I Am Not a Robot. Beep-bop

Chapter 64: The Doll and the Immortal Girl 1

The underground passages of Earnest Rail stretched out in all directions like a spider’s web.

Since no one could predict where new bases or satellite cities might appear on the surface, they had dug underground paths wherever there was solid ground capable of construction.

Thanks to this, we were able to secure a comfortable and cozy campsite in one of the underground roads built by Earnest Rail.

The Rust Rain didn’t reach here, there was no dirt or bugs, making the environment pleasant, and since the direction of the northern base was the opposite, there wasn’t even an underground train passing through.

Though it wasn’t as luxurious as the Saya Guild’s mansion, it wasn’t too cold or too hot, and it was comfortable enough to lay down a sleeping bag anywhere and rest, which was more than enough to satisfy the kids.

Truly, Earnest Rail was remarkable.

From meal kits to now providing a cozy campsite, it seemed like an endless giving tree.

“Wow! It’s a tanghulu kit!”

“Meat!”

“So tasty…”

“Soft…”

The kids ripped into their meal kits and devoured them without any hesitation, a sight that was truly delightful to see.

This wasn’t just from what we had taken from the train.

Before the train arrived, we had already looted supplies from hovercraft that were used for air transportation, leaving meal kit wrappers of various colors scattered around.

Earnest Rail probably couldn’t even imagine us living, eating, and sleeping in their underground paths.

“Oh, this is delicious.”

For reference, my meal kit consisted of fried rice with spicy chicken ribs and canned sausages.

Mega Corp’s meal kits were excellent gourmet food in their own right, with different dishes in each kit, making it exciting to open and eat them.

Whatever technology was used, they were hot and crispy as if freshly cooked as soon as they were opened.

While one kit was usually enough for the kids, we had “relocated” so many supplies from Earnest Rail that in our underground campsite, the kids would take a bite and toss them aside, claiming they were tired of it—what a waste.

Satisfied from the voluntary “civilian support” received on the train, the kids lay sprawled around the campsite with content faces.

With full bellies and after having fun, it was time for them to feel drowsy.

Leaving the sleeping kids alone, I examined the parts of the Dominator Robot I had taken from the train.

【Earnest Rail’s Dominator Robot is a combat robot designed for VIP protection, supply management, and external control.】

Originally, I had planned to leave it behind, but Theresa had arbitrarily taken the damaged robot parts with her mechanical tendrils.

She seemed to have plenty of use for them in upgrades.

【External Armor Parts】

【Lower Neural Matrix】

【Incision Snap】

【Including artificial neural networks and metallic muscles, these components show diverse potential for application to this unit.】

“What can you do with this?”

【Immediate improvements to external armor strength and internal energy efficiency can be achieved.】

【Additionally, lacking weapon types will be supplemented by emulating the Dominator Robot’s armaments for new applications.】

“Armor? Isn’t my body already pretty sturdy? Do I really need to make it even tougher?”

【In the case of the True Ancestor Virus or Gaia, opponents have mostly been caught off guard. If someone like Oriana, a First-Class Overseer, were to launch a deliberate attack imbued with mana, the chances of withstanding it would significantly decrease.】

“Was Oriana really that strong?”

【Considering the specs of a First-Class Overseer, as analyzed through Ark’s internal network, it wouldn’t be difficult for her.】

【If faced with a First-Class Overseer or an equivalent level combatant, this unit’s survival chances would be slim, regardless of victory.】

【Therefore, upgrades are deemed essential, Human.】

Honestly, I was already satisfied with the Mantis Blades made from the Holy Sword and Demonic Sword, but it seemed Theresa had other ideas.

“Fine, fine. Do whatever you want. Suit yourself.”

【Commencing reassembly now.】

“Just one condition—no turning my legs into tank treads or converting me into a quadrupedal flying android, got it?”

【Bipedalism is mere indulgence. Such inefficiency, Human.】

“I’m telling you again, if you even think of attaching tracks to my body, I’d rather just die. I’ve gone to great lengths to maintain this pretty android form.”

As I joked back and forth with Theresa, mechanical tendrils extended from the spinal parts and began performing surgery on my body.

-Creak.

-Screech.

-Bzzzt!

While “surgery” wasn’t the right word, terms like modification and enhancement fit better.

The sight of mechanical tendrils dismantling my limbs one by one with precise and delicate movements was fascinating.

Springs and screws inside my body scattered briefly before reassembling in new forms, with the Dominator Robot’s components being integrated into my physique in ways tailored to my structure.

I felt a little strange.

No, it wasn’t just strange—it hurt a bit.

It felt as if my body was twisting and breaking into pieces.

