Chapter 16: Small Fry, All Small Fry

But unfortunately, the information sent by Cai Feng Chu did not include the overall condition of humans in the virtual world; it only introduced the White Cat Society and a few other human organizations within the school.

From the details provided, Lu Xing learned that there were not many humans in the school—typically only two or three per class, rarely more than five.

Just imagining classmates who were all androids sent a chill down his spine.

Wait a moment.

How different were these androids from humans in this world?

The information was too incomplete. Lu Xing shook his head and continued reading.

“Our White Cat Society has existed for over three hundred years. Our alumni are spread across the first layer of the world, with an employment rate exceeding 56%. There are thirty members within the school, one activity room, twelve exclusive exploits, and we have even conquered two androids to serve us…”

Lu Xing looked around, feeling puzzled.

Wait, what exactly is the White Cat Society’s purpose? Aren’t they supposed to resist the artificial intelligence Maria? Why are their graduates helping with job placements?

Granted, conquering two androids was a modest achievement, but compared to the reputation of a ‘human resistance army,’ the White Cat Society’s deeds were hardly respectable.

Moreover, these human organizations competed fiercely with one another, slandering each other as if fighting over scraps.

After reading the introduction to the White Cat Society, Lu Xing suddenly realized that Jiang Xuannü’s human resistance army was quite formidable—a formal military group, a united human student organization within the school, not even comparable to a ragtag militia.

No wonder Jiang Xuannü’s defensive system had instantly defeated them.

Pathetic—they were all just small fry.

“Classmate,” an android beside him turned and smiled, “what are you looking at?”

“N-nothing,” Lu Xing replied hastily.

He closed the information screen, unsure if it was because he had found the human organizations, but now interrogating the androids felt surprisingly natural.

Undeniably, Lu Xing’s human consciousness—reflected in subtle changes in expression and tone of voice—differed greatly from the androids’. That was why Cai Feng Chu had recognized his identity in just one morning.

He sensed many eyes on him but did not turn around. Such unnecessary movements were another difference between humans and androids.

“You’re lying,” the android classmate said, judging him.

Lu Xing ignored him.

As long as he did not violate the first two rules, Jiang Xuannü’s 1700 points would hold for a while.

At that moment, the teacher stepped onto the stage. Lu Xing took a book out of his backpack, folded his arms on the desk, sat upright with a slender waist and expressionless face, adopting Jiang Xuannü’s classic demeanor to prepare for class.

But the android was relentless. Lu Xing’s auxiliary chip received a direct message: “I know, you are human, so you lie, unlike us androids.”

Lu Xing tensed and finally turned to look at him.

The android still smiled as he transmitted the message: “Don’t worry, I advocate harmony between humans and androids. I won’t tell the teacher.”

“What happens if you do?” Lu Xing asked.

“The teacher will punish you, deducting one hundred points. Didn’t you know that? Is your memory chip malfunctioning? I can help.”

“No, thank you.”

“You’re welcome. If you need help, just ask. Since your memory is faulty, let me reintroduce myself. My code is hjAT1Wui7BB. I gave myself a human name—Wang Bagua. You can call me that privately.”

7BB, or Wang Bagua, turned and smiled at him.

Lu Xing nodded slightly, his mind racing.

He had witnessed the terrifying nature of the androids—not their means of controlling humans, but the intelligence they displayed.

The limited information he had was insufficient to judge the truthfulness of Wang Bagua’s words.

But one thing was certain: ordinary androids did not immediately know human identities. They had to analyze and come to conclusions.

In other words, if Lu Xing showed too many human behaviors, a classmate could report him, and his points would quickly vanish.

In this twisted world, one had to constantly manage expressions and avoid human-only behaviors in class—no spinning pens, no doodling circles, no sketching historical figures!

“Today’s lesson: we continue learning modern history.”

The teacher began the class from the podium.

Lu Xing glanced at the female teacher several times. The White Cat Society had said that graduates could find jobs in the virtual world, so the teacher might be human.

But clearly, those who graduated were excellent students who had long mastered disguising their humanity, rarely revealing their true nature.

Lu Xing opened the book—and the first page shocked him.

“Modern history begins five thousand years ago?!”

He had thought the White Cat Society’s claim of a three-hundred-year history was just boasting, like the schools in the 21st century bragging about their long heritage.

But it was true.

The beginning of modern history was marked by Professor Li Zhe’s publication of a paper titled “On Artificial Intelligence Lifeforms Revisited.”

After that, human society started to collapse for various reasons. Following five global upheavals, the Human Federation Council decided to create an unprecedented artificial intelligence lifeform, thus initiating the Maria Project.

This was the prologue to modern history.

Flipping to the latter part, after Maria’s creation, she determined that humanity had reached the end of its evolutionary path, and human civilization was destined to perish like the Elando civilization. After secretly cultivating an android army for years, she successfully took control of the world and ushered in a new era of androids and humans.

Modern history ended there.

“…”

Lu Xing struggled to control his expression, inwardly cursing: Weren’t you created by humans? Saying humanity’s at the end—who are you fooling, three-year-olds?

He preferred to believe that Maria, created by humans, had a major bug causing her to malfunction—or perhaps the world was still controlled by humans, and Maria was merely a conspirator’s tool.

However.

Lu Xing was very interested in alien civilizations. The 21st century had countless alien movies, but in the future world, aliens not only were confirmed to exist—they were obliterated outright?

Lu Xing told the android interface to connect to the network and download historical records onto his book.

He began to read from the start—no, from the 21st century—to see how the future world recorded his era and the subsequent global developments.

“Earth began forming 4.5 billion years ago…”

He skimmed past this; he already knew Earth’s history.

“Humans progressed from savagery to civilization, discovered nuclear energy, built nuclear power plants, invented nuclear weapons, and attempted to harness fusion energy.”

Hmm?

Lu Xing searched up and down, but that was all. Nothing more.

Wait—human history from the primitive era to the slave era, then from the slave era to the feudal era, spanned a full five thousand years!

Confucius, Emperor Qin, Liu Bang, Liu Bei, Cao Cao, Emperor Taizong of Tang, and abroad, Alexander the Great, Jesus, Rome, Buddha…

There were also two industrial revolutions, Newton, Einstein, Gauss, Planck…

And China’s modern history.

None of that appeared?

Scrolling further, Lu Xing found this:

“Ancient humans used nuclear weapons in warfare. The power unleashed by nuclear annihilation cloaked the Earth’s atmosphere in a thick dust cloud, altering the climate and causing mass extinction of primitive life. The dark clouds persisted for three hundred years.

After the nuclear war, Earth’s fragmented national systems began moving toward integration and unification.”