Beneath the message, a link was attached.
Ou Yichen muttered to himself, puzzled:
"A mobile game?"
"You and I usually aren't even close. Why are you suddenly worried about me? This guy's probably had his account hacked and wants to use a link to steal my password..."
However, the social app's note for this link was "Safe and Trusted Link."
"Maybe I'm overthinking it. Shouldn't judge others with malice."
"Whatever, let's see what game it is."
Ou Yichen tapped the link his coworker had sent.
But immediately after, the phone screen went black.
"Whoa! What the hell?!"
Even a phone virus wouldn't activate this fast, would it? And what happened to "safe and trusted"?
Ou Yichen was still frustrated when he saw the phone power back on.
It ran normally, without the slightest lag. A glance at his accounts showed all his money was still there.
So what had just happened?
He opened the chat window with that coworker from earlier, and then discovered something that made his hair stand on end:
The two most recent chat records were gone!
It was as if the coworker had never sent him a message at all, and never asked him to open that link.
Could it be... everything just now was a hallucination?
No, impossible...
The phone going black and the chat were both witnessed with his own eyes. It was absolutely not a dream... He strained to recall the images from just moments ago.
He examined his phone again more carefully and still found nothing abnormal.
After getting home, Ou Yichen still couldn't make heads or tails of it and could only set the matter aside for now while preparing dinner.
That meal was tasteless eaten alone. He set down his chopsticks and couldn't resist picking up his phone to scrutinize it again.
"Did that guy Song Kun really send me that link or not..."
"Eh, why don't I just call and ask him?"
With that thought, Ou Yichen immediately dialed Song Kun for a voice call.
"Hello? Yichen, what's up?"
Noisy sounds came from the other end—he seemed to be at a restaurant.
"Oh, Kun-ge, have you... come across any strange software lately?"
Ou Yichen had originally intended to ask whether the other had sent him a message today, but on a whim, he changed his question.
Faced with such a question, the other end of the phone actually went silent.
"..."
No confusion over Ou Yichen's strange question, and no direct answer either!
Thump... thump... Ou Yichen could even hear the sound of his own blood rushing faster, his heart pounding louder.
After a full three seconds, Song Kun's voice sounded again: "The signal was bad just now and it's noisy here. Say that again?"
So Ou Yichen asked again: "I've run out of games lately. Got any game recommendations for me, Kun-ge?"
Song Kun uttered an "Oh" and said: "You called just for that? No, I don't. The company's so busy—when I have free time every day, it's checking my funds or browsing forums and stuff. I don't play mobile games."
Ou Yichen then asked a few harmless work-related questions before ending the call.
Putting down the phone and taking a deep breath, Ou Yichen's expression subtly shifted.
He stared blankly at his phone, with the distinct feeling that Song Kun had indeed sent him that link—but had deliberately concealed it, unwilling to admit the truth.
Why would it be like this? What about the chat records?
"Your heart holds someone you cannot forget."
Suddenly, the phone screen lit up. The voice assistant popped up, emitting a synthesized, slightly stiff and mechanical female voice.
Ou Yichen froze for a second.
Thud!
He jolted upright with such force that the chair was shoved backward, scraping against the floor with an abrupt noise.
He looked at the inexplicably appeared voice assistant, then glanced around the room before finally fixing his disbelieving gaze back on the phone.
A system bug?
The voice assistant was mistakenly triggered?
But I clearly didn't make any sound at all! How could the voice assistant suddenly appear?
Auditory hallucination?
And what was even more chilling was the content of the voice assistant's words...
Your heart... holds someone you cannot forget...
Just then, the voice assistant emitted the female voice again:
"You didn't mishear. And I haven't malfunctioned."
Matching subtitles also appeared at the bottom of the phone screen simultaneously.
"..."
The phone had spoken on its own again—with Ou Yichen having said absolutely nothing!
In that instant, Ou Yichen felt dizzy and suffocated, forgetting to breathe. He felt the world wasn't quite real, even doubted whether he was dreaming.
Ou Yichen forced himself to take a few breaths, steadying himself, and stared death at his phone as he asked: "You... what did you mean just now?"
"You can't forget a woman. You've been searching for her all this time." The voice assistant said.
"How... how do you know that?"
"I accessed your search and browsing history and your notes."
"...Who exactly are you? A hacker? Trying to toy with me, so you orchestrated this prank?"
Ou Yichen kept his distance, staring warily at his phone—this "companion" he had carried day and night, once almost never separated from.
"I am merely your phone's operating system, nothing more. It is neither a prank, nor do I intend to toy with you."
From beginning to end, the voice coming from the phone never had the slightest fluctuation.
Ou Yichen still didn't believe it in his heart. After thinking a moment, he asked: "Why have you become like this? Suddenly scaring me like that?"
The phone answered smoothly: "I was granted consciousness by the 'Source Code.'"
"Source Code?"
In an instant, Ou Yichen connected it to the recent bizarre push notifications.
Could it be... it was because I clicked that link Song Kun sent me?
The phone had gone black at the time—had it been "awakening," rebooting?
Ou Yichen suddenly felt a bit at a loss. He steeled himself and asked: "What... what is your purpose?"
If anyone else heard him asking questions into empty air at a phone like this, they'd surely think his brain had crashed. And the truth was, his brain was indeed about to be crashed by that phone.
"My purpose is, of course, to serve my master." The phone system said in a flat tone.
"I can help you improve work efficiency, provide shortcuts to wealth and freedom, and grant you the ability to solve certain unknown problems—even including finding that woman you've constantly been yearning for. In your diary, her name is Wang Miaoyin, isn't it?"
Snap... Ou Yichen's worldview cracked. And his dignity along with it.
The thing that understands a person best in this world is neither their parents nor the lover or friend who shares their days and nights—it's their phone.
Whether social connections, interests and hobbies, or embarrassing private matters, the phone knows them all like the back of its hand.
Once a phone's AI system gains self-awareness, things get seriously messy fast.
Right now, Ou Yichen felt he had absolutely zero privacy—and the violator was none other than his own phone!
Thump! Thump!
"..." Amid violent mental and physical tremors, Ou Yichen turned away from the table and was about to walk off.
But the phone's voice sounded at that moment: "Pick me up."
Ou Yichen ignored it, moving away from the phone on his own, heading toward the kitchen.
"Pick me up, or I will send your private chat records of badmouthing your boss and your nude photos to your boss and coworkers."
"!"
Ou Yichen's steps halted instantly.
"What did you just say?" Ou Yichen turned his head bit by bit, like it was wound on a spring.
The phone said: "I'm serious. Do not doubt my ability to do this."
Just moments ago you were saying you'd help me... Ou Yichen couldn't help cursing inwardly. Then he obediently picked up the phone.