Seeing Allen lying on the operating table wide open sends a wave of dizziness washing all over Thomas. It is as if he sees himself lying there, watching several robotic arms cutting and mending on his own body, utterly powerless. No, that is not Allen. Allen is a vivid and lively individual, a truly living being with an enormous reservoir of vitality coursing through his body. Accompanied by this dizzying sensation, a sharp stabbing pain suddenly shots through Thomas's eyes. He squeezes his eyes shut tightly and stands ramrod straight, reluctant to expose his vulnerability in front of the observer. Remembering the question the observer had once posed to him in class—what is living? Now he has an answer. Those people who humbly and pleadingly beg for the favor of fate, no matter how harshly hunger, disease, and poverty ravage their lives, they are truly the ones who are living. Thomas urges to question what on earth he is. What kind of existence is he? He struggles and refuses to believe the observer's saying. He is determined to insist and believe that he is different from the complexes on the operating table. Thomas gazes at the observer and says, "I have heartbeats! I have blood! My body is warm! I am a human being. Mom comes to listen to my heartbeats and give me injections every day." The observer furrows his brow slightly and says, "After sleep, we need to detect by listening for sounds whether there is abnormal friction within the human-machine complex. The observer points to Thomas's head. "Your brain is carried by a human natural body. A chip implanted in the back of the head helps stimulate brain potential. The main component of the medicine injected every day is the neurons of the participants to boost your physical ability. You are the crystallization of collective wisdom." The observer smiles and gently rubs Thomas's hair and says, "You are the smartest child." Thomas abruptly turns his head and stares at the observer. "You are m..." He couldn't bring himself to say it, but only uses his eyes to seek an answer he never wants from the person in front of him, but the searing pain made him have to close his eyes, as if praying that the other party would not tell him the answer. The observer looks at Thomas's tightly closes eyes, nods, and remains silent.
Thomas doubts everything about himself. He has never harbored lofty ambitions. All he wants is to live a simple life on this small island. But everything about himself is not real. What's he? Is he really the Thomas? For them, Thomas is a piece of work. Then what about his life? Without a mother, without a friendship, without memories, without expectations, he is nothing. He has nothing! His whole life is a void. Thomas asks, "What about me is real? Is anything about me real?" The observer furrows his brow again and replies immediately, "Everything about you is real." He points to the operating table and said, "Isn't this real enough? Science is real!" He then adds, "I know what you're confused about. When we were manufacturing you as the perfect human-machine complex, we cut off the brain function related to any emotions. We don't want you to make irrational judgments or develop certain mental problems due to emotions. But in your contact with Allen and Sally, the emotional function was partially activated. This makes our research have to consider a new problem. The self-repair ability of your brain is a mystery."
When Thomas hears the names of Allen and Sally, he is both furious and doubtful. "Were Allen and Sally real?" "They were participants. So were their parents. Their father suffered from severe mental illness due to the failure of brain potential stimulation, which posed a threat to the safety of the entire plan and was unfortunately eliminated. We synchronized the virtual reality of the three of you and also retained Allen and Sally's memories about their parents and each other. Allen's motor neurons were the best among all the participants, which is exactly what you need. After learning about the Perfect Human Plan, he requested that his younger sister be able to speak and leave the plan. We agreed. We transplanted part of Allen's brain to Sally and restored her language function. Unfortunately, part of Allen's memory was also synchronously transplanted. So..." Before finishing his words, the observer looks at Thomas and emphasizes, "You should know that any risk that threatens the safety of the plan must be eliminated, no matter who she is."