Inside the narrow carriage, red lights flashed overhead as four girls sprinted wildly, while Jason, having unleashed his divine endowment, chased them from behind, his rusty, blood-stained iron hooks thrusting out from time to time, piercing through the bodies of bionic people as he surged toward the girls.
The scenery on both sides vanished rapidly behind them; ahead in the aisle, a bionic woman with the tag "Professional Mom" walked across, pushing a cradle, her chest clearly impaled by an iron hook, yet no blood splattered out, and her expression remained entirely oblivious as she pulled back a curtain, revealing a small, transparent silhouette.
After seeing the object inside, Akabane's eyebrows knitted together: it was a human—more accurately, a human lying in a bionic cradle, where the transparent silhouette was a small glass incubation tank filled with life-sustaining amniotic fluid.
More importantly, the head of this human infant was so developed it nearly filled the entire bionic cradle, and its abnormally large eyes stared fixedly at them.
"What the hell is that thing?"
Akabane pressed her hands against the cradle and leaped over it, ducking to evade a flying iron hook.
"It's a bionic cradle; in Skyline City, human genes have been modified so their brain capacity is slightly larger than ours, but the price is that they have no mobility until they reach adulthood," Xu Xiaoyou replied, recalling the information she had read about Skyline City.
"Even after reaching adulthood, their mobility is limited to the honeycombs of the Ark."
"So this is the so-called 'supporting' of humanity," Angelina remarked casually. "To be ordered around by humans like this, these bionic people are truly pitiful."
The mom stood timidly in place, watching the girls disappear into the distance and then glancing at the human infant watching her from the cradle; the infant's gaze was sharp and cold—not the look one gave to a foster mother, but rather the look directed at an inferior slave.
The iron hook in her chest was slowly withdrawn, turning illusory and transparent, while the girls' previous words echoed in her ears, making her clearly feel a weight lifting from her heart.
The more she looked at the infant's cold eyes, the more an inexplicable chill gripped her soul.
What exactly was she doing right now?
【Android Rating: 83】
【Full-time Mom, Understanding, Friendly, Imbalanced Figure, A bit fat?, Middle-aged weight gain】
Looking at the records in her windvane, which were detailed down to every single feeding, the woman's eyes slowly widened.
How long had she been living in this daze?
She couldn't remember, and was suddenly lost, unsure of what her future would be: would she keep caring for this infant forever?
The last time she had pondered her future was when she was a beautiful young woman in the prime of her youth, having just graduated from the law department of Asimov University and received debating invitations from several law firms.
Her life wasn't supposed to be like this—not until Sky-Father assigned her this job.
The reason was that her synesthesia center system was more sensitive than usual, meaning she could perceive the emotional changes of infants more clearly than ordinary bionic people and could thus take better care of these human babies.
The moment she took the first infant from the cradle, she was branded with the tag "Full-time Mom."
Influenced by the synesthesia center, she could clearly feel the connection between her and the vigorous little life in the cradle; whether it was vague emotions or primal needs, she began to read early childhood education books, compare baby products, and feel anxious about the other's physiological condition.
Everyone around her noticed the change: at first, they joked that she was very responsible and would make a great mother, but later, they were startled by her haggard appearance and thought she should get some rest.
In the blink of an eye, she had become what she was now; facing her bloated figure in the mirror, the woman touched her own face and recalled the last time she had gathered the courage to sign up for a yoga class near her home, only for someone she knew to ask her with surprise why she was there and if she shouldn't be taking care of the baby.
Driven by those strange looks and a strong sense of unease, she had fled back home, gasping for breath, forcing herself to change the metabolic fluid in the bionic cradle before collapsing on the floor in a faint, never gathering the courage to go to another yoga class after that.
If she were truly branded with the "irresponsible" tag by a disciplinary officer, what would become of her: how would people look at her, and would they suddenly brand her with tags like "slut," "bitch," "corrupt," or "filthy"?
But she only wanted to practice yoga and manage her figure.
Recently, something seemed to have gone wrong with her synesthesia center, as she could no longer feel that connection with the infant in the cradle and began to make mistakes because she couldn't perceive the infant's thoughts in time.
And it was during this time that she realized the way these human infants looked at her... was so cold.
The woman didn't dare to think about whether all the infants she had cared for looked at her with such indifference, and she dared even less to think about what kind of tags would be branded onto her if those around her found out her synesthesia center was failing.
Her rating had already dropped from 94 to 83 because of recent mistakes; she wondered why her score was dropping faster than those of the idle street punks when she hadn't made a single mistake before this, and why the disciplinary officers were so strict with her.
The woman looked at the girls dressed like street punks ahead, and subtle emotions like resentment, jealousy, and alienation rose from the depths of her heart, but mostly, it was envy and uncertainty about her own future.
What was she supposed to do?
Beneath the large screens, the analysts were constantly monitoring the battle.
On the screen, Xu Xiaoyou's group passed through one carriage after another while Jason was relentless, frequently unleashing skills, leaving all four girls with injuries to varying degrees.
"This won't work. Dark Gold Rose and the others aren't as fast as Jason. Wait, is Dark Gold Rose's agility attribute not high enough?"
"But she doesn't usually seem slow when she's running."
"That's because of the buffs from various class-based mobility skills."
A leisurely young voice drifted over.
Hearing this familiar voice, everyone turned their heads, and upon seeing the young man's face, one person blurted out in shock: "Nanjiamu? You haven't left Oasis yet?"
"What kind of nonsense is that?" Nanjiamu waved his hand. "A little setback won't knock me down. Even if Dark Gold Rose brings people to camp my spawn point and kills me until my save file is wiped, I won't leave Oasis."
"A man takes responsibility for his actions; right now, Golden Navigator still owes Light-Chaser Garden a massive debt, so I can't let my brothers pay for my momentary impulse. At least I have to fill this hole myself."
"And watch your tone: in a few days, the Old Chairman is going to let me resume my post as vice-chairman, so don't blame me if I make life difficult for you then."
The analysts looked at each other and burst into laughter.
"You can still get your job back after committing such a blunder? The Old Chairman is treating you like his own son!"
Nanjiamu, far from being ashamed, snorted twice. "He's closer than a real father; this time, I definitely won't let the old man down."
"What did you mean by what you just said?" At this moment, another young man's voice rang out.
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