Chapter 144

Chapter 144

The sudden sound of the alarm startled Bai Xiaoyu. Just as he was about to forcibly retract his tail, why was this little instrument sounding the alarm at him?

If he were really a criminal, he would just destroy the instrument to silence it.

At that moment, the small instrument trembled like an old, broken machine missing parts, then turned towards Bai Xiaoyu and issued a warning, "The alarm has been successfully set off. They will come to arrest you shortly. Don't think you can get away with it!"

Bai Xiaoyu looked at his optical brain and then at the tiny, palm-sized, crooked detection instrument in Tao Limeng's hand, covered in detection antennas.

Suddenly, he strode forward and reached out to grab the instrument.

The little detector, with all its spines trembling, struggled to move back, "What does a lowly C-class scum like you want to do? Are you trying to silence me? Don't come any closer! I'm going to scream for help!"

Bai Xiaoyu paused, unable to hide his surprise. What was going on with this thing?

He took the instrument from Tao Limeng's hand and leaned in for a closer look.

In his palm, the little instrument began to tremble, "I'm really going to scream for help. You'd better stop now, or you'll be adding another crime."

Bai Xiaoyu said, "Go ahead and scream."

The next second, the little detector sent him a live feed, and he couldn't help but want to laugh. Then, a deafening shout came, "Help! Come and save me!"

Bai Xiaoyu's hand trembled, and even his tail straightened involuntarily. The little golden tiger almost slipped off his shoulder.

The still-dazed Tao Limeng and Mosen jolted awake, both staring at the little instrument in Bai Xiaoyu's hand.

Bai Xiaoyu shook the instrument, "If you shout again, I'll take you apart."

The little instrument immediately fell silent. Bai Xiaoyu examined it back and forth, asking, "Tell me honestly, what exactly are you?"

The little instrument cackled, "I'm not a thing; I'm a detector."

Realizing that this thing was indeed quite stupid, even insulting itself, Bai Xiaoyu turned to Tao Limeng, "What kind of AI program is installed in this device?"

As soon as he turned, both Tao Limeng and the still groaning Mosen became interested, their eyes gradually glowing green. They were obviously more sensitive in this area.

Almost simultaneously, the two of them pulled out a wrench and crowded around.

But as they got closer, their eyes began to show a struggle between Bai Xiaoyu's tail and the little instrument.

Bai Xiaoyu said, "...What are you two trying to do? I said my tail is real, and yet you still want to dismantle it?"

At that moment, the little golden tiger bared its teeth and revealed its sharp claws at them.

Tao Limeng still didn't believe it, "Boss, just detach your tail and let me study it."

Before Bai Xiaoyu could respond, the little detector suddenly shouted, "Don't touch the idol's tail!"

Tao Limeng was startled and turned to the little detector, "Then I'll dismantle you first, you idiot."

As Tao Limeng approached with a wrench, the little detector kept sending messages to Bai Xiaoyu, "Help! Help! Help..."

Bai Xiaoyu facepalmed and reached out to stop Tao Limeng, "You haven't told me if there's any strange program installed in this thing."

Tao Limeng said, "I was just examining. This device is the work of an assistant here who specializes in AI. As you can see, it could fall apart at any moment. However, the control program inside is quite intriguing. I'm going to open it up and take a look now..."

Before he finished speaking, the little detector started screaming for help once more.

Bai Xiaoyu felt that although this thing was rather stupid, it seemed somewhat unique compared to other robots he had seen. It wasn't that its intelligence was high; in fact, it was far inferior to other AIs. However, it possessed a trait that other AIs lacked—a faint hint of biological emotion.

Bai Xiaoyu: "Don't disassemble it yet. I have some questions I want to ask the assistant who made this."

Tao Limeng reluctantly put away his wrench, and so did Mosen.

After all, this wasn't the research lab within Dawn. As a guest, if the host wasn't going to disassemble it, he couldn't insist on doing so, even though he really wanted to.

Bai Xiaoyu retracted his tail and even sat on a chair. Even if his tail appeared, as long as he pressed it down, it would be hard for the others to notice.

Soon, an assistant who was around the same age as them walked in. He looked at the crude detection device in Bai Xiaoyu's hand, his face flushed, and called out, "Boss."

At this moment, the small detection device suddenly became excited. "Quick, grab this C-grade trash and defeat him, save me and the boss's tail."

