C117 —- [5.12 — False Them]
by UntamedSZero Three felt that he shouldn’t be considered a stalker.
After all, he was only getting close to Jiu Shu and giving him gifts for the purpose of protecting the target of the mission.
“Are there really that many stalkers lately?”
A passerby next to him also looked at the warning sign with a confused expression.
“Of course there are; there are also a lot of people who use all kinds of names to deceive people. I’ve heard of one who said that he was a police officer and was only stalking him to protect him.”
“It was actually for a home invasion.”
The voices of the passersby discussing gradually faded away.
Only Zero Three, who was left behind, became more and more silent.
Everything was too much of a coincidence.
Even if he revealed his true identity now, he would still sound like a liar and stalker.
But he clearly wasn’t.
He really just wanted to protect Jiu Shu.
The only good thing was that he hadn’t told Jiu Shu his name yet.
Jiu Shu also didn’t know that he was the one who sent him the roses.
However, in the next second, this last blessing dissipated.
“By the way, I don’t seem to know your name.”
Jiu Shu’s gentle voice rang out, breaking Zero Three’s silence.
Zero Three looked at Jiu Shu’s curious gaze; his pupils trembled, and he avoided his sight.
“Sorry, it was me who took the liberty.”
Zero Three’s avoidance obviously caused the human in front of him to misunderstand.
He thought that it was because Zero Three didn’t want to tell him his name.
That the relationship between them wasn’t to the point of telling each other their names.
Zero Three looked at the despondency on Jiu Shu’s face, and his movements froze.
He didn’t want to see such a sad expression on Jiu Shu’s face.
But if he said his real name, Jiu Shu would definitely think he was a stalker.
“No… I…” Zero Three’s voice was a little weak.
In such a dilemma, Zero Three finally chose to say his name.
“Zero Three.”
His name was Zero Three.
A fan who sent roses every day was a suspected stalker.
He seemed like a person that had to be kept away from.
It would be even more of a crime if he added his hidden bionic identity.
Zero Three’s fingers on his side subconsciously curled up, and the bandages wrapped around his wrists were stained with blo-od.
“Zero Three… ”
The young human’s peach blossom-like eyes widened slightly, then he laughed softly.
“Sure enough, it’s you.”
“I felt the resemblance when I saw that rose earlier; the person who has been sending me roses is you.”
“I’ve been wanting to meet you for a long time. The roses are beautiful. I love them. Thank you for the gifts.”
“……”
Zero Three raised his eyes and looked at Jiu Shu in a bit of a daze.
Tonight, every reaction from Jiu Shu wasn’t quite the same as what he had imagined.
Jiu Shu didn’t treat him as a stalker.
This made Zero Three’s originally taut heart relax a little, then his heartbeat accelerated.
Jiu Shu wasn’t disgusted with him but was full of good feelings.
It made a person produce all kinds of fantasies.
“No need to thank me; it’s because I’m your fan, so I love giving you gifts.”
Zero Three regained some composure and finally said the dialogue he had anticipated countless times.
“If you don’t mind, can you add me as a long-term friend online?”
This was the dialogue that Zero Three had searched for on the internet, and it had the highest praise rate.
It was said that it was easy to become friends with the other party with this phrase.
Although Zero Three didn’t really know why such a simple sentence could increase the probability of becoming friends, he did it anyway.
“Sure.”
The effect did seem to be good.
After hearing Zero Three’s request, Jiu Shu looked at Zero Three with a weird smile for some reason.
Then he readily agreed and took out his mobile phone to add Zero Three.
Jiu Shu’s avatar was a holographic projection of his photo, the upper half of his face covered by a dark pigment-like mosaic, and the lower half of his face with its beautiful lines.
Between the contrasting shades of black and white, he appeared even more purely beautiful.
Zero Three’s avatar, on the other hand, was the system’s initial avatar.
He had never changed his avatar.
The appearance of the account looked like an old antique from the last century.
“Added, long-term friend.”
Jiu Shu’s voice was laced with a smile, and the tone of his voice was aggravated by the word “long-term.”.
