Xu Wanmeng's eyes couldn't stop shrinking, her eyes widened slightly, and her face showed a confused expression. Her calmness and reason seemed to have disappeared, and she was in a state of confusion, with thoughts of her grandfather constantly echoing in her mind.
What I just said.
The rise of Kangtao Company is actually related to the AI outside [Black Wall]?
My grandfather Xu Shiming, a man who enjoys a high reputation all over the world, actually made transactions with those AIs...
Suddenly, Xu Wanmeng's inner emotions became more complicated.
After all, she has lived in the Xu family since she was a child, and she has a deep affection for Kangtao Company. She is also proud to hold the position of CEO of Kangtao Company.
However, now the founder of Kangtao Company, her grandfather Xu Shiming, told her that the rise of the company in the past was inseparable from the help of AI...
In other words, Kangtao Company has been able to survive to this day only with the support of inhuman things like AI... Xu Shiming's spicy words couldn't help but make her feel...
The feeling of having your faith tarnished.
"Why did you wait until now to tell us these things?" Xu Wanmeng asked in a low voice.
"Because now is the time to tell you these things."
Xu Shiming leaned slightly on the wall of the bed, and the serious expression on his face relaxed slightly. Thinking of saying these words that had been held in his heart for a long time, he also felt inexplicably happy.
"If I told you these things in the past, what would be the use besides adding psychological burden to you two? And even your father doesn't know about these things." He said in a gentle tone.
Xu Wanmeng was silent.
After a while, she turned her head and looked at Xu Wenbin, who was sitting next to her. As expected, the latter also looked stunned on the spot, and was obviously shocked by her grandfather's words.
Xu Wanmeng gave her brother a reliable look, telling him not to worry too much.
Then she continued to look at Xu Shiming on the bed, the doubt in her eyes still not dissipating:
"So you specifically chose today to tell us these Kangtao secrets. What is your purpose?"
"Because I took action against you two, and it was not successful. The fact that you two are here in good health means that my plan failed." A strange smile appeared on Xu Shiming's face.
Xu Wanmeng looked at him coldly and asked: "I need a specific explanation!"
"Before I explain it to you, Wanmeng, please think about the story I just told. I reached a cooperation agreement with Ultra and the AIs, so that they are willing to help me rebuild Kangtao. Are you not curious?
What conditions did I pay in these agreements?" Xu Shiming asked with a smile.
Xu Wanmeng raised her eyebrows and quickly understood what her grandfather meant.
yes!
Back then, the company was on the verge of bankruptcy, and his grandfather was just a new entrepreneur trying to get on the market. What leverage did he have to get the AIs to help him?
Is it because grandpa promised to build a "ghost town" in HK for AIs?
However, at that time, Kangtao was on the verge of bankruptcy and did not have that much energy to "give back" to those AIs. Grandpa's promise must also be a blank check.
Even if the promise has been fulfilled now, when the two parties signed the agreement, were the AIs so sure that Kangtao Company would have the status it has today in the future?
Come to think of it, when he came into contact with the AIs at that time, grandpa must have paid certain conditions!
"Do these things have anything to do with your choice to murder our sister and brother?" Xu Wanmeng avoided a direct answer and asked sharply.
She didn't want to be led by the other party all the time, even if the other party in the conversation was her grandfather.
"It's a big deal..." The smile on Xu Shiming's face faded a little.
"As for the truth, you will know it later. I also said that it is very troublesome to explain this matter. Just be patient and listen. I still have questions to test you two... Since I resigned from the company's internal position,
How much time has passed since you retreated to this deep mountain and old forest?" Xu Shiming asked.
"Seven to eight years ago, you resigned in the year when Arasaka Company entered Night City..." Xu Wanmeng answered clearly.
"Then let me ask you again, why do I reject the use of smart electronic products and even hate them?" Xu Shiming asked again.
Xu Wanmeng shook her head and said sincerely: "This is your personal reason, Grandpa. Wanmeng doesn't know."
Regarding this, not to mention her, even her father and the guards around Xu Shiming didn't know the specific reason.
She even thought it was because Xu Shiming had been exposed to too many electronic products.
