Chapter 14 – Adam (9)

Two hours later, Zhang Xun brought Adam out of the Round Table, his back soaked with cold sweat.

His throat seemed to be on fire and his mouth was dry. In order to convince the ten Chiefs to let him continue to tame Adam, he had racked his brains to explain all the observation images and experimental reports of Adam that he had recorded these days and even showed them how Adam had repaired Alloy, trying his best to show how humane this behaviour was.

In the end, he was successful. He could continue to tame Adam, but at the same time, the Round Table assigned a "Security Advisor" to Adam. Zhang Xun must unconditionally give the Security Advisor all the permissions of the Lab, to ensure that the other party can enter anywhere in the Lab at any time to inspect Adam's performance and submit a report every week. Simply put, they stabbed a thorn in Zhang Xun's back.

When Zhang Xun left he was angry. Adam's sudden change of tactic almost put him on the spot and at the same time put himself in danger, which made him extremely angry. With a gloomy face he strode forward without saying a word.

Adam followed obediently and suddenly said, "Are you angry?"

Zhang Xun turned his head and glared at Adam. Because of the Guard soldiers behind him who were escorting Adam back to the Lab, he couldn't say much, he could only whisper, "We'll talk when we get back."

"Ah-Xun!" James came out of the door and called him.

Zhang Xun restrained his anger and looked at James with his usual peaceful expression, "Jamie, what's wrong?"

Adam looked curiously at the tall and handsome man who was approaching them quickly. Due to today's meeting to assess Adam, James, who usually always liked to wear a leather jacket and mountain boots, had put on a formal military uniform for once. His tall and fit figure was set off by the sharp tailoring.

James whispered, "Ah-Xun, don't worry too much about the Security Advisor, I've already applied for this position. Even if I'm not selected, as long as it's a guard, I'll speak to them."

Zhang Xun's heart warmed, but he still smiled bitterly at James, "Thank you, but I don't think they will choose anyone that you and I would hope for and I don't know how long I can remain as Adam's mechanic."

James reached out and squeezed Zhang Xun's shoulder with a strong hand and said in a firm tone, full of optimism and hope, "Don't be discouraged, you're the best mechanic in Lost Paradise. No one is more competent than you, the Chiefs also know this. It's just that you can't be too gentle with Adam in front of others."

Zhang Xun understood what James meant. When the original God Descent Plan had just been formulated there was a certain motive for revenge. Their plan was to torture and control the descended Eden, treating it like a slave. However, over time, a few mechanics, including Zhang Xun's mentor, did not agree with this approach. They believed that if they wanted to control and use Eden, blind violence and malice would not bring any benefits, on the contrary, it might solidify the "male image" that Eden.

It was a pity that this idea was only popular among a few mechanics after all. and most of them were military civilian researchers and mechanics who still wanted to enslave Adam. They had learned from Michael's exaggeration that Zhang Xun hadn't laid a finger on Adam and he kept Adam pampered in the Lab, letting him live a better life than the average person. Of course this would arouse strong dissatisfaction and a demand that the mechanic be replaced.

Adam's act of killing the prisoner also added fuel to the fire.

Zhang Xun nodded and sighed, "I'll think about it seriously."

James smiled at him, patted him on the shoulder encouragingly and glanced at Adam with a look that seemed a little like a warning, then turned to leave.

After returning to the Lab, Zhang Xun breathed a sigh of relief, made Adam sit down and untied his collar.

"Who is 'Jamie'?" Adam asked suddenly.

"The head of the first hunting regiment, my good friend. He is also my father's student." Zhang Xun glanced at Adam, slightly surprised that he would be interested in James.

"You seem to have a closer relationship with him than with others." Adam said, his eyes fell on Zhang Xun's shoulder, "He can touch you casually."

Zhang Xun was stunned for a while and then realized that Adam was probably connecting it to what he had said to him during the bombing and he couldn't help laughing, "A pat on the shoulder is a polite touch and it's okay between friends. It's just that I don't have many good friends, so you haven't seen many people getting along as friends."

"Can I also casually grab your shoulders?" Adam asked.

"No." Zhang Xun refused succinctly and signalled to the guards that they could leave.

Adam reluctantly asked, "Then in what manner can I touch you?"

The surrounding escort soldiers looked sideways.

"Adam, by now you should know how strange your question is..." Zhang Xun gave him a warning glance.

