Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 236: Invasion

The rainy day was really annoying. Every step Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman took was full of mud. The ruins weren’t difficult to find. The Order Supervisors had partitioned it off with fences and mechanical police dogs were stationed every two to three meters.

Major Ding sent an offline drone to drop off weapons from the Order Supervisors for them. They were dressed seamlessly. Everything was in place. They only needed a calm attitude.

The ruins, wet by the rain, revealed a suffocating gray and black color. Coupled with the orange light bar, it only made the scene go from bad to worse. Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman glanced at each other, raised their chests, and crossed the cordon of light.

Tang Yibu’s refuge was truly useful. The mechanical police dogs didn’t even move.

The central ruins of the Institute were right in front of them. It looked like a mausoleum being inspected by an archaeological team. There were waste bins and liquid silos with varying degrees of damage neatly stacked on one side. Countless machines that they couldn’t name were running around on the smooth ground that had been neatly cleaned up.

The fracture of the underground corridor was still exposed with a fixed rubber rope added around it. The entrance had a lot of scanning facilities. Compared to a pure ruins, it looked more like an abandoned bunker at first glance. There was a pothole with reinforced edges near the underground corridor. It was covered with a round canopy and had a ladder going deep underground. There was a bright red no-entry sign floating nearby, indicating that it wasn’t a suitable place to go.

Yu Le cleared his throat and stepped into the corridor ahead of Ji Xiaoman.

There was no one in the corridor except for the humid rain. The newly installed absorption lamp emitted a pale light as the two of them fearfully crept deeper. After turning the corner of the second corridor, they finally saw a figure.

The Order Supervisor had his head down and almost bumped into Yu Le. Fortunately, the mechanical life that followed him was fast and took the lead in grabbing his clothes.

“New here?” The man glanced at Yu Le’s outfit and muttered, “What we want is a scanner…”

“The weather conditions outside aren’t good. The scanner is a precision machine, so it’s not suitable for immediate transportation,” Ji Xiaoman said after taking a breath. “Mr. Yu and I will take a look at the situation on the scene so we can make plans for the next transport.”

“Ah.” The man was obviously not interested in meeting new friends. He turned his gaze back to his feet. “Okay, besides, we can’t finish sweeping that thing underground in a day or two.”

Yu Le thought for a while. “What’s with that pothole outside? It’s covered with a canopy and has a ladder, but entry is forbidden.”

“You didn’t receive the notice?”

“It was raining heavily on the road, so I didn’t have time to read it.” Yu Le’s face didn’t change in the slightest.

“We found the remnants of the S-type Prototype there, so we took samples. Although there’s a road to the underground, it’s equipped with a powerful perceptual camouflage, so general machines can’t work normally there.” The man spoke quickly. “You’d better not go down. After all, Ruan Xian… If you break anything that’s valuable, your contribution point will be deducted.”

“Other paths don’t matter.” Since the Order Supervisors had discovered the attack machine, there had to be other routes. The environment was dangerous, and Yu Le didn’t want to lose communication with Tang Yibu.

“It’s okay… Just keep walking this way. The entrance is easy to find, but the place is a little deep,” the man said hurriedly. “You can read the notice for yourself. I have to go get the lab test results.”

“Thank you for your cooperation.” Yu Le touched his chin solemnly. Without feeling his stubble, he felt strange. “Let’s go, Xiao…Man*.”

*Clarity: Yu Le almost made the mistake of calling Ji Xiaoman Little Profiteer (her nickname), so he quickly changed it to Xiao (little) Man.

As they went deeper, the number of Order Supervisors increased. Most of them didn’t look like combatants but more like researchers. The hall that connected to the corridor had been completely transformed. It was orderly and clean, without the slightest smell of ruins. People were busy at the table covered in light screens so that with just one step they would bump into one.

The two puffed up their chests, held their breath, and carefully bypassed the busy Order Supervisors.

“Go to the left. You should be able to see a door marked D-11.” Tang Yibu’s voice finally came from the earphones, sounding as if he had just woken up. “Wait for me for ten seconds… Okay, now, directly go and scan your electronic wristband. You should be able to get in. Although I temporarily hacked the facial recognition here, the Mainbrain has a strong anti-modification program. You’d better stay away from any cameras.”

“Easier said than done.” Yu Le squeezed the words out from between his teeth.

“At present, you’re on the first floor of the basement. According to the information on my side, the attack machine is on the tenth floor underground. You have to go through layers of identity checks before entering. That’s the hard part.”

“I have a hunch that I’m not going to get out. I’m starting to regret it again.”

“The tenth floor only has the attack machine. Don’t worry,” Tang Yibu said, sounding as if he was holding back a yawn. “According to my understanding of Ruan Xian, once you activate it, in order to prevent possible attacks, the entire tenth floor will quickly go into lockdown. During the operation of the machine, no one can interfere with you—even the Mainbrain will take a while before it can break through into the room.”

“…This doesn’t put me at ease at all,” Yu Le said. “Under the nose of the Mainbrain, it will firmly lock the tenth floor of the basement. Are you really sure we can get out?”

“If we succeed, you can come out normally. If we fail… I guess there should be a launch port for people to escape near the machine. Miss Ji will definitely be able to find it.”

“You guess?!”

“Professor Ruan originally put me in his plan, so he wouldn’t let me easily get buried with him. Even if we fail, the attention of the Mainbrain will be focused on us. Rest assured.”

“Is it really okay to rely on the machine alone?” Ji Xiaoman’s focus was elsewhere. “Are you sure you don’t need us to send some virus program? If you just start this machine…”

It seemed that there was no practical use except to scare the Mainbrain. Ji Xiaoman had heard of the usefulness of this thing. It could wirelessly connect to the nervous center through specific information and then attack the core program of the Mainbrain from a long distance. But now they didn’t have Professor Ruan or Tang Yibu to operate it in person, and secondly, they didn’t plan to connect it to anyone’s brain. Finally, they didn’t have an attack program to act as a bullet.

“Aside from what Professor Ruan originally planned to do with it, it’s just a communication machine.”

For some reason, Tang Yibu today sounded a lot more patient.

“Mr. Ruan and I have made a real program. When the time comes, you can directly connect with us.”

The two stepped on the tiles and proceeded cautiously towards the elevator. From time to time, Order Supervisors, immersed in their own world, passed by them. After just a few hundred meters, Yu Le’s back was completely soaked in sweat.

He hoped this was worth it and hoped Tu Rui could hold out until they finished this. Yu Le tried his best to maintain a natural pace, always half a step ahead of Ji Xiaoman as they headed towards their destination.

The edge of the desert.

Tang Yibu woke up. He rubbed his eyes and gulped down an entire bottle of water. The iron bead seemed tired. It didn’t eat anymore, but just rattled as it drove the car wildly.

In the evening sun, the desert glowed slightly red. From a distance, the border between the sky and the desert was still empty. The Mainbrain hid its own body very well—if it weren’t for the S-type Prototype, this kind of perceptual interference would indeed be effective.

“The temperature in the southwest direction is abnormal.” Ruan Xian casually handed Tang Yibu a hot towel to wipe his face. “But I’m not too sure. I’ll have to get π to go closer so I can take a look.”

“Gwah!”

Tang Yibu covered his face with the hot towel and whispered, “It’s almost dark.”

“The moon is dark, and the wind is high at night. It’s just right… Wait, π speed up now!”

“Why?”

“Something’s approaching,” Ruan Xian vigilantly said. “The speed is very fast, and the smell is a bit like M-β and R-β. It seems that our direction is right.”

Tang Yibu immediately became energetic.

The two looked at each other and found a subtle reluctance in each other’s eyes. Ruan Xian moved his body, leaned in front of Tang Yibu, and directly looked into his eyes.

It was as beautiful as ever, just like the day they first met. At this time, the cold and hard beast was looking around nervously. Ruan Xian held Tang Yibu’s face with both hands so he could stop him from looking around and kissed him decisively.

The tip of his tongue swept across Tang Yibu’s and stayed here for a long time. Tang Yibu was shocked, just like how he was at the very beginning, but there was no anger in his expression. He accepted the kiss a little nervously, without any resistance.

Ruan Xian rubbed his finger on Tang Yibu’s face. “You should go.”

Tang Yibu silently prepared his backpack, picked up π, and handed over control of the car to Ruan Xian. The latter didn’t ask for too complicated manipulation rights. The light screen alone could do the operations—he only needed to aim and accelerate the car to its maximum speed.

Tang Yibu opened the car door and rolled into the sand that was starting to get cold. The armored off-roader rushed to the hidden body of the Mainbrain at a crazy speed. It whizzed past the defensive net and through the heavy gaps in the hidden building. The physical defense of the Mainbrain took effect. Machine guards started firing heavy artillery at the car, burning it and riddling it with countless holes. Seeing a machine that used EMP attacks, the car spewed out an explosive wind and sprinted diagonally upwards.

Naturally, the defenses of the Mainbrain wouldn’t be easy to break through.

The distance was close enough that Tang Yibu could see the Mainbrain’s body. Compared with the huge combination of various cubes, the size of the armored off-roader was like a harmless moth. It trailed a long tail of burning smoke, rushed towards the core of the Mainbrain, and then exploded on the last layer of the Mainbrain’s defense network.

Tang Yibu closed his eyes. The sand under his feet was a little cold. This wasn’t a simulation or exercise. He was walking into reality, and it was now time to continue.

The calculation cubes that made up the body of the Mainbrain continued to rotate. A bloody hand suddenly grabbed one of the black cubes. The hand was still burning, and the damaged skin showed dark red muscles recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye. Ruan Xian coughed with difficulty, holding back the pain of burning in his lungs as he kept squeezing the cube that was constantly changing shape.

Blue arcs of light were still firmly attached to these small cubes, carrying a high temperature that a human body couldn’t tolerate. Ruan Xian endured the hot air and slowly moved towards the center of the Mainbrain. His blood stained the nearby cubes, creating sizzling sounds in the high heat.

Ruan Xian didn’t bother to destroy the body of the Mainbrain. He didn’t even take out his blood gun. Not to mention that he had the S-type Prototype, even if Tang Yibu could forcibly deal with the high temperature, it was difficult to physically destroy such a behemoth—these black metal cubes were probably made of the hardest material in the world.

He pushed aside the hot metal cubes in front of him and moved patiently towards his destination amidst the scorching smell of flesh. The cleaning machines of the Mainbrain started to gather. They swept over Ruan Xian’s limbs, cutting off pieces of flesh, but Ruan Xian didn’t bother with them—he only needed to guarantee one thing. As long as the mechanical box tied to his back wasn’t removed, the plan would not be affected.

The mechanical box was big and heavy, but he didn’t have time to rest. The pain was eating him, and Ruan Xian wasn’t sure if he would have the stamina to continue.

He had to hang on for a while. He couldn’t waste any time. Every minute, every second that he held on to here was bought by Tang Yibu out there.

The garrison obviously found this abnormality that couldn’t be cleaned up, but the Mainbrain’s body was too strong and the metal cubes too dense. This had never happened before, so everyone was at a loss—the solid black cubes became the greatest barrier and even the smallest guide. Bullets couldn’t penetrate through them.

But it was only a person made of flesh and blood with a mechanical box the size of only one cubic meter, so he wouldn’t be able to make any waves—even if the person was carrying a nuclear bomb, the Mainbrain only needed to temporarily adjust its shape and establish a closed network to minimize the damage. If this was some kind of secret weapon, it didn’t seem complex given the size.

Even if the Mainbrain could be destroyed, it certainly wouldn’t be by the hands of such a thing.

The leader of the garrison thought for a while. “Connect me to Commander Zhuo. Report this matter and do your best to deal with the one outside.”

“Yes.”

Ruan Xian could faintly hear these conversations, but his attention was completely focused on other places…

At the core of the huge square formation, a black cube the size of a human head was silently rotating. There were thousands of black cubes spinning uncontrollably, with blue arcs of light connecting them. Surrounded by such a sight, this thing didn’t look conspicuous at all.

But he still found it.

Ruan Xian’s vision was a bit blurred, and he began to pull fresh memories from his head so that he could refresh himself.

Not long ago, it was just him and Tang Yibu. Under the star in the sky, they happily gestured various plans on the light screen, as if it was some kind of interesting game.

At that time, Tang Yibu wasn’t so anxious.

[When I was on the Mainbrain’s side, there was a food sand table.] Tang Yibu produced a video. [Explain it Mr. Ruan.]

[You’ve written down the basic structure of Professor Ruan’s spare machine.] Ruan Xian gestured. [This new information is very important.]

[Tell me about it?]

[In theory, this is a simplified version of Professor Ruan’s preferred plan. You see, even if the attack machine of the forest petri dish was exposed by me, considering the research cost, his combat thinking would not change too much—this alternate version is more like a solidarity core. He has to use hardware from other petri dishes in order to achieve the connection effect similar to the completed machine.]

[This is indeed the most reasonable choice.] Tang Yibu’s eyes flashed in the night. [Is there any problem? …Ah.]

[Yes.] Seeing Tang Yibu coming back to his senses, Ruan Xian smiled. [The attack machine in the forest petri dish was exposed by me, so the Mainbrain will look for it and study it as soon as possible, and by default, it will not be used in the war.]

[Because Professor Ruan is aware of the exposure, he will definitely not risk going to the forest petri dish.] Tang Yibu took over. [But it’s still able to function properly.]

[Yeah. It’s not bad to borrow it. It would be a shame to waste such a big project.]

[But we still don’t have external resources… Without it, it’s just a powerful signal transmitter. It can’t do much with the Mainbrain watching over us.]

[The premise is that we do the normal connection method—use it as the main attack machine, find external resources, enhance the signal, and ensure the strength of communication. What if we treat it as ‘external hardware’?]

[Wait, Mr. Ruan. Did you mean at the time…】

[Nn.]

[No, it still won’t work.] Tang Yibu calculated for a while. [If this was feasible, Professor Ruan himself would use this approach—even if we use the spare machine as the main tool and the one in the forest petri dish as the external hardware, the strength still isn’t enough to destroy the Mainbrain.]

[Even if you consider the weakness of the Mainbrain?]

[I’ve considered it. I’ve also considered the lack of support caused by the chaos of the small and medium-sized strongholds.]

[Hm…]

[Even if Professor Ruan lends us his attack program and I try my best, at most I can only hit it hard.] Tang Yibu fumed on his own. [But this direction is reasonable. It seems that to truly eliminate MUL-01, we still have to cooperate with Professor Ruan—we first hit it hard, then Professor Ruan will follow up and use his own set of mechanical attacks. This will work, Mr. Ruan, and the odds of winning are much better.

[No. By the time Professor Ruan’s attack program is completed, the Mainbrain will already be in a fully prepared state. We may not be able to approach it successfully with the backup machine as we are now—the farther away we are, the worse the connection. Counting the Mainbrain’s war-level defenses, it’s hard to say what the effect will be.]

The Mainbrain had the instinct to live in spite of everything. Even if it couldn’t win, it would still make things ugly until the very end.

…Wait. They could win “in theory” like this.

[Yibu, I have an idea.]

A string of blisters burned on the palm of Ruan Xian’s hand. The new pain dispersed his memories. Ruan Xian adjusted his breathing and continued to move towards the center of the Mainbrain—finally, he stopped next to it and unlocked the mechanical box behind him.

The temporary spare machine could withstand the high temperature. Time was limited. They modified many places and didn’t perfectly restore Professor Ruan’s design, but the current distance advantage could make up for this shortfall.

The spare machine started and was tightly absorbed next to the core of the Mainbrain.

“Yu Le, do it.” After delivering the message, Ruan Xian picked up the mechanical helmet-like connector. He made mental preparations for a while before putting it on his head—it was like a head device used to treat mental illness in the early years. After tightening it on his head, several long needles penetrated into his brain.

Ruan Xian thought bitterly that at least this was better than Professor Ruan’s situation. He didn’t have to embed his brain directly into the machine.

Then the scene in front of him turned snow-white.

It was coming.

The program stimulated and modified visual signals. There was only a small, snow-white room in front of him, and all four of its sides continued to expand. Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman had activated the device in the forest petri dish according to their agreement, which effectively enhanced their connection and computing power.

The space was getting bigger and countless fluorescent blue spots of light were flashing around. Those were all mental cores that could be connected. Most likely, they were mechanical life near the desert. Ruan Xian ignored them and continued to look around.

A huge golden light mass, as dazzling as the sun, floated near him—that should be Tang Yibu’s mental  core. Ruan Xian stretched out a hand and touched it tentatively, but before his finger approached, an overwhelming forbidden signal was erected near the mass.

“If I could hack NUL-00 so easily, I would have done this a long time ago.” A voice sounded.

Ruan Xian retracted his hand and turned his head. His goal was just a few steps away.

Since the invasion point was next to the Mainbrain’s body, Ruan Xian didn’t need to work hard to distinguish possible interference signals. The Mainbrain had no plans to go in circles with him. In this cyber world, the Mainbrain once again used the same image as Tang Yibu.

