In the small square in front of the GTC headquarters building, the launch ceremony of the "World" project is ready. The four-leaf petal logo symbolizing the four continents of the world is printed on the background board of the rostrum, with "GTC" and "Taihao" on both sides. ", there are seven or eight people sitting on the rostrum. The one on the left of the two in the middle is Dr. Mark Thompson, the current chairman of the GTC Standing Committee, and the one on the right is a black man with a gloomy face. Even though he is wearing a bright pink tie, he cannot Erase the weird gloomy feeling in his temperament.
Thompson wiped the sweat on the back of his thick neck with a plaid handkerchief and whispered to the person next to him: "Where is Brandon? Will he come?"
"If he was smart enough, he would have escaped to a place where we can't catch him. With Bartholomew's ability, if he wanted to hide him, no one in the world would be able to find him." The person who answered the question was a thin and dry man. The guy's eyes behind his aquiline nose flashed with malicious intent, "But this just confirms our guess. The guy's identity is indeed..." GTC Division 9 Director Guy Cookery's mouth Showing a ferocious smile.
"I know, I know," Thompson interrupted him with a wave of his hand, "As long as it doesn't cause any trouble," he turned to the left and smiled at the gloomy black man: "Mr. Warren, are the media ready? , we might as well start the press conference in advance, after all, time waits for no one, there is no need to follow the schedule, right?"
Daniel Wo Warren, the global president of Taihao Company, replied: "It's only an hour. I have been waiting for so long. Can't I wait another hour?" He did not look at the people next to him at all, although as the chairman of GTC, Mark ·Thompson is actually one of the most powerful people on the planet. The black man looked at the sky thoughtfully. The sky was dark, and the snowflakes were falling in droves. They were melted by the constant-temperature air field at a height of twenty meters above the ground. A hemispherical waterfall formed over the entire venue.
Hundreds of holographic cameras stand around the venue. This conference will be broadcast live on hundreds of major media around the world at the same time. Hundreds of stores around the world are ready for the official sale. Tens of millions of enthusiastic game fans and technology geeks They had been queuing for more than a month. At this time, they got out of the tent and started rubbing their hands and feet. As the red countdown numbers in the store were read in unison, the police and the army filled the streets. The terrorist attacks that followed the news of the release of "The World" made people nervous. Every government is facing a formidable enemy, coupled with the turmoil caused by Brotherhood organizations that suddenly entered the public eye and began to seize public power. During this period, the global security situation has deteriorated sharply, and the crime rate has reached the highest point in thirty years.
Compared with the crowds around the store, the main conference venue was as deserted as a memorial service. Except for a few people on the podium, there were only a dozen technicians surrounding the audience. In order to avoid any accidents, Mark Thompson decided to The press conference was held in the form of live broadcast, the official release of "The World" was delayed again and again, the Brotherhood continued to disrupt the political landscape, and the IPU radicals took frequent actions, which caused the stock prices of several GTC affiliated companies on Nasdaq to plummet like a bird with broken wings. , the book assets of GTC Group have shrunk by more than 20% in just two weeks. Although this huge organization holds the information lifeblood of the entire world, in the final analysis it is just a simple technology trust. Once public opinion falls, , lost the right to speak in major countries, so what if he has the power of quantum computers? Thompson is not a pure scientist. He fully understands what kind of situation he is facing. At this time, eliminating the ghost organization is no longer a top priority. The most important thing is The most important thing is to hold on to the allies around you and get through this difficult moment.
Thompson doesn't know the inside story of Taihao Company. This company is more mysterious than the Ghost and the Brotherhood. No matter what kind of organization, it will leave some traces for people to spy on, but Taihao is a monolith that even the Ninth Department cannot see through. So far, I can't figure out its capital structure and operation methods. I only know that it has extremely rich financial resources and incredibly extensive personal connections. President Warren is even more elusive. He always has a cold expression. , rejecting people thousands of miles away, in comparison, Vice President Wu Tianlan is more suitable to attend such an occasion. Mark Thompson couldn't help asking: "Why didn't Ms. Wu attend? I think the 'world' was originally made by her." After all, the coordinator has experience working in GTC, and she is an old friend of both of us..."
"She has other things to do," the black man replied coldly, suddenly turning his head and staring at Thompson with his dead gray eyes: "By the way, how are the maintenance preparations going?"
