Kai, who initially planned on sneaking up on these people and killing them as soon as he noticed the yellow arrows, immediately halted, his expression turning into a spectacle of its own.
"Where are you from?" Kai asked probingly.
"What is the point? Whenever we try to talk about Earth, the system censors it anyways." The female tester grumbled.
Hearing this, Kai's eyes immediately widened. He turned his attention to the female tester as though she was the greatest treasure in the world. Without wasting a single moment, Kai pulled out his sword with his right hand and swung out at the one who was approaching him.
Unable to resist in any way, the sword pierced through his heart, and Kai pulled out his sword. Although there was no blood and only a faint blue glow from the punctured hole, the person immediately fell to the ground and stopped moving.
Despite the clear lack of blood, Kai's expression contorted into a devilish smile as though he had satisfied his greatest desire. However, he did not stop. He pulled out a knife using his left hand.
All of a sudden, the crisp and deafening roar of an elephant was audible as the knife sped straight into the mouth of the other alpha tester, and out the back of his head. He too had a distinct lack of blood, and his insides were replaced with a faint blue glow. However, he too fell to the ground.
By now, the first body had already vanished, and Kai ignored it as he approached the only female of the trio.
"Now… tell me everything you know about Earth."
Hearing Kai's words, the female widened her eyes. She was not scared or frightened of Kai at all, since this was just a game, and everyone would respawn later on. The problem was that none of the NPCs should have been able to hear them say Earth, nor should they be able to repeat it. That was how the central AI made it to be as a form of restriction on the invasive system which had entered its code.
However, there was one such NPC, able to hear them and repeat the words Earth. She knew the words 'Earth' had a different meaning than the normal 'Earth' that the NPCs talked about now and then, which was why it was impossible to get the two confused.
"How…" she could not help but ask, still unafraid for her life, but shocked at the situation.
"That does not matter now, does it? Just tell me."
"Well… nod if you can understand what I say next. This world is a game world."
"…" Kai's gaze on her turned confused. The female tester sighed internally. It must have been a glitch perhaps.
'Obviously, this AI cannot possibly be so self-reliant that it is not bound by the rules imposed on the entire world by the World AI.' She consoled herself.
"A game you say… go on." Kai probed as his mind buzzed with a complex whirlpool of random thoughts and emotions.
The female tester stiffened slightly at this calm response before deciding to test the limits that this particular NPC could stretch his understanding, and their conversation lasted for a good few minutes.
Kai kneaded his forehead as he said,
"So, in summary; you work for a company that has been working on creating a virtual world for a game. However, the AI system created for the NPCs was not up to the mark, so two years ago your CEO began importing fully self-aware AI through outsourcing, AI who was able to think, but did not have the willingness to do it."
"It was your job to create virtual avatars for the AIs, and slowly introduce them into the empty world you had created. By simulating the human lifestyle, these AIs grew in complexity, and soon became virtual humans who perfectly fit the NPC characters."
"To further simulate humanity, you also introduced the ability to reproduce, while also allowing people to die of old age. By reproducing, the outsourced AIs would mix and produce new independent AI, and giving them a limited lifespan, you made them prioritise the growth of society rather than the individual, thus resulting in the current situation of kingdoms."
"Yes. That is correct."
"And I am one such AI?"
"Yes." The tester wore an amused expression as she noticed the doubt on Kai's face.
"Then how do I remember my time as a human on Earth?" Kai questioned out loud as he looked at her.
Hearing these words, shock overcame the female tester. Her eyes widened in disbelief before narrowing into thin slits as she began mumbling.
"No! Impossible! But- it might be possible. If… CEO Mark did not outsource the creation of AI, but outsourced the capturing of humans… and imprinted their minds into AI! But how could he? To create this number of AIs, including the ones that were wasted for testing… He must have killed millions of humans, just for this game!"
Kai's rather sensitive ears were able to pick up what the tester was saying and immediately his eyes widened as well. Immediately, he understood the situation. He must have been one of those millions who had died for the creation of this game, but due to some unforeseen circumstances, he had his memories as well as the chip from Earth; just another collateral casualty in the game played by the truly powerful.
However, he still had many questions that needed answering, and this female tester was the only way to get the answers at the moment.