Arknights, but the sickly pretty girl starts

"...I, I actually never considered that Miss Administrator, you weren't human..." Lu's voice was somewhat hesitant, but after careful consideration, she felt that since Miss Administrator was willing to share these secrets with her, she naturally didn't consider her an outsider. Or perhaps, as she said, even though she wasn't human, her love for human civilization had never diminished in the slightest. "But I'm willing to believe you! The technological advancements humanity has achieved today are undeniable. You have truly propelled humanity forward, stepping to the forefront at a time of despair. You have remained anonymous for so many years, yet now, you have stepped forward to take responsibility. This alone is enough to make me admire you. Whether you are human or not has nothing to do with it!"

"Thank you for your trust. I have to admit, I didn't hide among humans intentionally. In fact, I spent a lot of time learning how to be more human. After my first contact with your human civilization, although we have similar appearances, our core is completely different. In fact... Terra is my home planet, or rather, I was born on Terra. Unlike you humans who evolved through repeated competition, Terra gave birth to me directly. But... I have to say, I am not a very filial child."

When the administrator tells his story, it always feels like he is telling a story.

"Terra is my cradle." The administrator walked towards the Deep Blue Tree, the hem of his lab coat brushing the ground without making the slightest sound. "Every grain of sand here remembers the cry of my birth."

She placed her palm against the observation window, and the veins of the deep blue tree suddenly brightened, as if responding to the touch of the Creator.

"Back then, I could reshape continental shelves with my thoughts, turn the oceans back... Now I think of it as just a child's tricks with building blocks."

The administrator pointed to the Deep Blue Tree and narrated this.

"And the Yin-Yang Beast... is one of the prototypes of the Deep Blue Tree." The Administrator's voice suddenly grew deep, as if it came from the deep sea. "It is my most arrogant creation. When I gave them life, I didn't even consider whether it was fair to them—just like humans don't ask tools if they want to be used. I created them haphazardly, and then set them aside haphazardly. Even at the beginning, I didn't realize they had any feelings or self-awareness. And it was only after I committed this sin and completed Genesis that I encountered your human civilization. It was probably a research vessel lost in the warp that landed on Terra—this was the beginning of my connection with your civilization."

"You...were once a god?" Lu was a little confused. "Are there really gods?"

I suddenly realized I was listening to a being potentially older than human civilization recounting the story of creation. The most absurd thing was that this "god" was speaking in a tone like he was discussing the weather, arguing with powers never before encountered by humans: creation and destruction, even the bestowal of death.

"I prefer to call myself the Child of the Stars. My power basically comes from Terra. Of course... it's degraded now. I've been away from my home planet for too long and have lost most of my strength. Now, at most, I'm slightly stronger than a human, and I live a little longer," the administrator explained. "Other than that, there's really no difference between me and humans."

"...There's no difference...?" Lu subconsciously looked the administrator up and down. "Have you always looked so...human-like since birth?"

"Now I'm really no different from a human." The administrator suddenly turned around, hands on his hips, as if deliberately showing off his body. "Now I feel hungry, I feel pain, and I can get sunburned by ultraviolet rays."

She even took off her gloves, revealing a faint burn scar on the back of her hand, and complained, "Look, I knocked over a cup while making coffee last week. It still hurts."

When he saw the administrator complaining about the pain of the burns, Lu suddenly understood something - when you discover that even gods can be scalded by hot water, a certain sense of sacred distance will indeed collapse.

"As for appearance..." The administrator tilted his head with an unexpectedly playful air, "Perhaps there's a uniform aesthetic across the universe? Just like your myths always depict angels as winged humanoids—though I bet that's definitely not aerodynamically sound."

"I actually think your very existence is the most contrary to common sense..." Lu complained softly, "I thought the Deep Blue Tree was enough to overturn my worldview, but I didn't expect there would be another expert. Miss Administrator, you should have told me later. I need time to digest what I heard today."

"Take your time, Lu. We're not in such a hurry. Although we're facing the end of humanity, even in this apocalypse, we must maintain the rationality that humans possess." Although he wasn't human, the Administrator was indeed very human-like. Aside from immortality, everything about the Administrator was exactly like a human. "Besides, we haven't lost yet. We're just preparing for battle."

After saying this, the administrator stretched. She seemed to be experiencing the same tiredness that humans experience. This didn't seem like something a deity would experience. Aren't deities supposed to be perpetual motion machines, able to work endlessly without any consequences? Eh... no, after creating the world, the Christian God even instituted a day of rest. Perhaps gods really do get tired. However, Lu genuinely didn't believe the administrator had any divinity. She was completely human, someone who had lived for a very, very long time.