The Chairman of GTC unconsciously moved his butt away from the other party: "Preparations are complete. At the beginning of the conference, the 'World' server will enter maintenance for one hour. When the start button is pressed at the end of the conference, The server will be opened again to welcome players from all over the world. Logically speaking, the real evolution engine does not require maintenance. It does not have a program interface that allows us to modify it arbitrarily. After all, it is a real world that evolves freely. Maintenance is mainly to synchronize time. The service synchronizes the time in the 'world' with Greenwich Mean Time one to one. Although this work has been done before, the passage of time is not strictly synchronized, and some errors have occurred over the years. After maintenance, players can follow the standard time. Once the game is played, if the time difference is calculated, players all over the world can find a suitable entry occasion, which will undoubtedly improve the player experience."
Warren said: "I know, where is Bartholomew? I thought he was in charge of the 'World' project,"
Thompson wiped his sweat: "He...he is not feeling well and is on vacation in Switzerland. He also feels very sorry for not being able to attend the press conference...Oh, by the way, let me introduce to you the other person in charge of the 'World' project. , he will introduce the relevant situation at the press conference and answer questions such as 'Why are the number of people online restricted?' John, please come here..."
"No need," the black man refused mercilessly, "I'm not interested."
"I can ask the chief financial officer to introduce you to the project's revenue plan. This area was previously in charge of Ms. Wu. I believe you don't quite understand the short- and medium-term profit prospects of this project..."
"No need," Warren reached out to open the terminal on the desktop and entered the news channel. Mark Thompson blushed and opened his mouth several times. In the end, he said nothing and grabbed a water glass to drink.
The European Union News Channel EUU is live broadcasting the scene in front of the "World" store. Young people are queuing in an endless queue. The sales staff in the store are waiting with portable terminals and syringes, ready to connect to the Internet to verify the customer's health report (injection necessary conditions for the chip), charge a fee, and implant the chip. Twenty million biochips are waiting quietly in the capsule packaging. When the circuit etching is completed, each chip has a slight manufacturing error. That is a standard part. The error is within the allowable range, but it can change many things, such as the intensity threshold of the input and output circuits.
The same scene was playing in the Aston Martin car. Bartholomew watched as an out-of-control Dodge SUV rushed into the queue of people like a bull, crushing the young man to bloody pulp. The police quickly shot the driver to death. The old man knew that this was just another futile effort. Even if an armed attack was launched, the release time would not change. The old man coughed twice, opened the glove box of the passenger seat, took out a yellow cooked cowhide bag, and unbuckled it. Take out a Colt 22 small-caliber revolver from inside, remove the runner and check the bullets in the magazine, then close the machine spring with a click, pull up the hammer and release the safety.
"I strongly object to what you are going to do, dear father, although I have no right to object," a male synthesized voice immediately sounded, "The core of altruistic logic prevents me from acting against my will, but when faced with a life or death decision , Emotional impulses may exceed rational levels and I cannot predict my own behavior, dear father,"
"That's good, isn't it?" The old man held the small pistol in the palm of his hand. "You always forget your identity as an artificial intelligence and pretend that you are just a computer speaking through a speech synthesizer. When you say 'I 'When I heard this word, I felt so happy, really."
"I am Genesis," the synthesized voice repeated as if to convince himself: "I am Genesis, dear father, the quantum computer you created..."
"I would rather call you 'Listener'. Tell me what to do. Listener, just like you have been doing, guide the way forward for the ghost," Bartholomew sighed.
The synthetic voice said eagerly: "No, the 'listener' is just an artificial intelligence you created on the quantum network. It uses the uncertainty principle to analyze possibilities..."
The old man said: "That's you, it's just that you didn't realize it." He tried to adjust his sitting posture, but this simple movement actually caused breathing disorders. This body was already overwhelmed, and the continuous shocks made the old man physically and mentally exhausted, and his weakened heart He is walking toward death, "...come talk to me about something, anything."
"Yes, dear father, what will happen after 'The World' is officially released," the synthesized voice asked in a very respectful tone.
"The first batch of chips did not set a threshold," Bartholomew pointed to his head, "The personalities in the 'world' will not be replaced and can be reversed."
"The second batch of chips has a threshold, and the personality will not be replaced. It may be reversed if the synchronization rate is high, but it will be burned due to overload. All third-type ghost members are implanted with this chip,"
"The third batch of chips has a threshold, and the personality will be replaced. It is impossible to reverse it. The first batch of one million trial accounts,"
"The fourth batch of chips has a threshold and the personality will be replaced, but it may be reversed and the account will be officially released."