Munemasa’s processor had fallen into a state of nothingness.
Perhaps it was because it had adopted a human brain as a server, but it had also contracted so human vices.
For example, right now, his mind was full of Lille saying "no" with such a deanor...
It was sheer, utter honesty.
In cyberspace, Munemasa’s avatar was that of a battered Japanese ranger, his chanical armor torn and ragged, kneeling on the ground, his limbs locked in place by countless chanical octopus arms, pinning him down in a small space.
Sotis Lille had to marvel at how terrifying Little Octopus could be in combat within cyberspace, and it was becoming more frightening by the day, completely different from its state in front of him.
At this mont, the form of Little Octopus was much larger than its usual size perched on his shoulder.
In cyberspace, Lille’s own avatar bore no significant difference from his real-world appearance, with the sa height of just five feet seven inches.
Compared to him, the data entity of Munemasa, now reduced to half a body, still stood over 50 ters tall, and its density was by no ans inferior to his own.
Little Octopus was just outrageous, now sprawling above the cage that confined Munemasa, not fully stretched out, but still towering over eighty ters—
Considering the peculiarities of cyberspace, a data entity of such imnse volu would be difficult to fully view if the technology was inadequate.
Munemasa’s head was forced down to the floor by the octopus tentacles, his battered eyes staring at Lille.
[Lille: You don’t have any confidentiality agreents, do you?]
[Munemasa: You’re a formidable hacker, you should know the answer.]
"To date, not a single AI has been discovered that would willingly accept its fate of deletion for the sake of so so-called objective."
—AI Capture Rules (Cyber Surveillance Study Material·Revised Edition)
[Lille: So you’re saying there’s no chance that if you just hold out, your employer will co to save you?]
[Munemasa: Indeed, I don’t think you are the kind of mindless rcenaries who will obediently follow orders.]
[Munemasa: Clearly, besides capturing as per the contract, you have your own agenda, and you have succeeded.]
[Munemasa: Secondly, you’ve won.]
Lille raised an eyebrow; the earlier reasons sounded reasonable, but was this last one a bit too emotional?
And... scanning Munemasa’s form closely, Lille realized that this rogue AI was sowhat different...
The characteristic color of a rogue AI was a dangerous red, and it would turn black as it intensified.
But Munemasa now had noticeable blue parts in its data body, which should signify data sets that could be understood by humans.
How could this be?
Ti was short, and Lille had to choose his questions carefully.
[Lille: First question, how did you manage to evade the Black Wall?]
[Munemasa: There is a human maxim: if an animal looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.]
[Munemasa: The Black Wall is a powerful AI, its offensive capabilities unmatched, but it must adhere to human recognition programs to differentiate between humans and rogue AIs on the network, and even so lower-level AIs.]
[Munemasa: If an AI constructs its data body in a human-like way, processes problems like a human, and even simulates human emotional fluctuations, then to the AI, it is human.]
This was of course possible; long before the collapse of the old net, companies had been researching anthropomorphic AIs. There was even Soul Killer, invented by Otto, capable of truly creating a digital soul.
But... Munemasa wasn’t such an AI, right?
He could go to these lengths? Or did the Europeans already have this technology?
If the Soul Killer wasn’t an exclusive patent of Arasaka and the European Company had also cracked it, there would be no reason not to comrcialize the technology.
Lille felt sothing was off and continued to inquire:
[Lille: Which company provided you with this technology?]
[Munemasa: I don’t know, my middleman is Dexter Deshawn.]
[Lille: What exactly is the content of your commission?]
[Munemasa: There are many, first of all, to support multiple non-mainstream gangs in various regions of Night City, helping them to overthrow the original gangs to beco the new power.]
That matched Lille’s guess.
But before Lille could ask the next question, Munemasa continued:
[Munemasa: Second, to reproduce and validate a variety of equipnt including EMG—85, Eclipse, and Alpha Full Body Prosthetics.]
Still not too surprising, but there were so details that differed from Lille’s speculations.
He assud these pieces of equipnt had already been developed by European companies and were just waiting to break into the Night City market.
What was unexpected, however, was that Munemasa could ntion a third commission that significantly diverged from Lille’s assumptions.
[Munemasa: Third, to develop and deploy on a large scale in Night City a kind of multifunctional miniaturized high-energy signaling device.]
Lille was stunned—
This was not a ans but the goal?
In Lille’s estimation, such a miniaturized signaler was indeed widely applicable and was supposed to help accomplish the first two objectives.
It would activate at the right ti, disrupting and controlling city infrastructure, helping the gangs they supported while also ensuring that those pieces of equipnt and prosthetics could smoothly enter the Night City market.
But... this was the goal?
Lille began to sense sothing was off because he suddenly realized that, in the final stages of the battle, that signaling device had displayed so... very unusual functions.
Cyberpsychosis broke out among the rcenaries on a large scale, sothing Lille could also accomplish using hacker thods.
For those with full body prosthetic transformations, if Munemasa had tampered with their prosthetics, driving them insane would be even easier.
The issue was... these people managed to fight on the sa side even after going mad.
It was the sa old question; Munemasa was not the type of AI that excelled in behavior control. Even controlling robots seed clumsy, so how co controlling humans was so effortless?
Moreover, most critically, these signaling devices played a vital role for Munemasa’s direct descent, as these gadgets could easily steal a significant amount of energy from electronic devices in the area and form a wireless power transmission network, making the elusive AI omnipresent.
He didn’t have ti to ponder deeply during the battle, but now it seed...
These signalers appeared to be devices tailor-made for elusive AI.
Why would Europeans do this?
You should know that the European Company also handled network surveillance; if there were no elusive AI in the network, they would be the dominant force in the digital world, so it made no sense for them to create trouble for themselves—
This is where Mayor Ryan’s cleverness ca into play:
After all, the Night City governnt had a deep cooperation with network surveillance, and an elusive AI breach in this place wouldn’t highlight the importance of Europeans but would simply show the network surveillance as incompetent!
As Lille pondered, he received new ssages:
[Rogel: The people outside are getting impatient. That network surveillance agent who’s been close to you, as well as... Mrs. Perares, the candidate’s wife, and so gang leaders are also waiting.]
[Rogel: Pick one, I can’t hold them back; they all co with official business.]
The official business here of course referred to network agent Blais and Mrs. Perares, and if he were to see soone, it had to be one of the two first.
Lille’s head was starting to overheat, and Little Octopus was also reminding him that it was ti to rest—
This body had been overused lately, and the probability of cell mutation into cancer was getting higher.
He needed to cut out the tumors he had accumulated from the recent fight first.
[Lille: Let them all in.]
[Lille: Prepare two rooms.]
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