5.3 Late Final Revision

"Go take a shower."

Lorraine took off her T-shirt, which was a mixture of many smells.

Ci Li, who is always like a male peacock in the mating period, likes to spray a deadly amount of perfume to show his presence. Ivy, who was alone with him in the interrogation room for a whole day, also had the smell of his perfume on her T-shirt.

Lorraine frowned, rolled it into a ball, threw it into the trash, and said, "You look like you just walked away from the source of pollution."

Ivy didn't have time to save her clothes. She said, "Normal interrogation--"

"If we hadn't reminded you," Lorraine said, "you probably wouldn't use the word 'normal' now that you've experienced torture."

After realizing that she might not be "Ivy", Lorraine's attitude towards "non-human" people changed subtly.

It's definitely not in a good direction.

Ivy was silent. She took a long time to slowly accept this sudden event.

Lorraine's doubts about her identity are so bizarre that if someone told Ivy now, "Actually you are an alien," "Actually you are the artificial intelligence 'Yuan'," "Actually you are Dr. Song Rong, the creator of 'Yuan'," she would no longer be surprised.

——Not only Luo Lin, Yu Mo also inadvertently mentioned her emotional indifference.

But he said it in a tone of admiration.

"You are afraid of losing, so you won't start a new relationship."

"That's good, baby."

"Emotions are an obstacle to human sanity."

“…”

This kind of "indifference" or "dullness", from a psychological point of view, is indeed most likely caused by neglect in early childhood. Many children who become independent early are mostly forced to do so, with no one to rely on and have to be independent on their own.

Compared with those children who grow up naturally, they lack a sense of security.

Just like Lorraine said.

He raised his hand and inserted his fingers into Ivy's hair, slowly stroking and checking every spot.

There are no traces of any memory reconstruction surgery, but there is a scar, a small one, about the size of a fingernail.

Ivy could feel the scar trembling as it was touched.

"...It's a birthmark," Ivy said. "Do you suspect it's a wound from a memory-reconstruction operation?"

"We can't rule out this possibility." Lorraine noticed that the scar was shaped like a small crooked heart. He took note of this special outline and let go of his hand. "Your medical file records a concussion and hospitalization."

"That's because when I was in middle school, I was watching Song Xu play basketball, and I was hit on the head with a basketball by a player from the other team," Ivy raised her voice, "Do I need to explain the origin of every scar on my body, teacher? I also have a scar on the sole of my foot where a nail pierced through. You kept stroking it when we made love. Do you also suspect that there is actually a machine gun or an overhead cannon implanted there?"

"I'm talking to you about something serious," Lorraine said sternly, "Don't flirt with me at this moment."

Ivy said, "What you call a serious matter is that you suddenly told me that you suspect that I am not a human? Then what am I? A bionic man? How come I don't know? I have never changed any solar power source, nor do I need to drink gasoline or clean the cache regularly..."

Lorraine said nothing, just stared at her.

There was no need to say anything. Ivy, who questioned everything, realized that something was wrong after venting her emotions.

She tried to convince herself.

Her memory before the age of five was very vague, but that didn't mean much. Many people's childhood memories were vague. Moreover, crossing the wasteland had caused her serious disturbances. After experiencing acid rain, her brain triggered a self-protection mechanism and automatically forgot something.

It's nothing.

Ivy wanted to say.

She sat on the bed, analyzing herself over and over again.

This should be the residence of Lorraine's army. The rigid, serious, dark-colored bed made it look like a high-end but cold coffin. This strange thought made her take two deep breaths. At this moment, she felt like a salmon about to be filleted.

Ivy's chest was rising and falling, without the T-shirt to cover it, and she was wearing only an old sports bra. Unlike the so-called "wire shaping cup" that was popular a hundred years ago, the current environment is harsh, and people pursue comfort far more than beauty. Many people advocate no bra, or use a thin layer of cloth, while Ivy, who exercises and trains all year round, wears a sports bra of a certain thickness, but it has been worn for a long time, and the white color has been washed a little old. The pure cotton at the edge has been worn out with fine fluff and tiny holes that are barely detectable.

Ivy noticed that Lorraine was now staring at the small hole.

