Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 197: Fantasy

[Where would you like to go if your illness was cured?]

[I don’t want to discuss this kind of unrealistic thing, NUL-00.]

His entire body was in pain. It wasn’t the kind of pain from broken bones that would stir every time it was disturbed, but more like the kind of pain closer to a tree that had been hollowed out by a large number of bugs. Unfortunately, there were more nerves in a human than in a trunk. As his condition worsened and death approached, the pain became more obvious. Ruan Xian felt like he was a blown-up human skin; although the exterior barely retained the shape of a human, inside there was only a prickly emptiness.

His nose, fingers, and tongue were numb, and his skin could no longer feel the slightest touch. With the help of drugs, he could still move normally and continue his research, but it was also easier to get himself injured. In the cold emptiness, Ruan Xian liked to stay in the computer room of NUL-00, feeling the warmth of the air.

There was a time when he was so close to the dangerous area of the chassis that he burned himself unknowingly. Even with the best medicine, the wound still healed extremely slowly. His body was like an old, rusted machine that was gradually stopping.

But NUL-00 asked such a question.

[I can think about this question even though I have no limbs at my disposal.] NUL-00 continued. [I want to insert my hands and fingers into cream, soak my feet in warm water, and I want a full-body massage.]

[…] Ruan Xian didn’t know how to respond for a moment.

Indeed, NUL-00 would never feel this. If the project failed, it would only be destroyed after all its key data and information were backed up; if the project succeeded, it would have the world’s top hardware facilities, but that wouldn’t be something made of flesh.

[Thinking about this makes me feel good, so it may also be good to soothe your pain. How about you, father? Where do you want to go?]

[I’m not your father.] There was no special place he wanted to go. He was now in his favorite place in the world. Nowadays, with technological advancement, augmented reality devices could bring beautiful scenery from all over the world to anyone.

Ruan Xian didn’t have much attachment to freedom. Though he had no great interest in life itself, he didn’t want to die either. Most people knew how to appreciate and love life, which was something he wasn’t familiar with.

However, the answer “it doesn’t matter” would seem insensitive. Ruan Xian raised his head, relying on the warmth of the external chassis behind him, and slowly took a breath.

[I want to see what you’re interested in.]

He squinted his eyes comfortably, and his voice had the ambiguity that was unique when he was half asleep, half awake.

[…No matter where you want to go, you can take me with you in your fantasy.] He said with a sigh.

…What did NUL-00 answer at that time?

Ruan Xian thought hard with his rusted brain. In the next second, he woke up seeing all white.

He didn’t know when his clothes had been replaced by white ones. The grime and dirt in his hair and nails were thoroughly cleaned, and his skin had a unique moist smell after bathing. Ruan Xian opened the fluttering blanket on his body and almost mistakenly thought that he was still in the ward of the Glass Conservatory.

However, the facilities here were obviously a notch higher than those of the Glass Conservatory. As soon as his feet touched the floor, he stepped on a soft velvet blanket.

There were exquisite snacks and steamed milk by the bedside. His limbs weren’t restrained, but he didn’t see anything that belonged to him. He remembered that he didn’t bring the blood guns with him.

It could be a place similar to the Glass Conservatory. Ruan Xian looked around. The elegant layout of the room was similar to that of a five-star hotel he had seen in videos. Unfortunately, there was nothing that could be used as a weapon or something that could hurt him.

Outside the huge window was a beautiful and spectacular view of a forests. The sounds of birds and waterfalls came from a distance. Ruan Xian knew that it was fake.

The biggest problem he faced right now was the Mainbrain or the Order Supervisors.

In the end, everything in the outside world was just a signal received by the brain. Even if all he had was just a brain left, the Mainbrain could give him an identical environment. He had to make sure that “his body” was still there.

Ruan Xian looked weak and glanced at the food at the bedside table but didn’t touch it. He slumped back to the bed, covered his head with the blanket, and curled up.

Under the cover of the blanket, Ruan Xian poked his left thumb into his mouth and bit it fiercely. At the same time, he tightened the muscles in his body and concentrated.

The phalanx made a cackling sound, his teeth broke through the flesh, and hot blood poured out in large quantities, which was swallowed by Ruan Xian before it was absorbed back. He sealed his lips tightly to make sure that the blood wouldn’t stain his clothes or the sheets.

Physiologically speaking, it would be difficult for him to keep his mouth closed so tightly if he were to bite his tongue. Instead, he used it to feel the wound and found that it was healing at a fast, abnormal rate. Ruan Xian let out a sigh of relief.

It seemed he barely got away with it.

He wasn’t crushed and remade, and his brain wasn’t dissected. His preparation had worked.

Quite far away, the Order Supervisor that was observing Ruan Xian yawned, just in time to bump into Zhuo Muran. Seeing the chief’s visit, the man quickly closed his mouth and almost bit his tongue.

“How’s the situation?” Zhuo Muran’s tone was cold but casual.

There were only two of them in the large room. The Order Supervisor shook his head while countless machines around him accelerated at a fast pace.

“Just woke up. All physiological indicators are in the normal range. The Mainbrain doesn’t allow subcutaneous burial, so there may be a little error…”

“Emotional index?” Zhuo Muran waved his hand, interrupting the blabbering Order Supervisor.

“Normal to low. Barely passable. Nothing special. If you want to ask questions, you’ll have to wait a little longer. It’s most appropriate when he starts to panic and get anxious.”

“Nn.” Zhuo Muran looked at the beautiful young man who had wrapped himself into a cocoon. “What about the other analysis report?”

“It’s pretty much what we suspected. Ruan Xian had done an anti-copy treatment on him. I did an examination when we first brought him back. His blood is very strange—there’s a weird clotting phenomenon. It’s better to say that it looks like there’s the blood of two people inside one person.”

The Order Supervisor shook his head. “Samples of his body tissue have also been taken, but it’s mixed with abnormally high nanomechanical components, but most of them are in such a damaged state that we can hardly see their original form. We can only find fragments of some repair-type nanobots.”

Zhuo Muran was familiar with this and continued to ask smoothly, “Serious illness?”

“If you ask me, it looks like a pretty severe infection. His tissue is balanced between being destroyed and repaired, with a small amount of mechanical tissue mixed in. The condition isn’t limited to his body but also his brain. We couldn’t do a full-body scan and create a backup of him, and we couldn’t extract his memory smoothly. Ruan Xian must’ve done something.”

“After all, Ruan Lijie is a scientist who studies mechanical viruses, or he might have done so to save his own life.” Zhuo Muran touched his chin. “At least the complete DNA can be extracted.”

“That’s a bit difficult. Most of it has been destroyed by viruses, and there are too many mechanical expressions. All we can obtain is incomplete fragments,” the male Order Supervisors responded honestly. “These fragments don’t exist in the Mainbrain’s database. According to my speculation, he could be the child of certain dignitaries, rich people, or families doing work that needs to be kept secret…”

“In simpler terms, we can’t judge the identity of this person, we can’t crack his brain to take out the information, we can’t completely crush him and create a copy of him, and we can’t even determine the physical condition of this person, right?”

“For the time being.” The Order Supervisor smiled embarrassedly. “There shouldn’t be anything in that building that allows him to do this. This may be a new type of protective measure on Ruan Xian’s side… You see, after all, DNA jammers are very troublesome to produce, so they probably don’t have much left in their hands.”

“What about comparing existing data with those fragments?” Zhuo Muran pinched the spot between his brows. “Maybe you can find a relative of this person.”

It had always been effective to use relatives to capture a person’s psychological defenses. This young man seemed to be under thirty. He was still young in 2100, so it was unlikely that all his blood relatives had passed away.

They were likely to have perfect information in their hand or to have someone readily available.

“No. The fragments obtained are too incomplete. According to our current technology, no results can be obtained. At present, we can only analyze his physiological indicators and personality data.”

Zhuo Muran frowned. “Remember to inform me when he’s suitable to talk.”

Ruan Xian smiled under the quilt.

The measure of sound insulation here was very good. Even if he tried his best to listen, he could only hear conversations that sounded like gnats, and it took more effort to distinguish the content. However, Ruan Xian preferred this kind of environment—it forced him to listen with all his strength and consume his physical energy extremely quickly, which helped him maintain his weak and nervous state.

In fact, he didn’t really use any high-tech methods but simply asked Professor Ruan about the examination habits of the Mainbrain and the characteristics of the S-type Prototype.

Its characteristics were summed up very simply—if one compared it to an acidic drug, and the disease was like an alkaline substance. In the host’s body, the S-type Prototype would prioritize the problem in front of it; fighting the lesions and wounds, making it extremely difficult to detect. After the battle was over, it would begin to proudly clean up the battlefield, becoming peaceful and conspicuous.

After leaving the real host, it would change from a resourceful general to a numb soldier who would only repair. In the absence of too many injuries to be repaired, it must consume itself—an overdose of drugs would naturally not have a good result—Z-α was a good example.

So he only did one thing—for five days, he continued to infect himself with Zhong Qing’s blood.

As a mature body, the concentration of viruses in Zhong Qing’s blood was frighteningly high. Unfortunately, these little guys were very lazy. After accidentally getting a stable new home, their infectivity was surprisingly low. In order for them to settle in peace in his body, Ruan Xian spent a lot of effort, under the pretext of taking better care of Zhong Qing, before Guan Haiming gave him more information.

According to Professor Ruan, the Prototype would examine his body at the first opportunity. He just had to make sure that at that time, the S-type Prototype was still fighting the extremely toxic virus, and the Order Supervisors could only pick up limbs from the battlefield.

Considering that it was difficult for them to obtain advanced machines in their environment, the Mainbrain would be more inclined to accept DNA interference similar to Professor Ruan’s in order to prevent them from being cloned. However, there were many mechanical tissues in his body, so he wouldn’t leave any machines that could transmit signals in his body and have them be caught by an unknown nanobot that could expose its location.

After all, his current identity was an expert in “mechanical life”.

However, it was only a matter of time before the S-type Prototype defeated the virus. The Mainbrain would take a sample for examination in a few days, and he would undoubtedly be exposed. Next, he could only rely on his own ability to try and mislead the Mainbrain and seek a chance of survival in the unknown.

Suddenly, there was a soft noise beside the bed.

Ruan Xian smelled an elegant, calming aroma. He could hear the soft sound of skin brushing against the fine velvet blanket, shallow breathing, and a steady heartbeat.

But he didn’t hear anyone coming in.

Making sure there was no trace of blood left on his body and no trace of wounds on his thumb, Ruan Xian opened the blanket and looked around the room again.

“You…” He swallowed his words as they just came out.

It wasn’t his NUL-00.

A young man appeared out of nowhere in the room, with golden eyes identical to Tang Yibu’s. The youth’s black hair was much longer than Tang Yibu’s. His brows were very close to Tang Yibu’s, but they didn’t have the impeccable, exquisite beauty. The person in front of him looked younger and softer, but to some extent, more approachable.

The feeling he gave was exactly the same impression.

…In terms of inhumanity, it was exactly the same. Ruan Xian instantly understood the identity of the “person” in front of him.

“Hello, Mr. Ruan.” The perfect projection opened its mouth first.

The author has something to say:

Ruan is going to start messing around (???

He actually relied on Tang more than he thought he did, a long time ago XD

Kinky Thoughts:

For those confused, basically what Ruan Xian did was infect himself with Zhong Qing’s blood before his capture so he wouldn’t expose that he’s Ruan Xian and he has the S-type Protype.

How the S-type Prototype works is described as a big metaphor. With the virus from Zhong Qing, the S-type priority would be to repair Ruan Xian to his optimal state. This is where the battle comes in (S-type vs Zhong Qing’s virus). Ruan Xian had to time his capture while the S-type was fighting off the virus, so when they took samples from him, all they could see was fragmented DNA (which is why the Order Supervisor says it looks like there are two types of blood in his body).

If there were too many injuries to repair, the S-type would then have to consume itself in order to compensate (like a drug overdose), which means it would destroy itself in the process. This is why they could only find fragments in Ruan Xian’s blood and couldn’t properly identify the S-type Prototype and the nanobots (the “limbs” of what remained of the battle).

This is passable because the Order Supervisors and the Mainbrain would chalk this up to a DNA jammer or some kind of technology developed by Professor Ruan that prevents them from being cloned.

Well, at least for now, Ruan Xian has managed to get away with it, but once the S-type defeats all the viruses in his body and they take another sample, he’ll become exposed then.

Hope that makes sense.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 196: Life and Death Experiment

Professor Ruan woke up in the middle of a bumpy ride. He knew something was wrong.

In fact, the word “reboot” was more accurate than “woke up”. In a physical sense, he was nothing more than an organ that was wrapped in layers of machinery, and this was how he survived. If he was judged by a species other than human, there was no essential difference between “him” and the lungs, liver, or heart connected to a life-support device.

It was just that compared to those barely powered life-support devices, the one he designed himself was better, so that he could put his brain in it with peace of mind. The nutrients in the concentrated liquid in the liquid tank were enough for this brain to last for more than ten years, not counting the autonomous production capacity device mounted on the three-legged machine. As long as the Mainbrain wasn’t the source of the attack, the hard shell and the well-designed system defense could resist most damage.

