friend
"I feel this path is alive; it's leading us into a dead end, a forbidden zone of the gods. What a dark and evil place it must be..." The morning mist enveloped the narrow path, stretching into the unknown.
“Shut up, Sievers. It’s just an ordinary alley.”
“You can’t use such words! You mustn’t be so rude!” The short, hunched-over man put his hands behind his back.
"I said, shut up, turn off the computer, K902."
Siphus let out a strange cry as if something had choked him, and swayed unsteadily. With a bang, his limbs suddenly scattered, revealing the interior of ultra-dense metal material, and then folded back into a hand-held metal disc like folded clothes.
“Welcome, my dear. You must be cold. Let me… Oh, good heavens, it’s Ella. Let me take a good look at you. Come, sit by the fireplace; it will warm you up. I bet you’re here to fetch some wine for Dr. Lowry; she loves it.”
"No, Mrs. Lucy, I was just passing by and missed the grilled panini set meal here."
“Of course, of course, it’s the most delicious thing ever, our best-selling masterpiece. The rich cheese, the juicy beef… Why are you interested in eating this? Darling, you always eat things that look unappetizing to me when you’re with Dr. Lowry.” She didn’t dwell on it too much, puffing out her chest with pride. “I knew it, no one can resist my grilled panini.”
Mrs. Lucy turned to get to work, while her husband remained engrossed in the kitchen.
The residents gathered in twos and threes to chat. Ella leaned against the door and looked around for a moment before choosing a seat by the window.
She solemnly placed the metal disc engraved with K902 on the table in front of the seat opposite her, and Sivers's exasperated voice echoed in her mind.
"You can't eat in front of me looking like this, don't even think about it!"
"But I'm hungry, Siphus."
No, you shouldn't be hungry!
Mrs. Lucy was busy with the front hall all by herself; she simply couldn't manage everything.
Ella Zero took a wine glass from the bar and deftly stepped over the old wooden barrel to fill it with cold water.
The old wooden door shook violently, dust scattering from the cracks, and finally collapsed with a mournful cry.
The stale air in the tavern seemed to freeze as everyone watched as three burly men squeezed with some difficulty into the narrow doorway.
"Oh God, I just replaced the wooden doors last month with the finest walnut wood, by the most famous carpenter in town..."
"Wine." The leading man panted heavily, looking around. His imposing aura made people afraid to look up at him.
At this moment, Ella Zero had already taken her seat and was observing the situation at the door without making a sound.
She took a small sip of the water, which had a fishy smell from the waterway.
"Grilled meat and panini are one thing, but you want water too?! We don't have the facilities to send you back to the factory for repairs right now."
Ella silently drank the water in her glass and let out a sigh.
"I really wish I could have their signature set meal."
Siphus commented, "That sounds very human. Keep it up."
The burly men exchanged glances and filed in.
Mrs. Lucy had just put the thinly sliced beef into the oven.
"I'm sorry, madam, I'll come again another time." Ella Zero's voice was accompanied by a click as she opened the dusty wooden window.
Dust fell in a flurry, then swirled in the blinding sunlight.
"Goodbye."
She flipped over and crawled out.
"She ran away!"
"Chase!"
"Flank! Flank! You bunch of idiots!"
"Get out of the way!"
"For God's sake! My window!" Mrs. Lucy screamed amidst the chaos.
Siphus said angrily, "Look at the mess you've made!"
"Why don't you take a look at their models first?" Ella Zero walked lightly through the dilapidated alley.
Upon receiving the instructions, Siphus immediately began working, but he didn't hold back with his words.
"I must warn you, the way you just handled things was extremely unreasonable..."
"model."
"A bunch of scum, Andrew type. Do you need their specific numbers?"
"It's no longer necessary. Shut your mouth; it's not pleasant to have the wind blowing in."
“I need to remind you, this isn’t called a ‘mouth,’ I’d prefer you call it a speech and harmony sensor, this…”
The ring caught wind and made a loud popping sound; in any case, Siphus could have some peace and quiet for a while.
Meanwhile, silence returned to the conference room of the Bionic Technology Research Center at the Imperial Industrial Technology Research Institute.
Dr. Lowry remained seated and did not get up.
She rubbed her cheeks in frustration, stretching and wrinkling the fine lines at the corners of her eyes.
Someone knocked on the door.
"PhD."
"Gu, you're here."
The man at the door was wearing work clothes. The temperature was comfortable, and there was no need for wind protection indoors. The zipper was casually zipped halfway down, revealing a black lining.
He had deep brown eyes and short, jet-black hair; his old Eastern heritage was now rare in the research center.
Dr. Lowry's expression relaxed somewhat when he saw Gu Yan.
"David just spoke to me about Ella."
Dr. Lowry nodded wearily: "They think I let it go. I don't want to argue with that, since I originally thought it was what I wanted."
Gu Yan raised his eyelids slightly, and then his eyebrows twitched slightly as well.
"I do not understand."
Seeing Dr. Lowry's reaction, he knew he had acted perfectly.
"Originally, I shouldn't have asked you to do these things, Gu. You have so many options for your future, and I didn't want you to get too involved with the research lab..."
Gu Yan: "In fact, I believe my future lies in this research lab, Doctor. You should read my recent report now."
"That's why I asked you to come here."
