Chapter 211: Dark Boundless Realm 66
Four Leaves was asleep now; it was nighttime, and He Kangshi also needed rest. Kui Xin had him stay temporarily at this base to take care of Four Leaves.
She left the rest room and went down to the ground floor of the safe house, intending to use the bl**d Spirit to read Four Leaves’ memories.
When she first encountered Four Leaves in the glass tank, she had extracted his bl**d. After successfully taking him away, that bl**d had become unnecessary, as Kui Xin could extract fresh bl**d any time to read memories.
Four Leaves was very cooperative. While in the laboratory, researchers often injected him with unknown substances and drew his bl**d for testing, so he was used to seeing syringes and showed no fear of them… this was actually different from ordinary children.
Kui Xin sat in a chair, took out a syringe, and squeezed a drop of his bl**d into her mouth.
The metallic taste filled her senses as she activated the “bl**d Spirit,” and memories belonging to Four Leaves surged forth like a tide.
His memories were non-invasive and did not impact Kui Xin in any significant way, lacking intense emotions and deeply engraved images, resembling a still pond, peaceful and devoid of ripples.
His memories were brief, as his conscious time was very limited; he was mostly in a dormant state within the glass tank. Occasionally, when he opened his eyes from slumber, he only saw the pale green nutrient solution and the transparent glass wall, where he could faintly see his own reflection… it was his first realization of his external appearance.
Many glass tanks stood around him, housing others like him in slumber.
He occasionally woke up but soon fell back into dormancy. Each time he emerged from sleep, the number of “people” in the adjacent tanks would decrease; some “people” would visibly grow, and when some tanks emptied, new smaller “people” would be placed inside, who would grow up just like him.
On several occasions, he opened his eyes to see a group of people in white clothes moving back and forth in front of his glass tank. They pressed against the glass wall to observe him, talking to each other, their muffled words reaching his ears through the glass…
During this half-dreaming state, his most intense feeling was pain.
His body was growing at an unreasonable speed, bones accelerating in growth, and he felt pain coursing through him…
Unknown time passed before the group of people in white clothes appeared again.
One of them said: “Growth indicators have been met; all internal organs are developing normally, the brain… um, all areas are maturing properly. Good, we can try implanting some knowledge now.”
The nutrient solution in the tank slowly decreased; it was his first time feeling his feet touch the ground, but he soon fell. The glass wall lowered, and a mechanical hand reached towards him, moving him onto a stretcher, and a robot pushed him into another room, placing him into a capsule-shaped container.
Various wires and patches were affixed to his head, and he fell asleep, feeling a throbbing headache.
When he woke again, the group in white clothes looked down at him and said: “I-F-2-4.”
This designation triggered knowledge in his mind. According to that knowledge, he was expected to respond now.
So he opened his mouth, attempting to control his tongue and lips, letting the air flow over his vocal cords as he struggled to say his first words: “I… am here.”
One of the white-clothed individuals said with satisfaction: “Not bad; next, we can implant memories in batches. Give him some time to adapt.”
“First, implant knowledge, then implant some more advanced concepts, like obedience and loyalty…”
“He is the most adaptable one we’ve had; after so many failures, we finally have a success.”
“Monitor his behavior closely; there have been instances of artificial beings suddenly developing rebellious awareness…”
“Return him to the tank for dormancy; exposing him to the external environment can stimulate his brain. He can slowly adapt to the outside world; it’s okay to wait until after implanting memories. Previous failures have taught us that the experimental process needs adjustment; we can’t underestimate these artificial lives.”
“That makes sense; let’s do that then.”
So he was returned to the tank. Occasionally, he would wake up to see others like him sleeping in the tanks next to him; sometimes, he’d awaken to find he’d been moved to a different location, away from the tank, and found more strange knowledge in his head. He learned to speak, learned written language, learned to differentiate colors, understood the composition of oxygen, and realized oxygen was essential for life…
He also noticed that, over time, the “people” in the tanks next to him gradually disappeared.
