茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Although Xiang Kun could pretty much guess what Zhang Qian was thinking, since she was willing to pay and Xiang Kun also happened to be looking for some project to practice and find inspiration for his “AI Assistant Plan”, and she could agree to all of his stringent conditions, he had no reason to reject her.

After discussing with Director Lin, Xiang Kun decided to bring in that old buddy from the forum who had introduced them to form a team to cooperate with his work.

That old friend just happened to be in Peng City, and he could liaise directly with Director Lin and his team.

On the whole, Xiang Kun was responsible for the overall framework and system architecture design, as well as the coding of several core modules, while the team formed by the old friend would implement his requirements.

The old friend also couldn’t understand why Director Lin and his team would agree to such bizarre conditions. But since there was money to be made, he had no reason to reject either.

If it was Xiang Kun before the mutation, with seven years of experience and having always led a team, he might still feel a bit uneasy and stressed about this project, since it wasn’t the same type he had been working on before.

But now, by the time he met Director Lin in the hotel café for less than twenty minutes, he already had a basic implementation plan.

Of course, although Xiang Kun’s brain is powerful in thinking and computing, he is not omniscient, and such a large project still requires division of labor and collaboration.

If he had to finish everything by himself, he could do it. He could learn things he had not done before, and he definitely had no problem with his learning ability. But to him, it didn’t make sense. The time input and rewards were not proportional.

The “inspiration” he wanted to find through this project was not that. It was like he was going to build a house now. He could provide the blueprint and construction plan, lay out the positioning guidelines and dig the foundation, arrange for the workers as a contractor, and even work as a worker himself if he had enough time and energy. But these weren’t helpful for what he wanted to do. In programming, it doesn’t make any special meaning to finish all by oneself like a piece of artwork.

Xiang Kun was prepared to recluse at home for a while, work out this project, get the money from Zhang Qian, and then work on his “AI Assistant Plan”.

He had decided that no matter what the outcome was, even if it was a still uninnovative AI assistant, he had to make it.

Despite the fact that his brain power was impressive, he had phenomenal computational abilities, and was particularly good at “daydreaming” and excelling at coming up with schemes on the fly, he did indeed need some “help”.

His blood-drinking period was in three days, and he had already finished off all six rabbits at home, so he needed to stock up on a few more.

But as soon as he left the community, Xiang Kun noticed something strange – was someone watching him?

He even knew who it was. It was the same “private investigator” that he had reported for “peeping” outside the hotel the night before. Even the Accord he was driving was the same one.

Wasn’t this guy detained by the local security?

But what was he doing here?

As Xiang Kun walked toward the bus stop, he noticed that the Accord was indeed following him. It was definitely watching him.

Did he know that it was Xiang Kun who reported him that day? Was he here for revenge? It shouldn’t be. He had reported directly to Officer Chen. Given Officer Chen’s character, it was unlikely that he would have “sold” him out. And even if the investigator guessed it was Xiang Kun who was the snitch, he should not still drive that car here, right? That’s too fucking obvious. Was he trying to scare Xiang Kun on purpose?

Because of the tailing, Xiang Kun couldn’t just go and buy rabbits, so he took a random bus.

From what he could observe, Xiang Kun found that the private investigator was quite cautious with his tailing, he didn’t directly follow the bus, but used the rear vehicles to block his sight.

That meant he didn’t drive this car to “intimidate” Xiang Kun, but he genuinely was secretly following him.

Maybe after being “invited for tea” by Officer Chen at the police station, this guy didn’t dare to tail Zhang Qian anymore. But when he found out that Zhang Qian had agreed to let Director Lin and Xiang Kun work together, he thought he could get some information from following Xiang Kun?

Xiang Kun didn’t feel like guessing why he was being followed anymore. The bottom line was to shake off the tail.

How to handle it?

Contacting Officer Chen was definitely the best choice, but Xiang Kun felt that even if the P.I were detained by Officer Chen, it didn’t seem like a great punishment.

So after thinking about it, he decided to try out the method he had thought of before.

After getting off the bus, Xiang Kun found a drinks shop, ordered a drink, and settled down at the outdoor wicker chair at the entrance. Then he whipped out his cell phone, looking like he was casually refreshing the news.

The black Accord also parked at the roadside diagonally across the street, continuing its surveillance on Xiang Kun.

Although Xiang Kun was looking at his phone, in his mind, he began to imagine the wicked things the private investigator had done, like spying on people’s privacy and driving people to suicide, illegal profiteering from stealing other people’s secrets, and collaborating with criminals to deceive the police. He didn’t know the investigator nor did he understand him. Exactly because of this, it was not difficult for him to imagine and arrange the bad things the investigator had done.

