Chapter 40 - Wilderness (8)

After Zhang Xun and Cannon were pushed through an iron door, they saw a bruised man sitting against the wall in the primitive cell, with his eyes closed, unsure whether he was asleep or unconscious.

But Zhang Xun recognized him at a glance, it was James.

Zhang Xun rushed over immediately, first checking if he was breathing. Although his breath was weak, it carried the warmth of life. Zhang Xun exhaled a long breath and a layer of cold sweat broke out on his forehead. He reached out and patted James' cheek lightly, "Jamie? Jamie?"

James' eyelids twitched laboriously, as if stuck by endless exhaustion. One of his eyes was so swollen that he couldn't open it and the other was barely able to open a slit. Seeing Zhang Xun's face with the bruise on his cheek, James wasn't sure if he was dreaming for a while.

"Ah... Ah-Xun?"

Zhang Xun finally smiled, a kind of smile from relief when a big weight is lifted.

Great, he wasn't too late...

But James woke up suddenly, reached out his hand and grabbed Zhang Xun's shoulder tightly, "Ah-Xun?! Why are you here?!"

Cannon stood aside with his arms crossed and coldly said, "We came to investigate the people from Feathered Serpent City and to rescue you on the side but now it looks like we're going to die here together."

James was shocked, "But why did Zhang Xun come?! What about Adam? You didn't bring Adam as well, did you?!"

"I'm afraid that artificial intelligence is now being treated as a guest by the Feathered Snake City." Cannon said, with anger and disappointment flashing in his eyes, staring at Zhang Xun, "Aren't you supposed to be capable? Didn't you say you could control him? Now it seems that you were just talking big."

Zhang Xun didn't respond to his accusations and asked James in a low voice, "How are your injuries?"

"I'm okay, these injuries look scary, but they're actually just skin wounds, which have begun to heal." James didn't mention that the torture methods the Feathered Snake City people used often involved using drugs to create a kind of hormone imbalance in the body that produced a strong sense of fear, so most of the trauma caused by fear was on the psychological level. He looked at the bruise on Zhang Xun's cheek and his eyes flashed with angry flames, "They tortured you too?"

"No." Zhang Xun replied simply, "At least not yet."

"These psychopathic bastards..." James cursed in a low voice, as if afraid of being heard. Zhang Xun realised that he could see dread and fear in James' usually fearless eyes.

He was worried.

"Adam has betrayed us." Cannon said, "I think this group of Feathered Serpent City people will fall into the hands of that AI sooner or later. It has calculated everything from the beginning. Mechanic, didn't you install anything in it? Like a remote control mechanism to make his brain explode? I don't believe you only have that collar as a protective measure."

Zhang Xun said calmly, "Even if we kill Adam now, we won't be able to escape."

"Then we have to drag him to hell!"

"Setting aside whether humans have souls or not." Zhang Xun turned his head and looked at Cannon with calm and maddening eyes, "Do you think an AI has the concept of going to hell?"

"Don't get pedantic with me!" Is there anything you can do?! You claim to be the best mechanic in Lost Paradise, how come you don't have any precautionary measures?!" Cannon suddenly strode forward, grabbed Zhang Xun by the collar and almost lifted him off the floor, "Or is it that you've been brainwashed and controlled by him? Are you and him together?!"

"Cannon! Calm down." James stood up against the wall and put his hand on Cannon's wrist "You said Adam betrayed you, what happened?"

Cannon recounted the situation where Adam suddenly appeared outside and told everything. The more James listened, the more frightened he became. He looked at Zhang Xun for a while, "Is it true?"

Zhang Xun didn't speak.

"But... that's wrong..." James shook his head inexplicably, "If he had even planned the god descent plan, then it would have been easy for him to destroy Lost Paradise. Why go through such an effort?"

"Adam doesn't hate men." Zhang Xun finally said, "He's just been faithfully implementing his original goal."

"Listen to you! I knew that this shitty mechanic had been brainwashed! They shouldn't have let him tame Adam, look at how weak he looks!"

Cannon's words, full of scorn and anger, fell in Zhang Xun's ears and didn't seem to cause any turbulence, but it actually made things worse in Zhang Xun's heart.

He wanted to believe Adam, but what if that was true?

He had never known that believing in someone could require so much effort. He had to press his hand against the necklace on his chest to regain some strength.

