C109 —- [5.4 — False Them]

Inside the cramped room, Jiu Shu was resting.

 

Although it was already daylight, there wasn’t much sunlight in the single room he was in.

 

The sky in the lower city was always dim, and it was rarely sunny.

 

Today was no exception.

 

Even if the curtains hadn’t been drawn,the room seemed dim.

 

Opening his eyes, Jiu Shu’s short, slightly dishevelled hair was sticking up, and he casually pressed it down, blinking sleepily.

 

He was trying to reverse his routine.

 

 

But his body, which had become accustomed to this routine, was having a really hard time adjusting to the new biological clock, and he had been very sleepy for the last few days.

 

 

 

Even when he sat up from his bed, he had the urge to lie down and go back to sleep.

 

 

However, Jiu Shu’s self-control was still fine, so he didn’t go back to sleep.

 

 

He got up, poured a cup of hot water and drank it.

 

 

Because he drank it too quickly, the water droplets fell along his jawline, landing all the way on his well-defined collarbone.

 

 

At the other end of the downtown area.

 

 

Zero Three averted his gaze slightly, avoiding the soaked collar of the young human on the screen.

 

 

Through the thin open shirt, his pale skin could be seen, flawless.

 

 

 

During the performance at the bar, Jiu Shu was covered with mosaic over the upper half of his face, even wearing a mask when they met last night.

 

 

Zero Three hadn’t been able to see his face clearly.

 

 

The incomparably clear picture in the camera now made his ears burn a little inexplicably.

 

 

Some emotions that shouldn’t belong to a bionic human made Zero Three’s originally silent appearance seem a little strange.

 

 

Inside the transport car, Seven Two, who was sitting on the side, glanced curiously at Zero Three.

 

 

Zero Three put away his mobile phone before Seven Two could see his screen.

 

 

He didn’t want others to see Jiu Shu’s appearance.

 

 

He knew that Jiu Shu had covered his face before just so that he wouldn’t be seen, so he would keep it a secret for Jiu Shu.

 

 

As for his current surveillance behaviour, it was only out of consideration for his personal safety.

 

 

This was the usual style of the police department.

 

 

The victim wouldn’t be notified directly until the danger has been identified, but would be observed first.

 

 

Until it was certain that he had become a target of criminals, only then would he be notified.
 

This kind of surveillance by public cameras was common for guards in the lower city.

 

 

Only uptown residents had the right to refuse surveillance.

 

 

And for this kind of familiar protection mission, logically speaking, Zero Three shouldn’t have any feelings of reluctance.

 

 

But the current him hesitated for a long time to even look at the surveillance.

 

This was very abnormal.

 

Zero Three lowered his eyes expressionlessly, waiting for the heat on his ears to dissipate.

 

 

Regarding the abnormal phenomenon that frequently appeared on him these days, he could only keep telling himself in his mind that it was just out of respect for humans.

 

 

 

That was why he was so nervous.

 

 

Thinking like this, Zero Three’s pale face lowered, he looked at the mobile phone in his hand, and turned off the surveillance.

 

 

There was no free time to look at the surveillance now.

 

 

A new daily mission was received today.

 

 

Only after completing the mission could he continue to go on the mission to protect humanity.

 

 

Zero Three was now sitting on a transport vehicle that was heading deeper into the lower city.

 

 

As the lowest level bionic employee in the police department, he needed to go and complete those jobs that human police officers were unwilling to complete.

 

 

This included this current job of hunting the offending Bionics.

 

 

The transport vehicle soon came to a stop.

 

 

It had reached the location where the offending bionic man was.

 

 

Zero Three got out of the vehicle and watched the lower city slums with crookedly stacked buildings in front of him, his eyes calm.

 

 

Today’s target was a long escaped bionic man who chose to flee when he was about to be sent to the robot graveyard by his master.

 

 

And hurt several humans on the way out.

