Chapter 69 The Antidote to Human Nature (7)

Zhang Xun took a bag of mouse food and quietly went down the escape stairs to the third underground floor.

It was mostly used to store used equipment parts and few people came down here. The air smelled damp and musty and all the rusted instruments were covered with thick dust. There were intricate, metal, drainage pipes hanging overhead and sometimes there was an uproar of water rushing past.

This was also the only place where Pan's cameras weren't installed.

When approaching the area where he kept the mice, Zhang Xun tip toed, hid behind some stacked tin boxes and peeped secretly through a gap between the boxes.

Three days ago, he accidentally discovered that the mice were aware of the presence of observers and would behave differently than usual when being watched. At that time, he left after giving water and food to the mice, but found that he had left his microscopic mirror in the basement. When he went back to get it, he found that the mice were behaving strangely.

Some of the larger white mice were at the bottom, with layers upon layers of mice on top. They were building a white, wriggling "pyramid", trying to touch the lid of the tank.

They were cooperating and trying to escape.

But as soon as Zhang Xun appeared, they dispersed immediately and returned to their motionless, dull eyes.

Mice were very smart, but weren't smart enough to carry out such highly cooperative behaviours...

Zhang Xun installed a pinhole camera in a place where the mice couldn't see it, so at any time he could monitor these animals that were obviously undergoing some kind of mutation. It wasn't obvious on the outside, but after Zhang Xun covertly sent one to the Department of Life Sciences for dissection, the results shocked him.

The mouse's brain seemed to have an unprecedented growth phenomenon, but it wasn't like a normal brain tumour. The proliferating tissue was in good condition and could communicate effectively with the rest of the brain.

Zhang Xun looked at the brain slice displayed on the screen and shuddered.

The nanobots had been manufactured under his own supervision, but most of the relevant knowledge and data had come from Adam, who was involved throughout the manufacturing process. Apart from himself, who was most likely to do something with the nanobots without him noticing, he didn't really need to think about it.

He just wasn't sure whether such "side effects" were intentional or unintentional. The proliferative tissue had clearly had an effect on the behaviour of the mice, but the question was, what was the significance of this effect? The human brain was much more complex, was it immune to such "side effects"? After all, some advanced hospitals in the ordinary world had begun using nanobots. If there was a problem, it should have already manifested, right?

Or, was it precisely because nanobots were being used in the most advanced hospitals to treat diseases important people, so even if there were side effects, the news would be controlled and blocked.

Zhang Xun didn't tell the professor who did the dissection for him. He returned to the Lab as usual and accepted Adam's kiss on his lips as usual. When the two were having dinner together, Adam showed Zhang Xun a video of Alloy fighting with a mechanic's pet dog and Zhang Xun smiled appropriately.

Adam suddenly turned his head slightly to look at him, "By the way, where have you been today? I couldn't find you anywhere."

Zhang Xun said, "James asked me to go and watch his fighting match."

The smile on Adam's face diminished slightly and his brows were slightly wrinkled, showing a clearly displeased look. That look made Zhang Xun feel uneasy, "What's wrong?"

"Don't go out with him alone in the future." Adam said bluntly, "If you want to go out with him you have to let me go with you."

Zhang Xun was confused, "Ah? Why?"

"I would be jealous."

Zhang Xun opened his mouth slightly and was stunned for a few seconds, "You're jealous of... James?"

"I am jealous of all the male and female human beings of the right age who could have a romantic relationship with you." Adam said righteously, "This is an additional negative emotion that human beings develop after falling in love, I hope you can cooperate."

This time, Zhang Xun burst out laughing naturally, without needing to pretend, "Human beings don't usually talk about jealousy so directly. Besides, does that mean I can no longer talk to anyone else other than you?"

"You can, but when I'm there."

"Adam... your possessive behaviour is excessive. It's an unhealthy state of mind..." Zhang Xun shook his head, helplessly explaining half-jokingly to Adam, who was staring at him persistently. "I'm in my thirties and you're the only... partner, I've ever had. You really don't have to worry about me being taken away, most likely no one would ever fancy me except you."

That was if Adam really did "fancy" him, if the relationship between them really wasn't just based on the artificial intelligence's inexplicable bond to the administrator.

"Ah-Xun, you don't have enough awareness of your own charm." Adam took Zhang Xun's hand in both of his, put it to his lips and kissed Zhang Xun's dexterous fingers, his big, blue eyes were full of sincere tenderness, "I think you're the best human being."

Zhang Xun looked at that face full of devotion and infatuation, but his heart felt sour.

That familiar, faint sadness returned. What if they had met under different circumstances, if Adam was an ordinary human being, if there was no Lost Paradise and no Eden?

He wanted to imitate an ostrich, to bury his head in the sand and throw away all those mice, just act like he didn't know anything and immerse himself in this beautiful dream that Adam had woven for him.

