I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 603

"…General, we will arrive in 5 minutes."

"Ah, has it already been that long? Alright. The vibrations are giving me quite a headache. Just give me a painkiller."

"Are you sure you’re alright? We can change the route to the hotel’s helipad as originally planned."

"It’s fine, don’t worry about it. I’m looking forward to seeing familiar faces after so long..."

Under the blue sky, a helicopter swiftly crosses the snowy landscape of New York state.

Despite being in a relatively remote area of the U.S., the number of vehicles crossing the newly laid asphalt road was quite high. The colorful lights, growing larger as they neared the horizon, were now close enough to be clearly seen.

Near Rochester, New York, Dark Zone Town. This once small town had suddenly become a major attraction, with hundreds of thousands of people flocking here in just a few days. And it didn’t stop there. It became the world’s first place to bring NPCs from a video game to life, all wrapped in the shiny packaging of an expo.

This wasn’t just a holographic event, with NPCs projected into reality—it was a genuine attempt to create mechanical bodies and integrate AI from the virtual world. The reactions were intense, to say the least.

Of course, those attending today weren’t particularly concerned with that fact.

"What do you think of Icarus’ next-gen humanoid?"

"I think it will cause quite a stir in many fields. Especially the hardware. If the technology and materials used in the body are applied to prosthetics, we’ll see a huge leap forward."

"That’s true. If these things are mass-produced, replacing people won’t take long."

"…I’m not sure that would be desirable."

It wasn’t an incorrect statement.

Once production began and Icarus Dynamics’ bodies spread throughout society, it was highly likely that unemployment would rise significantly. The military would also be affected, but that wasn’t something the people here were concerned about. In fact, they might welcome it.

High-ranking officers often viewed human lives as mere numbers.

While his personal aide had no idea, Howard Ridgway Spencer, Commander of the Southern Command, was well aware of this. That’s why he was in favor of introducing humanoids, whether it led to unemployment or not.

As he took a painkiller and swallowed it, the helicopter slowed down and began its descent onto the helipad.

Unlike the outside world, where it was difficult to find any snow, Dark Zone Town was buried in a thick blanket of white. The helicopter’s strong propeller wind hit the surroundings, but the waiting personnel outside seemed to ignore it and opened the helicopter door.

As General Spencer stepped down leisurely, a graceful curved building came into view. It was the expo building where the Mecha Eugens would be showcased today.

How much time had passed, exactly?

"…You."

"Good to see you, General Spencer. I’ll be guiding you to the conference room."

A brief awkward silence lingered as they locked eyes.

The person standing in front of him wasn’t just a familiar figure—Eugene, one of the most famous people in the world at the moment, was personally waiting for him. Her alpha-level staff badge hanging from her neck indicated that she was an employee assigned to greet him.

Spencer subtly glanced around, giving a signal to his three personal aides, and they disappeared with his luggage toward the waiting room.

With the sound of his aides’ departure, Spencer spoke first.

"How have you been?"

"Of course, I’ve been well. I thought we might meet at the sniper competition, but we only got to see each other from afar, which was a shame."

"Don’t say anything you don’t mean. By the way, going by memory, it’s been a long time since Miami. Did you get enough rest back then? I remember the driver was trembling after a whole team disappeared, which stuck with me."

"…I dropped by home for a bit. I’ll make sure to let you know next time before I go."

The two of them began walking casually.

Despite being an attention-grabbing combination, no one in the building seemed to pay them any attention, even though it was packed with people. Eugene waved her left wrist lightly, and Spencer immediately understood what was going on.

Not far from the conference room, their conversation continued.

"Last time I saw you, there were only two units, right? When did two more join?"

"…There was a reason for that."

"Of course. To put it bluntly, there was a rumor among those with stars on their rank badges at the time. They said that whatever the results of the team were, there was no need to take it too seriously. After all, they were always close to getting into accidents, so everyone just brushed it off later."

"Cough…"

"Haha, didn’t expect that reaction from you."

General Spencer let out a laugh, and Eugene, embarrassed, turned her head away from him.

Her pointed ears, reminiscent of an elf’s, had long turned a deep red. Spencer didn’t press the matter any further and subtly changed the topic.

