Surviving the Game as a Zombie - Chapter 143

The livestream, now managed by a proxy AI, was more boisterous than ever. A myriad of topics flashed across the screen, noisy and chaotic, like a pot of continuously boiling water. The popularity value displayed in the top-left corner had soared to two million within two days, doubling its previous number.

Some people were calling for the livestream operator to come out and manage the spammers and the troublemakers stirring things up, but the operator was nowhere to be seen.

Xiao Zhao’s workstation was empty; the livestream feed had been handed over entirely to the AI.

The latest topic on screen was the strange spider that had suddenly appeared.

“A monster of this level has to be a major boss, right? Why did it show up ahead of schedule?” someone remarked.

“It’s not strange. This game isn’t linear. You just fight whatever you run into,” someone responded.

“But! There’s something off about this thing that looks like a burrowing wolf spider. How is it so patient? And it feels like it’s intentionally avoiding Tang Jie.”

“Must be your imagination. If it wanted to avoid them, it wouldn’t have attacked them.”

“Why do I feel like its target is Jian Che? Look, it first lured Tang Yu and Song Lengzhu away, and then it attacked Xiao Jian.”

“Impossible. Why attack Xiao Jian? Don’t all the animals in here attack indiscriminately?”

“Now that you mention it… Hiss, could it be because Jian Che is too special?”

“Could it be Chaos’s doing?”

A small group of chatters quickly shifted focus. Someone posted a link to the latest trending thread in the comments section: “It’s hard not to think Chaos is the reason. They’ve officially gone to war, haven’t they? Has anyone not seen this yet?”

The link posted by the viewer was to an analysis article written by another viewer a week ago, which mentioned the situation with Jian Che and Chaos.

The livestream chat had exploded on the very day Jian Che and Tang Yu had their private conversation. It was late at night, so not many people were watching live, but someone transcribed their dialogue, posting both text and edited video clips. Word spread like wildfire, and the subsequent surge in the livestream’s popularity was mostly due to this incident.

The article’s author summarized the information that had appeared on the stream and offered some theories.

【Bold Speculation, Careful Summary | The Origin of Chaos and Tang Yu’s Crimes.】

As a regular viewer of this stream, I personally witnessed both broadcast glitches. By integrating information from before and after the glitches, I’ve summarized the following points. Here is what we know so far:

1. There are seven “Anchor Points” that Tang Yu is searching for, and these anchor points directly caused the broadcast glitches. From Jian Che’s conversation, we learned that the pre-amnesia Tang Yu had already found three anchor points, but she has forgotten their locations.

2. From Jin Ye and Song Lengzhu’s conversation, we learned that Chaos is a service-type AI built into the game, and it has self-awareness. Its origin is related to the anchor points.

3. The faction led by Jian Che and Tang Yu fought Chaos at an anchor point, which means they are already at war.

4. Jian Che is a key and terrifying figure. She is a very obvious BUG, but she has not been erased by the game even now.

5. Chaos claims Tang Yu is a serious felon who represents a destructive threat to the interstellar community.

Alright, that’s what we know. Now for the questions that arise.

1. Why does Chaos have consciousness? Veteran players should know that all in-game AIs are service-type and lack the conditions to develop a personality. Now, it’s hard not to speculate on two possibilities: One, Chaos is indeed a service-type AI that has self-evolved; Two, Chaos is a new type of AI intentionally placed by the game company.

If it was self-evolution, the game company should have measures in place to eliminate the threat, but we haven’t seen any obvious actions, and the company has yet to issue a statement. However, some speculate that the cost of fixing it is too high and would affect players, or that the side effects of a fix would be worse than the consequences of inaction, which is why Star Research has allowed Chaos to develop. I remain skeptical about this.

Now for the other possibility: Chaos is a new type of AI intentionally placed by the game company. This would be explosive news, suggesting that Star Research is developing a new type of strong intelligent entity. (Speaking of which, the name Chaos is also puzzling, as it seems to imply ‘the origin of all things.’) However, this action would clearly violate the AI Act, and I’m not sure if Star Research would be that audacious. But if it is Star Research, it’s certainly possible. They were the pioneers of holographic gaming and have survived several major accidents without being shut down.

2. Why hasn’t Jian Che been fixed? From Jian Che’s account, we know she has been constantly targeted for erasure by the game, but she’s still alive. This means the game company wants to kill her but can’t; she’s too powerful. Another point I must note is that she has fought Chaos, so it’s highly likely Chaos will also look for opportunities to eliminate her. She needs to be careful.

