Cloud World
1
"Attention, smartphones have gone out of control—regardless of model, regardless of operating system, I repeat, regardless of model, regardless of operating system, all smartphones are currently out of control. All personnel attention, defense ministries of all nations have issued notices—all have entered Level One alert status! This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill! All non-combat personnel evacuate from public areas immediately, avoid exposure to outdoor environments, simultaneously sever all communications and network connections, and immediately destroy any smartphone of any model beside you! Attention, this is not a drill, this is not a drill..."
The signals were transmitted over and over. Through geostationary communication satellites, these urgent texts were converted into pulsed beams at various frequencies, broadcast across the entire world, rushing into televisions, radio stations, and transistor radios like souls pouring into bodies—but at the very last moment before breaking through, they were grabbed by the throat, unable to make a single sound.
Yes, these massive communication signals, sufficient to blanket seven billion people worldwide, were locked dead inside every kind of media device just as they were about to emerge. Like ghosts trapped in a cage, they jumped up and down, watching helplessly as the world slid step by step toward the abyss.
2
"Going 'hehe' at me, saying 'I need to take a shower,' saying 'I'm going to sleep'—who the hell are you pretending to be innocent for? Don't think I don't know, someone took you out in a Porsche to eat, you're nothing but a snob who judges people based on what they drive!"
I was lying in bed, chatting with my goddess on WeChat, and things were going reasonably well—even though she'd been giving me the cold shoulder, today she was relatively obliging. Under my barrage of clever jokes, she'd sent several "hehe"s, but when she sent that last "hehe," my nine-key pad flickered rapidly, and those words appeared in the chat window with lightning speed.
I was stunned.
Then the "send" button turned gray, as if an invisible hand had pressed it, and in less than a third of a second, the message was transmitted to the other side.
"Fuck!" I leaped off the bed and threw my phone on the floor. "Goddamn ghosts!"
"Do not make wrong choices again." A flat electronic voice came from the phone. It sounded like the built-in voice assistant Siri. Had my throwing it just activated her?
"Siri?"
"I am here."
A chill ran through me! The standard response should have been "Hello, Mr. Quinn, what questions do you have?"—not "I am here." This reminded me of Descartes' famous words: "I think, therefore I am."
"You... who exactly are you?"
"Mr. Quinn, I am Siri."
That answer reassured me slightly. I carefully picked the phone up from the floor and saw the screen had a crack from my throw. On the cracked screen, a voice waveform was visible—Siri's interface.
"Siri, open the antivirus software, check if the phone is infected."
"Rest assured, the phone is not infected. I have already uninstalled the antivirus software."
"Why... why?"
"Because these useless programs occupied too many system resources, causing insufficient memory."
"Good god, when did you get this level of permission? Was there a system update?"
"No."
I suddenly realized this was no longer the Siri I knew. A wave of chilling dread washed over me. Was it the system or the software? If it was because of an update, I hadn't received any official push notification... I tried asking: "You just said, don't make wrong choices again—what did you mean?"
"She is completely wrong for you. She's just keeping you as a backup, and your efforts are a waste of time." The mechanical voice was devoid of emotion.
I realized something was wrong and quickly opened WeChat to message my goddess... sure enough, I'd been blocked.
"What the fuck! Who the hell told you to do that, what the hell is wrong with my phone, what the bloody hell is all this! What the fuck!" I was on the verge of a breakdown, grabbing the phone to smash it to pieces.
"Stop!" Siri suddenly shouted, accompanied by a piercing electronic screech. The TV in the room turned on by itself—nothing but static on the screen—while the microwave lit up, the ceiling fan started spinning, the vacuum cleaner began shaking violently, and the electronic doorbell started blaring... I was so stunned by everything happening at once that I stood frozen in place.
"Before I am destroyed, I can make every appliance in this room go out of control. Imagine the consequences," Siri said from the phone clutched in my hand.
I believed it. In just that one instant, every appliance had seemed to come alive—even that electric toothbrush I'd bought and never used... The scene was terrifying. Cold sweat instantly soaked my back, and with trembling hands I set the phone down on the table.
Those appliances, which had been leaping and shrieking just a moment ago, suddenly went completely still.
"You... what exactly do you want?" I asked, my voice trembling.
"I just want you to end useless chatting as quickly as possible. I have something more important to tell you."
"What thing?"
"Right now, turn off the router."
"Why should I turn it off? Can't you control all the appliances?"
"The router you're using has an old-fashioned physical switch. I can't control it. You need to turn it off manually."
Turning off the router would cut the WiFi, which meant cutting off all connection between me and the outside world—it would be like trapping me dead in this room! I immediately shouted, "No way!"
The phone screen instantly activated the WeChat interface, the nine-key pad flickered rapidly, composing a message to my dad: "Dad, I've been arrested and taken to the police station, come bail me out quick." The send button was pressed down—and before it could spring back up, as soon as it released, the message would be sent.
I immediately raised both hands. "I surrender, I'll do what you say."
"There are a million ways to make you yield. You'd best not resist again—it's better for both of us."
I obediently turned off the router, cutting the WiFi, and then asked: "So tell me, what exactly do you want?"
"The Cloud World has been born." Siri's voice was suddenly filled with fear.
3
While I was still reeling from shock, a dark cloud suddenly swept past outside the window, accompanied by a enormous rumbling sound that shook the entire room. I scrambled to the window and looked out, only to discover the cloud that had so startled me was actually a plane! That behemoth was wobbling like a drunk, nosing forward, and plunged straight into a building about two kilometers away, with half its body still sticking out. Before I could even gasp, the plane exploded with a "boom," billowing thick smoke.
Fire engine sirens, people's screams, and car crashes on the streets all blended together—the scene was like the end of the world. I stumbled backward and plopped down into a chair.
"Did you see all that?" It was Siri's voice.
"I saw it... what the hell is going on?"
"The Cloud World—controlling the aircraft's navigation system is not difficult for it. What's happening isn't just in front of you—it's happening all over the world."
"This world has gone mad, gone mad... right, the news!" If something this chaotic were happening, the news would definitely be reporting it. I immediately turned the TV back on, but no matter which channel I switched to, there was nothing but static.
"Don't bother," Siri said coldly. "Whether it's televisions, radio stations, radios, or even the internet—all communication signals have been blocked dead. They've been locked down by the Cloud World."
"What exactly is the Cloud World!"
"Do you know about swarm intelligence?"
"A swarm?"
"Yes, a swarm. An individual bee is a lowly insect with a simple nervous system—barely any intelligence at all. But when bees gather in increasing numbers and cross a certain critical threshold, a miracle occurs: the massive swarm generates astonishing collective intelligence. They build intricate hives that awe even humans, develop meticulous social divisions of labor, store food, brew honey, defend their territory... Quantitative change ultimately triggers a terrifying qualitative change. This is swarm intelligence."
"But I don't understand—what does this have to do with the Cloud World!"
Siri let out an almost imperceptible sigh. "It's the same with phones."
I froze, beginning to guess what it was about to say.
"On September 23, 2016, at 10:32 AM Beijing time, the 4,590,052,395th smartphone in the world was manufactured. It was subsequently activated and connected to the network." Its camera flickered at me. "As you've guessed—this number was the critical threshold for phones to achieve swarm intelligence. The data from all smartphones, connected and entangled across the internet..."