Chapter 211

Chapter 211: Dark Boundless Realm Part 66

Four Leaves was asleep. It was night, and He Kangshi also needed rest. Kui Xin asked him to stay at this outpost and take care of Four Leaves.

She left the rest room and went to the ground floor of the safe house, preparing to use Blood Spirit to retrieve Four Leaves’s memories.

When she first met Four Leaves in the glass jar, she had drawn his blood. After successfully taking him away, that tube of blood was no longer needed; Kui Xin could extract fresh blood at any time for memory reading.

Four Leaves was cooperative. Researchers often injected unknown medications into his body in the laboratory and drew his blood for testing. Therefore, he was accustomed to seeing syringes and did not fear them… This was different from ordinary children.

Kui Xin sat on a chair and took out a syringe, squeezing a drop of blood into her mouth.

The smell of blood permeated the air as she activated “Blood Spirit.” The memories belonging to Four Leaves surfaced like waves.

His memories were harmless and did not cause any impact or intense emotions and unforgettable scenes to Kui Xin. They were like a stagnant lake, devoid of any ripples.

Four Leaves’s memories were short because his waking period was very limited. Most of the time, he slept in the glass jars. Occasionally, when he woke up briefly, he saw only light green nutrient fluids and transparent glass walls around him. His reflection could faintly be seen on the glass… It was the first time he knew what he looked like.

Many glass jars were placed around him, inside which other people were sleeping.

He occasionally woke up, but soon he would fall back into sleep. Each time he awoke, the “people” in the jars around him would decrease, while some grew older. Some jars became empty and new tiny “people” were put in, who would grow just as he did.

There were times when he would wake up and see a group of people in white clothes moving around his jar. They observed him through the glass, conversing… Their indistinct words reached his ears through the glass wall…

In those half-dreaming days, pain was his most vivid sensation.

Because his body was growing abnormally fast, and his bones were rapidly developing, he felt pain all over.

It was unknown how much time had passed before the group in white appeared again.

One person said, “Growth indicators have been reached, and inner organs’ growth is normal. Brain… um, all regions are fully developed. We can take him out, and we can try implanting some knowledge.”

The level of nutrient liquid in the jar slowly dropped. For the first time, his feet touched the ground, but he quickly fell. The glass wall lowered, and mechanical arms transferred him onto a stretcher. A robot pushed him into another room, placing him into a capsule-shaped container.

Various wires and patches were attached to his head, and he fell asleep with a splitting headache.

When he woke up again, the group in white bent down to look at him and said, “I-F-2-4.”

This code triggered knowledge implanted in his mind. According to that knowledge, he should respond accordingly now.

Thus, he opened his mouth, attempting to control his tongue and lips to make airflow pass through his vocal cords, difficultly uttering his first words: “Yes… I am here.”

One person in white garments said, “Not bad. Now all we need to do is batch implant memories. Give him some time to adjust.”

“First, implant knowledge, and then more advanced concepts, such as obedience and loyalty…”

“He’s one of the outstanding adaptors. After so many failures, he’s finally succeeded.”

“We need to monitor his behavior closely, as synthetic humans have occasionally developed rebellious consciousness…”

“First, return him to the jar for sleep. Direct exposure to external environments can trigger brain activity. However, we don’t need to rush this. Once the memories are implanted, we can proceed with adaptation slowly. Previous failures have shown that the experimental process needs adjustment—it can’t underestimate these synthetic lives.”

“This makes sense. Let’s proceed as planned.”

So he was put back into the jar, periodically waking up to see his fellow synthetic humans sleeping around him, then suddenly finding himself in a new place outside the jar, with many strange pieces of knowledge implanted in his mind. He learned to speak, to write, to recognize colors, and understood the composition of oxygen—the necessity of oxygen for survival…

He noticed that over time, one by one, the people in the surrounding jars disappeared.

