The world is in the age of technology; no one living in this era can go without it. But there are still some cases where people retreat into the wilderness, cutting themselves off from human society. Many feel suffocated by excessive surveillance, leading some to hate this digital age.
Darius Noctis was born and raised in a slum on the outskirts of the city, with little exposure to science and technology. His childhood was like that of kids from the old days—hard but full of experiences. Unlike children today, who are glued to TVs, phones, and high-tech devices.
Darius Noctis' neighbors were all straightforward people—some gentle, some rough. But most people living in the slums had tough lives, and few were truly happy. To cope with hardship, many protected themselves by becoming blunt and aggressive. Yet, when trouble arose in the slum, they knew how to look out for one another.
Later on, Darius Noctis' parents passed away early, so he moved out. Like many young men in the slum, he wanted to make a life for himself in the city. Occasionally, in search of childhood memories, he would return.
Now, the slum was growing emptier. Some families moved into the high-tech city as their children prospered. Others had ungrateful children who abandoned them without a trace. Many elderly people died alone in their homes, and it was the neighbors—not their own children—who buried them.
Some cases were even more tragic. Some worked themselves to death, hoping to change their fate. Even in death, they refused to let their families know, afraid of breaking their hearts.
Darius Noctis had been in the city for a long time, but he had not found success. To put it bluntly, he was still a failure. His standard of living was just enough to support himself, with a little savings for emergencies.
He was over thirty now, with a scruffy beard, a large, burly frame, and a rough appearance—looking no different from a thug. If one had to describe him, they would only need four words: tall, big, dark, scary.
Today, Darius Noctis had just bought himself a new ride, but his face showed no joy at all. In this era, a normal person with a new vehicle would definitely get a four-seater car to show off.
But no—he lived alone, his parents had passed away early. He graduated from an automotive technology school but disliked using high-tech vehicles. Recently, the government had issued a law banning fossil-fuel-powered vehicles due to environmental pollution.
The current trend was clean energy—meaning only electric vehicles were allowed on the road. Gasoline-powered vehicles were gradually being added to the prohibited list.
He had saved up all his money and combined it with the government's support for transitioning from gas to electric vehicles. Finally, he managed to buy a new vehicle—a pickup truck. This truck would serve as both his home and his shop. As mentioned before, he was a street food vendor, selling noodle soup from his food truck.
Nowadays, street vending was tough. Even finding a spot to sell required paying fees—long gone were the days when you could set up shop anywhere.
He had been selling noodle soup for over ten years—ever since he graduated. By then, his mother was already too weak. He couldn't get a good job because of his brutally honest personality, so he had no choice but to take over his mother's noodle truck. She, in turn, had inherited it from her husband—his father.
Over thirty years old, no house, no home. He had a vehicle, but it was a food truck. To save money on rent, he lived inside it. With his new truck, he could now stock more goods and run a small convenience store since it was big enough for him to eat, sleep, and rest inside.
After buying the truck, he only had enough money left to buy ingredients for a single pot of noodle soup. This truck was quite convenient—it ran on solar power. But on cloudy days, he had to accept sleeping without lights. He also hated going to charging stations. He'd rather endure some hardship and save money to buy a house. If he still couldn't afford one by old age, he planned to donate all his earnings to the orphanage near his childhood slum.
Early this morning, on the first day of using his new truck for business, he was preparing to set up shop. The truck was a medium-sized food truck, designed for mobile vending. He could open up the entire cargo area if needed. Inside, he displayed convenience store items; outside, he had tables, chairs, a pot of broth, a glass display case full of meat, and a tray of bowls and plates.
Since it wasn't time to start selling yet, Darius Noctis sat in his truck, fiddling with the vehicle's electronic panel. He had just connected his computer to his phone when a system update notification popped up.
"Huh… a system update? Motherfucker, that damn salesman scammed me. He clearly said this truck was already updated to the latest version, and I wouldn't have to pay for another one until next year!"
