Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 175: Life Data

It seems that the appearance of the A-type Prototype wasn’t much different from the S-type. Ruan Xian recalled the S-type Prototype encountered in the ruins. No matter its size, shape, texture, or color, it was exactly the same as the A-type Prototype in Tang Yibu’s memory.

Floating in the liquid was a jellyfish-like white mass.

It was just that it was attracted by the “suspected old version” of α-092 in his body, and it actively integrated into him. The images on this island may be fake, but his memories of when he was in the ruins were absolutely authentic.

Ruan Xian finally abandoned the last doubt in his heart.

It seemed that it was indeed an accident that he obtained the S-type Prototype, and it wasn’t another one of Professor Ruan’s tricks, or some kind of hidden agenda for the future. Professor Ruan couldn’t predict in advance that he would arrive in that room in time. If this was part of his plan, it couldn’t be a more bullshit plan than that.

This thought made Ruan Xian temporarily calm down and he turned his attention to the young couple in front of him.

The young Su Zhao’s entire body was covered in blood and her clothes were stained with grass and dirt. The child’s body was thin, her throat was being squeezed tightly by the adult Su Zhao, her feet were dangling in the air, and her entire body was twitching violently. The small Kang Ziyan was lying face down to one side; his hand still reaching towards the direction of the small Su Zhao while the back of his head was stained with a large dark red blood spot.

As she was choking her younger self, Xiao Zhao had no special expression on her face, as if what she was choking was a sparrow.

Ji Xiaoman reacted the fastest.

Though she was still a bit confused, the gun in her hand was already extended. Xiao Zhao seemed to have predicted this, as she raised her wrist at the right point in time, dropped the young Su Zhao in her hand, and successfully avoided the bullet.

Yu Le immediately donned on his professional pirate attitude—despite being mind-blown by the pile of terrifying information and the fact that he was still in the dark about the current situation, he pretended not to hear Kang Ziyan’s plea and rushed to the car first and sat in the driver’s seat. Unlike Ji Xiaoman, he remembered that the two children “didn’t exist”. As the former captain of the Walking Stones, Yu Le obviously didn’t intend to waste too much time on meaningless things.

The three-legged little machine with Professor Ruan’s brain seemed to want to say something, but before it could speak, Ruan Xian picked it up blankly and threw it rudely into the back seat of the car.

The iron bead couldn’t wait to return to the comfortable car as it followed Ruan Xian and jumped in and rolled into the soft back seat before the rest boarded.

If it weren’t for the situation being really tense and him not wanting to create more trouble, Ruan Xian wasn’t sure if he could resist his hands and ask for some price from the young couple who had been abusing Tang Yibu for so long. In addition, he was also interested in how Tang Yibu would react. With the strength of the A-type Prototype, Tang Yibu could kill those two within a second…

After a few seconds, only Ji Xiaoman and Tang Yibu were left outside the armored off-roader.

Ji Xiaoman’s attention was still on the two “non-existent” children—the young Kang Ziyan was still in a coma, covered in dirt, looking pitiful, while the young Su Zhao was rubbing her throat and coughing. Her eyes were full of pleading as she looked at Ji Xiaoman.

Seeing most of the people getting into the car without wavering, the adult Kang Ziyan’s face turned incredibly ugly. He raised his empty hands high and approached Tang Yibu tentatively. “Xiao Tang, that is the A-type Prototype, right? Did you guys come from outside? Please, take us out of here… I don’t ask for your forgiveness. I know some information about Plan Corp. Let’s make a deal—”

Tang Yibu had on his standard smile. He titled his head slightly while the smile remained motionless, like a mask.

“Kang Ge, what nonsense are you talking about?” Xiao Zhao approached with a smile. The muzzle of the gun in her hand was pointed towards the back of Kang Ge’s head. “Isn’t it good here? This is our home. They are going to take away the car. We have to hurry up and grab it—”

“Any information is fine.” Kang Ge ignored Xiao Zhao. “I have to take her out of this place. Please.”

“Human society has collapsed.” Tang Yibu spoke without any emotion in his voice.

Ji Xiaoman looked at Tang Yibu, then at the child in the distance calling for help; her eyes were filled with confusion and struggle. The two men who were talking regarded them like air, as if those cries didn’t exist, while Xiao Zhao exaggeratedly blocked her ears with her fingers as she sang nursery rhymes.

“I know. I’ve been in this business. Looking at the situation in those days, I can probably guess something.” Kang Ge didn’t give up. “No one went to repair the research institute, so something must have happened outside… Not to mention this, I really have information in my hand. Let’s make a deal, okay? I don’t want your escort or anything. Just let us leave this island. Even if we fail on the way… It doesn’t matter.”

Ruan Xian narrowed his eyes in the car and stared closely at Tang Yibu’s every move.

“What do you have?” For the time being, Tang Yibu had no intention of budging.

“The Institute is good at strengthening mechanical hardware, but our company is better at memorizing data and software operations. After the launch of MUL-01, my group focused on the research of data transmission between the human brain and the cybernetic brain. 90% of the relevant technologies on the market were developed by us. This… I’m confident in this regard. We’re ahead of Ruan Xian, who rejected this technology.”

Tang Yibu naturally knew what the other party wanted to mention.

Professor Ruan abnormally rejected the memory operations that were popular before the Great Rebellion and placed his research focus on the development and perfection of various types of Prototypes. In regard to the processing of memory data, Plan Corp was indeed once the leader. Even if the Mainbrain optimized the technology, the basic path wouldn’t be much worse.

This included the memory refresh of the Order Supervisors, the “memory indoctrination” of the replicants of the petri dishes, and the “personality setting” of the Android Show. Naturally, it also included the technology to pull the long-dead memories of Su Zhao and Kang Ziyan back from hell.

Professor Ruan had only studied the very limited application of the mind access needle. Even if he picked up this field after the Great Rebellion, under extremely limited conditions, it was difficult to truly surpass the Plan Corp’s progress back then.

It must be said that Kang Ge gave a good price. Tang Yibu let out an “oh” that was neither long nor short, ending with a meaningful tone.

Seeing Tang Yibu’s performance, Ruan Xian could probably guess what the other party’s conditions were.

However, Ruan Xian could only think how ironic this all felt—the real Kang Ziyan and Su Zhao had already died. Unlike the situation in the Shade Refuse petri dish, Kang Ge should have known this a long time ago, but in order to retain their two memory data, he still struggled to exist… Truly like they were ghosts.

