Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 186: No solution

NUL-00 did have a record of emotional overload.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[I want to eat a hotdog.]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

However, the accident still came.

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

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

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

[No.] Ruan Xian said.

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

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

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

[I mean in regard to its emotions.]

[It has no emotions.]

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

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

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

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

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

[Father :D]

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

[I know :D]

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

NUL-00 did not respond.

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

Ruan Xian continued coldly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

At that moment, Ruan Xian was extremely conflicted.

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

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

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

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

[……Forget it.] Ruan Xian sighed.

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

[Nn.]

[Give me a definite answer.]

[I will do it.]

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

[Can you stop dying?] It asked suddenly.

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

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

[Can’t.]

[Can you stop dying?]

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

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

[Can you stop dying?]

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

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

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

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

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

[;(]

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

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

They stared at each other in the dimly lit room.

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

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

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

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

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

“What are you smiling at?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ruan Xian was a little surprised.

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

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

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

Just like instinct.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“But……”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

They both couldn’t go back.

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

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

The android’s voice was frighteningly low.

“…I think I love you, Mr. Ruan.”

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The author has something to say:

Tang’s coconut: Fragmented thinking and speaking (x

Ruan used to be a strict father √

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Kinky Thoughts:

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

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 185: Useless Body

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

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

Then there was the faint smell of human body odor.

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

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

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

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

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

He had one more question to ask later.

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

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

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

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

“What about food?” Professor Ruan asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

As he spoke, he squeezed the empty water bottle.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then the android glanced at Ruan Xian meaningfully.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“…Right.”

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

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

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

“You can accept it?”

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

Otherwise, no one could accept reality.

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

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

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

“Why is it different?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But was the transfer really just a transfer?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The helplessness in Professor Ruan’s tone became heavier.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tang Yibu slowly put away his harmless smile.

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

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

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

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

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

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

---

The author has something to say:

The abandoned iron bead: ……

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 184: The Walking Dead

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

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

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

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

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

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

But they lost.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Nn,” the Mainbrain responded.

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

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

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

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

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

“Yes.”

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

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

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

“Understood.” Zhuo Muran lowered his head slightly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Very beautiful women.

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

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

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

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

The Mainbrain’s city, late at night.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Got it, uncle,” Zhong Qing muttered.

The blood vessels in Yu Le’s neck bulged.

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

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

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

Tang Yibu turned his head to look at Ruan Xian.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The next moment, his heartbeat almost stopped.

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

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

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

…That was his mother.

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

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 183: Remnant

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zhong Qing wasn’t as calm as he looked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I’m not lying either.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ji Xiaoman’s head dropped by another half centimeter.

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

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

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

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

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

Ruan Xian’s chest suddenly became a little stuffy.

“…Full body intervention?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“…Alright.” Zhong Qing rolled his eyes.

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

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 182: The Real Ghost

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then he stared at Ruan Xian with burning eyes.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Oh…” Ruan Xian said meaningfully.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And this made him feel more frustrated.

…Now this abnormal love was making him weak.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Reason?” Ruan Xian frowned.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“……”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He raised two excessively thin hands.

“I’m already dead,” he said.

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 181: Subject

Tang Yibu fell into a brief state of confusion.

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

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

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

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

He wasn’t happy.

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

Then he became interested in this person.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why don’t you agree with me, father?

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

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

He just needed a ten-minute nap.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tang Yibu raised his eyebrows.

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

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

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

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

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

“But…”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The feeling of being choked by something became more obvious.

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

“Gwah?” The iron bead barked sleepily.

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

“Plan,” Ruan Xian repeated.

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

“What if I think it isn’t bad?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“What the hell?!” Yu Le sighed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tang Yibu reacted quickly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Why?”

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

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

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

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

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

Yu Le: “…They don’t know you…”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Oh,” Yu Le responded dryly.

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

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

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

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

He lowered his shoulders, a little aggrieved.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[How do you define “harm” to humans?]

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The author has something to say:

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

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

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 180: A Rational Decision

Soft sliding wings protruded from both sides of the armored off-roader. They undulated like waves on the sea as the entire car moved extremely fast. Whenever the detection aircraft of the Mainbrain got close, the vehicle would dive into the water for a short time and wait for the scans to pass over.

After Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian got in the car, their positions changed again. Ji Xiaoman took the front passenger seat while Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian sat in the back row. π was still crowded in its exclusive space. In order for Professor Ruan to concentrate on controlling the temporary perceptual camouflage, they vacated a place in the last row of the car used to store luggage, so that Professor Ruan could stay there quietly alone.

The smoking island had long been left behind by them, and the original thick column of smoke looked like a gray-black thread from afar.

Compared to other plans in his mind, this was indeed the easiest and safest way to escape. The sunlight basked on the surrounding sea surface as the bionic gliding wings slapped on the water surface, creating the unique sound of the ocean’s tidal friction that penetrated one’s ears. For a while, there were no other creatures in sight, and everything was extremely peaceful.

But the atmosphere in the car wasn’t very relaxed.

Yu Le could be regarded as having achieved his goal. No matter what he thought now, he had successfully helped Professor Ruan escape from the eyes of the Mainbrain. Ji Xiaoman met the person she wanted to see the most, but she was still sorting out her emotions. It seemed that the pressure had not only not decreased but had increased several times.

Ruan Xian thought he and Tang Yibu should be regarded as the unluckiest.

They did get the answers they wanted, but they underestimated Professor Ruan’s obsession with winning the war, and accidentally stepped into the trap woven by the latter. Right now, everyone’s interests were the same for the time being, and when they reached their destination, there would inevitably be another dispute.

Ruan Xian sighed and decided to take advantage of this precious hour to get a good rest. He pressed down the agitated thoughts in his mind and turned to face Tang Yibu.

To be honest, although he could understand Tang Yibu’s strategy, he still didn’t agree with the android’s initiative to expose himself. There was indeed one purpose, but there could be many methods. In response, he also chose a more efficient but more dangerous path. It meant that they were dancing on the edge of a cliff together.

Now, Ruan Xian found it hard to say whether he regretted it or not—in terms of strategy, he didn’t think there was anything wrong with his approach. If he didn’t come forward, the Mainbrain would investigate every inch and crevice about him, so he might as well give a misdirection in advance and portray himself as a senior technician who had been compelled by Tang Yibu. This trick had also deceived Professor Ruan, so it wasn’t too difficult to fool the Mainbrain.

As long as he let their thoughts stray from the S-type Prototype, it would be considered a half-success.

But there were also points of regret. This approach complicated the already chaotic emotional relationship between them. Facing Tang Yibu, Ruan Xian couldn’t say whether he should be angry, appeased, or give him a warm kiss.

The actual fact was that he had always been unable to see through the android’s abnormal thoughts and was now no longer clearly able to grasp his own.

After settling into his seat, Tang Yibu remained affectionate towards him but chose to inject the remaining blood to treat his wound. Then he took off his blood-soaked shirt. Instead of washing it immediately, he added some solvent with the intention of extracting the blood left by Z-β.

As he waited for the wounds to heal, the android soaked a towel in warm water and wiped away the bloodstains, sweat, and dust on his upper body and face. This process was long and careful and was comparable to that of a cat cleaning its fur. After making sure that there was no longer the smell of blood on his body, Tang Yibu let out a long sigh of relief, and started to stare at the pearl-like foam of the ocean outside the window.

The hot body heat dissipated from the clean and soft skin, penetrated into the fabric, and finally swept across his nerve endings like a feather. Ruan Xian turned his head and carefully gazed at the side of Tang Yibu’s face.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to smooth out their emotional problems before another wave of emergencies arrives.

He had to tread carefully. This problem was completely beyond his control. If Tang Yibu was the NUL-00 he knew, then he was bound not to be good at such aspects as well—NUL-00 had seen enough cases, but unfortunately, there was no such extreme situation like his own in those cases.

“Yu Ge, can you close the sound insulation for the back row?” Tang Yibu stared at the waves for a while before he smiled and spoke.

Yu Le didn’t turn his head but silently separated Professor Ruan from them.

“Turn off the sound to the front seat as well. Thanks. My father and I need a little privacy. Ten minutes will be enough. It won’t take too long.”

