Faulty Utopia

"I don't know," UO replied to Sun Jack's inquiry.

"My logic module is completely opposite to his; I am more selfish, I only care about my own survival environment, I couldn't care less about how other AIs are doing. Truth be told, the one you see before you is the outlier among AIs."

Sun Jack took a drag of his cigarette and responded, "Is that so?"

It seemed that the differences between AIs could be quite significant, and clearly, they also had distinct personalities.

At that moment, the other party reconstituted itself, "We agree to your terms."

Hearing this, Sun Jack's heart skipped a beat, even momentarily forgetting the negative emotions from the destruction of Detroit.

Now, if he could just handle Lan Meng, the current downturn would be completely reversed! "Where's Lan Meng now?"

"Don't rush, sign the contract first."

Rows of forms quickly lined up in front of Sun Jack.

"Do you think these are useful?"

"No, but I still think we need a paper agreement."

Not wanting to waste time in this place, Sun Jack swiftly signed the document, and then he asked again, "Stop beating around the bush, where exactly is Lan Meng now?"

"He's in space."

"......"

Sun Jack looked up at the Overlapping AI. "Are you fucking with me?"

"I don't like to joke, and I absolutely don't joke when there's serious business at hand. He's in space, located on what was once the Moon, according to our analysis of the rare pieces of data we captured from Lan Meng's communications."

"Fuck! Space, the Moon." Sun Jack opened the system, numb from the coordinates just sent to him, to find out that Lan Meng was in a space station above the Moon Ring.

The closest he had ever been to Lan Meng was when he had just woken up in the space station.

"I should've known, no wonder you told me so readily, turns out there's a huge pitfall here," Sun Jack said speechlessly.

If Lan Meng was anywhere else, that would be one thing, but on the Moon, how was he supposed to get there now?

"As the controller of FFP, a major capital controller, his own protection would definitely be the strictest. A physical distance that's absolutely remote is undoubtedly the simplest and most effective method."

"Fuck." Sun Jack got in touch with AA. "Hey, are you there? Can it get into the sky given the current situation in the Himalayas?"

"Boss, you want to go to space? Although the Himalayas are a military fortress without space travel capability, don't worry, my tech skills are awesome, give us a few years, and I can definitely transform the Himalayas to enter space."

"A few years? In a few years, we'll all be in kindergarten!" Sun Jack hung up on AA's call and looked at the Overlapping AI.

"You sure are daring, just for this message, you dare to ask for this price? You want to gain without lifting a finger?"

Hearing Sun Jack's words, the other party disagreed. "I think, in dealing with a Final Producer like Lan Meng, you should have realized that killing him wouldn't be easy."

"If Lan Meng could be dealt with easily, he wouldn't have let FFP become a global capital conglomerate, he'd have been decapitated by his competitors long ago. Besides, the price you put forward isn't high, it's just a pie in the sky after success. I don't think it's valued too highly."

At this juncture, Sun Jack couldn't be bothered to argue with the other party anymore.

It was bothersome, but at least now he had a goal; it was certain that solving Lan Meng would resolve all current issues.

Now that he knew Lan Meng was in space, the natural course of action was to find a way back into space, by any means necessary.

"Speaking of which, aren't you known for being well-informed? Do you have any idea how to get there?" Sun Jack first turned his attention to the AI.

"We are allies now, naturally, we want to help with such matters. We can't provide physical assistance, but if there's anything network-related in the future, we can provide as much help as possible."

"Darn it, you're truly useless."

Seeing the AI's nonchalance, Sun Jack quickly called all his core members together to brainstorm solutions.

He also had them rapidly search all major databases for any leads.

"It'd be best to see if there's any company in the world developing spacecraft or similar, and buy a finished product, the faster, the better. We don't have much time to prepare."

"A spacecraft? I found some information, but I'm afraid it will disappoint you, there's no company working on extra-terrestrial machinery."

Beside them, UO sent all sorts of data and records directly to Sun Jack's system interface.

"According to the normal development of technology, space exploration should be one of the directions of development, but since the crisis of the Smart Coalition in the Previous Epoch, the whole Earth has been covered with various space debris, plus the fragments of the Moon's explosion, some of that space junk is even kilometers thick."

"To go to space, we must first break through this thick layer of space debris that is continuously and rapidly rotating around the Earth."

"This would require a huge amount of funds and time, possibly even hundreds of years. Without any visible short-term benefits, no competent company would invest in this area, it's essentially the same as throwing money away."

"Due to this objective reason, basically all the capital in the market isn't invested in space. Without a market, there's naturally no technological innovation. If you want to buy a spaceship, you'll probably not find a manufacturer or a corresponding industrial chain."

Hearing this, Sun Jack was really bewildered; he hadn't expected such a severe deficiency in this godforsaken place.

"They throw around nuclear bombs, but sending a person to space is this difficult?"

"Boss! I can, I can make a rocket to send you up there!" AA offered eagerly.

"Are you sure? Can I come back after I go up?" Sun Jack looked at him doubtfully.

"Boss, didn't you just say you only needed to go up? Why do you need to come back now?"

"Bullshit, what, am I disposable now? Besides, what's the use of one person going up? Lan Meng's location is surely armed to the teeth; if I go up alone and I can't handle it, I'd completely blow our cover."

As Sun Jack was conversing with AA, Tapai spoke up, "Jack, I suddenly have an idea. You're in space, he's in space—could there be any connection between the two?"

At those words, everyone in the room looked at Sun Jack simultaneously.

Sun Jack turned and looked at Tapai, "What do you mean by that?"

"It's nothing, just a sudden thought. You remember your memories are all fake, right? Is there a possibility that you're connected to all this somehow?"