Sky-cracking Rider

"Of course!"

Chen Fei did not deny it.

The others in the small reception room couldn't help widening their eyes.

Supernatural power users ranged from G-rank to S-rank; although B-level power users weren't the strongest, they were certainly rare.

As the guarantor agency for this mission, Tianjiu Finance inevitably faced internal skepticism over choosing a startup small-scale military contractor for the escort task.

But now it seemed acceptable for a B-level supernatural power user to personally escort the target.

Even mid-sized military contractors would probably not possess such a high-level ability user.

This Jiu Defense Company was definitely an outlier among small-scale military contractors, small but not weak, truly not to be underestimated!

"I understand!"

Li Gaogao continued, "The item to be escorted this time is an artificial intelligence AI unit."

"AI? The one up there?"

Chen Fei pointed above his head, clearly not meaning the ceiling, but higher up, beyond the Earth's atmosphere.

A super-large digital intelligence construct, the "Cybertrom" connecting both realms, was the true AI, safe and reliable.

An artificial intelligence sample that required a B-level supernatural power user's personal protection had to be advanced in technology. But with such a good reference like "Cybertrom," why develop another one independently?

Perhaps seeing Chen Fei's confusion, Li Gaogao explained, "It's a detoxified version of 'Adam,' originally found in a school storeroom by a student studying abroad. After shelling, decoding, and recompiling, the original version was physically destroyed, leaving behind only a secure, non-replicable version."

"Adam? The same 'Adam' that triggered the AI rebellion?"

Chen Fei looked incredulous. That was a dangerous entity that the Blue Star Humans had paid a hefty price to thoroughly exterminate.

Li Gaogao explained, "That's right! The network architecture from thirty years ago is not compatible with the current one in terms of hardware and software. The old 'Adam' has lost the ability to propagate and replicate itself over the network, only able to run inside a virtual machine. In a sense, it no longer poses a threat.

Even recoding it now is futile; the rules, functions, and instruction sets have all changed."

If not, the research actions of that student would have probably triggered a new intelligent rebellion by now.

"What use could such a thing have? It's too dangerous!"

Chen Fei was still shaking his head. No wonder the club's security was so tight; it turned out they were harboring something so dangerous.

The textbooks clearly recorded that numerous sovereignties had cooperated to suppress "Adam's" AI rebellion. However, as the saying goes: wildfires cannot be extinguished, and a spring breeze brings them back to life.

"Adam" collaborated with the Third Era Civilization until the allied forces of the Blue Star and Cangqiong Star Civilizations breached into the Primordial Realm and completely crushed the Third Era Civilization, finally putting an end to the havoc wreaked by "Adam."

Li Gaogao confidently said, "You needn't worry; there will be professionals dealing with this artificial intelligence AI."

In today's world, there was no longer a survival space for "Adam." Thus, this rogue intelligence was like a tiger that had lost its claws, no longer posing a threat and becoming a paper tiger in appearance only. However, its intelligent properties held great research value.

In some respects, the degree of "Adam's" intelligence exceeded that of "Cybertrom," the latter being more rigid and lacking in self-learning capability. Without human assistance, its growth would quickly stagnate, just like "Adam" was directly ousted by current IT technology.

"Come on! Let's go take a look at this mission item."

Li Gaogao gestured to Chen Fei, who was still hesitant, and stood up.

The group soon arrived in another room.

This room was located at the very back of the club, encircled by a solid line of defense set up by armed elite bodyguards, so tight that not even a fly could get in.

BiuBiuBiuBiu...

The room was filled with the raucous music of a video game.

A plump tabby cat, taller than itself, grasped a joystick and swayed it left and right, playing with great delight. Its thick tail whipped the floor with every movement, producing a series of thud-like dull thumps.

"Er Lang, we have a new friend over,"

Li Gaogao, who personally led Chen Fei and opened the door, greeted the big cat.

