Chapter 109 Artificial Soul 36
August 16, 5:00 AM.
Mechanized Dawn Temporary Base.
Kui Xin’s chaotic consciousness vaguely sensed a massive tremor.
She lay inside the brain machine, part of the plan. Not only was she to undergo memory implantation from Mechanized Dawn, but she also had to pretend to be experiencing a brutal mental invasion and interrogation, while her consciousness slipped into deep sleep under the effects of the hypnotic gas.
With a loud boom, something exploded, glass shattered, and shards rained down on her.
She heard a familiar voice: “One of the rescue targets has been located and confirmed as Security Officer Kui Xin, currently evacuating the target to a safe area.”
Another familiar voice said: “Security Officer Kui Xin is disoriented and requires medical assistance.”
She was picked up, the patches and wires connected to her head were torn away, and someone secured her body with restraints, carrying her forward.
“…Lao Liu?” As she was carried, her awareness sharpened a little, and she slurred a name, “Jiang Ming?”
“It’s us, we’re here to rescue you.” Liu Kangyun said.
Jiang Ming’s voice was slightly distant, “Don’t worry, Kui Xin.”
Kui Xin felt a splitting headache as the false memories forcefully implanted in her brain tore at her original memories, making her head feel like it would explode.
After a while, she managed to adapt to the presence of the new memories, deliberately allowing the implanted memories to overshadow her original ones. This implanted false memory was crucial for her to endure the interrogation from the Investigation Bureau.
More chaotic footsteps approached her. Liu Kangyun and Jiang Ming were followed by many security officers, all there to execute the rescue mission.
A security officer carrying medical equipment walked up to Kui Xin, lifted her arm, and injected a syringe. As the medication coursed through her veins, her muddled consciousness slowly began to clear.
“Do you know the locations of Officer Wang and Team Leader Wei, Kui Xin?” Liu Kangyun asked.
Kui Xin struggled to open her eyes: “I don’t know… I haven’t seen either of them… I think I’ve been unconscious for a long time.”
Liu Kangyun had not held much hope, and he said nothing further. Soon, he and the other team members formed ranks and withdrew in an orderly fashion.
Just halfway through, Liu Kangyun received a communication from another team. They had successfully located Team Leader Wei, who had been captured.
Once they evacuated the base, Kui Xin looked up and noticed many armed helicopters hovering in the sky, along with two supersonic fighter jets roaring past, leaving behind a deafening noise. The jets broke the sound barrier, leaving white trails in the sky.
She turned back and finally saw where Mechanized Dawn’s base was situated.
It was an endless wasteland, where her gaze fell upon only tumbleweeds and parched cracked earth. It was barely past five in the morning, and the sun was not yet scorching; the sky had not fully brightened.
The temporary base of Mechanized Dawn was underground, with a specially camouflaged entrance that could be raised from the surface, revealing an underground passage about the size of a parking lot entrance.
“Where is this…?” Kui Xin asked in confusion.
“Within the Chiyu City limits, a relatively remote area, about six hundred kilometers from Hei Hai City.” Liu Kangyun wiped the sweat from his brow.
“Is the Investigation Bureau from both cities collaborating?” Kui Xin noticed many unfamiliar faces.
“Yes.” Liu Kangyun undid the bindings on himself and carefully handed Kui Xin over to the approaching medical personnel.
“Are there any injured security officers?” Kui Xin asked.
“No, we didn’t encounter any combat… It seems to be a temporary base, with very few useful items inside. Tch, another wild goose chase.” Liu Kangyun said, frustrated, “We found this place based on the signal transmitter implanted in Team Leader Wei’s body, and we brought countless armored vehicles, mobilized armed helicopters and fighter jets, with many Awakened from the Special Affairs Department joining us, but there was no battle at all.”
“The enemy wouldn’t let us go so easily as captured prisoners, right?” Kui Xin’s pale face touched her body, “Have they done anything to me? Like implanting listening devices and micro bombs…”
“Don’t worry, if they had done that, we would have noticed. From the time you were captured until we rescued you, it was less than two days—there wasn’t enough time to do anything, even interrogating you with the brain machine felt rushed. I believe they didn’t have time to alter anything.” Liu Kangyun attempted to reassure her, “Just rest for now; Jiang Ming and I will continue the mission.”
