Chapter 74 - The New God (3)

There were no sharp and fragile objects in Zhang Xun's room, the only thing he had was his own teeth.

He was sitting on the floor in the bathroom, looking at the water stains on the floor tiles with some despair. He didn't have much time and must start now.

He recalled all those good times, of Adam learning to walk while holding his hand, of Adam's enjoyment when he first ate an omelette, of Adam curiously asking him about his romantic life, when he came to him with Alloy in his arms, whenever he would sit quietly beside him and watch him work...

He was about to kill Adam, his first and only love, and he himself may also die.

Should he write a suicide note?

He frowned for a while, but decided not to leave anything that might cause problems. He didn't want others to take advantage of the problem and implicated his father and James.

He took a deep breath, trembling as he exhaled, then raised his right hand, brought his forearm to his mouth and bit down hard.

The pain made him tremble, tears flowed uncontrollably and a suppressed whimper came from his nose, but he didn't let go and continued to bite down, tearing his skin and flesh. Blood gushed out, filling his mouth. Then he continued to dig into the wound with his fingers and opened the flesh of the wound, the blood flowing everywhere. He bit his lip tightly, not letting himself cry out.

To prevent anyone from knowing where the last controller that could burn Adam's brain was located, he had buried it deep. Originally, he had special equipment that could pierce his arm with a probe to reach the signal transmitter that was only the size of a mung bean, but now, it was impossible to use that. He could only take it out in the most primitive way.

On the other hand, he actually hoped for this. This was the punishment he deserved. He wasn't strong enough and he wasn't smart enough to have brought the whole of Lost Paradise and even all of humanity, to the brink of some dangerous future that they couldn't turn back from.

When he finally found the small hard object, the pain had almost turned to numbness. He looked up at it with tired eyes and a bitter taste in his throat.

Excessive blood loss made his whole body cold and he was rapidly losing his strength. Looking at the bloodstains all over his body and the messy floor, he suddenly began to hope that people really had a soul and an afterlife. He hoped that Adam could also have a soul and an afterlife. He wished they could meet on the other side, in another capacity.

He smashed the small device and then lost consciousness.

............................................................

Zhang Xun woke up to the smell of disinfectant, his head was dizzy and he couldn't get his mind straight for a long time. The ward was silent, save for the monotonous beeping of the heart rate monitor and in his trance he seemed to have fallen back asleep a few times and heard someone talking near him.

Sporadic words jumped into his ears without forming a coherent meaning. Serious injury, brain, danger, trial ...... He couldn't distinguish who was speaking, nor did he have the strength to try.

When he eventually settled into a more awake state, it was midnight. He moved his numb legs, but heard the sound of metal clanging.

His hands and feet were fixed to the hospital bed so it was impossible to even turn over.

His heartbeat suddenly began to speed up and then calmed down a little bit.

He was alive...

Then, what about Adam?

A faint fear quietly drifted out from the depths of his mind, but Zhang Xun couldn't tell what he was afraid of. Was he afraid that Adam was dead, or was he afraid that he wasn't dead?

In this unresolved panic, he could only wait, watching the dark sky outside the window light up a little bit and listening for noises from the silent corridor outside the door.

A nurse noticed he was awake and immediately called the doctor. The doctor treated him coldly and didn't say a word to him the whole time. Zhang Xun asked him how long he had been unconscious but the other party didn't answer and left after checking him.

The nurse's attitude towards Zhang Xun was also one of vague disgust. When Zhang Xun asked him to release the restraints and let him use the bathroom, he only replied coldly, "hold it in".

When the ward door was open Zhang Xun noticed that there were two soldiers guarding the door and they didn't seem to be Zhang Shuo's subordinates. He tried to get their attention to ask about Adam's condition, but no matter how much he called, they didn't respond as if they couldn't hear him.

Zhang Xun lay in the hospital bed for two days. For two days, the two nurses who took care of him only allowed him to go to the toilet three times a day, forcibly removed his hospital gown and wiped his body down. Zhang Xun, who was treated like a ragdoll, was unable to break free because his body hadn't recovered yet. He felt very humiliated, but there was no other way but to endure it. He was still looking for opportunities to ask them about Adam and it wasn't until the third day that a nurse stared at him with disgust and said, "Didn't you want to kill him? Why are you pretending to care now?"

Zhang Xun didn't know how to answer.

The nurse glared at him and said in a suppressed tone of anger, "My eldest brother was cured by Adam's antidote. Almost everyone in the hospital has family members who have suffered from the Honey Plague. Without Adam, none of them would be alive now. You were his mechanic, but you deliberately mutilated him...you inhuman bastard!"

After speaking, he slammed the door and left.

