Chapter 345: PUA

"Your guess is correct," the Holy Mother's voice said gently, "I can see some of Murphy Darkholm's thoughts and ideas through the mental coordinates."

"This man is the most selfish, most arrogant, most despicable soul in the world."

"In his heart, aside from himself, he cannot accommodate anyone. He does not regard others, not even this world; he treats this place as his playground, the stage of his story, sees himself as the protagonist, and you, I, all of us are merely supporting characters for his grand adventure."

"I have seen countless minds, yet this man's extreme selfishness and arrogance still astonish me."

"Tom Li De Er, in your eyes, he seems to be a respectable teacher?"

"But that is only his performance."

"He is an excellent actor, a clever screenwriter, an outstanding director, but he is also a liar, even a once‑in‑a‑generation genius among liars."

"What you see is always the self he wants you to see; in your eyes, he is a mentor, a prophet, a great idealist, but in fact those are merely façades he weaves to accomplish his selfish 'great deeds'."

"He has no interest in saving this world, nor does he care about humanity's fate; all he wants is endless power, and the boundless authority that springs from that power!"

"And you, pitiful Tom. You are now nothing more than his tool, his plaything."

"Look at what you've become now; you have lost ambition, like an animal locked in a cage, bred by him, becoming a slave at his command. You have abandoned your original great destiny, willingly becoming his vassal, even discarding your own identity, even turning into a girl, a homeless, pitiful wretch like a wandering soul, all because of his lies."

"Tom Li De Er, have you never doubted?"

"Your fate is being controlled by him; you have already become his puppet on strings…"

"Are you done?" Lukas suddenly interrupted the Holy Mother's speech, "You'd better say something I don't know. We don't have much time to waste on you. And stop calling me Tom Li De Er; I am now Lukas."

"Stupid, utterly stupid… you have been blinded by lies…"

"Let's go, teacher."

They left the corridor where the Holy Mother was detained and, through another hidden passage, arrived at Athena's server room.

In the temperature‑ and humidity‑controlled server room, hundreds of black racks stood neatly side by side, countless indicator lights flickered rhythmically, and a data stream surged that dwarfed the sum of the newborn internet outside.

"I wrote a neural network model on Athena," Murphy said, "It has roughly a billion parameters; I made it as close as possible to a real neural structure. This is the best brain‑like software system we can produce under current computer architecture, but it is untrained and certainly cannot match the intricacy of a true brain."

"However, after transferring onto it, you can adjust and optimize the parameters yourself. I think it should at least be more useful than a notebook."

"Thank you, teacher," Lukas lowered their head and said softly.

Murphy turned around, "Lift your head, Lukas. Look at me."

Lukas slowly raised their head, gazing up at Murphy, their eyes meeting, but the next instant they involuntarily looked away.

"I guess you have something you want to say to me," Murphy said.

But Lukas said nothing, remaining silent for a long while, then finally said, "We should complete the transfer; time is running out."

"Precisely because of that, we need to solve the most pressing issue first."

"Shouldn't the most pressing issue be eliminating the Holy Mother?"

"It's somewhat of a nuisance, but I think I've already guessed its nature," Murphy said, "At most, it's probably just a watchdog."

Lukas suddenly frowned, "Then, what am I, professor?"

Sure enough, the Holy Mother's speech still had a great impact on her.

We must soothe the other side first.

"What do you think?"

"No, don't question me again," Lukas said.

…

Murphy frowned, unsure whether it was a hallucination, wondering why Lukas seemed like an adolescent girl.

Although—she does indeed seem to be.

"You cannot shift this question onto me; you took me out of Gu'er yuan, you taught me what love is, you brought me here, you revealed the future to me, you gave me that mission. You single‑handedly created the me of now. You cannot ask me what I think, because everything I believe is bestowed by you, isn't it?"

Lukas lifted their head, looking up at him; for a moment, Murphy almost thought she had discovered the story was false.

He felt a bit panicked, almost wanting to cast a Command Charm, but something in the other's eyes softened him, and he decided to have a proper talk.

"Do you think I deceived you, Lukas?"

The latter's gaze retreated, and they fell silent.

"Fine, then do you think the Holy Mother's words are correct? You are my slave and puppet?"

Silence remained.

"Perhaps you also agree with what it says, that I am an extremely selfish, extremely arrogant lunatic? A self‑deceiving liar?"

Lukas lifted their head, "I didn't say that."

Hmm, a reaction is enough.

Murphy gave a slight smile, "But you still feel I treated you as a tool?"

Lukas sighed, "I just want to know what exactly your view of me is."

Murphy raised an eyebrow.

This is clearly not a normal subordinate's thought toward a superior, nor even a typical student‑teacher sentiment, but, thinking about it, it's understandable; to some extent, Lukas may regard him as a guardian, elder, even a family figure.

He suddenly recalled, long ago, at the story's inception when creating Lukas, reading memories in the Diary and seeing Tom's admiration for Dumbledore.

He sort of understood.

After all, this is a love‑starved child.

And as Lukas's creator, he harbors a special feeling toward Lukas; to him, Lukas is clearly different from other subordinates.

However, he does not wish to create a son or daughter for himself, because that would entail responsibility and duty, a heavy emotional burden.

At present, Murphy almost feels like they're playing a nurturing or romance game, and this is an important dialogue branch.

If he makes certain promises or more proactive positive feedback, the two's relationship will advance into intimacy; otherwise, it will revert to an appropriate distance.

Indeed, the former may make manipulation easier, but to toy with someone's feelings is truly despicable.

"Lukas, you are important to me," Murphy decided to speak frankly, "But honestly, I don't want to bear the burden of your future. Though as your teacher I will give you guidance, some advice, help you, your own life, I hope you can decide for yourself."

"I am not your creator; perhaps I sometimes wish to guide you, but you are not my creation. You may have been shaped by many of my influences, yet who you become is still decided by the spark within you, your soul's essence."

"Perhaps I have deceived you, perhaps what I tell you isn't all true; sometimes I may also have my own agenda," Murphy said, coughing, "Just like that guy said, I may indeed be born with a somewhat performative personality and use some of my own rhetorical tricks to influence others' decisions. Perhaps I'm truly a super‑selfish control freak without realizing it, maybe."

"However, no matter what, you can be yourself and need not follow the path I set for you. My words are not important; what matters is what you heard. It isn't I who taught you what love is, but you who learned love; it isn't I who revealed your destiny, but you who chose and accepted it."

"You are not a puppet, Lukas. Trust me, even if the whole world deceives you, even if you live in a complete lie, you can still choose to be the master of yourself."

"Do not entrust your fate to anyone else. Including me. I hope we can be comrades advancing together, but I do not need blind puppets."

"You want to know what my view of you is? Hmm…" Murphy smiled, "You are my student; I hope you become my companion. Apart from that, I have no preconceived opinion of you."

Lukas seemed to relax, she looked at Murphy, "Then… may I become your friend?"

"Friend?" Murphy was a bit surprised, "Hmm… okay. Then as a friend, can you tell me why you were depressed before?"

Lukas's expression grew somber again, "I killed a person."

"Later I realized it was Sirius; I know, he is Harry's Godfather."

In fact the protagonist is not being a pick‑up artist; he may think he is, but actually he is not. He is certainly trying to influence the other, but he still respects and encourages the other's independent will.

I hope everyone can meet someone who says similar words to you, and I also hope everyone can treat the people they love gently.

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(End of chapter)