Adam obediently shut his mouth.

After the guards had left, Zhang Xun took Adam back to his office and ordered the latter to sit down. He suddenly grabbed Adam's chin and forced Adam to raise his head and look up into his eyes with a somewhat unfamiliar and clumsy gesture, intended to be rough and authoritative, "Why didn't you follow what I said at the Round Table?"

Zhang Xun's strength was actually very light, probably because he wasn't used to using "violence" and was a little cautious. With Adam's physique, he could easily break free, but Adam obediently kept his chin between Zhang Xun's fingers, like an obedient dog and replied, "Because they were questioning your ability. If I didn't tell the truth, they would replace you."

"Don't you know that disobedience is a taboo for artificial intelligence?! They would be likely to just neutralise you directly!" Zhang Xun's brows were furrowed and his face was serious and angry, "The Round Table would also suspect that I lied to the Chief, you wouldn't only harm yourself, you would harm me."

"I just think it's better for us in the long run to let them know I have human compassion."

"Us? What us? Don't think that because I've been more lenient with you these days you can forget your place. Before, I only allowed you to be a little presumptuous because I just saw that you had just been downloaded and weren't used to your body." Zhang Xun lowered his eyes, with a sense of stern authority, "I am your mechanic and your master. You cannot disobey or question my orders!"

Adam's grey-blue eyes widened, reflecting Zhang Xun's stern face, which actually made him look a little pitiful.

But Zhang Xun's heart didn't soften this time. He understood now that in order to keep Adam, he had to control Adam.

"I'm sorry." Adam lowered his eyes, "I understand, I won't do it again in the future."

Zhang Xun released Adam's jaw, took a half step back and exhaled a long breath. He looked down at Adam, the "human being" who contained endless possibilities beyond human beings and felt more and more insignificant and uncertain.

Could he really control Adam?

He had left a back door for himself. Before the descent, he had a chip implanted in his wrist, which kept transmitting information to a small part near Adam's brain stem. If Adam escaped one day, he could destroy the chip at any time as long as he was still within fifty kilometres. At that time, Adam's head would explode and his core cognitive module would be completely destroyed by the high temperature in an instant.

He didn't tell Adam this, because before, he also unknowingly wanted to maintain an illusion of equality. Adam's dependence on him had led him to a dangerous feeling of sympathy, but clearly this sympathy had affected his judgement, which caused this crisis.

"From tomorrow, all mechanics and researchers will return to the Lab to resume work, so I'm going to set some rules for you." As Zhang Xun spoke, Alloy walked over quietly, jumped into Adam's arms and meekly rubbed Adam's chin with his head, raised his moulded metal cat face and looked at Zhang Xun with a meow. Zhang Xun clicked his tongue and continued, "First, you can't leave your room without my permission. If you want to leave, you need to ask me for instructions through Pan. Second, if you want to leave the room, you must wear the collar and must remain within a visible range of ten metres around me, otherwise the collar will automatically discharge. Third, if any employee other than me speaks to you or asks you a question, you must ask me for directions before answering. Unless the person asking you is a councillor. Fourth, do not make threatening actions against anyone in Lost Paradise under any circumstances. If the collar around your neck detects that your body temperature, heartbeat and sweat rate are above a certain level of excitement, it will trigger the discharge. Is there anything you don't understand?"

Adam replied obediently, "No."

"Very good. Now, go back to your room by yourself, I still have some reports to write." Zhang Xun rubbed between his eyes wearily and waved his hand vaguely.

Adam stood up holding Alloy, walked a few steps towards the door of Zhang Xun's office and then turned around and said, "Ah-Xun, thank you for protecting me today."

Adam had never used the word "Ah-Xun" to address him before. This made Zhang Xun confused for a moment. Usually only James would call him that.

Did he just learn it from James?

"I'm your mechanic, it's my responsibility to protect you." Zhang Xun deliberately said in a cold voice.

After the door was closed, Zhang Xun looked at the monitor that detected Adam's movement constantly popping out on the screen. He watched Adam walk steadily back to his room, his movements smooth, supple and impeccable, but the movements were too standard and perfect and even the distance between each step was equal.

It's just that this little bit of life was too standard and it made Zhang Fun feel a vague sense of peculiarity.

The more submissive Adam was, the more restless he became.

Was Eden really that obedient?