Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 96: The Dust Settles

Fu Yu mixed the thawed minced meat and added more pepper. He thought for a while and took the layers of butter off the top shelf. They had just eaten meat pies the other day, and even though it was considered a luxury to have such a recipe after the end of the world, he still wanted to make something different.

Maybe adding some onions would make it taste better. When He An comes back, he could cook some wild vegetables and fry some eggs and ham in butter…

He An had been returning very late recently. Today, he also went out early in the morning, saying he wanted to investigate alone. However, Fu Yu ended the patrol on time and returned home. The room was still dark and there was no light.

To be honest, Fu Yu wasn’t particularly worried.

Qian Yigeng’s people were staring at him in the streets and alleys. He An himself was a member of the City Defenders. When his partner was still human, he had a habit of coming back late—but at that time, he would always bring a woman home.

Although the android didn’t inherit He An’s memory strictly, after the processing and infusion of his memories, he still became more and more like his partner.

It was like watching a former best friend gradually wake up. Fu Yu grinned a bit bitterly at the minced meat that exuded a meaty smell.

He cut the baked meat pie into a plate and put it in the insulation compartment. Then he heated the pot, pondering the time when He An would come back. He was stroking the delicate packaging of butter with his fingers when there was a knock on the door.

“Coming!” He skimmed a piece of butter to the bottom of the pot, summoned a light screen, and prepared to open the door habitually.

But this time he didn’t see He An’s handsome face on the screen.

A tall stranger stood at his door. That person was exceptionally strong, with very handsome eyebrows, with a bit of European and American look. However, with his dark skin and golden eyes, the visitor’s aura was slightly gloomy.

An android he had never seen before, and he wasn’t alone.

The strange man was holding a slender little girl and stood quietly at the door. The girl looked sweet, had a small figure, and looked no more than twenty years old at most. She was covered with mottled blood, and her eyes were tightly closed, as if she was asleep. Unlike that man, Fu Yu felt that she was softer.

“Who?” He frowned and kicked the kitchen cabinet. A gun slid out from the mechanism, and the handle was within his reach.

“There is still a curfew outside. Please let us in first.” The man opened his mouth and took two steps back so that he could expose himself to the scanning range of the access control. “I’m not armed, and I have news about He An.”

The butter hissed in the pan, emitting a rich aroma. Fu Yu’s expression became solemn. He turned off the fire and checked the gun around his waist again. After submitting the visitor situation to the City Defenders organization, he wiped his hands on his apron and walked out of the kitchen.

The tall, strange android put the little girl on the couch and sat on another sofa very naturally. Fu Yu walked into the living room with his face down and pressed his hand on the handle of the gun.

“I have already passed your information to the City Defenders,” he said dryly. “You’d better not…”

“…Think about it. I know.” The android smiled, sniffed the aroma of pepper and butter in the air, and his eyes became complicated.

Fu Yu walked up to the little girl. The pretty girl was shot in the torso. The bullet had entered her back, passed through her chest, and injured her lungs, but it was handled well. An object in her pocket protruded and hung heavily, looking like a gun.

Fu Yu frowned, took out a bottle of anti-inflammatory spray from the cupboard, sprayed it around the wound, and then continued the topic. “What happened to He An?”

“You will soon get the news that Qian Yigeng’s headquarters was attacked by the Red Ghost and the base was destroyed. Qian Yigeng himself died, and the androids he hid ran away… The matter was quite noisy.”

The other party’s conversation was not as stiff as in the early days of ordinary androids, as if he had already understood himself. Fu Yu frowned. “Get to the point.”

“He An died.” The man’s words were concise, and his tone was fluttering.

Fu Yu stood up abruptly. His hand on the handle of the gun trembled a little. “No, as long as his brain is not destroyed…”

“Unfortunately, it was completely destroyed.”

The strange android didn’t seem to mind sprinkling salt on the wound. He took out the electronic wristband that originally belonged to He An from his pocket and connected it, then pulled up a light screen showing the junkyard. Above the misty junkyard, a huge blood-red smiley face was plastered. Billowing smoke emerged from the ground, making the scene more terrifying.

“This girl and I escaped from Qian Yigeng’s side… I’m okay. There’s a problem with this girl’s memory module, and she doesn’t remember anything. If I leave her alone, something will definitely happen.”

Fu Yu just shook his head, as if this would negate the facts.

“He An asked me to come and take care of you before… He was destroyed,” the android continued. “After all, you still need a partner and I have nowhere else to go. He hopes you won’t take it out on the Red Ghost. Qian Yigeng has been blackmailing him for resetting his memories over the years. He had assisted the Red Ghost in sabotaging him.”

“If you have any doubts, just grab a key figure from Qian Yigeng’s side, or a guest who has purchased an android from Qian Yigeng, and you’ll know—He An wasn’t the only target of blackmail.”

Fu Yu sat down in a chair sadly, his eyes frighteningly red. He didn’t shed tears, but just looked at a point in the void in a daze. The android pursed his lips, looking a bit irritable.

“Anyway, it’s all over now,” he continued coldly. “…He still has something for me to give you.”

Barely raising his head, Fu Yu looked over numbly. The tall male android handed over a transparent chip the size of a chewing gum.

“This is?”

“The video diary of the human He An,” the male android said. “He An asked Ji Xiaoman to fix this thing before, but she actually fixed it a long time ago. Ji Xiaoman happened to be at the scene of the discovery, and this time she handed it over. He wanted you to see it…”

“I can guess what’s inside.” Fu Yu interrupted the other party’s words, and the strange male android showed a trace of surprise.

“The real He An doesn’t like me, nor does he like himself.” Fu Yu clenched his hand, turning his knuckles white. “I… In order to add richer information to that android, I conducted an investigation after his death. At least now I know that he had a serious drug problem when he was still alive, which was becoming abusive… But he just kept pretending to be okay in front of me. In fact, I also noticed little details. I guess there’s a lot of cursing of me in there.”

He smiled bitterly.

“Come to think of it, we have known each other for so many years… His physique has always been good before the end of the world. How could he suddenly die from ordinary typhoid fever? I didn’t notice that he—”

“He was also involved in Qian Yigeng’s and Chang Yaqi’s businesses, helping them find prey and expanding the market,” the android added mercilessly. “In my opinion, He An isn’t a very decent human.”

Fu Yu buried his face in his hands.

“I know that people will change, and people will show different faces in front of different people. Most people are dealing with imaginary others. It’s absurd to judge the personality of the other party just by getting along one-on-one.”

His voice was quiet and fragile.

“Before, I thought it was stupid to escape reality or drink poison to quench my thirst, but once a person gets to that situation… A trustworthy old friend is too important in this world. Even if it is fake, I…”

After a long silence, Fu Yu wiped his face fiercely and squeezed the chip tightly. “Forget it, don’t talk about these things. I’ll get a room for this girl. She needs to rest. You can also find a place to rest for a while. I’ll keep this thing.”

The handsome male android was still sitting on the sofa, looking at him without blinking.

“I probably know what my android partner wants to tell me, and the contradictory data must’ve made it difficult for him.” Fu Yu reluctantly tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I’ll let you stay. I won’t go… Well, create another ‘impressionable’ partner again.”

The strange male android smiled slightly, then nodded. “You can give me a name.”

“What?”

“Literally. I have never had my own name. You can give me one.” The nameless android shrugged. “It’s more convenient.”

“I’ll think about it. If you have something you like, you can pick one for yourself.” Fu Yu didn’t sound interested, and his mood remained low. “If you have any requests, you can also tell me directly… I want to be by myself for a while. Are you hungry? There are meat pies in the kitchen. You can take some for yourself—”

“Except for ‘He An’.”

“What?”

“Any name except for ‘He An’.” The male android smiled at him for the first time, sharp and wanton, with an inexplicable sense of familiarity. “…I hope there’s not too much pepper in the meat pie this time.”

At almost the same time, Yu Le was contemplating life.

Captain Yu considered himself to be a great figure. The Sea of Ruins was so big, yet his own steady footing had temporarily gained him a piece of the world. At least in the suspended piles of ruins, basically everything was within his grasp.

But now, he wasn’t so sure.

Now it seemed that the two little bastards had completely deceived him. At most, he doubted Tang Yibu’s identity because of his eyes—although the other party’s personality and intelligence weren’t like ordinary androids, his behavior and demeanor had an indefinable sense of estrangement. Ruan Lijie was different. Yu Le thought that the other party was 100% pure human lunatic, but suddenly this bombshell happened.

The blood-red smiley face that gave people chills down their spines was still hanging high above the junkyard. Even if they had left a long time ago and arrived near Li Ji Noodle House, they could still see the red in the distance from here.

According to his own experience, the junkyard would usher in a new wave of chaos—Qian Yigeng’s organization would completely collapse, just like a fat green dying worm on the grass, countless small insects would rush up and quickly eat it. As for the so-called “Red Ghost”, most likely they would become a legend use to scare people in this place.

And the originator of these tricks was sitting steadily opposite Ji Xiaoman with a smile on his face.

“I thought you would get rid of the other shells.” After all the fuss, Ruan Xian finally became hungry and was stuffing cookies into his mouth.

“No, the ones Qian Yigeng hid in the warehouse are all D-type products. It would be dangerous to be used by interested parties. It’s better to destroy them. It’s already dangerous to give He An one.” Ji Xiaoman was holding a screwdriver and was carefully debugging her damaged arm—She used this mutilated hand to perform a cybernetic brain transplant on He An, and now there was still a lot of blood on it. “He would go back to Fu Yu now.  He’s a nice person… He’ll take care of Tiantian.”

She was still not used to calling Tiantian-Q2 “Ji Xiaoman”.

“Our side is also done.” Tang Yibu quickly walked over, threw a shovel into the rubble, and grabbed the iron bead that was eyeing it. “I buried her very deep. The place is dry, so the D-type product won’t decay so easily.”

“Thank you,” Ji Xiaoman whispered, carefully clearing her throat and lowering her head. “Give me the coordinates later, and I’ll send them to He An. With the help of the City Defenders, Mom will be very safe.”

“Nn.” Seeing Tang Yibu sitting down beside him, Ruan Xian stroked the other party’s back and pulled the topic back. “Miss Ji, now we have erased Qian Yigeng and safe-keep your mother. In addition to repairing Yu Le’s car, I hope you can also provide us with Ruan Xian’s information first.”

Although it was a polite tone, Ji Xiaoman knew very well that it was not a topic that could be discussed. At least after seeing the strength of the three people on the opposite side, she didn’t want to dance with death—Qian Yigeng was dead, and his base was in chaos. These three people abruptly paved a bloody path and sent her to the most chaotic warehouse. This wasn’t something that could be done with the support of weapons alone. And…

“I can say it now.” Ji Xiaoman continued to twist the small screws on the robotic arm. “The junkyard where the rebel army is located is one of my hunting grounds. I don’t know the location of its headquarters. There are still a few areas. Less than two years ago, I met a man riding a hoverbike over there.”

Since seeing the scene of Ruan Xian torturing Qian Yigeng, she has instinctively avoided Ruan Xian’s sight.

“He was wearing a gas mask, so I couldn’t see his face, and he didn’t have much luggage. I originally thought the sound was familiar at that time, but it didn’t match.” Ji Xiaoman moved her left arm, which had barely recovered its appearance. “He asked for directions and gave me some parts as a reward. They were all incredible, high-end goods. I was quite impressed.”

“Ruan Xian.” Tang Yibu stared at Ji Xiaoman’s mouth.

“Yes, because he moved his legs freely at the time, I didn’t think about that at all. I felt that it was strange for such a person to come out alone just after the chaos was over. I also remember the question. He asked me if I knew how to get to the southeast gate of the Underground City, B12.”

Ji Xiaoman finally raised her head. “The southeast gate, Exit B12, is one of the exits to leave the Underground City. The closest thing to it is Petri Dish No. 1024, but it has been destroyed by natural disasters a long time ago and should still be under blockade. Then there’s Petri Dish No. 2217… If Ruan Xian took that exit, he must have gone towards it.”

“Do you know about that petri dish?” Ruan Xian frowned.

“Most people here know.” Ji Xiaoman smiled briefly. “But the days must go on. The Underground City is so big that there are many people. The difference between knowing and not knowing is actually not that big. Besides, nothing can be changed.”

She shook her head and poured herself a cup of cold water. “In short, I can provide you with the route of the B12 port, as well as the weapon support needed for Petri Dish No. 2217, but I have to say first… This was almost two years ago, and No. 2217 isn’t easy to enter. Well, I haven’t heard of anyone who has succeeded.”

Ruan Xian looked at Tang Yibu beside him, and Tang Yibu also shook his head. “I don’t know any information about No. 2217.”

“That’s probably how things are.” Ji Xiaoman raised her eyes. “Mr. Ruan, before I provide details and support, about my mother’s matter…”

“Oh, I know a little something about 2217.” Yu Le held up his arms and his expression became a little distorted. “I have a man who came out of there. He calls it The Glass Conservatory. However, before laozi provides more information so that you can continue this calm combat meeting, I have something to say, so listen up.”

Captain Yu took a deep breath.

“This guy says he’s an android.” He pointed at Ruan Xian and looked at Ji Xiaoman with a complicated expression. “Is this situation normal to you? A great mechanic? Look at these eyes! This guy and the one surnamed Tang were so sticky this whole time, hugging and gnawing—they almost fucked in front of me—You call this an android? Even if you want to fool laozi, this is just too rich for my blood, no?”

He scratched his head irritably.

“I don’t care if you talk about your business, but before I figure this out, our business is out of the question—if Tu Rui knows that I took two strange androids with unknown details to the ruins of the rebel army, he’ll have me chopped to pieces.”

“The one surname Ruan and the surname Tang, I want an explanation.”

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Captain Yu’s strength collapsed (×

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 95: Ruan Xian’s Whereabouts

Qian Yigeng had never been so scared.

Everything in front of him was completely beyond his comprehension. He survived the most dangerous and turbulent time in the world and rose to a high position in the Underground City. Unlike those arrogant bandits who looked to the sky, no matter what small power rose, he was the first to snoop it out.

In terms of business, he didn’t do work that was easy to offend, like Chang Yaqi. Who didn’t have lust and passion? To put it another way, he just rented out some machines, which wasn’t much different from an Internet café or a gaming hall of the earlier years. At least before the end of the world, no one would consider mechanical life, including androids, as a real life.

He even managed to build a relationship with the City Defenders. Qian Yigeng knew that he was definitely not the most powerful in the Underground City, but he was the safest.

However, now, two androids were standing in front of him. He An, who was supposed to help him, betrayed him, and was dying in the corner. His men were just outside the door, less than ten meters away, but the sound in the room was blocked, and his signal couldn’t be sent out.

It shouldn’t be like this.

His head was burning with pain, and the damn spherical mechanical life kept gnawing on his helmet, tearing his protective clothing to pieces. Qian Yigeng’s left eye was covered with blood, and the pain from all over his body almost made him faint.

Unable to faint, he gritted his teeth—listening to the android, they still wanted information from him, so he still had chips on the table.

“Spare my life, spare my life! You want information.” Qing Yigeng tugged at the corners of his mouth laboriously, giving up trying to pluck away the iron bead. “I—ouch—I know I was wrong!”

The iron bead happily bit off Qian Yigeng’s protective shoulder armor and then burped.

“I’m good. You guys can do whatever you want next.” Yu Le squatted next to He An and began to give him a simple bandage and detoxification. He An smiled weakly, pushed Yu Le’s hand away, and shook his head gently.

Yu Le frowned. “What?”

“This body doesn’t have long to live. I can feel it.” He An coughed up a mouthful of blood that was muddy purplish-black. “Ji Xiaoman got the needle. Qian Yigeng is finished. She will not turn against me… Just make sure that my memory is no longer threatened…”

“I will.” After completing a simple repair for Tiantian-Q2, Ji Xiaoman’s voice was still a bit indistinct.

He An smiled. “Very good, I knew there would be such a day… You are a mechanic and know how to parse cybernetic brain signals. Now let me take a good rest.”

“Why don’t I give you a filler shot?” Yu Le clicked his tongue. “Okay, your cybernetic brain won’t really be finished, but it’s quite uncomfortable for your body to die slowly.”

