Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 107: STR Series

“That’s interesting. Is there any more detailed information?” Yu Le suddenly became energetic.

“The existence of this niche club doesn’t seem to be a secret. There are a lot of negative comments online. Compared with the destruction of the world, it’s mainly criticized for encouraging young people to access officially prohibited materials and spreading ‘ideas that are harmful to society’.”

A 3D advertisement suddenly appeared at the edge of the page. A tempting ice cream rotated in the air, accompanied by a lot of bells and whistles.

Ji Xiaoman stared at it for a while, swallowed, and quickly drew her attention back. “Let me see, including but not limited to literary works, film and television works, music, games, etc…”

“What the hell? Are they still letting people live?”

“There are actually a lot of works that people are allowed to come into contact with here, and they are intricately graded according to the age of the audience. There’s no shortage of entertainment materials.” Ji Xiaoman called out another screen. “It’s just a little… How can I put it? You should be able to understand it yourself by just looking at the name.”

“Oh.”

Yu Le simply put the light screen projection on a wall and cut out a small operating surface, unknown what he was doing.

“Let me see—what are these things?”

“Yes, although it’s rich in content, there seems to be only a few big types.” Ji Xiaoman blinked. “The reviews are also public, and it gave me a headache just reading it. The original ‘standard’-inferior contents that were prone to misdirection couldn’t be made public. If new works are needed to adjust the aesthetic standards and social atmosphere, they will be produced by relevant personnel organized by MUL-01.”

“Look at the introduction. It’s all similar to truth, goodness, and beauty*. Although I have no opinion about this kind of thing, there’s nothing else besides it.”

*Word used to describe morality and nature with good qualities. Basically, she’s saying all the books are all “good” and “moral”, sunshine and rainbows. There are no other alternatives that could arouse negative aspects, and certainly not vulgar materials.

Yu Le hissed and lowered his voice. “Oh, wait a minute, look at this. If you pay enough money and obtain ‘good citizen’ status, you can see something different.”

“What?”

“The Android Show. I heard that kid Tu Rui talking about this. For God sakes, wasn’t this available before the end of the world?”

Ji Xiaoman frowned suspiciously.

“Oh yes, you were young at the time, so it’s normal if you don’t know. I was also in jail then. I haven’t seen it myself, but I have heard a little bit about it. Did you know that decades to hundreds of years ago, almost all TV and movies were acted by living humans? They even had things like reality TV shows.”

“I’ve heard a little about it.”

“Later, with the rise of virtual reality technology, the actors became a little angry. After all, there are no flaws that come from the virtual world.”

After thinking about the name “The Android Show”, Ji Xiaoman could vaguely guess the general idea. She had a hunch that she wouldn’t like what she heard next.

“But except for those big-name screenwriters, in my experience, many people were too busy using technology to create garbage.”

Yu Le turned off the small screen at hand, put the empty beer can on the ground, and commented very unceremoniously.

“I guess there’s a limit to virtual images after all. Just a few years before the Great Rebellion, using the rise of cybernetic brain technology and the popularity of androids, some people went another way—they bought some places, transformed them into specific environments, and then threw androids with special synthetic memories in.”

Ji Xiaoman stared at the drops of water on the wall of the beer can and suddenly felt tightness in her chest.

The room was clean and bright, and the location was changed to indoors. Yu Le consciously stopped smoking, so the air was quite good. This was almost the best room she had ever seen in her life, but she didn’t like it at all.

“In other words, give those androids a specific personality, make them think they are human, and then let the plot develop by itself?”

“Reality is always the best screenwriter.”

“But if, I mean, if there was a murder in those… Those ‘studios’, and an android bashed out the brains of one of their own kind, wouldn’t that be…”

“Little miss, you’re quite clever at repairing things, but why are you stupid in other places?” Yu Le tutted. “Let’s not even mention that the cybernetic brain can be made to closely resemble the texture of flesh and blood. Their memories and common sense are all customized. They would only feel that this is what a ‘human brain is like’.”

Ji Xiaoman slowly clenched her fists, and the metal joints made a low rubbing sound.

“Anyway, The Android Show became extremely popular after it was launched. After all, there was no script. It all depends on how those who live in an artificial environment struggle. In this way, it could also create a more authentic star, and relative derivative products could be sold better. What did Lao Tu say at the time…”

Yu Le didn’t have any X-rated content to pass the time. He stared at the light screen as he sat on the floor while he chattered more vigorously.

“Oh, I remember. When the first android show exploded, rules hadn’t been set up yet. When the show was officially over, the thousands of androids in it were all sold at marked-up prices. According to the background at the time, they called it the STR Series, and directly changed the name to Struggler.”

“Is there such a thing now?” Ji Xiaoman gritted her teeth. “Isn’t this ‘inferior’ content that is prone to misdirection’?”

“So set a threshold. If you want to see something different, just be obedient.” Yu Le shrugged. “If this place had always been so utopian, The Android Show could be regarded as an old-fashioned entertainment project that had lasted for more than ten years. Don’t you think it’s funny? People used to watch an android monkey show, but now they have a Mainbrain that’s watching a human monkey show. This is just like a mother fucking Russian doll.”

Ji Xiaoman took a deep breath. “The Android Show is still there. In this way, MUL-01 doesn’t seem to be on the side of bionic life. What on earth is it thinking?”

“That’s a bit difficult to say. Let’s figure out what Pear Blossom is thinking. Anyways, we both have nothing to do now, so maybe we can get some useful information.”

As soon as Yu Le’s voice fell, a soft tone sounded by the window.

He got up from the floor, opened the window, and took the small box hanging from the drone. Captain Yu himself casually took the bag of things from it, and then threw a box to Ji Xiaoman, who had a gloomy expression.

Ji Xiaoman opened the box. The ice inside was still cold and white, exactly like the one advertised.

“Thank you—” She was a little surprised.

“Thanks for what? Anyways, those two guys are not here, so I can be more relaxed.” Yu Le’s tone was casual. “Laozi can’t eat alone in front of you and there’s a discount for two servings… Eat, you’ll feel better after eating.”

Ji Xiaoman licked the ice cream in small bites. She thought she had hidden her desire deep enough, but Yu Le might be much sharper than she thought.

Captain Yu frowned and ate the dessert, obviously not liking the too sweet taste.

“We should have a few more days,” he said. “You try your best to get information first, and when I finish patrolling tonight, let’s go out and explore together. Since it can be discussed publicly that Snow Plant shouldn’t be too difficult to find.”

“Okay.”

At the same time, there was another person who had just been exposed to information about this wonderful book club.

Under the cover of Tang Yibu, Ruan Xian successfully obtained the information of all the personnel in the shelter. He obediently ate lunch and vomited out his medicine. After returning to his ward, Ruan Xian wrapped himself in a blanket.

In the dimness, he activated the light screen, let all the information flash in front of him as quickly as possible, and poured the information into his brain frantically.

He knew he remembered.

He didn’t know if it was a situation stimulus, but just halfway through the information, some more memories tumbled out of his mind uncontrollably. They appeared unorthodox and chronologically disorganized, but they had something in common. They were almost all depressingly gray.

[Xianxian, don’t you have anything you want to ask your mother?] The mother, in his memory, covered the moving light screen in front of her. She was driving him out of the city, and her voice was trembling a little. [Not a word?]

He didn’t answer.

His mother was crying. She clenched the steering wheel tightly and her shoulders twitched. Although Ruan Xian didn’t ask anything, she still explained it to herself. [The prevention shelter said that I have used up the amount allocated and will raise the price… It’s illegal to leave you alone at home for too long, and I can’t afford to buy a nursing robot… Mom is really useless. Mom really can’t get so much money…]

Ruan Xian understood.

He could even understand the logic of her behavior and had no complaints about it. No matter how you look at it, continuing to treat him was a high-cost and low-reward behavior. Objectively speaking, his mother’s abilities were indeed limited, and his own ending could basically be foreseen.

He would die; the difference was only in form.

[It’s mom’s fault. If I knew it would be just this momentary ease, I shouldn’t have let you undergo those torturous experiments… Xianxian, do you hate mom?]

Ruan Xian shook his head slowly.

He didn’t hate her. Considering his mother’s situation, he could understand the logic of her behavior. Although she did give him a lot of physical pain, under the premise of full understanding, he couldn’t develop a sharp hatred.

[Do you love mom?]

He didn’t know how to react this time.

The woman in front of him had given him a lot, but in his short life, he had hardly ever seen her. Not to mention, he had not yet understood the meaning of love—This kind of unilateral sacrifice didn’t seem to be simply classified as “love”, and the young Ruan Xian was still uncertain.

He didn’t want to lie to her, so he could only remain silent.

But his mother cried even more sadly.

She was like a flower that was gradually decaying, and he could even see that her spirit was drying up and growing mold, rotting faster and faster.

Ruan Xian knew that his mother wanted to abandon him. At that time, he had only one simple wish…

He understood that his ending was only death, and he was happy to accept it. It was okay to stop the treatment. He just hoped that he could die under the eaves and by the side of his loved ones.

Even if he was killed by his own mother, it was better than starving to death in a strange place. Unfortunately, according to his mother’s character, she didn’t have the courage to kill him herself.

He knew that his mother didn’t like to say too many things that children shouldn’t say, and it would be counterproductive to negotiate calmly at this time. That would be too “childish”. He had to think of a way to accomplish the goal of “dying at home” without stimulating his mother.

So he watched his mother park the car in a distant town with the worst security, kicked him out of the car, and then quickly left.

Finding a way to get home wasn’t too difficult for him as long as his health permitted. On the third day, he stood back in front of his own home.

He hesitated for a long time before he found an opening statement that seemed appropriate.

“Mom.” He imitated the tone of the rest of the children in his impression. “Is hide-and-seek over?”

However, all he got in response was his mother’s collapsed screaming.

At that time, she was wearing a brand-new dress. Her eyes were swollen, and she reeked of alcohol. She was dancing with a man he had never seen before. He saw her fall to the ground, and the music abruptly cut off, like a songbird that had its neck broken.

The second time, she drove him to the farthest wilderness in the jurisdiction. The third time, she threw him into the woods behind a deserted village and brought a rope. However, although he could understand the logic of the other party, Ruan Xian was still unwilling to die obediently for his mother’s emotional problems.

Maybe he could try to communicate.

He was still too young and walking alone would garner the attention of everyone. The prevention list could be checked by anyone, and no one would adopt a quasi-dangerous person with personality defects. Even if they did, the odds were so low that Ruan Xian didn’t think he could run into them of his own accord.

He really had nowhere else to go, but unfortunately, his efforts didn’t have much effect.

[Don’t come back!]

[Don’t come back again, do you hear me!]

[Why can’t you die outside…?]

……

[This may not be appropriate. According to humans saying… I hope you can come back to me soon.]

The gray memories suddenly became a little brighter. A long-standing memory suddenly triggered something, and another voice surfaced from his mind. He saw the brilliant sunlight of midday, golden eyes, and a familiar bright smile.

In that brief associated memory, he was dancing with Tang Yibu. Accompanied by the wind and music, he stepped on the ruins that were floating in the air.

[Don’t leave me, okay?]

[Will you leave me?]

[I hope you’ll be mine. Will you be mine?]

The cold and gray memories were mixed with scorching heat. Ruan Xian was momentarily confused—on one side, there was him walking home step by step with pain, and on the other side was fierce gasping, and Tang Yibu kissing him. The two emotions were intertwined causing his temples to ache.

Tang Yibu was an android, and he could infer this from his memory. He was theoretically human, but his memory hadn’t been fully restored and he couldn’t draw further conclusions.

He was once marked on a high-risk watch list by the prevention agency, but he had the knowledge of a researcher and was also involved with an android…

He still had insufficient information, and there was no use thinking about it.

Ruan Xian squeezed the bridge of his nose fiercely, pulled his attention back to the information in front of him, and forcibly branded everyone’s information into his mind.

He cleared all the data in the wristband and breathed a long sigh of relief in the blanket after making sure nothing was missing.

Right now, he needed to focus on his goal first.

At least now, it seemed that his goal was quite obvious—among the thousands of patients in the shelter, only one person had similar symptoms to himself. Luo Jian also claimed that the world had been destroyed, and there were also descriptions of the Sea of Ruins and The Underground City in the records. He had already dealt with the other party, and although the process wasn’t very pleasant, at any rate, it was a good reason to talk to him again.

Next, he only needed to confirm with Tang Yibu…

Thinking of that android, Ruan Xian had another headache. He opened the blanket and sat up, trying to use the fresh air to ease the feelings of pins and needles in his temples and the strange palpitations.

Unfortunately, before he could take two breaths, a voice interjected.

“Mr. Ruan.” The android who just showed his face in the fragments of his memory was standing at the door with a bright smile on his face. “I came to see you.”

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Kinky Thoughts:

Poor Ruan Xian. I just want to give child Ruan Xian a hug.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 106: Pear Blossom

Tang Yibu tactfully bypassed the nearest guide robots, pretending to be confused and heading in a certain direction.

The system self-inspection frequency of the entire prevention shelter was once every ten minutes. He had already circled the scene while his partner quietly parked in the corridor. His Mr. Ruan had at least eight minutes to find the loophole and steal the information.

In fact, he could get the information himself, but if two people were in the same place, it would be more difficult to do the loop scene.

Of course, this was just a superficial excuse.

If he really encountered difficulties, he could find no less than ten ways to transfer the information to the other party, but he always felt that this matter was a bit fishy—his Mr. Ruan had never liked to suffer losses, but he was a little too proactive in sneaking into the prevention shelter.

Yu Le’s appearance was still in MUL-01’s database, so it wasn’t convenient to live under intensive surveillance every day. Ji Xiaoman had a serious disability, which wasn’t suitable for the utopian atmosphere here at all, and it was extremely easy to arouse suspicion. In order to come into contact with Luo Jian, he and “Ruan Lijie” were the most suitable people to sneak in as patients.

However, Tang Yibu didn’t want the role of a patient. Biological samples must be retained for admission to the hospital. Unlike the S-type Prototype, the phenotype of an A-type Prototype was very unique, so it was impossible to use the excuse of “modified nanobots injected before the end of the world”. Even if the biological sample was disposed of, the lab was likely to report the abnormality to MUL-01 during the test.

To be discovered on a site of MUL-01 as an A-type Prototype, he would definitely face a hoard of Order Supervisors. Even if he could break free, his appearance and other data would be sent to every corner of the world by MUL-01, and a blood-red spotlight would be on him forever.

As NUL-00, Tang Yibu didn’t want to let his hard-earned Prototype become a trigger for trouble. The question was how to cleverly deflect this accusation, subtly and naturally persuade Mr. Ruan to play the role of a patient.

Unexpectedly, the other party took the initiative to take on this dangerous job.

Considering that the man was a master of deception with superb acting skills, Tang Yibu wasn’t very worried about the safety of the other party. His focus is elsewhere…

He always felt that “Ruan Lijie” had other purposes.

Everything went well. His Mr. Ruan took the drugs that would only have an effect on humans, fooled Ji Xiaoman and Yu Le, and also fooled the doctors in the prevention shelter. It was determined that the memory inhibitors were in effect, and the shelter would not extract the memory of “Ruan Lijie”. At most, it would only judge his personality based on his limited brain information.

