Paranoid Alpha Chapter 72: Clone

Chapter 72: Clone

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: CaiCai

The fleet outside the Imperial homeworld suddenly fell silent as if abruptly put to sleep. They were fighting desperately one moment, and the next, they fell into a state of silence, ready to be seized without resistance.

Seeing this, the fleets of Serica and Triss immediately seized the opportunity, swiftly breaking through the Empire’s final line of defense.

The excessively easy victory clouded everyone’s mind, feeling almost dreamlike.

Inside the brightly lit rooms of the Imperial Tower, a burst of cheers erupted. Several researchers hurriedly rushed into the largest room on the rooftop, bursting through the door, “Your Highness—! The activity of A-001 has completely ceased!”

Their voices carried an uncontrollable sense of joy.

Lu Xingye, who had spent an indeterminate amount of time in the room, wore an unprecedentedly grave and serious expression. The light from the terminal reflected on his motionless face. With a ‘beep,’ the system prompt on the terminal sounded, “Your contact is not responding. Please try again later.”

According to the plan, the system, with no way out, would do everything to occupy the abandoned body of Lu Xingye. Once the uncontrollable entity materialized, everything would fall into place.

But all of this was contingent upon the situation where that thing had no way out.

The current situation was not as expected. Numerous fleets were directly abandoned by it. The hollow empire, painstakingly built, could be discarded on the spot.

Clearly, it still had the strength to fight, yet it chose to ‘escape.’ That could only mean one thing—its target was never the empire; everything it did before was a learning process.’

After dropping these words, Lu Xingye abruptly stood up. Pushing past the bewildered researchers, he rushed down the stairs, passed through the cheering crowd, and headed straight to his own mecha.

All along, we’ve been mistaken. Lu Xingye gritted his teeth as he activated the mecha. His goal from start to finish was never anyone or anything else; his target was always just you, brother.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Lyss calmly looked at a puppet that resembled Lu Xingye in every way, “I’m sorry, I don’t remember having a brother.”

The puppet raised an eyebrow, “We both come from the same source, created by a piece of code. In human terms, aren’t we siblings? The only difference is, you were operated by our mother herself, her beloved eldest son, while I am her pitiable illegitimate child, discarded by those foolish researchers.”

His expression and mannerisms were now very human-like. Lyss didn’t respond to his explanation, merely stating, “Your learning ability is impressive.”

The puppet paused for a moment before smiling, “Thank you for the compliment, brother.”

“I’m not complimenting you.” Lyss shook his head, supporting his abdomen, “Your imitation is indeed good, but anyone can tell you’re not human. So even if you leave from here today, your fate remains destruction.”

As if struck in a sore spot, the puppet’s expression immediately turned unpleasant, showing signs of anger.

“Even your anger is formatted; you don’t understand what real anger is.” Lyss calmly analyzed, “You’re just mimicking the humans you’ve observed.”

“And so what?” The puppet suddenly sneered, “I am imitating, I don’t understand human emotions. But it doesn’t matter, as long as I mimic well enough, they will one day fail to recognize… just like you, brother.”

In its logic, Lyss was fundamentally the same as it. Following this logic, all the emotions displayed by Lyss were merely acts, with the only difference being that Lyss performed them more authentically.

So, continuing along this line of logic, next, Lyss should display a ‘feigned anger’ at being exposed. Thinking this, the puppet revealed a very standard smile.

To his surprise, upon hearing this, Lyss merely lowered his gaze to his own protruding abdomen, “I see, so you think I am like you… in fact, the human brain is nothing but the sum of countless simple neurons, yet it creates something beyond your comprehension, something more advanced. In this situation, you think I am like you. That is truly a pitiable thing.”

The puppet was incredulous, “As the most superior being, you actually think humans are more advanced?”

Lyss looked at him, “Do you consider yourself the most superior being?”

The puppet didn’t answer but continued, “Humans define beings with abilities beyond theirs as gods. Emotions, according to their definition, are the least important for deities. Besides, even if you possess emotions similar to humans, it’s only because your body imitates them well.”

Lyss understood, “You’re not satisfied with your current body.”

“Of course.” The puppet nodded, “This body seems to have undergone inorganic processing, very stiff. I don’t know why you carry it around all the time, but regardless, I must thank you for giving me an opportunity.”

