[The Wandering Earth] Short Story Collection: The Age of Roses

Many, many years later, when Liu Qi thought of those days when he was with his comrades again, he always felt that it was like a dream, an excessive beauty created by one party's deliberate maintenance and indulgence for the other, So that it seems quite a false dream.The white lights in the laboratory are always too bright. They wear white coats leaning against the laboratory table to talk, and occasionally go to the laboratory of the Department of Pharmacology next door to observe rats and mice that need blood from the eye sockets.Those pure white creatures with their long tails live in a single room covered with sawdust. Whenever Liu Qi bends down to knock on the acrylic board, they climb up from the cage with wide jewel-like red eyes, trying to use the plastic through the plastic. The little paw grabbed Liu Qi's finger, enjoying it endlessly.

But outside of those happy hours in the laboratory, the atmosphere in the headquarters building of the 'Navigator' project in Beijing was so depressing that even Liu Qi, a self-proclaimed lunatic, found it wrong-this world seemed to be being controlled by some kind of force. The color faded slowly like a painting, sometimes he raised his head and looked out the window, and saw the light gray sky and dark gray earth and the roofs of the buildings reflecting the glaring white light, and even the summer Beijing city even the leaves were lost. Green illusion.

He didn't know what kind of wonderful chemical reaction it was, or it was just an illusion caused by staring too much at the computer or PCR machine, so he asked Wang Lei several times.His superior, who has been upgraded to a lover, always answers with a gentle smile:

"They are too tired, and you are too tired."

Wang Lei was talking about those scientists whom Liu Qi caught frowning and walking in a hurry in the corridor. He interpreted their poor mental state and the bruises under their eyes as nervousness before the submission of project results.Wang Lei gently put his hand on the back of Liu Qi's neck. This action made people feel comfort and love for no reason, so Liu Qi didn't suspect him, but silently held his lover's hand.

Although they are already in a partnership, Liu Qi has almost never returned to the home with Wang Lei's study several times. The problems that the life science team needs to face suddenly increase after his first confession. The explanation of artificial intelligence that I like is a task that "other research groups cannot arrange experiments but need to finish urgently".The only direct result of these tasks to the entire lab, apart from the generous bonuses, is that the working hours of everyone in the lab have risen sharply, starting at 12 hours a day, and increasing to 14 hours for four days a week.

Among all the related AIs of the "Navigator" project, what Liu Qi hates the most is this anthropomorphic AI with platinum-blonde hair and green eyes. At least in his eyes, this AI that directly manages the life science group occupies many His alone time with Wang Lei.Every day when he saw the projection of MOSS hugging his shoulders and sneering while watching them do experiments, he couldn't help being angry, and his lips were tightly pursed.

"I hate him." One time he said to Wang Lei when they walked like a cafeteria, "Every time MOSS comes to the laboratory, it's like freezing, and there is no need to cool down in summer."

Wang Lei looked at him angrily and amusedly: "I thought you got angry with him first, Liu Qi."

Liu Qi spread his hands: "As soon as he comes, you will talk to him. He also likes to look at you with that penetrating gaze, which is weird."

He was referring to MOSS's customary, meaningful eyes.I don't know whose keen sense it was inherited from. Liu Qi always felt that MOSS looked at Wang Lei's eyes differently from observing other people. He insisted telling himself that this was his unique bonus as Wang Lei's lover, because the appearance of artificial intelligence was predicted long ago. Assumed, there is no difference between people, but then he suddenly realized something.

"Wang Lei!" Wang Lei saw the young man sitting opposite him suddenly raised his head, "I suddenly thought of something, and I need to ask you for confirmation."

What is so serious?He followed suit.

"I've thought about it, does MOSS like you?" Liu Qi's voice was tense and serious.Wang Lei just took a sip of water when he heard that he sprayed half of the table with a 'pop'.The cleaning robot wandering around in the cafeteria noticed the abnormality here, and waved rags and garbage buckets to clean up.

"Let's go," Wang Lei said when they were avoiding the wild cleaning of the cleaning robot with their dinner plates. "There is no such possibility. Don't ask such questions in the future."

"Why?" Liu Qi quickly took two steps to catch up with him.Wang Lei's expression was dignified for no reason, and he looked around.There are a lot of people dining, the cafeteria is a bit noisy, and there is no cleaning robot next to them.

"Because AI doesn't have emotions, they're not programmed for that."

"Oh……"

Decades later, when Liu Qi's grandson asked his grandfather about the latter's experience in that "grey age" laboratory, the scene of standing side by side with Wang Lei flashed in Liu Qi's mind again.The gray era, the person who named it probably did know that era.The era when even the little yellow flowers in the shadow of the trees almost lost their color.When Liu Qi was sitting in a wheelchair, stroking his little grandson's soft forehead hair, what he was thinking was that many things that happened to him when he was young actually had symptoms earlier, such as not showing up for many years, just going home regularly The father who made the remittance through the account, and Li Yiyi, a good friend who was studying at Beijing Normal University, and Li Yiyi, who disappeared without a trace after Liu Qi was hired into the "Navigator" program.It's just that when a person is in a dream, even if the truth is revealed, he will definitely not be able to solve the mystery.

This situation continued until the day he got a glimpse of the truth.At that moment, many things in Liu Qi's mind came together, but in fact, he had no chance to remember them anymore.