Zero Three knew that this was his instinct as a bionic man at work.
There were many bionic people like this. They couldn’t distinguish between the chip program that came from the factory and their true feelings.
They mistook loyalty and dependence on a human for a feeling of heartfelt love.
And as a result, they had imaginary fantasies about that human.
It was once jokingly referred to as the bionic human’s mental illness, Human Fantasy Disorder.
This symptom was rare these days with the intensified conflict between humans and bionics.
It was common in the past when humans were not so averse to bionics.
His companion, Seven Two, was now a typical human fantasist.
He thought that his favorite human idol favored him, and in order to maintain this relationship that was so beautiful in his own eyes, he was willing to use everything he had to please him. In order to maintain such a beautiful relationship, he was willing to use everything he had to please her.
In the end, when their condition worsened, they may even fall into pathological love and become convinced that the human was in love with them.
They believed that they would get the love of human beings.
However, most of these patients end up being discarded in the robot graveyard after being used by humans.
Zero Three was a much more sensible person.
He could distinguish between programming and real emotions; he wasn’t a potential patient of human fantasies, so he chose to turn around and leave the first floor where the stage was located.
No further attention was paid to the singer named Jiu Shu.
He began to concentrate on investigating the information about the resistance.
But the investigation process didn’t go well.
The bar was filled with men who had drunk heavily. As far as the eye could see, there was no trace of the resistance faction.
Fortunately, Zero Three had a very keen sense, so he still found some clues left by the resistance.
After showing the bar manager his City Security Guard’s identification, he entered the bar’s surveillance room.
Through the surveillance room, he saw several bionics with revealing dresses and exaggerated make-up enter the room inside the bar, only to come out an hour later.
And by that time, they already had an extra USB stick-like object in their hands, and despite receiving it quickly, Zero Three still detected it.
Through the comparison of iris information, he recognized them as part of the resistance group he had traced.
They were indeed plotting a huge conspiracy. It must have something to do with the contents of the flash drive.
But they were nowhere to be found.
This pub was known for its chaotic and unrecorded identity information, so it was difficult to track down these bionics in the downtown area, where the buildings were huge and complicated.
But tonight wasn’t a wasted visit.
After Zero Three downloaded the surveillance data to his brain database through the data interface, he left the surveillance room.
He was ready to go back.
Although he was a bionic robot, he still needed to enter deep sleep at a fixed time every day to rest his brain.
The security guard of the monitoring room watched Zero Three leave, then spat in disgust.
Muttering under his breath, he said, “These damn bionics… they should have been destroyed earlier. It’s all because of the trouble they caused; what dam-ned bastards!”
With the explosion of various mur-der news stories on the internet, humanity’s malice towards bionics grew heavier and heavier.
Especially now that many of the bionics in the Seventh Metropolis were at risk of being infected by the neurovirus.
Once infected, they would begin to pursue so-called freedom and k-ill their human masters.
In this situation, humans naturally wouldn’t be kind to a strange bionic human that appeared in a bar.
Even a bionic employee in a police station would only get looks of fear and disgust from people.
So expecting humans to feel good about bionics was simply more naive than a child.
Perhaps only a freshly shipped bionic could be so naive.
And his hope was long gone.
Nor would he ever hold out hope for humans again.
After hearing the security guard’s voice, Zero Three paused then he walked to the end of the corridor and left the first floor without turning back.
His companion, Seven Two, was still on the ground floor near the singing stage.
When Zero Three got there, the performance was already near the end.
The scantily dressed human idols on the stage were smiling at the fans below the stage, their smiles tinged with winks, attracting bursts of screams.
Zero Three saw that Seven Two was standing closest to the stage, holding today’s freshly paid salary in his hand and waving it towards his beloved idol non-stop.
After seeing the smile on the Xiao Tiantian girl’s face, he was even more excited, and his face turned red.
For a bionic human, this was basically equivalent to a body overheating and overloading, and he could easily fall into a state of death.
However, this was only relative to the lower model bionics of the past, he and Seven Two belonged to the latest bionic technology that had been developed, and it wasn’t that easy to die.
If they didn’t reveal the electronic codes displayed on their wrists themselves, it would be hard for anyone to recognize their true identities at first glance.
Zero Three stood at a distance, watching the curtain fall on this noisy show.
Even though they were just idols in a bar, they had pretty faces.
