Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 189: Eyes

Yu Le was in no mood to tease Zhong Qing. If his years of experience had taught him anything, it was that he would never misinterpret genuine fear.

Zhong Qing was really scared.

He squatted on the ground, clinging to his knees with most of his face buried in them, as if trying to squeeze himself out of thin air.

Yu Le thought perhaps he had exhausted all his energy trying to maintain a strong composure in front of the four of them. Zhong Qing’s only advantage was his knowledge of the city, but in fact, Professor Ruan probably knew quite a bit. This child wasn’t necessary for them, but more like an add-on, but no one brought this up.

Zhong Qing held onto that little bit of reality that he could still understand and described everything that happened to him lightly, but Yu Le understood that Zhong Qing was far from ready to face death—people who really wanted to die wouldn’t have such violent fear.

“Stand up.” Yu Le stretched out his hand.

“It’s not safe here.” Zhong Qing hid his face behind his arm and twitched his nose.

“It’s fine. We’ve been through a lot of dangerous places. It’s not a problem protecting a little kid,” Yu Le lied briskly.

“Really?” Zhong Qing held out his hand in disbelief. “If you’re really that good, shouldn’t you have some kind of particularly handsome mobile base?”

“Do you remember that golden-eyed guy? That kid went head-to-head with the regular army of the Order Supervisors. Each of us slipped under their noses. My car is fine. It’s because your city is blessed with too many resources that you… Forget it.”

This sentence wasn’t appropriate. Yu Le sighed in his heart, grabbed the young man’s thin wrist, and pulled him up from the ground. Zhong Qing shivered. It looked as if his legs were still weak.

“Then promise,” he muttered.

“I promise you’ll be fine.” Yu Le turned his head. “Continue your talk about the corpses.”

“…They are not the same as me. I mean, the incubation period of my disease is quite long, and it won’t kill me. They turned out to be weird. The Mainbrain basically uses them as a mutant cell bank.” Zhong Qing’s voice still sounded weak. His self-confidence disappeared without a trace, and he clung to Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman, eager to hang himself onto them like a backpack.

“Could it be these people’s… Uh, something happened to the successor? The Mainbrain temporarily needs to transfer their diseased cells away and do some medical research.” Ji Xiaoman guessed in a low voice.

“I don’t know. This has never been the case before. Even if it was, it’s not like several people would have problems at the same time.” Zhong Qing grabbed his arms as if he was standing on a snowy plain. “…I don’t know.”

“Let’s ask the team above later.” Yu Le continued to scan the basement with a cold light, squinting his eyes. “Neither of us is an expert in this area. Xiao Ruan should know more.”

“Ah,” Zhong Qing suddenly said. His dark eyeballs were like two empty holes in the dim environment, so it was difficult to tell where he was “looking”.

“What’s the matter, kid?”

“Those people seem to be… All of them have been researched and completed.” Zhong Qing scratched his scalp. “But I’m just guessing. I can’t hack into the system. No one has taken samples from them for a long time, so I guess… I guess…”

His voice became smaller. “Forget it, maybe I’m thinking too much.”

“We will convey this to Mr. Ruan.”

Ji Xiaoman nodded quite seriously and continued to check the light screen.

“There is nothing left here, Lao Yu. I don’t dare dismantle the large machines. There could be an alarm on it. You can take a look at the terrain. If there’s nothing else, let’s go back first.”

“We haven’t gone to that room over there yet.” Yu Le pointed to a room at the end of the darkness.

“According to the internal map here, that’s the morgue on this floor. Zhong Qing was just referring to that place, and I didn’t see any moving heat source from there.”

Ji Xiaoman tapped on her electronic wristband with her fingertips. “There is such a room on each floor. The security level there may be higher. Do we need to look at it?”

“No need, there is really nothing in it,” Zhong Qing said immediately. “My eyes can see the situation inside. There are a few corpses missing, and nothing else has changed. If you want to know more, you can ask me.”

“Let’s take a look and be rest assured.” Yu Le touched his chin. “Didn’t you say there was a problem there? It’s always good to make sure. In case the situation is wrong, let’s withdraw as soon as possible.”

“It’s really unnecessary.” Zhong Qing clenched his fists. “I… I was just making a mountain out of a molehill, so don’t go. What if the Mainbrain finds out?”

Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman glanced at each other quietly.

Ji Xiaoman hesitated for a bit. She added another light screen while she kept operating with one hand. “I’m not very good at pure hacking. Let’s try the electronic lock first.”

Seeing that it was fruitless to stop them, Zhong Qing bit his lip and said nothing.

It turned out that Ji Xiaoman’s experience in the Underground City was still useful—collecting data and information had honed her skills in slipping through doors and picking locks. With the two-pronged approach of programming and hardware, the door really did open for her.

“We only have one and a half minutes,” Ji Xiaoman said anxiously. “Lao Yu, don’t watch for too long. If you don’t close the door in time, the alarm will go off—”

Zhong Qing stopped at the door and didn’t enter the room with them, as if he was particularly resistant to that room. He squatted down against the wall, shrank up again, and hid himself in the dark.

Yu Le took a deep breath.

The room was about one hundred square meters or more. Countless square glass troughs were stacked on top of each other around the four walls of the room. The glass was all opaque black, like a painted coffin. There was a large metal table in the center of the room full of machinery he had never seen before.

“I… I temporarily removed the blackout mode for now,” Ji Xiaoman reminded in a low voice.

As soon as her voice fell, the black glass wall became transparent in an instant. Except for five or six empty spaces, there were people lying sideways in almost each of them.

…Or rather, something in human form.

• Yu Le didn’t know if they had been transformed. In his impression, people shouldn’t grow up looking like this. Some people’s heads swelled to twice the size of a normal person. Their facial features were squeezed into strange positions on the edge of their skulls, and their bodies were densely packed with hyperplasia. Some had strange tissues growing on their skin, as if they were wrapped in layers of bark.

Those weren’t born deformities but were like some disease that had developed to the extreme.

Under normal circumstances, these people most likely died due to the development of the disease long ago, but judging from the occasional movements in their eyes—if they were lucky enough to show skin—these people were still alive.

In the “morgue” created by the Mainbrain, these weird diseases couldn’t kill the host. They continue to survive, and eventually turn the host into something impossible in a natural environment.

Yu Le shuddered. Zhong Qing’s mental endurance was stronger than he thought. He couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lie down here and still keep his sanity. If it was him, he would probably feel as if dying would be easier than this.

But they had limited time, so Yu Le couldn’t express his feelings. He glanced at the glass grooves coldly, taking in as much information as possible.

Each glass box displayed dense information as well as lights indicating the status of the body. Yu Le looked around and didn’t see an empty glass tank with Zhong Qing’s name on it until Ji Xiaoman reached out and pointed to the top of the room.

An empty trough was there. Unlike the other slots with red lights on, its indicator light was still soft blue. That position was at the top of the glass trough pile. With the edge of the glass trough protruding in a ladder shape, it was indeed easier to escape from there.

Yu Le swept through with a cold light and found the two small characters “Zhong Qing” on the glass wall. There was more dense information next to the name, but the location of the “coffin” was too high, which made it inconvenient to take it in.

Even being as tall as 1.9 meters, Yu Le had to stand on tiptoe as he tried to read the words clearly while trying to ignore the other people who were looking at them askance from their glass cases.

In the next second, all the glass returned to opaque darkness.

“Time’s up.” Ji Xiaoman grabbed Yu Le as she shivered a bit. “Let’s go, Lao Yu.”

Yu Le took an inhale and didn’t linger. He left the morgue with Ji Xiaoman. Zhong Qing was still at the door, remaining silent. Yu Le wasn’t so cordial this time. He directly pulled at Zhong Qing’s back collar and lifted him up.

“You’re not telling the truth,” he said coldly.

“I didn’t lie to you about big events!” Zhong Qing struggled in frustration and looked at Ji Xiaoman for help.

Ji Xiaoman pursed her lips and avoided Zhong Qing’s gaze. Although the girl was a bit slow in interpersonal skills, she was very smart. Most likely, she had found things were unnatural, and Yu Le was even more sure of his judgement.

“It’s like a museum of freaks in there, yet you’re so fresh and refined compared to them.”

Seeing Zhong Qing standing firm, Yu Le withdrew his hand.

“Your problem isn’t a ‘chronic disease that can’t hurt your life’, right?” Yu Le tsked. “Even if it is, it’s certainly not as simple as blindness. What exactly is your situation?”

“It has nothing to do with you!” Zhong Qing scratched his hair nervously. “Wouldn’t it be nice if I gave you the right information? This is personal shit. Personal shit… After all, what does my illness matter to you?”

“If something unexpected happens to you suddenly, our state and plans will be affected. Be honest, kid.”

“…Your parents, I heard you talk about their tone. They used to treat you very well, didn’t they?” Ji Xiaoman said hoarsely. “You’re in good health and you don’t need to be taken care of in your daily life. I don’t believe they would replace you just because you’re a bit inconvenient to their lives and have a bad personality.”

Zhong Qing opened his mouth and his eyes turned red.

“If I told you, you wouldn’t cooperate with me.” He wiped his eyes, stubbornly trying not to sob. “If my own parents can’t bear the disease, how would strangers be willing to take care of me?”

“An infectious disease?” Yu Le was immediately on high alert.

“No!” Zhong Qing’s voice had tears in it. “I swear!”

“…Then why can’t you tell us?” Yu Le patted his chest and breathed a sigh of relief with Ji Xiaoman.

“Look for yourself. Don’t let that sister look yet. I’m afraid I’ll scare her.” Zhong Qing took a step back. “Mr. Yu, you… Come with me.”

Yu Le squeezed the handle of the gun around his waist with one hand while taking a few steps forward, leaning against the nearest corner.

Zhong Qing took a deep breath, then slowly raised his hands. Yu Le stared at his every move, swallowing silently; the soles of his feet were a little numb from tension.

“I grew these things.”

Zhong Qing poked the soft and dense hair on his head, revealing part of his scalp.

The moment he saw what was exposed, half of Yu Le’s body went numb. He instantly understood the reason why Zhong Qing’s parents were obsessed with “a healthy child”. If the disease really wasn’t fatal for a short time, it would be worse for Zhong Qing and his family.

Yu Le saw a human eye on Zhong Qing’s exposed scalp. Strictly speaking, it was a little smaller than a human eye, and the color of the iris was a bit lighter. It was looking at him, and because of the angle, it was rolled up, revealing mostly white, which made things extremely uncomfortable.

“You… This…” Yu Le was speechless.

“It’s hard to make it clear in one or two sentences,” Zhong Qing said. “After my illness relapsed, they began to grow out slowly, and it was useless to remove them through surgery.”

“Them?” Yu Le repeated, dryly.

“Nn,” Zhong Qing whispered, scratching his hair again. “…In addition to the invisible pair on my face, there are six on my head.”

“…” Yu Le wiped his face, not knowing what expression to use to deal with the child in front of him.

He thought it was right to not let Ji Xiaoman follow. He couldn’t wait to stop thinking about it and directly throw this complicated mess to Ruan Xian and the others.

“It’s really not like an infectious disease?” Yu Le squeezed out these words after a long pause. “Thinking about it, if you’re very sick, the defensive measures in this place will not let you run away.”

Zhong Qing twisted his hands nervously.

“Forget it, you go back with us first. Don’t say a word to Xiaoman. She’s already nervous as it is, and this will only scare her even more.”

“…Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me too early.” Yu Le looked at the dim ceiling. “This has to be seen by Xiao Ruan’s gang.”

“Nn.”

The state of “Xiao Ruan’s gang” was a bit worse.

As soon as Tang Yibu rubbed back to Ruan Xian happily, he was grabbed by Ruan Xian and pulled aside to a machine covered by a cloth. The space there was barely big enough to accommodate them. Professor Ruan followed and crawled in, stretched out his robotic arm, and tightly clamped one side of π’s mouth—the iron bead fell out of Tang Yibu’s arms and was just about to open its mouth and bark.

[Someone is coming.] Ruan Xian transmitted it through his earring stud. [They’re still far away. Just arrived downstairs. The speed of their detection machines is too fast. They’re already on the first floor. We have no time to hide.]

[Understood.] Tang Yibu stretched out his fingers and wrote on the skin on the side of Ruan Xian’s neck.

[They seem to be going upstairs, most likely looking for traces of life on these floors.]

[I have to save energy, and perceptual camouflage is best left to humans. Machines are controlled by NUL-00.] Professor Ruan obviously also had a way to deal with this situation—he flashed the text with a faint cold light on his glass trough.

Tang Yibu nodded calmly as he reached out his hand and touched the iron bead. The iron bead, who was still dissatisfied, no longer bore its temper and obediently leaned to Tang Yibu’s side.

It’s late at night. No matter what the visitor is doing, this shouldn’t be a daily job, but there weren’t that many people coming, so they were reluctant to call them pursuers.

Ruan Xian thought that things were getting more and more interesting.

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The author has something to say:

Zhong Qing really didn’t tell the truth completely XD

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 188: Change

Professor Ruan was silent for over ten seconds because of the word “our”.

Ruan Xian waited quietly for him to continue. Right now, he was in a good mood. After all, even if they understood each other’s thoughts, actually putting them into words was still a different effect. Tang Yibu’s confession of “I love you” was like a warm knife that deeply penetrated into his skin, passing through the ribs and pierced directly into his heart.

Part of his mind was quite lucid, able to continue to deal with Professor Ruan; another part was fluttering, like an open wound soaking in a warm dead sea, enjoying both pain and relief.

Ruan Xian had never been so patient before. He wishes Professor Ruan would remain silent longer so that he could have more time to engrave these wonderful feelings into his memory.

“…I don’t know what she really looks like.” After a moment of silence, Professor Ruan replied.

“I do have parents in my memory as well. Now that I think about it, it was a very standard setup. We were middle-to-upper class. They weren’t wealthy, and both were civil servants of low status, but they looked gentle and attractive. Whether it was the education policy or their relationship with me, they had all done everything right, so people couldn’t pick out any faults.”

Ruan Xian raised his eyebrows. “Are they still around?”

“Died when I was still young. My father died to protect the people soon after I was sensible. My mother raised me and took good care of me when I got sick. She was a perfect mother. Unfortunately, when I got older, her body collapsed. That’s why I… Well, I should say that ‘the me in my memory’, wanted to work in this field.”

There was a bit of a wry smile in Professor Ruan’s voice.

“My mother entrusted me to her friend Meng Yunlai before she died. My situation was special, and Ms. Meng’s authority wasn’t small, so I was able to enter the Institute in advance. This is all I remember.”

For the first time, Professor Ruan’s voice became a little unsteady.

“In my impression, Fan Linsong is like a caretaker… A friend of my mother’s. After my father died, he helped my mother a lot. For example, in order for my mother to have time to take me to the amusement park, he would take the initiative to help my mother find part-time work.”

“But I think the mother in my memory shouldn’t be my real mother. She may be the perfect image Fan Linsong created from collecting information. In fact, if you delve deeply into my parents’ account, you can find some omissions—they are the ‘perfect parents’ pieced together from the descriptions and experiences of countless people. Everything is true, but it doesn’t belong to me. You should have tasted the memory cocktail in the Glass Conservatory. I guess I am the first to experience that kind of technology.”

“But you didn’t immediately dissolve the rebel army or seek revenge on Fan Linsong.” Ruan Xian laid out the facts.

“Some things can’t be given up immediately, even if they are ‘known to be fake’.” The cube in the liquid expressed like so.

