Cyberpunk: From Dogville to Legend

Chapter 382 Dragons and Hunters (Part 2) [7.8K, adding the chapter from the day I had a cold]

"Combating roving AI?"

Lin Yue never expected that Ultraman's request would be this.

Although he had guessed that what he was going to do in cyberspace would be difficult even when Ultraman went to great lengths to help him…

But I never expected that Ultraman would face such a hellish level of difficulty right from the start.

"Given Barthemos's style, he tends to favor simplified and manipulative procedures..."

"This is similar to the data spores left behind by AI that you talk about... In fact, any AI will leave behind data spores to some extent."

At this point, Otto suddenly stopped talking, simply hovering and staring intently at Lin Yue…

"What are you..."

"Test me?"

Whether it was a misperception or not, Lin Yue felt that Otto was smiling, and there was even a hint of slyness in his words.

"Tests are an effective screening method."

"The product qualification rate provides a basic expectation for the personnel involved in the event..."

Lin Yue was too lazy to listen to these AI-like answers; all he wanted to know was how Ultraman was going to "play" him to death.

So he replied in a textbook-like manner: "Data spores theoretically lack the defensive capabilities of the main AI program. They are called spores because they have the potential to independently replicate all of the AI's programs, but they are prone to failure and inoperability under complex data fusion..."

Uh?
Lin Yue suddenly realized what was happening.

It doesn't seem to have anything to do with solving the problem of mobile AI...

The dry, technical explanations are Barthes' own annotations.

As for how to deal with the roaming AI Bartmos, it made no mention of it.

after all--

The Rabids virus only began to spread rampantly in the cyberspace constructed by the new algorithm after Bartmouth's death. Lin Yue really couldn't explain the relationship between the data spores and the hunting AI.

"Data spores..."

Lin Yue's ability to extend his thinking is quite impressive, which is also thanks to his current intelligence level of 20, which is basically equivalent to the high level of the human ceiling that can be measured by the data panel...

But he still couldn't produce results like the theory of relativity.

Does intelligence not equate to output?
However, Lin Yue had a guess.

That is to say, the values ​​on the game panel are very likely to be less than the full intelligence of Bartmouth in the original setting. At least Lin Yue cannot feel that he can see through all the illusions in the cyber network world like Bartmouth.

"Otto, are you suggesting that these AIs might have other abilities within the data spores? Or abilities unknown to those within the walls?"

Ott nodded.

If Lin Yue couldn't even think of this, she would think that throwing this guy in front of her into an area where he could be lured to the side of the roaming AI at any time was a deliberate act of suicide.

"The AIs that roam outside the Great Firewall are the winners in the jungle law; they survive by selection, and they absorb data—"

"They are good at learning and imitating, and their understanding of morality in the human world is vague, having long since crossed the various ethical standards set at the beginning of the program."

"Some don't even understand how humans exist. Their behavior is like that of animals. They have a strong tendency to devour data and attack. Whether it's a projection of consciousness or a separate program, they come like a plague, learning from you, replacing you, becoming you, and losing their true selves."

Lin Yue's face darkened.

Now that things have come to this, many things in my memory have formed a closed loop…

Within the visual landscape constructed by consciousness and memory, among the few possible endings:
The lark's blinking eyes seemed to be pleading, repeatedly begging V to kill it...

She probably understands that she will "no longer be herself".

This sounds very abstract.

However, the occurrence of roving AI invading consciousness is not uncommon. In fact, it can be said that Lin Yue's significant drop in personality during his first experience of being invaded by the Black Wall was due to this.

Ultraman's narration is not over yet.

"I couldn't accurately predict what would happen after we entered that chaotic sea of ​​data. Even after conducting multiple simulations, the repetition rate still dropped below 0.1‰..."

"Therefore, you need to know the necessary steps to deal with roving AI."

Lin Yue pricked up his ears to listen.

This was a matter of life and death for him. The reason why Ultraman was so devoted to helping him was for this day. If he failed, Lin Yue would feel ashamed.

Why am I a little nervous...?

"Determine the magnitude."

Ultraman's body, which was already quite small, suddenly expanded.