The “Ruan Lijie” who retained his memory would take advantage of the so-called waiting for the effect of the medicine to subside for a few days to investigate this place, get Luo Jian’s information, and find a way to connect with the other party. Then, as long as he showed up, he could take them away according to the situation. If a problem did arise, it was just a matter of taking a few people away.

But he couldn’t bear it, so he snuck in early, and when he saw those familiar black eyes from a distance, Tang Yibu suddenly regained his hunger.

After eating two plates of creamy risotto in the staff room, Tang Yibu finally realized that he might have done something unwise—he planned to take the opportunity to remind the other party of the information he had discovered. This behavior had actually increased the risk of exposing himself.

But he still went to see Mr. Ruan, with honey fruit and a smile of inexplicable anticipation.

Perhaps it was Ruan Xian’s design problem at the beginning, or perhaps it was the instinct set by the laws of nature for all life, curiosity almost surpassed reason. He couldn’t refuse a puzzle that was difficult to solve and was constantly changing. This expectation and fascination was deeper than Tang Yibu had originally imagined.

The subsequent conversation seemed quite normal at first glance. After all, surveillance was everywhere. They could only pretend that they didn’t know each other and mix intelligence into irrelevant exchanges.

But he always felt that something was wrong.

His Mr. Ruan was a bit colder than before. That coldness was not like acting, but more like some kind of chill coming out of his bones. Even when they first met, the other party wasn’t so cold.

This weird feeling reached its peak in their final conversation.

In the scope of surveillance, what Mr. Ruan said was probably just a lie about dealing with the shelter, but the trace of emotion revealed by the other party didn’t seem to be hypocritical, and Tang Yibu couldn’t tell whether it was acting or from his own heart.

Dangerous.

But it was just a feeling he had. From the subtle expressions and body language, if he had to make a judgment, Tang Yibu leaned towards believing that what that person was saying was the truth.

After all, he could touch the darkness hidden deep in the other person. Even if he was injected with personality data, personality wasn’t something created out of thin air. Whether it was fabricated or not, it was necessary to have memories to support it.

Assuming that the other party didn’t lie but simply embellished the facts, this state of affairs was no longer logical. A simple android emotional experiment and nothing more than that. Nowadays, S-type Prototypes could be regarded as a kind of weapon. No one was stupid enough to give a weapon to such an elusive character and too many negative emotions.

Whenever he thought that the value that the other party could give was about to reach its peak, his Mr. Ruan could always give him more surprises.

But he had kissed the other person countless times and knew the composition of that person’s body well. “Ruan Lijie” did merge and destroyed the S-type Prototype. If he thought about it from that angle…

Human? Clone?

Not to mention that it was impossible for humans to have the abnormal state that “Ruan Lijie” had at that time, Ruan Xian wouldn’t use real humans to destroy the S-type Prototype, even if it was a clone. Fan Linsong didn’t mind this but judging from the information he obtained from looking for the S-type Prototype, Fan Linsong didn’t know where Ruan Xian had hid it. Although the two were nominally similar, Fan Linsong ultimately wasn’t as good in his leadership skills as Ruan Xian.

And if it was a human, “Ruan Lijie” was a bit too smart. Tang Yibu had never heard of such a person around Ruan Xian. Even if Ruan Xian planned to break his bottom line and use humans to destroy the Prototype, he would definitely not enable such a dangerous stranger with bad memories in his head.

All of his deductions were leading nowhere.

Tang Yibu stopped, tucked his black hair that fell on his forehead behind his ears, and tutted a few times in the air. He only felt that there was a feather in his heart that was frantically scratching it. If it weren’t for the special current circumstance, he would want to slightly break open the other party’s skull and see for himself what was going on.

Since deciding to perfect the subject left by Ruan Xian, everyone was an equation in his eyes. They were long and short, complicated and simple, and given the same variable, they would give a variety of results. As the observations continued, they would gradually become clearer and eventually they would be completely unraveled by him.

The more mysteries he solved, the more confusing this one became. Thinking of his own plan to erase the other party’s thinking, Tang Yibu shook again very unpleasantly.

Wait a minute. He took a breath and puffed up his face.

Let’s not talk about whether it was reasonable or not. If “Ruan Lijie’s” shell didn’t have a cybernetic brain, his own earring may not be able to destroy the other party’s brain in one fell swoop.

Realizing this, Tang Yibu instantly wanted to turn around and walk back, adding a new earring stud to the right ear of his Mr. Ruan. However, considering the other party was most likely stealing information, Tang Yibu held back his impulse and walked to the target machine.

The inverted teardrop-shaped machine floated in the air a little unsteadily. Seeing Tang Yibu approaching, a small and cheerful “Gwah” came out of the heavy shell.

“It would be great if all creatures were equally detachable.” Tang Yibu stroked the inverted teardrop-shaped machinery, and the iron bead inside was suddenly frightened and no longer made a sound.

“But it must be dismantled. I have to make sure,” Tang Yibu continued softly, while the iron bead began to tremble. “I…”

“Xiao Tang, what are you doing here?”

The remote-controlled humanoid manipulated by Gong Siyi approached from behind. Tang Yibu, who was frantically distracted, almost slashed it with a hand knife.

“I was just leading Ruan Lijie around and getting acquainted with this place, but I got lost.” Tang Yibu suppressed his emotions well.

“Just let the guide machine do this kind of thing.”

“Ruan Lijie’s situation is a bit special. I always think he will do something.” Tang Yibu’s tone was serious. He had never told such a sincere lie. “It’s just an opportunity to hammer away at him to make it clear how tightly we’re protected.”

“It would be great if you had this carefulness when handling samples.” Gong Siyi sighed with his handsome shell, “But I have an uncomfortable feeling about that Ruan Lijie. In my experience, even if he regains his memory, he will probably live here until he dies. Typical personality abnormality. He tried to attack me during the consultation—an attack without killing intent, can you imagine? Even the system couldn’t react immediately. If I was actually there myself… Anyway, be careful. Remote control devices are not cheap these days.”

“Thank you for your reminder.” Tang Yibu grabbed π that was inside the guide machine shell and stood stiffly in the air. “I’ll go back to him right now. It’s best not to leave that dangerous person alone for too long.”

“Wait Xiao Tang.” Gong Siyi held him tightly. “Just let the guide robot go by itself. There is surveillance everywhere, so he can’t get into any trouble. You, help me run to Area F and bring Li Han to my office. The little girl was too sensitive to accept mechanical transportation.”

“But Mr. Ruan and I agreed…”

“He’s just a patient.” Gong Siyi looked at Tang Yibu in surprise. “Xiao Tang, listen to my advice. Don’t invest any feelings in these people. They’re all useless scum and potential cancers of this society—Either they can’t do anything well and will only waste valuable resources here, or they will talk and laugh with you on the surface while calculating how to cut you into several pieces underneath. That Ruan Lijie is very similar to the latter. Don’t be fooled by that beautiful face.”

Tang Yibu was thinking about how to get rid of Gong Siyi’s remote-controlled machine that was in his way when his smile froze for half a second when he heard his words.

“I see, but things have to be seen through to the end once you start it.” Tang Yibu put on his gentlest smile. “I hate breaking appointments, Mr. Gong. Give me three minutes and I can handle Ruan Lijie’s affairs.”

“…Okay, remember, this is not a school or playground. Work tasks must be completed meticulously, and there will be no next time.”

“Nn.”

A few kilometers away.

Yu Le wilted in the apartment, sat on the floor with his legs crossed, and let out a long burp. Ji Xiaoman glared at him unbearably.

“Little miss, don’t stare. Your eyes are going to fall out.” Yu Le gestured to the beer in his hand. This was the fourth one he had taken from the fridge. “I must say, this place, the environment is good, but it’s too fake… There are just a few types of things that you can watch or listen to and they’re all bland. I can’t even listen to yellow music. Life is so boring, ah.”

“Have you seen the Underground City,” Ji Xiaoman muttered in a low voice.

“Dude, I don’t like smog, nor the redlight district,” Yu Le replied solemnly. “I especially don’t like smog in the red-light district.”

“Oh.” Ji Xiaoman shrank in the corner of the soft sofa, her big eyes fixed on the information flashing on the light screen. “It seems that the Sea of Ruins is the only paradise left on earth.”

“Well, at least I really think so. Believe it or not, if I sing a yellow song loudly now, a surveillance robot will fly in the next second—”

“Don’t worry, I’ll beat you first before that happens,” Ji Xiaoman interrupted calmly.

Yu Le clicked his tongue and changed the topic. “What do you think those two boys are doing? I’m still counting on them to get me out. What kind of good life before the end of the world? What a fucking lie.”

“They’re much stronger than me.” Ji Xiaoman frowned. “I can’t invade the deep level system from outside, but I found something very interesting in some marginal sections.”

“What?”

“A very niche book club, ‘Pear Blossom*’. Their views are very interesting.”

*(一株雪) This is a literary allusion to the poem “Pear Blossoms in the East Lane” by Su Shi where (雪) is a metaphor for pear blossoms, thus it’s translated as Pear Blossom (pear blossom is (梨花) in Chinese). || Note: This is purposeful. The author is linking the organization name to a literary work, which in this Petri Dish, many works of literature are banned, which is most likely why the organization that is going against this chose this name.

Ji Xiaoman threw the light screen at Yu Le.

“…They think the world has been destroyed.”

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 105: Companion

Ruan Xian still fell asleep for a while. He didn’t dream of anything, and when he woke up again, the white wall illuminated by the sun almost stung his eyes.

Habit was a terrible thing. He had only been in this place for less than two days, and those vague doomsday impressions had become even more indistinct. He didn’t know whether the empty bowl by the head of the bed had been taken away by someone or a machine, as there was no trace of it left.

“It’s 11:43. You have until 14:00 to go to the cafeteria for your meal. A supplement will be delivered to your room. Please take it before 15:00. At present, your room is equipped with access to games, music, films, TV shows, and news of current affairs. Please enjoy.”

The soft mechanical synthetic voice was accompanied by light music.

Ruan Xian raised his eyes and reconfirmed the situation in the room in front of him. If it weren’t for the fact that he was still wearing a restraint suit, just looking at the environment here, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that it was a high-end room in a hotel. It was just that those elegant decorations were either glued to the table or made of soft materials that weren’t fragile; even the walls had a certain elasticity.

He stood up, walked to the window, and looked out at the greenery. From this angle, he could see a little of the pear blossoms in the yard. From a distance, Ruan Xian could see a little bit of the spires of distant buildings—In fact, the city wasn’t far from here, but the greenery in the courtyard was so lush that he could only see a little bit of the city.

“You cannot leave the building until you get the doctor’s permission. Please understand.” Seeing Ruan Xian staying in front of the window, the voice rang again. “If you need emotional or physical companionship, the hospital can provide you with an android companion type.”

“That’s quite thoughtful.” Ruan Xian left the window. “It seems that you’re not short of money at all.”

“When you recover your memory, we will add relevant bills to your civic life record,” the mechanical voice replied thoughtfully.

“I may not be able to afford it.” Ruan Xian shrugged and walked to the door without hesitation.

“Although your brain is currently unable to be accurately measured due to damage. As far as the preliminary results are concerned, your intelligence level is quite high. After you recover your memory, we will correct your personality problems through memory therapy. As long as you adhere to the three principles of thought, action, and personality compliance and return to the position arranged for you as soon as possible, it is expected that you can pay off the relevant expenses within one year.”

Ruan Xian didn’t answer again.

After a good night’s sleep, his mood was just slightly soothed, and that gloomy discomfort reappeared. He ignored the voices in the room and simply went out the door.

The surveillance in the corridor wasn’t as conspicuous as in the room, but for some reason, he could hear the subtle noises they made as they operated. From his point of view, the surveillance here was the most rigorous he had seen as far as distribution was concerned. It had almost no blind spots.

The people in the corridor who were also wearing restraint clothes walked slowly, moving like zombies; their eyes a little sluggish. One almost hit Ruan Xian head-on like he was just a mass of air with color.

They looked good and healthy, but they were like models of plants planted in the soil—vibrant, but lifeless. It was like an invisible organ had died.

Ruan Xian tried his best to follow the flow of people and carefully observe the structure of the building for the first time. The building was bigger than he thought. Although there were many patients, it seemed empty in the huge space. If some unconventional actions were made, let alone surveillance, even children would feel conspicuous.

How troublesome.

Why on earth did he come to this unlucky place? Although Ruan Xian didn’t think he was the type who pursued a stable life, it wasn’t really prudent to throw himself into a tiger’s mouth like this just to obtain information. He should have other purposes, something that could only be done by temporary amnesia, or could only be proven by temporary amnesia itself…

“Mr. Ruan.” A familiar voice sounded from behind, with the same gentleness as Gong Siyi, but much softer.

The golden-eyed doctor, who was probably his companion, stopped behind him.

“Mr. Tang.” Ruan Xian smiled. “Finished patrolling?”

“We’re the same age. Just call me Yibu,” the man glanced around briefly before responding courteously. “Are you going to the cafeteria?”

“No. I didn’t have much appetite after waking up, so I wanted to look around for a bit.” Ruan Xian suspected that the other party was the same as him—the positions that Mr. Tang Yibu was aiming at were in the direction of where he heard the soft sound of machines. “Is your service always this thoughtful, or does it mean that all newcomers have this one-on-one care process?”

He mixed a few words of worry, which sounded like a bit of a veiled reminder. For the other party’s sake as his companion, Ruan Xian didn’t want Tang Yibu’s eagerness to contact him to cause suspicion and increase his exposure. Taking a step back, he didn’t remember much now, and it was easy to be revealed if he was too close.

“No, as I said before, as a newcomer, I also need to familiarize myself with the structure of this building.” Tang Yibu’s smile remained motionless. “To put it bluntly, your situation is quite complicated, and it can be regarded as one of our key observations. Wandering around is not a wise option. If you really don’t want to relax in the room, it’s better to have the company of a staff… Then you will find that staying in the room is much more interesting than wandering around.”

“Surveillance.” Ruan Xian’s polite smile changed a bit. “That’s a good excuse.”

Tang Yibu narrowed his eyes at him, obviously catching the double entendre* in his words.

*So Tang Yibu is saying he wants to “monitor” Ruan Xian in the room, which can also be intended as (fucking in the room), to which Ruan Xian replies that’s a good excuse, both to Tang Yibu wanting to stay close to Ruan Xian by using the excuse of watching him, and to the underlying “fucking” meaning.

It would be suspicious to refuse again at this point. Ruan Xian nodded. “Then please, Mr. Tang.”

Tang Yibu remained motionless.

“…Please, Yibu.”

Tang Yibu put on a white coat and took a step forward happily. The two left the crowd and walked slowly along the pure white corridor. There were fewer people there, and from time-to-time, colorful inverted teardrop-shaped machines floated past them. The entire scene looked like a fashion exhibition.

Unfortunately, as the number of people decreased, the number of surveillance machines increased.

