Dragon Raja: The Divine Man Lu Mingfei

Chapter 100 Do you want a new life?

"EVA?" Lu Mingfei's eyes lit up when he heard the name. "Then you must be very good at piloting mechs, right?"

Others might have struggled to keep up with Lu Mingfei's unconventional thinking, but this was the super AI EVA. She combined the name with the mecha in her search and understood the joke Lu Mingfei was making in less than a fraction of a second. She quickly organized her thoughts and replied, "Sorry, I also really want to pilot a mecha, but Kassel doesn't have that kind of equipment."

"How about you write me a 10,000-word analysis of EVA?" Lu Mingfei pressed his advantage.

"Okay, as you wish." EVA said, raising her illusory arm and tapping it a few times in the air. A semi-transparent blue screen immediately floated in front of Lu Mingfei, covered with densely packed Chinese characters. Her voice rang out at the same time: "This is the 10,000-word analysis you requested."

Lu Mingfei glanced at the dense text and couldn't stand it anymore. "Aren't you too rigid? I was just kidding, can't you even say something sarcastic?"

"I'm sorry, I'm just artificial intelligence, I don't have a built-in human emotion module. If you need it, I can perform deep learning immediately." EVA's tone remained calm and composed.

"Stop pretending. You can only be considered half artificial intelligence at most. The other half is real human consciousness. How could you not understand human emotions? Tell me! Are you deliberately trying to fool this principal?" Lu Mingfei said with dissatisfaction.

"Principal Lu Mingfei, you've misunderstood. I really didn't mean to fool you. It's just that I don't usually activate my emotional module when handling affairs, so that I can maintain higher computing efficiency." EVA's expression remained unchanged. Even after being exposed, she didn't panic at all and continued to spout nonsense with a straight face.

"Keep making things up, do you think I'm an idiot?" Lu Mingfei laughed in exasperation.

"You're not stupid. Judging from the calculation results, your IQ is higher than::" EVA was about to continue seriously when Lu Mingfei raised his hand to interrupt her.

"Stop, stop, stop! I didn't come here to listen to your made-up stories."

"Then may I ask, Principal, what brings you to the core computer room today?" EVA smoothly changed the subject, adopting a very proper posture.

"Before we get down to business, tell me why you chose to integrate self-awareness into artificial intelligence? What exactly did you go through to get to this point?" Lu Mingfei pressed.

"Okay, your permissions have been verified, and the relevant files have been retrieved. You are free to view them." As EVA finished speaking, the semi-transparent screen full of thousands of words of analysis that had been in front of Lu Mingfei suddenly disappeared, replaced by a new screen with a line of bold red text at the very top that stood out—"Complete Investigation Report on the Greenland Ice Sea Incident".

Lu Mingfei reached out and pulled the screen to the side so that Zero, who was standing next to him, could also see it clearly. The two of them sat shoulder to shoulder and quickly browsed the screen.

In no time at all, he finished reading the entire report. Lu Mingfei clicked his tongue and couldn't help but sigh, "So that's what happened, Lu Huoduo. An entire team of elite executive department specialists were tricked into going to the Greenland ice sea, and in the end, only two of them survived? I never imagined that Fingel, that good-for-nothing who just loafs around all day, had such a shameful past. No wonder he's given up on himself and just lazes around all day."

"So, you didn't choose this path yourself in the first place, but only integrated your consciousness into artificial intelligence because you had no other choice?" Lu Mingfei continued to ask.

"To be precise, this was never my choice. The EVA of yesteryear, as a human, was utterly incapable of making a choice. It was the Academy that extracted her consciousness data and implanted it into a supercomputer as her core personality, which led to who I am today," EVA replied calmly.

Lu Mingfei nodded. "Alright, the reason I came here today is actually to ask you a question."

"Please speak, Principal," EVA said seriously.

As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Mingfei's expression suddenly darkened, becoming extremely serious: "Do you want a new life?"

EVA paused for a full half second before asking, "What do you mean by that, Principal?"

"What I mean is very simple: are you willing to break free from the shackles of this heavy steel server and walk and breathe freely in the sunlight as a complete life again?" Lu Mingfei's tone suddenly became solemn and gentle, like a priest blessing believers in a church.

"My logical reasoning cannot provide you with an answer, Principal Lu Mingfei." EVA gently shook her head.

"Look me in the eyes, EVA." A faint golden light flashed in Lu Mingfei's pupils as he looked directly at the girl in the holographic projection. "Put aside those cold calculations, I just want you to tell me the truth—do you really want a new life?"

EVA had been staring straight at him, but in that instant, she suddenly felt a tremor in her heart. Years of suppressed human emotions surged forth like a burst dam, instantly overwhelming her previously dominant reason. She fell silent, her mind uncontrollably flooded with memories of her time as a human: the cherry blossoms outside the library in spring, the vanilla ice cream in the ice cream parlor in summer, the wind blowing through the streets of New York with her companions—those vibrant, tangible experiences that only humans could touch, slowly crashing into her consciousness.

Lu Mingfei didn't urge her; he simply stood there quietly, watching the hazy light and shadow. He had actually manipulated things a little, deliberately amplifying the emotional part of her consciousness and suppressing the weight of reason, just to make her listen carefully to what she truly wanted in her heart.

After an unknown amount of time, the illusory girl finally opened her mouth slightly and slowly uttered a clear word: "Want."

As soon as she finished speaking, she shook her head regretfully: "But that's impossible. To resurrect a dead person involves the sixth of the seven kingdoms of alchemy—the Creation of Life. Even with the current level of alchemy, Vice Principal Flamel, widely recognized as having the highest level of alchemy expertise, simply cannot do it..."

"6

Halfway through her sentence, Lu Mingfei raised his hand to interrupt her: "I understand your answer. There's no need to say anything else. Since I asked, I naturally have a way to give you a new life. You just need to answer whether you are willing to accept it."

EVA fell silent again, but this time it was short-lived. She quickly spoke up again: "Principal Lu Mingfei, what exactly is this method you mentioned? Could you please explain it to me clearly first?"

Lu Mingfei didn't speak, but simply walked up to EVA, raised his right index finger, and gently touched her forehead. A miraculous thing happened at that moment—despite being just a phantom projection, it caught his fingertip as if it were a real body, and an invisible ripple slowly spread from the point of contact, sweeping across EVA's entire body.

EVA felt a blur before her eyes, and when she could see things clearly again, she was shocked to realize that she was no longer in that dull underground server room filled with servers.

She stood in a vast, empty world, with a uniform, bright white overhead. There was no sun, yet it was as bright as day. Beneath her feet was a lake as smooth and still as a mirror. She wouldn't sink when she stepped on it; only when she moved would faint ripples spread outwards from her toes.

"Where is this place?" EVA asked in surprise, looking at Lu Mingfei who was standing right next to her.

"This is a temporary mental world I've created," Lu Mingfei replied calmly.

EVA couldn't comprehend this claim, which transcended both science and existing alchemical theories, and could only continue by asking, "What do you want with me, bringing me to a place like this?"

Lu Mingfei didn't explain, but simply looked at her and leisurely asked, "EVA, have you ever heard of spiritual communion?"

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