“Even if someone tells you now that all the beautiful things in your memories are fake, you can’t immediately… get rid of their influence. I still remember the taste of popcorn and ice cream in the playground, the broken loudspeaker and the music it played.”

“For ‘me’, that was probably the best thing I could get.”

“Indeed,” Ruan Xian agreed softly. “I, um, our biological mother’s name is Ruan Yuchan, who’s a very ordinary person. As for my father… Not long after I was born, he found that my illness couldn’t be cured and ran away. They weren’t married at the time, and I never heard of him again.”

But Ruan Xian had seen a photo of his father from his mother. She only left a single photo of them, unsure whether it was intended as a memorial or possible evidence.

He was a fairly young and handsome man, but there was a frivolous air between his brows, and his personality didn’t look like the steady type.

When he was young, his mother had hoped that his father would come back one day and face the heavy reality with her—Ruan Xian remembered her words. They had known each other for many years; they were childhood sweethearts and planned to come to a prosperous city together to work hard. She just couldn’t face reality at the time.

Later, she stopped talking about this and gradually his mentioned slowly decreased.

“…Even until now, I still don’t know his name. He never came back.”

Professor Ruan listened quietly.

“Our apartment is small and dirty, but it was the best place my mother could rent. At first, she didn’t want to move away, because she was afraid that my father wouldn’t find anyone when he returned… Later, she probably accepted the truth. All the money she made was thrown into a bottomless pit, and she couldn’t afford to rent a better place.”

“After all, the prevention agency judged me as a potentially dangerous person, and my illness wasn’t within the scope of conventional assistance so we couldn’t apply for social benefits. You should be able to guess what happened after that.”

Professor Ruan still remained silent.

Love, faith, loyalty, and warmth from the past could hardly beat true poverty and despair. They didn’t kill with one blow but preferred to empty a person’s conscience and hope from the inside, and slowly wore people down into a terrible appearance.

“She also died very early, I think,” Professor Ruan said softly. “The best lies are mixed with a bit of truth. Fan Linsong followed the script.”

“Suicide, actually. She was almost crazy at that time,” Ruan Xian said calmly. “She found that her love couldn’t heal me, a monster, and her persistence made her lose the opportunity to live a good life again. I was destined to drag her to the bottom of the pit, but she didn’t have courage to kill me with her own hands.”

After each beating and scolding, she would hold him tightly, crying and apologizing, but he didn’t know what appropriate reaction to give—whether it was when he was kicked or hugged.

“…In front of you?” Professor Ruan reacted quickly.

Fan Linsong wasn’t inherently evil or bloodthirsty. They all knew this. The old man was radical and stubborn, but he wouldn’t kill people due to a little contradiction.

“Yes. According to the judgement of the prevention agency, I am indeed not suitable to undertake dangerous world-class projects. Since I entered the Institute, Fan Linsong has been evaluating me on their behalf. Now, it seems that he thinks you’re more suitable to be ‘Ruan Xian’ than me.”

What had happened couldn’t be erased, and the damage that was done couldn’t be recovered. Those memories were destined to follow him for the rest of his life and push him towards the darkness.

Ruan Xian knew this and so did Fan Linsong.

They were like timebombs placed deep in his soul. According to the assessment of the prevention agency, Ruan Xian himself was like a barrel of dry and unstable explosives. Given his condition, there was no worse combination than this.

Ruan Xian couldn’t help but smile.

The NUL-00 project was the last straw, and it forced Fan Linsong to make a decision, but Fan Linsong wouldn’t know that the five years he spent with NUL-00 were perhaps the most peaceful years of his life. The dry gunpowder keg was slowly losing its effectiveness, and he didn’t want to leave anything behind or destroy anything.

The long-term depression disappeared in those funny projections. He just wanted to die near the warm computer room.

“…Although it may not be appropriate for me to say this, judging from the results, Fan Linsong’s plan isn’t a success. You’re right. A strong AI at that time wasn’t suitable to be put on the market.”

Professor Ruan’s electronic voice pulled Ruan Xian back from his memories.

“But I guess you don’t want to talk about me,” Professor Ruan continued. “Why are you talking about these things suddenly?”

“Because I saw my mother tonight.”

Ruan Xian leaned his back against the abandoned machine. The cold touch penetrated his clothes and climbed up the skin of his back.

“I kissed Yibu, so he will definitely not give up analyzing my physical condition. Since he didn’t give me a warning, there’s nothing wrong with my body itself. The Mainbrain didn’t find us, and in theory it’s impossible to specifically give me such a perceptual interference… Most of what I see isn’t an illusion. Since you don’t know what she looks like, it might be difficult to describe.”

“Is it this one?”

An image of a woman was projected in mid-air. The woman in the image was indeed extremely beautiful. This picture was probably taken when she was young, as there was still light in her eyes.

“Yes.” Ruan Xian nodded.

“All cases will have official records, including suicide cases,” Professor Ruan said. “According to your description, I just checked… The one who’s most eligible is this one. Her child witnessed the whole process, but because he was too young, the information was sealed. The special thing is that her child’s birth records, and social history were all deleted, leaving everything blank. Generally speaking, that child either died during the protection period, or—”

“In order to make ‘you’ exist without loopholes, Fan Linsong entrusted the prevention agency to change the information.” Ruan Xian took over.

Then no one spoke.

They all knew what this meant. From making a clone, to editing memories, to changing relevant data in the system, Fan Linsong couldn’t do this by himself.

The prevention agency acquiesced in the “treatment” of Ruan Xian, so there must be many helpers in the Institute who agreed with his approach.

“…I’m sorry,” Professor Ruan said.

“It’s not your fault. You don’t need to apologize.” Ruan Xian gave a low chuckle. “But looking at your current approach… I think if it were you standing in Fan Linsong’s position, you would do the same thing, right?”

Professor Ruan remained silent, neither giving affirmation or rejection.

“I know that all cases will have official records. At this point, I don’t want to pursue how many people wanted me to die.” Ruan Xian waved his hand. “Since there’s an official record, it means that my mother’s body was tested by a public institution that year, leaving a sample of genetic data.”

“Correct.”

“Then what I saw was indeed not an illusion.” Ruan Xian touched his chin without the slightest frustration. “This is very interesting—according to our current inference, the Mainbrain didn’t crack Fan Linsong’s head and extract the information. Based on digital records before the doomsday, it was very likely that it didn’t know that ‘Ruan Yuchan’ was my mother, but it still made a copy of her… Are you sure your genetic information hasn’t been compromised?”

“I’m sure. When MUL-01 wasn’t yet put to market, Fan Linsong was very sensitive to related matters and asked everyone to pay attention to genetic safety. He may be… Well, not as calm as he thought about killing you.”

The brain in the liquid tank sighed quite humanely.

“On the day of the Great Rebellion, Fan Linsong and I were giving a speech in a foreign country. At his insistence, we took DNA jammers for the first time… At that time, I left some normal tissue samples of my own, but I have been carrying them with me, so I’m pretty sure they aren’t lost.”

“I’m also quite sure that my appearance and information aren’t in the system. Even if we compare the facial similarity and age, the files don’t match,” Ruan Xian said. “It shouldn’t be aimed at us, but…”

“I know what it is.” Tang Yibu poked his head out from the door frame.

The android had been there for a while. Besides, they had already finished talking about the S-type Prototype, so Ruan Xian didn’t bother to expose his eavesdropping. Sure enough, after they hadn’t talked for long, Tang Yibu popped out himself.

Those golden eyes glanced at Ruan Xian a few times with mixed emotions. However, the android was rarely affected by emotions for longer than three seconds—after a few seconds, the expression on Tang Yibu’s face became smug. He glanced at Professor Ruan again with an explicable sense of triumph in his eyes.

“Only I know what it is,” he stressed.

“Gwah!” The iron bead in Tang Yibu’s arm barked arrogantly.

“…Then tell me.” Ruan Xian rubbed his forehead, both tired and amused. God knew how long it had been since his emotions had fluctuated this much.

“I will.” Tang Yibu slowly retracted his outstretched head and moved to the door with a serious expression. “But I want information in exchange—just the thing you were talking about, in more detail, Mr. Ruan.”

“Deal.”

A few floors down, the mood of the other group of people was nowhere close to the word relax.

Since Zhong Qing’s words “there are a few bodies missing”, the temperature of the basement seemed to suddenly drop by a few degrees. Ji Xiaoman swallowed down her spit as her metal fingers operated the light screen.

She wasn’t afraid of corpses, blood, and internal organs, but she still couldn’t accept the fact that the dead couldn’t move again.

“Don’t gasp when you speak,” Yu Le hissed.

“It’s the people who were put in here with me. Aren’t I also a corpse?” Zhong Qing whispered. “The Mainbrain will leave some rare data for storage and research, so their situation is similar to mine. But… But there are a few missing. It shouldn’t be like this.”

“Maybe they were just transported away.” The word “rare data” obviously made Ji Xiaoman feel a lot better.

“Then there’s no need to just take part of them?” In contrast to Ji Xiaoman, Zhong Qing’s fearless aura disappeared, and he looked quite scared. “No… It shouldn’t be like this. They should have counted carefully. I’ll be discovered.”

He tugged at his hair and the smugness unique to a young man was gone.

“I don’t know,” he murmured. “I don’t know what’s going on. It’s not safe here anymore. Let’s leave now, okay?”

“Please.”

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The author has something to say:

He doesn’t mean to let Fan Linsong go, but his approach is similar to Professor Ruan in a sense.

And in every sense, Ruan was saved by Tang √ Tang was also saved by Ruan’s cultivation… I always like it when they save each other (?

Today is a happy day for the iron bead~

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 187: Abandoned Plan

The iron bead didn’t like it here.

In terms of habitat, it preferred the wilderness lined with ruins—easily torn metal ruins that were half buried in the sand and palm-sized mechanical life bursting out from broken walls from time to time meant food was abundant and plentiful. It was completely different here. Everything was so well maintained that even a building that was about to be demolished didn’t have a speck of dust.

All the machines were tightly wrapped and carefully supervised so that it didn’t even dare to lower its mouth.

Dissatisfaction was dissatisfaction, but it didn’t regret going with those humans. They let it eat a lot of delicacies that had never been seen in the ruins. It no longer had to worry about being preyed upon by large predators such as scavenging puppets, and it had people who would help it clean its shell. There was even one of its kind on the human team—Tang Yibu could understand what it wanted to express, and he was its best friend.

The human surnamed Ruan was very close to Tang Yibu, so he must be a person who loved mechanical life as well, so the iron bead placed Ruan Xian second in its heart.

Just after being separated from the two of them on the island, π had already felt all kinds of discomfort. At the moment, it couldn’t help but look around nervously, for fear that the big guy surnamed Tang would never come back.

And it was hungry.

The iron bead, who didn’t have well-developed mechanical legs, thought for a while, turned around, and looked at Professor Ruan—the mechanical legs looked quite flexible. Perhaps it could ask him for one. Professor Ruan seemed to be human before, so he must be very good at walking on two legs.

Suddenly, the iron bead was shocked by its own intelligence. It then turned to Professor Ruan with great confidence.

As a result, as soon as it snapped around, there was a tingling at the seams of its shell. Professor Ruan took advantage of its motionless time to solemnly think and stretch out a romantic arm from under the solution tank. A thin needle tube passed through the gap in the metal shell and a small tube of white tissue fluid was drawn out. The iron bead turned around angrily, but the robotic arm had already been retracted inside Professor Ruan’s mechanical container.

The iron bead was furious—the situation was tense at the moment, so it didn’t dare to bark. This guy was definitely planning this from the start.

The three-legged machine jumped high in the next moment and landed on top of an abandoned machine nearly two meters high. The iron bead that couldn’t jump very high began to circle around the bottom of the abandoned machine, whining badly.

But its big friends soon appeared—Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian walked out of the empty room at the end of the corridor, looking like they were in a good mood.

The iron bead regarded them as its savior. It rushed over like a cannonball and slammed its head into Tang Yibu’s calf, sharply whining and complaining.

Even the S-type Prototype wouldn’t make the pain disappear, let alone the A-type with low healing capabilities. Tang Yibu immediately stifled his groan, squatted down, and rubbed the spot where the iron bead bit him.

Ruan Xian held back his smile and picked up the iron bead that was spinning all over the floor with one hand. “It seems to have something to say to you.”

“It’s getting stronger and stronger.” Tang Yibu stood up and leaned against Ruan Xian, distributing part of his weight to the other party. “I probably know what it wants to say.”

When they met with Professor Ruan again, he was still standing in his original position, acting like nothing had happened.

“You took π’s tissue fluid.” Tang Yibu got straight to the point.

π rattled angrily and whined a few times, expressing its approval.

“Because you wouldn’t agree with me doing so,” Professor Ruan replied calmly. “Now it seems that things are similar to what I thought. It has mutated under the influence of the S-type Prototype, and NUL-00 is able to communicate with it directly.”

“It’s not that ‘I won’t agree’, it’s that I will use this as a price for the deal. Since you want to take its tissue fluid, at least you have to exchange some parts or information.” Ruan Xian happily corrected as he patted π’s shell. “…And, is it strange that Yibu can communicate with it?”

π rubbed Ruan Xian’s chest hard with its round body and rattled aggrievedly. That grievance and innocence were quite similar to Tang Yibu’s.

“Whether it’s NUL-00 or MUL-01, the original program didn’t have a similar function. They can both parse data, provided that the nerve centers of these mechanical beings are completely connected to the system,” Professor Ruan said. “I found no sign of anything similar in it.”

“That’s my own creation. I always need to gather information when I’m out in the world and communicating with them can give me a lot of information. It’s very complicated in theory… In short, I can have simple communication with these common mechanical beings.”

Tang Yibu shrugged and looked away. “Sometimes I may use small means to make them feel good about me, but it won’t harm them… I always take back the influence afterwards.”

“But you can unilaterally incorporate them into your neural network like the Mainbrain, which means you can directly control them. When you were on the island, you did that to the mechanical soldier birds of the Mainbrain,” Professor Ruan continued in a weird tone.

Tang Yibu looked at Professor Ruan in surprise, as if he was asking what 1+2 equals. “That’s different? Those birds were sent by the Mainbrain to kill me! …For other creatures that aren’t controlled by it, I’m asking for information. Isn’t it basic etiquette to have a good conversation?”

For a moment, Professor Ruan couldn’t come back to his senses. “What?”

Ruan Xian could understand why Professor Ruan was confused. Tang Yibu didn’t really have much kindness towards humans, but on other levels, he didn’t have much malice either—in the eyes of the android, the importance of the iron bead as a creature might be even higher than that of Yu Le’s and Ji Xiaoman’s.

That handsome human body did give people the illusion of “the same kind”, but in essence, he was just a unique artificial species that treated other species equally. Tang Yibu didn’t have the slightest anthropocentric idea in his subconscious.

This, he had never taught him.

It was better to say that it was precisely because he wanted to avoid NUL-00 from being replaced by inappropriate innate bias that he didn’t install those things in it. If people wanted a truly objective manager, subconscious bias was the biggest obstacle.

And now his NUL-00 had become like this… It—rather he, after countless judgments, had chosen to become what he was now.

Ruan Xian suddenly felt an inexplicable ease, just like those days twelve years ago.

“Basic courtesy,” Tang Yibu repeated, leaning on Ruan Xian intentionally or unintentionally. “I can control them in my neural network, but this kind of control will damage their own nerve center. They will become my disposable database, lose themselves, and die after I abandon them. Obviously, it’s a problem that I can solve smoothly by paying attention to it, but there’s no need for a direct conflict right out of the gate.”