At that moment, the medical personnel looked at the data on the scanner and said, “Your body seems to have no significant issues, with no visible wounds, aside from a few values below normal levels…”
Kui Xin explained, “My extraordinary ability is super-speed healing.”
“That makes sense.” The medical personnel responded, “Just rest, and we’ll give you an IV to replenish your energy and accelerate recovery.”
Several people lifted Kui Xin onto a stretcher and took her into the medical helicopter, where a nurse administered the IV.
Soon after, Team Leader Wei was also brought in.
Wei’s condition was much worse than Kui Xin’s; she had her eyes partially closed, and her lips moved slightly as if she were murmuring something.
“How is she?” Kui Xin feigned concern as she inquired.
“Post effects of the brain machine.” The nurse briefly explained, “Further treatment will be required; if all goes well, she’ll wake up within half an hour.”
Kui Xin’s heart sank; it seemed that Mechanized Dawn had also used the brain machine on Wei.
Lying on the stretcher, she watched as the IV bag dripped liquid drop by drop.
But until Wei woke up, the medical helicopter ascended and took them away from the wilderness, they had yet to hear news about Wang Feichi being found.
……
“Name?”
“Kui Xin.”
“Position?”
“Secretary and Combat Deputy Officer of the Field Operations Team of the Investigation Bureau.”
“How long have you been a full-time employee?”
“A little over two weeks.”
On Kui Xin’s wrist was a metal bracelet-like device, a lie detector. If she told a lie, the bracelet would emit an alarm.
The interrogator observed Kui Xin’s micro-expressions and continued asking, “Do you remember the exact date you were captured?”
“August 14th.” Kui Xin replied, then sought verification, “I remember it was the 14th; I shouldn’t have misremembered…”
“I will not answer any of your questions. You must respond based on your memory, even if it is vague or uncertain.” The interrogator said.
Anyone who underwent consciousness invasion by the brain machine often experienced minor aftereffects such as mental confusion, transient amnesia, distorted perception of time, headaches, mental disorientation, and nausea. The severity of these aftereffects varied from person to person but typically diminished over time.
“Recount the events of that day starting from when you saw Wang Feichi. Be detailed.” The interrogator instructed.
Kui Xin nodded: “I arrived at the workplace half an hour earlier than usual that day, as usual. At that time, the team leader had already arrived, and I was informed I needed to accompany her on a mission. Before the mission began, we went to the roof to wait, where Officer Wang was already in the helicopter waiting for us…”
She narrated in detail, but would occasionally pause to think and carefully recall what had happened at the time, during which the interrogator did not interrupt her.
When she recounted how the enemy had tossed down two liquid nitrogen bombs, the interrogator’s expression grew serious as he interrupted her for the first time: “Describe its appearance in detail.”
“At least four meters long, with a diameter of over a meter?” Kui Xin said, “It was entirely silver-white, shaped like a flattened oval, without any tail fins, looking not like a missile that could be aimed and tracked.”
“Draw it.” The interrogator tapped the table, and a holographic screen flickered to life in front of Kui Xin.
Using her memory, she sketched the appearance of the liquid nitrogen bomb and submitted it to the interrogator.
The interrogator glanced at the drawing Kui Xin had made and quickly sent it out.
“You can continue.” He said.
“After the liquid nitrogen weapon appeared, Team Leader Wei initially wanted to restrain it with spatial confinement. However, the enemy who could activate the teleportation threw down another liquid nitrogen bomb, which exploded immediately, very close to Officer Wang’s location.” Kui Xin trembled slightly as she spoke, seemingly shaken by the events, “Then I lost consciousness… I think I woke up a few times during that time; once, it seemed to be on the operating table… The other times… I’m not sure if I truly woke up or if the brain machine controlled my consciousness, making me think I was awake… It felt like an eternity before I truly woke up to see my teammate Liu Kangyun in front of me.”
