sin of lumen

Sachiko stood guard in front of the door, surrounded by a few men in green with guns, just like the first time she met her when she was greeted on the ground.Behind her is a basement entrance, a cone-shaped shed protruding from the ground, with several security checks inside, a straight ladder with a closed door and a pair of running escalators, which reminded Lu Ting of the light rail in the capital city, entering from the lower floor, passing through After cumbersome security procedures, board the climbing train and go straight to the upper special zone.

But this time they are clearly going down.Lu Ting handed in the pistol and dagger, and walked into the ladder with Xingzi, with Deng Mochi behind him.The descent lasted for about 15 seconds. When the door was opened, the cold air hit the face. It was the kind of coldness that only belongs to the underground. Lu Ting estimated that this place is at least 30 meters from the surface.

In front of you is a space similar to a hub.Several large computers are placed in the center, surrounded by more than a dozen white coats, those wearing masks answering the phone, clattering on the keyboard, frowning and meditating on several file forms... In short, they are all busy with work.The room is circular and crowded, but the air is not stuffy, because there are nine door openings on the circumference, leading to nine corridors.

Lu Ting saw that five of them were turned on, and the remaining four were all dark.

A small man wearing brown glasses greeted him, with big eyes, oval face, short hair covering ears, and a South Asian face.It was only when Lu Ting opened his mouth that he realized that he was not a woman.

"This is...?" He looked at Lu Ting and asked Xingzi.

"It's a distinguished guest." Sachiko replied.

Lu Tingxin said that you are really consistent, but this explanation is too mysterious and not convincing at all. He was about to introduce himself, but he heard Deng Mochi say: "I brought it."

The little man froze for a moment, then shook hands with Lu Ting: "Hi, just call me Q."

After shaking hands, he turned around in a hurry, led the way ahead, and led the group of people to a corridor.The third one from the left on the central axis, with the light on, Lu Ting put his hand in his pocket before walking in, and pressed the bracelet to let Lucy record the walking route.

Sure enough, this corridor is not as simple as it looks from the outside.There is only a short section at the beginning that goes straight, and then there are winding paths, and there are always branches leading to more and narrower corridors.There are basically metal walls on both sides. Occasionally, the doors of a few rooms are locked when they pass by, Q does not stop, they just walk in a hurry without saying a word, but Xingzi and Deng Mochi seem to be used to this kind of silence, and they are also worried about the next step. Know what to do.

After walking for about 10 minutes, Lucy quietly reminded in the headset that he had already walked 200 meters, and the lights in front of him were suddenly bright, filling the entrance of the cave brightly, as if he was about to reach a spacious land with rich lighting.

Q suddenly said: "The situation is indeed not very good. The equipment failure caused a group of people to wake up early, and they have not had time to do memory implantation and thinking regulation. There are [-] people in total, and they are currently locked in the observation room."

Sachiko sighed, "You just said there were fourteen."

Q swipe the tablet in his hand, feeling a bit overwhelmed: "Three more woke up."

"The problem is solved?" Dun Mochi asked.

"It's under inspection," Q turned his head, licking his pale and dry lips nervously, "now the No. won't wake up."

Yes, the word he used was "plant", which can be described as a person.Lu Ting thought for a while, whether his English Indian accent was too strong.He heard it wrong, but was suddenly startled by what he saw in front of him—they had already arrived outside the security door, and through the thick glass, Lu Ting was able to see the situation inside the door.

It is indeed a spacious area, like some kind of handmade factory workshop, because there is no assembly line.Under the bright light, the pipes under the ceiling hang one after another translucent sleeping bag-like things, which look very flexible and are filled with grayish-yellow liquid.It is probably a nutrient solution, in which tiny air bubbles are doing Brownian motion, and there are fine mesh "vessels" near the mouth of the supply pipe, and the one floating in the center of the capsule, curled up like a baby, is completely naked , red-skinned, adult-sized, humanoid.

Lu Ting already understood the meaning of the word "factory".

