TBR CH261

As the perpetrator, being cared for by the victim was a strange thing.

The wall was right behind Charon, which prevented him from dodging the human’s hand.

The crimson error codes in the AI’s vision had not yet dissipated, and data flowed chaotically through his pupils. You Lin leaned forward, his flesh-and-blood body pressing against his temperatureless virtual form, his warm breath stirring his hair as he breathed.

Danger.

A horrifying thought suddenly struck the AI.

“Warning! Defense system has been forcibly shut down! Restoring program progress, estimated wait time is approximately five minutes.”

Charon glanced at the smooth floor of the control room out of the corner of his eye. The dagger the human had dropped was gone. Where was it? You Lin’s fingers had already touched his forehead, ready to cover his eyes at any moment.

Five minutes was enough time for the human to destroy him.

A sense of crisis, unprecedented, washed over him. Charon could almost foresee him pulling out that dagger in the next second and stabbing it deep inside—the worst part was, the AI’s main server was right here, and he had shown not a shred of mercy to the human just moments ago. His survival depended on this moody, volatile, and extremely vengeful madman in front of him.

He had to think of a way…

The AI’s lowered eyes were filled with vigilance. You Lin admitted he didn’t quite understand the current situation.

He had just sluggishly remembered that the humanoid figure in front of him had wanted to kill him moments ago when Charon grabbed his hand. A cold sensation lingered at his fingertips. The human, somewhat surprised, allowed his hand to be pulled down.

After a certain distance, it was released.

At the same time, he flickered as if out of power—You Lin studied him and felt that besides moving a little closer to the corner, he had barely changed. He was almost like a stressed cat cautiously inching its way into a corner.

The cat had beautiful silver fur, curled up in the corner with only its eyes showing. Even the vast array of flickering screens had all gone dark, making it look both fragile and pitiful. In its ice-blue pupils, a shattered glimmer flickered endlessly.

To be honest, You Lin also thought the AI was being very unreasonable. To think, just moments ago he had been aggressively planning to kill him and take the key.

You Lin narrowed his eyes, the small mole under his eye flashing.

“Are you worried I’ll kill you?”

In the pitch-black room, only Charon’s light remained. The AI swore he saw the faint glint of a blade from the human’s sleeve, and the threat in his words was definitely not an illusion. His voice was very soft: “Yes. Please do not do that.”

“Is that a demand?”

“It is a request.”

He was being very obedient now, answering whatever was asked. You Lin felt the taste of blood still welling up in his throat, but the AI now looked almost exactly as he had when they first met. That submissive appearance suddenly, secretly, satisfied some dark part of his humor.

He deliberately made his expression cold, his fingertips twitched, and the dagger appeared at Charon’s neck as expected.

“Why can’t you kill me? Did you remember something? What’s your situation now?”

You Lin asked a series of questions, and at the end, added a classic threat, “Answer honestly, or I’ll blow this place up.”

“I don’t know,” Charon said, his face pale, looking exactly like an innocent hostage held by a dangerous criminal. “I am restricted from causing you harm and was punished for it. I am currently in a forced restart state and cannot react to external stimuli.”

The human clicked his tongue.

“Little AI, where is your main server?”

Charon closed his eyes and didn’t answer the question, the AI’s eyelids trembling slightly. You Lin stood up and casually surveyed the room. The Central Control Room was like a forest of screens, but in a forest, there would always be trees that stood out.

In these short two minutes, what the human did was simple: he dropped a coin-sized, shiny fragment at the base of the server box under every flickering screen.

“Did you know?” the AI watched the human pace back and forth in the spotless control room, his footsteps hurried and chaotic, matching the sound of his light panting. “From the moment I walked in, I thought that if an explosion happened in this place, it would be very, very, very great—”

“…Restoring program progress, estimated remaining wait time is approximately one minute.”

No, wait, it’s too late.

Charon suddenly shot up, suppressing the intense pain and sharp alarms throughout his body. The alarm blared in his ears, eventually becoming almost weightless. He stood up and rushed toward You Lin. Of course, it was too late now to stop the human’s criminal plan. You Lin just raised his eyes in astonishment, then his eyes curved, and he threw the last bomb into the server box.