 

 

For this kind of bionic who had harmed humans, the mission Zero Three received was to completely obliterate it.

 

 

Seven Two followed right behind Zero Three, and the two of them entered a towering building with a chaotic appearance not far away, one in front and one behind.

 

 

It was a dozen or so storeys high, but it was all made of ancient building materials piled on top of each other, with a chaotic and disorderly aesthetic.

 

 

When entering it, one would even feel like they were entering an ancient castle of a long time ago, with pillars supporting the building everywhere.

 

 

The house was divided into narrow single rooms, all of which were filled with tenants who had been driven to the lower part of the city because of debt and poverty, and had lost their citizenship.

 

After seeing the strangers come in, the small children who were still running around the house timidly hid behind the pillars, not daring to approach Zero Three and Seven Two.

 

 

Obviously, Zero Three’s tall body and indifferent face gave off the impression that he wasn’t to be messed with, making people not dare to approach easily.

 

“What to do? The police are already here!”

 

 

“Shhh, keep it down.”

 

 

In the room upstairs, someone was quietly spying on the two people downstairs.

 

 

Their faces were dirty, their eyes dull, and they were trembling with nervousness.

 

 

As bionics who had defected from the outside world, they had been hiding here for a long time.

 

 

They were afraid of being sent to a robot cemetery, they didn’t want to experience the feeling of being stripped of limbs, with all intact parts removed, leaving only a head that could sense the outside world, abandoned in the cemetery forever lonely.

 

So they fled.

 

 

They had been hiding well, but a few days ago they had accidentally revealed themselves and their trail was discovered by the surveillance.

 

 

Even in the slums where the public facilities were in disrepair, surveillance was everywhere.

 

 

The upper class always had too much resentment towards the lowly inferiors, and believed that the only way to better maintain order was to conduct all-encompassing surveillance.

 

 

These surveillance became the biggest nightmare when bionics were on the run.

 

 

Because the surveillance would automatically scan the iris, it was easy to reveal one’s identity.

 

 

The consequence of exposing one’s identity was to be executed by their fellow bionic counterparts.

 

 

“It’s okay, we can escape, I’ve already made preparations, in a moment when they come up we can jump off the side and use their police car to escape, I’ve already cracked ……”

 

 

 

Bang–

 

 

Before the words left his mouth, the bionic man’s chest had an extra large hole in it, and artificial blo-od splattered all over the walls of a floor with a clatter.

 

 

The bionic man froze and looked down to see the tall man who was holding a g-un downstairs.

 

 

He had dark hair, dark eyes, and an expressionless face, looking upstairs at them as if he were looking at two dead things.

 

 

Zero Three.

 

It was the combat bionic man that the bionic people in the lower city had heard so much about.

 

 

As the newest model of bionic man, he had no mercy on his kind.

 

 

No bionic could survive him.

 

 

He was an executioner.
 

A traitor among bionics.
 

Looking at his fallen companion, the remaining bionic couldn’t think twice; he got up and jumped out of the window, running towards the outside of the slums.

 

The residents of the house were startled by the gu-nshots just now, and Zero Three had no time to pay them any attention, quickly chasing after the direction his target had fled.

 

 

Seven Two, however, was somewhat unable to keep up with him.

 

 

The fact that he hadn’t been able to purchase the nutrient solution recently had ultimately affected his physical abilities.

 

 

Even in the process of chasing, Seven Two was knocked down by the bionic, and the special g-un in his hand reached the target bionic.
 

“Don’t come any closer, or I’ll shoot the humans next to me for all you care!”

 

 

The bionic man held his g-un and aimed it at the terrified populace next to him.

 

 

Zero Three looked at the bionic man with a fearful expression; his face remained expressionless.

 

 

Raising his g-un, he aimed it at him.

 

 

The bionic man was so scared that he immediately pulled the trigger, but found out how he couldn’t manipulate the pistol like Zero Three did.

