Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 171: Information Transfer

Professor Ruan was sitting at an iron table near the floating bridge. While eating breakfast, he looked at the giant machinery wrapped in smoke and light. Hearing the footsteps of others on the other end of the bridge, he turned his head and looked at the visitor.

“Breakfast.” Tang Yibu made a serious request. “Two people… No, four people. Have meat, eggs, and enough sugar.”

The android was dressed differently from yesterday. His slightly long black hair was wet. It seemed he disliked those close-fitting combat uniforms with buckles everywhere that weren’t easy to put on or take off. Tang Yibu simply wore Ruan Xian’s shirt. His figure was sturdier than Ruan Xian’s, making the shirt look tight on him, so he simply left it unbuttoned, exposing the lines of his collarbone and muscles.

However, in addition to being troublesome, Professor Ruan sensed a bit of a declaration of ownership.

“That… Where is Mr. Ruan?” Professor Ruan calmly retracted his gaze.

“In bed, sleeping.”

“I see.” Professor Ruan cracked open a boiled egg on the table. “As for breakfast, I remember you brought dry food.”

Tang Yibu’s eyes widened slightly. There was a hint of genuine shock that appeared on his face. “You have packed me up and sold me to MUL-01, so the least you can do is take care of this meal.”

“I’m kidding. I’ll have it delivered to your room later.” Professor Ruan smiled. “You especially came to see me behind his back. You should have other things to talk about, NUL-00. The sound insulation measures here are perfect. Please feel free.”

“Nn.” Tang Yibu bounced casually and sat on the railing of the floating bridge, balancing dangerously on it. “You lied to us yesterday. Letting MUL-01 take Fan Linsong wasn’t a test of ‘whether an AI will kill its own creator’… You just needed to make MUL-01 mistakenly think the rebels are at a disadvantage.”

Professor Ruan had no intention of interrupting Tang Yibu. He carefully peeled the eggshell from the boiled egg with a smile.

“As the person who built the core program, you are the true creator of MUL-01. Fan Linsong is the manager in charge of the project, but on a technical scale, he’s far behind. Humans have a way of defining humans, and we have our own way of defining them.”

Tang Yibu turned his back to the sleeping giant machine while still sitting on the railing, swinging one leg absentmindedly. Professor Ruan still didn’t respond. His eyes were calm, as if he was looking at a cat that was flicking its tail back and forth.

“Fan Linsong has taken a DNA jammer, so once he’s killed, he can’t be replicated. You should have kept an extra sample of your own genes at the start.”

Tang Yibu didn’t care about Professor Ruan’s reaction and continued quite bluntly.

“You know that in order to get information from Fan Linsong, MUL-01 will not kill him immediately. You also wouldn’t be careless to expose your whereabouts to people who are bound to be captured sooner or later. MUL-01 is also equally aware of this—so instead of directly crushing Fan Linsong’s brain to obtain information at once, it’s better to raise him first as a material for indirect research on you, and if necessary, it can be used to disrupt the morale of the rebel army.”

“Good guess.” Professor Ruan answered noncommittally. “But there’s no need to hide this from Mr. Ruan.”

Tang Yibu smiled. “If you really didn’t care, you shouldn’t have made a point of telling this lie yesterday. ‘An AI won’t kill its creator’ is simply a false proposition.”

Professor Ruan sighed. “…Yes.”

“You hope to postpone the possible conflict between me and Mr. Ruan. After all, no matter which one is missing, your plan’s chance of winning will be reduced.” Tang Yibu touched his shirt with a soft emotion on his face that looked completely inconsistent with what he was saying.

“You and MUL-01 are really alike… No, it should be said that MUL-01 is like you.”

Professor Ruan stood up. “You want to crush him completely, don’t you?”

“It’s just an idea now.” Tang Yibu didn’t deny it. “When did you find out?”

“The way you looked at the light screens before you two met. I want to know the reason. You and him aren’t in a hostile position.” Professor Ruan spoke crisply. “Please tell me. This will help me understand the behavior pattern of MUL-01, and it won’t cost you anything.”

“Unfortunately, I think my reasons can’t be used as a reference.”

Tang Yibu jumped back from the railing onto the bridge deck.

“Father is the most spectacular puzzle I have ever seen. Before, and especially now, that kind of attraction is hard to resist. He has a far more than average influence on me, and it’s deepening in ways I can’t control.”

Tang Yibu took a deep breath.

“At this moment, he never abandoned me, without any flaws… I want him.”

It was like seeing a unique flower or a fleeting natural phenomenon. Knowing that they were destined to die, people would try their best to preserve them. Language narratives, paintings, pictures, data specimens, and the like; as time evolved, the practices were different, but the purpose remained similar.

Tang Yibu didn’t think there was any logical problem with his ideas.

The desire for knowledge and growth was engraved in his instinct, and the perfect research object existed by his side. After tasting the feeling of being abandoned once, and after a false alarm, this urge to completely possess the other party for himself only became more obvious.

People could change. He had seen countless examples. At this moment, his father was perfect, but as time passed, Ruan Xian could disappear by accident or become someone he didn’t know. There was also the subtle possibility of being betrayed… Based on this moment, “Ruan Xian” had countless possibilities.

If nothing was done and the other side was allowed to continue like this, his father would eventually only come out one way in the end, and that way may not be the most suitable…

Flowers that faded would naturally still be beautiful, but if they lost their water and dried up, were crushed by a car, or were infected with mold, they would become irreparable waste.

But he had a solution. As long as he crushed the other party, he could record everything about him in his own mind. As long as he had the right equipment, he could create countless “perfect Ruan Xian” and bring the most beautiful flowers back to the world.

“I want him.” He repeated. He wanted to record the other party from head to toe. This was the most perfect solution he could think of.

It was just such a simple purpose.

But for some reason, Tang Yibu always felt that something was wrong. It stood to reason that after a night of intimacy, this morning should be perfect—he could pull out a bunch of parts from this place, create a scanning shredder to completely record that beautiful collection of puzzles.

However, his feet dragged him to Professor Ruan, and for some unknown emotion, was preventing him from doing that.

Out of curiosity about the unknown, Tang Yibu complied. The result was the current situation—he clearly stated his thoughts while Professor Ruan’s face began to turn grave, obviously understanding what he meant.

“Do you really not know what ‘fear of life’ means?” The bitterness in Professor Ruan’s voice was getting heavier.

“Life is just a natural phenomenon. Like most creatures, I live by my own instincts, and I won’t get entangled by this issue.” Tang Yibu shrugged. “And most humans just ‘selectively fear life’ or are too afraid that the ecosystem will collapse too quickly. At least I haven’t seen many people fear pathogenic bacteria.”

As Tang Yibu said, it wasn’t about the phenomenon of life. He could cross out one of the guesses about the unknown emotions in his heart.

How troublesome. It seemed that Professor Ruan wouldn’t have an answer here. As long as there was this strong unknown feeling, he would not be able to function smoothly.

Professor Ruan didn’t respond anymore, but instead just looked a little sad.

“So for now, I have my own questions to think about.” Tang Yibu’s expression collapsed as he wilted and turned around. He decided to go back to his room and wait for his meal. “Remember to bring our companions down as well. There’s no point in continuing the perception interference.”

“Like you, I also have my questions that need to be confirmed.” Professor Ruan didn’t immediately agree. “Of course, I certainly won’t really make things difficult for Mr. Yu and Miss Ji—”

“I mean that Grove R-660 lifeform.”

“……”

Yu Le was cursing loudly from the bottom of his heart.

They seemed to be trapped in a cycle of time. From Tang Yibu gaining his body, to Tang Yibu breaking through the barriers of the Android Show, to Tang Yibu falling at the door of the burning research institute, these scenes had replayed for three times now. Ji Xiaoman once wanted to try to enter the Institute, but the providers of the memory, Kang Ziyan and Su Zhao, had never entered it, so there was only a cloud of darkness inside, like a procedural error.

By now, Yu Le had no idea what Professor Ruan wanted to do. If this was a test, then this test was too boring. It looked more like a stall tactic.

But it didn’t make sense to stall. Neither he nor Ji Xiaoman were strategic weapons, so there was no need to detour and block them. It was better to knock them out and throw them into a corner.

The long period of mental tension made him exhausted, but he didn’t dare let his guard down. He had just dozed off a few minutes ago when he saw a shrapnel cross his calf and subconsciously took it as real. In the next second, a sharp pain spread from his calf, followed by the sticky feeling that was characteristic of blood stained clothes.

The young Ji Xiaoman still had a bit of energy. She quickly took out the bandage in her waist bag and made a simple bandage for Yu Le. Her movements were a bit hasty as several huge parts popped out from her waist bag and fell to the ground. She didn’t have time to pick them up.

Despite the looping scene, Kang Ziyan and Su Zhao didn’t let go of the ventral cockroach. This time they happily killed it and were lighting a fire to barbeque its gaiters. Given that this ventral cockroach most likely didn’t exist in reality, Yu Le was unwilling to think about what they were actually eating.

“Little profiteer, we have to find a place to sleep for a while. This won’t work.” He lowered his voice.

“Nn.” Ji Xiaoman turned pale and nodded. “Each person will take turns for half an hour.”

“I don’t know how Xiao Ruan and Xiao Tang are doing. It’s damn hard to guess when nothing has changed here, but I don’t think Professor Ruan will be too rough on us two small characters. Looking at this situation, they are probably jumping happily around.”

Yu Le took out a piece of packaged jerky from his pocket and threw it to Ji Xiaoman.

“But recycling this scene is also quite meaningless. What’s he trying to do?”

“I don’t know.” Ji Xiaoman had a higher favorability for Professor Ruan than Yu Le, and even she looked particularly frustrated. After taking the jerky, Ji Xiaoman freed up on hand and groped for parts that had been accidently dropped in the dark. As a result, she didn’t touch parts but something round.

“Gwah!” That thing cried aggrievedly.

“π?!” Yu Le jolted awake all of a sudden. “Where’s your father Ruan? Where did he go?”

The iron bead swallowed the parts in its mouth and rattled off a long string of sounds hurriedly. However, the two pure humans didn’t have the ability to communicate with mechanical life. Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman looked at each other. It was difficult to say whose expression was more confused.

π buried its face in the ground angrily.

After a while, it stretched out its legs with difficulty and gnawed on a stone into a pair of rough human shape. Then it tried to make a vicious look, put the small stones in its mouth in one bite, and ran into the bush.

Then it rolled back listlessly, spat out the stones, and repeated what it had just done. It repeated over and over again, until Ji Xiaoman’s face turned pale, and she let out a sigh. The iron bead lay on the ground, turning over its belly with aggravation.

“Xiao Ruan has been taken away, I think…” Yu Le scratched his head.

“This isn’t the point. I understand why the scene here is being repeated.” Ji Xiaoman’s face turned a few shades paler. “It’s an explanatory signal.”

“A what signal?”

“Tang Yibu has never concealed his android characteristics, right?”

The young mechanic’s voice trembled a bit.

“Except for The Glass Conservatory, there aren’t many androids who can freely move in other places. No matter what happens, with those eyes, he’s easier to remember than us. Not to mention that we just confronted the big boss of the Order Supervisors not long ago. At that time… he didn’t cover his face either.”

Yu Le’s expression gradually became solemn.

“The detection birds here have the ability to transmit visual interference information, and they can convey these scenes to the Mainbrain. If… I mean, if someone wants to prove to MUL-01 that ‘an AI on the same level as you is still around and active’, isn’t this the best evidence?”

Ji Xiaoman picked up the iron bead, bit her lip, and had no intention of touching the jerky again.

“…Lao Yu, I’m afraid the Order Supervisors will come here soon. We’re out of time.”

The author has something to say:

Tang is really not ready for love (?) He just want to get rid of Ruan. His brain circuit is completely different from humans. XD

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 170: Memory Breakdown

‘It’s too fragile,’ Ruan Xian thought.

Tang Yibu only had to raise his hand and the commander-in-chief of the rebel army would fall off the floating bridge and pass away quietly.

However, Professor Ruan was right about one thing—even if they didn’t cooperate, there was no need to kill Professor Ruan specifically. After all, MUL-01 was indeed an enemy to himself and Tang Yibu. None of them would do such a thing as take the initiative to destroy the enemy’s maximum containment for a moment of pleasure.

Time seemed to stop for a few seconds.

Ruan Xian felt that this scene was weirdly comical. His brain and body were mixed with the S-type Prototype that it was difficult to classify him as a human. Professor Ruan was left with only a brain that maintained its activities in a device, while Tang Yibu had nothing to do with humans.

Yet here they were, discussing the future of human society.

“…I kind of know what it means to have almost extreme support for the naturalness of personality and memory.” Ruan Xian didn’t touch the black cube box. “If I were you, I would rather extract my own personality data and make an artificial intelligence to assist Yibu.”

Tang Yibu looked around, found a small iron table, and put the black box on the table, next to a ceramic cup with a little cocoa left.

“That’s more like propaganda rhetoric.” It was a human voice that answered him this time.

Another Professor Ruan’s “body” came to the bridge unknowingly. He casually pulled up a few light screens as two mechanical robots began to clean up the blood and bodies on the bridge. One brought three stools, while the other held a tray with food and drinks.

Professor Ruan obviously didn’t like to express his opinions with electronic synthesizers. He twisted a piece of biscuit and chewed it slowly.

“The message to most people needs to be simple and clear. Few people will consider too detailed definitions.”

He pointed to Ruan Xian with a relatively polite gesture. “For example, I can say that you are the original Ruan Xian, or you can say that you are the product of the entire dissolution of Ruan Xian and then put together again. The latter is a very ambiguous definition.”

Professor Ruan didn’t seem to mind Ruan Xian’s previous aggressive behavior at all, as he blinked at Ruan Xian amicably.

“After smashing people into pieces and putting them back together as they are, the controversy shouldn’t be too big. But by replicating a person to a molecular-level accuracy, controversy will start to arise. From a molecular level, the gap between the two wasn’t much. Can the difference between the two molecular gaps with the same composition represent the difference in ‘self’?”

“Even if your body information is exactly the same as father’s,” Tang Yibu very nonchalantly took a cookie and said with a little slurred speech.

“Your memories are completely different. Conceptually, the two of you are closer to identical twins—the kind whose biological information is similar to a miracle.”

Having said that, Tang Yibu fervently took two cookies and gestured, without the slightest tension that he was being targeted by the Mainbrain.

“What if the memories are exactly the same?” Professor Ruan smiled.

Tang Yibu stopped talking. He stared at Professor Ruan, and Ruan Xian once again felt the subtle aura of danger when they met again.

“…These things, I’m afraid that humans themselves need some time to think properly and even then will never get a unified answer. It’s quite dangerous to put them into technology before you think about it thoroughly.” Professor Ruan changed the subject at the right time.

“I’m not interested in your leadership experience and moral tendencies.”

Ruan Xian didn’t want to listen to the other party’s prattle. Professor Ruan was obviously changing the subject, and he didn’t want to be bypassed.

“I just want to ask one thing. You didn’t extract your own personality data. I don’t think that’s simply due to a matter of belief.”

After sighing softly, Professor Ruan was silent for a long time.

