Chapter 24: Ada Has Disappeared

Human servants, having lost their livelihoods, harbored deep resentment toward the "elites" who used the banner of "women's liberation" to strip them of their last means of survival. They also detested the AI servants that these elites used to manipulate the world.

This hatred, rooted in humility and despair, soon cost them their reason. Incited by their ringleader, they began to view every woman in the alleyway as an "AI princess"—the type of person who had caused, or would cause, their unemployment.

They seized a young girl who had been watching the commotion and failed to escape to her apartment in time. She was a young woman wearing a cheap, round-necked dress. The attackers shoved her against a wall, lifted her hem, and inspected her body to see if she was made of flesh and blood. Once satisfied she was human, they released her and turned to their next target.

The male rioters did not participate. They were far too shrewd. Singapore punished such acts of public humiliation with caning. However, to protect the pelvic organs essential for childbearing, this brutal punishment was only applied to males between the ages of 18 and 50; it was never inflicted upon female offenders. Therefore, they were perfectly content to let the women lead the charge. The men even turned away, wearing mocking expressions as they sized up the human men who crowded around to watch but dared not intervene.

"Police! The police are here!" someone finally shouted.

The Geylang area, a place teeming with humanity’s most primal desires, was filled with churches, temples, and mosques, as well as a dense network of police stations ready to respond to emergencies. Twenty minutes after the violence broke out, the police arrived, arrested the primary and secondary offenders, and sent the human victims to the hospital to be checked for physical injuries and psychological trauma.

"Ah-Tai!" Luo Nan pushed through the chaotic crowd and found Zhou Yongtai. The latter was just about to turn and head up the stairs of a low-rise residential building.

"Ada is inside. A kind landlady pulled her up just before those thugs could reach her. It was so close—just a hair's breadth away from her being dragged off by those people! I... I blocked the doorway."

Zhou Yongtai spoke much faster than usual. He was genuinely terrified. Although no blood had been shed, the scene reminded him of his past, when he was hunted by AI squads while hiding on a deserted island.

"A landlady?" Luo Nan’s expression clouded with suspicion. "I know this old building well. The landlord is an old uncle, and the tenants were two Burmese students, but they moved out recently. It wasn't locked today—were there real estate agents showing the place?"

Zhou Yongtai, already on the stairs, stopped abruptly and looked back at Luo Nan. Over the past few days, Zhou had learned the meaning of "real estate agent" from advertisements on doors and windows all over Singapore. Yet, moments ago, the kind woman who emerged from the house had explicitly claimed to be the landlady.

A strange look flashed in the eyes of both Zhou Yongtai and Luo Nan. Without another word, they hurried up the stairs.

It was an old "shophouse," a common sight in Singapore, with two levels. The black-and-white patterned floor tiles, typical of the colonial era, were mostly chipped or damaged. The stairwell was dim, and the windows at the corner, which should have provided light, were completely blocked by the oversized banana leaves growing wildly outside.

Despite the gloom, the two men could see at a glance that there was no one and nothing moving in the three open rooms on the second floor.

"Ada!" Zhou Yongtai shouted at the top of his lungs, already standing before the only closed wooden door. He began to tremble.

Memories that had never truly died attacked him with precision. When he was a child, his mother and Ada had warned him every day: "Do not open the door. The animals outside, whether Komodo dragons or orangutans, might be fake—AI disguised as small animals to deceive humans. Many humans hiding in abandoned houses were dragged out just like that, torn to pieces while under the mechanical arms of the AI."

Seeing Zhou Yongtai frozen in place, Luo Nan pushed him aside without hesitation and grabbed the doorknob.

"It’s locked from the inside!" Luo Nan muttered, then kicked the door open.

With a loud bang, the door gave way, and Luo Nan nearly stumbled forward from the momentum. Behind the wooden door was not a room, but a steel staircase hidden beneath a dense "rain tree." Many old buildings constructed during the colonial era had been retrofitted with such fire escapes funded by the government.

"Ada! Are you downstairs? The police are here; it’s safe now," Luo Nan called out.

There was no response.

Luo Nan descended two steps at a time. Having lived in this alley for years, this was his first time at the back of the building. It was also his first time realizing that beneath the tropical plants he had often viewed from above, there were small paths wide enough for vehicles.

Last night’s rain had left two clear tire tracks in the mud. Luo Nan looked up and scanned the area, but all he could see were the lush branches and cascading aerial roots of rain trees and banyan trees; his neighbors' windows were nowhere to be found.

