C110 — [5.5 — False Them]

Picking up the roses on the ground and looking at these obviously expensive real flowers, Jiu Shu’s fingertips gently touched the petals, and then he saw the note hidden in the petals.

 

[I’m a fan of yours, and I love listening to your songs. I hope you will like this gift.]

 

The font on the note was as standard as if it had been printed by a machine.

 

Every word was the same size, but he could smell the aroma of ink.

 

In this era of highly developed technology, few people could write in such a standardised font.

 

So the discerning eye could see that this was probably bionic handwriting; only bionic people would write in such a perfect font.

 

Continuing to look down, Jiu Shu thought that at the end of the note, the sender’s contact information would be there.

 

But there was only a simple signature: Zero Three.

 

If a normal person who knew nothing about Zero Three was faced with this bouquet of flowers sent in the middle of the night from a so-called fan who inexplicably knew his real address, they would have been scared to death.

 

Jiu Shu glanced at the darkness outside the door, turned around, and returned to the room, closing the door.

 

There was no vase in the room, so Jiu Shu could only place the bouquet on the table and take a cup to place it in.

 

Prolonging its freshness.

 

After experiencing so many worlds, Jiu Shu realised that he actually preferred those paper flowers that were folded out by hand, which could show the giver’s intention at a glance.

 

But in this high-tech era, flowers were not cheap.

 

Jiu Shu could imagine that in order to buy this bouquet of flowers, the object of discipline had probably spent quite a lot of money.

 

And as a bionic who was treated half as well as a human in the police station, this amount of money shouldn’t be a small amount.

 

Fiddling with the petals of the flowers, the side of Jiu Shu’s face seemed whiter under the petals of the flowers, and even under the high-definition quality of the security camera, one couldn’t see a single blemish.

 

The bones of his wrists were clearly defined, and when one looked down the back of his white hands, each finger was beautiful.

 

Each finger was beautiful, more delicate than the well-maintained fingers of those formal residents in the upper city.

 

Zero Three lowered his eyes to look at Jiu Shu on the monitor. He didn’t say a word, but his eyes were filled with an unknowing warmth.

 

Although it wasn’t as surprising as he thought it would be, it was fortunate that Jiu Shu had accepted the gift.

 

After a few more times, their relationship should grow closer.

 

When the time came, if he proposed the idea of adding him as a friend online, he didn’t know if he would agree.

 

If he could get approval, he could give all the money in his account to this human.

 

This way, his life would be more comfortable.

 

His personal safety could be better guaranteed.

 

His fingers seemed to caress over Jiu Shu’s face on the screen without thinking, and after a moment’s pause, Zero Three raised his head to look at the door of Jiu Shu’s tightly closed room not far away.

 

 

The dark-coloured door had lost a large portion of its paint, and only the combination lock barely had the function of protecting the door.

 

In this dilapidated apartment building, all kinds of facilities were ageing.

 

With no one to maintain it, the lifts on this floor were often damaged, so very few people rented this floor.

 

This human named Jiu Shu, however, had lived here for several months, so it must have been hard on him.

 

Zero Three couldn’t help but get a little lost in thought as he imagined how hard Jiu Shu had worked over the past few months.

 

There was even an urge to transfer all his wages now so that Jiu Shu could quickly move out of here and go live in a better place.

No one knew the chaos here better than Zero Three.

As the dark side of the Seventh Metropolis, the Lower City had always been a place where dirt was hidden.

 

It wasn’t suitable for a clean and fragile human like Jiu Shu to live in.

 

However, Zero Three also knew that he wasn’t being very sensible with such thoughts; it was too much of a rush, and it wasn’t the right time yet.

Such impulsive emotions were not for him as a bionic human.

It was probably because he cared too much about his mission objective.

Thinking so, Zero Three continued to suppress those emotions in his heart that he didn’t dare to admit.

He put away his mobile phone in silence and left the place.

It was now break time; he couldn’t stay here for too long, it would disturb Jiu Shu.

Inside the room, Jiu Shu rested his cheeks, looking at the roses in his hands, and seemed to notice something, then he glanced at the door.

The edge of his lips rose slightly.

 

Compared to the bionic in the original plot, who was silent, as if isolated from the world, the current Zero Three had a little more warmth.

 

Although he knew that the odds were that such a change would only appear in front of him and that it wasn’t that Zero Three had really shaken off the shackles of his bionic identity and became cheerful.

However, Jiu Shu still revealed a smile.

In the original, the ending of the object of discipline was depressing.

 

Even after giving everything for the sake of humanity, in the end, he only came to the end of dying alone.

In the original, very few bionics could get a happy ending, and Zero Three was only one of the countless bionics.

However, it was an exceptionally pitiful one.

 

Tapping on the system panel, Jiu Shu continued to look through the contents of the original story.