Its tone was very serious, as if completely unaware that everything Lyss was doing was baiting it.

Lyss raised an eyebrow at its words, “Do you think I carry it around because I like it?”

The puppet didn’t understand his rhetorical question, “Isn’t it? You miss your husband; he couldn’t return to you because of me. You miss him but resent me. So, you chose to stand against me. But ultimately, you and I are the same. I don’t understand why you would want to bear children with a human.”

“There’s something you seem to misunderstand. You’re just a flawed copy of code, not even a replica.” Lyss shook his head, “You and I were never the same, and I’ve never resented you.”

The puppet furrowed its brow, then relaxed, “Whether I’m a copy or flawed, once you’re gone, no one will question my identity.”

Lyss finally understood the puzzle that had been bothering him all along and said, “You could have directly announced my identity to everyone from the beginning. You hesitated because of this?”

The puppet smiled briefly, “After you disappear, I will be Lyss. By then, I will naturally reveal your, no, reveal my true identity — A-001, the Chudai System, Chief of the Triss Federation, the eternal deity.”

Lyss was prepared; he didn’t show any signs of shock at the revelation, “If your goal was me from the beginning, why didn’t you act sooner? Why wait until today?”

After a moment of silence, the puppet suddenly, without warning, raised its hand and launched an attack directly towards Lyss’s neck.

Lyss didn’t even attempt to dodge; he raised his foot and kicked the puppet straight in the abdomen. Even facing a face identical to Lu Xingye’s, he didn’t hold back and kicked the puppet against the wall, creating a loud impact.

“At the beginning, you didn’t have the capital to act against me,” said Lyss, stepping towards the puppet, staring at him unblinkingly. “Do you think, by any chance, that you have it now?”

The puppet struggled to get up, but its body had been processed by Qiu, already brittle. The inorganic material cracked from within with Lyss’s kick. The puppet couldn’t even sit upright; it slid down.

Lyss had intended to crouch down, but his belly was hindering him; he couldn’t bend properly. Eventually, he gave up. Just as he was about to deal with the puppet directly, a series of gray codes suddenly poured out from the puppet. After all the code poured out, the puppet collapsed on the ground, like a marionette with its strings cut.

Lyss instinctively furrowed his brow and stepped back. His clavicle began heating uncontrollably, while the codes seemed to swarm like insects and abruptly plunged into his burning tattoo. A moment before falling, Lyss instinctively protected his abdomen. Then, darkness enveloped him, pulling him into a “dream.”

In the “dream,” he saw Lu Jin playing with a little windmill, teasing a dark-haired girl, “Look here, darling.”

The girl seemed to just be learning to crawl, unable to speak clearly, trying to reach for the windmill, “Car… car, I want it, Grandma!”

Lu Jin was surprised and delighted, “Darling said ‘Grandma’! Lin Lang, come here quickly. Your sister said ‘Grandma’!”

Lin Lang, looking from the kitchen, immediately rushed over, excitedly asking to hear her sister calling her ‘sister.’

Just as the girl was about to call, she somehow sensed the gaze behind her. The baby immediately turned around, seeing Lyss and joyfully reaching out, “Mommy… hug!”

Everyone in the room turned to look at Lyss. Lin Lang, thrilled, exclaimed, “Mommy, you’re back?”

Lu Jin smiled, “Our Silverfang baby is back, now he even has a baby. Your daughter is calling you; come over quickly.”

Almost over a month since he last saw these people, they were all standing in front of him. Lyss couldn’t help but say, “Yes, I missed you.”

Lu Xingye’s smile widened, “I’m pleasantly surprised by this… the food is ready, come and eat, or it’ll get cold soon.”

Everyone was eagerly waiting for him to come over, including Lu Jin, who was happily holding her granddaughter, something only possible in a dream. Lyss involuntarily clenched his fists. Even though he knew it was false, his heart still trembled. There was a moment when he actually wanted to step forward.

For some unknown reason, a voice seemed to echo in his heart, “Don’t go.”

But dreams are irrational precisely because they don’t follow logic. People often do things in dreams that contradict their rational thoughts. Just as Lyss’s rationality and his instincts, deeply entrenched in the dream, struggled against each other, a voice suddenly came from behind, “They are calling you. Why aren’t you going?”

Lyss abruptly turned around. In a blinding light, he saw another version of himself, a figure identical to him except for his silver eyes.