Lavent knew he had been at cross paths with Lant since they were children. Although many say that Lavent and Lant were close when they were young, the reality was the opposite. He often argued with Lant, both about souls, humans, lives, and humanity.
To Lant, an artificial human being is just like any other human being with their own thoughts, desires, and feelings. Meanwhile, for Lavent, who has lived through war and the military, the existence of artificial humans is just a tool of war to minimize victims.
It should be like that and it will always be like that. However, recently there has been a rumor spreading among the military. This morning the executive officer that Lavent hated the most had called him in to discuss something with the team led by Lavent.
"Good morning, Mr. Lavent. I apologize for disturbing your time, but the Military Executive Officer has asked you to come with the team this morning."
Lavent looked at the poor adjutant who was staring at him with fear. In the eyes of others, whether they had status above or below him, Lavent was a terrible person. He had been a killing machine since his twenties leading millions of artificial human troops into battle.
"Is that bald bastard going to give me an unreasonable mission? If that mission is just a means of victimizing my troops, let's just say I'm not interested."
"So-that's-" The adjutant looked uneasy. If possible, he didn't want to tell Lavent this order, but if he didn't, the executive officer would surely scold or even kill him.
"Tell me. You should know that I'm not one to waste time like this."
"This is a secret operational mission, so the Military Executive Officer will explain it to you."
Lavent was silent for a moment. Secret mission? In that case, it was most likely an unlawful act that no one-including this adjutant-could know about. But what kind of secret mission would make a military executive officer call him directly?
The only answer that came to Lavent's mind was one: artificial humans.
"Tell him that we'll be there soon. But I won't accept the mission if he just throws out a stupid plan." Without looking at the aide, Lavent answered immediately.
Of course, Lavent's answer made the adjutant feel uneasy. He was just someone who looked more like an servant than an adjutant. Moreover, the people he had to meet were someone who was always advancing on the battlefield. It was different from him who was just being asked around like a fool.
"Alright, I understand. I will inform the Military Executive Officer about your answer."
As soon as the adjutant left, Lavent immediately got up from his seat and turned to the teammates. They were just five elite soldiers who were specially trained to infiltrate, steal, and work undercover, though sometimes they also led troops on the battlefield. They were the five people who always lived where bullets were always aimed.
Among the twelve elite military teams, Lavent's team is often referred to as the strongest and the most difficult to control. Even when they walked in the hallway of the headquarters, people would not dare to raise their eyes. The only person who could look at them straight without fear was a military executive officer-Louise Joer.
He and Lavent were ten years apart in age. Before Lavent, Louise was the leader on the battlefield. However, after Lavent was appointed as the main squad leader and since Louise lost her right eye, she stopped going to war and chose to work behind the scenes.
"So, have you heard about the SEES developing the latest version of artificial humans?" With a gloomy look and a few scars on his face, the cropped-haired executive officer directly asked the question without any preamble.
Behind the man, a large monitor screen displayed an enormous number of light blue glowing metal circles. However, among all those metal circles, there was a colorful cube that had many connecting lights with the surrounding circles.
That was a short description of the difference between an artificial human and a real human. An artificial human who is created and driven by a program, all his movements, mindset, and activities will be limited by a system. There is a boundary that they cannot cross. However, the colorful cube was different.
It was a real human figure in the midst of artificial humans. The colors symbolized a different mindset, movements, and feelings from the artificial human. A human has no limits. They could commit any crime, but also have very tender feelings. They have subjective boundaries, not bound to a single benchmark like artificial humans who are restrained by the system.
Because humans are creatures with a wide range of thoughts and feelings, no one can create such a creature. But what if there was a party that was able to create one?
"We must destroy it."
The first four words that came out of the executive officer made Lavent and his team immediately flinch. The executive officer stood up. The monitor screen displaying cubes and circles instantly changed to various statistics about human reproduction and the death rate in wars.
In fact, in this day and age, wars were a common thing. When powerful countries begin to emerge, they will seek to prove their strength and attack each other. On the other hand, industry and human reproduction are eventually affected. The negative impact of long-term wars and the environmental destruction caused by war has led to the barrenness epidemic that has now spread across the world.
"Nineteen years ago, we worked hard to create lifeless war soldiers capable of killing others. But what do you think would happen if one side created an artificial human figure that tried to compete with the real human?"
As the executive officer began to explain, Lant's face suddenly flashed through Lavent's mind in an instant. Because the only person who had such intentions was his best friend, Lant. In that case, would this mission be related to Lant?
Lavent knew he couldn't be naive. Work is work. Even though he and Lant had grown up together, it did not mean that Lavent could exclude Lant at will and ignore the consequences. If it was true that Lant was the creator of artificial humans with personal feelings and thoughts, it would only threaten human existence.
What would happen if an artificial human acted like a human?
Just thinking about it was terrifying to Lavent. No matter who came up with it, he had to participate in this operation that would be held in secret. So that this world filled with wars could minimize human deaths.
"I think all of you already understand." Louise continued his words. Then the monitor screen changed back to three letters written in large letters with a logo that Lavent was very familiar with on the side.
IVY and a logo of a worldwide scientific organization-SEES.