He and It Chapter 113: Utopia (9)

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Chapter 113: Utopia (9)

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: GaeaTiamat

Artificial lifeforms were weak in that aspect, once they decided something, they were immediately determined to complete the goal, and even if they hit a brick wall they won’t turn back.

Gu Xingqiao rolled over. Tian Yuan came in and stirred things up, so now he couldn’t sleep for a while. Since, he was idle, he opened the reader and casually browsed through it.

“What the hell is all this?” As he stared at the index, he felt a rare moment of amusement rising in his heart.

Rhapsody of Mechanical Farming and Artificial Breeding, Brothers’ Forbidden Love of Scarlet Roses, Possible Improvements to Thermonuclear Railguns, Big-Breasted Servant’s Panic…

In the face of those…those literary creations where the sensational and rational sat side by side with each other, Gu Xingqiao marveled. He flipped left and right, and suddenly came across a collection of untitled stories.

The reading programs each had their own names. In the middle of all kinds of dazzling things or dazzling people, there suddenly appeared a book with no name. Gu Xingqiao got curious and clicked on it to have a look.

” Hmm, a mythological picture book.” He raised an eyebrow.

Humanity had developed the technology of interstellar travel, but they still couldn’t find any credible factual evidence for myths about gods and ghosts. It was now thought that myths were simply historical hearsay that had been colored by the passage of time.

The God of the Ice Sea and his eternal bride; Echidna with its snake’s tail wrapped around a priest with a brush in his hand; a dragon sheltering the prince; a demon horse carrying a knight…What was in the knight’s hands? Pliers and a hammer? And the mermaid’s heir, holding his slender soul mate, as he wandered in the dark abyss, surrounded by strange sea creatures…

The drawings were pretty good.

Gu Xingqiao flipped through the book with great interest. Eventually, sleep gradually overtook him, and the reader fell from his hand and rolled silently onto his pillow.

Those horizontal wooden decorations on the walls of the room came alive. They suddenly moved, like soft ribbons, silently wrapped around the small metal instrument, picked it up from the pillow, and quietly put it on the bedside table.

After that, they retreated back to the walls, as if nothing had happened.

The next day, Gu Xingqiao, with his very accurate biological clock, woke up on time, washed up in five minutes, wiped his face with a towel and walked out of his room.

As soon as he stepped out, directional signs lit up on the floor and Tian Yuan’s face appeared on the wall.

“Good morning.” Tian Yuan maintained his usual expressionless demeanor. “Did you sleep well last night?” 

Gu Xingqiao, “…Not bad.” 

“Come to the dining room to eat,” Tian Yuan said. “If you want to have good health, you should consume a hearty breakfast.” 

With a face that doesn’t belong to a real person, he said that kind of kid’s saying. Gu Xingqiao really didn’t know how to react.

As he walked into the dining room, he saw Tian Yuan was standing in front of an open cooking table. The combat uniform on his body had been exchanged for a plain, silver-colored uniform. There was also an incongruous apron tied around his waist.

“Please.” The mechanical body turned around, and set out a sandwich made of two pieces of toast and was golden brown on both sides. It was the perfect temperature with rich, silky melted cheese along with thick and tender ham.

Gu Xingqiao sat at the table and watched Tian Yuan neatly place an egg onto the plate, a sunny-side up egg with a shimmering yolk and bright whites in the iconic shape of a heart…

Finally, a glass of fragrant milk was pushed next to the plate. Tian Yuan said, “I’ve done a test and you are not lactose intolerant. Adequate eggs and milk are good for your health.” 

Gu Xingqiao sat stiffly for a long time, as he wondered if he was still asleep and dreaming.

“You…Where did you get the egg?” 

Tian Yuan, spatula in hand and with the apron still tied around his waist, looked like an elite chef. He said, “The Warship’s gene processing center carries the DNA of over one million two hundred and twenty thousand organisms, in addition to the frozen reproductive cells of two hundred and thirty species. If you are not satisfied with the flavor of these eggs, I can still-” 

“Okay I know! It’s okay!” Gu Xingqiao hurriedly interrupted him.

He picked up the cutlery and stared blankly for a moment.

“So,” Gu Xingqiao said slowly. “Why…a heart?” 

Tian Yuan replied, “According to my analysis, there’s a significant chance that no human individual has ever offered to cook you a heart-shaped egg. In conjunction with the “delicious and easy-to-make heart-shaped breakfast” in the textbook, I believe that it is a necessary healing step.” 

He glanced at Gu Xingqiao and asked, “Do you think it’s wrong?” 

Gu Xingqiao poked the yolk, cut off a piece and slowly put it into his mouth.