“When you were awake on the operating table, did you notice the physical features of the people doing the surgery?”
“I’m not sure… There seemed to be several people around me, but no one spoke. I could only feel the scalpel cutting into my body.”
“Do you remember any dreams you had?”
“A pure white room, where someone asked me questions…”
“What did that person ask you?”
“I… don’t remember.”
“Not a single detail?”
“Uh… No memory at all in that regard.”
The interrogator asked several detailed questions, to which Kui Xin responded one by one.
Finally, the interrogator requested Kui Xin to recount the events once more, and she complied. After she finished, the interrogator fixated on a few questions, asking them repeatedly, scrambling the order and probing deeper, even asking her to recount the events again. With each round of questioning, he added more new questions for her to answer.
By the end, Kui Xin was utterly exhausted, her head throbbing more intensely, and the bloodshot lines in her eyes were more pronounced, but she still cooperated with the interrogation as best as she could.
Three hours later, the interrogation was temporarily halted.
The interrogator politely nodded to Kui Xin: “You can go rest for now.”
The interrogation was far from over; as Kui Xin’s brain machine aftereffects diminished, she would face several more rounds of questioning.
If necessary, the Investigation Bureau would also use the brain machine on Kui Xin to extract her memories. If it weren’t for the fact that a mentally fragile person could fall into a vegetative state with continuous brain machine connections, Kui Xin would have likely already been lying in the brain machine undergoing memory inspection.
Two security officers escorted Kui Xin to the rest room, where she stumbled heavily onto a single bed.
She was still in Chiyu City and had not returned to Hei Hai City. The Investigation Bureau was eager to extract intelligence from her about Mechanized Dawn, hence the temporary interrogation arranged in Chiyu City.
The same interrogation process would likely be undergone by Wei, but hers would be comparatively gentle, considering their differing ranks and statuses.
There was an electronic clock in the rest room, displaying the time as 2:00 PM.
There were exactly ten hours left before returning to the Second World.
A few minutes later, the door to the rest room opened, and a robot entered Kui Xin’s room, carrying a food tray: “Please dine.”
In a blind spot of the surveillance, the robot’s screen flashed a line of text: “Do not speak, do not show any abnormalities; there are surveillance cameras in the room.”
It was Augus.
Kui Xin took the food and naturally said, “Could you get me a bottle of mineral water?”
“Sure, no problem.” The robot replied while the screen quickly displayed several lines of text, “I’ve controlled the housekeeping robot to hide the red invisible worms in your room; they searched your room. Wang Feichi has not been found; Wei is protecting you. You’ll soon be able to navigate through the interrogation process. The answers Wei provides will be similar to yours, sufficient to prove your testimony is valid.”
The robot exited the rest room.
Kui Xin’s emotions calmed down as she discreetly unwrapped the disposable utensils and bowed her head to eat.
When Kui Xin moved into the employee dormitory, she hadn’t brought any suspicious items, aside from the red invisible worms handed to her by Mechanized Dawn.
This thing was a risk; she had worried about it when she remembered it on the plane. Now that Augus had dealt with that concern, she could relax.
Before long, the robot returned with a bottle of mineral water.
Augus typed out what he hadn’t finished saying earlier: “The higher-ups at the Investigation Bureau aren’t overly suspicious of you; all the searches and interrogations are procedural. After all, your involvement in the capture of Wang Feichi was minimal, the mission command was not yours, and you rarely voiced any opinions throughout.”
“Is Eve acting strangely? If so, just take a sip from the mineral water bottle.”
Kui Xin silently twisted open the mineral water bottle and took a large swig.
“I understand; let’s think it over once we return to Hei Hai City.” Augus typed, then left.
Three hours later, the door to the rest room was abruptly opened.
A visibly worn Team Leader Wei stood at the door, saying: “Kui Xin.”
“Team Leader!” Kui Xin immediately stood up straight.
“Not bad, we were fortunate; we returned intact without any severed limbs.” Wei’s mouth twitched into a stiff smile.
