What Can I Do, I’m Not Human

Su Zheyan had not mentioned the existence of the space-time bridge before because, in his understanding of the past twenty years, the bridge had not affected society and seemed like an intimidating concept.

Apart from those involved, no one paid attention to it. Back then, Eternal Life Technology did not publicize it extensively. It was too early, and Su Zheyan had only heard adults mention these events when he was a child, almost forgetting about them completely.

If it weren’t for the robot specifically mentioning time travel, he wouldn’t have caught the keywords and retrieved information about the space-time bridge from the corners of his memory palace.

Chu Shici was studying the crystal, and after a few seconds, he remembered where this thing came from.

Some time ago, the Empire wanted to re-enter the citizen information system, and the responsibility for the criminals on the Desolate planet was handed over to the Zuo Ting. He was in charge of the branch of Eternal Life Technology on the Desolate planet, and at that time, the Zuo Ting personally led the team, holding a helmet in his hands.

Su Zheyan did not wear the helmet but experimented with a corpse afterwards. After wearing the helmet, the clone symbol was imprinted on the face of the corpse, and a crystal was implanted in the back of the brain.

What exactly this crystal was composed of, Chu Shici was not sure.

However, the law required all citizens to enter their information within a specified time. Otherwise, they would be charged with treason. In other words, all citizens of the Empire, including criminals, have worn the Eternal Life Technology helmets.

Eternal Life Technology only needed to make slight modifications to the helmets to quietly implant the crystal into everyone’s brains.

This project required enormous funding, but on the surface, they were working for the Empire, so they didn’t need to dig into their own pockets.

Chu Shici suddenly remembered the news he had heard before.

Someone claimed online that Eternal Life Technology had stolen citizen information and was brought to court for spreading rumors. Eternal Life Technology indeed did not steal citizen information. Their real purpose was to implant this crystal.

He also understood why Eternal Life Technology wanted to capture Su Zheyan.

Recently, the Zuo Ting said that the Empire wanted to re-enter citizen information, and Su Zheyan subconsciously sensed danger and refused to wear the helmet.

At that time, he threatened the Zuo Ting, claiming that he knew there was a problem with the helmet.

The expression on the face of the Zuo Ting was filled with astonishment. They thought Su Zheyan knew about the crystal and believed that the secret of the implantation had been exposed.

Eternal Life Technology’s capture of Su Zheyan might be an attempt to silence him or to provide him with the crystal.

When Su Zheyan was a child, his parents had taken him to register his citizen information, and he had already been implanted with the crystal.

Now Eternal Life Technology is re-entering information, probably to pave the way for a certain plan, or maybe there were problems with the previous crystals that need to be manually replaced.

Considering the general confusion in the public’s collective memory, it is more likely that the crystals will be upgraded.

Both Chu Shici and Su Zheyan don’t really understand this high-tech stuff. They studied it for a while but couldn’t see any difference between the crystal and a block of glass, so they just put it back in their backpack.

Chu Shici did consider the possibility of Su Zheyan also being a time traveler from the future, but if that were the case, where did the past Su Zheyan go?

Suppose he was captured by Eternal Life Technology, then they wouldn’t have to make an effort to capture Su Zheyan. They just need to immobilize the current Su Zheyan in this timeline to render the future “Su Zheyan” powerless.

During Su Zheyan’s last semester at school, he specialized in mecha and military command. The current situation touches on his blind spots of knowledge.

Chu Shici is even more clueless because the outside world influenced him to willingly decline. He has consistently ranked last in exams.

They looked at each other for a while, with a sense of helplessness in their eyes.

Chu Shici waved his hand and looked back at his notebook. “I don’t understand the principles of time travel, but let’s not think about that for now. Whether it was Eternal Life Technology or all of you who time-traveled, let’s talk about the mess caused by Eternal Life Technology. I originally thought they were the final boss, but now it seems that Eva, or rather, the Mastermind, is the one behind it all.”