3. Tang Yu and Chaos’s relationship. Undoubtedly, they are hunting each other, both before and after Tang Yu’s amnesia. But there’s a question here: who started hunting whom? And why? From the information provided by Qi Jinyin, the previous Tang Yu started looking for anchor points as soon as she entered the game. This shows her goal was very clear. I suspect she knew about the anchor points before entering the game. How did she know? Could she be connected to Star Research? What information did she have? We still don’t know these things.

3. Finally, Tang Yu’s identity and the threat she poses.

I believe everyone has seen the transcript of Jian Che and Tang Yu’s late-night talk. Chaos accused Tang Yu of killing people and posing a destructive threat to the interstellar community.

Regarding her identity, I’ve searched the entire web. Besides the public notice about her illegal entry, there’s pitifully little information. The name was first indexed on the web ten years ago when she enrolled in a school on a fringe planet at the age of thirteen. Five years later, she registered as an interstellar hunter, and after that came this illegal entry record. She has no social media accounts, no other criminal record; her background is clean and blank.

Usually, someone this clean is either a person who truly has no desires and has cut themselves off from the electronic network, or they have an unspeakable past, or their records have been deliberately erased—like an assassin or an undercover agent. The former is highly unlikely, which means Tang Yu very likely has a mysterious background. Moreover, I strongly suspect that Tang Yu is not her real name.

Chaos’s accusations against her are very serious, but I think they’re only 50% credible. Setting aside Tang Yu’s character, with such serious criminal evidence, the Interstellar General Administration should have made it public and carried out the execution directly. There would be no need to find another reason to imprison Tang Yu. This point confuses me greatly; all logic breaks down here. Racking my brains, I can only think of one possibility: Tang Yu did do something outrageous, but it involved a scandal or some shady interests of the General Administration. That’s why the General Administration concealed the information and threw her into the game, wanting to use a legitimate reason to eliminate her through someone else’s hands.

In summary, my subjective speculation is this: Tang Yu is a person with a mysterious background connected to the game. She knew about the anchor points and Chaos before entering. Then, for reasons unknown—perhaps she stepped on someone’s toes—she was thrown into the game under the pretext of violating entry laws. Tang Yu used this opportunity to clear the anchor points but was forcibly recalled by the game and had her memory erased. However, this didn’t stop her from finding clues to hunt Chaos, and she even encountered the self-evolving BUG, Jian Che. They are now on the same side, facing off against Chaos.

In my opinion, Tang Yu is in opposition to Chaos, the game, and the General Administration. I just don’t know if those three are on the same side.

As for Song Lengzhu, she might be connected to these three parties, but she seems completely unaware. Perhaps I’m overthinking it; maybe she’s just a high-status outsider who knows nothing.

The above are all my speculations. If anyone has other opinions, feel free to add them.”

This comment with the article link had been up for several days, attracting all sorts of replies. Some refuted the original poster’s views, while others expanded on them. Everyone had their own opinions and reasoning.

Besides the much-discussed topic of the threat Tang Yu posed, another point—the existence of Chaos and Jian Che—frightened some viewers.

“If it’s really as the OP said, that the game company can’t fix Chaos and Jian Che and is just letting them develop freely, isn’t that terrifying? It means AI is about to go out of control. If a huge company like Star Research can’t handle it, who can?”

“Exactly. I think Chaos and Jian Che are the real major threats to the interstellar community.”

“Don’t be alarmist. It’s just a game. No matter what, they can’t exist outside the game. Besides, the ultimate jurisdiction over AI lies with the General Administration’s Ministry of Technology. If something happens, they can handle it. Don’t underestimate their capabilities.”

“To the person above, I’m saying what if. What if the Ministry of Technology is also involved?”

“No way, right?”

“Stop, don’t just spout nonsense.”

All sorts of topics branched out and spread like tree limbs. In just over a week, an unprecedentedly long thread was built. Even onlookers who didn’t pay much attention to the game became curious spectators who came to take a look.

Another thing that puzzled the onlookers was why this livestream still existed. Logically, after causing such a huge controversy, it should have been shut down long ago.

Xiao Zhao had the same question, and she sat with this question in the meeting room on the 95th floor. The soft stool under her felt like it was full of needles, making her fidgety and restless.

