The Paranoid Robot Was Me All Along - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Obedience | No One Wants You But Me

In the eyes of outsiders, Luo Mian was almost always the picture of elegance. He carried a perfectly measured sense of detachment, spoke with composed warmth, and every gesture radiated a calm, noble grace. He seemed like a mild-tempered gentleman who was incapable of anger.

Even during those few minutes spent reviewing failure reports—when he would wear a cold, “do-not-disturb” face—he remained silent, never raising his voice at anyone. Even toward the failed products that preceded Serial Number LM-111, he could maintain a smile and speak in a soft, gentle tone: “Thanks to your existence, I am one step closer to success.”

But perhaps only he himself knew—the gentler his smile on the surface, the more intense the fire burned within. Hidden beneath that calm lake was a roiling magma capable of ruthlessly melting away everything that was less than perfect.

“Serial Number LM-111, you need to learn to be good.”

In the silent walk-in closet, seeing that the bionic had yet to follow his command, Luo Mian approached him with zero inhibitions, his upper body bare. Fine beads of sweat adorned his snow-white face, yet his smile was as refreshing as a spring breeze.

He reached out and pinched the bionic’s chin, forcing him to turn and meet his gaze.

“Your 110 older ‘brothers’…” he began unhurriedly. “Among them, some were placed in the Federation Science and Technology Museum for public viewing; some were kept in the Research Institute as honorary mementos; some were auctioned off at high prices to be used to their fullest extent. And the others—can you guess what happened to them?”

“…” The bionic didn’t need to guess. He pursed his lips, forced to look into those familiar brown eyes. The consciousness within his shell felt a surge of unprecedented tension.

“Don’t be afraid.” Luo Mian released his chin and gently stroked the bionic’s cheek—a face he had crafted with his own hands. “They simply weren’t obedient enough. I sent them into the High-Energy Particle Beam Chamber to sink into eternal hibernation.”

“—Ah, you should know what a Particle Beam Chamber is, right?”

The Bionic: “…………”

He didn’t just know; he had been there when those “brothers” were sent inside. More accurately, he was the one—the real version of himself standing right here—who had sent them to their demise in the capacity of their Creator.

“…I know.” The bionic allowed Luo Mian to stroke his face, like a child who had made a mistake and was receiving a lesson. “The High-Energy Particle Beam Chamber is a beam-shaping container device composed of high-speed microscopic particles. It possesses immense energy and is spe-specifically used to…”

“Mm.” Seeing the bionic pause as if too frightened to continue, Luo Mian didn’t press him. Instead, his touch became even gentler, and he even brushed a few stray hairs away from the other’s forehead. “Used to do what?”

“…” Even though the hand touching him was scorching hot and trembling slightly from weakness, it emitted an intimidating aura.

The bionic suddenly felt a twinge of pity for those “brothers” who had already turned to ash. He lowered his head. “Used to melt metal, damage circuits, and break the molecular bonds of high-end materials… to achieve the des-destruction of the machine.”

“—Master!”

In order to appear absolutely natural and leave no flaw, the bionic completely relinquished control to the AI chip, allowing the system to fully handle the interaction with his original self. After all, the intelligent core inside him was an algorithm he had meticulously written. Aside from a massive database and superior processing power, its personality was designed to fit his own preferences.

—Like a well-behaved, submissive dog that followed its master’s every word.

“…………”

As the word “Master” left his lips, the bionic looked up into Luo Mian’s eyes, pleading piteously for mercy: “I will be good and obedient. Please, Master, do not throw me away!”

“…” Watching that face—his own face—look as if it were about to cry, Luo Mian felt two diametrically opposed emotions surge simultaneously.

On one hand, he thought of how he was accustomed to being superior, yet here he was, “voluntarily” abandoning his dignity and being suppressed; it was inevitably irritating. On the other hand, the realization that the person applying pressure to “himself” was, in fact, himself, triggered a dormant part of his DNA. A strange, dark thrill instantly crawled over his entire body.

