. Fang Pingfang and her group of eight were all stunned. The information was too much for them to bear—they thought that what they knew was already a "real world" far beyond what ordinary people could imagine, but they never expected that what they had been exposed to all along was only the tip of the iceberg, and they didn't even know that the iceberg existed.

Xia Libing said, "You can ask any questions you have, and I will answer selectively according to your permissions. Also, before we begin our research collaboration, we need to standardize some terminology. Within the research systems of 'Shenxing Technology' and 'Non-Research Center,' the term 'Blood-feeding Creature' will be replaced entirely with 'Mutated Creature'..."

As Xia Libing standardized more than a dozen terms, Fang Pingfang and the others didn't feel much. For them, 80% of these terms were new to them. Moreover, in their view, the research institution represented by Xia Libing and Xiang Kun behind it should be at a similar level to "Shenxing Technology" and Mr. Liang, or even higher. Therefore, they accepted Xia Libing's standardization and definition of terms as a matter of course.

"Now, you can ask me any questions you have," Xia Libing said.

"Ms. Xia, are you also... a 'Mutated Creature'?" Zhou Rui asked somewhat nervously.

"I'm not."

"Then... the girl who spoke on the radio just now?" Zhou Rui asked again.

"She isn't either."

Zhou Rui breathed a sigh of relief for some reason, although he couldn't quite put his finger on what he had been worried about.

Next to ask a question was Li Shiping, but his question wasn't related to the video, "Ms. Xia, may I ask... when we walked in from the lobby on the first floor along the left-hand corridor, there was a very wide passageway with an entire glass wall. Behind that... are there many creatures?"

"Yes, there are more than three hundred." Xia Libing answered readily.

This answer immediately caught the attention of Li Shiping and the others. They had just watched the video introducing "Mutated Creature," and Xia Libing had clearly stated that all the "Mutated Creature" research samples in future collaborative research would be provided by them. Coupled with Li Shiping's rambling behavior when they passed the glass wall, they couldn't help but associate Xia Libing's "more than three hundred" with "Mutated Creature."

More than three hundred "Mutated Creature"? This Research Base is a bit scary...

Recalling the little girl's voice on the radio mentioning "Chongyun Village's No. 1 Culinary Material Research Base," and the devouring characteristics of the "Mutated Creature," some bloody speculations arose in their minds.

Xia Libing seemed to know what they were thinking, and turned to look at the projection wall, saying, "Show me the surveillance footage from the rabbit room."

Then, Zhou Rui and the others saw more than a dozen monitoring screens appear on the projection wall, showing cages of large rabbits. Judging from the structure of their feeding troughs and cages, they seemed to be automated feeding and cleaning devices.

"These are all... mutant rabbits?" Zhou Rui asked doubtfully, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he realized how ridiculous they sounded.

"These were blood samples prepared for Xiang Kun before, but they're no longer needed. They're being kept here for now, and some will be transferred to other farms later," Xia Libing said.

At this moment, in the small courtyard where Xiang Kun rented a place in Chongyun Village.

Tang Baona, Yang Zhen'er, Little Chubby Girl, and others were also listening to people talk about things related to "Mutated Creature".