The mechanic.

Zhang Xun put on a dark brown woolen coat, put on boots, put on a scarf, hat and gloves, and waited for Pan to open the door of the Lab.The cold air of the winter morning hit his face, and the breath he exhaled condensed into a dense mist and evaporated quickly.

It snowed all night again last night, and the uneven dirt roads in the entire Lost Paradise were covered with thick snow, making it more and more difficult to walk.The muddy mud and snow were overwhelmed by occasional passing cars and mixed into long lines like cultivated land. Zhang Xun trudged through the muddy road, watching the people who went out to work in the morning wrapped themselves up like him, Hastily locked the door and shuttled back and forth between the narrow alleyways.Some breakfast shops on both sides of the main street have already opened, and the aroma of hot coffee and toasted wheat permeates in the faint sunshine, soft and gentle.

Zhang Xun likes this kind of taste. If happiness has a taste, he thinks it should be this kind of taste.He bought a box of freshly baked chocolate-covered croissants at a bakery he frequented, ordered three more cups of coffee, and walked to the garbage disposal plant with the bread in one hand and the coffee tray wobbling in the other.

After the antidote was successfully developed, Adam resumed his fighting training with Diego and ran to the garbage disposal plant almost every day.Later, Zhang Xun gradually stopped following him all the time. Anyway, with the tracking device, he could know Adam's location at any time.He was busy developing new unmanned weapons, and began to design and manufacture a new artificial intelligence based on Pan-an artificial intelligence with the overall goal of guarding the lost paradise.Occasionally, during a break, he activates the camera on the tracking device, puts on a microscope, and looks through Adam's eyes to see what he's doing.

These days, Adam left the Lab very early for training, and when Zhang Xun opened his eyes early, he found that the place next to the bed was cold.

Zhang Xun didn't want to admit it, he kind of missed the warm and comfortable feeling of waking up in Adam's arms...

After the framework of the new artificial intelligence was set up, Zhang Xun decided to take a day off for himself to see how Adam was learning.

The entrance to the garbage disposal plant is still the same as it used to be, a rusty steel giant covered in snow, with somehow empty eye sockets looking slightly sad.Zhang Xun looked up at the ancient mech, thinking that it had a glorious past and was once the most proud weapon of human beings, and felt a little uneasy.

There is a time for everything, no matter how brilliant it was originally.

He found Adam, who was fighting Diego, near Diego's cabin.It was clearly a cold winter day, but the two were only wearing thin vests and camouflage pants, and they were in a stalemate, with bruises and bruises on their faces and bodies.Diego was like a raging lion, rushing up bravely again and again.In comparison, Adam is more like a cheetah who is good at calculating and making every step.His blue eyes stared at his prey without blinking, every step was silent, and every move was precise and ruthless.

Zhang Xun opened his eyes slightly, seeing how Adam predicted Diego's moves before Diego's moves, and his metal arms blocked all attacks quickly and accurately.Adam's control over his arms has been perfected, as if those two arms were born on his body.However, Diego has sufficient experience in battle after all. Even if he is not as accurate in prediction as Adam, he can stabilize his position only by relying on the conditioned reflex he has practiced for many years.

The two of them had been confronting each other like this for an unknown amount of time, they were all sweating profusely and panting, and the heat from their bodies evaporated into faint smoke on their skins.Fatigue is eating away at their bodies, and the chances of making mistakes are growing rapidly.

Diego's disadvantage is that he is older, has been drinking for many years, and his physical condition is not as good as Adam, who is in his "youthful years".His offensive gradually slowed down, and it seemed that Adam could win soon.

However, at this moment, probably due to underestimating the enemy, Adam's punch was too reckless.A gleam of golden light flashed in Diego's eyes, and he suddenly burst out with dormant strength. He grabbed Adam's arm and wanted to throw him down with an over-the-shoulder throw.But he didn't expect that arm to suddenly disintegrate and become countless smooth and soft...silver threads, which couldn't be grasped at all, but wrapped around his body in circles, making him unable to move.Adam grabbed Diego's lower back with his other arm and threw him whole.

Diego lay on the ground and cursed, "Stop beating, you're cheating again!"

Adam hurriedly ran over to help Diego up, apologetic, "I'm sorry...it was a conditioned reflex... When I sense a threat, my arm seems to have a certain self-defense function..."

"I'm not fighting with you alone, you have two helpers, right? Is this a fart?"

Zhang Xun walked over with a smile at this moment, "Thank you for your hard work."

When Diego saw Zhang Xun, he felt bitter, "I can't teach you an artificial intelligence, so hurry up and ask you to be smart!"

