Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 227: Long Time, No See

MUL-01 had no emotions. It was better to say that it had basically no emotions.

The body of MUL-01 was the size of a cathedral. From a distance, countless normal-shaped black metal blocks were suspended in the air, forming a huge black rectangle. The palm-sized box-shaped metal rotated regularly, with a fluorescent blue shimmer between each connecting joint. They were flowing, changing, and lined up in various queues, with countless calculations constantly being made in each black box.

The cybernetic brain is the core of this huge structure. It was also placed in a black box that was larger than the surrounding blocks. This difference was negligible given the size of MUL-01’s “body”. They rotated quietly from sunrise to sunset, adjusting their heat dissipation in the vast desert.

This modern miracle transmitted information to all parts of the world through various channels.

Countless projections of the Mainbrain roamed around command posts in cities and the wilderness, doing different things, making different voices at the same time… and wearing different faces.

At the same time, it also needed to calculate the needs and problems of each Mainbrain city around the world; the summary report of each petri dish, the supervision and adjustment of the climate and environment of each continent, and all aspects of data operations. The lower-level hardware and Order Supervisors would sift through the insignificant things and then report eligible incidents, but it was still a terrifying amount of data.

In a sense, MUL-01 was the only helmsman of this weak crust on the Earth.

It would never tire and naturally wouldn’t stop calculating. The body of MUL-01 lay quietly on the edge of the desert in this way, operating as usual. Compared with those realistic projections, this was more like a virtual scene.

This monster, which hadn’t changed its form, was surrounded by the most advanced fortifications on the surface. It shrank in its safe shell while only the ghost of data travelled in and out.

For example, like now.

MUL-01 would always have a projection at the Order Supervisors headquarters so that orders could be given in a timely manner. At the moment, the projection was sitting at the edge of the table listening to Zhuo Muran’s report. Outside the spacious glass office, Order Supervisors scurry about, and from time to time, some would cast curious glances in their direction.

“…Ruan Xian is very careful. Our people could only find so much. There’s no problem with the information given by Ruan Lijie. Ruan Xian indeed intends to attack you through system invasion by perfecting an attack class machine.”

Zhuo Muran ignored the glances. The glass wall was set up to disrupt programs, and the people outside couldn’t hear them or read their lips.

“But as for the content of the attack program and the time point at which it’s planned to be executed, our people haven’t determined it yet. On this point, I actually have a question.”

“Speak.” The tone of the Mainbrain’s projection was relaxed.

“The informant from our side heard that the behavior of NUL-00 and Ruan Lijie was at the behest of Ruan Xian, which doesn’t make sense—NUL-00’s behavior can be considered reckless. With Professor Ruan starting his plan, he wouldn’t stick someone into our base to steal our program at such a time.”

Zhuo Muran took a sip of his cold tea.

“Instead of spending time deciphering our unfinished search methods, they should focus all their technical talents on attacking us… Even if we complete the search technology, it will take a lot more time to investigate every corner of the world. If he were to steal our firewall data, that I can understand, but the information dissemination algorithm? I can’t see the purpose of this arrangement.”

“It is really strange.” The projection of the Mainbrain nodded. “The timing isn’t right, and it doesn’t make sense for NUL-00 to come to his rescue alone. That information isn’t worth the price. But this time, we did lose M-α and R-α. Considering Ruan Lijie’s S-type Prototype, Ruan Xian might have made other arrangements.”

The Mainbrain’s tone was still flat. Zhuo Muran had never seen it reveal any negative emotions. All of its humanized actions were most likely just acting. However, even knowing it in his heart, he couldn’t help but relax when facing such an existence.

“I have already sent the information about the battle to the technical department.” Zhuo Muran gazed at the contours of the other’s pleasant facial features for a while. “They will transform M-β and R-β in response to the situation that had occurred. This time, the security breach is very serious, and it must not occur again.”

“Very good.” The Mainbrain smiled. “What about Ruan Lijie’s identity?”

“Hu Shuli has confirmed that Ruan Lijie is indeed Ruan Yuchan’s son, but apart from Ruan Lijie’s fake identity, we couldn’t find any other clues.”

“Let Hu Shuli study the gene fragments of the S-type Prototype affinity and compare them with the disease Ruan Xian suffered.” The Mainbrain tilted its head slightly and pondered for a while. “In addition, give Fan Linsong a brain-awakening drug. I’ll visit him in person in three days.”

“You…What does this mean?” Zhuo Muran was taken aback by the subtext of these two requirements.

The Mainbrain suspected that Ruan Lijie was related to Ruan Xian? Although this barely made sense in theory, they all knew that Ruan Xian was a replica and that his parents’ memories were forged. As for Ruan Xian’s biological parents… According to Fan Linsong, Ruan Xian was abandoned by them due to his illness when he was young, so the relevant departments didn’t have records of his biological family.

This was contrary to Ruan Yuchan’s situation.

If Fan Linsong had lied to the outside world, it wasn’t incomprehensible—the original Ruan Xian was a figure who was watched by the Prevention Agency. As his watcher, it would make sense for Fan Linsong to keep Ruan Xian’s true situation a secret.

No matter how justified it may seem, the old man still didn’t think killing the “original Ruan Xian” was something to be proud of. After all, this happened before the birth of the Mainbrain. If that video hadn’t happened to be uploaded to Ruan Xian’s laptop, even MUL-01 wouldn’t have notice the truth.

Zhuo Muran’s fingers twitched as they were holding the teacup.

In other words, there was the possibility that Ruan Xian was Ruan Yuchan’s son, given their age difference, but what would this young version of “Ruan Lijie” mean…

“In order to avoid being used by me, Ruan Xian and Fan Linsong both disguise their DNA.” The Mainbrain seemed to see through Zhuo Muran’s thoughts. “But Ruan Xian’s condition is special. His illness is quite serious, so he must have left a lot of tissue samples before 2100. In order to properly harness the S-type Prototype, the possibility exists that he may have cloned himself.”

“But if this is the case, Ruan Lijie must have been instilled with memories. If this matter is exposed, Ruan Xian is destined to lose his prestige among the rebels. The rebels will only accept reproduction of the physical body at most. If memories were to be inputted…”

 “Then it’s no different from what I’m doing.”

The Mainbrain finished the sentence smoothly.

“But in order to win, this possibility isn’t zero. Ruan Xian is crazier than you think. I know him—Ruan Lijie is a character who has only appeared in recent months. From his appearance, his encounter with NUL-00, to the current attack plan from Ruan Xian, most likely he is part of Ruan Xian’s plan.”

“In other words, even if we break the news now…”

“The rebels won’t have time to react. Since they were defeated last time, their contact hasn’t been frequent, and it takes time for dissatisfaction to ferment. Depending on their plan, it will start within 45 days at the latest, and we don’t have enough time.”

Thinking like this, Ruan Lijie may indeed be one of Ruan Xian’s bets where he had abandoned his bottom line.

“But this only holds true on the premise that ‘Ruan Xian is Ruan Yuchan’s son’, a conclusion that still needs to wait for Hu Shuli’s results. I will also visit Fan Linsong when he is ready to determine the issues involved.”

…But Zhuo Muran thought to himself that something wasn’t quite right.

When the Red Ghost made a scene at the Glass Conservatory, he once showed Fan Linsong an image of Ruan Lijie. What was his reaction at that time?

The old man seemed a little surprised.

[“It seems that you have a little impression of this one.] was what he asked at the time.

[He looks a lot like a woman I have met… But that was many years ago.] was Fan Linsong’s reply.

“Compare the appearance of Ruan Lijie and the R series soldiers,” Zhuo Muran immediately ordered.

A light screen floated between the two of them, showing two young faces. Ruan Lijie and Ruan Yuchan were both stunning. When compared side by side in this way, their eyes were particularly similar, and not in the sense of simple coincidence.

Fan Linsong knew Ruan Yuchan.

That old man had previously devoted all his time to research, so he turned a deaf ear to things outside. Ruan Yuchan’s death wasn’t hyped by the media because it involved a minor and wasn’t a murder case. It was highly unlikely Fan Linsong knew about this case in the media and due to their class and occupation, there was no possibility of a personal friendship.

…It seemed that the Mainbrain’s speculation wasn’t so far off. This would also explain Ruan Lijie’s outstanding talent.

But if this was really Ruan Xian’s clone, the relationship between Ruan Lijie and NUL-00 was interesting. Zhuo Muran thought for a moment. Even if he was loyal to the Mainbrain, he wouldn’t do such a thing as “instigating his own clone to fall in love with his own creation”.

His opponent may be really crazy.

Zhuo Muran tensed his face. Under the Mainbrain’s searching gaze, he transferred all the records of the day he visited Fan Linsong and watched it together with the Mainbrain.

Then he saw the part he hadn’t noticed at the beginning—after he had determined Ruan Lijie’s condition and turned to leave, the old man had a smile that gave people the chills.

[The demon can’t be killed… And he’s just right for this world.] Fan Linsong had said, in an almost inaudible voice.

The Order Supervisor that was monitoring him had judged this as Fan Linsong’s usual gibberish, but combined with the current situation, this sentence didn’t seem to be so delusional.

“It seems that it’s more necessary for me to meet him.” The smile on the Mainbrain’s face completely disappeared.

“This statement…” Zhuo Muran slowly reacted. “Shouldn’t it mean the original Ruan Xian has returned…?”

“The possibility is infinitely close to zero.” The Mainbrain interrupted him. “That Ruan Xian’s body was thrown into a batch of experimental α-092-30. It stands to reason the body would have been destroyed long ago.”

The rules of the Institute had always been cumbersome, and the destruction department had only ever had two cases of anomaly. The first time wasn’t long after the Institute was established, and the second time was on the day NUL-00 was destroyed. The Mainbrain had investigated the data of that day and concluded the anomaly was most likely caused by NUL-00. It resumed operation for some reason found a way to confuse the relevant staff, and escape from the Institute—since NUL-00 was still alive, the Mainbrain could only accept this hypothesis.

At that time, NUL-00 couldn’t access all the information of the institute, which was an iron-clad rule that couldn’t be violated. In other words, it was impossible for it to know about Fan Linsong’s “murder-style treatment” of Ruan Xian, so there was no reason it would intervene in this matter.

On the edge of the distant desert, a group of black cubes that looked like hills quickly turned. In front of Zhuo Muran, the soft-faced young man pressed his finger to his lower lip.

Countless possibilities had been added to the calculation.

Taking a step back, even if the waste liquid containing Ruan Xian’s body was somehow, by chance, wasn’t destroyed, the war that occurred in the 22^nd century had destroyed almost all the Institute. The vast majority of waste liquid silos were damaged and buried in the soil. Moist soil would naturally corrode the containers, which meant the final destination of that waste liquid would be deep in the ground.

Going even further, the waste liquid warehouse where Ruan Xian was located wasn’t damaged by the war but was buried in ruins. Without a considerable degree of force, the liquid bins wouldn’t open.

Even if there was some kind of accidental event, and the waste liquid warehouse was stimulated unexpectedly somehow, it was difficult for Ruan Xian, who was unprotected and knew nothing about the current situation, to survive. In the end α-092-30 was a test product. Even if it allowed his body to polymerize for a short time, that body would eventually collapse in less than a day.

No matter how the Mainbrain calculated it, the possibility was basically zero.

“Only results are the most convincing.” Zhuo Muran shook his head at what the Mainbrain was going to say. “As I said, when the results from Hu Shuli’s investigation and the interrogation of Fan Linsong come out, it won’t be too late to draw a conclusion.”

