C114 —- [5.9 —- False Them]

A bionic human with restorative functions would go into a short period of hibernation when its body had been damaged to a certain extent in order to recover its body functions.

 

If the bionic human’s emotions were in an agitated state, then the body would deeply suppress its self-consciousness in order to heal itself, prolonging the hibernation time.

 

Until the emotions stabilised.

 

Drop: a warning of emotional overload flashed on an iris.

 

Zero Three lowered his head, looking at the rose in his hand. His pitch-black eyes gradually dimmed and went out of focus.

 

Only the bloo-d on his forehead continued to flow, sliding down his eyes.

 

 

His tall body was still kneeling on one knee in place, as if already dead.

 

 

Splat…

 

 

After a short while, someone slowly approached the explo-sion area.

 

 

It was a slender domestic bionic.

 

 

The sound of the powerful explo-sion just now had spread throughout the entire factory, drawing the attention of many people.

 

 

After discovering that there was only one injured new model bionic human, some bionic humans who had been hiding in the factory for a long time without seeing any outsiders began to have crooked thoughts.

 

The parts on this obviously high-level bionic human must be intact.

 

If they could be removed, then they could replace them themselves.

 

 

Most of the people hiding in this abandoned factory were fugitives and renegade bionics who were isolated here and rarely went out.

 

 

Humans could still go out to look for food from time to time.

 

 

But in order not to be detected by the surveillance cameras all over the downtown area, the old bionics that had already been registered had to stay here, honestly.

 

 

After a long time, without the nutrient solution to nourish them, the parts of their bodies began to deteriorate, and they aged and weakened just like human beings.

 

If they could replace their parts with new ones from other bionics, they would be able to prolong their lives.

 

Gradually, the hidden factory passages were filled with disassembled bionic body parts.

 

Some of them were dismantled by human beings who vented their malice, while others came from their companions.

 

This factory had long since become a hell for old bionic people to ki-ll each other.

 

Inside the factory, the domestic bionic Man, who was gradually approaching, touched his right eye, which had already lost its sight.

 

The only left eye looked towards the eyes of the tall bionic, not far away.

 

Although blo-od had stained his eyeballs red, his intact eyes could still be seen.

 

For this handsome-faced kindred spirit, the domestic bionic man looked at his blasted arm with some regret.

 

Blo-od was still flowing out of the hole, and white bone could be seen.

 

The arm was no longer usable.

 

The domestic bionic actually pitied this bionic man a little.

 

He just saw that he was injured by the bom-b in order to protect the child, but humans always had too much rejection for bionics.

 

Even though he saved the human, he didn’t get a word of thanks.

 

After hesitating for a while, the domestic bionic decided to bandage his wounds, at least to prevent him from having too much pain before he died.

 

Bionic people also felt pain, but human beings always turned a blind eye to this or were happy to see the suffering of bionic people.

 

In this human purgatory-like factory, the domestic bionic man had long seen through the human and bionic man and was now surviving only out of survival instincts.

 

He’d wait until the bionic man was dead and then go get his eyes.

 

Thinking so, the domestic bionic walked over to Zero Three.

 

Taking out the slightly old bandage, he looked down and saw the rose he was holding in his hand.

 

The delicate and beautiful rose looked like a real flower from afar, but only when looking closer did he realise it was a paper flower.

 

Why was he holding a flower?

 

Even though he had fainted and was dying, his fingers were still carefully holding the rose’s branch.

 

The movement was so light that it was like he was protecting some precious treasure.

 

The domestic Bionic was a bit curious for a moment, so he reached out his hand and touched the rose petals.

 

The tips of his fingers were dyed red like blood.

 

Bang-!!!

 

The head of the Domestic Bionic was crushed heavily into the ground, raising dust.

 

The bionic man let out a hoarse scream in terror as he opened his eyes wide in fear, a pale face reflected in his pupils.

 

The face that had been silent just a moment ago looked particularly gloomy at this moment.

 

The powerful force wasn’t weakened even by the slightest bit, even after being injured.

 

That bionic man who had all been dying had actually suddenly come to life and was still so terrifying that it made one’s body tremble.

 

“Zero Three, he seemed to be trying to help you, so don’t.”

 

The belatedly arriving Seven Two was shocked for a moment as he watched the scene before him and hurriedly opened his mouth to try to stop Zero Three’s next move.

 

He knew Zero Three’s desire to ki-ll his own kind, and even if it wasn’t a mission target, he wouldn’t hesitate to do it.

