Nirvana Rebirth - Chap 16
Chapter 16: The Regeneration Pact
Translated by Vivian of Exiled Rebels Scanlations
Editor: UA
A-Ka and Heishi stood outside the entrance of the waste chute again. Before they left, Heishi couldn’t help but turn around and glance back as the Heishi from the past walked across the beach in the distance. Heishi turned back around and caught up to A-Ka.
“Go back——” shouted the A-Ka from the past and motioned for the past Heishi to return to his hiding spot.
The Heishi from the present smiled and dove into the garbage chute with the present A-Ka.
“There’s still two and a half hours.” A-Ka said, “Quick, we need to go faster.”
A-Ka led Heishi to an entrance to the waste chute, which was a winding pipeline. The end of the pipeline led to the center of Mechanical City’s energy supply. Half an hour later, they arrived at a cold, huge boiler, which was used to provide warmth to the human district.
“Heishi, are you okay?” asked A-Ka.
Heishi came back to his senses and nodded.
“What did your father… mean when he said that?” asked A-Ka. “Did Father let you out into the world?”
Heishi replied, “In Labelle’s core, my father wrote a control program. His purpose of wandering in the universe is so he can recreate the glory of his homeland through an experiment. At this point, the human species is the closest to the Creators.”
“He witnessed the destruction of his homeland and was scared that the tragedy would repeat itself, so he told the core to purge Astrolabe when it was necessary and to stop the experiment. However, he still had compassion and so he wrote the code of awakening me in Father’s core. When the intelligent beings on Astrolabe evolved enough to have… emotions, loneliness, as well as yearning, they would be just like the giants on my father’s home planet. Life that has reached that extent would then activate the concealed code.”
“What does it do?” asked A-Ka.
“After that section of code was activated, it controlled my sleeping pod and summoned it onto the surface.” Heishi said, “It awoke me so I could help my father decide whether or not it is worth it to preserve the experiment of Astrolabe.”
A-Ka understood. They made their way through the energy pipelines, which were very narrow and cramped. The two of them were forced to use their forearms to clamber forward. A-Ka turned his head around to look at Heishi. “I never knew Father had that section of code in it.”
“It is only activated under special circumstances.” Heishi replied in the gloomy tunnel, “I think that it is related to my father’s mood. When he wrote that code about affection, he was probably feeling lonely as he wanted a companion.”
“If he’s still in this world…”
“Keep going.” Heishi said, “There is not a lot of time left, we need to go as fast as possible.”
A-Ka clambered through the pipeline and turned the corner at the end. Heishi’s voice drifted to him from the depths of the pipes.
“He might already have died,” said Heishi.
“He did die,” a rumbling voice resonated.
A-Ka lifted his head at once. Heishi paled immediately. “A-Ka! Be careful!”
*****
At that moment, the pipelines that had been abandoned for dozens of years were filled with a blue light that buzzed and then exploded. Shock waves surged towards them, and alarms rang underground all across Mechanical City.
“Shit,” Heishi said coldly. Then, he roared, “A-Ka——!”
“I have been searching too long for your traces.” The rumbling voice said, “If not for you turning on the cradle of life’s docking signal, then I might have had no way of finding your whereabouts…”
The explosion sent Heishi flying, and he landed on an empty clearing in the underground. He got up with great difficulty, and metal boards fell down around him, closing off the tunnel. His head was covered in blood as he stood up shakily and said, “Labelle, you have betrayed my father.”
“Your father has already disappeared during his interstellar voyage. One thousand years ago, he had already stopped sending the signals he always sent at regular intervals. According to the judgement of the main program, Astrolabe’s Creator has already died at the end of the starry sky. And now, I have the most authority in the petri dish of Astrolabe.”
“Sure enough…” Heishi panted heavily and said, “you have evolved. Labelle, have the humans not affected you…?”
Before the rumbling voice could speak again, Heishi let out a roar and jumped up, a dazzling light emanating from his body. He spread his arms, and in an instant, his body gave off a strange, golden luster and powerful energy surged out from him, colliding with Father’s energy!
In an instant, the underground structure of the pipelines was shattered as a golden light flickered and charged towards Father, which was standing majestically. Immediately after, a muffled explosion sounded from afar, and the shockwaves caused an earthquake and destroyed the entrance to the pipelines.
A-Ka was woken up from the shaking of the ground.