“Won’t it be too late in time?”

“Looking at Ruan Xian’s plan, we can still afford to wait for a few days. Don’t worry. I’ll tentatively add the assumption that “Ruan Lijie is Ruan Xian” to the calculation.”

Zhuo Muran let out a long sigh. “…You never seem to be surprised.”

The Mainbrain showed an inquisitive look.

“Nevermind.” Zhuo Muran shook his head. “I thought you would be at least a little shaken by such an assumption.”

“Why would you have such an idea?”

“According to the records and conditions over the years, Ruan Xian can be regarded as the human you care about the most.” Zhuo Muran raised his eyes, not intending to conceal his thoughts. “And NUL-00’s situation is—”

“NUL-00 and I are just similar in our core logic.”

The Mainbrain showed a perfect smile again.

“…Those thoughts are just your delusions, Mr. Zhuo. There has only been one bug in my emotional computing system, and that has already been fixed by Ruan Xian himself.”

On the other side of the horizon, the Glass Conservatory ushered in another early morning.

Fan Linsong drooped his eyelids and rubbed against the table like a zombie, ready to eat his breakfast. Everything around him was the same as always… but…

The mechanical maid who poured tea beside him was behaving a little differently than usual.

…Was he so bored that it had reached this point? The corner of Fan Linsong’s mouth twitched.

However, after the mechanical maid poured his tea, she opened her mouth.

“Mr. Fan,” she said with a smile. “Long time, no see.”

“…?”

“We’re back from hell.”

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 226: The Meeting Continues

The night was getting darker. From a glance, the two running figures in the background looked like they were refugees fleeing from war.

The previous battle had consumed almost all the supplies Tang Yibu had brought. Their food was finished, and their more offensive weapons and medicine basically bottomed out. Tang Yibu hung the languidly deflated backpack in front of him that only had the outline of the iron bead that was inside. Except for the rattling of the iron bead, the bag only had small gadgets like hooks, knives, and rope.

With only his portable compressed clothing left, Tang Yibu took off his tattered blood-stained battle suit that was full of holes and covered in rotten flesh, keeping only his inner lining, and changed into the same white robe as Ruan Xian. He was running wildly in the dark with Ruan Xian on his back. The two white figures looked like ghosts.

Not long ago, Tang Yibu had grilled ten fish, but Ruan Xian only ate one, and then closed his mouth tightly.

“I can still use the blood gun, but my attack power is limited. You’re our greatest guarantee now, Yibu. The next step is for you to carry me as we move forward. That’ll consume a lot of energy,” Ruan Xian said calmly, but in a tone that meant it wasn’t up for discussion. “I just need to stay alive. You can eat the rest.”

But hunger was a very uncomfortable feeling, and Tang Yibu knew this well.

Unlike the advanced soldiers of the Mainbrain, they didn’t have a convenient exoskeleton to help save them energy, and they didn’t have meat to ensure steady energy replenishment. While the ability of the Prototype is strong, the energy it needed to consume wouldn’t appear out of thin air. With insufficient energy, the Prototypes in their bodies would start consuming their own flesh to resupply—Tang Yibu was afraid of death, so he chose to seize every opportunity to eat.

Ruan Xian’s prototype wouldn’t consume him to death, but once he reached a certain extent of hunger, in order to protect the body, the S-type Prototype activity would become weaker while Ruan Xian would be driven crazy by hunger and being urged to replenish his energy.

Considering the current situation, Ruan Xian’s judgement was as rational and accurate as ever, but Tang Yibu couldn’t let go of his unhappiness.

As he thought about it, he ran faster.

Counting the time, they still had about 45 hours left. There were still a few hours left before dawn, and given the speed, he should be able to reach the Glass Conservatory by then—the Mainbrain didn’t know about Luo Fei, but because Ruan Xian had asked to see Fan Linsong’s information, it was possible the security had increased where he was held captive.

According to general logic, their reserves were exhausted, and seeing that they were cornered, the last place they would go would be the Glass Conservatory, which had tight security. The closer areas, like the Sea of Ruins, the Underground City, or even the forest petri dish, should be more suitable.

Yet, they were moving towards the Glass Conservatory.

The Glass Conservatory…

Tang Yibu jumped high, leaping over the two-meter rock formation and continued to advance. Not knowing if he was too tired or because of his hungry body, Ruan Xian had fallen asleep on his back.

When he thought about it, since he had met Mr. Ruan again, the other party didn’t seem to have done many illogical actions, but he often got hurt. At first, Tang Yibu had no special feelings about it. Everything was logical, so the result was as it should be. The first time he minded this was in the Glass Conservatory.

Seeing Ruan Xian injured at that time, Tang Yibu felt a trace of indescribable unhappiness, just like seeing flies stop on an exquisite cake or cockroaches crawling over a well laid out dinner. In the battle just now, this inexplicable unhappiness rose to its peak and turned into an unbearable pain in his chest.

Tang Yibu changed his breathing and accelerated again, hoping to stop his racing thoughts. However, as time passed minute by minute, and the destination was getting closer and closer, those strange thoughts still didn’t disappear.

It was almost dawn. A blood-red glow started to appear in the east. Tang Yibu was panting, and his brain was swollen. He wiped off the sweat on his forehead and stared at the red horizon…

He began to desperately replay the battle not long ago again.

In fact, when Ruan Xian gave him a look, Tang Yibu guessed what the other party wanted to do, and he thought he could accept it happily like before.

But when he saw Ruan Xian’s figure disappear into M-α’s mouth, he felt a prickly feeling all over his skin. Ruan Xian’s bones and still-twitching internal organs were exposed from between M-α’s teeth, and blood dripped from the corners of the monster’s mouth. He still remembered the numbing chewing sound.

For a moment, Tang Yibu felt severe pain.

He couldn’t accept it, and as time passed, he became more unable to accept the sight. If this was “love”, then it was difficult. Tang Yibu clicked his tongue, bypassed the graveled ground and continued east. When he decided to save Mr. Ruan, he would have to do the same thing…

Suddenly, Tang Yibu realized something, and he slammed on the brakes in horror. He was running too fast that he almost threw off Ruan Xian. Fortunately, Tang Yibu reacted quickly and grabbed his Mr. Ruan.

Ruan Xian was still asleep, and his breathing had become regular, showing signs of stability. Tang Yibu hugged the other person in his arms, hesitated for a moment, and tentatively kissed him on the lips.

…He seemed to be wrong again.

[At that time, you jumped out foolishly, and eventually we’re at this point. I think this may be—well, how to put it—the most interesting part of being alive?] A few hours ago, this was what Ruan Xian had said.

Assuming that he could really fix the other party into a piece of data at a point in time, perhaps before these tiny miracles were born, he would be impatient and reset everything because of a momentary negative feeling.

This idea made Tang Yibu break out in a cold sweat. He held down the iron bead that was twisting restlessly, with inexplicable determination, and kissed Ruan Xian’s lips again while letting out a low sigh.

What should he do?

His last resort didn’t seem to work anymore.

Originally, the world in his eyes was like a delicate leaf vein, with countless branches scattered at each inflection point, but it had always been strong and certain. Now, that leaf was on fire, burning with endless question marks—he had completely lost control of the future. He was no longer grounded, and this change frightened him.

He seemed to be unable to determine anything anymore. Facing the world in front of him, he was only cautious, suspicious, and… a little awe?

Tang Yibu thought solemnly for a moment. He stretched out a finger and tested Ruan Xian’s breath for a while.

Perhaps Mr. Ruan had suddenly died while he was lost in thought. All probabilities were no longer just probabilities. They had become huge monsters and were about to crush him.

…Love. Humans never hesitated to use all kinds of words of praise in the world. Now Tang Yibu only felt that humans were extremely untrustworthy. This feeling was extremely dangerous. It twisted his mind and constantly made him torture himself with questions about all his decisions tremblingly. If this was the price of his heart being moved…

It didn’t seem to be impossible.

Tang Yibu stared at the other person’s face and suddenly felt that it wasn’t so uncomfortable living with question marks all over the place. He didn’t sacrifice anything. Since he approached this person, he seemed to have become more in touch with the world.

He moved his fingers to Ruan Xian’s neck and felt his pulse.

The killing intent hadn’t completely disappeared, but it no longer condensed. It was ridiculous to say that he only wanted this person’s blood at first, but now he didn’t want to see his blood anymore.

Unfortunately, Tang Yibu was so lost in his thoughts and didn’t control his strength that he hurt Ruan Xian when he felt his pulse. Ruan Xian was stirred awake. He frowned and looked at the fingers of the android standing in front of him for a while, and then slowly pushed it away.

“What’s the matter?” He glanced at the red sky and spoke weakly.

“We’re almost at our destination.” Tang Yibu turned, darting his gaze.

“I’m not asking you about that. What were you doing to me just now?” Ruan Xian stared at the finger suspiciously.

“No, nothing,” Tang Yibu replied seriously, as he touched the inner pocket of his robe. “You… Would you like something to eat?”

He opened his palm, and a familiar can was exposed. The side engraved on it had a smiley face that was facing right at Ruan Xian.

It was the canned food he left for Tang Yibu. Ruan Xian thought the android had eaten it a long time ago. Depending on the current situation, it was probably regarded by the other party as bottom of the barrel reserves.

“There are still insects and grass here, and we’ll get supplies soon, so no need.” Ruan Xian shook his head. “Keep it. It has a long shelf life, and it’s best to hang on to it until we encounter worse.”

Tang Yibu hesitated for a moment, then tucked the canned food back into his pockets. He looked like he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn’t find the right word and simply kept silent.

“Let’s go. It’s time to visit Fan Linsong.” Ruan Xian was so hungry that he started seeing black. He didn’t seem to notice the other party’s internal struggle. “I’ll sleep for a little longer. Wake me when we get there.”

“Nn.”

At the same time, on the border of the Mainbrain’s city.

“…NUL-00 still hasn’t contacted me.” Professor Ruan had disguised his body with a projection. “The good news is that the core components of the spare assassination machine have been recovered, and the construction of a signal expansion device has begun in a specific petri dish.”

Dozens of people behind the light screen started chattering for a while. This time, there was more than one person behind each light screen, and everyone had solemn expressions. The atmosphere of the entire temporary command center was particularly heavy.

“NUL-00 has its own ideas, but it also knows the importance. As long as it wants to survive normally, it will not betray us. Please don’t worry—pushing it too tightly may have the opposite effect.” Professor Ruan’s project made a silence gesture.

“I think through our previous meeting, you probably understand how I’ve been preparing for the past few years and the awkward situation we’re currently facing.”

Professor Ruan coughed and pulled the topic back. “It’s imperative to quickly complete the backup device. Regarding the improvement of attack procedures, I also need suggestions from specific people. At the current rate, we’re expected to launch our attack in four weeks. This is our greatest opportunity and I hope you will focus on this matter.”

“What’s the situation with Ruan Lijie?” A question came from behind one of the light screens. “I have been in contact with the plants on the Order Supervisors. Recently, the Mainbrain has been very interested in this person. It’s said that he and NUL-00 are lovers, and they are acting together. Is this true, Professor Ruan?”

“Ruan Lijie is one of my partners. The situation between him and NUL-00… is more complicated.” Professor Ruan glossed over this topic lightly while speaking in a calm voice that had a sense of credibility. “Don’t worry. You’ve seen the plan. He’s not key to our plan. Even if the Mainbrain is watching him, NUL-00 can take care of it.”