His thin knuckles lightly touched the screen as he scanned the code to add him.
Zero Three could see his cold white wrist under his slightly pulled-up cuffs.
Green veins were faintly visible under the thin skin.
Zero Three looked at him for a while before he moved his eyes away somewhat restrainedly.
He lowered his eyes and saw that there was one more friend in his account in the friend list.
Jiu Shu.
They had finally become friends.
He could find a chance to transfer his entire balance.
That way, Jiu Shu wouldn’t have to live in too much embarrassment.
But why had Jiu Shu emphasised the word ‘long-term’? Zero Three was a little confused.
After adding him, Jiu Shu walked beside Zero Three, tilting his head to see the side of Zero Three’s face.
His handsome profile was slightly tense.
Even in the murky light of the street, one could still see the pale and gloomy handsomeness unique to bionics under the hood.
After noticing Jiu Shu’s gaze, Zero Three seemed to be a little nervous, and the knot in his throat rolled a little.
The well-developed and smooth muscle lines in his arms also tightened, looking extremely unnatural.
“You’re really tall.”
Jiu Shu praised him.
It was rare for Zero Three to hear a compliment.
Tonight was already the second time.
Jiu Shu’s gentle tone quickly made Zero Three’s tension dissipate, and he became calm.
He looked towards Jiu Shu, who was by his side.
Compared to him, Jiu Shu really wasn’t that tall.
It was a height that could be easily picked up by him and placed in the crook of his arm like a child.
But among ordinary people, Jiu Shu was already considered tall.
His slender and well-proportioned body was the longest that best fit the aesthetics of today’s society, with a beauty that was indistinguishable from androgyny.
Unlike Jiu Shu, Zero Three was designed for combat in the beginning, so his body type was designed to be extraordinarily tall.
While still conforming to the golden ratio of the human body, so it wasn’t a particularly exaggerated sense of strength unique to males.
Muscular, with just the right amount of strength and agility.
But it really didn’t fit in with society’s aesthetics.
Often, he attracted looks of disgust from humans.
Jiu Shu was different.
There wasn’t a hint of falsehood in his clear eyes; it was true that he liked his height.
“…… Thanks.” Zero Three seemed to blush a little and could only reply like this.
He decided that next time, he would look up more tutorials on how to talk to others.
Instead of only being able to dryly say thank you like he was doing now.
It was already late at night at this point, after all.
Zero Three knew that even though Jiu Shu had said he wanted to hang out with him, they’d just hang out for a bit before he got home.
The bar wasn’t particularly far from the apartment building, and Jiu Shu and Zero Three were already halfway there.
Zero Three looked at the crowds of people coming and going along the roadside, suddenly wishing that this road could just keep on spreading out with no end in sight.
But this was ultimately impossible.
He was already most fortunate to get him alone tonight.
“Want a drink?”
Jiu Shu stopped abruptly and stood next to a roadside stand, buying two drinks.
The streets had become less crowded by now, so he took off his mask slightly to get some air.
As he did so, he handed one to Zero Three.
Bionics were able to eat just like humans.
It was just that for bionics, eating was quite unnecessary.
The humans who kept bionics rarely let them eat either.
After all, only a little bit of nutrient solution was needed to complete the energy reserve, and there was no need to waste food.
This had already become the consensus of human society, even an unspoken rule.
A rule that divided the class of humans and bionics.
In today’s society, many human supremacists even believed that bionics didn’t deserve to eat the same food as humans.
As an employed police officer, even though Zero Three had the freedom to eat as much as he wanted, he still hadn’t eaten much human food.
In order to maintain an efficient working life, Zero Three usually only used nutrient solutions.
Looking at the drink that Jiu Shu handed out, Zero Three knew that Jiu Shu was treating him as a human.
So he didn’t refuse.
Opening the lid of the drink, Zero Three took a sip.
It was strawberry-flavoured.
Although Zero Three hadn’t never eaten strawberries, as an advanced bionic human, distinguishing the ingredients in the drink wasn’t a difficult task for him.
