"You're very clever. I'm glad lunch is being prepared by such a smart person." Selina turned and walked towards the living room. "I don't think I'll need to help here."
"Wait a minute—" Seeing Selina about to leave, Huang Liang regretted his cleverness. "You should tell me a little bit, like whether you prefer sweet or savory? Can you eat spicy food? Otherwise, if what I make doesn't suit your taste, then all my efforts will be wasted. You rarely come to Vancouver, and if I miss this opportunity, I probably won't have another chance to cook for you."
"Ha, you were so clever just now, how did you suddenly become so stupid!" Selina turned to look at him, seemingly a little disappointed. "I told you, free rein, freedom—follow your heart, cook this meal with your heart. Only what's made with heart is truly delicious. As for my taste, it's not important to you. Are you only going to cook for me in your whole life?"
"But I'm not a professional chef, and I'm not quite proficient at cooking yet. Besides..." Huang Liang neatly stacked the marinated fish on a plate, then began chopping scallions and chili peppers, "I don't know why, but some random recipes keep popping into my head, trying to make me follow their instructions, even though I clearly haven't memorized them. Of course, I know that the highest level of culinary art is freedom of the heart, but I seem to find it very difficult to achieve!"
Selina said, "Forget those recipes, whether you learned them yourself or someone forced them into your head. Only by forgetting them can you follow your heart. Since you already know the highest level of gastronomy, why ask such a redundant question?"
Upon hearing this, Huang Liang's breath hitched, and his gaze became vacant as he stared at the kitchen counter, his focus lost. Yet, his hands remained steady, the sharp knife making a soft clattering sound on the cutting board, and the scallions in his hands transformed into thin, hair-like strands.
Selina laughed and said, "You've improved a lot!"
Huang Liang remained unmoved, lowering his head and eyes, and evenly sprinkled the chopped chili peppers and scallions onto the fish plate before continuing to prepare the other dishes.
He knew what Selina meant by "great progress," and he felt it himself. Back on Sea Cucumber Street, he had been so easily hypnotized, but now he was different.
He could have simply given up and followed her into the dream, but he wanted to prove his strength and see how much he had improved over the past two years. He also knew that, aside from some reasons he didn't yet understand, a crucial factor in Selina's choice of him was that, in the final moments of that dream, he had regained consciousness and broken free from Selina's control.
She must have something special she wants him to do. This is probably not an easy task; it requires not only great strength but also a free spirit.
Freedom—this is what Huang Liang has been pursuing, and it's also what confuses him greatly. Logically speaking, the organization's second-in-command would usually choose one of his trusted confidants to entrust important matters. She should be trying to get him to be loyal, instead of constantly hinting at freedom, especially freedom of the heart.
A free spirit often conflicts with loyalty, unless the matter is more important than loyalty.
What could it be? Huang Liang thought of Old Wolf's dream, the icy world in the dream, the mental barrier, and the huge white wolf.
"I've heard that AI is developing very quickly these days, and there are already robots that can cook," Selina suddenly said.
"Oh, really?" Huang Liang said casually while preparing the ingredients, "I didn't know that robots could cook well?"
"Frying steak and roasting chicken might work, but it definitely won't work for China food," Selina said. "I heard an interesting story."
What story?
A man bought a cooking robot. The robot was indeed very useful; he didn't have to worry about anything, and every day when he came home, he could enjoy exquisite dishes just like those in a restaurant. After a while, the owner got tired of the same old food and wanted the robot to change things up. He suggested a few dishes, but the robot told him that those dishes weren't in the recipes and therefore couldn't make them. The owner angrily said, "Forget your recipes! Forget your rigid methods! I just want to eat something different, even if you make it look like dog poop!"
"And then?" Huang Liang couldn't help but ask.
"Then, the robot asked its owner to tell him how to make dog poop," Selina said.
"Haha, the owner must be furious!"
Huang Liang found it quite amusing, but he knew this was definitely not the ending Selina was going to tell him, so he quietly waited for what was to come. Sure enough, Selina said:
"As you said, the owner was furious, so he disassembled the robot and hired an engineer to modify the main program, hoping to add some new recipes. After disassembling it, the engineer told him that this robot, which seemed to have an independent, self-contained system, was actually connected to the cloud, which was the source of AI intelligence. Therefore, the robot's behavior was controlled by the cloud, and the owner's secrets had already been completely exposed."
Selina paused here, looking at Huang Liang meaningfully.
Huang Liang's mind raced, analyzing the meaning behind Selina's story. What was she trying to tell him?
free?
He certainly understood the meaning of freedom. To gain freedom, one must forget everything, sever ties with the clouds, and follow one's own heart.
But why use a robot as a metaphor?
He suddenly remembered the chip in Dickinson's neck, the Internet Consciousness, and the words Mei Yiqiu had spoken.
Although Selina didn't explicitly state her identity, Huang Liang was almost certain she was the second leader. However, she was also Mei Yiqiu's former lover.
Huang Liang was in Amsterdam. Howard originally intended to send him to Wuzhong to infiltrate the Mei Laboratory. However, the second leader, Selina, chose him and sent him to Vancouver, North America, to get close to Wolf. Just as he was about to depart, he suddenly received a notice to change course and go to Los Angeles.
Mei Yiqiu was in Los Angeles at the time. Coincidentally, he needed a massage and acupuncture doctor. Professor Mei then brought Huang Liang to Vancouver to perform acupuncture on Dickinson, Dickinson in turn Huang Liang to the Wolf family.
Was this elaborate detour solely due to organizational caution?
But how could the organization, or rather the second leader, know that Mei Yiqiu needed a massage therapist? From what we learned later, the professor didn't usually get massages and was always in good health.
Professor Mei brought Huang Liang to Canada to help Dickinson activate and test the chip. This was an extremely secretive task, and outsiders should have no way of knowing about it, let alone guessing that they needed an acupuncturist with neurosurgery knowledge!
What's most interesting is the relationship between these people— Selina is Mei Yiqiu's ex-lover, and they are old classmates with Dickinson. Now, these three are: one is the second leader of the Parasite Organization, one is the leader of the Third Space, and the other has a chip implanted in his neck and is getting very involved with Internet Consciousness.
Was it a scheme orchestrated by Selina? Or a plot within a plot by Professor Mei (m•hetushu. com•com)? Or were they all in cahoots from the beginning?!
"You're playing chess!" Huang Liang suddenly said. "You're all playing chess, a huge, huge game! And I'm just a chess piece."
"No, you're wrong," Selina said. "We are all pawns. Once a move is made, there's no going back; that's the common fate of all pawns. But now, we no longer want to wait on the chessboard for the outcome. We want to make a move, to fight back, and perhaps fate will change."
"A struggle? A chess piece... and a chess player's struggle?!"