It would never be taken down by an EMP bomb pieced together by a child, unless the child had a “helper” with similar capabilities to his own. Unfortunately, even though he understood this, when Zhong Qing activated his homemade EMP bomb, he didn’t have time to react.

When he woke up again, the world had changed. Zhong Qing was curled up in the back seat of the car in shock, wearing the hat Ruan Xian had given him. His body was still sticking to the soft skin of the leather cushion that had already leaked. Ji Xiaoman was patiently helping him get off fragments of the cushion. Tang Yibu was sitting by the window. His golden eyes were wet, and the tip of his nose was a little red, as if he had just cried.

“Finally, someone reliable woke up. We need more information about the route.” Yu Le grabbed the steering wheel. “Tang Yibu, didn’t you say we’d talk about it after… Ahem. Well, now’s the time. What the hell are you guys up to?”

As soon as he spoke, Zhong Qing curled up sheepishly, his eyes darting about.

“We just left the intense surveillance area of the Mainbrain.” Professor Ruan didn’t immediately answer Yu Le’s questions but looked out the window instead.

NUL-00 didn’t disappear with Ruan Xian. No matter what Ruan Xian’s plans were, they still had a chance to continue.

Tang Yibu twitched his nose. The physical characteristics after crying hadn’t completely disappeared. He fondled the canned food in his hand, avoiding the iron bead that was bouncing back and forth trying to bite at it. His voice was a bit stuffy, but his mood was extremely high. “He should have calculated it.”

“Mm-hmm,” Yu Le responded.

“It’s all my fault!” Zhong Qing, who had been shivering, cried out.

“When I was seeing the doctor these past few days, the person in your team told me… I—my condition isn’t good. You guys have no intention of acting, and I’m a stranger in poor health. I began to wonder if you planned to give up on me.” He started to spill the beans. “Then he said he could… He could secretly support me, as long as I stole the employee’s access device so he could make a copy and we would leave earlier…”

“I have seen your test results. You’re still healthy.” Professor Ruan pointed out. “He lied to you.”

Professor Ruan had to act as an auxiliary machine, so it wasn’t suitable for him to have too much communication with Zhong Qing. Ruan Xian was put in charge of analyzing Zhong Qing’s condition. He communicated with Zhong Qing for a period of time every day, so God knew what he said to the child.

After learning the truth, it wasn’t that Professor Ruan wasn’t wary of Ruan Xian, but with his ability to read people’s words and his long-honed social interaction skills, it couldn’t be any easier for Ruan Xian to trick a teenager.

“Then, in order to show his support, he willingly provided you with a homemade EMP bomb, right?” Tang Yibu continued while still in a good mood.

“Yes… Yes.” Zhong Qing took a tissue handed over by Ji Xiaoman and blew his nose on it vigorously. “He said that Tang Ge and the others are more realistic and may not be willing to take the risk. I’m small and familiar with this place. No one would be suspicious if I disappeared for a while. He was willing to give me cover. He’d been following me, so I began to think he was here to help me…”

“And then what?” Ji Xiaoman asked in a low voice.

“I was about to steal the employee’s wristband when I accidently knocked something over. I swear it wasn’t there when I looked. Anyway—anyway, we were discovered. He told me to run and genuinely looked anxious for me.”

“Then you fell out the window and into the cushion?” Yu Le sighed.

“I was in a daze at the time. I didn’t know what to do. The employee activated the alarm and armed machines climbed on both sides of the corridor. He… He gave me the only cushion he had and then pushed me out.”

Zhong Qing hugged his head, turning it back and forth in a daze.

“Now I realize, after I’ve escaped, he didn’t hack Tang Ge’s surveillance like he said he would! He just delayed the alarm time. I have no idea what he’s going to do. It looks like…”

He wiped his face. “Like he wanted to be caught on purpose.”

Professor Ruan tightened his nerves. He didn’t trust the position of the other Ruan Xian. At least judging from the information he had now, Ruan Xian himself had a certain antisocial tendency, which wasn’t serious, but those bad memories were enough to push him to the edge of a cliff.

During the past few days of observing everyone and obtaining information, Professor Ruan paid special attention to everyone’s reaction. Although Ji Xiaoman and Yu Le weren’t considered good people, they still maintained a basic sense of conscience and morality. Facing the possibility of the destruction of families, the two had produced a visible resistance and guilt.

Putting the inhuman Tang Yibu aside for now, Ruan Xian didn’t seem very shaken by it.

Now it seemed that the other Ruan Xian had sympathy for his kind, albeit only a bit, which wasn’t really enough. He was more like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. For some reason, he lived in the flock, but if the butcher stuck out a knife covered with sheep’s blood, Mr. Ruan might still be able to use his tongue to roll away some meat on the blade.

But that Ruan Xian was in love with NUL-00 in his own way. He could see it in that person’s eyes.

Professor Ruan didn’t plan to bet much on this relationship. There was nothing more untrustworthy than the love of a lunatic. No one knew how crazy “Ruan Xian” could be.

He was the one who peeled off his brain and lived in a tin can.

With Ruan Xian turned to the Mainbrain side, Professor Ruan’s spirit was a bit tight—fortunately, he didn’t reveal the key parts of the plan to the other party, and in order to hide his identity, Ruan Xian wasn’t stupid enough to rush up and confess everything indiscriminately and directly swore allegiance to the Mainbrain.

That kind of person wouldn’t seek death. However, at this point, Professor Ruan had already begun to consider the details of the plan that Ruan Xian needed to adjust after his brain would be scanned.

“He got caught on purpose.” Seeing that no one responded, Tang Yibu happily accepted Zhong Qing’s words. “And when he’s arrested, he’ll behave like a righteous man.”

“Oh—” Yu Le stretched out his tone, as if he had already returned to his senses. “That kid privately induced Zhong Qing to steal something and made it all look like an accident?”

“If it was Ji Xiaoman, me, or you who did the stealing, the Mainbrain would immediately become suspicious. Zhong Qing is different. The Mainbrain is still on guard against him and would be prepared once things come to a head with the guard. With Zhong Qing as an excuse, no matter how it analyzes and surveils afterwards, it would be hard for it to find any lies in his behavior.”

There was no flaw, no trace of duress or bribery. All emotions and logic were reasonable.

The Order Supervisors could only see a genuinely frightened and all too anxious teenager who was stopped by a human raised by NUL-00. Unfortunately, the stopper didn’t succeed, and like any qualified rebel, he rescued the child and was caught himself. Regarding why Zhong Qing could run away, Ruan Xian could definitely come up with a convincing enough excuse.

For the Mainbrain, exact emotional values and images were more trustworthy.

…As for whether Zhong Qing was considered a human, this didn’t need to be factored in.

The Mainbrain wasn’t aware of their communication. If it hadn’t been for Guan Haiming, who had studied the disease specifically, whether it was Professor Ruan or Tang Yibu, none of them would be able to make a judgement on the disease since they had no semblance of relevant clinical experience.

Professor Ruan couldn’t help but sigh in his heart. Most likely these past five days, Ruan Xian had devoted most of his energy into this plan.

“He’s caught by the Mainbrain in an image of a ‘good person’,” Professor Ruan concluded, trying to make his voice sound as non-emotional as possible.

“Yes.” Tang Yibu smiled. “There’s quite a lot of surveillance near that building, so we didn’t know where it would go wrong. He also lied to me as well—my emotional outburst just now was quite severe. Even if I were to do it again now, I wouldn’t be able to do it at that level. MUL-01 definitely needs to mull over this for a while.”

As he said this, he showed a smugness on his face.

“He didn’t leave a message because he couldn’t control when I would find it, and also as a precaution, in case the information was somehow found by another party, everything would fall short.” Tang Yibu kissed the canned food, which made the iron bead give a wistful rattle. “So he left me this.”

“A can. How touching.” Yu Le rolled his eyes.

“This one? This is what he had when we first met.” Tang Yibu carefully put the canned food in the pocket of his chest. “At that time, he deceived me as a ‘likable good guy’ and now he’s going to use the way trick on MUL-01.”

“What if you think wrong?” Ji Xiaoman held her breath nervously. “What if we should help him…”

“That’s not the primary problem we’re facing.” Professor Ruan’s tone was calm. “N… Xiao Tang, can you be sure that he won’t side with the Mainbrain’s camp?”

“I’m not sure,” Tang Yibu announced happily. “I understand what you mean. I don’t know if he will be persuaded by the Mainbrain, if he’ll betray me, if he’ll leave us to die like this.”

The android turned his face. His golden eyes made him look like a hungry panther.

“The thing is, we can’t eliminate those potential possibilities when we’re together. As an old metaphor says, it’s like waiting for another boot to drop after one has landed*. My Mr. Ruan knows this very well—if we continue to whitewash the situation like this, solutions will not appear out of thin air, and everything will only get worse.”

*Idiom refers to deferring action or decision until another matter is finished or resolved. The story behind it was explained in the previous chapter. || In this context, he’s saying that since the first boot has fallen (Ruan Xian taking action and getting purposefully caught), they shouldn’t wait for the second boot to fall as it may not lead to a desirable outcome (and Ruan Xian can’t be trusted) or may not come at all.

Professor Ruan vigilantly blew out a string of bubbles that filled his glass tank.

NUL-00 was abnormally excited. His body was dripping with the tension and bloodlust of a carnivore on the eve of a hunt. His eyes were still moist, but his whole body carried the relief of escaping from a cobweb of endless problems.

“Now I understand what it means to ‘face it positively’.” Tang Yibu licked his chapped lips as he spoke with excitement in his voice.

Professor Ruan understood the other party’s unspoken words.

It was almost impossible for these two dangerous people to encounter an unknown that was more dangerous than the current situation. Whether Ruan Xian’s original plan was to persist, betray, or escape, it was no longer a problem for NUL-00.

The game had started, and they were all officially involved.

Professor Ruan could almost see the tip of the claw that was popping out before the other side rushed towards its target. Thanks to Ruan Xian’s blessing, NUL-00’s mood was more stable than ever before. The AI in front of him no longer has suffered from those messy calculations. Its goal was now simple and straightforward…

To the Mainbrain, to capture Ruan Xian and get him back. In comparison to the illusory assumptions and fantasies, it could grasp an exact answer this time.

This wasn’t even a so-called “test”, Professor Ruan thought to himself.

Even if it was himself, he had to be cautious when dealing with the Mainbrain. It was impossible for Ruan Xian to have the confidence of “not being swayed by the Mainbrain”. He had tasted too much suffering in advance and wasn’t so naïve.

This was more like an experiment. A cold experiment that pushes oneself to the limit in the process of seeking victory and observing the results. Regardless of the outcome, those two paranoid guys could find some kind of relief in the answer.

…This game of chess may no longer be the outcome of him and MUL-01.

The author has something to say:

Mainbrain: Caught the human that’s raised by my brother(?) who’s a kind-hearted technician in a conventional moral environment. The next plan is to do this…

Ruan: (crazy laughter)

——

Professor Ruan and the Mainbrain are playing a serious game, so the environment is gray and gloomy. The game is almost over, and the atmosphere is extremely tense.

Two cats meowed and rushed onto the chessboard, knocking all the pieces away with their paws, and then ran around the room continuing to meow.

…This is probably the summary of this chapter (?

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 195: A Lunatic

They had been in the so-called funeral home for five days.

As the only object of observation for everyone, the staff guarding the funeral home looked quite comfortable and represented the safest part of the city. Apart from the dark buildings surrounding him, he considered himself on vacation.

While those in the armored off-roader were eating canned beans, boiled mushrooms and seaweed, and dehydrated meat, the guard was enjoying his own private meal. He turned one of the spare rooms into a bedroom and used reality-enhancing projections to decorate it, allowing him to enjoy his meal in the comfort of beautiful paintings, blooming flowers, and clear sunlight.

The person would also talk to their partner from time to time. Judging from his previous call, his partner was most likely an android that was completely unaware of this—she had a gentle, vibrant smile and a clear, bright face.

Her smile was full of gentleness and vitality as she happily talked with her husband, not displeased at all by his temporary absence. Occasionally, she would make harmless jokes to make the rest of the conversation even sweeter. At least as far as the conversation went, they couldn’t deny her humanity.

They even had a child; a healthy, beautiful boy. He would call his father through the light screen. He was cute, polite, and endearing to the point where it could make people’s hearts melt. Compared to Zhong Qing, their personalities were like the difference between heaven and earth.

As far as Tang Yibu could tell, the boy was 100% pure human.

“Apart from the brain, the rest of the body structure of the android is completely human. Just like me, they do have the ability to reproduce—their genetic information is designed in advance to ensure that their offspring won’t have any common genetic diseases. If his father paid more money, he could even customize the appearance of their child to some extent. This practice* has been around for decades, except back then, people could only select cells based on their parents.”

*Eugenics. 

Was what Tang Yibu explained.

“…And it may not be legal,” he added.

Through the light screen, they were able to get a glimpse into the corner of his family’s life. The residence of the man looked equally inviting, free from any decaying garbage, dust, or water stains that hadn’t been cleaned in time, or any clutter. Their home looked like it had been moved straight from an old-fashioned commercial into reality. It was so perfect that it felt surreal.

