Traveler of the River of Time and Space-Chapter 338 - 23: Adapting to Change

"Hmm." Pasha’s gaze slightly evaded, and after putting down the towel, she sat beside Su Ziyu, gazing at the man in front of her, and softly said, "She said she wanted to sleep with Matty, so she didn’t come."

The little one is up to something!

Su Ziyu couldn’t help but smile.

He patted the pillow beside him, indicating for Pasha to lie down and talk, then turned to look at her beautiful profile, chuckling softly, "It really feels like a dream."

"Suddenly having a child."

Honestly speaking, he and Pasha aren’t exactly lovers, more like intimate comrades bound by life and death. The act that led to the child was totally pressure-driven; even now that they have a child, the feeling between them remains almost the same as before.

"I didn’t expect it at first either. But the doctor said the child is developing very healthily. I thought I’d give birth to her." Pasha’s expression seemed to be lost in reminiscence.

She gently leaned on Su Ziyu’s shoulder, looking up at his profile.

All along, Pasha has been an independent and strong woman. If she weren’t tough, she wouldn’t have resolutely chosen bionic transformation back then.

"Let’s just go with the flow." Su Ziyu smiled, extending his arm to wrap around Pasha’s waist, slightly cool to the touch, but soon warmed up.

The relationship between them is somewhat complex.

Pasha’s feelings towards him should be similar; calling them spouse or lover hasn’t reached that level, particularly after being apart for so long and her undergoing bionic transformation.

"Sleep."

Su Ziyu gently stroked Pasha’s long hair, speaking softly, "You should get some good rest."

"Hmm." Pasha nodded lightly.

But her fingers fell on Su Ziyu’s chest and then slowly slid down his solid abdomen bit by bit.

"Hmm?" Su Ziyu hesitantly turned his head to glance at her, querying, "You...still can?..."

High-end bionic transformation nearly replaces most of the body structure with bionic limbs.

This kind of transformation, how to say it?

Some organs in the female body are completely removed, Su Ziyu isn’t too clear on the details since he hasn’t looked into the specifics.

"If you need to relax, there are still ways." Pasha lightly licked her lips, her expression seemed a bit shy and guilty.

Hmm?

Su Ziyu reached out and touched it, it indeed was there, but Pasha seemed to have no obvious sensation. The current level of bionic transformation in this world doesn’t quite reach a complete imitation of human neural responses.

Technology isn’t that advanced yet.

It amounts to one-sided service, as bionic humans have largely lost any physiological needs, might retain some psychological desire, yet due to endocrine issues, even that is likely minimal, perhaps only a slight mental demand generated internally.

The modifications bionic humans undergo are set to cause intensely disruptive impacts on the current human family ethical structure.

"Try?" Su Ziyu hesitantly suggested.

"mmm." Pasha gently nodded and then bowed her head.

Nothing was said through the night.

The next day, Su Ziyu woke up very early, and first thing in the morning saw the little girl and Matty practicing gun technique at the base shooting range.

"Daddy." The little girl shouted mischievously with a bright voice when she saw him.

"Little rascal." Su Ziyu ruffled her little head, crouched behind his daughter to adjust her grip on the gun, gently saying, "Watch the sight."

Shortly after.

Pasha’s figure appeared as well. She changed into a neat blue and white combat uniform, smiled slightly at Matty, then walked to her daughter and leaned down to kiss her adorable little face.

Her expression was somewhat embarrassed when her gaze met Su Ziyu’s.

How to put it.

The experience last night was rather strange; her body didn’t have strong physiological reactions, but her spirit felt an odd satisfaction. Bionic humans’ modifications demand them to adapt to this change, whether Su Ziyu or Pasha, they are silently accepting all of it. Fortunately, humans have many ways to feel fulfilled and can slowly adjust to mutually adapt to the current pace.

But if two bionic-modified individuals were to become a couple, there probably wouldn’t be much room for interaction at night.