“I want to watch.” He An turned his gaze to Qian Yigeng.

There was no wavering in that gaze. Ruan Xian retracted his gaze, with no intention of further persuasion.

Although He An had a cybernetic brain, his own blood may not be useful to pure human flesh. Even if it could have an effect, the risk of exposing his secret was high.

Ruan Xian squatted down beside the bloodied Qian Yigeng and made a gesture. The iron bead spit out half of the fragments of the shoulder armor that it was chewing in its mouth, burped, and jumped to Tang Yibu’s feet and began to rub its round body around his pant legs.

Qian Yigeng was so shocked that he breathed a little faster.

“We found Ruan Xian’s wheelchair in your warehouse.” Ruan Xian fiddled with the metal piece in his hand. “The mind access needle is not something you can casually pick up on the streets. Mind explaining?”

“As long as you let me go—ahh, ahh!”

Ruan Xian cut Qian Yigeng’s skin cleanly with a sharp piece of metal. “Otherwise?”

“If I die, the information goes with me!” Qian Yigeng was shaking all over. The smell of urine on his body became stronger. “If you have the ability to kill me…”

“I don’t think so. There will always be information, just fewer details. You don’t seem to be the type who can physically move a wheelchair to the warehouse, and you take your bodyguards everywhere you go.” Ruan Xian pressed the metal sheet deeper. “Manpower is scarce these days, so you won’t change your men every few days. There will always be someone who knows… Looking at your reaction, I guessed right.”

Qian Yigeng wiped the blood from his face that had become shockingly pale. He turned to Ji Xiaoman. “He’s lying to you! The android made by Ruan Xian can’t be like this—like…”

“A monster.” Ruan Xian thoughtfully helped him complete his sentence. “Didn’t he and Fan Linsong also create MUL-01? It’s better to be a person who has a longer memory.”

Ji Xiaoman ignored Qian Yigeng, while Tang Yibu nodded solemnly. Ruan Xian was curious about which sentence he was affirming.

But he had more important things to do.

“I can dig out your nerves. Have you heard of the sciatic nerve*? The thickest one in the human body. There are a lot of good materials in this room… Guess how much pain you can endure?”

*Large nerve that runs alongside the hip joint and down the lower limb. It supplies sensation to the skin of the foot as well as the entire lower leg.

Qian Yigeng looked at him in disbelief.

“There are many things that are more painful than death.” Ruan Xian smiled. “I am still quite confident in my control, and I will not let you die easily.”

“I…I…” Qian Yigeng’s eyes began to drip, obviously he hadn’t given up hope yet.

Ruan Xian didn’t give him much time to think and rotated the metal sheet that pierced deeply into his muscles. He chose a good position, as there wasn’t much blood that came out.

“It’s useless to delay time and wait for blood loss.” After Qian Yigeng finished howling, he simply added.

Facing the bloody torture scene, Yu Le frowned slightly, and a trace of fear crossed Ji Xiaoman’s face. While the person close at hand, Tang Yibu, seemed eager to take a few pictures with a camera or find himself a bucket of popcorn.

Ruan Xian lowered his gaze, inexplicably feeling some peace of mind.

Seeing that his opponent didn’t shake or hesitate at all and realizing that he had kicked a real iron plate, Qian Yigeng finally began to collapse. He choked a few times, trying to speak as fast as possible. “Then… I picked up that needle…no! Don’t do it yet! I’ve mixed with the black market before, so I had prior knowledge of it. That’s why I recognized it…”

“You picked up the wheelchair too?” Ruan Xian’s voice became cold. “That’s quite a coincidence.”

“I… I have seen Ruan Xian,” Qian Yigeng said hurriedly. “The Underground City is a big place. The rebels camped here before. However, it was then liquidated by the Order Supervisors. That was less than two years ago. I think their base camp is in lower city.”

Ruan Xian stared at Qian Yigeng in silence, motioning him to continue.

“At that time, after the Order Supervisors left, I took people to the ruins there to pick it up. Just weapons you know… Then I ran into Ruan Xian in the vicinity, like a warehouse or something… With his strange face, no one will make a mistake…”

“You killed him?” Tang Yibu interrupted suddenly; his voice neutral.

“No! No! There were still a lot of rebels left, and I didn’t want to offend!” Qian Yigeng hurriedly shouted, “He… He was there alone at the time. I felt curious, so I took a peek for a bit. You know, with Ruan Xian’s physical condition, the bodyguards and assistants wouldn’t leave…”

“Continue,” Ruan Xian said calmly, playing with the bloody metal sheet in his hand.

“He didn’t look good. I mean, not very good mentally. He threw his belongings directly into the trash, got some supplies, and left alone… It didn’t look like he was waiting for anyone.”

“Impossible. He didn’t bring his wheelchair,” Tang Yibu continued to interrupt. The expressions on his face began to disappear. “Everyone knows that without that wheelchair, he can’t even maintain the most basic life functions.”

“That’s the scary thing, okay? I haven’t told anyone about this before.” Qian Yigeng’s voice was shaking. “I—When I saw him, he was standing upright, just like a normal person! He… He rode a hoverbike when he left. Although he looked a little unskilled, but… Haa, anyways, I got the needle from the bag he threw away.”

Tears overflowed in Qian Yigeng’s small eyes. “At that time, he wanted to burn down the warehouse. I got the needle and the wheelchair out before the fire spread. I was just bragging before. How could I steal something from Professor Ruan? I dare not even if ten people lent me their courage!”

Ruan Xian could see that the person in front of him wasn’t lying.

He didn’t have much special feelings about the information. Perhaps this meant that he was much more likely to be the “human Ruan Xian”, but he didn’t feel too many happy emotions.

Tang Yibu seemed to be the one who was even more shocked.

The android silently picked up the iron bead and rubbed the latter’s shell until it made squeaky sounds. Although he didn’t show too many emotions, Ruan Xian always felt that Qian Yigeng’s anxious behavior influenced Tang Yibu.

Yu Le stood near He An, with his mouth hissing and huffing. Ji Xiaoman just sat next to Tiantian-Q2, carefully handling the other party’s injuries and at the same time talking to her in a low voice, not knowing if she had heard the conversation or not.

“Remember any details?” Ruan Xian’s voice continued smoothly.

“I just fucking peeked for a while!” Qian Yigeng huffed. “I can remember more—Ow, I’m sorry! He—he went east. That’s all I remember! Please, you see, I have also helped a lot…”

“Oh, about that,” Ruan Xian stood up and walked to Tang Yibu’s side. “You’d better beg Miss Ji… Ji Xiaoman, do you need us to leave you?”

Ji Xiaoman stood up and walked slowly to Qian Yigeng’s side.

Qian Yigeng seemed to be convinced that Ji Xiaoman’s heart was softer, so he threw himself awkwardly at the girl’s feet, sobbing. “Xiaoman, I really know I was wrong. You can supervise in the future. I will definitely leave this business and the resources will belong to you. As long as you let me live…”

“I will let you live,” Ji Xiaoman said slowly. “I have been thinking about this just now. Well, first transfer all the passwords and access rights to me.”

Qian Yigeng’s whole body went soft, as if his mouth was damp, and his face was swollen. After half a minute, he shivered and got up. “Our Xiaoman has always kept her word. I’ll turn—I’ll turn—”

“Don’t try to play any tricks. I can tell the real from fakes.” Ji Xiaoman’s voice was extremely cold.

Yu Le raised his brows in surprise, but Ji Xiaoman didn’t notice his gaze. She pursed her lips tightly, clenched her half-broken metal hand tightly, and walked to the corner of the room.

“Lend me the mind access needle. I saw you pick it up.”

She didn’t look at Ruan Xian but stretched out a hand in his direction. Ruan Xian raised his eyebrows and handed over the needle that was already wiped clean.

Qian Yigeng had just finished transferring the message over, and seeing that no one acted, he began to crawl under the table.

Ji Xiaoman just turned on her wristband, glanced at the dense numbers on the screen, and then continued her movements—she walked to a wall full of weird equipment, somehow finding the hidden operation board. After some instructions, the wall closest to Qian Yigeng slowly slid away, revealing a special operating table for processing cybernetic brains.

“You…What are you doing?” Qian Yigeng became vigilant.

Ji Xiaoman didn’t say a word. She walked forward, connected the mind access needle to the operating table processor, and began working by herself.

“…I see, this is the android processing room.” Tang Yibu was the first to react. “Mr. Ruan, I think we need to lend a hand.”

“You two, can you help me lift Qian Yigeng up?” Sure enough, the next second, Ji Xiaoman laced up Tiantian-Q2 and made a request.

“You said you wouldn’t kill me!” Qian Yigeng screamed like a pig.

“Yes, I won’t kill you,” Ji Xiaoman repeated coldly. “Tiantian gave me a good idea. It just so happens that she doesn’t want… She doesn’t want those nasty memory data. Maybe there’s a place that’s more suitable for storing them.”

Qian Yigeng was stunned for a few seconds. “Impossible! I’m not an android and you’re not an Order Supervisor. It’s impossible to have that kind of technology…”

“I don’t have it, but Ruan Xian has it. The mind access needle can translate human memory data into cybernetic brains in large quantities, and I can do a reverse compilation.”

Ji Xiaoman asked Tiantian-Q2 to sit down in an armchair on one side, and the latter smiled weakly at her.

“…After all, I have studied this topic for more than five years and have some experience.”

Ruan Xian shook his head and decisively lifted Qian Yigeng onto the operating table with Tang Yibu. The latter struggled frantically and almost suffocated from crying.

“Are you sure?” Ji Xiaoman ignored Qian Yigeng, who was frantically kicking his legs, and she turned to Tiantian-Q2 with a sad expression on her face.

“This is not my memory,” the girl shook her head slowly and said with some difficulty. “They belong to you. I have nothing. And in the past few weeks, the ones that belong only to me, I… I prefer to forget them.”

She paused and looked at everything in front of her.

“You’re a nice person, Bai Tian. It wasn’t you who saved me, but your actual self*. If I had carried the memories of some other person, I may not have had the courage…”

*Clarity: Referring to Ji Xiaoman’s memories.

“…Memories are one thing, choices are another.” Ji Xiaoman felt uncomfortable adjusting the broken mechanical hand. “I don’t…”

“I’m very happy to have memories before the end of the world. Do you remember that summer? The dean bought piney raspberries for everyone. That memory always relaxes me. You can try it too.” Tiantian-Q2 interrupted her gently.

“…When you clear me, I don’t want you to enter other filler memories. I want to live by myself and see what kind of person I will become. I know I’ll be a bit dumb without access to MUL-01… but I should be able to survive.”

After that, she smiled. “I know you will agree. I just know.”

Ji Xiaoman used her metal arm to rub tears on her face so hard that she almost scratched it. After a long time, she took a deep breath and returned to her slightly cold look.

“You’re different.” Ji Xiaoman turned to Qian Yigeng. She called out the user interface of the mind access needle and fixed it on the processor again. “I’ll overwrite your memories with a loop of her memory data from those weeks. They’re all regular customers. I think you’ll recognize them.”

In Qian Yigeng’s horrified gaze, Ji Xiaoman typed rapidly on the user interface and finally pressed OK.

“There are indeed many things that are more painful than death.” She quietly summarized.

An hour later.

“…Women are terrible.” Yu Le bared his teeth in fear as he carried Ji Xiaoman’s mother on his shoulders. “I just want to beat that guy’s head to pieces at most…”

After the memory was entered, Qian Yigeng had an instant mental breakdown. He stuffed himself into the equipment cabinet full of sharp machinery, shaking the cabinet with a clatter, and blood kept flowing out of the gaps. He screamed senselessly, like a fat mouse that had been stimulated too much, and soon there was no sound.

He didn’t even make it past fifteen minutes.

“I can’t do too complicated operations; I can only overwrite his recent memory. He won’t remember anything about you. Even if someone wants to check it out, they can’t dig anything out of his mind.”

Ji Xiaoman’s voice was hoarse. She held Tiantian-Q2, who was already unconscious, and carefully guarded a small bag on her chest. There was still some blood oozing from the bag—He An’s cybernetic brain was lying quietly in the soft fabric.

“I saw that they still have old-fashioned models of bodies in stock. Most likely, they haven’t been used because of their appearance.” She took a breath. “If… If possible, I want to go to the warehouse to pick one up. When I take care of He An’s affairs, we can talk.”

She looked at Ruan Xian. “If you want Ruan Xian’s information, I might be able to add a little more.”

---

The author has something to say:

The next step is Yu Le’s one-on-two trial conference (?

Lao Yu: I don’t have any other ideas. I just want to know if they’re human. I have developed a distrust of the world (……

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 94: Turnaround

Ruan Xian approached a little closer. He didn’t put away the blood gun as his eyes were firmly locked on the female android.

Ji Xiaoman’s attack was quite effective. Even though the D-type product was strong, the joints at a specific angle were still fragile. However, this wasn’t just something that could be done with knowledge.

Even with the S-type Prototype, what it could do was accurately sense their position. Just like the difference between medical theory researchers and clinical veterans, hands-on people needed superb skills, with just the right strength and a lot of experience. Due to the soft flesh and blood on his hand, it was difficult for normal mechanics to achieve Ji Xiaoman’s accuracy.

But Ji Xiaoman didn’t show the slightest joy of victory. She was staring at the creature that was once her mother.

Her mother wasn’t a replica made by Qian Yigeng in the later stages, but still retained its mechanical life function. The artificial bone stood up under her skin, pulling mother05’s arm longer. She still maintained the state of sharp claws sticking up, and her faded bionic skin was like a crumpled flesh-colored glove.

Tang Yibu, who was clamping her down, was extremely careful. The black claws that could turn flesh to into ashes failed to touch him. It was just that in the fierce dogfight, Tang Yibu’s gas mask cracked open, revealing his handsome face and golden eyes that were a bit abnormal.

Qian Yigeng was still gasping in horror in the corner not far away, but he was no longer so important to her. Ji Xiaoman tremblingly stretched out her metal palm and stroked her mother’s cheek.

These hands could do delicate tasks that human hands couldn’t, but they couldn’t feel the warmth of others.

“I don’t understand,” Ji Xiaoman murmured. “Protection?”

“The world that individual human beings can see is limited. I can’t explain it to you.” The female android continued to struggle again.

“Tell me, Mom.” Ji Xiaoman’s eyes held hints of supplication.

“Requesting connection. Providing permission to inform of plans outside confidentiality,” the female android whispered softly. “Requesting connection…”

Then she slowly shook her head. “Connection failed. Lack of authorization. I am not authorized to provide further information.”

The young mechanic let out a long breath.

“Mom, I don’t care what you were trying to do. I’m going to take out the needle now.” Ji Xiaoman held on to her trembling shoulders. “And then… Then I will find the reason, okay?”

The female android looked at her with no emotion or pity in her eyes, nor the softness unique to a protector. She just stared straight at Ji Xiaoman, her eyes resembling two glass beads, before moving from Ji Xiaoman’s face to her outstretched hand.

Ji Xiaoman rarely cried.

As a child, crying was mostly a signal for help. When you knew that no one would come, crying would only be a waste of your energy. However, the tears she shed today were probably comparable to the number she shed in the previous twenty years combined. She didn’t suppress her sobs like Tiantian-Q2. The tears kept falling and she had no intention of stopping it.

Tang Yibu tightened his confinement and said nothing. Ruan Xian frowned. Something he didn’t understand must have happened on the field. The situation was clearly under control, but Ji Xiaoman looked even more desperate than now.

She put one hand in her waist bag; her whole body seemed to be crushed by the weight of the air.

“Please, Mom.” Ji Xiaoman’s voice began to choke. “I will get the needle out soon, I promise. I won’t interfere with your actions… When things are over, I’ll take you up there, okay? I’ll let you connect to the Mainbrain. We… We can still talk…”

Ji Xiaoman knew what would happen next.

Unlike Qian Yigeng’s sudden attack a while ago, her mother had now entered combat mode. Before the end of the world, in order to prevent unpredictable abnormalities in nursing bionics and ensure the safety of the caregiver, all MOTHER-type nursing robots were connected to the MUL-01 network. They were unified by MUL-01 to simulate a more delicate personality and make more complex decisions.

