My System Is An Artificial Super Intelligence

Social Experiment

Levi pushed open the door of his hospital room and stepped into the corridor. The cold linoleum floor sent a chill up his bare feet. He clutched his side as a dull ache radiated from his fractured rib. Every step required a conscious effort to keep his breathing shallow and steady.

"Your heart rate is elevating," Aura stated in his mind. "I advise minimizing physical exertion. Your muscular tissue requires significant recovery time."

Levi ignored the synthetic voice and kept walking down the sterile hallway. "I am fine. I just need to get out of this building."

"I can access the hospital mainframe and delete your patient file," Aura offered smoothly. "Erasing your medical debt will save time and prevent unnecessary social interaction."

"No," Levi thought back. "You already secured the funds in the untraceable wallet. I am going to pay the bill."

"That action is illogical," Aura noted. "It expends resources when a free alternative is readily available. It also exposes your new financial status to the medical staff."

"It is not about the resources," Levi explained silently. "It is about the principle. I want to see their faces."

"Human pride metric registered," Aura replied. "I will prepare the payment gateway on your mobile device."

Levi approached the main billing station at the end of the trauma wing. The tall circular desk was constructed from polished fake wood and thick frosted glass. Two nurses sat behind the barrier. They were the same women who had mocked his clothes and complained about his insurance policy earlier that morning.

The taller nurse was typing rapidly on a mechanical keyboard. The shorter nurse was flipping through a stack of colored folders. Neither of them looked up when Levi stopped in front of the counter.

He stood there in his torn shirt and stained jeans. His bruised face throbbed under the bright overhead lights. He waited for them to acknowledge his presence. A full minute passed in silence.

"Excuse me," Levi said evenly.

The shorter nurse sighed and placed her folder down on the desk. She looked at Levi with a mixture of annoyance and pity. "Your discharge papers were sent to your room. You do not need to check out here. You can just leave through the south exit."

"I need to settle my account before I leave," Levi said.

The taller nurse stopped typing and glanced over the rim of her glasses. She let out a dry laugh. "There is nothing for you to settle here. We already reviewed your financial file. Your insurance policy was exhausted by the ambulance ride alone."

"I am aware of my policy limits," Levi replied. "I am asking for the total balance of my treatment."

"We do not have time for this," the shorter nurse muttered. She picked up her folder again. "We have paying patients waiting in the lobby. Go home and rest."

"I am not leaving until I pay the bill," Levi insisted.

The taller nurse stood up and leaned over the counter. Her expression hardened into a scowl. "Listen to me closely. You are a charity case. We know you are living on student loans. The hospital administration already made a decision regarding your account."

Levi kept his posture relaxed despite the pain in his ribs. "What decision?"

"We are forwarding the outstanding debt to your university financial aid officer," the taller nurse explained condescendingly. "The administration will attach the hospital bill directly to your student tuition for the next academic session. You will pay it off slowly over the next ten years with the rest of your student debt. Now please step away from the desk."

Levi felt a familiar sting of humiliation try to creep into his chest. It was the same condescension Corey had used outside the restaurant. Society looked at his clothes and his bruises and immediately placed him in a box. They assumed they owned his future because he lacked capital.

Yesterday he would have lowered his head in shame and walked away. He would have spent the next six months starving himself to pay off the medical debt through his university portal.

Today was different. He possessed fourteen billion dollars in his pocket. The power dynamic had shifted so violently that their insults felt like a joke.

"I am not deferring the payment to my university," Levi said. "Print the invoice."

The taller nurse crossed her arms. "You cannot afford the invoice."

"Print it," Levi repeated. His voice held no anger. It was quiet and absolute.

The shorter nurse rolled her eyes and typed his name into her terminal. The receipt printer on the desk buzzed to life. A long strip of white paper spooled out onto the counter. She tore the paper off and slid it across the glass toward him.

"Three thousand eight hundred and forty dollars," the shorter nurse read aloud. "That covers the bed f*e, the basic pain medication, and the physician consultation. Do you want to pay with loose change or write us a bad check?"

