Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 218: Hello

The preparation of the Mainbrain was perfect. An android was quickly sent in to replace the assistant robot. Ruan Xian had never seen such a clean Tang Yibu and couldn’t help but admire him—the one he knew often smelled like dust, blood, smoke, and food. The tips of his hair most of the time were cocked because he didn’t have time to take care of it, and his expression was like a lion sunbathing.

The one in front of him was more like a product display of a humanoid assistant. It had a rich expression and natural movements, but there was still a little deviation from Tang Yibu’s lazy and self-absorbed temperament. To be fair, Ruan Xian thought this thing could fool Lao Yu and even Professor Ruan, but it couldn’t fool him.

To put it mildly—the Mainbrain’s intelligence of what Tang Yibu’s brain was like was so normal that it was unnatural.

Ruan Xian could understand the Mainbrain’s thoughts. Throughout their adventures, just by looking at the results, they were indeed the crazier ones. As far as the current situation was concerned, it seemed that only he knew how… interesting that android was.

He didn’t know why. Obviously, in an extremely dangerous environment, the tension was like a poisonous insect resting on his skin, but Ruan Xian just wanted to laugh He had crawled into bed, buried his face in the blankets as his shoulders shook, sobbing as if he was under heavy pressure.

The “Tang Yibu” provided by the Mainbrain stretched out his hand to the assistant robot and copied all the data into its system. With the assistant robot recalled, Ruan Xian was now the only one left in the room.

Or rather, there were “two” people.

Finally, Ruan Xian erased his smile, raised his head, and looked at the golden eyes in front of him.

He now understood the difference between the genuine and fake very clearly—there was a bit more cunning, curiosity, and inexplicable happiness in those golden eyes.

These strange emotions that weren’t easy to understand made them sparkle.

Unlike when he was in the Glass Conservatory, the one in front of him was a “mechanical shell” in the true sense. The real Tang Yibu was still elsewhere, and in order to not make the Mainbrain suspicious, the shell in front of him was probably still attached to a surveillance system. Ruan Xian quickly calmed down, jumped off the bed, and looked away as if he couldn’t bear it, then poured himself a large glass of water.

When he turned his gaze back to Tang Yibu again, the android had already changed into pajamas and was lying on his side of the bed while patting the edge.

Ruan Xian: “…” He put down the cup in silence and pretended not to see anything.

This was definitely Tang Yibu.

Ruan Xian rubbed his temples and lay down in the vacant position on the bed, keeping a relatively polite distance from the mechanical shell beside him. Both of them were lying upright on the bed, half an arm’s length apart, like two neatly placed corpses.

Tang Yibu had hacked into the assistant robot system, and through the data transfer just now, the implanted virus program was also transferred to the android, but it still didn’t change the fact that this was just a machine. In order to transmit suitable surveillance data to the Mainbrain, Tang Yibu needed images that could be processed…

Besides the android itself, there were plenty of surveillance cameras in every corner of this room. This made it more difficult to falsify the contents of their communications. Ruan Xian decided to provide some relatively static clips to give that guy some materials.

Sure enough, after an hour of silence, Tang Yibu turned over and lay on his side. He remotely manipulated the mechanical version of “himself” and stared at Ruan Xian with burning eyes.

Feeling the awl-style sight, Ruan Xian sighed, turned over, and lay on his side—the two were lying face-to-face; their faces half swallowed by the soft pillow.

“Don’t make a sound. Don’t move. In addition to image monitoring, I suspect that sound, vibration, and other indicators are also being monitored,” Ruan Xian mouthed wordlessly. “Communicate with your mouth.”

“You’re playing a researcher having a breakdown,” Tang Yibu mouthed. “Are you going to hug me and cry?”

“No. I should show my rejection of you as a ‘fake’. It’s too much to deceive myself right away. I should now be in a state of contradiction,” Ruan Xian coldly refused. “At least tonight, you can give the Mainbrain the loop of us playing dead.”

Tang Yibu frowned and expressed disappointment without concealment.

“In addition, the “you” is made by the Mainbrain… I guess in order to avoid trouble, it should have the most basic sensing system, but it’s not too advanced inside. Even if I break its neck, it’s estimated that you can only receive body temperature and heart rate.”

Ruan Xian continued to mend the knife.

“I know. I just checked its hardware,” Tang Yibu said solemnly. “But your body temperature is good enough.”

Ruan Xian choked after getting such an unexpected answer. Ruan Xian suddenly felt that this kind of subconscious speculation was exhausting, so he decided to change the subject. He was a little unsure what Tang Yibu wanted to do—was he planning to use his admiration as he once did to gain dominance again? Or was he expressing his true thoughts openly and honestly?

“It’s been less than two days since we met. Why did you come to find me?”

“Because I regret it.” Tang Yibu blinked. “I regret joining the dispute between the Mainbrain and Professor Ruan too early. I should have chosen to elope with you.”

“…Is this how ‘elope’ is used?”

“I think so,” Tang Yibu said. “So, Mr. Ruan, in order to restore things to their original state as soon as possible, I have decided to get rid of the Mainbrain within 66 hours. Of course, I will need your help with this.”

“…” Ruan Xian slowly lay back on his back, covered his head with the blanket, and was silent for fifteen seconds.

“How did you come up with this time limit?” Fifteen seconds later, Ruan Xian calmly resumed lying on his side.

Tang Yibu took a deep breath and told Ruan Xian about Yu Le’s and Ji Xiaoman’s situation as quickly as possible. Ruan Xian frowned slowly and couldn’t help but fall into deep thought.

“It’s all intelligence stacking.” After listening, Ruan Xian summed it up mercilessly. “You don’t have a detailed plan?”

“No!” Tang Yibu opened his mouth widely. “I only have a rough outline, just like you.”

For a second, Ruan Xian felt guilty of “did he mislead the person in front of him”.

As if seeing through his thoughts, Tang Yibu rubbed his head on the pillow and continued, “Although I don’t know what your plan is, I can guess the general direction of your information gathering. If we put all the clues together, there’s a high probability that we can perfect a powerful enough strategy.”

“I didn’t act according to previous style. In fact, if we go by the most reasonable logic, I shouldn’t even be here.” Tang Yibu mouthed. “And as ‘Ruan Xian’, you shouldn’t have access to the internal information here. We all know that the safest bet is to choose the safer side. Let Professor Ruan and the Mainbrain kill each other, and we choose the side we want to assist.”

Ruan Xian thought Tang Yibu was right. If they want to choose the safest path, they must act along with the rhythm of Professor Ruan and the Mainbrain. It would be a serious, long, and painful war as they carefully stepped over the footprints of others, fighting to be the oriole stalking the mantis*.

*Referring to the proverb (螳螂捕蝉黄雀在后) The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. It basically means watch your back. Don’t pursue a narrow gain while neglecting the greater danger. || In this context, it’s saying the Mainbrain and Professor Ruan are the mantis (seeing each other as the cicada) while Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu watch in the background being the oriole (they are the greater threat).

In this game, everyone was a prisoner of numbers, fighting around a winning rate, trying to keep themselves alive.

…Then the question was… If he jumped out with the intention of overturning the chessboard and pushing the winning percentages aside, even if he took part of the risk and would do anything to keep Tang Yibu free, what would Tang Yibu think?

“Why?” Ruan Xian asked directly without any intention of garnering goodwill from Tang Yibu.

“Because of trouble.” Tang Yibu was as confident as ever. “I want to study you and my feelings for you. This grinding war is impeding it too much—especially MUL-01. If I don’t pay attention, it might really make a move on you.”

“You mean like before? That’s just acting.” Ruan Xian couldn’t help laughing.

“I know it’s acting,” Tang Yibu said nervously. “But when I was in the Sea of Ruins, I deliberately got close to you, and you claimed to like me because of it. The Mainbrain is similar to the core algorithm of my thinking. What if it comes to the same inspiration and uses the same idea to take you away?”

“Oh—”

“And I think we can win.”

“Even if the other party is the Mainbrain?”

“I am its prototype. I think I’m stronger,” Tang Yibu declared proudly. “And you’re my maker. We’re equal on a technical level. In terms of material, we have two Prototypes and an information advantage—the best thing is that if we control the number of participants to a minimum, the difficulty of the Mainbrain’s response is equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack.”

“It’s not impossible.” Ruan Xian didn’t respond directly but just smiled. “Why do you think you’re stronger?”

“Well… I now understand a lot about why you gave me that subject in the first place, and I understand quite a bit now. From what I’ve seen along the way, I’m afraid the Mainbrain has never thought about those things.”

Tang Yibu returned a weird smile that was a little jerky.

