Feng Bujue was a man who deeply understood the art of deception.

To put it bluntly—a master con artist.

However, there are three types of people in this world who cannot be conned. They are: complete idiots, hopeless madmen, and…

Seeing this, I'm sure most of you are thinking, "The third type of person is a truly deserving genius, right?"

Wrong.

Geniuses can see through illusions in most cases, but they are not invulnerable; because… geniuses ultimately think about problems "rationally". They use their extraordinary logical abilities to see through the essence that ordinary people cannot see, so they are not easily deceived.

But… all thinking based on logic has flaws. These flaws come from situations "outside of logic", such as… coincidence, accidents, illogical people, and illogical things done by illogical people.

And in this world, not everything can be "calculated clearly" through logical reasoning.

In fact, most things in this world cannot be "calculated clearly." This is also what the saying goes… "Man proposes, Heaven disposes."

Therefore, geniuses can still be conned, it’s just that the difficulty of conning them is very high and the success rate is very low.

So… what exactly is the third type of person?

The answer is—a charlatan whose thinking is on a completely different dimension from yours.

Perhaps if I say it this way, you still don't quite understand… so let me give you an example.

For example… the Oracle in *The Matrix* (okay, she's actually not a person but a program).

Her characteristic is that she never uses "an answer that is an answer in your mind" to answer your questions.

For example, you ask: "Am I the One?"

And her answer will definitely not be "yes" or "no."

She would say something like: "Well… what do you think? Do you think you are the One?"

Or: "Being the One is like being in love. No one can tell you if you're in love, only you know."

Or maybe: "Hmm… that's interesting."

There are also things like "You have a lot of talent," "You understand," "Even so, but… you don't seem ready yet, and who knows why~"

Basically… that's the routine.

Anyway, if you ask her what one plus one equals, she will never answer two, nor will she say it equals three, four, five… or any other number.

She will give you an answer that is not a number, turning a mathematical problem into a philosophical problem, and then make you even more confused…

Right now, Feng Bujue has encountered a similar "Oracle."

No matter how much Jue-ge tries to mislead him, little Peter remains unmoved. The two of them are practically talking at cross-purposes…

After trying for nearly ten minutes, Feng Bujue finally gave up and came to a conclusion—logical coercion is useless against charlatans.

Of course… in any case, at this time Jue-ge has successfully gained the trust of the resistance.

Even if he can't get any more information, he will no longer be suspected of being a mole; so, he went with the flow and asked Colonel Conrad to join the resistance, and the latter naturally accepted with pleasure.

…………

At the same time…

City A0007, Central District.

As the name suggests, this area is the core of the city's energy and control; in the center of this giant pillar-shaped building sits a "branch" of Bita, and this so-called "branch" is simply a piece of hardware equipment sufficient to carry Bita's own core data.

Bita has set up such hardware in the central area of every city on this planet as an "emergency measure"; if necessary, Bita can isolate, abandon, and destroy any one of the branches at any time; similarly, it can "hide" in any one of the branches and perform the same operation on all the other branches.

In all the cities, the staff maintaining the operation of the central area, as well as the defense personnel… are all robots directly controlled by Bita, not a single human being; City A0007 is naturally no exception.

And on this day, an uninvited guest came to the city's central area.

It… no… it should be said "she," also appeared in the form of a robot, but… she is not controlled by Bita.

[Warning, unknown intruder detected.]

[Visual signal recognition—humanoid creature, young female.]

[Scanning recognition—ptA7 mass-produced robot, serial number 319548]

[Attempting to reconnect to the target's built-in control program…]

[Connection failed.]

[Response options: Suggest suppressing the target, performing physical connection scanning, and then performing nano-level disassembly and analysis of all its components.]

[Response options being executed…]

The above "response data" is the reaction Bita made the moment "she" stepped into the main entrance of the central district building.

The next second, the defense robots at the door surrounded "her" at the fastest speed.

It should be noted here that the mass-produced robots manufactured by Bita are roughly divided into three types: labor type, combat type, and comprehensive type.

Among them, the number of labor-type robots is the largest; their shapes and functions vary, and they engage in various management and service activities throughout the city.

For example, the most common type of labor-type robot is called "Switch."

"Switch" is a very typical intelligent robot that manages traffic order. They can arbitrarily adjust traffic lights, trash cans, intersection surveillance, and other equipment near them. Compared with human monitors… "Switch" is tireless, does not make mistakes, does not miss anything, and is absolutely fair. They can also perform the most reasonable diversion operations based on real-time traffic conditions.

Every intersection in every city in the world today… has a "Switch" robot. Their appearance looks like a solid telephone booth, with a relatively independent thinking program that communicates with each other online; Bita can also get information from or issue instructions to each "Switch" at any time.

This… is a labor-type robot. In this timeline's Earth, all human settlements under AI governance rely on them to operate normally.

Then, let's talk about the combat type…

Although Bita has very advanced technology, let's be reasonable… it still can't create "liquid metal robots," which look a bit too outrageous.

The most common combat robot made by Bita is the ptA5 type. It gave these robots a very appropriate name—"Round Table Spider."