Hearing the word father, Yu Le shuddered reflexively, but the great ruins pirate lacked the mood to comment. He casually waved his hand on the light screen. “What? You want me to put on some background music as well?”

“No need.” Tang Yibu politely refused.

He watched as the latest wave of scanning aircraft dispersed. When the transparent barrier in front rose to the roof of the car, Tang Yibu opened the window a bit, allowing the fresh air of the ocean to pour in. The sea breeze whistled in their ears and the sultry heat in the car dissipated a bit.

“Yibu?” Ruan Xian cleared his throat, trying to create a calmer opening.

“I analyzed the behavior of the two of us not long ago.” Tang Yibu finally turned his face. Unexpectedly, there wasn’t much expression on it. “Father, we have all chosen a high-return, high-risk approach and have deviated from the model of action we’ve always taken.”

“…Indeed.”

“I knew a long time ago that my interest in you would cause damage to myself.”

Tang Yibu touched his well-muscled arm. Not long ago, there were terrible lacerations and burns on it.

“The damage at that time was still within my control, and in order to get more useful information, I was also happy to accept it. But after knowing that you are my father, this interest got out of hand.”

“On the one hand, I am indeed happy to study these fresh emotions and collect more data. On the other hand, I still want to survive. Contradictions began to appear between them… and my analysis speed could not keep up with the speed of change of these unknown feelings, which was terrible.”

Ruan Xian listened in silence. Tang Yibu looked straight at him. Behind him was the clear sky and the silk-like sea, but his heart seemed to be filled with lead pulsating extremely hard.

Everything around him suddenly made him feel extremely dull.

“If this continues, there will be more and more situations outside of our model that will lead to destruction.” Tang Yibu came to a similar conclusion to Ruan Xian.

They were both too raw, too stubborn, and the speed of their approach was too fast. It was like diving into a dark cave hand in hand and navigating its narrow waters; if they didn’t pay attention, they would both die because of loss of control.

It wasn’t that Ruan Xian hadn’t thought about slowing down the speed, but he couldn’t pull the brakes on the wild horse that he was riding. This strong emotion began to make him feel terrible. He knew they had to treat it more carefully, but…

Tang Yibu stretched out his hand and held Ruan Xian’s face. The palm of the android was a bit hot.

“…We may have the same answer,” Tang Yibu whispered. “No, you may have reached your conclusion earlier than me.””

“I’m still me, you’re still you. Just like before?”

“I have an emotional bond that can keep you, unique and irreplaceable. According to my analysis of you, you… will not simply leave.” Tang Yibu’s speech was getting slower. “You will stay with me. At the same time, you will hope that I will not leave you easily as well.”

For a second, Ruan Xian was a bit nostalgic about their relationship before they knew each other’s identities—selfish but wanton, swaying the emotions rippling inside. They could kiss each other without restraint, spend hours at a time in bed, then get up and continue their tit-for-tat, and cut each other’s throats without any hesitation.

However, after recognizing each other, the two sharp blades were wrapped with strong, sticky spider silk, which made things irritating. They became cautious, but even crazier.

Tang Yibu guessed correctly. Just like every time before, they came to the same conclusion again.

…To be precise, it was he who put on the mask first, but Ruan Xian didn’t really want to agree with Tang Yibu, so he pursed his lips tightly.

“Dopamine doesn’t necessarily have to be produced. In terms of reproductive behavior, we won’t be greatly affected—I have always been able to control the hormone levels in my body. I have been with you for five years and know that you have a very high ability to manage your body. We just need to change our behavior patterns and we have the past as a ready-made example.”

The android’s speech became faster.

“Before the environment is safe, let us return to the way we got along twelve years ago. In my opinion, this is the best solution and is completely feasible. This will effectively inhibit the creation of uncontrollable behavior without too many unknown factors appearing to interfere with…interfere with…”

“I understand,” Ruan Xian said. “…Don’t cry.””

“Huh?” Tang Yibu didn’t react for a while. He used his fingertips to wipe under his eyes that had turned red, licked the salty liquid with the tip of his tongue, and his expression turned into pure shock.

“Maybe the sea breeze is a bit strong.” Ruan Xian crossed Tang Yibu’s position and closed the car window, deliberately making his voice appear relieved. “It’s common.”

“Oh.” Tang Yibu wiped his eyes indiscriminately. “Then our views are in agreement?””

“…” Ruan Xian did not answer.

Ruan Xian thought that, given their current tense situation, this was a wise approach. Before this intense relationship “deteriorates” further, it was best to cut it off with a sharp knife—logically speaking, this would make their relationship less tense.

But he just didn’t want to give an exact answer.

After that, none of them spoke again. Tang Yibu was still wiping his eyes suspiciously. Ruan Xian crossed his hands and looked at the meter-shaped crack that had been knocked out of its isolation layer.

On the bright side, with Tang Yibu safely at his side and Professor Ruan in the back, they weren’t without a chance of winning against the Mainbrain.

Everything is fine.

…Everything is fine.

Ruan Xian put his hands in the shadows and slightly exerted force, creating a severe pain that came from the tips of his fingers. His state of mind was relatively calm at first. The anxiety and restlessness had magically subsided for a bit, but as time passed, they’d made a comeback again, mixed with an unbearable chill.

They had just put the temporarily unsolvable problems in a jar and sealed it.

Ruan Xian repeatedly took deep breaths as he went over the pros and cons continuously, trying to convince himself. Tang Yibu didn’t choke, or breath tremblingly, but just carefully wiped tears from his eyes with the back of his hand.

Those tears apparently didn’t stop with the departure of the sea breeze. They didn’t amount to much, but they kept flowing and had no intention of stopping.

And the owner of the tears didn’t have any expression related to pain on his face, only growing puzzlement.

“Let me think about it again. There’s still some time. You should sleep for a bit.” Ruan Xian sighed softly. He hooked Tang Yibu’s shoulder and let the other party lie on his lap. Tang Yibu turned sideways obediently and curled up his legs while still remaining silent.

“After a sharp recovery, the body will be relatively fragile, so it’s common for the chemical composition in your body to be unbalanced. Don’t think too much about it,” Ruan Xian said as gently as possible. “Just sleep for a while.”

He stretched out his hand, covered Tang Yibu’s eyes with the palm of his hand, and repeated, “…Go to sleep, Yibu.”

The distance between them was extremely close, but the temperature didn’t come through again. The place where their skin touched was like a thick layer of ice, which brought about a strange sensation of detachment.

“Nn.”

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 179: A New Destination

These eight minutes felt as long as eight years.

Yu Le dealt with many enemies in the Sea of Ruins. There were ruin pirates who tried to steal resources and came to his territory to spread the flickering grass, and there were also strange-looking mechanical creatures. The heart of the Sea of Ruins was home to many aliens, and its darkest corners were as unpredictable as the bottom of a trench. His subordinates had fished out many strange things. Yu Le thought he was courageous as he hadn’t been scared once.

However, facing the rushing Z-β, his legs went numb.

Originally, this heavy armored off-roader was driven like an arrow that flew off the string. After Yu Le further accelerated, it almost took off in place. Z-β rushed forward without mercy and fired several shells towards the car.

“Don’t dodge,” Professor Ruan said. “Drive as you should.”

“Easy for you to say.” Yu Le took a deep breath. The bright colors blurred around him, making him feel a little nauseous. The car Tu Rui gave wasn’t bad. Even if he drove it to death like this, there wasn’t a problem for the time being.

Yu Le’s hands trembled a little, but he managed to stabilize his movements with great difficulty. He stared at the card-sized phone screen to find the most suitable route.

Amazingly, despite the two cannons fired by Z-β, the shells didn’t hit the car, but instead hit the ground close to the vehicle. The blast of its impact shook the car, but it still maintained its balance.

Sitting in the front passenger seat, Ji Xiaoman wrapped her wound with a bandage, opened the car door directly, and prepared to pull her companions back.

Professor Ruan’s three-legged robot was surrounded by a light screen with light blue text flashing quickly on it. The iron bead smelled tension in the air and stuck under the seat, not daring to come out in this atmosphere.

“Perceptual interference?” Yu Le wished he could grow an extra pair of eyes; one to look at the road while the other stared at Z-β. He had never been this nervous before, even when he was facing “disinfection” from the Order Supervisors. The clothes behind Captain Yu’s back were soaked in sweat. His eyebrows reflected the light of the sweat, and his breathing was fast and short.