“In other words, now when I analyze and calculate, I have at least one more angle than it. As long as I catch those blind spots, I can formulate a plan that it won’t be able to calculate.”

Ruan Xian didn’t answer. He gently raised his arm, raised his hand in front of Tang Yibu, and opened his palm slightly. Tang Yibu looked at it suspiciously for a while, then stretched out his hand and lightly gave Ruan Xian a high-five.

As a result, before he could withdraw his hand, Ruan Xian grabbed it tightly and clasped their fingers together.

“Sounds like a pretty good idea.” Ruan Xian’s curved his eyes. “And time is limited, so I don’t seem to have much of a choice.”

Tang Yibu huffed in satisfaction.

“But have you ever thought about it, Yibu? If I had been moved by the Mainbrain, what would happen to you now?”

Tang Yibu shrank his hand in fright, but it was still firmly held by Ruan Xian. He looked at Ruan Xian in shock and a faint panic crossed his eyes.

‘…How surprising,’ Ruan Xian thought. This android, who liked to calculate all possibilities, seemed surprised by the possibility that he proposed.

This was a good sign.

“It’s good to plan well. I can tell you’re having problems right now.” Ruan Xian grabbed the hand and continued to smile. “In my opinion, this requires us to give each other considerable trust. Shhh, I know what you want to say—love is not a substitute for trust.”

Tang Yibu stared at their clasped hands without saying anything.

“But like you said, time is limited.” Ruan Xian continued, “In any case, we must act immediately. In short, we should prepare well first. As for the issue of trust… Let’s take it one step at a time. Even if the plan fails, we aren’t without a way out.”

Things had developed to the present and the risk of everything could still be calculated, but to complete the plan to defeat the Mainbrain, it was impossible for them to stick together all the time and spend energy being wary of each other.

Ruan Xian thought that Tang Yibu had realized this. He was curious about the current thoughts of the android.

“I don’t really trust you.” Sure enough, this was how Tang Yibu responded.

“……”

“But I gradually discovered that I don’t doubt you either,” After a pause, Tang Yibu said bitterly. “Some time ago, I considered a question—my previous method of calculation emotional-related topics seemed to be a bit flawed.”

“Loophole?”

“You see, I don’t know much about your nature. As for you… I don’t know your specific situation. I only know that most humans don’t understand their own nature either.”

Tang Yibu narrowed his golden eyes and relaxed his posture.

“But compared to using human commonalities to calculate your interests and risks and try to guess your thoughts… I think it’s what you actually do that becomes the calculated capital of ‘you as a person’.”

“When those moments come, will you betray me, defend me, or stand idly by? This may be a topic that lacks condition, so I will wait.”

“Wait?”

“Because I don’t want to lose you, I’m willing to wait.” Tang Yibu returned with greater strength, clasping Ruan Xian’s hand. “I won’t do anything to you until those moments come.”

Ruan Xian didn’t speak. He looked into the eyes of the person opposite and felt a sourness in his heart.

“I have tried to calculate it many times before.” Tang Yibu looked away guiltily. “It turns out that if the father in my memory is the result of your deliberate disguise, my understanding of you is quite limited. So far, I have conducted some stats… Now you are the goal I want to save more.”

“So?”

Tang Yibu broke free of Ruan Xian’s hand, and with a turn of his wrist, the two hands changed from fingers intertwined to a standard handshake. The two of them lay stiffly on the bed, holding hands solemnly, as if they had been thrown into amber during a handshake and laid down sideways after they solidified.

“Nice to meet you,” the android whispered.

“…Let’s get along.”

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 217: Before the Reunion

After listening to Tang Yibu’s little plan, Zhong Qing only had contempt and even a trace of pity in his eyes. Tang Yibu looked down at the little boy, who was only as tall as his chest, and bared his teeth in a kind of threatening way.

“Your brain is broken.” Zhong Qing stretched out his arm sympathetically and patted Tang Yibu on the shoulder.

Tang Yibu squatted down, stretched out his hand and grabbed Zhong Qing’s ear, twisting it lightly. “Hurry up and get down to business.”

“You have no love for children!” Zhong Qing screamed exaggeratedly, trying to attract the attention of his peers—unfortunately, A’Qiao sat quietly on the side, using the fainted man as a stool while cleaning her soiled cuffs.

“We’re not the same kind of creature at all.” Tang Yibu patted the box. “Get started.”

Four minutes later, with an expression of extreme dissatisfaction, Zhong Qing ate a memory spray on his face. A’Qiao dragged the man who was unconscious and aligned their bodies in resting positions with their hands crossed.

“Are you leaving?” After this, she turned and looked at Tang Yibu.

“Nn.”

“I’ll tell Fu Yu and K6,” she said as she walked up to Tang Yibu. She eyed Tang Yibu up and down, focused her gaze, and gave a long snort. “This environment… you look a bit familiar.”

Tang Yibu was putting the box back in place, making it appear as if no one had touched it. Hearing this, he turned his face and responded to the other’s gaze.

“Forget it,” she said calmly, looking in a good mood without the helplessness and panic that was once Tiantian-Q2. The girl who used to tremble inside her cell stretched her hand towards Tang Yibu, who frowned but didn’t avoid it.

“I’m familiar with this feeling. You’re related to my past, but I’ve forgotten all about it. Since I chose to erase my memory at that time, there must be a good reason. To be honest, I don’t know if it was an operation error. I still remember a bit of information—to retain the underlying logic, it must have been something beneficial related to my cybernetic brain or the key to my survival.”

A’Qiao tapped Tang Yibu’s face with one hand and ran her fingers across his eyes and mouth. Tang Yibu tasted the strong smell of blood, but it didn’t belong to A’Qiao’s. Tang Yibu glanced at the unlucky guy who was used as a stool for a few minutes and decided not to investigate the origin of the blood.

“Since I’ve shared this valuable information with you as a fellow android, it might be useful to you,” she said. “I wish you the best of luck and come back soon to pick up this troublesome guy. If you break the agreement, I’ll start to hate you.”

Tang Yibu recognized the pattern drawn by the other party—A’Qiao drew a blood-red cross over both his eyes and added a clown-like “smile” on the side of his face.

It was the blood-red smiley faces they had left behind to confuse the public.

The smell of blood was getting stronger.

“You didn’t question my goal of defeating the Mainbrain,” Tang Yibu asked curiously, without erasing the blood on his face.

“Because I have no advice I can provide you. My questioning will not change anything,” she said while buttoning on her gas mask. “They are about to wake up. Go.”

Tang Yibu didn’t bother to continue the conversation. He put on his gas mask and let the blood slowly dry on his face. Before leaving the area, Tang Yibu looked back at the dim space. A’Qiao stood on top of the open land, as quiet as a mannequin used to display costumes in the olden days.

She continued to look in the direction he left, unsure whether she was watching or saying goodbye.

Once born and twice cooked*, the second time was much smoother than the first.

*(一回生二回熟) Idiom referring to the more times people meet, the more familiar they are naturally.

Tang Yibu made sure that he had brought everything. Ruan Xian’s two blood guns were carefully hidden by him. The iron bead was attached to the water bottle and clanged against it at every turn. Tang Yibu’s small belongings were kept safely in his backpack while the structure of Professor Ruan’s counterattack equipment was kept in his mind.

Sneaking in was one thing, and normal contact with Ruan Xian was another.

Ruan Xian’s room was protected by the highest-standard defense system. Although the previous approach was feasible, the efficiency of information transmission was quite low, and there was always a risk of exposure. He had limited time and didn’t have time to dawdle around words with Mr. Ruan.

Tang Yibu sat melancholy behind the base of a certain scanning light scanner in a stronghold. It was slowly rotating its large beam of light constantly.

The sky was already dark. While Tang Yibu played merry-go-round with the light scanner, Ruan Xian had already returned to his room. His nerves had worn thin for the day, and it made his brain hurt. He breathed a long sigh of relief and slowly drank a glass of iced water to calm himself.

A whole day of deceiving others was exciting enough. Added to this, he had to dig up what little information he could find—Ruan Xian recalled the data he read in his mind and ordered the assistant robot to project images of Fan Linsong’s life.

From the images, Fan Linsong seemed to be doing well.

The old man was beautifully dressed and the furnishings in his residence were exquisite. In the video, he was slowly enjoying a hearty breakfast. Except for a little bit of inexplicable numbness in his expression, which made him look ten years older, it was indeed the Fan Linsong that Ruan Xian knew.

But Ruan Xian’s purpose wasn’t this.

The image revealed a corner of the floor-to-ceiling window. Although it was only a flash, Ruan Xian still captured it—he saw the tops of countless buildings, which meant Fan Linsong should be located at the top of a high building. With just the top of the exposed building that was smaller than a grain of rice, it was difficult to distinguish their characteristics.

