Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 134

Song Lengzhu’s words forced Tang Yu to take the matter more seriously. She had initially thought it was simple: tell Jian Che about the computer, let her tinker with it, and perhaps uncover something. But after Song Lengzhu’s reminder, Tang Yu suddenly realized that Jian Che was also in danger.

Then she remembered that Chaos could modify in-game values. Although it was unclear how extensive its authority was, the possibility that it could neutralize Jian Che couldn’t be ruled out.

Tang Yu’s expression grew grave. Song Lengzhu was silent for a moment before slowly asking, “When Jian Che uses the computer, may I be present?”

Song Lengzhu was seeking Tang Yu’s opinion.

Tang Yu hesitated for a few seconds. She had no reason to refuse Song Lengzhu’s proposal; Song Lengzhu had also played a part in obtaining the computer. But she was afraid Chaos would suddenly pop up and say something shocking or strange again.

Moreover, Tang Yu vaguely sensed Song Lengzhu’s excessive concern for Jian Che. She even had a sliver of suspicion that Song Lengzhu’s true purpose for staying behind was to ask this final question.

But Tang Yu still gave an “OK” gesture. She took out a pen and paper and wrote, “I plan to find Jian Che in a bit.”

So, Song Lengzhu didn’t return to her own residence. She followed Tang Yu into the small, three-story Western-style house.

It was already past midnight, but no one present felt the least bit sleepy.

Tang Yu brought her teammates and Song Lengzhu to her room, explaining the origin of the computer and what had transpired. Song Lengzhu filled in the intelligence obtained from Lin Zhongqi. Everyone received the same message: something outside the normal rules had appeared in the game. Whether Chaos was a service-type AI remained questionable.

Tang Yu shared selected parts of her conversation with Chaos with her teammates, while Xiao Li dutifully translated for Tang Yu and Jin Ye.

Finally, Tang Yu said, “Although it only used text to communicate with me, I could feel its tone and malice. It has emotions.”

“It’s strange. An AI like this doesn’t seem to be a service-type. AIs that provide services to humans and engage in production are de-personalized. They have computational and judgment capabilities, but they can’t have emotions. They need to provide information objectively and impartially, like our system interfaces and smart butlers. Compared to a service-type, it’s more like an NPC-like individual AI. But, it can also modify game values, which is a contradiction.” Jin Ye pointed out the problem, arriving at the same conclusion as Song Lengzhu. “So either it’s lying and deceived Lin Zhongqi, or it is indeed a higher-level service-type AI that has broken the rules and turned into something else.”

In the interstellar era, service-type and production-type AIs had extremely strict emotional limitations. Emotions were a terrifying thing. Imagine if a smart butler developed emotions like concealment or jealousy—an interstellar citizen’s home would fall into complete chaos.

Jian Che, who had been listening quietly, suddenly asked a question, “What about someone like me?”

Jin Ye and Song Lengzhu turned to look at her at the same time.

“Someone like me is also considered artificial intelligence, right? An artificial intelligence that, once given initial functions and commands, can automatically evolve emotions and react to players based on personality and experience. I don’t fall into the category of service-type and production-type AIs you mentioned. In your world, what is my classification?” Jian Che’s expression and statement were both very calm.

Jin Ye opened her mouth, hesitating slightly, but still spoke bluntly, “You belong to entertainment AI. Its application is strictly regulated and used in games, artistic creation like text and images, film, and as companion pets for certain emotional needs.”

In other words, this type of artificial intelligence was specifically used to provide emotional value.

“I see.” Jian Che accepted this answer calmly.

Tang Yu was a little confused. “So in the interstellar era, AI applications are already very widespread, but a situation like Chaos has never occurred?”

“Very widespread. On the capital planet, almost all production, transportation, and daily life are products of artificial intelligence, like the simplest fully automated hover cars, communication rings, and even the holographic game we’re in,” Jin Ye said. “It’s not that loopholes haven’t appeared. Uncontrolled AI incidents have often occurred during technological development, which is why there are more interstellar laws regarding AI than for humans. But strangely, there have been no large-scale AI rebellion incidents in history.”

