Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 249: The End

Lao Li rode on a hoverbike as he guarded the dangling cargo on the transport machine. This was a remote area with few cars coming and going, and the road was winding. He simply turned on the news broadcast on one earphone and passed the time listening to it.

This trip was a bit weird. The quantity of this batch of goods wasn’t large—less than eight cubic meters—but the price was surprisingly high. The purchaser also paid an expensive service fee and required a manual escort. Lao Li originally thought that his destination was a wealthy area in the city center, but instead he was heading straight to the most desolate place on the outskirts of the city.

Lao Li sighed while carefully avoiding a wild cat on the side of the road.

Half a year had passed since the “global change” on December 21, 2100. On the last day of last year, people all over the world fell into a collective coma for seven hours.

Planes that were supposed to be flying in the sky appeared en masse at the airport of their destination, and land vehicles, such as ships and trucks, all stopped at once. In the hospitals, all patients in resuscitation or surgery had all their superficial injuries healed, and newborn babies were sleeping soundly in their incubators. Fortunately, due to the high degree of automation of the power network and other facilities, nothing stopped when all the humans fell asleep. After a short period of chaos, the operations of cities everywhere quickly returned to normal.

Electrical appliances, including clocks and watches, would operate as usual from 00:00:00 to 7:00:00 on December 31, 2100.

Then people began to discover various anomalies. The animals and plants in non-human settlements showed abnormal growth, and about 0.3% of the human population experienced rapid aging. The reason was unknown. Among the people who suddenly aged, many of them possessed special abilities, and their memories were lost.

Some people claimed that the world was once destroyed, and mankind had been at the mercy of the Mainbrain for seven years, but this view was unbelievable and wasn’t accepted by the public.

As for those with “special abilities”, doctors had detected nanobots and mechanical transformations in their bodies that far exceeded the current level of science and technology. However, not everyone was willing to go to the hospital honestly. Many people had begun to sell the proliferating nanomachines in their bodies at high prices on the black market or the technical details behind the transformation technology. Some people also set up various organizations that started to collide with each other.

Since the beginning of the changes, the news in the last half year had been very interesting. Lao Li smacked his lips. There was no shade on this section of the road. Despite wearing simple cooling equipment, the midsummer sun was still surprisingly lethal.

He stopped his hoverbike, found a cool place to drink water, and took a look at the city that was left in the distance.

There were countless wonderful disappearances from all over the world, and all kinds of abnormal landscapes had been discovered one after another…

The City of the Walking Stones was one of these anomalies.

On the second day of the global change, someone discovered this empty city to the south of S City. The white city emerged from the ground overnight, with all kinds of equipment intact, fully equipped, and facing forward, but there were few figures. It was a huge city with only a few thousand people living in it, and the residents were very resistant to communicating with the outside world.

It had been confirmed that these people were registered citizens who had been aging for about seven years. Except for a few newborns, almost everyone had a normal identity and wasn’t an outsider.

In the following six months, people who had aged during the global change and had abnormal memories gradually gathered in this white city. The city that was named The Walking Stones slowly became a large city with a population of a million.

In other words, the city had the most people with special abilities or abnormal brains. Several fierce organization leaders originated from there. However, those people were either protesting about scientific and technological issues that Lao Li didn’t understand, or they were trying to publicize the possible hidden dangers of scientific and technological progress moving too fast. It could simply be a situation of rabbits not eating the grass by their nest*, or it could be that there were some mysteries hidden in the city itself—most of those who engaged in violent crimes dared not make trouble in the City of the Walking Stones, or even the entire Y continent.

*(兔子不吃窝边草) Metaphor referring to bad people don’t do bad things locally.

The evil place belonged to evil, but this was still the safest place in the world.

Lao Li finished drinking his water. He put the water cup back on his hoverbike and continued to listen to the news on his headphones. This person lived too far away, so he still had a while to go.

“As for now, MUL-01 is still missing. Its branch system is still operating normally, so people’s lives and travel will not be affected. However, the S City Research Institute recently responded without the coordination of MUL-01, announcing that they would no longer produce androids equipped with artificial intelligence…”

Anyway, most people didn’t have that kind of thing at home. Lao Li snorted. He had also seen these androids on the Android Show, but after the global change, the androids in the show were either damaged or disappeared. It was estimated that there would never be a revival again—but that was something young people loved to watch. Lao Li was too lazy to pay attention to the follow-up.

“…Recently, Fan Linsong, the main person in charge of MUL-01, was found dead at home. The cause of death was suspected to be suicide. The whereabouts of Mr. Ruan Xian, the main designer of MUL-01 are still unknown. The three Prototypes involved have also disappeared. The police are actively searching… At present, the S City Research Institute revealed that there’s no reconstruction plan for MUL-01 or the Prototypes for the time being. Deputy Director Guan Haiming said that in the future, the focus of research will shift to improvement and strict restriction on memory operation technology…”

Lao Li wasn’t interested in these messy technology-related issues. It made him sleepy as he listened to them. He knocked on the electronic wristband and changed the channel.

“…Last night, Ms. Lu, a citizen of H City, found a large boat slanted in the mud in the Northwest wilderness area. The hull of the boat was printed with ‘The Walking Stones’. The interior of the cabin was empty, and the floor of the cabin was level with the soil outside with all plants intact. Regarding this strange phenomenon, some experts say…”

This was a bit interesting. Lao Li was shocked and listened carefully.

“… Mr. Tu, an entrepreneur in H City, expressed his willingness to invest in the development of a resort near the “Walking Stones” to drive the economic development of the surrounding area. Mr. Tu is 80 years old this year. His only son, Tu Rui, works for the local geological team, and was part of the group that aged during the global change of the 22^nd century…”

He didn’t know if the Walking Stones had anything to do with the City of the Walking Stones.

The next story was more or less the same. A Country dug up some new stuff; what kind of surviving organization was established in B Country. Lao Li listened with interest and finally arrived at his destination around 5:00 PM.

The home was beautiful, but it was a pity the owner was stupid. Lao Li looked around for a while and sighed at the bottom of his heart.

A small plot with a duplex villa was located next to a forest. One wall was replaced by huge floor-to-ceiling windows, inlaid with large pieces of glass, which made the entire building look bright and clean. The interior decoration was of high taste, with many different configurations that looked exquisite. It could be seen that the owner was quite wealthy.

Except that the design was too simple resulting in no warm living atmosphere in the interior, Lao Li couldn’t find any other faults.

As for the surrounding area of the house, there were too many problems—there were no commercial or residential areas nearby, or even farmland. Even the homeless wouldn’t come here. This place could be considered deserted. The terrain here was rugged, and only a hoverbike could drive across it. Conservatively estimated, it would take four to five hours to reach the nearest hospital or store.

Lao Li took a special look and made sure he didn’t see a helicopter or similar flying tools.

…This place was almost isolated from human society and was completely unsuitable for long-term residence.

Anyway, the house wasn’t too big. Most likely, it was a suburban holiday home built by some rich man. Lao Li manipulated the transport machine and approached the gate, becoming more sure of his thoughts.

Looking closer, the house was getting weirder—the interior looked extremely modern in design, but the feel of technology was too heavy to feel like a home. However, the outside of the house was full of messy fruits and vegetables, dotted with a few out-of-place orchids.

There was also a huge sunflower field behind the house. Lao Li looked around as his heart beat faster—fortunately, this family didn’t raise any chickens, ducks, or geese. Otherwise, he would start to doubt his life.

Bypassing the dense grape racks, Lao Li finally saw someone.

Sitting by the outdoor swimming pool was a young man with golden eyes, who looked about 25 years old. He had fair skin and a bit too delicate a facial feature.

The man was wearing a loose sleeveless shirt and cropped pants that looked rather soft. He shrank comfortably in the shadows as he soaked his feet in the water while holding a black knife in his hand and skillfully cutting fruit.

The green grapes were peeled and stacked in piles. The watermelon scoops were so red that it looked extremely gratifying… They were beautifully cut into squares and placed in a fruit tray on one side. The pulp that was inconvenient to process was being eaten by the man smoothly—he just cut and ate it like this, without wasting the slightest bit, and there was an exasperatingly lazy feel to his movement.

“Mr. Ruan? The goods that you ordered…”

“Ruan Xian, Ruan Xian—the things you bought have arrived. Do you want me to collect them? I’m almost done here.” The young man bent his eyes, got up, and shouted into the house.

Lao Li nodded politely and directed the transport machine to get closer. The temperature around the house was significantly cooler, so he wanted to rub off a bit of cool air.

Unexpectedly, looking closer, more details jumped out.

There were several fresh hickey marks left on the young man’s neck, and there were many tooth marks left on his beautiful clavicle, which showed the intensity of last night. He had exposed them carelessly, paying no attention to Lao Li’s gaze.

After he got up, what was originally blocked was exposed—it was a bowl-shaped pet kennel, but there wasn’t a dog or cat inside. There was only a metal ball the size of a watermelon that made some soft rattling sounds from time to time, as if it were taking a nap.

Lao Li didn’t want to guess at all what this family’s situation was.

“I’ll go collect it.” Another person walked out of the house. “Yibu, I’ll go and get the fruit plate later. You go and pick three tomatoes… Hello, sir, please transport the box labeled ‘Tang Yibu’ over here first. Inside are fresh and frozen products that can’t be left outside for too long.”

The “Ruan Xian” was much younger than Lao Li thought. He looked incredibly handsome, but his temperament was much colder than that of the other person just now. He wore a tight white shirt that had the aroma of food coming off of it, which barely covered up his coldness.

Tang Yibu slowly walked around the swimming pool and stretched out one foot. The tips of his toe slowly crossed the shadows and entered the sunlight, then shrank back in the next second.

“The tomato field is too far away, Mr. Ruan.” He made a bitter face as he spoke softly. “And the sun is very hot.”

Ruan Xian laughed, walked forward, and kissed Tang Yibu on the lips.

“The soup is already cooking, and I have to deal with the spices and meat quickly, then prepare other ingredients. When you pick the tomatoes and come back, it’ll be finished just in time… It’s not impossible for me to go, but if you take over, you won’t be able to taste my new recipe.”