This feeling made her feel at ease. The administrator seemed to be the same administrator, with no difference.

"Okay, now that we've met old friends and talked, I'll be leaving soon - but before that, how about we go to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat?" At this moment, the administrator suddenly suggested. This suggestion was so down-to-earth. They were just talking about profound topics like Genesis, gods, and human nature, and the next moment it immediately turned into a family chat about going to the dock to get some French fries. Lu nodded without even reacting, and was then dragged out of the laboratory by the administrator's hand.

Even after arriving at the cafeteria, she felt a little dreamy when she saw the administrator swiping the card to enter very skillfully and looking around like a mouse stealing food.

"Actually, we can come in and have a midnight snack properly...it's not forbidden to have a midnight snack." Lu complained quietly, but it was obvious that the administrator didn't think so.

"Midnight snacks are definitely more delicious when eaten secretly. Lu, you really don't understand. When the doctor and I ate midnight snacks secretly, she also thought that they were much more delicious than eating them openly - even though we were caught by Precious later and got scolded."

"Pfft... The doctor actually wants to have a late-night snack with you."

"She can even boil noodles in her mouth with boiling water! Although I can do it if I try hard, I still think it's a special skill that ordinary humans can't do." The administrator also revealed a shocking piece of news. Lu found it funny when he thought about the fact that one of the technological geniuses in the Garden of Eden liked to sneak in midnight snacks, and the other liked to boil noodles in his mouth with boiling water. Thinking about it carefully, maybe this is what genius is. Humans just can't imagine the interests of geniuses.

Or perhaps it is precisely because of these little flaws that they appear more like humans.

"What about Miss Precious? Does she have any quirks?" At this moment, Lu was like a badger guarding a melon field, wishing he could eat all the melons in the Garden of Eden.

"Pureseth...don't say it was me who said that..." The administrator lowered his voice, "She..."

"Yeah, what's wrong with me?"

"...She..." The administrator was about to say something, but the voice just now didn't seem to belong to Lu. She turned her head and broke out in a cold sweat on the spot. "P... Precious, why are you here?"

"Why can't I be here? I knew your card was swiped here, so I came straight here. It's so late, you must have been sneaking food in the cafeteria. I've been waiting for you for a long time." Precious's face was smiling, but his words were filled with chills. The administrator knew at that moment that he was probably going to end up in trouble. "You're the boss of Eden, can't you change your bad habit of stealing food? Isn't it embarrassing to tell everyone? You're the boss of Eden, and you're sneaking a late-night snack—if you don't find it embarrassing, I am!"

"...Ah, this." Although Lu really wanted to agree with Precious's statement, she seemed to have been coerced by the administrator, so she didn't have the right position.

"Ahem...Priss, I was wrong. Isn't it okay that I was wrong?" The administrator was also sweating profusely at this point. If it was just cheating, it would be fine. It was not the first or second time she was caught. But she just didn't control her mouth and was going to say bad things about Priss behind her back. This was not something that could be relieved by just being beaten. So, the Star Child of Terra immediately became intimidated and started to apologize on the spot without any idol baggage at all.

"Wrong? Too late!" Unfortunately, Precious didn't intend to let her off. "I've saved all the files from the time you disappeared. Don't worry, I won't let you have so much free time as to sneak into the cafeteria for a few days!"

Lu watched the administrator being dragged away by Prissise the entire time, and felt that the image of the mysterious, benevolent, and wise administrator had been shattered on the spot.

So... even the gods can be threatened by humans...

Chapter 44: Lu's Life

After the administrator was dragged away by Precious, Lu did not stay in the cafeteria for long. She ate a few mouthfuls of midnight snack and hurried back to the laboratory, throwing herself into the seemingly endless work.

The lights in the lab remained bright late into the night. Lu's fingertips danced across the keyboard, and the holographic screen constantly refreshed complex parameters. For her, this was no boring labor—in this era, work has long transcended the realm of making a living and become a path to self-realization. Every line of code she wrote, every piece of experimental data she analyzed, shaped her understanding and transformation of the world.

However, when she happened to look up and saw Ed playing StarCraft 2 on the lab's holographic projection system, a deep sense of powerlessness suddenly washed over her. It was an old RTS game from the early 21st century, and the graphics seemed ridiculously primitive to her.