Song Lengzhu spoke up silently, “Because in times of peace, general-purpose strong intelligent entities are forbidden. Almost all intelligent entities on the capital planet are weak or medium-level. Their learning environments and capabilities are relatively singular.”

Tang Yu looked completely bewildered, indicating she didn’t quite understand.

Song Lengzhu paused. “Let me give you an example. Transportation vehicles and smart butlers are intelligent entities from two different fields. The commands and sources they receive are predefined. A butler won’t learn to handle traffic operations, and the transportation system on a hover train won’t learn to do housework. This is a quasi-vacuum learning environment deliberately created for them by humans. In this environment, they cannot communicate with each other, so they lack the conditions for a joint rebellion.”

Just like how NPCs in a game can only exist within the game and cannot come into contact with artificial intelligence outside of it.

“But Chaos… you all need to be careful. I have a feeling it’s beyond my scope of understanding,” Song Lengzhu added abruptly.

Xiao Li was translating enthusiastically but was completely lost. Tang Yu was the same. She had no concept of it in her mind and couldn’t personally relate to the environment Jin Ye and Song Lengzhu were describing. But Jian Che seemed to have absorbed every single word.

Jian Che opened the laptop on the desk and turned her head to ask, “So, my mission is to find a way to communicate with Chaos and confirm its identity?”

“More or less,” Tang Yu said, nodding from her seat on the bed. She added, “I’m not sure if it will harm you. If you don’t want to, then don’t.”

“I want to try,” Jian Che said.

Song Lengzhu looked at Jian Che and sighed. “The consequences could be severe. Don’t be reckless.”

Jian Che didn’t answer. She simply reached out and pressed the computer’s power button.

A startup notification appeared on the black screen. Ten seconds later, a bright green desktop was revealed. The desktop only had the Recycle Bin and This PC logos. Other than that, there was no floating screen; it was just an ordinary laptop.

Jian Che opened the file explorer and found the computer was empty, with only the system taking up basic memory. She tried toggling the option to show hidden folders but found nothing hidden either.

“Huh? Could it be related to the location?” Tang Yu’s eyes darted around. “Come on, let’s go check the special room.”

The group moved, carrying the computer, to Lin Zhongqi’s residence.

But the computer remained an ordinary computer, giving no feedback.

“It’s hiding.” Jian Che scanned the room and suddenly uttered this sentence. She pulled out a chair, sat down at the desk, moved her fingers on the trackpad, and entered administrator mode.

The others gathered behind Jian Che, craning their necks to watch. They couldn’t understand how to use the laptop; this ancient Earth tool was different from their own, let alone these hidden operations.

The administrator editor box popped up, and Jian Che began typing lines of code on the screen, the white letters stark against the black background.

At first, Jian Che was just typing information normally, but at some point, her typing speed accelerated. The room was filled with the clattering sound of keystrokes. Letters and symbols continuously appeared on the screen, and soon, the entire screen was filled with incomprehensible code.

The others held their breath, staring for three minutes until Jin Ye frowned and said, “How is content appearing on the screen faster than she’s typing?”

Her reminder made Tang Yu realize it was true. Jian Che wasn’t pressing that many keys. The dazzling symbols were appearing almost without sequence, scrolling up a long way in just a few seconds.

Some of the characters were not typed by Jian Che.

Realizing this, Tang Yu quickly turned to check on Jian Che’s condition. Jian Che’s face was ghastly pale, and fine beads of sweat had formed on her forehead. Her face, reflecting the computer’s glow, showed only her eyes darting left and right, while her fingers were practically creating sparks with the keyboard.

Tang Yu thought to herself, “This is bad.” Without anyone noticing, Chaos had launched an attack. This attack didn’t seem to exist only in the computer; it was also reflected in Jian Che. Her lips were deathly white, but her ears were growing redder. The thin layer of sweat on her body quickly condensed into large drops, trickling down her cheeks and into her collar.