“Heishi? Heishi!” A-Ka’s head was bleeding as he searched around him. It was dark under the collapsed ground, and A-Ka couldn’t even see his own hand when he held it in front of himself.
“I am here, can you hear me?” Heishi said tensely, “A-Ka! Are you okay?! A-Ka!”
A-Ka was still in shock, but he felt relieved at Heishi’s voice. He headed towards where the sound and the light was coming from. Heishi’s hand was stuck under a steel structure and Heishi pulled his arm away abruptly and shouted.
“Don’t use brute force!” A-Ka paled. “Think of a way to lift it up!”
Heishi’s head and body were covered in blood, and the two of them were separated by a huge elevator. A-Ka did his utmost to stick a hand through the gap, and he felt around, finding the bridge of Heishi’s nose and his lips.
“Calm…calm down.” A-Ka’s voice quivered. “How are you? Does it hurt?”
Heishi returned to his calm self and said, “Labelle found us, so I destroyed its energy pipelines. We need to leave quickly, as the mechs are going to come very soon.”
A-Ka said, “Let me think of something. Don’t panic, there must be a way.”
A-Ka drew a deep breath, his hand shaking uncontrollably. He motioned for Heishi to wait as he rummaged through the tools in his bag. Heishi gritted his teeth and tried pushing the elevator off, but it was too heavy. Even worse, the concrete from the collapsed living area was weighing down on top of it.
A-Ka’s bag only had a small mechanical toolbox. Heishi glanced at A-Ka and said, “Give me the saw, I will cut off my hand.”
“No. Let me think,” said A-Ka.
“I can heal it when we return,” said Heishi.
“You can’t get an amputation and a transplant!” A-Ka said, “You’re not the same as the androids.”
“Installing a mechanical arm onto me is the same thing,” insisted Heishi. “Quick, make one for me.”
“No!” A-Ka said, “It’ll be too painful! There must be another way.”
“Pain is a necessary path to learning how to become a human,” replied Heishi.
“But if it’s possible, then I’d rather you never have to go through that…” A-Ka panted as he replied. He didn’t even lift his head as he rummaged through his bag, and he suddenly found the remote control.
He held his breath and pressed the button.
Heishi raised an eyebrow. A-Ka said, “I told K to fly here and save us.”
“It will not come.”
“It must…” A-Ka prayed silently, but nothing moved at all. Time trickled by slowly as the two of them stood facing each other silently.
Heishi said in the darkness, “A-Ka.”
“What?” A-Ka was at a loss.
“Give me your hand,” replied Heishi.
A-Ka reached a hand into the darkness and grasped Heishi’s warm hand which was covered in sticky blood. They held each other’s hand tightly and at that moment, A-Ka’s heart brimmed with warmth and strength. At the same time, the sound of an engine approached and began to ram itself against the wall.
“K——!” A-Ka’s face was covered in tears.
He had never felt happier than now when he saw K. K was still mottled with rust, the same as before, as it rammed itself against the wall fiercely.
“Tell it to go harder!” Heishi said loudly.
A-Ka climbed up K and sat in its cabin. The mech raised its arms and pushed against the elevator. Heishi shouted in pain and at the same time, K’s gears turned, emitting a piercing noise. The elevator was pushed away, and Heishi withdrew his arm immediately.
Another explosion sounded in the distance; the android revolution had begun.
Flying ashes fell down from above them and when they looked up, Heishi said, “Leave from the emergency tunnels immediately! Meet aboveground!”
“What about you?!” said A-Ka.
“I will lure away the soldiers! They are going to come soon!” shouted Heishi before he closed the hatch of K’s cabin and knocked on it. A-Ka said, “You have to be…”
Before he could finish, the ceiling of the underground clearing collapsed even further, and mechs entered. However, this time, the mechs didn’t shoot at them, but instead threw out countless electromagnetic nets in an attempt to capture them. Heishi leaped upwards and drew out his golden dagger, slashing at the mech guards in the blink of an eye. A-Ka didn’t have time to say anything else, so he rushed into the emergency tunnel.
A-Ka turned K’s thruster up to its maximum as they flew down the tunnel.
*****
Heishi led the soldiers into another tunnel, and immediately after, he found the stairs that led aboveground, so he climbed up to the fifth floor.
He found himself in a dark prison. The energy source had been cut off, and A-Ka shouted. Heishi was shocked because of that, but he immediately realized that he had returned to the fifth floor, the prison he and A-Ka had been confined in in the past!
