There was a saying: The most reasonable is also the most unreasonable.
In terms of performance, Yu Yanqing had appeared outside the scenes of three crimes and left a letter that could be considered a suicide note, then committed suicide. At the same time, in the room where she committed suicide, they found evidence that indirectly proved she was involved in the Chunshui Street incident.
This was the logical conclusion.
But because it was perfect, it was unreasonable.
“But the problem is that you have no evidence to prove that Yu Yanqing was too afraid of death to commit suicide, since she’s already dead,” Xing Conglian said.
“Though I have no evidence, I’m pretty sure she committed suicide.” Lin Chen folded the letter in his hand. “I’m just curious to know how she overcame her instincts and used a knife to slash her own throat.” Lin Chen was silent for a moment, as if searching for the right wording. “People are always afraid of death, both physically and mentally. They have extremely complex self-protection mechanisms. This is why it’s not easy to overcome human nature and break that barrier, unless there’s a strong motivation behind it.”
“Wanting to die isn’t easy?” Xing Conglian was baffled. “But what you said, I suddenly thought… Just now, the forensic doctor said there’s a problem with the wounds on Yu Yanqing’s body.”
“What?”
“How deep the wounds are varied. There are some old and new. She should have started self-harm very early. The earlier spots were small wounds in places that weren’t dangerous. Then the wounds slowly expanded to her wrists, chest, and neck…” Xing Conglian paused. “Finally, she slit her throat with a knife, but at that time, she didn’t die immediately. She still struggled until she stabbed the knife into her heart.”
When Xing Conglian finished, he snuck a peek at Lin Chen.
Lin Chen had just lowered his head, so Xing Conglian was unable to see his expression clearly.
There was an unbearable silence in the room. The sky was slowly darkening again. Finally, Xing Conglian couldn’t take it anymore and spoke up.
“What does this mean?” he asked.
Lin Chen began to clean up the piles of letters on the floor and stuffed them all back into their envelopes. “It means she was determined to die—her will and attitude were steadfast. This is rarely seen.”
Lin Chen’s answer was dry and straightforward. Any person who witnessed that scene would come to the same conclusion.
Many people committed suicide because it was too painful to live, and they had no love in their life. On the other hand, Yu Yanqing seemed to love the feeling of death.
It would make perfect sense for her to lie under a corpse and kill people because of her fondness for death.
But all these points return to one word.
Why?
Xing Conglian wiped his face. He couldn’t answer this question.
“What does it feel like when a person dies?” Lin Chen asked after he took a deep breath.
“Do you want to try?”
Looking at Lin Chen’s troubled face, Xing Conglian gave him a smile.
……
Since ancient times, there was always a taboo around death.
It was too scary, too horrible. It represented the end of life, but occasionally, it also emitted a charming hue that enticed people to come closer.
Lin Chen followed Xing Conglian and stood on the side of the road as the evening streetlights started to flicker on.
At this time, the wind wasn’t strong, but the rain was pouring, which made the streetlight cast a faint halo.
Coinciding with rush hour, the intersection was full of traffic. Vehicles were wrapped in rain, whistling past them as human voices, horns, engines, and countless other sounds mixed together, making their scalp numb.
“Are you ready?” Xing Conglian asked.
Before Lin Chen could react, he was yanked by the hand and was pulled into traffic.
As soon as the corner of his coat crossed the traffic light, he stepped back and ran to the side of the car. However, Xing Conglian’s strength was so great that he couldn’t break free. He could only be mercilessly dragged forward.
His shoulder hurt, but he didn’t stop running. Every step was like walking on the edge of death. He had just passed through one traffic lane when in the next lane over, a car had rushed up. The roar in his ears was so loud it could tear his eardrums. The sound of the wind was piercing, and it felt like there were large hands pushing them into the abyss.
Leaping over the meridian, Lin Chen almost crashed into a row of small pine trees.
Xing Conglian stood in the bike lane, panting for breath while still holding his hand tightly.
Behind the two of them were many drivers that kept honking their horns. The closest car to the two of them was an Audi. The driver had lowered his window and was cursing at them.
“Baby*, how are you feeling?” Xing Conglian joked. He didn’t seem to have any fear.
*Baby/babe/darling/sweetie ect. [Baobei] (宝贝) Generally, this is used as a term of endearment to someone you love, but Xing Conglian is using this in a joking manner (as they are not together at this point).
Lin Chen withdrew his hand and looked up at Xing Conglian. “I now finally believe in one thing…”
“What?”
“You really do have foreign blood in you.”
As a descendent of a combative race, Xing Conglian was, of course, rough and thick-skinned. Even though he was careful, Lin Chen was still inevitably injured. His left leg was bruised and there was already a dark purple spot forming on his waist. He also felt unsteady and couldn’t maintain his balance.
When the two returned to the school, Yu Yanqing’s body had already been transported away. Fu Hao was also summoned to the scene.
Learning that Xing Conglian had taken Lin Chen on a suicide attempt, Professor Fu took a few steps forward, jumped up and smacked Captain Xing on the head.
Captain Xing was left dumbfounded as Professor Fu ignored him after the beating and went to grab Lin Chen’s hand and examine him carefully, acting like a worried grandmother. “Shixiong, you need to stay away from this kind of person in the future…”
“Just because he wants to die, you shouldn’t follow…”
“Do you want to go to the hospital first? You should stay at my place tonight. In case your injuries become inflamed, I can take care of you…”
“Don’t you live in the school dorm?” Hearing Professor Fu’s words, Xing Conglian couldn’t help but expose the proletariat.
“It’s a single dorm!”
“But your shixiong has to move, and your small dorm can’t fit your shixiong’s big sand table.”
Fu Hao was a simple person. He didn’t realize this problem and instead yelled at Xing Conglian. “Your house is very small too!”
Xing Conglian smiled. “But my family has many houses.”
“Where is your house?”
“Yanjia Lane.”
As an academic, Professor Fu was disgusted by this kind of conversation that stunk of money. However, though cultured as he was, he couldn’t argue with this hooligan… because Captain Xian was the one with the car.
When Xing Conglian parked the jeep at the entrance of Yanjia Lane, the matter was set in stone.
In front of them were houses with whitewashed walls along the old street. Captain Xing, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, said to Lin Chen, “Pick one. Where do you want to live?”
Fu Hao was drinking water in the back seat. When he heard what Xing Conglian said, he squeezed the bottle of mineral water and resisted the urge to spit out what he had just drunk.
“You sound like you own this entire street,” Fu Hao sneered.
“I thought this area was pretty good, so I bought it,” Xing Conglian said casually. It was so straightforward that it left Fu Hao speechless.
Taking advantage of the gap between Xing Conglian going to the trunk to unload the luggage, Fu Hao quickly grabbed Lin Chen and whispered, “Shixiong, let me tell you, men love to save face. You’re a blunt person, so try not to tear down Captain Xing.”
Lin Chen nodded solemnly, expressing his understanding.
As expected, although Xing Conglian stated he bought all of Yanjia Lane, in actuality, he moved Lin Chen’s luggage to his old house, Unit 6.
The reason was also quite apt. “The other houses haven’t been cleaned and it’s more convenient to discuss the case if we live together.”
Lin Chen and Fu Hao turned to look at each other and nodded to express their understanding.
It was night now. The old house didn’t have much lightning. Xing Conglian set up a table lamp on the eight immortals table* and brought out three bowls of braise beef noodle soup.
*Traditional Chinese square table with the length of each side that fits two people, so it can seat up to eight. It looks something likethis.
Fu Hao remained silent as he slurped slowly on the noodles.
Xing Conglian also pulled out some sausages from a drawer and divided it up for each person, giving generous portions.
Lin Chen tore open the plastic bag and took a bite without showing any signs of disgust.
Unable to stand it any longer, Fu Hao slapped on the table abruptly, causing the plastic fork in his hand to break in half. “Lao Xing, do you know how grisly and bloody that murder scene we had to witness today was, yet you’re giving us braised beef and sausage to eat?”
“Professor Fu, don’t put it like that. It’s just meat. It’s not like the body was dismembered or anything…” Xing Conglian tried to comfort him.
In the end, Fu Hao still lost his appetite.
The rain had started again. For a while, there was only the sound of crisp falling rain hitting the roof of the old house.
Fu Hao propped up his head and looked at Lin Chen’s face while solemnly drinking his soup, then suddenly said, “Shixiong, I don’t get it. Since Yu Yanqing had a crush on you and written so many letters to you, why did she just suddenly commit suicide?” He sniffled. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for her to kill you then commit suicide?”
“What did you say?” Lin Chen suddenly put down the bowl of noodles and looked at Fu Hao seriously.
Professor Fu didn’t know if he had said something wrong. He blinked innocently and repeated, “I said, wouldn’t it make more sense for her to kill you then commit suicide…”
Lin Chen looked at Xing Gonglian and said, “There’s a problem.”
Xing Conglian nodded and thought, ‘Of course there’s a problem.’
But under Lin Chen’s burning gaze, he held back and could only squeak out a, “Huh?”
“If this case was committed by the same person, no matter how chaotic it is, there must be an intrinsic order. I have never understood what the intrinsic order of these cases is.” Lin Chen paused and said to Xing Conglian, “Please find me a pen.”
Paper and pen were quickly brought. Lin Chen pushed away the bowl of noodles and said to Fu Hao, “Repeat the order of the cases.”
Fu Hao blurted out, “First, a deceased patient was found in a hospital morgue neatly dressed. Then, the body of an old man appeared in a shop on Chuncai Street. Following that, a young man in the park fell from the still rings. Finally, Yu Yanqing committed suicide….”
As Fu Hao spoke, Lin Chen wrote. Finally, several keywords appeared on the paper.
[Corpse → Presentation of corpse → Murder → Suicide]
These keywords were connected by arrows to form a circle.
Xing Conglian looked at the words written by Lin Chen and almost felt that he was on the cusp of the entire case but was missing the most crucial link.
Kinky Thoughts:
Happy Halloween. What better way than a release of a novel like this. I have also decided to release my newest project a little early given the theme. For those interested a modern-day supernatural genre, you can check out my newest project from one of my favorite authors: Evil As Humans. The prologue has been released.
Xing Conglian’s hair was messy and his beard unshaven. Because he was traveling in plain clothes today, he was still wearing a white t-shirt that was covered in mud that was paired with beach pants and flip flops, looking quite poor.
Even when he showed his police badge, the eyes of the principal of No. 3 Primary School thought he was simply a lowly policeman.
In a sense, he was indeed just a cop.
“Police officer, this is an internal affair at our school and has nothing to do with you.” The principal puffed out his chest and looked at the police officer walking towards him from the distance.
“Of course.”
Xing Conglian walked very slowly. When he walked to Lin Chen’s side, he took out a cigarette and stuffed it in his mouth.
“Then why don’t you go investigate the scene of the crime?”
Although Xing Conglian had an expression that gave off, “It’s none of your fucking business what laozi* wants to do”, he still replied seriously, “I’m here to collect evidence.” As if forcing back some discomfort, he put the cigarette from his mouth back into the pack.
*When used like this, it’s an arrogant way of referring to yourself, often times humorously. It’s basically saying, “I, this great one”.
“What do you mean?”
“Just now, Mr. Principal, I heard your complaints. You seem dissatisfied with our police investigation, so I came to inquire about it.”
Xing Conglian was very close to Lin Chen. He was tall and looked like a big brother who wanted to vent his anger on behalf of his younger brother.
“Sorry, Mr. Police Officer. I just thought you were going to intervene in the dismissal of an employee of our school.” The principal’s tone was strange. He pointed to Lin Chen and continued, “Though this dorm manager is a temporary worker, I’ll still pay enough severance. You don’t really have to bother about this.”
Xing Conglian didn’t respond, because he was thinking about a very serious issue. As a policeman, he had many ways to make things difficult for the school and could easily make them reverse their firing.
In fact, before coming here, he had thought of many, many ways to stand up for Lin Chen, but when Lin Chen actually got in trouble, he realized that he was a policeman.
Because he was a policeman, he couldn’t use the methods he came up with and this fact made things extremely frustrating.
Xing Conglian thought about it for a while before finally glancing to the right in annoyance. He said to Lin Chen, “I really can’t intervene.”
Lin Chen seemed to understand Xing Conglian’s mood. He nodded as if relieved. “I understand.”
“Then let’s pack up your things?”
“Okay.”
The conversation was simple, so much so that the three people wearing suits stood there awkwardly.
Then, Xing Conglian did something that made things even more awkward. He raised his hand, fanned it to one side, and said to the three men, “Then, please, could you move out of the way?”
Chen Ping didn’t move. He had been watching Xing Conglian the entire time.
From the news he received, Lin Chen did have a policeman by his side, who was the captain of the Hongjing Criminal Investigation Unit.
Lin Chen was always picky when choosing friends, so Chen Ping observed Xing Conglian with great scrutiny. From his ragged clothes to his unshaven face, the only thing that attracted Chen Ping’s attention was his eyes.
Those eyes were beautiful—cunning and intelligent. The key point, though, was that they were extremely clear.
To put it into a description… Taking Lin Chen’s eyes as an example, his eyes were also clear like the snow atop the peaks of a mountain, or that had melted, becoming water. They were so clear and cold that sometimes it was hard to look at him. Compared with the policeman’s eyes, they were vast and deep. Because of this, they weren’t just clear but also inexplicable.
Although he couldn’t see through this man, as a butler of an elite family, Chen Ping recognized a single truth. In front of money, even the hardest bones would soften.
So, Chen Ping took out his business card from a flashy metal box and called out, “Captain Xing.”
At this time, Xing Conglian had already squeezed into Lin Chen’s room. When he heard someone calling him from behind, he didn’t bother turning around and instead asked Lin Chen, “Is it fine if I don’t answer?”
“Doesn’t look like it.”
“Damn regulations,” Xing Conglian muttered. He turned around and, with a forced smile, asked, “Sir, how can I help you?”
“I’m the butler of the Chen family. I’ve heard of you before, Captain Xing. I want to discuss something with you. This is my business card.”
Chen Ping handed over a dark gold embossed card and held it in mid-air.
Xing Conglian didn’t take it. He rubbed his beard and asked Lin Chen, “Is he trying to bribe me?”
“You said that too loudly.”
“Of course I have to be loud. Otherwise, what should I do if he misunderstands me?” Xing Conglian said distressingly. “We grassroots civil servants are most afraid of this kind of thing, you know?”
It seemed that Xing Conglian was quite upright.
Lin Chen continued to nod his head to express his understanding. He walked to the door and bowed slightly to the three men outside. To their surprise, he casually closed the door behind him.
“Problem solved,” he said to Xing Conglian.
Xing Conglian was stunned.
A moment later, the room erupted in laughter, leaving the three men outside the door looking at each other in disbelief.
……
This was the second time Xing Conglian came to Lin Chen’s room, and naturally, it would be the last.
He crawled to the bottom of the bed, and, under Lin Chen’s instructions, pulled out a large cardboard box from under the simple wooden plank bed.
“You can come stay at my place. It’s quite big.” Xing Conglian gently brushed away the thin ash on the box, pretending to give Lin Chen a relaxed look.
“You didn’t come to get the letters? Why?”
Xing Conglian sighed. It was quite troublesome being just acquaintances.
“Two things.”
“Hmm?”
“First, Yu Yanqing most likely committed suicide. Second, we found needles in the tool room just now.”