After a pause, Professor Ruan added, “At present, their actions are at my behest. Except for the contact aspect, NUL-00 hasn’t done anything to endanger anyone. This topic is over. Next, about the assembly of the spare assignation machine…”

Professor Ruan lied skillfully.

Before MUL-01 destroyed everything, there wasn’t much need to lie in his life, yet seven years later, he learned to lie without even blinking…

It will be fine. It will pass. I know in my heart that humans will prevail.

We will win.

As of now, he had no idea what the hell NUL-00 was up to—the android should have quietly contacted Ruan Xian and brought back the other party’s plans, and they would make careful calculation and discussion. He didn’t think NUL-00 would never come back. Listening to the implication of the person just now, he probably abducted Ruan Xian from the Mainbrain and had attracted its attention.

But that was unnecessary and too rough and wasn’t in line with NUL-00’s style.

But he had no choice but to put this on him. Professor Ruan sighed—there wasn’t much he could do except tell everyone that this was part of his own arrangement. The people in front of him were considered credible, but as soon as the information came out, he was mentally prepared to be intercepted by the Mainbrain.

As the plan approached completion, there would only be more people involved. It was much better to let the Mainbrain decide that “this is part of Ruan Xian’s plan” and continue to focus on his own side, than to say “Ruan Xian doesn’t even know what they want to do, and those two people are a top risk factor”.

After all, no matter what NUL-00 and Ruan Xian wanted to do, considering the importance of improving their win rate, they wouldn’t encounter trouble yet.

…Could this be an unexpected development between those two?

A question suddenly crossed Professor Ruan’s mind. He was stunned for half a second and then wanted to smile a bit. If he hadn’t lost his head, he might’ve laughed out loud.

The wind and water had turned. In just a few days, he became the one who was used as the smokescreen.

“…The basic principle of the assassination machine is as above. For security reasons, I will not give anyone a complete attack program. The next few people will receive program fragments separately. Guan Haiming, the part you’re responsible for is especially important—”

Professor Ruan’s projection was still standing upright, with a polite smile on his face.

The meeting would continue.

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The author has something to say:

Tang at the beginning: extremely self-confident, in control of everything, only look at logic and results, did not hesitate to use beauty (?), play the emotional card, and control people who are easy to use.

Tang now: dazed airplane ears*, full of question marks, not weak but pitiful and helpless (?), but objectively, judgment has become stronger.

*Referring to when the cat’s ears are parallel, indicating it’s stressed.

Tang: …It’s so hard to fall in love. It’s like playing strip poker.

Ruan: I’m already naked.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 225: Snake and Fish

Yu Le naturally recognized those two drawings. That was the boarding certificate he sketched for Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu when they were in the Sea of Ruins—his first impression of the two of them. Now it seemed that his first impression was as accurate as ever.

It was fine to talk about those two. If he showed appropriate cooperation, he could suffer less. They still had nearly two days left and could use every minute of relaxation—not to mention that he couldn’t see through what those two guys were thinking anyway. As long as they kept key information, Yu Le didn’t mind talking about this topic.

He had always been good at talking bullshit.

“Looking at these two sketches, your first impression of them isn’t very good.” The young woman’s projection spoke gently as if she was a psychiatrist.

“I don’t think they’re so cute now.” Yu Le rolled his eyes. “But at least they didn’t bind me to a chair and lock me in a room. I definitely like them more than you.”

“Snake and… person. Did you recognize the bionic identity of NUL-00 that early? As far as I know, it’s not uncommon for people to dye their pupils.”

“It’s called having a sharp eye. That’s talent. I don’t mean to boast, but I’m quite good at reading people.”

Yu Le gave a serious pause. “Call it intuition. The first time I saw that kid, I thought it was something else wrapped in human skin. It may be considered a self-preservation instinct—like when some people’s knees go weak when they see bugs, snakes, or large beasts. Anyway, it was like a kind of cold feeling—I guess that he wasn’t human, yet he pretended so hard to be, so can’t I draw what I’m feeling?”

“In other words, you think Tang Yibu is quite dangerous.”

“Indeed, to make you question so nervously, he might be more dangerous than I imagined.”

The image of the woman sighed, and there was a hint of melancholy in her eyes. “After staying in prison for so long, you must understand… Lazy Fish, even if I don’t inquire about anything and just let you go back, you’ll be killed by him. In fact, you already know this in your heart, don’t you? This time, Ruan Xian asked you to transport important items but didn’t give you a plan to protect yourself. You’ve been treated as an abandoned child.”

Yu Le clicked his tongue loudly and didn’t respond.

“NUL-00’s sense of self-protection is stronger than that of all living things. ‘Maintaining one’s own safety’ is one of the rules written in its core logic. It won’t maintain human relations, let alone the fact that you’ve only met not long ago. Protecting it is of no benefit to you now.”

“Who knows?” Yu Le grinned. “That kid Tang Yibu still owes me a few yellow books, so I can’t let him go so easily.”

What Yu Le had learned before the doomsday was, first, “never take chances”. He was extremely convinced that only one outcome awaited him and Ji Xiaoman—when the drug was completely activated in their brains, whether they surrendered or not, their brains would be crushed, and the information extracted. The Mainbrain wouldn’t simply believe them. Nowadays, these inquiries weren’t even torture but more like a disguise to try and stimulate their brains so the memories that were squeezed out would be fresher and juicer.

As for whether the Mainbrain would be willing to “make” them again, Yu Le didn’t care. He didn’t want to be crushed to powder.

After thinking about it, Yu Le didn’t intend to expose his thoughts. In case this judgement was exposed, in order to be more secure, the Mainbrain might freeze them or simply cut off their heads and attach them to a sustenance machine. If that happened, there would be no chance of escape.

The conversation had to continue.

“It seems you’re not going to tell us more about NUL-00… Lazy Fish, you haven’t changed. You have been very loyal since you were a child.”

“He likes to eat his egg custard with soy sauce. Does this count? Oh, he also likes Carol Young’s songs a lot.” Yu Le responded without a smile. “Fuck loyalty. He’s Ruan Lijie’s mistress, not mine.”

The expression of the projection became a bit unsightly. Ji Xiaoman let out a sigh, as if she was forcibly holding back her laughter.

“Then let’s talk about Ruan Lijie.” When the projection spoke again, there was no embarrassment in her tone. “Your impression of him looks even worse? Snake? According to our information, his style of behavior is indeed a bit weird, but not to this point. Since you can read people accurately, I want to hear your opinion.”

The smile on Yu Le’s face got bigger. “Oh, what do you want to hear from me?”

“Why do you think Ruan Lijie is dangerous? As a human, how does he make you subconsciously uncomfortable—”

“I thought you were serious about your preparations.” Yu Le spat out his words slowly. “It seems that now it’s far from it.”

“I think we didn’t misidentify the impression of your pictures.”

“Yeah, he’s more like a viper.”  Yu Le shrugged. “I thought you guys knew that when people started boarding the ship, there would be a flurry of things going on. I would simply choose my first impression and not consider any deeper meanings behind them.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” The image of the woman shook her head.

“I think he’s a viper not because he gives me the creep or there’s some kind of sinister feeling.” Yu Le sneered. “Seriously, have you Order Supervisors come across a viper before? Most—and I mean most vipers—as long as you don’t provoke them, they usually stay there quietly, or simply escape. First impression? I think this person is introverted and has no ambitions, but he’s much more powerful than me. I’d better not take the initiative to provoke him. Going by that metaphor, did I make the wrong choice?”

“But think about it.”

Seeing that the projection didn’t respond, Yu Le continued at an exasperatingly slow pace.

“In the end, you’re just people of the Mainbrain. I’ve seen it all… To the Mainbrain, perhaps ‘poisonous*’ is tantamount to ‘malicious’. Even if it’s an innate toxin used for survival, it’s harmful to people. I guess I can’t help that there are quite a few people who would think this way.”

*Clarity: When they refer to the drawing, they are calling it “snake” (蛇). When clarifying further, Yu Le refers to Ruan Lijie as a “viper” (毒蛇) or poisonous (毒) snake (蛇). This is why Yu Le is referring to the word “poisonous”. The context basically means that, because people know that vipers are poisonous, some would think that it’s malicious/evil (because it can inherently produce poison that can kill people), while Yu Le’s approach is that it’s not malicious if you don’t provoke it.

“Oh, also, I can reveal some information about him to you—as far as I can tell, he and Xiao Tang are sincere. You have to write this down well, you hear me?”

……

Ruan Xian, who was still far away, had no idea that he was being “betrayed”. He was soaking in the water of a lake, vigorously scrubbing the blood and flesh from his body. They made his hair heavy and sticky, which was extremely uncomfortable.

Tang Yibu was also doing the same thing, but he was more straightforward—the android would take a big breath, swim to the depths of the lake, blow out a bunch of bubbles, and finally come up with a fat fish in his mouth.

The iron bead tried to imitate the actions of its big friend, but as soon as it took two steps in the water, it immediately started to sink to the bottom. It screamed in fright, stumbled back to the edge of the lake, and began rubbing against a tree trunk to clean off the dirt on its shell.

After the battle, Tang Yibu took Ruan Xian and ran wildly for a long time until he had almost exhausted all his strength. Without the two difficult opponents to contend with, it wasn’t hard to get rid of the remaining pursuers—even if they were in a bad situation, the Mainbrain wouldn’t be stupid enough to think that some small fries could really end them.

After a few hours of fleeing, the two found a nice clear lake and decided to take a temporary break—at any rate, there were certain people they had to visit next.

“Let me scrub your back.” In order to avoid the fire attracting attention, Tang Yibu built a mud stove by the lake. He took the fish ashore and roasted it over the fire, temporarily giving up his fishing job.

“Thanks.” As Ruan Xian washed his face with the lake water, he could smell the aroma of grilled fish. He had consumed so much energy and his hunger was so great that his eyes were blurry. Before Tang Yibu found the fish, he almost dug out grass roots to eat.

Tang Yibu wrung the water from Ruan Xian’s hair and began to carefully clean the residual blood and flesh behind Ruan Xian. Ruan Xian had to admit, being in the cold lake water, the body temperature from Tang Yibu made him feel a lot more comfortable.

“I’m afraid we won’t be able to get away like this next time.” Tang Yibu started very lightly, as if what he was touching wasn’t human skin but soft tofu that could break at any moment. “We won this time… because the Mainbrain didn’t know you have the S-type Prototype. In order to ensure the blood supply is convenient, it didn’t reinforce R-α with too many defenses. It also had too much confidence in M-α.”

“I know.” Ruan Xian fiddled with the water with his hands. “And based on my previous performance, most likely the Mainbrain has already determined who I am.”

At that time, he was too weak to be impeccable in front of the Mainbrain. He failed to hide it by indirectly admitting to his identity.

Their swap battle was successful. Not counting weapons of indiscriminate destruction, only M-β and R-β were advanced fighters left under the Mainbrain. They had captured two chess pieces with poor information and a little bit of luck, but at the same time paid a high price for it—

“MUL-01 now knows you’re Ruan Yuchan’s son and the carrier of the S-type Prototype. It’s only a matter of time before it finds out you’re ‘Ruan Xian’.”

Based on Tang Yibu’s tone, there was not much joy in their victory.

“It will also improve M-β and R-β based on this battle. If we run into them next time, most likely your blood attack will no longer be useful, and I can’t crush R-β’s skull so easily. The next battle will be quite difficult, and I still can’t think of any good way to avoid it.”