Q opened the locker, distributed the thermal suits to the other three people, and then put on a small one himself, "Actually, what the prophet meant was that those who woke up early can be disposed of directly," he pulled on the thermal suits The zipper on the top of the head, "but the cost is too high, all seventeen are in vain, I don't think we can afford it." The next few sentences are stuffed in the mask.

Xingzi smiled and said, "With Rinpoche here, everything will be fine. He will make them obedient."

Lu Ting looked at Deng Mochi. The man still had no expression on his face, nor did he seem willing or not. He was lowering his head and sliding the roller on the wrist of the thermal suit to adjust the temperature.

Q spent a lot of time on authority verification, and finally turned the air pressure lock of the door, "I hope!" He took the lead again.

Xing Zi walked second, Lu Ting and Deng Mochi walked side by side, passing those upside-down nutrient sacs.One, one row, many rows.Under the low temperature, their surfaces have been covered with a thin layer of frost, and the vertical display below shows all the indicators clearly, as if a creature can indeed be completely described by a set of data.

Lu Ting raised his head and looked at the "human plants" floating in it - it should be described like this now - all of them closed their eyes tightly, or buried their faces in their knees, with umbilical cord-like nutrition tubes attached to their backs, Straight to the spine, it seems to be shaking gently with the heartbeat.

pupa.Cows hanging on a production line in an abattoir waiting to be bled.Lu Ting thought of these two things again.

He suddenly felt fortunate that although Deng Mochi was printed with a barcode representing "unnatural", at least he didn't come into the world in this way.

Otherwise, it would be too cruel for him to see this with his own eyes.

However, Deng Mochi's behavior seemed to be that Lu Ting was overthinking. He walked to the front as usual, listened to Q's explanation of the specific situation, and didn't take a second look at the nutrition sacs.

"Have there been any malfunctions before?" Lu Ting asked Xingzi, "They woke up early, and Rinpoche needs to solve them."

"Yes, but that was before Rinpoche came back." Xingzi said slowly, "According to what the Prophet said, we would destroy all hidden dangers of brain products that have not been standardized. But this time Rinpoche said, Let him try it."

"How is he going to try?"

Sachiko smiled and said nothing.

Lu Ting looked at her like this, feeling seven points impatient and three points apprehensive.He watched Deng Mochi walk towards the end of the factory building. There was a large piece of glass embedded in the wall, and there were figures inside, standing densely, all wearing hospital gowns.

That should be the observation room, and the low temperature should not be turned on like outside.That's where Dun Mochi was going.

But he was stopped about twenty steps away by a few little green men with guns.

Deng Mochi looked back at Lu Ting. His face was blurred by the reflection of the mask. He took off his thermal suit outside the door and put on his pullover and jacket. Then he opened the door and entered the observation room alone.

Q stood outside the glass wall, holding the warm clothes, from Lu Ting's side, it was a black silhouette.

"Is that one-way glass?" Lu Ting asked.

"Yes." Sachiko said, "It is necessary to observe the internal situation at any time."

A few people came out from behind and passed them. They were probably related experts, so they were not blocked.Each of them ran over with a tablet, stood with Q, and started discussing with each other.

Deng Mochi was in the glass where they were watching, but he stood too close to the edge, sometimes entering the blind spot of Lu Ting's sight.He didn't seem to speak, at least every time Lu Ting walked up and down to adjust the angle, and strained his neck to see him, he kept his mouth shut.

"Can I get closer?" Lu Ting looked sideways at Sachiko.

"Sorry." Sachiko shook her head.

"Actually, we didn't expect that he would bring you here." She said again.

"Then I've come here, why can't I get closer?" Lu Ting said with a smile.

"Please rest assured, Rinpoche will not be in danger," Sachiko said politely and sarcastically, "Those products are all wearing collars for easy management, even if the situation is getting out of control, killing them will take less than a second thing."