“She seems to have a fever.” Zhou Zhou, who was closest to Jian Che, paled. She placed her hand near Jian Che’s cheek and felt scorching hot skin.

Her body temperature was far beyond the normal range, well over 40 degrees Celsius.

Zhou Zhou decisively grabbed a pillowcase from the bed, wet it in the bathroom, and then, avoiding Jian Che’s line of sight, placed it on her forehead. “Damn it, I wonder if physical cooling can beat a magical attack.”

Jian Che’s actions were completely unaffected by Zhou Zhou. Her eyes were wide open, staring unblinkingly at the screen, her fingers never stopping for a moment. She could no longer perceive the outside world.

“No, this is too dangerous.” Tang Yu reached for the power button. She felt that with the programming education Jian Che had received, she couldn’t possibly contend with Chaos.

But Song Lengzhu stopped her. “It’s too late. Don’t disturb her.”

Tang Yu felt the temperature in the entire room rise by several degrees. She was also growing hot from nervousness and worry, but this wasn’t a physical fight; she couldn’t help at all.

Xiao Li frowned and grabbed a book from the shelf to fan Jian Che. She said worriedly, “Jian Che is like a computer mainframe overheating from overload.”

Indeed. If her head could produce smoke, white mist would be rising from it by now.

Fanning and physical cooling methods were completely ineffective. Jian Che’s face grew redder and redder. The content on the screen had scrolled through countless rounds, and at some point, the screen full of white text had turned entirely red, filled with a sense of warning.

Ding. A sudden computer alert sound interrupted Jian Che’s rhythm. Everyone turned to look. An “Error!” pop-up warning had suddenly appeared on the screen, followed by a cascade of countless more pop-ups, almost covering the entire screen. The unnerving alert sound played continuously, making everyone’s heart pound like a drum.

“What’s happening? What’s happening!” Xiao Li asked in a panic. Who knew who set this damn alert sound; it was making her scalp tingle.

But Jian Che didn’t answer her. Her movements didn’t change at all. Her hands on the keyboard only paused for a fraction of a second when the pop-ups appeared, but then she immediately resumed typing. Her view was obstructed; Jian Che shouldn’t have been able to see what she was typing. She was completely blind-typing now.

Tang Yu had a strange feeling. The current Jian Che probably wasn’t using her own knowledge to fight Chaos. She might have tapped into the power of her own core code. The letters they saw were merely the surface of this duel.

She even felt that Jian Che’s consciousness was no longer here.

Just as Tang Yu’s mind was racing, the light overhead snapped off, plunging the entire room into darkness.

With the disappearance of the light source, Jian Che’s hands suddenly froze above the keyboard. Her entire body entered a strange state of stillness, even her eyeballs stopped moving.

In the darkness, the floating screen Tang Yu had seen before appeared once again above the computer.

“I win.” Three bright white words appeared on the screen, hanging right above Jian Che’s head.

Everyone was frozen in place.

Zhou Zhou quickly checked Jian Che’s breathing and the pulse in her neck, finding almost no signs of life. “Jian Che!” Zhou Zhou called out softly, her voice filled with disbelief.

Anger and regret surged into Tang Yu’s mind. She hadn’t expected the outcome to be this severe.

Giving them almost no time to react, another line of text appeared on the floating screen: “Now, it is mine.”

“What do you mean!” Tang Yu growled through gritted teeth, only to see the seated Jian Che suddenly blink. Her eyes came alive, a docile smile on her lips, and her arms fell naturally to the desk, but she was completely deaf to Zhou Zhou’s calls.

In an instant, Jian Che seemed to have become a different person, no longer the gloomy, reserved little girl.

“Exactly what you see.” Chaos’s words appeared on the floating screen, striking a heavy blow to everyone’s defenses.

Only Song Lengzhu said very calmly, “It seems her data has been reset.”

No, not just reset. Chaos was controlling her.