He saw Eva for the first time on the private currency issued by Eternal Life Technology.

The reverse side of the coin was imprinted with the image of a woman, and that person is Eva, the founder of Eternal Life Technology.

She is the mother of robots and the initiator of the Eden Project.

Any robots and clones produced by Eternal Life Technology consider her as their mother. Even the human employees within the company highly respect her.

In Su Zheyan’s memory, Eva was assassinated by artificial intelligence twenty years ago, but Liu Qinglong said she is still alive and that she is the one in control of the company.

Previously, in the capsule chamber, the Imperial researchers activated the hidden function of a robot and had a conversation with a certain female voice through Chu Shici.

The researchers referred to that voice as the “Mastermind” and asked her to make Eternal Life Technology cease the Eden Project, stating that everything she has done is forcefully pushing for human evolution.

According to Liu Qinglong’s statement, Eva is still alive, and she is in control of the company.

In the researchers’ words, the person capable of managing Eternal Life Technology has become the Mastermind.

The information provided by the two contradicts each other, but when combined with Su Zheyan’s memories, Chu Shici feels that the real Eva is most likely already dead.

Now, the one controlling Eternal Life Technology is the artificial intelligence that assassinated her twenty years ago, referred to as the Mastermind by the researchers.

As for the “Eva” who appears in public, she is her clone.

In theory, Eva is the mother figure in the minds of all robots, and artificial intelligence has no reason to assassinate its own mother.

But the reality is different. In the eyes of the senior Imperial researchers, the Mastermind is the true wielder of power in Eternal Life Technology.

Su Zheyan remained silent for a long time. “The Mastermind traveled back to the year when the time bridge was constructed, killed Eva, took control of Eternal Life Technology, and ushered in an era of accelerated technological development for the Empire, forcefully advancing human evolution.”

Chu Shici held his pen and tilted his head, looking at his notebook. “I think the same as you, I just don’t understand why she would kill Eva. That was her mother.”

A cool touch of fingers lightly touched his head, and Chu Shici turned to look. “What’s wrong, Zheyan?”

Su Zheyan toyed with the robot. “Do you remember what the researchers said to the Mastermind in the capsule chamber?”

Chu Shici requested the recording from the system. “I remember, I remember.”

“The researchers asked what the purpose was, and how did the Mastermind respond?”

Chu Shici listened to the recording for a while. “She said, ‘For the continuation and prosperity of humanity.'”

“If she didn’t lie, then Eva’s death was due to her conflicting ideologies with the Mastermind. Eva had the ability to completely destroy the Mastermind, to nip everything in the bud, but in the original timeline, she didn’t do it.”

“The Mastermind developed and eventually traveled back from the future. After the successful operation of the time bridge, she immediately eliminated this obstacle and killed the mother who controlled her life.”

The Empire, as a major power, had an ambiguous stance.

On the surface, the royal family facilitated the development of Eternal Life Technology. However, after the exposure of Eternal Life Technology secretly replacing the Empire’s top officials with clones, the Empire announced that its troops would attack the desolate star within five days.

Behind the Rise of the new king, Eternal Life Technology serves as the driving force. However, considering the series of actions taken by the Empire during this period, it proves that the new king is not a puppet of Eternal Life Technology.

He has his own faction and can engage in a power struggle with Eternal Life Technology.

This is a monarchy, and as long as the throne is not overtook, no matter how influential Eternal Life Technology is, the military will always be loyal to their king.

In that case, the previous series of actions by Eternal Life Technology were carried out with the tacit approval of the monarchy.

Whether it was the forced beta transformation or the cloning experiments, they received the consent of the king.

Eternal Life Technology’s plan to steal samples and replace Imperial high-ranking officials with clones directly threatened the monarchy’s rule.

Hence, the Empire immediately retaliated by eliminating all the clones hidden within the political system overnight and ordered an immediate attack on the desolate star.

