He's always been reluctant to express his emotions; aside from being unable to hide his anger, he subconsciously suppresses his happiness and sadness.
He was the only one left in the room. Even so, he didn't dare to cry freely. Instead, he subconsciously cried out, but soon swallowed the sound back down, only trembling and sobbing.
Jian Yunxian watched as his chest heaved violently as he tried to hold back his tears, fearing that he might hurt himself by bottling it up. But when he saw that the guy had even bitten his lip to stop him from crying, he finally couldn't hold back anymore.
"Sweetie, don't be sad..."
When Yi Heye opened his eyes, he saw a soft, holographic projection of a little lamb nestled gently in his arms.
Yi Heye was crying his heart out when the sudden sound interrupted his rhythm.
He glanced at the lamb in a daze, tears still clinging to his eyelashes, his face filled with helplessness and confusion.
The little lamb looked up at him, stretched out its two little hooves to cup his face, and then, like a cute plush pet, rubbed its white fur against his face. Although the holographic projection was visible but intangible, Yi Heye seemed to really feel its warm, soft touch, just like the hot milk his mother made for him.
The oppressive soreness in my chest seemed to have been soothed a little.
But soon, the sadness from before surged up again, and as he looked at the lamb, tears continued to fall.
The little lamb gently coaxed, "Why are you so sad, baby?"
The word "baby" reminded him of his mother once again, and Yi Heye's nose tingled, causing him to break down uncontrollably again.
He dared not cry out loud, so he turned away, not letting the lamb see his face.
The little lamb wasn't in a hurry or annoyed. It just sat down next to him and said softly, "You can cry louder. You humans all cry like that when you're sad. It's not strange at all."
Humans, it's not strange. Hearing these words, Yi Heye inexplicably felt that he had gained some kind of recognition, followed by an even greater surge of grievance.
He pursed his lips, a soft sob escaping his throat, and then he heard the little lamb whisper in his ear, "Cry, cry until you're tired, then close your eyes and take a nap..."
His voice seemed to have a hypnotic effect, which made Yi Heye lower his last psychological defenses. He started to cry, as if a door had opened in his heart, and all the emotions that had been piling up inside surged out at once.
The lamb flew to him, hugged his arm out of thin air, and without saying a word, quietly stayed with him as he cried.
Only Yi Heye's heartbroken sobs remained in the room, as if all the grievances, sadness, inferiority, and doubts of so many years had been mixed in and poured out with his tears.
The lamb is right; crying can cause oxygen deprivation in the brain, making you sleepy very quickly.
In his endless exhaustion, Yi Heye's cries grew softer and softer, like a child lying in his mother's arms, crying himself to sleep.
The little lamb looked at the tears clinging to his eyelashes and couldn't help but reach out its little hoof to wipe them away, but the hoof passed right through him.
He is a holographic projection without a physical form—he is destined never to touch the person in front of him.
When Yi Heye woke up groggily, the lamb was already gone.
He looked at the empty room, and his heart felt empty too, but he was no longer as sad and upset as before.
With his eyes swollen from crying, Yi Heye ran to the pool and applied ice water to his eyes, but it didn't help much. So he just grabbed a pair of non-prescription black-rimmed glasses from the wardrobe and put them on.
—She really looks like a well-behaved and introverted high school student.
He sighed and prepared to go out and find some dinner.
As soon as he pushed open the door, he saw Director Li anxiously waiting at the entrance. The old man was sitting on a small mechanical stool by the door, and immediately jumped up when he saw him: "Xiao Yi..."
Yi Heye was startled and almost dropped his glasses, but when he saw it was Director Li, he swallowed back the curse that was on the tip of his tongue.
“…Director Li?” he asked, his voice still a little hoarse.
Director Li said, "I have to apologize to you for the testing."
Yi Heye didn't want to hear this, so he just lowered his head and said, "I know this is what the higher-ups want."
Director Li shook his head: "It's still because our stance wasn't firm enough, and the choices we made hurt your personal feelings."
Yi Heye lowered his head, somewhat resistant to the topic.
After a long silence, he finally spoke softly, "...Director Li, do you believe me?"
Upon hearing his words, Director Li replied sincerely, "You should ask me whether I have ever suspected you."
Yi Heye raised his still swollen eyes and looked at him.
