Chapter 13: Meeting Gu Qiutang for the First Time

Chapter 13: Meeting Gu Qiutang for the First Time

Lanqi Garden took its name from the Blue Banner camp stationed there during the Qing dynasty. Now it was a world-famous high-tech cluster and one of the best-preserved areas from the Human–Machine War.

The letter Grandma gave me said the Gu Group was in Tower A of the Gu Building in Lanqi Garden.

When I arrived, security stopped me. The guard questioned me forever, made me register, demanded ID, then finally made a phone call and told me to wait.

First time I’d ever walked into a building this fancy. No idea what tipped him off, but people were streaming in and out everywhere and he only stopped me.

Just trying to find someone. Did it have to be this hard? What a snob.

When a beautiful woman appeared in front of me, the guard looked embarrassed and hurried to apologize. She was probably someone important. But she only said softly, “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

She led me into the building and introduced herself.

“My name is Gu Kunling. I’m the CEO of Kunyue Company.”

“Nice to meet you, Sister Kunling!” I said quickly.

“You sure have a sweet mouth, little guy.”

Gu Kunling brought me to an office on the thirty-third floor, handed me off to the secretary outside, then hurried away.

The secretary knocked and said, “President Gu, Mr. Gu Beichen has arrived.”

She pushed the door open, guided me inside, then backed out and closed it behind her.

The office made me catch my breath.

Really impressive.

The office was a full two hundred square meters, shaped like a half arc. Huge floor-to-ceiling windows lined the outer wall, facing the sun and offering a sweeping view of almost the entire district below.

Standing at those windows, you’d feel like you were floating above the world.

The interior was furnished entirely in sandalwood. Bookshelves packed with volumes. A lounge on the left, what looked like a small conference room on the right.

A middle-aged man sat on the sofa by the window, bathed in light, drinking tea and reading documents.

When he saw me come in, he didn’t get up. Just pointed at the sofa across from him, told me to pour myself some tea, then spoke in an unhurried voice.

“I’m Gu Qiutang, president of the Gu Group. I know you have questions. Don’t rush to find the answers. In time, you’ll understand.”

He kept his eyes on the documents. Didn’t look up again. But he clearly knew who I was and what I wanted to ask.

A little uneasy, I said, “President Gu, has my grandma been here?”

“No. How could she come here?”

His answer surprised me. Why couldn’t she? She was the one who told me to come.

After a pause, Gu Qiutang flicked the papers and looked at me. “You’re an employee here now. You met Gu Kunling—she runs the company you’ll work for. Go report to HR in a bit. She’ll arrange everything.”

Seeing he was about to dismiss me, I couldn’t help getting anxious.

If Grandma sent me to him, he must be someone she trusted. I could let everything else go, but I had to know about her. “President Gu, what’s going on with my grandma? How do I find her?”

“You don’t.”

He said it flat. “She has her own plans. The Sweepers are looking for her too. If you find her, they find her. You want that?”

His explanation made sense, but it still left me in the dark. Couldn’t you at least tell me something?

Grandma escaped from those black-clad men when Xuanhong couldn’t. That meant she was more capable than him. For someone in her nineties, was that normal? And Liu Biao said at the station that my grandma wasn’t my grandma.

I laid all that out for him.

Gu Qiutang didn’t look surprised. But he clearly wasn’t going to tell me. “Your grandma isn’t your grandma, true. But she raised you. You know that. She’s your family. That’s enough. The rest, you’ll understand later.”

Later again. Can’t you say a little more?

Getting irritated. But Grandma sent me to him, probably meant to entrust me to him. I could only follow his lead.

Fine. I’d find the answers myself.

But what about Xuanhong looking just like me? Maybe he knew something. So I told him about the metro, about Xuanhong being taken.

“Master Xuanhong was arrested?”

He obviously knew him. Looked at me with mild surprise.

I added quickly, “Yeah. Don’t know if he’ll survive. Looked badly hurt. Something in the back of his neck—the black-clad men pried it out.”

Honestly, I didn’t care much whether Xuanhong lived or died. I cared why he looked like me. I stared at Gu Qiutang, waiting.

“Xuanhong is a Dharma master at Tansong Temple. He is deeply versed in Buddhist teachings and highly skilled in medicine. He has saved many lives and is well respected in Pingdu, where he is fairly well known. Before taking vows, he worked as a core architect in Silicon Valley. I know him. After becoming a monk, however, he traveled from place to place, living a life that was half monastic, half worldly, and we rarely kept in touch. I never expected him to be arrested.”