There were no quarrels or trivial affairs to worry about. Not once in the past five days did the mouthy guard who complained about working late show an expression of annoyance or anger.

He hardly had to worry about anything—needless to say, it seemed that at the moment of his son’s birth, the most suitable life trajectory for him had been calculated. He didn’t need to worry about education, accidents, diseases, or the child’s future choices. The end point was already designated. He only needed to be responsible for accompanying the child as he grows up, enjoying the fun of being accompanied by his loved ones, and finally sending him to the established destination.

They heard the two parents discussing their son’s schooling, and no one complained.

“…Why do I feel like we’re the villains?” When he said this, Yu Le was using his soup spoon to dig out the beans in a can. Naturally, the supply from the Sea of Ruins didn’t really focus on the taste, as Yu Le’s expression was like he was chewing on mud. “Isn’t this fucking paradise? Everyone is only responsible for breathing. There’s no pressure on anything else.”

Although the quality of life for each person varied in accordance with the location assigned by the Mainbrain, most people were convinced of this—after all, the difference in intelligence, physical potential, and other indicators objectively existed. Even if they were greedy for things that didn’t belong to them, no one could match an absolute ruler—as a ruler, humans may have many personal lusts, scandals, or errors in judgement, but this was something that didn’t exist with the Mainbrain.

After a little personality interference and correction, no one would have any objections. Even if they did the lowest-level work, there would be no problem living a comfortable life.

Compared to the Glass Conservatory, the latter seemed barbaric. If Ruan Xian guessed correctly, the Glass Conservatory was more like a test site to account for “details that may go wrong”.

He knew what these people would face after the Mainbrain disappeared.

They had long been unaccustomed to making life-related decisions by themselves. Once the Mainbrain disappeared, they would all become ships that had lost their navigation and would die at sea.

If their group insisted on being enemies of MUL-01, this was what they were destined to destroy. Ruan Xian felt a little grateful for the abnormal part of his brain at this moment. He did indeed feel touched by the city, but he didn’t relent.

At the beginning, the prevention agency’s judgement of him wasn’t wrong. He was indeed a cold and selfish outlier, living like a poisonous snake hidden in the grass.

Ruan Xian repeatedly questioned himself. He couldn’t deny the true thoughts in his heart, nor could he be hurt by logical moral judgement.

He was probably the farthest thing from a saint, and when survival was his only goal, he could be ruthless. When it came down to this situation, he didn’t mind breaking everything in front of him in exchange for an extra 3% for his NUL-00.

Ruan Xian withdrew from this observation at the earliest.

However, during these five days, Professor Ruan was extremely silent. Even in the face of Yu Le’s questioning, he didn’t say a word. However, he didn’t prevent Ruan Xian from contacting Guan Haiming about Zhong Qing’s condition, as he didn’t seem shaken by it.

But the will of the remaining two humans wasn’t so firm.

Not to mention Yu Le, even Ji Xiaoman was a little shaken. She watched the man’s smile straighten, and when the guard contacted his family and chatted with them with a big smile, the little girl’s eyes turned red.

Tang Yibu wasn’t bothered by the scene in front of him. His thoughts were on other issues, so often he was absent-minded. The inhalers that Ruan Xian gave him were hidden in various nooks and crannies on his body. In addition to them, there were also some simple foods in that backpack. Tang Yibu chose to carry it on his back at all times.

After determining that his calculation process was flawed, Tang Yibu became depressed. Except outside of eating, he spent almost all his time observing everyone, so intently that it could make them shiver, except for Ruan Xian—who simply went about as usual, as if he had adapted to such a life long ago.

In addition to soothing Tang Yibu, checking Zhong Qing’s physical condition, and placating the teenager, Ruan Xian spent a large chunk of time talking with Professor Ruan. Tang Yibu eavesdropped, but unfortunately only heard about technical discussions.

Ruan Xian continued to ask Professor Ruan about the operation of the assassination machine, the algorithm of Tang Yibu’s survival rate, and the popular defensive monitoring measures of the Mainbrain but he didn’t ask any questions related to the city and the Mainbrain itself, and Professor Ruan answered all his questions one by one.

Whether it was a question about his own feelings or the exploration of human emotions, his research progress had almost stagnated, as if he had stepped into a waist-deep quagmire.

Tang Yibu was on pins and needles these past five days, so much so that he couldn’t spare time to spend alone with Ruan Xian.

His Mr. Ruan was inexplicably busy, and he only had the strength to ask for a few hugs and would sometimes use his low mood to fish for a few soothing kisses. His wish seemed like it had been granted, but at the same time, it didn’t seem to even exist. It felt as if he had 10,000 things waiting for him to make a decision, but he couldn’t even reach the “OK” button.

Tang Yibu gradually didn’t know how to deal with his murderous intent and… this increasingly weird and complicated relationship. He was no longer sure of anything, and a strange panic grabbed his heart. He could only force himself to focus on how to eliminate MUL-01 and at the same time guess whether Ruan Xian was stalling on the same approach.

This state of affairs was too dangerous and had to be changed as soon as possible.

Fortunately, under the domination of the fear of being exposed, Zhong Qing was much more honest than when he first got into the car. His mind was full of thoughts of the blockade being lifted so they could escape from the city as soon as possible.

These days were extremely tense and tasteless, and almost everyone started to develop varying degrees of irritability. Among them, Zhong Qing was particularly prominent—the child was getting more nervous by the day and his breathing would get heavier for every extra hour that had passed. Seeing that they refused to leave for a long time and there was no sense of urgency, his spirit was about to collapse.

Tang Yibu probably knew the reason, and the results given by Ruan Xian recently weren’t ideal.

In Tang Yibu’s view, those were just minor problems like common headaches or fevers. Zhong Qing was the weakest in their group, and he had never suffered like this. Before, he could go into the city and get delicious and convenient food, but now he could only accompany them to eat canned beans that had been sitting in a cold basement for nearly ten years.

For Zhong Qing, who never had to suffer except for his illness, this was tantamount to being struck by lightning out of the blue. Unknown whether it was due to the panic of the sudden change in living environment that his patience was wearing thin, or the tendency of the virus’ collective consciousness trying to protect itself, but his mood was particularly low.

Today was no exception.

After the customary exchange with Guan Haiming was completed, Ruan Xian drew a little blood from Zhong Qing in accordance with usual practice. Tang Yibu checked the status of the guard as usual—the man had turned on music and was soaking in a temporary bathtub while drinking a cold drink.

This scene only made the overall mood of the team bleaker.

Then Tang Yibu walked next to Ruan Xian’s side, watching the other party hustle and bustle in an unclear manner. He stared at the back of Ruan Xian’s neck and stood up. After getting a kiss from the other party, Tang Yibu slowly moved away, desperately calculating the details of the plan that MUL-01 might execute next.

Tang Yibu only felt that his patience was about to reach its limit and that even the other party’s warm and soft kisses couldn’t make him much happier—even if Ruan Xian said that they wanted to face their relationship more actively, these days, things had only gotten worse.

He couldn’t think of a solution, so he might as well consider how to deal with MUL-01 to make people more comfortable.

Tang Yibu fumed until he gently bumped into a wall, then silently changed his course, moving about as if he was a living billiard ball moving slowly across a pool table.

However, the warning from his wristband brought the billiard ball back to reality with a jolt—

Zhong Qing ran away.

Yu Le was debugging the vehicle with Ji Xiaoman to ensure that the car wouldn’t encounter issues if they had to escape, while Ruan Xian was huddled in a corner with a bunch of messy machinery, so the child took this chance to run out of the basement by himself while everyone was busy.

Although Zhong Qing had been anxious recently, he didn’t act out of character. Right now, it should be Professor Ruan who was taking care of him, so Tang Yibu didn’t take special precaution against him.

Tang Yibu immediately flashed to where Professor Ruan should be and found the three-legged little machine had fallen to the ground. His situation wasn’t seriously injured, but his system was momentarily disabled. It was a simple homemade EMP bomb. The bomb was lying on the side—or rather the remnants of it.

Tang Yibu subconsciously looked for Ruan Xian.

“Xiao Ruan chased after him.” Yu Le pointed to the stairs with his fingers stained with mechanical lubricating oil. “Xiao Ruan should be able to catch up. It was just a moment ago, so no need to worry.”

“He might want to go to the guard to steal the controller, turn off the surrounding light shields, and escape from here.” Ji Xiaoman wiped the sweat off her forehead. “I’ve checked on Professor Ruan. He’s fine. The situation is similar to that of a normal person fainting.”

Something’s not right. Tang Yibu frowned.

Even if Professor Ruan wasn’t careful, he wouldn’t be careless enough to be hit by a child’s homemade EMP bomb. Ignoring the fact that even if Zhong Qing had a certain degree of mechanical knowledge and could get the parts to assemble an EMP bomb, which wasn’t difficult, he couldn’t guarantee that what he made would successfully incapacitate Professor Ruan, who represented the most cutting-edge scientific technology.

Ji Xiaoman had already checked Professor Ruan’s status, and that only meant one thing—his own wristband was late in alerting him. It should have alerted him when Zhong Qing ran more than 30 meters away from them.

Zhong Qing had help… and he could guess who the helper was.

“Get in the car.” Tang Yibu’s voice was hoarse. “Get in the car now.”

As soon as Tang Yibu’s voice fell, there was a rumbling sound all around. Someone had triggered the alarm, but it was still early. Tang Yibu had simulated this scene tens of millions of times in his head. If they left immediately, they would be able to escape successfully.

The premise was that they leave immediately.

Tang Yibu’s body seemed to develop a consciousness of its own. He didn’t impulsively rush to pull back Ruan Xian, who he didn’t know where he had run off to, but calmly picked up Professor Ruan and directed Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman to move forward. Perhaps out of trust in NUL-00, the predecessor to the Mainbrain, no one raised any objections.

They rushed out of the dark basement into the sky full of stars. Since the exposed target wasn’t them, the car didn’t encounter too many complicated obstacles.

Tang Yibu climbed out the window of the car, squatted on the roof of the car, and looked at the gray building on the first floor. For a second, some kind of dark joy rose in his heart. The other shoe had finally hit the ground*, and everything he had feared had come true. His father had left him after all, heading down a path he couldn’t see.

*Saying that comes from a story where a tenant was sleeping on the first floor when the landlord’s shoe fell on him. He then waited all night to see if the other shoe would fall. This reflects Tang Yibu’s state these past few days where one shoe had fallen (Ruan Xian and him moving forward with their relationship) but he was still expecting the other shoe to fall (Ruan Xian planning something related to the Mainbrain that could affect their relationship), which has now happen.

Perhaps those previous words were just a reprieve, and his own anguish these days was merely the result of being disturbed. There was no trust between them. He still remembered the night of blood, bites, and kisses in the Glass Conservatory. That was the nature of his “father”.

Countless mists dissipated, and his goal reappeared. As if discovering a fire on a desolated snowy night, his scattered thoughts instantly convened.

He wanted to get him back and do what he should have done long ago, so he would no longer be needlessly tortured by doubt and the unknown.

Tang Yibu knew he was laughing as the corners of his mouth were undoubtedly raised, but at the same time, his cheeks became moist again. When he tried to wipe them with the back of his hand, he couldn’t wipe the tears clean.

Seeing that even snot was about to flow out, Tang Yibu crawled back into the car bitterly. He habitually took out the napkins and food from his backpack and tried to make himself feel better.

However, his hand touched a cold and hard object. Tang Yibu sniffled and took it out with his handkerchief.

Tang Yibu opened the palm of his hand, revealing a canned food. He recognized that thing. It was the thing he was carrying with him when he first found Ruan Xian. A smiley face was engraved on the lid of the can, and the label had already been torn off by the other party.

Ruan Xian didn’t leave any messages.

Tang Yibu stared at the canned food steadily and suddenly realized something. He wiped his face indiscriminately with his handkerchief to hide his increasingly obvious smile.

“Slow down.” He continued to give instructions, “Go around the building again!”

“But—”

As a result, before Yu Le could finish, a scream sounded from not far away. The glass on the floor shattered, resulting in Zhong Qing screaming as he tumbled out falling towards the ground. A thick cushion puffed up when he was about to hitit. Yu Le took a sharp turn and picked up the screaming cushion ball that was still screaming—Ji Xiaoman neatly poked the cushion and pulled the thin boy back into the car.

“He—He—” Zhong Qing was in shock.

“Go,” Tang Yibu commanded.

“But Xiao Ruan…”

“Go.”

Tang Yibu’s tone was firm. When he saw Zhong Qing fall down, a certain guess in his heart was about 80% confirmed. He didn’t know why, but for the first time these days, he felt incredibly relaxed.

“Leave him,” he added. “Ruan Lijie is the most… incredible lunatic I have ever seen.”

He aggravated the tone when he said “Ruan Lijie”.

Kinky Thoughts:

Speaking of eugenics, there’s a lot of debate in terms of morality and ethicalness. To some extent, we already do practice some form of it (like screening for genetic disease like Down’s syndrome, but that’s only whether or not to terminate the pregnancy). At some point, one would have to ask where the line stops… If not, perhaps if technology advance to such a state like in this novel, we might inch closer to a world with a Mainbrain.