He could use Fan Linsong’s height, field of vision, and horizon position to briefly estimate. Ruan Xian stared unblinkingly at Fan Linsong, who was still eating, calculating silently in his mind until an uninvited guest broke in.

“Tang Yibu” chose the windowsill. Ruan Xian had to admit that his appearance was quite handsome, but unfortunately, Ruan Xian had no intention of rushing to the window to be his Juliet*. He took a deep breath, slowly closed the images of Fan Linsong, and adjusted his emotions for a few seconds.

*Referencing Romeo and Juliet, written by Shakespeare.

“Yibu,” he called out “affectionately”, missing the real one that liked to hide under the bed.

“You look torn,” the fake said.

“No, just nervous. I’ll never betray you.” Ruan Xian deliberately gave a look of restlessness, and the nerves that had just been relaxed tightened again. He smiled reluctantly at the other party as a thin layer of sweat appeared on his palm.

His own behavior had to be 100% in line with the expectations of the Mainbrain.

Ruan Xian had to admit that the Mainbrain was very good at choosing the terms of the deal. Looking at the loyalty of Hu Shuli and the others, Ruan Xian didn’t think that the price tag offered was just to deceive him. The proposal to ensure Tang Yibu’s survival was quite attractive. He had even seriously considered something similar as an alternative—the goal of the plan was to survive. The difference lay only in the Mainbrain’s degree of surveillance.

Now he must guess the intentions of the Mainbrain correctly in order to anticipate its preconceptions.

Since it was acting as Tang Yibu, Ruan Xian’s “unsuspecting” self had two choices. Either continue to persevere faithfully, wait for enough information, and sacrifice for the so-called righteousness, or be submissive and try to get rid of “Tang Yibu”, and then agree to the Mainbrain’s proposal to completely ensnare his lover after his betrayal.

No matter which he chose, he had to exchange information with this “Tang Yibu” to show loyalty. The key lay in those subtle emotional deviations…

Ruan Xian had never acted like this before, but he had to succeed.

Ruan Xian raised his eyes and looked at the familiar beautiful eyes opposite of him. Needless to say, since they were nestled in the wrong person, they didn’t incite any feeling of beauty for him in the slightest.

Calm down, Ruan Xian told himself.

The core systems of NUL-00 and MUL-01 were the same. They should be like twins, and they all followed the iron rule. Just like all creatures in the world, they all had strong “survival instinct”. As a young and unsociable researcher who was also desperate for love…

Suppressing the surging tension in his stomach, Ruan Xian made a decision.

He decided to choose the one that was closest to reality, and he was confident he could play the scene well. After all, he really thought about giving up defeating the Mainbrain and only protecting Tang Yibu, and now he really had something to hide from the “person” in front of him.

The feeling of toeing the line of death almost opened every pore in Ruan Xian’s body. He took a few deep breaths in front of “Tang Yibu” and spoke.

“I look torn?” Ruan Xian tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Just like Professor Ruan guessed, the Mainbrain is very good at convincing people. Yibu, come here. Let me see your eyes.”

“Tang Yibu” cautiously took two steps forward.

Then he saw the researcher surnamed Ruan’s eyes reddened, and he started to cry. After a short silence, the young researcher wiped away his tears and quickly regained his composure. “I went around their lab today and got some information. They are now strengthening the S-type products to try and break through Professor Ruan’s perceptual camouflage… You must convey this message back.”

“Nn.”

“And…” Ruan Lijie hesitated. “The Mainbrain wants me to be in charge of part of the research. Yibu, can you give me two more days? I want to pretend to agree first to get more information. I know this may sound greedy… But this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—”

“Maybe the Mainbrain is deliberately giving you this opportunity.” “Tang Yibu’s” face was expressionless. “You have to think carefully. If you betray…”

“You can enter my room at any time and have the ability to assassinate me.” The young researcher wiped away the tears on his face. “I won’t… I won’t do anything against your will, Yibu.”

It seemed that the induction in the past few days had been somewhat effective, and the sub-program of the Mainbrain had made a judgement.

Ruan Xian was completely thinking about other things. He recalled Tang Yibu’s suffering on the Android Show over and over again and pressed down the surging emotions that were bubbling out. He had done all he could do and could only wait for the Mainbrain’s judgement…

His heart was beating frantically under his ribs, and he didn’t need to hide this.

If the Mainbrain stopped the scene at this moment, if he didn’t hurry to remedy the situation, all he had done up to this point would be washed away. On the other hand, if the Mainbrain continued to play along, things could still turn around.

“I have something else to do this time.” After a long pause, “Tang Yibu” continued.

His nerves continued to tighten and relax. Ruan Xian could almost hear the sound of them snapping. Fortunately, Tang Yibu didn’t come to disrupt the situation this time. Otherwise, he didn’t know if he could hide it—

As a result, before the thought had the chance to completely disappear from his mind, an assistant robot a few steps away suddenly turned slowly and rushed all its surveillance camera on them. The Mainbrain was focusing all its attention on Ruan Xian, so it didn’t notice this strange action for the time being.

Ruan Xian suddenly had a bad premonition.

“What is it?” Ruan Xian immediately tried to grab the Mainbrain’s attention.

“After you left, there was a bottleneck in Professor Ruan’s plan. Although I can help him solve the hardware design, special areas still need experts,” “Tang Yibu” said. “We analyzed the principle of the confidential algorithm you gave me last time, but in terms of software adaptation…”

“To be honest, I haven’t been exposed to many assassination machines before.” Ruan Xian glanced at the suspicious assistant robot from the corner of his eyes. “If it’s about the algorithm that spreads the attack program virally and effectively fights against the Mainbrain’s algorithm, I can help. Yibu, this is an opportunity sent to my door—the Mainbrain has given me a job very similar in nature. I can use its resources to do things for us.”

Ruan Xian threw out two sweet baits by using “assassination machine” and “attack program”.

The fake Tang Yibu sighed softly. “I’ll be watching you.”

You don’t say. The guy you’re pretending to be is probably watching right now. Ruan Xian’s face twisted for a moment, but he tried his best to end the performance.

“Believe me, no matter what, I’ll let you live,” he said rather bitterly.

“Tang Yibu” gave him a soothing smile, leaned forward, and was about to kiss him. The hairs on the back of Ruan Xian’s neck all exploded. He took a deep breath and stopped the other party’s movement in time.

While ordinary people couldn’t see it, with his S-type Prototype, Ruan Xian could tell the assistant robot was stretching its camera lens and quietly moving closer to adjust its focal length.

…Tang Yibu was definitely watching.

“Sorry, Yibu.” Ruan Xian held back his smile while trying to keep his tone sad. “When it’s all over, we’ll kiss then.”

“Tang Yibu” gave him a meaningful look.

“As far as our current hardware conditions are concerned, I need the diffusion model for the most ideal attack program.” The Mainbrain resumed its sitting posture. “We want you to put aside the foundation of established programs and calculate them according to perfect condition.”

“I see.”

The Mainbrain nodded. “Mr. Ruan, it’s time to say goodbye… I hope you won’t make the wrong decision.”

After the Mainbrain left, Ruan Xian ignored the inexplicable and aggrieved peeping of the assistant robot and lay on the bed. Ten minutes later, he pressed the communication device in the room and contacted Hu Shuli.

“I accept the conditions of MUL-01,” Ruan Xian said with great difficulty. “But I have a request.”

“What are your requirements?” Hu Shuli seemed to be in a good mood.

“Since you betrayed the person you love, you know how it feels! I want the Mainbrain to give me a mechanical assistant just like him. Please, I really… I need him by my side now, just like when you pulled me into those doomsday memory…”

“No problem,” Hu Shuli said. “The Mainbrain has considered your needs and will deliver it in an hour.”

Ruan Xian twitched his nose and kept shaking…

When the assistant robot sneaked over, he quietly made an “OK” gesture.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 216: Meeting Ceremony

To be convincing, the most important thing was to remain calm. If Ruan Xian could act confident and maintain the facade that everything was under control, it wouldn’t give rise to suspicion. This was something he was very good at. The difficulty at the moment was how to make full use of the knowledge he didn’t know well enough to convince the expert in front of him.

Just like the deployment of some kind of complex potion, Ruan Xian retained about three parts nervousness and just the right amount of confidence.

At least he wasn’t completely unprepared.

When studying α-092, he was involved in related fields. Since the emergence of such nanobots that could stably replicate themselves, the definition of what an organism was had begun to loosen—they had similar characteristics; ingesting energy from the outside world and abandoning useless residues. After accumulating a certain amount of energy, they would self-replicate, and occasionally there would be errors in their replication. A simple program written inside the machine allowed them to identify their goals and respond appropriately to changes in the environment.