"Ah-Tai, that woman you mentioned is definitely suspicious. Ada wouldn't have just gone for a joyride with her, would she? Come on, let's go find the police."

"No, we can't call the police," Zhou Yongtai blurted out, though he immediately realized his reaction was abnormal.

The young traveler stood on a step higher than Luo Nan, looking down at him, yet he appeared as panicked and helpless as prey discovered in its burrow.

Luo Nan stared at him. "Ah-Tai, who exactly are you people?"

Zhou Yongtai clutched his head and slumped onto the steel steps in defeat.

...

Sentosa, located in the south of Singapore’s main island, was once a British naval base during the colonial period. Because of its long history of pirate unrest and its use as a graveyard for the dead during World War II, the small island had a rather ominous name: "Death Island."

After Singapore gained independence, it was renamed "Sentosa," which means "peace and tranquility" in Malay. Following the rapid economic development of Singapore, one of the "Four Asian Tigers," Sentosa had become an exclusive resort destination filled with luxury hotels, aquariums, and theme parks. It was also the only place in Singapore where foreigners were permitted to purchase "landed property."

At 10:30 AM, inside a villa built in the style of a Ronda castle in the famous Sentosa Cove wealthy district, Xi Zhijie was walking toward the conference room. Just as he passed through the reading room in the corridor, his daughter, Xi Rui, called.

"Dad! I’m being cyberbullied by those small-town female writers!"

Xi Zhijie let out an "Oh," sat down on the sofa in the reading room, and asked in a gentle voice, "What exactly happened? What do you want me to do?"

Xi Rui was furious. "I’ve only been promoted to Platinum status for a few days, and that group of female writers has teamed up to use burner accounts to insult me. They left comments under my book saying my promotion to Platinum is a massive joke. Dad, listen to this: 'Little rich girl, second-generation brat, you have plenty of ways to spend your money to have fun, so why come here to pollute the web novel platform and bully authors who actually rely on real talent? Isn't it just because your family is rich that you can buy a bunch of bots to give you subscriptions and dozens of alliance rewards, becoming a Platinum author in just half a year? Isn't it because your family is rich that you tip somewhat famous writers, making them swallow their disdain and blindly praise your book as good? And if that weren't enough, you’re throwing money around to snatch monthly votes from authors who actually write well. Do you have any shame?'"

"Heh..." Xi Zhijie laughed.

"Dad, you’re still laughing?"

"Xiao Rui, they aren't exactly wrong, are they? Isn't that how you’ve been playing the game? Otherwise, why would you have spent two million of Dad’s money this year? Well, those kids from poor families are just jealous and venting. Let them talk."

"No, they also said my writing looks like it was written by an AI!"

"Oh, that’s where they’re wrong. The AI developed by Dad’s company writes novels that are much more interesting than yours."

"Dad!" Xi Rui raised her voice on the other end. "Your daughter is about to die of anger, and you’re making fun of me! Didn't you tell me to read more yesterday? Isn't writing novels much more interesting than reading your... what was it... that philosopher Tang-something?"

The wrinkles at the corners of Xi Zhijie’s eyes deepened with a happy smile. His daughter was truly adorable—pure, clear-headed, and so dependent on him. She shared both her happy and unhappy moments with him first.

"Xiao Rui, don't be angry," Xi Zhijie coaxed. "How about this: Dad will find a top-tier publisher this year to release your novels as a collection, and we’ll hold a few author signings for you in China, Singapore, the UK, and Australia. How does that sound?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end. The young lady finally seemed to lose some of her anger, her voice softening. "Fine, Dad, you're right. It’s not worth getting angry at people ten tiers below me. By the way, Dad..."

"Yes, go ahead."

"When we hold the signing in China, can we invite that male book-channel host I like?"

"Of course," Xi Zhijie agreed instantly.

As for how to resolve the issue that the male host was actually an AI—that would be simple. He would just find a struggling human actor, pay him some money, and have him undergo plastic surgery.

After hanging up, Xi Zhijie looked up and saw a car slowly pulling into the estate. Through the glass door of the reading room, he saw Hera’s face. Xi Zhijie gestured, and Hera swiped her card to enter.

"Mr. Xi, the items have arrived."

"I’m going to listen to a roadshow with some other investors first, and I’ll take a look later."

"Understood, Mr. Xi."