Chapter 12: The generous gift was devoured by the hungry and boiling stomach acid...

For a long time in Bai Ling's life, whenever he thought of Isupareso, what came to his mind was not the iron-blooded dictator, but the neat and bright milk truck.

No matter how much rejection it encounters along the way, the robot inside will patiently wipe the egg liquid on the glass, pick up the garbage thrown in from the window, and clean it until it is spotless, as if it were the work of a person with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The young birds also threw things into it.

Himself.

The shelter often withheld funds. When a north wind came, there was knee-deep snow outside, but there was no heating in the crowded and damp bunk beds.

Although Falconiformes are powerful, the survival rate of young birds is very low. Every winter is like a dangerous experience.

The young bird fell ill several times. The little magpie in the next bed laughed at him, saying that it was the devil's curse coming true and that the old emperor was sucking his blood.

"You won't survive this winter. When you die, I'll wear your scarf to school."

The young bird picked up a pillow and beat the little magpie until he cried to the ground.

The scarf was given to him by his mother, who took it off his neck and tied it around his neck before he left.

The young bird followed its mother's example and wrapped the scarf around its neck twice, tucking one end of the scarf into its coat. He buried his nose in it, leaving only his eyes exposed, pretending that the warmth was the protection of his bird's feathers.

He thought, since he was going to die anyway, he might as well hijack a milk truck and go wherever he wanted.

The young bird resolutely ran away in the middle of the night.

Snowflakes stuck to their white eyelashes and the biting wind made their heads split. However, the little falcon, unafraid of wind and snow, stretched out its arms, trying to keep its balance, flying against the wind in the deserted square.

It’s almost there, it’s almost there…

The milk cart buried in the snow was like a conch lying in the sand. The young birds ran quickly into its light, climbed into the window using their hands and feet, and jumped down.

The robot caught him and sat down on the floor.

The young bird blinked away the water droplets on its eyelashes, shivered, and said loudly: "You...you have been kidnapped."

The robot was very cooperative. As a captive, it turned on the air conditioner to warm, filled the baby bird's cup with hot milk, and took out boxes of candy from the cupboard, one handful, two big handfuls... until it filled the baby bird's worn canvas backpack.

The young bird was dumbfounded. Faced with such a generous gift, he didn't know what to do.

"No... hijacking isn't like this," the young bird gestured hard, "it should be that you just listen to me and take me where I want to go."

The robot started the car, and the ding-dong music sounded again. The young birds hummed songs and lay in front of the windows, looking at the changing lights of thousands of homes. They passed through the narrow streets, passed by the closed pubs, scared away the wild cats on the roadside, changed tracks with a clang, and drove down the hillside towards the long coastline.

The baby bird had never been so happy.

He peeled two candies and returned the rest, then sat next to the robot and poked it: "Does Isupaliso really have to eat bird hearts and livers every day?"

It mechanically replied: "No relevant response was found, please try again."

The young bird is not surprising. These robots are not very intelligent and can only respond to set voice messages, such as "I wish you good health" and "Please don't litter."

The young bird asked again: "Is he picky about food?"

Robot: "Please try again."

The terminal was right in front of him. The young bird coughed violently, hugged his scarf tightly, and said unreasonably: "...You can take me away, even if I am eaten by piranhas. If he refuses to eat me, I will follow you to deliver milk."

The robot's camera flashed, "Please... Query results: Good night, baby."

The young bird choked, tears welling up in its haggard eyes: "I, I don't... want comfort."

"Goodnight, baby."

That night, he didn't know what program of the robot was triggered. The young bird huddled in the corner wiping its tears for a long time, and the robot squatted beside him and said "baby" that many times.

When the young bird woke up, he found himself in the hospital, where he was well cared for during the winter.

People said he was lucky because the government reimbursed his medical expenses. Others maliciously said that this was irrefutable evidence that the old emperor was spying on him through the milk cart.

When he was discharged from the hospital, the young bird tiptoed to the nurses' station and asked his sisters for the receipt.

The page with the signature did not have the mermaid's name on it, but the cross stamp of Isoparaiso.

The young bird cut out the emblem and glued it to its chest, above its heart.