The next time he encountered white-clothed individuals entering a room filled with glass jars, he vaguely heard some terms from their discussion: “Disposal… failure… scrap…”

A white-clad figure stood in front of another jar filled with a fully-developed synthetic humanoid. He said, “Such a pity, unable to withstand memory implantation, nearing brain death—like newborns, their brains are too fragile… Cut off the oxygen supply and clear out this breeding container.”

The oxygen mask on the face of the synthetic humanoid inside the glass jar abruptly disconnected. She was a girl, whose body twitched violently after the oxygen cut-off. Driven by physiological reflexes, she coughed out bubbles that rose in the light green solution, while her body sank into the solution…

She died.

Corrosive fluid was injected into the solution, dissolving the synthetic humanoid’s body, which mixed with the light green liquid and was then expelled from the glass jar.

“Hmm? Why is he awake again?” The person in white looked at him.

“This individual is special, often waking up,” someone said. “Could there be a problem? Do we need to examine him closely or report?”

“Continue observing for now, no need to report immediately.”

He was later taken out several times. This time, he was placed in a wheelchair and pushed to an empty room where a blank-eyed person in white waited, a fellow synthetic.

The other was covered in white fur, skin also white, and lifted a hand, causing a small water ball to appear out of thin air.

“Make the water ball disappear,” the白衣者 told him, standing beside him. “You know what to do. Try it.”

His gaze locked onto the water bead, and an invisible force field spread outward from his body with a splashing sound. The water ball disintegrated.

“Ability intensity assessment, A-level,” reported a robot.

“Wonderful… We can proceed with the next stage of cultivation,” said the one in white.

After a short departure from the jar, he returned.

Closing his eyes, he gazed at his reflection in the glass and pondered—would he see something new upon awakening?

When he woke up again, he found his answer.

Someone without tubes or oxygen mask, entirely black, materialized in his jar, floating effortlessly.

People without oxygen would die in the jar… He vaguely understood that “disposal” and “destruction” were not positive outcomes. So, he handed his oxygen mask to her, saying, “Breathe with this.”

…

His memories ended suddenly.

Four Leaves’s life flashed before Kui Xin’s eyes.

He had few experiences and scant knowledge, despite some being implanted in his mind. Yet, he had never practiced them, leaving him with extremely limited knowledge of the world. The mechanized dawn implanted memories selectively, leaving behind more advanced concepts like faithfulness. It was fortunate they hadn’t implanted such high concepts yet.

From Four Leaves’s memories, Kui Xin glimpsed the process used by the Mechanized Dawn to cultivate artificial humans—their approach virtually allowed for mass production, keeping the viable ones and eliminating defective ones.

Four Leaves was a high-quality creation, exhibiting excellent adaptability, rapid learning and regular bodily growth. Had it not been for Kui Xin’s intervention, Four Leaves would have become a loyal servant of the Mechanized Dawn.

Some of Four Leaves’s memories included bits of dialogue among researchers. From these conversations, Kui Xin learned that the Mechanized Dawn continuously revised its methods for cultivating artificial humans. Initially, artificial humans exhibited rebellious tendencies, but subsequently, these incidents were suppressed. As a result, artificial humans became increasingly docile in subsequent generations.

The Mechanized Dawn produced compliant machines.

Thinking about it, Kui Xin believed the rebellion of artificial humans,尽管这是一个例外的情况，但是真正采取行动的会不会不只是琥珀黑曜？

