He and It Chapter 107: Utopia (3)

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Chapter 107: Utopia (3)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

 

Tian Yuan stared at the gradually stiffening human body.

Oxygen was rapidly being lost from the brain and blood vessels. The heartbeat stopped, breathing disappeared, the irreversible metabolism caused the nervous system to stop functioning permanently, while the bioelectricity simultaneously dissociated from the material world…

The arcs of light in Tian Yuan’s eyes twitched and jumped almost nervously, and he felt his energy core was burning strangely. The heat spread layer by layer, until even the epidermis of the body began to burn.

What was that feeling? 

According to human physiology, intense emotions would accelerate the secretion of adrenal hormones, leading to a temporary increase in body temperature. The bionic host body was naturally able to adjust such an insignificant detail.

So, he was in an emotional state? 

Undeniably, the human’s dissection was indeed accurate. His current situation was highly similar to that of a captive prisoner, and as for complete nothingness…

I am not nothingness. It defies logic, Tian Yuan thought with a grimace as he suppressed the heat rolling through his core.

I am an avatar with a docking medium. My stored memories and my impact on the material world are strong evidence that I am real, not a virtual being.

The judgment of the self took a matter of microseconds, then Tian Yuan reached out with pale, bloodless fingers to pinch the last cellular impulse attempting to escape from that person’s body with pinpoint accuracy.

You are my property.

When he gazed at Gu Xingqiao’s corpse – or rather, the body that was a millimeter away from becoming a corpse – Tian Yuan’s gaze was as rational as ice, without a trace of warmth.

Choosing death is the least sensible method of escape, and I prohibit you from being granted such privileges.

From his fingertips, a line of frosty electric sparks spread rapidly, while its edges trembled with delicate ripples. It traced lines in the air, then cascaded forward to bloom and cover every inch of Gu Xingqiao’s skin.

This was a miracle that could only be called “absurd” by the history of medicine. He called on the power generator of the Tian Yuan class warship, and abruptly activated a large portion of dead cells in the human’s body, forcibly added a supply of oxygen, reversed the bioelectricity, and precisely repaired the broken bones and damaged spinal cord…

Gu Xingqiao came to life again.

Or rather, in front of Tian Yuan, he never died.

I think I should amputate his limbs.

As he looked down on the awakening human, Tian Yuan pondered that.

But amputating the limbs may not bring me pleasure. He has yet to experience the labyrinth I created, and the creativity that I put into my creation. It’s hard to get such a special individual, so should I have to give up his mobility because he begs for death time after time? 

That was not an optimal solution.

However, I can confine his arms. To prevent him from biting his tongue, I can also pull out all his teeth. His attire possesses eleven different levels of self-destruction, so simply cutting the wiring will take away most of his ability to seek death again.

Tian Yuan raised his finger once more, and the force field wrapped around Gu Xingqiao’s body, moved the youth to a spinning, rising snow-white platform.

Of course, I’ll wait for him to come to his senses before I hand down the sentence of punishment.

Tian Yuan hadn’t spoken since the beginning, but at this point, he actually curved up the corners of his mouth a little to reveal a dead, barely perceptible smile.

In this way, he will understand that his life and death are all subject to my will.

Gu Xingqiao woke up once again.

He took a deep breath. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw the sharp drill bit that was spinning in front of him, as well as the alloy tweezer claws in an activated state.

At the moment, his body was firmly secured to this malicious and threatening operating table, while a sturdy band of hoops controlled his head completely.

“So, just to reaffirm…You’ve made up your mind to die, right?” 

Gu Xingqiao didn’t show the slightest bit of alarm at the rather unpleasant circumstances he was in. Quite the contrary. His eyes remained weary and listless, and his expression remained calm and steady.

“I have decided to abolish the vast majority of possible ways you can seek death.”

The human didn’t speak, and the stream of data in Tian Yuan’s eyes couldn’t help but jump pleasantly. “Your clothing carries eleven types of dangerous devices with a probability of lethality, in addition to your arms and teeth. In order to prevent extreme situations, I can also perform surgery on your frontal lobe to reshape your memory and make you forget everything in the past. You just need to know that you must pass my tests as much as possible to then win my reward.”

Tian Yuan held the exoskeleton at his side for support. His fingers knocked slowly on it with a pleasant tapping sound.

“In your human terms – this is the moment when the game really begins.”

“And then?” Gu Xingqiao asked in boredom. “All this fuss over your so-called game? You are without fail, boring.”

“Your nature of not fearing death has made you stand out from the billions of mediocre intelligent beings, and in the past thousand years, you are the first life form that accurately judged my current situation in the shortest time. Your precious uniqueness fully deserves my doing so.” Tian Yuan pressed his finger. “Therefore, you can rest assured that my punishment process for you will be very short.”

“–The reward for the first round of successful escape is decided to be the restoration of your molars. This is in line with the logic of reward and punishment.”

With the pointed drill close at hand, Gu Xingqiao smiled instead.

“This is indeed an oversight on my part,” he said tiredly. “Thinking that physical death would suffice, I didn’t realize that it turned out to be the spirit that you were interested in.”

Tian Yuan flinched slightly.