"I heard the defense contractors have been sharpening their knives. They say their questions won’t be too sharp, but I’ve heard they’ve brought a bunch of equipment to verify the technology applied to the units modeled after you."

"Well… they’ll be wasting their time. There are more than a few technologies that are just not feasible."

"I’ve heard the outline of it from the memories of that world. I think they said there’s a nuclear fusion reactor that can produce almost perpetual energy and motors with superconducting parts? Just revealing one of those would send shockwaves through the world."

"I’m being as cautious as I can."

"You should be."

At that moment, they didn’t enter the conference room.

Instead, they carefully moved down a hidden passage near the conference hall and reached the backstage waiting room, which didn’t take long.

After a while, Eugene opened the waiting room door.

And then—

"…Didn’t I tell you to wait quietly?"

"I tried to stop her, but Nasty kept looking at the pedicure so closely…"

"Uwah, wait a minute. I think I saw you before when I went to the beach with the boss…?"

"Hahaha! What a mess!"

Spencer couldn’t help but laugh aloud when he saw the scene of humanoids giving each other pedicures. They looked even more human than humans themselves. Realizing that, Spencer calmed himself down and greeted Jin and Rain, who had recognized him.

"It’s been a while. How have you two been?"

"Ah, we’ve been… alright. How about you, General?"

"This is a refreshing reaction. As you can see, I’ve been doing much better than back then. Looks like you’ve become even more human while spending time with that kid."

"…I’m still not sure what 'human' really means. Are we really human?"

"Living the way you want to—that’s what makes a person human, right? There are people who live more like machines than you do, so don’t worry about it too much."

Despite the question remaining unanswered, Spencer’s words brought a slight sense of closure.

"Among the people here today, I’m the only one who knows that you’re not much different from regular humans. But there’s no need to overthink what it means to be 'human.' Just enjoy what you like, express yourself honestly, and love this world and the things you love."

"That’s exactly what we do best, I suppose."

"Haha, well then. See you in the conference room later."

Spencer bid his farewell, and before Eugene could say anything, he left and closed the door behind him.

Watching him go, Eugene let out a relieved sigh and added,

"…I’m glad that went smoothly. Anyway, go ahead and finish the pedicure. I believe in you all. Nasty, you know you’re not supposed to leave, right?"

"This is unfair…"

"Of course it is, Akita. Just trust us."

"…Alright."

Although Eugene wasn’t entirely convinced, she pushed down her doubts and kept them to herself.

The afternoon was nearly over, and the conference would begin soon.

"Now, it’s time for the Q&A session. Please refrain from asking violent or sensitive questions. Anyone who asks such questions will be escorted out. Additionally, we will only accept 50 questions per day, and by the end of the expo, the humanoids will answer a total of 1000 questions."

"Let’s give a round of applause to the participants."

Clap, clap, clap, clap!

The enthusiastic applause, much more than obligatory, filled the grand hall. Soon after, three humanoids walked onto the stage, looking strikingly similar to someone the audience had seen before. At that moment, a small yellow-lighted humanoid machine peeked from behind the curtains, followed by a small cry from Nasty as she was pulled away backstage.

The laughter spread like a virus, and the three humanoids took their seats on large square structures without backs, which creaked under their weight.

Three microphones were placed on the table.

They picked them up, pressed the buttons, and with a slight noise from the speakers, their vocal modules synthesized speech as they spoke to the room.

"…Hello, I’m Jin. This is Rain, and the one sitting far away is Mav."

"Hello. That’s the right greeting, isn’t it?"

"Hi. My answers might be a bit awkward, so I hope you’ll bear with me."

With a small click, the microphones were activated.

Silence followed, but after a brief moment, the screens in the seats began to light up, showing the question logs.

Rain and Mav explained.

"From now on, the person sitting in the front row will ask their questions one by one. The screens will record both the questions and answers, so if your question has already been answered, you can skip your turn."

"We’ll start with the person on the far right in the front row. Once the light blinks, the microphone will be activated. Please feel free to introduce yourself and ask your question."

Beep!

The first person in the front row had their microphone activated.

The machine emitted a slight sound, almost as if it was breathing, and the first question of the expo began.