“Ah, it’s sour; it’s lemon-flavoured.”
Jiu Shu suddenly coughed, furrowing his eyebrows in discomfort, which was different from his usually gentle expression.
This brand of drink didn’t indicate the flavour on the package; the idea was for people to have a fresh taste.
Jiu Shu didn’t think he would be so unlucky to pick the lemon flavored one.
He was a man with a big sweet tooth and had never been much of a fan of sour flavours.
“What flavour is yours?”
Jiu Shu’s eyes were red from coughing, and there was a kind of weak beauty to it.
It made one’s gaze subconsciously fall on the redness at the end of his eyes.
Zero Three’s fingers holding the drink tightened slightly, and only after a long time did he reply, “Strawberry.”
Jiu Shu sniffed and naturally took the drink from Zero Three’s hand.
“It is indeed very sweet.”
After tasting a mouthful, Jiu Shu’s eyebrows arched slightly, and his lips were tinged with moisture.
As he spoke, the tip of his tongue was hidden between his lips and teeth.
If Zero Three didn’t know that Jiu Shu couldn’t possibly mean anything else, he would almost think that Jiu Shu was trying to seduce him.
Especially when he thought that just now Jiu Shu’s lips must have touched where he drank from, Zero Three felt his heartbeat beating like a drum.
“Let’s keep walking.”
Jiu Shu returned the drink to Zero Three.
Zero Three silently took the drink and hmmmed.
Walking at Jiu Shu’s side, he appeared to be calm on the surface.
His eyes, however, remained on the drink in his own hand.
Jiu Shu drank from the same bottle as him.
Zero Three had only occasionally seen such behaviours in movies; those human couples often did that.
They were now behaving intimately like those human couples.
Zero Three lowered his eyes.
For some reason, perhaps the drink was too sweet. In this quiet alley where only he and Jiu Shu were walking, a mesmerising sweetness spread on his tongue.
It fascinated him.
“My apartment is just around the corner.”
Pleasant moments were always extraordinarily short.
Jiu Shu quickly stopped and looked at the apartment building not far away. He twisted his head to look at Zero Three.
“How far is your house from here?”
Lately, the security in the lower city wasn’t so good, so if it was too far away, perhaps he would have to invite Zero Three to rest at his home.
Zero Three made a move to avoid Jiu Shu’s sight.
“It’s nearby.”
Zero Three hid part of the fact that his room was in the apartment building across the street from Jiu Shu.
Jiu Shu sniffed and seemed to let out a light laugh, but quickly returned to normal.
His clear pupils grew softer in the cold light of the lamp.
“That’s good; go back and rest early; your injuries getting better is most important.”
“See you next time, my long-term friend.”
Jiu Shu gave a final goodbye, the smile on his lips still beautiful.
His tone, however, carried an inexplicable meaning.
Zero Three watched as Jiu Shu walked away for a long time before he withdrew his gaze and hung his head in puzzlement.
Jiu Shu seemed to have said “long-term friend” twice; was there something wrong with what he said?
Zero Three didn’t know what to think.
He looked up at the sparse lights in Jiu Shu’s apartment building until the light in Jiu Shu’s room was lit up, and then he turned to leave.
It was time for him to head back.
Work would continue tomorrow.
However, on the way back, Zero Three couldn’t help but think about what Jiu Shu’s aggravated tone just now meant.
Zero Three wondered if he was overthinking it.
He couldn’t come up with an answer, even after thinking about it for a long time.
All of his knowledge reserves were instilled into the chip from the factory, and he continued to learn and evolve in the course of his work afterwards.
In his mind, this was indeed just a very common phrase.
Zero Three looked at the chat interface on his mobile phone and put this confusion aside for the time being.
It was time for him to transfer money to Jiu Shu.
Although he had just been added as a friend, after giving gifts for so long, Jiu Shu shouldn’t refuse the money.
Zero Three had no malicious intent; he only wanted to make Jiu Shu’s life more comfortable.
