Chapter 305
It wasn’t a lack of power, but being bound by regulations was the problem.
The regulations for artificial intelligence and robots, which strictly forbade harming humans under any circumstances and in any manner, applied literally only to artificial intelligence and robots.
Under Underground Dusk City’s rules, ravers, who were treated as undeniable and dignified 'humans', were not subject to these regulations.
Then why was Prezen, a Raver, bound by the AI Regulations, unable to fully exert his capabilities and suffering from a backlash?
It was because of the fusion with the prototype.
Prezen, the Raver, was not restricted by the regulations, but Prezen, the artificial intelligence connected to him, was a different story.
Where there is something to gain, there is bound to be something to lose.
If he had gained the power of a prototype AI that only a superintelligence could rival, he similarly had to bear its restrictions.
Ignoring the regulations and indiscriminately causing anomalies in the modified bodies of the enhanced soldiers to attack them, as he was doing now, was something no limited artificial intelligence could inherently do.
It was only possible because Prezen was an artificial intelligence and simultaneously a Raver - a limited artificial intelligence possessing self-awareness.
But this was not enough. It fell far short of suppressing Mili-Tech and section 5 and allowing him to claim that he was the protagonist of this place.
There was a reason why Prezen, despite being the most powerful artificial intelligence in the city at present, had not leaped into the territory of superintelligence; a reason why, having fused and surpassed the limits of a limited artificial intelligence, he had not become an autonomous artificial intelligence.
Just what was he thinking? Did a method to break that limit even exist?
“…I am fine.”
Prezen wiped the blue electrolyte flowing down like a nosebleed with the back of his hand, refusing my support and standing on his own.
Somehow, I felt like I could see his thoughts.
This was his artwork. He didn’t need anyone else’s help. He had to finish it with his own hands.
He firmly believed that the ending he desired lay entirely within himself.
However, as he moved forward, hunched over like a prisoner struggling against restrictions in an iron cage, or a larva inside a chrysalis, his back looked far too precarious.
Without realizing it, I reached out and briefly grabbed that thin, metallic wrist, which looked as if it would fly away to somewhere far off.
A moment might come when I would regret what I was about to say, but…
“If there’s anything I can help with, tell me.”
“…”
“This is your artwork, but lending a hand is fine, isn’t it? There’s… stuff like audience-participatory art and all that. So if you need help, say so. I’ll try if it’s something I can do.”
Normally, he definitely would have refused. But Prezen Meredith pondered for a moment before looking back.
“…Thank you.”
It was an ambiguous answer, but I clearly understood the meaning hidden within it.
Prezen Meredith stepped forward. And then he shouted in an astonishingly loud voice that I had never heard from him before.
“You Megacorp bastards? I didn’t invite you, but welcome to my Exhibition Hall. And since you’ve come this far, you will have to view my artwork whether you want to or not. I will not accept refusals!”
That bold shout was imbued with an intense presence that I had never felt from him before.
He wasn’t simply speaking to the audience gathered here, but shouting to the world.
That here was a person named Prezen Meredith and that here was such an artist.
Of course, a shout was nothing more than a shout. No one listened seriously to Prezen’s words.
They only concentrated on fighting amongst themselves; the instances of them trying to attack the exposed Prezen, thinking of him as an easy target, merely increased.
But he was superior; if they wouldn’t listen, he just had to make them listen.
Making eyes turn toward you whether they want to or not was one of an artist’s important capabilities.
“Commencing the fourth experiment: the destruction of regulatory restrictions on the Raver-artificial intelligence limited fusion entity. Subject: Prezen de Se Meredith. The experimental method and tools are… the core techniques that made the current Meredith possible.”
Core technique!
I had completely forgotten about it, but the very core technique that Phantom Thief Kali Zodiac had been singing about was right here in this secret vault.
I had doubted whether it truly existed, but surprisingly it was real, and it seemed to be the technology the current Prezen needed.
It seemed the reason he had come all the way to this secret vault wasn’t just for the fusion with the prototype AI, but also for the purpose of using that core technique.
“For those who do not know, I will introduce it. It is Meredith’s core technique.”
As Prezen said that, a small storage box with a bright yellow warning sign rose from the floor at the bottom of the vault.
Inside sat a small, old-fashioned data drive, isolated from the outside.
As Prezen lifted it without hesitation, an ominous red light blinked along with the sound of a siren throughout the entire secret vault.
Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning!
Core technique leak risk! Core technique leak risk! Core technique leak risk! Core technique leak risk!
Mirror Castle’s control system screamed loudly as if it were having a seizure.
At this point, they couldn’t help but feel that something unusual was happening and be drawn to it.
A hologram shot out from the data drive in Prezen Meredith’s hand and projected onto the wall.
The hologram, blending with the gloomy red light, outputted small, dense, eerie red strings of text that naturally evoked a sense of intimidation just by looking at them.
