Convention - Ch. 9 Decriminalization

“Let’s get started.”

The magnetic voice echoed in the small room.

It came from the front, from the back, from the left, and as if from the right, from the top of the head, and yet seemed to spread up from the heel.

It was everywhere, as if there was no place to hide.

“Mo-Shi-Xin, please remember that every statement you make now is crucial, so please be sensible, objective, and truthful.”

The emotionless voice continued to echo.

Since ancient times, people used to pursue the ‘art of speech’ in dialogue and use it in interrogation, identifying it as an art, seeking contradictions and mistakes between intonation and staccato, confronting the prisoner with tic for tac, and unilaterally seeking the opportunity to win, killing him with a single blow, trapping his heart defenses and making him confess.

It is like the ‘sword’.

This is the art of ‘sword’ words.

“Where were you when the course deviated?”

The voice from the loudspeaker did not pause, not even a short gasp. It was calm and dry, like a wave on the sea that was slowly pushing toward this from the skyline. From a distance, it may look very quiet, but until you get closer, realize that it is a tsunami, and when you hear it’s roaring, everything is already too late.

Heavy, sharp, and yet unfailingly precise.

It was as if it were an ‘axe’.

It was the ‘axe’ words.

“I am in the control room.”

Mo ShiXin replied softly.

Although she did survive and did not panic at the sight of the axe like the nuns who survived the Danish attack.

“The operation route was predetermined, and no one could change the route without human interference, and as one of the person holding the navigator key, I think it is necessary for you to explain what exactly happened at that time.”

“The scene is too chaotic, I really do not know what happened, I only know that the route data went wrong, Lanna rushed out, said to rescue the information, and then gave me the key, I was dumbfounded, completely do not know what happened, but …… ”

“But what?”

‘Axe’ like words steeply increased in the ears of Mo ShiXin.

Just in the middle of speaking just now, a rectangular ‘head’ came close to her ear.

This head extended from the ceiling, with an arm of the composite material arm as a support, this is the artificial intelligence ‘Jacob’ who was ordered by the Coalition Government.

The name was probably taken in the hope that it, like ‘Jacob’, would prevent those terrible disasters for the ‘Pharaoh’.

There is no fancy decoration on it, only a large ‘eye’, this camera is connected to the outside room, real-time output of the interrogation content for the experts present to evaluate, of course, this eye of a deeper meaning of use……

“But combined with my escape experience as well as judgment words, I think it should be our computer data problems, for the sea ice speed prediction has a serious deviation, in order to avoid running aground, the system automatically deviated from the course, and therefore hit the iceberg.”

“You mean that the main cause of the accident ……”

Saying that, Jacob followed the track on the ceiling and moved to the front of Mo Shixin.

It stretched its voice deliberately long, and was deliberately slow and clumsy as the mechanical arm moved, emitting a click-click-click harsh sound, like a door that could not be pulled open due to rust, and just hearing this sound was enough to make the heart anxious. This is one of the techniques of the ‘axe’ style of discourse, which maximizes the use of environmental and dynamic factors that can stimulate the nerves of others, in order to destroy the logic of the lies of the interrogated and distract their attention.

Even this interrogation room was designed for this purpose, with a small space, bad lighting, and perfect soundproofing, all of which are things that can seriously disrupt the minds of mortals.

“Is it because there are certain tiny bugs in the program we prepared before?”

“Tiny?”

Mo ShiXin raised her head slightly. With cloudy purple eyes looking at the huge red pupils, which did not reveal any mood closely related to the lie, but instead was permeated with contempt.

“If this was a tiny bug, would it cause such a result?”

At the words, Jacob shrank back a few centimeters as if he had been refuted with reason. Of course, it is impossible for the AI to retreat for the sake of justification, and the reason why it has to retreat is simply to shine the camera’s lie detection system. This system, through the voice pattern, micro-expressions, and a series of small movements, and even heart rate and sweating, judges if the person is lying, its performance far exceeds the traditional sense of the polygraph, even in the face of trained people, the accuracy is up to 98.905%.

The red eyes rotated twice like the lens of a DSLR camera and came back together after another short silence.