After all, he is the founder of Kangtao Company and has been dealing with smart electronic products for half his life. When he retires, it is normal that he does not want to see these smart technology products anymore. He is probably tired of seeing them, or he is bored.
But these are just guesses after all, and the specific reasons still depend on what her grandfather thinks.
"Because I'm afraid they will come after me..." Xu Shiming's tone suddenly became low and cold, making people shudder.
Xu Wanmeng's body trembled slightly, and she suddenly thought of some kind of guess.
"Grandpa, is it possible that you have broken up with those AIs?" she asked in surprise.
At this time, she thought of something again.
Since Kangtao Company developed with the secret assistance of AI, after her grandfather resigned from his position within the company and let her father take the helm of the company, why didn't even her father know these secrets?
You must know that as the president of the company, her father is already at the top of the Kangtao Company's power pyramid, and it is difficult for everyone in the company to hide any secrets from him.
And when related to what Xu Shiming said at this moment, Xu Wanmeng thought of this speculation almost instantly.
——Xu Shiming broke up with the AIs.
The conjecture Xu Wanmeng said was so shocking that even Xu Shiming couldn't help but look at her twice more, the admiration in his eyes becoming more obvious.
"It's good to have a granddaughter with a bright mind... It seems that I don't need to explain too much. You are right. In a sense, I have indeed broken with those AIs. Since the development of Kangtao Company,
And after fulfilling our promise to help them build a ghost town, the relationship between us has been that of not interfering with each other, not interfering with each other, and not invading each other..." Xu Shiming said.
"Then what?"
"If the story ends here, there won't be so many troubles later, but talking about cooperation with AI is actually equivalent to making a deal with the devil, and the price is your soul..." Xu Shiming said in a cryptic manner:
"The year Arasaka returned to Night City, Ultra came to me again and asked me to help with some things. I didn't agree, and she didn't say anything more. She just asked me to think about it more."
"I thought she was just scaring me. After all, Kangtao has developed so far, and our hacker team is enough to maintain the company's network security, and even the country's network security. Even if she is a god in cyberspace, she can't interfere with us.
the real world.”
"But some things that happened later... forced me to withdraw from the public eye, hand over the internal duties of the company to your father, and I could only hide in this deep mountain and old forest."
Xu Wanmeng frowned, her delicate and beautiful face showed confusion, and asked: "What happened?"
"Do you still remember the story I just told? I am a human being, but the AIs are inhuman things... People who are not my race must have different hearts. In this case, do you think they will talk business with me well?
"?" Xu Shiming narrowed his eyes and said coldly.
"Have you paid a heavy price?" Xu Wanmeng looked a little uneasy.
"Almost. Grandpa, I just said that when you make a deal with the devil, the price is your soul..." A sad and bitter smile appeared on the corner of Xu Shiming's mouth:
"Utt is the founder of Soul Killer. I am a human body, so naturally I cannot make deals with AIs... And in order to achieve my goal, the price I paid was to let her copy my personal memory and consciousness, and create
The new digital soul... Then my digital soul will discuss cooperation with the AIs..."
"I am me, and the digital soul in cyberspace is also me, but I will definitely not allow two 'me's to exist in this world, so according to the promise, Otto should have transferred my digital soul to
The consciousness of personality was swallowed up, but that year she came to me for help, and I refused her request. I thought nothing would happen... But later I discovered that she had released 'me' again...
"
Having said this, Xu Shiming paused for a while, leaving Xu Wanmeng time to think. He also found that his granddaughter fell into a sluggish state again, and was shocked by his words countless times.
"So, you implanted a golem program into the refinery's intranet, and contacted your father to arrange for Wen Bin and I to go to the industrial zone to conduct workers' condolences... This series of events, including the refinery explosion, were actually all caused by your data personality.
What happened?" Xu Wanmeng asked with cold hands and feet and a dry throat.
Looking into his granddaughter's eyes, Xu Shiming nodded slowly but firmly.
"So you can understand why Grandpa and I stay in a place like this?" Xu Shiming said with a bitter smile:
"When you discover that there is another version of yourself in the world, and that person is still malicious towards you and wants to replace you one day... Can you still appear in public with peace of mind?"
After a slight pause, he sighed in a rather complicated way: