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Chapter 994 994: Automaton

One would probably say how it became the best when what is delicious and what is not would be subjective from person to person. Well, not in Riley\'s restaurant. The food in his restaurant literally caters to everyone\'s taste buds. He knows all the flavors, he knows all the recipes, he knows all the food people would like; but most importantly, his ingredients seemed to come from all over the universe.

And yet, despite his ingredients that should cost an entire house by themselves, the price of his menu was even cheaper than some of the less fancy restaurants.

"The food is not the only thing that hasn\'t changed in this place."

And right now, detectives Dorothy and Jake were dining in the restaurant; older, and this time, bringing their families along with them. And as much as they were focused on the food, they were also focused on the person playing the piano.

"We\'ve been young for 600 years, that I have forgotten what it was like to be living with actual immortal beings," Jake let out a small sigh; a sense of longing lingering in his eyes as he scratched his slightly graying beard. But after a few seconds, he shook his head and gently brushed his hand on the little girl eating beside him at the table,

"But you know, I would have easily traded those 600 years of agelessness even earlier if it meant I would have this."

"Why… are you getting so sentimental?" Dorothy raised an eyebrow before turning to Jake\'s wife, who only just rolled her eyes in response while shaking her head.

"You wouldn\'t understand because you don\'t have children of your own," Jake let out a small smile as he wiped the sauce on his daughter\'s chin.

"You weren\'t this sentimental when you and Zel had Mark," Dorothy also scoffed.

"Ack, let\'s not talk about that abomination. I don\'t even know who he took over," Jake waved his hand, "Thank goodness they accepted him in the Academy — it should do him good. But let\'s not talk about that troublemaker. How\'s life as Chief?"

"Exhausted," Dorothy let out a very long and deep sigh, "We are… busy with Automaton."

"Automaton…?" Jake\'s wife blinked a couple of times as she almost gasped upon hearing Dorothy\'s words, "...Isn\'t that the city of androids? Is there something we should know about it?"

"...Let\'s not talk about work. It\'s—"

"Please, I think we should."

"Ah, Zero!"

And as soon as Riley stopped playing the piano and got off the stage, everyone who was dining in the restaurant clapped their hands and stared at him; their eyes, showing glimpses of excitement and hints of fanaticism. After all, they did not just come there for the food, they also came for Riley and to have a chance to at least talk to him.

"Zero…" Both Jake and his wife sighed, however, as Riley joined their table.

"I\'m… really sorry about what happened to Mark," Jake\'s wife apologized; her voice slightly meek, "I know it was a quarrel between children, but Mark shouldn\'t have said that to Renna."

"Psh, that boy actually thinks he has a chance with Renna," Jake scoffed, "I mean, have you seen our son and have you seen Renna? He looks like her chauffeur or something."

"It is fine, they are children as you said," Riley only shook his head, "Let us leave their issues to themselves, they will replace us in the future, after all — they need to learn."

"Replace us, you mean…" Jake chuckled as he looked at Riley\'s face, completely unchanged in 16 years, "...You, Miss Pepondosovich, and Esme are still completely the same as the day we\'ve met you guys. Anyway, you were interested in Dorothy\'s case?"

"Right…" Dorothy raised an eyebrow as she looked at Riley, "...Shouldn\'t you be in the Academy handling things?"

"I haven\'t been the Headmaster of the Academy for a long time, Dorothy," Riley shook his head, "I\'ve left that to others. I have…

…other things keeping me busy."

"Renna and Lucy, huh?" Dorothy sighed, "Fortunately for me, my only baby is the current case I have now — Automaton."

And as soon as their conversation started to turn serious, Jake\'s wife excused herself; bringing along her daughter with her.

"I\'ll leave you grown ups by yourselves," Jake\'s wife said, "I\'ll go chat with Liza. She\'s at home, right?"

"Yes," Riley nodded as he gestured to Jake\'s wife to just go ahead, "She and Katrina changed schedules last month."

"Well, alright then — you guys enjoy with your talk."

