Reality Programming Association

Chapter 37: Chapter 16: An Autumn Date

His gaze drifted to his phone screen, where the chat with the pixel cat avatar was still at the top of his list.

It was the record of the payment he’d sent to Uncertainty Robot after lunch yesterday.

’Wen Xiao?’

The name surfaced in his mind. She was Wen Yu’s sister.

’If it’s her, could I possibly get some information through Wen Yu?’

Yu Xian’s finger hovered over the screen as he hesitated for a few seconds. He and Wen Xiao had only met three times. ’Would she even help me?’

But he remembered that the ”stand-in” might be connected to his parents’ thesis, and the thesis might be connected to the accident.

He typed a line of text into the input box:

”Are you free this afternoon? I’d like to take you out for coffee and ask you a few questions about artificial intelligence.”

He hit send.

...

”What?!”

A scream almost blew the roof off the girls’ dormitory.

Shao Yiyi leaned out halfway from the top bunk, staring in shock at Wen Xiao below.

”Brother Cos asked you out? Alone? For coffee?”

She scrambled down the ladder in a flash.

”Aren’t you two moving... a little fast? You just had dinner together yesterday, and today he’s already asking you out on a date?”

Wen Xiao was standing in front of the full-length mirror, flusteredly holding up different outfits.

A few of her usual cartoon hoodies were piled on the bottom bunk.

”It’s not a date...”

Her face felt hot. ’That Shao Chacha is so loud,’ she thought, ’the students in the next room are going to hear everything.’

”He has some academic questions to ask me about AI.”

”Academic questions?”

Shao Yiyi rolled her eyes dramatically.

”What kind of normal guy asks a girl out on a weekend to talk about academics? Xiaoxiao, I’m telling you, it’s not the ’academics’ he’s interested in!”

Wen Xiao ignored her and pulled a cream-colored wool coat from her closet to try on.

’Hmm, compared to the cartoon hoodies I usually buy, this really does look more gentle and mature.’

’My sister really has good taste.’

”Xiaoxiao, are you really not going to take me with you?”

Shao Yiyi widened her big, sparkling eyes, looking pitiful.

”Even though I don’t know anything about artificial intelligence, I—I can be your bodyguard! I can help you see if this guy has any ill intentions!”

Her big eyes darted around before she added:

”Of course, if *you’re* the one with ill intentions toward *him*, I can be your strategist! I offer live coaching, and my track record is verifiable!”

”Oh, get out of here. You’re getting more and more ridiculous.”

Wen Xiao tossed the hoodie she’d just taken off at her.

Shao Yiyi seemed to remember something. ”Oh, right! Since you’re going to see him, remember to find a chance to ask for his full birth date and time again. Yesterday’s result was just too absurd.”

”Ask again?”

”You have to! ’Celestial Killer Lone Star: doomed to harm all kin, bringing danger to those near and sorrow to those who love.’ If that’s really his destiny, Xiaoxiao, you can’t just walk into the lion’s den, throw yourself into a trap, fly like a moth to a flame, and lead a wolf into your own house...”

”Okay, okay, I get it, I get it!”

Wen Xiao cut off the melodramatic Shao Yiyi, grabbing her bag and slinging it over her shoulder.

”I’m off! You’re on your own for dinner!”

With a BANG, the door closed, leaving Shao Yiyi staring at it like an abandoned child.

...

Yu Xian sat by the window in the coffee shop, watching the people bustle along the shopping street through the streaks of condensation on the glass.

Large, camouflage-painted trucks had been parked all over Jiangcheng lately. A checkpoint had even been set up at a nearby intersection, with people standing guard in the distance, prohibiting any photos or videos. He wondered if Wen Xiao would have to pass through it on her way here.

The bell at the entrance chimed. He instinctively looked up, his gaze lingering on the figure in the doorway for a couple of seconds. He didn’t stand up right away.

She was a girl in a cream-colored wool coat and a camel cashmere scarf, her hair styled in two graceful, low buns.

Only when she turned, revealing a small, rosy-cheeked face, did Yu Xian snap out of his daze. It was Wen Xiao.

”Have you been waiting long?” Wen Xiao asked as she reached the table. Her cheeks were flushed, presumably from the cold wind outside.

She unwrapped her scarf and pulled out the chair across from Yu Xian.

”No, I just got here myself. Today, you look...”

He trailed off, searching for the right word.

Wen Xiao usually hid inside oversized cartoon hoodies, looking like a perpetual homebody. But in this outfit, her childish air was gone, replaced by a hint of Wen Yu’s sophisticated grace.

”It’s a very different style. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

”I-Is that so?”

Wen Xiao sat down, smoothing the hem of her coat. ”I just... grabbed something warmer. It’s really cold today.”

The cafe was mostly empty, and the scent of caramel drifted through the air.

They placed their orders—a hot latte and an iced Americano—and the atmosphere turned slightly awkward.

Wen Xiao cradled her hot coffee, lost in thought.

Yu Xian, meanwhile, was trying to figure out how to begin. ’Mentioning Wen Yu and the treatment records right away would be too abrupt.’

Besides, he really did have a question to ask her.

”Actually, the main reason I asked you here today is because I was reading a paper a couple of days ago and came across something I can’t figure out.”

Yu Xian sat up a little straighter. ’This should make me look like I’m serious about discussing academic matters.’

”You’re majoring in artificial intelligence, so I wanted to ask you: is there any research in academia right now on the concept of ’personality vectorization’?”

At his question, Wen Xiao looked somewhat stunned. He wondered if the concept itself had shocked her.

”Ah, personality vectorization?” she repeated, as if just snapping out of a trance.

”That field... I guess you could say it’s at the absolute cutting edge of large language model research. Simply put, current AI is like a blank white on a color palette. Personality vectors are like adding color to that general model. For example, if you add a bit of an ’anger vector,’ it develops a temper.”