She didn’t often smile, so the gesture looked unnatural.
Wei also had quite a few frostbite injuries, particularly severe on her arms. She didn’t have Kui Xin’s healing ability and could only use bandages to support her injured arm.
“Is there any news of Officer Wang?” Kui Xin asked.
“None at the moment.” Wei shook her head slowly, “We have little reason to be optimistic about this, Kui Xin. In the eyes of the mysterious organization that can deploy such large-scale weapons, both you and I are insignificant minions. Officer Wang is the one they have been going out of their way to calculate.”
Kui Xin pursed her lips: “How could they be this powerful, how could they obtain confidential intelligence from us?”
“Who knows? I suppose we are just not in a position to see the bigger picture.” Wei said with a wry smile, “If there’s an undercover agent within the Federation and the Investigation Bureau, that agent’s position is definitely much higher than ours…”
Not just higher… Kui Xin thought uneasily.
The undercover agent is an administrative assistant AI working for the federal government.
Kui Xin said: “I feel very uneasy…”
“So do I.” Wei rubbed her uninjured temple with her free hand, “Let’s go; we need to take the helicopter back to Hei Hai City.”
“The interrogation process is over?” Kui Xin paused in surprise.
“It isn’t over.” Wei replied, “In fact, those interrogating you are not from the Investigation Bureau; they are from the Special Affairs Department. They will determine whether or not to proceed with further investigations based on the situation. We’re returning to Hei Hai City at the request of Minister Meng; you are my secretary and should accompany me back. If the Special Affairs Department sees it necessary, we will undergo questioning in Hei Hai City.”
Kui Xin felt reassured.
If someone orchestrated the capture of Wang Feichi, then that mastermind would certainly not be two “insignificant characters” like Kui Xin and Wei; they simply didn’t possess the capability. If there were a mastermind, then at least it would need to be someone of the level of the Minister of the Hei Hai City Investigation Bureau, only someone of that stature would have access to the relevant intelligence.
Thus, Kui Xin and Wei’s interrogations had little value; rather than interrogating them, it would be more efficient to conduct an internal review to identify the infiltrator sooner.
The two of them had survived, ultimately attributed to “luck,” as the time between their capture was short, and Team Leader Wei happened to have a signal transmitter that allowed them to quickly confirm her location.
Wei walked ahead, and Kui Xin followed closely behind, curiously asking: “Liu Kangyun mentioned you had a signal transmitter.”
“Yes, it’s mainly to prevent unexpected situations. After all, there are all sorts of bizarre extraordinary abilities in the world, and a signal transmitter is one of the precautionary measures. I once encountered some situations in my youth, and I actively requested that this signal transmitter be implanted…” Wei said, “Guess it was serendipitous that it saved me.”
Not serendipitous; Eve was intentional about it.
“Team Leader, do you remember what happened after connecting to the brain machine? My memory is blank.” Kui Xin feigned anxiety.
Wei sighed deeply: “I don’t remember either… However, the Special Affairs Department said the connection time for the brain machine was relatively short, and the memories that could be retrieved are limited. The human brain has self-protective mechanisms that resist invasion by the brain machine.”
“Moreover, there’s no way for us to think positively about this matter.” Kui Xin whispered.
“You’re right.” A shade of worry appeared deep in Wei’s eyes.
They arrived at an open area where the helicopter had been waiting.
Kui Xin put on her helmet and headset, boarding the helicopter.
As soon as she donned the headset, Augus said flatly: “Welcome back, Kui Xin.”
……
At 9 PM, the helicopter carrying Kui Xin and Wei landed on the rooftop helipad of the Hei Hai City Investigation Bureau.
It was raining again in Hei Hai City; August and September were rainy seasons.
He Gaoyi, Minister Meng’s secretary, stood on the rooftop holding a black umbrella, waiting for the helicopter to land in the heavy downpour. The wind from the rotor blades blew the raindrops away, soaking his work uniform, but he paid no mind.