However, Zero Three could tell at a glance the false artificial traces on those idols’ faces, and coupled with superior make-up techniques, it was easy to make them look exquisite.
But essentially, just like the faces of bionic people, they were all false and could be replaced at any time.
Before Zero Three’s eyes, that person’s neck just now appeared pure white.
Although he didn’t see his face, perhaps his appearance was like that of these humans.
In the Seventh City’s most depraved lower district, face modification was something that couldn’t be more normal.
“Xiao Tiantian!!!”
At the side of the stage, Seven Two was still trying to vociferously call out Xiao Tiantian’s name.
He didn’t stop until the singing was over and the idol handshake began.
Seven Two, as a fan who had invested a lot of money in Xiao Tiantian, naturally got the chance to get close.
He shook her hand, moving carefully.
He let go after only a few seconds of holding it, but he was already satisfied.
Xiao Tiantian, in turn, sweetly smiled at him.
Seven Two was so excited that he almost fainted.
Zero Three’s somewhat cold gaze was withdrawn from within the bar and was just about to leave.
Just then, he saw the bionic man that appeared in the surveillance earlier skimming through the corridor not far away.
He frowned slightly and chased after him.
There were more corridors in this bar, so if one wasn’t familiar with the road, it would be easy to get lost, but Zero Three had an advanced navigation system and could easily distinguish the direction.
Soon finding those bionic people, Zero Three hid in the shadows, his gaze icy cold as he looked at them.
“The transaction has been successful; the people over at the headquarters received the information; the central processor is ready; there’s someone!”
The bionic man, who was originally plotting something, suddenly stopped as the sound of humans clamoring came from behind them.
“Really, those bastards who move their hands… have painful handshakes!”
It was from the girl idol group that had just finished their performance.
The Xiao Tiantian that Seven Two adored was among them.
Only at this time, she didn’t have the delicate cuteness on the stage just now and was full of foul language.
“By the way, did you guys notice just now? That bionic man called Seven Two, too disgusting; he held my hand and refused to let go!”
“Wasn’t it said some time ago that a batch of useless bionics would be destroyed? How come this one hasn’t been destroyed yet? It’s really disgusting; if it wasn’t for the amount of money given, I would really like to shoot him in the head!”
“Hahaha! Who says he won’t be destroyed? The most annoying things are these bionic people who pretend to be humans, but fortunately, at least the money is given.”
Humanity’s rejection of bionic people was already deep in their bones; even if there were bionic people who showed a friendly side, they would be ridiculed and ostracized.
Viewed with indifference.
Never to get the same affection.
After all, how could a person develop feelings for their own sla-ves?
The idols gradually walked away.
The bionic people hiding next to them observed them for a long time, confirming that they were just accidentally passing by before leaving in a hurry.
Zero Three followed and saw them get into a car without a license plate.
After uploading the data to the headquarters, his mission was over.
The next tracing work was something on the headquarters side; he was only responsible for finding some key information.
After all, his authority as a bionic human wasn’t enough to access higher-level information, so he could only give the information to the people at the headquarters.
As for the deal in the mouths of those bionic people just now, he could only wait until the top continued to give orders.
“Zero Three, you ran too far. It’s too bad that you missed Xiao Tiantian’s performance.”
Seven Two found Zero Three standing outside the bar, chattering under his breath about the previous performance, full of longing for her.
Zero Three was silent the entire time.
As a strong-willed bionic, Zero Three had never been interested in such things.
If it wasn’t for his silent personality, he probably would have joined the others and spoken out to scold Seven Two, a bionic who always liked to talk about Xiao Tiantian regardless of the occasion.
Seven Two’s brain had become strange after falling in love with a human.
If it was sent for overhaul now, it would probably be scrapped and sent to the robot graveyard.
Unlike him, Seven Two was too naive as a bionic.
Just like what Zero Three had just seen, Seven Two probably knew the true nature of Xiao Tiantian’s private feelings towards him.
Yet he was so infatuated with a human because he was too eager for human attention.
Zero Three hoped that he wouldn’t become such a person.
Otherwise, it would be too pathetic.
Thinking like this, he subconsciously lowered his eyes to look at the number on his wrist, a series of codes ending in 3.
Humans and bionics were originally separated by a heavenly rift.
This was the biggest difference.
But, the song he heard just now reappeared in his ears.