“I have read your information, and you have a fairly high IQ.” Tang Yibu spoke naturally. “According to Dr. Gong’s records, you don’t seem to like it here very much. I have to remind you that the security system here cannot be broken through by intelligence and technology alone.”

He continued in a tone similar to a warning. “Although you can’t see it, basically all corridors and rooms are under the coverage of surveillance. Even if you can find a way to leave the building, there are armed mechanical patrols in the yard. Those machines are all D-type products… Do you remember the D-type products? That’s not something you can oppose with your bare hands. If you have any dangerous plans, it’s better to give up now.”

This was a veiled way of sending him information.

Ruan Xian accelerated his steps slightly and walked side by side with Tang Yibu, maintaining just the right distance. “Thanks for reminding me. I won’t do anything stupid.”

“The accommodation area is here.” Tang Yibu pointed to the labyrinth-like structure. “Isn’t it pretty much the same? There’s really not much to wander around in this place, but if you want to relax, I recommend the botanical garden in the south building. It’s very close to the outside world and should be good for relieving your stress. There’s also a cafeteria next to the botanical garden, where you can eat. Let me see… How do you get to the garden?”

He grabbed Ruan Xian’s wrist very naturally and took him onward in this maze of pure white buildings. Ruan Xian intermittently hummed a minor tune, carefully noting down the way forward.

However, Tang Yibu’s steps gradually slowed down.

“What kind of song is this?” He didn’t let go of the hand holding his wrist.

“Carol Young’s ‘Prisoner of Thought’, which was released before ‘Step by Step’.” Ruan Xian still remembered this. “She’s an old singer. Her country had been at war for years, and was under martial law at the time, remember? This song has never been released on a regular platform, so it’s normal that fewer people know about it than her later famous song ‘Step by Step’.”

“I’ve heard this song somewhere but never knew the name. Thank you for the recommendation.” Tang Yibu continued to speak in a casual-like tone. “I’ll check the standard song library later, and if it’s within the range of good tracks that are allowed to be disclosed, I’ll definitely listen to it. But to be honest, I prefer ‘Step by Step’.”

“I see.”

“Your mood seems to be quite stable. How is your memory recovering?” Tang Yibu turned his words around. “Communication is good for stimulating brain activity. You can recover faster…”

In this person’s impression, he obviously shouldn’t be in a state of amnesia. The other party had specifically picked out this point, which was very interesting. Under strict surveillance, it wasn’t easy for him to make blunt replies. Looking at the target range of this person’s question, he should perhaps reconsider the degree of danger of this “companion”.

“…Any memories. Anything is good.” But Tang Yibu didn’t guide him to a certain topic as he thought.

“Even the memories of when I was a kid?” Ruan Xian responded jokingly.

“Of course.” Tang Yibu’s smile became bigger again. “Childhood still has a great influence on a person.”

“Why don’t you start first.” Ruan Xian didn’t obediently follow the other party’s pace.

As if he had received an unexpected reply, Tang Yibu was taken aback. He still spoke after a few seconds. “To be precise, I only have a father. Sometimes he’s gentle, sometimes he’s terribly harsh, but then… Well, he didn’t want me anymore. Later, I made a living alone, and I thought it was no longer worth talking about.”

“My dad gave up earlier than your dad. As far as I can remember, he and my mother weren’t married yet. Seeing that my physique isn’t good, he disappeared without leaving any trace of a shadow,” Ruan Xian responded casually. “But at that time, I hadn’t learned what disappointment was.”

“Where’s your mother?” Tang Yibu turned his head slightly. “Is she okay?”

“She’s dead,” Ruan Xian said succinctly. “I don’t really want to talk about this now.”

“…Sorry.” Tang Yibu lowered his voice and turned his head. Ruan Xian couldn’t see his expression.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for. Things just happened like that.” Ruan Xian glanced out the corridor window. “Later, I also met… Relatively kind people. Look, haven’t I survived until now?”

“There will always be pleasant memories.” Tang Yibu comforted him. “People who care about you, people who love you, and such. People can’t only have bad memories; it doesn’t make sense. We can talk about happier things…”

Ruan Xian looked at the other person’s clean golden eyes and smiled reluctantly. “I don’t remember at the moment. Let’s talk about this when I remember.”

Tang Yibu didn’t express surprise or sympathy; he looked a little… confused.

“It shouldn’t be like this.” He frowned and stopped. “Impossible…”

“Hmm?”

“Nothing.” Tang Yibu shook his head and laughed a little shyly. “I was chatting with you, and I just found out that I accidentally went the wrong way. This is a local data storage area, which is quite sensitive, so it’s best not to stay here for too long. I’m going to find a guide robot to lead the way. You wait for me here.”

He paused and blinked again.

“…Don’t run around.”

---

The author has something to say:

Tang: Don’t do stupid things. (I should have reminded Mr. Ruan to do something smart)

Tang: Don’t run around. (Please hurry up and act)

Tang: Dad doesn’t want me anymore. (Dad really doesn’t want me anymore _(:з」∠)_)

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 104: Probe

There was no punishment for Gong Siyi’s attack. It seemed that, at least in this building, aggressive thoughts were more worthy of “discipline” than bad behavior.

Ruan Xian felt a little dizzy. He didn’t wander outside for too long. After eating the bowl of pumpkin porridge, he returned to his ward early. The light screen at the head of the bed was still on, but this time he saw a small camera in the corner. They were fully capable of hiding these things completely, yet they intentionally exposed themselves, which meant the meaning was self-evident.

They didn’t say it, but it was clearly shouting, “Someone is watching you”. After all these years, this had always been the case here.

After all these years?

Perhaps his memory inhibitors were slowly declining, and context-related memories were slowly surfacing, making people unhappy like tea dregs. The restraint clothes on his body didn’t hurt him much, but he just hated the feeling of being strangled by an anaconda. While Ruan Xian sorted out the rotten tea residue that came out of his mind, he quietly played with the glass jug by his bedside table that was filled with ice.

The ice cube gently hit the wall of the pot, making a nice soft sound, but Ruan Xian’s emotions weren’t appeased by this beautiful voice.

It didn’t make sense to assume that he was crazy. Ruan Xian wasn’t anxious about this possibility. He just felt bored. To choose an interesting thought, he should assume that the end of the world exists.

Regardless of the purpose of his previous plan, Ruan Xian thought he wouldn’t jump into the fire pit. Since he was here, he was sure he would survive before taking the memory inhibitor. The point was whether he volunteered—his own body shape was standard, and his muscles could only be said to be strong and well-proportioned, which wasn’t as good as a common athlete. Ruan Xian didn’t think he was a combat genius.

He also didn’t feel like he was the type who was willing to sacrifice himself for others to the point where he induced this self-state of amnesia to rescue someone out of compassion.

This was very interesting.

Looking at all the absurd possibilities, he most likely came for intelligence. He had a relatively large knowledge reserve, but his companion still asked him to be a spy, so his companion was bound to be a scholar who was comparable to himself. Continuing to infer that the medical staff had greater authority and freedom, he instead chose an identity of a patient as the breakthrough point, which meant most likely the information source he needed was related to a patient.

To guess boldly, as a “lunatic” temporarily accommodated in a prevention shelter, his advantage was nothing less than “contempt for others”—he could do less conventional or say weird things. As long as the truths and lies were well mixed, there wouldn’t be too many doctors who would be interested in analyzing his crazy words.

To take advantage of this, either the source of information was in a place where people were “mentally abnormal”, or the source of information was a patient itself. His target was quite obvious, thinking about it this way.

Ruan Xian poured himself a glass of iced water and sipped it.

…After determining the possible purpose, he wouldn’t be stupid enough to wait for his memory to recover. That would be too inefficient. There must be corresponding clues in his only remaining common sense. For example, a wealth of knowledge, doomsday information, or his own name.

Prevention shelters wouldn’t simply store all data in the cloud. If he started from a simple aspect, he could go to the nearest place to the local file storage, take advantage of the distance, and quietly crack it. First look at everyone’s information here. From the perspective of intelligence collection, this was still necessary.

Ruan Xian rubbed his wristband and quickly determined his small activities after a nap. He could stroll around here first to thoroughly figure out the structure of the building…

A therapist in a medical uniform walked into the room, carrying a small bowl of chopped honey fruit. The man was tall and sturdy, and he belonged to the same category as Gong Siyi’s appearance; even better. He was almost illusory handsome—slightly long, soft black hair hung on the side of his face, and his eyes were a very beautiful champagne gold. His temperament was very soft, like clean cotton that absorbs sunlight or a soft handkerchief with the fragrance of soap.

“Mr. Ruan,” he greeted softly as he put the fruit bowl on the bedside table and looked at Ruan Xian up and down. “You forgot to take your after-meal fruit.”

Although it was very concealed, Ruan Xian still found some strange emotions in the other party’s eyes. Like Gong Siyi, this person was also observing him with a strong sense of alienation, but it was mixed with other emotions. A little eager, curious, and inexplicably pure.

If it was a newcomer who had just arrived, eagerness and curiosity would make sense, but that kind of inhumane purity wasn’t normal. Ruan Xian looked at the golden eyes with inexplicable familiarity for a few seconds, almost certain that he and the person in front of him should have some connection.

He didn’t know if it was an enemy or a friend. Ruan Xian thought about it and laughed after a few seconds. Whether it was a friend or foe, he couldn’t trust himself right now, so there was no difference in the results. Now that someone had arrived, if there was real hostility, there was a high probability that he wouldn’t be able to escape based on his physical condition.

It was better to let go and test it.

Ruan Xian stood up and gave the other party a big hug. He gently pressed the man’s head down and put his lips towards the other party’s ear.

“There are no blind spots in the surveillance here. Be careful.” He hardly moved his lips and blew out these words with an airy sound.

The next step was to observe.

Sure enough, the other party’s body stiffened slightly, but he didn’t show much disgust or surprise.

Without hostility, it was more likely to be a companion. The reactions of the person in front of him were also very interesting. The other party seemed not surprised by the fact that “he may retain his memory” and he didn’t instinctively reject this kind of overly intimate behavior.

No matter what kind of creature, it was difficult to fake the subtle reactions of the subconscious mind. They shouldn’t be just nodding acquaintances; at the very least, they should be companions who have experience in acting together. Ruan Xian breathed a sign of relief and let go of the hug.

“Do you want to go out for a walk around the building together?” The man’s smile became brighter, and his eyes lit up. “You see, you and I are both new here, and walking together is good for relieving tension.”

“No, I’m a little uncomfortable,” Ruan Xian said matter-of-factly. He glanced at the name tag on the other’s clothes, raised his voice, and smoothly picked up the subtext. “I’m not familiar with this place yet. It’s too early. When I’m ready, I’ll take a walk with you… Mr. Tang.”

“Let’s see.” The man directly covered Ruan Xian’s forehead with his hands without the help of medical machinery. “Well, you have a bit of a low-grade fever. It may be the side effects of the memory inhibitors… Eat some fruit and go to bed after that. I’m going to continue patrolling. Mr. Ruan, I hope you have a speedy recovery.”

Ruan Xian smiled briefly at him, picked up the bowl and spoon at the head of the bed, and ate obediently.

After making sure that the other party left the room, he didn’t take any risks and laid back on the soft bed. He could probably feel his condition—a low-grade fever that wasn’t even considered a disease; at most it made people a little sleepy. The headache may be a side effect of memory loss, or it may be due to purely mental reasons, such as…

He closed his eyes, and the tea dregs of those memories floated in his mind again.

[Doctor, do you have a kind of treatment here that, um, makes him a little less intelligent?]

[Ms. Ruan, I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you mean.]

[Are there any treatments that can make children more stupid? Ruan Xian’s situation is a bit special. He… He won’t be happy like this, and it’s also a kind of torture for me. I have heard that many therapeutic drugs can have such effects, so I came to ask. If you can, this can be regarded as killing two birds with one stone…]

[Ms. Ruan, although your child is not covered by the protection of social rights, he still has basic human rights. I’m afraid you have no right to make such a decision for him.]

[Is there any custodial treatment? Aren’t you a prevention shelter? There’s no social security for Ruan, but I remember that there’s a tax deduction. For this child’s medical expenses, I’ve been working around the clock. I can’t keep leaving him at home all the time because my relatives at home don’t want to take care of him…]

[At the beginning, you gave up a more humane way. Now that this child is over five years old, we can only treat him as a general containment object.]

[But…]

[And I have seen the admission examination, Ms. Ruan. The child had a lot of bruises on his body, mainly on his head and neck. The injuries aren’t minor, and if he wasn’t on the high-risk watch list, I would be calling the police right now. As a doctor, I must remind you that even for people on the list, excessive abuse is a crime.]

[Those are all rustic prescriptions. I can’t help it! You haven’t lived with him before, and you don’t understand how terrifying it is to be unable to hide any of your thoughts. I just need to make him a little dumber. I don’t want to hurt him. I really… can’t help it…]

[Take it easy. Take it easy. Don’t cry Ms. Ruan. We can talk—]

[I love my son, but I’m just an ordinary person. For him, I have been eating bran and swallowing vegetables* for so long. All my money is being thrown into a bottomless pit. I… I occasionally think about it. If I didn’t want him in the first place, the money would be enough to buy a nice big house and live a fairly comfortable life. Is this wrong? But he can see it. He can see everything. If this continues, I don’t know what I will do…]

*(吃糠咽菜) Idiom referring to poverty and hardships of life.

[Well, Ms. Ruan, I’ll fight for you. After all, it’s more convenient for us to supervise and educate your child here, and it just so happened that we recently have related projects. If you’re willing to let your child join such experimental projects, maybe I can help you negotiate a part of the fee waiver.]

[Thank you, thank you! Wait, doctor, is the door here…not closed…?]

Ruan Xian covered his head with a blanket and sank himself completely into the darkness.

He couldn’t remember more, but the part he remembered was enough to make him uncomfortable. The remaining sweetness of the fruit in the mouth couldn’t dilute the faint irritability. ‘It was pretty good,’ he thought. At least from these memories, he didn’t look like an android, or his memory was manipulated—After all, no one would keep this kind of unsightly thing.

Ruan Xian closed his eyes and tried to get something warm from the remnants of his memory, but he failed miserably.

All the things related to “warmth” in his memories added up weren’t as impressive as that hug just now. He tossed around in bed for a while, but finally sat up and poured himself a glass of iced water.

‘Let’s go out and have a look first,’ he thought. The nominal companion was likely to have arrived. Whether the current temporary amnesia was his own scheme or a backup plan that the other party knew about, he needed to speed up and not reveal any flaws.

…Yes, it’s this familiar feeling.

Never trust anyone and never reveal flaws, especially in places like this. He was indeed such a person, once was and still is.

He must be.

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 103: Two Sets of Plans

“Shit, I still can’t get used to it.” Yu Le leaned against a wall in an alley and smoked. “What a joke. What is that group of people out there desperately fighting for? It’s either that or we’re all crazy together.”

The magnificent buildings towered into the clouds, and the streets were clean and tidy. From time to time, flat cleaning robots floated by the side of the road, dealing with fallen leaves and accumulating dust and debris on the side of the road. There weren’t many people on the streets, and there were basically no elderly or children. The men and women who came and went had good faces and standard body types. There were fewer golden-eyed androids than they expected, but some of them had a light blue glowing identification code that shined on the back of their necks.