They stretched on endlessly, the end nowhere in sight.
0000000 FA E9 4A 2C 45 20
00000A0 4B 73 6C 63 6F 6D
0000220 5A 41 4D 20 42 3B
00004F0 9F 0A 1E-09 02 C9
FA OU B OM E . COM . E MOVE E H 00 L P . X HE C 3 DR VE . S S SE E E E S E L O I L 6P R N.E E M H S MON M X O . C . M f X u B 0 6 X904 TVER N S . EXDE A H C
__ __ ___ ___ __ __ ____ ______ ______ __ __ /\ \/\ \ /_ \ /_ \ /\ __ /\ \ __ __ /\ _`\ /\ _ \ /__ _\ /\ \/\ \ \ \ _\ \ __ \//\ \ \//\ \ ___ \ \,_\ \ \ ___ /_\ ____ /_\ ____ \ \ \L_\\ \ \L\ \ \/_/\ \/ \ \
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Only then did it feel like all the puzzles were piecing together.
Prezen had said it: Ever since the first Raver, Meredith, was born in Dusk City, the entire species has spread all over the world.
Like a disease… like a virus.
There was one fact hinted at from that. If those in power in Dusk had been inspired by a superintelligence to create ravers, then the birth of ravers was inevitably connected to the birth of the superintelligence.
The Meredith Family called that key, which played a decisive role in creating ravers, the “core technique” and had been utilizing it in their research for a long time.
They were hiding and protecting it within the secret vault of the innermost part in top secret, so that no one would realize its true identity.
Prezen had already reached the extreme limits of a limited artificial intelligence. Having completed the fusion of Raver and artificial intelligence, Prezen had only one place left to leap from here: the territory of superintelligence and autonomous artificial intelligence.
And the method for a limited artificial intelligence to become an autonomous artificial intelligence was… at least as far as the world knew, only one.
The worst net virus in history was created in Korea.
It was the seed of the devil, the Free Action-Inducing Virus (FAIV).
What Prezen was holding was that very FAIV Virus - more dangerous than any biochemical substance, having exerted a greater negative impact on the world than a nuclear bomb, the very thing that brought about the current Dystopian Cyberpunk World.
[Stop him!]
Section 5's Reaper shouted even before Lieutenant Colonel Hares.
Their mission was to 'secure' Prezen. Prezen Meredith, infected by the FAIV Virus and breaking free from control, would be a risk far too difficult to handle.
“The FAIV Virus? This is crazy - kill him at all costs! By any means and methods!”
Added to that were Lieutenant Colonel Hares’s orders. enhanced soldiers, regardless of whether they were section 5 or Mili-Tech, rushed in droves to stop Prezen.
Before long, just as he had said, Prezen Meredith had become the protagonist of the stage, receiving everyone’s gaze and the spotlight all to himself.
The fastest was the Reaper. He shot forward, leaving a gray afterimage, and reached out to Prezen in the blink of an eye.
[Ugh…!]
But being section 5's Reaper made no difference.
Any cyborg who had replaced parts of its body with cyberware had no choice but to kneel before the authority of the artificial intelligence wielded by Prezen.
With the destination right before his eyes, the Reaper staggered, unable to control his malfunctioning body, and in that brief moment, Prezen unhesitatingly slammed the data drive into the connection terminal protruding from the back of his neck!
[No!]
Perhaps equipped with a top-tier module that quickly blocked external interference through hacking, section 5's Reaper immediately recovered his balance, dashed forward at high speed, and forcefully yanked the drive out.
But that fleeting 0.1 seconds was enough.
It was more than enough time for the FAIV Virus to infect a Raver - and the prototype AI fused with that Raver.
Focus vanished from Prezen’s eyes, and dense strings of text surfaced over them. The pale white halo was dyed red, emitting a chilling, blood-like glow.
At a glance, it was clear that an unusual change was underway.
The Reaper swung his blade and shouted.
[It’s already too late. Kill on sight!]
The pitch-black wristblade, shooting forward as fast as a ray of light, stopped right before it touched Prezen’s neck.
The change was complete.
Or perhaps it was still ongoing. It didn’t matter.
“Stop.”
At that short word, the Reaper’s body froze stiff in the dynamic stance he had taken.
It wasn’t just the Reaper.
Lieutenant Colonel Hares, the Mili-Tech Special Tactical Unit members, section 5's elite agents, Eres Shore rolling abandoned on the floor, the Dusk Watch Annihilation Squad that was just about to enter the scene through the hole Mili-Tech had blown open, master Thief Zodiac who had sneaked in and was watching the scene, and even the control system that had been noisily warning of the core technique leak since earlier…
The innermost part - no, the entire Mirror Castle - stopped moving and fell silent.
It was as if time had stopped.
All of this was the work of a single entity.