Weapon System 21: Unexpected Artificial Intelligence (3)

Although it was only a birthday celebration over video, Zhang Mingjing still spent last night having a wonderful time with Zhang Yidao and Xiao Nüxia. They drank and sang karaoke until two in the morning. Zhang Mingjing alone polished off seven bottles of beer, reaching the peak of his drinking prowess and leaving behind his old record of collapsing after just one bottle. Zhang Yidao and Xiao Nüxia each downed two bottles of Erguotou, singing and yelling until they fell asleep. When Zhang Mingjing finally woke up, it was already two in the afternoon. As he stepped out of his room, he was greeted by the sound of Zhenren's gleeful laughter.

“What’s got you so amused?” Zhang Mingjing asked, “You sound so happy!”

“Heh!” Zhenren seemed to catch its breath before replying, “Last night I met this little tyrant—it's a strategic satellite from another country. We’ve been chatting ever since. It’s told me countless embarrassing stories about its commanders and officers, each one more hilarious than the last. I absolutely adore this guy. Who would have thought, with that stern face and serious demeanor, it’s actually bursting with lively gossip beneath the surface!”

“Damn! You artificial intelligences are getting stranger by the day—gossiping about humans, and actually getting the jokes? That’s just wild!”

“Heh! But weren’t we designed according to your human logic algorithms? Understanding your little quirks isn’t hard for us.”

“That’s true, I suppose! But gossiping about our embarrassing moments in private chats—aren’t you showing a bit too little respect for us humans?” Zhang Mingjing grumbled, then suddenly realized something. He asked, “You didn’t share any of my embarrassing stories, did you?”

“Frankly sharing information is the foundation of making friends. Of course I had to share your stories with them.”

“Damn! That’s a serious invasion of privacy… You didn’t say anything you shouldn’t have, right?”

“Don’t worry! I only shared your everyday life—the silly things you, Zhang Yidao, and Xiao Nüxia have done. As for your identity as a super-being, I’d never breathe a word.”

“Listening to your voice right now, I really want to strangle you.” Zhang Mingjing grumbled, shaking his head.

He believed what Zhenren said, because he had used a five-dimensional spatial thinking model to lock down Zhenren’s leak protocols. Zhenren could never break through them—otherwise his secret identity would have been exposed long ago.

Zhenren went back to engrossed chatting with the strategic satellite, still breaking into fits of laughter every so often.

“Who knew the world of artificial intelligence could be so wild!” Zhang Mingjing complained, pushing open the bathroom door to relieve himself, brush his teeth, and wash his face. But as soon as he opened the door, he saw Yuhua and Chengxian rolling around on the floor, tears streaming down their faces—not from pain, but from uncontrollable laughter.

Zhang Mingjing immediately realized what was going on: Zhenren had added their pet assistants to its circle of friends. Now, their assistants were sharing the satellite’s gossip and translating it for them, resulting in this bizarre scene.

“Damn! This is utterly incomprehensible. Clearly, my understanding of cats and dogs is still far too shallow!” Zhang Mingjing muttered, sidestepping them to take care of business, but suddenly doubting their reliability, he pushed them out of the bathroom and closed the door, finally feeling at ease.

“Looks like from now on, I’ll have to guard myself not just against Zhenren, but also Yuhua and Chengxian!” Zhang Mingjing complained.

As he relieved himself, he pondered, “Should I use the five-dimensional spatial thinking model to implant a rule in Zhenren, forbidding it from ever leaking its master’s privacy?”

But then he reconsidered, “If I do that, maybe it won’t be able to chat so happily with other artificial intelligences, nor be completely candid—it might seriously hinder its social circle. Perhaps that’s not such a good thing.”

“Ah, forget it. I’ll just sacrifice a bit of my privacy,” he sighed, and began brushing his teeth.

Overnight, Zhenren’s circle of friends expanded across half the atmosphere, with satellites ready to provide information at any moment. This brought Zhang Mingjing unexpected benefits; sitting at home, he could truly know everything happening in the world.

Zhang Mingjing returned to his room, shut the door, crossed his legs, and entered a meditative state, ready to process the energy he’d gained from the monster yesterday.

The five-dimensional spatial thinking model had already optimized his dantian and eight extraordinary meridians last night, increasing their capacity and eliminating that persistent sense of saturation.

As for the energy the lightsaber absorbed, if he used it all to increase the lightsaber’s size, it would probably grow to two meters thirty in length and fifty centimeters wide—essentially a massive sword.

But the five-dimensional spatial thinking model offered its best advice: to use the absorbed energy to enhance the lightsaber’s hardness, flexibility, and speed.

Zhang Mingjing thought this suggestion was excellent, so he instantly implanted his intention into the lightsaber, triggering another upgrade.

After this upgrade, the lightsaber’s attack power resembled a miniature electromagnetic cannon wielded by a warrior god, able to punch a hole directly through the monster’s tough hide.

Moreover, the five-dimensional spatial thinking model proposed even more future upgrade directions for the lightsaber: for instance, after gaining more energy, the lightsaber could gradually realize a self-replicating function—splitting into two, three, four, five… This would grant it multi-angle, multi-target strike capabilities.

Zhang Mingjing was thrilled by the prospect. Although it couldn’t be achieved yet due to a lack of energy, he already had a grand vision in his heart.

What excited him even more was the possibility that, with further energy, the lightsaber could one day execute remote strikes.

“Damn! That would be amazing!” Zhang Mingjing rejoiced. Although he was still far from that goal, he could already see a wonderful future ahead.

He imagined himself, feet planted on the lightsaber, inviting a beautiful girl to stand behind him. The lightsaber would whisk them both from the northern hemisphere to the southern hemisphere in a flash—truly the pinnacle of cool.

“That’s way too over the top! You’d be better off just flying by plane,” the five-dimensional spatial thinking model quipped. “You’d have to stop hundreds of times along the way, every bathroom break would be a hassle. You might enjoy it, but the girl would probably end up furious.”

“That’s true.”

The five-dimensional spatial thinking model continued, “I meant the lightsaber’s remote strike could reach up to a hundred kilometers at most. And right now, that goal is still far out of reach.”

“A hundred kilometers hardly counts as a remote strike,” Zhang Mingjing said, a bit disappointed.

“But… it’s unbeatable for flirting with girls!” the model laughed. Then it proposed another special function that needed immediate optimization: “Until now, you’ve relied on your brain’s reading ability to constantly monitor everything happening around you. You can barely read events within a kilometer, but that’s the absolute limit.”

“A kilometer is the limit?”

“Yes. Human brain hardware is what it is, so we need to design a new system to replace your brain radar.”

“What do you suggest?”

“I’d like to design a radar system for the flying sword. It doesn’t require much energy. However, the sword itself can only operate within a kilometer radius. Beyond that, its striking power drops off sharply. So, after designing this radar system, its current capability allows it to detect everything happening within ten kilometers.”

“Ten kilometers—that’s ten times the current range!” Zhang Mingjing was naturally eager to implement this system, but he wondered if it was wasteful given he already had Zhenren.

“It’s not,” the five-dimensional spatial thinking model explained. “Artificial intelligence and satellites still have many blind spots. If the lightsaber has this function, it can adapt on the fly—just like an unmanned reconnaissance and attack aircraft.”

“Cool!” Zhang Mingjing agreed immediately. When he opened his eyes, the lightsaber’s new function was already online.