An Artificial Intelligence was actually sulking with the person it was meant to assist.
Lin took a deep breath. The taste of seawater still lingered in his mouth as he said to Mei, "Mei, remove Prometheus from my system. Her personality system has evolved to the point where she no longer needs to work with people."
An Artificial Intelligence that would not accept orders... was unnecessary.
"The Intelligent Tree Structure is indeed quite complete. Its simulation level is approaching perfection." Mei checked Prometheus's readings. What Lin had said was true. Prometheus's current judgment capabilities had surpassed the very concept of Artificial Intelligence itself. She could be called a new intelligent lifeform born from data, one that also possessed the overwhelming computational power of Artificial Intelligence.
To reach this level in such a short time... was it because Prometheus's evolution logic was exceptional, or because of Lin?
Judging from the lone peak soaring above the rest on the data graph, there was probably no need to consider any other possibility.
Lin held the helmet's data transfer cable out before Mei. All she needed to do was use her Creator Authority to transfer Prometheus's entire system into another vessel, and the separation would be complete.
But Mei pushed the cable away.
"..." Lin stared at Mei without a word, waiting for an explanation.
"Prometheus Unit 1 was only ever a prototype Artificial Intelligence. I intended for her to absorb your combat data and evolve, then develop Prometheus Unit 2 based on Unit 1's data and install it into Fire Moth's Autonomous Weapons." Mei showed no nervousness under that frightening gaze. She leisurely lifted her teacup and took a sip. "Development of Unit 2 is already on the agenda, so there's no need to take Unit 1 back from you. She can already assist you."
"That's not what we agreed on."
"There's no difference. Didn't you hear what Unit 1 said at the time? She would learn and improve, but that doesn't mean the Prometheus assisting other soldiers would be her."
"..."
A Linguistic Trap.
Mei had arranged all of this from the very beginning. From the first words Prometheus had spoken to Lin, it had been a trap Mei had set, waiting for him to step into it.
"I don't need an Artificial Intelligence that won't obey orders." Lin finally voiced what he truly thought.
"But judging from the outcome, her judgment was correct." Mei put down her teacup, gathered the strands of hair behind her ear, and smiled. "And this time, Lin, without Prometheus, your operation would have been much more difficult, wouldn't it?"
"...In the past, you would have used numbers and probabilities."
"But I don't think those things are particularly useful on you."
After watching the calm and composed Mei for a while, Lin withdrew the transfer cable.
Mei had changed at an unimaginable pace since entering Fire Moth. The once shy, plain girl now exuded the aura of someone in a high position.
Perhaps this was what she was meant to be like. Or rather... what everyone hoped she would become.
Lin walked out of the office, and Kevin caught up with him. Having remained silent the whole time, he grabbed his friend's shoulder and hesitantly said, "Lin, you..."
"Kevin, you've become rather quiet." Lin turned around and spoke before he could.
Kevin froze for a moment, then let go.
That was right. In the past, he should have been joking and laughing with Lin, making a few harmless jokes. Whenever the three of them were together, the atmosphere should have been relaxed and pleasant.
But after the Fifth Branch Incident, he seemed to have begun standing behind Mei, silently watching everyone.
Like Mei's shadow.
Just now... had that really been the atmosphere of a conversation between friends? Would Mei have smiled like that before?
Kevin withdrew his hand. His pupils flickered as he softly said, "You too, Lin."
Lin looked at the downcast Kevin and said, "Do you remember when I went out on that mission at Fifth Branch? I met Su."
"Su?"
"He was investigating Changkong City, but I stopped him. He's a doctor now."
"A doctor... that's good too."
"Don't let more people 'change,' Kevin."
Lin patted Kevin's shoulder, just as he had in the past, but the meaning it carried this time was entirely different.
That Insignificance
Lin had never lain in a hospital bed. After leaving the Repair Pod, he had directly gotten into a wheelchair and skipped ahead by over a month.
After finding the room number, he pushed open the door. The patient's injuries were not particularly severe. The most serious was still the fracture Lin himself had inflicted. But considering the amputated limb and mental trauma, he had still been assigned a private room.
The room had good ventilation and its own Air Circulation System. A bouquet of carnations, freshly replaced by a nurse, sat on the bedside table, bright and lovely. Sunlight spilled in through the window, spreading a thin veil of light across the room.
Lin carried a fruit basket to the bedside and placed it on the table. The person on the bed leaned against his pillow and quietly watched him.
"I never expected you to be the first person to visit me. This is truly... interesting." Spasi left what remained of his arm outside the blanket. Mei's surgical skill could not be considered exceptional, but it was precise enough. The removal of his forearm had not affected the normal movement of the remaining half of his limb.