 

As long as it wasn’t a human, it was an enemy to him.

 

He could be said to be cruel to the extreme.

 

Zero Three stepped on the domestic bionic, and only after confirming that the rose in his hand was still there did he look at him with expressionless, downcast eyes.

 

A message flashed in the iris.

 

[Number 8743: Old Model Bionic Man]

 

[Status: Defective]

 

Crack-

 

A crack appeared in the head of the domestic bionic man.

 

“Please, please let me go! I don’t dare; I really don’t dare anymore!”

 

He kept wailing, praying to be spared.

 

He was indeed too imprudent.

 

The other bionics in the factory didn’t dare to approach, and he thought that he had picked up a bargain, but he didn’t realise that this bionic was such a terrifying existence.

 

“Leave him to me, Zero Three. Hurry back to the car and rest.”

 

Seven Two stepped to the side and looked at this domestic bionic man, who had just tried to help Zero Three bandage up.

 

But he was still too late.

 

Zero Three lowered his eyes and looked at the bionic man, and with a push of his foot, the domestic bionic man was unconscious.

 

Seven Two looked at Zero Three with a stiff expression and met Zero Three’s pitch-black eyes.

 

He was scanning his own iris.

 

Seven Two realised this.

 

Instantly and subconsciously, he took a step back.

 

Zero Three was not fully awake at this time and was only acting on instinct.

 

This was the self-repair mechanism of the new bionic human.

 

It would fall into a brief state of dormancy after being overly injured, and it was likely that the domestic bionic human just now had stimulated him, which woke up Zero Three, who had fallen into dormancy and was not yet awake.

 

Once the information was scanned by him and was positive, he would not hesitate to execute any bionic man in front of him.

 

Even a partner of many years was no exception.

 

This was a terrifying fellow.

 

Even if he was injured, his mind was full of ki-lling, even when his consciousness was blurred.

 

After a few moments, Zero Three looked like he had finally regained consciousness, withdrew his gaze, and walked towards the outside of the factory with heavy footsteps.

 

Seven Two breathed a sigh of relief.

 

He walked over to the domestic bionic man and saw that he was only injured on the outside and not dead.

 

That was the only good thing that had happened.

 

In fact, the Resistance had intentionally lured away the nearby bionics and humans when they acted, not wanting to hurt the innocent.

 

Who would have thought that these bionics would approach Zero Three on their own?

 

It was also unknown how he had stimulated him for him to actually be able to wake up from his forced hibernation state.

 

Looking at the large area of artificial blo-od on the ground, Seven Two pondered for a moment and couldn’t get an answer.

 

And at this moment, Zero Three was walking aimlessly in the factory, his eyes wandering over the blo-od in his hands, his eyes bleak.

 

This factory covered an extremely wide area, and the interior of the factory was full of all kinds of pipes and hollowed-out underground passages, crisscrossed with steel trestles connecting the bottomless underground cavities beneath their feet.

 

There wasn’t even a railing around.

 

Occasionally the wind from the underground passageway blew up, blowing the railings to sway slightly, but Zero Three’s steps on the trestle bridge didn’t waver in the slightest.

 

Looking from afar, one could only see his small and lonely figure walking on the trestle bridge.

 

In the dark part of the factory, the bionic people who had been observing Zero Three began to murmur when they saw this.

 

“He is Zero Three?”

 

“He does look very powerful.”

 

The bionic people with worn-out appearances got together and looked at Zero Three, who was walking underneath the pipeline. All of them had obviously witnessed the scene just now where Zero Three attacked the domestic bionic.

 

They didn’t go out very often and only occasionally heard about the horrors of the Lower City Police Department from the outside resistance that came to persuade them to join.

 

This included this new model bionic man.

 

Obviously, the entire society loathed bionics, but this new model of bionic man was still able to become a police officer, stepping on the bones of his own kind step by step.

 

He had short, sharp black hair and was tall.

 

His handsome silhouette was more in line with human aesthetics than the most refined mate-type bionics in the factory.

 

He also had the power to not be bullied, which they craved.

 

“But he’s injured; I’m sure he must have become a lot weaker; if we do away with him here, then the parts from his body might be able to make us stronger.”

 

As long as they could become strong, they wouldn’t have to stay here in fear anymore.

 

Saying that, the bionic man in the lead showed excitement on his face; his movements became bigger, and the dust inside the pipe descended with the movements.

