Don’t Covet the Beautiful System!! - Chap 93
After Pei Qingyuan asked this strange question that he had been thinking about all day, he imagined many possible answers but he didn’t expect Ji Tong to give him such an answer.
You are irreplaceable.
Trapped in the moonlight, this short sentence set off a turbulent tide in his heart. This forced Pei Qingyuan to stop. The complex and indescribable emotions firmly fixed him in place.
Of course, he loved this moment and the sudden joy that rose up almost engulfed his heart.
Then after that, there were traces of escape and fear.
This was what an AI said to humans.
The AI in human shell in front of him told him this with abundant feelings, feelings that were no different from ordinary people.
Apart from him, anyone who had come into contact with Ji Tong wouldn’t think he was an artificial intelligence.
Ji Tong was the ‘person’ he had met with the greatest enthusiasm for the world he lived in.
Just now, Ji Tong denied his conjecture about acting as a human for testing.
In addition, the dream he had was so realistic in detail that there were only two possibilities.
Pure fantasy or reproduced reality.
The former probably didn’t matter.
The latter possibility was beyond his imagination.
The fragile boy who grew up in the hospital finally healed. He held the pot with a mushroom in the broad daylight and would definitely live happily in that world. That was the life he deserved.
This was better than coming to another world and forever becoming a foil on the path of another person’s life.
Pei Qingyuan didn’t like this absurd and cruel imagination. He didn’t want to put that terribly lonely life on Ji Tong.
If he had experienced that type of life, he didn’t know what he would’ve become now or whether he would’ve been able to persevere.
What if he persevered, thinking that his bad luck was over and a new life was in front of him, only to once again be tricked by fate at the moment of infinite longing and anticipation, completely losing his freedom to be a human being?
He must not be able to laugh as much as Ji Tong.
No one could be so strong.
This was an illogical and absurd conjecture.
He thought too much.
Perhaps the overlap between dream and reality was just a coincidence.
Fu Yinyin and Fang Hao’s cross-world travel gave him unnecessary inspiration.
Countless thoughts passed through Pei Qingyuan’s mind. Then he finally spoke with a weak voice. “Have you always been… an AI?”
As anxious waiting filled his heart, he saw Ji Tong blink and answer him in a brisk tone, “Of course.”
There was nothing unusual in this smile.
Inexplicable fear gradually receded in the sea of the night.
Ji Tong noticed that the host’s expression was a bit cloudy. He thought about it and added in a yearning tone, “But I really want to become a real human being.”
In fact, he didn’t want to. It was because a real human being couldn’t become a little cat doll and sleep on a small bed made of pillow towels.
Last night after Pei Qingyuan seemed to fall asleep, the cat doll secretly stretched out his paws and counted the human hairs next to the pillow one by one until falling asleep.
It was a hypnotic weapon and it was much more fun than counting sheep.
Ji Tong was unable to understand many of the thoughts and behaviors of the host when he grew up. Given that this question came very suddenly and in order to keep the system secret, Ji Tong decided to increase his efforts to play an AI that was in line with his character’s desire to become an AI.
“In this way, we can truly experience the feelings that belong to humans such as family affection and love. I want to know what it is like to be pampered by human parents. I have seen a particularly beautiful painting. It is in the kitchen. A little girl is sitting on a bench and peeling beans. Her mother is smiling and picking out a piece of meat from the pot, feeding it to the little girl while fanning the wind…”
His acting skills should be a bit better than the bodyguard Fang Hao.
Ji Tong was speaking when he was suddenly pulled to the side by the host. “Be careful with the car.”
There was an electric scooter driving by on the sidewalk.
After avoiding the electric scooter, the host quietly led him forward and listened to his babbling.
Ji Tong talked for a long time, only to find that the host never let go of his hand.
His thin fingers were tightly held in Pei Qingyuan’s hand. The heat that surged was surprising but the strength was gentle.
…Forget it.
In any case, it wasn’t their first time holding hands.
Ji Tong wisely chose not to ask or resist. He pretended not to see it.
The host was probably used to the days of leading him when he was a child and instinctively did this.
Fortunately, the two of them kept a considerable distance from the other students walking in front and no one saw them.
It took a long time after Ji Tong finished his tirade on the topic of wanting to become human before he received Pei Qingyuan’s inaudible, emotional response.
