Regret
Boom boom — rumble —
After the room collapsed completely, the air was filled with stinking dust. The rolling gray dust danced in the cold white light of the laboratory in the dome, like a group of tiny and delicate gray moths, fluttering their powdery wings.
Tsiri, who had the most experience on the scene, quickly injected Lorraine with an antidote.
These drugs that can remove the anesthetic effect come from Yu Mo's portable medical kit, but the other party is no longer here. When the central control room collapsed, Yu Mo, Ivy, and the dormant Xin Lan fell down together.
Only broken, large chunks of stone slabs remained.
"Ivy is fine," Tsiri said simply, "There's an old Eastern proverb that says, 'A disaster lives for a thousand years.' You're a big disaster, but the Ivy you taught is a small disaster. One word from her can make me vomit blood - she can live at least five hundred years."
Lorraine didn't say anything. His limbs were still numb, but his head was aching so much that it felt like it was about to burst.
It was as if someone was tearing his head apart, grabbing at his skull, digging at and pressing on his brain. Every memory cell related to Ivy was shaking in agony and twisting.
Dangdang relied on his sense of smell to identify the traces of wind and the scents of several people below. So far, he had not smelled any traces of fresh blood or flesh; this was good news, proving that the limbs of the three people were still intact - at least, no one had suffered any unnecessary injuries.
Song Feng and Song Xu are trying to move the covering rocks with the help of a newly discovered small mechanical crane.
At this time, the divided people finally showed their unity, no one complained, and they cooperated tacitly.
Even Anya, who had hurriedly left for a distance, came back and silently joined the rescue team.
She took off her gloves, disliked Song Feng's unfamiliarity with the operation, and yelled at him to get off. She took the driver's seat herself, skillfully operating the machine, controlling its operation, and digging up the stone slabs covering it.
It's crazy.
Anya asked herself in confusion, what are you doing? Are you saving Ivy?
Why did you dig up this competitor? Now that she's dead, can't you just swoop in and take advantage of the situation?
So annoying.
Anya asked Dangdang below: "Can you do it? If you can't smell it, I'll do it. I can still smell her."
Lorraine's fingers moved.
His body was struggling to free itself from the anesthetic.
Ci Li was still expressing his dissatisfaction with Lorraine: "Why didn't you rescue Xin Lan immediately? You have already tacitly accepted that he would be injured here, right? Really? - Wait, you didn't tell Ivy? Huh? She thought Xin Lan was really going to die... Why didn't you tell her earlier??? Did she know that Xin Lan was...?!!! You didn't even tell her about this, did you?"
Lorraine's hands were the first to regain consciousness. Veins appeared on his strong forearms. Before the blood at the injection point in his arm could clot, he stood up and staggered forward.
"Hey!" said Tsiri, "Just slow down - forget it, you egomaniac will fall to death."
Lorraine turned a deaf ear to them, staggered to the crack, and looked down into the black crevice. A damp, salty breeze blew in from the bottom, and the secret pain in his heart became more severe.
Yu Mo's warning is still echoing in my ears.
He asked Lorraine why he didn't let Xin Lan download detailed data about Ivy first?
Why?
Because Lorraine needs to get the detailed data here before the government.
Because Xin Lan, Chun, Xia, Autumn, Winter and even... all originated from this secret laboratory, because he couldn't let the government find out that he was secretly using these conscious bionic people to build his own laboratory and power.
The federal government is implementing measures to immediately eliminate androids who have produced consciousness. This is not only to shift the contradiction of uneven resource distribution, but also for the government's security considerations.
But Lorraine, a man who once held radical views on androids and held a high position, has, over the years, secretly, begun to quietly accept those androids who have developed self-awareness.
After Lorraine passed away, Hector's parents, who had lost their only heir, turned their attention to Lorraine.
Before this, the parents treated Lorraine very politely and treated him as a charity child; after losing their only child, Lorraine, they asked Lorraine if he was willing to live officially as Lorraine.
Lorraine agreed.
Mr. Hector asked someone he knew to change the DNA and blood information that Luo Lin had previously input, so that Luo Lin, an "illegal" person without an identity in the Dark Zone, could officially become a "Luo Lin" from a middle-class family in the First Zone, including not only a complete resume of the first ten years of his life, but also all the excellent grades Luo Lin had achieved while in school.
"Won two running championships in kindergarten" and "black eyes like black gems" are exactly what Ivy needs.
These also belong to Rowling.
Lorraine is actually 13 months older than Luo Lin; this age difference is just enough to exclude the real Lorraine from this mate selection questionnaire;
Ivy hopes that her partner will grow up in a harmonious and healthy family, but Lorraine has never had a home of her own; the house in the Dark Zone is full of traces of beatings, alcohol, tobacco and violence, while Hector's home is his stage to perform as a nobleman.
Only the 100% attraction in the genes is completely true, and the one who perfectly meets Ivy's needs for a mate is Lorraine, who fills in half of Lorraine's life lies.
To some extent, what Tseri said, "You took away everything from Rowling," is true.
If Rowling were still alive, perhaps he would be the perfect match for Ivy.
The generous and kind Luo Lin would not quarrel with her, nor would he hurt her heart with sharp words like he did; if Luo Lin were still alive, perhaps she would happily marry him, would not cry in a boring marriage, and would not accuse him of just needing a partner to relieve his desires -
She should perhaps have been Lorraine's "younger sister".
But now she is his wife.
Marrying a guy who grew up in a dark area, is dark and twisted, carries the life of his best friend on his shoulders, and has used a false identity to survive for so many years - she must feel wronged, right?
