Chapter 41

Just how many bodies does this guy possess? This time, because he lacked tattoos, Titan—whose face appeared relatively normal—smirked and spoke.

-You should call me by a nickname. We decided to do that, didn’t we?

“We never did that, you know? Why… did you contact me?”

-I told you. I called because I missed you.

Saying he missed her.

‘Isn’t it that you want to kill me?’

A bone-chilling goosebump broke out across her entire body. Contorting her entire face, Shuri shrieked.

“Hang up!”

-Why? Honey, do you want to play a fun game with me on video call?

“I hate it. Never call me a second time!”

After delivering a frosty warning toward thespeaker, Shuri terminated the call. She then checked the blocking function.

“The block is perfectly set up, though? How did he manage it?”

Deciding to absolutely never answer any incoming calls from undisplayed numbers in the future, she called Kamal.

-Shuri? What’s the occasion?

“Kamal, aid me!”

Shuri rapidly explained the situation. Having heard everything regarding Riley, Kamal spoke grandly.

-Have we ever blocked a child from coming?

“Never. Thank you, Kamal!”

After telling Kamal she would bring Riley over, Shuri concluded the call. Yet unexpectedly, a text message from Titan had arrived this time.

[You shouldn’t hang up the phone so roughly!]

Deleting the text message with an expressionless face, Shuri turned around. Yet before her eyes, a chest as massive as a door leaf was visible.

“Adam?”

It was Adam.

He slowly bowed his head toward her. He then asked in a low, chillingly soft voice that resonated as if echoing inside a cave.

“Shuri.”

“Yeah?”

“Who did you converse with?”

Deeming this to be the exact moment, Shuri rapidly bragged to him.

“I requested it of Kamal!”

Adam nodded his head slightly.

“You intend to entrust Riley to the Director. Assuredly, if it is Soul Garden, one can be at peace.”

He then firmly peered into her face. Shuri also tilted her head while looking up at Adam.

‘What is this? Adam, your reaction is weak!’

What she had anticipated was full-packed praise identical to ‘Shuri, that is a truly magnificent idea,’ or ‘That is a wonderful plan!’ yet the reaction was weak.

Adam continued speaking in a businesslike tone.

“I have also given some thought regarding what to do with Nightingale.”

“Huh?”

“Please listen together with Mr. Walker. Come this way.”

Adam went before everyone and stood tall with his arms crossed.

“From this moment, I shall present the relocation experimentation plan targeting the first-generation medical robot, the Nightingale series. This experiment possesses two objectives. The first is the verification of the relocation possibility for outdated medical robots.”

Everyone focused on Adam’s words. Except for Riley.

Having listened to Adam’s words with their tiny mouth gaping open, Riley soon lost interest and began drawing a picture once more.

“The experimental subject, N0138, is a documented case of a specific attempt to autonomously reconstruct the command hierarchy. In the event such a fatal error occurs, the robot must be decommissioned in principle. However, we possess a second objective.”

Adam spoke in a precise tone.

“It is precisely to verify whether emotion can manifest inside the neural network of an artificial intelligence.”

Jiss appeared to feel an immense interest in Adam’s plan. Forgetting even his fatigued air, he babbled away with an excited face.

“Therefore, if it is exactly as Adam says, there is a probability that N0138’s error is the manifestation of emotion, and it means it might be helpful to the ultra-secret project that Adam and Miss Shuri are proceeding with, correct?”

Shuri, who felt a considerable sense of skepticism regarding that ultra-secret project merely a few minutes ago, was flustered.

“Uh, well…”

Instead of the malfunctioning Shuri, Adam spoke rapidly.

“That is correct. We plan to deploy N0138 to a child shelter, allowing her to live alongside Riley Dalton, the subject N0138 exhibits attachment toward, and monitor them afterward. It shall be helpful to our project as well, and if N0138 yields good results here, we shall be capable of attempting to relocate outdated medical robots instead of decommissioning them.”

Jiss smiled brightly.

“If it succeeds, that would literally be a renaissance! I deem it a good plan as well. There was an official document telling me to cooperate too, so I shall aid in anything!”

“If that is the case, Mr. Walker, may I request the detailed adjustments of N0138?”

Having received the adjustment request from Adam, Jiss stood before the cargo bed of the truck and began tapping away excitedly on his laptop.

