There was nothing of note in the game that he played except for the fact he was randomly matched with a group which had two women. Robin was a little surprised by this because the presence of women in a COD game was rather a rare sight. Not that he was sexist or anything of that sort who thought women can't play First Person Shooter games, but women didn't usually like these games.
At first he didn't talk, the team was speaking in a foreign language, probably Mandarin or Cantonese. Only when he was forced to communicate in a rather tense situation he spoke in English over the mic. Surprisingly the team replied in English. Robin didn't need to be a regular player of the game to be above average, due to the skill enhancement books that he had been consuming like pills every week he could do so without any practice.
"There is someone on the upper level. Look out.."
"I will handle it..."
Robin wasn't particularly accustomed to the terrain map as this was his first time. He was kind of awkward in pointing out the general position and direction but his kill rate more than made up for that. It was a team of six with two women and four men including himself. They went on to win the game by a great margin. The other members of the team didn't play exactly well and he stood out due to his superior gameplay. This earned him a 'friend request' from all the five players. His first online gaming friendships took shape.
They went on to play for a few more hours and he was the MVP in each and every game. Apparently, this was quite a record for them and they were quite happy. Contrary to the stereotype these people could speak English quite well and he was quite comfortable with them after a while.
"Player 217, will you come to play again?"
One of the women asked in the hopes that he would help them earn more wins.
"I am not sure. You have already seen that this is the first time and hardly ever games."
"Oh that's sad. But you should play often. You are quite good. And I am sure if you do twitch, people will love you."
"I don't think I play that well and I need to have something more than gameplay to be a good twitch streamer and provide enough time and dedication to be a successful one. Thanks for the recommendation though."
"You are welcome, do consider it anyway."
After bidding goodbye he logged off, little did he know that his play was watched by quite a number of people in a twitch stream streamed by one of the women. Robin didn't realize that he was in a twitch stream because the woman never mentioned it to them and whenever she spoke in the audience, she did so after muting the mic. In the chats, the audience spoke highly of the person and wanted her to play again with this Player 217.
"JARVIS, why was I matched with servers from the far east?"
"Sir, it is quite early when you started playing and there were not many players, so by default I transferred the server to the East where it's evening and quite a number of players available. I also made sure that the connection didn't lag due to the server distance."
"Hmm.. Thanks.."
It was a couple of hours past afternoon and after playing intense games he felt a lot better. This was always the case for Robin, whenever he felt really sad, he would either read an interesting novel, watch anime or play games. It helped him a lot and Robin finally came out of the room.
"Calmed down?"
"I am calm. I just didn't like that he committed suicide. I understand what you mean and I have always known such cases would arise. But in the end I am a normal human being who has empathy. I just can't brush it off like nothing."
"But there is no other way. You don't want to be a conqueror and that is fine but understand that you might have empathy but your enemies will not. And that may be applied to any other species that you might find in the universe."
"I know. I will try to evolve in the best way possible and learn from my mistakes."
Sigret was happy as she finally saw Robin smile. Of course, the sense of guilt didn't completely dissipate and he ordered JARVIS to make sure that Dr. Livingstone's name wasn't tainted in any way. He might be a coward for others, who tend to think that suicide is done by people who didn't want to live or lack courage to fight back. But taking your own life is in itself a huge step which very few could take. Living was never easy but people still feared death because that would mean the end of their journey. The least he could do was not to drag his name in the mud after death. He might be an asshole but he already got the punishment, more than he deserved.
After staying in the Hallstatt village for that night, they finally left. They had been living there for three days and that was the longest they stayed in the same place. From Hallstatt they went to other major places in Austria. The road really one of the most scenic routes and eventually they entered Switzerland's territory.
Robin had dreamt of visiting this country for quite a long time and now another of his dreams came true. He stayed in Switzerland for a long time and he visited all the famous sites and enjoyed it to the fullest. In fact, he even spent a week in Grindelwald, he just loved the roads, the steep mountains, the people and the scenery. It was there where he celebrated the coming of the new year and he was glad that he was there to enjoy it with the girls.
Monday, 2nd January, 2023
It was a cold evening when Robin just sat on the balcony of a cosy AirBnb. He was wearing a tight white jacket with thick trousers and heavy woollen socks. It was snowing quite heavily as he looked at the lights twinkling like stars in this deep and cold night. Although the clock had just struck seven, the abandoned streets made it seem like it was already midnight. The cold had driven the people home.
Robin was pretty sure that people in the main town were still out in bars and restaurants but they were was quite a distance away from the town as he loved the tranquillity.
"JARVIS, are the deals done?"
"Yes sir, all the deals have been signed and have been reviewed by the lawyers. We now have partnerships with Amazon, Google, Apple, TCS and other major IT sector industries."
"Hmm.. Did any company try to play tricks?"
"Amazon was a little tricky and wanted to take advantage of you, sir, but it had been taken care of by your lawyers."
"Next time when we make a deal, make sure they suffer. Since they want to have fun, we should let them."
"Will keep that in the records, sir."
"Establish companies related to better data mining and safer research on AI. Don't show much and only show what is required, like a proper system that scans out harmful videos and inflammatory posts in social media. The current moderation is an absolute horror in YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. I want you to take over the content moderation part of these social media companies. Show them that we have the technology to do so and let them hand over their moderation department to us."
"Okay sir, but these social media websites have their own moderation department in their offices."
"I know but it is only for high profile cases. Take over that market slowly and we will eventually cover even the high profile cases. I know that different countries have different moderation. Show them that our technology can change according to different demands from nations."
"Affirmative, sir."
"Now, we have had quite the fun in the past two months. It is time we take another major step."
"What will that be?" Myrene had sneakily appeared behind him and was listening to their conversation.
"The medical industry."
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