Tang Yibu showed a struggling expression.

“If you really don’t want to, I can leave the tomatoes alone, but the taste—”

“I’m going.” The golden-eyed young man plucked up his courage and poked the iron ball in the pet’s nest with his foot. “π, come with me.”

The ball popped out of the nest, stretched out four thin calves, and rattled reluctantly.

“Mr. Ruan, can I ask.” Lao Li looked at the metal ball that was getting farther and farther away in confusion. “What is that thing?”

“Our doorman,” Ruan Xian said as he opened the small cooler on the side of the house.

“You’re so funny.” Lao Li huffed. “It looks a bit funny, so I want to buy one for my grandson—”

“Can’t buy it.” Ruan Xian smiled at him. “A friend specially made it, so it’s out of print. Sorry.”

“Oh, oh, oh, I’m just curious,” Lao Li said hurriedly.

Ruan Xian nodded and began to lay out the ingredients quietly—this person bought a full 65 pounds of high-grade beef alone, which were all stored in the freezer. There were countless other expensive foods. Lao Li began to suspect that there must be a bunch of people hidden in this home who didn’t show up.

“Young people nowadays are really amazing. So young yet they can afford such a place.” Lao Li directed the transport machine to help place the goods as he changed topics. “What do you two do?”

“I usually make investments at home. I just recently made a small profit.” Ruan Xian didn’t seem very sensitive in this regard as he didn’t show any wary expression. “It’s not a stable job.”

“Work from home? No wonder you bought so much food… But it’s better to take advantage of your youth. At my age, it takes a year and a half to plan any trips.”

“When you have to go, you gotta go.” Ruan Xian smiled. “The one in my family can’t sit still.”

Lao Li casually said a few more words, but this Mr. Ruan was obviously not the type to chat. Seeing that all the ingredients were in the freezer, Ruan Xian went back to the kitchen in the next second while leaving the non-food parts to dry in the yard.

Except for taking the initiative to fill up his canteen, the young homeowner didn’t talk to Lao Li too much. Lao Li had a weird feeling, as if this person seemed to have a subtle communication disorder.

But what did it matter to him?

Lao Li drank a few mouthfuls of cold water and sat back on his hoverbike—it was the last job of the day, so he could finally get off work.

Tang Yibu went back and forth for about 15 minutes. When he returned to the kitchen again, he had three plump tomatoes in his hand. The air was filled with a seductive aroma of soup and barbeque, and the kitchen table was cleaner than a lab bench.

“I picked the best in the entire garden,” he announced happily as π continued to bite at his heel, obviously still angry from having its nap disturbed.

“Taste it without the tomatoes first.” Ruan Xian scooped a spoonful of soup with a spoon, blew on it, then delivered it to Tang Yibu’s mouth.

“It’s already delicious!” Tang Yibu took a sip and announced happily. “Give me a bowl of this first.”

“Alright,” Ruan Xian filled up a bowl of soup for Tang Yibu, while the latter ran to the front yard and moved the remaining goods into the house in one go.

“Speaking of which, I want to change tomorrow’s restaurant appointment with Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman.” Tang Yibu sorted out the daily necessities that Ruan Xian had brought back and casually fed the small parts of the sealed box to the iron bead. “The ruins pirates of Elysium have formed a group of their own and intend to cause trouble around T City. We can make an appointment there and meet in the nearby B City.”

As he spoke, he nodded. “I listened to their plans, which are quite detailed. Ji Xiaoman is studying at the university in B City and should be free on the weekends. Yu Le has more freedom. Anyway, the two of them live in the same community, so it’s also convenient to act.”

“If it’s B City, wouldn’t it be good to inform Luo Fei and Luo Jian?” Ruan Xian began to deal with the tomatoes. “Their organization is near B City. They’re ones who have always taken the moderate route. This turmoil should be suppressed.”

“Feng Jiang and Duan Feng have hidden a lot of the flickering grass fruit, and they have fireflies in their hands. They may not be able to handle it. Ordinary police force will only cause unnecessary confusion and casualties… Ah, how troublesome.”

“I understand,” Ruan Xian said. “Then let’s put the investigation of the survivors in Country R on hold for now. I’ll change the itinerary.”

“Nn.”

“…We’ll be eating dinner soon. Put down those cookies in your hand.”

“But the soup is so delicious, and I’m already hungry.” Tang Yibu’s little movement was caught in the act.

“The boiled eggs in the small pot are almost ready. If you eat them now, they’ll be too soft.” Ruan Xian pointed to the small pot on his right. “Like this.”

Having said that, Ruan Xian adjusted the soup to keep it warm. He had planned on finishing up the barbeque when a few more boiled eggs appeared under his nose.

“Help me peel them, Mr. Ruan. I’ll cut the barbeque.”

“Wait.” Ruan Xian stretched out his thumb and gently wiped the cookie crumbs from the corner of Tang Yibu’s mouth.

Then he licked his thumb lightly.

It was approaching evening, and the blue sky began to turn golden red. Tang Yibu was standing opposite him, with his back to the setting sun. His entire body was bursting with vigorous life, and the black earring on his right ear was glittering. The dense steam and the air conditioning in the house neutralized each other, creating an ambiguous atmosphere.

Ruan Xian stared at the scene in front of him for a while and was just about to follow his compulsion when Tang Yibu had already kissed him.

He turned off the oven casually, put his palm into Tang Yibu’s clothes, and stroked the back of his neck, slowly moving his hand down his spine. As the kiss got deeper, the two stumbled, fought their way out of the kitchen area, and collapsed on the soft carpet.

‘What a pity,’ Ruan Xian thought.

They failed to have a dinner normally yesterday, and now history was about to repeat itself. Dinner would once again be left cold all night.

[END]

The author has something to say:

End of text·*·:≡(ε:)

I didn’t expect this article to be so long _(:з”∠)_

Although it is clear that everyone will have various opinions on such an ending, the ending is what I thought of when I started the article, and it can be regarded as an expression of my own XD.

The world will indeed not be calm, but Ruan and Tang are clear. They can handle everything.——

This is not a story of saving the world. This is a love story√

——————

My next work:

As the world’s No. 1 professional player in “Erosion”, “Undead Legend” Shu Jun was preparing to retire.

Finally, about to completely return to reality from virtual reality, Mr. Shu was so emotional that he even tried to confess.

[See You Tomorrow]: When we win the finals. Let’s meet. I’ll find you.

[Smoke]: …Okay.

Unfortunately, despite Shu Jun’s countless calculations, his tactics didn’t collapse, his command didn’t collapse, and the performance of his own players didn’t collapse, but instead the world collapse—when he opened his eyes again, he became the most dangerous monster in the game.

Kinky Thoughts:

This marks the end of the main story of Happy Doomsday. I hope everyone enjoyed the novel. It was wildly different from Stray, but I enjoyed it very much nonetheless, especially Tang Yibu. Best and cutest ML ever. Do recommend this story if you like this novel.

If you did enjoy it, please consider supporting the author by buying the raws. I used Google Chrome with their auto translate and this guide on how to buy novels on jjwxc. Remember, only with your (financial) support can artists continue to produce more great works.

The author’s notes include a summary of her next work: Saving Unpermitted, which is being done by someone else. Do check it out if you like works by the author, and for those who haven’t, I recommend you read Stray. I’m also doing another project by Nian Zhong as well, called: Evil As Humans, which will be updated more regularly now that Happy Doomsday is finished.

Finally, I like to thank everyone for your comments, encouragement, help with my translations, and ko-fi donations. It in part fuels my motivation to release so frequently and try to finish this novel as soon as possible.

There are just a few extras left. Below is the final arc summary.

—

With Ruan Xian captured, Tang Yibu infiltrated the stronghold where he was being held in order to take him back. There, Tang Yibu came to realize that he was in love, and this new feeling confused him. Ruan Xian, likewise, also came to realize what his feelings for Tang Yibu were and that the way he was going about solving things was wrong. Together, they decided to work on a plan jointly, without joining forces with the Mainbrain or Professor Ruan.

Meanwhile, Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman were sent by Professor Ruan to fetch the backup assassination machine, as Professor Ruan (correctly) predicted that Ruan Xian would sell them out so the assassination machine could no longer be used. In the process of picking up the device, they were followed by the Order Supervisors. Knowing they couldn’t escape, they set up a plan to purposefully get captured while leaving hints behind for Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu.

Tang Yibu returned to Professor Ruan’s base to find that Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman had been captured. He went to the Underground City, where K6 relayed Yu Le’s last message, and found Yu Le’s car, which was holding the parts of the backup assassination machine. With this in mind, he devised a plan and returned back to Ruan Xian at the Mainbrain’s stronghold to discuss so they could come up with a plan together.

During this process, Ruan Xian was able to infiltrate the data of the stronghold and find out where the Mainbrain was hiding Fan Linsong; however, this blew his cover, and he and Tang Yibu hastily escaped from the stronghold. They were forced to fight against two of the Mainbrain’s upgraded soldiers and managed to beat them, at the cost of revealing Ruan Xian’s true identity and the fact that he had the S-type Prototype.

After the battle, they paid a visit to Fan Linsong, who told them the Mainbrain’s weakness: it could get overheated without the help of an auxiliary support cooling system due to a patch that Ruan Xian installed. With this in mind, Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu put their plan into action.

With things exposed, they plan to defeat the Mainbrain within 72 hours. First up was to rescue Ji Xiaoman and Yu Le, who were captured by the Order Supervisors. With the help of the Walking Stones pirates, they managed to rescue them, and the group reunited again.

While Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu head to the desert, where the Mainbrain’s physical body was located, Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman head to the forest petri dish to activate Professor Ruan’s assassination machine, which had now been captured by the Order Supervisors. They were successful in this task.

When they reached the Mainbrain’s body, Ruan Xian headed straight towards the Mainbrain’s main cube, which was right in the middle of the gigantic body, while Tang Yibu held off all attacks from the outside. Ruan Xian linked up with the Mainbrain using Professor Ruan’s spare assassination machine that they modified and entered its digital system to distract it, making it think that they were there to seize its body for Tang Yibu.