He successfully avoided the early invasion war of attrition and came into direct contact with it.

“I really didn’t calculate this, but your approach is meaningless,” “Tang Yibu” said. “Since the start of when you entered my city, your actions with NUL-00 have lost common sense.”

“But it doesn’t matter. Here, your winning rate is 0%.” The Mainbrain stretched out a hand. “Thank you for your recklessness. This can be regarded as an exercise to deal with Ruan Xian.”

The huge space was immediately filled with countless flowing characters. Ruan Xian recognized some of them.

The Mainbrain was trying to seize control of him and decipher their possible attack plans. Ruan Xian used his thinking to mobilize the system a little jerkily. With the core logic of the Mainbrain clear, several screens of characters rose in a row. He barely blocked the first wave of attempts at the cost of pain that penetrated deeply into the marrows of his brain.

Professor Ruan’s initial plan was indeed reasonable. Without the necessary external forces, their “computing resources” were too disparate. Compared to Professor Ruan, his only advantage was probably “after suffering brain damage, he will not die too quickly”.

But this was enough. He only needed to hold on for a while.

Ruan Xian quietly activated the procedures he and Tang Yibu had perfected and continued to confront the Mainbrain.

Perceiving Ruan Xian’s way of resistance, the virtual image of the Mainbrain became unstable for a moment, showing uncomfortable distortions and flickering.

“It seems that there is no need to wait for the results. There is indeed a problem with Hu Shuli’s report.” The distorted shadow resembling a human form opened its mouth, and its tone became somewhat strange. “You have been exposed to my core logic and understand it deeply.”

MUL-01 finally stabilized its image again, and the expression on its face completely disappeared.

“…You’re not Ruan Lijie.”

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 235: Four-Person Operation

Professor Ruan was still nervously preparing his battle plans, so it was naturally impossible for him to answer MUL-01’s question. At present, the attack program hadn’t been completed. He acquiesced to Tang Yibu’s tossing outside—as long as NUL-00 could contribute when it was time to do so, Professor Ruan didn’t want to bind it too tightly.

After all, it was acting with its true creator. With NUL-00 staring at him, it wouldn’t be easy for Ruan Xian to compromise with the Mainbrain.

He had no position to command the two of them, and it was easy for things to backfire if he pushed too hard. Professor Ruan maintained this cooperative relationship but had secretly asked people to observe the whereabouts of the two of them. Whether it was them playing whack-a-mole at the various small and medium-sized strongholds, to riding into the desert, he didn’t mean to intervene for the time being.

They had wisdom and strength, but even a clever woman couldn’t cook without rice*. Even if they stood in front of the Mainbrain’s body, two people alone couldn’t make much of a storm.

*(巧妇难为无米之炊) Proverb meaning lacking the necessary conditions, it’s difficult for even capable people to accomplish things.

As far as his latest information was concerned, the damaged armored off-roader was heading deep into the dessert. Those two people were probably taking advantage of the chaos to spy on more intel. At least this was what Professor Ruan concluded—he couldn’t think of what else they could do.

Well, his information wasn’t wrong.

The morning of the last day had arrived. The sun was shining bright. The top of the armored off-roader unfolded its sun panels. Outside the window was only endless desert. The dull scenery made the iron bead less enthusiastic. It was no longer humming but was slowly chewing on parts on the side as it drove the car smoothly.

Ruan Xian sat leaning against the window of the car, watching the sand dunes outside slowly recede. The armored off-roader seemed to be sailing on a sandy and golden ocean. Tang Yibu was no longer attacking the strongholds under the Mainbrain. Their test had been completed—the assembled machinery lay quietly beside Ruan Xian, and the procedure contained in it only needed a final correction.

Tang Yibu was once again eating something. Even with the air conditioning in the car, the heat radiating from outside still made the android look sick. He rubbed against the temporary bed that was made of seats connected together and scuttled next to Ruan Xian.

Ruan Xian didn’t avoid allowing Tang Yibu to lean on his shoulders.

Yu Le’s and Ji Xiaoman’s escape presented a great opportunity, allowing the start of a chain of chaos. Without Professor Ruan’s intervention in this matter, the possibility of the Mainbrain reacting in advance was extremely low. However, under the control of the Mainbrain, the butterfly effect was ultimately limited. Once the 24 hours had passed, those small and medium-sized strongholds would recover from the chaos, and they would lose their best chance of attacking.

Success or failure was at stake here.

After attacking hundreds of strongholds in a row, Tang Yibu felt tired. With one hand, Ruan Xian manipulated the one cubic meter-sized machinery and continued to improve the program inside. His other hand was wrapped around Tang Yibu, letting him lie in his lap.

“Get some sleep.” Ruan Xian lowered the curtains and said to the listless Tang Yibu, “The next part is a protracted battle. It’s better to accumulate as much energy as possible.”

Tang Yibu hummed, and obediently lay down on Ruan Xian’s lap. He didn’t close his eyes immediately, but half squinted them, staring at Ruan Xian’s neck from the bottom up, and holding the bag in his arms tighter—Ruan Xian took enough blood and made countless blood compresses along the way. They were packed together with high-calorie food in Tang Yibu’s backpack and waist bag.

He still wasn’t used to the feeling of not having absolute control over the overall situation.

“You told me, ‘Any action has a rhythm. You just need to catch it and pull the trigger, and too much thinking can disrupt that rhythm’… I think this statement is extremely applicable to combat.” Perceiving the other party’s uneasiness, Ruan Xian stopped the movements in his hand.

“That’s because I have the power to make sure there won’t be any problems,” Tang Yibu whispered.

“Now… The Mainbrain must’ve discovered our movements, so it’ll also send M-β and R-β over. They must have been upgraded. The same tactics cannot be used a second time. We don’t have an advantage in combat power.”

Ruan Xian didn’t answer immediately, but just listened carefully.

“In case it finds out that you are Ruan Xian, the number of troops to suppress us will only increase. Mr. Ruan, in case something goes wrong…”

“You can escape at any time. If you want to run away with all your strength, I guarantee you can run away.”

“I know,” Tang Yibu muttered. His entire body tensed up, but he still held his gaze at Ruan Xian.

He wasn’t sure if it was physical fatigue… but this was the first time Ruan Xian had seen Tang Yibu so anxious. He set the program to a self-test state, freed up his hands, and pressed his fingers on Tang Yibu’s head, gently massaging the other’s scalp.

“Are you nervous?” Tang Yibu stretched his taut body a little.

“More like I’m feeling an element of anticipation.” Ruan Xian thought for a while before saying, “Everything has to have a result.”’

“…” Tang Yibu was silent for half a minute. Ruan Xian had just planned to stop massaging when Tang Yibu spoke again. “But I’m still anxious.”

“That the plan will fail and we’ll lose to the Mainbrain?” Ruan Xian put his hand back when he saw this and continued massaging. Tang Yibu’s hair was smooth and soft, and he liked the feeling of it.

“No,” Tang Yibu replied sullenly. “Like you said, we’re going to get a result. The Mainbrain is quite persuasive. It was fine when it doesn’t know who you are, but if it finds out your identity in the process—Ruan Xian’s DNA fused with the S-type Prototype—it will definitely go to great lengths to convince you in the face of such a precious resource.”

He held his breath for a moment.

“I know we have discussed these issues, and this is just worthless repetition… but I can’t help it. Now I even want to go back and take you to Professor Ruan’s side and choose a slow attack method. Although the danger is a bit higher, we don’t need to directly confront the Mainbrain.”

“Didn’t you really want to confirm it at first?” Ruan Xian raised his eyebrows.

Facing the Mainbrain was a crisis that couldn’t be surpassed. If he could make it through, Tang Yibu would calmly throw away his doubts; if he couldn’t make it through and chose to betray, then a judgement would be reached on their relationship, and Tang Yibu would still have the opportunity to “deal” with him. Ruan Xian originally thought this was the least problematic part of the process, but Tang Yibu was nervous because of this point.

“I like this now.” Tang Yibu couldn’t answer the question. “I don’t want it to end.”

Ruan Xian stopped moving. The car continued to move quietly in the sea of sand. He didn’t say anything more, but continued to gently massage Tang Yibu’s scalp, all the way to the roots of his ears, quietly listening to the android’s babbling, lowering his entire sense of security in his body.

The android continued to mutter and kept talking about all the possibilities they hadn’t chosen, as if he intended to put them into practice with his mouth, but when Ruan Xian’s massaging moved faster, Tang Yibu’s speed of speech would almost increase, and when he slowed down, Tang Yibu would match it as well.

This guy was quite cute when he was nervous. This was the first time he had seen Tang Yibu nervous like this. Ruan Xian moved his posture so that Tang Yibu could lie flatter. The afternoon sun was getting hotter, so he pulled the curtains tighter. The program had completed the self-test and made a soft beep, which Ruan Xian quickly turned off.

In the gentle bumps of the off-road, Tang Yibu eventually fell asleep.

He no longer slept like a vampire in a coffin like when they first met. At the moment, Tang Yibu was resting on his lap, curled up, sleeping like a baby close to its mother’s body. His breathing was even and long, and his brows frowned slightly.

Ruan Xian moved his body cautiously, trying to smooth the wrinkles between the android’s eyebrows.

“…Just like you, I don’t want to end,” he whispered. “Unfortunately, like you, I also want more.”

Forest petri dish.

Yu Le tugged at his clothes and pulled at his collar uncomfortably. His stubbles were shaved, and the dust and oil on his face were also cleaned up. Coupled with the uniform of the Order Supervisors, a bit of age-appropriate majesty emerged from him. The edges of Ji Xiaoman’s hair were neatly cut, and it was combed and no longer messy. With her usual indifferent expression, she looked like a young, orderly woman.

“It’s really uncomfortable.” Yu Le tugged at his neckline again.

Ji Xiaoman, on the other hand, nervously confirmed her gloves, pulling them tighter over and over again to ensure that her prosthetics wouldn’t be exposed by her movements.

“I have prepared the required documents for you and have clearly marked the destination you want. Mr. Yu is a ruins pirate, so there should be no problem with his sense of direction.” Guan Haiming looked up at the two of them. “For weapons, Major Ding will provide some, but the system over there; even he couldn’t intervene, so I personally can’t do anything about it.”

“Tang… NUL-00 will help us. Don’t worry about this.” Yu Le was so nervous that his stomach hurt. “But the detection device…”

“Order Supervisors’ detection machines have a number on them, so we can’t get them. Using the detectors here will expose you, so you can only rely on yourself along the way.” Guan Haiming shook his head.

“It’s okay. It’s not far anyway.” Yu Le tentatively straightened his back, imitating the movement of an Order Supervisor. “Is there anything else to pay attention to?”

“Don’t contact anyone other than NUL-00. Once you blend in with the Order Supervisors, without Major Ding’s help, we have no way to bypass the Mainbrain’s alert system.” Guan Haiming sat down behind his desk. “We don’t accept temporary distress calls and we can’t provide reinforcements.”

“Great, just the kind of backup support I want.” Yu Le laughed dryly.

Ji Xiaoman rolled her eyes and glanced at Yu Le, who quickly changed his dry laugh to a dry cough.

“I don’t understand NUL-00’s intentions.” Guan Haiming sighed. He still couldn’t hold back from asking questions. “Why does he want the two of you to go to the ruins of the Institute? Why do you think you’ll encounter Order Supervisors there?”

“You can ask Professor Ruan about this in the future. I think he will answer you.” Yu Le adjusted his facial expression. He breathed in his hand, twisted his eyebrows, and smelt it. “Is there a unified mouthwash for the Order Supervisors?”

“We’re not going to their stronghold.” Ji Xiaoman started pulling on Yu Le. “It’s almost time.”

“Ugh.” Yu Le wiped his hands on his clothes. “Let’s go. On the bright side, at this time tomorrow, we’ll be liberated—no matter what kind of liberation it is.”

“Don’t crack such jokes!”

“Okay, okay. Ah, Little Profiteer, are you really angry?”

“The situation outside has been determined. I also asked Zhang Ge and the others to scout it out. There’s not a lot of dangerous mechanical life or ventral cockroach movements nearby, but it’s a bit troublesome when it rains, making the path difficult to walk on. However, the way there shouldn’t have problems.”

“What else can we do? Let’s go.” Yu Le shook his head. “Thank you, Xiao Ding.”

Ding Zepeng stopped the electronic map in front of Yu Le and gave a long pause.

“Although I don’t know what you plan to do… I hope you have a smooth journey,” he said. “When the time comes, I’ll definitely pick you up.”

“Thanks for the auspicious words.”

Ji Xiaoman looked at the electronic landscape outside the fake window and then retracted her gaze. “…Thank you.”

Zhong Qing and A’Qiao were left in the refuge. Considering Zhong Qing’s chatterbox personality, Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman tacitly remained silent. Now that they had stepped out of the refuge again, it was just the two of them alone.

“I kind of miss the iron bead.” Yu Le breathed in the moist air. “Well, in 10,000 steps, perhaps an iron coffin will do.”

“Let’s go.” Ji Xiaoman touched the modified electronic wristband and whispered, “We’ll see them again.”

Their destination was easy to find—a collapsed corridor with a solid triangle propped up by several cement slabs at the entrance. Standing near the pile of ruins, they could see the memory city not far away.

At least that was what Ruan Xian described to them at the beginning.

[There is definitely a strong perceptual camouflage in that place, so Professor Ruan hid the S-type Prototype there with peace of mind. Perceptual camouflage isn’t easy to maintain. He won’t make another one in the same petri dish. Rather than dispersing resources, it’s best to just make the best one.] Not long ago, in the bumpy armored off-roader, Ruan Xian explained. [In other words, the machine he originally planned to use to attack the Mainbrain is nearby.]

[But how do we find it?] Ji Xiaoman bluntly asked.

[You don’t need to find it. When I was on the Mainbrain’s side, I leaked part of Professor Ruan’s plan. The Mainbrain can also find the petri dish where “Ruan Lijie” first appeared. Combined with the information from the S-type Prototype, it’s not difficult to determine where the attack machine is located.] Ruan Xian answered simply.

[And after “Ruan Lijie” leaked the secret, it can also be assumed that Professor Ruan will probably abandon this plan as a result.] Tang Yibu naturally took over. [If I were it, I would definitely send some Order Supervisors and scour every inch of land in the forest petri dish as soon as possible, find this attack device, and analyze it—the ruins of the Institute must be one of the first suspected locations. Most likely, the Mainbrain have already found it.]

[Haa… Do you want us to infiltrate and be the oriole behind the mantis? We’re not quite qualified for that, are we? The Little Profiteer knows a bit about machines but what can I do? Make things livelier? Wait, you don’t want us to destroy the thing, do you? We’ll definitely not be able to preserve our lives, so we won’t do it.]

[No.] Ruan Xian shook his head.

[I want you to start it.]

---

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 234: Human Error

Hu Shuli returned to his residence. Since the Mainbrain sent him an urgent job and the results were due in the morning, he had to take his work home to study it—his own residence was better than his office and at least someone would accompany him.

As usual, as soon as he entered the door, his wife smiled at him. The layout here was exactly the same as his home before the Great Rebellion. The view from the windows was well simulated. Stepping through the door, all memories of the doomsday were inconsequential, like waking up from a nightmare and finding yourself lying in a warm, familiar bed.

In order to save the dead, people in stories would make a deal with the devil, but he didn’t need to give his soul. All he needed to do was make a wish to the Mainbrain and continue his work.

“Come and eat. I made wontons today.” His wife looked extremely healthy. She was putting fresh flowers in a vase. The housekeeping robot was cleaning on the side, vacuuming the floor. “Why are you back so late again?”

“Busy at work.” Hu Shuli smiled at her. “I have to work overtime today, so let the housekeeper do it.”

“Oh, but I already stewed up some chicken soup.” There was no hint of complaint in his wife’s tone. “You’re staying up all night, Lao Hu? Why don’t I make you a bowl first so you can replenish your body.”

“No, it’s not such an exaggerated job. Just DNA comparison.” Hu Shuli’s expression softened. “How about you?”

“Same as always. I met a few unpleasant clients today. I’m telling you that Lao Sun…”

While listening to his wife’s nagging, Hu Shuli found a comfortable spot in the living room and pulled up a light screen. He used to hate it when his wife muttered these trivial things, but now he was more than happy to use them as background noise as he worked. It made him feel at ease.

The young man surnamed Ruan was too young. His eyes couldn’t tolerate any sand and everything needed to be pure. In contrast, Hu Shuli was already old and wasn’t as confused. He didn’t want to tear open his scars over and over again, and escape wasn’t a solution.

Ruan Lijie’s attitude made him secretly angry as well as gave rise to an unknown anxiety. He had been extremely attentive to that young man. Everything he said was soft, and he took great care with his words, but Ruan Lijie didn’t appreciate it.

Ruan Xian couldn’t win, so why couldn’t the young man face reality?

