In the new year, Lin Yuhui gradually familiarized himself with the business scope of Genesis Eden, the gene-editing company. Apart from running its own public-client operations in the Las Vegas city area, it also radiated outward to the surrounding regions, as well as to a number of other partner organizations.
新的一年里,林语晖逐步熟悉了创世伊甸园基因编辑公司的业务范围,除了在拉斯维加斯城区有自己的公众客户业务,也辐射周边,以及其它一些合作单位.
It seemed that in this era, the public-facing side of gene and biotechnology was merely a cover; behind it lay far more secret projects — military, or unknown mysterious groups. This also weighed heavily on Lin Yuhui's mind; Theo's death was a lesson from the past.
似乎这个时代的基因和生物技术的面向公众部分只是一个掩护,背后更多的是秘密项目,军方,或者不明神秘团体.这也让林语晖有了更多思想负担,西奥多的死就是前车之鉴.
And when he thought about being dragged into interest struggles he knew nothing about, he of course wished he could be like those other top magnates and have a backup body, or a doppelgänger — then he would not have to worry about the death of a single body at the execution level.
而想到可能被卷入自己并不知情的利益斗争,他当然希望自己也能像其他顶级大佬一样有自己的备用身体,或者分身,那样就不用担心自己执行层面的单个身体的死亡了.
Should he make use of Charisse? She had always been a little interested in him, wanting to have a child with him. Perhaps he could use her sales authority to get himself a set — at least a stand-in that could walk in his place, sit in this office, and take the bullet for him.
要不要利用一下莎丽斯呢?她一直对自己有点意思,想和自己生孩子,或许可以利用她手中的销售职权给自己弄一套,至少是可以替自己行走的替身,坐在这个办公室的位置上,给自己挡枪.
But that was nothing more than a chip-driven clone. The current level of human technology still could not resolve the issues of consciousness, or the soul — so it was not as if he could achieve immortality; it was merely remote control. Besides, he himself would have to wear a brain-control terminal to remotely pilot his execution unit — so forget it. Lin Yuhui used a technical problem to refuse a moral one.
只是那不过是芯片驱动的克隆体,当前的人类科技水平依旧还是无法处理意识或者说灵魂层面的问题,所以还不是说自己可以永生了,只是遥控而已.再说自己也要佩戴脑控设备终端遥控自己的执行个体,还是算了.林语晖用一个技术问题,回绝了一个道德问题.
Lost in thought, lunchtime had not yet arrived, and Charisse had not shown up. Instead, his secretary Blair appeared before him. She drifted in like the wind; those Tiffany-blue eyes seemed to bring the morning sunshine and breeze of the Maldives.
思索着,还没到午餐时间,没等到莎丽斯,秘书布莱尔出现在了自己面前.她就像风一样飘进来,那双蒂芙尼蓝的眼睛仿佛带来马尔代夫早晨的阳光与清风.
"Do you have a moment, Mr. Hunter?"
"亨特先生,有空吗?"
Lin Yuhui was roused from his reverie — he had been staring at the smooth, cascading dark hair —
林语晖被她的声音从注视她丝滑垂散的青黑发丝的恍惚中唤醒,
"Hmm? What is it?"
"嗯?什么事,"
"Mr. Branston has sent you a gift. Shall I take you to see it?"
"克兰斯顿先生送给你一件礼物,我带你去看看好吗?"
"Oh," Lin Yuhui smiled. It seemed there were benefits to having many fathers after all — look, here was a gift.
"哦,"林语晖一笑,看来爹多也有好处啊,这不,有礼物了,
"Sure, where is it?" he asked aloud, while musing inwardly: in his past life he had struggled his whole life and no one had ever bought him a gift; this time, being born had landed him straight in Rome — no need to walk any of those so-called many roads the world praised. Hmm, his next task was to shamelessly figure out how to hold on to this position...
"好啊,在哪里?"嘴里问着,心里却感慨着,上辈子奋斗了一生也没人给自己买礼物,这回真是投胎就直接在罗马了,不用再走那些世人所谓的条条大路了.嗯,接下来的任务就是死皮赖脸地怎么坐稳这个位置...
"Right at the top floor of this very building. Please come with me," Blair's words interrupted Lin Yuhui's further daydreaming.
"就在我们这栋大楼的顶层,请跟我来看看吧,"布莱尔的话语打断了林语晖进一步的遐想.