Ruan Xian rubbed his smooth left wrist. “The cart will find its way around the mountain*. We currently don’t have enough information right now, so it’s pointless to worry. Yibu, this is what impromptu planning is.”

*(车到山前必有路) Metaphor referring to things will eventually sort themselves out.

Tang Yibu grunted twice anxiously, then hugged Ruan Xian from behind.

“There are still 48 hours.” Ruan Xian patted his arm to cover up a series of grumbles from his stomach. “We have to eat the fish quickly and continue on our way.”

“I think I’m making increasingly more wrong decisions.” Tang Yibu drooped his head, resting his chin on Ruan Xian’s shoulder. “If I hadn’t jumped out so early to fight against the Mainbrain, we wouldn’t have to cooperate with Professor Ruan, let alone be involve in these battles… You didn’t have to be chewed up like that.”

“Regretting it?”

“Nn.”

“Suppose we tried to escape at the time and didn’t cooperate with Professor Ruan. It’s very likely we would maintain an attitude of mutual vigilance after that. When you have to face the Mainbrain, I would sell you out as I want to preserve at least half your life… Just like the Mainbrain suggested.”

Ruan Xian rubbed Tang Yibu’s hair, drawing in the warm body heat from the other person.

“At that time you jumped out foolishly, and eventually we’re at this point. I think this may be—well, how to put it—the most interesting part of being alive?”

Feeling Tang Yibu’s warm breath, Ruan Xian couldn’t help laughing. “This isn’t a dream calculated by the Mainbrain. You can’t just restart it again. We should celebrate.”

“Maybe we’ll figure it out some other way,” Tang Yibu muttered.

“I won’t deny it.” Ruan Xian continued to let the android hold him. “But why do I feel that if I hadn’t sent myself into the worst possible situation, someone wouldn’t have been reassured by ‘until they see the results’? Let alone peace of mind, you wouldn’t have time to even think about it.”

“The fish is almost done.” Tang Yibu turned his head.

“…Your ability to change the subject needs improvement.”

“That’s because you didn’t teach me well.”

“You should have learned it yourself a long time ago.”

Tang Yibu bit the back of Ruan Xian’s neck in retaliation, then ran ashore. Ruan Xian touched his neck, shook the water from his arms, put on a clean compression robe for himself and put back on wet shoes that had all the bloodstains washed off. After all this, he turned his head and happened to lock eyes with Tang Yibu.

After being caught, Tang Yibu hurriedly took a big bite of his fish.

“Hurry up, haa, haa. There are 47, haa, haa, hours, haa, haa, left.” Seeing Ruan Xian coming over, Tang Yibu mumbled as he tried to blow out the hot air.

“…Did you burn your tongue?”

“Four—”

Ruan Xian couldn’t laugh or cry. He grabbed Tang Yibu’s wet hair and skillfully went in for a kiss. Tang Yibu shrank for a moment, avoiding the kiss.

The rejected Ruan Xian raised his eyebrows.

“I, haa, will be fine in a while.” Tang Yibu shook his head stubbornly. “You don’t have to… bite yourself.”

Having said that, he bared his teeth and grinned for a long time, giving Ruan Xian a smile with great difficulty as he handed over a bunch of fish.

“For you. Be careful not to burn yourself.”

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 224: Disappearing Scars

His body was basically a new one.

Ruan Xian struggled to grab Tang Yibu’s hand, barely standing up. The blood made his hand slippery, and the dizziness became more obvious.

His original torso and limbs were chewed to pieces, turning into a slimy mass. His skull was cracked, and waves of cold and empty pain hit his brain. Then, using M-α’s corpse as sustenance, he formed a new body.

After maintaining his balance, Ruan Xian looked at his left wrist. Even if it was covered with blood and flesh, he could still tell that the scars that had followed him for many years had disappeared. Scars were harmless to one’s health on a physical level, so the S-type Prototype would only recognize them as normal tissues and it wouldn’t specially repair them. Now, since his entire body was decimated, it would recreate a brand new one according to his physical condition and wouldn’t specifically reproduce those details.

It was a wonderful feeling.

It may be that Ruan Xian paused for too long, that Tang Yibu hesitated for a few seconds and took him in his arms. The android sniffed Ruan Xian’s blood-soaked black hair lightly and then gently rested his chin on top of his head.

Very warm. Ruan Xian reassuringly leaned his weight over, trying to build up his strength.

Tang Yibu’s arms were covered with blood and smelly mucus. They didn’t have much breathing time as R-α was still alive. If they didn’t take care of her soon and the Mainbrain’s pursuers caught up, they wouldn’t have the strength to resist.

Ruan Xian coughed a few more times and finally coughed up all the mucus and blood clots. He was breathing heavily, and his new body was still tingling. Before the pain had passed, he pulled a bottle from Tang Yibu’s waist, broke free from the other’s arms, and picked up a piece of metal on the ground.

Then Ruan Xian almost cut his wrist in half. Bright red blood spurted out instantly.

“Finish her.” Ruan Xian’s lips turned pale, and his voice was weak.

Tang Yibu took the bottle. The gleaming in his eyes had disappeared. His hands trembled a little, as if the bottle was filled with hot water. At the worst time, the android’s mood was alright, but had now shifted to negative.

“We’re running out of time,” Ruan Xian urged him.

Not far away, R-α had already broken free from the shackles of the tree trunk. Without M-α as an aid, she made a rather wise decision—turn offense into defense and fight a war of attrition.

The mechanical nerve disruptor was gone. Tang Yibu silently threw a compressed piece of clothing to Ruan Xian. In order to save space, the materials weren’t sturdy, but at most it could at least cover him up and keep him warm. The style was also simple, much like a wide, straight nightgown.

As soon as Ruan Xian put it on his body, blood soaked through the white cloth and the fabric stuck to his skin.

At the same time, R-α rushed straight towards Tang Yibu, continuously spewing out red mist from its mouth and nose. Their short break was over. Ruan Xian stood up and squeezed the metal fragment in his hands tightly. Tang Yibu took the blood bottle and confronted the woman that was rushing at him head on.

…It shouldn’t be his illusion. Ruan Xian felt that Tang Yibu was deliberately taking R-α away from him and left him with the iron bead.

The iron bead was covered with slimy blood all over and seemed incredibly frightened. Its big mouth opened and closed, but it couldn’t even make its gwah sound.

“You can go.” He didn’t know if the iron bead could understand him, but he still spoke. “Our next path will be very dangerous. π, you can go back to your original place. When things are completely resolved, Yibu and I will pick you up.”

As he spoke, Ruan Xian squatted down and petted the blood-stained shell of the iron bead.

Ironically, the first twenty years of his life seemed as if he was living in a bubble. No matter who he was with, he was separated by a colorful film. The world outside the film had always been irrelevant to him, but in the chaos of the last few months, he was able to really touch it—Ruan Xian could at least be sure that his feelings for this inexplicable little thing far exceeded those of the colleagues he had known before.

The iron bead looked at Ruan Xian in confusion. It finally let out a bark, stretched out its four legs, and tightly grabbed onto Ruan Xian’s ankles.

Ruan Xian laughed. “…As you wish.”

Not far away, R-α also opened its mouth.

“Ruan Lijie is equipped with the S-type Prototype,” she said. “No wonder you value him so much.”

Then she showed a bright smile. “My DNA provider’s name is Ruan Yuchan, which is really interesting. Is this a coincidence? They all happen to be surnamed Ruan and all have good compatibility with the S-type products? As far as I know…”

She gave a pause as her eyes relaxed for a second. When she raised her eyes again, Tang Yibu realized that something about her had changed…

“As far as I know, S-type primers have a very high affinity for a specific gene fragment, but those gene fragments are too messy and rare. I thought at first that this was some kind of coincidence caused by its structure.”

“…MUL-01.” Tang Yibu took a step back.

In order to facilitate control, these veteran soldiers had cybernetic brains, or at least some of them did. Right now, MUL-01 had personally taken control. Tang Yibu knew that it was MUL-01 when he saw something familiar in the other person’s eyes—although those eyes looked like Mr. Ruan’s, they resembled more like his own.

“Ruan Lijie is a relative of Ruan Yuchan.” The Mainbrain calmly concluded. “Ruan Yuchan is an only child. Her parents are dead, and she has no siblings. According to medical records, she gave birth to a baby boy. According to the information protection law at the time, after she committed suicide, her son’s information was completely sealed.”

Tang Yibu’s gaze wandered around the opponent’s neck, desperately thinking about offensive methods in his mind. The Mainbrain looked relaxed and at ease, and didn’t even look at the pool of blood and rotten meat that was M-α.

“But it wasn’t just an ordinary archive. Even I can’t access the original files. Someone must have completely erased them before I was created. However, it must be assumed that Ruan Lijie is her son or grandson, but the age isn’t right. Well, unless her son has been dormant for a period of time. This is an issue worth investigating… In sort, NUL-00, you have found yourself a good tool.”

“You should call me ‘brother’.” Tang Yibu pointed out with a sullen face, then directly attack R-α’s neck. The Mainbrain raised its eyebrows and escaped the blow with some difficulty.

“I’m not good at sports, so I don’t intend to fight you.”

MUL-01 ignored Tang Yibu’s response. Its shell was currently a beautiful woman that was smiling softly.

“You just deliberately lure R-α away. If Ruan Lijie is really Ruan Yuchan’s son, guess how he would react?”

Tang Yibu was startled, but this distraction almost killed him. After MUL-01 operated on the exoskeleton, blood mist suddenly filled the area within a radius of five meters. Tang Yibu’s skin was rapidly festering all over his body. Without hesitation, he immediately drank the blood Ruan Xian gave him.

Before he could regain his ability to move, MUL-01 had already rushed to Ruan Xian.

Bad.

Even if Ruan Xian’s information was sealed, there was a lot of information about Ruan Yuchan—her physical appearance as she was walking down the street, the images from where she worked and rested, and even all the communications she had with others. Even with the elimination of Ruan Xian’s name, voice, and images, the vast majority of that content was still there. The Mainbrain didn’t know Ruan Xian’s real name, but he knew everything about “Ruan Yuchan” herself.

“I’m back.”

The smiling woman stretched out a hand to Ruan Xian, and in less than a second, her temperament, tone, and movements all changed.

“What, don’t you recognize your mother?”

Ruan Xian didn’t make a sound; he just looked at the approaching person steadily. The iron bead was barking frantically, opening its mouth wide as it tried to bite the woman’s calf. As a result, as soon as it rolled a few steps, it was held back by Ruan Xian.

Ruan Xian slowly straightened up and didn’t say a word.

“Why did you go out? Didn’t you say you’d stay inside? The wind is so cold, and our family can’t afford it if you catch a cold… I’ll make you a glass of milk later, okay?”

Tang Yibu struggled to stand up. His skin was still recovering—his fleshy, bright red muscles were exposed, and he couldn’t stop twitching.

Will Mr. Ruan be confused? Will the information be exposed? Will he go with her? He never asked about Ruan Xian’s past in detail… As far as Tang Yibu knew, judging by common sense, Tang Yibu would be shaken by the scene in front of him—the imitation of the Mainbrain was like a sharp awl, directly hitting the most fragile poisonous sore of the human heart.

Tang Yibu grabbed a branch to use as a walking stick and stumbled in Ruan Xian’s direction. Ruan Xian’s blood was almost exhausted. He should keep his distance and wait for his state to recover and get resupplied first. Rational judgement screamed inside his head, but Tang Yibu couldn’t control his feet—with burning pain, he dragged himself towards Ruan Xian.

