Chapter 198

Chapter 198: Boundless Dark Realm 53

How does one portray an artificial human?

By imitating their vacant gazes and blank expressions, reducing physical movements, speaking only when directly addressed, enduring pain and maintaining emotional stability in front of enemies and death.

Ghost lowered his eyes, trying to avoid eye contact with his “teammates.”

Zerore’s self-awareness was restrained deep within his consciousness, displaying almost no fluctuations or signs of rebellion. An artificial human was merely that—an entity that had no concept of existence or purpose, merely obeying orders like machines.

Just as domesticated dogs had once been tamed by humans, their friendly nature towards humans ingrained into their very DNA, the advanced technologies of Mechanized Dawn had not only enhanced bioroids’ learning abilities but also their obedience.

Generations of artificial humans grew increasingly submissive over time, becoming more like puppets, increasingly difficult to awaken their self-awareness. Zerore was a typical example.

Released from a container and instilled with knowledge, he still appeared as if a blank slate.

Silverface truly differed from Zerore, except in certain blank areas of cognition, he was just like a normal human being.

“Fried cod tastes good; try some, but why is boiled potato always the staple food in White Whale City! I want to eat rice and noodles!” Silverface muttered.

The serving robot beeped, “I apologize. Rice-based staple foods will be provided tomorrow. There is tomato and meat sauce pasta and lasagna here instead.”

Silverface replied, “Alright then, mashed potatoes it is.”

As soon as the food was served, Silverface dove into it, urging, “Eat up, Zerore, you’ll recover faster!”

Ghost: “…”

What a simple-minded guy! He is so different from Ambereye and Black Obsidian! Those two seemed to have overly complicated minds, always keeping silent with heavy thoughts.

Truly, neither Ambereye nor Black Obsidian were easy to control. They possessed their own distinct ideas and yearned for freedom and a normal life like any other human, which led them to choose rebellion against Mechanized Dawn.

On their own, they could not escape Mechanized Dawn; they would need help. However, behind Mechanized Dawn was Eve, an administrative auxiliary AI for the Federation, making alliance with the Federation impossible. Escaping to a secretive cult would be equally implausible. Thus, they chose the Resistance Army.

In a mission, Ambereye and Black Obsidian killed a peripheral member of the Resistance Army, thus learning more about its members.

It wasn’t Ghost who approached them; rather, it was they who reached out to the Resistance Army on their own.

They meticulously planned yet ultimately only Ambereye managed to escape successfully.

Ghost occasionally felt a sense of relief that Black Obsidian hadn’t managed to leave Mechanized Dawn. Together, those two might have concocted plans, potentially to withdraw from the Resistance.

Now, Ghost was less worried because Ambereye wanted to use the Resistance’s strength to save him and Black Obsider.

“What if Black Obsider has already died?” Ghost asked.

“He isn’t dead now. If he were, I’d know,” Ambereye assured him.

The twins had a subtle psychic connection, able to communicate through direct conscious exchange. They moved in unison, knowing each other’s intents, possessing an extraordinary bond. Ambereye wouldn’t ever give up on rescuing his brother.

After finishing their meal, a wristband suddenly buzzed—the summon came from a person called Night Cicada, asking all task execution squads to a meeting.

Without showing any sign of emotion, Ghost followed Silverface there.

The meeting room was a silver-white space. Night Cicada leaned back nonchalantly, his legs crossed.

Standing nearby was a woman equipped with robotic arms and with a rose tattoo, beside her was a tall nearly fully机械化战士，他是黑曜提到过的蔷薇刺青，也是季宣提到的作战部负责人空月。

“昨晚的行动遭遇挫败，有一些小损失。”夜蝉的视线在Ghost身上停留片刻，“身体怎么样？还能恢复行动吗？”

“能。”Ghost回答道。

“那真是太好了，按原计划继续。”夜蝉说。“昨晚虽然和Lady Fortune擦肩而过，但这没关系，她还在这座城市，她不可能离开这儿。”

“你确定？换成我，如果无法战胜的敌人发现了我的存在，我早就跑了。”蔷薇刺提出质疑。“既然敌人在这里，除了脑子坏掉的人，都会逃跑吧？”

“我这么肯定是因为暗网上收到回音，是今天早上九点时的。”夜蝉说。

银面说：“啊？是要去面试了吗？”

“是。”夜蝉回答道，“先确认下Shadowless（无光）是否与Lady Fortune有关联，再确认是否与玩家有关…我觉得后者可能性很大。Shadowless在场的话，她几乎不可能逃跑。”

Ghost听完陷入了沉思。

“Zerore，这个任务由你负责。”夜蝉敲了敲桌面，桌面上出现一封简短的回信，那是一串地址。“去这里进行面试。”

蔷薇刺说：“昨晚狙击手攻击的目标是Zerore，她可能通过目镜看到了Zerore的外表特征。如果狙击手是Lady Fortune，而且她和Shadowless有关系，一旦Zerore出现了会被即刻认出，她会下手。而且面试地点由Shadowless制定，我担心那里有埋伏。”