"Alright," Lin Yuhui rose, gesturing for Blair to lead the way — ladies first. But inwardly he was still curious: what gift? They were going to the top floor — was it being lowered down from the helipad?
"好啊,"说着林语晖起身,伸手示意布莱尔领路,女士先行.但是心里还在好奇着,是什么礼物呢?要去顶楼,是直升机平台上运下来的吗.
Following Blair out of the office, Lin Yuhui's attention remained on Blair's figure and long hair. Her long, jet-black, glossy straight hair was soft as water, spilling over her shoulders like a still waterfall frozen in a painting, hanging behind her; only when she turned or her arm brushed it did it scatter like a breeze through a mountain ravine, strands drifting on the wind — a fine display of her vigorous vitality.
跟随着布莱尔走出办公室,林语晖的注意力还是布莱尔的身形与长发.她乌黑青亮的长直发,轻柔似水,流落肩头,如画中静止的瀑布悬垂在她的身后,只有在她转身或者臂肘轻扰的时候,才宛如被山间清风吹过,飘散开来,丝丝随风散落,很好地展示了她旺盛的生命力.
The high-speed elevator soon reached the top floor. Access permission relied on the room key Blair handed him. She only led Lin Yuhui inside, briefly introduced the room's facilities, and then left on her own.
高速电梯很快到达顶层,通行权限靠布莱尔交给他的房间钥匙,她只是领着林语晖进入,然后简要介绍了房间设施就独自离开了.
Lin Yuhui was a little puzzled: why would Hunter's biological father, Mr. Branston, give him this apartment suite? It was not something he could ask Blair. The apartment layout was simple — living room, bedroom, bathroom, but no kitchen. What interested Lin Yuhui more was the high-rise rooftop balcony. He pushed open the bedroom door and stepped out onto it: the view was vast, but he was afraid of heights. He had no wings; fearing heights was a perfectly sensible option.
林语晖有些疑惑,为什么亨特的生物爹克兰斯顿先生要送给自己这个公寓房间呢?这也不好问布莱尔.公寓布局设施很简单,客厅,卧室,卫浴,但是没有厨房.林语晖更感兴趣的是高层顶楼的阳台,他推开卧室门走上去,视野辽阔,但是恐高.自己又没有翅膀,恐高是一个很现实的选项.
Leaving the balcony, retreating from the bedroom, he returned to the living room. Just as he was about to leave, Lin Yuhui noticed once again the large, exquisitely wrapped gift box on the living-room floor. He had noticed it when he first came in, but Blair had been present then, so he had not eagerly torn it open to see what was inside — that would have been too undignified in front of a beauty. Now, with no one around, was the perfect time to satisfy his curiosity.
离开阳台,从卧室退出,回到客厅,正要离去的时候,林语晖又注意到了客厅地上的那个包装精美的大礼盒.刚进门的时候他就注意到了,只是当时布莱尔在场,他并没有兴冲冲地打开看里面是什么,那样在美女面前太丢身份了,现在正好在无人的时候满足一下自己的好奇心.
The gift box in the middle of the living room was very large — square, like an oversized birthday-cake box.
放在客厅中间这个礼盒很大,正方形好像加大的生日蛋糕盒子.
Heh, how many people would it take to have a party for a cake this size? Wonder if it's still fresh — if not, he could always take it downstairs and share it with the staff.
呵呵,这得是多少人的派对的生日蛋糕啊?不知道还新鲜吗,实在不行就拿下去给员工们分了.
He pulled off the satin ribbon and lifted the lid: not a cake, but a... it should be an intelligent bionic robot. She had even glanced at him when he lifted the lid. Those big eyes were like a character out of an old Japanese cartoon, curled up, lying on her side inside. Deep-blue short hair, black eyes — she was genuinely a Japanese two-dimensional anime figure.
扯开缎带,拿下盒盖一看,不是蛋糕,是一个?...应该是智能的生化机器人吧.就在掀开盖子的时候她还看了自己一眼.她那双大眼睛好像从前日本动画片里的角色一样,蜷缩着身体,侧身躺在里面.深蓝色短发,黑眼睛,真的是日本二次元动画形象.
On her body lay a sheet of paper — a gift list? Lin Yuhui picked it up. Although the printed colors were flashy, it was not a gift list; it turned out to be a product manual, describing the gift's purpose, the giver's signature, and a blessing.