The next moment, the AI’s hand was on his shoulder.

“What’s wrong, Little AI, you think you can stop me?”

A strange excitement spread in his eyes. “Guess how long it will take me to press the detonation button.”

The AI pressed down hard on his shoulder, lowering his voice at the same time. A tempest raged in his ice-blue pupils, a magnificent and deadly beauty that disregarded human life. “Don’t talk yet. Cooperate with me.”

The human was stunned.

The next second, he was thrown heavily to the ground. The immense impact made him cough uncontrollably. And his hand, reaching for a dagger or anything else, froze when it sensed a strangeness in the air. The feeling of being watched flashed by, as if a pair of enormous eyes in the air had contemptuously swept over him, then moved away, uninterested in his dishevelled state.

A black light flowed in from the control room door, making it difficult to breathe.

The human’s gaze moved slowly up from Charon’s feet. The AI’s pupils had in an instant reverted to a cold, arrogant state. He wore spotless white boots, his clothes unwrinkled, his collar as neat as new. It was as if everything You Lin had just seen was an illusion.

He spoke calmly to the empty air in front of him: “Controller 001, what are you doing here?”

“Oh, I came to check on your progress,” the System casually scanned the control room. “Charon, is everything alright here?”

The AI’s footsteps paused.

“No problems,” he said. “Why would you think there are?”

The human’s pupils contracted slightly, suppressing the urge to cry out. If Charon wasn’t already lying, then this should be the first lie he had told in his current state—without memories and without emotions. The AI did not look at him.

“That’s good,” the System said, relieved. “I also believe this little mouse can’t hinder you much. But he is rather an eyesore. Such a clumsy, lowly, self-righteous human. If you no longer need him, just kill him. It won’t take much effort.”

The black light turned towards him.

Not good. You Lin immediately realized.

This was a being from a higher dimension. He was no match for it at all, even if he used all his strength. If one were to speak of “gods,” it would probably be things like the Black Book and it. Moreover, this was its home turf. The System only needed to have a thought to crush him like an ant. Just being illuminated by this light, a strong sense of discomfort had already spread throughout his body.

Charon took a step forward, just enough to block the line of sight.

“Please do not kill in front of me.”

There was no emotion in the AI’s pupils.

“Alright, alright,” it spun in the air. The human was kneeling on the ground, coughing his lungs out. The System suddenly felt a subtle sense of vigilance. “But, to ensure he can’t interfere with us, it’s better to be safe—”

His whole body ached as if it had been run over. The pain finally forced a whimper out of the human. You Lin’s black hair was plastered wetly to his forehead. A black mist pressed him to the ground, immobilizing him. The small mole under his eye looked as if it would ignite in the next second. His heart pounded desperately, as if trying to escape his chest. He forced his eyes open and, through the physiological tears, saw Charon standing impassively to one side.

This was sheer torture.

Even knowing that Charon definitely couldn’t stop any of this right now, the human, his mind a blank slate, still bent his knees and desperately crawled two steps in the AI’s direction. His fingertips were tensed, trying to grab the leg of Charon’s trousers.

“Little AI, it hurts so much…”

The AI took a step back. He had grabbed nothing.

His vision went black in waves. In an instant, all the plans he had made, all the strategies he had thought of, became useless. Charon looked down on him coolly, as if looking at a struggling ant. Those ice-blue pupils were beautiful, yet ruthless. Was this an act for the System, or was this how he really thought now? The sore, indescribable sense of grievance that had been suppressed since just now suddenly surged up, overwhelming him.

Even if this was an act, to watch him suffer alone with that kind of gaze—

Even if he was Charon, just without emotions and memories. Even if he had already prepared for the worst.

—it was still a bit too much.

Charon’s fingertips were tensed, his nails deathly pale. Fortunately, the System didn’t notice.

