The Mechanic

He was covered in blood, and walked towards his father precariously, Dad!

Zhang Shuo looked at him, watched him strenuously walking towards him, raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and showed a smile.

For many years, Zhang Xun has not seen his father smile at him for a long, long time. Only then did he realize that he looked so much like his father, and when he smiled, it was as if he was looking in a mirror.

But now, his body is not listening. He seemed to be back when he was a child, when he could not walk, his father was waiting in front of him, he concentrated on moving his legs, step by step, concentrated, tried his best, and finally fell into his father's arms.

The atmosphere surrounding him was familiar and safe, filled with the faint smell of dry summer grass.

It wasn't the father's smell, it was Adam's.

His consciousness gradually separated from the chaos of the dream, but he was not sure whether the dream just happened in an instant or a long time ago. Time is chaotic in the mind, but the body trembles unconsciously.

His body is weak, and the anesthetic dose you gave him is too high. He is shaking. There was a faintly reproachful and worried voice, a familiar voice. Zhang Xun wanted to open his eyes, but he was lazy and had no strength, and his eyelids were too heavy. He doesn't want to wake up.

Axun? Axun?

Adam?

Is it morning?

Are you going to take Adam to train at the garbage disposal plant?

I'm so tired...I really can't think of chuáng...

Axun, wake up...

Zhang Xun finally opened his eyes reluctantly, feeling the warmth and tightness surrounding his body.

A pair of blue eyes were looking at him, like the ethereal and clear color of the mirror of sea and sky.

Zhang Xun's consciousness was gradually withdrawn from the drowsiness, and the handsome face in front of him gradually became meaningful.

Adam... The voice from his throat was as thin as a gnat, and even he himself couldn't hear it clearly.

Adam? Why is Adam here? Adam's body is still in their previous temporary base...

How are you? Do you feel cold? Adam asked softly, with a soft and careful tone, as if afraid of disturbing him.

Zhang Xun grabbed Adam's lapel. Although he tried his best, he couldn't grasp it firmly, Adam...why are you...

Anya contacted me and helped me find my body. Adam said simply, pinching his palm, You're cold, I'll get something to cover you.

Adam leaves. Zhang Xun tried to grab the corner of his clothes, but couldn't. The dress slipped through his fingers.

Adam's return was so illusory that Zhang Xun couldn't be sure if he was dreaming for a while.

That body, Zhang Xun thought was completely lost... Didn't Eden destroy it?

Why? Why not destroy it? Eden has a purpose in everything he does, and he also has a purpose in what he does not do.

At this time, another figure appeared in sight, Diego with a guilty look on his face, and Anya standing behind him. Anya looked exhausted, and there was even a bloodstain on her cheek.

Brother, I was really sorry before. But you were in an unstable state at that time, and we were afraid that you would make impulsive decisions, so...

A trace of pale anger smoldered deep in Zhang Xun's still dull and numb consciousness, and he said in a dry voice, You doubt me?

Because he injected nanobots? Even if he is for Adam, even if he is for all of them...

Because he's not fully human anymore, so they don't trust him anymore?

But... From another perspective, if he were them, he might have such doubts... What he didn't understand was, how did Anya find Adam?

Sorry. Anya said simply, without any unnecessary explanation.

Zhang Xun propped up his still weak body, looked around, and saw that Natalie had also woken up. With a bloody bandage wrapped around her head, she typed lines of code with the image projected by her button in the air.

How long have I been asleep? How did you find Adam? Zhang Xun stared at Diego and Anya solemnly.

Anya then briefly described her plan at the time. After she hid the gate of the inspection base with snow blocks, she rode a single-person aircraft and flew to a Metis free folk settlement in the south. There she relied on local hackers to connect with Lucille and her entire network of contacts. Nowadays, Eden's monitoring of the network is becoming more and more strict. Even the most skilled hackers who use AI to help hide their identities are afraid to connect to the dark web casually. Any VPN may be cracked by Eden. It took some of Lucille's most outstanding hackers a day to contact Pan through guerrilla warfare and constantly changing VPNs. Then, with Pan's protection, they used the satellite that Adam had snatched from Eden to create a small block. secure network.

They waited about five hours for a message from Adam.

In order to distinguish whether the other party is Adam or Eden, Pan asked the other party to identify himself in AI language. After getting the correct answer, Pan puts Adam in the safety net. Adam told Anya, Lucille and others that he had been running around in the Eden network, hoping to find a biological computer or download his body.