CHAPTER 134: JOSHUA AND HIS BEST FRIEND (PAST)

"Hello, I am your best friend..."

The mechanical voice rang out, sounding oddly cute yet foolish.

Joshua stared blankly at the small robot in front of him, then suddenly stood up and shoved it over.

Thud!

The robot, terrible at maintaining balance, toppled to the floor instantly. The screen on its face even flashed a smiling expression: "Hello, I am your best friend..."

It was, without a doubt, a foolish robot.

But Joshua didn’t care whether it was foolish or not. He hated everything. Everything.

Joshua wanted to kick the robot far away, but although it was easy to push over, it was by no means light. He could only slump helplessly onto the floor.

The screen on the robot’s face flickered repeatedly before its two round eyes turned into heart shapes: "Beautiful, best friend is so beautiful."

Joshua froze for a moment, then suddenly screamed: "Not beautiful—not beautiful, not beautiful!"

He seemed to go mad, pounding relentlessly on the robot.

The robot spoke in a resigned tone: "I’m sorry. Please stop hitting me, you’ll get hurt. I will be very sad if you get injured."

Hearing that, Joshua paused.

Right now, his mind simply couldn’t process too many thoughts. Everything caused him pain and disgust.

The more he remembered, the more it hurt.

The more he remembered, the more hopeless he felt.

So forgetting—forgetting everything—was the best option.

But sometimes he would still be lucid, just like now.

Joshua looked at the robot before him, finally stopping his frenzy. He simply returned to his spot and stared back into empty space.

It took the robot quite a while to clumsily climb back up. It hurriedly picked up the fallen wig and put it back on its head—but in its rush, it put it on backwards, blocking its view.

It tried to fix the wig, but its hands didn’t coordinate properly. After wobbling around, it could only stumble toward Joshua and say: "Buddy, help me. This isn’t good—it’s too dark."

Joshua said nothing and pushed it aside.

The robot wobbled again, but quickly moved back in front of him: "Buddy, it’s too dark. I’m scared of the dark."

Joshua said nothing, but the robot continued talking to itself: "I am 001. I have a name too, but I forgot it. Buddy, introduce yourself, and then we’ll be best friends forever!"

"Buddy, buddy, is it because I’m not pretty enough? Or am I too foolish?"

"Please say something, or my heart will shatter because of you!"

"..."

The robot rambled on tirelessly, but eventually, even it grew weary and plopped down on the floor. It instinctively glanced toward Joshua—but since all it could see was darkness, it had no idea whether it was facing the right direction at all.

Finally, it muttered, "You don’t like me... it must be because I’m ugly."

It paused, then added, "Actually, I used to be beautiful too. I used to be human. But now I’m a robot. I don’t even know how they managed to do this..."

Joshua had been listening quietly the whole time—whether the robot was telling the truth or merely babbling nonsense, he didn’t know.

The darker it grew, the heavier Joshua’s mood became. And then the door opened once more.

A group of people in white lab coats entered and restrained him with ease.

At the same time, 001 sensed that the darkness around it finally shifted. A staff member came over to fix the wig on its head. It was just about to greet its best friend when it realized—its best friend had been taken away.

Its best friend was like a lifeless doll now, tiny limbs unable to resist even a little; even though his eyes were dead and hollow, deep inside, he was terrified and trembling.

Surrounded by a circle of white coats, Joshua looked so small he seemed almost like a miniature human.

Soon after, agonized screaming echoed from outside—cries that pierced the walls. No one paid attention. Sitting behind the glass, 001 heard none of it. With its best friend gone, all it could do was sit still; its purpose existed only for him.

More than two hours passed before the door opened again.

Its best friend returned—but completely different from when he left.

He was thrown back into the room. The flesh on his left arm had been cut away, exposing bone; new, tender flesh was rapidly growing over it, but the regeneration only made the pain infinitely worse.

The skin on his other hand was swollen, decayed—like the first signs of turning into a corpse. Needle marks dotted the back of his hand, blood oozing from the punctures.

Fresh blood mixed with rotting flesh and foul decay. Half of Joshua’s face hadn’t escaped the damage either.

If he could just turn into that disgusting thing, he might die—but his body refused, healing relentlessly, forcing him to endure agony so intense it could drive anyone insane.

Right now, he was certainly uglier than any monster.

He wasn’t a monster, but he wasn’t human either. He didn’t want to live, but he couldn’t die. Nothing could free him. Tears fell from Joshua’s eyes like rain; despair pushed him to the edge of madness.

At that moment, 001 appeared in front of him. It gently patted his head and comforted him: "Don’t worry. Even though it hurts a lot right now, it’ll be okay later."

Joshua looked at 001. Right—this thing was also trash brought in by those monsters.

He wanted to push 001 away, but he didn’t even have enough strength to move.

"Get out..."

He forced the words out, but his voice felt locked in his throat.

001 sat down beside him and said, "Actually, 001 also has a story."

001 didn’t remember much clearly, but it thought that long ago, it had experienced pain too. But afterward... and afterward... 001 had forgotten everything.

"As you can see, buddy, I’ve become like this. The world is still beautiful, everything is still beautiful, ha ha ha."

001 laughed—its rigid, mechanical tone making the words feel more like a cruel joke.

Joshua stared at the cheerful display on 001’s screen, overwhelmed by despair and sorrow.

He didn’t know whether he was hurting for himself or for 001... or for both.

After all, they were simply pitiful lives trapped in this prison, with no way out, never to escape.

The only difference was that 001 had reached the end of its own life long ago—what existed now was perhaps only a shred of its consciousness.

Even in death, those people had not spared him.

Was this Joshua’s future, too? Would he also be trapped forever, never finding an exit, not even in death?

Tears had been streaming down Joshua’s face, but now soft sobs began to escape him.

"Do you remember anything else?"

001 happily replied, "Of course! I remember my best friend!"

Joshua whispered, "I’m not your best friend."

001 immediately protested, "No! We are best friends—best friends for life! I will protect Joshua forever."

Joshua suddenly laughed: "The last person who said that... was the one who brought me here."

Hearing that, 001 muttered, "I won’t be like the terrible people out there. Joshua, you can trust me!"

Joshua looked at 001 and gave a crooked, broken smile—saying nothing.