If viruses with only a piece of DNA or RNA could be recognized, then nanobots like these could be said to be a weird new form of life. It was just that this topic was extremely controversial at the time, and it wasn’t Ruan Xian’s responsibility to participate in their debate.

But with this memory in front of him, he could guess the origin of mechanical life.

With careful adjustment, these tiny nanobots could become simple cells and construct their own simple nerve centers. These man-made objects were much thicker than natural cells, and due to the essential differences in composition, their structure was far from that of normal organisms.

For them, reproduction was closer to the essence of individual data exchange. With so many mechanical beings appearing in a short period of time, Ruan Xian was inclined to believe that this was the result of a deliberate arrangement by the Mainbrain.

Ruan Xian sneezed to distract Hu Shuli. He looked around from the corner of his eyes while his ears tried to pick up on everything around him.

“The reproduction of Grove-type R-660 in areas A and C is good. The Grove-type R-219 is normal, but the number shows a slow negative growth trend. According to our preliminary judgment, it’s not suitable to be used to transform the terrain near Country V.”

“The number of Papu T-72 in the Sea of Ruins has increased significantly. It may be because the Grove-type R-660 has been raised in captivity, causing the population to surge… They will breed too fast at this rate, pushing out other small mechanical life.”

“Scavenging puppets, right? I said at the time that the stability of subspecies 72 isn’t very good and their aggressiveness is still too high. They are used to recover the corpses of mechanical life. They shouldn’t be predators but rather be closer to carrion-eating creatures—”

The flow of time slowed down. Ruan Xian could hear the sound of air slowly flowing through his hair. His brain had never been so active before, and this strange stimulation made him want to laugh.

He had a good idea on how to deal with this.

“Specializing in the study of specific viruses to manipulate or destroy the corresponding mechanical races…” Ruan Xian’s voice was steady. “This is my research direction… You use the Mainbrain to uniformly regulate mechanical life, while we can only choose to infect them with viruses. Whether it’s old-school pure data intrusion or bionic tissue infection, I’ve been exposed to them.”

Having said that, he straightened up and looked serious. “I can more or less guess what you’re working on—controlling mechanical life’s reproduction cycle and life so you can rapidly modify specific terrain so it can be used for humans.”

“The Grove-type R-660, known as the iron beads—are mainly distributed in areas where ruins are more concentrated. They autonomously ingest metals, plastics, and other substances that are not easy to handle. They fatten themselves up and coalesce the acquired metals on their shells, then they are hunted by larger mechanical life, like the scavenger puppets—all the Mainbrain then has to do is collect the scavenger puppets regularly and extract the precious metals from their bodies.”

As for the things that couldn’t be recycled, they would be long digested by the iron bead into degradable particles and excreted, which would no longer be harmful to natural organisms.

Compared with manually manufacturing a large number of machines and unifying the command, this approach consumed significantly less energy. It only needed to wait patiently while life continued to develop and the efficiency was relatively high—as long as MUL-01 designed the correct mechanical life and issued the right instructions, the Mainbrain could divert rivers and level mountains, turn a glacier into a wasteland, and a dessert into soil within a few months. 

Perhaps humans really did create a “God” for themselves—a tool that was omniscient and omnipotent.

Hu Shuli looked very focused and had no plans to speak for the time being. Ruan Xian retracted his thoughts, tightened every nerve, and continued to narrate calmly.

“Now you should be aware of the problem. Compared to real life, mechanical life that could replicate itself is far from mature. Species with high IQ are difficult to design, right? Most of the higher mechanical life we’ve come into contact with are modified from living organisms, or special individuals that are artificially mass-produced—eliminating billions of years of evolution isn’t a joke. Even the Mainbrain can’t stabilize these new life forms in less than twenty years.”

“I’ve heard of similar exhortations, and that is indeed the tone of Professor Ruan’s side.” Hu Shuli sighed. “But Xiao Ruan, absolute naturalization is too extreme…”

“I can certainly understand renovating a landfill or a severely polluted area, but you are doing more. The Mainbrain is transforming the world into a special breeding garden for only humans.”

After figuring out Professor Ruan’s character, Ruan Xian knew exactly how to play a rebel.

“I just want to help remove those unnecessary changes. At least I don’t want to give my will to MUL-01 and become a domesticated animal to be raised.” …In fact, if he was entirely honest, he really had no thoughts regarding this battle.

Adding some gestures was good for firing up the atmosphere, but unfortunately, Ruan Xian really lacked experience in this area, so he could only keep his arms crossed.

“Take it easy. How about this. Why not look at the results first?” Hu Shuli knew how to interact with people well. He didn’t butt heads with Ruan Xian. “Xiao Ruan, in fact, we also need someone who thinks like you. This way, we won’t have a problem when wiping out the necessary mechanical life. Many people have expressed that they couldn’t stand it before. Think about it, you can use your abilities to correct excessive transformations and control their numbers so that things don’t get out of hand.”

Hu Shuli patted Ruan Xian on the shoulder.

“I assure you, things aren’t as bad as you think.”

Ruan Xian breathed a sigh of relief. Hu Shuli’s focus was taken away by him, and he also managed to obtain more information…

But naturally, not from Hu Shuli’s incessant explanations. Ruan Xian walked slowly around the huge lab, trying to stuff all the details into his mind. Even if the Mainbrain wanted to use him, it wouldn’t expose real sensitive information to him. He must take the opportunity to get more information. Even if he couldn’t use it in the future, it would still be useful to fool the Mainbrain’s version of Tang Yibu.

“It’s not just mechanical life pathology and control that are studied here.” Ruan Xian suddenly stopped beside a light screen.

Hu Shuli, who was walking in front, stopped his movements and no longer continued explaining Watler-E87’s transformation of the desert area.

“What’s the matter?” He raised his eyebrows.

“I have an impression of what this person designed.” Ruan Xian pointed to the light screen beside him. “The combination of specific mechanical viruses and an S-type product?”

He did have an impression, but it didn’t come from the knowledge reserve of the so-called “mechanical life expert”, but from his own blood—the mechanical structure on the screen looked like α-092-30.

No matter what it was, it must be related to the S-type Prototype.

“It seems that the Mainbrain didn’t misjudge you,” Hu Shuli said with satisfaction. “It’s okay to tell you—that’s our research on the S-type to expand the scope of perception. When this research is completed, the perceptual camouflage of the rebel army will completely fail. No matter where Ruan Xian is hiding, he won’t have much longer to live.”

This was putting pressure on his disguise. Ruan Xian tried to make an ugly look.

“If you’re willing to help us complete this research, you can have access to core technologies, participate in research of the advanced S-type products, and make yourself irreplaceable. The Mainbrain will also allow you to make some requests, such as keeping anyone other than Ruan Xian.”

“Even Yibu?”

“We can change him to… well, a less dangerous body, and then set some safety restrictions in his algorithm. If you agree to this premise and are willing to help the Mainbrain catch Ruan Xian, I think the Mainbrain will agree.”

“Now it seems that the defeat of the rebels is only a matter of time. Tang Yibu will inevitably be eliminated.”

Seeing that Ruan Xian didn’t respond, Hu Shuli struck while the iron was hot. “I’m not going to lie to you. We also know Ruan Xian’s and the rebel’s plan. Pure data virus infection, right? Xiao Ruan, you are still young. Don’t be too impulsive when making decisions.”

Ruan Xian magnified his perception and pinched his palm fiercely. The severe pain made his eye circles a little red.

The effect wasn’t bad.

“I heard that Fan Lin… Teacher Fan was taken by the Mainbrain a long time ago. Is it true?” Ruan Xian “struggled” for a while before he raised his head.

“Fan Linsong is your teacher?”

“…Mm. I want to know his situation. If the Mainbrain is really as good as you say, then teacher should still be alive.”

Hu Shuli’s smile became a lot warmer. “He’s doing well now, but he’s not here.”

“I want to talk to him.”

“No.” Hu Shuli shook his head. “But we can help you confirm some questions that only he knows or provide you with his vitals—Fan Linsong’s DNA is quite thoroughly disguise so we can’t clone him. It’s easy to prove that he’s still alive. A meeting will have to wait until you make a definitive contribution.”

“Give me an image of him eating breakfast. I won’t mistake my own teacher.” It was true he wouldn’t mistake his own deputy.

“Not a problem. After dinner, I’ll send it to your room. That’ll give you enough time to identify the authenticity.”

Ruan Xian carefully imitated a young man’s hesitation while calculating in his mind.