Strange-shaped floating cars passed through the air from time to time, and within their sight, the whole city had just the perfect amount of life. There were elegant and warm fragrances floating in the air, and they were mixed with soothing music that emanated from all corners. Large-screen advertisements floated between buildings, as clear as if they had intercepted a corner of the rest of the world.

A peaceful and cheerful city.

It would be better if there weren’t so many surveillance robots.

At that moment, Yu Le’s hair was neatly combed, and his beard was trimmed so that only cyan stubbles were left. He was wearing an expensive, long windbreaker. If it weren’t for his cynicism, he would look a bit like a boss of some company.

Tang Yibu dressed simply. He had on a neatly tailored dark gray shirt. His slightly long black hair hung softly, and a pair of golden eyes were displayed openly, which looked particularly harmless at a glance. Ji Xiaoman was a lot more troublesome. In order to cover her prosthetic arms, she had to wrap her upper body tightly—the little girl was wearing an exceptionally loose dark red long-sleeved shirt, gloves, and cuffs that almost covered both her hands, making her look more petite.

“This dress isn’t convenient to move around in.” Ji Xiaoman’s mood was low. She stroked the iron bead in her arms through her gloves—even π had an extra layer of delicate paint which made it glisten.

“We have no choice. Didn’t Xiao Tang say that we have to dress like this or we’ll be discovered by the surveillance machine the minute we set foot in here.” Yu Le took another puff from his e-cigarette. “After all, the streets are full of people who act like dogs*. You don’t even see a single beggar, and there’s fucking surveillance everywhere. If I was someone planning a robbery, laozi would be breaking out in a cold sweat right now.”

*(人模狗样) Idiom normally use as a ridicule describing the identity person but the behavior is that of a dog.

“Those are not people,” Tang Yibu corrected.

Technically speaking, they were humanoid devices with an identification code printed on the back of their necks. Unlike the androids they had encountered before, these “people” didn’t have their own independent consciousness and were manipulated by others from afar, resembling more closely that of a remote-controlled machine.

Looking around, there were basically three types of beautiful men and women on the street. Most humans acted with androids, while these humanoid devices acted alone and rushed back and forth, which made them a better target.

Not long after entering the city, they found a humanoid device about the same height as Ji Xiaoman.

Tang Yibu quickly rewrote its perception and positioning system. Before the manipulator could react, everyone obtained their identification—Ji Xiaoman participated in the operation faster than they thought. After confirming that fingerprint payment was popular here, the girl neatly removed the device’s hand.

Just after leaving the dungeon, she still had a few clean and decent clothes left. Ji Xiaoman changed into a wide-sleeved shirt, lowered her hat, connected two bionic hands that were no different from human hands to her prosthetic limbs, and quickly bought outfits for the others.

Then she returned those hands and made some optimization modifications.

[It’s a little compensation.] Unlike Yu Le, who didn’t care about such things, the little girl wasn’t very adapted to the mentality of a robber.

Fortunately, the looks that they were wearing were high-end, which was the right match, so it was relatively easy to blend in with the fashion army on the street. Now that the start-up capital had gained a foothold, the next step was much simpler.

Tang Yibu quickly found the loosest part of the system management and registered a fake citizenship in Yu Le’s image. In order to reduce the risk of being discovered, Comrade Yu Le gloriously became a low-level person in The Glass Conservatory.

But even the lowest-level person could have a nice apartment. There was also a price. He had to work as a “legal citizen” here.

For example, like now.

“If you ask me, mechanical surveillance is enough. The Mainbrain is black enough that it requires people to do it as well.” Yu Le stretched out and took out a steak sandwich from his pocket. “Fuck, it smells good. Laozi’s tongue is about to fall off.”

“People can find many signs that machines cannot detect, and they can also communicate with other people and report suspicious behavior earlier.” Tang Yibu raised his hands and glanced to the other side of the alley. The android hardly paid attention to the food, and his voice was flatter than ever. “Most people use remote control devices to do this, but you don’t want to buy it yourself.”

“In all fairness, I have a pitiful income, yet I’m also responsible for everyone’s food and equipment. Just the effects and medicines for the accident scene requested by that Ruan Lijie almost forced me to sell my pants.”

“You get to stay here by yourself,” Ji Xiaoman muttered in a low voice. “After all, they got you a legal status, which is something you can’t buy with money. They calculated for a whole day just by breaking through the defense. This is the first time I’ve seen such… Uh, simple and crude means of defense. If it weren’t for Tang Yibu and Ruan Lijie, with my knowledge, I wouldn’t be able to get in, let alone you who…”

“If you have nothing good to say, speak less,” Yu Le interrupted solemnly, throwing a small sandwich into the little girl’s arms. “You two are now my nominal androids. We don’t look good if we’re fighting.”

But he knew that Ji Xiaoman was right.

The defense system of The Glass Conservatory was completely different to what he had seen before. It wasn’t a place that could be passed through with just a little ingenuity. In fact, it didn’t even have a “wall” in the traditional sense. Only small, strange characters, densely poured from top to bottom, like deep blue rain.

Tang Yibu took the lead in deciphering the entry mechanism—In theory, only high-performance machines and true geniuses could pass through here. Every step forward required huge calculations, and then use of the results of the calculations to decipher and get an invisible “umbrella”. Otherwise, once those characters were exposed to abnormal activity in the rain, the guards of the city would be dispatched immediately.

Yu Le hid the armored car outside the city, hugged Ji Xiaoman and π tightly, and followed Ruan Lijie and Tang Yibu.

The two handsome young men were doing calculations quickly and managed to stretch out a space that could barely accommodate three people. They walked through the wall sleepless for a whole day before entering the city. However, when they entered the city and looked back, the scene behind them became normal, and they were even able to turn around and move forward a few steps.

At this point, Yu Le basically accepted that Tang Yibu was an android. After all, even if the brain had been modified and could allow humans to maintain such high-intensity calculations for 24 hours, it was impossible for two people to appear at once.

However, for Ruan Lijie, a young man with a mediocre name, he couldn’t figure out the details of the other party. People say that geniuses always have some quirks, and it wasn’t surprising that Ruan Lijie was a bit crazy, but he had a strange feeling that the identity of the other party should be far less simple than he showed.

He could sense a little bit of unique aura of an elite.

“Let’s stop busying ourselves with reminiscing.” Yu Le took another bite of his sandwich. “Is that kid Ruan Lijie okay? Why do I still think this is a bit unreliable?”

“Public information shows that Luo Jian has been in a preventive shelter west of the city.” Tang Yibu’s tone became stiffer. “Not to mention that the staff inside are basically remote-controlled humanoids, mixing in requires preparation. Over the past few years, in case something really went wrong with Luo Jian, using the identity of a staff member is too easy to be exposed… Being a patient allowed him to use his mental abnormalities to cover up his actions. I remember we talked about this.”

“I mean that pile of medicine… What a messy memory operation.” Yu Le touched his chin. “With so much medicine, it’s quite scary. What should we do if he really can’t remember? Don’t tell me my memories are suppressed. Laozi is a normal person. If you tell me now that those things on the outside are all hallucinations, I could believe it.”

“…He won’t have a problem,” Tang Yibu responded lightly.

For some reason, even if he smelled the aroma of the steak sandwich in Yu Le’s hand, he still couldn’t afford the slightest appetite.

It stood to reason that his partner’s plan was very strict and there would be no serious problems—it wasn’t difficult to prevaricate Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman. Only he knew that his Mr. Ruan would not be affected by human drugs.

With the integration of the S-type Prototype, unless the skull was smashed open, an ordinary preventive shelter wouldn’t be able to detect the existence of a cybernetic brain, and there was a very high probability that the abnormal radiation would be judged as brain damage. In addition to the S-type Prototype, the other party’s blood also contained an old version of nanobots. The design was very close to α-092. As long as he wasn’t seriously injured, the recovery ability could also be explained.

That kind of incomplete version was available even before the Prototype came out, and the androids hadn’t officially joined the market. The carrier could be very easily judged as a human. He wasn’t sure if Ruan Xian deliberately did this when he created the other party.

His Mr. Ruan would successfully retain his memory, deceive the people in the prevention shelter, and make contact with Luo Jian. Then he just needed to get a remote-controlled humanoid as soon as possible and pretended to be a staff member to go in and pick them up.

But Tang Yibu always felt uncomfortable. He didn’t know the source of this emotion. Not long after the other party left the team, this weird feeling began to appear.

‘This was a dangerous signal,’ Tang Yibu thought to himself.

His appetite was suppressed, and the discomfort caused by the other party’s absence began to truly damage him.

“I want to go to the shelter,” he said.

“We haven’t gotten the remote-controlled device yet. What’s your hurry? Worried? It’s not like Ruan Lijie would sprout wings and fly. Right now, he doesn’t remember anything. What’s the use of you going?”

“I can pretend to be a remote-controlled humanoid myself.”

Tang Yibu was expressionless. Yu Le probably guessed his identity after entering the city. At this moment, an explanation would only seem as if he was covering up something, so it was just better to let him recognize it and let the other party’s attention focus on Ruan Lijie. Besides, their actions were related to “Professor Ruan”. As long as there were no flaws, this shield of using Professor Ruan could allow two humans to find a reasonable explanation for themselves.

“I can pretend to be dormant. I just checked their external communication page, and there’s a public need for medical assistants.”

“The remote-controlled device also needs to be controlled by someone. Do you want to establish a fake identity?” Ji Xiaoman’s attention was elsewhere as she pursed her lips. “I have seen your operation. The fake identity here is no different from directly weaving into a person’s life. Yu Le’s ass hasn’t even gotten warmed up in his apartment yet. Will this attract the attention of the system?”

“I have a way.” Tang Yibu shook his head.

“Oh, I almost thought you were really tempted.” Yu Le chewed on the sandwich, which made his voice muffled. “How long has Xiao Ruan been gone? Can’t you sit still?”

“An outside pickup is necessary.”

“Just say yes.” Yu Le waved his hand. “But if you want to leave us two idiots outside, it’s on you if something really happens.”

Ji Xiaoman gave Yu Le a hard look, then turned to Tang Yibu. “If you have to go, I should be able to hold up on my side.”

π was much more direct. It jumped to the ground and bit Tang Yibu’s pants leg and whimpered.

Tang Yibu picked it up carefully, nodded to the two of them, and strode out of the alley.

“Why do I think that kid’s expression isn’t right?” Yu Le took another bite of his sandwich. “It’s like a stomachache, but there’s no relief or worry. Hey, expert, are androids so difficult to understand?”

“If there is no way to analyze the program or directly contact the cybernetic brain, I can’t be sure.” Ji Xiaoman also glanced at Tang Yibu’s back and took a small bite of her sandwich. “…But he’s not quite right.”

Tang Yibu walked very fast. He didn’t pay attention to the conversation between the two people behind him, nor did he pay attention to the bustling city where bright colors and laughter piled up. He calculated quickly, but this time he calculated more than just one set of calculations.

If he joined in advance, then his plan to bring out Mr. Ruan would need to be fine-tuned.

And he needed to start thinking about another plan. His own situation was obviously getting more abnormal. Taking into account the possible changes after sneaking in and the growth rate of the other party’s attraction to him, he needed to consider how to get Luo Jian’s information from “Ruan Lijie” without attracting the system’s attention…

And then kill him.

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The author has something to say:

Tang: Ruan is not here. My state isn’t right.

Tang: This thing has a great impact.

Tang: If things are really getting out of hand, I’ll get my Dad’s information and turn Ruan into a mindless blood pack.

…That’s lovesickness (…) Ah silly Tang!

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 102: Pear Blossom and Porridge

“If you talk about crises and conflicts, there have been several times before, but they are all under control. At present, the world situation is developing in a stable direction, and environmental issues are gradually being resolved. MUL-01 does exist, but it’s operating normally under the supervision of the world’s top teams.”

Gong Siyi’s tone was light and careful, and he turned the light screen in front of him in the direction of Ruan Xian.

“There’s no Sea of Ruins or Underground City. You see, I just checked and there are no search results. If you give a random date, I can try to find news about that day for you… Mr. Ruan?”

Ruan Xian pressed his temple again.

A deep sense of contradiction was suppressed from the top of his head, and he could vaguely perceive the order in his memory. He didn’t seem to have lived in troubled times for a long time, but he did have a vague impression of those “non-existent” places.

And his companion was only a dim shadow in his mind. It was just that a pair of golden eyes seem to be imprinted in his mind and he couldn’t erase them.

Maybe he had a cat or something. Ruan Xian touched his left earlobe unconsciously with his fingertips, a little distracted.

“Mr. Ruan.” Gong Siyi raised his voice.

“…Hm.”

“If you are not feeling well, go back and rest today.” Gong Siyi smiled and comforted. “After all, we also found a lot of signs of repair in your brain. At first, the verification machine almost recognized you as an android. No matter what happens, you must have suffered a lot, so it’s good to sleep more.”

“I don’t like it here.” Ruan Xian raised his eyes. “When can I leave?”

“We have to wait until your memory recovers. The complete recovery will be in a week. You may remember some fragments in the next few days. If you’re uncomfortable, you can always…”

“Then can I go out for a walk?” Seeing that the topic was going off the rails, Ruan Xian interrupted the other party bluntly.

Although Ruan Xian had a little judgment on his possible identity, information was limited. The environment here was too biased and what he could observe was really limited. In addition, it also made him more uncomfortable. Before he found the source of the stress, perhaps a different perspective could have provided some new ideas.

Gong Siyi showed a somewhat embarrassed expression. “I’m afraid…”

“My body is fine.” Ruan Xian stood up and politely put the water cup back on the table. “I just want to walk around, Mr. Gong.”

“Sorry, I can’t promise you that.” Gong Siyi shook his head. The smile on his face became more anxious. “I’m afraid you need to stay here until your memory recovers and your delusional symptoms must be treated as well.”

For some unknown reason, Ruan Xian became more irritable, and the sense of emptiness was devouring him, moving upwards from the bottom of his toes. It wasn’t the panic caused by memory loss, but it was more like forgetting valuable belongings outdoors. Before reaction, people would always dig out a little sense of dissonance from the subconscious.

Only retaining the memory of knowledge and common sense, as well as a single name, Ruan Xian couldn’t determine his identity, but he was very sure that he didn’t like it here and wasn’t used to being alone.

“It’s just going out for a walk.” Ruan Xian’s voice became cold. “Mr. Gong, I can’t breathe here. Even if you don’t agree, I still want to—”

Before he could finish speaking, a harsh mechanical sound rang out in the room.

“Warning, patient Ruan Lijie’s emotional index is abnormal. The intensity of negative emotions and hostility exceeded the standard. Please pay attention to safety. Please pay attention to safety.”

Ruan Xian subconsciously retreated to the corner, holding a pen that he had hidden this morning in his hand, planning to use it as a weapon. He didn’t know how long it had been since the last time he ate, and the violent movement made him a little dizzy.

“Aggressive behavior detected. Protection activated.”