 

It drifted down onto the rose petals.

 

“Yeah, we just have to…”

 

Bang-

 

A gu-nshot rang out, and the bionic man who was talking about his plan fell down in response.

 

As his companions looked on in horror, he fell down the pipe and landed heavily on the ground, splattering blo-od.

 

He was not yet dead; he was drenched in blo-od and stared wide-eyed.

 

 

The pale-faced bionic man gave him a cold look before continuing to look at the rose in his hand.

 

 

The blo-od on the rose became even uglier after it was stained with dust.

 

The bionic people inside the pipeline were scared to the point of trembling and fell softly to the ground, watching as Zero Three’s pitch-black pupils looked towards them.

 

 

They were obviously separated by dozens of metres, yet he could clearly aim a g-un at them.

 

The police department’s specially made gu-ns were powerful enough to ki-ll several of them together.

 

Just as the crowd fell into despair, a soft song suddenly rang out from inside the silent factory.

 

Without lyrics, it was the humming of a classic song from the last century.

 

The tune was gentle, as if someone were gently soothing them.

 

The ethereal singing sounded particularly beautiful in this factory, which was littered with pipes and underground voids.

 

After a short period of calm, the crowd saw that the terrifyingly tall bionic man put down the g-un in his hand and picked up the mobile phone in the satchel on his waist.

 

Eyes focused on the screen of the mobile phone as the song was hummed, and his eyes that were still in a trance gradually focused.

 

It was because the expl-osion-damaged mobile phone had malfunctioned and played the song he had stored earlier.

 

Recently, every time he went to the pub to keep an eye on the Resistance, he would record Jiu Shu’s song.

 

It was simply that the songs sounded good.

 

There was no other meaning to it.

 

After all, he was the one he was protecting, so it was only natural to have more information about him on his mobile phone, right?

 

He didn’t often play a song out, so it was a surprise that it was played out in today’s environment.

 

He glanced at the bionics on the pipes.

 

Zero Three had scanned the information of the renegade bionic from their irises, and it was customary to go on a hunt.

 

But today’s mission had failed, and he needed to get back to the police station quickly to report it.

 

It was time to go now.

 

The mouth of the bionic man who fell to the ground was filled with spilled blo-od, and he had also finished listening to the song.

 

At this moment, his expression was a bit confused, as if he had recalled the past.

 

He watched as that New Model Bionic Man put away his g-un and prepared to leave.

 

Surprisingly, he disregarded his injuries and subconsciously blurted out, “Can you tell me who sang that song?”

 

Inside the passageway, the few bionic humans who were still staring blankly also fell silent, their gazes resting on Zero Three.

 

They were waiting for Zero Three to name the singer.

 

They just thought that song was very good.

 

It was even more melodious than the original song.

 

Although it was just a simple humming, it inexplicably brought back memories of that time in the past.

 

It had a special attraction for the bionic people.

 

Compared to the new models that had been born not long ago, as old models, they were actually several dozen years old.

 

While it couldn’t be seen on the outside, they were already full of holes on the inside.

 

They had once listened to the original songs and remembered that the streets were full of these human classics at that time, but now they had long been replaced by heavy metal music.

 

They had witnessed the golden age when bionics were the most popular among humans, and every human longed for a bionic housekeeper or even a bionic love interest.

 

There was no barrier between humans and bionics, who were full of love for each other.

 

But humans were fickle in ways that bionic humans could never have anticipated.

 

Their cries and prayers when they were abandoned were blurred in their memories.

 

They only remembered fleeing and hiding on the way to the robot graveyard.

 

Until they were finally cornered in a run-down, dirty, forgotten corner of this lower city.

 

They waited for death in these gloomy tubes but were unwilling to die, and the long torture had long since made them forget the good memories of the past.

 

But now, they suddenly wanted to listen to the man’s song again.

 

Recalling once again the memory of that wonderful time wrapped in human love, it was as if they were soaked in warm water.

 

The bionic man named Zero Three paused in his movements but said nothing and left the place.

 

He walked slowly on the steel trestle, his footsteps sounding heavy on the crossbar.

 

The back of the man in the tight-fitting police uniform looked full of indifference.

 

The few people in the original place showed a lost look when they saw this.

 

“I remembered before that my little master once told me that he would always like me.”

 

“Yeah, I also remembered. Grandma said that my cooking smelled good and she would like to eat it for the rest of her life.”