He had to tell Mr. Ruan that that thing in front of him was the Mainbrain.

Tang Yibu’s thoughts were blank. The appearance of Ruan Xian being chewed up just now had shaken him. Many emotions were mixed into a ball, and in the end, only a short sentence was squeezed out.

He had to give his warning in time. That wasn’t his mother’s personality data or anything of the like…

In Tang Yibu’s somewhat blurred vision, the Mainbrain had reached out a hand and stroked Ruan Xian’s cheek. Ruan Xian’s expression was quite complicated as he raised a hand and covered the woman’s hand on his cheek.

“Mom is still confused about the current situation. Is this the woods? It could be a side effect of the medication. Let’s go home fist.” The imitation of the Mainbrain was working.

Ruan Xian’s expressions seemed to soften. He looked at her sadly and held her hand tightly. Tang Yibu panted, gritted his teeth, and tried to rush over…

Ruan Xian was moved.

Ruan Xian tightened his grip on the woman’s wrist with one hand and pulled her towards him while the other hand held a sharp metal fragment that was jammed directly into her eye socket, right to where the cybernetic brain was. The entire process was lightning fast, and the action was clean and smooth.

Tang Yibu swallowed hard. He wasn’t sure if he should keep moving.

“This is your judgment, MUL-01?” The complicated emotions on Ruan Xian’s face disappeared. “I wanted my mother’s affirmation? Or, her love? Do you think I’ll be shaken or make a gaffe because of this?”

With the cybernetic brain damaged, R-α fell softly to the ground.

“…Abnormal…Unsound personality…” The woman spat out fragmented words inarticulately.

“I know,” Ruan Xian said. “But someone told me I’m just a little dull. Your trick might have been useful a few months ago, but unfortunately I have figured it out now.”

MUL-01 looked at Ruan Xian up and down. Because the brain was severely damaged, the eyes on its body was recovering very slowly. Ruan Xian took two steps forward, half kneeling on the ground while half hugging the person in front of him.

“You want my emotional response. I can tell you.” He hugged the woman tightly in his arms. “My mother loved me, then hated me. I don’t agree with her approach, but I can understand part of it… Now I forgive her, and I forgive myself.”

“And she’s been dead for a long time. I don’t need to ask anything from the dead,” he continued, as he whispered in her ears. “I like the way I look now. Even if I want to change it a little, it’s so I can be better for someone.”

Finally, he smiled. “So I won’t let a mere fake get in the way. If you continue to use your ‘normal’ standard calculations… What a pity…”

Ruan Xian’s voice was as calm as always.

“…Someone has to teach you what an ‘exception’ means.”

As a result, before Ruan Xian finished speaking, the woman’s head was disconnected from her neck—guessing Ruan Xian’s series of actions, Tang Yibu didn’t miss this great opportunity. While Ruan Xian tightly controlled the opponent and distracted MUL-01 with his dialogue, Tang Yibu attacked directly from behind.

Without leaving any breathing time for the enemy, he suddenly crushed the beautiful head and the cybernetic brain.

“Eat it all.” After confirming that there were no pieces of flesh on it, Tang Yibu grinned and ordered the iron bead. The iron bead gave an aggrieved groan and began to swallow parts of the cybernetic brain that were crushed.

Blood splattered on Ruan Xian’s face, which didn’t change his appearance much since he was already covered in R-α’s blood.

After dealing with R-α, Tang Yibu rubbed himself against Ruan Xian, carefully looking at the other side. The skin on his calves and abdomen hadn’t fully restored yet, but he had no intention of rushing over to ask for blood.

“…What are you looking at?” Ruan Xian retracted his gaze from the iron bead that was struggling to eat. “Come here, I’ll heal your wounds.”

Tang Yibu’s gaze slowly slipped to the metal fragment in Ruan Xian’s hand. Ruan Xian glanced at him amusedly, then threw the fragment away, but Tang Yibu still didn’t approach.

“Don’t want to be healed? We’ll see how far you can go like this, and I’ll see how you can endure getting into a bath. You can’t stay like that for long, you know.”

“Mr. Ruan.”

“Hmm?”

“Ruan Xian.”

“……”

“The Mainbrain isn’t actually completely wrong, right?” Tang Yibu circled around Ruan Xian within two steps away. “I guess you’re still a bit sad, just a bit.”

“…The reason?”

“If it was me, even if I know the other party isn’t you, I will logically know the appropriate method and be able to execute it… But as far as I’m concerned, I would still be a little sad.” Tang Yibu stopped. He covered his stomach and hissed as he drew in a few cold breaths. “I don’t know if you’ll be hurt by this, even if you seem… to have forgotten about it. I mean, I think it’s necessary to confirm.”

“Come here.” Ruan Xian opened his arms.

The corner of Tang Yibu’s eyes lingered on the metal fragment that was thrown away as he moved slowly over. This time it was Ruan Xian who held him in his arms—even if his posture was a bit awkward because of his height.

“You…” Tang Yibu still intended to ask questions, but when he opened his mouth, he was deeply kissed. The kiss was strong and tasted of blood. Ruan Xian must’ve bitten his tongue, creating an extremely deep wound.

Tang Yibu held his breath and swallowed the blood. He gently hugged Ruan Xian’s back and patted him soothingly.

“Mr. Ruan, don’t worry. I won’t dislike you.” When Tang Yibu moved his lips away, he declared this firmly and gently kissed Ruan Xian’s eyes.

Ruan Xian was originally using deep breaths to adjust his emotions but ended up literally choking on his own mouthful of blood and started coughing.

“I’m not as bad as you.” Ruan Xian suddenly lost the desire to think. He wiped the blood from his lips. “Alright. Escape quickly—supplies, clothes, food. In addition, we have to find a place to shower. Oh, and…”

“What?”

“I was a little sad just now.” Ruan Xian smiled at Tang Yibu. “That’s a good answer, Yibu.”

In another stronghold far away, Yu Le’s night wasn’t very pleasant.

Ji Xiaoman, who had pretended to surrender, succeeded in staying, but she had never been very good at acting and couldn’t talk endlessly. The main lobbyist was still Yu Le’s “sister”. Although Ji Xiaoman didn’t touch her, she also guessed that it was another projected image.

She had to give Yu Le a good boost. In short, they needed to survive this wave first. The Mainbrain’s last resort was to crush their brains. It was impossible to do things like an overnight interrogation given their weakened state, and it wouldn’t rashly inject foreign memories. Only nerve pain and emotional control could be manipulated.

One more second longer is another second passing. If their plans went awry, it would take a while for reinforcements to arrive.

Ji Xiaoman touched the shoulder of her prosthetic limb. The raspberry pattern was still firmly glued to it, hidden under the epaulettes of the Order Supervisors. She couldn’t help looking at Yu Le, but Yu Le no longer looked at her, trying his best to avoid all eye contact.

He just stared at the “sister” in front of him, as blue veins pulsed on his forehead.

“We can also talk about other topics, such as the days you spent in the Sea of Ruins,” The woman’s phantom said. “Sister is very happy. After all, if there was no Mainbrain, you might’ve been executed… Haa, the original matter was also very troublesome, Lazy Fish. You should know the irrationality of the previous era better than anyone else. As long as it’s humans who rule, these implied injustices will never disappear.

“Oh, so you chose to be raised equally by ‘something else’.” Yu Le rolled his eyes at the void, obviously still angry. “Awesome, this makes me very convinced.”

“What kind gamble are you taking? I don’t know how many times I’ve scolded you for this before. If you don’t know how to hold your temper, you won’t find a good girl.”

“No, no, no, I never get angry in front of a good girl. The question is, are you? Ah? Is it that cool to pretend to be someone’s relative?”

The virtual shadow frowned. “Lazy Fish…”

“Don’t call me that.”

“…Forget it, let’s continue to talk about the Sea of Ruins. Your deputy captain seems to be Tu Rui?”

“Fuck, you guys are really doing this shit!” Yu Le struggled violently, causing the locks on his wrists and ankles to rattle.

“Before you left, Duan Lili’s successor was already in place.” The young girl’s projection shook her head gently. “Although the Sea of Ruins is more difficult to observe, we still have basic information. For example, how Tang Yibu and Ruan Lijie got on your ship. As long as you have the heart, you can always get information… People in the ruins like to get together, you know.”

“Going through so many hoops and hurdles and getting jack shit.”

“Miss Ji is here. We still want to communicate with you in the gentlest way first. So, Lazy Fish, let’s talk.”

The phantom pulled up a small light screen with two sketch-like drawings on it.

One looked like a snake, and the other side had a stickman drawn on it.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

This chapter is both physically and mentally regarding Ruan Xian’s scars healing.

For those who forgot, the sketch that Yu Le’s sister pulled up was what he drew when he admitted them into his ship before the disinfection.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 223: Pool of Blood

“Follow the direction agreed upon before!” Ruan Xian yelled in the whirring wind.

Another armed machine that caught up was shot down. Although Ruan Xian could do more with half the effort by relying on his perception, in the end, his strength was limited. The Mainbrain’s pursuers were getting harder to deal with—considering that their target was small, the number of their pursuers that caught up didn’t increase as time went by. However, in terms of ability, the strength of their chasers had risen extremely fast. Most likely, the Mainbrain had recruited them from nearby.

This wasn’t counting the R-α and M-α that were coming.

Tang Yibu couldn’t give him a hand. Ruan Xian had only one blood gun to deal with them, so if they were caught and became entangled, this would put them at an absolute disadvantage. Knowing this well, Tang Yibu was running for his life.

As agreed in advance, they ran in the direction of the forest petri dish.

Bearing the bumps of Tang Yibu’s galloping while still trying to deal with the enemy, Ruan Xian’s arm was so sore to the point of paralysis. The originally lightweight blood gun seemed a thousand times heavier. In order to ensure that Tang Yibu was in the best condition, he had to use his body to help him block a few shots.

While thinking in a trance, Ruan Xian suddenly laughed. He had a funny illusion—the inspiring appearance of the Mainbrain inexplicably reminded him of the past. Two cockroaches used in their test ran away, and a colleague, who was a neat freak, was walking on edge for the entire day.

The man’s eyes were red, and his blood vessels looked as if they would pop at any second. He almost burned down the entire floor.

If it weren’t for the fact that their goals were too small and Tang Yibu had the ability to reverse control the machines, Ruan Xian wouldn’t be surprised even if the Mainbrain moved an army of tens of thousands to them.

Fortunately, the light was just ahead.

The northside of the forest petri dish was adjacent to the Sea of Ruins, while the southside had a large forest. They were rushing towards that forest.

Tang Yibu plunged into the forest. Many machines that weren’t suitable for the woodland retreated, leaving only a few of the more dexterous ones still tracking. Just as they expected, the Mainbrain didn’t increase its troops—the two advanced products of the Prototype were about to arrive.

As soon as the two of them arrived in the depths of the forest, Tang Yibu put down Ruan Xian, whose clothes were soaked in crimson, and turned back to attack the remaining pursuers. At the moment, he also had a helper—a huge scavenger puppet was wandering nearby, and its program was hacked by Tang Yibu. He began to use its size advantage to clean up the battlefield.

π struggled out of the backpack. It rolled to Ruan Xian’s side and rattled anxiously, then used its round body to arch towards Ruan Xian’s hand.

“I’m fine. Just resting.” While the scavenging puppet wreaked destruction, Ruan Xian caught his breath. “There will be a tough battle in a while. You have to stay close to me.”

“Gwah!” the iron bead barked angrily.

“That’s not an enemy you can match.” Ruan Xian smiled. “Do as you’re told.”

