Chapter Fifty-Four: The Super AI

The power armor flying in the sky saw Wang Jing standing beside Einstein, so it reduced the thrust of its jetpack and descended.
It was only then that Einstein noticed Wang Jing at his side. “Director Wang Jing, when did you arrive?” Einstein greeted him respectfully.
“I just got here. What are you testing?”
“Hehe, Director Wang Jing, take a look at this. I designed this flight pack especially for you. In the future, when you carry out missions in other worlds, you’ll have more options.” Einstein spoke with pride.
Wang Jing nodded in approval as he observed the flight pack integrated with the power armor, then asked, “What’s its top speed?”
“We haven’t tested it yet, but in theory, it can reach a top speed of 900 kilometers per hour,” Einstein replied, sounding a little uncertain.
Wang Jing noticed the hesitance but didn’t comment. Although it wasn’t supersonic, 900 kilometers per hour was fast enough for him at present.
“How’s the range?” Wang Jing continued.
“Uh, the range is rather short—only two thousand kilometers,” Einstein stammered, clearly embarrassed.
Hearing this, Wang Jing frowned. “Why only two thousand kilometers?”
“Well, there’s really no way around it. The power core of the armor is already nearing its limits. It has to supply energy for itself, your world-crossing, and also for your electromagnetic weapons. If we add the flight pack to the load, the armor simply can’t bear it all.”
“Can’t it use an independent power core?”
“That’s true in theory, but with our current technology, the best we can do is provide about two thousand kilometers of flight distance,” Einstein said, his face troubled.
Wang Jing took a deep breath, convincing himself that two thousand kilometers was sufficient. For longer distances, he could always take the supersonic stealth jet.
But recalling the harsh roaring noise from earlier, Wang Jing couldn’t help but ask, “Can the noise from this flight pack be reduced? With such a loud sound, I’d be exposed from miles away.”
At this question, Einstein’s expression grew even more awkward. “Not yet, I’m afraid. Turbofan engines are always noisy. Unless we use ion thrusters, but with our current technology, producing one is extremely difficult. Even if we could, there’s no suitable portable power source for it.”
Wang Jing’s earlier excitement was completely extinguished. The flight pack was practically useless—a burden that couldn’t fly fast, couldn’t go far, and was deafeningly loud.
What troubled Wang Jing even more was the energy issue—specifically, portable power sources. They were reaching the end of what the current power core technology could achieve, and a new portable energy source was nowhere in sight.
This made Wang Jing think again of Iron Man’s arc reactor—if only he had one, energy would never be a problem. Who knew when he’d finally get the chance to travel to the Marvel universe?

After sighing internally, Wang Jing offered some encouragement to Einstein and the power armor before leaving the lab. Despite his words, neither Einstein nor the power armor felt any joy; it was clear to everyone that Wang Jing was thoroughly disappointed with the flight pack.
On his way back, Wang Jing happened to bump into Jiang Ning, who was hurrying along.
“Where are you off to in such a rush?” Wang Jing called out.
Jiang Ning looked up and saw it was Wang Jing. He answered while walking, “Today is the first test of the super AI formed by the fusion of Moos and Red Queen.”
“It’s only been half a year and the fusion is already complete?” Wang Jing said, surprised.
“That’s already considered slow. If the Galaxy-IV supercomputer had been more powerful, we would’ve finished long ago.”
“Even using Galaxy-IV wasn’t enough?”
“Of course not. The fusion of two AIs is extremely computationally intensive. Even Galaxy-IV almost overheated!” Jiang Ning shuddered at the memory.
“What’s the plan for the super AI once it’s done? Will it still run on Galaxy-IV?”
“At first, yes. But the United Government has started designing an even more advanced Galaxy-V supercomputer. I’ve heard it’ll be as large as an entire building.”
“That sounds incredible!”
“It will be, though no one knows just how powerful it’ll get.”
“What do you mean?”
“When two AIs merge, they can become stronger or weaker—just like combining two different programs. If the fusion goes well, it’s a case of one plus one being greater than two.”
“But if the fusion goes badly, one plus one could be less than two, or even less than one,” Jiang Ning said as they arrived at the holographic conference room.
This was an upgraded holographic projection system from the Resident Evil universe, capable of perfectly simulating scenes on the other side.
As beams of light shot out around them, Wang Jing and Jiang Ning felt as if they had truly arrived at the supercomputer research center.
The people around them noticed Wang Jing and hurried forward to greet him. After all, having a good relationship with Wang Jing could mean never having to worry about research funding again.
After exchanging greetings with the scientists, Wang Jing asked, “How far along are you now?”

“We’re waiting for the supercomputer system to reboot. Once it’s done, we’ll witness the world’s first super AI,” Director Tang of the research center replied.
“Is it safe? I’d rather not see a machine crisis unfold,” Wang Jing asked.
“Rest assured, Galaxy-IV is completely isolated from external networks, and it’ll stay that way whenever it’s not needed,” Director Tang assured him.
Satisfied, Wang Jing asked, “Have you given this super AI a name?”
“Not yet. We plan to let it choose a name for itself,” Director Tang replied.
“How will you test the super AI?” Wang Jing continued.
“First, we’ll determine which AI’s programming it has inherited. Then we’ll assess its understanding of the world and its worldview.”
“If all checks out, we’ll proceed to test how much computing power it can harness on Galaxy-IV.”
Wang Jing nodded. Just then, the reboot of Galaxy-IV was completed, and the research team grew busy with anticipation.
Wang Jing could only watch from the sidelines, but Jiang Ning was deeply engrossed, his face occasionally flashing with surprise or excitement.
Half an hour passed, and Wang Jing was growing impatient. He turned to Jiang Ning and asked, “How much longer will this take?”
“Getting impatient?” Jiang Ning smiled at Wang Jing.
Wang Jing nodded awkwardly.
“If you can’t wait, you might as well go. The results won’t be out for some time.”
“How long will it be?”
“About two or three days,” Jiang Ning replied.
Upon realizing it would take that long, Wang Jing decisively chose to leave.