But now he was back, back in the dark, damp basement, peeping at the mice that would tear apart everything he finally possessed.

The mice didn't seem to need to communicate as Zhang Xun didn't see them communicating with each other in any obvious way. He crouched down silently and sent out a mechanical mouse.

A mouse crawling on the far right was the first to notice the mechanical mouse passing on the ground. But in the next second, all the other mice, even the guinea pigs who couldn't see the mechanical mouse at the other end, turned around and gathered towards the right corner. They didn't make any extra moves, their black-spot-like eyes stared directly at what was crawling on the floor.

Zhang Xun had done this kind of experiment more than once in the past two days and he found that there seemed to be some kind of...spiritual connection between these mice?

When one mouse saw something important, all the other mice responded. This connected back to the weirdly proliferating mouse brain he saw before...

Was it the nanobots or the antibodies to the Honey Plague producing these effects?

Zhang Xun quickly entered his observations into the report document, then quickly browsed the video files in the pinhole camera and cut out the useful clips. He intended to write a report on all possible effects of nanobots on people and secretly give it to his father.

Zhang Xun hoped that he was overreacting, hoped he was over thinking. Hopefully these side effects wouldn't affect people to the same extent. But... being paranoid was better than being caught off guard.

He needed to follow up on that Honey Plague patient who had been cured by nanobots before. If the Lab wanted to collect such information in person, it had to go through Pan's extension robots, but Zhang Xun didn't want Pan to know about this. If the military did it, it would be more secure.

It's just that he had to conceal it from the Round Table at the same time...

Zhang Xun sighed and in an instant, the mice in the cages who were still gathered to observe the mechanical mice all dispersed and all returned to their motionless appearances. Zhang Xun finished the report quickly, added the food and water, then squatted down and stared carefully into the eyes of a white mouse. He could see something chilling in those two small eyeballs.

Zhang Xun thought of the nanobots that Adam had improved before that could be manipulated by Pan to move in the macroscopic world... While each robot was an individual, they acted like a single organism that was dominated by a higher consciousness. Absolute order, absolute unity, absolute collectivism.

Just like the worker bees in a hive, they could sacrifice their lives to protect a "noble" goal, devoting themselves to reproducing and giving an opportunity to descendents to work tirelessly for eternity.

It was almost a trait that humans admired...

Zhang Xun took his report and made a random excuse to leave the Lab and go to the Hawaii Sunset Bar. He put a capsule-sized hard drive next to James' glass and whispered, "Give this to my dad when you get a chance. Don't let anyone see it."

The stubble on James' chin had grown thicker and his whole demeanour was a little dispirited. He frowned and picked up the capsule, "What's this?"

"Some information. It's not convenient for me to go to him, he must read it." Zhang Xun stared nervously at James, who realised it was something serious and nodded solemnly.

Zhang Xun breathed a sigh of relief, "Thank you... I have to go back quickly." He put on his hat and scarf, raised the collar of his coat and covered the lower half of his face.

"Ah-Xun!" James suddenly tugged at his cuff. Zhang Xun paused and looked at him inquiringly.

"You have to be careful." James said in a deep voice.

Zhang Xun nodded, "You too."

For the next few days, Zhang Xun was so busy with the mechanic's assessment that he didn't even have time to go to the cafeteria to eat. Adam helped him by bringing cooked meals, bringing tea and water and even helped him with other random chores, just like a model boyfriend. He made all the mechanics cry with envy and they threw themselves into artificial intelligence research.

Whenever he had free time, Zhang Xun's mind would start wandering. So he tried not to let himself be idle, especially when Adam was around him.

Adam stuffed a chocolate chip cookie into his mouth while looking at Pan's submission for a frame design for a new blind-spot-free shield system for Lost Paradise. He touched the plate with his hand and found that he had finished everything. He licked his fingers, feeling that he needed to add more sugar to fuel his brain power, so he walked out of Zhang Xun's office to look for snacks while humming a song.

Today was a rest day and the whole Lab was quiet. When entering the empty kitchen, Pan suddenly said, "Zhang Xun locked the relevant databases and folders of Nanobot 2.0."

Adam stood in front of the snack vending machine, hesitating about which one to choose and shrugged when he heard Pan's words, "It's my fault, I should have discussed it with him first. Ah-Xun must have his own things to consider."

"You are right."

Adam selected a bag of potato chips and when he lowered his head to pick it up, he suddenly asked casually, "Ah-Xun seems to be going out a lot lately?"

Pan said, "I don't believe so. Compared with how often he went out before, it does not exceed the average."

"Really, but I can never find him."

"Maybe it's because he often goes underground recently."

"Underground?"

"Yes, the main function of the second and third basement levels is storage for supplies. My authority is only to the first basement floor. Generally, only those who have been approved by the senior mechanic can enter."

Adam made a faint 'oh' sound and returned to Zhang Xun's office with brisk steps.