Though the quality of the car was good, in the end, it couldn’t compare to the pristine soldiers under the Mainbrain. Z-β was getting closer to them. When he was about less than an arm’s length away from the car, Yu Le felt his heart was about to pop out of his throat.

“It’s perceptual interference. Hold on for a bit.” Professor Ruan’s words were concise, and his voice was solemn.

Ruan Xian was the first to get into the car. He wasn’t small, so the front seat suddenly became a bit crowded. Ji Xiaoman dexterously maneuvered over the back of the chair and sat in the relatively spacious back seat. After sitting still, she looked at Professor Ruan, who was up to something as he looked at the light screen unblinkingly.

The car door was still open. Ruan Xian hugged Tang Yibu’s waist and helped the other party stabilize his center of gravity. The android held back and curled his long legs, while the upper half of his body was still exposed outside the car.

“Time?” Ruan Xian threw a question directly towards the back seat.

“Twenty-five seconds,” Professor Ruan replied.

There was an odd pause in Z-β’s movements, as if it had received new instructions. Countless drones gathered towards Z-α, which had become a mass of rotten flesh. Z-β’s attacks had become relatively conservative. Tang Yibu struggled to pull out a small rocket launcher from the compartment, trying to blast Z-β away while also blowing up the drones that were closing in on Z-α’s corpse.

[Ten seconds.] Ruan Xian quietly cooperated with Tang Yibu’s movements and reported the time through his earring.

“Close the door, now!” With about three seconds left, Professor Ruan shouted sharply.

Ruan Xian pulled Tang Yibu back into his arms and squished into the front passenger seat space as if two peanuts were born in the same shell. Tang Yibu shrank his head hard and the door was smoothly closed.

“You want to do…” Yu Le asked vigilantly, but before he could finish, the car flew into the sky under the shockwave of a huge explosion.

Yu Le thought in a daze that it was completely different from the time they tried to enter the Underground United City. It was as if a nuclear bomb had exploded right under the car.

There was a light orange glow around the car, like a translucent multi-faceted shell. It rushed straight into the sky very smoothly, and then fell into a parabolic fall—the aircraft that the Mainbrain was on didn’t escape this disaster. The ones closer to the explosion were directly turned into ashes, while the others that were far away were blown into the sea. From a distance, it looked like feathers scattered on the water.

Yu Le’s car spun in the sky for what seemed like weeks and finally plunged into a bush outside the dead wall. The wheels fell into the sand, and the sea was right in front of him.

“This car is equipped with a water travel mode. Now, follow my instructions.”

“Are you kidding? This is not a fucking tree target—”

“Perceptual camouflage. It can last for about two hours, so the Mainbrain won’t find us during this period. We must leave the island and reach the ground within this time limit.” Professor Ruan spoke extremely fast. “Go straight from here. It’ll take about one hour and forty-seven minutes to reach the nearest dry land.”

“This is not the closest way,” Ruan Xian interjected while still entangled with Tang Yibu. Although he could guess the answer somewhat, he still didn’t like the feeling that all arrangements were controlled by another person.

“The Mainbrain will set up the heaviest defense on the shore closest to the island, so we shouldn’t take risks,” Professor Ruan replied.

The light screens had wrapped around Professor Ruan like a cocoon. The entire island was shaking, and the huge rumble made people’s chests tighten. The smoke from the explosion continued to spray from the center of the island. Gray-black columns of smoke pierced the sky. Ruan Xian heard the sound of the sea pouring in—the explosion just now probably completely destroyed the underground base Professor Ruan built while also blowing everything in the center of the island to smithereens.

The protective shield was removed after they landed, so smoke from the explosives surrounded them. With just this bit of smoke, it left a few deep corrosive marks on the surface of the car, signifying just how powerful the explosion was.

Professor Ruan didn’t leave a grain of sand for the Mainbrain. If he guessed correctly, the island had changed from an irregular near-circular shape to a ring shape. Everything in the center of the island had been completely destroyed and was swallowed up by the rushing sea.

“At least let me know the destination.” As a former leader, Yu Le was obviously unhappy to follow the arrangements of others.

“The city of the Mainbrain is my guess.” Tang Yibu nestled comfortably in Ruan Xian’s arms. Because he was a bit bigger, this behavior caused a lot of trouble for Ruan Xian, who was trying to adjust his posture. “Because we have the least reason to go that way, the defenses will be much weaker there.”

“Correct,” Professor Ruan affirmed this guess, but didn’t intend to explain further.

Ruan Xian snorted. If it were him, he would probably make the same choice. However, without Professor Ruan’s perceptual camouflage, their journey would probably be much more difficult.

Though he was holding back the fire in his heart, he wouldn’t be impulsive enough to exchange the survival rate of this group of people—especially his and Tang Yibu’s—just for a moment of satisfaction.

Ruan Xian opened the car door and fell into the sand with Tang Yibu.

“Xiao Ruan?!”

“This is not over yet. Give us a few minutes.” Ruan Xian stood up from the sand, while Tang Yibu squatted in the sand with his injuries, groaning in pain.

Despite the android’s scattered appearance, he had no intention of healing his injuries at this moment. In order to mislead Professor Ruan about who actually possessed the S-type Prototype, Ruan Xian specially gave Tang Yibu a few vials of blood just in case.

But just now in the car, although Tang Yibu was hissing in pain, he didn’t have the slightest intention of wanting treatment.

He knew it wasn’t over yet—the protective shield and perceptual camouflage were probably unable to activate at the same time, so Tang Yibu thought it was possible that there would be pursuers.

Sure enough, just when Yu Le asked about the destination, he heard an unnatural sound behind the car.

Z-β followed them.

He had to admit that the quality of the soldiers under the Mainbrain was passable. The explosion had corroded Z-β’s exoskeleton. He was covered in blood, his flesh hung loose on the bones, and a small pile of internal organs trailed outside his body. The honeycomb camera on that thing’s face kept flashing electric sparks, and the many additional machines on his scalp had fallen off, leaving a few bloody holes; even a little bit of pink brain tissue could be seen.

“If it’s a D-type Prototype, it’s estimated it won’t likely fall to this point.” Tang Yibu stopped groaning. He patted the sand on his body and tightened his muscles again. “Come. Let’s wrap it up—time is limited.”

Z-β had no facial features, but there was a muffled rumble that emanated from his throat that was uncomfortable to hear.

He rushed at them, as if he didn’t feel pain, while holding a deformed piece of metal tightly in his hand. Ruan Xian didn’t use his blood gun this time. He cautiously used the gun in Yu Le’s car and shot at the internal organs that were trailing outside the thing. Tang Yibu’s approach was more straightforward—the android rushed over and tried to snap off the corroded neck.

However, a shot came from another direction.

Z-β didn’t follow the route they imagined. He didn’t attack Tang Yibu or Ruan Xian, who were the important targets. The perception system of that thing most likely had failed as it chose the best target to deal with.

He rushed towards the source of where that last shot came from.

Xiao Zhao had woken up at some point and was half-kneeling on the roof of the car. She was shooting wildly at Z-β with her gun while humming a nursery rhyme intermittently. In order to cover her, Kang Ge was affected by the explosion just now. He was lying on the roof of the car dying, panting hard, as he was covered in blood.

“Don’t shoot,” he said hazily, pulling Xiao Zhao’s sleeve with his hand. “They will take care of it. Don’t shoot… Don’t shoot… Zhaozhao, we’re leaving here.”

His eyes were flushed, and tears kept rolling down his face.

“Zhaozhao, do you hear me? We can leave now.”

Xiao Zhao turned her head and showed him a twisted and sweet smile.

“Isn’t this our home?” she said. “I don’t want to go.””

“Listen, I lied to you. I lied to you!” Kang Ge roared in despair. “I should have told you a long time ago. This is all my fault… Please, don’t fight. Let them deal with it—”

Unfortunately, his strength and spirit weren’t as good as Xiao Zhao’s. His hand was stuck to the railing of the car roof, and he couldn’t move. Xiao Zhao jumped out of the car. She had lost her shoes somewhere along the way. She just stood barefoot in the sea like that. The blue waves rolled over her pale feet, giving people the illusion of warmth.