His legs and arms were suddenly tightened. A metal device lit up with red light as black straps that had been curled up in rolls all over his clothes suddenly stretched out and firmly bound Ruan Xian’s entire body. It didn’t simply tie up his wrists and ankles, as it didn’t miss any important joints, leaving him little room for movement.

It only allowed him enough room for his up and down heaves and blood circulation.

Ruan Xian smashed his whole body onto the ground, unable to move. Now he realized what this was—he was wearing a restraint suit for patients. This was probably some sort of preventive facility.

This was probably not what a “normal person” should know. After all, in his impression, prevention agencies tend to evaluate school-age children. They contain and control people with mental or personality abnormalities. “Ordinary people” may never have any intersection with them in their lives.

“For people who have overdosed on drugs, isn’t this method of control a bit too much?” Ruan Xian adjusted his breathing for a while and directed his speech at Gong Siyi a few steps away. “I just want to breathe some fresh air…”

“Sorry, we found a lesion during a precision test in your brain. It will affect your personality to a certain extent, not to mention that your brain has suffered damage.” Gong Siyi was still polite, but he didn’t hear any real apologies in his words. “Considering your situation, we have to do this.”

“Oh, in short, you saved me, then found out that I was probably a lunatic who had just been stimulated, or—”

“The situation is very complicated, Mr. Ruan.”

Gong Siyi didn’t seem to have much fear. He slowly poured himself a glass of lemonade.

“Your case is still with the police, and the Order Supervisors have tentatively designated you as a victim. But if you make too many dangerous moves, this conclusion is likely to be overturned… You will still stay here at that time, but I am afraid your room will be downgraded by several levels.”

As he spoke, he snapped his fingers, and the shackles on Ruan Xian’s legs loosened in response. Ruan Xian leaned against the wall, barely standing up, staring straight at Gong Siyi.

Even if there was such a big movement in the room, the other party’s breathing rate and heartbeat basically didn’t change. The handsome counselor just looked at him, as if observing a trapped beast in an iron cage.

Wait, should humans be able to hear the heartbeats of others at this distance?

“I see,” Ruan Xian responded, desperately adjusting his breathing and emotions. Those inexplicable anxieties and anger were all skillfully suppressed by him, and after a while, the shackles on his arms slowly loosened.

Gong Siyi smiled with relief. “That’s right.”

“When it comes to violent behavior, it is recommended to clear the patient’s memory fragments from 8:03 to 8:07.” The mechanical sound came from the PA device on the ceiling.

“No, Mr. Ruan is a smart man. It’s better for him to remember.” Gong Siyi wiped the water stains on the table. “Now you can go to breakfast, Mr. Ruan. Taking medicine normally and getting a lot of rest can metabolize those inhibitors faster and restore your memory. Personally—”

Ruan Xian moved again.

He went straight over the table, his movements extremely neat. When Ruan Xian came to his senses, he was already crouching on the edge of the table like a beast. His muscles were tense, and the tip of the pen in his hand was less than half a centimeter from Gong Siyi’s left eye.

“Inexplicably familiar,’ he thought.

The alarm didn’t sound this time, and Gong Siyi was stunned for a moment.

The young counselor didn’t blink instinctively like a normal person—his left eye, which was being aimed at, was wide open and twitching oddly, creating a momentarily terrifying scene. The next second, he fell back softly, paralyzed in a soft armchair with his eyes still open, but his heartbeat and breathing suddenly stagnated.

“Mr. Gong Siyi went offline. PES-A 665s-290 has entered a dormant state.” The mechanical voice sounded again. “The table is not within the range of activities. It is recommended that the patient leave the table and go to the cafeteria for breakfast.”

Sure enough.

The young and beautiful counselor in front of him was an android from the start, or a humanoid device, remotely controlled by the real Gong Siyi. Although he had a lot of relevant knowledge, he had no impression of this style of mechanical device. It seemed that not only his memory, but also his common sense was faulty.

In addition, it seemed that as long as there was “no intent to kill or hostility”, the warning device wouldn’t be activated. He only needed to control his emotions well, and attribute all the exposed behaviors to the emotion of “curiosity”.

Ruan Xian straightened his clothes, hid the pen back in his sleeve, and began to walk towards the restaurant.

Now he only needed to figure out three questions— Why was he here, where was his companion, and whether he was…crazy or not.

Based on his knowledge reserve, he was likely a researcher in a certain field. His hands had no traces of long-term labor work, and his brain was high functioning. Looking at his emotional response after amnesia, it didn’t seem to be the type that needed medication to suppress his emotions.

The data in the electronic wristband was artificially emptied, leaving only a pseudonym. His body didn’t seem to have been seriously injured, but the senses were too keen. Considering his instinctive aversion to this place, he should try to avoid coming in as much as possible instead of taking medicine to escape.

Maybe he didn’t “have an accident and was taken in”. Ruan Xian was more inclined to believe that this was part of an arrangement.

But he couldn’t remember more things.

Anxiety and emptiness burned in his heart. No matter what the purpose of his coming was, it should be important enough.

If he wasn’t crazy and the idea of doomsday and his companion was true, then his companion should be waiting for him somewhere at this moment. Even just the thought of attacking would cause him to be tightly bound and would make it even more difficult to escape. If this was part of some plan, it was more reasonable to arrange to observe individuals closely and respond with appropriate actions.

If he was really crazy…

Ruan Xian pursed his lips and sat down in the corner of the cafeteria. He still had a week left, which was theoretically enough to figure out these three questions. The most important thing right now was to fill himself up.

The porridge in front of him smelled warm and sweet, and there was soft-boiled pumpkin in it. As soon as Ruan Xian picked up the spoon, a figure blocked the projected light.

A man with a white beard and hair was standing at the table with a standard Chinese face and frowning eyebrows. He didn’t seem to be in a good mood. He was holding a bowl of porridge and staring at Ruan Xian.

The weird thing was that although his hair and beard looked like an old man’s, there weren’t many wrinkles on his face. There were a few metal devices on his sick uniform, with light blue stripes, which was far from the style of pure white restraint clothes on himself.

“That’s my spot,” the man whispered. “Can you move over?”

“I thought this was a free to sit anywhere cafeteria.” Ruan Xian had no intention of being polite. The location was quite safe, and the view was good. He could see a few pear trees full of pear blossoms outside the window.

“I have been here for four years, and I have been eating breakfast in this location.” The man raised his voice, sounding as if he didn’t intend to give up. “Young man, don’t make things too unpleasant. That’s a high-end restraint suit, isn’t it? It’ll be bad luck for you if you really make trouble.”

Ruan Xian stared at the other person gloomily.

“Luo Jian, don’t bully the newcomers!” A little girl with a round face not far away smiled. Without looking at the sick uniform, she was amazingly normal, even a little livelier than most people. “Come and sit down. You can also see the pear trees here.”

The expression of the man named “Luo Jian” softened a bit. He snorted at Ruan Xian and walked over with his porridge. “I’m just a little…Oh, you know. Xiao Han, have you taken your medicine today?”

“I did.” The little girl had long hair that was tied up into a simple ponytail. Though her appearance may not be considered beautiful, it was a type that looked comforting and kind. “…Hey, it’s so beautiful outside. It’s a pity that the pear blossoms will finish blooming after May.”

Luo Jian no longer paid attention to Ruan Xian. He looked at the little girl in front of him a little pettishly.

“That’s right,” he said. “When the time comes, the flowers will always bloom.”

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The author has something to say:

The source of Ruan Xian’s familiarity, guess where it is (≧▽≦)

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 101: Dream

Ruan Xian had a long dream.

There wasn’t anything special about the dream itself. It was just a chaotic amalgamation of various fragments from the past few days. He dreamed of a cool, air-conditioned carriage where Tang Yibu was sleeping on his shoulder, and he turned his head slightly to see the beautiful facial contours of the android. He dreamed that they had found nothing in the burned warehouse and had to move towards Petri Dish No. 2217—The Glass Conservatory.

In that jumbled dream, he once again contacted Guan Haiming, who was still in the Shade Refuge. Ruan Xian didn’t need to divert the topic from Tang Yibu this time. He preemptively threw out the restored recording. In the next few minutes, Guan Haiming’s attention was completely pinned on it.

“Teacher has done some research on Petri Dish No. 2217,” Guan Haiming said, his dark circles almost disappearing on the flickering light screen. “As far as we know, it’s one of the largest petri dishes in existence, not much smaller than the scale of the Underground City. However, the flow of survivors in the Underground City is normal, but few people leave No. 2217… So there’s not much information about it.”

He took the hot tea handed by his assistant, Ding Zepeng, smiled at him, and then continued, “Teacher and I mentioned a little about this. It almost maintains the appearance before the end of the world. There are very few people who have left, and it’s hard enough to survive in the external environment. In contrast, it’s extremely difficult for people to get in. He once said he wanted to investigate. ‘If you find a stable way to sneak in, it will be a good place for concealment’… That’s what teacher said. If the information provided is true, I think the possibility of teacher going there is extremely high.

Guan Haiming glanced at the time and increased his speed of speech.

“It’s not without precedent. Four years ago, one person in the rebel army successfully infiltrated 2217, but since then, the external signal connection has basically been disconnected, leaving only a life response. We only know that he’s still alive but no other information can be obtained… If I know teacher, he should be able to get in. As far as I know, even if his state isn’t right, he will take the opportunity to confirm the situation of this person. Intelligence is always the most valuable.”

After that, he moved his finger and passed a piece of information to Ruan Xian’s electronic wristband. “That person’s name is Luo Jian, 47 years old. He’s the former infiltration master of the rebel army, and he’s also a genius. All his relatives were killed by the Mainbrain, so the possibility of betrayal is very low. If you want to find teacher, you can use him as a breakthrough point.”

“Do you have any thoughts on Ruan Xian’s restoration of his ability to travel freely?”

“Unfortunately, no.” Guan Haiming looked almost as confused as Tang Yibu. “Teacher mentioned his physical condition. He can only guarantee that his condition will not deteriorate. If there’s a way to recover, it’s impossible for him not to tell me. I…”

Unfortunately, even though Guan Haiming’s spoke faster than pouring beans, it was already at the zero point. With another round of “updates” from Major Ding, the contact was suddenly cut off.

Although the truth was still confusing, this contact had at least reduced the difficulty of their search—According to Guan Haiming, Luo Jian had lived in 2217 for four years, which was theoretically better than trying to find Ruan Xian, who they didn’t know if he was still in The Glass Conservatory.

This time, Tang Yibu was surprisingly quiet from start to finish. When Guan Haiming disappeared on the light screen, he put his head back on Ruan Xian’s shoulders again. Ruan Xian just wanted to touch the soft black hair that was hanging down with his fingers, when the weight on his shoulders disappeared again.

Tang Yibu sighed. “Mr. Ruan…”

Then everything became blurry, as if covered with a thick layer of mist.

The next moment, a clear light poured down through his eyelids, and a soft birdsong sounded in his ears. The dream had completely ended. Ruan Xian realized that he was awake. He shook his head and got up from the bed.

The bed was soft and clean, with a strange refreshing aroma. The sheets were fluffy and delicate to the touch. The window was slightly ajar, and the warm wind gently raised the curtains, revealing a pleasant emerald green outside.

A peaceful scene.

Ruan Xian pressed his forehead. He desperately recalled the dream just now, but that dream, like most of the familiar dreams, began to disappear irreversibly after opening his eyes. Ten seconds had passed, leaving only vague impressions.

He looked at his hands again.

His skin was fair, and there were no callouses anywhere. His nails were short and clean. Except for the old scars on his wrist, everything was normal. Ruan Xian stared at the scars for a while and frowned.

“Blood pressure, heartbeat, and body temperature are normal. Have a nice day.”

A soft voice came from his left. Ruan Xian turned his head, and a light blue translucent light screen floated lightly in the air, with the date, time, and weather overview displayed on it. In addition to those normal messages, there was also a small mark in the upper right corner of the screen.

[Bed 231]

Ruan Xian slowly exhaled. Not knowing why, he subconsciously touched his electronic wristband. It could be regarded as the only imperfect thing in this perfect world—there were many scratches on the surface of the wristband, and even some bump marks.

“Please take your medicine. Breakfast will be provided after the initial consultation,” the soft voice continued.

An inverted teardrop-like machine floated up and took out two light green pills from its body.

“Common tranquilizer, drug number RL-099789. Take it orally with warm water. Do not crush it.”

For some reason, this scene was a bit familiar.

His mind was terribly empty, he seemed to remember nothing. However, all kinds of habits and knowledge were still floating in his head, with a little fragment that may have belonged to the past. He was able to extract a little information from those fragments, but…

Ruan Xian put the pill into his mouth and drank two mouthfuls of warm water from the machine. When the thing left, he subconsciously vomited the medicine stuck in his throat.

It was almost like some kind of instinct.

“The counselor, Mr. Gong Siyi, is waiting for you at G-902, with the mechanical device code PES-A type 665s290.”

Another inverted teardrop glided over. Compared to the light blue medicine delivery machine just now, this one was painted bright orange, which was very dazzling.

“You still have ten minutes to wash up. Please act as soon as possible.”

Ruan Xian finished washing in front of the sink, trying his best to ignore the news scrolling on the mirror. The person in the mirror was full of energy, and his hair was trimmed very neatly. His dry bangs hung down, and he looked a lot younger.

But Ruan Xian’s attention was all on his clothes.

This was the first time he noticed what he was wearing.

The familiar pure white made him subconsciously ignore them at first, but now facing the mirror, he confirmed the style of the clothes for the first time—the white clothes weren’t tight but not loose either. The sleeves were too long, and there were many metal devices that emit soft blue light embedded in the sleeves and chest. A small metal device was connected with a thumb-sized black decoration. Ruan Xian took a closer look before discovering that it was a tightly rolled strap.

Very… Bizarre clothes, yet he felt familiar with them.

However, there was a floating machine staring at his ass, so Ruan Xian couldn’t stay in front of the mirror for too long. Although he was confused about his situation, when he left, he subconsciously hid a shorthand pen into his crevice of his sleeve.

“Mr. Ruan, have a seat.”

The layout of the consultation room was comfortable and relaxing, like a living room specially designed by a home designer. Coupled with the early morning sun, it was as perfect as a set in a household goods advertisement.

The counselor was also very young and beautiful. When Ruan Xian stepped into the room, he was wearing a long white coat and was pouring iced lemonade into a cup.

Ruan Xian’s gaze stayed on the other party’s white coat for a moment.

“Don’t be formal.” Counselor Gong Siyi pushed the lemonade in the direction of Ruan Xian, showing a perfect smile. His voice was extremely gentle, and he looked at most thirty. “There’s no need to be nervous. Today is just the first session. Just think of it as a casual chat. Let me see… Mr. Ruan Lijie?”

Ruan Xian wasn’t formal or nervous. He lowered his gaze and sat down in the seat closest to the door.

“Do you remember your admission to the hospital yesterday?” Gong Siyi asked softly.

“I don’t remember.”

“Normal.” The counselor smiled. “You took an overdose of memory suppressant, and it was still in the process of taking effect at that time, but in the face of memory impairment, you are the calmest I have ever seen… Remarkable, remarkable.”

