Warhammer: The Time Traveler

Chapter 134 AI in the City (Fourth Update)
Chen Yu's remarks about "continuing to pay off debts after death" and "debuting as a cyber idol" were like a cold electric current passing through the air, instantly freezing the atmosphere outside the workshop.

After the initial shock, a complex mix of emotions surfaced on everyone's faces—disbelief, confusion, and a deep understanding of the difficult choice David faced.

Rebecca grinned, letting out a whisper that was hard to tell whether it was a sigh or a rant: "Wow... paying off debts as an idol? That's way too wild..."

Her green prosthetic eye swept across David's pale face, with a hint of "You've really dared to choose this."

Pila blinked, her slender mechanical fingers rubbing her chin, seemingly imagining David in his stage outfit, a strange expression on her face mixed with sympathy and "this is going to be interesting."

Dr. Glenn stood frozen in place, his Adam's apple bobbing nervously.

Chen Yu's offer was like a heavy blow, both opening the door to the technology he had longed for and revealing the thorny path behind it.

Freedom, dignity, and a contract that cannot be broken even after death—these words buzzed in his mind.

Desire and fear intertwined on his face, his muscles twitching involuntarily. He stared intently at Chen Yu, then glanced at the floating list of knowledge, his clenched fists turning white at the knuckles.

Mann crossed his arms, his knuckles tapping unconsciously on his armor.

He had witnessed all sorts of ruthless methods, but Chen Yu's approach of precisely quantifying a person's value to the point of not even letting them go after death still sent chills down his spine.

He looked at David—the boy he had saved from the car accident, who was now standing at a crossroads in his life.

Dorothy placed her hand lightly on his arm, and the two exchanged a silent glance.

There's really not much they can do in front of this "boss".

Lucy slightly tightened her arms around herself in the shadows.

When the term "roaming AI" appeared, her body tensed up almost imperceptibly.

As she listened to Chen Yu describe the details of debt collection, a hint of wariness flashed across her usually indifferent eyes.

This wasn't just about David's situation; it also seemed to have touched upon some memories he didn't want to revisit.

She took a half step back into the shadows, as if trying to blend in.

David stood in the center of everyone's gaze, feeling the ground beneath his feet tilting.

Both of the choices Chen Yu offered seemed like paths leading to an unknown abyss.

Capturing roaming AI? That sounds like a legend from Arasaka Gakuin's cryptography course.

Those beings known as "dragons" roam the ruins of the old internet, and even the top companies dare not easily provoke them.

Sending him to capture one of them would be like throwing an egg against a rock.

The other option is to become an apprentice, exchanging two hundred years of freedom for his mother's rebirth.

In one year, they were to master knowledge that even Dr. Glenn found daunting.

If you fail, you're supposed to become some kind of "healing cyberpunk idol"...

The prospect is so absurd it's laughable, yet so real it's impossible to laugh.

He could almost see himself transformed into a woman, dressed in a ridiculous costume, forcing a smile on stage, while knowing deep down that he was nothing more than a mechanical doll bound by debt.

His gaze involuntarily drifted towards the room where his mother was recuperating. Gloria was still lying there, sustained by medication and rudimentary equipment.

Every breath was accompanied by pain, and the future medical expenses seemed bottomless. Mann's team had already sacrificed too much; he couldn't ask for more.

Now that he has chosen to take responsibility, it is time for him to pay the price.

The silence, though only a few seconds long, felt incredibly long to David. He took a deep breath, struggling to suppress the tremor in his voice, and looked up to meet those crimson optical lenses: "I choose the second path. To become your apprentice. Please teach me."

He avoided the complicated gazes from Mann and the others, and ignored the mixture of pity and disbelief on Dr. Glenn's face. He had no other choice.

Chen Yu's massive body remained motionless, but the heavy atmosphere around him seemed to loosen slightly. He wasn't surprised by the result—whichever path David chose, it was simply a different observation sample for him.

“It wasn’t a wise choice, although it was pretty good for you.” Chen Yu’s synthesized voice was as steady as ever, but there was a subtle pause. “In fact, the path of capturing roaming AIs… may not be as far-fetched as you think.”

This sentence immediately caught everyone's attention, and the three hackers looked up at the same time.

"Do you think I'm talking nonsense?" Chen Yu continued, his tone as if stating a fait accompli, "In the shadows of Night City, there are no fewer than three suitable targets."

He made no mention of the ancient entities he discovered while searching for information outside the Great Firewall, those entrenched behind powerful forces or lurking deep within the ruins of the internet.

For example, there's the accounting AI called "Accent" within biotechnology, or the "Intrepid" that controls the Colorado military base, not to mention the aggregated consciousness called "Boundless" in Antarctic cyberspace.

In Chen Yu's assessment, given the current strength of Mann's team, they indeed had no chance of winning against these targets.

But what he is proposing now is a more practical list.

“For example, beneath Dogtown,” his camera flashed red, “deep within Kurt Hansen’s territory lies the legacy of the old American ‘Little Big Dipper’ program.”

There lies the legacy of a small-scale Beidou project, a captured, wandering AI. The objective is clear, the environment relatively closed, and acquisition isn't difficult; all you need to do is deal with Kurt Hansen and his forces.

“Or to put it more simply,” he changed the subject, “there’s a malfunctioning vending machine in Night City, located on the ground floor of some skyscraper. It’s become self-aware; all you have to do is find it.”

"For example," Chen Yu concluded, throwing out a goal relevant to everyone's daily life, "Delaman Taxi. That taxi company that strives for perfect service has long been taken over by AI that escaped from the other side of the black wall."

The entire convoy serves as its senses; though subroutines are scattered throughout the city, the core might offer an opportunity.

The targets he listed, though not simple, sounded more achievable than those legendary names.

He deliberately offered different options, ranging from military relics to urban infrastructure, as if to say: Look, there's more than one way to go.

With each example Chen Yu gave, Sasha, Qiwei, and especially Lucy's faces grew paler.

Sasha's fingertip hovered over the screen for a moment, and the data stream paused slightly. "The military AI beneath Dogtown?"

She lowered her voice, as if afraid of disturbing something, "Does Hansen know what he's living next to?"

As the team's technical expert, she instinctively began to assess the potential risks—the kind of old-school AI deeply embedded in military facilities was not something that could be dealt with by ordinary intrusion.

Who knows what kind of defenses are in that base? Last time they went to the base underground in the abandoned town, they almost died there.

Qiwei adjusted the position of her breathing mask, making a slight exhalation sound.

“That vending machine…” she murmured, “It sounds like a joke, but to hide in the municipal system for so long, its counter-surveillance capabilities are definitely not simple.” Her gaze shifted to the window, as if imagining the mechanical creature lurking in the junkyard. “As for Delaman… I’ve always thought its service was unbelievably good. So the entire convoy is its subroutine?”

(End of this chapter)