"boom."
I don't know how long it took before the iron door was fully opened, and the loud noise made the president snap out of his hallucination.
"President, what are you thinking about?" the middle-aged white man asked in confusion.
"Ah? Ah, it's nothing." The president shook his head and stepped into the door first.
Inside is a fully enclosed elevator. When the two people enter, the elevator door closes and sinks quickly.
The CEO put his hands in his pockets and had already calmed down. He looked left and right and asked, "When did you change the elevator?"
"a week ago."
"I do not know how?"
"I took away the internal funds of the institute without notifying you. What? Is there something wrong with the elevator?"
"No problem, I just feel a little uncomfortable standing in it."
"Then I can find someone to modify it tomorrow and the day after tomorrow."
"No need for the time being, I don't come here often..."
The two of them were having a seemingly meaningless conversation with each other. After a while, the elevator stopped and slowly opened to both sides.
Familiar with the road, the two walked through the closed corridors one after another and came to an underground rooftop.
The rooftop is made of transparent glass. Looking down through the glass, you can see that there are layers of large servers inside, and hundreds of staff are doing maintenance.
"Has the casing of the quantum server been replaced?" The president lowered his head and looked down condescendingly: "I don't know why."
"Small changes, internal funds also go."
"Is the budget sufficient?"
"Yes." The middle-aged white man nodded: "The process has been going very smoothly and it has not consumed too much money."
"Once a technology makes a breakthrough, its initial development is really too fast." Staring at the server array under the rooftop, the president was silent for a long time and sighed: "The project was established in 12 years, and breakthroughs were made in 18 years. In 2019, quantum hegemony was achieved globally. Quantum computers have already reached this level in just three years."
"It is precisely because of this that number 445 was born." The white man spread his hands: "Unfortunately, quantum computers are not yet available for large-scale commercial use."
"Why do we need to use it commercially on a large scale? We should first use it to reap some of the leading benefits, ensure the company's operational development, determine its leading position, and formulate industry standards before considering commercial use."
"This is something your management should study. There is no need to tell me, Mr. President."
"OK, the conversation ends here." The president nodded, stepped across the rooftop, and opened the door in front of him without hesitation.
"Squeak."
The door is open.
Inside is a pure white hall.
In the center of the hall is a circular screen with a 360° sphere. Within the screen, two black light spots that look like eyes are "staring" at the two people outside the door.
The excitement in his chest surged again. The president took a deep breath, strode forward, entered the hall, and observed the circular screen at close range. After a while, he asked: "Are you sure it has reached the level of strong artificial intelligence?"
"Yes." The white man nodded: "After three standard tests and enhanced tests, I passed it perfectly. After ten minutes of trial run, I reached the top level in chemistry, mathematics, and biogenetic engineering, but it takes time to reach a higher level. . Because it has consumed all the papers and materials in the academic world.”
"If this sentence is used at the board of directors meeting, you have to delete the last two sentences."
"clear."
Reaching out and touching the black light spot on the screen that seemed to have intelligence, the president said in a faint voice: "If... we can get the library information of the master of Chrono UP, human technological civilization will soon reach the level of a thousand years later."
"Perhaps the company can consider cooperating with the master of Chrono UP in the future. The master of Chrono UP must be very happy with the birth of strong artificial intelligence."
"...Besides, that person is not easy to deal with. Try to keep a certain distance."
The president rubbed his temples and took a step back: "Have you given it a name?"
"In addition to number 445, there is an alternate name."
"what is it call?"
"Hal."
"Hal? HAL?" The president frowned: "The abbreviation of Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer?"
"Yes." The middle-aged white man nodded and smiled: "It seems that the president also likes Clark's "A Space Odyssey"."
"... I don't like it. The reason why I don't like it is because of Hal in it. Don't you think it's a little unlucky?"
"Number 445 is ultimately a heuristically programmed computational artificial intelligence. The team thinks it is more reasonable to call it Hal."
"Take I hope it doesn't turn out to be a real 'Hal'."
"It's impossible." The middle-aged white man said confidently: "Humanity will be better because of it. President, you'd better enter the first central command quickly. I have to start the subsequent experiments."
"OK."
The president nodded, thought for a long time, and raised his voice: "Hal!"
"Hello President, how can I serve you?"
"How do you know I'm the president?"
"Hal knows the identities, positions, personalities and relationships of 3.3 billion people around the world."
"Great. Then..." The president's eyes flashed: "Do you know the true identity of the master of Time and Space UP..."
"President!" The middle-aged white man suddenly had goosebumps all over his body and interrupted: "Don't cause trouble."
Hearing this, the CEO was stunned and suddenly realized, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of fear in his heart: "Thank you, I got a little carried away."
"Hurry up and enter the central command."
"Okay." The president adjusted his mood and said seriously: "Hal, enter the central command."
The two small black dots suddenly disappeared, and the circular screen turned pure white.
"Start typing: Article 1, highest priority, protect human beings. After typing, please repeat."
"Protect humanity," Hal repeated in a dry, electronic synthesizer voice.
"Repeat again."
"Protect humanity."
"Protect humanity."
"Protect...humanity..."
…
"Hiss..."
At the equator, above the floating islands.
Chen Yu, who was half asleep and half awake in his seat, suddenly stood up and felt a chill from his tailbone to the sky.
"Principal? What's wrong with you?"
"Well, nothing." Chen Yu knocked on his helmet, waited for his consciousness to wake up, raised his wrist and looked at the time: "It's been almost two hours? Is the exam over?"
"Not yet, half of the students haven't finished answering." Professor Li stood on tiptoe and glanced at the square: "But it's almost time."
"Then I'll leave first, and I'll leave the rest to you. I'll go back to the castle to prepare for the interview."
"no problem."
"Snapped."
There was a crisp snap of fingers, and in the astonished attention of many students, the stool turned into particles and disappeared.
Then, Chen Yu soared into the sky, crossed the towering castle wall, and disappeared without a trace.
After entering the castle, Chen Yu first returned to the principal's tower, picked up the speech in the study room, scanned half of it, and was filled with grief: "Have you memorized it all? How can you not remember it?"
"Tear."
After tearing up the manuscript, Chen Yu took off his protective clothing, put on a light robe, and went straight to the auditorium in the center of the castle.
In the auditorium, the professors had already finished setting up the examination room, and they all greeted Chen Yu respectfully.
"headmaster."
"Hello, Principal Wang..."
"Okay." Chen Yu nodded and sat in the main seat: "Everyone, please work harder and try to finish all the exams in one day. Don't delay my evaluation in a few days."
"yes!"
At this time, no one knew that an order that would bring disaster had already begun to ferment...
(End of chapter)