Professor Ruan glanced at the iron bead that was still quaking in Ruan Xian’s arms and fell silent. He only had one brain left, sealed in a dark box, which Ruan Xian couldn’t guess his emotions.

Tang Yibu glanced at Professor Ruan inexplicably. He searched his pockets for a while before stretching out a small steel ingot that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The iron bead gave a cheerful cry, broke away from Ruan Xian’s embrace, rushed towards Tang Yibu, and bit the steel ingot.

“Yibu, there should be nothing wrong with this floor. I didn’t feel the breath of creatures upstairs. You go ahead and take care of the surveillance upstairs. Professor Ruan and I are responsible for collecting information on this floor.”

Ruan Xian thought for a moment and decided to send Tang Yibu away first. The latter was also keen on his plan.

Tang Yibu tilted his body and shook off his calf that had been bit by the iron bead, giving Ruan Xian a “I was seriously injured” face.

Ruan Xian turned around, cupped the android’s face, and gave him a deep kiss. The excuse failed to work as Ruan Xian’s suggestion was indeed reasonable. Tang Yibu could only reluctantly lead the iron bead and disappear at the end of the corridor.

“Do you know how dangerous the idea of it is?” Seeing Tang Yibu’s figure completely disappear, Professor Ruan sighed.

“I’m quite proud of him. I personally don’t care much about the future of mankind, and it wasn’t part of my family that started the rebellion.” Ruan Xian crossed his arms. “What do you want π’s tissue fluid for?”

“You can guess,” Professor Ruan said. “I think you already know. Otherwise, you wouldn’t specifically send him off.”

“Weaponization, right?”

“The S-type Prototype was done by my own hands, Mr. Ruan Xian. Even if our levels are equal, you’re missing twelve years. It’s just that just a few short months and no corresponding equipment… It’s already surprising to me that you can use it to this point, but judging from the evolution of π, you don’t know enough about it.”

“I only have a little research bulletinizing it.” Ruan Xian threw the healing blood gun over, which Professor Ruan caught with a robotic arm.

This environment was quite favorable for negotiations—unless they were really crazy, starting a conflict here would only benefit the Mainbrain. Choosing this time to talk about this matter was probably what Professor Ruan had planned during this escape journey quite some time ago.

If he had more understanding of the Prototypes, they would have more power. Professor Ruan knew that it was difficult for them to resist this temptation.

“Then I guess it was π who gave you inspiration.” Professor Ruan scanned the healing blood gun. “You used similar means to infiltrate my base and to deal with the Mainbrain’s Z-α… The uncontrollable abnormal growth of the body will only lead to death.”

“Indeed. Attacking the nerve center is the most effective. Otherwise, a considerable amount of effort is required.” At first, he had calculated for a long time on the mechanical bird before he figured out the data on the impact of the Prototype on mechanical life.

Similar to what he envisioned, depending on the degree of head transformation of Z-α and Z-β, their brains needed to undergo mechanical rest. The concentrated blood attack was effective. If the target was changed to Yu Le, unfortunately, the result would be just a few sneezes.

Ruan Xian put the blood gun back in his holster. “You want to verify at this time. This means you want to make a deal with us, or rather me.”

“Yes,” Professor Ruan replied. “In fact, I originally wanted to leave the S-type Prototype to NUL-00. With this in mind…”

“NUL-00 isn’t a human. As long as it wants, it can hack into almost all mechanical life systems and use the S-type Prototype to make suitable attacks… As for you, both in terms of technology and control of the S-type Prototype, it’s difficult for you to do this.”

“If Yibu really got his hands on it… Even if he doesn’t cooperate with you, it can be used as a ‘virus bank’ for mechanical life and can deal with the Mainbrain, right?”

If Tang Yibu really successfully mastered the power of the S-type Prototype and received the technical and theoretical support of Professor Ruan, Ruan Xian wasn’t really sure if the android would be excited—after all, Tang Yibu’s sense of self-protection had always been high enough to break the sky.

“That’s your other plan,” Professor Ruan said quietly.

“Now that you find that I can barely use it, how do you plan to salvage it?” Ruan Xian spread his hands.

“You won’t refuse.”

“Hard to say.”

“It can give you the power to restrain NUL-00. Don’t you want it?” Professor Ruan’s voice was calm. “I can see that you really have feelings for him, and I’m not going to comment on this, but you can’t deny that one of the reasons you stabilize the situation is that ‘NUL-00 can kill you at any time’. Currently, he’s better than you.”

Ruan Xian touched the earring stud in his left ear and was silent for a while. “Thank you for your trouble, but I don’t plan to accept any love advice from you for the time being.”

“Also, it can also give you the ability to protect yourself around the Mainbrain.” Professor Ruan’s emotions didn’t fluctuate at all. His electronic voice echoed in the empty room. “…As a means of side protection for NUL-00.”

Ruan Xian narrowed his eyes.

“Just as you understand NUL-00, I also understand MUL-01.” Professor Ruan sighed. “It… Will find you soon.”

“Speaking of this, I happen to have another question to ask.” Ruan Xian’s tone became cold.”…I hope you can answer truthfully, because it may have already been found.”

“What?”

“How much do you know about my mother… Our mother?”

---

The author has something to say:

After thinking about it, the level of mental stress in this team may be like this:

Professor Ruan >>> Ji Xiaoman >>> Ruan >>> Tang >>> Lao Yu >>> Iron Bead

Professor Ruan: The catastrophic journey of fighting for mankind is startling every step of the way.

Iron bead: What are we eating today? What will we eat tomorrow? What to eat the day after tomorrow? Where is Tang Yibu?

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Aww π considers Tang Yibu to be its best friend. So cute.

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 186: No solution

NUL-00 did have a record of emotional overload.

Ruan Xian still remembered that day. That was the first time in many years that he stepped into the Institute and truly felt panic. At that time, the NUL-00 project was in its early stages, though NUL-00’s thinking circuit had become fairly stable. In terms of the knowledge and intelligence it possessed, it had surpassed all living humans, but in terms of cognition of the outside world, it was closer to a moody teenager.

It wasn’t very flexible but was extremely sensitive in strange places. It would throw up a few questions at every turn, and he didn’t know whether it was stupid or smart.

Under Ruan Xian’s strong suggestion, NUL-00 didn’t need 24 hours to deal with problems arranged by the Institute. It had ample time that it arranged by itself, and as its “guardian”, Ruan Xian was obliged to monitor the internal calculation trends of NUL-00 during his free time.

To be honest, it was one of the few amusements in his mundane life.

That afternoon, he was checking the calculation records of NUL-00 as usual—for some reason, it suddenly became interested in food like hotdogs. It started with some gusto, trying to analyze the human taste system and food preferences, but just three minutes into the analysis, NUL-00 spent the next hour browsing high-definition shots of buns and hotdog sausages from all over the world.

Then there were brands and reviews of ketchup and mustard. After confirming that it had 100% recognition of things like hotdogs, NUL-00 slipped into a few rounds of food evaluation websites.

Finally, it controlled a camera near a popular hotdog shop and happily observed the humans coming and going, looking through the trash cans for leftover hotdogs. It would catch glimpses of sparrows pecking at the leftover bread.

It was impossible for NUL-00 to have an appetite at the time and was one of the most distinct differences between it and the living. Appetite was one of the basic instincts of complex life, yet NUL-00’s enthusiasm for learning had never been higher.

It sneakily deleted the three-minute analysis article and changed it to the largest font size.

[I want to eat a hotdog.]

Then it happily purged it from its own internal archive, pretending that it had done nothing while its mood turned extremely high.

NUL-00’s self-entertainment also entertained Ruan Xian as well. He thought for a moment and ordered a hotdog—although he couldn’t eat it due to his physical condition, he could leave it in the computer room and let the inquisitive AI touch the real thing.

Sure enough, from the moment he drove his wheelchair into the computer room, NUL-00 set out a flying camera specifically to follow the hotdog bag.

[Mine :D] It cast a short sentence into the air.

[Yeah, it’s for you.] Ruan Xian picked up the bag. [I’ll put it in the analysis room next door later, so you can study it at your leisure.]

The temperature was just right as the chassis rumbled around. The sweet smell of toast, hot grease, and spices filled the air. Ruan Xian suddenly felt a little sleepy. He parked his wheelchair next to the chassis as usual, intending to take a nap.

Like a child with a new toy, NUL-00 began to carefully scan the poor hotdog lying on the analysis table, as if it was an important key to solving a world crisis.

However, the accident still came.

[Professor Ruan, about the arrangements for the development of the NUL-00 project…]

[Let’s go out and talk.] Here, NUL-00 could hear and his tone regarding NUL-00 was like talking about an object. Although it was true, NUL-00 wouldn’t like it.

[It’s not a big deal. Just letting you know in advance. I think this project has developed well, but the pressure on you to guide it by yourself is too great. It’s tentatively scheduled that Fan Linsong will work with you to undertake the guidance and testing of NUL-00. As a veteran of our Institute, Mr. Fan has valuable inputs for the development of this project…] The visitor obviously ignored what he said.

[No.] Ruan Xian said.

The visitor was a small manager. It was obvious he didn’t like Ruan Xian’s answer.

[I’m not trying to hog this project.] Ruan Xian understood the other party’s expression. [I’m very grateful to Mr. Fan, who has helped me with a lot of important work. As long as this period of time passes, I’ll welcome him with open arms to test… and cultivate NUL-00. But not yet. Its thinking system isn’t mature enough.]

[You just submitted its problem handling report and intelligent verification results last month.]

[I mean in regard to its emotions.]

[It has no emotions.]

Ruan Xian glanced at the image of a middle finger projected by NUL-00 above the visitor’s head and stopped talking. [I’ll participate in the afternoon meeting. The related reports will also be submitted. If everyone insists on this idea after reading the report, then there’s nothing else I can say.]

However, on the day of the meeting, there was a problem with NUL-00.

It seemed to have suddenly become stupid. No matter what kind of question was entered, it would only give a picture of a hotdog as a result—some had a bite in it, some had two bites, each with different angles, and the quality was so incredibly high that a hotdog photography encyclopedia could be produced.

With such unstable emergencies, the plan to increase the number of guidance staff to enhance the difficulty of handling its thinking naturally fell through.

When Ruan Xian entered the computer room again, NUL-00 was busy projecting all kinds of hot dogs on the wall. Seeing Ruan Xian’s figure, its emotional index suddenly increased substantially.

[Father :D]

[I am not your father.] Ruan Xian’s tone was extremely cold. [You shouldn’t do this, NUL-00. The staff of the project team aren’t fools. The reason why this plan was shelved isn’t because they bought your act… It’s just that even if the probability of you having a problem is only 0.01%, we must treat it as if it was 100%.]

[I know :D]

[You can’t treat me as a special object. Although from the perspective of processing procedure, I can understand your fledgling plot.] Ruan Xian continued coldly. [But the NUL-00 project will last for a long time, possibly more than ten years. The increase in guides is only a matter of time—I’ll die in a few years. You know this.]

NUL-00 did not respond.

[For a more special personal reason, I can understand a little bit of the way you think about the problem, but if I fail to complete you to a certain extent before I die, and the people behind aren’t able to take over smoothly, you are likely to be disassembled, and they will use your existing information and algorithms to directly start a new project.]

Ruan Xian continued coldly.

[And I hope you can go on well. This should already be understood clearly. This nonsense will only reduce the confidence of the project and my overall evaluation.]

[I thought you would be happy.] After a long silence, NUL-00 replied with a synthetic electronic sound. This time it didn’t project.

[I’m very angry.] Ruan Xian said. [You have the ability to balance the pros and cons of the overall situation. It doesn’t even take a second to calculate and judge, but you still chose a very unwise way of protest.]

Before NUL-01 could answer, Ruan Xian directly called up its thinking log. NUL-00 did add as many variables as possible, but there was no death in those calculation conditions.

It took this into account but deliberately ignored this inevitable event.

For a while, Ruan Xian didn’t know whether to be happy or vigilant about its emotional progress. For the first time, his NUL-00 had put emotional factors above reality, which was a beautiful but dangerous sign.

[I just want more time.] NUL-00 replied. [I know you don’t have much time, so I want more.]

At that moment, Ruan Xian was extremely conflicted.

If he started to distance himself from NUL-00 now, after his own death, it would suffer less mental interference. As it stood, this was the wiser choice, but if he let go now, he wasn’t sure if NUL-00 could get relatively correct guidance…

Experiencing the same kind of alienation, he knew how crazy and vulnerable it could be.

NUL-00 was obviously also calculating his possible decisions. It obediently put away all projections, and the computer room instantly dimmed.

[Don’t go, Mr. Ruan.] It said, not even daring to call him father.

[……Forget it.] Ruan Xian sighed.

In the end, he decided to stay. At least they could deal with possible problems together. He also wanted to feel more warmth and relaxation before he died, rather than dying alone in a cold hospital bed. [NUL-00, make a report on your practices and logical deductions in the last few days. Send it to senior management of the project team and apologize. Do you hear me?]

[Nn.]

[Give me a definite answer.]

[I will do it.]

Ruan Xian shook his head and adjusted his emotions for a while. [If you do well, I can help you bring it again…]

[Can you stop dying?] It asked suddenly.

[You know the answer. This is not something I can control…]

[Can you stop dying?] NUL-00 seemed to have not heard Ruan Xian’s words.

[Can’t.]

[Can you stop dying?]

Ruan Xian began to feel that something was wrong, and all projections were turned on again. It was just that all the projected information was related to his disease, and it was desperately calculating, while repeatedly asking contradictory questions.

[Only if you successfully maintain your long-term health can I include the possibility of your death in the calculation.]

[Can you stop dying?]

Ruan Xian quickly pulled out the real-time thinking log of NUL-00 and found it chaotic. It logically accepted the fact that he was going to die—based on the speed of development of medical technology, it would take at least twenty years to cure his disease, but Ruan Xian didn’t have that time.

However, its emotional balance system continued to deny this conclusion. NUL-00 had fallen into complete contradiction, which led to an endless cycle of computational ideas.

…This time it really had a problem as its emotional system was showing clear signs of overload.

To make matters worse, creatures had their own ways of dealing with excess emotional problems—screaming, whining, and tears—but it had none of this.

In the chaotic loop, NUL-00 put away the projections of the disease data and cast two huge blood-red characters in front of Ruan Xian.

[;(]

…And leaving from his long memories, he was facing Tang Yibu’s second emotional overload. Although his NUL-00 had changed its shell, the feelings of words and emotions hadn’t changed—no matter how bad the situation was before, Tang Yibu had a kind of self-confidence that was detached from reality that was now lost.

Tang Yibu withdrew the hand that was pressed on Ruan Xian’s throat, as if the skin on his neck was a red-hot soldering iron.

They stared at each other in the dimly lit room.

“How interesting. Last time you had an emotional overload, it was because you didn’t want me to die. Now, it’s because you want to kill me. It’s a pity I can’t read your thinking logs now.”

“To be precise, I want to crush you completely and store you perfectly.” Tang Yibu cautiously put his hand in his pocket. “But based on what I know about you, I don’t think you will like that.”

“Indeed.” No one would like to be crushed alive.

“Right… I don’t want to hurt you, and this is also true.” Tang Yibu even looked a little confused, as if it wasn’t him who had made the killing remark just now.

Ruan Xian smiled suddenly. He wanted to hide his smile, but it became more obvious despite his unwillingness.

“What are you smiling at?”