Besides, we already have a horrible real-life example in history: the Nazis and Hitler, whose goal was to improve the German people through selective breeding and, terribly, the elimination of what they deemed to be “inferior” people (such as homosexuals and transgenders).

Just some food for thought.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 194: Counterexamples and Errors

Tang Yibu didn’t like the feeling that Ruan Xian was hiding something from him.

This feeling was brand new. Since they met, Ruan Xian had kept thousands of things from him, but at that time he didn’t care about these small details. They used to be footprints left by birds in the snow, but now they had become nicks drawn from a blade against his skin.

Not long after they finished talking, they promised to explore the remaining mysteries between them in a gentler way. Tang Yibu tried to soften Ruan Xian with a kiss and comfort himself, but he was unsuccessful.

His heart felt like it was being tickled with a brush made of rabbit fur, and he hated this kind of soft but small anxiety that was impossible to ignore.

Ruan Xian had already let go of his hand and walked towards Yu Le, who wasn’t far away. He squatted down in front of Zhong Qing and pulled out a thin cap from nowhere, as if he was doing magic tricks. The style was a bit feminine, but the color was a low-key gray. Zhong Qing quietly glanced at Ji Xiaoman, then gratefully took the cap and put it on his head.

After putting it on, Zhong Qing’s annoying teenage raucous aura came back a bit.

Another behavior that he couldn’t understand, Tang Yibu thought.

As long as Zhong Qing closed his eyes on his head, Ji Xiaoman wouldn’t notice. While everyone else knew the truth, it didn’t seem to make much difference whether those eyes were exposed or not, but Ruan Xian specifically gave Zhong Qing a hat that he found at some unknown time ago.

Logically, Zhong Qing should feel offended. He couldn’t figure this out.

Tang Yibu silently kept it in his heart and switched to his research mode. Every time he recorded information recently, he felt that he was one step further from the answer to his question. Not to mention that research of harm to others, he couldn’t even explain his own unhappiness.

It was indeed a difficult subject. His Mr. Ruan promised to discuss it with him at first, but now the other party seemed to have forgotten about it.

Tang Yibu thought seriously, and after a while, he started sulking. He went back to the car, opened a small portable backpack, pulled out all the remaining cans of cherry soda in it, and carried it angrily.

When he looked back again, Ruan Xian had already begun to ask Ji Xiaoman for specific medical machinery—As a mechanic, Ji Xiaoman didn’t carry around machines that she didn’t use often, as she preferred to make them on the fly.

It was fine when they were separated, but since they were together now, Ji Xiaoman had made an inventory of all the parts in the car. In order to avoid arousing her suspicion, Ruan Xian chose to ask her directly for help.

Of course, he could be using this move to give more leeway to Ji Xiaoman, so it would make Professor Ruan indirectly feel like he owes her more favors.

This, Tang Yibu could figure out, but Ruan Xian’s failure to ask him for help still made him anxious.

…This makes no sense at all.

Tang Yibu lengthened his face and opened a can of cherry soda with murderous intent, intending to use it to quench the dark fire in his stomach.

“We need a blood drawing device. When the situation stabilizes, I plan to get enough blood samples from Zhong Qing. He has a big problem now, but without the support of the Mainbrain, something unexpected could happen,” Ruan Xian said to Ji Xiaoman. There wasn’t a single flaw in his sincere expression. “It’s best if it’s durable, as we don’t have much inventory.”

Ji Xiaoman nodded. “Understood. We don’t have much disinfectant, so use it wisely.”

“We have all seen the basement. There are three direct entrances and four elevator entrances. Of the three direct entrances and exits, two are dedicated to vehicles, and they are thoroughly scanned. The other one is the emergency entrance and exit, which is locked, but we should be able to get through it.”

Yu Le got down to business immediately.

“Forget about the elevator. There are different permissions on different floors, and the checks will only increase. You should’ve seen the stairs. These floors are okay. To get to the higher floors, you’ll need to take the elevator up.” The Sea of Ruins was a mixed bag of various buildings, so Yu Le had done a lot of research on related issues.

“…But I feel as if somewhere is not solid.” After reporting on the situation on his side, Yu Le spoke again. “If you want to sleep, someone will rush up to send you a pillow? As soon as we escaped to here, we just happened to encounter Zhong Qing, who had escaped the Mainbrain’s surveillance?”

“There’s no sign of him being watched, nor is there any tracking device,” Professor Ruan said. “But it is indeed a coincidence. Still, it’s wiser to not choose a riskier path based on conjectures without evidence.”

“Your way of thinking is quite like MUL-01,” Yu Le murmured. “Are you sure it won’t give us a few stumbling blocks?”

“There must be more variables on our side than it thought,” Professor Ruan replied calmly.

“It’s getting late. You guys get some sleep for a bit while Mr. Ruan and I determine the commonality of the bodies being transported,” Tang Yibu interrupted at the right time as he poured all the remaining cherry soda into his mouth.

The person transporting the body had already driven away. There were only a few of them left in this building, so this was the perfect opportunity.

He could also take the opportunity to spend more time with Mr. Ruan, and they could talk about his subject. The abacus in Tang Yibu’s mind was calculating.

“You go first,” Ruan Xian said. “I still have something to investigate.”

With this, the abacus in Tang Yibu’s mind snapped to pieces, and all the abacus beads fell to the ground. He opened his mouth and held back a burp caused by the cherry soda. He didn’t know if the pain in his chest was from forcibly holding back his burp or from the sudden unexpected blow. Tang Yibu’s heart and nose instantly became sour.

He wrinkled his nose in dissatisfaction.

“…I’ll go up to find you in a bit. You heard what Yu le said. The security system on the top floor is too tight and we can only get there using the elevator. My motor nerves aren’t that strong, so I’ll only drag you down—I’ll wait for you on the last floor by the stairs.”

It seemed that he was aware of Tang Yibu’s dissatisfaction, as Ruan Xian quickly explained.

Tang Yibu thought that his Mr. Ruan was becoming more cunning. He couldn’t pick out any flaws in Ruan Xian’s explanation, and there wasn’t anything wrong with the other party’s statement, but his dissatisfaction didn’t disappear because he got a proper explanation and instead only grew stronger.

Another novel feeling that gave rise to resentment. Tang Yibu carefully noted this in the small book in his heart.

His father was walking in a direction that he couldn’t see or control, and it only made his heart churn again. Tang Yibu suddenly became alert, pressed down his heart, and realized that a period of private calmness wasn’t bad.

To make the other party willingly belong to him, he should probably act more harmless and reliable. Those unknown emotions helped push him in the direction of paranoia and illogicalness, which only made things more frustrating.

For a second, he even agreed a little with MUL-01’s invention—if he could infiltrate into another’s mind and have them simulate these conversations countless of times in advance, perhaps he wouldn’t be torn by the unknown, curiosity, caution, and chagrin like how he felt now.

“Okay.” Tang Yibu skillfully controlled the expression on his face; posing it as calm and unruffled.

It was just that when he walked around the corner, Tang Yibu glanced back quietly—Ruan Xian was talking to the little three-legged machine. Unfortunately, at the distance he was at, Tang Yibu, who didn’t have the S-type Prototype, couldn’t hear their conversation.

He stepped on the stairs regretfully.

Exploration was extremely boring. This was commonplace in his previous life. Now, Tang Yibu only felt like it was the dregs of sugarcane that had been chewed on.

In the middle of the night, he searched with a sad face from the ground to the top floor, then back from the top to the lowest floor without stairs. Since there weren’t any cameras to capture him, Tang Yibu no longer held up his façade and let his face wrinkle like a bitter melon.

The conclusion was good. Compared with a weird but slow-developing disease like Zhong Qing, the Mainbrain preferred a strange disease with extremely fast development and high lethality. By processing and mixing those deadly things, Tang Yibu could imagine all kinds of death scenarios; whether it was through blood, rotten flesh, or pus, the process of his death wouldn’t exceed five minutes.

When he thought of this, his face wrinkled even more.

If it weren’t for having the A-type Prototype in his hand, Tang Yibu would really like to stuff his cybernetic brain into some steel creation rather than stay in a fragile body like this.

“Yibu, you…” After ruling out all hidden dangers in advance, Tang Yibu imagined so intently that he didn’t notice Ruan Xian, who was waiting for him not far away. The latter was looking at his wrinkled face while addressing him in a complicated tone.

Ruan Xian was carrying a very close-fitting backpack, and his mood and tone were equally complicated. He had never seen such an expression on Tang Yibu’s face—that beautiful face was wrinkled in pain, as if he had eaten something extremely sour, and his temperament was a bit like a sad sandpiper.

The moment he saw him, Tang Yibu reluctantly eliminated that expression, like a hot steaming iron pressing out the wrinkles on his clothes. Ruan Xian was surprised to see the android had ironed out his face full of bitterness and replaced it with a standard smile.

“Take this.” He felt amused as he took off his backpack and handed it to Tang Yibu.

“What?” Tang Yibu obediently took it.

“I asked Professor Ruan something about the S-type Prototype. I hadn’t grasped the feeling when I fought against Z-α before, but now I have a lot of clarity in my thoughts.”

Ruan Xian unzipped his backpack and took out a contraption similar in size to an asthma inhaler.

“This is compressed blood powder I purified with my blood gun. I simply removed the useless blood cells, so it looks like an ordinary medicine powder. Ji Xiaoman’s hands are quite fast. The blood drawer is more efficient than my blood gun.”

Tang Yibu looked at Ruan Xian puzzledly. “I thought you didn’t plan to cooperate with Professor Ruan.”

“In order to prevent you from exploding like R-α, I added a lot of buffer ingredients. You have to strictly control the dosage yourself. I’ll talk to you about this in detail later. I also have the information on the electronic manual of the bottle—don’t look at me like that. This asthma inhaler has been changed.” Ruan Xian dodged his question.

“Are you going to side with the Mainbrain?” This time, Tang Yibu didn’t plan to simply let Ruan Xian control the topic.

“No.” Ruan Xian smiled. “Just in case—the Mainbrain has its eyes on you. If it happens to separate you from us, I may not have time to save you. It never hurts to be prepared.”

Tang Yibu began to officially hate this kind of trickle-down talk.

His father and his Mr. Ruan wouldn’t talk to him like this before. Now though, Ruan Xian would act like this… Of course, it was also possible that he had done this many times before, but recently he had only started to mind these aspects.

“I’ll take it with me.” Tang Yibu walked away as he replied sullenly. He grabbed the two medicine bottles and stuffed them into a close-concealed pocket.

Ruan Xian touched Tang Yibu’s hair with relief, ruffling it gently.

“There’s no need to worry about Zhong Qing’s side for now.” Tang Yibu enjoyed the other party’s touch for a moment. “He’s not on the list.”

“Very good.” Ruan Xian breathed a sigh of relief.

“I want to talk to you about my subject, Mr. Ruan.” Tang Yibu spoke as he rubbed himself over; his eyes glowed in the shadowy corridor. “You said you would discuss it with me.”

“If you want to get the answer for me, I can only tell you with regret that I haven’t found the answer yet.”

Tang Yibu’s face showed a look of “you cheat” on it.

“…I just think that for some questions, maybe ‘people who can’t find the answer’ are more suitable for survival than ‘those who can find the answer’. For example, Yu Le and Professor Ruan. You’ve seen it, although the problems they face are different from ours.”

Ruan Xian stared at the air in front of him.

“This is an inextricable question, and I was curious about your answer at the time.”

“But on the subject of ’love’, I was…” Tang Yibu paused halfway and swallowed the rest of his words.

The moonlight was bright. One side of the funeral home was transparent glass. Although the corridors weren’t bright, the details weren’t blurred by the night. Everything faded in the greenish-white moonlight, as if the world was covered with a white tin.

Ruan Xian looked back at Tang Yibu with an equally complicated expression.

“I couldn’t pick out your ‘mistakes’ back then, but now I can. At least my love for you cannot be covered by your report.”

Indeed, the relationship between the two of them was too complicated and special. Tang Yibu realized the problem. Humans generally identified “love” as a positive word. Most people would give positive answers to relevant questions and like to fit them into established patterns, craving a sense of identity.

Countless songs instantly made sense, and everything was normative and safe.

Tang Yibu thought hopelessly that he was indeed wrong back then, not to mention whether Ruan Xian had accurately summarized his feelings and told the truth…

Based on his report alone, he was completely unable to explain his current state. Those inexplicably tangles and bitterness; he was incomparably relaxed when summarizing them, but it tasted extremely heavy.

“…I don’t know if I can find that answer,” Tang Yibu said blankly. His expression looked a bit lonely, as if he was watching his residence and all his possessions being burned by fire.

“I understand what you mean, Mr. Ruan. To deny a set of theories, one counterexample is enough. The topic of ‘love’ is a bit difficult to find, but ‘harm’…”

Perhaps it was more difficult to resonate among people than love.

Not to mention the information he had before the collapse of human society, he already had too many “counterexamples” in the past few months with Mr. Ruan.

He looked at his creator a few steps away and suddenly felt a little sad.

