Chapter 318: Chapter 318

318: Chapter 89 At the Time and Goodbye 318: Chapter 89 At the Time and Goodbye “`

It was an ordinary afternoon decades ago.

Doctor Hu, as usual, organized some experiment data and uploaded it to Mr.

Wang Yi Emery, then left the office area of the clinic.

There, in the corner, he saw a few children.

The oldest of these kids was probably thirteen, the youngest seven.

They were all humans with a very low rate of cyberization.

They huddled together, completely asleep, like a pile of puppies that hadn’t yet opened their eyes. Follow current novᴇls on NoveI-Fire.ɴet

Uh, for Doctor Hu at the time, a more common comparison would probably have been “like mice that hadn’t opened their eyes yet.”

Yes, their eyes were indeed closed, with a strange hoop fitted on their heads connecting an inlet to an interface behind their ears.

Since everyone would register with the Protectors and receive assistance from the Scientific Knight Order for surgery to implant the most basic chips, strictly speaking, there were no humans with a zero cyberization rate by that era.

And this interface behind the ears was what many people were left with after their free cyberization.

Naturally, those with a higher rate of cyberization could leave a data interface on any part of their bodies.

However, many people, due to habit from childhood, simply kept subsequent prosthetic body data interfaces in the same place.

Of course, Martial Artists were an exception.

Openings in the skull could potentially reduce the structural strength of the entire artificial cranium.

This hoop was the best internet device for the non-Martial Artist population, with its complete production process published a hundred years ago by an unknown Hero.

It could be easily assembled with a 3D printer and a small number of common components.

Doctor Hu still liked this kind of thing.

By giving this device to volunteers, they could temporarily forget their physical discomfort and attain stable happiness—this made the emotions of the volunteers relatively controllable and largely eliminated emotional interference with medical technology.

Sometimes, Doctor Hu would also perform free clinical services for those around him.

When he encountered someone with a terminal condition who lacked the resources to increase their cyberization rate, he would also make one of these devices as a form of end-of-life care.

But these gadgets eventually spawned a group of people completely addicted to the net, dying of starvation among virtual sensations.

Only then did Doctor Hu realize that this might not have been appropriate.

However, what was done could not be undone.

Doctor Hu couldn’t retrieve every item he had once given away.

But when he saw that girl among this bunch of lazy dogs, he still felt a surge of frustrated anger.

He dragged the girl with her rough brown skin out of the heap, angrily unplugging the device, and said, “You are wallowing in degradation…

Do you not even have the consciousness to disguise it in front of me now?

The girl’s gaze was blurry, as if she hadn’t woken up yet.

After a long while, she smiled and said, “So it’s that setting, huh…”

Saying this, she thumped her own neck: “Right, I should have remembered.”

“Remember what?” Doctor Hu asked angrily.

“I told you to study hard, was it for my sake?

Isn’t it for your own?

I had high hopes for you…

Are you content to just rot here?”

The girl scratched her head in confusion: “In a sense, it is indeed for you, Lay Buddhist.

Don’t feel ashamed of the slight selfishness in your actions, nor deny or reject it.”

Doctor Hu said, “What do you mean by that?”

“You wish for me to become your assistant, and having a good assistant would smoothen your path in research.

It’s a win-win situation.” The girl rubbed her eyes.

“From the past to the present, this is how humanity has advanced.

There is no need for shame; this is the foundation upon which ‘society’ is based.

Denying it outright would be somewhat amiss.”

Doctor Hu felt somewhat uncomfortable: “You…”

What an evil word it was.

The root of human oppression, the reason for the lack of freedom, the very thing the Protectors of humanity swore to eliminate.

Only a select few of the Scientific Knight Order could study it.

He became somewhat annoyed: “Why are you still focusing on such things?

This kind of topic, you can only formally discuss it after you become a Scientific Knight…”

“That’s quite the paradox.

Is it that only those who fully understand ‘society’ have the right to discuss it?

Or is it that anyone without deep insights into the world should keep silent?” the girl pondered, “Are fools not allowed to speak?

Not allowed to communicate?

Must they just follow the smart?

Should they not make any choices?

Well, in some sense, following the smart might be a beneficial decision for the foolish.

But if fools keep obeying orders, will the smart come to think that they are naturally this way and look down on those fools?

Will the smart always consider fools in their decisions?”

The girl gradually became lost in thought, speaking faster and faster.

“If that smart person is a Saint, then the fool would be right to always obey.

But do such Saints really exist?

