After some time, Zhu Man finally woke up.

“Ai…” Tang Yuan sighed, “God Man, about the brain-machine interface therapy you mentioned earlier, are you really not going to give it a try? I… I have confidence in my project. Believe in me!”

The “brain-machine interface therapy for treating mental illnesses” was originally a research project of Tang Yuan’s team, and there had been some preliminary results. However, before they could delve further into it, the AI dictatorship had taken over.

Before Zhu Man could respond, Jiang Huai spoke in a gentle tone, “Tang Yuan, from what I know, the mechanism that triggers PTSD involves experiencing significant traumatic events?”

Tang Yuan nodded.

“So, Zhu Man,” Jiang Huai turned to him, “Even if the current therapeutic effect of brain-machine interface therapy is not stable, it can still access the residual memories in your brain through data analysis. Don’t you want to know about your life from 0-19 years old?”

Why wouldn’t he want to know? Zhu Man hated those AI in the Human Pool. What right did they have to strip him of his memories? But coming from Jiang Huai’s mouth…

He raised his eyes to look at Jiang Huai, his gaze wary.

“As it happens,” Jiang Huai continued, “My new Master, Lin Lang, is in charge of brain-machine interface research in the Human Pool. Without the necessary equipment, Tang Yuan can’t help Zhu Man. Once I gain Lin Lang’s trust, I can have her—”

Zhu Man interrupted him, “Why involve someone outside the Anti- Anti-Intelligence Alliance? Isn’t the simplest way to find my memories to hack into the Human Pool system? Why can the Alliance hack into the Legislative Bureau’s surveillance system, but not into the Human Pool?”

“Oh, dear,”It was Fan Zimo who answered him, “For the AI government, the Legislative Bureau is just for show. In a technology-centered world, the Human Pool is the top secret.”

Jiang Huai shrugged at him, as if to say: See, this way won’t work.

“Is that so?” Although it was in response to Fan Zimo, Zhu Man stared at Jiang Huai without turning his eyes away. “I think there’s another possibility—There might be a traitor in the Alliance intentionally preventing us from hacking into the Human Pool system.”

Facing Zhu Man’s sharp gaze, Jiang Huai just raised his eyebrows slightly, smiled back at him, and remained silent.

“Di di—” Zhu Man’s smartwatch rang, displaying: [He Feng Hui will be home in half an hour.]

Zhu Man immediately stood up, took a few steps, and then paused, asking Fan Zimo, “The memory in that chip is ‘fully readable?”

“Yes, my dear Executor.”

“No, something’s off…” Zhu Man frowned. “The AI that impersonated the team leader before, the memory carried by his black chip was ‘partially readable.’ Why is it different?”

“Oh, perhaps it’s because the damn organization has different levels internally, and the previous one was of a higher rank than this one,” Fan Zimo answered.

His analysis wasn’t without merit.

Zhu Man rubbed his forehead. He had too many things to resolve: firstly, he needed to accomplish the mission of conquering He Feng Hui; secondly, he had to figure out the motives of the organization with the black chip approaching him; thirdly, he had to find Ye Ying’s murderer. Intuition told him that there must be some connection between these three things.

“Let’s go together?” Suddenly, Jiang Huai asked him.

Zhu Man was puzzled.

Jiang Huai pointed to his own smartwatch with a smile, “I’m also a human pet with a proper AI Master now, and I need to get home before my Master finishes work.”

For some reason, Zhu Man found Jiang Huai’s tone repulsive. Ignoring him, he pushed open the door of the base and left.

On the way, Zhu Man, as usual, activated the thermal imaging screen blocking function of his smartwatch to evade the surveillance cameras, walking briskly back home.

“Do you really not want to know who you were from 0 to 19?” Jiang Huai caught up with him nonchalantly and asked this question again.

F****, so annoying.

Zhu Man stopped in his tracks, and Jiang Huai, caught off guard, bumped into him. He instinctively reached out to help him—

With a “click”, Zhu Man’s muzzle pressed the side of his waist.