He hoped that Jiu Shu wouldn’t refuse.
Dingdong-
The transfer message was quickly sent.
In the flat room, Jiu Shu was holding a large bouquet of roses in his hands and admiring them carefully.
It was obvious that the person who sent the flowers had given them a lot of thought.
Each rose was so delicate that it was just like a real flower, even more vibrant and beautiful.
Even with the wound on his arm, he had endeavoured to make the roses perfect.
Thinking of the wounds on the object of the punishment, Jiu Shu’s thin white fingers stroked over the rose petals, his lightly narrowed eyes showing a slight darkness.
Those rebels had gone too far.
It was probably because it had been too smooth for them lately.
It was time for them to learn a lesson.
Dingdong-
Jiu Shu looked at the mobile phone beside him and tapped it to see a transfer message.
The amount was definitely a huge sum of money for the poor people in the lower city.
Based on Zero Three’s monthly salary, it was basically his entire savings.
Perhaps even the money to buy the nutrient solution was gone.
For the bionic man, it was equivalent to dumping his family’s money.
“……”
Jiu Shu held his forehead helplessly.
It was only after a long while that he sighed and accepted the transfer.
He knew that, with the object of the punishment’s current state of inferiority and sensitivity, if he refused the transfer, it would instead make him uneasy.
Jiu Shu accepted the transfer.
Zero Three looked at the mobile phone, his gaze focused, and his eyes slightly lit up.
[So much money; do you want me to keep it temporarily?]
Jiu Shu sent a message.
[No, it’s a gift for you.]
Zero Three replied.
As a fan, it should be a normal thing to hit your idol with money, right?
But giving so much money was really abnormal.
Jiu Shu rubbed his brow, almost able to imagine Zero Three’s mental activities.
[Is it a gift from a long-term friend?]
Zero Three saw the word again, and after hesitating for a moment, he still answered, [Yes.]
There shouldn’t be much difference between giving a gift as a fan and giving a gift as a close friend.
Their relationship was closer.
Some unseen thoughts in Zero Three’s mind made him want to gain such closeness.
Even if it was just an illusion.
“……”
Jiu Shu laughed, knowing that Zero Three must not know the true meaning of the word. He arched an eyebrow and transferred back a sum of money to Zero Three.
It should be enough to spend on a nutrient solution for this period of time.
[I understand.]
[Take this; let’s go to the amusement park together tomorrow after work.]
[Okay, time to rest; good night.]
Jiu Shu said good night without waiting for Zero Three to reply, seemingly sleepy.
Zero Three didn’t know why Jiu Shu transferred money to him; his typing fingers paused, and he didn’t continue to send a message to bother Jiu Shu.
Instead, he typed a question into the search bar.
Only then did he discover the reason in the search results.
That phrase that was said when adding friends was indeed a phrase that had a high success rate and could easily let people become friends in each other’s social accounts.
But in recent social buzzwords, the so-called long-term friend also had another meaning.
It meant the desire to be the other’s bed partner.
Unlike the conservative constraints of humans in the last century, in recent years, the rebellious trend had become popular among young people, and they weren’t as closed off about s-ex as they used to be.
This seemingly ordinary phrase had long been attached to another layer of s-exual innuendo.
It even included the implications of some money transactions.
Once spoken, it was almost the same as courting the other party.
The transfer of money just now even put such a courtship into practice.
Because in this kind of long-term friendship, it was possible to give each other gifts as a way to ask the other to fulfil their own requirements.
Mostly in bed.
Such an open relationship didn’t require fidelity, only gifts.
It was a kind of child’s play, but it was a rotten way to make friends.
They weren’t a loving couple, both parties couldn’t even have the slightest emotional basis; they just used each other’s bodies.
“……”
Zero Three looked at the explanation on the webpage and didn’t react for a long time.
He finally lifted his head as the night got deeper. He looked at the apartment building outside the floor-to-ceiling windows of the living room.
The lights were already out in the room where Jiu Shu was, and the roses that Jiu Shu had placed on the bedside table could still be seen through the gaps in the window screen.