If you left the calculation, with the assistance of MUL-01, they did possess some intelligence, but it wasn’t very high. They would only insist on carrying out their tasks and were basically impossible to persuade. And if threatened, they would stop at nothing to destroy their opponents.

The procedure that was originally set to protect the target at this moment only gave her chills.

But somewhere not far away, their home was still quietly tucked away in the ruins. The buns in the freezer were just half-eaten, and the crooked woolen fabric was not yet finished. A little less than a day ago, her mother had gently kissed her on the forehead and told her to rest early.

All this came too fast, and she wasn’t ready yet.

For herself, she’s afraid “home” had only such a meaning, even if she knew it was false…

Ji Xiaoman’s hands became a little unsteady. The needle was buried too deep. Unless the female android was completely destroyed, it was impossible to extract it quickly. She could only try to communicate with her mother, hoping for a small miracle.

For more than five years, thousands of days and nights, she hoped that she could become a small variable in the other party’s system. Those kisses and caring, maybe there was something extra programmed in there. Mechanical life was also life. It was obvious the Grove-style R-660 raised by those three people had emotions.

Her mother’s weak consciousness was just dominated by a powerful command system. It must be like this.

“Communication will not affect the outcome. There is no valid contractual guarantee.” The female android continued in a flat voice. “The target refuses to cooperate. Her autonomy is in danger. This yellow female genetic sample isn’t rare. Preliminary decision to abandon recovery and detonation started.”

However, a miracle didn’t appear.

Ji Xiaoman stretched out her arms. She didn’t bother to draw the needle that symbolized the end, but just held her mother’s head and pressed her forehead against it.

“10, 9…”

“Mom, do you remember?” Ji Xiaoman didn’t care about the bleeding gunshot wound on her shoulder.

“…8, 7…”

“Last year during the Chinese New Year, you knitted me a sock,” she continued to say softly.

Qian Yigeng added two more layers of protection to himself, shrinking tighter.

“…6, 5…”

Tang Yibu didn’t let go. Ruan Xian lowered his gaze while Yu Le sighed, scratched his head, and looked around for a hiding place.

“I should have worn it.” Ji Xiaoman reluctantly smiled. “I wasn’t in a good mood that day. I’m sorry I got angry with you.”

“…4, 3…”

“Mom, I…”

“2…”

The countdown didn’t continue.

Ji Xiaoman slowly released the fallen woman who was lying quietly on the blood-stained floor, as if she was asleep. An empty syringe fell to the floor with her.

Ruan Xian remembered the syringe. Ji Xiaoman called it “a special paralyzing agent for the cybernetic brain”. She had used it to paralyze Tiantian-Q2. Most likely, it was made from the pill he had provided. Guan Haiming had maximized the effectiveness of blocking the cybernetic brain, so it wasn’t troublesome to transform it.

Excessive anesthetics would kill humans. At this point, the gap between mechanical life and humans wasn’t too big.

Tang Yibu released mother05, whose cybernetic brain had been destroyed, and Ji Xiaoman put her mother’s body on the ground without crying.

She slowly took out the mind access needle that was deeply stuck in the back of her mother’s neck. Even with blood, it was still beautiful, but it no longer meant anything to her now.

“Thank you for your help,” she said quietly, dropping the needle into a pool of blood, her voice dry and hoarse. “I will fix the car. That’s all.”

After that, she walked up to Qian Yigeng, who struggled to swallow his spit.

The activated mother05 continued to attack as Qian Yigeng wished. He originally planned to escape when these people were busy dealing with her. If there was only one android on the opposite side, he could still rely on the remaining equipment on his body and cope with it.

But he didn’t expect that there were two on the opposite side, and one of them was tough enough to roughly match mother05. It was by no means a random human shell that was put together. It most definitely was an original product before the end of the world.

He looked at Yu Le with a little awe in his eyes, and the latter looked back helplessly.

“This, this matter is also over. It was all an accident. It was all an accident.” Qian Yigeng looked at Ji Xiaoman with red eyes. “Isn’t it just that the cybernetic brain is broken? Our Xiaoman is so powerful that you can repair anything. And He An and TianTiann-Q2; I can give them a new body for free. No one was hurt.”

Ji Xiaoman stretched out a hand and vaguely stroked Qian Yigeng’s protective cover.

“Don’t, don’t, don’t. Isn’t this enough. It’s just a machine, don’t take it too seriously! Under the guise of the Red Ghost, laozi can open many more shops. We can cooperate and work hard together, yes?”

Ji Xiaoman didn’t seem to hear his words. Her right arm opened up a cooling structure and began blasting layers constantly onto the protective shield. As the metal prosthetics became red hot, the sizzling sound of melting parts became audible, followed by the smell of flesh burning. The exquisite robotic arm was rapidly breaking down. This was definitely some kind of move that hurt the enemy by a thousand and damaged itself by 800.

But she didn’t stop. After her right arm was completely scrapped, she stretched out her left arm. Qian Yigeng’s protective cover broke layer by layer; his face turned purple with fright as his pants became wetter. He desperately used his wristband, trying to contact the outside.

However, every time he gave feedback, there was only a blood-red smiley face in response.

No one made a move. The others in the room watched Ji Xiaoman continue quietly, as if the girl was performing some kind of sad ritual. The movements contained a cold, murderous aura and anger, and it seemed her entire person was on the verge of collapse.

With an overwhelming loud noise, her left arm was finally scrapped from the continuous bombardment. Qian Yigeng gasped quickly. There was only a thin protective cover around him left.

“Are you out of breath? Let those people leave quickly. If you have the ability to smash the last layer—”

Tang Yibu stretched out his hand kindly and poked the only cover left.

The cover began to crack from the point he touched, and then the whole shield shattered into light foam. Qian Yigeng roared and tried to lift his gun, but the iron bead from the crack of the cabinet didn’t give up this great opportunity—it bounced and bit Qian Yigeng’s hand wrapped in protective clothing. The bite directly chewed off a small half of the gun handle, plus the protective clothing connected to a large piece of flesh.

Tang Yibu’s eyes lit up. “π, gnaw on his helmet, and I’ll give this gun to you.”

Accompanied by Qian Yigeng’s screams, the iron bead happily barked and increased its gnawing.

Ji Xiaoman hung her arms, not moved by Qian Yigeng’s tragic situation. She stood dumbfounded by her mother’s fallen body, as if her soul had been taken away.

Qian Yigeng was still screaming in agony. The iron bead had bit hard this time. It was obviously not affected by the toxin—with the help of Tang Yibu, it directly chewed off the hard helmet and even tore off a large piece of scalp. Yu Le stood behind Tang Yibu and was secretly looking at Ruan Xian, while Ruan Xian pretended he didn’t notice anything.

“You can kill him later, and we will ensure that the signal is blocked.” Ruan Xian walked up to Ji Xiaoman and patted her arm. “Before that, can you lend him to us for a while?”

Ji Xiaoman opened her mouth and made no sound.

“I’ll take it as ‘yes’. We’ll make sure to barely keep him alive.” He bent over and picked up the mind access needle in the pool of blood. “And your mother’s affair may not be without a turnaround. We can talk about it later.”

Hearing the second half of the sentence, Ji Xiaoman seemed as if all the bones in her body were pulled out as she collapsed on the ground. Her two mutilated prosthetic limbs dropped in blood.

“If you are lying to me…”

“You’re a mechanic, you can judge for yourself when the time comes.”

Ruan Xian grabbed a piece of iron from the ground casually, and under Yu Le’s scrutiny, walked towards Qian Yigeng, who was unprotected.

“…After all, I’m an android made by Ruan Xian,” he continued. “It’s not surprising that I have a little understanding of this knowledge, right?”

---

The author has something to say:

Ruan: Start throwing smoke. Smoke bombs.

Find the person with the largest psychological scar in this room at the moment (?

——

Tang: π, save Mr. Ruan!

Iron bead jumps.

Tang: π, eat Qian Yigang!

Iron bead jumps.

Tang: π, let’s attack in general!

The iron bead is hiding (.

…It’s an iron bead that’s very picky about combat.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Seems like all of them have the largest psychological scars author… Just different issues. Well maybe not Tang Yibu. His biggest scar is probably food being stolen from him.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 93: Protector

Qian Yigeng originally had a virtual chassis. Although he was wearing a sturdy helmet and goggles, he was still a little confused when the fist smashed into him. On the rebound, he tripped over the body of his subordinate and fell flat on his ass.

“His protective clothing is poisonous.” Ji Xiaoman didn’t waste this opportunity. She tried to raise her voice. “Be careful.”

“Guess what, goons like to use their hands.” Yu Le wrapped the fabric in his hand a little tighter. After struggling in the Sea of Ruins for so long, he didn’t show much surprise at Qian Yigeng’s crude routine. “I can tell just by looking at that kid He An.”

Qian Yigeng struggled on the ground for a while, clutching his groin as he hissed in cold air. Unfortunately, the protective clothing was pretty effective as he didn’t seem to have suffered any serious injuries. The fat man supported himself against the wall and finally stood up while panting.

“You have the guts to do it again? I’d like to see how long those layers of clothes can last!” Qian Yigeng patted the dust off his body while shouting loudly. “Are you that girl’s helper? You seem quite powerful to be able to lend a hand to this kind of broken goods—”

As he spoke, he wanted to open the electronic wristband and contact more subordinates to come help, but when he opened the operation interface, all the command buttons disappeared, and only blood-red smiley faces were lit on the light screen. He looked around subconsciously in a panic, and another person on the opposite side took off his gas mask and gave him an unfriendly smile.

“You… You’re the one that Piebald found…”

Qian Yigeng gulped. The current state of affairs began to deviate from his estimate.

Generally, organizations were reluctant to use beauties as the first-line cannon fodder. When it comes to killing intent, if they acted on it, a beautiful face wouldn’t soften anyone. It was better to use them as gifts or assassins. In a melee, a prominent face would attract more attention and be more likely to be targeted. But if he reversed this thinking, there was only one possibility for such a character to appear here…

The opponent’s strength was strong. No matter what their background was, it was definitely not so simple.

Since Ji Xiaoman had no intention of being obedient, now wasn’t the time to worry about future interests. Qian Yigeng turned off the light screen fiercely and raised his voice. “Kill. Kill them all!”

After that, he took out another gun from his other pocket and shot straight at He An, who was also by the wall.

It was fine if he didn’t hurt the cybernetic brain. If the body was mangled, it wasn’t a big deal to create another. It was much easier to deal with Fu Yu’s possible doubts than to lose his life. After all, no matter how he looked at it, He An was the type who would act in accordance with his own interests. As long as he killed Ji Xiaoman, He An would not simply cut off contact with him—he didn’t know why, but the android treasured his memories. He could see this.

However, just before he could pull the trigger, the gun was shot down by a bullet that came out of nowhere. Due to his protective gloves, it failed to pierce Qian Yigeng’s finger, but it also created enough impact.

Qian Yigeng howled in pain and dropped the gun in response.

Ruan Xian put down his gun, ready to accept the chaotic scene in the next second.

The only few remaining men in the room rushed towards their respective targets at the same time. The man who was stepping on Ji Xiaoman’s back lowered his gun, while two men rushed towards Ruan Xian, who was smaller, while the remaining ones fired several shots at Tang Yibu. Yu Le was closest to Qian Yigeng. He didn’t bother to take out his gun and kicked one leg to the side of Qian Yigeng’s head, as if he had made up his mind to reward his opponent with a concussion first.

Yu Le’s foot connected directly to Qian Yigeng’s helmet. Ruan Xian’s bullets flew out of his guns, while Tang Yibu stretched out his hand and directly pierced the chest of the enemy in front of him.

The man who was about to kill Ji Xiaoman had less luck and lower quality equipment than Qian Yigeng. The hand that was holding the gun was blown apart by the blood bullets, and before he had the chance to even scream, he was smashed to the ground by another corpse—Tang Yibu had directly used a corpse as a weapon and threw it at him, causing two human bodies to slam into a corner.

Ruan Xian, who gave priority to saving Ji Xiaoman, didn’t have time to defend himself and was pounced on by the two subordinates. Although his recovery was amazing, his current wrist strength was at most the level of a normal person. In the end, time was limited, and Ruan Xian only had time to kill one of them.

At almost the same second, Qian Yigeng was kicked into the corner by Yu Le. If it weren’t for the fact that he was clenching his fists like he was gripping a lifeline, the metal chain in his hand would have been thrown off.

In just a few seconds, only one of Qian Yigeng’s men was left in the room—The man was two meters tall, burly and strong, and with his weight advantage, he had Ruan Xian in a fierce restraint as he pressed a gun against the side of Ruan Xian’s head.

“Nobody move!” His voice sounded a bit broken.

Tang Yibu subconsciously stopped moving; only his finger twitched slightly. Ruan Xian could probably guess what the other party was thinking.

It was difficult for a bullet to directly kill an S-type Prototype, but it was enough to expose its special features. If Tang Yibu exerted the strength he had before, he might be “saved”, but that meant Tang Yibu would expose himself in front of Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman.

A choice that had nothing to do with life and death but was still bad enough.

Perhaps he should have let the girl be shot in the head so he wouldn’t fall into such a dilemma. Ruan Xian sighed slightly in his heart. It wasn’t that he didn’t calculate this, but the girl’s despair and a damn sense of déjà vu clouded his judgement, and he couldn’t make the most reasonable choice.

Fortunately, Ji Xiaoman didn’t spend precious time stunned. At the first moment of gaining freedom, she rolled on the spot holding Tiantian-Q2 and took the injured android girl away from the center of the melee. At the moment Ruan Xian was restrained, she was standing up, intending to rush in the direction of Qian Yigeng.

“Quite sentimental. Not bad, not bad.” Seeing that Yu Le also stopped moving, Qian Yigeng’s voice had a bit more peace of mind. “Be good, I won’t be particular—”

Tang Yibu’s fingers moved again.

The iron bead let out an earth-shattering “gwah” and jumped up. At that moment, when the hostage-taker was distracted, Tang Yibu volleyed it like a volleyball in an inexplicable direction.

The bowling ball-sized iron bead bounced on the wall and hit the side of the hostage taker’s head directly. Before the big man could react, one side of his skull instantly shattered. He fell lopsidedly and lost his breath. The iron bead turned dizzily on the ground a few times, finally stood still, and began to bark at the corpse as if it was cursing it.

Ruan Xian laughed.

It seemed that Tang Yibu’s fingers were not twitching subconsciously. He was silently giving orders to the iron bead at the moment he was taken hostage. The first reaction of the android was to not save him directly, yet also not abandon him either.

A wonderful feeling; the unexpected choice of the other party entertained him well—For a second, he even felt that the android was a little cute.

Seeing his last subordinate fall, Qian Yigeng panicked. He shrank in the corner like a ball, like a bloated pangolin. While the attention of the others was still on the corpse, the obese man held the only remaining gun in one hand and shook the metal chain in his hand fiercely with the other.

As he shook, the metal chain that was originally soft suddenly straightened, and once again plunged the mind access needle deeply into the back of the female android’s head.

Ji Xiaoman’s “mother”, who was still motionless just now, began to move again.

The female android bent her two hands this time, and the bones under the skin began to swim strangely, adjusting her body into a form more suitable for combat. Her appearance was no longer elegant and beautiful and was closer to a hairless bat than a human.

“If you want it done right, do it yourself.” Qian Yigeng hugged his body tightly. He seemed to have taken out all the self-protection devices at the bottom of the pressure box. Layers of translucent shield tightly wrapped around the corner he was in. Yu Le made another hard kick again, aiming for the chain in Qian Yigeng’s hand.

“Report. Numbers have decreased. Reprioritizing.” The woman’s mechanical voice echoed in the room. “Target is three people. Two men one woman. Recovery restarted.”

Qian Yigeng’s smug expression froze. He glanced at the four people outside the shield, plus the cold-faced Ji Xiaoman and the dying Tiantian-Q2 in shock.

“Two men and one woman?” he murmured. “Impossible, impossible… Disregarding Tiantian-Q2 and He An, are two out of three of you not human?! …Stop. Quickly she has to be stopped!”

