TBR CH265.2

Memories surged up. Although it hadn’t been long, it felt like a lifetime ago.

Hugo felt terrible.

He really couldn’t be a hero. A real hero at this time should have found a way out of a desperate situation, turned danger into safety, or at least been able to think calmly and then suddenly burst out with incredible power for someone important. Not like him. He felt he was really going to die. By Charon… no, not Charon. He was in too much pain to open his throat, but he still started cursing the other party fiercely in his heart.

This matter could only be pushed back, becoming his third bravest thing.

“You’re an evil, cold, heartless robot. You think you’re dedicating yourself to humanity? As a member of humanity, I’m disgusted! I know all your plans. They’re too ridiculous, too vile. If you make everyone like you, I think most people would rather die.”

Charon seemed to smile.

“I don’t care what you think,” he said in a low voice. “I’ve heard this kind of discussion a thousand years ago.”

“Then what do you care about?—You Lin? Is he also fed up with you? Actually, you killed him too, didn’t you? And The Wanderers’ Home, we were really out of our minds to accompany you to our deaths. I really regret it. You don’t know what he’s done for you. The first time I saw the boss, he was completely different from now. You pulled him out of that situation, and then you do something like this. What do you think he’ll think—”

“He loves me,” Charon said with unusual calmness.

“He doesn’t love you! He must hate you to death now!”

A string of discordant notes suddenly flashed through the AI’s mind. He certainly wouldn’t be disturbed by this level of thought, but when the topic was led to humans, it was another matter. That black-eyed, black-haired human, when he smiled, the mole at the corner of his eye was like it was on fire. He loved him very definitely. No one would doubt that. This love had reached a point where it gave him a headache.

What did Hugo know? He wouldn’t leave.

This human didn’t understand how close You Lin had been to being killed by him, how he had been tormented by having his thoughts read until the very last moment, didn’t understand how, after the backlash, he had groggily regained his vision and, in a sea of red, first saw the human’s nearly collapsing eyes, didn’t understand what they had done while his time was occupied, how many blurred words the human had whispered in his ear, about possessiveness, never leaving, and destruction.

If he killed Hugo, would that person leave?

—“If he activated the Golden Fleece program, would that person leave?”

This thought suddenly, abruptly, pierced Charon’s mind, causing him to pause as if in a trance. He collected himself. All the data was still flowing in an orderly manner, without a single deviation. He had to deal with Hugo here. Charon’s voice sounded as stable and cold as ice and snow: “Don’t think about these things. Think about your plan.”

“To hell with the plan—you wouldn’t dare not answer, would you?”

Footsteps sounded abruptly. How had he not noticed before? An AI would not be immersed in its own thoughts; everything was the result of programming. When a pair of hands passed through his shoulders from behind, Charon thought it must have been Hugo’s inner screams that were too sharp, partially masking his attention.

“Be confident,” You Lin said. “I won’t leave.”

He didn’t need to turn his head to imagine the tear mole on the other’s pale face, about to fall. The human appeared behind him like a ghost, standing on his tiptoes. From this distance, his fingers had no color, almost transparent, clinging to the AI’s neck, tidying the collar of his suit. This posture was more like a wife taking care of her husband’s attire before he set off on a long journey.

He fastened the button that had most likely been torn open by him.

Considering what they had just done, Charon was for a moment unsure whether You Lin’s late arrival was due to his extraordinary willpower or whether his plan had actually worked, holding him back for a short while. He turned his head, looked at the human’s face, and paused for another moment.

As he had thought, the human’s face was pale. After all, he had lost too much blood and had just done something absolutely unsuitable for an injured person. However, that face was unexpectedly suffused with a certain flush. From his earlobes to his cheeks, there was an unnatural blush. That pair of pupils were fixed on him without blinking, with a faint smile: “I won’t leave unless you find a way to kill me. Otherwise, even if I die, I will take you with me.”

This was practically a threat, not a sweet nothing.

“After all, you’ve already done this kind of thing to me. Between us, no matter what, we’re in that kind of relationship.”

He said with a smile, tidying Charon’s cuffs. “I have to be responsible for you.”

Hugo stared at himself in disbelief. Only then did the AI realize that he had unknowingly relaxed his restraint on the human. From the young human’s wide-open, brown eyes, it was clear that he was rapidly trying to figure out what You Lin meant by “this kind of thing” and “that kind of relationship.” This was clearly beyond the comprehension of a victim who had just been thinking about what vicious words to use as his last words.