“I can give you part of the data model! When I leave this island, I will give you the rest.” Kang Ge didn’t care about Xiao Zhao’s gun that was pointing behind his head. He looked as if he was about to collapse to his knees. “Please, please. I understand you’re angry with us, but… But…”

“I’m not angry.” Tang Yibu spoke calmly. “I might be a bit at first, but don’t worry. You see, it’s just like stubbing your toe against a table. You won’t really hate the table.”

“…He’s indeed not suitable for immediate listing*,” Professor Ruan said quietly.

*Referring to listing to market. || In this contest Professor Ruan is making a quip saying the way Tang Yibu acts truly isn’t proper to be sold to the public.

That wasn’t kindness or tolerance; it was purely indifference, which could be terrifying “inference” in a sense. Ruan Xian understood what Professor Ruan was referring to, but he didn’t plan to pay attention to the other party and continued to look at Tang Yibu.

“Father, let’s take them with us and put them on the roof of the car.” Tang Yibu waved his hand in the car. His smile suddenly brightened. “There won’t be any hidden dangers and it might even attract some firepower.”

“Whatever you want.” Ruan Xian nodded.

“This is my car, okay?” Yu Le snorted, then coughed dryly a few times, as if he remembered his current situation. “Forget it. Do what you want. Just hurry up.”

The moment he got permission, Kang Ge turned around and chopped. Xiao Zhao was caught off guard and was struck squarely. Her body fell down limply and was hugged by Kang Ge. For fear that Tang Yibu would regret it, Kang Ge climbed to the roof of the car at the speed as if he was avoiding monsters.

“Those two children…” Ji Xiaoman was still hesitating. She was particularly soft on children, perhaps due to her own experience.

Taking advantage of Ruan Xian’s inattention, the three-legged brain beast jumped out of the back seat and walked towards Ji Xiaoman. Suddenly, seeing such a thing up close, Ji Xiaoman subconsciously took a step back.

“Xiaoman Jie.” The young Su Zhao, who was still conscious, was begging for help, as if she had completely forgotten about being shot in the head by Tang Yibu. “Xiaoman Jie…”

“Miss Ji, the Order Supervisors are almost here.” Professor Ruan spoke in an electronic voice. “Get in the car. They don’t exist.”

“Then you, uh, unlock the perceptual interference.” Ji Xiaoman felt uncomfortable as she stood up straight.

“Jiejie, Kang Ziyan is injured. Even if you take him away…” The young Su Zhao crawled closer; her face was full of tears. “We’re here. We’re here!”

She dug into the ground with her fingers, her fingertips dripping blood everywhere. Ji Xiaoman, ironically, didn’t bother looking at her but was in a daze.

“Why do you want to take away the bad guys and not help us?”

The child’s desperate voice made people’s mouths bitter, and the desolate crying made Yu Le in the driver’s seat move his body uncomfortably.

“We are here!”

Most of the perceptual interference seemed to have been removed, and the burning buildings and the starry sky all disappeared, replaced by the forest and the blue sky, yet the two children were still crawling nearby, slowly dying.

“Since they don’t exist, it doesn’t matter if we take them with you.” The young Su Zhao cried heartbreakingly while Ji Xiaoman’s spoke in an extremely low voice. Her metal fingers clattered loudly.

“We have wasted ten minutes here,” Tang Yibu reminded gently. “There are five minutes of preparation time left at most. Please pay attention. Miss Ji, if you can’t make a decision in five minutes, I’ll have to take coercive measures.”

As the subject of Ji Xiaoman’s inquiry, the knee-high three-legged machine didn’t answer. For some reason, Ji Xiaoman felt a strong aura of sadness from it. Yu Le rolled down the car window and looked over carelessly.

“I want to ask you a lot of things.” He raised his voice so that Ji Xiaoman, who was a few steps away so she could hear him clearly. “Let’s explain this first Tang Yibu. Before, you said these two children were loopholes, and then we separated—now it’s time to make things clear.”

“I’m afraid Professor Ruan can’t make them disappear,” Tang Yibu said calmly. “Do you remember the wallpaper analogy?”

“Remember. The perceptual interference of everyone on the island was the first layer, and Professor Ruan created a second layer of perceptual interference to cover the reality at the bottom.” Yu Le spoke extremely fast. “So?”

“These two children are the things on the first layer of wallpaper… No, it would be better to say they are the nails that run through the two layers of wallpaper, connecting them together.” Tang Yibu glanced at Yu Le. “I’m afraid they are the product of the imagination of the two of you. Depending on their level of fineness, the person who made them must be quite eager to go back in time.”

They were just products of imagination, like the mottle ceramic doll head that was squirming in flesh and blood, or the disgusting phantom plants.

“There is just one difference—our Professor Ruan naturally doesn’t think that those strange things are real, but he can’t help but care about the two children, subconsciously treating them as active people. In other words, in the past, only Professor Ruan affected the top layer through the second layer of wallpaper he built. This is the only time the top layer has a perceptual disturbance that has affected Professor Ruan.”

The two children were created by Su Zhao, then were slowly “recognized” by others and finally became an existence on this island. This was what would happen here—deep and desperate memories condensed into flesh and blood, stepping into the cruel reality.

They started to become “recognized” by one person after another, as a collection of consciousness, living under the camera, born into this world. However, if the perceptual interference was completely removed, they would disappear, as lightly as bubbles.

Ji Xiaoman, who had dabbled in relevant knowledge, hugged her shoulders as her whole body shook a little.

…Those “people” only existed in the cognition of others.

“So they are weak points, recognized both by me and by others on this island. So if someone hurts them, it can temporarily break the boundary between the two layers of ‘wallpaper’.”

Professor Ruan’s three-legged brain container finally opened its mouth.

“Using your analogy, it’s equivalent to loosening the nails that pierced the two layers of wallpaper. Of course, it’s possible to see the second layer. I indeed sent them to you to guide Tang Yibu to me.”

“Xiaoman Jie.” The phantom was still crying.

Xiao Zhao and Kang Ge were two pieces of memory data that settled in flesh, and those memories divided themselves again before the chaos, copying out two small fragments of memories.

They didn’t have any flesh, no real body.

” Xiaoman Jie—” The young Su Zhao grabbed Ji Xiaoman’s pants leg and almost cried until she ran out of breath.

“Let’s go, Miss Ji.” Professor Ruan let out a long sigh. “There’s no time.”

Ji Xiaoman didn’t speak. Her eyes were a little red.

“The Order Supervisors have arrived,” the three-legged machine said. “They… have other uses.”

