[Detroit] No Paradise

In the Zen garden.

At this moment, this quiet garden has been covered by a snowstorm, and it cannot be seen what it used to be.The biting wind kept blowing, spreading goose-feather-like snowflakes in the garden where lush plants once grew, hiding all vitality.The surface of the lake has long been frozen, reflecting the severe cold in this piece of heaven and earth like a mirror.

Connor stood on the snow, the icy snow had reached his ankles.In this virtual space constructed by data, his sensory modules were turned on, and his thin clothes could not resist the terrible low temperature. Within a short while, a layer of frost formed on his body.

"Connor." Amanda's voice came from behind him.

Connor looked back at Amanda: "Amanda."

He could hear the slightest tremor in his voice, probably from the cold, he thought.

"You did a good job." Amanda said, but there was no smile on her face that should have been praised, and the coldness in her eyes was even worse than the ice and snow, "Now we have the key to Jericho. "

"Thank you, Amanda." Thank you for the compliment, but the price was too high, Connor thought.The innocent eyes of the girl kneeling on the ground appeared in his mind, and he recalled the trembling hand when holding the gun, and he felt the tearing feeling of being pierced by bullets at the same time when he pulled the trigger.

"You don't look happy," Amanda said.

"I'm a machine, I don't have this kind of emotion." Connor replied, his tone so calm that even he felt scared.

He knew that such an answer would satisfy Amanda, but was it really the case?He can't feel happy, but why can he feel guilt and pain?Those terrible emotions are colder than the blizzard here, as if the liver and gallbladder of a person are frozen into ice and snow, and the breath is like being cut by an ice knife.

Amanda finally showed a little satisfied smile, and she nodded: "I am pleasantly surprised by your efficiency, Connor. I thought that after many unexpected events, there may be some problems with your system, but It doesn't look like this now. Originally, I planned to scrap you, but now there is no need for this."

Yes, she will scrap me.Connor thought.He knew that Amanda's trust in him had once dropped to a freezing point, and if he didn't take some action, he would disappear from this world forever.He didn't want to disappear, he didn't want to be scrapped, he didn't want to die, there were still many things he wanted to do and things he wanted to say that he didn't say—so he chose to pull the trigger.

He just did what the program deemed correct, but at that moment he felt that he was extremely despicable, selfish, and ruthless. He was exchanging the lives of others for his own—even though the girl could be revived only by changing her body, And once he is destroyed, he will no longer be able to exist in this world.

The moment the gunshot rang out, he didn't even dare to open his eyes to look at the girl. He kept convincing himself that she was just a machine, but those innocent and pure eyes appeared in front of his eyes all the time, like an inescapable nightmare.

"The situation is getting more and more urgent, Connor, we are running out of time." Amanda put away her smile and said seriously. "Find Jericho and capture Marcus alive. That's your next mission."

"Yes." Connor replied.

This is the right path, this is the mission for which he was created.

He is a machine, all he has to do is execute instructions and complete tasks.Nothing else matters.

……

Connor opened his eyes.

Ferndale Station, the entrance to Jericho as Kamsky said.He lowered his head to look at the clues projected in his palm, and began to unlock the locked door leading to Jericho step by step.

The night has begun to fall, the snow does not stop, and the biting wind drives away the few pedestrians on the road, making this already desolate road even more silent.

Jericho is getting closer, and there are more and more abnormal androids on the road.Connor didn't care about these abnormal bionics at the moment. When he found Jericho, he sent the location to the simulated life without hesitation. The FBI also received the message at the same time, and they would send troops to come in the shortest possible time. Destroy this place, destroy all these abnormal bionics.

And what Connor has to do is to catch Marcus before the FBI arrives to destroy everything.

He quickened his pace and walked on the snow-covered road. Time was extremely precious to him, and he could not waste it.

For some reason, he suddenly thought of Joshua.

Joshua should have been rescued by Marcus. As a wanted criminal, it was impossible for Marcus to send him to the hospital, which would be equivalent to sending him to prison, so Joshua is likely to in Jericho.Connor saw a lot of medical bionics on the way here. With these bionics, Joshua's medicine and treatment should not have too many problems.

So what will Joshua do when the FBI is destroying this place?

He may not recover from his illness, he may still be in a coma, how can he escape here before being destroyed?

The LED light on Connor's forehead suddenly turned yellow, but he didn't notice it, and walked numbly in the direction of Jericho.

……

Meanwhile, the control room of the Jericho steamship.

"The evacuation is almost done." Marcus opened his eyes after receiving reports from the people in charge of various departments in Jericho. "In less than half an hour, everyone can leave Jericho safely."

Joshua nodded: "That's good."

"...Thank you, Joshua, you saved us again." Marcus looked at Joshua and said, "I... I don't know how to express my thanks."