Dr. Lowry finally stood up and placed the miniature recorder in his hand on the corner of the long table.
“After hearing this, I hope you find Ella. Before everyone else.” She paused. “If possible, I would be even more grateful if you could hear it on the way.”
Gu Yan curled the corners of his lips: "That's what I think too."
David was waiting at the door. When he saw Gu Yan come out, he greeted him politely.
"Your expression shows that you had a pleasant conversation with the doctor, unlike your usual demeanor when you leave her office. I'm happy for you, my friend."
He raised his left hand, and Gu Yan naturally gave him a high five: "Thank you, I've been waiting for this day for so long."
Not long after he left with light steps, David turned back to look at Dr. Lowry who was coming out.
Her blue eyes remained fixed on Gu Yan's departing figure.
What do you think he meant by his last sentence?
David's smile was perfectly timed: "He's been waiting for your approval, Doctor."
Dr. Lowry raised his chin: "I'm very curious how Ella would answer if she were here."
"Doctor, I find it difficult to answer hypothetical questions, as that would make my answer too lengthy."
——————
When Ella finally slowed down, Sievers was finally able to catch his breath.
"If you ask me, you shouldn't have flaunted your powerful physical abilities in front of this old man."
Ella pushed aside the weeds; the gauges showed they were nearing the edge of the central area.
"You said it yourself, according to human terms, we are fleeing."
Siphus was furious: "In human terms, that's called sophistry!" He started rambling on again, "We're doomed sooner or later, they'll come after us."
"I know."
"You know?! If you know, you shouldn't—"
At this moment, Sivers' voice stopped abruptly, but it did not become quiet; instead, it was accompanied by a violent crackling sound of electricity.
Ella frowned. If Sivers could respond normally, he would definitely say, "You can't make that face."
She fiddled with the touch system on the disc, but it was no longer working.
"The research center should design a method to help you calm down quickly."
Ella darted into the hidden bushes, decisively clenched her right fist, and slammed it down on Yanhe's sensor.
"Very good, now it's quiet."
She took a card from the leather pouch at her waist, pulled out a few clumps of weeds, and tamped down the wasteland.
Operating equipment on land is the last thing she wants to do, but there are no better places available for her right now.
The humidity here is not high enough, and the air quality display screen is barely legible. Ella had no choice but to increase the font size to better distinguish the distorted lines of letters.
"Let's see if those guys have modified your code... It's safe for now..."
She murmured to herself, the submission history was empty, and just in case, she quickly checked each line from the beginning.
Those people are too shrewd; they are among the best of humanity. Recklessly running the detection program would only expose their own location.
The original method is a bit cumbersome, but it's safe.
The first thing Sivers did after regaining consciousness was to confirm that all his bodily functions were working properly.
He hesitated slightly as he stretched, and said gruffly, "I don't need you to explain to me. I know you hit me while I was unresponsive."
Ella said with a grim face, "The quantum jammer is in effect. They're reacting very quickly. I only have a few minutes to give you a brief explanation. First, your code has been modified."
"That's impossible!"
"I need time to find out exactly what was modified. I'll try to buy some time by physically blocking the signal. If that doesn't work... I'll go to the northern base and activate an electromagnetic pulse."
Sivers' voice sounded like he'd really gasped: "You're insane, you crazy woman, no! Crazy...machine!"
Ella: "Go ahead and curse, but this brings us to the second point: we have help."
"Who? When? How?"
The adjustment button on the quantum jammer was slightly agitated.
"Time's up, talk to you later, Sievers."
She cut off the power to Sivers.
At this moment, the transmission pattern of the Siefers code had already appeared on her workbook.
The Sivers series is a model designed for Imperial special operations, and after several iterations, its code has become perfect.
However, K902 displayed several meaningless lines of code.
Someone was giving her a hint.
But what was it that you wanted to tell her?
Ella leaned against a large tree, her gaze fixed on the last three segments of the meaningless lines of code.
The code style of these three segments is completely inconsistent with the overall style, and they were obviously added by a third party.
enemy?
friend?
A signal light at the top of a tall tower in the distance suddenly flashed, catching Ella's attention.
After carefully folding Siphus back into a ring, Ella coiled up like a snake high in the tree.
A dense thicket of trees is safer than a patch of sparse weeds below.
Ella lay silently on the branch, her ears twitching slightly.
Three guards.
Guard A: "What mission?"
Guard B: "The rats in the research center have escaped."
Guard C: "A rat? I'm a lieutenant, you expect me to catch rats?"
Guard B: "Shut up, you idiot. You're not even as good as a rat."
Guard A: "I know that rat, the masterpiece of the great Dr. Lowry, an android that's almost indistinguishable from a human. I heard it got into big trouble during the mission."
Guard C: "Mission? Isn't the mission of that thing always to be a bodyguard for important missions? I haven't heard of any successful assassinations recently, so what big trouble could it cause?"
Guard B: "If you work a little harder and get promoted to captain, you might find out then."
Guard C: "Effort? That's something only android rats need to worry about."
Guard A: "Female androids, don't go astray. You should focus on learning how to do things in bed."
The guards grinned lewdly and walked away one after another.
Ella remained as still as a statue, her breath extinguished, until the guards had gone far away, at which point she slowly opened her eyes.
This place is not safe to stay for long.
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