Ji Xiaoman raised her head. As soon as she wanted to say something, the scene in front of her shook—when they stabilized again, she had already been carried to the back seat of the car by Tang Yibu, together with Professor Ruan’s three-legged machine.

She tried to raise her head and looked out of the car window—the young Su Zhao sat dumbfounded, wiping tears desperately with both hands.

Then she exploded.

The two small figures on the ground looked like weird fireworks. They were like two newly added pinholes to a bulging balloon. Unlike the last color eruption, it was like the entire world was sprayed into the sky through those two figures.

Ji Xiaoman’s body stiffened.

The already crazy island had become even crazier. Countless distorted new images appeared on the island—blooming flowers, smiling faces crowded together, a playground’s Ferris wheel spinning sideways, and stacked paper cranes flying in the air.

In the gap between those beautiful things, a dead wall rose around the center of the island where they were located, isolating other people, and then exploding countless times as bombs came crashing down.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 174: Incomplete Memory

“This dream is so vivid,” Yu Le exclaimed in a low voice.

“Just now I saw Xiao Ruan calling that gadget ‘Professor Ruan’, and that thing called Xiao Ruan ‘Ruan Xian’. Is this a greeting method that I don’t know of?”

After speaking, he laughed dryly and subconsciously stood between Ji Xiaoman and Tang Yibu, separating her from him. Tang Yibu glanced at Yu Le meaningfully and then fixed his gaze back on Ruan Xian.

“Anyway, if this is a joke, it’s not very funny.”

At first, Yu Le himself had no idea about Ruan Xian. The most willing to join the rebel army were soldiers and public servants. The second were ordinary people who had a good life before the Great Rebellion.

As a criminal where when one person was full, the whole family wouldn’t be hungry, Yu Le had never had such high-level awareness. His days in the Sea of Ruins were satisfying enough for him. He only came here due to a temporary rise in passion and there was nothing better to do.

*(全家不饿) Idiom describing a single-person family.

In order to ensure a stable life, Yu Le had been paying attention to the news outside the Sea of Ruins while he was still there. To him, “Ruan Xian” wasn’t much different from other little leaders in history textbooks—he had heard of the name and knew that he wielded great power, but there was no concrete concept. The impression came to life thanks to Tu Rui. As a member of the rebel army, Tu Rui had only admiration for Ruan Xian, so he would talk about him constantly.

After all, in this era where human life was like weeds, “the human who could give the Mainbrain the most headache” wasn’t a title that could be obtained casually.

He had also seen Ruan Xian’s appearance in video recordings. He was on a wheelchair and looked weird and quite menacing.

However, there was only a beautiful young man in front of him, as well as a strange, small machine. Yu Le couldn’t react for a while. His spirit had been shaken by Tang Yibu, a relative of MUL-01, and he couldn’t bear a second blow.

Unfortunately, “Ruan Lijie” didn’t look as if he was joking at all.

Yu Le could feel Ji Xiaoman pinching his wrist. The little girl was trembling but remained silent. This was supposed to be a desperate and crazy trip, but now it had gone completely off course—unknowingly, they seemed to be mixed into something incredible.

Yu Le frantically recalled the behavior of the young couple along the way, and then barely grasped some sense of reality. He originally just wanted to talk to Tang Yibu about terms, but now he couldn’t find his voice.

Yu Le thought blankly, ‘We know a bit too much,’

“Are you really Ruan Xian?” He turned to the young man who called himself Ruan Lijie.

“…Sort of.” Ruan Xian’s mood wasn’t very good.

He knew this wasn’t over. Although he had taken precautions, Ruan Xian didn’t expect Professor Ruan to do this. It seemed that the same kind of madness was still buried in their bones.

That person must have made countless records—if NUL-00 was alive or dead, whether it had companions, and whether he would agree to cooperate. In the end, they still failed to escape the net that the other party had carefully woven for several years.

Ruan Xian was able to calculate what would happen next.

Even if they succeed in obtaining the car, they may not be able to leave low-key. Assuming that he was in Professor Ruan’s position, he would definitely take the opportunity to force out more of Tang Yibu’s aces and, in the process, get more information. Not only that, the Mainbrain would focus on Tang Yibu for the time being, which meant he could take the opportunity to implement his plan.

Even if he killed him, he didn’t believe that Professor Ruan’s base camp was really here.

Even if the degree of madness was about the same, Ruan Xian himself wouldn’t take risks with such an important thing, and Professor Ruan, who was obsessed with victory, wouldn’t do so either. However, the thing underground didn’t look like a product of perceptual interference, so it probably had some use. It was just that his mechanical knowledge was behind the times, and it was difficult to judge in such a short period of time.

Things were getting worse, time was tight, and they didn’t have much time to collect more information. To protect themselves, they had to follow the path predicted by Professor Ruan.

Ruan Xian looked at Tang Yibu beside him. The android had always looked like he was in a good mood this whole time, as if he wasn’t the one being pushed to the cusp. The android was now looking at Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman beside him, as if he was a chef looking at fresh ingredients. The two of them had been on the battlefield for a long time, and they wouldn’t miss Tang Yibu’s ambiguous examination.

Yu Le stared back vigilantly. His arm muscles taunted visibly to the naked eye. Ji Xiaoman, who was still in shock, tremblingly held the gun. Her metal fingertips knocked against the handle of the gun, causing clattering sounds.

He didn’t owe Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman much. If he had just woken up, he wouldn’t have stopped Tang Yibu from silencing them—in theory, the disappearance of the two would only make their escape more troublesome. The sword had gone in the opposite direction, down a more dangerous path; a decision he never made.

However, Ruan Xian’s mentality had changed a bit.

On one hand, he seemed to have become cowardly—he began to be unwilling to let Tang Yibu take too many risks, even if he knew the other party could handle it. On the other hand, he also had a little bit… A little bit of fear and began to worry about possible failure.

In addition, Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman, no matter how he looked at it, weren’t good people, yet out of some vague emotion, Ruan Xian still didn’t want to see these two die for this reason. All choices at the moment were accompanied by risks, and he was more willing to face the possible identity leakage than the risk of increasing the difficulty of escape.

Anyway, Tang Yibu had already been exposed. Whether he was Ruan Xian or not, he would inevitably be targeted by the Mainbrain.

Before taking out the Mainbrain, he just needed to keep these two people within his sights.

“Yibu, about Mr. Yu and Miss Ji—”

“I won’t kill them, father,” Tang Yibu replied magnanimously, bending his eyes with a smile.