“Memory suppressant?” Ruan Xian raised his eyes.

“Yes, if you take a normal dose, it will only suppress the memory specified by the user, so as to provide a more perfect experience. Everyone understands that the first contact with any beautiful thing is always the most impressive, and it can give people countless ‘first’. But as far as I know, some people use it to suppress some of the less beautiful memories… Don’t worry, even if it’s excessive, it’ll not have irreversible effects.”

The handsome consultant continued to smile. “But it caused us a little trouble. We cannot obtain your identity information from your relevant memory, and your electronic wristband has also been emptied. We can only trace the name of the registrant to ‘Ruan Lijie’.”

“I see,” Ruan Xian replied simply.

“Can you remember anything now? About yourself, about the past. Anything is fine. Although your memory should recover by itself after a week, it’s always a good thing to contact your relatives and friends as soon as possible.” Gong Siyi took a sip of lemonade and casually called out a light screen. “…Why don’t we try this. Let me give you a hint.”

‘At least his name is not “Ruan Lijie”,’ Ruan Xian thought, but he didn’t want to give up his name easily. This strange environment was perfect, but he had an instinctive aversion to it.

So he continued to remain silent.

“When we found you, your condition wasn’t very good. Your clothes were dirty and shabby, as if they had experienced something bad. As far as my personal speculation is concerned, your situation may not be good. You accidentally took a lot of memory suppressants to ensure that your mind wouldn’t collapse.”

Facing the silent Ruan Xian, Gong Siyi wasn’t discouraged.

“The police have already stepped in to investigate. At present, it seems that the possibility of imprisonment or kidnapping is the highest. There are nanomechanical components in your blood that are similar to the original version of α-092, but there are some differences and they may not be provided by formal medical institutions.”

“Overall, it’s something similar to the strengthening of primary perception. It’s conservatively estimated that they have been around for more than ten years, and the manufacturing date was even before the Prototype was introduced. You may be one of the first people to undergo underground transformation.”

These terms were a bit familiar, but Ruan Xian continued to remain silent.

“You are now about 28 years old. Going back in time, you were probably no older than 18 when you underwent nanobot transformation. In those days, your family must’ve been quite well-off and had enough money and freedom…”

Gong Siyi paused for a moment to observe Ruan Xian’s reaction. Unfortunately, all he got was blankness.

“We only found this component, which means that in the next ten years, you didn’t strengthen yourself again. This is a bit inconsistent with our inference.”

“I don’t remember.” Ruan Xian slowed down his speech, giving a thoughtful look. “I just remember that this place is good, and the environment was one of the best in the world before the doomsday. Now it seems that this is true.”

The person in front of him spoke politely and had a very good attitude, so much so, no one could pick out any fault. However, Ruan Xian just had an indescribable sense of irritability, and the other party’s overly standard smile made him uncomfortable. Listening to Gong Siyi’s long-windedness for half a day, Ruan Xian decided to use the fragments in his mind to take the initiative to test it.

“…And I remember that I didn’t come here alone. Is my companion here too?”

“Companion? Unfortunately, we only found you alone.” Gong Siyi looked a little surprised. “Also regarding the doomsday, can you tell me in more details?”

“It’s just a vague impression.”

Ruan Xian said half-truthfully. He found that he was extremely good at lying—lies didn’t cause him any emotional distress.

“Isn’t humanity pretty much destroyed? It was MUL-01…or something… In any case, it was something like that. I can’t remember.”

“Tell me about it.”

“For example, in the Sea of Ruins, the ruins of many buildings are crowded together as they floated in the sky.” Ruan Xian tried to make his tone sound plain. He chose the two locations with the largest turnover of people in his memory. “There’s also an Underground City, buried deep in the ground that was quite large.”

Gong Siyi’s expression gradually became solemn. He silently recorded something on the light screen, and then called out another light screen.

“This is the real-time news broadcast now. You can look for yourself.” He sighed. “…It was our testing error. Unfortunately, yesterday’s sample has been contaminated by novices. It’ll be a few days before the next sampling permit comes down. Now it seems that what you’re facing may not be simple memory suppression.”

“Hmm.” Ruan Xian motioned to the other party to continue.

“Look.” Gong Siyi casually flicked the light screen broadcasting real-time news closer to Ruan Xian.

On the light screen, reporters from all over the world were standing in different locations, reporting local news in different languages. Although the weather in the background was different, counting the time difference, the dates were all highly synchronized. The appearance of the cities in the background was also different from that of his own fragmented memories. They looked a little more developed, and high-tech products could be seen everywhere.

“You still have certain delusional symptoms,” the counselor concluded. “There has never been any ‘doomsday’, Mr. Ruan.”

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The author has something to say:

Hm (?

Next, answering two small questions XD

① Why did the S-type Prototype cure Ruan Xian’s disease, but didn’t remove his old scars?

The Prototype removed lesions, but the old scars are similar to moles that are not cancerous. They are subjective things that may affect beauty but are not harmful to health. It’s not within the scope of repair for the Prototype. Take a step back. Even if it’s harmful to health to a certain extent, let’s assume that he’s a fat man (…), the Prototype will not take the initiative to help him lose weight. Its main function is to repair lesions and abnormalities.

② Regarding α-092

Why the Shade Refuge and the people there made a misjudgment. I will talk about it later, don’t worry XD

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 100: Square Candy

‘A somewhat familiar question,’ Ruan Xian thought.

[Reminder for the 142^nd time, the carbohydrate content of this kind of food is too high. Judging from your physical condition…] In his memory, NUL-00 was nagging him with the electronic voice from the tablet. As the number of exchanges between them increased, it began to use more words and even dropped the honorifics for him.

[I know.] That was how he replied at the time.

Ruan Xian once used laboratory equipment to make gummy candies and hid them in the computer room of NUL-00 to steal them. It wasn’t because of how much he liked sweetness, but because the food he ate every day was too bland. As his condition worsened, a little extra additive could cause adverse reactions.

Eating some sticky and tasteless fluids every day, Ruan Xian only felt that his tongue was gradually losing its function. The ingredients for making sugar were readily available in the lab, and he could minimize its impact on his body. The final product was these micro-sticky gummy candies.

Those candies could be said to be a little pastime in the last days of his life. At least that was what Ruan Xian originally thought.

They were made into neat small squares, with a light red color, without the slightest fruit flavor, and only a simple sweetness. Due to the limited materials, there was still a bit of unpleasant bitterness in this sweet taste, but at any rate, it was still delicious.

While the NUL-00 project was perfected, his health was also deteriorating rapidly. Although no one mentioned it, Ruan Xian had calculated that he would probably not live to be 30. Fortunately, the test status of NUL-00 was gratifying, and he may be able to persist until the project is completed.

However, as his health deteriorated, fewer and fewer people were willing to communicate with him.

People were afraid of saying something wrong, causing severe mood swings in this precious scholar. If something happened to the project owner or person in charge at this time, losing one’s job would be the least trivial of things. Besides, there were tens of thousands of means of communication. In addition to talking, they had countless ways to communicate.

The first two years of the project were fine, but the next four years or so, not counting simple instructions to the weak AI, almost all the face-to-face conversation Ruan Xian had was with NUL-00.

In fact, people didn’t need to be so sensitive, Ruan Xian thought. If they had said the wrong thing and made him angry, then he would have been angry at NUL-00 a long time ago.

[Let me change the way I phrase it.] NUL-00 didn’t seem to plan to let go of the candy issue. [You can easily die if you eat any more.]

[…] Ruan Xian pinched his brows. [Thanks for the reminder.]

[It’s time for you to work. For example, continue to improve or refine my perception system.] NUL-00 continued to mutter. [Compare the damage to your body from work and the intake of extra sugar. Work is better. It’s not too late to drop that bag of sugar. You can put it in the upper right corner of my case, and I’ll bake it—]

[So much managing. Are you my wife?] Ruan Xian couldn’t laugh or cry and threw a piece of gummy candy into his mouth again. [And who taught you that joke?]

[Do you like sweets?] The chicken-thieving AI changed its angle and pretended as if nothing had happened.

[Like.] In fact, he didn’t like it, but in this way, he had to face 100,000 reasons from NUL-00. His artificial intelligence had grown amazingly, and his learning ability was especially excellent in some less wonderful aspects.

[Oh.] NUL-00 was silent for two seconds, and the case used to dissipate heat buzzed. [Then do you like me?]

[…Like.] Ruan Xian continued to choose a wiser answer. NUL-00 was a bit like a newborn cub. He had to be extra cautious when asking such questions so as not to hurt the other party’s newly developed mind, which he had no idea if it existed.

And compared to those square candies, he really liked it… Of course, it might be more appropriate to replace the word “like” with “dependent”.

[Which one do you prefer?] NUL-00 persisted.

Ruan Xian began to consider whether to remove certain cable programs from NUL-00’s purview, and God knows whether artificial intelligence had a suitable age classification.

[You.] He still answered patiently.

[Then don’t eat sweets.] Perhaps it was just him, but he felt that the electronic sound coming from the tablet sounded a bit smug. [You like me more, then I am closer to the ‘wife’ position than that bag of sugar, which means I have higher management authority over you. This leads to the conclusion that the following is a legitimate request. If you like me more, spend more time with me and please don’t continue to ingest that high-carb food.]

Several years of hard work have yielded remarkable results. The being who was only half the size of a coconut hadn’t only learned to make jokes, but even learned to stir up nonsense.

The next day, Ruan Xian returned to the computer room, and the bag of candy he had hidden disappeared without a trace. Ruan Xian could probably guess who did it.

He laughed for a long time that day, making the relevant memories extremely clear and profound. In those days of depression, like a gray ocean, there weren’t really many bright colors in the memories.

This was the second time he had received a similar question, which also came from an artificial intelligence, but it was even more clueless.

“Why are you asking this all of a sudden?” Ruan Xian wiped the dust from the plastic sheet with his white coat that had almost turned gray and left his brief immersion in the past.

“I packed some gummy candy.” Tang Yibu continued in a somewhat strange tone. “But considering that you have just eaten, you don’t need to intake it for energy, so I thought it was more appropriate to ask first.”

This kid, who protected food to the max, was probably distressed about his food reserves again. Ruan Xian focused his attention back on the plastic sheet in his hand and shook his head in amusement.

Originally, he had no special preference for sweets, and after eating gummy candy for several years, he was almost tired of it. Since Tang Yibu liked it, he would just let him have it.

“I don’t like sweets very much,” he replied casually, wrapping the wiped plastic sheet in a soft cloth. “You can keep it for yourself.”

His gaze was completely locked on his new discovery, so Ruan Xian didn’t notice Tang Yibu’s complicated eyes behind him.

“Looking at the layout and equipment, this should be a place similar to a high-end conference room.” Ruan Xian touched the burned-out wall, and then glanced at the bones on the ground. “The attack was very sudden, and some people didn’t have time to evacuate, but it’s not that there won’t be survivors. Maybe we can… Ji Xiaoman, I’ve looked. The materials here are all intact. Can you make a reverse vibration dampening machine? External calculations can be done with an electronic wristband.”

“If you clean it up, I can.” Ji Xiaoman took off her coat and carried a bag full of precious parts, looking in a much better mood. “Give me fifteen minutes.”

She found a clean place and sat down, not caring about the scorched human bones beside her.

“Based on this, something should’ve come in with a shuttle agent at that time.” Yu Le touched his chin as he stared at the weird traces on the wall. “Look, the traces in that piece are a little deeper than in other places… Hey, yeah, on that circle. I have seen that if there’s enough shuttle agents and it stays in effect for more than half an hour, it would leave this kind of mark, like on that wall.”

When Yu Le mentioned it, Ruan Xian noticed the weird marks under the burning marks. It was too shallow, and the other marks were so eye-catching that he thought it was part of some kind of burn mark.

Yu Le walked to the burned wall and groped with his hands.

“The model is… I don’t know what you call it. We call it the “Bald Eagle”—a small assault ship commonly used by the Order Supervisors. There have been several waves in the Sea of Ruins.” The former pirate captain patted the wall.

“A small assault ship suddenly appeared and attacked, bombarding the location of important people.” Ruan Xian recalled the pockmarked spherical warehouses outside. “Most likely, the Order Supervisors only got general information, so a small spacecraft was used to spread a wide net and carpeted each warehouse. This one just happened to hit the right place.” Ruan Xian observed the distance between the conference room and the invasion point.

“Then it immediately sent back a signal, leading a large force to follow.” Tang Yibu continued Ruan Xian’s words. “The rebel army should have an emergency record. There aren’t many corpses here, and basically all the information has been burned. The initial evacuation was quite successful.”

“It’s just that Fan Linsong disappeared and Ruan Xian ran away by himself again.” Yu Le wiped the ash from his hands. “That kid, Tu Rui, also said that the chaos only started after the evacuation. Without a leader, it’s not surprising if you think about it.”

“It’s done.” As soon as Yu Le finished speaking, Ji Xiaoman followed closely.

Her speed was faster than that of a lathe machine, and the strange assembly machine still had blackened burn marks. She stretched out her hand to Ruan Xian. “The reverse vibration dampening machine is ready. Give me the fragments you want to restore.”

Ruan Xian tossed a soft cloth bag over. Ji Xiaoman tilted her head and looked at the piece of plastic that was a bit deformed, then took out a spray bottle from her waist bag, sprayed it carefully, and then stuffed it into the assembly machine.

“Its deformation is a bit serious,” she said. “The information that can be restored may not be complete, but I promise, you can’t get better results with other machines.”

Once the topic of machinery was involved, the little girl’s tone became unconsciously tough.

“Please,” Ruan Xian said succinctly.

Ji Xiaoman connected the external wiring into her electronic wristband, turned on the light screen, and entered a series of simple instructions.

The assembly machinery looked a bit like a printer that had been stepped on by an elephant, but it wasn’t ineffective at all. A faint but clear voice came from the light screen, breaking the peaceful darkness.

[Sudden attack! It’s a sudden attack!] Someone shouted.

[Emergency Plan No. 5. External staff immediately evacuate and open the emergency retreat channel. Where are Mr. Fan and Mr. Ruan?]

[Still in the conference room—]

What followed was a series of vague noises. It was likely that the room was attacked, or the piece of plastic was blown up somewhere else.

[Don’t go…] This was Fan Linsong’s voice, mixed with anger and pleading.

Even if it sounded a lot older, Ruan Xian still wouldn’t mistake it. He wisely remained silent and continued to listen. At this moment, the offensive of the Order Supervisors’ attack was quite fierce, and the voices were intermittent.

[You must understand… Part of the treatment… Your brain can only…]

His interlocutor had no intention of answering, as he replied with only ominous silence.

[…Guh, for the good of humanity…] Fan Linsong coughed twice in pain and continued.

Then there was a lot of noise.

[I need a quiet place to think.]

The other person finally answered, with an eerie sense of familiarity in his voice.

That was indeed the voice of another Ruan Xian. In the messy background noise, that sentence sounded creepily calm.

[No! Save… Save me… Xiao Ruan!]

The recording of the plastic sheet came to an abrupt end, and at the end of the recording, Fan Linsong’s call didn’t receive any response.

