A young man opened the house's front door and looked inside. When he did not hear any noises or shouts from the old man, he quietly entered.
"Grandpa, I'm back."
He walked around the house and up to the second floor but could not find the old man.
"Grandpa?"
After searching the entire house, he concluded that the old man had gone outside, even though this was not expected.
The young man grinned and dashed downstairs, where he leaned against the couch. He moved his hand through his black hair as he turned on the television and watched without worry.
"Finally, that old hag has left. I wish he would never return."
–––
Solus cleaned his lab after installing gears and motors in the most important joints for movement. The new generation of motors was powered by the body's blood flow and heat.
The motors spun the gears, allowing him to move his arms and legs with little effort. He could also lift extremely heavy objects with ease. With all of those external parts in his body, he quickly achieved Type 0.4.
Type 1 was simple, but Type 2 was considered difficult because it required cybernetic parts and high-grade chipsets. The difficulty of reaching Type 3 was comparable to swimming from the bottom of an ocean to the surface in one breath.
The highest form was Type 9, which was nearly impossible to achieve. In the past, rulers and emperors used enormous resources to achieve this goal, but they failed miserably.
"I do not care if someone succeeds or fails. As long as I want to have it, I will have it."
He cleaned and reorganized his lab using his new components. The lab was small in size, but there were many tables for various purposes. It was taking a while, but he wanted to make sure everything was perfect because he would be spending a lot of time there.
"A clean space clears the mind. Creativity follows where clutter fades"
After finishing his cleaning, he sat down in a chair and looked around his lab. The white sterile walls and floor remained as new as they had always been. The white tables were spotless, and the old scientific equipment was arranged in calculated measurements.
Even though the majority of Solus' movements were powered by motors, he felt slightly tired because his body was still human. He needed food to survive, and he was very hungry.
Because the old man had a human body, his house should have food as well. Solus climbed the ladders with shaky hands before entering the basement. His legs trembled with hunger, but he was in no hurry to get food.
The brain was forcing his body to move for him to survive. However, a human can go two weeks without food. So there was no reason to rush.
Solus slowly climbed the stairs, and as he opened the door, he heard a sound from the living room.
"It must be Julius," he muttered.
He was not concerned about who it was or how he looked. He could simply kill Julius if he wanted, but that would be too much trouble. Just because he could kill anyone didn't mean he could kill anyone. There were laws, and if two people disappeared unexpectedly, it would raise suspicions.
Solus stayed focused on what was important. He walked through the corridor and into the kitchen. It was reorganized with a few new-generation items, but it still looked old. He approached the refrigerator in the corner and waved his hand in front of the lower section, which opened automatically.
The lower section was divided into three parts and contained some random edibles. All of them were packaged and ready-made, so there was no need to cook.
Solus grabbed a can of fish because it had the highest neutron count in the fridge, despite its small size. He could not eat whatever he wanted because he would have to eat multiple packages of food to satisfy his hunger. The can of fish was enough to sustain him for the day.
He opened the can and ate the four small fish inside before throwing it in the trash. The fish was cold, but he did not have to satisfy his brain. What purpose did it serve to create false signals to determine whether or not the food was delicious?
"I will need to rely on this organ until I can get my hands on a quantum chip."
When he reached the basement door, he could hear the noise from the living room again. Julius most likely was watching a movie on the big screen.
Solus ignored it and walked toward the front door. The living room was on his right side, but he did not look because he was focused on another task. If he wanted to reach Type 1, he would need cybernetic parts and that would require him to go outside. Going outside in that condition was death, but he needed to know where the surveillance drones were and how they would react.
"I do not mind sacrificing a body if it benefits me. I already have a spare one ready."
The door opened with a faint click, and light flooded in, illuminating his face. It was all white outside for a moment before his eyes adjusted.
There is an empty road ten meters away from the house. The grassy field that had previously existed had been replaced with concrete. The single homes on the other side of the road had been replaced by skyscrapers.
Solus stepped outside the house and took a look around. The artificial sky was white, with a simulated bright star. The glass of the skyscrapers gleamed in the starlight. It felt like noon, just like in the old days, but much better and more realistic, even though it was a fake.
Humans no longer lived on planets. The ground Solus stood on was man-made and called "Segment". These segments were constructed with every resource needed for survival. Planets required specific conditions to be habitable, and there weren't many suitable ones in the Nactron galaxy.
So humanity built artificial platforms that floated in space which could also move when necessary.
Three types of segments existed across the galaxy. Class G segments were living spaces for ordinary people. Class A segments handled research and production, functioning like factories. Class X segments were built for combat.
Having spent most of his life in a Class A segment, Solus found the Class G area around him strangely vibrant and peaceful, almost like coming home.
The segments were enormous. Even the smallest one in the galaxy, G-0001, was hundreds of times larger than a medium-sized planet.
"This segment should be several thousand times larger than a planet. Humans are truly fascinating."
There were billions of people there, but no one was in sight, as if the world had ended. Solus stood on the concrete beside the road, looking around.
From above, a surveillance drone shaped like a floating slab watched him. Solus was unable to see it because it was invisible and undetectable to lower Types.
[Unknown Face. No matching ID in the Database. Unregistered Walking Patterns. Suspicious Target]
It followed Solus around the entire time without his knowledge.
[Initiating Deep Search... Matching Face Found. Name: Teon Tau, Died 1,090,588 Days Ago. False Face. Eliminate the Target]
As the drone continued to descend, a thin rod appeared from its lower body, reaching above Solus's head. In the next second, the thin rod was injected directly into his neck's spine, killing him instantly. The body fell to the ground before being taken away by the drone.
Solus' vision briefly went dark before he opened his eyes in his lab. He lay on a table and looked up at the white, clean ceiling above him.
"Did I die? That was quicker than I expected."
He was not surprised by the outcome. After all, he was responsible for his own death. He decided to go outside for a quick look without going too far. However, he learned that just going outside would cause him to die.
"My face was the reason I died. The owner died a long time ago, so I was most likely labeled as a terrorist."
It was difficult to even go for a short walk outside. He had previously reached Type 0.4, but that had disappeared. The body had returned to Type 0.1 status. But he was not saddened by such a minor issue. He could get there at any time and would no longer be as impatient as he was before.
Thankfully, he had transferred the microchip from the fragile robot body to the other corpse; otherwise, he would have had to go through everything again.
He awoke immediately after dying because the microchip had already stored all of his memories. Only new memories were transferred, while the rest were skipped, which took only seconds.
"I will be prepared the next time I go outside, but I have to feed this body now."
He stood up from the table and began climbing the ladder back to his house to eat something.