[CONTENTID1] CHAPTER THIRTY THREE - PROJECTS PART II [/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]

Hyoyeon looks between me and the two AIs. “Hold up, what? I’m confused. You know these people?”

“I don’t know them but I know who they are. That day when I found Hongbin and Taekwoon in their glass cases—” I start, recalling the memory as if it occurred just yesterday. “—I also saw these two. Project HZ and CH, the scientists called them. That one—“ I point at HZ. “He has a glitch. He can feel compassion or something.”

“Empathy,” the raven-haired AI corrects. “You seem to know quite a bit already, Choi Hyerim.” 

“How do you know my name?” I ask, tilting my head. He mimics the action, reminding me of Daeho for a moment. His silver eyes flash a crystal blue colour before returning to normal. “My name…it’s in your system, too? Are you like Hongbin and Taekwoon?”

He shakes his head. “Not exactly. I’m not under your command. Actually, I’m not under anyone’s command. My glitch allows me to make my own decisions without anyone else’s input. The reason I know your name, Choi Hyerim, is because my squad was instructed to find you…and to kill you.”

“HUH!?” Hyoyeon exclaims in unison with a few others from my team and the Alpha Team. “What the hell!?”

“If you were supposed to kill her, why did you save her from drowning!?” Jackson demands, glaring at the AI. HZ shrugs in response.

“I…felt bad for her,” he replies and Sehun scoffs, rolling his eyes. “I know it’s hard to believe, considering what I am. But when I saw Choi Hyerim sinking, I couldn’t just stand back and do nothing. I had to save her. That, and I had a favour to uphold.”

“This doesn’t add up. How did you get so far out offshore?” I ask. “Why were you offshore in the first place? Why do you have to kill me?”

“I’ll answer all of your questions in good time. You must be hungry and thirsty, let’s get you nourished,” he suggests with a small smile. I narrow my eyes at him but nod slowly, following him to one of the tables. Jiyong looks up and nods in acknowledgement. I nod back and smile at the twins. Mino, Jimin and Jungkook all wave while Bora walks over and hugs me briefly, surprising everyone.

“Are you a vegetarian?” HZ asks and I shake my head. He fills a plate up with food then walks over and places it in front of me. He then walks around the table and pulls out a chair, taking a seat opposite me. “Your wounds are healing well. I was worried you’d lost all control of your legs.”

“Cut the bull, will ya?” Mino snaps, sitting upright. “Answer the damn questions." Karim elbows him. “What?”

“B-b-be n-n-n-nice. He s-s-s-saved H-Hyerim,” he reminds him and Mino purses his lips, folding his arms in a sulk. “B-b-baby.” Mino smacks him upside the head and Karim shoots him a glare. He looks adorable, I note.

I look at the AI. “Project HZ—“

“Huang Zitao. Call me Tao,” he interjects.

“Tao. My people are very uneasy right now and, frankly, so am I. Please cut to the chase and answer my questions,” I say as politely as I can. He nods.

“My squad were originally shipped to North Korea to help out the ally army. Things went haywire, people died, AIs were destroyed and we were sent to Seoul to extract an important Chinese general,” he explains and we all listen. I glance to my left and see the large group of uniformed civilians staring right at us. I swallow my uneasiness and look back at Tao. “A few days ago, we got a call telling us that someone by the name of Choi Hyerim robbed the military base, killed one of the generals and left the other for dead.” General Xi. I fist my hands angrily. The bastard betrayed me. 

“That motherer,” Hyoyeon gasps, slamming her hand down on the table. “She didn’t kill General Li! Bora did! No offence, Bora.”

“None taken,” Bora shrugs.

“So wait…General Xi’s alive?” Jackson questions, cupping his chin.

“Alive and awaiting Choi Hyerim’s head on a stick,” Project CH replies casually. There is no trace of emotion in his voice nor on his face, unlike Tao. 

“He guessed you’d try to come back to your home but when we picked up no signs of an aircraft requesting for landing, we left Seoul,” Tao continues, regaining our attention. “We just wandered through different towns and cities, rescuing people along the way…Hakyeon and the others, of course, didn’t agree with that.”

“We still don’t,” Project CH — or Hakyeon — says. “Statistically, they lower our chances of survival. Logically, they are useless rescues since most of them are incapable of fighting and, therefore, pulling their own weight. The logical thing to do would be to leave them behind or kill them.”

“Jesus, and I thought Sehun was a cold bastard,” Kyuhyun comments, earning a glare from Sehun. 

“It’s simple mathematics. The more people we have with us, the more noise we generate. The more noise we generate, the more likely we are to attract attention from the creatures,” another person adds — this time, a girl. She also has clear blue eyes. “And the last thing we need is attention from them. Their hearing is already more advanced than that of an average human.”