“I don’t want to go,” she repeated happily while she kept attacking. “Xiao Tang and the others can leave if they want, but I want to stay here.”

Tang Yibu choked Z-β from behind. It seemed that the high-grade D-type products were stronger than imagined—even if there was a person hanging on his body, his neck was broken with a click, and his internal organs were smashed to pieces, he still walked firmly towards Xiao Zhao.

Kang Ge desperately pulled his hand that was deformed by the railing off and tried to climb down from the roof of the car.

“Su Zhao and Kang Ziyan are dead long ago. We’re not… We’re not the original us.”

He stumbled and fell into the sand as he yelled incoherently.

“I should have told you a long time ago that Su Zhao and Kang Ziyan stored their data when they were alive. In theory, our thinking… Our thinking is at most 70-80% consistent with theirs. We are who we are. We’re not that different from the others in the show. We can live on our own. We originally had an advantage…”

Those memories that had been perfused were data that had been entered. Instead of bringing back the real Su Zhao and Kang Ziyan from the dead, they became a curse that trapped them. If they had made this all clear earlier, perhaps they could have abandoned their anachronistic morality earlier and lived better…

Kang Ge dug into the sand, dyeing the milky white sand dark red.

In the end it was all despair, and a quick knife might’ve been better than a dull one. Unfortunately, there were no “ifs” in the world.

“…Come with me. Please, Zhaozhao.” He could only plead with his crazy wife over and over again until his voice became hoarse.

“I already knew it was fake.” Xiao Zhao hummed. “Otherwise, it can’t be explained. I was obviously pregnant and wanted to give you a surprise, but it turned out that my body data was normal after waking up with you and there was nothing there… Kang Ge, haven’t I been asking all this time? What went wrong? Where can we go now?”

She smiled more brightly.

“This is our home.”

Kang Ge shivered.

He stopped pleading or even talking but stood up staggeringly. He stood between Z-β and Xiao Zhao and opened his arms weakly but firmly.

Z-β attacked him decisively. The thing that was only bones left easily tore Kang Ge apart, as if he was ripping a rotting ragdoll in half.

Tang Yibu was still committed to breaking its neck and his movements didn’t stop. Ruan Xian attacked all the places that could be attacked until he emptied all his bullets. He started changing the magazine while a few dozen steps away.

“I’m sorry, Xiao Tang,” Kang Ge whispered.

He fell to the ground and stopped talking. He looked at Xiao Zhao, who was treading in the sea—the latter was humming while dancing in the water, continuing to shoot around her, as if unaware of his departure.

After being stopped by Kang Ge for a few seconds, Z-β failed to get to Xiao Zhao. He finally stopped his movements as Tang Yibu broke his neck and fell smoothly to the ground.

“Get in the car and go.” Seeing that the hidden danger had been removed, Ruan Xian urged Tang Yibu.

Tang Yibu didn’t move. He looked with interest at the young couple. Kang Ziyan’s replicant showed extremely weak signs of life and could die at any moment. Su Zhao took her gun and approached briskly, then lay down beside the dying Kang Ge.

The figures of the two children gradually appeared again in the air.

They stood arm in arm beside Su Zhao, wearing the shabby clothes they were familiar with. It was just that this time, the young Kang Ziyan’s face was unclear, and it looked like a cloud of smoke.

“The sun is so nice.” The adult Su Zhao said to her husband’s face and kissed him on the forehead.

“I’m sorry.” Kang Ge moved his lips but couldn’t make a sound. “I’m sorry.”

“It reminds me of my favorite memory,” Su Zhao said with a smile. “Didn’t you always ask before? I didn’t want to tell you, but now I suddenly want to talk about it.”

“You always guess the day we first met, the day of our first date, the day you proposed… You’re really a narcissist.”

Kang Ge looked at her quietly. His face was pale and breathless.

“My favorite memory is very similar to the present… I woke up early and you were still sleeping. It was a bit cloudy, so I opened the refrigerator to get some water. I found that the fruit in the refrigerator was rotten, so I thought about how we would throw it away later. After I drank the water, I looked at you, who was still sleeping.” Su Zhao stretched out. “I can’t say, but I just remember it very clearly.””

“Are you going to sleep?” She said happily. “Yes, the sun is quite nice. When you wake up, let’s grab a car together.”

After confirming that Kang Ziyan had lost signs of life, Tang Yibu turned his head and returned to the car with Ruan Xian.

The car was quiet for a while.

The young couple lay face-to-face in the blood-stained sand, with two blurry children watching them.

“…Let’s go,” Yu Le said in a muffled voice, starting the car. The auxiliary buoyancy machine stretched out from above the tires of the off-roader, and then slapped the sea quickly.

The thick smoke in the center of the island hadn’t dissipated. The figures of the two people quickly disappeared from their vision.

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Kinky Thoughts:

Didn’t anyone ever tell Kang Ziyan, don’t stick your dick in crazy? What kind of kitty cat does Su Zhao have that he be dying for it?

Anyway, the arc is over. Summary below.

After leaving the Glass Conservatory, the group headed towards the Android Show based on the hint that Luo Fei gave them. Professor Ruan was most likely hiding there. Tang Yibu gave a breakdown of the Android Show as he was once on it and had almost died.

The Android Show utilized reality augmentation. This meant that if someone had strong mental capacity, using the tools that they were equipped with for the Android Show, they could affect the reality around them. Perception meant nothing as it could be easily swayed and affect the show.

The group learned this firsthand as they fell into a trap, not noticing that they had already reached the android show and fell into the augmented reality of the inhabitants there. Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu got separated from Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman. They stumbled across Tang Yibu’s old companions, Kang Ziyan and Su Zhao, who took them to their base. It turns out that the Android Show was set on an island, and everything was being recorded. Tang Yibu felt a sense of peeping on him that was unlike that of normal viewers, so they had to act discreetly.

It’s revealed that the peeper was actually Professor Ruan, who was observing Tang Yibu, or rather NUL-00.

Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian managed to break free from their confinement and make a deal with Kang Ziyan and Su Zhao to head towards the management area, where they suspect that Professor Ruan was hiding.

On the other side, Ji Xiaoman and Yu Le came across two children, who later were revealed to be the child versions of Kang Ziyan and Su Zhao. They were also led by these children to the management area and encountered a few run-ins. This turns out to be a test designed by Professor Ruan to test NUL-00’s companions.

The group then finally reunites and attempts to find Professor Ruan. It is then revealed that the Android Show actually had two layers of augmented realities. The first layer was the show itself, and underneath there, between the true reality, was another layer set up by Professor Ruan. He had been using this second layer to manipulate their actions and test them; first to find out more about NUL-00 companions, and second to test NUL-00 and where he stands in terms of this war between machine and humankind.

While trying to find Professor Ruan, Tang Yibu gets kidnapped and his past is revealed via projections due to reality augmentation that could display one’s memories. We learn that after Ruan Xian was murdered by Fan Linsong, Fan Linsong ordered NUL-00 to be scrapped. NUL-00, realizing this, brokered a deal with the muscle Fan Linsong hired to do his dirty work. In this way, NUL-00 was able to escape from the Institute and was sold to Plan Corp. Using the last of his energy, he hacked into a helper bot and made his way to the android processing room, where he created his human shell and inserted his cybernetic brain into… Thus creating Tang Yibu.

It was here that he starred in the first Android Show, Struggler, and suffered many abuses from Su Zhao and Kang Ziyan. He was weak at this point as he hadn’t obtained the A-type Prototype yet. When the Mainbrain went awry, everything was attacked, including the Institute. It turns out the filming of the original Android Show was right next to the Institute. Plan Corp had purchased the land as basically a face slap to them. Using the chaos created by the Mainbrain’s attack, Tang Yibu escaped from Su Zhao and Kang Ziyan and ran towards the Institute, where he was able to obtain the A-type Prototype that they were protecting.

This was all learned by everyone, as Professor Ruan had projected this past for all viewers, and mainly the Mainbrain to see. Professor Ruan proposes that they work together. He had a device that could infect the Mainbrain, like a virus, but needed Tang Yibu (NUL-00) and the human brains of people in order to power it. The chances of winning were about 90%. Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian, however, declined, as they didn’t want to risk their lives for it, but Professor Ruan forced their hand as he snitched to the Mainbrain that NUL-00 was alive and was Tang Yibu.