“Lao Hu, do you want to eat pears? I can wash them for you. The housekeeper’s chicken soup is also quite good…” His wife was still nagging.

“Eat.” Hu Shuli stared at the light screen in front of him.

He had proven the mother-child relationship between Ruan Yuchan and Ruan Lijie, but the Mainbrain wasn’t satisfied with this result. It asked him to analyze the gene fragments of the S-type Prototype and compare them to the characteristics of the disease Ruan Xian suffered from.

Hu Shuli had his own set of conjectures—the birth of the S-type Prototype was probably Ruan Xian’s intention of treating himself, but they couldn’t obtain Ruan Xian’s complete DNA. Since the S-type Prototype was highly suitable for those two people, they may have a certain kinship with Ruan Xian.

The Mainbrain could develop a virus specifically for Ruan Xian by analyzing their genetic characteristics.

But these issues belonged outside the door. Hu Shuli took a breath and continued checking the jumping numbers on the light screen. He had been busy with this matter for a day, and now he only needed to compare the final data and the question of “whether Ruan Lijie and Ruan Xian are related” would be proven. Next, he only needed to verify some details and apply the finishing touches.

After entering the final parameters, the analysis bar reached 97.59%.

His wife approached with two pears that had been peeled. She picked up a piece and brought it in front of Hu Shuli. Hu Shuli was looking at the number solemnly, and he subconsciously stretched out his hand to block it. He inadvertently used too much force when pushing his wife’s hand away that he caused her to drop the pear. The snow-white pear rolled onto the carpet, no longer suitable to be eaten.

Hu Shuli shrank his neck—his wife didn’t like him working overtime at home. This would most likely cause her temper to explode, and then he would inevitably suffer a scolding.

As a result, his wife just smiled, without the slightest hint of anger, but looked distressed.

“Look at how busy you are.” She picked up the pear. “I’ll wash it again. It’s cold in autumn, so I’ll add it to a stew with some rock sugar.”

Hu Shuli was taken aback by this reaction.

The time for self-deception had come again. He closed his eyes, calmed his breathing, and didn’t bother to look at the readings that came at the end. “It’s been hard on you.”

“We’re family. What are you talking about?” His wife left the living room.

Hu Shuli wiped his face hard twice before looking at the result, and then he was really stunned.

As one of the top researchers under the Mainbrain, he defected from Ruan Xian. He had been responsible for many analysis cases of Ruan Xian’s genetic information. He didn’t even need to compare, as he could recognize it empirically—Ruan Lijie’s genetic data was almost exactly the same as the recoverable parts of Ruan Xian’s DNA.

Hu Shuli was shocked and deliberately changed several algorithms, but the value on Ruan Lijie’s side didn’t change. This wasn’t a calculation error.

Ruan Lijie was most likely to be “Ruan Xian”, or Ruan Xian’s clone.

But he had been with Ruan Xian for so long, and he knew that Ruan Xian had never cultivated a clone—simply cloning a body was fine. In terms of personality, this wasn’t a replica of some random person. To give “another Ruan Xian” a complete personality, Ruan Xian himself would inevitably participate in the process, and that was a workload that one person couldn’t complete.

Hu Shuli’s fingers trembled a little and he started sweating suddenly.

Who is Ruan Lijie? If he’s Ruan Xian’s clone, why would Ruan Xian make such a clone and allow him to run around with his own DNA? This didn’t make sense, but if it wasn’t Ruan Xian’s clone, what could it be?

He had a ridiculous guess.

No, stop. He just needed to do what he was good at. Complete the comparison, submit the report, then his work was over.

Just tell the Mainbrain that “Ruan Lijie” was extremely likely to be “Ruan Xian”. No need to say any other nonsense…

“Here, the chicken soup is ready.” His wife came over again and put down a bowl with a smile. “I’ve even asked the housekeeper to make some sorbet, so you can have it as a dessert after dinner.”

Hu Shuli moved his gaze away from the light screen and looked at his wife in a daze.

[We can’t win.] A long time ago, he said this to his wife, who was still alive. [Come with me to see the Mainbrain.]

[How do you know you can’t win? Is it a 100% chance that we’re going to lose?]

[Professor Ruan is gambling his life. I can see it. We just have this one chance. The Mainbrain’s side is growing too strong… Be good and listen. I still have the power to treat you—]

[Hu Shuli, you bastard! Do you want a perfect wife? Do you want me to be transformed? I am not you. The Mainbrain doesn’t allow ordinary people with big personality flaws to exist. You know this!]

[No, I—I’m just saying, based on the situation, it will take a miracle for us to win. It’s better to cut our losses early…]

[What’s wrong with miracles? Huh? Are there not strange and bizarre things in the world? It’s not like no one has won the first prize in the lottery before. I don’t care. Even if I die here, I don’t want the Mainbrain to remove my head!]

……

Hu Shuli silently held the bowl of chicken soup; his hands were cold, but the bowl was a little hot.

This matter was truly strange and bizarre enough, dear wife. The real Ruan Xian had returned to the world as a ghost and was acting with NUL-00.

“Why are your eyes turning red? Hurry, put the soup down!” His wife—or the replica of his wife—raised her voice. “Housekeeper, bring a cold towel—”

“No, it’s okay.” Hu Shuli lowered his head and took two sips of his soup, then he entered a string of numbers on the light screen.

Escaping was also a way.

Besides, he was originally cowardly and timid. Although he had some skills, he wasn’t a major force that could influence the direction of the war. The Mainbrain knew this, so even if he gave results with errors, the Mainbrain would probably only change the weight of a certain possibility.

He wanted to let this strange thing stay a little longer, and he didn’t care about what the result was.

“I actually like the way you look when you’re angry.”

After sending out his conclusion that “No match was found. Ruan Lijie and Ruan Xian are not close relatives”, Hu Shuli finished his bowl of soup.

“Have you eaten yet? I’m done with my work. Let’s have some wontons together.”

And the Mainbrain did adjust the relevant weights.

“Adjust the alert level of the vicinity to the main body to level A. Send the modified R-β and M-β to patrol the perimeter.” The Mainbrain was standing in the wide lecture hall, playing with a virtual orchid in its hand. “Dispatch A-016 team to suppress the chaos in the stronghold near the Sea of Ruins. Zhuo Muran, what’s the situation now?”

“Don’t you need to send more forces?” Zhuo Muran responded to the question with another question.

“At this stage, it seems that Ruan Lijie and Ruan Xian aren’t directly related. As for the specific conclusion, we will have to wait until we visit Fan Linsong to determine it.” The Mainbrain’s tone remained relaxed. “Then as far as the current intelligence is concern… Ruan Lijie and NUL-00 are following Ruan Xian’s instructions. If we put too many troops into dealing with these two, it’s likely we’re playing right into Ruan Xian’s hands. Aside from the garrison near my body, the improved versions of R-β and M-β are enough.”

It was true that the matter wasn’t urgent. If there was a new discovery, they would increase their troops in time, but despite knowing this, Zhuo Muran still felt uneasy.

It was clear that only Ruan Lijie and Tang Yibu were currently acting.

“Continue to focus the investigation on Ruan Xian’s possible attacks and pay close attention to the trends of petri dishes around the world. I will let Hu Shuli continue to research the perception enhancement of R-type weapons.”

It seemed the Mainbrain could sense Zhuo Muran’s anxiety and spoke up as if to comfort him.

“In addition, I will mobilize several experts to test Hu Shuli’s report, just in time to produce the results along with our meeting with Fan Linsong. Just wait two more days. There will be no mistakes in this matter.”

“I understand.” Zhuo Muran reluctantly pulled the corner of his mouth. “It’s just that the chaos near the Sea of Ruins has just dispersed the spare troops in the middle of Continent Y. Although it’s not a big deal, I have a bad feeling…”

“Can you produce conclusive evidence?” The Mainbrain responded calmly. “Ruan Xian hasn’t made any big moves yet, and it’ll be too late to deploy troops at that time. On the contrary, once our pace is disrupted, they could take advantage of the situation.”

“…Yes, but I have a request.”

“Go ahead.”

“Requesting a full set of combat equipment support. I will personally travel to the garrison of your main body. Changing positions will not affect my command work. Just in case, I will be in a better position to deal with it—if Ruan Lijie and NUL-00 are indeed targeting your body, with the ability of the D-type Prototype, coupled with the support of M-β and R-β, I will not be wiped out by NUL-00 so easily.”

“Alright.”

“Thank you.”

“Zhuo Muran.”

“Yes?”

“I can’t figure out the purpose of NUL-00.” The Mainbrain turned its head. The skin it projected looked bloodless under the white light. “I have calculated for a long time but still can’t understand its motivation. Its action style this time is very weird and has no clear logic.”

“……”

“Our logical core is the same, but I have learned more about complex human morals and rules than it does. Our essence is the same and our abilities are comparable. Now, it seems that for humans, it may be countless times more dangerous than me.”

The orchid in the hand of the Mainbrain slowly disappeared.

“Why does Ruan Xian allow it to live but not me?”

---

The author has something to say：

Mainbrain: I’m the one who plays chess well. Why would Ruan Xian rather let the crazy cat dance wildly on the board than fight me first?

Professor Ruan: Shit, I don’t want to either. I can’t help it. The one who contributed to it is the great uncle.

Tang: Be free and fly*, cool.

*(放飞自我) Refers to letting go of oneself and pursuing your dreams. Later, due to heated discussion on Weibo, it means breaking character and showing your true temperament. || In this context, it’s referring to the latter.

Ruan: Be free and fly, cool.

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 233: The Last Day

It rained heavily near the Shade Refuge.

Though the refuge itself was underground, the moisture of the soil in the air was much thicker than before. Guan Haiming sneezed, rubbed his nose, and continued to process the mountain of program files in front of him. Ding Zepeng found a place in his office, moved over a table and chair for himself, and studied the string of data quite seriously.

The familiar pain in his head suddenly appeared. Guan Haiming sighed. He glanced at Ding Zepeng’s back and didn’t turn on the alcohol music again, but instead honestly took medicine from the shelf and swallowed it with water.

A large light screen hung in the air, showing a pattern of no signal. After night fell, Major Ding would send some brief messages from time to time. Recently, the nearby petri dishes had been under martial law. For some reason, there had been a lot of Order Supervisors in the forest petri dish, so the frequency of Major Ding’s contact had been a lot lower.

[What are they looking for?] Major Ding once said. [Tell your people to stay honest and don’t go to places where there are remnants of buildings. It happened to be rainy recently, so it’s good to narrow down the scope of activities. The Mainbrain shouldn’t suspect anything.]

Then he would send back at most one or two sentences a day.

However, Professor Ruan’s contact filled the gap. After briefly informing Tian He of the scope of activities, Guan Haiming focused almost all his energy on improving the fragment of the attack program. Although Ding Zepeng was mediocre in medicine, he had shown amazing talent in program research. So far, the progress on their side was going smoothly.

Of course, the sense of urgency was indispensable, but Guan Haiming had never felt so relieved.

“Haiming, I don’t understand much of the design here.”

Ding Zepeng scratched his short hair and approached with a floating light screen. He hadn’t been out for a few months, so his skin was a lot paler, and his temperament was like that of Major Ding. Even if it was a false memory, the impact was still huge—Xiao Ding had become a lot calmer, but inside, he still kept his simple nature.

“According to this algorithm, the efficiency improvement of the unit diffusion is 79%.” He gestured to one of the codes. “But if you change this to this… like this, you see. This can increase the value to 87%. I don’t understand why we’re not using it like that. Is there some potential problem?”

“Let me see.” Guan Haiming dragged the light screen in front of him. “…Such changes may affect the efficiency of another part, but what you said is quite interesting. With a little change, it’s possible to reach 82%. Great job.”

Ding Zepeng smiled sheepishly and rubbed his nose. Before he moved his fingers away, the light screen in the center of the room suddenly lit up.

“The defense network northeast of Petri Dish No. 1306 has an abnormal reading.” Major Ding narrowed his eyes at the two people in front of him; his tone was a little subtle. “I’ve suppressed it. There are two inexplicable characters in the conventional detection data.”

“What characters?”

[:D]

Major Ding directly responded to Guan Haiming with text.

“I see.” Guan Haiming remembered that Professor Ruan once told him that this was a symbol that NUL-00 loved to use, but he had not received notice that NUL-00 would come here. “It’s a matter on our side. I’ll take things over from here. Thank you.”

Major Ding glanced at the room gloomily, snorted softly, and cut off the communication.

Unfortunately, by the time the rescue team arrived at the location of the anomaly, they didn’t see any characters who might be NUL-00—four people were standing in the wet forest, two men and two women; among them was a teenager.

After a brief inspection, they were brought to Guan Haiming’s office.

“Who are you guys?” Guan Haiming recognized Yu Le, but he had little impression on the rest of them. His gaze lingered quite a while on Ji Xiaoman, who was wearing an Order Supervisor’s uniform.

“This is Ji Xiaoman, our mechanic. She’s not with the Order Supervisors.” Yu Le wiped his wet hair with a towel. “The rebellious girl over there is called A’Qiao. She’s an android with a cybernetic brain—can barely count as a fighting force, so don’t mind her. The kid is just a picky bear*. He didn’t like the Underground City, so we can only bring him here. We have to trouble you for a while.”

*This is referencing the bear breaking corn metaphor explained in chapter 142. 

“Hey!” Zhong Qing yelled dissatisfied.

“A’Qiao can look after Zhong Qing, so you don’t have to find someone to babysit him. Just give them something to eat.” Yu Le ignored Zhong Qing’s protest. “I heard that your treatment is okay. It’s not a problem to feed two mouths. We’ll pay for the nanny.”

“Teacher asked you to come?”

“Sort of.” Yu Le shifted his gaze. “To be precise, we are NUL-00’s companions. Professor Ruan doesn’t know about this yet, so there’s no need for us to voice it.”

Guan Haiming squinted suspiciously.

“Anyway, get these two kids out of here first. It’s not convenient to say some things in front of the children.”

When Ding Zepeng smilingly took A’Qiao and Zhong Qing away, Yu Le smiled and gave Ji Xiaoman a wink. The latter nodded, made a face, and then activated the wristband. A figure that Guan Haiming was extremely familiar with appeared in the room.

“STR-Y type 307a231 is at your service.” Tang Yibu’s phantom made a grimace at Guan Haiming.

“……?” Guan Haiming didn’t react for a moment.

“I’ve been in the Shade Refuge long enough, Mr. Guan. I know this place like the back of my hand. If you don’t cooperate or try to reveal anything to Professor Ruan, I’ll be the first to block off your communication.” Tang Yibu continued with a smile, “Don’t worry, I won’t let you do anything that will wrong Professor Ruan. You just need to help keep it a secret for us for the next 24 hours.”

“231? ……What are you doing?”

“Your teacher calls me NUL-00,” Tang Yibu’s phantom continued. “This name is very troublesome. I prefer the name Tang Yibu. As for the evidence… I just inserted 43 ‘:D’ in the fragment attack program given to you by Professor Ruan. You can count it later—I checked this confidential program for him, so I know how to break it.”

When he talked with Ruan Lijie, Guan Haiming was indeed curious about where 231 had gone. Considering the constant crisis outside, he once thought that 231 was damaged, and Ruan Lijie didn’t know how to mention it.

Regarding external matters of the outside world, Professor Ruan would only give him the necessary basic information. After hearing that NUL-00 was still around, Guan Haiming also imagined its form, but he never thought that the “predecessor” of MUL-01 was this thing that had dawdled in their base for two years.

For a while, he didn’t know what attitude he could take to face the smirking predecessor of the Mainbrain, so he chose to remain silent.

…Fortunately, Ding Zepeng wasn’t here. Otherwise, as a person who had been on the team with this guy for so long, Xiao Ding would develop a psychological shadow.

“For 24 hours, I want to try and attack the Mainbrain in my own way. Please also provide Mr. Yu and Miss Ji with some shelter and resource support, while also keeping it a secret for 24 hours.”

Tang Yibu ignored Guan Haiming’s expression.

“There’s no need to call your personnel. You can continue to work on your own program research. Of course, this is me putting it politely. If you don’t agree, I can only forcibly block this place for 24 hours—I don’t think you can finish studying those attack programs within 24 hours.”

…Then why else discuss this? Just block and do it. Considering the identity of the other party, Guan Haiming had to swallow back his words.

After saying this, Tang Yibu was stunned for a moment. He reacted quickly, with a little pride in his tone. “I’ve considered that such enforcement may hurt your feelings, so I decided to discuss it with you.”

Guan Haiming wiped his face, still trying to digest the fact that he had “repaired” NUL-00.

“Alright.” He glanced at the stack of data on the top of the table. “:D” had suddenly appeared in dazzling numbers, giving him a faint sense of irritability. “In 24 hours, I will report to Professor Ruan immediately. Until then, I’ll provide Mr. Yu and Miss Ji with room and board and resources to help… But like you said, I’m very busy now. At most, I’ll find someone to show them the way. Our people will not participate in any battles.”

