Zhang Zian was suspicious. From the chat history of the readers, the prankster had appeared in the chatroom of the library this morning. Could it be related to the elfin that had appeared this morning?
The computer system on the fifth floor of the Binhai City Library was completely closed to the outside world. The prankster was definitely on the fifth floor.
There must be a reason behind this abnormality. Zhang Zian was not there to read, so he was not affected by the prank. Instead, he felt a little excited.
He told Mr. Zhou to read, and he wandered around the aisles on the fifth floor with his phone in hand. This time, he paid attention to the seats in front of the computers, regardless of whether they were occupied or not.
Although Zhang Zian had deliberately lightened his footsteps, because he had been holding up his phone as if he was recording a video, the readers who passed by would more or less look at him with vigilance or annoyance. If it weren't for the prankster typing the same number over and over again in the chat room, Zhang Zian would probably have been mistaken for a prank by the prankster.
Zhang Zian ignored all the stares. He did not care what these people thought of him. With unparalleled patience, he walked around the central area of the fifth floor, but still did not find any trace of the elfin.
Was the elfin so illusory that even the game interface could not see it?
Or was it moving? Was it not sitting in front of a computer, typing?
When he passed by an empty computer, he would pay attention to the keyboard to see if the key was moving. He would also listen for any typing sounds coming from the direction of the computer. Unfortunately, the computers in the library were equipped with a floating keyboard like a laptop. The key range was very short, and the typing sound was very soft. Even if he was standing next to the typist, he would not be able to hear any noises.
After walking around again and again, Zhang Zian returned to the side of Mr. Zhou, who was immersed in reading. Just as he was worrying, he saw the girl with the ID Coco in the corner stand up and quietly wave at him.
He had walked past Coco twice. She was a fashionable girl with a flaxen scalp. From her appearance, it was hard to associate her with reading.
Zhang Zian did not know what she wanted, but he did not want to let go of any possibility, so he quickly walked over.
"Hey, I think you are looking for someone. Are you looking for Pi?" Coco waited for him to come closer and whispered.
Zhang Zian nodded and whispered back, "I think everyone is annoyed by him, so I want to find him and ask him to leave the chatroom."
"Oh, you're a librarian?" Coco asked curiously.
"No, I'm an avid reader," Zhang Zian said with a straight face.
Coco believed him and said with admiration, "I have a few familiar faces here. We don't know each other's real names, but we always greet each other with a nod. I've never seen you before. Are you new here?"
Zhang Zian's face was serious, and he said seriously, "Yes, it's my first day here, and I think the reading atmosphere here is very good. I can't let a rat's poop spoil the whole pot of soup. By the way, do you have any clues? Is there anything that can help me find him? "
Coco thought about it awkwardly and said, "Today is the day off, so I came to the library early and planned to read here for the whole day. I was the first to enter the library when the doors opened, and there were definitely less than ten readers on the fifth floor."
"Was that person there?" Zhang Zian asked.
Coco nodded. "Yes, at first, no one was talking in the chatroom, so I typed 'hello, world'. That person appeared right after my 'hello, world' and sent a string of Pi. I thought it was a new joke, so I ignored him and closed the chatroom to focus on reading. When more and more people appeared on the fifth floor, and a few familiar faces appeared, I opened the chatroom again and realized that everyone was denouncing him … "
From Coco's words, Zhang Zian sensitively caught a key piece of information. The "person" appeared as soon as the library opened, and the opening time was exactly the same as the elfin's appearance in the game.
"And then everyone just stood there and watched? No one tried to find him? "he asked.
Coco smiled helplessly. "How should I put it? The regular readers of the library are quite peaceful. Even the most ruthless person in the chatroom would only try to reason with Pi politely if they found him in real life. The library isn't a market, and not all of the hundreds of readers on the fifth floor are chatting in the chatroom. Maybe less than half of them are chatting in the chatroom. If we check them one by one, we might affect the normal readers and cause them to be angry. Then, what difference is there between us and pranksters? The impact would be even worse. "
Well, Zhang Zian had to admit that what she said made sense. Birds of a feather flocked together, and the people who often came to the library to be influenced by the scent of ink would definitely be more peaceful. They understood the Confucian way of self-cultivation, so no one wanted to be the first one to stand out.
"Of course, we did do something," Coco added. "A few people went to the service desk to explain the situation to the library staff, and asked them to find this person from the backend and kick him out of the chatroom. But it was useless. The staff on duty said that it was New Year's Day, so all the technical staff were on vacation. The library system was closed and isolated from the outside world, so there was no way to manage it remotely …"
Time — New Year's Day.