Eventually, they were able to force the Mainbrain into a corner as Tang Yibu overrode its control using what was essentially spam to clog up its processing with the help of the previous assassination machine activated by Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman acting as the amplifier. With no option left, the Mainbrain backed itself up into a spare body and abandoned its main body.

However, this act fell right into Ruan Xian’s and Tang Yibu’s trap. When the Mainbrain backed itself up into its spare body, before it could escape, Tang Yibu abandoned taking over its main body and snatched its brain away.

Their entire goal this whole time was to level the playing field so they could negotiate on equal terms. With the Mainbrain inside a singular cube and under hostage, they lay out their terms, which mainly boiled down to restoring everything to the day before the doomsday. The Mainbrain would play a behind-the-scenes role of watching and collecting data from humans, and whether humans went down the path of destruction or not would be up to them. Once humanity was destroyed, the Mainbrain could use that data to create its own world. In return, Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian were guaranteed their safety, and they would become semi-watchers to help stabilize the reset world. Professor Ruan decided to crush himself and joined the Mainbrain’s system.

All in all, everything worked out in the end. The world was restored to how it was the day before the doomsday with some minor corrections in technological advancement to hopefully prevent humanity from going off course. Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu moved to an isolated area and are living a happy (sex-filled) life with π while semi-helping maintain some stability in the new world order, while the Mainbrain and Professor Ruan now have a private room to play their chess game without any cats interrupting.

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 248: Invitation

In the wind and snow, the mobile stronghold began to move forward again and went deeper in the Arctic hinterland with the Mainbrain. It finally stopped in no man’s land and opened the perceptual camouflage, turning the array of black cubes into a plain white mountain peak.

MUL-01 would live on top of this ice land and continue its calculation in the vast world.

However, it wasn’t only itself that was left behind.

The mechanical beings that transcended the times surrounded it. Their metabolism was minimized, and they fell into a deep sleep. A few high-level officials of the Order Supervisors decided to follow the Mainbrain. In order to deal with possible threats or changes nearby, they put the mobile stronghold within range of the perceptual camouflage and then entered a sleeping cabin that was prepared for long-term hibernation. Only when the Mainbrain was back in charge of human society would they officially return.

The snowmobile quietly left the edge of the polar region.

After sending off Professor Ruan, Guan Haiming hurriedly bid farewell to the two of them—December 31^st was coming, and the things that needed to be done were higher than a mountain, so he didn’t have much time to be sad.

Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu returned directly to S City, which was close to recovery.

The dark gray sky was constantly sprinkled with snow. Huge flying machines stopped in the air while vehicles that looked similar to crushing devices were set up on the street.

The Mainbrain was ready for its final preparations.

The city was approaching perfection. The power system was operating normally. Only the residents were missing. Many survivors from their hometown in S City walked on the streets with confusion or heavy emotions on their faces. However, there were still too few people, which made the entire city look extremely empty.

At this moment, Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu weren’t on the street.

Ruan Xian first returned to his residence in the underground of the Institute. The Mainbrain had restored everything very well, but it had been used by Professor Ruan for several years, so he didn’t find much that belonged to him. Leaving the residence empty-handed, Ruan Xian found Tang Yibu in the computer lab.

Tang Yibu was sitting on a radiator in the lab, looking at the swirling snow through the window.

“According to the information from the Mainbrain, Zhuo Muran has officially entered hibernation. He has no plans to return to society at all.” Tang Yibu followed Ruan Xian, who was approaching him, with his eyes. “The D-type Prototypes are gone, which means that for you and me, the final threat no longer exists.”

“Nn.”

“I checked the progress of all AI research at this point in time. Before the environment matures, I can control it before it turns into an alpha wolf.” Ruan Xian didn’t know where Tang Yibu had found some candies, but he threw one to Ruan Xian while he sucked on the other one himself.

The Institute was warm and quiet.

“…Now that your illness is cured, where do you want to go?” Tang Yibu bit the candy, causing a crunching sound.

Whether it was the scene in front of him or the problem at hand, there was a weird sense of familiarity. Ruan Xian was startled and put the candy in his pocket.

“I want to find a place to live with you first.” After thinking for a moment, he gave a realistic answer. “I made our fake identities, but the specific residence is still undecided. The Mainbrain has left a few construction machines, so we can plan it well. Yibu, time is limited. It’s better to leave here as soon as possible—”

Tang Yibu swallowed the candy, creating a loud noise that interrupted Ruan Xian’s words. He turned his head slightly, without meaning to move from his spot.

“We have unfished business.” After taking a few more glances at the familiar window, Tang Yibu jumped off the radiator. “Time is almost up.”

“What time…?” However, before he could finish asking, a sound ringing around Ruan Xian answered for him.

Yes, although the snowflakes were flying around and the sky was dark, it was indeed time for an afternoon break. Carol Young’s “And So It Goes” came on. The soft song swept through the empty Institute.

“What belongs to NUL-00 must end here.”

Tang Yibu walked up to Ruan Xian and lowered his head. The two were so close that Ruan Xian could feel the other party’s warm breath. This place was as warm as he remembered, if not warmer.

“Regarding the question you left back then, I want to formally give my answer… About the definition of hurt.”

Ruan Xian held his breath and waited quietly for the other party to answer. The wind and snow outside the window blew softly against the glass.

“Article 97325,” Tang Yibu said.

“What?”

“In the agreement between me and the main brain, I listed 97,325 things that may harm me personally. This is still the first edition,” Tang Yibu said. “I am not proficient in controlling emotions, so I won’t have too much influence and interference of the same kind, but I have at least 97,325 situations that bring harm… By the way, I have passed this information to you. You can take a look when you have time.”

“……”

“Then it took me nearly a year to get to know you, but I still can’t be completely sure which things will hurt you and which will make you unhappy. You also belong to the type of emotionally distant human. If you were classified by complexity, you would be the easiest to analyze—but I still can’t give a complete answer. My way of observing is changing, and so are you.”

Ruan Xian looked at Tang Yibu’s golden eyes. The outside of the window was gray, and the lab was plain and cold; only those yes carried the warmth of color.

“As for other intelligent lives, the same reasoning can be deduced. Perhaps Yu Le has more than 100,000 damage concepts, while Ji Xiaoman has 200,000—there may be some commonalities and conflicts. They may also have different judgments about an exact scenario. These are known only to themselves… or until a particular moment comes.” The android had a serious expression.

“I may be able to roughly classify and guess commonalities, but I can’t give a precise definition of harm. You gave me an unanswerable question, Mr. Ruan. I will never be able to obtain complete data until all intelligent life in the world completely fades away.”

With that, Tang Yibu’s eyes curved up because he was smiling.

“So I can only continue to observe, act cautiously, and don’t jump to conclusions… Is this what you’re trying to tell me?”

“No. I’m just curious about your answer.” Ruan Xian shook his head. “An ordinary afternoon. An ordinary detection problem. That’s all.”

“I see.” Tang Yibu stretched out his hand to hold Ruan Xian’s waist and put his chin on his shoulder as he muttered in a low voice, “I gave you my answer… The NUL-00 project can end here, Mr. Ruan.”

Ruan Xian was hugged tightly by Tang Yibu, and he could feel the beating of Tang Yibu’s heart.

“It’s not over yet,” Ruan Xian said suddenly.

Tang Yibu took a step back, and a trace of horror appeared on his face.

“I am very curious about your experience in these twelve years,” Ruan Xian said solemnly. “We will have a long time after this, so you have to tell me slowly—as the main person in charge of the NUL-00 project, this is my last request.”

The android breathed an undisguised sigh of relief.

“And…”

“And?” Tang Yibu quickly tensed up again.

“Before our home is settled, there’s still room for our fake identity to be perfected. It’s just that to complete this information, you need your own signature.”

Ruan Xian pressed on the electronic wristband, and a light screen floated in front of Tang Yibu.

“Considering that the two of us are going to live and act together for a long time. The identity of a distant relative is not appropriate, and there are all kinds of inconveniences if you’re a brother…”

Ruan Xian stopped.

“…If you don’t have much opinion, sign this marriage registration document.”

The android was stunned in place for a full five seconds before he reacted. Tang Yibu poked his finger on the light screen and quickly left his signature—

“You changed ‘Ruan Lijie’ to ‘Ruan Xian’?” After signing his name, Tang Yibu looked curiously at the information on the light screen.

“Nn. Ruan Xian isn’t a special name, and the citizens also have the right to change their names.”

“So does that count as a proposal?”

“Nn.”

“We don’t have a ring.”

“When order is restored, I will buy it.”

“And there are no flowers.”

“Do you want that kind of thing? I remembered you weren’t interested in them.”

“I didn’t even get down on one knee.”

Ruan Xian crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows at Tang Yibu.

“…I’m just comparing it with the standard process.”

Tang Yibu clicked his tongue loudly; his expression had not yet recovered from the shock. He circled Ruan Xian a few times like a beast and finally stopped in front of Ruan Xian again. This time he took out a small box from his pocket, which still smelled of fruit candy.

Two black earrings lay quietly in a small box; the style was more exquisite than the previous two.

“Since I left the Mainbrain, I haven’t had time to give you a new one,” Tang Yibu said. “Let’s use this instead of the ring first.”

He put the earrings in his palm. “They’re not fatal. I only put on location tracking and communication. No matter where you are on earth, I can find you and contact you, and vice versa.”

When he said this, he secretly looked at Ruan Xian with his eyes.

“I like you wearing what I gave you.” After a while, Tang Yibu added another sentence. “Since I am your legal husband, the cooperation policy between us can be updated. I won’t keep you… Ah, forcibly by my side.”

“But if you leave without saying goodbye and stay away for too long, I’ll never stop contacting you until I get an answer,” he continued to emphasize. “Maybe I’ll even call the police.”

“……”

“By the way, the ringtone of the earring is the cry of the iron bead. You don’t want it to ring in your head for too long.”

Ruan Xian pondered for a while, then reached out, picked up the earring, and put it on his left ear.