In reality, it wasn’t too far from the truth.

There might not be much difference between breaking apart and reassembling, but the fact that my body was being dismantled was the same.

I didn’t need to worry about the battery.

Not only did I have spare batteries, but Earnest Rail’s underground tunnels were lined with wires and coils that supplied power.

Simply finding a spot and plugging in my mechanical tendrils would let a slightly heavy and coal-flavored electricity flow in.

The electricity here wasn’t exactly gourmet, but since charging my battery was always essential, I had to endure it.

【Human, it is done.】

Beneath the sleek artificial skin, my once monotone mechanical arm now featured a harmonious blend of black and white components.

As I moved my arm after the operation, it felt more flexible and natural, almost like a human’s movement.

I clenched my fist.

The force transmitted to the muscle fibers, the power, and the flow of energy were noticeably more vivid than before.

‘My movements have become more natural. The power now reaches all the way to my fingertips.’

Even if I moved like a human, I was still a mechanical android.

Of course, perfectly replicating those movements from my human life was impossible, and the gap between the movements I remembered and my body’s actual functionality was significant.

This disparity often led to a decline in combat efficiency.

If not for this, my head wouldn’t have been smashed by that bastard who hurled a greatsword from his inventory.

【Overall muscle control, including strength, has improved.】

【Confirmed enhancements: power, flexibility, elasticity, durability, and the outer armor network.】

【Additionally, the radar neural network from the Dominator Robot has been installed.】

“Radar network?”

【Focus on your field of vision.】

Following Theresa’s instructions, I concentrated on what was in front of me, and my vision expanded.

It felt as if my eyes had become telescopes.

Not only that, but heat detection and vibration sensors were integrated into my pupils, allowing me to identify all objects within a 50-meter radius.

Even though I had pupils like a human, I was an android.

I could now sense not only what I looked at directly but also perceive and recognize objects in all directions.

‘Let’s expand the view a bit more.’

Focusing on the visual sensors, my field of view gradually widened.

I saw dust, the concrete of the underground tunnel, and cracked seams.

Above that, I detected the ground structure, the flow of air, and vibrations.

‘So this is what the radar was about.’

It wasn’t just about vision; it involved sensing and perceiving every environmental factor.

Once I realized it, I felt as if I had become something omnipotent.

It felt pretty good.

But at that moment, an uninvited guest appeared in my field of vision.

A human?

A human who looked like a child was wandering aimlessly in the forest.

With a slender figure and long hair, they looked like a young girl.

It didn’t make sense for an ordinary child to get lost and wander in a forest like this.

They were either a Hunter or an employee of Earnest Rail.

“…No, what is this?”

However, upon closer inspection, the girl’s appearance was utterly horrific.

[Executing… orders.]

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‘At Earnest Rail, they turn the illegitimate children of executives into dolls.’

The grim rumor that Mega Corp abducted lower-class orphans and homeless individuals without ties for biological experiments was widely whispered even in Ark.

Most were exaggerated, but some were true or disturbingly close to the truth.

Earnest Rail’s dolls were one of the cases where the rumors were true.

Dolls.

Their official name was “Special Purpose Biological Disassembly Weapon.”

They were weapons designed to dismantle organic matter, whether human or monster.

Common battle robots equipped with ordinary AI were everywhere, but the Dolls were Earnest Rail’s secret weapon and taboo, using humans as the most cost-effective biological computers.

The reason they were considered taboo was obvious—it was a weapon utilizing humans as its base, strictly prohibited by Ark’s leadership.

Dolls, apart from any ethical considerations, were fundamentally against Ark’s norms by their very existence.

Humans were adapted from childhood to function as weapons and mechanical bodies, exposed to high concentrations of mana and electrical signals.

To minimize side effects during their growth, their growth plates and various hormone-secreting glands were entirely removed.

For the overly wealthy Mega Corp, the thing they lacked most was military power.

To exert influence over Ark, a small continent, powerful individuals were essential.

The leadership and administrators of Ark sought to regulate and control corporations by enforcing various restrictions and deploying numerous Overseers.

Still, that was the corporations’ perspective, and Ark’s leadership knew that if Mega Corp were left unchecked, humans in Ark could lose their humanity and become corporate slaves.

Likewise, corporations could become entities focused solely on their interests, disregarding social commitment and reinvestment.

This was true in the past, remains so now, and would likely be true in the future.

If not killed outright, corporations had to be beaten down until they complied.

For these reasons, Mega Corp, despite raking in profits, could not grow significantly stronger within Ark.

They couldn’t openly dream of rebellion either.