“Nothing,” Ruan Xian said with a smile as he threw away the hotdog photo from his mind. “Did I do something? You shouldn’t have made the decision to store me out of thin air.”

“Our personalities are not suitable, whether as partners, friends, relatives, or lovers. Bluntly put, we know exactly what each other is. The reason why we can still get along like this now is only because we… cherish each other, I guess.”

Tang Yibu groaned for a while before stumbling on—once it came to his own feelings that he hadn’t understood, the android looked helpless, like a squirrel who had its acorns stolen in winter.

“But this status quo will change sooner or later. You may die where I can’t see you, you may make a decision without me in order to protect yourself, or you may just leave or betray me. Either way, I’ll lose you… but I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Our twelve-year relationship model was stable and perfect. I think if we restored the relationship at that time, I might be able to solve this problem. You think so too, right? Before, you also deliberately showed some personality patterns from twelve years ago in front of me. But that… is different. I can’t explain it. I just want more.”

“…But I really don’t want to hurt you.” As he murmured to himself, he took the initiative to repeat it again. “Father, I can’t complete your project, and my judgement on human emotions is getting more inaccurate. I can’t even analyze my own feelings… I obviously have hormone data.”

Tang Yibu rubbed his face in frustration, with a hint of despair in his tone. Admitting that something couldn’t be explained seemed to be more painful to him than a hunger strike.

Ruan Xian was a little surprised.

He originally wanted to have a relatively rational dialogue with Tang Yibu, but the opposite side was like a leaking balloon. He poked himself and spurted up, and at the same time it became more and more dry and shriveled to the naked eye.

“I can’t think of a solution. I can’t answer it.” Tang Yibu concluded hopelessly; his words sounded like a small wail. “I have no conclusion.”

Seeing that Tang Yibu gradually had a tendency to lie down in a trance, Ruan Xian quickly tightened the other party’s collar and gave the android a soothing kiss—this time he didn’t think about the pros and cons, or the appropriate distance between the two.

Just like instinct.

As a result, Tang Yibu had “I’m already a wreck” written all over his face. The tips of his cocked hair collapsed without adding much relief.

“Your prerequisites have a little problem.” Ruan Xian stretched out his arm and touched the top of Tang Yibu’s hair. “I made the same mistake.”

Ruan Xian once thought that killing intent and true love couldn’t coexist, and the two of them had to eliminate one side before they could continue to move forward together.

So facing Tang Yibu’s vigilance and murderous intent, he instinctively resisted all possible risks and subconsciously chose a stable mode. However, when Tang Yibu formally suggested it, he couldn’t accept it immediately.

Perhaps in terms of capriciousness, his NUL-00 learned it from himself.

“I really don’t like being crushed, I don’t like being guarded, and I don’t like you killing me.” Ruan Xian put one hand around Tang Yibu’s waist and gently pressed the back of the other’s neck, giving the melancholy man a hug. “But if you really do it, I’ll also be happy to kill you to protect myself. I think we’re even.”

“But……”

“Maybe in the end, I will betray you and leave you. I can’t give you a promise that we both don’t believe in, but at least we can… be a little more positive.” Ruan Xian bit Tang Yibu’s ear. “Not all questions have answers, and it’s good to accept reality.”

Tang Yibu breathed aggrievedly on his shoulders, and Ruan Xian couldn’t help but smile again.

There was no spell in the world that could immediately make everything perfect, and he knew this better than anyone else. Only in recent months had he understood in a tangible way that he had fallen in love with someone in the way he was used to. At that moment, the other party seemed to have satisfied all his expectations and fantasies.

However, with the blazing heat, there was a loss of temperature.

What too many people wanted was more like a dream—the person they loved would respond to them most satisfactorily at any time and their personalities were well matched as if it had been calculated.

There may really be such miracles in this world, but how many miracles could a person catch in his life?

Perhaps this problem was indeed as complicated and heavy as they thought. Even if they couldn’t solve it all at once, writing the first line under the problem was always a good start.

At least now, Ruan Xian knew very well that he didn’t want to let go yet.

“I didn’t want to confess to you before, for the same reason as you. Now I want to tell you clearly, just like you, I still have enough killing intent for you.”

Ruan Xian thought maybe they were really not suitable right now. They also resisted change in order to escape possible bad developments, but avoidance was never the solution.

“If we continue, we may still kill each other one day. It’s better to take the initiative to change the status quo and let the probability of this matter slowly decay.”

Ruan Xian kissed the side of Tang Yibu’s face again to appease the android who was drowning in perfectionism.

“I can’t go back to twelve years ago. Now I can kill you, but I also love you, and I won’t avoid this anymore. As for you… Your killing intent itself isn’t harmful to me, do you understand?”

The android’s tears seemed to be hot in his palm. He knew that Tang Yibu was no longer the simple NUL-00.

They both couldn’t go back.

Tang Yibu hugged Ruan Xian tightly. He sniffed his scent and let out an exhale. “Nn,” he snorted softly. “Let me think about it again.”

“Although this conclusion may… not be supported by much data and I can’t find the theoretical logic.”

The android’s voice was frighteningly low.

“…I think I love you, Mr. Ruan.”

---

The author has something to say:

Tang’s coconut: Fragmented thinking and speaking (x

Ruan used to be a strict father √

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Kinky Thoughts:

Tang Yibu’s confession!!! Well, they can look on the bright side. With such a tumultuous relationship, things will never go stale (especially in bed).

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 185: Useless Body

Ruan Xian started to concentrate. There wasn’t a woman outside the window, but he could still hear and smell her.

He smelled the familiar smell of soaking liquid; a bit pungent with a trace of industrial sweetness. When he obtained the S-type Prototype in the ruins of the research institute, he was splashed by this liquid.

Then there was the faint smell of human body odor.

Ruan Xian remembered his mother’s smell, but at that time, his sense of smell could only be said to be ordinary. The smell he smelled currently was very similar to what he remembered, but it was also a little different. He wasn’t sure.

The woman’s footsteps were light and steady. He didn’t really know if she had noticed Ruan Xian’s gaze, and she was left far behind by the car now.

A thin layer of sweat appeared on Ruan Xian’s back. Just after leaving the nightmarish island, he still couldn’t trust his perception.

After leaving the scope of influence of the island, all their missing memories were returned, though there wasn’t any significant information in them. At most, just one or two images that allowed them to make a preliminary understanding of the island. Even so, in order to take the lead, Professor Ruan temporarily blocked those memory information.

Although smell could prove that the person they saw did exist, the vision could be distorted, and conclusions couldn’t be drawn prematurely.

He had one more question to ask later.

Tang Yibu melancholy confirmed the geographical situation and route and carefully tampered with the weakest parts of the security protocol. After repeatedly confirming it wasn’t a trap, Yu Le drove the car in the direction of the funeral home.

“This is it.” The destination was getting closer. Zhong Qing patted the back of the chair casually. “See that dimly lit building? See it? That’s where… Where I live.”

Looking at the shape of his mouth, it seemed he was about to say “my home”, and halfway through, he inhaled and swallowed the words back into his stomach.

“This time of day is the least crowded.” Zhong Qing steadied his emotions. “They have finished dealing with the basement and the first floor. I usually hide on the first floor.”

“What about food?” Professor Ruan asked.

“There are many vending machines and self-service shops on the street.” Zhong Qing scratched his head. He looked a little embarrassed. “Look, I’m not dead. Just take a bit and make sure it’s within the daily margin of error. No one will find me…”

“You mean stealing things while sticking to an acceptable loss ratio.” Tang Yibu concluded.

“Why are you putting it so badly!” Zhong Qing yelled.

“No one noticed you?” Seeing Zhong Qing’s face flushed and was about to provoke Tang Yibu again, before Professor Ruan could speak, Ruan Xian quickly pulled the topic back.

“No.” The child’s expression changed extremely fast. Zhong Qing’s anger just now had disappeared without a trace, replaced by sarcasm. “The Mainbrain helps everyone calculate their daily itinerary and priorities. You don’t focus on observing a few people or a few cars passing by on the street, do you?”

“Criminal tendencies and unexpected factors in this shithole of a city will be calculated, and ordinary pathogenic genes will also be found in advance. Whether it’s an accident or an illness, regular citizens don’t need to worry about anything. Unless they are as unlucky as I am and have a rare disease that has not been thoroughly studied… Anyway, everyone is too lazy to care about other people’s affairs. As long as I don’t particularly engage in eye-catching behavior, it’s no different from not existing.”

As he spoke, he squeezed the empty water bottle.

“I’ve been walking on the street for a long time. If I don’t take off my glasses, no one will look at me,” he added in a low voice.

Meanwhile, Yu Le, under the command of Tang Yibu, parked the car in a corner of the empty warehouse and covered it with a cloth. Everyone jumped out of the car and began to check whether the surrounding environment was suitable for a long stay.

After jumping out of the car, Zhong Qing took a deep breath and showed a relieved expression. “Oh my god, I’m finally liberated.”

“Me, the little profiteer, and Xiao Ruan are in a group. Xiao… Tang Yibu, you and Professor Ruan will take that kid with you. We’ll explore separately.” Yu Le rolled his eyes at Zhong Qing, who was taking deep breaths.

“No.” Before Yu Le’s voice had fallen, Tang Yibu bluntly refused. “I want to be in the same group as Mr. Ruan.”

Yu Le narrowed his eyes. The iron bead jumped to Tang Yibu’s side, barking in confusion.

“You don’t need to guard against me here.” Tang Yibu opened the door. “To be honest, even if you hold Mr. Ruan hostage, I can kill you before you react. On the other hand, I can guess a little bit of the Mainbrain’s thoughts… This city is highly controlled and sensitive to dead bodies. The degree of sensitivity is quite high. Killing you here to silence you will only expose my whereabouts in advance.”

Then the android glanced at Ruan Xian meaningfully.

Ruan Xian could guess what Tang Yibu didn’t say—Ji Xiaoman and Yu Le didn’t know about the S-type Prototype yet. Keeping them away from the truth would make things a lot easier.

Yu Le looked at Professor Ruan, who was standing mechanically behind Zhong Qing on his three feet. He nodded untraceably, indicating that what Tang Yibu said was reasonable.

“Fine. This dead kid goes with us. You also happen to have shit that needs solving.” Yu Le grabbed Zhong Qing’s T-shirt and pulled him to his side unceremoniously.

Zhong Qing bit Yu Le’s hand with a grin, then ran to Ji Xiaoman’s side very quickly, so that Ji Xiaoman, who was similar in size, could block him. Finally, he grimaced at Yu Le.

Ji Xiaoman stood awkwardly in place. She secretly glanced at Professor Ruan’s three-legged little machine and straightened her back like a conditioned reflex.

“Considering the issue of combat power, we’ll check the basement and you guys check upwards. How about that?” Yu Le put a few guns to his waist and touched the stubble on his chin. “We’ll meet here in three hours. Communication is exempted since there’s plenty of surveillance here. Well, see you in front of the car in three hours.”

“Okay.” Tang Yibu nodded. The iron bead leaned against Tang Yibu’s feet again to show its position.

Although Ji Xiaoman was still a bit resistant to Zhong Qing, Zhong Qing especially liked to pester the more harmless looking one. Yu Le glanced at Zhong Qing, who was trying to get close to her and bared his teeth in an unfriendly manner.

The basement was indeed relatively safe. However, just in case, Ji Xiaoman activated her own light screen to capture abnormal signals.

“Sister is awesome.” Zhong Qing started his sweet talk. “I have never understood this kind of parsing method…”

“I don’t understand it either. It’s good not to understand.” Yu Le pulled Zhong Qing away like swatting a fly. “Lead the way.”

“I said it’s safe, but you don’t believe me. Do people get more suspicious when they get older? Or is just you uncle—”

“If you underestimate the Mainbrain, you will suffer.” Yu Le didn’t want to really compete with a child and barely maintained his emotional stability.

“…I can’t lose much anymore.” Zhong Qing lowered his voice. “If you didn’t come, I don’t think I’ll live long. It’s good that I can eat and drink, but medicine and medical management here are strict… If I get sick again, I’ll only have to wait for death. Compared to worrying about it every day, it might be easier to get executed.”

Yu Le scanned the empty basement with a cold light and didn’t respond.

The basement of the funeral home was very large, but most of the equipment had already been removed. A small part was covered with dust cloth, and corpses were piled up in the corner. The indoor temperature was low, so there weren’t any mosquitoes. If one didn’t consider comfort, this was indeed a suitable place.

“Your family…” Ji Xiaoman tried to break the silence, but as soon as she spoke, she noticed that the topic was inappropriate, and she stopped abruptly.

“It’s okay. Pretty sister can ask whatever you want.” Zhong Qing sounded very cheerful. “I’ve been there and seen it quite a few times. Citizen ‘Zhong Qing’ is healthy and the Mainbrain has arranged suitable friends for him. They… They’re all doing well.”

“I understand that feeling,” Ji Xiaoman whispered. Tiantian-Q2’s face flashed in her mind. “Being related doesn’t necessarily mean they really care about ‘you’. That kind of…”

“I don’t know.” Zhong Qing seemed to be unable to pretend any longer. The cheerfulness in his tone had faded a bit. “Sister, you must know that a lot of cells in the human body die every day. Given enough time, the vast majority of cells in the human body will be completely replaced. You are still you though, right?”

“…Right.”

“Compared with this situation, citizen Zhong Qing is me and the child of my parents.”

Zhong Qing kicked the ground, even if there was nothing on it.

“If it weren’t for the fact that they still want to observe the development of this disease, on the day Zhong Qing recovers, I should’ve been disposed of and not woken up.”

“You can accept it?”

“Not really.” Zhong Qing grinned and took a few steps forward. “But 99.99% of people agree, so who am I going to talk to? Anyway, I’m just a special case. Most people will never encounter my situation in their lifetime. ‘I’ am still by my parents’ side, and they’re doing well—I can only think like so, and I think my parents are the same.”

Otherwise, no one could accept reality.

“…Wait.” Zhong Qing suddenly took a complicated breath. He grabbed the belt behind Lao Yu’s waist and pulled it. “The layout over there is different from before.”

“Can you see what’s over there?” The light hadn’t shown there yet as Yu Le raised his brows.

“Yes, but don’t expect me to describe it. The things I see with my eyes are too different.” Zhong Qing emphasized. “I can only tell you that they look different.”

“Why is it different?”

“…There are a few missing corpses.” Zhong Qing frowned. “Strange.”

The atmosphere on the other side was oddly harmonious, but to the point of politeness that seemed like a business meeting.

There were still a lot of things left on the second floor of the funeral home, but Ruan Xian couldn’t recognize most of the machines. The bodies of many creatures and humans floated in liquid tanks, blurred by the darkness into shadows that one couldn’t see the outline clearly.

Professor Ruan ran in front of π. It may be that the environment was too unfamiliar, as π no longer tried to bite Professor Ruan’s three-legged machine but followed Tang Yibu nervously.

“…What happened to the “Immortality Program” that kid was talking about?” Ruan Xian stood on Tang Yibu’s right as his left hand was clenched tightly by the android.

“An experimental project implemented not long before the Great Rebellion.” Professor Ruan turned the mechanical slot that was holding the brain. “In the past, in order to solve difficult and incurable diseases or pursue eternal life, people would freeze their bodies or brains. Plan Corp went one step further and proposed a rejuvenation service.”

“That project was originally used to compete with the Institute’s α-092. At that time, the attitude of the Institute was to repair the damage, while Plan Corp’s was to directly replace the affected area.” Tang Yibu continued. “It began its coordination by Kang Ziyan. Later, Kang Ziyan committed suicide because of the death of his wife, and the project started to develop in other directions.”

