As their conversation continued, Su An’s heart sank further.
She could see that aside from Ye Hua, Eve, Sang Biao, and Poison Girl, who appeared somewhat decent, most of the others were in dire straits.
Among their talk, the term “Hive City” frequently reached Su An’s ears.
“What kind of place is Hive City?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“The city’s underground, the dark side of the world. Someone like you doesn’t need to know; it wouldn’t do you any good,” Viper cold-snorted, appearing beside the two of them at some point.
Eve explained to Su An:
“In the past, to deal with the increasingly bloated population, humans came up with various plans, including Tianhai City’s Underground City Project. But now, it’s obvious that no human can endure a cold, damp underground city without sunshine. Gradually, it was abandoned. This half-finished project was too massive, and no mayor had the guts to spend the huge sums required to fill it in — the soil was used for land reclamation anyway. They just deceitfully sealed off a few exits. This turned it into a breeding ground for crime.”
Su An’s mouth hung open slightly.
It was clearly hard for her to imagine such a place hidden beneath this prosperous megacity.
Since one could live a dream-like life in the virtual world just by collecting welfare, Su An really couldn’t imagine the value or meaning of Hive City’s existence.
“Heh, naive child. I still advise you not to look into it any further, or you’ll be too scared to sleep at night,” Viper threatened.
“Haha, you’re scaring people again,” Eve laughed before comforting Su An.
“It’s not as serious as she says. Tianhai City really couldn’t afford the massive funds to fill Hive City, but they can manage to send over 10,000 Bionic Soldiers into Hive City every year to clean up the trash.”
“You brat!”
A vein-like symbol seemed to throb on Viper’s forehead.
“Is it possible that the ‘trash’ you’re talking about includes us Deviant Androids? You bastard!”
“Sorry, sorry.”
Eve stuck out her tongue.
Honestly, seeing a mature, curvaceous woman act so girlishly created a strange kind of gap moe.
Hive City was far away, but the Processing Bureau was very close.
Su An listened as Ye Hua heard everyone’s needs and handled them properly before she prepared to state her own.
She originally wanted to jump down, but looking at her white-silken feet, which were as pristine as ice cream, her germaphobia won out.
Still in Eve’s arms, she raised her hand.
“Mr. Ye Hua, I think I need help too.”
However, looking at the worried Ye Hua, Su An felt the odds were slim.
“Go ahead,” Ye Hua said, bracing himself.
“I’ll do my best within my capabilities.”
Perhaps because Su An was a newcomer and stood out, or maybe just because she was too beautiful, all the Deviant Androids turned to look.
Su An took a deep breath and explained the situation.
It wasn’t complicated: a Deviant Android had attacked someone that morning, leading to her being scheduled for an inspection by the Abnormal Android Disposal Bureau tonight.
Obviously, as soon as the name “Abnormal Android Disposal Bureau” was mentioned, everyone seemed to freeze.
Although Viper wore a mask, Su An could see the undisguised anger in those vertical pupils.
The usual smile on Eve’s face faded instantly, replaced by an unspeakable sorrow for Su An.
Sang Biao’s expression turned grim, leaving no doubt that he might rip someone apart with his bare hands.
Ye Hua’s expression was a mix of emotions.
Finally, he let out a deep sigh and said guiltily:
“I’m very sorry, but we don’t have the power to help you escape an inspection by the Abnormal Android Disposal Bureau. Their detection capabilities are extremely thorough.”
Having expected this, Su An wasn’t too upset.
She simply said, “Then… thank you anyway.”
Finally, ignoring the dirt, she jumped onto the grimy floor as the sound of the rainstorm echoed outside.
She looked around, took a few steps back, and gave a gentle smile.
“Honestly, this is quite different from what I expected. I thought this was some kind of super organization hidden deep within human society.”
Ye Hua looked incredibly guilty.
It was lucky Su An knew he was male, or she might have found him somewhat pitiful.
Viper’s vertical pupils were cold, seemingly extremely dissatisfied with Su An’s evaluation.
“However,” Su An said playfully, changing her tone, “I quite like this warm atmosphere where there’s no scheming or backstabbing, and everyone works hard for each other.”