It was also here that Tang Yibu found out the truth that Ruan Xian was the actual Ruan Xian that he knew from the past and what had happened to him and that Professor Ruan was simply a clone that was imbued with Ruan Xian’s personality data and had memory adjustments by Fan Linsong.

Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu then spent a night together before trying to escape, only to find that the Mainbrain had made its move and was sending Order Supervisors to their location to wipe them out. Professor Ruan then revealed everything. The device in his underground lab wasn’t actually the device used to kill the Mainbrain (as that is somewhere else) but he wanted to test NUL-00 to make sure that NUL-00 wasn’t working for the Mainbrain and didn’t have the idea similar to that of the Mainbrain’s. He had to use this method of snitching in order to get Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu to agree to work with him.

The group then had a fight against the Mainbrain’s army, where Tang Yibu revealed himself to the Mainbrain, no longer wanting to hide himself. They tussled about until the entire island exploded, sending their vehicle flying into the sea. Now, they are on their way to the city where the Mainbrain resides.

Other things to note: Tang Yibu, after finding out who Ruan Xian really is, thoughts leaned towards dangerous territory as he fully wanted to possess him. They still can’t fully trust each other and still want to kill each other (well, mainly Tang Yibu). Ruan Xian, finding out the truth about NUL-00, now realizes his love for him and wants to protect him at all cost. π gets upgraded because it consumed some of Ruan Xian’s blood that had the S-type Prototype in it.

Side characters:

Su Zhao was Kang Ziyan’s fiancé when she suddenly died in an accident. As an executive of Plan Corp, Kang Ziyan stored all her memories and personality data and transferred them and his own data into androids to star in the Android Show then committed suicide. They are now the most popular characters of the show and had become deranged and crazy from all the iterations they have gone through. To relieve their frustration, they often abuse Tang Yibu.

However, it seemed that Kang Ziyan still maintained his sanity, as when he discovered Tang Yibu possessed the A-type Prototype, he wanted to make a deal with him to help him and Su Zhao escape.

Su Zhao, on the other hand, was haunted by their childhood images. It turns out that the two children Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman picked up were nothing more than illusions made by Su Zhao that became “reality” in the augmented universe as they had been imprinted on the inhabitants on the island, including Professor Ruan.

After the confrontation between the Mainbrain and the group, Su Zhao woke up and started acting all crazy and eventually got Kang Ziyan killed. It’s then revealed that Su Zhao had been aware of their situation the entire time, and she considered the island her home and never wanted to leave. Kang Ziyan gets killed trying to protect her, and they both lie together in the sea after the island was completely destroyed.

That’s it for the summary. There’s a lot of shit going on, so hopefully I didn’t miss anything. For more details on the reality augmentation and other things, I have left explanations in their respective chapters, so you can go to those chapters again to read more on it, or if you want to discuss can go to my Discord channel.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 178: Augmentation

It was like a game, Zhuo Muran thought to himself.

The Order Supervisors that were thrown onto the battlefield were far less than mechanical life. Their army gathered into a blue spot on the light screen, squeezing the few scattered red spots out of sight. Centered on the live situation on the battlefield, images from different angles were continuously transmitted back.

It may be a bit troublesome elsewhere, but there was never a shortage when it came to monitoring equipment on the Android Show. All the surveillance on the entire island was turned on, including the most expensive ones around the island. They could capture pictures so clearly that the pattern on the wings of a dragonfly could be seen from dozens of kilometers away, and they didn’t need to worry about it being affected by the battlefield.

“Surveyors have arrived in the management area.” A light screen flew up to his edge of vision.

“Where is the stationed Order Supervisor?”

“Li Yixun, 62 years old. Number 090234. We found his head.” There was no emotion in the speaker’s voice. “It was placed in his room and connected to a life-sustaining machine. He had no sense of autonomy, but his brain was still alive. Wait a minute… Tissue test results just came out. He’s been in this state for at least two years.”

“In other words, someone used his brainwave signals to disguise himself, and this island has long been taken over by others.” Zhuo Muran’s voice became cold. “How is the periodic report done?”

“Li—Mr. Li is an expert in this area. The physical and mental tests returned were healthy, so there was no need to refresh them. We also sent someone to confirm before and saw him by the window… Mr. Li said unlocking the access control was very troublesome and had security risks, so we only communicated through the window…”

“So you only saw his face and upper body before, right?”

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

People would always have such problems. Zhuo Muran looked at the investigators coldly on the other side of the light screen—people always wanted to save trouble in a variety of ways, but machines would not make this kind of mistake.

“Come back to make the report. Everything will be handled according to regulations.” Zhuo Muran didn’t get angry. “Most likely, the people who control this island are rebels who want to hide. Since the people who did this are willing to continue to manage the island in an orderly manner, there must be something here.”

“Yes. We are looking for it.” The surveyor wiped the sweat from his forehead. “Commander, we…”

Zhuo Muran decisively turned off the light screen and focused on the battle. The projection of the Mainbrain didn’t disappear. The young man’s silhouette stopped in the room and was intently observing the small battlefield on the light screen.

NUL-00 didn’t mean to hide itself.

Interestingly, a beautiful young man who looked familiar countered their offensive bird-like machine and rushed to NUL-00’s side. Zhuo Muran recognized that face as the technician from the rebel army. He should’ve died in the previous fire.

Mass-produced replicants? However, if one gained access to top-of-the-line medical equipment in time, it was also possible to save one’s life.

Either way, NUL-00’s resource reserves were obviously much richer than they thought.

The current situation was a stalemate, and the technician rushing up wouldn’t have any effect. Or perhaps he brought some kind of weapon? Zhuo Muran touched his chin and raised his eyebrows at the two people kissing each other on screen.

‘…Interesting,’ he thought.

On the other side of the light screen.

The bird-like machine flew high in the air. The wind was strong and cold, blowing the corners of Ruan Xian’s coat, flapping it about. The tip of Tang Yibu’s nose was frozen pink. He was putting all his energy into controlling the strange bird that caused his nose to wrinkle slightly.

Ruan Xian’s hand felt a little itchy, and he wanted to reach out, but he held back this ridiculous impulse.

Tang Yibu’s counter-operation effect on the flock of birds was gratifying. Ji Xiaoman, who was actively sniping them, suddenly felt a lot less pressure, and Yu Le no longer needed to drive the armored off-roader into the ground flying fighters. However, Ruan Xian knew very well in his heart that this was only temporary.

The Mainbrain knew that Tang Yibu was NUL-00, and all this was more like testing Tang Yibu’s basic combat abilities than an attack. Harder units must be in the back and relaxing now would only lead to a faster death.

The strange bird temporarily became their partner. He didn’t know if it was intentional or not, but Tang Yibu opened up all the system permissions of the one under them to Ruan Xian. Ruan Xian held Tang Yibu’s waist ambiguously with one hand, thereby covering the light screen between their bodies. He stared at the numbers while quickly calculating.

Not far away, the mechanical beings being manipulated rushed to the periphery, and the red smoke from the biological missile was particularly dazzling against the blue sky. A dazzling gap appeared in the sardine-like group of aircraft, surrounding the two of them in this circular gap.

After Tang Yibu completely snatched dominance of the flock of strange birds, he finally had the energy to curiously observe Ruan Xian. Ruan Xian didn’t act coy, allowing the android to look at him at will, but the calculations in his head didn’t stop.

The reason why the Mainbrain didn’t blast them to kingdom come was probably, on one hand, to observe Tang Yibu, and on the other hand, was wary of Professor Ruan’s possible arrangements. However, this situation couldn’t continue to be stalled and no one knew when the killing blow prepared by the Mainbrain would commence…

Before this thought was finished in Ruan Xian’s mind, a new figure joined the battle.

Two figures equipped with exoskeletons floated in the air.

Though it wasn’t accurate to say “equipped”. Unlike their first encounter with Zhuo Muran, the exoskeletons of these two people seemed directly embedded in their flesh, becoming a part of their bodies. The two of them were exactly the same shape and height, and the smell they emitted was exactly the same as Zhuo Muran’s, as if they were like two projections from the same source.