“Father…?!” Yu Le’s expression seemed like he had choked on a hard-boiled egg. “Hold up. Little profiteer, although I shouldn’t say this—there’s something wrong with the Mainbrain, while these people on our side seemed to have a lot of issues. This is the end for humanity.”

The iron bead bit Yu Le’s toe with a rattle, causing him to groan.

“Now that the two of you have dealt with the problem of your companions, it’s best to start acting quickly.” Professor Ruan urged in an electronic voice. “This is not a suitable place to chat.”

“Don’t think about just muddling through. I’m not going to buy it so simply.” Determining that he wouldn’t die for the time being, Yu Le shrugged off the iron bead at his feet and his ruffian aura came back. “Later, you must be honest. Don’t bother mentioning the little profiteer. I have no requests for you.”

“Then escape first.” Ruan Xian grabbed Tang Yibu’s wrist and rushed to the Institute full of perception interference.

The Tang Yibu, who appeared in the memories, was lying prone on the steps and was crawling towards the burning Institute. The gunshot wound on his body was still bleeding, leaving a very conspicuous blood trail on the ground.

“NUL-00, why did you go to the research Institute at that time?” Professor Ruan manipulated the three-legged machinery to keep up. “During the time of the Android Show, you shouldn’t be able to get information from the outside world.”

“It’s still possible to collect a little bit of information up close, and it gives me a very safe feeling there.” Tang Yibu continued to let Ruan Xian pull him along, and even deliberately slowed down as he spoke, with a little pride in his tone. “It’s also convenient to determine the degree of technological development. There is also an abundance of supplies.”

He paused.

“Most importantly, I wanted to see my father.” Now the tone was rather smooth. “…Though in the end, I didn’t get to see him.”

“Speaking of this, I happened to be out on the day of the rebellion.” Professor Ruan’s three-legged machinery jumped over stones dexterously. “MUL-01 is very good at picking time.”

“What if the Great Rebellion never came?” Ruan Xian, who was running in front, was focused on other aspects. “Were you going to be abused to death by Su Zhao and Kang Ziyan?”

There was a bitterness in his heart, and he didn’t hold back the grit in his teeth.

“I have worked very hard to save my life.” Tang Yibu’s voice instantly became unusually aggrieved. Ruan Xian was instantly deflated and could only silently glare at the air.

“And the Great Rebellion was bound to come.” After admiring Ruan Xian’s reaction for a while, Tang Yibu continued with a smile. The soft grievances in his voice had disappeared. “I just wasn’t sure how many years it would take.”

“…Did you know in advance that there would be a big rebellion?” Professor Ruan’s voice became serious.

“Being close to the institute, I can also get a little bit of unencrypted news. Without drawing on my program architecture, even father himself wouldn’t be able to create a new strong AI so quickly,” Tang Yibu replied lightly.

“And when I got this news, MUL-01 was already activated. I don’t have any channels to notify you, and even if I did, I have no obligation to risk my life to do so.”

He lowered his head and stared at the three-legged machine with a cold gaze from an angle that Ruan Xian couldn’t see.

“Going a step back, even if I could successfully pass this ‘conjecture’ to the outside world, only crazed lunatics would be willing to buy it, and you yourself can’t do anything—You should know, Professor Ruan, the game of chess changes all the time. From the moment MUL-01 officially took control of the network, everything was destined to happen. Don’t you have negative predictions yourself? Most people need to suffer by themselves first before they realize the seriousness of the problem.”

“That’s true,” Yu Le interjected, unable to control the irony in his voice. Ji Xiaoman lowered her head, staring only at the ground.

The three-legged machine sighed quite humanely.

“I understand.” Professor Ruan’s voice was a little low. “I just want to ask the reason you know in advance.”

“I also understand. It’s just that these words have been held back for many years, so it’s quite refreshing to say them.” Tang Yibu put a finger on his lips. “As for the reason… Let’s talk about it when we escape smoothly. At any rate, it’s a family secret.”

Ruan Xian didn’t plan to join this somewhat shocking dialogue.

His attention was all on the research institute—the interior wasn’t as dark as what Yu Le said. Professor Ruan’s plan was obviously successful. Tang Yibu’s memories had been successfully intercepted and the gaps were automatically filled in.

The hall of the burning research institute was billowing with smoke and completely empty. The smell of burning metal was particularly pungent. In the image, Tang Yibu crawled among the wreckage of armed machines firmly towards the equipment room on the first floor. It was just that things didn’t go well. Before he could climb down a few steps, he fell into a huge crack on the ground.

Maybe he was wrong in his judgment. Maybe the android deliberately fell in—when Ruan Xian saw the underground of the hall being transformed, such thoughts floated through his mind.

That wasn’t the underground of the Institute he was familiar with.

Compared to the quiet and cruel hall, the people here were still fighting fiercely with armed machines. The mechanical ants rushed towards the center of the hall like a steady stream and were instantly blown up by the flashing protective net.

At the center of the struggle was a huge columnar sink. The glass of the columnar sink was covered with blood and bullet marks, and the surrounding human and mechanical debris piled up like mountains. A white object with no fixed appearance was rotating leisurely in the soaking liquid, like a large jellyfish, seemingly unaffected by the fierce battle around it.

Tang Yibu observed the environment for a long time and then stared at the weird milky white object. He maintained a prone posture and stretched out a hand towards it with difficulty, with a dim blue light emitting from the edge of his palm, as if reading something.

Then, a smile slowly appeared on the face full of blood stains and dust.

A laser was cauterizing a silver-gray metal wall, followed by an explosion. Armed machines from both sides were tearing each other apart as the screaming sirens pierced everyone’s eardrums. In the chaotic smoke, the Tang Yibu of the past stood up staggeringly.

He seemingly wanted to command his hand, as if he was conducting an invisible orchestra, but he couldn’t lift his arms, so he had to weakly support his forearms and twitch his fingers. Ruan Xian recognized that action—Tang Yibu was trying to hack into the defense system there.

Bullets and beams of light passed by the android’s temples. His shoes had long been lost and sharp mechanical fragments stabbed his feet. The blood from the gunshot wound was mixed with the blood of newly formed injuries at the soles of his feet, causing him to leave blurry crimson footprints on the blackened ground.

He stepped on the charred limbs of humans and smoking fragments of machines without discrimination. The defense net that could only resist machines turned red for two seconds. After all, it didn’t react to true flesh and blood. Tang Yibu stretched out his hand towards the half-broken glass trough, as if to give it a hug.