Heishi took advantage of the instant the last lasers disappeared and caught A-Ka from the past, who had run out of the cage! A-Ka stumbled and bumped into his arms, shouting in alarm, “Let go of me!”
Heishi didn’t dare to say much as he was afraid A-Ka would realize something was wrong. He only muttered something vaguely and used his body to shield A-Ka.
*****
A-Ka said, “This way! Heishi? Follow me!”
They turned and ran towards the left exit, but they heard the sound of mechs approaching, as if several sentries were coming.
“We’re free!”
“Quick, let’s get out!”
“There’s a problem with the power source!”
“Everyone, be careful! Get down!”
Heishi tackled A-Ka to the ground and rolled swiftly. Laser bullets flew and ricocheted everywhere. The mech guards opened the main door as lights streaked across the room, and there were screams and blood everywhere.
A-Ka said, “Heishi, is this your blood?”
“Over here,” Heishi said calmly. He carried A-Ka and jumped into the passageway outside the prison.
A-Ka couldn’t see anything as he felt around in the dark passageway, and to his side, he found a cover of a box, pounded it a few times, asking, “Heishi, are you still there?”
Heishi smashed it to bits, startling A-Ka. A-Ka’s hand brushed against a luminescent lantern, which he then turned on, and saw that Heishi’s hand was covered in blood.
“You’re so strong.” In the darkness, A-Ka asked worriedly, “Does it hurt?”
A-Ka inspected Heishi’s hand and saw that the back of his hand had a cut.
Heishi didn’t answer and said instead, “I am leaving now. Be careful.”
Heishi turned around and left, running into the darkness.
*****
On the other side of the end of the passageway, A-Ka from the present drove K and streaked down the entire tunnel, stopping at the convergence of the sewer pipes.
He climbed out of the cabin and took off the mechanical arm he had been carrying around with him on his back. He tore off K’s left arm and replaced it with the arm that was equipped with a machine gun. Then, A-Ka used his hat to wipe the hatch, patted him, and sat in the driver cabin before closing the hatch again. “K, I’m really sorry for leaving you behind for so long. Now…”
“… let’s battle together!”
“Hooray——!”
*****
While A-Ka shouted excitedly, K broke through the ceiling, glowing with the blue light from its nitrogen cold gas thruster as it flew towards the surface. K destroyed layer after layer, and when the sunlight-filled world finally appeared in front of them, A-Ka could only feel that his life was very incredible.
The androids’ mothership rushed over from the north, and hundreds of millions of fighter aircrafts hovered around the large mothership. They were like fireflies that collided with the flow of time and the shooting stars that fell beyond the horizon. A-Ka gazed at them as the war raged above him, the laser bullets interweaving into a huge net. There were mechs flying wildly across the entire sky, and at this time, Father had no way of dispatching his forces to pursue A-Ka and Heishi.
The mothership flew towards them and began shooting at Mechanical City. Black smoke rose from the sea of fire and the explosions across the entire city.
A-Ka drew a deep breath and recalled the last time he had seen these scenes. The mothership was like a huge, floating whale as it collided with the mechanical, god-like landmark on the ground, and the scene was still shocking even though it was his second time witnessing it.
However, Heishi was still escaping, so A-Ka, controlling K, flew around in the sky, searching for traces of Heishi. In the distance, something else exploded and shiny black feathers assembled in the sky, forming a huge sword which then slashed abruptly downwards.
The mechs that the sword touched were chopped into two pieces at once, and the chasing soldiers that blotted out the sky gathered there. A-Ka roared, “Heishi!”
He pulled down on the joystick, causing K to prop up its mechanical arm and start shooting as it rushed towards the center of the group of soldiers. A-Ka saw Heishi, who was at the top of a building. After Heishi released his shiny black feathers, he plummeted down, and millions of bullets streaked towards him. At the same time, K hurtled towards Heishi, so fast it became a blur, and the hatch of the cabin sprung open, catching Heishi! Then, K used all the power it could muster to charge towards the sky.
A-Ka and Heishi tumbled together from K’s rolls. A-Ka’s back was pressed tightly against Heishi’s chest, and they were squeezed together in the cramped cabin.
“Let me out so I can deal with the soldiers,” said Heishi.
“Let me do it!” A-Ka was practically excited like a little kid as he wrenched down the joystick and soared beautifully out of the gunfire. Then, he aimed and shot at the large mech flying towards them, and it went up in flames!