"Man… I don\'t know how you can handle it, Zero," Jake immediately shook his head and clicked his tongue as he looked at Riley, "You have two wives that live together happily?"

"They are not my wives, Jake," Riley shook his head, "But yes, I suppose they are living happily."

"I guess it helps that they\'re variants of each other, huh? W—"

"Jake, stop it," Dorothy glared at Jake, "We were talking about my case."

"I thought you don\'t like talking about your case."

"Of course, I do — this is my only form of gossip," Dorothy scoffed before turning her attention to Riley, "Anyway, Automaton."

"The abandoned androids," Riley whispered.

"Sucks, right?" Dorothy let out a very long and deep sigh; even finished her glass of wine before shaking her head and letting out another sigh of frustration,

"I mean, I know they\'re not living things. I know they\'re just robots — but they were literally made to emulate, replicate, and act like the rest of us. And biologically, they\'re almost alive. They grow old."

"Makes you wonder why the World Government didn\'t just shut them down completely," Jake followed up with a sigh of his own, "Once they started getting abandoned when everyone could have children again, they should have fucking pulled the plug."

"I would probably punch you by saying that… but honestly, I think you\'re right," Dorothy closed her eyes, "If you\'ve seen the way they\'re living there. It\'s just… inhumane. And fuck the World Government, they\'ve been doing nothing but sitting on their pretty assess the past hundred years anyway — I don\'t even know why they exist when everything is just running individually."

"And why is the task force focusing on Automaton now, Dorothy?" And while Jake and Dorothy were lamenting the fate of the androids, Riley seemed completely unconcerned, but curious at the same time.

"You know how androids are specifically made with the Margrea Oath embedded into their brains?" Dorothy leaned closer to Riley so she could lower her voice, "Well… just last month, one started to show signs of violence. There are millions of androids — imagine if they all started to become violent."

"Do you need help then, Dorothy?" Riley tilted his head to the side, "Do you want me to wipe them all out?"

"God, no…" Dorothy dropped her head, "...You\'re Paragon, Zero. If you do that, I don\'t know what sort of mess would follow. That kind of backlash would turn into riots. If you wish to help, then just come see them — you did help them migrate to that place, no. You didn\'t just help them…

…you basically created their entire civilization, Zero."

***

One would expect the city of Androids to look as futuristic or advanced as possible — but no. It looked old, almost like a slum, even. After all, what Dorothy said was true — the androids were made to replicate life as much as possible…

…and what is life if it was abandoned?

And now, as Riley chose to visit the city, landing at the very center of the desolate and poor street, the androids who were just wasting their lives either walking aimlessly or sitting aimlessly all turned their eyes toward him.

Most of them were just skin and bones, perhaps a detriment of completely being cursed with life. Most of them were humans, while the minority were of the other races — but there were no differences between them; right now, they all just stopped whatever it was they were doing as they very slowly approached Riley; whispers, soon starting to escape their dried lips.

"Paragon…"

"You\'ve… come back for us."

"Please… please help us, Paragon."

"Please… just end our existence."

And as Riley heard each and every breath of theirs filled with sorrow and regret, the only thing Riley could really do was shake his head and raise his hand.

"Okay," Riley then whispered, "I will end—"

[Boss, please wait!]

And before Riley could actually do anything, a metallic figure suddenly shot out from his chest; or more specifically, from the tablet that was hidden within his pockets.

"Ahor Zai," Riley looked at the small figure, "It has been a very long time since I last saw you."

[It took me a while to crack everything that has happened in the last 600 years since most of their history was lost, I\'ve only managed to complete it now,] Ahor Zai stretched her arms to the side, almost as if she was trying to prevent Riley from erasing the androids, [Please… you have to listen to what I have to say. But first…]

Ahor Zai then started looking around before just suddenly diving down through the ground. And when she emerged, she emerged into a figure extremely familiar to Riley --- Aerith\'s figure.

"Interesting…

…why would you choose that form, Ahor Zai?"