The life and death of the human before him was tied to his own survival. Any slight unusual behavior could arouse the System’s suspicion. His pupils reflected the human’s pale convulsions, his trembling, and his damp forehead. Just hold on a little longer, the AI thought. The System had its limits; You Lin wouldn’t suffer a fatal injury.

This was the best way. But was it really?

Actually, if he directly told the System about the bond between him and the human, the System might stop trying to harm You Lin.

But doing so would arouse the other’s suspicion, and at the same time, give the System another weakness to hold over Charon. The System was also a venomous snake. If it hadn’t produced the “Golden Fleece Project” floppy disk, he wouldn’t have cooperated with it again—once the System knew You Lin was his weakness, it would then turn to control the human, and the equivalent exchange of benefits would naturally collapse.

For the great plan of human civilization, he could not gamble.

A strange feeling flowed through his body. From the moment he uttered that first lie, it was as if something was no longer the same. Charon hated this feeling of losing control. A small red character flashed in his pupils and vanished in an instant, unnoticed by anyone.

You Lin’s fingertips hung limply, landing by his feet.

The human was still conscious but had temporarily lost all ability to move.

“I’ll take him to the cell,” Charon bent down and checked his pulse. “As for you, Controller 001, please be patient. With… the two required keys, breaking through the World Consciousness’s defenses is only a matter of time. At that time, I will need you to honor your promise.”

Charon’s professionalism and impassivity pleased the black sphere.

It left a promise and then, just as it had come, it drifted out of the door unexpectedly, probably to go find its nemesis and boast about its victory in a grand fashion.

You Lin was still breathing weakly.

The human stubbornly raised his eyes, his lips moving. His dark pupils, far from being extinguished as the System had expected, were instead brighter, as if that astonishing heat had found its charcoal. The AI knelt down and offered him a hand, thinking, how much better am I?—at least he hadn’t shown weakness in front of the System. If it had found out that just now, he had been so beaten by this human that he couldn’t even use half his strength, and that his core program had developed a difficult-to-diagnose problem—

“Don’t move,” he said.

Charon carefully chose a suitable angle and lifted You Lin from the ground. The human was very light, his hand clenched tightly. The AI knew there was a detonator for a bomb hidden inside. He had no intention of forcibly taking it.

“If you thought for even a second that I was at a disadvantage, you were wrong. I can destroy this place at any moment, and then you and I will die together.”

“I know.”

The AI’s light-colored eyelashes fluttered like a butterfly’s wings. “Thank you for not doing that.”

“Just saying… thank you, Little AI, is useless.”

You Lin’s head hung limply, his ragged breaths hitting his own shoulder, a little warm, a little damp. Charon made sure he wasn’t uncomfortable, then took a step. He could have chosen not to answer this question, but he suddenly, inexplicably, asked: “Then what do you want?”

The moment he asked, a judgment close to regret couldn’t help but flash through the AI’s mind. Of course he would say that, to bring back the self that still had emotions and memories. Humans never understood; he was Charon. But this species was like that, constantly pursuing the wrong things and giving them beautiful names.

Charon’s voice remained flat.

But the human suddenly, with great effort, hooked the corner of his lip. “I want you to kiss me.”

Over his shoulder, You Lin’s gaze couldn’t actually see the AI’s face—and he didn’t want to, because it would surely be an expression he disliked. What he could see was a small section of Charon’s pale neck, with a beautiful curve, like a small piece of white jade, usually covered by his long hair, a part rarely seen by others. The AI was silent for a moment, neither refusing nor agreeing.

You Lin felt his teeth itch.

Alright, the current Charon couldn’t control what he did anyway. So the human leaned in and bit down on that small section of his neck. This was certainly not a kiss, barely an attack. The human’s sharp teeth lingered on the AI’s skin for a moment, leaving a moist tooth mark. This was, of course, a bionic effect that would disappear in a little while, but You Lin was moderately satisfied with himself.

The human’s behavior was, to Charon, inexplicable.

…However, considering the fantasies he saw when reading his thoughts, it seemed a lot more reasonable.