Compared to the madness of their last meeting, Spasi was far more normal now. His long hair had been groomed, restoring him to the image of a refined and courteous doctor. Only his still-pale complexion revealed that he was not in good condition.
Lin pulled over a stool and sat down. "The fruit basket is from Mei. She's too busy to get away, so I came in her place."
Spasi covered the back of his head with one hand and burst into loud laughter. "Hahahaha, right. How could you possibly come of your own accord to visit the enemy who killed your wife?"
"..." Seeing that his smile did not seem fake, Lin thought for a moment, then asked, "Do you still want to fight me?"
"Forget it. Even if I fought you, I'd only end up covered in injuries myself." Spasi shook his head and shifted back slightly, sitting higher as he looked toward the light on the windowsill. "Besides, now that you've asked, who could still bring themselves to do it?"
"Sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?"
"..."
"After waking up, I thought about many things. I thought all the way back to the day I met Karen, and then to SiZhi's birth. Oh, right. That day, we had planned to celebrate at the restaurant where Karen and I first met."
A light filled Spasi's eyes, and a gentle smile spread across his lips. "You would never have guessed it. The first time I met her was also her birthday. I had just finished my graduation thesis and hadn't eaten all day. I randomly found a restaurant, and I was so hungry that I could barely see straight. I didn't realize the place had been reserved for a birthday celebration."
"I thought the restaurant was holding some kind of event, so I sat down and started stuffing myself. The birthday girl was sitting beside me then, curiously watching this stranger barge into her party. It wasn't until I noticed how quiet it was around me that I looked up and met her eyes."
Thinking of that awkward yet fated moment, Spasi could not help laughing. "Perhaps meetings between people are simply that wonderful. Who would have thought that an ordinary science student on the verge of fainting from hunger would end up with the girl whose birthday feast he had crashed?"
Lin was quieter than ever. Afraid of disturbing the man's memories, he committed every word Spasi said to heart.
"After that, many things happened. I joined Fire Moth, and she came with me. Then she became pregnant and gave birth to SiZhi. From then on, my life had two more important people in it. It was also from SiZhi's birth onward that my once rigidly rational way of thinking began to change."
"Why can life be so miraculous? The birth of a new life is an insignificant part of this world, yet it is also an indispensable one. A lifetime from birth to death is simply a collection of miracles."
"Can you understand that?"
Lin nodded.
"I hope so." Spasi might have thought Lin was merely humoring him, but he did not care. "From someone who had nothing, to someone accompanied by two incomparably important women, the flaws in my humanity were slowly filled in during that process."
"So now, do you feel like you've lost your humanity again?"
"Hm? No, no, how could that be?" Spasi gave a comfortable chuckle. "Do you know how Karen evaluated you when she spoke to me about you?"
"..."
"A great life, no different from any other human being."
Spasi spoke as though talking to himself. "At first, I thought you were a machine program without emotions. But after recalling Karen's words, I think I understand your thoughts."
"You do not treat any individual human as something special. To you, all humans are equal. You possess love, hatred, joy, and sorrow just like anyone else, but beneath that equal-minded way of thinking, your choice of what is 'correct' far outweighs your choice of 'self.'"
"Simply put, you diminish the self. You're an absolute altruist."
The carnations drooped on their stems.
Spasi could not help bursting into laughter. "This is truly too fascinating. An altruist was interpreted as a selfish killing machine, and to truly understand you, one actually has to begin from the philosophy of life."
"So, you still haven't answered my question." Lin gently shook his head.
"Wasn't that my answer? I interpreted you through the philosophy of life, meaning that humanity is the foundation. That's why I understood that when you fired that shot, it was so I would have someone to hate and vent my anger on, so Kevin would not carry a psychological burden. A cruel act, yet its purpose was for the sake of others. This really is..."
"...You don't need to pretend you no longer hate me."
"Of course I hate you!" Spasi suddenly gritted his teeth and growled. "So what if I know all that? Even if I know everyone was helpless at the time, even if I know I was acting like a madman and making unreasonable trouble, even if I know your 'rationality' was absolutely correct, so what?!"
"I wanted to shift my hatred onto the people who attacked Fifth Branch, but they told me that person had already been executed! So what am I supposed to do? Live freely and generously from now on? Carry my dead wife's will and my daughter's love, then bury the past? What kind of joke is that?!"
"Can human emotions really disappear just because of the word 'correct'? Can they disappear just because you're an altruist acting for others' good? Can my urge to smash your head open really be stopped by those things?!"
Spasi's voice grew louder and louder, even alerting the nurse. The door was pushed open from outside, but Lin waved a hand to indicate that there was no need to interfere.
"But... I still don't want to kill you..."
His voice fell.
"At that time, everyone was helpless. But if only I had developed a serum to cure Honkai Sickness before then."
"If only I had discovered that Fifth Branch had been infiltrated."
