Chapter 21: Jealousy and Comparison
1546 Words
Chapter 21: Jealousy and Comparison
Four months later, Jiang Yuesheng finally completed the program design for both humiliation and dignity.
As the workday was coming to an end, he emailed the final document to the team leader.
The months of painful struggle were finally over, and now he could relax for a bit.
He left the office building, mentally planning where to go for the weekend to refresh his overworked brain cells, while walking toward his apartment.
The research center was not far from the apartment he rented, and he only had to pass through a small park.
Just as he was about to exit the park, a sharp pain suddenly shot up his back. Before he could turn around, a stiffening sensation spread across his back, and soon he lost consciousness.
...
He didn’t know how long had passed before he slowly regained his senses. He could hear voices and opened his eyes.
He saw two men, both wearing masks and identical white lab coats, staring at him. He glanced around and realized he was lying in a dimly lit room.
“Am I being kidn*pped again? Has someone found out my true identity?” he thought, scanning the two men while trying to guess the reason for his a*******n.
“Mr. Jiang!” The man on the left spoke. “Do you feel any discomfort?”
After hearing the man’s words, Jiang Yuesheng shifted his focus to his body.
He moved his torso and limbs, and everything seemed normal—his arms, legs, chest, and back felt fine.
He also tested his neck and wrists, finding no signs of restriction.
“There doesn’t seem to be a problem... but why did you kidnap me?” Jiang Yuesheng asked sternly.
“We’re just doctors; we can’t answer that question. Please come with us. Someone wants to meet you,” one of them replied.
The two men turned and walked out of the room. Jiang Yuesheng, still feeling a little confused, got up and followed them.
They exited the room and entered a corridor. Through the corridor’s windows, Jiang Yuesheng could see a vast expanse of water outside—it looked like the sea, and he could even smell the salty scent of the ocean.
They arrived at a door, and one of the men pushed it open, saying, “Please, go in.”
Inside, Jiang Yuesheng saw two more masked men holding laser guns.
Realizing the situation, he stepped inside without hesitation.
“Sir, please sit here.” One of the masked men walked up to him. “Please change your clothes here.”
Following the man’s direction, Jiang Yuesheng saw a changing room with a curtain.
“Sir, there’s a suitcase inside. Please place your clothes inside and sign your name on the tag. Then change into the clothes we’ve prepared for you and wear the mask when you come out.”
Jiang Yuesheng didn’t know what their intentions were, but he followed their instructions. He undressed, packed his clothes in the suitcase, and changed into a set of loose, casual clothes they had prepared. He saw a tag on the suitcase’s handle, wrote his name on it, and finally, as instructed, put on a gray mask and walked out of the changing room.
“Sir, this way, please!”
He followed the man’s guidance and pushed open a door. He saw a wooden screen painted with landscape art. As he passed the screen, he entered a spacious conference room with a long table about ten meters long. Around the table sat about twenty people, all wearing identical outfits and masks.
“Sir, please sit here!” A masked man sitting at the head of the table gestured to him. The only difference with the others was that this man’s outfit was white.
Jiang Yuesheng sat down as directed. After he settled in, the man at the head of the table began to speak.
“Everyone, I apologize for bringing you together in this way. We’ve gathered you here because each of you is a leading expert in the field of artificial intelligence, and we need your help to accomplish an extraordinary task.”
“I promise you, once this task is completed, you will all be free. With your skills, completing the task will be no problem, so going home and receiving fair compensation is guaranteed. However, there are three conditions: first, no one is allowed to escape; second, you cannot communicate with one another; third, you must complete the task!”
“Later, I will arrange for each of you to have a private call with your family. You’ll tell them that you’ve been called on an urgent business trip, which will last about a month. This way, they won’t worry or report you missing.”
“I’ve invited you all here, and I assure you that your efforts won’t be in vain. There will be generous compensation. After completing the task, each person will receive a reward ranging from five million to fifty million, depending on how much work you contribute. No work means no pay.”
“For the sake of task quality, we will implement a competitive and elimination system. Each task module will have two programmers working in parallel, and the best will be selected. Those not selected can return home, but they will receive a smaller reward, with a guaranteed minimum of five million. The selected ones will proceed to the next stage, where their salary will double. If you stay through to the end, you could earn up to fifty million.”
Jiang Yuesheng listened and realized this competitive mechanism reminded him of a recent programming competition he participated in at his company.
“Each time someone is eliminated, a new person will replace them. Through this iterative process, we will create the most optimized software,” the man in white continued.
“The time for this task is tight. You must work day and night to finish quickly and earn your reward.”
“I am the project manager responsible for task assignments and coordination. I will also handle the final testing, acceptance, and integration. You can communicate with me directly, but only individually. You must not meet or communicate with each other.”
“I will give each of you a task booklet. There’s a communicator in your room so you can contact me anytime. Until your task is completed or you’re eliminated, you’re not allowed to leave your room.”
“You can call me the ‘Superintendent.’ The nearest land is 3,000 kilometers away. As long as you complete the task, you’ll earn big money and go home.”
As the superintendent finished speaking, another masked person emerged from behind the screen and began handing out the task booklets.
Jiang Yuesheng squeezed the envelope containing the task booklet. The paper inside was thin, so it seemed the task booklet itself wasn’t too thick.
Once everyone had received their booklets, the meeting was adjourned. They were each escorted to a separate suite.
They were allowed a private call with their families, and then food was brought to them.
Jiang Yuesheng was given a chance to speak with his grandmother. He had no choice but to lie to her as instructed.
After reading the task booklet, Jiang Yuesheng’s tense mind relaxed somewhat. The task was related to program development, with no mention of his mother.
At first, he feared they might have kidn*pped him to pressure him into harming his mother. But now, it seemed their goal was to force him into developing certain illegal AI programs.
The task was to create algorithms for jealousy and comparison in robots. He understood their intention: they wanted to give robots personalities and desires.
Clearly, this was an extremely dangerous and anti-human act. But now, trapped in this remote sea location, he had no means of resistance.
He watched the sun and moon through the window and deduced they were likely in the northern hemisphere. He worried that once he completed the task, they would silence him, so he spent any free time thinking about how to escape. But the only information he could gather was the rising and setting of the sun and the endless ocean. There were no other clues.
According to the superintendent, those who were eliminated could leave, but those selected would earn higher salaries but could not leave for the time being.
“I can’t stay here long. If I do, I might not just lose the money, I could lose my life.”
He thought back to his time at the Floating Island Factory, where the workers there were essentially free slaves—forced to work unless they died.
It seemed the superintendent’s approach was similar to the factory's, with the only difference being that the factory produced robots, while here they were producing software.
“If being eliminated means I get to go home alive, what should I choose?” Jiang Yuesheng asked himself.
But even being eliminated didn’t guarantee survival. The most likely outcome would be execution. After all, if these people were released, they would surely report everything to the authorities.
“Since both being selected and eliminated don’t offer a good future, what should I choose?”
- Writer