[System Update: New Beta Version Available!!]
[Advanced AI features. Fluent in all languages. Assists drivers in vehicle management. Automatically detects issues and suggests repair solutions. Provides necessary tools for drivers.]
[New feature: Updated global map, ultra-advanced GPS capable of locating anywhere. No signal loss, no worries about being in the wilderness. Connects to the internet anytime, anywhere.]
[…]
And a bunch of other stuff. Darius Noctis was too lazy to read it all. He scrolled straight to the bottom and saw:
[Update today – completely free!!!]
"Free? If it's free, then why not."
Darius Noctis took out a cigarette, lit it with one hand, and pressed the update button with the other. Then he tossed his phone aside.
But it didn't start downloading yet. Instead, another message popped up, making him glance back at the screen:
[Do you agree to all the terms of service above and accept responsibility for them? Please press 'Agree' again to confirm.]
"So much damn trouble." – Darius Noctis cursed and pressed the confirmation button.
[System downloading… Please wait.]
"Whatever, time to set up shop." – Darius Noctis shoved his phone into his pocket.
He quickly forgot about the update. This was a modern city—there was WiFi everywhere. His truck could even connect to satellite signals to provide its own WiFi. Pretty advanced, huh? A noodle vendor with WiFi—how fancy.
That was what he thought, but in reality, he was way behind the times. People were driving flying cars now—he was one of the few still driving on the ground. At this point, there was even free WiFi on the moon, so it was no surprise his "shitty truck" had it. WiFi had become as essential as air—everywhere and impossible to live without.
"Hey, are you open yet? I'm starving, man."
Just as he was inside the truck preparing the broth, someone called out from outside.
"Not yet, come back in half an hour. It's only five in the morning; I'm not selling yet. I open on time—why are you even worried if your shift starts at six?" – Darius Noctis waved his hand dismissively.
"Alright, alright, I'll go have a smoke." – The man outside sighed, clutching his empty stomach as he walked away.
"Smoking on an empty stomach? Careful, you might burn a hole in it." – Darius Noctis laughed jokingly, then brought him a cup of warm tea.
Not to brag, but his noodle truck was among the best in the city. Most street vendors sold out around 9 or 10 AM, but his stock would be gone by a little past 7 AM. People even had to line up.
Otherwise, how could a mere noodle vendor like him afford a truck? He only sold in the mornings and evenings. From noon to afternoon, he just ran his small convenience store, yawning his way through the day. He wasn't much of a businessman—if he were, he wouldn't be struggling like this.
[Ting!]
[System update complete.]
[Ting!]
[AI system requires synchronization with your phone.]
[Accept – Cancel]
Darius Noctis pulled out his phone—the sound had come from his pocket. The screen displayed text along with an audio notification. Without thinking much, he pressed "Accept."
[Downloading new map – Supercontinent Northeast Linzhou.]
[New map is being downloaded… please wait…]
"A new map? It's probably the same as always, just pointless updates."
Darius Noctis scoffed, stuffing his phone back into his pocket. He bent down to carry the broth pot outside, but before he could do so, his phone dinged again.
[Map downloaded. Overwrite current map?]
[Accept – Cancel]
"So annoying. Isn't there an AI or something? Do it yourself."
Being bombarded with notifications so early in the morning was giving him a headache. Annoyed, Darius Noctis cursed under his breath. He opened his phone to put it on silent—not that anyone ever called or texted him except for spam ads.
[Please state the AI's name to issue commands.]
"What name? How the hell am I supposed to know?" – Darius Noctis frowned.
[AI does not have a name. Please assign a name using voice command.]
"Seriously?"
Darius Noctis started thinking. Naming something was the hardest thing in the world for him. Even when he had pets, he never bothered naming them—he just called them "dog" or "cat" for convenience.
[AI still has no name. Please assign one. If the owner cannot decide, AI can suggest a few names.]