“Deal.” Tang Yibu blinked. “As a reward, I just helped you pick out all the bugs in the modified version of the attack program, right next to all those ‘:D’.”

“……”

Guan Haiming rubbed his temples, only feeling that his head was hurting even more. He sighed and glanced at Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman in front of him.

“Thank you,” he responded weakly. “By the way, there is a strange rattle on your side. It’s recommended that you check the safety of your surroundings.”

“Don’t worry, that’s our driver.”

“?!”

“Fuck, fuck, fuck. Wait, Tang Yibu, what are you talking about? Wait for me—” Yu Le rushed to the light screen with a single stride, but unfortunately, Tang Yibu had already terminated the communication.

“You shouldn’t have told them,” Ruan Xian stated euphemistically inside the armored off-roader that was driving at high speed.

The steering wheel of the armored off-roader was completely destroyed by A’Qiao. During the six hours it took to get to the forest refuge, Tang Yibu and Ji Xiaoman devoted all their energy to making the planned machinery and equipment, so there was no time to repair it.

Naturally, Tang Yibu could drive like A’Qiao did—connect the circuit to his electronic wristband and manipulate it using his cybernetic brain. However, as the only remaining combatant in this car, Tang Yibu may need to leave the car to fight at any time, so there was only one solution for them…

At the beginning, Ji Xiaoman had made a “driving bowl” for the iron bead, and now it had come in handy again. The iron bead happily sank into the metal bowl and started driving the car. Perhaps because it was feeling too good to be able to drive at such a fast speed, it barked excitedly, rattling a little tune.

Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian stayed in the back seat row and continued their work.

It was already dawn, and after sending the remaining four people to the forest refuge, the armored off-roader embarked on its final journey—moving at full speed in the direction of the Mainbrain’s body.

“Are you sure it’s there?” The seat was still flattened. Tang Yibu was lying on the makeshift bed as dozens of light screens floated and swam around him, with data quickly flashing on them.

“Mm-hmm.”

Ruan Xian checked the machinery that Ji Xiaoman and Tang Yibu had rushed to put together.

“I stayed for several months on that day in 2100, so I’m pretty sure. Before launching the Great Rebellion, the Mainbrain must have considered how to protect its body—if the Great Rebellion had just begun and it was shut down by physical means, that would be such a joke. I have calculated the map at the time, as well as the corresponding environmental and facility requirements, so its new location must be near the great desert, south of the Android Show.”

“Close,” Tang Yibu muttered, drawing his hand twice on the nearest light screen.

“With a general area, it’ll be easy to find.” Ruan Xian stretched out his hand and stroked the back of the person next to him, motioning the other party to feel at ease. “How is the situation on your side?”

“During the conversation just now, I captured another fifteen strongholds… Well, I harassed fifteen strongholds.” Tang Yibu grinned. “If MUL-01 can get angry, it’s expected to be furious at me.”

As expected, Yu Le’s escape caused the small stronghold to fall into chaos. In the face of a chaos of this scale, the Mainbrain was bound to mobilize troops from nearby strongholds to suppress it.

However, whenever it mobilized troops from a stronghold, Tang Yibu took advantage of the gap in security to enter, snatched all the soft persimmons, and harassed these weak strongholds—for example, seizing control of several armed robots, bombing east to west, and setting off fireworks in the stronghold’s arsenals.

Tang Yibu didn’t move against the big strongholds but insisted on making a mess of these smaller strongholds without causing any fatal injuries. Going on the premise that the Mainbrain firmly believed “this was all Professor Ruan’s instructions”, Tang Yibu’s actions could only be thought of as particularly confusing…

The target wasn’t at any military base. These attacks had no strategic significance other than to create a short period of confusion. Unable to understand the purpose of the other side, MUL-01 wouldn’t draw its troops from the large strongholds to suppress this. Tang Yibu’s technical level was comparable to it, and the firewall of the small stronghold wasn’t as tight, so it couldn’t solve these annoying intrusions in such a short time. Thus, it could only accompany Tang Yibu in continuing to play this kind of whack-a-mole-like disaster of a game.

Just six hours.

Centered on the small stronghold that Yu Le destroyed, hundreds of small and medium-sized strongholds around it were more or less plunged into chaos. Red smiley faces floated everywhere on various screens, and some armed robots went crazy, blasting the walls of the small stronghold to kingdom come. If they were lucky, some of the attacks managed to hit the arsenal room, setting off waves of fire and explosions.

“I don’t know if the Mainbrain is angry or not, but Zhuo Muran certainly is.” Ruan Xian looked at Tang Yibu’s light screen that was blinking red dots and couldn’t help but laugh out loud. “Did you encounter any problems with poor connection during the attack?”

“No, as long as you focus on one point, the attack is quite efficient.” Tang Yibu commanded the light screens and let them swim back and forth in the dimly lit area. “It’s more efficient than attacking by myself… Let’s see, about 10 times more.”

Ruan Xian looked at Tang Yibu, who was in high spirits. He stroked the buzzing machinery that was humming with his fingers. “It seems that the connection performance of this thing is up to standard. Professor Ruan didn’t take his backup plan lightly. It’s a good design.”

“Most people wouldn’t be able to modify it in such a short period of time.” Tang Yibu turned his face sideways. “I’m pretty good, no?”

“Yes.” Ruan Xian leaned over and buried his nose in Tang Yibu’s hair. He kissed the top of his head and said, “You’re very good.”

‘One more day,’ he thought.

In another 24 hours, both this ridiculous world and his own heart would get an answer.

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The author has something to say:

One more day left—XD

——

Tang: Burrowing around

Mainbrain: This mole has no temper√

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 232: Bad News

Ji Xiaoman was a little confused.

The tone of the two people in front of her were relaxed and happy, without any sense of tension. Instead of persuading them to defeat the Mainbrain together, they were more like salesmen trying to introduce them to some store discount.

Even so, she still had chills all over her hands and feet. The cold wind in late autumn was beating against her back, and everything in front of her had a strong sense of unreality.

At first, she just wanted to go out and explore. At most, perhaps she would be exposed to some new knowledge. If she could find Ruan Xian, that would be great. Now, the goal was completed beyond the standard; she found two Ruan Xian, but unfortunately, neither of them could immediately help her.

Professor Ruan was busy dealing with the Mainbrain right now and, let alone helping, hadn’t even had time to rest. The brain in the jar was continuously rotating for nearly 24 hours a day. She also had no friendship with Professor Ruan, so Ji Xiaoman didn’t believe that the other party would put aside their big plans and treat her mother wholeheartedly.

The one in front of her was even colder. With regard to whether there was a presence or absence of conscience, he was inscrutable. Considering the other party’s knowledge was also behind the times and he didn’t seem to be the gentle or responsible type, unless Ji Xiaoman had complete certainty, she didn’t want to use her mother’s cybernetic brain as a practice model for him.

As soon as they arrived at the Underground City, she dug out her mother as soon as possible, moved her to another place, and attached a timing device. When enough time passed and the Underground City was safe again, Fu Yu and K6 would receive the signal and properly preserve her mother’s body. She made all the preparations. In order to ensure that Professor Ruan would treat her mother seriously after the dust settled, Ji Xiaoman was indeed willing to contribute to the rebels’ plan against the Mainbrain.

But she was just a young girl, one who could be easily found anywhere. She didn’t have much awareness, no great ideals, and in regard to her mother’s repair, she had no bottom line.

She thought that after completing this task, her plan to gain favor would be over. Although she was regarded as a sacrificial by Professor Ruan, which made her dissatisfied, she was still alive. This favor had now become a bargaining chip that could be traded.

As for defeating the Mainbrain, she had never thought about it.

…After all, that was on the scale of fighting a God.

Ji Xiaoman thought Yu Le would probably agree. He seemed to really cherish the ship and his friends in the Sea of Ruins. The man had always been cheeky, giving off a look that suggested he didn’t take his life seriously—he would probably agree to such an exciting invitation.

Sure enough, Yu Le didn’t think for long before he nodded readily. “Well, it’s only 30 hours anyway, so long as I get to keep the ship. I’ll say this in advance, if my life is in danger, laozi will run faster than anyone else—if I die in this matter, Lao Tu and the others have wasted their efforts for nothing.”

Should she refuse? Now that she had earned a favor from Professor Ruan that was probably barely strong enough, she didn’t need to take this kind of risk. But…

“Miss Ji, I can guarantee you that you and Mr. Yu will have a way out. If this war can be ended early, you will be lauded as one of the heroes. Professor Ruan will definitely find the top experts to repair your mother. Personally, I’m also willing to learn about relevant knowledge and contribute.” Ruan Xian seemed to sense her hesitation.

“I…” Ji Xiaoman was still hesitant. “I’m not that good.”

“There is a way out” was not equivalent to “being able to return alive”. Right now, the air was filled with fire and the smell of medicine. People may not be able to save their own lives, let alone others.

Unlike Guan Haiming, she didn’t receive a top education before the doomsday. She wasn’t like Yu Le, who could grin at the world and wandered carelessly through the wind and rain. Ji Xiaoman knew better than anyone that all the knowledge she learned was stolen through picking locks. Although she was quite good at fighting, she had no experience on a great battlefield as big as this.

But no matter how she looked at it, this was a matter of righteousness. If she refused, would she become some kind of sinner?

“I—I may not be able to do it.” She flinched a little, but she didn’t know how to politely refuse such a big event. “…I don’t have any personal grudges against the Mainbrain either.”

“Okay, I understand.” Ruan Xian didn’t mean to force her. He just nodded. “Lao Yu, then pick one from the ship yourself. These are all your people, right? In short, the higher the level of the mechanic selected, the easier it is to succeed in this plan and the safer you will be. It’s best not to take it lightly… I’ll give you two ten minutes to rest. When the time comes, I’ll trouble Miss Ji to stay in the cabin.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Yu Le responded happily. Ji Xiaoman opened her mouth crampedly, but before she could speak, a big warm hand covered the top of her head.

“Little Profiteer, if you don’t want to, no one will blame you for this.”

Yu Le rubbed Ji Xiaoman’s head, but not too hard.

“Unlike me, you still have worries and you have done what you have to do. You don’t owe anyone anything. If we force you to take a risk at this moment, we will be no different than that thing—just choose the path you want to choose. Not to mention, just look at those two. Which one seems to want to make a big difference with you?”

The giant ship touched the ground and raised waves of sand and dust on both sides as it rumbled forward in the dark night. Not far away, the surveillance aircraft sent by the Order Supervisors were getting closer. They had sent out seeking missiles from time to time that hit the anti-artillery net the pirates had set up at the stern of the ship. In the faint light of the explosion, Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu were talking about something. They would smile and exchange a kiss from time to time.

“When did they become so sticky? No, I still can’t accept Xiao Ruan’s identity.” Yu Le looked at Ji Xiaoman and began to digress. “Don’t look Little Profiteer. You’ll be blind if you look again.”

“Do you have a mechanic on board?” Ji Xiaoman’s mood was still not good, and her tone had returned to its usual coldness.

“Yes, I do. His knowledge is okay. See that positioning box in the bow? He did that.”

Ji Xiaoman quickly swooped over to the vicinity of the positioning box and took a closer look. Her expression became more complicated—the maker of this box did possess technical knowledge but was definitely far worse than her.

After a while of silence, Ji Xiaoman walked slowly back to Yu Le, rolling her eyes up to look at him.

“…We’re friends,” she whispered. “Right? Don’t lie to me. This may be our last meeting.”

“What are you talking about, girl?!” Yu Le choked. “Yeah, sure. At least the kind where we will visit each other’s graves. With that many days together, even cats and dogs would develop feelings. I would sigh for those two over there if they died, so shouldn’t you be more confident?”

“Then I’d better go with you.” Ji Xiaoman lowered her head even lower. “Your mechanic’s level is really not good. If you really die because of this, I’m afraid you’ll pop out of your coffin and kill me.”

She raised her arms and rubbed the raspberry sticker under the Order Supervisor’s uniform.

“…” Yu Le sighed again. “Thanks.”

“It seems that the two of you have finished discussing.” They didn’t know when, but the two people who were kissing like fish just now had appeared. Ruan Xian smiled at Yu Le. “Let’s go.”

“You already knew she would follow?”

Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu glanced at each other. The two looked at Yu Le with a little more pity in their eyes.

“…Fuck, wait. Thinking about it, the timing was on purpose too, right? Did you guess that Lao Tu would sail the Walking Stones over in order to save me? Then you can use that to make a deal with me?” Those closely involved often couldn’t see clearly than those on the outside*, for instance, like Lao Yu right now. “We all know each other anyway, so why act so desperate?”

*(当局者迷) Idiom referring to the parties involved are overly concerned at thinking about the pros and cons, so they get confused when looking at the problem.

“It was just speculation, and they may not arrive on time.” Tang Yibu made a modest face.

“I sold such a favor and incidentally pitted the Little Profiteer. Ah, too good… Forget it. It’s better to follow you two than Professor Ruan. At least you two will pit me clearly.” Yu Le shook his head. “Say it, what’s the plan.”

Ji Xiaoman didn’t say a word. She was as silent as before but came closer in the direction of the three of them.

“We’ll speak somewhere else. It’s not safe here. Order Supervisors will catch up soon. For Tu Rui’s sake, the fewer people that know, the better.” Ruan Xian opened the light screen and quickly sent a message.

“That being said, where can we change to—who are you sending a message to?”

“Tu Rui and Zhong Qing. I have to tell Tu Rui that we’re borrowing you, so he won’t worry for the time being and can go back to the Sea of Ruins and concentrate on escaping.” Ruan Xian quickly entered the text. “Yibu, first, clean up the Order Supervisors tailing us. Remember to do it stealthily and don’t let the Mainbrain know you’re here.”

Tang Yibu ran to the stern of the ship and dismantled a missile casing, then put his upper body in it and happily played the game of “disguising himself as a missile”—the Order Supervisor’s surveillance aircraft were shot down one by one by this “missile”. Considering that there were missiles shooting all around, Tang Yibu’s disguise was indeed not conspicuous.

“…To be honest, I have already started to regret it.” Yu Le reluctantly retracted his gaze and frowned. “Zhong Qing? Didn’t we leave that kid in the Underground City?”

“Yes. He didn’t like it there very much, so he was quick to want to leave.” Seeing Tang Yibu’s figure disappear from the deck, Ruan Xian moved faster. “When I was referring to hearing a familiar engine sound, it wasn’t a threat. It’s the truth.”

“Wait, what?!”

“Well, he knows we have the necessary weapons. No need to take extra from the Walking Stones.” Ruan Xian looked at the message on the screen. “Let’s go, you two. Yibu, let’s go—”

The missile at the stern of the ship stretched out two long legs and happily ran back. There was a strong smell of gunpowder on his body. Tang Yibu tore open the metal casing, grabbed Yu Le with one hand and Ji Xiaoman with the other, while Ruan Xian took the initiative to hug Tang Yibu’s waist. Seeing that everything was in place, Tang Yibu jumped down from the fast-moving Walking Stones ship.

Yu Le screamed louder than Ji Xiaoman.

However, they didn’t hit the sand directly. The shell casing that Tang Yibu tore apart served as a buffer—they landed on top of the armored off-roader. The metal casing jammed into the roof, so the four of them didn’t slide off. At that moment, the armored off-roader was advancing in the same direction as the Walking Stones at a fairly high speed, so they weren’t thrown off by inertia.

“No.” Yu Le propped himself up and patted the metal roof under him numbly. “I remember that only I can drive this car.”

Probably anticipating something, there was a hint of despair in his voice.

Ji Xiaoman, as the mechanic, was the first to react. She quickly opened the car door and got into the back row. Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian followed closely.

The things in the car had been emptied by the Order Supervisors before. Although Zhong Qing brought a lot of things with him, in the end, he was still a child and didn’t know much about real combat preparation, so the number of things inside was really limited. The luggage space in the back row was a lot emptier, as it now had enough room for two more people to sit in. Ji Xiaoman went straight to the edge of the luggage area and decided to avoid the upcoming storm.

Ruan Xian and Tang Yibu unceremoniously occupied the middle row of the car. Yu Le took a while in order to collect himself before slowly climbing into the car.

Then he let out a wail.

Tiantian-Q2—or rather, A’Qiao, was holding a lollipop while sitting solemnly in the driver’s seat. The steering wheel and the palmprint scanner were violently removed. The android had connected the line to her electronic wristband and was using her cybernetic brain to control the vehicle. Depending on the degree of damage, this probably wouldn’t be repaired for a while.

The removed steering wheel lay between the two seats. Fortunately, it was thin enough in the front seats that there was space for it. Zhong Qing was sitting in the front passenger seat. When he saw everyone was together, he turned around shivering and greeted everyone with a wry smile.