“Who is this? Fan Linsong and Ruan Xian? The voice is quite similar. I guess no one else dares to call Professor Ruan ‘Xiao Ruan’ anymore.” Yu Le clicked his tongue a few times. “Is Fan Linsong dead?”

“If Fan Linsong dies, MUL-01 would spread the news of his death all over the world and show his death to the public, weakening the morale of the rebels.” Ruan Xian rubbed his lower lip, rummaging through the information in his mind. “After all, he has taken an identity jammer, and he can’t be cloned.”

“But he’s not young anymore, so he won’t run around alone. And his reputation, unless he dies alone, will always be turbulent.” Yu Le twisted his brows and put away his inattentive look. “Is it possible that MUL-01 caught him but didn’t kill him? Shouldn’t it? The Mainbrain can get information from the dead man’s head, so it won’t specifically keep him alive.”

“Ruan Xian’s destination is most likely Petri Dish No. 2217.” Tang Yibu’s focus was obviously on another person. “Based on the surrounding environment and considering the limits of Ruan Xian’s actions alone, Petri Dish No. 2217 is the most suitable place for ‘quiet thinking’.”

“Yo, you really don’t care about Old Man Fan at all?” Yu Le raised his brows. “I admit that Ruan Xian can be regarded as the face of the rebel army, and Old Man Fan is the main designer of MUL-01. I thought you wanted to engage with the Mainbrain. Is it possible you’re looking for Ruan Xian just to have a heart-to-heart talk?”

Tang Yibu was silent and expressionless.

“It’s better to pursue the one with a clearer clue,” Ruan Xian replied calmly, “Let’s go to the warehouse again. If we can’t find any traces, we will set off for Petri Dish No. 2217. Besides, it’s on the way, so there’s no loss to go exploring.”

Ji Xiaoman skillfully picked up her bag of parts. The iron bead was burping uncontrollably as it kept pulling Tang Yibu’s pant leg. Tang Yibu lowered his gaze, carefully picked up the round mechanical life, and was silent for a while before he finally spoke again.

“There’s more than a 90% chance that Fan Linsong may have been taken away by the Order Supervisors.”

“Didn’t I just say that that doesn’t make sense. No matter how you put it, the Mainbrain would—”

“It won’t kill him.”

Tang Yibu shook his head gently.

“He is its maker, so it will not kill him. No matter what went wrong with the Mainbrain, the results of its plans must always have an object to report to.”

“Without a witness, the answer is meaningless.”

---

The author has something to say:

Tang: Do you like sweets?

Ruan: Nn. (Lie)

Tang: Do you like me?

Ruan: Nn. (Truth)

Tang: Then do you prefer sweets or me?

Tang: Is it safe if my name is Tang*?

*Tang = Sweet/sugar/candy. I forgot to explain the origin of Tang Yibu’s name (chapter 32). See Kinky Thoughts.

……

In Ruan’s complaint back then, he unfortunately said it’s not his wife (?

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Kinky Thoughts:

For those who read before I updated the chapter: The origin of how Tang Yibu named himself is because Tang = sugar/candy/sweet (reflecting the sweets that Ruan Xian was eating), and Yibu = step by step (reflecting the song “Step by Step” by Carol Young, which they were listening to in the laboratory).

—

This arc is over. Summary below.

After saving Yu Le from disinfection, they cut a deal with Tu Rui. They would escort Yu Le safely to the Underground City/Petri Dish No. 1315 so he would hide there for a while, get plastic surgery, and eventually come back to the Sea of Ruins, and in return Yu Le would provide them with the location of the now defunct rebel army headquarters. To help Yu Le out, Tu Rui also gave him an off-road vehicle.

When they reached the Underground City, in order to bypass the dead wall, Yu Le devised a plan to jet over the wall using the momentum of the explosives stored by the bandits near it. His plan worked, but unfortunately came at the price of severely damaging their vehicle.

After an inspection by the City Defenders of the Underground City, they were granted entry and went to find a mechanic to fix their car. They stumble upon Ji Xiaoman, who gave them a timeline of a few weeks before their car could be fixed. However, if they were to do her a favor, she could give them higher priority.

The favor she requested was to steal the mind access needle from a mob boss, Qian Yigeng, of lower town in the Underground City. Thus, they started their investigation into him. It turned out that Qian Yigeng ran a “prostitution ring” using androids. Not only did he sell sex, but he also sold them as objects that were basically humans that could be tortured to fulfill the sick desires of humans.

Their investigation uncovered that Ji Xiaoman was actually working for Qian Yigeng, albeit under duress, because he held her “mother’s” memories, an android, hostage. He had the ability to reset the memories of all the old-fashioned cybernetic brains that all androids have. Since these were rare, Ji Xiaoman provided him with fake cybernetic brains so he could use them for his business.

During their investigation, they also stumbled upon Ruan Xian’s wheelchair that was stored in Qian Yigeng’s warehouse. Now, knowing that he held valuable information and in order to pinpoint where he was hiding the mind access needle, they concocted a plan to bait it out. They started destroying all his storefronts, where they found the sickening discovery that, using molecular printers, Qian Yigeng was printing human shells and inserting them with cybernetic brains so that they became products he used to serve his clients with.

Things came to a head when the reset timer for Ji Xiaoman’s mother’s memories was about to run out. A confrontation happened at Qian Yigeng’s main base in which they eventually triumphed and defeated him, stealing his needle and also obtaining information regarding Ruan Xian.

With her mother in disrepair, Ji Xiaoman joined the team in hopes of finding Ruan Xian to get more information on how she could restore her “mother”. Yu Le became more suspicious of Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian. Ruan Xian’s identity was almost exposed, leading to deathly inquiries from Tang Yibu.

Now they’re at the rebel army’s destroyed headquarters looking for clues and planned to head to Petri Dish No. 2217, The Glass Conservatory, to find the whereabouts of Ruan Xian, who apparently left the rebel army and could now walk.

Other things of note: Ruan Xian now realizes his feelings for Tang Yibu but is treading on a tightrope, given Tang Yibu’s dangerous personality.

Side characters

Tiantian-Q2 was an android (and the most popular one) in Qian Yigeng’s lineup. She managed to escape thanks to Ruan Xian’s and Tang Yibu’s help but was eventually recalled back due to the program Qian Yigeng had installed on all his androids. Eventually, it was revealed that her memories were pulled from Ji Xiaoman to make up her memories. After Qian Yigeng’s downfall, her memories were erased, and she has now started a new life with the City Defenders.

He An was an android who possessed memories of the original He An. He was bought by Fu Yu, who wanted to implant his best friend and work partner’s memories into an android because he couldn’t deal with the loss. Like other androids, his memories were also being held hostage by Qian Yigeng, who used him to keep tabs on Ji Xiaoman. His goal was to obtain his own memories and be free of “He An” and to live happily with Fu Yu as part of the City Defenders. He got this wish after Qian Yigeng’s downfall.

Ji Xiaoman was an orphan abandoned by her parents due to being born handicapped. After the end of the world, she was saved by her “mother”, a nursing android called TCR-mother05. She was forced to work for Qian Yigeng as he held her “mother’s” memories hostage. She wanted to steal the mind access needle that he possessed in order to free her mother, and all the other androids under Qian Yigeng’s control of that “memory reset” trigger. After Qian Yigeng’s downfall, she joined the team in hopes of finding a way to fix her “mother”.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 99: Rebel Headquarters

It was only a moment, and soon Tang Yibu returned to his familiar appearance. The android smiled softly at him, eating the noodles in the bowl solemnly, looking gentle and harmless.

But Ruan Xian didn’t think he was wrong.

The feeling of self-deception was wonderful, but the degree of danger was always comparable to the reassurance it brought. He no longer judged Tang Yibu in the same way he judged human emotions—the emotional reactions of androids were unpredictable, and if necessary, these mechanical beings could adjust their emotions faster than anyone else.

So Ruan Xian decided to pretend not to know.

When leaving the Underground City, Fu Yu and “He An”, who had obtained a new shell, came to see them off. Perhaps the word send-off wasn’t very appropriate. The whole procedure was more like seeing them leave to make sure they wouldn’t bring or leave any threat to the Underground City.

Fu Yu wasn’t in very good condition. His eyes were red and had dark black bags under them. In a few days, his whole person had lost a lot of weight. He An, who used to look a lot more relaxed, waved his hand at them and approached.

“Tiantian-Q2 woke up soon after. Fu Yu agreed to keep her.” With the height of his new body, he could easily look into the car. When he said this, he looked at Ji Xiaoman steadily. “But she really doesn’t remember anything, so she didn’t come to see you off.”

“…I understand.” Ji Xiaoman was a little nervous.

“Her true personality may be a bit different from what you thought. For the past two days, she has been thinking about what she has in her pocket—a gun and a boozy chocolate. Did you give it to her? After all, she doesn’t even own her clothes anymore.”

“Yeah, what’s wrong?” Lao Yu gripped the steering wheel, his gaze fixed on the napping passenger in the bowl-mounted passenger seat.

“She decided to call herself A’Qiao, and she looked quite happy. I think you need to know this.” The dark-skinned android smiled slightly and threw a hardtack bag into the car. “Take this and eat it slowly.”

This time he threw it in the direction of Ruan Xian. They were not short of supplies, so Ruan Xian raised his eyebrows and picked it up. Fu Yu stood about eight steps away and watched in silence.

“Mr. Fu’s mood is not very good.” This time it was Tang Yibu, who was sitting in the back seat, who spoke.

“I said everything I have to say. He couldn’t accept it for a while that He An had died a long time ago. By the way, my name is now K6.”

“…That doesn’t sound very personal.” Yu Le spoke as he chewed on squid feet.

“If it weren’t for the convenience of a human appearance, I wouldn’t want this kind of shell,” “He An”, who changed his name to K6, answered bluntly. “I just have some ideas about how to deal with the rain. It’s fine to be human. This name can make him less delusional, which is pretty good.”

Finally, he patted the car. “I wish you all the best. I’ll go back first. When the Red Ghost fiasco passes, the security in the lower city will be quite busy.”

“People will really agree with Ruan Xian’s standards.” When the car drove out of the Underground City, Tang Yibu added without emotion. “Even if K6 completely changes his body, he would still subconsciously think he’s the previous ‘He An’.”

“Isn’t this normal?” Yu Le grabbed the steering wheel and moved forward in the darkness. He took a long enough nap at noon, and his whole body was full of energy.

Tang Yibu didn’t answer. He just stared at the back of the chair in front of him. Ruan Xian was sitting on his side, while Ji Xiaoman leaned in from the last row. For a while, the young mechanic clung to her knees and shrank into a ball in the slightly empty rear seat, and for a while, the car was quiet.

“Hmm.” Ruan Xian broke the silence. He broke open the hardtack specially given by K6, and as expected, he found a chip wrapped in greaseproof paper in it. Without hesitation, he directly embedded it in the reading port of his electronic wristband and began to analyze the content.

Seeing Ruan Xian’s new discovery, Tang Yibu turned to his side and stared at the light screen that popped up. He wasn’t sure if it was his intention, but the android was closer than usual, as Ruan Xian could feel the body heat radiating from the other party through his clothing. He moved uncomfortably so as to get a little cool air that was surrounding the other party’s body heat.

“An encrypted contact program.” Tang Yibu looked at it for a few seconds and quickly concluded. “It seems that he wants to keep in touch with us.”

“It’s a bit risky,” Yu Le hissed. “Although I have no opinion, will it be discovered by the Order Supervisors?”

“This is a special contact waveband that directly targets the android cybernetic brain, which is very complicated. Old-fashioned cybernetic brains are very rare these days, and humans usually don’t adopt this method of communication. Relatively speaking, it’s much safer than normal means of contact,” Tang Yibu explained patiently.

“The problem is motive.” Ruan Xian put the broken hardtack into his mouth, still retaining the program. “He doesn’t have to keep in touch with us.”

“Who knows? Forget it, maybe he wants to catch the girl Ji Xiaoman and ask questions. After all, there are only a few awesome mechanics in the Underground City… It’s also quite good. At least we’ll also know about the situation of Tiantian-Q2.”

As soon as Yu Le hit the steering wheel, the car bumped more severely.

“Hey, you guys should eat and drink now. It’s almost time to reach the ruins of the rebel headquarters, which isn’t suitable for picnics.”

Ruan Xian ate half his hardtack. Just as he was about to take a bite of the other half from his hand, his wrist was grabbed by Tang Yibu—The android directly ate it from his hand, and the tip of his tongue touched his fingers from time to time.

Ruan Xian didn’t struggle. He sighed and began to enjoy the warmth that made his spine tingle.

Tang Yibu finished eating in small bites and continued to stare at the back of the chair, as if he was in contemplation. Ji Xiaoman didn’t talk much, as if she was truly a ghost, or some kind of luggage in human form. She sat quietly in the last row with her face buried in her knees, not knowing what she was thinking about.

It wasn’t until the four of them arrived at the ruins of the rebel headquarters that Ruan Xian knew the reason for Ji Xiaoman’s silence—the little girl crawled out of the car with difficulty, not caring that she was wearing a gas mask, and vomited.

“…I feel that my driving skills are being insulted. I say, since you drive yourself, you don’t seem to get sick, so what does this mean?” Yu Le said dryly.

“Driving yourself is not the same as riding in a car,” Ji Xiaoman said with difficulty as she wiped her mouth and buckled back on her gas mask. She shook in place for a while, then raised her head and looked at the ruins in front of her.

“That’s right, this is it.” This time she affirmed the path Yu Le had led. “I remember these poles… My hunting ground is two or three kilometers west of here.”

Ruan Xian put on a gas mask and got out of the car. After several experiences of being forced to watch the house, the iron bead hurriedly jumped out of the car and climbed onto Tang Yibu’s shoulders with difficulty.

The scenery in front of him was spectacular.

Although he had witnessed the crowded and complicated kaleidoscopic design of the Underground City, Ruan Xian was still shocked by the scene in front of him. This was probably considered part of some kind of junkyard, but it was clearly not an ordinary junkyard.

It was more like a rainforest made of scrap metal.

Countless parts of giant machinery were scattered around, with the smallest being half a meter higher than the average landscape tree. They were poked crookedly on the ground, similar to incomplete and deformed utility poles, with countless lines and fine parts that comprise the canopy. Many mechanical beings had made nests on it, and the wires were still mixed with a lot of milky white gelatinous silk threads, like spider silk from some kind of giant spider.

Some kind of small mechanical life resembling a cube was crawling along the wires in strings, scurrying quickly on its three legs. A few of them were stuck to the colloidal silk thread as a burst of electric sparks appeared on the surface of their bodies before a little smoke came out.

Another kind of centipede-like mechanical life crawled along the glial silk thread, wrapped around the small cube, and was happily swallowing them one by one.

In this odd gray-white forest, there were many huge spherical warehouses. Compared with later creations like the Underground City, they were more like equipment that once belonged to the surface—their diameter was conservatively estimated to be about 50 meters, and the logo of Plan Corp was printed on them. White paint was peeling off in large areas and the rust had created many air-permeable irregular holes in the body of the warehouses.

