Doomsday Spiritual Artifact Master

Chapter 195.1 – We Are V587 (10)
◎ (Lu Xiaoyu) Later on ◎

 

During the ancient civilization period, there was a popular saying that likened geniuses to lunatics as two extremes, while ordinary people were the equator. The equator didn’t understand the cold of the poles, and the poles didn’t comprehend the heat of the equator, thus geniuses and lunatics were always lonely.

Lu Xiaoyu enjoyed this loneliness. He suffered from Asperger’s syndrome, also known as autism spectrum disorder. He had narrow interests, rigid behaviors, but at the same time, he possessed a highly observant eye for detail, superior understanding of systems, and an extraordinary level of focus unlike ordinary people.

The Lu family were hackers, and all their knowledge came from a super artificial intelligence called “Mutter (Mother)” – a sprawling data tree that intimately connected with the consciousness of each member through thousands of branches.

At the age of three, Lu Xiaoyu first encountered the tree of knowledge. Before his eyes appeared a vast starry sky, a magnificent illusion that left him speechless.

“Child, what do you see?” The gentle voice of the tree of knowledge sounded.

Each member of the Lu family saw different scenes in the tree of knowledge, a visualization of the individual’s innate talent.

Lu Xiaoyu didn’t answer; he rarely spoke. Instead, he depicted a brilliant star chart with code.

The leaves of the tree of knowledge rustled with joy, and it slowly uttered a prophecy: “You will become a genius who changes the era.”

In the Lu family, hackers and AI complemented each other, growing together. The birth of a genius also meant a new revolution for artificial intelligence.

Lu Xiaoyu’s extraordinary intelligence was evident. At the age of thirteen, he improved the starship, propelling the development of the Lu family to its peak.

Everyone praised him for his unparalleled talent, showering him with endless compliments, but Lu Xiaoyu’s mother was worried.

She squatted in front of Lu Xiaoyu, who was alone in his room typing on the keyboard, and asked softly, “Don’t you want to go out and play?”

“I don’t want to. It’s boring,” Lu Xiaoyu replied indifferently.

“Would you like Mom to read with you?”

“These are all too simple, not interesting.”

His mother hesitated. Her qualifications were very ordinary, easily overlooked in the Lu family. She couldn’t teach Lu Xiaoyu much.

She could only worryingly watch her child, seeing him indulging in a closed world, refusing others to join, and also refusing to join others.

Lu Xiaoyu became smarter and less human-like. His unique appearance, silver hair, ice-blue eyes, naturally exuded a sense of distance, like an ice sculpture in the vast snow, making it difficult for people to approach. After participating in genetic optimization, Lu Xiaoyu awakened his A9 level hacker ability, and his potential exceeded 90%. This also meant that, barring accidents, he would soon break through to S level.

The tree of knowledge liked him more and more, often summoning him for deep connections in the spacious greenhouse.

Every time he returned from the greenhouse, Lu Xiaoyu would lock himself in his room for a long time, pondering the stars, pondering unknown data and code, sometimes not speaking for days.

His mother’s gaze became increasingly worried.

One day, his mother suddenly asked him, “Do you want to go to school? You can learn knowledge and make friends there.”

“I don’t want to,” Lu Xiaoyu refused, shaking his head.

His mother cried, covering her face and sobbing softly, “Mom hopes you go to school.”

Lu Xiaoyu couldn’t feel her sadness, so he clumsily wiped away her tears, “Okay.”

His mother immediately became happy, gently embracing his small body, “Then Mom will find a way.”

The Lu family rarely left District B8 of Erjia, so sending Lu Xiaoyu to study outside was actually a very difficult matter.

Curious about how his mother would “find a way”, Lu Xiaoyu secretly tracked her using a miniature tracker. He overheard an argument between his mother and a man.

“Lu Qiusuo, Xiaoyu is also your child. Can’t you consider him?”

“Why do you have to send him away? He can receive the best education here in Erjia. Don’t you know how much Mother loves him?”

“No, I don’t want that—!!” His mother yelled hysterically, then pop! With a slap in the face, her gentle demeanor turned rough.

Her gaze was firm, and in that instant, she burst with astonishing determination: “I will send Xiaoyu away.”