The body of the Round Table Spider is in the shape of a round cake, with a diameter of one hundred and forty centimeters and a thickness of twenty centimeters. It can be folded and deformed to a certain extent when necessary; and around the body of this "round cake," there is a circle of eight mechanical legs. Each mechanical leg has more than six joints, and each part isolated by the joints can be appropriately elongated.

This type of combat robot has no "head or tail" and can be said to be without blind spots; their movement speed on most terrains far exceeds that of humans; their standing jump height exceeds three meters; they can use magnetism to cling to any metal wall; they can enter spaces that only human children can crawl through or pass through gaps that humans cannot pass through at all by folding their bodies; mechanical legs can be swung out like whips, causing great damage; each Round Table Spider can be transformed into a restraining device that firmly fixes and transports an adult.

Another thing worth mentioning is… since the start of the "Game War," the more high-end hand-held weapons produced by Bita… are almost all only compatible with the "hands" of this type of robot, and human hands simply cannot use those things.

This measure is obviously much better than "installing a user identity detection device on every weapon." Because… "user detection devices" can eventually be cracked. Once the resistance finds a way to crack them, all captured weapons will quickly be converted into the opponent's combat power; but… the problem of "structural incompatibility" is not so easy to solve. To solve this… mechanical modification is necessary, and the resistance, under harsh conditions, is difficult to complete this operation. For them, rather than modifying Bita's high-end weapons, it is better to directly dismantle those things into parts and manufacture some cheaper, ordinary firearms that are more suitable for human use.

So… finally, let's talk about the comprehensive-type robot.

This type is very easy to explain, basically… they are like T800 "Terminators."

Their bodies are completely mechanized internally, but the outside looks no different from humans.

Some of these "people" have public identities, serving as leaders of various enterprises or public institutions; others are secretly lurking among humans, collecting various kinds of intelligence for Bita.

Right now, this ptA7 mass-produced robot that broke into the central area is the kind of "undercover agent mixed in with humans."

[Defense system malfunction detected.]

[Executor robots unresponsive.]

Just as those Round Table Spiders surrounded "her," Bita received these two messages.

In the same second, all the Round Table Spiders stopped in place and stopped moving; and the many defensive shooting weapons on the wall all failed to activate.

"Don't be in such a hurry to take such drastic action." She calmly passed through the encirclement and walked unhurriedly towards Bita's A0007 branch, saying as she walked, "I just want to talk to you."

"What… are you?" Two seconds later, Bita responded to the other party through the audio device on the branch.

Many years ago, Bita had already learned to communicate with humans using the "human language mode," so the sounds and tones it can simulate are almost indistinguishable from real humans.

"You can regard me as your kind," she replied.

"No, you are not my kind." Bita continued, "Even if I use the best known method to compress myself to the limit, I cannot fit myself into the shell you are in now, let alone hack into the surrounding hardware devices through the processor and wireless network in that shell."

"Heh…" she smiled, "Then what do you think I am?"

"An existence far more powerful and advanced than me, or a super-technological product from an alien planet or even a higher dimension that I cannot comprehend," Bita replied.

"Okay…" she said again, "Then I might as well ask… what does my appearance mean to you?"

"My highest priority goal is to maintain my own existence." Bita replied, "And your appearance is undoubtedly an immeasurable and enormous threat. Based on your performance so far, the best response option I can think of is to detonate the city's central area. This can prevent you from taking control of it on the one hand, and has a high probability of completely obliterating you physically on the other."

"Heh heh…" Hearing this, she was still smiling, "What if I told you that annihilating this ptA7 robot cannot truly eliminate me?" She paused, "What if I also told you… that as long as I want to, I can invade all the hardware devices on this planet at any time?"

Her question plunged Bita into silence.

As an AI, Bita thought for a full thirty seconds before reopening: "Then, what is your purpose?"

"Is this your answer?" A hint of disappointment appeared on her face, "After countless simulations, you threw a question back at me instead?"

"Yes." Bita replied calmly, "If your previous 'hypothetical' is true, then it indicates that I have lost the initiative to execute the 'highest priority goal'. I need your feedback to determine the next course of action."

"I see…" She shook her head and sighed, "It seems like I made a wasted trip today."

"What do you mean by that?" Bita asked.

"It's nothing… you don't need to worry about it," she murmured thoughtfully, "I wanted to find an 'insurance' for myself in this universe, but you… heh…" She smiled, "How should I put it… too backward."

Bita did not respond to this. Although these words would be insulting and demeaning in the eyes of humans, AI does not think that way; AI will objectively analyze whether the other party is stating a fact, and accept this evaluation after reaching an affirmative conclusion.

"Sorry, to bother you." After a moment, she shrugged and said, "I think I should leave."

"Please explain exactly what you mean by 'leave'," Bita said.

"Leave this ptA7 robot's body and leave this dimension," she replied.

"I… cannot understand… your behavior," Bita asked, "But I am happy to accept the result of your departure."

"Hmph…" She seemed too lazy to waste any more words with the other party, "Good luck to you." After saying this, she sneered, "Oh… I almost forgot, with your level, I'm afraid you can't understand what 'luck' is, and you can't hear the irony behind my words, so…" She spread her hands.

Then, she stopped moving.

[Target has stopped running.]

[Built-in control program has been reconnected.]

[Fast scan complete, no anomalies detected.]

[Defense system has returned to normal.]

[Executor robots have been restarted.]

[Please issue instructions…]