"Si Ai?" Sun Jack looked at the other person, shocked, observing her mechanical arm connected to purple hair, her familiar attire, and that identical delicate face.
The once-dead Si Ai had appeared again before him. Sun Jack stared wide-eyed at everything before him, noting all the details on her.
"Could it be... could it be? Has some Sun Jack clone cloned Si Ai?!" A chilling thought exploded in Sun Jack's mind instantly.
If this were true, that a clone had cloned Si Ai and had also kept it hidden from him, then there would be huge trouble, it meant all four and a half years were gone.
"No! This is impossible! I haven't wavered, how could my clone have wavered ahead of me?" Sun Jack, suppressing the rage in his heart, went straight to the laboratory door and burst in.
"Hey, don't you even have basic medical knowledge? You're not sterile, going directly into the operating room, you could cause an infection in the wound," Si Ai said without lifting her head.
"I'm asking you! Who cloned you!" Sun Jack grabbed Si Ai's wrist, intending to forcibly pull her out of the operating room.
Confronted by Sun Jack's actions, Si Ai's face showed impatience. She jerked her arm free from Sun Jack, glaring at him angrily. "What? My appearance before you makes you unhappy?"
"Who cloned you! Who!" Sun Jack suddenly tightened his grip on Si Ai's arms, his voice rising to its highest.
"It was Holy Grail!" With Si Ai's nearly shrieking voice, the tense atmosphere in the operating room finally relaxed for a moment.
After a brief second, Si Ai fiercely pushed Sun Jack away, saying resentfully, "Do you remember? When you were the lead in the reality show 'Revolution Sun Jack'! For the sake of merchandising, Holy Grail cloned not just you, the lead, but also us, the supporting characters!"
"What am I to you! Why are you not at all happy to see me again, but instead show this expression!" Si Ai, clenching a surgical knife in her hand, furiously drove it into Sun Jack's chest.
Sun Jack didn't dodge; he simply let her vent out clearly.
After venting furiously, Si Ai turned her back, no longer looking at Sun Jie. Her voice, trembling slightly, said, "I know, I know I'm a clone, Si Ai is already dead, all my memories of you are fake,"
"But even if I am a clone, why do you look at me like this? What does Si Ai mean to you? Am I that inferior compared to your unattainable love?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean that." Sun Jack stepped forward, stood behind Si Ai, and gently wiped away her tears with his hand.
"You go ahead and finish the surgery; we'll have a good talk afterward."
Upon hearing Sun Jack's words, a Wild Man lying on the operating table with eyes wide open, eagerly eavesdropping, quickly shook his head. "It's okay, it's okay, I'm not in a hurry, you guys go ahead and talk."
"Get lost!" Si Ai said disdainfully. "Out."
"But... but doctor... my bone is still exposed here..." the other person meekly responded.
"Fuck off! I told you to get lost, did you hear me?" Si Ai picked up a large syringe and jabbed it forcefully into the Wild Man's lumbar.
In excruciating pain, his facial features contorted, the Wild Man quickly crawled off the operating table, seeking other doctors with his gaping, bleeding wound.
As Si Ai took over the control of the operating room, the transparent walls of the operating room swiftly turned to frosted glass, and the electronic door locked itself.
The entire operating room suddenly went quiet.
"I was too excited, and I thought it was my clone that cloned you, but there was a reason for it, because if it were true, then it would be a matter of life and death for us." Sun Jack then explained the whole situation to the other party.
When Si Ai realized that Sun Jack's anger was not because of their existence, most of her rage dissipated instantly. "Hey, got a smoke? Give me one."
Sun Jack pulled out two cigarettes, lit one for himself, and then used it to light the other one before passing it over.
Si Ai sat on the bloody operating table with her legs crossed and took a puff of the cigarette handed to her by Sun Jack. "Shit, it's so weak, you might as well just breathe normally."
"How many of you Si Ai clones are out there?" Sun Jack asked bluntly.
"51, we have a Si Ai clone group. If you want to sneak in and eavesdrop, I can let you in." Hearing this number made Sun Jack's heart leap.
"That many?"
"That's a lot? Don't forget, when we attacked Holy Grail, us clones rose up in rebellion too. If it weren't for those that died back then, there'd probably be at least a thousand more."
"Since you're all still alive, why hasn't anyone come to find me?" Sun Jack asked.
"Why should we find you? We're just Si Ai's clones, not the real Si Ai. Our feelings are all cloned. Forget it, we won't disturb your little world with Tapai."
Seeing Sun Jack's complicated expression, Si Ai's heart softened. "Plus, there's just one of you and fifty-one of us, not enough to go around. A minute per person would tear you apart."
Sun Jack was about to mention that he also had clones, but the words stopped at his lips, and he didn't speak them.
Si Ai bowed her head, looking at the reflective floor. "We all know, don't make it hard on yourself. Priest has already found us, and he knows you've got bigger things to attend to. Go on, take care of your important affairs. We all have medical skills, we won't starve."
Sun Jack looked towards the door, tilting his head. "Come on, let's go out for a walk."
"No!"
Sun Jack ignored her and turned to leave.
Si Ai fidgeted for a while, cursing as she stubbed out the half-smoked cigarette in the pool of blood and quickly followed him.
Inside the spacecraft carrier, a spacious tunnel had been transformed into a small free market, with various simple LED signs hanging on the walls.
Some of the stalls were selling cheap second-hand prosthetic bodies, some non-discontinued sex robots, and various chips, along with some different snacks. Everything here was filled with a lively atmosphere.
Sun Jack and Si Ai walked through the crowded market without either speaking first.
But eventually, the impatient Si Ai spoke up. "Anyway, whatever you say, thanks for stepping in and overthrowing Holy Grail. It helped us regain our freedom. Thanks, otherwise our fate under Holy Grail would've been horrible."