Stan connected a brain-machine interface at the back of his head and closed his eyes. His eyeballs began to spin rapidly, and his closed eyes started to show a "black" with colorful hues. Suddenly, he felt a wave of dizziness...
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The next day, after picking up Ms. Mao from the airport, Stan took an autonomous car to work. He took the elevator to the 24th floor, clocked in at the entrance, and went to the coffee room to pour a cup of coffee. Holding the coffee in one hand and his backpack in the other, he navigated the narrow corridor lined with workstations on both sides to reach his desk. He greeted his colleague across from him, who was already engrossed in work. Another colleague quickly walked past him in the narrow corridor, causing Stan to spill his coffee. The colleague opposite him smiled sympathetically. Stan shrugged, greeted his colleague again awkwardly, who then politely returned the gesture before getting back to work.
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Stan picked up the fallen cup and placed it on the table, sighed, and opened his computer. He was working on a new mobile app project. He had been closely studying the project-related reference materials and requirement documents. The text on the computer screen was densely packed. As he read, he recalled the conversation with Catherine the previous day: "Autonomous driving accidents caused by hallucinations from large models? Nothing else happened after we left the airport. Renting a manually-driven car yesterday might have been an overreaction. This morning's ride to work in an autonomous car was fine, though Ms. Mao seems to really like that car. Today, she plans to go shopping at a nearby supermarket with Fang Lu."
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Stan remembered Fang Lu's reluctant expression when her mother mentioned taking her to the supermarket. Stan had experienced Ms. Mao's driving skills yesterday; she drove them home from the airport. After getting home, Stan didn't even have dinner and went to bed early. He didn't dare eat until he woke up this morning. He had planned to have a coffee at work to perk up, but it spilled. Stan continued reviewing the reference materials when his phone suddenly rang. "Mr. Stan? This is Catherine..." The phone call connected automatically, causing a commotion in the office. Everyone stood up and looked at Stan's desk. Stan quickly grabbed his phone, covered the speaker, and walked to the restroom. The others returned to their seats and resumed work after Stan left.
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In the restroom, Stan was angry: "Ms. Catherine, I paid a deposit to rent your car. You can't install a backdoor on my phone to monitor your customers, right?" Catherine quickly explained: "No, Mr. Stan, I just found out this morning that my computer is still linked to your phone. It's very strange!" Stan calmed down after hearing the explanation, realizing Catherine had no reason to monitor him. "So, what's going on?" Stan asked. "I checked the logs and found that your phone transmitted some strange code to my computer when the rental agreement was being sent. The logs were not cleaned up afterward, which isn't typical hacker behavior," Catherine replied. "No, no, no, that's impossible. I swear I didn't do that," Stan said. Catherine reassured him: "Mr. Stan, I'm not accusing you of deliberately setting up this code. I suspect it's a piece of auto-generated code. I suggest you check if your phone has been hacked, but..." Stan continued Catherine's thought: "You mean, even if my phone was hacked, it's still unusual for it to stay connected to your computer? Right?"47Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8zbf6P8IQw