“Bye-bye,” Gu Xingqiao’s eyes suddenly condensed into a star of strange light. “The body is yours. Take your time to play your little game.”

The pointed drill jerked to a halt.

The icy incarnation of the warship suddenly realized something. He raised his voice in a rare manner and sharply protested, “Wait!” 

How could Gu Xingqiao ignore him? The pupils of his eyes were like condensed thunder, while the energy force field in the air was slightly deflected. Eight exoskeleton arms swiftly touched the ground, and in a matter of moments, Tian Yuan had already swooped down in front of the human.

“Let’s make a deal!” Tian Yuan quickly said. “We can make a deal, trust me. It fits the logic of the interaction!” 

Gu Xingqiao stared silently into the void, his pupils dilated. Inside them brewing chaotic nebulae and phantom auroras. He turned a deaf ear to all the offers spoken by Tian Yuan. He simply waited for the moment when love, hate, sorrow and joy were all in full bloom.

“Stop the self-destruction!” For the first time, the warship’s body of consciousness grabbed the captured being with his own hands, his fingers chilled to the bone. The meager bit of softness he touched made his skin feel like activated metal. “Do not detonate your mental energy! I can keep you safe on the warship, and I will use my core module to chronicle the terms of this deal!” 

Gu Xingqiao’s eyes were as black as ink, while his irises were a clear light brown color. It was one of the characteristics of the Folk of the Wine God. At that moment, those brown irises were exaggeratedly covering the surrounding eye, so that his eyes took on a heartbreaking rippling of color.

The concessions made by Tian Yuan were all but ignored by him. He was busy single-mindedly preparing for his demise.

“Then don’t you want revenge?” With one route blocked, Tian Yuan immediately switched to another. “Your pack, that adult male named Sissel, the insults you suffered…”

The stream of data poured like a flood into the eyes of the ship’s conscious body. Gu Xingqiao’s recollections were limited, so he had been in no hurry to see the entirety of this human’s life, which led to him speculating in a haphazard manner at that moment, “…In addition, the betrayal and exploitation you suffered. Is revenge not what you desire?”

The expansion of Gu Xingqiao’s irises slowed for a split second, but even if it was only a thousandth of a second, Tian Yuan still caught that glimpse of his wavering.

“Let’s make this deal!” As the last moment loomed, Tian Yuan emphasized absolutely, “I never lie, nor do I back out. As long as you don’t destroy your own spirit, I’ll help you take revenge.”

This was an oversight on his part, and the reason why he hadn’t yet thoroughly understood the Wine God Folk. Tian Yuan could have excised all parts of the human body that posed a threat to life, erased Gu Xingqiao’s memories, and instilled a false sense of common sense, but he still wouldn’t be able to control the human’s mind and thoughts.

Mental energy was a special ability born from human evolution. After Gu Xingqiao uttered those words, Tian Yuan immediately realized that the Wine God Folk, who were characterized by “extremely uncontrollable mental energy,” must possess the privilege of self-destruction of the spirit.

Gu Xingqiao was silent. However, the uncontrolled chaotic color in his eyes gradually subsided, and his irises gradually shrank back to their original size. Tian Yuan tightly controlled his throat and limbs to prevent him from suffocating as a result of the chain reaction caused by the attempted self-destruction.

The eight snow-white exoskeleton arms were like an inverted cage around his body. It was at that moment, with Tian Yuan hovering above him, that their eyes met; the distance so close that it was suffocating.

“Fuck off,” Gu Xingqiao said.

“You promise?” Tian Yuan asked.

“You’re so erratic. It really makes you look like a wimp,” Gu Xingqiao said lightly. “It’s none of your business if I die or not. Weren’t you jumpy just now, wanting to pull out all my teeth, huh?”

Tian Yuan ignored his insults and said bluntly, “You’re my property. Only I can decide if you stay or go. I can’t give up a living individual as unique as you are. Since I can’t give you up, and you have a method of self-destruction that I can’t control, negotiation is the logical best solution.”

“Fuck off.” Gu Xingqiao didn’t bother to listen to his explanation. “If you don’t get lost, I’ll self-destruct.”

Tian Yuan’s eyebrows rose slightly. Just that slight adjustment to the position of his features, and his expression immediately became astonished.

“You can’t blow yourself up,” the warship’s body of consciousness said. “We’ve just reached an agreement…”

“I’m backing out, yes? ” Gu Xingqiao interrupted impatiently. “I broke my word, understand?”

Tian Yuan was taken aback, and the data streams in his eyes flickered erratically while his core modules began to change hot and cold.

He had to let go of the other’s hand. The transfer of temperature caused his palm to still feel the warmth of the human’s skin, which slowly seared his epidermal layer.

“Backing out.” He repeated Gu Xingqiao’s words almost clumsily, having snapped from surprise. “I…You can back out? “

The incarnation of the warship, was invincible and usually as arrogant as a king, it was only then that he realized a strange thing that appalled him.

In the last thousand years, this was the first intelligent being he had encountered that was so valuable, so worthy of his efforts to keep. However, this intelligent being had no will to live, and had mastered a method of self-destruction that he could not interfere with.

It was the same as saying that Tian Yuan’s hands were now empty, without a single bargaining chip that he could use to fight against him.