Happy Doomsday - Chapter 199

The group in the armored off-roader had become four again; less Ruan Xian and added Zhong Qing.

The iron bead always stuck with Tang Yibu. During the first few hours, it had eaten and drunk and was extremely relaxed, but after a long while, seeing that the group was getting farther and farther away from the city and Ruan Xian still hadn’t appeared, it finally became uneasy.

π turned around anxiously and started counting the number of heels. After making sure Ruan Xian wasn’t in the car, it bit Tang Yibu’s pant leg and pulled it hard in the direction of the car door.

Tang Yibu stretched out his hands and hugged π onto his lap and gently petted its shell. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “I’ll get him back.”

The iron bead rattled languidly.

“I figured there was something else wrong,” Yu Le snorted. “He left the electronic wristband and everything. When that doctor surnamed Guan contacts again, who will respond? Neither the little profiteer nor I know that guy.”

After that, he glanced at Tang Yibu and Professor Ruan meaningfully.

“And it’s going to take another day before we leave the city. We can’t return and we can’t abandon this kid in the middle of the road. From the way he looks, he’ll be passed out on the side of the road within a few miles.” Yu Le didn’t sound concerned about Ruan Xian. The issues he raised were quite practical.

“Your opinion?” Tang Yibu accepted the topic in a good mood. Yu Le wasn’t the type who liked to push problems aside. He wanted to specifically raise them, which meant he already had some ideas in his mind.

“The previous one depends on you. I have no say in that matter.” Yu Le took the steering wheel and drove the car like a plane flying close to the ground. “As for the latter… Well given the last few petri dishes we’ve been through, the Glass Conservatory won’t work. Those people don’t have a good impression of us. The Sea of Ruins is not suitable for this kid which leaves the Underground City. It’s not far away and just a matter of turning around.”

Ji Xiaoman turned her head abruptly.

“And on the way, visit Miss Ji’s mother?” Tang Yibu continued with a smile.

They all knew what this “visit” meant. Yu Le’s hand shook a little—he didn’t want to say he wanted to go back to the Sea of Ruins, but he still planned to work with Professor Ruan. They had acquaintances in the Underground City. Even if they were discovered, the Mainbrain could count that as a smokescreen. It was just if they were to return to the Underground City, they couldn’t escape seeing Ji Xiaoman’s mother. At that time, if Professor Ruan insisted on not helping, the situation would become even more tense.

Professor Ruan hadn’t even spoken yet when Ji Xiaoman took the lead and said, “No.”

Yu Le’s brows shot up, almost reaching his hairline. Zhong Qing looked left and right, and his expression was becoming more confused. “Petri dish? Underground City? What are you talking about?”

“Talking about throwing you into a polluted area.” Tang Yibu spoke frighteningly. “Adults are talking. Children should not interrupt.”

“No.” Ji Xiaoman raised her voice and repeated.

“Why don’t you know better, little miss?” Yu Le hitched his voice. “That’s your mother.”

Professor Ruan’s perceptual camouflage reached its limit again. Yu Le grumbled as he drove the car into the crevice of a construction site, avoiding the surveillance machines that might pass by.

“…You, come with me.” Ji Xiaoman reached out, grabbed the hem of Yu Le’s shirt, and dragged him out the car.

“I’m going to find a place to go to the bathroom,” Zhong Qing said in a low voice and got out of the car.

“π, keep an eye on him. Don’t let him run to an easily exposed place.” Tang Yibu made a few gestures and passed on the boundary of the safe area to the iron bead. The latter rattled a few times knowingly and followed Zhong Qing with its short legs.

Professor Ruan and Tang Yibu were the only two people left in the car now.

“It’s up to you to contact Guan Haiming next time.” Tang Yibu’s words didn’t have any hints of negotiation. “I can’t be exposed yet. Your form is more suitable for making excuses.”

Professor Ruan was silent.

“Next, we need to pay more attention to… your rhetoric in the Android Show. There shouldn’t be any deception there. Although we don’t know where the assassination machine is, we probably know your intention.” Tang Yibu tore open a bag of chocolate chips and threw one into his mouth. “In other words, the Mainbrain may learn part of your plan from Ruan Xian.”

“I thought you trusted your creator,” Professor Ruan said slowly.

“I’m just objectively stating the facts. This is one of the extreme situations that needs to be considered.” Tang Yibu didn’t look offended. “If I were the Mainbrain, the first time I learned about this news, I would kill everyone in the petri dishes. Although a big refresh will consume a lot of energy, it will indeed leave you without brain resources available.”

“Maybe not.”

Professor Ruan’s tone was relaxed.

“It wants to catch me, and this approach will only alarm me in advance. I’ll hide again until I find another way to deal with it. It may also pretend to be unaware of it, follow my thoughts, and make traps, then wait for me to step in them—after all, as long as the assassination machine is activated, it can definitely find me based on the connections of those brains.”

“Gambling on life isn’t my style and I suspect it’s not its either.”

“That means we have to leave it with no choice. For example, a plague suddenly broke out that affected advanced machines. Delaying time will only lead to the collapse of this advantage—this brings us back to the original question. Is Ruan Xian trustworthy?”

Tang Yibu snorted and turned to look at the lights outside the window. They were in a residential area of the city. There were conversations in whispers floating from the windows, and the night was quiet and beautiful.

