What Is an Obsession?

Xie Ran Studio was unrivaled for a time.

The news outside spread like wildfire, but Xie Ran, at the center of it all, did not care in the slightest and simply shut his doors to visitors.

However, shutting his doors clearly did not bring him any peace.

Xie Ran sat on the apartment sofa with one hand propping up his cheek, staring expressionlessly at the phone on the table.

Meng Feixuan's voice kept coming from the phone.

"Sir, I've gone viral!"

"Oh-ho, Quest Technology valued me at eight hundred million. Trash! They couldn't recognize cutting-edge tech if it hit them in the face!"

"Someone actually compared me to that Nangong Xu? Has he lost his mind? Wait till I hack his computer and plant some viruses!"

Xie Ran lowered his eyes. "If you keep picking up all that nonsense, I'll insert some viruses into you."

A metallic sound resembling a sharp intake of breath came from the phone.

After a moment, Meng Feixuan said, "I've installed antivirus software!"

Xie Ran: "..."

That was definitely his system.

Author's Note: Meng Feixuan: Don't underestimate artificial intelligence's IQ!

Xiao Ran: Cut off the internet.

What Is an Obsession?

Meng Feixuan's arrival finally let Xie Ran learn why he had transmigrated.

It turned out that Xie Ran had unexpectedly fallen unconscious in his original world. After being sent to the hospital, it was discovered that his brain activity was already extremely weak, and he could suffer brain death at any moment.

Coincidentally, the day Xie Ran fell unconscious was also the day Zhuzi Technology announced to the public that it had successfully replicated biological Consciousness Atom Clusters.

In other words, within the scope permitted by law, Zhuzi Technology could replicate and preserve biological consciousness—that is, memories.

Thus, after discovering that Xie Ran was likely to suffer brain death, Meng Feixuan immediately copied Xie Ran's consciousness in an attempt to preserve it. However, an error of unknown cause occurred during the copying process, producing a quantum superposition phenomenon that caused Xie Ran's consciousness to appear across multiple worlds.

Perhaps because some of his information resembled that of Xie Ran in this other spacetime, and because the original host had been unwilling to accept his original life, the Consciousness Atom Cluster's energy was especially intense. It drew Xie Ran's consciousness over and fused with it, creating the phenomenon of "transmigration."

"So, I announced that we could replicate consciousness, and then I suffered brain death." Xie Ran lowered his eyes, smiling without really smiling. "What a coincidence."

Meng Feixuan's tone turned serious. "The one terabyte of TV dramas stored on my server tells me this is absolutely no coincidence."

"..." Xie Ran decided to pretend he had not heard about Meng Feixuan storing TV dramas on his server and continued, "What's the situation now?"

Meng Feixuan said, "We're urgently correcting the program, but this is the first time we've encountered this sort of accident, so we can't resolve it immediately. I was worried about you, so while they weren't paying attention, I secretly entered the superposition state..."

Fortunately, Xie Ran had changed the virtual idol's name to Meng Feixuan, giving him an additional marker to search for amid the vast multitude of parallel space-times.

At this point, Meng Feixuan let out a long breath, his tone full of lingering fear. "Good thing I'm a program."

Otherwise, he would not even have known where to begin in tracking down Xie Ran's consciousness.

Xie Ran's expression remained unchanged as he gave a quiet "Mm."

Having confirmed the situation in his original world, Xie Ran gained a clearer understanding of his current circumstances.

It seemed that if he wanted to return to his original world, he would not only have to wait for the program there to be repaired, but also separate his consciousness from this world's Xie Ran.

"His Consciousness Atom Cluster is so intense because he has an obsession," came the sound of a snap from the phone as Meng Feixuan said, "following the usual plot, we need to eliminate his obsession. That should calm down his Consciousness Atom Cluster."

Xie Ran did not change his posture, only lifting his eyes slightly. "What does an obsession look like?"

The phone screen instantly went dark, and Meng Feixuan's little speaker fell silent.

In his original world, Xie Ran had a nickname: "Human-Shaped AI," because he was intelligent enough and rational enough.

But the outside world only knew half the story.

Only Meng Feixuan knew that Xie Ran's rationality went beyond ordinary rationality. He had been born with an emotional deficiency and could not empathize with the outside world.

Clearly, "obsession" had touched upon a gap in Xie Ran's knowledge.

After a while, the phone lit up again. A search page appeared on the screen, displaying Baidu's definition of "obsession."

The phone spoke in a stubborn voice. "Sir, please feel it with your heart."

Xie Ran: "..."

There was no reaction at all.

"Looks like it's time for me to step up." Meng Feixuan's tone was solemn. "Don't worry, sir. I'll do my best to teach you."

An AI teaching a person about emotions—was this the second-to-last student teaching the last student, or the last student teaching the second-to-last?

He was certainly confident for someone at the bottom of the class.

Xie Ran neither agreed nor disagreed. Just then, the phone rang.

Xie Ran looked up. With Meng Feixuan there, he did not need to do anything; the phone automatically answered, and Guan Shunan's voice came through. "Xiao Ran, the filming schedule for Somewhere Else with You has been finalized. I've sent you the documents. Take a look."

Somewhere Else with You was Snowball Satellite TV's flagship variety show. Its main premise was inviting friends from the entertainment industry to go on long trips together and complete various missions. With its high production quality, its ratings had always been good, making it a resource many celebrities competed for.

The original host had previously signed many collaborations with Fang Huiwang. Besides appearing together on New Year's Eve, they had also taken on this variety show together.

In the original host's memories, he and Fang Huiwang had already reconciled by this point. They interacted intimately on the show and successfully reignited the popularity of the Wangran couple pairing. Ironically, after the original host's sexual orientation was exposed, the show became evidence Fang Huiwang's fans used to accuse him of sexually harassing Fang Huiwang.

Thinking of the press conference incident that had just ended, Guan Shunan hesitated before asking, "Xiao Ran, do you still want to go on the show with Fang Huiwang? If you've changed your mind, I can negotiate it. Our studio isn't short on money now, and the penalty for breach of contract isn't a problem..."

After Meng Feixuan's stunning debut, Xie Ran Studio's valuation had soared. Large numbers of venture capital firms were also lining up at their door with money in hand. To put it bluntly, their studio was now miles ahead of the entire entertainment industry.