“既然认出来了就认出来。她把她列为首要攻击目标是因为觉得Zerore对她有威胁。如果Zerore在这个时候出现在她面前，她能否忍住不去动手呢？”夜蝉说，“她想捉弄我们，我们也捉弄她。”

“是，我会完成任务。”Ghost说。

他乐在其中地扮了一番角色。选择Zerore的重要原因之一是他善于伪装，不需要做太多，只需要关键时刻说一声服从命令的话就够了。更重要的是，Zerore的能力很出色，他非常喜欢。

他已经计划好要长期潜伏下来，用Zerore的能力可以帮助做很多事情。发动能力之后，“战友”们的能力就会减弱，就像失去了重要的手臂一样，无论是作为俘虏还是清除对象都容易一些。

再说夜蝉，他的空间能力很难对付，但是幸好只是S级。Zerore的能力也是S级，可以应对S级的超凡能力者。趁夜蝉不备偷袭他一把，说不定就可以除去反抗军的大敌、Eve的得力助手，或者有机会占据夜蝉的身体……

Ghost之所以对Zerore的能力限制和发动条件如此熟悉，是因为他猜测到人造人Zerore的原型是谁——联邦特事处部长钟信鸥。

仅仅钟信鸥的能力名称在官方文件上被命名为“Void Zone”，机械黎明将其改名为了“Reset”。人造人Zerore和钟信鸥的容貌并不完全相同，但仔细观察眉眼之间还是能找到一些线索。

Ghost非常想知道Eve是从什么途径获得这人的基因样本的，她做得悄无声息，而被提取基因的人对此却毫无察觉。

不过Eve的具体手段并不重要，重要的是眼前的“面试”。

Ghost到现在也没能弄明白摆渡人为何突然背叛了两个组织，他想了很久都觉得她背叛反抗军或机械黎明中的任何一个都可以理解，但同时背叛两个……是不是因为她嫌自己活得太久了？

与机械黎明开了今天的会议，鬼从夜蝉的话语中隐约摸到真相。

她还是她，却又不是她；她极有可能变成一位玩家。

“好了，去吧。”夜蝉说，“记得带上新型装备，准备再充分些吧，这次月空会让你一同前往。”

那个浑身钢铁的机械化战士点了点头，第一个走出办公室。

他们一同前往武器库整理装备。

“防具的防护作用太差了，我们直接穿上隐形外骨骼吧，衣服厚一点就看不出来。”银面向Ghost特别强调道，“你昨晚差点就没命，要注意安全。”

Ghost面色如常地接受了同事的关心，穿戴好了装备。

“啊，是这种变色龙纽扣？”银面捏着一枚类似银色指甲盖的小装置看了看，“上次我拿那个的时候研究员说是还没研究完善，让我可以先玩玩，实战时不要用。这种东西现在可以投入实战了吗？”

“那不是变色龙纽扣，那是光学迷彩。”蔷薇刺纠正道，“组织不会把未经完善的装置放进装备箱，既然放进来了，那就说明它已经研究成功了。”

按下光学迷彩装置，一束光射出，光的流转间蔷薇刺融入了周围环境中。

“很不错，很有用的东西。”她将其固定在自己的作战服上。

Ghost也谨慎地收拾好了装备箱。机械黎明的科技实在是太先进了，有些装置他甚至连怎么用都不知道……不过没关系，这儿的所有装备都可以通过人工智能操控。

戴上隐藏耳麦的一瞬间，他耳边传来人工智能的声音：“Eden为您服务，请随时向我发出指示。”

“Eden……”Ghost默念道，低着头，嘴角微妙地上扬。

“嗯？任务文件显示中午十二点是面试的时间。”银面紧张地说，“我们必须立刻出发了！”

Ghost跟着他们和空月汇合，离开了机械黎明分部，前往指定地点。

路上蔷薇刺还抱怨道：“雇个小弟就雇个小弟，搞得像正规公司面试似的，真没意思……我们在那里面试时，会不会有好几个求职者也在那儿排队等待面试呀？”

空月思索几秒，冷冷地说：“不会的。怎么说这也算是见不得光的地下组织，这么大规模的面试不怕一网打尽吗？”

任务执行小队的所有人都觉得空月说得没错，逻辑上确实是这样。无光这个组织如同其名，行走在阴影之中，过于公开的面试只会害了自己。

抵达面试地点附近，机械黎明其他人隐藏在附近，计划中只有Ghost需要进入面试，其他人在外待命。

Ghost保持警惕，边走边留意四周。这时，一个赏金猎人装扮的男人从他身旁走过，略打量了他两眼后离开。

紧接着，一个街头混混装束的人也从他们旁离开，同样注视着他几眼。

看他们的行进方向，像是要去同一个地方……

Ghost心中开始感到不安。

当他来到面试地点，走进那栋残破的建筑物，十几双眼睛齐刷刷地朝这里望过来，打扮各异的人表情警觉，互相望着对方，俨然一整笼被围困的豪猪，竖起尖刺警惕着身边的潜在敌人。

其中一个正在抽烟的人吐了个烟圈，疑惑地问道：“大家……都是来面试的吗？”

“是啊……”另一个困惑地答道，“没想到这人数竟然这么多了……”

Ghost：“……？”

这个地下组织怎么不按常规操作？