Inside a lab, where mechanical devices hummed softly, cables were scattered across the ground, and many screens displayed different streams of data, each flickering with complex readouts. Inside this chaotic yet strangely focused space, filled with the faint scent of steel and oil, something remarkable was finally completed.
The first humanoid robot… the first true combat android, had at last been finished.
Christian, clearly tired but visibly excited, stood in the middle of it all. He had finally completed his first combat android, and at this moment, he was accompanied by his sister and Eva. The three of them were now looking at a handsome man in his early thirties, with strict, chiseled facial features… it was Zero!
The android he had started on last, among the current three he was building.
"So, are you ready?" Christian asked, his voice carrying a sense of anticipation, as he looked at his sister and Eva, whose eyes were also twinkling at his achievement.
When only the final touches had remained, just before bringing Zero to life, Christian had called them in. He felt that this moment was special… worth sharing.
"Just hurry and finish whatever remains," Annabelle said, unable to tear her eyes away from Zero. Her tone conveyed not only her own feelings, but Eva's too.
She felt that, in terms of appearance, Zero looked no different from a normal person… if one ignored the cable still connected to the back of his neck. And now, she was excited to see what it would be like once he started to move. Once he started to interact with them!
Christian chuckled at their impatience, then turned toward the keyboard at his side. He began moving his fingers rapidly over the keys, and Iris collaborated with him in those final adjustments, assisting with the interface synchronization and final system checks.
After a few tense minutes of fine-tuning and code verification, Christian gave one final, decisive push on the enter key, executing the command that would fully activate Zero.
Mechanical sounds flared up, escalating in intensity for a brief moment, as the energy surged through the android's frame. Then, they slowly died down, and Zero's body began to twitch slightly.
And then, all at once, the twitching stopped.
Zero had finally been powered on.
The lab fell into silence. Everyone in the room knew it. And so, they just kept staring at him, watching as he slowly moved his head and scanned his surroundings.
It didn't take long before his gaze finally settled on Christian. And then, in a deep and steady voice, he spoke.
At that moment, Christian felt every fiber of his body shiver. Even if Zero was just a newly-made android, he still looked like a man in his thirties!
And for Christian, who was now only nineteen years old, the idea of having a "son" who looked more than ten years older than him was just… too much.
So, he hurriedly raised his hand and said, "Don't!"
"Don't call me that!"
Zero seemed to pause at this sudden command… he looked a little uncertain, as if troubled by not knowing the right word to use for Christian. But then, something seemed to click in his mind. He tilted his head slightly and asked, "Then… Master?"
Christian, who had naturally noticed the screen flashing beside him, frowned slightly.
He immediately knew it was Iris's doing… that she had just sent Zero this new designation.
… But even so, he still felt that Master wasn't quite appropriate. He only liked being called that by beautiful girls, after all.
If he preferred beautiful girls so much, then why was the first android he completed a man?
That was naturally because Zero's role was different. Christian had designed him to be sent out… to operate in the outside world, to work in places far from home.
And Christian didn't want to send a girl he created, no matter what, to do that kind of work. Even if she was nothing more than a pile of metal, animated by AI and programs as some would say.
To him, they were different. They were special.
Their worth was not something that could be measured the way others might measure it. He was possessive of them. That's exactly why he didn't want Alpha to take on the role that he had made for Zero.
It's not like he was asking them to whore their cold metal bodies for him… it was nothing like that.
It was just how he felt.
He didn't want a female of his own creation to leave his side.
While many thoughts passed through his mind, Christian was still about to correct Zero, when Annabelle suddenly exclaimed, "He's soo cute!"
She moved closer to Zero, eyes sparkling, and with a warm and playful voice said, "If you want, you can call me Mother."
Zero seemed to find the situation a little awkward, and that awkwardness was reflected on his face. In fact, there was even a slight redness visible on his artificial skin.
Still, he gave a respectful salute toward Annabelle and said, "Yes… m-mother."
Christian facepalmed at the situation, especially when Eva also stepped in… moving close and telling Zero to call her Eldest Mother, before she started bickering with his sister.
Is everyone determined to start messing with him with these kinds of pranks?
He began to question whether it had been a mistake to model Zero's personality after that of a soldier… a disciplined and serious man who had never even held a woman's hand in his entire life.
At the time, Christian had thought that the character of a smart and disciplined soldier was the most fitting for the kind of work he had in mind for Zero.
But… maybe that was a mistake?
While some of Christian's thoughts followed this line, he still kept observing Zero's interactions with his sister and Eva. He analyzed every detail of the situation, searching for anything that might require adjustments.
One of the things that stood out to him was the artificial skin, something he had enhanced using his knowledge of Human Biology, and how it had actually come out fantastically well.
But as for other areas, there was still some stiffness in Zero's movements and expressions.
Still, he was just beginning to learn.
So, Christian didn't expect high performance immediately.