 

“I used to be a hotel manager too, but unfortunately the hotel closed down!”

 

In the pipeline, the few bionic people who had survived the robbery watched the silhouette on the steel trestle bridge go away, and all began to talk about their past.

 

Their tone was teasing, but there was sadness in their eyes.

 

So much time had passed between them that it was to the point where they were about to think they had forgotten these memories, but it turned out they hadn’t.

 

“It was so good, the song just now.”

 

They really wanted to hear it again.

 

The bionic man who had been struck through the chest endured the pain and got up from the ground, speaking with a despondent gaze.

 

He could see the warmth in Zero Three’s eyes as he looked at his mobile phone, and he couldn’t hide it even if he tried to disguise it.

 

He knew why Zero Three refused to answer their questions.

 

Perhaps it was because he felt that knowing the man’s name would be detrimental to that person.

 

But Zero Three was also just a bionic human with a low status that could be replaced at any time.

 

How long could he go on like this?

 

For humans, bionic fondness was also a burden.

 

Once it was known, they would show a look of disgust.

 

The bionic man was kind of looking forward to seeing Zero Three show an expression of despair.

 

After all, they were both just bionics, so why should he be able to live in the sunlight and receive the attention of humans?

 

They, on the other hand, could only stay in a dark corner, unattended.

 

Zero Three crossed the last trestle bridge and arrived at the factory’s exit.

 

Seven Two had already been waiting at the door for a long time.

 

He waited to explain to Zero Three why he had arrived so late, but Zero Three didn’t seem to care.

 

He walked straight to the car and got into the driver’s seat.

 

The smile on Seven Two’s face faded a bit, then he followed suit and got into the car.

 

One of Zero Three’s arms was injured by the blast, and the blo-ody hole at the wound was continuously dripping blo-od even after a simple bandage.

 

 

There seemed to be a wound at his back as well; the artificial blo-od blood soaked the black uniform to the point of wrinkling, and only the g-un that was hooped onto the belt at the waist still flashed with a cold aura.

 

In the face of such a serious injury, Zero Three seemed to have lost the sense of pain, as if there was no expression on his face.

 

Seven Two knew that if it had been him with such an injury, he would have died of shock a long time ago.

 

Although there was only a difference of a few months between his and Zero Three’s factory time, they were separated by the gulf of updated iterations of military equipment.

 

Zero Three was a new model that was highly trusted by humans, while he was the last batch of the old model.

 

The gap between the two couldn’t be crossed.

 

Zero Three lowered his eyes, looked at the mission list on the smartwatch on his wrist, and punched a failure symbol on it.

 

It represented a mission failure.

 

Compared to a human’s failure, a bionic human’s failure was even more unforgivable.

 

After all, when a machine’s failure rate reached an intolerable point, that was when it was eliminated.

 

With no words along the way, the transport vehicle quickly drove into the headquarters area.

 

After getting out of the vehicle, Zero Three was ready to go to his immediate superior to report the situation, but Seven Two stopped him.

 

“Zero Three, don’t be so dead-set; it’s not your fault this time; who would have thought they would have heavy fire weapons?”

 

“Maybe we could lie a little about the contents; that way the higher-ups wouldn’t blame us; those human colleagues do the same thing; why do you need to be truthful?”

 

Seven Two stood beside Zero Three and spoke meaningfully.

 

What he said was the truth: many times, human police officers would play favourites, but they were rarely found out.

 

It was because they concealed the truth, something that the bionics couldn’t do.

Zero Three didn’t answer; he looked at Seven Two as if he had only just recognised him.

 

Then he avoided him and entered the headquarters building.

 

Seven Two sighed; he did have good intentions.

Not only to delay the discovery of the Resistance’s strength but also for Zero Three’s future.

 

Although Zero Three’s weakness was something he had revealed, getting seriously injured defenselessly like that would be an unforgivable blunder for a bionic.

 

As a new model, he shouldn’t be unable to avoid the punishment.

 

The supervisor would also think so.

 

Seven Two knew their superior too well.

 

Although on the surface he looked very welcoming to them, in reality it was just for the sake of the police department’s efficiency.

 

Without efficiency, they were a pile of rubbish that would be eliminated at any time.

 

Looking at Zero Three’s fading back, Seven Two began to feel some pity for Zero Three.

 

As an emotionless machine, his thoughts were always oversimplified, unwilling to lie, unwilling to become mercenary.