"…I’m really honored to be here during such a historic moment, and I would like to ask you to define yourselves. First, from an engineering perspective, and secondly, as members of society."

"…From an engineering perspective, we are the same. Our height is uniformly 172 cm, we weigh 541 kg, and we are made up of almost 100,000 parts. We are artificial bodies with electronic consciousness, which is a bit different from Artificial Consciousness. Please keep that in mind."

"As for our roles as members of society… Well, aside from having a connection with Akita and her acquaintances, I’m not sure how to define us. Humans might call such a relationship 'friends'? I suppose it could be said we are Akita’s property."

A murmur ran through the room.

However, there was no chance to further question the term "property," as the second person in the front row quickly took their turn.

Looking at the person next to them with a sympathetic expression, they spoke up.

"You mentioned earlier that you are different from Artificial Consciousness. What do you think about recursively upgrading your own intelligence through self-improvement? Is it possible, or will it happen in the future?"

"…Do we really have to?"

"…What?"

"Well, you see… the current units don’t see much need for it. If there’s a need to solve a problem, then perhaps, but if we don’t feel the need for self-improvement, we don’t see any reason to pursue it."

More murmurs filled the room.

But what could they do? Only one person is allowed to speak at a time.

As the audience squirmed, eager to ask their questions, Rain quietly added:

"It seems you’re a bit misunderstanding. We classify ourselves as electronic life forms, not Artificial Consciousness. We haven’t set a goal to become ‘smarter’ than before. You might want to reconsider your perception of this gap."

"Humans also think, ‘I should lose weight…’ or ‘I should study and get a good job,’ right? But not many actually act on it. It’s the same thing."

When Mav spoke, laughter erupted from various corners of the room.

Some people couldn’t hold back their laughter, covering their mouths hurriedly, while others awkwardly looked away.

But amidst it all, Rain added:

"Well, I think most of the people here have already acted on those things, so… I’ll try my best."

"Oh, no, that’s not it."

"Eh, wait, weren’t you telling us to get smarter or something?"

"No, I wasn’t. Just live as you are."

At that moment, the audience couldn’t stop laughing.

After a few minutes, the noise gradually subsided, and it was time for the next question.

The three Mecha Eugens quickly clarified who they were and what they could and couldn’t do in just a few exchanges, and the next question began.

"I actually had a bunch of notes prepared, but they’ve all become irrelevant now. So I’ll keep it simple. You guys seem more human than robots. Right?"

"I agree with that. By the way, I don’t really understand things like human domination or superintelligence, but if a function to eat food is added later, I’d like to try ice cream."

"I like spicy food!"

"Sorry, my sisters are a bit simple."

Of course, just because the next person asked a question didn’t mean things would suddenly get serious.

The questions continued, and their focus quickly shifted from "Are you the superintelligence or the ultimate AI?" to "What do you think of superintelligence?"

In other words, the people asking the questions began to slowly view Jin, Rain, and Mav as mechanical humans, just like themselves.

How much time passed? When the 50th question about superintelligence came up, the response was:

"…Well, I don’t really understand what superintelligence is, but if it comes about, we’d probably be the beneficiaries. Frankly, I don’t want to be a part of that."

"If we can answer almost every question accurately, perform high-level commands, carry out open-ended missions, and freely make decisions, then… we’re basically a living search engine, right? That’s not interesting."

A brief moment of silence followed, filled by the sounds of typing and quiet murmurs.

But at that moment, a sharp clap echoed through the room. It was a crisp sound, almost like a bell ringing, and that’s when the thousand-strong crowd realized that the time had come to an end.

The 50 questions had taken about three hours. Of course, the end of the interview wasn’t necessarily the final event of the day, and the three Mecha Eugens, having answered all the questions, made their way off the stage.

"Well, that’s all the questions for today. I hope you’ll catch the rest outside."

"Don’t trip and hurt yourselves. Take care."

"Good job, everyone."

As expected, the crowd remained orderly, and soon, once everyone had left, the three Mecha Eugens made their way back down the path they came, disappearing from the stage.

Having exhausted the audience with their words, it was now time to show them some action.

Just an hour ago, the full interview was uploaded to YourSpace, and every community around the world was abuzz with excitement.