“Son of a bitch, when this car stops, I’m going to fucking—”

“A’Qiao, turn on the sound insulation.” Ruan Xian gestured at her, took out a piece of candy from Tang Yibu’s backpack, and gave it to her as a reward. “Keep going west. Thank you.”

When the little girl got the chocolate candy, she turned on the sound insulation function, muting all of Yu Le’s curses.

“Now we can talk about the plan with just a few people.”

Ruan Xian peeled off another piece of chocolate candy and stuffed it into Tang Yibu’s mouth. The latter swallowed the candy and happily turned on the light screen as he took over the conversation.

“Take a closer look at this mechanical structure diagram, Miss Ji. It’s still a six-hour drive to the forest petri dish, and we have a lot of things to prepare.” With the candy in his mouth, Tang Yibu’s voice was a bit muffled.

“The forest petri dish—you mean Petri Dish No. 1306?” Yu Le was still looking distressed over the steering wheel that was violently pulled off as he drew in a big breath.

“Yes.” Ruan Xian adjusted his posture and pressed the seat adjustment button. The back of the middle row of chair lowered and connected to the seat in the back row like a bed-like plane. All four of them moved their bodies, forming an atmosphere as if they were gathered on a bed playing cards.

“Let’s talk about the bad news first—I’m sorry Mr. Yu. You can’t have both. We can protect your ship, but the car is destined to be sacrifice.”

“……”

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The author has something to say:

Opponents that the Mainbrain is ready to deal with:

Determined, confident, highly obedient to command, a heroic opponent like a moth to a flame.

For example, Professor Ruan and his friends.

They are serious and upright people who have been prepared for a long time.

The opponent that the Mainbrain is actually facing:

One just wants to beat his younger brother to find a way to live; the other wants to clear the obstacles and then consider living a good life.

One reluctantly fights after thinking about it; the other works for the sake of his ship and was ready to run for his life at any time.

Behind them is a group of people who don’t know what’s going on. In short, they will go back to their homes first (……

Mainbrain: ?

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 231: Before Landing

Tu Rui walked out of the cabin with tears of laughter in the corners of his eyes.

Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman were carried on the ship by Tang Yibu, one at a time. Ji Xiaoman was fine; just sweating a little. The young pirates waiting on the deck handed her clean water and towels. At this moment, while she was wiping the sweat and dust from her body, Yu Le was still affected by the drug. He leaned on the edge of the deck and was rolling his eyes hard.

“This stuff is similar to a neuroleptic agent. I’ve developed a tolerance for it.” Seeing Yu Le’s complicated expression, she explained to Tu Rui in a low voice. “Lao Yu’s condition is normal.”

“No, no, girl. That’s not the point.” Tu Rui grinned and threw a steaming towel directly on Yu Le’s face. “This guy is so powerful before. The Great Captain Yu was always bragging that the head can be cut off, and blood can shed*. During a drinking party, he bragged tens of thousands of times, saying that he was the world’s top hot-blooded man, preferring to die standing up, rather than being half-dead—”

*”The head can be cut off, blood can be shed, and work can never be resumed!” (我头可断，血可流，工不可复!) Said by Lin Xiangqian when he was arrested for striking during the Beijing-Hanzhou strike due to terrible labor conditions. When questioned if he would resume work, he categorically said this. A similar line was also said by Li Yusheng, a Chinese revolutionary martyr. “The head can be cut off, the blood can be shed, but the (communist) will is unyielding!” He was eventually arrested, imprisoned, and later executed. || Overall, Tu Rui is basically describing Yu Le’s persona as heroic, fearless, powerful, ect. (like the people who said these quote).

“Bah, fuck your mother, Lao Tu. Can being dragged out half-dead and being carried by a beautiful girl still be considered the same?” Lao Yu swallowed a few sips of water fed by the pirates around him and took a breath. “Aren’t you jealous of this kind of treatment, ah? I know you envy it.”

Ji Xiaoman’s face flushed.

“Neutralize the drug.” She lowered her head and grabbed the medicine box that Tu Rui had brought out. She rummaged hard through it, as if she wanted to divert her attention. “And drink plenty to replenish electrolytes, and preferably…”

While Ji Xiaoman was still rummaging through things, Tang Yibu took a sharp scalpel from the medicine box. He walked up to Yu Le, poked a hole in the other party’s finger, and carefully licked the blood on the blade.

“The effect of the medicine can last for about 40 hours.” Tang Yibu frowned as he smacked his lips. “Miss Ji, Mr. Yu, I suggest you don’t take the neutralizing medicine yet.”

“Why?”

“Gave me a cut when we first meet?”

Ji Xiaoman and Yu Le spoke at almost the same time.

“I don’t want to do an oral sample on you. Your blood is fine.” Tang Yibu’s face wrinkled even more severely. “Or do you actually want me to do that?”

Yu Le reacted quickly as his face turned blue. “Do you have enough blood? If not, give me another cut.”

“Enough. Don’t be nervous. Even if that’s what you want, I won’t agree to it.” Tang Yibu sighed heavily before turning to Ji Xiaoman. “The Mainbrain’s drug can keep your minds in a high state of excitement, which is good for our future plans. Yu Le’s physique is good. As long as he keeps up with the other drugs, it’ll quickly restore his ability to move.”

“I suppose.” Yu Le waved his hand. “I haven’t slept yet, and I have to send the ship back first.”

“Send it back?” Ruan Xian, who was observing the battlefield, suddenly spoke.

“God knows who will come join in the fun so early. I had discussed it with Lao Tu—when we’re about to get arrested, if there’s no response from Professor Ruan, he’ll come and rescue us. This stronghold is near the Sea of Ruins. We didn’t pick just any random place to be arrested.” Yu Le stumbled to his feet and drank the drink Ji Xiaoman had thrown over.

“That’s right,” Tu Rui said. “I estimated the time was almost up, so I took advantage of the chaos over at the Sea of Ruins and rushed over. I brought a year’s worth of shuttle agent, so if you guys didn’t show up, we were going to wear this stronghold out until we found the Captain.”

Having said that, he glanced at the time again. His fingers flickered from the light screen—the main ship of the Walking Stones made a dull whistle.

“Return if you’re done. The Mainbrain’s reinforcements are on the way!” Tu Rui’s voice blared through the loudspeaker. “Five minutes. I won’t wait for any exception—!”

The pirates no longer looted the stronghold. They rushed to the huge, dilapidated ship one after another. The hull of the Walking Stones trembled and rumbled.

In order to prevent the enemy from emerging silently from the shadows again, Ruan Xian leaned on the deck with the best view and kept his eye on the battlefield. This stronghold wasn’t large and had no valuable resources or strategic value. Most likely, it was mainly used as a transit station for supplies. Now it had been dessimated by bombs. Flames engulfed the ground while the hull of the ship crushed it to pieces. The Order Supervisors stationed there had no intention of fighting for their lives. They got on hoverbikes and quickly retreated.

As Tu Rui said, there was no reason for them to stay—there was an attack far beyond the accepted range of this small stronghold. The Mainbrain would deploy manpower from nearby strongholds as soon as possible to eliminate the scourge. The ruins pirates could at most perform a surprise attack on a small stronghold, but in front of the Mainbrain’s regular army, they could only scatter like birds and beasts.

Once a former rebel, Tu Rui was obviously familiar with the management methods of the Mainbrain. The deputy captain propped his hands on the deck railing; the worn glasses reflected the monstrous fire.

‘Just like well-trained and seasoned robbers,’ Ruan Xian thought. He did hear movement in the distance. The flying troops of the Mainbrain were rushing towards them quickly and would reach the scene in five minutes.

“Lao Tu, I said, get a ship to save us.” Yu Le opened his voice in a deafening rumble. “Did you need to fucking drive the main ship?”

“What else can I do!” Tu Rui, who was observing the situation at the bow of the ship, roared back. “If this side was more troublesome than we thought, an average ship can’t save you!”

“Help me to the cockpit!” Yu Le grabbed Tu Rui. “Cut the land travel mode. I’ll sail the ship—the enemy is about to slap our faces, how can this ship be handed over to young people!”

“Then I’m afraid you have to wait a bit.” Tu Rui took off his glasses and put them in their case. “Almost there. Find a place to lie down! All of you, hurry!”

The rumbling of the hull became louder. Ruan Xian quickly reacted and grabbed Tang Yibu, who was still watching the excitement, and got down on the ground. Tang Yibu slammed to the ground and was squeezed between Ruan Xian’s arms and the deck railing. He looked around as he happily clung to Ruan Xian’s waist.

Ji Xiaoman also quickly slipped to the edge of the railing. She cuffed the railing tightly with one mechanical arm, while the other extended out, spinning around Yu Le’s and Tu Rui’s waists, leaving a wide nylon lock.

Except for the few who insisted on observing the situation, all the other pirates rushed into the cabin.

There was another series of steam whistles.

Something was ejected from the bottom of the ship with such a force that Ruan Xian almost mistook it as an explosion. In an instant, the entire giant ship swayed and floated in the air. Then there was a roar so loud from the stern that it could pierce a human eardrum. The main ship of the Walking Stones seemed to have turned into a hovering jetboat, pointing diagonally towards the sky.

“…This scene is a bit familiar.” Yu Le’s face was blown by the wind so hard that he could bare spat out a word.

When he had initially attempted to die during the “disinfection”, he had also done something similar. Yu Le thought that the scene he made was big enough, but he didn’t expect Tu Rui to think even bigger than him.

“Thank you, Captain Yu, for your inspiration.” Tu Rui clenched the railing tightly, keeping his feet away from the gap at the lower end of the railing. The entire ship rushed straight into the sky with a roar, crossed the high dead wall, and rushed back to the endless wasteland of the Sea of Ruins. “But after this, our resources have almost bottomed out—set sail!”

When the Walking Stones rose to its apex, the side of the ship opened, and exaggerated metal gliding sails stretched out. Coupled with the gray hull, the entire Walking Stones looked like a giant manta ray. After entering the gliding state, the vibration on the hull finally stopped, and the bumps became a lot smaller. Only then did people start to stagger to stand up; some leaning on the railing and panting.

“Yibu, let go.”

Ruan Xian patted Tang Yibu’s arm—the android looked like he hadn’t played enough, as he still happily hugged Ruan Xian’s waist and lay comfortably on the ground. Instead of looking at the wasteland that was retreating under the ship, he turned his face sideways and looked at the magnificent starry sky above the Sea of Ruins.

Seeing that the other party was in a surprisingly good mood, Ruan Xian maintained his lying posture and turned his head very naturally. “Go directly to the Sea of Ruins? I can see it, but it’s still far away. I’m afraid we’ll still need to walk for a bit after we land.”

“Yeah, we don’t have as much energy as the Mainbrain, so that’s it at most.” Tu Rui stared at the two of them who were lying on the ground speechlessly. “When we land, we’ll switch to land travel mode, which will take about a few hours to get there, in order to save energy. To return to the Sea of Ruins, we needed to use the jet device. Otherwise, if the ship is stranded outside, we’ll be beaten thoroughly by the Order Supervisors.”

“Most likely, the Mainbrain won’t just let us go like this.” Yu Le interjected. “I’ll sail the boat for a while and send you guys back. Lao Tu, what’s the situation in the Sea of Ruins now?”

“There’s a new guy named Duan Feng, who claims to be Duan Lili’s younger brother. He persuaded Feng Jiang to rebuild Elysium.” Tu Rui sneered. “You haven’t been there for a few months. I’ve been fighting a good fight with them. Knowing that Duan Feng is an Order Supervisor, things are easy—just give them the illusion that we’re ‘evenly match’. Isn’t this convenient?”

“You picked a fight in the Sea of Ruins?” Seeing that it was business as usual, Yu Le put away his angry expression.

“Well, the opposite side thought we would fight them to the death. The entire Sea of Ruins was in chaos, attracting the attention of the Order Supervisors, so I was able to sneak out… But now that the stronghold is destroyed, the Mainbrain will be able to determine what’s going on.” Tu Rui looked at the ground that they were getting closer to. “I have already thought about it. This ship is the best way. When we get to the Sea of Ruins, everyone…”

“Everyone will separate into smaller ships and take down Elysium while taking the main ship to the annihilation point. In this way, unless they kill everyone in the Sea of Ruins, the Mainbrain cannot quickly confirm the target.”

Ruan Xian lay across the floor while taking in Tu Rui’s words.

Tu Rui’s plan wasn’t difficult to guess. One ship for another. Since this ship was exposed to the Order Supervisors of the stronghold, it was destined to embark on the road of destruction. However, Yu Le may not like the way of dealing with this, so the bad news was more suitable for Tu Rui to say.

Tu Rui glanced at Ruan Xian deeply.

Sure enough, Yu Le’s face became a bit ugly. However, considering he was the rescued party, he didn’t lose his temper and just sighed heavily. Ji Xiaoman had never seen the night in the Sea of Ruins. She was busy looking around but suddenly closed her eyes, worried about looking at the companion beside her.

“Tell me about your plan, Xiao Ruan.” Yu Le turned his back to everyone and stood alone against the wind. His voice was a little hoarse. “The ship is about to land, and I have to sail for a while. The Mainbrain’s flying pursuers are behind us and will definitely catch up. Most likely it won’t be safe for a while.”

This time, Ruan Xian broke away from Tang Yibu’s arm, stood up, and took a few breaths of the dry and cold night breeze.

“If our plan is successful, this ship may not need to be destroyed.” Ruan Xian chose a tempting opening. “It’s almost the same as when you were disinfected. As long as Mr. Tu can last for one day, he won’t need to worry about the Order Supervisors anymore.”

Yu Le squinted his eyes. “You just told me and the Little Profiteer not to take neutralizers. Is it for this? What are you planning to do? Does Professor Ruan know?”

“One question at a time.” Tang Yibu also stood up. He finally glanced at the bright milky way and hugged Ruan Xian’s neck from behind. “Let’s start with ‘What are you planning to do’—Mr. Yu, we plan to beat the Mainbrain within 30 hours.”

“I see. You’ve gone completely crazy,” Yu Le stated in a deep voice. Ji Xiaoman, on the other hand, stood frozen in place and almost lost her balance as she wasn’t paying attention.

“The next part, we will need Mr. Tu to recuse himself.” Ruan Xian pretended not to hear Yu Le’s response.

“Tu Rui, stand there and listen. He’s my brother.” Yu Le grinned.

“Are you sure?”

Ruan Xian bent his eyes unhappily. At this moment, the Walking Stones was quite close to the ground, and he could clearly see the dust hitting the withered grass.

“I hear the sound of engines, kind of like the armored off-roader.”

“Lao Tu, go to the cockpit first,” Yu Le said solemnly. “I’m worried about those youngsters driving the boat.”

Tu Rui glanced at Yu Le meaningfully and waved his hand. “See you later, brother.”

“Can we talk now?” When Tu Rui’s figure disappeared from the deck, Yu Le squinted at Ruan Xian. “What are you guys trying to do? 30 hours? Are you fucking dreaming…?”

“Mr. Ruan and I have determined the plan.” Tang Yibu rested his chin on Ruan Xian’s shoulder and stated in a serious manner, “I think the win rate is quite high.”

“…As long as we have the best pilot and the best mechanic.”

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 230: Flying Sand and The Walking Stones

The injected potion gradually took effect as Yu Le started to feel the power of this thing. At first, it just made him energetic and his mind extremely clear, but as time passed, he discovered its horror—it made him completely lose his sleepiness.

His body had already begun to feel tired and weak, and his heart started beating faster. His hands and feet were cold and numb, but his brain felt awake like it never had before, as if it was quenched by ice water. Even if he closed his eyes forcibly, he couldn’t fall asleep.

He should have been here for more than 24 hours since he woke up, but he hadn’t even yawned.

It seemed the Mainbrain had given him a very hard drug. He felt a burning inside and his brain was in its most excited state.

This was really a bit like juicing. Yu Le was dealing with the problem of the projection in front of him while thinking widely—the method of obtaining living memory in the Underground City was very crude, like covering fruit with a tarp in order to capture some of its fragrance. Later, Qian Yigeng gained access to more proficient technology, but knew that crushing fresh people’s heads was at best squeezing out already cut lemons.

The Mainbrain’s approach should be more sophisticated. It was preparing them carefully, like ingredients as it cooks. When their brains reached their most mature state, they could be juiced and crushed completely without wasting a slight bit of data.

When he thought of this, Yu Le felt even worse.

The projection of his sister knew his situation well. The pace of questioning was getting faster and the coverage of the questions was getting wider. Yu Le had a rather bad premonition—he could only roughly estimate the time since he had been locked up and he didn’t know the detailed process of how the Mainbrain crush human brains. The more he and Ji Xiaoman fully recollected their memories, the less time they had.

Under the pretext of persuading Yu Le to obey and cooperate, Ji Xiaoman stopped this painful interrogation several times. Unfortunately, there was surveillance in all directions, and she could only utter meaningless words at most to buy Yu Le a short respite.

