Wang Jue
After the last component was installed, the sensor trembled slightly, and a loading screen appeared on the display. The two dots flickered on and off for a while, like a baby just waking up.
Siphus awoke.
The first thing he did was let out a piercing scream.
"How dare you! How dare you! How dare you! This is illegal! I'm warning you! Warning!"
Ella Zero immediately cut off his power.
"All done?" Gu Yan approached from behind, carrying two cups of coffee, and placed one of them on the storage box that served as a coffee table next to Ella Zero.
Ella Zero naturally picked it up and took a sip: "Just as lively and mischievous as before."
Lively and mischievous... that's not entirely wrong.
"This is the first time I've seen you so persistent about something."
Ella Zero said nonchalantly, "Really? That means you haven't seen enough."
Gu Yan used the gesture of drinking coffee to cover up his embarrassment and changed the subject: "What's the point of fixing it? It doesn't seem like it's meant to be a companion to a pet."
"Um."
……Um?
Today's attempt to strike up a conversation didn't go very smoothly either.
Yang Guang emerged with a dark expression, his tone quite displeased:
"I said, can you turn up the volume on that thing? It's so loud and annoying first thing in the morning."
"Will I try to add this feature?"
Yang Guang only then realized that both of them were present.
"What's wrong? Why are you all acting so strangely?"
Ella Zero clearly thought for a moment: "Something's off?" Then she asked Gu Yan, "Is the atmosphere strange?"
If she were more human, she probably wouldn't have asked that question.
Yang Guang glanced at it in bewilderment, then looked around:
"What about mine?"
He said coffee.
Gu Yan raised his glass in a toast: "Pour it yourself."
When Yang Guang arrived, their conversation was interrupted. When someone knocked on the door that evening, Gu Yan was not surprised to see Ella Zero outside.
"I hope that this time I will have absolute knowledge of the entire operation."
Ella sat down on the edge of his bed, leaning her upper body forward in a posture that suggested she was actively trying to communicate.
"Of course you have it, but there's a condition."
"What?"
"Answer my question: From what standpoint are you saying this to me?"
They were close enough that Gu Yan could clearly see the outline of her pupils.
"A member of the resistance? Or a research assistant under Mom?"
——————
The decor was extremely understated, but upon closer inspection, it was all made of materials she couldn't name.
Krista A209 thought she could stay in the neon cocoon until its decommissioning period, but appearing here? She really hadn't expected it.
"How is it?" The newcomer's voice was ethereal, like that of an inviolable deity.
A209 turned around and gracefully knelt on one knee in a gesture of respect.
“You seem to know the rules of the central tower very well, but I heard from Yule that you’ve never been here before.”
“Ignorance is no excuse, Your Highness.”
The king seemed to be weighing how many points to give her answer, and then sighed softly.
"You're recovering well, which is quite worrying. Your subordinates weren't so lucky."
A209 didn't look up, maintaining that humble posture. If it weren't for the momentary tremor in her shoulder, the Duke would have almost thought she hadn't heard him or didn't care at all.
“Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. A209 is now better than ever before…” She almost ground her teeth to powder the last word.
"That's great, you can go back to where you belong now."
A209 is unclear.
Where should I stay? The neon cocoon is clearly already...
The princess simply stretched out one hand, and the guards outside bowed and respectfully helped her out.
"Come on, poor child, you're so lonely. I'll take you somewhere."
The king's affability almost blinded her. She followed at just the right pace; any faster or slower would have been impolite.
The winding paths here are even more intricate than those in neon-lit cocoons. By the seventh corner, A209 finally couldn't resist anymore.
"Where is Your Highness taking me?"
"Look at something good." The king didn't even turn his head. "...Your army."
"My..." army? ??
“You heard me right, your army.” The Duke finally turned and glanced at her. “You’re very capable, and it’s a waste of your talents to have stayed in this neon cocoon. I think now is a good time to correct this mistake. Besides, I’m also very curious…”
They stopped in front of the complex mechanisms, and the three guards worked together to push the valve down.
Amidst the thunderous roar, the king's voice reached her ears with unparalleled clarity—
"As the closest thing to a human android, which is stronger, you or Dr. Lowry's hidden treasure?"
The door to the secret room was wide open, and light and shadow shone through, erasing all darkness.
A groan came as if a rusty gear mechanism had been forcibly switched on and started running.
That wasn't the sound of one or two people.
A209's pupils contracted sharply, reflecting the rapidly running analysis code in his eyes.
The king casually waved his hand: "All the starving people of Shenwan are here."