Later, the young bird grew up and enlisted in the army at the age of thirteen or fourteen. After finally getting a day off, he returned to the square, but the sound of Ding Dong Man Xiang was no longer there.

The tram tracks were filled with cement and the buildings were covered with Cade's posters. He was extremely anxious and came to the abandoned dairy factory, only to find that the old milk truck had rusted away in an empty and deserted corner.

He walked over and the robot made a clicking sound as its bridle turned idle.

"I wish you...good health, I wish you...good night..."

He found the sound-generating component and repaired it, but after half a day of maintenance, he could only restore the setting to "Goodnight, Baby", and it could not be changed anymore.

Bai Ling snuggled into the robot's arms and slept for a while.

He closed his eyes and whispered, "Good night to you too."

Then he stood up, caught the bus back to the army, and never went back.

·

In the habitat, the originally silent icy water suddenly began to splash. The sleeping mermaid surfaced and leaned against the edge of the pool, holding her forehead.

"I seem to have made a..."

AI held up the towel and asked, "Another nightmare?"

Yu Chen smiled tiredly: "It's a beautiful dream."

He dreamed that a little bird was sleeping in his arms, and his chest was warmed by the bird’s body temperature.

The AI ​​blinked the camera in surprise. Its owner had been taking mental nourishing drugs off and on for nearly thirty years, and after his condition continued to decline, it seemed that there were finally signs of improvement?

Sometimes it feels that its owner is more like AI than them.

During the more than 100 years that Isuparezo was in power, he hardly had a day of rest.

The empire seemed huge, but in reality it was plagued by internal and external troubles. Externally, there is the mammalian federation that is eyeing us covetously, and internally, there are powerful aristocratic families with extensive connections.

Ysuparaiso promotes Omega protection measures to restrict A's rights, which invisibly infringes on the interests of the upper-level A. They had long been dissatisfied with him and wanted to put him to death.

When he was young, he still had the energy and time to fight against those forces, and at one point he led the empire to unprecedented prosperity.

But as time went by, his mental control was not as good as before, and his right-hand men and capable subordinates died one after another. His era also seemed inevitably heading towards decline.

This is the inevitable result of the cycle of history. Just as no dynasty can remain strong forever; no emperor can sit on the throne forever.

The century-long empire's glory is already a miracle.

From then on, things will decline after their prosperity.

The dying Yso Paraiso, like a giant beast spanning the ages, dragged this complex and huge country forward for another thirty years.

The milk truck in the square is nothing more than the compassion he squeezed out of his life, the last ray of afterglow in the twilight...

However, until the end, he did not receive a response.

The AI ​​glanced furtively at its master.

Yu Chen took the bath towel. The dawn light shone through the entire floor-to-ceiling window. In his vision, it was like looking at flowers through fog, with hazy shadows. Obviously, after a night, the effect of the spirit tonic was losing its effect.

"Do you want to go over and take a look at that bird?" asked the AI.

Yu Chen picked up the mental tonic capsule from the small bone china dish and swallowed it empty-mouthed.

If he doesn't take his medication on time, he will soon fall into a coma.

The capsule shell made of glutinous rice was sliding down the esophagus with difficulty and was eaten by the hungry and boiling stomach acid. Soon, a twitching pain from an empty stomach spread to every part of the body.

Yu Chen drank some ice water to suppress the empty pain, and asked casually: "How is he, is he still having a fever?"

"Thanks to you for watching over him all night, he felt much better when he woke up. I told him you were resting, and the little bird used a screwdriver and pliers to replace all the old wires that couldn't be used. Now the broken radiator can be used again. I praised him for his ability, and he said..."

AI pressed the recording play button, and the mechanical bird's cold voice came from the speaker: "...I am very happy to help him solve his problem."

Me too.

Yu Chen smiled and said in his heart.

The burning sensation in his stomach seemed to ease a little because of these words. Yu Chen dressed himself and returned to lying on his side.

The mental nourishing agent he took again had not yet taken effect. In a haloed vision, he saw the neatly arranged bed sheets, the quilt folded like a tofu block, and the note on the bedside table, but there was no sign of the bird.

AI said disappointedly: "Ah, he seems to be gone."