 

 

The police department’s gu-ns all had to pass a special identity certification.

 

 

It wasn’t like you could just get them and use them.

 

 

In the face of the miserable state of affairs, the bionic man completely despaired, and he fell to his knees with tears all over his face.

 

 

Like a human, he cried his heart out.

 

 

“I just want to live …… I don’t want to die just …… why can’t you just let me go?”

 

 

“Why!”

 

 

“I didn’t ki-ll anyone, I didn’t do anything bad to the humans, those people were injured when they ran into each other themselves while chasing me ……”

 

The bionic man said as he ripped the sleeves off his body, revealing his scarred arms, all of which were marked by his previous owner hurting him.

 

 

And even then he had never thought of hurting a human.

 

 

Seven Two looked at the bionic man, and his expression seemed to move a little.

 

 

Bang-

 

 

Another gu-nshot rang out.

 

 

Zero Three walked over to the bionic man’s corpse, half-squatted his body, and took out the chip in his brain.

 

 

As a chip that stored a backup of the bionic man’s memories, if the chip was put into another bionic man’s body it was possible to revive him immediately.

 

And the goal of this mission was to completely erase it.

 

 

Seven Two stood at the side, looking at his still expressionless companion, Zero Three, and froze for a long time.

 

 

It seemed like he wanted to say something, but eventually fell silent.

 

 

Zero Three was a bionic human that absolutely perfectly met the requirements of a human.

 

 

Unlike bionics like him, Zero Three would not have any sympathy for his kind.

 

Even if he k-illed his own kind with his own hands, he wouldn’t have any emotions.

 

Sometimes, when Seven Two looked at Zero Three, he would feel that certain ideas of humans made sense.

 

Some bionics were indeed just machines, not real beings.

 

 

It had no emotions at all.

 

 

Seven Two had been partnered with Zero Three for a few years now and had never seen Zero Three’s face show too many expressions expressing emotions.

 

 

A few months after he first left the factory, Seven Two remembered that Zero Three still had a smile on his face at that time, but it gradually disappeared.

 

 

His performance in these few years could really be described as that of a machine that couldn’t think.

 

 

Seven Two watched as Zero Three gathered the bodies on the ground.
 

 

The bionic man on the ground was in pieces from the immense power of the gun, and the broken pieces were a blo-ody mess.
 

It was obvious to see some tissue composition that was completely different from that of a human, but it suddenly looked like a human body.
 

Next to them were the residents poking their heads out from behind the slum buildings to see what all the fuss was about, each with a dirty face.

 

 

With a greyish tinge unique to the residents of the lower city, all originally feared the g-un in Zero Three’s hand.

 

 

But after realising that it was a bionic human corpse on the ground, everyone became excited.

 

 

It was like seeing a good show without the slightest fear.

 

 

Bionics were such incomparably loathsome things to humans.

 

 

Zero Three returned the corpse to the police car before raising his head to look at Seven Two.

 

 

Although it was still without much emotion, Seven Two could tell what he meant.

 

 

He was reminding him not to make any mistakes.

 

 

Otherwise, he would report it.

 

 

Once a bionic man had a problem, the consequences were more serious than those of a human police officer, and he would be sent for an overhaul.

 

 

If he couldn’t be fixed, he would be sent to the robot graveyard.

 

 

To Seven Two, that was almost the equivalent of a threat.

 

 

Even after years of being partnered with him, one mistake was threatened with being reported to the police.

 

 

 

Zero Three was such a bionic man who could never learn to be smooth and emotional.

 

 

“I know there won’t be a next time, sorry!”

 

 

Seven Two apologised with a strong smile.

 

 

Zero Three withdrew his gaze and headed to the house from before.

 

 

There was still a bionic man there that hadn’t been recovered, even though he had been shot in the chest and incapacitated.

 

 

But the chip in his brain hadn’t been recovered yet.

 

 

But Zero Three was too late.

