After Being Deceived, I Married Someone Else and Had Children Chapter 120

Infinite Mall.

First floor, clothing section.

Gu Heng pulled Zuo Shihuan forward, but was soon attracted by the enticing clothes displayed in front of various shops, and gradually slowed his steps.

Zuo Shihuan behind him knew nothing about it.

As for just how wildly Gu Heng’s imagination was running right now, wanting Zuo Shihuan to try on that outfit, or that silver-and-black qipao, or things like beast-ear and tail accessories, Gu Heng was itching to buy them.

The pace at which he led Zuo Shihuan forward slowed again and again, making Zuo Shihuan wonder why they still hadn’t reached the shop Gu Heng had mentioned.

Zuo Shihuan asked in confusion, “Are we not there yet?”

Gu Heng guiltily shifted his gaze away and quickly replied, “We’re almost there.”

In reality, Gu Heng’s eyes couldn’t help drifting toward the various exotic-beast-themed shops, already thinking that after buying normal clothes later, he would coax Zuo Shihuan into coming back to buy some outfits.

But Gu Heng tried hard not to make his little scheme too obvious.

If Zuo Shihuan found out, he would definitely become embarrassed and angry and refuse to wear those special clothes, though they weren’t really that special…

Many shops matched the mall’s exotic-beast theme, placing handsome humanoid or half-humanoid exotic-beast mannequins in their display windows and at their entrances, dressing them in the store’s accessories and clothing.

Some shops were even trigger points for exotic-beast storylines.

They had lavishly transformed their entire interior décor into completely different styles.

For example, at the entrance of a shop selling traditional clothing from ancient Earth, the mannequin was a beautiful, androgynous merperson lying atop a small water tank only three meters long, lazily and boredly swaying its fish tail.

The merperson had long silver hair, finned ears with sharp edges, and enchanting pale, cool-toned skin. It wore a smooth, silk-textured blue-green qipao with subtle patterns, trimmed with silver-thread butterfly detailing along the diagonal front. From the slit of the qipao extended a shimmering silver-blue fish tail covered in scales.

The silky blue-green fabric shimmered in the water alongside layers of semi-transparent silver-blue scales, rippling with light, dazzling and captivating.

It made many people stop to admire this legendary ancient Earth creature.

The mysterious merperson said in legend to enchant sailors at sea with song was now enchanting passersby in a Federation shopping mall.

Even though the merperson didn’t reveal much skin, a simple exchange of glances was enough to make people blush.

The shop owner immediately seized the opportunity to promote loudly, “Welcome, customers, Yunmo Traditional Clothing Store! Today we have a special model in the shop, our beautiful merperson. Because the merperson accidentally fell into the human world, it has no choice but to work to earn travel money to return home. How pitiful…”

The shop owner wiped away two fake tears, then immediately spoke in an impassioned tone, “To help the merperson return home, for every 100 Federation credits spent in this store, you can take one photo with the merperson. And if you spend 5,000 credits locally, you will trigger a surprise grand gift to help the merperson return to its hometown of Atlantis!”

Soon, more people in the crowd were stirred by the merperson’s charm. Combined with the merperson’s own beauty enhanced by the qipao provided by the clothing store, it appeared even more mysterious, elegant, and beautiful.

It had already sparked many people’s desire to buy.

Seeing customers stream into the clothing store, the shop owner smiled so widely his eyes nearly disappeared. Today’s sales would surely be booming, though arranging photo sessions between customers and the merperson from time to time was a bit troublesome.

Because the merperson was provided by Infinite Mall, and its AI personality settings included a bit of temper. If it encountered an annoying customer, it would directly flick its tail and splash water.

This caused the shop owner to hurriedly apologize to a customer who had been splashed in the face.

However, that customer had touched the merperson’s tail without permission, so being splashed by the temperamental merperson was already getting off lightly.

In legends, merpeople could eat humans, using their beautiful singing voices to lure sailors off course into reefs, causing shipwrecks, then capturing and devouring the sailors who fell into the water.

But since he was still a customer, the owner respectfully handed over tissues and apologized.