Yu Chen picked up the note, and two candies rolled into his deeply etched palm. The note was written neatly:

[This is the return gift of milk - your loyal white feather]

Yu Chen clenched the two candies tightly, unable to calm down for a long time.

A belated reward, but it's never too late for him.

·

North felt that he could really keep his composure.

The roommate did not come back all night, and the dormitory manager checked three times, but he managed to deceive and cover up the matter.

It was now daybreak, and he dazedly heard the door open, and he heaved a sigh of relief, thinking that the beauty of our dormitory had finally come back.

North rubbed his eyes and was about to stretch his legs to get out of bed, but he suddenly smelled an odor, his legs and feet went limp, and he couldn't help but fall to his knees.

Bai Ling quickly pulled him up.

"It's just one night since we last met. There's no need for such a big ceremony." Bai Ling said half-jokingly.

North sobered up and said in shock: "Oh my God, whose pheromones are these left on you? They are more powerful than those of an alpha guarding his nest during the susceptible period!"

"Is there?" Bai Ling felt nothing. He raised his hand and smelled his sleeve. There was only a slight sweet scent of rotten wood and the salty smell of sea water.

"Definitely!" North thought it was some top predator that broke in. "I'm not saying anything, but our school used to have social events with the Military Command University next door, and we've seen a lot of top predators, but none of them smelled this bad..."

"Horrible!" North said with lingering fear.

Bai Ling is not surprised.

He probably smelled of the Queen Mother. Those who can catch Isuparaiso's eye must be top-level omegas with outstanding abilities, not to mention that the mermaid bloodline brings a high level of suppression to the ocean people.

North is a sea slug, belonging to the middle and lower levels of the marine ecological niche, and definitely has a DNA fear of mermaids.

Bai Ling took a shower, changed into clean clothes, and when he came out the smell was much lighter.

He took the wet clothes to the window to hang, and suddenly remembered something, turned around and asked him:

"Do you still have the suppression stick you mentioned last time?"

"Yes, yes, yes," North enthusiastically climbed up and looked through the drawers, "I have sizes M, L, and XL. Which one do you want?"

Bai Ling: "...Why are there so many kinds?"

North chuckled: "Sometimes the intensity of estrus is different, so be prepared in advance."

Bai Ling felt that the pain he was experiencing was only caused by the differentiation of the two stages, which was far worse than the real estrus period, so he took the smallest size.

North asked with concern: "Do you feel uncomfortable in your stomach? How about I ask for a leave for you and let you lie down in the dormitory for a day."

"It's okay. I'm used to it." Bai Ling declined his kindness and went into the bathroom to change the inhibitor. When he came out, except for his slightly awkward walking posture, he was used to it otherwise.

Bai Ling found some beef jerky and gave a large piece to North. When he lowered his head, he suddenly noticed that the small door of the capsule cabin next door was tightly closed, and a pair of size 46 sneakers were scattered on the ground.

North said, "Oh, that's our new roommate. He moved in last night."

Bai Ling stared at the suitcase under the bed, on which was an orange-red winged family emblem.

He didn't make any statement, but just to be fair, he also put some jerky on his new roommate's table.

There were still two hours before the 10:30 class. Bai Ling poured a cup of hot water, took out the large bottle of A-type essence, absentmindedly poured two pills in, and swallowed them with water.

North watched him climb onto the bed with a haggard face, then looked at the medicine bottle on the table and felt something was strange.

They all know that after taking artificial drugs, they must never come into contact with natural hormones, otherwise the two phases will work together and easily cause a rebound addiction reaction.

This reaction is very violent. Once alpha is not seen within 8 to 10 hours, a series of withdrawal symptoms such as tremors, night sweats, and heart failure will occur.

A true pheromone slave.

But the bird has come back from the alpha, so it should be impossible for it to be exposed to pheromones in the short term, and the medication to control its condition is also normal.

North was relieved.

He looked across and saw Bai Ling making the bed for a nap, but strangely, he didn't take off the pillowcase today.

Bai Ling pulled up the curtain, spread out the trousers given to him by the robot, bit her lip, and convinced herself to lie down.

It's just a pair of unwanted pants. I picked it up to use as a cushion. It's no big deal.

Bai Ling quietly grasped a corner of the woolen cloth and felt much more at ease.