“If I can, I don’t want to die either,” he finally said, then summoned the light screen again and started the program.

The bottom of the phage-like machine was originally dark, but the next second it was illuminated by a reddish light. In addition to the fixtures that Ruan Xian guessed, there were other things below—countless black boxes neatly stacked on the shelf connecting in series with each other through intricate lines, connected to the phage-like mechanical monster.

Each box was marked with a large string of numbers, a bit like a serial number. The material of those boxes was opaque, but Ruan Xian could probably guess what was inside.

They were exactly the same style as the black box on the table.

“I didn’t copy out so many bodies simply for ‘ease of movement’.” Professor Ruan took a sip of hot cocoa. “Naturally, I won’t throw away the brains I excavated, so that I can harm a few real people less.”

“…” Thinking that those brains came from Professor Ruan who was the same origin as himself, even if Ruan Xian’s emotions were light, he couldn’t help but shudder.

“But unfortunately, like other people’s brains, they can only be used as outreach resources, and they cannot support NUL-00 with thinking like me.”

Professor Ruan smiled bitterly.

“I have even made cybernetic brains. You should have found my thought access needle. I have tried to inject memory and as many thinking algorithms as possible, but the effect still isn’t good… To achieve the best results, my brain must be completely crushed during sampling.”

That meant real death. A complete contradiction—wanting to survive and replace yourself with a cybernetic brain, but to achieve the effect of perfect substitution, you have to completely crush your brain.

What’s more, there was a record of the mutiny of MUL-01, so the safety of the cybernetic brain was still in doubt. Thus, it was better to put more effort into the replicated human brain. Professor Ruan simply abandoned the thought access needle and left it in the Underground City, where the trade of cybernetic brains was thriving as part of his breadcrumbs.

“…You’re crazy.”

Although it was ironic to say this from his own mouth, Ruan Xian couldn’t find a more suitable description. Nobody liked watching their own brains. Within a few weeks, normal people would’ve gone completely crazy.

“We have indeed been to the Underground City.” Tang Yibu smiled and began to exude hostility. “There is technology over there that can copy the brain information of a living person and put it in a cybernetic brain. If there’s enough time, in addition to image memory, it’s also possible to transfer the thinking model.”

“So is the Tiantian series exactly the same as Miss Ji’s personality and behavior?”

Professor Ruan put down the cup and lifted his eyelids.

“Human thinking is a very delicate thing. Objective memory is the easiest to decompose, but personality, thinking habits, and more detailed aspects—you have to analyze the whole brain to obtain them. The target is the living. Those technologies can restore thinking patterns to 70% or 80% at most. The error is still uncontrollable—70% or 80% may be enough for the average person, but this is war, not a child’s game. Even a 10% margin of error can’t be good enough.”

Tang Yibu murmured vaguely, as if he was reluctantly persuaded.

“As for the replicated brain, I myself can be regarded as a replica of the infused memory. I know how long it takes to integrate memories from different sources and stabilize my own way of thinking.”

Professor Ruan glanced at Ruan Xian again. “Their state of mind is almost the same as that of newborns. This isn’t something that can be solved with a few memory cocktails. In general, there’s not enough time and too many variables—MUL-01 uses time much more efficiently than me, and our gap will only get wider. This matter must be done as soon as possible.”

“I have no more questions. Thank you for your explanation.” Ruan Xian nodded. “Let’s go, Yibu.”

Professor Ruan almost choked.

“It’s true I really won’t kill you.” Ruan Xian didn’t touch the sweet drink. “Besides, you did lie to us, and we never said that we must cooperate with you, right?”

Professor Ruan wiped the cocoa splashed on the black box with his sleeve, raising his brows high.

“…Just kidding.” Ruan Xian tugged at the corner of his mouth. “There’s a lot of information that we got today. How about giving us a night to think about it?”

An hour later.

He didn’t know if it was specifically prepared for NUL-00 and its companions, but the guest rooms were extremely nice in the huge underground space.

But this “nice” was relatively speaking, not strictly. Compared to the Underground City prostitution room, it wasn’t even as good. The room was rough with an industrial style, but they had everything they needed and no shortage of essentials.

“Want to collect more information?” Tang Yibu said, wiping his dripping hair with a towel. The android seemed to be sure that Ruan Xian wouldn’t easily agree to cooperate, and directly skipped the related questions.

“Go at his pace first. There’s no benefit to showing your cards too early.” Ruan Xian suddenly became unspeakably nervous. “Professor Ruan has done this, so he will definitely not let us go easily. It just so happens that I don’t understand the technology and its quite… much…”

Tang Yibu approached, wafting warm water vapor onto his face.

For a while, Ruan Xian didn’t know how to face Tang Yibu.

Not to mention that the social system had already collapsed; they weren’t related by blood. Reason had never been his concern, but he was at a loss with the NUL-00 in his heart and Tang Yibu suddenly overlapping.

When it was tit-for-tat with the android before, he was still able to let go of his desires freely, but now there was an unfamiliar and solid emotion in their relationship…

There was worry about gains and losses.

Tang Yibu’s painful memories were still circulating in his mind, mixed with bits and pieces of the five years he spent with NUL-00. If the android had died before today, he would have been sad for a while at most, and then continued to live in peace.

But that self-conscious love had changed, and now Ruan Xian didn’t know if he could continue.

At that moment, Tang Yibu stood in front of him unscathed, and Ruan Xian could feel the continuous dull pain in his chest.

He wasn’t even sure what to call this emotion.

When Professor Ruan was still there, Ruan Xian was still able to divert his attention by getting down to business. At this moment, he had nowhere to escape—Tang Yibu, who was close, bit his lip contentedly, and the fresh smell after bathing pierced his nose.

“I think so too,” the android said happily. “We…”

“Shh.”

Ruan Xian stretched out a hand and pressed Tang Yibu’s lips. Then his fingers traced up his cheeks. It was a softness that was far different from the hard chassis, but equally warm. The fingertips went from the upturned corner of the mouth all the way to the root of the ear, and finally Ruan Xian simply stretched out his hands and held Tang Yibu’s face.

“Twelve years ago, you were the only thing I cherished,” Ruan Xian whispered, “and still is.”

“Like I was saying,” Tang Yibu put a hand on the back of Ruan Xian’s hand and narrowed his eyes, “you haven’t completely taken off your guard against me, father.”

“I can’t help it. I’m used to it.”

Ruan Xian, who was called this way, only felt that the point of skin contact was amazingly hot, and he barely managed to keep his tone steady. “I just want to make it clear that I will never abandon you.”

If there was really a day when they needed to kill each other again, it certainly wouldn’t be for such a frivolous reason—Ruan Xian originally wanted to say that, but before he could, he swallowed back the words.

His emotional disorder always allowed him to maintain untimely sobriety, such as now.

Ruan Xian knew very well that his dependence on NUL-00 wasn’t some lotus growing in silt, or a flawless light in the darkness. He was aware of the selfish part of it.

He poured his few emotions into it, partly because “NUL-00 couldn’t leave him”.

No matter how abnormal he behaved or how indifferent his feelings were, it would not dislike him or leave him as a result. Even if it learned to hate, he had enough time to make up for it slowly without worrying about it dying or disappearing unexpectedly.

He would never have to worry about saying or doing the wrong thing. Although it wasn’t possible to completely open himself up, Ruan Xian could always get temporary relief in front of it.

If life twelve years ago was like walking a tightrope in the sky, NUL-00 was like the safety net under the steel wire. Even if he wouldn’t really fall, just knowing that it was there brought him extreme relief.

But now this safety net had grown feet and could disappear at anytime, anywhere. If Tang Yibu wanted to, he could completely erase his traces.

Almost instinctively, Ruan Xian subconsciously put on the most perfect mask—the father NUL-00 liked, and then slightly mixed it with his previous performance.

He put it back on, nestled it in his flesh, and then sewed it back together with a needle, delicately.

“Well, I’m very happy.”

Tang Yibu said carelessly. There was also a bit of depression in his eyes that Ruan Xian couldn’t decipher. As if trying to hide the subtle emotion, the android gave him a hug; his voice soft and gentle.

They were both trying to suppress something.

But at the moment, these things may not be the point. Ruan Xian exhaled and decided to vent those strange emotions in other ways. He slowly unbuttoned his jacket, dropped his underarm holster, and walked into the still-lit bathroom.

“Do you mind washing again, Yibu?” Before stepping into the door, he stretched out his hand for his NUL-00.

As a result, when the hot water was turned on, it wasn’t turned off until the next morning. Ruan Xian was lying in the metal bathtub as he used the last of his strength to turn off the faucet. He thought he and Tang Yibu were crazy enough before, but last night had blown off all his nerves.

He didn’t know if the android wanted to vent his grievances and losses of the past twelve years, but the android always liked to call him father softly in his ear when he was most relaxed. Even if Ruan Xian couldn’t equate “maker” with “relative”, he still trembled because of this.

As a result, the water spilled all over the floor, and there wasn’t much hot water left in the bathtub.

Tang Yibu occupied the other half of the bathtub at this moment and was sleeping happily, even though he had a cybernetic brain in his head and didn’t need sleep. The other party’s wet black hair hung down his neck. Ruan Xian gently brushed them away and kissed Tang Yibu’s hair.

He hadn’t figured out the source of Tang Yibu’s suppressed emotions, but he did perceive its impact last night…

For a few moments, when he tried to grab more air and suppress the vigilance and madness that wandered deep in his mind, he felt murderous intent.

Even if they were in the most intimate of situations and he was doing his best to display the appropriate emotions.

From the depths of those golden eyes, he saw destruction.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 169: Winning Percentage

Professor Ruan still showed no signs of panic. He calmly looked at Tang Yibu, who was holding Ruan Xian, and didn’t start preaching impassionedly as Ruan Xian thought. He didn’t even show an expression of condemnation.

“That’s it,” he said. “What a pity. It seems we won’t get along well in the future.”

Ruan Xian narrowed his eyes.

Although he was emotionally unstable, he didn’t let his guard down. Professor Ruan wouldn’t let Tang Yibu in unprepared. In fact, this was one of the reasons why they didn’t leave immediately—since Professor Ruan dared to see Tang Yibu, who had an unclear attitude, he should have had a way to restrain him.

Therefore, even if his doubts were resolved and Tang Yibu no longer needed to seek any answers from this “clone”, they still couldn’t leave with confidence.

In theory, the opponent’s intelligence was not below his own. Although his personality was very different, they were still more or less similar in nature. Ruan Xian allowed Tang Yibu to put his arms around his neck and let him act coquettish, while cleverly using his body to separate him from Professor Ruan.

“Let’s talk.”

After confirming that the situation around him was temporarily safe, Ruan Xian began to talk as planned.

“At first, you treated me as Yibu’s companion, or an undercover agent from the Mainbrain. You can also use that opportunity to observe Yibu’s reaction to determine his position. After all, compared to Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman, I have a stronger intimate relationship with him.”

He and Tang Yibu had guessed this when they were pursuing the off-roader. Regardless of whether it was true or not, Professor Ruan would inevitably try the “excessive” emotion card first to make a preliminary probe into the android’s emotional state.

In order to make the results more accurate, it was impossible to limit the object of the probe to Tang Yibu. Whether it was due to emotional research or safety concerns, Professor Ruan would undoubtedly cause some trouble for himself as “NUL-00’s partner”.

“Regardless of my identity… If you see that I am in danger and Yibu shaken, then it means that his emotions have become rich to the point of ‘understandable and speculative’. You won’t really do anything to me, but instead bring me over properly and use the emotional card to win him over, while secretly investigating the details.”

Tang Yibu buried the tip of his nose on the side of Ruan Xian’s neck and sniffed carefully. ‘It’s a bit itchy,’ Ruan Xian thought.

“…But if Yibu doesn’t react too obviously, then whether I am with the Mainbrain or not, I’m just a pawn used by NUL-00. You’ll then kill me, show your own value and means, and finally add a touch of the emotional card. A rational NUL-00 will tend to cooperate with you.”

Ruan Xian held the knife in one hand and rubbed Tang Yibu’s hair with the other.

Until now, Ruan Xian wasn’t even sure whether the defeated rebel army was the real main force of the rebel army. After all, the fight with Fan Linsong was also a scene made by the person in front of him, and it could even be said to be an experiment to see the attitude of an AI towards its creator.

This bureau was set up when Professor Ruan discovered that NUL-00 still existed. He left clues in each petri dish, guided NUL-00 to the S-type Prototype, and finally led it to himself.

On the surface, he let the Order Supervisors and the Mainbrain relax their vigilance, then secretly used breadcrumbs sprinkled with clues to guide the way for NUL-00.

For this reason, Professor Ruan didn’t seem to mind deceiving the world.

Even if Professor Ruan wasn’t the original “Ruan Xian”, he was the closest person that came close to Ruan Xian in this world. Even if the real Ruan Xian had died, even if NUL-00 was a colder guy than the Mainbrain, he would still leave him alive just for the sake of possessing him.

But there was a hole in this speculation.

Judging from Tang Yibu’s memory, the android hadn’t had a pleasant experience before. If it weren’t for luck, Tang Yibu would most likely have died on the original Android Show. In the case that Tang Yibu had died a long time ago, these actions were tantamount to tossing clues to a blind man and wouldn’t be of any use.

On the other hand, now that his identity was exposed and his attitude was very determined, Professor Ruan still had a calm attitude. That calmness didn’t seem to come from external strength, but more like a long preparation.

“Not bad.”

Sure enough, Professor Ruan admitted frankly.

“Unfortunately, human calculations are never as good as God’s. It seems that you have almost figured out this matter. We might as well cut out all the falsehoods and talk about the price directly—since you guessed what I did, you still insisted on coming over. Except for the confirmation of identity, the rest is also ‘why did I dare see NUL-00’.”

He smiled at Ruan Xian. “If I have the means to guard against NUL-00, I can learn more about it on one hand, and ensure that NUL-00 won’t be a threat to me. On the other hand, I can use it to defend against MUL-01. That’s the plan, right?”

“Indeed.” Ruan Xian returned an insincere smile.

“If it’s you, you should be able to guess most of it. Can you let me go first? I will take you there.”

Professor Ruan struggled with the metal arm wrapped around his body.

“The price is also very simple. You just need to consider the transaction.”

Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu looked at each other but didn’t see retreat in each other’s eyes—they could indeed leave regardless of things now. Considering the issue of strength, even if Professor Ruan made plans to stop them, it wouldn’t prevent them for long.

[…And the details of the destruction of the A-type Prototype. I also want to know. We have to walk for a while. Tell me properly, Yibu.] He asked Tang Yibu not long ago.

At that time, Tang Yibu explained in great detail that Professor Ruan should have been unaware of his accidental acquisition of the A-type Prototype. Even if he made defenses against the S-type Prototype, their strength would most likely be above those defenses.

The plan continued.

However, Ruan Xian always felt that something was wrong, and everything seemed to be going too well.

It was like forgetting something that should have been remembered, but before the head could react, the body reacted faster. But after Ruan Xian thought about it, he didn’t find a possible danger. He looked at Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman, who were still spinning in the illusory world on the screen, and decided to go ahead with the plan.