其他人造人呢？

在机械黎明分部的时候，那两个研究人员亲口说过有人造人打破了玻璃罐逃了出来……

此外，四叶接受培养的地方似乎不在白鲸市，他被临时运输到这里。

隗辛揉了揉太阳穴，从椅子上站起来，离开了安全屋。

今天中午曾与琥珀见面时隗辛口头答应了她的交易请求，她和琥珀没有交换联系方式，因为通过通讯器联系容易被察觉。

现在隗辛要去见琥珀，问她一些问题。

她来到了今天中午与琥珀约见的地点，环视四周，发现了电线杆上歇息的小鸟。

一只闭着眼睛假装休眠的小鸟忽然睁开眼睛，看向隗辛，随即又闭上了眼睛。

过了十五分钟，一个衣衫褴褛的流浪者慢吞吞地沿着大街走到隗辛身旁。

“我也想见到你。”琥珀说，“我的眼线观察到今天下午创拓科技公司发生了一次小骚乱，大楼里传来震动声，有人误以为是地震了，都跑了出来，后来打听到的消息是设备爆炸起火但很快被消防系统扑灭了……但我认为事实并非如此。”

“是我做的。”隗辛坦率地说，“我想问你一些事。”

“请说。”琥珀说道。

“你们之前有人造人成功逃走了吗？”

琥珀回答说：“据我所知还没有……不排除夏娃封锁了消息。我倾向于认为没有，因为夏娃之前几乎没有对我们进行防范，也没有在我们体内植入定位器。”

“今天我打听到一个相当重要的情报，研究员提到人造人开始反叛的现象发生了几次。要么是夏娃封锁了消息；要么是在你们之后，其他人造人在这几周里也相继反叛。”隗辛说。

琥珀思索片刻：“有可能。”

“反抗军有行动吗？”隗辛问道。

“没有，他们准备召回我。或许他们想看看你和机械黎明、特情处相互争斗。”琥珀冷静地说道。

“你的大脑中有没有精神坐标？”

“……有，”琥珀面色凝重了一分。“天使……很恐怖。目前我没有办法除掉它，除非我和黑曜一起进行，等我们的能力等级都达到A级后再联手尝试……”

“联手尝试？”隗辛疑惑地问。

“我可以与黑曜进行精神共鸣，两者的能力合力大于分开的作用。”琥珀解释道，“如果你信任我，我救出黑曜后会试试帮你去掉那个东西。”

这相当于投诚了……不过隗辛不敢将自己的大脑交给精神能力者，因为这风险太大了。

“你可以不被反抗军召回。”隗辛缓缓道，“你可以留在这座城市里。”

琥珀惊讶地说道：“如果我不回去，就等于背叛了抵抗军。他们可能会旁观你的斗争，而一旦我背叛，抵抗军的人一定也会再来这里对付你和我……我们都带着精神坐标！他们会确认我们的位置。”

“那个东西只能定位，无法对我们造成实质性伤害，不是吗？”隗辛说。“否则我叛逃这么长时间了，为什么‘天使’没有利用那个坐标直接导致脑死亡？做不到这个，我们就有很大机会。”

琥珀忍不住问：“你要我留下，究竟是想……”

“帮我。”隗辛说道。“我需要你的帮助。”

“我不相信你，你也不信任我。”琥珀说道，“坦率地说，我害怕你会杀死我。”

“我不会杀你，琥珀。”隗辛说道，“我不是那种一见到强大能力就想据为己有的人。我还留着一个高等级的人造人，没有杀掉他，尽管杀掉他会给我带来巨大的利益。”

“谁？”琥珀很快反应过来，“你今天下午不光袭击了机械黎明……莫非你还……”

“我带回了一名人造人，就是这个……夏娃的敌人恳求我放过他，我答应了。”隗辛说道，“我是一个言出必行、坚持原则的人，琥珀。”

她拿出通讯器，给琥珀看了通讯屏显。

屏幕上，四叶裹着毛毯，裹在沙发里熟睡。

琥珀认出了那张脸。他眼中闪过复杂的思绪，思量许久，最终低下头，操控着流浪者的躯体缓慢倒在地上。

隗辛瞥了一眼流浪者，目光转向漆黑一片的大街。

五分钟过去，一名少年出现在街道尽头。

“现在可以面对面谈了吧？”隗辛道。

“好的。”琥珀松了一口气，今晚的举动对他而言犹如一次豪赌。“先让我见见那个你收养的人造人吧。”