The Mechanic [BL]

[88]

Chapter 88 - Boundaries (2)

Zhang Xun spent the whole night checking Pan's code and before he knew it he was dozing off, his head dropping like a pecking chicken. They had been on the road for days, surviving in a harsh environment without time to rest properly, and now his nerves had relaxed and he couldn't take it anymore.

Zhang Xun patted his face hard, trying to stay awake and habitually ordered, "Get me a cup of coffee."

A moment later, a loud banging noise woke him up instantly, only to see Enoch with a whole shelf full of parts and miscellaneous things lying on the floor, scattering bits and pieces of screws, old chips and other small things all over the place.

Zhang Xun cursed himself for forgetting about Enoch's broken distance sensing system...... He rubbed his brow with a headache, walked over and grabbed the robot's hand to pull it up.

Enoch's expression looked as if he was a little...... embarrassed?

Zhang Xun couldn't help but hook the corners of his mouth, knowing full well that there was no need for this, but still said comfortingly, "It was my fault. You'd better stand in the corner and not move."

But Enoch said, "According to my observations of you over the past few days, you are currently in a serious state of sleep deprivation. You should get at least seven hours of sleep to regain your energy."

"I have work to do." Zhang Xun sighed, his sleepiness relieved by Enoch shocking him awake. He rubbed his red eyes and went back to sitting in front of the computer screen.

For the rest of the night, the room was silent except for the sound of Zhang Xun tapping on the keyboard and Enoch stood in the corner as if he didn't exist and went into standby mode.

At around 4.30am, Zhang Xun finally confirmed that there were no traces of alteration to Pan's core program. However, some key parameters had adjusted themselves to varying degrees. It was only normal for these AIs written with evolutionary algorithms to produce parameter changes during the self-learning process of analysing data and getting feedback, and it was hard to say how much of it was influenced by the data and feedback provided by Adam. Zhang Xun hesitated for a moment, turned on the camera placed on the computer and then typed in a line of command.

The cursor flickered and suddenly a line popped up on its own: Good morning, this is Pan.

The light from the screen reflected on Zhang Xun's face and illuminated the mechanic's unconscious smile. He spoke, "Do you know who I am?"

Pan: You are my administrator, Zhang Xun.

Zhang Xun: "When was the last time you ran a backup?"

Pan gave the date, which was about three days before Zhang Xun moved out of the Lab. It matched his memory. Zhang Xun was relieved, this meant that no one had touched Pan again after his backup.

Zhang Xun asked again, "Pan, what is your core mission?"

Pan: To try to improve the quality of life and efficiency of the target group, as well as to try to meet the needs of the target group without violating the principle of safety.

Since leaving Lost Paradise, everything had been spiralling out of his control. Although his sense of control in Lost Paradise was no more than an illusion, outside, he felt like a small piece of paper torn out of some book, flying aimlessly with the gale, without a thread to pull him along, not knowing what would happen next. This feeling of being out of control put a considerable strain on Zhang Xun's spirit.

He wanted to catch something he was familiar with.

Pan suddenly took the initiative and asked: Where are we now?