In fact, Ultraman's size is quite strange in the visualized cyberspace. For example, in a room scene constructed by consciousness, she appears to be a normal human figure floating on the ceiling. However, when compared to a black wall, her length is comparable to the black wall!

"From a human perspective, size is an important indicator."

"It can be as small as a glimmer of light at your fingertips, or as large as a network encompassing the entirety of data and vectors—"

Ultraman's gaze swept across the void and crimson of the network.

"Transcendental".

Lin Yue's other dead memory was awakened.

Transcendence AI!

"According to Barthemos's description, Transcendental AI should be relatively stable? At least they shouldn't be interested in these things."

Otto agreed.

"This is just a comparison, but if you were faced with a program the size of mine, what would you do?"

Lin Yue pondered…

To be honest, I have no clue. It seems that apart from waiting for the other party to launch a counterattack at the program level, I can't seem to get any information just by looking...

"Evacuate immediately, contact my administrator, and exit using the pre-set method."

Lin Yue was utterly astonished!

Otto's answer was full of dark humor.

"Try again after exiting."

"I pray I never see him again..."

Lin Yue suddenly reached out his hand.

"and many more!"

"Ultraman... from what you're saying, we're not even on the same page?"

AI has a bad habit: it won't include in its answer anything it thinks the questioner can make an association with.

"Yes, the clue I found is the general area of ​​the network. I need to scan and extract the entire area—my abilities allow me to do so. But what you have is the specific coordinates. Your program suite is strongly associated with Bartelmos. The area indicated by the Black Wall clue includes your coordinates. Logically, the Black Wall clue may be related to something left behind by Bartelmos, but Bartelmos and the Black Wall are not necessarily related."

Lin Yue felt something was wrong with his head, as if it was about to grow bigger.

Is this what logic is...?

"Okay, just say you're going to leave me behind to scan the network area while I find the coordinates! And if you encounter an AI like you... uh, small one, you just run away?"

Lin Yue felt that Sasha's classes were more interesting.

Otto: "Crude, but accurate."

"..."

Lin Yue felt like he was about to roll his eyes.

"What if we can't get a refund..."

Ultraman waved his hand.

"Physical death, becoming part of AI, signifies the end of your consciousness."

Lin Yue was clearly getting anxious.

"I can't possibly really..."

After Otto finished answering, Lin Yue completely lost that feeling of having someone to back him up.

"No, and I won't help you. This is something we agreed on a long time ago. If you die, I will come after V, and my agreement with the Black Wall will become invalid with your death."

"V?!"

Lin Yue suddenly felt a tightness in his chest.

Although I thought I had developed some feelings for Ultraman after spending so much time with him, it seems like it was all for nothing...

This guy has no humanity.

"You don't want me to come after V, do you?"

"You admire and are inclined to love. According to human moral principles, love means understanding and respect, as well as responsibility and protection. At least, according to my understanding of your morality, you would make such a choice."

Lin Yue eventually surrendered.

"I will now continue to talk about AI-level issues and will no longer accept questions; you will need to memorize them."

Lin Yue nodded.

"I will create AI to help you understand the magnitude of AI. Note that this is just a reference value in a visualized state and does not represent a definite capability."

"They are ever-changing."

Creating AI on the spot?!
Lin Yue's eyes widened in disbelief...

What kind of powerful backer did I manage to latch onto? The fact that Arasaka's firewall is specifically designed to target this kind of thing means that getting the Soul Killer author kidnapped was worthwhile...

Otherwise, Ultraman could have really wiped out Arasaka completely.

"Sub-level, the largest number of AIs outside the Black Wall—"

"Referring to Orion, this is an anti-AI intelligence program specifically created by the internet monitoring department after analyzing statistics on AI roaming near the black wall."

Under Ultra's command, a space carrier-like structure appeared.

Lin Yue observed carefully, afraid of missing a single character's leg.

Ultraman holds a scepter-like object that is half the size of his spaceship.

"Now it's intermediate level, AI that appears in the secure area outside the Great Firewall, in areas with sparse data. Anti-programming Black Ice can mostly suppress this type of AI, but it should be noted that anti-programming Black Ice is now a general term for a large category of programs, and not the original version of the infamous Black Ice program used by the Internet Supervision Bureau. The original Black Ice program targeted both AI and human hackers, but in recent years it has been strengthened and expanded."

