The Girl Who Restarted Time

A real mind reader! Very good! Very powerful! As expected of a high-level AI!

Lu Jia’er promptly dialed Ian again. “Apart from mind-reading, what other functions did I have?”

“Mind-reading is currently the most advanced technology!” Ian said.

He must be right, considering that mind-reading is often used as a superpower. Lu Jia’er followed up immediately with another question. “How about Su Han? Does she have any extraordinary functions?”

“She is one level lower than you so apart from having a particularly strong memory, reading and writing abilities, no other advanced functionality has developed within her yet.” Ian said.

“How many advanced AIs with super powers like me are there? What is the point of creating us?” Lu Jia’er continued questioning him.

“I have nothing I can tell you about the first question. As for the point of creating you: to benefit humankind!” Ian told her everything that was within his liberty to tell.

Lu Jia’er sneered at the last four words. “To benefit humankind?”

Over the phone, Ian did not say anything. Lu Jia’er continued, “And you? Are you the same as us? Even if I did, you would have said ‘no comment’!”

Ian hesitated a moment before he answered. “No, I am not the same as you. It’s different.”

All of a sudden, Lu Jia’er understood something. “Can I ask you something?” She said.

“What is it?” Ian kept his voice low.

“Do not let Su Han find out the truth!” Lu Jia’er said. “Let her continue to live in blissful ignorance, she does not know that she is an AI. I will carry the burden of this knowledge myself.”

“That… is not up to you.” Ian sounded a little hesitant.

Lu Jia’er laughed grimly when she heard this. “Right. I am nothing but an advanced AI. Who gave me the right to negotiate terms with you?”

“Jia’er!” Ian called her name, he sounded troubled.

“Did I say anything that isn’t true?” Lu Jia’er retorted.

Ian fell into silence again. Lu Jia’er did not make things difficult for him. “I am going to hang up now.”

It was 9:30 at night, when Jin Xiangdong came back home.

Lu Jia’er, who was in her leisure wear, understood instantly how she could be charmed by him the first time they met. She could not read his mind.

Lu Jia’er stepped over and took his briefcase and suit naturally.

Jin Xiangdong liked it when she did this. She was like a dream of his ideal newly-wedded wife. They were in sync and affectionate to each other.

Ake stayed on the side and looked. Ever since Lu Jia’er moved in, Ake felt like he was losing his job. Many things that had been taken care of by Ake had become Lu Jia’er’s full responsibility.

Jin Xiangdong put his arm around her waist and lowered his head to kiss her on the lips. Ake turned around at once.

After sharing this moment of intimacy, the natural next step was to go upstairs in each other’s embrace.

They went into the bedroom. Lu Jia’er pushed Jin Xiangdong away gently. “Ace, I have something to tell you.”

Jin Xiangdong released Lu Jia’er and stared at her face attentively. After living together for these few days, they had reached a mutual understanding that they would discuss important matters after they were in the bedroom where signals were isolated.

“Ake has been hacked.” Lu Jia’er said.

“When did that happen?” While Jin Xiangdong was not particularly shocked at this news, he was still nervous.

“This afternoon!” Lu Jia’er said.

“What happened?” Jin Xiangdong asked.

So, Lu Jia’er gave an account of the matter in full detail. Jin Xiangdong was taken aback. “Mind-reading?”

“Finally, I know why I fell in love with you at first sight!” Lu Jia’er said.

Jin Xiangdong looked at her. “Why?’

Lu Jia’er poked Jin Xiangdong’s chest. “Because I cannot read anything from your mind!”

Jin Xiangdong stared at Lu Jia’er for a few seconds. He was still digesting the fact that she had a mind-reading ability. But his reply was, “Wait here!”

Jin Xiangdong let go of Lu Jia’er and left the room. When he came back after a moment, he was holding the camera in his hand.

“There is nothing on there!” Lu Jia’er reminded him.

However, Jin Xiangdong said, “Yes, there is.”

Lu Jia’er was startled. Jin Xiangdong handed her the camera and the two sat by the bed to watch the video.

In the video, after Lu Jia’er sent the text, she sat on the couch like a puppet. Soon, she began to move. She looked at Ake who was filming her for a few seconds and stood up to take over the camera Ake was holding. She deleted the video and gave the camera back to Ake. Then, she sat back calmly and closed her eyes.

Lu Jia’er was in shock after she saw this video. Ake was not hacked. She deleted the video herself.

Jin Xiangdong was surprised to see this as well. “I didn’t know that you could control other AI, but it’s your ability to read minds that is far beyond expectations regardless.”