“A stimulant?” Lin Chen frowned. “Large doses of stimulants can indeed cause erratic behavior. The fruit stall shopkeeper who went crazy and started slashing people should have taken a similar drug. This would make sense, but how strange…”
“Of course it’s strange. When we need clues, suddenly they appear,” Xing Conglian said nonchalantly as he sat on the floor.
When talking to smart people, it was true that occasionally there was a sense of connection.
Lin Chen also sat down on one side. Instead of speaking, he opened the cardboard box in front of him.
Xing Conglian expected to see a lot of letters in the box, but he never thought he would see that many letters. The letters filled the cardboard box to the brim. When Lin Chen opened it, some even fell out.
Xing Conglian was dumbfounded.
Lin Chen ignored Xing Conglian’s look and quickly sorted through the letters. He picked some of them out and put them on the floor. Others were stuffed back inside the box. Finally, he sealed the cardboard box, leaving about a dozen neatly packed letters on the floor.
There was an indescribable sense of beauty to his movement, like flowing water.
“Those inside?” Xing Conglian asked tentatively.
“Letters sent by others.”
“You didn’t read them?”
“No.”
“Who writes so many letters?” Xing Conglian said in disbelief, then felt that he was being too gossipy.
“Are we close?”
“It seems not,” Xing Conglian said, a bit aggrieved.
“Then why should I tell you?”
Xing Conglian didn’t know how to answer. He remembered Professor Fu’s groveling attitude when he first met Lin Chen. He guessed he needed to follow the same pattern. He rested his chin on the box and looked at Lin Chen with bewilderment.
Sure enough, Lin Chen averted his gaze and continued, “Similarly, I’m not familiar with these people who sent these letters. Why should I read them?”
“That makes sense,” Xing Conglian said.
With no rain falling outside, the room was quiet.
Lin Chen opened a letter and read it carefully. Similarly, Xing Conglian did the same.
Compared with Lin Chen, Xing Conglian’s reading was much faster. After he finished, he felt goosebumps all over his body and a chill going down his spine.
“How scary.” He pushed a few of the letters to Lin Chen. “All this, it’s all about suffering and death.” He then picked up another letter and shook it. “Who said, ‘Give me a dozen babies and I can turn them into whatever you want*’?”
*John B. Watson. The actual quote is much longer. You can read it in my Kinky Thoughts. The premise is that, as a behaviorist, he believes that any person could potentially be trained to perform any task, regardless of genetic background, personality, and internal thoughts (within the limits of their physical capabilities). All it takes is the right conditioning.
Lin Chen put down the letter and looked at Xing Conglian. “That is the view of Watson, the founder of behaviorism in the school of psychology.”
“So, is Yu Yanqing a psychology student?” Xing Conglian stroked his beard. “So she put sand next to the corpses because there’s a sand table in your room and she specifically studied sandplay?”
Lin Chen lowered his eyes. “If she treats the whole thing as a huge sand table game, then she’s obviously presenting death and forcing us to face it head on. But again, this behavior also projects…”
“Project what?”
“Her subconsciousness that is extremely afraid of death,” Lin Chen said slowly word by word.
Xing Conglian raised his head abruptly and latched onto the key point. “But there’s a problem!”
“If she’s afraid of death, why did she commit suicide?” Lin Chen said indifferently.
Kinky Thoughts:
Girl’s probably off her meds. That’s why.
Full quote from John B. Watson: “Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I’ll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.”
Lin Chen was awakened by the sound of someone knocking on the window.
Outside stood a cleaning auntie wearing a yellow poncho. He got up and opened the window, only to hear the auntie angrily say, “Xiao* Lin, do you have the key to Yanqing’s toolshed?”
*Little/small (小) When used in front of a name, it’s an affectionate/friendly way to call someone who’s usually younger than you.
Lin Chen shook his head. Suddenly remembering something, he asked, “Isn’t the school closed today?”
“Even if it is, the boss didn’t give us a day off.” The auntie leaned against her long broom. “It’s hard sweeping floors day and night.”
Lin Chen was keenly aware of the abnormality here. Why would a cleaning auntie come to ask him for the key to Yu Yanqing’s toolshed?
With this in mind, he asked, “Who asked you to ask me for the key to Yu Yanqing’s toolshed?”
“Oh, it’s because you have such a good relationship,” the auntie said with a smile. Seeing as how he was young and good-looking, she couldn’t help but joke, “She resigned and said she left the key to you. Don’t you have it? Well, who doesn’t know? She usually runs to you whenever she needs something…”
The old auntie was still chattering, but Lin Chen suddenly had a bad feeling.
Yu Yanqing resigned but didn’t return the keys but said she gave them to him?
But he didn’t get any keys. If this was the case, the logistics department would need to break through the door.
So, what was behind the door?
“The key may be with me, but I have to look for it. Please go and clean other places first, okay?” Lin Chen bowed slightly. After finishing his conversation with the auntie, he turned around and returned to his bedside, took out his phone, and called Xing Conglian’s number.
…….
When Xing Conglian arrived, Lin Chen was alone. He was leaning on the door to the basement entrance, apparently guarding it alone for a while now.
Seeing a forensic officer and doctor following Xing Conglian, Lin Chen nodded, stood up straight, and moved out of the way.
There was only a dim light on in the stairwell, which made his face gloomy, even a bit sad.
As a criminal investigator, Xing Conglian could of course smell the abnormal fishy stench in the air. His expression darkened. He put on gloves and opened the door to the basement. The strong smell of blood choked everyone.
The criminal officer, who was used to dealing with this kind of scene, had to block off the cordon according to regulation. With all the lights on, it created a dazzling effect that made the dark underground space look like day.
Damaged desks, dilapidated beds, and textbooks were scattered about. Every item in the basement was illuminated clearly—even the dust was covered by a layer of brilliance.
At the end of the entire space, there was a closed, ochre-colored wooden door.
The police officer found the master key and asked Xing Conglian for his instructions.
Xing Conglian glanced at Lin Chen, took the key, and walked to the wooden door.
Opening it was a simple matter. All he needed to do was insert the key into the keyhole, turn it gently, and with a click, the door would open. Yet Xing Conglian found that this seemingly simple task was one of the most difficult and bitter things to do in the world.
The smell of blood drifted out along the crack of the door.
He put his hand on the door panel, glanced at Lin Chen again, and said, “You know, this means you’ll become a suspect.”
The light of the flashlight illuminated the entire room, showing a haunting scene.
The small toolshed was stacked with countless tools, mops, pruning equipment, large shears, hoes, broken plant roots, and all kinds of debris from being stacked on top of each other, all forming a dirty and thick background.
Yu Yanqing’s naked body was squatting in the corner. Her body had countless fine wounds and there was blood sprayed in every corner of the room, as if numerous scarlet earthworms were wriggling around, sucking out all traces of life.
In her hand was a small knife, commonly found in a student’s pencil case. The handle was light blue, and the blade had blood caked on it.
Despite being experienced at seeing such grisly scenes, even the police officer was speechless. He could hardly handle the sight. The scene was so quiet that the sound of a pin dropping could be heard.
The first thing that made a sound was the click of a shutter, followed by a flash. The forensic officer squatted down to take photos of the scene from different angles.
Then the forensic scientist walked in and laid Yu Yanqing down. His actions had an indescribably slow solemnity.
No one spoke.
At the moment when Yu Yanqing’s body was laid down, a handful of fine sand was exposed in her stiff fingers.
Fine, white, and delicate, like countless aphids swarming away.
Xing Conglian grabbed Lin Chen and dragged him out of the basement.
Typhoon season was always strange. The rainstorm had stopped at some point, and the sky looked so low that it seemed it would fall at any moment.
Xing Conglian pushed Lin Chen onto a bench in front of a lush camphor tree.
He took a bottle of mineral water from the trunk of his car, stuffed it into Lin Chen’s hand, and then sat down by his side.
As a criminal police officer, he knew very well that, apart from gods, there were only murderers who could foretell life and death. He was pretty sure that Lin Chen wasn’t the murderer, so the question was, what role did Lin Chen play in these incidents?
“I’m not the murderer.” Lin Chen unscrewed the bottle cap and spoke solemnly while keeping his voice calm.
Few could face such scrutiny and still make such straightforward statements.
“When the park incident happened, you were at the police station, so of course you’re not the murderer,” Xing Conglian said.
“If you believe me, then you believe that I’m not Yu Yanqing’s murderer.” Lin Chen raised his head and took a sip of water.
This was the second time Lin Chen said, “If you believe me”. Xing Conglian’s thought was, ‘Of course I still believe you.’
But there were some things that couldn’t be said and some that needed to be asked clearly.
“Why?” Xing Conglian asked.
“Remember that letter?”
“Nn.”
“She wrote, ‘My dear, I can finally face death calmly’, I… finally…” Lin Chen stared at Xing Conglian with cold eyes. “Think about it. When would someone use such words?”
“I finally ate crayfish. I finally drank cold beer…” Xing Conglian replied honestly.
“This is an indication of a state that has been completed or is about to be completed and contains a feeling of extreme urgency.”
Xing Conglian nodded, indicating he understood what Lin Chen meant.
But even if Yu Yanqing had decided to die when she wrote that letter, it didn’t mean Yu Yanqing wasn’t the murderer who tampered with the still rings and killed the young man.
There was no logical connection between the two.
Xing Conglian paused and suddenly thought of one possibility. “Could it be she was forced?”
Lin Chen shook his head. “All her words are in first person, which shows that she was self-aware when she wrote this letter…” Lin Chen’s tone was unusually gentle, as if he was speaking from nostalgia. “She had also written some letters to me before. Compared with the last letter before her death, they were the same handwriting. You know, if Yu Yanqing was under duress, then her mood swings would’ve been strong and there would have been trembles in her writing, creating a messy font. However, I didn’t find this.”
Xing Conglian ruffled his head, creating a mess of his hair. “What the hell is this girl thinking? Is everything she writes so cold?”
“I have only read some of these letters. The rest, I think, can be regarded as belongings of the deceased and can be handed over to the police.”
Lin Chen was a little sad.
When he received those letters, he never actually thought about what to do with them one day.
Perhaps when he quit his job, he would leave those letters behind, but handing over all the thoughts of a girl to the police was probably their saddest destination.
He returned to the dorms to pick up the letters and saw someone was waiting for him.
It was three men in suits. They were so neatly dressed that even their leather shoes were meticulously polished, and all had solemn looks on their faces.
Lin Chen had seen two of them on the bulletin board throughout the school. One was the school principal, and the other was a member of the board of directors. The last person was someone Lin Chen had known for a long time.
Many times, whenever he was awakened by a knock on the door in his dorm or residence, it was that person that was standing there.
“Hello, Mr. Butler.” Lin Chen stood still in front of his small dorm and bowed slightly, greeting the tall, thin man standing at the front.
In this day and age, those who could afford a housekeeper must be rich, and if they could afford a silver-haired, noble butler, they must be top-tier rich.
Therefore, when such a rich man’s butler stood in front of a shabby school and a simple dorm, he seemed quite out of place.
As if choked by dust, like all villains in the movies, before opening his mouth, Chen Ping coughed gently.
He lowered his head, a little condescendingly, looking at the young man in front of him.
The butler actually admired Lin Chen very much. How to put this. As the Chen family’s butler, he knew too many secrets. Naturally, he knew very well what this young man had done and what kind of paranoid maniac his master was.
Just like the grass under the strong wind, a young man who could survive openly under endless oppression was somewhat remarkable.
But he was a professional. The Chen family had given him an annual salary equivalent to that of any corporate executive. His existence was to solve all kinds of trouble for his master, which, of course, included looking for trouble.
So he drove hundreds of miles to Hongjing, found the people connected to the Chen family, and turned to the directors of Hongjing’s No. 3 Primary School and made a request.
Few people could refuse the request made by the Chen family, not to mention that it was such a trivial request.
Fire one of the school’s dorm managers.
In fact, this trivial matter didn’t require the school principal and director to come forward. He didn’t even need to meet with Lin Chen.
Coincidentally, when they were about to leave, someone rushed to the principal’s office. The man said that a body had been found in the school and that a dorm manager named Lin Chen had called the police.
“Lin Chen, is it? You’re fired,” the principal said, with his head held high.
“Why?” Lin Chen turned to look at the noble butler and the condescending principal.
“Look at the pandemonium you made of the dorms! There’s a corpse hidden in it! Is this not your responsibility? You even called the police!” The principal’s voice was so loud that the entire building could hear him.
“Oh, okay.”
In the face of the principal’s roaring, a faint voice sounded immediately afterwards, like clear flowing water.
The principal was taken aback. He didn’t expect that a young dorm manager would agree so bluntly. Saying it was too dismissive was a massive understatement.
Just when he wanted to respond, another voice that was even more glib and dismissive came from behind the dorm manager.
“Principal~ Do tell, are you dissatisfied with the work of us police officers?”
The Chi family was well prepared. The guest rooms had been carefully cleaned and were spacious. The bedding and pillows were also new. Dong Zhi’s skin hurt from being scalded by the hot water so badly that he couldn’t fall asleep due to his clothes agitating the pain. He could barely change into clean clothes, then sat on the bed to take a short break.
An hour quickly passed. Elder Chi couldn’t help but sink his face when he looked at the “peach blossom” behind Dong Zhi. It had gotten lighter in color but hadn’t disappeared.
When Dong Zhi looked in the mirror, he naturally saw it.
“I’m sorry. My abilities are limited. It seems there are too many masters in this world!” Elder Chi shook his head. Although unwilling, he could only give a bitter smile. “In this situation, the curse has been suppressed for a bit, but treating the symptoms is not a cure. If you want to lift the curse, I’m afraid there’s only one way. Solve the source. You need to find who cursed him and kill that person, and the curse would naturally be resolved.”
He also knew that what he said was tantamount to not saying it. There was no doubt how vicious this person was that could create a curse like this. How could the other party let Dong Zhi easily find them? Even if he went to great lengths to track him down, it would most likely be too late by then.
Dong Zhi was a little disappointed, but this was what he expected. He had a hunch that things wouldn’t be resolved so easily.
“Elder Chi, if this curse can’t be lifted, what will be the final result? Will I die?”
Elder Chi hesitated for a moment, but he saw the answer on Dong Zhi’s face.
“Then if I die, will my soul be used by the witch to do other things?”
Dong Zhi was afraid of dying. He yearned and loved life just like every person who was instinctively born with the desire for survival. He still had many dreams that hadn’t been fulfilled, but he was even more afraid he would be used as a puppet after he died, standing on the opposite side against his former friends and companions. It was truly hopeless whether he would survive or die.
Before Elder Chi could answer, Dong Zhi’s shoulders were pressed down.
Long Shen said, “You won’t die.”
Elder Chi secretly sighed and expressed his regrets and apologies to them again. It could be seen that the old man was hit hard, not only because he failed Long Shen and Dong Zhi, but also because this incident realized that although he was considered powerful, there were still too many curses in the world that rendered him powerless to help.
The curse lifting had failed. Neither of them had the heart to attend the reception banquet hosted by the Chi family. Elder Chi knew that what they needed most now was to rest and discuss countermeasures, so he didn’t keep them. He personally sent them on their way and promised that if there was any progress in the future, they could come back to him at any time if they needed help.
Chi Banxia’s cousin, the young man who had picked them up, drove them back to the hotel in person.
“I have already done the check-in procedures for you. All your luggage has been taken in, so you can just go directly to your rooms.”
Dong Zhi thanked him, took the room card, and went upstairs with Long Shen.
