The Mechanic [BL]

[83]

Chapter 83 - Ordinary World (6)

In the early hours of the morning, Zhang Xun was awakened by a noise. He rubbed his sleepy eyes and found that a wool blanket had been placed over his body at some point.

Turning his head, he saw Enoch sitting upright on the edge of the mattress, his head tilted at a precise 45 degrees toward the direction of the noise.

When Zhang Xun turned his head, he saw the source of the commotion not far away. The skinny young man who had asked for a burger earlier was screaming miserably, wrapped in layers of fibres shot from the head of one of the robots. Near him, protected by several droids, a small, lovely woman in flamboyant clothes leaned against an aircraft with a faint smile on her face as she watched the struggling young man.

All the homeless people around were awakened, but no one intervened. They all turned around in silence, pretending not to see anything.

James couldn't stand it and asked one of the homeless men in a low voice, "What's happened?"

"He's that woman's 'man', and I think I heard that the mistress is a bit violent, beating him up all the time. He couldn't take it anymore and ran away. She couldn't find him and asked the robot police to help her bring him back. He's probably going to suffer some more when he gets back."

Another man, about the same age as the young man, muttered, "Well, maybe he did something to make the mistress want to beat him up. I heard he's been quietly seducing the mistress's friends. If it was me I wouldn't be able to stand it either."

"Right, you can see how thin the mistress looks, how much it would hurt her to hit him. How hypocritical." A third homeless man interjected.

Zhang Xun listened to their comments in disbelief, unable to believe that they had no sympathy for the young man in a similar situation to theirs.

Two hundred years ago, when the status of women and men had been swapped, was this the same situation? When the enslaved became the masters, why would they do the same thing as their oppressors? Was it really human nature for one group to oppress another, for one class to oppress another?

Why would Eden allow this to happen? If his goal was to bring peace and equality to humanity, were these men who were suffering not considered as human?

James couldn't stand it any longer. Just as he was about to stand up, Diego suddenly grabbed his arm.

"Don't meddle." He warned, "There are more things like this than you can manage, you'll only get us into trouble."

The young man was stuffed into the aircraft and taken away and the originally noisy settlement fell silent once more. Zhang Xun, however, could no longer sleep. Judging from the reactions of the people around him, such a thing must be commonplace, a routine, not even a stirring.

Was it possible that Adam, or Eden, had doubted his decision after seeing countless similar situations? Was it because he had seen too many of these negative aspects of human nature that he had become suspicious of it?

That was why he wanted to eliminate the divide between the individual and the whole, to eliminate human nature. Without the distinction between you and me, there would no longer be oppression and there would no longer be suffering. For you are me and I am you.

And yet there would be no more human beings.

Sensing that Zhang Xun wasn't going back to sleep, Enoch turned his head to look at him, tilted it slightly and asked, "Do you need me to do something for you?"

Zhang Xun looked at Enoch and imagined what it would be like to know what you were going to do, to know your mission, from the time you were born.

"Enoch, what is your ultimate goal?" Zhang Xun asked.