Location — Closed System.
People and — Peaceful readers.
The prankster had the upper hand. It was no wonder that the readers could not do anything about it, even though they were so angry that they gnashed their teeth.
Zhang Zian was now 99% sure that the prankster was the elfin he was looking for.
But what kind of elfin was it?
What did it mean by repeatedly typing the number Pi? Was it just for fun?
Would an elfin whose life was about to be extinguished make a prank just for fun? It wasn't like the Indian Third Brother who liked to joke around with his life …
Zhang Zian felt that the elfin was not joking, but was trying to ask for help … even asking for help.
"Sorry, that's all I know. It's not a useful clue," Coco said apologetically. Coco said apologetically, "We're not very mobile, so we probably won't be able to help you much. But if you find this Pi, please don't do anything drastic!"
"Don't worry, I'll take care of it."
Zhang Zian thanked him and quickly walked back to his seat. He also started the chatroom software and gave himself a common nickname — The Hottie.
After entering the chatroom, he didn't rush to type a message. Instead, he waited patiently for the elfin to type the number Pi again, and then he immediately typed a reply.
[The Hottie]: 3.1415926, what do you want?
He had a feeling that the other readers might have fallen into a blind spot. Who could be sure that this "person" was definitely Chinese? Who could be sure that this "person" could read Chinese?
Of course, this was the Binhai City Library. It wasn't like the National Library or the Capital Library, where there were many foreign readers. Zhang Zian walked around twice and observed carefully. He was sure that the readers on the fifth floor were all yellow-skinned and black-eyed East Asian. He didn't know if there were any Japanese or Koreans, but there were definitely no Westerners. So it was normal for the other readers to have this blind spot.
This elfin might not necessarily be a Chinese elfin. It could also be a foreign elfin. Maybe it didn't understand Chinese, and the questions and scoldings from other people sounded like they didn't understand Chinese.
Zhang Zian's English was not very good, but he could still carry out simple daily conversations. Especially after a few days in the United States, he felt very good about himself!
[Blue Flower]: I've never seen this nickname before. Is it a newcomer?
[Ah Liu]: Look at this nickname … Is it another troublemaker?
[Jackdaw]: It's useless. Do you think he'll respond to you if you speak English? He's like a robot that only knows how to send the first 100 digits of Pi. Not one more, not one less. I think he's here to deliberately cause trouble!
[Coco]: Yes, English! Why didn't I think of that? He responded to my 'Hello, world'! Maybe he only understands English! Everyone, try to be quiet. Let the newcomer try!
The chatroom temporarily quieted down. Although the regular readers didn't think much of it, they still patiently waited for the prankster's reply.
They only waited for a few seconds before the situation changed unexpectedly.
[3.1415926]: 3.141592653589 w7932384626h433832e795r02884197e16939937i51s058209m749445923078y1640628620b8998o628o034825342117k0679
Zhang Zian and the other regular readers stared at the familiar string of numbers on the screen. After a while, they realized that this string of numbers was not the original one. There were some English characters mixed in it.
[Coco]: W … h … e … r … e … i … s … m … y … b … o … k? No, it's my book! Sorry! I missed an o! My eyes are getting dizzy!
Where is my book?
Where's my book?
The regular readers all felt very embarrassed. The prankster actually responded to English questions? Why didn't they think of that earlier? Was this a foreigner? Or an overseas Chinese who didn't understand Chinese?
All of a sudden, there were a lot of questions in the chatroom, all in English. The questions were nothing more than, "Who are you?", "Where are you sitting?", "Why didn't you speak English earlier? Why do you have to type pi?", "Can't you speak properly?", and so on.
The quality of the readers here was very high. English conversation was not a problem. Everyone was talking, and the prankster was silent.
[Coco]: Can everyone be quiet? Let the newcomer ask first. We won't get the answer we want if we keep asking.
Zhang Zian only typed one sentence, then stared at the screen and fell into a state of deep thought.
"Like a robot." [Jackdaw]'s unintentional remark had given him a hint of inspiration. Obviously, the regular readers all regarded this elfin as a "human" and didn't doubt it at all.
Zhang Zian previously thought that the elfin's Strength of Faith was too thin, so it couldn't show itself. But now, he suddenly thought of a famous thought experiment and had a vague guess about the elfin's identity.
The alpha dog in the Chinese room?
Are we facing an artificial intelligence wandering in the digital space?
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