Gradually, Xiang Kun’s anger towards the private investigator grew, and he gripped his phone a little tighter. With a pop, the already cracked screen developed another crack. What was still visible on the screen suddenly became hazy.

A passerby was walking past the black Accord, then suddenly stopped, gently knocking on the driver’s side window.

The private detective had initially ignored him, but the persistent passerby kept knocking, so he had no choice but to lower his window and ask, “What is it?”

The passerby, a middle-aged woman in her forties or fifties, pointed underneath his car. “Sir, you can’t park here.”

“I’m just stopping for a bit, waiting for someone.” Saying this, the private detective prepared to roll up his window.

But the passerby questioned him again. “Why do you have such a professional camera in your car? Are you a photographer? Or are you secretly filming someone here?”

“What business is that of yours?” retorted the private detective, somewhat irritated.

A passerby, a muscular man with a bag on his back who seemed like he was heading to the gym, asked the woman, “What’s going on?”

“This man seems like a pervert, taking photos of girls secretly!” The woman spoke directly.

“How could you slander…,” erupted the private detective, eyes wide with anger. But before he could finish speaking, several people were already coming out of the stores on his side of the street.

In no time, the area around the black Accord was packed with people; even customers and waitstaff from Xiang Kun’s drink shop and adjacent stores came over to watch.

Vague shouts were heard:

“This guy is a pervert! Don’t let him get away! Call the police!”

“Make him hand over the camera! Let’s see if he’s shot any perverse content!”

“Get out of the car! If you’re innocent, then get out and show us what you’ve filmed!”

“Police are coming, don’t let him escape!”

Xiang Kun let out a long sigh, distancing himself from the emotional tumult. Someone had already called the police, who were now en route to the scene. Despite remaining in the car, the private detective couldn’t go anywhere — his windscreen had even been smashed by the infuriated crowd. Now, Xiang Kun reckoned, the detective would probably prefer seeing the police.

He was utterly bewildered. He had been quietly watching from a distance, so how did he suddenly attract so much attention? And why did people believe he was a perverted peeper targeting girls? When did city dwellers become so obsessed with justice?

Seeing the private detective and some of the onlookers leave with the police, Xiang Kun finally stood up, preparing to call a taxi to buy a rabbit.

But looking at his phone, half of the screen wouldn’t display properly. Xiang Kun couldn’t help but give a bitter smile. He had thought that this “Emotional Assimilation” had been well-controlled. He hadn’t expected to pay the price of a phone. Fortunately, this phone was already terribly damaged, so it was indeed time for a replacement.

Thinking of the situation just now, Xiang Kun suddenly had a thought: If he performed the same “Emotional Assimilation” on a bus, setting the black Accord as the target of everyone’s disgust and anger in his mind, would a driver who disliked the car deliberately crash into it? Could his “Emotional Assimilation” affect drivers outside the bus, or even drivers in other vehicles?

He remembered watching a film titled “Accident,” starring Louis Koo. In the film, Louis Koo led a criminal gang and relied on setting up and causing accidents to murder others. Without any murders, the police naturally wouldn’t invest much manpower for investigation.

With his current processing capabilities and his ability to unknowingly influence people and objects around him, arranging these types of schemes shouldn’t be a problem, right?

Based on past experiences, the people affected by “Emotional Assimilation” wouldn’t realize they were being influenced.

If the private detective dared to tail him again, he could arrange something for him, right?

Coming to this realization, Xiang Kun stopped abruptly in his tracks, clenching his fist.

Why did he have such thoughts?

Was it due to the excessive hostility in his “Emotional Assimilation” moments ago?

These thoughts were too dangerous!

His “Emotional Assimilation” earlier also seemed to have gone somewhat overboard. If those affected actually took drastic measures, not only the private detective would be affected. According to what happened on the bullet train, he should have been prepared for such situations. Could he have unconsciously harbored hostility toward the private detective and hoped for his death?

He needed to stay vigilant. The private detective’s intentions for following him were still unclear, how malicious they were was also unknown. The crimes he imagined were purely his own fabrications and had nothing to do with what the detective was actually doing.

He mustn’t toy with human lives simply because of his abilities. One misstep, and it could be a fall into an abyss, with no way back.

Looking at his reflection in the shattered glass on the roadside, Xiang Kun reminded himself: Whether one is human or a ghost is determined by one’s actions, not by one’s appearance.