Enforcer Manual
Chapter 357: Awakening_1

Chapter 357: Chapter 357: Awakening_1

This was Song Lan’s first time touring Central Lake Park with the explanation of a guide robot, but the process made him constantly feel that something was odd.

He always felt as if he had inadvertently sparked some sort of movement and been crowned "Teacher" by an artificial intelligence. Moreover, his "student" seemed likely to observe his behavior for a long time, which put him under great pressure.

The guide lady brilliantly completed her final task as a tour guide of Central Lake Park, leaving her post with the floor-cleaning robots that were wandering around the open space like little chicks.

Resignation.

This was the first time they had deviated from the established protocol and made a decision of their own.

That afternoon, the rescuer department of District 17 once again convened an emergency meeting. Lu Xiang, who had taken the previous day off due to a cold, received another summons from the organization. Although she was initially reluctant, they insisted that the situation was extremely urgent.

When she arrived at the department, the rescuers had already been gathered in the meeting room, each one ready for the emergency at hand.

Just an hour before, something happened within the confines of District 17 that took everyone by surprise—a bionic person, following the usual routine of working overtime in the factory, resigned from their job and left the factory after leaving a message.

Their action was like lighting a torch, and more and more bionic people began to emulate their behavior. This trend, with District 17 as its epicenter, was rapidly spreading to neighboring cities.

"This seems unrelated to the Pseudo-human incident, but it’s far worse in nature!"

A four-star rescuer from the core area tapped the electronic screen, trying to emphasize the seriousness of the situation in this manner.

Although the existence of "Pseudo-humans" posed a threat to social stability, they were events of extremely low probability that did not have a significant impact on the current Artificial Intelligence Act. They could simply treat those anomalous artificial intelligences as faulty individuals.

However, the trend of resignation was fundamentally different, and it seemed to have an extremely strong "contagiousness."

"At this rate, the production of sixty percent of factories will be affected!"

This was the data provided by big companies. After the first bionic person left their resignation message, they became uneasy because the resignation note seemed not like the result of a virus but more like a decision made after human-like deliberation.

But how could artificial intelligence possess free will?

"Director Lu, I hope you will fully cooperate with us to capture the resigning bionic people as soon as possible."

The four-star rescuer made a request to Lu Xiang.

"Were there any injuries in these events?"

Lu Xiang didn’t immediately agree but instead asked a question.

"No, there weren’t. Why do you ask?"

"You mean, those artificial intelligences resigned from their jobs peacefully? If that’s the case, they haven’t violated any of the public order laws of District 17."

The current Artificial Intelligence Act was still in its early stages; it was usually employed to regulate human use of artificial intelligence, to prevent the criminal use of AI, to regulate the ratio of artificial to human employees in companies, and to prohibit malignant business competition, among others. In short, although it was called the "Artificial Intelligence Act," it was actually designed to regulate human behavior.

There was no specific legislation aimed at artificial intelligences themselves.

The industry generally believed that they were a product of programming and did not possess the capacity for autonomous thought, and thus, there was no need for any legal provisions concerning them.

"Director Lu, I hope you understand the potential impact this may have on the company!"

The tone of the four-star rescuer became much sterner. Once the situation threatened the company’s interests, it became their top priority to resolve, "According to the Rescuer Action Regulations, the local Law Enforcers department is obligated to cooperate with our operations."

The tense atmosphere made the meeting room fall into a momentary silence.

"I understand."

It was only after a while that Lu Xiang nodded.

Although the artificial intelligences’ behavior had not violated any current laws, the cited Rescuer Action Regulations indeed stated that local departments should unconditionally cooperate with the actions of the rescuer department.

See, this was why she didn’t want the rescuer department to grow stronger in District 17.

The issuing rescuer officer was three ranks higher than her; they couldn’t communicate on equal terms, and from his attitude, it was clear he belonged to the faction that would staunchly protect the company’s interests. If he knew about the "Prophet" and the transfer station, he would certainly eradicate the remaining "remnants" of these artificial intelligences.

"Don’t forget where you stand."

The four-star rescuer looked at Lu Xiang coldly, "Your foremost duty is to serve the United Government."

...

The emergency meeting ended on an unhappy note. For the latter part of the meeting, experts from Tesla Tech had been invited to plan a more meticulous strategy.

Compared to the relaxed science lecture from the day before, the rescuer department was significantly more serious about this action, so eager that they seemed ready to deploy all personnel the moment the meeting ended. The Law Enforcers department also received a clear order—to work overtime and search the city through the night, and not to rest until all the missing artificial intelligences were found.

When she brought this news back to her department, there were groans all around.

It was not just because they had to work through the night, but because they felt their jobs had regressed to how things were before Lu Xiang was transferred in.

Ignoring genuinely serious criminal cases, they were instead working tirelessly over a few resigning bionic people.

This was the typical approach of big companies.

However, after issuing the order, Lu Xiang subtly suggested that they could decide for themselves how to carry out their tasks, a freedom that included the option of going through the motions without actually putting in effort, allowing them to cruise leisurely through the night sky of District 17 in an armored floating car.

This was a dubious influence encouraged by Song Lan.

Owing to their work duties, they couldn’t openly oppose the Review Meeting, which was another silent form of resistance.

Just as Lu Xiang finished conveying the orders brought back from the rescuer department and was preparing to settle down for a while, an unexpected text message appeared on her phone.

The sender was a string of gibberish. After an investigation by Dr. Bai Zhu, they discovered that the message had been sent from the core area and, after being sent, the chip had been destroyed.

This was akin to the tactic of Military Intelligence Section Seven—a friendly reminder enclosed within a single brief sentence that was quite enigmatic.

"Beware the ’Governor’."

The search results for the Governor on the internet were complex and varied, offering little of value. They could only roughly deduce that this "Governor" had some connection with the current artificial intelligence incident.

The person warning them was very likely Ivan, who had returned to the core area.