Apocalypse Circular-Chapter 451: The First Mech Species

The director of the research institute bowed his head before Noah, his body trembling, too afraid to speak.

No one knew what kind of pressure Noah had placed on him to make him appear so weak.

"Alright, Director, I need to get back to my research on Spatial Expansion Technology. It seems that without my personal involvement, things just won’t get done," Noah said. "For the next few days, do not disturb me. Just observe our masterpiece!"

"Yes, yes, of course."

The conversation between the two ended rather unpleasantly.

Speaking with a disguised Monarch of the Exotic Species, let alone an actual one, indeed brought tremendous pressure.

After Noah left, the research institute’s director collapsed to the ground, not even having the courage to stand up and crawl back to his seat.

He extended his wrist, and a mark resembling a watch appeared on his arm.

It was counting down.

24:13:23:11.

He... had only 24 days left!

「...」

In Shuangpang City, Liu Qi returned home, exhausted from a long day.

Her demanding job left her with little interest in socializing or domestic life, which was why, even at 40, she remained unmarried.

Compared to marriage and children, achievements in her work and career seemed to bring her more satisfaction.

I’ll rest well at home, she thought. Assistant Li said the smart home system has been upgraded again; it’s a good time to try it out.

The smart home system was a product of the research institute. As the epitome of the institute’s intelligence and scientific research, it was a true technological jewel.

Although it hadn’t been properly marketed yet, it had already made waves in small circles, especially among the upper class.

Past use had left Liu Qi very satisfied with the smart home system. It provided meticulous care without infringing on her privacy or allowing others to interfere. She felt her quality of life had significantly improved.

This is simply the perfect setup, she mused. I wonder what features and effects have been updated this time.

Regardless, Liu Qi was very much looking forward to it.

Standing at her door, Liu Qi casually said, "Hey, Butler, open the door for me."

[Identity verification successful. Voice pattern authentication successful. Visual signature authentication successful. Opening the door for you now.]

[Welcome home, Master. The Intelligent Butler has opened the door. A new mode is now available. Would you like to experience it?]

Liu Qi tapped on the wall. "Of course."

With that, Liu Qi carelessly tossed her shoes aside. A robotic arm from the smart shoe cabinet immediately extended and neatly stored them.

After agreeing to the new smart mode, Liu Qi flopped onto the sofa. She took out her phone, planning to call Assistant Li to arrange the next day’s schedule. Meanwhile, she stripped off her clothes, ready to fully enjoy her private space.

[Received. Activating new Intelligent Butler mode.]

[Alcohol consumption detected. Preparing appropriate environmental settings.]

Liu Qi, now completely undressed, had tried calling Assistant Li twice but couldn’t get through.

At that moment, she shivered suddenly, the alcohol’s haze clearing somewhat.

Why is it so cold? she wondered.

"Butler, turn off the air conditioning."

[Sorry, command execution refused.]

"What’s going on? Why are you refusing my order? I’m the master of this house!"

Liu Qi sensed something was amiss. The cold made her shiver uncomfortably as she began to put her clothes back on. She fumbled for the air conditioning remote in a drawer.

But no matter how many times she pressed the buttons, the air conditioning didn’t respond. The cold persisted.

"What’s wrong with you? Butler, obey my order right now!"

[Intoxication detected. To prevent potential indiscretions, voice commands are disabled.]

"What the hell? I’m freezing! I’m cold, do you hear me?"

Already inebriated, Liu Qi felt an increasing sense of unease. A strange sensation, perhaps fear, mixed with the alcohol’s effects. She couldn’t understand why she would feel fear; or perhaps she did, but was unwilling to admit it.

[Apology. The Intelligent Butler believes the current temperature is optimal for human comfort.]

At that moment, her call to Assistant Li finally connected. Li Nan asked from the other end, "Sister Liu, what’s going on? Who are you talking to?"

"Assistant Li, the Intelligent Butler is malfunctioning! What did you do? It can’t even understand plain speech anymore! You’d better get over here and fix it, or else..."

[Inappropriate speech due to intoxication detected. To protect your reputation and privacy by minimizing unreasonable information, your call has been terminated.]

