Chapter 163: New Member_1

Jiang Yu stayed at home for a few days and before leaving, stocked the house with oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and also bought some tobacco and alcohol for the old man.

The old couple were overjoyed, and Jiang Wenhuan urged Jiang Yu to do his job well and not to bring shame upon the country.

Hu Huilan, on the other hand, reminded Jiang Yu that now that he was awake, he should visit Yang Dong frequently, as that was a matter of lifelong importance and he should seize the moment.

Jiang Yu felt nostalgic, as this was still the same little home, and the old couple were as simple-hearted as ever, solely focused on living their modest life well – better still if their children could achieve something.

Their desires weren't grand, nor were their thoughts complex – and that was perfectly alright.

However, Jiang Yu had heard from Di Fengyi that the old couple refused all the privileges offered to the Wallfacers' families and didn't take the government subsidies either.

Jiang Wenhuan didn't want to trouble the country, and Hu Huilan didn't want to trouble her son.

So when Hu Huilan asked for the two tins of oil, Jiang Yu felt that the PDC owed her more than just these two tins of oil.

When Jiang Yu went to the supermarket to buy the oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, he really kept the receipts, planning to reclaim the expenses from the PDC.

This was a restitution that the PDC owed to his mother, Hu Huilan, for the joy of family life, and compensating it with these simple things was letting the PDC off easy.

Taking a deep breath, Jiang Yu thought of countless families like his own across the country, not to mention the whole world.

At this thought, Jiang Yu's expression grew somber; although he had found a glimmer of hope for humanity, the warmth of the human world might not last for long.

Because this warmth could not overcome the coldness of the universe.

Jiang Yu's heart felt heavy, but his determination had never wavered.

No matter what, the priority was to survive first; surviving in the cold was always better than perishing in the warmth.

As long as survival was possible, everything else also remained possible!

Amid his reflections, Jiang Yu returned to his residence in Beijing and saw Jiang Shiliu waiting for him by the door as soon as he got off the vehicle.

The two of them smiled and embraced briefly before Jiang Yu took a good look at Jiang Shiliu: "You've grown taller, now you're quite the handsome young man."

Jiang Shiliu responded with a smile, "You still look as dashing as ever."

Jiang Yu laughed heartily.

As they talked, they entered the house together, with Jiang Shiliu leading the way to the front door: "Let me introduce you to an old friend."

While speaking, Jiang Shiliu gestured towards a young man in the room, who was helping Thirty-Six with the dishes.

This young man, in his twenties and good-looking, moved in a way that made Jiang Yu feel something odd.

The young man smiled slightly at Jiang Yu: "Hello, Mr. Jiang, it's nice to see you again."

Jiang Yu was taken aback at first, but then realized: "You're Number Three!"

Jiang Yu also recognized the odd feeling, which was a fraction of a second's hesitation after each of Number Three's movements.

This hesitation was fleeting, but it followed every motion, making them seem a bit odd, as if the actions weren't quite fluid.

Jiang Shiliu smiled, "That's right, he is Number Three, also Sophon's 'ceiling' left for us.

"Initially, I thought it would take a few years to provide him a body, but it ended up taking a whole decade to give him a body that still has some glitches.

"But this is already the limit of human computational power and the pinnacle of our current technology."

Number Three said, "To be able to live freely again, I think this is quite good."

Jiang Yu shook hands with Number Three, finding it indistinguishable from human skin.

As everyone sat down in the dining room, Thirty-Six uncorked a bottle of red wine: "Now there are only the three of us left, and we must continue to live well.

"We must also thank Jiang Yu for bringing us into this world, and from now on, we must act as masters of this world."

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Number Three said with a laugh, "Ever since Thirty-Six started working in sales, he has become more and more eloquent."

In the laughter of everyone, they drank a toast.

However, Number Three didn't drink anything; he only needed to recharge and periodically supplement with glucose, nothing else.

At the beginning, the three of them felt no sense of belonging to this world at all.

From a very young age, they each had their own goals and never thought of integrating into this world.

Jiang Yu was the first to bring Jiang Shiliu into his family, and it was through Jiang Shiliu that Number Three and Thirty-Six also entered into this world.

Gradually, they developed a sense of belonging and began to hope to do something for this world.

Jiang Shiliu first talked about the recent progress of the "Star Warrior" project group over the past three years.

The main breakthrough had been in the field of human neural systems, which allowed Number Three to have his own body.

In future wars, this breakthrough might not be very significant, but for the "prosthetics" industry, it was a qualitative leap.

With this technology, amputees could have prosthetic limbs almost as flexible as the originals, by connecting biological and electronic nerves.

Even if one is not brain-dead, they could design a robotic body for them.

The only flaw is that there's still no solution for severe internal organ damage, because sufficiently advanced artificial organs haven't been developed yet.

Number Three's situation is different from others; even those with robotic bodies would have brains that age over time.

However, Jiang Shiliu discovered that although Number Three's brain cells do not divide chaotically like somatic cells, whenever one of his brain cells ages, a new one would replace it, unlike ordinary people.

That means, as long as Number Three's brain maintains this vitality and if his robotic body is continuously replaced, he would achieve a kind of immortality in a certain sense.

On hearing this, Jiang Yu told the trio to keep this secret closely guarded.

Number Three's state is something many people covet, and upon learning of such information, it's inevitable that some would have malicious intentions.

For the breakthrough in electronic neurons, they owed thanks to the experimental results of Bo Xiangdong's group, who were still conducting trials to enhance human combat capabilities using intelligent prosthetics.

There hasn't been much progress yet, hence Bo Xiangdong had not previously reported his research to Jiang Yu.

This time Jiang Shiliu had brought Number Three to see Jiang Yu in the hopes of finding him a job through Jiang Yu.

Jiang Shiliu was frank, saying his research group was about to "wrap up" and he was planning to enter hibernation, hence he was entrusting Number Three to Jiang Yu.

Jiang Yu readily agreed and then asked Jiang Shiliu what he planned to do before going into hibernation.

Jiang Shiliu breathed a sigh of relief, "First, I'll hand over some work, then plan to travel around a bit, settle my robotic legion in Moon City, and then just wait for your wedding."

Previously, Jiang Shiliu needed to protect himself; his robotic legion served both as bait and as a deterrent.

As he shone in the "Star Warrior" project, he gradually no longer needed this deterrent.

Being part of this world, PDC would be wary of him but would no longer view him as an enemy.

So Jiang Shiliu planned to leave his upgraded robotic legion to Jiang Yu as a deterrent after his hibernation.

However, this transfer would have to be done covertly; PDC would certainly prevent it if done openly.

Jiang Yu pondered for a moment, "When you go to Moon City, take a backup of your group's research findings with you."

Jiang Shiliu nodded, "Okay."

He had absolute trust in Jiang Yu and didn't ask why.

The next day, Jiang Yu started a new round of work with Number Three in tow.

Under repeated pressure from PDC, Bil finally published the construction photos and conceptual diagrams of the Mars spaceship.

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