Chapter 34
Whether it was a handkerchief or not, Ye Yihe only felt that the name Pushkin sounded unusually familiar.
When it comes to anything associated with Pushkin, he immediately thinks of the famous poem "If Life Deceives You," which is included in Chinese language textbooks.
Actually, even the name Agatha Christie sounds familiar... but this shouldn't be the case, the age doesn't match... Pushkin's appearance doesn't even match the textbook descriptions...
Could it be that foreigners have a high rate of having the same name? Just like if you shout "Arthur" or "Oliver" on the street, six out of ten people will turn around.
But when I think of Edogawa Ko... no, Ranpo, I always feel that these familiar names shouldn't be a coincidence.
However, whether the other party shared the same name as a historical figure was not a problem for him, and the brief afternoon tea conversation came to an end.
After bowing, Yehe followed his attendants away from the magnificent castle built during the reign of Queen Victoria—a masterpiece that blends various old styles with design concepts from Eastern Europe, India, and other regions, representing a fusion of revival and contemporary art.
After that conversation, even if he went to the designated interview location openly with Mary Shelley's job advertisement, no one would stop him.
"Oh, it's you!"
Mary Shelley was biting her pen, racking her brains for a comment on an interviewee, when Ye Yihe knocked on the door and entered. Her eyes lit up immediately. "So you're also planning to interview my assistant? You came all the way from Russia?"
"No, my last job was in France."
Ye Yihe answered her question, “A kind lady took me in and hired me as her bodyguard for a period of time.”
"Bodyguard...you must be pretty good at fighting too! Wow, I really couldn't tell!"
Mary Shelley clapped her hands, looking very pleased. "And you must speak French too! That's wonderful! The research papers I've found recently are all written in French, and I was just worried that the translators weren't professional enough and kept making mistakes with technical terms."
Ye Yihe: "...Is that so..."
Actually, his French isn't that great... he probably couldn't beat those professionals.
"Alright, alright, it's decided then. We'll hire you for a while!"
Mary Shelley crumpled up the interview feedback form in her hand and casually tossed it into the trash can.
She looked overjoyed that she no longer had to rack her brains for comments, and her blonde ponytail swayed back and forth with her movements. "Don't worry about salary and benefits! Now it's up to you to perform, Mr. Fyodor."
The entire hiring process was so casual that it was basically Mary Shelley's one-man show. Ye Yihe had been rehearsing his English speech for two days in the hotel... no, he hadn't even had a chance to start his English self-introduction.
Damn it, all that memorization for nothing.
"Ah, but there's something I need to make clear to you first. Although I've been with the research institute for several years and have made contributions that have earned me medals of honor,"
Mary Shelley shook her finger, gesturing for Ye Yihe to look around the not-so-spacious office. "But those old men on the committee think my proposed plan is a pipe dream and won't approve any more funding, so—as you can see, we have to finish my brilliant research here!"
Ye Yihe glanced around and saw a large number of bookshelves and cabinets against the wall—there was also a small door leading to another room, which she explained was a laboratory and also served as a storage room.
Apart from that, there was only a very ordinary desk in front of Mary Shelley and him, which might be the office desk of the future.
"Even if someone has made meritorious contributions, will they still be denied funding?"
After familiarizing himself with the office, Ye Yihe turned to look at her. "Don't you trust your abilities?"
"What... [a girl with a genius mind], that's not me bragging."
Mary Shelley crossed her arms and puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction. "Even if you don't watch the news, you should know about that award, right? It's the award that gives medals to scientists who have made outstanding contributions to military science. I have at least five! I'll wear them to show you next time."
They are usually kept in a special storage box for medals, and are only worn on the chest on formal occasions as a symbol of the materialization of technical ability.
You can question her height, but you can't question her intelligence...!
"The reason they don't approve of it is because of my research direction,"
After a pause, Mary Shelley explained further, "I want to design a bionic robot that can be equipped with an autonomous thinking module, capable of automatically searching, summarizing, organizing, and analyzing clues... and even having the ability to make its own judgments when facing a crisis independently."
"The progress is not ideal. Even if I had the superpower of making it work no matter how it is designed, I would still need to build a general framework in terms of hardware and software first."
Ye Yihe nodded slowly. This sounded somewhat like a concrete manifestation of the idiom "to add the finishing touch to a painting."