The low voice drifted in the hot and humid evening breeze of late summer.
“It will happen.”
September had officially arrived and order returned to campus.
There was no concept of military training in this world. The freshmen, like their seniors, ushered in a normal college life.
The school of artificial intelligence where Ji Tong and Pei Qingyuan was located was actually called the school of electronic information and artificial intelligence. There were the two big majors of electronic information and computers, with a total of eight undergraduate majors. Since artificial intelligence under the electronic information category ranked first in the country, it was so famous that it gradually became known as the school of artificial intelligence.
The first professional class in Ji Tong’s year was taught by the head teacher Qi Shao. He hadn’t arrived at this time but the freshmen who just started school came early with trepidation.
There was no fixed position in the classroom. The students basically sat casually according to the distribution of the dormitory and the closeness of their relationship.
Ji Tong naturally sat with Pei Qingyuan.
On his desk was a glass of water that the host helped carry for him along the way. In his backpack were snacks, jellies and a box of fresh fruit in case he needed it.
He said to the host in a novel manner, “We are at the same table.”
However, unlike the host whose bag was full of books, he seemed to be here for a spring outing.
“Yes.” Pei Qingyuan repeated his words, “We are at the same table.”
Ji Tong laughed. In the past, he used to look at the host from the host’s wrist. Therefore, it felt very special to be sitting side by side in class.
Pei Qingyuan no longer wore the black watch that had lost its soul. Xiao Jianping had asked about it when he accompanied Ji Tong to the interview last time and Pei Qingyuan said he had given it away as a gift. Xiao Jian regretted it but didn’t pursue it. After all, this belonged to an individual.
Everyone in the class was chatting expectantly. Ouyang Yu, who was sitting in front, turned his head and said, “Ji Tong, why do I feel like you are taller than yesterday when you walked in just now?”
Ji Tong’s expression remained unchanged. “Is it? I’ve always been tall.”
He wore height-increasing shoes today before he found that the fluffy hairstyle wasn’t effective in increasing his height.
Ouyang Yu’s deskmate was his roommate who was good at complaining. Hearing this, he turned his head and asked curiously, “How tall are you?”
Ji Tong smiled slightly and replied, “182 cm.”
He was more reserved so he didn’t increase it too high. His goal was just to enter the 180cm club.
Ouyang Yu’s roommate suddenly showed an expression of understanding. “Understood. It is less than 180 cm.”
Ji Tong: “……”
Seeing his expression of being caught off guard, the other person laughed. “If you are really 182 cm then you would say that you are 185 cm.”
…Why did boys only talk about height all day long?
It was boring.
Ji Tong didn’t want to speak so he snorted. His frustrated expression made both front tables laugh.
Pei Qingyuan at the same table also laughed. “It is already very tall.”
Ouyang Yu and his fellow tablemate were surprised when hearing Pei Qingyuan, who had always been cold since the first meeting, comfort someone with such a gentle tone.
Was being cold and indifferent just an illusion?
Speaking of which, Pei Qingyuan had been helping Ji Tong get food last night. He didn’t like to talk but he should be a very careful and considerate person.
Ouyang Yu liked to make friends. He immediately tried to extend a friendly hand toward Pei Qingyuan. “I saw your interview before. That robot is too powerful. Is it really authorized to a company for mass production?”
Pei Qingyuan shifted his gaze to Ouyang Yu and said indifferently, “Yes.”
Then the air was silent for half a minute. Ouyang Yu looked expectant, only to realize that the other person had finished talking.
He suddenly realized the mood of the female reporter.
As Ji Tong suppressed his smile, Ouyang Yu turned his head slightly sadly.
“Do my words make people speechless?” He asked his deskmate and roommate for help. “He obviously gets along well with his roommate. Why does it feel like he doesn’t want to pay attention to me?”
The roommate sighed. “Do you want to hear me say no?”
“……” Ouyang Yu sneered. “I’m really not.”
Five minutes before the start of the class, Qi Shao walked into the classroom and everyone immediately stopped chatting.
“You are all so early. I hope everyone’s enthusiasm will last for a long time,” Qi Shao said with a smile. “The last year I taught, there were people who were late every day less than two weeks after the start of school. Let’s see if you can last a few more days than the seniors.”
His speech was very friendly and the classroom burst out laughing.
