Clockwork Bride

Page 20

The Devil, the Queen of Cups, The Fool, The Lovers

Hints from the four Tarot cards.

And what I just saw and heard in the illusionary vision.

These thoughts flashed through Hayden's mind, causing him to glance at Angela and, on a sudden inspiration, come to him with a plan.

"No conflict? That's good. I'm someone who studies ancient magic, and I've never been interested in your company's politics. This way, I can forget all the unpleasantness from before tomorrow."

He leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, put on a relaxed expression, and began to spout nonsense with a straight face.

"Actually, I was planning to discuss another business deal with you, but since we don't need to do business together anymore, let's just forget about it. After all, as the old saying goes, 'Never make a deal with the devil.'"

Hayden was just talking nonsense.

That's why what happened next was so unexpected.

As soon as he finished speaking, Alicia's expression on the phone screen immediately changed, and her whole face darkened.

This reaction completely baffled Hayden. He was simply piecing together clues from his divination and making things up, so why was this woman reacting so strongly? She was acting like a cat whose tail had been stepped on!

"...Oh? What did you say?"

Then she gave a cold smile and asked in a voice as cold as liquid nitrogen,

"What kind of deal is it? Why don't you tell me about it first?"

It no longer sounded like a human voice; it sounded more like a mournful wind blowing from the depths of the underworld.

For a moment, Hayden wondered if the "Alicia" on his phone screen was not human at all.

So even he was a little confused at first.

"It's nothing. You've just seen the golem I created and witnessed its AI and capabilities, so you should know how much potential this new technology has."

Fortunately, just like the symbol of the "Fool" card, he is extremely quick to react based on intuition.

"The ancient magic she possesses has surpassed all previous limitations. She could easily defeat ten high-level demons in one go. This is no longer just artificial intelligence; it's a deity (deusexmachina) that mimics the ancient gods, reappears in the modern world, and descends into a mechanical form. Don't you think this technology is worth investing in?"

This is utter nonsense.

perhaps.

Since Hayden had no other choice anyway, he decided to take a gamble and spout nonsense based on the results of the divination.

Perhaps by spouting this nonsense, he could use Angela's unique value to fool Adam and his wife, making them more willing to negotiate with him than to cause him trouble.

"I see."

As expected, Alicia's expression softened upon hearing Hayden's words, clearly showing some interest.

"This is definitely worth discussing."

She sighed, smiled slightly, and blinked.

"Developing such a new technology must be very expensive, right?"

Yes, yes. Hayden wanted the conversation to veer in that direction. If it were about business, if there were any mutual benefits involved, they wouldn't be in such a hurry to silence Hayden.

"I'm not exaggerating, madam. When it comes to the study of ancient magic, if I say I'm second to none in all of New Seattle, no one would dare to claim to be first."

So Hayden climbed the ladder of success, constantly spouting empty boasts.

"Those who work with modern arcane magic have no idea of ​​the true allure of magic, nor do they know that the greatest power can be born from ancient mysteries. What did the ancients say? 'If I hear the Way in the morning, I can die content in the evening.' As long as someone is willing to give me research funding and let me glimpse the abyss of magic, why should I care what that person does with the results?"

He said things that even he himself didn't believe.

However, Alicia became more and more interested as she listened, and even raised her eyebrows.

"very good."

Her smile now was strange; it wasn't the reserved smile she had before, but rather an arrogant one, a smile that openly revealed her true nature of "I am superior to you."

"Adam will negotiate the terms with you. I hope the results you deliver won't disappoint me."

This kind of temperament doesn't resemble that of a wealthy young lady; rather, it's more like that of royalty and nobility from ancient times.

But before Hayden could continue observing her, the image on his phone screen changed.

"Hayden, are you really not planning to come work for me?"

Adam's handsome face has replaced Alicia's on the screen.

"You clearly have no shortage of business acumen."

He grinned slightly and gave Hayden a bright smile.

But Hayden couldn't laugh.

"Damn it, Adam, what the hell are you doing?"

