Indulging in Carnal Desire
chapter-298

“I was developing a new type of artificial intelligence, and I wanted to look for a way to maximize emotional perception.” The man’s narration slowly flowed out of his mouth, sounding calm and objective, but Chu Jiao was able to see from the scenes, where the young man was immersed in the study day and night, how much heart and soul he put in, how much he wanted to succeed in this no matter what.

“Li Meng was the name of the assistant, and she proposed a plan that made me see a glimmer of hope…”

“A plan?” Chu Jiao felt that she had come face-to-face with the verge of the whole truth.

“An immersive type of experience that allows androids to learn human emotions…” In the setting before them, the atmosphere in the research lab was buzzing with activity. Everyone seemed to be extremely excited about the new R&D project as they continuously carried out design developments to potentially improve it, the virtual electronic screen gradually beginning to show the fruits of their labor-

White clouds, clear and majestic mountain peaks,

Bright red candles, antique bedrooms,

The wind blew, pressing the grass down,

Cattle and sheep were everywhere in Saibei¹Saibei was a geographical name in past China

High-rise buildings, busy streets…

“These…” Chu Jiao’s mouth dropped agape, watching familiar scenes flash before the screen. Weren’t these the scenes of the worlds where she had previously transmigrated through?

“These are the originally set scenes for the AI immersive experience…” The man poked Chu Jiao’s head playfully, “Didn’t you like reading books the most? I extracted the environments out of your favorite books and put them in.”

“What do you mean I liked reading the most!? I was merely bored, so I read them a few times~” Chu Jiao retorted casually and realized that after she had finished speaking, such a response that shouldn’t exist within her was blurted out subconsciously.

“Jiaojiao, have you finally remembered?” The man was a little surprised, but seeing confusion color Chu Jiao’s eyes, he quickly comforted her, “It’s alright, these are memories from your subconsciousness. You don’t need to be afraid of them.”

“At the beginning, before starting this experiment, I had backed up all your memories and formatted them in case, but now that you possess a real consciousness, it’s not at all surprising that you remember some bits and pieces from time to time.”

“What kind of experiment were you referring to?” Chu Jiao eagerly wanted to know the answer to this question, “How do you ascertain that an android possesses a real consciousness?”

“This experiment…” The man said after a moment of consideration, “was something I never planned to tell you about.”

“I’m sorry, I’m very selfish and quite cowardly. I didn’t even dare tell you that you are an android,” his voice fell a little lower, “I was afraid that after telling you, you would become the same as before, scrupulously abiding to the master-servant hierarchy. I was even more afraid that you would think this experiment was ridiculous, and you would leave me in the end…”

Chu Jiao pressed her lips into a line, not expressing an opinion.

The man had acted like this more than once before. Even though she still hadn’t recalled her memories of being an android during this time, the fact that the man had purposely concealed it in every world really made her angry.

“My original idea was very straightforward. It was to connect both our consciousness to this AI machine and take on the roles of the male and female leads, respectively. Through the immersive experiences of these stories, and the entanglement of the characters, you would learn what emotions really are and what love is…”

“The male and female leads?” Chu Jiao smiled in confusion, “Wasn’t I just a supporting character?”

“Before the experiment started,” the man waved his hand, and the scene before Chu Jiao’s eyes changed again. On a black and windy night, in the empty research lab, a woman was quickly typing on the keyboard while staring at the computer screen. The blue light emitted by the screen was reflected on her face, revealing the crazy and twisted smile she had on. “Li Meng secretly tampered with the core code of the program and planted a virus.”

“What was she trying to do?” Chu Jiao trembled with fear.

“She wanted to replace you and wanted to invade my consciousness as well.”

Chu Jiao asked anxiously, “What do you mean by replace me? How could she invade your consciousness!?”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. I’m unharmed,” the man kissed the corner of Chujiao’s eyes in assurance, “Fortunately, you are also unharmed.”

“I didn’t make it clear to you before, this AI is currently only in the development stages and isn’t completely perfect just yet. The shortcoming it has is that it requires a human consciousness to act as a guide and lead the consciousness of the android towards the experience.”

“However, we have clinically tested ten groups of people, and nine of them have failed.”

“And, the reason for failing is…?”

“The consciousness of the human beings, lost in the worlds, were unable to come out, and the consciousness of the androids were capable of invading the human brains.”

“Hiss——” Chu Jiao sucked in a cold breath, “Then, why did you start your experiment so quickly!? There’s still a lot of time, I could have waited for the development to be refined before…”

“No, there was no time.” The man shook his head, “The main AI has already discovered our experiment. In its setting program, it did not allow the program for androids to harm humans for them to exist.”

“I set up a firewall to block it, but it couldn’t be stopped for too long. Once it was thoroughly investigated, there was a possibility that your existence may be uncovered. At that time, there was a chance that you would be destroyed again! This time, going through complete obliteration…”

“I didn’t want that to happen,” the man held Chu Jiao’s hand tightly, his emotions seemingly going a little out of hand, “I didn’t want to lose you again.”