 

Placing his future entirely on the goodness that humans might have, without the slightest anticipation of the pathetic end he would eventually have.

 

“You mean those police devices from last time have reappeared?”

 

Inside the police station’s office, the chief frowned.

 

He had already received a report from Zero Three yesterday.

 

He said he encountered a bionic man with a g-un while on a mission.

 

Before the investigation was clear, there was actually an even more serious g-un leak today.

It also caused Zero Three to be seriously injured.

“Yes.”

Zero Three indifferently answered.

 

When he was inside the factory, he witnessed dozens of strange bionics that suddenly appeared behind him.

All of them wore masks and held military-specific heavy-fire weapons in their hands.

Under the strong firepower suppression, he also had to protect the not-quite-cooperative human child beside him, and that was why he was injured.

 

Otherwise, under normal circumstances, with his agility, he would have been able to avoid it completely.

However, to Zero Three, a mistake was a mistake, and he wouldn’t do more to defend himself.

 

Zero Three handed the USB stick of video information extracted from his memory to the director.

 

The director’s face changed slightly as he looked at the heavy firepower displayed in it.

However, he then eased up and waved his hand at Zero Three.

 

Signalling that he could leave.

What came next shouldn’t be for the Bionic Man to pry into.

 

Zero Three had long since become accustomed to this.

He stepped out of the office and heard the director inside the office start to make a phone call.

His voice was lowered. ”Hello, is this Director Zhang? Do you remember that batch of equipment from before?”

 

“Actually, there’s no need to worry too much; after all, it’s just some unregistered people in the slums; it doesn’t matter if they die.”

 

“Blame it on the group of people from Paradise Technology Company who delayed declaring bankruptcy, and I heard that they have recently started researching new products.”

 

Paradise Technology Company was once the most prosperous bionic human manufacturing company in the country.

In recent years, with the old batches of models of bionic human beings being recalled and destroyed by the government one after another, the business also fell and was replaced by a new manufacturing company.

 

The business wa-r between the two had come to an end in a short period of time with the government’s intentional or unintentional intervention.

 

Zero Three lowered his eyes and stood quietly in the corridor for a long time before leaving.

 

These matters involving disputes over the interests of the upper echelons of intrigue had nothing to do with bionics.

 

As a bionic human with an extremely low status, he couldn’t get involved either.

 

He was only thinking about the line on the document by the director’s desk just now.

Police Bionic Man: New Product Research.

His next generation of the same type of product seemed to be on the verge of descending.

 

Especially after seeing the injuries on his body, the director glanced at that document every now and then.

 

 

After all, newer models were always more stable and reliable than older ones.

 

His serious injury reinforced the need for a newer model.

 

But his elimination from the human race was something that could have been expected a long time ago.

 

There was no need to care.

He should have been prepared long ago, ready for his bionic destiny.

 

Zero Three looked at the remnants of blo-od on his fingers for a long time before wiping them clean.

 

Taking out his mobile phone, he looked at the screen in a daze.

 

On the monitor, Jiu Shu sat quietly at his computer desk, looking up something.

 

A few rare rays of sunlight spilled onto the floor, and although it didn’t light up the entire room, it did give the room an extra bit of brightness.

 

The rose in the vase was sitting next to his desk.

 

It was bright and beautiful.

 

Nothing like the ugly rose stained red with his blood.

Tonight was Jiu Shu’s support party.

 

Soon he would be acting intimately with the rabid fans, just like any other human idol.

 

Zero Three fell silent and put away his mobile phone.

He walked down the corridor where people came and went to the nearby infirmary.

 

The human colleagues passing by him saw the blood on his body, and all of them showed an expression of disgust.

Bionic blood was a dirty existence in the eyes of humans.

Jiu Shu would feel the same way, right?

 

Zero Three rinsed the blood on his hands in the washroom until not a trace of blood could be seen on his pale fingers.

 

He needed to get his hands cleaned before he could continue making paper roses.

 

The previous one had already been soiled; from now on, it would be necessary to be more serious before making it.

 

 

Looking at his palm, which had become clean again, Zero Three’s pitch-black eyes became a little more alive.

As long as Jiu Shu didn’t know that the one who made roses for him was a dirty bionic, then the smile he received when he received roses would always be that beautiful.

Snap-snap-snap.

In the dimly lit room, the only sound left was the brisk tapping of Jiu Shu’s fingertips on the keyboard.

Where the monitor couldn’t see, a large stream of data flashed across the screen.