The two sides were fighting fiercely and discovered him almost at the same time.

Tang Yibu turned his face. His golden eyes were bloodshot. The invading machines seemed to have received a self-destruct command. They trembled in place, their limbs twisted, and then attacked their own kind as if they had gone crazy. There weren’t many humans left. Just as someone wanted to command the offline machines under his control to approach, a notification sound rang out from their bodies, one after another.

Ruan Xian could hear the contents.

[A-type Prototype has been destroyed. Please do not interfere. A-type Prototype has been destroyed. Please do not interfere.]

Tang Yibu used his last strength to tear the half-broken glass apart, ignoring the new wound that formed on his hand. The mass of white stuff flowed out of the soaking liquid and flowed into his calf. Then, like a vine that had found a trunk of a tree, it quickly became entangled and disappeared.

Afterwards, Tang Yibu stepped down and crawled into the towering pile of corpses with difficulty, looking extremely weak.

People were still yelling at their communicators, but they no longer got any responses. The invading machines continued to rush into the room continuously—the memory stopped at this image, but the fate of those people wasn’t difficult to guess. The A-type Prototype, despite being able to enhance Tang Yibu’s body, didn’t have perfect recovery like the S-type Prototype. The memory was suspended at this point as Tang Yibu, the owner, must have fainted and was in a quasi-death state.

The memory didn’t stand still for long.

The broken glass cylinder gradually disappeared, and the outline of the armored off-roader slowly became clearer. As the corpse mountain and thick smoke passed away, the surrounding environment became more normal…

“Oh my.” Kang Ziyan and Xiao Zhao were present not far from the car. Xiao Zhao was choking the “young Su Zhao” with one hand while her other hand was greeting them. “That was really exciting just now, right Kang Ge?”

Kang Ge didn’t react as crazily as before.

He stared at Tang Yibu. His face was pale and blue, and his lips trembled badly.

“Take us away,” he said in the direction of Tang Yibu.

“Take us out of here, please.”

The author has something to say:

Tang has been hiding his strength before, whether it was his strength as NUL-00 or having the A-type Prototype.

Now he doesn’t have to anymore XDDD

Ruan hasn’t been completely exposed by the Mainbrain side yet.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 173: Little Robot

Tang Yibu’s gaze stayed on the earrings in Ruan Xian’s left ear for a moment. “Leave now?”

“Now.” Ruan Xian breathed very firmly. “What about you? How’s the investigation going?”

Like a child who was caught stealing from the cookie jar, Tang Yibu blinked, then gave an embarrassed smile. “It’s okay. Professor Ruan’s firewall is very powerful, so I only got a little bit of information, but it’s enough to figure out where Yu Le and the others are.”

“Well done.”

Ruan Xian wasn’t surprised. When he broke in here, Tang Yibu was checking the light screen showing Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman’s situation. Since there was a signal input, it was possible to locate the relevant detection equipment and thus find their location.

Tang Yibu had always acted cautiously. Even with the power of the A-type Prototype, he rarely took the initiative to take risks. If the android was happy doing nothing after recognizing his maker, he would’ve been eaten by Tang Yibu a long time ago, leaving no bones behind.

The first time he entered here, Tang Yibu would definitely do his best to find an exit for emergency escape.

On the other hand, he did push Yu Le and the others out of the “door”, but in the real world, they would definitely not be too far apart. There were few rare mechanical creatures in this forest, and only Ji Xiaoman brought a lot of precious materials with her. Professor Ruan was well-informed, but even he missed the iron bead, so it was impossible to simulate the attraction of food to the iron bead perfectly—if it lost them, then the iron bead would inevitably go to Ji Xiaoman.

If his inference wasn’t wrong, his companions were now gathered in one place outside.

“You should have hacked into Professor Ruan’s detector, right? Is π with them?” In order to ensure that his judgment was correct, Ruan Xian took the initiative to confirm.

“Together. Yu Le suffered a minor injury, but it will not affect his actions.” Tang Yibu closed his eyes for a few seconds and quickly confirmed.

Seeing that the other party didn’t use the wristband and other appliances to assist and directly used his cybernetic brain to invade, Ruan Xian always felt uncomfortable, without peace of mind. However, the current environment wasn’t suitable for carefully confirming everything. He nodded to Tang Yibu, indicating that he was ready.

Tang Yibu put one arm around Ruan Xian’s waist and firmly clasped the other in his arms. Without going through the door, he directly tore open the top guest room that wasn’t firm and jumped into the darkness formed by the accumulation of mechanical debris.

Professor Ruan’s confidentiality measures were well done. The surroundings were frighteningly quiet, and there wasn’t even much humming sounds of mechanical operation. Tang Yibu pointed his toes at the bumps of various wrecks and jumped up quickly.

As they proceeded, if they encountered stones or metal plates that couldn’t be bypassed, Ruan Xian would first explore whether there were any surveillance machines that were still in operation nearby. After confirming that everything was safe, Tang Yibu would tear apart those obstacles, like peeling a cabbage, and take him up. Ruan Xian simply closed his eyes, let go of other senses, and focused, not letting go of any suspicious sounds.

He heard the sounds of metal breaking and rubble rolling down in all directions, the roar of the mechanical monster in the deepest part of the ground, wheels rolling on the floor, and the gears inside the mechanical assistants clicking and turning. Tang Yibu jumped quickly, and the wind generated by his advance hit Ruan Xian’s face.

The sound of the wind mixed with the heartbeat of the android was like a warm and delicate foam that was so close that it seemed to wrap him up. In order to stabilize his body, Ruan Xian also took the initiative to put his arms around Tang Yibu’s waist and abdomen, causing the other party’s heartbeat to suddenly accelerate a few beats.

It was very strange that in that short moment, the vigilance that had always been rooted in his heart faded a bit.

There was no dialogue. They couldn’t see each other’s faces, and only the temperature and heartbeat were left. The two of them walked up in the endless darkness, as if floating from the deep sea to the sky. The soil layer was getting heavier, and their speed of progress was getting slower—it stood to reason that this wasn’t a good sign, but Ruan Xian wished that this process would last longer.

However, as soon as this thought came out of his mind, Ruan Xian freed up a hand and roughly pulled the studs on his left ear until there was a smell of blood in the air. It snapped him awake; no longer was he compelled by the warm, quiet darkness.

Can’t relax. Can’t sink. Though he attached great importance to NUL-00, he still couldn’t let go of his vigilance. The other party’s attachment to him didn’t represent anything.