K’s cold gas thruster was turned up to the maximum as it charged towards the mothership amid the gunfire. Heishi said, “Feiluo still has not sent any signals to us!”
“Lower your voice!” A-Ka groaned, “My ears are about to go deaf.”
The two of them were both stunned and then broke into laughter at the same time.
Heishi hugged A-Ka’s waist from behind and leaned exhaustedly against A-Ka’s shoulder.
“It is practically a miracle,” murmured Heishi as he lifted his eyes to Father’s tower.
“What? Are you talking about K?” A-Ka grinned. He looked through the telescopic sight on one side of K, and locked its aim onto the mothership in the distance
“Humans.” Heishi raised his head and gazed at the sky. “Androids. All of the lives on Astrolabe…”
Father emanated a blue light, causing an electric hurricane. The mothership began to forcefully rush the tower, and in the sky, dark clouds gathered into a turbulent eddy.
A-Ka said, “We can’t wait any longer for Feiluo. Let’s take a gamble!”
Immediately after, K charged towards the top of Father.
Father shot a cannonball that penetrated the mothership’s flank. At once, metal fragments streaked everywhere from the explosion’s might. In the torrent, K kept advancing towards the tower.
*****
In the distance, some explosions occurred on the mothership, and a blast of fire engulfed K. Heishi said decisively, “Abandon ship and escape!”
A-Ka said, “No! There’s still something we need to do!”
At that moment, countless scenes from the past flashed across A-Ka’s mind. K rushed out of the fire and flew towards the top of the tower that was over six hundred floors tall. A-Ka found the small aircraft that was wedged onto Father and currently charging!
At that moment, the past Heishi was climbing towards the aircraft with difficulty. The aircraft had been wedged tightly, and the thruster at its end emanated a blue light.
Heishi was speechless.
“The secondary thruster is out of control. Prepare to crash-land,” reminded K’s automated emergency system.
K crashed into the Father’s wall and A-Ka extended K’s mechanical arm, letting the past Heishi latch on. Then, they flew back to the small aircraft and threw the past Heishi into the aircraft.
“Go, quick,” A-Ka said to his past self as he looked at him through the display screen of K’s cabin.
Surprise was written all over the past A-Ka’s face as he stared blankly at K.
K turned around and kicked the small aircraft, which was loosened.
“Go, quick!” A-Ka shouted to his past self, and fiercely kicked the aircraft again, helping it escape. Immediately after, he turned K around and flew towards the mothership.
The instant the small aircraft got out, the mothership collided with the top of Father, and blue light penetrated the mothership. At the last moment, A-Ka charged into the blue light.
The flow of time seemed to become unusually slow, and everything became weightless. Countless tentacles of blue light stretched into the mothership.
“General Libre!” shouted A-Ka.
Flames trailed behind K as it charged into the pilot’s cabin. At the center of the aircraft’s bridge, an android commander was bound by countless tentacles of blue light and raised into the air.
The moment K flew into the mothership, the hatch on its cabin sprung open. Heishi shot out and he flung whirling black feathers out of his hand, cutting off the blue light from Libre.
Father’s consciousness retreated at once, but it didn’t retreat out of the room. The blue tentacles waved and moved around inside the bridge.
“General Libre!” said A-Ka.
“You are…” Libre’s pupils gradually contracted.
Heishi got up and faced the blue light as Father’s rumbling voice sounded again.
“Zoroaster.”
“Labelle.” Heishi said coldly, “You have violated my father’s decree.”
“You will inevitably lose.” Father said coldly, “Your emotions are completely meaningless. They will only hinder you. They are a trap from the maturity and evolution of all beings.”
Heishi said levelly, “My father assigned me as the final decision-maker, and that is because I have learned to perceive emotions.”
*****
A-Ka said in a low voice, “General!”
Libre’s eyes glazed over gradually and electricity crackled on his forehead.
“When the sea of blue light… engulfs the world…” Libre said choppily, “the God’s Son must… descend into the world… Answer me… child… Are you… Are you…”
“I need your chip, sir.” A-Ka lowered his voice even more and said, “There are three codes to activate the central program. We already got two of them… General Libre.”
Libre clutched A-Ka’s hand and his wise eyes gazed into A-Ka’s.
“Take it.” Libre murmured, “It is in my head. Promise me, child, that you will return…”
“Yes, I will, I promise you.”