The concept of superpowers wasn't unfamiliar to him, so hearing about it now wouldn't surprise him much.
but……
“Before I came here, I heard a rumor.” Ye Yihe thought for a moment and then probed tactfully, “The person who created artificial superhumans capable of independent thought, known as the ‘Shepherd God’.”
According to Sutter Bernhardt, Pan and his artificial superhuman, Black Twelve Verlaine, were active six years ago—while Mary Shelley is only now beginning her research into creating bionic robots.
The timing doesn't seem to match.
How young was Mary Shelley six years ago... maybe ten or so?
"[Pan God]... Ah, that guy."
Mary Shelley frowned and pondered for a moment, then dug out the name from her past memories.
“I did meet him, several years ago, before I joined the research institute. He was an absolute madman, but at the time I had no one to talk to, the knowledge taught at school was too simple, and my classmates didn’t hang out with me.”
Ye Yihe: "...Isolated?"
“No, that’s not it,” Mary Shelley said, making a fist with her right hand except for her thumb pointing down, giving a no sign. “They’re too stupid, too tiring to talk to, there’s an insurmountable gap in their intelligence.”
Ye Yihe: "…………"
In this case, it's the other way around; one person has isolated everyone.
"In short, although Pan is a bit crazy, we have a lot in common when it comes to science."
"At that time, he was conceiving a bold idea—to artificialize and controllable self-contradictory singularities, but he always failed to debug several key parameters."
Mary Shelley raised her chin. "So, yes, I gave him some advice, which helped him take a small step toward success."
Although he said it was "just a small step," it is very likely that he did Pan a great favor.
“But personally, I am not willing to create artificial superhumans. Instead, I would rather start from scratch to research more complex bionic robots, even if it takes longer. Do you know why, Mr. Fyodor?”
—She tapped her temple with her fingertip, “Because of cognition.”
"Science may have no boundaries, but morality has its shackles. Sexual reproduction is the foundation of all living beings, the process of a child's birth is like God creating mankind, and the Virgin Mary lovingly embraces Jesus."
"But the Shepherd chose human cloning, which is scientifically forbidden, and that's what I objected to most. If I had known he would do that, I wouldn't have told him those parameters! How despicable!"
If Mary Shelley were standing instead of sitting, she would probably be furious.
A "human" asexually reproduced through cloning technology, possessing the ability to think for themselves, and with monstrous power sealed within their body—does it even need to be considered what will happen? They will find no sense of belonging based on blood ties in this world!
Bionic robots differ fundamentally from humans in their physical structure, possessing a clear self-identity and thus needing not to worry about feeling lost about their own existence.
Moreover, she controls the debugging and upgrade commands, so even if there are deviations, she can recover them in time.
"So he left after we had a big fight, and then I also chose to go to a big city to study soon after... and I completely lost track of his whereabouts."
This was inevitable, as the death of [Pan] stemmed from the backlash of his creation; and as the mastermind behind the anti-government movement, France certainly did not want the media to report such a scandal.
Moreover, the existence of "superpowered individuals" is actually kept secret from the general public and is not a special existence known to everyone.
As the short yet lengthy story came to an end, Mary Shelley, her throat dry from speaking, reached for a cup on the table piled high with papers and documents to get a drink of water.
Only Ye Yihe blinked.
He lowered his head and pondered for a long time.
"so……"
He hesitated before drawing a conclusion.
"Are you actually Verlaine's half-mother?"
Wow, a shocking secret from the world of superpowers!
Mary Shelley, who was holding a water glass, suddenly coughed with a tremendous sound.
"Wait a minute, that [Assassin King] Verlaine?! He's the artificial superhuman created by the Shepherd God? Ah, that explains it. No wonder the results of his ability usage match the conventional patterns I calculated... Ah, no, this isn't the time to talk about that!"
Her voice rose in surprise, "What kind of bizarre logic is that... I only gave some parameter suggestions back then! Parameter suggestions!"
"But from my perspective, your parameter suggestion is quite important,"
Ye Yihe spread his hands, accurately identifying the key points of the entire passage.
"Without the parameters you provided, Pan might not have been able to create Verlaine... right?"
“…”
Mary Shelley let out a loud, choked gasp.
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