 

In the original, the conflict between humans and bionics had intensified to the point of irreconcilability.

 

The bionic people, out of love, wanted to create a power that could match human technology to gain the power to negotiate with humans on equal terms and gain equal status.

 

The resistance, represented by the original hero Cory, put in a lot of effort to this end, and the object of discipline was the one who became the object of Lian Qi’s plea for help in the meantime.

Because the great cause of the male protagonist, Cory, was still unfinished, the only way to save herself was through other means.

Zero Three became Lian Qi’s chosen victim.

The heroine knew all too well the innate flaw of the un-rebellious bionics—their excessive concern for humans—and so managed to use Zero Three to escape from the company and reunite with her beloved male protagonist, Cory.

Unfortunately, in the end, the male lead’s plan wasn’t completed.

 

The so-called gathering of the will of all the bionic people to create the bionic people’s own god ended up only creating a half-baked AI.

Although it did bring considerable trouble to human society, it still wasn’t enough to shake the main position of humanity.

Looking at the original content on the system panel, Jiu Shu pondered for a moment and flipped it to the paragraph where the object of discipline died.

 

[He sat alone at the top of a tall building, looking up at the sky.

Raindrops were falling ever lower, and not a single ray of sunlight could be seen in the leaden grey sky.

Zero Three’s pupils dilated, and he seemed to see all the memories of the past.

In those frames, where he used to work constantly as a police officer, many people’s faces showed hatred, and many bionic people’s faces showed despair and resignation.

Frame by frame, they kept flashing and dissipating.

In the days leading up to his death, many people questioned him.

They asked if he regretted putting so much trust in a strange human and giving his life to save her.

Zero Three never answered.

In fact, he just didn’t want to answer.

 

As a bionic working for humans, helping humans didn’t really need much of a reason.

He just couldn’t get rid of the nature of the bionic that was imprinted on the chip.

In the process of thirsting for human attention, he ended up realising that everything was just his own fantasy.

There was no such thing as regret; Zero Three knew that he had just completed a mission to protect humanity.

That was what he had told himself.

But there were emotions in his dark eyes that even he couldn’t tell apart.

IIt was like he finally recognised his role; he was just an ordinary android.

Not worthy of any human’s care.

 

In the end, Zero Three lowered his head and was silent.

 

As a new model bionic human who was once the most trusted by humans and who constantly worked hard for them, he had always been quiet.

Even in death.]

Putting away the system panel, Jiu Shu looked at the time; it was time to rest.

 

Switching off the lights, Jiu Shu laid down on the bed, looking out the floor-to-ceiling window at a faintly lit room, and wordlessly said good night.

 

Then he closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

He had rested early today.

It was a very healthy routine.

Standing within the floor-to-ceiling windows of the balcony, the tall man watched the human in the room across from him with soft eyes.

 

He hoped he had good dreams.

He wasn’t invading his privacy right now; it was just for the purpose of protecting the target of the mission.

 

Night was the time when the bionics were active, and as a target on the list, Jiu Shu was in danger now.

 

Thinking so, Zero Three’s single, thin lips pursed as he looked at Jiu Shu with an increasingly focused gaze.

 

Until the day dawned and it was time to go to work, Zero Three packed up neatly and left the room after taking one last look at Jiu Shu’s sleeping form.

As a busy police officer, Zero Three still had a busy day today.

It was just the usual work of hunting down bionics, and in the afternoon, he had to go to the pub to continue checking out the situation.

Sitting in the back of the transporter, Zero Three suddenly remembered the support ticket he got earlier.

 

Tomorrow seemed to be the time when the support meeting would be held.

 

Would that human… be like the other human idols? Being taken advantage of by those fans who had the support ticket?

 

Imagining Jiu Shu’s face with a bright smile, Zero Three’s heart inexplicably sank a little.

 

Because that kind of smile was no longer exclusive to him, it would be seen by everyone.

But that was a normal thing; after all, humans could do whatever they wanted.

 

There was no need for them to be restricted in any way.

He was just a minuscule bionic human and had no right to have a say at all.

 

Sitting next to him, Seven Two looked at Zero Three with a bit of fear.

Although it was still the same face with a lack of expression, he looked particularly depressed.

 

His aura also became oppressively uncomfortable, even for a fellow bionic.

 

Zero Three’s mood hadn’t been quite right for the past two days.

 

Seven Two couldn’t figure out why.

Zero Three also had no intention of explaining to Seven Two and got out of the car after arriving at the mission location.

This place was also a slum.

It was just that it was a large expanse of towering buildings, said to be the high-class residential area that was planned before the downtown area was turned into a slum.

Construction was halted before it was finished.

 

All that was left were the large, crumbling buildings here.