“I suspect you,” Zhu Man directly confronted him. “If there’s a traitor at headquarters, they wouldn’t release the footage from the Legislative Office. It means there’s a traitor within the team, and you, with the highest suspicion.”

Jiang Huai, who was threatened with a gun, showed no signs of fear. Instead, he smiled with even more confidence. “Suspecting me of what? Being part of the Black Chip Organization? Or killing Ye Ying?”

“All of it,” Zhu Man stared at him intensely.

Jiang Huai raised an eyebrow, smiling as he asked, “You don’t suspect He Feng Hui but suspect me instead?”

“My suspicion of him does not prevent me from suspecting you at the same time,” Zhu Man emphasized the last word.

Unknowingly, Jiang Huai chuckled lightly. His laughter made Zhu Man furrow his brows, and the gun in his hand pushed in another inch.

Jiang Huai asked, “How can I clear the suspicion from you?”

Zhu Man replied coldly, “Either figure out what those two black chips are about or find out who killed Ye Ying.”

“Do you think these two things were done by the same person?”

“Whether they are or not,” Zhu Man smoothly holstered the gun at his lower back and coldly turned away, “You know best.”

Zhu Man returned home, opened the computer in his room, contemplated for a moment, and chose not to access the dark web of the Anti-Intelligence Alliance. Instead, he used the public network of the AI Government to search for the name “Zhu Man.”

Lowering his head to take off the smartwatch and tossing it under the bed, he couldn’t help but glance at it before doing so—He Feng Hui would be home in ten minutes.

He narrowed down the search criteria to “videos” and randomly clicked on an interview video titled ” Interview with the Genius Teen: Zhu Man—Admitted to the Top University at the Age of 16.”

The holographic screen quickly projected a young boy sitting in an ergonomic chair.

The young boy had light chestnut hair and dimples, and his light brown amber irises, resembling those of a deer, looked alert yet uneasy as they stared at the camera.

Behind the camera, the reporter asked, “Your excellence must be inseparable from the cultivation of your family. Mr. President and Professor Ye must have given you a lot of care during your growing-up process, right?”

This question made Zhu Man outside the screen frowned uncomfortably.

The boy in the chair also shifted uncomfortably, made a noncommittal sound, then looked to the right of the camera. He pursed his lips, and added, “My parents have always been good to me.”

The reporter continued, “Why did you decide to apply for a neuroscience major? Because the President has been dedicated to promoting the development of the AI industry in recent years, and many speculate that you would apply for the Intelligent Systems Department.”

The young boy pursed his lips, reluctant to speak. He glanced at the right side of the camera, and reluctantly said, “Because I’m interested.”

“Doesn’t it have anything to do with your father?” the reporter pressed.

The boy looked at the camera in confusion and asked, “Why should it have anything to do with him?”

The young boy on the screen was illuminated by the lights, and the light created a faint halo around his chestnut-colored hair and fair skin. It was undoubtedly his own aura, but in the eyes of outsiders, this halo came from his President father and his professor mother.

Zhu Man suddenly felt that this genius teenager was quite pitiful.

He glanced at the right side of the camera again—there must be someone there, someone capable of completely suppressing the temperament of this genius teenager.

The reporter paused for a moment and asked, “You chose the neuroscience major at the First University, and Professor Ye, as a senior professor at the First University, must have provided you with a lot of guidance in your major choice, right?”

“I chose it myself—” The boy couldn’t help but say, but he stopped abruptly after the words.

In the upper right corner of the screen, something quickly flashed by.

Zhu Man pressed the rewind button and took a closer look. It was a hand.

The palm was large and warm, the finger joints distinct, and beneath the fair synthetic skin were raised synthetic veins—Zhu Man wouldn’t fail to recognize whose hand it was.

These hands had brushed over his body at those moments, making him feel on top of the world, making him intoxicated. He forgot the whole world, but he would never forget those hands.

The chestnut-haired youth in the video looked in the direction of the hand, appearing helpless. He pursed his lips, and the beautiful dimples on his face were faintly visible. Then he obediently replied, “My mom provided me with a lot of guidance, and I’m very grateful to her.”

Nice words, He Feng Hui must really like that.

Thinking so, Zhu Man clenched his jaw.