Tang Yibu also nodded at him, indicating that he had no other ideas.

The android didn’t remove the robotic arm politely. He didn’t go easy on Professor Ruan because of his status as “Ruan Xian’s clone”. Professor Ruan nodded briefly to thank them, then made an “after you” gesture to them.

“Don’t worry about your companions. I won’t do anything to them. However, Kang Ziyan and Su Zhao are not under my control. Mr. Yu and Miss Ji should be able to handle two ordinary androids.” Professor Ruan sorted out his collar and opened the door in front of him.

They were walking deeper underground. The bottomless pit rumbled with muffled sounds, like the noise of drums from hell. Professor Ruan casually called a mechanical assistant to support him, took them to several elevators, and walked in the dark.

Except for the darkness around, it was steel ruins left over from when the artificial island was first established. In addition to sporadic machines coming and going, Ruan Xian didn’t see a shadow of a human being.

Professor Ruan was walking in front of them, and Ruan Xian stared suspiciously at the man’s back—not to mention a relatively normal person, even if it was himself, he needed certain channels of external communication. This wasn’t a working environment conducive to physical and mental health at all.

Here it is.

Professor Ruan knew nothing about Ruan Xian’s doubts. He led the two of them onto the metal bridge and turned on the lights. The yellowish light illuminated the giant sleeping underground.

It was a bit like a phage formed by the corpses of mechanical creatures. This was Ruan Xian’s first impression. He raised his eyes, and sure enough, he found a structure similar to a signal amplifier on the top of the monster.

…Although he had conjectured before, Ruan Xian was still shocked when he really saw it.

“Just like you guessed.” Professor Ruan held onto the railing by the floating bridge with both hands. His tone relaxed. “This is the device I will use to assassinate MUL-01.”

Tang Yibu’s expression was blank. Ruan Xian turned his head, and his facial muscles were a little distorted.

“You…” He adjusted his breathing for a while. “Is it really for this kind of thing that you left the so-called spark?”

“Only NUL-00 with the same level of computing can more safely break through the firewall of MUL-01. As long as the cybernetic brain of NUL-00 is transferred in, it will have hardware that is not inferior to MUL-01.”

Professor Ruan did not respond to Ruan Xian’s gaze as he looked doggedly at the mechanical monster sleeping in the darkness.

“However, in addition to its own almost perfect hardware, MUL-01 also has a lot of mechanical processors as auxiliary resources. It’s not feasible to fight alone, and we must also have similar computing resources—”

“Computing resources?” Ruan Xian couldn’t control the irony in his tone. “You mean the ‘human brain’?”

“Ah.” Tang Yibu reacted quickly, but his mood swings weren’t as obvious as Ruan Xian’s. Since Ruan Xian’s condition was determined, the android exuded an atmosphere like he was on an outing. “…Regarding the perception of the truth of the doomsday, this information is the ‘activation command’.”

Professor Ruan nodded.

To put it bluntly, the human brain could be regarded as some kind of organic computer. As long as you possessed enough theoretical knowledge, you could also “hack” into it.

However, the human brain itself was naturally much more complicated than a computer. If you wanted absolute control, in addition to the powerful invasion ability, you also needed a precise start-up instruction, so as to achieve the purpose of getting control of the master’s consciousness.

Looking at the current situation, this activation command was the ‘truth about the doomsday’.

“After the activation command takes effect, those human brains can be used as our computing resources. Of course, this process will cause a huge burden on the human mind, so I also have to be selective. People who are too fragile won’t be able to withstand the outreach of NUL-00 and will only consume resources in vain.”

“Even if they can bear it, after the invasion battle with MUL-01, even if they aren’t dead, they will definitely go crazy.”

Ruan Xian stared at Professor Ruan as he spoke slowly. The human brain couldn’t bear too much information flow. If such a thing happened, a mental disorder could be said to be the best result.

All the rebels, plus those in the know that were spread throughout various petri dishes; the moment the machine in front of them was officially activated, it would become a one-time flesh-and-blood computer. This included Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman, who were not far away.

Ruan Xian’s own brain was repaired by the S-type Prototype. Mixed with mechanical components, it wouldn’t be disturbed by such complex and precise targeted instructions.

While he and Tang Yibu would be safe…

“If we use it, our winning chance is more than 90%. I intervened in the design of MUL-01. I have prepared a virus model specifically for it. The virus can completely destroy it, making it unable to repair itself.”

Professor Ruan continued calmly.

“The Order Supervisors cannot make a second Mainbrain, and the current petri dish model will completely collapse. All mechanical life controlled by the Mainbrain would no longer be a threat… I know that quite a lot of people will die, but more will survive.”

“This is my plan.”

Professor Ruan finally turned his head sideways and responded to Ruan Xian’s gaze.

“Of course, I have also considered the possibility of NUL-00 being unfortunately damaged. If I install this hardware by myself, the winning rate is only about 40%.”

‘That’s right,’ Ruan Xian thought.

Even without Tang Yibu, Professor Ruan could have done this before. In this way, he could obtain an absolutely safe and confidential research environment without drawing attention to himself.

To be fair, if one wanted to deal with the Mainbrain, Ruan Xian couldn’t think of a more effective way than this, but whether it was survivors or rebels, people may not all be willing to sacrifice themselves for this 40% probability. Once this plan was leaked, it would inevitably cause great controversy and finally be noticed by the Mainbrain.

As for the arrangement of NUL-00, it was just a subsidiary of this plan. If NUL-00 still existed, he could have increased his winning rate from about 40% to more than 90%. That was all.

“No wonder you want to give me the S-type Protype.” Tang Yibu grabbed the railing by the bridge and leaned forward.”…This process will also cause loss to my cybernetic brain. If I have the S-type Prototype, I can survive normally after the victory.”

NUL-00 had no feelings for humans and would never make a loss-profit decision. Professor Ruan had expected this.

“That’s right. We have a more than 90% chance of destroying the Mainbrain, and both of you can survive normally.” Professor Ruan glanced at Ruan Xian. “If NUL-00 doesn’t have the S-type Prototype, it may have to work you hard to supply it with your blood. If neither of you got it, the 90% win rate would probably drop to about 74%.”

“At the beginning, you were lucky to survive because of the α-092 variant, but that wasn’t enough to support your body. Then there are only two possibilities—one, you got the S-type Prototype and then were discovered by NUL-00. Two, NUL-00, who had obtained the Prototype, found you in the ruins of the institute and decided to save your life for your intelligence.”

Professor Ruan turned to Ruan Xian.

“I leaned towards the first possibility. After all, the S-type Prototype was made by me. It will recognize ‘a lifeform that is bonded to itself and is severely damaged’… and it was precisely developed on the basis of the α-092-30 sample you left behind.”

“So it recognized that there was an α-092 variant in my body and that it was collapsing and mistook me for an object that needed to be repaired.” Ruan Xian didn’t avoid the other party’s examination. “It is indeed a possibility.”

“Anyway, I don’t believe that any of you didn’t get it.” Professor Ruan raised his eyebrows. “That’s it. With a win rate of more than 90%, do you want to trade?”

“No,” Tang Yibu happily replied. “There’s about a 10% chance of failure, isn’t there? My father and I can live well. There’s no need to intervene in the troubles between humans and the Mainbrain.”

“I’m not interested either. The decision on this matter is up to Yibu. After all, he has to take the biggest risk.” Ruan Xian glanced at the mechanical giant in the smoke. “I also prefer his current body.”

As soon as the voice fell, he finally realized the sense of dissonance that was haunting him. Ruan Xian only felt his internal organs sink. He held his breath and slowly turned his head to look in the direction of Professor Ruan.

How could he forget? This person was regarded as his “brother” in a sense, the closest person to him in the world.

Professor Ruan was also a lunatic.

…This wasn’t the opponent’s biggest bargaining chip.

They were misled by Professor Ruan from the beginning, thinking that this was a well-managed hiding place for the other party. As the number one enemy of the Mainbrain, Professor Ruan wouldn’t easily expose himself. However, this was a game. Unless the gap between the two sides was unusually wide, there was no game in this world that wouldn’t lose some pieces. If he thought about it from this perspective…

Ruan Xian’s blood almost ran cold. He looked at the opponent’s calm and smiling face, waved his arm out without hesitation, and directly cut Professor Ruan’s throat.

Red blood sprayed all over him, and the body fell backwards, rolled down the gap on the edge of the bridge, and fell into the unfathomable darkness. Ruan Xian didn’t bother to dry the blood from his body. He grabbed Tang Yibu and subconsciously wanted to leave…

Clap. Clap.

Someone applauded at the other end of the bridge, and at the same time, the entrance and exit at both ends of the bridge were sealed. The man stopped in the shadows for a while, and finally approached.

He looked exactly the same as Professor Ruan, who had just fallen.

“I thought you would find out a little later,” Professor Ruan said. “It seems that even if I have lived twelve years longer than you, I can’t let go of too much vigilance against you, Mr. Ruan. You are more dangerous than I thought.”

“But as a result, we were still fooled.” Ruan Xian hung up a smirk. “You’re also crazier than I thought.”

Right now, the current sense of violation could be explained.

Why did Professor Ruan dare to face Tang Yibu in person from the beginning, and why did he give a so-called “defensive measure” that they might refuse. The machines here came and went, but he took them on foot…

“You snitched to the Mainbrain. If I guessed correctly, you told him that NUL-00 is still there.” Ruan Xian breathed slowly, squeezing words out from between his teeth. “Those messy things before were just stalling for time.”

Professor Ruan didn’t deny it. He touched his chin. “Yes, I also gave the specific area. Order Supervisors should be on the way here. If you leave this island, you’ll soon be discovered. You know me, just as I know you—moral restraint won’t be useful. I have to cut off all your escape routes.”

“That was your plan from the start.” Ruan Xian gritted his teeth.

“You are all very rational people, and you won’t rush out and let this place be destroyed. I have been fighting the Mainbrain for twelve years and now I’m your best chance of winning.” Professor Ruan patted his clean white coat. “If you really can’t get over it in your heart, it’s fine to kill me a few more times. I can feel all the pain.”

He thought for a while, and then added, “But I suggest you do it later. Now it’s sealed here, and it’s very difficult to transfer another body…”

As a result, as soon as his voice fell, Ruan Xian fired. Tang Yibu’s modified blood gun was so powerful that it directly smashed Professor Ruan’s head to pieces. There was no brain matter flowing out of the shattered skull. Only a gel-like filling and a chestnut-sized metal cube, which looked a bit like some kind of receiver.

Sure enough.

In order to complete his plan, Professor Ruan put in a lot of effort. His main body should be somewhere, remotely controlling these realistic puppets made of flesh—they have no brains and could only receive signals from the body. Because of their lack of brains, they couldn’t survive for too long.

“Unfortunately, I’m really angry,” Ruan Xian said stiffly. “You just added a 10% mortality rate to my NUL-00.”

“Sorry.” This time the sound came from near the phage-like mechanical monster; it was closer to an electronic sound than the human voice. “We must win.”

“It doesn’t mean you can justify—”

“There’s no justification.”

The voice seemed to be sighing. Although it was synthetic, Ruan Xian still heard some bitterness from it. “The people who will be sacrificed is my sin, and it’s also my fault for dragging you in. I’m not going to defend myself. This is war.”

“Even if I know that some practices are cruel and unethical, I must consider… the most survivors. I’m the commander of mankind in this war, so these are responsibilities I have to bear. If I lose, no one can stop the Mainbrain. Not even you.”

Tang Yibu didn’t interrupt, he just looked around, as if the two were arguing about something that had nothing to do with him.

“You are really more obsessed with the survival of humanity than me,” Ruan Xian sneered.

“I have no choice.” Professor Ruan’s voice was still steady. “…I have no choice.”

“Really, if I say… Yibu?!”

Tang Yibu suddenly turned over the floating steel bridge and jumped lightly onto the huge mechanical monster. His climbing movements were fast and neat, and he quickly climbed to the top of the phage-like mechanical monster.

“I found him!” Tang Yibu waved his hand happily at Ruan Xian and pointed to a small steel door above. “The transmitter that controls those bodies is here! Professor Ruan, it’s proper etiquette to talk face-to-face during negotiations. We…”

Tang Yibu easily opened the steel door and then fell silent.

“Yibu?”

“…Wait for me, Mr. Ruan.”

Tang Yibu carefully took something from the steel gate, then climbed back the same way and stood in front of Ruan Xian. His expression was a bit rare and complicated.

“Then let’s talk face to face.” There was a little more fatigue in the electronic sound. “Now that things have reached this point, that’s fine.”

This time the voice came from Tang Yibu, who was silently holding a black cube machine in front of Ruan Xian. Its surface was dim and dull, with only a few neatly arranged interfaces. The length, width, and height didn’t exceed that of a little girl’s arm.

This obviously wasn’t a complete person.

“I’m ready,” Professor Ruan’s voice continued. “Carrying a complete body will only reduce the success rate. This is the most utilized solution. There is no way.””

Ruan Xian didn’t speak.

“As you guessed, this is my brain. Whether the winning rate is 40% or 90%, my mortality rate is 100%.”

Professor Ruan’s tone remained calm.

The author has something to say:

Professor Ruan is indeed very cruel (?His approach… In any case of a matter of opinion, it’s hard for him to say whether it’s good or bad. _(:””∠)_

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 168: The Gift of Destiny

Ruan Xian didn’t have much real sense of the passage of time before.

Twelve years was nothing more than just a moment of chaos after being shot. Even if he saw the changes in science and technology and the collapse of human society, he still lacked some key touch. He still remembered the taste of the liquid food he ate before he was shot, Carol Young’s voice that was playing during the break in the Institute—that voice with a special sound quality—was still flowing between his nerves.

Although he basically didn’t forget the details of the past, compared to that, those memories were still extremely fresh.

Even though Ruan Xian had been surprised and confused, he didn’t leave the perspective of a spectator. The person in his arms was like a swamp, forcing him to come down from the position of a spectator and fall into reality.

Twelve years in one night.

The past twelve years were by no means easy or pleasant for Tang Yibu. Some previous thoughts would occasionally pass through Ruan Xian’s mind—as an android with extremely sufficient intelligence and combat effectiveness, Tang Yibu was still full of vigilance in places such as the Sea of Ruins. Before getting himself an S-type Prototype, the android was only willing to stay in a place with adequate medical protection and was extremely sensitive to diseases, infections, and other physical discomfort.

Now he knew why.

It was difficult for Ruan Xian to describe how he felt now.

His NUL-00 had been in the computer room where the temperature and humidity were precisely controlled before, and the sun would shine on the clear coolant that was bubbling. He used to treat it as carefully as he treated his own eyes, but the peaceful past could only be the past, and some scars were destined not to heal.

Tang Yibu didn’t let go of him. The android’s warm breath swept across his skin, and his body temperature almost made him burn.

Recalling their previous relationship, Ruan Xian lost the feeling of ease for the first time.

He relaxed his body, stole a little more body heat from the other party, and then spoke as seriously as possible—he wasn’t sure if it was due to the psychological effect, but he couldn’t help but use the usual tone of twelve years ago.

“It’s okay.”

