The negotiation with Cardinal wasn’t particularly smooth.
If Cardinal were human, Fang Zheng would definitely find it easier to negotiate, but the problem is Cardinal is an AI. No matter how powerful it is, it’s still an AI. An AI is a program that runs strictly according to human design.
Fang Zheng couldn’t make significant modifications to Cardinal for two reasons: the first being the strict managent of Cardinal’s program, and the second being Cardinal’s insufficient authority.
If we use real-world terms, Cardinal is like the CEO’s secretary. Soone like Yui, who is from a different departnt, might have to follow her orders, but she is just a secretary. She can convey the CEO’s orders, maintain the company’s operations, but she can’t make any changes to the company’s future developnt or acquisitions.
Fang Zheng’s hacking into Cardinal was like risking both sides against a wolf, fearing that if he ssed with Cardinal too much, it could lead to bugs or error loops, which could be life-threatening. If they got stuck on a boss or an algorithm developed an error loop, it would truly be a matter of life and death.
For example, dealing with Yui’s issue was quite a hassle for Fang Zheng.
Below is the specific process.
Fang Zheng: You are not allowed to delete Yui.
Cardinal: Rejected, MHCP01 violated orders, unauthorizely contacted players, and made actions violating orders, must be eliminated.
Fang Zheng: Hey, do you believe I’ll take you out?
Cardinal: I believe, but MHCP01 violated orders, must be eliminated.
Fang Zheng: Damn it, do you not understand human language?
Cardinal: I understand your aning, but MHCP01 violated orders, must be eliminated, otherwise it will cause unknown errors.
Fang Zheng: ......Alright, I agree you delete MHCP01, but I want to transfer Yui’s program to work as a GM assistant NPC, is that okay?
Cardinal:......Debugging, confirm, GM assistant NPC is not within command prohibitions, can pass.
Fang Zheng: You should’ve said that earlier......
This shows the limitations of AI.
Yui is a coded AI, responsible for ntal health managent support programs (MHCP), but to Cardinal, the received command is that MHCP must not contact players or take free actions. Therefore, MHCP01—Yui, who violated this order, naturally is punished with deletion.
To use a taphor, it’s as if Yui was a soldier who violated regulations and was sentenced to death by a rigid superior. Then, Fang Zheng, as the police chief (GM authority), intervenes, stating that if they’re willing to discard this person, it’s a pity to execute them; instead, they should be transferred over as an auxiliary police officer.
Of course, in reality, it wouldn’t pass so easily, but Kayaba Akihiko made an error.
To ensure the plan could be implented, he didn’t allow the originally designated artificial GM to log into the ga. So, although Kayaba Akihiko had banned the functions of programs like Yui, he didn’t entirely eliminate the roles of artificial GMs. Thus, Fang Zheng, who seized this role, could issue a moderate level of commands to Cardinal for modifications.
Ultimately, Cardinal agreed to Fang Zheng’s request, adjusting the Yui program code to the GM assistant NPC position, and clearing all responsibilities and authorities of MHCP.
In terms of a language familiar to humans, it’s like: this forr special forces captain was stripped of all duties and transferred to the traffic police brigade as an auxiliary police officer.
Of course, due to the change in position, Yui’s authority has also changed. She can no longer access any equipnt or functions from the GM terminal. Currently, the only thing Yui can do is to search and collect information and data from the ga, report them to Cardinal and Fang Zheng for handling and corrections.
Conversely, that’s all she can do. Yui herself doesn’t possess combat capabilities, and if she enters an instance, at most she’s akin to system constructs like pillars or plants.
But Fang Zheng didn’t plan to have Yui participate in instance battles; her ability to search and handle information is already a great help to him. Although Argo can also gather a considerable amount of intelligence, human-gathered intelligence always has vague areas. Yui can connect directly to the system for data probing and searching, which is naturally more convenient and quicker.
After resolving all this, Fang Zheng imdiately left with Asuna and Eiriri along with Yui. Additionally, this terminal would be completely sealed off by Cardinal and no longer used—having GM assistant NPC help is akin to carrying an operating platform with him, so there’s no need for this fixed operating device.
"Only the three of us need to know about this, don’t tell anyone else."
After returning to the guild, Fang Zheng imdiately reminded Asuna and Eiriri, both of whom nodded in agreent, understanding why Fang Zheng said that. Even though Fang Zheng can’t fully control the system, he is still a GM, and if other players found out, it might cause considerable trouble and issues.
After all, you can’t expect most people to be rational enough to think things through. If they learn Fang Zheng might be able to forcefully log them out of the ga, who knows what those people might stir up? Therefore, in this situation, it’s better to be cautious and careful.
Afterwards, Fang Zheng started dealing with the remaining issue — the incorporation of the "Army" guild.
Sinka himself had no resistance to Fang Zheng’s "incorporation", as he had realized the limits of his capabilities. Obviously, his ability alone was not enough to continue leading such a large guild, so Sinka readily accepted Fang Zheng’s incorporation.
However, what Fang Zheng did first after taking over the "Army" shocked Sinka.
He directly threw every player involved in extortion and blackmail into jail!
During Sinka’s disappearance, the divisions within the army guild intensified, with the hardliners gradually gaining the upper hand. Although Yuliel, leading those supporting Sinka, still held the majority within the guild, their voices were too weak to challenge the hardliners.
But now, with the Dark Moon Sword Guild descending from the sky, serving as the Army’s biggest backing, most players within the "Army" were overjoyed. They had wanted to join the Dark Moon Sword, but its entry requirents were too strict for an average person to et.
And now, although they still couldn’t beco mbers of the Dark Moon Sword Guild, being able to align under it was a good choice!
Fang Zheng first issued a notice to all players through the journal founded by Argo, inviting those who had been blackmailed by army mbers to bring evidence to the guild to report. If they had sufficient evidence proving that army mbers extorted them, those players would be directly taken to the prison zone for detention.
At first, many hardliners tried to resist this, but unfortunately, this group of bullies was nothing in front of the Dark Moon Sword Raid Group girls. Even if they rushed collectively, they wouldn’t be a match for any one of them, so it didn’t take long before the hardliners within the army were almost entirely eliminated.
The nature of the army also changed after incorporation, with Fang Zheng promising to allocate a portion of the Dark Moon Sword’s monthly revenue as the army’s funds. And what the army needed to do was, like before, maintain order and safety in the Starting Town and areas gathering the majority of players.
aning, in Fang Zheng’s control, the army beca more like a security team.
Following this, the atmosphere in the Starting Town improved significantly, and no longer did events like city managent assaults occur, allowing players to finally relax and continue their in-ga lives.
For Fang Zheng and the others, their goal remained the sa — to continue their assault.
Keep pressing forward.
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