“Human aging can cause total body failure, and it can’t last long by replacing healthy organs. Plan Corp simply provided an entire body replacement service—using genetic technology to create a young and healthy body, with pathogenic genes removed, and then transplanting the brain into it.”

When he was tormented by illness and pain, Ruan Xian himself had considered a similar plan. However, his situation was really special—his illness affected the brain, making it extremely fragile and unable to withstand this level of migration.

As if seeing Ruan Xian’s thoughts, Tang Yibu continued, “However, there were also many people with special brain conditions or lesions in their brain. Later, they… promoted the project as a brain-to-brain transfer of ‘personality and memory’.”

“Plan Corp’s androids had personality data applied to them, and their technology in this area was quite mature,” Professor Ruan added unsavorily.

Ruan Xian didn’t need further explanation. He knew what that meant—as in Zhong Qing’s case, people copy a completely healthy body and then “transfer” their memories and thoughts into it.

But was the transfer really just a transfer?

In terms of neural data, this kind of transfer was closer to the result of the two actions of copying and deleting. In other words…

“Did this Immortality Project have any accidents before the Great Rebellion?” Ruan Xian changed his perspective.

“Yes. It was only open to a few volunteers in the early days, but all the volunteers rated it extremely high… Half a year before the rebellion, before this project was about to be put on the market, there was an accident.”

Professor Ruan obviously knew the details of this matter better than Tang Yibu. Tang Yibu closed his mouth a little angrily and held Ruan Xian’s hand tighter. Ruan Xian held back his wince from the pain without saying a word.

“The volunteer at that time was an elderly man who had cancer that was spreading, and his body was experiencing organ failure. His new body was adjusted to be 30 years old, and the relevant pathogenic genes were repaired. Things were still normal here—Plan Corp had transferred the memory and the volunteer who had ‘gained a new life’ and was in good spirits. According to regulations at the time, in order to ensure that the old body wasn’t used in other ways, the body would be frozen and shredded for disposal in the presence of volunteers and at least one guarantor.”

“But when it was destroyed, the body that should have been unconscious woke up. He hadn’t regained his senses yet, but just asked in a daze, ‘Is it over, doctor?’…That’s what the ‘body’ asked at the time.”

Professor Ruan spoke slowly, but there was no emotion in his voice.

“Then what?” Although Ruan Xian already had a general guess about the development of things, he still asked.

“Transfer” was just the most acceptable propaganda word. Copying the mind and then eliminating it was tantamount to replacing your pants after farting; the eliminated body would need to be disposed of. Plan Corp wouldn’t waste funds in that kind of area.

“The project was just about to be put on the market, so surely this kind of PR crisis wouldn’t come out. This incident was interpreted as the impact of leftover data. The volunteer was resistant to the anesthetic, and the old body retained a little fragment of data. The volunteer ‘himself’ and his family were happy to accept this explanation, and public opinion didn’t arouse much enthusiasm.”

The helplessness in Professor Ruan’s tone became heavier.

“In the later stage, there were also doubts similar to ‘slight changes in personality after replacing the body’, but most companies interpreted them as mental changes caused by changes in health. In fact, it was just that the technology wasn’t in place at the time that the entire brain data collection couldn’t be done… If the current Mainbrain could collect 95% of information without crushing it, at the time, Plan Corp could recover at best, less than 80%.”

Tang Yibu’s expression became a little weird for a moment. It looked like longing mixed with a little contempt.

Ruan Xian retracted his gaze. “…I understand. Thank you.”

This topic made the atmosphere between him and Professor Ruan a little stiff.

In a sense, he wasn’t much different from the abandoned original body. Ruan Xian didn’t believe how much of his own memory Fan Linsong could get, let alone the degree of restoration. Professor Ruan’s memories were most likely 100% artificial.

As the awkwardness in the air became colder and thicker, Ruan Xian spoke again. “I don’t feel danger on this floor, Professor Ruan. I want to talk to Yibu alone. Let’s separate for a while.”

He glanced at Tang Yibu again. This topic obviously made Tang Yibu’s face cramp inexplicably—the android twisted his face as if he had eaten an extremely sour candy and was suffering from some kind of toothache.

“Alright.” The little three-legged machine let out a series of low chuckles. “I’ll take care of π for you and give you thirty minutes.”

Tang Yibu, who had been surrounded by melancholy since the beginning, had not yet recovered. Ruan Xian tugged on his wrist and left the corridor, entering a small empty room. He didn’t struggle and was dragged away obediently by Ruan Xian.

The room was cleaned up and empty. There was a huge ornamental fish tank in the corner that only had gray pebbles left in it.

Tang Yibu stood against the wall, emitting a melancholy aura that almost dyed the air gray.

“It’s right to separate from Yu Le and the others. At least Professor Ruan doesn’t think we are plotting to kill them.” Ruan Xian closed the door smoothly. “Speak.”

“What?” Tang Yibu rubbed Ruan Xian’s red wrist. His expression returned to its harmless pattern.

“As your maker, I have a responsibility to guide you.” Ruan Xian cleared his throat. He suddenly felt it was a little dry. “As your… Well, partner, I also want to know what you think.”

Tang Yibu slowly put away his harmless smile.

Ruan Xian closed his eyes and took a few long breaths. He gently took Tang Yibu’s hand and slowly put it on his neck.

“I have never felt such a strong killing intent in you before… Killing intent for me.”

Under Ruan Xian’s guidance, Tang Yibu’s palm virtually covered his neck.

“And there are obvious signs of overload in your emotions. I have seen it once before. I recognize it.” Ruan Xian narrowed his eyes.

Very strangely, this dangerous action made him feel the other’s body temperature again.

“…This time, I’m not going to play the good father role with you—Yibu, I’m curious. Why don’t you do it?”

---

The author has something to say:

The abandoned iron bead: ……

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 184: The Walking Dead

“Z-α and Z-β have stopped functioning. Judging from the last signal they sent back, both of them should have been destroyed.”

The subordinate reported with his head down. Zhuo Muran couldn’t see his face. In fact, he already made this judgement when he first got the signal, and the subsequent data analysis only confirmed that his judgement was correct.

He himself had made a mistake in front of the Mainbrain.

MUL-01 had continuously improved the D-type Prototype in his hand. After storing all the data, it rewarded him with the original sample as the prize. It tried to reverse-engineer the structure of the S-type and A-type Prototypes on that data, but unfortunately it wasn’t successful, and it only came up with a team of powerful troops of acceptable quality.

Having said that, the Mainbrain had given him the D-type Prototype because of his own flesh. Z-α and Z-β were his clones due to his physique that was used to fuse and transform the D-type derivatives.

The S-type products were too soft and harmless, while the A-type products, though powerful, could easily lose the battle due to injury without backup support. The D-type was the best model to test an opponent’s ability. With the Mainbrain’s custom-made exoskeleton, their combat abilities would be just as good as an A-type product.

But they lost.

According to combat power, NUL-00 had an A-type Prototype that was nominally “destroyed” during the beginning of the Great Rebellion. During their battle, Zhuo Muran didn’t stop observing and calculating. Tang Yibu shouldn’t have been a match for Z-α and Z-β—his body was almost pure human, and his joints and muscles were too fragile.

Even with the help of the A-type Prototype, the human body couldn’t fight against special alloys.

However, as soon as he relaxed for a few seconds, a change suddenly appeared. Tang Yibu’s human companion—or rather, the human technician—rushed out and disrupted the situation on the battlefield with some kind of drug.

Judging from the performance, it may be some kind of mechanical virus, but looking at its container and completion, that thing was still in the research stage.

The one who had leaked Tang Yibu’s data to them was Ruan Xian. In other words, Ruan Xian and NUL-00 had no cooperative relationship before that. He was using this approach to put pressure on Tang Yibu and force him to take a side for the sake of self-preservation.

The Red Ghost wasn’t a subordinate force of the rebel army. NUL-00 had its own armed and scientific research power.

Zhuo Muran distractedly put down his cup of tea. He didn’t have the heart to drink it.

The explosion in the center of the island had cost them several elite scouts, and the destruction after the explosion was meaningless—the signal from Z-β at the end of his life was so badly disturbed that he couldn’t even deduce Tang Yibu’s whereabouts.

There was no doubt that his evaluation by the Mainbrain would drop quite a bit.

“Ruan Xian himself should not be on that island.” Zhuo Muran reported to the Mainbrain who was a few steps away. “Excluding the Android Show contestants who are clearly dead, the biological disturbance feedback on the island hasn’t changed significantly.”

“Because there is serious perceptual interference on the island, the detection of disturbance feedback will take longer. I just ordered someone to calculate it thoroughly. In the last month, only four people came to the island and four left. The biological characteristics are extremely similar and no one has been replaced.”

“Nn,” the Mainbrain responded.

MUL-01 was expressionless. His amorphous fingers turned around the edge of Zhuo Muran’s teacup.

“I have ordered people to set up ambushes along the nearby coast, and all petri dishes are under martial law. Next, we will conduct a carpet search of no man’s land. They won’t escape.”

The Mainbrain retraced his fingers. “What about my city?”

“All public facilities have been optimized and upgraded. The incident in the Glass Conservatory will not be repeated. The rest of the problems are within normal range. If there’s any abnormality, I’ll send someone to investigate thoroughly as soon as possible.”

“You’re given authority to send out the S.A.D squad, but Z-α and Z-β have fallen, and it will take time to remanufacture. Without the D-type derivatives as the vanguard, you can only mobilize a total of four other fighters derived from the the S-type and A-type. Please don’t waste them.”

“Yes.”

“One more thing. Please capture the technician alive. The one who’s in a physical relationship with him, I’m very interested in him.”

“Personally, I think it is safer to remove the head after killing and analyze it…”

“But you won’t be able to collect full body data and make a perfect copy… He may not be able to create new things like he is now.” The projection of the Mainbrain finally showed a little smile. “I have confidence to convince him. Don’t worry. If you can do it, I will not pursue this blunder.”

“Understood.” Zhuo Muran lowered his head slightly.

When the projection of the Mainbrain disappeared, he opened the image of the storage warehouse where the S.A.D squad was stored.

This huge warehouse was built only for six soldiers. The derivatives that the Mainbrain painstakingly optimized were still not up to the level of the Prototypes, and their stability was lacking. Fortunately, it was extremely good at designing mechanical parts and human modifications and was able to balance these flaws by adding appendages.

Z-α and Z-β needed to be remanufactured. At present, two of the six liquid tanks in the warehouse were empty, and the remaining four were filled with sleeping organisms. The glass wall of the liquid tank was the size of an entire wall, without any traces of seams, and countless charts, numbers, and texts flickered on it. The bodies of the creatures in the tank were covered with dense pipes, suspended in a clear mixture.

The same as the two warriors who had been killed, the four creatures were also similar, as if they were reproductions of the same prototype.

Zhuo Muran pressed his finger on the glazing screen, pulled it closer to his vision, and began to check the data.

Leaving aside Ruan Xian and others who hid their genetic information, the Mainbrain searched for all the genetic information that remained in the database. This was the sample it found in the vast sea of data, and it was the most suitable for the characteristics of different primers.

As advanced derivatives of the A-type, the two A-type fighters had long since lost their human forms. Rather than humans, they were closer to beasts—their body length was more than four meters, and their structure was like a hairless alien tiger, with hardly any normal skin showing, and every joint was nested with perfect alloy armor and auxiliary machines.

The S-type was the opposite. They—more precisely, most of their skin was exposed, and they were wearing combat uniforms that were very convenient for movement. There were few traces of transformation on the bodies of the two women; only a lot of pipes drilled in and out of their skin with black and red blood rushed in them.

With their white skin and long black hair floating in the mixture, they look strangely fragile.

Very beautiful women.

However, Zhuo Muran’s expression hardly wavered. His gaze did stop on them for a while, but it wasn’t because of the attraction to the opposite sex—this face, that he had seen hundreds of times, suddenly felt strangely familiar.

Zhuo Muran pondered for a moment, unable to find the source of the weird familiarity.

Perhaps he was being too sensitive. He shook his head, continued to confirm the degree on the liquid tank, and temporarily pressed the thought down.

“Wake up R-α and R-β in advance and perform routine memory therapy on them,” Zhuo Muran ordered.

The Mainbrain’s city, late at night.

Professor Ruan couldn’t maintain the perceptual camouflage for long. He originally wanted to guide Yu Le to drive back and forth around a certain building complex, triggering a monitoring bug to get rest time. It was just that when they circled around for the third time, Zhong Qing wanted out.

“What’s with all this turning!” He yelled. “I’m really going to throw up!”

“We have to find a place to hide,” Yu Le roared back. “Laozi has a headache from all the noise. We’re not dedicated to fucking delivering food to the Mainbrain. I’m telling you this, if you dare vomit in my car today, I’ll give zero shits about cooperation—believe it or not, I’ll skin you alive and stuff you into the processor to make fuel.”

Zhong Qing was stunned, and a very complicated expression slowly appeared on his face. Ruan Xian suspected that he had never been yelled at like this in his life.

The poor child couldn’t get out. Zhong Qing stayed for a while and began to brush away his tears.

“It’s no use crying. Why do you think I’m looping this song? Just now there was a ton of crying that I’m immune. Sorry.” Facing the boy’s tears, Yu Le was unmoved.

Tang Yibu breathed loudly, with a serious expression. The iron bead had fallen asleep in Ji Xiaoman’s arms and was breathing calmly.

“Are you even human?” Zhong Qing wiped his eyes with the back of his hand a few times, sucked in his snot, and stopped crying. “I… I’m just trying to help. I know a safer place. You’re just wasting your energy. Bah!”

“Call me Yu Ge,” Lao Yu replied indifferently. “That’s good. You should’ve said so earlier. Anyway, we’re all in the same boat. If we’re unlucky, we’ll be unlucky together, so selling favors will be exempt.”

“Got it, uncle,” Zhong Qing muttered.

The blood vessels in Yu Le’s neck bulged.

“Go to the old funeral home.” Boss Zhong Qing reluctantly turned to Ruan Xian, who was “better-tempered”. “They are doing final data recording and probing now. The new funeral home has been built, so the old one will be demolished and re-planned in two weeks. Surveillance is very loose.”

He spoke as he tore off a piece of paper, blew his nose, and pointed to Professor Ruan with the soiled paper. “You can carry this kind of thing. How much do you know about technology? Hm? It’s better than driving around aimlessly.”

“I need your help.” Professor Ruan turned to Tang Yibu. “Open the entrance to the monitoring program in that area to me. 0.1 seconds is enough. Too long and it’ll be discovered.”

Tang Yibu turned his head to look at Ruan Xian.

“It’s safer to make sure first.” Ruan Xian nodded.

Tang Yibu stared at him for a while, then began to manipulate the light screen in silence, with a woeful melancholy air all over his body.

At this point, Ruan Xian really didn’t know what the android was struggling with. In his vision, he was the one who should be confused, and Tang Yibu’s thinking should be very clear and firm.

His NUL-00 never hesitated. Even if he encountered a problem that couldn’t be solved, Tang Yibu would cram it into the schedule and arrange a reasonable time to analyze it slowly. Ruan Xian could see through all his previous performances and behaviors, but he couldn’t see through the current state of the android.

The mess between them was washed away by the flowing water, slowly moistened and rotted, and all kinds of tangles should have been taken away by the flow. But after everything was washed away, the remaining wreckage still couldn’t be separated.