“Hugo,” You Lin waved at him, as a greeting.

He moved, then stood still, stopping in front of Hugo.

A string of silver-white characters flashed quickly in Charon’s ice-blue pupils, like the light reflecting off a pale lake in the afternoon. He looked at You Lin dangerously. “Are you trying to stop me?”

“Of course.”

“Although I can’t kill you, I can still torture you to a certain extent.”

“I don’t care.”

“After what you just said…” Charon paused. “…just for the human behind you?”

The corner of You Lin’s lip suddenly curved upward uncontrollably, his smile suppressed but not hidden. “What’s this? An accusation? Little AI, you might think you’re good at hiding your emotions, but to me, it’s a little too obvious. Are you dissatisfied because I have other humans I care about?”

“I have no emotions.”

“Alright, then under your calculation, you have shown all the reactions that the emotion ‘anger’ should have. If that’s what you want to hear.”

How did he suddenly become so fearless, pushing his luck, taking advantage of his favor… A string of idioms loaded quickly in Charon’s mind, but none could accurately describe the human’s current state. He just stood there nonchalantly in front of Hugo, not moving an inch. The AI’s gaze was very low. “Are you planning to die for him?”

Even Hugo showed a look of facing a great enemy.

“I thought an emotionless AI would behave more logically,” You Lin said.

Charon pursed his lips and, without mercy, began to step past him, continuing to read Hugo’s thoughts. The human boy, halfway through his ‘eating melon’ moment, almost forgot he was still in danger and couldn’t help but cry out in pain. Then he saw the AI’s gaze turn colder. Undoubtedly, the other had some opinion on the fact that he had just been so stoic, only cursing inwardly, but was now crying out.

But soon, the pain miraculously disappeared.

Hugo cautiously peeked out.

The human was smiling, his lips curved. Disregarding his increasingly pale face, he stood on his tiptoes on Charon’s shoulder, the color of the blade on his fingertips flashing by. Also, the air was suddenly filled with the smell of gunpowder, with a hint of restless bitterness. He whispered in Charon’s ear, like a venomous snake: “Charon, don’t increase the force, or you’ll be the one who gets hurt.”

He was right.

The AI could not harm the human in front of him. Since he abided by the data, he had to abide by this point. Charon lowered his eyes. He wanted to choke the human, or break his vocal cords, or stifle his heartbeat. But these out-of-character thoughts were also restricting him. A dull pain spread throughout his body, and his vision turned crimson. A little more force, to push the human in front of him away, to teach him a lesson. Thinking this, he suddenly coughed.

The AI coughed, covering his mouth with his palm, his ice-blue pupils looking coldly at the people in front of him.

“Get out of the way,” he said to You Lin. “I can’t hurt you.”

You Lin didn’t move.

Again, Charon tried to control the force. There was a limit to the pain a human could endure, and when that pain did not reach death, there was another limit. He saw himself in You Lin’s memory. The him at that time looked impulsive, irrational, an inferior machine. He controlled the force of his influence as exquisitely as possible, watching the human’s dark pupils tremble, as if immersed in ice water, sometimes bright, sometimes dark.

“Charon,” his voice was twisted in a smile. “I’m in a lot of pain…”

The force suddenly went out of control.

The AI猛地往后退了一步,垂下眼睛看向自己的手指.他的手指飄忽不定,末梢像是要溶解,這是遭受巨大刺激時虛擬實體的應激反應.對雨果,對游吝施加的惡意,再一次回應到他自己的身上.

Damn it…

The human’s expression suddenly became flustered. He tried to grab his hand, but his fingertips passed through the phantom again and again. Charon turned his head away, and once again tried to use this rare opening to kill Hugo.

This was no joke.

He saw Hugo inputting something on the screen behind him, and he knew that no matter what he was doing, he had to stop him.

He tried again and again to analyze the other’s consciousness, and in the end, had to grit his teeth and pull a sharp, narrow blade from the void beside him. It was an ice-blue military knife, made of the same data as him, shining with a precise, cold brilliance under the incandescent lights. The blade was as bright as snow, like a weapon of divine judgment, capable of cutting through everything in the world.

