The night before the promotion

Chapter 63 Past Life
In response to Zhou Si's request, Zuo Zhi narrowed his eyes. Zhou Si read the emotion of "thought" from his expression. This incarnation body was indeed perfect, so perfect that even the most subtle changes in human expressions could be completely replicated.

Zhou Si did not feel admiration or amazement for technology, but lamented the limitations of human senses, how it was so easy to be deceived, and... a hint of helplessness.

Zuo Zhi's consciousness is hidden under the shell of the incarnation. The appearance and expression he now shows to Zhou Si are all illusions disguised after data feedback.

Therefore, Zhou Si could not judge the truthfulness of Zuo Zhi's words through his micro-expressions, nor could he test Zuo Zhi's reaction by means of surprise attacks.

This feeling was terrible. Although the other person was indeed a soulful being, Zhou Si felt like he was talking to a stone.

"Chen Wen Ge's past... Chen Hua Han's untimely death?" Zuo Zhi sighed, "Since the tragedy, Chen Wen Ge almost never mentioned it. Over time, I almost forgot the existence of this tragedy."

Zhou Si pressed, "Can you really forget? Xiaohua is using the image of Chen Huahan."

"I don't know what Chen Wen Ge thinks, but for me, I can indeed forget it," Zuo Zhi smiled slightly, "The reason is very simple. The relationship between Chen Huahan and Xiao Hua is reversed."

As the official smart assistant of Shenwei Technology, Xiaohua has existed for too long and is too influential. When walking on the street, you can often hear people saying "Xiaohua Xiaohua" to wake up the smart assistant. However, the name Chen Huahan and the life it represents have long disappeared in the ocean of memory under this deconstructionism.

Apart from Chen Wen Ge, her biological father, no one could remember her for so long, not even Zuo Zhi.

"Let's go, Zhou Si. This is not a good place to talk. Let's talk while walking." Zuo Zhi stood up and motioned Zhou Si to follow him.

The two men left the laboratory, one in front and one behind.

"Won't those security avatars follow us?"

Zhou Si glanced at the steel structures standing outside the laboratory. They stood like statues, ignoring the two people's departure.

"I'm not here, Zhou Si. If they follow me, what can I protect?"

Zuo Zhi laughed loudly, then he raised his arms and made a powerful gesture, "What's more, if a crisis really happens, it's not certain who will protect whom."

Zhou Si stared at the arm covered with bionic coating. He raised his left arm belatedly. "Are we using the same model?"

"I guess so," Zuo Zhi adjusted his tie out of habit, "As the representative of the company, I must not only take the lead in the longevity plan, but also in testing the avatar shell."

"What kind of incarnation is this?" Zhou Si asked in confusion, "It looks more like a human than a human, and..."

"Stop for a moment, Zhou Si, you have already resigned, and this is Shenwei Technology's business secret," Zuo Zhi interrupted Zhou Si and said, "Let's continue talking about Chen Wen Ge."

Zhou Si nodded slightly. He didn't expect that the technological monster he had been imagining would appear before his eyes so easily. When he saw it for the first time, he didn't even notice anything.

So... does Zuo Zhi also have a Shattering Sword like mine hidden in his arm?

"I have been called a genius by people around me since I was a child. When others were still in junior high school, I had already started preparing for college. I felt like the invincible swordsman in martial arts novels, young and full of vigor, with a proud heart, until I met Chen Wen Ge."

Zuo Zhi took Zhou Si into the elevator, and the high-speed elevator moved quickly to the upper level.

"He and I met at a national math competition. He was the champion and I was the runner-up," Zuo Zhi smiled to himself. "That was the first setback in my life. It made me realize that there are always people who are better than you."

"At first, I didn't regard Chen Wen Ge as a friend, but a terrible opponent," Zuo Zhi recalled. "My father always said that having an opponent is a good thing. He is like a mirror or a sharp blade against your spine, constantly urging you to move forward."

"Later... a few years later, Chen Wen-Ge and I met in an experimental project, and we were both researchers in it."

Zhou Si was a little surprised when he heard this. Zuo Zhi keenly caught Zhou Si's reaction and asked, "Why, Chen Wen Ge never told you these things?"