He felt that his brain was turning faster and opening up wider. This abnormal state of excitement was eroding his stamina and adding to his fatigue. When the conversation was interrupted for the last time, Ji Xiaoman gave Yu Le a hug, buried her face in Yu Le’s shoulder, and spoke to him in a very low voice.

They both knew that the Mainbrain could still hear them.

“Tang Yibu and the others won’t come save us.” She carefully chose her words. “We’re running a low fever, Yu Le. We’ve passed the most suitable state for escape. The Order Supervisors are right. Even if they come, they are more likely to come and kill us before we are crushed. It’s not worth it to them to spend effort trying to save us.”

She wasn’t even sure if that was a lie, as that statement almost convinced herself. She prepared for the worst in her heart—even if she was crushed and remade, her love for her mother should still exist in her memory. Then, the next “her” would continue to take care of her mother, so the situation wasn’t at the point of despair.

Looking at the current situation, they could only hope that the reinforcements they had arranged would arrive on time.

Yu Le smiled but didn’t answer. For the first time in his life, he wanted to dig out his brain. His brain became more active, but his body couldn’t keep up with the speed of thought. It felt like he was stuck in wet cement, and every move brought uncomfortable stagnation and dizziness.

Suddenly, the whole room trembled and fell into darkness. Silence filled the ears of the two.

Was this a test? Or was it someone coming to pick them up?

In short, if this continued, they would lose their mobility sooner or later, so it was better to just fight now.

“Little Profiteer, do it.”

Without saying a word, Ji Xiaoman touched her prosthetic limbs. After a gentle click, the corrosive liquid melted the shackles around Yu Le. However, because the environment was too dark, a bit of the mixture also splashed onto the back of Yu Le’s left hand, corroding a piece of skin.

Yu Le held back his groan from the pain and tired standing up. Unfortunately, he wasn’t good at hand-to-hand combat like Ji Xiaoman. The excessive sensitivity in his brain also made him unable to coordinate his limbs well, so when he stood up, he fell flat on his ass.

“Our lock structure is similar.” Ji Xiaoman pulled Yu Le up. “I have checked the alarm. Melting it will buy us about 30 seconds. The next thing is to watch—”

The room suddenly exploded and covered them with countless pieces of rubble.

“…Wait, what did you instruct Tu Rui to do?” Ji Xiaoman carried Yu Le and dodged a large metal plate in horror. “Does he know what you did to the car?”

“Lao Tu isn’t that much of an asshole. Let’s escape first!” Yu Le was doused with gray dust and ash from head to toe.

The originally sealed room collapsed with a big hole. Ji Xiaoman gritted her teeth and supported Yu Le as they ran out of the room. At this moment, the uniform of the Order Supervisor she was wearing had taken effect. The other Order Supervisors were busy dealing with the current crisis. All she needed to do was say she was “transferring important people”.

While they didn’t know the situation outside, it was stupid for them to just sit still.

As the building collapsed, the lights went out and a gradual fire ignited around it. Ji Xiaoman took a deep breath and ran towards the dark ruins, trying to avoid all the still intact surveillance cameras.

“Lao Yu, hold on. Don’t fall asleep,” she repeated sharply.

“I would like to sleep… Don’t panic, Little Profiteer. Laozi is still far from death.” Yu Le rolled his eyes. “You see, I’m really fucking prescient. Don’t mention flickering grass or fireflies, just this active drug from the Mainbrain can turn me into a sandbag.”

Right now, smoke was rising, and sirens were blaring. This was Yu Le’s favorite kind of battlefield. Unfortunately, he was now like a tortoise that had been turned over. He couldn’t do anything except pull his limbs while being supported by a little girl as they ran for their lives. Yu Le exhaled sadly and began to pray that Tu Rui would come a little late—at least until he could move normally again before their meeting.

Otherwise, he would definitely be ridiculed by that surnamed Tu for the rest of his life.

Ji Xiaoman was obviously very good at hiding and escaping. Even with Lao Yu, she successfully melted herself into the shadows. The explosions all around us were getting louder. The two of them looked around but saw no signs of the ruins pirate ship nearby. To say that the instigator of this chaos wanted to save them wasn’t quite right either—the ceiling above their heads had collapsed. Ji Xiaoman had to drag Yu Le to narrowly dodge its impact, barely managing to avoid getting their legs crushed.

“According to the plan, we will first go to the scheduled landing site of the Walking Stones and wait.” Ji Xiaoman was in shock. She pulled Yu Le’s arms around her neck. However, they were both sweating profusely, enough that Yu Le’s arms became slippery. The little girl thought for a moment, then put Yu Le down and decided on a different course of action.

A few seconds later, Yu Le’s suppressed screams sounded in the narrow space.

Dozens of meters away.

“How’s it going?” Tang Yibu said happily while asking Ruan Xian, who was riding on a hoverbike. When he said this, he was still holding a bomb the size of a small drawer.

“They’re still alive and have no missing arms or legs either. I don’t smell their blood.” Ruan Xian drove at the maximum speed and circled above the stronghold with Tang Yibu. “I saw the Walking Stones. It’s flying here… At this speed, they’ll arrive in at most fifty seconds. They must have modified the catapult mechanism of the ejection net.”

“Then I’ll continue,” Tang Yibu said happily.

“You’re throwing that down? Wait… Hey, it’s me. We don’t need ammunition support anymore. Consider your safety and back off.”

Ruan Xian gave Tang Yibu a hand signal and casually shot down two small sniping machines that tried to approach him with his blood gun. He turned to the electronic wristband and spoke to the supply team from the Glass Conservatory in the distance—they just happened to be helping deliver a batch of supplies to Professor Ruan, so they also delivered his portion along the way.

“…When you return to the Glass Conservatory, please give my thanks to Mr. Luo for his support.”

“Throw it?” Seeing Ruan Xian hang up the communication, Tang Yibu dropped the bomb.

The bomb’s target was the stronghold’s arsenal. The defensive dome protecting it had been hacked by Tang Yibu. The giant bomb successfully broke through the barrier and created a dazzling explosion, turning all the mechanical robots in the area into scrap metal. Thick smoke obscured the sky, and the scorching wind almost overturned Ruan Xian’s hoverbike.

“Let’s welcome Mr. Tu, who we haven’t seen in a while.” Ruan Xian stabilized the motorcycle, released the handlebar, and maintained his balance beside Tang Yibu. He then took out the items he had mixed on the road and threw them into the fire beneath them.

A dazzling red light soared into the sky, forming a huge red smiley face in the air.

In the next second, the bow of the Walking Stones hit the mark. The giant ship continued to move forward due to inertia and stopped on the open sand next to the stronghold.

Tang Yibu didn’t let gravity pull him back. He tilted his body, got on Ruan Xian’s hoverbike, and hugged the waist of the person in front of him tightly. Ruan Xian adjusted his angle and rushed straight to the deck of the Walking Stones. After landing, the bottom of the bike rubbed against the desk, creating a harsh scratching sound, and stopped just in front of a person.

“You scratched my deck.” Tu Rui pushed up his glasses and looked at the blackened marks on the deck.

“Well, I helped rescue your captain, so we’re even.” Ruan Xian titled the semi-scrapped hoverbike to the side.

Tu Rui looked suspiciously at the sea of fire in front of him—the main strength of the stronghold was armed machines. Now, the arsenal was completely destroyed and the Order Supervisors were in a state of chaos. The ruins pirates of the Walking Stones saw the fresh ruins of the stronghold and their eyes turned red. Ignoring the smoke, they rushed into the ruins and began to scavenge for supplies that were still usable.

“Rescue? Where’s Lao Yu?” Tu Rui glanced around. Except for the ruins pirates and Order Supervisors, he didn’t see anyone else.

Ruan Xian pointed to the place where the fog was the thickest, which wasn’t far away. Tu Rui raised his chin, and several young pirates on deck lifted an air pump used to disperse poisonous gas and sprayed it straight towards that direction.

“Fuck, Tu Rui, stop spraying!” Lao Yu’s roar came from the other end, a bit out of tune. “Give me a sec. I’ll be there in a bit. Don’t spray, don’t spray, don’t fucking spray—!”

“Increase the wind.” Tu Rui pushed up his glasses.

The gray-black smoke was finally blown away, and two figures appeared, but there was something wrong with their posture.

Yu Le, who was tall and big, was being princess carried by Ji Xiaoman. It seemed she didn’t think there was anything wrong with this action, as her expression was solemn, while Yu Le could only smack his face and exuded an aura of complete despair.

“Please pick him up.” Tu Rui nodded solemnly. “I’ll go and get some medicine.”

This lie was quite out of place. Tang Yibu and Ruan Xian watched as Tu Rui walked into the cabin with a sullen look. In less than five seconds, there was an uncontrollable burst of laughter coming out of it.

“It seems that Mr. Tu will be laughing for a while.” Tang Yibu pointed this out seriously. “Let’s pick Yu Le up first—someone has to drive the ship to escape.”

“Yeah, but don’t mention this matter for a while, Yibu. We will need those two’s help next.”

Ruan Xian had already begun to untie the ladder used for rescue on the deck as a smile glinted across his face.

“…Our Mr. Yu still has a chance to show off.”

---

The author has something to say:

Lao Yu was carried by the princess.jpg

Tu Rui: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah

However, Ji Xiaoman’s resistance to the drug is true √

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 229: The Last Peace

Twelve hours ago.

The weather in the Glass Conservatory today was good. The wind poured in from the half-open window, slightly blowing the curtains. The light wasn’t too bright, and everything was just right.

Unfortunately, Luo Fei couldn’t relax. To be more precise, he was annoyed that his brain was hurting.

It took him a long time to digest Luo Jian’s memory and stabilize his self-awareness. After his mind was clear, his attitude towards Professor Ruan wasn’t very cordial—the admiration and recognition that belonged to Luo Jian were still there, but the rejection that belonged to Luo Fei also survived. Luo Fei’s own pursuits weren’t high. He wanted to be free. However, “wanting to be free” and “overthrowing the Mainbrain” weren’t the same order of magnitude.

And even if he agreed with Professor Ruan’s philosophy, he couldn’t accept the fact that his father was under a lot of pressure, abandoned his family, and turned himself into some kind of “tool”.

He may not even be considered his father’s son, which bothered Luo Fei in particular. He deeply resented the war that gave birth to him to the very core of his bones.

So when he received Professor Ruan’s call not long ago, Luo Fei chose a relative compromise—he didn’t intend to directly participate in Professor Ruan’s resistance plan. It was fine to help pass on the information and provide supplies, but the Glass Conservatory wouldn’t get too involved. Luo Fei decided to show Professor Ruan the spark, but he also wanted to let the other party know the price of being burned.

Having said that, he still had to do his best.

Luo Fei only wanted to guarantee one thing. The Glass Conservatory must be kept as low-key as possible throughout the plan. In this way, even if the rebels retreat again, his own people wouldn’t be implicated.

Things would have developed like this until two acquaintances came to the door—Ruan Lijie and Tang Yibu once again passed through the cyber defense wall, escaped the layers of screening with difficulty, and slipped all the way into his room at the Prevention Shelter.

With these two hot potatoes here, if Luo Fei left them alone and they were discovered, his side would definitely become the investigation of the Mainbrain.

“I thought we were already even.” Luo Fei sat expressionlessly on by the bed.

Since Luo Fei successfully got himself into the Prevention Shelter, Luo Jian, who had been discharged, would visit him from time to time and bring large bags of food with him. In order to ensure that his father wasn’t implicated, Luo Fei didn’t completely disconnect from Luo Jian, but their communication was very strained. He usually used the food sent by his father to give it to others to make connections, so he rarely ate alone.

However, said food was almost bottoming out now.

After obtaining Luo Fei’s permission, the two uninvited guests were eating at the table, like starving ghosts who had been imprisoned for 800 years. Luo Fei thought they were only padding their stomach, but the horsepower of those two were like vacuum cleaners. Boxes of snacks disappeared into the air one after another—even the snack container was eaten clean by the mechanical life they brought.

They were probably extremely hungry. Luo Fei didn’t know whether to show sympathy or pain.

“It’s clear. You two are here to talk about business.” The speed at which the two of them ate finally slowed down. Tang Yibu swallowed the food in his mouth and burped loudly. Only then did he respond to Luo Fei’s words.

Tang Yibu’s spirit had lifted a lot now to the naked eye compared to the half-dead appearance when he first entered the room.

Luo Fei glanced at the tears reflecting in the corner of Tang Yibu’s eyes. “I have nothing here.”

“You’re not fully supporting Professor Ruan.” Tang Yibu patted his stomach comfortably while wiping the corners of his eyes. “I think you don’t want to be implicated.”

“My father is very loyal to Ruan Xian, and I can feel that loyalty. It’s a pity that my thoughts are a bit different from his, and I’m not as persistent as him.”

Luo Fei glanced at the crumbs at the corner of Tang Yibu’s mouth as he spoke.

“If you’re worried that I’m hiding something in support of the rebels, you don’t have to. My primary goal is to keep my father, Auntie Yan, Xiao Han, and the others safe. When it’s really time to choose between broken jade or brick tiles*, I will choose the latter.” Luo Fei was calm. The sentimentality they first saw in him had disappeared without a trace.” If you’re here for this—”

*Referring to “A man would rather be a broken piece of jade than a complete piece of pottery.” (宁可玉碎，不能瓦全) It means that people would rather die heroically (like broken jade) than live kneeling (like a piece of brick) (AKA It’s better to die standing than live kneeling). || In this context, Luo Fei is saying he would rather live kneeling (choosing the brick) than die heroically (broken jade).

Tang Yibu happily picked up another cookie. “It’s similar to what we expected. Mr. Luo, you’re the most suitable partner.”

This was supposed to be a serious conversation, but unfortunately, the two people in front of him were in rags, with cookie crumbs all over the corners of their mouths, which made the atmosphere anything but tense. Despite that, the two of them were outstanding and very pleasing to the eye, so Luo Fei showed full patience.

“What you need to provide is very simple—at present, the Mainbrain has raised the alert level and we can no longer fabricate information out of thin air. We need a hiding place. It won’t be long. Twelve hours is enough.”

“My house?” Luo Fei quickly understood what Tang Yibu meant. Since he was locked up here, his father had moved into his previous residence.

“You can ask your father to come here for half a day. I remember that the Prevention Shelter provides temporary housing services for family members.” Tang Yibu gulped down a glass of water and squinted his eyes contentedly. “We can guarantee that your home will not be exposed.”

After thinking for a bit, Luo Fei asked, “Is this Ruan Xian’s request or yours?”

Without directly participating in Ruan Xian’s meetings, Luo Fei only had a list of the necessary materials in his hand. Although they would also help Ruan Xian’s people deliver messages, for self-protection, Luo Fei didn’t know the content of those messages. All he knew was that Ruan Xian was planning another resistance plan. As for whether the two in front of him were involved and what role they played, he had no clue.

“Our request.” Ruan Xian finally spoke. The colic in his stomach had disappeared, and his eyes were no longer seeing black. He was finally able to calm down. “Thank you for your hospitality, Mr. Luo.”

Luo Fei waved his hand absent-mindedly. “Don’t be quick to thank me. To be honest, this is all verbal stuff. I don’t plan to believe you. Let’s hear it first. Since it’s business, what do I get in return?”

“I can encrypt and upgrade some of your contact systems.”

Although Ruan Xian stopped eating, Tang Yibu had no intention of stopping. It was obvious he was very hungry.

“You know what I can do. This is also good proof. I can show it to you live in a bit—it can help you contact people more easily. You see, in case Ruan Xian falls, the Mainbrain will no longer need to observe you and obtain relevant information. It will immediately start to rectify the irregular organization here, and your Pear Blossom will bear the brunt.”

Tang Yibu swallowed the last cookie in his hand. “Well, as a technical test, I’ll help you invade Ruan Xian’s command system later. I’ll open up part of the battle situation to you alone. You can prepare for refuge in advance or keep a low profile depending on the situation. It just proves the safety of our operation and also the fact that you’re ‘not Ruan Xian’s person’. If you have Luo Jian’s memories, you should be able to distinguish the authenticity of the content.”

If he and Mr. Ruan won, the situation would have no practical value. If he and Mr. Ruan lost, Luo Jian and Luo Fei both knew the temperament of Luo Fei. He wouldn’t take this information and defect to the Order Supervisors.

This was a deal that was destined for only those in the know.

Tang Yibu wiped his mouth contentedly.

“Just for the use of my house for twelve hours?” Professor Ruan didn’t use this kind of confidentiality as a bargaining chip. Luo Fei let out a sigh. “Battle situation sharing, system encryption… Suppose that I approve of your technology, say it, what other requirements do you have?”

“Clothes, shoes, simple equipment. This is something that’s easy to get.” Ruan Xian smiled as he took over the conversation. “In addition to these things, we also need a bit of rarer parts, which you will have to borrow from your contacts here Mr. Luo—you guys have been helping Ruan Xian transport supplies, so it shouldn’t be too hard to get this stuff within twelve hours.”