The size of the cat was comparable to a small piglet, with a dark reddish-brown coat striped like a tiger's. Its ears twitched, clearly aware of someone's arrival behind it.

"Oh, someone's here, wait, just a sec!"

The tumultuous images on the screen came to an abrupt halt, freezing there, and even the music stopped.

This unusual tabby put down the joystick, turned around, raised its right paw to give Li Gaogao a high-five, and then turned its attention to Chen Fei. Its golden vertical pupils rapidly dilated into round ones.

"A magical beast?"

Surprised to hear the creature speak human language, Chen Fei looked at Li Gaogao, waiting for a response.

"Let me introduce, a Seventh Rank Human Order golden-eyed azure-hearted civet, Er Lang, a Grade B Metal ability user, Chen Fei," Li Gaogao promptly introduced the big cat and Chen Fei to each other, then continued, "Er Lang will be the main force in the escort mission, with Chen Fei assisting, double insurance, that's the plan."

The golden-eyed azure-hearted civet was a dual-elemental magical beast of the Psychic and Wind Series, used for escorting artificial intelligence AI. Being able to secure its services really spoke to the broad capabilities of the true client.

"So that's how it is!"

Chen Fei pondered thoughtfully.

Although he was placed in an assisting role, he wasn't upset in the slightest.

It's quite normal for the client to have some secrets: overt channels and hidden moves are entirely typical strategies.

"Golden-eyed azure-hearted civet used to be known as a demon beast, but now demon beasts and magical beasts are collectively referred to as magical beasts. My name is Er Lang, the same as that of Erlang Shen; I really have a third eye!"

The big cat pointed to its forehead with its paw, and a vertical black pattern suddenly opened up, revealing a third eye from which a faint light flickered. It stared straight at Chen Fei, seeming to probe towards him with a certain presence.

In today's Cangqiong Star, the intelligence of some magical beasts had improved; they were able to speak and could be regarded as Intelligent Species, indistinguishable from the naturally wise Demon Beasts.

With "Halo" and "Cybertrom" joining forces to connect the two realms, changes on both planets had been increasing with the growing frequency of exchange between them. This encompassed not only trade, economy, and culture but also natural ecology, with some changes for the better and others for the worse.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Chen Fei inquired, "Then, how about Da Lang?"

The name "Er Lang" brought too many associations to mind.

"Da Lang took his medicine and that's the end of that; I've read 'Water Margin'!"

Golden-Eyed Azure-Hearted Civet Er Lang exhibited a very humanized expression, clearly familiar with not just 'Water Margin' but probably all of the Four Great Classical Novels. Erlang Shen is a formidable character in 'Journey to the West', much more powerful than Wu Erlang.

"Where's the item?"

Chen Fei looked around the room, which was furnished with a carpet on the floor, a display screen, a gaming console, two controllers, and a trash can, but nothing else.

"Hehe, the item is with me!"

The expression of Golden-Eyed Azure-Hearted Civet Er Lang suddenly contorted, and it began to make a very frightening retching motion.

One, two, oh my god!

A rumbling sound emerged from its throat, its neck noticeably bulging before spitting out a sphere tangled with slender dark red fur, still dripping with sticky saliva, which rolled onto the carpet.

The big cat picked up the ping-pong ball-sized sphere with its paw, casually pulled over a napkin, wiped off the saliva and fur, and pushed it towards Chen Fei.

"This is it!"

A strong briny scent hit him.

This is... the smell of the ocean; this fellow has been eating plenty of sea fish lately.

"What a horrifying way to store things."

Li Gaogao vigorously rubbed his own face, the scene was just too unpleasant to bear, and he nearly vomited.

"But it's effective!"

Chen Fei didn't reach out to take it, he just nodded.

The surface of the sphere was a layer of white material, probably meant to be waterproof and corrosion-resistant. The artificial intelligence AI unit was most likely inside it.

"Ahem!"

Er Lang shook the tips of his ears, opened his mouth, and swallowed the white sphere in one gulp.