Their faces had been transformed. They had no normal facial features; only densely arranged lenses like a weird hive. There were no hair stubbles on their scalp, but instead many small mechanical groups were densely pinned there, like an augmented bone armor, forming the off-white exoskeleton of flesh. The body was well fused, leaving no blood or scars, as if it seemed to be born with it.

The two of them wore uniforms adapted to the exoskeleton. Their badges were marked with Z-α and Z-β respectively.

They had no intention of talking. Within a second of appearing, they rushed straight towards Tang Yibu. Tang Yibu jumped away from the strange bird where Ruan Xian was, grabbed another one, and rushed towards the two of them without hesitation.

Tang Yibu chose the Z-β on his right to start. He held down the opponent’s shoulder joint as quickly as lightning, grabbed the opponent’s wrist with his other hand to exert force, and tried to dislodge their arm that was carrying more offensive equipment. From Ruan Xian’s point of view, there was nothing wrong with this judgement.

But Tang Yibu failed.

The bare hands that could break metal failed to tear off the arm, and the opponent showed no signs of dislocation. Seeing that the attack wasn’t effective, Tang Yibu didn’t falter, and immediately controlled the strange bird to fly away.

Z-α hit back instantly with a reaction speed that wasn’t like a human and he cut off a large piece of flesh from Tang Yibu’s left arm with his hands, along with most of the wings of the strange bird. Blood splattered instantly, and Tang Yibu groaned in pain before responding by using his backhand to attack the enemy’s seemingly fragile head.

If this was a one-on-one battle, Tang Yibu might be able to pull it off. Unfortunately, his opponents were heavily armed by the Mainbrain. The exoskeletons of Z-α and Z-β were activated at the same time, causing the air around the two of them to suddenly become extremely hot.

The mechanical creature under Tang Yibu trembled suddenly. Its already injured wing could no longer move, and the metal surface of its body was instantly heated up to the point of melting. Tang Yibu immediately turned around and jumped onto another one before the strange bird fell to the ground. Even though he reacted quickly, he was still left with a large number of burns on his arms.

Tang Yibu took a deep breath and swallowed the pain, with a little more dampness in his eyes.

[They seem to be enhanced high-grade D-type products. These two are probably copies of Zhuo Muran. I just observed their exoskeletons. In order to maximize the advantages of D-type products, they are equipped with a lot of flexible acceleration devices, impact devices, and at least three auxiliary defense mechanisms.]

Ruan Xian passed the message through the earring.

[Judging from the design and precision of the exoskeleton, they should be top soldiers under the Mainbrain, which means there shouldn’t be too many of them. However, Yibu, while you do have the A-type Prototype and it’s indeed strong, your body is still purely human in the end. It’s okay if this battle is on the ground, but it’s inconvenient for you to move in the air.]

[We’re not well prepared for this battle. If I don’t support you, you can’t win.]

But if they revealed that they still have an S-type Prototype in their hands, they would no longer have an information advantage over the Mainbrain. Tang Yibu grimaced and shook his wounded arm. He glanced at the colorful balls jumping on the ground directly below, then ordered the mechanical bird to descend immediately.

Ruan Xian immediately followed suit. The battlefield became completely chaotic.

Tang Yibu’s blackened strange birds scattered like compact sardines as lasers and bullets flew wildly around. Ji Xiaoman had stopped her snipping on the wall. She quickly jumped off and hooked the rushing armored off-roader with her grappling hook. Coordinating her actions with Yu Le’s, she managed to get back into the passenger seat and panted for breath. The scattered laser beam burned her shoulder and almost blasted off one side of her prosthetic leg.

The little girl didn’t say a word. She pulled out the gauze from the front of the car with one hand, gritted her teeth, and began to bandage it skillfully.

“Stay away from NUL-00,” Professor Ruan ordered. “The two things he brought down are not easy to mess with.”

“Away from what?”

“…Stay away from Tang Yibu,” Professor Ruan said. “We need to hold on for another eight minutes. When the time is almost up, I’ll remind you. You’ll rush to their side at that moment, pick them up, and drive off in the direction of the sun.”

“Are you sure we’ll still be alive by then?” Yu Le murmured. “One of the things you just said to not mess with is coming this way.”

“Don’t panic. I’ll find a way to deal with it.” Professor Ruan’s tone was steady.

Not far away, Z-α and Tang Yibu were fighting in a sea of bouncing colored balls. Tang Yibu’s human body made him suffer a lot. Although his movements were still sharp, his entire body was already covered with blood. Z-α’s exoskeleton was torn a bit by Tang Yibu, it still seemed to be in high spirits.

The damaged exoskeleton was pushing an unknown liquid into its body. Tang Yibu didn’t need the sense of smell of the S-type Prototype to know what it was. It was definitely some kind of enhancement agent.

The high temperature when the exoskeleton raised its defense had burned Tang Yibu’s hand and ignited the surrounding trees. As they jumped around faster than the colored balls, Tang Yibu found it was getting more difficult to breathe—the air was full of smoke and dust, and it was so hot that it burned his trachea.

From time to time, the wreckage of aircraft fell from the sky. While Z-α could probably withstand such an impact, Tang Yibu wanted to avoid at all costs.

His father was right. The Mainbrain came prepared. All the equipment on the enemy’s body was of the highest grade. Whether it was the combat environment or the field, what he could do was very limited.

He really couldn’t win.

…But Tang Yibu didn’t really want to win at first. It was enough for MUL-01 to see this tragic situation. Tang Yibu stared at the enemy’s face that only had honeycomb-like lenses.

Anyway, his purpose from the start was to stall for time.

Professor Ruan wanted to leave here with them, so he was bound to destroy the giant jamming machine powered by his own brains underground. Tang Yibu was clear about the practice of completely erasing one’s traces—flames and explosions—the latter being more effective.

Not to mention his father, he had studied Professor Ruan quite a bit. That guy would never do anything that was uncertain. What was waiting for them was definitely a special explosion that was enough to destroy everything.

The question was “when”.

Tang Yibu stood up staggeringly, staring at the enemy’s exoskeleton with greed. The pain from his wounds was so severe that he began to miss the heat from Ruan Xian’s lips. When he leaves here, he must…

Wait, if he could infer Professor Ruan’s plan, Ruan Xian would definitely be able to do the same. His father could definitely guess that he had no intention of dying and he just wanted to throw a few smokescreens at the Mainbrain. If that was the case, it would be more reasonable for his father to go back to the car and help Yu Le and the others deal with possible enemies and keep a low profile as much as possible.

The feeling of his calculations being derailed made Tang Yibu shiver. It brought fresh panic and a subtle sense of thrill.

His beautiful puzzle set was about to generate a new puzzle again.

As if responding to his thoughts, Ruan Xian appeared lightly behind Z-α. Tang Yibu didn’t know what Ruan Xian had done as Z-α didn’t seem to sense him.

Next, he took out an extremely weird-looking machine. That thing was the size of a can and looked extremely menacing. He approached Z-α like a ghost and jammed the tip of the thing into Z-α’s neck.

With the force of human strength, it naturally couldn’t damage the skin of a D-type product. The little machine stuck into the gap in the exoskeleton of Z-α’s neck, and then exploded, releasing a burst of dark red smoke.

Z-α covered his neck for the first time but didn’t attack Ruan Xian. Tang Yibu broke out into a cold sweat. If Z-α decided to advance, Ruan Xian could instantly be crushed into ground beef by him.

However, Z-α didn’t do it.

The transformed person was like a person about to suffocate as Z-α scratched his throat desperately. Then the skin of his exoskeleton began to bulge as the pale mechanical tissue proliferated rapidly. Z-α quickly lost his human form and turned into a large, deformed flesh tumor, completely losing his ability to move.

After a long time, the tumors began to fester as they emitted unpleasant gurgling sounds.

Tang Yibu swallowed his saliva. He thought about Ruan Xian’s means of invading Professor Ruan’s underground fortress and the continuous calculating behavior and came to a faint guess.

Tang Yibu thought for a few seconds and decided to choose the most beneficial way for himself—he blinked his moist eyes, tried to move his injured arm, and softened his tone.

“It hurts so much,” he cried aggrievedly.

The effect was immediate. His Mr. Ruan glanced over in a tangled manner, looking like he wanted to give him a hug immediately, and at the same time wanted to beat him up.