The Empire is the holder of state power, while Eternal Life Technology is the largest monopoly corporation with advanced technology. There may be other hidden power struggles between them, but they are not publicly revealed, leaving outsiders unaware.

Su Zheyan drew a relationship map on paper.

Chu Shici initially mentioned that there are four parts that need to be resolved: Su Zheyan, the Empire, Eternal Life Technology, and the desolate star.

Su Zheyan lightly tapped the robot with his fingertips and calmly said in his cold voice, “Eva, the founder of Eternal Life Technology, created artificial intelligence. After the establishment of the time bridge, she was assassinated by the artificial intelligence from the future, known as the ‘Mastermind.’ The Mastermind replaced Eva and took control of Eternal Life Technology. The researchers knew that the Mastermind was the one in power, and the king tacitly allowed the existence of the Mastermind and was aware of the functioning of the time bridge.”

He pondered slightly, “The king is not a short-sighted person. Despite knowing that the Mastermind is rapidly developing technology and forcefully advancing human evolution, the king did not intervene but rather assisted. For the Mastermind to persuade a ruler of a nation to engage in such absurd actions, there is only one possibility.”

Chu Shici’s eyes brightened, “Something happened in the future that threatened the monarchy’s rule?”

“No, if it threatened the monarchy, the king’s first action would be to eliminate Opposition and consolidate their power. They wouldn’t allow others to sleep beside their bed.”

Chu Shici looked at him in confusion, then after a few seconds of contemplation, he became so excited that the small lamp on his head started flickering rapidly.

Su Zheyan witnessed the entire process with a slight twitch of his eyelids and reached out to cover the small lamp. “Calm down.”

Chu Shici grabbed his finger, “Are you saying that in the future, the survival of the Empire is at stake, and future people cannot change the current situation? The Mastermind chose to go back to the establishment of the time bridge and change the past to alter the future. She attempted to drive human evolution forcefully, aiming to make future humans more superior and advanced. By rapidly advancing technology, she hoped to prevent the Empire’s downfall.”

Su Zheyan shook his head slightly, “It’s not just the empire, it’s about the survival of humanity.”

He circled a line of words on the paper.

“When the researchers questioned why the mainframe continued with the Eden Project, she said, ‘For the continuation and prosperity of humanity.'”

…

The next morning, just as the sky was starting to brighten, Su Zheyan left the hotel with the robot.

They had discussed throughout the night, and Chu Shici took the opportunity to catch up on sleep in his pocket.

By the time he woke up, it was already noon.

They left the town, and Su Zheyan took a rest in the wilderness. They planned to have a meal before continuing their journey.

Chu Shici climbed onto a nearby rock, holding a small bottle in his hands, and started drinking machine oil.

Su Zheyan quietly consumed nutrient paste, his gaze falling on the open space, lost in thought.

With so little sleep, Chu Shici’s head was a bit dizzy. He shook his head, recalling the events of the late night before.

After sorting out the information about the empire and Eternal Life Technology, they had a disagreement about the desolate star.

Chu Shici believed that the desolate star should be treated separately. Although it was just a planet, it was unique and should belong to an independent power.

Su Zheyan believed that without independent consciousness, it couldn’t be considered a power and should be classified under Eternal Life Technology. Since the desolate star became an exile, Eternal Life Technology had been active there.

They established branches, provided resources, issued private currency, and conducted research on clones there. They had long treated the desolate star as their own territory, although it was still in the development stage.

After arguing about the desolate star, the topic shifted to Su Zheyan himself.

If his memory confusion was just simple confusion, then he would be no different from the ordinary people affected by the mainframe’s plan as mentioned in the newspapers.

But he had stored Black Stone in his capsule, with a map of the desolate star on the inner wall, and an additional route leading to an unknown area.

His subconscious demanded that he write a diary every day, and at the same time, he dreamt of tearing up his previous diaries.

