Thousands of Brilliant Stars: You Deserve the Best!-Chapter 216: Banquet Money, Banquet Money—I Gave Two Hundred
Hearing the name, Iris Crawford felt somewhat unfamiliar, but Elias Shaw’s next words left her utterly shocked.
"Hannah Lennox is the woman currently by Jonas Kingsley’s side."
Elias Shaw reached out to turn another page for Iris Crawford. "At that time, Hannah Lennox knew nothing about it. It wasn’t until they were rescued that she realized what her mother had done."
"Why does Jonas Kingsley still keep Hannah Lennox?"
Iris Crawford pursed her lips. "Could it be for revenge?"
"Perhaps Jonas Kingsley feels that Hannah Lennox is like him."
Sighing as he spoke, Elias Shaw said, "I think it was after that murder that both Lachlan Wyatt and Jonas Kingsley might have changed. They both probably still have psychological shadows, like Jonas Kingsley making Pearl Winters self-destruct in front of us, almost as if it’s an imitation of the murder from that year."
Imitation.
"He once watched Weston Wyatt die; now he wants us to watch Pearl Winters’ destruction, as if only through this can he... alleviate the torment in his heart."
"You mean."
Iris Crawford swallowed, "That year’s murder, with Weston Wyatt dying in front of them, affected their mental state. Jonas Kingsley now uses this method to make us experience what he once went through."
What he once went through.
But Lachlan Wyatt was also a witness to that murder; he seems to have stayed on the right path.
"I won’t deny that Jonas Kingsley is a vicious criminal," Elias Shaw lowered his voice and patted Iris Crawford’s shoulder, "but in my eyes, his current behavior is no different from a child seeking affection. Yet his mind is still twisted, unable to distinguish that this is devastating harm to innocent people."
Liam Winslow’s lifelong dream has now been destroyed by Jonas Kingsley.
In seeking protection from foreign forces, he copied Lachlan Wyatt’s developed AI chip and sold it abroad.
"I’m not affected by anything Jonas Kingsley has done now."
Iris Crawford, initially shocked, came to her senses and only felt heartache, "I don’t care how severely he’s been hurt in the past."
"All I know is, everything he’s doing now is antihuman and antisocial."
Iris Crawford looked up at Elias Shaw, her pupils dark like gun muzzles pointing at him, her features sharp and beautiful at this moment, full of aggressiveness, "Before he attempts to destroy Lachlan Wyatt, I will definitely destroy him first."
When Iris Crawford bid farewell to Elias Shaw, it started raining again outside. The rain suddenly chilled the air, making her feel a coldness in her heart for some unknown reason.
Perhaps, she was feeling sad for Lachlan Wyatt.
During so many days and nights, Lachlan Wyatt may never have walked out from that murder case.
Sighing, Iris Crawford returned to the hospital heavily distressed. Peach was still in emergency care, with a lot of people waiting outside, but Iris Crawford didn’t see Lachlan Wyatt’s father.
...really is a thin family bond.
His own son was seriously injured by a bomb, and yet as a father, he didn’t show up.
Isn’t he afraid that when he’s old, there’ll be no one to push his wheelchair?
Iris Crawford went over to ask James Chesterton, "How’s the situation?"
"Seems okay, a nurse just came out after a shift change and said he’s out of danger now."
James Chesterton took a deep breath and lightly patted Iris Crawford’s shoulder, "Don’t worry, Lachlan Wyatt is strong, nothing will happen."
Iris Crawford still remembered him lying on the ground covered in dust and blood.
"Okay, I’ll wait a bit here."
Finding a long bench, Iris Crawford sat down, took out her phone, and felt gloom with nowhere to vent, staring blankly at her phone.
At this time, a voice sounded beside her, "Why are you frowning?"
Iris Crawford froze, looked up, and found that Number Nine had walked over to her side.
Iris Crawford was greatly surprised, fearing Number Nine would say something exposing him as a robot, but it seemed no one but her noticed Number Nine was synthetic.
Everyone interacted with him without any issues.
Iris Crawford hesitated, paused, then asked Number Nine, "How long have you been here?"
"I’ve been here since the moment you returned. It’s just that you seem busy and didn’t notice me."
Number Nine’s voice was pleasant to hear, and Iris Crawford felt the owner of this voice must be a gentle person, "I thought you..."
"My duty is to protect you."
Number Nine asked, "Is there something bothering you?"
He reached out and gently smoothed Iris Crawford’s furrowed brow, "Don’t frown. You don’t look good when you frown, and seeing you frown makes me feel incompetent."
Hearing the comfort from Number Nine, Iris Crawford felt touched, "No, there are some things you can’t help me solve."
Unable to solve?
Is there something he can’t solve?
Upon hearing this from his owner, the intelligent program activated the berserk mode.
Number Nine’s finger joints twitched, and seeing this, Iris Crawford was terrified, "No, I don’t want you to solve it in that way!"
"Oh."
Number Nine switched back from the berserk state, becoming gentle again, "Just tell me when you’re unhappy, I’ll handle everything for you."
Iris Crawford’s forehead was covered in cold sweat, "Uh... I think you’d better not transform at will, people might find it frightening."
Number Nine’s eyelashes fluttered, "Am I terrifying?"
"No, you’re gentle."
Saying this, Iris Crawford lowered her voice for fear of being overheard, "It’s just that humans find things that aren’t of their kind but look like them and hide threats to be terrifying, it’s not your fault."
