NOVEL NEXT Chapter 203: Mind Against Machine
"Pet me?" Ruby tilted her head to the side, clearly unfamiliar with the term.
The moment Ava realized she might be the first person to ever pet Ruby, her eyes began to glimmer even brighter.
"Something like this…" She said, extending her hand and gently laying it upon Ruby's head.
Although Ruby was taller than Ava, she still didn't reach Michael's height, which meant Ava could easily reach the top of her head.
"!!!"
A shiver went down Ruby's spine, causing her to arch her back.
That petting thing Ava was doing by scratching her head certainly intrigued her.
Purr~
Settling around Ava, Ruby neared, too comfortable to part.
"Such bliss!" A wide grin was plastered over Ava's face. She was a fan of cats, and this was the first time she got the chance to play with a hybrid between it and a human. She wouldn't have it any other way.
It was made apparent by Victoria and Claire's gazes that they too wanted to interact with Ruby, yet feared offending her by doing so.
"Ah, sorry if I smell a little." Ruby murmured, her ears dropping. Nobody knew how long she had traveled the horrifying tunnels, but it certainly wasn't a pleasant journey.
'Looking closer, her limbs are trembling. Exhausted and most likely starving. Honestly, it's kind of admirable that she worries about her scent more than other things.' Michael analyzed with a frown. After they got the information they needed from the lab, they would have to go back and let Ruby recover. Otherwise, consequences could be dire.
"Smell? I don't feel anything… Alright, if you are so worried, once we get back, you can take a shower… Actually, do you even know how to take one? Never mind, I will show you." Ava puffed her chest, scratching Ruby's chin.
"The bathroom at the hotel is large… It can fit all of us at once." Claire suggested. For some reason, she felt reluctant to miss the chance.
Victoria nodded shyly, apparently she too wanted to take part.
The girls had already visited a hot spring once, which was essentially just a fancy shower. So, aside from Ruby being with them, it wasn't going to be much different from last time.
'At the very least they seem to have taken a liking to her.' Michael sighed.
"I hope that you have gotten used to the stench and sight. With Ruby among our ranks, we have to make haste."
After exchanging glances, everybody nodded.
"Lead the way!" Enzo exclaimed, hitting his two gauntlets together.
Unfortunately the second time they entered the lab wasn't more pleasant than the first. Yet the moment they saw Ruby moving close to Michael's side, seemingly unbothered by the horrors around her, it motivated the crew to push themselves.
"Strange…" Claire's eyes trailed over the numerous experimented humans.
"What is?" Intrigued, Victoria asked.
"Usually, when someone conducts an experiment on a living being, they have a specific goal in mind, such as making them taller, stronger, faster, or altering their DNA in some way. However, when the experiment fails, the subjects that don't meet the desired outcome tend to resemble each other…" Claire explained.
Victoria frowned slightly. It was strange indeed. Despite the numerous bodies, there was no resemblance among them. Each had its own distinct traits, as if the one who had experimented on them didn't know what their end goal was or was simply trying anything to achieve it.
'I have a bad feeling about this.'
Using the knowledge Michael had stolen from the researcher android, he guided his crew to the very center of the lab. The humming of dozens of computers reached their ears, with one being far bigger than the rest.
[Intruders!]
Naturally, with the main computer located here, this area was the core section of the base. Michael wasn't surprised to see researcher androids nearby, eager to pounce on them with no sense of self-preservation.
"Wow…"
Staying at the back, Ruby was rendered speechless. She knew that Michael was able to easily tear these metal monsters apart, but his crew also seemed equally proficient in the art of combat.
This wasn't even a fight anymore but a slaughterhouse. At that moment she felt glad that she had found these people. They were clearly able to help her.
The battle didn't last long, ending in a decisive victory for humanity, with numerous android bodies scattered throughout the floor.
"Your secrets are no more." Michael said coldly, activating Bypasser on the main computer.
As he came to a stop, his mind absorbing the information, Victoria let out a relieved sigh.
'If the AIs are really acting on their own and not being governed by an individual, then Michael has to be the worst matchup against them…' She mused, remembering how effortlessly he was able to hack into alien networks.
Michael's face gradually twisted into a grimace. With the information comprehended, he realized many things. First, just from the city he and his crew had resided in, more than 60,000 occupants had been kidnapped. That wasn't happening only at one place, though. Each major and minor city was losing humans at a staggering rate all over Venus.
Depending on the underground base, their task would be altering the body, mind, or soul of the captured humans. For reference, right now Michael and the squad were located at a place that specialized in changing bodies.
Regardless of how the experiments went, they would be sent to the better-equipped facilities that were supposedly closer to the mastermind behind this whole madness. The humans that could be refined further would be marked as 'potential', while the ones who hadn't been able to withstand the torture or the experiments simply proved impractical would be marked as 'food'.
For what AIs needed food, Michael did not know. But his intuition told him that if left unchecked, the AI uprising would turn into a bigger problem than the aliens.
Quite the achievement indeed.
"Let's go back. We have learned all we can here." Michael said, making his team heave a sigh of relief.
"Are you okay?" As they finally left the lab, Ruby noticed that a crimson trail had started to trickle down Michael's face.
A flash of surprise flickered across his face before he wiped the blood off. "Yes, I just overextended myself; nothing to worry about."
While he hadn't outright lied, he hadn't told the whole truth either. In reality, when he had used Bypasser on the main computer, something that he had never expected happened.
He felt a pushback.
Something had been able to match his Mythic technique. A feat that shouldn't have been possible.
'Troublesome…' He thought with a frown.
At the same time, deep within the core of the main lab hidden somewhere in Venus, the sentient AI detected an attempted infiltration.
[Dangerous existence confirmed. Whether it is human or of alien origin is unknown…]
Of course, the sentient AI wasn't taken by surprise. Thanks to its intelligence, it had anticipated that something would eventually emerge capable of threatening its existence.
That was why, aside from the experiments it had conducted on the human race, it had begun to rapidly develop its own defensive mechanisms.
[Accelerating the construction of the weapon capable of neutralizing both...]
[Current progress… 12%]