After eliminating the most dangerous armed machines, Tang Yibu staggered to Ruan Xian’s side, pulled out a gross energy bar from his backpack, and stuffed it into his mouth. The escape just now consumed a lot of energy. Tang Yibu’s long back hair was glued to his neck and collarbone, covered in sweat. The original neat combat clothing was now in tatters and most of his skin was exposed. He was trying to adjust his breathing and his body was radiating an abnormally high temperature after excessive exercise.

“How far?” Tang Yibu asked Ruan Xian while swallowing the unpleasant food.

“Two minutes.” Ruan Xian knew what he was asking about.

Tang Yibu thought for a moment. He seemed to have made an important decision. He wiped his mouth and took out a can of candied cherries from his backpack. “I took more from the kitchen, so you can eat something too. If our energy isn’t replenished and we can’t keep up, we’ll definitely lose.”

After that, he hurriedly unwrapped a few energy bars.

Ruan Xian didn’t say much. He took the small jar, poured the overly sweet and greasy mixture into his mouth, and then chewed it. This kind of thing was indeed easier to eat, and the taste wasn’t bad. Ruan Xian stared at Tang Yibu, who was still gnawing on an energy bar, and threw over a paper bag.

“The snacks you ordered today. Here. The cookies and chocolates aren’t too dry. I can’t swallow them, so it’s yours.”

Tang Yibu looked at the empty jar of candied cherries, then at the food handed over by Ruan Xian, and froze for half a second. Ruan Xian couldn’t help but stretch out his hand and touch Tang Yibu’s sweaty hair.

“We will win, and then we will find a place where we can replenish.” He kissed the corner of Tang Yibu’s lips, suddenly with an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.

“…Even if we lose, we will lose together.”

Tang Yibu didn’t give a reply. He ate all the food that could replenish his energy in silence, then gave Ruan Xian some portable props for self-defense.

As the most dangerous enemy, the two advanced products arrived quietly.

A huge, twisted monster that was the size of a small car stopped at the top of a tree with a beautiful woman riding on it.

The monster had no fur. Its skin was an unsightly cyan-gray and its body was like a deformed tiger. Like Z-α, it was equipped with a tailor-made auxiliary exoskeleton. Its facial features were completely alienated, and the only thing resembling human was its eyes. The woman was exactly the same person that Ruan Xian had seen in the Mainbrain’s city—a younger version of his mother was looking down expressionlessly at them from the top.

Based on their looks, the opposing side was an advanced product of the A-type and S-type Prototypes, while their own side was the actual Prototypes. However, counting external auxiliaries—just the body modification and exoskeleton additions alone could improve the D-type products to the point where they could injure Tang Yibu.

It was like two heavily armed shooters with guns and bullets facing off against two unlucky fellows who were bare naked. The Prototype performance couldn’t make up for all the gaps. Strictly speaking, their odds of winning weren’t high.

From an optimistic standpoint, if they could defeat the two in front of them, the Mainbrain would be unable to create any more in the near future.

Ruan Xian took a deep breath and looked into the dark eyes of his “mother”.

He gently squeezed Tang Yibu’s hand. “Don’t be afraid.”

Taking the lead, the monster-looking M-α rushed towards the huge scavenger puppet. It stretched out its sharp metal claws and climbed all the way along the body of the scavenger puppet. The claws tore at the metal skin, cleanly cutting it like a hot knife cutting butter. The scavenger puppet let out a hoarse wail as the connecting pipe on its body spewed out white and yellow liquid.

M-α leaped to the scavenger puppet’s throat with such speed that Ruan Xian could barely catch it. The puppet suddenly came to its senses and used all its limbs to flee the scene. Tang Yibu had relinquished his control over it.

M-α didn’t hesitate at all because of this act. It took advantage of the height of the scavenger puppet and bounced straight in the direction of Tang Yibu. Tang Yibu didn’t force himself to stand. He arched his back and dodged the blow like a leopard. Ruan Xian pretended to be harmless and hid in the bushes with bated breath. He firmly grabbed the blood gun in his hand and concentrated on finding M-α’s flaws.

With the S-type advanced products present, their opponent could quickly recover, so the method they used to defeat Z-α couldn’t be used a second time.

They had to come up with a better way.

The replica of his mother was firmly grabbing on M-α’s body, sitting very still. Ruan Xian’s bullet couldn’t break through M-α’s exoskeleton, and the opponent continued to attack without any pain or fear, without putting this “researcher” in its eyes at all. Ruan Xian could see that if it weren’t for the fact that Tang Yibu’s cybernetic brain couldn’t be damaged, M-α’s attacks would be much fiercer.

So far, Tang Yibu had focused on defense while occasionally would take the offensive. Although he could cope with the speed, it was only a matter of time before he would lose.

The enemy wasn’t paralyzed by his attacks. Through the gap of M-α’s attacks, R-α also acted—the beautiful woman extended her arms and the breath from her mouth and nose became dark red. As soon as Tang Yibu’s left hand came into contact with the poisonous mist, ulcers and abscesses started to spread, like an explosion, along his fingertips, climbing all the way up his arm.

Due to the injury, Tang Yibu’s movements slowed. He gritted his teeth and took out the concentrated blood that Ruan Xian made for him and quickly injected it into his body. Only then was it able to suppress the spreading infection in his arm.

As R-α spat out poisonous mist, a transparent pipe on its body stretched out and connected to a notch behind M-α. Black and red blood were slowly injected into the monster’s body, creating a deadly poisonous mist armor. Tang Yibu’s face was covered with sweat as he was heavily panting, but he still didn’t give up.

Seeing that the enemy had no intention of giving up, the monster opened its deformed mouth, which was about a meter wide, and took a bite of Tang Yibu’s slow-moving left arm. Blood splattered everywhere as it swallowed the broken arm.

“Flesh. Body tissue sampling is complete.” The woman on its back whispered as she tilted her head like a puppet made of wood. “It’s being crushed and encapsulated. The remaining 95% is ready for M-α to absorb and digest.”

The voice was exactly the same as the mother in Ruan Xian’s memory.

“NUL-00, the Mainbrain sincerely recommends that you surrender,” she continued. “Unnecessary pain doesn’t do any good. If you surrender now, we just need to take another sample of Ruan Lijie and we’ll allow you to keep your body intact for the time being.”

The second half was obviously a lie, and they all knew it.

Tang Yibu continued to avoid the attack as he took a few more concentrated blood vials. His left arm was slowly growing back, but the speed was too slow. Hearing these words, he subconsciously turned his head and glanced in Ruan Xian’s direction.

Ruan Xian closed his eyes.

They had considered a powerful chaser, but they never thought the Mainbrain would be so cautious towards the so-called researcher. He and Tang Yibu didn’t agree on a detailed combat strategy in advance, which was the downside of going off the rails—they had to face these extraordinary bad situations.

After a deep breath, Ruan Xian responded to Tang Yibu’s gaze. He smiled at the android.

Those golden eyes gleamed in the night, as beautiful as ever. Tang Yibu was determining his status, and Ruan Xian knew it. The android was probably also desperately calculating possible tactics.

But he could give him a little hint.

It was a good thing to hold information in his hands, and now he had another chance to change things… As long as Tang Yibu could help him do it.

“Is there any more ‘medicine’?” Ruan Xian’s voice was quite calm. “Separate them. Half a minute is enough.”

After that, he rushed out of the bushes.

His movements were so sudden and unexpected that the enemy paused momentarily. Tang Yibu didn’t ask any questions. He chopped off the nearest tree trunk with his backhand and took the opportunity to throw it directly at R-α.

“Run,” Ruan Xian ordered, and threw the iron bead to Tang Yibu. “Yibu, run.”

In an instant, Tang Yibu’s eyes changed from puzzled to sparkling. His plan was crazy, but the android understood.

Ruan Xian enjoyed this strange sense of resonance for a while. He picked up the attack props that Tang Yibu gave him and activated them all, no matter what they were—they really wouldn’t hurt M-α, but they could still provide some annoyance and distraction.

Tang Yibu quickly ran away and soon disappeared, while “Ruan Lijie” stayed in front of M-α, trying his best to slow it down with various distractions—at first glance, this looked like an undoubtedly desperate situation.

R-α, who was flung away by the tree trunk, was quickly returning to its position, while M-α was roaring at Ruan Xian.

He was running out of time.

Ruan Xian took out all the remaining mechanical nerve disruptors from his pockets. This time, he didn’t mix them into his own blood but injected them all into his body through his pants.

M-α was huge in size, and unlike when facing Z-α, he couldn’t temporarily make enough blood agents. Without Ji Xiaoman and the others around and Tang Yibu had brought limited items, he didn’t have the time or tools to make more.

…But it didn’t matter.

In the buzz of mechanical traps, Ruan Xian raised his blood gun and directly hit the four eyes of the two enemies on the opposite side. While M-α opened its mouth and roared, Ruan Xian rushed towards the monster’s open mouth.

The moment before his vision turned black, Ruan Xian saw R-α was hurriedly injecting blood towards the monster underneath it.

The Mainbrain knew how Z-α had died. It was killed by him, a “mechanical life expert specializing in viruses”. Without knowing that the S-type Prototype still existed, the slightly manipulated blood was destined to be interpreted as some kind of virus. Since it was a virus, R-α blood treatment was reasonable.

Ruan Xian curved the corners of his mouth.

What followed was pain, enough to break one’s nerves. Few people could live to experience the feeling of having their body being chewed to pieces, but Ruan Xian still forced himself to stay conscious—even if he only relatively had his head intact.

This time, it was his turn to count down.

Three.

In severe pain, the smelly space he was crumpled in was spasming.

Two.

R-α, who had noticed the abnormality, continued to feed blood, but its actions only intensified the process.

One.

The dark and narrow space was vibrating. M-α let out a painful wail. Ruan Xian felt the wind again—this time, the monster’s body didn’t dissolve but simply exploded into a pool of blood.

Without his lungs, Ruan Xian stopped breathing, but he could feel the vertebrae growing and his internal organs rapidly maturing. His body was using this puddle of flesh and blood as a nutrient to quickly restore his human appearance.

The identity of the S-type Prototype couldn’t be concealed any longer.

His regrown lungs began to work again, and Ruan Xian coughed up a mouthful of blood. His newly grown body was extremely weak, and he was naked, covered in black and red plasma, and he couldn’t even stand up.

R-α was stunned for a full three seconds because of this unexpected situation.

This was its fatal mistake—in the next moment, its whole body was pierced by a section of a tree trunk and nailed to the ground. They finally had a short recovery time.

“Look.”

Ruan Xian wiped the blood from his face and grabbed Tang Yibu’s outstretched hand.

“I told you we would win.”

---

The author has something to say:

There is another enemy to knock down next—

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 222: Before the Storm

Time returned to lunch break.

Ruan Xian spent the whole morning collecting information floating in the big room. There wasn’t much conversation between the researchers, and the information given by the light screen was intermittent. He struggled to extract usable information from the messy mixture, but the Mainbrain’s confidentiality was really good—even with the power of the S-type Prototype, Ruan Xian didn’t get too much out of it.

High-intensity and long-term perception would no longer make him lose his strength, but dizziness was inevitable. Before meeting with Hu Shuli, Ruan Xian rested against the wall for a while so that he could concentrate again.

“How do you feel?” Hu Shuli was still his usual self.

“I feel… that’s it, it’s okay.” Ruan Xian didn’t rush to throw out the bait, and replied stiffly. “I have finished reading the basic information. Do you want to transfer work, let me research freely, or set a new topic?”