Being rushed, a vein popped on Darius Noctis' forehead. He clenched his phone, trying to come up with something decent.
[Generating suggestions in 5… 4… 3… 2…]
That was the last straw. Darius Noctis couldn't hold back anymore. He blurted out in frustration and shoved his phone into his pocket:
"Annoying as shit!!!"
[Ting]
"Whatever, name it whatever!"
[Confirming new AI name – Annoying As Shit]
[Do you confirm that AI's name is Annoying As Shit?]
[System will auto-confirm in 10 seconds… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5…]
Hearing this, Darius Noctis quickly pulled his phone out and frantically tried to unlock it. But in his panic, he tapped too many times, causing the screen to flicker on and off. By the time he finally got it open, only a few seconds remained. He panicked:
"What the fuck? No, no—damn it, I said you're Annoying As Shit!"
[3… 2… 1]
"Where's the cancel button?!?"
Darius Noctis scrambled to press it, but his fingers were greasy from handling the broth pot earlier. The moment he tapped the cancel button, the grease slid over to the "Accept" button instead. And since it was hotter, it registered faster…
[System has confirmed the AI's new name. Annoying As Shit is now online.]
"..." – Darius Noctis fell silent, lowering his head in despair.
After a long pause, he snapped out of it and aggressively jabbed at his phone screen.
"Settings! Where the hell is the settings menu? How do I change this damn name? Annoying As Shit my ass!"
Flustered, he swiped up and down but couldn't find the settings option anywhere.
[Annoying As Shit greets the owner. The settings menu is the third option from the bottom. If the owner cannot locate it, Annoying As Shit can open it for you. Please give a voice command.]
"Open it now! And go straight to the name change option!" – Darius Noctis felt a bit relieved. This AI wasn't completely useless—just a little annoying.
[Settings opened. No name change option available. The user manual states that AI names can only be set once. This determines the AI's future personality and development. Once the AI gains emotions, it will understand the meaning behind its name.]
Darius Noctis' face froze. His whole life had been shitty, but this? This was next level. Why? Was it because his surname was "Noctis" and not "Noctan"? Did "Noctis" mean misfortune? At no time in his life had he wanted to change his last name more than now.
[New Map – Supercontinent Northeast Linzhou has been downloaded. Requires installation to overwrite the current map. Please give a voice command.]
"Fine, fine, install it. Hurry up, I need to open shop." – Darius Noctis sighed, collecting himself. He wasn't about to let some dumb tech ruin his morning.
[Replacing map…]
[During the replacement process, the user will be randomly relocated. For safety, the system will select a location near a human settlement.]
[Three seconds remaining…]
"What nonsense are you talking about?" – Darius Noctis had just set down the broth pot outside when he turned to glance at his phone on the table.
[3… 2… 1… Ting. Installation complete. Welcome to Supercontinent Northeast Linzhou. If you have any questions, please call AI by name for assistance. Have a great day.]
[Today's weather is clear, with light clouds and bright sunshine. The outdoor temperature is 25°C, and humidity is 76%. Tonight, expect fog and cold winds.]
"Just tell me if it's going to rain or not. This auto-update thing is actually useful."
Darius Noctis relaxed a little, picking up the broth pot again. But as he lifted his head, an unbelievable sight appeared before him.
"Where… the hell am I?"
Before his eyes stretched a vast, lush forest. The asphalt road beneath his feet had somehow turned into a rugged dirt path. He quickly looked to his right—his tables and chairs, which he had set up outside his truck, were still there. That was a relief. He had to be hallucinating.
While Darius Noctis let out a sigh of relief, somewhere nearby, the customer waiting for his shop to open was rubbing his eyes in disbelief. He had timed it perfectly, knowing Darius Noctis would be opening soon. But then, in the blink of an eye, the vendor, his truck, and even his tables and chairs were swallowed by a strange flash of light and vanished.