Since the core logic of the Mainbrain hadn’t changed, Fan Linsong could still be considered the main person in charge. Ruan Xian was afraid he had spent too much effort on the hardware—if he wanted to understand the physical weakness of the Mainbrain, this was the breakthrough point.

There was always never enough information, and given his own “handle”, the Mainbrain will feel more at ease.

…It would be nice if someone could help him a bit. He didn’t know when Tang Yibu, who was so stimulated last time, would come again.

He promised that the next time, the thrill would be even greater.

“I understand,” Ruan Xian murmured. “Tell the Mainbrain, about Yibu… I need to think about it again.”

However, Ruan Xian had no idea that the one he was missing at the moment was burying himself in soil.

Zhong Qing had short legs and was unfamiliar with life. When he ran panting to where Tang Yibu was, he bumped into the visitor with a cart.

The man was planning to unload the extra “box” from Yu Le’s car. Seeing someone rushing in, he subconsciously raised a gun in his hand. In the dim light, the two of them stared at each other for a while.

“Report. It’s a child,” the man said cautiously. “I’ve scanned the surroundings. He seemed to have just arrived. I’m not sure if it’s an android. I’ll use the short-term memory elimination spray to deal with him. If it doesn’t work—”

“No, no, no.” Zhong Qing’s voice changed with a bit of fright. “I didn’t mean to. I just came to pee. You continue on. I’ll be leaving now.”

“Is it the enemy? Is it the enemy?” Unlike Zhong Qing, who could see through walls, A’Qiao guessed one step late. She ignored Zhong Qing, who was retreating, and rushed directly in the direction of the man.

The man sharply interrupted the communication and was about to shoot…

In the next second, he was grabbed by a hand covered in mud.

“You missed the ground when you scanned your surroundings.” Tang Yibu spat out the mud in his mouth. “You always forget to scan the ground.”

The man who was grabbed couldn’t say much. The ground scanning tool was used for dangerous machines. Who the hell would guess that, besides rats, there were other living things hiding down there? At least this was something the Mainbrain had never done.

“You’re not… Order Supervisors…”

The man glanced at Tang Yibu’s clothes and his bright smile, which was half covered in mud. “Let me go. I’m just here to collect something—” As he spoke, his hand quietly reached towards his belt.

“Are you looking for this?” Tang Yibu used his other hand to take out a self-detonating bomb. “And your gun, I have unloaded it—you’re a rebel. No, no, no. Don’t be so quick to bite the poison in your mouth. I also know what you’re here for. You were ordered to come pick things up, right?”

“You’re the one…” The man’s face changed. “Are you going to betray, ahem, that one?”

He glanced at the two children and changed the name in time.

“Yes, I am ‘the one’. How weird you would call it betrayal when I have no loyalty to him to begin with.” Tang Yibu shook the mud from his head. “I just want to make sure of a guess—is the thing you want to take this ‘empty box’? Since you’re entrusted to pick up such an important thing, your rank definitely isn’t low. Since I don’t want to break it rashly, tell me what it is.”

As Tang Yibu spoke, he curled his lips. “Your boss doesn’t like sharing plans with me very much, so I can’t help it.”

The man laughed dryly and didn’t speak. Seeing that he was no longer threatening, the two children next to him quickly came over.

“Torture, torture, torture!” A’Qiao’s emotions were inexplicably high.

“Do you have a particularly powerful truth potion?” Zhong Qing started to let his imagination run wild.

“…” It seemed that the rebels may not be so popular. The man squinted at the two little brats weakly.

“You followed me.” Tang Yibu turned his head and got straight to the point. “Was that a free demonstration of your sentry abilities just now? If I hadn’t guessed that someone would come get this, I would’ve been attacked by him.”

His tone of voice was very serious, and his expression faintly revealed a little disgust.

Zhong Qing shrank his neck. “As if you would die that easily.”

“…Do you sound sorry?”

“Shut up!” The man roared. “If you don’t want the Order Supervisors—”

“Before you, I have already tampered with the surveillance here.” Tang Yibu finally turned his attention back to the man. “Can’t you really tell me? Just a little?”

“Can’t.” The man’s dry smile turned into a sneer. “My contact person will become suspicious if I don’t report it within ten minutes. Mr. Tang, if you still want to cooperate with that one, you’d better let me go now—hck!”

Tang Yibu took out a spray bottle from the man’s bag and sprayed it on the man’s face. The man rolled his eyes upwards and fell to the ground, unaware of what had just happened.

“Short-term memory elimination spray.” A’Qiao squatted down and poked the man in the face.

“Zhong Qing.” Tang Yibu’s voice became serious again.

“What!”

“We still have five minutes. Since you’re here, it’s time to prove that you are useful.” Tang Yibu clapped his hands. “Help me see through that box and tell me what’s inside.”

“He said ten minutes. How come it’s now five? Isn’t this supposed to be a secret? I knew you were just pretending to care about me—”

Tang Yibu grinned and shook the short-term memory elimination spray in his hand. “It effectively clears the memory of the last five minutes. There’s still a lot left in it.”

“…I hate you.”

Zhong Qing took off his hat and grumbled.

“Aren’t you with them? Why are you still doing these things?”

“Because I’m going to see the person I love.” Tang Yibu thought for a while. “Last time I was in a rush. This time, I have to prepare some information as a meeting gift.”

“You’re so annoying!” Zhong Qing pulled on his hat.

On the other hand, A’Qiao, seeing that there was no longer any excitement, turned cold and sat on the unconscious man’s stomach. “Don’t we need to kill him?”

“If he died here, it’d be troublesome for Yu Le and the others.” As an android, Tang Yibu was keenly aware of the opponent’s weakness. “When he wakes up, you will tell him—he intended to spray you, but you dodged, and using your skills, you sprayed him back. Five minutes isn’t enough to do anything to the box, and nothing is missing, so the best he can do is check to see if there are any trackers on it.”

A’Qiao’s face wrinkled, but she reluctantly nodded in agreement.

This would save a lot of trouble. Tang Yibu nodded in satisfaction—if these two little ones hadn’t come, he would’ve spent time trying to set up a reasonable “accident”.

“Four minutes left.” Tang Yibu took a deep breath and calculated the time accurately. “Zhong Qing, get started.”

“Hmph.”

“When I finish my trip, I’ll come pick you up.” Tang Yibu smiled. “Don’t worry. This is a deal. I won’t break my promise.”

“What are you going to do?” Zhong Qing walked to the box as he muttered very quietly. “Tell me a general version. I don’t like being kept in the dark—at least give me hope.”

“I decided to find the person I like, kiss him, and give him a hug.” Tang Yibu started listing his steps solemnly. “Then, exchange greeting gifts…”

“Finally, defeat the Mainbrain within 72 hours.”

Kinky Thoughts:

After that papapa? …Or maybe a quickie before then?

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 215: 72 hours

Zhong Qing’s lunch wasn’t at all unpleasant.

In order to temporarily avoid the limelight, he had to stay in the empty underground warehouse when Tang Yibu left. Although the air wasn’t too toxic, the smell was too strong. Zhong Qing pinched his nose and finished the dried fruit and meat pie, then got a bottle of water from A’Qiao.

The water had a sour and metallic taste to it that Zhong Qing didn’t want to think about where it came from.

“You didn’t go with him?” he cautiously asked A’Qiao.

A’Qiao looked at Zhong Qing up and down. Her eyes lingered on Zhong Qing’s abnormal black eyes for a few seconds. Her body was that of a young girl who had just come of age, compared to the 14 or 15-year-old teenager Zhong Qing, who was closer to a child.

“No.” When Zhong Qing finished drinking, she answered him slowly. “He said he knew where to go. Do you have anything else? If not, I’m leaving.”

Zhong Qing felt torn for a moment. “Can you take me with you? I don’t want to stay here alone.”

A’Qiao pretended not to hear.

“Please, demon… pretty sister.” Zhong Qing quickly begged. “Neither of us are old, and everyone outside is wearing masks. It’s still noon, right? Can’t you take me out for a walk? I’m suffocating to death here.”

A’Qiao was indifferent to Zhong Qing’s flattery.

Zhong Qing took a deep breath. “I’ll trade with you! What do you want? As long as I have it, I’ll trade. I just want to go out and look around—”

A’Qiao gave him a sideways glance. “Are you sure you want to go out? I think you just want to take this opportunity to follow Tang Yibu, then find a chance to get into his vehicle so you can sneak out here secretly.”

Zhong Qing flattened his mouth. “…Besides that, I am really worried about them. Yu Ge and Xiaoman Jie have already been captured. If he gets captured too, I won’t be able to leave here.”