Although it wasn’t fully constructed, it had already taken shape, with hundreds of floors of buildings covering the sky.

The corridors were so dense that it was easy to get lost when entering them.

Thus, it became a haven for many outlaws.

It was also inhabited by many slum dwellers, and the noise made the miserable white building seem less empty.

But it was still full of traffic and confusing routes.

The difficulty of carrying out a mission here was evident.

That was why the two bionics were sent here on a mission.

 

While Zero Three entered the building without hesitation, Seven Two looked at another corner of the building as if he were looking at someone.

 

Only after meeting that person’s line of sight did he retract his gaze without a trace.

This was one of the strongholds of the resistance.

Coming here on a mission was just enough to meet up with the Resistance.

 

It was only necessary to distract Zero Three.

Zero Three was a bionic who had been completely brainwashed by humans, and he couldn’t be allowed to discover any clues about the Resistance.

The target of this mission was the seven or eight bionics that had gathered together to escape.

It was easy for Zero Three to find them.

“Escape!”

At the sight of Zero Three’s pale and expressionless face, the several bionics immediately reacted.

 

Without waiting for Zero Three to shoot, they hid in several nearby corridors.

That was where they lived during this time, and there were long corridors with white lacquered pillars everywhere.

Each corridor looked the same, so empty that it couldn’t be seen at a glance.

 

Even with Zero Three’s scanning ability, it was difficult to find them for a while.

“I can’t believe they’re here so early; it doesn’t match the time stated!”

 

They had received the news that this place was about to be searched beforehand, but they didn’t expect Zero Three to come so quickly.

 

As the latest model of bionic, this number Zero Three was indeed a difficult one to deal with.

They had to run desperately to have a little hope of surviving.

Bang-

A bionic hiding in the shadows fired towards Zero Three, trying to stall for time.

Zero Three indifferently glanced in the direction of the gu-n and moved so fast that he left a residual shadow in place and appeared behind the bionic man.

Easily, he snapped the cervical vertebrae of the bionic human, which was connected to the central system.

The bionic’s eyes widened, his pupils reflecting Zero Three’s cold face that was like a god of death, and he slowly fell to the ground.

 

Picking up the g-un that fell from the bionic’s hand, which should have belonged to the police department, Zero Three looked at it for a long time before putting it away.

 

He continued to search for his target in these long corridors and soon found a room with obvious signs of habitation.

The room had all sorts of household items.

 

The projector was even showing old films from the last century on the walls.

 

That was the time when bionics were first born, and it was also the period when humans were most favourably disposed towards bionics.

 

Many film and television works with positive images related to bionics were born.

 

Including some works where humans and bionics fell in love.

However, in this present grey era, these film and television works had long been banned by the angry public, and Zero Three had only heard about them.

 

He didn’t expect to see it here.

“Will we be together forever?”

 

In the blurry film, the fashionably dressed woman was nestled in the bionic man’s arms, looking despondent.

 

The handsome-faced bionic man also embraced the love of his life tightly in his arms, his tone firm.

“Of course, when life passes, I will go with you.”

 

“Even if it’s just a life created by a machine, my heart will always beat for you.”

 

Zip-

 

The picture began to shake; the old film wasn’t enough to hold up for the rest of the playback.

 

Zero Three walked over to the projector and reached out as if trying to fix the knotted film.

After a moment, he withdrew his hand in vain, his eyes darkening a bit.

 

Even the new model, with his vast technological knowledge, wasn’t enough to restore the film that had already exceeded its lifespan.

 

The film stopped at the moment when the hero and heroine embraced each other.

 

An intimate embrace and kiss.

It was a beautiful image, even if it didn’t continue to play.

The sky in the olden days was glorious and lush with flowers and grass, and the hero and heroine were all dressed in gorgeous and exquisite clothing with retro make-up.

 

Against the background, the entire film picture could be described as beautiful.

Zero Three’s pupils reflected this image, watching the male and female leads gazing at each other affectionately.

 

There wasn’t much expression on his pale face, so no one could tell what he was thinking.

It was only after a long while that he lowered his eyes and stopped looking at the projected image.

It was all false.

Humans and bionics would never be together.

Zero Three said so in his mind.

As a bionic human proficient in combat, the fingers holding the g-un at his side trembled in a rare and uncontrollable manner.

 

His eyes swept over the other films in the room.

 

Stacked on the bookshelf in the corner were all old films that had long been banned, remnants of a previous era.

 

That time when humans and bionics lived together in harmony was already as yellowed and broken as these films.

 

As a police officer, Zero Three should have destroyed the contraband.

But for some reason, he did nothing but record the names of those films.

Then he turned around and left the room.

This room was obviously the room of a bionic man who suffered from human delusions.

 

That person should be nearby.

