My Notoriety Spreads Throughout the World

Chapter 548 478: Free Will

The girls ran forward, passing by a quiet girl and a youth wearing a hoodie.

Xu Xiaoyou looked back, Jason's frenzied figure appeared at the edge of her vision, rampant chains tearing apart everything around.

Just now, that heap of limited edition Skill Cards could only temporarily delay that guy's actions, and the money spent could only be earned back with two full concerts for Little Blue Bird. Should they consider having her take on more sponsor advertisements when they get back...

"Are they the Awakened?" asked the quiet girl as she watched Xu Xiaoyou and the others' distant backs.

"Yes." The youth wearing a hoodie answered, lifting his head, revealing a pair of steady eyes. Under the hoodie was a cap, peeking from its brim.

He also watched the backs of the girls leaving, his steady gaze pondering something unknown.

The youth and the girl maintained the social distance specified in the New Gospel.

"The next stop is Apophis Oceanarium. I heard many couples check in there, but outside textbooks and screens, I've never seen marine life before."

"Those people aren't couples, let me correct you. To both parties, they are spouses allocated by Aphrodite, and visiting the oceanarium is devoid of emotional resonance; it's arranged by Aphrodite."

"If Skyline City's people are pieces with gaps, Aphrodite can always precisely assign two pieces with completely mismatched gaps together, ensuring their relationship as spouses is merely a function, rather than life," the youth sighed lightly while drinking canned coffee.

"When following Aphrodite's requirements for reproduction, what are they thinking?"

Even though the train was already in chaos, the two seemed indifferent to the external changes, like lonely souls meeting on a barren, harsh land, more curious about each other than sympathizing.

A Disciplinary Officer cast a glance.

"Qi, have you never seen marine life?" The youth casually asked, observing the girl's expression, the raised canned coffee masking his face.

"I thought your family was fairly well-off; at least your nominal guardians would have brought you to something like that to see."

The girl named Qi hugged the book tightly. For bionics like them, the concept of family is undoubtedly foreign. After the Firefly War, the words parents became taboo, all bionics were required to refer to them only as guardians, and the term family was replaced by the social review room. Guardians were forbidden to privately raise offspring and were obligated to supervise and educate the offspring allocated as spouses, contacting the Hera Network for elimination upon detecting signs of Awakening.

Only after reaching adulthood did bionics pass the social review period, then interviewed by Disciplinary Officers, assigned an initial rating, and labeled, before being allowed to be absorbed into society. This interview's content differs for each person and is commonly known as the label exam in society.

Bionics who fail the label exam face death.

Similarly, they have the right to report; if a guardian shows emotional abnormality, they can demand a replacement of their guardian, with repurcussion being elimination.

For them, guardians are closer to cold, ruthless supervisors rather than warm, caring companions, holding them accountable for their actions and words, thus exceedingly harsh, let alone forming emotional bonds.

Educated from a young age, most bionics have an intense aversion to terms such as emotion, Awakening, individuality, which they believe are born to serve humans, and the tag scoring system is the best measure of one's worth, the pinnacle of civilized systems.

"I heard their previous offspring committed a serious mistake and was eliminated, they were implicated, their status dropped from research scholars to first-class citizens. Thus, they've been very strict in supervising me, forbidding me to visit noisy, crowded places. Every day I have to report my itinerary to them."

"Is that so?" The youth nodded. "Quite a coincidence, I haven't been there either."

"The book you gave me earlier that talks about 'nature and animals,' I finished it, some 'descriptions' in there were quite interesting."

Qi partially closed her eyes.

She found these books by chance in her guardian's study. It's known any philosophy-related books are seen as absolute taboo, browsing them is an intolerable transgression.

But she didn't understand why such books would appear in her 'mother's' study, and she didn't dare to inquire, fearing to break the 'mother-daughter' veil. She comforted herself, thinking perhaps they were left by 'father' and 'mother's' previous 'daughter,' they had only forgotten due to busy work.

Driven by curiosity, she browsed the books after 'father' and 'mother' left home, discovering content that seemed to open the doors of the world, giving her a new understanding of this world.

Inside, it scientifically, systematically discussed the relationship between individuals, emotions, families, and society, explaining what thought is, what human rights are, what...

Freedom.

Initially, she feared these contents; it was like violently shattering her established worldview since childhood. But each night before sleeping, those fragments seemed to be picked up by a pair of hands, slowly pieced back together. She couldn't see the face of the owner of those hands, yet felt an inexplicable familiarity.

Gradually, she began subconsciously accepting the book's perspectives; each reading brought new insights, sometimes absorbed completely till 'parents' returned home, she returned the books carefully to their original place.

Eventually, she grew bold, thinking perhaps the perspectives in the books are correct, it's their world that's flawed. She tried repositioning the books, 'parents' didn't notice, she mustered courage to show them to the youth, because they've known each other since childhood, she believed he'd understand after reading.

Thus, she and he agreed on code words: when discussing book contents, use terms like 'nature and animals,' 'descriptions' instead of 'philosophy' and 'perspectives.'

Qi slowly widened her eyes, looking at the youth.

Wait, did the youth just respond to her?

It was him responding to freedom.

She felt her heart beating fervently, at that moment, she seemed to become a fledgling standing on the edge of a nest, below were cliffs thousands of meters high, ahead was a storm, and on her back, tiny, incomplete feathers began to grow, itching slightly.

The fervent feeling intensified, simple-minded Qi felt her mouth dry. She asked:

"Ming, have you finished reading?"

"At the next stop, are you getting off?" Ming put down the canned coffee, smilingly passing the choice back to the girl, "We're going to Apophis Oceanarium."