He was too lazy to pretend anymore and asked directly.

"Are you really trying to cause me trouble, and then push me to the point of flipping the table?"

Hayden's "flipping the table" refers to his ability to send the personality chip data online all at once, or to several large companies, and then abandon his house and run away from New Jersey.

But Adam's thoughts seemed to be different. He immediately explained with a wry smile, "No, no, no, of course not. You misunderstood the signal I had Alicia convey to you, buddy. I never intended to cause you any trouble. The mercenaries who attacked your house this morning were just an accident. I had no idea at the time that you had stolen the personality chip data."

As he said this, he shrugged:

"If I had known all along that you were the hacker who stole the data, wouldn't I have just talked to you first? Why waste so many human resources?"

These words were tantamount to Adam admitting that he was the mastermind behind the personality modification chips at the Wenle Club.

Hayden frowned as he recalled the Dream Chips that many people in the New Seattle slums had been using recently.

The two types of chips share the same technology, which is likely related to Adam. Is he conducting human experiments?

For what?

But Adam continued:

"I'll transfer the remaining commission Alicia agreed to to you. On the other hand, I'm genuinely interested in the golem you developed. What exactly is it? Is this your definition of the perfect wife? Tearing apart high-level demons?"

As he said this, he touched his chin.

"Okay, that makes sense. You really like those powerful and cute girls in anime and games. But what I'm concerned about isn't your golem's combat strength, but its AI—dude, that's definitely not an arcane-generated AI. What exactly is inside your golem's head?"

God knows. Even Hayden himself wanted to know the answer to that question.

But he couldn't very well tell Adam, "Oh, I don't know either." Since he'd already started pretending, Hayden had to keep it up.

Stand strong, don't be afraid, and boldly spout nonsense!

"As you know, I've always tried to extract the essence of ancient magic, discard the dross, and modernize it for use. The AI ​​of this golem is the result of my research in recent years."

So Hayden started talking nonsense.

"This isn't an AI created based on arcane principles, but rather a mechanical spirit born from steel, based on classical animistic thought—the theory that all things possess a spirit. Of course, according to tradition, this process would take hundreds of years. So I used arcane magic to accelerate it, and then used my consciousness projected onto the astral plane as an anchor. The astral plane is inherently a vast illusion of sympathetic consciousness. So I went to the wilderness to use alchemy to collect spiritual elements from the atmosphere to accelerate its maturation, and then used runes to create an observation point of the material world from the ethereal layer. Then I used the light refracted by the seven planets to irradiate it, adjusting the fusion rate of matter and spirituality, and increasing the intensity of consciousness..."

All of the above is utter nonsense.

To be honest, it's not entirely nonsense. These are all schemes Hayden had tried and failed at. Before creating Angela with a drunken wish-granting spell, Hayden had already tried many other random ideas to create his ideal wife. Putting everything else aside, these schemes sound quite convincing until you've actually failed.

Ultimately, although they graduated from the same university, Adam wasn't in Hayden's field. At first, he could barely understand a little, but he became increasingly confused as he listened—Hayden's approach literally combined ancient and modern theories, and those who only understood one of them often couldn't fully grasp what he was saying.

"Stop, stop, stop! I know this is something amazing!"

Finally, seeing Hayden actually pull out a blackboard and start drawing Greek structural formulas to explain the effects of dryness, coldness, humidity, heat, and yin-yang changes on consciousness, Adam quickly raised his hands in surrender.

"Is there anything I can understand? For example, can it be mass-produced? What is the current cost?"

I've been waiting for you to say this.

"Mass production? Not yet. This thing's consciousness is bound to me at the astral level. Just like your custom-made dolls, this thing has to be made for each client individually, and each one takes three years to make."

Hayden is lying through his teeth.

"In terms of cost, the materials for this prototype machine cost approximately six million Federal Gold Coins."

That's complete nonsense. Although the cost of making Angela used up Hayden's savings of seven years, it's impossible for him to have saved up that much in seven years.

But Adam was completely bewildered: "Huh?"