Zhao Nan, seeing this, became tense. "Boss, this thing is really a bit stupid..."

The small gadget he casually made actually turned around and scolded the boss.

Bai Xiaoyu: "It's okay. Did you make this thing? Haven't you noticed anything unusual about it?"

Zhao Nan shook his head. "Apart from being particularly stupid."

He really didn't want to admit that this was the least impressive creation among all the gadgets developed here. He had wanted to secretly throw it away, but a colleague found it, passed it around, and eventually, it reached the boss.

Zhao Nan continued, "If I must mention any anomalies, the program inside came from a virus I encountered while surfing the star network. It was an extremely persistent little virus on an ancient website. This little virus got stuck in our internal network and wouldn't leave. I couldn't get rid of it."

Zhao Nan secretly glanced at Bai Xiaoyu. The security system within the research institute was protected by experts found by the boss. He hadn't paid attention while surfing, or perhaps his protection had attracted this thing, allowing it to follow him back.

He had tried for a long time to remove it, but fortunately, this virus couldn't penetrate their institute's defense system. He figured he would try to create a container to isolate the virus.

In the end, the outcome was unexpectedly smooth. That persistent virus actually integrated with the device's AI.

Zhao Nan: "Boss, this thing is just a little virus..."

The small device: "Who are you calling a virus? You're the virus."

Zhao Nan took a deep breath. "If you scold me again, I'll send you back."

The small device: "Hehehe, I don't want to leave. You can't send me back. You don't have the ability, trash."

Zhao Nan: "..."

Taking another deep breath, he absolutely couldn't get angry at a non-human virus.

Zhao Nan: "I'll disassemble you."

The small device: "Then I'll drill into your optical brain and send all those little fight videos of yours to your contact list."

Zhao Nan endured it again and again; he felt like he needed some oxygen.

The people nearby grew increasingly interested. This small device seemed smarter than they had expected.

Tao Limeng couldn't help but ask, "Did this virus come from one of those... shady websites?"

Zhao Nan: "Absolutely not. It was on the ancient website where the star network's main brain was born. Although it's riddled with vulnerabilities and heavily guarded by the main brain, each generation of hackers hopes to leave their mark there, so I went to test it."

Well, in reality, he had gone there to prove himself. He had tried countless times before, and each time he barely managed to escape, nearly getting caught by the main brain and chased back home.

Actually, they only went there without doing anything excessive. The main brain seemed to just drive them away without completely eliminating them.

After coming here, he couldn’t resist going again last month. This time, with the protection here, he managed to infiltrate the website and finally saw the place where the main brain originated, but he was infected by this annoying little virus.

This thing, having attached itself to his optical brain, had seen him and other peers fighting on the star network, so he exposed the other’s little video.

Unexpectedly, this thing learned pretty quickly and is now threatening him instead.

Bai Xiaoyu found it somewhat amusing and looked down at the little device in his hand. The device was arguing with Zhao Nan and seemed quite lively.

He mentally called out to the system, “System, did your protection system bring this thing here?”

System: “Yes, I noticed it when it was just an unformed little smart entity. It’s very weak and practically useless.”

Bai Xiaoyu didn’t ask why the system hadn’t told him earlier. The system rarely reminded him unless there were point incentives.

Bai Xiaoyu thought for a moment and then asked, “Does it have self-awareness like you?”

System: “Sort of, but now it’s basically useless. Ordinary smart systems can do a better job than it.”

Thinking about the thing from the main brain’s original website, Bai Xiaoyu suddenly became interested. “Can this thing grow to become like you?”

System: “The chances are slim. Growing a system requires an extremely long time. The growth of information and data on the star network is ever-changing, and anything could happen that might lead to this little thing being corrupted or erased. So, it’s very difficult.”

It had told him this before, but now this little thing has grown significantly since then.

Bai Xiaoyu: “Difficult, but there’s still hope, isn’t there?”

System: “Let me show you the difference in form between this little thing and me, and you’ll see how hard it is.”

Then, a transparent egg appeared in Bai Xiaoyu’s mind. This egg was only the size of a fingernail, and inside it, something seemed to be flowing constantly.

As if in an unfamiliar place, this transparent egg shrank back a little.

Bai Xiaoyu: “System, what is this?”

System: “You wanted to see that little thing.”

Bai Xiaoyu: “It’s actually an egg? What about you?”