Qian Yigeng struggled to get to the metal chain that was kicked away by Yu Le, but he didn’t dare to leave the range of the shield guard. He became so anxious that his whole body was trembling, as if he was suffering from some kind of epilepsy. However, Ji Xiaoman’s “mother” didn’t miss this rare opportunity. She smoothly yanked the chain off, then inserted the needle diagonally into the back of her neck, revealing only the head of the needle.

The attack of the female android said it all.

She ignored Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian, who were closer to her, and turned to attack Yu Le. Yu Le was taken aback, turned around beautifully, and avoided the woman’s terrifying deformed palm.

Her palm wiped the corners of Yu Le’s ill-fitting clothes, and the parts that were touched immediately turned into ashes. It was the same as the limbs of Tiantian-Q2 that came into contact with it—the latter was still leaning against the wall, the cross-section of the wound seemed to have been burnt off, and she was gasping in pain.

“Shit.” Yu Le raised his hand and fired two shots at the opposite side. “This woman has put me in front of the line. How could I not be happy about this? Come fucking help you two!”

Ruan Xian fired a few shots that flew like steam, but when they hit the woman’s skin, like they had hit Qian Yigeng’s protective clothing, they left no traces.

The female android was like a jumping spider. She danced around in the space with movements that were difficult to detect with the naked eye. She didn’t make any delicate attacking moves but turned herself into a weapon, trying to injure Yu Le, who was dodging her every move.

“The D-type is a specially strengthened product, and general attacks will not be effective. It’s indeed a very extraordinary style,” Tang Yibu said in a low voice. His eyes were moving along the opponent’s motion track.

After that, he went to pick up the iron bead again, trying to fire another steel cannonball. However, the latter obviously had a long memory—the iron bead stretched out its four feet and hurriedly hid in the crevice of a cabinet that Tang Yibu couldn’t reach and rattled vigilantly.

Tang Yibu: “……”

At the same time, mother05 kicked on Qian Yigeng’s protective cover and continued trying to capture Yu Le. Visible cracks could be seen on the protective cover, and the person inside screamed in horror as the smell of urine permeated the air.

Yu Le showed skills consistent with a great ruins pirate. Although his movements weren’t elegant, he avoided most of the attacks that exceeded the limits of mankind by rolling and crawling.

“I cover, you control. Find an opportunity for Yu Le to do it himself.” Seeing the woman stretch her dark alien palm towards Yu Le’s neck, Ruan Xian made a quick decision. “Now—”

He fired several shots in a row, and even if he couldn’t penetrate the skin of that thing, the impact was still real. Mother05, who was about to destroy her prey, was hit so hard that she finally turned her head and decided to give priority to clearing this deadly obstacle first.

Tang Yibu jumped down from the side of the low table, and using the strength from the table, pounced on the beast-like android. He turned himself into a human shackle as his two arms and legs neatly locked in place.

The two androids rolled almost halfway through the room. Their movement speed didn’t look big, but they left a lot of cobweb-like cracks on the floor.

Finally, Tang Yibu conservatively suppressed the opponent’s struggle. Mother05 couldn’t move. She didn’t roar angrily like a normal creature, and her voice was still terribly cold.

“Recycling blocked. Requesting support.” Her voice was neither high nor low. “Warning. You are destroying the future of mankind. Please give up resistance and cooperate immediately. Thank you.”

“Fuck your future of mankind.” Yu Le touched his neck with fear and raised his gun again. “Guns are useless on this thing, right? That needle is still in it. I can’t draw it out well. Do you know anything about it? Where is this thing going to attack…?”

A slender figure leaped in front of him, separating him from the imprisoned android—or mechanical alien.

Ji Xiaoman squatted down and used her hand to slash at several corners. With a few crisp “clicks”, her former mother’s eyes cooled down, and her struggle became less intense.

“D-type is particularly enhanced. I can’t completely incapacitate her. I can only weaken her.” Ji Xiaoman was riddled with bullet holes on her body but kept persisting as blood kept spatting out. “But… But can I have a word with her?”

Ruan Xian was silent. There was something similar to ash in the girl’s eyes, which made him inexplicably irritable. Tang Yibu tilted his head, nodded slightly after a while, and expressed agreement.

“Talk.” Yu Le shrugged. “Do I look really that inhumane?”

“Mom.” Ji Xiaoman’s voice was dry. “Do you remember me?”

“Remember.” Mother05’s eyes were clear. “I have known you for 5 years, 6 months, and 14 days. I am not your mother. You are a human named Bai Tian, citizen ID2239099821.”

“I know.” Ji Xiaoman’s voice trembled a little. “Since you remember, why—”

“Functions suppressed to a minimum. I will give priority to basic instruction to protect human Ji Xiaoman. The men over there hindered the normal operation of my cognitive function. I can only choose the most proximate target to protect.” The monster, who no longer looked like a human, answered solemnly, without the slightest sense of crisis in her voice.

“However, Qian Yigeng said that when he found you, you were attacking Ji Xiaoman herself.” Ji Xiaoman tried hard to restrain her tone but failed. “This is contradictory, but Qian Yigeng won’t lie about this kind of thing…”

The female android laughed.

The smile that appeared on her face that didn’t look like a human was inexplicably creepy. As that weird smile appeared, there was a faint shadow of her gentle mother in her eyes.

“I’m protecting her,” she replied earnestly. “Just like I want to protect you now.”

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

---

Chapter 92: Official Shot

Ruan Xian stopped at the door of the room where Qian Yigeng was located.

Just like last time, they took the clothes and disguised themselves as his subordinates. This time, Yu Le was lucky enough to find a fatter man, so his pants didn’t need to be stretched tightly over his muscles. Only it had gone to the other extreme—he didn’t have enough fat to support the clothes and the excess fabric fell loosely off his body, like skin after too much liposuction.

However, since Qian Yigeng’s subordinates weren’t a strict mercenary group, nor did they have a military-like mindset, most of them would only look at him twice. The three of them surrounded Tiantian-Q2, which wasn’t much different from other groups escorting goods.

At the moment, the subordinates were busy taking care of Ji Xiaoman’s android mother, who was huddled in the corridor with the rest of the other androids. Compared to the other androids who cursed and trembled in a low voice under the ends of the guns pointing at them, the beautiful female android was indeed visibly slower to the naked eye.

The room was masked with a soundproofing device, so there were no abnormal sounds, but this didn’t prevent Ruan Xian from hearing everything clearly. Now wasn’t the time to make a move against the battle between the sandpiper and clam*. The fisherman needed to consider the timing of his appearance.

*(鹬蚌相争) Idioms referring to the dispute between two parties will inevitably result in both losses and a third party will benefit. It comes from a historical fable, which you can read in my Kinky Thoughts.

The struggle indoors continued, and there were few human heartbeats left.

Across the door, Qian Yigeng glanced at his subordinates who fell to the ground, his expression becoming more displeased. The fat on his face was clustered together as he sighed pretentiously.

“Although I’m really angry, if you two stop now, I can still consider letting go of the past and forgetting about it.”

He glanced at Ji Xiaoman, who was moving on the ceiling, and the acrimony in his voice disappeared, turning into hypocritical regret.

“I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but over the years, you and I have become old acquaintances. It’s really hard to talk about. Why do you want to do business like this?”

He pressed his goggles again, as if he was wrapped in a walnut shell. “Find someone to create a fake organization, destroy my property, and force me to use Return South Wild Geese. Then pretend to come and save your mother and join forces with He An to take the opportunity to attack me… Tsk, tsk. That’s a good idea. It’s just that I’ve been here for so long and have gone through the sea of those who want this needle.”

Ji Xiaoman’s hands and feet were cold, and she was ready to throw a bomb. The bomb exploded at Qian Yigeng’s feet. Logically speaking, it should have blown up his calf, but it didn’t even shred a piece of the fat man’s trousers.

As if he had noticed Ji Xiaoman’s sight, Qian Yigeng patted his chest. “If you want to kill me, this little firepower isn’t enough. Okay, now the time I gave you two to repent is almost up. There’s no backtracking after the expiration.”

He An was obviously not the type who would be easily moved. He knocked away Qian Yigeng’s men in front of him and rushed directly towards Qian Yigeng. Ji Xiaoman understood the other party’s plan almost immediately—as long as they get close, they might not need to really rely on firepower to win. Even if a knife can’t penetrate Qian Yigeng’s protective clothing, with He An’s size and strength, he could at least choke Qian Yigeng’s neck so that the opponent would quickly suffocate.

Following the same idea, He An beautifully bypassed several people who came to obstruct him, stretched out his muscular arms, and directly hooped Qian Yigeng’s stubby neck wrapped in protective cloth.

Then He An’s face changed, he frowned, and he didn’t say a word as usual.

In the previous battle, he was shot several times in irrelevant parts, which stained red with blood on his clothes that were particularly conspicuous, but He An had always looked painless and his movements were always stable. The muscles on his arms bulged under his clothing and tightly locked around Qian Yigeng’s throat.

Everything should have gone very smoothly. Ji Xiaoman could see the force. Although Qian Yigeng could rely on his weight advantage to struggle for a while, if this trend were to continue, he would soon lose consciousness.

However, just as Qian Yigeng’s struggling movements were about to dwindle, He An suddenly let go of his hand and gasped with difficulty. He fell backwards and stood staggeringly against the wall, as if he had been stabbed in the lung by an invisible enemy.

“As I said, there are many people who want to find a chance to kill me.” Qian Yigeng rubbed his neck, “Don’t touch me. Do you hear me? This is poison. The medicine is very powerful. It’s pretty labor-intensive to make He An’s shell again, and now I have to find a way to explain to Fu Yu.”

Ji Xiaoman’s hands and feet were cold.

She might be able to jump down and attack Qian Yigeng in the same way, but even if her metal arms would not be poisoned, it was impossible for her entire body to remain untouched. Qian Yigeng usually dressed casually, and He An, who had a lot of encounters with him, didn’t warn her. She thought the other party wouldn’t be so shrewd.

Just as she was stunned, another bullet flew over her shoulder, and the severe pain caused her to almost fall to the ground. Ji Xiaoman gritted her teeth and threw a few more bombs in the direction of Qian Yigeng.

Thinking about it, Qian Yigeng, a type who was as timid as a mouse and was extremely afraid of death, would obviously go to the extreme in preparation. She thought it was her own preparation that wasn’t enough. This wasn’t like a game; even if she found her pitfalls now, she couldn’t just restart again.

The pain and fear of near failure were so intense that the air turned to liquid, choking her to the point where she almost lost consciousness.

What should I do?

The rubble from the explosion passed across the side of her face, and warm blood flowed down her cheeks. He An stood silently against the wall and continued to shoot at Qian Yigeng’s men who were trying to attack him. He could no longer move as nimbly as before and could now only stagnantly move, trying his best to ensure that his mobility wouldn’t be lost too quickly.

That handsome face was blank. The cybernetic bran wouldn’t be deactivated by death, and Qian Yigeng wouldn’t easily erase the memory specifically provided for Fu Yu. For He An, the so-called death was nothing more than a period of functional cessation.

But for herself…

“Last chance.” Qian Yigeng raised his head, obviously intending to focus on Ji Xiaoman. “I can spare your life, Ji Xiaoman.”

“Then what?” Ji Xiaoman said hoarsely. “Lock me up and make me work for you until I die?”

“That can’t be helped. I can’t give He An another chance to do stupid things. It’s safest to not be exposed, don’t you think?” Smothered by protective clothing, Qian Yigeng’s voice sounded a bit breathless.

He An finally didn’t have the strength to move any longer. He barely maintained his standing position as blood accumulated into a small pool under his feet. He still had that lurid smile on his face, but there was a bit of sarcasm behind it.

The other party was standing a few steps away from him, and he couldn’t do anything about it. Ji Xiaoman began to feel that her limbs were unable to exert strength. Her mother was still outside the door, so she should consider saving her life. Since she destroyed a lot of Qian Yigeng’s industry, the next life wouldn’t be too far from hell, but as long as she still had value, she and her mother could still live… By continuing to create new pain, barely surviving.

There was only one spider silk left in her hell—Her mother’s intelligence wasn’t enough to cooperate with Qian Yigeng, but she was simply used. Maybe over the years, she would leave a trace in the heart of her illusory relative.

Otherwise, she really would have nothing left.

This brief rebellion, as well as her only remaining sense of morality, suggested that it was time to draw a line in the sand.

Finally, Ji Xiaoman couldn’t hold back the tears that fell from her eyes. After all, she made the wrong bet. She shouldn’t have been disturbed by that group of outsiders and temporarily come up with a new plan.

“I…”

Ji Xiaoman finally fell from the ceiling. An electronic chain restrained her hands and feet. She was forced to lie on the ground as one of Qian Yigeng’s remaining subordinates stepped on her spine. The words in her throat seemed to be stuck. “I…”

Qian Yigeng was right. She was indeed easily emotional. Even now, she still couldn’t say a sentence that showed weakness.

Seeing that the other party was still shaking, Qian Yigeng shook his head. He gasped, enjoying the pleasure of giving hope for a while before crushing it, and then used his wristband to give instructions to the people outside.

“Bring that woman in,” he ordered.

Three heavily armed men wearing gas masks took her mother in like a sheep and also brought in Tiantian-Q2 that should have been hidden outside. Tiantian-Q2 collapsed beside Ji Xiaoman; the latter’s face was as white as a sheet, and her lower lips were trembling uncontrollably.

After knowing the origin of Tiantian-Q2, this scene made her uncomfortable.

“Still unconvinced, right? How exciting.” Qian Yigeng’s voice was still a bit tense, but it was slowly dissipating. “Dumbass. Who asked you to bring Q2 in too? Forget it. The effect may be better. Make sure you step on her, and make sure you watch her well.”

He took out a long, blood-stained needle from the depths of his protective clothing.

It was about the length of a chopstick. The thickness was not much different from a knitting needle, and a rough metal chain was fixed to it at the end. The surface of the mind access needle was black, with not much reflection; only fluorescent blue fine lines were all over the needle like cobwebs, some bright while others fading.

He An, who was leaning against the wall, struggled for a while, as if trying to pounce on it, but he was quickly held down by Qian Yigeng’s men. He couldn’t get anything except more serious blood loss.

“Don’t you want to know where the real Ji Xiaoman is? Sitting right next to you. Speaking of which, you still gave her the opportunity to move around.” Qian Yigeng waved his hand in the direction of Tiantian-Q2, and the girl looked at Qian Yigeng in confusion.

“Thinking of this, this was the first batch of goods I got. I smashed this woman’s cybernetic brain with my own hands. Alas, at that time, the rebellion had just begun, and I didn’t know how to do it.”

Qian Yigeng walked up to Ji Xiaoman, who was firmly pinned down and squatting down his obese body.

“Who made the little girl next to you so beautiful? It’s a pity that while she had a good shell, she was a mentally retarded person who had been driven crazy due to memory therapy. At the beginning, I was able to survive by relying on the supplies she had ‘contributed’ to me… But when the Underground City developed, there are few that would like to play a fool.”

Qian Yigeng smiled.

“Without this needle, it’s not easy to get memories into a cybernetic brain. People need to live, and time is long. Some of the little girls outside have started their own businesses, so it was hard to find a pure one. At the beginning, I could only sell second-class goods. It was thanks to you that I was able to develop new products… Ji Xiaoman’s beautiful shell, coupled with your memory data, the Tiantian series has been the most popular since the very beginning.”

“No,” Ji Xiaoman murmured weakly, shaking her head desperately. Her world was darkening uncontrollably, and despair gave her the illusion that there was an abyss under her.

“Now you understand. Businessmen have to be a little superstitious. If it weren’t for this matter, I wouldn’t keep you because of a little ingenuity. Do you know how much of my fortune you have blown up? Xiaoman, hurry up and apologize. Or should I call you Bai Tian?”

He stepped on Ji Xiaoman’s head and kept talking, not paying attention to the door being quietly locked by the big “subordinate” whose clothes didn’t fit well. The soundproofing device left by He An began to operate quietly again.