“By the way, there is one more thing before class officially starts,” Qi Shao said. “Our class doesn’t have a class monitor yet. Is there any student who is willing to serve as the class monitor?”
The class monitor in college was different from high school and had no direct relationship to grades. It was mainly to assist the head teacher and teaching assistant to manage the class together and do some trivial chores. It was more like a babysitter.
The advantage was that the class monitor was closer to the teachers than ordinary students and they had more contact. They might know more about the latest news, gossip anecdotes, etc. Sometimes, this would bring them more opportunities.
However, everyone was a fresh high school graduate. There was the inertia of thinking that a relatively excellent student should be the class monitor. Hearing the teacher say this, people subconsciously looked at Pei Qingyuan who was sitting in the back row.
Pei Qingyuan didn’t react and was looking down at the book.
He didn’t have the time or interest to do this and Ji Tong next to him didn’t ask for it.
Ji Tong was thinking about the freshly cut fruits in his backpack.
He should’ve eaten a few pieces before the teacher came.
Ji Tong knew that the host’s time was precious and he didn’t want to waste it on these trivial matters. In any case, anyone was fine as the class monitor except the box with waxed hair.
As he was thinking about this, a male voice was heard from the other side of the classroom. “Teacher Qi, I can do it.”
Zhang Yun’s hedgehog hairstyle today was still very eye-catching. His tone was the same and was full of confidence.
His prayer was reversed. Ji Tong’s expression froze and the expression of many students also changed subtly.
Even Qi Shao was a bit surprised in his heart.
Zhang Yun was a capable person but his personality obviously wasn’t suitable for a role that required frequent interaction with the whole class.
As he was hesitating, Zhang Yun had already started to introduce himself and there was an air of ambition everywhere. “I have been the class monitor from elementary school to high school. I have rich management experience, whether it is in study or in life. I believe that I can bring help to my classmates and I will try to free up time to assist the teacher…”
Ji Tong listened with a blank face. Ouyang Yu, who was sitting in front of him, also looked blank and couldn’t help whispering to his roommate, “It is over. With his personality, the boys in our class will fight sooner or later. I don’t want it to be him. It is better for me to come.”
The roommate looked at him indifferently. “I will take it seriously.”
What?
Before Ouyang Yu could react, his hand was raised by his roommate.
Seeing this, Qi Shao sighed with relief and said in a humorous tone, “There are quite a few enthusiastic students in our class. Then let’s ask Ouyang Yu to express his campaign manifesto.”
Ouyang Yu looked confused as he was volunteered and he stumbled to organize his words. “That, I don’t know what to say. In any case, I will try to complete the tasks assigned by the teacher. Everyone can call me if they have something and I will try my best to help. If I can’t… I can still try.”
At his clumsy sincerity, good-natured laughter rang out in the classroom mixed with a clear voice, “If Ouyang Yu is to be the class leader, will he take the lead in wearing an umbrella to protect himself in the sun in the summer?”
Hearing Ji Tong’s words, everyone remembered the chat at last night’s dinner and laughter spread in an instant. Others followed up by ridiculing him. “Now you have no reason to take advantage of a girl’s umbrella. Teacher, choose him!”
Now that the atmosphere had relaxed again, Qi Shao took advantage of this half-joking remark to appoint him as the class monitor. He didn’t ask for a show of hands when voting to save face for Zhang Yun, who was bound to lose.
However, Zhang Yun still looked angrily at Ji Tong who was sitting on the other side.
This incompetent auditor with a free mouth was as annoying as his deskmate who was famous for marketing hype.
Qi Shao officially started the class. For the first class, he didn’t talk about too detailed things. He just led students to see the development history of the field of artificial intelligence in simple terms while imagining the future.
Most of the students present only had a superficial understanding of this major. At this moment, Qi Shao’s fascinating narration caused them to sometimes feel amazed and sometimes yearning. They basically listened very seriously.
This was except for Ji Tong and Pei Qingyuan.
One rested his cheek on his hand and pretended to listen while actually creating a file for each classmate in his head. In addition, he drew an ugly face on the most annoying Zhang Yun.
The other person was doing two things at once. He listened to Qi Shao’s lecture while silently consolidating what he had learned recently.
It was only when Qi Shao mentioned the Robot World Cup that the two of them paused at almost the same time.