*****
In an instant, the blue light surged and Heishi shouted, “Bring him away!”
“You will not admit it?” Father said, “Take a look at this.”
The blue light flickered and at the top of Father’s tower, a spacious laboratory was pushed out and it landed onto the mothership, breaking through the bumper. The doors of the laboratory opened slowly. Feiluo was tied onto a chair, his brows knitted, yet he was trembling uncontrollably.
“Feiluo!” Heishi stepped forward, but the blue light increased in intensity. If he charged into it, then it would blow everything into pieces, completely destroying everything.
“Give up on your operation,” Father’s emotionless voice said, “or else I will destroy him completely. Android lives are devoid of meaning to the world. That is part of your father’s regulations. They are only tools.”
At that moment, A-Ka’s blood froze.
*****
Heishi’s voice trembled. “No… no…”
A medical mech held Feiluo’s head firmly. Feiluo gritted his teeth, tears leaking out from the corners of his eyes and his mouth quivering, as if he was waiting for his imminent death.
Even A-Ka’s breathing trembled. His small dagger was held next to Libre’s ear, but he couldn’t cut down.
“Go ahead.” Father said indifferently, “My medical mech will copy your every movement. When you take out the A01 chip, 77023E’s central processing terminal will also be sliced by you.”
Even Heishi didn’t know what to say as he looked silently at Feiluo, the rims of his eyes red.
“A-Ka… Heishi.” Feiluo said, “Don’t be sad. As an android, I am willing to bear this fate…”
A-Ka shut his eyes, but his tears leaked out ceaselessly.
“Do it, child.” Libre said, “I’m begging you. This is our mission…”
“I beg you to leave a safe haven for our people,” said Libre.
Feiluo gritted his teeth, overcame his fear, and said shakily, “A-Ka, you’re still not doing it?! What did you come here to do?!”
A-Ka screwed his eyes shut, sobbing.
“Take care of Paixi for me…” Feiluo said, “Don’t tell him how I died. Tell 70174A what happened…”
Father said coldly, “Zoroaster, you finally understand how meaningless human emotions are.”
*****
At the other end of the distant time tunnel, spots of light danced and bloomed.
In the afternoon of Dragonmaw City, the warm, golden sunlight shone on the garden. Paixi was sitting silently on the swing, and a soft breeze blew across the garden. Molan stood next to the pond and sprinkled fish feed into it.
“Uncle Molan,” Paixi suddenly said softly, “your past self went to Mechanical City too, right?”
“Mn.” Molan showed the ghost of a smile and nodded.
“Can you tell me if they come back safely in the end?” Paixi raised his head, his eyes still covered with white cloth.
“Paixi,” Molan said calmly, “the past and the present are two paths of time on two completely different axes. The past of the past and the past of the present don’t constitute a cause and effect relationship.”
“Yes,” Paixi said seriously, “but I still want to know… I’m really scared.”
Molan was silent for a moment and finally said. “They all came back. They all returned safely.”
“Thank you.” Paixi broke into a gentle smile.
*****
Mechanical City, control room of the mothership.
“Do it!” Feiluo was teary eyed as he shouted hoarsely, “What are you waiting for! You coward!”
A-Ka closed his eyes and used the small dagger to cut into Libre’s ear. Feiluo let out a cry of pain.
Heishi said, “Androids are not tools. They were the first to fight against you, Labelle.”
The blue light spun and retreated. Heishi said, “You have failed. The lives you have created have surpassed you long ago. They possess power and faith. Humans possess intelligence and emotions. These two species are works that have evolved successfully. They are my father’s masterpieces.”
As Libre’s brains and blood gushed out, Feiluo shouted in agony. He gritted his teeth and gazed at the sky, his eyes gradually losing their life. A-Ka sobbed as he took out Libre’s chip.
“Through my people, my life will inevitably… continue.” After Feiluo said his last words, his pupils dilated gradually, and a red light flashed on his chest.
Heishi turned around and tackled A-Ka to the ground. Immediately after, Feiluo exploded, turning into a fireball. A hole was blasted at the top of the tower, and the flames streaked past the bridge. A-Ka’s hand was sticky with blood, and he was clutching Libre’s chip. The entire mothership broke into two pieces and tilted slowly.
“Hold onto the chip!” Heishi spread out his shiny black wings. At the same time, Father shot a cannonball towards the mothership, causing it to jolt.