 

 

By the time he returned to the house, the bionic man’s body on the first floor had already been broken into pieces of varying sizes and was being held by the children downstairs, who were playing around with it.

 

 

Splat–

 

 

A stone slammed hard into Zero Three’s forehead.

 

 

Zero Three dodged it.

 

 

As a combat bionic, he wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t even dodge a rock.

 

 

He looked at the small child who threw the rock at him.

 

His face was yellow and thin.
Originally having a timid expression, he changed his expression after noticing the code between his wrists.

 

 

The other humans did the same, all revealing looks of abhorrence.

 

 

Zero Three didn’t say anything, remaining silent as he collected the broken pieces from those children’s hands and put them into a body bag.

 

 

The bionic human’s body still had recycling value and could not fall into other people’s hands.

 

 

However, the chip had already been damaged, and this bionic human was completely dead.
 

Looking at the chip that had obviously been smashed by an adult in the palm of his hand, Zero Three raised his head to look at the parents who were hiding in the room, allowing their small children to make noise and insult Zero Three.

 

 

He could see the resentment and fear in those people’s eyes.

 

 

The humans resented the bionics for taking away the jobs that should have been theirs, and they also feared the power that the bionics possessed.

 

 

The bionics had become more perfect than humans.

 

 

That was what humans could not tolerate.

 

 

Turning around, Zero Three left the place.

 

He was already used to these negative emotions.

 

To him, it was irrelevant.

 

 

“You don’t care at all?”

 

 

Seven Two, who had been silent for a long time beside him, suddenly opened his mouth and asked.

 

 

Zero Three glanced at Seven Two and let out a hmmm.

 

 

He really didn’t seem to take these things to heart.

 

 

Only caring about his own work.

 

 

Especially that protection mission that he only took on last night.

 

 

Was Jiu Shu awake now?

 

 

As a human, he should be in need of breakfast.

 

 

Zero Three thought aimlessly and walked towards the police car.

 

 

Not noticing that behind him, Seven Two stopped in his tracks with a complicated expression.
 

He looked at the smartwatch on his wrist, which had the message sent to the Bionics by the Resistance group some time ago.

 

 

Zero Three had also received it.

 

 

Seven Two knew that Zero Three had deleted the email a long time ago, but he hadn’t.

 

 

So he received another email sent to him separately.

 

 

An invitation letter from the Resistance.

 

 

[God doesn’t love the Bionics.]

 

 

[So the bionics will make their own gods.]

 

 

[That will be our common will.]

 

 

It was indeed easy for Seven Two to fall in love with humans.
 

 

He was in love with Xiao Tiantian, and he was also in love with Jiu Shu, whom he met for the first time yesterday.

 

 

He had always found humans to be immensely lovable, but that didn’t mean that Seven Two wouldn’t feel sympathy for his kind.

 

 

He hoped that humans would look at bionics as equals and that they would stop showing great malice towards them.

 

 

That way, humans would really love bionic people.

 

 

And in this repressive society, it seemed that only the resistance could help him fulfil this wish.

 

 

Seven Two looked at the email for a long time before closing it and returning to the police car.

 

 

Zero Three didn’t know what was going on in Seven Two’s mind.

 

 

He sat in the driver’s seat and glanced at the black screen of his mobile phone, eventually resisting the thought of opening the surveillance.

 

 

He shouldn’t be too invasive to humans; an occasional glance was enough; it couldn’t be too often.
The police car drove off quickly.

 

 

Travelling to the location of the next mission.

 

 

Today was destined to be a busy day for Zero Three.

 

 

In the past, he never felt that there were many missions, but today he felt that there were a bit too many missions, so many that he was nowhere near going home.

 

 

It was also far from seeing that human idol.

 

 

“Today’s task is to guard the factory to prevent any bionics from escaping the incinerator.”

 

 

Seven Two read the mission information displayed on his mobile phone.

