Watching Tapai, who was looking up at him, Sun Jack had unconsciously lowered the weapon in his hand.
In the past, he had often wondered what it would be like if Tapai truly awakened, but he had never expected it to happen under these circumstances.
The sincere words from Tapai made Sun Jack unsure where to place his anger.
Could he blame him? He was indeed helping him, but why did the person he trusted most have to deceive him?
For a moment, he felt so tired, truly very tired.
Just as Sun Jack was about to turn and leave, his right hand was grasped firmly by Tapai.
"Jack, I know you're feeling terrible, but I've calculated it, and this is the most beneficial for us," Tapai said.
Upon hearing this, Sun Jack, now seething with anger, turned around to face Tapai.
"Those are people! Living, breathing people, tens of millions of living, breathing people! They are not machines! Not objects to be coldly calculated in terms of loss and gain!"
"Is there a difference? Aren't they all produced from factories? What's the difference?" Tapai asked, tilting his head in genuine confusion.
"Machines operate according to programs. Aside from you, aren't other people operating based on their current rank?"
"Those who can think beyond their rank are rare, and even if they think this way, their bodies will act according to their rank. Even if a second ago they were oppressed to the point of wishing for death, if given a new position, they would oppress even more severely. Isn't that just like machines?"
At that moment, Sun Jie's feelings were extremely complicated. He wanted to continue arguing with Tapai, but he could not think of any reason to rebut, and besides, the deed was already done; discussing it further was pointless.
Because he understood that he could not convince Tapai, in the past he could have simply issued a direct order for Tapai to obey.
But once tapai had awakened, he could disregard any order as he now had his own independent thought.
If this had been before, he would have been overjoyed, but the death of an entire city was too great a price to pay.
Sun Jack released Tapai's mechanical arm and stepped outside the equipment room. Following him, Tapai continued, "I know so many people died, but I don't think I did anything wrong. The destruction of Gomorrah at least provides Metropolis with sufficient strategic depth."
He seemed to have no intention of talking with Tapai any longer, sitting there with a cigarette hanging from his lips, staring straight at the semi-transparent console floating in the air, seemingly deep in thought.
Looking at the silent Sun Jack, Tapai touched the wound on his head. "Were you just trying to kill me? If you think I'm a murderer and want me dead, you can strike at any time."
He paused. Seeing that the other party remained silent, Tapai continued, "But what I want to say is, the Metropolis network needs me. I can't die just yet. With the network completely down, and without the help of my AI friends, your information couldn't be transmitted at all."
Seeing that Sun Jack still had no intention of talking to him, Tapai's tone carried a slight fluctuation. "So what if I killed them? They betrayed and tortured you; I just wanted them to pay the price!"
Sun Jack focused his gaze on Tapai and sighed deeply, seemingly detecting the subtle emotional changes in the other party, and he calmly said, "I am not blaming you. You have devoted yourself entirely to helping me; how could I blame you? I am just blaming myself for my negligence."
He slightly lowered his head, his voice deep as he said, "I always knew you were this kind of character, never valuing other people's lives, yet I did not take any precautions. It was my fault, I haven't transitioned from being a mercenary."
"But whether you listen or not, I still want to say, please let me know in advance if anything happens in the future, okay? Even if there really is no other way, even if we truly have to destroy Emola, I want to be the one to give the order myself. I do not need you to share the burden of killing millions of people for me."
A question mark popped up on Tapai's screen. "Why not? I don't have a heart. I can do this kind of thing in the future. You have everything else by your side; all you need is someone to do the dirty work, someone to take the blame."
Sun Jack shook his head. "A person can't say one thing and do another. Since I have reaped the benefits of destroying Emola, I should also bear the responsibility for its destruction."
"Only by knowing how many people died because of me will I seriously and carefully weigh the situation the next time I encounter something similar, instead of treating lives like numbers that can be easily discarded."
Upon hearing Sun Jack calm down, Tapai nodded in satisfaction. "OK."
He didn't care how Sun Jack would handle it; he just wanted to help him get through this trouble first.
What had happened had already happened, and regretting it now was useless. In the remaining time, Sun Jack opened the large map and began to think about how to maximize his benefits.
Sun Jack just kept thinking, even as the tunneling machine emerged from the outskirts of Metropolis, he still didn't budge.
When he saw the sealed door open, Sun Jack stepped out with heavy steps, and the moment he stepped out of the tunneling machine, cheers erupted.
All the people of Metropolis came to greet him, surrounding Sun Jack and cheering for the return of their king.
Everyone's face was filled with joyous smiles as they shouted loudly, praising Sun Jack's strength.
The Think Tank turned this operation into a beautifully successful annihilation campaign through public opinion, depicting Emola, controlled by the FFP, as defeated by Sun Jack.
Apart from Sun Jack, no one cared about the lives of the Gomorrah people, just as they didn't really care about their own lives either.
Clearly, the news of Emola's destruction had already reached Metropolis, but not a single person present felt a bit of sorrow for the millions of their lower-class peers who died.
From their brief words, Sun Jack realized that they had no intention of supporting other cities in their resistance, as if, in their eyes, he was merely like a gang fighting over territories.
No matter how advanced the technology, no matter how high the rank, gangs and gangs, companies and companies, cities and cities, seemed to have no difference.
Especially when Sun Jack heard that the Revolutionary Army from nearby cities had specifically sent people to express that they would never share the sky with the sinful capitalists, and would resist to the end, no matter how much temptation they faced afterward.
A sense of frustration surged in Sun Jack's heart, though he did not want to admit it, Tapai's method had indeed had an effect.