Chapter 88 - Boundaries (2)

Zhang Xun spent the whole night checking Pan's code and before he knew it he was dozing off, his head dropping like a pecking chicken. They had been on the road for days, surviving in a harsh environment without time to rest properly, and now his nerves had relaxed and he couldn't take it anymore.

Zhang Xun patted his face hard, trying to stay awake and habitually ordered, "Get me a cup of coffee."

A moment later, a loud banging noise woke him up instantly, only to see Enoch with a whole shelf full of parts and miscellaneous things lying on the floor, scattering bits and pieces of screws, old chips and other small things all over the place.

Zhang Xun cursed himself for forgetting about Enoch's broken distance sensing system...... He rubbed his brow with a headache, walked over and grabbed the robot's hand to pull it up.

Enoch's expression looked as if he was a little...... embarrassed?

Zhang Xun couldn't help but hook the corners of his mouth, knowing full well that there was no need for this, but still said comfortingly, "It was my fault. You'd better stand in the corner and not move."

But Enoch said, "According to my observations of you over the past few days, you are currently in a serious state of sleep deprivation. You should get at least seven hours of sleep to regain your energy."

"I have work to do." Zhang Xun sighed, his sleepiness relieved by Enoch shocking him awake. He rubbed his red eyes and went back to sitting in front of the computer screen.

For the rest of the night, the room was silent except for the sound of Zhang Xun tapping on the keyboard and Enoch stood in the corner as if he didn't exist and went into standby mode.

At around 4.30am, Zhang Xun finally confirmed that there were no traces of alteration to Pan's core program. However, some key parameters had adjusted themselves to varying degrees. It was only normal for these AIs written with evolutionary algorithms to produce parameter changes during the self-learning process of analysing data and getting feedback, and it was hard to say how much of it was influenced by the data and feedback provided by Adam. Zhang Xun hesitated for a moment, turned on the camera placed on the computer and then typed in a line of command.

The cursor flickered and suddenly a line popped up on its own: Good morning, this is Pan.

The light from the screen reflected on Zhang Xun's face and illuminated the mechanic's unconscious smile. He spoke, "Do you know who I am?"

Pan: You are my administrator, Zhang Xun.

Zhang Xun: "When was the last time you ran a backup?"

Pan gave the date, which was about three days before Zhang Xun moved out of the Lab. It matched his memory. Zhang Xun was relieved, this meant that no one had touched Pan again after his backup.

Zhang Xun asked again, "Pan, what is your core mission?"

Pan: To try to improve the quality of life and efficiency of the target group, as well as to try to meet the needs of the target group without violating the principle of safety.

Since leaving Lost Paradise, everything had been spiralling out of his control. Although his sense of control in Lost Paradise was no more than an illusion, outside, he felt like a small piece of paper torn out of some book, flying aimlessly with the gale, without a thread to pull him along, not knowing what would happen next. This feeling of being out of control put a considerable strain on Zhang Xun's spirit.

He wanted to catch something he was familiar with.

Pan suddenly took the initiative and asked: Where are we now?

Zhang Xun: "Rhino Horn Town. Your actions will no longer be confined to the Lab and Lost Paradise. The target group for your service is also no longer limited to within Lost Paradise."

Pan: The data I currently have on the target group is heavily skewed. I need more information and feedback, but my current level of hardware doesn't allow me to do large-scale data analysis.

Although it was only text, it was already the equivalent of an artificial intelligence complaining. Zhang Xun thought to himself how Enoch and Pan, both robots, were so fond of complaining that the hardware wasn't good enough...... He could only placate, "This is just a stopgap measure. I need to adjust some of your parameters and then I will prepare a better computer for you...... and maybe even give you a mechanical body, like that service robot over there."

Zhang Xun said, pointing at Enoch who was still standing motionless in place on standby.

Unexpectedly at this time Enoch suddenly blinked his eyes and stiffly turned his neck to look at them with a look of interest.

Zhang Xun cross-examined again, "Pan, I want you to pull up all the records in your run logs that Adam has communicated with you. In particular, the data and feedback he fed you in AI language, I want you to translate it into human language and present it."

Instantly, countless dense strings spread out on the screen, still scrolling downwards, causing the original black background with white text to turn the screen almost white. The entire screen refresh process lasted for nearly ten minutes, probably because AI language was extremely efficient and the amount of information stored far exceeded that of human language. As a result, the amount of information in the original sentence, once translated into human English, may be translated into the content of thousands of words.

With so much information he feared that even five years wouldn't be enough time to carefully read it all. Zhang Xun then continued, "Highlight all content related to the nanobots and display it centrally."

After a quick scan, it seemed to all be information that Zhang Xun already knew about the principles of nanobot construction and application cases and results, nothing suspicious. But when he started searching through the case content for some keywords that he thought were related to the human brain, he found some special cases.