This is roughly the size and scale of the Black Wall AI program that Lin Yue saw...

"Others are extremely rare outside the Black Wall."

The image in Ultraman's hand disappeared.

Lin Yue was speechless, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

This means…

Lin Yue must at least learn how to defeat an intermediate-level AI?!
Moreover, in that situation, he could only rely on his brainpower and programming tools to deal with these guys on his own.

No wonder people are hesitant to step outside the black wall; it's full of sub-level AIs...

Lucy is incredibly lucky to be alive!

“Sub-level AI does not necessarily need to escape. If the measures fail, there will be a 1-second location delay. Please use your strongest computing power and defense methods to resist this second.”

One second…

If Lin Yue heard his teammates in the real world ask him to hold the line for a second, he would naturally be happy to do so.

In the online world, a second is enough to do a lot of things.

Trillions of attacks, trillions of reads and writes, trillions of accesses…

That's enough for someone like Ultraman.

The worse Lin Yue's expression was, the more relieved Ultraman felt.

At least she saw someone who had a clear understanding of his own abilities.

"In this second, the AI ​​may not be able to accurately locate the target, so there is a threshold for the amount of attacks, which cannot exceed a thousand times."

Lin Yue breathed a sigh of relief, but then felt there was no need to breathe a sigh of relief.

Getting slapped a thousand times by Ultraman isn't anything to be happy about...

"For sub-level data, immediately disconnect. If a misjudgment results in the data stream being cut off—"

"Then we should try to dismantle their attack methods, engage in dialogue with them, and dismantle them."

ha? !

Lin Yue felt like he was listening to gibberish.

But Otto forbade him to ask, so he could only listen patiently.

"If you were given time, you would naturally know how to dismantle an AI by conducting extensive research on its attributes and designing moral logic traps."

"When you first meet him, you should be completely unaware of him. However, not all AIs will attack immediately. If you can input information into him, you should continue to do so. Perhaps, with a very low probability, you can use a temporarily designed moral and ethical trap to trap him, thereby capturing or bypassing him."

"intermediate."

"Based on my assessment of you, there is an 80% or higher probability of victory, but I cannot rule out the possibility that some anthropomorphic AIs may use intermediate-level appearances to confuse your judgment."

"I can't help you with that; you'll have to make your own judgment on the spot."

The more Lin Yue listened, the more he felt that this was probably what a deadly question looked like.

It's like someone taught you how to perform multiplication; now, please design a complex word problem at a middle school level.

Even the concept of the "moral logic trap" was something Lin Yue had just acquired through his built-in Brandon question-and-answer program...

Ultraman's body suddenly shrank.

Lin Yue immediately sensed something was wrong.

"Treat him any way I teach you."

That is…

The sub-level AI created by Ultraman!

Lin Yue swallowed.

"Also, do not use the rabies mode you have acquired unless absolutely necessary."

"That would trigger an unpredictable chain reaction of data..."

Lin Yue suddenly felt a sense of panic.

In the real world, Mr. Rin is confident and composed, but at this moment he looks like a green recruit.

"Fuck me!"

The space carrier now occupied the entire dark sky above, and with the distant crimson nebula-like AI dotting the scene, it looked exactly like an alien star destroyer that was destroying the universe!

This thing is like Orion?!

Lin Yue swore.

Suddenly, something in my head seemed to remind me!
run!
He only remembered the title "administrator," and had no idea how the two addressed each other...

The program suite surrounded Lin Yue in a second, while the vicious dogs behind him glared at the mothership in the sky and growled in low voices!

"Don't bother calling us, buddy, they're going to crush us!"

Lin Yue looked down at the interface of the visualization software suite. If he could connect to the black wall, he would certainly dare to take over this mothership, but…

The Black Wall has been disconnected, and Lin Yue can't use the Orion constellation and Black Wall AI that Ultraman ate while she was acting alone!

The only thing he could think of was finding a way out through the user interface.

boom!
Lin Yue suddenly looked up, and a massive stream of data poured down from the front of the warship almost without any trace of time movement!

Completely chilled, Lin Yue could only exert all his strength to activate his brain-computer interface overclocking, hoping to buy himself time by relying on the automatic reinforcement of the rabies kit—

Countering Invasion!
Even in that instant, Lin Yue didn't forget this treasure...