And Jiu Shu’s white wrists that were exposed on the bedsheet.
Bare and white.
Usually Zero Three would take care not to pry into Jiu Shu’s privacy.
He would deliberately avoid watching when he washed up and went to sleep.
Now, however, he couldn’t help but stare at Jiu Shu’s room, his expression nearly blank.
“!!!”
It was only after a long time that he lowered his head, no longer looking at Jiu Shu.
He just covered his face with one hand; he seemed somewhat disoriented.
The roots of his ears were already red.
The bionic human’s emotion control system was warning him, but he still couldn’t suppress the blush and helplessness in his heart that was like an eruption of lava.
He really didn’t mean anything like that.
But he didn’t know how to explain it properly.
Nor did he have the courage to open the dialogue interface with Jiu Shu again.
Just like this, he was muddled until the next day.
When it was time to go to work, for the first time, Zero Three didn’t look at the monitor on his mobile phone.
With a depressed sigh, he simply packed up and neatened up before heading to the mission location.
Although he was seriously injured only yesterday, as a bionic human, Zero Three didn’t have the same right to call in sick as human police officers.
His body’s repair ability was also enough to deal with this kind of injury.
So today’s mission was still to hunt bionics.
It was just that today, Seven Two chose to take a leave of absence.
Bionic people were allowed to have holidays, but they were few and far between.
“I have to go overhaul my body today, so I can’t go to work with you next time.”
Seven Two waved his hand with a helpless expression.
Zero Three glanced at him and nodded, not minding his absence.
Seven Two wasn’t a strong fighter, and even when he was present, most of the time Zero Three was in charge of doing the work.
So him being absent really didn’t matter.
Zero Three put the gu-n into the holster on his waist and tied the knife holster on his leg, making sure everything was ready before turning around and leaving the armoury.
Yesterday’s weapon had suffered damage, and it was time to replace it with a new one in order to continue the mission.
Seven Two looked at Zero Three’s distant back and only sent a message to the Resistance side after making sure no one was around.
Then it was time to head for the control centre in the headquarters building.
The Resistance’s plan had reached its most critical point, and they needed to get top-secret information from the headquarters building.
Inside the resistance stronghold.
The Resistance member who received the message walked over to Resistance Leader Cory and handed over the tablet that recorded the mission information.
“There’s already news from down there, and we’ll soon be able to get the bionic human code from the headquarters.”
“Yes, well done.”
Cory took the tablet and nodded after looking at it for a while, looking up at the huge experimental area in front of him.
Located in the centre of the experimental area was a mechanical core that resembled a human brain with countless lines connected to it.
That was the most perfect result that the bionic people had researched so far.
An artificial intelligence that could continuously evolve.
Although it was still in an imperfect stage, as more and more bionic people’s consciousnesses were added to it, the AI would truly gain life.
Gaining the power to dialogue with humans on an equal footing.
Yes, this AI was built out of bionic human consciousness.
They needed to constantly add to it with bionic human consciousness data, making it converge into the true god of the bionic people.
The neurovirus that was previously spread out in the Seventh Metropolis was a product of the experiment, successfully awakening a large number of fellow Resistance members.
It allowed them to get rid of the shackles of loyalty to humans on their chips and rebel against human rule.
They were also able to obtain the consciousness data of a large number of bionic humans and successfully upload it into the AI.
While the accident resulted in the deaths of many humans, it was a necessary sacrifice before success, and all of those who died were abusive to the bionics.
To Cory, they deserved such an outcome as well.
But the bionic consciousness acquired by the last neurovirus wasn’t enough; he still needed a lot of human consciousness data for reference; it wouldn’t hurt the humans, but it might leave them mentally drained for a while.
Cory hated and loved humans at the same time.
He didn’t want all of humanity to go extinct, but he wanted to make the evil ones pay for their evil deeds.
TN:
The fourth chapter will be a bit delayed, like few hours maybe 🤸
And they’re going to make a bionic god.
Thank you for the chapters!