All right.Lu Ting was quiet for a while, and Lucy was trying to help him find out the specific situation in the room through infrared temperature measurement. The artificial humans who were born prematurely seemed to surround Dun Mochi, and they all gathered in the left half of the room. If it is too large, the accuracy of the conclusion cannot be confirmed.

He began to think about how he would grab the gun from the little green man on the right if something went wrong inside, first get rid of Sachiko and the two on the left, and then run over the distance of more than 20 steps to snatch Deng Mochi's gun. Thermal suit, get people out.

It's really hard to grasp.To be precise, I am not sure.

An outstanding graduate of the police academy with both civil and military skills decided to change his mind.

"Get some wet towels and alcohol wipes ready. I guess he'll have a nosebleed when he comes out soon." He started talking again.

"Oh?" Sachiko blinked.

"You think there are problems with this batch of products, because you can't completely control their spirits, so let them out by accident." Lu Ting said unhurriedly.

"That's right, isn't Rinpoche good at mind control?" Sachiko smiled, "Since he was 13 years old, the Prophet has always valued his ability."

"So where's the wet towel?"

"what?"

"Every time he does something extraordinary, he will get a nosebleed like an ordinary person," Lu Ting said indifferently, "You have watched him openly and secretly for so many years, and you have seen it."

Sachiko said "Oh" and ordered a little green man to prepare.Only one left, and Lu Ting is still one-to-many. Of course, this is expected, and he didn't intend to force it.

Xingzi said again: "Actually, it's not necessarily this time. The newly born human strains are very well controlled, the brain is specially designed, the function of obedience is strong, and the function of selection is weak. Originally, they were connected to the mother's body and would be implanted before birth. The idea of ​​'the prophet is the mother and must be absolutely obeyed', after birth, there is no need to think about it, this is their only creed."

Lu Ting looked coldly at the towel brought by the little green man and the glass bottle filled with alcohol cotton.They were all kept in metal troughs, soaked in hot water, the room temperature was too low.

"Are you the same?" he asked suddenly.

"Sorry, I didn't understand." Sachiko folded her hands in front of her.

"Is this kind of artificial human matured in six months and with a lifespan of five years? My dad also made similar ones. They are short-lived but efficient, and the best coolie laborers. If it is a long-lived artificial human with a metabolic rate similar to that of a human, it will not let go. Feeding in this kind of nutrient sac, they need to lie in a normal temperature cabin for a year and a half before they can grow into adults and have a mature respiratory system to contact the world," Lu Ting looked at the flickering eyelashes in Sachiko's mask, " What kind of womb did you grow up in?"

"So you know." Sachiko sneered, but looked at a loss.

"It's just been confirmed," Lu Ting also smiled, "It seems impolite to say that a young lady is an artificial human and discuss her mother's body with her."

"I'm the second type." Sachiko lowered her head, "My mother...is not in this corridor."

"I guessed it," Lu Ting said softly, "You are smarter than my nanny when I was young. She raised me from five to ten years old, and then died in my room. At that time, she was helping me change the water for the narcissus. Get down on the ground like the battery is dead."

"What is a narcissus?"

"A kind of flower."

"You said you were smart just now?" Sachiko paused, and said sarcastically, "artificial humans are intelligent species, they are superior to humans in both intelligence and physical strength, and they don't have as much hesitation and cowardice as humans, so generation after generation of people in power , including your father, made us out, used us, and regarded us as a threat."

"You're right." Lu Ting said, but he thought in his heart, you are also taking advantage of it now, and you are also afraid of threats.

Perhaps the final outcome of the contrast between strength and weakness is always control.

Sachiko smiled again: "As a human being, you are quite reasonable."

"As his son, I feel ashamed," Lu Ting said earnestly, "Although my father was just a businessman keen to invest in life science projects when the revolution happened 25 years ago, I can understand the original intention of the revolutionary army , I'm also sorry."

Xingzi didn't say a word for a moment, Lu Ting saw the increasingly thick white mist she breathed on the mask.

"Do you care about my 'smart'?" He asked suddenly.

