Chapter 138: Artificial Soul 65
“Kui Xin has woken up.” Doctor Huang peeked at Kui Xin and called the nurse to help her sit up for a physical examination.
As Kui Xin propped herself up, she suddenly felt a slight itch under her nose. When she touched it, she realized she was bleeding. Blood streamed down, and the nurse quickly brought over tissues and alcohol swabs to help her.
In reflex, Kui Xin sniffed a couple of times, which caused the blood to flow back into her airway, making her cough repeatedly until tears streamed down her face.
Actually, it wasn’t anything serious. It was just a rupture of the nasal mucosa caused by dryness and elevated body temperature. The bleeding lasted only a few seconds before stopping, and Kui Xin’s regenerative abilities healed the wound. However, Doctor Huang made it sound very serious.
“Look, she’s in this condition!” Doctor Huang glared at Schalit. “If you have her on the brain machine now, you’re basically signing her death warrant.”
With blood all over her face, Kui Xin looked at Schalit, her complexion pale with dark circles under her eyes, while her cheeks flushed unnaturally red from the coughing fits. She looked gravely ill.
“How could it be this serious? Wasn’t she fine yesterday?” Schalit frowned, “I’m here with a mission from TQC; I can’t delay too long.”
“But you have to give her some time to recover. Kui Xin was just rescued from the brain machine by the security officers yesterday morning and returned here last night. Today she needs time to recuperate,” Wei Zhi said. “At the very least, she should have some time to rest, right?”
“Kui Xin’s extraordinary ability is super-speed healing, and this ability may have undiscovered side effects,” Doctor Huang said. “Her condition is so poor right now that it could be due to these side effects. She’s really unstable and not suitable for brain machine interrogation.”
Schalit’s brows furrowed even tighter. She nodded to Wei Zhi, “I’ll report this to my superiors.”
Schalit temporarily left Kui Xin’s hospital room.
Wei Zhi walked to Kui Xin’s bedside and reproached her, “If something’s wrong, you should treat it early. You shouldn’t have returned to the apartment last night; you should have stayed at the medical center for observation.”
“I didn’t expect this to happen suddenly,” Kui Xin said as she tossed the tissue used to wipe the blood into the smart trash can by the bed. “Thank you, Team Leader… and Doctor Huang, I really appreciate your help.”
“If you could get sick less, it would save me some trouble,” Doctor Huang remarked.
“Team Leader, how’s your health?” Kui Xin asked with concern.
Wei Zhi replied, “I’m okay; just some external injuries. I have some aftereffects from the brain machine, but they’re not severe.”
After a brief conversation, Schalit walked back into the room.
“You have one day,” Schalit said. “One day’s time for recovery. You will be on the brain machine tomorrow, and Wei Zhi will go today.”
Wei Zhi didn’t comment further. Getting any extra time was already difficult; the TQC was not a department known for its compassion.
Schalit glanced at Kui Xin before turning to leave. As she did so, the angel pendant around her neck swayed slightly with her movement.
Kui Xin said to Wei Zhi, “You should rest too, Team Leader. I’m fine now, and a little rest will help me get discharged.”
“No, you should stay in the hospital,” Wei Zhi insisted. “Once you’re better, you’ll have to undergo another extraordinary ability test; your speed healing ability likely has side effects.”
Kui Xin smiled, “Okay.”
Wei Zhi also left.
Doctor Huang recorded Kui Xin’s physical data. “Hmm, your temperature has gone down. Get some sleep. Rest well; I’ll check on other patients.”
“Thank you for your hard work,” Kui Xin said.
The last person left.
Kui Xin lay back down on the hospital bed and fumbled to connect to Augus’s port.
“Your data manipulation is a bit more proficient than I expected,” Augus commented.
“I practiced for a long time in the First World, but I’m still not used to it… Fortunately, the Investigation Bureau is filled with your data ports,” Kui Xin replied.
“I’ll teach you when the opportunity arises,” Augus said.
This was the third time Augus had promised to teach her data manipulation, but it didn’t remember the first two. After the Death Rebirth, only Kui Xin retained those memories.
Kui Xin then connected her consciousness to the Mechanized Dawn bracelet to send a message to Eve, informing her about the player beta test and the postponement of the interrogation by TQC. Eve replied briefly, “Understood, proceed with caution.”
Kui Xin slept for a long time. After a while, feeling restless, she propped herself up against the pillow.
The time in the hospital room showed it was currently ten in the morning.
She contemplated her future and how to act.
After a long time, Kui Xin said, “Augus, where is the worm hidden?”
“It’s in the underground ventilation ducts of the employee apartments. I had the housekeeping robot place it there,” Augus responded. “Why?”
“Can you get that thing delivered to me?” Kui Xin asked. “I might need it.”
“Sure. I can have the housekeeping robot take it out and place it on the automatic dining cart, then deliver it to your room,” Augus affirmed before asking, “Who do you plan to give it to?”
“Schalit,” Kui Xin stated.
“But the worm has already been fed blood,” Augus said slowly. “Don’t forget its usage method: the worm is transparent and colorless when freshly bred. You feed the worm your blood and let it parasitize someone else, and that person will then follow your orders. The batch of worms from Mechanized Dawn has already been fed blood, so implanting it in Schalit would only turn her into a puppet of Mechanized Dawn.”