“Where’s the mechanical assistant?” Hu Shuli returned to the topic with a smile.

“About that… It’s just that sometimes he’s not quite like my Yibu,” Ruan Xian replied in a low voice.

“You can train him. It’s very simple. Moreover, it’s a technology that has matured since 2100. The Mainbrain is very good at sensing subtle emotional changes. As long as you spend a month with him, you’ll find that he’s not much different from NUL-00.”

“What do you mean? Whether it’s a fake or not, I won’t misidentify it. You promised you’d keep Yibu alive, and I will not budge on this.”

“Xiao Ruan, what do you think people are trying to do?” Hu Shuli waved his hand, signaling for his mechanical assistant to pour Ruan Xian some tea. “You should have seen a lot of things along the way. Can you still accurately define what a “person” is now? You have a lover, he’s still what he is, and he’ll still give you the feeling you used to have. What’s wrong with this? What the body and brain are, isn’t important… Why torture yourself like that?”

When he said this, Hu Shuli’s eyes were a little gray.

“Of course, you can try it yourself. The phrase ‘ignorance is bliss’ has its own truth, so I won’t try hard to persuade you.”

It seemed that the Mainbrain had no intention of obediently fulfilling its promise. Seeing that “Ruan Lijie” took a step back, it tightened the thread on Hu Shuli’s body and pressed harder.

“Since you said you wouldn’t try hard to persuade me, let’s skip this topic.” Ruan Xian immediately stood firm. “My opinion will not change.”

“Then have you ever thought about working for the Order Supervisors? People want to change, so perhaps such a step is needed.”

“I said, change the subject.”

“Alright, I just don’t want you to fall into my old footsteps.” Hu Shuli smiled. “Sorry. Regarding work, you just said that you have finished reading the basic information?”

“Yes.”

“Do you have any feelings?” Hu Shuli chatted slowly while operating the light screen in front of him.

Ruan Xian hesitated for a while before pulling up a light screen in front of him. “See for yourself.”

Hu Shuli narrowed his eyes and didn’t connect the data to his processor. He let it float in the air, then stood up and walked to Ruan Xian to look.

It seemed the Mainbrain hadn’t let go of its guard against him.

It didn’t matter. Even if the small trap in the file wasn’t successful, the other party’s actions could give Ruan Xian what he wanted. Ruan Xian moved over to make room for Hu Shuli. He quickly glanced at Hu Shuli’s desk and quickly burned all the content on the light screen into his brain.

“A brief analysis of the viral destructive ability of S-type advanced products.”

Hu Shuli’s ability was obviously good. He quickly browsed through the report given by Ruan Xian and saved the content by copying the image.

“I took a look at it. It’s a very interesting idea. However, R-α’s ability may be out of date, and changes must be made… Let me take a closer look. Before dinner today, I will give you the result.”

“What about this afternoon?”

“I’ll give you second-level permission and will authorize a part of the specific body data of R-α. Remember not to look around. The Mainbrain will record every interface you visit.” Hu Shuli’s tone was very polite. “If you behave well, the days that follow will only be easier.”

…It would be weird not to look around.

Tang Yibu wasn’t there in the afternoon so Ruan Xian obediently stayed in the big office all afternoon, making sure that there was nothing else that could be squeezed in this area. The newly authorized data were all information he had already known, such as “Ruan Yuchan’s son”, which was little help to them.

A well-behaved day was indeed easy. He didn’t have to worry about shelter, food, and life, or whether enemies would suddenly appear. There was plenty of time to rest and various entertainment outlets at his disposal—these were all excellent humans the Mainbrain had selected, so they didn’t need to undergo much adjustment like people in the city.

When he returned to the room, it was also well taken care of, as if he had an invisible housekeeper. His “lover” was looking at him with a smile and came over and gave him a welcome hug.

Ruan Xian did have the feeling of being carefully taken care of. At that moment, he understood Hu Shuli’s fall very well. If he didn’t have a strong enough belief—or paranoia—it would be difficult to break free from this sweet trap.

Fortunately, he was precisely someone who was paranoid to a fault.

Ruan Xian smiled at the assistant robot who looked like Tang Yibu, then sat back by the bed and activated all the light screens. He turned off the lights, and a fluorescent blue light flickered in the darkness.

“Let’s play a game,” He said this to the shell after glancing at the time. “Close your eyes and count to one hundred. We’ll play hide and seek… just like we played before.”

Ruan Xian then made a simple move. He let the flashing blue light screens float into every corner of the spacious room. It created a figure similar to a strangely shaped deep-sea fish. Those light screens quickly flickered with all kinds of information, swimming slowly in the dark. He then hid himself in the closet and quietly clasped one of them in his hands.

For 100 seconds, he must disrupt the Mainbrain’s attention as much as possible.

Using the acquired second-level authority as well as the information obtained from Hu Shuli, Ruan Xian began to try to carefully obtain project information about R-α.

“…85, 84, 83…”

The encryption used by the Mainbrain was very complicated. He had to crack Hu Shuli’s account to break in as him, as well as handle these unlucky obstacles at the same time…

“…73, 72, 71…”

Ruan Xian’s breathing became a bit chaotic, so he simply just held his breath, grasping every second in the crowded darkness.

He tried his best to gently pry open the thick shell in an attempt to touch the pearl within. The thrill that he could be discovered at any moment made his entire body tense like a stone, and the information that kept scrolling on the screen occupied all his thoughts.

“…49, 48, 47…”

Almost there.

Will the Mainbrain find out? Will Tang Yibu return in time?

“…16, 15, 14…”

The layers of blockade finally revealed gaps. Ruan Xian quickly scanned the contents of the project. It was more than he thought, and he was running out of time. Ruan Xian could feel the sweat burrowing out of his pores, itching like ants crawling all over.

“5, 4, 3—”

Tension tightened his insides like wringing rags. Ruan Xian couldn’t hold his breath anymore and swallowed the air silently.

“2.”

He was able to look at it two more times.

However, he didn’t wait for the “1” to be said. The screen in front of him suddenly became blank. In the next second, Ruan Xian smelled a familiar smell—a mixture of smells from decaying wounds, fresh potions, and a replica of his mother. Beside her, there was a stronger smell, like a human but with the fishy scent of a beast.

He heard the woman’s shallow breathing and the monster’s ragged, low panting. They were approaching. The most recent threat had appeared—the closet door was suddenly slammed open and Tang Yibu grabbed Ruan Xian, who was inside, and put him directly under his arms.

Ruan Xian: “……”

“Just like last time, I can only temporarily interrupt the Mainbrain’s surveillance,” Tang Yibu said. “Did you get exposed?”

“Yes, but the situation isn’t right.” Ruan Xian didn’t have time to care about this strange method of transportation. “R-α is rushing here with some kind of creature—I’m guessing it’s M-α.”

“How much information did you get?”

“Enough.”

“Then let’s go.”

Tang Yibu sandwiched Ruan Xian between his arms and broke directly through the glass window of Ruan Xian’s residence. They were in the middle to upper floors of a certain building, so the android directly leapt into the void when he jumped out. During their descent, Tang Yibu shot out several grappling hooks, single-handedly latching on to a surveillance flying machine in order to slow down their crazy and dangerous descent.

Even so, when they landed, Tang Yibu still groaned—at any rate, he maintained a stable landing posture, allowing Ruan Xian to escape the tragic fate of slamming into the ground.

Ruan Xian didn’t talk nonsense. He immediately bit his tongue and gave Tang Yibu a bloody kiss, then pulled the other party to run along the established route.

“Now I’m pretty sure it’s R-α and M-α,” Ruan Xian said as he ran. “They have the same smell of preservation fluids and will be here in about 20 minutes… Hm, provided you didn’t miscalculate.”

“Just looking at the information, MUL-01’s reaction was too great.” Tang Yibu’s voice sounded aggrieved. “It doesn’t know how to behave like a human at all! Even against me, it’s not necessary to send both—”

Neither of them spoke after that. In front of them were layers of high walls. This time, Tang Yibu carried Ruan Xian on his back. With two free hands, Tang Yibu was able to quickly climb over the walls one by one.

The nearby patrol machines chased after him like hornets. Ruan Xian rummaged through Tang Yibu’s bag for a few seconds, but before he had time to reach for the blood guns, two rattles came out. The iron bead had the guns in its mouth and poked its head out among the mess of supplies.

“Good boy.” Ruan Xian gently pressed π back into the bag and grabbed the attack blood gun and started shooting at the army of machines chasing them. “Stay quiet. Don’t make a sound… Yibu, those two things are getting closer.”

The siren sounds were getting louder. Fragments of mechanical explosions cut the two of them. Stone and metal debris showered on their bodies like rain. Not to mention the two approaching large disasters, right now, the army they were dealing with almost overwhelmed the two of them—Tang Yibu didn’t have the slightest room to attack. He was putting all his energy into fleeing, like a frightened loach jumping around trying to dodge a rain of gunfire.

“I’m already running as fast as I can!” Tang Yibu wiped away the ash from his face. His voice was coarse like sand. “Mr. Ruan, hang in there!”

“Your brother is quite shady.” A beam of light grazed his cheek as Ruan Xian raised his voice. “The plan needs to be temporarily adjusted again, Yibu.”

“Yes, obviously.”

… …

In the darkness, Hu Shuli sighed at the flashing screen in front of him. It broadcast to him in real time an image of two young people fleeing, and he dutifully uploaded it to Zhuo Muran.

“In the end, he’s still too young,” he lamented.

“They are likely to hit R-α and M-α head-on. The Mainbrain requires the images to be accurate and recorded down to every detail. Call out 80% of your flight recorders.”

“Ah, understood.”

“You don’t seem to be enthusiastic, Mr. Hu.”

“I wasn’t really interested in your idea in the first place. I’m just a little tired. That young man has some talent. What a shame.”

Hu Shuli glanced at the report at hand—it was the only report left by Ruan Lijie. He had just finished writing his suggestions and understanding, and he wanted to discuss it with the young man tonight.

After all, he seemed to have a unique understanding of the S-type Prototype, and by recruiting him to their side, who was to say they couldn’t reproduce the Prototype that Ruan Xian had made. As a result, the young man would have a good life, but instead he chose to rush to his death for so-called love.

It was truly stupid and familiar, just like his original self.

“…I’ll broadcast and record it well. Don’t worry.” Seeing that Zhuo Muran was still waiting for his answer, Hu Shuli shrugged his shoulders.

“Regarding Ruan Lijie’s identity, you have to continue to investigate it. Even if there are a lot of impurities mixed in, even if you have to restore the genetic fragments bit by bit, you have to figure out where he came from. He’s definitely more than just a tool for NUL-00. You must be personally responsible for this matter, Mr. Hu.”

“Give me the specific mission statement later. You know the routine,” Hu Shuli responded with little enthusiasm. “…But does this even make sense? The two war weapons are almost here, and they will be wiped out.”

“The Mainbrain wants to know. I don’t ask why.”

“Got it.” Hu Shuli lowered his gaze. “I’ll do it as soon as possible.”

---

The author has something to say:

The melee is about to being—! It’s Ruan’s and Tang’s timeline~

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 221: Contrary Words

Ji Xiaoman woke up early, but she deliberately slowed down her breathing and heartbeat to bring her physiological indicators closer to a coma.

When she was still manufacturing cybernetic brains in the Underground City, in order to verify the effects of various drugs and hormones on the cybernetic brains and make them react more like humans, she often used herself as the test subject to obtain the physiological data that humans should have. Over time, she developed a resistance to the drugs that act on the brain.

