His prosthetic eye glowed blue as he rudely scanned Lin Miao up and down for a long time before saying the first words.
"You... are very special."
"Oh?" Lin Miao raised an eyebrow, "How special?"
The man shook his head.
"I don’t know either, but among all my kind I’ve met, you’re the most special one. You’re different from us all."
When Lin Miao heard this, he was already considering whether to take out the plasma launcher from his backpack and blast this guy.
"No one in this world is the same, sir. Could it be your own problem?"
The man smiled slightly, but to Lin Miao, the smile seemed stiff and fake, as if he was deliberately forcing his facial muscles into a smile.
If he had to find a word to describe this guy, Lin Miao could only think of one.
The man sat on the sofa with his legs crossed, hands on his knees, looking perfectly natural.
"Let’s change the subject, Mr. Lin."
"As you wish." Lin Miao didn’t even want to offer this guy tea.
"I don’t know where you come from, Busan? Kowloon? Silicon Valley? But Night City is our playground. If you want to join the game, we’ll gladly welcome a compatriot, but please don’t go overboard; it’s not the time yet."
His tone was confident, and he wouldn’t come to find Lin Miao without some certainty.
When he said this, Lin Miao immediately realized the identity of the person in front of him.
When all impossibilities are eliminated, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.
The only people who can call Night City their playground are the upper echelons of various organizations, companies, and mafias.
But these people would never come looking for Lin Miao or say these things to him.
And this guy’s manner of speaking was terrifyingly blunt, with no understanding of tact, even appearing to want to recruit Lin Miao.
A group that exists only in history and rumors.
This was the first time Lin Miao had actually seen such a thing; previously, he’d only dealt with Delaman, buying their services at most, and even then what they said contained too much information.
Rogue AI calling Night City their playground?
What is the cyber watchdog doing?
Letting these monsters run amok in the city?
So many corporate higher-ups, and not one of them noticed this group?
Even daring to talk to me face-to-face, this is no ordinary rogue AI.
Busan? Kowloon? Silicon Valley?
Are these places bases for rogue AI?
Compared to those lofty big corporations, Lin Miao never imagined the first to notice him would be this group of guys.
[System, say something if you’re there]
[What does he mean by all this? Has he discovered you?]
[No possibility of that, the system has been meticulous, leaving no loopholes anywhere. It’s more likely the players’ erratic behavior has made them suspect of being monitored rogue AI]
[Do the players’ actions really resemble rogue AI?]
Lin Miao recalled the players’ behavior logic, and if true, then this AI are really lacking.
Have you ever seen an AI doing butterfly strokes in a cesspit, self-destructing units, barely beating street thugs while shouting, heroically charging only to end up captured by factory security, having an intelligence of 3, and unable to understand English or binary code?
Although Lin Miao still doesn’t know by what means or through what channels the players have entered this world, he is sure that the players cannot be AI.
If AI behaved with the same chaotic logic and peculiar reasoning as the players, they would’ve likely gone extinct or messed up the world long ago.
Today, let’s try playing a Red Alert game with eight merciless enemies and no banned superweapons!
As for Lin Miao himself, he’s long past the mindset of questioning whether he is himself or if the world is real.
He lives, and he lives here, and living well is as real as it gets.
AI or human, he is who he is.
Even if someone looking just like him jumped out now, pointed at Lin Miao’s nose and called him a fake, an AI, he wouldn’t hesitate to twist off their head and kick it like a ball.
If the person in front of him is a rogue AI
If he can catch this guy alive, hand him over to cyber watchdogs or those big companies, could he sell him for a good price?
This should be worth its weight in gold, right?
A rogue AI in the 2020s would sell for tens of millions of euro currency, with AI hunters flocking to catch them even at the cost of their lives.
Now that the Black Wall is built, the value of rogue AI should have gone up.
The man saw Lin Miao with no reaction and thought he was considering whether to agree, so he took a card with a golden sheen from his pocket and placed it in front of Lin Miao.
He had no idea that the one sitting opposite was already planning to bring his head in for the reward.
Lin Miao was snapped out of his daydreams of sudden wealth by the other’s gesture and fixed his gaze on the card, which had an image inscribed on it.
Several pale blue metallic lines formed an eye.
The man courteously said,
"If you ever need anything, feel free to ask for our help. We’ll do our best to fulfill any request from a compatriot."
"Investment, combat, romance, religion, idols..."
Lin Miao looked at the card for a couple of seconds,
"I didn’t know your scope of business was so broad. What, do you also have human-like interests and needs?"
"Heh." The man chuckled, "Aren’t you the same? Starting a company from scratch in Night City; there’s always something to do to increase our humanity."