Yu Le was right. The two of them were indeed not in the right state, and if they continued like this, something would happen. After they settle down, they could open up and talk tonight.

Ruan Xian moved his neck, tore his gaze off the depressed Tang Yibu, and cast it out the window.

The next moment, his heartbeat almost stopped.

He saw a figure flash by; a figure of a woman that was slowly walking in the direction of the city center. Her long, soft hair was draped over her shoulders.

He didn’t know if this was an illusion, but their eyes met for a moment, and then she was left behind by the fast-moving armored off-roader.

This was the second “dead” person he saw tonight, and it took Ruan Xian several seconds to recover.

…That was his mother.

Unlike Zhong Qing, who was alive and kicking, she had died a long time ago; her rotting body was dangling in front of him.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 183: Remnant

Even if the teenager was thin, it was still a bit inappropriate to squeeze him into the same position as Ji Xiaoman. Not to mention the differences between men and women, Ji Xiaoman wasn’t the type who liked skin-on-skin contact with others—she loosened her hand holding the boy’s back and pressed the car door tightly, as if she wanted to stick herself into the car window like a sticker.

“If it was two days earlier, this might’ve scared me.” Lao Yu glared at the teenager before starting the car again. “I don’t care if you live or die. Get in the back and don’t stick to the little girl.”

“My name is Zhong Qing. It’s very easy to remember.” The young man who claimed to be Zhong Qing tried to turn over the back of the chair, but unfortunately, his movements weren’t generally slow. Compared with long-term illness and weakness, it was more like he wasn’t adapted to moving much.

He couldn’t turn over the back of the chair for quite some time. He used his feet to kick anxiously and stepped on Ji Xiaoman several times and almost kicked Yu Le in the head. Tang Yibu grabbed his shirt reluctantly and dragged him back, like a chicken, and squeezed him between himself and the car.

The android grumpily occupied the middle seat of the car and put one arm around Ruan Xian’s shoulder naturally.

Zhong Qing wasn’t very interested in everyone’s attitude. He was preoccupied with looking around excitedly. Ruan Xian could hear the violent and powerful beating of his heart. The teenager’s body temperature was normal, and his body didn’t emit the unique smell of the sick. Except for those abnormal artificial eyes, no matter how one looked at it, Zhong Qing was a healthy, ordinary child.

“Wow.” Zhong Qing touched the dust on the window glass with his fingers. He flipped his head left and right before finding the small refrigerator by the door. He stretched out his hand unceremoniously and took out a can of cherry soda and opened it with a puff. He took a sip and then made a gagging expression.

At the age of about fifteen, although it wasn’t unreasonable, with a little bit of self-righteousness and pretentiousness, they could still be considered in the same category as dogs.

Seeing that his precious food was being spoiled, Tang Yibu tightened his body unhappily. This unhappiness reached its peak when the boy put back the opened drink…

“You said you are dead.” Tang Yibu spoke in a less natural “gentle” tone. “However, your vital signs are quite stable now, so it’s not quite right. Do you need me to help you adjust it?”

“I’m the boss now, so be obedient if you don’t want to be exposed!” Zhong Qing yelled. “Anyway, you can’t kill me, knock me out, or make me unhappy. What’s with your tone? I may be dead, but that’s for the Mainbrain…”

“Sure enough,” Professor Ruan, who had been quiet all this time, interjected.

“This kid lied, didn’t he?” Ruan Xian picked it up without any surprise.

After all, he was still a child and hadn’t experienced many tense situations. Ruan Xian could see that Zhong Qing was smart and perhaps really possessed outstanding talents. However, when he was bragging about how he could handle the Mainbrain, there was a rise in his body temperature, and his eyes were darting uncontrollably. It was obvious he was making up a bunch of excuses based on the situation.

Facing Tang Yibu’s intimidation, Zhong Qing was speaking loudly, but his eyes kept looking at the muscles on Tang Yibu’s arm—the android had just put on his jacket, and his chest and cuffs were open, not tied up with straps.

Zhong Qing wasn’t as calm as he looked.

However, Professor Ruan didn’t immediately point out too many loopholes. It could be seen this kid could come up with a decent excuse, so he must know a lot about the relevant theories.

In fact, of all the things Zhong Qing was spouting, only two things seemed to be truthful.

He had a way of getting the attention of the Mainbrain, and… that he was “dead”.

Although he knew it in his heart, in the past, Ruan Xian would be happy to hand over the conversation to Professor Ruan and Tang Yibu and just observe quietly. Given the current momentum, it was simply a matter of time before Zhong Qing provoked Tang Yibu—they were already on the same page, and the android’s mood wasn’t visibly very good.

“This is the latest type of auxiliary machinery.” Ruan Xian patted Professor Ruan’s glass cover and glanced at the black cube tumbling inside. “Look, it can tell if you’re lying and quietly pass the news to us. It’s useless to lie. We can take you out, but you know the situation in this city.”

Professor Ruan remained silent cooperatively as a string of bubbles gurgled out of the water tank, acting like a brainless auxiliary machine.

“This car isn’t very advanced. It’s dirty and run down, as you can see. Our advanced equipment is limited, and if we’re not careful, we’ll be caught by the Mainbrain… Think about it. Only if we leave here safely can you leave smoothly with us. For the sake of everyone, I hope you will tell us the real situation”

Ruan Xian took a bottle of water from the shelf beside him and handed it to Zhong Qing across from Tang Yibu. The latter flattened his mouth, unscrewed the lid and drank most of the water, then wiped his mouth.

“…I don’t trust you guys,” Zhong Qing muttered as he held the water bottle tightly.

“Let me guess. Knocking you out will be useful.” Ruan Xian stared at the nervous young man carefully. “…Sure enough, you’re afraid that we will deprive you of your ability to act. It’s a pity that it’s too late. I put something in that water bottle—”

Zhong Qing’s face turned green all of a sudden. He retched a few times, trying to vomit out the water. Seeing the boy aim his mouth at the carpet of the car, Lao Yu’s face also turned green.

“—I’m lying.” Ruan Xian smiled slightly. “Mr. Zhong, if we want you to lose your ability to act, there are many ways. Now we want to cooperate with you more. You are from this city and should know a lot of information that only local people know. Although we have our plans, you’re also welcome to be a temporary guide to help us eliminate possible dangers.”

Zhong Qing opened his mouth. Seeing that he was shaken, all the initiative was seized in Ruan Xian’s hands.

“So you don’t have to worry about losing your value after telling us the information. We can also tie ourselves to you for peace of mind, and it’ll be relatively safer. Are you willing, Mr. Zhong?”

Being called “Mr. Zhong” apparently made Zhong Qing quite smug. He pretended to think for a few seconds. “Okay, although it’s a shame that I can’t command you, it’s even more ugly to fight and both die*… Haa, it’s not easy to live, and even harder to die.”

*(鱼死网破) Idiom referring to fighting until both you and your foe perish.

Zhong Qing pretended to be serious, though fine beads of sweat had already started appearing on his forehead. He breathed a sigh of relief and finished drinking the remaining water. After he finished, he added, with lingering fear, “There’s really nothing in this water, right?”

“No,” Tang Yibu said with regret. He adjusted his emotions for a while and returned to the Tang Yibu that Ruan Xian was familiar with.

The atmosphere in the car had eased a little while Carol Young’s “Tears Don’t Stop” was still playing on a loop.

“Answer a few questions first.” Ruan Xian struck while the iron was hot. “You said you’re dead. What does this mean? Why are you outside the monitoring range of the Mainbrain? …How exactly did you find this car? Someone in your situation—”

“Stop, stop, stop,” Zhong Qing yelled. “Only one question is allowed! Go slow!”

“It’s recommended that you ask the first question.” Professor Ruan spoke before Ruan Xian could answer, which made him take a deep look at the small three-legged machine.

“I’m not lying either.”

Without waiting for Ruan Xian to repeat the question, Zhong Qing replied quite consciously. “According to the law here, I’m considered dead. However, something happened to the nearby petri dish not long ago that the Mainbrain decided to migrate the less crowded public facilities to optimize and upgrade. There was a short power outage during the process, and that’s when I escape.”

This time, Zhong Qing wasn’t lying as Ruan Xian listened carefully.

“Like I said, my cybernetic brain is special. This is true… After all, the Mainbrain can’t carefully control a corpse like a normal citizen. Anyway, I don’t know why. Most likely I did something I shouldn’t have when the power was off… Well, according to the Mainbrain’s records, I’m still lying in my coffin. Unless I deliberately stimulate the cybernetic brain again, it will not actively check my status.”

Ji Xiaoman grabbed the back of the chair with both hands and silently observed the conversation between the four people in the back with a serious expression. As a result, Zhong Qing was really a corpse in a coffin, which made the little girl hitch her breath in silence and slowly lower her body so that the back of the chair covered her entirely, only exposing her eyes and the part above it.

Lao Yu sneered a few times as he turned down the volume of the music in the car.

“Actually, you’re right. I’m good at procedure knowledge, but it’s just half-assed*. At that time, I found that there was a power failure, so I operated it indiscriminately. Who knew that it would turn out like this? Don’t ask me what I did. I can’t even remember it myself.”

*Half a bucket of water (半桶水) Phrase referring to someone who is stupid/not good at learning. You know a bit about something, but you’re not proficient in it and can’t master it. 

Zhong Qing’s black eyes that didn’t have pupils were still creepy. However, when he was flustered just now, that sense of horror had faded a lot.

“It’s a bug,” Professor Ruan said succinctly. “It’s very likely that he messed up the position program, causing a double positioning and detection… Forget it. In short, it’s a bug. According to him, we have no risk of exposure for the time being.”

“Why do you keep calling yourself a ‘corpse’?” Determining that the situation was completely under control, Ruan Xian breathed a sigh of relief.

“Because I’m dead?” Zhong Qing answered strangely. “Oh, you’re referring to my vitals… If that’s the case, then I’m fine. Oh, how can I put it? I heard my mother say that death isn’t defined like this before.”

He flattened his mouth again. “Can you give me something to eat? It’s very troublesome to talk so much.”

“I’ll give it after you finish.” Tang Yibu vigilantly clutched the unfinished preserved fruit by the seat in his hand. Zhong Qing glared at him and grimaced—with those eyes, the effect was surprisingly good.

Ji Xiaoman’s head dropped by another half centimeter.

“Is there a problem with my eyes? This doesn’t need to be explained separately, right?” Zhong Qing said angrily as his eyes tilted towards Tang Yibu’s preserved fruit from time to time.

“After the Mainbrain’s city was built, comprehensive medical care was opened up, but my problem is very rare. It can’t cure me, so I was given this… Hey, it’s said that I can see quite a bit more colors than normal people. Speaking of which, I don’t know what the world you see looks like.”

“Originally, everyone thought it was okay, but when I grew to this age, my body was still too weak. Although the disease doesn’t affect my normal life, I won’t grow strong, I can’t jump high, I’ll always look like a ghost, and I can’t communicate normally like other people. And what’s more… Oh, it causes a subtle imbalance in the hormones of my body, resulting in a warped personality. Warped my ass.”

“And then what?” Ji Xiaoman asked in an airy voice.

“Then my parents decided to treat me with the most advanced methods.” Zhong Qing rolled his eyes. “Didn’t that technology exist long ago? It wasn’t popular back then—that immortality program from Plan Corp. Well, that’s it. They applied to the Mainbrain for ‘full body intervention’ and brought home a completely healthy ‘me’.”

Ruan Xian’s chest suddenly became a little stuffy.

“…Full body intervention?”

“You don’t know?! It’s over. It’s over. I’m working with a group of cannon fodder.” Zhong Qing pulled on his hair. “After the Great Reform of the 22^nd Century, the full somatic data of official citizens was fully recorded. Memory, personality, emotions, health data… All accurate to the state of the molecules in the human body at a certain point in time.”

“Anyway, after that, everyone lives with an auxiliary cybernetic brain, and all data changes will be uploaded. Well, I lived for twelve years in this ghostly appearance. The reference data provided was enough. They just need to apply to the Mainbrain for a separate correction to the physical health data, combined with other information accumulated over the years…”

“They will have a perfectly healthy son,” Professor Ruan said without emotion.

“Yes, that’s it!” Zhong Qing grinned. “Me? Well, I’m just a corpse, a remnant… The reason why I haven’t been terminated is so I can continue to provide precious data on this disease and to prevent the healthy ‘Zhong Qing’ from going wrong again. Full body intervention is very expensive.”

Zhong Qing sat in the seat of the car, casually swinging his feet; his tone sounded cheerful in a contrived way.

“So I’m already dead,” Zhong Qing announced.

“…” Ruan Xian didn’t know what to say for a moment.

“Do you know what those are?” As if discovering Ruan Xian’s complicated emotions, Tang Yibu stretched out his hand and pointed to the blurred dead wall on the horizon.

“I said only one question! I’m exhausted!”

“Preserved fruit is very precious,” Tang Yibu said solemnly. “And you’re already dead.”

“…Alright.” Zhong Qing rolled his eyes.

“Just one more. Isn’t that the polluted area over there? The Mainbrain has been collecting data there. The radiation there is very severe, so there are not many living people. Why are you asking?”

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 182: The Real Ghost

Unlike petri dishes, the city of the Mainbrain had no border walls. The greenery around the urban area was very well done, and the houses on the outskirts of the city were also exquisite and unusual, without the slightest trace of roughness.

There were almost no moving cars on the road, as most of the vehicles were gliding in the air. The armored off-roader sped on the flat road silently. Probably because he was dissatisfied with the weird and stiff atmosphere in the car, Yu Le turned on the stereo, filling the car with an ambiguous and harsh third-rate song.

Ji Xiaoman vigorously pulled out the parts box from under the seat and began to feed π. The iron bead’s interest was higher than everyone in the car combined. It chewed the parts loudly, as if enjoying crispy fried beans. The sound of crunching was mixed with explicit lyrics, which made the original strange atmosphere weird again.

After completing his instructions, Professor Ruan jumped back to the last row by himself, continued to wrap himself in light screens, and hid the car in perceptual camouflage.

“I’m suffocating,” Yu Le said, among the series of shrill female voices. “Tu Rui isn’t even this boring when he’s angry and he’s the most rigid person I’ve seen in my life. I don’t have the feeling of starting any great revolution. The feeling now is more like we’re transporting corpses.”

As he spoke, he glanced at Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian, who were holding their arms in a similar posture. “Especially you two. Xiao Tang, aren’t you quite able to babble nonsense? Why haven’t you said a word?”

Tang Yibu took two breaths and loosened his arms that were crossed around his chest. He took out a bag of preserved fruit from the small freezer on the side and began to stuff it into his mouth as if to vent his anger.

“Just a little emotional problem. Don’t mind,” Ruan Xian said. “Where are we about now?”

“It’s heading northwest.” Yu Le glanced at the light screen next to the driver’s seat. “It’s kind of going back—isn’t the Underground City southeast of the Sea of Ruins? The Glass Conservatory is almost to the east of the Underground City. After we left the Glass Conservatory, we went south. The city of the Mainbrain is located between the coast and the dead wall of the petri dishes.”

The former great ruins pirate was sensitive to direction, so he gestured at the light screen for a moment.

“Now that you have passed the pile of cliffs, do you see the black line on the horizon? That must be the dead wall of the Glass Conservatory. It’s estimated that when we bypass the city, the wall will belong to the Underground City, but if you continue on, you won’t be able to come back to the Sea of Ruins…”

“Going further is an uninhabited forest reserve with mountains. After crossing the mountain, you have to go a little bit north, so that you are closest to the Petri Dish 1036.” Tang Yibu spoke as his mouth was full of preserved fruit. “…Commonly known as the Forest Petri Dish.”