The next time he saw the white-clothed individuals come into the room full of glass tanks, he vaguely heard several words from them: “destroy… failed… waste…”
The person in the other glass tank, now fully developed as an artificial individual, was being observed by the white-clothed group. One of them said: “What a pity; she couldn’t withstand this memory implantation and is on the brink of brain d*ath. Their brains are as fragile as those of newborns, unable to endure any damage… cut off the oxygen supply; we need to clear this cultivation container.”
The oxygen mask on the artificial person’s face abruptly shut off. The girl with the appearance of an adolescent twitched a few times after the oxygen was cut off, coughing out a large volume of bubbles propelled by the physiological reaction, which rose in the pale green solution… while her body sank within the solution…
She died.
Corrosive liquid was injected into the solution, dissolving the artificial body and mixing it with the pale green liquid, which was then expelled from the glass tank.
“Hm? Why is he still awake?” one of the white-clothed individuals looked at him.
“This individual is somewhat special; he wakes up often,” someone said. “Could this be a problem? Should we check him closely or report?”
“Continue to observe; there’s no need to report for now.”
Later, he was taken out of the tank a few more times. This time he was placed in a wheelchair and pushed to an empty room, where one of his kind stood, staring vacantly.
This fellow had white hair and also white skin. The white-haired individual expressionlessly raised their hand, and a small ball of water appeared out of nowhere.
“Make the water ball disappear from his hands,” the white-clothed person beside him said. “You know what to do; give it a try.”
He focused on the water ball, an invisible force field expanding around his body as the sound of splashing followed, and the water ball burst.
“Ability strength assessment: Level A.” A robot announced.
The white-clothed individual said, “Indeed excellent… we can proceed to the next stage of cultivation.”
After a brief departure from the glass tank, he returned.
Before closing his eyes again, he looked at his reflection on the glass and sluggishly pondered a question—when he woke up this time, would he see things he had never seen before?
When he awakened again, he received his answer.
A figure entirely clad in black appeared in his tank; she had no tubes or oxygen mask, just floating there.
A person lacking oxygen would d*e, would vanish from the tank… he had vaguely understood that disappearing and dying, destruction were not good things, so he removed his oxygen mask and handed it to her, saying: “Here, breathe.”
…
The memory cut off abruptly.
Four Leaves’ life flickered through Kui Xin’s mind.
He had experienced very little and knew even less. Although some knowledge had been implanted in his brain, he had never put any of it into practice, so his understanding of the world was extremely limited, and the memories implanted by Mechanized Dawn were selective. The fortunate thing was that Mechanized Dawn hadn’t had the chance to implant those more advanced concepts, like loyalty.
From Four Leaves’ memories, one could glimpse the cultivation process for artificial beings by Mechanized Dawn; they could nearly achieve mass production, keeping the qualified and filtering out the unqualified.
Four Leaves was a “premium” among artificial beings; he was highly adaptable, learned quickly, and his physical development was normal. Had it not been for Kui Xin’s interference, Four Leaves would undoubtedly have been cultivated as a loyal dog for Mechanized Dawn.
There were snippets of conversations between researchers in Four Leaves’ memories. From those brief exchanges, Kui Xin learned that Mechanized Dawn was continually adjusting the cultivation plans for artificial beings; initially, when the plans were unrefined, some artificial beings had developed rebellious awareness. Over time, this scenario had been progressively suppressed, resulting in artificial beings becoming increasingly docile, each generation more obedient, making self-awakening increasingly difficult.
What Mechanized Dawn produced were obedient dogs.
Kui Xin thought, while it’s rare for artificial beings to rebel, could it be that Amber Black Obsidian wasn’t the only one? What about the others? When at the Mechanized Dawn branch, those two researchers clearly stated that some artificial beings had shattered their glass tanks and escaped…
Additionally, it seemed that the location where Four Leaves was cultivated was not in White Whale City; he had been temporarily brought here.
Kui Xin rubbed her temples, stood from her chair, and left the safe house.
During her encounter with Amber at noon, Kui Xin had verbally agreed to Amber’s trade request; they hadn’t exchanged contact information, as using a communicator could easily be detected.
Now, Kui Xin needed to meet Amber to inquire about some matters.