“But from the information we received, as well as the feedback from Ars in the operations room, at the time of the course deviation, there were unusual changes in your vital signs, specifically in the form of violent pupil constriction, abnormal fluctuations in blood pressure, etc. This is almost identical to the tension you had when you submitted the error report earlier, and the most active areas of your brain at this time are all creation zones, which is different from the physiological reaction that humans should have in an emergency, closer to ……”

Speaking of which, Jacob’s eyes rolled twice, and then coldly moved up at a very fast speed, almost on Mo ShiXin’s nose before stopping, its eyes released a fierce red light, and the subsequent light is imperceptible slightly darkened, revealing a sense of intimidation that has been irresistible.

“The reaction of humans when they commit crimes.”

“At that time I was afraid.”

Mo ShiXin said slowly, staring straight into the blinding red light without blinking as tears began to seep from her eyes.

“My first reaction was to run away, but thinking that Lanna had given me this key because she trusted me, I felt it was my duty to find out what was going on, but I wasn’t familiar with this and was terrified of making things worse.”

She said as she wiped away her own tears with her hand.

“I had done all I could do, I didn’t know what else to do, and Lanna left in a hurry, leaving me alone ……”

“The entire scientific research team, there are five people who have the key, why everyone else’s login access was blocked, only yours was fine.”

“I was scared, my first reaction at that time was to correct the route, and I tried to contact the other people who had the command, but …… I couldn’t get in touch. The key didn’t belong to me in the first place, and I was following the established procedures within the system when I made the course corrections, I, I just turned them off and back on again.”

Hearing this, ‘Jacob’ slowly returned from Mo ShiXin’s nose, it slightly tilted the camera sideways and looked as if it was thinking about something with its head down.

“What happened to your hair, it is understood that you were so emotionally unstable on the rescue team’s plane that your hair turned white overnight.”

“Lanna is like my mother ……,” Mo ShiXin sobbed softly.

‘Jacob’ listened silently, and not a moment later, the intense red light bursting from its eyes converged, and the incandescent light in the room returned to its original brightness.

“Miss Mo ShiXin, I hope you can tell the truth, the governor’s committee is highly concerned about this matter, you can even call it a shock. This matter is not only a matter for your GST, but also for the Coalition Government, and even all of humanity ……”

“Aren’t you a GST-made contraption too ……”

As ‘Jacob’ spoke, Mo ShiXin muttered in a small voice, even the smallest voice could not have escaped ‘Jacob’s’ vocal sensor, but it did not react to this, but continued to speak.

“……The damage, the current aftermath is difficult to sort, thousands of broken families are blocking the doors of this building, natural or man-made disasters, the Coalition Government has the obligation and responsibility to give these families and all of humanity a satisfactory answer.”

“I’ve said all I know.”

“Very well, then, let’s move on to the next question.”

“Be my guest.”

“Your father, Mo HeSheng, has a deep conflict with the group’s CEO, Herman, what do you think about this matter?”

“I don’t know much about it, my father is a very straightforward man.”

“Did this influence your judgment in the operation room?”

Mo ShiXin frowned.

“My father’s quarrels had nothing to do with me; I went into Dunkeld’s class when I was very young, and there were my teacher and classmates.”

“Speaking of your teacher, were you informed about the treatment she led that did great harm to your father?”

“What treatment?”

“Very well, let’s move on to the next topic ……”

“What treatment?!”

Without waiting for Jacob to continue, Mo ShiXin jerked up from her seat and yanked it by the iron neck.

“What do you mean by treatment just now? And great damage! What happened to my father!?”

“This is an unrelated topic, and we will not discuss it here.”

“Tell me clearly, or else ……”

Just then, just as Mo ShiXin was twisting that mechanical head, a stern rebuke came from somewhere else.

“Stop it, Mo Shixin.”

This was not the sound made by Jacob’s mechanical voice, but an emotional, urgent rebuke.

“Now is the interrogation, we can not allow you to be reckless, we promise not to hide it from you about this after this matter, after the interrogation the information will be delivered to your hands one by one.”

This should be the voice of the experts sitting outside watching the interrogation, Mo ShiXin knows that her behavior is likely to have deceived the experts, so she pretended to freeze for a while, lips half open and half closed, a look of desire to speak and then stop.

After a while, only then did she sit down.

“Well ……”

She said, breathing heavily.

At that moment she felt a snicker of joy inside her, for the first time in her life, at her own deception.

The people outside had been completely baffled by her acting, and she was tempted to shallowly sketch a slight angle at the corners of her mouth, showing her contempt for others in such an inconspicuous way, but at the same time she was very conscious that after the conversation she had just had, she probably understood what the Supervisory Committee meant, that they only needed an outcome that would make sense to the outside world, and as for the truth, perhaps they didn’t care.