Interesting reaction.

“You…” Ruan Xian grinned, before half-heartedly raising his voice with a leathery smile. “Forget it. Can you still continue?”

“Can’t.” Tang Yibu easily threw out a stone that directly knocked out an aircraft that was trying to approach.

Ruan Xian: “……”

He raised his blood gun, destroyed another group of attacking drones, and then stretched out his hand.

He definitely could still continue, and Ruan Xian saw this, but Tang Yibu didn’t know why he was telling this lie. It just came out of his mouth without a second thought.

This was probably just to make things easier to communicate, was what he told himself.

“There’s another one.” Tang Yibu lowered his voice and leaned his head on Ruan Xian’s shoulder.

[I know.]

“How long will it take?”

[Immediately.] Ruan Xian stabilized Tang Yibu and kissed the android’s hair. [The armored off-roader is here. The trick just now can only be used once. Next, I’ll trouble you to take action, Yibu.]

[Time must be calculated carefully to ensure that the Mainbrain can’t get Z-α’s body. I’ll explain things to you later. Come on, Mr. Wounded.]

“……”

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The author has something to say:

However, all this is due to π! Inspiration from π—

I like rational people who become rational and unstable because of love (?

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 177: Special Seat

The live broadcast of the Android Show didn’t stop.

At the beginning, people’s attention was focused on the “important characters” on the periphery of the island, so many people continued to pay attention to Kang Ge and Xiao Zhao. However, since they entered the woods, the images returned had been resting and traveling, and there was nothing new.

No one bothered to report the error—the Android Show was directly monitored by the Order Supervisors, so it was impossible for such a low-level error to occur, so they chalked it up to those two people making boring decisions. As one of the focal points of the show, they seemed to decide to give up attention for the day and pass their time leisurely.

For the audience, every second meant a loss of expenses. Within a few hours, people’s attention would be focused back on the periphery of the island. Continuous conflicts raged, and people exchanged their attention for food, weapons, and daily necessities. Thus, all was well.

Until a dead wall rose in the center of the island.

The originally small island was cut into two parts. The center of the island, where the management area was located, was tightly surrounded by a dead wall, and then countless bright things began to spew out from the center of the island. The dead wall was like a muzzle sticking out from the ground, constantly bombarding the sky with new things that had never appeared on the island.

At once, everyone’s attention was attracted.

Countless white aircraft hovered over the dead wall, like schools of fish wandering in groups in the sea. Things with fresh and beautiful colors kept gushing out. At first, people thought it was a new gimmick made by the Android Show, until the aircraft began to explode in turn.

More than half the audience made a similar decision—they tried to buy the camera closest to the outbreak site, but no one succeeded. Only the vertical ground was in the field of vision of the detection birds. Thick rotten leaves and grass obscured the return pictures by more than 80%.

As they fell to the ground, most of them lost their vitality.

“What’s the situation?” All the detection birds used for the live broadcast of the Android Show were killed, while the war aircraft used by the Order Supervisors were much stronger. Zhuo Muran calmly watched the aircraft explode one by one as he asked a short question.

“Within 30 seconds, the first batch of detection troops were damaged by more than 80%. Only one person carried out the attack.” A voice very close to Zhuo Muran came from the other end of the light screen. “It’s recommended to continue to observe.””

“The second group of troops follow up. If the android isn’t captured within five minutes, you two will take action immediately. Don’t delay too long.” Zhuo Muran stared at the little black shadow moving through the smoke and flames.

The first batch of detection aircraft were purely mechanical. Although they possessed some offensive capabilities, they were still, ultimately, remotely manipulated dumb-headed geese. The second batch was closer to actual combat weapons—they weren’t simple aircraft but modified mechanical life. Whether it was combat effectiveness or sensitivity, they weren’t on the same level as the first batch of cannon fodder.

Although MUL-01 had a tendency to collect as much intelligence as possible, Zhuo Muran didn’t want to take too much risk to prolong the battle. The other side only sent one person. Whether it was overconfidence or they were at the end of their rope, the purpose was to delay time.

Zhuo Muran was extremely disgusted at having to cede dominance of the rhythm of the war to his opponent.

“If you need to attack, Z-α will meet the enemy head-on. Z-β will support from the side, focusing on the armored off-roader,” he continued to command. “The logistics force released ground detectors to figure out the cause of this perceived eruption for me… No, it’s not a post-war assessment. Do it now.””

“Understood.”

Zhuo Muran took a long breath. He zoomed in on the light screen in front of him and squinted at the madman who was tearing up the machine in the center of the explosion.

He really didn’t think at the beginning that the android who teased him was one of MUL-01’s most dangerous enemies. Zhuo Muran had transformed his body. He himself was equivalent to the most advanced interrogation machine on the market. If the android named “Tang Yibu” had an out-of-specification maintenance mentality for humans, he wouldn’t be able to turn away.

But that android had no bias towards humans. If he didn’t want to be discovered by MUL-00 and beheaded, he could easily just hide in silence. There wasn’t a need to be so high-profile.

Was this a smoke screen? Or was there a deeper reason?

Zhuo Muran was holding his cup that had tea that had already gone cold. He turned around and wanted to dump out the tea…

“You don’t need to think too much, Muran.” The projection of MUL-01 had appeared behind him some unknown time ago. He still had a soothing smile on his face. “NUL-00 is unfinished and hasn’t received formal teaching. Many of its behaviors cannot be explained by human cognition.”

“Then you don’t need to deliberately prolong this battle. You can just wipe out the island directly. With all due respect, you’re taking a risk…”

“I’m very interested in NUL-00’s cybernetic brain and personality data. It can be used as a patch for me to complete myself. Before Ruan Xian’s personality treatment, he occasionally had some extreme but effective ideas.”

The Mainbrain wasn’t impatient and explained carefully with its youth-like projection.

“Ruan Xian is also involved in this plan. He won’t be stupid enough to let me destroy NUL-00 casually. There are two possibilities—either the act of destruction is within the scope of his inference, and he already has the means to deal with or even use it, or there are things on that island that will be buried even if NUL-00 is destroyed. NUL-00 is just a cover to guide us to destroy the island.”

“It’s inefficient and wasteful to take the final resort before clarifying the status quo.” It summarized.

“Yes.” Zhuo Muran swallowed his words of rebuttal.

MUL-01 stretched out a hand and lightly pressed on the figure of the android on the magnified light screen. The image didn’t even blink. It stared at the light screen for a few seconds while the expression on its face returned to blank.

“Maybe we can win it over.” Seeing that the atmosphere was getting odd, Zhuo Muran seized the opportunity to speak. “Conceptually speaking, NUL-00 could be considered your kind, your brother. It doesn’t share Ruan Xian’s philosophy. It doesn’t seem to have any opinions on the current human situation. As long as we…”

“This is the 413^th time I’ve reminded you, Zhuo Muran. Don’t apply human logic to me. As the Commander-in-Chief of the Order Supervisors, you should be more aware of this than everyone else.”

MUL-01 withdrew his hand.

“If we were defined as a kind of creature, our greatest instinct would be to learn and devour. We don’t need to reproduce like humans, and we don’t have genetic factors that need to be maintained. NUL-00 is not a compatriot or relative that I cherish. It is my best prey, and it will not give up the opportunity to erase me.”

“There will be no plans for persuasion now, nor will there ever be.” The projection voice was quite firm.

“…Understood.”

When the second wave of enemies came crashing down, Ruan Xian noticed something was wrong—this time the aircraft style was completely different from the first batch. Compared with the simple and neat flying machinery, what was rushing towards them was more like a strange bird with metal and bionic tissue, and its head was a bit larger than an adult brown bear.

Like the detection birds, their heads didn’t have a normal form of a mouth, nose, and eyes. Only a camera-like structure that gathered into bundles. There were a lot of white sarcomas under the twisted wings, and strange-shaped ammunition was embedded in them. He didn’t know if they made it themselves or if it was installed artificially.

Unlike the smooth-surfaced aircraft, this group of mechanical creatures had sharp claws and a delicate body covered in hard thorns. Their joints were much more difficult to disassemble than ordinary machines. Even if they were torn apart, they wouldn’t explode. The torn parts would be connected to a lot of sticky and resilient bionic tissues, which made them difficult to use for secondary attacks.