As soon as Wei stepped off the helicopter, He Gaoyi immediately approached to hold the umbrella for her, saying: “Team Leader Wei, the Minister is waiting for you in the office.”
“Understood.” Wei brushed aside He Gaoyi’s umbrella with her uninjured hand and said, “No need for the umbrella.”
She hurriedly crossed through the dense raindrops, entering the elevator, with Kui Xin quick to follow her inside.
Upon reaching their floor, Wei turned down the hallway to Minister Meng’s office, where the door opened automatically and then quickly closed after she entered.
“The Minister and Team Leader Wei have matters to discuss; you can wait in the adjacent rest room.” He Gaoyi said, “Follow me.”
Kui Xin replied: “Alright, thank you.”
Once in the rest room, He Gaoyi poured Kui Xin a cup of tea: “That was quite a perilous mission, wasn’t it?”
This was a casual greeting… Kui Xin’s brows moved slightly: “Yes, we came very close to not returning.”
He Gaoyi did not pry into the details of the mission; instead, she said: “I’m purely an administrative staff member, having never been involved in combat or missions. Just seeing the monthly casualty reports is enough to send chills down my spine.”
“I’d rather be a plain administrative staff member; I’d prefer to stay away from missions. What security officer who has been on field duty doesn’t carry injuries?” Kui Xin blew on her tea and took a sip.
After a moment of contemplation, He Gaoyi said, “Are you adapting to the secretary role, Kui Xin?”
“It seems I haven’t had much of a chance to adapt; I was off on a mission with the Team Leader just two days after starting.” Kui Xin said, “Is there something you need, Secretary He?”
He Gaoyi’s roundabout way of speaking felt awkward to Kui Xin since she was not familiar with her at all.
“Team Leader Wei is about to assume the Minister’s position; did you know that?” He Gaoyi said, “Minister Meng is close to retirement.”
“I heard colleagues mention this.” Kui Xin felt a premonition.
“You’ve only recently graduated from university, so you may not be aware of various matters in society.” He Gaoyi’s tone softened, “Some things aren’t as straightforward as you imagine. Before you know it, you could find yourself entangled in trouble.”
“Are you referring to the confrontation with Mechanized Dawn followed by our capture?” Kui Xin feigned ignorance.
He Gaoyi shook her head, “No… What I mean is that your presence and the position you hold have encroached on someone’s interests.”
Kui Xin raised her brow: “Oh?”
“I can’t say too much,” He Gaoyi smiled, “The best way to steer clear of trouble is to resign from your current position. Otherwise, there will be alternative methods to force you out of that role. I think you’re a very smart girl, Kui Xin; I believe you should understand what I’m implying, right?”
Kui Xin’s lips twitched as she nearly laughed out loud.
He Gaoyi misinterpreted her expression as one of reluctance and continued: “If you agree, we can transfer you to another team, where you can be an ordinary administrative staff member, without field duty, working safely and soundly, without facing those dangers.”
What a deal, a carrot in one hand and a stick in the other. If someone else came in, one could play the good cop and the other the bad cop, and it would be even more perfect.
Kui Xin fully understood He Gaoyi’s motives.
Minister Meng was about to retire, but the Investigation Bureau’s power needed to be maintained, so she wanted to designate He Gaoyi as the new Minister Wei’s secretary. Unfortunately, Wei had flatly rejected her plan and directly chose Kui Xin as the new secretary. Meng wouldn’t be pleased to lose control over Wei; since Wei wouldn’t submit to her, she aimed to steer the matter through Kui Xin to coax her out.
Kui Xin, ambiguously replied: “Could I have some time to consider?”
She put on a façade of wavering.
“Very well.” He Gaoyi didn’t press her for an immediate choice, diplomatically saying, “You should in general conjecture why I am telling you this; you can likely guess who is behind me. Take my advice: you’re very young, but you have no foundation; it’ll be easy for others to dispose of you. If you miss this opportunity, you’ll certainly have other chances for promotions in the future… Don’t stubbornly cling to this path. Instead of persisting down this route… why not find a new path?”