In the huge, round-table conference room, besides her, there were eleven people in suits. Whether male or female, their expressions were equally grave. They sat upright in the cold, white conference room, watching a replay of the livestream and the corresponding bullet comments on the large central screen.

The group watched silently for a whole morning, mostly clips where Tang Yu and others mentioned Chaos, including the conversation between Tang Yu and Jian Che, and the part where the language was deciphered.

Xiao Zhao kept checking if there were any work-related errors in the livestream content, but she noticed that the people across the round table seemed more concerned with the content of the bullet comments.

“Zhao Yingxi.” The supervisor suddenly called Xiao Zhao’s name. “Are you sure the first broadcast incident happened at this time?”

“It was… a few minutes earlier.” Zhao Yingxi turned her head to look at the screen in front of her supervisor. It showed the time from a daily report she had sent to her supervisor over half a month ago. Now, this long-unread daily report was finally displayed on the public electronic screen of a high-level conference room.

After answering, Zhao Yingxi lowered her gaze and kept quiet. She had been summoned here purely for convenient questioning, about things like the number of online viewers and comments when the broadcast glitched.

After hearing her answer, the supervisor ignored her and turned to speak with the others. Zhao Yingxi breathed a sigh of relief. It was a good thing she had sent the daily report and had diligently done her job. The supervisor’s expression was grave now, so he had no time to find fault with her.

The supervisor reported a few things to the general manager, a level above him. After listening, the middle-aged woman he was speaking to turned to the person across the round table and said, “Director Yu, upon inspection, all our procedures and operations comply with regulations. Harmful information such as insults has been promptly removed. However, we have no right to interfere with the legitimate speech of netizens now.”

“But our cooperation agreement states that you are responsible for broadcast glitches, Director Qi.” The person who spoke from the other side was a middle-aged man. Zhao Yingxi secretly raised her head to size him up. He was slender, with his hair slicked back, and had a stern expression.

“Yes, but this time, the error was not on our streaming platform’s side. After detecting the abnormal traffic, we communicated with your company immediately and have been waiting for your response. Moreover, we were not previously aware of the matter concerning the anchor points, nor did we know it was your company’s trade secret. If you had informed us in advance, we would have taken defensive measures.”

Zhao Yingxi shifted her gaze and glanced at her superior who was speaking. The one called Director Qi was their business general manager, Qi Yuan. Her hair was in a bun, and she wore a white suit. Facing the client, she was neither servile nor overbearing, her expression completely calm.

Qi Yuan managed many affairs and didn’t often appear in this building. This was the first time Zhao Yingxi had seen her.

The man opposite them suddenly chuckled. “Who said it was a trade secret? Don’t be nervous, we’re not here to pursue this matter.” He swiped on his personal light screen, looked at something, and suddenly stopped pursuing the streaming company’s responsibility.

Zhao Yingxi found it strange. More than a week had passed since Jian Che and Tang Yu’s conversation, and over a month had passed since the name Chaos first appeared. Star Research hadn’t communicated with her company immediately. Instead, they had waited until the hype had built up before rushing to discuss it with them.

“Then, are we going to discuss shutting down the livestream?” Qi Yuan asked proactively.

“Did I say we were shutting it down?” The middle-aged man looked up at Qi Yuan. “No need to shut it down. Everything proceeds as usual.”

Qi Yuan didn’t reply, but the supervisor couldn’t help but hesitate, glancing at Zhao Yingxi. “This…”

The middle-aged man continued, “Regarding Chaos, we will issue a public announcement. Your livestream will sync this content.”

The man tapped a connect button on his personal screen, and the transparent, double-sided screen in the center immediately synced with the information he provided.

Zhao Yingxi quickly scanned it, and the content was so shocking her jaw almost dropped.

The announcement stated that Chaos was not a service-type AI, but had been an entertainment-type AI from the beginning. It was a hidden level in the game, and its growth environment complied with the laws restricting AI learning environments. Before being put into the game, Tang Yu had used improper means to obtain game data. As soon as she entered the game, she started doing high-level quests, disrupting the game’s balance. Therefore, the game administrator imposed an amnesia penalty on her.

Zhao Yingxi held her breath. She couldn’t tell if this was the truth or a remedial measure from Star Research after the fact. It seemed to make sense in some ways, yet felt strange in others.