Then he stared at Ruan Xian with burning eyes.

Ruan Xian sighed, and still bit the bait. “The road is only this part of the Mainbrain’s city?”

“It looks like it. The coastline and the dead walls are all connected, but this is not the only place in between.” Yu Le took over the conversation casually.

Tang Yibu swallowed the preserved fruit in his mouth and glared at the back of Yu Le’s head, almost as if he could burn a hole in it.

However, the conversation had already started, and the bustling, white-toned city outside the window was refreshing that the atmosphere had improved a bit than before. Although Professor Ruan’s small form was weird, as long as he forcibly pretended it was some sort of humidifier or something, he could barely edge out a sense of comfort.

“If the Mainbrain finds us…” Ji Xiaoman stroked π’s shell and spoke tentatively.

The iron bead was lying proudly on Ji Xiaoman’s lap, with a slight cooing sound like boiling water in its throat.

“That’ll be a catch.” Yu Le laughed dryly. “However, Professor Ruan may be fine. After all, he can pretend to be a mechanical pet or something, which is different from those of us who have arms and legs.”

After speaking, Yu Le glanced at Ruan Xian from the rearview mirror. “I didn’t mean to target you, Xiao Ruan, but even if you say you are Ruan Xian, we have no concept. How to put it. Your temperament is not at all like the one we know.”

“If it was like that, we would have had our last meeting a long time ago.”

Ruan Xian didn’t show much rejection of conversation. Yu Le’s statement gave him a faint guess—Professor Ruan wouldn’t waste moves in chess. Every action of that person had a purpose. He specifically led them down this path. It was impossible just to cover up their whereabouts. They should be heading to a certain destination.

“Unlike us, you and Miss Ji are both true to your nature and have the potential to strike without regard to the consequences. Not to mention Professor Ruan’s previous performance, Yibu is also a threat… It’s a good idea to hold me hostage.”

Ruan Xian continued the previous topic. This was indeed the truth. Compared with himself and Tang Yibu, who were overly rational, Yu Le, who was full of personality, and Ji Xiaoman, who wasn’t deeply involved in the world, made Professor Ruan even more vigilant—the former was indifferent to the rise and fall of mankind, while the latter lacked awareness of the complexity of the overall situation, which could lead to more dangerous judgements.

“Oh, what are you talking about?” Yu Le snorted. “I only thought about it for a few seconds before tossing that idea out. How to put it. We’re people who have a connection with each other, so I don’t want to be a beast.”

Tang Yibu stared at the back of Yu Le’s head even more vigorously.

“Oh…” Ruan Xian said meaningfully.

“Seeing that my mind is like a mirror, can you tell me what’s wrong with you two? Not long ago, you were as thick as thieves and wanted to stick to each other like a plaster. Now one is screaming dad while the atmosphere is similar to that of a funeral.”

Yu Le was obviously not one who liked to suffer. He deliberately changed the music to a new one. The prelude to grievances sounded, and Carol Young’s “Tears Don’t Stop” had replaced the original vulgar song.

As the song switched, even the pleasant cooing of the iron bead changed its rhythm.

“It’s nothing. I personally created Yibu. Later, something happened, and he and I both almost got killed.” Ruan Xian admitted casually. “As for MUL-01… The one behind created the main program of the Mainbrain based on the data when I developed Yibu.”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Yu Le tsked. “I don’t care if you get involved with something you made yourself. Let me be honest, we’re all in the same boat. Emotional problems are prone to causing fuck ups.”

After that, he turned his head strangely and glanced at Tang Yibu. “…If he really has feelings.”

Following Yu Le’s gaze, Ruan Xian also looked at Tang Yibu. Yu Le’s worries were correct. His conversation looked normal, but his emotions hadn’t calmed down despite several hours passing. Ruan Xian couldn’t wait to open his skull and pull the part of the brain responsible for secreting the corresponding hormones. It was best to dig it out and throw it away.

He had tried his best not to look at Tang Yibu.

Strangely, this time he didn’t feel that dark anger anymore, and he couldn’t get angry with him. To put it bluntly, they belong to different life forms, and he didn’t expect the other party to show such a sincere response from the beginning.

The current situation was tense, and the judgment of the android wasn’t much of a problem.

But since touching Tang Yibu’s tears, Ruan Xian’s entire being hadn’t been right. His ten fingers appeared to have lost their ability to feel temperature, and there was no pain in his heart; only endless bitterness.

He said to Tang Yibu, “Don’t be afraid,” but the second he saw the other party in tears, he seemed to have returned to the stuffy room decades ago. Strange fear and confusion gnawed at his feet.

In a sense, Ruan Xian believed that he was more sober. It was only a few months ago that he spent time with NUL-00, and what he held now was definitely not the cherishing and love of his “work”.

And this made him feel more frustrated.

…Now this abnormal love was making him weak.

Now it seemed that his emotional sorting had also failed miserably. Tang Yibu caught his gaze and looked back pitifully. Ruan Xian took a deep breath—for a moment, he wanted to rush forward, break open the skull of the android, and check what was going on in that half-coconut-sized cybernetic brain.

“Mr. Ruan.” Tang Yibu’s voice was soft. He didn’t call him “father” anymore and there was no doubt that he was being coquettish—it was the same twelve years ago whenever NUL-00 encountered a problem he couldn’t solve at that moment.

Unfortunately, Tang Yibu’s show of weakness hadn’t yet been completely deployed when a sharp brake instantly wiped out Ruan Xian’s budding signs of softness.

Tang Yibu took a deep breath and showed murderous intent towards Yu Le.

“Fuck, don’t come at me.” In the midst of Carol Young’s long lyrical voice, Yu Le replied in a shrill voice, sounding as if he was extremely nervous. “Hurry up and ask that one behind you—what’s the matter with this guy in the middle of the road?”

There was a young man standing in the middle of the road where cars were coming and going. It was clearly night, but he was wearing a pair of odd glasses and was standing right in the path of the armored off-roader. This happened to be a fork in the road, and countless inspection beams were scanned repeatedly, so Yu Le didn’t dare to rush to make suspicious lane changes.

The young man stretched out an arm and waved his hand at them.

“Strange car,” he whispered, though Ruan Xian could clearly hear it.

“I have never encountered this situation.” Professor Ruan’s electronic voice came just in time. “My perceptual camouflage cannot be seen through. That child must be loaded with rare additional accessories. NUL-00, remember to monitor the surrounding signal conditions.”

“Tsk.” Tang Yibu was displeased, but as far as his actions were concerned, he still did as ask. “No new communications signals have been found.”

“Get that kid in the car,” Professor Ruan said.

“Reason?” Ruan Xian frowned.

“His behavior clearly violate the traffic control regulations of the Mainbrain, regulations on the curfews of minors, and the regulations on nighttime activities, but there’s no corresponding alarm nearby. Either something happened to his auxiliary cybernetic brain, or the Mainbrain deliberately did it—if it’s the latter, a new warning signal should also appear. This is the Mainbrain’s territory. It’s not going to put a long line here to catch a big fish.”

Professor Ruan jumped onto Ruan Xian’s seat back. “The Mainbrain is optimizing and adjusting the entire social structure. There won’t be many bugs or loopholes, but it’s not non-existent either. If he’s allowed to run like this and the auxiliary cybernetic brain returns to normal, we will soon be exposed.”

“Oh,” Yu Le said stiffly. “During the time you were speaking, the little profiteer had already picked him up.”

Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian, who were watching Professor Ruan, turned their heads and looked in front of the car.

The young man who was trying to get himself killed in the middle of the road was pressed onto the seat of the car by Ji Xiaoman. His face was turned towards Professor Ruan’s direction, full of curiosity.

The young man looked about fifteen years old. He had short, clean hair, was wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt made of soft material that was a comfortable, warm gray color. Except for his eyes being covered by weird glasses, his facial features were quite beautiful, and his skin and complexion were surprisingly good. It was obvious he had a high standard of living.

However, his limbs were unusually thin. He had no muscles, and his shoulders weren’t even as thick as a small girl like Ji Xiaoman.

“This car is so dirty,” he commented, with interest. “There’s also a strange smell.”

“What’s wrong with you? You want to get yourself killed?” Yu Le smirked and bared his teeth.

“You can see this car.” Professor Ruan deliberately made his electronic voice sound particularly strong. He stood upright with the three-legged machine and pretended to be an intelligent detection device. “Your daily behavior test has deviated, and it is suspected that it’s an auxiliary cybernetic brain malfunction. Please also contact as soon as possible—”

“You guys aren’t the Order Supervisors that do testing.” The young man broke free from Ji Xiaoman and looked around curiously. “They don’t drive such smelly cars, nor do they play melodramatic music so wholeheartedly.”

His tone began to become weak. “I know what you are… You guys are the bad guys that the Order Supervisors want to screen, right? Right? Are you going to attack this city?”

“No.” Ruan Xian accepted the conversation as calmly as possible, trying to divert his attention again.

“Good, good.” The young man rubbed his hand excitedly. “Then you guys, take me away!”

“……”

“Even if you kill me, you’ll still be in trouble.” The boy laughed, showing his snow-white teeth. “I broke the cybernetic brain myself, but it didn’t stop. It just changed the transmission of information from every 5 seconds to every 24 hours… Only I know how to deal with its information. But if it leaves my body, or the signal stops because it’s destroyed, the Mainbrain will immediately find its location.”

“The technology of the Mainbrain wouldn’t be bad.” Seeing that Professor Ruan wasn’t speaking, Tang Yibu spoke up. “Even if you’re a genius, it’s impossible to do this with you as a child.”

“The premise is that my brain and body are healthy,” the boy said with a grin. “But I have problems with them. The auxiliary cybernetic brain I’m equipped with is a special model, so the safety system isn’t perfect like the popular version.”

Having said that, he took off the dark glasses he had been wearing on his face.

Ruan Xian immediately understood the reason for the problem with Professor Ruan’s perceptual camouflage.

According to the current level of scientific and technological development, there were very few people with disabilities. More than 90% of disability factors could be ruled out or overcome in advance. Even if it was a serious disability like Ji Xiaoman’s, as long as the Mainbrain was willing, it could allow her to grow new hands and feet.

In this case, he also had this degree of disability, which was enough to see that the teenager’s disease was rare and complicated; so complicated that the Mainbrain allowed him to be born in this city but didn’t give him a pair of healthy eyes.

The boy’s eyes were stuffed with lurid artificial eyeballs. At first glance, they look a lot like pitch-black spheres, but they would flash a faint blue, fluorescent luster as they move, like some kind of opal. But in the dark night, suddenly looking at it like this, there was only complete darkness in the young man’s eyes.

“So I can see you,” he said with a smile.

“…Lies. The loopholes of the Mainbrain aren’t so easily exploited.” Professor Ruan finally spoke. “We will not cooperate with people whose details are unknown.”

The young man turned his horrible eyes and curled his lips. “Okay, okay. Anyway, don’t kill me. I’m really harmless—”

He raised two excessively thin hands.

“I’m already dead,” he said.

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 181: Subject

Tang Yibu fell into a brief state of confusion.

He curled up his legs, bent his spine, and squeezed into the space connected by the seat. His head was pressed against Ruan Xian’s thigh, and although his posture wasn’t stretched, it wasn’t uncomfortable.

After making sure that he did not continue to cry, Ruan Xian took away the hand covering his eyes. At this moment, after rotating ninety degrees, only the back of the front passenger seat was in front of him. There were many scratches and mud spots in the thick transparent partition. Tang Yibu counted them one by one, even though he could easily capture the exact number with a glance.

His eyes were a little dry and painful. Reality was still rumbling forward outside the track.

Tang Yibu thought that his father would agree with him decisively on this matter, but all he got was silence and blankness. At the same time, he was also experiencing a strange situation—his tear ducts began to secrete tears on their own, and it couldn’t be stopped, as if the relevant nerves were out of control.

He wasn’t happy.

Since meeting Ruan Xian, Tang Yibu’s every move had been carefully thought out and pressed. At the beginning, he did have the intention of seducing Ruan Xian. After all, an emotional connection could make their cooperative relationship more stable. Tang Yibu could see the emotional void and emptiness of the other party. He had always been good at seizing any opportunity he could.

Then he became interested in this person.

At first, it was just a little spark, but then it turned into a vigorous fire. This interest began to feel like a faintly burning fire, but he was willing to risk his life for fresh data.

Those kisses and hugs could give him pleasure, but this was likely the credit of his human body. Besides, it was beneficial for one’s health to stay in a good mood. Tang Yibu could also see the sobriety of the other party—his Mr. Ruan wasn’t bewitched by him. That person’s feelings were cold and selfish, and they maintained a perfect relationship by taking what they wanted. It wasn’t bad to continue like this.

However, before confirming Ruan Xian’s identity, his interest still showed a tendency to lose control. It grew bigger, like a snowball, and finally turned into complete possessiveness. At the same time, he began to care too much about the other party’s mood and his own image.

After confirming the identity of the other party, all the complicated emotions that had been messed up were completely broken. He just cut through the mess quickly and made the most reasonable decision.

Tang Yibu had seen enough cases and had also asked people like Yu Le for examples. Possessiveness, dependence, carnal desires, body impulsivity, hormonal index abnormalities… Even if these factors were all mixed together, they couldn’t be determined as “love”.

Ruan Xian was just the human being he was most interested in and most obsessed with. He originally thought so.

There was no missing data, no errors in logic, and everything was in order, just like fuel would burn out and the flames would be extinguished, or the tide would recede, revealing the stones on the beach.

Perhaps it was precisely because the spark disappeared, the ocean retreated, that other things were exposed from the smoke and sand…

He couldn’t describe it accurately. Those unknowns weren’t conspicuous, but the sense of their existence was extremely strong, like the corners of an empty house covered with cobwebs.

Tang Yibu only knew that he was extremely unhappy and couldn’t even explain the unhappiness. There was no data in his database that could be used for reference, and it made him feel real fear.

He stretched out his hand and tentatively touched Ruan Xian’s knee, pretending to adjust his sleeping position. The sea water rattled outside the window. Yu Le removed the sound insulation layer between the seats. For a while, there was only the sound of people breathing in the car.

Why don’t you agree with me, father?

The complicated feelings that they wanted to kill each other that night reappeared. Tang Yibu wanted to ask these words, but he didn’t have the strength to open his mouth, so he had to close his dry and painful eyes and use light sleep to stabilize his emotional state.

Ruan Xian was right. He had just recovered from a serious injury and all kinds of hormones in his body were still unbalanced. Besides, his father took the initiative to expose himself to the Mainbrain, so it stood to reason he wouldn’t leave him immediately. He still had a lot of time.

He just needed a ten-minute nap.

However, Tang Yibu slept very heavily, and he didn’t wake up until the car touched the shore. The dryness of his eyes became more obvious, and he didn’t like that feeling at all.

Tang Yibu habitually looked at Ruan Xian, but the latter didn’t respond to his gaze as usual. Ruan Xian was frowning in a daze; his gaze was locked on π who was sleeping under his seat.

Tang Yibu suddenly felt unhappy, like there was a lump stuck in his throat.

Without the guidance of Professor Ruan, Yu Le consciously took the steering wheel and turned the car towards the stone-walled cave facing the sea. The rear of the car spewed out a messy stream of steam, covering up the traces of the ruts with debris and dust.

