Nightmare
Yang Guang persisted relentlessly, finally able to see himself and the flashing red dot about to overlap—
This is it!
At the last corner, dazzling light shone through the poplar trees, and he saw a figure in the light. The person was leaning against a thick poplar tree, waiting for someone.
Waiting for...him?
Yang Guang stopped in his tracks: "What, it's you?"
"Couldn't it be me? You look so lively and energetic, it seems like you haven't encountered any danger since we parted ways."
Danger……
As Yang Guang recalled the disintegrated camp, a nameless rage surged within him.
"Are you being sarcastic? You think it's amazing what your best friend did?"
"I didn't say that. Why do humans like to force their own imagined scenarios onto others?"
Yang Guang gritted his teeth. A few years ago, he might have been red-eyed, but not now. He just wanted to find the culprit and skin her alive.
"Get out of the way."
He suppressed his indiscriminate killing intent and spoke concisely.
"I know you're looking for her, but she's gone. Don't bother."
"What do you mean?" Yang Guang said through gritted teeth, "You also said that you're not in cahoots, and that you should stay out of things that aren't your business."
Ella Zero looked at him as if she wanted to etch his expression into her mind.
"If we were, wouldn't you punish me?"
Yang Guang's response wasn't in words, but in his clenched fist; it took him a long time to loosen his grip.
"Yeah, get lost before I change my mind. I haven't settled the score with you for what happened at the Central Tower yet."
"You want to settle this score with me? Your people started it."
"Our people? You mean Uncle Qiao? I don't even know..."
"Look, isn't he one of yours? Which side you stand on isn't just about words; it's about what you do, isn't it? If we act together, his sneak attack might not succeed, but it will become a fait accompli."
Ella Zero took two steps closer, a little too close, and Yang Guang couldn't help but step back.
"What? You look like you want to kill me but can't bring yourself to do it. Did Gu say something to you?"
Yang Guang is still enduring it.
Ella Zero stepped back and gave him the answer: "No, it's because you still have ulterior motives towards me."
Her hair swayed gently with her movements, tracing a graceful arc.
Yang Guang watched quietly, and for a moment, he really felt that she was different from those androids. No, it wasn't because of any special physical condition like bleeding or not. But he couldn't quite put his finger on why.
——————
The rebels were taking a headcount. The incident happened suddenly, but the children were all fast asleep and not too frightened. Jiang Ping was searching for people everywhere.
"Justin, here you are! I've been looking for you for ages. Didn't they tell you?"
The hedgehog-headed boy sat on a rock, hunched over, staring blankly, lost in thought, his mind wandering to who-knows-where.
Jiang Ping had already walked up to him, but he didn't move.
"The situation isn't too serious. After calming the children down, we'll continue our journey. This time, we're heading south; we have a backup location."
"Not too serious?" Justin repeated slowly. "I originally expected it would take another ten hours for my David to be able to move."
"Sorry, it's too urgent, I have to consider the bigger picture."
"Consider the bigger picture." Justin nodded. "Good, just redo it."
“I’m really grateful that you think that way.” Jiang Ping patted Justin’s back hard, and the latter trembled violently, as if his entire skeleton had almost been broken by her.
"You're here." Shura came closer. "We have to go. Some kids are afraid of the dark and tend to cry when the lights are turned off."
"You can go now. I'll wait for Shannon to return." Justin remained as carefree and nonchalant as ever.
Jiang Ping glanced at Xiu Luo and said, "Don't wait anymore. If she comes back, she'll catch up with us."
Justin looked listless, not even bothering to open his eyes.
"We have to wait. Lily used to wait for her, but now it's just me waiting."
Jiang Ping pursed her lips tightly: "Don't wait anymore, she's not coming back. There was an explosion at the camp an hour ago, if she—"
Shura pressed down on her shoulder from behind, and when she turned around, he shook his head heavily at her.
Justin stirred, becoming more alert, and it turned out he was about to curse: "Bullshit! You guys didn't wait for me, but you did!"
——————
Gu Yan waited for a long time at the base entrance before Yang Guang and Ella Zero returned together. He didn't ask any questions.
"Aren't you going to ask what we were doing? Or why we came back together?"
"Does that matter?" Gu Yan asked, puzzled.
"You didn't find the person you were looking for, but you came back first. That's a great attitude."
"I'm also quite lucky. Look, the person I'm looking for appears in front of me on their own, as if I don't have to do anything myself."
Yang Guang snorted, nudged Gu Yan hard with his shoulder, and then, with his head down, used his body to completely block the panel before unlocking the door.
"That woman must have peeked at how to start the camp when I opened the camp gate like that before," Yang Guang said bitterly.
"You said you had something to say, isn't now the right time?"
Ella Zero gestured for them to go in first, then backed away herself, looked around, and quietly closed the cover after confirming it was safe.
The first thing she did upon entering was to smash Yang Guang's glow tube clock and crush the listening system inside. When and how she found out remains unknown.
“Now is the time.” She took out a memory card and placed it on the table.
Yang Guang's expression changed drastically after he saw what it was, and Gu Yan's brows also furrowed tightly.