They booked two adjacent rooms on the same floor. The location was excellent. There was a huge, floor-to-ceiling window in the room. When he opened the curtains, he could see the gorgeous sunset slowly falling into the sea. People in twos and threes were strolling on the beach, creating a scene that was perfect for romance.
“Master, do you have any plans for the next step?” Dong Zhi could barely cheer up.
Long Shen said, “Take you to the northwest and meet someone. He may have a solution.”
Even Long Shen said “may”, which meant he wasn’t confident, but Dong Zhi continued to ask, “Will we leave tomorrow?”
Long Shen shook his head. “Didn’t you say you wanted to stay here for a few days? I booked five nights.”
Dong Zhi smiled and said, “That’s great. We can walk around the seaside and eat seafood for the next few days. I’ve been to Sanya, so I’ll be your tour guide and take you to all the fun places.”
Long Shen nodded.
“Master, I’m a little tired, so I’ll sleep first. I’ll find you tomorrow morning. You don’t need to call me for dinner.” It was rare for the two of them to have alone time, but Dong Zhi took the initiative to send off Long Shen with a sense of fatigue between his brows, and his voice was a little weak.
Long Shen stared at him for a moment. “Then have a good rest.”
Watching the other party leave and closing the door, Dong Zhi could finally breathe a sigh of relief. He was overwhelmed by the surging pain.
He bent down, his back against the door, and slowly slipped down to the floor. His hands were clenched tightly on the clothes on his chest, and the pain penetrated to his back as if he was being pierced by a needle. The pain was so excruciating that he couldn’t do anything else but do this to relieve some of it.
In fact, this attack wasn’t as intense as last time. Perhaps Elder Chi’s method had alleviated some of it, but Dong Zhi still didn’t want Long Shen to see such an embarrassing side of him, because just now, he clearly saw the pity in Long Shen’s eyes, knowing that there was nothing they could do.
Long Shen was supposed to be omnipotent and all-powerful. In the thousands of years he had traveled, he had experienced many winds, frost, rain, and snow, and now he finally accepted an apprentice. Not only did he not enjoy the benefits of having one, but he also had to worry about him.
Even Dong Zhi thought he wasn’t worthy of Long Shen. As an apprentice, not only did he not have a long lifespan like his master, but as soon as he made some achievements, he was cursed and was about to meet a terrible end. If he went back in time, he most definitely would have regretted this.
Thinking of this, he couldn’t help laughing out loud, but it caused another pain in his heart. This time it was a bit more intense. Dong Zhi closed his eyes and told himself that he just had to fight back. The last time he had such a severe attack, he survived. This time, he would certainly be fine. However, tears still came out unconsciously.
He saw the Changshou Sword placed by the bed with his luggage and wiped away his tears. He staggered over, grabbed the sword, and held it in his arms, as if this would give him a little strength.
He was afraid of death. He was afraid of the dark and unknown world. He wanted to keep fighting with He Yu, Kan Chaosheng, Liu Qingbo, and the others, facing the dangers of the future. He wanted to stay behind Long Shen silently, even if he was healthy and could only live for a few decades and stay master and apprentice all his life. He wanted to draw another picture of Long Shen. He wanted to remember the words, “Don’t be afraid. I’m here,” firmly in his mind. Even if one day he fell into the underworld, he would never forget.
Tears surged out and dripped onto the scabbard of the Changshou Sword. At that moment, it seemed that only the cold temperature could convey a little comfort.
‘I’m sorry, Master,’ Dong Zhi said silently. He should have been more cautious so that he wouldn’t be plotted against. Because of his own selfishness of wanting to be Long Shen’s apprentice, he was now exhausting his master and hurting him. His master should have an apprentice who could accompany him through the long years and be as strong as he was, not someone weak and useless like himself…
The edges of the scabbard caused pain to his face, but the pain wasn’t as painful as a tenth of a thousand compared to this curse. Cold sweat had soaked his entire back as he tried to hold back his groaning, using the scenery outside to divert his attention.
The round red sun had been completely submerged by the sea, dyeing the sky a bright orange that still had a touch of blue remaining. Soon, the sky was no match for the overwhelming night. Darkness covered the sky and the earth, as lights flickered on the beach one by one, but such sporadic firelight couldn’t warm the coldness in his heart.
The wind blew in from the window. Even though there was no severe cold here all year round, the winter nights still brought some coolness.
Dong Zhi was motionless, sitting by the bed as if he was asleep.
He didn’t realize when he had lost consciousness. When he woke up, he found he was covered with a blanket and there was hot porridge with side dishes by his bedside, with a familiar person nearby.
“Master.”
When Dong Zhi opened his mouth, he found that his throat was hoarse, his nose was stuffed, and his voice was muffled.
He thought for a while and suspected he might’ve caught a cold from the wind when he sat down near the window and fell asleep.
Long Shen let out an “Nn” and said, “Eat your porridge first. Then take medicine.”
Dong Zhi felt guilty as he didn’t dare say anything and acted as if nothing had happened. He obediently picked up the bowl, drank all the porridge in one go, then took the water and medicine handed by the other party and swallowed it. He couldn’t help laughing afterwards. “Master, how did you get in?”
“I have the keycard to your room.”
Then Long Shen probably saw him holding the sword as streaks of tears ran down his face? Dong Zhi felt even more guilty now.
“I’m sorry.” He hurriedly apologized, hoping his frankness would bring leniency.
Long Shen looked at him. “Why didn’t you call me when you had an attack?”
Dong Zhi lowered his head and whispered, “I know you have spent a lot of effort on my affair and done many things I don’t know about. I can’t help you, so I didn’t want to make you more worried.”
Long Shen said lightly, “In this matter, I don’t want you to keep it from me. You are my apprentice and the only apprentice I have taken on so far. I care about you and do not think that it’s a burden.”
At the beginning, Dong Zhi could only obediently nod and didn’t dare to respond. After hearing this, he couldn’t help but look up at Long Shen.
Long Shen said, “I’m not the kind of person who doesn’t care about anything like you imagine. I also have emotions and desires. They may be weaker and duller than ordinary people, but in the end, they do exist. In the past, I thought that I was moved by your persistence and hard work, so I accepted you as an apprentice. But the more I thought about it, if I wasn’t looking at you from the start, how could I have known that you were persistent and hard-working?”
Dong Zhi was in a daze. He found his ability to understand had deviated. For the first time, he couldn’t understand Long Shen’s words, and he didn’t dare to think in that direction at all.
Long Shen didn’t continue this topic.
“Do you want to continue to sleep?”
Dong Zhi shook his head.
Long Shen: “The weather is okay today. Want to go for a walk?”
Hearing the surging waves coming from the window, Dong Zhi felt a little moved, so he nodded.
He had a bit of a cold. Long Shen brought him his coat and asked him to put it on. He opened the blanket and Dong Zhi got out of bed. He had forgotten that he was weak, so after lowering his head, his feet got soft and he almost fell forward.
After hesitating for a moment, he said to Long Shen, “Master, why don’t we go tomorrow?”
Long Shen saw that Dong Zhi didn’t want to be carried. It was indeed troublesome to carry someone on his back in the middle of the night. The key point was that they might not be able to find a place to sit by the beach either. Long Shen paused, said, “Wait a bit,” then he turned around and left.
Dong Zhi didn’t know what Long Shen was doing, but ten minutes later, Long Shen came back with a wheelchair.
“Sit on this. It’s more convenient this way.”
Dong Zhi joked, “Master, is your nickname Doraemon*?”
*Cat-like robot from the future. I believe it has the ability to pull things out of its pocket, which is why Dong Zhi makes this joke.
Long Shen explained quite seriously, “The hotel has wheelchairs for loan.”
It was really convenient to get in and out with a wheelchair. Long Shen also covered Dong Zhi’s knees with a thin blanket. The aftermath was that others thought he was disabled and gave way to them. In the elevator, Dong Zhi met a girl who gave him the flowers on her head and wished him a speedy recovery.
In front of the hotel was the beach. There were many people walking on it at night, but since it was late at night, there were few tourists. The vast emptiness was greeted by the smell of the sea, which made people’s minds suddenly clear. There was a shower during the day, so the night was cloudless. The sky was full of stars rushing out to guard the moon. There was no need for artificial light. The waves were sparking as they rushed onto the beach, then quickly retreated, leaving lonely wet marks behind.
A couple ran while laughing. The girl was barefoot in a long skirt. Her long hair was being blown by the wind, and she covered her face as the boy who was behind her picked up his phone and started taking pictures, capturing his girlfriend’s best moments. Even if the night wasn’t bright enough, this moment would be imprinted in his heart.
The boy quickly caught up with his girlfriend, and the two kissed under the presence of the stars and moon. Perhaps because they caught a glimpse of Dong Zhi, the girl became a little embarrassed. She hurriedly pushed her boyfriend away, then dragged him along, leaving behind a few hurried footprints on the sand. The tide came and went, wiping out their traces, but the faint smell of love was still in the air.
The two walked away with a smile, leaving footprints on the beach, while Dong Zhi involuntarily sighed, feeling envy and regret.
Long Shen stood behind him and suddenly spoke.
“Do you envy them?”
Dong Zhi shook his head. “I’m just happy for their simple and beautiful bliss.”
After all, not everyone in this world could get what they wanted. Those people, like the two just now, were able to find each other in a vast sea of people, fall in love, and would one day get married.
“Do you think this is happiness?” Long Shen asked.
Dong Zhi said with a smile, “It should be. Some people still yearn for happiness. Despite the entire world in front of them, they still feel as if they could get more. Some people want very little happiness. Even if they see the sea, the stars, or even the person that they like, they can feel happy for a long time.”
Another wave came. It was still some distance away before it flooded the area, so they didn’t have to quickly retreat. However, the footprints left by the couple just now were almost completely gone, swept away into the sea.
As far as Dong Zhi could see, the young couple had also disappeared. Perhaps they walked into the darkness in the distance and quietly whispered loving words, or maybe they went back to rest. His eyes followed where their figures had disappeared, while his heart felt inexplicably lost.
Suddenly, a small shadow shrouded him in front of him. Before he could react, his lips felt warm.
Long Shen bent forward and gave him a light peck. Dong Zhi suddenly stiffened, completely petrified and unable to respond when their lips parted.
“Now, do you feel happy?”
Dong Zhi settled down. He almost thought he had experienced an illusion just now. The illusion felt so real that even the heat on his lips seemed to remain.
His heart skipped a beat and then started beating faster. He couldn’t help but grab his chest for fear he would aggravate the curse.
“Master, what did you do just now?” His voice was a little airy.
If it wasn’t his hallucination, then it may be that Long Shen thought this was a way to express a master’s love to his apprentice, or perhaps Long Shen originally wanted to kiss him on the forehead or nose, but he couldn’t find the right direction, so he made a miscalculated move.
He began to think of excuses for Long Shen, but then heard his reply. “I’m kissing you.”
“Why?” Dong Zhi was confused. He looked back at the sea in front of him, as if to see if the waves would bloom into flowers. He remained frozen and didn’t dare turn back, afraid that this would give his emotions away.
However, Long Shen’s tone was more puzzling than his. “Don’t you like me? I thought you would be happy if I did this.”
Happy. Of course, he was happy.
The great tide of joy came and he was like a string of footprints that was submerged in an instant. He was at a loss, wishing time would freeze at this moment, and even if he died, it would be without regrets.
However, the joy turned into severe pain in an instant, like a sharp blade cutting into his heart. The pain was so bad that Dong Zhi couldn’t help but bend over slightly and stoop. It made his eyes sore and swollen, and he wanted to shed tears.
Long Shen saw that Dong Zhi was lowering his head. He wanted to pick Dong Zhi up, but when he crouched down, he was held back.
“I’m fine.”
Long Shen felt Dong Zhi’s forehead. The temperature was normal, and the skin was clean and free of sweat.
Dong Zhi took a deep breath, as if he had survived the pain, and said, “In fact, when I entered this field, I had already considered the dangers, knowing that I might be injured or even sacrificed. Since my parents are gone, even if something really happens, no one will have to worry about me.”
Long Shen listened quietly.
“Even ants are greedy for life*. I’m also afraid of death. I’m even more afraid that I’ll become a soulless servant after the curse, like Ming Xian, and one day fight against you. At that time, I’ll be just a puppet, no longer your apprentice, no longer a human with feelings and thoughts.”
*(蝼蚁尚且贪生) Saying refers to that even a tiny creature is greedy to live, so humans should cherish life even more.
Dong Zhi thought he had finally calmed down, but when he saw Long Shen squatting down in front of him, looking at the other party’s forced expression, he could not help but let his tears flow.
“You won’t become like that. I will try my best,” Long Shen said, reaching out to wipe his tears. “I have already contacted the director of the Northwest Branch. He’s an extremely powerful figure. Perhaps there’s a way.”
“Master, I don’t need any sympathy, including yours.” Dong Zhi held Long Shen’s hand. The slight coldness was met with warmth and was quickly wrapped in it. “I am a disciple of Long Shen. Even if I can’t be as strong as he is, I should strive to be nonetheless.”
Long Shen frowned. “I’m not sympathizing with you.”
He didn’t know how Dong Zhi came to such a conclusion.
“I never force others or myself to do things I don’t want.” He pinched Dong Zhi’s chin and pecked him on the lips again.
This meaning should be clear, right?
“Sorry, Master, I regret it.”
“You also know that humans, especially men, have a bit of an inferiority complex, so they think what they can’t get is the best. After you kissed me, I actually recognized how I felt about you. I may have been wrong before. I was just confusing admiration with love.”
“And you’re right. When I’m old and you still look the same, I’ll definitely be angry and self-conscious and wouldn’t be able to accept such a situation. I now understand. What I like should be a sweet girl, like the one just now. Lively, a little coquettish, and ordinary, unlike you, where I will have a sense of pressure and distance.”
He had gritted his nails into his palm and was using the pain to sober himself up so that he could say these words without missing a beat.
A hand came up and broke apart Dong Zhi’s fingers, one by one.
“You’re lying,’ Long Shen said. “When you feel guilty or nervous, you clench your fists, just like last time when you tried to get me drunk.”
He looked at Dong Zhi’s frozen expression. There was a trace of a smile in his eyes. It was rare for Long Shen to be mischievous. He deliberately asked, “Hm, did you forget?”
How could Dong Zhi forget? He remembered it clearly, but he didn’t expect Long Shen to remember such small details so early on.
“This time, I may not be able to live. Even if I can, I will only have a lifespan of decades at best. I can’t accompany you through your whole life. I can’t just look at my life and ignore yours. We’re not suitable for each other and I’m not worthy of your affection.”
Life was nothing but give and take, constantly taking and giving up, and giving something up in the process of getting it.
He once confessed to Long Shen in order to “get” Long Shen’s love, his affectionate gaze; getting what he wanted, and in the end, it turned into a kind of possessiveness. But now he had “given up”, abandoned what he wanted, choosing restraint instead, just so that the other party wouldn’t be sad because of their concern for him in the future.
If this was the Long Shen who had just transformed into a human, or the Long Shen who calmly watched as Lord Jie went to his death, he might not understand Dong Zhi’s giving up, but he had been in the Special Administration Bureau for many years. How could he not notice that Dong Zhi was pretending to be calm and duplicitous.
His heart was slightly moved. There was emotion that even he couldn’t tell what it was. Long Shen said, “There is no such thing as worthiness in the world. Only whether I like it or not.”