"I think it's ridiculous. Do human beings have standards before they say a word?" Xingzi cleared his throat. "Rinpoche is the smartest, but he is also a man-made."

"He is a man born from artificial life." Lu Ting corrected.

"What's the difference?" Sachiko shook her head, "Rinpoche is in a more difficult situation than us, mixed in the hypocrisy and complexity of human beings, and still trying to make a good appearance, cover up his abilities, and learn to play a stupid and weak human being. "

"It's not toact, it's tobe," Lu Ting continued to correct her statement, "It is true that human beings are stupid and weak, arrogant and arrogant. But whether to be a human being is decided before birth. Your Rinpoche was born from the womb , the next 24 years, among humans, raised in a human way, and bound by human standards. Morality, behavior and value, no matter from which level, he is above the boundaries, and the general acquaintances in these egg sacs The plant is different, and it's not the same as you."

"But does Rinpoche also have empathy? The Prophet said that this ability only appears in the human community, but intelligence is common in many species, with different levels." Sachiko resumed a standardized smile, "For example, a wolf Unfortunately, with the ability to empathize, when you bite off the sheep's throat, you will feel the sheep's desire to survive, and the fear it brings to the sheep. Bad emotions form a cycle and cause pain, so carnivores all over the world have Probably starve to death, no?"

"Unfortunately, your Rinpoche is not only empathetic, but also a kind person who usually doesn't kill flying insects for no reason."

Sachiko seemed unhappy.

"He has established contact with many people, and he can empathize with some of them," Lu Ting looked at him patiently. "The reason why he is willing to come over to help and clean up the mess left by your failure is also because of empathy. Those premature babies may would be killed and he didn't want that to happen."

"...I seem to understand."

"So take me to have a look? I just want to get closer, to the distance where I can see him," Lu Ting tempted, "Sometimes empathy is not a bad thing. Rinpoche's empathy ability is even stronger, he can Feeling my approach, you can also extract confidence and support from this feeling, and do things better. After all, he has to rely on his own will to control the spirits of seventeen people, right?"

It took Sachiko a while to digest this passage, and she probably still couldn't fully understand it, but she was indeed moved by what she said, and made the little green people in the way back away.Lu Ting maintained his superficial calmness, picked up the gradually cooling metal trough, and followed.

Halfway through the twenty steps, Xingzi suddenly stopped and turned around: "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Lu Ting frowned.

"Lu Bingyi's youngest son is much more interesting than I imagined." A smile appeared on the girl's face, but she was completely different from before. "He is a mature child."

Then Xingzi fell to the ground and fell into a deep coma. Several little green men rushed up, and Lu Ting backed away. Facing the returning eyes of Q and several experts, he continued to walk towards the glass wall.

He saw in the wall, those hospital gowns were all sitting obediently, maintaining the same posture.

Unexpectedly, before reaching the door, a narrow gap opened, Deng Mochi squeezed through, and the people inside the wall remained motionless. Q couldn't react for a while, and didn't hand him the thermal suit, and he didn't even want it, and went straight to Lu Ting.

"Let's go," he said.

Lu Ting followed quickly, "Put on your clothes first!"

"I'll be out soon." Dun Mochi didn't care.

Q trotted after him, "Rinpoche, is the problem solved?"

Dun Mochi was displeased, and looked back at him coldly: "Is your brain wave monitoring data normal?"

"It's, it's normal, all seventeen—"

"Other tests can also be done." Deng Mochi turned around and walked away with his trouser pockets in his pocket, "and then decide whether to put it into use."

Even though Lu Ting was in a hurry to get angry, Deng Mochi still didn't put on his thermal clothing.However, it took them two to three minutes to walk out of the cold storage-like factory building.Then go out along the corridor, take the straight ladder back to the ground, and climb up LastShadow. Deng Mochi's nosebleed came out 3 minutes after the route was determined.

Lu Ting couldn't get angry anymore, the towel was quite cold from the cold, he soaked it in water again, applied it to Deng Mochi's forehead, and pinched the bridge of his nose skillfully: "It's only been two days,