The Boyfriends I Picked Up in Horror Games Are Bizarre - Chapter 136

Unfortunately, the escape pod could not bear the weight of two people. It lurched precariously and failed to reach the preprogrammed safe coordinates. Fortunately, they managed to make an emergency landing on the nearest planet.

The escape pod crashed into a stretch of ruins, smoke billowing from it. After a moment, the hatch was pushed open from the inside. First, a girl crawled out. Then came a boy, holding a small flowerpot in his arms.

Bai Yao was choked by the foul gases in the air and began coughing. Looking around, she saw heaps of all kinds of garbage piled into small hills. Almost immediately, she guessed that this was a garbage planet.

Humans dumped their waste onto certain planets that had no exploitable value. The good news was that this planet had an atmosphere and oxygen suitable for human survival. The bad news was that there was no signal here at all.

Bai Yao could not even use her wristband to determine their location, let alone send a distress call to the outside world.

She pressed her fingers to her forehead with a headache, irritation welling up inside her.

Negative emotions were easily contagious. Standing beside Bai Yao, Shi Jiu did not dare make a sound, nor did he dare say a single word. He tried his best to remain quiet, to minimize his presence, afraid that if she noticed him, she would only grow more irritated.

He had always done this.

When someone needed him, he would go over obediently and say a few words, just enough to remind them that he existed.

When no one needed him, he would do his utmost to turn himself into a transparent person.

He could not allow others to completely forget him, yet he also could not let them find him noisy. He had always remembered this balance.

Bai Yao lowered her hand and let out a deep sigh.

Shi Jiu knew that he should step forward, take all the blame onto himself. Perhaps if he acted a little more obediently, she would not so easily abandon him in the future.

Shi Jiu took two steps forward. “I’m sorry, I—”

Bai Yao said, “Alright, let’s head over there!”

Shi Jiu was cut off by Bai Yao’s energetic voice. He followed the direction she pointed, then turned his gaze back, looking at her with a blank, bewildered expression.

Bai Yao said, “There should be garbage ships coming here to dump trash at regular intervals. As long as we wait, we’ll be rescued. But right now, we need to find a place where we can rest safely.”

As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but garbage and yellow sand. Many pieces of trash were buried deep beneath thick layers of sand, making it obvious that this planet experienced sandstorms.

If they did not find a safe place first, once a sandstorm arrived, they would have nowhere to run.

In the direction Bai Yao pointed, faint outlines of hills could be seen. From where they stood, it was the only visible shelter.

She retrieved her backpack from the scrapped escape pod. It was something she had rushed back to her room to grab in advance when she realized on the ship that something was wrong.

Shi Jiu said, “I can carry things.”

Bai Yao glanced at him. He was covered in dirt all over, probably unaware that his face was smeared with dust. Around his eyes in particular, the grime was even more obvious, spread by the moisture that had condensed and run down.

This boy, standing amid garbage strewn everywhere while holding a small flowerpot, looked even more fragile than the discarded mechanical parts around him.

Logically speaking, any normal person would not have the heart to let him carry anything. But Bai Yao had always been a little abnormal.

She decisively handed the beige backpack to him.

Shi Jiu hugged the backpack to his chest. His eyebrows curved upward, and at last, a hint of a smile appeared on his tense, uneasy face. His tightly wound body relaxed just a little.

She was willing to let him carry her things. That meant she would not casually discard him.

Bai Yao said, “Let’s go.”

The road was not easy to walk. They frequently sank one foot deep and the other shallow into the sand. Fortunately, Shi Jiu was tall. Although he looked thin and frail, he was actually quite strong. Several times, when Bai Yao was about to sink in and fall, he reached out with one hand and lifted her right back up.

Although the land was covered in yellow sand, the temperature was not high.

Bai Yao raised her head and could see the sun. They had already left the solar system, so the sun before them was naturally not the one seen from Earth.

The sunlight from this sun did not feel particularly warm.

She began to worry whether the temperature on this planet would drop sharply at night, becoming bitterly cold.

Little by little, they drew closer to the hill.

Shi Jiu said, “There’s a cave over there.”

Bai Yao and Shi Jiu hurried over. The cave entrance bore traces of artificial excavation. This was not a naturally formed cave. Once they stepped inside, the temperature dropped even further.

“May I ask if there is anything I can help with?”

The sudden voice startled Bai Yao. She recoiled backward, stepped on a loose stone, and stumbled. A strong hand immediately grabbed her arm.

Shi Jiu said, “It’s a synthetic human.”

Sure enough, a figure lay in the corner. Calling it a person was not quite accurate. Half of the artificial skin on its face had fallen away, exposing the metal framework beneath. Because of its age and lack of maintenance, the metal skeleton was mottled with rust.

Not only that, one of its forearms was broken off. Both the skeletal structure and wiring were exposed at the fracture. Half of its torso was also split open, skin torn, bones laid bare. It was slumped against the wall, its body unable to move, with only its mouth still producing sound.

“May I ask if there is anything I can help with? Is there anything I can help with? Is, is there, is there anything I can help with…”

Shi Jiu said, “A seventh-generation D-series domestic synthetic human. It was replaced by the latest E-series domestic synthetic humans ten years ago.”

This synthetic human had clearly been scrapped long ago. It had been thrown here as electronic waste. Without maintenance or upkeep, its body components would automatically shut down and enter standby mode.

Because it sensed the presence of humans, it had automatically powered on, following its preset program to fulfill its duty of helping others.

But after so much time had passed, it had only been active for two or three minutes. Blue light flickered in its eyes, and then, as its energy was exhausted, it finally went completely still.

The cave instantly fell silent again.

Bai Yao looked around. Everywhere were synthetic humans in ruins, barely retaining a humanoid shape.

All at once, she understood how this cave had come into being.

These scrapped synthetic humans had been dumped onto this planet. Those that still retained mobility slowly made their way here and carved out a cave, hiding inside to avoid the sandstorms, then gradually “dying” as their equipment aged and failed.

Synthetic humans were not human, yet this kind of behavior, huddling together for warmth, did not feel like something a mere machine would do.

This place was regarded by humans as nothing more than a garbage dump. It was also their graveyard.

Bai Yao’s gaze fell on Shi Jiu.

He had lowered his eyes, quietly looking at a synthetic human lying on the ground.

Because of the damage, its “gender” was no longer distinguishable. Only its swollen abdomen could be seen. Before its “death,” it had still been protecting its belly, as though revealing a faint glimmer of “maternal instinct” reminiscent of that found in humans.