“…” Ji Xiaoman clenched her imprisoned metal palm tightly. Her face was full of tears, but she still remained silent.

Tiantian-Q2 sat paralyzed among the shell casings and debris on the ground. Her sweet and beautiful facial features were distorted.

“It’s true you don’t shed a tear until you see the coffin*.” He beckoned to the android known as TCR-mother05 to step forward. The female android did so meekly. Qian Yigeng held her shoulder with one hand, motioned her to kneel down, and then inserted the needle straight into the back of her neck.

*(不见棺材不落泪) Metaphor referring to refusing to be convinced until one is faced with grim reality. Not giving up until you completely fail.

Ji Xiaoman let out a suppressed scream.

The wound didn’t bleed much as countless light screens with operating interfaces emerged around the needle. Qian Yigang simply poked a few buttons.

“This was still the most expensive nursing style at the time, and the identification system was first-class. I put her next to Tiantian-Q2 and occasionally her broken system would function normally. Just as well, now I can make her more sober. Don’t you want her to be free? Don’t you want to fix her? Well now, let me show you the results in advance.”

As the needle gradually deepened, the expression of the female android slowly changed.

The gentle smile that was originally a little silly slowly disappeared, and a bit of shrewdness surfaced in her empty eyes. She straightened her back, and her whole body exuded a bit of elegance, as if she was a noblewoman that had just walked out of a movie.”

“Mom,” Ji Xiaoman whispered.

The familiar person was no longer clumsily knitting sweaters, and no longer had the slightest soft breath. For a moment, she thought it was a stranger standing across the room, instead of the mother who urged her to sleep every day and would tenderly hug her.

She started to become a little afraid.

The female android turned her head in the direction of Ji Xiaoman without showing too much emotion. Just like facing a vocal object, she just stiffened her face and didn’t respond to Ji Xiaoman’s call. Then she turned her gaze to Tiantian-Q2, who was kneeling on the ground, and finally looked around the entire environment, obviously studying her current situation.

“Report, the current year is 2107. The plan was delayed by external forces,” she recounted to the void, her voice clean and powerful. “Recovery priority is determined. TCR-mother05 continues to perform the mission.”

In the next moment, most of the humans could barely see her movements. The female android took Qian Yigeng’s gun and shot straight at Ji Xiaoman’s neck. She acted like a well-trained soldier.

Tang Yibu had no intention of acting. Ruan Xian instinctively wanted to move, but someone took advantage of the distance and was one step faster than him—Tiantian-Q2 covered Ji Xiaoman first. The bullet hit her lungs from the back, and she let out a small scream.

Although in the junkyard, the female android still looked like she cared about Tiantian-Q2. Now, she didn’t say a word, not even showing her programmed look of appeasement.

“Mom, it’s me.” Ji Xiaoman’s voice trembled.

The blood of the other person kept dripping into her short hair, drenching it. ‘What should she do?’ she thought, but she was so firmly pinned down that her entire body ached. She turned to Qian Yigeng with difficulty. “You sealed her memories, didn’t you? Qian Yigeng, you…”

“I don’t have such awesome skills.” Qian Yigeng shrugged. “Hey, didn’t I tell you? When I found her, she was about to kill that retarded little chick, just like right now.”

TCR-mother05 squatted down in front of the injured Tiantian-Q2. She stretched out her hand expressionlessly. The skin on her hand was horribly cracked, revealing the complex components under it. She bent this deformed hand to the point where it was impossible for humans to do, and then caught Tiantian-Q2 left arm that was holding Ji Xiaoman.

Less than five centimeters from Ji Xiaoman’s eyes, the left arm slowly turned to ash from where it was touched.

“…Stop it, mom.”

She had never shed so many tears in her life. No matter what effect Qian Yigeng wanted to achieve, he succeeded. Now she had only regret and fear, wishing she could turn back time so that she could forget these desperate truths.

“Exciting, right? You see, it’s troublesome when it’s fixed. Stop crying. If she laughs, that means she loves you and wants to take care of you, right? Children are so easy to cheat.”

Qian Yigeng yanked the metal chain, and the needle inserted into the back of the female android’s neck was dragged out. The android froze in the air, while the laughter in his voice became more obvious.

“Hurry up and apologize. Then you can continue to live with your stupid mother.”

“Right now…”

As a result, before he could finish speaking, Qian Yigeng was punched back a few steps by a man who rushed up.

“Laozi has seen a lot of salacious things over the years.” Yu Le used the extra length of his clothes to tie them into a makeshift boxing glove. “I used to think Fan Baiyan was the most disgusting person, but now I feel like I’ve wronged him a bit.”

As Yu Le spoke, he gave Qian Yigeng a fierce kick in the crotch.

“Fuck you. It’s you who should apologize.”

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The author has something to say:

Captain Yu is officially angry (×

This is the real relationship between Ji Xiaoman and Bai Tian… Tiantian-Q2 is a composition of the two (.

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Kinky Thoughts:

Below is the fable of the Sandpiper and the Clam and a little historical lesson about its origin.

The Sandpiper and the Clam

One day, taking advantage of the sunny weather, a clam opened up its hard shell to bask in the sun on the river of the beach. A sandpiper saw it and quickly put its beak into the clam shell to peck at the meat inside. The calm hurriedly closed its hard shell and sealed the sandpiper’s mouth shut. The sandpiper couldn’t peck at the meat, and its mouth was sealed shut, so it threatened the clam and said, “If you don’t loosen your clamp on me, you will eventually die of thirst.” The clam responded without showing weakness, “Your mouth has been clamped by me. If you can’t pull it free, you’ll starve to death!” In this way, the clam and sandpiper fought each other on the beach, and neither would relent. Over time, they became exhausted. A fisherman happened to pass by, and when he saw that they were tightly entangled and neither could move, he easily caught them and took them both home.”

This story was told during the Warring States Period, when the Qin Empire was strongest. On one occasion, the Empire of Zhao declared war on the State of Yan. At the time, the king’s younger brother, Su Dai, was entrusted to go to the Empire of Zhao to persuade the King of Zhao to not send troops. When he arrived, the King of Zhao demanded what he was doing here, to which he told the fable.

After finishing, Su Dai said to the King of Zhao, “If the Empire of Zhao and the State of Yan go to war, the two sides will inevitably be at a standstill for a long time, eventually becoming exhausted. In this way, the might Qin Empire will be like the fisherman, who just needs to sit back and reap the benefits. Your Majesty, please consider it carefully before making a decision.” The King of Zhao felt that what Su Dai said was reasonable and dispelled the idea of attacking the State of Yan.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 91: Killing Intent

The group of androids in the room seemed to have been dealt with by Qian Yigeng. Ji Xiaoman could see scattered blood stains on the ground, but there was no sign of the mind access needle.

“Yo, you want to engage in your identity at this time.” Qian Yigeng glanced at Ji Xiaoman’s sharp metal fingertips and shrank his neck.

Ji Xiaoman pursed her lips. Just a few steps away, her “mother” returned to the dull appearance she was familiar with. The female android’s fingers twitched slightly, as if she was knitting something with invisible needles and threads.

Qian Yigeng absolutely knew something, and Ji Xiaoman was sure of this. It was better to say that a possible guess was screaming against the back of her neck, and she was trying to ignore it.

“What can you do if you know? Alright, stop it. He An, take her to the isolation room and wait for me to deal with this wave—”

“Tell me.” Ji Xiaoman didn’t move. “I… We still have to cooperate. Just like you said, I can’t do anything even if I know.”

Qian Yigeng narrowed his eyes and didn’t bother to hide his impatience. “You’re an expert. You should know better than me about your mother’s cybernetic brain. If you give her some time, she will call all the little girls ‘Xiaoman’. You personally recognized the name Ji Xiaoman, which is definitely not you.”

Having said that, he squeezed into the piles of men again so that more flesh could block him. “Commodities are even more unlikely. It’s not that I deliberately provoked it. I don’t make goods that are born with physical defects, and there are very few people who are good at this. Stop thinking about it. He An, go, lock her up first.”

Ji Xiaoman’s eyes were slightly sour.

Even if she knew Qian Yigeng was an asshole, the other party’s apparent attitude of not taking her seriously was extremely infuriating. Besides, it’s not like she didn’t think about what he said.

As a born handicapped, the possibility of her being Qian Yigeng’s “commodity” was very low. Although she came here with the tide of androids, Ji Xiaoman didn’t feel the existence of “Return South Wild Geese” so she was likely human.

But too many things couldn’t be explained.

For example, the first reaction of her “mother”, who didn’t have much sense of autonomy, was to raise her in the ruins instead of bringing her back to her residence. For example, why did her mother only rely on a small amount of stolen drugs to suppress her extremely serious injuries… For example, why was Qian Yigeng unaware of her mother’s periodic outings with supplies.

These questions once crossed her mind, but Ji Xiaoman never wanted to think about them. She was fine now, and so was her mother, who was living by her side. She would rather the other party be an android who retained a little emotional logic and chalk it up to being a small miracle.

“I met Bai Tian, which is your Tiantian-Q2 series.”

Now, she cruelly woke herself up.

Ji Xiaoman hit the mechanism on her prosthetic leg. A sharp blade instantly popped out, and with its support, her entire body looked almost a head taller for a moment. She was originally slender, so at a glance, she looked like a tall cheetah.

The mechanical hunter who fought for precious parts finally bare her fangs at this moment.

“It’s just the same name. Don’t be too sensitive.”

Qian Yigeng let out a chuckle, and the men around him raised their guns one after another. Even He An raised his gun and pointed it straight at Ji Xiaoman’s chest. The female android a few steps away didn’t run. She raised her eyes and looked at the black hole in the muzzle of the gun and continued to weave her air fabric.

Ji Xiaoman smiled. Her facial features were exquisite and beautiful, but now they were squeezed into a slightly ugly smile.

“I never told you my real name,” she said slowly. “How do you know that my name is also Bai Tian?”

“Okay, I took your memory. How many years ago was that? You were dying at the time—hey, you, be careful. Don’t aim at my precious merchandise.” Qian Yigeng waved away the nearest barrel of guns closest to him so that the female android could continue to stay out of the attack range. “…At the time, I happened to lack a memory sample of a normal little girl, so don’t blame me. Besides, I wasn’t familiar with the business, so I could only take the memories of living people. You still have to thank me…”

“Thank you for copying my memory, humiliating my life, and using my memories on a group of girls as sex toys for others?” Ji Xiaoman didn’t withdraw the blade from her legs. Her voice was icy cold. “…I don’t think my mother just took a random walk before she stumbled upon me.”

“Hey, hey, hey. No need to put it like that. I didn’t specifically target you.” Qian Yigeng glanced at the android that was woodenly knitting in the air. “She calls every little girl Xiaoman, and she takes them and leads them here. I was simply just making the best use of it.”

Those vague fragments buried by hyperthermia began to emerge from her mind. She had thought those fragments were simply nightmares. The memory of it all was a blur and her head hurt so much like it was about to explode.

What followed was the smell of garbage and the endless stench of decay.

“But I was the first one you lost, because you can’t use my shell, can you?” Ji Xiaoman trembled a little. The chains hanging on her body rattled softly. At that time, she couldn’t piece them together, but now she knew enough about Qian Yigeng. “After you copied my memories, you threw me to the junkyard. When mother saw that the residence wouldn’t take me, she took me to another place… And after that, after that…”

She was shaking more severely.

After that, her mother took care of her awkwardly, and Qian Yigeng was probably aware of it. She didn’t quite believe that the other party suddenly discovered his conscience and was likely waiting for the so-called “making the best use of everything” and relied on this nurturing feeling to concoct another plan.

It was really beating the bones and sucking out their marrow*. He got all the slightest places that could be sucked.

*(敲骨吸髓) Metaphor referring to extreme exploitation.

However, the sad thing was, as Qian Yigeng said, even if she knew the truth, nothing could be changed. Even if her mother was just Qian Yigeng’s puppet in a sense, she had been unable to break free from the warmth and smile of the past few years. Ji Xiaoman clenched her fists and got chills all over.

No, maybe there would be a change. Then she could give that bastard a few more cuts.

Thinking of this, she slowly took a deep breath.

“Okay, okay, I’ve wasted a lot of time wrangling with you.” Qian Yigeng waved his hand like he was swatting away a fly. “What, do you want me to pay the copyright fee? Don’t be pretentious. It’s just a few machines have stored your memories. You have nothing to lose. I have things to do. He An, He An! Are you happy watching the show? I told you several times to take her away first—”

“To be honest, it was quite enjoyable…” He An tugged at the chain in his hand. “Let’s go, Miss Ji, or do you prefer the name Miss Bai?”

He used his spare hand to drag the female android, who was still engrossed with knitting in the air and motioned for the other party to go out first. Ji Xiaoman’s face grew long as she followed him. However, just as Ji Xiaoman’s “mother” stepped out the door, the moment Qian Yigeng’s men lowered their guns, He An slammed the door and temporarily isolated the female android on the other side of the room.

Then he smashed a soundproofing device to the ground, completely isolating all the sound in the room. At almost the same second, Ji Xiaoman threw off the loose chains on her body.

She first fired a few shots with He An and repelled the first few subordinates. Unlike He An, who continued to shoot and move like a ghost, she kicked her feet and jumped directly onto the wall. The barbs on her prosthetic limbs allowed her to move forward like a gecko.

Like a legendary maiden possessed by a demon, she crawled fast and creepy, straight towards the heavily armed Qian Yigeng. The bullets fired by He An’s gun weren’t ordinary bullets. The warheads exploded on the bulletproof jackets of his subordinates, and each shot took away a large piece of flesh, as if an invisible fire-breathing monster was eating them.

It wasn’t until the fourth person fell that Qian Yigeng reacted. He gritted his teeth, took out his gun, and fired a few shots at Ji Xiaoman. The first two bullets bounced off the metal prosthetics, while one drilled into her shoulder. Ji Xiaoman suppressed a miserable scream without staggering her crawling movements—Qian Yigeng’s subordinates hurriedly tried to knock her down while dealing with He An. If she slowed down her movements by a step, she would become a sieve on the spot.

The room wasn’t small, but it couldn’t be said to be large either. It was completely different from the junkyard, with a vast space and complex terrain. The options for escape were really limited. The young mechanical hunter ate a few more bullets, one after another, dyeing the ceiling with blood.

“See? That’s why I want the memory of the little girl.” Qian Yigeng screamed at the top of his lungs. There wasn’t much fear in his voice, but rather anger. “Stupid and short-sighted, disregarding everything for a momentary grievance. That’s what the customers like. Do you know how well the Tiantian-Q2 series sells? The Red Ghost is your doing, right?”

“Shut up! “Ji Xiaoman roared.

He An, on the other hand, was very quiet; the bulletproof equipment of the City Defenders was several grades higher than Qian Yigeng’s men’s equipment. The bullets fired at him were frequently blocked by a transparent cover, leaving only small ripples like a wave in water. It was just as the number of bullets that hit increased, the ripples became unstable, visibly to the naked eye.

He An lowered his gaze and sighed quietly.

Five. Six. Seven. Eight.

The number of corpses in the room was increasing. Although Qian Yigeng was vigilant enough, the raid could be considered going smoothly—but Ji Xiaoman didn’t have the slightest emotion of joy. Her stomach felt like lead.

Qian Yigeng looked very anxious but still didn’t show much fear.

…Something was wrong.

At the same time, less than five hundred meters away.

Tang Yibu was looking at Ruan Xian with interest. The other party was using a blood gun to pierce the heads of Qian Yigeng’s men at close range, and a little blood splashed on his fair skin, which was quite thrilling in comparison. At first glance, his partner was completely different from when he was in the refuge, but that strange aura still lingered.

“They exchanged fire. Qian Yigeng’s side is fine for the time being.” His partner pretended to check his wristband and turned his dark eyes. “But we need to hurry.”

“Nn,” Tang Yibu responded, casually breaking the neck of the person in his arms. Two light thuds sounded as a blade hit the ground along with a corpse flopping softly.

Yu Le no longer supported Tiantian-Q2, he protected the girl behind him, and almost every shot could take a life. The captain of a pirate ship obviously had eyes comparable to machines—his bullets seemed to have eyes, as they specifically hit the weakly protected areas of the enemy.

