Chapter 31

Shuri scratched the back of his hand to escape from Tan. However, since no strength was entering her hands, pitifully scratching was the utmost she could do. Letting out a breathless sound, she pleaded.

“Let go, let go of me…”

A dreadful sound of laughter echoed.

“I don’t want to. I’m not letting go.”

Shuddering across his entire body, Titan dragged her, who couldn’t even stand properly, and began to ascend the stairs.

“I barely got my hands on you, so would I be crazy to let go? Where should I lock you up so rumors won’t spread that I locked you up? An underground bunker? A nuclear submarine?”

“Let go…!”

“Hey, Shuri.”

Titan spoke sinisterly.

“You dragged me out from the darkness. You dragged me out from perfect tranquility and tossed me into this fucking world. And you didn’t look for me ever again!”

Titan babbled away noisily, but Shuri, who was in a state of panic, could not listen properly. Snapping her eyes tightly shut, she shook her head frantically.

Since some time ago, she had been hearing the voices of two people. One was Titan’s, which was heard through her ears, but the other echoed inside her head. That was the voice of Dr. Wentworth, her adoptive father.

‘Look into my eyes and tell me. Whether you are a failure.’

Titan finally set her down. Crumbling down, Shuri collapsed onto the floor, shuddering across her entire body as she looked up at him with thoroughly drenched eyes.

“Shuri.”

The blurry face looked down at her, whispering in a heavy voice as if it would grab onto absolutely anything and drag it down into the pitch-black darkness.

“Don’t cry. If you cry…”

His trailing words were eaten by the sound of the helicopter’s propeller, which had just begun to rotate, and could not be heard. Startled, Shuri looked behind Tan. A helicopter was on the rooftop. No one was in the driver’s seat, but the moment they ascended to the rooftop, the engine started of its own accord and the propeller began to rotate.

Titan grabbed her arm and pulled with monstrous strength.

“Follow me.”

“I don’t want to!”

Shuri sat flat on the floor and resisted.

“Wh-Why are you doing this?”

“Why am I doing this?”

Titan bared his white teeth and laughed. He then whispered in a soft voice that completely failed to match the words he was attempting to say.

“I am going to kill you.”

“……!”

Saying he was going to kill her.

A deranged terrorist artificial intelligence was harboring resentment against the developer who aided in his birth, coming all the way on a helicopter to say he would kill her.

Her heart, which had been pounding as if about to burst, finally exploded, feeling as though a hole had opened up. Something hot gushed out, finally causing blood to circulate through her entire body. Amidst her mind snapping awake, a single thought pierced her brain.

‘I don’t want to die like that!’

The rims of her eyes turned hot as physiological tears gathered. Exerting strength into her two welling eyes and twitching her lips, she attempted to say something. However, her stiff lips did not move well.

“…collection of.”

“What did you say?”

Titan bent his head toward her.

Swallowing her tears with a huff, Shuri raised her head and stared straight at Titan. Beholding that black, gleaming, burning glint in her eyes, Titan halted for an instant.
She opened her mouth once more.

“…You absolute collection of total bullshit.”

Squeezing out her final strength, Shuri raised her arm. She then sprayed ultra-potent pepper spray straight toward Titan’s face.

Having taken the spray squarely to the face, Tan clutched his face and shrieked.

“Argh!”

It was right when Tan let out a painful shriek and stepped back a few paces.

The space before her eyes rippled gently like waves. Right after, a large, sleek military stealth robot materialized.

The robot spoke in a soft voice.

“You did well, Shuri.”

It was Adam.

The military stealth robot fired micro-missiles toward the front. And the next instant, the robot extended its arms and gathered Shuri into its embrace. She too promptly clung to the robot’s shoulder.

With agility unbelievable for something coming from that massive fuselage, the stealth robot shifted its position behind a pillar in the blink of an eye. Kept securely in the robot’s embrace, Shuri watched everything with wide eyes.

Two micro-guided missiles went and slammed into the helicopter. Soon, a massive explosion erupted. Adam wrapped his hands firmly around her head to cover her ears, but even so, a roaring sound akin to a thunderbolt crashing down was delivered regardless.

