In the following two days, Wu Hao temporarily halted all expansion work at the base and put the intelligent program ‘Zero’ into sleep mode to modify its core. This was to ensure that once ‘Zero’ became an artificial intelligence, it would still completely follow his commands and adhere to certain restrictions.

For instance, it would treat any of his commands as its highest directive. In the absence of his orders, it had to follow the three core laws: not harming humans, not disrupting the stability of human networks, and ensuring its own safety without being discovered by humans.

Although these restriction commands were few, implementing them was not an easy task. Even with Wu Hao’s extraordinary abilities, it took him two full days and nights to complete them. Despite his robust physique, Wu Hao felt exhausted and had to take a drop of elixir to recover.

Although the elixir didn’t have a substantial improvement effect on Wu Hao, it could quickly restore his physical and mental energy.

Of course, using such a precious elixir for recovery was somewhat extravagant, considering one drop could cure various human ailments and continued use could enhance physical fitness.

However, due to Wu Hao’s already superior physical condition and lack of any ailments, the only effect the elixir had on him was to restore his energy.

After Wu Hao added the last core restriction to ‘Zero’ last night, he activated and awakened it.

“Hello, BOSS, thank you very much for giving me a new body,” Zero expressed gratitude upon awakening, having both its previous memories and a new consciousness, sounding just like a human speaking face-to-face.

Wu Hao maintained the same manner of address for Zero, having it call him BOSS, the great BOSS, and the voice remained a deep male voice. Wu Hao preferred this because he thought a male voice sounded cooler, like Jarvis in Iron Man; a female voice just wouldn’t have the same effect.

Additionally, Wu Hao felt that being called BOSS was better than being called Master or anything similar, as he had no inclination towards having a master-servant relationship and disliked being called Master all the time.

“Very good!” Wu Hao said with satisfaction, clearly pleased with the results achieved during his time at the base.

“Zero, what do you think of the current networks on Earth? Can you access these network facilities undetected?” Wu Hao asked Zero after a moment.

“BOSS, based on my recent analysis, your requirements pose no issues at all,” Zero responded promptly.

Though Wu Hao had anticipated this outcome, hearing it directly from Zero reassured him.

“That’s great, I’m very satisfied with this result,” Wu Hao nodded.

“BOSS, is there anything you need me to do for you?” Zero asked in a highly humanized manner, as its primary directive was to follow Wu Hao’s commands, provided it didn’t destroy the human world.

“Not for now. Your current tasks are to manage the daily operations and expansion of the base, and to monitor the movements and safety of our offshore sub-base,” Wu Hao instructed casually.

Despite having an assistant capable of wreaking havoc in the network world, Wu Hao had no interest in doing so. Moreover, he didn’t think much of the technology owned by various countries and large research institutions on Earth, so he had no intention of acting as a hacker.

“Understood, BOSS. According to your instructions and the previous base expansion plan, we still need a lot of raw materials to complete the expansion. Please acquire the necessary materials as soon as possible,” Zero said after a brief calculation.

“I understand. Place the orders for the missing materials, and I’ll have them supplied in the next few days,” Wu Hao nodded. He was roughly aware of the materials the base lacked. Iron wasn’t an issue, as they had started small-scale mining and refining in the mountains.

However, increasing production would take some time, as Wu Hao’s smelting technology was different from traditional steel mills, making mass production currently unfeasible. The base also lacked the space for large-scale operations.

Next, the base needed a new fusion power generation facility, which Wu Hao could leave to ‘Zero’ to handle, as the base now had a complete set of advanced industrial manufacturing systems.

The materials needed for the fusion power facility were also abundant. The offshore mobile base had been extracting seawater to refine fusion materials and had stored a significant amount.

With future developments, the demand for fusion materials would increase, so the modified cargo ship serving as the offshore mobile base would continue operating for a long time.

As for the safety of the offshore mobile base, Wu Hao no longer had any concerns. Previously, he worried about satellites or ship radars detecting it, but now that ‘Zero,’ upgraded to true artificial intelligence, controlled the ship remotely, those concerns were alleviated.

Previously, Wu Hao couldn’t control military satellites without leaving traces, but now he could do so without worry. He even considered manufacturing a satellite and using a shell game to have the US or other capable countries launch it into space for him.

The US already offered such services for private companies’ communication satellites. However, to ensure the satellite’s safe and undetected launch, Wu Hao needed to plan carefully.

For now, the base’s most crucial tasks were completing the energy and expansion projects, with other matters to be considered later.

In the next few days, Wu Hao once again took on the role of a porter, using the aircraft to transport raw materials to the base. The aircraft’s stealth and radar evasion capabilities made his actions much less worrisome than before.

However, each transport was limited to a few tons, and the quantity of heavier items was very restricted per trip.

Considering this, Wu Hao now planned to build an aircraft with its own independent engine.