"No," Zhou Si shook his head. "He only talked to me about research and his future plans. As for his past, he never mentioned it, not to mention his wife. I only learned about Chen Huahan's story from his biography."

Zhou Si's gaze passed through the transparent elevator window and looked at the ground that was getting farther and farther away. Both the short humans and the tall incarnation bodies became as small as ants at this moment.

"It seems that the description of Chen Huahan in the biography was not something Chen Wen Ge confessed voluntarily, but rather information that the compilers intercepted from news reports in the early years."

Zuo Zhi responded, “Of course.”

"The rest of the story was very uneventful. We spent our time in the laboratory. Gradually, Chen Wen-Ge became the project supervisor. Then, our research achieved amazing academic results and our status rose rapidly. We were still less than 30 years old at that time."

Zuo Zhi was very proud when talking about these.

He had to be proud. Even looking at the entire human history, there were only a few people who could achieve such an achievement.

"Later, one day, Chen Wen Ge got married to a researcher in the laboratory. This was normal. The guy went to and from work every day and had almost no personal life, let alone contact with the opposite sex. It was a good choice for him to marry a researcher who admired his wisdom."

Zuo Zhi changed the subject and said mysteriously, "But that was not a marriage worthy of blessing. I knew it from the beginning."

Hearing this answer, Zhou Si naturally thought of those clichéd plots, "Why? A deformed love triangle?"

"Love triangle? Me? How is that possible?"

Zuo Zhi patted Zhou Si's shoulder. He didn't use much force, but Zhou Si still felt heavy.

"Don't think that we are all geniuses, but you have to know that there are different levels of genius. For example, Chen Wen Ge is a genius who surpasses everything. You can even regard him as... a god."

Zhou Si was silent for a moment, then replied, "I didn't expect you to think so highly of him. It's been rumored that you two are equally matched and are competing with each other."

“Competition? Haha, I did regard Chen Wen Ge as my rival for many years, but later I realized how ridiculous my behavior was,” Zuo Zhi said self-deprecatingly, “It’s like a bird chasing the stars. No matter how high it flies, it can’t break through the sky, let alone dream of touching the stars.”

"Chen Wen Ge is a guy who is obsessed with research. His extraordinary talent gave him a sense of destiny when he was young. He believed that he was the chosen one to lead mankind to a higher level. Just like the saints described in various classics, Chen Wen Ge only has a thirst for knowledge in his heart, and no other selfish desires."

Zuo Zhi criticized mercilessly, "For him, marriage is not a testimony of love, but a way to meet his own physiological needs and reproductive responsibilities, as well as to cope with social constraints."

"Of course, this may be the difference between me and Chen Wen Ge. I can't live like a saint who is ready to sacrifice himself at any time. I am a layman. So later, Chen Wen Ge and I often had ideological conflicts. He even cursed me as a greedy businessman."

Zuo Zhi sighed, "If it weren't for me as a businessman, we wouldn't have the start-up capital to establish Shenwei Technology."

The elevator stopped, and Zuo Zhi and Zhou Si arrived at the top floor of Shenwei Technology. After passing through a series of security doors, they came to a viewing platform. Through the transparent glass floor, they could clearly overlook everything in the entire industrial park.

Zuo Zhi said with satisfaction, "I like it here. I feel like I am the king or god here."

"Back to Chen Wen-Ge's story, his married life was not happy. As I said, Chen Wen-Ge was a person without selfish desires. He did not understand what love was. But fortunately, his wife loved and worshipped him very much and regarded him as a god in her heart, which kept their marriage going."

Zuo Zhi's narration suddenly paused. Zhou Si knew that what followed was the key to the story, the event that changed the course of Chen Wen Ge's life.

"Chen Huahan was born. Chen Wen Ge liked this daughter, but he just liked her. Most of the time, he still lived in the laboratory. But he had to admit that the birth of his daughter did change Chen Wen Ge to some extent."

Zuo Zhi stopped again, staring into the distance with a helpless expression on his face. He said self-deprecatingly, "I'm sorry, although it happened half a century ago, but when I think back on it, it's still a little... a little..."

He did not continue.

The silence lasted for a long time before Zuo Zhi's voice sounded again, "Chen Huahan didn't enjoy much fatherly love, but with enough motherly love, she still grew up healthily. Then when she was nine years old, an accident happened."

