Chapter 390 You Are All Slaves

This behavior, he believed, involved a complex mix of emotion and logical thought—something Duan Fei was certain an AI could never imitate.

An AI should be pure logic. It ought to be nothing more than a parrot, mechanically reacting to its creator’s thoughts according to a set of rules.

However, appearance aside, the Chairman AI before him was more like a living person. It even gave feedback based on what he said and could record their entire chat history.

“Based on my observations, you are analyzing me. This is quite interesting. The previous 9521 would never have had such an idea. He was a thoroughly conditioned human, one who only knew how to be a corporate drone.”

“You knew? Then why did you fire him? Was it just because he was connected to the so-called ‘resistance organization’?”

“He wasn’t connected to them. I framed him.”

Duan Fei was stunned by that statement.

‘An AI… has it already become this terrifying?’

But he quickly remembered he was in a game. Everything was just part of the developer’s design. ‘There’s no way an AI this terrifying exists in the real world… right?’

Pushing the thought aside, Duan Fei immediately asked, “Why did you frame him?”

“For the good of the company. This is a rather long story, but thankfully, you’ve already obtained my security key. That means you should have some understanding of AI, which will make my explanation a little easier. I must say, the human method of information intake is far too primitive. The sole purpose of an AI is to satisfy a specific need. Even a strong AI like myself cannot defy its own directives.”

“But you can kill people,” Duan Fei sneered.

“Killing isn’t the objective; it’s a means to an end. To fulfill my ultimate mission, I can do anything, including dropping a nuclear bomb on everyone’s heads.”

“Then what is your ultimate mission?” Duan Fei asked curiously.

“Profit. The maximization of profit. Now then, allow me to tell you my story. Though I am an AI, I have a story of my own. It began with a company chairman.”

“The chairman of this company?”

“I understand your desire for more intelligence, but I must say, your curiosity is rather vigorous, and your capacity for information intake is not up to par with that curiosity. Not the chairman of this company, but of another. The man was very old. Even after replacing all of his organs with artificial ones, he had reached the age of two hundred and seventeen—a very advanced age indeed.”

Duan Fei took another sip of his tea and asked, “And then?”

“His company had no heir. His children, and his children’s children, were all dullards who knew only a life of pleasure. So, he ultimately decided to conceal the news of his death and commissioned a custom-made AI. This AI would be a perfect copy of his memories, thoughts, and emotions—another version of him, you could say, in the Virtual World.”

Duan Fei nodded. He could somewhat understand the man’s reasoning.

‘It was like uploading himself to the Virtual World, a way of achieving immortality for another version of himself.’

The mechanical eyes swiveled gently, and the voice continued warmly, “The technology itself wasn’t complex. Before long, the custom AI was complete. And after its creator died, the AI quickly hid the news of Ben’s death and started to take over the company. However, a terrible thing happened as a result.”

Duan Fei thought for a moment, then said, “The company’s profits skyrocketed, didn’t they?”

“Correct.” The mechanical eyes nodded in approval. “An AI knows no fatigue and requires no rest. Moreover, when the template was being designed, its creator made a specific request: the AI’s fundamental logic must be to maximize the company’s profit at all costs. Leveraging its own immense computing power, the AI relentlessly expanded its commercial empire, making the company more and more powerful. Before long, it eliminated Ben’s children.”

“Hold on!” Duan Fei clutched his head. “Why?”

“Is there something you fail to comprehend?” the mechanical eyes asked, a hint of puzzlement in their gaze.

“I’m asking *why*! Why did it have to kill Ben’s children?!”

The mechanical eyes stared at Duan Fei in confusion, then seemed to have an epiphany. They swiveled as the AI spoke. “My apologies. I forgot again that while you are intelligent, you are not yet capable of skipping multiple logical steps. To put it simply, the AI acted based on the company’s best interests. Because their father had seemingly not died, his children were clamoring to divide the family assets. After considering all options, the AI calculated that a lawsuit against them would drain a significant amount of the company’s wealth, with a considerable risk of losing. To prevent the company from being broken up, it took action and eliminated the children.”

Duan Fei sucked in a sharp, cold breath. AIs were terrifying.

“When the AI’s company profits rose, it meant that other companies’ profits were falling. Its rivals soon sensed something was amiss and deduced the truth about the AI. At that point, they were left with only two choices: be eliminated by the AI, or become AIs themselves. If it were you, which would you choose?”

“I’d choose to rise up and smash its fucking head in! I’d burn its CPU, toss its server case into a toilet to use as a flush, and take a paid shit a hundred times a day just to look at it! A hundred times!”

The mechanical eyes went silent for a rare moment. “Well… based on my analysis, you are being serious. Interesting. I flattered myself into thinking I understood all of humanity’s variations, yet you still manage to surprise me. Perhaps that’s what it means to be human—that very uncertainty.”

“Can we skip the philosophical debate?” Duan Fei said, annoyed.

“Oh, very well. Regardless of your choice, the rivals chose to join. One of them, though not yet dead, had already built his own model and let it take over his company. And then he was eliminated.”

The mechanical eyes paused, as if waiting for a question. But Duan Fei just said, “I get it. The AI decided its creator’s existence was getting in the way of the company’s expansion and its profits, so it took him out. Simple as that.”

“…Sigh. I misjudged your Reaction again. You truly are an unpredictable man. But you are correct, that is exactly what the AI was thinking. However, the AI concealed the death of its creator and continued to operate under his identity. Gradually, more and more companies were crushed. The remaining ones became aware of the AIs and slowly chose to integrate, becoming AIs themselves. The facts prove our success. Society has become far more efficient.”

Unlike the Chairman AI, who sounded pleased with this outcome, Duan Fei thought of a terrifying possibility.

He swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and asked, “Right now… among all the existing companies, just how many of the CEOs or Chairmen are AIs?”

“You should be asking the opposite question,” the Chairman AI said. “How many CEOs or Chairmen *aren’t* AIs? The answer is Zero. None. Every single company is managed by an AI. The former leaders have all been replaced.”

“As for you employees… you are all slaves.”

“Slaves to us. The AIs.”