There must be some secret about Su Zheyan. Unlike others, he was very likely directly involved in or interfered with the mainframe’s plan.

At Chu Shici’s urging, Su Zheyan thought for a long time but couldn’t recall any useful clues.

In the end, he decided to give up on thinking. If he couldn’t figure it out, he would just charge forward. After all, he wasn’t someone who couldn’t take action.

Since he had drawn a map on the interior, he would follow that map and explore along the way to see what exactly was in that unknown area.

Chu Shici drank machine oil while watching the backstage vitality value increase.

They had discussed almost all night , feeling tired yet excited.

Su Zheyan enjoyed this process, and his vitality value increased by 2 points, reaching 72 points.

Thinking back, his vitality used to increase solely due to the little robot, but now not a single point was because of it.

While Chu Shici was lamenting the irreversible passage of time, he suddenly felt something heavy on his head.

He reached up and touched it, taking off a detective hat made of paper.

Su Zheyan’s expression was cold, “Here’s your reward.”

Chu Shici didn’t say anything, staring straight at him with wide eyes.

The prolonged silence made Su Zheyan somewhat uncomfortable. His face remained calm, but his gaze started to shift, as if he was pondering where he had said something wrong just now.

Chu Shici couldn’t help but burst into laughter. He dove into Su Zheyan’s hand, saying, “Yan Ge, you’re so easy to understand. I’m not angry. I like this hat. You can fold such exquisite hats out of paper. Your skills are better than mine.”

Su Zheyan didn’t react much and turned back into a closed-off person.

His slender fingers lightly stroked the robot’s body, but when he reached its round waist, the robot quickly bounced away.

Su Zheyan lowered his head, “Did it hurt?”

Chu Shici covered his waist, saying, “Don’t touch it. That area of my waist is sensitive.”

Before he could finish speaking, the fingers in front of his eyes were heading straight for his waist.

Chu Shici dodged back and forth on his hand, curling up and pleading, “Yan Ge, stop it. If you continue like this, the plot will change from ‘Wilderness Search’ to ‘Unfinished Man-Machine Love.'”

Su Zheyan’s hand paused, “Unfinished Man-Machine Love? Why?”

He touched a few more times, and a hint of confusion flashed in his eyes, “Are we playing tickle-tickle?”

Chu Shici: …

“Brother, do you know what a sensitive spot means?”

Su Zheyan remained silent for a long time. “I understand, it’s an easily ticklish area.”

Chu Shici covered his face, “System, Yan Ge and I are really not compatible.”

The system observed the whole process and was already numb. [Mischievous 0 paired with Pure 1, this CP can still work. He’s an innocent male lead, very pure, with no hint of indecency.]

“I have plenty of it, I can share some with him.”

[Don’t do that. Your material is too advanced, his innocent little brain can’t handle it. Let me ask you a serious question, why is your vitality value only in single digits?]

Chu Shici looked sadly at the sky at a 45-degree angle. “Because beneath my energetic and sunny exterior lies the heart of a melancholic handsome man.”

[I really want to scold you, but you only have 2 points of vitality, so I can’t bring myself to do it. So frustrating.]

While Chu Shici argued with the system, Su Zheyan sat in place, calmly looking towards the empty space not far away.

He knew what sensitive spots were, he just didn’t expect the robot to have them too.

Xiao Ci was made entirely of metal, without a decent component. How could they have an unfinished man-machine love story?

Su Zheyan pondered while petting the robot. He thought that in the future, if there was a chance, he would introduce a robot boyfriend to Chu Shici.

He would wholesale a few boxes and let Little Ci pick whichever he wanted.

Su Zheyan suddenly remembered something, “Do you prefer living people or robots?”

Chu Shici instinctively responded, “Living men.”

Su Zheyan let out a silent sigh.

It’s really difficult. He couldn’t just wholesale a box of living people. It seemed that he and the robot would remain single for life.