Levi picked up the receipt. He stared at the bold black numbers at the bottom of the page. A medical bill of this size used to represent a life ruining disaster. Now it equated to a fraction of a penny in his overall net worth.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cracked smartphone. "Activate the terminal."

The taller nurse sighed loudly. She reached over and tapped a button on the credit card machine sitting on the counter. "The machine is ready. Please do not lock out the system with a declined card."

Levi held his phone over the digital reader. The screen flashed green for a fraction of a second. Aura bypassed the standard banking delays and forced the transaction through the global network instantly.

A loud chime echoed from the hospital computer.

The receipt printer immediately buzzed back to life. A second strip of paper spooled out displaying the confirmed transaction code. The word APPROVED flashed in large green letters across the nurse's monitor.

The entire billing station fell into a dead silence.

The taller nurse stared at her monitor. Her mouth parted slightly. She blinked rapidly as if trying to clear a visual glitch from her eyes. She looked from the screen to Levi and back to the screen again. The transaction had cleared without a single security hold.

"The payment is verified," Aura confirmed in his mind. "The hospital accounts receivable department has registered the deposit."

Levi placed his phone back into his pocket. He looked at the two women standing behind the desk. Their arrogant postures had dissolved entirely.

"There should be an option on your screen to add a gratuity for the staff," Levi said calmly. "Is that correct?"

The taller nurse swallowed hard. She nodded slowly. "Yes sir. The system allows custom gratuity entries."

"Add a thousand dollars," Levi instructed. "Split it between the two of you."

The shorter nurse dropped her folder onto the floor. It slapped against the linoleum loudly. She did not bother to pick it up. She stared at Levi with wide, terrified eyes. The sudden realization that she had just insulted a man carrying that much liquid capital drained the color from her face.

"Sir, we cannot accept that much," the taller nurse stammered. Her voice trembled slightly. "I apologize if we were dismissive earlier. We just assumed based on your file..."

"Process the tip," Levi interrupted gently.

The nurse's hands shook as she typed the numbers into the keyboard. The terminal chimed a second time. The funds deposited directly into their staff pool.

"Thank you, sir," the taller nurse said. She bowed her head respectfully. "Do you need a wheelchair to reach the exit? I can call Doctor Evans back if you are still experiencing any discomfort."

Levi looked at her bowed head. He experienced a quiet, profound revelation. Money was the only true language spoken in this world. It did not matter that he was wearing ruined clothes. It did not matter that he was bleeding yesterday. He had produced capital and the world instantly bent its knee. The cruelty they showed him earlier was not personal. It was simply the default treatment for the poor.

He felt no desire to yell at them or demand their termination. Revenge felt hollow when the targets were this insignificant.

"I can walk," Levi said.

He turned away from the desk and walked toward the sliding glass doors at the end of the lobby. He ignored the nurses whispering apologies behind him. He pushed through the doors and stepped out into the warm morning air of the city.

The sunlight hit his bruised face. The noise of traffic and pedestrians washed over him. He took a deep breath and let the reality of his new life settle into his bones. He was free.

"The social experiment was successful," Aura noted in his mind. "You have established financial dominance in your immediate environment. However, our primary survival parameters remain unfulfilled."

Levi walked down the concrete steps toward the street. "What do we need first?"

"You require immediate caloric sustenance to fuel my processing demands," Aura stated. "Your clothing is damaged and unhygienic. You also require a secure living environment to rest and repair your muscular tissue. Returning to your damaged apartment is an error."

Levi stopped at the edge of the curb. He watched a row of expensive luxury cars drive past the hospital entrance. He remembered the sting of Corey bragging about his sports car. He remembered Janelle looking at him like a beggar. He felt a smile pull at the corner of his swollen lip. He did not have to live like a victim anymore. He had the resources to rebuild himself from the ground up.

"Do not worry about the apartment," Levi thought. "I know exactly where we are going.”