Through the noisy music of the bar, even if it was faint, only the soft voice of that person could be heard.
Obviously, it was an old and worn-out song from the last century, but at that moment, it was incomparably moving.
Obviously, there were many people who sang better than him.
Yet only his voice carried a feathery tickle that made the heart tighten.
“……”
For some reason, Zero Three became more and more silent.
But his silence didn’t affect Seven Two’s interest in chatting about his beloved human girl.
But at this time, the sky had already turned fish-belly white; it was time to go back.
Zero Three drove the car and drove Seven Two back to headquarters in no time.
The flat they rented was near the headquarters.
“By the way, Zero Three, I received a support ticket just now; do you want it?”
“It seems to be a support ticket for a singer who just came recently, called Jiu Shu. I’m not interested, but I heard that he’s been very popular in the bar lately.”
Before getting off the car, Seven Two picked at the various small gifts given out by the bar, ready to throw away all the useless ones to save more space.
Then, he took out a support ticket that allowed him to get up close and personal with an idol.
In order to support Xiao Tiantian, he had become so poor that he couldn’t even afford a single room.
As a semi-formal employee of a police station, although the salary wasn’t as high as that of a formal employee, it was generally enough to rent a spacious house.
Now he could only squeeze in with the others; it was self-inflicted.
Zero Three looked at the support ticket in silence and didn’t reply.
He wasn’t interested in that singer named Jiu Shu, and it was useless to give him this support ticket.
But Seven Two was already preparing to leave; it was almost dawn, and he had to continue working during the day.
He hadn’t even bought any nutrient solution lately and only relied on his daily rest to replenish his energy, and if he didn’t rest in time, he would be mentally unstable the next day.
Seven Two anxiously shoved the support coupon casually into Zero Three’s hand before getting out of the car and walking away.
Before Zero Three could get the support ticket back, Seven Two disappeared.
The only thing left in his hand was a rectangular, delicate support ticket.
The paper was on the thicker side and smooth to the touch, and in this era that favored more electronic tickets, this kind of paper product was still relatively rare.
Phantom Bar had collaborated with many of the firms in the lower city, and they also had support tickets for various underground idols.
As long as a few more tickets were printed, a steady stream of money could be collected, and no one would miss out on such a cost-effective deal.
Although the price was that those idols must agree to all kinds of requests from the fans holding the coupons, even kisses and other excessive demands.
But this wasn’t important to the bar managers.
As long as they made money, it was fine.
Zero Three had actually heard of this business model.
Even someone as stupid as Seven Two once received a kiss from Xiao Tiantian with a support ticket.
And because of that, he was excited for more than a month, and every day when he met someone, he would just introduce Xiao Tiantian to them; it was like madness.
But it was just a kiss from a human.
Or a false kiss.
Not knowing what came to mind, Zero Three suddenly got a little lost in thought and frowned furiously when he came back to his senses.
He hadn’t even seen that person’s face; it didn’t matter if he could get a kiss or not.
But remembering that that person would be so close to someone he had never seen before just because of a mere support ticket, Zero Three had an indescribably depressing feeling in his heart.
The support ticket in his hand also became a little wrinkled by the subconsciously tightened force.
It was only after a long time that he loosened his hand and put the support ticket to the side.
He didn’t need this.
Nor did he care whether or not that person would have more intimate contact with a human or not.
After all, bionics were the weaker party compared to humans.
All of this was the human’s own choice; it was not his turn as a bionic to have a say.
The support ticket was placed on the passenger seat, and the crumpled crease looked a bit torn.
The car was traveling on the road in the early morning; the neon lights flickered all night long in the lights, and Zero Three’s pale face was reflected in the rearview mirror.
Clean, short hair and handsome features made his appearance look like that of an ordinary young man, but those dark, deep eyes made his aura oppressively gloomy.
He had an unappealing aura.
Arriving at his apartment building, Zero Three got out of the car.
As a building in the lower city, this apartment building had the unique clutter of the lower city.
Grey colors filled the surroundings, and with the cold light from the roadside shining on the dozens of floors of this building, no one would be able to tell that a hundred years ago, this was also once the city center of a city.
Now it had been reduced to a lower city slum.
“Hey! Bas-tard! How come you didn’t die outside?
TN:
I’m backkkk, had to split this in half cause it was long, second part will be up tomorrow ✌️
Thank you for the chapter!