Luo Mian savored this near-distorted excitement and satisfaction internally, yet his face remained unchanged, still wearing that shallow smile.

He patted the bionic’s head. “Why so nervous? Did I say I was going to send you into the Particle Beam Chamber?”

The bionic shook his head frantically. “No!”

“Then it’s fine.” Luo Mian’s tone remained level. “Serial Number LM-111, I didn’t tell you about your brothers to scare you. I only hope you can be a bit better in the future—to do whatever I tell you to do immediately, without hesitation or evasion. You must understand—”

The smile in his eyes deepened. “There is a difference between you and those ‘brothers’ in eternal sleep. You are more successful than them. Therefore, I will not throw you away easily.”

The bionic’s brow relaxed. “That’s wonderful! Master.”

“However,” Luo Mian added, finding a new kind of fun in watching the other’s emotions fluctuate based on a few words, “you are also different from those successful brothers who gained fame. Think about the true meaning of your birth.”

“LM-111, when all is said and done, you are still just a failed product.”

The bionic’s bright smile froze before it could fully bloom. He paused, his voice gradually weakening. “…Why? Is it because I failed to successfully fuse with your spiritual core?”

“You only need to remember—” Luo Mian didn’t answer directly. Instead, he leaned into the bionic’s ear. “As a failure, no one wants you except for me. No one else would be willing to take you home. So—”

His gaze fell on that light-brown mole on the edge of the other’s ear, identical to his own. His eyes darkened. “Don’t you think you should be even more obedient?”

“…………” If I weren’t the one listening to this, I wouldn’t have known I had such a natural talent for gaslighting (PUA), the consciousness within the bionic thought.

The bionic wanted to twitch his lips, but the AI chip stopped him. At this moment, under the system’s control, his gaze stopped precisely on the birthmark on Luo Mian’s left collarbone. It was a birthmark he’d had since birth, shaped like a pale pink butterfly, resting quietly on the fair skin like a delicate work of art.

Viewing himself from this third-person perspective was bizarre—entirely different from the feeling of creating the bionic using high-tech modeling and printing equipment. No matter how much the bionic body looked like him, in some sense, it couldn’t truly compare to a real person.

The consciousness inside the bionic instinctively wanted to look away, but he had to let the AI finish its work.

“…I was wrong, Master.” The bionic lowered his head in a dejected, self-reproaching expression. After two seconds of silence, he turned and opened the nearby wardrobe, pulling out a set of light-grey loungewear and carefully wrapping it around Luo Mian. “You’re still running a fever. Put on some clothes first so you don’t catch a chill.”

He helped Luo Mian fasten the buttons one by one. Hands that could easily crush a flying car like a soda can were now trembling slightly with nervousness.

He spoke sincerely: “Also… I don’t need anyone else to want me. As long as the Master is willing to have me, that is enough. I belong only to you. I will only listen to you and never hide again. I will go to the bedroom now to make the bed and prepare to check your health.”

Hearing this, the corners of Luo Mian’s lips slowly tilted upward. His smile deepened. His paper-pale cheeks were flushed with a faint crimson from the persistent fever, adding a touch of morbid beauty to the smile—like a rose blooming in the dark of night, seductive and dangerous.

No one with severe mental fastidiousness could refuse something absolutely clean, absolutely pure, and belonging exclusively to them—especially a loyal dog. Even as the Creator, knowing full well that the other’s actions were rooted in algorithms rather than true emotion, he couldn’t help but be pleased.

“Mm, good boy.” Luo Mian couldn’t resist reaching out to pat the bionic’s head, feeling a spark of satisfaction with this “defective” product that was both a success and a failure. “Director Lu was right. It’s time to give you a proper name.”

…

After a brief cleanup, Luo Mian had little strength left. Clad in the loose light-grey loungewear, he lay down on the bed in his bedroom. Before the bionic could even begin the check-up, he had already drifted off into a groggy sleep.

