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Chapter 7 Gushuang Street B, 10:25 pm
Robert Dillane was slumped in a soft chair, with the starlight above his head, the room was silent, and the furniture cast long dark blue shadows.The ceiling and walls of the mayor's office have been specially treated so that he can be surrounded by the bright starry sky without leaving home, even if it is raining heavily outside.
There was amber brandy in the glass, and he took a sip, the ice cubes in it clinking, "Catherine?"
"Please wait a moment, mayor." Secretary Catherine said a little awkwardly. She was still wearing a fiery red dress, with bright blond hair, holding a tablet in her hand, "They are still putting the final touches on the details... Ah, okayYes. The video has been sent, and I will cast the screen for you immediately."
She flicked her finger on the tablet, and not long after, a holographic projector in the center of the room lit up, emitting a fine beam of light in the darkness.Robert turned his seat and stared intently at the picture presented by the projector.
What first unfolded in front of their eyes was the city at night, with rows of buildings and lights taking the central square as the axis, clearly divided into gold and silver sides.The photographer was sitting in a helicopter, and as the scene changed, a burning building appeared in the shot, with silent subtitles, "The past ten years have witnessed the tragedy of this beautiful city..."
"Cecina is committed to building peace. We are looking forward to the future, but we have to pay the price for the terrorist acts of 'sorcery' from time to time." After the explosion, the Gold and Silver Square was covered with dust, and the crowd ran away crying, many of themAll women and children, "here we create, you destroy; we pray, you curse."
"We built a shelter for human beings, but you broke this hard-won tranquility." The rebels held guns and shot in the sea of fire.
"We are tired of paying for your evil deeds. Fortunately, in this terrorist attack, we are delighted to see heroes emerge." The conversation suddenly changed, and the camera focused on two young people who were fighting against the rebels, and thenIt is a series of clips of battle clips. One of them knocked down countless soldiers with Tang Dao, while the other held a gun and cooperated with the charge of the front to suppress the firepower.
"They are a symbol of Cecina's young generation and the visible hope of this city." The photographer took a close-up of Rosie's profile, who was focusing on her opponent.
Then the camera cut to the stalemate between the two, with Rosie strangling Cheng Wen's neck, surrounded by rebels.His expression was not cruel, but with the bleak background music, it made people feel cold.
"If you have decided to devote yourself to endless destruction, I believe that Cecina's younger generation will also devote themselves to endless salvation. They will not tolerate evil, and will eventually kill evil with their own hands."
The muzzle of the gun hit Cheng Wen's forehead. After editing, he looked so terrified and helpless.Rosie watched him calmly, and slowly pulled the trigger.
A gunshot sounded like a rock falling from a cliff.The screen turned completely black in an instant, all the characters disappeared, and there were only three lines of white text on it:
"In honor of your future
To record the dawn of Cesina
R.I.P."
After the video was played, the room went dark, only the stars twinkling quietly.The mayor picked up the wine glass and took a sip of the brandy, with an expression of enjoying and savoring it.After a long time, a smile appeared on his lips: "Very good. Play it on all the screens in the city."
"I'll have to show those... old friends from District Two."
Gushuang Street Avenue B, the bus stops at the platform smoothly.
The curfew had already begun, and there were very few pedestrians on the street. A military transport vehicle was parked near the curb, and soldiers filed down with their guns in their arms.Deng Huailing led Rosie towards the residence, was stopped and interrogated for a few minutes before being released again.
The signboards on the side of the road have not yet been extinguished, and the shops have already closed, and the red and green lights dye their faces.Gushuang Street is where Deng Huailing's residence is located. It looks like a large ring from a high altitude, named after a certain philanthropist who funded the construction of this street decades ago.It has a special meaning to Cesina. The bustling area in the city center extends to Gushuang Street. On the left side of the street are towering skyscrapers, and on the right side are gray residential buildings.
"Mr. Deng, do you live here?" Rosie trotted two steps, barely catching up with Deng Huailing's pace, "You live on the left?"
After getting out of the car, they have been walking along the left side, so it is only natural to ask.Besides, bounty hunters earn a lot of money, this is something that everyone in Cesina knows.
Deng Huailing said, "No, I live on the right."
He led Rosie across the street, toward one of the residential buildings.These buildings dedicated to human habitation occupy a huge area, layered on top of each other like a maze, and countless windows can be seen from the bottom up.The gaps between the windows are small, there are no balconies, and the lower windowsills are dirty and covered with roadside mud.