At this moment, James let out a gasp. Because he had stood up, the place where he had been kicked in the abdomen had started to ache again. Zhang Xun hurriedly supported him, took off his coat and placed it on the ground and helped James to sit back down. James suddenly grabbed Zhang Xun's arm tightly and whispered, "Ah-Xun, didn't you say you installed a standby program for Adam? Is there a reason you didn't use it?"

Zhang Xun glanced at James without answering and James vaguely understood something.

They didn't know how long they had been locked in the cell when a groove in the middle of the iron door opened and someone pushed three plates of meals in, but none of the three of them touched the food as they were worried there might be strange drugs in it. But later on he was hungry, his mouth was dry and thirsty and his mind began to groan from exhaustion. When Zhang Xun leaned against the wall and gradually slipped into an inadvertently stable dream, the closed cell door suddenly opened.

In a daze, Zhang Xun felt two pairs of rude and rough hands pulling him away. He was forcibly pulled out of his dream and he couldn't understand the situation for a while, he could only to hear James' angry shouts, "What are you doing?! Let go of him! Take me instead!"

This was immediately followed by a groan as a strong Feathered Serpent City soldier kicked James down. Another soldier's right arm instantly transformed into a huge laser gun, pointing in the direction of Cannon and James.

"Behave! Unless you think you haven't been beaten enough?" the soldier threatened.

When Zhang Xun was dragged out of the cell, he only had time to turn around and shout to James, "It's alright!"

He was escorted by several soldiers and passed by several other similar cells. The small windows on the iron doors were all closed, but He Yuxin and Jabari were most likely locked in a few of these cells. Although this was a temporary base with exposed steel everywhere, the entire corridor was clean and bright, without any blind spots or redundant things, it had obviously been carefully designed.

"Where are you taking me?" Zhang Xun asked.

No one answered him.

He was taken into the elevator and then into the vast underground space he had seen before, only this time on a mid-air suspension ladder made of steel bars and iron plates. Zhang Xun noticed that the mechas and those strangely shaped aircraft were still sitting on several runways, but the number of staff around was much fewer.

He was taken into a brightly lit room full of screens and consoles, probably the command room here. The soldiers forced him to sit on a chair, locked his hands and feet with handcuffs, took a few steps back and stood aside.

After a while, several people entered the room. Zhang Xun saw Adam walking in the middle at a glance.

Adam had changed out of Lost Paradise's battle uniform and was now wearing a neat, white Feathered Serpent City officer uniform. His gait was calm and steady and his eyes were indifferent but with a hint of a smile, and his gaze swept over him lightly as if he had never seen Zhang Xun before.

The first person who entered was General Muluk and there were three other people, two of which were probably Generals of Feathered Serpent City who participated in this secret operation and a man who looked a bit like a mechanic.

These people sat down on the chairs opposite Zhang Xun and looked over at him. Zhang Xun immediately felt as if he was some kind of item that was on sale.

"You are Zhang Xun, the ultimate executor of the god descent plan," said the mechanic-like man in a white coat, "Your design plan and courage is admirable. You are the first person in the world to achieve this level of integrating humans and machines."

Zhang Xun was stunned, he was ready to be severely tortured so why was he suddenly receiving praise?

Zhang Xun, who wasn't used to being praised by strangers, replied a little awkwardly, "Uh...thank you?"

Adam looked at him with a smile, his expression even a little proud.

Muluk said, "I heard that you didn't get the attention you deserve in Lost Paradise and someone has even been trying to sabotage your god descent plan?"

Zhang Xun glanced at Adam and said, "It's not really sabotage, it's just daily supervision."

"Really? I heard that your Round Table has wanted to replace you several times?"

"..."

Muluk cleared his throat a little and continued, "I won't beat around the bush; Feathered Serpent City needs talents like you. If you immigrate to Feathered Serpent City, we will do our best to provide you with any materials you need to help you with your research."

Zhang Xun's brows furrowed, was this what Adam proposed?

To make him join Feathered Serpent City?

What was he doing? Adam knew that he couldn't agree to this.

"Thank you for your appreciation and kindness, but I'm sorry, I can't agree." Zhang Xun replied clearly.

"Why? Because your father is the Commander of Lost Paradise?" the mechanic asked.

Was it necessary for Adam to even tell them this?!

Zhang Xun glared at Adam and replied, "Even if he wasn't, I will not join the enemy."