Ah, maybe they did, but during that era of history, everyone was still Homo sapiens.

The lifespan of Homo sapiens was too short, and the Saints had to face very few trolley problems in their lifetime.

Perhaps many Saints merely died before they had the chance to turn bad…”

Doctor Hu circulated his Inner Strength to suppress the alarm in his program.

The girl’s words seemed to allude to the World Openers, to Martial Ancestor or Yawgmoth—depending on the listener’s viewpoint.

Perhaps she was unintentional, but it felt that way to the listener.

Doctor Hu grabbed the girl’s shoulders, gave her a firm shake, and said, “What are you talking about?”

“Well, just superficially addressing an issue that’s been discussed countless times.” The girl pondered, “It’s really difficult, this issue…”

“Lay Buddhist, do you ever feel that there’s something wrong with this world?”

Doctor Hu felt a twinge of sadness.

What would this child become?

An internet addict, or a Hero with anti-human tendencies?

It’s not just here.” The girl rubbed her own face: “Sometimes I suddenly forget that I’m female…”

The sadness quickly turned into a chill.

This title…” Doctor Hu said, “What exactly…”

But for some reason, Doctor Hu did not ask the question.

After that, he witnessed the girl’s obsession with the internet several times.

He tried to follow her online activities but found that the girl was just browsing entertainment websites normally.

It was after this that he realized the girl had fabricated those traces.

The girl had already possessed preliminary Inner Strength.

According to the customs of the Order of Knights, such a matter should perhaps be reported.

But Doctor Hu did not do so.

He could not explain why.

Even though every time he faced that child, he felt a chill in his heart.

Until he could no longer tolerate it and forbade the child from using the internet.

Then the girl left the small orphanage he ran.

Afterwards, she joined a Martial Arts School.

Hearing that the girl had entered the league, Doctor Hu felt slightly relieved.

Becoming a competitive Martial Artist rather than a Hero meant that the girl had no intention of plunging into the Jianghu.

He once took the time to watch her matches, cheering her on—he naively thought this was a symbol of their reconciliation.

The child might just be slightly gender mismatched.

Such a thing was completely irrelevant in the era of cyberization.

Doctor Hu even thought that perhaps one day he could refer to the child using ‘he’.

“After all, should I have stopped her back then?” Decades later, Doctor Hu, just having escaped from under the control of King Aqini’s subordinates, wandered the streets in a daze.

He looked up at the sky.

Does he feel regret because that little child, in the end, passed away brilliantly like the petals of a rose species?

Perhaps, compared to being an assistant to an edge-case Scientific Knight, dying gloriously as a Martial God brought more happiness?

At this moment, a string of sounds invaded Doctor Hu’s auditory processing center.

“…there’s supposed to be a clinic here, right?

I remember it’s quite famous, open to the public, not one of those Scientific Knight camps with tight security.”

Doctor Hu then realized he had walked back near his own clinic.

Those few people were discussing matters related to seeking medical help, and his brain was very sensitive to such language.

He looked at the person who was speaking, a prosthetic-bodied youth with low modification rate, a speed-type Martial Artist fully modified, and a person completely wrapped in a black robe.

The youth’s limbs were obviously too long for his age, probably hastily completed.

The Martial Artist’s prosthetic body was also quite pitiful, looking shabby.

Only the last person hidden in the black robe could not be made out.

The youth and the Martial Artist were carrying a stretcher together.

But upon closer inspection, Doctor Hu noticed something was off.

The person in the black robe stood in the middle of the stretcher, seemingly casually restraining the battered Martial Artist.

It was as if he was worried that the Martial Artist would suddenly become violent and harm others.

—A strange combination.

Or people from the Jianghu?

Doctor Hu observed the person in the black robe carefully, trying to discern something.

The black-robed person looked at his clinic and said pensively, “Is this really just a clinic open to the general public?

The equipment seems too good…”

Doctor Hu’s body trembled slightly.

“A base for Scientific Knights?”

“Tsk, the moral standards of Scientific Knights…” the black-robed person said.

“I don’t trust them much.

Let’s turn around now, buy some potions, this kind of surgery and treatment I’m somewhat familiar with…”

Doctor Hu involuntarily took a step forward.

But he quickly stopped himself.

Doctor Hu realized he might still be under surveillance.

The action he had just taken could be a slip-up, but it wasn’t a big deal.

Fortunately, he had kept his wits about him.

Doctor Hu approached and said, “Not every Scientific Knight is cold-hearted, sir.