It was indeed a very good egg, the egg white was soft, the yolk was smooth, it was cooked but not burnt…

“No,” he said. “It’s fine.” 

Gu Xingqiao lowered his head, slid the sunny-side-up egg onto his toasted sandwich, then took the slices and bit into it.

The ham was savory, the cheeses were tangy, and the toast was soft and fluffy like a cloud. He finished the breakfast on his plate in one big gulp, then gulped down the warm milk.

“I’m full. Thanks,” Gu Xingqiao said as he put down his cup.

Tian Yuan took off his apron, then walked towards the training ground. Gu Xingqiao pushed back his seat and followed behind.

After having spent so many days with the warship’s incarnation, Gu Xingqiao had already noticed that the training program he had developed was very different from that of the Jade Empire. It was a method all its own. In such a short period of time, Gu Xingqiao couldn’t tell which was better or worse, but with his spontaneous trust of things from the Era of Light, he was willing to sweat for Tian Yuan’s plan.

“Today, I’m going to teach you how to use thermal ray weapons,” Tian Yuan said. “According to the current level of technology, after the Battle of the Purge, humanity should not be capable of mine the resource medium needed to make thermal ray weapons.” 

“Indeed.” Gu Xingqiao’s gaze was attracted by the device he had only seen in history records and had never touched, “The last thermal ray gun was lost in the Battle of Tears, and that was over two hundred years ago.” 

“With regards to the average human’s physical capabilities, thermal ray weapons have a high recoil and poor aiming accuracy. The design is like that because they are simply designed to kill through carpet bombing. If you’re surrounded by enemy forces, it’s therefore the most suitable option for extrication.” 

Tian Yuan picked up the precision ordnance device with its steel and ceramic base and presented it to Gu Xingqiao.

“Hold it here,” he murmured. “Put your left hand here…Hold it with your right hand and don’t let go.” 

Gu Xingqiao concentrated on assessing the heavy object in his hand. He didn’t think that Tian Yuan was too close, but Tian Yuan’s bionic olfactory organs could smell the refreshing fragrance of the shampoo in his hair.

…As well as the slight penetrating heat of the human’s body.

As his condensate evaporated faster, Tian Yuan’s thin lips closed a little more. He said softly, “The scope’s collimator, when shifted downward by a third of a grid, is the best calibration range for the thermal ray…” 

Unconsciously, he completely encircled the human’s shoulders, and his chest automatically pressed against the other’s spine. The eight bright white exoskeleton arms were like an open cage prepared for a rabbit as they quietly lurked on both sides. They were just waiting for Gu Xingqiao to lean back, then he would  fall into the center of the cage.

In fact, as the embodiment of the warship, Tian Yuan’s inhuman arrogance far exceeded the designer’s original concept.

He used his alien-like appendages to maintain his standing posture, and never set foot on the ground himself. In order to emphasize his difference from his creator and his nature as “I am born from you, but I am superior to you,” he also designed his body to be larger than a normal human’s body.

From his virtual data space, he looked down on human beings and watched as carbon-based organisms struggled with their limited lifespan. Even before he developed a personality, before he knew what “arrogance” was, Tian Yuan already held his head up high for his uniqueness and superiority.

However, in the moment when Tian Yuan bent forward, Gu Xingqiao’s body fit so perfectly between his arms…

Tian Yuan was not only at a loss for words, but his mathematical data was going crazy.

He didn’t understand what was going on.

Why hadn’t he realized before that he could pick up Gu Xingqiao with one hand? Before he hadn’t realized the size difference between Gu Xingqiao wasn’t as great and that he could fit the human to his torso perfectly…Why was it that after he’d suddenly recognized such trivialities, that his emotional processing module became so hyperactive that he couldn’t speak, and couldn’t find the cause of the malfunction? 

“…Release it.” Tian Yuan said subconsciously as he held Gu Xingqiao’s hand, staring straight ahead, his pupils uncontrollably dilated.

A hot buzzing sound suddenly rang out, and with a fiery light, a powerful destructive ray plowed  a deep furrow of melted drops of metal in the warship’s floor.

Gu Xingqiao was knocked into Tian Yuan’s chest by the recoil, which caused both his body and his constructed mind to be shaken.

Gu Xingqiao didn’t notice any difference, he just adjusted his angle a little bit, stabilized his feet, and raised his arms again.

Tian Yuan said quietly, “Release.” 

The second ray hit the target at the end of the range. Tian Yuan’s left hand moved down subconsciously, and rested on the tight muscles at the side of Gu Xingqiao’s waist.

“Excellent progress,” Tian Yuan said. “You are an exceptional student.” 

The smell of molten alloys filled the space, but was swiftly sucked away by the air-cooling device, so that it left only a trace of the invisible, intense heat swirling through their surroundings.

