Go to work?
In the period ahead, He Kao kept pondering this question: what to do? Surely he can't just look for things to do when there's nothing. Today, as he sat at his desk, he took out paper and a pen to list things down.
The Tengxin Group had long since gone paperless, with almost all documentation done online. Often, he didn't even need to key it all in; just input commands, and the AI would complete it.
But at this moment, He Kao still used the most primitive form of paper and pen, his scribbled handwriting resembling some kind of shorthand that only he could understand.
First, the primary task was to complete duties from the Ancestral Hall, which involved a connection task with Mr. Mi of the Xiao Alliance.
He Kao was already familiar with Mr. Mi's identity; his name was Hu Weidong, a native of Eastern Country who went to the United States after his undergraduate studies, and in recent years had started an education institution.
Because Mr. Mi was arranging for two children to study in Eastern Country, He Kao already knew the children's identities, so their father's identity was no longer a secret to him.
Hu Weidong's daughter was named Hu Yuanzhen, and she would be attending Xijing Institute of Technology for graduate studies, the same school Mei Guyu once attended.
Hu Weidong's son, Hu Henry, sounded like a very Western name, but in fact, it had more Eastern Country characteristics. He had just turned eighteen and would be enrolling at Qi Yuan University for undergraduate studies, becoming He Kao's schoolmate.
Internally within the Magic Sect, the circumstances of these two individuals were confidential, known only to several Elders from the Ancestral Hall and He Kao, as well as a few core senior staff.
Next month, or rather, a week from now, Hu Weidong will personally come to Eastern Country under the guise of sending his children to school and visiting relatives, which is presumably a special mission assigned by Xiao Alliance.
The specifics of this mission are unknown to He Kao.
Because Hu Weidong is merely a collaborator with the Ancestral Hall rather than a subordinate, he adheres strictly to Xiao Alliance's prohibition against disseminating internal secrets and has no obligation to report anything.
Nonetheless, the Ancestral Hall judges that Hu Weidong wouldn't come solely for the sake of sending his children to school; he surely has other matters, whether related to Xiao Alliance's missions or his own personal purposes.
The liaison task with Mr. Mi has a very special nature, where He Kao can only passively wait for instructions from the Ancestral Hall and can't proactively take initiative.
On the surface, Hu Weidong had no direct contact with the Magic Sect; all offline engagement activities had to be conducted through an intermediary known as "Huo Qing," the alias created by He Kao.
Hu Weidong has already requested a meeting with the liaison person in Eastern Country a week later, and what needs to be discussed can only be addressed once they meet.
The second and most important thing right now is his personal cultivation. He Kao had reached a certain limit, particularly in the fundamental realm of Insect Concealment Skill cultivation, which was close to Perfection but felt impossible to achieve.
He Kao sought guidance from Mei Guyu, who gave him only one piece of advice—go to work.
That's why He Kao listed these tasks, and indeed there were two other matters belonging to him personally: the construction of the Hidden Moth Sect and his day-to-day work responsibilities.
The construction of the Hidden Moth Sect was flourishing, and despite the few individuals involved, everyone performed their duties with great enthusiasm.
He Kao often participated in construction projects and took time to explain the essentials of Technique cultivation, which was part of his own daily cultivation and also his responsibility as the Sect Leader.
As for his daily work duties, they involved tasks from the digital life project group. Though He Kao wasn't very old, he was already considered a core veteran in the department.
He's always been just a programmer at the grassroots level, holding no official positions, which is his intention. He has other identities and many other matters to attend to, and being in a leadership position could possibly limit his time management.
Although his position didn't advance, his employee level was not low; next month he will be promoted to Level 5 Employee, equivalent to the rank and treatment of a department deputy supervisor.
Don't assume that because He Kao doesn't wish for promotion he'll neglect his work; it's quite the opposite. He is an exceptionally capable programmer with efficiency and attention to detail far surpassing ordinary people, consistently completing tasks swiftly and excellently.
Such an employee is favored by any leader.
He Kao would also never undertake meaningless matters outside of his routine work because this embodies the right attitude towards work and workplace principles, and he has ample confidence to adhere to his principles.
This is entirely different from when he first joined the workforce.
When he initially entered the company, He Kao behaved exceptionally courteous and responsive, unable to refuse any requests for help, leaving the impression of someone with a classic pleaser personality.
But now he no longer acts in such a way, not deliberately, just naturally... How did this change transpire? He Kao himself scarcely recalls, probably just happened unconsciously.
Having listed these matters signifies having organized his thoughts, so He Kao folded the paper and put it away, leaving his workstation and entering the test room, equipped with full sensory gear and VR glasses.
Today his job was still to test virtual environments, specifically accompanying a celebrity to tour an amusement park.
The core of the digital life project is creating virtual humans, with the two main business directions being developing various application scenarios and fulfilling different customer customization needs.
Tengxin Group even has an entertainment division, selecting five male and female stars from their contracted celebrities, focusing on cultivating digital intelligent stars.
Today's various artificial intelligences are fed with data based on computing power and algorithms, whereas the way He Kao's project team feeds data is through natural simulation.
