CHAPTER 199: THE BRAIN

"...Yar, this book doesn’t make any sense," I say to her after she reads the book to me, she looks at the book somewhat disappointed.

"I’m sorry for the wrong choice, I admit the book’s content is regrettably bad, it seems I need to discard this kind of book," She says, putting the book on the table.

"It’s okay, I just wonder why keep a book like this, there’s nothing interesting, you know? Besides, it’s full of mistakes." It was a book that was supposed to have real knowledge of robotics.

I decided to try and learn a little, but even a complete technology layman like me knows the content is wrong.

"Maybe we should go back to normal books now?" She questions while picking up another book.

"Maybe, and by the way, Yar, couldn’t you teach me to read? Don’t those robots placed in my body have a function for that?" I say hopefully.

"They do," She confirms.

"Oh, so..."

"It has a 30% success rate and can cause permanent damage to your brain and vision, so it is strongly recommended not to try," She interrupts me.

"Ah...you’re right, I don’t want to, I’d rather be taught the normal way," I say, picking up the book she just read.

’These letters...they seem very difficult...’ They look like a bunch of confusing and crooked scribbles with twisted and confused lines, they seem worse than any language in the world where I came from.

"It’s great that you prefer to be taught, we have plenty of time and many books...although many are in different languages, so it won’t be easy, do you really want to learn?" She says with a small smile.

"Of course I do...although I’d rather learn about robotics." It’s the best world to learn about technology, imagine me learning something very valuable and selling that knowledge in a less technological world! It will make a lot of money.

"Okay, but it can be difficult, after all, Y.A.R.A. can notice if we tamper too much with technology, right?" She tells me.

"Yes, but I don’t need to see the practice, just the theoretical part is enough for me," I tell her what is already sufficient for me.

"...As you wish..." She was going to say something, but I interrupt her.

"Yar, there’s something I can’t help but ask, you said you got more answers from this place, could you explain what’s really going on out there?" I ask curiously.

"..."

"First, there’s a storm, they happen frequently, at least two times a month, some are brief, but others can last for months."

"They happen because the planet’s climate has been drastically altered by things humans have done, they are storms that carry chemical compounds, metals, and are very harmful to anything alive."

"Being in the storm is a death sentence, not to mention the fact that storm winds can reach from 70 kilometers per hour to 350 kilometers per hour," She speaks, and I’m shocked.

’This is insane, how did Yara manage to stay active for so long with such strong winds?’ Yar just said the outside world is screwed, I’m so lucky I didn’t get caught in the storm.

"Well, I’m grateful to God that I found you on my way, I really hit the jackpot," I say with a smile at her.

"And I was also very lucky to find you before any potentially fatal extra threat got you, and with the books I can learn many new things to help you."

"Your comfort is my priority," She says with a nod.

"Well, that’s nice and all, but you don’t really need to be so careful with me, it’s not like I’m made of glass," She has shown herself to be quite careful, but that’s not necessary.

"Hmm...Shizune, how about we start a restart calendar?" She asks while I’m in doubt.

"What’s a restart calendar?" I question.

"There’s no more calendar, since everything has been extinguished, and I believe there are no more changes in the seasons, so we two can start a new calendar from 0."

"So today would be day 1 of year 0, it’s easier to understand how much time has passed this way," She says with a small smile on her face while her eyes shine with the idea.

"Sounds good enough to me, so today is 01/01/0000 basically?" It’s kind of exciting to know that a calendar for an entire planet is based on me, so to speak.

"Yes, exactly that, although we met before that, but we can leave those experiences in the past, we’re a new blank book ready to create new things."

"Hmm, I agree with that, so happy day 1 of year 0 to you and me, and may we have a long and stable life." Yar doesn’t really have a specific lifespan since she’s a machine.

"We have many things to do, so we have to make good use of the time we have, right?" I say excitedly to learn, unfortunately Nyzz hasn’t shown up to help me yet, so all I can do is learn things and wait.

...

...

...

