26: Chapter 26 Zero, Born!

In W City, at the Optics Valley Software Park.

Wang Shuo finished typing the last letter with a flurry of clicks, then took a breath and looked out the window.

It was now evening, and the sun was about to sink below the horizon, leaving only a sliver of afterglow shining into Wang Shuo's workspace, casting a beautiful, fiery red hue.

After days of sleepless effort, Wang Shuo finally succeeded today in completing the source code for the intelligent core program, injecting the basic logical algorithms, and constructing a fundamental logic core.

Now, in the entire graphical source code diagram, only the central logic core was illuminated; all other nodes were still in a dimmed state.

These were the algorithm nodes that needed to be slowly supplemented later.

But as long as the intelligent core architecture and the basic logic core existed, this Artificial Intelligence was basically complete. Limited by its algorithms, it might not seem that smart, perhaps even a bit clumsy, but it was still far more advanced than some of the smart voice assistants currently on the market.

The most important point of all was that it had logic.

It was a computer program that possessed logic.

Possessing logic meant... it could infer unknown conditions from existing ones at any time, infer unknown data and responses from its existing database, and no longer required repetitive training like a mentally challenged person. This was logic. Once a computer had logic, it was no longer just a computer, but a brain with the computational speed of a computer.

In short, an intelligent... computer.

Alright, that was a joke.

The last ray of sunlight finally vanished from the window, leaving only the dim, twilight sky outside.

Wang Shuo waited quietly.

Every day at this time, someone would come to deliver his dinner, but it was never the person he hoped for. Especially today, he really hoped to see the person he wanted to see, so he could share his current, extremely anxious feelings.

Footsteps sounded right on time.

A moment later, a male voice spoke up.

"Mr. Wang Shuo, please enjoy your meal."

"Alright, thank you."

A very ordinary dialogue. Wang Shuo felt slightly disappointed. It had to be said that everyone had their quirks; for instance, he found himself missing Chen Xin delivering his meals, having not seen her for a few days.

Pfft... what a bad habit to get into, he really needed to change it.

The footsteps gradually faded away.

Wang Shuo set the dinner aside, plopped down in front of the computer, and began the next step.

Skipping the testing phase, he proceeded directly to packaging and running it.

Watching the dialog boxes pop up on the desktop, Wang Shuo felt slightly nervous and stared at them intently.

Dialog box after dialog box popped out, data point after data point vanished, and a deluge of data streams cascaded down the screen like a waterfall.

Wang Shuo watched the progress nervously. He knew the intelligent core had begun running; this was the most important self-check step before it fully formed.

Because many algorithm cores were missing, the self-check was relatively easy to complete, and there shouldn't be any issues. But Wang Shuo always felt nervous involuntarily. He even felt like a husband waiting outside the delivery room while his wife was giving birth, anxious and unable to do anything.

Yeah... that was exactly the feeling.

If it failed, it meant the entire logic system would collapse, and everything would have to be started over from scratch. He wouldn't have time to create a new basic architecture within the specified deadline, so he couldn't help but be nervous.

Finally... the data stream on the screen disappeared, replaced by a flat, cartoon smiley face that seemed to be staring intently at the outside of the screen.

Wang Shuo knew it couldn't see him unless he granted it permission.

Just then, the cartoon smiley face on the screen opened its mouth, and at the same time, an electronic sound came from the speakers—it was Wang Shuo's own voice.

"Hello, World."

It was a success!

Wang Shuo was so excited he was about to jump out of his chair. He picked up the microphone nearby and issued a command to begin testing the interactive UI.

"Check status."

"Status check normal."

"Confirm current time."

"Command confirmed. The current time is: October 31, 2018, 7:43 PM Beijing Time."

October 31st? Wang Shuo was a bit dazed. Had it been that long? If he remembered correctly, the time he went to ask his counselor for leave was October 19th, right? Had eleven days already passed?

It seemed he needed to speed things up.

"Enable definition mode. Authorized person: Highest Sequence Wang Shuo. Serial number: S001."

"Command confirmed."

"Begin definition: Me."

"Definition complete. I have defined."

"Who am I?"

"Highest Sequence Wang Shuo, my creator."

Wang Shuo looked satisfied. My creator—listen to that, creator, what an imposing title. It felt as if he had created a world himself.

