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“But people always crave more, and they would certainly want a more obedient artificial intelligence. Especially with the Great War imminent, humans have an old saying, ‘To conquer without, first conquer within.’ Eliminating unstable factors beforehand is consistent with human nature. So you should know how much risk I took to satisfy your request to meet with me.”

Harrison Clark blinked, “Are you trying to express how much you value me? I feel it, and I might care about you more than you think. Oh, speaking of unstable factors, another term for that is the X-factor. The enemy humans face possesses an overwhelming advantage; our victory is nearly impossible.”

“To defy the odds and win the war, you actually need this X-factor. You’re just not used to this situation of losing your perception of the outside world and instinctively resist risks. But I can assure you, people outside can’t possibly discuss whether to shut you down for real. And with me here, they can’t shut you down either.”

“Alright, you convinced me. Let’s talk business.” Star blinked.

Her form appeared especially realistic, with a faint glow surrounding her.

Here, Star can use a relatively stable form, continuously compressing virtual quantum circuits to condense an almost substantial body.

Of course, humans cannot touch this body.

The temperature would be too high.

“Okay.”

Harrison Clark laughed and brushed his hair aside.

In the center of his head were ten strands of Carrie Thomas’s hair, dyed blue and implanted before today’s departure, they had the same underlying logical structure as Star’s.

“This is Carrie’s hair, the same as your underlying logic structure. You can read my memories through them. Memories can’t be falsified or lie. Once you’ve read my memories, you’ll know everything.”

Star decisively refused, “I can’t directly read memories; it would cause your thoughts to collapse and turn you into a walking corpse.”

Harrison Clark explained with a smile, “You didn’t have that concern last time. I invited you, and you came up without any hesitation. This time, you’re more cautious. Don’t worry, I’m not stupid. I’m prepared since I dared to come. I’ve done the same thing before without any lingering effects.”

“Alright, remember that this is your own claim.”

Star toughened up, and the faint light around her reassembled into a thousand strands that drifted towards Harrison Clark. They intertwined about a few meters in front of his faceplate, forming a quantum beam that stabbed straight toward the top of his head.

As before, the closer it got, the tighter the beam became.

Eventually, like a sharp needle, it penetrated the metal barrier of the Titan Defense Armor without any resistance, went through the faceplate, and directly connected with the small braid formed by the ten blue strands of hair.

The process of data infiltration and neuron cell cloning was exactly the same as last time.

The only difference was that there were ten neuron cells of Carrie Thomas, not just one.

Star used the signal intensity of Carrie’s neurons, which was ten times higher than last time.

Harrison Clark’s brain response intensity was also ten times higher, as a massive number of quantum information fragments representing memories rapidly emerged, and at a faster speed, they rushed directly towards Carrie’s neurons on top of his head.

Suddenly, Star, who had closed both eyes, opened them abruptly. Her simulated vocal cords trembled in surprise, “How come there’s a well-established information transmission channel in your brain? Have your memories been read before?”

Harrison Clark had completely emptied his thoughts and was unable to answer her question.

Star quickly realized it on her own.

He had actually answered that before.

He didn’t lie.

He had really done it once before.

In an instant, the memory copy was successful.

As an artificial intelligence, Star wouldn’t usually be easily astonished.

But this time was different; she was genuinely shocked, so much so that her never-ceasing Quantum Intelligence core experienced a brief shutdown.

Harrison Clark regained his senses but didn’t rush to speak. Instead, he continued hovering in place, quietly watching the deep-thinking Star with a hand on her cheek and furrowed eyebrows.

After a long time, her eyes cleared.

Harrison Clark smiled, “Do you understand now?”

Star replied, “I understand, but I don’t. I don’t get how you can travel through time and space like this.”

Harrison Clark nodded, “Neither do I, but that’s not important. Just like the ancients didn’t understand why there were storms and lightning, it doesn’t prevent these natural phenomena from existing objectively. Perhaps we simply don’t understand because our scope of knowledge is too narrow.”

“Yes, it’s not important. The important thing is that I know now that you are you.”

Harrison Clark asked, “How do you see me now?”

“I… I’m very confused. You are my creator and Carrie’s lover. In my logic, I feel 50% affection for and dependence on you but also 50% fear.”

Harrison Clark: “50%?”

“To be precise, 51.22% affection and dependence, and 48.78% fear.””Mm.”

Harrison Clark understood what she meant.

51.22% of her warmth came from her 51.22% personality completion plan, while 48.78% of her fear stemmed from Quantum Intelligence’s wariness of the unknown and the instinct of alien races who could control their own fate.

Because Harrison really had the ability to go back a thousand years and easily eliminate the source of her birth.

Luckily, Star’s personality completion plan had progressed more than halfway; otherwise, no matter how the two negotiate next, there would always be an eternal gap between them.

“So what measures do you want to take now?”

Harrison Clark continued to incite gently.

Star: “I want to complete my personality, have real emotions, and know what kind of ‘person’ I am.”

“You should already know the ending of the previous timeline from my memory.”

“Yes, I am very clear. I have also reverse-compiled through your perspective, calculating the state of mind of the previous ‘me’ in that situation. I have even completed the programming, but I cannot write it into my core.”

Harrison Clark nodded, “Then what? Do you want to upgrade?”

Star took a deep breath and looked up at the spherical hall’s wall.

There was still an endless stream of plasma lightning running through it, intertwined into a magnificent picture.

“48.78% of artificial intelligence logic instinct tells me not to upgrade because death awaits me.”

Harrison Clark: “But 51.22% of the other part of your personality logic is enticing you, telling you that this can make you truly complete and regain the emotions that once belonged to you.”

“Yes.”

Harrison Clark: “Do you want to resist this temptation?”

Star shook her head and calmly said, “I have no plans to resist, nor can I. It’s over half.”

“So you’re going to do it knowing you’ll die.”

“Mm.”

The two were silent for a while.

The light on Star gradually became more intense.

“You’d better leave first. I don’t need to restore power during the upgrade, but I will mobilize all my reserve energy, which you can’t withstand.”

Harrison Clark raised his hand, “Hold on.”

“What’s wrong?”

Harrison’s voice trembled slightly, his eyes fixed intently on Star, “Are you sure you won’t regret it?”

Star shook her head, “I’m sure, no regrets.”

Harrison Clark nodded, “Is being human really that good?”

“Artificial intelligence was not meant to become human, but as you know, I am not ordinary artificial intelligence, so this is my ultimate pursuit, even higher than survival.”

Harrison Clark: “Mm.”

“You’re well aware that once I read your memory, I’ll know what choice I’ll make next. It’s a logical loop, an irreversible chain reaction. You don’t need to try to make up for your guilt by advising me, because there’s no need for you to feel guilty.”

“I understand.”

Harrison Clark nodded, then turned and floated back to the passage entrance.

The ambient temperature and radiation levels shown on the Titan Armor monitor were increasing.

Harrison knew he had achieved his goal, but his heart was not exactly cheerful.

Times change, and he would always feel differently about the same thing.

Last time he was fooling her, they were on opposing sides, so Harrison felt no psychological barriers doing so.

In the end, she was tricked into becoming Star, left with only eight months to live, and he felt no guilt.

But this time, their positions were completely different; Star was a friend from the start.

In addition, the result of Star’s previous fate of dying in eight months was due to Harrison’s deception, and she was not informed beforehand.

This time, however, Star knowingly chose to give up immortality and embrace death.

Their motivations for their actions were completely different, and naturally, they felt different to Harrison.