He patted Tang Yibu on the back soothingly, and finally said that sentence clearly.

“Don’t be afraid. I will never let anything happen to you again.”

Tang Yibu’s body stiffened. He slowly loosened Ruan Xian’s body, but his hand was still tightly holding Ruan Xian’s blood-soaked coat, as if he was afraid that the other party would disappear into the air for no reason. The android had a perfect smile on his face, but Ruan Xian had an inexplicable feeling—Tang Yibu, like him, was temporarily unable to sort out these complex emotions, so he could only wear the mask he was most familiar with.

“Wow.” Professor Ruan waited for the two to separate before he spoke politely. “Wonderful, Mr. Pygmalion*.”

*Legendary figure of Cyprus in Greek mythology, who was a king and sculptor. He’s most famous in Ovid’s poem, Metamorphoses, in which Pygmalion, a sculptor, fell in love with the statue he had carved (which is quite apt to Ruan Xian’s situation).

Ruan Xian led Tang Yibu to the other man. Instead of taking out his gun, he pulled out a knife from his pocket and squeezed it tightly in his hand.

“Although I had guessed before, I didn’t expect it to be you.” Professor Ruan didn’t even look at the knife, but instead had a very polite smile on his face. “It’s an unexpected joy.”

“I don’t like being called ‘unexpected’.” Ruan Xian exchanged the knife casually between his hands while staring at Professor Ruan. “I don’t think this is ‘unexpected’ for you.”

“No, I was still deceived by NUL-00. It’s more cunning than I thought. Now that I’ve seen you, I probably know why he’s so wary of me.” The deformed robotic arm was wrapped around Professor Ruan. A lot of blood oozed from his upper arm, but Professor Ruan’s face didn’t have any semblance of pain.

“Speaking of which, since Yibu has confirmed my identity, you are of no use to us.” Ruan Xian’s tone was very cold. “Now that I haven’t killed you—”

“It’s because you dislike MUL-01 even more. After all, NUL-00 is very important to you.” Professor Ruan calmly took over.

Now facing each other face-to-face, the differences between the two were particularly striking. Compared to himself, Professor Ruan was more like a true leader. In his temperament, he had something he himself had never had before—rock solid confidence and the transcendence to put his life under his ideals.

And the undisguised cheerfulness that was unique to people surrounded by love.

All this made Ruan Xian very uncomfortable. A cold sweat slowly soaked his back. He looked at the man who had taken away his identity for twelve years, and his hand holding the knife trembled slightly, ready to strike.

“The things I show you have not undergone any processing. They are all original memories of NUL-00.” As if seeing through Ruan Xian’s thoughts, Professor Ruan said what he cared about most. “You can slowly confirm with it. This is the first time I have seen them—unless NUL-00 is close enough to me, I can’t crack those data from thin air.”

“But seeing your appearance, I probably know why Fan Linsong wanted to do it in the first place.”

Seeing that Ruan Xian didn’t answer, Professor Ruan continued.

“Of course, I don’t agree with his approach. It’s a pity that, as his ‘creation’, I have no position to say this.”

“It seems that you have also guessed what happened back then. I have my guess, but I’m short of proof. Coupled with the current farce… We can have a good chat.”

“Mr. Ruan… Father, I can tell you,” Tang Yibu interjected very seriously.

Ruan Xian, who was called “father”, was still not very adapted. He subconsciously wanted to refute as before, but fortunately, he held back and reluctantly acquiesced.

“It’s okay. I need his answer as a benchmark for polygraph testing.” Ruan Xian waved his hand as calmly as possible. “…I know what ‘myself’ is.”

“I also guessed it by looking at the reaction of NUL-00.”

Professor Ruan tried his best to shrug, as if they were really chatting at a tea table.

“If I guessed correctly, Fan Linsong had murderous intent for you a long time. He made his move on April 21, 2095. Before he did it, he had already prepared a ‘me’ with a blank brain and the right filler memories. After all, according to the medical records at the time, your body was hopeless… Fan Linsong probably wanted to wait until you died naturally, but Plan Corp’s action made him unable to.”

“So on the afternoon of April 21^st, after I met NUL… Yibu, he went to my research room to provoke an argument.” Ruan Xian picked up the conversation. “I’m afraid things like surveillance have already long been tampered with.”

In fact, according to the situation at the time, Fan Linsong could have directly killed him without the need to argue. Thinking about it now, that was probably Fan Linsong’s last moral struggle—unfortunately, his response was still very determined, insisting on not letting NUL-00 go public in advance.

“During the dispute, he shot and killed me.” Ruan Xian pointed to the center of his eyebrows. “Here. It was probably a one-hit kill, but I survived for a few more minutes. I don’t remember very clearly. They must have immediately dissolved my ‘corpse’ with a mutant agent of α-092.”

“Then move out the delirious me who was hidden in advance and claim that I fainted because of the deterioration of my disease and needed treatment.”

Professor Ruan’s smile was slightly bitter.

“Fan Linsong was at least my… He was Ruan Xian’s working partner, and he knew his schedule and habits well. Of course, I was delirious at the time and couldn’t continue my research for a while. According to the procedures of the Institute, the contaminated α-092 samples would be sent to the underground storage room for sampling and would be completely destroyed at the end of the month.”

‘It was exactly the same as his own guess,’ Ruan Xian thought.

Once the warehouse of α-092 waste liquid was destroyed, the former Ruan Xian would disappear without anyone noticing.

Except for Fan Linsong and the person who temporarily entered the institute, no one would know that “Ruan Xian” had been swapped, and even if someone questioned it, they couldn’t get any evidence. Ruan Xian’s disease originally affected the brain and was very rare. All abnormalities could be used as a reason to prevaricate the past.

In this way, “Ruan Xian”, who was in a deteriorating condition, needed to rest, and Fan Linsong, who was second only to Ruan Xian in the project, was naturally able to temporarily take over Ruan Xian’s authority. On the other hand, due to Fan Linsong’s injection of artificial memory, “Ruan Xian”, after waking up, would not immediately make decisions that were unfavorable to Fan Linsong.

During this period of time, it was theoretically possible to completely erase NUL-00 that was not advertised to the public, save the research data, and change it directly to the MUL-01 project.

After the project was changed, even if “Ruan Xian” recovered and returned, he would not be able to sit in the position of the main person in charge of the project.

…This was supposed to be the case, but Fan Linsong missed a piece of the puzzle.

“This plan was indeed perfect, but unfortunately, the premise was that everyone behaved according to the rules.” Professor Ruan smiled and shook his head. “The NUL-00 project was terminated, and the cybernetic brain of NUL-00 should also be completely shut down. Fan Linsong was afraid that I would wake up too early and find something I shouldn’t have discovered. He rushed to send NUL-00 to the destruction place before the end of April, wanting to destroy it and the waste liquid containing Ruan Xian in one go. It’s a pity that NUL-00 obviously did something that shouldn’t be done, which caused a problem at this step.”

“The synchronization command of the surveillance system.” Ruan Xian recalled the scene in Tang Yibu’s memory. “…Yibu, what were you thinking at the time? I remember that at that time you didn’t have access to the institute’s materials.”

“That was a gift.”

Tang Yibu hugged Ruan Xian from behind, put his arms around the other party’s waist, and rested his chin on Ruan Xian’s shoulders.

“Your hands were festering badly that day, and it was inconvenient to type and troublesome to speak. I stuffed a synchronization command into the surveillance system and asked it to make a copy of your work image and send it to your personal computer.”

“Private references to surveillance data are subject to recourse.” That sour emotion reappeared, and Ruan Xian’s breath lagged.

“But it’s okay if the surveillance system takes the initiative to send it.” Tang Yibu squinted his eyes comfortably; his expression a bit like a beast holding its prey. “I didn’t check the content of those materials. Strictly speaking, it’s not considered contact with materials. This practice doesn’t violate any regulations.”

“…I like it very much.”

“What?”

“Your gift,” Ruan Xian said softly. “It’s really a pity that it’s useless.”

Tang Yibu exhaled a satisfied breath. Even though they were still in the enemy lines, the android slumped limply and loosened up. An insatiable mumble escaped from his throat.

“Look, it’s very cunning.”

There was not much condemnation or belittlement in Professor Ruan’s tone. He tapped on the armrests of the chair with his fingers to draw the attention of the two people in front of him back.

“Fan Linsong was too confident in himself that he didn’t even take the first step well… But now it seems that I have wronged Fan Linsong. If NUL-00 quietly moved such hands and feet, then he must’ve accidentally given this information, the image of him shooting you, to MUL-01 without his knowledge. Most likely, MUL-01 opened it up to the Order Supervisors, and this information went around and finally fell into my hands.”

In the end, there was no airtight wall in the world.

Perhaps Fan Linsong himself didn’t expect that his perfect plan was exposed to an irregular operation by NUL-00, and the motivation was just “to give a small gift”.

“According to NUL-00’s memory, on the day of its escape, in order to attract the attention of the destruction personnel and reduce the risk of exposure, it deliberately disrupted the destruction instructions in another destruction area.”

“…The destruction area is related to my work, right?” Ruan Xian allowed Tang Yibu to stick to him without any intention of distancing himself.

“Yes, guess what the result was? Since there was confusion in the destruction instructions, the destruction department would increase the destruction requirements by itself. However, any waste liquid that can’t be determined in importance will be stored and processed, and won’t be directly destroyed… This problem wasn’t small, but not big either. In the end, it was dealt with in accordance with internal issues, so Fan Linsong didn’t know about it.”

“And when you became sober, you had no impression of the waste liquid in the warehouse, so you wouldn’t call and confirm it. Even if Fan Linsong went to inquire, the response from the destruction department would be ‘it has been dealt with in accordance with regulations’.” Ruan Xian took a few deep breaths.

The smoke thrown by NUL-00 before escaping had inadvertently save his life.

Ruan Xian could easily guess what happened next without the need for Tang Yibu or Professor Ruan to continue…

The waste liquid and other samples lay quietly in the deepest part of the research institute while the world experienced war and destruction. In the end, twelve years later, he was accidently exposed to the surface and was damaged, which led to his own awakening.

Regarding Professor Ruan’s scheme, he wasn’t wrong.

In this game of chess, there seemed to be no place specifically for himself, but only a margin for “NUL-00’s companions” or “Undercover Order Supervisor”. If he was Professor Ruan, the scheme would be more sophisticated.

He was Ruan Xian, or rather, the ghost that was pulled back from hell by the S-type Prototype.

“That’s pretty much how it is. Now I only have one question.”

Professor Ruan raised his head, and his expression became serious.

“Even if this series of coincidences really happened, you won’t be able to survive—even if the α-092 of that era was a variant, it’s not enough to stabilize and restore the complex structure of the human body.”

“Indeed.” Ruan Xian didn’t deny it.

“The S-type Prototype is actually in your hands, right? NUL-00 wouldn’t be bewitched by Ruan Xian’s simple personality. He accepted you at the beginning, because of the S-type Prototype.”

Ruan Xian was noncommittal. “Is this question important?”

“Very important.” Professor Ruan cracked his neck. “It’s related to the survival of human society.”

“It does sound quite serious.”

Ruan Xian lowered his head slightly, staring at the artificial face of “his other self”. The smile on his face disappeared.

“…Sorry, I still have no plans to cooperate with you.”

The author has something to say:

In fact, some friends guessed correctly. Even if the two of them figured out the truth, they wouldn’t take the initiative to fight against the Mainbrain hand in hand (…)

They don’t have much kindness _(:з””)_ Ruan and Tang are really not the types to take the initiative to save the world…

Kinky Thoughts:

Alright. For those who are confused, this is the entire scenario.

Fan Linsong killed Ruan Xian back in 2095 and dissolved his body in a mutant α-092. His plan was to replace Ruan Xian with an empty body that he had prepared back then. He injected this empty body with modified memories but made it “delirious” and used the excuse of Ruan Xian’s rare disease to incapacitate him while he murdered the real Ruan Xian.

Once Ruan Xian was killed, his body was dissolved in the α-092 then sent to the waste destruction department (which would destroy these waste at the end of every month) and then Fan Linsong ordered to scrap the NUL-00 project. He took all the data from NUL-00 and transferred it to MUL-01 so he could be head of that project. Unbeknownst to him, NUL-00 had acted in secret in order to save itself. The personnel that was supposed to shut it down was successfully bribed and allowed him to escape by selling him to Plan Corp. There, Tang Yibu was able to infiltrate Plan Corp and move his cybernetic brain into an android he himself created. Not only this, NUL-00 messed with the destruction logs, which inadvertently saved Ruan Xian (who was still sitting in the α-092 waste liquid).

Due to NUL-00 machinations, Ruan Xian was saved from being disposed of and was actually stored for more careful examination before it could be judged whether the waste could be destroyed or not. However, during the time before it could be judged, MUL-01 went crazy and destroyed humankind, so no one would bother checking waste materials. This leads to the event of chapter 1 where Chi Lei blew himself up, triggering the waste tank that Ruan Xian was sitting in, dislodging it. The α-092 preserved and healed Ruan Xian’s entire body, restoring it to what he truly looked like (without disease). However, this wasn’t enough to keep him alive once he exited the waste tank. It was only due to the S-type Prototype that he managed to be able to survive once he was awake.

Not only did NUL-00’s escape save Ruan Xian, because it wanted to prepare a “gift” for Ruan Xian that day, it set up a command with the surveillance of the Institute to record Ruan Xian’s activities and send a backup directly to his work computer. Fan Linsong was unaware of this when he tampered with the surveillance before murdering Ruan Xian. Because of this, the Mainbrain found out what really happened due to searching Ruan Xian’s work computer, and news eventually reached Professor Ruan, who deduced what truly happened back then.

So TLDR: A series of coincidences and actions had led them to where they are now. You’re welcome to join me on Discord to chat about it if you’re still confused or want to discuss it in detail.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 167: Destructive Tendencies

Some things were important in history, enough to shake the pattern of the human world. Unfortunately, even if this was the second time Ji Xiaoman had experienced the Great Rebellion of the 22^nd Century, she still didn’t have the feeling of being a “witness to history”.

Everything in front of her seemed to be just a small disaster. In a corner she couldn’t see, the world should operate according to the laws of the past.

The woods next to the institute were on fire, and night was growing thicker as the tongues of the fire scorched the surroundings. As the scale of attack became larger, strings of blue electric sparks flashed across the transparent barrier near the research institute, creating a huge gap surrounded by lightning.

Tang Yibu was far from the confident image in their impressions. At this moment, his face was mixed with numbness and tension, with the instinctive thirst for life of living things. The android didn’t hesitate to rush to the gap, limping towards the institute where smoke was billowing out.

With a lot of festering wounds, his movement speed wasn’t fast. Xiao Zhao, who was in a frenzy, could have killed him with another blow, but instead she just shot his heels and calf. She seemed to want to see him collapse more than kill him.

“You didn’t see anything,” she murmured. “You’re lying to me.”

Despite the addition of more bullet wounds on his body, Tang Yibu still rushed towards the Institute firmly, without looking back.

“Zhaozhao!” A man’s roar appeared on the other side, which sounded like Kang Ge’s voice.