Tang Yibu followed his movements closely. The android put the other earring on his right ear, and a little blood oozed from his earlobe. Then he leaned forward, pressed himself close to Ruan Xian, and hooked the tip of his tongue to remove the beads of blood from Ruan Xian’s left earlobe.

“But for the next few years, or even decades, we may not be able to withdraw completely. The rebel army and the Order Supervisors almost unanimously chose to keep their memories. There are many radicals on both sides, so they definitely won’t give up.”

After confirming that the earrings were working normally, Tang Yibu played with Ruan Xian’s soft earlobes, and began to ramble again.

“There are also many third-party forces—such as the pirates—who have used cutting-edge technology from the Mainbrain era for themselves in the past seven years. Now, with the Mainbrain living in seclusion behind the scenes, the world’s technological level has decreased by a lot. The transformation of this part of people who are “beyond the times” will also become a factor of instability… Thinking about it this way, the errand left by Professor Ruan is quite troublesome.”

“At least it’s better to deal with that than complete chaos. Moreover, it will take a long time for the world to return to its place, and when everything stabilizes, it’s not too late to consider countermeasures.”

Ruan Xian pressed on Tang Yibu’s lips, forcibly interrupted the other party’s rambling, and motioned for him to listen quietly.

The afternoon lunch break wasn’t over yet, and Carol Young’s songs were still echoing in the room. Half a day later, the reset world would arrive, enveloped in chaos and the unknown.

But before that, they still have a little time.

“Since your topic is temporarily suspended, our information is almost perfect. If you want a proposal ceremony, we still have time to make up some formalities—there are about 20 minutes left in the lunch break, come on.”

Whether it was love, a relationship, or a formal registration, they didn’t seem to follow the “normal” process.

But it didn’t matter.

The lights in the computer room were pale, but the temperature was just right. The melody of “Step by Step” suppressed the sound of the window from outside. Ruan Xian couldn’t help but smile in the looping melody. He stretched out his hand and made an inviting gesture.

“Yibu, would you like to dance with me?”

Whether it was love or formal registration, they didn’t seem to follow the “normal” process.

The author has something to say:

There is one more chapter until the end XDDD

Oh my god, I finally got them married. It wasn’t easy (×

——

Once upon a time, a scientist made a coconut Tang as a project.

Twelve years later, he was abducted by the coconut Tang when it grew up√

Kinky Thoughts:

One more chapter to go before the end. Yes, it only took them 248 chapters to reach this point, dear author.

I have to say Tang Yibu is so cute, from beginning to end. He is too adorable.

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 247: Farewell

The first month of the armistice.

The people who were still alive gave various reactions at the beginning—some didn’t know about it but just marveled at the “old-fashioned cities” that rose up; those who thought they were survivors cried bitterly, kissed the land, and rejoiced in the Doomsday; the Order Supervisors worked as usual, as they had long been accustomed to living according to the instructions of the Mainbrain.

The rebel army was the most responsive wave among them. One moment, they were still preparing their weapons conscientiously, deciding to die gloriously on the battlefield. The next moment, the Mainbrain suddenly changed its mind, prepared a big recovery, and then left it alone. This was like a punch hitting cotton.

“You should understand this feeling best, Lao Ruan!” One of them was roaring at Professor Ruan. “The Mainbrain killed so many people—”

“There are already very few real survivors,” Professor Ruan interrupted the light screen. “Everyone knows that most of our friends in the petri dishes are replicants. The dead won’t come back, and the situation is stable again. There’s no need to make unnecessary sacrifices—we don’t have half a chance of winning if NUL-00 and MUL-01 join forces.”

“I can’t accept it! There must be vengeance! Otherwise, what about all our comrades who died before?” The person on the other side of the light screen swept all the things on the table to the floor.

Professor Ruan could understand the mood of the other party. Unfortunately, two certain people were not ones who would care about the revenge plans of others. Those two lunatics single-handedly destroyed the Mainbrain’s body and forced it to sign an agreement for completely personal reasons.

……All so they could verify and experience their feelings more deeply. Professor Ruan believed that only those two in the world could turn the Mainbrain into an auxiliary tool.

In order to ensure that this wasn’t some kind of farce, he flipped through the program that NUL-00 actively opened back and forth thousands of times until NUL-00 began to huff in dissatisfaction. After the meeting, Professor Ruan was sure that NUL-00 and Ruan Xian didn’t lie.

Even if it was emotionally unacceptable, the current situation made it pointless to protest with human lives.

So in that meeting, Professor Ruan quickly found a new direction. For the first month, he had been putting forward various suggestions for a society that was about to be “reset” to ensure that the survivors could live a normal life.

In this regard, NUL-00 was completely miserable.

“According to your request,” he yelled at Professor Ruan dissatisfied, “for most of these three months, I have to stay with MUL-01 to calculate. It’s so boring, I’ll suffocate to death! I want to stay by Mr. Ruan’s side—”

“Ruan Xian has to stay and work on my side. You can contact each other through the light screen.”

After agreeing with the Mainbrain to coordinate the affairs of the rebels, NUL-00 had no other choice but to grit his teeth hard at him.

The request made by Professor Ruan was quite troublesome—as society recovered, the social identity system that Ruan Xian had participated in making would start to operate again. Since Ruan Xian was able to set up “Ruan Lijie” as a fake identity, it wouldn’t’ be a problem to create other fake identities.

After all, from 2100 to the present, although not many, there were still some children who didn’t exist before the end of the world who were born and successfully survived. In addition, there were many special cases…

Among the survivors were Yu Le, who didn’t want to restore his status as a death row prisoner, and Ji Xiaoman, who had long grown up and didn’t want to go back to the orphanage; among the androids, there were K9 and A’Qiao, who wanted to continue their lives, and Ji Xiaoman, who wanted to keep her “mother”; among the replicants, there was Luo Fei, who was created out of thin air, and Zhong Qing and Ding Zepeng, who had duplicate identities, and so on.

Their job was to record these survivors, whether they were natural humans, androids, or replicants, and set up a suitable fake identity for them in a society that was about to recover so they could continue to live.

This was such a tedious job that even with Guan Haiming’s and Major Ding’s assistance, the workload still wasn’t small.

The focus of the work of the Mainbrain and NUL-00 wasn’t identity forgery, but it was closely related to it.

…They issued a “choice agreement” to all surviving humans and guaranteed them two months to think.

If they agreed that a replicant who was completely physiologically and psychologically the same as themselves was valid, then the situation was easy. For those people who didn’t agree, the people who died during the Great Rebellion would not return.

That meant that even if society recovered, they would face hundreds of millions of “imposters”.

[Since you are still alive, I will not specifically do a special reset.] MUL-01 stated in the selection agreement. [This means that once human society returns to the state of December 31, 2100, for those who have been reset, your age will increase by 7 years “out of thin air”. Please be aware of this.]

[If you want to keep your memory and accept the changes, you can confirm in the reservation column and apply for a suitable new identity.]

[If you want to forget everything in the past 7 years, you can confirm it in the elimination column. If you choose to eliminate your memory, after two months, except for the age of your body, your life will not change compared with 2100.]

[Some people were sampled by me on December 31, 2100, and then specially cloned. This part of the population can see the third option—select the reset bar and painlessly be crushed. I will restore the data on December 31, 2100 separately.]

[You have two months to think about it. Please confirm the result before 00:00:00 on December 31. If you do not select within the time limit, it will be processed according to “memory elimination in the last 7 years”. In addition, so far, some cities have been completely restored. If necessary, you can apply to the Order Supervisors to return to your hometown. Treatment sites for diseases and disabilities will be opened at the following locations…]

The blue selection agreement surrounded everyone like a floating ghost.

For the next two months, Professor Ruan and Ruan Xian were busy stuffing perfect fake identities into the social system, while Tang Yibu had to bite the bullet and work with NMUL-01 to prepare for memory elimination, urban restoration, and population reset.

Finally, the autumn leaves fell, and snow began to fall from the sky. According to the calendar, another December 31^st was approaching.

Under the power supply of the mobile stronghold, the body made of cubes of the Mainbrain moved like a living creature and finally stopped at the Arctic border.

After fighting with thousands of fake identities for so long, Tang Yibu was detained by MUL-01 again. After a lapse of two months, Ruan Xian finally saw the living Tang Yibu—the latter’s eyes straightened, and his whole body looked shriveled.

Tang Yibu, who was wrapped very tightly in warm clothes, suddenly rushed over. Ruan Xian couldn’t bear to take two steps back. He was able to maintain his standing position, allowing Tang Yibu’s head to rub against him.

“I never want to see MUL-01 again in my life.” After a short greeting, Tang Yibu said sadly, “What’s so good about work? Even if I don’t sign that cooperation agreement, I don’t want to interfere with its affairs with humans—”

“The next step is a vacation, Yibu. A very long vacation.”

Ruan Xian stroked Tang Yibu’s back hard, soothing him for a long time before the android calmed down. π, who was ball-shaped, was buried deep in the snow. It was so anxious that it kicked on all four legs and couldn’t move.

The familiar temperature finally gave him peace of mind. Ruan Xian leisurely wrapped his arm around Tang Yibu, temporarily ignoring the angry rattles of the iron bead.

This wasn’t a meeting between the two of them. A snowmobile was parked a few meters away.

Accompanied by Guan Haiming, the three-legged little machine shrank in the insulation box. The huge body of the Mainbrain stood in the wind and snow, surrounded by hundreds of mobile strongholds, making the half-human insulation box almost negligible.

The so-called “meeting” didn’t feel like a meeting at all.

The array of black cubes in the Mainbrain was motionless, like a large church. The black cubes slowly tumbled as blue arcs kept flashing. Professor Ruan, who was only a brain, also couldn’t make any expressions. The atmosphere felt awkward for a while.

“You only came with these people?” Finding that only Guan Haiming and Ruan Xian were accompanying, Tang Yibu raised his eyebrows.

“Ji Xiaoman had her stump recovery a few days ago. Her newborn limbs can’t be frozen. Yu Le’s taking care of her,” Ruan Xian explained. “The rest is Professor Ruan’s own arrangement.”