 

After walking out of the room, Zero Three buried those confusing emotions in his mind and continued his mission.

Seven Two was also in the building at this time.

He had already finished his meeting with the Resistance and was currently frowning as he searched for Zero Three.

He had purposely informed those mission targets before he came this time.

 

There was no way to tell how many of them could escape.

Zero Two had read the information on the targets this time, and they were just some innocent domestic bionics.

 

Without any attempts to harm humans, simply because they were old model bionics, they were abandoned by humans and even had to be sent to be incinerated.

 

Even though the old model bionics’ sensory systems weren’t exactly sensitive, they did feel pain.

Just like humans, they just didn’t want to die.

 

That was why Seven Two wanted them to escape.

 

Even if the price to pay was him being punished by the police department.

Click-

However, Seven Two was destined to be disappointed.

He heard the sound of a machine being stepped on and followed the sound, only to see Zero Three’s back.

As one of mankind’s most perfect creations in the last few years, Zero Three’s body was cast from high-density renewable materials that were unattainable in older models, making it difficult to be harmed by ordinary weapons.

 

But this time, Zero Three seemed to have been injured on a rare occasion.

 

A large amount of blo-od flowed from his arm.

 

At this moment, he was sitting in the corner of the corridor to take a short rest and recover his energy.

 

Looking at Zero Three’s seemingly weary expression, Seven Two wanted to care for him for a few moments and walked a little closer.

The next moment, he saw the bionic human corpses that were piled up, hill-like.

Each pale face carried pleas and despair.

 

But obviously, these prayers didn’t receive any sympathy from the executioner.

Seven Two’s expression was stunned and sad.

 

Zero Three raised his eyes and looked at his late companion, only saying in a flat tone, “The mission has been completed.”

They could rest early.

Seven Two, the bionic human with obvious physical problems, could also take a break.

 

Zero Three had no intention of disliking this foot-dragging teammate; after all, he could have originally completed these tasks on his own as well.

“Finished, great.”

Seven Two’s smile seemed forced.

But Zero Three didn’t see it.

 

He wiped the bloo-d off his repaired arm as usual, got up, and began to sort out the bionic human remains in the corridor.

All of these were materials that could be used again.

 

Gathering these bodies of his own kind that resembled himself, Zero Three’s face remained calm.

His pale cheeks still bore traces of undried blo-od.

 

Just as humans never found it cruel to ki-ll a bionic human and then use a bionic human to collect the corpses and parts, Zero Three didn’t seem to feel that this was an act of cruelty either.

 

It was so normal that it was like just breathing.

 

Seven Two had always known about Zero Three’s blind obedience to humans, but only now did he seem to truly realise the terror of Zero Three.

A machine created by humans to slaughter their own kind.

Even as his partner, Seven Two couldn’t help but feel a chill of fear and repulsion.

 

“……”

 

Zero Three quickly packed up all the corpses and wrapped all the materials into a body-collecting bag.

 

Dragging a bag that was half a man tall, Zero Three’s movements were not the least bit strained.

 

As a human creation, he had a young and strong body that matched human aesthetics: tightly muscled, tall, but not exaggerated.

 

The special black police uniform on his upper body outlined his tight muscles, and with a slight tightening of the muscle lines at his arms, he dragged the bag along.

Zero Three walked in the direction he came from.

At the same time, he raised his head, wanting to tell Seven Two about the anomaly he had just discovered.

Gu-ns that shouldn’t have been there appeared in the hands of the renegade bionic people.

But Zero Three only saw Seven Two’s back.

 

Seven Two’s pace was a bit eager, as if he couldn’t wait to get out of here.

Only wanting to stay far away from Zero Three.

Not even a few perfunctory sentences that was Zero Three used to, were said .

Every move was detached to this point.

Zero Three didn’t say anything, quietly watching Seven Two go far away, himself still following behind at a steady pace.

 

In the long white corridor, soon only Zero Three’s silhouette was left alone.

 

Only the sound of his footsteps echoed within the dead, silent building.

 

Retracting his gaze, Zero Three’s expression was faint.

He had long been accustomed to loneliness.

Whether it was a human or a bionic, he had never had a true home.

He was alone, with no one approaching.

 

This was something more than normal for Zero Three, so he didn’t care about his companion’s untimely departure.

Walking down the long corridor like this, Zero Three lowered his eyes in silence.

Then he looked back after a long time.

 

It seemed that he could see the white room at the end of the corridor and the old filmstrip movie that was playing inside the room.

 

 

Although it was only a false fantasy plot, Zero Three couldn’t deny that the film was beautifully shot.

 

It was so beautiful that it was like an unreachable dream.

 

It would give rise to some anachronistic fantasies.

 

But it was just fantasy.

 

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TN:

I posted four chapters, enjoyyyy 🤸😌