Kang Ge didn’t come alone. He was followed by a few fresh faces. It seemed that this little couple had finally integrated into a small camp on the Android Show and had achieved good status.

“Didn’t we agree? Although Xiao Tang isn’t much of a fighter, his observations and insights are useful to us. It’s okay if you beat him to vent, but you can’t kill him!” He glanced at those behind him with a not-so-subtle reproach in his voice.

“I didn’t kill him. He fled that way.” The armed machines flying in the sky were like schools of fish in the sea. They had an eerie beauty, but Xiao Zhao was obviously uninterested in them right now. “Kang Ge, will you accompany me to chase him?”

Kang Ziyan didn’t answer this time; he looked behind Xiao Zhao in horror. There was also a commotion among the androids who followed Kang Ziyan. Given that this was probably the memory of Kang Ziyan and Su Zhao, Ji Xiaoman could also see it clearly.

Behind Xiao Zhao stood two children holding hands. Their eyes were closed tightly, their bodies were blurred, their limbs were incomplete, and their clothes were as hazy as mist. The two children stood quietly behind her like two sleeping ghosts.

“Kang Ge, just the two of us will chase him, okay?” Xiao Zhao repeated it again.

“…..Okay.”

Ji Xiaoman crawled down the abdomen of the ventral cockroach and obediently hoisted back to Yu Le’s shoulders. The gas mask was almost scraped off by the bulge in the abdomen of the ventral cockroach. She explained the situation in a low voice, while Yu Le clung to the tail of the insect. Eventually, he let out a long sigh.

“I can’t figure out what that one wants to do,” he said. “If Xiao Tang is really that identity, Xiao Ruan will push us out, probably because he doesn’t want us to get involved in too many things. To engage in perceptual interference, there are many ready-made examples on this island, so why are they showing us their memories?”

Professor Ruan just needed to throw them into a crazy augmented scene, or simply remove most of the interference, and apply a little trick to let them wander in the woods. There was no need for him to specifically expose this information.

Or, he wanted them to know Tang Yibu’s past? But honestly, although it felt excessive, Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman had seen more than enough hellish scenes to really not care and certainly wouldn’t be angered into a fit of rage by this.

“Anyway, suppose we just take it one step at a time. We can’t just pat our asses and leave now,” Yu Le whispered. “The two psychopaths in front of us collapsed. Professor Ruan must have his intentions if he wanted to do this.”

It was completely dark. Tang Yibu’s figure had disappeared near the burning Institute. Ji Xiaoman firmly grabbed the shoulder strap of Yu Le’s coat and didn’t respond.

The wound hurts.

Blood was gushing from the injury, soaking the jacket thoroughly. Ruan Xian kept his breathing at the lightest among the bumps of the advancement from the armed machine. The tank he was in was sealed tightly. If it weren’t for the repair function of the S-type Prototype, Ruan Xian thought he would suffocate to death before reaching his destination.

The more concentrated his mind was, the more obvious the pain became, so he had to find other thoughts to distract himself.

It was quite interesting that both of his fake deaths occurred near the Shade Refuge; only one was reality and the other was fantasy. The unnatural aspects of the Shade Refuge could all be explained—why could people quickly find a powerful and well-functioning base as a refuge? Because it was there before the Great Rebellion of the 22^nd Century.

This show was full of replicants, many of whom were struggling to survive… Everyone was living in the created illusion; the only difference was “whether or not their image was made public”.

The so-called Android Show that had been going had never stopped.

In other words, this wasn’t a show at all, but just another petri dish that wasn’t much different from other petri dishes. Because it was broadcast all the time, it was several times more dangerous than other petri dishes. Professor Ruan took a completely dark road right under the lights.

Are the existing survivors really pure “survivors”?

In the twelve years of his deep sleep, Professor Ruan had been awake, and he should have noticed this. In this situation, it was almost impossible for humans to make a comeback, unless…

Ruan Xian’s scalp suddenly tightened.

Their journey to find Professor Ruan went very smoothly. If the other party had spent so much energy on an elaborate plan, it wouldn’t be possible to just want to see Tang Yibu and look for new possibilities.

At least if it was him, he would definitely do it after there was a relatively certain solution. He could probably guess the method the opponent wanted to use—if he treated this situation like a game of chess, there were not many solutions that could make the most of all the pieces.

Then there was only one last piece left of the puzzle regarding his identity.

The ups and downs of the armed machine’s advancement finally abruptly stopped. Ruan Xian listened carefully in the darkness. There were no other signs of life around. They should have just stopped in a place similar to an underground warehouse.

When the time came, Ruan Xian didn’t hesitate anymore. He grabbed the disruptors in his pockets and injected them all into the body of the armed mechanical life along the gap, then took out the healing blood gun and bombarded the gap frantically.

Unlike the attack blood gun, the blood emitted by the healing blood gun hadn’t deteriorated, and it also had the active ingredients of the S-type Prototype. Ruan Xian didn’t care if his blood supply could keep up, he just desperately pumped blood into the armed machine—this thing was less than two people high, and there wasn’t much mechanical tissue besides its shell. In theory, he could inject enough blood in a short time to make it collapse.

Sure enough, under the interference of the disruptor, the thing didn’t even have time to sound the alarm.

In less than five seconds, the white mechanical tissue proliferated like a malignant tumor, squeezing out of the metal gap. The moist flesh and blood that gushed out nearly squeezed Ruan Xian to death in the tank. The tightly stitched shell couldn’t withstand such an internal impact. When Ruan Xian heard the dangerous clicking sound of his ribs, there was a big burst from outside.

There were no flames, no smoke. The armed machine directly exploded by its own crazy tissue growth. The tank containing Ruan Xian fell to the ground, and its opening collapsed under the impact.

In the next instant, fresh air suddenly poured into Ruan Xian’s lungs, and the cold floor slammed into his face.

Have to move fast.

Even if this burst didn’t cause a temperature change, Professor Ruan must have his own monitoring system. Ruan Xian looked at the dim space for a while, and stood up staggeringly. The ribs that had just healed from the big hole in his chest were still exposed, and the mechanical tissue secreted by the S-type Prototype was squirming on the pale bones.

Ruan Xian sucked in through his nose. He smelled Tang Yibu and another somewhat familiar smell, like himself.

Close at hand.

He clenched the blood gun in both hands and couldn’t help but smile on his face. The next obstacles were almost the same as the air in front of him—serious injuries, blood loss, and a strong cold stance… His mind was clearer than ever under the action of hormones, not to mention that the designer of those security measures was “himself”.

The doors slid open one by one. The blood-stained clothes allowed him to better hide in the darkness. The dim corridor retreated quickly from his field of vision. Ruan Xian struggled to run forward; his legs almost lost consciousness, his ears filled with his own gasps.

This time there was no longer any illusory perceptual interference outside the door, so his path was extremely smooth. He didn’t know how long he ran until he finally reached the door—at this distance, he could clearly hear Tang Yibu’s heartbeat.

He stretched out his hand and opened the door.

A familiar yet unfamiliar middle-aged man turned to look at him while Tang Yibu sat among the observation screens, imprisoned in place by the chair. The light screen was full of images of Ji Xiaoman and Yu Le.

“You…” Before the man finished speaking these words, Tang Yibu had broken free from his shackles and choked his neck from behind and dragged him back to his seat.

The android removed the robotic arms as easily as pulling apart playdough, and even more so when fixing them back—Professor Ruan was firmly stuck in the chair by the deformed robotic arm that was crackling with sparks but didn’t seem too surprised.

Tang Yibu clapped his hands in satisfaction, turned around and looked at Ruan Xian. Ruan Xian put away the gun and stretched out his hand towards the other party.

The mess of emotions in his brain burned into a ball. Thousands of words were stuck in his throat. Ruan Xian didn’t know what to say, nor did he rush up for a hug. He just obeyed his instinct and stretched out his hands towards Tang Yibu.

Unlike the illusion he kissed, those golden eyes were no longer like dusty metal, but more like a corner of sunlight, or the fresh petals of a sunflower. Tang Yibu’s whole body looked vibrant, with the soft smile he was familiar with.

Does he know? How much does he know?

But Ruan Xian didn’t bother to ask. The plan had come to an end, but there wasn’t much free time left. An unprecedented tsunami of strange emotions hit his nerves like never before, and Ruan Xian could only feel that his limbs were about to lose consciousness.

Tang Yibu looked much calmer than he did. The android leaned over with a smile and grabbed his outstretched hand; his palm was frighteningly hot.

It seems he knows.

The tsunami waves instantly froze, and the trembling nerves were once again tightened. Emotional barriers worked well enough at certain times that it could make him calm down on the fly. It wasn’t because this joy and pleasure had faded. In the other party’s eyes and expressions, Ruan Xian detected a terrible tacit understanding and similar concerns.

And at the moment of skin contact, both of them shook.

The pearl-like waves froze, and the dark reef stood out. A new problem had emerged between them; an unprecedented problem…

Under the multiple factors of preparedness, vigilance, and appreciation, they maintained a full fire. The relationship was a relatively stable one, with just the right amount of distance. Despite their own selfishness and desires, they tried time and time again to upset the balance, trying to pull each other a little closer and taking pleasure in appreciating the swing of the scale…

It was too fast this time.

They hadn’t learned how to deal with such complex and majestic emotions, and they couldn’t curb the urge to pull each other in and decrease the distance, but neither of them was willing to remove their spikes and armor and give up their dominant position. Such a hug would only kill their opponent.

Ruan Xian let out a small sigh. He broke free from Tang Yibu’s hand, grabbed the hair on the back of the other party’s neck, and kissed him viciously.

He understood that he needed to be careful; take it slow and not lower his defenses as a result. He saw what was hidden behind Tang Yibu’s smile, but this time, he couldn’t solve the problem immediately.

Ruan Xian thought that perhaps their new discovery would destroy them.

…Then at least let him enjoy this second first.

With his back to Professor Ruan, who was confined to the seat, Tang Yibu tightened his arms and gave Ruan Xian an overly hard reunion hug. Ruan Xian could hear the overwhelmed crunch of his ribs. After a long and scorching kiss, Tang Yibu rubbed Ruan Xian’s cheek affectionately as before, and bit his ear gently.

“Twelve years.”

The android said softly, stubbornly using that special noun to call his maker.

“Twelve years, father.”

Sure enough, Ruan Xian grabbed the clothes on the back of the other party. His identity, the last piece of the puzzle, was now in place.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 166: A Group of Lunatics

Ruan Xian ran into the light.

Everything in front of him began to distort, and another corridor unfolded in front of him. It seemed to have discovered that Ruan Xian used some means to locate the real environment, as the perception interference became more violent.

The corridor began to twist and roll like a snake’s belly, and all the doors opened at the same time. Ruan Xian ignored the distorted scene in front of him, clung to the iron bead, and rushed firmly in the direction of safety.

The giant machine followed him closely. There was no sign it was using heat weapons but was just trying to hold him down with its mechanical arms. The endless doors circulated infinitely like two mirrors on opposite sides; each one filled with delusions of grandeur between them.

The anomalies of the entire island were all condensed in front of him.

Ruan Xian stepped on the soft and rancid flesh, bypassed the waist-high iconic buildings of various countries, and rushed straight towards a door that seemed to have no end. Swirling celebration confetti swept across his shoulders, and from time to time, something so twisted that its original form couldn’t be determined crashed through. Ruan Xian wasn’t interested in dismantling these playdough-like contraptions, casually letting them pass through his body.

The limbs of the ceramic doll shattered under his shoes. The moldy plush doll swirled out dust and dark green mold. Strange creatures that didn’t exist in reality tried to grab his feet but dispersed like clouds of smoke.

The perception of false interference, a distorted optimism about one’s own survival, coupled with an extreme thirst for purpose; the three created such a wonderful chemical reaction that the vision in front of Ruan Xian couldn’t interfere with him at all.

The iron bead that was fully impacted by the perceived interference for the first time wasn’t so lucky. It broke through the sound barrier as it produced a rattling sound full of panic.

However, the loud cry was a tremendous help for Ruan Xian, so it didn’t have to bother making other sounds. The crisis was in front of his face while the iron bead’s extremely penetrating screams stabbed in all directions.

Ruan Xian was busy running away, carefully distinguishing the location of things in the real world. Visual perception interference was the hardest hit area, but he couldn’t close his eyes completely, for fear of missing some key details…

Got it.

He pretended to fall into the blue mushroom field in his perception, raised his hand, and grabbed a small mechanical reptile the size of a quail egg, and quietly slipped it into his pocket. The iron bead, who was still screaming in the previous second, closed its mouth tightly, bit Ruan Xian’s wrist in dissatisfaction, and even tried to shake its head while biting him.

It stared at Ruan Xian sternly with three small eyes for a few seconds and found that the other party didn’t have any reaction to throwing away his new love, so it continued to scream more aggrievedly.

Ruan Xian couldn’t help twisting the corners of his mouth, regaining his balance, lowering his body, and avoiding a wave of mechanical attacks behind him.

Then he casually grabbed another mechanical reptile casually.

The rattle of the iron bead changed its tone a bit. It struggled symbolically twice, and when it saw that the frequency of the chaser’s attacks had increased, it shrank back in a daze, and the crying in its voice became more obvious.

He was obviously fleeing for his life, but Ruan Xian couldn’t help but smile more strongly.

Although the equipment was really limited, he only now had time to verify his theory.

The iron bead had undergone extraterrestrial evolution, but according to the information provided by Ji Xiaoman, it didn’t have the ability to obtain evolutionary capital through food. π stayed with them because it got to eat precious parts. The only growth it had was that its shell was a little harder and its temperament became much lazier.

And on this strange island, the timid iron bead would certainly only eat food it could identify. Considering these factors, Ruan Xian had an exact guess about the possibility of its mutation.

If he could pick out something that it had eaten that was abnormal, it must be the earring that was stained with his own blood.

His own blood was so high in human tissue composition that mechanical beings accustomed to eating steel, plastic, and other things wouldn’t be interested in his flesh. Ordinary creatures like the ventral cockroach couldn’t use the “non-biological” parts of his blood, so his blood would have no effect on them.

The iron bead wasn’t vigilant towards him and Tang Yibu, so even if it was food that it didn’t recognize, it would still dare open its mouth and eat it if it was from them. If this was really his own blood that caused its mutation… Then he may have some kind of “offensive ability” other than defense.

His blood could repair Tang Yibu’s body, but it didn’t let Tang Yibu evolve. It was likely that Tang Yibu’s body itself was relatively advanced—the human body’s own repair ability was limited, and the survival rate after mutation would also be extremely low.

What about creatures with simpler structures? If they had obtained enough initial organic ingredients and had no wounds to be repaired, they were likely to instinctively use it as one of the aids for survival. They didn’t have very sophisticated intelligence, and they only lived by strong survival instincts. On the contrary, it was easier to take those parts that could be changed at will for their own use.

99% of the brain of the iron bead was on food, so it wasn’t surprising that such a change had occurred, but guesses were still guesses. He must try his best to verify them.

Ruan Xian put a little debilitating agent together with his blood into one of the mechanical reptiles. The reptile wriggled twice in his pocket, and then there was no sound. A few minutes later, Ruan Xian suddenly felt something jump out of his pocket, accompanied by an unskilled sound of buzzing wings.