“Well, I have nothing planned for this afternoon besides going around and buying some things.” A’Qiao rolled her eyes. “I also want to know what he’s up to—I hope he won’t cause any more trouble for K6 and Fu Yu. Well, new troubles other than you. Hm, if you give me some fresh information. I’ll take you out for a stroll.”

“Hmph.”

Zhong Qing took off his hat and opened all his eyes. He deliberately stretched his face very tightly, trying to scare the monster girl in front of him, who didn’t know the height of the sky.

A’Qiao’s eyes widened slightly, then she wrapped her arms around Zhong Qing’s neck and looked closely at the six extra eyes on his head. “Interesting,” she stated. “I have indeed never seen such a thing.”

“Let me go!” Zhong Qing blushed. “This is a disease. My blood can be contagious! Is something wrong with your brain?”

“K6 always says I’m stupid, but I don’t think it’s a problem. Besides, I have a cybernetic brain, so if worst comes to worst, I’ll just switch shells.” A’Qiao touched those weird eyes with her hand. “Well, I’ll take you out. Let’s see what that person surnamed Tang wants to do.”

Tang Yibu knew nothing about the conspiracy of the two little ones. Pulling up memories from his mind, he skillfully walked through the streets towards the place where they had buried Ji Xiaoman’s mother.

Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman were both people who were accustomed to living in the shadows, so they wouldn’t deliberately make such a mistake in front of Zhong Qing. They were just using him as a microphone, and as he was unaware, he was just relaying their message to him.

Tang Yibu found it quite interesting. Yu Le knew very well that Zhong Qing wasn’t human, but he still wanted to protect him. Was this the camouflage of the Rhododendron Disease taking effect? When they meet again, he would have to ask him.

[Yu Ge said, this car has been ruined by him, and Tu Rui will definitely call him personally and skin him alive. I hope you can help him for the sake of the friendship we forged along the way. This was what he said to Xiaoman Jie. Xiaoman Jie then said she was feeling homesick and wanted to go see her family.]

Ji Xiaoman’s hint was easy to understand. She knew better than anyone else what her mother’s situation was—in order to save her mother, they buried the android who had temporarily lost function before they left, and gave the coordinates to K6 to make sure the land wouldn’t be used by any gangs for construction.

At the moment, Professor Ruan wasn’t accompanying her, so she had no need to “see her family”.

This was a location instruction.

Yu Le’s sentence was more troublesome. Even if Tu Rui pressed Yu Le to the ground and skinned him little by little, Tang Yibu didn’t think he needed to intervene. It wasn’t as if he and Yu Le were friends, but since Yu Le specifically worded it like that, there was probably some intention behind it.

He needed more information.

Tang Yibu got into the maze of abandoned buildings and quickly found a place where he buried Ji Xiaoman’s mother. He didn’t directly confirm the situation but walked along the crumbling ruins carefully.

There wasn’t any living person monitoring here, and only a few sporadic surveillance cameras around. Tang Yibu exhaled slowly, processed their transmission signals, and then stepped into the agreed place.

There weren’t as many gadgets here as before. This place was probably discovered by the Order Supervisors.

Tang Yibu turned on the lantern he was carrying and illuminated the dim space.

K6 shouldn’t have betrayed them. There were signs of the Order Supervisors searching around. The entire muddy ground was loosened, and Tang Yibu smelled blood. Following the trail of blood, he found the familiar armored off-roader.

The car was parked in the darkness like the molt of a cicada.

Tang Yibu frowned and looked at the vehicle carefully. The things inside were all cleanly removed. The car looked as if it had just been remodeled and hadn’t had time to be filled with things yet. The simple water maker and freezer were still there, but the small freezer was disconnected, and the door was half open. There wasn’t a single bottle left inside. The armament box in the back of the car was in much of the same condition—all the containers were open and the content inside gone.

Robbers wouldn’t be so careful. This was the handiwork of the Order Supervisors.

Tang Yibu took a closer look at the contents of the car again, and he found that there was an extra armament box in the back seat of the car. It was about the size of a coffin, lying horizontally in the car, integrated with it. The style was very common after the doomsday. The surface was worn out and it was also wide open with not even a single screw left inside.

Most likely, the items inside were what Professor Ruan wanted. No matter how he looked at it, whatever was inside was taken away.

Tang Yibu stretched out his hand and patted the thick box, which felt as if it was welded to the car. Tang Yibu frowned. He restored everything to its original state and hid back in the dark.

“…This is how it is.” Tang Yibu briefly described the scene to Professor Ruan. “If you really gave them the real goods, we’re now in trouble.”

Professor Ruan didn’t seem panicked. “I see. Next, go after Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman—it’ll take at least a week to crush their brains as a lot of preparatory work needs to be done. The Mainbrain doesn’t know that they have been in contact with me at the moment. Before they are ready to be crushed, the Order Supervisors will interrogate them for a few days as usual. It’s still not too late. You have to rescue them.”

“Nn.” Tang Yibu huffed. He didn’t like Professor Ruan’s tone very much. The other party was hiding something from him. He wasn’t sure if Professor Ruan was too confident in his plan or if he had doubts about his cooperation.

…Or afraid that if he knew too much, he would steal the initiative away from him.

The trouble was that, according to the most reasonable judgement, he really should follow Professor Ruan’s instructions—Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman had more of Professor Ruan’s information in their heads.

“Those two aren’t very important targets, so the Order Supervisors won’t take them too far. You have just met with Ruan Xian, so you should have an impression of what their bases are like.” Seeing that Tang Yibu didn’t say anything, Professor Ruan continued. “I remember the most recent one should be…”

“The one next to the Sea of Ruins,” Tang Yibu whispered.

He glanced at the outline of the parked car and suddenly realized something. Tang Yibu wanted to laugh a little—it seemed like it wasn’t just him who was doing the same thing to Professor Ruan.

It seemed like he wasn’t the only one who intended to take the initiative.

He suddenly understood what Yu Le’s unintelligible words were referring to, and vaguely guessed why Professor Ruan didn’t seem panicked at all. Tang Yibu maintained the communication connection with Professor Ruan and touched the “empty car” again.

Yu Le made a good move, but Yu Le himself might not even know this.

Now that Professor Ruan had sent several teams to fetch the target items, he had disrupted the Mainbrain. Naturally, the Mainbrain was aware of their movements. Regardless of whether Yu Le and the others were part of a smokescreen, once they were discovered, they would inevitably be arrested for routine inspections. In other words, Professor Ruan’s self-confidence wasn’t that “Yu Le and the others will never be targeted” but that “Even if they are targeted, the Order Supervisors wouldn’t focus on marginal roles like them”.

Tang Yibu wiped the extra heavy “empty box” with his fingertips. It looked like it had been welded to the car for a while now, and this had presumably had a purpose.

He believed Yu Le would become aware of this after finding out that he was being targeted.

Since he was targeted, his options would be quite limited. The people behind his ass would act sooner or later, they just didn’t know when, and they couldn’t control the time when Professor Ruan would discover the abnormality. Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman hadn’t reached a point where they would give up their lives working for Professor Ruan. If they face any death threats, they may actually surrender. Under that premise, it wasn’t clear whether Professor Ruan would rescue or sacrifice them, so there was only one reasonable choice to escape that passive situation…

Make the “time” more controllable.

Hid Zhong Qing’s existence and delayed the time to the very last moment. Yu Le chose to secretly visit K6, who could contact him, then leave at a certain point in time. Thinking about it like this, Yu Le had specially disguised himself when visiting K6, and it made sense why Ji Xiaoman wasn’t with him—after all, their pursuers didn’t know the existence of Zhong Qing, and they couldn’t separate in the open.

As for the mechanical assembly sound Zhong Qing heard… Most likely, Ji Xiaoman used some means to create the illusion that Yu Le was still with her.

After leaving the clues to Zhong Qing, they just needed to come to this location, cause a ruckus, and let the Order Supervisors take them away. Yu Le knew that once they didn’t show up on time, Professor Ruan and Tang Yibu would surely track them down immediately and be able to find this line and get this information.

But looking at Yu Le’s message, a great ruins pirate like him wouldn’t pin all his hopes on Tang Yibu—the nearest stronghold of the Order Supervisors was close to the Sea of Ruins, which was where he originally came from. Without Zhong Qing’s knowledge, perhaps that cunning guy also contacted “other people”.

Yu Le’s effort had paid off. Now Tang Yibu knew the next step clearly. According to Professor Ruan, Yu Le and the others would not be given any special treatment. Tang Yibu now had an idea of the approximate time Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman were taken away. He had at least 72 hours before their brains would be crushed. Even better, if he stepped up the timing, he might be able to create more chaos.