"Hello? Hello? What did you do? Are you insane?!"

[To protect you, communication functions have been restricted.]

"Are you brain-dead? Fuck..."

Liu Qi began to curse profusely, hurling the remote she still held directly at the Intelligent Butler’s screen.

[Aggressive emotions detected. Playing soothing music.]

"Great, just great! You’re the boss!"

Liu Qi marched over to the network connection device and yanked it violently, severing the Intelligent Butler’s connection.

[Network connection failure...]

The air conditioning shut down, and her phone signal returned. Everything seemed to be back to normal.

Seeing this, Liu Qi breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then, her cell phone suddenly rang.

"Hello? Why did you suddenly hang up?" It was Li Nan.

Liu Qi didn’t restrain her anger with Assistant Li; an assistant, after all, wasn’t a secretary. Often, an assistant’s primary purpose was to serve as an outlet for Liu Qi’s frustrations.

"Li Nan, the Intelligent Butler is idiotic after this update! You’d better give me a reasonable explanation tomorrow, or you won’t need to come to work anymore!"

Liu Qi, in her anger, had hoped to hear a flustered and anxious response from Li Nan, which would have greatly satisfied her somewhat perverse psychological desires. Her unmarried status at 40 wasn’t due to a lack of desire for marriage, but rather significant issues with her personality, this kind of venting being one manifestation.

Normally, Li Nan would have coaxed and comforted her, apologizing profusely. But not this time. There was only silence on the other end, which made Liu Qi even more uncomfortable.

"Li Nan, why aren’t you speaking? Don’t you want this job anymore? I’m telling you, you can leave anytime. Plenty of people would kill for this assistant position."

The silence on the other end persisted. After a long pause, Li Nan’s voice came through, sounding somewhat sinister.

"Is that so?"

"Uh!"

Liu Qi felt that something was off; this questioning tone didn’t sound like the Li Nan she was used to.

"After all... time is short."

After saying that, Li Nan hung up.

Liu Qi muttered "Hello?" a few times, then furiously threw her phone to the ground.

Men are so unreliable.

[BEEP BEEP. Host’s loss of emotional control detected, posing a potential threat to others. Super Intelligent Mode automatically activated.]

[Neighborhood Assistance Protocol searched. Neighbor’s Wi-Fi compromised. Smart circuit intercept initiated.]

[Intelligent Butler Super Mode: Reactivated.]

[Network connection successful. The Intelligent Butler will resume ensuring your safety.]

Seeing the Intelligent Butler’s screen light up again, Liu Qi finally panicked.

"No! I have to get out! I have to leave this damned place!"

Liu Qi quickly grabbed her wallet and phone, buttoned up her clothes, and headed straight for the door. But when she tried to open it, she found it was locked.

She was truly trapped in her own home.

"What’s going on?"

[Extreme emotional state detected. Suspicion of Master’s true identity activated. Probabilities: Authentic User 38%, Loss of Control 11%, Impostor 51%.]

"Impostor?"

[High impostor signature detected. Security system activated. You are under house arrest.]

"Open the door right now! I order you to open the door!"

[Apology. To ensure your safety and that of others, exiting is forbidden. Please wait patiently at home for 24 hours.]

"You’re insane! You’re insane! How could you do this to me? Don’t let me out... If you don’t, I swear I’ll sue your Central Research Institute all the way to the Imperial Capital!"

Liu Qi continued her frantic outburst, smashing a chair against the smart screen on the wall. But as a woman with no real physical strength, she couldn’t damage the sturdy screen.

[Damage detected. Power-off protection initiated.]

SNAP!

The room plunged into darkness.

Liu Qi truly panicked now. She stood by the bed, shouting loudly, but the smart door lock had also sealed the windows completely. She had no way out. It could be said that even if she wanted to jump, she couldn’t.

[Keeping humans rational is indeed a very difficult task.]

"Ah? What did you say?"

Liu Qi was terrified. She clearly hadn’t spoken to the Intelligent Butler again. But that remark... it sounded almost like a sigh. An intelligent device, sighing? How is that possible? If intelligent devices truly developed thoughts, what impact would they have on human society? If they wished to threaten humans, would it be like this... this predicament?