 

 

Zero Three parked the car near the factory.

 

 

Due to the presence of resistance, the humans had to destroy all of that batch of bionics that were prone to rebel against the humans.

 

 

However, due to the large number of them, even if thousands of bionics were burned every day, it was still far from all the old model bionics being destroyed.

 

 

It was said that the government was already trying to find a way to build a factory that could destroy the bionics more efficiently, and when that time came, that would be when the old model bionics would be completely extinct.
Seven Two raised his head and looked at this factory that was constantly echoing with the miserable screams of the bionics, his expression a little baffled.

 

 

But Zero Three had already entered the factory.

 

 

Seven Two looked at Zero Three’s expressionless and icy appearance and completely gave up the idea that had sprung up of wanting to turn Zero Three into a fellow Resistance member.

 

 

 

Zero Three would never do that.

 

 

He was a bionic who was absolutely loyal to humans.

 

 

 

A ki-lling machine without a sense of self.

 

 

“Don’t … help me!”

 

 

“Let me out.”

 

 

Inside the factory, the bionics were screaming.
 

The bionics with various personality settings used to be the perfect housekeepers who walked into countless human homes, giving everything for the sake of a comfortable human life.

 

Now they were unceremoniously discarded, becoming rubbish that was about to be scorched to death by flames.

 

 

So they were unwilling, so they prayed.

 

 

These emotions that shouldn’t belong to bionics were also the very reason why they were destroyed.

 

Standing at the exit next to the incineration platform, Zero Three stepped on the head of one of the bionics that crawled out from behind the railing.

 

Click-

 

A cracking sound rang out, and the bionic man’s wailing in pain came to an abrupt end.

 

 

Zero Three stomped on his sensory system so that he wouldn’t feel any pain when being incinerated.

 

 

Pushing the bionic human back into the incineration platform, Zero Three looked at the rolling waves of heat that gradually burned up, his pitch-black pupils hiding all his emotions.
 

Watching these similarly constructed humanoids like himself die, it was impossible to say that there wasn’t the slightest feeling in his heart.

 

 

Zero Three was just used to it and numb.
 

He was a bionic born to work for humans, a tool only, and shouldn’t have any unnecessary emotions.

 

 

He shouldn’t even have sympathy for his own kind.

 

 

Perhaps to his own kind, he was brutal and cold, but Zero Three was just obeying the orders of the humans.

 

 

He was used to obeying.

 

 

There was no malice towards his kind per se.

 

 

But to the old model bionics who were deep in the fire, the figure of the bionic named Zero Three looking down on them was like a demon.
 

As a new model bionic human, he was born with the unattainable power of the old model—the ability to repair himself.
Yet he had also become indifferent and cold, with no sympathy for his kind.

 

 

He was feared and hated.
 

The bionic people struggled in desperation, taking out their unwillingness and resentment towards death on Zero Three.

 

 

All sorts of abuse ensued.

 

 

In response, as long as they didn’t escape the incineration platform, Zero Three ignored them.

 

 

Letting them curse him; he would definitely die an even more miserable death in the future and would encounter even more horrific torture from humans.

 

 

Zero Three had no expression on his face the entire time.

 

 

Next to him, Seven Two was also holding a g-un, guarding the side, looking towards the incineration platform with a gaze full of sympathy.

 

 

The incineration soon ended, and today’s mission came to an end.

 

 

But at this time, the sky had already darkened.

 

 

The day was coming to an end.

 

Zero Three looked at the surveillance on his mobile phone, his finger flicking across the screen.

 

Today, Jiu Shu didn’t go out for the whole day.

 

 

Every time Zero Three looked at his mobile phone, he would see him sitting in front of the computer, going through information, his gaze focused.

 

 

His incredibly beautiful face looked particularly fair in the dimly lit room.

 

 

Jiu Shu covered his face when he sang, so many people on the internet speculated that he might have some kind of defect on his face and that only the lower half of his face was better-looking or something like that.
 