Shuri approached him hesitatingly.

“Excuse me, Mr. Walker.”

“You may call me Jiss!”

“Jiss, I am sorry for dragging you into a troublesome matter.”

Keeping his gaze fixed on the laptop, Jiss smirked broadly.

“Troublesome, you say. While I completely do not know regarding the manifestation of emotion and the like, if outdated robots can be relocated to work once more, it is a welcome thing as an inspector as well. It is literally a renaissance!”

Shuri thought to herself.

‘I don’t know what the criteria for that renaissance is.’

Jiss’s large hand that had been thumping the keyboard suddenly halted.

“And…”

Jiss raised his gaze to look at Riley. Painter Riley was lying flat on the concrete floor, working hard to draw a picture with a piece of coal. Adam and Nightingale were admiring that avant-garde art of Riley.

Jiss spoke.

“Right now, she is working for the sake of humans, you see.”

Shuri felt a subtle sense of incongruity from his words.

If he was a first-class inspector of UH, he was a grand elite. Did that mean he failed to feel a sense of reward in his own work?

She spoke cautiously.

“Jiss is an inspector of UH. You are already accomplishing many things for the sake of humans.”

Jiss wore a faint smile.

“Thank you, Miss Shuri. However, I am truly confused lately. Because there are too many robots.”

Fortuitously, an alert sound echoed from the laptop, so he had to focus on the laptop once more.

Staring intently into the black screen, Jiss mumbled in a low voice.

“It is true, Shuri. Humans are gradually decreasing, yet there are too many robots. There are already too many, yet they continue to be produced endlessly. To the point where I even harbor thoughts like, ‘Will nothing but robots be left in the world at this rate’…”

Adam and Shuri returned to the trailer once more. Adam knocked on the trailer door, but this time, the door did not open.

After explaining briefly that they would take Riley to a shelter, Adam wedged a single business card between the closed door.

“If you ever come to wish to meet Miss Riley again, contact us at any time.”

Taking the little brat Riley away was concluded just like that. Upon returning to the empty lot, Jiss’s work had concluded as well.

Although Jiss appeared a bit melancholy while peering into the laptop screen, he brightened up the moment he closed the laptop.

“All done! Then, shall we head to the shelter?”

Nightingale had to board the cargo bed of the truck once more. Riley wished to go together with Nightingale, but when Jiss spoke flatly that he couldn’t board a young child onto the cargo bed, they wore a resigned face despite being greatly disheartened.
To cheer up the downcast Riley, Shuri looked at the picture the child had drawn and asked.

“Riley, is this Nightingale?”

“Mom.”

The picture Riley drew truly resembled Riley’s mother rather than Nightingale. While it was the same in that she wore a long skirt, it was because curly hair was attached to a round head.

Shuri did not explicitly mention that fact. Instead, she asked like this.

“Is there no big sister?”

“Big sister, right here.”

Looking at the version of herself Riley drew, Shuri thought.

‘I believed it was a cockroach.’

Regrettably, Riley did not appear to possess much interest in Shuri. The Shuri Riley drew possessed a round shape where the head, thorax, and abdomen were unified like a beetle.

Shuri spoke in a tone packed with pity.

“Because this kid is young, they don’t know who the real power is yet. Just you wait. I shall buy snacks next time, so you must draw me like a princess then, okay?”

Riley finally raised their head and looked up at Shuri with round eyes. Except for being covered heavily in pitch-black grime, Riley was truly cute.

Suppressing the urge to frantically rub her cheek against Riley’s cheek, Shuri pointed at the massive person standing beside beetle Shuri.

“Who is this?”

“Big brother.”

“Right now, there are two big brothers. Is it Adam, or is it Jiss?”

After repeating the names of Adam and Jiss inside their mouth a few times, Riley spoke precisely.

“Adam.”

Shuri quietly stared at the Adam Riley drew. Whether Adam was quite impressive to Riley, traces of effort to try and draw even clothes were visible.

The most wondrous point above all was that the Adam Riley drew possessed eyes, a nose, and a mouth. Adam’s black eyes, drawn by tapping repeatedly with the coal, were entirely looking toward beetle Shuri.

Resting her chin in her hand, Shuri thought to herself.

‘In the eyes of a young child, he appears like this, I see?’