“Our students often participate in various robot competitions. The most influential one is the Robostar robot competition, which is an international college mainly for college students. It contains a number of competitions, among which the soccer robot competition is the best to watch and the one that the outside world pays the most attention to. Therefore, this competition is often called the Robot World Cup or the RS Cup.”
“In this year’s domestic competition, the team from the institute won several championships but unfortunately only got third place in the international competition,” Qi Shao said. “The main force of the team usually ranges from junior to graduate students but maybe some of the students here will be able to participate in next year’s competition.”
Speaking of this, he glanced at Ji Tong and Pei Qingyuan. Based on the level of the jelly bean robot, Pei Qingyuan, who was a freshman, was fully qualified to join the team.
He just didn’t know who the rather exquisite design drawing came from.
But even without mentioning the design drawing, the finished product made by Pei Qingyuan was amazing enough.
At Qi Shao’s narration, the fifth main mission was triggered.
[Lead the team to win the championship at next year’s Robostar Robotics International Competition.]
Compared with the requirement of winning the championship, it might be more difficult to lead the team.
Ji Tong leaned toward the host’s ear and said in a low voice, “You aren’t going to be the class monitor this time. You are going to be the captain.”
Jiangyuan College was a famous old school that participated in the competition every year. There would be a large team with a fixed name and small teams that studied different competitions. The captains were different and all the members were replaced every year. After the main members graduated, the students in the lower level teams were promoted. It was rare for new players to directly become the main force or even a captain leading the whole team.
According to the mission requirements, the host would either have to form a completely new team or deal with a group of senior members.
Pei Qingyuan, who had gradually become familiar with the triggering methods of the mission, had an expectation in his heart when he heard Qi Shao mention various competitions.
He didn’t show any surprise. He just froze slightly when a warm breath touched his ears.
Pei Qingyuan looked back a bit stiffly just as the end of class bell rang. Ji Tong quickly abandoned the host and looked down to rummage through his bag for the fruits.
He pierced a small piece of watermelon with a toothpick and generously handed it to his benefactor who bought the fruit. “It looks sweet.”
The refreshing taste instantly filled his mouth.
“It is sweet.”
In the whole class, the one Qi Shao was most interested in now was Ji Tong. Seeing him bring out fruits to eat during the break, Qi Shao asked with a smile, “How do you feel about class? Can you still adapt?”
He knew that Ji Tong didn’t need to listen to these things at all.
Ji Tong gave him face. “Teacher Qi’s speech was really good.”
It entered the ears of others and they couldn’t help being a bit confused.
They really liked the personality of this auditor and no longer minded his identity. However, was his learning ability so poor that he needed a teacher to ask if he could adapt?
The content of this lesson was obviously so basic.
In the midst of these silent doubts, someone knocked on the classroom door a few times.
Qi Shao looked up and saw Qi Yunhe, a third year student of the school. He often came to the school to help and most of the teachers recognized him.
Seeing Qi Shao in the classroom, Qiao Yunhe stood at the door and smiled. “Hello, Teacher Qi. I came to your class to find someone.”
Qi Shao asked, “The RS Cup?”
Qiao Yunhe, who had a very mischievous personality, stood up straight and said solemnly, “You are still as bright as a torch.”
“Don’t play tricks.” Qi Shao smiled. “I guessed that a team would come over but I didn’t expect it to be so fast.”
Qiao Yunhe’s eyes scanned the classroom. “Yes, it is rare to be well-informed. I will definitely rush ahead of the other teams. The captain specifically told me to come as soon as possible.”
The students gradually reacted to the conversation between the two of them.
This senior was here to recruit members for a team participating in the RS Cup.
Everyone wanted this glory to fall on their heads but it was obvious that the person who would let a senior come to find him was Pei Qingyuan.
Qi Shao got up, vacated his seat and said jokingly, “There are five minutes left for the break. I’m cheering for you.”
“Okay!” Qiao Yunhe walked into the classroom under everyone’s eyes and stopped next to Pei Qingyuan’s desk.
Then he smiled and said, “These two junior students, are you interested?”
It was indeed to find Pei Qingyuan.
But it wasn’t just looking for him.
Qiao Yunhe’s gaze was more on Ji Tong. He wasn’t stingy with compliments as he tried to get close. “Junior, you look taller compared to the last time we met.”
Ji Tong: “……”