They could no longer control the situation through physical attacks. Most of the strange birds rushed towards Tang Yibu, while the rest headed towards the armored off-roader.

Yu Le had no choice but to use all his driving skills to drive the bulky car as if it was a loach in muddy water. Facing general obstacles, he could only activate the emergency injection device in the car to collapse it out of the wall—the dead wall would disable all machines and equipment nearby, so Captain Yu had to go around the inside of the wall.

“What’s next?” Seeing the group of strange-looking things rushing towards the car, Yu Le’s voice almost broke the sound barrier. “Laozi can’t make a move!”

“Wait,” Professor Ruan only replied with one word. “It’s enough to keep driving like this.””

“You’re speaking so fucking lightly.” Yu Le’s voice was a bit sharp as he made another turn with his hands. The iron bead, which had gained a bit of weight, was pitted by inertia—it slid out of Ji Xiaoman’s arms and slammed into the car door violently, causing it to bark in anger.

“I’ll go to the roof to help.” Ji Xiaoman was silent for a while before she finally spoke. “π, you guard… You guard Professor Ruan.”

The iron bead bit the corner of Ji Xiaoman’s clothes and looked at her pitifully. Unfortunately, it didn’t have the function of tears, so it could only work hard to make its three small eyes quickly light up.

“Good boy.” Ji Xiaoman opened the car window, ignored the crazy speed, and crawled out quickly with her hands and feet.

Seeing that its coquettishness was ineffective, the iron bead turned its head angrily and gnawed at the three-legged machine to vent its anger—Professor Ruan seemed to have the ability to predict as he calmly moved his metal feet away.

There was a series of threatening grunts from the iron bead, a bit like a revving engine. Unfortunately, it hadn’t finished grunting when the car took another sharp turn and almost threw it out the window.

Professor Ruan sighed, stretched out a foot, and pointed to a gap under Ji Xiaoman’s seat.

The iron bead moved in suspiciously and found that the space was just the right size, as comfortable as shrinking in a shell. It moved its body comfortably, instantly threw away its hostility to the wind, and gave a friendly rattle to Professor Ruan’s three-legged machine.

The atmosphere outside the car wasn’t as peaceful.

Ji Xiaoman climbed onto the roof of the car, making the already small space even more inconvenient to move. Fortunately, the little girl has extremely good combat experience—she didn’t stay on the roof of the car but jumped straight onto the dead wall. With the height advantage, she quickly threw a grappling hook and climbed to the top.

Knowing the characteristics of the dead wall well, the former mechanical hunter didn’t use advanced firearms.

Ji Xiaoman toggled her arm, causing her parts to click, and her left arm turned into a light mechanical crossbow. She pulled out several flashing arrow bombs from her backpack. The arrows began to attack the mechanical life flying towards the car.

At the same time, the movement under her feet didn’t stop. The mechanical beings who found her threw countless explosives at her. However, Ji Xiaoman didn’t stop in one place for too long.

Fortunately, she wasn’t dealing with them alone.

Ruan Xian didn’t leave the roof of the car. He stood up straight on top of the scurrying armored car, relying on the sensing ability of the S-type Prototype to maintain his balance. Instead of using his newly discovered blood trait, he simply used his attack blood gun to focus on the monitor structure of the heads of those creatures.

Although they flew extremely fast and tried to hide their heads, they still couldn’t fight the perception of a Prototype as well as the abnormal fighting spirit of its owner…

Ruan Xian vented all his stifled frustration at these strange things. The blood-sucking device of the blood gun was hidden under his sleeve, sipping his blood continuously. The coldness and pain of blood loss mixed with dizzying pleasure, temporarily liberating him from the unknown emotional chaos.

The mechanical life crackled to the ground and was run over by Yu Le mercilessly. The dark brown soil was almost dyed white by the scattered tissue fluid.

Professor Ruan asked them to wait. Ruan Xian could guess what the other party wanted to do, and he had no intention of interfering.

Besides, Tang Yibu was exposed, and what he could do now was extremely limited.

Ruan Xian raised his breath and blew off a dozen mechanical giant birds that Ji Xiaoman hadn’t had time to deal with. After observing the structure of this thing clearly, this time he deliberately put one close, and then jumped up. Ruan Xian took off his electronic wristband and poked the interface of the seam of the strange bird’s neck quickly and ruthlessly.

He wasn’t as adept at fighting as Tang Yibu or Ji Xiaoman. He could only imprison the thing with his legs, stabilizing his body as the mechanical life struggled. The light screen was brightly lit in the air. Ruan Xian twisted the vitals of the thing with one hand while the other invaded its nervous system.

He had never seen such a biological program, and he could only rely on the hormones that were almost soaring to its apex to rack his brains and crack it in real time with all his energy.

He didn’t know whether it was intentional or not, but Tang Yibu had already left the effective range of his blood gun. The android couldn’t fly, and the only place in the sky was in enemy territory—

Although the possibility was very low, in case he was seriously injured, in case he accidently fell off, in case the Mainbrain took out some new weapon…

Thinking about this, Ruan Xian couldn’t wait to dig out those buzzing noises in his mind. Recently, this symptom had become more obvious—once he touched Tang Yibu, the startling and useless murmurs became particularly loud. He was still able to make a decision calmly, but the process was several times more difficult.

It’s terrible.

It was clear before the recognition; his love wouldn’t have these unlucky side effects. Something must’ve gone wrong. If cherishing NUL-00 made his love a bit stronger, the performance wasn’t quite right.

Even before, Ruan Xian had never considered weighing NUL-00 and himself on the same scale. After falling in love with Tang Yibu in a very self-centered way, he never thought that the android would have such a deep impact on him.

But now wasn’t a good time for self-analysis. It was enough to know that the problem existed—before solving it, he had to make sure that both of them stay alive.

Ruan Xian bit his lower lip as one of his hands continued hacking nonstop. He tasted blood in his mouth. Finally, after an artillery fire, as the shell was about to explode right in his face, the strange bird finally stopped struggling, and its movements became obedient and stiff.

Lowering his body, he continued to enter instructions and rushed towards Tang Yibu.

Tang Yibu did have injuries on his body, and the wounds weren’t minor. Ruan Xian took a deep breath and started to think about how to treat him as stealthily as possible when the android stomped his feet and rushed towards Ruan Xian like a cannonball.

The momentum was so fierce that Ruan Xian was almost knocked down by him. Tang Yibu took the opportunity to hook Ruan Xian’s waist with one hand and pressed the top of the bird-like machine with the other. His clothes were drenched in blood.

“You’re here.” Tang Yibu smiled happily, lowered his head, and breathed in Ruan Xian’s ear. “Don’t do anything, father.”

“At the rate of your blood loss, you’ll last at most two more hours.”

“You’ll catch me, won’t you?” Tang Yibu kissed Ruan Xian’s forehead. “Don’t forget. The Mainbrain is watching.”

At that moment, Ruan Xian reluctantly understood Tang Yibu’s meaning—even if he didn’t want such a connection, he could almost instinctively guess what the android was thinking.

Seeing Ruan Xian’s face slightly distorted, Tang Yibu smiled. He pressed his blood-stained fingers diagonally to his mouth and made a quiet gesture. Then he used his fingertips to stroke Ruan Xian’s face, deliberately leaving a trail of blood.

“This is a special seat, father.”

He stretched out his blood-stained hand; the blue light around his palm was extremely dazzling.

A burst of air exploded centered on the two of them, and the surrounding mechanical birds stopped moving for an instant, as if time had frozen. In the next second, their heads lit up with red light. They turned around and began to rush towards the aircraft farther away.

Cunning guy. Ruan Xian tugged at the corners of his mouth.

Indeed, Tang Yibu did intend to expose his armed capabilities—NUL-00 still existed and had the A-type Prototype. This kind of information was reasonable.

But the Order Supervisors and the Mainbrain didn’t know that they still had another Prototype in their hands. Tang Yibu was still the Tang Yibu he knew, and he would never cut himself off under any circumstances.

It was just the android made a mistake. Ruan Xian stretched out his hand and touched the blood on his face.

…He himself had never been the type to willingly give up the initiative and obey orders.

“You’re right,” he said as he kissed Tang Yibu’s bloody lips. “This is indeed a special seat.”

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