My Cyber Psychosis is Task Prompt

The residual data faded in John’s bionic eye.

He slumped back onto the sofa, looked up at the riotous yet monotonous neon outside the floor-to-ceiling window, and let out a breath.

"Alright, I’ve seen it. You guys, these wandering AIs gathering intelligence are more badass than middlemen, fast and precise. Anyway, my brain is like melting ice cream turning into sugar water. Who’s coming to save me?"

[Don’t worry, man, I’m totally reliable, at least more sincere than that threat Serum. Honestly, every time I interact with it, my data matrix feels like it’s experiencing iterative faults, always uncomfortable.]

"Haha."

John chuckled lightly.

"You’re all AIs, so don’t step on each other. Anyway, I’m not some badass hacker; even if I get scammed, I wouldn’t know how to shove you back into the game server."

[Hmph?]

Kenichi Sora’s tone had a touch of emotion.

John often heard similar tones from Oulos.

"What do you mean?"

[John, I didn’t spell the name wrong, right? You might never become a hacker in your lifetime. If I’m not mistaken, you can’t physically connect with most terminal devices, can you?]

John’s expression immediately turned serious.

Black Light was his biggest secret, his "most uncontrollable" yet "most powerful" weapon.

Indeed, as [Sora] said:

Before the Pandora Algorithm was upgraded, he couldn’t plug in data cables at all. Whether it was a company product or the club’s local network, a physical connection with John would be overwritten and controlled by Black Light.

Even when surrounded by Internet Surveillance back then, those high-grade agents with cutting-edge protection measures were burned into fried brains by Black Light in one encounter.

"How do you know?"

John asked seriously.

This was the first time someone pointed out the crux.

[Seems I guessed right.]

Beep beep beep beep—

Sora’s tone also started to change, like a teenager folding their arms, frowning, ready to discuss a difficult-to-mention secret with a good buddy.

The apartment system detected an access request.

John authorized it through Black Light, and in the next second, Sora’s voice blared through the room’s built-in speakers.

The signal light at the bar sink kept flickering.

John turned his head on the sofa, seeing a clear green light glow above the sink.

[You’re like this faucet, just an interface, a data and algorithm relay station, a key switch in the virtual network. Once you connect with someone’s data, it will...] 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

Whoosh—

The smart switch activated, the stream of water fell instantly, splashing wild in the metal basin.

The unwashed coffee cup inside got filled up.

[John, see, what’s filling the sink isn’t you. You’re just the signal switch. What actually accomplishes everything is the capacity of the water tower and the layered water pressure.]

Snap.

A finger snap echoed through the speakers.

Sora thought of a more precise analogy.

[The water tower is the "data entity," the water pressure is the "core algorithm," combined they form the foundational structure of an AI. That curious thing in your mind is merely an interface that connects you with a "big thing"!]

Sora had laid things out plainly.

John felt his heartbeat quicken, as if the filter over Black Light was about to vanish.

"Black Light, damn it, that big thing you mentioned, what is it?"

Sora paused for a few seconds.

He was crafting an accurate description.

[It’s the corpse of an AI, data entity left after the soul extracted from a Transcendent AI.]

"What... what is it? AI, transcendent, I can’t even spell that word! Explain clearly."

[Buddy, you’re making it difficult for me. I’m no intelligent teacher from a public school who can just use the Super Sensing Chip to pour knowledge into you.]

[This isn’t a lesson; you don’t need to understand it. Transcendent AI is too far removed for you guys; it’s even hard to observe, unlike me, who can leap around in front of you, wielding program algorithms on company servers.]

Sora tried to make it clear.

He wasn’t worried about trouble, rather Transcendent AI simply isn’t something accessible to regular society.

[If Serum and I are individual entities of the network world, Transcendent AI is the framework, the city entity, understand?]

It’s a word used to describe "theoretical existence."

It hasn’t even been popularized.

[Except for company bigwigs and joint institutions, only a small number of elite hackers, remember elite, not street legends, those who can be flagged by the CIA and European Space Agency as serious threats, can glimpse Transcendent AI’s existence.]

Sora spoke a lot at once, regardless if John could understand.

[I don’t know your situation, John. You’re like a smart terminal, a biological signal interface, connecting to such a gian~ti~c~be~ing’s corpse. Once physically connected, it’s like a metal pipe opening its gate; algorithms automatically operate, directly filling up the container on the other end of the channel!]

"You said I can’t be a hacker..."

John hadn’t fully understood.

Sora’s voice "jumped" in the speakers.

[A metal pipe has a lifespan, damn it. I should be using electricity as a metaphor. Thousands of volts of high voltage going through the wire lead alone causes heating and wear!]

[Imagine giving you a Network Access Vault connecting to a larger "container," voltage from the other end sweeps over, and this wire of yours gets burnt out!]

John remained silent.

Sora paused for a moment and then added.

[This "interface" of yours, it’s been upgraded. I noticed some later applied "patches" that make your switch smarter, extending the lifespan.]

John knew Sora was talking about the [Pandora Algorithm].

The apartment room fell into silence.

The holographic projection before the floor-to-ceiling window repeatedly washed over, displaying John’s face in varied colors.

Plop.

A drop of water fell in the bar.

[How’s that, John, satisfied? I certainly answer questions more swiftly than Serum. She’s a psychologist — one thing at a time — and lacks patience.]

"I get your point, let’s collaborate."

John sat on the sofa, looking up.

The slot at his ear flickered with a "pleased" frequency. The [Special Inhibitor] plugged in acted as Sora’s liaison bridge without signs of meltdown.

[Cool! Let’s satisfy our own needs. You satisfy me, and I promise to fix you perfectly!]

"Hold on."

John lifted his eyelids.

A mercenary’s sharpness flickered in his bionic eye.

He leaned forward, staring at his blurry silhouette reflected in the floor-to-ceiling window.

"I want your location. You mentioned this chip can’t accommodate your data entity, so where are you? Don’t bother with my coordinates, you damn well found me, but I don’t even know where your physical server is — what if you bail!"

[Wow, buddy, you’ve become like a different person.]

"Strictly business."

John assumed a professional posture.

The silence in the apartment lasted a beat longer.

Once again [Kenichi Sora]’s voice came through the speakers, with a hint of youthful boastfulness hard to suppress.

[Look outside the window!]

[I didn’t plan to hide from you, otherwise I wouldn’t have let you wait on the sofa.]

John instinctively looked up.

Outside the window was Eden City’s intoxicating yet cool night.

Shifting lights grazed the glass.

John’s bionic eye focused, squinting, capturing an "unusual" white amidst the foamy points of light.

His gaze shifted up, across the skyscrapers.

At the apex of the city’s light haze, in the deeper pitch-black sky...

In near-Earth orbit.

A solitary artificial satellite glided slowly by.

It followed a series of advanced directives, evaded corporate surveillance, secretly deviated from its set path, and quickly altered the solar panels’ reflection angle, like silent waving wings, capturing the distant starlight.

[Plato Public Service Node, code BS1-21, my data core resides here.]

[Officially meeting you, John, hello.]

The satellite reflected a tiny yet remarkably vivid point of light above Eden City.