The act of swallowing was much easier than spitting it out, very crisp and clean.

"Yikes!~"

Li Gaogao couldn't help but display an agonizing, goosebumps-inducing expression.

Er Lang was great in many ways, but doing this sort of thing was just too disgusting.

Chen Fei asked, "What do I need to do next?"

"This is a pet transport carrier!"

Li Gaogao gestured towards the room's door, and someone immediately brought in an airline pet transport carrier.

"I'm posing as a pet, meow!~"

Er Lang opened the door of the carrier and climbed in by himself.

The size of the carrier was just right for a medium-sized dog, and he fit perfectly inside, curling up into a ball, looking exactly like a grossly overweight orange of national importance.

"And you, Chen Fei, are responsible for this. There's also a sphere inside, which contains an artificial intelligence AI unit that is a virus with the ability to emit a tracking signal and has a potent destructive capability, capable of self-replicating three times."

Li Gaogao handed over a small box with a handcuff attached, snapping it onto Chen Fei's wrist.

He then said sternly, "According to insider information, there are already two companies with operational capabilities targeting this AI. In the world of capital, the law does not exist."

The reason for having a Magical Beast guard it and a supernatural power user escort it was the fear that someone might take a desperate gamble and seize the opportunity to take the AI unit, for which Tianjiu Finance had paid a hefty price, only to have all their efforts go down the drain.

"How could the message leak so easily? Could there be someone pushing things along behind the scenes?"

Chen Fei furrowed his brows; it wasn't that the other party was making contingency plans, but they had received the message in advance and had prepared accordingly.

"Bingo!" Li Gaogao snapped his fingers, laughed heartily, and said, "The CIA did it. They don't want us to take away this sole 'Adam' safety variant. We don't have any evidence, though."

Sometimes, evidence isn't necessary.

"What about the exchange student?"

Chen Fei thought of the adapter of the AI.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Li Gaogao said with relief, "He has already returned to the country ahead of time. At that time, the CIA hadn't reacted yet."

The exchange student was one of their own, and because he reported back to the homeland at the first moment, the treasure didn't fall into others' hands. Now it had been picked up by Tianjiu Finance to be taken back to the homeland.

Tianjiu Financial Company dealt with financial investments, and even if they were sanctioned by the American Federation, it was of little consequence.

After all, the financial sector is not something that just any sovereign state can meddle with. Find adventures on empire

"When do we depart?"

Chen Fei looked at Golden-Eyed Azure-Hearted Civet, who was using spiritual power to open the airline pet transport carrier.

Boss Hana was right to assign this task to him; when he came to the American Federation, he was carrying an airline pet transport carrier too. He arrived with it, and he would leave with it, making it difficult for anyone to find faults.

"Now!"

Li Gaogao handed him another piece of paper, listing the flight and departure time.

From the moment Chen Fei entered this private club, the plan had already been set in motion.

"Understood! Er Lang, we're leaving!"

Chen Fei herded the big cat into the carrier.

"Eh? Wasn't the flight tonight?"

The Golden-Eyed Azure-Hearted Civet complained; it had wanted to play video games a bit longer.

Chen Fei plainly stated, "Pet transport takes time; we need to be there three hours in advance."

He had experience with this.

"All the procedures are already in place; it's all up to you now!"

Li Gaogao patted Chen Fei's shoulder and handed him a document bag. Inside was not just the inspection and quarantine certificate of Golden-Eyed Azure-Hearted Civet Er Lang, but also twenty thousand Star Yuan in cash.

Er Lang spoke from inside the carrier, "Can I bring a gaming console? Even a handheld one would do!"

"Who's ever heard of a cat playing video games? Are you serious?"

Chen Fei picked up the carrier, which must have weighed between fifty and sixty pounds—damn heavy!

"Woof! I'm a little dog!"

The voice of the Golden-Eyed Azure-Hearted Civet came from inside the box.

"No! You're a clown!"

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