He had 72 hours to figure out Professor Ruan’s plan, try to consolidate the resources he had at hand, and contact Mr. Ruan. From the perspective of the Mainbrain and Professor Ruan, both sides were still at the planning stage, so there was no better opportunity for subversion than this.

It seemed he wouldn’t have much time to eat leisurely. Tang Yibu grinned, showing a devious smile—the next step now was to cause trouble.

This crazy thought shocked Tang Yibu. According to his past style, he would carefully intervene in this battle, carefully test this intricate cobweb, and then move carefully after figuring it all out.

He seemed to have been infected by Mr. Ruan—since he found that he couldn’t count his mistakes with just ten fingers, he began to stop worrying about the correctness of things.

At least the current thoughts made him excited, and he had a certain degree of theoretical support… Even if there were quite a lot of variables, it was still worth a try.

Tang Yibu rubbed his hand, then petted the iron bead that was still sleeping soundly in the net pocket.

“I’m leaving the Underground City and going to find them,” Tang Yibu said to Professor Ruan, trying to make his tone appear serious. “Feel free to contact me if you have anything.”

“What is he doing?” The two children were lying on the roof of a nearby house. Zhong Qing looked hard with his abnormal eyes. His gaze passed through the thick walls of abandoned buildings and into the darkness behind them. “I can’t understand what he wants to do at all. It’s inexplicable. Now he has a smirk on his face. Oh, oh, oh, he’s digging a hole. Is he looking for a secret weapon? …Huh? He—he buried himself?!”

“…” A’Qiao held her cheeks quietly. “K6 also said that I’m an android with a bad brain. Now it seems my brain is better than his.”

“Shouldn’t he hurry and save Yu Ge and Xiaoman Jie?!” Zhong Qing yelled, almost grabbing A’Qiao by the collar and shaking it. “I thought he had finally become a little more human.”

“What are you going to do?” A’Qiao took the dried fruit from the bag and ate it. It was a technical task given that she was also wearing a gas mask.

“Go ask him what’s going on?” Zhong Qing felt indignant. Then his face changed, and he touched his pocket. “…Where did you get that dried fruit?”

“You must go back before curfew.” A’Qiao coldly ignored Zhong Qing’s question. “You have five hours left.”

“That’s also… Hey? Wait, someone is going there. Did you see it? The car over there. That man has a car with him.” Zhong Qing’s voice was raised by several pitches. “I have to inform him!”

“You—Hey, wait!”

At the same time.

Ruan Xian didn’t know anything about Tang Yibu’s crazy thoughts. He was visiting the research institute of the Mainbrain under the guidance of Hu Shuli. And was in a relatively dicey situation…

“I heard that you’re an expert in mechanical life pathology,” Hu Shuli said. “Mr. Ruan, can you please tell me roughly your expertise.”

Kinky Thoughts:

So basically, what happened was Ji Xiaoman and Yu Le did as Professor Ruan asked until Zhong Qing pointed out that they were being followed. At that point, they knew that there was no escape and that eventually they would get captured.

However, to control the “when” of when they would get captured, they devised a plan. Drop Zhong Qing off and give him cryptic hints so that when Tang Yibu comes, he would be able to decipher them, then create a ruckus and get captured.

The Mainbrain doesn’t know that they are in contact with Professor Ruan at this point, so they would be simply treated as standard procedure.

In summary, Professor Ruan and the Mainbrain think they’re playing a 1v1 match of chess when in actuality, it’s a 1 (Professor Ruan) v 1 (Mainbrain) v 1 (Ruan Xian) v 1 (Tang Yibu) v 1 (Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman), though most likely the last three 1’s will condense together.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 214: The Correct Decision

After emptying the Fu Yu family’s egg reserves, Tang Yibu wiped his hands, making sure that K6 wasn’t enthusiastic about the whole thing—thinking about it, Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman weren’t the brainless type. It was impossible for them to have “we’re working for Ruan Xian” written all over their faces. At most, there was some human relationship between them. Since the matter happened, they were now even.

Moreover, Fu Yu insisted on repaying said human relationship. Tang Yibu glanced at K6, who was talking to A’Qiao. He didn’t think that this android had such humanized thinking, or he knew of it but didn’t bother following it.

For example, K6 didn’t even do basic greetings and didn’t care where Tang Yibu came from or what happened recently. Unlike the previous “He An” and all his facets, K6 was as cold as a glacier.

Half an hour later, the one who stepped through the doors wasn’t the Order Supervisors but Fu Yu, who had returned from his meetings with the City Defenders.

Fu Yu looked a lot more energetic than a few months ago. His cheeks, which were originally thin, were now well-rounded, making him look about six years younger. He walked through the door, hung the gas mask he had just taken off on the coat rack, and exchanged a short kiss with K6.

“You’re here.” Then he turned to Tang Yibu and smiled lightly, which gave a little more human touch to his gestures.

Given that Fu Yu was the colder one before, Tang Yibu couldn’t help but wonder if the two had swapped bodies.

“Today’s meat pie was a success. I put some in the insulation box so you can take it with you in the afternoon.”

“Let’s deal with Mr. Tang first.” Fu Yu showed the glow of a normal person. “Are you going to see that kid, Zhong Qing? I’ll take you there.”

“Let A’Qiao take him.” K6 was dissatisfied. “You’re a City Defender. It’ll be too conspicuous.”

“Mr. Tang should be fine alone.”

“Two young adults acting together? In this current environment, it’ll definitely attract unnecessary attention.” K6 shoveled the steaming meat pie onto his plate still disapproving. “You already took risks with Zhong Qing. There’s no need to wade into this mess again.”

“K6 is right. I’ll take him.” A’Qiao raised an arm. “I’m familiar with the place and I also want to stop by and buy something.”

“Okay.” Fu Yu didn’t insist. “Mr. Tang?”

“That’s fine.” Tang Yibu naturally had no opinion. The boiled eggs here didn’t taste right. He missed the taste of Li Ji’s Noodle House.

A’Qiao’s movements were agile and neat, and she talked very little. She took Tang Yibu around seven or eight turns before turning into the junkyard where Qian Yigeng’s headquarters was located. When she passed that area, they stopped for a while as she silently stood there.

“Do you want to know what happened before?”

“No,” A’Qiao replied. “K6 told me a lot of things—having other people’s memories dumped into me and being thrown into that kind of place. To hell with wanting to think about those things… But occasionally I come across places that make me feel nostalgic.”

She checked the knife on her belt and then grabbed the gun they had given her and spun it in her hand.

“Or maybe it’s vestigiality? Do you know if a cybernetic brain has nostalgia programs?”

The junkyard was filled with toxic smog. Tang Yibu stepped on two poisonous green snails and looked up at the shadowed outlines of buildings in all directions. There were quite a few people milling around nearby. Qian Yigeng had fallen from the stage, so this place no longer had a master. Most likely, these people were here to try and find gold among the piles of garbage.

“Will you be okay?” Tang Yibu had little enthusiasm for being a bodyguard, so he inquired deeper.

“Fu Yu shared his physical body memory with me, and I also have two sets of combat programs installed. I ask that you don’t hold me back.”

No one was listening right now, so neither of them bothered to pretend to be human. Tang Yibu gave her a sideways glance, quietly noted the information, and continued to follow.

Qian Yigeng’s underground base wasn’t small. A’Qiao led Tang Yibu around a few big circles, then slipped into the underground through an isolated dark door. Tang Yibu had no impression of this area. Looking at the underground furnishings, it seemed to be a place used by Qian Yigeng’s gang to store supplies. Now it was full of garbage and looked dilapidated.

The iron bead let out a loud cheer as it struggled desperately in the net pocket until Tang Yibu put it down on the ground—to it, this place was like a fairytale candy castle.

A’Qiao walked in front. She stood still in an area that had less garbage and blew a whistle. Zhong Qing opened the mouth of a rusty pipe in the corner and climbed out.

“My lunch is here?” He patted the dust on his body for a while and lifted his head, then saw Tang Yibu. “….Oh my god, it’s you!”

As he spoke, the hat on Zhong Qing’s head buckled as he hurried over. “Tang Yibu, no, Yibu Ge, did you bring anything to eat? The kinds that are sealed, no, where you can identify what’s in it. This place is horrible, too horrible.”

“Not sharing,” Tang Yibu said cold.

“Stingy!”

“If you want me to share some, you have to tell me in detail what happened in the past few days.” Tang Yibu casually dragged over a deflated iron cabinet and sat down nonchalantly. He then opened his backpack and took out a bag of dried fruit and shook it in front of Zhong Qing. “All the details.”