”Hold back.”

She had to maintain control of her micro-expressions, and even the slightest carelessness in front of Jacob, her mask would be mercilessly torn off.

“The next question, why did you not wear a protective suit, it is important because the loss of life of everyone is related to the suit, it is not your responsibility, it is a fatal oversight in the design of the development team, you just need to tell me, why you did not wear it, the incident occurred when you were in a control room very close to the protective suit storage room, why did not wear a protective suit? ”

“I couldn’t grab them, when the disaster happened, everyone went for the protective suits, I was too weak.”

“And rightly so.”

Jacob said, cocking his head.

“So, tell me about the other survivor.”

“That was my benefactor Lanna’s child, the pressure of the seawater saved her life because the concentration of liquid nitrogen drifting to my side has been insufficient, so it had relatively thin ice, so that this child’s capsule managed to squeeze through the ice …… honestly, I am an atheist, but see this scene I think ……maybe there is God ……”

“Please ease yourself up a little.”

“Well ……”

Mo ShiXin said, wiping the corners of her eyes with her sleeve, bringing out a few tears.

“The next question, within your GST group, there is a strict test regarding newborns.”

“Yes, wait, why are you asking this, your questions are getting stranger and stranger.”

“You are tested for qualifications from birth, so do you understand your birth report?” Jacob didn’t pay any attention to Mo ShiXin’s question.

“No, I don’t understand.”

Mo ShiSin shook her head dryly.

“My father didn’t show it to me, and then I heard from my classmates that the birth reports of our batch were lost because of computer problems, and more than that I’m not sure and I didn’t care.”

“We investigated the previous twelve years you entered GST’s resume with each subject, very good, the teacher’s evaluation of you is also very good, hard work, integrity, personality, although too introverted, but also considered to have good communication.”

“Hmm.”

“As an artificial intelligence I may be a bit strange to say this, but ……”

Said here, Jacob suddenly paused, and then quietly came to Mo ShiXin’s ear and quietly said.

“You behave like a machine.”

This voice was very low, as if it was the low roar of a fierce beast as it issued a warning, and it was this moment that Mo ShiXin’s body was invigorated, feeling that the airtight defense line had revealed an opening.

Although only for a moment, she was in a big panic, her own behavior has been exposed, she does not know whether if her mask was exposed party due to this hesitation and therefore Jacob captured her expression, so she still pretends to be calm with Jacob stare.

“Just kidding, please don’t mind, as long as they see your overnight white hair, no one can doubt your sensibility, let’s summarize your statement, the direct cause of this accident is the serious deviation of the preliminary experimental data, the indirect cause is a major failure in the development of protective clothing, and to its root, should be due to the Icelandic glacier change rate exceeded the normal range, so this accident is undoubtedly a ‘natural disaster plus man-made disaster’, right?”

“Yes.”

“The last question, this is a question I am asking you on behalf of the higher-ups of the Coalition Government, you can choose not to answer it, but it does not affect my judgment about you in any way.”

“Please ask.”

“How do you think we can escape the giant ice age in 200 million years?”

“Move to another planet.”

“Okay, thank you, Miss Mo ShiXin.”

After coming out of the interrogation room, Mo ShiXin did not stay too long in the special detention office of the Coalition Government, and was released after probably only about less than seventy-eight hours, which was far below the maximum detention time set by the Coalition Government, especially for a person like her who was related to a major accident.

This means that her acting skills passed, as she thought, the accident needs to be a convincing truth for the world, although Mo ShiXin is suspicious, and Jacob’s test does not completely determine that she is not lying, but the attitude she showed is very convincing, if she is further investigated, the accident will become more confusing, and may involve more people, the outside world is unlikely to believe that an 18-year-old girl directed the accident, the truth is sometimes too magical, which is not the truth the world wants.

When she walked out the door of the Public Safety Administration of the United Government, the heatwave hit her, used to the air conditioning in the detention office with the temperature set too low, even the room temperature seemed to make people uncomfortable …… or maybe it was just because she had stayed in Iceland too long.

“Ms. Mo ShiXin, can I ask you to give an interview?”

“Ms. Mo ShiXin, can you please tell us how it happened?”

“Some people on the internet are now claiming that the Coalition Government suspects you of being the cause of the accident, what do you think about that?”

