“Pa.”
The screwdriver fell to the ground. The half-covered back of the android Rong Rong turned in confusion, “What’s wrong?”
X didn’t answer and swiftly headed out the door.
The message on the screen was still vivid: the transaction completed, the goods have been received. Receiver Gerald successfully withdrew; Receiver Kijo Sukezaburo injured and withdrew; Receiver Elena disappeared on-site.
“What do you mean by ‘disappeared on-site’?” He rushed into the command room and grabbed Fan Xingze by the collar, “What’s her communication status? Where is she currently located?”
Rarely did Fan Xingze see such a serious and oppressive expression on X’s face, and for a moment, he was speechless, seeking help by looking at Ji Yin.
Ji Yin, expressionless, plugged in the data cable, eyes scanning through a vast stream of data. After a few minutes, she blinked, waking up from the data analysis state.
“We have simulated this situation before and reminded them during the meeting.” Ji Yin’s cold voice came, “They encountered that mysterious force.”
“She made the right decision, protecting our personnel as much as possible during the retreat and initiating self-data destruction to prevent the enemy from obtaining our information.”
X slowly released his grip, his eyes clouded, “…self-data destruction…she—”
“According to the final data she sent back, she fell into the river near the transaction point along with a local fighter. She destroyed her outer shell, allowing water to enter her brain, destroying the storage unit.”
“From the perspective of Gear life, she has made a sacrifice.”
The android only simulates human breathing and does not actually need to intake oxygen. But X felt a suffocating sensation.
“…her coordinates… wreckage… other information…” He muttered some fragmented words.
Ji Yin placed Elena’s final black box data on the screen, turning to the pale-faced X, “After falling into the river, she did not send any more messages, so her coordinates are fixed in the river. The enemy is salvaging her wreckage; we cannot intervene for now. She sent back some of the enemy’s battle data and equipment analysis diagrams, which are useful to us.”
“Based on the water marks on them and that fighter jet, this mysterious force should be related to the Human Zheng Mansion. It is unclear if it’s a subordinate relationship or a cooperative one.”
Ji Yin’s words passed by X’s ears, capturing a useful piece of information – “fighter jet,” he murmured, “Give me the fighter jet image!”
Ji Yin sent him the fighter jet information diagram, asking, “What are you planning to do?”
“The Zheng Mansion’s fighter jet continuously emits low-frequency signals, reporting its position to communication satellites. This is a bio-electric technology used in fighter materials, which does not stop transmitting even if it crashes or loses power. I can hack into the government information system to identify its model and the type of bio-electric technology material it uses, thus determining its coordinates.”
Ji Yin slightly opened his mouth, “Sir, what do you want to achieve by finding the location of that force? For so long, they have been chasing us. They are aware of our strength, but we know almost nothing about them. Revealing ourselves to the enemy is not a good time for revenge!”
“Or do you want to retrieve Elena’s wreckage? That is utterly meaningless.”
“We are learning from humans, but we must take the essence and discard the dross. This meaningless emotional impulsiveness, I suggest you discard it as soon as possible.”
X’s finger stopped on the touchscreen, “I am not being emotionally impulsive.”
“I just…just…”
Just couldn’t accept suddenly losing someone with whom he could share secrets.
Rong Rong was his most interesting research subject, but it was Elena who sparked that interest. The breakthroughs, bottlenecks, joys, and frustrations in research – he could only share them with Elena. Now that she was gone, who would Rong Rong share her new discoveries with?
The awakened Rong Rong was a lovely android, but as Elena said, her personality and the one hidden in the data weren’t very similar. The hidden one was strategic, mature, and calm; the current one was lively, cute, and simply curious.
She has the attachment and trust of an older brother to X, allowing him to explore her own system. But she is not curious about her origins, nor does she want to think too deeply. As a reward for being studied, she often asks x to take her to the metropolis to go shopping and play in the amusement park, and x, like a responsive older brother, fulfills her requests, and sees her shopping and playing happily, which he also thinks is a kind of plain but rare “happiness”.
However, compared to this kind of happiness, sharing research results with Elena, exploring research bottlenecks, and even working overtime together made X feel more solid and satisfied.
Being a bionic human with a lot of experience, X had a lot of friends. But Elena was different. She’s like some kind of mirror that he can look into and see his laziness, his procrastination, his happiness, his fluctuating emotions – and now this mirror is coming out of nowhere.
And now that mirror had shattered without warning, his world had returned to a chaos he couldn’t check for himself.
His rebuttal was too weak. Ji Yin was right. He was being emotional.
Elena hated emotional people, even to herself, she used a kind of harsh “ruthlessness” to demand.
But he was the kind of person she hated.
Then why did she still have the patience to listen to him ramble on about Rong Rong, put up with his delays and evasions, and even take time out of her busy schedule to discuss such trivial issues as the face of a bionic human with him?
X is someone who lives in his own world. But Elena’s sudden departure seems to have cracked a corner of his world.
He began to see some “truths” beyond his own world.
Fang Xiaojie waved his hand in front of his eyes: “Sir?” Today, X is not in the right state, even though he usually yells at him, but Fang Xiaojie never dares to take this leader lightly, and says a little carefully, “I’m sorry for your loss. Irena was killed in battle, it’s an honor, it’s our martyr.”
X’s lips were pursed and he didn’t say anything.
