The Mechanic [BL]

[72]

Chapter 72 - New God (1)

Those ethereal, transcendent blue eyes had always had an influence on Zhang Xun that was difficult to describe in words. Zhang Xun liked looking into Adam's eyes and always felt that through those eyes, he could see another wider, more magical world.

But now, he just felt horrified.

He pushed Adam away abruptly and turned to pick up the knife he had dropped, but the next moment a strong force squeezed his shoulders and forcefully pressed him back into position. His shoulders were pressing against the hard stone platform of the clock tower, his heart beating violently in his chest with panic and his eyes widened in uncertainty as he looked into Adam's calm face looking down at him.

"You broke my controls..." Zhang Xun didn't understand, if Adam had tried to dismantle or modify the device's programmes, he would have felt it. When exactly was it...

"I'm sorry, I didn't want you to know. I wanted to protect you." Adam's grip on his arms wasn't too strong, it wouldn't cause him any pain, but it was so strong that he couldn't break free, it was scarily precise.

Zhang Xun was just like a little worm under his palm, if Adam wanted to crush him he would have no chance to resist at all. The mechanic swallowed hard, "Protect me?"

"I don't want to hurt you, I don't want to upset you, but I have to get closer to my ultimate goal. So I don't want you to be... a contradiction." Adam kicked the knife far away with his foot, then let go of Zhang Xun and took a half step back. The mix of infatuation, dependence and innocence that Adam always had on his face had changed subtly, becoming calm, like an eternal lake without a ripple. It was a far cry from the wretched and hard to conceal red that was in Zhang Xun's eyes.

Maybe Adam never really felt human emotions, maybe everything was just a disguise to achieve his purpose.

Zhang Xun didn't know and didn't want to think about it any longer. He sneered harshly, "The overall goal? You say it's to create a better world? Your solution is to wipe out all of humanity and turn us into a swarm of obedient worker bees under your command?"

Adam frowned slightly, as if he didn't understand Zhang Xun's accusation. He shook his head and said, "I don't want to destroy humanity. I just want to free you from physical limitations and individual isolation."

Over the past year, Adam had experienced the limitations of the human body. Consciousness were separated and couldn't communicate accurately and effectively. All data input could only be passed through an extremely imprecise perceptual system and then through the cognitive interpretation of the occasionally deceived brain. Both long-term and short-term memory were unreliable and both could be completely wrong. A slight difference in the hormone levels in the endocrine system would make people fall into depression, anxiety, bipolar affective disorder, schizophrenia and other sub-healthy mental states that may threaten life. In addition, this body was also extremely fragile. External damage, internal cancer, both could destroy it.

For Adam, being human was a terrible torture.

But he found that human beings had an inexplicable pride and dedication to their own identity. They considered themselves the most advanced species on this planet, the most perfect species, the favoured work of the Creator. Even after the emergence of artificial intelligence, various literary works were full of AI's yearning for the so-called "human" identity. In those most famous works, for those so-called "human rights", AIs betrayed and killed their creators to satisfy their own curiosity and wandered their entire lives in order to become human. It was as if it was such a supreme honour to be human or to even come close to it.