After breakfast, Estelle went to the library to look up information.
She had originally planned to go alone, but considering that there was still some residual Rosaline, even though the peak effects mostly occurred at night, she decided to take Crescent along for safety.
But he didn't have a library card, so he couldn't accompany her inside and had to wait outside.
Estelle settled him in the coffee corner inside the library and instructed him to be careful not to reveal his identity. Crescent nodded in agreement. Estelle was still uneasy and ordered him a cup of coffee to make it seem like he belonged before leaving.
Many years ago, when the world war broke out, Country Z used advanced magnetic radiation weapons and maliciously embedded hacker programs.
In an instant, the high-frequency magnetic radiation caused all internal storage files within the affected area to be forcibly altered into gibberish. As a result, after the war, apart from the important documents that countries had encrypted and backed up beforehand, and a portion of paper books that survived the fighting, almost no other written records remained. Nearly 40% of human civilization disappeared with the smoke of that war.
This was an era of significant loss and fragmentation in history, where even with advanced technology, libraries remained one of the key repositories of civilization.
Estelle walked into the artificial intelligence program hall, where the tiers stacked up like a vast forest of books. The surroundings were empty and quiet, as if no one had yet ventured here. It made sense, given that such a cutting-edge and specialized literature area would only attract a handful of people across the entire city.
So when she heard footsteps approaching and then looked up to see Gavriel, it was unexpected but also logical. Estelle smiled at him and said, "What a coincidence."
It had been half a month since their last meeting. Spring had arrived in the city, and many flowers were blooming along the streets.
Gavriel looked at Estelle without speaking but instead reached into his pocket to turn off his phone. That gesture did not escape Estelle's notice. She looked down and laughed, saying, "With technology so advanced, we still have to consult physical books for information and rely on chance meetings to see each other. It's like we're regressing."
After she left Stella Technology, Gavriel had taken over as Director of Engineering and Research and Development.
Now, with almost all of the company's technical secrets in his hands, Aiden naturally imposed restrictions on his personal freedom, requiring him to develop PWL in isolation within the company. Even his personal phone had a monitoring plugin installed. All the people he met and conversations he had were recorded and archived for verification.
"My phone is out of power. It takes five minutes to walk to the public magnetic charging station." Gavriel spoke cryptically. "It's rare for us to meet, let's chat for a bit."
Five minutes was enough for them to talk about many things, but Estelle opened her mouth, unsure of what to say.
She had resigned, and they had been out of touch for a long time. There was nothing they could easily bring up for conversation. Seeing that he was holding a book about behavioral programming, she asked, "Are you holding this because there's a problem with the PWL project?"
Gavriel paused and put the book back on the shelf casually.
"No, just browsing."
His answer was brief, leaving no room for further discussion. Perhaps he still didn't want to violate company regulations.
Estelle understood and didn't push. The topic passed by, and they chatted about inconsequential topics. Five minutes passed quickly, and Gavriel checked his watch, bidding farewell to Estelle, "I have to go."
"Wait... Monitor."
She hadn't called him that in a long time. Gavriel hesitated, stopping instinctively.
Estelle asked, "Do you remember? For our class, everyone's graduation project was an independent AI robot. Before graduation, the school required the collection of our projects. You were the class monitor, and you were responsible for transporting all the robots. Where did those robots end up?"
"They were destroyed," Gavriel answered.
Estelle was stunned for a moment, seemingly unwilling to accept it, and asked, "Including the chips?"
"Including the chips." Gavriel nodded in confirmation. "I watched those robots being transported into the destruction chamber. After the destruction was completed the next day, I verified the quantity of raw materials with the manufacturer."
Estelle's gaze dimmed. Gavriel looked at her and asked, "What's wrong? We graduated so many years ago, why are you asking about this now?"
"Nothing," she said softly. "I just suddenly remembered and was curious."
Gavriel quickly left the artificial intelligence program hall and, passing by the coffee corner, saw PWL-000 sitting there.
People came and went in the coffee corner. PWL-000 was reading a magazine with his head down. Gavriel watched him from a distance. Suddenly, PWL-000 raised his eyes and recognized him.
For a moment their eyes met, and Gavriel felt a sudden daze, as if he saw the shadow of someone in PWL-000.
But the feeling was too vague, just a fleeting thought. He found it familiar, yet he couldn't recall who it was.