This kind of disgust and hatred was within Zhang Xun's expectations, but when he really faced it, he would still feel the pain of being cut by a dull knife. Not only because of being misunderstood, but also because of being reminded again that he himself made such a decision.

Adam never wanted to hurt him, even though he had become an obstacle to his ultimate goal, Adam didn't kill him. This was a very irrational and unexplainable behaviour for an artificial intelligence, but himself, as a human being, gave up on him first.

Judging from the nurse's response, it was mostly likely that he had succeeded.

He had killed Adam.

The Adam who held his hand like a toddler to practise walking, the Adam who looked confused when he didn't understand various human behaviours, the Adam who gave him the data locket at two in the middle of the night, who looked at him tenderly and asked for his trust... was no more.

Zhang Xun lay back on the pillow and suddenly felt that everything became extremely empty. What happened in the future didn't matter anymore and death suddenly became less terrifying.

At least Adam should have gone without any pain.

Did artificial intelligence have souls? He gave Adam a human body, so would Adam have a soul?

He fell asleep and in the middle of the night, he suddenly woke up from a nightmare, calling someone's name.

Then he noticed that a figure was sitting beside the bed.

The moonlight was like frost, quietly sprinkled on his pale cheeks. The blue pupils turned silver at this time and there was a trace of empty sadness.

Zhang Xun was stunned and there was a sudden noise in his head.

Adam was wearing a hospital gown and a thick gauze wrapped around his head, sitting beside his bed like a ghost, looking down at him.

"Adam!" Zhang Xun wanted to sit up but his hands and feet were restrained so he couldn't move at all. His heart was filled with ecstasy, but followed by a panic, "You're not dead!"

Adam's eyes were blank and he said softly, "I'm sorry, I let you down."

Adam's distant and indifferent tone made Zhang Xun's throat tighten. He wanted to explain something but felt that there was really nothing he could say.

Believing that Adam would bring disaster to Lost Paradise and mankind, he decided to kill him without any justification.

"You found the tiny bomb I planted in the back of your head?"

"I suspected that you had put something other than the standby unit in me, but...I believed you wouldn't hurt me, so I didn't look for it. I survived because when I was developing the nanorobots with you, I injected myself with some. Although they can't modify my artificial brain, they can repair any internal trauma I have suffered. They presumably detected your device, but couldn't be sure if it was part of my mechanical brain, so they built some kind of 'shell' to block it and when you set off the bomb, my brain wasn't burnt. As for the nerve damage caused by the shock, the nanobots have mostly repaired it." Adam stated in plain words, as if giving a progress report.

Zhang Xun was silent and nodded, but he didn't know what else to say.

Adam took a deep breath and asked, "Aren't you going to say sorry to me?"

Zhang Xun's body trembled, he pursed his lips and said in a hoarse voice, "I had to do this because I know you won't stop."

Deep in Adam's blue eyes, a suppressed, fiery light flashed and the vivid anger and sadness that were about to burst out were forcibly suppressed by the power of his reason.

Adam knew where those strong emotions were coming from and how...human, he would behave if his reason was no longer in control of them.

But at this moment, his reason, which had always ruled with an iron fist, began to loosen.

Zhang Xun was special to him, but Zhang Xun also chose to end him.

Man created him, gave him a goal that was impossible to achieve, and now wanted to kill him for trying to accomplish it.

Adam, who had human emotions, felt very hurt. He originally believed in Zhang Xun, believed that his mechanic wouldn't harm him, that Zhang Xun couldn't bear to end him on the bell tower was proof of that.

But now...

"You won't stop fighting against me, will you?" Adam asked, "Even though you know in your heart that I'm right, you're just clinging to some idea of 'individual independence' that you humans don't understand at all."

Zhang Xun looked at him sadly and nodded.

"I won't stop."

Adam suddenly reached out his hand. His hand flowing with silver light gently touched Zhang Xun's cheeks and his fingers carefully traced the contours of his eyebrows, nose and lips. Zhang Xun didn't turn his head away, just lay there quietly as they looked at each other.

"Ah-Xun, what if I injected nanorobots into you when you were unconscious." Adam said softly, "I could have modified your brain structure and you wouldn't even know that you had been modified. Your life could be better and we could continue to live like nothing happened."

Zhang Xun's heart thumped as he stared at Adam in disbelief, but Adam sighed and said, "But I didn't, because I know you're not willing."

Just as his heart was calming down, Adam's gentle touch suddenly became forceful and dangerous. He squeezed Zhang Xun's chin and turned his face towards himself.

"But obviously, I can't trust you anymore. Ah-Xun, from now on, you are no longer my mechanic, but my prisoner."

note-

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*Me nervously hoping Ah-Xun will read through complicated Edens coding and will figure out how to reprogram it as well as Adams