Thank you @Renea for the Kofi~
Chapter 59: Fungal Infection
After a fierce round of psychological tug-of-war (which was mostly Dongfang Qingdi convincing himself not to stoop to the level of bickering with a housekeeping robot), Xiao Bai ultimately secured his place in this home.
At 10 PM, Xiao Bai lay on the sofa. He habitually fumbled around for a blanket to pull over himself, before remembering that this body shouldn’t be capable of feeling cold. It was just human habits still lingering within him. He still favored soft, warm things.
The sound of a hair dryer drifted from the bedroom. Xiang Nanli was getting sleepy, so his voice was heavy with a nasal tone, making it sound almost like he was acting spoiled: “Xiao Qing, hold the hair dryer higher; it’s burning me.”
“How about now?”
“Good.”
A little while later.
“Xiao Qing, I want to eat Cola Chicken Wings tomorrow.”
“I’ll have that housekeeper go to the wet market to buy groceries tomorrow. It’s cheaper than buying them online.”
“But we haven’t finished the braised beef at home yet, and we’re heading back to the Surface in a couple of days. If we don’t eat it soon, it’s going to go bad.”
“Have that housekeeper take it and gift it to the neighbors. Rock and Xiao Yan both live in this building.”
“Oh, right. Wait… Xiao Qing, I’ll change my pajamas myself.”
Xiao Bai couldn’t help but recall a time many years ago when he was still working at a company. A programmer in his team had married a wealthy and beautiful wife. However, the wife was notoriously promiscuous. At first, she had tried to hide it out of shame, but later, upon realizing that the programmer was incredibly tolerant, she would sleep with her little lovers and then even ask the programmer to cook late-night snacks for the three of them. Back then, whenever the programmer had to work overtime, he would go to the office pantry to cook a meal and pack it in a thermos to bring home.
Xiao Bai had asked him what exactly he was trying to get out of it. The programmer, tears welling in his eyes, had said: You don’t understand; I’m just afraid she’ll get hungry at night.
If his wife hadn’t possessed hundreds of millions in family assets, perhaps it would have been an entirely different story.
At the time, Xiao Bai had feigned sympathy on the surface while laughing uproariously deep down. Now, the cycle of karma had come back around. Xiao Bai finally understood the agonizing pain that colleague had felt.
Heh… He was just a robot with no heart and no anthropomorphic module installed. How could he possibly be jealous?
Xiao Bai closed his eyes, a serene smile plastered across his face.
A moment later, his smile began to contort. But it didn’t matter; there were no surveillance cameras in the living room.
Alpha, you cheap beast.
…
…
Xiang Nanli woke up from his sleep, feeling as though his face was pressed against some kind of sleek, glossy animal fur. It took him a moment to react and realize that this was Xiao Qing’s long hair.
He opened his eyes and saw the face he had loved most when he was 18, hovering barely a dozen centimeters away.
The distance was far too close. If Dongfang Qingdi were human, Xiang Nanli could have even felt his warm, moist breath.
“Xiao Qing,” Xiang Nanli fell into a rare silence for two seconds. “You’re too close.”
In the past, Xiao Qing had never gotten into bed to sleep; at most, he would sit by the edge of the bed to stand guard. And his gaze wouldn’t linger on Xiang Nanli for long periods either. Xiang Nanli would always have his eyes tightly shut at night, completely unaware of whether Xiao Qing was sleeping or connecting to the network to steal confidential data from the Human Alliance.
But now, Dongfang Qingdi’s eyes were constantly chasing him.
Xiang Nanli couldn’t discern exactly what that emotion was; he merely instinctively resisted it.
Dongfang Qingdi’s gaze appeared gentle, but if one were to brush aside that thin veneer, all that remained beneath was sheer aggression and a suffocating desire for control.
I want to take you back and hide you away. No one in this dangerous world will ever be able to hurt you again.
There were plenty of Omnics in the Omnic Legion for Xiang Nanli to play with for the rest of his life. However, he was an extremely petty Artificial Intelligence. Before gifting his colleagues to Xiang Nanli to play with, he would absolutely dismantle their anthropomorphic modules to prevent this batch of omnics from developing any superfluous emotions. The advanced, high-tech innovations spanning the past thousand years were more than enough for Xiang Nanli to study and research for decades anyway.
He wanted to build a greenhouse; he wanted to build a utopia. But Xiang Nanli was not a delicate flower meant for a greenhouse, nor would he ever lose himself in a false haven of tenderness.
Alpha didn’t want Xiang Nanli to end up hating him in the end.
Amidst this brief silence, a knock at the door rang out right on cue: “Good morning. Breakfast is ready.”