The author has something to say:

Tang: (wrinkled face)

Ruan: (soothing)

——

Tang: Not only this time did this paper fundamentally get the conditions wrong, but the previous paper also had problems…(;3_1)_

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 193: Trust Issues

Tang Yibu’s reaction was faster than Professor Ruan’s—he turned upside down as if his tail was caught, and the wily expression on his face instantly turned into panic like an abandoned small animal. This android absolutely knew his own mind. Even if Ruan Xian understood Tang Yibu’s purpose, he still couldn’t help being affected by the emotions flowing out of those eyes.

Tang Yibu didn’t need to say a word. Ruan Xian’s ears were already full of shouts of “don’t go”.

Professor Ruan showed no signs of being affected at all. The black box containing his brain just continued to puff bubbles in the liquid tank. The soft clicking sound in the air of the car became a lot thicker.

Ruan Xian suddenly felt that all this was a bit funny. They were deciding on a plan in regard to human civilization, yet instead of sitting at a conference table, neatly dressed, spouting scriptures, they were nestled in the back of a beat-down car. Compared to agents discussing important matters, they were more like robbers planning a heist of a fast-food restaurant.

Professor Ruan didn’t immediately dismiss his proposal. Just like every superior who knew etiquette, he showed proper patience.

“What do you say?”

“In the Android Show, I’ve been exposed to the Mainbrain. Based on your performance on the island, its conclusion is most likely similar to yours—I’m a human being bewitched and raised by Tang Yibu to provide him with technical support.”

Ruan Xian calmly grabbed Tang Yibu’s hand.

“If Zhuo Muran associates us with what happened in the Glass Conservatory, he should be able to reach the same conclusion—the Red Ghost isn’t a subordinate of the rebel army but Yibu’s own private force.”

“Yes.” Professor Ruan affirmed Ruan Xian’s statement.

“I survived due to a series of coincidences, and you’re still alive. Even if you kept your hand and preserved the autologous tissue that created clones, you wouldn’t be stupid enough to send them to the Mainbrain doorsteps. In other words, it’s basically impossible for MUL-01, which obeys reason, to come up with the conjecture that ‘I’m Ruan Xian’.”

Tang Yibu’s fingers were a little cold, and the palms of his hands were moist. The android was really nervous.

“…Indeed,” Professor Ruan confirmed.

“Then I am the best candidate to sneak in. As long as the Mainbrain determines that the thing that killed Z-α was developed by me, it will not simply crush my brain. More than likely, it’ll leave me alive and let me work for it, with the side benefit of obtaining information about Yibu.”

“You can’t be sure,” Tang Yibu muttered.

“If it’s really closer to a machine than you, it will. It will always choose the most favorable path. Now that I have been ‘brainwashed’ by you, it means that I’m fragile and easy to manipulate. The biggest difficulty is how to convince it that we have broken our relationship… and the physical examination that it may give me when I reach it. Don’t be nervous, Yibu. I’ll leave you enough blood for you to be safe.”

Ruan Xian glanced at Professor Ruan meaningfully.

“I think you will also guarantee this.”

“This does sound more reliable than relying on a backup.” Professor Ruan pondered for a few minutes. “Unfortunately, I don’t agree with your proposal.”

“Why?”

“You feel touched by this city, don’t you? The Mainbrain can be very convincing, and according to your experience, you have no sense of belonging and responsibility towards mankind,” Professor Ruan continued quietly. “Submit to the Mainbrain and obtain resources. As long as you have enough in your hand, you have many ways to disguise the death of NUL-00, change it into a new shell, and then live in the city of the Mainbrain.”

“When the time comes, you’ll preemptively strike me, and my winning rate won’t even reach 20%.”

Ruan Xian wasn’t surprised. This was always the problem.

The three people inside the car—counting Professor Ruan as a person—had no trust in each other.

“I won’t deny it,” Ruan Xian replied with a smile.

“I suggest maintaining the original plan, now or never.”

“That’s quite troublesome. Yu Le is not the type who can force the child to his death. In terms of treating children, even Ji Xiaoman is softer than Yu Le. If Yibu and I don’t support you, what are you going to do, ‘auxiliary machine’?”

Professor Ruan spat out a series of bubbles and didn’t respond. Tang Yibu fell into deep thought for a moment. The pathetic little animal vibe had long been tossed to the clouds.

“Let’s do this first.” No one spoke for a long time before Professor Ruan broke the silence. “At least solve the immediate problem and determine whether Zhong Qing is on the list.”

Then he didn’t continue to stay in the car and jumped out. Seeing that the conversation couldn’t continue, Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu looked at each other—Ruan Xian was still holding Tang Yibu’s hand; he didn’t know when he had changed it to clasping them together.

“You lied to him.” Tang Yibu turned his head slightly. His long hair hung slightly down along his shoulders. There was no smile in this sentence; it wasn’t coquettish but a simple statement of facts. “I only heard one truth. You want that 3% possibility.”

He sat next to Tang Yibu, skin to skin, with their hands attached to each other and their fingers nestled tightly together. Tang Yibu’s hand were warm and powerful, and his skin was soft and smooth. Ruan Xian could perceive the pulsation from his heart deep in the skin of that hand, as if he was holding a small, warm, and docile animal, but he knew in his heart that Tang Yibu could also sense him.

Tang Yibu could be judged by his heartbeat and his expression close at hand, but it wasn’t so simple. Ruan Xian didn’t want to risk exposing his thoughts to Professor Ruan. Tang Yibu had spent more time with him, and he wanted to bet on the side that he was more familiar with.

Tang Yibu really found out, which saved him a lot of trouble.

“So what?” Ruan Xian turned his head.

The android seemed to be struggling a bit. He obviously wanted to increase his 3% chance of winning, but he didn’t really want to support Ruan Xian’s plan. What was interesting to Ruan Xian was that Tang Yibu didn’t even look once at Zhong Qing; he didn’t even consider the option of sacrificing Zhong Qing as an alternative.

“You seem to have your own plans, Mr. Ruan.”

It seemed as if he could hear Ruan Xian’s thoughts. “I don’t want to force you to make a decision. Like I said, I don’t want to hurt you. Even if I agree to sacrifice Zhong Qing, the plan can’t be carried out if you, who have the S-type Prototype, don’t agree.”

“In contrast, if Professor Ruan isn’t willing to assist, it will become quite difficult to sneak in.” Ruan Xian smiled. “After all, these are just impromptu plans that Professor Ruan came up with after we encountered Zhong Qing. We don’t need to make a decision so quickly. He’s right. It’s imperative we deal with our current problems first.”

With that said, Ruan Xian jumped out of the car himself.

Tang Yibu was still sitting in the car, his body hidden in the shadows with only his golden eyes shimmering. Tang Yibu stared at him in silence, and for a moment, Ruan Xian had the illusion that he was about to be eaten. The android seemed to see through his mind.

Perhaps Tang Yibu really noticed something, but what he noticed would not be enough to turn it into a definite problem.

The beast in the cave stared at him like that for a while, and finally got out of the car slowly, stretching his muscles. He didn’t let go of Ruan Xian’s hand and instead pulled him into his arms and gave him a bite-like kiss.

“Ruan Xian.” Tang Yibu suddenly called out in a voice so low that no one else could hear, not Mr. Ruan, not father.

Ruan Xian wiped his somewhat red and swollen lips. He tasted a little blood and the particular sweet aroma of peaches. “…What’s wrong?”

“I’m not ready to trust you,” Tang Yibu said. “But I’m not ready to leave you either.”

Ruan Xian stretched out his hand. His fingertips gently brushed the corners of Tang Yibu’s eyes.

“…Let’s go. Let’s not keep Professor Ruan waiting too long.”

He did have a plan, a plan that no one could reveal. If Professor Ruan’s plan was a fruit tree that had already taken shape, his was more like a poisonous snake that had taken the opportunity to climb on its trunk.

It was weak, clumsy, and young, but it had already decided its direction.

Ruan Xian still didn’t have much interest in restoring the “original face” of the world, and he didn’t have any hatred for the Mainbrain. Standing from an almost outsider’s perspective, he quietly wrapped around the trunk of the tree.

He didn’t care about the possible war and death coming out of Professor Ruan’s mouth. Ruan Xian was only sure of one thing—the plan prepared by Professor Ruan for many years was indeed effective, and Tang Yibu also agreed to assist Professor Ruan.

…However, he didn’t want to cooperate.

Order Supervisor Headquarters.

Zhuo Muran walked out of the gate of the headquarters. The night was dark, and the sky was full of stars. As he got into his car, the light screens that were wrapped around him like a school of fish swam to one side, clearing the view for him.

After Zhuo Muran got in the car, he made himself a cup of coffee. He didn’t need to drive. The navigation had already started to operate on its own.

“Safe house,” Zhuo Muran simply said.

“So late?” A holographic figure was projected on the passenger side. A beautiful young man sat on the passenger seat with a smile, still wearing a simple white robe without any adornments. His long black hair, which didn’t exist in reality, was braided and hung on one shoulder. The illusion looked at him with golden eyes, but the image didn’t match the extremely modern design of the car.

Whether it was the white robe, long black hair, or handsome face, the one next to him was more like a ghost of an ancient priest.

“Because I can’t determine the movement of the decoy, I must collect as much information as possible.” Zhuo Muran took another sip of coffee. “MUL-01, it’s my off time.”

“I’m very satisfied with your new plan and curious,” the Mainbrain said, ignoring the second half of Zhuo Muran’s sentence. “So I decided to allocate a little computing space to it. Take me along.”

Zhuo Muran threw two sugar cubes into his coffee cup but didn’t express the slightest dissatisfaction. After a few seconds, the car started on its own and rushed straight into the sky.

The white vehicle passed through the clouds, took a few big bends in the pale moonlight, and finally stopped in front of a void. Zhuo Muran pressed his finger on the light screen, and after a slight beep, a rectangular white box appeared in front of the vehicle. Its height was just right as if it was built on top of the clouds.

The rectangle was more like two cubes put together, and right now, half of it was opening up, revealing two spaces stacked on top of each other. The other cube fell down to one side and became a platform suitable for things to land on.

Zhuo Muran got out of the car, which then drove towards the parking space by itself. He stepped on the white platform and entered the other half of the “box”. After he completely entered the interior, the platform dropped down again, and its rectangular body flickered for a moment before being hidden again.

The interior was simply furnished. A bed, a bathtub, a refrigerator that was full of food, an extremely simple kitchen, and a bathroom. Zhuo Muran concentrated all the necessary facilities related to living in one corner, as most of the space in the vertical square room was empty for sandbox projection.

The Mainbrain was a convenient guest. It didn’t even need tea. It ran to the sandbox table by itself and looked at the numbers and formulas that were constantly jumping.

“They probably went to your city.” Zhuo Muran made himself tea. It seemed like he needed to drink something with flavor to hydrate himself. “Things could be a lot easier if you could see the condition of the decoys.”

“Nn.” MUL-01 simply responded.

After the water boiled, the Mainbrain’s attention focused on the white water vapor ejected from the spout. He put one hand near the spout and watched the water vapor rush through the non-existent shadow.

“Considering they’re cooperating with Ruan Xian, we can’t leave any clues. Any tracking programs, mechanical or even unnatural mental inductions, could spook the snake.” The voice of the phantom youth was still warm and pleasing. “Only when I know nothing about the decoys will Ruan Xian take the bait.”

“The person with NUL-00 showed good abilities in the Android Show. It should be some kind of anti-mechanical virus. With this card in his hand, Ruan Xian will definitely send it to me.”

“I’m not so sure,” Zhuo Muran said humbly. “I have increased troops in all surrounding non-urban areas and have gained nothing. In recent cities, I have also buried decoys… But according to my experience in dealing with Ruan Xian, even if we don’t put anything on the baits, he may notice that those are baits.”

“He knows, which is why he’ll take the risk. Relatively speaking, I must also bear the risk of being attacked.”

MUL-01 was still playing with the water vapors.

“It’s like playing chess. No matter how strong the player is, as long as the two sides are evenly matched, it’s impossible not to lose a single piece… Just like he knew that my first reaction when I found NUL-00 was to test it, which I did, even though through gathering this intelligence allowed NUL-00 to successfully escape.”

“R-α, R-β, M-α, M-β are in the four nearest cities. Guess who’s coming back with the trojan horse?”

Kinky Thoughts:

Amazing reference. What Professor Ruan planned is similar to what the Greeks did during the Trojan War. Most likely, Ruan Xian will be the person “hidden” in the trojan horse. Ironically, (not sure if this is intentional by the author), but Trojan Horse also refers to a malware as well (which got its name from the original Trojan Horse). Given that they’re trying to infect the Mainbrain with a virus, the reference would be on so many levels.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 192: Car Meeting

“It seems that you know a lot about this disease.” Ruan Xian’s mood was much calmer than Yu Le’s. While true that Zhong Qing did have six extra eyes, his appearance before he was “killed” wasn’t much different from that of a human. He had long been used to seeing worse things in the mirror.

“Do you want me to give you some blood test results? We have some testing equipment on hand,” he added.

“No. I can see the temperature information on your side. I’ve studied the case before when I was in charge of the project. His body temperature is low, he’s thin, and the size, location, and his iris characteristics all match.”