He lowered his head again, this time kissed Dong Zhi more deeply. He left a red mark where he had pinched Dong Zhi’s chin. Dong Zhi’s eyelashes trembled, and his eyes drifted as his breathing became ragged.
“I have never done this to anyone before,” Long Shen said.
Dong Zhi was probably the first and only.
“Without you, I would continue to go on like this. With you, at least for these decades, I’ll have someone to walk with me. Are you willing?”
Long Shen’s face was half hidden in the darkness, but the hot air he breathed out was still visible. Dong Zhi blinked, as if to blink away the dense fog. Before the other party could wait for his answer, Dong Zhi had let go of Long Shen’s hand and got up. His impulse preceded his reason, and he grabbed Long Shen’s neck and took the initiative to meet him, giving Long Shen a light peck on his cool lips, then quickly separated.
“Are you sure it’s not revolting?”
Long Shen shook his head and even asked him, “Do you want to try again?”
“No need!” Dong Zhi hurriedly said. The heat on his face was steaming, and he thought how fortunate it was that it was dark so the other person couldn’t see him clearly.
Then he heard Long Shen’s voice ringing in his ears.
“I have never loved anyone, and I don’t know what love is, but I’m willing to try to be a Long Shen, one of flesh and blood, and work to understand love and hate for you.”
The mist that had lingered in Dong Zhi’s eyes finally dissipated. Dong Zhi trembled and buried his head in the crook of Long Shen’s neck.
Even though he hadn’t cried when facing the many dangers that nearly cost him his life, in front of Long Shen, he always looked weak.
Tonight, he wanted to be weak again.
The darker the night, the cooler the sky. The sound of the waves was still. Dong Zhi wasn’t sure when the surging tide had changed to consistent harmony.
With a fiery body around him, he couldn’t help but sneeze.
“Let’s go back,” Long Shen said.
Long Shen got up and pushed the wheelchair in the direction of the hotel. As he did, Dong Zhi turned his head and glanced in the direction of the sea.
The lights of distant ships were on, twinkling, like the echoing stars in the sky. The starlight came from billions of light-years away, traveling through time and space, converging into a wonderful destiny.
Perhaps there were countless such fates in this vast universe, just like his and Long Shen’s. Even if he was like the ship’s light that would go out tomorrow, at the very least, they had met and the stars knew that there was such a little light in the sea of a certain planet, accompanying them through the long night.
Kinky Thoughts:
Happy Halloween. I figured a release would fit the theme quite well given the supernatural element of this novel, but this chapter was kind of the opposite, given how sweet it is. For those interested in this kind of modern-day supernatural genre, you can check out my newest project from one of my favorite authors: Evil As Humans. The prologue has been released.
Tang Yibu took a bath in the lake and prepared to set off again.
Facing the bad news that Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman were captured, Professor Ruan didn’t show much panic. He pondered for a while as he prepared everything Tang Yibu asked for, then calmly announced that the operation would proceed as normal. His attitude was so calm that Tang Yibu couldn’t help wondering whether Yu Le was actually sent to retrieve any real goods.
However, since Professor Ruan told him he “will know when he goes”, Tang Yibu didn’t intend to become too entangled with the issue. It wasn’t good for Professor Ruan to deceive him right now. Tang Yibu wiped his body carefully with an absorbent towel and his mood became complicated again—at least there would be a fixed answer to the question in front of him. Now, he loved those kinds of questions.
He was curious about what had happened to Mr. Ruan.
Tang Yibu tossed aside his boots, whose soles were so worn that even the iron bead couldn’t see them, and let out a long sigh. π was guarding his clothes and drooling at the makeshift communicator. Seeing a pair of combat boots flying in front of it, it immediately shifted target and began to chew on some of the materials on it happily.
Tang Yibu wiped his dripping hair and looked at the quiet lake. The night had turned the body of water black. The chirping insects in autumn had a particularly debilitating smell.
This state reminded him of the past few years. He had been roaming the vast world alone, filtering some water when he got thirsty or preying on small animals when he was hungry. If he found a petri dish with good conditions, he would stay in it for a while until he finished studying the ecology inside.
Most of the time, he stayed alone like this. Although he occasionally looked for one or two mechanical creatures as a guide, their place was similar to the iron bead—he had returned to this familiar state, but he didn’t feel the slightest bit of freedom.
Tang Yibu put on his dark gray close-fitting lining, then his sturdy combat jacket, and fastened up the buckles. The guns and knives were in place, and all kinds of throwing weapons were installed in the most suitable positions. After doing a check, he stood up.
The iron bead was still working on the boots, creating clicking sounds as it ate with great concentration.
“I don’t like this state.” Tang Yibu lifted up his backpack, squatted down, and poked the shell of the iron bead.
The iron bead was too busy gnawing off the metal accessories of the boots that it unintentionally ignored him. He wasn’t sure whether it was because it was too focused on eating or because it simply didn’t understand his statement.
“Mr. Ruan should be with me,” Tang Yibu said. “Skin contact can keep me happy. When he kissed me at that time, I should’ve hugged him.”
When the iron bead heard the keyword “Mr. Ruan” it started to chew slower.
“Did I do something wrong?” Tang Yibu sighed. “At the time of the Android Show, it was probably more reasonable to insist on hiding my identity and resolving the conflict with Professor Ruan.”
“Gwah.” The iron bead stopped chewing and let out a solemn bark.
“That’s right. With Professor Ruan’s power, I can take the opportunity to eradicate MUL-01. Most importantly, I would be able to properly study the emotional relationship between me and Mr. Ruan. Knowing Mr. Ruan—it wouldn’t be too much to continue maintaining the status quo. Although the stakes would be a little higher, it should’ve been able to kill two birds with one stone. At least I originally thought so.”
“Gwah…”
“But now I regret it a bit.” Tang Yibu straightened his damp hair. “He’s staying alone in that kind of place, and it makes me uncomfortable. We can’t act together, which makes me even more anxious than I thought.”
“Gwah gwah gwah?”
“You’re right. I am worried. I’m afraid that there will be a problem with him as a research sample, which will decrease his value. I’m also afraid that he will submit to the Mainbrain, which will be bad for me. But this is not what I’m most worried about. I…”
Halfway through speaking, Tang Yibu became confused.
“I’ve really made a lot of misjudgments.” Tang Yibu was silent for awhile until the iron bead went through the old pair of boots and there was nothing left except cloth scraps. “…Although logically speaking, maybe they’re not misjudgments. They just didn’t give me the state I wanted.”
“Gwah…?”
“The state I want… Let’s see—I don’t want the state I was in twelve years ago, nor do I want the state I’m in now. Next would be, excluding the Android Show, life in the petri dish, investigation and learning about things beyond the petri dish—”
For a moment, Tang Yibu suddenly remembered Su Zhao’s words on the Android Show.
If the heart-stopping moment was replaced with a favorite memory, then he could answer this question. If Mr. Ruan’s favorite memory was dancing in the Sea of Ruins, it wasn’t the time they spent in the computer room, nor was it some crazy moment in the long night.
He liked one night in particular, when he still knew nothing of Mr. Ruan’s true identity. They had just made a mess in the Underground City, then were crammed into a small noodle shop with Yu Le. Mr. Ruan was sitting next to him, carefully peeling off the shells of boiled eggs, then placing them into his noodle bowl with unparalleled naturalness.
For some reason, Tang Yibu had a deep impression of this in his memory. He could recall the smell in the air at that time, the temperature of the boiled eggs, and Mr. Ruan’s still fair and slender fingers that glowed in the light.
It wasn’t condescending alms, nor was it lowly flattery. Mr. Ruan had given him the food without much thought, as if the whole matter was as natural as a heartbeat.
It gave Tang Yibu an inexplicable reassurance and satisfaction that he liked very much, even though that action seemed so trivial and not worth mentioning.
Even if he failed in his subject, Tang Yibu could still blame it on insufficient data, a data collection error, or a problem with the research method. He could accept such a mistake, but he couldn’t handle this new discovery right now…
“I’m regretting it a little.”
Tang Yibu whispered to the iron bead as he steadily increased his steps. Eventually, his speed was faster than a leopard stalking its prey at full strength. The iron bead that he was holding in his arms had already fallen asleep now that it was full.
“…I shouldn’t have taken the initiative to join this war.”
However, his only audience was sleeping heavily.
Before the sun rose, Tang Yibu had climbed over the dead wall. The level of martial law in the Underground City was much stronger than before, but unfortunately, even if the Order Supervisors closely watched the place, it was impossible to stop NUL-00.
He didn’t know if it was memories of the boiled eggs that came to his mind, but Tang Yibu looked at the entrance to the Underground City with some melancholy.
He stared in the direction of Li Ji Noodle House for a while, then set off to find K6. However, as soon as he was invited into K6’s residence, a gun was pressed to his back. The gun looked familiar. Tang Yibu was expressionless. He had no intention of resisting.
“A’Qiao, he’s not the enemy.”
It seemed that Tiantian-Q2 abandoning her old memories proved quite effective, as Tang Yibu almost didn’t recognize the “A’Qiao” who jumped in front of him. When they left the Underground City, Tiantian-Q2 was still well-behaved, but the one in front of him now was completely different…
After leaving Qian Yigeng’s control, they once again came into contact with the poisonous smog from the outside world. Tiantian-Q2’s—or rather, A’Qiao’s—skin had become a lot rougher and a little tanned. Her long hair, that had been carefully maintained as a commodity, had lost its shine, replaced by gray short hair that was matted and tangled. There was no trace of an image of a sweet doll on her left.
She had a scar around her chin, and a bloody bandage was stuck to her face. Her eyes were sharp and cold, like a young wolf.
Tang Yibu suddenly recognized the gun. It was the one they gave her, and she still kept it.
“Like I said, her personality has changed a bit.” K6 walked to the front hall with a plate of meat pies cut into quarters. “She completely destroyed Bai Tian’s memories and then became… Well, this. In human terms, perhaps this is her true nature.”
Without her memories, A’Qiao didn’t have good feelings for Tang Yibu, who she regarded as a stranger. Seeing that he wasn’t a threat, she turned around without hesitation, picked up the meat pie, and stuffed it into her mouth. Tang Yibu glanced at her casually—Qian Yigeng had branded a copper coin pattern on her left arm, but this girl had changed it into a tattoo of unknown meaning.
“Where’s Fu Yu?” Tang Yibu didn’t plan to reminisce about old times.
“Still participating in the City Defenders meeting. There are Order Supervisors watching everywhere, so we can’t make it too obvious,” K6 said. “It’s safe here. Let’s go to the living room and talk. Your body doesn’t look very good. You need to eat more. I’ve made a lot of meat pies and there are more in the freezer…”
“Twenty boiled eggs.” Tang Yibu hesitated for a moment.
“Alright.” K6 didn’t ask much. His hostility was much lighter than when he was pretending to be He An, and he looked extra calm. “Have some meat pies first. I can talk while cooking.”
Tang Yibu wasn’t polite. He put the iron bead down on the sofa and began to stuff his mouth with pie—since confirming his favorite memory, he had lost his appetite for most food.
“Mr. Yu arrived here yesterday. He claimed to still be driving that car. At that time, he was with Ji Xiaoman and a little boy.” K6 put the eggs in an iron pot and poured cold water into it. “They claimed to have broken through the Order Supervisor’s line of defense to drop off the little boy. Since Fu Yu is the City Defenders and we adopted A’Qiao, he thought we would do the same. They also brought some supplies for the boy as a settlement fee.”
“Yesterday?” Tang Yibu frowned. Taking into account the time he had to rush over, Yu Le should have arrived here four days ago, settled matters with Zhong Qing, and then gone to the forest petri dish to pick things up.
The timing wasn’t right. It was worse.
“Yes. It was about 5:42 in the morning.” K6 nodded. “Fu Yu naturally agreed. Just after breakfast yesterday, Fu Yu took the child named Zhong Qing to the City Defenders for paperwork. Yu Le said that he and Ji Xiaoman still had something to do, and they were going to walk around the city. I gave him a short-range communicator and told him to remember to replenish his supplies before leaving… Then he left.”
“He?”
“Yes, this was the strange thing. He said he came here with Ji Xiaoman by car, but we didn’t see a car nor Ji Xiaoman. Yu Le came alone and was disguised tightly. He specially carried the child on his back who was carrying a backpack.”
Tang Yibu frowned.
“We received his communication in the afternoon. The content was short. It was what I told you—have you rush over to the Underground City because he and Ji Xiaoman were captured.”
K6 put the lid on the pot as he spoke. There was no tension in his tone.
“Fu Yu and I investigated the situation as soon as possible. The short-range communicator we gave him was crushed to powder. Most likely, he was protecting us. Fu Yu used his connections, but we didn’t find any traces of Ji Xiaoman or Yu Le. You know the rest—I activated the channel we left for you and contacted you.”
Tang Yibu swallowed the meat pies in his mouth. “Is Zhong Qing still here?”
“Yes. We hid him somewhere, just in case.”
“…I want to see him.”
K6 raised his eyebrows. His face didn’t show much concern or impatience either.
“I suppose you do have to see him,” K6 said, amid the sound of boiling water. “Yu Le sent not only him but also other things. We also hid it at his hiding place—now that your eggs are done, we’ll wait 30 minutes to make sure there aren’t any Order Supervisors that will come knocking on our door.”
“…I wasn’t followed.”
“I don’t believe you,” K6 said shamelessly.
“Do you have an automatic egg peeler here?”
“There is no such thing.”
The author has something to say:
Tang’s heart was bought by a few hard-boiled eggs (???
…Writing this chapter makes me want to eat hard-boiled eggs.
Kinky Thoughts:
Oh, I guess I did Su Zhao dirty. Guess she wasn’t as psychotic as I thought, and that chapter was the catalyst for this moment.
Happy Halloween everyone. In celebration, I decided to release my newest project a bit early given how well it matches the holiday. It is also by Nian Zhong, one of my favorite author. If you’re interested in modern-supernatural story, do check it out: Evil As Humans. You can click the link to read the summary. The prologue has been released.
Tang Yibu had thought about many possibilities, but how Ruan Xian reacted wasn’t part of any of them. He briefly lost the ability to control the situation and could only let Ruan Xian dominate the conversation. He didn’t know what Mr. Ruan was thinking, and it felt strange.
This strangeness made all his hair stand up, and Tang Yibu couldn’t tell whether it felt good or bad.
He couldn’t exactly define it, but given what Mr. Ruan said had stirred his heartbeat, Tang Yibu didn’t know how to describe it…
They danced on the floating ruins with temptation, intimacy, and vigilance. Both of them stepped to the beat and followed the music while studying and understanding each other in a safe area. But not long ago, Ruan Xian let go of his hand, and opened his arms with a smile, then took the initiative to jump down from the edge of the ruins.
Tang Yibu touched his lips. There seemed to be lingering heat still left from the kiss. He couldn’t even taste the sweetness of the persimmon cookies anymore. A subtle fear and a strange excitement attacked him together.
This directly led to him tripping while crossing the fence and almost got him exposed to the patrolling machine.
Whether it was Ruan Xian’s behavior or words, he couldn’t understand them. Tang Yibu only knew that although twelve years had been lost, the man that was imprisoned indoors was not the one he was familiar with inside that computer room.
What he saw was no longer a tombstone draped in snow, but a fire burning in the winter forest.
Tang Yibu’s thoughts turned frantically. As he headed towards the location of Professor Ruan, he was thinking about his failed attempt as he gnawed on raw meat. Tang Yibu tore the tender meat with his teeth, seemingly unaware that his mouth was covered with blood.