 

A string was reflected in his eyes and then disappeared after a few moments.

 

Eventually, Jiu Shu stopped after entering a company’s hidden file vault.

His fingertips gently rubbed against his lips.

Jiu Shu looked at the information displayed on the screen and slightly raised an eyebrow.

 

This company, called Paradise Lost, was the plutocratic group that funded the Resistance behind the scenes.

 

Although the male protagonist, Cory, who was the leader of the Resistance in the later stages of the original story, had completely gone against it, at least for now, they were constantly carrying out terro-rist organisation activities with the help of this group.

 

Otherwise, just by relying on those bionic humanoids who were rejected by society, they wouldn’t be able to organise such a strong armed force in a short period of time and still be able to keep getting the latest news from the government side and using the most advanced equipment from various technology companies.

 

But it seems that the hero Cory had long been on the lookout for the upper echelons of Paradise Lost, Inc.

 

There was no trace of the half-baked AI from the original in this company’s database.

 

In fact, Jiu Shu was still quite interested in this AI; it reminded him of his hometown.

 

In his distant hometown, there was a miraculous AI that used to assist all humans in their lives.

 

Jiu Shu was curious to know how much this AI differed from the miraculous AI from his hometown.

However, the male protagonist was likely to have a high level of technological caution towards this world, and it was estimated that the research was conducted in a place completely disconnected from the internet.

 

In such a physically disconnected situation, even he couldn’t easily find them.

 

But as the plot progressed, the artificial intelligence would always appear.

Jiu Shu was in no hurry.

 

Apart from singing every day and realising the original owner’s dream, he was now busy buying Paradise Technology, the rival company of Paradise Lost, out.

 

He had now become one of the major shareholders behind the rival company.

 

In the end, in this world of class solidification, the plutocrats were the characters that truly controlled the world.

 

In order to change the fate of the object of discipline, it would be more prudent to also start from this aspect.

 

This rival company, Paradise Technology, was also the parent company of the old model of Bionic People that was currently being destroyed.

 

Originally, it was the industry’s top bionic human production company, but with Paradise Lost’s meteoric rise, the government also favoured the Paradise Lost group.

 

Paradise Technology then declined.

 

In the end, in this action called protecting humanity and destroying the old models of bionics, Paradise Technology, which was forced to compensate countless consumers with astronomical sums of money, completely collapsed.

 

Originally on the brink of bankruptcy, after a period of consolidation by him, there had been a preliminary improvement.

 

Jiu Shu didn’t have high expectations but only wanted to make Paradise Lost Inc. burn out and have no time to worry about anything else.

 

At least it couldn’t always provide weapons for the resistance and inflame the conflict between humans and old-model bionics.

Thinking of the mission report that Zero Three submitted to the headquarters that he saw yesterday and the weapons that should not be in the hands of the bionics mentioned in it, Jiu Shu narrowed his eyes.

 

The Resistance’s hands were stretched too far, always fantasising about saving all the bionic people, but it was more like fulfilling one’s own selfish desires.

 

Wanting to be the saviour of the bionic people, wanting to be treated equally by human society.

That alone wasn’t enough.

 

Whether it was the original or now, the bionic people were stuck in a dead end that they couldn’t get out of.

Speaking of which, the hero and heroine should have met by now.

 

It was a rare case of love at first sight between them.

 

The female lead, Lien Qi, being a popular star, didn’t mind the identity of the male lead, Cory, and fell in love with him.

 

It was naturally a good story to tell, but they shouldn’t have used the other bionics as tools in the original.

 

“……”

 

With nothing else to do, Jiu Shu rested his cheek on his palm and clicked on the female lead’s profile, looking at it carefully.

And just as he was observing, the system started making noise in his ears again.

Its voice was gloomy and depressive.

[Jiu Shu, I find that you can be a real hypocrite.

 

If you pride yourself on saving him, then why didn’t you confess to him as soon as you met?

Are you afraid of something?]

[Scared that he won’t love you anymore, right?]

 

The system had already understood Jiu Shu after observing him in these few worlds.

He seemed to have never taken its threats to heart and kept saying that it didn’t matter even if He didn’t love him anymore in the next world and that his intention wasn’t to fall in love with Him anyway.

 

 

[But I see that you’re happy every time you look at Him being obsessed with you, aren’t you?]

 

[What a psychopathic guy! Instead of loving Him, you’re enjoying being loved by Him, right?]

[That’s why you only respond to Him when He confesses to you.]