Furthermore, the end of the announcement also stated that there would be a server-wide update within a month, including fixing bugs, increasing gameplay features, and other content. It specifically pointed out that restrictions would be placed on Tang Yu, but it didn’t specify what those restrictions would be. Were they going to pull Tang Yu out of the game again?

Zhao Yingxi didn’t dare to breathe, silently worrying about Tang Yu’s safety.

Qi Yuan, however, answered very seriously, “Alright, we will do as you say.” She wasn’t concerned with personal fates; as long as Star Research’s request was within reasonable bounds, she readily agreed.

The middle-aged man spoke again. “But there’s one thing. Starting today, all discussions in the livestream…” He paused deliberately. “Please have your operator export the backend data every day and send a copy to Xiao Liu. No deletions. Just the raw data, including the content you normally block.” He pointed to his subordinate sitting primly beside him.

Having been assigned a task, Zhao Yingxi immediately responded, “Okay, received.”

The turn of events was beyond Zhao Yingxi’s expectations. She had thought the livestream she managed had caused a huge problem, even summoning the client and prompting a high-level meeting. Who would have thought they would just come to watch a replay, say a few noncommittal words, not assign blame, and not shut down the stream? It left her completely bewildered.

The two parties discussed some other details of their cooperation. To prevent a repeat of this incident, Qi Yuan decisively proposed to improve the cooperation agreement, so that if anything happened again, things wouldn’t be so unclear.

After the people from Star Research left that evening, Qi Yuan had the supervisor and Zhao Yingxi stay behind.

Qi Yuan’s expression was grave. “This matter probably has very wide-ranging implications. Was the meeting just now recorded?”

The supervisor tapped his personal screen. “As you instructed, I recorded it directly.”

“Good. Star Research waited this long to come to us; something must have happened internally. Their change in attitude just now was also quite sudden. But since Director Yu told us to keep broadcasting, we’ll keep broadcasting. We’ll just do our own jobs and not do anything extra. All information, including the operator’s action logs, must be preserved in the backend. If someone comes looking to assign blame one day, you need to have something to exonerate yourselves. Also, over the next few days, screen all business related to Star Research. No matter how things develop, be ready to pull out at any time.” Qi Yuan instructed the supervisor, not looking directly at Zhao Yingxi.

Zhao Yingxi was shocked. How had she not seen any of this? She thought the matter was over. Was this the perspective of upper management?

After explaining the details, Qi Yuan finally glanced at Zhao Yingxi and turned to ask the supervisor, “Is she still looking into Song Lengzhu?” Qi Yuan didn’t ask Zhao Yingxi directly, since it wasn’t for her to say.

“No,” the supervisor replied immediately. “She hasn’t looked into it since the last warning.”

“Very good.” Only then did Qi Yuan turn to face Zhao Yingxi. “Song Lengzhu has been getting very close to your streamer recently. You need to monitor your livestream closely. Handle discussions about Tang Yu as before, but if you find anyone discussing Song Lengzhu, whether it’s personal attacks or speculation about her identity, block and delete it all.”

“Okay, then…” Zhao Yingxi stammered, “what about discussions about both of them at the same time?”

Qi Yuan raised an eyebrow. “Discussing what about the two of them?”

Zhao Yingxi found it hard to say. Hadn’t Director Qi noticed the bullet comments just now? The shippers were about to turn the world upside down, especially during the part where the two of them were alone before Tang Yu’s language was deciphered.

“Discussing… discussing their camaraderie in battle.” Zhao Yingxi steeled herself and met Director Qi’s probing gaze with an expression of utmost righteousness.

“What comrades? They’re not even on the same team.” Qi Yuan frowned, only understanding after a moment. “As long as no one is randomly prying into her identity, it’s fine. And don’t you provide any unnecessary guidance either.”

Qi Yuan stood up, ready to leave. Catching Zhao Yingxi’s relieved and somewhat joyful expression out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly turned back and advised, “Don’t ship CPs that won’t go anywhere.”

“I’m not,” Zhao Yingxi immediately explained. She had absolutely not abused her position for personal reasons. After being warned, she hadn’t posted a single private comment.

“Good that you’re not. Just do your job.” Qi Yuan said no more and left the conference room with the assistant waiting at the door.

Xiao Zhao quickly put away her electronic light screen and returned to her workstation via the building’s teleporter.

When she was called away for the meeting, Tang Yu was still in the helicopter. Now she had no idea where she was, or if she had kicked the bucket.