她的身上还放着一张纸,是礼单吗?林语晖拿起来一看,虽然印刷色彩很花哨,但是不是礼单,原来是产品说明书,上面写着这个礼物的用途,送礼人签名和祝福语.
Though there was no real feeling behind it, and he had not verified that this man truly was Hunter's biological father — sigh, even if he were, what did it have to do with him?
虽然没啥感情,也没验证他真的是亨特的生物爹,唉,就算是,和自己又有什么关系呢.
But the old man's kindness was so generous, and here he was, the one enjoying it — how could he simply ignore it? So he hurriedly used the company-issued communication device to send Mr. Branston a confirmation of receipt along with his thanks.
只是人家老人家一片盛情,现在是自己在受用,又怎好漠视呢.便急忙使用公司配备的通讯设备给克兰斯顿先生回复了收到的确认信息并表达了感谢.
Then Lin Yuhui began to seriously read the bionic robot's user manual. It stated that she could repair vulnerabilities in the human energy field, and that using her for a fixed duration each day could boost immunity, improve microcirculation, and enhance one's state of consciousness.
然后林语晖这才开始认真阅读这个生化机器人的使用说明书,上面写着她能修复人体场域漏洞,每天使用固定的时长,可以提高免疫力,改善微循环和意识状态.
Lin Yuhui could not help but find it funny. Hunter's body — as long as it was not abused in debauchery — was in pretty good shape; what need was there for such a fussy maintenance routine? It was a pure waste of time. He was about to throw the manual back in and go do whatever he was supposed to do, when the science-major in Lin Yuhui grew curious about the underlying principles.
林语晖不由得觉得好笑,亨特这身体,只要不荒淫无度,身体挺好的,哪用得着这么啰嗦的维护程序,简直是浪费时间.刚想把说明书扔回去自己该干嘛干嘛去,理科生的林语晖又好奇其中的原理了.
He forced himself to keep reading. The manual said the user only needed to lie flat and let this bionic robot perform a ritual around them — that was all. It made it sound as if her hands contained magnetic coils.
耐着性子接着往下看,说明书写着用户只需要平躺,让这个生化机器人在身边为自己做一套仪式,就可以了,说得好像她的双手里面有磁力线圈一样似的.
Ugh, isn't this just a CT scanner? Why make it in the shape of a humanoid robot — pure, unadulterated IQ tax.
嗐,这不就是扫CT机吗?何必做成人形机器人,纯纯的智商税.
Thinking this, Lin Yuhui tossed the manual into the box and put the lid back on.
想到这林语晖把说明书往盒子里一扔,又把盒盖盖上了.
Walking out of his newly acquired penthouse apartment, he replayed everything that had just happened. Maybe things were not so simple after all. Could it be a Trojan horse arranged for me? Using her to obtain my consciousness status and data? That must be why they made her so attractive, in the form of a woman — heh, maybe there are even private, custom-made service programs.
走出新获得的顶楼公寓,再回想刚才的一切,也许事情并没有那么简单.难道是给我安排的特洛伊木马?用她来获取我的意识情况和数据?所以才需要做成这么有吸引力的女性样子,呵呵,没准还有私人特定服务节目.
Thinking this, Lin Yuhui, standing alone in the elevator, laughed at himself. It was just that this sugar-coated cannonball delivered to his door was truly hard to refuse. If he really never used her even once, it might actually arouse the suspicion of the controlling powers behind the scenes. But to have him engage with a bionic robot...? Heh.
想到这,独自站在电梯里的林语晖自己都笑了,只是这送上门的糖衣炮弹还真的不好拒绝.自己真要是一次也不用她,反而可能会遭到背后控制势力的怀疑.可是让自己跟一个生化机器人...?呵呵.
Lin Yuhui shook his head with a smile. Just then the elevator doors opened — he had arrived at his office floor. Walking back, his pondering brain hatched another notion: could it be that they had discovered I was possessing Hunter? Or at the very least, that they knew Hunter's body had a vulnerability that made it easy to possess?
林语晖自己笑着摇了摇头,这时电梯门一开,已经回到了自己办公室的楼层.一边往回走,他思索的大脑又冒出了一个念头,难道是他们发现了是我附身亨特?或者至少是他们知道了亨特的身体存在容易被附身的漏洞?