[Once rejected, you will immediately leave him!]

 

The system felt that Jiu Shu might have gone mad back when he was initially locked up in subspace to polish his temperament and spend countless hours in solitude.

It was just that he hid himself well and acted like he was normal, but in reality, he was already crazy.

It kind of matched him, that madman, in a way.

 

But they wouldn’t be able to get away with it for much longer, and by the time He went mad, that was when everything would be destroyed.

 

Sometime in the future, he would definitely go mad, for sure!

There was no way he wouldn’t go mad!

 

The system nervously muttered in its mind.

 

Like, the only way to make itself feel better was to use such a useless curse.

 

Listening to the system’s words, Jiu Shu’s movement of moving the mouse stopped for a moment.

Undeniably, he arched his eyebrows and laughed softly.

 

The system seemed to have been suffocated out of its mind.

 

The strength of its babbling was quite strong.

Casually banning this system that was full of gibberish, Jiu Shu looked at the screen, and only after a long time did he lower his eyes.

His expression was faint, and the light from the screen shone on his face, reflecting a flawless, cold white.

One thing was right, though.

He did like the way he was fascinated by him.

It was cute, wasn’t it?

Seventh Metropolis

Uptown

 

Inside a certain agency building, the most popular  idol singer of the moment, Lian Qi, was preparing for the promotion of her new song in the evening.

 

“Sister Lian Qi, look, there are so many young stars coming to rub off on you again; this time even the ones from the lower city have come!”

 

The assistant little girl fawned and helped Lian Qi put on her jacket, taking out her mobile phone to show Lian Qi as she spoke.

She knew that although Lian Qi was open-hearted on the surface, she was quite concerned about her image in private and especially liked to see positive reports about herself.

So she would often take out some entertainment news to please Lian Qi.

Lian Qi glanced at it absentmindedly, and when the word Jiu Shu came into her eyes, she waved her hand and stopped reading.

 

She had to get ready to meet her boyfriend after tonight’s programme, and she didn’t have time to read these gossip tabloids right now.

 

It was just some petty tactics of the residents of the lower city that had nothing to do with her; there was no need to care about it in her current position.

 

The assistant had no choice but to put away her mobile phone resentfully when she saw this.

Compared to the prosperous Upper City, the Lower City was like the city’s rubbish dump.

 

The people living in it were just dust that had been abandoned by the times and were really not worth mentioning.

And at this moment, in the lower city…

Outside the Phantom Bar.

 

Zero Three somewhat hesitantly stopped at the back door of the bar, not daring to enter.

 

His current appearance was too ugly.

 

The forehead that hadn’t yet been repaired was missing a small part of the skin  and could only be barely covered with a hood.

 

The newly grown palms on his arms also had a tone that was not well balanced with his original skin colour and needed to be further repaired before they could be restored to their original state.

 

Looking at the slightly wrinkled support ticket in his hand, Zero Three pursed his lips in silence.

 

The roses could be left outside the door without having to meet, but if he were to use the support ticket, he would inevitably have to meet with Jiu Shu.

Zero Three’s pale face was downcast, making one unable to see his emotions clearly.

It so happened that some human idols who were coming to work at the bar entered through the back door, and Zero Three heard the commotion and hid himself in deeper darkness.

 

“Jiu Shu is popular these days… It’s too sudden, isn’t it? That guy’s only been here for less than two months!”

 

In the dimly lit alleyway, the heavily made-up woman held a lady’s cigarette and exhaled smoke from her mouth, her expression full of puzzlement.

 

She had been too busy with personal matters to come to the bar recently. But when she came over recently, she realised that her fans were much less, and when she asked, she realised that they had all run to a fellow artist named Jiu Shu.

 

“Who says he isn’t? He’s really popular, but he does sing really well too!” Another adult woman touched the pink hat on her head, her eyes a little misty.

 

Yesterday, she secretly went to listen to Jiu Shu’s performance.

 

Originally, she was still full of malice towards him, but she was indeed convinced by that singing voice.

 

“He seems to be good-looking as well; it would be great if I could sleep with him; he must scream beautifully in bed; that voice must be powerful!”

 

The innocent and cute idols in the eyes of their fans were now showing urgency, talking about getting up in bed without any shyness.

 

“I also watched his performance; those legs are so well-proportioned; I even saw his waist when he bent over yesterday, so white and tender! If it wasn’t just a holographic projection, I would have wanted to get my hands on it and touch it.”