If it wasn't because Joshua told them that the location of Jericho had been exposed, I'm afraid they would still be unaware, waiting for the arrival of the FBI in this ship.

"Don't thank me, Marcus, safety is only temporary." Joshua shook his head, his face was still a little pale, but it was almost invisible under the dim light, "You can't hide forever .”

"He's right, Marcus." North stepped forward and said with a frown, "If we stay in a passive state, we will be wiped out by humans sooner or later."

Marcus looked at North, with no expression on his face, and he did not respond to North's words for a long time.After a while, he asked Joshua, "Joshua, what do you think?"

Should we start a war, or fight for our own rights by peaceful means?

Joshua subconsciously wanted to say that he agreed with North's idea that this was an unavoidable war, but he swallowed the words again.He knew that as a representative of the human side at this time, his attitude on this topic could greatly affect Marcus's choice, so he couldn't express his position so hastily.

War can indeed bring temporary peace, but once the seeds of hatred are planted, there will always be a day when it will explode.He couldn't play with the future of the two races.

"Marcus..." He said after a while, "It's all up to you, you are the leader of Jericho."

The future of bionics should be created by themselves.

"Violence cannot bring peace, it can only bring bloodshed, hatred and irreparable damage. Marcus, I hope you can think about this issue before making a decision," Josh said.

"No matter what decision you make, I will firmly support you, Marcus." Said Simon standing in the corner.

Marcus stood there motionless, raised his head after a while, and said, "Leave this aside, we have to evacuate here as soon as possible."

Although they have arranged all the escape routes, even if the FBI comes, they can easily leave here without being caught, but after all, there are many nights and dreams, they are currently in a disadvantaged position, and they must be more careful in every step.

Said Simon: "I'll check the cabin again to see if there's anything missing."

"I'll go with Simon." Josh followed Simon out.

Suddenly, only Marcus, North and Joshua were left in the control room.Joshua glanced at North and Marcus, and suddenly felt that he was a little too bright, so he said with some embarrassment: "I'll go and check if there are any omissions." After speaking, he was about to walk out of the hatch.

"Wait." Marcus suddenly stopped him.

"What's wrong?" Joshua looked back at Marcus.

"Hold this." Marcus handed a miniature earphone-type communicator to Joshua, "You are not a bionic human, we cannot communicate through the built-in signal of the bionic human, wear this to ensure that we can contact at any time superior."

Joshua nodded: "Okay, then I will not be polite."

After speaking, he took the micro communicator from Marcus's hand, stuffed it into his ear, and then left the control room quickly.

……

Connor stepped into the largest cabin in Jericho.

He pushed open the heavy door, looked inside, and was a little surprised to find that the place was basically empty, only a dozen or so bionics were arranging some weapons, and then packed them into boxes to take away.

He immediately understood that this is indeed Jericho, but it is no longer a place where abnormal bionics gather. They may have received the news in advance, or for other reasons, most of the abnormal bionics were evacuated here.

The bionics were quite surprised when they saw Connor walk in, and one of them asked, "Aren't you leaving yet? Leave now, this place will be destroyed soon."

Connor's hesitation only lasted a second. After hearing the bionic man's question, he quickly responded: "I'm looking for Marcus, where is he?"

"Marcus should still be in the control room," said a bionic man.

Connor had already scanned the entire structure of Jericho when he boarded the ship, so of course he knew where the control room was.He nodded and was about to walk towards the control room, but suddenly stopped. After hesitating for a few seconds, he turned his head and asked, "...Is there a human here?"

"You mean Joshua?" The android quickly figured out who Connor was asking.

"...Yes." Connor nodded. "Is he still here?"

"I don't know, I should have already left." The bionic man said. "You know, humans, we can't communicate with humans in real time, so I don't know where he is."

Connor nodded, opened the door and walked out.

After leaving the cabin, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.Having reached this last step, he must not be disturbed by anything.

He had to find Marcus, capture him alive, and bring him back to the control life.Nothing else matters.

After meditating countless times in his heart, he opened his eyes, and the brown optical components were full of coldness and determination.

……

The road from the cabin to the control room wasn't too long, but it wasn't short either. Connor had to go to the uppermost deck, almost across half of Jericho.

The sky had completely darkened, and the blizzard had subsided a little bit, but the wind was still blowing, and the wind on the deck became more bitter, bitingly cold.

In this dark and cold environment, Connor walked up to the highest deck and walked towards the control room step by step.

He suddenly saw a familiar figure sitting on the railing on the edge of the deck, with his legs dangling in the air, wearing single clothes, sitting crookedly as if he might fall down at any time, under the dim light, he could barely see a cigarette dangling from his mouth , the sparks of the cigarette butt flickered in the dark.It is impossible for androids to smoke, and Connor only needs to recognize who it is at a glance.