He had been deceived once by the so-called profound love. After handing over the initiative, he could only wait for his own demise. Ruan Xian was more willing to believe in his own experience than in unrealistic dreams.

Finally, they jumped out of the mud-bound sea.

Ruan Xian’s first thought was that their bath last night had all been in vain.

Tang Yibu’s strength wasn’t small. After drilling out of the ground, he shook the mud on his body vigorously, and then began to carefully pat Ruan Xian, who was covered in dust. Ruan Xian checked his surroundings and successfully found Ji Xiaoman, who was stunned. The iron bead was frozen in a ball, and there was no trace of Yu Le nearby.

Without Yu Le, they couldn’t make the most efficient use of that car. As soon as Ruan Xian was about to frown, he found Captain Yu hanging high from the branch of the tree—

“Are you two sick?” Yu Le was lying prone on a thick branch, half wrapped in a blanket, with a few pieces of mud in his hair. He bared his teeth and greeted them.

“What a fucking awesome AI, huh? Must be infused with a mole spirit. Laozi hasn’t…” Yu Le murmured for a while, as if he couldn’t find a suitable way to end his sentence, then swallowed back the second half of what he was going to say embarrassingly.

“Yu Le was resting just now, and Tang Yibu made him jump to the top.” Ji Xiaoman added thoughtfully.

Tang Yibu glanced at Yu Le, jumped on the branch, and carried Yu Le down like a pocket. “I’m sorry.”

Even the iron bead could hear that there was no trace of sincerity in what he just said.

Unfortunately, the iron bead had no sense of equality. It happily bounced around Tang Yibu like a metal satellite with four legs.

“Count me as unlucky.” Yu Le grimaced, and his teasing expression disappeared. “Have you met Professor Ruan?”

“Met.” Ruan Xian didn’t intend to hide it. Professor Ruan was also the main purpose of the two of them. Even if the situation was critical, they may not be able to follow them in confusion.

Yu Le said nothing while Ji Xiaoman clenched her fists.

“Our problem has been solved. As for Mr. Yu’s question, we can explain it after we leave here,” Ruan Xian said quickly. “For Miss Ji’s mother, we also got a solution. Order Supervisors are about to come. We need to leave quickly—”

Ji Xiaoman and Yu Le looked at each other.

“I won’t ask you how you plan to go.” Yu Le took a breath. “Tang Yibu, you’re the prototype or the scrap of MUL-01, right?”

Ruan Xian glanced at Ji Xiaoman, and then reacted in the next second.

In order to rescue her android mother, Ji Xiaoman had studied the cybernetic brain deeply, so it wasn’t surprising to find clues from those memories. The existence of NUL-00 wasn’t widely announced to the outside world, but they could still make such a guess.

The question still came in the end.

Even if Ji Xiaoman didn’t understand the human world very well, Yu Le was a veteran. Rather than leaving a bloody trail, it was better to put on simple perception camouflage and rely on Yu Le’s car to escape. This would be the most low-key approach. However, once they leave this isolated island, Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman would become “a source of information that may reveal Tang Yibu’s whereabouts”.

Especially now that the Mainbrain presumed that NUL-00 still exists. No matter which one was caught, the Mainbrain could squeeze a lot of effective information from the brains of the two.

The safest way was to “silence” them. As a former high-level pirate, this wouldn’t be something Yu Le hadn’t thought of. Even if they pretend to play dumb, with Ji Xiaoman, a cybernetic brain expert, Tang Yibu might not let them go like this. Right now, they couldn’t escape, so they could only move things forward and negotiate terms…

“He is.” Tang Yibu hadn’t spoken yet. A mature and steady voice happily accepted the conversation. “The number NUL-00 isn’t an out-of-date version or an abandoned case. If you follow the analogy of human relations, he can be regarded as MUL-01’s older brother.”

Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu looked at the source of the sound almost simultaneously—

A cubic black box was embedded in a weird transportation robot. It had three legs and a transparent glass tank slightly larger than the black box on top, which was soaked in a light blue liquid. The little robot was only a little higher than Tang Yibu’s knee, but its movements were quite flexible. The glass tank was equipped with so many parts that Ruan Xian couldn’t recognize their function.

Ji Xiaoman had already raised her gun vigilantly.

“Professor Ruan.” Ruan Xian spoke up. “Is it really okay to leave your important project underground?”

Ji Xiaoman’s hand trembled slightly, causing her to almost drop the gun. Yu Le hitched his breath between his teeth and stared at the weird robot in disbelief. The iron bead rushed forward with joy and opened its mouth and started to bite, only to be easily restrained by the robot with one foot as it was kicked back gently.

“Because there’s still a little time now, I also have something I want to know.”

“Lies.” Ruan Xian poked the opponent without mercy.

“There’s your car.” Professor Ruan pointed to the illusion of the Institute in the distance. The scene on the day of the Great Rebellion still confused their senses. “Inside the Institute.”

“We checked… Checked. There is a lack of information there. Only blanks…” Ji Xiaoman’s voice was shocked and confused as it was difficult to tell which emotion had more weight.

“It won’t be soon, right, NUL-00?” The little robot took a few steps closer, and the relaxed expression on Tang Yibu’s face disappeared.

“You deliberately let him invade your data network.” Ruan Xian couldn’t be more familiar with his habitual techniques.

Professor Ruan had already guessed that they would probably not compromise.

If they wanted to escape, finding Yu Le’s low-key escape was their best choice. Then Tang Yibu would definitely choose to invade the data network and obtain Yu Le’s location.

Tang Yibu transformed his own cybernetic brain by himself. Relying on the old data left by the Institute, Professor Ruan could only obtain Tang Yibu’s memory before he joined the Android Show. Even if he analyzed the perspectives of Kang Ziyan and Xiao Zhao, he still couldn’t judge what Tang Yibu had done in the Institute.

But if he took advantage of Tang Yibu’s invasion and used this connection, he could also dig out some surface data from Tang Yibu’s cybernetic brain—for example, the most basic image memory.

The memory system of androids was no simpler than that of humans, so locating specific memories was extremely troublesome. But even if it was, there were shortcuts. As long as the owner of the memory was immersed in a scene similar to the memory, specific memories will be naturally recalled.

This person really was prepared. Even in such a volatile chess game, Professor Ruan mobilized all of his pieces in every corner, unwilling to waste a single step in his hand.

