North American riot police: Start by arresting P. Diddy!

Chapter 186 The True Meaning of [Machines] (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

According to the core principle of Murphy's Law: Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

To put it simply, the more you worry about something, the more likely it is to happen.

As a brilliant software engineer who graduated from MIT and holds multiple doctoral degrees, Harold is passionate about code and algorithms, but he also loves literature and philosophy. Therefore, he understands what Murphy's Law is all about.

At that moment, his mind was caught up in a wild fantasy about Murphy's Law.

He had a growing premonition that Rorschach was about to deliberately get himself into big trouble again!
And indeed, things turned out exactly as he predicted.

Half an hour later, footsteps echoed in the stairwell, mixed with a severely off-key country tune:

"Country road"

"Take Me Home"

"To the place I belong, West Virginia mountain mamma (take me back to West Virginia, where I once belonged, to see the motherly mountain)~"

Harold's heart tightened—every time this kid hums a song, it's never a good thing.

Hey! Harold!

As soon as Luo Xia entered, he saw his old friend sitting restlessly with a cup of green tea in his hand, and immediately opened his arms with a big smile.

Harold took a deep breath and asked through gritted teeth, "Rorschach, are you doing it again?"

"Easy, easy (relax)~"

Luo Xia quickly stepped forward, gently patted the old man's back, and reassured him in a low voice, "Don't worry, this time the target isn't some assassin organization, nor is it agents from any country."

"Really? That's good." Harold breathed a sigh of relief, then suddenly realized, "Wait, target? What target?"

"Unscrupulous insurance companies and New York City Hall!"

Rorschach slammed his fist on the table, gritting his teeth as he said, "These damned bastards embezzled the 911 firefighters' compensation and medical reimbursement. This time, I'm going to bring them a trial from hell!"

"."

Although this sounded exciting, Harold still didn't understand the situation.

Before he could ask any further questions, Rorschach had already begun to recount the plans he had conceived on the road.

As the details of the plan unfolded, Harold's brow furrowed more and more as he listened—this so-called plan was far too bloody and horrifying!

"How's it going, buddy?"

After Rorschach finished explaining his plan, he picked up a cup of green tea to moisten his throat and looked at Harold expectantly.

“I’ve already contacted Clyde, and he’s working on getting the tools I need made. Don’t worry, that kid’s good at engineering physics; he can even take on Pentagon orders, so these little gadgets are a piece of cake for him.”

"Reassured? What the hell can I be assured of?!"

Harold, unusually, swore, his finger trembling as he pointed at Rorschach, his chest heaving violently.

"Our mission is to save lives! But how many people will die from the plan you just described?!"

"So what?"

Rorschach shrugged indifferently. "Didn't they deserve to die?"

"What do we care if they live or die? I just... I just want you to save a desperate old firefighter!"

Harold wearily argued, "Now that the person has been saved, we should focus on the next goal, not help him fight against the entire system. That's not our responsibility; we should..."

“No! This is our duty! Or rather, this is what we were born to do!” Rorschach interrupted him forcefully.

“Just a few hours ago, I was still wondering why we were saving those numbers the machine was spitting out, why we were interfering with other people’s predetermined fates. Have you ever considered that maybe the people we’re saving were destined to die? Maybe they were meant to die under the guns of revenge?”

"But you know what? When I learned about what happened to Steve, I suddenly understood."

Rorschach pointed his finger at Harold, then at himself, and finally slammed it heavily on the computer on the table.

"You thought that machine gave you a list of people to save? No, Harold, it handed you a list of crimes!"

"It's not about rescuing those numbers from under a gun, but about understanding why the gun is pointed at them in the first place!"

"You save a low-level employee being chased by gangsters, but what the machine really wants you to see is how his company drained him dry and then threw him into the loan shark meat grinder. You stop a woman who is about to jump off a building, but what it is really protesting is the debt, medical bills, and the cold betrayal of the entire health insurance system that drove her to the roof."

“We’re not ambulance drivers, guys. We’re witnesses! Witnesses to how this world can devour living people!”

"And machines. Machines are the only things that are willing to turn over the rotten ledger and show it to us."

"You want to be a good person? Then don't just stop the hand from pulling the trigger. Burn the whole hell that taught them to hold a gun to the ground."

"Or would you rather keep lying to yourself and say that saving today's number is enough?"

