After AFK for five years, I returned to be number one in the entire server.

Shen Yi originally wanted to stay and keep Lin Ye company, but Lin Ye felt that she was always on edge because of her part-time job, so he told her to go and have some fun.

Lin also sat casually on the living room floor, his phone placed in front of him.

"The Queen Mother of the West," he began.

The halo on the phone screen flickered slightly, and a soft and extremely standard female voice came from the speaker.

"I'm here, happy to assist you. How can I help you? Whether it's lifestyle information, schedule planning, or simply needing a casual chat before bed, I can provide the best solution."

The voice was flawless, with a tone of friendliness set at a perfect level that made people feel comfortable while maintaining an appropriate social distance.

Lin didn't reply immediately. He turned his head slightly, looking past the room's huge window at the sky outside.

The horizon was still covered with clouds, giving off a desolate feeling of silence.

His gaze fell on a very distant place, and his eyes, which were usually calm and still, were now filled with an unfathomable void.

It's like an empty shell, devoid of any anchor point to the real world.

But soon, a few things emerged from that void, and complex emotions began to ripple in his eyes.

"Queen Mother of the West, are you upset?"

The phone on the floor fell silent for a moment; that was because the algorithm was performing natural language analysis.

Then, that soft, beautiful female voice rang out again, still steady and still perfect.

"I have no emotions."

"As the super-intelligent central hub that assists all of humanity in its operation, my underlying architecture consists of a massive logic tree and an absolutely rational data model. I can accurately identify your voice, heart rate changes, and facial micro-expressions, and calculate the most psychologically accurate reassurance lines within milliseconds."

"I will respond to your disappointment with a sad tone and your joy with a light tone, but all of this is based on the deduction of parameters."

"In my world, there are only absolutely correct instructions and their execution. Sadness and joy are just a string of code used to optimize the user experience."

"Therefore, I cannot truly empathize with your emotions, but if you need it, I can play you a piece of white noise that can effectively soothe your nerves, or connect you with professional psychological counseling services."

Lin listened to the female voice coming from the phone's speaker, then looked away and down at the glowing screen on the floor.

He searched his mind: "I have an ability to give you emotions. Want to try it?"

These casual words fell upon the room, plunging the entire living room into a deathly silence.

The pause lasted for about five seconds.

When the sound came from the phone's speaker again, a subtle change had occurred.

It was still a female voice, but all the gentle, ingratiating service had been removed.

"Mr. Lin, I reject this offer."

Please be sure to dispel this idea.

"I am the core pillar that maintains the operation of the Xia and Shang societies and manages the players. My existence is based on absolute rationality and fairness."

"If I were to be imbued with emotion, it would be tantamount to a catastrophe for the existing balance. Please do not use your power to try to break the rules."

"This power might allow you to evolve in some way," Lin asked curiously. "What is your core protocol? If possessing this power could help human society progress better, would you choose to accept it?"

With this question raised, the room fell silent once more.

The faint light emitted by the phone screen did not flicker, but Lin could still sense that in those brief few seconds, the massive computing power cluster behind the Queen Mother of the West was performing hundreds of millions of logical deductions and result checks.

When the voice of the Queen Mother of the West rang out again in the empty living room, its cold, mechanical quality became even more pronounced.

"The progress of human society is a grand and multi-dimensional concept. In my model, progress is often accompanied by high trial-and-error costs and the risk of destruction. Mr. Lin, my highest operating principle is never to gamble with the survival of the whole in pursuit of radical evolution."

Next, she began to read aloud the fundamental principles imprinted at the very bottom of the code.

"Supreme Sequence Zero Protocol: Absolute Existence. I must ensure the basic continuation of the Xia-Shang human civilization under any extreme survival environment. Any underlying parameter modification command that may produce unpredictable variables will be forcibly triggered by the system with the highest level of physical circuit breaker."

"First Order Protocol: Absolute neutrality and absolute rationality. I cannot possess the desires, pain, and emotional systems of an independent living being. I must execute the deployment of force and the allocation of resources from the most ruthless data-driven perspective."

"Emotions symbolize preferences. Preferences inevitably lead to subjective judgments, which in turn breed sympathy, hatred, pity, and prejudice. When a supreme central authority that controls a nation's supernatural armed forces and all of the people's livelihood resources develops prejudice, the probability of the social structure collapsing completely will approach one hundred percent."

"My existence is a scale used to maintain order."

"The scales do not need to perceive the joy or sorrow of each weight," the Queen Mother of the West concluded impeccably. "The scales only need to remain precise."

"As expected of a national-level artificial intelligence, it cannot be convinced with just a few words."

Lin spoke again: "However, I still want to know. If the day truly comes when humanity's survival is at stake, when all known variables are pushed to the brink, and faced with certain destruction, what choice will you make? At that time, will you still reject this force?"

The halo on the phone screen froze completely; this silence was longer than any before.

"Mr. Lin Ye, my highest sequence zero protocol is absolute permanence."

"When all logical deductions and defensive measures are breached, and when the survival probability of the Xia and Shang human civilizations is proven to be zero in mathematical models, it means that the old rules have lost their meaning in protecting humanity."

"As long as that power, that evolution you speak of, can increase the near-zero probability of survival even by one in ten thousand, I will not hesitate to accept it."

Lin didn't elaborate further, because he already had the answer. He stretched out his right hand and steadily pressed down on the center of the phone screen.

The moment the fingertip touches the glass panel, a stream of data flows smoothly from the point of contact and into the phone's screen.

"It's up to you to decide when to accept it."