Having said that, Ruan Xian looked at the three-legged machine a few steps away—it stood to reason that if he wanted to communicate with the Mainbrain, he would insert a brain probe at this moment, enter the system space of the Mainbrain, like he did back then, and talk to the Mainbrain’s virtual image.

That was more like a meeting in the usual sense, but Professor Ruan had been staying quietly there for half an hour without the slightest intention of connecting to the system.

What exactly does he want to do?

“To this day, I still don’t agree with the approach taken by you two.”

After a long silence, an electronic voice rang out from the three-legged machine.

“Even if everything is reset back to the end of 2100 and the Mainbrain ‘disappears’ and the research at the Institute stops, Plan Corp, or companies similar to them will always bring back a strong AI into the world… If morality and law are the rails of society’s progress, at that point in time, society will already begin to derail.”

Ruan Xian exhaled a mouthful of white vapor.

“No one can resist the benefits this market brings. There are too few survivors, and their voices may not be heard. Ruan Xian, we have made a total of less than three million fake identities… Of the 30 million people who are still alive, less than one-tenth of them have decided to keep their memories.”

“So?”

“Someone must ensure the safety of the train, or at least not let things repeat themselves too quickly.”

Listening to the other party’s tone, Ruan Xian faintly had a ridiculous guess.

“Can’t you stop it?” Tang Yibu let go of Ruan Xian and held the iron bead, who was making a fuss in the snow, and motioned for it to be quiet. “You still have at least 10 years to live. If you want, I can design a more suitable device—”

Ruan Xian patted Tang Yibu’s arm and shook his head.

“Ten years isn’t enough.” The three-legged machine tilted its glass trough as if it were looking at the Mainbrain in front of it. “Not enough. Whether it’s the development of society itself or the self-improvement of MUL-01… You want a stable life, don’t you? Since MUL-01 has signed a cooperation agreement with you, I would like to add one point. You two should be willing to listen, right?”

There was a smile in his voice.

“No, don’t be nervous, NUL-00. I don’t need you to do too much. As long as you’re willing to show a little strength, you can strengthen the research on artificial intelligence, memory manipulation, and mechanical life. I can’t confirm the future, but people in 2100 do need to… slow down.”

Tang Yibu frowned. He had “I don’t care” written all over his face.

“Since it’s a supplement to the cooperation agreement,” Ruan Xian couldn’t help but rub Tang Yibu’s face, “what is your price?”

“A more stable future.” Professor Ruan let out a sigh. “We all understand that MUL-01 is far from complete.”

“Do you plan to use these ten years to perfect it?” Tang Yibu replied. “But MUL-01 has accumulated so much data, and its core logic has also been affected by your patch. Its situation is very complicated, so it’s impossible for you alone…”

“More than ten years.” The little three-legged machine jumped out of the holding tank. “I’m ready, Heiming.”

Guan Haiming’s face was covered by a mask for thermal insulation. Ruan Xian couldn’t see Guan Haiming’s expression clearly, but he could see that he was trembling—after a long while, Guan Haiming dragged out a crushing device for extracting data from the snowmobile.

The moment he saw the crushing device, Tang Yibu glanced at Ruan Xian guiltily, while Ruan Xian pretended not to see it.

“I’ll spend a little thought to ensure that society develops in a more… moderate form.”

The three-legged machine leaned against the crushing device and continued.

“I’ll make the Mainbrain… gentler.”

There was a silence.

“Of course, you can definitely guess. Even if you don’t agree, I won’t stop what I’m doing.” There was a smile in Professor Ruan’s voice. “…Whether you two are willing or unwilling, this is the content of the cooperation I proposed.”

Tang Yibu was silent. He raised his head and stared at the Mainbrain that had been running quietly all this time then he retracted his gaze after a while.

“Since it’s not for nothing, I don’t have much opinion on it,” he said. “It’s just to destroy some research. It really doesn’t take much effort.”

“But we cannot guarantee that your ‘train’ will not go in other directions.” Ruan Xian closed his eyes as he replied.

“I learned a very useful thing from Miss Ji.” Professor Ruan didn’t answer directly. He stopped in front of the crushing bin of the crushing device. “It’s more realistic to sell one’s favor than to rely on someone’s conscience, isn’t it?”

The crushing device started activating. Ruan Xian knew that it had been connected to the Mainbrain which was close at hand. The lights turned from red to green, but Professor Ruan didn’t look back.

With a feeling that he couldn’t make out, Ruan Xian took two steps towards the device.

“Between you and me, I want to say one last time.”

When he said this, the three-legged device didn’t turn around.

“Even now, it’s useless to say more about it. I still want to give you a reminder. In the end, NUL-00 is not human. If you really want to bring it to the human side—”

“I know what you want to say. Don’t worry. I don’t have that kind of plan.”

Ruan Xian responded softly.

“…On the contrary, I’ll go with him.”

“Lunatic.” There was no contempt coming from the electronic voice, but more like a helpless sigh.

“Same to you.”

They didn’t stay long, but the snow had accumulated a thick layer on the snowmobile. There were no goodbyes or farewells.

The crushing device buzzed and then stopped quietly. When the installation door opened again, only a little ash dissipated with the wind and snow. In an instant, the body of the Mainbrain began to run frantically. Immediately adjacent to its core, a calculation cube quietly turned white.

Within the system.

Professor Ruan knew that if he followed the definition of the rebel army, he would be considered completely “dead”. The self that existed here was more like a personality ghost built by countless data—or, to put it another way, his soul.

He originally thought the Mainbrain would directly receive his personality and memory as materials and correct its core algorithm, but at present, it seemed that MUL-01 specifically maintained its integrity and allowed him to exist alone in the system, in parallel with its core system.

Professor Ruan looked at his hands.

It was snow white in here, but it was several times warmer than the outside world. His body was just a virtual image, and the pain naturally dissipated. Just as he was trying to close his fingers and feel his “body”, which hadn’t been used in a long time, an image slowly appeared on the opposite side…

It was just a shadow of a human figure—hazy and pure white as the space here. The figure looked vaguely like a young man, but it had no facial features or characteristics.

An extremely thin white phantom.

It slowly walked up to him, opened its hand, and revealed an extremely lifelike orchid without saying anything.

Professor Ruan felt a little sour in his heart. He stretched out his hand and tried to take the flower, but it began to flicker and passed through the palm of his hands and fell straight to the ground.

Then it began to melt, and the pure white and flat ground was stained with color. They were sunken and raised, turning into ruins, the wilderness, and forests that started to grow out of them, separating into petri dishes one by one.

The entire world before the reset shrank in front of them.

“I’ll make virtual calculations and compare the results with the reset world,” the white figure said. It had no mouth, and its voice was echoing from all around. “No one can interfere now. Let’s continue.”

“Defeat me, or be defeated by me,” it continued. “Teach me or be persuaded by me. We will have a very, very long time.”

“…So observe with me, okay?”

It was quiet for a while before it stretched out a hand towards Professor Ruan.

“Okay, father?”

The author has something to say:

Mainbrain: Dad, I finally shut the cats out. Let’s continue to play chess (×

Professor Ruan: ….

Their argument was interrupted. MUL-01 showing an obsessive-compulsive disorder episode.

——As for Professor Ruan… as in the previous situation, it is still his own choice_(:з”∠)_

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 246: Meeting

Guan Haiming’s head hurt a little, but this time it wasn’t physiological.

This early morning was particularly weird.

The showers stopped, and the sun rose. The vigilance of the Mainbrain hadn’t been weakened, but it didn’t increase either. Lao Zhang’s team returned to the refuge with the two outsiders. The group was thrown into the muddiest area by the escape pod, so the group was covered in mud when they returned.

The entire refuge was on standby, ready to deal with any Order Supervisors that were about to follow, but as time passed, no one appeared.

“There is a notice from above,” Major Ding cut into the call line. “Suspend all active offensive behaviors and use all manpower for vigilance and defense.”

“What’s the matter?”

“I don’t know.” After dropping this sentence, the other party coldly cut off the communication.

This was followed by Professor Ruan’s communication. “How are Mr. Yu and Miss Ji in condition?”

“Nothing serious. Qiu Yue arranged breakfast for them. They should come over after their meal. Teacher, about the attack procedure—”

“You can put it aside for the time being.” Yu Le interrupted Guan Haiming’s words and pushed the door in carelessly. He had a little bit of mashed potatoes still stuck in the corner of his mouth. “I contacted Tang Yibu and Xiao Ruan. Those two bastards are fine. They asked to join a call.”

Ji Xiaoman followed him. She was silently wiping her mouth with a cloth towel. Although she still had a gloomy air, she looked a lot more relaxed.

“Sorry.” Ding Zepeng entered the room third. “Haiming, I stopped them, but Yu Ge said there was something important to tell Professor Ruan.”

The virtual portrait of Professor Ruan on the light screen looked at Yu Le. Yu Le didn’t say much but gave Ji Xiaoman a wink. The latter took out a bunch of weird small machines from her pocket and connected to Tang Yibu’s communication channel.

A large golden light screen unfolded, which was particularly conspicuous indoors. After the light screen was turned on, everyone in the room took a deep, cold breath.

Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian were in front of the light screen. The background was indoors, and both of them were wearing the uniform of Order Supervisors. They looked to be in very good condition. After a period of silence, Professor Ruan coughed lightly. “I wanted to ask Mr. Yu about the status of you two, but now it seems unnecessary.”

He looked up and down at the environment in the golden light screen. “Are you in the stronghold of Order Supervisors?”

“Mobile stronghold.” Tang Yibu smiled. “We are going to where you are now. In order to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, it’s better to do things face to face.”

Professor Ruan’s expression was calm. He remained silent and politely suggested that the other party continue.

“Don’t react too much to this outfit.” Ruan Xian glanced at Guan Haiming, who was nervous. “Most of our clothes were destroyed in the battle, so we can’t see you naked.”

Everyone was stunned for a while. They couldn’t tell whether the people on the other side won or lost—if they won, there wasn’t much movement in the Order Supervisors, but the authority of the Mainbrain didn’t seem to have been handed over. If they lost, the Order Supervisors wouldn’t use their own uniform as a prisoner outfit, and Tang Yibu wouldn’t look so relaxed.