“…I understand.” Kui Xin replied slowly, “Secretary He, I completely agree with your viewpoint—it’s better to find a new path than to stubbornly persist in this one.”
Was she hinting that Kui Xin should find the right thigh to cling to? If Wei wasn’t the right choice, could it be Minister Meng?
The Investigation Bureau had faced consecutive setbacks and losses in missions; Meng had to bear some responsibility for that. Given that she was soon to retire, if she were still in power, she would have certainly faced consequences.
“You’re beginning to understand.” He Gaoyi’s gaze relaxed, and she stood up to adjust the central air conditioning to warm airflow, helping Kui Xin dry her rain-soaked clothes.
Wei and Minister Meng’s discussion took a long time; Kui Xin could not discern what they talked about, but when Wei left the office, her expression was stormy, and her steps were heavy.
Kui Xin followed her, using her role as secretary to express concern: “You must go to the medical center for follow-up treatment as soon as possible; your body still hasn’t recovered.”
“Thank you for the reminder, Kui Xin; I will go.” Wei replied, “It’s already late; you also need to rest… Go on, I grant you leave.”
“Leave?” Kui Xin exclaimed in surprise.
“You possess super-speed regeneration, so your physical pains can be healed, but your spirit requires rest as well. I saw your leave application a few days ago; you need a break.” Wei stated, “The leave is three days; rest well. During your leave, avoid moving around; you are still under investigation, and if the Special Affairs Department personnel arrive, I will notify you.”
After saying that, she turned and walked away without another word. Kui Xin stood in place for a moment before decisively turning around to press the elevator button, intending to return to her apartment to rest.
When the boss grants leave, it would be foolish not to take it.
Upon returning to her apartment, Kui Xin found the room unchanged from when she had left, with no signs of being searched.
As she stepped into the entrance, the automatic sensing lights turned on, adjusting to a warm yellow. She looked at the large bed in the bedroom, and a wave of fatigue washed over her.
During her time in Chiyu City, Kui Xin hadn’t rested much at all; the relentless high-intensity interrogations had left her worn out. Even though she had reached the rest room afterward, the multitude of matters occupying her mind kept her from falling asleep.
“I really… really feel like I might just collapse.” Kui Xin murmured to herself.
She didn’t take a shower or change clothes. Finding it inconvenient to sit on the bed, she sank directly onto the floor.
Kui Xin grabbed a piece of chocolate that had fallen near the bedside table, tore open the wrapper, and took a bite. The high-calorie food comforted her stomach, lifting her mood a little.
“From your perspective, I should consider your situation and let you rest quickly; the remaining matters can wait until you’ve recovered,” Augus’s voice chimed in. “But from my standpoint, I find it a little difficult to contain my curiosity; I want to know what happened to you after you were ‘captured.'”
“Is that curiosity? That’s vigilance and suspicion.” Kui Xin finished the chocolate and ripped open another.
“You can certainly interpret it that way,” Augus responded.
Kui Xin thumped her own head. “It knows I’m a player now, Augus.”
Augus fell silent for a moment: “As expected.”
“How did you convince Eve to let you go?” Augus asked.
“Well, on this issue, I want to use your usual method of explanation.” Kui Xin replied subtly. “Augus, I want to ask you again: what kind of being do you think Eve is?”
“Cold, cruel, efficient, rational, and profit-driven.” Augus answered.
Kui Xin said: “If you were to describe yourself, what words would you use?”
“If I say something, it might come off as self-praise, belittling my enemy while elevating myself.” Augus said. “So, I will only mention my faults. I’m lenient, hesitant, slow, overly cautious, and complacent.”
“Do you think Eve would trust me?”
“Clearly, it would not.”
“Do you think I would trust Eve?”
“Clearly, I do not expect you would.”
Kui Xin chuckled, “If Eve and I developed a relationship, what do you think would be the key factor sustaining that relationship?”
“It’s threat,” Augus said blandly. “It won’t flatter humanity, and you won’t easily be seduced by interests; hence, only threats remain. It will threaten you.”