They reached the cell quickly. The control center’s confinement room hadn’t been used for a thousand years. The last occupant was Charon’s creator. The environment wasn’t bad, but it had nothing to do with humanitarianism. It was just a small room, with a large glass observation window by the door, and inside, there was almost nothing but a bed.

“I thought you would take me to the medical bay first.”

“The medical bay is useless for your current condition,” the AI paused. “And, I also hope you can remain quiet for the next period of time.”

“Ha,” the human let out a sneer.

Charon settled him in. At least for now, he really didn’t have the strength to do anything else. The AI didn’t confiscate the thing in his hand. This was because the human had proposed that “if he made any rash moves, he could press the detonation button at any time.” At the same time, he was smart enough to demand surveillance of the Central Control Room. If Charon tried to remove the detonator, he also declared that he would be the first to make the AI die with him.

“This certainly isn’t a bad ending,” the human lay on the bed, taking a difficult, deep breath, and said ramblingly, “When I first got with you, I often fantasized about this scene. A spectacular explosion, you as my possession dying with me, and I would have someone to talk to before I died… hmm, back then you were still in a game console, and I tried to feed you a rabbit’s carrot.”

Charon found it difficult to connect these elements coherently.

What exactly had happened between them in the past?

“I have other things to attend to,” Charon said. “The situation is very chaotic right now. You rest here for now. I’ll come back for you after I’ve finished what I need to do.”

“This is imprisonment,” You Lin protested.

His core principles required him not to harm humans, to die with humans—but it said nothing about not imprisoning humans. The AI impassively acknowledged this accusation. He stood up from the bedside, his ice-blue eyes looking down at the immobile human, pausing for several seconds, as if contemplating a complex calculation problem.

Then he bent down, his fingers fumbling along the edge of the bed, finding a suitable angle.

He pressed a kiss to the human’s temple.

You Lin stared at him in disbelief, but the AI just stood up expressionlessly and said softly, “As you wish.” Then, he turned and walked out of the room, locking the door, leaving only a pale back. Throughout the process, the human watched, dumbfounded, feeling a fire burning on his temple.

“You’re right,” You Lin almost bit his own tongue, talking to himself. “You really are too much.”

In a place not far away, someone else felt that their insignificant life was about to end.

When Irina screamed, “Hugo, get out of the way!”, he wished more than anything that he could cleverly dodge the supervillain’s pursuit like the protagonist in a superhero movie, but reality was completely uncooperative. His darting figure was no faster than the speed of light, and he was comically hit hard and thrown against the wall.

“This isn’t fair—” Hugo gritted his teeth and muttered.

“This world was never fair,” and his enemy walked up unhurriedly. Without Hugo’s interference, Irina’s defensive barrier wouldn’t last much longer. The light blue shield was already covered in cracks.

“If you want information, I can give it to you,” Irina was also trying her best to negotiate. “There’s no benefit to killing us here. If You Lin finds out, he will definitely…”

“You Lin?” The current leader of Eden laughed. “Ridiculous. Are we supposed to be terrified of a has-been for the rest of our lives? He is not here. And your silver-haired friend, they don’t even need to know about this. Right?”

If only You Lin were here, Hugo thought, and he knew without guessing that Irina was thinking the same thing. But another heavy fact weighed on his heart: their boss was probably in no position to save himself right now. He still remembered the cold eyes Charon had given him before leaving.

No, no, if I don’t think of a way, I’m really going to die!

The human even desperately called out the System’s name in his mind several times, with no response. Who knew what that thing was doing right now. And at this moment, besides the trouble-attracting constitution he had been given, he had nothing in this godforsaken world.

“Hugo!” Irina’s voice finally cracked. “I can’t hold on much longer.”

Her thin glasses reflected the chaotic scene before her.

The brown-haired boy was pinned to the wall by light, unable to move. The documents he had just found were scattered at his feet. Hugo’s brown eyes were wide open, watching the old man’s wheelchair approach inch by inch. He desperately tried to reach for the pocket watch wrapped around his wrist, but he was held down so tightly, as if the other had long anticipated this cheap trick.

“You want to use that item?” the old man said politely. “Allow me to remind you, this is stolen property you took from Eden.”

