The Tycoon's Odyssey
Chapter 99 - 99: 99:AHI

TAP! TAP!

After receiving a call from Aria, Celina felt a wave of panic. If the trouble Aria was facing wasn't enough to worry her, what truly scared her was the thought of Evan not answering the calls.

Her heart raced, beating wildly as she feared that something might have happened to him. Celina made sure to check on Evan every day, trying to coax him out of his shell, but ever since he returned from USL, the young man just seemed to have lost his youthful energy and looked like an emotionless machine.

As Celina arrived at the location, she noticed five bodyguards stationed outside. They gave her brief nods of acknowledgement. Taking a deep breath, she paused and turned to them.

"Thank you for taking care of Evan," Celina said, her voice a mix of relief and worry. "Please ensure that this place is guarded properly. If there's any trouble or you notice anything unusual, let me know immediately."

Big Mac stepped forward with a reassuring nod. "Don't worry about it, Miss Celina. We've got everything under control."

Reaching the door, Celina took out the card and swiped at the doorknob.

BEEP!

Walking down hurriedly, Celina climbed up the stairs and was startled a bit upon reaching the room.

The door was left open and inside, Evan rested on the office chair with both of his legs placed on the table, the monitor casting a soft glow on him.

What surprised her was the mess around him. Papers were scattered everywhere around him, and this was utterly unlike Evan.

Evan was a clean freak and disliked any disorder around him. All the shops of Brew Heaven and Tea Box Cafe had daily cleaning staff and Evan personally inspected them to make sure that there wasn't any problem.

Striding forward, Celina squatted down and picked up the papers, only to be stunned by the contents.

There was a childlike scribble on it, yet it contained through plans and choices.

"AHH!"

Just as a soft groan emerged, Celina tried to suppress her emotions.

'What should I do if this happens?'

'What if I refuse? What if I agree?'

'What if I stay low? What if I fight?'

Also, the papers were filled with scribbles, outlining the plan of what he was going to do now and what could be the worst-case scenarios if he went according to those plans.

With just a single glance, Celina could see that Evan had considered the worst possibilities that might occur.

CRUNG!

A chill ran down Celina's spine as she saw Evan opening his eyes. Feeling a bit embarrassed as if she was a thief who was caught, she hastily threw the papers aside.

"Aunt Celina!"

"Hmmm?" Celina nodded absentmindedly, then her eyes widened as Evan pulled out a small white stick.

"Evan!"

She let out a loud shriek and rushed towards him, snatching the stick from his hand.

"Evan, times have been tough, but you shouldn't smoke. It's a terrible habit. Trust me... Evan..."

Celina began scolding Evan, who blinked innocently and coughed.

"Ahem!"

"Aunt, it might look like a cigarette, but it's chocolate."

"Huh!" Celina inspected the stick more closely before sheepishly handing it back to Evan.

How could she know that this was chocolate when it looked so much similar to a cigarette?

"Sorry..."

"It's okay... by the way, are you here about the security breach?" Evan asked casually, glancing at his screen.

"Yeah," Celina nodded, her brow furrowing. "But how did you know?"

"I've been monitoring the situation," Evan replied calmly, his eyes never leaving the screen.

He had been watching closely all this along and the only reason he hadn't intervened till now was to gauge Aria's response and her capabilities.

And as expected, Aria was handling it exceptionally well. Many might have already…

"Wait a minute!"

Evan then picked up a pen drive and handed it to Celina.

"Give this to Aria. Tell her that there's no need to defend the program anymore. Let them have the code."

Celina's body tensed, her gaze locked onto Evan in disbelief. His nonchalant demeanor belied the gravity of his words, and she couldn't help but wonder about his true intentions amidst the escalating tension.

"You...you want to let them have it..."

"There isn't any need to fight over this small stuff. Every app gets pirated, so let them have it and be happy. Also, there is another new creation System Manager...Ask Miss Aria to release it quickly."

Celina glanced at the USB Drive and then at Evan with a complicated expression. His seemingly harmless smile seemed to hide a deep pain of trauma and despair.

"Evan, have you lost hope? Not everyone is like.."

"Aunt Celina..."

Evan cut her off and then pointed at the wall.

Celina then saw that a paper was taped to the wall and it had a circle drawn on it.

"A circle…" she pondered.

"Everything goes in a circle. Good…bad…everything revolves in a circle. What belongs to me will come back to me anyhow."

"As for pears..."

Evan then looked at Celina with a smile.

This time, however, the smile looked sinister and eerie, startling Celina.

"It won't survive for long…"

Celina felt a sudden chill from Evan's demeanor. She opened her lips to speak, but Evan cut her off yet again.

"Aunt…I want to rest…so…"

"Uh…Okay…But take care, and also call me if you need anything."

"Sure…"

_____

Evan took a deep breath and stretched his hands.

"It's time to get back to work."

Evan sat hunched over his computer, the hum of his desk lamp the only sound in the dimly lit room.

His eyes became more focused and sharpened as he reviewed the lines of code that would breathe life into his latest project.

AURA AI, which stands for Adaptive Universal Reasoning Agent AI.

With the AHI (Artificial Human Intelligence) package from the system's marketplace in hand, he felt a mix of both excitement and anxiety.

This wasn't just any ordinary AI; it was his chance to create something truly revolutionary.

He took another deep breath and began.

The Core Cognitive Module (CCM) was the first piece of the puzzle. It was the centerpiece of AURA AI's design, no less than its heart, and was meant to replicate human-like reasoning and decision-making.

Evan's fingers danced across the keyboard as he implemented the Neural Processing Unit (NPU), a sub-module that was designed to simulate the brain's neural networks, allowing AURA AI to learn from experiences and adapt to new information.

He didn't have advanced gear or machines to monitor and take the information and process it, but he could improvise, using the Pear Headgear by modifying it.

Though he didn't need it since the data collected by the AHI package that humans recorded was helpful, converting it was a hassle since it was too much.

And despite its sheer size, the data wasn't perfect since during the creation the creators could only manage to replicate 30-40% of it and in the case of Evan, it would be even less.

If possible, he didn't want to create his first AI which had emotions, since a machine with emotions might turn out to be dangerous, but he couldn't afford to wait for more since there weren't any more options in the system shop.

And it wasn't refreshing so he didn't know when will the list get updates.