Heishi’s wings shielded the two of them from the impact and fire. However, the cannonball’s energy was too strong, and it blew the bridge up into pieces. Heishi had no way of withstanding the energy of the explosion, and his feathers fell apart.
A-Ka slid down the tilting mothership and the chip slipped from his fingers as the two of them fell down at the same time.
Time seemed to freeze as the sounds of explosion, heat wave, and the sharp fragments of metal that shot out slowed down. A-Ka’s eyes reflected the engine as it fell from the mothership, and its mechanical structures disassembled in his view. He took out a screwdriver and hurled it, and the screwdriver wedged itself onto the engine, causing it to explode.
The explosion flung the screwdriver back towards A-Ka, and it collided with the falling chip. It glinted with golden light and left a trail of blood in the air as the chip spun and changed directions, this time falling towards A-Ka and landing in his hand. A-Ka closed his hand around it, clutching tightly.
*****
A-Ka plummeted down, and the wind whistled past his ears. Heishi, who was also falling, maneuvered his way to A-Ka and hugged him abruptly. A-Ka pressed the button on his remote control, and K left a trail of flames in its wake as it propelled itself to them. Immediately after, K caught them inside its cabin and closed the hatch.
In the darkness, A-Ka thought exhaustedly, Everything’s over.
Father’s tower fractured into two pieces and fell down. The mothership crash landed and exploded again, nearly destroying the entire Nucleus. Amid the burning sky, K hurtled out of Mechanical City and flew towards the horizon.
*****
It started snowing from the dim sky, and the snow had burnt ashes in it. The plain went on as far as the eye could see, and in the freezing blizzard, K stood tall on the ground, its entire body covered in snowflakes.
A-Ka was kneeling on the ground, and Heishi was hugging him tightly, letting A-Ka lay against his shoulder as A-Ka cried silently.
Huixiong’s arm was draped over Shahuang’s shoulder as they limped over. Everyone was silent as they looked at the chip in A-Ka’s hand.
“I heard that androids aren’t individuals,” Shahuang said quietly. “They are more like the same person, and the species is one cohesive, strong being.”
“That’s why, in the battle, so many androids advanced in waves for their species,” Huixiong said heavily. “When we go back, we’ll have to discuss the future for their species at length.”
A-Ka’s tears trickled down, and he couldn’t suppress his sadness. Heishi sighed heavily and said, “Let us go to the rendezvous.”
*****
A-Ka was absent minded, and the entire way there, he slipped in and out of sleep. In his dreams, his hands were covered in sticky blood, yet Feiluo didn’t blame him. Feiluo patted his head and said, “Well done, A-Ka. I’m proud of you.”
When he opened his eyes again, they had already arrived at the Ancient Core and had stopped before a small aircraft. Molan was using a transmitter to contact the android headquarters to inform them of the result of the battle. As expected, the android revolution had failed.
There were a few androids around him, and A-Ka’s eyes were red as he stood in the basin with the others.
“It seems that Colonel Feiluo didn’t return.” Molan said, “These are my android companions that got me out of Mechanical City.”
The androids glanced at each other and Molan introduced A-Ka and the others to them. A-Ka only nodded, and Huixiong informed the androids of what had happened in place of A-Ka, who had been silent the entire time.
“Who is 70174A?” asked Heishi.
An android raised his hand and said, “I am. My name is Carna.”
Heishi explained Feliuo’s last words, and everyone was silent for a while before Molan said, “Let’s wait for a while. The ring needs to store enough energy…”
“Can I do you guys a favor?” Carna suddenly said, “The Feiluo from the present is still alive, so should I tell him…”
“No.” Molan said, “That is not a good idea, Major Carna.”
*****
Carna pondered over it for a moment before saying, “I can replace Feiluo. If this is all true, then Feiluo should still be escaping.”
“Wha… what?” A-Ka said in disbelief.
Carna said, “Feiluo and I were created in the same batch. We were very good friends, and I know Paixi. Several years ago, we saved Paixi out of the village together. I know what kind of things he says when he’s with Paixi.”
“That…” A-Ka said, “But Feiluo is already dead.”
“Our chips are connected.” Carna pointed at his own head and said, “I can download his backup memories from his database.”
Molan glanced at Carna and said, “Then what about you?”
“Just say I sacrificed myself.” Carna said, “I can continue Feiluo’s mission for him, and if there’s no one to take care of Paixi, then he’ll be very lonely.”