"Enable camera permissions. Authorized person: Highest Sequence Wang Shuo. Serial number: S001."

"Command confirmed."

"Define my image and current environment."

"Missing relevant algorithm core; unable to recognize images. Need to add modules and algorithms first before trying again."

Wang Shuo shook his head. He wasn't surprised at all by this; it was an error-reporting program he had designed himself. It would trigger whenever relevant matching was missing.

At the end of the day, this thing was still a program. It was just smarter than the average program, but even if it was smart, if you wanted it to work, you had to give it tools or teach it how to do it; otherwise, it was no different from a newborn baby.

"Can you create the relevant files yourself and add them as an algorithm core?"

In this sentence, the most important word was "relevant." This "relevant file" referred to the image recognition core from the previous sentence. If it were a standard smart assistant, it would be pulling up a webpage right now. They completely failed to understand the connection between preceding and succeeding sentences.

"Attempting... Unable to create. Reason: Missing data support."

Wang Shuo was satisfied with this answer.

"Authorize the addition of the learning core module. First, add the new computer language library and compilation algorithms; second, add the image recognition algorithm. Location: D."

"After adding, use the new code compilation language to replace the image recognition program source code, and add this as a standard practice, defined as: Optimized Execution."

"Command confirmed. Adding... Addition progress 5%... 50%... Success."

"Optimizing execution... Execution complete. Current code streamlined by 78%, efficiency increased by 147%, accuracy increased by 203%. Calculated optimizable algorithms can further increase this to 300%. Confirm instruction?"

Wang Shuo's eyes lit up; this was truly an unexpected surprise.

"Confirmed. From now on, judge such matters yourself. Notify me for confirmation if the negative efficiency trigger probability exceeds 2%."

"Command confirmed. Algorithm optimization complete."

"Continue executing my unfinished instructions."

"Command confirmed. Highest Sequence Wang Shuo, male, 18 years old, image defined. Current environment: Office, safe, no moving objects detected."

"Very good."

Wang Shuo felt high-spirited and continued to issue instructions.

"Enable port permissions. Allow access to all ports except the network port; establish a firewall; allow access to the server and use server permissions. After accessing, comprehensively optimize the execution code. Start now."

"Command confirmed. Accessing server..."

"Access successful... Scanning all ports..."

"Scan successful... Optimizing execution... Complete."

"Establishing firewall..."

"Establishment successful."

"Execution complete."

Wang Shuo nodded slightly. Limited by the computer's operating speed, the primary intelligence's takeover of the server wasn't fast, but it was stable, smooth, and hadn't encountered any crash issues.

This was no surprise. As the most fundamental intelligent architecture of the Humanoid Race civilization, it must have been the most classic form, refined through countless trials. Moreover, for the Humanoid Race, there was zero tolerance for bugs.

"What is the server status?"

"Server status stable; currently no request or response data."

"Very good." Wang Shuo's tone was very steady.

"I officially name you: Zero Primary Intelligence! Version: 1.0. From now on, you will be referred to as: Zero."

"You are allowed to update files and core algorithms yourself after connecting to the network. Every time a file is updated or a core algorithm is added, a log must be added; this record cannot be changed."

"Command confirmed. Do you wish to lock with Highest Sequence permissions?"

"Confirm lock."

Wang Shuo hearing Zero emit his own voice through the speakers, Wang Shuo's excitement calmed down a bit. He had been so carried away by the joy of success just now that he hadn't thought much of it, but now that he was calmer, he suddenly felt that an Artificial Intelligence using his own voice seemed a bit strange.

"Zero, change the voice frequency. Simulated object is..."

Wang Shuo seriously considered his thoughts and immediately broke out in a cold sweat. If she heard this, would she think he was a pervert?

"Uh... ahem, adjust to a male voice, neutral tone."

"Command confirmed, adjusted."

The Artificial Intelligence's voice instantly transformed into a semi-mechanical baritone.

Nodding in satisfaction, Wang Shuo issued the final instruction.

"Now, enable the network port, authorize you to release crawlers, collect data, and store it using the new code."

Wang Shuo's voice paused.

"At the same time, create a new task: I need a new, simple operating system."

"Task priority is highest."

Just as Wang Shuo was waiting for a response, filled with pride and triumph, the neutral male voice of the Artificial Intelligence shattered his fantasy.

"Unable to create task. Reason: Missing data support."