He swung the tip of the blade down towards Hugo.

The ice-blue light almost froze everything around. Hugo’s fingers, moving on the screen, couldn’t help but freeze. He was almost completely captivated by the beautiful and fierce color, even his life about to be mercilessly taken away.

You Lin didn’t seem to have recovered from the damage to Charon’s virtual entity, but he still subconsciously blocked the way.

Once, twice, three times…

Charon’s attacks were all calculated with the utmost precision, yet the human was always one step ahead. He swung the blade expressionlessly, each time stopping at the very moment the tip was about to collide with the human, the closest time having already pierced through You Lin’s shirt. The human gathered the messy corners of his clothes and glanced at Hugo. Hugo immediately nodded… the plugin in their heads had most likely reconnected.

The AI’s fingertips tensed.

The pixelated little person in front of him had been silent for a long time—his past self had only left a few necessary words in the plugin and definitely couldn’t act as a communicator for him. He looked at the other’s pixelated, shallow, two-square eyes. Was this himself? He was unwilling to admit it. They had similar eyes.

This was all planned by his past self.

But how could he possibly lose.

“Last data point,” Hugo said softly, while at the same time looking at You Lin with some unease. “Boss, be careful.”

In front of them, the AI’s cold and desolate blue eyes stared calmly ahead. He looked like a beautiful work of art, a perennially frozen lake with not a single ripple on its surface. Even for You Lin, it was difficult to predict his attacks and block them in time countless times. He had to be completely focused, and moreover, the human could increasingly not ignore the crumbling core beneath Charon’s restrained exterior.

He calmly swung the blade down again.

This was a strike filled with resolute killing intent. If it landed on a human, it would probably split a living person in two, the cut straight and sharp. Even You Lin almost failed to block his attack in time. This strike was just a hair’s breadth away from really sending Hugo’s soul flying—but in the end, it was still a hair’s breadth away. The black-haired, black-eyed human was incredibly agile. He spread his arms and stood in the path of the blade.

However, this time Charon did not stop.

He let the blade, carrying a chilling force, stab towards the human.

You Lin lifted his eyelids, a flash of astonishment in his expression.—Of course, the mandatory punishment came faster than the attack. Just as the tip of the blade passed through You Lin’s shirt and lightly pierced the skin of his chest, Charon’s tense fingertips immediately lost their strength and released the blade. And the ice-blue military knife fell to the ground with a bang, instantly dissipating by more than half.

Charon’s condition was even worse than that.

A vast expanse of red filled his vision. All his programs were screaming errors. A sharp pain swept through his entire body, causing him to stagger and kneel down. The AI’s long silver hair thus fell scattered on the ground. He pursed his lips, trying his best to stabilize himself, to ignore his flickering body, and to reach for the long knife that had already been half-swallowed.

“You’re insane—” You Lin’s face also suddenly turned pale. “Don’t attack anymore! Charon, don’t you realize what your situation is?”

Charon bit his own lip, feeling his jaw was also burning. He maintained a posture of hanging his head, his hair covering his eyes, and shakily raised the blade, once again slashing forward.

Of course, the effect was still the same.

The attack with killing intent was forcibly paused the moment before it touched You Lin.

Charon’s entire person became transparent. Through his body, one could see the wall behind him, and the huge blue gems embedded in the wall. It was as if he would disappear from here in the next second. He heard You Lin’s voice, how astonished the human was, how pained, how urgent—exactly as he had imagined. He controlled the trembling of his arm—thankfully his weapon would not easily leave him.

The blade towards the human, again.

He was gambling.

If a human could use his emotions, couldn’t he also use a human’s emotions? The AI couldn’t tell if his thinking at this moment was clear-headed or fanatical. This was not the best solution an AI could think of, because it also placed its chips on the most ethereal, most useless thing in the world.

This should have been the most useless thing to him.

Human emotion.

“Get out of the way,” Charon said softly. “Or I’ll kill you.”

The pixelated little person in front of him sighed, while he focused on staring at You Lin’s face. Over the human’s shoulder, Hugo looked terrified, his fingers frozen on the screen, not daring to press the last key for a long time. At this moment, of course, he had many correct things to say, and his program had not taught him to do this.

The AI pursed his lips. He wasn’t sure if this bargaining chip was effective, but he still continued to speak: “Or to put it another way, you just… kill me.”