Chapter 128: Song Zhaomei
After all, putting aside her role as the president of New America, Myers was also one of the core executives of a military technology corporation, while Li Ang was the largest shareholder in military technology.
From this perspective, Myers was the person with whom Li Ang had the deepest collaborative relationship.
"Madam President, you should focus your energy on the grand endeavor of unification and quelling rebellions. Why worry about something as trivial as an aerodrome? Restoring New America should be your top priority."
"Besides, what's so special about a small ornithopter? Our company's AT-99 Scorpion fighter jets are pretty decent too. When the time comes, I'll prioritize selling them to you."
Li Ang maintained a calm smile. When dealing with a cunning old fox of a politician, appearances had to be kept up.
As the pace of war quickened, Li Ang planned to instruct Xu Shiming to release some of their cutting-edge intelligent military equipment to continue supporting the rebel forces against New America.
If necessary, Li Ang would provide mechanical exoskeletons and ED-209 tank-style bipedal robots to Contour Corporation, equipping the eastern rebels with these new weapons to fight New America.
In short, Li Ang had no intention of letting New America advance easily into the western region without first draining Myers ' coffers dry.
Want to restore New America? Dream on! Hand over the money first!
"Then it's settled."
"Mr. Li Ang, with the full support of your LA company, I believe it won't be long before we see a powerful New America!"
President Myers smiled. Restoring New America was her lifelong aspiration. With Li Ang's powerful military manufacturing backing, she believed the day wasn't far off.
"By the way, I recently heard from Song Zhaomei that a hacker from your company stole a rogue AI of hers. Mr. Li Ang, do you know anything about this?"
At this point, Myers suddenly shifted the topic to the rogue AI. Standing beside her, Song Zhaomei fixed Li Ang with a resentful gaze.
Song Zhaomei, codenamed "Nightingale," was a genius hacker whose skills were among the best globally!
To fully unleash her potential, New America's intelligence agency had transformed her into an almost entirely cybernetic being.
Her back featured an intricate alloy spine intertwined with high-speed cables. To optimize heat dissipation, the intelligence agency had practically hollowed out her body.
Now, Song Zhaomei resembled a meticulously crafted cybernetic humanoid wrapped in a thin layer of synthetic skin, with a body composed entirely of precise electronic components.
Because of this, her proficiency in utilizing the Black Wall and capturing rogue AIs far exceeded that of elite hackers from other companies.
In other words, after Bartmoss' death and Alt Cunningham's disappearance, she was arguably the most formidable hacker in the cyber world.
Even in the history of cyber hackers, Song Zhaomei would rank as a T0.5-tier exceptional existence.
"Madam President, conflicts and disputes in cyberspace are rarely clear-cut. Perhaps your people made a mistake."
In reality, Alt Cunningham had already reported this matter to Li Ang. However, Li Ang deliberately feigned ignorance to gauge Song Zhaomei's reaction.
Sure enough, hearing Li Ang deny the incident outright, Song Zhaomei, desperate to recover the rogue AI, quickly spoke up:
"Mr. Li Ang, I've traced the hacker's activity. While I haven't identified who she is yet, I followed the cyber trail and located her in Little Chinatown."
"More precisely, her position is at your LA company headquarters!"
Song Zhaomei's tone was resolute. She feared losing the rogue AI she had painstakingly captured to the LA company hacker.
That AI represented her performance, her bonus, and her professional achievements!
Since the global surge in AI weapon development, the market value of rogue AIs had skyrocketed. However, so had the mortality rate of AI hunters.
Low-risk rogue AIs held little research value and were often relegated to vending machines as simple chat companions.
Only medium- to high-risk rogue AIs were valuable for advanced AI research projects, such as the " North Star Plan." However, capturing such AIs typically cost the lives of two or three elite hackers.
The rogue AI Alt had taken was a high-level one. The intelligence agency had already burned through four minds to capture it.
Even Song Zhaomei had barely survived, nearly sacrificing her life in the process. Just as she was about to celebrate her hard-earned victory, Alt stole it.
Enraged, Song Zhaomei had resorted to invoking the Black Wall Protocol to hunt down the cyber thief. However, the Black Wall backlash injured her, forcing her to recover for some time.
Though some time had passed, Song Zhaomei still harbored deep resentment. After a long period of investigation in cyberspace, she finally gathered clues pointing to Alt's whereabouts.
"Mr. Li Ang, I trust Song Zhaomei wouldn't lie. If you genuinely know nothing about this, I suggest you investigate your company internally," said Myers , crossing her legs with an authoritative air that suggested an intent to hold him accountable.
This stance was understandable.
For New America's military technology firms, the " North Star Plan" was crucial for countering Arasaka's Soulkiller technology.
Rogue AIs were indispensable for this plan. Without sufficient experimental AI samples, they couldn't develop technology rivaling Arasaka's Soulkiller!
As Myers finished speaking, Song Zhaomei stared at Li Ang, clearly awaiting his response.
"This is an easy matter," Li Ang said with a smile, shaking his head. For something this trivial to warrant President Myers ' personal attention was amusing. If she said a few flattering words, Li Ang might even give her a rogue AI outright.
After all, such things were of little value to LA Company.
"I'll have someone provide your intelligence agency with a rogue AI as compensation. Whether this incident is true or not, consider it a gift to support your efforts to restore New America."
Li Ang's words delighted President Myers . If LA Company truly offered unwavering support to New America, Li Ang would indeed be a valuable ally.
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