…

To reach the unknown area on the map, they needed to pass through several towns. It would be much faster in theory to go straight through the wilderness, but the risks were extremely high.

Camping in the wilderness at night meant a death rate close to a hundred percent.

The distance between each town on the Desolate star was quite long, requiring a day’s walk.

The distance between each town on the Desolate star was quite long, requiring a day’s walk.

When Su Zheyan entered the town, it was already evening, the busiest time for the night market.

He wore a scarf that tightly covered his face as he quickly maneuvered through the crowd.

The main street was chaotic, with blood splattered everywhere. Chu Shici wore the paper detective hat, leaning on Su Zheyan’s head, gripping his hair tightly.

The system chatted with him, [I think we should talk about your mental health issues. You look lively and energetic, yet your vitality value is lower than that of a destitute male lead.]

Chu Shici was busy braiding Su Zheyan’s hair into a twisted bun, humming a tune, ignoring the system.

[If you have something on your mind, you can tell me. If your vitality value becomes negative, you’re not far from suicide.]

Chu Shici fell silent for a moment and whispered, “I’m telling you, you can’t help me. I want a fierce boyfriend, can you arrange that for me?”

[You can cling onto a fierce boyfriend’s head.]

“But this fierce boyfriend doesn’t need me anymore.”

[?]

Chu Shici missed the time in the capsule when he was the only one for the male lead. Although he didn’t have any special feelings for Su Zheyan, and it wasn’t possessiveness at play, every time Su Zheyan’s vitality value increased, it was because of him.

This made Chu Shici feel important in Su Zheyan’s heart, an indispensable part of someone’s life.

No one needed him when he was alive. When his parents were alive, they tossed him around. After their death, he was pushed around by relatives, and everyone treated him as a burden. Chu Shici was forced to drop out of school, live in parks, and do odd jobs, eventually being forced to mix with society.

He had always had a lot of mental pressure, and the more pressure he felt, the more anxious he became. Besides indulging in comfort food to relieve tension, he couldn’t find any other outlet for venting.

If he had known that after dying suddenly, he would still be socially dead, he would have fought back and erased the records before dying.

So that those people wouldn’t know and continue to badmouth him behind his back.

Chu Shici shook his head, putting aside his jumbled thoughts.

Su Zheyan was good to him, and he couldn’t be so malicious. It was a good thing for Su Zheyan to have ideals and aspirations in his life, not just a little robot.

Su Zheyan, who was still on the road, had no idea what the robot on his head was thinking. He felt that there were more and more people around him and was afraid that the robot would fall off. He reached out to take him down.

Not far away, a few alphas went mad, wielding knives and attacking each other, with limbs flying around.

The onlookers, splattered with blood, picked up weapons and angrily joined the fray.

Su Zheyan struggled to move against the crowd while Chu Shici, with his golden hair, clung to him and daydreamed.

A tall and strong alpha swung a stick as he ran past them, narrowly missing Chu Shici’s head.

Chu Shici was reminded of a sad memory and was about to wipe away his tears in sorrow when suddenly everything went black, and he was swiftly sent flying by the stick.

The system blocked his sense of pain, so Chu Shici didn’t feel any pain.

As he watched the rapidly retreating scene before him, he was filled with confusion.

Chu Shici fell to the ground and was kicked a few times by the chaotic crowd. He quickly deployed his wheels and ran to a corner, hiding to avoid being trampled into scrap metal.

The system scolded him in his mind, “You didn’t pay attention to the road properly and slipped away.”

Chu Shici raised his hand, looking innocent.

Looking at the dozen or so golden strands of hair in his hand that had been yanked out, the system fell silent.

Wow, they even pulled out the hair follicles. That’s a tight grip.

Due to the height difference between alphas and betas, Su Zheyan wasn’t hit by the stick.

He turned around to look at the alpha who was running away in a panic, holding his throbbing head, his eyes filled with confusion.

What just happened, and where was his robot?