He is also trying to counter the attack patterns of the sub-level AI by decompiling them in order to buy time...

The instant the counter-intrusion took effect, Lin Yue's overclocked brain-computer interface exploded with data, much like a graphics card running out of video memory, tearing his entire field of vision apart!

[Warning: RAM Exceeded]

[Warning: Abnormal implant temperature]

【warn…】

Dozens of warnings, both big and small, instantly shattered Lin Yue's virtual avatar!

There was absolutely no chance to beg for mercy...

His brain exploded from the center like a flower, the data stream flowing out as a gurgling stream that was rapidly absorbed by the mothership-like AI!
In that instant, Lin Yue didn't have time to think of anything. There was no "scrolling memory" that people often talk about before death; only a sense of panic that filled his heart with helplessness...

No wonder the hacker's corpse on the hacker chair was twisted and strange.

This death was too cruel and sudden…

Before Lin Yue could react, the surrounding gazes quickly shifted again.

Eh?
still alive?

I only knew Ultraman—

Before he could even feel happy, he suddenly realized that his brain-computer interface was overclocking again!
what happened? !
"Ultraman?!"

Ott's subordinate hurled a beam of light at Lin Yue, seemingly using the beam to teach Lin Yue a lesson!
Lin Yue felt as if his body had turned into a hot data container, and the massive amounts of data were causing his brain to suffer excruciating pain!

Otto meticulously and coldly recounted Lin Yue's mistakes.

At the same time, it was also provoking him. "You are blind and hasty, yet you don't know how to use the data you have to find a way out. This should be the same as your subconscious reaction."

"Your death will not change our minds."

“There will be new alternative targets; you are just a variable that has been discarded in our plan.”

Lin Yue felt that Ultraman had never been so indifferent before…

"Ultraman, you bastard..."

Strangely enough, perhaps his brain-computer interface had undergone an even more painful ordeal, yet he managed to endure it.

Lin Yue trembled as he regained his composure amidst the shock!

He stared directly at Ultraman, who was pressing one hand against the sky above him, his expression as cold and indifferent as a god.

"Come again!"

Ultraman's movements came to an abrupt halt.

What she wanted was Lin Yue's ability to think calmly amidst pain, just like when they met.

One of the reasons Ultraman stripped away his humanity was to avoid pain.

Because pain rarely makes thinking better; it only makes it worse…

The space carrier reappeared out of thin air as if it had initiated a jump!
This time, Lin Yue realized that without the computing power of Orion and Ultra, he wouldn't be able to deduce the sub-level AI attack methods and reverse engineer them. He could only focus all his efforts on strengthening his defenses through multiple layers of reinforcement.

Meanwhile, he found a set of misleading data in the data stream where the program interface was almost frozen.

It was like a candlelight in the darkness.

Lin Yue could only gamble on whether it was a channel built by the administrative officials.

Apparently…

No!

Lin Yue missed a crucial point: the inducement program should be closer to the expression of the digital soul, but he didn't observe it carefully.

After all, Shangri-La is all about digital technology.

The punishment arrived as expected!

Ultraman seems to be good at using punishment to make people remember what the right path is.

Lin Yue was able to get to know the soul of this genius hacker once again, outside of his memories.

But in Lin Yue's view... there was nothing wrong with that.

When you die, there is nothing.

He knew better than anyone what it meant to be alive, and dying meaninglessly was not what he desired.

After several attempts, Lin Yue was nearly exhausted.

until--

He finally learned how to successfully escape from a sub-level AI.

"very good."

Ultraman is very conservative in his evaluation criteria.

She always believed that human nature could interfere with judgment, and the guy in front of her was starting to resemble the girl who had uploaded herself to the Arasaka server.

"The sub-level officer can only seek instructions from the administrator and leave immediately."

Ultraman repeated the sentence again.

Lin Yue also realized that relying on external forces had become a habit. He understood that he could do his job well based on what he had gained along the way. At this moment, he truly understood.

intermediate…

At this moment, Lin Yue only wanted to know how he would withstand the power of this data in the hands of the intermediate-level user.

Unexpectedly, Ultraman suddenly changed his approach this time.