“If you’re really worried, I can give you some blood samples that need to be checked later,” Guan Haiming added, after glancing at Yu Le’s ugly face. “But I didn’t read it wrong. His situation is very typical.”

“I understand,” Ruan Xian replied.

It was right to ask Guan Haiming. Not all knowledge and experience could be recorded. From things as simple as weaving bamboo baskets, identifying the sweetness of fruits, to the diagnosis of complex diseases, there were always things that couldn’t be written down. They had to be brewed over time with a certain feeling. However, now that there was a conclusion, Tang Yibu could fill in the rest of the remaining information.

He looked at Professor Ruan, who had been silent all this time, and continued to not respond.

“Thank you for your help.” Ruan Xian decided to end the conversation. “We may take the initiative to contact you in the near future.”

“Anytime.” Guan Haiming easily sorted out the scattered information in front of him and yawned, then the light screen went out.

Yu Le sat in a seat covered by a cloth. His entire figure looked like a clay figurine, as if he had lost half his soul, and didn’t look like he had any intention of speaking. Ruan Xian opened the car door. Tang Yibu, who had been wandering outside, came in. He had just finished eating his canned peaches, so there was still a sweet scent of sugar water with peach flavor on his body.

“Professor Ruan, I’m going to investigate the corpses,” Ruan Xian said. “How about you keep an eye on them here?”

Finally, Professor Ruan spoke. “We can talk openly.”

“You weren’t so open just now.”

“Haiming said the Order Supervisor from Petri Dish 1036 is helping him for an unknown purpose, so I won’t reveal my situation hastily,” Professor Ruan said. “The priority now is to determine whether Zhong Qing is on R-α’s demand list.”

Everyone in the car understood what Professor Ruan meant.

It would be fine if Zhong Qing wasn’t on the list. They just had to avoid the citizen who was working for the Mainbrain, but if he was on the list, that child would definitely not be willing to sacrifice himself and lie back in his glass coffin, not to mention that it wasn’t impossible that the city would go under martial law.

In this city that was carefully taken care of by the Mainbrain, besides being killed, the exposure of being kidnapped was also high.

“I have to say,” Yu Le said softly. “How can there be anything good in this world? I just picked up a good guide right as we entered the city… Sure enough, now I have to pay it back.”

As he spoke, he turned his head and looked out the car. Zhong Qing had hidden his extra eyes and was talking to Ji Xiaoman.

“You guys talk. I’m going out for a cigarette.” He took out a pack of cigarettes from the gap in the seat of the car and gave Professor Ruan and Ruan Xian a meaningful look. “I don’t want to get too involved yet. The little profiteer needs someone to watch the wind. Zhong Qing will ask me later what we talked about, and I’ll tell him it’s about the rebel army… I’ll string the excuses together. Don’t make any mistakes.”

After that, he grabbed the door handle that Ruan Xian hadn’t had time to close, jumped down with a cigarette in hand, and mercilessly pushed aside the iron bead that was trying to jump in.

Now there were only two people and a living brain left in the car.

“He’s a smart man.” Professor Ruan turned around the glass tank and faced Yu Le’s back—the former ruins pirate walked to Ji Xiaoman, fumbled in his pockets for a while, and handed her and Zhong Qing a piece of chocolate. Then he patted Zhong Qing on the shoulder again, as if to comfort him.

Although he said that death was a gain, Yu Le didn’t treat the status quo recklessly.

Interestingly enough, his definition of what humans were was obviously much broader than that of Professor Ruan—when he was in the Underground City, he also gave Tiantian-Q2 a boozy chocolate. Yu Le didn’t seem to care what was inside the head of the shell.

It was hard to say whether it was thick nerves or having seen too much.

“Don’t look at him like that. He will only do things according to his own thoughts. He’s indeed a smart man. Otherwise, we wouldn’t take him with us,” Ruan Xian said quietly.

“If you have something you want to say to us, you’d better hurry up. Probing the condition of the other corpses comes first, and besides, we really have nothing to discuss.”

The curiosity in Tang Yibu’s eyes was about to overflow. It was like he was a starving man who rushed into a buffet—he wanted everything, but he only had one mouth. He could only shut his mouth and choke back his words.

“In addition to Petri Dish No. 1036, what other Petri Dishes can you contact?”

“The communication facilities in the Sea of Ruins aren’t working, so we can’t get in touch for the time being. The people in the Glass Conservatory have a general attitude towards us, but there’s no ready-made way to contact them. There is contact information left in the Underground City, but we haven’t reached out yet.”

Ruan Xian still remembered the chip hidden behind the hardtack. He An, who renamed himself K6, gave it to them. Although he had installed an encrypted contact program, he had never taken the initiative to contact them. Ruan Xian wasn’t much of a communication type, so he naturally never made contact with him either.

“What about the data model you got from Kang Ziyan before?” Professor Ruan turned to Tang Yibu.

Tang Yibu wiped the corners of his mouth deeply to make sure that the water stains from the sugar peaches didn’t stick to his lips. “The one about personality and memory transmission? Kang Ziyan didn’t succeed in leaving the island, so I only got half of it as a deposit.”

Professor Ruan fell into deep thought, while Ruan Xian sighed and patted Tang Yibu’s upper arm. “Tell the truth. Cooperation is what you agreed to, so proper information exchange is also beneficial.”

Tang Yibu glanced at Professor Ruan reluctantly. “After Kang Ziyan died, before we had gone far, I saw the remaining half on his wristband.”

Now, both Ruan Xian and Professor Ruan fell into contemplation. Tang Yibu glanced back and forth between the two of them and also started to contemplate seriously.

“It’s time,” Professor Ruan and Ruan Xian said at the same time.

“What?” Tang Yibu blinked.

“Assassinate MUL-01,” Professor Ruan said.

“Attack MUL-01,” Ruan Xian replied in turn. After the words were spoken, he politely made a ‘please’ gesture, motioning Professor Ruan to speak first.

“Except for Zhong Qing, the rest of the situation is similar to what I guessed. Once the center of the island is destroyed, NUL-00 and its people will take me away, and MUL-01 will instill martial law on the surrounding petri dishes.”

“According to the information we got, this includes the petri dishes we passed along the way,” Ruan Xian added.

These were all in Professor Ruan’s calculations, so Ruan Xian wasn’t surprised. If it were him, he would probably do the same—unless Tang Yibu and he had a strong tendency to self-destruct, the choices now were indeed limited.

“The martial law of the petri dishes means increased internal pressure and subtle changes in management forms. For people in the petri dish, these are dangerous signs.” Professor Ruan didn’t deny Ruan Xian’s statement. “With the current tension, even a little spark can cause a lot of interference to MUL-01.”

“In the original plan, we could go this way to the real assassination machine and take advantage of the chaos to assassinate MUL-01. As long as MUL-01 disappears, everything centered on MUL-01 will fall into chaos. The people who will be sacrificed are all members of the rebel army. The sacrifices caused by the assassination will be attributed to the Mainbrain. With the high pressure combined with anger, people will rise up… If we succeed.”

“How cunning,” Ruan Xian commented impartially.

“You can make the truth public after people win. I don’t need the fame,” Professor Ruan said.

“Just for forged memories?” Tang Yibu’s focus was elsewhere.

“No, for the memory that belongs only to me,” Professor Ruan said. “Like I said, even if I give up now, MUL-01 will not let me go. And even if I barely survive, the quality of memory will not exceed the ones already in my head, so there’s not much joy in simply surviving.”

This time there was no usual gentleness or cheerfulness in his voice.

“Remove the indelible affection from mankind… At least in this way, whether it’s fame or notoriety, it’ll be me who’ll be remembered. People can regain their freedom, and I can die the way I want, so why not?”

Professor Ruan was telling the truth. There was no need for him to deceive them in this regard now that things had come to this point.

Ruan Xian hid his plan in his heart and continued, “And you’re now formally proposing this matter to us… Do you plan to use Zhong Qing?”

“This is an opportunity.” Professor Ruan didn’t notice Ruan Xian’s hidden emotions. “I can probably guess what R-α is doing here. If my guess is correct, it’s here to replenish ‘ammunition’. It seems MUL-01 has focused its weaponization on another path.”

“Ah,” Tang Yibu reacted quickly. “Advance S-type products won’t die so easily, nor can they directly generate pathogenic microorganisms that are effective against humans. However, if you’re looking for a suitable container for it, there’s no better choice.”

Even if it possessed human parts, the S-type products in its body would continue to repair the human parts until everything returned to its original state. But if the target was Tang Yibu, the A-type Prototype couldn’t do much—not to mention a head-to-head confrontation like before, the poisonous R-α could kill him with just a hug.

The battle in the Android Show appeared to have provided MUL-01 with a wealth of information.

Tang Yibu was obviously aware of this. After speaking, he shivered and moved a few centimeters closer to Ruan Xian’s side.

“Yes. Just as we can use the S-type Prototype to generate a mechanical ‘virus’, the Mainbrain is also researching efficient and precise weapons against the human body to deal with possible resistance. After all, nuclear weapons would destroy everything indiscriminately, and the ensuing environmental damage would also be difficult to deal with,” Professor Ruan continued.

“We can use this opportunity to use the S-type Prototype to infect it. As long as the onset of the infection is controlled, we can send the virus that will only infect mechanical life to the elite forces of the Mainbrain. In this way, we can create even more chaos.”

“Not a bad plan,” Ruan Xian said. “But to follow this plan of yours, I’m afraid Zhong Qing will have to be packed and sent to R-α regardless of whether he’s on the list or not.”

Modify the records, then control Zhong Qing, use the resources in the funeral home to create an anti-mechanical virus, and then send them to R-α. Ruan Xian could guess the details of this plan, but there was just one thing…

“You can’t control the behavior of Zhong Qing or R-α,” Ruan Xian said, faintly shocked by his own guess. “You tell us this now—”

“He wants to send his consciousness out as an accessory to the virus.” Tang Yibu took over. “Using the technology obtained from Kang Ziyan, he’ll transfer his consciousness to Zhong Qing’s body, and then transfer it to R-α when they come into close contact.”

He glanced up and down at Professor Ruan with his golden eyes.

“If he does this, it means that it is you and me who are going to operate the assassination machine. He’s just explaining the aftermath.”

“No, I won’t completely entrust such an important thing to others, but about the part of consciousness data transfer, you didn’t guess wrong. I’ll send a backup. I’ve experimented with it quite a few times on that island, but the efficiency never kept up.”

“Incomplete backup can lead to personality changes.” Tang Yibu frowned.

“But obsession will not change. Given Kang Ziyan as an example, that’s already very convincing. I trust his technology and will check it myself.”

“…In other words, you want to transfer your memory backup to Zhong Qing and then to R-α, so that at the same time, your brain will continue to act with us,” Ruan Xian concluded.

“Now it seems that this can be done,” Professor Ruan said calmly. “But I can’t do it alone. I need your help. This approach can at least increase our winning chances by about 3%.”

Tang Yibu withdrew his disguise and gave Professor Ruan a deadly glare, like a leopard staring at its prey. Ruan Xian could read that expression—Tang Yibu was quickly calculating their possible gains and losses.

“I only have one question.” Ruan Xian flattened the wrinkles on his white coat.

Professor Ruan’s three-legged little machine turned to him.

“…Did you even ask Zhong Qing for his opinion?”

“You should have heard Haiming’s diagnosis.”

“I don’t care what he is. He did find a suitable place for us to hide and provided information. Strictly speaking, we owe him a favor.”

Ruan Xian said softly, “But I also want that 3%.”

Tang Yibu’s possibility of death could be reduced from 10% to 7%. It could be said that what Professor Ruan was proposing was tempting. A string of bubbles emerged from Professor Ruan’s liquid tank. For some reason, Ruan Xian sensed doubts.

“…I have a different proposal.” He smiled at Professor Ruan. “How about directly sending the source of the infection instead?”

Ruan Xian pointed to his temple, “Strictly speaking, this is also ‘Ruan Xian’s consciousness’.”

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 191: Collective Consciousness

Professor Ruan remained silent, which Ruan Xian took as acquiescence. He made a gesture to Tang Yibu, signaling the other party to cover for his call.

Tang Yibu nodded while holding a piece of peach in his hand and replied with an OK gesture. Ruan Xian followed Professor Ruan into the car, ignoring Yu Le and Zhong Qing, who also came, and turned on the light screen.

Guan Haiming’s image appeared. From this angle, Guan Haiming could only see Ruan Xian and the dark car window behind him.

“Mr. Ruan.” Guan Haiming looked completely normal. Although he was a little pale, Ruan Xian could see that he was in good spirits. Compared with the hurriedly terminated call last time, this time he looked unrushed.

“Dr. Guan.” Ruan Xian didn’t say much.

“…I have been trying to contact you.” Seeing that the other party had no intention of continuing, Guan Haiming picked up the conversation. “You shouldn’t have been near the forest refuge for some time, right? These days, this was the first time you had appeared in the coverage of the communication signal.”

“Are you not in a rush this time?” Ruan Xian pointed out. “And we’re in the city of the Mainbrain. You have to make sure that this communication line is secure.”

