The Dragon and the Ant

Hearing Lin Wei's impolite words, the humanoid machine looked at Lin Wei inexplicably, ignored him, and continued her work.

Lin Wei didn't mind seeing her like this, and just said with a smile,

"Can you at least give me a reply? If you keep silent like this, it will make me feel very awkward…"

Before Otto was officially "caught," Jackal could return at any time. It wasn't worth taking this risk at this point. Therefore, Lin Wei didn't mind playing around a little longer.

"I have no need to talk to a sacrifice."

The humanoid machine said expressionlessly, continuing her unfinished inspection work.

She really is like her master, Lin Wei thought with a smile, but still a little different.

"Sacrifice… That's not the same as what your 'master' said."

Lin Wei looked at her half-face that was not covered by the steel goggles, slender and thin, looking very young.

"She called me an 'experimental subject'?"

The humanoid machine tilted her head, looked at Lin Wei, and said expressionlessly,

"Trying to gain the sympathy of a machine by splitting hairs is not an effective survival strategy."

"Hahaha~"

Being怼ed so seriously, Lin Wei didn't get angry, but laughed, feeling that this little girl was very interesting.

"I guess Jackal must have been angered by you a lot…"

"You misunderstand. The master has many tools, and I am just one of them."

The humanoid machine said calmly.

"Humans only have two evaluations of tools: 'easy to use' or 'not easy to use'. Usually, tools that are not easy to use face the fate of being abandoned or destroyed. And I still exist here, which means that at least so far, the master is still satisfied with me."

"So, is this your survival strategy?"

Lin Wei smiled and asked.

"To completely become a tool?"

"I don't understand what you mean. A tool is a tool."

The humanoid machine was stunned for a moment, and then continued to say calmly and indifferently.

"If you want to stall for time in this way, then I think you will be disappointed. The quantum computer in my brain is enough to complete several different tasks at the same time. For example, talking to you now will not affect the progress of my task."

"Is that so? Then you are really amazing."

Lin Wei still smiled and asked.

"Do you remember what you said at the beginning?"

"…I remember."

The humanoid machine was stunned for a moment, and even her hand movements paused. Then she said expressionlessly,

"But I also said that trying to gain the sympathy of a machine is not an effective survival strategy."

Saying so, she continued her work, as if she was completely unaffected by Lin Wei.

"A machine? I've never seen a machine that likes to talk about 'survival strategies'."

Lin Wei still had that smile, maintaining that immobile posture, turned his head to look at the petite humanoid machine girl.

"You see, at least at the level of 'conversation', aren't we doing very smoothly?"

"…"

The humanoid machine looked up at him and stopped responding.

"Will a machine pretend to be silent?"

Lin Wei said with a slight tease upon seeing this.

"The way you are, you clearly look like a little girl who is sulking! It's quite cute~"

"…"

The humanoid machine was a little dazed. She didn't remember when the last time she was called a "little girl" was.

It was such a distant memory, it was like it was in a previous life…

A surge of sadness welled up in her heart. This feeling made her feel both familiar and strange.

It was obviously a very sad emotion, but she grabbed it tightly, holding this sour sadness in her palm, putting it in her heart, as if tasting a precious dessert, carefully and cautiously.

But unfortunately, this emotion came quickly and went quickly. No matter how she tried to grab it, it was in vain.

Like a sudden tide, it came surging, and went decisively.

Leaving only a poor girl soaked by the tide, standing in this mess at a loss…

"What's wrong?"

Lin Wei saw her stunned in place and called out softly.

The humanoid machine came back to her senses, shook her head, and continued her work.

The feeling just now made her feel both scared and couldn't help but want to indulge and want more. This unprecedented experience made her a little overwhelmed for a while, so she simply let herself return to that mechanical state.

This was the comfort zone she had obtained as a humanoid machine. As a machine that followed orders, she didn't listen, see, ask, or think about anything other than orders.

Although the mechanical girl's emotions were relatively bland, Lin Wei still noticed that her breathing rate had been chaotic for a moment, although it soon returned to that machine-like regular and steady rhythm.

"I once met a little girl about your size on Coral Island…"

Lin Wei turned his head back, glanced at the somewhat dazzling light, frowned, simply closed his eyes, tilted his head slightly, found a comfortable angle, which would neither make his neck uncomfortable nor let the light directly pierce his pupils. Then he said with some emotion and reminiscence.

"At that time, I was breaking into a World Serpent base located there with a friend – well, probably similar to the base at the university before? At that time, that little girl was the manager there, and caused us some minor trouble… Hehe, it also left me with some very deep impressions."

Speaking of this, Lin Wei glanced at the humanoid machine girl beside him again and said with a smile.

"Speaking of which, it's also interesting. At that time, it was the little girl who was tied up and unable to move, and I was watching her. I didn't expect the tables to turn now… By the way, do you know her?"

"If you want to say something like 'revenge for a companion', then you don't need to worry about that."

The humanoid machine said calmly.

"There are many humanoid machines, but we don't know each other and we don't meet. Just like the refrigerator in your home won't be placed together with another refrigerator, it's the same principle."

"…You're good at analogies."

Lin Wei opened his eyes, looked at her, sighed, and didn't know what to say.

"Thank you for the compliment."

The humanoid machine replied noncommittally, and then stopped talking.

"It seems you still don't want to talk to me…"

Lin Wei looked at her and said with a smile.

"Talking to a dying sacrifice is a meaningless thing."

The humanoid machine said naturally.

"There are many such things in the master's laboratory."

"Since you don't want to talk to me, why are you willing to answer my questions again and again?"

Lin Wei asked with a smile.