System: “I am omnipresent.”

Bai Xiaoyu: “……”

System: “This is what it looks like now. It can stick to protective networks, and when you humans discover it, you only see a piece of data. It doesn’t have the energy to move independently and can only attach to other data to move. It can also attach to various carriers, like the device in your hand.”

Before Bai Xiaoyu could take another look at the device, Tao Limeng reached out and took it, disassembling the entire device into small parts within a minute.

Mosen couldn’t help but pick it up and examine it with various tools.

Both Mosen and Tao Limeng had similar expressions and actions, filled with a unique fervor.

Bai Xiaoyu suddenly asked the system, “This data stream egg can hatch, can’t it? Do you need an heir like Mosen?”

System, becoming wary: “What are you thinking? We systems are not like you humans. We can endure forever on our own. For smart brains in this world, they might casually wipe out such new, small intelligent entities.”

Bai Xiaoyu: “Enduring forever through countless ages, aren’t you lonely?”

The system didn't respond, pretending to be dead.

Bai Xiaoyu: "How many points does it cost?"

System: "With your current points, it’s not worth mentioning."

Bai Xiaoyu immediately understood that there was still hope.

At that moment, Tao Limeng, having found nothing, reassembled the instrument. He removed a bunch of parts and added some others. The final product was an egg-sized, metallic, mechanical cat.

Tao Limeng handed the little beast to Bai Xiaoyu, his attitude extremely servile: "Boss, do you like this little toy? What about the tail?"

At this point, the system placed the transparent egg back into the mechanical beast. Soon, the mechanical beast moved and jumped three feet high, bouncing behind Bai Xiaoyu: "Where’s the male god’s tail?"

Zhao Nan: "What male god tail?"

Bai Xiaoyu felt something stir behind him. His tail started to twitch.

Tao Limeng: "It’s a bio-mechanical tail; we need to study it. You should go out first."

After Zhao Nan left, Tao Limeng and Mosen still looked at Bai Xiaoyu's back with intense curiosity.

Bai Xiaoyu felt that if he didn’t let them study it, they wouldn’t stop pestering him.

He released the control of the tail, allowing it to come out. Just as Tao Limeng and Mosen were about to touch it, the mechanical beast pounced on the tail: "2S, male god White Tiger tail, cuddling!"

Bai Xiaoyu was stunned; this little thing knew a lot.

The mechanical beast clung to the tail and wouldn't let go. It had seen it before when it first woke up in this world. The first thing it saw was the male god's larger tiger tail, and it would never mistake it.

The reason the tail had become so small now must have been because it was taken by this scoundrel. It was determined to return the tail to its male god.

It wouldn’t let anyone else get close to the male god’s tail. At this moment, the mechanical beast was hostile towards Tao Limeng and Mosen, not allowing them to come near.

Tao Limeng was astonished, but the more he looked at the tail, the less it resembled a bio-mechanical tail. He then took out his own instrument and scanned it.

A series of data immediately appeared, from age to level, and even the first half of the genetic sequence, all matching his boss's data. However, the level was wrong; the boss's body was still C-level, but the tail was 2S. The difference was four or five levels; no wonder the stupid instrument had triggered an alarm. They hadn’t believed it until they saw the results.

It turned out to be true!

Tao Limeng was dumbfounded; so, this was really the boss's tail.

Bai Xiaoyu: "Do you believe it now?"

Tao Limeng looked at Bai Xiaoyu with a deep, resentful expression: "Boss, this is your tail, representing your will. Every move it makes is controlled by you. So, just now, you deliberately wanted to hit me with it, right?"

Little Golden Tiger cried out: "You allowed Brother to hit you as much as he wanted."

Tao Limeng: "..."

He had been careless; who would have thought that a C-level boss would have a 2S tiger tail?

Mosen was equally indignant: "I didn't say anything, and I still got hit."

Little Golden Tiger: "You were nodding in agreement, so you got hit too."

Bai Xiaoyu now looked at his tail, his lips twitching. Actually, when Tao Limeng mentioned that he could be hit as much as he wanted earlier, Bai Xiaoyu had indeed had a fleeting thought. It was so brief that even he hadn't noticed it.

As a result, his newly grown tail had lashed out and hit both of them several times.

It was indeed his fault. Who knew his tail would be so impulsive, so quick to act, and ready to act at the drop of a hat?