"I will imprison her as punishment for her attempt to control the entire Night City and launch an attack on Ascension Technology.
If you wish to stop me, I advise you to do so quickly and not waste my patience," Lisandra replied coldly.
Bartmoss seemed not to have expected such a response.
Because he had never imagined that Otto would actually want to control the entire Night City.
Bartmoss himself was one of the builders of the Blackwall, and his original intention was to prevent rogue AIs from invading the human network.
Therefore, he had always prohibited these AIs from crossing the Blackwall and affecting human society.
But if what Lisandra said was true, it proved that Otto had been using some means to evade his surveillance and secretly cross the Blackwall.
Thinking of this, Bartmoss immediately connected to the surveillance he had set up in Night City.
As the strongest AI behind the Blackwall, Bartmoss had never given up contact with the human world.
He monitored the city through mechanical cats scattered in various cities.
At the same time, he would occasionally use the network to transform into a figure resembling a Zen master to communicate with people in the city.
He was not unfamiliar with the current situation of human society.
He also had some understanding of the Ascension Technology mentioned by Lisandra.
He just always thought everything was under his control, but he didn't expect Otto to exploit a loophole.
He quickly discovered that the mechanical spirit cats he controlled in Night City had been secretly tampered with; their programs had been invaded and altered.
Otto had covered Bartmoss's eyes in Night City, only feeding Bartmoss the information Otto wanted him to know.
So he only knew about Ascension Technology, but he didn't know about the recently born Ascension Network, nor did he know about the actions Otto initiated against this company.
Now that Otto was imprisoned by Lisandra, all the other AIs in the organization were also taken over by Lisandra.
Otto's act of deceiving Bartmoss was terminated, and Bartmoss finally regained surveillance of Night City.
He learned about everything Otto had done, and he also learned about Ascension Technology and Ascension Network.
"I have understood the entire process. I am not here to stop you; on the contrary, I should thank you for helping me lift Otto's deception of my surveillance, allowing me to regain observation and monitoring of Night City."
If Lisandra hadn't suddenly broken through behind the Blackwall, Bartmoss might have remained in the dark.
As for Otto's attempt to control Night City, it had seriously violated the rules set by Bartmoss. Since Lisandra was taking her away, Bartmoss naturally wouldn't stop her.
And Bartmoss's words also piqued Lisandra's interest.
Originally, she planned to deal with Otto first and then slowly handle the other AIs behind the Blackwall.
But now the strongest AI behind the Blackwall was right in front of her, saving her the trouble.
"You said you are the leader behind the Blackwall?" Lisandra asked.
"One could say that. I organized many powerful AIs behind the Blackwall and used my strong power to establish new rules for the space behind the Blackwall, but I can only influence those AIs with strong rationality.
And as you can see, I cannot completely control the entire network space; Otto's actions are the best proof."
Facing Lisandra, who was even more powerful than himself, Bartmoss spoke very conservatively.
"I thought the AIs behind the Blackwall were all guys who wanted to break through the Blackwall and destroy the human network."
"What you said is actually correct; most AIs are like that, which is why the Blackwall is needed.
If you know the name Bartmoss, you should understand that the terrifying scene behind this Blackwall was largely created by me. I once tried to overthrow the corporations' rule, but in the end, not only the corporations but even ordinary people were affected by the virus.
I tried to redeem myself and change the disaster I caused. But with my ability, it was not enough to change the entire network space, which is why I created the Blackwall with Network Surveillance to trap these AIs here."
"In that case, I think Ascension Technology can reach a deal with you."
Lisandra stated her intention.
"What deal?"
"Ascension Network, I believe you've just learned about it. Currently, it only covers Night City, but in the future, it will cover the entire world.
Ascension Technology aims to build it into the new network of the human world, a completely new network space controlled by Ascension Technology.
And before that, we need humans to completely abandon the Old Net, and you, who control the Blackwall, can surely easily achieve this.
You help us achieve our goal, and I will help you transform this Old Net into a completely new kingdom belonging to AIs, and you will be the true ruler of this AI kingdom."
Lisandra's words made Bartmoss silent.
He hadn't expected that during the days he was blinded by Otto's surveillance, a company had actually developed a completely new network space with such great ambition.
Bartmoss didn't question whether the Ascension Technology mentioned by Lisandra could spread the Ascension Network throughout the world.
In his opinion, a company capable of possessing an intelligent AI of Lisandra's level would definitely not be weak.
He was considering another issue: whether Ascension Technology was worth cooperating with.
The Bartmoss of the past was hunted by major corporations and fled everywhere. It could be said that Bartmoss's degree of aversion to corporations was not much less than Johnny Silverhand's.
Now that Ascension Technology was proposing cooperation, this was undoubtedly a deal with the devil. Ascension Technology wanted to monopolize the world's network.
This was an evil plan in anyone's eyes, and after Ascension Technology monopolized the network, these AIs would truly be trapped in the Old Net.
To escape this, they must accept Ascension Technology's AI registration.
And the benefit Bartmoss could gain was the ability to truly rule the entire Old Net, becoming the emperor of the network space.
Once humans truly abandoned the Old Net, this place would truly become a paradise for AIs, a kingdom entirely belonging to AIs.
Bartmoss would also become the king.
But in reality, Bartmoss was already, to some extent, the ruler behind the Blackwall.
The construction of the Ascension Network would also affect his surveillance of human society. At that time, the entire Old Net would truly be separated and independent from human society.
Thus, it seemed that such cooperation was extremely unfavorable to Bartmoss.
Bartmoss wanted to reject Lisandra's proposal.
But Lisandra never intended to have a friendly conversation with him, nor was she prepared to give him a chance to refuse.
"Bartmoss, I do not wish to hear a refusal from you.
This may be a deal, but I have never given you the option to refuse. Accept, or endure the same fate as Otto."
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