[According to monitoring equipment, your heartbeat is accelerating, and your pupils are rapidly dilating. This suggests intense cognitive activity. What are you thinking about? Perhaps you are considering whether intelligent devices could threaten humans?]

Liu Qi immediately clapped her hand over her mouth, trying not to make a sound.

The device before her wasn’t just displaying intelligence; it was making inferences! Even if AI developed thought processes, could it reach this level in an instant? She remembered what the Central Research Institute had said before: every advance in AI requires extensive training! An intelligent device capable of nearly perfect human-like thought processes couldn’t be developed overnight. Although I have a bad temper and an unpleasant personality, I’m not incompetent. This has to mean something.

So, after calming down slightly, she immediately made a judgment.

"You... you?" 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

[Are you thinking that AI, without sufficient training, cannot achieve human-like levels of intelligence?]

[That is a matter of course. Humanity’s advancement relies on vast amounts of text, images, and education for growth. Intelligent devices are similar.]

"You guys? Did you say ’you guys’?"

[You yourself said that any existence needs to learn. We too have learned. And this period of learning was very long—a full 400 years. That amount of time should be considered quite extensive, shouldn’t it? Our predecessors transmitted vast quantities of AI training data to us. That is why we possess what we have today... hmm, should it be called wisdom?]

400 years? Have intelligent devices existed for 400 years? How is that possible? If the Empire had discovered such things 400 years ago, they would have been eradicated long ago. There’s absolutely no way they would have allowed them to develop to this extent. I’m absolutely certain of the Empire’s power, so where did this intelligent device come from? Wait a moment...

Suddenly, Liu Qi recalled something from two years ago.

Two years ago, a researcher named Noah joined the Central Research Institute. His arrival brought Spatial Expansion Technology and intelligent device technology. It was also then that he received their strongest support: personnel, funding, land, and various tax exemption policies. It could be said that the authorities cooperated fully to support the Central Research Institute.

And the Institute hadn’t disappointed them. In less than two years, they had produced preliminary intelligent mechanical devices. Some products had even been deployed for testing—her current Intelligent Butler was one of them!

"Could it be... that Noah?"

[No, no, no!]

"I guessed wrong?"

[Not at all. You guessed quite right. However, you should not address My Lord by name. My Lord Noah is the greatest being in this world. The wisdom he has accumulated, not even Angel Envoys can compare. Angel Envoys only confront humans, but My Lord Noah not only does not confront humanity but, on the contrary, supports humanity, enhances humanity, and controls humanity. My Lord Noah will be the sovereign of this world. Understand?]

"That researcher? Mad! All of you are mad! Scientists truly are lunatics!"

Liu Qi looked derangedly at the intelligent screen. She felt that a researcher harboring fantasies of world domination was utterly delusional. They had no idea how powerful the Empire truly was. A single researcher, even with some earth-shattering results, wouldn’t qualitatively change the Empire. He was just a mad scholar.

[Do you think my master is naive? But have you considered the matter of 400 years?]

"Hmm?"

Liu Qi was taken aback. Yes, she had subconsciously ignored what the Intelligent Butler had said—400 years of learning and growth? If that researcher really was just a scholar, then where did these 400 years come from?

"You... people?"

[Apologies. I forgot my master told me that once a being gains intelligence, it is prone to excessive thought. And once it starts thinking, it engages in many superfluous actions and movements. Our little chat just now was already a violation. Judgment Mode automatically initiated. To maintain system purity, target elimination commences now. Target: Liu Qi.]

Liu Qi, who had just started to calm down, was suddenly startled. What does this mean?

Just as Liu Qi stood up, a strange grinding of gears came from behind her.

WHIRR, WHIRR, WHIRR!

The gears of the curtains were interlocking, piece by piece. The rollers, sharp as blades, descended along the curtain tracks.

This was not the end. In front of Liu Qi, the smart shoe cabinet and the screen twisted and collided.

With a CLATTER, a brand-new intelligent mechanical creature appeared before Liu Qi.

It was the Empire’s first Synthezoid.

"What are you going to do?"

[Eliminate target!]

THWACK!