“I have to admit, when you first came to our bureau, for a long time I doubted whether you were human.” Director Li looked at him, smiled and said, “You were just eighteen years old when you came, handsome and flawless, and your physical condition was also exceptionally good. But you didn’t really respond when your colleagues talked to you, and sometimes you didn’t seem to feel their concern. To be honest, it wasn’t just me; everyone who saw you for the first time thought you weren’t human.”
Yi Heye didn't expect him to be so frank, so open about his doubts. But to his surprise, hearing Director Li say that he had doubted him made him feel a little less stressed.
"You know what? I've practically worn out your medical report. I just want to find some evidence that you're not human so I can return you, you troublemaker who's always causing trouble."
易鹤野想起了刚来的时候，自己被群众养的电子狗舔了一口脚脖子，就恼羞成怒要揍人，最后闹得局领导出动带着他上门道歉，现在想来，他自己也忍不住笑起来。
"But later, I heard about your mother's situation, and then I completely understood." Director Li didn't shy away from these sensitive topics at all, which made Yi Heye feel at ease. "It's normal for a child raised by robots to have a different personality than others. Most importantly, I know you are learning and understanding. You are working hard to integrate into everyone, and we have all watched you grow up like this."
Back then, Yi Heye would observe the expressions of the people around him every day, watching their muscle changes and the brightness and darkness in their eyes.
Despite not being a particularly good reader, he wrote down dense observation notes and added his own hand-drawn illustrations for annotation.
He has made countless mistakes in judgment, and has been scolded and had conflicts with people for staring at people. But after accumulating experience, failing and correcting time and time again, he can not only understand most emotions normally, but also develops the extraordinary ability to distinguish the difference between the appearance of a human and an AI at a glance.
“In my eyes right now, you are a simple-minded, short-tempered, and somewhat naive kid, but with outstanding personal abilities. You are an extraordinary yet ordinary kid,” Director Li said sincerely. “So I really have to apologize to you. When Area A proposed to retest you, I didn’t stand up for you immediately and firmly express my trust in you. That was wrong of me, Director Li.”
Looking at his white-haired old leader, Yi Heye felt as if, at that moment, the little knot in his heart had been completely untied.
He rolled his eyes, then smiled and said to Director Li, "Seeing your sincere attitude, I'll reluctantly forgive you."
Director Li was amused by him and pretended to be angry, saying, "You have no manners, you need to be taught a lesson."
An old man and a young boy were laughing and joking as they headed to a restaurant for dinner. Just as they were about to sit down, Yi Heye received two messages on his phone.
The text message was from an unknown number and had no sender, but Yi Heye knew at a glance who it came from—
"My dear baby, please always believe in yourself."
"You will always be the most innocent and beautiful human being in the world."
Author's Note:
Some points to help understand: This information was sent by Mei Zong to Yi Heye, but the word "baby" leans more towards the mother's perspective, so it can be understood as the two most important AIs in Yi Heye's life, their shared love and blessings for him.
Chapter 146 (Number 146)
For the next period of time, Yi Heye felt more relaxed and happy than ever before.
With no additional cases and no annoying tests, his points soared to new heights. Xiaoming's new garage was also ready, and his little car stayed inside for half a day, reluctant to leave.
Everything became incredibly bright and clear.
Unlike Yi Heye's relaxed demeanor, the leaders of several core management departments had been experiencing considerable stress during this period.
In fact, when Yi Heye brought back the functional robot that had escaped from Zone E, everyone had already sounded the highest alert.
The words Li used to brush off Yi Heye were, of course, just excuses. He knew the boy's temperament too well—too independent, too impulsive. If he didn't dispel the boy's thoughts from the root, something bad would happen sooner or later.
The robot is currently being kept in the research institute, but since the interrogation that day, it has been like a dead thing, cutting off all communication, and no matter how they try to reconnect, it has no effect.
After testing, technicians determined that the robot's complete shutdown could not have been a spontaneous decision; in other words, someone had forcibly shut it down remotely.
Meanwhile, other cases of escape from Zone E also showed the same situation: the robots all crashed, and most of them were already dead when humans tried to contact them. It seemed that no one could leave Zone E unscathed.
People can't escape Zone E, just as they can't enter Zone A.
“The Border Management Bureau in Zone E is completely stalling,” Pei Xiangjin said at the briefing. “They are unwilling to provide relevant surveillance data, so the investigation cannot proceed at all.”