Zhong Qing opened his mouth. His expression darkened, as if he suddenly remembered something bad. “…Even if you didn’t ask, I would tell you.”

“Here, lunch.” A’Qiao took out the meat pies wrapped in foil from her backpack and threw them at Zhong Qing. “You two talk. I’ll go outside and keep watch.”

“I regret it.” When A’Qiao disappeared, Zhong Qing carefully held the meat pie as if he wasn’t holding food but a ticking bomb that could explode at any moment. “I don’t know how people can… How do they live like this. I’ve never seen such a dirty place in my life… Did you see that girl just now? She’s dressed like a monster!”

Tang Yibu glanced at Zhong Qing’s hat meaningfully.

“…Okay, maybe I’m not qualified to say that. Although they can get medicine here, do I really have to stay here?”

“In your situation, you cannot visit the Glass Conservatory. This is already the most abundant petri dish.” Tang Yibu had no desire to listen to Zhong Qing’s complaints. He was in a bad mood without the familiar face, despite being in a familiar place. “Get to the point. Tell me about those two. According to Professor Ruan’s instructions, you shouldn’t have arrived at the Underground City so late. What happened?”

He kept throwing the bag of dried fruit in his hand up and down.

“I’m just saying it’s too broken here being alone.” Having not seen Zhong Qing for a few days, he had become more honest. Zhong Qing took a deep breath and chose a relatively clean place to stand. “So, Yu Le… I mean, Yu Ge didn’t follow Professor Ruan’s arrangements.”

“Don’t look at me like I’m trying to escape. I was actually quite scared. I wanted to stay in the car for a few more days and spend time with people I know… So I told Yu Ge that I’d work first and then they could drop me off at the Underground City. In exchange, I’ll use my eyes as a lookout. Yu Ge agreed.”

Tang Yibu thought that was reasonable. Although it was riskier, Zhong Qing’s price tag was hard to pass up, given their experience when they escaped from the Mainbrain’s city. Besides, the Underground City was on the way to and from, so there was no need to make additional detours.

“Continue,” Tang Yibu said, stopping the movement of his hand.

“When they met with others, they kept it from me. I stayed in the car and never went out. I guess it was to protect me, but I can still see this kind of thing… In short, there were many more things than what was required. It could be supplementary supplies? I don’t know. But after they stopped at the forest refuge, something went wrong.”

Zhong Qing lowered his head. “I found that we were being followed.”

Tang Yibu said nothing.

“The people who were tracking us had good equipment. It must be someone from the Mainbrain. I saw about five of them. I didn’t know if there’s more. After I told Yu Ge, he asked me to hide among the luggage and not move or do anything, not even look. So I hid under the pile of luggage and didn’t dare open my eyes. I just remember feeling the stop and go of the car.”

“Did a conflict break out?”

“No. At least I didn’t hear it.” Zhong Qing shook his head. “I remember what Xiaoman Jie was doing. I heard the sound of her making a machine and it jingled for a long time. The two of them turned on the sound insulation function when they were talking, so I only know this.”

Tang Yibu thought that Yu Le really protected this child well. The less Zhong Qing knew, the less danger he was in. As a precious virus parasite, even if the Mainbrain caught him, it wouldn’t really do much to him.

“…Then I don’t know how long it took before I was told we’d reached my destination. I don’t know why, but as soon as we entered the city, he separated from Xiaoman Jie—I don’t know where Xiaoman Jie went. Yu Ge gave me a bag and got out. And then… And then…”

“You were taken in by Fu Yu.”

“Yes.” Zhong Qing’s face turned bitter. “That was the last time I saw Yu Ge. I didn’t even get the chance to say goodbye to him! That Fu Yu brought me directly to this hellish place. It’s all garbage. Fuck, you don’t know what I’ve seen.”

Tang Yibu sat on the deflated cabinet and let out a short sigh. The iron bead stomped its feet and moved back to Tang Yibu’s side laboriously, then lay down contentedly on the ground.

“That monster girl told me that they seemed to have been captured by the Order Supervisors.” Zhong Qing glanced at the iron bead. His attention was no longer focused on the bag of dried fruits. “Is it true, Yibu Ge? You guys are so powerful, so it shouldn’t be that easy. The people who were following us weren’t fully armed and didn’t look like they were there to hunt us down…”

“Eat.” Tang Yibu threw the dried fruits into Zhong Qing’s arms and rubbed the belly of the iron bead with his feet. “I’ll ask you one last question. Did they really say nothing in front of you? You didn’t see anything either?”

“This is a serious matter. I can be obedient when it comes to things like this.” Zhong Qing shrank his neck and hugged the bag of dried fruits tightly, but he seemed to have lost his appetite. “Ah… but when they got here, they did talk to me once.”

“Yu Ge said, this car has been ruined by him and Tu Rui will definitely call him personally and skin him alive. I hope you can help me for the sake of the friendship we forged along the way. This was what he said to Xiaoman Jie. Xiaoman Jie then said she was feeling homesick and wanted to go see her family.”

“Are you sure?”

“Well, in the few days after discovering the pursuers, the two of them only said that in front of me. It was quite impressionable, but the content didn’t seem very special… They may have forgotten to turn on the sound insulation.”

“Word for word?”

“I’m not sure if that was exactly what they said, but I didn’t miss the meaning.”

“I have no further questions.” Tang Yibu leapt from the deflated cabinet. “Just endure a few more days. I think Mr. Fu will find a better place for you to live.”

“Wait, where are you going?” Zhong Qing hurriedly tucked the bag of dried fruit under his arms and started to follow. “Don’t leave me here!”

“Yu Le’s meaning is obvious. He doesn’t want you to get involved in this matter,” Tang Yibu said. “Fu Yu can give you the best protection, so you don’t need to know too much.”

“But they were caught!” Zhong Qing shouted. “They… treated me very well. Can’t I want to do my best to help them? At least let me help you—this place, it’s full of fog, so there’s no better sentry than me!”

Tang Yibu paused his motion of fishing up the iron bead. “Why do you think I will agree?”

“Because you neither respect the old nor love the young.” Zhong Qing spoke quite fast in a low voice. “In any case, you certainly don’t care too much about me, but I can add to your security, especially in this city where Order Supervisors are everywhere.”

“I still find your reason for repaying kindness too farfetched.” Tang Yibu smacked his lips, neither giving confirmation nor denial.

“In addition to this, I don’t want to stay in this city for too long. The quality of life is no different than death. I—I thought if I help you, you’ll bring me back to the edge of the Mainbrain’s city… or something.” Zhong Qing’s voice was getting smaller. “The environment here can give me at least 180 kinds of diseases. I would rather die in a cold, idyllic, yet normal setting.”

Tang Yibu tucked the iron bead back into the net pocket and stared at Zhong Qing.

It seemed Lao Yu didn’t tell him the truth—although Zhong Qing still retained his human appearance, as Rhododendron Disease could ensure he grew up like a human, as a polymeric mimicry of the virus, ordinary pathogens could no longer hurt him.

Zhong Qing was right. He didn’t mind using him in this city. Right now, all Tang Yibu wanted to do was push the plan forward as quickly as possible to catch his Mr. Ruan back to his side. Since Zhong Qing offered, this was a consensual matter. All he needed was to agree—this deal was beneficial to both parties.

Strictly speaking, this matter didn’t even have anything to do with humans.

However, Tang Yibu didn’t speak. He tilted his head and looked at the nervous Zhong Qing and suddenly wanted to laugh.

“No,” he said.

“Why?” Zhong Qing fiercely pulled on his hat. “Isn’t this also good for you?”

“Even if I don’t say a word, as long as I take you with me, you’ll inevitably learn some things. Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman are both very smart people, and they are now in my camp. I don’t want to…” Tang Yibu paused. “I don’t want to hurt them.”

“If you don’t say it, and I won’t speak it, who will know?” Zhong Qing yelled in dissatisfaction. “Look, I know you hate me—”

“If you really don’t want to live here, I will take you back in a while,” Tang Yibu continued.

Zhong Qing closed his mouth quickly. After a while, he bitterly said, “Okay, but I really want to help… How do you know they will mind? Compared to me, are you their true companion?”

“I don’t know if they will mind, nor are they my companions.” Tang Yibu tugged at the corners of his mouth, and his golden eyes narrowed. “You have a point, but I just don’t know if the judgment is right.”

“Then you still…!”

“Because I suddenly felt that it would be very interesting if I made a decision like this. I know exactly where I’m going, so I’m not going to wander around aimlessly outside. It’s not easy to target me.” Tang Yibu picked up the iron bead. “…Have a nice lunch.”

The author has something to say:

Tang: Start to apply the subject flexibly (?

Lao Yu’s highlight√

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