"Day 5 of year 0, experimental diary started successfully," I murmur, writing something in a special folder in my brain. Shizune and I have created a simple and easy-to-follow routine.

We take walks around the facilities, Shizune studies the animals for 2 hours, then we read books, have snacks, chat, have our daily meals, and repeat the process with slight variations.

For now, I’m trying to gain her trust to take the next step, while at the main base I’m building and conducting various experiments, things that wouldn’t have legal ethical approval, but I’m doing them anyway.

Manipulating genetics is easy, so while I gain her trust, I’m also preparing everything to make our lives perfect, unfortunately, Shizune is too paranoid.

Her brain shows annoying signs of distrust, causing her to ask unpleasant questions or try things that could be a problem in the future.

"I need to fix this flaw...but how?" How can I remove Shizune’s paranoia, there are flaws that are impossible to correct in my performance, obviously Shizune questions how this place is so well-maintained for something abandoned.

And since the power and supply sources are still perfect, to avoid this in recent days, I’ve thought of several options.

"Should I...tamper with her brain?" This seems like an option, paranoia occurs due to various areas of the brain, but there are two specific parts that have the greatest influence, and those are the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex.

However, there is another feeling that also has an extreme direct connection with these two parts, and that is emotional deprivation. With the nanobots in her body, it’s possible to alter the paranoia response to emotional deprivation.

’But this can develop emotional dependence, apathy, and psychosis...is it worth the risk?’ I’ve noticed that Shizune wants to leave, she doesn’t want to stay here inside, she distrusts something, but doesn’t know what it is.

But since she doesn’t know what is causing the discomfort, her brain tries to associate this discomfort with something, for now, she associates the discomfort with fear of being found by something dangerous.

But that will soon change, and she will associate it with me, and when she does that, she will start to notice undeniable inconsistencies in my version of the story.

"To begin with, why is she so paranoid? What kind of life did she lead in the past to develop such high paranoia?" I murmur, testing data to see if this may be the best option.

"...Well, I think it’s worth more to have her dependent on me than to have her doubting me, there’s a 79% chance of success without side effects..." What Yar would do would be obvious, she would deny this option.

But my cold rationality tells me to do this, it’s more worth it to have a dependent Shizune than a paranoid Shizune who might try to escape out there, I didn’t lie about the storms, going out is dangerous for a human.

In fact, it’s even worse than what I explained, when the storm carries things, it’s enough to shatter any flesh-and-bone body, it’s like a giant and powerful natural blender.

"Shizune has shown a high interest in personal freedom..." Analyzing Shizune, I can deduce that she is a girl with an IQ of 114, it’s good, but nothing that makes her a genius.

Furthermore, in-depth analyses show high levels of insecurity, paranoia, narcissism, and lack of personal commitment, in other words, Shizune, in my view, is someone who could betray those she loves just for a momentary moment of pleasure.

Fortunately...this is easy to control, I just need her to feel this false sense of freedom, she just needs to think she’s free and these problems will be solved.

’In this scenario, emotional dependence seems more of an advantage, if she has a lack of commitment, by becoming dependent, this problem will cease to exist...but it needs to be a light alteration’ If I do something exaggerated, she will notice.

So I’ll just have the nanobots turn her paranoia into emotional deprivation, her lack of commitment into something she wouldn’t like, and to deal with the freedom issue, I just need not to be so present.

If I’m present in her life all the time, she will associate it with always having me, and this will generate security and commitment that I won’t disappear, I need her to realize that if she’s not the one who approaches, then I won’t approach either.

"Great, it seems good, I’m sorry for Shizune, but I need to do this and maintain the perfect new world I so desire." I can’t build this world without a perfect Shizune.

But with this plan, I will finally have the perfect Shizune who won’t disappear out of fear of something, with this plan in mind, I finish the diary and decide not to do anything.

The nanobots have already started their slow and silent work in Shizune’s brain, so for now, I’ll go to the full lab base and do genetic research to create the new humanity.