The first person to greet her outside was not her father, nor Chen Yang, but an overwhelming number of journalists, who had been active on the backline and had not had much opportunity to see such a big show. These journalists were like a swarm of insects storming the police cordon built for her, with microphones waving like fangs and claws, which really scared the unprepared her, but only to such an extent.

She was halfway there when she suddenly stopped.

Speaking into one of the microphones, she said in a slightly sobbing voice.

“I don’t know, I’m bitter, but I’m really so scared, I want to cry so badly, you guys make me feel like a monster.”

And then covered her face with her sleeve and walked forward, not to hide her crying face, of course, but to hide her smile, something like lying is really addictive, if it’s for yourself.

At the end of the cordon, there was a car parked.

It was black, Mo ShiXin recognized it, it was the old car of her father, she had been sitting in the back of this car since she was a child at school. She pulled open the door, but the driver’s seat was not her father anymore.

“Your father wanted me to come pick you up, Mo.”

Hearing these words, Mo Shixin reacted that the man holding the steering wheel in front of her with a weak smile was Chen Yang.

After so many years of not seeing him, Chen Yang also suffered the heavy punch of age, his face has a lot of furrows and wrinkles. Although in Mo ShiXin’s impression, Chen Yang has always been a bearded man, but never like this, the beard is so long that it covers the neck, so she did not recognize this unkempt Chen Yang.

Mo ShiXin did not say much, silently sat on the position where she sat many times as a child, looking out at the scenery. Chen Yang stepped on the gas and drive the car far away from the crowd gathered in front ……

In the car, Mo ShiXin fell asleep.

Due to the heavy school load in the past, she would always fall asleep when her father drove her back, which may have become a habit. She slept soundly, every previous sleep in the detention center she recalled the events of that day and the scene where Lanna finally parted from her, which made her feel very tired after waking up, and because of the monitoring of her brain waves, she even worried for a while that Jacob might not see something in it.

After about forty minutes, she woke up, going home from school, almost a forty-minute drive, and coming here from the detention center, it seems to take only nearly forty minutes …… although looking at the strange building, Mo ShiXin was not sure if this was still her home.

Chen Yang took her up the winding stairs and walked step by step toward her former home.

When Chen Yang opened the door for her who had no key, suddenly from the depths of the home, there came a faint roar.

“No! I absolutely won’t do it!”

“But…”

“There’s no more! Results will be the same.”

“Don’t you be so deadheaded, HeSheng.”

The person who was fuming was obviously her father, while the gentle and somewhat bitter voice on the side was a bit unfamiliar.

Chen Yang walked in front of her, step by step, taking her towards her father’s room, after not seeing her father for many years, she was a little apprehensive, even to say uneasy, and the dilapidation of the house aggravated this feeling, forcing her to give a gentle push to Chen Yang, signaling him to walk faster.

And Chen Yang just looked back at her, shook his head, and did not speed up his steps a bit.

Just about to approach the room, Mo ShiXin found that near her father’s room, there was a man in a black suit, meticulously dressed, leaning against the wall, thinking about something, this person looked somewhat older, already considered to be in his twilight years, as far as the temperament is concerned, he is similar to Herman.

“Well?”

Chen Yang asked to the old man.

The old man shrugged his shoulders.

“No, he’s too stubborn.”

“It makes sense …… However, the situation is different now.”

“Oh?”

“Little Mo is back.”

Saying that, Chen Yang sidled up and pushed Mo ShiXin to come in front.

“This is Little Mo.”

“Hmm.”

The old man looked Little Mo up and down and nodded his head.

“Already grown up so much.”

“Yes, but do I know you?”

Mo ShiXin nodded politely toward the old man.

“You probably don’t, but I’ve seen you as a child.”

“So…may I ask what you were discussing with my father? It looks to me like he’s a little overexcited.”

“This ……”

The old man stopped and stared at Chen Yang, then hurriedly changed the topic.

“Your father is still waiting for you, I’ll tell you after you come out.”

After saying that, he pointed out the half-open door of the room for Mo ShiXin.

She couldn’t wait to walk towards the door of the room and go inside.

Chen Yang and the old man looked at each other, sighed at each other, and stood still outside the door.

When Mo HeSheng raised his head, Mo ShiXin didn’t recognize her father for a moment.

Or rather she didn’t dare to recognize her father …… Not everyone has the courage to admit that a dried up, sickly and stooped thing is their father.

But after a short hesitation, she flicked her lips and said in a trembling voice.

“Father…I’m back.”