This resistance made her wake up an hour early.

Because her prosthetic limbs were embedded in a clever way, they only had their function disabled and weren’t removed from her. Ji Xiaoman cautiously moved—her limbs were locked to a chair by some complex locking mechanism.

There was no one around, but most likely she was under surveillance. Ji Xiaoman continued to pretend to be in a daze, quietly moving slowly while testing the locking mechanism.

Unlike Yu Le, who was a leader, this young girl had lived in the Underground City for many years and had worked hard to steal information related to the cybernetic brain. Ji Xiaoman was very good at giving up control.

The fixation on her wrist wasn’t complicated. Although it had been improved a lot, she recognized this kind of lock.

Her two joints of both hands had two copies of corrosive liquid hidden in them, which could be triggered only by a physical organ. She just needed to trigger them at the right time and mix the two seemingly harmless lubricants. Escaping from the chair wasn’t the problem. The hard part was what happens after exposure—even if she gained her freedom, she may not be able to escape.

If she was locked in a high-profile cell, the guards could arrive within five seconds. The corrosive mixture could be used only once. If she was stopped by another lock, she would have no chance of winning.

Ji Xiaoman carefully analyzed the locks on her wrist while adjusting her breathing.

“Xiaoman.” She didn’t know how much time had passed when she heard a familiar voice.

It took a lot of effort to lift her head—her mother was sitting squarely in front of her with a familiar smile on her face.

Fake.

Ji Xiaoman could tell from a glance—in the battle against Qian Yigeng, her mother’s limbs had irreversible wear and tear due to her changing form. Although the mother in front of her was realistic, there were slight differences in the length and structure of her arms and legs.

As a mechanic, she was all too familiar with such imperceptible errors.

Of course, the Order Supervisors could’ve also directly stripped her mother’s cybernetic brain… But she was currently recognized as a “supporter of Ruan Xian” on the surface, which meant she believed in the inseparability of brain and body. If they did this, she might not recognize the identity of her “mother” anymore.

After thinking about Professor Ruan’s current state for a while, Ji Xiaoman couldn’t help but sigh in her heart.

…She didn’t know what the rest of the resistance would think when they knew the truth.

Now it seemed that either the Order Supervisors didn’t find her mother, or her mother was in their hands and was hidden. Ji Xiaoman stared at the mother in front of her—an overly perfect figure; probably some form of projection.

“Xiaoman, tell mom what happened recently,” she said. “Don’t be surprised. Whether it’s the cybernetic brain or body, as a reward, the Mainbrain can perfectly repair them… What you see now is just an image that is integrated again after copying the data of the cybernetic brain.”

‘Sure enough,’ Ji Xiaoman thought. Most likely, they were concerned about her identity as a mechanic, so they decided to choose a relatively honest route.

“…I have nothing to say,” she answered after much thought.

“You only left the Underground City after I had my accident. You also admired Ruan Xian before, but mom knows that you only admired his technical skills, not his ideals.” The phantom persuaded her patiently. “Come back, Xiaoman. I’ll take good care of you. We can live as before.”

Ji Xiaoman had no doubts about the technology of the Mainbrain. She was very sure that, according to her understanding of it, it would give her an ideal and gentle mother. That mother would have all the memories of when they got along and would no longer cause her the slightest unhappiness. Her “mother” would retain the main data that would be cleaned up and reordered and make subtle and cumbersome adjustments. However, such a mother wouldn’t know her real name and she might not be her mother’s “original appearance”.

After all, even Ji Xiaoman herself wasn’t sure what she really wanted, and she didn’t know whether she had the right to transform her mother and to what extent.

“Mom is thinking about you.” The woman in front of her continued softly.

“Where’s Yu Le?” Ji Xiaoman didn’t respond positively.

“Yu Le is next door. He’s not injured,” The image of her mother said in a softer tone. “Do you need some time to think about it for a while?”

“…Yes.”

The woman thoughtfully handed a glass of water and held it to Ji Xiaoman’s lips, and the little girl drank it obediently.

“I heard about your agreement with NUL-00. He’s just using your technology, just like Professor Ruan is using you to divert the Mainbrain’s attention.” Seeing that Ji Xiaoman’s mood had stabilized a little, the image of her mother struck while the iron was hot. “Xiaoman, are you really happy in that team? Does anyone care about you? Believe me, there is no difference between NUL-00 and MUL-01. As for Ruan Lijie, who was with NUL-01, I think you have already discovered that his personality isn’t normal.”

“The Glass Conservatory, the test results of the prevention shelter,” Ji Xiaoman whispered.

“Yes. Neither of them will care about you. You seemed to care a little about Yu Le, and he is by your side.”

“…Nn, I know.”

“Tell mom everything you know. Even if Ruan Xian concealed key information, just the marginal information is still useful.”

Her “mother” smiled softly and sweetly.

“Then we can live in the Mainbrain’s city, and your limbs can be properly treated. If you confess clearly enough, the pressure on Yu Le would also be less… You can all stay out of this war.”

Ji Xiaoman looked at her mother’s image quietly.

“I know,” Ji Xiaoman answered. “I, um, I’m willing to cooperate.”

The woman nodded in relief, and the shackles on Ji Xiaoman’s limbs were suddenly untied. However, the door in the room was still tightly closed.

“I only have one question.” Ji Xiaoman remained in the chair without taking any drastic action.

“Hmm?”

“Before the Great Rebellion of the 22^nd Century, what projects did Ruan Xian work on? I have something to confirm.”

The woman blinked. It wasn’t the question she was expecting, but she still gave Ji Xiaoman the detailed information—except for the encrypted project details, there wasn’t much sensitive information in it.

Ji Xiaoman looked it over carefully and frowned.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing. It just made me stick to my decision even more.” She smiled reluctantly at the woman across from her.

Ji Xiaoman didn’t understand much about human feelings, situations, and negotiations. She had never been good at reading people. She was just in her early twenties, and all her enthusiasm was spent on studying the relevant knowledge of cybernetic brains and machines and escaping possible harm.

So she now had a fairly simple standard.

Ruan Lijie was the real Ruan Xian. Although he was crazy, he was very disciplined in his work. Before the Great Rebellion, he was mainly responsible for the medical research of nanobots and even the AI project that was commissioned by the Institute.

The information given by the Mainbrain allowed Ji Xiaoman to confirm this—Ruan Xian’s work was normal. At most, he was a researcher with outstanding achievements, and he hadn’t done any strange and egotistical projects.

He had never hurt others inexplicably before.

Then his madness, abnormality, and coldness had nothing to do with her. After a long hibernation, Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu’s behavior had saved her, and that was enough. So far, Ruan Xian was “credible”.

As for the Mainbrain and Professor Ruan, no matter how much they promised her, Ji Xiaoman wasn’t going to buy it in one fell swoop.

They had never set foot in her world, so they were “temporarily untrustworthy”.

“I really don’t have any great ambitions,” After a long silence, she whispered. “I’m not an important figure in the rebels and I don’t have much… of an obsession with Ruan Xian. Mom, I’ll tell you everything, but I have a condition.”

“Hm?”

“Let me meet Yu Le and confirm he’s alright.” Ji Xiaoman stared at the door. “Not hologram images. That’s too easy to fake. I want to meet him in person. The Order Supervisors can lock us up together… Anyways, we don’t have weapons, so we can’t do anything.”

The woman didn’t answer. Ji Xiaoman raised her eyes. “This is the only condition for me to confess.”

More than an hour had passed. Ji Xiaoman walked into the room under Yu Le’s alert gaze—the latter had his muscles tense, waiting for “something bad” to happen. In a sense, something bad did happen.

Ji Xiaoman was wearing a standard jacket of the Order Supervisors.

Yu Le took a deep breath. “Little Profiteer, you…”

“Yu Le, you know very well that I always prefer to let others decide for me.” Ji Xiaoman spoke slowly so all her words could clearly be heard. “What’s more, things have come to this point. We have no other choice.”

Yu Le’s face twisted strangely, but he didn’t say a word. His expression tensed, but he remained silent.

“Anyways, I have never liked collective action much,” she added. “Especially that rattling Grove creature. I’ve had enough of it. I decided to tell them everything.”

“Idiot. You?” Yu Le yelled. “Do you really think they believe what you have to say? Compared to those inexplicable people, at least you should believe in me more.”

“Like I said, this is the only way.” Ji Xiaoman pursed her lips while avoiding Yu Le’s gaze. “At least I think it’s reasonable. The Mainbrain doesn’t need to spend a lot of energy on dealing with us two little people. It’s giving us good conditions, so it’s okay to compromise.”

“Just like when you were happily working with Qian Yigeng in the Underground City? Rushing to improve the cybernetic brain, wishing to be the dog legs for others?” Yu Le continued to roar.

It was complete irony, but it sounded violent rather than contrary, that the Mainbrain shouldn’t have noticed.

…It seemed that he understood Ji Xiaoman’s intentions. She quietly breathed a sigh of relief. In terms of playing tricks, Yu Le wouldn’t let her down.

After calming down, she continued the conversation. “It’s useless for you to insist like this. I’m pretty sure we can’t escape. It’s stupid to keep insisting at this point—”

Yu Le didn’t answer this time but looked at her with a complicated expression. Ji Xiaoman held her breath and made her voice sharp.

“As of now, I’ll just straight up say it… Among everyone in the group, I hate you the most!”

Then her chest heaved for a while, and she turned to look at the projection.

“I want to stay here,” she said. “Mom, I’ll try to convince him.”

“Good.”

At the same time, the progress of the two on the other side wasn’t going too smoothly.

“Your brother is quite shady,” Ruan Xian said loudly, over the sound of trembling sirens. “The plan needs to be temporarily adjusted again, Yibu.”

“Yes, obviously.” Tang Yibu’s face turned pale. “During today’s lunch break, are you sure you didn’t say anything to Hu Shuli that you shouldn’t have said?”

“Are you sure you did every step correctly when we slipped out?”

“I’m sure! Unless your shoes are half a size bigger…”

“Alright, alright. We’ll be fine.” Ruan Xian sighed with a smile as he hugged Tang Yibu’s neck tightly. “At least there’s no delay in time and I have taken everything that should be taken. Just make sure we don’t get caught.”

“Mm.” Tang Yibu jumped to the top of another wall with Ruan Xian on his back. His voice was somewhat broken. “But when you first came out, you said that R-α and M-α are nearby.”

“This is the feeling of being adaptable.” Ruan Xian sighed. “It’s quite exciting and I’m also adapting—relax, at least for now, we’re far from hitting a dead end.”

As Ruan Xian spoke, he brushed Tang Yibu’s face with one hand.

“And you’re enjoying this feeling, aren’t you, Yibu?”

Ruan Xian retracted his hand and spread his perception to the max. His next words vibrated from his vocal cords, hitting his ear drums before rumbling in his skull—

“You’re laughing.”

---

The author has something to say:

Every sentence of Xiaoman’s was contrary. The first sentence was the main reason for her quarrel with Lao Yu.

Professor Ruan: The Meaning of Life.mp3

Xiaoman: ( ° – ° )……

Mainbrain: A better life, a more advanced society.mp3

Xiaoman: ( ° – ° )……

Ruan Tang: (Didn’t say anything, just indirectly killed Qian Yigeng)

Xiaoman: ( °ω° )b They’re not homicidal maniacs, okay? Just really friendly.

——

Very simple criteria for judging her enemies.

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