Moments of fleeting empathy disappeared into an indescribable and forbidden jealousy.

“Click—” The door opened.

Zhu Man continued to gaze at the holographic screen without closing the video.

Soon, He Feng Hui entered his room. He walked in quickly, suddenly stopped, then walked even faster to the holographic computer, commanding, “Shut down.”

In the next second, the holographic screen and keyboard hanging in the air disappeared.

Zhu Man looked up at him without saying a word.

He Feng Hui lowered his gaze, locking eyes with him.

Time seemed to stretch in that moment. Zhu Man stared into He Feng Hui’s eyes, seemingly real yet deceptive, observing the remnants of another person they both used to be.

That person didn’t look like him, but they both had dimples, both were named Zhu Man, and both had birthdays on March 1st. The other person had light chestnut hair, and he had dyed his hair the same color before He Feng Hui dragged him to the salon to revert it to black.

Zhu Man reached out, grabbing He Feng Hui’s tie, pulling him down—

The next moment, he closed the distance and kissed He Feng Hui’s lips.

Or perhaps it was more accurate to say, he bit.

Caught off guard by Zhu Man, He Feng Hui was halfway crouched, one hand barely supporting himself on the back of the chair. The position was uncomfortable, and he tried to get up, attempting to push Zhu Man away. However, not only did he fail to push him off, but Zhu Man pulled him even closer.

All the code in his CPU went haywire, data that had been neatly arranged by him in his program now collided aimlessly in various pathways. In his programming, there was no code to handle such a situation.

In moments of fragmented and intermittent rationality, He Feng Hui found himself inexplicably responding to Zhu Man’s fierce kiss.

His response only fueled Zhu Man’s aggression, an indescribable anger burning in his heart—

Who are you thinking about while kissing me? Is it me or him? Is he the reason you brought me back from the Human Pool in the first place? Who am I? Why do I share so many similarities with him? Where did my memories from the first nineteen years go?!

Some of the questions here seemed to have nothing to do with He Feng Hui, but Zhu Man didn’t care, he just wanted to blame He Feng Hui.

It’s all his fault!

Zhu Man stood up and forcefully pushed He Feng Hui onto the bed behind him.

He Feng Hui was caught off guard and fell down. Just as he was about to sit up, Zhu Man pressed him down again, kneeling on either side of his body.

“Do you want to—”

“You want,” Zhu Man interrupted in a commanding tone.

A brief silence followed.

Zhu Man stared directly at him, and with a glance downward, He Feng Hui’s desires were evident. The body’s response is always the most honest, and even the simulated body cannot escape this law.

Zhu Man closed his reddened eyes and leaned down to kiss him. In the midst of the kiss, he gritted his teeth and said, “Master, let me help you too, okay? I will be better than him—”

Before he could finish his sentence, He Feng Hui swiftly flipped him over, pinning him down, and coldly suppressed, “Don’t say things you shouldn’t say.”

Zhu Man’s jealousy was about to overflow.

He Feng Hui was an AI, and his power could be manipulated by data, unaffected by the limitations of human anatomy—Yet, even in such a situation, why could he accurately and rationally control his power?

Was it because Zhu Man mentioned that “Zhu Man”?

Earlier, he said something about “give me time.” Liar, He Feng Hui was a liar… He must find the acts he performed in Mirage amusing, like a clown, right?

Zhu Man struggled to turn his body, his eyes blurred by tears. He didn’t know if it was because PTSD had recurred or because his jealousy had turned into resentment.

He Feng Hui restrained him, and he fought to break free—He hadn’t expected to have such strength.

His hands chased after He Feng Hui as if an orchid, deprived of the moistening of the spring breeze, leaving the land desperately to catch up with the footsteps of the spring breeze to escape.

The spring breeze was originally gentle, but the moment it was caught up by the orchid, it suddenly became violent. It stirred up the dust and fallen leaves on the ground, sending them into the air and letting them fall back down repeatedly…

It continued until it carried a thick layer of dust, all sinking heavily onto the orchid.

---

Author’s Note:

This text does not contain any stand-in^[1]Substitute elements.