"If only I... had died one step earlier."
Spasi covered his face, and tears slid down his loose skin.
"Every human life is equally great..."
"But I failed to protect my 'insignificance.'"
Tears fell into the light.
Miss Vill-V's Invention
"Asimov proposed the Three Laws of Robotics: a robot may not harm a human individual, a robot must obey human orders, and a robot must preserve its own existence so long as doing so does not conflict with the First and Second Laws."
"Artificial Intelligence and robots are not the same, but these three laws can likewise be applied to Artificial Intelligence to restrain them from harming humans."
Lin gripped the control levers with both hands. His fingers lightly touched several buttons, bringing up the unit's information as he questioned the supposedly absolutely obedient Artificial Intelligence close at hand. "Didn't Mei set these three laws for you?"
This time, the voice appeared directly in his mind. "Doctor Mei established the Three Laws, while also adding a Zeroth Law above them: humanity's collective interests must be protected from harm. At that time, the priority of protecting Lin was higher than Ritter. Ritter was an individual who harmed humanity's collective interests, so I could not execute the order."
"..." Lin closed his mouth and began familiarizing himself with the various controls, which differed from last time, tacitly accepting Prometheus's explanation.
In truth, with a bit of thought, one could find a flaw in Prometheus's words. At the time, they had not known Ritter would do such a thing. Based on his previous behavior, he was more likely to abandon Lin and flee. And compared to everyone in The Deepest Place, Lin's priority could not be considered higher.
But Lin did not continue questioning her. Since Prometheus was brushing aside his question, there was no point in continuing to ask.
Prometheus's mechanical female voice echoed in his mind. "Simulation scenario: Changkong City. Neural Connection confirmed. Ten, nine, eight... two, one. Simulation begins."
Climbing out of the cockpit, Delta waved at him while holding a device. "Thanks for your hard work. Calling you in on your day off again... ah, no, wait. It seems you don't have days off."
Fire Moth did indeed have one day of leave each month, but Lin had never taken leave. He spent all his time on missions and training, which was why Delta said he did not have a day off.
"It's fine." After stepping aside to let the Research and Development Department staff member enter, Lin took the coat from the rack and put it on.
"The main body is nearly complete. All that remains is continuous testing and modification. We can finally take it easy for a while." Delta knocked on the large metal shell and grinned. "It's always been simulations. You must be getting tired of them too, right? Soon, you'll be able to pilot Titan for real."
"..." Lin adjusted his cuffs, picked up the miniaturized system and placed it over his ear. The Contact Lens in his eye displayed the information interface. He silently nodded.
"...I've wanted to ask since the moment you came in. Why are you dressed today..." Delta stroked his chin, his gaze turning meaningful. "Like you're going on vacation?"
And not merely a vacation. Dressed this neatly... was he going on a date?
"Hehe, so this kid finally gets it too. Makes sense. You haven't rested for months since the Third Honkai War, and after only a little over a month, you've been constantly on missions until today." Delta unceremoniously draped an arm over Lin's shoulder, leaned close, and whispered in a lecherous tone, "Who is it? Who is it? Elysia? I remember you two came together at the last ball..."
"Stop asking."
Lin shook off his hand, leaped down from the maintenance platform, then dusted himself off and left the Research and Development Department.
"Well, even this kid has a private life now. Really..." Delta sighed and shook his head.
"Captain, yesterday's Mission Report is complete."
Immer, whom Lin encountered on the way, reported as they walked. Over the past few months, Immer had spent even more time running around with Lin than Hua had. He worked diligently and understood how to follow orders. If more people joined the squad in the future, Immer would likely become Lin's second-in-command.
Immer's Mission Report appeared on the interface before Lin's eyes. After spending a little over two seconds reading the detailed report, Lin nodded at Immer.
The report was over nine thousand words long. It had taken Immer nearly a full day to write it, and only Immer himself knew how much effort it had cost. Yet he did not doubt for a moment that Lin could finish it almost instantly. He believed that if he asked Lin which line any sentence appeared on, Lin would be able to answer.
"Alright, then today's mission... Hm? Captain, are you heading out?" Like Delta, Immer had noticed Lin's unusual attire from the beginning, but he assumed Lin was simply wearing casual clothes for once. When Lin walked right past Squad Seven's Combat Lounge today, Immer finally asked hesitantly.
After submitting the report, Lin gave a simple response. "Yes."
"Is there some Confidential Mission?"
"No. Today is my vacation."
"...Vacation?"
"Vacation."
"Wait, Captain." Immer seriously stopped Lin. Taking out his communicator, he dialed the cafeteria. "Hello, this is Immer from Squad Seven. I would like to request an investigation into whether the food provided yesterday had spoiled... Yes, the captain is showing symptoms of Mental Instability. Please handle this seriously..."