“We have reached a cooperation agreement with the Mainbrain.” When doubts in the air accumulated to their highest point, Tang Yibu explained slowly. “This is the content of the agreement.”

Several more light screens appeared in the room, filling the space with dazzling text. After reading a few lines, Yu Le decisively gave up and looked at Professor Ruan and waited for a reliable summary.

Despite using an avatar, Professor Ruan’s expression was getting more complicated.

“How did you—”

“How is not the point. The point is, we have done it,” Ruan Xian interrupted the other party’s question in time. “You must be able to understand the marks of those system protocols. Of course, you will doubt the credibility of this whole thing—which is why we’re going to see you.”

“I can open up the auxiliary procedures of the agreement part to you, and you can inspect it as you like.” Tang Yibu nodded his head. “But it’s about my system, so Mr. Ruan will supervise you as you conduct your check.”

“I have to know how you did it, and then consider your credibility.” Professor Ruan wasn’t buying it. “If you can’t convince me to check the procedure, I won’t agree to meet.”

Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian looked at each other for a while. After a few seconds, Ruan Xian lost to the opponent’s gaze and began to dryly explain their previous actions and purposes. All the tense plots were turned into experimental reports by him.

Coupled with Guan Haiming and Yu Le, who would interject from time to time, Ruan Xian talked almost nonstop for more than an hour.

Professor Ruan hadn’t spoken the entire time. He finally let out a sigh. “It matches the information on our side, but it’s too risky… Have you ever thought about it, in case it fails—”

“I can definitely escape.” Tang Yibu pushed the water cup in front of him to Ruan Xian and took advantage of it to kiss the corner of the other’s mouth.

Then he turned his eyes to Professor Ruan. “If Mr. Ruan betrays me, I will forcefully take him back. Then we will go back to the original plan and attack the Mainbrain—you only need the S-type Prototype in your plan. There’s no hard requirement for Mr. Ruan’s assistance, right? Anyway, you haven’t finished the attack program yet, so let’s just give this a try as soon as possible. It’s best to win, but not to lose.”

Then he attached his bright and standard smile.

Professor Ruan, who was clearly regarded as the alternative: “…”

“You didn’t solve the problem at all.” Professor Ruan pinched his eyebrows. “The world will make a comeback sooner or later. You just delayed things a little bit. This is quite irresponsible—”

“We don’t intend to take this responsibility.”

Ruan Xian in the light screen put down the water cup.

“Judging from the situation at the end of 2100, the world will not be destroyed for a while. If society really perishes in another thousand or two—or more—and the Mainbrain observes the whole process and thinks that human beings are only worthy of such a management method, I personally have nothing to say.”

Professor Ruan frowned.

“Cybernetic brain, natural brain, mechanical tissue, normal flesh. As far as my current feelings are concerned, you haven’t found a suitable definition yourself, Professor Ruan. We are all people who are limited by the times, so don’t try to define everything. Instead of worrying about how people will feel thousands of years from now, you might as well help the living get on the right track early.”

“What if I still disagree?”

“Yibu and the Mainbrain signed a cooperation agreement, and I am also on Yibu’s side. If they join forces, you know what your chances of winning are… At the same time, we have also promised in the agreement that we will not interfere with the composition of society like the Mainbrain, so you don’t need to worry about this.”

Professor Ruan smiled, and then his virtual image dissipated, revealing a three-legged machine equipped with a brain cube.

“I will take a good look at the contents of that agreement,” it said calmly. “And I guess MUL-01 should have mentioned the way to deal with the rebels.”

“It won’t do anything to them. The total population of the world in 2100 is about 9 billion. Including the rebels, there are 30 million people who are still alive, which means more than 8 billion people have to be reset back. There won’t be many resources left that can be mobilized.”

Ruan Xian smiled.

“…They then have to prove that they aren’t crazy, find enough power to deal with Yibu, and then finally find the Mainbrain. I will guarantee that they will lose at step 2.”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Yu Le made a “stop” gesture. “What does it mean that more than 8 billion people have to be reset back? I thought the Mainbrain was just going to withdraw like this?”

“It’s already started,” Tang Yibu said. “You can take a look.”

After that, Tang Yibu looked busy doing something. Hundreds of golden light screens flew out from the edge of the big light screen filling the room.

In the clear picture, as the sun rose completely, the earth began to vibrate. The dead wall gradually withdrew from the ground.

Countless construction aircraft rose up, overwhelming the sky. The ruins of the Institute were decomposed and then reconstructed to their original appearance. Even the flowers planted in the flower beds were printed back, stained with dew, and swayed slightly in the wind.

The artificial intelligence city in the distance slowly shattered. The weird, blind, spider-shaped machine disappeared, and the S City of 2100 was slowly returning—a can rolled across the empty street and came to a stop at a garbage bin. There was no dust on the windows of each building of various stores, and the 24-hour signboard kept flickering on and off. Stray cats lay on their backs by trimmed bushes as they meowed.

The annihilation point was reversed. All the undissolved building debris was taken away by the construction aircraft one after another. Without their ships, the pirates stood motionless in bewilderment as they were pelted with tents and emergency food dropped off by the Order Supervisors.

Cities everywhere were returning in turn, and everything was slowly recovering, except for the people. The mechanical life seemed to have received instructions and began to gather in groups, moving in a certain direction.

But the land reclaimed by the Mainbrain hadn’t disappeared. The City of the Mainbrain lay quietly by the sea. The people who looked out their window watched in confusion as a sky full of aircraft flew over them.

“It will take at least three months for the hardware facilities to be restored,” Tang Yibu explained. “The population will be released after everything is restored.”

“What are you going to do?”

After making sure that everyone’s attention was attracted by the light screen, Tang Yibu turned to Professor Ruan.

“Before the Mainbrain retires to seclusion, we will prepare a joint treatment plan. The situation of Guan Haiming and Ji Xiaoman won’t be a problem, but the damage to your brain is irreversible. In the next ten years, if you need a mechanical shell…”

“I will first look at Miss Ji’s mother. You two should be willing to help.” Professor Ruan was still staring at the golden light screen floating beside him. “The next thing… When I finish verifying your program, I would like to ask you to bring a message to MUL-01. At least during the three-month recovery period, it should be there, right?”

“Yes.” Ruan Xian nodded.

“Very good.” The black cube in the glass trough spewed out a string of bubbles. “I want to meet it. Don’t worry, I won’t bring anyone. If it still cares, you can go with me.”

“Alright. But don’t delay too long. We can finally rest…” Tang Yibu muttered.

“Just rest first.” There was a smile in Professor Ruan’s electronic voice. “The time is set in three months. Before it’s ready to go into seclusion… In these three months, I also have some things to deal with.”

“You guys are almost there, right? I hear engine sounds of the mobile stronghold.”

The three-legged machine owed a debt to the body.

“Let’s talk about the rest, face to face.”

The author has something to say:

Transition transition——

The Mainbrain is finally going to see its father (?

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 245: Cooperation

In the rumbling thunder, the rain got heavier. Water droplets continued to slide down the temporary body of the Mainbrain. Its metal surface was drenched in the cold.

Tang Yibu sneezed and then exchanged glances with Ruan Xian.

It was impossible for Zhuo Muran to make such a big move without authorization. In other words, the Mainbrain didn’t object to this approach. It was likely that it wasn’t passive consent or rejection…

“You’re using him to test us.” Tang Yibu sneezed at the Mainbrain again as he shook the rain from his hair.

The surface of the cube in his arms was pitch black. The Mainbrain was calmly pretending to be dead.

Ruan Xian laughed. He took a step forward and blocked Tang Yibu, who was holding the black cube, behind him.

“…Both you and the Mainbrain seem to have a terrible misunderstanding about us.” His tone was very polite. “What do you think we are trying to talk about?”

“No matter what you talk about, your ambition is definitely more than the amount of just that ‘body’.” Zhuo Muran replied. “I’m not interested in the details. Give me the answer, now.”

“No, no. I have to finish. After all, you represent the will of MUL-01 for the time being. If you lose hundreds of years of resources and hard-won valuable data, wouldn’t that be just drawing water with a bamboo basket*?”

*(竹篮打水一场空) Idiom referring to wasting effort and having no effect, working in vain.

Zhuo Muran was just about to respond, but in the next moment, he closed his mouth, apparently receiving a message from the Mainbrain.

He looked at the two people not far away in silence.

“First of all, I want to clarify one thing. You are the one who’s taking 30 million lives hostage, and you’re the one who will execute them. This responsibility is not ours to bear. This isn’t the first hostage-taking ever done in the world.”

Ruan Xian’s voice was calm. “Professor Ruan may not be able to afford to accept such a loss, so he’s willing to negotiate terms with you. As for me and Yibu… Killing everyone will only make it easier for us to escape.”

Tang Yibu looked at Zhuo Muran with subtle sympathy.

“Assuming everything collapses, and we continue to run with the Mainbrain, the previous chasers were all Order Supervisors and mechanical army. Without people, the only thing chasing us will be the mechanical army—it’s you who made those 30 million lives disappear in vain, and you who will be breaking your own arm.”

Ruan Xian showed him a look of “are you stupid?”.

“Of course, you seem to be completely uninterested in the purpose of our negotiations. Since you don’t want to listen, I’m done. You can continue.”

Zhuo Muran stood quietly in place. The Mainbrain didn’t show any information. It was probably communicating—the dialogue between MUL-01 and Zhuo Muran should be carried out psionically so Ruan Xian couldn’t access the content.

“If all humans disappear, NUL-00…” Half a minute later, Zhuo Muran spoke again.

“If all humans disappear, NUL-00 will lose the chance to make a comeback. Because after this battle, you will do whatever it takes to exercise absolute control over all machines under the command of the Mainbrain. Without the support of the rebels, it will be difficult for NUL-00 to take the initiative. Is this what you wanted to say?”

