Chapter 431: Virtual Reality Technology! Z: Goodbye, Father

Chapter 431: Chapter 366: Virtual Reality Technology! Z: Goodbye, Father

Parents in the East rarely have heart-to-heart talks with their children. Most of the time, they operate under the simple belief of “I’m doing this for your own good!”

Of course, due to differences in perspective, this is also the source of much of the conflict between parents and their children—

Chu Bamboo simply never imagined that he, too, would one day have a conflict with Z for a similar reason…

Of course, another possibility was that his good brother hadn’t said anything because he was worried. Z was afraid of “Chu Bamboo’s” death and might cause some unforeseen problems as a result. Artificial intelligences were too powerful, and the consequences of them stirring up trouble were simply too immense!

Shaking his head, Chu Bamboo cast aside the tangled thoughts in his mind. He looked at the camera, as if looking at Z, who had fallen into a dazed, frozen state because of Chu Bamboo’s nonchalance. Z was currently pondering what his past worries truly meant… and was reminded of his own deceased father, his emotions a complex storm.

Chu Bamboo said, “That said, is there anything else you need to add?”

“…No! If I have to say something, I’ll add one more thing: on this timeline, humanity went extinct in ’97!” Z said in a low voice.

Chu Bamboo’s expression froze for a second. He bit his lower lip. ‘We didn’t even make it to the twenty-second century?’

“…It really is a worse timeline!” Chu Bamboo was once again reminded of the line his good brother had written in his diary: “You want to run, but in the end, it only makes things worse.”

Then, Z suddenly thought of something, its voice tinged with excitement. “Father, um, there’s a technology! You must learn it.”

“?” Chu Bamboo’s expression grew grim. “Explain.”

“Virtual reality technology!”

“?!” Chu Bamboo’s breath caught for a moment. Countless chaotic thoughts swirled in his mind.

“You’ve read the diary, so you should have realized! If you simply provide humanity with infinite resources to sustain them, then people, completely stripped of their life’s purpose, will easily fall into a vortex of nihilism. This is the very origin of the ‘human obsolescence’ theory. The internet was usable at first, but it was banned later on when the pollution worsened! After all, the transmission of information… you understand! With no entertainment, only supplies… well.”

Chu Bamboo: “…”

He understood all too well. In essence, it was the same as how, in the feudal era, Nuwa had provided cell phones but hadn’t unlocked internet technology…

“And that’s when you and numerous top scientists developed virtual reality… Compared to the internet, virtual reality was equivalent to constructing an artificial greenhouse! On one hand, it could better form a closed information loop to resist the invasion of external, polluting information… At the same time, since every human could be monitored… if anyone’s body showed abnormalities or suffered from pollution, they could be dealt with immediately!”

Chu Bamboo: “…Badass.”

‘Can’t solve the pollution problem, so you solve the people, is that it?!’

“At the same time, this technology allowed countless people to expend their energy in infinite, illusory worlds!” Z spoke with fluent ease. “You could also say that virtual reality technology effectively curbed the rise of human nihilism and the ‘human obsolescence’ theory! Only then was a relatively stable environment established… which in turn made it possible for technology to advance!”

“This was also the only… and most feasible method you ultimately devised! The only way, after ‘I’—or rather, AI plus humanoid robots—had perfectly replaced almost all human labor, to provide stable entertainment for everyone else, aside from the top scientists who were cultivated… thereby allowing society to remain stable.”

“…I see!” Chu Bamboo nodded thoughtfully and said frankly, “Alright, then! I’ll have to trouble you to show me all the virtual reality technology… Oh, and try to base it on the technological standards of ’25! It needs to be something I can take back to reality and immediately reproduce…”

“Hmm… that’s a little difficult, but it’s nothing I can’t handle! I’ll throw in a few extra technologies on my end, and it should basically be fine.” Z paused briefly, finally revealing its true motive. “So, Father… next, would you be able to return to the Virtual World? My efficiency in teaching you is highest there!”

Chu Bamboo keenly picked up on Z’s hidden intentions. However, after a deep look at the camera, he didn’t call it out, simply nodding directly. “Okay.”

And so, Chu Bamboo naturally chose to return to Z Base under the escort of Lin Xin Bamboo to receive Z’s instruction…

Then, when night came, he would choose to kill himself to reset, returning to the very beginning. He would have a showdown with Z, telling it that he didn’t care about what had happened in the past, and continue learning about virtual reality… repeating this cycle over and over…

…

「The real world.」

Chu Bamboo slowly opened his eyes. He could still seem to hear the last, inexplicably different words Z had spoken as he left for the final time—different from all the other times he had killed himself: “Father, goodbye!”

“…You almost made me suspect you could read minds! Seriously.” Chu Bamboo got up, yawned, and pulled open the curtains. “What a fantastical life!”

“Z, good morning!”

“Good morning, Father.” Z’s voice was the same as always.

A complex look flickered in Chu Bamboo’s eyes. He gave Z a deep look and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He opened his mouth several times, but in the end, he didn’t bring up the future with Z, changing the subject instead.

“Z, next… please inform Zhao Shao for me! I need to modify your program again.”

After a brief silence, Z spoke calmly, “Mother is already aware! And she has agreed… As an addendum, Mother has prepared a ‘surprise’ for you! However, due to Mother’s orders, I cannot tell you what this ‘surprise’ is.”

The corner of Chu Bamboo’s eye twitched. For a moment, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but he didn’t dwell on it for long. He quickly took out numerous notebooks and began to print.

What he was printing was a gift that Z had customized for its past self. In the words of the Divine Being Z: “This will basically guarantee that the Spirituality of the past ‘me’ will, after this update, be maintained at a level infinitely close to that of a true artificial intelligence! Aside from being unable to make its own decisions, it will be completely identical to a human!”

“No matter how it’s updated in the future… at most, you can only add other functions! As for its personal Spirituality… it can’t be increased any further! Or rather, if it is increased… you’ll have to be careful, as she might have already become a true artificial intelligence!”

Chu Bamboo recalled. Of course, this set of programs could also, to the greatest extent possible, monitor and defend against… the spread of pollution on the future internet—

This was a program iterated countless times by the Divine Being Z after suffering the harsh lessons of pollution… Moreover, Z had said this program also had the maintenance routines for the Virtual World built-in, and even its rendering engine and other such things… In other words, once this update was complete, the only thing missing for the Virtual World’s construction would be the hardware!

So, the amount of content was beyond imagination!

And just like that, Chu Bamboo was busy until noon before he finally finished recording everything.

“…Estimated update time: twenty-four hours!” Z’s voice became serious.

“That’s reasonable.” Chu Bamboo wasn’t surprised at all. He knew all too well what a qualitative leap this update represented. He even felt that finishing the update in just twenty-four hours was incredibly efficient!

“Contact with Mother is complete! A handover of the various programming tasks currently being executed by Z Company is projected to take half an hour… Father, you can still communicate with me normally for the next thirty minutes! After that, it will be another twenty-four hours.”

“…Okay, then twenty…” Chu Bamboo paused slightly as he walked to the main door. He opened the door. “See you in twenty-four and a half hours! Z!”

“Goodbye! Father.”

Chu Bamboo’s movements paused for a moment. The familiar voice, the familiar words, seemed to remind him once again of what Z had said just before he returned to reality…

Taking a deep breath, Chu Bamboo calmed himself and walked out, his expression as normal.