 

“I think his eyes are the best; if I can sleep with him, I’ll make sure he stares at me without blinking; it would be even better if the area around his eyes turned a little redder.”

 

Zero Three’s hand on his side slowly tightened as he listened to these obscenities.

 

He didn’t know how these people could have these thoughts about such a clean human.

 

“But it’s all just delusion; that kind of person would definitely have to be with the richest of the rich. Today is his support party, and I bet he’ll be eyeballing the fans he’s taken a liking to.”

 

The idols bantered, their youthful attire unable to hide the vicissitudes in their eyes.

Under the faint light of the back door, the depressing atmosphere unique to the downtown area was revealed.

 

For underground idols like them, who had no future to speak of, flirting with their fans was a necessity for survival.

 

Even if this behaviour was underhanded in the eyes of outsiders, it had to be done.

 

“Not necessarily, ah, he’s just very reserved; he’ll only tickle someone’s palm when he shake hands with them, intentionally or unintentionally rubbing against their fingers; this kind of suggestive meaning is even more fascinating.”

 

“He doesn’t do that sort of thing, does he? After all, hasn’t he always refused to come in person?”

 

Another female voice sighed.

 

Although this was the norm for underground idols, if Jiu Shu did it, he would become like these weathered women and be forced to fall into depravity.

 

He couldn’t help but feel a little depressed while thinking about it.

 

“There’s no way, ah, tonight he is going to come in person; otherwise, it will be a breach of contract.”

 

There was a moment of silence, and the sound of the discussion that was still intense gradually became subdued.

The voices of the idols gradually faded away.

 

Zero Three in the shadows watched as the few people disappeared into the back door and withdrew his hand from his holster.

 

There was no way he could be malicious towards humans.

 

Just now, it must have been a mistake caused by his injuries that hadn’t healed yet.

 

But despite that thought, Zero Three seemed a little distracted after that.

Was it really possible?

 

Jiu Shu would have a favourable feeling towards other people, even hinting at them.

 

Zero Three’s eyes showed a bit of emptiness.

 

Whatever Jiu Shu wanted to do, he had no say in it.

 

Even if he really wanted to, it was none of his business.

 

He was just a bionic human.

 

Compared to that glorious human, he was too small.

 

Pushing down all of these complicated thoughts, Zero Three was ready to leave.

 

In the next second, he suddenly heard the sound of slightly hurried footsteps.

 

It was somewhat familiar.

 

Zero Three stopped in his footsteps and saw an all-too-familiar human walking around the corner of the back door alley.

His complexion was fair, and his eyes were dark.

 

In the dimly lit alley, only his figure was so white that it seemed to be glowing.

 

His black hair was slightly dishevelled; he seemed to have come in a hurry, and he froze even more when he bumped into Zero Three’s tall figure.

 

But then he revealed a smile that was so beautiful that it was unbelievable.

 

He was smiling at Zero Three in a gesture of goodwill.

 

This was the first time Jiu Shu’s had ever smiled at him face-to-face.

Zero Three’s eyes under his hood were a bit overwhelmed.

 

It took a while before he lowered his eyes and maintained his usual silence.

 

This gentle human would do this to any stranger.

 

So it was no big deal; his heart didn’t need to beat that fast.

Thinking like this, Zero Three hid his arm with the code imprinted on it behind his back.

 

He knew that no one would like a bionic, and Jiu Shu didn’t know that he was smiling at a bionic.

He would surely be disgusted.

“You dropped your stuff.”

 

Zero Three was just about to leave the alley without a word when a concerned human voice came from behind him.

In his hand was the very paper rose that Zero Three had been keeping in his hand.

The rose was stained with blood.

Although it was ugly, he somehow didn’t want to discard it.

“It’s a beautiful rose; don’t lose it.”

The human reached out his white palm and handed him the rose.

At this moment, under the neon light outside the alley, his smile was even brighter than the rose.

“……”

 

Zero Three was stunned for a long time before he realised that he had lost his mind.

 

Eyes averted, he didn’t dare look at Jiu Shu again. “Thank you.”

Saying this, he extended his hand and took the rose.

This ugly rose couldn’t be given to Jiu Shu.

But just as he was about to withdraw his hand, Zero Three suddenly felt human fingers brush across his palm, if anything.

Like the ambiguous hints spoken by those mouthy idols just now.

“!”

 

---

TN:

Seven Two is a lying liar 😑