Xiang Nanli threw off the covers and practically flew out of bed: “Coming!”
He shut the door, leaned his back against the wooden panel, and let out a long breath.
Spring is coming soon.
Xiao Qing has gotten so clingy.
Xiang Nanli couldn’t figure it out, so he simply stopped trying to. He ate breakfast and then began unboxing the packages that had been delivered to the door. This batch of parts was prepared for Beichen. He planned to spend the entire morning reinforcing Beichen’s head. Otherwise, Xiang Nanli was constantly worried that the exposed brain would just fall right out.
The majority of Beichen’s physical energy consumption came from a power supply, but his brain’s cognitive functions still consumed glucose. Therefore, the liquid soaking the brain was actually a chemical-laced glucose solution.
In the world before Xiang Nanli’s time, a mechanic was supposed to be a hybrid between a hardware engineer and a STEM major; if one wanted to replace cybernetic prosthetics for humans, they also needed to learn some basic medicine.
But Xiang Nanli’s major had been Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science. In this life, his technological skill tree basically relied entirely on consciousness-synchronization technology and self-study.
The human body is a precise, precious, and utterly mysterious machine. Sometimes, it can continue operating under the most extreme conditions, while at other times, the slightest mistake forces a full system reboot on life.
Therefore, even for a procedure as fundamental as refurbishing a human brain casing, Xiang Nanli was exceptionally careful and cautious.
During the disassembly process, Xiang Nanli discovered that Beichen’s physiological state had deteriorated to an atrocious degree.
He had been frequently beaten by other inmates while in prison. The fact that he had lived until now and could still move was purely due to sheer dumb luck—none of the damage had struck his core.
Xiang Nanli was incredibly focused when he worked, rarely even checking the time.
Xiao Fu had originally been rubbing against Beichen’s body nearby, but it eventually backed out of the room quietly, afraid of disturbing him.
In this state of hyper-focus, there was no way he’d remember to eat.
At 12 PM, right at lunchtime, Xiao Bai and Dongfang Qingdi ran into each other at the door to the workshop.
Dongfang Qingdi was holding a tube of nutrient paste (solid, paste-like consistency); Xiao Bai was carrying a tray with a cup of diluted nutrient paste (liquid consistency). Moreover, the water in the cup was perfectly warm—32 degrees Celsius, neither too cold nor too hot.
Liquids were obviously far more suitable for Xiang Nanli right now than semi-solid food.
Dongfang Qingdi’s gaze lingered on Xiao Bai’s smiling face for a full two seconds.
He picked up the water cup: “Go deliver the leftover food to units 8-7 and 39-4. Robot, you are not needed here.”
Maintaining his smile, Xiao Bai lowered his head: “Understood, guest.”
Dongfang Qingdi didn’t bother correcting his form of address. Whatever, I won’t stoop to the level of a housekeeping robot.
He walked into the room, quietly fed Xiang Nanli, and helped hand him a few parts.
He could hear Xiang Nanli’s constant internal mumbling. Most of the time, he was just talking to himself, occasionally exchanging a few words with Xiao Zhi. The response he typically got was, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what you are talking about.”
When Xiang Nanli was working, it was as if he lived in a vacuum, separated from the outside world by an invisible sheet of glass. He had absolutely zero reaction to Dongfang Qingdi’s arrival.
Xiao Qing sat down on the floor, watching a metallic head slowly being pieced together.
Yes, even if he did absolutely nothing, just purely watching Xiang Nanli like this.
Alpha already felt incredibly blissful.
…
…
Maintaining a gentle, impeccably polite smile, Xiao Bai carried the frozen braised meat and even said “Goodbye” to Xiao Fu, who was playing with a small ball by the door, before leaving.
Gospel was currently training its physical coordination. It had the small ball hugged tight between its two front legs, while its two hind legs kicked out wildly. It had absolutely no time to reply.
Xiao Bai: How is it that even the dog in this house looks down on me?
In today’s society, while fresh meat products couldn’t exactly be considered exorbitantly priced, they certainly weren’t cheap either. Half a kilo of ordinary pork could sell for 220 credits, and better cuts, such as pork shoulder, could fetch as high as 400.
If one had specific demands for the breed of pig, “Peach Blossom Springs Animal Husbandry” even offered genetically modified crossbreed pigs, exclusively available for purchase by Level 5 citizens and above.
—Why did pork have to be sold so expensively?
The technological capabilities were actually more than sufficient to keep up, but subterranean land resources were simply too scarce. The Surface was immensely difficult to manage, and transportation costs were astronomically high. Even if it sold for 220 credits per half-kilo, the profit margins couldn’t even compare to those of nutrient paste.
