Faulty Utopia

Hope Lily, holding a suicide device in her hand, scanned emotionlessly over everyone when just as Old Six was about to speak, she hesitated not and directly inserted it into the neural port behind her ear.

The next second, accompanied by the rapid dimming of her pink pupils and the quick drooping of her metallic tail, her body slowly collapsed, falling into the rushing embrace of Old Six.

This scene undoubtedly surpassed everyone's expectations at the scene; Hope Lily had actually committed suicide.

"She's just a program, right? Can a program commit suicide?" Linda Linda said, quite surprised by the side.

"I told you she's human!" Overlapping AI glared at her, anger simulated on his face as a digital life.

"A living being, she looks human, she derives energy from food, she has the five senses, she has emotions and desires! She can even die for love! You tell me! What's the difference between her and humans!"

Then he turned his head to look at the empty doorway. "What if you are also an AI? Are you so sure that you must be human? Are you sure that what you think now must be based on neurons?"

After saying that, his projection disappeared, along with his disappearance, the OU projection also vanished. Apart from Tapai, only Old Six, who was holding Hope Lily, and Linda Linda, who came over to comfort him, remained at the scene.

And at the door used by Overlapping AI, Sun Jack slowly deactivated his Mimetic Camouflage, lighting a cigarette while looking at Hope Lily's corpse in the distance.

"Do you believe what he just said?" Tapai walked over to Sun Jack.

"I don't believe it; he was deceiving me," Sun Jack said, his expression unchanging.

"But he miscalculated, I don't empathize with AI, at least not in terms of self-awareness. Your buddy here is as solid as steel, no wavering. During those acting days, being messed with by Holy Grail every other day, I was already shook up enough."

Poet walked up from behind, his eyes glowing, furiously jotting down something with a pen.

Sun Jack walked into the room, observing Hope Lily's corpse, and patted Old Six on the shoulder.

Just then, he received a message from Tapai, "Looking at the situation, the system wasn't fried, a little fixing and she could be rebooted."

"Don't overdo it, let's leave it as it is, let her rest. It's better for everyone." Then Sun Jack patted Old Six's shoulder again, "Let your mother rest in peace, she has been waiting for this moment for too long."

Old Six, with his mind buzzing, nodded complicatedly, unsure whether to feel happy or sad.

Soon, the funeral was held. Under the watchful eyes of a crowd, Hope Lily was placed in the incinerator, burning fiercely, and was gone forever.

Watching the ashes gently enter the soil under Old Six's gaze, he sadly picked up some paper-made massagers and vibrators and started burning them, crying mournfully while doing so.

Just as Linda Linda was about to stop him, she was pushed away by him, "You don't understand! My mom liked these things; what's wrong with making my mom happy! I'll burn whatever my mom liked!"

After saying that, he also burned a few paper human slaves stuffed with ball gags and bound by rope.

Tapai walked up to Sun Jack and asked, "Do you think she counts as a person?"

Sun Jack thought for a moment before answering, "I still say the same thing; I think it's useless. It's only if everyone in the world thinks she's human that she really becomes human. Ultimately, it's a matter of perception."

"It's a bit of a pity, we finally had a kind of our own, and she just had to go and kill herself. I was still planning to interact with her," Tapai said somewhat regretfully.

"Aren't there UO and Saotome? You can interact with them," Sun Jack replied.

"Those old antiques, I'm not even in the same age group as them, we have nothing in common," Tapai's voice filled with disdain.

Meanwhile, Poet was still scribbling. Tapai abruptly grabbed his writing, "Write, write, write! That's all you do, what trash are you writing now?"

After quickly scanning it, he cursed loudly, "Damn! This guy was actually writing a pornographic fanfic about us! And about Old Six and his mom!"

"Fuck, you're sick!" Sun Jack rushed over and shredded the notebook completely.

"Kid! Watch yourself, if I catch you writing this nonsense again, you won't like what happens!" Tapai glared, pointing a finger at Poet's face.

"I was just collecting inspiration! There's not much inspiration left to collect!" Poet lamented as he looked at the scraps on the ground.

"Snap out of it," Sun Jack said, flying up, about to touch the gaming chip in his dirty dreadlocks. But Poet desperately protected it with his hand.

"No, no, don't mess with it. What if I suddenly go offline, what if I let down my teammates? Do you guys have no sense of gaming spirit at all?"

"You're idle, aren't you? If you're idle, go and dig up some information from FFP," Sun Jack felt the guy was an eyesore.

"What information?"

"Any information, as long as it's valuable. They can plant moles; why can't we?"

"But aren't I your bodyguard?"

"In the Himalayas, I don't need a bodyguard, I'm safe now. Poet, I can tell you're talented, and talent should be put to good use."

If someone else is decapitated, Poet can handle it, and if he can't, there's no difference with or without him. Soon under Sun Jack's arrangement, Poet was taken away by an intercity Hover Car.

"He's a big guy, spying might be tough for him," Tapai said, watching the departing Hover Car.

Sun Jack shook his head, quickly pulling up Poet's body data in his neurological system.

"This guy isn't that weak. I sent someone to check it out; there's a sight perception system installed in his system, which easily lets him spot everyone's visual blind spots. Combined with other hacking tools and programs, he's especially good at staying hidden."

"That impressive? Then I want a set too."

"You don't need a set; I've already cloned others with the same capabilities into other cities."

"This is your arena in the network, we have to get to work." Sun Jack opened the global positioning map, looking at the city growing ever closer to the Himalayas.

Above the city floated a name, Paris.