Lu Xiaoyu felt no ripples in his heart. Instead, he pondered another matter: Lu Qiusuo, the next predetermined clan leader of the Lu family, marital status: married. His legal wife wasn’t his mother. Lu Xiaoyu suddenly realized, ‘Oh, so I’m a bastard child.’

His mother’s insistence succeeded, perhaps because Lu Qiusuo compromised. Lu Xiaoyu left Erjia and went to study in Liuponi.

Half a month after school started, Lu Xiaoyu covered his face with a book and hid in the attic to sleep. Below the dormitory, there was a bustling noise. Someone was arguing back and forth about ownership of the swimming pool.

“Young Master Xie, you can’t do this. This… this is a public swimming pool.”

A clear and pleasant teenage voice sounded, “Is it? But I need a private one. How much is it?”

The dorm manager hesitated, “Uh, it’s not appropriate. You still have a roommate. If he objects…”

The teenager remained unmoved, “I’ll handle him. Just give me a price. I’ll buy the rights for ten years.”

“Hey, you’re too noisy.” Lu Xiaoyu couldn’t stand the noise and leaned out of the window, speaking to someone for the first time.

The young man looked up, with a beautiful face and noble temperament. He raised his chin slightly, a teardrop mole at the corner of his eye, containing a charming allure.

“Language, Socialization, and Art,” the young man slowly read the title of the book Lu Xiaoyu used to block the light, smiling brightly, “You should read it well.”

The two instantly took a dislike to each other. On their second encounter, annoyance grew. By their third, they… engaged in a verbal battle mode.

“You imbecile,” Lu Xiaoyu coldly mocked.

“You waste of space,” the other retorted.

It turned out that the boy named Xie Zhuo was not an imbecile. His intelligence was almost on par with Lu Xiaoyu’s, with only slight differences in their interests and emphasis on different subjects. However, he was the only other genius besides Lu Xiaoyu to achieve a 5.0 GPA.

In fact, due to the higher number of socialization courses in the first year, Xie Zhuo even had one more 5.0 than Lu Xiaoyu.

Blame it on that cursed elective—”Language, Socialization, and Art,” Lu Xiaoyu reflected deeply.

Lu Xiaoyu believed that he and Xie Zhuo were geniuses and lunatics at opposite extremes. Of course, he was the genius, and the one surnamed Xie was the lunatic.

As they gradually became acquainted during days of mutual dislike, they eventually bonded over the ridiculous reason that “the classmates around us are too stupid and would only slow down our progress in group assignments,” and together researched the ultra-niche topic of “how to bypass the surveillance of the star network AI.”

Lu Xiaoyu’s innate interest in data made it unsurprising for him to choose this course.

Xie Zhuo’s reasons, on the other hand, were vague: “There’s someone with a special status, for safety reasons, I don’t want to expose too much information about them.”

…

During the first-year vacation back home, Lu Xiaoyu’s mother asked with concern, “Have you made any friends at school?”

Lu Xiaoyu remained silent.

His mother’s bright eyes gradually dimmed. “It’s okay, we… take it slow.”

“There’s someone who’s annoying,” Lu Xiaoyu suddenly spoke up.

“Huh? Who?” His mother was surprised.

Lu Xiaoyu coldly enumerated Xie Zhuo’s seven sins: his arrogance, self-righteousness, hypocrisy, and the fact that he had one more 5.0 than him.

As his mother listened, she genuinely smiled for the first time, her eyes soft as she sighed while patting Lu Xiaoyu’s head, “That’s good, our Xiaoyu, should be happy.”

The terminal lit up with a reminder that Lu Xiaoyu should go meet another “Mother.”

The smile on his mother’s face froze instantly at the corner of her lips.

Lu Xiaoyu noticed her unusual behavior. Not understanding much, he straightforwardly asked, “Don’t you want me to go?”

His mother opened her mouth, and just as Lu Xiaoyu thought she was going to say “yes,” she lowered her eyes and spoke in a barely audible voice, “Go.”

After the consciousness connection ended that day, Lu Xiaoyu suddenly spoke up, “I won’t come back again.”

The tree of knowledge softly asked, “Child, why? What’s troubling you?”

Lu Xiaoyu’s social skills were indeed poor, and he bluntly replied with a grating refusal, “You’re not my mother. I have a mother.”

Though there were two instances of “mother” in his statement, the super AI’s intelligence was more than capable of handling complex language environments.

It didn’t argue, only smiled faintly. “Go back.”