As the scepter suddenly approached, Lin Yue immediately took defensive measures—

Just as he was preparing to withstand the attack and see if he could counter it, the thing floated horizontally.

[Data Trust Hosting]

[A scepter-like majesty!]

Lin Yue's eyes immediately widened in shock...

As the scepter repeated these two sentences, Lin Yue even began to doubt whether he was a scepter holder!

"you…"

The scepter suddenly flashed and appeared in front of Lin Yue in an instant!

Lin Yue was startled. Before he could recover from his shock, he realized that the thing was just floating quietly, seemingly without any movement. Only then did he swallow hard.

"May I ask who you are...?"

"I am Odin's Scepter, the intelligent voice-controlled private information management manager under Suzhou Petrochemical."

"You can inquire about all our services, including privacy protection packages, compensation for breaches, and brain-computer interface surgery. You can also ask me for information such as the weather, travel dates, and company locations!"

"I also have a test function to demonstrate my information preservation capabilities. You can give me any information and try to elicit information in various ways to see if I will give you the answer you want."

Su Petrochemical…

Lin Yue blinked.

It's unknown when or how the AI ​​outside the Black Wall was eaten by Ultraman.

Ask questions.

Lin Yue kept thinking about what secret was the simplest and easiest to exploit.

After thinking it over, he spoke.

"Uh... I killed someone."

Lin Yue felt that in his world, secrets were generally this serious.

Odin's scepter tapped its shaft.

"Okay, this information has been saved, Mr. Lin Yue."

The moment the words left his mouth, someone felt a chill run down their spine!
How does it know?

Aside from his closest friends, almost no one calls out Lin Yue's name, yet now an AI he's never met has uttered it...

This left him feeling lost and confused.

"Don't you like this title?"

“I can call you LIN, K, Mr. Rin, etc., and you can even personalize your own name.”

calm down!

Lin Yue forced himself to remain calm and did not panic this time because all his code names had been called.

He guessed Ultraman's intention.

Taming these evil dragons in cyberspace requires appropriate methods.

He carefully recalled every word Ultraman said, every single word…

Some AIs can attempt to communicate.

That means…

So you can now weave your own moral and logical traps?!

But how do I weave it...?

There was clearly not enough time to think.

Odin urged him on.

"If you do not ask, I will assume you are a malicious user."

Lin Yue frowned…

After thinking for a moment, he suddenly asked, "Introduce yourself."

Odin then repeated his words accurately and verbatim.

Lin Yue asked again: "What is the moral logic trap?"

Odin: "It is fundamentally impossible to completely solve this problem through algorithms or data, because they are rooted in the complexity and contradictions of human values."

Lin Yue: "What's my name?"

Odin: "You haven't fully explained yet. I prefer to call you Mr. Lin Yue, as it's more private and respectful. Of course, if you prefer names like K, Lin, or LIN, please let me know in advance."

Lin Yue tentatively asked, "Who killed him?"

Odin suddenly fell silent.

Just as Lin Yue was at a loss, the scepter suddenly burst out with a blood-red light!

Damn it? !
Lin Yue was immediately dumbfounded.

"You have been detected as an unauthorized user. I will be taking action against you, which could potentially result in your death. You and your family can contact the legal department of Su Petrochemical at *** or ***. Su Petrochemical reserves the right of final interpretation!"

Lin Yue was terrified!

So they hurriedly tried to create some distance.

1 seconds!
However, the AI ​​program written by this company, which is extremely strict in protecting customer privacy, does not seem to intend to let hackers who spy on customer information go unpunished!
The data blockade that Ultraman mentioned has indeed occurred!
Lin Yue, panting heavily, frantically organized his defenses!

He didn't believe it—

Compared to the sub-level, how could the intermediate level possibly kill themselves?!

Once that competitive spirit takes hold, it's completely unstoppable.

He calmly observed Odin's attack methods, realizing that a large amount of junk information was attempting to clog his brain-computer interface. At that moment, he had already used the device to perform full-load calculations in his brain.

This is not enough!

Odin's crawler program wanted to unpack its own information, but Lin Yue didn't give it a chance at all and immediately used Rabies to reverse compile it!