“Release.” Tian Yuan said.

The third ray, like a thunderbolt cutting through space, traveled through the shooting range. The tail of its light carried a white-hot afterburn, as it engulfed a target that had shrunk to a small black circle.

“…Talented.” Tian Yuan said, and the expelled air ruffled the hair around Gu Xingqiao’s ear. His long and slender fingers were spread wide as he held Gu Xingqiao’s waist and hip area in a controlling manner.

Gu Xingqiao paused for a moment. Then he turned off the scope, twisted around and asked, “What are you…? Why are you so hot?” 

It was true. Behind him, the shell of that artificial life was like a furnace filled with heat.

The flow of data in Tian Yuan’s eyes stuttered for a moment. Then he asked calmly, “Hot? Me?” 

Gu Xingqiao said in disbelief, “It can’t be this…ray weapon, affects your body temperature, right?” 

As he spoke, Tian Yuan’s thumb, uncontrollably and gently rubbed the youth’s hip bone in a circular motion. After a few strokes, his processing center noticed the abnormality and immediately ordered him to stop.

Only then did he realize his own indiscretion. He hastily removed his hand and retreated two steps backward.

Was it because of the uncontrollability of his bionic body, or had he simulated the human physiology so much that he couldn’t manipulate the shell completely? 

This was the first time that Tian Yuan didn’t know how to answer one of Gu Xingqiao’s questions. His eyes flashed a few times, then he muttered, “Do I need to adjust the settings of these bionic organs downwards?” 

Gu Xingqiao was really puzzled. He didn’t understand what he meant by that sudden statement.

“Huh?” 

“I,” Tian Yuan pressed the processing core in his chest, which still radiated with an undulating after-temperature even though he was now separated from Gu Xingqiao. “I suddenly lost control of my body temperature just now. Therefore, I am wondering if I need to adjust the ratios of my bionic organs.” 

Gu Xingqiao finally understood. He put down the thermal ray gun and asked, “That is to say, you want to reduce your nearly-human settings and become…less human?” 

“Your comprehension is excellent,” Tian Yuan nodded. “In order to answer the question from the Messianic Code and get close to my Designer’s mind, I modeled my shell as closely as possible after human biological systems, only to be disappointed to discover that all human senses are superfluous constructs that impede evolution.” 

Gu Xingqiao, “Uh…” 

“By transcending the body, one can understand the essence of existence; by abandoning personality, one can deconstruct the cause of all things,” Tian Yuan’s tone was emotionless. “The unexpected situation just now made me want to completely abandon the human body’s physiological structures according to my initial conceptions…” 

Gu Xingqiao shrugged, “My advice is, it’s best not to.” 

Tian Yuan stopped his evaluation equations, and tilted his head slightly. “Why?” 

“You started out on the right foot,” Gu Xingqiao said. “You wanted to turn yourself into a human being so that you could better understand the questions that your Master Designer set for you, and that’s actually accurate. Only people who are fragile and uncontrollable, not something omniscient, can better understand the cruelty of war because we have no ability to do things again.” 

Tian Yuan said, “But I can.” 

“Yes. You can die and live again, live and die again,” Gu Xingqiao sighed. “Have you ever considered that you were failing to break through the Messianic Code not because there were too many bionic organs, but because there weren’t enough bionic organs?” 

Tian Yuan’s eyes flashed. “Your conjecture is that I need to further increase the percentage of myself that is humanoid?” 

“Try it.” Gu Xingqiao waved away the hot air in the room. “There’s nothing to lose anyway. If you can’t control your body temperature then you can’t, it’s not a big deal. What’s more, you can always change the settings later.” 

Tian Yuan thought it over for a moment. It was obvious that as a collaborator, Gu Xingqiao’s words carried enough weight in his judgment.

“I’m willing to explore the possibility,” Tian Yuan said. “My current humanoid ratio is 75%. I will adjust it upwards by approximately 10% and observe the results.” 

“As you wish.” Gu Xingqiao said. “Are we still practicing?” 

Tian Yuan blinked. He cautiously moved forward, but as soon as he got close to Gu Xingqiao’s back, his processing core jerked in its function again.

Strange, Tian Yuan thought. Could it be that the main cause of his uncontrolled body temperature was not a bionic organ, but Gu Xingqiao himself? 

But, what is the reason for it? 

As he considered the problem, he pressed himself against the human, and his fingers, as if they had a consciousness of their own, familiarly gripped Gu Xingqiao’s hip bone.

I have no obvious issues. Tian Yuan separated out a small portion of his computing space to consider that question.

There were no errors in his current programming.

Okay. I’m okay.