"It was just an accident. According to global statistics, fatal accidents occur every minute. It's just that the person who died this time was Chen Wen-Ge's daughter."

Zuo Zhi's voice became ethereal, without a trace of emotion, like a bystander, retelling what happened at that time.

"Chen Wen Ge has always believed that he doesn't care about anything except leading mankind to a higher level. Wealth, fame, and power are not worth mentioning to him, let alone getting married and having children."

Zuo Zhi emphasized again, "I have talked to him about this, and he really thinks so. He thinks that the appearance of Chen Huahan is just the reproduction of his own DNA, a biological continuation. But when he saw the bloody Chen Huahan with his own eyes, it was the first time I saw Chen Wen Ge cry."

Zhou Si whispered, "The appearance of Chen Huahan gave him humanity."

"Who knows? He is dead anyway." Zuo Zhi continued his story.

"Chen Huahan's death plunged Chen Wen-Ge into extreme sadness. Chen Wen-Ge couldn't figure out where this emotion came from. For a genius like him, this emotion was too unfamiliar.

He kept analyzing the pain until he came to the point of escaping and attributing the problem to the limitations of human beings themselves. If humans could take a step higher, perhaps everything would be solved. "

To this day, Zuo Zhi still remembers that critical moment. "After this incident, Chen Wen Ge gradually conceived the prototype of the metamorphosis technology in his mind. He also froze Chen Hua Han's body and preserved her brain, trying to recreate the dead mind through metamorphosis technology one day in the future."

Zhou Si stared at Zuo Zhi's eyes nervously, he suspected that he had heard it wrong.

"I'm not kidding. This is the truth. Chen Wen Ge went from one extreme to another. In order to commemorate his little daughter, he turned her image and voice into the intelligent assistant of Shenwei Technology."

Zuo Zhi said as he suddenly called out, "Xiao Hua, Xiao Hua."

A holographic projection was projected from their side. Micro-projection devices like this were everywhere in the Shenwei Building.

Xiaohua smiled and said, "Hello, what's the problem?"

“See, that’s it,” Zuo Zhi waved his hand and dismissed Xiao Hua, “After learning about Chen Wen Ge’s actions, his wife thought Chen Wen Ge was crazy.”

"Once, she could compromise and admire Chen Wen-Ge's talent, but at the same time, Chen Huahan's death could turn all her previous love into hatred."

Zuo Zhi said softly, "The freezing of the corpse completely shattered their broken marriage, but they did not divorce. Instead, they lived separately. Chen Wen Ge devoted himself more to scientific research, while his wife suffered from severe depression and committed suicide a few years later."

Zhou Si commented, "A complete tragedy."

"The death of his wife had no effect on Chen Wen Ge. At that time, his heart had turned into a black hole, swallowing up all his emotions, leaving only the great advancement of mankind."

Zuo Zhi had no intention of hiding anything and directly told Zhou Si, "Chen Wen Ge became more and more withdrawn and extreme, and less and less popular in the board of directors. They urgently needed a replacement who was also a genius, so I gradually took over Chen Wen Ge's power and became the owner of Shenwei Technology."

"But the media said that you and Chen Wen Ge were competing for power and scheming against each other," Zhou Si cleared away these boring gossips, "Obviously, this is just their wishful speculation."

"It's like this. People hate unsolved mysteries, so no matter what the true outcome of an event is, everyone needs an answer, even if the answer is false."

Zuo Zhi then said, "This should be Chen Wen Ge's initial and most original motivation. What do you think?"

Zhou Si did not answer, but looked towards the earth. The buildings in the distance were stacked up one after another, like an endless series of mountains.

"People's ideas change. In your story, Chen Wen-Ge's motive is to revive the little girl and for the great advancement of mankind, while in my story, he tries to create strong artificial intelligence in this way. But these are just our wild guesses from a subjective perspective.

What is the real answer? It has sunk to the bottom of the sea with Chen Wen Ge’s death.”

"Oh?" Zuo Zhi reacted, "You lied to me."

"It's not a lie. I just want to know more about Chen Wen Ge. As for the clues."

Zhou Si looked at the edge of the city and the blurry sea level. "I already have an idea."

(End of this chapter)