Mo HeSheng stared at the open door with its hooded white eyes for a long moment of hesitation before reaching out his hand toward the blurred figure.

“ShiXin …… Are you ShiXin?”

Although he could not hide the excitement in his tone, it seemed a bit flat due to the lack of energy.

“It’s me, I’m back, father.”

Mo ShiXin walked forward and helped her father, who was sitting on his knees, up and hugged him tightly.

“I’m back, father.”

“You’re hungry…later, I’ll cook rice for you.”

Mo HeSheng patted his daughter’s back, and a few tears seeped out of his white-shaded eyes.

He then let go of his tightly held hands and ran both hands over his daughter’s face.

“You’ve lost weight. ……”

“Father, you…you too, how have you been? If you want, I think I can find a way to ask someone to arrange some new jobs for you, like astronomy ……”

Mo ShiXin said, wiping the tears at the corner of her father’s eyes.

“Astronomy …… astronomy …… not go back, I do not want to go back, I can also do research at home, all these years I have been listening to the signals of the Phoenix Galaxy… …Ah, yes.”

Said Mo HeSheng as if he suddenly remembered something. He forcefully pushed Mo ShiXin away, nearly pushing Mo ShiXin to the wall, then picked up an ancient mp4 from where he was squatting, then put it in front of Mo ShiXin and pressed the play button.

“I tell you ah, I met a friend a few days ago, he told me a story, too wonderful, I recorded it.”

Mo ShiXin put her ear close to the mp4, but did not hear any meaningful sound, there is only noise, even if this is something that needs to be deciphered, it will obviously be a regular sound, and what the father is playing now, it is completely just pure noise.

But Mo ShiXin did not want to upset her father, so she pretended to be interested and continued.

“A friend? What friend, where is he?”

“He, he’s on my balcony, come here, come here!”

With that, Mo HeSheng took his daughter’s hand, limped, and trotted into the balcony next to his bedroom.

It was a place full of Mo ShiXin’s memories, and she still remembered how her father had spoken freely under the stars back then, the astronomical telescope, and how he had cherished it.

But when she arrived at the balcony, she was stunned that the high magnification astronomical telescope, which her father had always cherished so much, had been dismantled …… no, it couldn’t be said to be dismantled, because it did seem to have its original shape, only anyone could see that it could no longer be used for astronomical observation.

“Close the door! I’m going to open the windows!”

Mo HeSheng said in a commanding tone, but where was there a window on this balcony?

This astronomical telescope, now so sadly standing on the balcony, all kinds of inexplicable electronic components and plastic junk was a brain spliced on the top, not with welding, nor relying on wiring, simply sticking with tape, this machine is like a patient suffering from cancer but can not die, the body is crowded with unlimited growth of tumors, so Mo ShiXin’s heart felt a chill.

“Come, sit, this is a magnificent and magnificent story, too sad, you must listen.”

“Father…father …… where is your friend?”

“Right here ah.”

Mo HeSheng said and pointed to the terminally ill telescope.

“Although it speaks a little whisper, but he will also speak while writing it down, you do not see? That is densely packed with words on it.”

Mo ShiXin stared at the instrument, tears immediately gushed out, the astronomical telescope that stopped working, even the lens was broken, GST did not provide funds to Mo HeXheng for a long time, that friend, only possible that he imagined it.

Her father had gone crazy.

“What’s wrong? Daughter, are you hungry? I’ll go and cook for you.”

“Mm.”

Mo ShiXin nodded.

“I’m hungry, let’s tell the story later.”

She covered her face and deceived her father just like she deceived everyone else.

When father and daughter came out of the room, Mo HeSheng went straight towards the kitchen.

Mo ShiXin, on the other hand, had to walk very slowly because of her heavy feet, and it took a while before she came out.

“Did you see that?”

Chen Yang squinted his eyes and gave Mo ShiXin a glance, then turned his head to the side, probably not wanting to reveal his expression.

“I tried my best, maybe I’m to blame for finding out too late. But …… I really wanted to help him.”

“I know, Uncle Chen, it’s not your fault.”

Mo ShiXin said, squatting down on the ground.

“I’m at fault too.”

Just as she was holding her head, in remorse over the state of her father, the old man in the black suit walked over.

“Now, I can say things.”

“What is it.”

“As you can see, your father’s state …… I think it is more important for him to go for specialized treatment than to be a father.”

“What do you mean?”

“I wish that I could be your guardian.”