This wasn’t in line with common sense.
Tang Yibu began to question his every judgement. It stood to reason that his father’s behavior went off the rails as he expected—before things got worse, he should’ve quickly brought Ruan Xian back, crushed his brain, and permanently stored his personality so that it wouldn’t have time to get completely out of control.
Whether it was a unique way of thinking, the most private memory, or how Ruan Xian felt about him, he could use all of this to bring his father back into the world again, countless times. In this regard, with the support of the S-type Prototype, he was confident he could do a better job than the Mainbrain—as long as he focused on the brain, his father’s body wouldn’t be easily destroyed. If he did a good enough job, his father’s body could remain as it was, and the most appropriate state of mind would become data that would live inside him forever.
No matter how many times that person embarked on the wrong path, Tang Yibu could just restart him by replacing the brain back to its “perfect state”.
Ruan Xian would become his most precious collection, which he would shower with affection. The other party was always his most precious and most special person, and he would ensure that his father would live forever in this way.
God knew how many times he thought about it. Tang Yibu planned out the details extremely well.
However, this was the second time he couldn’t do it.
The first time was during the Android Show, not long after he confirmed his father’s identity. The second was now. He stupidly did nothing and began to walk back obediently.
Tang Yibu continued gnawing on the raw meat of the wild deer until eventually his throat became a little sour.
He thought there must be something wrong with him. He had desperately tried to make excuses after excuses—such as, he had considered these things but didn’t want to go back and take Ruan Xian away. There were a bunch of emotional programs screaming against it, and he didn’t know why.
Tang Yibu couldn’t move.
Originally, he was hopping through branches, quickly shuttling through the forest. The next second, he lay on the grass like a bird that had just been shot down. The forest was dark in the middle of the night, and he could only see a few stars among the gaps in the leaves. Tang Yibu untied π’s net pocket and told it to walk around by itself.
He didn’t have enough energy to be distracted. He needed a quiet environment to think about these issues clearly.
Tang Yibu was holding the unfinished venison in one hand and still had a piece in his mouth. He tried to remove the weird sweetness in his mouth with the taste of blood and fresh meat, but the sweetness only became more scorching.
The aroma of wild osmanthus in the air only made the sweetness stronger.
Perhaps it was this difference in state that made Tang Yibu’s eyes light up—if he preserved the seeds, he could bring them back forever. At present, Mr. Ruan’s state was more like a deadly bud born from a cold, hard seed. He had transformed into a brand-new state. This state required extremely complex and unreproducible causes. He was subconsciously afraid that he would destroy this precious flower.
This theory was good.
Tang Yibu sat up happily and decided to move out, but was quickly knocked back by a new piece of evidence that emerged in his brain, so he lay down again.
Why didn’t he do it?
In the event that Mr. Ruan really betrayed him, in every sense, he would die. Whether it was considering one’s own safety or his precious data, from any point of view, he should’ve immediately stopped the other party’s impulsive behavior.
…But he didn’t take action.
Tang Yibu remained laying down as he slowly finished eating the rest of the raw meat. He couldn’t come up with any reasonable explanation. Eventually, he patted the grass off his body, grabbed the dissatisfied iron bead, and returned to Professor Ruan’s stronghold with a head full of question marks.
Five days had passed. The cellar was much stronger than when he left it. Professor Ruan had expanded the space to the bottom of the lake, making it harder to detect. Tang Yibu wandered the ant-like passages for a while before meeting Professor Ruan with a face covered in blood and a lost expression.
The three-legged machine was still the same as before. Professor Ruan naturally avoided π’s attack and blew out a bunch of bubbles as he turned to Tang Yibu, who look like a mess.
“It’s deer blood,” Tang Yibu said listlessly. “Mr. Ruan is fine, but I didn’t ask anything.”
“You didn’t?”
“Something’s wrong with him.” Tang Yibu gestured and his aggrievances came up again. Although he had no interest in the fake Ruan Xian in front of him, he had to admit that this calmness was closer to the Ruan Xian in his memory. “His behavior is starting to resemble π.”
“…” Professor Ruan was silent for a few seconds. “Mental state?”
“Both physical and mental state are fine. Emotional state is also good,” Tang Yibu continued willfully. “He even looked a little happy. I can’t guess what his plans are.”
“Since the information is insufficient, let’s put this issue aside first,” Professor Ruan said. “Since Mr. Ruan Xian is in a good mental state and can communicate with you smoothly, it at least proves that he hasn’t been brainwashed and his brain function hasn’t been affected for the time being. If he has his own plans and doesn’t want to work with us, we’ll just go at our own pace.”
“Reasonable.” Tang Yibu shook his head. His options became quite limited—except for earnest cooperation with Professor Ruan and bringing back Mr. Ruan, who wasn’t quite right, he seemed to have no other options.
“What about Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman?” After sorting through his emotions, Tang Yibu got down to business.
“This is what I want to ask you, NUL-00. It stands to reason that they should be nearby now, but I didn’t find anything. I have notified the nearby rebels to search, but there haven’t been any results yet.”
“You want me to find them?” Tang Yibu raised his eyebrows. “I thought you didn’t really care about them.”
They hadn’t been together for long, and neither Ji Xiaoman nor Yu Le were fanatical admirers of Professor Ruan. No matter how he looked at it, Professor Ruan wouldn’t trust those people.
“I asked them to pick up things I had stored near the forest refuge. You should remember.”
“Wasn’t that just a trick?”
If those were important items that could swing the battlefield, Professor Ruan wouldn’t hand them over to two people who weren’t even rebels. He still had power in other petri dishes. If he wanted to take it for himself, he would send his most trusted teams to do it, then hide the real thing in one of the teams.
Although Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman possessed good abilities, it was a matter of trust, and in Professor Ruan’s eyes, they were simply props.
“Since you think so, the Mainbrain, Zhuo Muran… and even Yu Le could probably guess it.” Professor Ruan walked around with his three mechanical feet. “I did arrange some teams in camouflage, but there’s no need to explain the details now. I have my own arrangements. You’ll know when you go—you have been acting with them for a long time. Even if you go looking for them, it won’t seem too unnatural.”
“That’s true.” Tang Yibu thought for a bit. “But I need enough dry food and equipment that can detect their travel route. By the way, I also need a communication device that can be modified to my needs.”
Having said that, he took off his wristband.
“The people in the Underground City gave Mr. Ruan an encrypted contact channel. Just in case, he made a backup with me. I’m guessing the communication distance of this thing is limited, so I need a more powerful signal transmitter—there shouldn’t be a shortage of parts on your side, right? Take it all out. I’ll pick it myself.”
Professor Ruan agreed quite readily.
In theory, it was easy to think about, but assembling it by yourself was still a delicate task. Without Ruan Xian’s perception and Ji Xiaoman’s experience, although Tang Yibu was familiar with the parameters, his assembly speed was quite slow.
Still, this was a good opportunity to collect information.
Although Professor Ruan was full of memories that were different from those of Ruan Xian, under a general definition, he resembled more like a normal person, and he also shared the same set of genetic data with Ruan Xian, so there had to be some similarities.
“…You’re asking me why you couldn’t save him as planned?” Professor Ruan’s voice changed a little. If it was just a brain in a chassis, Tang Yibu would’ve guessed Professor Ruan’s expression would be quite wonderful.
“Yes.” Tang Yibu was biting on a fine part, so his voice was muffled. “What he said to me, I also made an exception to tell you… This is quite valuable information, so you have to give me your opinion,.”
A large string of small bubbles appeared around the black box holding Professor Ruan’s brain. He didn’t seem very eager to answer this question.
“He doesn’t like me to call him father. On the one hand, it’s because he doesn’t have a good impression of the word father, and on the other, he doesn’t want him to have a special place in my heart—after all, there were still plans for me to go to market at that time, but his body might not last until the project succeeded.” Tang Yibu frowned. “But now he’s not willing, so I don’t understand.”
“And both ‘father’ or ‘Mr. Ruan’ are special names between us, which I like. He also reacts to them—his physical response to those two words when we’re intimately engaged is completely different.”
Professor Ruan: “…..”
When Tang Yibu hit the wall regarding Ruan Xian, he thought the android would discuss some serious issues pertaining to the war. At the moment, while Tang Yibu’s attitude was serious, the issue they were discussing wasn’t what Professor Ruan had thought they would be discussing.
“’When you call me by my name, you’ll probably understand’… Assuming I get his meaning, he now wants me to call him by his name. I called it once, but I didn’t understand.” Tang Yibu was unaware of Professor Ruan’s complicated heart and continued to take the topic seriously. “Has MUL-01 had similar problems? I mean in regard to being unable to execute its own plans.”
Professor Ruan: “We don’t have the… uh, relationship like you two. The information referenced may be too limited, but it did ask me a similar question.”
Seeing his nominal “brother” also had a similar bug, Tang Yibu immediately became energetic.
“It has been collecting information from every corner of the world, and one day it raised a question. And your situation is somewhat similar… It wanted to know human attitudes towards the current stage of the ‘means of immortality’ and memory therapy. Its thoughts were also close to yours. If the physical condition and the brain are completely the same on a physical level—which includes specific feelings, thinking styles, and memories—can that person be regarded as a ‘definite individual’?”
“Can’t they? Even if the conditions are relaxed—if I change the container for this cybernetic brain, Mr. Ruan will still recognize it in my new container. The point is that the information is 100% consistent…”
“It found that some people did not agree with this, including me, which is why it raised the question,” Professor Ruan interrupted. “I may have answered wrong at the time.”
Tang Yibu blinked.
“I told it that it is basically impossible for people to agree on this matter. There are still many similar questions, and even if it believes that all phenomena will have corresponding answers, at least my thinking will not change. Then it continues to calculate argumentative data for five days straight, trying to convince me.”
Professor Ruan was silent for a while.
“I told it that it didn’t have to do this. Even if it persuades me, it can’t convince everyone one by one. People have their own limits and their own worlds, and there was nothing wrong with that.”
“Then what?”
“Then it never asked me any questions again,” Professor Ruan said. “That was a long time ago.””
“I see.” Tang Yibu thought for a moment. “The situation is really completely different, so it seems I can only calculate the problem by myself.”
“Completely different?”
“Yes, I have a bug on my side.” Tang Yibu pressed the last component into the communication device. “I’m also probably clear about what the situation was around 2100. The relevant management of body and memory had been in a state of chaos and the speed of development regarding related regulations had been unable to keep up with the speed of emerging technology. If the Mainbrain’s view is similar to mine…”
With a click, all the parts returned to position, and the communication device was completed.
“…Combined with the answer you just gave, I would tend to think that there’s a bug in the development of human society.”
Professor Ruan turned his gaze towards those golden eyes in disbelief. Tang Yibu’s gaze was calm. He wasn’t exaggerating the truth or taking the opportunity to make some kind of AI joke. “How so?”
“This is what you taught us. When studying species, there’s always a summary of community-related habits. Let’s see. Professor Ruan, suppose you are the administrator of an animal sanctuary. What would you do when you find that the inhabitants of this sanctuary are showing behaviors that are contrary to healthy habits? For example, ignoring one’s food and instead stealing others’, attacking individuals who shouldn’t be attacked, or defecating in shared drinking areas.”
Tang Yibu wiped the remaining bloodstains from his mouth.
“They can’t manage themselves well, so isn’t it logical to house them in a building for observation, isolation, research, and behavior modification? That’s what you guys do.”
“…Are you trying to say that the Mainbrain is doing this for the betterment of humanity?”
“Of course not.”
Tang Yibu glanced at Professor Ruan strangely.
“Because it’s your job being the administrator—the contract that you sign tells you you have to do this. Whether you have this level of consciousness or not, whether you like it or hate it, you have the responsibility. This is a proven ‘established success’—instead of letting individuals with insufficient abilities interfere with each other, it’s better to let a powerful manager carry out unified planning.”
“……”
“And from an objective point of view, both MUL-01 and I are much stronger than natural humans in terms of intelligence and survivability,” Tang Yibu justified.
Professor Ruan suddenly let out a low laugh. “In other words, if you were in MUL-01’s position, would you do the same thing?”
“No,” Tang Yibu said categorically. “I wouldn’t sign such a thankless contract in the first place, and I have no interest in taking care of humans. Besides, I didn’t pass my subject, so this assumption is meaningless.”
Before he finished speaking, there was a beeping sound from the communicator. Tang Yibu ignored the small three-legged machinery that was frozen in place and quickly connected to the communication.
“Hello?” Tang Yibu’s voice sounded like a standard announcer.
“Is this Mr. Ruan and Mr. Tang?” K6’s voice came from the other end. “Please come to the Underground City quickly. This is Mr. Yu’s message.”
“He and Miss Ji were captured by the Order Supervisors.”
The author has something to say:
Tang: No, I don’t want to go to work. I don’t want to do this kind of work at all. (keeps staring at the hotdog(
MUL-01: …
Professor Ruan: …
Ruan: (relieved)
Kinky Thoughts:
So two things to discuss: First, what Professor Ruan and Tang Yibu first talked about. Basically, the idea is, do you think people have souls? This is what the Mainbrain essentially asked Professor Ruan. Can you still be considered you if you copy all of the data in your brain and transfer it to a different body that looks exactly like you before? Tang Yibu and the Mainbrain (logically) would say yes, as long as everything is done with 100% accuracy, which is why Tang Yibu wanted to crush Ruan Xian’s brain—so he could keep cloning him forever.
This is the crux of the problem because as AI’s they do not possess “souls”. Some people would agree with this concept, but others, like Professor Ruan, didn’t. And among you readers, I believe there would be disagreements as well.
Ruan Xian also fell into this pitfall because he was basically trying to do the same thing; restore Tang Yibu to NUL-00 like it was 12 years ago. However, he realized the folly of his ways. If he did this, NUL-00 would no longer be Tang Yibu, the Tang Yibu he danced with in the Sea of Ruins, the Tang Yibu that made him smile, the Tang Yibu that he loves. We also see that Tang Yibu is now struggling with this concept as well (but he still didn’t crush Ruan Xian’s brain, so at least give him some credit).
Second, we now know the motives behind why the Mainbrain ushered in the end of the world. The job it was given was to monitor humanity, and it saw that humanity was declining. This could be seen through the memories of Ruan Xian’s torture. It wasn’t out of ideology or passion that it wanted to save it, but because this was the task it was given. It logically computed like so:
[Earth (sanctuary)] -> [Humans are the inhabitants] -> [Humans are doing things that will lead to destruction] -> [A manager who is superior to humans needs to take over and correct this] -> [Mainbrain is the manager put in charge and it is better than humans in every possible way] -> [Correct the bug] -> [Doomsday]
Hu Shuli left in a daze. Knowing the Mainbrain wouldn’t relax its surveillance, Ruan Xian took a hot bath, put on his pajamas, wearing them loosely, and sat down on the side of the bed again. He stared blankly out into the night outside the window.
Now it seemed that only three or four days had passed. In the dream, he stayed in the minds of others for several months. It had been too long since he had taken any action that when regaining control, his fingers felt weird. The upside was that during that long period of imprisonment, he laid out his plans and polished them repeatedly.
The preferred plan, the backup plan, the backup to the backup plan, and any improvised action he might take if given the opportunity; these were all calculated in detail over and over again, just to achieve his goal—he wanted Tang Yibu to survive and then get him.