Deng Huailing stretched out his right wrist and swiped the chip at the entrance of the gate.As soon as they entered the door, they almost tripped over a pile of domestic garbage. The trash can was knocked over by someone, and there was a pool of vomit reeking of alcohol beside it.
"The cleaning robot is broken again." Deng Huailing patted the malfunctioning robot next to the trash can, the yellow light on its head flickered on and off, "The fifth time this month."
Rosie approached the cleaning robot curiously, touching its iron skin with her hand, as if comparing it with her own."Why not replace one? He looks like he's at his limit."
“Residents in this building have been complaining for three months,” Deng Huailing said, “but the government has no budget for this.”
"Can I help? I seem to be able to download some housekeeping mods," Rosie said, and then he saw the bounty hunter laughing and couldn't help but look confused.
"I'm sorry, but what you said just now is like a gun asking to shoot mosquitoes." Deng Huailing passed the pile of garbage, and pressed the elevator with a smile, "It's still a heavy-duty sniper."
"I can do anything for you, Mr. Deng." Rosie stared at him without blinking, "As long as you need me."
When the elevator arrived, Deng Huailing forced himself to hide the awkwardness on his face, pretending that he didn't hear the other party's words, pulled the strap of the guitar case and stepped into the car.Rosie followed in, and in the small space, he couldn't help but think of that strange dream this morning, but he didn't dare to recall who those eyes belonged to in the dream, he just waited awkwardly for the door to open.
This type of residential building is called a "beehive" by the Cecina people. The living density in the building is very high. A building can accommodate thousands of apartments. However, the area allocated to each person is so small that people come in and out.Just like the worker bees are busy in the hive.The two got out of the elevator and found Deng Huailing's residence along the corridor.
Deng Huailing swiped the chip to enter the door, and Rosie was shocked by the sight as soon as she entered the room—the bionics would not be surprised, but they would imitate them vividly.
Judging by normal human standards, the apartment is too messy, the walls are densely covered with papers, some portraits are mixed among them, the changed clothes are randomly thrown on the carpet, and a poor potted plant died due to lack of water.Dead, the stems and leaves are withered and yellow, and thick dust is accumulated on the window sill.
To the front is the living room, to the left is the bathroom and kitchen, and to the right is the bedroom.The entire apartment can be walked in a few steps, so small that it seems to be inside the body of a sparrow, and the two of them are suddenly stuffed into it, and it is almost impossible to turn around.The only blind was right in front, Deng Huailing picked up the scattered clothes and let Rosie pass.
"I still think I should download some housekeeping modules." Rosie said as she walked in.He glanced at the window. The bustling area across the street was lined with high-rise buildings, and the glass was clean, in stark contrast to the darkness and clutter inside the house.
All his movements did not escape Deng Huailing's eyes, "You want to ask me why I don't live on the left?"
Rosie shook her head: "You don't have to care about my attitude, Mr. Deng. My doubts are just a way of expressing information that is not complete and self-consistent, and it does not belong to the category of human curiosity."
"The prices here are lower than the opposite side, and I need to save money." Deng Huailing explained in a rare way, "By the way, the opposite side is the 'fence wall' in the bustling area, which is actually not populated."
"'Wall'?" Rosie said.
"Those rich people who live on the inner side of Gushuang Street," Deng Huailing pulled up the hem of his clothes, took off his shirt, and his hair was messed up by this action, "They don't want to open the curtains to see the dusty beehive, so we recommendThe buildings are like fences in your own garden. The side next to the hive is mostly empty, no one rents or buys."
As he walked into the bathroom, Rosie looked at his muscular, naked back and asked, "Isn't that a waste? Since the 'hive' is crowded and the 'fence' is vacant, why not let the one on the right?"People moved there to live?"
Deng Huailing was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "It's a good proposal. If I were in power, I would consider it." He didn't answer the questions raised by the bionic man, and closed the bathroom door directly.
The sound of the shower sounded in the room, and while waiting for Deng Huailing to take a shower, Rosie walked around alone.He downloaded the housekeeping module without authorization, folded the clothes in the closet, piled up the unwashed clothes, and wiped off the dust on the windowsill and table.There is no vacuum cleaner in the apartment, and the ground cannot be cleaned, which makes Rosie feel a little pity.