"Will there come a day when you’ll be afraid of me too?"
Number Nine was bewildered, unable to process these words, and uttered a rather lonely remark, "Aren’t we the same kind?"
Iris Crawford was taken aback.
After a moment, she laughed with tears in her eyes and caressed Number Nine’s face, "Yes, we are the same kind."
******
Lachlan Wyatt was finally saved after suffering serious injuries and was placed in the ICU for a week to observe his condition. During this week, Iris Crawford, to prevent causing trouble for the hospital, didn’t visit Lachlan even once.
Because it was the intensive care unit, there was no way to peek through cracks in the door or windows to check on him. Each time Iris came to the hospital, she could only sit quietly downstairs for a while, ask the doctors about his condition, and then leave.
Whenever she spaced out while standing, Number Nine spaced out with her.
According to the information provided by Number Nine, Elias Shaw brought the police and secretly reclaimed the replicas from Jonas Kingsley’s base very quickly. However, each time they tried to catch Jonas, he always managed to escape, which left Elias Shaw grinding his teeth in frustration.
On this typical day, Iris brought Number Nine to sit downstairs at the hospital to enjoy the scenery. She leaned on Number Nine’s shoulder, feeling a bit tired and wanting to rest for a while, when she heard Number Nine say, "It’s gone."
Iris straightened up, "What?"
"I said, the signal from the last companion, it’s gone."
Number Nine lowered his head, clasping his two hands together, "I am the last artificial intelligence in this world now."
A sudden pang of pain struck Iris’s heart.
Clearly, artificial intelligence is supposed to have no feelings.
Perhaps he said these words merely to inform Iris that Elias Shaw and the others had destroyed all the robots they had reclaimed, so now there were no signals from similar kinds.
Yet those words brought a strong wave of sadness to Iris.
The fact that Number Nine was a robot was something Lachlan had asked Iris to keep a secret together. She had also kept her promise and told no one, protecting Number Nine well. When others asked, she would say he was a new male assistant she hired.
Number Nine’s programming was also ahead of its time, allowing him to carry on conversations with others without arousing any suspicion.
But now...
Iris poked Number Nine’s forehead, "Didn’t I tell you? You still have me."
"You’re not Number One."
Number Nine stated the truth in a particularly matter-of-fact tone, "You just have the same face as Number One."
"When did you find out?"
"All my companions have signal transmitters on them. We can sense each other."
Number Nine shook his head and told Iris, "But I couldn’t receive any signal from you, so I calculated the result, which is that you only resemble Number One in appearance, which made my system misidentify your face as Number One."
Iris’s shoulders slumped, "Alright, you’re right, I’m indeed not Number One, but you still treat me as Number One to protect me."
"Number One is a robot, you are the original." Number Nine said, "So Number One must have been made in your likeness. Since Number One has disappeared, my protection target has shifted to you. My system calculated this on its own."
Iris was a bit surprised, "So you knew all along..."
"Yes."
Number Nine gave a thumbs up, "How about that? Artificial intelligence is very clever, right? Don’t underestimate AI."
Iris was amused by Number Nine and pulled him into her arms, "Alright, alright, even if there’s only you left as the last robot in the world, I’ll always be by your side."
"Really?"
Pressed against Iris’s chest, Number Nine showed no expression, he just asked her, "But my life span is longer than yours; one day, you’ll die in front of me."
"All meetings are destined to end in parting." Iris hugged Number Nine tighter, "I’ll take your secret to the grave, but after I die, you have to remember us, remember everyone at the agency, until your mechanical parts stop functioning."
Number Nine closed his eyes, "I’ll input this command into my program."
This is my highest level, loyalty to you.
A few days later, Lachlan finally came out of the ICU and was transferred to a regular ward. Iris was the first to visit him, and she found him already sitting up inside.
When he saw Iris, Lachlan pouted and rasped, "Why did it take you so long to come?"
Iris stood still at the door, "You were in the ICU earlier, where visits aren’t freely allowed."
"You could have applied for special visiting hours."
Lachlan’s hands were still wrapped in bandages, like a mummy. He waved his mummy-like hands in the air and said, "Do you know how miserable I was in the ICU all by myself? I almost died, and you didn’t come to see me! An injured person needs visitors most of all! How could you not come! Do you know what I was thinking back then?"
Iris pointed at herself, "Thinking of me?"
"Thinking that when I got out of the ICU, I’d have to twist your head off and use it as a football, you ungrateful child!" Lachlan angrily pounded the bed with his mummy hand, "Your dad was on the brink of death, and you didn’t even think of visiting! What, were you planning to send me off at my funeral? All that love wasted on you!"
Seeing him full of spirit like this is great.
It’s good to have you back.
Iris laughed and took out a stack of white envelopes from her pocket.
She stepped forward and threw them to Lachlan.
Lachlan was stunned, "What’s this? Isn’t it supposed to be red envelopes to celebrate me getting out of the ICU? Why are these white?"
"Oh." Iris smirked, "These are from when you were still in the ICU. The people from the agency thought you might not make it, so they prepared these for your funeral."
Lachlan, who had just recovered, was almost angered to death by Iris once again, and he gritted his teeth, "You guys never hoped for anything good for me!"
Iris sat by the bedside, and Lachlan asked sinisterly, "How much did you give?"
"Two hundred."
"..." Is that all he’s worth?