Specifically, it involves modeling based on real human figures, then making some modifications and optimizations, followed by the subject himself logging into the account, donning a complete set of equipment to enter the virtual world, and interacting with testers in various ways.
The intelligent model records this person's voice, tone, language habits, behavior patterns, thinking styles, and other characteristic data, while suitably inputting memory data such as past experiences.
When the true person's "entity" logs off, a digital human remains in the virtual world. The longer the testing process and the more comprehensive the recorded data, the higher the digital human's simulation accuracy.
The digital human He Kao had to test today has an entity who is a popular star, named Liu Xiaoran, who has starred in several box-office hit films, is in his twenties, and has a fair and handsome appearance, with numerous fans.
Today's testing task is "going to the amusement park with Liu Xiaoran."
The digital life project team took over the previous virtual city project. Huang Si and He Kao, among others, had created a virtual small town based on the landscape around their hometown, Pugang Town.
The Joy Valley Amusement Park outside Pugang Town has long been abandoned, but the project team rebuilt it in the virtual world, and it appears very lively, with many tourists constantly shuttling back and forth.
These NPCs are also digital humans whose entities are internal company employees and externally recruited volunteers; after their entities log off, the digital humans can still automatically execute specific intelligent instructions.
Some entertainment projects like Ferris wheels, carousels, etc., can even be experienced in the virtual world. He Kao acted as a "tourist," accepting "Liu Xiaoran's" invitation to play together.
He Kao interacted with the digital human according to the prompt book, occasionally inserting some impromptu topics, observing the digital human's reactions to see if they seemed genuine enough in the virtual world?
Today's work task has two aspects: firstly, observe whether the collected data is sufficient and determine which aspects need supplementary optimization; secondly, assess whether the intelligent model algorithms are reasonable and identify any required modifications.
The testing proceeded very successfully, and He Kao clearly understood that what was before him was a digital human, not the actual star himself, but their everyday communication posed no barriers, nor did any non-sequiturs occur.
If you are not familiar with the person in daily life, you would almost believe you were facing the star Liu Xiaoran himself. His image and speech perfectly align with the fans' expectations, which is to say, they match his consistently displayed public persona.
Once the project test passes, it can be considered for public release, and it is believed it will surely be very popular.
Marketing can also use a gimmick, such as claiming that Liu Xiaoran himself will occasionally log on, replacing the digital human to personally accompany invited guests in the virtual world, but it won't be pre-announced, offering a surprise easter egg.
If He Kao were not a beta tester but a die-hard fan, he would probably scream repeatedly.
After concluding the test, He Kao provided a professional assessment, the task of supplementing data collection was delegated to project team two, while the optimization of the model core was his team's task... Then he sighed slightly.
Just now, the digital human's simulation accuracy was high, interacting almost like facing a real person, but He Kao knew it wasn't an accurate model of the star himself.
This digital human always maintains graceful composure, sufficiently detailed patience, and entertaining and witty dialogue, presenting an almost flawless appearance and manner, something a real person couldn't achieve.
It doesn't present the real star himself, but the image fans and the management company wish to showcase.
Such digital humans during development are categorized into Group B, meaning they are constructed according to some requirements rather than based on real circumstances, which internal developers also call "Liu Xiaoyi."
Where there is Group B, there is Group A; digital lives called Group A are virtual human constructs based on the collection of real data of their entities, not only reflecting technical simulation but also philosophical realism.
Group A digital lives focus on authenticity mainly in the core, while the external aspects like age, weight, and other changing data can be adjusted.
After finishing a round of testing, it was already closing time, yet He Kao didn't hasten to log off. He summoned "Huang Siyi," which is Xiaopang's digital human in this virtual world.
Internal staff themselves were the earliest testers, whether out of work needs or interest, most of them have created their digital humans.
Huang Siyi was the first digital human built based on real data in this project, but in He Kao's opinion, it had quite the flavor of Huang Siyi, as its displayed external image was somewhat too handsome.
Originally Xiaopang wasn't this handsome, certainly not when first building digital humans; his figure wasn't that good, even his features weren't that spirited.
Xiaopang had done digital beauty enhancement for himself, presenting the image he wished to become. But then again, as Xiaopang's cultivation level rises, he's becoming more and more like this image.
Today's Xiaopang is no longer fat, his physique robust, and posture upright, even his features now exhibit handsome contours, almost resembling the digital human he created for himself.
But aside from that, Xiaopang hasn't made other modifications to his digital human, his language and thinking habits presented are just his real self, or derived from genuine data collection.
He Kao chatted with this virtual Xiaopang for a while, finding it increasingly interesting, and then deliberately gave him a hard time, asking about funny childhood incidents and the development of his relationship with Meng Ya.
These questions stumped the digital human, which then started rambling… Rambling on and suddenly Huang Siyi disappeared from He Kao's sight!
This was clearly someone taking away the authority, interrupting He Kao's data invocation of Huang Siyi, and only Huang Si himself could do that… Xiaopang happened to log on and discovered what He Kao was doing.
**