From Tang Yibu watching Ji Xiaoman’s and Yu Le’s situation, to Tang Yibu taking advantage of the overnight stay to steal the location data, to the external memory scene loop…

It was difficult to say where Professor Ruan started his plan.

The illusion was in the hands of Professor Ruan. He just needed to locate the destination, forcing them to go inside the Institute. Even if Tang Yibu was unwilling now, he would have instinctively recalled everything that happened that day.

And once the memory data was intercepted, it couldn’t be recovered again.

“The identity of NUL-00 alone is enough to make MUL-01 determined to obliterate him. The rest are just simply add-ons.” Since Professor Ruan had no fleshy exterior, Ruan Xian couldn’t analyze the opponent’s expression. “The two of you don’t seem willing to share information. I can only judge that you still have an ace in the hole in your hands that I don’t know of… There are not many things that can threaten the Mainbrain. It’s not difficult to infer.”

“But you need to confirm.” Ruan Xian took out the blood gun and squeezed it in his hand.

“Yes.”

“…What the hell are you talking about?” Yu Le interrupted the conversation with a hoarse voice. “Xiao Ruan, you don’t sound like you want to be a rebel. If you are also a relative of MUL-01, you should have said it earlier—”

“It’s normal for Mr. Ruan not to like me.” The little robot equipped with Professor Ruan’s brain turned to Yu Le. “After all, I am a fake who took away his life.””

“What—”

“Or let me put it another way.” A string of bubbles appeared from the solution in the glass square tank. “It’s normal for ‘Mr. Ruan Xian’ not to like me.”

The author has something to say:

I still remember the pits of Mr. Kang Zhao and Mrs. Xiao Zhao. They will be filled XDDD.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

Chapter 172: No Choice

Zhuo Muran was drinking tea in his office as countless light screens flew and chirped beside him, like some kind of alien jellyfish that could swim in the air.

Data, text, and images jump quickly on the light screen. The clear surface of the tea reflected the cold light of the screens. It was disturbed when Zhuo Muran grabbed his cup. There wasn’t a single speck of dust in his office, but he could still see the shadow of the mountains in the reflection of the water.

The mountain that imprisoned his entire childhood.

Zhuo Muran breathed out a long breath, as if this would exhale the pain that had settled in his lungs. He poured out a few pills from the medicine bottle and took them with his tea. They could help him disperse his sleep.

Without sleep, there would be no dreams. He no longer needed to dream of waking up on musty straw, accompanied by the hidden pain caused by his deformed spine and the scolding coming from outside the house. He recognized everything as a dream. Even if everything had already passed, even if that despair would only last for a moment, he didn’t want to taste it again.

And he was just one of the millions of desperate people. They were destined to die in the corner of time, never seeing the flashing neon lights and the long shadows of high-rise buildings in their entire lives.

They had nothing to lose, so they had become the sharpest blade of the Mainbrain.

Now was the time for the Order Supervisors commanders of each branch to report. He didn’t need to dedicate too much energy to this. There were enough auxiliary algorithms that he could handle those reports with little attention.

He was more interested in the events of The Glass Conservatory that happened a while back than the repeated resistance and conquest. Unfortunately, when he uploaded the images of the three surviving people to the system, there wasn’t any feedback for the time being. Afterwards, he conducted a carpet-style information search in the Glass Conservatory and only found a doctor who had a breakdown in the prevention shelter due to his public debt.

The doctor, surnamed Gong, was emotional throughout the whole process and gave them enough information, but the valuable part was pitifully little. The most valuable thing was probably the name ‘Red Ghost’. Using this name as a clue, it was possible to pull the dark line from several petri dishes.

It was just that there was still too much information missing, and not enough to draw a relatively definite conclusion.

“Zhuo Muran,” a voice greeted. “Light screen DS-09i3. Please pay attention to the data feedback of the Android Show.”

Zhuo Muran’s fingers holding the handle of the teacup became a bit stronger. He held his breath and looked back at the person who had suddenly appeared in the room.

A young man who looked less than twenty years old was sitting on the edge of his desk.

He was wearing a loose white blouse, his hair was long and went past his shoulders, and he had a very soft appearance. It was difficult to determine his gender at first glance, but he wasn’t that kind of aggressive beauty.

The young man who suddenly appeared sat there quietly, pure and calm, like a spring frozen in the depths of winter. A little inorganic quality emanated from his surroundings, making him look closer to an exquisite wax figure or a lifelike mannequin than a living person.

“MUL-01.” Zhuo Muran saluted.

It was indeed not a living person, but an image projected by MUL-01. It liked to analyze people’s thoughts, calculate the preferences and biases of those present, and find the most suitable negotiation image. Every time Zhuo Muran saw it, its image would change slightly.

In the face of a mother who had lost her daughter, it would become a girl full of vitality. In the face of passionate young people, it would appear as a majestic middle-aged person. When facing a young girl, it would become a gentle and handsome young man again.

It had no appearance of its own and would only change into the appearance that people were most likely to put down their guard or most likely be attracted to.

Zhuo Muran could be the reason why MUL-01 became like this in front of him. He had just left the mountains, and the teacher who guided him was such a well-mannered young man.

The soft face of the Mainbrain subtly blended some elements that he was familiar with. They made him look a little similar to himself, with the illusion of being a relative.

“It’s a message from Ruan Xian.” MUL-01’s expression was very human-like. “The Android Show G-098132 detection bird captured a looped image, and based on preliminary analysis, he indicated that NUL-00 is still around.”

“Ruan Xian wouldn’t jump out so simply.” Zhuo Muran put the teacup in the corner of the table and kept a polite distance from the projection of MUL-01.

“Indeed.”

MUL-01’s voice was barely audible, with traces of electronic synthesis, like a real person.

“The content of the information is very convincing, but there’s currently no conclusive evidence. There are currently two highest possibilities. Ruan Xian found NUL-00 and is using it to force it to join the rebel army. Either that or this is a trap by the rebel army. Zhuo Muran, lower the priority of data repair and figure out this matter first.”

“I will personally—”

“You stay here. After all, the possibility of a trap isn’t low… You’re very important to me.”

The voice was extremely nice to hear, and the gentleness and concern in his tone was just right. If he was an ordinary person, it was easy to become completely bewitched by MUL-01, thinking that it really had a heart that resonated with people.

At the apex of Order Supervisors, having created countless mountains of corpses under the command of MUL-01, Zhuo Muran had long passed the stage of being coaxed. Rather, it was better to say that what he wanted was an almost omniscient and extremely cold leader.