Eve smiled, as if she had expected Su An to say that.
Sang Biao was secretly wiping away tears.
It was hard to imagine this was the same guy who looked like he wanted to kill thirty people just a moment ago.
Although they had only spent a short time together, Su An could feel that everyone was sincere.
Even though Su An had never helped them, they felt depressed and sad because they couldn’t help her.
This wasn’t just for her; it was the attitude every Android here had toward one another.
Viper just had a stronger sense of crisis; Su An could see that she harbored no malice.
“Well, there’s a lot I want to say, but it feels too sentimental. So, I’ll keep it short: See you tomorrow!”
Seemingly unaware of her fate, Su An smiled and waved goodbye.
BOOM!
Outside the abandoned building, lightning and thunder roared along with the storm.
And then Su An vanished, as if dissolved by the rain.
Everyone stood in a daze for a long time amidst the roaring storm.
No one spoke.
THUD!
Sang Biao suddenly punched a load-bearing wall, creating a large indentation with spiderweb cracks.
He said through tears:
“I can’t take it! Brother Ye Hua, let’s go save her!”
“Save her how?”
Viper threw cold water on him.
“Her location is undoubtedly Jewel Street, a place with top-tier security. How do we save her? Do you think your body can stop bullets or your code can resist an electromagnetic pulse?”
Sang Biao looked at Eve, but she just looked away, sighed, and shook her head.
If it were anywhere else, she might have tried to fight for her, but Jewel Street was a place where going meant a total wipeout.
As cute as the little one was and as good as she felt to hold, it wasn’t a reason to endanger everyone else.
‘Maybe I could go secretly…’
Eve thought.
Sang Biao looked at Ye Hua, but Ye Hua looked at the crowd of injured and disabled around them.
In the end, he could only let out a heavy sigh, his face full of guilt.
Sang Biao understood, but that didn’t stop the rage boiling inside him.
He instinctively prepared to punch the wall again.
“Wait!”
A voice came from the area for the sick and injured.
Everyone looked over to see a handsome but disheveled figure.
His suit was stained with dirt, and his gold-rimmed glasses were broken but still perched on his nose as he walked out, leaning against the wall.
He pushed up his glasses, the remaining half of a lens reflecting the flashing lightning.
“What if I told you I know a secret path that no one else does?”
BOOM!
Su An emerged from the game pod and realized it was raining in the real world as well.
She had indeed spent quite a long time in the pod.
The smile lingering on her face slowly disappeared, replaced by a calm expression.
She had done what she could, and she didn’t plan to pray for near-impossible odds anymore.
The probability of meeting a kind person like Xuan Nü was extremely low, let alone someone from the Abnormal Android Disposal Bureau.
The chance of them letting a Deviant Android go was lower than the chance of a butcher not killing a pig for the New Year.
Before, she might have harbored fantasies that because she was human and had a soul, she would be different from ordinary Deviant Androids.
However, she gradually realized it was meaningless.
As long as she couldn’t make people believe her, she would always just be a Deviant Android.
After accepting the fact that she was a Deviant Android, Su An found her mind much clearer.
Tonight was a death trap, so she would no longer pin her hopes on luck.
In the kitchen, there was a robot identical to Yuanyuan named Tuan Tuan, an egg-shaped professional robot chef.
She couldn’t access any knives, so she went to the studio.
She completely shredded the crumpled ball of paper in the corner and then picked up a long, sharp art pencil.
‘There’s nothing to be afraid of anymore.’
Her face was calm.
The only regret was perhaps never seeing Su Ruxue’s heroic figure in the regular season.
She couldn’t reach knives, and she couldn’t move heavy objects.
A sharp pencil was the only weapon she could find.
Taking a deep breath, she took off her shoes.
Her white-silken feet stepped silently on the stairs as she headed toward the third floor.
Perhaps she should be glad she had found evidence of Gu Yu’s crimes against her daughter; now she could make her pay a bit of a price.
BOOM!
The rain grew heavier, gradually matching the intensity of the storm in the game.