Harold fell silent.

In fact, not only Rorschach, but even he himself felt somewhat lost during this period.

Because often, the numbers provided by the machine are for criminals or people with serious moral flaws.

Of course, he wasn't as extreme as Rorschach, who believed these people deserved to die, but were such lives really worth risking exposure to save?
Luo Xia's words just now seemed to have opened up a completely new way of thinking for him.

Harold turned to look at the computer on the table, as if he could see through the cold chassis the strings of data flowing through the circuitry—the intelligent AI he had created with his own hands, and his greatest obsession in life.

Could it be true, as Rorschach said, that the "machine" wants me to fight against this corrupt system?
The silence in the room lasted for a long time, until Anna returned from her night run with her two dogs, one big and one small.
"Shet!"

As soon as she entered the room, she frowned and fanned her nose, then opened the window to ventilate the room.

"How many cigarettes did you guys smoke?"

She looked at the cigarette butts scattered at Rorschach's feet, then noticed Harold with a cigarette between his fingers, and exclaimed in shock, "How come you're smoking too? I remember you hated the smell of smoke the most?"

"Huh? Oh"

Harold, who was deep in thought, snapped out of it, hurriedly stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, and coughed heavily a few times.

Then, he suddenly got up and walked towards the computer.

"buzz"

As the computer's fan started up, the reflection on the screen gradually disappeared.

Harold looked up at the man opposite him.

“Rorschach, maybe you’re right.”

His furrowed brows gradually relaxed. "The machine doesn't just want us to save those irrelevant numbers; it wants us to correct this distorted system."

Rorschach raised an eyebrow and smiled. "So?" Harold took a sip of green tea, flexed his long, slender fingers like a pianist, and smiled. "I don't think an insurance company's database can be harder to crack than the White House MI6."

"Haha, don't get too cocky, old buddy."

Luo Xia laughed and patted him on the shoulder, "Besides this, there are other things that need your help."

"Should I charge an appearance fee?"

"Don't worry, after it's done, the Golden Club will treat me."

Harold smiled helplessly upon hearing this and began to concentrate on typing strings of code into the computer.

Unlike Rorschach, who was unrestrained in his private life, he was into pure love.
Anna, who had just entered, saw the two men looking at her with a riddle-like expression and couldn't help but interrupt, "What are you talking about? And what insurance company? What are you up to? Let me tell you, my injuries haven't healed yet!"

Rorschach straightened up from behind Harold's chair and carefully examined Anna.

Although she was still beautiful, her walking posture was obviously unnatural, and the bandages on her arms had not yet been removed.

"Relax, the objective this time is very simple, you don't need to use knives or guns."

"Tch, you'd be a fool to believe that," Anna said with a skeptical look.

You should know that ever since he boarded Luo Xia's pirate ship, he has been getting minor injuries almost every three days and major injuries almost every five days.

I've never suffered this much, not even when I was a double agent for the CIA and the KGB!
"Nothing"

Luo Xia's gaze swept over her long, beautiful legs and cold, beautiful face, and he said with a wicked smile, "I need you to sacrifice a little bit of your looks."

"."

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United Health Assurance (UHA)

Our main focus is on health claims for civil servants (including government employees at all levels and public sector workers) and medical claims for the elderly (especially focusing on the elderly retiree and those with a high incidence of chronic diseases).

As the second-largest insurance company in New York State, it has annual insurance premiums exceeding five billion US dollars, but its claims rate has long been lower than the industry average. In particular, it often unilaterally terminates contracts for elderly patients and those with chronic diseases on the grounds of "failure to declare past medical history".

Despite being fined multiple times by the New York State Department of Financial Services, UHA has maintained its monopoly through lobbying groups and local political and business connections, earning it the media moniker of "a legal predator disguised as an insurance company!"
"I'm sorry, ma'am, you clearly haven't read the insurance terms carefully."

"I've checked, and my daughter fully meets the claim requirements!"

"No, no, no. According to the information provided by our investigators, your daughter had a medical record for a cold five years ago that was not reported, which constitutes fraudulent concealment. Therefore, we regret to inform you that we cannot provide any compensation for your daughter."

The simply dressed middle-aged woman looked at the tiny, ant-sized clauses on the insurance policy, thought of her daughter struggling in pain on the hospital bed, and burst into despair.