Too many things happened today, making her very sensitive: "If you want to be sarcastic, you can use a more sophisticated way - your underwear is so old-fashioned that it's like the style my dad would choose, and I haven't attacked you."

"You're attacking me now, Ivy," Lorraine said in a soothing voice, "I just don't want a sweaty kid lying on my bed - the smell of the cis is like poison gas, and it's a great miracle that you can still jump around and attack people in this smell."

Ivy said: "It was you who called me a nobody first."

"I hadn't realized you had any talent as a cook," Lorraine said, "and you were so good at embellishing what I said."

Ivy found that she couldn't convince the other party with words, so she stood up and planned to leave. Lorraine held her arm tightly, and his body temperature was so high that it burned her severely even through a layer of leather gloves.

She sensed something was wrong from the abnormal temperature: "Your sensitivity period hasn't ended yet?"

"It's just a small matter." Lorraine obviously didn't want to talk about this topic. He let go of her hand and looked down at her. "If you don't mind our reputation, you can just leave like this."

"I won't abandon my conscience for the sake of so-called reputation," Ivy sneered, releasing all the accumulated emotions. "I've been suspected of not being a human being just because I've said a few words to you. If I continue to be alone with you, I'm really worried that I'll degenerate into a monkey, jumping up a tree and screaming to snatch bananas from children."

"That sounds good," Lorraine said. "Considering our relationship as teacher and student, I will donate enough money for you to live on for the rest of your life - sorry, it's a monkey's banana."

Ivy was ready to come up with the cruelest words in the world and refute him in the most ferocious tone.

"Listen," Lorraine held her shoulders, forcing her to look directly into those spinel eyes that were so dark that they were impure. He said, "Until your true identity is confirmed, you can only stay here for the time being."

Ivy said, "How can you be sure? You should have all my files. You might even remember the date of my first menstrual period."

"That's not necessarily true," Lorraine said, "After all, at that age, I didn't even know you, my little treasure."

He did not use a sarcastic tone, but such plain words were more lethal than those sarcastic ones.

"...Then how are you going to prove it?" Ivy said, "Are you going to ask a doctor to perform an autopsy on me?"

"That's a good idea," Lorraine said. "Should I contact Dr. Yumo now?"

Ivy said, "You sound just like a grudge husband right now."

"Bounce back," Lorraine remained unmoved. He said bluntly, "You now have two choices. First, I will hand you over directly to the military hospital, and the military will conduct a detailed investigation on you. Second, go and take a shower now. I need samples of your secretions and hair to send to the laboratory for testing."

He didn't say the different consequences of the two choices, but Ivy understood.

"If the military finds out that there is a problem with my identity," Ivy asked, "will I be unable to pass the expedition team's review? Will I be unable to enter the expedition team again?"

"What if the military finds out there's something wrong with your identity?" Lorraine said in a cold tone, adding her equally cold sneer, "It's a little difficult to get in, but I can scatter your ashes."

Ivian was quiet for a moment, then stood up quickly, the blood in her body rushing violently. She pushed Lorraine away and ran into the bathroom.

The things in Lorraine's bathroom were as simple as those in her bedroom, without even a bathtub.

Not to mention products like conditioner and body lotion, even shampoo and shower gel are in the same bottle.

Ivy squeezed out a dollop of the lotion with great force and applied it to the palm of her hand, quickly working up a foam.

There was no smell to them—so where did Lorraine get that appealing, cold smell? His toiletries were incredibly simple.

She quickly applied the foam on her head and body, rubbing it vigorously. The skin that was pressed hard soon showed a layer of marks, which slowly disappeared with the blood circulation. Ivy stared at the skin that had returned to normal for a long time, and she couldn't imagine why she was related to "non-human".

At the wedding banquet on the wedding day, Song Xu mentioned once that Hector-Lorraine seemed to hate androids very much, like an extreme human supremacist.

He will do whatever it takes to maintain humanity's position on this planet, believing that humans will always be at the top of the food chain; whether it's bionic people or artificial intelligence, these things created by humans have life given by humans and can only serve humans forever.

There are many people in the military and government who hold this view.

Therefore, the elimination of artificial intelligence in the wasteland is a just act and a fight for the future of mankind.