Zhang Xun apologized and said with a smile, "It's because I can't teach well, so I brought Lucy's Scotch coffee to make amends for you." As he spoke, he lifted the coffee tray holding three cups of coffee. ,

Diego's eyes lit up.This fighter not only likes to drink, but also likes to drink coffee.Scotch coffee mixed with coffee and wine is simply the girl of his dreams.But Lucy's Breakfast, which makes the best Scotch coffee, is expensive, and poor garbage collectors like Diego can't afford it.

Adam followed suit, sniffing Zhang Xun like a dog, "This smell is chocolate croissant!"

Zhang Xun raised his eyebrows and stuffed the bag of bread into his arms.Adam cheered, and ran back to Diego's hut like holding a baby.

Zhang Xun watched Adam run away, and a smile unconsciously appeared on his mouth.At this time, Diego suddenly patted him on the shoulder and said, "I was not joking just now. I have nothing to teach him."

Zhang Xun turned to look at him in astonishment, "But it's only been less than a year."

"His learning speed is too fast. To be honest, I am a little scared." Diego narrowed his vicissitudes eyes slightly, looked in the direction of his cabin, and sighed, "It is impossible for any human being to have such a learning speed. .I used to think that artificial intelligence is just a group of machines that don't have a mind and only know input and output, but now..."

Diego paused, and continued, "I used to believe that humans are the greatest race in the world. But... I have been outside for a year, and I have seen what those machines can do. They can recognize people The physiological index fluctuations and analysis of behavior patterns predict criminal behavior in advance, and stop criminals before they have time to commit crimes. They can know what kind of occupation you have when you are born, and then put you in a ' Suits you' orientation. They can predict what you want, what you don't want, and give you everything before you even ask. In other words, people are like their... livestock. But people I don’t know, I thought everything was under control.”

Zhang Xun looked at him and asked softly, "That's why you became so decadent? Because you discovered that human beings are no longer the most advanced species on this planet."

"It's not just that. But it's largely due to this factor." Diego turned to look at him.This is the first time this rough warrior mentioned his past to him, "I fell in love with a person, a woman. It was she who told me that the age of mankind is coming to an end. There are few people who can't find it in the ordinary world. A person who can drive and cook will not take the next 200 years. People will lose all technology, and even forget how to write, speak, and walk, because all needs can be met by AI, and there is no need to work hard to live gone."

Zhang Xun looked at him in astonishment.

In love with a woman.

If such words are heard and reported by interested people in Paradise Lost, they will be imprisoned and scolded by thousands of people.He never imagined that the decadent Diego would do such... outrageous things?

Of course heterosexuality was even mainstream in society 200 years ago.No one would have thought that the gender balance that had lasted for hundreds of millions of years would be broken by Eden in just 200 years.

Seeing Zhang Xun's stunned look, Diego laughed loudly, "What? Did you scare you, a little nerd?"

"No...thank you for your trust..." Zhang Xun looked away embarrassedly, but couldn't help being curious, "Then... where is your girlfriend?"

"She died." Diego replied simply, without even hearing much sadness, "She was a member of the underground organization that resisted Eden, and was killed by the mechanical police on the way to escort me back to Paradise Lost."

It turned out to be like this...

Zhang Xun asked in confusion, "In this case... why are you still willing to train Adam? Don't you hate him?"

"It's pointless to hate the mechanical police and Eden. Because they have never been living creatures, they don't understand the meaning of their actions to human beings, and all the killings are just to solve problems. They won't do it because of me. Going to revenge and feeling scared or ashamed and not feeling sorry. It's like... a loved one was crushed to death in an earthquake and you go to hate all the buildings." Diego grabbed his jacket from the ground Putting it on, he took another sip of the coffee Zhang Xun brought, and continued,

"However, Adam is no longer a mere machine. Adam is alive. But he is not human..." Diego sighed, and looked at Zhang Xun with sympathy in worry, "I doubt, are you Created a new race, a higher race that would literally bring the end of human history."

......................................................

For the next day, Diego's words lingered in Zhang Xun's mind, lingering like a ghost.

He quietly came to the basement and looked at the cages of experimental white mice that he had quietly hidden.The white rats with strange behaviors turned around after hearing the movement, their movements were uniform, and their black bean-like eyes looked straight at him, rarely blinking.

The number of these quirky white rats is increasing.They still eat and drink regularly, gaining weight instead of losing weight, but their actions are too regular, too much like...programmed.

The suspicion quietly smoldering in Zhang Xun's heart began to swell again, and he began to record observation logs, secretly praying that there would be no other side effects.

Fortunately, so far, there have been no reports of any strange behaviors of the honey plague patients cured by the antidote.

However, on the way to find Adam this morning, Zhang Xun was a little concerned about a person he saw.The man stood in the middle of the road in his pajamas, with a confused look on his face.A person who seemed to be his family member rushed over, muttering inaudible words such as "sleepwalking" and "recently", and led the person away.

Zhang Xun heard the man say, "I feel like there is a hole in my brain."