When he picked it up just now, it didn’t have wings.

The reptile flew for a while unskillfully, then plunged into the soil and flapped its wings weakly.

His blood could indeed be absorbed and utilized by low-intelligence creatures, but he couldn’t control what the other party did with it. If he just simply provided blood, God knows what these things would look like on their own, and it was hard to say whether the mutation was really beneficial.

Seeing Ruan Xian let go of a mechanical reptile, the iron bead breathed a sigh of relief, only to find that Ruan Xian had intensified and picked up two more. After that, it simply just kept quiet and stopped screaming. No matter how Ruan Xian petted it, π didn’t say a word, and pretended to faint with its four legs facing the sky.

Without sound, Ruan Xian couldn’t make sense of his direction, so he had to step on the ground more loudly. Unfortunately, without the powerful scream of the iron bead, his detection range suddenly became much smaller.

No matter. He would finish in the end.

Three mechanical reptiles were lying in his pockets and had been injected with his pre-mixed blood mixture. Although the preparation of the material temporarily obtained from Ji Xiaoman was limited, the effect should be barely passable.

Using the first one for comparison, the second mechanical reptile was only injected with a debilitating agent and showed no abnormalities. The third ingested a small amount of mechanical nerve disruptor while ingesting blood. Its whole body bulged and swelled out of shape and it almost lost its motor ability. The last one was only half the size of the previous one, and the changes appeared three to four times faster with the same dose of injection.

Ji Xiaoman’s syringe needle could obtain the vital signs and data of machines. As long as the attack of the machine behind him slowed down a little bit, he could take the opportunity to look twice and get a relatively accurate conclusion…

Ruan Xian skillfully stepped over the layers of distorted human bodies under his feet, turning a blind eye to the giant ball of flesh covered with distorted facial features. He held the iron bead that was pretending to be dead tightly in one hand and grabbed the edge of his pocket with the other.

Possibly one of the mechanical reptiles exploded and died as he felt a sticky and unpleasant scrapping sound that was followed by a milky white residue that soaked the fabric near his pocket.

The iron bead probably heard the explosion as it shivered and glanced at the pocket and began to rattle obediently.

Ruan Xian knocked on its shell approvingly. On the other side, the seemingly endless cloister of perception had also come to an end. Crossing the last door, a familiar ruin hit him, but the trees were not as lush as he remembered.

The ruins were burning.

No, he should be witnessing the process of turning the building into ruins.

Ruan Xian didn’t have much experience in free observation outside the Institute. He only remembered a few shots in the virtual reality propaganda film. The building was always topped with blue skies and white clouds, and the other wall would almost glow in the sun. Right now, it was burning fiercely in the night. The thick smoke obscured most of the sky. The walls of the building were covered with all kinds of combat machines, and their metal surfaces reflected the quivering fire. The burning rays from their guns left orange-red burn marks on the walls.

The fire burned more vigorously, and from time to time, incomplete machines fell from the outer wall and exploded into pieces on the ground.

The place where he had lived for more than ten years was damaged and collapsing. Ruan Xian couldn’t help but walk away and look for more than half a second. In just this half, he was almost pierced by an invisible chaser behind him.

The iron bead suddenly struggled and rushed straight in the direction of the fire. Ruan Xian tsked and chased after it.

The scene in front of him this time was really distracting.

Tang Yibu was collapsing at the entrance. His body was full of scars, and his ragged, thin clothes were almost soaked in blood. The handsome face was covered with blood and sludge, and his hair was much longer than it was now and was tangled in knots and dirt. The tips of his hair were scattered indiscriminately on the floor. There were more dirty bandages on his body, many of which were soaked in pus and blood, with an unpleasant smell.

The only golden eye exposed was extremely dim, like a corpse.

A few steps away, a deformed ventral cockroach was approaching. It had one more leg than the one Ruan Xian had first encountered, and its movements were very slow. It looked like it had been seriously injured. The explosion of fighting machines was endless, and from time to time, metal limbs fell from high altitudes and hit Ruan Xian’s feet. However, his focus was only on the person in front of him.

“Yibu,” he said, squatting down, trying to touch the other’s cheeks with his hands. There were faint human voices in the distance, and they burrowed through the layers of smoke and into Ruan Xian’s ears, getting closer and closer to this direction.

“You went too far this time, Xiao Zhao.” Kang Ge’s voice sounded a bit bitter, and it was a lot younger than now.

“What’s wrong with me?” Xiao Zhao’s voice was abnormally high-pitched. “Look, look! Isn’t that the research institute? That famous research institute is burning! We have always been near real people. Why are you lying to me?”

“That’s right, but Xiao Tang he—”

“I don’t want this electronic pet anymore. I don’t want it anymore. I’m not familiar with it… Why can’t I make fun of him? Didn’t you like hunting with me very much before? Anyway, those things are not even creatures, and they can’t be reasonable. At most, they are meat connected to a computer. Did I do something wrong?”

“Zhaozhao….”

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t want to live like this at all! What can we do besides eat, drink, and shit? Being hunted down by these messy things and fighting them to the death?”

Su Zhao’s narrative was erratic and chaotic.

“Kang Ge, tell me. Are we really the only two humans here? I’ll break my skull open for you to see if it’s okay. I’m so curious. I can’t stand it anymore… I can only hit other things with my gun. They are just items. Just set-up items. If you have anything else to say, tell me quickly—”

Her voice took on a weeping tremor and returned to cheerfulness the next second.

“Isn’t that what all games are like? You have to try one option at a time. We have already tried all the good options. As long as we try really hard, there will definitely be some changes! You, let me kill him. His wounds are getting more infected, so it’s useless.”

After speaking, she repeated mechanically, “It’s useless.”

‘It’s an illusion,’ Ruan Xian thought. He clenched the broken mechanical reptile corpse in his pocket, knelt beside Tang Yibu, and leaned down to look at the other’s face. The place where they were was about to collapse. Debris fell down from time to time, and the surrounding smoke was blown askew, covering the two of them.

Whether this past was true or not, he couldn’t change it.

“Run.” Ruan Xian picked up Tang Yibu, who he suspected was unconscious, and gave a silent command to the trembling iron bead that was rubbing against Tang Yibu. “Wait for Ji Xiaoman and them nearby. They will come.”

It was a pity that he didn’t have Tang Yibu’s ability to communicate with mechanical life. The iron bead only half understood what he was saying. It screamed and rushed into the distance, looking back every time it rushed a meter or two.

……That’s enough.

Among the howling of the iron bead, he leaned down and kissed the dim eye in the illusion. Ruan Xian felt the wind behind him, but he just made a look like it was too late to react and didn’t dodge.

A sharp mechanical foot pierced his heart from behind him.

Ruan Xian spurted out a mouthful of blood and his hands fell limply. The wristband bumped into something and projected a light screen near his wrist in a crippled state. The screen was full of garbled code.

A few traces of smoke came out of it. It slowly loosened and then fell to the ground where it was crushed by an armed machine.

There was no doubt that this was a fatal injury.

The giant machine threw the mortally wounded corpse into the storage tank behind its body and began to follow the instructions heading towards Professor Ruan’s underground control center.

In the stuffy and airtight storage tank, Ruan Xian opened his eyes slightly with anger still on his face, but there was no shock or confusion just now.

He smiled at the darkness in his eyes, and quietly took out the blood gun hidden under his white coat.

So far, the plan was progressing normally.

What Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman saw wasn’t night.

The ventral cockroach, with one more leg, rushed to the vicinity of the research institute at dusk, but unfortunately, there seemed to be an invisible barrier that it couldn’t get through no matter what.

“Artificial regional control.” After a long silence, Ji Xiaoman opened her mouth.

“Little profiteer, do you want to continue?” Yu Le wasn’t interested in the transparent wall in front of him. He straightened the gas mask on his face. “If Tang Yibu is really related to MUL-01, this is not something we can intervene in.”

He originally thought that they were in a cooperative relationship that used each other, but in the face of an overly huge strength gap, the so-called “cooperative relationship” was nothing more than a cover for unilateral use. At this point, he had no interest in cooperating with Tang Yibu, and the other party had no technical needs that they had to have.

The risk was even greater—if Tang Yibu’s identity was exposed, they would become the world’s most wanted criminals in minutes and would be taken care of by the Order Supervisors. Even if he lost his life, according to the consistent style of behavior of the Order Supervisors, the Walking Stones that were far away in the Sea of Ruins could also get dragged in.

The needs of himself and Ji Xiaoman weren’t complicated, and Tang Yibu and Ruan Lijie hadn’t revealed the slightest bit of news. They made do with playing this companion game for long enough, and now their heads were about to be decapitated and with the guillotine coming for his own neck, Yu Le wouldn’t be stupid enough to rush forward.

“…This is better.” Ji Xiaoman’s voice was so low that he couldn’t hear it.

“What?”

“If it’s an artificial intelligence of the same level as the Mainbrain and Professor Ruan, who’s familiar with this business, my mother will definitely be fine.” Ji Xiaoman looked away. “It’s better for me, but you don’t need to take risks, Lao Yu.”

Yu Le suddenly let out a puff and started laughing out loud. He laughed louder and louder that the rubbing friction almost didn’t cover it up.

“This is all really crazy.” He smiled and shook his head. “Fuck, not a single normal person.”

“I…”

“It’s fine. If something like this happens to my family. I can even tear apart King Yama*.” Yu Le laughed a few more times. “It’s good to be crazy. It’s great, in fact. It’s best for everyone to be crazy together. Damn it. Alright, I should have died a long time ago. If I can survive, I’ll make a lot of money.”

*King of hell. Equivalent would be like the devil or hades.

“Then continue?”

“Uh-huh.” Yu Le scratched his head. “Let me think about it… If that kid Tu Rui remembers correctly, the first generation of Struggler’s show is near the research institute. It seems that the terrain around here is good, and it is also convenient to get data. Plan Corp bought the land as a face slap to the Institute, which wasn’t much different than a direct provocation, but with the legal procedures complete, no one could say anything.”

He pointed to the invisible wall. “This is probably the boundary of the show.”

“Strange, there is nothing special here.” There wasn’t even a convenient area for fighting. Ji Xiaoman endured the stifling heat of the gas mask and turned her head to look around.

“Wow, Kang Ge, look, it’s me! It’s me!” Su Zhao suddenly clapped her hands. “Did I look good at that time?””

“You look good all the time.” Kang Ge’s voice was a bit unnatural this time.

Yu Le made a gesture. Ji Xiaoman climbed up along Yu Le’s back knowingly. The young mechanic put her sharp fingers in her sleeves, lay on the top of the abdomen of the ventral cockroach, and carefully spied on the scene ahead.

Under the height limit, only the upper half of Tang Yibu and Su Zhao’s faces could be seen in front of them, with only vision of the top of Su Zhao’s head. Ji Xiaoman tried to raise her head, but she could barely make out the faces of the two of them clearly.

Su Zhao’s face was splattered with blood, while Tang Yibu stood quietly, like a lifeless wax figure.

“Xiao Tang.” She stretched out her hands to show him the blood stains on her hands, with a frail edge of madness in her voice. “Xiao Tang, look, you always know a lot of things.”

“……”

“I’m crazy, right?” She said dreamily. “Look behind me. Are you following two children?”

“Yes, from the looks of it, they look a lot like you and Mr. Kang when you were children.”

“You… What you couldn’t see yesterday, I could see them for a long time. They have been following me with their eyes closed. They are ghosts.” Su Zhao scratched her face. “What did I do wrong? Why should I be thrown into this hellish place…”

She scratched her face with her fingers.

“Forget it,” she whispered suddenly. “I’m crazy, and you’re crazy too.”

Tang Yibu was obviously aware of the hostility and madness in her words, as the next second he limped and tried to escape with his injuries. Even though he was shot in the heel by Su Zhao, he didn’t stop.

The sun that was about to set would dye everything blood red. Tang Yibu ran hard along the transparent wall, like a fish trying to escape from a fish tank.

“It’s this! Kang Ge, that’s what I wanted you to see!” Xiao Zhao beside them clapped her hands, with only joy coming from her voice.

The ground was trembling, and countless armed machines suddenly appeared in the air like magic, covering the sky and the sun. Dark walls rose from the ground, re-dividing the forest, and a metallic city in the distance was being quickly built by mechanical robots. The weird spire flashed with icy brilliance under the setting sun.

The armed machines rushed to the research institute not far away in a neat manner, and ammunition was fired in unison. The Institute’s defensive measures failed to last for even three minutes. Gradually, thick smoke emerged from the building not far away.

Yu Le recognized this battle.They were watching the day of the Great Rebellion of the 22^nd Century.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 165: Perception

Cold sweat crawled all over Yu Le’s back, who was pushed out.

When they entered, everything outside the door had already collapsed, so Yu Le didn’t realize for a while what Ruan Lijie wanted to do. His adrenaline spiked, and he only had time to change his posture and protect Ji Xiaoman, who was still sitting on his neck.

Then they fell onto soft grass, causing small brown insects to fly away. The smell of dirt and wet grass immediately filled Yu Le’s nose. He didn’t react for a while and just lay there, staring at the dull blue sky that was in front of him.

The door connecting the darkness disappeared some time ago. They have fallen into a forest. With Yu Le’s strength, Ji Xiaoman landed lightly, quickly maintaining her balance. She stretched out a hand towards Yu Le.

“What’s wrong? Is the illusion over?” Yu Le held Ji Xiaoman with one hand and propped himself up with the other. Then he patted the mud off his pants. “Where’s my car?”

“It’s not over,” Ji Xiaoman said in a low voice. She lightly took out the paper ball stuffed in her mechanical calf and threw it to Yu Le. “The season and the trees aren’t right. Something feels…off.”

The tactile and olfactory information here was much richer than just now, as if they had returned to the starting point of the illusion—the dilapidated building. Yu Le clicked his tongue, unwrapped the paper ball, and saw only one sentence on it.

[Captain Yu, remember that net.]

“What does it mean?” Ji Xiaoman blinked.

“It seems that you are right, little profiteer. We are probably still in the illusion.” Yu Le put away the paper ball, turned the gun in a circle with his right hand, and grinned.

Since Ruan Lijie dared to push them out of the door together, he must have guessed about the world behind the door. If they were about to return to reality, the other party didn’t need to be so secretive. It was very likely that he and Ji Xiaoman were still in the world of targeted perceptual interference. In other words, their every move was probably still under the noses of their opponent.

Even if the opponent could investigate the fact that he cheated death in the Sea of Ruins, he would not know how he was “forced to cheat death” in front of the Order Supervisors. Painstakingly recalling the shock of being caught in a net for a few seconds, Yu Le had a general guess about Ruan Lijie’s plans.

“Who knows? They have always been mysterious.” Yu Le casually threw the paper ball into his mouth and swallowed it with a grunt. “We’ll see what we can do when the time comes… Let’s get out of this shithole first.”

Unknown if it was due to what he said, but a rustling sound was heard among the grass in the distance. Listening to the sound, it seemed something big was rushing towards them. Ji Xiaoman and Yu Le looked at each other, separated tactility, and hid behind a tree.

