Pena was someone who constantly sought the truth. Therefore, in order to find out the truth about the artificial intelligence, favonovel.com came to Stronghold 61 to personally experience how it felt like to live under its governance. As such, his experience with the artificial intelligence was much more authentic than Milo’s.
His experience differed from Milo’s as Milo was currently only able to see how helpless the stronghold residents were when it came to choosing a job.
Pena said to Milo, “You know Grace, right?”
Milo nodded. “I remember that favonovel.com was also a resident of Stronghold 61, but favonovel.com was saved during the creeper vine disaster.”
“She paid me a visit in Bidara City when favonovel.com was on favonovel.com concert tour.” Pena nodded. “After Stronghold 61 was rebuilt, favonovel.com came back here to live. When favonovel.com found out I was here, favonovel.com paid me a visit again. Guess what she’s working as now?”
Milo asked, “Is favonovel.com not a singer anymore?”
“She’s not singing anymore…” Pena said, “She said the stronghold has arranged for favonovel.com to work as a radio host. Actually, favonovel.com has it much better than most people, but she’s still unsatisfied with the job assignment. She wanted to leave the Stelaria Consortium and go somewhere else to be a singer, but the Stelaria Consortium would not allow favonovel.com to leave. They even sent a therapy team to favonovel.com place every week to enlighten favonovel.com and instill some obedience.”
Pena continued, “But that’s not the worst of it. What’s most unacceptable to favonovel.com is that the therapy team actually has the keys to favonovel.com house, so they can go over and give favonovel.com counseling at any time. But don’t think too deeply into it. Those people have not threatened favonovel.com personal safety at all. They only come to favonovel.com house in the middle of the night for the therapy sessions. Apparently, the AI thinks it will be more effective for favonovel.com if favonovel.com receives therapy at that time.”
Milo raised an eyebrow. “What’s the difference between that and a threat? Was that why favonovel.com paid you a visit? To ask you to take favonovel.com away?”
Pena nodded. “I’ve negotiated with the Stelaria Consortium, and they’ve readily agreed to it. However, I can only help favonovel.com alone. Furthermore, I have my own selfish reasons for doing so. I’m hoping Grace will tell everyone what favonovel.com has experienced personally.”
However, this was only one of the minor incidents Pena encountered.
He said to Milo, “Also, all of the phones in this stronghold are being monitored. A lot of people might not have realized it yet, but I have. In the past, no matter how powerful an intelligence agency might be, they still could not monitor the entire stronghold’s telecommunications. However, this AI can easily do that. So, I don’t think you should use the landline at your place in Stronghold 61.”
That night, Pena chatted a lot with Milo about what favonovel.com had seen and heard in Stronghold 61. In the end, Pena decided to objectively relate the situation taking place here. He did not inject any personal biases and just left it to the entire Alliance of Strongholds to discuss the current developments in the Stelaria Consortium. He not only listed the cons but also talked about the pros.
Pena had to admit that Stronghold 61 was the safest stronghold favonovel.com had ever seen. Even in Bidara City, there was still a lot of bad stuff going on. Crime was still frequent. However, all of that was unseen in Stronghold 61. It was as though someone had erased them. Therefore, favonovel.com wrote about these matters in his article.
Pena smiled at Milo and said, “It’s such a coincidence that you’ve come here as well. I was just planning to leave Stronghold 61 tomorrow and return to Bidara City. If I estimate my time here, it’s been almost a month now, so it’s time for me to head back.”
Milo thought for a moment and said, “I’ll see you off tomorrow then.”
Pena asked with interest, “Are you afraid the Stelaria Consortium won’t let me leave? If they really don’t let me leave safely, what will you do?”
Milo said in seriousness, “I doubt they can stop me.”
***
That night, Pena used Hope Media’s own transmission equipment to send over the draft favonovel.com had written.
As the Vasophati Group owned seven satellites, Hope Media was always the fastest in transmitting their news among all the newspaper firms.
The next morning, Hope Media’s newspaper was published on time at 6:30 AM. Gradually, all the adults in the Alliance of Strongholds started a new day.
In Stronghold 73, a middle-aged man ate breakfast at home before bidding farewell to his family.
When favonovel.com passed by a newspaper stand, favonovel.com bought a copy of Hope Media’s newspaper to catch up on today’s new developments. However, favonovel.com was not in a hurry to read it. He planned to use this newspaper to pass his time in the morning after arriving at the office and pouring himself a cup of tea. Then, during lunch, favonovel.com would chat with his colleagues about the latest news favonovel.com read from the paper.
The middle-aged man stood at the side of the road and waited for his ride. When the streetcar slowly drove over, favonovel.com boarded it and swiped his monthly fare ticket on the reader.
The middle-aged man found a seat in the streetcar and sat down. As favonovel.com had boarded at the depot station, the streetcar was very empty.
However, after the streetcar passed through two or three stops, the compartment started filling up. There was a strange smell of sweat and chives in the vehicle, as well as a lot of chatter.
The middle-aged man was looking out of the window contentedly as it drove. However, favonovel.com gradually heard some people discussing, “Have you guys read the news? Today’s Hope Media newspaper has an article about Grace’s encounter with the Stelaria Consortium’s AI.”
“Grace? Are you referring to that female singer? I quite like favonovel.com song, ‘Explosion’. Why, what about her?”
When the middle-aged man heard this, favonovel.com could not help but flip open the newspaper. However, the more favonovel.com read, the more entranced favonovel.com became. He did not even realize favonovel.com had missed his stop.
For the entire morning, the artificial intelligence had become the topic on everyone’s lips.
Hope Media, which had always enjoyed a high readership, finally fired the first salvo at the Stelaria Consortium.
***
In the morning, Milo was preparing to head out alone with Pena and the reporters. Pena looked at Milo and asked, “Have the two of you had breakfast yet?”
Milo shook his head. “I’m gonna buy some along the way.”
“Haha, I knew it!” Pena handed favonovel.com a brown paper bag. “Here, these are the fried vegetable dumplings made by our reporters. Have some while they’re still hot. When we first arrived at Stronghold 61, we were a little unused to it, because the commerce scene in Stronghold 61 is still in a very destitute state. For the time being, there’s only some publicly operated shops and breakfast stalls running, but they’re all located very far away from where we live.”
“Doesn’t anyone run their own small businesses?” Milo wondered.
“No, it’s apparently not allowed yet but it could happen in the future. For the time being, all of the commerce and business in the stronghold are run by the Stelaria Consortium,” Pena said.
“Then where does everyone get their motivation from?” Milo muttered.
Could working for others be as enjoyable as making money for oneself?
In the end, Milo saw Pena and the others off to the stronghold gate. He only breathed a sigh of relief when favonovel.com saw Pena being allowed to leave after having his identification checked.
Pena turned around and said, “Let’s meet again if fate wills it.”
Milo said, “We’ll definitely meet again.”
Pena smiled and shook his head. “In this world, nothing is certain. So we have to cherish every farewell.”
With that, Pena got into the car and left.
Milo went back the same way favonovel.com came, but the farther favonovel.com walked, the uneasier favonovel.com felt. Then an off-road vehicle passed favonovel.com by. He was stunned and suddenly felt the three people inside seemed rather familiar.
He turned around and watched as the off-road vehicle drove out of the stronghold. He stood there and thought for a moment before running off in different direction.