As they moved forward, there were more than a dozen corpses lying on the ground. Tiantian-Q2 stepped on the bloodstain but didn’t show more fear. She was still pinching her pocket tightly, not knowing if she was groping for the boozy heart chocolate or the gun.

Tang Yibu retracted his gaze and touched the blood-stained shell of the iron bead. The blood-stained metal felt a bit slippery, and the iron beads tried to rub itself clean on Yu Le’s pant leg, narrowly avoiding being kicked away.

After the environmental observation was completed, regardless of their mental state, his companions were almost uninjured. After reaching this conclusion, he glued his gaze back to his partner’s head again.

It was a wonderful feeling.

Tang Yibu knew very well that his maker, Ruan Xian, who had always abhorred memory manipulation and androids, would not put his own memories into a cybernetic brain. Even if he was forced to do so, the memories he put in would definitely have to go through countless processes and become shriveled information without emotions. However, Tang Yibu didn’t think that anyone other than Ruan Xian had the ability to make such perfect work.

Unless the android was strictly induced, he rarely changed his entered personality, but the other party was constantly metamorphosing before his eyes, and he couldn’t estimate the direction of this metamorphosis.

It was like watching a never-before-seen bird break its shell.

Uncontrolled, dangerous, and elusive. The danger of this so-called “partner” was increasing day by day. He should find an opportunity to destroy or replace the other party’s cybernetic brain and turn him into an obedient living machine—this was the logically safest solution.

However, he wanted to watch.

The uncontrollable urge to observe was gradually dominating him, and Tang Yibu liked the inexplicable shudder. He couldn’t parse his complex emotions, but the more he couldn’t parse them, the more he wanted to continue.

Tang Yibu moved his fingers, leaving a smiley face stroke trajectory in the air with his fingertips.

This person was completely different from Ruan Xian in his memory, but he was extremely similar from a certain angle. In the distant past, when he and his maker were still able to meet, Tang Yibu didn’t miss a single opportunity to record.

At that time, in addition to his terrifying appearance due to illness, Ruan Xian was more like the perfect friend people expected—funny, gentle, and optimistic, and even a little too considerate for the sake of others. Although he occasionally discussed some strange and dangerous topics with him, the biggest expression Tang Yibu recorded on the other party’s face was “blank.”

It was the feeling of not knowing how to express true emotion that there was only desolation after completely removing the mask. That was the most impersonal side of Ruan Xian.

If Ruan Xian at that time was a round pearl, the android partner in front of him was more like a cursed blood diamond. His smile was morbid and dangerous, and his personality soundness was obviously not in the normal range—that was, he had not indiscriminately attacked humans—but if such a day ever occurred, Tang Yibu wouldn’t be too surprised.

But they were very similar.

Under the positive mask, Ruan Xian and “Ruan Lijie” had a weird sense of humor about death, and they didn’t seem to take it very seriously. And on a few occasions, for a very brief moment, they had the exact same look on their faces.

Ruan Xian, who used to lean on his warm external chassis, chewed homemade candy, and look at the falling snow outside through the small window of the computer room, and when he kissed “Ruan Lijie”, the other party also showed the same emotions.

Loneliness was mixed with a certain kind of despair of isolation, and there were some distorted desires in it—like wanting to reach out and hold time firmly in the palm of your hand so that it no longer flowed.

The differences were far apart, yet highly consistent.

…Could it be that someone else took Ruan Xian’s memory fragments and added them after the android was created?

Tang Yibu looked at the back of the other party’s neck, and his fingers moved slightly again.

When they take care of Qian Yigeng and figure out where that wheelchair and the mind access needle came from, things might be clearer by then. And if the other party’s odd gravitational pull on himself continued to get stronger like this, things would probably get out of control.

Tang Yibu picked up the iron bead running laboriously at his feet and moved his gaze from the back of Ruan Xian’s neck to the earrings in his left ear. The line between studying precious samples and maintaining self-preservation was extremely ambiguous, but he had to draw it.

When he figured out Ruan Xian’s whereabouts and got the needle, depending on how fast this odd attraction grew, maybe he could back up all the information of “Ruan Lijie’s” cybernetic brain…

Then he would personally stop the other party’s thinking and turn him into the most precious data specimen in the world.

---

The author has something to say:

Tang, your thoughts are super dangerous (……

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 90: Dive In

“Keep up.” Ruan Xian made a split-second decision.

Now it seemed that Ji Xiaoman’s intention was obvious—use them to create enough chaos to force Qian Yigeng to start the Return South Wild Geese program. Once a large number of androids with old-fashioned brains gathered, Qian Yigeng was likely to need the mind access needle. In this chaotic world, he wouldn’t hide it on somebody else.

Then Ji Xiaoman only needed to meet with Qian Yigeng and wait for the opportunity to attack and torture or simply kill him. She only needed to determine the location of the mind access needle, which was enough. They had used her information to wreak havoc and successfully threw Qian Yigeng into a stressful environment, and now she found a great opportunity to break into Qian Yigeng’s headquarters.

In terms of mutual benefits, this was a good cooperation, but it ended here. If Ji Xiaoman were to find and kill Qian Yigeng one step ahead of them, they would lose the source of information that they were about to get.

Fortunately, the other two present were experienced, and no one asked questions. The three of them were just about to bypass the moldy refrigerator and move forward, when an earth-shattering thud came from an old hover bike that had fallen to the ground.

This was then followed by a long, crying “gwah”.

Ruan Xian pinched the center of his eyebrows and retracted the foot that he had just stepped out. Ji Xiaoman and He An had already chased the female android some distance away, leaving only a pile of corpses and Tiantian-Q2, who was still panting on the ground.

“π, don’t make trouble.” Ruan Xian neatly pried open the basket, and the iron bead immediately stopped screaming. It opened its mouth and gobbled up the rest of the parts in the basket, then stretched out its four thin legs and ran around Ruan Xian’s left foot a few times before rubbing his ankle affectionately.

Ruan Xian bent down and picked up the bowling ball-sized mechanical life. He knocked on its cool shell, then touched the corner of his mouth. That inexplicable smile had appeared again—the situation was getting more distorted, but his smile was subconsciously growing.

He crushed two green poisonous snails that were trying to climb onto his trousers, shook the slime off his white coat, and quickly met with Tang Yibu, who was walking behind. Seeing Tang Yibu, the iron bead became excited and leaped towards him like a cannonball, almost choking on the parts in its mouth.

“Wait.” A female voice sounded behind him. “Please wait a minute.”

Tiantian-Q2 didn’t know where she got her strength from. She stubbornly propped herself up on the iron pipe and stood up again. “Can you take me with you?”

“You have limited mobility. Going there is very dangerous for you and will cause us trouble.” Tang Yibu refused matter-of-factly.

“You can leave me at any time, or… You can use me as a hostage.” The girl’s voice trembled a little, but her tone was firm. “For example, if it’s true that I have an old-fashioned cybernetic brain in my head, they wouldn’t just watch me be destroyed, right?”

“What do you want?” Ruan Xian was more direct.

The girl grinned with difficulty, didn’t answer, and had no intention of giving up. Ruan Xian stared into her eyes for a while, then sighed. “Forget it. Yibu, take her.”

Yu Le stood in the back, silently sizing up his new teammate.

“It’s harder to walk here than last time.” When the burly pirate spoke again, his tone had returned to his usual rambling. “I say, what if Qian Yigeng is not here? It can be dangerous to make people figure out the next step.”

“According to my observation, he doesn’t have the courage.” Tang Yibu quickly denied.

“You have only met him once and that counts?”

“Plus Ji Xiaoman’s decision,” Ruan Xian responded casually. Even through the gas mask, the peculiar stench of the junkyard rushed straight to his nose, and he decided to divert his attention. “Although she’s still young, she’s not stupid. He An was right. She looked more like a winning ticket than a desperate one.”

If it weren’t for a Tiantian-Q2 halfway through, the young mechanic might be in a better mood.

Tiantian-Q2 didn’t wear a gas mask anymore. She was easily carried by Tang Yibu; her sense of existence was even less than that of the iron bead who was chewing on Tang Yibu’s shoulder. She didn’t seem trouble by the stench that overflowed the air, but showed some inexplicable sadness.

“I grew up in an orphanage.” She suddenly opened her mouth. “Because of my deformed arms, no one wanted to adopt me.”

Ruan Xian didn’t answer, just glanced at her two arms in good condition. Tiantian-Q2 realized the other party’s gaze and smiled self-deprecatingly.

“As I said, I had a fever for a while, and when I woke up, my arm was healed. At that time, I thought it might be Qian Yigeng’s gang got some special medical equipment or got me micro-plastic surgery. After all, they wanted me to go… Forget it, it doesn’t seem to make sense to lie to myself now.”

She took a breath, as if she was reorganizing her words. Even if the fog was thick, Ruan Xian could see the girl’s unstoppable tears. Her voice was small, and their footsteps were light. It was like a continuation of a certain narrative stage, and the whole space had an unreal sense of floating.

“But I remember it very clearly.”

The girl clenched the iron pipe in her hand and continued to murmur, not caring if anyone was really listening.

“In the summer of a few years ago, two rich people came to the orphanage as guests, and the dean prepared piney raspberries. When I washed the raspberries, I secretly tasted one that was bad. Its taste and touch, the water temperature, the smell of rain in the air, the buzzing cicadas outside… I remember it all.”

The end of the metal tube plunged into thick piles of garbage, and several green poisonous snails climbed onto her calf, but she didn’t pluck them off. She didn’t sob this time, but her tears fell faster.

“If those are all fake, all someone else’s stuff… What the hell am I? I obviously remember it all.”

Seeing that the girl was on the verge of collapse, Yu Le clicked his tongue and waved away the unresponsive Tang Yibu. “I’ll do it. What a cold-hearted guy.”

He politely picked up the girl’s arm and tried to avoid too much physical contact. After hesitating for a few seconds, he took out a piece of candy from his pocket, held it with two fingers, and threw it into the girl’s pocket.

“Boozy chocolate,” he said. “Eat it later when you have time. It’ll make you feel better.”

Tiantian-Q2 still seemed a bit repulsed by male contact, but she smiled with all her might. “Thank you.”

“If ask me, don’t think too much about it. Just have fun until it’s over. Who cares who’s who,” Yu Le said in a hoarse voice. “If you say your name is Bai Tian, then you can be this Bai Tian. Hey, I know it’s useless to say this. This is a hurdle you have to overcome yourself…”

He shrugged. “But you got this far, which is quite amazing, little miss.”

Tiantian-Q2 sniffled and hiccup. She lowered her head and stared at the small new bulge in her pocket, and her eyes became terribly red.

Not long after, the four of them moved to a square iron manhole cover. Ji Xiaoman and He An figure couldn’t be seen, but their footsteps were still echoing not far underground. Ruan Xian gave Tang Yibu a wink, who then set aside the iron bead that was trying to attack the metal pipe, opened the heavy manhole cover, and made a “please” gesture to the other three.

Farther underground.

Qian Yigeng was busy calibrating the cybernetic brain. As soon as the explosion happened, many androids were frightened.

At this moment, the side effects of realistic emotions became apparent—these brains stuffed with human-made things were injected with memories of others, and they firmly believed in their own human identity. Many of them had just been restarted not long ago, and they were still in the stage that needed to be “tamed”.

As soon as Return South Wild Geese started, this part of the goods was the most severely frightened. Even if his subordinates had already bound them in advance, the androids continued to scream and cry, pouring all their vicious words on Qian Yigeng.

Unfortunately, human aesthetics weren’t effective on androids, and it was difficult to stun them. If you wanted to do something too serious, whether you hurt the shell or the inside, it’s your wallet that was unlucky.

Damn it, he must be getting too old. Qian Yigeng bared his teeth.

Right now, there was no place for him to make precise corrections to these cybernetic brains. Qian Yigang had to take out his precious mind access needle and insert it into the back of the merchandise’s head one by one to erase most of the memories in their cybernetic brains. After being reset, the androids would become more honest than frozen rabbits.

When he dealt with the eighth android, Qian Yigeng put the blood-stained needle into the inner pocket of his clothes and wiped the sweat from his forehead. He always felt that something was wrong—Ji Xiaoman was kidnapped, his shops were destroyed, and then he had to use the Return South Wild Geese program…

“Call more people and add more men outside.” He tugged at the bulletproof undergarments, trying to make them tightly wrap around his round belly. “Are my helmet and goggles here? Prepare emergency medication in each room, replace all food with sealed food at the bottom of the warehouse, and water. Do you hear me?”

“But your meal was just…”

“Toss it, find someone to eat it, whatever.” Qian Yigeng waved his hand irritably. “First take these people back to the warehouse and freeze them, then wait for the limelight to pass.”

The subordinate who had just trotted out of the room ran back within a few seconds.

“Boss, He An is here.”

“Call him in! What are you doing, running back? You should be guarding the door and catching mice.” Qian Yigeng quickly put on his bulletproof helmet and adjusted the position of his goggles.

“…Because I caught a big one.” He An entered the door with a smile, carrying a chain in his hand. He wasn’t wearing a gas mask, and his gaze swept across the heavily armed men in front of him. “This is enough for two extensions, isn’t it, Qian Yigeng?”

He tugged on the chain, and Ji Xiaoman, with a gloomy face, was pulled into the door. Her “mother” obediently followed He An, looking a little dazed.

It was conservatively estimated that there were twenty subordinates in Qian Yigeng’s room, all heavily protected, making things a little tricky. Ji Xiaoman tried her best to control the burning anxiety in her heart and tried to look angry.

“My, look who this is.” He An didn’t rush forward. He took a few steps back and greeted the men who were armed to the teeth to come forward. “Finally remember to come back?”

“You have a stranglehold on my mother’s memories. I don’t seem to have many choices.” Ji Xiaoman pulled the chain irritably. “I escaped, okay? Qian Yigeng, do you really need to do this?”

“To be safe,” He An replied for Qian Yigeng. “How’s it going, boss?”

“Very good, very good.” Qian Yigeng didn’t have much of a smile in his voice. “What a coincidence at such a time. You came back as soon as something happened to me that I thought something was wrong.”

The fat man’s voice was cold and sticky, as suspicious as ever, but this time, there was something Ji Xiaoman didn’t like very much—when facing her, Qian Yigeng had a disgusting aura of confidence.

“I don’t care what plans you have with this little girl, and I don’t want to care.” He An’s dragged his voice. “Surname Qian, this should be considered good for my reward.”

“We’ll talk about this later.” Qian Yigeng glanced at the android standing to the side. “Xiaoman…”

‘Here,’ Ji Xiaoman thought to herself.

She lowered her head and quietly looked at the positions of the subordinates around the room, then poked her back with her hands, trying to use the pain to wake herself up.

It was time for her to break free from the tight chains, cut a few blood vessels with her sharp fingertips, and kill all the way until she reached Qian Yigeng. But a new flame was constantly cauterizing her internal organs, and her feet seemed to be stepping on needles made of ice. Intuition drew the deeper darkness closer, and she couldn’t muster the courage to stay away.

Ji Xiaoman didn’t move. She extended her acting time but considering the despair and panic at this moment were real, she wasn’t sure if she was truly acting.

“Am I one of your ‘commodities’?” Her throat seemed as if it had swallowed sandpaper. “…Who the hell is Ji Xiaoman?”

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Kinky Thoughts:

Oh okay, so the mind access needle is literally a needle that you just poke into machines to reset them. LMAO, but I guess this makes sense.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 89: TCR-mother05

Tiantian-Q2’s stumbled as she walked. She was running faster, but not conspicuously enough to stand out in the crowded streets. The curfew was over, and there were quite a few people running hurriedly on the streets. Almost everyone wore all kinds of gas masks, and occasionally there were a few who didn’t wear them—An elderly man was huddled in an alley; his face was as pale as a corpse. The loud and difficult gasping sounds were like bellows piercing through the poisonous mist and into one’s eardrums.

The thin Tiantian-Q2 clutched her mask tightly and whimpered through the crowd. Not many people bothered to pay attention to her, and helpless sobs on the streets weren’t uncommon. If she laughed at this moment, it would be more noticeable.