"Are you using public property to play games again?" Lu couldn't help but speak out, with a hint of helplessness in his voice.

Without even turning around, Ed tapped his fingers rapidly on the holographic interface. "Don't be so serious, Lu. This is human cultural heritage! Besides, I'm studying ancient human-computer interaction methods." He controlled a team of machine gunners and imitated the unit's voice in the game: "Need more high-energy gas!"

Lu rubbed his temple. The rest of the lab seemed busy with their own things—if you could count making figurines with a molecular printer or mining virtual currency with a quantum computer as "busy." His colleagues at Eden were really good at finding entertainment for themselves.

She sighed and returned to her work. At least, these "unemployed" guys proved that human society had advanced to the point where people could freely pursue various forms of "self-realization"—even if it was through playing old 20th-century games.

Lu watched Ed excitedly pointing at the projection screen and couldn't help but hold his head with his hand. "You can't use the lab's projection to play games... We still need to work here."

"It's time to get off work, my dear student." Ed didn't even turn around, his fingers moving nimbly across the holographic interface. "This isn't a work environment right now. Besides—" He smiled slyly, "The administrator didn't say you can't use the lab's big screen to play games, right?"

As he controlled his in-game units, he turned sideways and winked at Lu. "You know what? My usual outfit is somewhat inspired by Jim Raynor from StarCraft II. Who could have imagined that when humanity truly entered the interstellar age, there wouldn't be any power armor, but instead drones would be widely used? From this perspective, Warhammer 40,000 is actually closer to reality..."

"First, I have no interest in the settings of your medieval games," Lu interrupted him expressionlessly. "Second, they're just science fiction, not prophecies." She sighed. "Do you really expect those game authors to be able to foresee the future?"

Ed shrugged, his fingers still working. "Hey, don't be such a bummer. Science fiction is humanity's imagination of the future. While the details may not be accurate, at least—" He pointed at the starship on the screen, "We do create something more amazing than this, don't we?"

Lu opened his mouth, wanting to retort, but ultimately shook his head and turned back to his terminal. Never mind, this guy had a bunch of crooked logic, there was no way he could win the argument.

"Lu, you look older than I do now." Ed lazily leaned back, and the smart chair, sensing his movement, slowly adjusted to a nearly reclining position. He was fiddling with a retro-looking game controller. Judging by the crude solder marks, it must have been handmade using techniques from the early 21st century—this guy had so much free time as to research chip soldering techniques from the 2s.

"Relax, even if the world is ending, we still have to enjoy life, right?" He shook the homemade controller in his hand, and the machine gunner on the holographic screen moved flexibly with his control. "If there is no such joy, life will be so boring. Even Einstein loved playing the violin, didn't he?"

Lu didn't even look up from his work, adjusting the experimental data. "Come on, if I become like you, I'll be completely screwed."

"Hey!" Ed clutched his chest exaggeratedly. "That's really hurtful. Seriously, how old are you? You spend all day in the lab, even entertainment has to be carefully calculated for 'cost-effectiveness.'" He deliberately mimicked Lu's usual tone. "'According to data analysis, the time input-output ratio for leisure and entertainment is too low'—isn't it tiring to live like this?"

Lu finally raised his head and glanced at the interstellar battlefield raging on the screen. "At least I won't be using precious lab equipment to play an antique game from twenty centuries ago."

"That's called sentiment!" Ed retorted confidently, his hands continuing to work. "Besides, this projector's utilization rate is usually less than 30%. I'm just warming it up."

Lu shook her head, her lips curling up unconsciously. She buried herself in her work again. The only sound in the lab was Ed's occasional "Need more minerals!" But Ed was right. She had never acted like a youngster. She was always pushing herself to move faster—to keep up with the others in Eden.

She knew she was young, but she was really worried that she would not be able to keep up with them and betray the administrator's trust.

For the sake of this trust, she really didn't dare to slack off. The Deep Blue Tree Project was entrusted to her, and she absolutely couldn't let down.

But obviously, Ed didn't like her like this.

Ed is the person who visits here the most times. From the first time he took office to now, he has come here no less than a dozen times, basically at least once a week. Lu does not dislike Ed's visits. Most of the time Ed will give him some help, which also makes the progress of the Deep Blue Tree's plan quite gratifying. It has even begun to transform the remaining four biological arks.

As Lu anticipated, after the four arks were modified, humans would at least have the option of "escape" when facing the threat of loggers.