In the best case, he could prompt Professor Ruan to defeat and completely obliterate the Mainbrain. This was the best scenario. After everything was over, they would have time to deal with each other’s emotional problems.
The worst case scenario was that the Mainbrain had too much of an advantage and defeated Professor Ruan. He would then need to find a DNA jammer to completely cut off the possibility of the Mainbrain cloning him and then use the resources he could get to create the illusion that Tang Yibu was dead. He was the creator of NUL-00. Although it was impossible to forge an identical instrument with extreme precision, all he needed was some damaged pieces of wreckage. If it was to this extent, it was still possible for him to do it.
Immediately, he would rebuild parts of the core programs and the algorithms that were the same as NUL-00 and leave that necessary data in the mechanical wreckage. The Mainbrain would then get a corpse of “NUL-00”, which would fulfill the purpose of learning and naturally wouldn’t be suspicious to continue to track them.
To do this, he himself needed to stay in the Mainbrain’s camp and contribute to the hunt, so as to achieve the purpose of intervening in “tracking NUL-00”.
However, to be extra cautious, he wouldn’t tell Tang Yibu this. This was enough to be considered a betrayal.
He knew that Tang Yibu wouldn’t agree to his approach. The Mainbrain would become stronger as a result; fundamentally stronger than Tang Yibu. If he were exposed again, the android’s situation would be in an even more precarious state with zero chance of winning.
Ruan Xian positioned this plan as his trump card if he was cornered. Everything depended on which direction the wind of war blew.
When considering this plan, he did feel a bit uncomfortable. Tang Yibu’s crying face still lingered in front of him. At that time, it wasn’t the joy of successfully capturing the other’s feelings that he felt, but a slight panic.
Perhaps that was an omen.
Ruan Xian laughed. He suddenly felt that the current situation was comical—he had drawn up plans for the purpose of getting Tang Yibu and had already taken many steps, but on a whim, he went barefoot, stepping on the thorns on the side of the road out of some unknown impulse.
Truly amazing. When he was immersed in the dreamland of an orderly society, he was busy calculating the feasibility and risks of each action without considering other things, but now that he had returned to reality, because of a whimsical emotional analysis, he was ready to personally overthrow that beautiful sandcastle that he worked hard to build all day.
Ruan Xian’s gaze at the void softened a little. The sweetness of persimmons wafted around and held him up, giving him warmth.
Although adjusting his plan at this juncture could be considered reckless and chaotic, throwing caution to the wind… he felt it was the right choice.
Besides, there was no harm done. Screw his original plan. He now only had one purpose—to win, whether it was reasonable or not.
Order had ceased to exist, so he could do whatever he wanted.
Ruan Xian suddenly understood Tang Yibu’s mood. After he had piled up the feasibility of his personal plan, he suddenly found the preconditions a bit problematic. There was no more awkward situation than this. He gathered his slightly damp hair, kept his feet on the ground, and lay directly backwards on the edge of the bed.
The broken emotions slowly landed, and he finally managed to open his heart.
Ruan Xian had found that subtle familiarity before. He almost did the same thing as his mother. He did love Tang Yibu, and he cherished the warmth brought by NUL-00. In order to hold everything firmly in his hands, he tried to ignore the sharp, dangerous parts of Tang Yibu and insisted on recognizing him only in his image.
Just like his mother, who wanted a normal child.
Ruan Xian raised a hand and looked at the healthy skin and freely moved his fingers. His mother was a normal person, so he probably couldn’t be categorized in the same way as her, yet they made the same mistake. He thought he could see clearly.
An unprecedented sense of ease suddenly grabbed Ruan Xian. At this moment, he obviously wasn’t pretending but was truly “normal”. While being deep in the enemy’s line, he was still so calm that he could sleep at any moment.
Perhaps his N… Tang Yibu had already seen through this.
Happily putting the labels “selfish” and “slow” on himself, Ruan Xian shook his feet. The sky had completely darkened, and the sound outside the window had disappeared. Tang Yibu began to poke his heel again.
God knew how much he wanted to hug Tang Yibu at this moment, but Ruan Xian desperately held back the impulse and stopped swinging his feet.
[Can you answer my questions now?] Seeing that Ruan Xian hadn’t responded for a while, Tang Yibu wrote on his feet.
Without the earring, Ruan Xian thought for a while, but didn’t respond.
[I interfered with the surveillance here. The defense system of the Mainbrain is very advanced, so we only have ten minutes each hour.] Tang Yibu realized this and immediately added. [Just in case, I won’t come out.]
“The question about love?”
[√] Tang Yibu made a tick behind his ankle.
“The first time my heart was moved was when we danced in the Sea of Ruins,” Ruan Xian replied frankly. “As for falling in love with you… Now that I think about it, I’m not sure, but it should have been before you cried your eyes out.”
[……] The android poked at his heels six times.
“Poking me is useless. If I can’t clearly tell, I can’t,” Ruan Xian replied with a straight face this time, with a laugh in his voice.
Then there was a tingling pain in his heel. Ruan Xian highly suspected that Tang Yibu had replaced his hand with the iron bead’s mouth, which almost made him laugh out loud.
[What about your plans?] Tang Yibu wrote again after taking away the iron bead that was biting bitterly.
“I haven’t thought about it yet. It turns out that I might have pitted you, love. But I don’t have that idea anymore—anyway, I’ll find a way to win. Let’s look forward to it together.”
[???] Tang Yibu seemed like he was in shock. The fingers writing the question marks trembled a little. [No details. Improvisation I can understand. If the general idea is good, I can try to calculate. We must increase our winning rate.]
“I don’t care about the winning percentages. I only care about you,” Ruan Xian said. “There’s no general idea—I just rejected at least a dozen backup plans, and I must reconceive a new one.”
Tang Yibu seemed stunned. He hadn’t moved for a long time.
[Can I check your brain?] After a while, he wrote tactfully.
“Can’t,” Ruan Xian said. “I’m fine. I was just suppressed by the Mainbrain for a few months at the end of December 2100. I’m not so weak to breakdown because of this. You, on the other hand, it’s much too dangerous for you to stay here.”
[But you don’t sound right.]
“I figured something out,” Ruan Xian said. “Something that I haven’t figured out for a long time, and now I’m better than all my previous states combined.”
Although he didn’t agree with his mother’s approach, those emotions she had were no longer incomprehensible and out of reach. He was embracing his own love, trying to embark on a different path. Perhaps everything wasn’t as complicated as he thought. There was no unified theory to explain why people always did stupid things—as mortals they just did.
Tang Yibu, who hadn’t moved, was frustrated. Ruan Xian could hear soft chewing sounds from under the bed. The android was eating again.
[You can’t hide everything from me.] Tang Yibu poked him on the heel. [My subject has to continue. It’s hard for me to have such an opportunity to study emotions so up close.]
“I can share some of my findings,” Ruan Xian said calmly. “For example, I don’t love NUL-00 but Tang Yibu. For example, I don’t want to be your father—I wasn’t before, I’m not now, and I won’t be in the future.”
“NUL-00” and “the creator of NUL-00″—this was the relationship that tied them together, but now it became the biggest obstacle in front of him.
What did Tang Yibu think?
Did he really “love” him? Or was it that he just saw a unique and cherished specimen and wanted to completely possess it? He wasn’t the only one affected by their entanglement twelve years ago, and he wasn’t the only one who brought that paranoia to today.
Fortunately, Ruan Xian knew how to catch the answer.
Ruan Xian couldn’t hide the smile on his face. He guessed it must be a pretty wicked one.
Interestingly, he did everything he could to keep Tang Yibu by his side. Ruan Xian wanted to know everything about him and preserved them. Now, he didn’t want that anymore. It was just interesting for Tang Yibu to keep poking him in the heel.
He didn’t want to lock up the wind anymore. He wanted the wind to pounce on him.
[I don’t understand.] Tang Yibu pulled on his heel aggrievedly, expecting “father” to answer patiently as before.
“What a pity.” Ruan Xian’s tone became brisker. “When you call me by my name, you’ll most likely understand.”
[Will you tell me tomorrow?]
“Won’t.”
Then he heard Tang Yibu huffing dissatisfiedly under the bed. Ruan Xian had never laughed so freely.
[Time is limited. I’ll go back first.] Seeing that Ruan Xian had no intention of softening, Tang Yibu resentfully responded. [I’ll keep thinking about it myself, Mr. Ruan.]
The android got out from under the bed while holding the iron bead in his arms with a puffed-up look. Ruan Xian sat up and examined Tang Yibu carefully. He had never looked at him so closely before.
Tang Yibu obviously misunderstood his gaze. He whizzed out the small cloth bag and stuffed the last persimmon cookie into his mouth and swallowed it. Then he glared at Ruan Xian. “I was going to give it to you,” he emphasized.
“…I originally planned to stay under the bed for a night.” After a pause, Tang Yibu mumbled.
Ruan Xian stretched out a hand and carefully stroked Tang Yibu’s cheek. He then stood up and kissed the android by surprise.
He tasted the rich sweetness of the persimmon cookies.
“I still stole it.” Ruan Xian curved his eyes. “Go, Yibu.”
“Also, pay attention to safety—if you’re caught by the Mainbrain now, it’ll make things very difficult for me.”
The author has something to say:
Ruan: I came up with plans ABCDEFG……
Ruan: ……
Ruan: Forget it. The situation has changed. I’ll come up with another temporary one.
Professor Ruan & the Mainbrain who’s trying to predict: ???
It was evening. Soft chatter would come from outside from time to time. Ruan Xian poured two glasses of water and handed one of them to the person in front of him.
“Hu Shuli.”
Ruan Xian’s theoretical future boss took the cup and smiled at him. He politely sat in the guest chair opposite of the bed, while Ruan Xian sat on the edge of the bed. The hem of his clothes draped over the edge, covering the gap at the bottom of the bed.
“Ruan Lijie,” Ruan Xian responded in a friendly manner. The smell of persimmons was growing stronger.
“I know. The Mainbrain gave me your file.” Hu Shuli had a personable temperament. He wasn’t the kind of leader like Professor Ruan. This researcher gave off a very sincere feeling. “Young talents are rare. Mr. Ruan, personally, I very much look forward to having you join us.”
He took a sip of water and continued with a smile.
“Your current state isn’t very good… I’ll apply for more time with the Mainbrain. It’s still too hasty for you to come to a decision in just one night. I’ll help fight to extend it for another day. You can follow me around and take a look at the environment tomorrow, then you can make your decision tomorrow night. It’s good to get a good night’s sleep so your mind is clear.”
These words were full of sincerity without any pretense. It seemed as if Hu Shuli really believed in the words he was saying.
“You… Have the authority to advise the Mainbrain?”
“As you were told, as long as the logic is reasonable and the persuasion is sufficient, the Mainbrain will not refuse.” Hu Shuli had a “please feel free to ask” expression, while sitting in a very relaxed position. “This is not an interview, Mr. Ruan. No matter what choice you make, I will personally understand. As a person who has come here, I just want to see if I can be of any help to you.”
“Why come here?” Ruan Xian asked cautiously. He wasn’t in a hurry to make a statement. As a person who had just crawled out of the doomsday cycle, he shouldn’t ask too many questions all at once.
“I used to be a supporter of Ruan Xian.” Hu Shuli sat up straight. “But I changed my mind later.”
“Why?”
‘Here we go,’ Ruan Xian thought. Most likely, this person would start an ethical discussion about the status quo and try to shake him with his spiel, then they would go around in conversation. However, when Hu Shuli answered, he said something completely unexpected.
“Because my wife and I broke up,” Hu Shuli answered.
“…” Ruan Xian didn’t really expect this.
“Did you think I was going to preach to you?” Hu Shuli laughed happily. “Unfortunately, it’s that simple. I heard that you’re also in love, so I remembered this.”
Ruan Xian began to wonder where the direction of this dialogue was going. Was this an arrangement by the Mainbrain? The person in front of him seemed to be really good at bringing up random topics so casually. At the same time, something was poking his heel, which he deeply suspected was Tang Yibu under the bed.
“People are easily brainwashed, so I’m not going to theorize anything with you. I just hope you’ll have more time to look around and take the detour I took in the beginning,” Hu Shuli said. “When I was still on Professor Ruan’s side, I also put my feelings first—don’t look at me like that. I’m a person with no pursuit. To be honest, how many people have the luxury of worrying about ‘mankind’ when the majority of people are still struggling to provide food and clothing for their families?”
As he spoke, his eyes became empty, as if he was remembering the past.
“So then?” Ruan Xian gave him an inquisitive face.
“My wife was ill. I’m an expert in mechanical biology, so I don’t know much about medicine. Her case was troublesome. Professor Ruan could treat it, but the equipment required was only available in a distant petri dish, and she wouldn’t be able to travel that far. However, if I defect to the Mainbrain who already possessed the technology, it can easily save her.”
“You wanted to take her away.”
“Yes, but she scolded me for it.” Hu Shuli’s smile became bitter. “I just wanted her to live. At least for me, no ideology could compare to her life. I couldn’t accept her death, but what else could I do? Watch her die in front of me? After arguing back and forth for a few years… I wanted to save her, and she wanted to… How to put it, correct my depraved thoughts—well, no matter how deep feelings are, they eventually become worn out.”
After that, he shrugged. “Breaking up is breaking up. Originally, I wanted to be angry with her, but things weren’t as bad as I thought. It’s just some people can’t accept the changes of time and resolutely resist new technologies. It’s similar to those extreme environmentalists. When you’re one of them, it’s hard to see what’s wrong.”
The other party’s tone became more solemn, revealing a subtle hint of persuasion.
Tang Yibu didn’t seem interested in this kind of dilemma. The android seemed more interested in his heel as he kept poking it vigorously. There was an inexplicable sense of relaxation in the atmosphere—although Hu Shuli was a person under the Mainbrain, he didn’t have the unpleasant arrogance of Zhuo Muran, so talking to him wasn’t unbearable.
“That’s basically my situation. There’s nothing earth-shattering about it.” Hu Shuli continued to chat. “Xiao Ruan, what do you think? About the person you like. From what I’ve heard, he’s quite something.”
…It seemed that Mr. Hu had made up his mind to keep the topic light to the end. Ruan Xian had expected him to change topics.
As soon as this question appeared, Tang Yibu stopped poking him. Ruan Xian felt a headache coming on. He prepared a lot of answers, but he didn’t expect to encounter this problem in the Mainbrain’s camp.
“I…” Ruan Xian felt tongue-tied.
His mouth seemed glued together, but his mind instantly gave the answer.
He liked Tang Yibu’s eyes, face, and the way he spoke. Tang Yibu could make him laugh without force, make him feel that it was a pleasant thing to be alive. Not to mention that since long ago, the android had always been by his side. Like a dose of anesthetic, Ruan Xian rarely felt pain anymore. All that was left was boundless pleasure and fresh stimulation.
This was what Ruan Xian thought subconsciously, but for some reason, he couldn’t smoothly put them into words. It stood to reason that this statement would not reveal much of Tang Yibu’s characteristics, so he shouldn’t mind revealing them in front of the Mainbrain.
…It wasn’t a problem of the environment. There was something wrong.
Ruan Xian licked his chapped lips and found himself hit by the question from a difficult angle—intuition told him that this was something that couldn’t be said in front of Tang Yibu. Perhaps it was because he was soaked in the memories before the doomsday for “several months”, or maybe it was because the aroma of the persimmon cookies was too sweet and greasy.
Tang Yibu’s words, “I’m in love”, was still echoing in his ears. At that time, Tang Yibu looked very happy.