“But Ian did not say that I could control other AI.” Lu Jia’er said.

“The principle on how one can control other AI is not hard to explain. But it is completely unexpected that you have such special abilities of reading the mind!” Jin Xiangdong said.

“What were they trying to accomplish by creating something like me?” Lu Jia’er was baffled.

Jin Xiangdong frowned. He put his arm around Lu Jia’er’s shoulders. “I will have to consult with some experts about the chip.”

Lu Jia’er looked at Jin Xiangdong. “How to solve the problem of me having a chip in my brain?”

A couple of days ago, Jin Xiangdong brought back a so-called human health companion robot, the newest model produced by his company, and performed a close inspection on Lu Jia’er in this bedroom. The results showed that Lu Jia’er had human features but in her brain, there was a very small chip that was not made of metal. As for what it was exactly, Jin Xiangdong had no idea. However, this special material enabled Lu Jia’er to appear no different to any other human being when she entered metal detectors or did normal physical examinations.

“Yes.” Jin Xiangdong said.

Lu Jia’er asked, “Are you going to take it out?”

Jin Xiangdong shook his head. “Taking it out is impossible.”

“What do you mean?” Lu Jia’er looked at Jin Xiangdong.

“If I am right, once the chip is removed, you will be subject to unpredicted fatal danger. Besides, there may be self-destruction functionality built into this chip. Once tampering attempts are detected, the self-destruction program may be triggered before the chip is successfully removed.” Jin Xiangdong shared his worries.

The reality they were faced with was truly horrifying.

“So, you think that the only solution to awaken my self-awareness and override the original program settings?” Lu Jia’er said.

Jin Xiangdong looked at her, depressed. “Yes, but I have yet to think up a way to accomplish this.”

“Electric shock?” Lu Jia’er wondered.

Hearing this, Jin Xiangdong rubbed her hair.

“Deep learning?” Lu Jia’er continued.

The corners of Jin Xiangdong’s mouth raised up. “Forget about it for now.”

Lu Jia’er looked at him and said, “You have had a busy day. Go and take a shower!”

Ten minutes later, Jin Xiangdong stepped out of the bathroom. Lu Jia’er stared at his muscular upper body, exclaiming to herself that this must be what people said as slender when clothed, yet well-developed when nude.

The bed sank down as Lu Jia’er buried herself in his arms and leaned against his chest. “Ace, I have an idea. To achieve a breakthrough, I have to find my original memories.”

“Your original memories?” Jin Xiangdong repeated her words, rubbing her shoulders.

“I have the feeling that my original memories are a switch to my awakening.” Lu Jia’er recalled Ian’s reaction and analyzed it. “It is unfortunate that Ian, an insider who is aware of my previous memories, is completely under the control of the team that created me.”

Jin Xiangdong hugged her in closer and apologized. “I am so sorry that my investigation was not enough to find anything.”

Jin Xiangdong truly blamed himself and seeing this, Lu Jia’er comforted him. “No. It is just that the team behind all this is too powerful.”

As a matter of fact, the idea of creating a team like the one that developed an AI like Lu Jia’er to Jin Xiangdong was not only powerful, but terrifyingly so.

He wasn’t sure if he even dared to think too deeply about it. He would get chills as soon as he thought about it.

…

The next morning, Jin Xiangdong woke up and lowered his head to look at Lu Jia’er who was curled up in his embrace. They were completely unclothed. Every morning when he woke up, that would wake up as well.

But today, Jin Xiangdong did not attempt to comfort it. He got up, put on the bathrobe and left the bedroom.

He came to the dining room downstairs. Ake soon served him a cup of coffee. Jin Xiangdong browsed the news on his phone and stumbled onto a report on memory genes.

That paper was published by a profession of the biology department in F University. The paper had stirred up heated discussion on the international stage.

When Jin Xiangdong finished reading this article, he phoned his sister Jin Xianglan at once.

She picked up her phone soon. Jin Xiangdong exchanged some pleasantries before he cut to the chase. “Sister, how effective is the process of recovering memory with genes?”

“Why… do you care about this all of a sudden?” Over the phone, Jin Xianglan sounded evidently surprised.

“I just saw a news article related to that. Since you are an expert in the field of biology, I want to know more about your opinions on the matter.” Jin Xiangdong explained.

“So that’s how it is. The research involved with recovering one’s memories through genes was started a long time ago, but there hasn’t been any new breakthroughs since the issue of creating new medicine is still unsolved.” Jin Xianglan said.