...The talkative policeman Robert also hates androids, but his reasons are a little strange.

A hundred years ago, there was an automatic chat robot that was fed with all kinds of strange language. It was called "Robert". It was successfully restored and made into a body by robot history researchers 20 years ago. This materialized "Robert" was originally intended to be a "friend android", but because of its particularly weird tone and naive and stupid chatter, it was disliked and complained by most people.

The talkative policeman Robert suffered campus violence because of the same name.

After that, he became a complete android-hater, believing that androids should be destroyed immediately regardless of whether they served humans or not.

Ivy's attitude toward androids is less sharp.

She doesn't want to enslave androids, nor is she a believer in "androids should destroy humanity."

Sometimes, she can't even tell the difference between autonomous androids and humans. As long as they are "good", then perhaps some "androids" don't necessarily have to be destroyed - not many people share the same ideas as her, and everyone likes to take a clear stand.

As soon as the sound of water stopped, Lorraine knocked on the door.

"Are you there?"

Ivy said: "Even if I'm not a human, I can't be a rat. I won't slip down the drainpipe."

“Maybe you have a Doraemon miniature light,” Lorraine said. “We don’t have a lot of time.”

Ivy said, "What?"

“Saves time.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Ivy put on a big snow-white bath towel, opened the door, and strode out with her head held high.

Her limbs were exposed without covering, and it was unclear whether it was to counter his "saving time" that she walked out in a cold manner, wearing nothing but a bath towel.

The fluffy, wide towel wrapped her up tightly and smelled like sticky rice dumplings with coconut meat.

She did it on purpose.

She knew clearly that Lorraine was still in her sensitive period, and she also understood the one-sided fatal attraction between the two of them.

This is Ivy's provocation.

Lorraine took only one look and then lowered her head to look at a line of water marks on the ground. It was made by her bare feet, and the water marks were dripping and dragging like a row of little ducks wading through the water.

Now he had washed his hands, put on gloves, and took out a small glass test tube from the dust cabinet. In his other hand, he held a long cotton swab and asked Ivy to open her mouth.

Ivy did as she was told.

The long, hard cotton swab rubbed against the oral cavity. The invasion of foreign objects and the feeling of being touched deep inside made her feel insecure. Tears were about to flow out, and the front end wrapped in sterile cotton had already penetrated into her throat. Lorraine carefully observed the inside of her mouth while turning the cotton swab with the other hand. As she was poked and tears came out, he quickly took out the cotton swab and put it into a sealed thin test tube.

During this period, Lorraine did not look at her exposed skin at all, even though the strong coconut scent was like a dense hunting net covering the sky and the earth, trapping him tightly from all directions.

Ivy coughed several times: "...If you only want to determine my identity from a biological and physical perspective, you might as well go find a trustworthy doctor."

"Who are you looking for? Yu Mo?" Luo Lin asked, "Are you sure?"

He put the glass test tube in place: "I'm sure he can do it. I believe he will help you at all costs."

Ivy wanted to tape his mouth shut; his language was too sharp.

Seal the tube.

Saliva extraction was successful.

Lorraine picked up the thin glass test tube again and touched Ivy's cheek with her other hand. It was very dry, without any trace of moisture.

Ivy felt a tremor, but she didn't know whether the tremor came from Lorraine or herself.

Lorraine said, "I remember you sweated a lot."

“That was after exercise.”

"Exercise?" Lorraine said. "How many laps do you plan to go out and run like this now?"

Ivy shouted: "That's not what I meant. Can't you extract other things you need first? For example, nails, hair, blood..."

"I have your blood sample. There's no need to waste it."

"It's strange that you think it's a waste to draw my blood," Ivy Yue said with an unsteady breath, "I thought you didn't care at all."

Suddenly, she thought of the expensive box of medicine and felt a lump in her throat, as if it was hard to swallow. It had only been a short time, but it felt like many years had passed.

At that time, Lorraine might have regarded her as a troublesome student, but now he treated her as an enemy.

She tried to sound very relaxed: "Isn't it just a few pills that can regenerate things?"

Lorraine didn't say anything. He put down the glass test tube labeled 'sweat', paused, and looked at the test tube labeled 'Vaginal fluid'.