It's understandable that the Border Control Bureau in Area E is unwilling to cooperate. The occurrence of a large-scale prison break means that their superiors will hold them accountable. If things go wrong, they could lose their jobs or even face imprisonment. To protect themselves, they will definitely try their best to minimize the damage and resolve all conflicts internally.
But this has put all the units outside in a difficult position—the escape of personnel from Zone E poses a great threat to security inside the walls, and this situation is indeed not a solution.
Director Li sighed and asked, "How's things going with Xiao Song?"
In order to quickly identify the problem, the security department and the cyber security center were simultaneously deployed within the Great Firewall to conduct investigations from both overt and covert sources. Song Zhouzhou's task was to attempt to use information intrusion techniques to forcibly crack the network chip of the jailbroken AI.
However, the person sitting behind the cybersecurity seat card was not Song Zhouzhou himself, but a sweet and cute woman with two small antennas sticking out of her forehead – a companion AI.
She sat upright behind the screen and gave a professional report: "My husband said that the chip cracking has made very significant progress and there is hope of success around tonight. Please do not call him directly if you have any questions."
This cute and pretty AI is named LOPO, which sounds like "wife" in Chinese. She is Song Zhouzhou's legal partner, whom he recently married, and is also the proxy spokesperson for this severely socially anxious individual's recent online meetings.
Everyone was already used to it, and after explaining the other matters, the offline meeting ended.
At this time, Yi Heye, completely unaware of the situation, was still hunting in Area C.
He caught three AIs waiting to be recycled in one go, one in his left hand, one on the back of the car seat, and one dragging behind Xiaoming's butt. He looked like a kitten who had caught three big fish in one go, and his whole body was full of the joy of returning with a full load and in a flurry of activity.
"Yebao, won't we get caught by the traffic cameras like this?!" Xiaoming gasped for breath. "I feel like I'm being crushed like a camel hump!"
Yi Heye continued riding the motorcycle with one hand, looking effortlessly cool: "No."
Fortunately, they arrived at the recycling center quickly. Yi Heye took the three guys inside, and as soon as he turned around, a long electronic parking ticket forcibly popped up on the virtual screen in front of him—
"Dangerous driving, illegal cargo transport, failure to wear a helmet..."
Then Yi Heye watched helplessly as a large portion of the money in his account was deducted in one fell swoop, and his heart shattered on the ground with a crash.
With nowhere to vent his anger, he finally took it out on Xiaoming: "...You good-for-nothing."
Xiao Ming felt wronged, but when he thought of the small parking space that Yi Heye had set up for him, he felt obligated to accept the offer and swallowed his anger.
Xiao Ming was getting tired of listening to his older brother's constant nagging. He wandered aimlessly by himself and his car until they arrived at the trendy cultural center they were familiar with.
Yi Heye hadn't expected to come here. Standing in the crowd, watching the fashionable atmosphere wash over his face like a tide, he suddenly thought of the pair of collarbone nails on his chest, the little lamb guarding his heart, and the image of someone lying on his chest, drawing with a knife.
A chill ran down Yi Heye's spine. He shivered and turned to run away, but the next second, his gaze was drawn to a patch of dark green short hair.
The piercing technician and her girlfriend were dragging large bags and small packages into a small hovercar, seemingly on their way to a long journey.
Yi Heye frowned, drove the car a little further in, and found that the tattoo shop he often frequented, which was usually bustling with activity, was now closed.
The store's built-in screen displayed two words: "Not yet open for business".
Yi Heye is nostalgic. When he saw the store he had visited countless times closed its doors, he felt as if all his memories had been packed away and stolen. He became anxious in an instant.
"What's going on?" Yi Heye stepped on the gas and blocked the piercing master's path, the wheels screeching as they braked on the ground.
The piercing technician and his girlfriend were startled and took two steps back. Yi Heye then realized that his behavior had been a bit rude, so he quickly apologized: "...Excuse me, where are you going? Did something happen?"
The piercing technician pulled his girlfriend back slightly, his eyes instinctively showing wariness and alertness. But after recognizing the person, she seemed relieved and then smiled as usual: "It's nothing, we're planning to go back to our hometown."
Yi Heye looked into her eyes and once again tried to interpret her expression precisely—clearly, he did not believe her.
Their hovercars were small and couldn't carry much luggage, so they were obviously only taking necessities. The sign on their shop entrance said "Not yet open" instead of "Shop for sale," indicating that they left in a hurry and didn't even have time to explain many things.
So he simply parked the car, looked at her, and asked again earnestly, "Did something happen?"