“I’m here, I’m here.” Chu Jiao quickly took him into her arms and comforted him softly, “Then, what happened after Li Meng tampered with the program?” She might have already had a conjecture about what would happen after.

“I didn’t know the matters she had done at that time, nor did I know that she had investigated you in secret,” the man said with utter regret, “After I connected your consciousness to the AI, she took advantage of when my consciousness was connected and also connected herself to the machine.”

“She told me that she was infatuated with me. She thought that you had confused me, and I shouldn’t feel this way with an android. She wanted me to fall in love with her…”

“She changed the access setting of the program, turning herself into the setting’s female lead… Whereas you had become the supporting character who never had a good ending in every world.”

Chu Jiao looked at the young man lying in the experimental cabin, trying to open his eyes, and couldn’t help but worry, “Then, how did you recognize me in every world?”

“Remember 419?” The man mentioned happily. “It’s one of the backups I had left behind for situations like these. A bug I secretly installed to become two backdoors.”

“It was a model of the AI that I first designed. It has limited functions, but it can be manipulated by only myself.”

“Before I lost consciousness, I managed to activate it in time and let it follow the second backdoor, finding you.”

“Second backdoor?” Chu Jiao couldn’t understand what he was saying at this moment.

“En, it’s you.” The man smiled lightly and tapped the end of her eyes.

Chu Jiao couldn’t see herself right now, but she knew that she still had a red tear-shaped mole following her within every world.

“I’ve lost you once, and I dare not lose you a second time,” the man said with conviction, referring to the incident where 9527 was forcibly taken away from him, “When I was restructuring your body, I also planted a microchip in you.”

“I knew that after entering the AI world, our own memories would be erased, with only the memory of the characters themselves left behind, and several factors would also be out of our control. And so, I stored my core consciousness in you here.”

“No matter which world we were in, as long as you truly fell in love with me, only then can my real consciousness come back to me.”

“If one day, I really got lost in those worlds, as long as I found you, I can take you back.”

“What if you couldn’t find me! What if I couldn’t fall in love with you!? Why didn’t you think about yourself first!?” When Chu Jiao heard the man utter this, all of a sudden, her lingering fears washed over her.

She finally understood why in every world, every male protagonist would always ask her, again and again.

“Do you love me?”

“Do you love me?”

“Jiaojiao, do you love me?”

If they couldn’t find her, or if she didn’t fall in love with him, the man’s consciousness may have remained in those worlds forever, never knowing who he truly really was, and his real body would wither away and die.

“Without you, it wouldn’t make sense for me to live all by myself.”

“If you don’t love me, I will wait until you fall for me.”

Tears gradually pooled in Chu Jiao’s red eyes, “You silly fool.”

“Yes, I am a silly fool.”

The man admitted with a content smile. He gently cupped Chu Jiao’s face and pressed his lips at the tail of her eye again.

Chu Jiao closed her eyes, sensing all the memories of the past flooding into her.

The memories of her being an android once upon a time, the memories of becoming different characters and transmigrating through different worlds, the memories of men with different faces spoiling her rotten, each and every scene flashed back in her mind ever so clearly.

Xiao Qi, Chu Minshen, Ling Yue, He Sinian, Shen Zhen, Yan Zhan, Hu Luoyan, Jing Chen… Different faces flashed before Chu Jiao’s eyes, and finally, all condensed into the man’s current appearance.

“So, after knowing the truth about all of this…”

“Jiaojiao, do you still love me, this silly little fool?”

The surrounding scenes gradually melted into nothingness as Chu Jiao was placed amongst a sky full of stars. A man was standing in front of her, watching her closely, expectantly waiting for an answer.

A man who weaved a web of lies for her with affection, just to get her love.

A man who wrapped her in his own armor and didn’t want her to suffer any harm.

A man who was willing to cross the torrents of race and time and would not let go of her hand.

How could she not love him?

After going through so many worlds, even though her heart was still that of an android’s, she was already fully capable of understanding the depth of human emotions, and the man who had also used affection and pampering time and time again, had also learned what love truly was.

“Silly fool!” She suddenly burst into tears and laughter, throwing herself into the man’s arms.

“I love you! Of course I love you!”

As the stars shift and time turns, you’ll like me no matter what I look like.

So, please also believe that no matter what you look like, I will still fall in love with you.

The man smiled, his eyes filled with bright stars. He embraced Chu Jiao back as if he was embracing the whole world in his arms.

“Then, let’s go home.”

“Okay, let’s go home.”

[End]

T/N: I’m not crying, you are. *blows onto tissue. We’ve finally reached the end of the story. Hallelujah. All that’s left now are some more steamy extrassss.

[Completed]