It was unexpected that the blood-producing drug could work on Ivy.

After examination, in fact, he has now basically ruled out the possibility of "bionic people". There is a significant difference between her and the bionic people that Lorraine has dissected.

Ivy has no reaction to common anesthetics and has a certain degree of drug resistance. Her body structure and organs are almost exactly the same as those of humans. Now we are just waiting for the specific analysis results of her body fluids. Lorraine does not plan to send these things to military agencies, but to use her own laboratory.

He has concealed many things, including her unreasonable match with so many people, her abnormal blood test report, her unusual relationship with Yu Mo, her DNA that is the same as "Ivy", and the fact that the current tests are avoiding Xin Lan... These data that could cause her to lose her life immediately are controlled by Lorraine alone.

If she were discovered by the military, she would be destroyed immediately if any of the results were abnormal.

Lorraine doesn't want to do that at the moment.

——Even though that is the right thing to do.

He has made exceptions many times.

Ivy also noticed the label on the glass test tube, was stunned for a moment, and then felt that it was expected.

After a moment of silence, she lay quietly on the bed.

Physical examination also includes this step. The doctor will use a long cotton swab to collect some secretions, send them for examination, and test them to get the results.

Emptying her eyes and staring into the air, Ivy tried to convince herself that, without a doubt, she must be a human being.

There must be some mistake, she thought, perhaps the DNA sample being compared had been accidentally contaminated.

——If I am not me, then who am I?

——The so-called childhood experiences and traumas may not be true... Although Lorraine is very powerful, he is not a psychologist after all, so his inferences may not be accurate.

Lorraine held the glass test tube. The angle and the light made the cold test tube reflect a cool light, which fell into Ivy's eyes and stung slightly. She squinted her eyes and had already convinced herself to accept the complete sampling process.

After all, empty words are useless.

Lorraine did not move, he was very calm; the dark black military uniform wrapped his stern body tightly, and the uniform belonging to an army general had an incomparable sense of oppression, and she clearly felt this incomparable pressure.

Ivy, who has been criticized by many people for being "slow" and "a beat behind", felt a little sharp and dazed at this moment.

It was as if a breath of air was slowly leaving her body. If Lorraine removed the towel today, the trust built on the teacher-student relationship would seem to collapse and vanish immediately.

Ivy felt indescribably depressed.

When she was young, she was also anxious about her genetic rating and refugee status, but at this moment, those identities that once troubled her have now become a luxury.

She decided to take the initiative to open the towel, but Lorraine raised her hand, held her hand, and pressed the edge of the towel tightly.

Ivy closed her eyes.

But he was slow to take the next step.

Ivy pursed her lips tightly and turned her head inadvertently, stunned.

Lorraine had taken off her black gloves without knowing when.

He was very close to her at this moment, and his hands, which looked like they had been corroded, were revealed in front of her.

Ivy could clearly see the scar, which was a hideous, corrosive injury. In contrast, Lorraine was dressed neatly in a black military uniform, with a neat and sharp collar.

No matter how neat and serious the military uniform is, it cannot hide the twisted scar.

The scars left by highly corrosive acid rain and concentrated sulfuric acid are indeed very similar. The scars left by concentrated sulfuric acid have clear boundaries and are often concave, while those left by acid rain are more wrinkled and have an abnormal white layer.

At this time, Ivy finally confirmed that the scar on the back of her hand was a trace of acid rain and was not the result of a chemical experiment at all.

Lorraine is lying.

The child from the slums, the name, his familiarity with the dark areas, the scars of acid rain, the wasteland...

Ivy suddenly realized that she didn't know Lorraine at all.

She only knew the superficial side of Lorraine as a teacher and contractual husband. She had no idea what Lorraine was like in depth, his true character, his thoughts...

"In the past twenty years, the only recorded acid rain was the one when I was five years old," Ivy asked quickly, the future uncertain. "You should have been only fourteen at the time. And the scope of the acid rain was the wasteland near the first district, a small area..."

"I don't know whether to praise you for being smart or complimenting you for being generous," Lorraine said. "Now you are still in the mood to discuss acid rain. What do you want to talk about next? The ozone hole? Or hurricanes?"