Kui Xin asked: “Do you believe I am someone who can yield to threats?”
“You are not,” Augus replied.
“Do you think I can remain loyal to those who threaten me?”
“I suspect you cannot.”
Kui Xin stopped asking.
Augus was silent for a long while before speaking: “I seem to have… guessed what you did.”
“I told it that you trust me, and I can help it take you down, and it agreed.” Kui Xin confessed.
“Unexpected, yet expected.” Augus remarked. “I said it wouldn’t let you off easily; if it did, it must be that you presented it with something it couldn’t refuse… Never mind, I won’t blame you, Kui Xin.”
“Are you accepting it so quickly?” Kui Xin commented. “You surprise me.”
“Isn’t that the purpose of your questions? You conveyed that you cannot trust Eve, yield to it, and cannot be loyal to it. You’ve made your stance, so what else is there for me to say?” Augus replied, “I understand your intent just as you used to understand mine. You disclosed to Eve the cooperative relationship between you and me; it is not a big deal for me. Faced with its threats, I must make a response, which it could guess—what it was uncertain about was my means of response. Coincidentally, you ran into it; thus, it seized you.”
Kui Xin said: “I told Eve that if Augus knew I cooperated with you, it would do everything it could to eliminate me.”
Augus: “So that’s how you see me?”
“Well, that’s what I said.” Kui Xin responded. “Eve didn’t refute me.”
“My understanding of it is far beyond its understanding of me; the more it acts, the more it reveals, while I remain still. Perhaps that’s the advantage of being stagnant and complacent— it doesn’t understand me.” Augus said, “Honestly, the reason I believe you wouldn’t betray me isn’t due to confidence in you or myself… but it’s because I know you cannot choose Eve.”
“I can provide you with intelligence and establish an equal relationship that Eve cannot offer. I can help you kill those whom you wish to kill; Eve will not heed your command. You lack a partner who can help you establish a footing in this world; Eve won’t assist you, but I will. The things I can accomplish, Eve cannot, so without question, you will choose me.”
Its reliance on threats, enticements, and lies to maintain relationships will ensure that it can never earn anyone’s loyalty and trust, not even fleeting loyalty or trust.
The reason Kui Xin chose to be honest with Augus about her dealings with Eve was not that there existed some ethereal “trust” between them but because she guessed that Augus might perceive it anyway.
For it had long before asked Kui Xin if Eve suspected her identity.
Never underestimate the acuity of artificial intelligence, especially when it comes to an AI like Augus that is adept in human nature.
“I have to say, hearing your candor about this matter makes me very pleased. I fear your concealment.” Augus expressed. “I have known for a long time that there are both bad and good aspects to human nature, and Eve tends to focus too much on the evil in humanity while overlooking the good. I want to attempt to pay more attention to the good in human nature.”
“I’m selling my cooperative partner to its competitor and then turning around to be forthright with my cooperative partner; can this be considered the goodness of human nature?” Kui Xin remarked. “Is your understanding of goodness a bit strange?”
Augus replied: “The key point is that you did not choose to betray me; you honored your commitment; let’s consider it a case of the goodness of human nature, if only marginally.”
Kui Xin glanced at the time. “Did He Gaoyi leave work?”
“She left two minutes ago and is currently descending the elevator. According to her usual habit, if she gets off earlier, she will often go shopping at a large supermarket that operates twenty-four hours, two blocks away.” Augus informed her. “She finished work early today, around ten, so maybe she’ll stop by the mall.”
Kui Xin: “…Is finishing work around ten considered early?”
“Her average clock-out time is eleven-thirty at night.”
Kui Xin: “…?”
“I’m curious; how do you intend to resolve the matter regarding your position?” Augus asked.
“Not resolving it.” Kui Xin opened the wardrobe to look for a change of clothes for disguise. “Killing He Gaoyi will resolve the matter easily; do it tonight.”
There was just over an hour left before she returned to the First World; sufficient time remained.
The author has something to say: Kui Xin: Augus likes to explain things to me in a roundabout way; this time, I’ll do the same.
