The Mechanic [BL]

[84]

Chapter 84 - The Ordinary World (7)

The woman who met them was named Diana, an engineer with YOU, the company that developed and manufactured the Button. She took them to the basement of an old flat on the outskirts of Kelowna. It was clearly inhabited by people on the margins of society, there was a pungent smell in the hallway and there were even layers of graffiti on the walls that hadn't been cleaned off.

She opened a rusty metal door with her fingerprint recognition and led them into a two-bedroom flat. The furniture was sparse, the white paint on the walls was patchy and mouldy and the carpet was covered in water stains and there were even mushrooms around the edges.

"This is the only safe house we have here so you'll have to make do with it. There's a cargo plane coming through at three o'clock tonight, so I'll arrange for you to hide in the cargo hold."

As she said this she went to the fridge and found a couple of chilled bento boxes and a couple of bottles of beer, which she opened and took a few sips from, letting out a sigh of relief.

Enoch began dutifully unpacking the boxes and putting them into the heater to cook. Diego rushed straight to the beers, while James went into each room to check them out, glancing out the windows for alternate escape routes.

Zhang Xun sat down on the slightly crumpled print sofa a little reservedly. Diana looked at him with interest, "I hear you're an engineer from Lost Paradise?"

Zhang Xun nodded, talking to women always made him a little nervous, "Yes ...... but we're called mechanics."

"I heard that most of the people in Lost Paradise don't even have computers? Is that true?"

"It used to be." Zhang Xun sighed, "Things are more ...... complicated now."

"Is it because of the North American Eden servers you guys stole? I heard you guys turned it into a human?" Diana asked excitedly, leaning her entire body forward and looking at him intently, "Have you ever seen the Eden that turned into a human?"

Enoch, who was busy in the kitchen, glanced over absently.

Zhang Xun said, "Yes, I have."

"What does he look like? Is there any difference between him and a normal human?"

Zhang Xun thought for a moment and said, "At first he was very unaccustomed to a human body and needed to be taught how to walk, how to eat, and even how to use the bathroom ...... I could tell that he wanted to go back to his original state of not having a body." The corners of Zhang Xun's mouth gradually unfolded into a small smile as he recalled the very first days he spent with Adam.

Diana laughed brightly, "Teaching God how to go to the bathroom? Hahahahaha, why haven't I come across such a good job? You know so much, you're not the one responsible for training him, are you?"

Zhang Xun hesitated for a moment and said, "I did have a lot of contact with him."

"Then why did you escape? Was it because of the human Eden?"

"Hey, why are you prying so much?" Diego interjected from the side.

Diana shrugged her shoulders, realising she had asked the wrong question, "I was just curious."

Diego turned from his high chair and looked at her with interest, "I'm also curious, why are you in this grey area of business when you're an engineer at YOU and get paid so much?"

Diana fished out a packet of cigarettes from her own pocket, took one out and held it in her mouth. Zhang Xun noticed that she was smoking the most primitive of cigarettes, not the current e-cigarettes that most people in the ordinary world would smoke. The moment the subject came up, the light-hearted smile on her face diminished considerably, "Because I want to save myself a way out."