They were half-buried in mechanical waste with uneven surfaces, as if they had suffered a lot of impact. There were poles stretched out crooked at the top, and some of the poles were still lit with dim lights.

These spherical warehouses were densely scattered in this area. There were as many as up to sixteen that Ruan Xian could see alone, and it was estimated that there were more in the distance.

Yu Le narrowed his eyes, and finally, he picked one of those that looked mediocre and raised his chin at them.

“That’s it.” Yu Le pointed. “Tu Rui told me that the shape of the peeling paint on it is very special, like a bear. See? The tip of that pole isn’t shiny.”

After entering the spherical warehouse, Ruan Xian realized what a difficult place it was to explore—the warehouse wasn’t empty and was divided into many small rooms. Coupled with irregular corrosion, the whole thing was like a natural maze. If it weren’t for Yu Le stumbling ahead to guide the way, even if it were himself, it would be difficult to find the right target at once.

After all, there was the smell of corpses in all directions.

Each compartment was filled with corpses, new or old, wearing some kind of eye-patch-like device on their heads, shrinking in various positions in the corners of the cubicles. The red light on many of the blindfolds was still flashing intermittently.

He didn’t know how many corpses they stepped over until they finally reached their destination. The headquarters of the rebel army were built in the middle of the spherical tank, with a number of small rooms opened and a large number of detectors and computer equipment installed. Even if they had been destroyed now, Ruan Xian could still feel the advanced level of the place at that time.

It felt a bit inconsistent, like stepping into an old and dangerous building and then entering one that was stylishly decorated and high-tech.

“Almost two years ago, this was where Ruan Xian and Fan Linsong were last seen.” Yu Le patted the shattered detector and sighed, a little bit distressed. “Anyway, that’s what Tu Rui told me… You have to look for yourselves. Maybe you’ll find some clues.”

Ji Xiaoman didn’t care about the clues. She stepped on the blackened human bone fragments and began to take the rare parts that could still be used. The iron bead jumped off Tang Yibu’s shoulder, rushed to Ji Xiaoman’s feet, and began to pick up the leftover junk with its mouth.

Ruan Xian paced in the dusty abandoned space, trying to restore the original scene. Tang Yibu stopped in one of the corners. He stretched out his hand and took out a small plastic bag from the ruins.

In the bag was a little bit of semi-melted homemade gummy candy that had already deteriorated.

The android suddenly clenched the bag tightly, then slowly released it, as if inadvertently throwing it back in place.

“This side looks like a conference room.” Ruan Xian was completely distracted by the scene in front of him. The small bag of gummy candy hitting the ground wasn’t obvious amidst the crunching and chewing sound from the iron bead. “Yibu, come take a look. There may be something of Ruan Xian here.”

“Got it.” Tang Yibu didn’t look at the bag of spoiled candy anymore. “Coming.”

“Maybe we can really find something.” Ruan Xian picked up a piece of semi-melted black plastic from the ruins with increasing interest. “It was burned and melted. This material is very sensitive to vibration. Maybe we can restore the sound at that time… Yibu, what’s wrong with you?”

“Mr. Ruan.” There was some subtle helplessness in the android’s voice. “…Do you like sweets?”

---

The author has something to say:

Ruan… Whether you like sweets or not, you are destined to be eaten by Tang in the end√

Although everyone keeps saying they want them to fall in love _(:з”∠)_ with their twisted personalities, they can’t suddenly fall in love sweetly. It’s more like, how can I put it, an adult style… (gestures)

Maybe even () first and then (). Quick. Understand me! (.

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Kinky Thoughts:

I also like this kind of angsty (not-yet-sexual) tension between the two of them.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 98: Chemical Reaction

It wasn’t difficult to tell a white lie casually. Insisting on talking nonsense regardless of the causes and consequences could be regarded as a certain kind of pathological personality, but if you took disguises and lies as part of your life and strived not to be exposed, it was undoubtedly a technical job.

However, this way of living was commonplace for Ruan Xian, and it had always been so.

Not to mention the fact that he was forced to start practicing this kind of technique at a young age. Thanks to his good brain, he would never forget every lie he had told, and he would never trip over himself because he made a mistake and stumbled on one of his previous lies. Ruan Xian was able to distort one thing into different things for different people and deal with it smoothly, like dancing barefoot on a dark stage sprinkled with pushpins, while ensuring that he wouldn’t be stabbed.

He used these disguises and lies as paint, personally sketching a gentle “Professor Ruan” for others, and then hid in that shell like a hermit crab.

Now that the social order had collapsed, this skill still followed him. He had successfully deceived Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman—now, no matter how hard they tried, they could only get to the point of “Ruan Lijie is a human being, but the situation demanded that he deceive Qian Yigeng”. Although Tang Yibu had other opinions, the android would never exchange information with those two humans.

As long as he used subtle differences in positions to convince Tang Yibu, this identity crisis would pass.

However, contrary to his assumptions, even if he threw out “I have done related work in research institutes before” as bait, the fish named Tang Yibu would not bite.

In fact, while Ji Xiaoman was concentrating on repairing Yu Le’s car, the android spent most of his time parked at the top of a building, thinking about life. Tang Yibu seemed to have temporarily put aside the work of observing Ruan Xian and petted the iron bead while nibbling on hardtacks, like a college student who had nothing to do after the holidays.

Since the other party wasn’t in a hurry to ask, it would be suspicious if he rushed to explain. Ruan Xian was happy to use this relatively free time to start collecting more information. It was always right to be well prepared, not to mention that the source of his intelligence was by his side.

For example, a person surnamed Yu who insisted on staying in another place.

“The Glass Conservatory is a good place,” Yu Le explained. Despite a few days having passed, there was still a bit of vigilance in his eyes when he looked at Ruan Xian. “It’s troublesome to escape and even more impossible to get in. The guy on my ship dreamed of going back. That kid was quite capable, but even he couldn’t find a way.”

“Did he mention the situation inside?” Each petri dish had its own special “ecology”, and Petri Dish No. 2217 couldn’t be another place similar to the Underground City.

“He said a few things, but he was always regarded as a lunatic, so he stopped talking about it. I can see that he didn’t lie.”

Ji Xiaoman was standing on a box in front of the car as she worked on repairs, while Yu Le was holding a wrench to adjust the parts behind the car. He was shirtless, showing off his strong muscles that were covered with sweat and dark oil stains.

“Anyway, it’s a good place. It’s said that it’s not much different from the environment before the end of the world. Besides, you also have some skills. If you can really get in, I would also like a taste of this oil water*. If not, it’s not a big deal. I can always drive myself back.”

*Refers to additional benefits or improper material gains.

Yu Le wiped the oil from the side of his face with a cloth towel, then stretched his neck to the front of the car. “I say, little miss, is it okay or not? It’s been almost three days since we worked on repairs. If you can’t do it, you should’ve said so earlier—fuck!”

A nut flew across Yu Le’s cheek like a bullet, and the latter barely had time to dodge. After throwing the nut, Ji Xiaoman turned to her side and glared at Yu Le.

“It’s one thing to simply fix it.” She took the opportunity to pour herself a sip of water soaked in some leaves, sounding a bit drowsy. “Improving its safety is another matter… Since I’m taking a ride on this myself, I will make it as safe as possible.”

She touched the wall of the car lovingly with her metal palm. “Besides, this is a good vehicle.”

“You dare say that when you were originally just going to fix it?”

“Well, were you going to add more money?”

“Profiteer.”

“Oaf,” Ji Xiaoman muttered in a low voice.

“What about the truck? What happened to it?” Yu Le ignored Ruan Xian beside him. “Who told you to move the truck? God, what’s with this bowl?”

“That’s a thinking analyzer for mechanical life, not a bowl.” Ji Xiaoman glared at Yu Le again. “The passenger seat is reserved for π.”

“Are you fucking serious?” Yu Le cautiously confirmed. “Do you want that thing to drive?”

“The Grove-style R-660 lifeform has a very powerful positioning ability and is better at concentrating than humans. When there’s no foreign enemy, the driver can have more rest time and doesn’t need to stop moving because of sleep.” Ji Xiaoman glanced at Yu Le. “The one you have is quite well-behaved. As long as you don’t starve it, it can do this.”

Hearing Ji Xiaoman talking about its name from a distance, the iron bead slipped down from the roof. It turned over skillfully under Ji Xiaoman’s feet, poked out four legs, and kicked enthusiastically into the sky.

A little smile appeared on Ji Xiaoman’s expressionless face. She squatted down, scratched the suspected belly of the iron bead, took out a few screws from the toolbox, and fed it.

“It’s almost repaired. I contacted He An in advance… Ah, now he may not be called He An. Anyway, you have no problem leaving here this evening, right?” Ji Xiaoman rambled on while feeding the iron bead screws one by one.

“Our luggage has long been ready.” Without the touch the iron bead, Tang Yibu also jumped off the roof. He had already organized his backpack and waist bag neatly, and he looked ready to set off at any time.

“Nn.” Ji Xiaoman lowered her head. “I have nothing to do here, and the supplies are all loaded into the car… I’ll go to the car to sleep for a while, and you can discuss the specific time. No need to wake me up when the times comes.”

As she spoke, she climbed into the armored off-roader and laid down on the spot in the last row of the luggage piles. The iron bead rattled twice, hesitated for a while, and still stopped at Tang Yibu’s feet.

“Damn, I’m sleepy too.” Yu Le yawned and wiped the sweat and oil stains from his body with a wet towel. “I’m going to take a nap, just in time to leave you two some privacy, ha.”

He didn’t give Ruan Xian time to answer, got into the front seat, adjusted the backrest, and leaned back to sleep.

Ruan Xian, who was locked outside, had a complicated look.

“I want to eat a bowl of noodles before I leave.” Tang Yibu broke the deadlock gently. “Let’s go together, Mr. Ruan.”

Even if such a big thing happened nearby, Li Ji Noodle House was still the same. They had been here a few times, and the old man outside the door seemed to have remembered their faces, but he just rolled his cloudy eyes at them and did nothing else.

“Two servings of noodles.” Tang Yibu poked the light screen. “What about you, Mr. Ruan?”

“I’m not used to the oil here. Five white boil eggs.” Although it was clear that this body wouldn’t really have gastrointestinal problems, Ruan Xian was still cautious.

Tang Yibu smiled at him and at the same time loosened his black coat, whether intentionally or not, and revealed the weapon at his waist. Several guests in the shop who were looking at Tang Yibu retracted their gaze and continued to bury their heads in noodles.

“What do you think of the news about Ruan Xian?” After the noodles were served, Tang Yibu used the branch chopsticks to pick them up, familiar with the usual innocent expression on his face.

“About his resumption of action? I have no opinion.” Ruan Xian peeled the eggshell carefully. “I have seen so many outrageous things. People will change. If Ruan Xian intends to give up a little persistence, it will not be difficult to achieve that effect, right?”

“It’s not difficult. As I said, it’s fine to receive nanobot treatment.” Tang Yibu raised the corner of his mouth, “But I also mentioned that Ruan Xian has always claimed he would not accept this approach.”

“Maybe he suddenly changed his mind.” Ruan Xian dipped the egg white in salt and chewed it in small bites. “I just want to find him and figure out what’s going on with me. As for whether he’s still a human, to be honest, I don’t care very much. “

He habitually peeled out the egg yolk, paused for a moment, and threw it into Tang Yibu’s bowl.

“If we can’t find him, I have no reason to insist.” He licked the salt grains on his fingertips. “It’s just that this world is already like this. It’s always good to find yourself a goal.”

Now his goal has long changed.

Ruan Xian wasn’t the type of person who couldn’t sleep if he couldn’t determine his self-identity and his motivation to find the other “Ruan Xian” was more curiosity than self-identification.

On the other hand, Tang Yibu couldn’t settle down, and he didn’t want to stop somewhere and continue to live a life full of disguises and lies. It wasn’t impossible to run around with this android everywhere, but he was already at a disadvantage of being controlled, and Ruan Xian didn’t want to completely lose the initiative—”looking for Ruan Xian” was a very useful excuse that he could use to go wherever he wanted, even if the other Ruan Xian was already dead.

There was always a way back.

He was indeed deeply attracted to Tang Yibu, like a little moth to an ominous fire. After all, just a short while ago, Ji Xiaoman’s experience had already taught him a lesson. There was no doubt that the warmth and intimacy of a mechanical life were unreliable. It was very likely that one day in the future, the other party wouldn’t hesitate to kill him.

Ruan Xian peeled off the second egg, smiled self-deprecatingly, and swallowed the egg yolk.

…And Tang Yibu’s understanding of Ruan Xian was a bit too detailed. No matter how you look at it, he was definitely involved with Ruan Xian’s team. This was also a good opportunity to explore the origins of the other party.

Tang Yibu poked the egg yolk in his bowl with a chopstick. An undercurrent was surging in his eyes. He ate it slowly and rationally, without expressing any opinions on Ruan Xian’s answer. The air was quiet for a while, and finally, it was Ruan Xian who spoke again.

“You said you were abandoned by your maker and are completing his final project, but I haven’t seen you try to determine his condition… If your maker unfortunately passes away, what are you going to do?” he said calmly, putting together a small pile of eggshells on the table.

Tang Yibu stopped his chopsticks.

“He won’t die,” he replied almost immediately. “He’s not such a person that would die easily.”

“If you don’t obey MUL-01, the maker can’t be an Order Supervisor. Calculating humans who are opposed to the Mainbrain, Fan Linsong, and Ruan Xian should be the highest level of human resistance right now,” Ruan Xian said lightly while observing Tang Yibu’s reaction without blinking. “Now that the whereabouts of both of them are unknown, I personally think anything could happen.”

“He won’t die,” Tang Yibu repeated. His voice was calm but held a childlike stubbornness.

“Okay.” Seeing no results, Ruan Xian wisely stopped the topic. This time he put a whole egg in Tang Yibu’s bowl—he wasn’t sure if he was seeing things, but he felt that Tang Yibu was a little angry.

Tang Yibu fiddled with the egg with the tip of his chopsticks. His mood dropped visibly.

“Maybe he doesn’t remember me anymore, or maybe he just doesn’t care about me at all. This is also one of the issues I need to determine.” The android raised his eyes, and there was a certain suppressed emotion in his tone. “I have also heard of Petri Dish No. 2217. It’s currently one of the best-preserved places for human science and technology. Whatever you hope to find there, I will find the information I want there.”

Having said that, he pierced the egg with his chopsticks and ate little by little. Depression and anger were mixed together and turned into emotions similar to sadness.

“I see.” Ruan Xian felt that he should say something. “Judging from your completion, I don’t think any researcher will forget you. Although I don’t know what topic you messed up at the time, he will always remember you.”

He stretched out his hand and tucked Tang Yibu’s slightly longer strands of broken hair behind his ears. “In terms of my human memory, I would be quite proud if I could create a… work like you.

Tang Yibu’s expression changed.

Those eyes didn’t soften or reveal any emotion similar to being moved. He wondered if he was just seeing things, Ruan Xian thought to himself, but he saw killing intent.

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The author has something to say:

Fight, fight! （×

Iron bead was promoted to co-pilot!

Lao Yu: …I’ll tell Tu Rui this life tip when I go back.

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