He cast his eyes on the paper-covered wall, the last one left untouched.The sheets of paper were layered on top of each other, and the tasks and time were recorded in a fluttering pattern. It was obviously handwritten by Deng Huailing, and the earliest date could be traced back to three months ago.There are all kinds of trivial matters: who to meet with, who to ask for money, who to contact, who to investigate for. Rosie also found that some papers only wrote names and addresses, and some of the names had been crossed out with red crosses.Date marked on the side.
The most recent date is today and the name is Mort Roach, HOPE Bar.A red cross is randomly drawn on the name.
Rosie looked at it for a while and decided it would be best not to clean up the papers.His eyes turned again to a nail in the wall, sticking out of nowhere, where a narrow notebook hung by a string.The case of the note is made of cowhide, and the handwriting inside is not as scribbled as the paper on the wall.
This is very strange, more than 80 years have passed since the nuclear war, and with the development of science and technology, paperless office is widely accepted by people.Paper and pen are more like a sense of ritual, but Deng Huailing's residence has almost no electronic equipment, and paper can be seen everywhere.
He flipped through the notebook, which was covered in numbers.Monthly income and expenses are categorized in detail and totaled at the end of the month.But Rosie's built-in counting function made him quickly discover something was wrong—once the cumulative amount reached 20 million credit points, it would be deducted.Deng Huailing did not record the whereabouts of the money, as if they had evaporated out of thin air.
Behind him came the sound of the door being pushed open.The bounty hunter came out of the bathroom wiping his hair and was not surprised to see the note in his hand."Do you usually need a bath, android?"
"Mr. Deng... I didn't mean to pry into your privacy, and the relevant data will be deleted immediately."
"It doesn't matter, you see." Deng Huailing lowered his head and fastened the button of his pajamas, and said lazily, "Before I took you home, I already agreed that you are a spy sent by CyberRose."
Rosie still had an expression of admitting his mistake, Deng Huailing looked around, the whole apartment was cleaned to a new look, within ten minutes, even a figure could be seen on his desk."Also, it's not privacy that you can easily see. If you're not going to use the bathroom, I'm going to sleep."
"The latest models of CyberRose bionics all use fluid skin." Rosie stretched out her hand to show it. The colorless liquid substance slowly flowed through her fingertips, and the skin was not stained with a trace of dust. "I'm very resistant to dirt, sir."
Deng Huailing let out a "huh", ignored the bionic man, turned off the light and got into his bed.The room was instantly plunged into darkness. In the narrow space, apart from the sound of raindrops rustling outside the window, the breathing of two people could still be heard.
He didn't sleep much last night. According to Deng Huailing's style of sleeping as soon as he touches the bed, he should fall asleep immediately.But now he didn't feel drowsy at all, the feeling of being watched kept him alert, all the muscles in his body were tensed without any relaxation.He turned on the light, and sure enough Rosie was standing by the bed, eyeing him idly - probably with infrared night vision turned on.
"I don't really understand," Deng Huailing said, "Don't you need to sleep too?"
Rosie said, "No, I don't need to sleep." He noticed the obvious helplessness of the bounty hunter, and added, "But if you let me sleep, I can do so."
"Fine. Go to sleep."
The bionic man walked to the corner as promised, curled up under the dim light, and said to him, "Good night, Mr. Deng." He buried his head in his arms.Deng Huailing looked at the other party's soft hair, thinking about whether to prepare a temporary bed for Rosie, but gave up because he couldn't find other bedding.
He turned off the light again, and the darkness gathered heavily.Another sound of breathing ceased with Rosie's dormancy, and he soon fell asleep too.
However, at three o'clock in the morning, the communicator sounded like a death call, and the shrill bell echoed in the apartment.
Rosie quickly awoke from hibernation to find herself covered with the only blanket in the entire apartment.The light was already on, Deng Huailing went to answer the phone, Rosie glanced at his bed, it was empty, there was nothing to cover it.
This is a special call, so it has a specific ringtone.Deng Huailing listened to the phone, his expression gradually changed from sleepy to dignified, and he put on his coat while answering.Finally, he put the communicator in his pocket and opened the door of the apartment: "There is an urgent mission, I have to go out."
"Can I come?" Rosie said immediately expectantly, eyes sparkling like a cat's at catnip.
"You...I can't stop you either," Deng Huailing hesitated for a moment, then hooked his fingers at him, "Follow if you want."
Volume 2 "Pain"