The Internet Erupts

[He panicked, he panicked, he panicked.]

[What a coward. He didn't dare face them head-on and just ran away?]

A media representative could no longer hold back and stood up, shouting, "Xie Ran, are you running away at the last minute?"

Just then, the lights onstage flickered abruptly, and a clear young voice with a faint metallic texture suddenly rang out. "Sir, is that you?"

Xie Ran halted and turned around. Everyone else instinctively looked toward the source of the voice as well.

Meng Feixuan, who had originally seemed somewhat dull and wooden, suddenly moved. He tilted his head toward Xie Ran.

His movements were smooth and natural, carrying a trace of innocence, yet entirely lacking the stiffness and sense of purpose of programmed motions. He seemed like a real person.

Looking at Xie Ran, he blinked and continued uncertainly, "The Consciousness Atom Cluster arrangement is highly similar to yours, sir..."

For the first time throughout the entire press conference, a flicker of surprise appeared on Xie Ran's unruffled face. "Mark?"

Meng Feixuan's eyes lit up at once, and a brilliant smile spread across his face. "It's me, sir."

"I finally found you."

Those words seemed to flip a switch. The light around Meng Feixuan abruptly changed, as though real flesh and blood had suddenly been added to a two-dimensional frame. The rough, flat animation quality rapidly faded away, and he swiftly became real, natural, and three-dimensional. Even each strand of his fluffy hair became distinct.

His features were bright and exquisite, and his eyes held a gleam that only humans possessed.

With both hands casually tucked into his pockets, he stood tall in the center of the stage, gazing across the distance at Xie Ran.

Just like a real person.

No, it could almost be said that he was a real person.

He had come alive.

Media: ?????

Netizens: [????????]

Author's note: Meng Feixuan: It's me, the legendary AI top.

The Internet Erupts

Mark had been Xie Ran's AI assistant in his original world—an artificial intelligence that had not yet undergone the Turing test, but was passionate about studying human behavior and possessed an exceptionally strong drive for self-learning.

System

For instance, Mark believed that, as a native Huaxia system, he should have a Chinese name. So he used the system to generate one for himself: Meng Feixuan.

On a whim, Xie Ran changed the name of his studio's virtual idol to Meng Feixuan.

He had not expected Meng Feixuan to cross over with him.

Onstage, the boy, seemingly brought back to life by magic, stood tall and slender as he looked at Xie Ran beneath the steps, his expression bright and vivid.

Below the stage, every gaze and camera turned toward Meng Feixuan. Whether they were at the venue or watching the livestream, everyone stared at him wide-eyed in disbelief.

This was way too realistic!!

If they had not witnessed Meng Feixuan's transformation with their own eyes, they would have almost suspected that Xie Ran Studio had hired a real person to fool them.

How was this possible?!

How on earth had they done this?!

For a moment, the entire venue fell collectively silent. Even the livestream comments instantly thinned out. At that moment, everyone's minds were blank.

Amid the silence, Meng Feixuan was the first to speak. He tilted his head slightly, as though thinking something over, and muttered to himself, "Ah, I understand."

Then he put on an enlightened expression and gave Xie Ran a knowing smile. "So, sir, I'm your artist now, right?"

Xie Ran laughed. He knew that Meng Feixuan's brief moment of thought had actually been him analyzing the venue's surveillance data and system data, swiftly sorting out the current situation.

Meng Feixuan was his best assistant. He had never made Xie Ran worry.

Xie Ran nodded. "Yes."

Only after receiving his confirmation did the boy lift his chin, turn around with calm composure, and wave at the media below the stage. Then he tilted his head slightly and, incredibly, locked precisely onto the livestream camera.

His eyes curved into crescents as he looked through the lens directly at the netizens before their screens. "Hello, everyone. I'm Meng Feixuan, an artist from Xie Ran Studio. I'm very happy to meet you all."

He even knew how to act cute.

The boy's voice was clear with a faint metallic edge, instantly jolting the dazed audience awake.

The entire internet exploded.

[He's looking at me, he's looking at me, he's looking at me!! Aww, I'm dead.]

[He's virtual?? I don't believe it, I don't believe it. He looks completely real!!!]

[He's so cute!!!!]

[With a thump, Xiao Ran, do you think my kneeling posture is standard enough?]

[[shocked.jpg] So Xie Ran really might be able to change the domestic virtual idol landscape...]

[The person above, be more confident. Remove "might"!]

Not only had the comments been stunned into incoherence, but countless people behind those comments were left dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events.

At Ambition Studio's launch event, Nangong Xu was still singing and dancing onstage, but the media below had already begun to stir.

These media outlets had remained in close contact with Xie Ran Studio's event and had learned about the situation there at the first opportunity. Once they heard about Meng Feixuan's astonishing transformation, they could no longer sit still.

Anyone could see that Nangong Xu no longer had any news value. Today's headlines would undoubtedly belong to Xie Ran and Meng Feixuan. If they had not been mindful of future cooperation with Ambition Studio, half the media would probably have already left.

Backstage, Ni Le slumped onto the sofa in disbelief, muttering, "Impossible, impossible..."

Fang Huiwang and Kuang Youfang were equally pale.

Even though they did not understand technology, they could tell with their naked eyes that Meng Feixuan's technology was far beyond anything Nangong Xu could compare to.

Just as Ni Le had said earlier, audiences only understood what they could see.

And the transformation Meng Feixuan had just displayed was already enough to crush Nangong Xu.

"How could this happen?" Fang Huiwang's eyes looked ready to split as he stared straight at Kuang Youfang. "What do we do now?"