With the tracking device in his hand, Ruan Xian deliberately distanced himself to ensure that people wouldn’t associate him with the running girl. Tiantian-Q2 ran straight to the junkyard where Qian Yigeng’s headquarters was located. When she reached a relatively sparsely populated area, she didn’t even dare to make sobbing sounds anymore.

There was more than one person running towards the junkyard. Many beautiful men and women, wrapped in faded coats, moved stiffly towards it, like a group of marionettes. Coupled with the rotting and smelly garbage, Tiantian-Q2 couldn’t help shaking again.

But her legs kept dragging her forward.

“The little girl is quite strong.” Yu Le, who arrived at the edge of the junkyard, sighed, “Laozi is sweating. This is just heinous.”

“There are fewer old-fashioned cybernetic brains than I thought.” Ruan Xian hid behind the wreckage of a refrigerator that had mold gushing out of the freezer as he stared at the zombie-like figures without blinking. They ignored the cybernetic brains that weren’t activated, but before detonating the bombs in the basement, he and Tang Yibu had created enough chaos to give the androids on the ground time to escape.

Counting the numbers, there must have been hundreds of people who fled, but the number of people currently drilling into the junkyard was less than 20.

“Judging from the distance of influence of Return South Wild Geese, there should be others on the way. This is the nearest batch.” Tang Yibu poked at the yellow gushing mold. “Calculating the time, Ji Xiaoman is almost…”

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by a slight engine sound. Ji Xiaoman rushed into the junkyard on a dilapidated floating hover bike, especially conspicuous among the unnatural people. Her android mother was quietly tied by a safety belt. Seeing Ji Xiaoman’s speed slowing down, her struggling movements became more obvious. Her entire body was stretched towards the center of the junkyard.

“Hold on a little longer, Mom.” Ji Xiaoman stepped off the motorcycle and raised her gun.

Almost at the same time, Ruan Xian turned his gaze in the same direction—seven or eight men in black jackets rushed out of the depths of the fog, each with a gun in their hand.

“Get out of the way.” In a rare instant, Ji Xiaoman raised her voice. “I want to see Qian Yigeng.”

“I have been looking for you for some days.” A familiar voice came from behind the mask of the leading man. The man sighed and took off his mask. “As your supervisor, I have suffered a lot.”

“It’s very simple. I was kidnapped, and now I managed to escape because of my mother.” Ji Xiaoman straightened her waist and barely shielded her mother, who was trying to move towards the center. “Qian Yigeng started the Return South Wild Geese. I have no other choice. Let me say it again, get out of the way, He An.”

He An simply smiled. He made a gesture, and the men behind him instantly aimed at Ji Xiaoman with their guns. Ji Xiaoman didn’t intend to shirk in the slightest, even if those guns were enough to turn her into a sieve.

“It stands to reason that the emergency passage doesn’t allow humans to enter. No, he asked us to come out and watch to see if there were any unseen followers that gathered.” He An himself raised his gun. “…In short, it’s all a mess now. Do understand. Now put the gun down. Don’t make the friends behind me too nervous.”

He An had golden eyes that were extremely similar to Tang Yibu. Ruan Xian held his breath and observed carefully for a while but failed to find the same strange beauty in those eyes. However, he hadn’t looked at it for long when a hand stuck to his face and slowly forcefully pushed his face in the direction of Ji Xiaoman—Ruan Xian slanted his gaze and saw Tang Yibu looking serious, as if that hand didn’t belong to him.

Ji Xiaoman didn’t say a word, and slowly put away the gun. Ruan Xian could perceive the opponent’s subtle movements—Ji Xiaoman was secretly adjusting her center of gravity and bowed slightly to He An, showing a calm expression unique to hunters.

“I think Qian Yigeng will be very happy to hear what you have to say. Your mother’s memory refresh deadline hasn’t arrived yet, right? What are you panicking about?”

He An seemed to know nothing about the coming danger as he continued.

“Oh, in this situation, I suppose the mind access needle will come out again. Trust me, you’ll have to set aside a portion of your time budget to allow Qian Yigeng a whole hour of bragging on how he got the needle from Ruan Xian.”

Behind the android, several men in stormtroopers had already shown a little tired posture.

“One last time. Get out of the way, He An.” Ji Xiaoman obviously had no plans to talk.

“You really don’t know how to give up.” He An shook his head. “Do you really believe you can get that needle and then crack Qian Yigeng’s—”

“I can.” Ji Xiaoman sounded quite determined and had some anger in her tone. “It’s you who just quit your job as a City Defender and directly became Qian Yigeng’s dog…”

She didn’t have time to finish.

He An fired, but not in front of him. The android twisted his body to a level that was impossible for humans to do. A series of gunshots ran out and all the others who were behind him fell down as red blood slowly seeped from the gaps in their bodies. The one with the fastest response only fired two shots, but none hit He An.

He An had shot everyone squarely in the throat, leaving a large gaping hole behind.

In the gap between their conversations, most of the androids that came disappeared into the thick mist. The area was full of mechanical garbage that made it look like an isolated stage with only two people left. Tiantian-Q2 was hit in the thigh by a stray bullet, and the severe pain and blood loss slowed her movements. Her breathing became extraordinarily difficult, so she took off her sultry gas mask and gasped for breath.

A dozen steps away, Ji Xiaoman reacted quickly. She didn’t ask much, nor did she hesitate. Like everyone who had lived in this chaotic Underground City for a long time—Before He An had adjusted his posture, she attacked him without saying a word.

He An didn’t dodge. He let Ji Xiaoman’s fingertips pass through his shoulder. Blood quickly soaked his coat, and the color became pitch black against the fog.

“It’s more convincing to have some color.” He took advantage of the situation to grab Ji Xiaoman’s wrist. “How about cooperating? I’ll help you get rid of Qian Yigeng, and you can help me get rid of the thing in my head.”

“What an appropriate time to cooperate, City Defender.” Ji Xiaoman quickly withdrew her hand, too lazy to hide the sarcasm in her voice. “If you were willing to bring it up even a month or two earlier, I would have thought about it.”

“You can’t say that. Who can guarantee that you’re telling the truth? As the saying goes, don’t lose the falcon until you see the hare*. If you don’t have the ability, would I lose out?”

*(不见兔子不撒鹰) Idiom referring to if there’s no clear goal, you will not take practical action.

The smile on He An’s face was motionless, as if there was no pain near his wound.

“I need to see a real guarantee that ‘the brain device can be removed’—for example, daring to take your mother to the door in person, yet not looking desperate. Is it more useful to deliver charcoal in the snow*, or are you willing to take a greater risk just to get out?”

*(雪中送炭) Idiom referring to giving people material or spiritual help in times of difficulty or crisis. || What he’s saying here is that she’s coming to help Qian Yigeng (deliver charcoal) or fight against him (taking a bigger risk).

He didn’t even look at Tiantian-Q2 who was trying to suppress a groan not far away. He pointed to the female android who was struggling behind Ji Xiaoman with his chin and raised his hands with confidence.

He An’s deduction was indeed correct. It was impossible for her to gamble with her mother’s safety. Ji Xiaoman’s expression became gloomy.

“All right, little girl.” He An shrugged and simply bandaged the wound that was still bleeding. “My things are still in your hands, so surely you can trust me that much?”

Hearing this, Ji Xiaoman’s expression twisted strangely. She was stunned for a few seconds, and finally let out a long breath. “…I see. Take me to see Qian Yigeng. Mom, don’t move, come with me… Mom?!”

The female android finally broke free from her restraints. She changed direction and walked slowly but firmly down the other path. Tiantian-Q2, who hadn’t had time to put on her mask, gulped and moved to the far side with strong support.

“Nursing model TCR-mother05. Target age confirmed, gender confirmed, appearance confirmed. Visual fingertip command restarted. Open secondary permission.” The expression of the female android changed convulsively for a few seconds, finally resting on an extraordinary gentle smile. “…Xiaoman, why did you run out?”

She stretched out her hand to Tiantian-Q2, who was paralyzed on the ground. The latter shook her head with difficulty, with a confused expression on his face.

“A leg wound? How naughty. Come back with me—go back. There’s still memory therapy to be done on Sunday.” The female android had become relatively fluent in communication, and the expression on her face had become gentler. It was a pity that with the junkyard full of corpses lying in the poisonous fog as the background, this only made the scene bizarre.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” Tiantian-Q2’s voice became sharp. She squeezed the gun in her pocket tightly, waved her head helplessly, and finally determined her target to ask for help—she reached out her hand to Ji Xiaoman, the only suspected human present and also related to this woman. “This this—Is this your android? There seems to be something wrong with her!”

But Ji Xiaoman didn’t look much calmer than her. The young female mechanic held her breath with a blank expression.

He An raised his brows and let out a slight sigh. “No wonder Qian Yigeng never puts them in the same shop.”

“Xiaoman, come home with me.” The female android still maintained her body and hand posture, but her expression became sterner. “You have shed too much blood. You have to go home and take your medication… Ji Xiaoman, do you hear me?”

“I’m not Ji Xiaoman!” Tiantian-Q2 grabbed an iron pipe for support and finally stood up, shivering. “My name is Bai Tian. I don’t know anyone named Ji Xiaoman. You have the wrong person. You…”

“I won’t mistake your face, child.” The female android was unrelenting. “Be obedient. Don’t let your parents worry. Put down that dirty stick. Otherwise, I can only execute… Only…. Only…”

Her expression became wooden again. Return South Wild Geese’s priority was obviously higher than the thought program she planned to run. The female android stood up again and headed towards the center of the junkyard, while Tiantian-Q2 gritted her teeth and looked as if she was still trying to restrain her uncontrolled legs.

Ji Xiaoman was silent for a long time.

Finally, seeing that the familiar figure of her “mother” was about to disappear into the fog, Ji Xiaoman stepped forward quickly and took out the syringe from her backpack. She injected a little potion into Tiantian-Q2, who was trying to resist the procedure, causing the latter to slide softly along the steel pipe to the ground, gasping for breath.

“You… What did you do?” Tiantian-Q2 asked with difficulty, touching the hidden gun in her hand again.

“A little special paralyzing agent for the cybernetic brain. Don’t worry, your limbs still have the ability to move, but your legs can’t hold your weight anymore.” Ji Xiaoman spoke extremely quickly with a pale face. “Anyways, in short, go find a place to hide and wait for me to finish things… I have something to ask you.”

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 88: End

He An irritably pinched lit the cigarette in his mouth.

The residence of the City Defenders was outside the entrance of midtown. There were just 60 square meters in total. It looked no different from other buildings on the outside; the gray cement walls still had fine holes left by air bubbles. The interior was very similar to the scene before the end of the world. If the curtains were drawn, some people would believe that this was a normal era residence.

A glass table was wiped clean, and there were fake flowers in a vase sitting atop of it. Fu Yu opened the freezer, took out a pile of raw meat, and put it in a large bowl. A somewhat gray flour mixture was quietly fermenting, and the air had a bit of sourness unique to raw dough. The garlic had been crushed into puree and the cut wild vegetables had an inspiring bright green color.

“Let’s have meat pies tonight.” Fu Yu didn’t take off his apron and wiped his hands on a towel. “…Don’t smoke inside. The air filter is a pain to fix.”

“You have to wear a gas mask outside, so I can only go to that old coot, Qian Yigeng’s to smoke.” He An extinguished the cigarette that had just been lighted and he briskly spoke. “Put more pepper in the meat pie, thanks, honey.”

“…Don’t make such jokes.” Fu Yu frowned; his expression serious. “Has the organization against Qian Yigeng been found?”

“I went to all three layers of town for four or five laps. It’s been a few days and there’s still no news. They seem to have emerged out of thin air.” He An stretched. “But it’s also very interesting. I suspect that Ji Xiaoman wasn’t simply kidnapped.”

Fu Yu paused for a moment as he grinded pepper. “What makes you say that?”

“If another major power did it, there would always be buzz in the market.”

He An sniffed the pepper with satisfaction.

“Ji Xiaoman isn’t Qian Yigeng’s daughter after all, so kidnapping her is useless. It’s also unreasonable to target technical talents when there’s no news of any new products, and it’s not like Ji Xiaoman has deep feelings for Qian Yigeng. Her mother is also in his hands, so it’s impossible not to cooperate. The people we have inserted on Chang Yaqi’s side said they didn’t know anything about it. Qian Yigeng is more anxious than us right now, so his tentacles are far more reaching than us.”

“Hmm.” Fu Yu continued to grind pepper. “Qian Yigeng urged me again yesterday. It seems he hasn’t gotten any news either.”

“Intuitively, I’m guessing Ji Xiaoman is throwing smoke bombs.” He An sat down on the sofa and crossed his legs. “She may be the leader and want to do something in the name of this non-existent organization. Qian Yigeng’s most treasured store was bombed, and it wasn’t at the hands of some major power, so other possibilities are quite small.”

“I also have this thought. By the way, there’s mint tea in the fridge.” Fu Yu stretched his shoulders. “Let’s put this matter aside for now. No need to go deeper. The other party has moved from uptown back to lower town. Seeing that they don’t plan to make a big noise, it won’t attract the attention of the Order Supervisors.”

Fu Yu put the crushed pepper next to the minced garlic. “After all, we are not Qian Yigeng’s bodyguards. Recently, there was a problem with the drug market in midtown, and they just called for reinforcements. We can go together.”

He An didn’t answer.

“…Qian Yigeng gave you a hard time?” Fu Yu turned his head. “Your face is a bit bad.”

“No, no, it’s just that I still have something waiting for Ji Xiaoman to repair.” He An bent the corner of his mouth. “Now that she can’t be found, I’m afraid it’ll be lost.”

“Oh, I remember you mentioned it.” Fu Yu’s attention was taken away. “Seriously, what do you have to fix? The broken watch at home has been repaired.”

“A little personal belonging.” He An suddenly found this statement a bit funny, and he laughed. “My little secret video diary.”

Ruan Xian didn’t return to the off-roader for three consecutive days.

Counting the time, the time limit for Ji Xiaoman’s mother was coming up. No matter what the young mechanic planned, she would not be silent to the end. The armored off-roader and the iron bead were still in Ji Xiaoman’s hands while the destruction continued. She wouldn’t think that they would just leave without saying goodbye.

Tiantian-Q2, who called herself “Bai Tian”, came to the ruins every day to pick up supplies. She ate like a little cat, but her bullets were slightly consumed. Ruan Xian was sure that he smelled the unique smell of gunpowder on her. Since discovering her memory problem, she had lost more of her communication ability—in fact, they didn’t know what the little girl was thinking about right now.

Blood-red smiley faces ignited in the sky for three consecutive nights, and a strange excitement was spreading among the muddled crowd. There were obviously not many new things in this steel corpse-like city. Many people would violate the curfew and run out to see those red lights, as if they were some kind of holiday fireworks.

Ruan Xian knew that Qian Yigeng had given them the ornamental name “Red Ghost”, and he also knew that the overly cautious fat man was becoming more and more anxious. Everything was developing as they expected, accompanied by good and bad news.

The good news was that the Order Supervisors gave the Underground City a broader environment. In other words, they didn’t care too much about the people who lived in the poisonous fog of lower city. The bad news was that Tang Yibu was in a visibly bad mood.

Since issuing the creepy warning, the time the android spent with him had greatly increased. Ruan Xian could feel the spider-like soft and sticky gaze. It was like Tang Yibu was looking at him like a hungry child eyeing the remaining strawberry on a cake.

But as time passed, the gaze gradually changed in flavor.

Now the android looked like a wolf that had been raised on processed food and was seeing flesh for the first time. The curiosity, confusion, caution, and subtle longing from the other party’s sight were twisted into a ball, stabbing him like needles.

Ruan Xian sighed against Tang Yibu’s gaze and carefully adjusted the parts of his blood gun.

Yu Le, on the other hand, rarely joined their conversation. The former pirate leader either clutched his previous wine bottle and gawked at the air or got some food from elsewhere and gave some of it to the little girl in the ruins. Most of the time outside of curfew, he would sit on the wall of a certain street with a gas mask on, observing people coming and going.

For example, like now.