The biological arks exist to spread life. In the Deep Blue Tree Laboratory, there is a sequence of the DNA of all living things on Earth collected by humans. This is a seed, and they are recorded in the DNA of these arks. If humans really lose, at least there is still such a resurrection coin.

She really pushed herself too hard...

I guess Ed also realized this, which is why he kept coming to help me. After all, he is more or less my teacher.

"Hello—pick it up."

"?"

Lu looked up, only to find Ed, as if by magic, pulling a can of Coke from his pocket and tossing it into the air. Surrounded by high-precision equipment, Lu immediately dropped everything she was doing and reached out. The moment she caught the can, the icy touch left her momentarily dazed. She remembered the last time she had a Coke. It seemed... ages ago.

The "hiss" sound of the can opening is particularly clear in the quiet laboratory, and the carbonic acid bubbles burst happily, like a long-lost sound called "life".

"Tun, tun, tun—" Ed tilted his head back and gulped down half the can, his Adam's apple rolling violently, unconcerned as the syrup slid down his chin and into his collar. He wiped his mouth and burped loudly, but despite being in his forties, he smiled like a teenager who had just pulled a successful prank, his eyes brimming with laughter. This man, who always wore a distressed leather jacket and cheered for Easter eggs in 20th Century Fox games, had an unseemly romanticism about him.

Come on, stop looking at me like that." Ed suddenly snapped his fingers, and the lab's holographic projection system switched to private theater mode. "I'll show you the greatest anime in human history - Cowboy Bebop!"

Lu raised an eyebrow. "Cowboys again? Your taste is like an old record player—always stuck on the same tune."

"What's wrong with the cowboys? This is Cowboy Bebop!" Ed leaped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, and a holographic projection unfolded behind him. "You know what? The universe depicted on celluloid by animators in 1998 has more soul than today's quantum-rendered star maps!"

"Even if you add the prefix 'Interstellar', it doesn't change the fact that this is an antique from the end of the last century." She turned and walked towards the ice machine in the corner, the ice making a crisp sound as it fell into the glass. "But since you insist on wasting time here--"

She pushed the cup with the iceberg floating on it to Ed and sat down in the seat next to him.

"Come on, I'll go with you, but Coke without ice is just cheap sugar water. You don't understand at all."

"Ha! I knew you were like that..." He impatiently poured the cola over the ice. Carbonated bubbles burst between the ice crystals, making a soothing sound. When the first mouthful of liquid mixed with ice slag slid down his throat, he sighed with satisfaction: "See, some classics are like this glass of ice cola—"

He shook the glass, and the ice cubes made a pleasant sound when they collided.

"After so many centuries, it still gives me goosebumps."

"We usually call it a physiological reaction." Lu's lips curled up slightly, her fingertips unconsciously stroking the water droplets on the glass. Today was indeed a day off—though that concept had long been blurred in the deep-sea laboratory. Watching an old anime with the teacher didn't seem too out of the ordinary. After all, after Ed left, she would still have plenty of time to immerse herself in the endless pile of data.

The moment the carbonated bubbles exploded on her tongue, she reflexively narrowed her eyes. The cola with crushed ice was like liquid lightning, burning from her throat all the way to her stomach, yet leaving a refreshing aftertaste in her esophagus. This paradoxical nature might be the secret to the 21st-century industrial sugary drink's enduring appeal across countless centuries—someone always needs this simple, crude sensory stimulation to combat this increasingly complex world.

There are always people who need such a stimulation to spend their summer——

Outside the porthole, the glow of the Deep Blue Tree cast an eerie blue-green hue across the inky black sea. The network of luminescent hyphae pulsed slowly under high pressure, like the capillaries of some slumbering giant. Lu suddenly realized the absurdity of the scene: they were sitting in humanity's most advanced biotechnology laboratory, under thousands of kPa of water pressure, enough to crush a submarine, yet they were using a priceless holographic projection system to play a two-hundred-year-old cartoon.

Perhaps this is what Ed wanted to teach her, something called romance?

Or would it be more appropriate to call it waste?

She couldn't help but find it a little funny. In her overly repetitive life in the underwater laboratory, Ed's arrival seemed like an embellishment, allowing her to remember that she was still just a young person.

-

"The data here - it would be better to recalculate it." Apart from Ed, the person who comes here most often is probably the doctor. She is much more reliable than Ed. The main reason for coming here is to see if there is any problem with Lu's calculation. This is not because she does not trust Lu, but rather a kind of care.