When she was with other people, she was so bright and alive;
When facing him, there is only a strange "you".
Lorraine didn't take good care of it.
That's why she was afraid of him. Even with the high degree of genetic compatibility, she could only have a partial favorable impression of him.
Lorraine, who survived in place of Rowling, carries the heavy expectations of the Hector family. He must move up and gain more power; he must help other descendants of the Hector family as much as possible.
And the oath Iris made when it was first established——
"Non sibi, sed omnibus."
Not for myself, but for all mankind.
Exploring the wasteland is not only to satisfy one's own desire for exploration and conquest, but also to bring the current state of the outside ecological environment to humans in the safe zone and to gain more soil for human survival.
What about humans? After years of comfortable life, they gradually began to forget the original intention of unity and the resistance to the control of artificial intelligence. After the establishment of the new regime, life became stable, and humans who forgot the pain began to divide people into classes and genetic levels. Discrimination was everywhere. Everyone wanted to be the best, and the best were afraid that others would also become the best.
In order to refuse to accept refugees, acid rain is artificially created; in order to prevent these people from "dividing up resources", conflicts are shifted and discrimination and injustice are deliberately created.
At first, Lorraine, who lived in the dark zone, did not think that human beings were worth saving.
Androids aren't worth it either.
He fairly believed that most humans and androids in this world should die. Both humans and self-aware intelligent machines are parasites on the planet.
Rollin is more like an idealist. After observing the gradually recovering ecosystem in the wasteland, he believes that the bionic people in the wasteland can also get along with each other in a friendly manner. He even optimistically believes that humans can live together with those artificial intelligences on this planet.
This was Luo Lin's wish until he died in the trap of "Yuan".
Only Lorraine and Cialis survived the accident. Cialis, who lost all his friends almost overnight, changed his temperament drastically at this moment. He hated all androids with self-awareness and all artificial intelligence with emotions. He did not have any smart home in his home and paid a high salary every month to hire someone to do the housework.
Lorraine still sticks to her original vision.
He needs more power - only with enough power can he realize his ideals.
…
Lorraine didn't have high expectations for Ivy at first.
She was even a little girl who was ten years younger than his actual age and had just graduated.
He is not a pedophile, and would not have any desire for a teenager.
When he saw Ivy's photo, his first reaction was that the girl was really too young; if Rowling were still alive, he would probably like such a youthful girl very much.
Luo Lin has a generous and passionate heart, while Lorraine only has a heavy heart full of dark history.
Lorraine had never thought about what his future partner would be like. When he was asked to fill out the mate selection survey form, he filled it out hastily and did not take it seriously.
At first he thought he would be matched with a mature and sexy woman who was about his age and had a certain career and ambition.
In fact, his perfect match is Ivy, who is about to become his student and has clear stupidity in her eyes.
The actual age difference between the two is so great that they can be directly screened out by the system.
It's a 100 percent perfect match.
Lorraine didn't expect that she would have such a big impact on her.
Staggering in front of the dark gap, Lorraine finally saw the injustice done to her.
During the "quarrel" after the divorce, Ivy, with tears in her eyes, told Lorraine clearly how little affection he had for her and how insignificant it was.
Love was never Lorraine's first need.
This was how Ivy was scored before; and this was how Xin Lan downloaded memories from the Yu Mo chip now—Lorraine did not put her first, nor did she observe the abundant kindness she possessed during her later growth—after her emotions were erased, she still had infinite tolerance and love for the world.
"Meta" succeeded on this level. Ivy didn't care about the difference between humans and androids, or clones. She treated them all as the same kind without reservation.
So she would jump down without hesitation to save Xin Lan.
She thought that after Xin Lan changed her body, she no longer had her current consciousness.
Lorraine ignored this.
He didn't see Ivy's hidden, surging, sincere heart that was erased and then revived.
——What if I choose to download her memories first?
——What if, when I first met her at the training base, I had treated her better, smiled at her more, and treated her better; what if I had tried to help her resolve the conflict between the identities of "husband and wife" and "teacher and student" from the beginning? What if I had solved the problem earlier without damaging her dream, and let her go to her favorite class without any worries?
- What if I had been a little more patient with her that night in the deserted area, and suppressed the lust caused by my genetic instinct, and had not had sex with her in that shabby little hotel?
——What if you put more thought into your marriage in the early stages, chat with her more often in your free time, and ask her about her preferences?
- What if, when she proposed divorce, he stopped maintaining his self-respect and arrogance and told her directly that he did not want divorce and wanted to continue the marriage?
--if……
If there is more patience, more communication, more gentleness and more trust.
If, from the beginning, you had trusted her more, instead of looking at her as a child, and treating her as a warrior who could fight alongside you;
If, when she found that there were doubts about Xin Lan's identity, he would directly tell her Xin Lan's origins, Xin Lan's true identity and body, and tell her that he would not delete Xin Lan's self-awareness;
If, when she first boarded the expedition car, she had been told the entire plan, and had been told patiently that there might be some sacrifices, but he would do his best to preserve everyone's lives -
Inside the base, the wasteland, the dark area.
Every time you pass by her, why don’t you stop and ask her how she is and if she is happy recently?
The gravel under his feet gurgled into the dark crevice. Lorraine stood at the edge and heard the stiff, unnatural sound of Ci'ri.
"You're so lucky, Lorraine; she really didn't care about herself to save your good friend," muttered Tsiri, sighing regretfully, "It turns out that she really loves you so much - has she never told you?"
——It turns out she really loves you so much.
—She never told you?
—But why did you lose her, Lorraine?