Unexpectedly, the customer was not angry at all. Instead, with a flushed face, he stared obsessively at the merperson, whose qipao clung even more alluringly to its body after being soaked, and proposed, “Boss, can I spend money in your store to have the merperson wear the clothes I buy? How much would it cost? I can pay whatever.”

The owner hesitated for a while before refusing, “Sorry, customer, the mall’s regulations don’t allow that.”

It wasn’t that the owner didn’t want to agree.

At first, he had even considered letting the merperson use its beauty to entice customers directly, dressing it in slightly more revealing qipaos, but Federation regulations did not permit it.

Because the mall was open to all ages, the law stipulated that in places accessible to minors under fifteen, models and AI humanoid robots were not allowed to expose large areas of skin, nor disseminate or induce inappropriate elements such as pornography, violence, gore, or illegal ideologies.

Previously, Infinite Mall had also held Halloween and Zhongyuan Festival events.

The former, an ancient Earth Western ghost festival, was manageable. The latter, called a traditional Chinese ghost festival, simply added an ancient Chinese horror atmosphere with red lanterns, red-dressed ghost brides, and white-haired jiangshi.

For some reason, it frightened many customers, heart rate and blood pressure alarms never stopped sounding.

As a result, the mall urgently issued a statement that the Zhongyuan Festival theme would be age-restricted. Customers under fifteen, those with cardiovascular diseases, and elderly guests had to sign liability waivers to participate in the themed activities.

Even the shop owner himself had been too scared to lift his head when facing the red-dressed ghost bride in his store during that month. For the first time, he didn’t want to make money and would run off immediately as soon as work ended.

Originally, the mall had already prepared for the Zhongyuan Festival theme month to operate at a loss and suffer heavy deficits. But because the atmosphere was overly terrifying, it instead attracted many visitors from other planets to come check in and visit. People spontaneously started an online challenge competition to experience the horror ghost-festival mall, and in the end, Infinite Mall’s foot traffic reached a record high for the entire year.

But the current situation was not the same as before.

The owner stole a glance at the customer’s flushed, excited face, then secretly glanced again at the indifferent merperson in the water tank inside the shop.

If he agreed to this customer and opened this door, it would be troublesome. The merperson AI in this mall was under constant surveillance and also belonged to the mall’s property.

The owner continued to shake his head in refusal.

Unwilling to give up, the customer asked, “I’ll transfer you one hundred thousand Federation credits directly, no, would two hundred thousand be okay?”

The owner refused with difficulty, saying, “Customer, this mall has surveillance. We can’t go beyond the mall’s regulations regarding the AI robots under its name. How about you buy more products, then you can participate in the storyline event of helping the merperson return home.”

Still unsatisfied, the customer gazed at the free and unrestrained merperson in the water tank with both admiration and desire, and slowly said, “What about one million? You can secretly report to the mall that this merperson was damaged. I can compensate you with another payment for the AI. No matter how beautiful the outer shell is, it’s just an AI robot.”

The owner was truly a little tempted.

But the risk of secretly taking the merperson away without the mall knowing was too great. He was just an ordinary small shop owner, if the mall discovered it, he would go to prison.

With a bitter expression, the owner said, “Customer, it really won’t work. And once an AI leaves the mall, it will automatically lock, and its intelligence level will drop by one tier. Even if you secretly take it home, it would just be a foolish merperson.”

Because of certain Federation laws regarding intelligent AI, AI robots that do not belong to the companion category, when used for private purposes, are restricted to intelligence level two or below, and their emotional programs and pain-perception systems are greatly reduced.

Even those that can be used as companion-type AI robots, mostly used for intimate purposes, require the related companies to pay a large sum of Federation insurance every year. And although these companion robots appear very human in many aspects, some of their key systems are significantly deleted or altered.

On the surface, companion robots resemble humans in many ways, yet they are still not human.

There is always a faint sense of inhumanity; they never truly reach the level of a real, existing person.