Last night’s experience made Su Ziyu very sure of one thing.

That is if bionic transformation becomes prevalent, almost half of the existing human family concept would be done for, if babies were then directly artificially inseminated, the societal structure would essentially need a complete makeover. Unless colossal breakthroughs occur in technology, allowing post-bionic transformation to fully simulate neural responses, and endocrine is somehow preserved, after all, some of human desires are determined by endocrine.

As for the mass birth of artificially inseminated babies, maybe considerations could be made in the interstellar era, but absolutely not now, the society of the wasteland is already near collapse, such practice would spawn an entire batch of utilitarian beings.

However, it’s said that the Bionics School is already using such a method to nurture babies.

But due to resource constraints, only a limited amount of elite-class sperm and eggs can be extracted, these children were transferred in advance before the civil war broke out.

What a headache.

I am just here to hunt monsters, not decide humanity’s future fate.

Su Ziyu ultimately abandoned thinking about these matters, best to let humanity of this world choose its own future path.

Whether genetic modification.

Or bionic transformation.

As long as it can resolve the wasteland apocalypse issues and let humanity return to civilized society, Su Ziyu is accepting of it.

By morning.

Leon returned with dozens of gunmen, all of them Brotherhood elites, temporarily dispatched from other divisions, and a few Exoskeleton Power Armors, though some models seemed rather outdated. Crafting Exoskeleton Power Armors expends considerable resources, nuclear fusion batteries are only manufacturable by a few organizations, presently using one means one less, after the Academy civil war, obtaining them has been even harder.

Polaris must be reclaimed.

But it’ll take another day or two, the Brotherhood needs to mobilize personnel, Pasha’s side has to prepare as well, connect with those still loyal to her within Polaris, meanwhile, the ones behind the Wolf Gang still haven’t acted much, they intend to follow the thread to identify the Academy’s covert supporters.

Everything is being meticulously prepared.

At the same time.

A gigantic hovercraft was gradually approaching over Devil’s Island.

Due to the magnetic field anomaly near Devil’s Island, the Brotherhood temporarily assembled manpower to create this large hovercraft, arriving at this island in a more ancient way.

The sea is unpassable, for there are too many monsters.

"Heavens!"

"What on earth is that thing?" A burst of exclamations emerged from the hovercraft.

Soon.

A full squad dressed in protective suits readied themselves to descend, on the massive corpse of the Old Gods creation, a plethora of island creatures crazily devoured flesh, killing one another, with very noticeable radiation mutations on them, mixed with some humanoid monsters possessing sucker mouths, and only a pair of black eyeballs and hollow nostrils on their faces.

Numerous mutated marine creatures climbed up, spotting these soldiers, surged viciously like a tide.

The concern Su Ziyu had bore fruit after all. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Though separated by merely a day, the Old Gods creation’s corpse continued to draw a vast amount of mutated creatures, simultaneously spawning some mutants.

Rat-a-tat-tat!

A wild burst of gunfire sounded.

Accompanied by the dull sound of landing, over ten Exoskeleton Armors descended from the sky, ejecting streams of air from beneath their feet, landing steadily, followed by several others, wielding Nuclear Fusion Electromagnetic weapons, rushing directly into the military base. Some ten minutes later, another group wearing Exoskeleton Power Armors emerged, left by Pasha and others.

No energy left, couldn’t take them away.

"Prepare to clear this area!"

"Doctor."

"Please wear your protective suits, descend an hour from now." A brisk short-haired female raised her metal arm, leaping from over a hundred-meter height.

Her body suddenly hovered mid-air while falling, her legs’ metal structures emitted a blazing light, then she dove and smashed a mutant into pulp with a punch.

Fully mechanical transformation.

This woman surveyed the surroundings, her right hand transformed into a Metal Battle Blade, disregarding radiation she plunged into the monsters.

A conspicuous Academy emblem marked her clothing.

She is from the Bionics School.

......