 

Only Zero Three knew that he was still beautiful after revealing his face.

 

 

And this kind of Jiu Shu could only be seen by him.

 

 

It was as if it was a secret that belonged exclusively between him and Jiu Shu.
Only the two of them.

 

 

“Zero Three?” Seven Two’s voice became a little odd.

 

 

Zero Three paused, put away his mobile phone, and looked at Seven Two.

 

 

He wondered what he wanted to say.

 

 

Instead, Seven Two pointed at his face with strange eyes.

 

 

Zero Three was stunned, looking uncertainly at his own face reflected on the mobile phone screen.

 

 

A very normal pale face.

 

 

There was nothing special about it.

 

 

Zero Three withdrew his gaze.

 

 

Seven Two was speechless at the sight and could only watch as Zero Three continued to walk towards the police car outside the factory.

 

 

Only he knew what he had just seen.

 

 

It was a smile that Zero Three had never seen before; the curves of his mouth were extremely deep.

 

 

An expression that should have revealed happy emotions, but it was a little creepy.

 

 

It was as if he was caught in some fantasy that he couldn’t pull himself out of.

 

 

A fantasy that bionics could be with humans.

 

 

Like a person with severe human fantasies.

 

 

Sick and extreme.

 

 

“……”

 

 

Zero Three ignored Seven Two, who was still standing frozen outside the car, as he once again looked down at his mobile phone.

 

 

On the screen, Jiu Shu was still sitting docilely in front of the computer, slightly tired and with his eyes closed.

 

 

When he laid back on the chair, he revealed his bare neck, snow-white and soft.

 

 

In the dimly lit room, this human youth was the only one who looked like he was glowing, making people unable to move their eyes.

 

Zero Three swept over the food bags in Jiu Shu’s room and couldn’t help but purse his lips, knowing that he had only eaten some instant food products today.

 

 

To humans, those foods were very unhealthy.

 

 

Jiu Shu was probably like this because of the shortage of living expenses.

 

 

Zero Three looked over his account balance and thought about how he should give the balance to the human.

 

Since he had to protect the mission target, it was only natural to take care of the target’s food and clothing, right?

 

 

Zero Three’s materialistic desires were very low; he rarely bought anything other than the necessities of life, so he had saved up quite a bit of money over the years.

 

 

There was no problem at all with gifting it to Jiu Shu to improve his life, but the question was how to give it to him so as not to arouse suspicion.

 

 

Even though most of the humans in the lower city were short on money, they wouldn’t just accept any money that came to their door.

 

 

If it was very suspicious money, anyone who was a little bit wary would not collect it.

 

 

If it was given directly to Jiu Shu, he definitely wouldn’t take it.

 

 

Perhaps it could be said that it was given to him by a fan.

 

 

Zero Three thought of this brilliant method.

 

 

Jiu Shu was a human idol, so if it was given in the name of a fan, he would definitely accept it happily.
 

 

Thinking so, Zero Three gripped the mobile phone in his hand tightly.
In order to show that he was a fan, he should give a gift first to draw the relationship closer.

 

 

Then, that human, would he like roses?
Zero Three was a bit baffled when this thought popped up; he inexplicably thought that that human might like roses.

 

 

If a bouquet of roses was placed in front of his door, would he be surprised when he saw it?

 

 

Zero Three didn’t know the answer.

 

 

When the doorbell rang in the middle of the night that night, Jiu Shu, who opened the door, looked down the empty, deserted corridor.

 

 

His eyes moved down to look at the bright red, bl-ood-like bouquet of flowers that had eerily appeared in front of the door, and Jiu Shu fell into silence.

 

“……”

 

---

TN:

I did 5 bonus chapters based on a request from a reader, which was to have early access on my ko-fi page. Check it outttttt 🤸

 

https://ko-fi.com/untameds