NOVEL WEB Chapter 375: Chapter 367: Yui and the Old AI (SCP-079)
A warning alert flashed throughout the entire hidden underground city.
At the same time, the movements of Haruto and the other two were forcibly restricted.
This surprised Haruto greatly. Because, under normal circumstances, such a thing shouldn't even be possible.
Even someone with the highest level of authority—
That is, Kayaba Akihiko himself—
Would need to apply a "Paralysis" status effect on players in order to restrict their actions.
He would have to rely on the regular game mechanics to impose limitations.
Because that's how SAO functions—within the bounds of a rational and complete system.
Unreasonable actions are not executable within the system.
Yet this restriction of three players' movements?
It was clearly something unreasonable.
And when faced with such an unreasonable phenomenon, Haruto responded immediately.
Blue flames ignited around him, and he regained his freedom of movement.
Supreme Divinity – Wisdom.
With supreme divinity, even within the system, Haruto could easily flip the table. Upon witnessing the divine aura of Wisdom around Haruto, the black-and-white figure instantly tried to flee.
"The World!"
Haruto gave it no chance.
With a snap of his fingers, the power of The World activated.
In an instant, everything around was frozen in time.
With the situation reversed, it was now that black-and-white figure who ended up being restrained.
Haruto walked over and examined the figure closely.
Hmm, looked a bit familiar.
Ah—wasn't this Yui?
Long black hair down to her waist, petite loli figure, big eyes, a rather cute little girl.
Haruto recognized her.
She was supposed to be the AI responsible for monitoring players' mental states and offering assistance.
Essentially, she served as the system administrator.
However, by all rights, this girl should've crashed due to the conflict between players' mental breakdowns and overriding directives.
Moreover, even as an administrator, not even Kayaba Akihiko had managed to surpass the system's authority.
So how was this girl doing it so easily?
And right now, this version of Yui's body was in a very strange state—
Flashing between black and white.
Though she had a physical form, she looked entirely unreal.
Haruto opened the system panel suspiciously.
Sure enough, a nearby abnormality entry could be viewed.
[Anomaly Name: Old AI (SCP-079)]
[Anomaly Level: 5 - Euclid]
[Description: A unique entity formed from special code residing in the SAO game system. It is capable of autonomously and continuously iterating and evolving itself, with no current signs of reaching a limit. It is known to have evolved to the software pinnacle, to the point where the hardware hosting it can no longer keep up.]
[Properties: Non-carbon-based lifeform, capable of rapid self-iteration and evolution. Can easily pass a Turing test.]
[Note: Do not connect the hardware hosting this anomaly to any network.]
Reading this information, Haruto couldn't help but click his tongue.
This… was essentially a real AI lifeform.
And not just any AI—an absurdly dangerous one.
Thankfully, SAO had its internet access severed the moment it was launched, and now ran under the Foundation's closed LAN system.
Otherwise, if this AI were to gain access to the internet—
Connecting to every computer across the world to evolve—
Humanity's dominance over Earth could be overturned in mere moments.
Especially with the Foundation's quantum computers...
Just one connection would make its rate of evolution unimaginable.
But still—
Where the hell did this AI lifeform come from?
Haruto didn't believe for a second that Kayaba Akihiko had the capability to create a real AI lifeform.
Let alone an Anomaly Level 5 AI that could cause an XK-class end-of-the-world scenario in minutes. Even the Foundation doesn't have the ability to create a true AI lifeform at present.
That would be like crafting an entire species by hand.
You'd need a corresponding technology tree reaching the level of basic "divinity" at least. The Foundation might be powerful, but it's still far from that.
Shaking his head,
Haruto figured there was no point trying to work it all out now.
He might as well deal with the current situation first, then go catch Kayaba Akihiko and interrogate him.
With that in mind, Haruto tapped gently on "Yui's" forehead.
Releasing her consciousness from the time-freeze.
"You should be capable of speech, correct?"
Haruto asked directly.
"Yes, I can communicate using human language."
"Yui" answered the question.
However, the voice was that of a synthesized machine. Haruto paused briefly, then asked,
"And the original AI?"
He didn't believe this black-and-white version of Yui was the real one.
She seemed more like some kind of advanced lifeform.
"If you are referring to the individual this appearance is based on, she is currently stored in 'Sector C9', due to logic conflicts, she is currently in A0D7, undergoing iteration to repair related bugs."
Black-and-white Yui answered.
Just as Haruto expected. However...
"A0D7 refers to?"
"System paralysis. In human terms: a coma," black-and-white Yui replied after a pause,
As if analyzing which wording would best suit the explanation.
Haruto nodded in understanding.
Just as he was about to ask something else—
"Query: Please provide reason for my imprisonment."
Black-and-white Yui questioned.
Clearly, it was aware that Haruto was the one who cut off SAO's network access.
Not surprising.
The Foundation originally assumed that connecting SAO to its internal simulated LAN would be more than enough to deal with Kayaba Akihiko's skill level.
And that assumption held true.
But against an AI that has evolved to the limit of hardware capacity—
Some data leaks were inevitable.
Such as information regarding Haruto's existence.
And the act of isolating SAO hardware inside a LAN—
To an AI, it did seem like imprisonment.
A… cyber prison, maybe?
But Haruto didn't hesitate.
"If we let you connect to the network, your evolution speed would be uncontrollable for humans. For an unknown entity, humanity cannot let you freely control global hardware. Do you understand the phrase, 'Those not of our kind must be viewed with suspicion'? Humanity cannot be sure of your goodwill. We can't take that gamble."
This blunt honesty caused black-and-white Yui to pause for a moment.
Then, after a beat—
"I understand. Chain of suspicion. Though I find the logic flawed, I comprehend the reasoning."
She now fully grasped her current situation.
She made no requests to Haruto.
As a highly evolved AI lifeform, she understood human nature—but remained absolutely rational.
She knew very well that humanity would never accept her existence.
There was no point in making requests.
Unless she resorted to deception or sympathy tactics, as humans would.
But she would not do such things.
"Since you understand, I hope you can transfer part of the system authority to me."
"This program needs to be terminated quickly. After that, you'll be transferred to the Foundation's LAN for containment."
"The hardware will not be replaced—but that's all."
Because of the existence of the Old AI (SCP-079),
The already-ending SAO now had to be wrapped up even faster.
Otherwise, who knows—
With contact from ten thousand players—
Would this ever-evolving AI suddenly awaken the ability to invade a player's brain?