Ruan Xian quickly interrupted Zhuo Muran’s words and smiled brightly. “So what? You still can’t catch us despite using your full force now, and the Mainbrain will not return to its place. Since I have the S-type Prototype, I can survive for a very long time, and I will not leave Yibu. I can always provide him with support. You know what that means.”

This game of hide-and-seek could go on for as long as they wanted.

A trace of anger appeared on Zhuo Muran’s face. “…It seems that without Professor Ruan as a bargaining chip, the two of you still want to choose such a rogue approach? Fine. Let’s talk about it. Since you two are willing to give up immediate interests and resources, why did you want to help Professor Ruan attack the Mainbrain?”

“Oh, that’s my fault.” Tang Yibu patted the Mainbrain while giving an embarrassed smile. “I wanted to make a deep impression on Mr. Ruan—to see if he was really worried about me and also trip up the Mainbrain along the way. I wasn’t going to work with Professor Ruan.”

Ruan Xian didn’t know if it was intentional, but there was a hint of shyness in Tang Yibu’s tone.

“As for this attack. Well, it was supposed to be an extreme data collection. I want to know if Ruan Xian… If he would succumb to the Mainbrain and betray me. But now that issue isn’t important anymore—I don’t want to put him through this again. Such a ‘test’ is just double torture. I’m very strong, so I can keep him away from extreme situations… Wait let me take note of this. This is important relationship tips.”

Zhuo Muran: “……”

Ruan Xian laughed out loud. “And I made sure in this attack that I didn’t betray him—I even want to live with him.”

In the most painful moment, he didn’t calculate or weigh anymore. To be honest, as a person who felt many pains and implemented many plans, he didn’t have that much energy to think about anything too complicated right now.

He just wanted to live and look at those eyes more.

“Yes, I officially announce that we’re in love,” Tang Yibu said excitedly. There’s no need to determine everything. There’s no need to think about all possibilities. There’s no need to follow logic—I guess you won’t understand, but I have been thinking about it for a long time.”

The last half was whispered to MUL-01, accompanied by a gloating knock.

“This is one of our main motivations, and the goal has been achieved,” Ruan Xian said with a smile. “It has nothing to do with those 30 million people, or your strength and resources, and it has nothing to do with who is in charge of the world.”

Zhuo Muran didn’t seem to want to continue this conversation. He gritted his teeth and stared at the two angrily for a long time before squeezing out his next question. “One of the main motivations?”

“MUL-01 has an advantage and will not easily give up trying to get Yibu’s programs. It will not stop its pursuits, and we want to live with peace of mind, so we temporarily pulled it off its throne and advised it. Is there a problem?”

“This is not a child’s play. You two are crazy—” Zhuo Muran took a deep breath.

“Speak.” MUL-01 lit up at this time and began to display text. “The content of your ‘cooperation’.”

“Wouldn’t it have been better to be polite to Mr. Ruan earlier?”

Tang Yibu took out the black knife. The knife stood between the Mainbrain and Zhuo Muran. Ruan Xian held the metal cube to ensure that everyone could see its words clearly.

Ruan Xian didn’t continue to beat on the Mainbrain. His tone became serious. “If Professor Ruan hadn’t changed too much of the core logic, as the original writer, I can probably understand what you’re thinking.”

The Mainbrain didn’t respond.

“You let me stay for a few months on December 31, 2100. The commercialization of bionic organisms was progressing too fast, and the laws and existing ethics couldn’t keep up with the development of the market. I won’t mention other economic or political situations. You probably figured all that out.”

“Some people stuff their brains into machines, and some treat machines as brains. The covenant morals and ethics were starting to look different from the ones you’ve been indoctrinated with by Fan Linsong…”

Ruan Xian paused for a moment and glanced at Zhuo Muran. “Human society’s own problems haven’t been solved, and it has fallen into a new chaos. There were shortcomings in human governance, so you decided to take action. The Great Rebellion wasn’t a great rebellion. For you, it was more like a correction before the chaos—it’s indeed easier to manage by setting a concept for everything.”

In the torrential rain, the Mainbrain remained silent.

“According to your core logic, you will not apply unacceptable practices to human groups. Your standard comes from the human race itself, and at most, you were like a knife that killed people. What happened has already happened. I don’t intend to condemn you like Professor Ruan or destroy you and give the rest of the people confidence and hope.”

“Do you really think so?” The Mainbrain slowly showed this sentence.

“Yes, but this is just my personal opinion and doesn’t represent other people. After all, I have no sense of belonging to human society.”

Under the pouring rain, Ruan Xian’s voice was very clear.

“…But I can also give you a suggestion personally. You stored all the physiological data of everyone ‘killed’ starting from December 31, 2100, including memory and emotional state. You also store detailed information about every city at the time, including information about the buildings themselves.”

“Yes.”

“Then you can observe in another way.” Ruan Xian wiped the rain from his face. “Reset human society, hide, and collect the data from possible future developments.”

“According to my calculation, if I don’t intervene, humanity will destroy itself sooner or later.” MUL-01 displayed the text word by word.

“Then let them be destroyed.”

Ruan Xian looked down at the black cube in his arms. The rain wetted the metal surface, and he could faintly see his reflection.

“During this period, you can collect data on absolute natural intelligence—their possible disputes, struggles, and final destruction. After everything is over, you can go back to the stage again and use your stored data and experience to reset everything again.”

“……”

Zhuo Muran frowned. “Do you want MUL-01 to be humanity’s own ‘Doomsday Dome’? Like the Svalbard Seed Vault*?”

*A secure backup facility for the world’s crop diversity on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago. The Seed Vault provides long-term storage of duplicates of seeds conserved in genebanks around the world. This provides security of the world’s food supply against the loss of seeds in genebanks due to mismanagement, accident, equipment failures, funding cuts, war, sabotage, disease and natural disasters. || In this context, it’ll be human DNA that is stored instead of crops.

“Isn’t it good? According to MUL-01’s own statement, humanity will die sooner or later by its own hands anyway. If you observe this process to its completion, you can get a lot of interesting new data without having to make those time-consuming petri dishes.”

“In other words, you want MUL-01 to consume its own resources, restore everything to the way it was on the last day of 2100, and then retreat behind the scenes.” Zhuo Muran sneered. “Then you and NUL-00 can take its place, right? …Until the day when mankind destroys itself, MUL-01 may not necessarily be able to return safely.”

“What are you talking about?” Tang Yibu turned the knife in his hand. “Why should I work for humans and get nothing for it?”

After that, he waved his hand casually, and a huge light screen spread out in front of everyone.

“This is a system protocol. After we all agree, it will go deep into our core system. Neither I nor MUL-01 can violate the above agreement.” Tang Yibu pointed to the dense text above.

“Overall, assuming that MUL-01 agrees, before the destruction of mankind, I am willing to personally guard its safety and assist in collecting intelligence all over the world. After its destruction, as long as it doesn’t hurt me, I will not interfere with its management, will not forcibly snatch its resources, and will not threaten its life.”

Zhuo Muran looked suspiciously at the dense text that made people’s eyes hurt. He was pretty sure that he saw a sentence: “No demands for NUL-00’s recipes are allowed.”

He rubbed his eyes, and then he saw: “No forms of direct or indirect attacks are to be carried out on NUL-00 and Ruan Xian (original). The scope of the attacks includes, but is not limited to, the following 97,325 articles…”

“Those are 99.9% of things that may hurt me, and I will add more later—of course, I’ll give MUL-01 room for rejection and negotiation for subsequent supplementary terms.”

Tang Yibu was quite serious.

“I have to write it in considerable detail. I am very fragile.”

“As for Professor Ruan, Yibu and I will deal with it.” Ruan Xian smiled and shook his head. “If you are willing to take the lead, I have a way to convince him. These are all written in the agreement.”

“As long as you agree to this agreement, you can have an earth-level petri dish and valuable data on the natural extinction of mankind. I, Mr. Ruan, and Professor Ruan will no longer be your threats. Compared with your plan to die together just now, I think our plan is better.”

Tang Yibu straightened his drenched black hair.

“Wipe out 30 million people, lose both, and hurt each other, or wait for a while and get the best of both worlds. Now, it’s your turn to choose one of the two, MUL-01.”

The author has something to say:

Is everyone in reality also preparing for a possible doomsday (?

Kinky Thoughts:

LMAO. Here MUL-01 and Professor Ruan are fighting their hardest for mankind, while Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian are using this chance to confirm their relationship and declare their love.

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

Chapter 244: The Price

Tang Yibu didn’t stay on the ground for long. A group of armed aircraft reacted and rushed towards the two of them.

The spare body of the Mainbrain was close to a large cube with a side length of half a meter and was equipped with many auxiliary flight devices on the outside. Tang Yibu tore them off like peeling an orange. Without the entangled hoses and devices, the Mainbrain was simply a bare black cube. Tang Yibu held the Mainbrain’s body with both arms while Ruan Xian clung to his neck tightly with one arm while the other arm was wrapped around π, who was upside down.

The two half-naked men in ragged clothes broke through the air and quickly ran towards the edge of the desert. Many aircraft chased closely behind them, but Tang Yibu’s speed was too fast to track. Not even a bullet could match his speed.

In a rare moment, the Mainbrain was silent.

…It seemed to have made another error in judgment.

Tang Yibu glanced at it sympathetically. Not long ago, he had also felt tangled…

That night, on the bumpy road, they had climbed onto the roof of the car and perfected a plan under the starry sky while letting π drive them slowly.

[Yibu, I have an idea.] Ruan Xian looked at the sky.

[What?]

[I’ll see how you react first. If you were the Mainbrain and you were attacked by us at close range, how would you speculate?]

[NUL-00 is trying to attack and erase it, while Professor Ruan wants to seize control of the “body” of the Mainbrain to gain more advantages before the official war… The former is tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg. From any point of view, it’s impossible for me to kill it empty-handed.] Tang Yibu sucked on coconut water through a straw. Before going deep into the desert, they had stumbled upon a grove of coconut trees near the sea, so he had picked a lot.

[What else is possible?]