If a corporation dared to violate the regulations and laws established by the revered administrators, a First-Class Overseer would shut down the company personally.

Resistance? Rebellion? Defiance?

They could try all they wanted.

However, they needed to understand that many corporations in Ark had disappeared without even leaving a name behind.

Despite employing powerful staff and Hunters, Mega Corp was helpless when an Overseer, bearing the duty of protecting humanity and maintaining Ark’s order, descended upon them.

Earnest Rail created Dolls as a new card to oppose Ark’s leadership and the Overseers.

The initial process of creating a Doll wasn’t much different from that of a standard battle robot.

However, the core AI was a human brain.

In the slum-like Magrid Step, Earnest Rail’s employees regularly contacted parents willing to sell their children or subcontracted trafficking organizations for Doll subjects.

The individuals turned into Earnest Rail’s weapons had their reasoning and desires stripped away, killing the company’s enemies until deemed unusable.

Naturally, Dolls, by their very existence, violated Ark’s taboos and regulations and couldn’t be deployed within Ark.

Thus, Earnest Rail invested heavily in the northern front at Zain, producing Dolls in large quantities to build power capable of opposing Ark as a long-term plan.

Constant modifications and improvements to Dolls could eventually allow them to overwhelm the Overseers who opposed corporations.

Even without that, Dolls had already proven to be quite effective.

Dolls deployed in battles that left no witnesses achieved remarkable results.

Focused solely on combat power, ignoring the burden and output on their operators, Dolls tore apart external forces and natives daring to oppose Earnest Rail.

“From midnight to 9 a.m., all entry and exit from the base will be restricted.”

This announcement came from Milton, the northern front base manager.

“Effective immediately, Dolls will be deployed. Per Earnest Rail’s external contract terms, external Hunters must remain in designated lodgings, and company employees without an issued authorization code are strictly prohibited from entering the forest.”

Dolls were about to start scouring the forest.

While Dolls were immensely powerful against organic materials, they lacked reason and couldn’t follow complex commands.

Earnest Rail thus unleashed them like hunting dogs into the forest or battlefield for a set duration.

Dolls, in turn, would hunt down and eliminate all enemies they encountered.

“This is a chance to wipe out the native forces hiding like monkeys.”

On the northern front, Dolls were the ultimate weapons for human hunting.

Earnest Rail had even programmed them to hunt all “humans” except allies, sweeping through natives and external forces.

As a result, employees and contracted Hunters were effectively trapped in the base, while Hunters who abandoned their contracts and left faced a high risk of being attacked by Dolls.

“Those are just some random Hunters who broke their contracts with Earnest Rail. There’s nothing to regret if they die. It’d be better if more of them perished—less money wasted on contract payouts or penalties.”

Even compensation and penalties were part of Milton’s personnel evaluation.

While the Hunters’ lives didn’t matter much, having more of them die would actually be beneficial.

The order for Dolls to “exterminate humans” was inherently efficient and effective.

Natives and external forces hiding in the forest wouldn’t survive the Dolls’ onslaught, and many runaway Hunters would also likely die.

Alice and the kids had “temporarily relocated” the base supplies through voluntary public support, leaving only idle natives and contract-breaking Hunters to perish.

“New friend!”

“Wow!”

“Friend-friend!”

When the immortal girls stuffed food from a meal kit into the Doll’s mouth, it reluctantly ate despite its apparent confusion.

Though it lacked reason, the Doll instinctively consumed food as fuel.

“Eat this too!”

“Hahaha!”

“So tiny!”

“Smaller than me!”

“But you’re tiny too!”

“Ugh!”

“Scrawny!”

“Nooooo!”

The Doll had fallen victim to the immortal factory kids’ playtime, being treated like an actual doll.

Seeing someone smaller and more delicate than themselves, the kids seemed genuinely delighted.

Milton likely had no idea this was happening.

Alice, of course, wasn’t human.

Despite considering her mind or soul human, her body was undeniably that of an android robot.

And the immortal girls born in the Immortal Factory?

Though they resembled humans, they weren’t truly human either.

While Sohi and Alice treated the kids as humans and cared for them, the Doll couldn’t recognize them as such.

Earnest Rail’s radar installed in Dolls was highly advanced.

Had it been equipped with a lower-grade radar that attacked anything visible, it might have been different.

In this case, however, the Doll recognized Alice and the immortal girls as non-human and displayed no aggression.

“Hmm, Earnest Rail really is like Santa Claus.”

【This is puzzling to me as well.】

Free meal kits, lodging, and now a new friend with no aggression?

It looked like a corporate secret weapon surrounded by our kids, but who cares?

After all, corporate matters weren’t my concern.