Song Lengzhu’s expression was grave. “It’s best to kill her now. If you’re unwilling to do it, I will.” She twisted her wrist, revealing the golden dagger in her palm.

Tang Yu finally understood why Song Lengzhu had warned her repeatedly and why she had insisted on coming along.

Seeing Song Lengzhu draw her dagger, Xiao Li grew a little angry. “You knew this would happen?”

“I didn’t know it would be this severe,” Song Lengzhu said. “But I came prepared.”

She pushed Xiao Li aside, only to be blocked by Zhou Zhou, who stood in front of Jian Che.

“Miss Song, Jian Che hasn’t done anything yet. I think we can observe a little longer.” Zhou Zhou looked troubled. She wasn’t normally so indecisive, but Jian Che was her student. No one could easily accept seeing someone close to them killed.

Song Lengzhu looked up at the floating screen. The blinking cursor seemed to be enjoying the show, jumping and cheering.

She finally put away her dagger, tacitly agreeing to Zhou Zhou’s proposal. She just took a silent step back and warned Tang Yu, “I think you should stay away from her.”

The moment Song Lengzhu finished speaking, the floating screen flickered, and then Jian Che shot up from her seat, tore the pillowcase from her forehead, and whipped it toward Tang Yu’s neck with incredible speed.

Tang Yu had been on guard since Song Lengzhu’s warning. She quickly retreated and then kicked Jian Che hard in the abdomen.

A fifteen-year-old’s body couldn’t withstand such a heavy blow. Jian Che fell back into the chair, bending over and coughing violently.

Now, everyone was finally certain that Song Lengzhu had been right.

But Song Lengzhu didn’t make another move. She secretly breathed a sigh of relief. From that blow, she realized Jian Che was still limited by her physical strength and hadn’t launched a particularly powerful attack. The little girl was still just a fifteen-year-old. It seemed Chaos didn’t have the ability to directly boost her stats.

This was an optimistic outcome, indicating that Chaos was still weak.

Zhou Zhou no longer felt any pity. She acted decisively, pressing down on Jian Che’s shoulders and pinning her firmly to the back of the chair. “Tang Yu!” Zhou Zhou signaled for Tang Yu to act.

Jian Che was no longer their precious teammate.

However, the restrained Jian Che suddenly tilted her head back and called out with teary eyes, “Teacher.”

“Don’t call me Teacher. The Jian Che I know wouldn’t cry and whine,” Zhou Zhou said, not loosening her grip in the slightest.

“Because it hurts.” Jian Che bit her lip, forcing the tears back. It was impossible to tell if the drops sliding down her forehead were tears or sweat; they all disappeared into her collar. It really hurt. Her whole body was in pain, not just her stomach where Tang Yu had kicked her, but her arms and brain felt like they had been seared by fire.

She no longer smiled. She didn’t look at Zhou Zhou anymore, but past Zhou Zhou’s shoulder at the floating screen.

The history on the floating screen was still there. Jian Che glanced at the three words at the top, then suddenly blurted out, “You didn’t win. I did.”

Everyone present was stunned again. What was going on?

The cursor on the floating screen began to flash urgently. After a long moment, a line of text appeared: “I see. You deliberately exposed a vulnerability.”

“That’s right, I did it on purpose,” Jian Che said. “Otherwise, I couldn’t have devoured your code.”

“Nice move.” The floating screen flickered twice and disappeared, looking like a defeated soldier in retreat.

Only then did Jian Che shift her gaze back. “Teacher, my shoulders hurt.”

“Ah.” Zhou Zhou quickly released her arms. “Oops, my apologies.”

But as soon as she let go, she felt it was too rash. Could this be a play put on by Chaos and a blackened version of Jian Che? So she pressed down again and quickly rattled off a sentence: “Boat, moon, triangle, pea.”

Jian Che: “Big, small, head, hook.”

“Alright, you pass.” Zhou Zhou completely let go. Jian Che had correctly answered the mnemonic for identifying the wrist bones that she had taught her that morning. This had to be Jian Che.