"You have scars from acid rain," Ivy said, "but at the age of fourteen, there was no way you could have gone to the wasteland through any legal means, and that area was full of refugees at the time—"

At this point, she was stunned for a moment.

The acid rain that unexpectedly fell on the wasteland happened to fall on the place where the refugees gathered. At that time, many districts had introduced humanistic care policies for the resettlement of refugees. In fact, in the eyes of every district, these refugees were unsafe factors...

Naturally, the fewer refugees entering our area, the better.

Ivy shuddered.

"You were in the wasteland at the time?" Ivy said. "Ziri used very nasty words to curse you--"

"I've used worse words to curse him," Lorraine said. "Instead of standing up for me here, you might as well use your little head to think hard - maybe you can come up with something useful."

His eyes stayed on Ivy's hand for a long time.

He shouldn't have focused on these insignificant parts of her.

This can be a serious distraction.

Ivy clenched her fists tightly, and the veins on the back of her hands were bulging, showing the strength she was exerting at the moment. Her hands were by no means weak. Ivy was very healthy and always got first place in her exams - as her teacher commented, the only thing that could be called a shortcoming was her impulsiveness. There were many cords on the inside of her fingers, and she strengthened her physical fitness and exercised her skills. During the time when she was rejected because of her background and genetic evaluation, she never stopped working hard.

When I noticed something was wrong, I felt a heavy feeling coming to the ground.

Ivy saw a strange look on Lorraine's face, and it looked like she would remain silent forever.

That handsome face was like an ice-covered area, and his black eyes were like gems in flames, with a thin layer of ice floating on them.

She was silent for a while, then asked, "If I were really inhuman, what would you do?"

Lorraine leaned forward slightly, and his dark eyes under his slightly curly black hair stared at her confused face.

"You seem to be easily deceived by elders," he said. "If the person who said these words to you today was Yu Mo, you would trust him as much as you trust me."

This is a tone of certainty.

Ivy asked, "Why do you always mention him?"

Lorraine said, "If you don't understand the meaning of 'always', you can go to the library and borrow a dictionary to look it up."

Ivy rarely had a back-and-forth: "So far, it has happened at least three times."

Lorraine said coldly: "Is this a high frequency?"

"At least it's more than the number of times we've made love since we got married," Ivy mocked. "Are you at an age where three times a year is too much?"

"Don't provoke me with such vulgar words, classmate Ivy."

"Your language in criticizing me is not very high-class, Admiral Lorraine."

"You are jealous," Ivy suddenly realized, and she raised her voice, "You are jealous of Yu Mo."

"What a joke," Lorraine said. "Why am I jealous of him? Is it his weak body or his sweet talk? You should know when to stop being delusional and don't assume that everyone shares your aesthetic standards."

Without waiting for Ivy to speak, he said coldly: "Stop, I don't want to waste time on childish quarrels."

In fact, both people's mouths were slightly open.

They leaned towards each other unconsciously, emotions and attraction pulling them closer crazily, but reason prevented them from getting close to each other. The strong emotions in their bodies were like the positive and negative poles of a magnet - the sweet fresh coconut fell into the cold metal bucket with a bang, the metal penetrated and crushed the tender white flesh of the coconut, and they were also thoroughly stained with the fragrance of coconut, and they became one in the cold water.

They could kiss at any time, or attack each other violently at any time.

Ivy's lips were dry, every inch of her skin was trembling with emotion, and the breath she exhaled was like a fresh coconut that had just been opened;

Lorraine's Adam's apple was trembling as he was restrained in his military uniform. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he restrained himself and suppressed the words.

Has anyone said that?

The brain experiences the same acute oxygen deprivation during an argument as it does during love.

People call it "getting high," which can also be understood as "falling out of control."

Ivy was the first to break the depressing atmosphere: "Don't you need to take samples? Now you can continue."

"You do it yourself," Lorraine stood up, put the glass test tube and the long cotton swab used for sampling on the shelf beside him, took two steps back, and slowly left the coconut-scented atmosphere, just like leaving a spider web covered with dew. "I won't touch you."

His expression was stern: "Don't try to be clever, I will be watching you."