“Really?” Kwangmin mumbles and she nods once.

"They also have enhanced smelling."

“Well, .”

“Back to the story,” Tao cuts in. “We were in Daegu when I received a message from another AI still in Beijing.” Hongbin. “Hongbin.” I knew it. “He told me that General Xi lied about the convictions, he told me to protect you at all costs.”

“And you agreed?” Jackson asks and he nods. “Why?”

Tao bites his lip. “Because Hongbin was the only other AI that understood me. Sometimes, I think he might have been a little like me. You know…broken. I think he might have been able to feel emotion as well, though not as strongly as me.” I watch him carefully, trying to decide if I believe him or not. “So, when he told me to find you and help you, I promised him I would.”

“That doesn’t explain how you knew where to find us,” Sehun says, suspicion obvious in his tone.

“The plane was encrypted with some data that can only belong to an AI. I read it as soon as you entered the area, I identified it as Project JT’s data. I knew that he and Hongbin were assigned to you and I assumed you’d be on the aircraft,” he answers. Nothing about his demeanour indicates dishonesty but I’m still wary. Maybe not of him, but at least of Hakyeon and the female AI.

“So you tracked us?” Daehyun asks and Tao nods. “Cool.” They both grin at each other and Hyoyeon rolls her eyes, kicking our friend under the table. “Ouch!”

“How did you get to us so fast?” I ask, addressing Tao.

“As soon as I got a reading of your aircraft, I knew something was not right with it. The others refused to lend a hand so I took one of the lifeboats in our possession and paddled out close to where I calculated you’d ditch the plane,” he replies, leaning forward in his chair and putting his elbows on the table. “Honestly, I didn’t think from the looks of the crash that any of you would make it. Your chances sat at precisely 1.24366%.”

“We didn’t all make it,” Youngmin mumbles, looking down at his feet.

“You’re all still lucky to be alive,” he shrugs. “I watched the big one singlehandedly save about five or six of you.” He points at Julien. “It was amazing. Then the one with little hair saved three or four as well.” He points at Mino, who only raises a brow at him. “I forgot how beautiful humans can be sometimes. It was touching.”

“Wait…” I mumble, staring into his silver eyes. The lights. “You! You’re the one who pulled me out of the water. I remember seeing lights.”

“I used my installed flashlights to locate you in the darkness of the sea and then I carried you to one of the lifeboats the big one secured.”

“The name’s Julien,” Julien tells him. “The one with the shaved sides is Mino.”

“My apologies,” Tao replies, bowing slightly. “So…do you have any more questions?”

“Why, or rather how, are you different from the other robots?” Jimin asks, shoving a chunk of grilled meat in his mouth. “Even your eyes are a different colour from that one’s.” He points his fork at Hakyeon. 

“We’re Artificial Intelligence, not robots,” the female AI corrects him. He shrugs uncaringly as he continues to stuff his face with food. I my lips, realising I’m hungry, and dig into my own dish. “Zitao has faulty wiring, or so we presume. We don’t actually know what’s wrong with him.”

“Wrong? I’d say he’s better than the rest of you,” Jiyong comments and she shoots him a glare. “Having a conscience makes him more human. It makes him a better person.”

“No, it makes him a failure of an AI,” Hakyeon says, folding his arms. I frown and look at Tao, who only shrugs his shoulders as if admittedly. “The only reason he was sent with our squad was so that we could leave him behind. That’s what we were told.”

“Yes, we were told to use him as bait when fighting opposing armies or infected humans,” the female adds, nodding. “Unfortunately when things went badly, we were forced to keep him with us to increase our chances of survival. It was a risky move but one that had to be made.”

“Wow, so much love,” Mino mutters and Kyuhyun scoffs, shaking his head. The two exchange looks and break into grins. I have a feeling they’ll go on to become very good friends. “But I agree with GD, I think I’ll trust an AI like Tao more than any of the others.”

I nod. “Same here. I always did like Hongbin.” I remember the way he smiled at me before the aft door of the aircraft shut in Beijing. His dimples seemed to dance on his cheeks — they were really charming. It’s a shame I only got to see them once. “I hope he’s okay.”

“He’s a scrap of metal, I doubt much could hurt him,” Sehun says as he walks over and pulls a seat out next to me. I give him a pointed look. He looks back at me and raises a brow. “What?”

“You’re really—“ I sigh and shake my head, deciding not to finish my sentence. Instead, I look at Tao. I lean over the table and take his hand, putting it in both of mine. “Thank you for saving me, Tao. I’ll try to repay you somehow.”

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