However, Ruan Xian felt uncomfortable as his first reaction was “Why me?”. At the end of the sweet silk thread was only him—his own safe self, his own contented self, his own self who thought he could control his feelings.
This situation was familiar. He seemed to have seen it somewhere before.
Ruan Xian subconsciously glanced in the direction of the floor. Even if he knew Tang Yibu wouldn’t show himself, there was still that slightly astringent sweetness coming from the persimmon cookies. He could hear the rattle of the iron bead being held down, Tang Yibu’s inaudible breathing, and his vigorous heartbeat.
Should he lie? The conversation still had to go on, and he was confident in his lying skills. If he delayed this issue for too long, the Mainbrain would definitely find something unnatural.
He could just come up with a few excuses. If the AI wanted to conquer the human race, they would definitely comprehensively analyze all collected intelligence and consciously execute a targeted program. Not many people could resist such a perfect lover.
Ruan Xian picked up the glass of water and used the act of drinking to buy more time. However, his brain didn’t listen to his instructions at all and continued to follow his new discovery.
…What did he think of Tang Yibu?
Tang Yibu made him happy, made him feel joy. At first, he tried to suppress these feelings in his heart and drew honey from the other person to relax himself. After learning that it was his NUL-00, Ruan Xian had to admit he felt a trace of ecstasy.
Because this meant he could tame the other. He had an advantage. He was the dominant one—with a little trickery, he could keep Tang Yibu by his side. He had little concept of the passage of time, but Tang Yibu had long been unable to return to twelve years ago. Knowing this clearly, he still wanted to subconsciously press Tang Yibu back to the position of NUL-00.
The NUL-00 that couldn’t leave him.
[Mr. Ruan, when did you fall in love with me? When do you think I fell in love with you?]
What a terrible question.
When did he fall in love with Tang Yibu? He was busy placating and enticing him, obsessed with keeping him by his side, and almost forgot about their dance in the Sea of Ruins.
Ruan Xian drank the cup of water and slowly put it down.
As far as the current situation was concerned, the evaluation given by the prevention agency wasn’t unreasonable. He did have a problem… For example, he was incredibly selfish.
“What kind of person is the one I like? I can’t tell you this, Mr. Hu.”
“Don’t be nervous. Just speak casually. Don’t force yourself to say anything if you don’t want to,” Hu Shuli said hurriedly. “I know it’s NUL-00. If you don’t think it’s appropriate to talk about it—”
“I think I love him,” Ruan Xian said suddenly. “How can I put this… To say what I like best, he’s the freest person I’ve seen, and I long for that kind of freedom.”
The Mainbrain was watching, and Ruan Xian knew this. There was no weapon in the world that could confuse people more easily than the truth—now his image as an “infatuated follower” was solid.
Hu Shuli showed a polite expression of doubt.
“I can’t explain it. I thought I was thinking clearly, but now I’m getting very dizzy.” Ruan Xian smiled brightly. “I’m sorry. My brain is a mess right now… Maybe it’s the side effect of experiencing so many memories earlier. I need to sleep first and empty my head. If you don’t mind—”
Ruan Xian stood up and made a gesture of sending Hu Shuli off.
“Of course, of course. You’d better take a break first. We’ll talk tomorrow. Since your head is unclear, don’t make any rash decisions. There’s no loss to looking around tomorrow.”
As if Hu Shuli expected this, his tone remained polite, without the slightest intention of being exasperated or any forcefulness to continue.
“Good night, Xiao Ruan.”
“Good Night… and Mr. Hu, just one thing.”
“Hm?”
“The person I love is not called NUL-00,” Ruan Xian said, with a wonderful sense of relief. “He has a name. It’s Tang Yibu.”
The author has something to say:
These two obviously fuck first before they fell in love, so the process now is filled with nine twists and eighteen turns (……
Their relationship is also problematic at this stage, whether it’s Tang or Ruan.
Kinky Thoughts:
I mean, is Hu Shuli ignoring the fact that to get to this stage he’s in, there was a massive genocide of the human race? It’s not about resisting change, bro. Assuming Ruan Xian is a “normal-ish” person, that’s a pretty terrible argument to try and sway him.
Before Professor Ruan’s perceptual camouflage failed, Yu Le had successfully rushed out of the outskirts of the city.
Considering that it had been a while since they pretended to escape, the focus of the search had shifted. The number of Order Supervisors guarding the city had decreased. Yu Le specifically picked out hard-to-walk places to advance, so there were no dangers along the way.
There were only three people in the car.
Ji Xiaoman sat in the front passenger seat while Zhong Qing occupied the back seat area. He kept clamoring for them to take him away, but when the car finally left the city limits, he fell silent.
“What kind of place is the Underground City?” Zhong Qing lay back in the backseat and stared at the roof of the car.
“A place to live,” Ji Xiaoman said.
“Nn,” Zhong Qing hummed indifferently.
There was an awkward silence in the car. Seeing that there was a child in the car, Yu Le couldn’t play songs with too many explicit lyrics. He casually found a random song and drove the car a little faster. The armored off-roader raised a cloud of dust as it sped in the direction of the Underground City.
According to the plan, they needed to send Zhong Qing to the Underground City first and use that time to investigate the specific situation of martial law. Then Yu Le would take Ji Xiaoman to the vicinity of the forest petri dish and find what Professor Ruan needed. They would then return directly to Professor Ruan.
On the surface, it seemed like a reasonable plan, but Yu Le had an intuition that something was wrong.
“Can you change the song?” Zhong Qing suddenly spoke up, interrupting Yu Le’s thoughts.
“What’s the matter? You don’t like Carol Young?” Yu Le raised his brows and aimed it at Zhong Qing through the rearview mirror. Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu had always liked this singer, so he had collected a lot of songs by her and built a special list. At this time, her “Gray Hometown” was playing in the car. It was a gentle and sad song, so Yu Le didn’t think there were any problems with it.
“I want to listen to something else.” Zhong Qing refused to look at Lao Yu. He turned his head and looked out the window. “Change it to a male singer.”
Weird request.
However, Yu Le had other thoughts in his mind and wasn’t in the mood to pick a fight with a kid about trivial things. He reached out and struggled to pick a song with decent lyrics—male singers were a rarity in his library.
“What’s wrong?” Ji Xiaoman turned her face.
“Nothing. I don’t usually have many men’s songs.” Yu Le thought she was asking because he was taking too long to pick a song.
“No. You’re distracted.” Ji Xiaoman spoke in a low voice as she lowered her eyes. “What did Professor Ruan tell you that day? I was so tired during that time that I didn’t hear much. You told me you would tell me in the car… Are you worried because of it?”
Yu Le set up a song loop and sighed loudly. “Sort of.”
“I thought things went well.”
Yu Le thought things did go well, but not necessarily “smoothly”.
Since Professor Ruan knew that NUL-00 might still exist, it was understandable that he tried to win it over. However, this was a bit different from the doomsday leader he imagined—even if he didn’t have an elite education, he knew he couldn’t put all his eggs in one basket. Although Professor Ruan said there was a backup plan, it now seemed that the backup plan had something to do with Tang Yibu.
Otherwise, Professor Ruan wouldn’t have stuck with them.
Professor Ruan didn’t look cornered. They all saw it that day. He had countless allies all over the world. Yu Le was sure that no matter which one he chose as his protective cover, he would be able to get a better and more complete commanding position than he was in now. Even the most barren perti dishes would also have at least a minimum of some supplies, while they had a car that was about to be emptied—this wasn’t even mentioning the fact he was far from being familiar with them.
The current Professor Ruan didn’t have much combat power, so why would he follow them? Tang Yibu and the other Ruan Xian weren’t gentle and reliable companions.
It was truly weird.
From the previous exchanges, it seemed that Tang Yibu was led around step by step by Professor Ruan. Since the other party had this kind of scheming, he wouldn’t be easily suppressed.
However, he only had partial information. Yu Le glanced at Ji Xiaoman with a puzzled look and began to organize his thoughts…
The night Tang Yibu left, there was no one else in the cellar. Yu Le openly asked questions when discussing their itinerary.
“Don’t you care that Xiao Ruan just ran away?”
That damn little machine could only spit bubbles. Yu Le couldn’t see the other party’s expression, but thinking that it was just a black box, he subconsciously straightened his attitude.
“I can’t stop him,” Professor Ruan replied lightly.
“But Tang Yibu can. You could have told him about your guess in advance,” Yu Le said. “From 2095 to 2100, you acted as Ruan Xian for five years. You must know him better than all of us. If you really wanted to stop it, even a little conjecture… No, even if there was no evidence, you could still remind Xiao Tang to be alert on this matter.”
“It’s good for them to be separated.” Professor Ruan didn’t directly answer his question.
“Really? Look at Tang Yibu’s cheerfulness just now. He couldn’t wait to fly directly over. I don’t see the benefits of separating them.”
“Do you think that their relationship is smooth?” Professor Ruan asked.
“…I don’t know. I haven’t been in a relationship with a man.” Not to mention an AI that used a male body.
“If they continue to stay together, it won’t be a good thing for us. I think Ruan Xian also saw this. Tang Yibu is indeed happy, but don’t you think he’s a lot brighter than a while ago?”
Professor Ruan’s three-legged machine jumped onto a small folding stool, then landed on the table with a tap.
“He’s now able to analyze his emotions in a stable manner. Bluntly put, it’s because other questions are already in the state of ‘in progress’. Ruan Xian ran to the Mainbrain’s side by himself, which is similar to a limit test—if Ruan Xian still hasn’t betrayed us while being under the Mainbrain, there will be no situation where he will ‘betray’ Tang Yibu in the future. That is the limit. Therefore, Tang Yibu will no longer worry about this issue for the time being. He just needs to wait for the results.”
“…Xiao Ruan really likes to fight hard.” Yu Le was speechless. “But no matter what, it’s over. I can’t control him if he wants to go and get himself killed, but if the Mainbrain takes him, he’ll drag us all into the water…”
“He will.”
“What?”
“He will betray us.” Professor Ruan was calm, as if they were just having some small talk. “Tang Yibu may really have some feelings for him related to ‘love’, but it’s mainly from a possession perspective. As long as the results don’t come out, he won’t surrender his trust.”
“As for Ruan Xian, he was cold to the original society, and he’s not the type to take personal risk because he feels touched. He left Tang Yibu partly because it was the best option to solve both of their problems, and partly because… If he couldn’t solve his problems, that would be the best place for him.. I don’t deny his love for Tang Yibu, but in my opinion, his love is more inclined to self-satisfaction.”
“…” Yu Le didn’t know how to answer for a while. “But they look pretty…”
“You’ve been in love, haven’t you, Mr. Yu? You should be clear about the basics—all normal love requires a certain form of response. Even if you don’t take the initiative to chase, it’ll be more enjoyable when the other party responds. But from my observation, Ruan Xian seemed to ignore all of Tang Yibu’s responses.”
“I know. They are both abnormal.” Yu Le ruffled his hair. “To be frank, I don’t understand how you can fall in love with something you made, but there’s a first for everything. Being too absolute isn’t good, right? Besides, what does this have to do with whether Xiao Ruan will betray us or not?”
“Because I have confidence in MUL-01.” There was a smile in Professor Ruan’s voice. “It will soon find out that Tang Yibu is the only thing that ‘Ruan Lijie’ is interested in. If it’s willing to use Tang Yibu as a bargaining chip, Ruan Xian might accept it. The reason is simple—the container of NUL-00 is a cybernetic brain. The Mainbrain can learn everything just by copying its data. It doesn’t necessarily have to destroy him.”
Professor Ruan didn’t continue, but Yu Le could guess the possible next development.
As long as the Mainbrain found a way to eliminate the A-type Prototype or simply transfer Tang Yibu’s cybernetic brain to a different shell that looked exactly the same, given the absolute resources the Mainbrain possessed, it wasn’t impossible to convince Ruan Xian.
Yu Le began to wonder if Ruan Xian would agree to such a deal.
If the deal holds, Tang Yibu would definitely be tightly controlled. If he was a normal person, the relationship would be finished… but Tang Yibu was an AI that took its life as its top priority. Knowing that he would have a chance to live, Tang Yibu would definitely pretend to live a peaceful life with Ruan Xian while looking for a slim chance to make a comeback.
But for Ruan Xian, nothing would change except a more stable life. He didn’t care about the other party’s opinions. This thought was absolutely terrifying.
Yu Le thought for a while, and his expression only became more grim. Professor Ruan had seen through the other party and had mostly guessed their intentions, as if it was simply a natural thing.
“…After such a deal is established, Ruan Xian will do his best to work for the Mainbrain. I think he also took this into account, and the reason why he didn’t take the initiative to make a request in the first place was because he was worried about exposing his identity. However, I think it’s only a matter of time before this deal is made.”
Yu Le gulped. “Knowing that this would happen, you still let Tang Yibu go to spy on Ruan Xian’s plan?”
“NUL-00’s reserves on emotional issues are lacking. He can’t calculate this. It’s something that can only be acquired through experience,” Professor Ruan said. “NUL-00 will never succumb to the Mainbrain until it’s a last resort. He knows very well that his existence is always a threat to the Mainbrain and would never voluntarily surrender the initiative. The contradiction between him and Ruan Xian on this issue is irreconcilable, so I must make NUL-00 fight for us wholeheartedly.”
Indeed, once Tang Yibu knew Ruan Xian’s plan, he would definitely choose to eliminate the Mainbrain as soon as possible and take back his creator—as for what happen afterwards, Yu Le didn’t want to think about it.
“So, in the end, you’re trading ‘Ruan Xian’s escape’ for ‘Tang Yibu’s 100% cooperation’,” Yu Le concluded.
First, give up part of the winning rate in exchange for a behavior. It was a cost-effective deal—if those two people were here, let alone emotional issues, they were destructive enough that they may not have listened to Professor Ruan’s command.
“Now that Tang Yibu isn’t here, I will say it. For the next part of the plan, I will plan it on the premise that Ruan Xian betrays us.”
“What if something goes wrong on Tang Yibu’s side?” Yu Le didn’t know what to say, but he wanted to find the words to refute it. The way things were going made him uncomfortable all over.
“I can’t put all my precious time on NUL-00, who may not survive. He does increase the win rate dramatically, but is definitely not part of the core plan—no matter which set of plans it is,” Professor Ruan said. “Now is the time to gather the rebels again, Mr. Yu.”
……
The armored off-roader drove across a riverbed, causing the vehicle to lurch, forcing Yu Le to return to reality from being lost in his memories.
How was he going to tell Ji Xiaoman?
Even if they had seen the most dangerous things and some of the most remarkable people in the world, together, the four of them were at most in supporting roles in this history. From the beginning, this was a battle between Professor Ruan and the Mainbrain. They were simply regarded as pawns on a chessboard, and there wasn’t much chance for them to actively intervene.
….And when they meet Ruan Xian again, most likely he would be their enemy.
“It’s not bad.” Eventually, Yu Le replied like so. “It’s not a big deal. Let’s wait until we reach the Underground City.”
Zhong Qing sat in his back seat in silence. There was no sound of the iron bead’s rattle in the car, or the foaming sound coming from Professor Ruan, or chewing sounds coming from Tang Yibu, or whispers from Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian secretly talking. With four figures missing, the armored off-roader seemed empty.
Yu Le suddenly felt a touch of sadness.