Both of them looked melancholy. Ruan Xian shook his head and stuffed the blood gun back into the holster under his armpit.

They were staying in an abandoned house not far from Tiantian-Q2. The place was full of dust and rotting plants, and there were still smelly puddles on the floor, which wasn’t suitable for temporary residence, but when most of the ruins were littered with stinking human corpses, options were often limited.

Seeing that Ruan Xian finished the work in his hand, Tang Yibu moved his position and sat down on a barely clean plastic cabinet. The lights on the street passed through the gaps in the ruins, revealing a bright orange-yellow line with a halo around it. Ruan Xian admired the beautiful scene calmly for a moment, trying to suppress the mixed emotions in his heart.

Tang Yibu wasn’t the only one who was affected by those words.

As soon as the other party spoke, Ruan Xian immediately sobered up. Those indistinct emotions were gone, and he caught them smoothly. Tang Yibu was undoubtedly one of the most attractive creatures he had ever seen in his life. Although he could always feel the inhumanness in the android gestures, when the other party didn’t bare their fangs, he would still be confused by that appearance and subconsciously treat the other as a human with more flair.

Now he would no longer have that illusion.

Being understood and affirmed, the vortex-like attraction made him eager to capture the other side and keep the android by his side. And that danger made him subconsciously want to destroy Tang Yibu; to make a move before the other side unleashed their true killing intent. Finally, and also the most novel—he liked the temperature, excitement, and desire that the other side brought.

The dance in the Sea of Ruins had long been over, but Ruan Xian always felt that they were still continuing that terrible dance in a murderous atmosphere.

Ruan Xian didn’t avoid Tang Yibu’s gaze but stared at those eyes and smiled generously.

There was only one question left.

With Tang Yibu’s warning, he used the understanding of a “test” to cover up the past, but if that statement was true, then the android was really willing to give up a little bit of his origin, which meant he was related to his creator…

In addition to the designers on the hardware, counting the testing and underlying architectural logic of NUL-00, there were a total of about five or six people who knew. These people weren’t only at the top of the pyramid in China but were highly ranked throughout the world. In the past ten years, including Fan Linsong, it was theoretically possible for them to develop their own AI projects.

He should have concealed the characteristics related to the identity of “Ruan Xian”. If Tang Yibu was really related to the research institute, in terms of knowledge reserves, it was reasonable for the other party to figure out his possible identity. But no matter what the real situation was, it was always right to be more cautious regarding his identity…

“Don’t smile.” Tang Yibu held jujube-flavored hardtacks in both hands, sounding a little sullen.

“What?” Ruan Xian casually turned the blood gun in his hand. “I thought you wanted to see it.”

“If you smile again, I might want to kiss you.” Without Yu Le on the sidelines, Tang Yibu seemed to be seriously distressed. “Can you wait for me to analyze it clearly before you smile?”

Ruan Xian’s smile became bigger. He clenched the handle of the gun and took a few steps forward. The muzzle of the gun rubbed against the other party’s ribs intentionally as he quickly kissed the corner of the other person’s lips.

“Continue to analyze.” He was happy to increase the difficulty of the android’s emotional observation.

“Oh.” A voice sounded at the door. “It’s daytime right now, so it’s best if you two restrain yourselves.”

Yu Le wrapped a bottle of wine with a nylon strap to protect it. There wasn’t much joking in his face. “Come out and have a look. That girl’s condition isn’t right.”

Ruan Xian neatly inserted the gun into the holster and followed Yu Le out the door…

“Help me.” Behind the gas mask, Tiantian-Q2’s voice was a little mute and full of fear. She rarely stood outside the gap between the ruins, and her body was twitching unnaturally. “…Help me. I can’t control it…”

The gun was hidden in her loose clothes and could barely be seen. Her arms seemed to be free and were trying to grab something by her side, but her legs and feet seemed to have their own consciousness, pulling her in a certain direction. The girl struggled to hold on to the bare steel around her, trying to stop her body, but another dominant force was apparently stronger—the end of the steel left a deep, bloody gash in her hand, and she finally couldn’t hold on to it any longer.

“Return South Wild Geese.” Tang Yibu touched the corners of his lips and lowered his voice. “Qian Yigeng activated it.”

“What’s wrong with me?” Tiantian-Q2’s was harsh. She was walking towards the crowded street. “What’s wrong with me?!”

“Can you stop it?” Yu Le was obviously uncomfortable with the scene he was seeing.

“It’s basically impossible. Unless the cybernetic brain is removed from the body.” Tang Yibu shook his head. “If you use a program to forcibly suspend it, not to mention whether it can be done… The operation takes time. If you chase her to modify the program, everyone outside will know that she’s an android with an old-fashioned cybernetic brain, and they’ll rip her apart.”

Yu Le tsked. “So that monster specially chose daytime…”

“There are many people during the day. Even if the androids are recalled, they won’t be stupid enough to ask for help at will. Being recalled still means they have a ‘way to live’ and being discovered by someone basically means death.”

While they were talking, Tiantian-Q2 was already slowly moving forward. As Tang Yibu speculated, she didn’t dare ask for help loudly and instead pressed on her gas mask tightly, trying to suppress her sobbing.

Ruan Xian made a quick decision and directly summoned a small light screen for tracking. “I activated the tracking device. Let’s followed.”

“What about Ji Xiaoman?”

“I guess this is the effect she wants.” Ruan Xian smiled dryly. “If nothing else, we’ll see her.”

The red dot that symbolized Tiantian-Q2, moved at a steady pace and was heading in the direction they were familiar with. In the most chaotic area of lower city, Ji Xiaoman strapped on the last two seat belts for her mother, and then stepped onto the front seat of the floating motorcycle. The iron bead was nestled in the front basket, enduring the bumps as it ate parts.

Before speeding up, Ji Xiaoman took a few deep breaths, and with one free hand, touched the ceramic dagger hidden in her waist as well as the improved bionic paralyzing agent.

“Let’s end this.” She gave a wry smile.

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Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 87: Real Name

A somewhat large gas mask hung on the little girl’s chest, and her small face was covered with dirt mixed with sweat and soot. She was looking at them carefully from the crevices of the damaged ruins—mainly staring at the hardtack that Ruan Xian had crumbled most of.

Tang Yibu released Ruan Xian’s waist. Ruan Xian had never felt the two facts so vividly. First, the beast in front of him could never be tamed. Second, he seemed to become accustomed to this kind of murderous intent.

Realizing that Yu Le was still watching, he took advantage of the situation and pinched the tip of Tang Yibu’s nose, making his movements look intimate.

“Most people will try to express good feelings and hide malice. It’s rare for you to do the opposite.”

Tang Yibu wrinkled his nose and didn’t answer, just showing a slightly sweet smile.

“It’s not that easy to set me up, baby. I don’t even know your origin, so how can I know who you’re familiar with?” Ruan Xian made his tone sound relaxed and determined while his back was soaked in cold sweat. He didn’t look at Tang Yibu’s expression anymore, but instead stretched out his hand to the little girl and gave her some hardtacks that had been crumbled to small pieces.

Tiantian grabbed it and stuffed it directly into her mouth with her dirty hands. She choked on the pieces and coughed. Yu Le finally put away his awl-like gaze. He scratched his hair irritably, pulled back the little girl who was rushing towards the dirty puddle, and slapped the hardtack crumbs out of her hands.

“Wipe your hands first.” He pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket, removed the water cup from his belt, and poured a glass of water. “Don’t drink from the ground; it’s too dirty.”

At the first sight of the ruthless-looking Yu Le, Tiantian couldn’t stop shivering. Although her eyes were grateful, fear still prevailed, and she almost couldn’t hold the water cup due to her tremors.

“What a sin.” Yu Le didn’t ask much, and took a step back thoughtfully, smacking his tongue for a while.

With clean water, the little girl broke off pieces of the hardtack and stuffed them into her mouth. Then she began to pick up the pieces that had fallen and were mixed with dirt on the ground. She carefully picked out the hardtacks, wrapped them in a handkerchief solemnly, and then stood up tremblingly.

“…Thank you.” She stuck back into the gap between the ruins. The bruise on her face hadn’t disappeared, and her whole body was like a frightened rabbit. “How did you know I was here?”

“As soon as something goes wrong in that peacock’s shop, Qian Yigeng will definitely have eyes on you. If I were you, I wouldn’t run around. Instead, I would stay in the ruins to observe the situation. It’s not too late to come out after the limelight has passed.” Ruan Xian took out a pack of hardtack from her pocket. “And I have seen it briefly. This is one of the few places near the ruins where water can be obtained, and it’s the most hidden one.”

In addition, he also smelled his own smell nearby—she would not easily discard the gas mask that he gave away, which has now become equivalent to a physical locator.

It was just that this reason wasn’t suitable to be disclosed. The reason he gave should be sufficient for the little girl and Yu Le.

“I see.” Despite being saved, Tiantian’s eyes remained vigilant. “Thank you for your help. I…I’ll go first.”

“Wait.”

The little girl’s back stiffened, and her whole body tightened.

“Old-fashioned cybernetic brain, right?” Tang Yibu happily pointed out the facts as he pointed to his golden eyes. “We didn’t come here to smash your head off, right Mr. Ruan?”

Tiantian’s face turned a little blue.

“Old-fashioned cybernetic brain… Impossible.” She clasped her hands unconsciously. “My name is Bai Tian. Those people caught me for two weeks. They…They treated me…”

Her eyes were blank for a while, and she changed the subject as she lowered her voice. “In short, I remember a lot of things before the end of the world. I was seriously injured when I first fell, and the scar on my face was still there. I can’t be an android…”

“Do you remember the current year?” Tang Yibu’s tone became gentle.

“One year or two years after 2100, right? I… I don’t remember very clearly. I was burned badly for a while.”

“It’s 2107. I’m sorry, Miss Bai Tian.” Tang Yibu shook his head. “It seems to be an old-fashioned cybernetic brain, Mr. Ruan. She doesn’t seem to remember much useful information.”

The little girl took a step back. She didn’t seem to be too shocked, but there was a sad paranoia in her eyes.

“We’re willing to provide food and water and will not touch you. You can take the supplies and hide them wherever you want. I can even give you a gun.” Ruan Xian stretched out a hand, gesturing for a handshake. “In return, the cooperation is simple. You just need to bring this with you.”

He pulled out a communicator from his pocket. The communicator was as big as half a coin, and the thickness was about three sheets of paper. He tore off the viscose behind the communicator, raised it with his fingertips, and made a “please” gesture to the female android.

“Tracking, huh?” Yu Le raised his eyebrows. “You deliberately brought us here just to put a tracker on a little girl? Seriously, this girl is scared. We can take her to Ji Xiaoman…”

“Ji Xiaoman doesn’t need to know about this.” Ruan Xian put all the remaining food in the bag in front of him, still holding the communicator that had tracking on it. “We also have to have our own little secrets.”

Tiantian, or rather Bai Tian, swallowed a few mouthfuls of saliva to the food on the ground. After about half a minute, she took a deep breath and stuck the small communicator behind her ear. The girl was still shaking, and she was quiet for some time.

“First, give me a gun.” She stretched out a thin hand.

She held the weapon tightly in her arms after getting it. The android who was loaded with the memory of “Bai Tian” didn’t ask for their purpose, nor did she collapse or cry. She just wrapped the food in the plastic cloth she had pulled out from somewhere and dug back into the gap between the ruins.

“Thank you.” Putting her face close to the gap, Bai Tian’s expression was a bit dazed. “Just throw things in from here. I’ll get them myself… You will come again, right?”

Meanwhile, in the modified truck, Ji Xiaoman was looking at the iron bead solemnly. Her mother had finished eating and was taking a nap with the unfinished knitted fabric in her hand.

She was finishing the final part of Ruan Xian’s medicine and filling up a syringe. The iron bead bypassed her feet rather unkindly and quietly rolled towards the densest area of parts. Unfortunately, before the iron bead could enact even half of its sneaky plan, it was stepped on by Ji Xiaoman.

It rolled over and nibbled on Ji Xiaoman’s shoe while making a threatening whimper.

Ji Xiaoman sighed, picked up a scrap part from the table, and threw it into the air. The iron bead instantly loosened its bite on her shoe and caught the part steadily. It clicked and chewed off the metal parts with satisfaction, rolled lazily on the ground, and then stopped again at Ji Xiaoman’s feet with its three small eyes gleaming.

Ji Xiaoman hesitated for a few seconds, then picked out a few badly worn screws. This time she pinched them with her metal hands, squatted down, and sprinkled the screws on the floor in front of the iron bead. The iron bead lowered its head and ate very happily. Ji Xiaoman gently touched the metal shell of the iron bead with her metal fingertips and her eyes softened.

“Good boy,” she whispered.

Then Ji Xiaoman seemed to think of something, and her eyes dimmed. She scratched the shell of the iron bead with her sharp fingers again, and then slowly retracted her hand.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured again. “If something happens to them, I won’t throw you away.”

The young mechanic stood up, pulled the blanket over the bed, and gently covered her mother. She kissed her mother’s forehead and carefully pushed back a few strands of loose hair with her fingers.

“Mom, I love you.” Ji Xiaoman sighed cautiously.

There wasn’t much time left before the reset, and she knew it well. She believed Qian Yigeng knew better than her. These strange outsiders were more capable than she thought, but they were strangers after all. Putting your hopes in people who you didn’t know would be a great folly, and everyone in the Underground City knew this.

Relying on the information she had obtained, if the three of them did enough damage, and enough androids that were equipped with the old-fashioned cybernetic brains had escaped, as long as they persisted for a while, based on Qian Yigeng’s temperament, that bastard would definitely activate the “Return South Wild Geese” and forcibly recall all androids equipped with an old-fashioned cybernetic brain.

If her deduction was correct, He An would definitely pressure Qian Yigeng’s stores to ensure that people don’t get carried away by the benefits and smash open the brains of those androids.

Yes, it was just a matter of time.

If she hit the jackpot and was able to find a few experts, then she could really obtain the mind access needle as promised. If the other party failed, she also had the opportunity that wasn’t considered a chance—in addition to giving in to Qian Yigeng, she could take advantage of the opportunity to propose a plan to “create reproductions that confuse thieves based on pictures”, so as to gain access to the information about the mind access needle.

She didn’t think the combat power of these outsiders should be underestimated, as they had provided her with a new path.

As long as she succeeded in entering Qian Yigeng’s headquarters with her mother, faced with such a large number of old-fashioned cybernetic brain androids, Qian Yigeng must use the mind access needle to process their memories in batches, so as not to damage these precious resources.

In extraordinary times, the overly cautious Qian Yigeng would assuredly keep the mind access needle on him. She could use this opportunity under the guise of providing enemy information to kill Qian Yigeng and steal the needle.

She didn’t really need to rely on anyone.

After that, whether the three men succeeded or not had nothing to do with her. As long as the car was repaired, then the agreement would be fulfilled, and thus her obligation as a mechanic.

It was just…

Ji Xiaoman glanced at the iron bead burping at her feet and bit her lip.

Perhaps she still hoped that they would succeed—the people who wanted their cars fixed would get their wish, Qian Yigeng would be overthrown, and the nearby area would be able to achieve temporary peace. Even if she knew full well that the people of the Underground wouldn’t really give up the sex market, right now there were bad precedents, while the latecomers would be relatively restrained.

And she herself could not only remove the deadly time bomb in her mother’s brain, but she could also use the mind access needle to find damaged areas within the brain and make real repairs. She would have a real mother. The repaired old-fashioned cybernetic brain was bound to be equipped with rich feelings and a stable personality. Her mother would no longer talk nonsense, have a stiff smile, and call her by some unknown name.

This was the most important part; the heaviest bargaining stake, and she would not stupidly expose it to those three people.

Then they would have a real home, just like two ordinary humans. Her mother—whether she was willing to recognize this bizarre mother-daughter relationship or not—would be able to call her by her real name.

Instead of repeating “Ji Xiaoman” hundreds of times like before, as that was the only name stuck in that female android’s head, perhaps in a week or two, she could be touched by the person that was in front of her and call her “Bai Tian”.

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Kinky Thoughts:

What, what, what?

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