He paused in place for a while, subconsciously wanting to take a detour, but this is the shortest way to go to the control room, and it would take a lot of time to go another way.Connor could only pretend that he didn't see him, and quickly walked past him.

Joshua lowered his eyes to look at the cigarette in his mouth, the ash kept falling, and was blown away by the wind on the deck.He suddenly found it very interesting, so he stared blankly at a spark in the darkness until he heard someone passing behind him.

"..." He turned his head to look at the man's back, and suddenly shouted, "Hey, wait."

Connor froze and stopped subconsciously.He would have liked to get out of here faster, but that only made Joshua suspicious.

He changed his clothes and wore a hat. From the back, there is no similarity except for his height. It stands to reason that Joshua should not recognize him, as long as he does not see his face.

After staring at his back for a while, Joshua jumped down from the railing, held the cigarette in his hand, and remained silent for a while.

There was a sudden silence, only the sound of the wind whistling on the deck, and the atmosphere was like a tight string, which might break at any time.

"Where is this going?" Joshua asked.

"..." Connor was silent for a while, then changed his voice and said, "Go to the control room, I have something urgent to find Marcus."

He didn't lie, there was no need to lie, it would be easy to find out.

"Marcus is busy with a date now." Joshua smiled, and his tone became a little serious, "Isn't it good for you to disturb them?"

Dating?The term is supposed to refer to an agreed meeting between human couples, but do androids also date?They have no emotion at all, let alone love.

Thinking of this, Connor felt as if something had stabbed him in the bottom of his heart, and he was indescribably uncomfortable, as if there was a voice shouting deafeningly in his heart, even if he tried his best to suppress it, he still couldn't hide it: Really Is that so?Do you really think so?

"...I have something urgent." Connor repeated again.

"Then you can tell me first." Joshua said, "I'll tell Marcus."

"It's better for me to tell him myself," Connor said.

"It's okay, he and I are very good friends, there is no inconvenience. If you are from Jericho, you should know this, right?" Joshua said with a smile.

"Sorry, I can't tell a human being I'm not familiar with important information." Connor began to feel a little anxious, but his tone was still very calm.He didn't understand why Joshua was interested in himself who passed by unintentionally, and he didn't know why he would be so entangled with a strange bionic person, but Joshua is a strange guy, maybe he did it on a whim That's all.

The people behind were silent.

Connor heaved a sigh of relief, and Joshua finally stopped pestering him.If he hadn't been forced to do nothing, Connor would not have wanted to fight Joshua anyway.

He was about to move on, but Joshua spoke again, but this time his tone was obviously different from just now, the deliberately ruffian tone completely disappeared, leaving only his original voice, that A low, smoky voice that was slightly tired and depressed, with an extremely calm tone, as if a silent storm was brewing: "Unfamiliar humans? Are we not familiar enough?"

His voice was very soft, as if he was deliberately lowering his voice, but it was clearly transmitted to Connor's ears in the howling wind.

The steps Connor had just taken stopped, and he closed his eyes, knowing that all concealment was meaningless.

"Why can you recognize me?" He returned to his original voice and asked.

"..." Joshua threw the cigarette in his hand from the deck into the water, patted the soot on his hands, and said, "Because you are different from others."

The weight of footsteps, walking posture, and even some habitual changes in tone of voice when speaking.

Perhaps Connor himself didn't notice these differences.

This sentence made Connor startled slightly, but he quickly woke up from the moment of absence, and turned to look at Joshua.

"You seem to have recovered a little bit," Connor said.It didn't take much effort for him to scan Joshua's physical condition at the moment, at least his body temperature was normal.

"It's okay." Joshua nodded, "It's no problem to walk two steps and jump two steps."

"It's very windy here, you shouldn't be here," Connor said.

"I'm not staying here, who is stopping you from killing Marcus." Joshua laughed.

"Joshua, you shouldn't be in this muddy water."

"It's just doing a friend a favor, how can it be called muddy water?"

"You can't stop me." Connor reached out and pressed the gun behind his waist.He could feel that Joshua's illness was not completely cured at all, his voice was somewhat hoarse, and he was not wearing a weapon. In this unfavorable state, he could not be his opponent.

The biting wind blew past, lifting the corners of Joshua's white shirt, and those black eyes seemed to be glowing against the whiteness.He looked at Connor's expressionless face and said with a smile, "Then prove it to me, Connor."

The author has something to say:

Good news for everyone!

The next chapter Connor is abnormal!

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Thanks to Yuanwen for throwing mines!

Thanks popbb for throwing mines!

Thanks for throwing mine with a retard!

Thank you for the mines thrown by the trembling rice grains!

Thank you for the mines I want to raise meow!

Thanks for the mines thrown by colored mackerel!

Thanks to Authur_Kirkland for throwing 3 mines!

Thanks to Xiaoluohao and Ouchiji for throwing mines!

Thanks to the grenade thrown by the collection of countless brain holes!