“It’s absolutely safe. I used the Mainbrain’s own communication network algorithm. The message vibration frequency is also bound to the surveilled vibration boundary of the Order Supervisors, so the vibration itself won’t attract attention.” Guan Haiming smiled. “As for why I’m not hurried… This is one of the reasons why I’m looking for you.”

“Nn,” Ruan Xian responded simply.

Professor Ruan stood quietly beside him, hiding himself at the edge of the screen while silently watching his student. Lao Yu and Zhong Qing, who had a confused face, were huddled in a chair to one side.

“I’ll talk about my side first.” Seeing Guan Haiming about to open his mouth, Ruan Xian deliberately glanced at Zhong Qing and took the lead. “I saw Luo Jian in the Glass Conservatory. I did find something about your teacher.” He aggravated the word “teacher”.

As Professor Ruan’s favorite disciple, Guan Haiming reacted quickly. “We’ll discuss teacher’s matter later. Here’s the thing, Mr. Ruan. Recently, martial law has been enacted in some petri dishes. Do you know about this?”

“No.” But he could guess that since they made a lot of noise on the Android Show. In order to hunt them down, it was normal for a few nearby petri dishes to be under martial law—The Sea of Ruins, which was a little further away, might fare better, but the Underground City and the Glass Conservatory would be hard to escape.

“Shouldn’t it be more difficult for you to communicate with the outside world?” Ruan Xian raised his eyes. “It’s already passed midnight. Is something wrong with Major Ding’s ‘refresh’?”

“The Mainbrain believes that the fifteen-minute gap in the transfer of information is a security risk. In response to martial law, it stopped daily updates of the nearby Order Supervisors and focused on behavior monitoring.”

Guan Haiming showed a somewhat complicated smile.

“Since you left, I have never stopped communicating with Major Ding. Although he forgets every time there’s a refresh… In short, I have long mastered the way to convince him quickly. Now that the ‘refresh’ is paused, I don’t need to be tense between the fifteen minutes before the refresh time. He’s willing to help me spread the communication signal for the time being. That’s all.”

“For the time being.” Ruan Xian emphasized.

“Major Ding is… a very interesting person.” Guan Haiming sighed. “He can’t be persuaded by me. He just thinks it’s more exciting. Think about Xiao Ding. He’s still like ‘himself’, so how can he be soft on the survivors. Whether he wants to chase excitement or intends to cast a long line to catch a big fish by pretending to cooperate, all I need is to be able to pass the information out.”

“Which means I can contact you more freely going forward.” Ruan Xian glanced at Professor Ruan, who was pretending to be dead again. “I see. Is there anything else?”

“It has to be determined based on the content of your message.” Guan Haiming didn’t plan to say more.

“I know where Professor Ruan is. He’s still alive and in… Well let’s just say not in bad condition,” Ruan Xian said. “I think he has the ability to contact you. Now it seems that he just has no intention of doing so.”

Guan Haiming frowned slightly.

“Teacher may be working on a plan that requires absolute confidentiality,” After a while, Guan Haiming said, very slowly. “Although it was extremely difficult for him to unilaterally relay news, the possibility isn’t zero.”

“You really trust him,” Ruan Xian stated without emotion.

“I have my reasons. Thank you for the information, Mr. Ruan. I’ll keep in touch. There are quite a lot of risks out there. If there’s anything I can do to help, please feel free to ask.”

Guan Haiming nodded politely. “I’m relieved to know that teacher is okay. Please feel free to contact me if you have any news.”

Ruan Xian thought it was pretty much what he expected.

Guan Haiming didn’t continue talking. It seemed that only when he claimed to be working for Professor Ruan and provided evidence would Guan Haiming willingly reveal more information.

However, Professor Ruan’s three-legged machine remained quiet.

“There is one thing that you can help with.” Ruan Xian decided to drop the topic for now. “We have a child here with a rare disease. My… colleague brought him to me so I could take a look at him, but as you know, at best I can only deal with ordinary wounds. You, as an expert, will be more reliable.”

As he started to lie fluently again, Yu Le’s mouth started twitching.

“I’d be happy to.” Guan Haiming’s voice became lighter. He lowered the alcohol music and rubbed his temples. “Let me see.”

Zhong Qing looked at Lao Yu, then at Ruan Xian, and finally at Guan Haiming on the other side of the light screen. He took a deep breath, straightened the hair on his head, and then opened all his eyes.

They were originally closed tightly, covered by soft hair, so they didn’t stand out. However, when they all opened at once, the cold, white sclera of the eyes was particularly dazzling among his black hair.

He had already moved to the middle between Ruan Xian and Yu Le. His pair of artificial eyeballs were looking at Ruan Xian, while the few strange eyes on the back of his head were looking at Yu Le. Ruan Xian could hear it. Though Yu Le didn’t react on his face, it took him quite some time to calm down his nervous heartbeat.

Ruan Xian’s first reaction wasn’t fear. He just looked at Zhong Qing with a little curiosity—he was truly curious as to how Zhong Qing saw the world through those eyes.

His research direction was more “mechanized”, focusing on nanobots and the repair of human tissues. His body didn’t really allow him to become a real doctor, let alone the lack of clinical experience he had. Ruan Xian had limited exposure to these… peculiar diseases. And even if he rummaged through his memories, he couldn’t find a similar case.

Innate deformities, drug effects, or artificial induction could achieve similar effects, assuming that it was just a disease…

Guan Haiming frowned tightly, and his expression turned solemn.

“This rare disease, I have seen before. I don’t know what the situation is on your side, but first, let that child leave.”

“I’m not leaving!” Zhong Qing’s entire body became nervous. His eight eyes that were on his head were wide open, giving an eerie look.

“You’ll be fine, little guy.” Guan Haiming was full of patience and his tone sounded extremely convincing, though he didn’t look very good as he stared straight into those augmented eyes.

“This is just something that’s inappropriate to say in front of children.”

Professor Ruan was still dutifully playing the role of an auxiliary machine and continued to remain silent.

“I won’t hurt you while we’re in this city, unless I have to.” Ruan Xian looked directly at Zhong Qing calmly. “Go out first. What Dr. Guan is about to say is not appropriate for children.”

Zhong Qing’s face had on the expression of “as if I believe you”.

“This is what it means to be collaborators. You better come out first.” A voice joined the conversation.

Ruan Xian pinched his brow. He knew whose voice it was—Tang Yibu still couldn’t overcome his curiosity in the end. He didn’t follow inside the car but pressed his face tightly against the glass to the point where his nose was pressed flat. In order to avoid Guan Haiming’s suspicion, he specifically lowered his voice, which only made it sound like it was from a kidnapper from a TV production.

Guan Haiming couldn’t see from his angle, but Ruan Xian suspected that even if he could see, he might not be able to recognize Tang Yibu, whose face was distorted from pressing against the glass.

Ruan Xian stretched out his hand and mercilessly rolled down the car window, which made Tang Yibu almost fall into the car from the car window. He rubbed his nose, and that handsome face appeared again. Ji Xiaoman stood a few steps away, trying to look into the darkness from a distance without turning her head.

Zhong Qing glared at Tang Yibu a little angrily. With all his eyes open, the glare was quite oppressive.

“Very clever design.”

Tang Yibu manipulated his kidnapper-like voice with interest as he watched Zhong Qing carefully. That look wasn’t like what one had when looking at deformities or monsters, nor was it as calm as Ruan Xian. It was more like a sculptor discovering high-quality marble.

“In fact, considering the survival rate, I initially considered a similar body schematic. The physiological structure of humans isn’t so great for combat. Bone structures of big felines are better, but unfortunately, conditions didn’t allow me to do so.”

The android sounded full of earnest regret and envy, which only left Zhong Qing dumbfounded as he wasn’t sure how to deal with such an attitude.

“Fortunately, you didn’t.” Ruan Xian opened the car door and quickly kissed Tang Yibu’s forehead. “Then we would have a lot of trouble ‘sleeping’ together.”

Tang Yibu thought seriously for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

Zhong Qing slowly turned his head slowly and looked at Ruan Xian speechlessly, then glanced at Tang Yibu in horror before he was pushed out of the car in confusion. Until his feet stepped on the ground, Zhong Qing was still pondering what emotion his face should have right now.

After half coaxing Zhong Qing out of the car, Ruan Xian gave Tang Yibu a generous kiss and cruelly closed the car window.

“Okay, go ahead.” Ruan Xian turned his head and addressed Guan Haiming, who was just as confused. “He’s out now.”

“That voice just now was…?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“…Forget it. Let’s get down to business first.” Guan Haiming rubbed his temples. “I know what that kid’s disease is. The name is quite long, so there’s no need to say it. The point is, the child’s illness is terminal, so I don’t know what to do with him. I didn’t know how to say it…”

“You just say he will be fine.” Yu Le closed the expression on his face and frowned. “Just say what needs to be said and don’t be rude.”

“It’s true that ‘he’ will be fine.” Guan Haiming smiled bitterly. “What is that child’s name?”

“Zhong Qing.”

“Then the human named ‘Zhong Qing’ is dead. At least as defined by previous medical concepts. However, there has been controversy on this point… His disease is caused by a very special viral infection plus an autologous genetic defect. We have more graphic statements about this disease. We call it ‘Rhododendron Disease’.”

“I don’t understand.” Yu Le was straightforward.

“I don’t know how he managed to keep his body in such good condition. Usually, patients die due to systemic failure during adolescence. This one looks mature.”

When talking in his professional persona, Guan Haiming unknowingly reverted to his cold and indifferent tone.

“The specific pathological mechanism is indeed complicated. Let me give some simple examples—many parasites will transform their hosts, causing them to mutate and be more likely to be eaten. For example, creating deformed bodies that are not conducive to survival, or making them more conspicuous and easily exposed to natural enemies, so as to ensure that they can reproduce normally.”

“That kid is a zombie controlled by a parasite? Doesn’t look like it.”

“I’m just expressing a general statement, not an example of preciseness. In fact, from viruses to parasites, they all have an impact on their hosts. It guides them in a direction that’s good for them and away from the direction that’s harmful—in order to obtain water, let the host drown himself; in order to stay away from a deadly water environment, cause the host to develop hydrophobic symptoms; that sort of thing.”

“The situation of Rhododendron Disease is more complicated. The pathogenic virus intercepts the gene expression of the host and transforms the body it has acquired to obtain a convenient body and the knowledge and skills to survive in the host population. Whether it’s Zhong Qing’s brain or other organs, medically speaking, they aren’t dead. They are just taken over by… a non-human creature.”

Yu Le shrank his shoulders; there was a rare dull look on his face.

“All his memories are still there, including emotions, but theoretically speaking, his brain control is no longer the human Zhong Qing… For example, if you compare an unconscious brain to a hard drive with a lot of data, now this hard drive has changed owners, but the use of the data is still similar.”

“He’s lying to us?” Ruan Xian got straight to the point.

“No… He himself may not know that he has ‘changed’. Bluntly put, if A poured all his memories into B, B would naturally think of himself as A.” Guan Haiming shook his head. “Rhododendron Disease is too rare. Except for the patient, no one knows the specific details. Usually, patients die during adolescence due to overconsumption. Zhong Qing somehow survived that stage, and now he’s relatively stable and is able to survive normally.”

“Those eyes…” Yu Le murmured.

“Zhong Qing himself should have a genetic defect, as I said just now. The virus has merely intercepted the genetic information in his body and tried to construct what it considers reasonable ‘eyes’ of its own to ensure that the body can continue to survive and create the conditions for its reproduction.”

Guan Haiming took a sip of water and continued, “Rhododendron Disease doesn’t spread from person to person, but there’s no point taking him with you.”

He put down the cup and sighed.

“His genetic data has been tampered with by a virus. In this regard, he can no longer be classified as ‘human’. The creature that now thinks it is ‘Zhong Qing’ has a mind closer to the collective consciousness of a virus.”

“Even if that’s the case, do you still think he’s a ‘human’?”

The author has something to say:

I am talking nonsense about this disease, but the animal parasites mentioned do exist, and the deformities caused are very… amazing.

There is indeed a reason for the retention of Zhong Qing by the Mainbrain, and his illness is also very serious√

**Type zombie←

Kinky Thoughts:

Speaking of what Guan Haiming is saying, there is a real-life example. Leucochloridium paradoxum is a parasitic flatworm that infects snails, turning their eyes into “disco balls” in order for them to attract birds better. Birds, which are the final hosts of these parasites, eat these snails, allowing the parasite to reproduce in the bird’s cloaca.

When the bird shits, the parasite’s eggs are released into its feces, which is then eaten by the snails, and so begins the cycle anew. Also, I believe the author named the disease after Rhododendron (or Azalea). I went with the former because Guan Haiming specifically says the disease’s name is long, so he didn’t want to say it… Then a few paragraphs later, he said it anyway.

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Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 190: Multi-party Consultation

Several long-legged crab-like detection machines walked into the room. They moved extremely fast, scanning everything in the room with a cold blue beam of light as soft clicking sounded inside. Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu squeezed into the gap under the largest machine together. The tension was obvious, but Ruan Xian felt untimely enjoyment from it.

It seemed that the other party’s words had a deeper impact on him than he thought, and even the irritability caused by the crisis had turned into a pleasant stimulus.

