CHAPTER 518: CHAPTER 304: BLUFFING LITTLE MIKE, THE PLAINNESS OF THE TYCOON_1

"Lucifer Game Organization..."

After typing out a series of characters, Little Mike fell silent for a moment before sending another string of messages, "Is it convenient for you to take a call?"

Dean glanced back at Niel, who was sleeping like a log. He turned off his phone’s ringer and silently replied, "It’s convenient."

No sooner had he responded than Dean’s phone immediately received a call from Little Mike.

However, the incoming number looked somewhat strange; the area code and exchange code appeared to be randomly assembled, looking somewhat shady, like a modified virtual internet number.

This kind of technology had not yet become widespread in this world.

Dean walked out to the balcony, closed the heavy sliding door behind him, and answered the call, "Is this internet virtual call technology something you designed?"

"To be precise, this is the latest research achievement I stole from the military."

Having not spoken for several months, Little Mike’s voice sounded much weaker than before, as if he were short of breath, lacking the vitality normal people should have.

Hearing this, Dean furrowed his brows slightly. "The military?"

"Yes. I anticipate my body can hold up for at most another three or four years, so during this time, I’ve been hacking into numerous secret human research institutions around the world.

Unfortunately, most of these institutions have their core areas on isolated networks, or even use their own developed language systems, which makes them very difficult to penetrate through online channels. Therefore, I haven’t gained much in terms of human research; instead, I’ve acquired a large number of less significant technologies."

Relieved to hear it was just some unimportant technologies, Dean let out a sigh.

Although he was somewhat curious about those secret human research institutions Little Mike mentioned, right now, he was more concerned about the Lucifer Game Organization.

So, he directed the conversation back to the original topic, "Listen, Little Mike, for the sake of my family, I cannot avoid this battle royale game. I need your help to deal with them!"

A moment of silence followed.

Then Little Mike spoke.

"Dean, we are not like those low-intelligence monkeys.

I cannot understand why you would let something like family constrain you. They’re like a noose around a duck’s neck, tethering you to a window until you’re dried out by the wind.

They are your weakness, of no use to you."

Hearing this, Dean was momentarily at a loss for words.

In his past life, his views were actually the same as Little Mike’s.

Bonds meant weaknesses. It was only the cold-blooded who could survive a bit longer in the dark world.

But was he normal in his past life? No!

In his past life, Dean was nothing but a wretched creature who could barely suppress his madness through carnal desires, nearly akin to a beast devoid of much humanity.

In this lifetime, Dean enjoyed the affection of his family, the friendship of Harry and others, and the love Niel brought to him. He used all these beautiful emotions as an anchor for his humanity, firmly locking down the inner beast, savoring this new life.

Dean much preferred this warmer version of life.

The problem was, although it seemed Little Mike could communicate normally and even simulate the emotions he wanted to express, in reality, he could not understand the warmth of the heart or the meaning of being alive.

If Dean used this argument against Little Mike, Little Mike would most likely think Dean was an incomprehensible fool. He would then question whether Dean, as a partner, was truly capable of helping him achieve his desires.

At that point, Little Mike would revert to an uncontrollable state.

Kill him or not, Dean couldn’t bring himself to do either.

Never mind, I’ll just have to keep trying to fool him, Dean thought. Adopting Little Mike’s line of reasoning, he asked, "Little Mike, do you know why, even though you can’t understand what emotions are, you still instinctively want to fix your body’s deficiencies?"

On the other end of the line, Little Mike, who had been scanning through a pile of documents, stopped. A thoughtful expression appeared on his face, but he still shook his head emotionlessly, "I have reviewed many documents. The diagnosis most fitting my condition is severe emotional deficiency..."

"No, it’s not an emotional deficiency!" Dean refuted Little Mike’s self-diagnosis and began to coax him, "Have you considered this situation?

Suppose your body doesn’t lack the secretion of emotion-related hormones. Instead, perhaps the very medium that transforms these hormones into emotions is what’s preventing you from understanding feelings.

Doesn’t this reasoning fit your situation better?

Otherwise, you would be more like an artificial intelligence, devoid of subjective consciousness and subjective pursuits.

Also, when you advised me to abandon my family just now, that was an unconscious display of emotion."

"What emotion?"

"Threat!" Dean’s mind raced as he equivocated, "You believe my family has become my weakness, putting me in danger. This, in turn, reduces my value as a partner, so you advised me to give up on my family."

"Is that a threat?"

At this moment, Little Mike’s expression was akin to that of a computer program encountering a conflict. He subconsciously rubbed his large head, vaguely feeling that something was off, though he couldn’t pinpoint what.

To a certain extent, his thought process was very mechanical, easily swayed by others’ lines of reasoning.

"Think about it carefully. If I had told you just now that I would absolutely not give up on my family, what were you planning to do?"

"What to do..."