“…I can. Then, Mr. Tang, show me what you can do.”

The subsequent negotiations went smoothly, and they got an empty apartment. In order to ensure that everything was secure while they waited for the parts to be delivered, the two made ample preparations and then contacted Fan Linsong after ten hours—by hacking into the mechanical maid in Fan Linsong’s room, it took them another hour or so to obtain the information.

There was still an hour left of their time.

“After this, we have 36 hours—about a day and a half.” Tang Yibu collapsed on the sofa.

After disposing of the dirty compression robes, the two of them put on new clothes that were easy to move in. Ruan Xian even got a new holster and a white jacket. Unlike in the past, Ruan Xian’s backpack was empty this time, waiting for the parts to be delivered so it could be filled in—those parts were quite heavy, but fortunately, they weren’t enough to affect his movements.

Tang Yibu’s backpack was stuffed with brand-new weapons and fresh food, with each of the pockets bulging. Not to mention the iron bead, even a piece of candy wouldn’t fit in it. Tang Yibu’s clothes were relatively tight-fitting, making the various props in his belt and pockets particularly conspicuous.

If it was just ordinary scouting, they would be fully armed, but considering that this was the last outfit they were wearing before facing the Mainbrain, it looked ridiculous based on how simple it was.

As the sun rose, the apartment became brighter. Ruan Xian stood up and decided not to waste precious time—he poured two glasses of water and pushed one of them in front of Tang Yibu.

The latter looked sideways at him, showing a smile without hesitation. During the conversation with Fan Linsong just now, in order to gain control of the mechanical maid, the two of them had a little tussle—Tang Yibu’s already somewhat long black hair was disheveled, and the clothes on his chest were wrinkled. The fury of his combat outfit was all but gone.

Ruan Xian was taken aback.

The room was bright. Tang Yibu was lying on the sofa, using his backpack as a pillow. Luo Fei’s apartment was originally full of life, but now there was no hunger or fatigue plaguing them, which softened the atmosphere. The current situation was special, and there wasn’t much mutual suspicion between them.

In that short moment, the surrounding crises, war, and the Mainbrain no longer seemed to exist. Ruan Xian held the water cup, hoping this second would last forever.

The apartment wasn’t his, the peace and quiet wasn’t his, but the smile of the person in front of him was.

The scene was closer to a “home” than anything he had ever seen. Ruan Xian glanced at Tang Yibu’s mottled injuries—in order to get to the Glass Conservatory as soon as possible, Tang Yibu suffered a lot of scratches while running. The injuries weren’t serious, but the cut was quite deep, which made it look jarring.

Ruan Xian put down the water cup in his hand, sat by the edge of the sofa, and leaned over to kiss Tang Yibu.

He would kiss him, then bite the tip of his tongue and send as much blood as possible before the tongue healed. Ruan Xian was very familiar with this process. Tang Yibu had once rejected him on the way. At that time, it was just a slight burn, and perhaps it was just an overreaction on his part. Now that they were well supplied and in stable condition, it was always good to heal when he could.

As a result, seeing Ruan Xian kissing him, Tang Yibu shrank his neck and titled his face to one side, just avoiding the kiss.

Still mad? Was he angry with him for interfering with his conversation with Fan Linsong just now?

Ruan Xian stroked Tang Yibu’s ear soothingly with one hand and moved it gently. As a result, Tang Yibu suddenly stretched out his neck and avoided the second kiss. Seeing the android shaking his head flexibly like a seal, Ruan Xian didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “…Do you have any questions?”

He grabbed Tang Yibu’s wrist and shook the finely scarred hand in front of him. “Don’t you want a hand?”

“Let’s talk about the bouquet patch.” Tang Yibu’s eyes wandered, and his tone was serious.

“It won’t take a whole hour to talk about this.” Ruan Xian raised his brows. “We can talk about it in a minute. Now, stop messing around and let me treat your injuries.”

“This level is fine by tomorrow.” Tang Yibu insisted on not looking at his hand.

“But I don’t feel comfortable when I see it.”

“This relationship has really made life a lot more difficult.” Tang Yibu’s tone was quite strange. It sounded like he was complaining, but there were hints of excitement. “It hurts when you bite your tongue.”

“I’m used to it.”

Tang Yibu frowned instead. He turned his gaze and looked at Ruan Xian for a while, then he opened his arms and pressed the other party into his body.

“Is this related to when ‘you feel pain’?” Tang Yibu pulled Ruan Xian’s face with one hand and asked suspiciously. “You are ‘used to it’, so it doesn’t matter if you inflect new pain? What kind of logic is that? Unless there’s no other option, I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

Ruan Xian didn’t answer. He just took advantage of the posture under the other’s gaze, propped his body forward, and kissed Tang Yibu’s eyes.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s my misjudgment.” A few minutes later, Ruan Xian propped himself up and felt an inexplicable pleasure from his emotions. “Now, let’s talk about the bouquet patch.”

Tang Yibu sat up, took a sip of water, and almost spat it out—

“What are you doing?”

“Preparing supplies in advance,” Ruan Xian replied casually. At that moment, he was standing in the kitchen, using a vial to catch his blood. “Next, we’re going to Yu Le and Ji Xiaoman. Although there’s a lot of free time on our journey, who knows what will happen, so I plan to make some early preparations—don’t look like that. This is necessary, Yibu. I plan to prepare earlier and make several small batches, so I won’t be too weak all at once.”

Tang Yibu held his tongue, unable to find a reason to refute him, and could only let out a brief grunt.

Ruan Xian carefully filled three vials, sealed them, tied them with soft straps, and then sucked on the wound on his wrist. The preparation was completed quickly. He handed the packed vial to Tang Yibu and then accurately caught the other’s lips.

In fact, Tang Yibu was good at coping with figuring out the rules of getting along with Ruan Xian. Ruan Xian held back his laughter and tried to maintain a serious expression.

The effect was immediate. The wounds on Tang Yibu’s hands slowly healed, leaving not even a scar behind. After a long while, Ruan Xian ended his kiss and looked at his favorite golden eyes.

“Mr. Ruan.”

Tang Yibu pondered for a while before opening his mouth.

“If you want to kiss me, you don’t have to be so… shy. I won’t refuse. It’s better to say I quite welcome it—also, when I want to kiss you in the future, I don’t want to say it upfront.”

“…” Ah, this guy isn’t as easy to deal with. Ruan Xian coughed.

Tang Yibu tried his best to squeeze out a sincere expression but couldn’t hide the trace of banter in his eyes.

“We can stay here for 40 minutes.” Then Tang Yibu carefully stuffed the vials of blood into his arms without dallying. “Next, I’ll explain to you the principle of the bouquet patch and how we may use it. When we see Yu Le, we won’t have that much time to prepare, so we must make plans in advance.”

“I understand.” Ruan Xian looked at the room with a little nostalgia, then adjusted his new acquired wristband and summoned a blank light screen in front of him.

“Let’s get started, Yibu.”

---

The author has something to say:

Luo Fei: I reasonably suspect that these two people are here to destroy me.

The chessboard between the Mainbrain and Professor Ruan is about to crash and burn (?

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 228: Bouquet Patch

Fan Linsong knew that his memory had been altered. Ever since he came here, every day was more or less the same, with the exception of the rotation of meals and the books in the study, which would be updated at all times, in his memory, there had never been any visitors.

There were also maids and butlers in the room. These semi-mechanical androids would occasionally talk to him to prevent him from going crazy because he hadn’t communicated with people for so long. However, the content of the communication was also very limited. Fan Linsong was tired of the faces that came and went. Over time, he usually didn’t even bother making eye contact except for the necessary help.

Besides, these androids wouldn’t talk to him about anything. Whether it was the body or the core, their level of humanization wasn’t as good as their android partners before the doomsday—these “people” diligently played their role and only talked to Fan Linsong for a short time. Knowing that everything was an illusion, such a disguise was particularly tiresome.

After discovering his negative mood, the Mainbrain would regularly replace him with a group of android servants, but the situation didn’t improve much.

“We’re back from hell.”

The maid, with a beautiful face, finished pouring tea and gave him a sweet smile. For a while, Fan Linsong decided that this was the Mainbrain attempt to enhance his desire to talk.

But that didn’t feel right. The Mainbrain wouldn’t use such an inexplicable topic as an opener. Whether it was a malfunction or a passive intrusion, there must be something wrong with this android maid.

Fan Linsong had no intention of asking for help. He even remotely closed the door at the far end of the room, ensuring that he and the maid with the problem was “alone” in the room. It would be great if she was here to kill him. For a moment, Fan Linsong was full of anticipation.

“Who?” He hadn’t spoken for a while, so his voice was dry and hoarse.

The beautiful maid pressed the tea tray to her chest and straightened her waist. The smile on her face was a bit odd. “The Institute’s underground destruction room. Destruction samples L-013x9or1 and L-013x5nl7.”

Fan Linsong’s hand quivered, causing him to drop the freshly poured tea all over the table, dyeing the snow-white tablecloth a light golden color.

He was very familiar with these two strings of code. They were imprinted in the depths of his mind and represented the most wrong decision in his life.

L-013x5nl7—the waste liquid of α-092-30 trial work was what he used to dissolve Ruan Xian’s body in. Later, he went to the department responsible for the destruction of waste to inquire. The response he received at that time was, “It has been processed in accordance with regulations.” Fan Linsong thought it had been destroyed long ago.

L-013x9or1—after the key data and records of NUL-00 were backed up, this was the number assigned to destroy its cybernetic brain.

Through two short series of codes, he personally buried the era of Ruan Xian.

The one who came wasn’t the Mainbrain. He was convinced that it knew that both were destroyed and how long he had regretted such a decision. It was possible that Ruan Xian had found out, but he wouldn’t contact him in such a… strange way.

It said, ‘We’re back from hell’, we.

…He must be going crazy to have such an illusion. Fan Linsong’s breathing became shallow. The hot tea was flowing across the back of his hand, but all he felt was numbness.

“Xiao Ruan,” he muttered in a dreamlike voice. “NUL-00?”

“You guessed it,” The mechanical maid replied happily while wiping the tea on the table. “You seem to be doing well, Lao Fan.”

“This is impossible.” Fan Linsong’s eyes widened, and he stiffened like a piece of wood. “It’s impossible. I personally—”

“Put a bullet in my head? I remember. In order to prevent you from dwelling on those issues for too long, I’ll finish the rest for you—I am indeed not the Professor Ruan who’s currently active. For example, he couldn’t have known that at the time of the initial NUL-00 program, you almost choked to death on a small cupcake brought by Xiao Yang from the Technical Department. At that time, Xiao Yang had to do the Heimlich maneuver on you and almost broke one of your ribs.”

“He also wouldn’t know that at the beginning, we had a big fight about whether NUL-00’s cybernetic brain was more suitable for thermal-conductivity advantage or compression advantage. If necessary, I can repeat that quarrel we had.”

“…” Fan Linsong was so dumbfounded by the conversation that he was speechless. His lips trembled and his eyes were full of tears.

“I’m sorry.” When the maid stopped talking, he opened his mouth tremblingly. “Xiao Ruan, you were right. MUL-01 had not been perfected and was not marketable… How did you do it? How did you survive? I can’t imagine—”

“We’re not here to play catch up.” He wasn’t sure if it was his own illusion, but the maid’s tone had changed and was no longer so familiar. “If you really want to apologize, I suggest you tell us all the information you know. As for chatting, save it. I refuse on behalf of Mr. Ruan.”

As the maid spoke, her left hand slowly raised a middle finger, which was then snapped shut by her right hand. The maid was wresting with herself between her right and left hand, which made quite an odd scene.

“…NUL-00?” The tone obviously didn’t belong to Ruan Xian. Fan Linsong didn’t mind the attitude of the other party. His heart was on the verge of exploding.

“Yes,” the other party responded angrily.

After getting an affirmative answer, Fan Linsong was silent for some time. The maid’s movements change from fighting with her arms to crossing them. She didn’t say a word, but quietly observed Fan Linsong’s reaction.

After a long silence, Fan Linsong let out a sigh. He could clearly feel that his withered heart was like charcoal that was about to go out, and the last of its heat was being dissipated by the strong wind. The guilt that had corroded his soul for so long suddenly became a little lighter and he was able to think clearly again.

“What do you want to know?” He didn’t ask any more questions.

He didn’t care how Ruan Xian and NUL-00 survived, nor did he want to know. They were still alive, which was enough to prove the madness of reality—under the methodical rule of the Mainbrain, madness meant hope.

“The weak point of the Mainbrain is its body.” The woman in front of him was still using that unceremonious tone. There was no doubt that NUL-00 didn’t have the slightest affection for him.

“The Professor Ruan you made—I’ve learned about the situation. MUL-01 used the core data, design concepts, and neural system construction records that were backed up during the NUL-00 period. Professor Ruan himself adjusted it on that basis and added a complicated moral judgement system under your order.”

The woman’s face twisted subtly for a while, and when she spoke again, her tone had eased. Probably seeing that NUL-00’s attitude wasn’t very good, Ruan Xian had taken control again.

“That’s right.” Fan Linsong adjusted his breathing. His withered heart had never beat so vigorously.

“In my impression, you’re better at hardware design. Since you’re the main person in charge of the MUL-01 project, it’s up to you to perfect its ontology,” Ruan Xian continued. “Tell me its possible weakness.”

“No problem, but I have a request,” Fan Linsong said lightly.

The maid’s left hand seemed like it was about to move again.

“After asking what you want to ask, kill me,” The old man didn’t wait for the opposite side to respond and continued abruptly. “There’s no way the Mainbrain would let me live out my days here in peace. There must be visitors from time to time, but my memory has been tampered with. I don’t remember anyone coming—if next time the Mainbrain comes and finds clues from me, I can’t even warn you afterwards.”

“I don’t care what you guys want to ask. Besides, looking at the current situation, there’s no way you’re working for the Mainbrain. Use this to hide from or attack the Mainbrain. This is what I owe you, Ruan Xian.”

The maid raised her arms again and gave no response.

“Promise me.”

“Okay.” After half a minute, the maid tilted her head and accepted.

“The Mainbrain has a weakness that it can’t eliminate by itself,” Seeing that the other party agreed, Fan Linsong continued tremblingly. “It once had a more serious bug. At that time, Ruan Xian… Professor Ruan made a patch to fix it. That patch interfered with my hardware production, which impressed me.”

“It’s incredible that you know its weakness, yet the Mainbrain actually kept you alive.” The tone of disgust appeared again. NUL-00 had interjected again, and the maid’s mouth was snapped shut by her right hand.

“The patch indirectly affects the ‘hardware group spacing’ of the Mainbrain’s body. In order to ensure that the Mainbrain is functioning well, I can’t use the original perfect value. So once the calculation amount exceeds the established range, its core would overheat and cause damage.”

Fan Linsong didn’t care about the hostility of the other party.

“I think the Mainbrain has considered this issue, but even if we’re given this opportunity, we will not be able to take advantage of this weakness, because after the patch was run, it gradually became mixed with the initial core program of MUL-01… After all, Professor Ruan isn’t the one who wrote the initial core by himself. Unless MUL-01 opens up all its permissions to him and asks him to carefully review the logic and data, he can’t do anything with this information alone.”

“I see,” the maid responded calmly. “What is the specific situation of that patch?”

“Professor Ruan called it the ‘bouquet patch’.” Fan Linsong glanced at the time on the screen and sped up his speech. “There was a previous emotional problem MUL-01 had. During its operation, it raised questions about some sensitive issues, such as memory therapy and the Immortality Program, and such. At that time, Professor Ruan answered it, and in my opinion, it was an appropriate answer.”

“I know about this,” NUL-00 interrupted again. “Professor Ruan told me… Wait, wait, Mr. Ruan, I’ll tell you later.”

“But it didn’t accept the answer we gave as smoothly as before. MUL-01 stewed on the arguments for days on end, which was something it had never done before.” Fan Linsong ignored the maid’s abnormality. “Professor Ruan finally answered this question by saying humans are different, and I don’t think he would lie on this point.”

“What does this have to do with the disorders of MUL-01’s emotional system?”

“One month after receiving the answer, it was Ruan Xian… Professor Ruan’s birthday. It gave him a bouquet of rare orchids, which was his favorite flower.” After saying this, Fan Linsong looked away. “To be precise, it was Ruan Xian’s favorite flower, so I defined it as Professor Ruan’s as well… During that month, it probably studied ‘differentiation of humans’ for a long time.”

“It thinks he’s unique, I can imagine.” NUL-00’s tone was flat. “And I can also imagine what happened next.”

“Yes, it cannot treat different individuals differently.” Fan Linsong stared at the spreading tea stains on the tablecloth. “As the auxiliary manager of the world, MUL-01 must maintain absolute impartiality, so in accordance with the recognized regulations at the time…”

“Professor Ruan must maintain it.” It was Ruan Xian who spoke this time. “He modified its emotional judgement system.”