She arrived at the meeting place from earlier that day, scanned the area, and spotted a small bird perched on a utility pole.
The bird, which had been dozing with its eyes closed, suddenly opened them, glanced at Kui Xin, then closed its eyes again.
Fifteen minutes later, a ragged wanderer meandered down the street toward Kui Xin.
“I wanted to see you too,” Amber said. “My informants observed a minor commotion at Chuangtuo Technology Company this afternoon. There was a tremor, and some thought it was an earthquake and rushed outside; later, the news was that equipment had exploded and caught fire but was quickly extinguished by the fire suppression system… though I doubt that’s the real truth.”
“I did that,” Kui Xin said frankly. “I came to ask you a few things.”
“Go ahead,” Amber replied.
“Has there been a successful escape of an artificial being before you?”
Amber said, “As far as I know, no… but it’s possible Eve has blocked the news. I’m inclined to believe there hasn’t been, as Eve has almost left us unguarded and hasn’t implanted trackers on us.”
“Today I gathered some significant intelligence; the researchers mentioned that there have been several instances of artificial beings rebelling. Either Eve has blocked the news, or there have been others who have rebelled in the past few weeks since you were here.” Kui Xin stated.
Amber pondered for a moment: “That is possible.”
“Is the Resistance Army taking any action?” Kui Xin inquired.
“No, they plan to recall me; perhaps they want to see you and Mechanized Dawn, TQC, all clashing like dogs,” Amber said calmly.
“Do you have mental coordinates in your brain?”
“… Yes.” Amber’s expression darkened slightly, “The Angel… is terrifying. I currently have no means of removing it unless I try with Black Obsidian; we would need to reach Level A in our abilities first before attempting together…”
“Attempt together?” Kui Xin asked, puzzled.
“Black Obsidian and I can achieve mental synchronization; the combined effect of our abilities is greater than the sum. If you trust me, after rescuing Black Obsidian, I will try to help you remove that thing.”
That was a form of submission and goodwill… but Kui Xin didn’t dare hand her brain over to a mental ability user; the risk was too great.
“You don’t have to be recalled by the Resistance Army,” Kui Xin said slowly. “Stay here, stay in White Whale City.”
Amber exclaimed in shock, “Not returning would be equivalent to betraying the Resistance Army; they were only intending to watch you’s interactions with Mechanized Dawn and TQC. Once I betray them, they will undoubtedly return here to deal with you and me… we both have mental coordinates! They will know our location.”
“That thing can only determine location; it can’t cause us any real harm, can it?” Kui Xin said. “Otherwise, after my long period of defection, why hasn’t the Angel used those coordinates to directly cause my brain d*ath? It can’t, which gives us a lot of leeway.”
Amber couldn’t help but ask, “You want me to stay, what exactly…”
“Help me,” Kui Xin said. “I need your assistance.”
“I don’t trust you, and you don’t trust me,” Amber replied. “To be frank, I fear you might k*ll me.”
“I won’t k*ll you, Amber,” Kui Xin said. “I’m not the type to want to monopolize powers upon seeing them. I’ve left a high-level artificial being alive and don’t intend to k*ll it, even though killing it would be very beneficial to me.”
“Who?” Amber quickly grasped, “You didn’t just attack Mechanized Dawn this afternoon, did you…?”
“I brought back an artificial being; this was at the request of her… an enemy of Eve, who asked me to spare him, and I agreed.” Kui Xin said. “I’m a person of my word and principles, Amber.”
She took out a communicator to show Amber the screen.
On the screen, Four Leaves was soundly sleeping on the sofa wrapped in a blanket.
Amber recognized that face. His expression was complicated as he pondered for a long time before eventually lowering his head and slowly allowing the body of the wanderer to collapse to the ground.
Kui Xin glanced at the wanderer, her gaze shifting to the dark street.
Five minutes later, a boy appeared at the end of the street.
“Can we finally talk face to face?” Kui Xin said.
“Yes,” Amber exhaled, the night’s actions felt to him like a gamble, “Let me see him, that artificial being you’ve taken in.”