"Isn't this what you wanted? I got it back for you, so why are you unhappy? I didn't even hold your elders accountable for ambushing me, so what else is there to be dissatisfied about?"
"Satisfied, satisfied." Yang Guang gritted his teeth as he watched Gu Yan lower his eyes, press his fingertips against the memory card, and slowly drag it in front of him.
She knows everything! She knows everything!
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
For a moment, he was certain she smiled.
The atmosphere was so eerie that Yang Guang felt extremely uncomfortable. He kicked aside the beanbag chair next to him and rushed back to his room.
Ella Zero buried herself in repairing Siphus, while Gu Yan looked at her, hesitant to speak.
"I prefer to communicate directly about anything; I'm not used to this kind of ambiguous way of expressing myself."
How's your progress?
"very good."
"That's good."
"Has Shura contacted you? What new instructions does he have?"
“No, it was out of curiosity.” Gu Yan recalled Ella Zero’s words and asked directly, “That was your first mission, right?”
Ella stopped what she was doing and looked up at him.
There is only one explanation: Ella Zero has never met those people who say she looks familiar or even greet her. If she is the one registered in the mission log, but someone else is carrying out the mission, wouldn't that correspond to each model update?
He could investigate on his own, but before that, he wanted to hear her answer.
Just when he thought Ella Zero hadn't understood his incoherent statement, she spoke.
"That's true."
He got the answer he wanted.
Yang Guang repaired his glow tube clock without complaint, and brazenly put the new listening device in the old position while everyone was enjoying canned lychee meat.
Now everyone knows this is a zone where you have to be careful what you say. Ella Zero glanced at him casually, while Yang Guang stared at her for a long time, but eventually gave up because he couldn't decipher her emotions, and almost bit the disposable spoon to pieces in frustration.
While tidying up the table, Yang Guang found the voice recorder. He racked his brains but couldn't recall ever having such a device. He glanced at the other two and then quietly took the recorder back to his room.
This disappearance lasted for several hours. Gu Yan went out temporarily and when he returned, he couldn't find Yang Guang anywhere, either upstairs or downstairs. He could only knock on the door without much hope, since he never stayed in his room at this time, as he found the space too small.
Yang Guang dragged the beanbag chair into his room without turning on any lights. In the light from the hallway, a red dot was flashing on the low table in front of him.
"It's you."
He got up lazily, and his tone suggested he had just woken up.
Aunt Jiang asked me why I wasn't replying to her messages.
"oh."
Yang Guang was much more awake. He twisted his neck, realizing that his sleeping position had caused him a stiff neck.
"Contact her again later; I want to ask you something."
"What?"
Yang Guang remained silent and turned on the voice recorder.
Ella Zero's voice rang out, repeating the same conversation.
"What kind of person do I think Dr. Lowry is...? Perfect. Mom is perfect, of course."
"How is perfection defined? I mean, the Doctor is human, he ages, he dies..."
"Aging? Why do you think aging is imperfect?"
"Thank you for your answer. Let's move on to the next question... How would you feel if your owner thought you were aggressive and wanted to get rid of you?"
"Aggression? Mom said she loves everything about me, including my aggression. Besides, my aggression is less than one percent of yours."
"Very good answer. Next question, do you have any wishes?"
"My wish? Yes, to be my mother's most perfect daughter."
This time, the other party chose to press further: "Are you saying that the Doctor's other 'daughters' are not perfect?"
Surprisingly, Ella Zero chose to remain silent this time.
"I seem to have crossed the line. Let's move on to the next question—do you feel anxious?"
"Uneasy? I... of course I'm uneasy. As the model most similar to a human, I possess all human emotions."
"oh?"
"For example, I have nightmares."
A click came from the recorder, followed by the voice of an unfamiliar man.
“Look, she’s lying here. Also, she repeats the investigator’s questions every time she answers them. I have serious doubts about the veracity of this conversation.”
The next voice that appeared was very familiar to Gu Yan; it was Dr. Lowry.
"What's the big deal? She's human, of course she'll lie."
The man grunted through his nose, and then clicked again; the conversation continued.
What did you dream about?
"What did I dream about? I forgot. But I believe many people are like that. I'm quite satisfied; the happiest thing is not being able to remember a terrifying dream."
With another click, this time Yang Guang pressed the power button on the voice recorder.
"We've known each other for so many years, just tell me the truth: you've listened to this recording from beginning to end, haven't you?"
"That's right."
"Then why did you never tell the camp, or me, about this?"
——————
Jiang Ping stood on high ground, looking down at the crowd following her and Shura with a rare gaze.
"Your sneak attack won't work on me. I sensed you getting close five seconds ago."
The little girl behind her reluctantly put away her toy slingshot.
"Where did this come from?"
The little girl's voice was still soft, but she tried hard to sound fierce: "My brother brought this back for me when he and everyone else went to the supermarket to find ingredients. Can I use it to fight monsters?"
Jiang Ping remained silent for a long time before bending down and picking up the little girl.
"If we could, we'd love to fight monsters in our dreams."
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