He said it all lightly. Didn’t answer my question.

“So why does he look… so much like me?”

I still wanted the answer. He had to know. He just didn’t want to tell me.

“I’ve known Xuanhong a long time. You, I met today. How would I know why you look alike? Go ask at the temple. Go to his home and ask around. You need to learn to find answers on your own.”

He clearly wanted me gone.

His attitude left me baffled. He hadn’t resolved a single question. Well, except one—my job and living arrangements.

Whatever. I’d figure it out.

Seeing me drag my feet, Gu Qiutang hesitated, then said, “When you have time, visit your ancestral home. Jiangnan Gucheng—you know it? If you want to see your grandma, go to Xisai Mountain west of the city. There’s a place on the mountain called Xiujing Garden.”

He went back to his documents.

I had no choice but to get up and take my leave.

After leaving Gu Qiutang, I found Gu Kunling at Kunyue Company and told her about the arrangement.

She assigned a young man to take me to HR for onboarding, then set me up in an employee dorm.

Just like that, I began working in the marketing department at Kunyue Company.

Kunyue was a Gu Group subsidiary that manufactured and processed flexible materials for bionic robots. It was highly specialized work, and I understood none of it. I got by entirely because Gu Qiutang and his daughter had my back.

Right—Gu Kunling was Gu Qiutang’s daughter. Learned that from the other employees later.

Everyone at the company had sharp instincts. They could tell without being told that my relationship with Gu Qiutang and his daughter was unusual, so they treated me with respect. Never assigned me the hard or exhausting work. Always pulled me along to small dinners, which helped me fit in fast.

But real friends? Heartfelt talks? None of that. It was all transactional. I could see it. Especially that fat department manager Zhu Xinyuan—his fake warmth was overdone. I avoided him when I could.

A little over two months later, I asked Gu Kunling for time off. Told her I wanted to visit Jiangnan Gucheng. After that, I boarded a southbound train straight there.

Nanxun Town, under Gucheng’s jurisdiction, was a thousand-year-old water town thick with canals, right next to the southeast shore of Lake Tai. My ancestral home.

All of Jiangnan Prefecture, centered on Lake Tai, had once been the global hub for AI research and manufacturing. Then the Human–Machine War hit, and I’d heard this area suffered the worst destruction.

West of Gucheng stood Xisai Mountain—the one from the Tang poem: “Before Xisai Mountain, white egrets fly; peach blossoms drift, and mandarin fish grow fat.” From up there, you could look down on the vast blue of Lake Tai.

I went straight to Xisai Mountain.

Xiujing Garden was hard to find. Too many war dead—felt like spirits everywhere. Finally found it on the eastern slope, and in the center, Wang Chunyan’s grave. Grandma’s grave.

At the top of the stone was a machine-engraved photo. Looked exactly like her. Lower left corner read: Daughter, Wang Rongyue. Son-in-law, Gu Chenxing.

My parents’ names.

Grandma really was dead.

I’d known the answer, but seeing it with my own eyes left me frozen there for a long time, desolate and chilled to the bone. So who raised me? No one could tell me.

I climbed to the summit and stood in the pavilion, gazing out. Lake Tai stretched blue and flawless.

Then I noticed the vast land along the southern and eastern shores. That used to be the most prosperous, densely populated region of Huaxia’s Yangtze Delta. The AI cluster Huaxia took pride in.

Now, wasteland. So barren I could even make out, far away in Suhu, the United Nations Headquarters building and its administrative district.

According to records, Malken—a country in the eastern Pacific—was where the AI war started.

In its AI competition with Huaxia, Malken focused on an AI autonomous-consciousness platform, hoping to gain an advantage at the level of underlying logic. Huaxia, by contrast, emphasized practical AI applications meant to benefit humanity.

Malken gathered the world’s top minds and finally succeeded in developing the AI autonomous-consciousness platform.

That was the beginning.

With intelligence nearly a thousand times greater than humanity’s, AI swept across the globe, rapidly broke free of human control, and in turn seized control of every AI entity worldwide. It brought about the total destruction of Malken and the deaths of nearly half the world’s population.

Fortunately, Huaxia fought AI with AI, using human nature, viruses, control of the power supply, and other means, and ultimately won a devastating victory.

I really couldn’t understand what people back then had been thinking. How could they have been so foolish—and how tragic!

Maybe that’s why Gu Qiutang sent me here.

To see the wreckage AI left behind.

Couldn’t say.