Shu whirled around to face Joyce. "Aren't you being a bit too extreme?"
Joyce shook her head. "I've seen a concentration camp with my own eyes, back when it was still in use. Even a place like that provided more than one bed per person."
Shu's gaze changed. "Before we go further, can you tell me why you've seen one?"
Joyce paused for a moment before speaking.
"You should understand, Future City is an entity that any power in the world would desperately try to win over. Even Shenzhou constantly monitors whether we take a side, and which side we take."
"Technological development requires a massive material foundation and trial-and-error. Energy, resources, computational power... We've broken through many limitations over the past hundred years, but even now, one problem still perplexes us."
"Population?" Shu said.
Joyce paused, then chuckled. "I thought you knew nothing about Future City... I didn't expect you to grasp such a profound issue."
Shu grinned briefly, then his smile faded.
The information Otto had forced him to read was indeed useful after all...
"We've studied AIs, artificial life, centrally managed mechanical processes, but there's one thing we've never been able to replicate..."
Joyce pointed to Shu's head. "The creativity unique to humans. The kind of creativity that finds the correct answer from an almost infinite number of random choices."
"This ability itself requires a vast population base to support its emergence. Genetic engineering can create the most perfect bodies, but it struggles to create brains to match."
"Moreover, genetic engineering also involves another difficult problem—resources."
"Therefore, Future City never takes sides, nor does it participate in any international affairs. We don't even have a seat in the United Government, and their discussions never include us."
"Thus, during that war..." Joyce looked at Shu's distinctly Shenzhou features, paused for a moment, then continued slowly, "We chose to observe... We originally had the ability to stop every massacre..."
"But in the end, those of us from Future City could only rescue a small number of people under our individual capacities, or declare our separation from Future City and then contribute in our own ways."
Shu understood. Then, he rubbed his temples with a headache. "Alright... let's not talk about this... Where is the abnormality you mentioned?"
Joyce immediately recomposed herself. "Even if this isn't a place like a concentration camp, isn't the relationship between John and... Sirin a bit too good?"
Shu nodded, glancing back at Sirin sitting in the corner. "That's what puzzles me too. Not only was a lot of effort put into the unnecessary decoration of this room, but Sirin actually has the freedom to leave on her own..."
This didn't look like a test subject at all, more like some kind of cooperation...
"Could it be that Sirin is special?" Joyce proposed an idea. Shu looked back again, then shook his head. "I don't think that's the reason..."
"Why don't we go see the other... children?"
They exchanged a look and nodded.
From their earlier encounter, it seemed that, apart from Sirin, no one else could currently see them. This situation was perfect for gathering information.
"I'm more familiar with these machines. I'll go investigate," Joyce said, turning to leave the room. As an afterthought, she added, "If I encounter anything, I won't expose you."
"You should probably just shout loudly. Otherwise, I'll be pinning my hopes on you," Shu said without turning his head. He walked over to Sirin and sat down beside her.
Compared to gathering intelligence, Sirin was clearly more important. One of them had to stay and watch her.
As Joyce had said, Shu was a complete novice when it came to these high-precision machines. He couldn't even figure out the door that Sirin could open.
He hadn't seen any mechanism to open the door... Of course, it was also possible he simply couldn't see clearly right now and had missed some small mechanics.
Blinking hard to clear his vision a little, Shu began to try and strike up a conversation with Sirin.
"Are you afraid?" Shu asked softly.
Sirin paused, looked up briefly, then lowered her head again, slowly shaking it. "No..."
Lying... Shu could sense the intense fear in Sirin's heart, burning her like a potent poison.
"Is it because of that experiment?" Shu didn't expose her directly, instead moving on to the next topic. "Are you not confident?"
Sirin remained silent for a long time, then shook her head again.
"Ah..." Shu sighed deeply. After a moment of silence, he spoke again, "How many times has it been?"
As he spoke, Shu glanced sideways at Sirin's arm. Unfortunately, his vision was blurry, and he could only see a medical adhesive bandage on Sirin's exposed arm.
There seemed to be some yellow pattern on it...
Shu leaned closer, squinting to see clearly. It was a Homu's head.
But Sirin immediately pulled down the sleeve of her lab coat, covering her arm. Shu looked up and met Sirin's indescribable gaze.
That look... Shu felt like he was back to a few dozen minutes ago, to the expression Sirin had when he first caught her.
Like looking at a criminal, a specific kind of criminal.
"Ahem..." Shu coughed twice, straightening up. "Sorry, a bit nearsighted... Do you like Homu too?"
It had to be said, after three months, Shu's conversational skills had clearly improved, for instance, his ability to change the subject.
A flicker of confusion crossed Sirin's face. She quickly turned away, secretly lifted her sleeve to peek, then turned back as if nothing had happened, sitting upright properly.
"Is... is that so?" Sirin replied softly. "Then... which Homu [series/movie] do you like the most?"
"Hmm... Homu Brave Fights the Evil Dragon?" Shu said after thinking for a moment.
One reason was that it was the only one he had seen. If the conversation went further, he could continue smoothly.
"Really?! I think that one's the best too... Ahem, you have pretty good taste..." Sirin's eyes instantly lit up, but she quickly became aware of her own excitement.
Sirin quickly coughed twice, turned her head away again, and casually praised him as if nothing had happened.