Chapter 576 - 547: The Professors Who Disappeared without a Trace

"What’s with the tears... Did you not sleep well?"

V waved her hand in front of Lille’s face and, upon receiving no response, was about to start shaking the fool awake.

However, Lille slapped her hand away and came back to reality from his daydream:

It had to be said, whenever Maya spoke, Lille could imagine the affection between his mom and dad.

"Quiet down!" Lille gestured with his hand, "Wait a moment, I’m adjusting the Prosthetics."

"Tch..."

Foiled, V got up from the wooden crate, tossed Lille’s clothes back onto his head, and stretched.

"How much longer until we can go out and move around?"

"Almost—don’t wander off."

As for Lille, he still had to take care of another matter—

He could use his parents’ story as material for his speech.

Two immigrants shunned by society, likewise orphaned at an early age, came alone to the foreign land known as Dream City, New York, in search of a better life.

The jobs available to them were either laborious or non-existent—physical labor typically only hired men, and women without a mind for business had to resort to less reputable work.

Maya was a bit smarter and had some experience as a country doctor, which allowed her to gradually get into the caregiving profession.

But as an immigrant, she could only find work in charitable facilities doing the hardest jobs: moving between sickbeds caring for society’s Outsiders, perhaps even changing diapers for paralyzed patients, wiping down their bodies, helping patients turn over, transporting them, breathing in the pungent smell of disinfectant and medicine in the rudimentary care facilities, with no rest during working hours, especially tough during night shifts.

Mentally, she had to face the pain, despair, and even death of the patients. This job was physically demanding, and the added pressure was simply exhausting—

And the pay for her entry-level care work was far less than that of healthcare workers in big hospitals.

Lille’s dad met Maya on the sickbed because he worked harder than anyone else.

This determined man knew he probably couldn’t learn much anymore nor earn much money, but he thought Maya seemed more tired and needed help.

This naturally stubborn and resilient man repeatedly soothed Maya’s emotions, feeling that this was love, and his persistence dissolved awkwardness into sincerity.

He was not a very great man, nor a very remarkable one...

But what did that matter? Maya also felt this was love.

As for the future, wasn’t it better to face the uncertain future together rather than alone?

They indeed couldn’t and didn’t ask for Lille’s opinion, asking if he wanted to be born—it was indeed very selfish from this perspective.

But Lille chose to understand because he had the ability, he was the future.

Standing in front of row upon row of somber students, Lille finished his story, and Maya, sitting below the stage, seemed lost in thought. She wanted to cry, but she didn’t.

"...Choice, we all have it, that’s why I chose to become Atlas as I am now,"

Sometimes Lille felt that saying these words was also convincing himself.

The price of winning a war is usually high, but as long as it’s not oneself paying that price, people prefer to see victory, a victory at all costs is still a victory.

The students were clapping, and Lille signaled the student who had just asked the question to sit down. The student had asked why not use more automation to quickly improve corporate efficiency.

Lille continued, "We have an exhibit across from the Lee Financial Building to remind people: Biotechnology needs to heed ethical and moral considerations.

The actions of the Osborne Group were just a prelude. In human history, there are far too many tragedies where ethics were neglected for the sake of victory, especially in World War II.

They were beasts—for the sake of victory, they could perform brutal experiments on civilians without restraint, and this will also be exhibited in the gallery.

To win a war is not just about defeating an enemy, but also eradicating a thought: if one day we win the war but turn into the enemy after many years... then we haven’t won at all.

Cybernetics, too, is a technology, and I think that maybe we don’t need to cruelly eliminate everyone’s livelihood.

A farmer, who was farming his fields perfectly fine yesterday, had been doing so for 30 years, then suddenly a day comes when a replacement plan emerges, and we toss him into the gutter right away, efficiency skyrockets, yes, but after all, we have been eating the food he has grown for 30 years.

He has fallen behind the times, yes; to abandon him? I choose to refuse; but that doesn’t mean these people should just lie down and accept handouts.

So we offer two solutions, if someone is too old, we provide them with retirement benefits fitting the times, including educating their children;

If they are still young—they themselves can learn."

"But what if they refuse to learn?" Someone else raised their hand, "Some people are too stupid and too clumsy."

"Ha ha." Lille shook his head and smiled, "To me, you are also too stupid and too clumsy."

Laughter filled the room.

"But I believe 99% of people can find something they like and study it, brain-computer interfaces and the ctOS network have already allowed people to enjoy educational materials from teaching teams around the world without barriers, and more and more universities are joining this project.

However, you are right, there may still be 1% who refuse to make an effort, and when that time comes, the police will naturally deal with them. So you see, our police also have a hard time, they face people who are too stupid and too clumsy every day—I mean people who are really too stupid and too clumsy."

The student who had asked the question earlier regained some face from the embarrassment.

His words also dispelled some stereotypes about the police, something that could only be achieved in Atlas-controlled cities.

Policemen in other cities are busy with riot control at this moment.

When the venue quieted down, Lille looked at the people below and said, "Finally, I believe that in the future you will appear in fields, factories, office buildings, municipal governments, parliaments, and there might even be a President among you.

I believe you will be part of the future, a better future, one that every one of us is striving for.

Choose the future, become the future, this is all I have to say."

The applause was thunderous, Lille walked down from the podium carrying the certificate and shook hands with PHDs who had traveled far to be here—

Among them were familiar faces like Professor Conners, Dr. Otto, and Dr. Adrian, as well as other scientists whose reputations were no less than theirs.

If judged from appearances alone, over 80% of scientists and teams in the scientific community had chosen Atlas’s camp, accepting the ethics and morality here.

If there were a machine that could detect people’s thoughts, it would find that in reality 99% of the teams had chosen this side.

As for why some teams chose Rocksen, it was naturally because they had long signed contracts with those companies, just like Conners, Otto, Adrian, and their relationships with the Osborne Group used to be.

But...

The problem arose precisely with these very few scientists; Lille had already searched all the well-known and legitimate, high-intelligence characters from Marvel with names that he remembered. Fortunately, characters such as Professor X and the amazing Mr. Reed did not exist, which would have made things much simpler.

The bad news was that there were some who did exist but did not show up here, like the honorary alumnus Professor Bruce Banner, who was not present at the school.

If this person exists, who knows how far his Hulk Serum research has advanced?

Currently, the power levels in the Marvel World are on the low side, but things would be different with the emergence of the Hulk.

Where is the man?

The military’s information was tightly sealed, and there was no news of a green giant causing mayhem like in the movies, which made him somewhat... nervous.

Lille looked towards his approaching mother and suddenly thought: if the Hulk really showed up downtown, it would be very troublesome.

Such a monster could easily send tons of rock flying like cannonballs, and if, if someone were to release such a thing in New York...

He wouldn’t even need them to do it; in the plot, the Hulk liked to head to New York, and now, under these circumstances, it was entirely possible he might come his way. And if he did, it would be a major incident.

In the plot, the relatives of plot characters don’t die when they’re not needed, but his situation was different, he also didn’t know how things would unfold.

Even if it wasn’t the Hulk, there could be the Winter Soldier, a Space Airship, a Super Virus...

Rocksen was very quiet today, but the more biting dogs are, the quieter they get.

Maybe it was time to relocate his mother, his vicinity was becoming unsafe.

"Mom..." Lille suddenly said, "I need to go for a check-up in a bit, walk with me for a while, there are some things I want to discuss with you."

Maya was stunned.