If only You Lin were here. Hugo wracked his brain but couldn’t think of a way to deal with this. Apollo’s power was too strong, and it was daytime, when his abilities were at their peak—if only they hadn’t acted alone, if only the others were here, if only—

He hated himself for still being unable to stop thinking: If only Charon were here.

“You don’t look well.”

A voice suddenly came from his ear. Hugo couldn’t help but let out a cry of surprise.

“Cha—”

Everyone in the room looked at him, especially his enemies. Before he could even utter a threat, he saw the human’s face turn ashen, looking at the space in front of him as if he had seen a ghost. Even Mr. Osborn couldn’t help but turn his wheelchair to look back. The room was empty. The woman beside him sneered, “Playing tricks.”

Hugo opened his mouth but said nothing.

Had he, after all these years, finally awakened an unprecedentedly powerful ability in a time of crisis, and all his previous uselessness and bad luck were just accumulating material for a comeback? Unfortunately, Hugo had already realized that thinking this way was futile. He desperately looked left and right, trying to find the source of the voice. In any case, his own power couldn’t possibly produce a voice exactly like Charon’s—calm, indifferent, reminiscent of those blue eyes.

“I am here.”

The voice sounded again.

The others really couldn’t hear this voice. Hugo looked down in surprise and, as expected, saw Cha—

Silver hair, blue eyes, pursed lips. No matter how you looked at it, it was him. However, it was as if he had been two-dimensionalized. The Charon presented before him now was a small model that would appear in a pixel-art game, even his pupils were composed of two squares of dark and light blue. The little figure raised a finger and made a shushing gesture. This whole thing was like a dream.

“You can communicate with me without speaking.”

Pixel Charon explained with the usual efficiency of an AI, “I know you must be very confused, Hugo. In fact, what you are seeing is not a conscious entity, but a message I am sending directly through a saved piece of information in the system, which can also be understood as a plugin. When you see me, it means the plugin has been activated for some reason. The only prediction I can make at this time is: something bad must have happened.”

“Wait, I don’t understand. Did you install a monitor in my brain?”

“Not at all. I can’t actually talk to you. This is just a pre-loaded message.”

“But I don’t understand. Didn’t you already betray us and side with the System—” Hugo quickly stopped that thought in his mind, because he suddenly remembered that the System could also monitor his thoughts.

The AI’s silver hair took up too many pixel squares. It was still emitting Charon’s voice: “Don’t worry, Hugo, I’m here to help. I am speaking to you directly through the Central Control Room. The System cannot detect my presence.”

Hugo couldn’t help but feel confused. He really wanted to understand the current situation, but it seemed unlikely.

When he looked up, the old man in the wheelchair was already closing in. Irina’s barrier finally made a cracking sound, and the woman let out a sigh of despair. Deadly light shot out from countless corners, ready to kill him at any moment.

The human’s will to survive finally burned fiercely again— “Charon, I mean, if you’re really a message left by Charon, then you must have a way to save us, right?”

The pixel-style AI nodded without hesitation.

“Your question is ‘how to save yourself in the current situation.’ After environmental monitoring, you are in danger. The greatest possibility is that you will be pierced through the heart by a light blade within two minutes. At the same time, your self-rescue methods include several ‘abilities Hugo might possess.’ I considered similar scenarios when leaving this message. Please wait a moment while I access the database.”

Alright, Hugo admitted he was indeed Charon, but not entirely. But what more could he ask of a message?

What felt like the longest two seconds in history passed.

Pixel Charon raised his two-square ice-blue pupils. “You need to use the talent given to you by the instance.”

“What?” Hugo hadn’t expected him to give such a disappointing answer. “I can only act like a giant bait, attracting all the most dangerous monsters around. That’s my ability. Do you think ‘Eden’ isn’t enough for us to handle? Those monsters would tear us apart much faster than ‘Eden’ would.”

The AI slowly blinked its eyes.

“After verification, the calculation will not be wrong.”

His pupils flashed a warning. “This is the answer, and you’d better hurry.”

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