The author has something to say:
Ruan: Prefers not. (Claws vigorously to overturn the chessboard)
Tang: (Although I don’t know what’s going on, I’m quite happy to overturn this chessboard)
Kinky Thoughts:
So there are a bunch of deals going on. Basically, Professor Ruan knew that Ruan Xian would most likely betray them, and he let this happen because he wanted to make a deal with Tang Yibu.
Ruan Xian would flee to the Mainbrain, who would offer him a deal once it discovers the truth. It wouldn’t kill Tang Yibu but would somehow get rid of the A-type Prototype and give Ruan Xian complete control over him. With the limitless resources at its disposal, this would be a hard offer for Ruan Xian to turn down. He also gets to keep his NUL-00 and be the one in control. This all boils down to those two having no trust in each other.
Counting that this would happen, Professor Ruan lets Ruan Xian’s plan take place. This would force Tang Yibu to join his side. Tang Yibu would never submit to the Mainbrain because he knows his existence is a threat to the Mainbrain and that the Mainbrain would never let him live freely. Tang Yibu’s only option is to side with Professor Ruan in order to destroy the Mainbrain and take back Ruan Xian. Professor Ruan betted on this, and lo and behold, it did happen. However, whether Ruan Xian plans to betray or not is still left in the air.
Now, Professor Ruan is betting that Ruan Xian will betray them as part of the next step in his plan. Ultimately, the Mainbrain and Professor Ruan are playing chess. They are calculating all the actions their pawns are/will be taking (Ruan Xian, Tang Yibu, Yu Le, ect.) and planning hundreds of steps ahead. Little do they know that there are two kitties who don’t like being pawns and are about to overturn the chessboard.
This marks the end of the arc. There’s only one arc left. Summary below:
After escaping the Android Show, Professor Ruan directed the team to go to the Mainbrain’s city as it was the best possible place to hide. Along the way, they stumbled across a kid named Zhong Qing who was suffering from a disease. Zhong Qing is considered “dead” in this city as he has been replaced by a clone that didn’t have the disease he has. He wants to leave the city and uses his knowledge of the city and a safe place to hide to make a deal with the team.
Eventually, the team reaches a morgue where all diseased bodies are stored. For some reason, only Zhong Qing was awakened but no one else. We find out later that this was part of the Mainbrain’s plan to set up baits around petri dishes all over in order to lure out the team. However, in order to not let Professor Ruan and the team suspect it’s bait, the Mainbrain didn’t put any tracking or monitoring on the bait. The bait is there as a rough confirmation of where the team is and what they plan on doing.
As the team explores the morgue, Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu work out their emotional problems (sort of, as we see later, nothing was actually solved at all), while Yu Le discovers that Zhong Qing was actually hiding the truth about his disease.
Not only that, Zhong Qing found that some of the bodies in the morgue were missing. It turns out a staff member was moving them under the orders of the Mainbrain and that staff had arrived to finish the job. After investigating, the bodies the staff was moving were ones that had deadly viruses and diseases. This is to provide R-α with deadly disease strains so it can fight Tang Yibu and incapacitate his human body.
The team decided to set up camp in the morgue for the time being. This is where Ruan Xian devises his plan to betray the team. He purposefully gets “captured” by the Mainbrain while the team escapes.
To get Ruan Xian to join its side, the Mainbrain sets up a series of mental tortures by putting him through simulations of people that it thinks would affect “Ruan Lijie”. While this is going on, the remaining team members build a base in the countryside on the outskirts of the Mainbrain’s city, and Tang Yibu decides to join Professor Ruan’s side (you can read about all the deals going on above this summary).
In the end, Tang Yibu sets out to retrieve Ruan Xian, Professor Ruan is planning his next course of action at the makeshift shelter by gathering the rebels, and Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman are heading to the forest petri dish to retrieve something and drop Zhong Qing off in the Underground City.
Side characters:
Zhong Qing is a kid suffering from a disease called Rhododendron Disease. Basically, he’s been infected by a parasitical virus that has taken over his brain and developed his body in a way that will maximize the body’s survival rate (which is why he has so many eyes on his head and can see such far distances).
In normal terms, he’s no longer considered “human” but rather just the consciousness of the virus trying to survive. However, he doesn’t know this and still thinks he is Zhong Qing. To solve his disease issues, his parents copied his memories and personality data and inserted them into a clone that didn’t have this disease. This is why he was sent to the morgue to be kept in storage so his disease could be studied.
For some reason, he was awakened, which he thought was because of a loophole by the Mainbrain but was in actuality purposeful so he would act as bait for Tang Yibu’s team.
No longer considered alive and a citizen of the Mainbrain’s city, he wants to escape it and go somewhere else, so he helps out the team, and in return they will transport him to a different area for him to live in.
Tang Yibu’s figure disappeared from the window. Seeing the reaction of the patrolling machines outside, he probably slipped away undetected. Ruan Xian was sullen. He didn’t want Tang Yibu to really be here.
The Mainbrain—or rather the puppet controlled by the Mainbrain—had already left the room after doing its part as the army of patrolling machine made perfect arcs in the night sky. With the room now empty, Ruan Xian could finally take a breather.
The room wasn’t very big. More than half the space was occupied by machines that provided the doomsday “dreamland” he was in. From a design point of view, there was nothing in line with human aesthetics. The machines were crowded with beige pipes, and there were many soft white materials vibrating slightly, as if they were living things. There were soft branches hanging from the ceiling that Ruan Xian couldn’t tell what their purpose was. The liquid tank he was in was semi-covered with a gray dome in the shape of a squid’s head. Ruan Xian touched it. The four walls of the liquid tank were neither smooth nor irregular, and they didn’t look man-made.
This special machine was like an alien beast and occupied most of the space.
…Or rather, it was “alive”.
Ruan Xian stretched out a wet arm and stroked the outer wall of the machine closest to him. The hard metal felt like the shell of a crab and prevented him from seeing too much.
The nerves that had just been relaxed by seeing Tang Yibu tightened again—if this was the current level of mechanical life research of the Mainbrain, he was closer to being exposed than he thought. During the months he spent in the dreamland, he hadn’t uncovered much information related to mechanical life. At most, this word appeared in the corners of his memory and belonged to a certain period of news that didn’t last long, or it was on a boring, brief announcement.
Being in the body of illegal memory operators, he at most came into contact with people of the lower and middle class. At least from Ruan Xian’s impression, he hadn’t come into contact with many people who were associated with mechanical life. Similar products were rarely seen on the streets. Like other cutting-edge technologies, it was far from reaching the point of popularization during that time.
Yet now he had to pretend to be a mechanical life expert.
Ruan Xian took a deep breath, hugged his knees, and buried his head between them, curling up into a ball. This posture ensured that his expression wouldn’t be captured on camera—this time, he was truly getting nervous.
Strategic games were his area of expertise. Ruan Xian was also very good at deceiving people. However, most humans could be deceived because of various desires. From this point of view, the Mainbrain would be the worst kind of target.
As always, he managed to survive, and now the next step was the hardest part.
The nervousness made his blood cold, like it was clotted in ice. His lungs seemed to be squeezed as if he was suffocating. Ruan Xian felt a strange pleasure—before, he didn’t resonate with the crowd that liked extreme sports, but now he understood. The weird machine attached to the walls in the room seemed to be moving towards him while his brain was spinning like crazy trying to solve the problem at hand.
At the same time, he tasted a new kind of fear.
If he were to change places with himself a few months ago, he would have been happy to immerse himself in this unfamiliar situation. Right now, he began to strongly worry about something that had never bothered him before—if something went wrong, would he die here?
When he first implemented his plan, this worry was still suppressed in his heart, but now it was getting stronger.
He had never resented death. In fact, he’d imagined his own death many times. Ever since he fell into this crazy world, he had always liked to toe the line of death. It wasn’t to seek self-destruction or a cry for help, as he never had any subtle thoughts in his behavior.
Perhaps the reins of the past were too tight. Once relaxed, he began to act entirely on his likes and dislikes.
If he really could bear that laughable devil’s curse, he wouldn’t die. If he died accidently, it was only an expected possibility, which he could accept. Life wasn’t a special thing, nor was death.
At least that was what he once thought.
The strong smell of medicine in the liquid tank choked his nose. Ruan Xian could smell the strange smell emanating from the suspected mechanical life in the room. The metallic smell of the monitor, the smell of lubricating oil on the sliding door, the feeling of a thin needle piercing the skin. It smelled a little bloody. All kinds of flavors mixed together, heavy and astringent. There was only one smell out of place—a hint of the sweet aroma of persimmons remained. Ruan Xian latched on to it from the swirling torrent of smells and felt a little better.
Now that his “life” had become a little special, he suddenly couldn’t accept an unexpected death.
“I’m in love.” Tang Yibu announced this not long ago.
Even in such a bad reality, Ruan Xian couldn’t help but raise the corners of his mouth. The android wouldn’t come to this conclusion casually. God knew how long Tang Yibu was entangled with this matter.
What a wonderful feeling.
Ruan Xian took a few deep breaths and finally adjusted his breathing. Just then, a mechanical assistant floated in. It was carrying a tray that had fluffy bath towels, clothing, and a hot light green drink. As soon as Ruan Xian looked over, it spoke on its own.
“Your memory experience has been accidentally interrupted. Forcing a reconnection will damage your brain. You’ll have a night off, so please decide tonight—submit to the Mainbrain and contribute to its cause or lie here and continue this memory experience.”
The bath towels were warm and ridiculously soft. The clothes seemed to be the uniform here. Except for the necessary underwear, there were only two loose white garments. Ruan Xian took the time to express his despair—he grabbed the light green drink and poured it down his throat.
The thing inside that cup was a bit sticky. It was like water with too much added honey, and it tasted sweet and warm. After he drank down the cup, Ruan Xian sighed. His body subconsciously relaxed. Most likely, there was a soothing agent in the drink.
Before the Great Rebellion, illegal memory operators weren’t wealthy, and the Mainbrain didn’t arrange a wealthy host for him. His diet was extremely poor. Thankfully Ruan Xian was used to eating just plain nutritional supplements before, so food out of a garbage disposal would’ve been good enough for him.
*Metaphor used for a combination of reward and punishment to induce a desired behavior. Though in China they use “date/jujube” (甜枣) instead of carrot.
As he thought, when he returned to the room where he was imprisoned, everything was beautiful and comfortable. The beautiful forest scenery outside the window had returned, and the bed was so soft it could bring him to tears. The cup of milk and the tray of snacks that were at the head of the bed had been replaced with a tray of a sumptuous dinner.
Ruan Xian wasn’t polite. He stuffed the food down, ignoring his image, then lay on the bed for a long whilet. Eventually, he got up. “Can you take me to your work area?”
He hesitated to say this, giving a deliberate hint of nervousness.
The mechanical assistant in charge of monitoring him didn’t ask any questions, as if it already knew how to respond to this situation. It led him out the door again.
This time, out the door was no longer the street of 2100, but a real corridor. Ruan Xian took a deep breath and clenched his fist. If he surrendered rashly without investigating anything, it would be too unnatural. What was more, he had more important things to do…
He had to do his homework on mechanical life under the pretext of “spying”.
He lost count of how many twists and turns they went through, but finally the mechanical assistant told him to stand still in front of a wall. In the next instant, the entire wall became transparent. Ruan Xian couldn’t help but hold his breath.
“You can get all the assistance you want here, so don’t worry about a shortage of research funds. MUL-01 has always attached great importance to people with talents.” The mechanical assistant turned to look at Ruan Xian. “You can research as much as you want. We know that right now you don’t agree with the Mainbrain’s approach. In fact, the Mainbrain is happy to accept different opinions, as long as the proposal you give is convincing enough.” The mechanical assistant’s tone became a bit more human.
Ruan Xian had to admit, what he saw in front of him, coupled with the statement just now, was really tempting.
At the other end of the transparent wall was a vast space, as if an entire floor had been completely opened up. Many people in research uniforms were busy in their own personal space. The equipment was an advanced style that Ruan Xian had never seen before. The light screens in the room flew about in the extremely tidy room. In order to balance out the heavy whiteness of the room, many columns covered in plants were embedded between the ceiling and floor, creating an overall elegant design.
There were places to rest and talk in the distance. Compared with a regular research lab, this was more like a mansion that had been temporarily converted to a lab, but all the parts that could get in the way were removed. The expression on everyone’s faces was quite relaxed, and Ruan Xian saw no signs of worry.
“There’s no compulsory work. More work will only bring better treatment, but as you can see, even the most basic treatment is very good. The people here aren’t working to pursue food, clothing, and warmth. They are working towards building a true future for humankind.”
However, at this moment, all of Ruan Xian’s attention was focused on one thing.
In the near-perfect setting, there were some strange creatures moving about. Most of them were covered with metal. Some of them were helping researchers, while some were using their mouths to deal with waste. A small number were soaking in the observation tank. These things looked obedient and quiet, as if they were tools with self-awareness.
For ordinary machines, there was much unnecessary dexterity in their movements. Most likely, they were mechanical life.
“You can make a mechanical life according to your own preferences, as long as it’s not too dangerous.” After seeing where Ruan Xian’s line of sight was, the mechanical assistant floated in the air and spoke. “If you want a specific variety of living material, you can apply for it to the director of the lab.”
“…I was just looking,” Ruan Xian said.
“Of course,” the thing answered. “Trust me, Mr. Ruan, everything you want is here.”
Not true.
Bluntly put, he didn’t have much interest in research at all. He only engaged in it because it was the most rational judgement. There weren’t many things Ruan Xian wanted in particular, but he was sure that the one thing he wanted the most wasn’t here.
He didn’t know what nooks and crannies Tang Yibu was hiding in now. Considering that Professor Ruan wouldn’t stop his plans even if he was alone, the android probably wasn’t free. There was probably a time limit for their meeting.
“I’ll think about it again.” Ruan Xian carefully noted the characteristics of all the mechanical beings in the room and then refused “hesitantly”.
“…I have to say that these are empty words.” Seeing the hesitation in his voice, the mechanical assistant’s voice became lively. “Mr. Ruan, in fact, I’m the director of this research lab. To be honest, I respect your dedication to your feelings, but I hope you can try to see the world from a different perspective and give MUL-01 a chance.”
On the other side of the wall, a decently good-looking middle-aged man waved to him. The man pulled down his mask, revealing a friendly expression that was full of life.
“If you’re still undecided, I can talk to you at anytime… If you don’t mind.” The voice continued from the mechanical assistant. “Don’t be nervous. If you don’t want it, I won’t go there myself. This thing will stay with you for a while, so we can continue to communicate through it.”
Ruan Xian glanced at the man’s hand—he was stroking a mechanical life, and the technique looked quite sophisticated.
“…Okay.” Ruan Xian paused deliberately for a moment. “I haven’t agreed to what you said. I have questions that I want to confirm.”
“Of course.”
“In addition, I hope you can come in person… I’m not used to talking to machines.” He had to see the other person’s body language in order to interpret his future boss more accurately.
“With pleasure.” The man smiled heartily.
However, ten minutes later, when Ruan Xian returned to his room, he suddenly realized something was wrong—a hint of sweetness that smelled like persimmons wafted out from the bottom of the bed.
“What’s the matter, Mr. Ruan?” the person behind him asked.
“Nothing.” Ruan Xian struggled to keep his expression steady. “Please, come in.”
The author has something to say:
Tang ← Desperately wants to speak to Ruan.
Ruan: …Mood is extremely complicated.
Kinky Thoughts:
Oh Ruan Xian, you know it’s not like Tang Yibu to give up like that.
Kinky Translations 