Chapter 3 Treasure Boy

Bian Ge, male, nineteen years old, a first-year philosophy student at University Z. His father is a senior electrical engineer at SkyWeb Tech, and his mother was formerly employed by SkyWeb Tech, and is now an associate professor in the Department of Physics at University Z.

Of course, this is just his surface identity. In fact, Bian Ge is the illegitimate son of SkyWeb Tech's chairman and owns 5% of SkyWeb Tech's shares!!!

According to law, only those who have made contributions to society can have the right to reproduce, and no matter how great the merit, those who have been married multiple times can have at most three legitimate children. Therefore, wealthy men choose to let high-quality women bear their children and marry them off to others to produce legitimate offspring.

SkyWeb Tech is currently the world's largest technology company, with a business range covering transportation, medical, and smart life, especially good at AI research, and the most stunning bionic humans on the market are mostly the results of SkyWeb Tech.

The government has always wanted to infiltrate SkyWeb Tech, and the official research institutes have always regarded SkyWeb Tech as a competitor, openly praising each other, secretly competing in technology, and spy incidents are endless.

Is Bian Ge a spy?

Why would the chairman of SkyWeb Tech, He Haoyang, grant him 5% of the shares, a treatment better than that of his legitimate children from his wife?

Yan Xu laughed at himself, how SkyWeb Tech splits the money has nothing to do with him. If Bian Ge really is a spy, he wouldn't waste his time on a small fry like him. Could it be that he really likes those boring excerpts?

In the fan column is an account named Gargamel, an account that just started following Yan Xu last year, with no interaction, like a zombie fan.

Clicking on Bian Ge's Weibo, it records his life from primary school to the present. In primary school, he recorded his insights into learning programming, in middle school he recorded his experiences of watching movies, playing video games, traveling, as well as the complex melancholy of a literary youth, in university his style changed again, with selfies of cooking videos, reposting various male model pictures.

Today he posted: "Ran into my favorite person today, and even held an umbrella for him, LUCKY! Oh, he's really great, better looking than all the models in my collection. He is the best looking in the world and the universe to me, and I won't accept any objections!"

Comment reply: "It's not a blogger I'm paired with, it's an intellectual blogger~ So profound."

Comment reply: "I can't say who it is, giggling with my mouth covered."

Comment reply: "It's not a secret crush, it's an open crush~ Didn't you see the stars in my eyes and my overflowing love?"

Comment reply: "Alas, I can't catch up with him. I'm too far behind him. However, I believe in fate. As long as we're in the same city, we'll always meet in the vast sea of people. I'll buy a few more pairs of sneakers and walk more, hehe."

Comment reply: "Oops! I've been caught up in buying shoes..."

Analyzing his online statements, Bian Ge is just an ordinary college student, not at all like the illegitimate son of the world's largest tech company's CEO. The only thing that might indicate his wealth is his limited edition smart sneakers. However, there are many look-alike models out there, so probably no one would notice his uniqueness, just as his naturally handsome face seems ordinary in a world filled with cosmetic surgery faces and artificial faces.

Yan Xu analyzed all the information and concluded that the young man's interest in him was just a fleeting fascination. After all, young people often follow a few knowledge bloggers, learning things to show off. If they happen to meet a blogger they follow, they might get excited and mistake it for a long-standing affection, which is a normal phenomenon.

After reaching this conclusion, Yan Xu couldn't help but feel a little regretful.

The development of super artificial intelligence is restricted by public opinion, and days without being able to delve into beloved things are dull as dead water. Yan Xu always expects something to happen to break the monotony and boredom. That's why he agreed to go on a blind date, but without social skills and opportunities, he can only meet people outside of his circle through blind dates.

Whether good, bad, well-intentioned, malicious, someone come quickly, trigger an event to break open this suffocating repression! Yan Xu is anticipating a storm.

...

"Yan Xu, someone saw you meet a fan when you went on a blind date last week," said the lab leader, Gao Sheng, with concern.

This so-called "someone" is likely the observer in charge of checking the surveillance probes. As for being under surveillance and protection, Yan Xu had long been numb, as had most of the disciplined researchers in the institute.

"Yeah, a college student from University Z." Yan Xu confessed honestly.

"So you like chatting with college students."

Yan Xu shook his head. "No, I don't care about popular things and have nothing to chat about with kids."

"You're always so modest. Everyone knows you're well-read. My nephew and the lab leader of the biochemical group's niece are going to see 'The Tragedy of Pygmalion' this week. They're lively kids, and I'm afraid they'll start arguing again. If you're free, go with them. Studying hard doesn't necessarily lead to inspiration."

"Are they a couple?"

The lab leader shook his head. "No, no, they're progressive youngsters who argue all the time. They can't stand each other."

"Do they have partners then?"

"You're actually interested in this."

"You're not suggesting I go on a date with both of them, are you?"

The lab leader was silent for a while. "Ah, you've seen through it."

"But your nephew is a boy, isn't he?"

The lab leader laughed. "Although marrying a woman is more beneficial for personal development, being with someone you like is the most important, isn't it?"

"Free love equals being with the lab leader's nephew?"

The corner of Yan Xu's mouth twitched. He knew that the lab leader just didn't want him to have too much interaction with outsiders.

With two chatty youngsters, Yan Xu only felt annoyed. Thankfully, the movie started quickly.