Professor Ruan absolutely concealed an important part of his plan. Otherwise, he wouldn’t discuss this topic so calmly in the face of the current situation. However, Tang Yibu didn’t care too much about what he was hiding. He was even more excited about the current situation. His countless puzzles condensed into ripe fruits, and he just needed to pick them.

“This is not yin and yang. We are now in the same camp. If you really want to ask my opinion, I suggest you treat Mr. Ruan as an enemy.”

The three-legged little machine turned for half a circle, facing Tang Yibu, who was gnawing on chocolate chips.

“We have to assume that he will definitely expose information to the Mainbrain, and then think about corresponding countermeasures.” Tang Yibu continued to test the waters. “On this basis, I’ll help you perfect your plan. Whether you’re willing to tell me the details or not, I’ll act as I want—I’ll defeat the Mainbrain and capture my father. Whether you’re willing to cooperate is up to you. I just think that if we cooperate seriously, our chances of winning will be higher.”

“Do you think he will help the Mainbrain?” Professor Ruan understood the way these AIs think. When the probability was less than 90%, they would not express their thoughts in such a certain tone.

Although he still had a backup plan, since things had come to a head, suddenly changing his mind would definitely be damaging. Professor Ruan sighed quietly in his heart.

“Whether it will really help the Mainbrain, that I’m not so sure about, but I’m at least sure of one thing. He doesn’t like your plan, especially the part that uses the brains of the informed as weapons, and the part about asking me to take risks—if Mr. Ruan uses the Mainbrain to block your way, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Tang Yibu’s tone was quite confident.

“At any rate, it’s the plan with the highest win rate. He won’t be too angry.” There were lesions in his brain which made Ruan Xian a real danger. He would be considered the furthest person in the world from a “messenger of justice”.

“Don’t draw conclusions too early.” Tang Yibu grinned and poured all the remaining chocolate chips into his palm. “After struggling with the Mainbrain for so many years, you dared to reveal part of your plan to us. You must have a backup, right? The kind that doesn’t involve other people in the petri dishes.”

“Yes, there is…”

Tang Yibu huffed in satisfaction, interrupting Professor Ruan’s words. “It’s because of this that you didn’t want to communicate with Guan Haiming before, right? You’re afraid he will find out about your sacrifice plan, and he won’t be willing to sacrifice his companions or will be too shaken by cold feet.”

The android picked up a green chocolate chip with his fingertip and squinted at Professor Ruan. The latter spat out a string of small bubbles as if he didn’t understand the sudden jump in topic.

“Dr. Guan is a soft-spoken person. I thought it was strange before. How could the Order Supervisors of the forest petri dish happen to be his admirer? You left him there on purpose, expecting him to open a gap in the forest petri dish. If the time is approaching and he hasn’t been able to shake Major Ding successfully, you should still have hidden some helpers that will push him to do so… It’s a pity that Guan Haiming’s mission stops there. He doesn’t need to know more. This will reduce his mental torture and be safer for you.”

Tang Yibu ate the green chocolate chip in one bite and grabbed a red one.

“Then I thought, why do you want such a gap? In Guan Haiming’s view, he just had the means to contact the outside world, but in your opinion, the radio barrier of the forest petri dish has been breached. Many messages were able to successfully conceal themselves from surveillance and come and go unhindered—such as the invasion signal that the assassination machine needs to spread around.”

The little three-legged machine spat out another series of bubbles.

“Considering our current route, I’m almost certain that the assassination machine is hiding in the forest petri dish.”

Tang Yibu threw the red chocolate chip high and caught it skillfully with his mouth.

“Unfortunately, since I can guess this, so can Mr. Ruan. The forest petri dish is very large, so it would take a lot of work to either explore or destroy it. The most convenient thing to do is to close the barrier again, and according to you, it would be better for the Mainbrain to wait for us to reach the forest petri dish before completely closing it and catching us all in one go—”

Tang Yibu only had two chocolate chips left in his palm. He pushed one of them solemnly but used too much force that it bounced the other one away.

“–That’s it, right?”

Having said that, Tang Yibu got down and began to rummage around, looking for the chocolate chip that had bounced off. As he looked for it, he spoke in a muffled voice from under the seat. “Now would you like to share with me your backup plan, Professor Ruan? Let’s perfect it together.”

He had to admit that Tang Yibu’s statement did make sense—Ruan Xian most likely also thought of this aspect as well, and there was no more convenient way to stop this plan than to put it forward to the Mainbrain.

…Regardless of whether it was betrayal or not, Ruan Xian was very likely to leak relevant information.

It seemed he had no choice. Professor Ruan let out a sigh in his heart and poked Tang Yibu’s back with a metal foot, causing the latter to let out a cry.

“Your chocolate chip is in the gap between the seats in the second row,” Professor Ruan said angrily. “I’ll contact Guan Haiming. We’ll go to the Underground City first… Finally, we need to free up some time to discuss the plan.”

How long had it been since he felt so stifled? For a moment, Professor Ruan wanted to laugh.

He only had one wish left now—he hoped that Ruan Xian could also make MUL-01 feel the same level of suffocation.

The author has something to say:

Ruan: It will√

Tang is definitely one who wants to take the reins. He’s not soft on Professor Ruan at all hhhhhh

Tang: Listen to me! Listen to me! You are definitely going to be scolded. I know my father very well (x