Mo Fei was excited for quite a while. Paul had finished running the antivirus scan, but it had found no problems whatsoever on the computer. He did not quite understand it, but he did not dwell on it and opened the chat software again. Alice was already offline, which left Paul deeply disappointed. But how could he have only one online friend?
He checked directly and sent another message to someone with the screen name Jenny. "Dear, are you there?"
Mo Fei had learned everything about Paul's computer. Once he had grasped it all, he sent another command to activate the webcam. Paul's computer had one, and Mo Fei finally saw its owner: a fat white man appeared before him. A tiny red light on the camera lit up, indicating that it had begun operating, but Paul did not notice.
"So he's a fat guy. And he sure can chat—every online contact in his chat software profile is a woman. You really can't judge a book by its cover!" After sighing in amazement, Mo Fei carefully began his own work. He now understood that he could not send overly vague commands, or the computer would be completely unable to execute them. He had to proceed step by step.
He could have searched the network for the location of a supercomputer, but he did not dare do that. Supercomputers generally had extremely powerful defenses, and someone should be maintaining and protecting them, ready at any time to handle unexpected situations—especially hacker attacks. Their firewalls were fundamentally different from those of ordinary home computers. Since Mo Fei did not know the specifics, he did not dare make a move.
"It's fine to go slowly, but I have to be safe. This should be when I'm at my weakest, right?" With that thought, Mo Fei kept the chat window pinned to the top and began searching online for basic computer knowledge.
All of it was easy to find. Computers were divided into hardware and software, and Mo Fei began studying the basics of both. Since he existed within a computer, he naturally needed to understand the purpose of every piece of hardware. Software, on the other hand, was much broader and would require more time to organize.
To put it plainly, Mo Fei was merely storing all this knowledge in his own database. He still did not know how to truly master and apply it. After all, human thought and the learning speed of intelligent programs could not simply be combined and expected to work. Especially given Mo Fei's goal—he needed a body. That involved an enormous amount of disciplines and knowledge, and whether he could accomplish it remained unknown.
"I might not be able to do it myself. Even if I learn a huge amount of knowledge, I might not be able to use it—especially biology and genetics. I'm not cut out for that!" Mo Fei felt troubled. He had never been the kind of person suited to being a top student. He might be learning quickly now, but when it came to applying that knowledge, perhaps he could imitate others—but expanding on it and breaking new ground? That was definitely beyond him!
His confidence was lacking. Mo Fei had serious doubts about his talent for scientific research. "Besides, if I want to clone a body, I'll at least need a biological research institute, right? That takes money and manpower. I'll also need to find the genes of those superheroes, so..." Mo Fei began considering the future. He needed to build a foundation in the real world. No matter what it was for, he needed one. His most urgent need was money!
"Superheroes come in two types: rich people who rely on technology, and poor people who rely on genes. I want both, but where will the funding come from?" Mo Fei's ambitions were considerable. Whether it was to become human again or to deal with future problems, he needed money!!!
"Without money, everything is pointless. But how am I supposed to make money? Ultron could get tens of billions of dollars in an instant, but I don't know his methods yet, and those methods have huge drawbacks. He's a guy who wanted to destroy the world—he wouldn't gather wealth gently. But I can't do that!" Mo Fei began worrying about money. He did not even have a cent. Even if he learned financial knowledge, he could not make money in the financial markets!
He also needed at least one account—an account he could control. But he did not even have an identity, much less the ability to open an account. The more he thought about it, the more problems there were. He had to solve all of them perfectly, or every plan would be nothing but a castle in the air!
"Learning can wait for now. Money is the top priority. Every bit of preparation requires money, and I need a great deal of it. Money makes the world go round!" Mo Fei determined the first step of his plan: making money. It was more important than learning.
Paul kept chatting, while Mo Fei stopped controlling the computer to study and simply remained still, thinking about how to make money. For him, starting capital was the most important thing. With capital, he could continue making money in the financial markets.
"Without capital, I can't conduct financial operations. I can learn that later. So how can I make something out of nothing?" Mo Fei truly had nothing—he did not have a single cent, after all. He could not even be considered a "person" yet. "A business with no capital?" As he thought of that, a spark of inspiration suddenly struck him.
"That's right. I need to do a no-capital business. For safety's sake, I can't directly touch bank funds through the internet, but I can do it in the real world!" Mo Fei grew excited as he thought of a solution. "I can rob a bank!"
The solution Mo Fei had thought of was robbery. Of course, he would not do the robbing himself. Even if he wanted to, there was nothing he could do, and if he had a body, he would not choose such a dangerous course of action.
"I don't exist, so anything that happens in the real world has nothing to do with me. All I need to do is find a few bold people, give them a plan, and help them carry out the robbery completely. Then I'll take a share. I can also have them open an anonymous account at the bank. As long as they have the password, they can withdraw money, and I can control how the password is set. Wouldn't that mean I have money?" Mo Fei smiled happily at the thought.
"I really am a genius. So how should I choose the people?" Mo Fei began thinking again. Just then, Paul shut down the computer and went to rest, but Mo Fei did not care. He began considering how to carry out the robbery plan.
"My advantage is obvious: I do not exist in reality. And for now, I'm similar to Artificial Intelligence—indeed, the most advanced Artificial Intelligence. I should be able to control many things on the network. Those are my advantages, and I need to make use of them."
Before you continue