As a result, many customers who spent large sums to purchase them were very dissatisfied, frequently protesting to the relevant companies and demanding updates to the companion robots’ intelligent systems to make them more human-like.

Yet in an era of advanced interstellar technology, where it was entirely possible to achieve program systems that simulate human emotions to nearly 99%, those companies unanimously continued to update their systems year after year, making companion robots increasingly exquisite and easy to use, yet still unable to reach the level of an intelligent lifeform.

The customer looked at the vividly characterized merperson in the water tank, a trace of longing in his eyes. But when he thought that bringing it home would mean having a foolish AI, he felt disdain.

The customer curled his lips and said, “Forget it. It’s just an AI robot with slightly better-looking skin. I’ll just buy a companion robot later.”

The owner quickly smiled apologetically and agreed.

Both of them, likewise, did not truly care much about AI robots.

Because none of these people knew what had once happened.

Only a small number knew.

Gu Heng cast an indifferent glance at the free and unrestrained merperson in the water tank, yet felt no concern about the classified history that AI robots had once experienced.

Compared to AI robots, which were still unsteadily developing, 

The insectoid race was far more terrifying, having almost reached the pinnacle of biotechnology.

The Insect Queen could theoretically pick up a lump of mud, fallen leaves, and water from a forest and create a new species of insectoid, endowed with rudimentary intelligence.

If the Insect Queen were willing to carefully craft a new high-IQ species, she could focus on brain development and cultivate numerous advanced insectoids with IQs as high as 300.

In ancient Earth’s history, there had once been an advanced insectoid evolved toward high intelligence whose IQ surpassed that of the most brilliant human scientists.

Fortunately, there exists a subtle balance among forms of life.

Insectoids with excessively developed brains generally have poor physical condition, because all the body’s energy must be prioritized to supply the brain. If the brain’s energy supply is cut off, large-scale brain cell death can easily occur.

Thus, the higher the intelligence of a lifeform, the more prone it is to hunger, thinking constantly, eating constantly to obtain energy, crazily requiring vast amounts of high-level energy.

The most classic example was the Insect Queen.

In order to obtain more and higher-grade energy to supply herself, she even needed to cultivate and breed vast insectoid armies solely to gather advanced energy resources from across the universe for Her Majesty. Even launching wars to exterminate other cosmic races was not out of the question.

But today was a date with Zuo Shihuan, so there was no need to mention such inauspicious matters as the insectoids.

However, there was one thing even Gu Heng could not quite understand.

Looking at other Federation citizens’ attitudes toward AI robots, it was normal: either greedy and selfish, or indifferent and cold.

Gu Heng himself belonged to the indifferent type.

Occasionally, some people would feel pity and sympathy for these AI robots because of their humanoid and beautiful appearances, even protesting to the Federation government to protect AI robots. But most of them held an arrogant, condescending savior mentality.

Perhaps even those who sympathized with AI robots did not realize that they too belonged to another form of looking down on intelligent AI robots.

There was only one person Gu Heng could not understand.

Clearly, these were merely AI robots with diminished intelligence. Zuo Shihuan himself understood that every exotic-beast robot before him was, in fact, speaking to him according to predetermined storyline programs.

Even when encountering other customers, they would repeat exactly the same dialogue.

Like fools incapable of thinking.

A normal person would ignore, despise, or pity a fool, but could never treat a fool as an equal human being.

Why was Zuo Shihuan still so kind in attitude toward those stupid robots? Gu Heng really couldn’t understand it. Being nice to people was one thing, but to a bunch of robots?

Zuo Shihuan would still communicate and converse equally and kindly with a group of “Blue Smurfs,” would say thank you to the so-called robots, and even after truly knowing the real situation of these robots, he still hadn’t changed.

Gu Heng was really a little worried that Zuo Shihuan’s personality was too good…too good…

Too good.

Instead, it wasn’t a good thing.

Gu Heng couldn’t help asking, “Shihuan, have you ever, like that person, wanted to bring those beautiful and handsome robots home?”

Zuo Shihuan frowned in confusion. “Why would I bring them home?”

Gu Heng proposed a reason: “Because… they’re pretty? Good-looking?”