"You are wrong, we are not your enemies. We just want to live." The Feathered Serpent City mechanic said, "How far can you go the way you are now? If Eden completely blocks you so that you can't go out hunting, your food supply will be exhausted within three months. If Eden hadn't left us a way to live, we would never have survived until now."

"So on the surface you say that you are a refugee country, but you are actually doing things for Eden. Is that right?" Zhang Xun gradually understood, "What did Eden ask you to do for him?"

"Let them take you and me out of Lost Paradise. After all, after the last bombing, Eden doesn't want to add any more casualties to the ordinary world." Adam finally spoke. He leaned back on the chair, crossed his legs and put his hands on his legs with a calm look, "My investigation into Lost Paradise has ended. You are the only one who is worth taking out of Lost Paradise."

Zhang Xun quietly looked at him, then turned his head, looking around at everyone in the room. Then, his eyes dropped and his shoulders began to shake.

He started laughing.

"Adam, why is it like this? You learned to be a human being, you learned so fast. You've even learned how to deceive like a human." Zhang Xun raised his head, his eyes were frozen, "You don't want to take me away at all. You're just afraid that I'll activate that thing on your forehead."

The atmosphere in the room changed subtly and the soothing calm was gradually tightened.

Adam also had no intention of flinching and stared back at Zhang Xun in equal measure. He slowly stood up and walked towards Zhang Xun and the latter had to raise his head to maintain the confrontation in his eyes.

But his momentum was suppressed by this disadvantage of being in a low position.

"Hahaha..." Zhang Xun never knew that Adam could laugh like this... with such wickedness, "Do you really think I can't crack your encryption method?" Adam reached up and touched the diamond-shaped device on his forehead.

"If that's the case, what are you waiting for?" Zhang Xun also smiled, a sneer that didn't reach the corner of his eyes, "Why don't you remove it then? Or are you afraid that I have other tricks? After all you're mortal now, if you die there will be nothing left." After he finished speaking, he raised his eyes to look at Muluk and the others, "You're actually cooperating with the culprit who persecuted you to this point and instead you're framing your brother refugee state......you're just cowards who bully the weak and fear the strong!"

Zhang Xun seemed to be using these words for the first time. The moment he said it, he felt really cool. No wonder those soldiers liked to use such words to scold people...

But as soon as he finished speaking, a soldier came over and pressed something cold on his neck. In the next instant, an ice-like electric current passed through his body. He cried out in agony as the muscles in his body began to spasm and twitch in agony, as if his whole body was going to jerk up, but the shackles of his hands and feet restricted his movement and he was writhing on the chair like a dehydrated fish...

Fortunately, the soldier's electric shock wasn't set very high and after a few seconds of extreme pain he finally managed to take a breath. But even so, he was in a sorry state, with tears and snot flowing uncontrollably.

During the whole process, Adam stood beside him without even blinking his eyes.

Zhang Xun felt a chill and pain spread in his chest.

He remembered what he had said to Adam before. If he had experienced the pain of an electric shock before, he would never have proposed to issue a collar controller to every team member.

Unexpectedly, he was the first to experience an electric shock...

"I don't think that's a good idea, soldier." Adam said, "The mechanic implanted some controllers and trackers into his own body. If your current accidentally triggers some unknown function, it could put me at risk."

The soldier immediately showed a look of horror, "I'm sorry..."

Zhang Xun gasped for breath, his body was still shaking uncontrollably. He felt Adam's hand lightly fall on his neck, causing him to shudder hard.

The hand slid gently up the back of his neck, resting on the top of his hair.

"My dear mechanic, if you don't want to go to Feathered Serpent City, I won't force you. However, I need you to help me with one thing. After this thing is completed, I can let you and your companions leave."

Zhang Xun raised his head and looked into Adam's eyes.

At this moment, Adam's eyes seemed to return to the way he was in the Lab and he was as sincere and gentle as a child.

Was this sentence true or false?

Should he go along with this sentence or continue to play his role as if he would rather die?

Could it be that he was always the only one who thought it was a play and Adam had been watching his good show?

Zhang Xun wasn't sure, he had never been sure. He could only rely on his intuition and ask, "What do you want me to do?"

"It was you who completed the god descent plan. Only you have the ability to help me reach 'Nirvana'." As he spoke, he turned to look at a large screen on the right, "The people in Feathered Serpent City have the latest developed servers, which are small and easy to transport. I want you to help me upload my core modules and database back to the cloud."