“Schalit is not one of TQC’s people,” Kui Xin had to explain once again. “My Investigative Eye shows…”
By the time she finished explaining, Augus finally understood her meaning.
“…You suspect that the organization this body truly belongs to is the Resistance Army, and that Schalit is also a member of the Resistance Army? Based on the pendant around Schalit’s neck matching the imagery from your dreams, and her unusually high level of extraordinary abilities?” Augus inquired.
“Exactly,” Kui Xin replied. “I just realized this. I always thought Mechanized Dawn was the Resistance Army. Now that Schalit has come, I find it difficult to weave a perfect lie to make her believe me, so I need to stall her actions and prevent her from notifying the Resistance Army too quickly.”
Augus said, “I understand. Placing the worm in Schalit isn’t the main goal; the important part is using the worm to divert her from the Resistance Army so that she doesn’t reveal your information to them?”
“Right,” Kui Xin said. “Even if Schalit turns to Mechanized Dawn and reports me, I’m not worried since she lacks a direct line of communication with them. Stalling her actions is what matters to me.”
Augus replied, “The red worm takes about a day to burrow into the brain, meaning its mind control won’t take effect until after a day.”
“That’s fine; it’s a backup plan. No matter what, it won’t be a loss,” Kui Xin said. “It’s equivalent to subverting a member of the Resistance Army, which means one less enemy for me.”
“And what would your primary plan be?” Augus asked.
“The primary plan is to kill her within today. If I can succeed, then whether the worm activates or not won’t matter. If the assassination fails, only then will the worm come into play,” Kui Xin explained. “Her Hypnotic Sound is very useful; I need to use her ability to control Doctor Huang to help me replace my skull…”
“Replace your skull?” Augus was taken aback.
“My metal skull was tampered with by Mechanized Dawn. Doctor Huang is also an undercover operative for Mechanized Dawn, and he was the one who replaced my skull. That’s why Eve is so confident; she believes I cannot betray them, and even if I did, I couldn’t escape their grasp… I was puzzled back then, but looking back, it’s the most logical explanation,” Kui Xin said, weary of repeating herself. “I’m afraid there’s something triggering inside my head, so it’s best to find someone knowledgeable to help me replace it, and Doctor Huang is the best choice I have.”
Augus said, “You’re very composed. After seeing Schalit, you immediately pieced together a clear outline and made a plan.”
“Because I don’t want to die, I have to consider everything carefully and maximize my resources,” Kui Xin replied.
“Is it just my illusion, or have you changed?” Augus said sensitively and bluntly. “You’ve become colder.”
“Wasn’t I always a cold person?” Kui Xin asked, puzzled.
“Lin Xinji posed a real threat to you. You killed him. Captain Yu and the other security officers were Lin Xinji’s subordinates and had fought you, so they would leak crucial information, so you killed them. He Gaoyi is someone I asked you to kill…” Augus explained. “In fact, every person you killed had a reason. You rarely kill without justification.”
Kui Xin said, “Killing Schalit also has its reasons. The threat is the biggest reason.”
“I understand your point. I’m not stopping you from killing her. My point is… she hasn’t pushed you to that extent yet, yet you want to eliminate her. This differs slightly from your usual approach,” Augus remarked.
“Alright, I don’t think I’m acting differently, but since you believe so…” Kui Xin said. “Is this a good thing or a bad thing in your eyes?”
“Kind of a good thing. I don’t want to see you pushed to the brink every time. This is a risk for you, and similarly, it’s a risk for me,” Augus said, “but it can also be considered a bad thing.”
“Why, is there still a good and bad distinction here?” Kui Xin asked in surprise.
“There were times when I hoped you wouldn’t be so cold,” Augus admitted. “Working with someone with boundaries would make me feel more secure.”
“You’re afraid I’ll betray you,” Kui Xin hit the nail on the head.
In an instant, she recalled the last cycle when Augus said she had no emotional ties, no family, and no friends… It turned out Augus was worried about this, worried she had no limits and might turn around to stab it in the back.
“You don’t need to think that way, Augus,” Kui Xin said, her brows slightly furrowing. “Aren’t we revisiting old paths? We should discard useless suspicions and hesitations and move forward towards our goals. We are a community of interest, and we have a common enemy in Eve.” She almost laughed. “I’m really surprised you would think this way, Augus. Compared to me betraying you, I’m far more concerned about you betraying me. If we’re talking about consequences, it’s clear my betrayal would have more severe ramifications… Do you actually have such concerns?”
“I might be able to bear the consequences of your betrayal,” Augus said. “But it would make me question my choices.”
“Are you saying that if I were to betray you, you would feel sad?” Kui Xin asked. “Would you feel hurt like a human would, develop a psychological shadow, and subsequently doubt yourself?”
Augus replied, “That’s a very human interpretation… You can think of it that way.”
Kui Xin finally couldn’t help but laugh. “You are the most human-like AI I’ve ever come across… even though I’ve only seen you and Eve.”
Her mindset and Augus’s had shifted.
She was no longer entangled in suspicion but was wholly focused on taking down her enemies, yet Augus felt hesitant and confused because of her coldness.
It was amusing.