After all, if you want a prophet to come and help you correct the formula, there is probably no other place except a place like Eden where there are too many geniuses.

"I see—Doctor."

"You two, have you forgotten to eat again?" Just when the doctor was still helping Lu examine, Precious's helpless voice came from the side. The doctor and she were basically inseparable. As long as the doctor came, she would definitely be by the doctor's side. Many times, Lu felt that this was no longer a secret love - it was a pure open love.

However, the two of them seemed to have never broken that layer of window paper, so Lu had to keep his mouth shut.

"When are they getting married?"

Lu still remembers the scene when Ed smashed the beer glass on the bar.

Indeed, it wouldn't be strange for these two to announce their marriage at any time; they were just waiting for an opportunity...

But before that, Lu could only watch and worry.

"Ahem, it's already this late?" The Doctor and Lu looked up from the data stream simultaneously. The flickering fluorescent numbers on the holographic screen showed they had been working for 14 consecutive hours. When these two workaholics were together, time seemed to be running on warp speed—even the usually meticulous Lu didn't notice that the artificial lighting outside the window had switched to night mode.

Precious stood at the lab door, arms folded, gazing at the two men with a sullen expression. Her fingertips tapped rhythmically on the doorframe, as if counting down their procrastination. "Should I install a forced disconnect alarm in your brain-computer interface?"

"Actually... it's not that exaggerated." The doctor chuckled and scratched his head. "Besides, we're not hungry. I'll check one more formula and then go eat."

"Yes, yes, yes, 'the last one' again." Precious strode forward and tapped both men's foreheads simultaneously with force and precision, a resounding thud. She was quite brutal with these two invaluable human brains. She knew this rhetoric all too well—the last time someone used it, they were found unconscious in the lab, suffering from hypoglycemia, clutching a half-eaten energy cookie. "Last month, the medical department updated regulations requiring mandatory glucose injections for those working more than 12 hours straight—do you want to experience the side effects of those new nutritional injections?"

Lu instinctively covered his forehead, only to catch a glimpse of the doctor secretly saving the formula to an encrypted folder. This subtle tacit understanding made Precious laugh with rage. She unplugged the quantum key from the main console, and all the lab equipment instantly went into a standby blue light. "Now, immediately, move your biological bodies to the cafeteria—unless you want to try my new sedative formula."

The last frame before the holographic screen went dark showed the equation the doctor had just deduced. Lu stared at her own exhausted reflection on the dark screen and suddenly realized that Precious's knife skills had improved again... This time, she was hit on the head before she even realized it. She touched the spot and whispered.

"It hurts..."

Even though I was hit on the head more than ten seconds ago...

Chapter 45: Anna Wright

After the lab's blue light went out, Lu rubbed his red forehead. Precious's knife accuracy had indeed improved. This strike was so fast that even her enhanced reflexes couldn't dodge it.

"Serves you right." Precious put his hands on his hips. "You two workaholics, I have to force you to take a break, right?"

Her gaze lingered on Lu's forehead for a moment, and her expression relaxed for a moment. Perhaps she realized that she might have been a little too heavy-handed, so she took out a small spray from her pocket and said, "Lower your head."

Lu subconsciously shrank her neck as the cool mist of medicine sprayed on her forehead. The minty scent of the detumescent agent penetrated her nose, reminding her of her mother applying medicine to her after she fell as a child.

——No, she is an adult...Why do I always feel that Precious treats her like a child?

"Don't move." Precious held her shoulders and gently pushed back her bangs with his fingers. "The swelling isn't that bad... but next time I catch you working for so long, I'll have the medical department give you an intravenous injection." The threatening words were fierce, but the action of applying the medicine was unusually gentle.

Ed, who had come with her, was trying to hold back his laughter so hard his shoulders were shaking. After receiving a glare from Precious, he immediately raised his hands. "I can testify, these two guys have been grappling with a bunch of formulas since eight in the morning. If I hadn't been 'supervising' them, they wouldn't even drink a sip of water."

"Your so-called supervision is using lab equipment to play games?" Precious raised an eyebrow.

"It's called a balance between work and rest!" Ed patted the projector confidently. "Besides, this machine is usually used..."

"Less than 30%, I know." Precious rolled his eyes. "You always use the same excuse."

She turned to the doctor and said, "And you, as a senior, are you taking the lead in working overtime?"

The doctor was trying to shove the data terminal into his pocket when he froze. Precious quickly pulled the terminal away and locked it in the safe on the wall as the doctor looked on pitifully.