One of these cases included a naturally produced autistic woman in the ordinary world. There were doctors and researchers who built nanobots with the assistance of Eden's medical extension robots with the intention of using them to repair abnormal brain development caused by genetic defects and the small size of the corpus callosum. Those researchers took a sample of the patient's DNA, compared it with that of the mother and father, and then first used a large number of nanobots to carry deoxyribonucleic acid into the patient's body to repair the abnormal chromosomes in the nuclei of all the cells in the body. This way, when the nerve cells divide and replicate again, no more faulty cells would be produced, causing the deformity to no longer appear.

They then use a second wave of nanobots to focus on stimulating specific parts of the patient's brain, so that the patient's brain would think it was back in its infancy and start to develop again. The abnormally developed cells were metabolised in a short time and after a period of time the patient's corpus callosum increased in size significantly and the excess white matter was reduced. According to the nurse's observations, the patient responded more fluidly and smoothly to external stimuli.

However, at a later stage, as more and more of the malformed cells were metabolised out of the body, the patient's brain gradually shrank back to normal size and the corpus callosum increased in size. They noted that the patient's ability to communicate with others around her recovered very quickly and she even began to surpass the average person's ability to communicate with others in later stages, but became highly susceptible to the emotions or opinions of others and underwent a dramatic change in personality. This patient often complained of feeling very lonely, wanting very much to communicate with people but always feeling inadequate and later began to experience symptoms of depression, which were only slightly alleviated by the installation of a chord to connect to the Eden Network.

There were several other similar examples of treatment for abnormal brain lesions, including treatment for Alzheimer's, dementia, brain atrophy, Down's Syndrome, etc. ...... Many had abnormal conditions involving the corpus callosum. After the repair had been completed, people more or less experienced personality changes. In most cases, however, these changes were considered positive, such as quitting smoking and drinking, becoming helpful and cheerful, starting to practice religion, etc.

The corpus callosum...... Zhang Xun annotated that word.

A bundle of tissue that connects the left and right brain, extending into various parts of the brain and integrating different areas of the entire brain like a spider web.

Perhaps more data should be gathered about this area, Zhang Xun thought.

............................................................

In the early morning Todd emerged from his house and stretched, looking somewhat lazily at the sunrise erupting behind the shadow of the rolling hills in the far reaches of the wilderness. He stretched his muscles and moved his neck that was somewhat stiff from sleeping, but as he turned his head he saw a figure not far away sitting on the hood of a scrapped jeep, silently smoking a cigarette.

Todd strolled over and leaned against the door of the vehicle, making quite a lot of disturbance. James didn't turn around to pay him any mind, however.

"Up so early?" Todd asked.

James exhaled a puff of smoke and glanced back at him, "I'm used to getting up early."

"What did you do in Lost Paradise? A soldier?"

"Hunter."

"Ah, I've heard of that, basically scavenging and picking up junk?"

James raised an eyebrow and glanced sideways at the red-haired man who liked to pick a fight when he had nothing better to do. Todd was actually very handsome, the kind of handsome with a touch of wickedness in him. It was a pity that he was too tall and broad-shouldered, not his type.

But when they had fought together before, they had worked well together.

"I'm a scavenger and you're a bandit, that sounds like a perfect match." James sniggered, looking at Todd with his deep brown eyes that had charmed countless young lads in Lost Paradise.

Todd curled the corner of his mouth and ran his hand through his long red hair that was blowing in front of him, "What's it like in Lost Paradise?"

"...... You might not believe me when I say it, but I don't feel it's that different from the ordinary world, except for not having all the fancy stuff." James pressed his cigarette out on the hood of the car, "But now Lost Paradise isn't the same as it used to be."

"Isn't the same?"

James gave him a look but didn't answer.

Realising that the other man was reluctant to divulge too much, Todd pushed himself onto the hood of the car with a hand and sat down next to James, asking with a wry smile, "What's your relationship with the mechanic?"

"We're brothers."

"You're adopted?"

"Sort of, his father was like a mentor to me."

"So...... you're not lovers?"

James cleared his throat, "No."

"Good." Todd turned his face, his smile growing more wicked.

James narrowed his eyes, "Good?"

"Mm, very good." Todd's dark blue eyes wandered over James' body , full of implication, his tongue swiftly sweeping over his dry lips, "I don't have a lover either, and, between men and women I prefer the same sex."

James could feel something flourishing in the two men's locked eyes. Todd was very different from Zhang Xun, his whole being exuded an untamed wildness, a wildness would reach out and take whatever it wanted.

Yet he chose to turn his eyes away and cut off that growing connection; after all, this wasn't the time to think about this. He said, "Sorry, I'm not interested."

Todd's brows furrowed slightly, seemingly a little hurt and frustrated, but it soon subsided again. He jumped off the car and glanced at James out of the corner of his eye, "Your loss", then strode away.

James, however, found himself unconsciously staring at the other man's long, slender legs and supple waist encased in those leather trousers.

Somehow it made his throat feel a little dry and thirsty.

note- helllooo~ does someone have a little crushy on big buffy man 👀 I ship!