Hayden couldn't help but worry that he might have gone too far with his ramblings. What if Adam thought it lacked commercial value?

"The material cost is easy to solve, but it's a bit awkward that each customer has to wait three years for a custom order."

However, Adam stroked his chin, seemingly unconcerned about the money.

"Why don't you come work for me? That way it will be easier for me to allocate funds to you. It's difficult to access so much money directly on your own."

Hayden was just waiting for him to say that.

"I won't do it. You know I don't fit into corporate life."

So he immediately shook his head and changed the subject.

"And dude, what have you been up to lately? I don't like people who pretend to be virtuous while actually being promiscuous, but what you've done this time is disgusting. Selling dream chips to kids, using personality chips for customized spring sales, and these human experiments—do you even know what this bullshit is?"

As he said this, his face turned serious.

"This is 'making peace with the devil,' brother. There will be no good end for doing such a thing."

Hayden was only half serious about what he said; the other half was just going along with the atmosphere.

To his surprise, Adam paused for about two seconds after hearing his words, then suddenly burst into laughter. He was laughing wildly, completely unlike his usual polite and refined self, clutching his stomach and laughing unrestrainedly and without any attempt to hide it.

The laughter was as if Hayden had just told a very funny joke, leaving even Hayden himself bewildered.

"Don't talk nonsense, brother."

Several minutes later, Adam's laughter gradually subsided. He reached up and wiped away the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes, shaking his head vigorously: "If we don't do some despicable things, people from ordinary families like us can never climb to the top even if we struggle our whole lives."

"Those modifiers, those elves, those 'gods' from the upper class—talent? Their genes are inherently stronger than ours. Effort? They can work even harder than us because they only need four hours of sleep. While we sit in classrooms listening to teachers teach fifty people, they can invite teachers to their homes for one-on-one tutoring—this is all old news, I can't even be bothered to mention it."

But Adam's usual polite smile had vanished like a mask. He, like Hayden, had a somber expression.

"What do you think I'm doing all this for? Working sixteen hours a day, hiring hitmen and hackers to do the dirty work, secretly kicking out one colleague after another, and researching these illegal chips? For the devil? For the company? Of course not."

He clenched his fists, his cold face devoid of any smile, his voice as dry and cold as the dead of winter.

"I did all this so that I could have a good ending."

"I did all this to defy fate—to change my own destiny."

"Hayden, do you understand what I'm saying?"

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The Devil (Upright)

Keywords: desire, constraint, addiction, materialism

The biggest mistake comes from attributing your choices to "having no other choice."

022: The Queen of Grails

"I did all this so that I could have a good ending."

"I did all this to defy fate—to change my own destiny."

"Hayden, do you understand what I'm saying?"

So Adam said.

So for a moment no one spoke.

The call continued, but the two remained silent.

Adam's words did indeed have their merits. Hayden didn't even know how to refute them.

But why did he feel a chill down his spine even though he couldn't refute it?

Perhaps it was because, although Adam spoke these words, not a single one exceeded sixty decibels, yet anyone could sense his anger in his voice. He did not show his anger outwardly, but anyone could see the boundless fury in his eyes.

This handsome man no longer exuded his usual confidence and sunny disposition. His face remained calm, but the bitterness and resentment in his voice sounded ferocious, as if he wanted to tear the world apart.

Adam was indeed telling his best friend the truth, a completely honest and candid truth. He openly told his brother, "All my hard work and struggle is to avoid being a lower-class person and instead become a higher-class one. To achieve this goal, I will stop at nothing."

Hayden couldn't deny it, because Adam was right. That's just how this era is. The upper class starts with wings. Children who can't afford genetic adjustments will likely suffer from congenital disadvantages such as failing exams, job hunting failures, and poor physical condition, making them even less socially secure and competitive.

What can the lower class rely on to compete with the upper class?

So Hayden really didn't know what to say to him. The fact that Adam was willing to tell Hayden these things shows that he is actually quite sincere to his true friends, I guess.