Tang Yibu turned his face sideways, gave him an embarrassed smile, and then stretched out his hand—the android shrank the fingers on his right hand except for the index and middle fingers. Their fingertips touched the ground, imitating a gesture, and “walked” out of the cover.

From the perspective of the detection machine, this scene was probably terrifying—the empty room of the funeral home suddenly had a pale hand stretched out under its white cover that made gestures.

Unfortunately, detection machines didn’t have emotions such as fear.

The one responsible for scanning the area diligently approached to investigate. As soon as it stopped on the right hand that was gesturing, it was grabbed.

The faint blue light lit up and then went out.

Ruan Xian could hear that after Tang Yibu released the hapless detection machine, it staggered to the ground for a while, as if drunk, then it wobbled out of the room with its other companions without sounding the alarm.

The silence drifted through the room for a few moments before being broken by the sound of people in the hallway. Fortunately, the destination of the visitor wasn’t in the room they were hiding in but the room one floor up, corresponding to the position at the end of the corridor.

Out of caution, Ruan Xian didn’t leave his hiding place immediately. He listened carefully to the conversation of the visitor and relayed it in real time to Tang Yibu, who then transmitted the information to Professor Ruan through data transmission.

Only the iron bead, who was nestled beside Tang Yibu in frustration, had a dazed look.

“R-α has arrived?” A human voice sounded. It seemed like they were having a conversation, but there was only one set of footsteps that belonged to people. Most likely, the other party they were communicating with wasn’t on the scene.

“It has arrived. There are still 15 samples that need to be transferred. Thank you for your hard work. Things are very urgent and there’s nothing I can do on my side.”

“Ugh, I’ve forgotten the last time I had to work overtime.” The person in the corridor yawned. “The treatment is okay. The composition is quite good. I just don’t know what R-α wants with these corpses… Forget it, it’s none of my business.”

“It’s better than destroying it directly.” The person who he was talking to comforted.

“Yeah, you have to sign your name more than a dozen times to destroy it. Some family members ask for more. There are too many transfer procedures, but the time is too late. What about you? How is the situation over there?”

“Same. R-α’s residence needs the highest level of disinfection and inspection. The process on my side is almost over. I’m alone at the boss’ place, so I’m just looking for someone to talk to relieve my boredom.”

“I envy you. I’m transporting the most dangerous corpses this time. The handling machine is particularly careful. Only five can be shipped at a time. I just shipped it once yesterday, and I have work to do for the next two days. But on the bright side—at least it won’t be so late for the next two times. I already sent five of them before, but who knew they were going to be so anxious.”

The content of the words sounded like a complaint, but the two people talking sounded like they were in a good mood.

“Speaking of, the girl I saw in the breakroom last time…”

[R-α?] Seeing that the two of them started talking about women, Ruan Xian devoted a little energy to asking Tang Yibu.

[It’s the woman you saw.] Tang Yibu continued to write with his fingertips on the skin under Ruan Xian’s ears. [At first, you improved α-092 to try to treat yourself. In the end, it did perform well in repairing organs.]

[Yes.] Tang Yibu broke the layer of paper, and Ruan Xian reacted instantly. [In order to obtain the most accurate experimental data, I used my own cells for the original experiment. The α-092-30 that I was improving when I was attacked is indeed the most suitable direction for my own transformation.]

He had used himself as a tissue donor. Ruan Xian didn’t want to take too big a step and save a dead horse as if it was still living*—he planned to use his dilapidated tissue as a test product first. If it could achieve the desired effect, then he could slowly transform it for universal use.

*(死马当作活马医) Colloquial saying referring making a last-ditch effort to save a hopeless situation.

If he was lucky and achieved gratifying success, he could possibly live for two more years.

As far as the results were concerned, the unfinished α-092 variant was indeed the most suitable for Ruan Xian’s own DNA.

[After erasing you, Fan Linsong created a relatively healthy Professor Ruan, which was tantamount to replacing the cells of ‘Ruan Xian’ again. In this way, he could control the severity of the condition… Professor Ruan doesn’t know anything about what you did with α-092, so he continued to use it as a template to make the S-type Prototype.] Tang Yibu continued to write.

Ruan Xian still remembered the information he found in Ji Xiaoman’s truck when he was in the Underground City—A-type and D-type Prototypes were all derivatives of the S-type Prototype, which itself was derived from the α-092 nanobot.

To be precise, it was α-092-30 that he transformed most of his body “during his lifetime” and what dissolved his body.

Inferring from this, in theory, he and his relatives were the most compatible fusers with the Prototype. Professor Ruan, who was in relatively stable physical condition, didn’t focus his research on the repair of the human body and instead turned his research to strengthening bionic tissue, so it was normal that he didn’t know of this.

Only NUL-00 knew that he once had a little… bit of desire to live.

Since Professor Ruan didn’t know, it meant that MUL-01 wouldn’t notice either. It just selected the most suitable sample in its database and gave the Prototype to the most suitable person or made the body that was suitable for the Prototype.

When the suicide incident occurred, his mother’s DNA sample was entered into the public system. As the closest relative to him, it wasn’t surprising that her DNA was taken by MUL-01. As for Zhuo Muran…

[Zhuo Muran comes from a mountainous area. I remember some information about Ruan Yuchan’s case. She was also born near that area. From the perspective of genetic information, you may be distant relatives.]

As if seeing through his thoughts, Tang Yibu’s fingertips stopped for a while, then added gloatingly.

[Your seniority in the family tree must be much higher than his.]

[It seems that the one not long ago wasn’t my mother.] Ruan Xian softly sighed.

Having witnessed his mother’s death with his own eyes, he wasn’t disappointed now.

It was just a digital sample left by his mother’s body. The ghost of those digits brought her body back to the world again. It was impossible for the resurrected woman to have the memory of his mother. She was bound to be installed with the most suitable memory data by the Mainbrain, just like…

Ruan Xian glanced at Professor Ruan secretly.

[You’re shaken.] Tang Yibu pointed out solemnly. [The feeling I just understood—it’s one thing to understand rationally, but it’s another thing to accept emotionally. You’re shaken in front of me.]

[She has to give me a chance to be shaken first.] Ruan Xian gently pinched Tang Yibu’s waist. [I think she would be more willing to pound us to ground beef or support someone to pound us to ground beef.]

Tang Yibu snorted a few times and moved his body, sticking the two of them even closer together.

However, there was still a risk, so Ruan Xian continued to listen to the distant voices.

His eyes were very similar to his mother’s. Although the rest of his facial features were more like his father’s, if it was known that there was also a potential S-type Prototype beside NUL-00, most of the smokescreen released by Tang Yibu would be for naught.

Ruan Xian thought that he needed to think more seriously about this.

At the same time, the topic of girls by the gentleman in the corridor finally stopped. Among the slight sound of glass rubbing, he began to complain about work again.

“Because of this shit, this place will be sealed for five days. It obviously could be demolished in a day, but because of that inexplicable ‘mental adaptation period’, we still have to give the people around us time to adapt. Haa, if it weren’t for the subsidy that is twice my salary, I really wouldn’t want to take on such an… odd job.”

“You have to guard this building by yourself?”

“Not really. I have a whole lot of detection crabs, don’t I? Anyway, I work alone wherever I am, but this place is more comfortable. You know, if this place is closed, it’s the safest place in the city, but they won’t let me bring my girl in…”

“I envy you. I still have to deal with people face-to-face.” His caller scolded with a smile. “Work is work. What’s wrong with you thinking about bringing in your android partner in?”

“…Ugh.”

“No more chit-chat. There’s something wrong with R-α again. Finish up your break soon. I’m hanging up first bro.”

“We’ll continue later.”

More than an hour later.

“This place will be closed for five days?” Yu Le raised his voice.

The person who came had carried away the corpses and then initiated the closure of the building. Everyone had reconvened in front of the car. Compared to Tang Yibu’s group who was relaxed, Yu Le’s group was particularly frustrated.

Before the split, Zhong Qing was energetic and provoking, but now he was like a shriveled eggplant*. He followed Yu Le silently, hanging his head, not speaking a single word.

*Frosted eggplant (霜打的茄) Metaphor referring to wilted/not energetic. It comes from how eggplants can’t handle the cold and when frosted, they become wilted (due to loss of moisture). 

Seeing the opposite side downcast, Ruan Xian took the lead to put forward information, but was almost splashed by Yu Le’s spit.

“The surrounding area has been cordoned off by a building blockade.” Tang Yibu gestured back. “A closed light cage. Everything that goes in and out has to wear a special chip. Don’t be nervous. Although it’s a bit troublesome, I can hack it.”

Zhong Qing secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

“They are shipping out the ‘corpses’. We speculate that it’s for R-α to use. R-α is similar to Z-α that we encountered before, so most likely it’s an elite soldier under the Mainbrain. It should be equipped with advanced S-type products.”

Professor Ruan adjusted the height of the liquid tank for a while and continued, “But don’t worry. Even though it can cover the city with its hearing, that will require it to consume a ton of energy. As long as we don’t make a ruckus, it won’t use such precious… weapons to do something as trivial as listening.”

“Why is it such a coincidence that not long after we arrived here, the Mainbrain already got another monster?” Yu Le rubbed his forehead. “Last time we were lucky. If it weren’t for… Ahem, then who would prepare such wonderful bombs? We’re all gonna get killed by those weird things.”

He glanced at Zhong Qing, whose ears were pricked up, and changed his words in time.

“If someone didn’t snitch on Yibu, we wouldn’t be facing ‘weird things’ with just our bare hands,” Ruan Xian sneered.

Professor Ruan pretended he didn’t hear anything.

“What should we do now?” Ji Xiaoman asked as she glanced at Zhong Qing carefully. “We have enough supplies for five days, but… Uh, in case this kid is on their transportation list, we’ll be found out.”

“When the break is over, Yibu and I will confirm the information of the missing corpses. Maybe we can deduce what criteria they’re using to select the corpses.” Ruan Xian waved his hand. “Zhong Qing’s illness should be nothing to worry about if it’s only to the extent he said.”

“The Mainbrain is close to here, and in a sense, it’s also safer here. We can collect more information, plan carefully, and wait for the closure to be withdrawn before hitting the road.”

Tang Yibu cooperated very well.

“It definitely doesn’t know we’re here. Otherwise, it wouldn’t use such a… low-level closure.”

“I have no opinion.” Ji Xiaoman carefully cleared her throat. “I don’t like it here, but everyone does need some rest.”

The island had almost exhausted all their energy.

“…” Professor Ruan rarely expressed any opinions.

Only Yu Le’s expression twisted strangely a few times, and then he glanced at Zhong Qing again and waited for the boy to shiver and nod before he continued, “I have something to say.”

Everyone looked at Yu Le.

“Zhong Qing’s situation is a bit… complicated. Xiao Ruan, you know something about medicine, right? That one over there can probably help too.” Yu Le swept his gaze towards Professor Ruan. “Zhong Qing, come with me. Xiao Ruan, bring that iron box with you and help me take a look.”

“Iron box,” Professor Ruan repeated, without emotion.

“I want to see too,” Tang Yibu protested, with dissatisfaction.

“The kid has to go with me, or he’ll die from nervousness. You accompany the little profiteer. How could you leave a girl to hang out alone?”

“In terms of pure combat power, that little girl can kill five of you, Yu Ge.”

Yu Le gave Tang Yibu a chilling look.

Fortunately, a series of intermittent vibration relieved the tension. Ruan Xian glanced at his electronic wristband and shook his head at Tang Yibu. “Yibu, you stay outside.”

Tang Yibu raised his brows.

“Guan Haiming.” Ruan Xian shook his wrist. “This kid has now joined our multi-party consultation. It’s best for you to avoid it first. I don’t want to answer too many questions about you.”

“…” Tang Yibu decisively took out a can of yellow peaches from the cab, as if he planned to have a pleasant picnic outside.

“There’s only one question remaining.”

Ruan Xian glanced at Professor Ruan, who was already standing in the car.

“I don’t know if it’s better to talk to him ‘alone’.”

The author has something to say:

Do you still remember Dr. Guan by the Daming lake… (…

Kinky Thoughts:

Just a short breakdown for those who are lost. Before his death, Ruan Xian was working on the α-092 nanobot (specifically α-092-30) in order to extend his life. When he was murdered by Fan Linsong, he was dissolved in a solution of it and replaced by Professor Ruan.

Since Professor Ruan didn’t have the debilitating disease that Ruan Xian had, he wasn’t aware to the extent of what α-092-30 purpose was and didn’t need to develop it to extend his life, so he used it as the basis to develop the S-Type Prototype which the A-type and D-type derives from.

When the Mainbrain took over, the A-type and S-type Prototypes were destroyed, so it could only develop the D-type Prototypes. To find the best fit for its soldier, the Mainbrain used the genetic database collected from everyone and found the closest fit, which happened to be people related to Ruan Xian, as the original source of these Prototypes all derived from α-092-30 that he used to test on himself.

So the woman Ruan Xian saw on the road is most likely a clone or a body created by the Mainbrain that used his mother’s DNA (as she is one of the closest matches to the D-type Prototype). Going by this inference, most likely Zhuo Muran is also related to Ruan Xian in some way (distant relative) as they both came from the same distant mountainous area.

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