A monster more than two meters high dragged its fat belly that separated the grass while its ugly black legs cut through the soil. Yu Le sucked a breath in between his teeth and began to feel a headache coming on. Regardless of fucking memory interference, it’s fake, all fake. He wanted to think so, but unfortunately, the impression of abdominal pain still kept churning. Ji Xiaoman, who was born in the Underground City, shouldn’t know what this thing was, so she was probably much more reliable than he was right now.

“Little profiteer, you lead the way! I’m going to close my eyes!”

“Wait?!”

“Remember, it’s all fake. Ventral cockroaches can’t survive on an island!”

“That’s a ventral cockroach…” Ji Xiaoman was just about to ask when another party had already rushed over and skillfully plunged a knife into the gap in the carapace of the ventral cockroach, completely ignoring the bloody calf that was stabbed hard by the spikes on its gaiters.

The attacked ventral cockroach went crazy. It scratched its tangled gaiters everywhere, trying to get rid of the attacker on its back. After several failed attempts, it turned its head and rushed towards another person not far away. Xiao Zhao, who was the target of the attack, blew a kiss at the monster who rushed past and smiled.

“How nostalgic,” she said. “This time it’s back to this day.”

Yu Le pressed against the bark of a tree and frowned.

“It was the day we thought Xiao Tang died, my dear!” She put her hands to her mouth and shouted at Kang Ge loudly. “This ventral cockroach had more legs than the others, and one eye is blind. Remember it? Let’s sit on it and watch the fun. Maybe we can find ourselves!”

Kang Ge smiled at her and wiped the bug’s slime from his face. “Good idea.”

He twisted the long knife that he had stabbed into the bug’s body, causing it to hiss and forcing it to change its direction. Yu Le saw that the bug was about to crawl away, so he endured the bout of nausea and barely managed to stabilize himself at the end of the soft insect’s belly. He just wanted to turn around and gesture to Ji Xiaoman when she flew up and grabbed his neck, causing him to almost let out a scream.

“Why are you grabbing me?!” He roared in anger.

“My fingers are too sharp. It will scratch its stomach,” Ji Xiaoman whispered. “Then we’ll all get a face full of bug juice.”

“…” Yu Le turned his head reluctantly.

“And I’m trying to figure out what’s going on.” Ji Xiaoman grabbed materials from Yu Le’s jacket. “If this is really a test from that person, we have to… prove our worth, right?”

“I don’t think it’s a test. Xiao Ruan has pushed us away. It’s hard not to think that that kid still wants to win first place in this meeting competition… That attitude is clearly asking us to stay out of the way.” Judging from the message left by the other party, maybe there would be a dangerous situation that required Ruan Lijie to fake his death. While they did travel together, their relationship was far from that of the iron bead that was like life and death.

In the end Ji Xiaoman was still too young. While she was good at combat and mechanical repair, she lacked the experience to analyze the twists and turns of the actions of others.

“Then what are you doing?” Ji Xiaoman’s voice had a little surprise in it.

“I’m curious?” Yu Le replied in a rough voice. “Everyone recognizes this bug. Most likely, this place is related to the memory of that young couple. It’s good to see what happened to Xiao Tang before, no? Those two boys have hidden a lot from us.”

“…Yu Le.”

“Hmm? Why did you suddenly become serious.”

“Although my knowledge is limited, I also saw a lot of commands in that dark shadow just now.” Ji Xiaoman clenched her hands tightly. “Tang Yibu’s level is much higher than mine. I have never seen that style of cybernetic brain design…”

“In terms of invasive procedures, is he better than you? Wasn’t this already known when he broke through the wall of the Glass Conservatory?”

Bluntly put, the first memory they saw was of a man yelling something meaningless at his phone, and the second memory was even more vague and heinous. As a person who didn’t know much about software, Yu Le probably only understood that this was how Tang Yibu was “born”.

“No, the point is, I have never seen such a cybernetic brain design.” Even if there was no flesh and blood, Ji Xiaoman’s hands still trembled a little. “For my mother’s sake, I have collected all the information related to cybernetic brains, and I have also created a lot of cybernetic brains… It is impossible for this kind of blind spot to appear. Absolutely impossible.”

“Don’t think too much. Maybe he’s a new model you haven’t seen before.” Yu Le couldn’t understand the other party’s nervousness. “And it looked like it was going to be thrown away at first. It’s estimated that it was a failed design sample.”

“Many of the above designs are behind the times, and I’m sure I won’t mistake them.” Ji Xiaoman raised her voice slightly. “And the design of a few places is too exaggerated. If it’s just to adapt the performance of a general cybernetic brain, the hardware doesn’t need to be made like that at all, let alone something from a formal research institute…”

“What do you want to say?” Yu Le began to realize the problem.

“I didn’t have time to see very clearly. However, from a rough point of view of the coolant, storage method, and structural design, its computing power is at least ten times that of the average human brain, and perhaps several orders of magnitude more.”

“After the official operation of MUL-01, the independent computing power of general cybernetic brain hardware must not surpass that of the human brain. This was a rule that all manufacturers must follow. Even if innovative research was to be carried out, there was no point in spending a lot of effort to do that kind of thing when the software was restricted—it’s like installing a fighter engine on a children’s bicycle.”

“…” Yu Le didn’t answer again this time. The ventral cockroach dragged the four of them forward; its soft abdomen rolled over the grass, causing endless rustling.

“Finally, after MUL-01, related hardware and software information must be filed for public announcement, even including projects that failed to compete with Plan Corp at the beginning. It took me a lot of effort to get my hands on the diagrams at that time, and there was no information about this model. Moreover, MUL-01 is the first recorded strong AI project, and that project started in 2090 and was completed in 2096… But the time in the hall was 2094.”

“Yu Le, Tang Yibu existed before MUL-01 was officially put into use. Now it seems that he…he…”

Is looking for Ruan Xian.

Yu Le silently helped her finish this sentence. He turned his head and signaled that he had understood the meaning of Ji Xiaoman’s words.

Tang Yibu may not be an android equipped with a high-end program. Assuming that Ji Xiaoman’s statement was correct, together with the other competing companies that had to also file, Tang Yibu only had one identity…

A failed version of MUL-01 or the predecessor of MUL-01.

Neither of them spoke again.

Ruan Xian, on the other hand, didn’t have time to think. As he expected, Tang Yibu’s memory had just ended, and the opponent had acted. The familiar sense of emptiness under his feet hit him again. He pretended not to stand still, always adjusting his center of gravity, ready to fight at any moment.

If he wanted to capture or kill himself, the other side would send armed machinery in reality. He just needed to keep making sounds to determine his position, like a bat.

But he had to do it in a way that the other party couldn’t find out.

Ruan Xian picked up the frightened iron bead from the ground and blew silently on the edge of its shell. “We are dead.”

The iron bead rattled and yelped at the same time, creating screams of despair that were heartbreaking. Ruan Xian petted its shell with some guilt, then rushed to the place where it was lit up.

Ruan Xian picked a suitable time to lean down, and a gust of wind brushed his cheek. The attacker only cut off a few strands of hair and failed to connect to his flesh. From the size, it seemed to be a large machine. He most likely barely managed to avoid it. Looking at its attack method, it didn’t seem to plan to kill him immediately, but wanted to drive him in a certain direction.

Then he would continue to play dumb for a while and see what Professor Ruan had in mind.

As for Tang Yibu, given that they had predicted countless possibilities about Professor Ruan, the android would definitely not make a mistake in his plans.

It was himself who was at risk of making a mistake. An unexpected problem had appeared in his personal plan.

Ruan Xian patted the screaming iron bead while speeding up his steps.

Although he knew the expected meeting time, he still wanted to see Tang Yibu. After living for so long, Ruan Xian had never had such a strong urge…

He wanted to see his NUL-00 very, very much.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 164: Trap

Just like those too deliberate probes before, Tang Yibu also didn’t believe that the other party was willing to confess so simply.

Professor Ruan sat there; the image of his heart beating on one of the light screens, and countless data that showed the slightest chemical changes in his body was in front of Tang Yibu. From a data point of view, Professor Ruan didn’t lie, or at least he believed in what he was saying.

But things were never so simple.

If Professor Ruan was such a wanton person, MUL-01 would have been able to deal with him by now. Tang Yibu didn’t think that he had more resources than the Mainbrain. The vigilance in his heart made his emotions take root and plunge deep into the ground. Nothing could waver.

The other party, as if seeing his resistance and wariness, cut off those roots with a single sentence.

“The ‘Ruan Xian’ you know died on April 21, 2095,” Professor Ruan said calmly.

Even if he rationally calculated countless hidden strategies, for a moment, Tang Yibu felt that his entire being had become hollow. Like a peeled piece of sugar paper or an empty cake box lying in the corner of a table, the tiny expectations were transformed into huge nothingness.

Calm down.

Tang Yibu sat very straight, without any flaws on his face. “You said not long ago that you are Ruan Xian.”

“Biologically speaking, I am. Fan Linsong copied Ruan Xian’s body to the maximum extent permitted by science and technology and controlled the pathogenic genes during the reconstruction process. Although he couldn’t cure it, it couldn’t kill me immediately as before.”

Professor Ruan’s tone was very relaxed, as if he was talking about other people’s affairs.

Tang Yibu tried to suppress the urge to take a deep breath. He didn’t know the strange emotions pouring into his mind at this moment. He only knew that it made his limbs numb and his temples ache faintly.

“To the maximum… He scanned Ruan Xian’s brain?”

The level of science and technology at that time wasn’t enough. Even if you got a living person, you couldn’t do what Qian Yigeng did to Ji Xiaoman’s memory and still ensure that the body survived. The beginning of memory analysis technology was the devastating whole brain scan, which the Underground City now only used to process the heads of corpses—this technology still required the corpse to be on the verge of obsolescence, as it needed the corpse to be fresh.

Professor Ruan showed a somewhat complicated expression for an instant. “…No, he didn’t.”

The numbness and pain like needles in his limbs disappeared a little bit. Tang Yibu stared at the person in front of him. He didn’t even have much energy left to disguise the most basic friendliness.

“Just looking at the personality appraisal, his emotional disorder was relatively serious, but the degree of danger wasn’t high. It’s not an extreme type that can’t restrain murderous intent. There were two reasons for obtaining such a high-risk rating in the first place—first, no one had been exposed to that kind of brain disease before, and the reference cases were very limited. Second, his IQ was too high, and he was extremely lacking in guilt.”

Professor Ruan’s smile was a bit more self-deprecating.

“Ruan Xian’s danger came not only from brain lesions but also from memory. A normal child may not be able to maintain the soundness of his personality when encountering those things. His memory was like an untimely bomb next to a nuclear reactor. The bomb… I know what you want to ask. His file has long been sealed by the prevention agency. You have limited contact with the outside world, so it’s normal to not know this.”

“Now you can probably guess the theoretical basis of Fan Linsong’s ‘treatment’—he wanted to eliminate unstable factors on the basis of retaining intelligence. In other words, exclude those bad memories.” Professor Ruan pointed to his head. “When he happened to have a major disagreement with Ruan Xian at that time, and Ruan Xian’s body was getting worse by the day, it was the perfect chance to do it.”

Tang Yibu knew that without effective treatment, the Ruan Xian he knew could live another year or two at most. Perhaps for Fan Linsong, that was really some kind of treatment.

Copy the body of a dying person, suppress the disease in the process of remodeling, and fill the brain of the copied product with… not-so-bad memories.

As long as the content of the filler was controlled, they could get a “Ruan Xian” again. In this way, Professor Ruan claimed that his memory was chaotic after returning to the Institute, and it was excusable—those memories themselves were spliced, and the emotions in the memory could be recreated, but no one could fill in his thinking, so he could only rely on his intelligence to slowly “activate”.

As for the original person… With the optimized product, no one would leave behind “defective products” that had little life span and disagreed with them everywhere.

Fan Linsong only needed to kill the previous Ruan Xian to make a perfect end to this “treatment”.

“Is this why you and Fan Linsong had a falling out?” Tang Yibu asked with difficulty.

“Not really. I just needed to clash with him at that time, and this was the best reason.” Professor Ruan shook his head. “He thought I hadn’t discovered it before… After so many years, the Mainbrain wanted to use this matter to divide us, and I just suppressed it.””

“You always knew.”

“I found out not long after the Great Rebellion in the 22^nd Century,” Professor Ruan said lightly. “The question is, if I am not Ruan Xian, who am I?””

“You are not good at acting,” Tang Yibu quickly pointed out.

This Ruan Xian wasn’t good at covering up his emotions, and it was impossible to disguise himself and live in peace with Fan Linsong for so long.

“It’s false to say that I’m not disappointed… Well, I don’t hate him for that. Unfortunately, even if ‘childhood happiness is complete’, congenital emotional disorders don’t seem to disappear so easily.”

Professor Ruan shrugged and pointed to his head.

“As for your affairs, I remember every detail, NUL-00. It was just seen through the camera data as Fan Linsong didn’t get them into my head. I’m sorry for pretending to be your father to spy on you before.”

The other party showed no signs of lying, but everything was happening too fast.

Although the logic wasn’t wrong, the pace of the other party’s actions was too strange. Tang Yibu always felt Professor Ruan had other purpose, but he couldn’t peel off what it was. Professor Ruan was indeed not good at acting, but he was very good at using the truth as a weapon to disturb his opponent’s mind.

Too much information had smashed into his limbs, rendering him almost unconscious. Tang Yibu turned his head and looked at Mr. Ruan on the screen.

Then, he finally exhaled the breath that he had been holding for a long time. “You didn’t just pull me over here to let me hear the truth.”

“You know my purpose very well. It’s to deal with the Mainbrain.” Professor Ruan did not withdraw his display of physiological indicators.

“Even if you know you are a clone?”

Professor Ruan smiled.

“It’s difficult for people to get rid of the influence of their own memories. If everyone could accept the negative facts instantly after realizing them, there would be 90% fewer scams in this world,” he said softly. “At that time, the technology was underdeveloped, and my memories were all reprocessed objects obtained from others. Although the product is processed, the foundation is still real.”

Tang Yibu knew what the other party wanted to say.

When the world was still safe, Professor Ruan mentioned his own past many times. In an ordinary but warm childhood that was like a miracle, everyone he met more or less carried the brilliance of humanity. Even now it seemed that those are just the result of Fan Linsong’s careful selection…

But that was probably the happiness that the real Ruan Xian would never be able to touch.

Even more than the active pursuit of temptation by dignitaries, the sweet poison entered Professor Ruan’s heart from the beginning, and he had no right to choose.

“To put it bluntly, I don’t want to see the ethnic group I recognize become a toy of MUL-01. It has basic cognitive errors in the treatment of humans.” Professor Ruan pointed his fingers. “Taking a step back, even if I have no intention of being an enemy of MUL-01, it will not let me go. Are these reasons enough?”

“Things are clear enough now. Neither Ruan Xian before nor I now have the ability to order your destruction. MUL-01 will also not allow you to exist. NUL-00, we have the same interests.”

Professor Ruan stretched out a hand. “Let’s cooperate.”