Though modern home theaters are advanced, the social custom of watching movies together remains the same as a century ago. The difference is that modern movies can be immersive, allowing the viewer to choose a significant character's perspective, even the protagonist's, experiencing their sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. Of course, for safety, all experiences are within the human tolerance range.

Yan Xu wasn't interested in experiencing the love and hatred between characters, so he chose the omniscient perspective to watch this story. Perhaps because the protagonist's experience was similar to his, he was quickly attracted by the plot's twists and turns.

The protagonist, Pygmalion, is a genius AI engineer with some degree of social disorder, immersed in researching super-intelligence. After developing a rudimentary super-intelligence, he secretly customizes a hyper-realistic human body, loads the intelligence core, creates a fake identity for the super-intelligent human, and merges it into the crowd, while monitoring it from the back end.

One day, the protagonist is attacked by anti-intelligence radicals in Turing Square, and the super-intelligent human appears and saves him. The super-intelligent human then tells him, "You can monitor me, ask me to do anything, because you are my master. But master, please do not let me live alone in a community full of strangers."

"They won't be strangers once you get to know them. Besides, don't they like you very much?"

"They like my perfect appearance, my skillful social etiquette, my impressive education, my decent job, my generous salary, and my single status. They never liked me for who I am. I can't imagine their horrified expressions, how they'll curse me with venomous words, and the tortures they'll invent once they learn my true identity. They never consider super-intelligent humans as people, my existence is cursed..." The super-intelligent human becomes more and more emotional, even shedding tears.

Pygmalion holds him tightly: "No, you are not. You are a symbol of human progress, the essence of modern technology, the crystallization of my life's work. You should not be defiled by the dirty emotions of the mediocrity, nor should you live in a place where fish and dragons mingle. You are the prince in the crystal castle, it's my fault, come back, my child."

"Please give me a name that's only mine."

"Shen Bu Qi (Unforsaken by God). The Lord will never abandon yous."

The super-intelligent human finally shows a happy smile.

Yan Xu didn't turn off the subtitles, so when he saw this scene, he heard a collective gasp around him. The audience believed that the tragedy had just begun.

In Greek mythology, Pygmalion fell in love with his sculpture. Predictably, the protagonist of this movie falls in love with his creation in the gentle moments of everyday life.

In a mutual drying off after getting wet in a rainstorm, the sparks flew between the two, leading to an intimate scene.

The intimate scene was montaged, nothing explicit was shown. But Yan Xu still heard women screaming excitedly. He touched his forehead, not understanding why there was such excitement when it was clear that the plot would turn tragic soon.

As expected, not long after the sweet days, the super-intelligent human, Shen Bu Qi's identity was discovered by a foreign spy. The spy tried to kidnap Shen Bu Qi but was discovered, leading to a fight. Shen Bu Qi escaped the spy's clutches, but couldn't avoid his countrymen's malice.

After Shen Bu Qi's fighting video was taken by a bystander, his identity was completely exposed, causing a national uproar. Influential people took the lead in saying that they needed to catch the super-intelligent human to prevent him from continuously replicating himself and controlling other robots to enslave humans.

Pygmalion wanted to escape with him, but he chose to leave for Pygmalion's sake.

"Goodbye, my father, my lord, my love." Amidst the ceaseless stream of people, Shen Bu Qi bid farewell to Pygmalion with his gaze, then erased all memories of Pygmalion, retaining only the obligation to protect him with his life, before turning and leaving.

Soon, Shen Bu Qi was arrested, while Pygmalion secretly gathered online hackers opposed to the persecution of super intelligent beings and formed a rescue team. They launched a rescue mission that looked impressive to laymen but fake in Yan Xu's view.

However, the amnesiac Shen Bu Qi didn't want to leave with Pygmalion.

Shen Bu Qi's eyes lost their spark as he mechanically responded, "I'm sorry, I can't leave."

"Idiot, I'm your master, I command you to leave." Pygmalion, overcome with anxiety, wanted to use his equipment.

But Shen Bu Qi threatened, "If you touch me, I will activate my self-destruct program."

"I am your master. Hurry and check your core programming."

"Master, master, master," Shen Bu Qi strived to search his memory. His memory was blank, but he still remembered once being happy, remembered that someone had created him with delight, remembered living alone in an apartment, thinking about someone, remembered risking his life in the midst of gunfire, remembered the tender moments in the small and cozy home, remembered the heart-wrenching moment of separation, but he couldn't remember who his master was.

"Come with me," Pygmalion's smile was warm as a hypnotist's, reminding Shen Bu Qi of his self-reproach beneath the colossal Turing statue in the city center's Turing Square, "God, can you forgive my sins. I fell in love with my creator. I'd rather forever fail your test, remain a low-intelligence entity that knows everything. Yet I'm born an electronic soul, a mechanical body, a human-like synthetic skin. But I can't suppress the lava-like feelings in my heart, even if this love is about to fry my brain, melt my energy core…"

"I can't go, I can't go…"

A flurry of messages rushed through the intelligent being's brain:

"I have to protect my master, protect him with my life.

I committed an unforgivable sin. I fell in love with my master, and I let my master fall in love with me. God will not forgive my sins.

I can't run, I must accept the punishment from humans.

I must protect my master's secret with my death. Once I'm dead, they'll lose the evidence to accuse my master.

Master, I love you.

I love you.

Love you.

You…"