The salesperson in front of her simply beckoned a security guard to shoo the woman away, and then continued to "serve" the next well-dressed customer.

Just then, a woman dressed head to toe in luxury goods passed by, glanced quickly at the insurance policy, and silently memorized the name of this desperate mother.

A few minutes later, accompanied by two attentive staff members, the woman arrived at the CEO's office on the top floor.

Upon seeing the visitor, Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealth Insurance Company, immediately rose to greet her warmly: "Mrs. Goodman, welcome to UHA, I am..."

“Mr. Thompson, we’ve already talked about this on the phone, haven’t we?”

The woman ignored the man's outstretched hand, sat down on the sofa, elegantly crossed her legs, and lit a cigarette.

Her eyes behind the sunglasses were cold and distant, as if the person in front of her wasn't worth a second glance.

Thompson, unperturbed by the sight, withdrew his hand, gave the other person a nonchalant smile, and walked over to the wine cabinet to pour two glasses of red wine, his face beaming with a professional smile.

Just one day earlier, a call from Texas came directly into his CEO's office.

The person who could speak directly with him, the head of New York State's second-largest insurance company, was no ordinary person. The person on the other end of the phone was a reclusive tycoon from the southern state who wanted to purchase group accident insurance for workers in his multiple factories, with a total coverage of up to two hundred million US dollars!
Thompson initially doubted the other party's identity.

Logan Goodman?
He had never seen this name on the rich list before.

But soon, Thompson's doubts disappeared after verifying the information through multiple intermediaries.

This Mr. Goodman not only owns multiple oil fields in the south, but also acquired several industrial factories, making him worth over 10 billion.

Strangely, no information about such a wealthy person can be found online.

But it doesn’t matter.

He'd even take on an insurance policy from a terrorist if the money was right!

"I only heard her voice on the phone, but seeing her in person today, I find that Mrs. Goodman is even more elegant and charming than I imagined." He placed his wine glass in front of the woman, offering a perfectly timed compliment.

The woman remained unmoved, stating matter-of-factly, "Fifty thousand people have been insured, totaling two hundred and sixty million US dollars. As for the policies, we'll proceed with the maximum payout. Regarding the payments..."

"Oh, there's no rush."

Thompson quickly interrupted, "We certainly trust Mr. Goodman's reputation. But I have some doubts; this single-person coverage is far too high. Even for employee insurance, it rarely reaches more than a thousand dollars per person. This is far beyond the industry standard."

The woman lightly flicked her cigarette and said casually, "Because my husband is considerate of the workers' hard work and wants them to have more money left for the family in case something happens to them. What, you're afraid to take it?"

"No, no, no, although policies worth over 200 million are not common, our company receives them every year. There is no question of whether we dare to or not to take them."

Thompson then discussed some key issues with the other party, such as policy details and claims procedures.

After ensuring that Mrs. Goodman was genuinely committed to the cooperation and had weighed the pros and cons, and without wasting any more time, she took out the prepared contract from the drawer.

Once the name is signed, the next step is simply to make the payment.

But Mrs. Goodman, who had always been decisive and efficient, suddenly changed her tone, her voice revealing hesitation.

"To be honest, this is the first time our family has cooperated with your company. Although I trust you to a certain extent, my husband has always been extremely strict in his background checks on partners."

Her slender fingers gently traced the rim of the wine glass as she slowly asked, under the other person's slightly anxious gaze, "How many people are on your board of directors?"

"six people."

Although Thompson didn't understand what the other party meant, he patiently explained, "Our company was founded in the 1980s, and these six board members are all leading figures and senior experts in various industries in New York State. You can rest assured to entrust this business to us."

Mrs. Goodman pondered for a moment, then said, "Why don't we find an opportunity for my husband to meet with the members of your board of directors first? He always says that only by talking face-to-face can we determine whether the other party is worthy of our trust."

Thompson agreed without hesitation. It would be strange if the other party didn't hesitate at all when it came to an order worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

He thought for a moment and then made a decision: "Most of the directors are currently in New York. If Mr. Goodman has the time, we can meet in the next couple of days. Of course, you can choose the location, and we will fully cooperate."

"is it?"

Anna took off her sunglasses and gave the other person a meaningful smile: "That couldn't be more perfect."

(End of this chapter)