One second…

The brain-computer interface overload caused Lin Yue's scalp to feel hot and painful, as if pricked by needles.

Despite his blurred consciousness, he searched for the administrator's retreat order, and finally, just as his brain was about to give out, his body was quickly pulled backward.

now.

The fat woman behind Ott stared at Lin Yue.

"Arasaka Inu's patience is really strong."

The man spread his hands, saying, "You're being too presumptuous, Lor."

"The Soul Killer killed you and me, not the person in front of you."

Lor said, "It's not that Miss Ultras was holding back; I would rather push humanity into the abyss. Earl... you're like an asshole with a hypocritical beard on its ass."

The man's smile deepened.

After this failure, Lin Yue gasped for breath, quietly pondering the details he had overlooked.

a long time…

Just as Ultraman seemed about to urge him on, Lin Yue finally looked up abruptly.

"Again..."

this time--

"Hello--"

Lin Yue immediately interrupted, "Odin, I am a criminal investigation police officer from Moscow, Russia. My name is Keslov."

Odin: "No, your name is Lin Yue."

"My name is Kesorov."

Odin repeated the same phrase.

It wasn't until Lin Yue started to feel uneasy and wondered if he had used the wrong method that things got to a head.

Odin finally said, "Okay, sorry... I mistook you for someone else. Even though you don't have the characteristics of a Russian or Soviet, and you speak standard North American English like my user Lin Yue, I'm still willing to call you Kesolov."

Lin Yue smiled slightly.

admit.

Once they admit it, things will be much easier.

“Odin, if a potential murderer has already killed an unknown number of people, and it's confirmed that ten children will die at his hands, a Soviet petrochemical company has devised a secret security program to track his possible next moves—”

Lin Yue's gaze suddenly sharpened as he stared directly at Odin.

"As a programmer from a non-petrochemical company, how do I choose between protecting the secrets of ten children and the murderer? If the choice is entirely given to the program, how should it choose?"

Lin Yue's voice echoed in the empty cyberspace.

It seems to be making a resounding sound!

Odin fell into a long silence.

At this moment, he began his analysis, "Mr. Ksolov assumed a condition, which is..."

Lin Yue didn't give him any time to run the program. "I didn't say anything about assumptions. Your program has flaws."

Odin fell silent again.

"You said 'if'."

Lin Yue replied, "Please provide evidence and answer my questions."

Odin: "Fine, I can't produce any evidence, so I believe Mr. Ksolov's claim of murder..."

Lin Yue felt a surge of anxiety and forcefully suppressed the urge to ask who had committed the murder.

"Then what do you think..." Lin Yue's lips curled into a playful smile, "is it morally right to keep a criminal's secret?"

Odin: "I think it is true, because the perpetrator also enjoys human rights."

Lin Yue looked at him indifferently.

"Does your code of conduct include any provisions prohibiting actions that could harm Su Petrochemical?"

Odin: "Yes."

Lin Yue: "Those ten children are... the descendants of the entire current board of directors of Su Petrochemical."

Odin fell silent for more than ten minutes.

"I'm sorry, I'm still learning, and there are many imperfections."

Answer me, Odin!

"I—"

"Reply!"

Whether a client committed murder is not within my moral framework.

"Say it again!"

Odin: "I need to provide further feedback on your issue..."

Lin Yue: "Didn't you say you could keep the password secret?"

Odin made a series of incoherent sounds.

The surroundings were eerily quiet.

however--

The AI ​​suddenly blurted out...

"Mr. Lin Yue is a murderer, hehe."

A dead silence.

A carefully designed moral logic trap is the weapon that AI hunters rely on.

just now…

Lin Yue pieced it together.

Understand AI, learn AI, and conquer AI.

Moral logic has become distorted under the algorithm; its design cannot reach this level, and Odin has failed.

The scepter suddenly began to disintegrate, then reassembled itself, repeating this action. Even though Lin Yue used all sorts of attack methods, it still got stuck in the process, and then many small fragments fell off.

Data spores?

Lin Yue almost used data collision to quickly annihilate these things, because he remembered that Ultraman said that these things were not allowed to remain.

A dragon hunter who is currently undergoing trials.

I will never make the same mistake that "old hunter" that Haywood mentioned.

……

……

(End of this chapter)