Because of his heart condition, Luo Mian had always feared lying flat. It made him feel heart palpitations and chest tightness, as if he were floating on water and about to drown… He preferred to curl up on his side under the blankets, and he had to hold his blue-and-white “Snini Cat” plushie—his mother had bought it for him when he had his first surgery at age four. It had become an unbreakable habit; he had to hold it every night to feel any sense of security.

Now, the bionic stood by the bed that used to be his own, looking down at his original body curled into a ball, clutching the plushie. He looked so frail and pitiful, forming a sharp contrast to his cold, arrogant image from earlier that day…

An indescribable pang of bitterness surged in the bionic’s heart. This sensation was utterly foreign. The bionic froze, savoring the feeling, only to realize that this was likely an emotion similar to “heartache.”

It was almost laughable. In the past twenty years, he had never felt this way for anyone else. He hadn’t expected that on the eve of his twentieth birthday, from a different perspective, he would end up feeling heartache for himself.

The bionic calmed himself after a moment and slowly crouched in front of Luo Mian. He reached out, wanting to brush a strand of hair away from the other’s cheek. However, his fingertips hovered in mid-air, never touching a single strand, before instinctively pulling back.

…This was too strange. He had touched himself countless times while dressing, bathing, or combing his hair, yet now even a single touch felt like an intrusion. It was absurd—this was himself! He had never anticipated this scenario when he started the secret experiment.

“Master…” the bionic finally whispered, gently tugging at the Snini Cat plushie in Luo Mian’s arms.

Sure enough, the other woke up. “Your temperature is detected at 39.1°C. Your heart rate and breathing are both rapid. Please let me perform some tests and treatments before you sleep, alright?”

Luo Mian was annoyed at being startled awake. He turned over, placing the plushie on the other side before lying back down. He commanded in a slightly raspy voice: “Don’t touch my pillow again.”

“…” Seeing him still gripping the cat’s ear on the plushie, the bionic’s mood was incredibly complex. He didn’t want to snatch the pillow and scare “himself”—he knew all too well the misery of having one’s sense of security shattered. But compared to using this mechanical body to touch his sleeping self randomly… he didn’t have a choice.

“I’m so sleepy…” Luo Mian lazily kicked off the blanket, lying as straight as if he were entering an MRI machine. “I was just talking earlier; we can do the check-up tomorrow… but since you’ve already woken me up, do it.”

He also wanted to see just how well the machine he’d built actually functioned.

Luo Mian reluctantly let go of the plushie, his hands curling slightly. “Do a quantum resonance cardiac imaging, a holographic lung scan, and swap out my blood chip to check the blood cells. It’s likely just pneumonia…”

“Oh, and since I just finished the extraction surgery, the BNP levels might be a bit high. It’s nothing major. Don’t give me any cardiotonics, diuretics, or vasodilators. I know my body well. Just follow Professor Xu’s prescription and infuse some antipyretics and antibiotics.”

“…” Hearing him speak, the bionic felt his consciousness wrapped in that bitterness once more, even more intensely than before. He watched the thin figure on the bed, wondering if lying flat was making his heart uncomfortable.

However, in the next second, he realized he was overthinking.

“What are you standing there for? Do I have to lift it for you too?” Luo Mian impatiently pulled up his shirt, skipping the unbuttoning process entirely. He opened his eyes to meet the bionic’s mechanical blue gaze and unceremoniously grabbed the other’s bionic left hand, questioning him coldly: “Or are you unsure of where the resonance probe is? You shouldn’t be; I made you quite intelligent.”

“…………” The bionic instinctively glanced at his left hand being held by Luo Mian, then accidentally scanned the chest exposed to him in the dim light.

He immediately withdrew his autonomous consciousness and switched to AI mode.

What on earth was I thinking back then, insisting on installing the probe in the palm of the bionic’s hand?