He returned to the office in silence, unprecedentedly drove Rong Rong out, locked the door behind him, and locked himself up for three days.
Three days later, he sent a message to Fang Xiaojie: “She is not a martyr.”
“She’s still alive.”
Irena was woken up by pain.
She didn’t have a tendency to self-mutilate, and turned off the pain in her body in advance of the explosion.
She sent as much information as she had so far back to the base, watched as the explosion created a chunk of sharp metal, and slammed herself hard into her pouch, busting open a large opening that almost allowed her to see the components of her brain, making sure that a moment’s worth of incoming water would short-circuit the data here and there.
Cooling and energizing fluids flowed out of the breach, and she hadn’t known anything since she’d plunged into the icy river with the plane.
But now, she was awakened by pain.
It was not a good sign that an awakened bionic being with its own initial code was having its parameters adjusted by someone else.
The pain was all-encompassing, as if her limbs, torso, and insides had been cut by a thousand blades, dragged and torn, bound and stirred.
It was such an unruly mix of pain that she could barely even scream.
She wanted to roll, to tremble, to vomit, but her body was out of her control, and she couldn’t even curl up to protect her fragile core!
“…… What are you doing? Stop!”
A stern female voice sounded as if from a distant cloud, and as Elena’s mind blurred, the voice cut off the source of all the pain. She was finally able to catch her breath and let out a weak cry, “…… It hurts ……”
Hey, why does the sound like boring in the water, she is still in the river?
The sound of the outside is also like boring in the water, far away. The stern female voice seemed to be scolding everyone who was causing her pain, and then she walked over to Elena and said in a softer tone, “Are you all right?”
The pain didn’t go away immediately, but rippled like the surface of a stone thrown into the water, then subsided.
Elena fought through the agony of the pain, and opened her eyes with a soft hmmm.
She was indeed in the water. Not just in the water, but even in a side of water that wasn’t very big- she was in a glass tank.
She was in a glass tank.
Outside the tank, a familiar female android bent down, looking at her with concern, “I’m sorry, they did this to you while I was away. I will find a way to retrieve your body.”
My body?
Elena didn’t grasp the meaning of this, subconsciously trying to reach out to pat the glass tank to let herself out.
Huh? Where was her hand?
Just a moment ago, her hand felt numb as if it had been pricked by a thousand steel needles.
Elena tried to lower her head to see her body but realized she couldn’t even complete the motion!
The female android looked at her with pity and remorse, turning off the image screen. The black screen, like a mirror, faithfully reflected the scene inside the tank:
In the deep blue body preservation fluid, a floating head with long flowing hair was suspended. The head was connected by numerous data cables.
The head widened its eyes in surprise, “I—”
Where is my body?!
“I’m truly sorry,” the female android apologized again, “This is our standard procedure for dealing with prisoners of war. Especially since your body has been specially reinforced, keeping it would be impractical for transportation and pose a significant threat to us.”
“You single-handedly took down one of our fighter jets, please forgive their caution.”
Elena, recovering from her shock, recognized the female android.
The snake seeking revenge at the back door of the bar.
Oh, she called herself a player. So, behind this mysterious force, could it be the so-called “players”?
Jennifer watched Elena’s expression shift from shock to calmness to indifference, smiling bitterly, “You are not just any prisoner of war. You are my benefactor. Even if you are an NPC, I remember the helping hand you extended to me in my most desperate moment. Thank you.”
Elena chuckled, and the disconnected wires under the head stirred, “So, this is your way of thanking me. Enough with the thanks; let me thank you.”
Jennifer unplugged the dense data cables from the head — these wires causing intense pain to her invisible limbs — meticulously wiped the mist off the surface of the fish tank, making Elena feel as if she had gone from nearsighted to having a clear vision of the female android before her.
“My name is Jennifer, and I am currently a middle manager in this organization,” the female android sighed. “Fate is ironic; my benefactor has turned into my enemy.”
“You are an android like us, why choose to be our enemy?” Elena asked. “Because you are a ‘player’? Is your game mission to eliminate us?”
Jennifer sighed, “You are truly clever. Join our organization; everyone here is a player, but for you, there are both androids and humans. Pretend to be a player, and I can protect you from bullying.”
“Players are destined to win. Stay here, and your fate won’t be as painful.”
Elena fell silent for a moment before saying, “Can I trust you?”
Jennifer forced a smile, “I’m sorry. You have the right not to believe, and I have reasons not to be trusted. But I don’t intend to harm you, you can see that, right? If I let them torture you, extract information, then dispose of your remains, wouldn’t I lose everything as well?”
Elena expelled a mouthful of preservation fluid, her head swaying slightly in the tank like a jellyfish. “Fine, I’ll trust you for now. Give me my body first.”
She still didn’t trust this female android, but for the time being, she couldn’t figure out her intentions.
However, as long as the other party had ulterior motives toward her, she had an opportunity to achieve her own goals.
Players are destined to win?
Elena sneered in her mind. They were challenging her dedication to her work.
She didn’t have grand ideals of freedom and independence. As a senior executive in the organization of gears, she had to seize this rare opportunity to maximize the benefits for her workplace.
This is the greatest belief of a cog in the organization, a dedicated corporate drone.
*Author’s note: All the technology mentioned in the story is made up, without any basis in reality.*