"Hmm?"

The humanoid machine seemed to have never thought about this question. She was slightly stunned, tilted her head and thought for a while, and then said with some uncertainty.

"Hospice care?"

"Uh… Hahahaha!"

Seeing her somewhat naive appearance, Lin Wei couldn't help but laugh out loud. After laughing for a while, he stopped and said with some emotion.

"It's a pity, that little girl who really lived like a machine wouldn't be as cute as you…"

The humanoid machine was puzzled by this.

"I'll ask you a question."

Lin Wei changed the subject and asked with some curiosity and inquiry.

"Were you in charge of the base at the university before?"

"Unlike the base on Coral Island, the First Biological Research Institute of the Philippine National Central University is a research-based base and is not managed by a humanoid machine."

The humanoid machine explained.

"It's just that the master, as a higher authority, automatically took over the highest authority when she entered there. As an assistant, I carried out the daily management work of the base on her behalf."

Speaking of this, she asked curiously,

"Why are you asking this?"

"Nothing… It's just that I learned some news by chance before."

Lin Wei thought of some small things that had caught his attention when he read the memories of those Valkyries at the central hospital.

"The researchers at that biological research institute were urgently evacuated before they were raided by the Schicksal Valkyries, and most of them were safe afterwards… I find this very strange, because it doesn't fit my stereotype of World Serpent's expertise in 'eliminating all threats'…"

Lin Wei said with a slight sarcasm, and then asked curiously.

"I guess, you did it, right."

"Mm."

The humanoid machine admitted.

"Why?"

"Because they were originally ordinary people used to cover up. At most, they were just a 'mouse cage' used by the master to select experimental subjects."

The humanoid machine was very calm about this.

"They didn't know anything. Therefore, I don't think they should have been buried with the base in that situation."

"Why?"

Lin Wei pressed.

"Because…"

The humanoid machine paused, her lips moved slightly, as if she remembered the woman who died tragically in front of her. Or maybe she remembered the middle-aged driver who came out of the underground passage to meet her and help her escape safely, and then drowned in the river with the car because of brake failure…

Because she remembered too much, she didn't know what was appropriate to say for a while. After brewing for a while, she said,

"Because meaningless sacrifice is just meaningless self-destruction."

Her voice was still calm, without any ups and downs. But if you listened carefully, it seemed to be full of some kind of eager emotion.

"This world is already bad enough, so I don't think we should add fuel to the fire."

"Well said…"

Lin Wei laughed, shook his head and sighed.

"What a pity…"

Anna, if you could hear these words, would you still be so confused and painful?

He just didn't know if the humanoid machine girl on Coral Island understood this simplest truth at the moment before her death?

"What's your name?"

Lin Wei asked gently.

"Number E-311."

"I mean your name."

Lin Wei's voice was still very gentle.

"Your human name."

This gentle and firm voice made the humanoid machine girl's heart warm, and then it was quickly cooled down by her cold body. She shook her head and said,

"It's meaningless anymore."

"Why?"

Lin Wei pressed again relentlessly.

"The people who knew my name are all dead."

The humanoid machine girl's voice was still calm, as if she was really a machine.

"Whether it's the name I had as a human, or the number I have now as a machine, there's no difference. The number is easier to remember."

"…Is that so?"

Lin Wei nodded understandingly and stopped asking.

This world has never been fair. Some people are born to be dragons with infinite potential. And some people are ants that can't even withstand an ordinary rain…

A dragon has the way of life of a dragon. He can roar proudly, bravely and fearlessly rush towards the world-destroying demon, and fight with it until he is covered in wounds and the sky is dark.

And an ant, even looking up, may be torn to pieces by the smallest aftermath of this battle…

But in the end, whether it is a dragon or an ant, they are all living beings in this world, hugging each other and struggling to survive.

There is no high or low here, it's just that each has its own difficulties.

"Then what am I now?"

Lin Wei muttered and reflected.

"Am I considered high, or low?"

He had a vague answer in his heart, but Lin Wei didn't want to accept this answer.

You see, even I have such a perfunctory manner, so don't make things difficult for others…

Lin Wei thought with a wry smile.

"Do you remember what you just said?"

Lin Wei smiled at the humanoid machine girl and said very gently.

"It doesn't matter whether the body is flesh or machine, it's just a body that carries life. Living like a machine is also okay, at least it can make yourself useful and not be easily abandoned…"

Choosing to forget the painful past, abandoning excessive emotions, letting yourself accept the broken present and the more broken future; it is also an effective survival strategy.

Is it escape? Maybe…

But at least, she is still positive, isn't she?

Life will always find a way…

Lin Wei suddenly remembered this sentence.

"You see, I was right."

Lin Wei said with a final smile.

"You have never been a tool, you have always been a living human being, a very beautiful one."

"…"

The humanoid machine was stunned for a while, staring at Lin Wei, but she seemed to be uncomfortable with the firm eyes in his eyes, and hurriedly looked away.

Is this a blessing? She thought.

She was very grateful that someone was willing to say this to her, but she didn't know what she could do. After thinking for a while, she said,

"I'll print out the physical examination report you want."

Lin Wei smiled and said,

"I can't understand those data, you summarize it for me."

"…"

The humanoid machine suddenly felt that this guy was even more hateful than herself.

......

On the other side, Jackal, who had completed all the preparations, forcibly suppressed her excitement and watched on the big screen as the long-awaited prey finally fell into the net.

She stood up "teng," pretended to be calm and walked to the microphone, calmed down her mood, looked at the two girls who were on guard on the screen, and said arrogantly,

"Welcome, guests from afar, I have been waiting for you here for a long time!"