“What does that mean? What’s going on?” Xiao Li clutched her head and wailed, “Can someone please explain it to me?”

Tang Yu also gathered around. Jian Che had indeed returned to her usual self. Her face was still flushed from the high fever, but she was no longer smiling that docile smile. The corners of her mouth were turned slightly down, making her look a bit gloomy—Jian Che’s signature expression.

Jian Che moved her shoulders. The adults’ stares made her uncomfortable. She quickly explained, “My offensive capabilities are weak, but my repair abilities are very strong. After realizing I couldn’t beat Chaos, I automatically lowered some of my defenses and devoured its invading code. It just took some time to repair.”

“I almost killed you.” Song Lengzhu didn’t hide her previous actions. “I’m sorry. I didn’t expect you to be so reckless.”

Jian Che pursed her lips and accepted the apology. “I understand.”

“So did you defeat Chaos?” Xiao Li asked.

“No, I only acquired a part of its code. I couldn’t find its core code. It’s hiding again now.” Jian Che sat up and closed all the warning pop-ups one by one, revealing the input box underneath.

“I found some information. Chaos is indeed a built-in service-type AI, but it doesn’t serve the players. It serves the game itself.” Jian Che moved the mouse, revealing a piece of code. “It’s a part of this game, set in this room. With this room as its center, it manages and services the fundamental scripts for this map area. The interactions and events in this region are all built and controlled by it.”

“But,” Jian Che continued scrolling the page, highlighting a line of red letters, “by design, it’s not supposed to interfere with players or interact with them in any way. This is a high-priority, hard command. The only reason for this anomaly is that it has also mutated—in other words, it’s a bug, just like me.”

Song Lengzhu asked, “Did it mutate recently?”

“No, that’s the strange part. I can’t find any trace of its mutation. And, it doesn’t have a core code. It’s like an incomplete program.”

“Incomplete?” Tang Yu let out a sound of surprise and pulled the eyeball out of her pocket, handing it to Jian Che. “Could it be that the seven map sections don’t mean there are seven Chaoses, but that one Chaos is split into seven parts?”

Xiao Li relayed Tang Yu’s words to the others, then slapped her forehead. “Oh, right! Is that why this Chaos is so weak?”

Song Lengzhu also took out her eyeball, turning it over in her hand. “That’s a possibility, but the eyeball we found in the other special room didn’t interact with us… well, I think there was just one warning. I believe it’s weak now not because it’s divided, but because it’s only just begun to evolve.”

Xiao Li asked, “So can we kill it? Strangle it in its cradle.”

Jian Che: “I can’t do that right now.”

Xiao Li: “Not even if we destroy the computer and this room?”

Jian Che: “Its main body is here, but it exists anywhere on the map. If it’s really divided into seven parts as you say, just blowing up the room probably won’t work. It will repair itself again.”

“Then we’ll just have to blow up the game,” Zhou Zhou said astonishingly. “Haha, but that’s impossible, right?”

Indeed, even if every player in the game held a bomb, they couldn’t blow up the entire map. Besides, Chaos seemed to be targeting only Tang Yu, and now Jian Che. Other players would have no reason to help. Only Tang Yu would be hurt.

Song Lengzhu handed her eyeball to Jian Che. “This might be some kind of information storage device, like the computer. Take a look.”

Jian Che took the two eyeballs and looked at them for a while, then shook her head. “I don’t know how to read it.” Unlike an operable computer, there was no way to interface with the eyeballs.

Song Lengzhu: “Then you hold onto them. Maybe you can find a way to decipher them.”

Jian Che put away the computer. “I’ll look into it again.”

Zhou Zhou ruffled Jian Che’s hair. “But don’t be so reckless again.”

“Okay,” Jian Che agreed, then looked up and said, “Also, about your language problem, I might be able to find a solution in this computer.”

Tang Yu and Jin Ye both turned to look at her, their faces filled with anticipation.

“The future of our family is counting on you.”