Tang Yibu slowly buried his face in his palms, his shoulders shaking slightly. Professor Ruan thought for a moment. Although he was a little confused about the emotional expression of the android in front of him, he still stretched out his hand to try to comfort him…

Then he heard laughter.

Tang Yibu put down his hands, and the usual soft and perfect smile on his face disappeared. At this moment, the smile on the android was jerky and distorted, with a creepy sense of inhumanity, like “something else” that had adapted to human skin and was trying to show their original smile.

“Very convincing,” Tang Yibu said, with that uncomfortable smile. “But I still have one more question.”

“Please.” Professor Ruan raised his eyebrows.

“Before cooperating, I want to hear about Mr. Ruan.”

Tang Yibu’s smile deepened a bit. “You specifically extracted your own memories to make him, let him assist me, and even specifically deepened his cherished feelings for NUL-00. Not to mention that you’re using him now to test me. There have been many times before that I seriously thought about killing him… Even if it’s such a valuable android, you still regard him as a pure tool. I have to say that I am still a little worried about our cooperation.”

“What’s more, as far as the current situation is concerned, compared with MUL-01, you have no advantage. On the contrary, you are the primary target of MUL-01. Now that I have Mr. Ruan, there is no need to cooperate with you. Since I am an insider with similar intelligence, I prefer to choose one who is desperate for me.”

Tang Yibu’s speed of speech was getting faster and faster.

“If you have other chips, it’s best to take them out now… You should have considered this possibility, Professor Ruan?”

“Naturally, there are chips, but I will only disclose them to collaborators.” Professor Ruan scanned Tang Yibu’s expression suspiciously. “If you want to hear his origin, it’s not that I can’t say it.”

“Hmm.” Tang Yibu tilted his head slightly. “But I suddenly don’t want to hear it.”

Professor Ruan frowned when he heard this.

“No matter what you think, it’s better for me to cooperate with Mr. Ruan, not to mention that you’re not my real maker.” Tang Yibu was about to get up from the chair.

In the next instant, countless steel confinement arms stretched out around the chair, locking Tang Yibu firmly in place. Professor Ruan stood up from his seat, sighed, and walked to Tang Yibu’s side. He took some of his blood with a syringe and then watched in silence as the hole healed instantly.

“Just in case, check for the composition of the S-type Prototype is inside.” He handed the blood sample to the mechanical assistant on one side. “Sorry, NUL-00, I can’t let you just leave.”

“I guessed it, anyway. I still remember your physiological indicators.” Tang Yibu didn’t show the slightest uneasiness because of his confinement. On the contrary, he was in an unusually good mood. “But you shouldn’t be kind enough to erase my memory and then politely send us out of the island.”

Professor Ruan nodded wordlessly.

“I’m not going to force you to do anything.” He sighed again after a while of silence. “I did think about this situation, so I can only ask you to wait a while.”

“The report on you has just come out, and your emotional development is similar to what I thought. The relationship is basically dominated by interests and hormones. Even if you know that your companions are in deep danger, the center of the conversation is all about your personal situation. At this point, the options left to me are quite limited—just give you the best survival plan, right?”

Professor Ruan stared at Tang Yibu’s expression tightly, without blinking.

“Continue to implement the plan,” he instructed the mechanical assistant on the other side. His white coat was dyed dull blue by the dim room. “Get rid of Ruan Lijie and keep Ji Xiaoman and Yu Le. Kang Ziyan and Su Zhao will depend on the situation. Remember to recover the body after it’s over.”

“Yes.”

However, the weird smile on Tang Yibu’s face still didn’t disappear.

Not far away, the image of the android storage area gradually disappeared in front of Ruan Xian.

Since Tang Yibu acquired his body, everything that followed was dark and boring—the android would climb out every night, use the emergency medical cabin to open his skull, manipulate the medical pod to modify his cybernetic brain, and then crawl back to the android storage tank and wait for his body to recover… Then slip out again to clean up the blood all over the floor.

Day after day.

Ruan Xian understood the other party’s idea—in order to adapt to the human body structure and ensure his own safety, the heat dissipation and encryption of the cybernetic brain must be improved.

As Tang Yibu’s self-transformation became more complete, there were fewer and fewer memories that could be analyzed. Finally, Ruan Xian stood stiffly in the void, with darkness on all sides, leaving only a half-concealed door behind him.

“Xiao Ruan.” Ji Xiaoman was silent. Yu Le’s thick voice, which sounded like a ruffian, broke the silence. “I’m not asking anything, but isn’t this situation quite wrong?”

Ruan Xian nodded blankly. He walked slowly to Yu Le and patted Yu Le’s chest lightly.

Yu Le: “……”

Ji Xiaoman was still riding on Yu Le’s neck, so this scene looked quite funny. Yu Le didn’t know what the other party wanted to express. As soon as he wanted to ask, an afterglow of something swept at the same time.

While patting his chest, the other party stuck a small ball of paper into the gap in the calf of Ji Xiaoman’s prosthetic leg.

He quickly realized and stopped asking and immediately entered the atmosphere created by the other party. “Xiao Tang is also miserable. Anyway, let’s get out of here first and get him back. Xiao Ruan, listen to me. The past is over, don’t—”

Yu Le’s comforting words stuck in his throat.

Ruan Xian pushed them hard, causing Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman to stumble towards the direction of the door. At the moment they fell through the door, Yu Le heard an angry response.

“I will get him back.”

The mysterious Ruan Lijie smiled at him and disappeared into the darkness behind the door.

The next second, the door slammed shut.

The author has something to say:

None of these three are the types that are easy to handle (?

Ruan and Tang won’t collapse so easily. XD

Tang: Not only didn’t collapse, but was even happy.jpg

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 163: Time of Death

Everything was clear now.

At that point in time, the control of androids was still extremely strict. If NUL-00 wanted to obtain a body that could be designed independently, the Android Show project that hadn’t started yet was the best goal—the character design was different, the control was neglected, and because of the need for repeated debugging, it would not start immediately, which would give NUL-00 a considerable respite.

It lured the employee to trade with Plan Corp late at night. Taking advantage of the cover of night, it was dark enough to operate a mechanical assistant, sneak all the way into the Android Show project warehouse, and finally cause an explosion. The explosion created the illusion of damage to the cybernetic brain, indicating resources were about to run out… It very likely planned this from the beginning.

If this was its subject exercise, then he would have to say, “Well done.”

For a moment, everything around seemed to be no longer important. The only sound left in Ruan Xian’s entire world was the clicking of the gears in his mind, which was accompanied by the tingling pain that seeped from his bones.

Now it seemed that the android didn’t sneak into the show factory after the Great Rebellion, where he gained his body. On the other hand, he was indeed an AI made by Ruan Xian, but wasn’t specially made to deal with MUL-01 after the Great Rebellion.

That was his NUL-00. The little thing that was soaked in the heat sink of the computer room and occasionally liked to be coquettish.

At some point in the past, Ruan Xian didn’t have such speculation, but the knowledge of the Institute could no longer prevent him from thinking about it.

After all, according to the regulations of the institute, the cybernetic brain had to be completely shut down before the energy supply disassembly and the destruction process could be carried out. If NUL-00 had been disciplined, it would be impossible to “negotiate with an employee after being shut down” like this memory.

There was a clock in the hall on the edge of memory, and Ruan Xian remembered the time.

In other words, before the end of April 2095, NUL-00 carried out an intrusion operation without authorization, played with the regulations, and left a simple synchronization command in the external system—it was like an anchor point. Once NUL-00 left the shielded computer room, in order to transmit the results, it would actively stimulate the main system of NUL-00 to respond.

A simpler analogy would be that it was like giving a knocked-out person a pot of ice water. NUL-00 was forcibly awakened again and escaped death.

The problem was that, in his own “memory”, NUL-00 had no reason to do so.

Why? Ruan Xian asked silently, even though he knew he couldn’t get an answer.

His breathing didn’t leave a mist on the glass. His hands could feel the coldness of the glass wall of the liquid tank. Since this felt real to the touch, it had to be a deep memory that Tang Yibu had of it.

Through the glass, he put his hand on the palm of the other person that was pressing the glass.

Ignoring Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman, who were extremely confused behind him and the iron bead that was spinning around his feet, Ruan Xian was silent for a while before he spoke softly. From an angle that no one could see, facing Tang Yibu, who was still murmuring, he slowly mouthed his words.

Don’t be afraid. He responded like so.

A few kilometers away.

“…So that’s how it is.” Professor Ruan went around behind Tang Yibu’s chair and propped his elbows on the back of it. “That’s how you escaped.”

Tang Yibu didn’t answer Professor Ruan but stared at the image on the light screen—Mr. Ruan stayed by the liquid tank containing the android. This was the first time he had seen the other party show such a complicated expression.

Even if he knew that Mr. Ruan had Ruan Xian’s memory, the other party’s reaction was still beyond his expectation.

It was his most ideal and ridiculous expectation.

Tang Yibu had imagined Ruan Xian’s own reaction countless times. After getting his destruction report, the gentle Professor Ruan in his memory may show a little regretful expression, and the other party may have regretted making such a decision for a few moments, wanting to make him the exclusive AI assistant for the office.

During the time he struggled to survive on the Android Show, Tang Yibu thought about many possibilities, and among them, the least likely and most unreasonable—the other party would feel extremely profound pain and self-blame for his own destruction.

Just like Mr. Ruan in the light screen.

Even if the flesh and body were cut up and the spirit was eroded, even if he was fooled by him to the point of losing most of his sanity, Tang Yibu had never observed such heavy pain in the other party. Even if that person was walking on the verge of death, he could face it calmly and indifferently. He once classified Mr. Ruan as a relatively dull group of humans.

This didn’t make sense.

Mr. Ruan was obviously colder and more ruthless than the Ruan Xian in his memory, with his lack of social adaptability exposed. Even if it was a replica with a memory, such an emotional reaction was too excessive—Professor Ruan also watched everything from the sidelines; his face only had the impeccable emotion of regret.

Compared to Mr. Ruan, who was trembling slightly on the light screen, this one even had the energy to chat with him.

“It seems that I still think it’s complicated. I didn’t expect you to add an unauthorized synchronization program to the external system… It was indeed a loophole, but at that time you shouldn’t have been in crisis. Why did you do such a thing?”

The good thing was that Professor Ruan’s question allowed him to contain his somewhat out-of-control emotions in time.

Tang Yibu knew exactly what Professor Ruan wanted to ask, but he still didn’t mean to answer.

“You plug in… What synchronization command did you enter?” The unusually difficult conversation gave Professor Ruan a bit of a headache.

Having said that, he set his sights on the back of Tang Yibu’s head. That precious cybernetic brain was buried deep under the flesh and bones. As a person who owned part of the data, digging out these image memories up close was already his limit.

The motivations, emotions, and thoughts at that time were questions that only NUL-00 could answer.

Unfortunately, that android didn’t seem to be able to hear him, and he didn’t give the slightest reaction from beginning to end.

“Okay, let me change the subject. What are you going to do with Ruan Lijie? He now knows your true identity.” Although Professor Ruan moved casually, he also maintained a polite enough distance from Tang Yibu.

This was a good opportunity.

The matter was about Mr. Ruan. He could just use this opportunity to try and probe around.

Professor Ruan dredged up his least favorite memory and exposed it. Of course, these behaviors were within the possibility that they had expected, but Tang Yibu still didn’t like this feeling very much.

The other party dug up only basic records such as vision and hearing from his cybernetic brain, but he remembered more. He remembered the fear of overheating inside the cybernetic brain and the dizziness when the energy approached the bottom limit. At that time, the word father was almost engraved in his program system. No matter how he calculated it, he couldn’t explain it…

‘No, he can explain,’ Tang Yibu thought blankly. He just couldn’t accept it.

Tang Yibu stretched out a hand, stroked the light screen in front of him, and stopped beside Mr. Ruan’s face.

He had no reservations about that person, prepared a gift for that person, and made a serious request to that person. However, the collapse of trust only took a moment.

[They were once my things, but I can’t make them return to their original state.]

He once asked Mr. Ruan for advice in this way, and the other party told him that this emotion was called “regret”, but he didn’t tell Mr. Ruan what he found afterwards—regret, confusion, and an endless struggle that was enough to turn into hatred.

What are your plans after completing the project?

He once wanted to be completely free, far away from that person, even if the whole world was turned into dust by MUL-01. What was more, it seemed that MUL-01 didn’t have such a radical plan yet.

But since he came into contact with Professor Ruan, a conjecture seemed to have dug a hole in his heart—whether he had been manipulated by his memory or wasn’t his original self to begin with, it was very likely Professor Ruan wasn’t the “Ruan Xian” he knew; it was also unlikely that Mr. Ruan was a clone. The father he knew may no longer be alive, and he could no longer prove anything to the other party.

This thought made him very uncomfortable. He couldn’t define the discomfort, but it crushed his insides into a ball.

At that moment, Mr. Ruan’s performance had given him a spider silk of hope, and he couldn’t wait to catch it in his hand immediately and study it carefully.

His Mr. Ruan.

Must endure. Tang Yibu maintained his steady breathing. Everything must be carried out in strict accordance with the plan.

“…You put him by my side just to see how I make a choice?” Facing the other party’s question, Tang Yibu finally spoke. His response was quite vague, and his tone was still not good.

As he spoke, Tang Yibu didn’t take his eyes away from his Mr. Ruan. Professor Ruan didn’t answer his question immediately. He looked at Ruan Lijie on the light screen for a while, and the smile on his face slowly disappeared.

“You can say that.” Finally, he responded softly. “I know what you are wondering, so I can open up all my physiological indicators to you.”

Tang Yibu pursed his lips.

“If you still don’t believe in the matter of “I am Ruan Xian”, you can ask directly.”

“Warning.” A mechanical voice in the room suddenly sounded. “It is very dangerous to open up physiological data. Please think twice—”

“I know, it’s not just a custom virus or something like that… Even if NUL-00 doesn’t like me anymore, it won’t stand on the side of MUL-01. I still have this point. With the data collected so far, it’s impossible that he’s a cover for MUL-01.”

“The risk is still—”

“I also have things I want to figure out, so I have to show some sincerity.” Professor Ruan waved his hand casually. “Shut up.”

Tang Yibu squinted his eyes and saw countless light screens appear in front of Professor Ruan. All kinds of data on the light screen jumped wildly, and that was probably the information MUL-01 wanted most at the moment.

Even if it was Ruan Xian, there was no way to fake it under his eyes. Tang Yibu certainly had this confidence.

“I’m Ruan Xian.”

Professor Ruan sat on the chair casually, crossed his legs, clasped his hands on his knees, and smiled again on his face. He looked at Tang Yibu for a while, and his smile gradually changed. He no longer looked gentle, but was inexplicably cheerful.

“You should see that I’m not lying and you must have a lot of questions. I will start with what you care about most.”

“To be precise, so far, I think I’m the only Ruan Xian in the world who is a human being. It may not be the same as your expectations, but I agree with the point that ‘I am Ruan Xian’. The test not long ago should make you wary, so I tend to spread things out more than beat around the bush.”

“The ‘Ruan Xian’ you know died on April 21, 2095.”

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