Zuo Shihuan frowned and thought for a moment, then suddenly understood and raised a smile. He reached out and pinched Gu Heng’s handsome face, saying, “Aren’t you already the most good-looking and the most beautiful one, Gu Heng? I’ve already brought you home… so don’t randomly get jealous over these things.”

Gu Heng couldn’t help smiling smugly, but quickly reacted again.

He wasn’t trying to compete over who was the most good-looking existence in Zuo Shihuan’s heart. Even if Zuo Shihuan said sweet words to coax him… well, actually he really was quite proud and happy, feeling that this face of his still had some use.

But that wasn’t what he wanted to know.

Gu Heng suddenly turned serious for a moment, his black eyes looking seriously at Zuo Shihuan as he said, “I’m not jealous.”

Zuo Shihuan casually coaxed, “Okay, okay, Gu Heng, you’re not jealous. No other person or robot can compare to you.”

The corners of Gu Heng’s mouth lifted again, but he quickly came back to his senses. He had almost lost himself again in Zuo Shihuan’s sweet talk.

“Shihuan—”

“What is it?”

“I have a very serious question I want to ask you.”

Zuo Shihuan couldn’t help laughing. He stopped and looked at Gu Heng, saying, “Alright, what very serious question do you have? Let’s hear it.”

Gu Heng: “…” He knew Zuo Shihuan hadn’t taken it seriously.

Gu Heng rubbed his brow, then sighed and looked at Zuo Shihuan. “I don’t care about other people, but Shihuan, your attitude toward those AI robots seems a little different from how ordinary people treat them.”

Zuo Shihuan smiled indifferently. “Isn’t it all the same? What difference is there?”

Gu Heng’s expression turned solemn again as he said, “Shihuan, what if I said I wanted you to hit a robot, or treat those AI robots a bit worse?”

Zuo Shihuan looked surprised and puzzled. “Why would I go hurt a robot for no reason?”

The key question had come.

Zuo Shihuan used the word hurt, as if the robot were a living lifeform.

Gu Heng’s expression darkened slightly, yet he didn’t want to push Zuo Shihuan too much. “It’s nothing. If you don’t want to, then don’t do it. I don’t care about any robots, but I care about you…”

Zuo Shihuan frowned suspiciously. “Gu Heng, you’re getting stranger and stranger.”

Gu Heng lowered his gaze and said, “Shihuan, it’s fine if you want to treat those things a little better, but you should know robots are just robots… and Shihuan, you’re a member of the Zuo family. You should know about the AI robot riots that happened in history. Don’t think too well of these things.”

Zuo Shihuan froze for a moment, then understood what Gu Heng was actually trying to say and said helplessly, “Gu Heng, what nonsense are you thinking about again? Of course I understand that principle.”

Now it was Gu Heng’s turn to be suspicious.

“Really?”

Zuo Shihuan’s expression paused slightly. With a gentle smile pressing at his lips, he said, “Of course… it’s just that I once envied those AI robots a little. Even if they were abandoned by the roadside, they wouldn’t have to endure illness and pain.”

Because after developing a genetic disease, he had completely fallen into despair.

He had personally felt a sense of being abandoned by society, as if every person on the street was vividly living with joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, while only he himself was forgotten in some corner of society, waiting to die.

Often lying on the hospital bed.

Recalling the AI robots that had been used up and discarded in the lower district back then, broken limbs and severed legs, abandoned by humans beside trash bins, waiting for the next garbage truck to collect them.

It was too similar.

And he felt envious again.

At least AI robots wouldn’t get sick, wouldn’t suffer, wouldn’t feel… loneliness, the loneliness and pain of living within a bustling human society full of people coming and going.

By the time he said the last part,

Zuo Shihuan’s light brown eyes seemed to flash with a trace of envy and gloom, but when he saw Gu Heng’s deep, worried gaze, his eyes softened. He pressed his lips together and let out a helpless laugh.

“Of course, now I no longer care, nor do I envy those AI robots anymore, because… I already have you, Gu Heng.”

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