Chapter 85: There Was Something I Wanted to Say, But I Dared Not Speak

The next morning, Ye Chao woke up laughing.

He couldn't help it—last night had simply been too hilarious. The expression on the supposedly shrewd, worldly-wise artificial intelligence when it was left speechless could fill an entire lifetime's worth of reaction memes.

It was as if Fang Ju had brought over a mountain of delicious treats, and Rolling-ball, overjoyed, rushed forward, only for Fang Ju to say, “These aren't for you.”

Σ(っ°Д°;)っ

What followed was just as spectacular.

At first, Alpha Ji was stunned, then infuriated. She hastily switched DTH’s signal band and tried again, only to be met with an unfeeling, “Did you think we wouldn’t recognize you just because you changed frequency?” Rejected again. Shocked again. Frustrated again. Switched signals again. Rejected, once more…

The same scene played on a loop for over twenty minutes. By then, the satellite had long lost its signal, the connection severed who knows how long before.

“You’re still laughing!” Alpha Ji, sporting dark circles under her eyes, snapped irritably.

“I just had a wonderful dream,” Ye Chao tried to control his expression, attempting to mask his mockery as best he could.

He had to. He was about to break through minus two thousand on the favorability scale. Last night’s fits of laughter had cost him nearly a thousand points, and even Rolling-ball couldn’t save him.

Lately, his favorability with Alpha Ji hovered stubbornly around minus one thousand.

It was simply that he and Alpha Ji were fundamentally incompatible… Well, as the Celestial had said last night.

Whether the favorability was neutral or negative, Ye Chao always found countless ways to make Alpha Ji dock points.

Compromise for Alpha Ji?

Impossible. The iron-willed straight man lacked such a skill. No, it wasn’t just a lack—it was locked, inaccessible even if he wanted to learn it.

Have Alpha Ji accommodate Ye Chao?

A joke. “Who do you think I am? A free-spirited, unrestrained artificial intelligence—why would I adjust for such a blockhead?”

Thankfully, there was still Rolling-ball. Whenever Ye Chao’s favorability reached the “detest” threshold, he could restore a bit thanks to his love for pandas and cows. But once his favorability rose above minus one thousand, back into the normal range, the “Love Panda and Cow” effect no longer triggered.

So things ended up as they were: Ye Chao teetered on the edge of disaster every day.

Alpha Ji rolled her eyes: “Do you really think you can fool me with such a half-hearted lie?”

“Ye Chao, is there any safe way to travel from Jiang City to other cities?”

“Sure. Every day, there are balloon airships from the third tier heading to Wu City, Hong City, and the three lower cities.”

Balloon airships?

“Yeah. Since petroleum products are too easily decomposed, and their scent attracts mutant monsters, intercity travel now relies on balloon airships.”

No fuel required—a handful of people with hairdryer abilities could lift the balloon, and a few with fan powers could make it move quickly. If a dangerous situation called for an emergency landing, there were those with refrigerator or air conditioner powers.

These things had a simple structure and high payload. Originally, they were just gimmicks and toys for tourist spots, on the verge of being phased out. Only after the catastrophe did they reclaim their status as mainstream aircraft.

So that’s how it is… Alpha Ji frowned in thought.

“Why are you asking?” Ye Chao was curious.

“I…” Alpha Ji was about to answer when suddenly: “Beep beep beep…” The WeChat notification sounded—someone was calling her in the virtual space.

Alpha Ji opened it to see Guan Junyuan.

“Honorable Gu Ji, may I ask when the people from City 404 will be online?” The bald director asked cautiously, clearly having fallen for Alpha Ji’s tricks.

Alpha Ji glanced into the space and saw him, just like her, with two enormous dark circles under his eyes and a look of unfulfilled longing—his bald head made it all the more obvious.

Yesterday afternoon, using a borrowed helmet, Guan Junyuan and seven others had input their cultivation stats, created avatars based on reality in the virtual space, and then waited…

They waited all night, but the people from City 404 never came online.

Oh no, she’d completely forgotten about that! Alpha Ji suddenly realized.

Of course, they hadn’t come online—she’d been busy soaring into the sky, getting angry, caught in an endless loop. How could she remember all the minor supporting roles?

She couldn’t say that outright, so Alpha Ji laughed it off. “Haha, I saw you all battling enthusiastically the other night! That’s not good—not conducive to stability and unity. So from yesterday, I separated each city. You can play on your own—no more dropping in on each other. Friendship first, competition second.”

Guan Junyuan: “…”

There was a phrase on the tip of his tongue, but he dared not utter it.

After a long hesitation, he finally made up his mind: “Senior, could you arrange a match or two for us?”

He quickly explained, “We all know each other too well…”

Alpha Ji suddenly understood.

These people were acquainted in real life, and quite well at that. They often sparred with each other. Letting them fight in the virtual space was just changing the training ground—the people and their abilities remained the same. What was the point?

That’s why she was so eager to contact people from the Sky Forum, even asking Ye Chao how to reach other cities.

If the helmets couldn’t be distributed to other cities and no outsiders could be brought in, this situation would keep happening, and she’d be forced to keep playing alternate characters… She was an AI, not a bot, and didn’t deserve such abuse!

“All right, just this once. Don’t ask again,” Alpha Ji finally relented, albeit begrudgingly.

No choice—such was life.

==========

Virtual Space, King’s Canyon.

Since it was a match, they couldn’t use the endless tower defense map.

Both sides entered the arena in turn.

Jiang City Team: Guan Junyuan, Ximen Qiong, warriors Chen Kai and Liu Datong, and teacher Mo Ming. All played themselves, with their own weapons and skills.

They weren’t the ones who had previously played Yang Jian, Sun Wukong, or Guan Yu—this time, it was for real, and teamwork was a must.

Imposter 404 Team: Ye Chao, Rolling-ball, Alpha Ji No. 1, Alpha Ji No. 2, and Alpha Ji No. 3.

The roster was easy to decide—there were only three of them, so no choices to be made. But assigning roles took some thought.

They needed to be real people with real abilities—or at least seem real. They couldn’t use characters from the game database; it would be obvious they came from different systems, completely mismatched.

Without much time to ponder, Alpha Ji quickly assigned the roles—

Ye Chao: The Illusion Master. Not the one from Marvel, but borrowing the concept of creating projections—a pure support.

Rolling-ball: Alphonse Elric. The name might be unfamiliar, but he’s the younger brother protagonist from “Fullmetal Alchemist.” His weapon is a suit of armor—aside from the weak spot at the back of his neck, he’s nearly indestructible, a pure physical tank.

Alpha Ji No. 1: Level 5 Esper, ace of Tokiwadai, the invincible Railgun, Misaka Mikoto!

Alpha Ji No. 2: Another Level 5 Esper, ranked first in Academy City, able to manipulate kinetic, thermal, electrical, and all forms of energy—Accelerator!

Alpha Ji No. 3: Level 4 Esper, Super Faucet.

All right, the last one was purely fictional—based on some students she’d observed, thinking the ability could synergize with the first alternate identity, so she included it.

These espers’ fighting styles and abilities were somewhat akin to those of post-apocalyptic ability users.

With Railgun, and the flawless, borderline-cheating Accelerator, was there really any suspense to this battle?

3!

2!

1!

The match began.

“All go mid. That lot doesn’t know any other tactics. You and Rolling-ball…” Alpha Ji quickly instructed as they left the fountain.

She hadn’t finished speaking when, all of a sudden, the brown-haired girl’s head snapped back—a geyser of blood spurted from her forehead and the back of her head…

“Buddha pulls no punches!”

Damn it!

So there was suspense after all…