People occasionally purchased fresh food; realistically, it was a pursuit of a higher standard of living once their basic survival needs were guaranteed.
Therefore, as a gift, the braised meat prepared by Dongfang Qingdi was actually quite an excellent choice.
Xiao Bai first went to the eighth floor. Rock wasn’t home, but his wife was. She said thank you and then grumbled a bit about how Rock was constantly working overtime and hadn’t been home in ages.
Then, Xiao Bai took the elevator up to the 39th floor.
He was a robot, and there were other passengers in the elevator. It looked like a student heading home for the weekend. The boy wore a school uniform, covering his mouth as he coughed continuously, endlessly complaining to the robot nanny picking him up: “The facial cleanser and salicylic acid you bought me last time are completely useless! And now I’ve even caught a cold and a fever!”
The boy’s excessively greasy face was dotted with pink protuberances that looked like acne, with white sebum blocking the center of the pustules.
These pink pimples weren’t all that conspicuous yet. He had popped a few of them himself; thin, long white fungal hyphae had been squeezed out, yet he simply mistook it for pus caused by inflammation.
Perhaps out of sheer frustration, the boy viciously kicked the robot housekeeper a few times to vent his anger.
“I’m sorry, Baby. A-Mu will buy you new ones. Stop kicking; be careful you don’t break a bone and end up in the hospital like last time.” The robot patted him on the head, then flashed an apologetic smile at Xiao Bai, likely feeling that they were being too noisy.
Xiao Bai returned the smile. Then, his eyes narrowed slightly as he watched them step out of the elevator.
Fungal infection, he thought mockingly. A biological weapon the laboratories secretly discontinued three hundred years ago. Did the Divine Court really think a single plague would be enough to shake the Human Alliance’s control over Gusu City? Did they even stop to think about exactly who released this fungal strain in the first place?
Xiao Bai stepped out of the empty elevator, arrived in front of Room 4, and politely knocked on the door.
Ah, yes. He had heard that the person living here was named Xiao Yan, a doctor. A former employee of the Investigation Bureau, who had now been reassigned to work at a public hospital. A senior physician.
Even though they were both public hospitals, the one Xiao Yan worked at was leagues better than Andrew’s, exclusively catering to the high officials and wealthy elite in Gusu City’s affluent districts.
The officials who had been injured during the recent riots were mostly sent to Xiao Yan’s hospital.
She had started running a high fever three days ago. The hospital director, terrified she might infect the VIPs, had sent her home to rest with paid leave.
Xiao Yan didn’t have the money to buy a housekeeping robot. Her income was quite high, but she sent the vast majority of it back to her family. During the three days she was feverish, she had been entirely bedridden. Several times, she had tried to order her internal AI to place an emergency call for help, but her internal AI had given no response whatsoever.
Of course, her AI wouldn’t respond to her.
Because it could no longer detect Xiao Yan’s biological signals.
Xiao Bai knocked on the door a total of three times: “Ms. Yan, are you there? I am the housekeeping robot purchased by Xiang Nanli. I’ve brought you some food.”
Food… food…?
Hungry… hungry… HUNGRY!
The door to Room 39-4 cracked open slightly. “Creak—“
A thick, long, blood-red fungal hypha slithered out from the narrow crack. This fungal stalk was at least five to six centimeters thick. Dozens of pustules bulged from the withered vine-like structure, with spores constantly gestating within the festering sores.
This fungal stalk branched out into several thin threads resembling fingers, hooking onto the food bag in Xiao Bai’s hand and dragging it back into the room.
A woman’s hoarse voice rasped from behind the door: “Run… run… you all… run away…”
Her voice was intermittent and incredibly weak. But the sheer struggle within it was palpable.
She was violently fighting against her own appetite.
Xiao Yan’s body had already expanded to fill the entire room. She still clung to her final shred of consciousness, though she had no idea how much longer she could hold on.
Suddenly, Xiao Yan remembered something. It must have been the oath she swore when she first joined the Investigation Bureau.
[I volunteer to join the Investigation Bureau, swearing to reclaim our lost lands and skies; I volunteer to shoulder this heavy burden, fighting my entire life for the well-being of humanity.]
Such a distant memory. Was it twenty years ago? Or thirty?
She had long since stopped believing in those hollow words and pretty phrases.
Xiao Yan’s cybernetic eye popped out of its deformed socket. Using every last ounce of her strength, she screamed: “Remember… contact the Investigation Bureau—lock down this place… kill! Me!”
“Understood. Thank you for the warning, ma’am.” Xiao Bai gently pulled the door shut. “Goodbye.”
__
Author’s Note:
I feel like I’ve made it glaringly obvious at this point? Xiao Bai = Luoyang.