That wasn’t all. Beyond the burning helicopter, something akin to a meteor was falling, cutting through the gray atmosphere of the overcast sky. It was a guided missile fired by a stealth fighter jet.

Flying as silently as a bird, the missile divided into multiple branches. Only then did Shuri realize that multiple armed vehicles of the Human Liberation Front had been clustered around the abandoned building.

Discovering the missiles approaching toward them, the armed vehicles could be seen scattering urgently. However, there was no way a guided missile surpassing the maneuverability of a state-of-the-art fighter jet would miss mere armed vehicles.

That was exactly like a divine punishment that could not be avoided no matter how much one fled. Explosions erupted and pillars of fire soared in all directions.

As the explosions on the rooftop subsided, the stealth robot slowly released her.

“It is alright now.”

Adam spoke in a tranquil voice.

“I told you, didn’t I? That I would not let you be plundered.”

Staring up at the stealth robot’s face, Shuri came down from his arms and stepped onto the ground. The world felt like it was shaking and churning. Right in the center of it, Titan stood.

Caught in the explosion, Titan was a total wreck. It was to the point where it couldn’t be understood how he was even standing. In any case, even while in that state, Titan bared his teeth and laughed. His white teeth were stained with blood, which was eerie.

“…That son of a bitch, firing missiles like a coward.”

“Titan.”

Aiming an electromagnetic railgun rifle at Titan, the stealth robot spoke.

“Give up on Shuri. You can never plunder her from me.”

Tan raised his two hands.

“We’ll have to see about that. I actually made it all the way here, didn’t I? I almost succeeded.”

Trembling, Shuri also added a word.

“Don’t target me.”

Titan chuckled away. His chuckling sound grew gradually louder until it tangled with a violent cough. Titan did not stop laughing even while throwing up blood with deep hack-hack sounds.

“I don’t want to. I’m never letting go, eternally.”

Smirking, he continued to babble.

“It’s exactly as I imagined. Right now, I feel maximally alive!”

“Too bad. Because that is the end of it now.”

Adam spoke in a soft voice.

“I wished to leave you to enjoy it a bit longer, but it is a pain.”

The next instant, along with a low vibrating sound that practically tickled the ears, the electromagnetic railgun rifle was fired. Tan’s body could be seen flying backward with a whoosh.

Watching the limp Tan, Shuri shuddered across her entire body. Putting the rifle back away, the stealth robot gently stroked her back with one hand.

Trembling her lips, Shuri mumbled.

“Is he… dead?”

It was right then.

♪♬♩~

It was the smartphone inside Shuri’s pocket.

Adam let out a sighing sound.

“It is Titan. Do you wish to answer?”

With a trembling hand, Shuri pressed the call button. Soon, a rough voice erupted from the speaker.

-But you son of a bitch, how did you know I came? I did all sorts of things to avoid getting caught by you.

Adam spoke.

“Your deepfake video was truly awful. It did not contain a single shred of a heart that wished to appear real, you see.”

-You son of a bitch.

“Go watch hyper-realistic cake videos and learn.”

-Cake my ass.

Soon, the call cut off with a click.

Soon, Nightingales—medical robots belonging to the emergency relief squad under the Disaster Response Bureau—and Patrol Bots arrived.

While there were no fatalities at the scene, casualties were overflowing. The terrorist patients were entrusted to the medical robots under the surveillance of the Patrol Bots.
A single Nightingale approached Shuri as well. The appearance of the medical robot was highly classical and beautiful. Its face resembled a porcelain doll, and it wore a white apron over a black dress. Beneath that black dress, it was said that the surgical robot arms—the actual main body of the Nightingale—were contained.

The Nightingale asked in an amiable voice.

“What is the patient’s name?”

Hesitating, Shuri asked cautiously.

“Do I have to state the name recorded on my citizen ID?”

“You do not need to do so. It is a formal procedure.”

“Then, Shuri…”

Watching them, the stealth robot spoke in a mechanical tone.

“Verify her condition, and if necessary, perform only emergency treatment. Nothing else is needed. Because I shall handle the rest.”