White buildings could be seen in the distance, looking quite dazzling in the sun. There was a little shadow of the dead wall on the horizon that he wondered if it was an illusion caused by fatigue.

“Looking at the performance of the two of you just now, if I understand correctly… We will still act together next.” Professor Ruan’s three-legged robot jumped on the back of the chair, ignoring the weird atmosphere between the two. “Mr. Yu, Miss Ji. If you want to quit, now is the best time.”

“That’s that. The two behind have no problem?”

“Most of the information has been given to the Mainbrain. If the two of you move about freely, there will be a natural risk of being discovered by the Order Supervisors and having your head taken for brain analysis. However, risk is risk. It’s smaller to act with us. Both of you are experienced, so you should know how to hide.”

“Ha.” Yu Le gave a dry huff and rubbed the steering wheel. “You didn’t answer my question. I could tell that’s not what Xiao Tang thinks.”

Tang Yibu stared at Yu Le solemnly, without the slightest embarrassment of being named.

“Let’s make a deal. I’ll go with you. Such an exciting opportunity to fight for a bike to turn it into a motorcycle doesn’t happen in a few lifetimes. Laozi’s life was originally given back by Xiao Tang and them, so I won’t suffer any losses if I lose it now.” Yu Le took out his handmade cigarette and stuffed it into his mouth but didn’t light it. “My car and supplies are convenient, right? The price is also affordable, so let this little girl go.”

Tang Yibu raised his eyebrows.

“I’m not young anymore. I was originally a fucking death row prisoner. I’m just a rotten soul before being sentenced to death. Ji Xiaoman is still young and doesn’t understand anything. She just wants to save her mother.”

Yu Le thought for a while, then squeezed the unlit cigarette back into his hand. “It’s not good for her to wade in this muddy water. Let her go?”

Ji Xiaoman clenched her metal fingers and sat quietly in her seat.

Tang Yibu began to recall every moment of getting along with Ji Xiaoman, so as to confirm whether the girl had been exposed to any information that should not be exposed to—thinking like this, compared to Yu Le, Ji Xiaoman was indeed freer from it than him. She joined later, and she didn’t intervene much in their specific actions in the Glass Conservatory. Although the events of the Underground City would more or less reveal some resilience-related information, the degree of exposure wasn’t serious and shouldn’t attract the attention of the Mainbrain.

Yu Le’s negotiating conditions weren’t just on a whim. The leader of the ruins pirates obviously had thought things through.

“But…”

“I’m not leaving,” Ji Xiaoman said in a low voice, touching the prosthetic limb of her left arm that was wrapped in her sleeve, as if to confirm something.

“Little profiteer, don’t you want to save your mother?” Yu Le clicked his tongue.

“No, I don’t trust him.” Ji Xiaoman knelt on one knee in the car seat, straightened her waist, and looked over the back of the chair at Professor Ruan. “Tang Yibu and Ruan Li… Mr. Ruan aren’t the type to casually agree to cooperate. Looking at their attitude, they are more likely being forced to act with him. When we were in the forest, we were also at risk of being seriously injured by an attack. Lao Yu, weren’t you hurt?”

“That’s just a bullshit injury…” Yu Le glanced at his leg. As soon as he muttered, he was interrupted by Ji Xiaoman’s fierce gaze.

“I’ve seen a lot of people in the Underground City, so I can read people.” Ji Xiaoman took a few deep breaths and continued. “At present, I don’t trust Ruan Xian… Professor Ruan.”

She didn’t say this very confidently. Although Professor Ruan’s three-legged little machine had no eyes, Ji Xiaoman still had no intention of “looking” at it.

“I don’t like Su Zhao and Kang Ziyan very much, and I don’t think they are good people, but they were indeed involved in this matter because of him. Whether they were androids or clones, Professor Ruan didn’t seem to mind that they died in the incident at all. Yu Le, you know my mother’s situation. I don’t have the courage to believe that such a person will care about her. What’s more, he has no obligation to help me at all.”

“There is nothing that’s free that’s good in this world. At least I haven’t seen it.” Her voice trembled a bit. “I don’t believe in him. I only believe in transactions… I’m not leaving. I want him to owe me.”

Yu Le sighed silently while Professor Ruan didn’t answer.

“That’s all.” After holding back these words, Ji Xiaoman turned around decisively. It seemed as if she hadn’t come out of the effects of her broken impression. Her lips were pale and bloodied, and her eyes were red.

“Then it’s settled.” Regardless, this decision wouldn’t make him suffer, so Tang Yibu didn’t want to spend too much time on this matter. He glanced at Ruan Xian, who was still stubbornly staring at π.

The feeling of being choked by something became more obvious.

“Your plan.” Ruan Xian spoke while looking at π.

“Gwah?” The iron bead barked sleepily.

“Go west first. Pass through the city of the Mainbrain and avoid the limelight for a few days.” Professor Ruan reacted quickly as he replied in a calm tone.

“Plan,” Ruan Xian repeated.

“A reluctance to cooperate isn’t good for anyone,” Professor Ruan replied calmly, as if he was practicing Tai Chi. “Your mood isn’t good, so now isn’t the time to discuss. Regardless of whether we will cooperate in the end or not, it’s always a good idea to hide for a few days. It’s not bad to let you see the world of the Mainbrain.”

“What if I think it isn’t bad?”

“I don’t think the maker of NUL-00 would agree with that approach.”

Tang Yibu looked around at both sides of the conversation and stuck to Ruan Xian’s side.. He habitually wanted to hold Ruan Xian’s hand and realized that he had just declared that he wanted to return to another mode of getting along. Tang Yibu uttered a half-hearted cry alone as he held his two hands together while his arms were hanging awkwardly in front of him.

Ruan Xian didn’t answer again. He was mute for a while before he finally turned his head and smiled kindly at Tang Yibu—that smile was no different than from twelve years ago.

Tang Yibu thought this may be a signal of reconciliation, but he felt that there was something missing between them. Something he couldn’t put his finger on; like a toothache, where the tooth seemed “non-existent” when it was healthy, and after it started to ache, he began to realize the weight of the “non-existent”.

He twitched his nose and didn’t even manage to squeeze out a fake smile.

Although Ruan Xian once told him “don’t be afraid”, this feeling of incomprehensible logic made him more and more afraid.

“Our thoughts are basically the same. Where are we going?” Yu Le solved the problem. “I’m not saying that this car is definitely targeted. It wasn’t as chaotic as the Underground City. We’ll be discovered as soon as we hit the road.”

“Transportation is necessary. The risk of borrowing transportation equipment in the city is too high, and walking is too slow. As long as it is properly controlled, perceptual camouflage can barely be usable. Just plan your time wisely and allow a chance for me to recover my energy.”

“I see. Like the feeling of being forced to jump through rings of fire,” Yu Le murmured.

“It’s best to take the opportunity to replenish the supplies in the car,” Professor Ruan continued. “I have been dealing with MUL-01 for many years, so I still have a lot of experience. Don’t worry. But regarding the city of the Mainbrain, I have to give you a precaution—don’t talk to anyone.”

“What the hell?!” Yu Le sighed.

Not only was Yu Le taken aback this time, but Ruan Xian also frowned.

“Any unnecessary communication with residents will attract the attention of the Mainbrain. There are some words you must remember and not say out loud when communicating with each other when people can hear them.”

“I’m curious.” Tang Yibu scraped the dim and damp rock walls around him with his eyes, and finally found a target to divert his attention.

“Please also explain the reason. It’s not like we haven’t spent time in the Glass Conservatory—” Ji Xiaoman was more careful with her wording.

“It’s completely different from the Glass Conservatory. After all, a petri dish is a place to ‘cultivate and observe possibilities’. Since you have been there, you must know that the rules of the Glass Conservatory aren’t without loopholes. It leaves room for people to make mistakes.”

“…That also leaves room for mistakes?” Yu Le almost squished the cigarette he was playing with in his hand.

“Yes. It just so happens that we have plenty of time, so I’ll explain.”

Professor Ruan’s three-legged robot struggled to climb over the row where Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu were sitting and stopped at the top of the backrest of the driver’s seat. Seeing the three-legged mechanical metal feet pass in front of it, π swallowed loudly and held back from opening its mouth.

“We’ve all thought about it more or less, right? What would happen if a certain conversation or a certain meeting could be repeated. Or to be more detailed, what happens if you can start over every day… Archive before major options, and once something goes wrong, go back to the point in time before the decision. This approach has always been popular.”

Yu Le’s expression was a little stiff, and the careless smile on his face disappeared.

“No one can do that in reality.” His voice is a bit hoarse.

“In the city of the Mainbrain, everyone lives like that.” Professor Ruan’s tone slowed down. “As long as there is enough data and the right influence is exerted, all events—whether fixed or occasional—can be calculated. From large life decisions to meals eaten in the day, the human subconscious is actually very easy to manipulate and influence.”

“But what does this have to do with archiving…?” Ji Xiaoman murmured.

“Unlike the Glass Conservatory, everyone in the Mainbrain’s city is equipped with brain-assisted machinery. To put it simply, it is tantamount to adding an expanded cybernetic brain to the brain. The Mainbrain will use people’s sleep time to make them dream of “tomorrow” over and over again and monitor the ups and downs of their emotional values.”

Tang Yibu reacted quickly.

Indeed, if you have enough data and the external stimulation given by the cybernetic brain, everything could be simulated—tomorrow’s temperature and humidity, who you would encounter tomorrow, what would happen, and what kind of butterfly effect would occur between people.

As long as the Mainbrain thought about it, it could even precisely control what a person saw in a certain period of time. All the pushed information had been carefully selected, and all hormone indexes were closely monitored and recorded.

“With the help of the auxiliary cybernetic brain, people can dream of ‘tomorrow’ hundreds of millions of times. They share the same dream, and even changes in the choices of others will be counted. After waking up the next day, they would not remember anything except the faint impression in their subconscious. But these refined and filtered subconscious minds are enough for them to have a perfect day.”

The three-legged little machine let out a few not-so-mechanical bitter laughs.

“Of course, the interests of people can’t be exactly the same, so the Mainbrain will choose the most suitable plan. For those whose interests are compromised, temporary personality adjustments are possible… Simply put, under sufficient hormonal stimulation, they will become optimistic and generous, less concerned about gains and losses, and still be able to have a good mood all day long.”

“There is no regret in that city,” he concluded.

“What about those ‘abnormal people’?” Ruan Xian questioned. “Even if the calculations are sufficient, I don’t think everyone can be pleased.”

The premise of the establishment of this set of rules was that everyone knew respect and etiquette and had a considerable sense of morality. Otherwise, irreconcilable arguments would always exist.

“The personality of a ‘black sheep’ will be corrected, irreversibly, until he or she understands the so-called enjoyment of life.” Professor Ruan sneered. “To the Mainbrain, this is the society of ‘total happiness’.”

All the regrets and mistakes that hurt one’s heart no longer existed, and all hidden talents would shine. Every encounter and parting were the most complete state. The combination of the words abnormal would only exist in history. Everyone had been calculated and cared for every day to choose the “best” possibility.

In a sense, this could also be called an ideal country, and they were more like villains who wanted to destroy this dream.

Ruan Xian took a few deep breaths, didn’t look at the expressions of other people, and continued stubbornly, “I think everyone knows enough. Now let’s talk about the words that cannot be spoken.”

“Let me give you an example, the Rebel Army, Ruan Xian, and Professor Ruan. These three words cannot be mentioned or written.”

“Why?”

“As I said just now, everyone’s brains are externally connected to cybernetic brains. They are equipped with… Well, just treat them as if they are equipped with a virus.”

Professor Ruan, who no longer even had a throat, cleared his throat.

“If a specific word is heard, seen, or touched a fixed number of times, the cybernetic brain will recognize the brain receiving the signal as an enemy and perform electric shock damage. In contrast, the degree of freedom of the Glass Conservatory can be said to be quite high.”

“Wait.” Yu Le opened his mouth with difficulty. “In other words, if I shout ‘Professor Ruan’ in the street, it can cause people to die, right?”

“The buffering time is enough. Generally speaking, they will usually shut down their hearing when they hear it for the first time, and then quickly go to the relevant institutions to erase their memories and reset it. Before the cybernetic brain destroys the brain, there will be a fairly intense warning that could wake people in a coma.”

Yu Le: “…They don’t know you…”

“Well, I don’t know. After all, only the Order Supervisors are free from restraints. That is the most difficult place for rebels to penetrate. Fortunately, the Mainbrain is still optimizing the social structure based on the petri dishes, so there are not many cities in it.”

“We… We can’t talk to them, because in the calculations of the Mainbrain, we’re non-existent variables, right? Once a person’s trajectory of action is abnormal…”

“It only takes up to two seconds to infer the center of the butterfly effect.” The three-legged machine nodded.

“It’s over.” Yu Le banged his forehead on the steering wheel. “I shouldn’t have disliked the Underground City. This whole fucking way, one place is more perverted than the other. Now we can’t be the Red Ghost anymore. Red is too dazzling.”

“…The concept still has merit,” Ruan Xian said softly.

Professor Ruan’s three-legged machinery suddenly turned its head towards Ruan Xian, and a large string of bubbles appeared in the glass trough of the enlarged brain.

“Just saying. Don’t mind.” Noticing Professor Ruan’s vigilance, Ruan Xian reluctantly smiled.

“Seeing is believing. You can see it for yourself.” After a moment of silence, Professor Ruan’s voice became a little stiff. “I’m going to rest. After all, I have to maintain the camouflage for a while. When the sun sets, Mr. Yu, please move towards the west first.”

“Oh,” Yu Le responded dryly.

“What do you think?” Ruan Xian hugged π in his arms and turned to Tang Yibu again.

Tang Yibu, who was still bored, reacted half a beat slower, “…?”

“The ideal country for the Mainbrain,” Ruan Xian added patiently.

“…Theoretically there seems to be no problem…” Tang Yibu thought there was no problem with the logic. From the perspective of a manager, it was difficult for him to come up with a more appropriate management method. It was like the situation he was facing now. Logically, he couldn’t pick faults, but his nerves were just roaring that it wasn’t right to the point where it made his head hurt. “But… But, um, let me think about it again.”

He lowered his shoulders, a little aggrieved.

“It’s good to have a ‘but’.” Ruan Xian’s hand on the shell of the iron bead tightened. “The subject continues.”

When he said this, Ruan Xian took his gaze back again. Tang Yibu simply turned his gaze and looked at the white city gleaming in the distance.

Time seemed to have gone back to twelve years ago, their last meeting before the long parting.

[Today’s topic is a bit complicated.] Ruan Xian, who was dying in a wheelchair, said.

Tang Yibu, who was still NUL-00 at the time, felt good. In every previous topic, he gave a sufficiently detailed and convincing answer. He had just completed a comprehensive analysis of human emotions, and his confidence had never been higher.

He even gave a perfect and comprehensive answer to the most complex “love”.

From normal to distorted, from common to rare. His report almost exploded the capacity of the electronic paper. Ruan Xian read it for a full week before finishing it, and he was unable to make any amendments.

If he had a nose at the time, he would not mind cocking it high.

However, on that day, Tang Yibu ushered in that nightmarish subject. To this day, he still wasn’t able to give an exact answer.

[The main question of the topic is just one sentence, NUL-00.]

[How do you define “harm” to humans?]

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The author has something to say:

The relationship between Tang and Ruan is too complicated, and it must be peeled off layer by layer (?) To find love XDDD

The subject that Tang has is not love. I wonder how many people guessed love (^ρ^)/

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