Human leadership was flawed in the end, but God wasn’t. The unshakable, unbiased ruthlessness in equality meant great justice.

……Even if it was just an artificial god.

“Yes.” Even if he knew it in his heart, the other party’s gentle attitude still made Zhuo Muran very receptive. Maybe this was one of the reasons why MUL-01 had not changed its attitude.

“If NUL-00 is really alive and is exposed by Ruan Xian, it will definitely have a certain amount of armaments. This time, let your clone scout out first. You can’t underestimate the enemy. There are two derivatives of the D-type Prototype. The rest of the troops will be planned by you. Environmental control has already started a perimeter assessment, so you can use strategic-grade weapons if necessary and wipe out that island.”

MUL-01 continued to smile.

“However, considering the resource consumption to recover afterwards, I’ll only allow it as a last resort. If you do use it, my evaluation of you will drop by 6%.”

“Don’t you need to keep Ruan Xian alive?” Zhuo Muran knew how many replicants were on that island and was even clearer on how many people would die for this operation. However, since MUL-01 didn’t mention it, he wouldn’t make a fool of himself by asking.

“According to what I know about him, it’s impossible for him to be killed by a blow of this level.” MUL-01 smiled again.

“The Y continent region is under full martial law. Regardless of whether the NUL-00 information is true or not, Ruan Xian’s counterattack is coming.”

Zhuo Muran was taken aback. The rebels had been in a rout for a long time. They just received a message from an unknown source and found a small organization wandering around. Things shouldn’t come to this.

“I know what you are wondering.” MUL-01 had an innocent smile on his face. He stood in front of Zhuo Muran with only a floating mist under his golden eyes that held no trace of emotion. “Don’t hesitate. As before, you’ll see the necessity of doing so.”

“I won’t doubt you.” Zhuo Muran’s always tight facial muscles relaxed unconsciously. “I’ll never…”

Before he finished speaking, the projection of MUL-01 disappeared.

Zhuo Muran withdrew his smile and turned on the light screen. He observed the island and the surrounding terrain and began to estimate the combat power. He picked up his teacup again, took a sip of warm tea, and while calculating the opponent’s possible counterattack, he opened the “suspected NUL-00” information sent by MUL-01.

Then he almost spurted out his tea.

He had seen the face on the light screen—it was a recorded non-combat android in the Red Ghost organization. A guy who was playing a marathon while holding a technician in front of him.

If it weren’t for MUL-01’s deadly order, Zhuo Muran would really want to find out for himself. He couldn’t figure out the reason why MUL-01 wanted to stop him. He was integrated with the D-type Prototype and wouldn’t suffer serious injuries.

But MUL-01 was always right.

“The destination coordinates have been sent. Z-α and Z-β will lead the team. I will take remote command. Pay attention to the surveillance in all regions of Y Continent. The level of regional defense has been raised to Level B or above. Please increase the monitoring of each petri dish and be vigilant at all times.”

“The following are the action plans for each region…”

In the area that was about to be attacked.

“Eat quickly.” Ruan Xian put on his shirt as he held a piece of bread coated with peanut butter in his mouth. “This place will be attacked soon.”

Tang Yibu was waving his spoon with interest, trying to wrap the whole slice of bread with peanut butter. He was still chewing fried ham in his mouth. Although he didn’t make any chewing sounds, his cheeks bulged like a squirrel.

Hearing Ruan Xian’s statement, Tang Yibu paused his spoon movement and struggled to speak. “Mmm?”

“Because I know ‘myself’.” Ruan Xian understood Tang Yibu’s question without hindrance. “I also tentatively understand you. You wore my clothes, right? You went to see Professor Ruan.”

Tang Yibu pretended to choke, coughed heavily, but didn’t answer.

Ruan Xian jokingly handed him a glass of milk and patted him on the back. “Don’t pretend.”

“I just want to ask some personal questions.” After downing the glass of milk, Tang Yibu swallowed the food in his mouth and wiped it vigorously.

“Nn.”

The android was covering up his emotions again, but Ruan Xian had no intention of pursuing his questions. After knowing his identity, Tang Yibu didn’t remove the earring that could take his life. This revealed a lot of things—he knew the other definitely didn’t forget. In the chaos last night, he didn’t know how many times Tang Yibu’s tongue deliberately licked that earring.

“I care more about what Professor Ruan is hiding.”

Tang Yibu raised his brows.

“I always feel that his trap is not over yet. If it were me… If it were me, there’s no way I’d reveal your location ‘while you’re still here’.”

Ruan Xian stretched out his hand, wiped off the little milk stain still on the corner of Tang Yibu’s mouth, and licked it quite naturally.

“It’s impossible for the Mainbrain to have no response after discovering it. No matter whether it believes it or not, no matter what measures it takes, the Order Supervisors will treat this place as a key inspection area.”

Ruan Xian put on his holster and returned the blood gun to its place, then put on a clean white coat.

“Even if the current Professor Ruan has taken disrupters, those duplicated brains should always come from the genetic samples he kept privately—assuming that the Order Supervisors discovered them and got Professor Ruan’s genetic information, he could do more and possibly drag me down with him.”

“I thought about it.” Tang Yibu swallowed the peanut butter-coated bread and licked the corners of his mouth. “Isn’t this one of the ways to force us to cooperate? I think he has enough defenses—”

“I don’t trust anyone. The current situation isn’t very good. I don’t think he is much worse than me.” Ruan Xian shook his head. “In order not to leave a trace, this place is ‘destined to be destroyed’. He knew we would refuse, and maybe he guessed that we had more power than he estimated. It’s just that Professor Ruan’s specific arrangements, I can’t guess yet…”

Tang Yibu licked the spoon carefully and frowned slowly. “Are you sure, father?”

“I rarely have what I want.” When he said this, Ruan Xian looked straight at Tang Yibu; his pupils dilated slightly. “So once they appear, I will seize all possibilities to keep them.”

Emotionally rich people had countless ways to make their harvest pleasant, while he only had a barren desert, but now a miraculous plant had grown from it.

He didn’t want to watch it die.

“So I don’t believe he will let go so simply, nor will he gamble his life on the matter. If I guessed correctly, our escape is likely to be part of his prediction.”

A good strategy would only leave people with no choice.

Taking a step back, if Professor Ruan hadn’t guessed this, they would be able to escape to a relatively safe place to think and make a decision. If Professor Ruan guessed it…

“Leaving early can seize a greater initiative. We have to find Yu Le and the others quickly and get off this island.”

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

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.

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