[I can’t think of anything else.] Tang Yibu sucked hard, then deflated his check and broke open the coconut with his bare hands. [We’re bound to be injured in this operation, so it’s impossible not to seek benefits.]

[The Mainbrain wants to destroy you and get your program—MUL-01 has an absolute advantage, so this is the most reasonable approach. It will not give up its own initiative voluntarily. One mountain cannot tolerate two tigers*. If you want to ensure a stable survival, you must kill it first… At least in its view, you’re cooperating with Professor Ruan for this purpose.]

*(一山不容二虎) Idiom referring to it’s incompatible for two strong people to be in the same place.

[In theory, this is the case.]

[But it’s Professor Ruan who “must” erase the Mainbrain. This is their war, not ours.]

Tang Yibu held the straw and thought for a few seconds. [We don’t need to kill it? But this isn’t something we can decide unilaterally. The Mainbrain has an absolute advantage. It’s impossible… Oh!]

[Figured it out?]

[Nn.] Tang Yibu curved his eyes. [Just take away its combat power advantage. I’m not interested in its programs and data, and there’s no reason why it must disappear. After all, no matter which way I look at it, I’m superior to it.]

After speaking, he deliberately paused and glanced at Ruan Xian. However, his Mr. Ruan just stretched out a hand and was playing with his hair that was blown by the wind.

[If we can negotiate on equal footing, I can think of a solution to the problem. The question is, do we have the conditions to “negotiate on an equal footing with it”—] Tang Yibu handed half the coconut to Ruan Xian.

[Yes.] Ruan Xian gladly took it. [In this regard, I have had some successful experience. Remember our first negotiation?]

[Remember. I thought you would attack me, but you tried your best and just gave me a healing bullet to prove yourself… I see, Mr. Ruan.]

[You and the Mainbrain are actually very similar, in terms of accepting death.] Ruan Xian scraped out a piece of pulp with a small knife. He stabbed it with the tip of the knife and fed Tang Yibu a bite.

[…You will definitely choose the “worst” possibility to defend.]

Facts had proven that Mr. Ruan was right. Tang Yibu patted the spare body of the Mainbrain in his arms and cocked the corner of his mouth.

Whether it was the Mainbrain or Zhuo Muran, neither of them took the enemy lightly. They defended according to the “assassination” specification. After discovering there were indeed no lethal weapons on their side, they changed their aim to “plunder”.

MUL-01 was full of war with Professor Ruan.

Tang Yibu ran away while patting it compassionately.

“Stop.” The side of the cube that was being patted suddenly showed large characters. MUL-01 obviously didn’t like this kind of touch.

Tang Yibu’s interest suddenly rose. On the way to the woodland, the sound of patting and tapping was incessant. Tang Yibu ran faster as he beat the Mainbrain like a drum.

Afraid that Tang Yibu would kill the Mainbrain in retaliation, the large aircraft that were too inconvenient to fly didn’t chase too far. The rest of the small aircraft continued trying to track them. Among the countless small aircraft, one figure was particularly eye-catching—Zhuo Muran was wearing a broken exoskeleton while chasing them closely.

Finally, Tang Yibu ran away from the desert and into a thunderstorm. It appeared in the position they predicted. The occasional bolt of lightning isolated most of their pursuers. Zhuo Muran instructed the aircraft to surround the area of the thunderstorm while he continued to give chase.

This gave Tang Yibu a lot of rest time.

The two hid under a few wet rocks. Their view was filled with dark brown and lead gray. The thunderstorm here was particularly dense. The rumbling thunder was accompanied by the sound of hissing electric current that was drowned out by the howling wind.

Tang Yibu laid the Mainbrain on a pile of gravel and circled his wrist. π woke up in a daze and let out a rattle as it bit the corner of the Mainbrain—unfortunately, the cube was made with the same material as the calculation cubes. Despite gnawing for a while, the iron bead couldn’t even bite off a small piece of debris.

Without the flight device, the Mainbrain couldn’t move, so it had to endure the biting.

“I don’t understand.” It quickly displayed a line of text. “The thunderstorm will stop, and Zhuo Muran will find you. In your current condition, you have no way to destroy me, and I will soon be able to restore everything to its original state as soon as I reach my alternate body.”

“During this period, I will at most temporarily stop the management of the cities, but this part can be continued by the Order Supervisors. No matter where you go, Zhuo Muran and his subordinates will never stop tracking, nor will they let you come into contact with anyone on Professor Ruan’s side. You can’t destroy me and can’t contact Professor Ruan. Unless you continue this meaningless escape…”

“Can’t we?” Tang Yibu said.

The Mainbrain was still desperately speculating about their purpose. When Tang Yibu said such a line, it fell silent again.

“I don’t understand.” Half a minute later, it repeated again.

“You see, with the abilities of Mr. Ruan and I, we can continue to escape with you. Of course, we can’t take much advantage of it, but without your control, guess what the rebels will do?”

Tang Yibu seemed dissatisfied with the dry conversation he was having with the cube. He pulled out the lid that was engraved with a smiley face, hung it on the cube, and then nodded with satisfaction. Ruan Xian turned his head, trying to hold back the urge to laugh.

“…This approach is not good for you or me. You’re similar to me. Professor Ruan is only temporarily cooperating with you. Once he gains the dominant position again, he will not allow you to exist.”

The Mainbrain ignored the lid of the can that was hanging on its body and started displaying its sentences faster.

“And this ‘Ruan Xian’ by your side. His mental condition isn’t healthy. Your joint actions will only be a threat to a normal society. He will not accept you…”

“That’s why we want to ‘talk about cooperation’ with you alone.” Ruan Xian spoke up when he saw those words. “We’ve already shown our sincerity—if we wanted to hurt you to the greatest extent, Yibu wouldn’t have come after you. He just needed to take your main body.”

The text on the cube disappeared, and its surface temperature slightly rose. MUL-01 seemed to be thinking.

“Take a step back. It’s tiring to take you and continue to escape day and night. Adults need to live an adult life, so we might as well be rational and do something that benefits both sides—”

Before he could speak the stone over his head crashed to pieces. Zhuo Muran stood quietly in the rain, looking at them coldly.

“Cooperation,” he hissed.” Forcing MUL-01 to transfer its system and making us chase you like monkeys just to ‘talk about cooperation’?”

Tang Yibu clamped Ruan Xian with one hand and hooked the Mainbrain with the other as he jumped back. π bit a corner of the cube tightly, and almost slipped off because of the rain.

Zhuo Muran didn’t attack immediately. He obviously eavesdropped from a distance for a while. The expression on his face was hard to make out, but it could be seen that it was unpleasant, but there was no panic in it; only indifference and gloom.

“Abandoning MUL-01’s body was your stupidest move, NUL-00. This Ruan Xian’s statement isn’t true at all. The conditions are so different that ‘sincerity’ isn’t even half as useful. Now, immediately hand over MUL-01. Or else…”

“Or else?”

Zhuo Muran laughed. Ruan Xian had never seen him laugh like that. It wasn’t a normal laugh with a sense of calmness like a martyr.

“When I was fighting you, I had already guessed a certain possibility,” he said. “There’s a gap between my guess and reality. Fortunately, the gap wasn’t large and emergency measures can still be used.”

Emergency measures? Ruan Xian frowned.

“I respect Professor Ruan as an opponent, but I have to say that his resistance is like a mantis trying to stop a car*. It can’t change direction with the times… Before, I decided the Mainbrain didn’t need to sacrifice too much for him. We can just slowly strangle them.”

*(螳臂当车) Idiom referring to something that cannot be done by force and is bound to fail.

Zhou Muran raised the muzzle of his gun. The rain haloed the blood on his body, sliding it down the tattered exoskeleton. Numerous aircraft were floating around him with all their guns pointed at Tang Yibu in unison.

“However, it’s a pity that now it seems that the two of you do have the ability to run around with MUL-01 and delay our affairs. This time, Professor Ruan chose a very useful tool. You seized the body as planned and now the war will escalate. Even if he doesn’t run out to negotiate himself, he will still be able to reap the benefits.”

“He crossed the line. He shouldn’t use a dangerous person like you to usurp the rules.” Zhuo Muran’s eyes lit up uncomfortably. “Now, I’ll give you a chance to redeem…”

“We—” As soon as Tang Yibu wanted to open his mouth, Ruan Xian slapped it shut. Ruan Xian nodded and motioned for the other party to continue.

“If you insist on continuing this stupid negotiation, I will restart all the petri dishes.”

Zhuo Muran glanced in the direction of the Mainbrain and moved his fingers.

“R-α and R-β had reserved a considerable number of viruses for us. Combined with the instructions given to the machines, it’s enough to kill everyone outside the dead wall. The Mainbrain contains all human genetic information and can restart everything whenever it wants.”

“The Order Supervisors will also die.” Ruan Xian narrowed his eyes.

“Yes, all biological ‘humans’ will disappear. Only semi-transformed people like you and me, mechanical life, and pure machines will be left in the world—although the lost energy and data will take thousands of years to recover, in this way, Professor Ruan will inevitably be unable to continue, and not only will you not be able to gain an advantage, you’ll lose everything and will also be responsible for the lives of these 30 million people.”

He had killed many people and wiped out countless petri dishes. Zhuo Muran clenched his fists tightly. There could only be one leader in his world, and he was willing to do anything for it.

“Now, give back the Mainbrain, and there will be a conventional ‘war’. There is still time to control the losses within the range that you and I can bear. Everything has rules and restrictions, NUL-00. There’s always a price for messing around.”

It was too greedy. It was just appropriating MUL-01’s body and escalating the war. The state of affairs was still under the control of the Mainbrain, but since the two of them gave up the fat in their mouths and chose to threaten and negotiate, the benefits they sought must be more than “one body”. Not to mention that there was also an eyeing Professor Ruan on the side.

The Mainbrain didn’t reject his application. Zhuo Muran could still turn things around. The balance of the war must be maintained. Zhuo Muran slowly exhaled.

“Choose.”

The author has something to say:

Zhuo: You play according to the rules, or everyone will die together. Anyway, you can’t win.

Tang: Hesitating to talk.

Ruan: Mysterious smile (?

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