A209 caught a whiff of the odor for the first time; it was a smell of decay, despair, and sorrow.
The king did not miss her terrified expression.
"It seems you've noticed a difference in yourself compared to before. How does it feel to be able to smell?"
The king's hand caressed her cheek, as if he were touching a fine work of art that she had overseen.
"I am flattered, Your Highness."
The Queen raised her proud head: "You should indeed feel fear. Look, you are already like a perfect human being."
With a wave of her hand, she commanded light to shine into every corner: "It won't be long before our dear Dr. Lowry completes the human transformation of the starving people for me. They will all obey you, and you will serve me directly from this moment on."
——————
The next day, the two appeared at the same time in the lobby of Yangguang Underground Base. Ella Zero was already fully prepared, while Gu Yan casually grabbed his motorcycle jacket, which was the most casual-looking piece of clothing he owned.
"It's alright," Ella Zero commented casually after glancing at it.
She bit the restraints and wrapped them around her right hand, adding thin steel wires intermittently, presumably for some kind of mechanism. This trip didn't look easy.
Yang Guang woke up a little late. After showering, it was already his designated work time. After a few days of feeling down, he finally came out to clock in. Unexpectedly, these two were already there. He was still drying his hair with a towel, ignoring the water dripping onto his shoulders, and asked blankly:
"What are you doing? Going out together?"
Gu Yan was still thinking about what to say when Ella looked at him seriously and replied, "Yes, a date."
"..."
"..."
Yang Guang doubted his ears:
"What did you say? Is it a language humans use to communicate?"
Ella Zero didn't see anything wrong with it at all: "I said a date."
Yang Guang stared at Gu Yan with disbelief, his face clearly saying, "This woman must be crazy."
Gu Yan rubbed his temples, feeling a bit of a headache.
Ella, without changing her expression, covered the restraints with her long sleeves and then meticulously fastened her cuffs.
"I've heard that if you say that, the other person usually feels embarrassed and won't ask any further questions. But it seems like you're not an ordinary person."
Yang Guang threw the half-damp towel onto the seat: "You're sick."
With three hours left before the lights would be turned on, Ella glanced at the memory card Gu Yan had hidden on the back of his glove and stepped into the darkness first.
This time, their destination was still the central tower.
The intelligence intercepted by Yang Guang is not to be underestimated.
"You mean the doctor might provide the royal family with your complete data?"
Ella pursed her lips, seemingly considering her words. Gu Yan was initially puzzled for a moment as to why she needed to consider her words, but then it dawned on him.
Perhaps what she really wanted to say violated the rules of androids.
“In my opinion, she won’t hand over my research report to the royal family in its entirety,” Ella Zero said softly.
This was the first time Gu Yan had heard her subjective judgment from her, so he couldn't help but look at her a few more times.
Their previous conversation hadn't yielded much progress. He later checked the observation data and found that after each of Ella Zero's missions, one model would always be returned to the factory, but he didn't have the authority to see the reasons for the returns. No, even his account using Dr. Lowry's showed that the data was unviewable.
Regardless of who it is, their goal is to prevent anyone from touching Ella Zero.
"You said you observed my secondary body for a year..."
"Half a year," Gu Yan corrected.
"Six months." Ella nodded. "Has anything seemed strange?"
Which aspect are you referring to?
"In every respect, you are the only person who has observed the Ella type up close."
Gu Yan remained silent for a while before finally revealing another truth that he had not shared with Jiang Ping and the others.
"Actually, in my opinion, the data of the Ella type is still quite far from the perfect military android. What I mean is that the various functions of this model are more like the limit data of a very powerful human, rather than the data that an android aimed at military mass production should have - the David type should be better, which is why everyone was working on replicating the David type before we got your data."
Ella Zero didn't say anything, but silently nodded, signaling him to continue.
"If that's the case, what is Dr. Lowry's purpose?" He pondered for a moment, without revealing all of his and Yang Guang's other discoveries.
“Yes. Why…” Ella Zero had her back to her, with Gu Yan following behind her.
Without a doubt, Ella Zero's appearance embodies all the consensuses of human aesthetics. She has excellent proportions, shoulder-length hair, and a beautiful, healthy physique that doesn't appear frail, nor is she overly muscular like some combat sports models.
For the past six months, Gu Yan has spent almost ten hours a day observing and recording that face.
Once out of work mode, he suddenly realized that Ella Zero's facial features actually bore a resemblance to Dr. Lowry.
"You've been calling Dr. Lowry 'Mom' ever since you were conscious?"
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