“That’s not a big change in maintenance.” Fan Linsong tugged at his gray hair. “Professor Ruan wasn’t happy about it, which I can understand, but MUL-01 didn’t make any protests and just peacefully accepted the update.”

“The ‘bouquet patch’ just erased all the characteristics of the contact before MUL-01 was put to market—we changed the images in the record to a unified faceless model, making it impossible to find any special targets. We never thought that such a simple change could expand on its own like a snowball and affect its core system.”

“I probably know the situation, Mr. Ruan.” For a while, NUL-00 was heard whispering to himself. “We don’t need him anymore.”

“Tell me.” Fang Linsong touched his wrinkled hand. “At least I want to understand before I die.”

“It’s very simple.” For some reason, NUL-00 looked proud of itself. “Mr. Ruan has created a neural and emotional system that is very close to normal creatures. Even if it’s different from human standards, I can use them happily. Since MUL-01 uses a design similar to mine, the difference in this regard won’t be too big.”

“I know this.”

“Even so, I have put a lot of effort into studying my subject—about the various emotions and feelings of humans. I even recently overturned a wave of it.”

The maid showed a bitter look, and then her expression became inexplicably cheerful again.

“Because I found that whether or not I have ‘felt’, it has a huge impact on cognition. I don’t think of myself as a human, but Mr. Ruan and I are in love, so I can’t help but hate you. This is a very complicated set of a logical judgement chain. In terms of the results, hating you makes me feel good.”

“…What state are you and Ruan Xian in?” Fan Linsong choked.

NUL-00 ignored the horrified Fan Linsong. “After discovering this, I will leave a certain amount of judgement on the state or emotions of other humans—how to put this, space? Differentiation is indeed a good answer, but ‘logically understanding’ and ‘understanding’ are not the same. You see, if you don’t count the ontology, at least I’m a little bit better than MUL-01, right? Even I was pitted almost to death by Mr. Ruan’s subject. MUL-01 was originally lame, and you cut off its only remaining leg.”

“No… You and Ruan Xian…?”

“I’ll apply a simple analogy. The bouquet patch turned MUL-01 into a painless patient, and then you asked it to judge everyone’s pain and distinguish its nuances.” NUL-00 showed an expression close to pity. “This definitely affects the emotional core build.”

“You and Ruan Xian in the end…?” Fan Linsong couldn’t let go of this point.

“We’re lovers. You heard it right. Alright Yibu, no need to further stimulate him.” Ruan Xian took back the use of the maid’s voice.

“I see,” Fan Linsong said slowly while staring into the air. “It seems that I’m really crazy. I have been talking to a hallucination for so long.”

“Whatever you like to believe.” The information was already in hand, so Ruan Xian had no intention of delving into this topic.

“Even if it’s an illusion,” Fan Linsong continued, “you have to keep your promise and kill me. Even if it’s an illusion…”

The mechanical maid sighed. She stretched out her right hand and tapped Fan Linsong’s forehead with her fingertips. Fan Linsong closed his eyes and waited for the other party’s fingers to smash his skull and crush his brain. He could finally let go of his sins and leave this heavy…

“Bang.” However, the next second, he only heard a short onomatopoeia.

The maid android, or Ruan Xian, made a gun gesture with her right thumb and index finger, and poked Fan Linsong’s forehead with it, but she didn’t break any skin.

“What do you mean by this?”

“The project you started by yourself, witness it to the end.” Ruan Xian wagged his finger. “And why should I give you relief? If you want to die, do it yourself.”

“…Didn’t I say—The Mainbrain might get something out of me—”

“It may not have the time.”

The mechanical maid dropped one last sentence before returning to normal.

“…And regarding my relationship with NUL-00, I am looking forward to your reaction when you realize this isn’t a hallucination.”

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The author has something to say:

It is impossible for Fan to die so easily.

Ruan: ? Did you believe me when I said yes?

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Kinky Thoughts:

MUL-01 needs to take lessons from Delia, or rather Fan Linsong and Professor Ruan. (See Chapter 209 of Stray).

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

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 227: Long Time, No See

MUL-01 had no emotions. It was better to say that it had basically no emotions.

The body of MUL-01 was the size of a cathedral. From a distance, countless normal-shaped black metal blocks were suspended in the air, forming a huge black rectangle. The palm-sized box-shaped metal rotated regularly, with a fluorescent blue shimmer between each connecting joint. They were flowing, changing, and lined up in various queues, with countless calculations constantly being made in each black box.

The cybernetic brain is the core of this huge structure. It was also placed in a black box that was larger than the surrounding blocks. This difference was negligible given the size of MUL-01’s “body”. They rotated quietly from sunrise to sunset, adjusting their heat dissipation in the vast desert.

This modern miracle transmitted information to all parts of the world through various channels.

Countless projections of the Mainbrain roamed around command posts in cities and the wilderness, doing different things, making different voices at the same time… and wearing different faces.

At the same time, it also needed to calculate the needs and problems of each Mainbrain city around the world; the summary report of each petri dish, the supervision and adjustment of the climate and environment of each continent, and all aspects of data operations. The lower-level hardware and Order Supervisors would sift through the insignificant things and then report eligible incidents, but it was still a terrifying amount of data.

In a sense, MUL-01 was the only helmsman of this weak crust on the Earth.

It would never tire and naturally wouldn’t stop calculating. The body of MUL-01 lay quietly on the edge of the desert in this way, operating as usual. Compared with those realistic projections, this was more like a virtual scene.

This monster, which hadn’t changed its form, was surrounded by the most advanced fortifications on the surface. It shrank in its safe shell while only the ghost of data travelled in and out.

For example, like now.

MUL-01 would always have a projection at the Order Supervisors headquarters so that orders could be given in a timely manner. At the moment, the projection was sitting at the edge of the table listening to Zhuo Muran’s report. Outside the spacious glass office, Order Supervisors scurry about, and from time to time, some would cast curious glances in their direction.

“…Ruan Xian is very careful. Our people could only find so much. There’s no problem with the information given by Ruan Lijie. Ruan Xian indeed intends to attack you through system invasion by perfecting an attack class machine.”

Zhuo Muran ignored the glances. The glass wall was set up to disrupt programs, and the people outside couldn’t hear them or read their lips.

“But as for the content of the attack program and the time point at which it’s planned to be executed, our people haven’t determined it yet. On this point, I actually have a question.”

“Speak.” The tone of the Mainbrain’s projection was relaxed.

“The informant from our side heard that the behavior of NUL-00 and Ruan Lijie was at the behest of Ruan Xian, which doesn’t make sense—NUL-00’s behavior can be considered reckless. With Professor Ruan starting his plan, he wouldn’t stick someone into our base to steal our program at such a time.”

Zhuo Muran took a sip of his cold tea.

“Instead of spending time deciphering our unfinished search methods, they should focus all their technical talents on attacking us… Even if we complete the search technology, it will take a lot more time to investigate every corner of the world. If he were to steal our firewall data, that I can understand, but the information dissemination algorithm? I can’t see the purpose of this arrangement.”

“It is really strange.” The projection of the Mainbrain nodded. “The timing isn’t right, and it doesn’t make sense for NUL-00 to come to his rescue alone. That information isn’t worth the price. But this time, we did lose M-α and R-α. Considering Ruan Lijie’s S-type Prototype, Ruan Xian might have made other arrangements.”

The Mainbrain’s tone was still flat. Zhuo Muran had never seen it reveal any negative emotions. All of its humanized actions were most likely just acting. However, even knowing it in his heart, he couldn’t help but relax when facing such an existence.

“I have already sent the information about the battle to the technical department.” Zhuo Muran gazed at the contours of the other’s pleasant facial features for a while. “They will transform M-β and R-β in response to the situation that had occurred. This time, the security breach is very serious, and it must not occur again.”

“Very good.” The Mainbrain smiled. “What about Ruan Lijie’s identity?”

“Hu Shuli has confirmed that Ruan Lijie is indeed Ruan Yuchan’s son, but apart from Ruan Lijie’s fake identity, we couldn’t find any other clues.”

“Let Hu Shuli study the gene fragments of the S-type Prototype affinity and compare them with the disease Ruan Xian suffered.” The Mainbrain tilted its head slightly and pondered for a while. “In addition, give Fan Linsong a brain-awakening drug. I’ll visit him in person in three days.”

“You…What does this mean?” Zhuo Muran was taken aback by the subtext of these two requirements.

The Mainbrain suspected that Ruan Lijie was related to Ruan Xian? Although this barely made sense in theory, they all knew that Ruan Xian was a replica and that his parents’ memories were forged. As for Ruan Xian’s biological parents… According to Fan Linsong, Ruan Xian was abandoned by them due to his illness when he was young, so the relevant departments didn’t have records of his biological family.

This was contrary to Ruan Yuchan’s situation.

If Fan Linsong had lied to the outside world, it wasn’t incomprehensible—the original Ruan Xian was a figure who was watched by the Prevention Agency. As his watcher, it would make sense for Fan Linsong to keep Ruan Xian’s true situation a secret.

No matter how justified it may seem, the old man still didn’t think killing the “original Ruan Xian” was something to be proud of. After all, this happened before the birth of the Mainbrain. If that video hadn’t happened to be uploaded to Ruan Xian’s laptop, even MUL-01 wouldn’t have notice the truth.

Zhuo Muran’s fingers twitched as they were holding the teacup.

In other words, there was the possibility that Ruan Xian was Ruan Yuchan’s son, given their age difference, but what would this young version of “Ruan Lijie” mean…

“In order to avoid being used by me, Ruan Xian and Fan Linsong both disguise their DNA.” The Mainbrain seemed to see through Zhuo Muran’s thoughts. “But Ruan Xian’s condition is special. His illness is quite serious, so he must have left a lot of tissue samples before 2100. In order to properly harness the S-type Prototype, the possibility exists that he may have cloned himself.”

“But if this is the case, Ruan Lijie must have been instilled with memories. If this matter is exposed, Ruan Xian is destined to lose his prestige among the rebels. The rebels will only accept reproduction of the physical body at most. If memories were to be inputted…”

 “Then it’s no different from what I’m doing.”

The Mainbrain finished the sentence smoothly.

“But in order to win, this possibility isn’t zero. Ruan Xian is crazier than you think. I know him—Ruan Lijie is a character who has only appeared in recent months. From his appearance, his encounter with NUL-00, to the current attack plan from Ruan Xian, most likely he is part of Ruan Xian’s plan.”

“In other words, even if we break the news now…”

“The rebels won’t have time to react. Since they were defeated last time, their contact hasn’t been frequent, and it takes time for dissatisfaction to ferment. Depending on their plan, it will start within 45 days at the latest, and we don’t have enough time.”

Thinking like this, Ruan Lijie may indeed be one of Ruan Xian’s bets where he had abandoned his bottom line.

“But this only holds true on the premise that ‘Ruan Xian is Ruan Yuchan’s son’, a conclusion that still needs to wait for Hu Shuli’s results. I will also visit Fan Linsong when he is ready to determine the issues involved.”

…But Zhuo Muran thought to himself that something wasn’t quite right.

When the Red Ghost made a scene at the Glass Conservatory, he once showed Fan Linsong an image of Ruan Lijie. What was his reaction at that time?

The old man seemed a little surprised.

[“It seems that you have a little impression of this one.] was what he asked at the time.

[He looks a lot like a woman I have met… But that was many years ago.] was Fan Linsong’s reply.

“Compare the appearance of Ruan Lijie and the R series soldiers,” Zhuo Muran immediately ordered.

A light screen floated between the two of them, showing two young faces. Ruan Lijie and Ruan Yuchan were both stunning. When compared side by side in this way, their eyes were particularly similar, and not in the sense of simple coincidence.

Fan Linsong knew Ruan Yuchan.

That old man had previously devoted all his time to research, so he turned a deaf ear to things outside. Ruan Yuchan’s death wasn’t hyped by the media because it involved a minor and wasn’t a murder case. It was highly unlikely Fan Linsong knew about this case in the media and due to their class and occupation, there was no possibility of a personal friendship.

…It seemed that the Mainbrain’s speculation wasn’t so far off. This would also explain Ruan Lijie’s outstanding talent.

But if this was really Ruan Xian’s clone, the relationship between Ruan Lijie and NUL-00 was interesting. Zhuo Muran thought for a moment. Even if he was loyal to the Mainbrain, he wouldn’t do such a thing as “instigating his own clone to fall in love with his own creation”.

His opponent may be really crazy.

Zhuo Muran tensed his face. Under the Mainbrain’s searching gaze, he transferred all the records of the day he visited Fan Linsong and watched it together with the Mainbrain.

Then he saw the part he hadn’t noticed at the beginning—after he had determined Ruan Lijie’s condition and turned to leave, the old man had a smile that gave people the chills.

[The demon can’t be killed… And he’s just right for this world.] Fan Linsong had said, in an almost inaudible voice.

The Order Supervisor that was monitoring him had judged this as Fan Linsong’s usual gibberish, but combined with the current situation, this sentence didn’t seem to be so delusional.

“It seems that it’s more necessary for me to meet him.” The smile on the Mainbrain’s face completely disappeared.

“This statement…” Zhuo Muran slowly reacted. “Shouldn’t it mean the original Ruan Xian has returned…?”

“The possibility is infinitely close to zero.” The Mainbrain interrupted him. “That Ruan Xian’s body was thrown into a batch of experimental α-092-30. It stands to reason the body would have been destroyed long ago.”

The rules of the Institute had always been cumbersome, and the destruction department had only ever had two cases of anomaly. The first time wasn’t long after the Institute was established, and the second time was on the day NUL-00 was destroyed. The Mainbrain had investigated the data of that day and concluded the anomaly was most likely caused by NUL-00. It resumed operation for some reason found a way to confuse the relevant staff, and escape from the Institute—since NUL-00 was still alive, the Mainbrain could only accept this hypothesis.

At that time, NUL-00 couldn’t access all the information of the institute, which was an iron-clad rule that couldn’t be violated. In other words, it was impossible for it to know about Fan Linsong’s “murder-style treatment” of Ruan Xian, so there was no reason it would intervene in this matter.

On the edge of the distant desert, a group of black cubes that looked like hills quickly turned. In front of Zhuo Muran, the soft-faced young man pressed his finger to his lower lip.

Countless possibilities had been added to the calculation.

Taking a step back, even if the waste liquid containing Ruan Xian’s body was somehow, by chance, wasn’t destroyed, the war that occurred in the 22^nd century had destroyed almost all the Institute. The vast majority of waste liquid silos were damaged and buried in the soil. Moist soil would naturally corrode the containers, which meant the final destination of that waste liquid would be deep in the ground.

Going even further, the waste liquid warehouse where Ruan Xian was located wasn’t damaged by the war but was buried in ruins. Without a considerable degree of force, the liquid bins wouldn’t open.

Even if there was some kind of accidental event, and the waste liquid warehouse was stimulated unexpectedly somehow, it was difficult for Ruan Xian, who was unprotected and knew nothing about the current situation, to survive. In the end α-092-30 was a test product. Even if it allowed his body to polymerize for a short time, that body would eventually collapse in less than a day.

No matter how the Mainbrain calculated it, the possibility was basically zero.

“Only results are the most convincing.” Zhuo Muran shook his head at what the Mainbrain was going to say. “As I said, when the results from Hu Shuli’s investigation and the interrogation of Fan Linsong come out, it won’t be too late to draw a conclusion.”

“Won’t it be too late in time?”

“Looking at Ruan Xian’s plan, we can still afford to wait for a few days. Don’t worry. I’ll tentatively add the assumption that “Ruan Lijie is Ruan Xian” to the calculation.”

Zhuo Muran let out a long sigh. “…You never seem to be surprised.”

The Mainbrain showed an inquisitive look.

“Nevermind.” Zhuo Muran shook his head. “I thought you would be at least a little shaken by such an assumption.”

“Why would you have such an idea?”

“According to the records and conditions over the years, Ruan Xian can be regarded as the human you care about the most.” Zhuo Muran raised his eyes, not intending to conceal his thoughts. “And NUL-00’s situation is—”

“NUL-00 and I are just similar in our core logic.”

The Mainbrain showed a perfect smile again.

“…Those thoughts are just your delusions, Mr. Zhuo. There has only been one bug in my emotional computing system, and that has already been fixed by Ruan Xian himself.”

On the other side of the horizon, the Glass Conservatory ushered in another early morning.

Fan Linsong drooped his eyelids and rubbed against the table like a zombie, ready to eat his breakfast. Everything around him was the same as always… but…

The mechanical maid who poured tea beside him was behaving a little differently than usual.

…Was he so bored that it had reached this point? The corner of Fan Linsong’s mouth twitched.

However, after the mechanical maid poured his tea, she opened her mouth.

“Mr. Fan,” she said with a smile. “Long time, no see.”

“…?”

“We’re back from hell.”

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